Columnist.
The blame game continues in full cry. Give the GOP credit for staying on message (so far). Absent a DACA fix, the current bill seems acceptable to both sides, but the Democrats are favoring illegal aliens over the security of the American people. They are even calling it the "Schumer Shutdown." Negotiations continue, and anything can happen, including Trump moving the goal posts and caving in to get a deal and stop the distractions over the great economic news. I hope not, but we'll see.
Has anyone else had it up to here with the way DC conducts business? The budget is the primary vehicle for framing the role of government, but all we hear is whom will be to blame for a government shutdown if a budget agreement isn't reached. Of course, it's simply a glorified statement of the obvious that it's all politics all the time. Both sides do it, but the Democrats have turned it into an art form, primarily because they have always won the perception game.
Donald Trump's "s—hole" remark is Exhibit A in what's wrong with politics in the U.S. and also what drives Trump supporters like me to primal screams while climbing up the wall.
The two prevailing narratives these days are — let me show you my shocked face — at the extremes. On the one hand we have the Left certain that Trump is unstable, mentally unfit for office and dangerous, with the over/under on when he will be removed from office via the 25th Amendment measured in weeks. On the other hand, we have Trump supporters certain that leftists have lost their collective minds for dwelling so much on it. Both are wrong.
In the spin battle leading up to the passage of Trump's tax cut bill, it was not a fair fight; the DEMs and their media allies routed team Trump.
I caught some flak this week for agreeing with Rod Rosenstein that FBI and Justice officials should be able do their jobs in spite of holding strong personal opinions. Everyone has opinions, but it is the duty of those in charge to make sure they don't skew investigations and conclusions. Based on the revelations of the last few days, I have done a 180.
I'm a bit late, but finally: Jerusalem. The bottom line is that Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is vintage Trump — a bold negotiating move by a guy who is willing to take risks to actually get things done.
I would still love to get to Jerusalem, but doubts about the integrity of the justice system and sexual harassment issues keep interfering.
I was going to say a few words on Trump and Jerusalem, but then I tuned in to the Al Franken resignation speech. Is anyone else as confused as I am?
Information on significant issues, like the Mueller probe, comes at us so quickly and in such volumes that the context often gets lost in the shuffle. The Michael Flynn guilty plea falls into that category.
There's good news and bad news about being off the grid for a couple weeks. The good news is that when you are scuba diving, the boats don't have cable, and when you are under water, the fish matter more than partisan politics. You are really off the grid. The bad news is that there have only been about 6,437 main events that have happened in that time frame, and deciding on which to comment on now is a real challenge.
Remember during the 2016 election when The New York Times legitimized bias in the news by telling its reporters that it was okay for them to bash Trump in their articles on the theory that he was so bad it was their civic duty to do so? Obama did the same thing with mass shootings.
I may need to clarify my comment that The New York Times is out for revenge against Team Hillary for lying to it for a year about Trump dossier funding and making it look silly.
So this is apparently how this is going to be done. If there is a lesson here, it's to never, ever get caught up in the U.S. justice system.
The Washington Post of all folks breaks a story that the infamous "Trump Dossier" — don't you just love the word "dossier"? Makes the sordid document sound so chic and legit — was funded by Hillary Clinton and the DNC.
The tide may be turning. Perhaps it's anecdotal, but the media seem to be dialing back the Trump/Russia collusion rhetoric.
I generally steer away from this topic, primarily because most attempts to have a reasoned discussion of it end in frustration, but here goes.
First, an update on the tax plan negotiations. The good news is that the debate seems to be centered on a few aspects of the individual tax code, with key business provisions getting a large dose of radio silence.
Donald Trump dispatched his team to the Sunday talk shows to discuss his tax plan, but the positioning continues to puzzle me.
I don't mean to sound like Susan Collins, but count me as "disappointed" with Trump's tax plan. There are certainly some very good things in it, but it misses two big-picture fronts.
