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JULY 19,  2018

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 8:25 P.M. ET:

ENCORE!  ENCORE! – FROM THE POLITICO:  President Donald Trump asked his national security adviser to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to Washington this fall, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday afternoon.  The statement comes after Trump teased a second meeting with Putin on Twitter earlier in the day. Sanders says the president tasked National Security Adviser John Bolton with extending an invitation to the Russian leader.  Either Trump is a brilliant strategist or a glutton for punishment.  After the week he's had, you'd think he'd want to avoid Putin...or meet him secretly behind a lamppost in Berlin.  My guess – only a guess – is that he thinks he'll have kind of positive agreement to announce with the Russian leader, making him right in pursuing his current policy.  Quite a risk.  Quite an ego.

WHAT SOCIALISTS? – FROM THE HILL:  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has significantly widened his lead over left-wing challenger Cynthia Nixon in the New York Democratic gubernatorial primary, according to a new Quinnipiac poll.   The poll has Cuomo leading by 59 percent to 23 percent for Nixon.  In a Qunnipiac poll from May, Cuomo led Nixon 50-28 percent.  Cuomo comes out ahead of Nixon in all gender, education, age, racial and regional groups, according to the new poll.   "New Yorkers say 59-30 percent they want a gubernatorial candidate with experience in politics over someone new to it," Quinnipac University polling analyst Mary Snow said. "Democrats, non-white voters and women, in particular, lead the charge in that preference."  This is in the same state where our little left-wing Evita won a Democratic nomination for Congress – with eight percent of registered Dems voting for her – and the press proclaimed it a national revolution.  Seems that New Yorkers aren't that keen on hard leftists actually taking office, and who can blame them?

THE GRANDSON TOO? – FROM COLLEGE FIX:   Another figure has been added to the list of unacceptable icons on college campuses.  Following a two-year campaign by student activists, Florida State University will move the statue of Francis Eppes, an influential figure in the university’s history, from a prominent place on the quad to inside a building on campus named after him, WJHG reports.  Eppes was among those who helped found the university, was three-time mayor of Tallahassee, the grandson of Thomas Jefferson, and also a slave owner. Eppes Hall will not be renamed, however, despite the students’ demands.   I know how dramatically this will elevate the intellectual atmosphere on campus.

July 19,  2018     Permalink

THE PARTY OF ROOSEVELT, TRUMAN, AND KENNEDY – NOT – AT 12:48 P.M. ET:  What is wrong with these nuts?  Are they so afraid of the Marxist missionaries in their party that they can't stand up to them...just once?  Consider, from Townhall:   

A resolution honoring the brave men and women of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who enforce our laws and keep us safe, passed in a 244-35 vote. Thirty-four Democrats voted against the measure, Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) joined them. Over 130 Democrats decided to vote “present.”

The original plan was to take up House Democrats’ abolish ICE legislation. Democrats responded by saying they would vote against the bill, denying the GOP the ability to paint them as extremist, while easily defending their “no” vote to progressives as a consequence of political theater. They also planned on focusing on family separations, another issue that’s becoming a thorn in the side of Republicans. So, the GOP decided to push a support ICE measure instead (via The Hill):

In a 244-35 vote, the measure was approved, with 18 Democrats voting to back ICE and 34 voting against the resolution.Another 133 Democrats voted "present," which their leadership had urged the rank-and-file to do.  They did so to protest what they argued was a political stunt designed to distract the media and the public from Congress’s failure to enact immigration reforms, including efforts to address the ongoing separation of migrant families on the U.S.-Mexico border.

“This is a very sad day,” Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a floor speech, pivoting to the controversy surrounding the separation of immigrant families at the border.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) had initially wanted to bring to the floor a measure sponsored by several liberal Democrats that would have abolished ICE.

Make no mistake; abolish ICE is still an issue the progressive Left wants to push. More Democrats are joining the chorus that’s rapidly becoming a litmus test for candidates. At the same time, more than a few are more than aware that this isn’t really a winning issue. It’s good for deep blue enclaves that elect democratic socialists, but not so much in Middle America and swing districts. It refocuses the debate on security, where the GOP is in the driver’s seat.

COMMENT:  In 1992, while running for president, Bill Clinton had what was thereafter labeled a "Sister Souljah moment."  Sister Souljah, an African-American performer, had made some racially charged comments about whites that any reasonable person would have regarded as way over the top. 

The black vote was critical to the Democratic Party, but that fact had made the party too willing to accept extremist behavior from some members of the black community.  Clinton, who was trying to move the Democrats back to the center, saw Souljah's comments as a means to do just that.  At some political risk he denounced her, establishing himself as the candidate who would stand up to extremism.

