* At some point we’re going to know who “Anonymous” is. And it won’t span more than a generation as with “Deep Throat’s” Mark Felt. Word will get out. Times are vastly different, and the stakes much higher. De-Trumping America–and the rest of the planet–means that much.
Certain CIA insiders and journalists already know. But when there’s a published book, “A Warning,” it’s no longer Whistleblowing 101. The author, with access to the most influential media forums, has to personally step up, speak out and eliminate unfavorable anonymity connotations advanced by Donald Trump, Kellyanne Conway, Sean Hannity & Co. And that hopefully will propel the intelligence community and all patriotic elected officials to make it clear that they have his or her back because they have America’s back.
And then the floodgates open.
* Left unsaid, but blatantly implied, with the presidential announcement and accompanying White House Situation Room photo announcing the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi: “Take that, Obama.”
Speaking of al-Bagdadi, he died by detonating his suicide vest while being chased into a tunnel by American special ops soldiers. In so doing, he didn’t just kill himself; he also killed three of his children. That’s doubling down on a definition of evil.
BTW, the U.S. bounty on the head of al-Bagdadi was $25 million. Wonder if it will be reallocated to U.S. troop support–or to “The Wall”?
* “Human scum.” That’s how the occupant of the Oval Orifice recently described the “Never Trumpers.” After such vulgar vilification, you have to wonder if such demonized GOPsters, affronted by white nationalism, angry populism and chaotic foreign policy, might consider an alternate party as the best way to express presidential outrage and patriotic concern.
* “Afghanistan is a safe place by comparison.”–That was the aforementioned occupant comparing Afghanistan to Chicago.
* “I don’t want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the four horsemen of calumny–fear, ignorance, bigotry and smear.” Too bad that wasn’t Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell or Matt Gaetz. But it was a Republican: Sen. Margaret Chase Smith in 1950 speaking out against the onerous implications of McCarthyism.
* It was more than another day at the orifice. Just when we thought the antics and stunts that pass for Washington partisan politics couldn’t get any more absurd, embarrassing or worrisome, we get the charge of the alt-right brigade. House Republicans, determined to undermine and divert attention from Trump’s Ukrainian shakedown, stormed into a secure room where an impeachment inquiry was being held. Some had electronic devices, a major security violation.
With Trump sycophant congressman Matt Gaetz, R-Panhandle, as point man and Florida Rep. Ross Spano of Dover tagging along, more than three dozen GOPster storm troopers pushed past the Capitol police and entered–and effectively occupied–the room. Chaos ensued in the disingenuous name of transparency. As if Republicans were not among the House members hearing classified depositions. As if this were not a familiar closed-door tactic to ensure that future deposed witnesses weren’t privy to what these witnesses were saying in the preliminary stages. There’s plenty of precedent–as well as common sense.
Call it a sham and a total disgrace. Also call it another historical metaphor for the age of Trump.
* “I’m glad they did it.” That was White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham’s Fox News response to Republicans storming that aforementioned secure room. “It’s about time that somebody made a very bold stand, which is, I guess, a sit-in, which is what they did. And it was great.”
Grisham also took her fealty act to a Washington Examiner political conference, where she took on former White House Chief-of-Staff John Kelly. “I worked with John Kelly,” she said, “and he was totally unequipped to handle the genius of our great president.”
With responses like these, it’s obvious why she prefers cherry-picked forums to WH press conferences. Remember those?
* “Mark Esperanto.” That’s how Trump referenced Secretary of Defense Mark Esper in a recent tweet about Syria. But to be fair, that’s still pretty close.
* The federal budget deficit: It’s now $984 billion, up more than 25 percent in the last year. It’s also up nearly 50 percent since Trump came into office. Next year it’s projected to pass $1 trillion. Remember when deficits were a Republican priority, if not obsession–and the inspiration for the Tea Party? Those were the days.
* “Lock him up!” That was part of the World Series crowd response upon seeing Donald Trump on an in-stadium video screen after the third inning of Game 5. Timing, of course, is everything. The Nats home crowd, dejected at seeing their team fall behind again for the third straight game, had a chance to vent. It was also a graphic reminder that a Washington World Series crowd is not to be confused with a Wheeling, WV rally.
* “Lincoln was a Republican, people forget that, we need to start bringing that up (because) the Democratic policies have let African-Americans down and taken them for granted.” That’s what Trump said in his recent speech at Benedict College, a historically black college in Columbia, S.C. Then he reprised an African-American-friendly line from his 2016 campaign: “What the hell do you have to lose?” Watch for cropped photos and selective optics to show up later in the campaign as part of the hypocritical Trump outreach to black voters.
But more context is required, however, for the invitation-only, Benedict event. Trump spoke to an audience of about 300, of which fewer than 10 were students. The attendees were mostly guests and allies of Trump, an audience not given to criticism of “white nationalism” and all its deadly dangerous, societal ripples.
* Guess what turns 10 yrs. old next year? The Affordable Care Act. Somehow it’s made it through a decade of imperfection, infighting, and partisan targeting as socialistic, eponymous “Obamacare.”