Some consider the Nation’s Capital as “Fantasyland on the Potomac”. Other outsiders are “Fed Up” with the Federal City. It's better to consider D.C. as “the District of Calamity” (sic).
Fox News political commentator Sean Hannity traveled halfway around the globe to cover President Trump's second meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for the VietNam Summit. But had Hannity not improvised, he would not have made it to his live spot on time. Hannity found himself stuck in Hanoi traffic on the way to the studio for his US prime time show. To avoid being an on camera no show, Hannity hopped aboard a scooter to make it to the set on time.
In 2012, conservative polemicist Dinesh D'Souza contributed $20,000 via a straw donor for his friend Wend Long's quixotic campaign to become Senator from New York. His infraction was zealously prosecuted by politically connected US Prosecutor from the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara.
In 2014, D'Souza entered a plea for a one count felony charge. D'Souza's sentence was for eight months in a half way house, five years probation and a $30,000 fine.
On May 31, 2018 President Donald Trump announced via Twitter that he would grant D'Souza a full pardon because he was very unfairly treated by our government.
Donald Trump used his regular Fox News platform with Sean Hannity to attack a media bete noir -- The Washington Post -- with convoluted antitrust charges. Even though Bezos personally bought the Washington Post for $250 million in 2013, Trump claims that it was to give Amazon favorable tax treatment.
This accusation comes on the heels of news that the Washington Post has assigned twenty reporters to investigate everything about Donald Trump. The Washington Post has long earned its liberal reputation and an eagerness to take down threatening Republicans. It is laughable to think such investigations are to protect Amazon's tax treatment.
On the face of it, $250 million in personal cash is an expensive way to retain favorable tax treatment. Surely, maximizing contributions to key members of the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee and some leadership PACs would have been a thriftier option to "buy favorable treatment".
What is instructive is Trump's blowhard blurtations about how he perceives that a Trump Administration would administer justice. Trump's attack against Bezos and the Washington Post contributes to the perception that Trump would have an enemies list, and it would be highlighted by journalists who do not kiss Trump's...ring. Ask Megyn Kelly.
Secondly, Trump's premise is that he would direct the Department of Justice to go against specific targets who are adversely affecting his "business", be it personal or political. This reinforces an understanding that government and business would work hand in hand or there would be a problem. There's a definition for that, and it's like a bundle of sticks.
Thirdly, Trump's claim exposes his ignorance of the political process. Notwithstanding the cost ineffectiveness of personally buying a sink hole media entity for a quarter of a billion dollars to help a public company, it hints that Trump thinks that he dictates tax policy. Maybe Trump needs more meetings with Speaker Ryan, who has nurtured a pet project as Chair of the Ways and Means and Budget Committee, to eventually overhaul the tax system. Presidents propose budgets but the House really creates and passes them in regular order.
Trump's Convention Chair Paul Manafort claims that in Phase One of the campaign, Trump put on a show to project an image but that in Phase Two we would see a really different side. Really? The nomination fight on the Republican side is effectively over. Trump has signaled that he wants to unify people around him. Conservatives have no love lost for the (Com)Post. But making outrageous accusations against the paper of record in District of Calamity, and effectively threatening them with legal retribution is a signal for fellow Republicans to come on board is not sound strategy. It's flirting with disaster.
When someone tells you who they are, believe them. If this is phase two, the GOP should think about phase out.
One of the virtues which Manhattan mogul Donald Trump has capitalized upon to become the front-runner in the 2016 Republican Presidential race is a perception that the blustery billionaire "tells it like it is". Even Mark Cuban, who has had some public dust ups with the Donald, has praised Trump for giving honest answers instead of prepared answers.
Well, this straight shooting image has been impeached by a Trump Senior Aide as he wooed the RNC Rules Committee in Florida. Paul Manafort, Trump 2016's recently named Convention Manager, told the GOP party establishment that during Phase One of the campaign, Trump is projecting an image one stage to appeal to voters. But that his image will change and a softer-side will come out.
After Trump convincingly won the New York Primary, it seems that he thought that the Trump campaign tried to implement Phase Two with a revealing NBC Today Show Townhall, in which Trump vowed to raise taxes on the rich (including himself), change the RNC Pro Life platform to make exceptions (which would please his friends at Planned Parenthood) and Trump urged North Carolina to accept Transgenders Bathrooms (because it was hurting business and not a problem).
Towards the Transgender topic, there was a firestorm on social media, and Trump relented during another friendly interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity, in which Trump clarified that he believed in States' Rights. Perhaps they implemented Phase Two too soon. Such much for a candidate to tells it like it is and does not pander to anyone.
Trump supporters seem imbued with anger about the establishment and politicians lying to them. This probably explains Trump's mantra against "Lyin'" Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and the new sobriquet against "Crooked" Hillary Clinton (D-NY). Trump's flip flop on transgenders in bathrooms challenges his projected anti-politically correct image as well as the perception that he stands firm. Those mesmerized in the Trump cult probably will believe whatever Trump tells them today, but it plays poorly in expanding his base, particularly for the general election.
