Category Archives: Donald Trump
The President’s Doctor and Chief of Staff off Message
The president’s doctor, Sean Conley, gave a cheerful update on his covid condition Saturday morning at Walter Reed Hospital. He proclaimed Trump to be “in exceptionally good spirits and doing well.”
But the president’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows soon stepped on Dr. Conley’s message by leaking an update of his own:
The President’s vitals over the last 24 hours were very concerning and the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care. We are still not on a clear path to a full recovery
So there.
President’s Doctor
On Sunday Doctor Conley responded in his own defense:
I was trying to reflect the upbeat attitude of the team, that the president, that his course of illness has had. Didn’t want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction
Apparently the virus was asleep at the wheel. The docs gave Trump oxygen, pills and shots and sent him back to the White House on Monday.
Distractions from Covid in the Middle East
A lot of distractions are out there – forest fires, molotov cocktail fires, pandemics and bad hair days. And now the final insult: President Trump signs peace deals in the Middle East! What will he steal next, President Obama’s Nobel Prize?
Snatching Power of the Purse with Executive Orders
Six years ago President Obama went around Congress and snatched its power of the purse. He announced “We’re not just going to be waiting for legislation, I have a pen and a phone… and I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions and administrative actions.”
So I drew this Obama cartoon:
Snatching Power
And now President Trump is messing with the same purse. He used an executive order to go around Congress and cut off stimulus talks.
So, a foolish consistency being the hobgoblin of a small mind, I drew the Trump cartoon above.
Delaying the Election Trial Baloon
President Trump launched a trial balloon about delaying the election. That would require acts of Congress and state legislatures which are unlikely.
And even if it did happen the 20th Amendment to the Constitution evicts the the president at high noon January 20th. So you’d need somebody to fill the vacancy by then.
And hope the mail-in ballots get delivered in time.
Speaking of mail-in-ballots:
Six weeks after New York’s primary election on June 23, the final vote tally in the 12th Congressional District remains a mystery. On Monday a federal judge ordered the counting of certain mail ballots that arrived after Election Day but without a postmark to prove when they were sent. Imagine this kind of mess 45 days following Nov. 3.
WSJ Editorial Board, August 8-9, 2020
Russian Bounty Hunters in Afghanistan
The last big bounty scandal in the news involved the New Orleans Saints. But there are no saints in this story. The NYT reported that Russian President Putin paid the Taliban to kill American soldiers. A WSJ editorial questioned the need for bounties, considering the Taliban already whacks Americans for the religious thrill of it. But considering Putin’s record killing journalists in his own country it sounds plausible.
And inquiring minds want to know what Trump did about it. Nothing. Though he did kill a couple hundred Russians in Syria in 2018, but that was before the story broke.
Or maybe 1980s are calling to get back their Stinger missiles that President Reagan gave to the Taliban to shoot down Russian helicopters.
Anyway, Catherine Herridge at CBS says the CIA and NSA are split on the bounty story, and the president claims he was never briefed.
