Category: Uncategorized

• It’s never too soon for a Super Bowl countdown if you’re a host city. The pre-planning is that detailed. The 2021 game plan is well underway, including the appointment of former Buccaneer linebacker Derek Brooks as co-chairman of the TB Super Bowl LV Host Committee. What a spot-on choice: a Hall of Famer, a Super Bowl winner and a proven leader, especially by example. More importantly, his track record also includes working for this community and carrying himself in a classy, inclusive fashion. Rob Higgins, the executive director of the TB Sports Commission and president and CEO of the TB Super Bowl LV Host Committee, summed up Brooks’ impact. “We’re so fortunate to have his leadership, his work ethic, everything he brings to the table.”  
• “I always say to all my quarterbacks: ‘Play great. Great players do.’” That was Bucs head coach Bruce Arians, AKA the “quarterback whisperer.” Hope he has a quarterback whisperee. Didn’t look like it in season-opening, home loss to San Francisco. At least (49er GM) John Lynch was pleased with the outcome.
• We now know that the upcoming NHL season will be Rick Peckham’s 25^th—and last–as the Lightning’s TV play-by-play announcer. Peckham, 65, is retiring after 42 years in the business. Peckham’s good at what he does, and he’s one of the good guys. I still remember his call-it-as-it-is answer to my naïve question of how he handled calling all the action in a fast-paced game rife with line changes and puck turnovers. “I don’t,” he deadpanned. In other words, his job is to convey the big picture to viewers and pick and choose plays and players to keep a flow without sounding frenetic about the back-and-forth dynamics. It’s a skill–and an art–in hockey announcing. You’ll be missed, Rick.

• “A one-sided United States trade deal that will put us at the mercy of Donald Trump and the biggest American corporations.”—British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn’s warning of a Trump-touted, post-Brexit trade deal between the U.S. and the U.K.
• “The United States is ready, willing and able to immediately negotiate a free-trade agreement with the UK.”—Vice President Mike Pence.
• “They’re dead.”—President Trump on the status of talks to implement the U.S. troop exit from Afghanistan.
• “I think one of the reasons we’ve been unable to make a deal: We have competing objectives in the Administration. I think that has caused China to be uncertain about where this is all headed.”—Wendy Cutler, vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute and a former acting deputy U.S. trade representative.
• “To be fair, some kinds of business do thrive under Trumpism—namely, businesses that aren’t in it for the long run, operations whose strategy is to take the money and run. … In other words, under Trump it’s spring time for grifters. … Remaking the U.S. economy in the image of Trump University isn’t exactly making America great again.”—Paul Krugman, New York Times.
• “To say in the wake of so many mass shootings in so many localities across this country that the people themselves are now to be rendered newly powerless, that all they can do is stand by and watch as federal courts design their destiny—this would deliver a body blow to democracy.”—Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit that voted to uphold the Maryland assault weapons ban.
• “No matter what, the world has to move on from fossil fuels just as we moved on from tallow candles and outhouses and land lines.”—Colorado State University climatologist Scott Denning.
• “Climate change is one of the most pressing global challenges facing society today. My personal view is that any institution has to actually have climate change risk and protection of the environment at the core of their understanding of their mission.”—Christine Lagarde, former chairwoman of the International Monetary Fund and recently nominated as president of the European Central Bank.
• “(Trump’s) going the opposite direction on the existential question for Florida—which is sea level rise. That should be the mantra of any campaign.”—Environmentalist Rafe Pomerance.
• “Wouldn’t it be worth $75,000 a year to pay for a Presidential Proofreader so that you’ll have the semblance of literacy?”—What was tweeted back to Trump from Bryan A. Garner, the author of “Garner’s Modern English Usage,” in response to the president’s routine flouting of writing conventions.
• “The criteria for a promising protest candidate are not especially stringent. He or she needs to be conservative, without a large asterisk, with a record of sanity and decency. Surely in this great and large nation, anti-Trump Republicans can find someone who meets them.”—Ramesh Ponnuru, National Review.
• “(Democrats) should choose the candidate who maximizes their chance of winning. … This means—first and foremost—the candidate who has the best chance of carrying the states (Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin) that Mr. Trump pried off the Blue Wall (in 2016).”—William Galston, Wall Street Journal.
• “Mitch McConnell is the Nancy Pelosi of 2020.”—Cook Political Report analyst Jennifer E. Duffy on the strategic targeting of McConnell by Democrats.
• “The biggest divide in the (Democratic) party is not between left and center. It’s between those who believe once Trump is gone, things will go back to normal, and those that believe that our democracy is under a threat that goes beyond Trump.”—Dan Pfeiffer, Democratic strategist who served as a top campaign aide to Barack Obama.
• “I would not see a recession as the most likely outcome for the United States or the global economy.”—Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
• “Even the largest social media platform in the world must follow the law and respect consumers.”—New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is leading a multi-state, bipartisan investigation of Facebook for possible antitrust violations.
• “Hillsborough County voters exercised a right that the Florida Legislature gave them. The fact that that is being walked back now is incredibly disappointing.”—All for Transportation organizer Christina Barker.
• “I think it’s time to celebrate what’s underground as much as we celebrate what’s above ground.”—Mayor Jane Castor’s chief of staff John Bennett, after city council had approved a large utility bill hike to fix the city’s aging water and sewer systems.
• “Investing in ways to increase access to affordable housing is critically important to our communities. When we don’t, we end up with homelessness.”—Hillsborough County Commissioner Kimberly Overman, after the Commission had voted to set aside $10 million a year to subsidize rents and incentivize new construction.
• “I always say, you have never seen a ribbon cutting on an underground project. Well, just you wait.”—Mayor Jane Castor.

