Stormy Weather in Trumpland

President Donald Trump might not believe in climate change, but there are several weather-related advisories that could affect the fates of not just his administration, but the country and the world as a whole.  These advisories may not be as accurate as your local TV weather Storm Track Doppler team.  But, as Bob Dylan might have put it, you don't need them to tell you which way the wind's blowing.

Nuclear Fallout Watch  Though this watch might have lessened in intensity with the possibility of an agreement with North Korea, it remains in effect now that Trump has decided to take the U.S. out of an international agreement with Iran to limit its nuclear program and reinstitute economic sanctions, citing alleged violations and a desire to renegotiate.  Which means Iran can resume its nuclear program any time it wants, and countries still honoring the agreement can do little to stop them as long as the current government is in charge.  This could turn into a warning should war start.

President Deal Breaker, in his pursuit of better treaties and economic agreements favorable to the United States, has in the process trashed perfectly good ones (See:  Paris climate accords, the Trans Pacific Partnership, NAFTA, etc.) just to satisfy his campaign promises while sticking it to his predecessor Barack Obama and leaving the rest of the world holding the bag.  The Iran nuclear accords weren't perfect, but it was better than nothing.  And nothing is what we're getting.

Tropical Storm Rudy  Once known as America's Mayor following the 9/11/01 attacks, former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani is now Trump's Mouthpiece.  He assumed the role of the President's lead attorney following the departure of Michael Cohen.

You couldn't miss seeing Giuliani on TV last week (even if you tried), talking out of school about Cohen's allegedly getting a six-figure reimbursement from Trump for buying adult film actress Stormy Daniels' silence about their alleged affair during the 2016 campaign, or for suggesting that the President might invoke the Fifth Amendment if he is ever interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller about his role in the Russian election investigation. 

Trump has assured us that Giuliani will "get his facts straight" once he settles into his new job.  The Facts, that is, as Trump knows them.  It might also be a good idea to keep Giuliani off TV for awhile, because who knows what he might say next?  Otherwise, this tropical storm is in effect for as long as Giuliani remains employed by the White House.

Severe Stormy Warning  As long as Stormy Daniels (aka Stephanie Clifford) remains in the news, this warning will continue in effect.  Besides the alleged hush money payment, Daniels is currently suing the President for defamation, and is still looking for the guy she says threatened her and her child.

Daniels also turned up on "Saturday Night Live", playing herself talking on the phone to Alec Baldwin as Trump in the opening skit.  It's the first time most of us have seen her act with her clothes on.  Or seen her act, period.

Blue Tsunami Watch  Also known as Red Tsunami Watch, the prime season is usually in October  and November of election years.  Republicans in Congress, due to their inability to pass major legislation and in handling an unpredictable President, have been heading to the exits in droves.  This leaves Democrats with a good chance of reclaiming the House and Senate this fall.  Even Trump has said that if the GOP loses, he could very well be impeached.

But there's always the possibility that the Democrats could somehow screw this up:  Weak candidates, political gerrymandering, Russian meddling and the "October Surprise" could contribute to the GOP being back on top.  If the pundits are correct, though, this watch could be upgraded to a warning.

No one knows what will happen when the storms hit, or if Trump's presidency will survive any of this.  So batten down the hatches and seek shelter because, as Ms. Daniels has so eloquently put it on SNL:  "Storm's a-coming, baby".

The Wolves at Trump's Door

Before we begin, here are a list of things we should be more concerned about right now.

• North and South Korea have agreed to end their state of war for the first time since fighting ceased in 1953.  Not much is known of the agreement, but it appears the validity of it has a lot to do with the proposed summit between President Donald Trump (who of course is claiming the credit for this) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, which is scheduled for about a month from now.
• Trump might scuttle the nuclear treaty with Iran because he claims the mullahs aren't holding their end of the bargain.  Israel is saying the same thing, and they might go to war against Iran.  No matter what happens in the Middle East, it all comes back to defending Israel, doesn't it?
• According to the New York Times, special counsel Robert Mueller has a few questions he'd like to ask Trump about alleged collusion with the Russians in the 2016 election scandal.  If reports are accurate, the President might respond by pleading the Fifth (if he's smart), just like Michael Cohen is planning on doing in the Stormy Daniels matter.
• Another in the long line of incompetent boobs in the Trump administration is Scott Pruitt, who's supposed to be running the Environmental Protection Agency.  Instead, he's apparently more interested in improving his environment than ours.
• Bill Cosby has been convicted in a Pennsylvania court of sexually assaulting a woman, in ways familiar to too many other women who have crossed his path.  Now Tom Brokaw and R. Kelly are in MeToo's crosshairs, and their reputations are going to take a big hit regardless of what happens.
• Nine journalists were killed in suicide attacks in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Instead, we're talking about a comedian named Michelle Wolf, who could pass for a younger version of Democratic congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz .  Wolf delivered an HBO-worthy monologue at the annual White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington.  It was political commentary disguised as comedy, with Wolf aiming her sharp tongue at the Trump administration and the media, among other targets.

