Wondering on Wednesday 1/5/22

Ready... Set.. Wonder!

Welcome to the first Wondering Wednesday of the New Year! Let's dive right in.

Does former Trump assistant Peter Navarro believe what he's saying, I wonder? All his talk about the Green Bay Sweep and the 100 Congressmen and Sen. Rafael Cruz (R-Cancun) and Rep. Paul Gosar (R- Even My Family Thinks I'm a Traitor) and the rest of the activities on 1/6/2021? And does he have any idea how damaging this stuff is to his former boss?

Speaking of the former president, it seems he's cancelled a planned press conference at Mar-a-Lago tomorrow, the anniversary of the insurrection at the Capitol. Apparently, he's going to wait and let the news of Sean Hannity's texts die down a bit, and instead speak at a rally in Arizona in ten days. I can't help wondering if that rally will happen as planned.

After all, the Supreme Court is gathering documents in advance of their fast-tracked review of Trump's claim of executive privilege over information requested by the House January 6th committee. Lower courts have held that the privilege no longer applies to him; here are some thoughts on what the Supremes, three of whom are Trump appointees, might do. If they refuse to get involved, or if they decide that privilege is no longer Trump's, might that Arizona rally  go poof like the one in Tulsa?

Also going poof? A candlelight program which Cobb County, GA Republicans in Name Only (RINOs) had planned for tomorrow, which was to include streaming of Trump's remarks and "a prayer vigil for the jailed rioters still awaiting trial."  Yee hah, or something. I wonder what pushed them to cancel - complaints from real Republicans (the people Trumpers refer to as RINOs), or the fact that their fearless leader really isn't fearless? 

Others in the 'not fearless' bucket? The corporations and trade groups that have donated over $18M to members of the 'Sedition Caucus,' senators and representatives who supported the Big Lie, and to the national Republican re-election committees. I wonder if they remember the statements issued in the days after the insurrection, and how they justify the donations they've made in the year since?

What else is on the wondering docket? Well, there's a judge who just decided that members of the military can ignore a direct order, at least if they claim the order violates their religious freedom or free speech rights. I can only wonder what the hell the judge was thinking; does he really want Navy SEALs to do whatever they heck they feel like whenever they feel like it? And does he really think the Supremes are going to allow this ruling to stand? Never mind that last question; the judge clearly doesn't give a hoot about that.

There's more, of course - there's always more. But I'll leave you wondering with me about this: Melania Trump is selling a hat, a watercolor, and a "digital artwork NFT with motion" in her latest online auction. 

The starting bid? $250,000. Or, some 1415 rays of SOL digital currency.

What are you wondering about these days?

Wondering on Wednesday 6/30/21

Ready... Set... Wonder!

Let's dive in to today's wondering, shall we?

A Republican strategist on NPR suggested that because the Dems have only a five-vote majority in the House of Representatives as a whole, it would be grossly unfair to have a Select Committee on the 1/6 Insurrection with eight Democrats and five Republicans. And I wonder, if that consequence of the election is so unpalatable, why on earth didn't the R's jump at the chance to have an independent, 9/11-style commission? I mean, did they all get their Melania jackets from the dry cleaners at the same time?

Sticking with the House and the Select Committee, I wonder if any of the Rs that don't want an investigation have considered what Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) reportedly said - here's the meme that's making the rounds. 

I wonder, what's the argument against what he says? Either you want to know, because you think it was something other than what it appears to be, or you believe The Big Lie, and you don't want any more proof that it was supporters of Former Guy, just like it's been shown all along. Or, I guess, you're chicken and afraid of losing your job. 

Kinzinger, in a recent appearance on CNN, told Anderson Cooper, 

If people are willing, at a young age, to put their life on the line for this country, and we can't put our career on the line for the same thing, what's it worth? Why are you doing it, right? But if everybody just comes out and tells the truth, has differences of opinion or perspective, of course, we can fix this country. Short of that, we've got some trouble.

I wonder how many of his colleagues are willing to admit publicly they agree with him on that?

Speaking of 'we've got some trouble," we learned that South Dakota Gov. Kristy Noem, who might want to be Nikki Haley when she grows up, has promised to deploy her state's National Guard troops in Texas to help with border security. And, according to her spokesman, she's going to use private funds to "help alleviate the cost to South Dakota taxpayers."  The private funds are coming from a Trump-supporting used care billionaire from Tennessee, if that makes any sense at all.

