Breaking Fake News Update (v7)

Fake News Broke on August 12, 2025! 

This fake news broke as FOTUS made a deal - a great deal, he's the greatest deal maker in the history of deals, after all - without any announced plans of where the money will go or how it will be used. This follows a similar deal where "he" says he controls a 'golden share' of US Steel, as part of the company's sale to Japan's Nippon Steel. 

And of course, it allows for some Mamdani fun, as FOTUS is greatly disturbed by New Yorkers rejecting Andrew Cuomo. You remember him, right? The COVID-era nursing home scandal, the sexual harassment scandal, and the biggest scandal of all, the Mario Cuomo Bridge?  While Cuomo and FOTUS have butted heads over the years, the devil you know is better than the one you don't, or something like that.

The full weight of the weaponizers in the administration will be brought down on Mandami - DOJ, Homeland Security, and more - including a potential citizenship revocation. That last part? That's not my fake news, that's the real deal, they say. This is one we'll keep an eye on, the Democrats will keep an eye on, the MAGAs will keep an eye on - and you should, too.

We will post more fake news as it breaks.

Breaking Fake News Update (v3)

 Fake News Broke on August 9, 2025!

This news broke as president Trump, aka FOTUS (Felon of the United States), was putting new tariffs on many countries - but not on Russia. It also came right before the summit in Alaska, or as FOTUS suggested at least three times, the summit in... Russia.

We'll cotinue to share fake news as it breaks.

OrangeVerse LII: Numbers Are My Friends

The president's Rose Garden appearance last Friday was surely memorable. 

It might have been a bill signing, it might have been a campaign rally, it might have been delusions of greatness or maybe it was just delusional, I can't tell for sure. I just know that it was poetry delayed: two other remark-able presidential moments from the presidential road trip to Maine the same day were up before day's end, while this one took several days to make it to the White House website. 

Vaccine Math is Fun

...we have ready to go, in terms of

transportation and logistics - we have over

two million ready to go, if it checks out for safety.

And it's also - the nice part is we have four companies - I 

guess you could say seven or eight companies - that are 

doing something similar and some very different on 

the vaccine front and some similar and some somewhat 

different on the therapeutic front. So tremendous 

progress is being made on that.  And I think even without 

that - and I have to say, even without that, and I don't think 

you're going to be having to use that in the future, that 

statement, "even without" because I think they're going to have it. 

But we're going to be back, and we're opening up our country.

Sir, It's Carly Rae Jepsen on Line One 

And you have to remember one other thing

very importantly: I think it's extremely

 important for you to remember that

many of our states are closed or al-

most closed. Some of the big ones

- New York, New Jersey - they'll 

start; they're starting now 

to get open I hope. And

I hope they also use

our National
Guard. 

Call 
me. 

Be Best, All You Categories!

This is a great tribute. What we're announcing

today is a tremendous tribute to equality. We're

bringing our jobs back. You know, when we had our

tremendous numbers, and when we had - just prior to the

China plague that floated in, we had numbers, the best in history,

for African Americans, for Hispanic American, and for Asian American,

and for everybody. Best for women.

Best for people without a diploma

young people without a diploma. 

I mean, so many different categories.

Not Cristobal, Crystal Ball!

And the only thing that can stop us is bad policy.

Frankly, left-wing bad policy of raising taxes and

Green New Deals and all of the things that you

have been writing about long and hard, that 

will stop it like you wouldn't believe. And frankly

it's holding it back. If - if there were no possibility

that that can happen - and I like to be an optimistic

person; I think we're looking very good. I think even

before today, our polls were - the polls that I've seen

and the polls that we do, we're looking very good.

All the Months of the Year

Nobody has ever seen anything -

I think it was incredible in a couple

of ways. Number one the numbers are great

and this leads us on to a long period of growth. 

We'll have the greatest - we'll go back to having 

the greatest economy anywhere in the world... 

And I think we're going to have a

very good upcoming few months. 

I think you're going to have a

very good August,

a very good July

but a spectacular -

maybe spectacular

September, but

a spectacular

October

November

December.

Get Me to the OR - STAT!

But we were strong. it's sort of like

when you go in for an operation - if a person

is healthy - healthy - we were healthy.  We had the

greatest economy in the world. We went in for an operation.

We closed our country down. We closed it down. 

We saved, possibly, two million, two

and a half million lives. Now, it could

have been a million lives. I don't think

anything less than that. But if you think

we're at 105 million today -105,000 today

that would mean, the lowest number,

it would be ten times that amount.

