Vice-President Kamala Harris is Underestimated

 

During a tightly-choreographed trip this week, the VP was determined to assert herself as a diplomatic asset for a president who believes he knows more about the process — and the vice presidency — than most. On the VP’s trips w/ the 💫 @KannoYoungs https://t.co/LuiQs64l8Q

— Katie Rogers (@katierogers) November 12, 2021

For what it's worth, CNN has a story on the Harris vice-presidency that I can not discourage you from reading, but encourage reading with a grain of salt because the network has also decided to raise the profile of "former" TrumpWorld denizen Chris Christie, as if we don't know they are already thinking about 2024 right now in the midst of President Biden's first damn year. 

Harris, as a US Senator, served on the Intelligence, Judiciary, and Homeland Security and Governmental affairs committees. She isn't in any respects under-prepared and the light-weight chuckleheads who talked about her supposed accent failed to note she actually speaks some French and also that their claims are wildly exaggerated because they are actually being basic bitches. 

She has about as much experience as Barack Obama when he became president, and she is not less personable because she is female. She is less personable to people who are less embracing of her other exceptional qualities and need to create electoral drama about a post-Biden primary we are not even looking at yet. They are giving her Hillary Clinton-style hits, and I despise this routine. This demand that women be judged on a scale so unprecedented when the men who came before them were given a handshake in comparison. 

Sunday Morning TV Blues

 

President Biden needs to level with the American people about the fact that his “infrastructure” package is a $2.25 trillion liberal wish list with only about 25% being spent on traditional infrastructure like roads, bridges, tunnels and rails. Be honest with us Mr. President. https://t.co/du32oGCAsA

— Governor Christie (@GovChristie) April 11, 2021

So, unless your jobs plan comes from the Asphalt region of Infrastructure, all you've got there is sparkling socialism. (He's had problems with the idea of infrastructure for a while, though.)

HATAWL 2: The Celebrity Apprentice Cabinet

I think "How a Trump Administration Will Look" is going to be a regular feature at this blog as we see the incoming administration take place, so pardon my awkward title: "HATAWL" is just a necessary acronym so my blog titles don't become too unwieldy. Before I launch into the current going-on, I just wanted to link to this fine recap of all the many ways in which Donald Trump the candidate and his campaign were simply not what we think of a "normal". Keeping this concept of "abnormality" in mind is probably a useful way to understand how his position-filling process is just naturally going to also be "abnormal".

See, after all, the above Tweet (screen-capped on the off-chance that it will be deleted as having been ill-advised--or perhaps better said, "unadvised"). "Very organized process taking place as I decide on Cabinet and many other positions. I am the only one who knows who the finalists are!" it reads, for those whose setting don't enable images, and it is sent from Trump's own verified account. It's hard to know how to take it--is he just responding genuinely to counter claims that this process is "bonkers" or a "total mess".  But does he legitimately see his potential selections for important cabinent roles as "finalists" as if he was still running "The Celebrity Apprentice"? Or is it possible he is having us on, a little? (As for as presidentin' goes, this is probably not good form--not that he has respect for such things.)

But word that there has been an actual "purge" of Trump transition folks with ties to Bridgegate-impacted Gov. Chris Christie does seem awkward--how much of this choice has to do with Trump's own actual distaste over how Christies handled the scandal, and how much has to do with Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner's pay-back over Christie's prosecution of his father and uncle? One of the reasons I find this alarming is because someone like former MI Rep. Mike Rogers seemed like a pretty competent guy--the sort of knowledgeable and reasonable sort that even Democratic presidents might consider for something like CIA chief. This kind of decision-making doesn't seem really helpful.

But he is being replaced by Frank Gaffney, former Rep. Pete Hoekstra and CA Rep. Devin Nunes--welp, that's still kind of alarming. Gaffney was banned from CPAC a few years back for having an oddball conspiracy theory that Grover Norquist had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.  (I have questioned Norquist over his economic ideas, but give me a break! Not a closet creeping sharia guy, ok?) Hoekstra totally Chaffetz-ed up regarding some classified info which kind of makes me wonder if he's altogether an s.m.a.r.t. choice. And Nunes? Eh, he fits right in.

But some of the other eyebrow-raising picks? A possible selection of Kris Kobach, anti-immigration and anti-civil rights SOB, for Trump's AG?  Laura Ingraham, radio host and awful person, for press secretary?  Peter Thiel for anything. Any damn thing at all. Gay vampires are very cool according to 1990 goth Anne Rice fan me, but this dude is something else.  And as an environmentalist, I am not even ready to talk about Myron Ebell having anything to do with the EPA. He's thinking Sago Mine owner Wilbur Ross for Commerce (huh! I guess Don Blankenship is unavailable, right?) 

It almost feels like a series of threats that wouldn't just challenge a liberal's stomach, but that of many a conservative as well. Maybe a case of showing us the worst scenario so his eventual actual picks don't seem as bad as they could have been? (That's a known negotiating tactic.) 

But I just think it's weird, right? That his cabinet discussions should even make you wonder if this is real life or a game. Maybe that Tweet means something--but I don't think these decisions should be treated like a reality show.