• “Nations with allies thrive, and those without them wither.” That was former Defense Secretary James Mattis still making the case that, alas, still doesn’t resonate with President Donald Trump. That was also former Defense Secretary Mattis underscoring why he no longer serves in the Trump Administration.
• Anyone not named Donald Trump not think that this is the absolute worst time for Brazil to have Jair Bolsonaro, the right-wing, climate-change skeptic, as its president? Brazil’s endangered rainforest is only technically sovereign territory. In effect, as French President Emmanuel Macron noted, it is the “lungs of the planet.” The fires sweeping the rainforest, which is invaluable for absorbing carbon and emitting oxygen, are beyond globally alarming and threatening.

No surprise that Bolsonaro and Trump get along. If you’re given to authoritarian ways and doubt the reality and impact of climate change, you too can make Trump’s (not) short (enough) list of autocratic buds.

• “Sorry, it’s the way I negotiate.”—There ought to be a better presidential response to questions about an untimely, unnecessary trade war; a dismissive attitude toward allies and trade partners; and mixed, confusion-and-chaos-inducing messages from the White House that inevitably impact the global economy.

At some level, Trump seems to equate sitting down with the G-7 or Chinese President Xi Jinping with how he has impulsively, narcissistically handled previous TrumpWorld negotiations. Only problem: China, a major military power with 1.4 billion people, high-tech wherewithal, intellectual property duplicity, authoritarian roots and holdings of more than $1 trillion in U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds—has a helluva lot more leverage than Queens subcontractors. Any savvy, prepared negotiator would know that. Of course, they would.

Or maybe Trump is hoping somehow to replay the NAFTA card. After having disparaged NAFTA as the “worst deal ever,” Trump reshuffled the deck and declared that he had won by settling for a deal barely distinguishable from the one he had routinely lambasted. But a declared “win” is a de facto win. If only President Xi, who also knows a thing or two about saving face on the world stage, will comply.