And I think everybody believes the

least - if we went "herd," as they

say. And if you look at Brazil

they're having a very hard time.

And by the way, they kept 

bringing up Sweden;

it's come back to

haunt Sweden.

Sweden is having a terrible time.

Trading Places

You know,

we - we made

a great trade deal - great.

They're going to buy 250 billion

dollars' worth of product. And by the way

they are online. They're doing okay. But the ink

wasn't dry on that deal when the - when the plague floated in.

"What's going on?" "A plague is floating in from China." "What's going

on?"  So the ink wasn't dry, so I guess I view the trade deal a little bit

differently than I did three months ago. It's a great day. I will say

they are buying a lot from us. And, in that way, I respect.

And getting along with China would be a good thing.

I don't know if that's going to happen. I'll let you 

know. We'll let you know. 

What's YOUR Favorite Shape?

And now we're opening,

and we're opening with a bang.

And we've been talking about the "V."

This is better than a "V."

This is a rocket ship.

This is far better than a "V."

A "V" is wonderful.

A "V" is this;

They were talking about,

"Will it be a "V," a "U," an "L"?

They had no idea.

Indeed. No idea, whatsoever. I'll have the second half of this tomorrow - more fun stuff, I promise. 

Sunday School 9/1/19

Lots going on today, but I'm going to try and focus on the Democratic presidential candidates instead of Trump Administration officials whenever it makes sense.

Today the Trump folks I saw were the acting directors of Homeland Security and FEMA, both of whom said things are in good shape for Dorian even with the transfer of money from FEMA disaster funds to build detention facilities along the border.

With that, let's get to Chuck Todd's interview with Julian Castro on MTP. On guns,

• a President Castro would "immediately redefine who is a firearms dealer" to include anyone selling more than five guns a year, and they'd have to "conduct universal background checks." 
• And he accused the current president of lying about doing something about universal background checks. "He's said that twice, after Parkland and then after El Paso and Dayton. And he's gone back on his word."
• On changing the culture in a state like Texas (which has new laws going into effect today), he noted that some people "fear that, one day, the government is going to try and take over the entire country, somehow. And they're going to need their weapons."  But they're the minority, and that "More and more people here in Texas and across the country want Congress and their politicians to do something."

On the old folks leading the pack for 2020:

• While the three leaders -- Biden, Warren and the non-Dem - are "very talented individuals," Castro thinks that as they get close to the Iowa caucuses, "people do want a new generation of leadership." To that end, he thinks the voters need to take a chance, as they did with JFK, Carter, and Obama.
• He think he can "reassemble the Obama coalition and then supercharge that," winning back the three Rust Belt states that Trump won, and also take Florida, Arizona and Texas. And, to do that, "we're going to have to get young people involved and get people off the sidelines."

Todd tried to get Castro to bite on a what-if question about Biden being the nominee; Castro didn't fall for it, other than to acknowledge they have policy disagreements, but he said any of the Dems running, himself and Biden included, would be a better president than the current one.

Speaking of Biden, there was discussion with the panel on his gaffes, including his recent story about a soldier in Afghanistan, which apparently was wrong at least six ways from Sunday, maybe more. While some on the panel thought it wouldn't hurt him, especially in the age of Trump and 12,000 misstatements and lies.  I disagree, and I'm not the only one. Here's Danielle Pletka on that, after noting that this is "who Joe Biden is."

That's number one. Number two, I don't agree that Donald Trump is a shield. "The president is a liar. And I am too. Who cares?" Does that fit on a bumper sticker? I mean, it doesn't work. I think people are looking for a relief from Donald Trump, not somebody who is slightly better than Donald Trump. I also think that his age is an issue not because I have any prejudice against older people, God knows, as I get older, but because I think that this is where the energy of young people is going to matter. 

On Face the Nation, Beto O'Rourke talked with Margaret Brennan, also kicking off the conversation with the shootings in Odessa and Midland, which have left seven dead, so far.

• He believes in universal background checks, red flag laws, ending sales of so-called weapons of war (Ar-15s and AK-47s), noting those guns "were designed to kill people as effectively, as efficiently, in as great a number as possible."
• In addition, he'd implement a buy-back program for those guns, and also ensure we have a "national licensing and gun registry program."

Brennan asked whether any of those would have stopped yesterday's shooting; he noted we're still learning details, but

People are living with fear... Kids afraid to go to school tomorrow morning. This is not right. Unacceptable. And I won't accept it. 

