Sunday School 12/20/20

I'm focusing on incoming Biden team members who were making the rounds this morning:  Surgeon General pick Dr. Vivek Murthy; Transportation Secretary pick Pete Buttigieg; Energy Secretary nominee Gov Jennifer Granholm, and Jen Psaki, the new White House Press Secretary.

Dr. Murthy talked with Chuck Todd on Meet the Press, and noted it could be as early as late spring, but "it's more realistic" that it might be later before the vaccines hit the general population. He said the "100 million vaccinations in 100 days" is doable. They've been working with suppliers, and with the career officials in the Trump administration, many of whom he knows from working with them in the past.

On concerns about the UK - identified coronavirus mutation, Murthy cautioned that

While it seems to be more easily transmissible, we do not have evidence yet that this is a more deadly virus to an individual who acquires it. There's no reason to believe that the vaccines that have been developed will not be effective against this virus, as well. 

Todd asked about the "ethical dilemma" of whether to vaccinate older people before essential workers, and where the Biden team stood. Transparency will be key, Murthy said, and that the drivers of who gets the vaccines when "should be fact, should be ethical considerations, should be science and expertise." Regardless of the rollout,

...we have got to make sure that we've got enough supply. We've got to make sure that we have both the logistical systems in place as well as people and materials to be able to deliver that vaccine quickly. If we put these together, then we can rapidly get people in our country to the level of herd immunity. And that is ultimately what will let us get back to living our lives...

Pete Buttigieg chatted with Jake Tapper on CNN's State of the Union. They talked a bit about him being the first millennial cabinet member, and the first openly gay Cabinet Secretary to be confirmed by the Senate, if that in fact happens. Tapper asked him if he was confident that he's got enough experience for the role. He said yes and said Americans are "ready for us to finally do something about infrastructure."

We can't keep letting infrastructure week be a Washington punchline. This is a moment when we have a chance to answer to something that I think people in Republican and Democratic and purple communities, rural and urban, understand, which is that Americans shouldn't settle for less when it comes to our -- our roads and our bridges, our highways, our trains, all of the infrastructure that really powers our economy and creates so many livelihoods. 

Mayor Pete said that a "major infrastructure bill within Biden's first year in office" is not just "possible. It's necessary." There's no reason for us to settle for less than our peers around the world, he said, thinking about not only jobs, and the economy, and climate change, but also thinking about justice.

It's disproportionately black and brown neighborhoods that were divided by highway projects plowing through them because they didn't have the -- sometimes the political capital to resist, or sometimes nothing at all coming to the most low-income or minoritized neighborhoods. We have got a chance to get that right,

And they focus not just on traveler safety, he said, "how many people are indispensable to the vaccine supply chain and just to America's economy functioning. We have got to make sure that we're looking after their safety too, especially to get through this first year, which will really be a test of this country in conquering COVID."

Tapper asked about Hunter Biden, and any investigations, whether there should be a special prosecutor, things like that. I'm going to let Jen Psaki answer that question; she's the official spokesperson and it came up in her conversation with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday.  So did a few other questions.

On the 'colorful language'  incoming Deputy Chief of Staff Jen O'Malley Dillon used to describe Republicans, Psaki suggested people read the full comments for context and not jump to conclusions. Her message was similar when asked about suggestions that some of the cabinet picks won't be confirmed. She said they "didn't expect that every nominee would be embraced by every corner of our political system," but they are "hopeful" that the Senate will move quickly to confirm the team. 

On whether Biden believes president Trump has engaged in an abuse of power, she said they're more interested in getting to and through the inauguration and "doing the work of the American people." Whether the current president attends the inauguration or not is "not on the top-ten list or even longer than that, of his focus or priorities at this point time." 

And, finally, the Hunter Biden questions: does Biden promise to let US attorney David Weiss (he's currently conducting the investigation) finish the job?  And second, what does Biden think about a special counsel possibly being appointed to investigate his son?

 Well, let me be crystal clear, Chris, and I appreciate you asking this question. He will not be discussing an investigation of his son with any attorney general candidates. He will not be discussing it with anyone he is considering for the role, and he will not be discussing it with the future attorney general. It will be up to the purview of a future attorney general and his administration to determine how to handle any investigation.

US attorneys are personnel decisions, she reminded him, and they've still got some cabinet secretaries to announce, including the AG. 

But we’re going to allow the process to work how it should, which is for a Justice Department to be run independently by the attorney general at the top. 

And, to end on a lighter note, Psaki allowed as how she was a little puzzled by the kerfuffle over Dr. Jill Biden's use of the title she earned.

It’s a bit perplexing to me, and I’m sure to millions of Americans, that with thousands of people dying every day of COVID, millions out of work, that anyone wake up in the morning and decide that the focus they need to have, the way they contribute to society that day is to question whether or not Dr. Jill Biden, someone who is still teaching, who has a PhD in education, should be called a doctor or not. Of course she should. 

 Gov. Granholm talked with George on This Week. He asked if she'd been briefed yet on the hack we're hearing so much about, as the Energy Department was hit. Noting that she'd been nominated a mere 16 hours ago, she said she hadn't briefed. She also said we don't fully know the extent, or for sure who was behind it, but that the Biden administration would have a robust response when the time comes. 

She sees combatting climate change as an economic opportunity, with "trillions of dollars spent globally" on it - and we can be producers of the goods that everyone else will need: solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, batteries, etc. and export them around the world. We should be leading, she said, or we'll lose to other countries, including China. Biden, she said, is focused

as well on making sure that the benefits of fighting climate change, the jobs, are focused on the communities that have been hardest hit by environmental pollution, for example, or that are the poorest communities. So, both environmental equity, the equity associated with energy opportunity, and creating jobs for Americans, that is going to be the mission of the Department of Energy, in addition to the great work that they already do.

On rejoining the Paris Accord and establishing an "enforcement mechanism" to ensure net zero emissions by 2050, she said it is a realistic goal, albeit an ambitious one. It's about accountability, and about working together with the rest of the Biden team, including Deb Haaland at Interior. There's going to be a significant 'hair on fire' attitude in order to ensure we meet the goals and to be leaders around the world as well as at home. 