And now, I'm wondering what would happen if say, Michigan's Gov. Gretchen Whitmer decided to send her state's National Guard to Texas to support asylum seekers crossing the border, and say it was Michael Bloomberg who was footing the bill. How'd that sit with everyone?

And are we going to see National Guard deployments up for bid on eBay and other auction sites, I wonder? Or Go Fund Me campaigns to send them to other states on a governor's whim? Think of all the money that could be separated from billionaires and used for defense. Or for The Wall. Anyone still have Steve Bannon on speed dial?

Speaking of Former Guy, he held a rally in Ohio the other day. and Amanda Uhle, a WaPo reporter, attended the rally out of her self-proclaimed inability to "stop probing Trump supporters, trying to understand exactly how they see the world and why they're not seeing it the way" she does. Speaking of his Ohio appearance, she wrote

This time, he was to be accompanied by all you might expect from an 88-degree evening at the Lorain County Fairgrounds — a dusty parking area, livestock stalls and creaky grandstands under the rich, dank odor of manure and surrounded by verdant fields. Air Force One would not be deployed. His lectern wouldn’t be adorned by the presidential seal. He’s not officially running for anything, even if all signs point to a bid in 2024. So, who would want to attend a Trump rally in 2021?

I almost stopped at "the rich, dank odor of manure" line - what could be more evocative of a Trump rally than that, I wondered? But I kept reading, and learned that the people who are attending now are the same people who attended his rallies before - he doesn't seem to have a new crowd, any more than he has a new message. I guess that's a good thing.

Finally, like most people, I've been following the story of the condo collapse in Florida. My heart aches for the families that have been forever changed by the tragedy, and for the community similarly forever changed

One thing I can't shake? Whether this, like so many other infrastructure collapses, was preventable, if only we had been paying attention. And paying attention from the very beginning, not just two or three years ago, or forty years later, or five or six months from now. 

Our appetite for building in coastal areas, on cliffs, in fire-prone forests, on fault lines, seems boundless, as does our appetite for ignoring potential signs of danger along the way, and for kicking the can down the road. 

We cringe, and duck, when we get an estimate on repairs, whether it's a condo or a bridge or a highway, and we don't act until the very last argument is made, literally dozens of times, and even then, half the time we make a temporary fix, as if the arguments will change when it comes time to pay the pipe. And pay we will, after a horrendous collapse, after people die, after families are forever changed by the tragedy, or even after a change in who holds the purse strings. 

And that's always the driver, right? Money up front to make growth happen; money in the middle to buy the view or the solitude or the speed to get from point A to point B; money on the back end to keep things standing (hopefully in time); and of course, money to distribute when our worst nightmares come to fruition.

I wonder about all of that, I do.

What are you wondering about?

No True Supporter of Mine... Yeah, Right.

The twice-impeached president released another video letting us know how he feels about violence, apparently thinking that we don't already know how he feels about it. 

I want to be very clear -- I unequivocally condemned the violence that we saw last week, violence and vandalism have absolutely no place in our country and no place in our movement. Making America great again has always been about defending the rule of law, supporting the men and women of law enforcement and upholding our nation's most sacred traditions and values. Mob violence goes against everything I believe in, and everything our movement stands for. No true supporter of mine could ever endorse political violence, no true supporter of mine could ever disrespect law enforcement, or our great American flag, no true supporter of mine could ever threaten or harass their fellow Americans. If you do any of these things you are not supporting our movement, you're attacking it, and you are attacking our country. We cannot tolerate it."

You've got to love how he puts his personal interests, his 'movement,' on the same level as he puts the country. Who else would do this? 

What he said in the video conflicts with his many documented instances of encouraging and condoning violence, as this article from Vox  points out.

Trump has continually refused to recognize what’s at the core of this violence: hate nurtured under a tense national climate that he has helped cultivate.

Trump’s campaign rallies have always been incubation grounds for violence, sites where Trump spewed hate speech that encouraged physical harm against dissenters. And as president, he has used his platform to encourage violence against American citizens, whether through the police and National Guard or militia groups — unless those citizens are his supporters.