The Dems today need a Sister Soujah moment.  Some major Democrat has got to have the guts to stand up to the so-called "progressives," who are really regressives.  They yearn for the 1960s.  If they are not resisted, they will drive the party to extinction.

In fact, I'd imagine some reasonable Democrats are already mulling the idea of a new party.  More Kennedy, less Obama. 

July 19, 2018       Permalink

ENOUGH! – AT 11:46 A.M. ET:  That's the word I'm hearing from Urgent Agenda readers about the president's non-performance this week.  We have wanted to give Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt, after his dubious behavior during the presidential campaign.

We were generous.  He is an imaginative, dynamic man, with a coarse side to him.  He is light years better than Hillary Clinton, who is neither dynamic nor imaginative, but is equally coarse.  The country chose Trump, taking a chance on a businessman with no political background.  Maybe he could get the country moving again after eight years of Obama's self-love.  And he did get the country moving again.  And he seemed to be moving comfortably into the presidency when...this week occurred.  The dark side came out.  Gaffe after gaffe.  Get this one, from CBS News:

For the first time as president, Donald Trump is holding his Russian counterpart responsible for interfering in the 2016 election. In an exclusive interview with "CBS Evening News" anchor Jeff Glor, the president said he would hold Vladimir Putin accountable because he's Russia's leader. Glor also asked him about the 2020 presidential election.

Here is a part of their exchange:

JEFF GLOR Let me ask you about 2020.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Okay.

GLOR: Who do you think your Democratic opponent will be? Joe Biden says he'll make a decision by January.

TRUMP: Well, I dream, I dream about Biden. That's a dream. Look, Joe Biden ran three times. He never got more than 1 percent and President Obama took him out of the garbage heap, and everybody was shocked that he did. I'd love to have it be Biden. I think I'd like to have any one of those people that we're talking about…You know, there's probably – the group of seven or eight right now. I'd really like to – I'd like to run against any one of them, but Biden never by himself could never do anything. President Obama took him, made him vice president and he was fine. But you go back and look at how he succeeded in running, when he ran two or three times, I don't think he ever break -- broke one. He was at the one or less level, 1 percent or less level.

COMMENT:  It is not necessary to say about a man that he was taken from the garbage heap.  Mother taught us not to talk that way.  Trump has been doing it all along, beginning with his horrible comment, during the primary campaign for the GOP presidential nomination, that John McCain wasn't a war hero. 

Now it's coming back to haunt him.  Republicans resentful of the president's behavior toward them are sharpening their knives.  There is a difference between a hearty political argument and a vicious personal attack.

There's an old line in politics:  "When your opponent is committing suicide, don't get in his way."  The Democratic Party, with its wacked-out socialist wing, is committing suicide, and the president is getting in its way.

July 19,  2018     Permalink

JULY 18,  2018

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:53 P.M. ET: 

BUMPY – The president had another bumpy day today, making some gaffes that required the heroic Sarah Sanders to go out and explain what he meant.  He apparently is also being warned that some of his comments are affecting the morale of intelligence officers, and that some high-profile security people could resign.  The president might consider taking a few days off and resting.  He got punched this week, and the first step on the road to a rebound is to accept that his public performances were self-destructive.  At the same time, he is lucky in his enemies.  To watch the Dem buffoons come out and accuse him of treason, or almost-treason, was a throwback to the early 1950s, when Joe McCarthy accused the Democrats of "20 years of treason."  Didn't work then, won't work now.

SANITY IN LA LA LAND? – FROM THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE:  The state Supreme Court removed the “three-Californias” initiative from the November ballot Wednesday but said it would decide later whether the plan to break up the state was within the voters’ power to consider at a future election.  In a unanimous order, the six justices said that “significant questions regarding the proposition’s validity” and that the “potential harm” of allowing a public vote before those question are resolved “outweighs the potential harm in delaying the proposition to a future election.”  The court said it would consider both sides’ arguments at a hearing before deciding whether to place the measure on the 2020 ballot.  Carlyle Hall, a lawyer for opponents who sued to take the initiative off the ballot, said the court’s order was welcome but not surprising.  “This was such an abuse of the initiative process that the court obviously felt it could not allow it to be on the ballot,” he said.  Tim Draper, the Bay Area billionaire and venture capitalist who qualified the measure for the ballot, could not be immediately reached for comment.  The whole thing is absurd.  A state cannot, under our federal system, became three states, and thus produce four more seats in the US Senate.  I can't wait for Rhode Island to declare itself 23 new states. 

