Tag: politics

The news media is in shock:

CBS News and CNN released instant polls taken immediately after President Trump’s State of the Union address with both polls finding 76 percent of those who watched approved of the speech. The CBS poll 72 percent approved of Trump’s immigration proposals while the CNN poll showed 76 percent approval with 59 percent “very positive.”

Hence all the civnattery in the State of the Union. The fact that civic nationalism is both incoherent and nonexistent doesn’t take away from the fact that it is very, very popular among the electorate, especially the white electorate. And the God-Emperor is, and has always been, a civic nationalist.

This is precisely why I have said, from the days before the South Carolina primary that established him as a serious candidate, that Trump was the best that the USA could hope for, although he would probably not be capable of preserving the USA as a viable, singular political entity. But at least he is moving in the right direction, which marks a sea change in every president since Eisenhower.

What he is accomplishing here is expanding his base, leashing the Republican Establishment, and strangling Never Trump prior to the 2020 election. This will give him more leverage for Building the Wall and Draining the Swamp during that time.

What Union? Anyhow, this would be your open thread for the God-Emperor’s address tonight.

The US Left appears to be protesting too much:

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg appeared in public Monday night, her first public outing since her lung cancer surgery last December. Ginsburg, 85, attended a concert celebrating herself titled, Notorious RBG in Song, that featured her daughter-in-law, soprano Patrice Michaels. Attendees said Ginsburg looked, “glam”, “magnificent” and “great”. One man who said he spoke with and was hugged by Ginsburg said she looked “resplendent”.

Actually, she does look pretty great. I wouldn’t say convincing, quite, but she does resemble a living human being. More or less.

Italy has the sanest government in the West:

Rome has effectively derailed an EU statement meant to recognize Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s interim leader if President Nicolas Maduro fails to set up snap elections, a Five Star Movement source confirmed to RT. Italy announced the veto at an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers that started on January 31 in Romania, the source said. The statement, which was supposed to be delivered by EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini recognized Guaido as interim president if snap elections were not held.

It’s amazing to see 5 Stars aggressively following the nationalist tone being set by La Lega’s Salvini. Or Santo Matteo, as he is increasingly being called.

And while the EU is at it, perhaps it should note that Macron is a less legitimate national leader than Maduro.

Russia Today reports that Marine Le Pen is now the President of France:

Exciting news from France: Marine le Pen is the country’s new president. After the Macron regime plunged the country into political crisis, Mrs Le Pen took the oath of office on Place de la Concorde on Friday before a small crowd of gilets jaunes (yellow vests) specially assembled – with the TV cameras – for the occasion.

Proclaiming that she was acting according to Article 7 of the Constitution of the 5th Republic, Mrs Le Pen announced that Emmanuel Macron is no longer in office. To be sure, the government and civil service, the police and the armed forces all continue to operate normally, and Mr Macron continues to work in the Elysée Palace as usual, while Mrs Le Pen is under investigation for financial irregularities. But as she has received official recognition from both Russia and China, she has now become the legitimate president of France.

Of course, this fictitious scenario is ridiculous. But it is no more ridiculous than the recognition of Juan Guaido as president of Venezuela, voted by the European Parliament on January 31, one week after the recognition of him by US President Donald Trump.

I have to admit, I have absolutely no idea what the God-Emperor is doing when it comes to Venezuala. The whole situation looks entirely inexplicable, and as the Russia Today parody makes clear, it’s not even remotely convincing to anyone, least of all the Venezuelans. All I know is that if the European Parliament is for it, it’s almost certainly a terrible idea.

Is prescribing puppet leaders to banana republics really optimal foreign policy in 2019? Do any of these people realize that the South American countries are now considerably larger and more powerful than any of the European nations?

Remember, Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe is only successful because he is so much more intelligent than you are. Although I have to admit, I do fight it a little remarkable that Mr. Tribe, who is just as American as any Son or Daughter of the American Revolution, somehow managed to become famous for being a “constitutional law scholar” despite obviously not knowing that the SENATE Majority Leader does not appoint members of the House of Representatives to House committees.

