The Commentariat -- December 26, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Trump Winds up on the Cutting Room Floor. Rebecca Klar of the Hill: President Trump's cameo scene in the holiday classic 'Home Alone 2: Lost In New York' was reportedly cut from showings of the movie on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) this month.... CBC told ComicBook.com, which first reported the backlash to the edit, that the movie was edited not for political purposes but to allow for commercials.... CBC later confirmed on Twitter that the edit was made for time in 2014, before Trump was elected.... Trump mentioned his 'Home Alone 2 cameo on Christmas Eve while speaking to military service members in a teleconference."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Impersonator Delivers the POTUS*'s Christmas Message. Rebecca Klar of the Hill: "President Trump called for unity and respect in his presidential Christmas message released Wednesday by the White House. 'While the challenges that face our country are great, the bonds that unite us as Americans are much stronger,' Trump said in the statement. 'Together, we must strive to foster a culture of deeper understanding and respect -- traits that exemplify the teachings of Christ.'" ~~~

~~~ Ah, Here's #RealDonaldTrump's Christmas Message. Rachel Frazin of the Hill: "President Trump on Wednesday lashed out at Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in a pair of tweets Christmas night, decrying what he called a 'Scam Impeachment.' 'Why should Crazy Nancy Pelosi, just because she has a slight majority in the House, be allowed to Impeach the President of the United States?' wrote Trump.... He also called the impeachment process 'very unfair.'" Mrs. McC: The "deeper understand and respect" just ooze from those tweets, don't they? You're a mean one, Mr. Trump.

Eric Dolan of the Raw Story: "Seth Davin Norrholm, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory University School of Medicine, said Monday that the president's recent rant about Christmas included at least three signs of mental problems." Includes video. Here's the rant Norrholm cited:

So if anybody wants to be a nice conservative, talk show host is not a bad living, I would say. But I have to say, he's a very unique guy and he's a great man and he's been a great friend. So thank you to Rush. Thank you. And let me begin by wishing you a beautif -- look, do you remember this? Do you remember this? Remember, they were trying to take Christmas out of Christmas. Do you remember? They didn't want to let you say Merry Christmas. You'd go around, you'd see department stores that have everything red, snow, beautiful, ribbons, bows. Everything was there. But they wouldn't say Merry Christmas. They're all saying Merry Christmas again. You remember?

AP: "U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, said she was disturbed to hear Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell say there would be 'total coordination' between the White House and the Senate over the upcoming presidential impeachment trial. 'And in fairness, when I heard that I was disturbed,' Murkowski told KTUU Tuesday before saying there should be distance between the White House and the Senate in how the trial is conducted."

Greg Miller & Greg Jaffe of the Washington Post: "The new Russia adviser at the White House -- the third in just six months -- has no meaningful background on the subject. The only expert on Ukraine has never spoken with President Trump, only been mocked by him publicly. The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv will soon be without its highest-ranking diplomat for the second time in a year, as another ambassador departs after being undermined by the U.S. president and his personal attorney. The CIA analyst who triggered the impeachment inquiry continues to work on issues relating to Russia and Ukraine, but when threats against him spike -- often seemingly spurred by presidential tweets -- he is driven to and from work by armed security officers.... The jarring developments over the past three months have ... exposed the extent to which the national security establishment and the values that have traditionally guided American foreign policy are facing an extraordinary trial of their own under Trump's presidency.... Today, the idea that a cadre of nonpartisan civil servants can loyally serve presidents of either party in pursuit of shared national interests -- a bedrock principle of the country's approach to foreign policy since World War II -- is under attack."

Eric Lipton & Steve Eder of the New York Times: "With [Trump] hotel expansion plans thwarted, marquee hotels in New York, Panama and Toronto stripped of the Trump name, and revenues lagging or relatively flat at properties like Doral, rising rent collections at office and commercial properties have provided the Trump Organization a sorely needed boost.... The result: total company revenues have remained fairly steady over the past several years, even as some of the Trump hotels have seen declines in sales or at least lagged behind competitors in other cities such as Miami and Chicago. Because public filings about the Trump Organization's businesses generally only include revenue figures, it is not possible to determine the company's profits or losses."

Marina Pitofsky of the Hill: "The United States flew four surveillance planes over the Korean peninsula Wednesday, according to an aviation tracker, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. The move comes after North Korea threatened to give Washington a 'Christmas gift' unless the U.S. makes concessions in nuclear talks with the country. Negotiations between U.S. and North Korean officials stalled earlier this year after a summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ended abruptly."

Michael Conte & Kylie Atwood of CNN: "In an extraordinary move, the State Department is pulling the US ambassador to Zambia after the president there objected to his harsh criticism of the government's record on corruption and gay rights. Recalling an ambassador is rare, especially when an ambassador is arguing for American values abroad.US Ambassador Daniel Foote, in a scathing statement on December 2, slammed those in the conservative Christian country who compare homosexuality to bestiality and said he was shocked by the 'venom and hate' he received for criticizing the sentencing of two men to 15 years in jail for being in a gay relationship. Same-sex activity is illegal in Zambia. The harsh tone of Foote's remarks was unusual for a public statement coming from a US diplomat. Foote further blasted Zambian government officials for 'stealing millions of dollars in public funds, which the Zambian government has denied.... A career foreign service member, Foote was appointed US Ambassador to Zambia in November of 2017."