This was something I focused on as governor of Michigan and a lot of governors and mayors are focusing on how they can contribute to make sure that they meet the Paris Climate Accord. So, we’re going to be working at the Department of Energy with the local and sub-national, as they call it units, the states and the cities, to help give them incentives -- little carrots, little sticks. The EPA often is the place that people turn to for sticks. But the Department of Energy is going to be working with all of this -- the whole of government effort to make sure we combat climate change in a fair and equitable way, and create jobs in the process.

Finally, on what she'd say to the progressives who say that the Paris Accord standards don't go far enough fast enough, Granholm said that the Green New Deal was "an important framework" for what Biden wants to accomplish, and that it's "going to be an effort that runs through the government." She mentioned here the importance of the Transportation Department. There's been "wonderful input on the part of AOC and Bernie Sanders." Not sure that's going to placate AOC or That Guy from Vermont; we'll see how that plays out. 

See you around campus. Wear your mask. Wash your hands. Bite the bullet, and stay home for the holidays.

In Case You Missed It (v65)

Here's your recap of last week's posts, in case you missed anything.

For Sunday School, I did my brain a favor and only visited the CNN State of the Union classroom. Jake Tapper had Bill Gates as one of his guests. You know -- Bill Gates the guy who invented the coronavirus with Dr. Fauci so they can make money off the vaccine they're developing, which will have a microchip implanted in your arm so they can track you?  Yeah, no -- not that Bill Gates, the Bill Gates who has devoted many of his billions of dollars to improving public health around the world through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Here's a portion of their discussion.

And, Tapper wondered, what does Gates think about Trump's Executive Order on prioritizing Americans getting the vaccine over folks in other countries?

Well, I think we need to help all of humanity here. You know, we want the world economy be going. We want to minimize the deaths. And, you know, the basic technology is a German company. And so blocking international sharing and cooperation has been disruptive and a mistake during this entire pandemic. So, we need to ramp up the capacity of all the vaccines. There will be some additional ones approved in the months ahead that are easier to scale up the manufacturing. But the U.S. has benefited from other countries' work here, and we shouldn't be entirely selfish in how we go forward.

And, when Tapper asked, "So, in your view, America first, as the president might call it, not the right approach?"

Well, the extreme idea that everybody should die until we have the very last American vaccinated, that's hardly the appropriate response.

For your Extra Credit last week, I dropped in on Chris Wallace and Rep. Steve Scalise (WH via LA), a member of the (ahem) GOP House leadership, in the Fox News Sunday classroom. For this one, I suggested questions I would have asked Scalise; they were not the same as the ones Wallace asked, I can assure you.  For example, Scalise babbled about massive vote swings "in the days and weeks since the election" which is a bunch of hogwash.

At this point, I would have asked Rep. Scalise to name a single state that had a "massive vote swing" in the 'weeks' since the election. Wallace didn't ask that, but he did push back.

But -- but -- but -- but -- but -- but, Congressman Scalise -- Congressman Scalise -- There -- the reason that there were these votes swings was because in a lot of states they weren't able to count the millions of mail-in ballots until election night. And everybody knew that -- and, in fact, it happened in Florida, it went the other way. They were able to count the mail-in ballots early, so it favored Biden early and then it swung to Trump. In Pennsylvania, they had to count the mail-in ballots late, so it started pro-Trump and then it swung to Biden.

Now, that's an opportunity for Scalise to take a deep breath, grab himself by the whatever, and admit that Wallace was right - that yes, everyone knew that the absentee ballots were going to go for Biden and that Election Day voting would favor Trump. Did he do that? Of course he didn't. 

Well, Chris, first of all, look at New York, right? The Claudia Tenney race in New York. She's up by 12 votes. Just the other day they found 55 votes in a desk drawer. You know, this kind of stuff – people look at this and go, what is going on? This is the United States of America, it's not Venezuela. That's what gets people irate. You know, why is this still going on?

"Well, Steve, " I would have said, "what on earth does New York's 22nd Congressional District race have to do with the presidential race, the Electoral College, or the ongoing assault on our country by the Republicans? That's what gets people irate. You know, why is this still going on?" 

I also offered up a Sidebar for Sunday School, which included in full Jake Tapper's closing remarks. Other than Tapper's show, I don't watch CNN. I honestly think only right-wingers watch it, since they seem to know every word uttered - other than Tapper's. It's too bad; they're missing out.  Here's a bit of why Tapper is thanking the outgoing president.

But president Trump made House Republicans go on the record. He made them stand and be counted and 126 of them, including Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and Republican Whip Steve Scalise, they actually signed their names to this, this unconservative, un-Democratic, un-American mendacious joke of a lawsuit that would disenfranchise millions of their fellow Americans. (I expect very little from most of the Rs; my expectations are usually met, or, as in this case, exceeded - that congressional leaders would find a way to justify this is appalling.)

These House Republicans raised their hands. They said sign me up. The hope that most Republicans in the House were better than this - that has been destroyed. For those of us who believe in standards and norms and the US Constitution, we need to thank President Trump for bringing this fact to light.

After the Electoral College voted last Monday to confirm the Biden-Harris win, the President-elect spoke to the country; here's a bit of that. 

You know, respecting the will of the people is at the heart of our democracy, even we find those results hard to accept. But that's the obligation of those who've taken on a sworn duty to uphold the Constitution. Four years ago, when I was the sitting Vice President of the United States, it was my responsibility to announce the tally of the Electoral College votes to the joint session of Congress, had voted to elect Donald Trump. I did my job. And I'm pleased but not surprised by the number of my former colleagues in the Senate who have acknowledged already the results of the Electoral College. I thank them. And I'm convinced we can work together for the good of the nation on many subjects. That's the duty owed to the people, to our Constitution, to our history. 

Last week's Wondering on Wednesday meandered around election-related stuff, and included some polling data from Rasmussen Reports; they're pretty reliable and generally well-liked on the right because they have a slight slant in the red direction. Their polls include likely voters only, rather than just anyone who answers the phone. 

That's why I thought this data is interesting in helping the president understand why he lost the election.  

The president has had only six days with a positive approval rating in the past three months: September 20th (+4), November 9th-12th (+1, +3, +4, +2) and November 17th (+2).  This year, the president's total approval rating has at least 50% only 51 days, and it was never more than 53%.  

On Election Day? 49% total approval, 50% total disapproval, and a -4 difference between his strongly approve and strongly disapprove scores (39% and 43%, respectively). So, as he continues to wonder why he didn't win the election, he can go to Rasmussen and look at the entire year of proof: we don't love him as much as he has convinced himself we love him.

