Bellicosity

Bellicose Trump:  Trump's speech to the UN went off as expected. He began with his old standby, a self-congratulatory statement about the booming US economy because that's how he begins all his speeches, regardless of the venue.   He saw no irony extolling the importance of his America first nationalism to an institution that was put in place to promote international cooperation.  Most of the delegation members from Iran and North Korea, two countries that share his views on putting national interests before all others, left the room before he spoke.  As a result they weren't there to hear Trump say that "the US has great strength and patience but if its forced to defend itself or its allies, we have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea," adding rocket man Kim Jong Un is on a "suicide mission for himself."  They also missed it when Trump called the nuclear agreement with Iran "one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the US has ever entered....an embarrassment to the US."  Trump went on to call Iran a murderer's regime whose activities are destabilizing the region and said that "we cannot abide by an agreement if it provides cover for the eventual construction of a nuclear program," a comment consistent with concerns that he is considering pulling out or trying to renegotiate the terms of the deal.  Although some members of the UN audiences slept through his speech, others paid attention and were not amused.  Chief of Staff Kelly, who couldn't have been surprised to hear what Trump had to say, looked like he wanted to jump off the nearest bridge, French President Macron warned that Iran could become a rogue nuclear state like North Korea if Trump abandoned the deal, and Israel's Netanyahu smiled as the Iran agreement got bashed. Putin wasn't present, but got off relatively easy.  Trump briefly mentioned Ukraine but said nothing about Russia's cyber warfare campaign against the US and various European democracies.  China's Xi wasn't there so he missed Trump's criticism of those who trade with the North Korean regime, a not so subtle jab at China's support for the regime.  Trump’s speech wasn’t all that surprising but was  nevertheless very disturbing and could be a harbinger of things to come, none of them good. 

The War Against Healthcare:   The war against Obamacare wages on.  Republican leadership is pushing forward with the Graham-Cassidy Obamacare repeal plan.   Senator Graham is working closely with Republican leadership, VP Pence, Trump and Health Secretary Price.  Together they are putting pressure on the few wavering Republican senators to jump on the Obamacare repeal train or face the horrors of Bernie style socialized medicine, primary battles, shunning and a few plagues. VP Pence and House Speaker Ryan announced that there was no way that either of them would support Senators Alexander and Murray’s bipartisan effort to fix Obamacare, making it clear that for Republicans the choice is between Graham-Cassidy or that “failing, horrible Obamacare.”   A bipartisan group of ten Governors isn’t convinced, they sent a letter to Senate leadership saying that Graham-Cassidy should be abandoned in favor of legislation written via a bipartisan, open process.  The list of dissenting governors included five Democrats (Colorado’s Hickenlooper, Montana’s Bullock, Pennsylvania’s Wolf, Virginia’s McAuliffe, Louisiana’s Bel Edwards), four Republicans (Ohio’s Kasich, Nevada’s Sandoval, Massachusetts’s Baker, Vermont’s Scott) and one independent (Alaska’s Walker).  Since he is one of the cosponsors, it’s unlikely that Nevada’s Senator Heller will vote against the plan despite his governor’s opposition, however Alaska’s Murkowski is likely to be influenced by her governor’s opinion and Collins is already a likely no vote.  At this point the fate of Obamacare rests in the hands of the usual suspects:  Murkowski and Collins who seem to care about health care, Paul and Lee who want health care taxes to go away, and McCain who seems to be wavering between cementing his maverick status and sticking with his good buddy Graham.   

Russia, Russia, Russia:  Trump’s loyal consigliore and long-time real estate lawyer Michael Cohen was supposed to testify to a closed door session of the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday but his meeting was cancelled at the last minute when he totally pissed off Senators Burr and Warner by violating the terms of their agreement.  Cohen had promised not to release a statement but went ahead and released a self-serving statement shortly before his scheduled closed door “interview.”  The Intelligence Committee had been caught short when Jared Kushner had done the same thing before his earlier “interview” and had specifically told Cohen releasing a similar statement would jeopardize their agreement with him.  Cohen went ahead anyway, the Senate cancelled his appearance and he will now be “invited” or subpoenaed, his choice, to testify in a public hearing, more fun for us, since we will get to hear him obfuscate, but more dangerous for him because Special Counsel Mueller will also be listening.  Paul Manafort wants the government to go after the leakers who claimed that he was the subject of two FISA warrants, the warrants that were obtained after the FBI and the Obama Justice Department convinced a judge that he was an agent of a foreign government. To the extent that he was wiretapped, Manafort would also like to get copies of those tapes.  Everyone’s legal bills are climbing but Trump has nothing to worry about.  A good portion of his are being paid by the Republican National Committee and his campaign fund, which may explain why Trump set up a campaign fund for the 2020 election so soon after winning the 2016 election. Wonder how all his donors feel about paying a billionaires legal bills?     

Shanah Tova