Trump: Clueless About The State of the Nation
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The guy in the White House is going to participate in the one political ritual he approves of, namely the State of the Union address, hereafter referred to as the SOTU. And it’s safe to predict it will be about “me, me, me, and be afraid.”
Here’s the (predicted) short version of the speech, courtesy of Roll Call:
“Visionary” and “uplifting” and “bipartisan.” Those are just a few of the adjectives President Donald Trump’s aides are using to describe the State of the Union address he will deliver Tuesday evening.
None are words typically associated with the 45th chief executive, who once stood outside the Capitol and spoke about “American carnage” during his Inauguration address. Yet, a senior administration official told reporters to expect a “traditional” address from a president who is anything but traditional.
Trump is expected to stand in the House chamber and boast about the state of the U.S. economy. That part of the address also will include the president making a claim sure to put GOP members on their feet applauding and cause Democrats to sink into their seats. That’s because Trump likely will describe his time in office as, in the words of White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday, “two of the most successful years under a first-term president.”
https://twitter.com/B52Malmet/status/1092817411110256640
Now let’s take a look around at some reality-based indicators of the State of the Union.
We’re not afraid of Trump’s scary brown people. Here in San Diego, our Republican mayor and Democratic Council President announced a five-year plan to make the city more welcoming to immigrants.
From the Union-Tribune:
“We do it differently here,” said Joel Day, one of the mayor’s office staff who led the research initiative to make the plan. “At the end of the day, we don’t get to set federal policy on immigration — who comes in and who goes out — but what we do have control over is making people feel welcome in our city. Whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, it doesn’t matter. We want everybody to feel welcome here.”
The initiative launched at the beginning of last February after the city, in partnership with the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and several nonprofits, received a grant to research ways to better integrate and support immigrant residents.
At the launch, about 300 people shared insights and ideas about where the city should focus its efforts to be more welcoming. Over the next four months, researchers held seven community forums across the city to gather input. They also gathered feedback online through September.
Cruel, Crueler, Cruelest. During a court hearing in an ongoing lawsuit launched by the ACLU, officials with the Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement are now saying removing kids taken into custody at the border from sponsor homes to return them to their parents would be too “traumatic.”
Government investigators said last month they have no idea exactly how many kids were swept up by the administration prior to the official implementation of the barbaric “zero tolerance” policy, or where exactly they all ended up.
Now that migrants asking for asylum at the border are being returned to Mexico to ‘wait their turn’ for hearings, the Trump administration has found a way to keep lawyers and advocates seeking to help them from crossing the border.
From the Union-Tribune:
Two U.S. immigrant rights attorneys and two journalists who have worked closely with members of a migrant caravan in Tijuana said they had been denied entry into Mexico in recent days after their passports were flagged with alerts by an unknown government.
Their stories are nearly identical: All four report being detained by Mexican immigration authorities while trying to enter the country, and eventually being turned back because the authorities said their passports had been flagged.
https://twitter.com/sjredmond/status/1092084827082317829
Think I'm kidding about the lack of reality in Trumpworld? Consider this excerpt from a recent Time magazine story:
In the wake of President Donald Trump’s renewed attacks on the U.S. intelligence community this week, senior intelligence briefers are breaking two years of silence to warn that the President is endangering American security with what they say is a stubborn disregard for their assessments.
Citing multiple in-person episodes, these intelligence officials say Trump displays what one called “willful ignorance” when presented with analyses generated by America’s $81 billion-a-year intelligence services. The officials, who include analysts who prepare Trump’s briefs and the briefers themselves, describe futile attempts to keep his attention by using visual aids, confining some briefing points to two or three sentences, and repeating his name and title as frequently as possible.
What is most troubling, say these officials and others in government and on Capitol Hill who have been briefed on the episodes, are Trump’s angry reactions when he is given information that contradicts positions he has taken or beliefs he holds. Two intelligence officers even reported that they have been warned to avoid giving the President intelligence assessments that contradict stances he has taken in public.
The Candyman can. Just in time for his annual physical the Prez has re-upped Rear Adm.Ron Jackson as the chief medical adviser AND nominated him for a second star, despite an ongoing investigation.
From the Washington Post:
After Trump nominated Jackson for the VA secretary post last April, Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), the ranking member of the Veterans‘ Affairs Committee, released a two-page summary of accusations against him that included freely dispensing medication, drinking on the job and creating a hostile workplace. Some former colleagues said he was nicknamed the “Candyman” because of how he dispensed medications.
I’m betting we’ll soon learn the President lost 10 pounds, grew 2 inches taller, and increased his IQ by 20 points.
Swimming against the tide. Not that Trump cares, but new Gallup polling shows an increasing majority (60%) of Americans oppose major new construction of walls along the U.S.-Mexico border. 81% favor a path for citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
Eat the rich. There sure do seem to be a lot of people on social media complaining about getting screwed by the new tax law when they file with the IRS this year.
...polls consistently show the tax cut faring poorly. The latest POLITICO/Morning Consult poll found that 33 percent said the bill helped the economy, 41 percent said it hurt or made no difference and 25 percent said they didn’t know or had no opinion. Also in the poll, 65 percent said the nation was on the wrong track and 56 percent disapproved of Trump’s job as president.
Presidential wannabe Howard ‘Starbucks’ Schultz is now saying the uber wealthy should be referred to as people of means rather than billionaires.
I’m sure this has nothing to do with the Politico story entitled Soak the rich? Americans say go for it.
Surveys are showing overwhelming support for raising taxes on top earners, including a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll released Monday that found 76 percent of registered voters believe the wealthiest Americans should pay more in taxes. A recent Fox News survey showed that 70 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on those earning over $10 million — including 54 percent of Republicans.
Meanwhile, via CNBC:
Kellyanne Conway, an advisor to Trump, argued that Democrats are “bullying” Schultz, and that their tactics make them appear “desperate and overdone.”
Hopefully, a look at the polling showing Schultz with a FOUR PERCENT approval rating among people who have heard of him will make him reconsider his fantasy.
RBG Conspiracies-- Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s absence at the SOTU will lead to lots of tsk-tsking, speculation, and conspiracy theories.
Her appearance at a function over the weekend already has the reality-challenged set saying what people saw was really just a doppelganger. The I’m-not-wearing-a-tinfoil-hat types will say her absence means she’s in worse condition than advertised.
The justice will not be in attendance tonight for the same reason she wasn’t seen at last year’s SOTU or Trump address to a joint session of congress: she don’t care to do those kinds of things.
The Supreme Court is invited to the SOTU, but there's no statutory requirement, just as there's no requirement for an in person speech, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently reminded us.
Rep. Duncan Hunter ‘in the house.” That’s about all you can say for San Diego’s indicted CongressCritter. Although the man representing the 50th District still claims to have committee assignments, a Politico article profiles the lives of those Republicans who are part of the ‘pariah caucus.’
Hunter, along with Reps Chris Collins and Steve King have been excommunicated from the House GOP conference. Hunter and Collins face criminal charges. King got caught saying in public what much of his party says behind closed doors.
Now, while the rest of their colleagues work on crafting bills, the trio of committee exiles are searching for ways to spend their time on Capitol Hill so they’re not just waiting around to vote or aimlessly roaming the hallways.
https://twitter.com/ACampaNajjar/status/1092817540709924864
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