No Tea No Sympathy

Sadness Multiplied : Two weeks ago after four US soldiers died in a deadly ambush in Niger, someone on the National Security Council drafted a statement of sympathy for Trump to deliver but he was too busy tweeting about kneeling football players, upending treaties and dismantling Obamacare to take the time to issue the statement.  Instead he waited until he was asked to explain the events leading to the soldiers’ death and then, instead of responding directly to the question asked, he launched into an attack of previous presidents, claimed he made it a practice to always speak with fallen soldiers’ families and said that he was just biding his time waiting for the perfect time to contact the grieving families. Turns out that the perfect time was the morning after he was caught ignoring them.  We all know that Trump hasn’t mastered the English language and has trouble stringing words into coherent sentences and it’s a given that compassion isn’t one of his skills so it’s not totally surprising that when he finally reached out to the wife of Sgt. Johnson, one of the fallen soldiers, his comment that “he knew what he signed up for” was pretty callous.  He can almost be forgiven for his awkward language, after all calling grieving family members is hardly an easy task, what can’t be forgiven is the way he responded to Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, calling her  a liar when she called him out for his poor choice of words.  He could have apologized for his verbal stumble and tried again, but then again he doesn’t apologize ever so instead he tweeted “Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof).” There were other family members present during the Johnson family conference call, the Congresswoman wasn’t lying, and Trump has no tapes proving her “wrong.”  This wasn’t the first call he bungled. Oddly enough earlier in the year he called another grieving father, promising to send him $25,000 after that father told him that his son’s survivor benefits would all go to his estranged wife.  The father was touched by Trump’s offer and was disappointed but not shocked when the money never arrived.  Last night, after a mad scramble at the White House that confirmed the validity of that father’s version of events, a check was put “in the mail.”  A number of other military families never received any call from Trump.  True to form Sarah Huckabee Sanders response was to lash out at Congresswoman Wilson, calling her comments appalling.  Sanders also said that Gold Star father General Kelly is disgusted by the way that the response to soldier deaths has been politicized but failed to acknowledge that it’s Trump who instigated the disgusting discussion.  As to kneeling, NFL Commissioner Goodell said that the “league wants players to stand for the anthem but it won’t be forcing them with any rule changes.”  Trump, of course, found time to respond tweeting “Total disrespect for our great country!”  Just to be clear treating grieving families with disdain is okay, protesting racial injustice by kneeling, not so much.

Squirrelly Sessions:  Attorney General Sessions testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, his first appearance in nine months.  The last time he appeared he was squirrelly, evasive and lied to Senator Al Franken by denying he’d ever had any contacts with Russians. That lie and the subsequent news that he had participated in a few meetings with Russian officials, including then Ambassador Kislyak, resulted in his recusal from the investigation into Russian meddling and collusion and, together with the firing of former FBI Director Comey, triggered the appointment of Special Counsel Mueller.  Yesterday, Sessions was even more evasive.  He refused to answer questions concerning conversations with Trump even though executive privilege wasn’t on the table, he was extra combative with Franken who reminded him of the times he’d lied during his prior testimony and basically left all of the Democrats and many of the committee Republicans dissatisfied with his testimony.  He wouldn’t even confirm whether or not he had been or was scheduled to be “interviewed” by Mueller and when asked how he justified participating in Comey’s firing when he was supposed to be recused from involvement in the Russia investigation he said that Comey was fired because of his handling of the Clinton emails, the lie that Trump rebutted in the infamous Lester Holt interview. When asked if the administration was doing anything to prevent Russian interference in the next election, he admitted that enough wasn’t being done, adding “maybe that’s something we should consider.” No sh-t Sherlock!  Sessions may have no plans to do anything substantive to prevent future election meddling but Democratic Senators Klobuchar and Warner are taking a first step.  They are introducing legislation that would increase the transparency of political ads on social media platforms like Facebook.  Yesterday, Senator McCain became the first Republican to sign on to their “Honest Ads Act.” If they have their way, going forward political ads on Facebook will soon include disclaimers similar to the ones already included on TV, something along the lines of “I am Putin’s bot and he approved this message, dasvidanya suckers.”   

Solution Dissolution:  Tuesday Trump expressed full support for Senators Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray’s Obamacare “fix” legislation, the plan that would have funded insurance subsidies through 2019 in exchange for concessions giving states more program flexibility.  Yesterday, after it dawned on him that the Alexander-Murray solution would stabilize Obamacare and under pressure from Budget Director Mulvaney and Speaker of the House Ryan who both want Obamacare to die freeing up more funding for tax cuts for their billionaire donors, Trump withdrew his support tweeting “I am supportive of Lamar as a person & also of the process, but I can never support bailing out ins co’s who have made a fortune w/ O’Care.”  Lamar who thought he had Trump’s full support was baffled, Murray and her fellow Democrats are furious and Obamacare is again hanging on for dear life.  Trump has proven once more that he is an unreliable negotiating partner.  Like his promise to pass DACA legislation for the Dreamers, his initial approval of the Obamacare fix was fleeting.  Nancy and Chuck are back to playing hardball, if nothing is resolved before December they are expected to demand that Obamacare subsidy payments and DACA legislation be included in the government funding resolution that must be passed by year end to avoid a government shutdown.

Russia, Russia, Russia:  Jared Kushner is a little nervous about what former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus had to say during his all day tete-a-tete with Special Counsel Mueller so he’s added another lawyer to his team.  Charles Harder, his newest lawyer, represented Hulk Hogan in his dispute against Gawker Media, winning more than $100 million in a settlement that wiped out the company.  Shortly after announcing that he planned to sue the New York Times for its article exposing the allegations of sexual assault against Harvey Weinstein, he left Weinstein’s legal team.  It’s not clear which newspaper or media company he plans to sue on behalf of Kushner but it is totally fitting that Trump’s son-in-law is now working with a lawyer fresh off Weinstein’s team.

Other Legalities:  A second judge has halted the most recent iteration of the Trump travel ban.  The Maryland Federal judge said that Trump’s own comments on the campaign trail and on Twitter convinced him that the “directive was akin to an unconstitutional ban on Muslims.”  In another case a Federal Judge ruled that the Trump administration must allow an undocumented teen in its custody to obtain the abortion that she has requested.  The judge, who clearly has never met VP Pence, says that she was “astounded” that the Trump administration was trying to block the procedure.  The teen who is being held in Texas is now 15 weeks pregnant.  She has obtained outside funding so no Federal funds would be used, nevertheless officials at Health and Human Services have been trying to prevent her from obtaining the abortion, going so far as to take her for anti-abortion counseling.  The Justice Department has already appealed the decision, no doubt trying to run out the clock.  Texas prevents abortions after 20 weeks.  Health and Human services may be planning to ban abortions after week zero, there are reports that such a plan exists in draft form deep within the department awaiting the day that Pence steps into Trump’s shoes.