The Trump Years, in Movies

I stumbled upon an old article  - from 2018 - about a bunch of movies that long-time movie critic Roger Ebert really didn't like. Um, let me rephrase that - movies that he hated.  Per the article

When Roger Ebert hated a film, he didn't mince words. Here are 50 movies the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer absolutely loathed (including a couple of surprises that you might very well love), along with with his dry assessments of their value (or lack thereof). 

Glancing through the clips, I was amused by how many of them were applicable to the four years of the Trump administration, with only some minor tweaks.  Below are my reviews, using Ebert's words for the most part, and actual movie titles, adapted to fit the last four years. 

For example, consider  The Usual Suspects. In Trumpworld, that would be Kushner, and Pompeo, and Pence, and Kudlow, and Navarro, and of course Donny Jr, and many others. Here's the review, with my italicized changes:

Once again, my comprehension began to slip, and finally I wrote down: 'To the degree that I do understand, I don't care.' It was, however, somewhat reassuring at the end of his term to discover that I had, after all, understood everything I was intended to understand. It was just that there was less to understand than the administration at first suggests.

Or, for example, consider Fast Times at Pennsylvania Ave. (2019-2020)

The whole presidency is a failure of taste, tone, and nerve - the waste of a mediocre cast on erratic, offensive material that hasn't been thought through, or maybe even thought about.

How fitting is that, considering the many ill-fated Executive Orders, the government shutdown, the immigration debacles, and more? 

In an administration that was constantly threatening that we were on the brink of Armageddon (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) if we didn't listen to and follow our feckless leader no matter what, and where the communications team was constantly in a state of flux, confusion, and complicity, this review was definitely earned.

The Trump presidency is an assault on the eyes, the ears, the brain, common sense, and the human desire to be understood... Trump reportedly used the services of dozens of writers, yes-men, and press secretaries. Why did he need any? His dialogue is either character-limited tweets or self-serving drivel. 'Winning' is used so many times, I wonder if every single writer used it a few dozen times and then sat back from his smartphone with a contented smile on his face, another day's work done.

And then there's Donny Boy (2017).

No one is funny in Donny Boy. There are no memorable lines. None of the characters is interesting, except for the enigmatic figure played by Omarosa Manigault, who seems to have wandered over from The Celebrity Apprentice. Judging by the evidence on the screen, the presidency got a green light before a useable platform had been prepared, with everybody reassuring themselves that since they were such talented people, inspiration would overcome them.

Watching Trump Got Elected (2016) was painful, for sure. 

This movie doesn't scrape the bottom of the barrel. This moving isn't the bottom of the barrel. This moving isn't below the bottom of the barrel. This movie doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence with barrels.

The president often told us how he hired only the best people, and one of them would have to be his son-in-law, about whom the movie Jared (2017) was made.

The story might perhaps be adequate for an animated film for children, with Jared, MBS and the others played by piglets. In the arena of movies about nepotism, it is a desolate vastation. Nothing exiting happens, nothing of interest is said, and the special wardrobes evoke not a place or time, but, simply wardrobes.

And it would be hard to talk about the Trump administration without mentioning our great First Lady Melania, who starred in 2017's Exit from Manhattan.

I'm sorry, but I just don't get Melania Trump. I've seen her in three or four movies now, and she generally has the same effect on me as fingernails on a blackboard. She's harsh and abrupt and staccato and doesn't seem to be having any fun. She looks mean...  What were your first thoughts when Melania turned up in the leather dominatrix uniform? Did you maybe have slight misgivings that you were presiding over one of the more misguided film projects of recent years?

One of the more, um, interesting characters of the last four years has to be the senior senator from South Carolina, who is the title character in Lindsey Graham, What a Ham.

Graham makes a living prostituting himself. How much he charges, I'm not sure, but the price is worth it if it keeps him off the streets and out of another movie. Lindsey Graham is aggressively bad, as if it wants to cause suffering to the audience... Speaking in my official capacity as a Pulitzer Prize winner, Mr. Graham, your career sucks.

Another incredibly dull character from the Trump years? Ivanka "If she wasn't my daughter I'd be dating her" Trump, another of the unelected bureaucrats doing their darnedest to destroy our hearts and souls. She was the star of her own full-length feature, She's Out of Control (2019).

What planet did the makers of this film come from? What assumptions do they have about the purpose and quality of life? I ask because She's Out of Control is simultaneously so bizarre and so banal that it's a first: the first movie fabricated entirely from sitcom clichés and plastic lifestyles, without reference to any known plane of reality.

Sadly, there were two particularly unfortunate career sacrifices during the early years of the Trump administration. Potentially irreparable harm was done not when the Old Generals (2018) announced they were leaving the administration, but rather when they each joined it.  

Old Generals is stupefyingly dimwitted. What were Mattis and Kelly thinking of? Apparently their agents weren't perceptive enough to smell the screenplay in it's advanced state of decomposition, but wasn't there a loyal intern in the office to catch them at the elevator and whisper, 'you've paid too many dues to get involved with such crap at this stage in your careers'?

Holidays are always important at the White House, and the Trump years were no different. Well, actually, they were kind of different. The First Lady was not fond of the decorating, we learned.  And so it seemed that Christmas with the Trumps was destined to take harsh criticism. 

It's a holiday movie of stunning awfulness that gets even worse when it turns gooey at the end. And what is it finally so happy about? Why, that the Trumps succeed in enforcing their lockstep conformity upon their colleagues? They form a herd mentality, without the mentality. The movie is not funny, ever, in any way, beginning to end.

Some of the decorations were downright scary, too. 

And then, there's the bio-pic, The Apprentice President, in which Trump is the writer, director, producer, key grip, set designer, costume designer, props manager, makeup artist, editor, sound engineer, location manager, gaffer, best boy, caterer, florist, art director, stunt coordinator, stable genius, and more.

Trump's whole presence in this movie is offensively narcissistic. His speeches are melodramatic, interchangeable, self-aggrandizing groans and anguished shouts, backed protectively by patriotic symbols and cloying sycophants. His dramatic presence also looks over-protected, as if nobody was willing to risk offending him by asking him to seem involved, caring and engaged. Trump plays the whole movie looking at people's third shirt buttons, as if he can't be bothered to meet their eyes and relate with them. It's strange about the Trump performance. It's not just that he can't govern.  It's that he sends out creepy vibes. He seems self-absorbed, closed off, grandiose, out of touch with his immediate surroundings.