On FEMA and disaster preparedness:

• he would fully fund FEMA and expressed disappointment with Trump's money grab. He'd also focus on resiliency in hurricane-prone areas, noting the science that storms will be "more frequent, more devastating and more deadly" with climate change. "The longer term goal is to confront climate change before it's too late."
• That means getting rid of our fossil fuel dependence, and moving to "fully embrace" renewables and, no later than 2050, get to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.

On trade, he'd only use tariffs as a last resort, and instead would work with our allies and friends, to present a "united front against China and any of their trade practices that are manipulative or damaging to the United States. He does not support re-entering the TPP. And he'd use trade deals to address things like climate change, worker's rights and human rights around the world. 

Trade deals could be the platform by which we ensure the dignity of working women and men all over the world...And it's also a way to make sure we protect the human rights of our fellow human beings all over the planet. These are our values in this country. Let's use our trade deals to achieve them...

O'Rourke also appeared on CNN's State of the Union with Dana Bash again sitting in for Jake Tapper.  It was in this interview that the tape was played of him dropping an f-bomb at a campaign stop on Saturday when he was asked about the shootings.  And he dropped another one in the interview, which CNN did not bleep out.

We're averaging about 300 mass shootings a year. No other country comes close. So yes, this is (effed up). And if we don't call it out for what it is, if we are not able to speak clearly, if we're not able to act clearly, if we're not able to act decisively, then we will continue to have this kind of bloodshed in America. And I cannot accept that. 

Asked about one of his solutions, the buyback of AR-15s and AK-47s, and arguments against that such as the one from USA Today's editorial board last month suggesting such a move would basically play into the NRA's hands, here's his response:

You know, more than I worry about the politics or the polling, more than I care about what the NRA has to say on this, I care for my kids, and this country...  This triangulation, poll-testing every move, that's what got us here in the first place.

On wiping out people's medical debt, a plan teased by the Sanders camp, O'Rourke said he could "perhaps" support it. But,

I think the goal should be universal, guaranteed, high-quality care, primary care, mental health care, and every woman making her own decision about her own body and having access to the care that makes that possible. 

Union and employer sponsored plans would be OK, he also said.  And after everyone's in a good plan, then we can look at medical debt.

Asked if he's more moderate than the others, he said

I think our party is big enough, our democracy is big enough to have this competition of ideas and vision for the future of our country, and I'm grateful for everything that every candidate has contributed so far. My positions, I don't think, are moderate or conservative or liberal. They're reflective of the people that I have listened to... I don't know where you put that on the political spectrum, but it makes sense to me. 

That's all we've got for today.

See you around campus.

Sunday School 8/18/19

As I've just returned from a vacation to an undisclosed location, I only had time to pop in on one classroom today. And when it's Sunday and there's only time for one, it's time for Fox News Sunday (sorry, Chuck).

Dana Perino sat in for Chris Wallace today, and guests were White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow and Democratic presidential candidate Steve Bullock.  Let's look at highlights from Kudlow first.

• He doesn't see a recession coming and says the administration will stick with the ones it brung to the dance - regulation rollbacks, opening up the energy sector, and trade wars  - er, trade reform.
• New initiatives include "a good beef deal" with the EU and progress with Japan on agriculture and telecom stuff.
• The administration is looking at what Kudlow referred to as "Tax Cuts 2.0" which may be the 10 percent middle class tax cut that Trump promised last year. And he referenced an idea from Florida Senator Rick Scott about taking all the money we're getting from the Chinese tariffs and giving that back to taxpayers as tax cuts. When Perino questioned whether that was the money that Trump was using to shore up farmers (what is it up to no, $28B in farmer welfare payments?), Kudlow says there's room to do both.  They didn't discuss who is actually paying the tariffs, which seems to be American consumers and importers.
• Trump apparently likes to give us Christmas presents; he's delaying some tariffs that were supposed to go into effect next month until December 15th, mostly those impacting "big American consumer companies."
• Trade, security, Hong Kong are all part of our negotiations with China. 
• And yes, the conversations about Trump wanting to buy Greenland are serious. 

