The Commentariat -- September 21, 2017
Afternoon Update:
David Nakamura & Abby Phillip of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Thursday announced an executive order to grant additional authority to the Treasury Department to enforce economic sanctions on North Korea and countries that do business with the rogue nation in Northeast Asia. The president also said that Chinese President Xi Jinping had ordered Chinese banks to cease conducting business with North Korean entities. Trump called the move 'very bold' and 'someone unexpected,' and he praised Xi. 'I must tell you this is a complete denuclearization of North Korea that we seek,' Trump said in brief public remarks during a meeting with the leaders of South Korea and Japan to discuss strategy to confront Pyongyang over its nuclear and ballistic missile tests. Trump said the United States had been working on the North Korea problem for 25 years, but he asserted that previous administrations had 'done nothing, which is why we are in the problem we are in today.'" ...
... Forever Deplorable. In "Diplomatic" Meeting Trump Insults Clinton, Obama, South Korea. David Nakamura: "As he's shown repeatedly, Trump just can't seem to let go of his 2016 opponent, and Trump made a joke at her expense during a meeting with Moon on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly here. An interpreter for [South Korean President] Moon [Jae-in] used the word 'deplorable' in translating his remarks about the North's provocations, prompting Trump to cut in: 'I'm happy you used the world 'deplorable.' I was very interested in that word,' [he said, referring to Hillary Clinton's campaign remark].... As people in the room chuckled, Trump added in front of television cameras and reporters, 'I promise, I did not tell them to use that word. That's been a very lucky word for me and many millions of people.' Moon, waiting for a translator to repeat Trump's remarks, appeared uncomfortable but did not say anything. Wrapping up the introductory remarks, Trump also bashed the bilateral trade pact signed by President Barack Obama in 2011 as 'so bad for the United States and so good for Korea.'"
Secret Agent. Noor Al-Sibai of the Raw Story: "'It's possible that Russia actually sent and dispatched Paul Manafort to the Trump campaign,' Jeremy Bash, who formerly served as chief of staff for the Defense Department and the CIA, told MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace. 'Or at least that once Paul Manafort attached himself to the Trump campaign, the Russians said, okay, now our agent is inside.' The Kremlin, Bash argued, might have 'manipulated the campaign not just through propaganda ... but also through agents of influence.'... 'The ultimate question,' he continued, 'is whether or not Trump himself knew about it ... and once he found out that the bureau was investigating them, why did he try to shut down that investigation?'" ...
... Sometimes Conspiracy Theories Make Sense. Martin Longman in the Washington Monthly: "I wasn't surprised to see that ex-CIA chief of staff Jeremy Bash was on television yesterday saying that it is quite possible that Paul Manafort was sent to the Trump campaign by the Russians. That had been my first thought ever since I read that Manafort had applied for the job unsolicited and with the promise that he would require no pay. All I knew about Manafort at the time was that he had been a partner with Roger Stone in an epically cynical influence-peddling consulting and lobbying firm during the 1980s. He'd worked for some of the most notorious dictators in the world and had a business model based on his ability to win the votes of the candidates he helped to elect. In other words, if I thought I knew anything about Manafort it was that he, like Roger Stone, lacked any core principles and would do unconscionable things for a buck. He was the opposite of the kind of ideologically committed person who offers to work for free." ...
... Josh Dawsey of Politico: "... Paul Manafort used his presidential campaign email account to correspond with a Ukrainian political operative with suspected Russian ties, according to people familiar with the correspondence. Manafort sent emails to seek repayment for previous work he did in Ukraine and to discuss potential new opportunities in the country, even as he chaired Trump's presidential campaign, these people said."
Spicey Unfriends Mike Allen of Axios: Allen writes, "Now we can tell you about another potential honey pot for Mueller. Former colleagues of Sean Spicer tell Axios that he filled 'notebook after notebook' during meetings at the Republican National Committee, later at the Trump campaign, and then at the White House.... When we texted Spicer for comment on his note-taking practices, he replied: 'Mike, please stop texting/emailing me unsolicited anymore.' When I replied with a '?' (I have known Spicer and his wife for more than a dozen years), he answered: 'Not sure what that means. From a legal standpoint I want to be clear: Do not email or text me again. Should you do again I will report to the appropriate authorities.'" About an hour later, after Allen emailed Spicer again, Spicer wrote back, in part, that if Allen sent him any more "unsolicited" message, "I will contact the appropriate legal authorities to address your harassment." ...