And finally, as our long national nightmare draws to a close, we close out the critical acclaim with one last look at the Trump years, via the movie 45.  

I hated this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its believe that anyone would be entertained by it.

That's funny. So did I.  So did I. 

In Case You Missed It (v47)

Grab your cuppa - it's time for a recap of last week's posts.

I devoted the entire Sunday School entry to hearing from the president's 4th Chief of Staff (quick - can you name the first three? Answers at the end of the post). And it wasn't easy - I mean, I never thought I'd say this, but I much preferred listening to his predecessor than I do listening to Meadows.

He told us how much the administration is doing about election interference from China, Russia and Iran, something the intelligence community warned us about. "Trump's doing a lot, a lot more than the previous administration," investing "hundreds of millions of dollars" and he signed off on "two different legislative actions...to make sure that election integrity is - is important." 

Not only that, but he also said, "We've been willing to work with secretaries of states of every -- of all 50 states as we look at that and the territories to make sure that their systems have the needed resources for the integrity to be there and so that we can count on that."

Well, goody for them, that they've "been willing to work with" all 50 states.  I mean, in any other administration, not immediately doing that would be a dereliction of duty, but this is the 'be nice to me or you're screwed' administration, so I guess we should give them a participation medal or something.

Among the guest lecturers featured in our Sunday School Extra Credit post? Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who was pretty upbeat about the Republican's plan and about working with the Dems to get something done.  There will be a plan announced on Monday, he said. 

...we do have an entire plan, it's a trillion dollars. And let me just remind everybody that of the $3 trillion we've already passed, we have about a trillion to a trillion and a half still left to put into the economy. So these are very, very large amount of money, working with Congress to support this. And what Mark Meadows was saying is that within the trillion-dollar package, there are certain things that have time frames that are bigger priority, so we could look at doing an entire deal, we could also look at doing parts... we can move very quickly with the Democrats on these issues. We've moved quickly before and I see no reason why we can't move quickly again. And if there are issues that take longer, we'll -- we'll deal with those as well. 

And while they're pushing to spend another trillion bucks or three, which is what the House passed - back in May (that bill having sat on The Grim Reaper's desk waiting for the Rs to get off their fannies and figure out what #IMPOTUS wants before they put anything on the table) - is anyone else thinking about the trillion-and-a-half still sitting on the table, and what that was supposed to be used for, and why it hasn't, and if it isn't needed, why don't we just use that money do help people out here? Mnuchin wasn't asked that question, darn it. 

On Tuesday, I reported out the results of my survey on corporate political speech and its impact on consumer choices in a Poll Watch entry. Among the findings? 

I asked whether people had stopped doing business with a company, started doing business with a company, or decided to never do business with a company because of corporate political speech. 

• 63% of respondents said they have stopped being a customer,
• 26% said that they have become a customer, and
• 68% have chosen never to do business with a company because of political speech.

The survey also told what my friends think is the most important corporate political speech issue - can you guess what it is? 

When it came time for Wondering on Wednesday, like many others I was frustrated with the lack of action on the Republicans' COVID relief bill, or stimulus bill, or whatever you want to call it.  I think I've said this before, but being retired and on a fixed income, we are much less economically disadvantaged than people who are unable to work because their business is closed, or because they are not able to work at home, and so on.  But our better circumstances don't mitigate my outrage at stupid stuff, like that gets shoved into these bills once everyone finally agrees to act.  For example, 

How, I wonder, is putting up a new FBI headquarters, across the street from the president's emoluments hotel a component of the HEALS Act, the latest stimulus package from the White House and Senate Republicans? I know that many of the senators are against that $1.75B provision, and that the president insisted it get added to the bill, but really? How does that help with testing, or PPE, or contact tracing, or people making their rent, or getting schools open, or anything else?  

And don't start with me -- I know the HEROES Act, passed months ago by the House, has more than enough porky stuff too, but this is just one more example of the president attempting to feather his own nest, or at least make his nest attractive for feathering.  I'm getting tired of it - really tired.  

I'm getting really tired of all of it, honestly. And all of them. 

Thursday was a pass day - we were supposed to have gone to our favorite restaurant for some socially-distanced outside dining with our favorite people. but a family member was advised to get a COVID-19 test and we had spent some pretty well socially-distanced time with him, so dinner was cancelled and so was writing. (And yes - we're several days into him not having his test results... #MAGAMA).

Among the things on my mind as I was building the TGIF post for your good week/bad week list-making was dealing with the claim from the Fearmonger-in-Chief and other Trumpeters (including Snitty Snitty Bill Barr) think that a foreign government is going to interject fraudulent paper ballots into our election in November.  

I'm trying to picture that level of interference, not only because there will be thousands of different ballots in use in November, gathering votes for everything from dog catcher to president, that would have to be perfectly replicated, and be assigned to actual registered voters who have signatures on file, in the correct jurisdiction... So, is it common sense, or an attempt to sow seeds of doubt in our election processes?

I'm guessing the latter, but as you know, I'm cynical about this White House.

So, that's your full and veritable pastiche for last week. Oh - yes - almost forgot to give you the first three Trump Chiefs of Staff: 

• Reince Priebus (January 20, 2017 - July 31, 2017)
• General John Kelly (July 31, 2017 - January 2, 2019)
• Mick Mulvaney (January 2, 2019 – March 6, 2020)

If you remembered Priebus, give yourself a high five. I had to look that up.

 I'll be back later with today's Sunday School. 

TGIF 1/25/19

Wow -- what a week this one was!

I don't know about you, but I got a little tired trying to keep up with who was staring down who, and who was or wasn't blinking, and stuff like that.  Let's take a look.

Covington Catholic had a down and up week when a video appeared to show their #MAGA hat-wearing, women's rights-protesting students engaged in what appeared to be a racist, tomahawk-chopping, chanting in the face of a Native American elder and Vietnam War veteran.

Even their diocese pounced on them, promising a full investigation of their behavior.  And then, more video cropped up, and the race to condemnation turned away (somewhat, but not completely) from the kids and onto the vet, and more particularly onto the media.