Finally, closing out the week with your TGIF, I offered an incomplete list of things we're thankful for at our house this holiday season like none other. 

We're thankful for our local leaders, who have done everything they can to maintain public health and promote local businesses, who have let data dictate their decisions, who have asked us to do what's right, who have been open with us, who have cried alongside us when community members, our neighbors, were lost.

Today is the last day of Hanukkah; it's a week before Christmas; 8 days until Kwanzaa; five days before Festivus. 

However you celebrate, whatever you celebrate, whenever you celebrate, and even if you don't, warm wishes to you and yours. 

I'll be back later with your Sunday School. 

TGIF 12/18/20

'Twas a week before Christmas and all through the house, cats are sleeping, lights are blinking, we can finally see snow on the ground when we look out the window.

Presents are being wrapped (with no target date for being opened), things that were ordered weeks ago might get here by the end of the year (or not).

The annual gift-snack-making has happened (and hopefully we won't everything before we see people), cards have been sent and are being received - and none of this rhymes with house, does it? 

And you know what? Who cares if it rhymes or not? 

We are among the fortunate, and grateful to be. We're healthy, our friends and families are healthy, and we're working to keep it that way.

We're thankful for the frontline workers who are giving so much, seeing so much, dealing with so much, and sacrificing so much. 

We're thankful for essential workers, the people who are keeping the grocery stores and gas stations and drug stores and doctor's offices and veterinarian's offices and post offices and tire stores and bird food stores open. 

We're thankful for the DPW and sanitation crews, the police and firefighters who are keeping us safe. We're thankful for the people who are providing meals to families, and seniors. And for the teachers, administrators, other school personnel, bus drivers and cafeteria workers who care about, and tend to our community's children.

We're thankful that we've had the opportunity and that we have the wherewithal to provide some support to local businesses, local charities, and local social service organizations during the pandemic. We wish we could do more - we always wish we could do more.

We are thankful for the scientists who developed the vaccines, the companies that manufacture them, the people who are moving them from point A to point B to point us, when it is our turn. And we are thankful for the people, including friends, who participated in the trials of the vaccines, who took a chance on everyone else's behalf.

We're thankful for our local leaders, who have done everything they can to maintain public health and promote local businesses, who have let data dictate their decisions, who have asked us to do what's right, who have been open with us, who have cried alongside us when community members, our neighbors, were lost.

Today is the last day of Hanukkah; it's a week before Christmas; 8 days until Kwanzaa; five days before Festivus. 

However you celebrate, whatever you celebrate, whenever you celebrate, and even if you don't, warm wishes to you and yours. 

TGIF, everyone.

Wondering on Wednesday 12/16/20

 

Ready... Set... Wonder!

We're going to kind of meander through some wondering, starting with the latest presidential approval rating from the folks at Rasmussen Reports. According to today's  edition of their daily tracking, the president is underwater by 8 points, with 36% of likely voters strongly approving of his performance and 44% strongly disapproving.  Here's a look at Trump's ratings for the month of December. 

• Average strongly approve: 37%
• Average strongly disapprove: 42%
• Average total approval: 49%
• Average total disapproval: 50%

The president has had only six days with a positive approval rating in the past three months: September 20th (+4),  November 9th-12th (+1, +3, +4, +2) and November 17th (+2).  This year, the president's total approval rating has at least 50% only 51 days, and it was never more than 53%.  

On Election Day? 49% total approval, 50% total disapproval, and a -4 difference between his strongly approve and strongly disapprove scores (39% and 43%, respectively). So, as he continues to wonder why he didn't win the election, he can go to Rasmussen and look at the entire year of proof: we don't love him as much as he has convinced himself we love him.

Now, some people do love him as much as he loves himself, including the whole cast of characters that have fought to prove voter fraud, which would lead to his re-election. You know, people Like this former Texas cop, and the group he was working for.  How's this for a headline?

Former Houston police captain accused of violent attempt to prove election conspiracy was hired by GOP activist's group

Sounds like love, right? The former Houston captain, Mark Aguirre, had been following an "innocent and ordinary" air conditioner repairman for days; at least two other people helped with the surveillance. Aguirre thought that the repairman "was behind a huge voter fraud scheme," and Aguirre "believed the technician to be transporting fake ballots in his vehicle and to have as many as 750,000 in his possession."  The logical thing to do, then, was to run him off the road and pull a gun on him, force him to the ground, steal his fan to search it, and then abandon the vehicle, right? There were no ballots. Just air conditioner parts. At first, I wondered if the big donor's firm, The Liberty Center for God and Country, would be asking for the$266,400 they paid Aguirre, but then I read that the donor, Steven Hotze, wanted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to kill protesters back in July.

"I want you to give a message to the governor," Hotze told Abbott's chief of staff, Luis Saenz, in a voicemail. "I want to make sure that he has National Guard down here and they have the order to shoot to kill if any of these son-of-a-bitch people start rioting like they have in Dallas, start tearing down businesses — shoot to kill the son of a bitches. That’s the only way you restore order. Kill 'em. Thank you."

I have to wonder about the politeness of the message, don't you? I mean, who ends a message telling a government official to implement a shoot-to-kill order, by saying thank you? 

Staying with the election, and the cast of characters with whom the president surrounds himself, I thought this article in the NY Times was interesting. Once and now former Trump election fraud attorney Sidney Powell, who vowed to "release the Kraken" and "blow up" Georgia with a "biblical case," has now turned her attention to a new subject: the coronavirus vaccines.

"NO WAY #America." Ms. Powell wrote in the tweet, which collected 22,600 shares and 51,000 likes. "This is more authoritarian communist control imported straight from #China." She then tagged Mr. Trump the former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn - both of whom she had represented - and other prominent right-wing figures to highlight the post.

I'm just wondering generally here, what's the next big conspiracy thing going to be? And will it be coming at us from the right, or will the left dive in to keep things interesting? I mean, they're still talking about how Bernie would have beaten Trump if only the DNC hadn't robbed him again.

About a year-and-a-half ago, I 'disaffiliated myself' from the Democrats, switching my voter registration to 'no party' - primarily because That Guy from Vermont, who is not a Dem - was being allowed by the party to run for president under the team banner, for the second time. I didn't use the 'disaffiliated' language, but that's the language that Rep. Paul Mitchell of Michigan used in announcing he was leaving the GOP, lamenting the lack of leadership and the continued contesting of the election, the conspiracy theories, and so on. I completely understand why he did it; I just wonder, if he wasn't retiring, would he still have left? I hope the answer is yes., butt you never can be sure.  

