TGIF 6/7/19

Much of the week was filled with news of the president's state visit to the United Kingdom, where he and his family, including a Georgetown University Law School student and two businessmen who expressly both have no role in our government and who are expressly not allowed to talk about the family business with their father,, as well as the First Daughter and the Big Portfolio son-in-law, who are allowed to talk to the president about everything, I think,given their hard-earned security clearances, got to hobnob with the royal family. 

The president had a chance to have a fabulous week, he really did - until someone forgot to keep him on a short leash. There was his pre-visit bashing of London's mayor, and of the Duchess of Sussex, and of course his comments about Brexit and what a great trade deal we'll do with Britain come Halloween when they will be forced to leave the European Union without a deal, which is what the president wants, because well, that's the kind of guy he is. If there's a union, break it. If there's a treaty, break it. If there's a protocol, ignore it. If there's a right way to do something, do it the wrong way. We are so used to it now, aren't we?

While he was supposed to be on his best behavior, he attacked Bette Midler on Twitter, because hey, what else are you supposed to be doing at 1AM? I would suggest practicing your speech, but what do I know?

He did an interview within sight of a Normandy veteran's cemetery with Laura Ingraham (on the Trump News Network, natch) in which he told a lie so bad that Ingraham had to tell people it was fake news. Here's her comment to that effect:

Some of you may have heard or read that president Trump supposedly held up the entire D-Day ceremony in order to do this interview with me. That is patently false - fake news. 

And here's what Trump said, in the interview with her, that preceded her #fakenews claim, talking about people waiting for the commemoration to get underway:

Listen to those incredible people back there, These people are so amazing, and what they don't realize is that I'm holding them up because of this interview, but that's because it's you. By the way, congratulations on your ratings. I'm very proud.

I'm proud to say #NMPNNNE and MAGAMA and dear lord, #whatthesniff is wrong with this man?

Over 10,000 lies and counting, and as usual, he lies about things that are of absolutely no consequence. I've said it before, and will say it again. He is incapable of speaking without doing something to over-emphasize his own importance, even on  the anniversary of D-Day. And his flunkies at Fox? So quick to call out 'fake news' when the news occurs on their shows in front of our own two eyes.

During the same interview, he went off on Nancy Pelosi, while he was on foreign soil, violating the long-standing protocol that US politics stops at the border and when our leaders are overseas, they don't attack their political rivals. During his visit to Japan, he attacked Joe Biden, the Democratic front-runner for 2020 (at least for now), so the seal having been broken and all, you know...

Here's part of what he said about her while he was on foreign soil.

I think she's a disgrace. I actually don't think she's a talented person, I've tried to be nice to her because I would have liked to have gotten some deals done. She's incapable of doing deals, she's a nasty, vindictive, horrible person...

Of course, it could be worse? Remember I said he attacked Bette Midler in the middle of the night? 

The best part of that tweet just might be "your great president" - because the quotation marks make the man.

#MAGA, or something.

TGIF, everyone.

Wondering on Wednesday (v174)

Here we go again - it's Wednesday!

Many people are wondering why the president doesn't have a tailor, or at least a 'dresser' to help him get ready for things like appearances at church on 'Pray for Donald Trump' Day, or at a state dinner with that great, great woman, HRH the Queen.  Me? I"m wondering if Melania lets him go places dressed like he does on purpose? You know,  exceptional fashion model and her badly dressed husband?

The visit to the church was a weird thing in and of itself. He was not invited, the pastor tells us. Rather, the pastor was looking forward to a few minutes of quiet contemplation, and then this happened:

But I was immediately called backstage and told that the president of the United States was on his way to the church, would be there in a matter of minutes, and would like us to pray for him.

That seems not quite the same reason for his stop that the White House gave, though:

president Donald J. Trump is visiting McLean Bible Church in Vienna, VA to visit with the Pastor and pray for the victims and community of Virginia Beach.

I'm don't think I'm the only one wondering whether there's some #fakenews here? As Trump said nothing - not a thing - during his visit to the stage, and the pastor never mentioned Virginia Beach either, I can only assume the president didn't read his schedule carefully enough, or he was being his usual intrusive self and the White House was forced to cover for him.

Again.

OrangeVerse XLIII: Off to See the Queen

As you know, the president and his family are in the UK enjoying the hospitality of the Queen and her family.  So far, no major fauxs pas, other than his interview where he called the Duchess of Sussex 'nasty' and tried to deny it, and some tweets like the one in which he called the mayor of London a "stone cold loser" but hey, there's still time.

Speaking of time, he had a few minutes before heading off on this trip to chat with the press.  Here's how that worked out.

Verily, It Will Be Very

So we'll be going to the UK.

I think it'll be very

important.

It certainly will be very

interesting.

There's a lot going on

in the UK.

And I'm sure it's going to

work out very well for them.

Do Trade? Do Tell!