• Because of Hurricane Dorian, Trump was forced to cancel his visit to Poland. As opposed to Denmark, this one had to hurt because Poland is Trump’s kind of European country. It meets NATO military spending commitments, and its president, Andrzej Duda of the right-wing Law and Justice party, stokes cultural division and attacks the free press. No, it’s not the Poland of Lech Walesa anymore.
• “Badly run and weak companies are blaming these small tariffs instead of themselves for bad management.” That was President Trump adding tweeted insult to unacknowledged injury.
• For all the fraught scenarios with North Korea, which actually has nukes, it’s easy to miss the reality that we are, in effect, at war with Iran. Only, mercifully, it’s a cyberwar, that tenuous, gray, conflict zone between military confrontation and peace. For now.
• “First of all, Mr. President, we don’t work for you. I don’t work for you. My job is to cover you, not fawn over you … Our job here is to keep the score, not settle scores.” That was how Fox News host Neil Cavuto responded to Trump criticism that “Fox isn’t working for us.” But, yeah, that was Cavuto speaking for Cavuto—not Hannity, Carlson, Ingraham or “Fox and Friends” fawners.
• So, Madeleine Westerhout is out. If you haven’t been keeping score at the Trump revolving door, she’s the 20-something Trump special assistant and director of Oval Office operations, who was still in college when Barack Obama was RE-elected. Apparently, she got a bit loose-lipped and tipsy with some journalists and divulged some unflattering, to be sure, Trump family details. Two takeaways: First, this is Exhibit A for whom Trump surrounds himself with: the amoral, less-than-the-best-and-brightest-and-accomplished opportunists. Sean Spicer might even agree. Second, look for Westerhout to be out and about with her diary-turned-book in time for the holiday season. Omarosa Manigault might even agree.
• Here’s a sobering-but-spot-on forewarning from back in the (Trump inauguration) day. “The evidence suggests (Trump) does not have sufficient concentration power to read a book, or even listen to an audio edition, not to mention receive an exhaustive briefing of the duties of his job. … The American presidency has never been at the whims of an authoritarian personality like Donald Trump. He is going to test our democracy as it has never been tested.” That was John Dean, THAT John Dean, who knows a thing or two about how a president can test American democracy.
• Speaking of back in the day, like a lot of Trump supporters and even advisers, Kellyanne Conway has her own self-serving, political-hack backstory. Before pragmatically pivoting, she ran the Keep the Promise political action committee that championed the candidacy of Ted Cruz. She was the Cruz surrogate who regularly ripped Trump on CNN. She called him “unpresidential,” “vulgar” and not “transparent” with his tax returns. She also noted that he “built a lot of his business on the backs of the little guy” and didn’t actually understand the basic premises of the “pro-life movement.” But that was then.
• Attorney General William Barr throws a big, pricey party every holiday season, and this year will be no different—with one exception. The 200 guests will gather in the Presidential Ballroom in Trump International Hotel, blocks from both the White House and the Justice Department. Barr, however, will be paying full price and thus avoiding ethical implications of a steep discount. But, yes, at a time when the Justice Department is working to defend Trump against charges that he’s trying to personally profit from his presidency, it’s ironic timing and bad optics–and yet another subset of the “new normal.”

• 11/9. 9/11. 8/31. Three infamous international dates from the last 30 years: The Berlin Wall falls in 1989; America is attacked in 2001 and Hong Kong is confronted by a post-colonial turning point. On Aug. 31, 2014, China declared a state of limited democracy for Hong Kong. Locals have still not accepted it, and resistance, as we’ve been seeing daily, has turned violent.
• As we know, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro remains in power despite sanctions, isolation and military-intervention threats by the Trump Administration. And his country continues apace toward economic collapse and humanitarian disaster. Now, however, the U.S. has softened its approach—promising not to seek punishment of Maduro if he would just voluntarily leave. “This is not a persecution,” stressed Elliott Abrams, the State Department’s special envoy for Venezuela. “We’re not after him. We want him to have a dignified exit and go.” Wonder what Stephen Miller and John Bolton think. Buena suerte.