Transitions are Scary Things

Trump's transition team offers a window into the terrifying workings of a Trump presidency https://t.co/lNMP5YQdoJ

— Salon (@Salon) November 5, 2016

Well, there is a little ray of light to add to Gary Legum's depiction of what Trump's hacktacular Administration bench would look like--it's possible that the bloke he picked to run his transition team (and as I've mentioned before, does he pick the best people, or what?) might be out after the recent "Bridgegate" hearings found two of his ex-aides guilty on all counts.  It's not a really biggie. I mean, Christie was going to stump with him in New Hampshire, but that could be off now.

Does that also mean that leading the transition team is also off in the event  of a Trump win? That would be awkward. But then again, Trump is the guy who offered Christie the running mate role, only to take it back.

There's a Greek tragedy aspect to this, but I'm mostly thinking of a twelve-letter word I hardly use on this blog that sums up the core flaw of Oedipus. As in--aren't they?

Pay to Play the Trump Way

It seems like the media is loathe to report the ongoing issues surrounding Donald Trump's fraud case, even though his dismissal of said case because the judge is a Mexican-American is sort of a meaningful glimpse into his outlook, you might think?  Oh well. Maybe the mainstream media has been too distracted by the allegation (debunked) of CGI pay to play to recognize the actual Trump pay to play that was even documented at this humble blog a couple months ago. See, it looks like FL AG Pam Bondi did discuss with Donald Trump his donating $25K to her campaign, even if we don't know (but we do) what for. (Former TX AG, now Governor Greg Abbott got $35K--71 cents on the dollar tells me the gender bribe gap is a real thing you guys!)

Are we going to pretend this isn't something Trump has even boasted about previously? Funny old thing, that. He's has a funny old quid pro quo-looking arrangement with Rudy Giuliani in days gone by too, looks like.  Can't even rule out that there's some favors going on with NJ Gov. Christie.

It's sort of like Trump expects that how politics is done is predicated by grift.  The media could possibly make this a bigger deal.

A "Billionaire" Settles For Pence

So, when the world is on the brink and evil is on the loose, and it looks like some commonsense leadership is hard to find, would anyone doubt the goodwill of "Never Trump" evangelical Mike Pence and funky as he wants to be Donald Trump being on the same ticket? Especially when Trump fucked off like a mad cow over Pence when the whole Nice thing went live because the pick wasn't assertive enough for him? When he decided let's not even do Pence, and tried to back out, even though the Governor of Indiana was in a bind over whether to run for his second term?  When NJ Governor Chris Christie tried to take a stab at currying favor and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich was at his "She Turned Me Into A Newt" Gingrinchiest.

Sure. This is how a candidate for president could behave--if that person was completely incompetent and not remotely fit for office and also sort of wanted to fuck over pretended allies because of obscure grudges.

So, that's where I think Trump is.

But let's get real about what a Pence pick says about Trump--remember when he was asking us to believe that he was a great friend of queer folks? Well no! The Pence pick basically implies he is anything but, and Pence also highlights the way a government can punish women for even thinking about abortion.

They are basically a match made in GOP hell. I think they represent an inconvenient marriage of convenience and are both too stupid to be politically useful. I also love the nonsense penetration that is their "ThinkProgress" evocative logo and the vision of Loud Trump hollering into Mike Pence's stupid stiff face at any event at which they deign to mutually appear.

Like in Bedminster NJ, making sweet ticket love in Gov. Christies' backyard. Because Trump is never not humiliating potential allies. He's kind of a monster that way. Don't be played.

It's Complicated

Mitt Romney basically made an anti-endorsement of Donald Trump today at one press thing, and Chris Christie at another press conference explained at that he is not either a hostage, so stop saying that. Then Trump called Romney a "choke artist" and suggested he could have gotten Romney to blow him back in 2012.

It's not politics or drama--it's reality tv.

The 2016 GOP Contenders' Debate in Las Vegas

The debate last night was a feast for fact-checkers. As covered in the comments of the last post, Carly Fiorina endeavored to show she was in like Flynn with the military by name-dropping generals who got dropped out of the leadership line-up. This was found to be mostly false. You know, lefties can make the same case about George W. Bush--Shinseki, Zinni, Casey, Abizaid, possibly Kevin Byrne, all kind of got in the way of the Bush Administration's claims that the Iraq War would be a cakewalk and few troops would be needed and they certainly wouldn't be deployed on missions until total exhaustion. Mostly, Bush rewarded Generals like Jerry Bremer. Know what he did? Then you see the problems inherent with politicizing the military in the first damn place, and in the second place, recognize that the reason the military  has a civilian as Commander in Chief is because decisions have to be made sometimes for reasons no military man would accept because of his loyalty, appropriately, to his troops. But which a statesmen might well make knowing that battles are not just about territory, but what is accomplished in "hearts and minds" terms.

Remember those signs about "Do you miss me?"  regarding George W. Bush? I'd have to allow that GWB was better informed and prepared than this lot, and at least has measurable charisma. Trump has charisma, but I'll admit it totally loses me. He didn't know what the nuclear triad is--the land, water, and air delivery systems we have in place for the when and if we ever launch a nuclear strike. Senators Rubio and Cruz know this, but when Cruz makes comments like he'd make the sand glow anywhere, I agree with Hillary Clinton--he sounds over his head--that's a definite last-resort. I think Rubio  might have a better temperament, but I still feel like he hasn't taken being a senator, what with missed votes and hearings, seriously enough to have the well-rounded consciousness I'd like in a president.