There was lots of condemnation to go around on this one, for sure. In the end, the kids were not the instigators; the veteran was of the Vietnam War era, but never served out of the country, and the media? Well, yeah, there's still plenty of condemnation for them, all around: for the original reporting, for being too slow to respond when additional videos were made public, for their treatment of the Native American elder, for their interview with the start of the protest, and for their explanations and apologies, or the lack thereof.

No one was happy, I think - or, maybe I should say no one should be happy.   I expect the students will be invited to the White House, as survivors of the war on religion AND the war against the #fakenews.

But someone definitely had a worse week than the entire city of Covington, Kentucky.

Wondering on Wednesday (v139)

So, what are wondering about tonight? Well, let's see.

The president is in Brussels for the NATO summit, and then he's off to the English countryside and to Scotland to avoid protesters and a balloon likeness that will be lurking over London, and finally he'll go to Helsinki to hang out with his buddy Vladimir Putin.

Trump was a bull in the breakfast shop this morning, barking about countries paying more money for defense and apparently causing shenanigans with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and Germany's Angela Merkel, about a Russian pipeline.

I have to say, I think it's very sad when Germany makes a massive oil and gas deal with Russia where we're supposed to be guarding against Russia. We're supposed to protect you against Russia but they're paying billions of dollars to Russia and I think that's very inappropriate.

Other reports noted he went further than that. And yes, there's a video if you're interested.

If you look at it, Germany is a captive of Russia because they supply. They got rid of their coal plants.They got rid of their nuclear. They're getting so much of the oil and gas from Russia, I think that's something NATO has to look at. I think it's very inappropriate.

All of this has me wondering, has Sean Hannity been saying "inappropriate" a lot lately?

While Trump's belligerent behavior was not unexpected, apparently the look on his General John Kelly's face was. Kelly and US Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchinson seemed very uncomfortable, but at least for Kelly, it had NOTHING to do with Trump's three-minute harangue. Nope - he was hungry. Honest, he was hungry. Because Sarah Sanders said so.

Kelly was displeased because he was expecting a full breakfast and there was only pastries and cheese.

Hungry?  The poor guy was HANGRY! I wonder if anyone gave him a Snickers?

Speaking of snickers, the president used his power of the pen again.

He fully pardoned Dwight and Steven Hammond, father and son Oregon ranchers who were convicted of setting fire to federal lands.  When initially sentenced, they were given less than the required minimum sentence, then re-sentenced to the minimum. All of that resulted in the 2016 standoff at Oregon's Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.  The communication about the pardon noted that the Hammonds.

...are devoted family men, respected contributors to their local community, and have widespread support from their neighbors, local law enforcement, and farmers and ranchers across the West. Justice is overdue for Dwight and Steven Hammond, both of whom are entirely deserving of these Grants of Executive Clemency.

I wonder whether the president considered this information from the Obama Justice Department about the case, as he reviewed 'all' of the information, what do you think?

Witnesses at trial, including a relative of the Hammonds, testified the arson occurred shortly after Steven Hammond and his hunting party illegally slaughtered several deer on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) property. Jurors were told that Steven Hammond handed out "Strike Anywhere' matches with instructions that they be lit up and dropped on the ground because they were going to 'light up the whole country on fire.' One witness testified that he barely escaped the eight to ten foot high flames caused by the arson.

And speaking of arson and setting things on fire, Trump is continuing his attacks on the Affordable Care Act, making additional cuts to funding for health insurance navigators, and also requiring them to advise people of the availability of benefit plans that are not ACA compliant, including limited duration coverage and association plans (assuming any of those are up and running by the time open enrollment comes along) which makes me wonder, how long will the open enrollment season last this year?  A couple of weeks?

What are you wondering about?

Sunday School 4/8/18

I managed to catch a few classrooms today, paying attention to the group discussions where everyone gets to chime in, instead of focusing on the one-on-one interviews with oh so many of the usual suspects.

Topic one? Facebook, as Mr. Zuckerberg goes to Washington. The social media giant's founder and CEO is set to testify before the House and Senate this week, to talk about privacy and Cambridge Analytica and privacy and privacy, and likely, regulations. How did the gangs talk about it?

On Meet the Press (MTP), the general thinking was that Zuckerberg should have apologized earlier - immediately after the Cambridge Analytica story came out, before the news that it wasn't 50 millions users, maybe it was 87 million users. Maybe it's a trillion users, who knows. And we were reminded that this over-sharing actually started a few years ago. One reporter mentioned that sources will only talk face-to-face, won't put anything in writing anymore, harkening back to Watergate days and parking garages. That got a chuckle.

On This Week with George Stephanopoulos (TWwGS), where again Martha Raddatz was sitting in, one of the folks suggested that Zuckerberg was going into a 'Congressional gauntlet' (compared to MTP's 'ambush' language) and that being supportive of regulations calling for more transparency in political ads, for example, was good but was not going to be nearly enough to protect him from the wrath of a bunch of people who,in my opinion probably don't really have a good understanding of Facebook.

Topic two? Trade and tariffs. On Face the Nation (FTN) over on CBS, Margaret Brennan's group suggested we'd not see a revised NAFTA deal before or during Trump's visit to South America for the Summit of the Americas, noting that the president's incendiary tweets and border moves don't help, nor do his aluminum and steel tariffs or the many others he's threatening. And, surrounding himself with conflicting pro- and anti-NAFTA voices plays to how Trump likes things, but hurts our policy decisions. One noted that Trump, at his core, is a protectionist and NAFTA may not survive as a result. The stock market swings, which are driving everyone nuts, stem more from uncertainty than any single move Trump is making. And of course, you'll recall that uncertainty was a dirty word to Republicans throughout the Obama administration.

Topic three? Embattled EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, he of the 50 bucks a night rental in DC, and the travel, and the phone booth, and the raises, and so on. The group at Fox News Sunday had mixed opinions. On the one hand, we were told, there's this giant double standard because Obama's people did the same thing, spending money on travel, and besides his policies are what people wanted, so let's tell the president to stay away from Pruitt. This thought was echoed by folks on FTN, who noted that with the mid-term elections coming up, now is not the time to keep Republicans in Washington trying to fill Cabinet positions.

Back to Fox, the point was also made that if Trump is all about draining the swamp, keeping Pruitt is the wrong thing to do, whether he's right from a policy perspective or not. On ABC, the comparison was made to how Christian evangelicals were willing to overlook Trump's bad behavior because they like his policies. It was also noted that, as EPA rules don't change that often or quickly, pretty much anyone could implement the policy changes that Pruitt is making, while having none of the ethical issues.