• Next week’s Democratic “debate” in Houston will look a bit different than the two previous ones. This time only 10 candidates made the qualifying cut. That means the Dem gathering will be reduced from two nights to one. That’s too bad–if the overriding priority is to actually have something approximating a “debate.” A two-night, five-candidate forum–regardless of media-marketed “match-ups”—is preferable to what likely will be another calculated, performance-art mess.
• “It’s important to know when it’s not your time.” That was New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, in announcing that she was dropping out of the Democratic presidential race.

There’s a reason why so much media coverage of hurricanes is referred to as “storm porn.” They want to get viewers’ addicted attention, which involves getting them bug-eyed, scared and riveted to their meteorologists, their spinning cones of Armageddon, their ominous spaghetti-models and their optics-oriented reporters.

But then there’s Denis Phillips, Tampa’s ABC Action News chief meteorologist. Overlook the suspender look, he’s a professional and the voice of anti-anxiety and objectivity. His Facebook updates and big-picture objectivity should be required reading. He knows that “hype breeds fear” and comports himself accordingly. “When it comes to hurricanes, hype is every bit as dangerous as the storm itself,” says Phillips. “Because it can create a false sense of security, and worse than that, create a false sense of panic.” 

Hurricane season is fraught with understandable concerns and anxieties. It’s the media’s job to keep us informed and prepared, not histrionically pile on to maintain—or gin up–ratings.

• Scheduling conflicts have precluded the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots from being welcomed to the White House for a customary ceremonial visit. The irony has been well noted—given that owner Robert K. Kraft, head coach Bill Belichick and All-Pro QB Tom Brady are hardly the NFL’s version of Megan Rapinoe. But what doesn’t get enough attention—especially in the problematic era of the Trump presidency—is why there are White House congratulatory ceremonies for professional athletes in the first place. A presidential welcome should only be extended to athletes who have represented their country—from World Cups to Olympiads—not their franchise employers.
• Congrats to Tampa Bay Tech grad Michael Penix Jr, who turned in an impressive debut as Indiana University quarterback. The redshirt freshman threw for more than 300 yards and a TD in IU’s’s 34-24 win over Ball State.
• The Tampa Bay Rowdies of the second-tier USL still envision being part of MLS, but it still remains beyond reach. And it had to be a bit disheartening, but hardly unexpected, to see MLS continue to expand—but not yet to this market. For the record, MLS added Cincinnati this year as its 24^th franchise. Next year will bring Nashville and Miami. Austin is targeted for 2021 and St. Louis in 2022. Moreover, the St. Louis franchise will be the first female-majority-owned team in MLS history. Ultimately, MLS plans to expand to 30 franchises. That window is nearly closed.
• Wisconsin 49, USF 0. Nothing more to be said.