Moving on to Bullock, who's the only Western governor in the race since John Hickenlooper dropped out (blowing my Buttigieg-Hickenlooper wrap-around bumper sticker idea right out of the water):

• He sees himself as the 'get stuff done' guy, the one who has made progress and can do that again, in comparison to some of the progressives. 
• He thinks it's wrong that someone can buy the votes needed to get qualified for the September debate (Tom Steyer), versus actually talking to voters and getting the word out and having donors make small contributions (everyone else).
• Trump is messing with something that's always been bipartisan - US support for Israel - and he shouldn't be (and this is me talking, not Bullock, but Dems are falling right into his trap, like they do all the time).
• "Putting Ken Cuccinelli (Acting Director of USCIS) in charge of immigration would be like putting Putin in charge of election security." Bullock disagrees with using immigration as a divisive tool (another Trump success).
• He says that America First under Trump really means America Alone, and among other things, farmers don't want aid, they want trade - pushing back against Perino's assertion that the farmers are being made whole by the $28B in welfare going to them because of the trade wars.
• He's not running for Senate.
• The idea that Trump wants to purchase Greenland is a wild idea, no matter that Harry Truman had the idea first. You can go to the website Bullock created, isgreenlandgorsale.com for more information.

There was more, including a panel discussion about whether or not Barack Obama will make a Biden  endorsement, and whether or not Elizabeth Warren will take the progressive lead, leaving what's his name, the non-Democrat, in the dust.

See you around campus - hopefully we'll have a full slate of classroom updates next week.

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.

TGIF 5/24/19

So, right off the bat, I'm thinking that mental health professionals have had a good week - because there's no one else who can help us understand what the heck we're seeing with the president and the Speaker of the House.

She - Madam Speaker - has announced her intention to pray for the president and has called for someone, whether it's his family or his people in his administration, to have an intervention with him, "for the good of the country."

The president, who tweeted portions of an edited video that made Pelosi seem like she was drunk while talking with the press, said Pelosi was "a mess" while declaring himself to be an extremely stable genius - even more stabler and geniuser than before when he was just a plain old stable genius, or even a very stable genius. And, to support his stability or genius or extremism (you pick) he asked others to comment on his temperament.

So the mental health folks? They're the ones who can provide us some information on whether there are mental health concerns with either of these two folks, and whether we can sleep easy at night or if we need to be afraid, very afraid, of what's happening at the highest levels of our government.

Who else had a note-worthy week?

Sunday School 5/12/19

It was a family day, but I did take the time to check out one classroom - Jake Tapper's interview with California's Senator Kamala Harris, on CNN's State of the Union.

Here are some highlights of the interview, which was pre-taped.

On whether we're in a constitutional crisis, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congressman Jerry Nadler of the House Judiciary Committee have said:

I think we probably are... I think that we are seeing a breakdown of responsibilities...in the Senate, I am seeing up close here the - there is a failure to respect the significance of Congress' duty to perform a role of oversight over the administration, over the agencies. I'm seeing a failure to appreciate the importance of testifying before Congress in a way that is straightforward and truthful. So I think yes, I think is fair to say that we are looking at a crisis, not only of confidence but potentially a constitutional crisis, yes. 

On whether she disagrees with president Trump's premise that trade deals have been "too tilted" towards corporations and Wall Street and not tilted enough to helping the middle class:

...over many decades, the rules have been written in a way that have been to the exclusion of lifting up the middle class and working people in America and working families in America....that's why I'm proposing that...we reform the tax code in a way that we'll give middle-class working families making less than $100,000 a year a $6,000 tax credit they can receive it up to $500 a month.  

On whether she would have voted for NAFTA:

I would not have voted for NAFTA, because I believe that we can do a better job to protect American workers...

On whether she's support a federal gun license, an idea of Senator Cory Booker's:

I like the idea. But you know, Jake...on this issue of the need for gun safety laws, we're not at any loss for good ideas. People have been having good ideas for decades on this issue. What we're at a loss for is people in Congress to have the courage to do something.

On Medicare for All and getting rid of private insurance:

I support Medicare for All, it is my preferred policy... It doesn't get rid of supplemental insurance, it doesn't get rid of all insurance...Medicare for All and the vision of what it will be includes an expansion of coverage. So Medicare for All will include vision. It will include dental. It will include hearing aids.

I completely agree with those members of organized labor who have negotiated for plans and have, in those negotiation processes - often given what could have been higher wages in exchange for a higher coverage for health care....It's a legitimate concern which must be addressed.  

On whether she supports giving universal health care and Medicare for All to people who are in this country illegally:

Let me just be very clear about this. I'm opposed to any policy that would deny in our country any human being from access to public safety, public education, or public health, period.

