After getting Donald Trump’s odds of being elected president so wrong, is there any chance the mainstream press might finally be getting a clue? The answer, in my view, is a resounding – NO!
A few examples. The press has been running wild with the “news” that Donald Trump is supposedly backing away from his commitment to overturn Obamacare. What they’re talking about is that president-elect Trump has been indicating his willingness to keep in place several of the more popular features of Obamacare, while repealing the rest of it. Those popular features include allowing children up to 26 years of age to remain on their parents’ health insurance plans, and not allowing pre-existing health conditions to stop people from getting healthcare. The reality is, Republicans, including myself, have been saying we favored keeping these things for years now. It should be no surprise to anyone that the president-elect and Republicans in Congress are on the same page on this. No one is “backing down” on anything.
Many in the mainstream press are also pedaling the story that Trump has allegedly “backed off” from securing our border with Mexico. Reuters claims that Trump has “softened his promise of a border wall.” The Associated Press declares that Trump’s campaign promise to build a wall “shows signs of cracking.” Here’s the truth. The border between the U.S. and Mexico is nearly 2,000 miles long. About 580 miles of the border already has a wall or fencing in place. So about 1,400 miles of the border is open. It’s perfectly logical that some of the barrier will be literally a wall (a tall one, a wonderful one, a beautiful one), and some of it will be fencing. In my view, this should in no way be considered “backing away from an important Trump campaign promise.”
And on the transition front (from an Obama Administration to a Trump Administration), reasonably good progress seems to be being made, even though the terms “turmoil” and “chaos” keep showing up in press coverage. Trump’s handling of the meeting with President Obama in the White House after the election was by all measures a success. Naming his Vice-Presidential running mate, Mike Pence, to head up his transition team was a smart move. Having served in Congress for a dozen years, Governor Pence knows how things work and who the players are. I’m especially happy that Cincinnati’s own Ken Blackwell was chosen to head up the domestic transition team. I served with Ken for 5 years on Cincinnati City Council – he’s a solid conservative, and I know he’ll do a superb job in this position.
Reince Priebus did a masterful job keeping a very divided Republican party more or less together this year, and was successful in winning the presidency and holding both houses of Congress. Trump rewarded this success with the offer to be White House Chief of Staff – Reince said yes.
Trump also appointed one of his top campaign advisors, Steve Bannon, as his chief strategist in the White House. Trump’s catching some flak for this appointment, as Bannon, formerly at Breitbart News, allegedly has connections with white supremacist groups.
And finally, Congress is back in town meeting in a “lame duck” session. Yesterday Republicans by acclamation picked Paul Ryan to be Speaker again. He of course has to win the support of a majority of the whole House in January when the new Congress is sworn in. I expect he’ll receive that support, although there will be at least a few Republican dissenters.
Interestingly, the Democrats decided to put off their vote for leadership positions. Nancy Pelosi may have a rebellion brewing in her ranks, as they’ve done so poorly since Obama’s first term, when Democrats controlled everything, and rammed through Obamacare, a bloated stimulus package, Dodd-Frank, and similar horrors. Where they end up remains to be seen, but I wouldn’t count Nancy Pelosi out, because I hear she’s pretty good in a knife fight.
By the way, after Congress wraps up for the week, I’m heading down to my alma mater, the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, to speak to the students there. You might have seen or heard in the news that the President of another Virginia college, the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, is getting flak from some students and professors for quoting Thomas Jefferson, who founded the University of Virginia. Why? Well, Jefferson was a slaveowner, and therefore anything he ever said or did (like write the Declaration of Independence, or successfully negotiate the Louisiana Purchase, or be this nation’s third president for example) is now suspect.
Why do I bring this up? Well, before Jefferson went on to found the University of Virginia, he was a student at William and Mary (as were Presidents George Washington, James Monroe, and John Tyler.) Anyway, I’m not sure if the students at William and Mary will bring up Thomas Jefferson’s shortcomings or not. But I guess I better be ready, just in case.
See you next week.
