Re: Yesterdays’ discussion about Trump & the media.
Rush makes the point that the media didn’t create Trump. They can’t destroy him.
The only thing that can separate Trump from his followers is Trump”
It’s always nice to hear good news. And the message from the President is still clear and consistent: American jobs filled by American workers! Go President Trump! :–)
Speaking at the unveiling of Boeing’s new jumbo airliner, President Trump told cheering workers in South Carolina Friday that he wants to promote more products “made by American hands.”
“We’re are going to fight to get more jobs and better paying jobs for the loyal citizens of our country,” Mr. Trump told about 5,000 people at Boeing’s non-unionized plant in North Charleston. “This is our mantra — buy American and hire American. We want products made in America, made by American hands.”
Mr. Trump spoke on a stage in front of massive factory doors that were rolled back to reveal the first of Boeing’s new 787-10 “Dreamliner” aircraft, which is 18 feet longer than the earlier model and seats 330 passengers.
Boeing also builds Air Force One, and Mr. Trump has pressured the company to lower the plane’s production costs. Of his negotiations with the company over the presidential aircraft, the president told the crowd, “It looks like we’re getting closer.”
Another piece of good news: infrastructure investment may be on the way soon. California could use some of this money to repair its dams….if it deigns to stay in the US. 😉
President Donald Trump’s pledge to bring massive investments in U.S. infrastructure projects showed new signs of life on Friday after lying dormant for weeks, as leading Republican lawmakers said proposals from the administration could be in the offing.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, told reporters he expects to receive “some kind of recommendation on an infrastructure bill, a subject that we frequently handle on a bipartisan basis,” but gave no details or timing.
He has previously voiced concern over adding to budget deficits with a new injection of federal funds for road, bridge and other construction projects like the ones President Barack Obama secured from Congress in 2009, especially after a major highway funding law was enacted about a year ago.
Some Republicans and Democrats in Congress are increasingly criticizing Trump’s administration for being slow to get behind his legislative initiatives during the first month of his presidency.
We were talking about healthcare the other day, and I made a remark about professional associations that may be interfering with a supply of good healthcare workers. I think this problem may be bigger than just the medical profession for humans….
If Laurie Wheeler puts her hands on a horse, she could go to jail.
Not because she would hurt the animal—she’d never think of doing such a thing—but because of an anonymous complaint submitted to the state’s licensing board that governs veterinary medicine.
Wheeler has been studying horse massage since 2010, when she adopted an abandoned horse suffering from a potentially life-threatening neurological condition known as equine protozoal myeloencephalitis. Her horse, Jazz, was treated with a mix of medication and massage therapy, and Wheeler became interested in the practice. Since then, she’s twice been certified in equine massage by an Indiana-based animal therapy school, and, in 2016, successfully obtained a license from the state of Tennessee, where she lives, to practice massage therapy on humans.
She planned to expand her hobby into a professional career working with both equines and equestrians.
Before she could, though, the Tennessee Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners got involved.
In April, Wheeler received a letter from the board explaining that she wouldn’t be allowed to give horse massages in Tennessee without being licensed as a veterinarian—a process that would require years of additional, expensive schooling. If she ignored the board’s letter and continued to practice, even if she gave horse massages for free rather than as a business, and she could face fines of up to $500 and could be sent to jail for as much as six months for committing a class B misdemeanor.
“Rush makes the point that the media didn’t create Trump. They can’t destroy him.”
I disagree there. The media helped create the monster that is Trump. They gave him hours of free advertising all thru the primaries. They wanted him, thinking he couldn’t possibly win. They might not be his Dr. Frankenstein, but they’re Egor at least.
“John Dickerson provided this prescient comment early this morning to Hugh Hewitt, hardly knowing that national media outlets would only take a few hours to prove him right. The host of CBS’ Face the Nation discussed Donald Trump’s press conference yesterday, in which the president gave full vent to his frustration with the media — and the frustration of tens of millions of voters, too. Dickerson tells Hewitt that we can’t throw out our standards on how presidents handle the media, but that “the press did all that good work ruining its reputation on its own.”
Dickerson specifically pointed out the tendency of the media to provide “hysterical coverage to every little thing”:
“It’s always the people inside a bubble who think they’re the ones with an outsider’s perspective on things. The mainstream media fits this profile perfectly. The big name press continue to deny there is anything wrong with the way they do things, or the things they choose to do. NBC’s Chuck Todd, for example, is happy to blame Donald Trump for his profession’s problems and abdicate any responsibility. They all are.”
“This is what Chuck Todd and others like him fail to accept or comprehend: The mainstream media have delegitimized themselves. Republicans and independents watched for eight long years as Todd and others of his ilk did their best to help and support the last administration; not only refusing to hold President Obama to account (the way they are imploring each other to do with Trump) but providing cover for him. The media framed Obama as the reasonable one while Republicans were just “intransigent” jerks who didn’t want Obama to succeed. They packaged and delivered his preferred message every night and all day on the cable channels.
As for Trump, for all of their bellyaching over his habitually manhandling them or his refusal to call on them during press conferences, they utterly fail to consider that may they shouldn’t have tried to game the system to force Trump on Republicans because they thought it would help Hillary.
During the GOP primary people like Chuck Todd were happy to allow Trump to call into Sunday talk shows. They’d cover his rallies, often in their entirety, happily showing Trump’s plane landing at whatever designated spot he was going to speak. The figure given is Trump was given about $2 billion in free advertising. Billion, with a B. It was only when Trump got the nomination that the media realized, “Oh crap. Look what we’ve done!” Suddenly, speaking truth to power was important, again. The press called upon each other to be diligent with the Trump administration.
Journalism is back! If rusty.
And back from what, exactly?
