Thursday, November 8, 2018

White House news early November 2018

The news came frightfully fast yesterday, 07 November.

Once the precinct reports of ballot tallies began pouring in Tuesday night (06 Nov) it was clear the tidal wave of democratic wins was not as strong everywhere as many hoped.

Held every two years on the first Tuesday of November, midterm elections happen in the middle of the regular four-year presidential term of office in the U.S. This other, non-presidential, but national election is also seen as the result of the voting populace reflecting on the performance of that office-holder just under two years in, belaying its consequent mood of approval or disapproval of that office. I am being pedantic and methodical in laying this out here but the context is so important. Things just got a lot hotter in the White House.

Twenty years ago many Americans (and wherever else the show got syndicated) watched the television show COPS. It was so ubiquitous in households then that the show's jingle entered common parlance. It was a show anyone could understand and popularly featured dumb criminals. Criminals who weren't very skilled playing out their stupid endeavors on camera right before they got caught gathered an audience that cheered on law enforcement and made mockery of those many dumb criminals.

As it turns out today's news went quickly off the rails. Of course there were the usual, expected tallying and broadcasting of vote outcomes in the various states across the country to the also usual analysis of those collective outcomes and what that may mean for the functioning of our legislative branch of our government. In the morning we were told we could expect a press conference at the White House with the President on the outcomes of these races as well. This too is not uncommon in the last several decades.

Not surprisingly the expected next Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi made a public statement extending her wish to work in a bipartisan manner with the new and existing members of Congress and with the office of the President. And the President himself echoed the sentiment in a tweet, a form of communication typical for this office-holder.

The news media at large continued as it does on such days as expected. There were the usual difficulties of the counting and the polling of large numbers of people in various places and there were the many expectations set out by different groups about who would do well or who might not. There were also many unusual irregularities as well, especially in Florida, Georgia, and Texas. These stories will continue with special elections in Georgia and perhaps recounts in Florida , or Texas.

The president had spent time over the last several weeks visiting places and publicly praising candidates that he thought he could work with. None of those seemed to do very well. But the President even priased a member of the opposing party, Senator Manchin of West Virginia, a state where the resident had held rallies in this year.

It came time for the press conference in the White House, this time held in the East Room which often means the President will speak. The President arrived who gave a statement and answered some questions. It had been reported he was in a good mood. His body language told a different story. Leaning forward, hands often on the podium, he showed himself as both aggressive and defensive.

When asked if he believed whether bipartisanship with the opposing party were possible after these elections and the consequent reshaping of the Congressional body, the President said there would be a good chance for that. But when asked if he would have to compromise in the event that subpoenas were sent to the WH demanding information of the many investigations that stretch back from before he came to office, the President said in that event ,then, "... government grinds to a halt and I would blame them." But then he reiterated his hope for chances to work together on common goals.

The next reporter asked about the long-term job security of the AG and the Deputy Attorney General, the President said he'd talk about that later. Then, he was asked if there was a chance of a government shutdown as the WH previously had threatened, based on the lack of funding for his proposed border wall with Mexico. The President didn't seem to think so as he continues to think such a wall is still a popular idea. Which in isolation is odd.

Reporter Yamiche Alcindor of PBS asked when called on if he thought that calling himself a nationalist on recent campaign rallies didn't embolden white nationalists.
This clearly incensed the President as he commented, 'That's such a racist question."

But the most widely distributed news that came out of this press conference with the POTUS just after the national midterm elections was the heated exchange with Jim Acosta of CNN. Both before and after a WH aide tried to take away Mr. Acosta's microphone this reporter was trying to ask if the President was demonizing immigrants by calling them an invasion. This was referring to the great number of walking migrants south of the border known as 'the Caravan', which he and his supporters spent a great deal of breath hammering on in the runup to these elections.
Since then the opposing factions for and against the President have been spending much of the day and night spreading their reactions - and with different videos - to this exchange with some calling it violent and others  an affront on free speech. Later that day the WH revoked the reporter's pass that lets him in to WH for these briefings. This increased the rancor on both sides of course.

Then came news that Jeff Sessions, the Administration's Attorney General, had been asked to resign. He complied supposedly at the insistence of WH Chief of Staff General John Kelly.
For many watching, this is the part of the show where the criminal tries to hide the evidence of crimes just before they get caught. But in this case, it is the President of the United States that is getting rid of the boss of all the investigators, AG Jeff Sessions, in order to replace him for now with a loyal placement holder.

The problems however, with Mr Whitaker that temporary replacement, are many. Not least of which involves him previously publicly saying he would end the Mueller Special Counsel Investigations into Trump's campaign dealings. There is a worry - because they've talked about it publicly - that this president, who has made his opposition to this investigation well known, wants to end this investigation in any way he can legitimate. Many think this is obstruction of justice in hiring a loyal partisan who has not been vetted by Congress.

Then last night another mass shooting. This time in Thousand Oaks, CA.
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Before the elections, Late Show comedian Stephen Colbert, playing America's weirdly delightful performance uncle broke into song. Accurately and depressingly captures a national mood.

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