So I feel like Trump might be starting to get a taste for pardons, even if they don’t constitute a political maneuver. In the last month he’s commuted the Sentence of Alice Marie Johnson, a woman who was in prison for a non-violent drug offense, at the urging of Kim Kardashian after a fun little meeting, and he also posthumously pardoned boxer Jack Johnson, with a room full of celebrities including Sylvester Stallone. When discussing the pardons, he talked about the “thrill” of these pardons, and it makes me think it’s just one of those random Presidential duties he’s taken a liking to. That said, it seems like there is a risk of him going…rather overboard. He’s openly admitted that he has a list of about 3000 names he’d like to look at pardoning, and if we’re being honest…I don’t know that I necessarily trust his judgment when it comes to who is deserving.
So Monday night, Trump went on stage during a rally in South Carolina, and riffed the way in that magical way that only Donald Trump can. He talked about all the things bugging him, he talked weirdly about David Lynch, Trade Wars, his wife’s non-facelift, some North Korea stuff, and then he weirdly got into late night comedians. I guess there was thing with Fallon where he came out to say he might have regretted aspects about his interview with Trump, and how he would have handled things differently, and Trump wasn’t too thrilled, especially since late night hosts in general have really made mocking Donald Trump’s behavior and actions a regular part of their nightly monologues. He went on to say that these guys just aren’t funny. No, it’s not that he doesn’t have a sense of humor. Donald Trump has a great sense of humor. And he’d be in pretty big trouble if he couldn’t laugh at himself…really? I can’t recall a time prior to or after the election that Don too a moment to laugh at himself. In fact, in his Comedy Central roast, an event where the sole purpose was for him to laugh at himself…well Trump largely looked offended the whole night, and rather famously complained that people pegged him wrong or just weren’t funny. Sound familiar?
So, the Supreme Court reversed the lower court ruling on Trump’s travel ban. Despite his rhetoric clearly indicating what it is, the Supreme Court decided that his public statements shouldn’t count in determining the legality of the ban. It’s frustrating and Un-American at it’s heart, but here it stands. The swing vote on this verdict, as is historically the case in these situations was Justice Anthony Kennedy. Kennedy, in his statement wanted to assure everybody, that he hates religious and racial intolerance, and that this was not about that. This was about the constitution dammit! Also, he wants everyone to know (in a very subtle way, without using anyone’s names explicitly) that this isn’t the court’s permission for important people to disregard the constitution. Because that’s still what’s important! No one is above the law! And yet, those words probably fall on deaf ears. Or at least distracted ears, distracted from the loud gloating of the President, who sees this as nothing less than a win for him.
I was kind of wondering when Donald Trump was going to comment on the whole situation with Sarah Huckabee Sanders being asked to leave the Red Hen restaurant. It was just one of those events that would be a perfect little distraction for him to talk about something ultimately unimportant, but still something he could make sound like some kind of personal injustice. Of course the way he was going to see this was as a supreme injustice. I mean, how unfair of someone to refuse to serve another because of personal beliefs! (No one on his side of the aisle seems to see the irony regarding their stance on this and their stance on allowing the refusal of service to gay people for the very same reason). But the hilarious part was that Trump basically attacked the restaurant for being gross. I mean, he’s never set foot in the place, so his claims are baseless, but for him to attack the cleanly standards of a restaurant, and implying shady health and safety standards is deeply hypocritical. For the record, from all indication, the Red Hen is a lovely little spot, that looks perfectly sanitary, and their health and safety record reflects that. On the other hand, You have Trump brand restaurants including the dining establishment in his precious Mar-a-Lago, with health violations a mile long, many of them long standing issues that never get fixed. As late as last November, the kitchen in Mar-a-Lago had as many as 15 violations. And some of the long standing ones are pretty bad. We’re talking cockroaches bad. So it’s hard to take him seriously as a judge of good health and safety standard.