All of this sort of leads us to topic four: Trump's personal General John Kelly. According to some reports, which Trump denies as being fake news, Kelly is ready to go, has offered to go, has threatened to go. Kelly has two jobs, we're told on TWwGS: keeping an eye on Trump and keeping an eye on the Cabinet. Both roles may be shrinking; Kelly did take Jared's security clearance away, and if he's truly told Trump to get rid of Pruitt and/or told Pruitt to behave, neither is having any impact.

This was echoed by Brennan's group, and one even suggested that Pruitt would replace Kelly as Chief, instead of replacing Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III as Attorney General. And, we're told, Kelly's not being invited to meetings, his team seems more willing to speak out, and so on - so maybe Kelly will be the next one to go?

Finally, a little extra credit. One guest on FTN suggested that the reason he sleeps so well at night is because he doesn't follow Trump's tweets as closely as do many others.

See you around campus.

TGIF 3/16/18

It's Friday! March Madness! St. Patrick's Day Eve!

What more could one ask for?  Well, let's see - not being these folks?

Donald Trump Jr.'s wife filed for divorce this week, which I'm sure was not a surprise to him, the way it came out so cleanly and without a whole lot of fanfare or acrimony.

Although, according to reports Mrs. Trump has retained a criminal attorney to handle her case. Divorce is rarely pleasant for anyone involved, especially kids (the Trump Jr.'s have five), and it would be worse if there were bad acts outside the ones that usually lead to the dissolution of a marriage.  If she truly needs a criminal attorney, versus your typical garden-variety high-powered divorce attorney, I hope she and the kids are OK.

Rex Tillerson is out as Sec State; a long running battle orchestrated by the president will soon be over; and  Tillerson, the man who allegedly called the president a bleeping moron can go off into the sunset with his ExxonMobil millions, and a healthy break on capital gains taxes, with the Christmas present we got from the Republican tax cut. There's still some confusion as to whether Trump's General John Kelly let Tillerson know he should resign before he got fired on Twitter, or whether he was just told to watch for a tweet that was related to him. Either way, I'm happy he's out and can go do something else, if he wants, or nothing if he'd rather.

Moving on to others in the Trump circle of influence, I learned this week (others who pay more attention were probably aware sooner) that Judge Roy Moore is broke.  Moore, an alleged sexual predator, was endorsed by the president, an proud sexual predator, but ended up losing his Alabama Senate race to Doug Jones.

In a social media post in which he spoke of  "the liberal media, in association with some who want to destroy our Country..." which apparently include "Gays, lesbians and transgenders" who "have joined forces with those who believe in abortion, sodomy and destruction of all that we hold dear", he asked for money for his legal defense from the women who allege Moore abused them.

Oh - there's this, too, in that plea for money..

PS. The political Left is filled with men and women whose sole aim in life is to overthrow our God-ordained rights which are guaranteed in the US Constitution. It is your responsibility and mine to stand up to this vile encroachment on our rights,and defend that for which the Founding Fathers sacrificed so greatly. Please send a generous gift today to the Roy Moore Legal Defence Fund to help me defeat, once and for all, those who would destroy America in order to usher in their anti-Christian "kingdom." May the lord richly bless you as you stand with me in this critical fight.

And, of course, just the other day another Trump endorsee (with no known sexual abuse allegations against him, as far as I know) lost another special election in a reliably red district.

TGIF.

Wondering on Wednesday (v123)

Well, well, well. It's Wednesday again - let the wondering begin.

I've been disconnected from news and stuff most of the day, so I have to wonder whether anyone else did a 'Hope and change' comment about poor Hope Hicks, the president's other daughter, resigning from her position as White House communications director?  That was one headline I saw as soon as I got back home. Hicks, who admitted to telling 'white (house) lies' in her role as Communications Director, was the one who wrote the press release praising alleged domestic abuser Rob Porter who, it seems, was her boyfriend at the time.  She's apparently been planning this for a while, and it's not related to her testimony before the House Intelligence Committee where the lying was admitted. 

While Hicks was fairly under the radar - didn't handle press briefings or do interviews or any of the traditional CommsDir roles -- she apparently made her mark on folks, like Trump's General Kelly.

I quickly realized what so many had learned about Hope: she is strategic, poised and wise beyond her years. She became a trusted adviser and counselor, and did a tremendous job overseeing the communications for the president's agenda including the passage of historic tax reform. She has served her country with great distinction. To say that she will be missed is an understatement.

Of course, this is the same General Kelly who spoke so highly of Porter in that lovingly crafted press release.

Rob Porter is a man of true integrity and honor, and I can't say enough good things about him. He is a friend, a confidante, and a trusted professional. I am proud to serve alongside him.

I wonder, is there some compromised judgment here on the part of the General? Or compromised sense of duty?

Speaking of compromised judgment, the president managed to blow yet another tweet gasket about his Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III.

Why is AG Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse. Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey etc. Isn't the IG an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!

This time, instead of rolling over and playing dead, Sessions fought back.

We have initiated the appropriate process that will ensure complaints against this Department will be fully and fairly acted upon if necessary. As long as I am the Attorney General, I will continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor, and this Department will continue to do its work in a fair and impartial manner according to the law and Constitution.

I have wondered, for a while, why it is that Sessions stays and puts up with Trump's bullying, public thrashing, and general abuse. I still wonder about that, but at least he took a step today and fought back, something that DOJ employees have long wanted, since Trump also attacks them with impunity and with regularity.

One more before we go: remember the "Hispanic, we believe" judge who was involved in the Trump University case? The one who would not be able to be fair to Trump because of his heritage, and because Trump was building a wall, and therefore it was impossible for the judge to rule on anything in Trump's favor?

Yeah, that Judge handed down a very beneficial ruling on the border wall.

US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel has cleared on potential obstacle to president Donald Trump's long-promised border wall, ruling Tuesday that the administration has the authority to waive a host of environmental laws and other regulations to begin construction.

I wonder, how long will it take for Trump to apologize for his extremely racist comments about the judge?

TGIF 2/23/18

Yay! Another week in the books...

