Less Than Total Victory

On March 31, Robert Reich had a good- but for him, disappointing- take on the controversy in which

Last Wednesday morning, Laura Ingraham, Fox News’s queen of snark, tweeted that David Hogg – a 17-year-old who survived the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, and has been among the eloquent advocates for gun control – “whines about” being rejected by four universities he applied to. She linked to an article from the Daily Wire calling him a “gun rights provocateur.”

Shortly after Ingraham’s attack on Hogg, he called for Ingraham’s advertisers to boycott the show. Within days, a slew of them did just that.

As advertisers peeled off, Ingraham tried to take back her comment, saying the “spirit of Holy Week” motivated her to apologize for “any upset or hurt” she might have caused Hogg “or any of the brave victims of Parkland.”

Hogg rejected the apology. “She only apologized after we went after advertisers,” he told The New York Times. He then tweeted to Ingraham that he’d accept her apology “if you denounce the way your network has treated my friends and I in this fight. It’s time to love thy neighbor, not mudsling at children.”

If truth be told, Hogg, while pursuing a righteous cause, at least confirmed Ingraham's charge that the young man is a whiner. She did not "mudsling at children"- she threw mud at an individual (an eloquent, mature individual) who chose to engage vigorously in the political arena.  Still, as Reich would undoubtedly agree, any day without Laura Ingraham is a day with sunshine. He recognizes

 ....corporations have to keep their consumers content all the time.

Selling satisfactory products and services is necessary but often not sufficient. Customers also want to feel good about the brands they’re buying. At the least, they don’t want to associate themselves with mean-spirited vitriol. 

Liberty Mutual, the giant insurer, called Ingraham’s comments “inconsistent with our values as a company, especially when it comes to treating others with dignity and respect.” Nutrish, a pet food brand, said Ingraham’s comments “are not consistent with how we feel people should be treated.” TripAdvisor explained that Ingraham’s comments “cross the line of decency.” 

Such explanations sound as if these companies chose to drop Ingraham’s show in order to be socially responsible. In truth, they’re just being smart at doing what they’re set up to do – make money. When it comes to consumer products, cruelty doesn’t sell.

Reich realizes "companies aren't being socially responsible" when they "have quickly ended commercial relationships with famous people acccused of sexual harassment and abuse," but instead "don't want to sully their brands." He argues, convincingly, that

Companies are spending huge amounts seeking to connect their goods to consumers’ values. They know more about those values than anyone. Which suggests that Americans may have had enough cruelty – coming from Laura Ingraham, from Fox News, from Donald Trump, from the Harvey Weinsteins of the land, from whomever. 

Many companies, especially Liberty Mutual- which does not market to the Trumpian demographic- will exhibit a social conscience. However, others may discover that their consumers' values don't align with those of Liberty Mutual, Robert Reich, David Hogg, or myself, but instead those espoused by Donald Trump. These individuals do not define cruelty as antagonism toward minorities, gays, or even young liberals. 









The left may observe that it is being hoisted by its own petard if= more likely, when- conservatives decide to play by the same rules. Admittedly, abstaining from consumer boycotts like the one initiated by Hogg are unlikely to deter the right from using the same tactics it disgracefully and successfully applied against the Dixie Chicks. Still, the left should be (as is Reich) restrained in its glee.

We cannot be anywhere near certain, for instance, that after a brief absence, Ingraham's advertisers don't return. Further, there should also be a more abstract, global, and potentially more dangerous concern about going down this road. This boycott and others are begun by persons conscientously dedicated to an ideological viewpoint. However, ultimately, the sanctions are implemented by corporations, which means that corporations are playing the major role in determining what voices are silenced.

Today it is Laura Ingraham's on the right. Tomorrow it may be someone on the left, more tolerant and compassionate, even less vitriolic.  Arguably, that is the free market of ideas, and a  net gain. However, voluntarily turning more power or influence over to major corporations comes with a whole lot of dangers, now unforeseen but potentially perilous.




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Trump's Guy

Of course they did.

NEW: President Trump called Administrator Pruitt last night and said "Keep your head up, keep fighting. We have your back," per administration official.

COS Kelly called Pruitt this morning and reiterated POTUS' message.