The article gives examples of his rhetoric, and of his supporters listening and responding to it. Here are just a few of them.

August 19, 2015: Two Boston brothers invoked Trump when they were arrested for urinating on a homeless man and beating him with a metal pipe. While in custody, one of the brothers told the police, “Trump was right. All of these illegals need to be deported.” The 58-year-old Mexican American they assaulted was a permanent US resident.

In response to the news that the Boston assault was inspired by his rhetoric, Trump did not denounce the violence, instead calling his supporters “passionate.” “I think that would be a shame. I will say, the people that are following me are very passionate. They love this country. They want this country to be great again. But they are very passionate. I will say that,” he told reporters the next day.

On August 21, Trump  backtracked a bit, taking a both-sides approach. “Boston incident is terrible. We need energy and passion, but we must treat each other with respect. I would never condone violence,” he tweeted.

November 21, 2015:  At a rally in Birmingham, AL, Trump demanded the removal of Black activist Mercutio Southall Jr. after he yelled, “Black lives matter!” Onstage, Trump exclaimed, “Get him the hell out of here! Get him out of here! Throw him out!” In a video captured by CNN, Southall fell to the ground as Trump made his statements and white men appeared to kick and punch him.

...Trump told Fox News the next day, “Maybe he should have been roughed up, because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing. I have a lot of fans, and they were not happy about it. And this was a very obnoxious guy who was a troublemaker who was looking to make trouble.”

February 1, 2016:  At a campaign rally in Cedar Rapids, IA, Trump told the crowd that... “If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. Just knock the hell out of them. I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise. There won’t be so much of them because the courts agree with us,” he said.

March 31, 2016: Three people who say they were assaulted at Trump campaign rally in Louisville sued the then-candidate, alleging that he riled up his followers and encouraged violence when he repeatedly yelled, “Get ‘em out of here!” The group sued Trump for incitement to riot, and in April 2017, federal Judge David Hale ruled that their claim was valid since there was sufficient evidence proving their injuries were a “direct and proximate result” of Trump’s comments. “It is plausible that Trump’s direction to ‘get ‘em out of here’ advocated the use of force,” Hale wrote. “It was an order, an instruction, a command.”

Trump appealed the case, and in September 2018, a federal appeals court  dismissed the protesters’ claims, saying that Trump’s words were protected under the First Amendment and did not “specifically advocate imminent lawless violence.” An attorney for the plaintiffs called the ruling “unprecedented” and “dangerous,” and a “free pass” for a candidate for public office.

How right they were. 

December 2016: After Trump bullied then-Fox News journalist Megyn Kelly for months, Kelly said that Trump’s social media director was responsible for inciting the many death threats she was receiving. “The vast majority of Donald Trump supporters are not at all this way,” Kelly said, according to the Guardian. “It’s that far corner of the internet that really enjoys nastiness and threats and unfortunately there is a man who works for Donald Trump whose job it is to stir these people up and that man needs to stop doing that. His name is Dan Scavino.”

Scavino is now Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications, in addition to his social media role.

January 27, 2017: On the day the Trump administration instituted a ban against travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries, a Muslim Delta employee wearing a hijab was physically and verbally attacked at JFK International Airport in New York. The perpetrator told the victim “[Expletive] Islam. [Expletive] ISIS. Trump is here now. He will get rid of all of you,” according to ABC. On the campaign trail, Trump said he was open to the idea of closing mosques and creating a database of all Muslims in the US, consistently saying that Muslims were a “problem” and a “sickness."

The article also notes a number of studies showing a significant increase in hate crimes during the Trump administration, including a 2019 report which found "counties that hosted a rally with Trump as a headliner experienced a  226 percent increase in hate crimes, and that Trump's rhetoric "may encourage hate crimes."

Back to the violence: 

October 18, 2018: At a rally in Montana, Trump celebrated Republican Rep. Greg Gianforte, who body-slammed a reporter in May 2017, telling the crowd, “Any guy who can do a body-slam ... he’s my guy.”

Gianforte assaulted journalist Ben Jacobs after Jacobs asked him a question about the GOP health care bill, on the day before Gianforte won election. He ultimately apologized (after his spokesperson first denied the assault) and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault. Gianforte was sentenced with 40 hours of community service, 20 hours of anger management, and a $300 fine along with an $85 court fee, in addition to a deferred 180-day jail sentence.