 Rep. Mitchell might be happy, as I was, to learn that Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who I call my favorite Republican, will be one of the national co-chairs of No Labels. Hogan has a nearly 80% approval rating in his state (see that, president Trump?) and is well liked by Rs, Ds, Independents and pretty much everyone else.  Here's his statement.

I am honored to help lead No Labels at a time when our message of putting aside partisan differences for the common good is needed more than ever. Amid this awful pandemic, the people in my state and across our country are desperate for leaders to work across the aisle and focus on solving the urgent problems we face. I have admired the work No Labels has done to empower these kinds of leaders and to mobilize grassroots supporters, and this work is just beginning. it's time to give voice to the vast majority of Americans who want a different and better kind of politics and mobilize this movement into action.

Anyone wondering how they can get involved or learn more?  Check out the group's website.

What are you wondering about tonight?

What President-elect Biden Said Yesterday

After the Electoral College voted and affirmed that the guy who won the election actually won the election, that guy addressed the nation. Below are his remarks, in case you missed them.

Good evening, my fellow Americans. Over the past few weeks, officials in each state, commonwealth, and district, without regard to party or political preference, have certified their winning candidate. Today, the members of the Electoral College representing the certified winner, cast their votes for President and Vice President of the United States in an act just as old as our nation itself. And once again in America, the rule of law, our Constitution and the will of the people prevailed. Our democracy - pushed, tested, threatened - proved to be resilient, true and strong.

The Electoral College votes which occurred today reflect the fact that even in the face of a public health crisis unlike anything we've experienced in our lifetime, the people voted. They voted in record numbers. More Americans voted this year than have ever voted in the history of the United States of America. Over 155 million Americans were determined to have their voices heard and their votes counted. In the start of this pandemic, this crisis, many were wondering how many Americans would actually vote at all. But those fears proved to be unfounded. We saw something very few predicted, even thought possible, the biggest voter turnout in the history of the United States of America, a number so big that this election now ranks as the clearest demonstration of the true will of the American people, one of the most amazing demonstrations of civic duty we've ever seen in our country.

It should be celebrated, not attacked. More than 81 million of those votes were cast for me and Vice President-elect Harris. That too is a record. More than any ticket has received in the history of America. It represents a winning margin of more than seven million votes over the number of votes cast for my opponent. Together, the Vice President-elect and I earned 306 electoral votes, well exceeding the 270 electoral votes needed to secure victory. 306 electoral votes is the same number of electoral votes that Donald Trump and Vice President Pence received when they won in 2016. At that time, president Trump calls the Electoral College tally a landslide. By his own standard, these numbers represented a clear victory then, and I respectfully suggest they do so now. If anyone didn't know before then, they know now. 

What beats deep in the hearts of the American people is this - democracy, the right to be heard, to have your vote counted, to choose leaders of this nation, to govern ourselves. In America, politicians don't take power, people grant power to them. The flame of democracy was lit in this nation a long time ago. And we now know nothing - not even a pandemic, or an abuse of power - can extinguish that flame. And as the people kept it aflame, so too did courageous state and local officials and election workers. American democracy works because America makes it work at a local level. One of the extraordinary things we saw this year was that everyday Americans, our friends and our neighbors, often volunteers, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, demonstrating absolute courage, they showed a deep and unwavering faith in and a commitment to the law. They did their duty in the face of the pandemic. And then they could not and would not give credence to what they knew was not true. They knew this election was overseen by them. It was honest, it was free, and it was fair. 

They saw it with their own eyes and they wouldn't be bullied into saying anything different. It was truly remarkable because so many of these patriotic Americans are subject to so much, enormous political pressure, verbal abuse, and even threats of physical violence. While we all wish that our fellow Americans in these positions will always such courage and commitment to free and fair elections, it is my sincere hope we never again see anyone subjected to the kind of threats and abuse we say in this election. It's simply unconscionable. We owe these public servants a debt of gratitude. They didn't seek the spotlight, and our democracy survived because of them, which is proof once more that it's everyday Americans, infused with honor, character and decency that is the heart of this nation.

You know, in this election, their integrity was matched by their strength, independence, and the integrity of our judicial system. In America, when questions are raised about the legitimacy of any election, those questions are resolved through the legal processes. And that's precisely what happened here. The Trump campaign brought dozens and dozens and dozens of legal challenges to test the result. They were heard again and again, and each of the time they were heard, they were found to be without merit. Time and again, President Trump's lawyers presented arguments to state officials, state legislatures, state and federal courts, and ultimately to the United States Supreme Court twice. They were heard by more than 80 judges across the country. And in every case, no cause or evidence was found to reverse or question or dispute the results.  

A few states went for recounts. All the counts were confirmed. The results in Georgia were counted three times. It didn't change the outcome. The recount conducted in Wisconsin actually saw our margin grow. The margin we had in Michigan was 14 times the margin president Trump won that state by four years ago. Our margin in Pennsylvania was nearly twice the size of the Trump margin our years ago. And yet, none of this has stopped baseless claims about the legitimacy of the results. 

Even more stunning, 17 Republican Attorneys general, and 126 Republican members of the Congress, actually - they actually signed onto a lawsuit filed by the state of Texas. That lawsuit asked the United States Supreme Court to reject the certified vote counts in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. This legal maneuver was an effort by elected officials and one group of states to try to get the Supreme Court to wipe out the votes of more than 20 million Americans in other states and to hand the presidency to a candidate who lost the Electoral College, lost the popular vote, and lost each and every one of the states whose votes they were trying to reverse. 

It's a position so extreme, we've never seen it before. And a position that refused to respect the will of the people, refused to respect the rule of law, and refused to honor our Constitution. Thankfully, a unanimous Supreme Court immediately and completely rejected this effort. The Court sent a clear signal to president Trump that they would not be part of an unprecedented assault on our democracy. Every single avenue was made available to president Trump to contest the results. He took full advantage of each and every one of those avenues. President Trump was denied no course of action he wanted to take. He took his case to Republican governors and Republican Secretaries of State as he criticized many of them, to Republican state legislatures, to Republican-appointed judges at every level. And then the case was decided after the Supreme Court's latest rejection, a judge appointed by president Trump wrote, "this court has allowed the plaintiff the chance to make his case and he has lost on the merits." Lost on the merits.