NO CONSPIRACY! Remember that. NO CONSPIRACY!

As is my usual wont, I’m not going to pronounce my opinion on the God-Emperor’s latest announcement until two days have passed. But it’s difficult to escape the impression that he has badly misread the American people here, or failed to understand that he’s not going to win any more points from the public for “making a deal” than George Bush did in his one and only term.

Yielding to mounting pressure and growing disruption, President Donald Trump and congressional leaders on Friday reached a short-term deal to reopen the government for three weeks while negotiations continue over the president’s demands for money to build his long-promised wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Trump announced the agreement to break the 35-day impasse as intensifying delays at the nation’s airports and widespread disruptions brought new urgency to efforts to resolve the standoff.

“I am very proud to announce today that we have reached a deal to end the shutdown and reopen the federal government,” he said from the Rose Garden.

After saying for weeks that he would not reopen the government without border wall money, Trump said he would soon sign a bill to re-open the government through Feb. 15 without additional money for his signature campaign promise. He said that a bipartisan committee of lawmakers would be formed to consider border spending before the new deadline.

“They are willing to put partisanship aside, I think, and put the security of the American people first,” Trump said. He asserted that “barrier or walls will be an important part of the solution.”

Mounting pressure from whom? One of the most remarkable things about this shutdown is the fact that virtually no one outside of Washington DC has been negatively affected by it.

Donald Trump was elected to do two things: Drain the Swamp and Build the Wall. Precisely none of his supporters give a fraction of a quantum of a damn about “getting the government back to work” or “getting the Democrats on board” or “making a really, really great deal”. That was the case in 2016. It is still the case now.

It is looking more and more as if Trump is not a wartime consigliere, which is unfortunate because America is at war. And here is a hint: if the headlines are going to read “Trump caves”, then you probably shouldn’t agree to it.

Trump caves: President agrees to open paralysed US government for THREE WEEKS after 35-day shutdown – but claims he’ll shut it down again or declare a national emergency to build border wall if Congress doesn’t fund it

Does anyone doubt that the Democrats and Republican Establishment believe he’s just bluffing at this point? Anyhow, as always, wait two days.

The FBI stages a pre-dawn raid on Roger Stone’s home and arrests him:

Roger Stone, a former campaign adviser to US President Donald Trump, has been arrested by the FBI on charges including obstruction and witness tampering. He was arrested at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, following Thursday’s indictment by the office of the FBI Special Counsel which is investigating Trump and his associates over allegations surrounding his 2016 campaign.

Stone is facing one count of obstruction of proceedings, one count of witness tampering, and five counts of false statements.

It is alleged that Stone, who officially left the Trump campaign in August 2015, told Trump campaign officials in July 2016 about future WikiLeaks (referred to in Mueller’s document as “Organization 1”) releases of damaging information found in leaked Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails. US intelligence claims the emails were hacked by Russian “government actors.”

The indictment claims that Stone lied to the House Intelligence Committee about his alleged contacts with WikiLeaks and tried to convince another person to give false testimony.

The FBI showed up at Stone’s door in force. Agents arrived armed with assault rifles and clad in body armor, and without warning. It’s the first time such measures were applied to a person indicted in Mueller’s investigation.

Sounds like the Swamp is trying to put a scare into Stone and his family. I doubt it will work.

Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrump
 “I will never testify against Trump.” This statement was recently made by Roger Stone, essentially stating that he will not be forced by a rogue and out of control prosecutor to make up lies and stories about “President Trump.” Nice to know that some people still have “guts!”

The God-Emperor should simply issue a blanket pardon for Stone and force the FBI to release him.