Noam Scheiber & Neal Boudette of the New York Times: Sixty-thousand dollars in "cigar purchases were ... just a small portion of the roughly $1 million in union money that court filings say U.A.W. officials spent on golf outings, four-figure dinners and monthslong villa rentals during regular retreats in Palm Springs, Calif., and elsewhere. cigar purchases were in turn just a small portion of the roughly $1 million in union money that court filings say U.A.W. officials spent on golf outings, four-figure dinners and monthslong villa rentals during regular retreats in Palm Springs, Calif., and elsewhere. The scandal comes on top of an investigation into company and union officials' improper use of millions of dollars from a joint Fiat Chrysler-U.A.W. training center."

Beyond the Beltway

Pennsylvania/New Jersey. AP: "Thousands turned out Wednesday to watch the annual reenactment of George Washington's daring Christmas Day crossing of the Delaware River in 1776 -- the first time the crossing was completed in three years. The event was scrapped because of bad weather the last two years, but historical interpreter Nancy O'Leary said at Washington Crossing Historical Park that the conditions this year 'couldn't be better.'... In the original crossing, boats ferried 2,400 soldiers, 200 horses and 18 cannons across the river. Washington's troops marched 8 miles (13 kilometers) downriver before battling Hessian mercenaries in the streets of Trenton. Thirty Hessians were killed, and two Continental soldiers froze to death on the march."

Way Beyond

Israel. AP: "Israel said a rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip into its southern territory Wednesday, forcing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be hustled from a stage during an election rally in the city of Ashkelon. The Israeli military said its air defense system, known as Iron Dome, intercepted the rocket. There were no reports of casualties. Israel's Haaretz daily published a video on its website showing Netanyahu being taken to a shelter as he was campaigning hours before the primaries of his Likud party." The Haaretz story is here.

Vatican. Nicola Ruotolo & Lauren Said-Moorhouse of CNN: "Pope Francis has urged the Catholic faithful to embrace the 'light of Christ' to help end conflict and injustice around the world, during his Christmas Day address. Speaking from the Vatican balcony under a clear blue sky on Wednesday, the Holy Father prayed for people struck by war, political instability, natural disasters and disease among other hardships in his annual 'Urbi et Orbi' (to the city and the world) message. The 83-year-old pope listed several places -- including Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Venezuela and Ukraine -- while calling for peace."

Comments

[Procopius]

Today, the idea that a cadre of nonpartisan civil servants can loyally serve presidents of either party in pursuit of shared national interests — a bedrock principle of the country’s approach to foreign policy since World War II — is under attack.

You know, the NSC (National Security Council) was originally supposed to coordinate the decision process by gathering information and recommendations from all government agencies and presenting the resulting consensus summarization to the President to help him make better choices. Under every President since Eisenhower it's gone away from that principle. Even under Kennedy it was pushed into the background because of the overweening of the "security" agencies. By the way, the "Intelligence Community" is not our friend, and the fact that it's being used now by the Democrats, or maybe is using the Democrats to advance its own interests, is very dangerous, too. However, without careful supervision, the NSC staff has set up their own little policy-making empire and they now want to force the president* to follow their policy, rather than implementing his policy. This is not how it is supposed to be. The president is supposed to tell his servants what his policy is, they are not supposed to tell him that "the universal consensus of foreign policy experts" rules him.

[Ken Winkes]

Let's blame it on Christmas, Procopius, so please pardon my mildly cranky response to your post.

I get that the the "resulting consensus summarization" presented by the NSA may not always comply with the president's opinion or desires and that some sort of friction between the president and his advisors might naturally result. I also get that the president is the boss.

But in the current situation, we seem to be dealing with a boss whose unarticulated urgings--I'll not call them policies-- on a number of fronts would in the judgment of both our legislative bodies, including the Republican Senate, and what the Pretender would prefer to call the Deep State--which is best understood as any functionary who gets in his way--do indeed threaten our national security.

The attacks on NATO, the dallying with Russia, the--let's call them peculiarities--of presidential behavior make sense only when looked at through the lens of the Pretender's own personal and political benefit. IMO, what this adds up to is a president who does not have any foreign policy. His only policy, whether it be foreign or domestic, is personal, and given that reality we should both expect a difference of opinion to emerge and hope for a little pushback from the forces of sanity.

That's the way I see it.

[Ken Winkes]

BTW, because of decisions like this one, perhaps already reported here on RC last month, the current Justice Dept. is assuredly not part of the Deep State.

It's an arm of the unitary presidency. It does what the boss wants.

https://www.citizensforethics.org/loophole-saudi-aramco-lobbyists-fara/

Guess I'm still cranky.

[PD Pepe]

@Ken: and then we have the matter of the Afghanistan Papers. As Chris Hedges reminds us, in a functioning democracy, the publication of the Afghanistan Papers would see generals and politicians who knowingly deceived the public hauled before congressional committees. The Fulbright hearings, during the Vietnam War, although they did not lead to prosecutions, at least aggressively held U.S. officials to account and made public their duplicity and failure. But in the wake of the new disclosures, no one in either political party or the military will be held accountable for the debacle in Afghanistan, a conflict that saw a vast waste of resources, including nearly a trillion dollars that could have been used to address our pronounced social inequality, rebuild our decaying infrastructure and help end our reliance on fossil fuels.

As someone said during this holiday hey-day: There are no better angels––there are only humans that either foul or fix what's broken.

[Patrick]

Procopious: for starters, there is no "universal consensus of foreign policy experts" and never has been.

I guess that's all.

[Jeanne]

Happy holidays to all RCers! You guys rock!