Wolf got mixed reviews on her speech depending on which party you follow, with folks wondering why the WHCD would hire such a woman for an event like this.    She skewered press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in ways that made her look on TV as if she's squirming in her seat, which some Sanders defenders weren't too happy with.  Neither were members of the media, most of whom were dressed to the nines as if this were Oscar night, too impressed with what Wolf had to say about them.  Uh, make that the Golden Globes when Ricky Gervais was hosting.

Trump didn't show up for the dinner for the second consecutive year, opting instead to rant and rave at one of his "campaign" rallies in Michigan.  Given his relations with the media that isn't Fox News that he calls "fake news" and the way he treats them, Trump wouldn't have been welcome anyway.

Yes, there are plenty of things to worry about in this world.  Whether it's the law breathing down his neck, war on the horizon or a woman named Michelle cracking jokes at his expense, President Trump has wolves at the door waiting to tear him to shreds.  One wonders how he's going to come out of all that.

And Flint, Michigan still doesn't have clean water.

Operation: Distraction

For the second time in his presidency, Donald Trump ordered airstrikes on Syria's chemical weapons program.  The quick hits allowed the Pentagon to claim that these bombs have just set back the country's program by a few years, Russia, China and Congress be damned, with France and Great Britain helping out.

Not that anybody's fooled.  The President needed a distraction from the various legal and political messes he's in, and Syria just gave him one with the world watching videos of people choking to death from the fumes of another chemical attack.  It's all part of Syria's ongoing civil war, with President Bashar Assad destroying his own people to save his country while Russia helps him beat back the Islamic State.

Meanwhile, back in the States . . .

• The FBI raided the offices of Trump's attorney Michael Cohen, in hopes of getting the goods on any evidence of the President's alleged affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels.  So far, the biggest revelation from all this is that Fox News host Sean Hannity has been outed as one of Cohen's clients.  And that Daniels' attorney is trying to make a name for himself.
• Former FBI director James Comey is currently making the media rounds in support of the book he wrote.  His message to anyone who'll listen is that Trump's "morally unfit" for office, but shouldn't be impeached because he thinks only the American people should be able to vote him out.  Well, the American people did reject Trump in the 2016 popular vote, but he gamed the Electoral College tallies in all the right places to win.  And wasn't it Comey who was partly responsible for Hillary Clinton's defeat with his last-minute investigation of her e-mails, only to find nothing incriminating?
• Robert Mueller's job as special counsel in the Russian election interference matter is getting shakier as he finds more evidence of wrongdoing.  As Trump keeps making noises about wanting to indirectly fire Mueller, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he's not bringing a bill to the floor that would protect his job.  Is this another indication of how Republicans would rather lick the President's boots (or some other part of his anatomy) than serve the country?
• Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has decided he's had enough of Washington, so he's not running for re-election.  He's the latest--and most prominent--Republican who's figured out that they should get out of town ahead of a supposed Democratic blue wave in November.  Ryan did his best to deal with Trump, and ultimately suffered the fate of others in the GOP who crossed him.

President Trump has declared "mission accomplished" on his bombing run, even though Assad is still in power and probably has a secret stash of chemical weapons somewhere to commit more crimes on humanity.  But his mission to make people forget his problems at home is still failing, just like the last president to utter that line tried to convince the country that things are under control.

Sinclair Broadcasting: The Dinosaur in the Room

The Sinclair Broadcast Group currently owns or controls 193 TV stations, the largest of any such company in the United States.  From Baltimore (its home base) to Seattle, it has spread its footprint from coast to coast.

Sinclair stands accused of using its conservative political agenda to shape news coverage at its local stations, airing "must-run" features such as commentaries and updates about terrorism.  Recently, they were criticized for forcing its news anchors to read a standardized statement about "journalistic responsibility", accusing the mainstream media of bias.