The media grades the performance to date of President Trump

Incomplete

Not doing the work: From a conservative perspective, the president had fewer wins in his sophomore years. But there were certainly some. Presidents often get credit for things they have only passing responsibility for. And if it was acceptable practice for past presidents, there’s no reason to expect differently from this White House. So they have every right to crow about great employment numbers and the like. They have a better case to boast about the continuing line of conservative judges and justices he has appointed to the bench, most significantly Kavanaugh. His foreign policy accomplishments in Year Two tend not to improve with scrutiny. The overtures to North Korea looks more like a hollow PR stunt every day, and his decision to pull out of Syria with no real plan in place could be disastrous. This points to the real reason I am giving him an incomplete. He’s not really doing the work. He’s not governing like the president of the whole country, or even making the effort to appear that way. And he faces every test like a student who prides himself on his refusal to study. Sometimes it works out for him. Sometimes it doesn’t. But for a guy called a “chessmaster” by his fans, he seems incapable of planning more than one move ahead. Which is why he stumbled into the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

— Jonah Goldberg, National Review contributing editor

B+

Room for improvement: To get there, he’ll have to help Republicans recapture the House and hold the Senate in 2020 — and get re-elected himself. We’re at or above full employment overall, and black and Hispanic unemployment numbers are especially good. Jobs for blue-collar workers are also expanding. He has achieved a de-escalation that could lead to peace in Korea and a realignment of Middle East affairs that is in the U.S. interest, particularly with Iran being brought under pressure from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other Arab allies. He has renegotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement that is much more favorable to the United States than the agreement it replaced. Trump stuck it out with Kavanaugh when other GOP presidents would probably have folded, and he has confirmed a lot of other judges. The tax cuts he passed have helped to fuel economic growth. Beyond that, not much. The do-nothing GOP House lost the voters’ confidence, and now Trump has to deal with an obstructionist Democratic House. The worst commentary on Paul Ryan’s Republicans is that Trump might not see much difference, except for the blizzard of subpoenas. As I commented in the early days of his administration, Trump and the congressional GOP should have had bills lined up like airplanes on a runway. Instead, they squandered a rare opportunity. You can blame Ryan if you want, but Trump was the head of the party.

— Glenn Reynolds, University of Tennessee law professor

My grade is an A-. Best U.S. president since Chester Arthur. Hasn’t fully delivered on either Build the Wall or Drain the Swamp, but kept the USA out of war with Russia over Ukraine joining NATO, kept the insane Neo-Palestinians in check, made real progress on the Korean Peninsula, defanged the globalists on the climate and trade fronts, has begun the retreat from Middle East empire, and showed the Republicans the benefits of not cucking every time the Democrats throw a media-enabled hissy fit. May not be a wartime consigliere, probably does not have the will or the understanding to save the USA intact, but don’t make the mistake of counting him entirely out yet. Weakened by his civic nationalism, his advisers, and his continued reliance on establishment figures, but his strategic instincts tend to pull him out of tactical danger time and time again.

This is to discuss the President’s announcement, whatever it might be. Initial reports are that it is an offer to trade Dreamers for the Wall. Sounds like just another cuckish compromise worthy of the Republican establishment.

President Trump plans to use remarks from the Diplomatic Reception Room on Saturday afternoon to propose a notable immigration compromise, according to sources familiar with the speech.

Details: The offer is expected to include Trump’s $5.7 billion demand for wall money in exchange for the BRIDGE Act — which would extend protections for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) — and also legislation to extend the legal status of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, according to a source with direct knowledge.

Jared Kushner and Mike Pence have led the crafting of this deal and the negotiations with members, according to White House officials. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told reporters he had proposed the idea of a DACA-TPS swap to Trump in December, and that the president called it “interesting.”

But remember, always wait two days before leaping to any judgement.

UPDATE: It’s most likely just positioning for future action:

Top Democrats said they’ll reject an offer expected from President Donald Trump to extend protections for so-called Dreamers for three years in exchange for $5.7 billion in funds for border security as a way to reopen the federal government after almost a month.

Hey, he tried to be reasonable. And they left him no choice but to act in a unilateral manner.