Why would the media have to come back? Making the statement is an admission of guilt they’ve been doing it wrong (and they still are). It’s true. And they know it. But they’re standing there with their hands over their ears, screaming, “LA! LA! LA! LA! LA! LA! LA! LA!” pretending as though it hasn’t happened.”
———————–
“I guess you could call this a win for the Trump White House, but as you’ll see in a moment it’s not all good news. From Fox News:
By a slim 45-42 percent margin, more voters say they trust the Trump administration to “tell the public the truth” than the reporters who cover the White House. Ten percent say neither…
There are the expected partisan differences. Eight in 10 Republicans (81 percent) trust the Trump administration more to tell the truth, while roughly the same portion of Democrats trust the media (79 percent). Independents are twice as likely to put their faith in Trump as the press (52-26 percent), while 16 percent say neither.”
“However, there is also support for aggressive coverage of the president, with 55% saying they approve of it it versus just 38% who want the media to give the president the benefit of the doubt. And there is even stronger support for another proposition: The president should watch his words. Asked “Do you think President Trump should be more careful about what he says and how he says it or do you like that he speaks his mind?” 71% said he should be more careful. Clearly it’s not just Democrats who agree with that proposition.
Re, Trump vs. Obama competence from yesterday… There’s nothing praiseworthy about Obama or anyone supporting any of the stimulus packages. Doing so was stupid. And it was actually done. Trump talks up a lot about infrastructure spending; it’s stupid, but so far it’s only rhetoric. Obamacare is pure disaster; even if it’s overturned entirely, we may not feel the worst effects of it for a couple years (to say nothing about what would happen if it’s *not* abolished; to say nothing of the millions of people whose health insurance is all screwed up now). Trump hasn’t proposed anything that would do that much damage, let alone *done* anything that will. There’s a world of difference between leading and championing and dragging the cause of gay marriage through the courts and culture–that’s Obama–and allowing to stand (so far) a few far less significant pro-gay policies over which you might not even have control–that’s Trump.
Within a couple days of taking office, Trump reinstated the Mexico City policy. Obama was the most radical pro-child-killing president in our history. Hillary likely would have been worse, if that’s even possible. I don’t get the calculus that says the child-murder folks are more competent because they wear tuxedos. Doesn’t matter to me if you have some (dubious) degree and (questionable) political background. If you want to turn a human at 9 month’s gestation into a lifeless, bloody mass, I’ll make the leap and say you’re worse than the guy who opposes that stuff.
Those are good links, AJ. It’s too bad that right when the media’s jaw is out there primed for a well-deserved knockout punch, an inarticulate egomaniac is the one in position to do so.
I found out today that one of our Mexicans who mows our greens works at the golf course from dawn until 3:00. Then he goes to Popeyes and cooks chicken from 4:00 until midnight.
I thanked him for helping to keep our twin Ponzi schemes of Social Security and Medicare solvent. I told him some people want all Americans to be on Medicare. We agreed he would need to get a third job to pay for that.
Solar Pancake, why is spending money on “infrastructure” stupid? It seems to me that waiting until bridges collapse and kill people, etc. is pretty stupid–or do you mean something different?
Meanwhile, the Mexicans building our new house are working just as hard. In one week, they built the fence, planted the trees and shrubs, installed the carpet and finished two of the bathrooms.
The guys were having lunch as I passed by, and I sought the secret of their work ethic. They were all drinking Mexican Cokes with real sugar. It must be the corn syrup that makes people lazy.
This may sound strange, but I find issues of water and sanitation interesting. There is an Amish farm not far from here, and we have visited a number of times. I enjoy going in the spring and summer when the irrigation system is up and running. I think they use something similar to the Israeli system—at least from the description it sounds very similar.
I just finished a wonderful recent book by Seth Siegel on the global water crisis. The book, Let There Be Water, should be a wake-up call for world leaders to take the water crisis more seriously. Let me summarize some of its most important findings.
In recent years, 600 million people have begun experiencing water shortages. In less than a decade it could be as high as 20 percent of the world’s population or 1.5 billion people. Since water is crucial to generating energy and agriculture, a water crisis will raise global food prices and slow economic growth. With insufficient water, low economic growth, and high food prices, this could lead to a rise in failed states.
As I pointed out in a previous column, the Syrian Civil War began in March 2011 after nearly five years of the worst drought in centuries. Over 800,000 Syrians lost their livelihoods from the droughts before the civil war began. The destruction of crops caused a rise in food prices.
The problem is that another Syria could happen very soon. While Syria is an extreme case, the water crisis will spare no country…..
I agree with you, Cheryl. I do think some degree of infrastructure maintenance is the rightful purview of govt. I’m referring more to the magnitude Trump seems to be calling for. It’s yuge (last I heard him talking about it), and runs the risk of TVA worthlessness or shovel-ready pie in the sky. But I have a feeling that if he really did try to float too much through Congress, it wouldn’t be quite so ambitious (hopefully). Do you know any specifics of his? I should make a closer study of it.
Debra, Brooks has been reporting on Washington for a long time, but I guess you know that he is getting his specific information contained in this article from inside the Trump White House.
This is from the article. A couple of us predicted that exactly this would happen several months ago:
Third, we are about to enter a decentralized world. For the past 70 years most nations have instinctively looked to the U.S. for leadership, either to follow or oppose. But in capitals around the world, intelligence agencies are drafting memos with advice on how to play Donald Trump.
The first conclusion is obvious. This administration is more like a medieval monarchy than a modern nation-state. It’s more “The Madness of King George” than “The Missiles of October.” The key currency is not power, it’s flattery.
The corollary is that Trump is ripe to be played. Give the boy a lollipop and he won’t notice if you steal his lunch. The Japanese gave Trump a new jobs announcement he could take to the Midwest, and in return they got presidential attention and coddling that other governments would have died for.
Reality is rearing its ugly head every day in the White House. This is not going to end well, but as Brooks said, it is difficult to predict exactly how Trump will finally destroy himself.