... Spicey Lies about Lying. Rebecca Morin of Politico: "In an interview broadcast Thursday on 'Good Morning America...,' Spicer said he doesn't think he's lied to the American people. 'I made mistakes, there's no question. Some of them I tried to own very publicly,' Spicer said.... Correspondent and weekend host Paula Faris also asked Spicer whether Trump had ever asked him to lie, to which Spicer said 'no,' without elaborating."
Dan Boyd of the Albuquerque Journal: New Mexico "Gov. Susana Martinez [R] has waded into the debate on the latest Republican-backed Obamacare repeal plan -- and she's not sold on the bill's merits. 'While it's encouraging that Congress is working on a healthcare solution, the governor is concerned this bill could hurt New Mexico and still needs some work,' Martinez spokesman Joseph Cueto told the Journal.... That's likely because any loss of federal dollars -- the federal government currently pays 95 percent of the cost of those receiving benefits under Medicaid expansion -- could hit New Mexico particularly hard."
"Senator Cassidy, Please Stop Lying about Health Care." David Leonardt of the New York Times: "Here's a giveway about how bad the new Senate health care bill is: Bill Cassidy, one of its authors, keeps trying to sell it by telling untruths. 'The relatively new phenomenon of just "up is down" lying about your bill's impacts is jarring,' says Loren Adler of the USC-Brookings-Schaeffer Initiative on Health Policy. Most egregiously, Cassidy is claiming that the bill would not ultimately deprive sick people of health insurance. That's false, as NPR calmly explained when Cassidy said otherwise.... In the least surprising development of all, President Trump is now repeating Cassidy's falsehoods."
*****
Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, has asked the White House for documents about some of President Trump's most scrutinized actions since taking office, including the firing of his national security adviser and F.B.I. director, according to White House officials. Mr. Mueller is also interested in an Oval Office meeting Mr. Trump had with Russian officials in which he said the dismissal of the F.B.I. director had relieved 'great pressure' on him.... Additionally, the special counsel has asked for documents about how the White House responded to questions from The Times about a meeting at Trump Tower.... In July, when The Times put questions about the meeting to the White House, Mr. Trump and senior administration officials prepared a response on Air Force One that made no mention of the meeting's real purpose, saying instead that it focused on Russian adoptions." ...
... Josh Marshall: "With this new information, I must again raise that hour long interlude on Air Force One two days prior to Comey's dismissal.... That weekend and on that plane ride home, [Trump] had the all star class of Trump toadies: Hope Hicks, Jared Kushner, KT McFarland, Stephen Miller and Dan Scavino. The worst and the stupidest.... It was on a weekend stewing with them that Trump made his decision that Comey had to go -- one his DC staffers were unable to warn him off of. Those conversation that weekend and the particularly the one that kept the six on the tarmac for an hour that Sunday evening must be where the most unvarnished and inane conversations about the need to fire Comey took place." ...
... Andrew Prokop of Vox: "It's been clear for months that special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation is also examining whether President Trump attempted to obstruct justice while he was in office. [New York Times reporter Michael] Schmidt only mentions three of [the] 13 [topics Mueller's team is examining], but those three are revealing -- and indicate that Mueller's interest in the obstruction angle is very serious indeed.... Schmidt's report reminds us that the actions of the president of the United States are at the center of all this...." ...
... Update. Carol Leonnig & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post report on most of the "areas of interest" Mueller's team is exploring in regard to Trump, White House staff & campaign officials: "The requests broadly ask for any document or email related to a series of highly publicized incidents since Trump became president.... [In addition to the topics the NYT report lists,] Mueller also asked for any email or document the White House holds that relates to [Paul] Manafort.... Mueller has also asked for records about meetings then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates held with White House counsel Don McGahn in late January to alert him to Justice Department concerns about [Michael] Flynn...." Also, investigators are wondering how Sean Spicer came up with his false claim about the "real reason" for firing Jim Comey. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: What I find surprising is that Mueller's team seems to be relying heavily on information journalists have already illuminated. Here's one exception:
... Tom Hamburger, et al., of the Washington Post: "Less than two weeks before Donald Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination, his campaign chairman offered to provide briefings on the race to a Russian billionaire closely aligned with the Kremlin, according to people familiar with the discussions. Paul Manafort made the offer in an email to an overseas intermediary, asking that a message be sent to Oleg Deripaska, an aluminum magnate with whom Manafort had done business in the past, these people said.... Investigators believe that the exchanges, which reflect Manafort's willingness to profit from his prominent role alongside Trump, created a potential opening for Russian interests at the highest level of a U.S. presidential campaign.... Several of the exchanges, which took place between Manafort and a Kiev-based employee of his international political consulting practice, focused on money that Manafort believed he was owed by Eastern European clients."