Thoughtful primary voters have wondered about Trump's pro-life conversion. Trump took three purportedly pro-life positions in one afternoon, including the modest proposal of punishing the aborting mother, sound like a pro-life parody from Planned Parenthood. It was bad enough that Trump settled on the status quo, but the Trump Today Townhall creates a loophole so large that it threatens abortion on demand until parturition. Pro Lifers probably were not already keen on Trump but his vacillation on an issue of monumental proportion for the last 44 years does not project an image of thoughtfulness or stability.
As for Paul Manafort, his claim to fame was helping wrangle up delegates for President Ford in the quasi-contested 1976 convention in Kansas City. Manafort seems to have pushed Corey Lewandowsky back to being Trump's body man (a role he relished regarding manhandling Michelle Fields). Manafort managed to keep Trump tame on social media for a fortnight and temporarily curtail insulting opponents.
But Manafort's style may be anachronistic. Forty years ago, it would have been easy to lobby the RNC's meeting without being noticed. But when there are diffuse information platforms which reach millions at the touch of a button, this pandering would not go unnoticed. Of course, smart phones make any off-the-record chats suspect. So Manafort's revelations were not to remain secret long.
Wooing waivering delegates may be more complicated than in the '76 campaign. If Trump needs to win more than two score of delegates for a first round victory, he does not have as much leeway as President Ford to shower favors on waivering support, as nice as golfing at Mar-a-Lago may be. Hugh Hewitt has pointed out Paul Manafort's relative dearth of twitter contacts. So who cares? Well, during a contested convention in an information age when a campaign may have to immediately reach out to 2474 delegates, not being Twitter savvy is a liability.
As Manafort joined the Trump organization, a desperate plea was sent out to allies in Washington to register to become delegates. Two problems with that missive. Firstly it was sent to Washington DC prospective delegates (which held its Caucus on March 12th) instead of Washington state. Secondly, the email was sent the day after the deadline. Oops.
While it is unclear how much input Manafort had on Trump's decision to spend $20 million between now and the California primary on June 7th, it seems like a spending strategy from yesteryear. As Jeb! learned in this cycle, dumping a ton of money with carpet bombing commercials may not nudge the needle up. Trump recently hired a California campaign point person two months before the crucial Golden State primary. Cruz has been working those fields for a year. So earned media from friendly sites (like Fox News, Breitbart and Drudge et ali) and profligate paid media may help grease the skids but it does nothing to Get Out the Vote via organization.
Not to mention Paul Manafort experience as being a Washington lobbyist, who has some uncomfortable Saudi, Pakistani and Russian mob connections. Lobbying for foreign interests may be lucrative and par for the course for established Washington insiders, but it runs counter to a Populist, anti-establishment "Throw the bums out" mantra to "Make America Great Again". Moreover, Manafort's cozying up to the GOP Establishment and claiming that Trump is just doing a schtick in Phase One of the campaign obliterates the aura of authenticity.
Manifort may be heralding Trump 2.0 but based on the recipe formulation, it may go over like New Coke, with customers yearning for "The Real Thing".
The Justice Department was handed a pair of decisions rejecting motions to stay requests from Citizens United and Judicial Watch regarding emails by then Secretary of State and current Democrat Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton and her key staffers Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills. U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan noted that the government has not contended that it was unable to comply with the production deadline thus arguments for judicial economy and "the interest of justice", the original deadlines which were set in May 2015 holding.
The so called Reverend William Barber II, a member of the NAACP Board of Directors, recently ignited a firestorm when Barber recognized Martin Luther King Day by pronouncing Senator Tim Scott as a puppet of the Republican Party. Barber's exact barb was: “A ventriloquist can always find a good dummy."
The right Reverend feels wronged that the first black Senator since Reconstruction articulates a Tea Party agenda. Perhaps Barber forgot about Senator Edward Brooke (R-MA), Senator Carol Mosely Braun (D-IL), Senator Roland Burris (D-IL), now Senator Mo Cowan (D-MA) and Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ). And of course there was Senator Barack Obama (D-IL). But to be charitable, perhaps Rev. Barber was referring to the South.
None the less, it is fascinating that Barber has the expectation both of group think for Blacks. Moreover, it shows the hypocrisy of the NAACP as a civil rights organization which it disses an African American who has achieved high office because he does not articulate liberal Democrat policy positions.
Furthermore, Barber uses insulting imagery to demean his bete noir. No wonder Thomas Sowell quipped that he was so old that he remembers when most of the people promoting racial hatred were white. When Barber rhetorically excoriated Senator Scott, Barber intimates that only Whites are part of the Tea Party and clearly he thinks ill of them.
When Rev. Barber was given a chance to walk back his tough talk on Senator Scott, he chose to play the prophet, for which he may profit in progressive political circles. Wonder what happened to all of the Democrat's push for civility in public discourse. That's right, it was a one way street.
While Barber may be a pastor at the Geenboro Christian Church Disciples of Christ Church, his uncharitable rhetoric and routed political thinking lends credence to having him lead the Church of the Poisoned Mind. Of course, he would have to compete against the Jeremiah Wright, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.
