- Anyone else cringe when the words United Nations and Donald Trump inhabit the same sentence? Must he treat the UN dais like an Evansville campaign rally or a Manhattan open-mic night? It’s the ultimate–and only such–forum we have to gather globally to try and resolve issues among sovereign states. Playing to their nationalism should be anathema, especially with a Stephen Miller-written speech that “Rejects the ideology of globalism. ” “We embrace the doctrine of patriotism,” trumpeted the president. At least he didn’t wear his MAGA cap.
- And while Trump was chairing, so to speak, the UN Security Council, he used that forum for some partisan priorities. Most notably on China. “Regrettably, we found that China has been attempting to interfere in our upcoming 2018 elections,” he charged. “They do not want me or us to win because I am the first president ever to challenge China on trade.” So much for any more sit-down dinners at Mar-A-Lago with Mr. and Mrs. Xi.
At best, the Security Council was a blatantly inappropriate forum for a highly-charged, bilateral issue. But how ironically suspicious that he didn’t take the opportunity to reference Russia’s ongoing cyberattacks on American elections, attacks aimed at helping Trump’s agenda and, not coincidentally, his 2020 prospects.
- The optics at Trump’s rally in Wheeling, West Virginia, included a backdrop of two prominent banners: “Promises Made” and “Promises Kept.” No specifics, including Mexico paying for some wall, necessary. But we all remember the agenda. PM/PK: Pushing big tax cuts for the non-base, rubber-stamping the Federalist Society’s choice of Supreme Court justices, promoting global isolationism and turning the most influential country in the history of the world into a nativistic outlier.
- “And then we fell in love.”–That was Trump at the same rally referring to his aha moment with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, the erstwhile “Little Rocket Man,” after their summit meeting. OK, it’s bad Trumpian hyperbole in search of a way to reference a working relationship with a dictatorial murderer, but how might he characterize the one with Vladimir Putin?
- “(Democrats’) con game.” That’s how Trump characterized the sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. But maybe this has more credibility than we thought. If anyone should know such scenarios, it would be the ultimate, p—- grabbing “con artist.”
- How are Jeff Flake and Lindsey Graham in the same party?
- Last comment on the Kavanaugh hearing: The question should have been begged about the whereabouts of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s husband. He should have been seated behind her for all the obvious reasons.