Aaron Blake, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump delivered a brief speech to African leaders Wednesday at the United Nations, and in the span of about 800 words, he twice conjoined the names of two countries, Namibia and Zambia, creating the nonexistent nation of 'Nambia,' and told the leaders that many of his friends go to Africa to 'get rich.'"
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Medlar & I had a brief disagreement about Nambia. Medlar thought Nambia was where the Lion King lived. I was pretty sure it was a country ruled by Eddie Murphy's father. Anyhow, I conceded to Medlar & agreed that Nambia would be a good place for the Lyin' King to live out his days after he is deposed. A fake country for a fake president.
Trump Play "Stump the Staff" Again. David Nakamura & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson held a press briefing in New York following his meeting with Iranian officials & told reporters Trump hadn't made up his mind yet on whether or not he would ditch the Iran nuclear pact. Problem: Trump told reporters a few hours earlier that he had decided, but he wouldn't tell them what the decision was till after the commercial break. Or something like that. "Trump has a long history of undermining or contradicting what his underlings, including press secretaries and Cabinet secretaries, say in public, often within hours. That can make the administration appear chaotic and disorganized...."
Simon Denyer of the Washington Post: "China rebuked President Trump on Wednesday after he threatened to 'totally destroy' North Korea if necessary, a warning that may have undermined the chances of peace but also gave Beijing an easy opportunity to seize the moral high ground. Beijing has consistently blamed not just Pyongyang but also Washington for what it sees as its hostile policies toward the regime. It argues that U.S. hostility has helped to push North Korea's rulers into a corner and talk of total destruction only reinforces that narrative."
We must teach each child the values of empathy ... kindness, mindfulness, integrity and leadership which can only be taught by example. -- Melania Trump, at a luncheon for spouses of world leaders
Irony is dead. -- Joy-Ann Reid, in a tweet ...
... Wife of Internationally-Infamous Bully Opposes Bullying. Louis Nelson & Rebecca Morin of Politico: "First lady Melania Trump on Wednesday called on the international community to better protect and support children, speaking out against bullying and urging parents and leaders around the world to 'come together for the good of our children because through them, our future will be defined.'" ...
Juliet Eilperin & Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: "Scott Pruitt's round-the-clock personal security detail, which demands triple the manpower of his predecessors at the Environmental Protection Agency, has prompted officials to rotate in special agents from around the country who otherwise would be investigating environmental crimes. The EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance has summoned agents from various cities to serve two-week stints helping guard Pruitt in recent months. And while hiring in many departments is frozen, the agency has sought an exception to hire additional full-time staff to protect Pruitt.... The practice has rankled some employees and outside critics, who note that the EPA's criminal enforcement efforts already are understaffed and that the Trump administration has proposed further cuts to the division."
Dan Diamond & Rachana Pradhan of Politico: "In a sharp departure from his predecessors, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price last week took private jets on five separate flights for official business, at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars more than commercial travel. The secretary's five flights, which were scheduled between Sept. 13 and Sept. 15, took him to a resort in Maine where he participated in a Q&A discussion with a health care industry CEO, and to community health centers in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, according to internal HHS documents. The travel by corporate-style jet comes at a time when other members of the Trump administration are under fire for travel expenditures, and breaks with the practices of Obama-era secretaries Sylvia Mathews Burwell and Kathleen Sebelius, who flew commercially while in the continental United States.... Current and former staffers, speaking on the condition of anonymity, say Price has been taking private jets to travel domestically for months." ...