The week that saw Pennsylvania get handed redistricting maps, drawn by an expert from Stanford University, based on the 2016 presidential election vote.  Why were new maps needed?  Well, the old maps were determined to be a 'partisan gerrymander' and in violation of the law, and the governor (a Dem) and the state legislative leaders (Reps, natch) couldn't get it figured out on their own, so down came the new version.

The court's new map largely undid the Republican gerrymander, creating 10 Republican-leaning and eight Democratic-leaning House seats, as estimated using 2016 presidential election returns. Outside experts who were not involved with the case praised the new map, calling it "fairer" and "much more competitive" than the old one. 

The new map is a better reflection both of the composition of the state's electorate which tends to be divided evenly between Democrats and Republicans, and of the traditional redistricting criteria used to draw maps in Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

So, naturally, the justices on the state Supreme Court that made the ruling need to be impeached, because, oh for Pete's sake, because the Republicans stand to lose as many as three seats because of the redistricting.

The week that saw the Florida House declare pornography a public health crisis, and require that "In God We Trust" be placed conspicuously in every school in the state. According to the bill's sponsor, Rep. Kimberly Daniels (a Democrat),

It is not a secret that we have some gun issues that need to be addressed. But the real thing that needs to be addressed are issues of the heart.

The week that saw the president chime in officially, and give full control of his son-in-law's security clearance to General Kelly, his personal general, who will do the right thing, we're sure.

That will be up to General Kelly. General Kelly respects Jared a lot, and General Kelly will make that call -- I won't make that call. I will let the general, who's right here, make that call... I will let General Kelly make that decision and he's going to do what's right for the country. And  have no doubt that he will make the right decision. 

Or, he'll be fired, of course.

And finally, the week that say every teacher in West Virginia go on strike. Even after the state's governor signed wage increases of 2% this year and 1% for next year two fiscal years.

Wages and benefits are the issues; the salary increases are not enough to cover the increases in their health insurance, according to the teachers. And, a promised freeze of health insurance premiums for sixteen months wasn't enough to keep the teachers on the job, where the average starting salary is less than $32,500 and the average salary is $44,700. 

Which isn't a lot of money, in the overall scheme of things - especially if we end up asking teachers to be law enforcement officers too.

TGIF.

Wondering on Wednesday (v122)

What are we wondering about today?  Well, let's see...

Billy Graham has passed, at the age of 99. I managed to catch bits and pieces of a few different news stories about Graham and his remarkable career, and there seemed to be a consistent theme: how different things are with Franklin Graham at the helm of the empire than when it was Billy Graham in charge. The difference between ministering to politicians and presidents and preaching politics. The shift between evangelizing the gospel, and evangelizing the political.

What was most interesting was that many of the people talking about these distinct differences were truly fans of Billy Graham, not detractors, people who respected who he was and what he built and what he brought to people as "America's pastor" who seem less enamored of his son's work and path and approach. Interesting stuff, and it made me wonder what Franklin thinks about all of that, and whether he's impacted by how people perceive he's handled his father's legacy. Any regrets there, I wonder?

Also wonder-worthy? The president had a listening session today with families of school shootings.  Folks from Florida, and from Connecticut too, were there, talking to him about wanting change, needing change, wanting this to be the last one, the last time this happened here. Trump promised action, promised good ideas, the strongest ideas that he has or that governors who are coming to the White House next week have and taking the best ones and doing something. Arming teachers is one suggestion; better background checks is another he mentioned

I wonder though, whether there's really any appetite for change in Congress? Will this just be more lip service from the White House, to be ignored by the House and Senate or will Trump be able to accomplish something where others have failed, or failed to try?

What else is going on?  There are reports, believable or not, that Trump's General Kelly has to go, because there needs to be a scapegoat after the whole Rob Porter - domestic violence - security clearance debacle.  And the fact that, again according to reports, Kelly wants to take Jared Kushner's security clearance away, even as he expresses confidence in Kushner and that he values Kushner's contributions.  It's just that, you know, he can't get his security clearance straightened out.  We also learned that Kushner is a yuge consumer of intelligence, reportedly asking for more of the good stuff than any other White House staffer.

I have to wonder, does Kelly think he can with this battle? Or, by picking this battle, if he really did, is he looking for his own kind of Brexit? 

And finally, I wonder about Fergie's rendition of the National Anthem at the NBA All-Star Game...

Ranting and Raving

So, a congressman who was one of the first passengers on the Trump train is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee (an accidental oxymoron if ever there was one in this day and age) gets himself all up under the skirt of the Trumpeters, disclosed some classified information (which he got from said Trumpeters) and then whined about ethics charges being filed, so he stepped away from the Russia investigation for months -- months -- even as he proclaimed the charges against him were entirely false and politically motivated, and were being leveled just as the American people are beginning to learn the truth about the improper unmasking of the identities of US citizens and other abuses of power and so he apparently spent his step-aside coming up with new ways to expose one-sided, completely partisan information on behalf of the Trumpeters and their believers on Fox News, and he convinced others of his ilk-manner-stripe-nature to do 'research' on his behalf (which he didn't even read  - it was that important!) and to orchestrate a #hashtagmovement #ReleasetheMemo I think by somehow promising them that while the two-year-long Benghazi investigation really only amounted to that gif of Hillary saying "what difference, at this point - what difference does it make?" this one, boy, when this gets out all hell's going to break loose and dammit, we're gonna GET THEM this time and so they all marched along in step, the ilk did, going down, ever down a slippery slope of attacking the Feebs for an abuse of power, a Hooverian abuse of power, one was led to think, based on the rhetoric and hoopla and certainly you would think so, if you read the unfettered pillow talk texts of the two lovebirds -- yeah,  this is a scoop so big the president would directly pass Go, collect his well-deserved spot on Rushmore, right next to Reagan (what the hell's taking so long for that, anyway?) and not even need to keep that Get Out of Jail Free card he's got stashed in his wallet with the condoms he saves for a stormy day, and for once and FOR ALL those liberal bastards would be DONE and then, well -- then they did actually #ReleasetheMemo, and all those hopes and dreams came crashing down like Humpty Dumpty from a great, big, beautiful transparent border wall (and let me clarify, not 'transparent' like that TV show, for Pete's sake - like the sunlight that Speaker Paul Ryan says is necessary for our democracy), because even General Kelly said the memo wasn't half of what it was cracked up to be, and we know that he's the A-Gamer, the one the #stablegenious relies on for good stuff, and the FBI released a statement, not common for them it seems, to express their collective grave concerns about material omissions which fundamentally impact the accuracy of the darn thing, the precious memo, which not for nothing has done way better than sildenafil citrate could have done to boost the Republican morale in the lead-up to this whole sorry situation, but now after the initial  excitement (especially, I've been told, the Rush Limbaugh live read of the memo), is actually being revealed for what it was: an attempt to free the president to pull off his own #saturdaynightmassacre but he might not be able to do that, because he likes to say "You're Fired!" when intelligence types are, you know, out of town talking to their teams where they find out they got fired by seeing it on TV  and then  they should find their own way back to the swamp to clean out their desks -- so if I were one of those guys, if I were Rosenstein and Wray and Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III (especially him), I'd sure as shootin' refuse any invitations from the president or any of the Trumpeters, I would say no thank you sir to golf outings, dinners at the Trump Emoluments Hotel or #netflixandchill at Camp David and I'd say no thank you to any requests to testify before the committee run by the ethically challenged Trump loving partisan hack congressman, the chair of the aforementioned oxymoron committee and heck, I might even sleep in my office so the bastages would have to see me in my jammies if they came for me and my team, I think I would do just that --  and let me tell you something else: if I were the democrats on the committee, I assure you the rebuttal memo would be in the hands of the FBI faster than an Exorcist head spin, I'd move on it like a bitch I would, to have it vetted and any potential classified information redacted and then I'd have the memo projected on the side of Trump's hotel like they do when the opportunity is just too good to pass up, and I've have it delivered to  the WaPo (BezosFakeNews) and the Failing NY Times and I'd submit letters to the editor of every newspaper in the Country and tell them in no uncertain terms that the first memo was a load of crap and then we'd have ourselves a good ole, knock down drag out discussion about what our government is really supposed to look like and what our government is really supposed to do and hint hint it's not what they're doing right now - and speaking of right now, I've got some dirty laundry to take care of, and you know, I think that's a pretty darn appropriate place to end this rant