August 5, 2019: A 39-year-old Montana man was charged with felony assault for choking, slamming, and fracturing the skull of a 13-year-old boy who didn’t take his hat off for the national anthem. The man’s attorney told the local newspaper that Trump’s “rhetoric” led to the violent act. “His commander in chief is telling people that if they kneel, they should be fired, or if they burn a flag, they should be punished,” the lawyer said, referencing Trump’s harsh words against athletes like Colin Kaepernick who protested for social justice.

I wonder what that man would have done had he been at Mar-a-Lago for Trump's Super Bowl party antics last year?  But I digress.

Back to the violence.

May 29, 2020: Following the first weekend of social justice protests after George Floyd’s killing...(h)is tweet thread showed the tone that would dominate his reaction to the unrest in the following months: 

...These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won't let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control, but when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!  

Twitter flagged Trump’s tweet for “glorifying violence.”

There's so much more out there, including all of the stuff last year around state-level COVID responses (just ask Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer) and the "stolen election," culminating with his rally speech on January 6th. 

It is all a lie. 

I'll close with a tweet sent by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich yesterday (emphasis added). 

Jan. 6 was supposed to be about talking about the very real election fraud that took place during the 2020 Presidential Election. To expose it. To talk about election reform. To review our systems so that this kind of distrust in our electoral process never happens again. Instead, it became a sad referendum on just how easily people are influenced and misled.

I'm not a subscriber on Gingrich's website, so I don't know for sure who the easily influenced and misled people are, but I'd be willing to guess 

• it's not the Trump supporters who took, and continue to take, comfort in the president's often-repeated calls for, and approval of, violence in the MAGA movement; 
• it's not the Trump supporters who bought into the president's drumbeat about the election being rigged, which began in earnest with a May 1,2020 tweet stating "Do not allow RIGGED elections" and only ended January 8, 2021 with his permanent banning from Twitter; and
• it's probably not his fellow Republicans, who (for the most part) have been easily influenced by Trump, and misled by him - and who toed the line right up to the bitter end.

Sunday School Extra Credit 6/21/20

In yesterday's Sunday School, we heard from Reps. Adam Schiff and Hakeem Jeffries, as well as from Preet Bharara, with most of the conversation centered on the firing of Geoffrey Berman, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and on John Bolton's book. 

For your Extra Credit this week, we're going to look at the view from Fox News Sunday, where Chris Wallace talked to representatives from the Biden and Trump campaigns, about Trump's failed Tulsa Million-MAGA-Rally and more.  Right off the bat, I want to include this reporting from Mark Meredith, which was part of the opening of the show. 

Inside the Bank of Oklahoma Center, supporters filled about two-thirds of the arena, with many empty seats in the upper deck...

(Photo: Patrick Semansky, AP)

Meredith's arena being two-thirds full estimation is clearly optimistic; of the 19,000 available seats, only about 6,200 had butts in them. And the fact that the empty seats are blue? Well, let's just say the view from the president's perspective must have been frightening, and I'm sure a contributor to how he looked when he got back home. 

Joining Wallace yesterday were Symone Sanders, a senior advisor to the Biden campaign, and Mercedes Schlapp, who holds a similar position with the Trump campaign. 

Here are some excerpts from Sanders giving campaign speeches in response to questions, starting with Trump's rally. 

...I think the most damning thing from that rally... was the president's admission that he, quote/unquote, said to his people to slow down the testing. This is an appalling attempt to lessen the numbers only to make him look good. And so, I think that's what will be remembered long after (the) debacle of a rally...

On the 'double standard' of complaining about the rally and coronavirus, but not complaining about protests and the coronavirus:

There is no double standard here... the American people have the right to go out and raise their voices. The difference here is... we are talking about the president...holding a rally, not following their own precautions that his own public health officials have put out... the president has to lead, Chris, and president Trump has demonstrated so many times, in every sense of the word, that he is unable to do so. 

On why Biden didn't caution protesters about the potential for spreading the coronavirus:

I'm not sure what you're asking or what you're suggesting. Look, Vice President Biden has really exhibited leadership on this issue...you have seen Vice President Biden go back out onto the actual campaign trail and our events are safe. They are socially distant. They adhere with the CDC guidelines.