On whether Facebook should be broken up:

Yes, I think we have to seriously take a look at that, yes. When you look at the issue, they're essentially a utility...there are very few people that can actually get by and be involved in their communities or society or in whatever their profession without somehow, somewhere using Facebook...It is essentially a utility that has gone unregulated. And as far as I'm concerned, that's got to stop.

And finally, on the issue of electability:

...I will tell you that the voters, in my experience, are smarter than a lot of folks give them credit for... And as far as I'm concerned, my track record on this issue tells me the voters are smarter than hearing and listening to all that noise. What they want is, they want somebody who has a genuine interest in representing them, as opposed to self-interest. 

See you around campus.

Trump in Transition (v39)

As you probably know, lots of people like to fact check the president, who, as you probably also know, plays fast and loose with the facts on a pretty regular basis - whether he needs to or not

In my opinion, he lies automatically, without any regard to anything. He lies when he has absolutely no reason to, as much as he does when he thinks he does have reason to lie.

The Washington Post does a lot of work on fact checking the president, and at some point they started counting his lies and misleading statements, probably when they realized that the volume of them was unprecedented.

Anyway - here's an update from the WaPo on the fact-checking.

It took president Trump 601 days to top 5,000 false and misleading claim in The Fact Checker's database, an average of eight claims a day. 

But on April 26, must 226 days later, the president crossed the 10,000 mark - an average of nearly 23 claims a day in this seven-month period, which included the many rallies he held before the midterm elections, the partial government shutdown over his promised border wall and the release of the special counsel's report on Russian interference in the presidential election.

Pretty impressive numbers - even more impressive than the reduction in the unemployment rate, the boost in the economy, or even the increase in military spending, for Pete's sake! These are historic numbers! The best ever! See how easy it is to be just like him?

The article notes that reaching the 10,000 milestone seemed "unlikely" back in the beginning when Trump was only making less than five false claims or lies a day - which means in a full four year term, he'd only end up with around 7,000.  But here we are -  and,

...the tsunami of untruths just keeps looming larger and larger.

Let's see what that tsunami looks like.

Sunday School 6/10/18

Oh dear - the classrooms were quite boisterous today!  There was a whole lot of posturing going on, and name calling, and tit-for-tatting and all that kind of stuff.  Let's take a look, shall we?

There were two Trumpeters making the rounds today: Peter Navarro, who's the president's trade advisor, and Larry Kudlow, the director of Trump's National Economic Council.

Navarro was the more over the top of the two, speaking with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday about that backstabbing, traitorous blankety-blank we used to call Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.  Wallace led into Navarro's tirade by mentioning Trudeau's statements about going ahead with promised retaliatory tariffs, which are to take effect on July 1st. Trump responded as he usually does (my words, not Wallace's) by calling his opponent names - 'weak' and 'meek and mild' and 'very dishonest'.  And Wallace asked if that was really how we wanted to deal with our 2nd largest trading partner. I recommend fastening your seat belts for the response.

Chris there's a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with president Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door. And that's what Bad Faith Justin Trudeau did with that stunt press conference. That's what Weak, Dishonest Justin Trudeau did. And that comes right from Air Force One. 

Well, except Navarro admitted those were his special place in hell words, not Trump's.

And I'll tell you this, to my friends in Canada, that was one of the worst political miscalculations of a Canadian leader in modern Canadian history. All Justin Trudeau had to do was take the win... Trump did the courtesy to Justin Trudeau to travel up to Quebec for that summit. He had other things, bigger things on his plate in Singapore... He did him a favor and he was even willing to sign that socialist communique. And what did Trudeau do -- as soon as the plane took off from Canadian airspace, Trudeau stuck our president in the back. That will not stand. 

Whoa.  The United States participating in a G7 summit is a 'courtesy'? What did he have on his plate that is more important than representing our country at a meeting of our closest allies? I mean, it might have been a courtesy if Melania had attended, but I'm not sure at what point the president of the US doing his job should be considered a courtesy, especially since he has nothing else on his plate, by his own admission.

But wait - there's more!

And as far as this retaliation goes, the American press needs to do a much better job of what the Canadians are getting ready to do because it's nothing short of an attack on our political system and it's nothing short of Canada trying to raise it's high protectionist barriers even higher on things like maple syrup and other goods.

Well, cheese and crackers, not maple syrup!!!  I don't know where Navarro's been lately, but Canada retaliating against the US in a trade war is not an attack on our political system. That's actually what Russia did, but you know, these pesky details are hard to remember, if you've been living under a rock.

