Category Archives: 2020 Presidential Campaign
1980s Want Foreign Policy Back
Click Mitt to enlarge image.
The day before he reported for duty as a freshman U.S. Senator, Mitt Romney turned in his grades on the Chief Executive. In a Washington Post column Romney gave President Trump passing marks for some of his policies. But he flunked him for presidential character.
But, on balance, his conduct over the past two years, particularly his actions last month, is evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office.
He also marked Trump down for failure to co-operate with allies. He noted:
The alternative to U.S. world leadership offered by China and Russia is autocratic, corrupt and brutal.
1980s Want Foreign Policy Back
Romney’s been consistent about Russia as our number one threat. And President Obama mocked him for it in their 2012 debate.
“And, the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back, because, the Cold War’s been over for 20 years.”
Trump responded that if Romney had stood up to Obama’s taunts he might be president today.
Syria Pullout
ISIS J.V. Team
President Trump got off the phone with Turkish President Erdogan and announced he’s pulling the troops out of Syria. And Secretary of Defense James Mattis resigned.
Democrats and Republicans found common ground slamming the Syria pullout decision. They say the pullout sells out the Kurds and creates a vacuum that ISIS will fill. Same as when Obama pulled out of Iraq. (At least the Republicans say that.)
Pro Syria Pullout
But Reason’s Nick Gillespie and Andrew McCarthy of NR think Trump did the right thing. If we stay in Syria we’d have to choose sides in a war between Turkey and the Kurds. Erdogan’s nasty but Turkey is a NATO ally. Besides, we’re there illegally. Congress never approved it and that makes it unconstitutional.
Fed Grinch Steals Trump Christmas
You’re a Mean One, Chairman Powell
President Trump overheated his Twitter account trying to pressure the fed chairman. But it didn’t work. Jerome Powell was more than ready to to stand up to Trump by playing the Grinch and raising rates. Not only that he said he’d do the same thing two more times next year.
Fed Grinch
The Dow swooned and the president sputtered. But Bloomberg says the Fed did the right thing. Vox, however, not so much.
Meanwhile the stock market crater continues.
White House Safe House
Accidental President
I got the idea of a the White House as a safe house from a Holman Jenkins column in the WSJ. He doesn’t think Trump expected to win.
Winning was his colossal if propitious miscalculation. Nobody would care about Stormy Daniels if he weren’t president. His decades-long pursuit of a Trump Tower in Moscow would be a non-story…
Unfortunately, it will also occur to Mr. Trump now that his best move is to cling to the White House at all costs. That’s because under Justice Department guidelines he can expect not to be indicted as long as he remains in office.
Real Oval Office Guests
Public Political Bickering
Pelosi and Schumer visited Trump and Pence in the Oval Office. At least I think Pence was visiting. He was plastered silent and motionless into a chair.
After the photo-op no one shooed the press away. So they stayed. This was more transparency than Nancy could bear and she kept asking them to leave. But they stayed anyway and recorded the four – okay, three – of them bickering about five billion dollars for the Mexican wall.
No one asked the Mexicans to cough up the cash, but the president said he would be proud to shut down the government until he gets the money from Congress.
Republican Senators later did some public political bickering of their own and backed away from Trump’s threat, but The Donald got the last word.