Yes Ricky, many people in their bubbles are frantically trying to put together an alternate reality that doesn’t include President Trump. You and David Brooks and the NYT are not alone. But there is no reason to believe that Brooks’ “information” [a generous descriptor for petulant wishful thinking] is more accurate now than it was on election morning, which is to say, it’s not. But by all means, keep the dream alive if it pleases.
In more positive news, there is now some reason to believe that the border security wall that will soon be under construction is practically going to pay for itself in savings.
President Donald Trump’s border wall only needs to stop about 10 percent of illegal crossing in order to pay for itself, according to an analysis by the Center for Immigration Studies.
The estimated $12 to $15 billion cost of the wall would quickly be offset by the savings to the government if fewer illegal immigrants arrive in the country over the next decade, CIS found. Only a small portion of the population of people who are expected to attempt an illegal crossing in the next decade — between 9 and 12 percent — would have to be stopped for the wall to totally pay for itself.
The analysis from CIS, a group that advocates for moderating immigration levels, relies on fiscal estimates from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NAS) for the average cost to taxpayers of illegal immigrants. NAS estimates one illegal immigrant costs state and local governments approximately $75,000 in a lifetime, taking into account taxes paid and the cost of providing benefits such as education and health care.
If Trump’s border wall stopped between 160,000 and 200,000 people from entering the country illegally, CIS finds, the savings would offset the expected cost of the wall.
Estimates on the cost of the wall have ranged from as low as $8 billion to as high as $20 billion. Opponents of its construction argue the wall will not be effective in stopping all immigrants, and use that argument in conjunction with the price tag to assert building the wall is a waste of resources. While CIS finds it would quickly pay for itself, the analysis does note most of the fiscal burden for illegal immigrants falls on state and local governments, while the cost of the wall will fall on the federal government.
Nevertheless, the cost estimates are somewhat conservative, as they do not take into account the cost to the government of the children of illegal immigrants. If those costs are included as estimated by NAS, the fiscal drain increases to about $95,000 per illegal immigrant. CIS also notes the wall could save taxpayers nearly $64 billion over the next decade if half of the crossings are stopped — more than three times the expected cost of the wall.
Trump insists on spending each weekend at his own resort. His entourage and security detail all stay with him on the taxpayer’s tab. And of course you can’t beat this pr for driving up the membership rolls. “Spend the weekend, you might meet the President”. Great way to pad the Trump Co profits. And Jimmy Carter was afraid his peanut farm might compromise him…..
While in Florida, the North Koreas tested a missile. Trump thought it entirely appropriate to read National Security briefings at the dinner table…. But hey, at least the Russians weren’t there. The Republicans who once hosted over 30 hearings over two years to “get” Clinton over Benghazi (and quietly submitted a nothing report) can’t be bothered to investigate to what extent the Russians were/are involved in the Trump campaign/presidency
Meanwhile, the New York taxpayer continues to pay the tab for Melania and Baron to stay at the Trump Tower….
For all of the above, just imagine the outrage the Republican party would have if it was Obama or Clinton. Its quite clear the Republicans are favouring party (even in the form of the amateur hour presidency) over country.
And a press conference which makes you wonder about his mental capacity….
I wonder how the CIS/NAS derives its $75,000 figure. Do they include the benefit to the US economy for the labour migrants provide in the form of lower priced agriculture products and services just to name two. If the Wall prevents 10% of migrants from crossing, what loss will farmers suffer in terms of fruits and vegetables not picked or lower profits due to increased labour costs?
The idea that the Wall will pay for itself and not have a detrimental effects on the US economy is a pipe dream.
I predict as soon as the Wall is finished, a local Mexican drug lord will take a grenade launcher to it and if that doesn’t work, a few sticks of dynamite. And the Wall will crumble.
Debra, If my Mexican goes home to visit and can’t get back in, I may lose a couple of golf balls in the unmown rough, and I may have to wait for a tattooed white girl to undercook my chicken. On the other hand, who is going to pay for your Social Security and Medicare benefits?
For every “just imagine if the other party was doing it,” there are just as many examples of the converse. But the real party/ideology hacks are those who only point out the phenomenon when it goes one way. Truth is only secondary to such people.
HRW, You are being kind to call today’s cult meeting a campaign rally. Those events are somewhat rare around the world when there is no pending election. I think they still have them in North Korea and Iran, they used to have them in Cuba, and I seem to remember they were once popular in Central Europe.
I took the Hill off my reference list. They ran a story about a ‘leaked’ tape of Trump talking about interviewing generals and dictators for his cabinet. I listened twice and couldn’t find it. If anyone can tell where it is, let me know. It’s a garbage story as far as I can tell. They’re really scraping the bottom.
I thought this was the best part of Trump’s speech:
The nation state remains the best model for human happiness and the American nation remains the greatest symbol of liberty, of freedom and justice on the face of [G]od’s earth……Erasing national borders does not make people safer. It undermines democracy and trade prosperity. We’re giving it away.
The so-called global elite have done well for themselves, but left working families with shrinking wages. Really they are shrinking. 18 years ago though many of you in this room made more money working one job than you’re making right now working two and three jobs.
Reporter who used to sit next to me is now at The Hill. Super nice guy, very gregarious, played football — but he’d always crunch on an apple every day and then, with no warning, SLAM his fist down on the desk and break out laughing. I was always half jumping out of my chair. 🙂
I think the most powerful cult in the world right now is the cult of globalism. It has it’s world courts and trade organizations. Its political proponents and practitioners will expend their very lives defending and spreading it.
Mammon is its ruling god–but he is not jealous; you can have others.
Debra, You are probably right. Look at those two globalists (Dad and me) at 7:56 standing outside of a Lamesa, Texas home. Dad once bought a car from Korea. I routinely buy blackberries from Chile. We’re clearly bigger cultists than the Trumpkin who salutes the cardboard Trump every day.