... Daniella Diaz & Rene Marsh of CNN: "Democrats say they are planning to look into a report about Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price taking five work-related trips on private jets last week, costing taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars more than had he flown commercial. Price ... has vowed to cut wasteful spending in his agency.... 'I would remind Secretary Price that taxpayer funds are not meant to be used as a jet-setting slush fund," Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr., the top Democrat on the House energy and commerce panel, said in a statement Wednesday. 'There is no reason to be regularly chartering private flights at the taxpayers' expense between commercially serviced routes such Washington, D.C. to Philadelphia.' He said Democrats plan to ask the HHS inspector general to review Price's travel."
Jeff Stein of Vox: "Republican senators are struggling to articulate why they are rushing to pass their last-ditch effort to repeal and replace Obamacare over the next 10 days before running into their September 30 deadline. In interviews with Vox on Tuesday, nine Republican senators primarily argued that their 'Hail Mary' bill ... would return federal power to the states, giving them greater flexibility to improve their health systems locally.... Far less clear is exactly how Graham-Cassidy would pull off this feat without resulting in millions of Americans losing their insurance -- and the number of millions is still unknown, since any vote would likely have to come before the Congressional Budget Office completes its analysis of the bill.... Some members of the upper chamber acknowledged that the spending changes might have a big impact, but argued their home states would not be negatively impacted." ...
... Inarticulate? Not Chuck Grassley! Luke Barnes of ThinkProgress: "Speaking with reporters in his home state of Iowa, Grassley argued that the GOP had campaigned on repealing Obamacare so much that they were left with no choice but to carry out their promises. 'I could maybe give you 10 reasons why this bill shouldn't be considered,' Grassley told the Des Moines Register. 'But Republicans campaigned on this so often that you have a responsibility to carry out what you said in the campaign. That's pretty much as much of a reason as the substance of the bill.'" Mrs. McC: Okay then. ...
... ** Dylan Scott of Vox: "The underlying truth, the beating heart of Obamacare repeal that refuses to let it die, is: Republicans just want to pass a bill, any bill, to say they repealed Obamacare. Whatever standards they've set for their health care plan, whatever promises they made before, don't matter. The policy is, in a very real sense, beside the point. Republican senators will tell you that themselves, in their own way." Read on. Mrs. Mc: Read on for a paradigmatic lesson in craven irresponsibility. ...
... Jimmy Kimmel answers Bill Cassidy & other critics:
... Kimmel Knows More About Graham-Cassidy Than Graham & Cassidy Know. Dan Diamond: "In the war of words between Jimmy Kimmel and Sen. Bill Cassidy, the late-night host has the better grasp of health policy, health care analysts say.... 'This guy, Bill Cassidy, he just lied right to my face,' Kimmel said [in his Tuesday night monologue]. He then listed four pledges that Cassidy made when he appeared on Kimmel's show in May, including a promise to lower health costs for Americans and to oppose insurance companies' lifetime caps on coverage that Kimmel said would no longer be guaranteed under the new legislation.... Cassidy countered Wednesday that the talk-show host didn't grasp the nuances of his legislation. 'I am sorry he does not understand,' the senator told CNN on Wednesday morning.... [Lindsey] Graham on Wednesday defended his colleague, telling NBC News that Kimmel's monologue was 'absolute garbage' and parroted 'liberal talking points.'... But experts say that Cassidy and Graham's bill can't guarantee those protections and that Kimmel's assessment was basically accurate because of the flexibility the bill gives states to set up their own health care systems. For example, health insurers could hike premiums for patients with pre-existing conditions if their states obtain waivers from Obamacare regulations -- as Kimmel said.... The proposal's significant cuts to Medicaid and other changes to the ACA's regulations would lead to dramatic reductions in coverage for adults too, analysts say." ...
... Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "What's new [in the Graham-Cassidy bill], thanks to the Affordable Care Act, is a discrepancy in state-by-state funding that would be flattened out by the block grants. Most states used the ACA's funding to expand Medicaid; some Republican-run states, liberated by the Supreme Court's decision to make the funding optional, did not. As a result, 14 of the 15 states that would stand to gain from block grants are run by Republicans; Democratic megastates including California, New York and Massachusetts would lose billions of dollars, a feature both Graham and Cassidy have talked up to conservatives." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: In other words, Graham & Cassidy are rewarding Republican-run states for screwing their constituents. And they're proud of it. ...