• “This is probably the most sad and worst day of my life to address the Bahamian people. As a physician, I’ve been trained to withstand many things, but never anything like this.”—Bahamian Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis, on the devastating impact of Hurricane Dorian on the Bahamas.
• “Boris (Johnson) is exactly what the U.K. has been looking for and will prove to be ‘a great one!’ Love U.K.”—President Donald Trump.
• “Under no circumstances should the G7 be held at Trump’s Doral resort, which would be one of the most egregious examples of corruption and self-dealing in a presidency replete with them.”—Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden.
• “All Americans need to recognize that our democracy is an experiment—and one that can be reversed. We all know that we’re better than our current politics. Tribalism must not be allowed to destroy our experiment.”—Former Defense Secretary James Mattis.
• “(Trump’s) like the last seasons of ‘House of Cards’—a riveting spectacle devolved into a repellent burlesque.”—Frank Bruni, New York Times.
• “(It) highlights the Trump Administration’s complete contempt for our climate.”—Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity, in response to government plans to ease requirements on oil and gas sites to monitor for methane leaks and plug them.
• “We get the wrong kind of infrastructure. Projects that will be most attractive to Wall Street investors are those whose tolls and fees bring in the biggest bucks—giant mega-projects like major new throughways and new bridges. Not the thousands of smaller bridges, airports, pipes, and water treatment facilities most in need of repair.”—Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich.
• “Protectionism is bad; erratic protectionism, imposed by an unstable leader with an insecure ego, is worse. But that’s what we have as long as Trump remains in office.”—Paul Krugman, New York Times.
• “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”—Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
• “If you ask any restaurant now what’s keeping them up at night, it’s this. We do have a lot more diverse work force than most industries, and unfortunately many of them may be undocumented.”—New York employment lawyer Carolyn Richmond, on the specter of increased immigration enforcement.
• “Higher tariffs are going to cause consumers to pull back for a time, especially on big-ticket items like cars and appliances.”—Gus Faucher, chief economist at PNC Financial.
• “Our goal should be to tax the Scrooges so that the Tiny Tims can enjoy Medicare for All.”—Jeet Heer, the Nation.
• “False, misleading and dangerous marketing campaigns” that had “caused exponentially increasing rates of addition and overdose deaths.”—Oklahoma District Judge Thad Balkman, in finding that Johnson & Johnson had intentionally played down the dangers and oversold the benefits of opioids and ordering it to pay the state $572 million. It was the first trial of a drug manufacturer for the destruction wrought by prescription painkillers. There are more than 2,000 opioid lawsuits pending across the country.
• “This isn’t your mother’s marijuana.”—U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, in warning about marijuana use by adolescents and pregnant women.
• “One of the most common storm-related scams we see is price gouging.”—Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody.
• “We’re ready.”—Michael Peltier, spokesman for Citizens Property Insurance Co., the state-run insurance of last resort.
• “At shelters, FEMA does not check citizen status.”—FEMA spokeswoman Alexandria Bruner.
• “As the 2020 election approaches, stand up for teachers and public schools. Support only candidates who promise to stop the assault and micromanaging and become fighters for fully funding our public schools and paying our teachers a salary commensurate with their profession.”—Paula Dockery, former state Republican—now NPA—legislator.
• “It’s just the right thing to do. … We are a city that recognizes and values the dignity of work. Hard work and diversity built this city, and we’re going to make sure that people are rewarded for it.”—Mayor Jane Castor, in announcing that starting Oct. 1, all new and existing city of Tampa employees will receive a minimum of $15 per hour.
• “This is not NASCAR out there on the Howard Frankland Bridge.”—Sgt. Steve Gaskins, Florida Highway Patrol spokesman, after a recent tailgating-and-passing incident resulted in a driver fatality.
• “Anything brick and mortar, his fingerprints are on it.”—Former Mayor Bob Buckhorn, referring to Bob McDonaugh, who recently retired as Tampa’s top economic development official.

• President Donald Trump took umbrage, as only he can, with comments made by Mette Frederiksen, the prime minister of Denmark. Frederiksen didn’t take Trump’s seemingly off-the-cuff comment about buying the island of Greenland seriously. “I thought the prime minister’s statement that it was an absurd idea, was nasty,” responded Trump in vintage Trumpian fashion before adding that he was abruptly canceling a planned Sept. 2-3 state visit to Denmark, a trip that was to include a formal reception by Queen Margrethe II.  “You don’t,” chastised Trump, “talk to the United States that way!”

Actually, you do talk to the U.S., via Trump, in that way these days. It’s part of the everyday, new-normal collateral damage resulting from the image-altering American election of 2016—and Trump’s overseas MAGA arrogance. And this just in from Denmark’s Parliamentary Speaker, Pernille Skipper: “(Trump) lives on another planet. Smug and disrespectful.”

BTW, welcoming billboards were already in place for Trump’s Denmark visit, ironically proclaiming: “Partner, Ally, Friend.” Explain that to the queen.