— Jacqueline Alemany (@JaxAlemany) April 3, 2018

TIME last week had reported

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency paid just $50 a night to stay in a Capitol Hill condominium linked to a prominent Washington lobbyist whose firm represents a roster of fossil fuel companies.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt paid for a single bedroom in the building on a leafy street about a block from the U.S. Capitol, staying for about six months in 2017 during nights he was in Washington. Records show three units inside the building are listed as belonging to a corporation co-owned by the wife of J. Steven Hart, the chairman and CEO of the powerhouse lobbying firm Williams and Jensen PLLC.

The firm’s clients include Exxon Mobil Corp. and the major liquefied natural gas exporter Cheniere Energy Inc. — companies that have billions at stake in regulatory decisions over which Pruitt presides. Records show in at least one case Pruitt met in his EPA office with a lobbyist from Hart’s firm while he was renting the room.

Justina Fugh, an ethics lawyer at EPA, told The Associated Press on Friday Pruitt’s rental agreement allowed him to only pay for nights he occupied the room, totaling about $6,000 in payments over the term of the lease.

Now we learn that in early March, Pruitt requested a salary increase for two aides he had brought from Oklahoma: Sarah Greenwalt, from $107,435 to $164,200; and Millan Hupp, from $86,460 to $114,590. However, he needed approval from the White House because they were political appointees, and the Presidential Personnel Office dismissed the application and the White House refused to overrule it.

But now Pruitt has approved the 53% and the 33% raises because, The Atlantic explains

A provision of the Safe Drinking Water Act allows the EPA administrator to hire up to 30 people into the agency, without White House or congressional approval. The provision, meant to help expedite the hiring of experts and allow for more flexible staffing, became law in 1996. In past administrations, it has been used to hire specialists into custom-made roles in especially stressed offices, according to Bob Perciasepe, a former acting EPA administrator.

These aren't Pruitt's only indiscretions. Vox's Umair Irfan notes that the Administrator spent $168,000 of taxpayer funds on air travel- additional for first-class hotels- in his first year in office, traveling with his entourage for media appearances and recreation, as well as for legitimate EPA business.  He spent $3,000 to sweep his office for survellance bugs, $2,000 for biometric locks with fingerprint readers, and $42,000 to build a phone booth in his office. Maxwell Smart would have been proud.





Pruitt flies charter- often- to and from Oklahoma, where as Attorney General he sued the EPA 13 times and often sent (under his own signature) the EPA, Interior, and President Obama letters written by the energy industry.

That made him the ideal appointee to head Donald Trump's EPA.   And as Administrator, he "continues to run the score up for Trump," pursing Trump's agenda of shoving as much money to corporations, especially the fossil fuel industry, as possible.

Although this probably is the primary reason he isn't fired by the President- or, rather, by Chief of Staff Kelly because Trump can't fire anyone in person- there may be another factor at work. In this Administration, no one can sneeze without hitting ethically deficient members. The latter include at least Jeff Sessions (probably least of all), Treasury's Mnuchin, HUD's Carson, Interior's Zinke, Education's DeVos, Ambassador Haley, Ivanka Trump, and Kellyanne Conway. (Jared Kushner, probably collaborating with a foreign power, is a whole different kettle of fish.) "An inner circle unburdened by legal or moral scruples," Jonathan Chait observes, "are the only kind of people who want to work for Trump, and the only kind Trump wants to wrok for him."

But Scott Pruitt stands out. Perhaps it's the extent of his corruption. Or mFaybe it's because he's so sensitive that he flies first class to avoid critics, revealing a snowflake (with regrets at using a term popularized by the alternative right) like Donald Trump. He's a guy who skirts the rules (as with the recent pay raises) or breaks the rules and he's still riding high, still a winner. He's a lot like the boss.

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Black Lives Matter- Sometimes

A forty-three-year-old black mother, Crystal Mason of Tarrant County, Texas, has been sentenced to five years in prison for voter fraud, though her attorney now has filed an appeal. BET explains she

was on supervised release for tax fraud after serving nearly three years in federal prison. While she was on her release, her mother insisted she exercise her civic duty of voting in the crucial election, the Star-Telegram reported.

