The suspension of Jimmy Kimmel after the action taken against Mr. Colbert raises significant 1st Amendment issues, as well as issues related when coupled with the threats from AG Bondi to prosecute people who make, in effect, “unfavorable comments or pose difficult questions” to the President. It gives a picture of an administration that is moving in a very dangerous direction. One of the cornerstones of democracy is the ability to descent, and historically descent has been voiced both intellectually and through sarcasm and comedy. What Mr. Trump and his friends don’t understand and is that they are creating precedents which at some point would be against them, and I suspect the howling will be deafening.
The economy was front and center last week as the Fed was meeting with a new Fed Governor and with an old Fed Governor in place. The result was a quarter point reduction in the interest rates. It looks like they surrendered to Mr. Trump, although it is largely a toss up in terms of what the economic data indicates.
In other economic news the shoe industry is reporting that prices will go up due to tariffs in the very near term; the Labor Department data issue has been somewhat resolved by the identification of the culprit, which is an uncooperative citizenry, in other words, they are not providing the data necessary for the Department of Labor. So, it wasn’t the Director who was at fault, but rather us.
President Trump proposes to have companies only report two times a year as opposed to four times, which interestingly enough, is what many European countries do. My initial reaction was that he was doing it to delay negative reporting. Of course, the flip side of that is that he was also delaying positive reporting. Who knows where his ideas come from.
In a recent admission, Mr. Trump said that smart people don’t like him. Should we draw from that that his supporters are dumb? Seems like a reasonable conclusion to draw about at least, what he thinks of his supporters.
As Mr. Trump attacks Democrats along with Mr. Miller and other Republicans, including Ms. Stefanik, they fail to take into account the fact that two Democrats and their spouses were murdered in Minnesota by a right-wing individual.The Governor of Pennsylvania’s House was bombed by a right-wing individual, the attack on Paul Pelosi was by a right-wing individual, and now years ago, the attack on Gabby Giffords was by a right-wing individual. This does not even take into account the hate speech that Mr. Trump puts forward every time he talks about Democrats which is mirrored by people like Ms. Stefanik, and he wonders what the source of the violence is. He said in various social media postings, one of which I read about a week ago claiming that Hillary Clinton had stolen several billion dollars from USAID. Unfortunately, the last time she was in office was in 2014, which was 11 years ago. Thus, this doesn’t make any sense because the statute of limitations has long run. The ability to limit one’s thoughts to only the ideas that you like is an indication of a very limited intellect. You may note above that Mr. Trump supports that when he says that his supporters are not very bright.
China’s economy is weakening and certainly its trade with the US has dropped drastically, however, they are making up for it in other parts of the world who are willing to make deals with the Chinese to keep their economies going. Mr. Trump really has no idea how to work either the Chinese or the Russians.
Mr. Trump announced another attack on a Venezuelan drug boat, and a third also occurred, but offered no proof in any of the cases as to what they were carrying. More importantly, countries around the world will not forget these kinds of activities, and when the power shifts, which it eventually will, then we will see an increase of actions like those of the Hootie’s against Americans, and then Americans will wonder why.
Ms. Stefanik lashes out at teachers and others who said inappropriate things relative to Mr. Kirk’s death. Obviously, these were inappropriate remarks. She did not castigate people on the right who said similar things about the Democrats in Minnesota, Paul Pelosi, etc., as I mentioned previously. She only attacks, she does not offer solutions. This may be part of the reason why she is polling so badly. She does not offer solutions.
The Kirk Memorial drew large crowds and emphasized Christianity, not freedom of religion. It also missed the boat on free speech, quoting from Mr. Kirk, “there is no such thing as ugly speech or hate speech that violates the First Amendment. All of that speech, no matter how vile, is entitled to First Amendment protections.” Mr. Trump and his administration continue to attempt to utilize the government, particularly the FCC, and other powers that it has to threaten and cajole, to take away not even hate speech but rather critical speech. This is not a good sign and certainly not honoring Mr. Kirk.
The Trump Administration will continue to fund geriatric research. Boy, was I relieved.
Mr. Trump demands AG Bondi pursue his opponents because they say mean things. He also fired a US attorney and long-time supporter who said there was not enough evidence to indite Ms. James, the NYS AG. Constitutional perversion, at its best.
$100,000 for a H1B Visa. It looks like a fundraiser held by Silicone Valley folks. I’m very curious to see how this plays out.
The Senate failed to pass legislation to keep the government open, and the D’s demanded negotiations to save healthcare. That seems reasonable to me.
Bill Owens is a former member of Congress representing the New York 21st, a partner in Stafford, Owens, Piller, Murnane, Kelleher and Trombley in Plattsburgh, NY and a Strategic Advisor at Dentons to Washington, DC.
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.
