Pinocchio Days

Liars Prevaricate: Trump stuck it out in Biarritz to the end of the G 7 summit but failed to attend one of its more more important meetings, the one on climate change, not all that surprising given that he doesn’t believe in science, thinks nuking hurricanes is a thing, believes that raking solves forest fires, that windmills cause cancer and that staring directly into solar eclipses is perfectly safe.  He and his handlers falsely claimed that he missed the meeting because he was busy having meetings with other world leaders, a provable lie as all of those other leaders were actually participating in the climate change meeting while his seat remained empty. Trump also lied when he said that China had called him in an effort to restart trade talks, they haven’t. And lied again when he said that many of the other G 7 members want to readmit Russia to the group, they don’t though reports are that Trump pressed hard for Russia to be invited back in during several closed door meetings. And he lied again when he repeated his claim that the reason that Russia had been kicked out of the G 7 was because Obama had been outsmarted by Putin and was mad, Russia was kicked out because Putin annexed Crimea, a bigly problem for neighboring countries who fear they’ll fall victim to similar treatment. PBS News Hour reporter Yamiche Alcindor gets bonus points for actually asking Trump why he continues to make that assertion when its “clearly a lie.”  And Trump lied once more when he said that Melania had gotten to know North Korean strongman Kim Jong un really well, she’s never met him, something that a White House spokesman subsequently “clarified,” while asserting that if she had met him she would really like him because he’s a very nice guy, especially if you ignore his affinity for murder, mayhem and missiles.  And then Trump lied repeatedly when he announced that he plans to host next year’s US based G 7 meeting at Trump National Doral saying it provides the only suitable location in the entire US, that countless other places have been evaluated and that all of them fall short in comparison and that he won’t benefit, citing as proof that his presidency is costing him $3 billion to $5 billion dollars, another lie.  He omitted that the Doral resort is currently losing money so much so that departing members who have to wait for four new members to join before getting their membership fees refunded now face a decades long wait for the return of their money. He also failed to mention that prior presidents have found the government owned facilities at Camp David more than adequate.  Having the meeting at a Trump owned resort is clearly a violation of the emoluments  clause of the Constitution, if only anyone in the Justice Department cared enough to do anything about it.

Time Wrinkles:  For a brief second in time, it looked like President Macron’s efforts to broker a meeting between the US and Iran might actually pay off.  Trump said that he would meet “if the circumstances were correct or right” and the Iranians had appeared receptive. But now, facing hardliners at home and possibly wanting to preempt Trump from being the first one to cancel, the meeting is off, at least for now, as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has backed off the idea of direct talks with Trump, saying Washington must first lift sanctions against Tehran.  It also appears that Brazil President Bolsonaro isn’t interested in accepting any of that paltry $22 million that the G 7 members, or at least those members who attended the climate meeting, planned to send his way.  Bolsonaro, who like Trump, doesn’t believe that climate change is a thing or that the fires raging in the Amazon are more than just a seasonal nuisance, albeit one that has shrouded parts of Brazil in smoke, slammed the offer as “colonialist” and questioned what the other countries want in return, because as far as he’s concerned that they might just want clean air and a livable planet isn’t credible. 

Polling Panic:  Yesterday, a Monmouth University Poll indicated that the Democratic race was now a three way tie between Senators Sanders, Warren and former VP Biden. Obviously the poll got lots of attention, made Sanders and Warren very happy and the Biden team not so much.  A few commentators suggested that Biden’s days were numbered but then several pollsters and pundits pointed out that the Monmouth Poll was based on a very small sample, had a margin of error of 7 points and was probably an outlier.  So basically, nothing yet to report.