However, Mason was unaware that convicted felons are not allowed to register to vote in Texas, and voting their rights can be restored only after the sentence, including a supervised release, has been completed.

When Mason arrived at her polling place, the workers could not find her name on the list of registered voters, so a poll worker handed her a provisional ballot.

The poll worker gave Mason an affidavit listing the conditions required to vote. Mason signed the document and voted.

A poll worker later reported problems with Mason’s ballot which prompted an investigation, the district attorney's office spokesperson Samantha Jordan told the Dallas Morning News.

Mason, who was originally served time for a 2011 conviction for inflating returns, said she has “owned up” to her crime and she would never intentionally put herself in a position to go back to jail.

"I inflated returns," Mason told the Telegram. "I was trying to get more money back for my clients. I admitted that. I owned up to that. I took accountability for that. I would never do that again. I was happy enough to come home and see my daughter graduate. My son is about to graduate. Why would I jeopardize that? Not to vote. ... I didn't even want to go vote."

As BET notes, several people, including but not limited to a superb news host and the president of the NAACP, tweeted about Mason, in some instances drawing a contrast to a white Republican woman sentenced to probation for trying to vote twice for Donald Trump in Iowa.

But one organization is glaringly absent from the individuals and groups righteously outraged at this effort to depress voting and imprison someone up for something relatively innocuous.

That would be Black Lives Matter, the first page of whose website includes

The Black Lives Matter Global Network is a chapter-based, member-led organization whose mission is to build local power and to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.

Apparently, the Network does not want to interfere with the "violence" or discrimination inflicted by the state of Texas. It continues

We affirm the lives of Black queer and trans folks, disabled folks, undocumented folks, folks with records, women, and all Black lives along the gender spectrum. Our network centers those who have been marginalized within Black liberation movements.

Evidently, their network does not center on blacks whose votes are being suppressed. Their rant continues

We are working for a world where Black lives are no longer systematically targeted for demise.

We affirm our humanity, our contributions to this society, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression.

The oppression they affirm does not include oppression of the right to cast a ballot.

Despite President Trump finally shutting down Kris Kobach's fraudulent voter fraud commission, GOP efforts to abort voting rights continues, and would be a concern to any organization truly dedicated to black empowerment.

So, too, would unusually punitive criminal justice practices in specific states. As with much of the effort among politicians and others toward criminal justice reform, among politicians and others, Black Lives Matter seems blissfully unaware that not all states, unlike people, are created equal. Both law enforcement and courts vary from state-to-state, and it is no coincidence that Crystal Mason was abused in Texas (video from 1/23/17).




Inarguably, black lives matter. Arguably, Black Lives Matter shouldn't.




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Journey Interrupted

Last week, amidst pushback from Chris Hayes, CBN Chief Political Correspondent David Brody differentiated Donald Trump from former President Bill Clinton because the latter

had a Monica Lewinsky. Right now we don't see a Monica Lewinsky in the Donald Trump White House. If that happened, Chris, game, set, match. It's over for Donald Trump with evangelicals....

Because evangelicals at that point, just like any constituency, would feel played at that point. He's promoting Judeo-Christtan values but then doing something you know, against that in the year now. That would be a real issue for them. But once again, we don't see that. And in the book, I can tell you that he has so many evangelicals around hm right now from a  spiritual pespective that the sense is from our reporting over 100 interviews he is on a  spiritual journey that has evolved. And last year, if you remember, chris, you're talking about 10, 12 years ago. We haven't seen anything in the last few years. 

Clearly, Donald Trump would have to be photographed laying naked on the desk in the Oval Office (there is room, evidently) with a naked Hope Hicks for right-wing evangelicals to "feel played."

Because they are silent today.They are silent one day after the President innocously tweeted "Happy Easter" and then in the course of two hours, set off three tweets competing against each other for deceit and animosity.

