Sunday School 3/7/21

In the classrooms today? Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, the most important man in the Senate; Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH), and Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY). Manchin was in just about every classroom, but I'll limit his appearances here to two. 

First up? DeWine and Austin, who talked with Martha Raddatz on This Week.

Gov. DeWine didn't want to talk about Texas and Mississippi, he wanted to talk about "the Ohio way." He said they've learned a lot over the past year. And while things are getting better, they're still at a "fairly high level." How high? 179 cases per 100,000 people for two weeks, down from over 700/100K in December. They're shooting for 50/100K, before he'll look at getting rid of his state's guidelines.

Turning to schools, they've got 95% of kids in classrooms now, compared to 50% at the beginning of the year. The hold-out? Cleveland, where everyone got vaccinated but the union still doesn't want to go back. 

...many of our urban kids have been out of school for one whole year. We had to get them back. Absolutely urgent that we did. So, we -- frankly, we made a deal... and we made the superintendents and the CEOs sign a paper, if you go back in school, promise by March 1, we will vaccinate everyone in your school that wants to. And it's worked exceedingly well and it's safe because we're vaccinating the teachers. They need to go back.

 DeWine seems confident they'll get it worked out. 

Gen. Austin (Ret.), the first Black Defense Secretary, said he wants to do what's necessary to make sure he's not the last Black Defense Secretary, and that opportunities exist for people of color in the military to "rise to the very highest ranks."

On extremism in the service (40 vets have been arrested for actions on January 6th), he said the service branches are all having "some really in-depth conversations," and added that it's not about political parties or beliefs. Rather,

we want to make sure that our troops are reminded of what our values are, reminded of the oath that we took coming in. And my belief, my strong belief... is that 99.9% of our troops embrace those values, and are focused on the right things, and are doing the right things each and every day.

On some hot topics, here's what he had to say. 

• We want Iraq to quickly investigate the rocket attack last week, make sure we understand who was responsible, and that whoever launched them should "expect us to do what's necessary to defend ourselves." 
• Saudi Arabia is a strategic partner; we have to work together, but "that doesn't mean (we) can't hold them accountable for various things." 
• China's trying to close the competitive edge we have over them, and that they've been "very aggressive" in the region, including against our allies; he said our allies are "very important to us."

Moving down the hall to the State of the Union classroom, Jake Tapper chatted with Sen. Manchin, who initially was confused and called Tapper 'Chuck' instead of 'Jake.' Tapper wasted no time, diving in by asking why Manchin was "fighting for less help for citizens during this cruel economic time?" Manchin said he just tried to make sure that "we were targeting where the help was needed." He didn't say specifically that he was "under pressure," but said  

the bottom line is, that's what it's about, negotiations. I work with my Republicans friends. I work with my Democratic Caucus and my friends. We try to find that middle. With that, sometimes, it gets -- it gets a little frustrating at times. But the bottom line is, at the end result, we got one tremendous piece of legislation.

Manchin lamented that folks "don't have the tolerance to sit down and work more," but he also said the bill is more bipartisan than people realize, that Rs and Ds have been working together for a month, and that they did make changes to the bill.

Tapper asked what Manchin would say to AOC about her comment on the minimum wage provision being dropped from the bill. Here's what she said.

The fact that we have two people in this entire country that are holding back a complete transformation in working people's lives, the same people who have held our country together throughout this pandemic, is wrong

Manchin respects her input, but takes a different approach, in part because they come from "two different areas of the country that have different social and cultural needs," and everyone needs to be respected..." He'd like to see a more collaborative approach on getting the minimum raised. He thinks it should be $11, based on the poverty guidelines, and that they can "do it very quickly too, within a couple of years" and then index it to inflation. 

It should be the respect to the dignity work always being above the minimum wage of what the guidelines for poverty is and being able to lift yourself way far above that by your skill sets and your determination. And that's all we're saying. And that's what we have been trying to.

He calls that "the easiest lift of all."

Finally, we turn to the Meet the Press classroom, with Manchin again, and Barrasso. Quickly, on Manchin,

• he didn't get any promises from President Biden for his vote;
• he doesn't think they should get rid of the filibuster;
• he doesn't think reconciliation is the first path to legislating, it should only happen after working together and the normal process- "a committee, a hearing, amendments" - fail; 
• he hopes they can get Rs involved to the point where 10 or 15 of them will work the Ds.

In contrast, we have Sen. Barrasso, chair of the Republican Conference. He said once people find out what's in the bill, "they're going to lose a lot of any enthusiasm they may have for it..." He said the bill was "a liberal wish list of liberal spending just basically filled with pork." He said the White House didn't work with them, and that the bill "was never about getting people back to work or kids back to school or the disease behind us." He didn't identify any of the alleged pork in the bill.

