Thursday Short Cuts
“Manning is celebrated for leaking classified information about our allies to terrorists,” notes Tony Perkins. But Trump is the bad guy?
Insight: “From my experience of hundreds of children, I know that they have perhaps a finer sense of honour than you or I have. The greatest lessons in life, if we would but stoop and humble ourselves, we would learn not from grown-up learned men, but from the so-called ignorant children.” —Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948)
Political futures: “Even if Trump voters are, as polls continue to show, sticking with the man they voted for last November, come hell or high water, the burden of rationalizing and/or defending the president is still exacting a high price from the GOP. If they have to continue paying it on a daily basis, it will have a serious impact on the ability of Congress to push ahead on any major conservative projects, such as tax reform.” —Jonathan Tobin
Hypocrisy: “There are two men in the news today: one who is accused of sharing new intelligence with world leaders that might stop terrorists and another who risked countless lives by leaking America’s top secrets to terrorists. Can you guess which one’s being criticized? Donald Trump! Welcome to the backward thinking of the liberal media. The president is being torched for sharing information about terrorists with our allies in the fight against ISIS, while Chelsea Manning is celebrated for leaking classified information about our allies to terrorists!” —Tony Perkins
It’s never enough: “Director Mueller will still be in the chain of command under the Trump-appointed leadership of the Justice Department. He cannot take the place of a truly independent, outside commission that is completely free from the Trump administration’s meddling. A special prosecutor does not negate the need for vigorous congressional investigations either.” —Nancy Pelosi
Demo-gogues: “I think that there was a cooperation [between the Russians and Trump] in developing strategy about how they could ensure that Hillary Clinton was not elected. They need Trump. Trump will be there to support lifting those sanctions. That’s what they really want to happen. … I’ve said we’ve got to connect the dots, we’ve got to get the facts, we’ve got to do the investigation. That is what leads to impeachment and I also said that Trump will lead us right there.” —Maxine Waters
And last… “Both Trump and Hillary were treated horribly during the election. That’s not to say they were treated unfairly, though.” —Frank Fleming