Border Patrol Agents are not allowed to properly do their job at the Border because of ridiculous liberal (Democrat) laws like Catch & Release. Getting more dangerous. “Caravans” coming. Republicans must go to Nuclear Option to pass tough laws NOW. NO MORE DACA DEAL!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 1, 2018

Mexico is doing very little, if not NOTHING, at stopping people from flowing into Mexico through their Southern Border, and then into the U.S. They laugh at our dumb immigration laws. They must stop the big drug and people flows, or I will stop their cash cow, NAFTA. NEED WALL!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 1, 2018

These big flows of people are all trying to take advantage of DACA. They want in on the act!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 1, 2018

 He was eager to make the symbolism even more obvious when on his way into church

"Mexico has got to help us at the border. And a lot of people are coming in because they want to take advantage of DACA," Pres. Trump told reporters after tweeting early Sunday that he would no longer support a deal on fixing DACA https://t.co/bq1i3wMsex pic.twitter.com/3NjyeyI0tQ

— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 1, 2018

No one has identified "caravans" and given the presence of tunnels, "our dumb immigration laws" are not the reason for "drug flows." Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer offered to support substantial wall funding in return for legalization for DACA recipients. "Catch and release" was never a law, and President Trump himself has claimed credit for ending it.

Other than that, Trump's tweets were largely accurate.  But the stunning- were it not coming from Donald J. Trump- aspect is that they came on Easter Sunday, from the guy we're assured "is on a spiritual journey that has evolved."  We haven't seen anything in the sexual realm from Trump in the last few years- but otherwise we have seen plenty and did so yesterday, on the holiest day for Christians.

It is the holiest day- or at least worthy of a little respect- from anyone who genuinely "is on a spiritual journey" It would not have served as an excuse for both dishonest and mean-spirited messages to the American people.

President Trump is on no spiritual journey, but is on a journey to determine how outrageously contemptuous he can be of evangelicals before the right-wing among them are willing to concede they are being played.  They are, of course, eager to be used and continue to shill for President Trump. Impressingly shrewd, the man has found an audience which prioritizes conservative politics over preaching the gospel, typically prioritizing things that are on earth rather than on those which are above.

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The Man Behind The Myth

The late conservative New York City talk show host Bob Grant was well known for frequently rant of “get off my phone, you fake, you phony, you fraud."  Though the target of his diatribes was invariably someone of the left, his diatribe against individuals whom he accused  of being "a fake, a phony, and a fraud" could never have been more appropriate than if it were directed at the current President of the USA.

University of Buffalo psychologist Shira Gabriel, who led a study of the impact of what is described here as "fourteen seasons of carefully edited prime-time exposure" for Donald J. Trump, found that many viewers developed a

"parasocial bond" with the host- a one-way relationship in which you feel close to a celebrity you have never met....... 

Trump's television persona, like that of Arnold Schwarzenegger (who was ultimately elected governor of California), was "likable and powerful," they note.

"He alone made the decision of who would stay or go ... and he was able to make the decision fairly and quickly"—qualities one would like to see in a president. Relatively few reality TV personalities can say the same.

Of course, the key is that "The Apprentice" was a "reality show,"not a realistic show. Even the blissfully unobservant should be aware of that now. Earlier this month

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson learned he was fired Tuesday only from a tweet by his boss, President Donald Trump, NBC News reported, citing State Department officials.

And to add insult to injury, Tillerson was basically an afterthought in that tweet, which first introduced Trump's new chosen top diplomat, CIA Director Mike Pompeo.

It is, in whatever variant, the President's modus operandi. This past week now-ex Veterans Administration Secretary David

Shulkin said during an interview with MSNBC that he spoke on the phone to Trump on Wednesday about needing to focus on polices to help the VA.

“We spoke about the progress that I was making, what I needed to do from a policy perspective to make sure that we‘re fixing the issues in VA,” Shulkin said. “He was very focused, he was very inquisitive about the things we were working on, making sure we were focused on the job at hand.“

MSNBC host Chris Hayes asked if Trump “made no mention of the fact that he was about to terminate you,” to which Shulkin said, “That’s correct.”





Ten weeks ago we had learned

President Donald Trump is reportedly displeased with Chief of Staff John Kelly’s recent comments about the Republican’s long championed border wall and how the commander-in-chief’s views on immigration have “evolved,” according to media reports....