Chuck asked if Barrasso didn't wish they were bigger checks, back in December, instead of just $600.

Well, not to the level that people are getting them now... with this bill, they're going to people in prison, they're going to people who are illegal immigrants, they're going to people who make much more money than you would expect people to actually need relief or help at this point. So, I think this is a mistake, what's happening in the bill that just passed the Senate.

Barrasso doesn't remember that prisoners got the Trump stimulus checks, I guess, or that the requirements for undocumented immigrants in this bill are the same as for the second stimulus.

On infrastructure, Barrasso said the bill that his committee passed last year is a great starting point; it passed unanimously, even That Guy from Vermont voted for it. And, he's talked to Mayor Pete about it, too.

On whether he supports the reelection of Lisa Murkowski in the Senate and Liz Cheney in the House (Trump doesn't, of course), he said Murkowski hasn't announced her intentions yet, but if she runs again, he'll support her. He and Cheney work closely together, "fighting the Biden administration," so he supports her, but disagrees with her on impeachment.

Also making the rounds today? Lots of folks talking about the pandemic, vaccines, masks and more. I'll have them tomorrow for your Extra Credit.

See you around campus. Wear your mask. And don't be stupid on Spring Break.

Sunday School 10/4/20

I don't have a clue where to start my classroom stroll today, so I'm doing it the old fashioned way: drawing names out of a hat.  And the winners are: This Week with George Stephanopoulos, and  CNN's State of the Union, with Jake Tapper.  Which means I get to skip Chuck Todd, which is good, and I get to skip Nancy Pelosi, which is also good. 

After a news brief from a handful of correspondents, George started out with Jason Miller, a senior advisor to the Trump campaign and an all-around good guy, it would seem - and yes, that's sarcasm.

Miller's one of the folks who has tested negative, so far, but he had some very upbeat news from the president:

Number one, that we're going to defeat this virus. President Trump personally is going to defeat it. As a nation, we're going to defeat it and get life back to normal. Get this vaccine. 

But then also our campaign is going to defeat it. And I think when President Trump gets out of the White House, or -- excuse me, out of the -- gets back to the White House and back on the campaign trail, it's going to be a slingshot taking us forward.

But he said something that was important, George, and that’s to be careful. To make sure that folks are washing hands, to make sure using hand sanitizer, to make sure they're wearing a mask if you can't socially distance. These are all important things and reminders that President Trump told us.

Those are all important reminders from the president, who doesn't follow any of his own advice.  George noted  a new poll showing that 72% of Americans "say the president didn't take the risk of getting COVID seriously enough and didn't take appropriate precaution when it came to his own personal health." 

Miller's response? It's pretty funny, actually. He said Trump made sure we stopped the foreign travelers from China and Europe, shut down the country for two weeks and a month, "had to go and keep us safe," and that flattened the curve, helped us develop therapeutics, then the vaccines being developed and 100,000 ventilators, and you know what else? NONE OF THIS HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE QUESTION!

Oh, wait, sorry. Let me address the question, which George helped him do by giving some concrete examples: 

... the president had to take it head-on, but he didn't have to have -- hold rallies where people did not social distance, where did not wear masks. He didn't have to mock former Vice President Joe Biden for wearing a mask and reporters who wore masks. He didn't have to continue to go to event after event without wearing a mask.

Again, we have an epic fail from Miller: the president is one of the most tested people in the country...  anyone spending time with him is tested before hand, they keep their distance - 

 -- the closest I ever get to the president is about eight feet, maybe six feet, usually a pretty solid distance back. A lot of times it's more like ten feet. 

And people wash their hands and use sanitizer and drink bleach.. (sorry, he didn't really say that, and on and on and on about not answering the question. And I'm done with Mr. Miller, I'm not even going to watch the rest of his segment. 

The round table gang was all there, except for Chris Christie, who tested positive after hanging out maskless doing debate prep with the president, and was in the hospital due to his pre-existing asthma. 

In contrast to Miller, Matthew Dowd (chief political analyst for ABC) said 

first thing is I hope we can simultaneously do two things, which is send compassion and concern for the first lady and the president, and be so angry about the cavalier attitude and the cavalier way and the irresponsibility of this president and the White House... 

Which means, basically, he's mad as hell and doesn't want to take it any more. For her part, Republican strategist Alice Stewart said that this whole thing does put pressure - "tremendous pressure" - on Republicans up and down the ballot.

Look, the president's base will support him. Biden's base will support him. But these undecided voters, they do have concerns about how this has been handled. And leadership is about not just showing that you're in control but actually being in control. And to be in control, you have to lead by example and heed the advice of these public health officials and also talk the talk and walk the walk. And there's great concern whether or not this president has done so.

Rahm Emmanuel, former Obama chief of staff, talked about what George called "a case study for how not to bring important information to the public."