Here is the real debate between conservatives. Bret Stephens (in his Danny Pearl Memorial Lecture) sees Trump’s attack on the media as “darkly brilliant”.
Kevin D. Williamson has always seen Trump as “merely stupid”. It is an interesting issue. I understand Stephens’ point about why Trump is trying to destroy the concept of objective truth. However, I must stay with my fellow Texan. The heart of Trump and Trumpism is ignorance and stupidity. That is what made him such an effective candidate in America in 2016. He is the political version of a Kardashian.
Ha. Saluting and praying over a cardboard cutout is a bit much (though we do put pins and pictures in a world map to pray over our missionaries). Huber is a used car salesman, so I suppose he is just using the tools at his disposal. :–)
Oh please. He has a long way to go to catch Obama. And they didn’t complain once about Barry and Michelle’s largesse.
And unlike most of their’s, which was for vacations and fund raising, Trump is actually working while there.
Plus it’s pure conjecture that this will continue into the hundreds of millions as they allege. Obama’s is already out of the treasury. Maybe they need to hold off the whining a bit.
“President Obama’s travel expenses cost taxpayers more than $96 million during his time in office, according to a report from the watchdog group Judicial Watch.
The group obtained documents from the Secret Service and Air Force that revealed President Obama’s travel over the last eight years totaled $96,938,882.51.
President Obama’s trip to the Florida Everglades on Earth Day in 2015 to give a speech about global warming cost a total of $1,012,367.76. While the speech was touted as an opportunity to talk about global warming, the president used the trip to attack Republican presidential candidates.
Later in 2015, President Obama traveled to San Diego where he spent time at the luxurious Rancho Sante Fe resort, which boasts a private golf course. This fundraising trip cost taxpayers $2,181,655.99.”
I thought this was a pretty good article, and I agree with much of it. In addition, there is room for conservatives to work across the aisle as well. Of course, that is assuming that Democrats can drop the identity politics long enough to focus on American jobs and infrastructure.
The 2016 election is over. Donald J. Trump is now president. Yet, he’s not a conservative Republican.The man is a right-leaning populist. He’s open to government-funded childcare, he wants a health care program that covers everyone, he’s not a free trade advocate, and he’s not afraid of infrastructure spending.
Conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt discussed ways how Trump populism and conservatism could meet in the middle and produce tangible wins to campaign on for the 2018 and 2020 elections. For starters, allow the infrastructure spending to be allocated to the local municipalities so they can spend it on whatever is necessary for their respective communities. Hewitt added that Trump has known these people for decades. Both of these parties know how to build things.
On taxes, Hewitt noted that the wealthy don’t want a tax cut, but they do want simplification. Concerning tax cuts, give most of it to the middle class, which is where Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) comes into the discussion. The Tea Party insurgent, who came to Washington in 2010, has argued that his party needs to reconnect with the “forgotten man.” In a speech to the Heritage Foundation on Wednesday, Lee said, “Four years ago, I first came to the Heritage Foundation and urged conservatives to reconnect with the working families and struggling communities our party had too long ignored. And I spent the bulk of my first term in the Senate advocating for policy reforms to help and empower the “Forgotten Americans” that Washington’s broken status quo was leaving behind.”
Lee also admitted that conservatism’s somewhat slow response to the needs of working people is rooted in the movement’s greatest weakness, which is “its difficulty realizing when societal problems can and should be addressed through public policy.” The senator also acknowledged that globalization as a force ultimately leaves American workers behind. Lee noted that reforming our insane tax code is a way to make globalization work for the American worker and push us towards a principled conservative and populist agenda.
Both Debra and Ricky are correct; ideologies and personalities can become cults.
In the case of globalism, monetarism or neocon economics (or whatever term you use), its an elaborate religion. You have the mythical founders (Riccardo and Smith– not the real persons rather the misconceptions) the modern founder (Friedman or Hayek) and saints (Reagan, Thatcher, etc). There’s a failure to admit fault or imperfections (the Depression and 2008). And there’s the failure to confront any evidence which may contradict said belief (the managed capitalism of the post war era was far better for the middle class, the German Rhine model produces a better and more stable economy) .
Trumpism is fairly simple; a typical right wing populist leader who demands adherence and can’t tolerate criticism. Fairly common in Europe — Mussolini is a good example — but there’s elements of right wing populism in Jackson and Long. Saluting a cardboard cutout belongs in a tinpot dictatorship but it did remind me of a picture my economist friend has of himself and a cardboard cutout of Reagan and Thatcher.
Kizzie and AJ, for my part I don’t really care how much they spend on vacations (within reason). In the case of Obama, I thought the carping about his vacations were mostly overblown, especially since the country was probably better served with him on the golf course than in the Oval Office armed with a fountain pen.
I think Trump works quite a bit whether he’s at the Winter White House (the Southern White House he called it in one tweet I think) or in DC. I think his work will be to the advantage of his constituents.
It would be needlessly costly to maintain two full time residences. However, he has already said Melania and Barron are moving to the WH after the school term, so there is no plan for long-term dual housing, in spite of what some in the press have suggested.
I don’t think Trump or Obama can be criticized for the cost of security etc when they travel whether for business or pleasure. Its part of the job. However, Trump mixes the business of the state, pleasure and the family business when he goes to Florida. Some of the 3 million dollars spent for each weekend goes to his hotel. This is a a direct conflict of interest and its diverting tax payer money to himself. If he needs a weekend off or wants to do business with foreign leaders outside of the White House, it shouldn’t personally enrich him or his family. Isn’t this why the US gov’t owns Camp David?
HRW, You had me going until you mentioned “2008”. It took a whole series of idiotic government interventions in the market to produce that disaster.
