Make it Count

Make it Count:  Instead of heading to Charlottesville to attend Heather Heyer’s memorial service, Trump slithered off to Bedminster so he missed it when Susan Bro, Hoyer’s mother spoke eloquently and proudly about her daughter, describing her as an independent minded spitfire who knew wrong when she saw it.  Bro called for the rest of us to honor her daughter by paying attention, finding what’s wrong, and saying to yourself “how can I make a difference” and went on to say “I’d rather have my child but by golly, if I’ve got to give her up, we’re going to make it count.”  Bro’s description of her beautiful daughter hasn’t led any KKK members to express remorse for her death.  Several went on TV alleging Hoyer’s death was her own fault because she should have known better than to hang out with those “anti-fascist” demonstrators.  Hoyer was run over on Saturday but the violence started on Friday night when the White supremacists and neo-Nazis described by Trump as nice guys staged an unpermitted practice march through the streets of Charlottesville, carrying tiki torches, chanting “Jews will not replace us” and invoking the Nazi “blood and soil” mantra. A local man was badly injured by one of the marauding Nazis when he was slammed in the neck with a Tiki torch; it’s not clear that he will survive the damage to his carotid artery.  Is this the additional evidence that Trump referenced on Tuesday when he doubled down on his outrageous assertion that the Nazi and KKK marchers were mostly good guys and “morally” equivalent to the counter protesters and innocent bystanders”? Or is the comment by the Unite the Right spokesman Christopher Cantwell that he’d like Trump if only he hadn’t “given his daughter to a Jew?”           

The Business Man President:  Trump’s defense of White supremacists isn’t going over well with corporate America. Yesterday, moments before Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum went public with its decision to disband and condemn Trump’s claims that “both sides” were responsible for the violence in Charlottesville, and as Trump’s separate Manufacturing Council, which had already lost eight members, was preparing to follow suit, Trump tweeted that he was ending the two business councils.  Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan’s CEO, later stated that “There is no room for equivocation here:  the evil on display by these perpetrators of hate should be condemned and has no place in a country that draws strength from our diversity and humanity.” During an appearance on MSNBC economist Larry Kudlow, a frequent Trump whisperer, said that losing the support of the major corporations didn’t matter much because Trump who has never done anything for small business except stiff them on payment for services, is really a small business guy.  He then went on to promise 4% growth, an impossibility under a best case scenario, and Trump is far removed from any best case.  Getting tax reform passed is looking more and more remote.  Trump will be lucky to see 2% growth, particularly as the uncertainty around his presidency grows.

Fewer Statues:  Late Tuesday night, the Mayor of Baltimore had four Confederate monuments removed saying “it was in the best interest of my city.”  The removal had already been approved though finally details had not been arranged. Mayor Pugh said that given the “climate of the nation,” it was “very important that we move quickly and quietly.”   A number of other cities plan to follow her lead including Lexington, Kentucky whose mayor said he is taking steps to remove two statues from the lawn of the former County Courthouse.  Kentucky’s Senator, Majority Leader McConnell, was too livid to speak sooner but has finally spoken out about Trump’s comments on Charlottesville. He challenged Trump’s position that not everyone who came to the White nationalist rally had hateful beliefs by saying there “are no good neo-Nazis.”  McConnell, who started his career working for one of the few pro-Civil Rights Republican senators, was particularly infuriated that his wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, who stood by Trump when he made his allegations about the Charlottesville demonstration, was tainted by Trump’s statement.   

Bannon Doubles Down: While Trump was publicly ruminating about Bannon’s longevity at the White House, Bannon gave an interview where he contradicted Trump’s position on North Korea, called for the firing of Susan Thornton, the acting director of the East Asian and Pacific Affairs division at the State Department and mocked Economic Advisor Gary Cohn for fearing the consequences of radically changing trade policies, saying he was “wetting” himself over it.  Though his comments were coarse at least with regard to North Korea he was on target when he said “there’s no military solution,”  “until somebody solves the part of the equation that shows me that ten million people in Seoul don’t die in the first thirty minutes from conventional weapons, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Bannon also said that the fight over Confederate statues is a good thing because Democrats will lose support if they get caught up in more identity politics battles.  He claims that he made his comments off the record, but the former (and future?) head of Breitbart news is far too sophisticated to hide behind that excuse, it’s hard to believe that he didn’t want his statements on the record.  The next move is in Trump’s court.   

Communications: For now Hope Hick’s, Trump’s trusted assistant and enabler, is stepping into the role of Acting Communications Director.  Since Trump, the reality star, makes his own communication decisions no one from the outside is all that interested in competing for the slot and the Stephen Miller balloon went nowhere.  Hicks is the person who arranged and sat in on last month’s NY Times interview, the one where he showed how little he understood about health care and asserted that he only discussed adoptions during his hour long unreported conversation with Putin.  At least for now Hicks is off to a good start, Trump’s communications office announced that the administration will be making this month’s Obamacare insurance payments.  They’ve made no commitments about future payments so the program remains in limbo.  Senator Lamar Alexander still plans to introduce legislation to continue the payments when lawmakers return from recess in September.

Travel Plans:  Vice President Pence, who finally made a statement condemning White Supremacists but did not directly address Trump’s “both sides” assertion, is returning from Latin America early to join Trump and the national security team for a South Asia strategy meeting at Camp David.  Trump plans to head west early next week for a campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona where he may or may not grant his good friend and fellow bigot former Sheriff Arpaio a pardon. He’s expected to bash Arizona’s Senators focusing mostly on his frequent critic Senator Flake, who is up for reelection in 2018, with a few sharp words thrown in for the ailing Senator McCain, the “killer of healthcare.”  Trump is supporting Flake’s primary opponent, Kelli Ward. Democrats are thrilled that Flake will be bruised by a Trump supported primary fight. The Mayor of Phoenix wants Trump to stay home.