Everything we wrote yesterday as soon as we saw the President’s tweet played out. He has taken the focus off the Democratic in-fight and united them along with the MSM against him. Just a bad move.
We condemn the tweet, words and can not support it.
Now, that said, it does not make “The Squad” right or their positions any more tangible.
If Nancy Pelosi wants a vote today to condemn the President, we should have a vote to condemn some of the things these four have said. There’s a reason they stand alone even in their own party.
What’s the best Republicans can hope for here? That somehow they get past this without having to speak publicly about it. If I were them, I would say “I don’t agree with the words and how they were presented, but I also condemn some of the statements each of the four made”. I would not defend the President nor let the four off the hook.
They should hope time passes and the dust settles with Democrats defending the four so my side could tie the four of them to the party as a whole. The Democrats do not want to be married to the four, and the danger they run here is they end up doing that.
This will blow over but you can count on the President and the four saying, tweeting and doing so many more things between now and the November 2020 election. The President will do it out of ego and the four out of belief.
One final thought on this. The MSM joined today by George Conway (KellyAnne’s husband) have called the President a racist for his comments. Let me ask you a question. If this were four left leaning socialist males don’t you think he would done the same thing? I do. This is a lot of things but racist I don’t think it was.
iran:
This was interesting yesterday as the Iranian situation remains tense. First this interview on NBC with Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister.
He suggested for the first time that the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile program could be up for negotiations with the U.S., a possible opening for talks as tensions remain high between Tehran and Washington over the collapsing nuclear deal.
“In an interview with NBC Nightly News, Zarif said the door is ‘wide open’ to diplomacy if Trump removes the array of sanctions he has imposed since 2017 that have slashed the country’s oil exports and damaged its economy. Once those sanctions are lifted, then … the room for negotiation is wide open”.
A little opening by Iran that shows the impact of the sanctions.
Now, we have said constantly that the European Union lacks the inner fortitude to stand up to Iran. Yesterday we got this from them in a NYT story:
“E.U. Ministers, Scrambling to Save Iran Nuclear Deal, Play Down Breaches”.
Scrambling to save the nuclear agreement with Iran, European foreign ministers declared Monday that Iranian breaches so far were not serious enough to take steps that could lead to reimposed international sanctions and a collapse of the accord.
“That conclusion, reached at a meeting in Brussels, effectively extended a lifeline for the 2015 nuclear agreement in defiance of pressure by the Trump administration. The agreement has been increasingly imperiled since the United States abandoned the accord more than a year ago and renewed its own sanctions on Iran.”
So Europe says “yes” Iran has breached the agreement, “but not so badly” that we have to walk. In Trump’s world a breach is a breach. The difference between the countries and leaders.
The Border:
An interesting move is happening today. The President is tightening asylum rules at southern border. Since congress won’t act he is taking action, and the action could be a game changer.
The White House moved to limit Central American migrants’ ability to seek asylum at the U.S. border. People are being required to apply for asylum at the first country they cross. So, they will no longer be allowed to travel through two or three countries to get to our border. It says, if you truly need to seek asylum then do it across the first border you cross. Individuals will only be allowed to cross multiple borders if they denied asylum in the new countries too. In that case there may be a reason for the U.S. to do so too.
Add this to upgraded Mexican actions and we may see in the months ahead a difference.
Congress is angry about this and the ACLU is going to court to challenge the action. I am sure they will find a judge to agree and it may end up with John Roberts again.
Do you see an issue with this?
A Poll
The President’s daily numbers have shown a drop this week — surprise, surprise, surprise.
As for the Democratic candidates here’s the latest poll from New Hampshire:
Biden: 20.8%, Harris, 17.5, Warren: 16.7, Buttigieg: 11.5, Sanders: 9.9, Yang: 4.9, Klobuchar: 2.7, Williamson: 1.5, Booker: 1.2, Gabbard: 1.0, Everyone else: < 1
Looks like Bernie is fading and there are four top tier candidates. We are sticking with Harris as the eventual winner.