“Despite promising during the campaign…”
More and more, this is the lead-in to stories about President Trump and his year-old administration. Call it “flip-flopping” or any other pejorative, it isn’t “fake news”.
For someone with such a stellar “show biz” background, it is remarkable the former Apprentice star seems to forget the invention of videotape and Instant Replay. Proving dogmatic, straight-forward statements made yesterday are diametrically opposed to absolute contradictions made today is as easy as typing “Google” <enter>.
One doesn’t need Professor Peabody’s “Way Back Machine” to find a target-rich environment of Trump switcher-oos: Medicaid, Marijuana, the “big beautiful Wall that Mexico will pay for”, “Obamacare gone Day One” and, most recently, DACA and potential Special Prosecutor testimony.
Unabashed (former?) Trump Defender, Tucker Carlson, ripped into the Donald after the President’s now-infamous “bi-cameral open meeting” on Immigration during which Trump appeared to back-pedal bigly on one unequivocal campaign promise. “So what was the point of running for president?”
Carlson also noted that Trump boasts about his negotiating skills. “He clearly has skills as a negotiator,” Carlson said. “Where were they today?” It’s safe to assume there will be no answer because it is also safe to assume Carlson’s question won’t get asked of the only person capable of giving a straight answer. (NB: “capable” is not synonymous with “probable”)
Notably, on immigration, Trump once told FOX News “Everything is negotiable“. That may be seen as admirably flexible on certain important issues as in von Bismark’s “art of politics”. But when such “flexibility” consistently breaks promises and commitments that convinced voters he would represent their staunchly inflexible views, “flip-flop”, “flim-flam” and “bait and switch” become depreciating assessments of a man who will say or do anything to win. If that also defines the “art of the deal”, so be it. But running the country and “draining the swamp” is a far cry from defeating a zoning ordinance or closing a huge real estate deal. Welcoming “earmarks”, the lowliest of pork-barrel Swamp Things, with open arms, mouth, and office does not inspire confidence in a man already taking non-stop enemy and friendly fire for allegations still inconclusively real or imagined. Could it be the adversarial forces lining both sides, stage whispering about the 25th Amendment, an unleashed Special Prosecutor and “Deep State” obstruction have created a Great Negotiator “willing to sign almost any deal” that will ensure he remains in power?
Despite multiple unabashed “100%” positive statements about testifying before Special Prosecutor Mueller, the President’s most recent position has devolved into a “not so much”, “not likely”, “no collusion – no conversation”. While there may be multiple legitimate legal and/or political ramifications to explain the switch from “100% yes” to “0% likely”, the change hardly serves Trump’s fearless condemnations very well.
Much of the consternation surrounding Trump’s complaints is the pragmatic simplicity with which such paralyzing problems can be dispatched. In a Wall St Journal editorial:
“Florida Rep. Ron DeSantis has called on House Speaker Paul Ryan to declassify all the documents, and Congress could do so. The better precedent would be for the executive branch to retain the declassification power, and for the White House to step in and order an immediate process for public transparency. President Trump has declassification authority and can deputize a national security professional to work with Congress to protect sources, methods and current investigations.”
So why doesn’t he? Rather than perpetual kvetching about the Special Prosecutor’s “Russia Russia Russia Collusion Investigation” being a “witch hunt”, “fraud”, “Democratic excuse for their loss” or “embarrassment to America”, why not make the call and place the order? Only so many bad calls, missed opportunities and outright screw-ups can be properly blamed – and even forgiven – for the typical rookie mistakes of a new administration, especially one as inexperienced in Swamp Matters as Trump’s. Eventually, the “base” will be throwing their BS Flags if Trump’s Credibility and Confidence continue to evaporate. Americans of all social, financial, religious and political status maintain uniquely sensitive olfactory lobes – especially concerning any noxious aroma wafting out of Washington, DC, the city that started as a swamp and became a sewer.