Even president Trump's own cybersecurity chief, overseeing our elections, said it was the most secure election in American history, and summarily is let go. Let me say it again. His own cybersecurity chief overseeing this election said it was the most secure in American history. 

You know, respecting the will of the people is at the heart of our democracy, even we find those results hard to accept. But that's the obligation of those who've taken on a sworn duty to uphold the Constitution. Four years ago, when I was the sitting Vice President of the United States, it was my responsibility to announce the tally of the Electoral College votes to the joint session of Congress, had voted to elect Donald Trump. I did my job. And I'm pleased but not surprised by the number of my former colleagues in the Senate who have acknowledged already the results of the Electoral College. I thank them. And I'm convinced we can work together for the good of the nation on many subjects. That's the duty owed to the people, to our Constitution, to our history. 

You know, in this battle for the soul of America, democracy prevailed. We the people voted, faith in our institutions held, the integrity of our elections remain intact. And now it's time to turn the page as we've done throughout our history, to unite, to heal. As I said in this campaign, I will be president for all Americans. I'll work just as hard for those of you who didn't vote for me as I will for those who did. There's urgent work in front of us. Getting this pandemic under control and getting the nation vaccinated against this virus, delivering immediate economic help so badly needed by so many Americans who are hurting today, and then building our economy back better than it ever was. 

In doing so, we need to work together, to give each other a chance to lower the temperature. And most of all, we need to stand in solidarity as fellow Americans, to see each other, our pain, our struggles, our hopes and our dreams. We're a great nation. We're good people. We may come from different places, hold different beliefs, but we share a common love for this country, a belief in its limitless possibilities. For we, the United States of America, have always set the example for the world for a peaceful transition of power. We'll do so again.

I know the task before us won't be easy. It's tempered by the pain so many of us are feeling. Today, our nation passed a grim milestone: 300,000 deaths to this COVID virus. My heart goes out to each of you in this dark winter of the pandemic, about to spend the holidays and the new year with a black hole in your hearts, without the ones you loved at your side. My heart goes out to all of you who have fallen on hard times through no fault of your own, unable to sleep at night, staring at the ceiling, weighed down by the worry of what tomorrow will bring for you, and equally important, for your family.

But we faced difficult times before in our history. I know we'll get through this one, but together. That's how we get through it - together. So, as we start the hard work to be done, may this moment give us a strength to rebuild this house of ours upon a rock that can never be washed away. As in the Prayer of St. Francis, for where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is darkness, light. This is who we are as a nation. This is the America we love and that is the America we're going to be. So thank you all, and may God bless you. And may God protect our troops and all of those who stand watch over our democracy. Thank you.

It was certainly a different tone than we're used to hearing from the current president, don't you think?

Sidebar: Sunday School 12/13/20

Often, over the past few months, Jake Tapper's parting thoughts on CNN's State of the Union have struck a nerve.  That was the case this week, when he closed the hour with the commentary below. The italicized comments are mine.

Paraphrase and flip William Shakespeare, I come to you at the end of the show today to praise Donald Trump, not to bury him. 

Outgoing president Trump deserves our thanks for approving Operation Warp Speed, which helped to bring us the COVID vaccine. He has rethought trade deals. He has re-imagined peace in the Middle East. He has pushed foreign policy consensus to put more of a priority on bringing U.S. service members home, even if his follow-through has been rather wanting. These are legitimate achievements.

There are other ways outgoing president Trump, perhaps inadvertently, has done us a service. The relationship between the news media and the U.S. government should not be anywhere near as antagonistic as it's been under president Trump, but it should be adversarial. Maybe Trump has been right to not attend the dinners where politicians and reporters cozy up to each other. Maybe he exposed as unseemly something that should not return to normal. (I couldn't agree more.)

The president has also exposed the problem that so many of our standards and norms in the U.S. seem to be based upon the honor system. There isn't, for instance, an explicit law against a U.S. president trying to extort a foreign country to provide dirt on a domestic political opponent. A government upheld upon the honor system only works if everyone involved has honor. This seems something that legislators should re- examine. (That we even have to talk about this is something I still can't wrap my arms around. In the past, I would have called this kind of thing a solution in search of a problem. Now? Not so much...)

And then, finally, let us look at the events of the last week, where the president pushed an insane lawsuit. The big one, he called it, from the attorney general of Texas. It was a clownish legal brief based on conspiracy theories and outright lies. And 18 - 18 - state attorneys general, some U.S. senators, and a majority of the House Republican Caucus, 126 members, supported it. (Embarrassing. Frightening. Insulting. Culting.)

President Trump did us a favor by exposing these elected officials. They are definitionally people who signed on to a desperate desire to subvert the will of the American people, to disenfranchise voters in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan based on lies and conspiracy theories, putting an immoral and corrupt power grab above democracy. (They should be forever identified as people "who put an immoral and corrupt power grab above democracy," when we say their names.)

President Trump did us a favor by revealing to us that those individuals are who they are, and that's important as we go forward because the business of this nation continues - the pandemic, the economy, foreign policy, immigration. And now we know clearly how much these individuals care about facts or truth, how much they care about democracy, or the principles that make this country great, which is to say not at all. (They cannot be trusted, because they put Trump's personal interests ahead of everything else. They have no principles.)

Since Election Day, we've seen Republican officials at great professional and personal risk refuse to go along with these lies about the election, from CISA head Chris Krebs to Philadelphia Commissioner Al Schmidt and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Michigan Board of State Canvassers member Aaron Van Langevelde, members of the Maricopa Arizona County Board of Supervisors; from local judges all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, we saw honorable American officials look at these nonsense allegations and kick them to the curb. But not Republicans on Capitol Hill. (Those who stood up to their colleagues, who stood up to their party, who stood up for the rules, who stood up and did their jobs, deserve our gratitude. And that 'his' judges, 'his' justices, didn't do 'his' bidding, didn't follow 'his' wishes, is at least slightly encouraging.)