... Robert Pear of the Washington Post: "The health insurance industry, after cautiously watching Republican health care efforts for months, came out forcefully on Wednesday against the Senate's latest bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, suggesting that its state-by-state block grants could create health care chaos in the short term and a Balkanized, uncertain insurance market.... The two major trade groups for insurers, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and America's Health Insurance Plans, announced their opposition on Wednesday to the Graham-Cassidy bill. They joined other groups fighting the bill, such as the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, AARP and the lobbying arm of the American Cancer Society. In the face of the industry opposition, Senate Republican leaders nevertheless said they would push for a showdown vote next week on the legislation...." ...
... Katie Jennings of Politico: "Gov. Chris Christie said on Wednesday that he opposes the latest Senate plan to repeal and replace Obamacare.... 'I oppose Graham-Cassidy because it is too injurious to the people of New Jersey,' Christie told reporters standing outside an addiction treatment center in Somerset County. 'I'm certainly not going to support a bill that takes nearly $4 billion from people in the state.'" ...
... Edward-Isaac Dovere of Politico: "In an appearance at the Gates Foundation’s Goalkeepers event, [President] Obama focused on the revived fight over Obamacare, as Republicans push toward a vote in the Senate on their latest attempt to repeal his signature health care achievement. 'Those of you who live in countries that already have universal health care are trying to figure out what's the controversy here,' Obama said, jabbing at 'people trying to undo that progress for the 50th or 60th time' with a bill that raises costs. 'It is aggravating,' Obama said, 'and all of this being done without any demonstrable economic or actuarial or common-sense rationale, it frustrates.'" ...
... Elana Schor of Politico: "The liberal activists roused into the streets by ... Donald Trump are revving up for one last campaign to save Obamacare.... From a new six-figure advertising campaign by the pro-Obamacare group Save My Care to a flurry of rallies planned on the ground, the left is throwing everything it can at the new repeal bill from Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)." ...
... WTF? Mrs. McCrabbie: So now every interested party opposes this draconian bill: health insurance consumers (i.e., the public), by a huge majority; healthcare providers, overwhelmingly; healthcare advocacy organizations; even health insurance providers, because the bill would create such a mess. And health industry experts, because they say it would harm millions. Who likes it? Trump & most (but not all) elected Republicans (and probably Steve Doocy & Sean Hannity). WTF is the matter with these Republicans? Are they truly in denial about the bill's effects? Do they hate President Obama so much that they're willing to commit political suicide to spite him? Do they want their constituents to be financially ruined and/or die? Is somebody paying off Republicans? Sometimes it makes sense to pass unpopular legislation -- civil rights laws, the Affordable Care Act itself, for instance -- because that legislation works toward improving the lives of millions of Americans and moves in the direction of democratic ideals. But when a proposed law is guaranteed to hurt millions of Americans? Did I ask What the Fuck? ...
... Update. Looks as if Chuck Grassley & Dylan Scott answered my question: Anything But OCare.
Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: "In a sentencing memo, the government asked a judge to give [Anthony] Weiner, 53, a prison term of 21 to 27 months in a case that enmeshed him in an F.B.I. investigation of Hillary Clinton last year before the presidential election. Mr. Weiner, who is to be sentenced on Monday, could receive up to 10 years in prison on one count of transferring obscene material to a minor, a 15-year-old girl with whom he exchanged lewd texts over several months in early 2016."
Beyond the Beltway
Aaron Rupar of ThinkProgress: "Earlier this month, over an illustration that showed a truck driving into protesters, South Dakota Rep. Lynne DiSanto (R) [-- who is the house majority whip --] posted, 'I think this is a movement we can all support. #alllivessplatter.' 'Nobody cares about your protest,' the post says. 'Keep your ass out of the road.'... Following a number of reports about it, on Tuesday, her employer, Keller Williams Realty, announced it had severed ties with DiSanto.... The post won't immediately affect DiSanto's standing in the legislature, however -- House Majority Leader Lee Qualm (R) told the Associated Press she'll stay on as House Majority Whip...."
Way Beyond
AFP: "A reporter covering political unrest in India's north-east was beaten to death during violent clashes, officials have said, two weeks after the high-profile murder of another prominent journalist. Shantanu Bhowmick was set upon with sticks as he reported on violence on Wednesday between warring political factions and police outside Agartala, the capital of remote Tripura state. On Thursday, the state police superintendent Abhijit Saptarshi said more than a dozen officers had also been injured in the fracas and tensions remained high in the troubled region. 'We later found the journalist's body at the site of the clashes,' he told AFP from Tripura."