TGIF 1/19/18

Well.

It seems I've been ignoring the call of the TGIF for a bit - sorry about that.  Let's put some perspective on this week, shall we?

Who should we blame for it? That seems to be the big question, at least today. Who will be the blame for shutting down the government, the Rs or the Ds?

And, if a miracle occurs tonight at 10PM Washington Swamp Time (WST) and the shutdown is avoided, who deserves the credit?  We know who will take the credit, of course - but will he deserve it?

What else happened this week, which I'm glad is over? There were arguments about whether or not the president, who insists he is the least racist person ever, or the least racist person ever interviewed by the Washington press corps, pretty darn well seems to be a racist.

And the Republicans, who are practically tripping over themselves to stay in Trump's good graces, are working diligently (one of my favorite Buzzword Bingo squares) to divert the conversation away from what the president said and instead direct it towards their individual interpretations of what the president thought or meant. As in, saying that African nations were shitholes meant we need a wall across our southern border.

Speaking of that wall, there was an interesting disconnect between the president and his Chief of Staff General, who thought saying the president believed in evolution had experienced an 'evolutionary process.'

There's been an evolutionary process that this president has gone through...and I pointed out to all the members that were in the room that they all say things during the course of campaigns that may or may not be fully informed.

In the same interview earlier this week, Kelly shared his thoughts about the possible government shutdown I mentioned at the top of the post.

I spent a fair amount of time on the hill today speaking to members of Congress, both sides of the aisle...and it would seem to have the votes to continue funding the military, take care of the child health care issue, and perhaps some other things. As I understand it, they have the votes and they are fairly confident.

So, there's that. Maybe he'll end up on the right side of this, who knows? I just don't want the Dems on the wrong side of it, that much I do know.

One last thing about the shutdown: sadly, it's of such importance that the poor president couldn't go running off to Mar-a-Lago for some golf rest work. He was scheduled to leave this afternoon, but supposedly is hanging around until he gets to sign a continuing resolution.

What's worse, it seems his inauguration anniversary celebration, scheduled for tomorrow night, may also be in jeopardy if that darn Mitch McConnell can't get his chamber in order. According to this report the shindig is going to be a doozy - $100,000 per couple for dinner and a photo op; for another $150,000, the happy couple could participate in a round table conversation, too.

Sadly I have to rearrange my sock drawer tomorrow - otherwise I'd be there. Honest.

TGIF.

OrangeVerse XXIV: Tell it to the Marines

Every once in awhile, the president leaves Washington and goes out among the people. Or, 'his' people - you know, the ones in the states that voted for him; he rarely goes anywhere he lost, as we know.  When he's out and about, he 'tells it on the mountain' about how great he is. In this case, he told it to the Marines.

What the Hell?

So they gave me this hat.

It says

Presidential Helicopter Squadron.

Would you wear it? 

No, no other president would do this

But I will because

I'm proud of you.

I'm proud of you.

What the hell. 

Oh you are nice..

You are - you mean

so you're the ones

taking care of my helicopter right?

I better be nice to you

I better be nice to you.

I'm Very Spoiled

I 've had many helicopters

you know I'm very spoiled

I've had helicopters.

And we ordered a couple

of big beautiful new ones

You know about that right?

They paid a lot more

than I would have paid

and I would have had them 

even better but

we won't talk about that.

They paid a lot of money.

My Own Private Marine

Well it is great to be here

surrounded the by the Marines.

You know I have a

four-star Marine.

We just had to get it right

so I picked a four star Marine.

Could have picked a lot of people

Everybody wants to be chief of staff right

But I had to go to the Marines.

Where's Kelly?

Where is he?

Where is he?

Come on over here Kelly.

Come here.

Four stars

Say hello.

Say hello.

There's Another One

In fact, I've been listening

and I have to tell you

it's true with General Kelly

but I have a lot of Marines...

Another one is a man named

Mad Dog Mattis, right?

They like him.

I love that name

I don't know if he likes it

actually. I've never

figured out if he likes

the name

but he really deserves

the name.

Winning

I let the do their job.

And I let the colonels and

the majors and the 

all of them - the captains

that's what they do. 

They graduate, 

they're smart they're tough

and they do their job...

Afghanistan is a tough place to win.

But we're winning. We just started winning. 

And I just want to thank

Secretary Mattis and I really

want to thank the 

United States Marines - really special people.