Navarro went on to bash Canada for NAFTA, saying we'd have a great deal on that existing deal, if only the Canadians would deal with Trump instead of trying to deal with Congress, blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda.

They are just simply not playing fair. Dishonest. Weak.

 Navarro was reminded of his earlier statement that no one would retaliate against our new tariffs, with Wallace pointing out Canada's $13B, and the EU's $3B in tariffs since our announcement. In response, Navarro talked about Germany, where we says we have a $151B annual trade deficit, and not only that - not only that, but

Germany has tariffs on autos four time higher than our tariffs on the equivalent German imports here and they sell us three times as many cars as we sell them.

Because we like German engineering almost as much as the Germans do, maybe?

So on the issues alone, we have allies strategically. But when it comes to these trade disputes, these allies basically are robbing us blind. The president is not going to put up with that.  

Nope -he's going to tweet about it, and send minions out to yell at our allies.

Kudlow, for his part, didn't declare a final resting place for Trudeau; in fact, he made it a point to talk about how directly involved he was with the Prime Minister, as if tooting his own horn would make everything right with the world. Here are some of the high points of his conversation on Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.

Regarding why the president called Trudeau weak and dishonest:

Well, to be honest with you, Prime Minister Trudeau - by the way, I respect. I have worked with him in good faith, getting through a good communique on Friday and Saturday. So, he holds a press conference. The president is barely out of there on a plane to North Korea, and he starts insulting us. You know, he starts talking about US is insulting Canada. We are not -- we, Canada, are not going to be pushed around. 

Brennan noted that Trudeau was talking about the trade tariffs.

That's correct, and in general, OK, it was an attack on the president. "We're going to have retaliatory tariffs." Now, these are things that the prime minister said before, basically, but he didn't say them after a successful G7 communique, where president Trump and the others all worked in good faith to put a statement together, which, by the way, almost nobody expected to happen. In fact, reporters were asking me before the trip whether the president was going to show up at all. He did. He negotiated. He directed his team, myself and others. We worked it out. We used good language that was acceptable. 

At which point Brennan noted

And the the president reneged on that G7 statement.

Kudlow:

No, No, I'm sorry.  And then Trudeau decided to attack the president. That is the key point. And yes, you know, if you attack this president, he is going to fight back.  But here is the key point, Margaret. The president is going to negotiate with Kim of North Korea in Singapore. It is a historic negotiation. And there is no way this president is not going to stand strong, number one. He is not going to allow other people to suddenly take potshots at him hours before that summit. And number two, Trudeau should have known better.

On and on it went, and it went on and on on CNN's State of the Union as well.  Let's pick up when Tapper reminds Kudrow that Trump is known for this kind of thing.

JT: But president Trump does that all the time, though, doesn't he?

LK: No, he doesn't.

JT: He doesn't say things for domestic consumption? 

LK: No, the point is, if you are going through a treaty process, a communique, and you have good faith... And those leaders were together. I mean, I was right smack in the middle of it on Friday night and Saturday morning. You don't walk away and start firing bullets. Now, look

JT: I can't believe that an adviser to president Trump is saying that - because president Trump does that all the time.  He does things for - for domestic consumption.

LK: Jake, not in -- not after you pull a treaty or a deal together...

 JT: Why walk away from it just because of something Justin Trudeau said for domestic consumption.

LK: No, not something. Look you -- yes, for domestic political consumption. But it was a global statement. The whole world listened to what he said. Look, you're reporting it here in Washington, as you must.  

 JT: Sure.

LK: I get that. You just don't behave that way, OK? It is a betrayal, OK? He is essentially double-crossing -- not just double-crossing president Trump, but the other members of the G7, who were working together and pulling together this communique. You know, you never get everything you want. There are compromises along the way; president Trump played that process in good faith. 

So I ask you, he gets up in the airplane and leaves. And then Trudeau starts bashing him in a domestic news conference? I'm sorry, that is a betrayal. That is a double-cross. It pains me, because I like Trudeau. I was working with him. We were together putting words on paper.... 

It pains me to keep going, to keep paying attention. It pains me that none of them realize, or admit, that if the president hadn't acted like a two-year old and resorted to name-calling, no one would be paying any attention to the fact that the Canadian Prime Minister reiterated comments he had made previously to everyone, including government officials, media outlets from both countries, and to Kudrow himself. 

