So some news outlets are reporting that Ex-White House staffers are having trouble getting work. Now, some claims I can see being an issue. Trump’s unpopularity is not something that looks good on a resume, and associating that reputation with a new workplace is apparently deterring some potential employers. Some of it I find rather unfortunate. Apparently some employers question the judgment of a person who was willing to work under someone like Trump, which might be a bit unfair.
So Michael Cohen may prove to be quite a thorn in the President’s side. The fact of the matter is that Cohen has been seen as Trump’s “fixer” for about 20 years now, and what he might know, and what he has probably done in the name of protecting Trump…I mean we can’t even begin to guess. Trump will admit he was no boyscout, and in the process of trying to figure out how Cohen relates to the bigger picture of Trump and Russia, the rabbit hole of questionable or illegal activity…well it could be damning. Trump has to be sweating over this pretty hard.
I’ll give Trump this: he’s certainly good at keeping people guessing what he’s really thinking. One second, you are just certain he’s sitting in Putin’s pocket, the next he’s throwing around tough boy talk and shooting missiles and imposing more strenuous sanctions, then the next day he’s saying “naw, just kidding, no sanctions.” If I was more conspiracy theory minded, I feel like I could connect some dots here, but I’m not, and I won’t. But I’m certainly feeling the whiplash from his flip flops.
So, Trump’s epic, scheduled, Twitter blowup session was as entertaining and kind of horrific as usual. It’s like that car crash you can’t look away from. On one end, his ability to just say slanderous things about James Comey unimpeded is sad, and isn’t right. On the other hand, I think he might have just been the very best promotion for Comey’s upcoming book release, which was the target of Trump’s ire on Sunday. Interest in Comey’s book seems to have skyrocketed, from most people not knowing the book even really existed to every one and their mother curious about what he might say about his time working with Trump. I can’t speak to how Trump will effect Comey’s credibility, but he’s certainly helping to line Comey’s pockets.
Mike Pence called out Russia for being on the wrong side of history on Sunday, in regards to Syria. And you know, that’s probably true. History will not look favorably on Russia for supporting Assad’s regime. But let’s be fair, Pence is on the wrong side of history about basically everything in his own right. He supports insane legislation against the LGBTQ community, and is personally offended by gay marriage, and he supports the more insane of Trump’s policies, including a big, useless wall across the Mexican border. He fully supports the tax bill that railroads the vast majority of Americans, and in general, holds mean spirited views on anyone who doesn’t view the world through his very narrow lens. Calling someone out on being on the wrong side of history feels, if not ironic, then entirely hypocritical.
So Paul Ryan is retiring. Well, more specifically, he’s not seeking re-election, which is basically the same thing. He talks a big game about wanting to settle down, raise his kids, and just move forward knowing he’s accomplished the things he’s want to accomplish, which was apparently to screw over just as many old and poor people as he possibly could. But it’s hard to not to see it as a well time escape. A jumping ship move, or to quote Douglas Adams, “So long and thanks for all the fish!”. It’s hard to argue that the Republicans aren’t in something of a politically turbulent time right now, and how that’s going to shake out in the coming weeks and months must be on the forefront of Ryan’s mind. I wonder if he’ll be getting out soon enough?
Watching Mark Zuckerberg testify to Congress was a bit like watching someone explain the internet to their grandmother. At first, you see the Senators had some questions loaded to really kind of grill Zuckerberg on Facebook and privacy, but as soon as he starts explaining any facet of software, you can see the senators eyes just glaze over. I don’t want to blame it on the ages of the respective senators. I know plenty of older people who are more tech savvy than me. But you can tell that the current generation of senators are a few steps behind in understanding the basic business model of social media.
So, the raid on Michael Cohen’s place has really amped up Trump and his rhetoric about getting rid of Mueller and killing this Russia investigation. He’s acting like a wannabe mob boss, except, unfortunately, he can actually really cause some bad things to happen. But there is a funny thing buried in articles that no one seems to be mentioning, or at least not yet. Trump is so busy fuming at Mueller, but it turns out Rod Rosenstein, Deputy Attorney General, personally signed off on the raid. This wasn’t Mueller making a unilateral decision against Trump. He got the a-ok from the guy who would ACTUALLY be able to fire him. I’m sure Trump is probably aware of this factoid, but the way he’s talking about it, you’d think Rod was working his ass off to keep Trump from hearing about it.
Even Trump has had to acknowledge that his ill advised Trade War with China is already worrying his base, namely the farmers, who supported him in wide numbers, and are being directly affected by this poor decision. The things he’s said are shifty at best and Tone Deaf at worst. He’s choosing to blame China for Tariffs even though China has more or less begged Trump not to move forward with actions that would force them to also take actions. Then he suggested that while it’s unfortunate for farmers, taking this hit, it will be ok, and that he’ll make sure that he “makes it up to them.” How? Because we can clearly see that he isn’t thinking steps ahead. He isn’t thinking about steps of now. He’s just…reacting…which is a scary place to be.
In another example of ThaTrump either not realizing how long of memory Twitter has, or just not remembering he had a previous heated opinion on a matter, Trump, among his series of weekend, Fire Side Twitter Rants, blamed Obama for not attacking Syria and taking Assad out. Of course, he completely forgot the Tweet he sent out in 2013, in all caps, in which he begged Obama not to attack Syria, saying it would be the worst thing he could possibly do. At the same time, I know that Trump will never, ever address this apparent disparity in opinions. We won’t get to see an entertaining dance explaining away why his opinions don’t clash. He’ll just pretend the disparity doesn’t exist.
Mind the Exit 