I will say that what they did there on the White House was everything you're not supposed to do. And it continues to undermine the president's campaign, because it was a lack of information on a very, very important issue. And what they needed to do from the get-go was hit the restart and say, 'here's how we're going to be honest, here's how we're going to lead by example.'

And he said, "the edifice of what Trump is to the public" is starting to come apart.

And I think the White House, in this set of decisions, has actually shown a disjointed -- you got a medical team that saying he's OK, yet all the care he's getting shows he's a very sick patient. And that dissonance, that kind of information that's jarring, is actually undermining the presidency and his candidacy right now.

Which is just one more "thing that makes you go hmm... " 

Down the hall in the CNN classroom, Jake Tapper noted the confusing information on Trump's condition, with Mark Meadows, Trump's chief of staff, contradicting Sean Conley, the president's doctor. And, Tapper said,

Right now, it is of the utmost importance for the White House to provide you, the American people, with information, accurate information, factual information, about the president's condition.

We asked the White House for someone to be here to do just that today. We asked for the vice president or the chief of staff or the communications director or the president's physician. We asked for members of the Coronavirus Task Force, including health Secretary Azar, Dr. Fauci, or Dr. Birx, or the surgeon general, or the director of the NIH, or the CDC director, or the top vaccine adviser, or Jared Kushner, or the national security adviser.

The White House declined to provide any of them, any of them, to update you on the president's condition. Instead, they referred us to the president's political campaign. We told them we would be happy to take the campaign manager.

But, unfortunately, he, too, is now battling the coronavirus.

Some folks on social media thought that those comments meant that Tapper was picking on the White House. In fact, he was picking on their apparent inability to speak the truth. Not the same, usually, but with this administration, I guess it is. 

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine was one of the guests. He said there had been no contact from the White House on the potential exposure to anyone who had attended the debate in his state,. And he doesn't know if the White House had reached out to the Cleveland Clinic folks, either - they're the medical consultants for the debates.  That said, DeWine didn't seem too upset about the president, his family and his team perhaps putting Ohioans at risk.

Well, I think it's important what the president has done. The president went to the hospital. That will -- could not have been an easy thing for him to do. I'm sure he didn't want to go the hospital. He made the right decision. They put up two videos of the president talking to the people of this country. I think that is very positive.

And I think, look, this is -- what I said at a press conference I did the other day, this is -- should be kind of an alert to everybody that anybody can get the virus. Even the president of the United States can get the virus. And so we ought to use this, and simply just learn from it. And so people who -- maybe who have not worn masks in the past, I'm hoping that they will look at this and say, look, the president can get it, I can get it, it can happen to anybody.

And I hope that that's what happens and that's what comes out of this.

He's quite the tap-dancer, the Governor is. Or, he's physically incapable of saying anything bad about Trump, I'm not sure which. Oh wait - my bad - it's something else entirely. Tapper flat out said to him, "I just don't understand the reluctance to state the obvious, which is, President Trump has been mocking people who wear masks. And now there are a lot of Republicans who won't wear masks.

DeWine's answer?

Look, do I wish -- look, do I wish the president had worn masks all the time? Of course. Of course. When people go vote, there's a lot -- there's other things besides that. I think the president has done a very good job, as I just detailed, in trying to get us the things that we need, the testing that we need... and the PPE that we need. And that doesn't, frankly, a lot of times get reported. And they have done a very good job.

And if I don't keep saying stuff like that, he left unsaid, I won't get the stuff I need. And so in that regard, it's not October, it's March. And April. And May. And June... when all the governors were having to suck up to the president, or Jared, or Pence, in order to get the things they needed. 

That's all for now. I'll have more for you in tomorrow's Extra Credit. And, as Chris Wallace said so eloquently, wear your damn mask.

Sunday School 9/6/20: Extra Credit

For this week's Extra Credit, I went looking for folks talking about the allegations that the president referred to US military veterans as "suckers" and "losers."

I hit the mother lode with the This Week with George Stephanopoulos classroom, where Martha Raddatz was hosting the conversations. She's been on a multi-state tour, and noted that shortly after she arrived in Denver, the article in the Atlantic about Trump's comment hit. She asked voters for their reactions; here are a few of them.

It broke my heart. 

We're not losers. We're not suckers. He's - the government sent us over there (Vietnam). We didn't say, 'send me, send me to war. The government sent us to go fight for this country.

My immediate reaction was what is this? This doesn't make a lot of sense. And each allegation was supported by anonymous sources.  (This man said he absolutely doesn't believe the article).

He tweets a lot, he says a lot and gets all about going after (a) certain voting bloc. It's not what he really feels. And so, when you take it back to national security, I'm really worried that he's going to put men and women needlessly in harm's way.

It didn't surprise me. You can see what he said about Senator McCain from the very start. I think that (he's) someone who respects the military vote but that's not the same thing as respecting the military. 