Now Sinclair wants to raise its profile even more, with its proposed purchase of Tribune Media awaiting approval by the Federal Communications Commission.  This would bring into the fold iconic Tribune-owned stations like WGN in Chicago, WPIX in New York and KTLA in Los Angeles--all of whose reputations for news coverage would take major hits if the sale went through.  Sinclair has already made some changes to make the sale more palatable to the FCC by offering to divest some stations, but would keep control of them through such tactics as local marketing agreements and shell companies.

(SBG also owns WUCW in Minneapolis-St. Paul.  Because it is a CW network affiliate that does not carry local news, the controversy has yet to resonate in Minnesota.  That could change if the company either puts out its own newscast, or if they made a deal to purchase one of the other network stations in town.)

Local news, no matter who the parent company is, has become less a source of information nowadays.  Its coverage of murders stoke fear of crime in the big city.  They exploit people with special needs.  So-called "feel-good" stories are really infomercials promoting local charities.  Alerting viewers to bad weather that's nowhere near where they are.  Stroking the ego of the President of the United States?  That's Fox News' job, not your local newscast.

Remember all those Sinclair gasoline stations that used to dot the highways and byways of America?  Their mascot (and corporate logo) was a big green dinosaur.  Sinclair Broadcasting doesn't have a mascot that we know of.  But if they did, they'd represent a similar prehistoric creature that flexes its muscles in the dying world of broadcast television, pushing a political agenda on the verge of going extinct.

UPDATE (12/28/19):  The Sinclair-Tribune merger fell through, and once it did, Nexstar Media Group swept in and took over Tribune.  Oh, they had to sell a few stations such as WPIX (to Scripps), but it was relatively smooth sailing on its way to government approval.

Sinclair has also announced that they would no longer air "must-run" political commentaries on its stations, and will instead devote its energies to local investigative reporting.  We'll believe it when we see it.

The Art of "You're Fired", The Sequel

As a means to distract the American public from alleged extramarital affairs, high school students marching for the right to not get shot at and trade wars that might unnecessarily wreck the economy, President Donald Trump continues to make news by remaking the White House in his own image.  The latest:

• H.R. McMaster has been replaced as national security advisor by John Bolton, who used to be President George W. Bush's United Nations ambassador.  Bolton sounds like the kind of guy who'd rather pour gasoline on a fire during a world crisis instead of putting them out, if his past statements on Fox News and elsewhere are any indication.  Rip up the Iran nuclear deal?  Sure.  Bomb North Korea before they bomb America?  Why not?  By the way, what's Dick Cheney doing these days?
• Deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe was just two days away from retiring with a pension after 21 years on the job before Attorney General Jeff Sessions canned him.  McCabe's crime, apparently, was for not being honest about the last-minute investigation into Hillary Clinton's e-mails, which ended up costing her the presidential election.  The fallout from the firing resulted in McCabe's old boss, former FBI director James Comey, having his soon-to-be released book zoom up the charts.
• One of Trump's remaining attorneys, John Dowd, quit when he realized that he can't help the President if he doesn't want to listen to his advice.  The last straw, apparently, was when Trump reportedly was willing to be interviewed by special prosecutor Robert Mueller about his role in the alleged Russian hacking of the 2016 presidential election.  No self-respecting lawyer would let his client do something like that.  But then, no self-respecting lawyer would be working for Trunp right now.  Oh, isn't Dowd the one who called for the Mueller investigation to conclude?

The number of former Trump employees at the White House keeps growing.  One wonders how long this shakedown period will last--if it ever does.

The Art of "You're Fired".

President Donald Trump's philosophy is rather simple:  Get the best people you can, and make sure everyone's on the same page as you.  It might have worked for him when he was running his own company, but when it comes to running a country he's had mixed results.  When you have people working for you who don't necessarily agree with you, that's when you wonder why they were hired in the first place.

Maybe that's why the White House has been like a revolving door for employees and Cabinet members ever since Trump took office.  Either he didn't like the person he hired, or his staff felt like rats fleeing a sinking ship.  With the number of scandals plaguing this administration (Russia, Stormy Daniels, etc.), who could blame then for getting the heck out while they've still got careers?

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is the latest Trump figure to be shown the door.  A former oil company executive who used to run ExxonMobil, Tillerson wasn't anyone's first choice to head the State Department, much less having to be the one to explain to the rest of the world his boss' peculiar decision-making.