It pains me that the president of the United States is a big crybaby, a big bully...  I can go on, but that pains me too.

See you around campus. 

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.

Poll Watch: A Little Bit of Good News

I was intrigued by a headline noting something about Americans are not hating the president as much as we used to, so I followed the link until I got to the source: a recent CNN/SSRS poll, taken via cell and land line phones March 22 - 25.

Here's what apparently drove the headline: Trump's approval rating is now 42%, up three percent from the January poll. And while his overall approval rating is better on this poll than it has been since early March 2017, there is still some room for improvement.

For example, 48% approve of how he's handling the economy, but:

• only 39% approve of how he's handling the foreign affairs;
• only 36% approve of how he's handling gun policy;
• 47% think he's been too easy on Russia; and
• only 38% approve of how he's handling foreign trade.

On that Russia question, 4% think he's been too tough on them -- I'm guessing those are the Mueller witnesses?

The questions get a little more interesting, delving into what the respondents thing about certain characteristics and how those might apply to the president.

• cares about people like you: 56% disagree; 42% agree
• can bring about change the country needs: 52% disagree, 45% agree
• is honest and trustworthy: 59% disagree, 36% agree
• can manage the government effectively: 57% disagree, 40% agree
• will unite us, not divide us: 60% disagree: 30% agree
• someone we can be proud of having as president: 59% to 38%

All six of those have swung in Trump's favor since the last time the questions were asked. A new question appeared on this survey, asking whether people think Trump respects the rule of law. The answer is no: 58% disagree, and only 38% agree.

Here are a few questions related to Trump's Cabinet members and whether they are more or less likely than Cabinet members of other presidents.  According to respondents, Trump's folks are more likely to misuse taxpayer money, less likely to be well qualified for their jobs, less likely to bring a fresh perspective, less likely to understand our needs, more likely to use their position for personal gain, and equally likely to cut spending and government waste. 

There are also a couple of questions related to the women of Trump - Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal - which show that 63% of respondents believe the women, and 51% believe that the should be able to talk about their relationships with Trump, even though they've been paid to be quiet.

There's a lot of detail in the survey, much of it consistent with what we've seen in other surveys: Republicans and men are his strongest demographics, many times being the outliers, the only groups that are on his side, across a variety of questions.

We'll have to see whether this slight positive trend for Trump continues, and if his collection of Red man friends will be enough to keep him in the tippy-top shape house or building or whatever you call it on Pennsylvania Ave. 

Sunday School 3/4/18

Kinda of in a funk today, so my attention span was limited and I only visited one classroom, CNN's State of the Union with Jake Tapper at the helm.

The first guest was Peter Navarro, who is the White House Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy. Navarro's goal today was to convince us that president Trump's surprise announcement of tariffs - 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum -- was a great idea, good for the president, good for our steel and aluminum workers, and #MAGA.

Navarro said the tariffs would go into effect next week, maybe the week after, once the White House lawyers get all their ducks in a row. Tapper played some video of the president blaming China for overproduction and saying that needed to be addressed, and then he reminded Navarro that China doesn't make the top ten steel importers into the US. Here's how Navarro responded:

So, the bigger picture is that China has tremendous overcapacity in both aluminum and steel. And so what they do is, they flood the world market with this product. And that ripples down to our shores and to other countries. So China is, in many ways, the root of the problem in both aluminum and steel for all countries of the world.

But let's be clear here about what the president's doing. Let's lay this on the table. This is an action, basically, to protect our national security and economic security. And the president was quite clear. We can't have a country that can defend itself and prosper without an aluminum and steel industry.

Silly me - I thought we couldn't be a country without a border wall, and without getting rid of chain migration and stuff. I was wrong, I guess.

Tapper reminded Navarro, speaking of national security, that the Pentagon was not in favor of what Trump did.

The Pentagon wrote a memo about the tariff, saying, indeed the unfair steel practices do create a national security problem. But the Pentagon also said that the US should use targeted tariffs and avoid angering allies who are needed for other diplomatic national security reasons, such as Canada, such as South Korea. If you are invoking the national security exemption, should you not also be listening to the Pentagon on how to apply these tariffs?

Navarro's answer was reminiscent of Trump's "I alone can fix it" comment.

What I love about this president is, he listens to all points of view, both within his government and outside, and then he makes the tough decisions. 

Which includes ignoring the Pentagon.