And, she talked with former Secretary of Defense (and former Republican Senator) Chuck Hagel, asking him for his reaction.

...if these comments are real (and I'll address that in a second) but if they're real, it's beneath the dignity of any commander in chief, truly they're despicable. Now, one of the points that one of the veterans made which was a good point, these are anonymous sources. But let's go back to the words from Trump himself, coming out of his own mouth, starting in 2016 about - what he said about John McCain and what he continued to say about McCain. 

How he degraded the service of Generals Mattis and McMaster, and just recently, General Kelly, the history of this president over the last three, four years is pretty clear. The 2018 experience when he did not go to the American military cemetery in France, to recognize and honor the World War I Marines, every other leader went, every other leader drove, leaders of Germany, France, Canada. And you can go through a litany of past things that he said from his mouth, actions that he's taken, and it corroborates really the Goldberg article in "The Atlantic”.

Hagel also said he thinks this will resonate with servicemen and women,

because what I’ve just said, he's on the record with saying things himself over the past few years. And that -- that makes the credibility of this article and those anonymous comments more and more credible. Now, I said before, if you want to make an anonymous comment and if you feel so strongly about that that you make that comment to an established, well-respected reporter and a magazine, then you ought to have the courage to go out and use your name, too. I’ve always believed that. I think it’s important now. If these guys who said it or allegedly said it, think it’s that important for the future of this country, then they should show some courage and step forward as well.

Interestingly, Raddatz asked one of the doubting veterans she talked to about this if he'd believe it if "someone appeared who had provided information in that article and said it on the record in front of a camera" and the gentleman was still unsure about believing it. Hagel noted that some folks will never believe it, "no matter what is said, no matter who says it," noting

...and that's just the reality of politics and freedom of expression, and we have a great country where you can believe what you want to believe. But facts are facts, Martha. And the reality of those facts (is) pretty clear. I think it's a pretty clear indictment of this president's attitude towards our veterans.

He'll use them. Of course, he’s used them in the last three and a half years as props in his actions, in his statements. No president has ever done that -- use your veterans, use your active military as props. I mean, couple of months ago, he sends an airborne division into Washington, camps them outside of Washington, the mayor didn’t ask for that. The police chief didn't ask for that in Washington, D.C. But it's a continuation of the same actions and words we have seen from this president the last three and a half years.

I have to agree with Hagel. It IS believable that Trump could have said this, given what he's said about and said to veterans, members of a Gold Star family, and his penchant for grasping for the military to get involved in his pet projects (the Wall), the DC stuff that Hagel mentioned, and his repeated claims that he'll "send in the National Guard"- something that's not even his responsibility, for Pete's sake.

The comment by the one veteran, the one who said Trump loves the military voter, not the military? Solid gold.

Also on the show fielding questions on this issue? Ohio's Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, who served in the Senate with both Chuck Hagel and John McCain. His reaction?

Well, Martha, I -- I read the article. But, you know, any time I've been with the president, there's ever been any discussion about the military, he has been extremely respectful, what you would expect of the president. So, you know, that's -- that's been my personal experience.

Raddatz talked about the fact that even Fox News had confirmed parts of the article (other news agencies have done the same).  But DeWine agreed with Hagel that "people should come forward, adding that

...you know, anonymous sources are -- are interesting, but, you know, it's never going to have the credibility, I think, for the general public unless someone -- you know, people actually come forward and are willing to do that.

He said that he doesn't agree with Trump's comments about McCain, whom DeWine called "a dear, dear personal friend."

Raddatz wondered about the over 19 million veterans in the country, who accounted for 13% of 2016 voters (per exit polling). Then, 60% of them voted for Trump, 34% for Hillary Clinton, and asked if DeWine thought this could make a difference in this year's election. He said he really didn't know.

...you know, we're into the campaign. You know, a lot of things come out in a campaign. And I think sometimes people, when -- when they only come out during a campaign, you know, people are somewhat skeptical about them. This is -- you know, we're into the 60 days. And so I don't know what, you know, impact that's going to have. I think, you know, what the president has done in regard to the economy before we hit the -- the virus, you know, I think people in Ohio generally very happy with that. You know, the president made commitments in regard to the Supreme Court and -- and federal courts. We're very happy with what he's done there. So, you know, it's going to -- look, it's going to be a close race in Ohio. I think the president will win Ohio. But Ohio's always going to be a -- a battleground state. And, you know, no -- neither side can ever take Ohio for granted.

You know? On that last part, he's right: neither side can ever take Ohio for granted. And he's right on the part before that, too, I suspect: there are probably lots of single-issue voters, like the ones who focus on Supreme Court justices. Those people cannot be discounted, in this or any election.

See you around the virtual campus. And if you're not wearing your mask, you're doing it wrong.