Trump had been displeased with Kelly for some time, and Axios had recently reported

that Kelly could catch the president’s ire for presenting himself as the man behind the curtain. A source told the publication that Kelly could be going down the road taken by former White House chief political strategist Steve Bannon, who took credit for helping Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton and was dubbed “The Great Manipulator.”

“Kelly has finally ventured into Steve Bannon territory when it comes to trying to create the perception that he’s the ‘great manipulator,’ saving the country from Trump’s ignorance,” the unnamed source told Axios. “The difference is, Steve tried to develop that reputation in off-the-record conversations with reporters. Kelly did it openly on the country’s most-watched cable network. It’s the subtle difference between hubris and arrogance.”

He still does not want Kelly around. Earlier this month

Trump suggested to others outside the White House that he would leave the chief of staff position open. He would then receive direct reports from a handful of top aides, in a set-up that would resemble how he operated the Trump Organization. 

Trump has reportedly tabled the concept for the time being. 

But the chief of staff cannot fire himself. The President must do it and he finds it very, very difficult to fire anyone himself (especially in person), as Shulkin discovered. (Fearful, he also will not criticize Putin if Vladimir might hear him.)  Firing a (retired) general is doubly difficult, so if Kelly were instead to resign, Trump would be more excited than his first night with Karen McDougal.

Mired in real life, however, the "you're fired" fella has a problem because the words "you're fired" get stuck in his throat.   Nevertheless, the left may continue to bail him out.  "He's a bully" they cry out, failing to understand that this act is what catapaulted him onto the stage initially and played a major role in his election.  It sets him apart as a take charge, decisive guy who always is in control, and perceived as a winner.

"The Apprentice" portrayed Trump as "likeable and powerful," Gabriel noted. It is now up to Team Patriot to undermine this false bravado, to reveal that the emperor has no clothes. Big hands notwithstanding, he must be unmasked as a fake, a phony, a fraud.



HAPPY EASTER                                                                           HAPPY PASSOVER                                                         


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The Excrement Of A Bull

On Tuesday, MSNBC's Chris Hayes interviewed David Brody, Chief Political Correspondent of  the Christian Broadcasting Network and author of "The Faith of Donald J. Trump," which Hayes noted must be a short book.

Arguing that Donald Trump has been transformed while President into a God-fearing man, Brody maintained

You can Google it, Chris. I interviewed him in 2015 in August – excuse me, September of 2015 and he said he does ask God for forgiveness. He`s talk about that. Now, look, that`s his word. I mean, I`m not God –

So we (by which I mean I) "Googled it" and found something even more interesting than Brody's claim.

Two months earlier, In June of 2015, Trump famously appeared at a gathering featuring such organizations as the Family Research Council, Liberty University, and the National Organization For (opposite-sex) Marriage. Although at the reverse of an atheistic, secular, or theologically ambivalent group, when Trump was asked whether he ever asks for forgiveness for his actions he conceded

I am not sure I have. I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don't think so," he said. "I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don't bring God into that picture. I don't.

Three months later, in the interview (video, below) to which David Brody evidently was referring, Brody (at 6:10) asked Trump "Do you believe it is important to ask God for forgiveness?" The latter responded

Well, I do. I think it's great. I consider communion to be a very important thing. When I go to church and I take communion I consider that asking for forgiveness in my own way. I do think it's a great thing and I do think it's an important thing. It makes you feel good.





Brody's assertion thirty-one months later that "I interviewed him.... and he said he does ask God for forgiveness" is as inaccurate as possible without meeting the formal definition of a "lie."  Donald Trump did not say that he asked for forgiveness for anything he says or does, let alone for specific statements or actions. He contended he is "asking for forgiveness in my own way."

There is no Christian- Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, or even unafilliated- who ever would qualify the assertion that she asks for forgivenss with the qualifying "in my own way." None.   One does not ask for forgiveness in any special, unique way. She asks God for forgiveness- period.  It may be for all of the sins she has committed, or for ones specified, but it is forgiveness from sin, and the objective is not to "make you feel good."

Prayer is an acknowledgment of sin, commonly accompanied by discomfort, which may itself be evidence of a repentent heart. Notwithstanding what the President believes, it reminds us of what we have done and is not intended to make the sinner feel good or to lay the groundwork for futher commission of sin. Christians would typically agree "the primary purpose of prayer is to change us! But either way, the chief objective remains the same: to glorify God in any and every situation."