Now, many Americans hoped that most Republican officials, while they agreed with Trump's policies, did not like the uglier parts of his style, his willingness to lie or smear to achieve his ends. And the cowardly silence of Senate Republicans, most of whom still refuse to acknowledge that President-Elect Biden won, their silence allows that hope to continue, however misguidedly. (My hope is those who have been deathly afraid of losing their careers to Trump's tweeted wrath will stand up now, apologize for their silence, and beg for forgiveness. That, too, is misguided hoping, I know.)

But president Trump made House Republicans go on the record. He made them stand and be counted and 126 of them, including Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and Republican Whip Steve Scalise, they actually signed their names to this, this unconservative, un-Democratic, un-American mendacious joke of a lawsuit that would disenfranchise millions of their fellow Americans. (I expect very little from most of the Rs; my expectations are usually met, or, as in this case, exceeded -  that congressional leaders would find a way to justify this is appalling.)

These House Republicans raised their hands. They said sign me up. The hope that most Republicans in the House were better than this - that has been destroyed. For those of us who believe in standards and norms and the US Constitution, we need to thank President Trump for bringing this fact to light.

I don't usually wake up in the morning thinking how thankful I am for Donald Trump and his seriously bizarre approach to the presidency, but I surely can be thankful he has exposed, for all to see, the worst of us. 

Our collective job? Finding the best of us. 

Sunday School 12/13/20: Extra Credit

For your Extra Credit this week, let's see if we can ask better questions than Chris Wallace did in his Fox News Sunday interview with House Minority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise, who represents the good people of Louisiana. 

Wallace started the interview asking, after the Electoral College votes for the Biden-Harris ticket, "will you stop contesting this election?" Here's Scalise doing his best to not answer.

Well, Chris, look, there has been a lot of contesting of the election in multiple states. The president's done it, other groups have done it too, and that's because of the concerns people had. When you look at massive vote swings days and weeks after the election, millions of people feel very frustrated with this process. And, look, there -- there's going to ultimately be a conclusion to this, but for now I think, if you just discount the fact that millions of people wonder, why is it that in some states Florida, Texas, large states, they had the results by 10:00 that night and then in other states it was days and weeks. And during those days and weeks you saw massive vote swings that just seed a lot of distrust. That's got to get resolved. We've got to start getting back to the point where we can resolve elections on the night.

At this point, I would have asked Rep. Scalise to name a single state that had a "massive vote swing" in the 'weeks' since the election. Wallace didn't ask that, but he did push back.

But -- but -- but -- but -- but -- but, Congressman Scalise -- Congressman Scalise -- There -- the reason that there were these votes swings was because in a lot of states they weren't able to count the millions of mail-in ballots until election night. And everybody knew that -- and, in fact, it happened in Florida, it went the other way. They were able to count the mail-in ballots early, so it favored Biden early and then it swung to Trump. In Pennsylvania, they had to count the mail-in ballots late, so it started pro-Trump and then it swung to Biden.

Now, that's an opportunity for Scalise to take a deep breath, grab himself by the whatever, and admit that Wallace was right - that yes, everyone knew that the absentee ballots were going to go for Biden and that Election Day voting would favor Trump. Did he do that? Of course he didn't. 

Well, Chris, first of all, look at New York, right? The Claudia Tenney race in New York. She's up by 12 votes. Just the other day they found 55 votes in a desk drawer. You know, this kind of stuff – people look at this and go, what is going on? This is the United States of America, it's not Venezuela. That's what gets people irate. You know, why is this still going on?

"Well, Steve, " I would have said, "what on earth does New York's 22nd Congressional District race have to do with the presidential race, the Electoral College, or the ongoing assault on our country by the Republicans? That's what gets people irate. You know, why is this still going on?" 

Wallace waited until after Scalise finished his thought, including bringing in the Georgia runoffs (they all do that, the GOP) in a way that makes no sense. 

Let's have a chain of custody. Let's get back to making sure that everybody can have full confidence in our elections. But just to look the other way and say, hey, look, you know, three weeks later they pulled -- they pulled the corner like -- people are very frustrated with this.

There's still an election in Georgia on January 5th. And three weeks from now, we need to encourage people to go back out, but also to have a system where there's going to be more confidence than what they saw back in November.

"But- but- but- but- but- (I would have said) - Congressman Scalise, wait - wait - what is going to be different in Georgia runoff? Early voting starts tomorrow. There have been hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots requested. Has Georgia changed any rules? What's different now that will give people more confidence in voting again? And what do you say about this tweet from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich?" 

Wallace took a different approach, asking about the "thousands of lawsuits" rejected by state and federal courts, rejected by Trump appointees, and of course the SCOTUS decision to not hear the Texas case. He also noted that Scalise was one of the 125 House Republicans that signed on as 'friends' of the Texas case.

The -- the Supreme Court threw it out without even listening to it. This was a lawsuit that was going to throw out the -- the votes in four swing states, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. I mean you were talking about disenfranchising the 10 million Biden voters who supported the president- elect in those four states. Do feel comfortable throwing out millions of votes of your fellow Americans?

Scalise then pretended he didn't want the outcome he wanted. 

Well, nobody wants any votes thrown out, Chris. And, the fact, the 70 plus million votes that are also at stake for President Trump.

They don't want any votes thrown out, except the ones that went for Biden and not Trump. We know what, and so do they.  Wallace pointed out  "but that's what your lawsuit would have done, sir," even as Scalise tried to pretend that wouldn't be the case.  

Well, no. What -- if you look at the Texas lawsuit, what it was saying if, there are some states that didn't follow the laws that were on their books. The Constitution is very clear that it's state legislatures that set the process for -- for having electors. Some secretary of states changed those rules.

And, he said, the Supremes "don't like getting the the middle of disputes between other branches of government." 

At that point, Wallace went back to his original question, saying

So -- so, bottom line, even though the electors tomorrow are --more than 270 of them are going to say that -- that Joe Biden is the next president of the United States, you're not willing to recognize him as the president-elect, and you're not willing to stop contesting this election?

His response? Let's talk Bush v Gore, and get that wrong.

Well, hold on, Chris. First of all, Joe Biden has been going through a transition that even President Trump supported, while he's also following what the court allows. There are legal challenges allowed. Nobody said back during Bush v Gore, prior to the Supreme Court finally resolving it, and ultimately there -- there was an -- you know, electors met, there was a swearing in. Nobody disputed that. Maybe some of the Democrat side.