So I’ve been reading articles about trade negotiations with China, and one of their big complaints is consistency. They’re frustrated because Donald Trump doesn’t seem to know what he wants out of a trade deal, and keeps moving the goal post, regardless of how willing they seem to be in dealing. And the more I think about that, the more I can put into context things like Trump declaring that illegal immigrants should be kicked out of the countries, no due process, despite that being unconstitutional to the extreme. Trump is basically a toddler. He has expectations that he’s going to be taken care of in every aspect of his life. If he wants something, like a toddler, he doesn’t take into consideration what it takes to get it, or even if it’s permissible. That doesn’t even cross his mind. He just knows that he wants something, and that the people around him, like a toddler’s understanding of his parents, are there to make that happen. But unlike actual parents, the people around Trump are ACTUALLY there to make his whims happen, which has meant skirting the law and the very foundations of what is allowed.
I have to say, Donald Trump shows just how quickly a hot streak can end. He as riding pretty high on the end ride of his North Korea summit. Regardless of the criticisms you could throw his way regarding how he handled it, the fact is that it seems like, for the time being, tensions have been de-escalated. That is a positive development. Couple that with his already improving approval numbers, which regardless of your opinion on it, is undoubtedly true, and Trump is sitting kind of pretty at the start of the summer. Then his treatment of asylum seekers and families at the border comes to light, the separation of families at the border, the literal cages children are being kept in, the concentration camp comparisons, the blatant lies about who is at fault for this process, saying he hates it and is blameless while simultaneously defending it’s necessity….it’s been a real fiasco. Now he’s withdrawing the US from the United Nations Human Rights council, citing Israel’s treatment, but the sheer irony of that in the face of how we’re treating immigrants…Listen, I can’t give you approval ratings numbers, but spoiler alert, several polls have shown consistently that the MAJORITY of people are pretty damn nonplussed about this whole separation of families thing. The guy is very much playing a one step forward, 2 steps back kind of game.
The disturbing new trend amongst hardcore conservatives to try and keep you from empathizing with children in distress seems to be to accuse any crying child you see as being some kind of Crisis actor meant to manipulate people’s emotions. Multiple people seem to be trying to sell this theory with the children detained by ICE, those separated from their parents. It’s a similar situation to the situation where Conservatives and NRA advocates accused multiple survivors of bein paid actors. As ridiculous and baseless as those claims were, the ones spouted openly by people like Ann Coulter in this situation are (somehow) even less credible and even more disgusting. Kids who are practically toddlers, many who are detained in massive cages (Cage isn’t my word. Border patrol uncomfortably admits cages are used), are hardly equipped to be selling a fake show for cameras. Have you ever seen child actors perform? I would hardly call most of them THAT convincing. More realistically, the images and videos we are seeing are devastated CHILDREN being traumatized and devastated by their horrific predicament. I don’t know…maybe I’m just being naïve. But it’s far better to be naïve than a monster, so I’ll take it.
The more that I read stories of kids getting separated from their parents at borders, the more I read of the damaging effects it’s having, including a devastating story about a father who committed suicide, the more I and I think most of the country is wondering when this senseless cruelty will end. At a certain point, I’m hoping Trump won’t be able to hide behind the lie that he isn’t responsible for this, and will mandate this stop happening. I’m hoping that for once in his time in office, public pressure will force his hand to do something outside of his agenda against immigration. Cruelty should never be acceptable, and it should be even less acceptable when played in the name of politics. Innocent people are having their lives destroyed over the pride of powerful men.
So, Trump reportedly gave Kim Jong Un his personal phone number, a direct line to him…which is weird. I get the feeling most leaders of nations actually allied to the US don’t have that, but a murderous dictator who has a history of sabotage and subterfuge, and of murdering family members, does. Now, there are some legit security concerns with that. There is a lot that a tech savvy person could do with a phone number, or if you’re not tech savvy, but do have an army of hackers at your disposal. But more than that, why would you want a crazy person having the ability to call you and chat? I feel like Trump should know better. If you’ve ever dated a crazy person who calls you at 3 in the morning to spread their crazy, then you know better.
I know I’m not the first person to point this out, especially on this particular subject, but man…hypocrisy is a bad color on anyone, and you just can’t afford to express a roaringly loud double standard in the age where everything is archived and readily available. Sean Hannity doesn’t get to blast Obama for conversing with dictators and giving them more time than our allies then defend Trump on the same count 5 years later and not be called on it. He just can’t. Because nothing is truly forgotten anymore. Sean Hannity’s little man-crush on Trump shines all the brighter as a result.
Mind the Exit 