David Brody knows this. He knows also that the purpose of communion is not to ask for forgiveness, but rather to "reflect on Christ's sacrifice and look forward to his return."

Aside from being unacquainted- understandably- of the ins and outs of the September, 2015 Brody/Trump chat, Chris Hayes conducted a very skillful interview. However, it is extraordinarily difficult to anticipate the twists and turns of an evangelical conservative's rationalization of the acts or statements of a Republican politician. 

In 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV) (probably "Two Chronicles" to Trump), we learn

You were sorry and humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this city and its people. You humbled yourself and tore your clothing in despair and wept before me in repentance. And I have indeed heard you, says the Lord.

Donald Trump does not seem to understand that this is the prayer God hears because, as we read here, "God wants to hear sincerity in our prayer, not vanity. As we pray, let's determine to stay steadfastly humble before the Lord."

Ironically, the author is Hannah Goodwyn writing on the website of the..... Christian Broadcasting Network.




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Aye, Aye Captain

"It could have been worse" tweeted Will Bunch Thursday above this famous photograph:

It may be unwise to disagree with a journalist wise enough to have recently written a column entitled 'Race Realism': How Teve Bannon, Cambridge Analytica modernized white supremacy to elect Trump.

However, it would have been far better if  President Grump instead had nominated Dr. Harold Bornstein to be the next director of the Veterans Administration.

You remember Dr. Bornstein, who in August of 2016 wrote that candidate Trump would "be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency." Unless Bornstein doubles as a presidential historian or has personally evaluated each president in his roughly 240 years of life, he did not write the letter, which is almost certain.





Harold Bornstein knows something about President Trump. It may pertain to Trump's physical health, his mental health, or his past, but he knows something.  He wrote a bizarre letter and is arguably slightly bizarre himself and would have faced an extremely difficult confirmation process.  In the unlikely event he would have been approved, the undying loyalty of a doctor who claimed "I think I picked up his kind of language and then just interpreted it to my own" would be suspect.

Rather, the President cleverly nominated a member of  the United States armed forces,  a rear admiral who has demonstrated the loyalty we typically witness from a military officer, a physician to presidents Bush and Obama who was promoted by President Trump.  Like Colin Powell in the Bush Administration and John Kelly in this administration, there is every reason to expect Dr. Ronny Jackson to be a loyal soldier, perhaps even a cheerleader for his Commander-in-Chief (the latter his status if Jackson does not resign from the Navy prior to taking on his new position).

Unlike someone such as Bornstein, Jackson can be depended upon and is at least a reasonably good bet to be confirmed. But as with Bornstein, Jackson knows a thing or two.   Additionally, Trump probably views Dr. Jackson as President Lyndon B. Johnson viewed FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, of whom he once stated "it's probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in."

In January, Bornstein had given Trump a glowing assessment- and not only of his physical health, as unlikely as that is. Additionally, CNN noted

"I have absolutely no concerns about his cognitive ability," Jackson said, noting that Trump scored at 30 out of 30 on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment test.

Trump regularly "speaks his mind," Jackson said, and the doctor "found no reason whatsoever to think that the President has any issues whatsoever with his thought process."

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test is not only a well-known tool but is available online for everyone, including the President, to practice before he takes it. Golly gee wilickers! Donald Trump himself had requested beforehand that he be given such a test!

There are other reasons President Trump tapped Dr. Jackson for this important position. (Loyalty is not one of them, unless "Jackson" is short for "Kushner" or "Trump.")  As a good Republican, Trump wants to privatize everything in sight, very likely including the Veterans Administration, which would become more politically viable when Jackson proves incapable of administering a government agency. Further, the President appears in awe of everything military, including parades, and yearns to be seen as military himself.

Certainly, Will Bunch did not mean to suggest that Dr. Jackson was a good choice or even that Dr. Bornstein was in the running. But Donald Trump was sufficiently canny to get elected President, and his motive(s) for choosing Dr. Jackson is more than a little suspicious.




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