So you're fantastic people.

Dinner and a Movie?

We're working every day on your behalf

and together we are going to

make America stronger than ever before.

You know, I ran a campaign

and it was a very successful campaign

you might have heard about it - and

we won very easily. We won by - 

we had 306 Electoral College votes

to 223 or something like that. 

Remember they used to say

There is no way for Trump

to get to 270.

Remember? Over and over again.

That's called voter suppression.

If you believe that you might say

I love Trump but

I'm not going to waste my time

let's go see a movie

and we'll come home and 

watch the results tonight.

But everybody said

No I'm not going to a movie

we're going to vote

and they voted.

#MAGA

And we didn't get to 270

we got 306.

That's even better right?

So we had an amazing time

But I had an expression

that I think goes down

as the best of all time.

It was very simple.

Make America Great Again.

Right?

Make America Great Again.

And that's what

we're doing we're

Making America Great Again.

 And it's people like yourselves

that are doing it.

I am so impressed.

A Big Beautiful Kiss
So, again
I want to thank you all.
Say hello to you families.
Tell them the respect
I have for them because they have to 
put up with everything
so this can all happen.
They don't get
the credit they should get
you know, they don't get the - 
the families
never ever get the credit.
But they have done
 an incredible job in 
this kind of - when they
produce people like you.
So you go home
and you give your
families a big
beautiful kiss from the
president of the United States
because we're
proud of them and we're
really, really 
proud of you.

Wondering on Wednesday (v109)

Holy moly, there's so much to wonder about tonight. Let's dive in.

What, exactly, would have been the compromise that would have saved us from the Civil War, I wonder? The president's personal General, John Kelly, went on Laura Ingraham's new show on the Trump News Network and educated us on the War Between the States.

It was always loyalty to state first back in those days. Now, it's different today. 

Why yes, yes it is.

Today, we have people thinking that states like Texas or California should secede from the Union - but they don't leave. And we don't have people fighting for the right to sell human beings in the town square anymore, either. Things are indeed different today.

Back to General Kelly:

But the lack of an ability to compromise led to the Civil War. And men and women of good faith on both sides made their stand where their conscience had to make their stand.

What was Kelly thinking, I wonder? Was there some historical figure who should have sacrificed their conscience, as it appears Kelly has done since becoming Chief of Staff? Is this just Kelly channelling his boss?  I mean, remember these comments from the prez?

People don't realize, you know, the Civil War, if you think about it,why? People don't ask that question, but why was there the Civil War? Why could that one not have been worked out?

Kelly also has echoed his boss with his attacks on Florida Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, who brought to light the somewhat odd condolence call from Trump to the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, who was killed in Niger along with three others. He told Ingraham he would never apologize to Wilson, whom he (at least so far falsely) accused of taking credit for getting a new FBI building funded, something that happened before she was in office.

Speaking of things Kelly's boss said, I wonder if anyone can think of any other President, living or dead, who would have responded to a terrorist attack in New York City by blaming one of New York's senators for, in effect, allowing the terrorist into the country? #whattheeverlovingsniff, I wonder, is wrong with this man?

And #whattheeverlovingsniff is wrong with his staff, that they dug up this nugget about Schumer? Why not blame Mitch McConnell, I wonder? He voted for the bill that included the Diversity Visa Lottery, too.

Now obviously, that question about McConnell was facetious - the question, of course, is why the hell is the president blaming anyone at all for this act, other than the person who was apprehended after being shot by law enforcement immediately after committing the act?

Or maybe the question is, what the hell is wrong with Trump?  In addition to bashing Schumer, he took this opportunity to call out the justice system.

We need quick justice and we need strong justice, much quicker and much stronger than we have right now. Because what we have right now is a joke and it's a laughingstock.

Why yes, yes it is. (In case you're wondering, I'm not talking about the justice system anymore...)

And finally, I wonder, who will be the next one exposed as a serial abuser?

TGIF 10/20/17

Oh, what a week it was...

In no particular order:

The president was questioned on why the White House hadn't made any comment on the death of four American soldiers in Niger, and on whether he had reached out to the families of the fallen.

Paraphrasing here, he said he'd call the families when it was possible for him to do so and (apparently) falsely accused President Obama and his predecessors (most of them/many of them) of not making these most personal Commander in Chief calls.

But then he said he had no proof (I'm SHOCKED!) but that someone told him that was the case and then Trump politicized the death of the son of his chief of staff, General Kelly, in an attempt to slam Obama one more time.

Then, there was a huge she said he said about a call he did make, in which there was a strong perception by the soldier's family that they had been dissed by Trump, who said he had proof but presented none (I'm SHOCKED!) and even worse, General Kelly then joined the fray, name calling and (apparently) lying about a Florida congresswoman who was close to the soldier's family way before she was a Congresswoman and way before the soldier was a soldier.

And it's still going on. (I'm SHOCKED!)

The Republicans in the Senate passed a budget bill that will allow tax reform to go through reconciliation (we remember that term from the healthcare debacle, right) and pass with only 50 votes instead of 60, eliminating the need to have Democrats on board.

The budget also approved $1.5 trillion in deficit spending (I'm SHOCKED!) to make up for money that the government won't receive from the 1% once the tax reform package goes through.

No, seriously - we don't know for sure what's actually going to be in the tax plan, other than pain points for people who live in blue states and bonuses for people who live in red ones.  At least, that's what we've been told to expect, and I have no reason to doubt that instruction.

Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, our Lying Attorney General, went to Congress today and ran into more questions about Russia, and why he keeps changing his story. Senator Al Franken reminded Sessions that the Russian Ambassador is in fact a Russian; you can imagine how SHOCKED! Sessions must have been to learn that.

Sessions also said he would not be able to guarantee that reporters would be allowed to do their jobs without risk of being jailed for doing so.

Trump spoke out in favor and in opposition and in favor and in opposition of the bipartisan bill, cobbled together by Lamar Alexander from the right and Patty Murray from the left, to fund the cost sharing reductions that insurance companies are forced to pay under the Affordable Car Act to reduce the out of pocket cost burden on lower income Americans.

Oh wait - the CSRs line the coffers of insurance companies, sorry. Which would be a good thing, for any other industry, because of all the winning that's going on right now economically.