Friedman deals with the Depression in an interesting way in Free to Choose. As you might expect with Friedman, it was all about money supply, one of the few functions even Friedman would assign to government.
” Saluting a cardboard cutout belongs in a tinpot dictatorship but it did remind me of a picture my economist friend has of himself and a cardboard cutout of Reagan and Thatcher.”
HRW @ 6:17 Some presidents like quiet retreats in the woods. Others prefer gaudy country clubs filled with their rich customers. I would gladly pay for Obama and Trump to be on vacation 365 days a year.
I was reading Reddit and stumbled onto a discussion about Mike Lee quite by accident. It was the first I had really heard about him. But we already have the Donald for 8 years, then Pence for 8. If Lee is up to the challenge he could be well positioned in 16 years. Of course, it’s hard to think that Democrats would maintain their comical yet self-destructive trajectory for that long, so there could be stiff competition by then.
What we really need is wisdom in the Congress, and Lee is already there. It will be interesting to watch him.
So there really wasn’t a massacre in Sweden on Friday; there was a Fox News story about Sweden on Friday. Even before the Trump Tweet, other conservatives had figured it out and were teasing Tucker Carlson.
See, you have an entire government at your disposal, and it knows more than Tucker, smart though he is. https://t.co/tYVEKAk84i
He’s only been in office a month and Berkley already resembles that picture. But have a little optimism. See how quickly Sweden rebounded? We can do it too. :–)
I was in Berlin this summer — saw remnants of the Wall, and some of the destruction of WWII. If you look at the first picture of your link (the Brandenburg Gate) the garden on the left is still there. It now fronts the French embassy. The building north of the garden is now a Starbucks. I charged my phone there. The seventh picture is the Cathedral on Museum Island — gorgeous church.
A friend just posted a picture of himself with a Swedish flag and the hashtag #Iamsweden.
Wandering Views 
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A nice tribute from Murray to Michael Novak:
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Murray retweeted this:
https://twitter.com/jessecase/status/832360511769567232
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Re: Yesterdays’ discussion about Trump & the media.
Rush makes the point that the media didn’t create Trump. They can’t destroy him.
The only thing that can separate Trump from his followers is Trump”
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It’s always nice to hear good news. And the message from the President is still clear and consistent: American jobs filled by American workers! Go President Trump! :–)
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/feb/17/trump-visiting-boeing-factory-sc-jetliner-rollout/
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Another piece of good news: infrastructure investment may be on the way soon. California could use some of this money to repair its dams….if it deigns to stay in the US. 😉
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-congress-infrastructure-idUSKBN15W1WF
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We were talking about healthcare the other day, and I made a remark about professional associations that may be interfering with a supply of good healthcare workers. I think this problem may be bigger than just the medical profession for humans….
http://reason.com/blog/2017/02/17/woman-could-go-to-jail-for-horse-massage
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“Rush makes the point that the media didn’t create Trump. They can’t destroy him.”
I disagree there. The media helped create the monster that is Trump. They gave him hours of free advertising all thru the primaries. They wanted him, thinking he couldn’t possibly win. They might not be his Dr. Frankenstein, but they’re Egor at least.
http://hotair.com/archives/2017/02/17/face-the-nation-host-media-has-to-take-ownership-for-its-own-credibility-issues/
“John Dickerson provided this prescient comment early this morning to Hugh Hewitt, hardly knowing that national media outlets would only take a few hours to prove him right. The host of CBS’ Face the Nation discussed Donald Trump’s press conference yesterday, in which the president gave full vent to his frustration with the media — and the frustration of tens of millions of voters, too. Dickerson tells Hewitt that we can’t throw out our standards on how presidents handle the media, but that “the press did all that good work ruining its reputation on its own.”
Dickerson specifically pointed out the tendency of the media to provide “hysterical coverage to every little thing”:
———————
http://www.redstate.com/jaycaruso/2017/02/17/one-tweet-chuck-todd-reveals-ignorance-hypocrisy-mainstream-media/
“It’s always the people inside a bubble who think they’re the ones with an outsider’s perspective on things. The mainstream media fits this profile perfectly. The big name press continue to deny there is anything wrong with the way they do things, or the things they choose to do. NBC’s Chuck Todd, for example, is happy to blame Donald Trump for his profession’s problems and abdicate any responsibility. They all are.”
“This is what Chuck Todd and others like him fail to accept or comprehend: The mainstream media have delegitimized themselves. Republicans and independents watched for eight long years as Todd and others of his ilk did their best to help and support the last administration; not only refusing to hold President Obama to account (the way they are imploring each other to do with Trump) but providing cover for him. The media framed Obama as the reasonable one while Republicans were just “intransigent” jerks who didn’t want Obama to succeed. They packaged and delivered his preferred message every night and all day on the cable channels.
As for Trump, for all of their bellyaching over his habitually manhandling them or his refusal to call on them during press conferences, they utterly fail to consider that may they shouldn’t have tried to game the system to force Trump on Republicans because they thought it would help Hillary.
During the GOP primary people like Chuck Todd were happy to allow Trump to call into Sunday talk shows. They’d cover his rallies, often in their entirety, happily showing Trump’s plane landing at whatever designated spot he was going to speak. The figure given is Trump was given about $2 billion in free advertising. Billion, with a B. It was only when Trump got the nomination that the media realized, “Oh crap. Look what we’ve done!” Suddenly, speaking truth to power was important, again. The press called upon each other to be diligent with the Trump administration.
Journalism is back! If rusty.
And back from what, exactly?
Why would the media have to come back? Making the statement is an admission of guilt they’ve been doing it wrong (and they still are). It’s true. And they know it. But they’re standing there with their hands over their ears, screaming, “LA! LA! LA! LA! LA! LA! LA! LA!” pretending as though it hasn’t happened.”