To say that Tillerson and Trump did not get along is an understatement.  They disagreed on such things as the Iran nuclear agreement, Trump's imposing tariffs on aluminum and steel, and on how to handle North Korea.  As a result, Tillerson was kept out of the loop by the President on important decisions.  Oh, and calling his boss a "moron" didn't help either.

Tillerson said his learned about his firing the same way everybody else did--through one of the President's many tweets.  His replacement, pending Senate approval, is Mike Pompeo.  He is currently CIA director, and is thought to have views that are more in line with Trump's than Tillerson's.  Gina Hempel would succeed Pompeo at CIA, once the Senate gets through questioning her about policies that allegedly endorse torture.

Diplomatically, this is an interesting time for Trump to change course.  The unexpected opportunity for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has left the United States woefully unprepared.  There is currently no ambassador to South Korea, and the chief envoy to Pyongyang has chosen to retire.  The President only gets his intelligence via word of mouth.  If he thinks he can strike a deal with Kim that won't end in disaster, let's just say we'll be very surprised.

Here's who else in recent weeks is no longer serving at the pleasure of the President:

• Chief economic adviser Gary Cohn, who quit after questioning the wisdom of Trump's tariffs.  He is being replaced by Larry Kudlow, a CNBC financial analyst who used to work for President Ronald Reagan.
• White House communications director Hope Hicks, and her deputy director Josh Raffel.

Jared Kushner is still around, even though he lost his security clearance.  So is his wife, Ivanka Trump.  HUD secretary Ben Carson canceled a $31,000 order for office furniture.  Education secretary Betsy DeVos gets vilified every time she opens her mouth. 

Confidence in this administration is at an all-time low, but that's the way it's been ever since Trump took office.  The only ones who still seem to believe in him are Republicans in Congress, and the cheering crowds at Trump's rallies embracing his 2020 re-election slogan of "Keeping America Great".

Meanwhile, those who continue to work for President Trump would be well advised to update their resumes.  They're going to need it.

The Shape of Oscar Night

The 90th Academy Awards on Sunday was, given everything that's happened to Hollywood and the rest of America over the past year, a do-over.  White males were reduced to spectators by women who spent parts of the evening echoing the sentiments of the MeToo and Time's Up campaigns against sexual harassment in the entertainment industry, and by African-Americans and LGTBQs for being mostly ignored on their own merits all these years.

To that end, we got to hear host Jimmy Kimmel tiptoe through a minefield of a monologue, Ryan Seacrest being routinely snubbed on the red carpet due to sexual harassment allegations, the first transgender awards presenter and Jordan Peele becoming the first African-American to win an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay ("Get Out").

On the other hand, the Academy chose to reward two men whose time should have been up, but the statute of limitations must have expired:  Kobe Bryant, who won Best Animated Short for "Dear Basketball", was accused of raping a woman back in 2004.  And Gary Oldman, whose impersonation of Winston Churchill in "Darkest Hour" won him a Best Actor nod, allegedly assaulted his wife in 2001.

Frances McDormand, whose role in "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" earned her her second Best Actress Oscar (the other was for "Fargo"), inadvertently revealed an inconvenient truth about this year's awards when she asked all the female winners in the audience (including Allison Janney, who won Best Supporting Actress for her role in "I, Tonya") to stand up during her acceptance speech.  In spite of all the love for director Greta Gerwig (whose "Lady Bird" garnered zero Oscars), and for Rachel Morrison as the first female to be nominated for cinematography, there were fewer women Oscar winners than in the previous six years.

McDormand also introduced a new phrase to the entertainment lexicon during her acceptance speech:  inclusive rider.  It's inserted into actors' contracts to promote gender and racial balance in hiring on movie sets.  It may not be as remembered as "plastics", but McDormand deserves credit for taking the time to read the fine print, which is what most actors usually leave to their agents or attorneys.

Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway got another chance to announce this year's Best Picture, which went to "The Shape of Water"--this time without a hitch.  As for the movie itself, its love story between a mute woman and a top-secret sea creature sounds kind of retro in a year of female empowerment, does it not?

The shape of the Oscar telecast was . . . flabby.  Despite a three-hour prime time window with an earlier starting time, and Kimmel's promise of a jet ski to the winner with the shortest acceptance speech, the show still managed to clock in at nearly four hours.   Around 26.5 million of you watched the proceedings live on ABC, which is 6.5 million less than last year's Gaffe Heard Round The World.

That's another challenge in the post-Harvey Weinstein world of the Academy Awards--or any other awards show, for that matter.  How do you change the world without viewers changing the channel?