Also on the show was Ohio Governor John Kasich, who is considered a potential challenger to Trump in 2020. Tapper talked to him about the president's trade tariffs (Kasich is not a fan) and the president's 'gun control without due process' plan; Kasich is again not a fan. Rather, what he's trying in Ohio is a restraining order, which comes with due process.

In terms of our gun retraining order, it means, if you have somebody in the family who sees trouble in the family, they have an ability, either go to law enforcement or the court in order to get those guns out of that person who's having a very difficult time, get the guns away from them. If you're a neighbor or somebody outside, you can go to a police officer who can investigate and then go to the judge. There's got to be speed in this, because we don't want people who are emotionally - you know, emotionally in upheaval, who could pose a threat either to themselves or to somebody else, to be in a position where they can have a gun.

Kasich also noted that the agenda changes, quickly.

And by the way, have we forgotten the Dreamers, the DACA, the young people who came here? They're not even in the news anymore. And I don't - I can't believe Congress is -- Congress has got to do something on guns. 

And you know what? I think the president will sign something. If he doesn't, send it to him anyway. I mean, the deal is that you don't ask permission. You legislate; you get it to the president, you see what he does.

 I believe he will sign some really good, strong, common sense gun legislation. Send him the Dreamers. We can't be taking these kids that have been -- or young people who have been here, some of them for 20 years, and ship them out of the country for political reasons. 

Tapper also asked Kasich about 2020, and whether someone should challenge Trump, even if it's not Kasich who does it. .

Well, come on Jake. We don't know what's going to happen next week. That's not -- you know, all I'm doing is making sure that, both now and when I'm out, that I can have a voice that can help the country, that can bring it together. That's all I'm particularly interested in at this point. And if I go any further than that, Jake, I won't be able to get in my house tonight. My wife will have it barricaded. 

So, I'm not going there.... 

And, listening to the entire exchange  between Kasich and Tapper, I was reminded why I liked Kasich more than any of the rest of the Republicans. First, he's reasonable, and second, he has a great sense of humor and hes not afraid to use it - which is something we could use a whole lot more of in DC.

See you around campus.

OrangeVerse XIX: Ko-Ko-Ko-rea

The president is on his first official trip to Asia, and from all accounts is making the most of it. Here are some very poetic remarks from one of his joint appearances with South Korean President Moon.

Walking Through the Park, and Reminiscing

It is interesting that
it is one year,
as of tomorrow, that
we had our election victory.
And it was a great victory
and a victory
that made a lot of people
very happy. 

And our country

is doing very well

from the standpoint 

of the economy.

It's doing

record numbers,

record stock market

17-year low...

the lowest unemployment

that we've had in 17 years. 

And we've created

trillions and trillions

of dollars of value

for our country. 

So we're

very happy.

Should Five Percent Appear Too Small

We're now working on

massing tax cuts

for our people.

especially for our companies

which produce jobs

in the middle class. 

And I think that's

going along very well. 

We hope we're

going to be victorious

and get that big tax cut

which the American people want.

So Good, So Good, So Good

I had a great time

at Camp Humphreys today

visiting with

the US and the South Korean troops.

Thank you.

And as we

very easily remember,

because it was so good --

we had lunch together

with the troops.

And we had the option

of having a magnificent restaurant

a beautiful room,

and I said,

let's have it with the troops.

And we were very happy about it.

It's a great facility --

Camp Humphreys

and it really is

a very special place.

Tremendous cost --

a lot of it spent

by your government

to make your

country safe.

And any time you

spend wisely for the military

that's always a good thing

to do.

Feelin Stronger Every Day

And your military is

becoming very strong.

Our military is now

going to be, very soon,

at the strongest level.

We're committed

to spending $700 billion,

and that number may even

go up.

For our military

we're ordering new

jet fighters, new

equipment of virtually

every kind.

We make the

finest equipment

in the world,

and you're buying

a lot of it, 

and we 

appreciate that.

And you'll be buying 

a lot of our

military equipment.

Can't Touch This

There's nobody that

comes close,

whether it's 

the planes,

the missiles,

the ships -- 

anything you want

to talk about --

there's nothing like

what we do

in that sense.

And we appreciate

 your big orders

for military equipment.

Gangman Style

The North Korea situation

will be a discussion

that we will have

front and center.

And hopefully is going

to be very successfully

worked out on that. 

And trade is something

that we always talk;

it's one of

my favorite

subjects. I guess

it's one of the reasons

that I had that 

great

successful

victory

last year

at this time.

So we'll be

discussing

trade

also.