On Biden's 'reclusivity' - staying Delaware, very few socially distanced events, and so on:

...we have adjusted to this new normal like most people in America...just because we are campaigning virtually does not mean we are not meeting actual voters across the country.... the reality is, what we have been doing it following CDC guidelines. 

On why no press conference for 80 days: 

...as many of you -- many of y'all in the national press and the beltway press are well aware, we take pride in prioritizing local media. And so, the Vice President is going local media interviews. He's doing national media interviews and he is taking questions from reporters. 

On whether Biden contributes to the conversation that he's not up to the challenge of the campaign by staying home:

This is just despicable, Chris, honest. It truly is. The fact that folks are parroting this - you, just unfounded salacious lie from the president and his campaign that Vice President Biden isn't up to the challenge. He's absolutely up to it... 

And, for campaign blah blah blah from the Trump side of here are highlights from the interview with Schlapp, starting, again, with the pitiful rally attendance:

Let me explain. When it comes to understanding how the rallies work, it's a first-come, first-served basis. Basically, what the 1 million RSVPs include are -- it's an opportunity for us to gather data, to get information, obviously.  So the key here that that's -- that is important is to understand -- and I had this with my own personal family who lives not far away from Tulsa, that they were concerned. There were factors involved, like they were concerned about the protesters who were coming in. There were protesters who blocked the MAGAs. And so we saw that have an impact in terms of people coming to the rally.  

On the Fox polling showing that by wide margins, people think Biden respects racial minorities and Trump does not: 

I don't know how that's even possible because the -- here we -- if you want to see the record of Joe Biden, it's one in which he proudly embraced segregationists. I mean even his colleagues, like Senator Kamala Harris, look, basically accused him of being a racist. He's one who gave the eulogy at Senator Robert Byrd's funeral... He did not provide any significant change for the black community. In fact, he supported mass incarceration when it came to supporting the 1994 Crime Bill. This is in complete contrast to President Trump, who has been focused on uplifting the black community. Just this week he signed an executive order on the police reform where in essence he's ensuring that these police departments implement these best practices and they get incentive for this. 

On the recent resignation of Mary Elizabeth Taylor, one of the highest-ranking African Americans in the Administration, who said, "The president's comments and actions surrounding racial injustice in black Americans cuts sharply against her core values:" 

Well, I wish that Mary Elizabeth would listen to the president's speech following the tragedy of George Floyd's death where he said healing, not chaos, where he called for justice, were he brought in community leaders from the black community to -- to speak with them, to listen to them. Just yesterday I was with our coalition, our black voices coalition. These men and women who stand with President Trump because of what he has done to help the black community. 

On all of the top officials who are questioning the president's fitness for office, not just John Bolton: 

Look, these are individuals who did -- did not agree with the president's policies when it came to foreign policy in general. And so, at the end of the day, it's not Rex Tillerson or John Kelly or Secretary Mattis who make these decisions. It's President Trump. And (he) is going to listen to his advisors at the end of the day, but he's the ultimate decision-maker when it comes to foreign policy... You talk to Secretary Pompeo, you talk to Robert O'Brien, you talk to Secretary Esper, these are individuals who know that the president is focused on keeping America safe and ensuring that we keep working with our allies in all the areas of foreign policy, whether it be North Korea, whether it be the Middle East and being tough on Iran. 

And yes, in case you were wondering, Wallace called them both out for speechifying and not answering questions, particularly Schlapp, who is better at it than Sanders.

See you around the virtual campus.

TGIF 6/19/20

Oh, what a week it was... Here's just a slice.

Take John Bolton. Liar, or teller of the most secrety of our secrety stuff? Money-hungry man without a conscience, or money-hungry man without a conscience? A would-be do-gooder, if only there'd been a subpoena, or a man who doesn't really give a rat about our country and protecting it from the Trumpeters?

Could he be all of those rolled into one? Seems like the answer is yes, or sorta kinda maybe. Here's one take on it, from The Atlantic. The author, Thomas Wright, gives a litany of reasons (and likely not a full list, it sounds) of why he's no fan of Bolton, only to land here:

But I have to acknowledge that Bolton behaved honorably as national security adviser when he told his staff to report illegality to the White House lawyers. He also defended those who served under him against Trump loyalists. He is right to publish his book. If he gives a full accounting of what he saw as national security adviser—and from a recent article in The New York Times and an excerpt in The Wall Street Journal, it seems he might have—he deserves credit for it regardless of what he did or did not do during the impeachment hearings and trial. He will have done the nation a service.