———————–
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And the result?
http://hotair.com/archives/2017/02/17/poll-slightly-more-believe-the-white-house-is-truthful-than-the-media/
“I guess you could call this a win for the Trump White House, but as you’ll see in a moment it’s not all good news. From Fox News:
By a slim 45-42 percent margin, more voters say they trust the Trump administration to “tell the public the truth” than the reporters who cover the White House. Ten percent say neither…
There are the expected partisan differences. Eight in 10 Republicans (81 percent) trust the Trump administration more to tell the truth, while roughly the same portion of Democrats trust the media (79 percent). Independents are twice as likely to put their faith in Trump as the press (52-26 percent), while 16 percent say neither.”
“However, there is also support for aggressive coverage of the president, with 55% saying they approve of it it versus just 38% who want the media to give the president the benefit of the doubt. And there is even stronger support for another proposition: The president should watch his words. Asked “Do you think President Trump should be more careful about what he says and how he says it or do you like that he speaks his mind?” 71% said he should be more careful. Clearly it’s not just Democrats who agree with that proposition.
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Re, Trump vs. Obama competence from yesterday… There’s nothing praiseworthy about Obama or anyone supporting any of the stimulus packages. Doing so was stupid. And it was actually done. Trump talks up a lot about infrastructure spending; it’s stupid, but so far it’s only rhetoric. Obamacare is pure disaster; even if it’s overturned entirely, we may not feel the worst effects of it for a couple years (to say nothing about what would happen if it’s *not* abolished; to say nothing of the millions of people whose health insurance is all screwed up now). Trump hasn’t proposed anything that would do that much damage, let alone *done* anything that will. There’s a world of difference between leading and championing and dragging the cause of gay marriage through the courts and culture–that’s Obama–and allowing to stand (so far) a few far less significant pro-gay policies over which you might not even have control–that’s Trump.
Within a couple days of taking office, Trump reinstated the Mexico City policy. Obama was the most radical pro-child-killing president in our history. Hillary likely would have been worse, if that’s even possible. I don’t get the calculus that says the child-murder folks are more competent because they wear tuxedos. Doesn’t matter to me if you have some (dubious) degree and (questionable) political background. If you want to turn a human at 9 month’s gestation into a lifeless, bloody mass, I’ll make the leap and say you’re worse than the guy who opposes that stuff.
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Those are good links, AJ. It’s too bad that right when the media’s jaw is out there primed for a well-deserved knockout punch, an inarticulate egomaniac is the one in position to do so.
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I want to find a button that says “Enemy of the people” 🙂
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I found out today that one of our Mexicans who mows our greens works at the golf course from dawn until 3:00. Then he goes to Popeyes and cooks chicken from 4:00 until midnight.
I thanked him for helping to keep our twin Ponzi schemes of Social Security and Medicare solvent. I told him some people want all Americans to be on Medicare. We agreed he would need to get a third job to pay for that.
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Solar Pancake, why is spending money on “infrastructure” stupid? It seems to me that waiting until bridges collapse and kill people, etc. is pretty stupid–or do you mean something different?
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Meanwhile, the Mexicans building our new house are working just as hard. In one week, they built the fence, planted the trees and shrubs, installed the carpet and finished two of the bathrooms.
The guys were having lunch as I passed by, and I sought the secret of their work ethic. They were all drinking Mexican Cokes with real sugar. It must be the corn syrup that makes people lazy.
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This may sound strange, but I find issues of water and sanitation interesting. There is an Amish farm not far from here, and we have visited a number of times. I enjoy going in the spring and summer when the irrigation system is up and running. I think they use something similar to the Israeli system—at least from the description it sounds very similar.
https://spectator.org/the-global-water-crisis/
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I agree with you, Cheryl. I do think some degree of infrastructure maintenance is the rightful purview of govt. I’m referring more to the magnitude Trump seems to be calling for. It’s yuge (last I heard him talking about it), and runs the risk of TVA worthlessness or shovel-ready pie in the sky. But I have a feeling that if he really did try to float too much through Congress, it wouldn’t be quite so ambitious (hopefully). Do you know any specifics of his? I should make a closer study of it.
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An interesting piece by David Brooks. As predicted, foreign countries have learned that you get what you want from Trump by using flattery.
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David Brooks and the New York Times. Both are still trying to catch up to reality. I guess losers do think alike. 😉
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Debra, Brooks has been reporting on Washington for a long time, but I guess you know that he is getting his specific information contained in this article from inside the Trump White House.
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This is from the article. A couple of us predicted that exactly this would happen several months ago:
Third, we are about to enter a decentralized world. For the past 70 years most nations have instinctively looked to the U.S. for leadership, either to follow or oppose. But in capitals around the world, intelligence agencies are drafting memos with advice on how to play Donald Trump.
The first conclusion is obvious. This administration is more like a medieval monarchy than a modern nation-state. It’s more “The Madness of King George” than “The Missiles of October.” The key currency is not power, it’s flattery.
The corollary is that Trump is ripe to be played. Give the boy a lollipop and he won’t notice if you steal his lunch. The Japanese gave Trump a new jobs announcement he could take to the Midwest, and in return they got presidential attention and coddling that other governments would have died for.
Reality is rearing its ugly head every day in the White House. This is not going to end well, but as Brooks said, it is difficult to predict exactly how Trump will finally destroy himself.
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Yes Ricky, many people in their bubbles are frantically trying to put together an alternate reality that doesn’t include President Trump. You and David Brooks and the NYT are not alone. But there is no reason to believe that Brooks’ “information” [a generous descriptor for petulant wishful thinking] is more accurate now than it was on election morning, which is to say, it’s not. But by all means, keep the dream alive if it pleases.
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In more positive news, there is now some reason to believe that the border security wall that will soon be under construction is practically going to pay for itself in savings.
https://stream.org/analysis-border-wall-needs-stop-9-12-illegal-crossings-pay/
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An amusing week in the White House…….