• Every now and then something unexpectedly candid slips out of Trumpspeak pathology. To wit: the president’s G-7 admission to reporters that, indeed, he has had “second thoughts” on ramping up the trade war that has sewn uncertainty and turbulence into global markets. But then we were reminded why Trump, whose disdain for the European Union remains a given, still has “spokespeople.” Stephanie Grisham, the most recent incarnation of Sean Spicer and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, stepped up to, uh, clarify. The press had “greatly misinterpreted” Trump, she explained. Trump actually meant that “he regrets not raising the tariffs higher.” Nice spin, Stephanie. We can see why the White House daily briefings remain on hiatus.
• Presumably Trump had no second thoughts about cutting out early and passing on the G-7 working session on climate change, specifically helping the fire-ravaged Amazon and reducing carbon emissions. Probably not a comfortable venue–even for a “tough-guy” president–who pulled America out of the Paris climate accord and once claimed climate change was a hoax invented by the Chinese.
• It’s hardly coincidental that Trump’s largest single contributor to his 2016 campaign was the NRA, which anted up $30 million. And we’re reminded every time Trump backs off a post-mass shooting promise to push for, say, universal background checks. It’s those other kinds of checks that ultimately—and despicably–carry the politically-partisan day. And let’s not forget the 2017 forewarning when Trump spoke to the NRA’s annual convention. “You came through for me, and I am going to come through for you.” Of all times to keep his word.
• Trump’s gun-legislation focus, we now know, is not universal background checks—but the mental health of the gunmen. Obviously begged question: It has to be an either/or?
• In a global economy, it should go without saying that trade partners and allies are critically important and unilateral efforts to change the rules are never helpful. It’s hardly a coincidence, then, that Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, made a less-than-nuanced statement to that effect at the beginning of the G-7 summit in France. “Trade wars will lead to recessions,” underscored Tusk. “Trade wars among G-7 members will lead to an eroding of the already weakened trust among us.” We all know who Tusk’s one-man, primary-target audience was.
• “Britain’s Trump.”—That label is how Jeremy Corbyn, British opposition Labour Party leader, disparages his rival, Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
• Nobody expects to witness the Republican nomination of Joe Walsh for president in 2020. But the former Illinois congressman is officially in as a Trump primary challenger from the right. (The other announced candidate is the more moderate, former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld.)

A couple of takeaways. Walsh, 57, is an outspoken, in-your-face-if-necessary Tea Partying radio show host in the Chicago market, who plays well in the media. He says he stopped supporting Trump when the president sided with Vladimir Putin over U.S. intelligence experts in that infamous Helsinki meeting. He won’t have a lot of resources, but he’ll get a lot of free media. He’ll max out on it, and a lot more people outside Illinois will know who Joe Walsh is. It’s a good, profile-enhancing career move for the conservative who lost to Tammy Duckworth in 2012. And in the process, he can call out Trump. “I’m running because he’s unfit,” says Walsh. “Somebody needs to step up.”

Democrats, of course, are hoping that a Walsh challenge from the right will weaken Trump, who still has a high approval rating among Republican voters, and could complicate matters for a campaign that doesn’t need intra-party distractions beyond Trump himself. There’s also a political rule of thumb that primary challenges can weaken incumbents in the general election. Analysts often point to Pat Buchanan’s 1992 challenge to President George H.W. Bush as a prime example. There’s also the logistics involved when there’s competition. It costs a campaign resources and drains energy. You go, Joe.