ABC's Martha Raddatz has Bolton exclusively, Sunday night; check your local listings.

And speaking of John Bolton, Mick Mulvaney - remember him, the acting chief of staff who was exiled to Ireland to serve as chief groundskeeper or something at Trump's golf course?  Among other things, Mulvaney said something to the effect that no one else who was in The Room Where it Happened mentioned anything inappropriate. And I had to laugh at that - as if Mulvaney, Pompeo, or others still in Trump's universe would recognize anything as being in appropriate? I mean, they thought an obvious quid pro quo was nothing other than a perfect phone call, for Pete's sake.

And speaking of Pete's sake, here's the question NBC's Peter Alexander asked at the presser today.

Why does the president keep hiring people who are dumb as a rock, overrated, way over their heads, whack' and incompetent?

The answer, from Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany? Trump likes "countervailing opinions" and likes to balance his own opinion with those who disagree with him, similar to Lincoln's Team of Rivals model. Except that the words Alexander used in his question are Trump's words, used to describe former staffers - and they did actually apply to Bolton, she added.

And, McEnany went on to say that even the FAILING NEW YORK TIMES!!! which is often FAKE NEWS!!! and which NOBODY READS ANYWAY!! because they're losing subscribers left and right has criticized Bolton. Except, I have to correct the part about the Times losing subscribers left and right - because they didn't have any 'right' ones, right? I mean left? Or something?

Mulvaney, for his part, felt safe in saying that the president isn't good at hiring people.

And speaking of the president, he's having his love-fest tomorrow in Tulsa OK, against the advice of Drs. Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx, according to this NBC News report. I guess the docs are part of the 'team of rivals' on the White House Coronavirus Task Force?  Anyway, a couple of days ago, Fauci said he would not ("of course not") attend any of Trump rallies, being in a high-risk category, and he added

outside is better than inside, no crowd is better than crowd, and crowd is better than big crowd.

And speaking of crowds (sheesh, this whole post reads like an ad for Segues, doesn't it?), the president had this to say about what might happen in Tulsa.

And, now we learn how it will be "a much different scene" - some 250 National Guard soldiers will be there, unarmed except for shields, batons, and pepper spray, to help keep the peace. Of course, it could have been a very much different scene entirely, but the Oklahoma Supreme Court refused to issue an injunction keeping the rally from going on as planned, saying there was no law requiring masks or physical distancing.

And speaking of the National Guard, it seems some of the folks who were called to duty helping out with coronavirus efforts will be one day short of the 90-day deployment requirement for benefit eligibility.

The issue arose after the administration decided to end federal deployment orders for National Guard members on June 24. The decision would leave some who were placed under federal orders in late March just short of reaching a 90-day threshold that would allow them to collect retirement benefits early, before turning 60. The date also would cut short access to some GI Bill benefits, though that could be earned later.

Which stinks, especially when "we love the military." I can't imagine that no one knew that picking this specific date - a seemingly random Wednesday - would ensure that so many folks who put themselves on the line when asked to, who were away from their families helping protect the country from an invisible Chinese enemy, were going to be treated this way.

I'll leave you with this closing thought. My Sonofa Gov, Andrew Cuomo, is ending his daily coronavirus briefings. No word on whether he's also ending his participation in the Cuomo Brothers show on CNN.

TGIF, everyone.

TGIF 4/24/20

Hey - look - another Friday. How about that?

We're going to take a slightly different path this week, because I happened to hear someone mention comments made by Piers Morgan about Donald Trump. I was fascinated by the paraphrasing of Morgan's remarks, and I was fortunate that there's a transcript.

Morgan, the person who was telling the story, is one of 47 accounts the president follows on Twitter -- so he's definitely part of the 'in crowd'.  Or, more accurately, he was of the in crowd, and he was one of the 47 lucky accounts Trump follows -- but not any more, at least not as I write this. Because now there are 46, and Morgan isn't one of them.