Trump insists on spending each weekend at his own resort. His entourage and security detail all stay with him on the taxpayer’s tab. And of course you can’t beat this pr for driving up the membership rolls. “Spend the weekend, you might meet the President”. Great way to pad the Trump Co profits. And Jimmy Carter was afraid his peanut farm might compromise him…..
While in Florida, the North Koreas tested a missile. Trump thought it entirely appropriate to read National Security briefings at the dinner table…. But hey, at least the Russians weren’t there. The Republicans who once hosted over 30 hearings over two years to “get” Clinton over Benghazi (and quietly submitted a nothing report) can’t be bothered to investigate to what extent the Russians were/are involved in the Trump campaign/presidency
Meanwhile, the New York taxpayer continues to pay the tab for Melania and Baron to stay at the Trump Tower….
For all of the above, just imagine the outrage the Republican party would have if it was Obama or Clinton. Its quite clear the Republicans are favouring party (even in the form of the amateur hour presidency) over country.
And a press conference which makes you wonder about his mental capacity….
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I wonder how the CIS/NAS derives its $75,000 figure. Do they include the benefit to the US economy for the labour migrants provide in the form of lower priced agriculture products and services just to name two. If the Wall prevents 10% of migrants from crossing, what loss will farmers suffer in terms of fruits and vegetables not picked or lower profits due to increased labour costs?
The idea that the Wall will pay for itself and not have a detrimental effects on the US economy is a pipe dream.
I predict as soon as the Wall is finished, a local Mexican drug lord will take a grenade launcher to it and if that doesn’t work, a few sticks of dynamite. And the Wall will crumble.
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HRW, We are no longer wondering. We are sure.
I guess SNL will spoof the press conference tonight, but how are they going to have Baldwin act any more deranged than Trump did on Thursday?
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Debra, If my Mexican goes home to visit and can’t get back in, I may lose a couple of golf balls in the unmown rough, and I may have to wait for a tattooed white girl to undercook my chicken. On the other hand, who is going to pay for your Social Security and Medicare benefits?
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HRW @ 6:29 I think we have demonstrated conclusively this week that neither Trump himself, nor Trumpkins, nor Trumpkin entities do math.
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I see Trump needed a rally to start his 2020 campaign. I guess after a week of criticism and opposition, he needed a safe space for his bruised ego.
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For every “just imagine if the other party was doing it,” there are just as many examples of the converse. But the real party/ideology hacks are those who only point out the phenomenon when it goes one way. Truth is only secondary to such people.
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HRW, You are being kind to call today’s cult meeting a campaign rally. Those events are somewhat rare around the world when there is no pending election. I think they still have them in North Korea and Iran, they used to have them in Cuba, and I seem to remember they were once popular in Central Europe.
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No! Poor Spicer is going to be sent out to do another crowd size press conference.
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I took the Hill off my reference list. They ran a story about a ‘leaked’ tape of Trump talking about interviewing generals and dictators for his cabinet. I listened twice and couldn’t find it. If anyone can tell where it is, let me know. It’s a garbage story as far as I can tell. They’re really scraping the bottom.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/320220-leaked-tape-reveals-trump-invited-club-guests-to-watch-his
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I thought this was the best part of Trump’s speech:
http://www.vox.com/2017/2/18/14659952/trump-transcript-rally-melbourne-florida
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Reporter who used to sit next to me is now at The Hill. Super nice guy, very gregarious, played football — but he’d always crunch on an apple every day and then, with no warning, SLAM his fist down on the desk and break out laughing. I was always half jumping out of my chair. 🙂
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You’re always my favorite reporter, DJ. No buttons for you. :–)
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https://twitter.com/ericdzikowski/status/833146445649821696
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And y’all thought I was being harsh when I called it a cult meeting.
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A great new article from Kevin D. Williamson on Trump and the press.
https://twitter.com/kevinnr/status/833296773103886340
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I think the most powerful cult in the world right now is the cult of globalism. It has it’s world courts and trade organizations. Its political proponents and practitioners will expend their very lives defending and spreading it.
Mammon is its ruling god–but he is not jealous; you can have others.
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Debra, You are probably right. Look at those two globalists (Dad and me) at 7:56 standing outside of a Lamesa, Texas home. Dad once bought a car from Korea. I routinely buy blackberries from Chile. We’re clearly bigger cultists than the Trumpkin who salutes the cardboard Trump every day.
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Here is the real debate between conservatives. Bret Stephens (in his Danny Pearl Memorial Lecture) sees Trump’s attack on the media as “darkly brilliant”.
Kevin D. Williamson has always seen Trump as “merely stupid”. It is an interesting issue. I understand Stephens’ point about why Trump is trying to destroy the concept of objective truth. However, I must stay with my fellow Texan. The heart of Trump and Trumpism is ignorance and stupidity. That is what made him such an effective candidate in America in 2016. He is the political version of a Kardashian.
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Ha. Saluting and praying over a cardboard cutout is a bit much (though we do put pins and pictures in a world map to pray over our missionaries). Huber is a used car salesman, so I suppose he is just using the tools at his disposal. :–)
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https://townhall.com/columnists/kevinmccullough/2017/02/19/why-trump-wars-n2287816
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“Trump family’s elaborate lifestyle is a logistical nightmare – at tax payer’s expense”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/trump-familys-elaborate-lifestyle-a-logistical-nightmare–at-taxpayer-expense/2017/02/16/763cce8e-f2ce-11e6-a9b0-ecee7ce475fc_story.html?utm_term=.87eb3cf44c84
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I’m sure you’ve all probably heard that Norma McCorvey (“Jane Roe” of Roe v Wade) has died. . .
http://www.courant.com/nation-world/ct-norma-mccorvey-dies-20170218-story.html
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Southerners have more fun.
https://twitter.com/mymindongeorgia/status/833150106975272960
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Kizzie,
Oh please. He has a long way to go to catch Obama. And they didn’t complain once about Barry and Michelle’s largesse.