...they want to do trade

with the United States, and I think

there's an opportunity for a

very big trade deal

at some point in the near future.

And we'll see

how that works out. 

Of course, we already 'do trade' with the UK, but Trump of course is talking about trade in the post-Brexit world, one which he thinks should be a no deal Brexit, which would allow him to negotiate with the UK the way he does with China, Japan, Canada and Mexico.

Well, Well, Well

Our country is doing

incredibly well.

Our businesses are doing

well.

We're going to clog up

the border.

We're going to stop

the border. 

Mex-ee-coh

Mex-ee-coh is making hundreds of

billions of dollars

for many, many years. 

And they have to do something

about the border.

Everyone is coming through Mex-ee-coh

including drugs, including human trafficking

and we're going to 

stop it

or we're not going to

do business 

and that's going to be it.

It's very simple.

Shortly after that last part, they went to questions. I'll show some of his answers, and you can guess what the question was - sort of like playing Jeopardy!

I

I don't like them at all.

II

Well, people ask me questions.

like you. you're asking me a question. 

Don't ask me the question

if you don't want me to 

talk about it.

III

We have people - 

we want people to come into

our country but they have to 

come in legally. 

We have a list of people

- literally millions of people - 

applying for membership

and citizenship

to our great country.

IV

I gave people a warning

seven months ago.

I stopped it.

I don't like what's happening...

Bad things

are happening over there.

V

I think I may meet with him.

He's been a friend of mine.

He's been very nice.

I have a very good relationship

with him... with many people

over there. And we'll see

what happens. 

But I may meet with him.

They want to meet.

We'll see

what happens.

VI

We'll see

 what happens. 

I mean look 

we're doing our best...

And he may be right.
I mean, most people

would say that.

I think we have a good chance.

But we'll see 

what happens. 

VII

No 

I don't think

much of him.

I think

that he's a - 

he's the twin of

de Blasio, 

except shorter.

Poll Watch: Looking Back at 2017

In a fascinating look at some of 2017's poll findings, the folks at Pew Research Center put numbers around some of the things we may think we know, or think we see. 

Let's take a look, starting with partisanship. 

If someone asked you about that, would you think that things had gotten worse of late?

You'd be right. According to polls taken in June and July of this year,

The average gap between the views of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents and Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents across 10 political values has increased from 15 percentage points in 1994 to 36 points today. 

And, it seems even when the parties tend to agree with each other, the partisan gap can actually grow; here's just one example.

For the first time, a majority of Republicans (54%) favor acceptance of homosexuality; just 38% did so in 1994. Yet over this period, the increase in the share of Democrats saying homosexuality should be accepted has been much larger (54% to 83%).

Even when they move in the right direction, the Republicans fall further behind... 

What about how the world views America - do you think this has changed in the first year of the Trump Administration? You'd be right if you answered yes.

Looking broadly at global confidence in the US, there was a sharp downturn from the Obama administration (64%) to the Trump administration (22%). There was an even greater shift in the 'no confidence' rate, which went from 23% under Obama to 74% under Trump.

All but two of the 37 countries surveyed noted a decline in confidence in the US president doing the right thing.  The outliers? Israel (+7 for Trump over Obama) - and Russia (+42). No surprise there.  Countries with steep declines in confidence include Germany (-75), South Korea (- 71), France (-70), Spain (-68), Canada (-61) and the UK (-57).

Another interesting finding has to do with the effect of post-secondary education on the country.

Nearly six-in-ten Republicans and Republican leaners (58%) now say colleges have a negative effect. Two years ago, by contrast, 54% of Republicans said colleges were having a positive effect. Democrats and Democratic leaners have consistently held positive views of the effect of colleges on the US: 72% of Democrats and Democratic leaners say this today.

Those negative Republicans? Last year, the number was only 45%.

And the last one we'll look at has to do with the media. Not #fakenews, but opinions on the watchdog role the media plays.

• 70% of US adults believe that criticism from news organizations keeps political leaders from doing things that shouldn't be done; while 28% think that media criticism keeps political leaders from doing their jobs. 
• But in a survey from March of this year, there's a 47 point gap between Democrats and Republicans on this question, with 89% of Dems thinking the watchdog role is a positive and only 42% of Reps believing the same. 
• As recently as early 2016 (January/February), 74% of Democrats and 77% of Republicans shared that same supportive role for the watchdog media!

These days, it's almost hard to imagine there being a time when the Rs were more supportive of the media than the Ds, isn't it? 

There are other interesting findings in the report, including opinions about automation; race and privilege; religions; and living without partners.  It's a great snapshot of this remarkable year, helped in large part because the folks at Pew have asked the same questions over time, some of them for decades.  

I'm thinking it'll be fun to look at these same surveys again next year, to see whether the Trump effect continues, or if things establish a sense of balance - even if it's an out-of-whack version of balance.