THE KAMIKAZE DEMOCRATS – FROM DAILY CALLER:  Democratic Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, the deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), claimed on Wednesday that America’s national borders create “an injustice” by keeping Mexican workers from traveling to the United States to look for higher-paying jobs.  Ellison claimed in an interview with progressive activist Rabbi Michael Lerner that America’s “prosperity is based on the want that is experienced in other parts of the world” and complained that “people, regular people, cannot go back and forth across the border seeking out the highest wages.” “We just have to say that the 12 million undocumented people in the United States are here because somebody wants them to be. But they want them here to do the work, but they don’t want them to get any rights."  I'm sure that party line will play well in Midwest towns where people struggle just to stay above water.

July 18,  2018     Permalink

THEY COME, THEY GO – AT 12:33 P.M. ET:   They used to call it "the new girl in town."  This week the distinction goes to our local Evita, the very lovely and semi-talented Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – applause please, applause – the giant-killer of the elegant Bronx, future of the Democratic Party, and possibly first queen of the United States. 

Now you already have been introduced to her, endlessly, as the most important person in politics since Adam and Eve negotiated their arrangement.  She defeated, in the Democratic primary, one of the old stalwarts of the party, Joseph Crowley, a man who'd been seriously mentioned for speaker should the Dems win the House in November. 

Trouble is, our little dime-store Evita isn't universally loved among Democrats.  First off, she's a socialist in a decidedly capitalist country.  Second off, she can't keep her mouth shut, and doesn't understand that not everyone in our glorious 50 states wants a Marxist revolution.  Third off, she won by attracting only eight percent of the Democrats in her district.  Fourth off, she believes her own propaganda.  Fifth off, she wasn't quite truthful about her tenement background.  More like a two-story house in Westchester. 

She'll get to Washington in January.  The press will love her as it loves anyone with a cute face.  But she'll walk into a room filled with senior Democrats, and learn what an ice storm feels like.  From The Hill:   

Frustrated Democratic lawmakers are offering Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez some advice: Cool it.

Ocasio-Cortez stunned the political world with her upset primary victory last month over Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.), the head of the House Democratic Caucus and a rising star within the party.

But while the improbable win made Ocasio-Cortez an overnight progressive superstar, a number of House Democrats are up in arms over her no-holds-barred approach, particularly her recent accusation that Crowley, who has endorsed her candidacy, is seeking to topple her bid with a third-party run.

Some legislators are voicing concerns that Ocasio-Cortez appears set on using her newfound star power to attack Democrats from the left flank, threatening to divide the party — and undermine its chances at retaking the House — in a midterm election year when leaders are scrambling to form a united front against President Trump

The members are not mincing words, warning that Ocasio-Cortez is making enemies of soon-to-be colleagues even before she arrives on Capitol Hill, as she’s expected to do after November’s midterms.

“She’s carrying on and she ain’t gonna make friends that way,” said Rep. Bill Pascrell.

“Joe conceded, wished her well, said he would support her … so she doesn’t know what the hell she’s talking about.”

“She’s not asking my advice,” he added, “[but] I would do it differently, rather than make enemies of people.”

Asked if Ocasio-Cortez is, indeed, making enemies of fellow Democrats, Pascrell didn’t hesitate.
“Yes,” he said. “No doubt about it.”

COMMENT:  Pretty standard story.  Overnight sensation has to live through the second night, and the third, and finally realizes that a lot of people don't see him, or her, as a sensation, but a pushy loudmouth with a half-empty brain.

Next sensation please?  Step right up.  CNN is waiting to crown you.

July 18,  2018     Permalink

DROP – AT 10:55 A.M. ET:  The controversies surrounding the president are taking their toll.  He's dropped again in the daily Rasmussen tracker, although not by much:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 44% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Fifty-four percent (54%) disapprove. 

The latest figures include 31% who Strongly Approve of the way Trump is performing and 46% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -15.

COMMENT:   I wouldn't be shocked if the numbers fell further.  This, so far, is the worst week of the Trump presidency – Newt called his Helsinki press conference the low point of his term in office – and there have to be some political effects.

The president has to get back on track.  He is losing support in his own party over foreign-policy gaffes, and he has little popularity among the party leadership, to start with.  The midterms are three and a half months away.  If the Dems take the House, they will almost certainly impeach him.  The party base will demand it.

I have sensed in the last few days an exasperation with the president's verbal errors, beyond what I've seen before.  Americans, and especially Republicans, knew what they were getting with Trump – an imaginative, dynamic leader with some very serious flaws.  We'd hoped the flaws would recede, and some have.  But the mouth is the problem, and it's up front.

July 18,  2018     Permalink