News Ledes
Washington Post: "Liliane Bettencourt, a French heiress to the L’Oréal cosmetics fortune who became embroiled in a family feud that exploded into a financial and political scandal involving former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, died Sept. 20 at her home near Paris. She was 94."
New York Times: "Lillian Ross, who became known as the consummate fly-on-the-wall reporter in more than six decades at The New Yorker, whether writing about Ernest Hemingway, Hollywood or a busload of Indiana high school seniors on a class trip to New York, died on Wednesday in Manhattan. She was 99." ...
... Ross's New Yorker obituary, by Rebecca Mead, is here.
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Reader Comments (17)
Nambia is next to Pambia.
On another topic, yes, you asked What the Fuck. There seems to be a strong, antibiotic-resistant strain of Obama Derangement Syndrome still out in the land.
Just loved the Lion King, the Lyin' King, and Eddie Murphy's father references––priceless! There were quite a few clever tweets about this indicating the masses know more about African countries than the master, but hey, what fun to have a hot co-fee-fee in the cafes in Nambia.
And it appears that a whole slew of folks know more about what's in that health care (truly an oxymoron) bill than most republicans and with certainty we can say than the Nambian King himself.
Yesterday Kasey Hunt caught up with Bill Cassidy in the halls of congress and pressed him on the particulars of his bill when Lindsay, who was walking ahead of Bill, turned around and like a rabid dog, snarled at Kasey, practically foaming at the mouth , told her she didn't know what she was talking about, that she was spouting garbage––grrrrrr–. Say what? Lindsay? If he doesn't get his clock cleaned on this I'm gonna grab my guns, pack up my belongings, put on my fancy dress with the red dots on the side pockets and move to Nambia!
P.S. Was thinking of when I first saw Jimmy Kimmel on T.V. He was the comedic counterpart to Ben Stein's monotonous vocal style and faux-partician demeanor on a game show called "Win Ben Stein's Money." I remember enjoying this show because of Kimmel's wit and hilarious bits and thinking then that this guy's gonna go places.
A few days ago who should appear on MSNBC but Stein himself who was castigating the "lefties" for treating Trump the way we do. "It's relentless! you people just won't let up on the guy––he's trying to do a good job here." At first I thought he was kidding, but realized soon enough that Ben meant what he said. Now I wonder if Ben and Jimmy ever get together for a few beers and a *couple of corned beef sandwiches for old time's sake. I'm thinking probably not.
*Note Akhilleus
Ben Stein is a jerk.
Every time I hear one of the Congressjerks open their silly lyin' mouths, I think that they can't go lower, and every time, I am proven wrong. The descriptive word a**hole has no meaning anymore, since it describes so many people in the administration and the congress. Listening to all of them gives me the shakes-- It just doesn't occur to any of them that they are immoral, unethical, mean, nasty jackals. Love the latest "news" (highly expected of these people, though--) of millionnaires of the cabinet populace screwing the public right and left whenever possible. But it isn't going to stop since the presidunce is one of them. What a den of thieves.
Leaders disappoint
They do. No getting around it. Not all, but quite a few. The biggest disappointments are often those who seemed to hold so much promise.
I thought of this while driving to work this morning, listening to Ludwig van's Eroica symphony, the exultant work of his middle period, his calling card for the great things to come. Snippets of the third movement will recall the massive Symphony in C still down the road a bit. But for Beethoven, the object of his dedication for that work was a huge disappointment. His first printed copy of the score had the name "Buonaparte" inscribed on the title page. He changed the name to the more generic "Heroic" symphony after learning that Napoleon had declared himself emperor. Beethoven's hopes for a new beginning in Europe, more democracy and less monarchy, were dashed. Listening to the Eroica, one can just imagine the maestro's thoughts of the imminent new age. The swirl of magnificent music bears the marks of his hope and optimism for a new world.
Yup. Leaders disappoint. I'm not talking now of the Hitlers or Stalins or Maos or Pol Pots, or the Caligulas, a crazy man so debased that he was killed by his own guards who had had just about enough. Suetonius' biographical sketch includes the graphic detail that his Praetorian Guards, turning him into a pin cushion, stabbed him "many times in his privates". Yikes! Sounds a tad personal, wouldn't you say?