What did the Brit say that got appear to have gotten him in hot water? Among other things, that he has "been watching these daily briefings with mounting horror, frankly, because this is not what presidents should be doing."

Presidents, Morgan said, have to "be calm, they've got to show authority, they have to be honest, they have to be accurate, entirely factual with what they're telling the people and they have to have an ability to show empathy." And, "on almost every level of that, Donald Trump at the moment is failing the American people." 

It's important to note that Morgan's comments came before yesterday's allegedly joking, sarcastic comments from the president, which we'll get to in a sec.  But first, more Morgan.

Donald Trump's approval ratings are falling and the reason for that is -- he needs to understand this -- they're falling because people don't trust him. They think he's turning these rallies -- these daily briefings into self-serving rallies, and they don't understand why he can't just do the basics of crisis leadership, which is to make the public come with you, and to believe you, and to feel that you're on their side and you're showing them the empathy that they need when so many people are dying.

Attacking Trump's ratings? That's like the third rail of being a Trump friend, I think. But that wasn't all.

Donald Trump, if he's listening to this or watching, you will win the election in November if you get this right. If you stop making it about yourself and make it about the American people and show that you care about them over yourself, you will win. And, conversely, you will lose the election in November if you continue to make it about yourself, you continue playing silly politics, continue targeting Democrat governors because that suits you for your electoral purposes. None of that matters.

Now, it would appear that Morgan did not make these comments in jest, and it wasn't a really bad attempt at sarcasm. We know this, because he hasn't retracted the comments. And he won't. Because, well, because he has courage, and convictions.

Whereas the president has zero courage, zero convictions, and absolutely no sense of humor. Because apparently, when the backlash struck today, the comments below were said to have been sarcasm.

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.  So I asked Bill a question that probably some of you are thinking of, if you’re totally into that world, which I find to be very interesting.  So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light — and I think you said that that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it.  And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you’re going to test that too.  It sounds interesting.

ACTING UNDER SECRETARY BRYAN:  We’ll get to the right folks who could.

THE PRESIDENT:  Right.  And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute.  One minute.  And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning.  Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs.  So it would be interesting to check that.  So, that, you’re going to have to use medical doctors with.  But it sounds — it sounds interesting to me. So we’ll see.  But the whole concept of the light, the way it kills it in one minute, that’s — that’s pretty powerful.

So, the official White House transcript shows that the president was addressing his remarks to Acting Undersecretary Bill Bryan, who "leads the Science and Technology Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security..." - and yet, here's what the president said today about those remarks.

I was asking a question sarcastically to reporters like you just to see what would happen,

He's a liar, the president is, as we know. And he's proved that again, as he does regularly. There should be no doubt about that, although I can't imagine how there has been any doubt about that for the past nearly five years - or more.

So, how does all of this tie to our usual TGIF theme? Well, I 'm saying Piers Morgan had a good week, and the president had his typical week, which is usually a bad one. He's among the usual suspects for that dubious honor.

Now, in the interest of something that was actually intended as a joke, and is not true and is completely ridiculous, I offer these remarks, which are funnier if you read them with Trump's voice in your head.

See, you go into the spray tan booth, but instead of spraying you gently with that orange dye, they'll turn up the pressure and blast you at the SAME time with both the UV light AND the disinfectant - at the same time, can you believe it?

The spray will be SO POWERFUL that it will penetrate your skin, and the light will get in there, and the disinfectant will get in there, and it will be like a BEAUTIFUL cleanse - so important, doing the cleanse. Doing the cleanse. And think of it - your pores will be opened up just like our beautiful ECONOMY, the greatest economy EVER, they tell me. Best ever. Even bigger pores, even bigger economy than ever before, even bigger. So important.

And JOBS! Think of all the JOBS, good old American jobs, that's right! We'll buy American UV lightbulbs, made right here in the US, they're going to reopen the plants and make the bulbs, not the orange ones that make me look bad, the good ones, the great US made UV bulbs, only the best and we'll make the disinfectant too.

I can use the D, I'll invoke the D, like never before, nothing like this before, we'll get those factories, GM will get those old factories open again, the people working again, good American people, good American jobs for the bulbs and the spray and the disinfectant, the best in the world. So important, the best in the world. No one can make the bulbs and the disinfectant like we can. 