And finally, former President George W Bush gave a speech this week which was interpreted by many to be about the Trump administration, but which the Trump administration said was not about them, because if it was really about them, Bush would have called out Trump by name. Which, of course, the president would have tweeted. (I'M SHOCKED!)

TGIF, everyone.

Sunday School 8/6/17

This Week,  I spent some time in the ABC classroom, hanging with George Stephanopoulos and the gang.

The guests this week included the unwatchable Kellyanne Conway doing what only she can do the way she does; and Senators Thom Tillis and Chris Coons, who put forward one of the Mueller protection bills I wrote about the other day.

The roundtable is where we'll focus today. Participating were Matt Schlapp from the American Conservative Union; Obama communications director Stephanie Cutter; Bloomberg Businessweek's Megan Murphy, and National Review senior editor Ramesh Ponnuru.

Stephanopoulos started by asking what's going on with the Republicans, using the term 'divorce' to describe the situation.  Schlapp answered first.

Well, you're seeing a lot of division amongst Republicans that started in the primary season and is going forward. There's so much political change. Definitely I can tell you on the Republican side I actually see a lot of change going on, on the division on the Democratic side as well. 

But what you also see is a real constitutional disagreement between the legislative branch and the executive branch. Now, that's baked into the cake that they're supposed to have disagreements, but you see Republicans we run the whole show, yet there are real differences in these branches. And Donald Trump is kind of testing things that we haven't seen before.

Cutter chimed in next.

You know, I think Matt is the expert on the Republican party, but I think what's also happening is that there's -- people are losing confidence in him as the leader of the party.  And you can see people pulling away. John McCain's quote in that story is classic - that people smell weakness basically with this president. And I think the president understands this and knows that he's losing right now, which is why he goes to West Virginia to rally his base. 

 Stephanopoulos moved on to economic numbers, pointing out to Megan Murphy

No question that the economy is... you know, chugging along pretty well in the same fashion it did under President Obama. Yet the president - 61 percent disapproval.

Murphy noted that Trump's numbers were good, even if the jobs growth is slower than the last two years of Obama's presidency, and then reminded us of some nuance in the numbers.

Here's one really important fact for the president: among people without a high school degree who are over the age of 25, their participation and movement into the labor market is actually the strongest it's been since 2011. That's a huge factor for him, as we see people who voted for him get jobs and we see wages tick up. We see among lower income, lower wage earners, that is really starting to be more robust than higher income workers. That will help him. And that is what matters. So despite the chaos and the politics, among people's pocketbooks, it's possible -- it's actually possible - that we see the wage growth really helps him.

Stephanopoulos wondered if there was a bottom to Trump's ratings. Ramesh Ponnuru responded.

There has been no national crisis over the last six months. The president has achieved these sorts of approval numbers without anything external to the administration causing problems for him. And I think that has got to be a cause of serious concern for Republicans. 

One of the reasons he is not having the sway among congressional Republicans, and even among his --in his own administration that you might expect is that his popularity is so low. 

They talked about General Kelly - and seemed to think he was making progress, noting that the trick to being a good chief of staff is not to control the president, but to control what happens around the president. They talked about the transgender tweet, and the disagreement of pretty much everyone of importance at the Pentagon, and about immigration and how Trump's support of the RAISE bill plays to his white working class constituency, one of the few things he's done that targets them.

And of course they talked about Bob Mueller and the investigation; the most interesting part, I thought, was this, again from Megan Murphy:

Well, that's why this impaneling the grand jury is significant, not that it's any surprise. He has got 16 all-start prosecutors with him. We know this was a serious, complex investigation. But what's going to be interesting is we're going to see from the kind of witnesses, the kind of leaks we're going to get out of this, and the kind of material they're looking at, are they focusing it squarely on possible obstruction, possible collusion with Russia, or are they expanding their scope to look at some of the financial dealings that were made, possibly not even within the Trump family, but with broader people that are around him. That is what we are likely to see... These are prosecutors (Mueller has hired) who are the most sophisticated at looking at mob ties, looking at complex financial fraud that we have seen. Make no mistake - and it is within the scope of his investigation to look at that. 

On all fronts - Trump's agenda and ratings; immigration; General Kelly; and Mueller, things are starting to get pretty interesting as we head into the August vacations of Congress and the president.

See you around campus.

Orangeverse XII: A Cabinet Full of Dishing

Sometimes you put the dishes in the cabinet, and sometimes you dish in the Cabinet. That's what the president did on Friday.

The First Meeting with The General

This is our first Cabinet meeting

with General Kelly.

He will be

Chief of Staff, 

as you know. 

We all know him, 

we respect him

admire what he's done.

And at Homeland

what he has done has been

nothing

short

of

miraculous.

The Border
...the border
was a tremendous problem
and they're close
to 80 percent
stoppage. 
And even the President of Mexico
called me--

How Well We're Doing (i)

We have

the highest stock market

in history. 

We have a GDP

on Friday -- it got very little mention, 

although I guess

in the business areas it did. 

But it got, I think, very little mention.

2.6 is a number

that nobody thought they'd see

for a long period of time.

How Well We're Doing (ii)

Unemployment is

the lowest it's been

in 17 years.
Business enthusiasm is

about as high

as they've ever seen it. 

In fact, it is as high --

the highest point

in 27 years

according to

a certain graph and

a certain chart.

How Well We're Doing (iii)

The manufacturers are

--the enthusiasm level

is incredible.

We have a lot

of tremendous things

going. 

We have some

interesting situations

that we'll handle.

North Korea,

Middle East

lots of problems

that we inherited

from

previous administrations.

But we'll take care of them.

We'll take care of them

very well.

How Well We're Doing (iv)

But, overall, I

think we're doing 

incredibly well. 

The economy is doing 

incredibly well,

and many other things.

General Kelly Will Go Down

I predict that General Kelly

will go down,

in terms of the position of

Chief of Staff, 

one of the great ever.

And we're going to have a good time but, 

much more importantly

we're going to work hard

Make America Great Again

It's all about making

American great again.

That's what we're going to do

That's what i said.

That's how we won

this big election.

And that's what we're

in the process of doing

and continuing.

And General, it's really great

to have you on board, 

and thank you

very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you

very much

everybody.

North Korea

Mr. president

what can you do

about North Korea?

We'll handle

North Korea.

We're going to

be able to handle them.

It will

be handled.

We handle everything

Thank you very much.