I'm thinking more along the lines of leaders whose rise to power stoked the imagination. Wilson tried to bring us into a League of Nations following WWI, but during the planning stages he gave congress the finger and when it came time to ratify membership, they gave it right back to him. Bill Clinton seemed to promise a breath of fresh air after the twelve years of Reagan-Bush misery. We all know what happened there. Going back in time, we recall that Caesar crossed the Rubicon. In doing so, the Republic was left behind. Look at Myanmar. Aung San Suu Kyi, a paragon of virtue and hope for a more democratic country has, with her astounding silence concerning the military attacks on the Rohingya, sadly muddied her legacy. Even Obama was not immune to bubbling disappointment. We all could have done much better without his too cozy connections to Wall Street Masters of the Universe.
There are plenty of leaders who, upon donning the mantle of power, fired few imaginations except, perhaps, for their own and those of their deluded supporters. George W. Bush was a disappointment in so many ways, it's hard to count. But he wasn't a complete disaster (just mostly). His work on behalf of AIDS relief in Africa was an unusual ray of sunshine in an administration otherwise marred by lies, bloodshed, stupidity, and darkness.
Then.....we come to Trump. No rays of sunshine here. Not even one of those little key ring flashlights used to find the lock on a dark night.
Can't say as it's proper to call this loser a disappointment, since we expected very little of him, but there are plenty who did (enough to get him elected, anyway). And I hope, with every scintilla of brainpower and heart I possess that these people see him (even if they won't admit it--Ben Stein?*) as the disappointing failure he is. He fails so regularly we're getting tired of failing. And he certainly does disappoint. The rest of the world, I'm sure, hoped against hope that he wouldn't be as bad as advertised.
He is. Disappointment, like you read about.
Mostly though, my disappointment in the Age of Trump is with the American electorate and the media. It's not like I had placed both on a pedestal higher than was called for. It's not that. I suppose more than anything, I'm disappointed that we, as a people, are not smarter, not kinder, less hateful, less bigoted.
We're not.
But, like addiction counselors always say, admitting there's a problem is the first step to recovery.
Okay, then. We suck.
What next?
*Note, PD.
Mrs. McC. wrote: "What I find surprising is that Mueller's team seems to be relying heavily on information journalists have already illuminated."
Quite. I think the answer might run along the lines of what it is that good investigators do. It's one thing to see that a WaPo reporter raised a connection between Manafort and Russian/Ukrainian oligarchs. It's another to have the goods in hand, well enough in hand to make possible colluders uncomfortable and prompt their anxious lawyers to whisper "Repeat after me: 'Plea bargain'."
As has been noted, Mueller is going great guns with this thing. Trumpies are lawyering up faster than mobsters after a "social club" raid. He's got a lot of people sweating. Trump probably still thinks he's beyond the long arm of the law, but his flunkies don't know any such thing. Mueller has an army of investigators right now and maybe he's also looking at this as a way to clear the name of the FBI from the scurrilous attacks of a fool with a big mouth and tiny hands.
Who knows? In any event, knowing the butler did it is not as good as proving the butler did it.
Let's hope Mueller can end the game with "Colonel Trump, in the library, with the lead pipe."
P.S. Isn't it a hoot how that nice Corey Lewandowski, Mr. Decency and Law and Order, is nodding his empty head up and down like a dippy bird, self-righteously proclaiming that that mean Paul Manafort should go to jail if collusion. If there's justice in the universe, Dippy Bird will be in the next cell.
I'll send him a glass of water so he won't get bored.
@AK: I remember someone saying in a piece I read about Obama that he could never have risen to the presidency without the Masters of the Universe helping to make it so. Thems that make the money make the country what it is–––I so not want to believe that. I so want to hang on to that thing called democracy––that "for the people" business. It's like a fine fabric that continues to thin.
Watching Burn's Vietnam as I have been doing for three nights in a row I am once again flummoxed at the "best and the brightest" having tin ears and egos so large that they apparently were deaf and dumb to the carnage they were causing. Those like LBJ and McNamara that KNEW at one point that this war was futile, that Westmorland was lying to them, still remained mute. This I believe is what is called "cognitive dissonance"––something our Republicans are displaying at this time in our lives with the health care bill. Another killing machine.