But you didn't see people ask prior to that to pass judgment before it was fully resolved. Let the legal process play out. But if you want to restore trust by millions of people who are still very frustrated and angry about what happened, that's why you've got to have the whole system play out. There will be a president sworn in on January 20th, but let's let this legal process play itself out.

I wish at this juncture Wallace had asked Scalise how he'd explain the Supremes ruling in Bush v Gore that no recount could be held in time to satisfy a federal deadline for the selection of state electors - but he didn't. 

They also talked about the fact that AG Bill Barr knew about - but didn't announce - an investigation into Hunter Biden's taxes, because he didn't want to interfere in the election, in accordance with DOJ guidelines. He asked Scalise if that was the right thing to do. No surprise - he went all NY Post and censorship and that the stories that came out were true, and "I think people deserve answers to what really happened here." Which, of course, does not answer the question he was asked, but that's never been a hindrance.

Wallace pointed out that we don't know what truth there is, just that it's being investigated, and then asked "do you trust Joe Biden to  continue this investigation when he becomes president and his attorney general is in charge after January 20th, to continue the investigation of his son?

Well, I'm sure whoever would be put up for attorney general would be heavily scrutinized by the United States Senate. That is the advise and consent role that they would play. But, again, these are concerns that were laid out during the campaign, including yourself, other people in the media expressed concerns about that story and Twitter blocked the distribution of the story and it turns out there's a lot of merit to it. Whether it's completely true or not, we're going to find out, but it's being much -- much more widely reported now after the election and it's another reason that people have real distrust in -- in the mainstream media.

The last question was about California Rep. Eric Swalwell, who we learned had some contact with a woman believed to be a Chinese spy. (Wallace didn't mention that, back in 2015 when the FBI advised him that a fundraiser, Christine Fang, was a "allegedly a Chinese spy," Swalwell immediately severed all contact and fully cooperated with the FBI investigation.)

Referencing comments from House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy saying that Swalwell shouldn't be on the House Intelligence Committee, Wallace asked Scalise if he or McCarthy "have any evidence, hard evidence, that Eric Swalwell gave -- did anything wrong in his relationship with this woman, knew that she was a spy before he was warned about it and ever gave her sensitive information?"

His answer? If you want hard evidence from me, ask him. Ask Swalwell - "these are questions that Eric Swalwell himself needs to answer."

Maybe Wallace can have him on to answer all of the other questions Scalise didn't answer, too.

See you around campus.

Sunday School 12/13/20

I decided that, in the interest of good behavior during a pandemic, I'd only visit one classroom today, and I decided, after seeing who was making the rounds, that CNN's State of the Union classroom was the place to be.  

Visiting with Tapper today?  Bill Gates, for one, who suggested that the next few months - four to six, he said - "could be the worst of the epidemic," with a forecast of another 200K+ deaths. We don't have to have that many, and we wouldn't if people would wear masks and not mingle with others.  He also said that he never thought we'd be seeing what we're seeing here; he thought we'd "do a better job handling it."

Tapper asked Gates how much credit the president and his Operation Warp Speed deserve for getting us vaccines in less than a year.

Well, the mRNA vaccines, which the first two are, our foundation and others have been backing for quite some time. Now, Pfizer teamed up with BioNtech, a partner of ours, and did not take government money. So, they went out on their own. Moderna got money before there was an Operation Warp Speed, back when it was the -- just called BARDA. And that money did help them take risks, because they're not a large company, and they got help on some of their trials work.  So, the U.S. R&D funding, which is -- had been there for pandemics well before this administration, that was a contribution greater than any other country.

And, Tapper wondered, what does Gates think about Trump's Executive Order on prioritizing Americans getting the vaccine over folks in other countries?

Well, I think we need to help all of humanity here. You know, we want the world economy be going. We want to minimize the deaths. And, you know, the basic technology is a German company. And so blocking international sharing and cooperation has been disruptive and a mistake during this entire pandemic. So, we need to ramp up the capacity of all the vaccines. There will be some additional ones approved in the months ahead that are easier to scale up the manufacturing. But the U.S. has benefited from other countries' work care, and we shouldn't be entirely selfish in how we go forward.

And, when Tapper asked, "So, in your view, America first, as the president might call it, not the right approach?"

Well, the extreme idea that everybody should die until we have the very last American vaccinated, that's hardly the appropriate response.

Gates also said the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines "look very similar" (in terms of efficacy) and he expects the others "are likely to be about the same." And, he thinks "we have a real communications challenge," given poll results showing only 60% of Americans say they intend to get vaccinated. 

...you have got to find out, who do people trust, make sure they have got the data. I hope, as people see it being rolling -- this vaccine rolled out, in reducing the death rate, reducing transmission to people you care about, that that 60 percent number will go up. For some jobs, like working in a nursing home, the government could decide that it's important for those people to be vaccinated, because that will save a lot of lives. And so the track record will be developed, and I think we will get over the 70 percent that should reduce the transmission dramatically.

He also said when it was his turn to get the vaccine, he'd take it publicly. He has no intention of moving to the head of the line, because 

It should be based on medical need, not wealth at all. After all, this epidemic has been awful in the way that it's exacerbated inequities. It's been worse for Hispanics, worse for blacks, worse for low-income service workers, multigenerational households, a number of things that mean that, in terms of picking who gets the vaccine, we better be using equity to drive all those decisions.

He thinks "Certainly, by the summer" we'll be much closer to normal, but that it could take longer. And how about trying to do all of this stuff during a transition?

 Yes, transition is complicating. But the new administration is willing to rely on actual experts, and not attack those experts. They're laying out clear plans. So, I think we will get through this in a positive way.

He said he's pleased with how Biden and his team are looking at things, working to retain key people like Dr. Fauci, how they're prioritizing things, and so on. Because of all of that, he thinks "the U.S. will not be one of the worst performers as the team comes into office."

Tapper asked him what he thinks about current administration's handling of things, the inaccurate statements, mistakes that were made, the undermining of the experts, and so on. He said it actually could have been worse, say if Trump had fired Fauci, or if Scott Atlas had been around longer. The postmortem, when it's all over, will go back further than Trump, back to 2015 when Gates and others sounded the alarm about a pandemic, what they could have done differently, and what they can learn from this one before the next one hits.

 And whatever that administration is, being smart about getting the testing up fast, allowing the CDC, who are the experts, to give the message to the public, not being afraid of bad news, so that we get people ready, it's pretty clear we're going to be smarter next time.