Like I always say, #BuyAmerican and #HireAmerican, so important, so beautiful. It's going to be beautiful, and clean, so clean. 

TGIF everyone - whether you're kidding, not kidding, being sarcastic, or just plain being honest. Which, as we know, is the best policy. As is washing your hands and keeping your distance. Even from nice people like me.

Sidebar: Ranting and Raving (v4): It's not the Impeachment, Stupid

I wanted to share some additional information related to my earlier post on how it's not impeachment that's messing up the president's response to the coronavirus crisis.  

That post was prompted by a Henry Olsen column from about a week ago in the Washington Post. One of Olsen's points was that the impeachment process was slogging along back in January and February, and that was the same time China was in the thick of battle with the virus, and (emphasis added)

Despite the near certainty that Republicans would not vote to convict the president, Democrats and most of the major media were almost entirely focused on impeachment. As a result, the White House was focused on addressing this threat to its survival, not on preparing for a threat from China that might never even materialize.

I wanted to see if what Olsen suggested - that the White House was basically consumed with trying to survive, and so couldn't also focus on the potential COVID-19 threat, so I did a little digging. Here's what I found.

I reviewed the activity just on the president's primary Twitter account (there's also the White House account, the @POTUS account, his campaign account, and others who reliably talk about whatever he wants them to) and found that he tweeted or retweeted 1,834 times in January and February - around 30 times a day. I searched that activity for a few keywords, to see what was on his mind.

In case you were wondering, he mentioned coronavirus/virus 28 times, and COVID-19 once.  When it comes to topics likely related to impeachment, he was much more active: 

• 197 mentions of impeach/impeachment
• 197 mentions of Democrats
•  99 mentions for Adam Schiff
•  65 mentions of some kind of hoax
•  65 mentions of Nancy/Nancy Pelosi
•  60 mentions of Dems
•  49 mentions of fake (most of them fake news)
•  29 mentions of Biden (Joe or Hunter)
•  26 mentions of Russia
•  24 mentions of Ukraine
•  15 mentions of FISA
•  14 mentions of whistleblower
•  12 mentions of Romney

But, it's not like he was slacking on other subjects, including calling Democratic presidential candidates names, endorsing Republicans, and other presidential things:

• 57 mentions of Bernie/Bernie Sanders
• 40 mentions of debate/debates
• 37 mentions of poll/polls/polling
• 35 mentions of Michael Bloomberg (including Mini Mike)
• 25 mentions of China
• 25 mentions of endorsement (my complete and total endorsement, e.g.)
• 11 mentions of Stone/Roger Stone
• 10 mentions of Pocahontas/Warren

As expected, whether he was talking about impeachment things or non-impeachment things, he was definitely focused on himself. But here's the thing: when you have over 57,000,000 legitimate Twitter followers (and another 15,000,000 fake ones) you can push any message you want, and before you know it, what you are talking about becomes what the media is talking about. 

Would you be surprised that, as the White House was fighting for its very survival, the president managed to attend 10 rallies - or, on average, one every six days? 

During this very trying time for White House, the president managed to make nine trips to the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, which averages just under one trip every seven days.  

He also attended four fundraisers, two each month, or one every 15 days, on average. These were important to the president's own survival instincts, and raised tens of millions of dollars. One of them would have cost me and My Sweet Baboo a pretty $580,600 to attend, if we wanted the full treatment. One of the fundraisers was all the way across the country in California, not at all near his beloved Palm Beach. 

And finally, I looked at media coverage, just from Olsen's own paper, the WaPo. Would it surprise you that, in January alone, there were over 200 articles or posts that included the word 'coronavirus', and in February, there were over 600?  Or that the articles and videos were across all categories of the news spectrum? Politics, health, technology, finance, the economy, opinion, travel/leisure, lifestyle, entertainment and more?

That's an average of just over 13 mentions a day, compared to the president's average of around 2 per day.

Olsen can say that the focus was on impeachment, but I'd say that, as always, Trump was focused on his favorite subject: the one he sees in the mirror. The one who likes to golf, who likes to visit his own properties (and charge us dearly for the privilege), who likes to raise money for his own political survival, and who loves to be the center of attention.

And, of course, who loves to make everything bad good again, or at the very least, point the blame fingers in someone else's directions.

Again, it's not impeachment that drags him down. It's him.