PD,
You're right. Last night I marveled, yet again, at how long it took McNamara to figure out what a complete mess things were. Even as he began sending private memos to LBJ worrying about how bad we (the US) looked killing 1,000 Vietnamese a week, and still losing as we tried to beat a tiny backwater nation into submission. Johnson's response to a similar warning was that as much as he hated looking bad, he hated "losing" even more.
Unfortunately, we now have a president whose concept of winning and losing is even more childish. At least Johnson knew what was going on. To quote Pete Seeger, "we were knee deep in the big muddy, but the big fool said to push on".
With Trump, you can't be sure he even realizes there's any mud under his feet. All he wants to do is to look like a winner. We have to hope he doesn't wake up one morning and think "Nuclear war. That'll do it!"
Getting Rich in Nambia.
Wow. So, Trump's pals go to Africa to "get rich"? Hmm....so did King Leopold. Doesn't that sound just a tad colonial and more than a bit exploitative?
There is quite a contingent of tone deaf pols on the right. I mean, TONE-deaf. Don't care what or how they say something, saying stupid, ignorant, insulting things. Doesn't matter. But I don't think I've ever seen any politician as eye-poppingly tone deaf as President* Daft.
Hey, you black African guys in Nambia...my pals love making money off you guys. They make a ton of dough. Thanks a lot. Oh, by the way, the "blacks" love me.
Rich white guys going to Africa to drain its resources dry and make a lot of money.
King Leopold would approve. But not in Nambia. He opted for a real country.
@Akhilleus: Would love to comment further, but am busy packing safari gear to go elephant-poaching in Nambia with Eric & Donnie. Am hoping to get pointers from the boys on how Medlar & I too can exploit some hapless Africans. America First!
For those wishing to reach us, when we're not out maiming & killing endangered animals, you can call us at the exclusive Trump Nambia.
Mrs. McC.,
Don't forget your Pith helmets and mosquito netting. And tell Medlar that jodhpurs and khaki safari jackets with the special satellite phone pockets are just the thing this season.
Also, don't forget to tell conservationist whiners that Junior sez hunting is "not about killing!". Don't tell that to Neolithic hunters though. I'm sure Junior can convince these Stone Age, loin cloth losers that hunting is really a way to one up fellow members of your mid-town private club, AND it's not a bad way to impress the bitches, oops, I mean lovely ladies.
And pay no attention to curmudgeons like Akhilleus who claim that shooting lions in a preserve, with high powered rifles, scientifically calibrated scopes, professional guides, and a battery of high tech gear is not "hunting", it's murder. You want hunting? Strip off that bespoke Great White Hunter costume and drop the high tech weaponry. Here's a Buck knife, a skin of water, and some beef jerky. Now head out on your own and bring back another lion.
THAT'S hunting.
Now that healthcare is back in the news, here's a little chart I stumbled across.
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/15ea5c29fbc31450
The difference in annual prescriptions per physician between medical marijuana states and nonmedical marijuana states for
Glaucoma +35
Pain -1826
Anxiety -562
Nausea -541
Psychosis -519
Seizures -486
Sleep Disorders -362
Depression -265
Spasticity -32
But an increase in snack food sales.
Cowichan,
"Increase in snack food sales"...funny.
And, with reasonable glaucoma treatment, patients can at least see what's going on when they're in the snack food aisle.
Question:
Will the cops who shot and killed, 1. a disturbed kid on a college campus (who was gay) carrying a pocket knife, and 2. a deaf man (who was Hispanic) who couldn't hear commands to drop a metal pipe he was holding, a thing he always did, according to neighbors, suffer any consequences for killing innocent people?
Answer: in the Age of Trump? Never. Not never, not no how.
Especially not in Confederate states where the rule is shoot first, and often, and don't bother asking questions later.
Further question. If either had been macho white males, wearing, say, Confederate flag shirts, would they have been shot or would officers have treated them with deference, kindness, and brotherhood?
You know the answer.
Mrs. McC; Could I get your phone number while you and Medlar
are in Africa so I can call (collect) with a list of things I can't live
without and can only get from Nambia? My zebra rugs are wearing
thin and I'm thinking that this winter I'd like to try carving stuff out
of endangered elephant tusks (tsk, tsk), so just a couple* of those.
And a box of gold nuggets that can be pounded into gold leaf so as
to keep up with the Joneses (trumps). Ciao.
Mrs. McC, safe travels to you and the mister. Don't forget the DEET. I hear they got some nasty skeeters that have a special taste for white folk.