Tapper did ask Gates for his response to talk about the "Fauci-Gates vaccine" and how he wants to inject microchips into people.

Well, I'm surprised, and I'm not even quite sure how to react. Dr. Fauci and I believe in vaccines. Vaccines have saved millions of lives. That's what our foundation is all about. And so our expertise was valuable here in getting the scale-up of those things. You have got to be willing to speak out publicly, even if it's not always well understood. So, I do worry, will this make people not want to take the vaccine, or not believe in polio eradication and our other causes that I think are valuable.

And, thinking about how history will just our performance - 20% of the world's cases, 20% of the world's deaths, but we're only 4% of the world's population.

Well, the U.S. would have been expected to be the best. You know, we have the CDC. We have the most PCR machines. We have got the NIH, all this capacity. And, sadly, before the epidemic, in the first two or three months of the epidemic, we didn't get on top of it like many countries did. So, figuring out where we need to change things, these postmortems over the next year will guide us. But it's a tragedy that we weren't able to respond like we could have.

Ain't that the truth. 

Masks on; as Gates said, there's little downside to wearing one  - and we have to get through the next four to six months. 

See you around the virtual campus.

In Case You Missed It (v64)

I had a back-to-normal week here, in terms of getting posts out of my head, through my fingers, and posted.  Here's last week in review. 

The Sunday School classrooms were full of Republicans, and there was a marked difference between the guys from Georgia and Louisiana and one from Indiana, in terms of how much of a grasp on reality they each had.  Here's a bit from the correct side of history. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger talked with George on This Week. Here's what he had to say about the Rs who refuse to accept the results of the election.

... at the end of the day we, as Republicans, didn't turn out enough voters. Our office, as secretary of state, is really just to look at what those vote totals were, and we report the results. And that's why it gets back to the state party didn't do their job, didn't raise enough money and didn't turn out enough people.

Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who has said publicly that Biden won, talked with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday.  Wallace asked if Trump's refusal to accept the results damages our democracy. Cassidy said Trump basically has conceded, since he ordered the GSA to begin the official transition process. He also said this.

Now, if you want to speak about how things are undermined, I think the president -- by the way, if there's fraud, it should be uncovered. But it should be uncovered in a way which a judge agrees. If the president is able to show that, then that's important. If they can't show, that's also important.  I'm hoping the American people would look and say, proven in a court of law, no, the court of law threw it out, and use that to base their faith in how the elections go. And so that's -- it's incumbent upon the president and his legal team to establish that. 

The only definition of 'incumbent' that Trump understands is the one that identifies him as the current occupant of the White House; any other definitions are secondary at best, and probably much further down the list that that.

In addition to the Rs being out in force, so were the medical experts, talking about our horrible performance in trying to bend the coronavirus case, hospitalization, and death curves downward. In addition to the experts, HHS Secretary Alex Azar was also wandering the halls, offering platitudes and little comfort. I touched on that in your Sunday School Extra Credit.

In his discussion with Chris Wallace, who asked about the president's continued refusal to follow his administration's guidance on mask-wearing, specifically including at the Georgia rally he held the night before, Azar said

Chris, our advice is always the same, wash your hands, watch your distance, wear face coverings when you can't watch your distance and be especially careful of those settings like overcrowded indoor bars and restaurants or multi-family household gatherings where you're going to let your guard down and take that face covering off. So, Chris, our advice is the same, regardless of the setting.

And, "regardless of the setting," Azar is incapable of saying anything negative about his boss. In another part of the interview, he directly contradicted Dr. Deborah Birx's advice, too. Great leadership from the secretary on that.

And speaking of "regardless of setting," the president held a little vaccine get-together (absent anyone from the Biden transition team, naturally), which turned into one of his famous open mic poetry slams. Here's a snipped of the OrangeVerse from the gathering, part of a stream on the election he just lost.

And if somebody has the courage, I

know who the next administration will be.

And I’ll tell you what: Life will be much easier

for this country because of what we’ve done

right now and because of a lot

of the people in this room.

The job you’ve done on the vaccine,

together with a lot of others,

has been a modern-day

miracle, and it’s really been

acknowledged as such.

And I want to thank you.

I want to give you my love,

and I want to give you my thanks

because you’re very special people.

The people who worked on the vaccine are special people; the folks who worked on getting manufacturing ramped up are special people; the folks who worked on the distribution plan are special people. The guy with the mic? Nah, not so much. 

The theme of coronavirus-pandemic-vaccines also made it into the Wondering on Wednesday entry last week. 

And speaking of yelling, I'm surprised there's been so little actual yelling from the Rs on news that the Trump administration turned down opportunities to get additional doses -- lots and lots and lots of additional doses - of the Pfizer vaccine, perhaps putting us in jeopardy of not having enough doses as fast as we need them.

While HHS Secretary Alex Azar says that Pfizer is "negotiating in the press" to sell more doses to the US, others aren't seeing it the same way. Including the president, who signed another (apparently) toothless Executive Order or, as the Guardian article linked above puts it,

... as with many headline-grabbing orders issued by Trump the decree did not appear to be impactful or enforceable, analysts said.

Not only that, but Moncef Slaoui, the head of Operation Warp Speed, said "Frankly, I don't know," when asked how the new EO was supposed to work.

Gotta love toothless Executive Orders, especially when Trump said he wasn't going to use them.  

Your TGIF entry was short, it had a picture, and the font was really big, for the folks in the back of the room. Usually that's where the "fake news" people are, but in this case, that's where the fake Patriotic Americans are. 

Everyone knew he lost.

And now, barring an act of sedition, 

we will be done with him.

And, finally, I had the great fortune to click on a tweet link and read Roger Ebert movie reviews - of 50 movies he hated, the article said.  As I read them I saw quite readily that many of his reviews could be applied to the Trump presidency, his slate of only the best people, and some of their situations.  Here's just one example where, with minor tweaks to the titles or portions of Ebert's comments, we've got a spot-on review of our current situation. My changes are in italics.

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

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

That one was fun. And we all need fun, right? 

There you have it -- the full and veritable pastiche from last week.  Thanks for stopping by. I'll be back later with today's Sunday School. Have a great day!

I'll be back later with your Sunday School. 

The Trump Years, in Movies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And then there's Donny Boy (2017).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some of the decorations were downright scary, too. 

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

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

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

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

That's funny. So did I.  So did I.