Uniom, Union, Whatever

 State of the Uniom:  About the best thing that can be said about Trump’s overly long State of the Union speech is that, contrary to author Michael Wolff’s assertion, he can read, especially if he takes the time to practice, words are kept to one or two syllables and are rolled slowly on a teleprompter.  However, as evidenced by the uniom, union typo on the entry ticket, spelling or spellchecking remains a problem at the White House, where peach on earth isn’t a dessert but a goal for world tranquility. The speech which was supposed to bring America together, was more a celebration of Trump’s economic accomplishments, with a few anti-immigrant dog whistles thrown in to reassure his base that they remain his top priority, than an olive branch to Democrats.  Trump restated his immigration “must have” list, the one that has already been rejected by the bipartisan group of Senators working on the legislation. He took full credit for all of the positive economic trends that began under Obama and have continued through his first year, particularly focusing on the stock market and declines in minority unemployment. Still since he brags a lot, and most presidents take credit for anything positive that takes place while they’re in office, that part of his speech wasn’t all that unusual.  What was notable, particularly on a day when his administration failed to comply with legislation mandating more sanctions against Russia, was his failure to say anything about Putin’s continuing interference in elections around the world. As to the stock market, it took a hit yesterday likely in response to an announcement by JP Morgan, Berkshire Hathaway and Amazon that they were uniting to create some kind of health care behemoth, one that would provide insurance and drive down costs, particularly drug expenses. Trump doubled down on the drug slam last night, asserting that he had directed his team to come up with a strategy to push drug costs down. He’s said that before and done nothing, but in the wake of yesterday’s  Amazon and friends move, Trump’s much loved stock market might take him seriously. Market prognostication is not my field but if yesterday’s reaction was a guide, the pharmaceutical industry is in for a bumpy ride.      

The Nunes Memo:  The clock is ticking on the release of the deceptive Nunes memo, the one that discredits the Russia investigation by claiming that the FBI abused its surveillance tools by illegally obtaining the  Carter Page FISA warrant.  Yesterday, in an attempt to have it both ways, House Speaker Ryan called for the release of the memo saying that sunshine is the best antiseptic for malfeasance and then following up by saying that he is telling GOP House members that there needs to be separation between allegations of FISA cheating and the Special Counsel Robert Mueller investigation.  He also praised Rod Rosenstein, saying that “he is doing a fine job,” a reassurance that probably means that Rosenstein should be watching his back very carefully.  Later in the day, Sarah Huckabee Sanders responded to a question about the memo by saying that  "Contrary to a published report, there are no current plans to release the House Intelligence Committee's memo, the President has not seen or been briefed on the memo or reviewed its contents." Trump proved that Sanders statement was just another boldfaced White House lie, he may not have read it but he is committed to making sure that the memo is released.  Last night he got caught on a hot mic telling South Carolina Representative Jeff Duncan not to worry, he’s “100%” going to release it.  CNN reports that even before his speech he had told his aides that he wants the memo released as soon as possible and that he was only waiting until after the speech to limit distracting from his grand TV moment. The memo may be released as early as today. Trump’s war against Rosenstein, Mueller, the FBI and the Russia investigation wages on.

The Korean Front:  Trump isn’t just fighting with Mueller and company, he’s also preparing for war on the Korean penninsula.  He was on the verge of appointing Victor Cha, a respected academic and former Bush administration official, to serve as US Ambassador to South Korea.  Cha had been fully vetted and following usual practice his name had already been submitted to South Korea for approval.  South Korea was on board, relieved that the US was close to getting a diplomat in place in a region that could really use some expert diplomacy. However, yesterday after Cha expressed his opposition to the Trump administration’s serious consideration of a “bloody nose” preemptive strike against North Korea, Trump dropped him from consideration.  Cha responded by expressing his concerns in a Washington Post Op-Ed.  Cha is not the only one who thinks that such a strike would be both lethal and counterproductive, to put it mildly, Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dunford, Defense Secretary Mattis and Secretary of State Tillerson share his concerns. National Security Advisor McMaster is in the other camp, he’s all in on continuing with first strike preparations.  As to Trump, yesterday in the traditional pre State of the Union lunch with chief correspondents from the major networks he said that he wants to unite the country amid “tremendous divisiveness” and hopes he can do so without a traumatic event affecting Americans.  Adding, “I would love to be able to bring back our country into a great form of unity, without a major event where people pull together, that’s hard to do. But I would like to do it without that major event because usually that major event is not a good thing.” If his Nunes memo doesn’t kill the Russia investigation, Trump may move on to plan B, war with North Korea.  A frightening wag the dog strategy, but one that would probably work.  So much for peach on earth.