And unlike most of their’s, which was for vacations and fund raising, Trump is actually working while there.
Plus it’s pure conjecture that this will continue into the hundreds of millions as they allege. Obama’s is already out of the treasury. Maybe they need to hold off the whining a bit.
http://freebeacon.com/issues/obamas-travel-cost-taxpayers-96-million/
“President Obama’s travel expenses cost taxpayers more than $96 million during his time in office, according to a report from the watchdog group Judicial Watch.
The group obtained documents from the Secret Service and Air Force that revealed President Obama’s travel over the last eight years totaled $96,938,882.51.
President Obama’s trip to the Florida Everglades on Earth Day in 2015 to give a speech about global warming cost a total of $1,012,367.76. While the speech was touted as an opportunity to talk about global warming, the president used the trip to attack Republican presidential candidates.
Later in 2015, President Obama traveled to San Diego where he spent time at the luxurious Rancho Sante Fe resort, which boasts a private golf course. This fundraising trip cost taxpayers $2,181,655.99.”
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The foul, perverted Trumpkin Milo Y. has been invited to speak at C-PAC. Not good.
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I thought this was a pretty good article, and I agree with much of it. In addition, there is room for conservatives to work across the aisle as well. Of course, that is assuming that Democrats can drop the identity politics long enough to focus on American jobs and infrastructure.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2017/02/19/mike-lee-speech-n2286412
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Both Debra and Ricky are correct; ideologies and personalities can become cults.
In the case of globalism, monetarism or neocon economics (or whatever term you use), its an elaborate religion. You have the mythical founders (Riccardo and Smith– not the real persons rather the misconceptions) the modern founder (Friedman or Hayek) and saints (Reagan, Thatcher, etc). There’s a failure to admit fault or imperfections (the Depression and 2008). And there’s the failure to confront any evidence which may contradict said belief (the managed capitalism of the post war era was far better for the middle class, the German Rhine model produces a better and more stable economy) .
Trumpism is fairly simple; a typical right wing populist leader who demands adherence and can’t tolerate criticism. Fairly common in Europe — Mussolini is a good example — but there’s elements of right wing populism in Jackson and Long. Saluting a cardboard cutout belongs in a tinpot dictatorship but it did remind me of a picture my economist friend has of himself and a cardboard cutout of Reagan and Thatcher.
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Debra, You have found the thing which Peggy Noonan was searching for last year. Mike Lee is a sane Donald Trump.
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Kizzie and AJ, for my part I don’t really care how much they spend on vacations (within reason). In the case of Obama, I thought the carping about his vacations were mostly overblown, especially since the country was probably better served with him on the golf course than in the Oval Office armed with a fountain pen.
I think Trump works quite a bit whether he’s at the Winter White House (the Southern White House he called it in one tweet I think) or in DC. I think his work will be to the advantage of his constituents.
It would be needlessly costly to maintain two full time residences. However, he has already said Melania and Barron are moving to the WH after the school term, so there is no plan for long-term dual housing, in spite of what some in the press have suggested.
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I don’t think Trump or Obama can be criticized for the cost of security etc when they travel whether for business or pleasure. Its part of the job. However, Trump mixes the business of the state, pleasure and the family business when he goes to Florida. Some of the 3 million dollars spent for each weekend goes to his hotel. This is a a direct conflict of interest and its diverting tax payer money to himself. If he needs a weekend off or wants to do business with foreign leaders outside of the White House, it shouldn’t personally enrich him or his family. Isn’t this why the US gov’t owns Camp David?
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HRW, You had me going until you mentioned “2008”. It took a whole series of idiotic government interventions in the market to produce that disaster.
Friedman deals with the Depression in an interesting way in Free to Choose. As you might expect with Friedman, it was all about money supply, one of the few functions even Friedman would assign to government.
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” Saluting a cardboard cutout belongs in a tinpot dictatorship but it did remind me of a picture my economist friend has of himself and a cardboard cutout of Reagan and Thatcher.”
Ha! Thank you for that image. :–D
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HRW @ 6:17 Some presidents like quiet retreats in the woods. Others prefer gaudy country clubs filled with their rich customers. I would gladly pay for Obama and Trump to be on vacation 365 days a year.
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I was reading Reddit and stumbled onto a discussion about Mike Lee quite by accident. It was the first I had really heard about him. But we already have the Donald for 8 years, then Pence for 8. If Lee is up to the challenge he could be well positioned in 16 years. Of course, it’s hard to think that Democrats would maintain their comical yet self-destructive trajectory for that long, so there could be stiff competition by then.
What we really need is wisdom in the Congress, and Lee is already there. It will be interesting to watch him.
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So there really wasn’t a massacre in Sweden on Friday; there was a Fox News story about Sweden on Friday. Even before the Trump Tweet, other conservatives had figured it out and were teasing Tucker Carlson.
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Debra @ 6;34 Get Lee ready quickly! Here is a preview of the US after 8 years of The Donald.
http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/berlin-end-war-1945/
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He’s only been in office a month and Berkley already resembles that picture. But have a little optimism. See how quickly Sweden rebounded? We can do it too. :–)
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I was in Berlin this summer — saw remnants of the Wall, and some of the destruction of WWII. If you look at the first picture of your link (the Brandenburg Gate) the garden on the left is still there. It now fronts the French embassy. The building north of the garden is now a Starbucks. I charged my phone there. The seventh picture is the Cathedral on Museum Island — gorgeous church.
A friend just posted a picture of himself with a Swedish flag and the hashtag #Iamsweden.
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Sweden, Australia and Mexico. The Axis of Sanity.
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Leader of the Free World defends freedom of the press following attacks by American imbecile.
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