Nancy Pelosi had an all star weekend, didn’t she? She made Trump blink on the government shut down and as a cherry on top, she got to have “haha” moment on him after Roger Stone got indicted and she made a very public statement to basically do just that. Anyone who says she is getting a moment to take aim for the White House in 2020…well they might be right. I dunno that I’d be jazzed on the idea of her running for president, but she is certainly on the ground running at the start of the new year.
Finding out that Rudy Giuliani was taking Donald Trump’s case pro bono makes a weird kind of sense. I mean, Rudy’s utter incompetence and penchant for digging Trump’s hole of trouble ever deeper is deeply embarrassing for that monster, but Trump’s distaste for paying for the work that people do for him is also pretty well noted. Rudy may be doing a lousy job, but free is free, yeah? But beyond free, Trump’s trouble with finding representation for his pending legal issues has been very public, so his willingness to go to bat for the man has value as well. But yeah, as the old saying goes, you get what you pay for, and Rudy’s work is certainly worth the price tag of zero dollars.
There is something just wholly wrong and distasteful about bad people trying to justify bad policies using the words of heroes. This is a significant week for many Americans. Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. He was a great man whose contributions to the civil rights movement and social discourse and our societal mindset is…well It’s incalculable. His influence was so powerful, and so inspirational, that generations of young people can tell you the preamble to his most famous speech easier than they can tell you the preamble to the Declaration of Independence. So when Mike Pence when on Face the Nation last Sunday, and used Reverend King’s words to advocate for a border wall…well that left a shameful taste in a lot of people’s mouths. Because building walls and dividing people was not his way. It is the driving strategy of our current administration, but it was a stark betrayal of the philosophy of one of the greatest orators of the last 200 years.
So, the 2 funniest stories of last week feel oddly connected. First, we have Trump hosting a White House dinner for College Football Champs, the Clemson Tigers, and feeding them fast food, which…I mean there is just no way that wasn’t going to turn into a big national joke. Then the very next day, you have news coming out that Trump tried to circumvent Nancy Pelosi by inviting House Democrats to lunch, but like the weird kid in class throwing a birthday party, no one showed up. Now, the obvious reason behind that is that the Dems are making a show of solidarity, and the fact is that what Trump wants is unreasonable, and no one wants to give it to him. But a part of me wants to believe that no one showed up because they didn’t want Trump feeding them leftover Big Macs and Whoppers. Best case scenario, Trump orders an entirely new batch of fast food. I know he says it’s because he doesn’t have a kitchen staff during the shutdown, but let’s be real: It’s no great secret that Trump loves him some fast food. He must love that he has any kind of excuse to mow down on that greasy, artery clogging goodness.
If there is one thing I’ve learned that one should never do in politics, is fail to give a direct answer to a question that could make you look guilty. I initially learned the lesson when Rex Tillerson refused to say that he called Trump a moron by dancing around the question. When you fail to actually say you didn’t do something, there WILL be a significant group of people who will ask if that means you did do it. Donald Trump didn’t learn that lesson as shown last weekend, when Jeanine Pirro asked if he was a Russian agent. Instead of just saying “No” or “of course now”, he went with the dance, suggesting that the question was offensive. Especially considering the recent reports that suggest there is a good reason to believe that Trump may be hiding a lot in regards to his relationship to Putin. It’s worrying to hear that he’s been hiding the transcripts of his interactions with the despot, and it doesn’t do anyone any good for Trump to drop the “offended” card, which is weird given his and his supporters penchant for making fun of people for taking any kind of offense.
Mind the Exit 