• Not that the Trump White House and cabinet need more turnover or related rumors, but there is speculation that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo might be considering a run for the Senate in Kansas. The former Kansas congressman is being looked at in some quarters as the candidate to replace the retiring, 83-year-old incumbent, Pat Roberts. Red-state, Kansas Republicans are concerned after losing the governor’s office last year and are less than confident that Kris Kobach, a divisive right-winger, can carry the party for the GOP in 2020. Chances are, the rumors will continue until Pompeo gives a definitive answer or the filing deadline of June 1 has passed. For the record, this was Pompeo’s recent response to such senatorial speculation on CNBC’s “Squawk Box”: “I’m going to be the secretary of state as long as President Trump continues to want me to be his secretary of state.” In other words, stay tuned.
• David Koch, R.I.P. (Regulations in Perpetuity.)
• Trump’s favorite president is Andrew Jackson. But he would be well advised to reflect, to the degree possible, on the words of former President Harry Truman who once noted that “The only thing new in the world is the history you don’t know.”
• Just when we think we’ve seen it all with this president’s peptic rallies. What’s next? An Area 51 campaign stop? Aliens for Trump? Makes no less sense than “Women for Trump.”
• You go, RBG. I admire Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I just don’t want part of her legacy to be that she stayed too long and yielded her successor’s nomination to Donald Trump. He’s already, in part thanks to Mitch McConnell and the Federalist Society, had an outsized, right-wing impact on the Court. Hearing that Justice Ginsburg, 86, recently underwent radiation treatment for a malignant, pancreatic tumor was as sad as it was sobering. It was also a reminder that the best among us should go out on top, while they’re the ones making the call—not allowing circumstances, including partisan politics and ever-looming mortality—to dictate the next chapter. So, you stay, RBG–at least through Trump’s one-and-done presidential term.
• Trump’s next formal press conference will be his first in 900 days. If nothing else, you would think a narcissist who captivated enough of a base by being a reality TV performer would welcome such a spotlight. But perhaps even Trump knows that bombastically pandering to a base and inevitably demonizing the usual suspects isn’t the best rationale for a de facto global forum that is scrutinized by a lot more than the “Duck Dynasty” and “Deliverance” crowds.
• So, Sean Spicer will be competing on “Dancing with the Stars.” But it could be worse. It could be Sarah Huckleberry Sandbag cutting the rug.
• Closer to this fall’s Brexit vote, we will see increasingly linkage between the UK and the U.S. We’ll see Trump and Prime Minister Boris Johnson juxtaposed in a shared spotlight. Maybe even references to England’s Royal Family if Megan Markle or Prince Andrew is back in the news cycle. If so, then America’s Roil Family could add additional colorful context.

• Last week at the Tampa Convention Center, this city hosted one of the 14 “Women for Trump” rallies across the country. How embarrassing, how unfathomably stupid and how obvious that the Tampa rally would be the one that would feature two prominent Trump harlot-enablers, Kellyanne Conway and Pam Bondi. Florida is that important; the I-4 Corridor is that important; and Tampa, an I-4 anchor, is that important. So important, in fact, that Donald Trump actually called in to remind participants, notably important white women, that “We won with women. We’re doing great with women, despite the fake news.”  

Indeed, Trump did inexplicably well with white women in 2016. But that demographic was more helpful to Democrats in 2018. That’s why the national rallies and the Conway-Bondi show in Tampa. But demographic politics notwithstanding, nothing should excuse—or even explain—a “Women for Trump” rally. It’s makes as much sense as “Jews & Gypsies for Hitler,” “Blacks for Jesse Helms” or “Migrants for Joe Arpaio.”                                                                                                                  

• Looks like the Cross-Bay Ferry will be back crossing the bay. It’s a welcome scenario, even if it’s not meaningful mass transit in a bay-and-channel-centric market. At the very least, it helps promote the downtowns of Tampa and St. Petersburg, and at the most it’s an ongoing reminder of a common-sense alternative to driving everywhere.
• No surprise that customer-service-oriented businesses, including around here, are open to the idea of training personnel to better serve LGBTQ customers. For example, look for more couples being addressed as “folks” and “friends”—as opposed to “ladies” and “gentlemen.” It’s sensitive and inclusive—and smart. The LGBTQ customer buying power is nearly $1 trillion.

But you know what still sounds weird? When you’re on that special, heterosexually-traditional, dinner date and your server (no longer a “waiter” or “waitress”) greets you with: “So, how’s it going, guys, what can I get ya?” A romantic reset.