Cassandra Voices

Author: Bull Moose

  • Bull Moose – A Monthly Column from Across the Pond

    Temperature Rising

    ‘Give them enough rope and they’ll hang themselves.’ That’s what a wise ex-colleague of mine used to say whenever someone made a boneheaded move out of extreme self-interest.

    Democrats would do well to heed that lesson.  In the first edition of this newsletter we argued that they should move on from the Mueller investigation and focus on the issues affecting electors. Have they? Hardly. The House is in full swing to subpoena Trump for everything he has ever said or done prior to taking office.

    Despite Nancy Pelosi’s repeated promises not to go down the route of impeachment, the question keeps coming up, as the news media tries its darnedest hardest to feed the frenzy. Meanwhile, the White House has vowed to ‘boycott’ any and all subpoenas from Congress. An escalated public battle, and playing the victim, suits Trump just fine.

    The real question is, what are the Democrats trying to prove? That the President lies? That his campaign had multiple contacts with the Russians? That the President is a narcissist who brands all real news he doesn’t like as ‘fake news’? That he rarely paid taxes and isn’t half as rich as he claims to be?

    Americans know all this, and, mostly, don’t care. At least those that voted for him. They look at the economy and see it chugging along; Wall Street is not far off an all-time high and pension funds are doing just fine.

    The Mueller report, when it was finally was released, included nearly one thousand redactions.[i] But there was still plenty of incriminating evidence, perhaps none more so than the President’s own words: ‘Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I’m fucked.’ Hardly the words of a man who knew he would be ‘totally vindicated and exonerated.’

    Those that like Trump, or voted for him, have bought into the notion that the media is out to get him. They get their daily fix of consternation and reality bending news from Fox, talk show radio and Facebook/Twitter. It’s no better on the left, where MSNBC and the NY Times are crying foul, and have become so accustomed to doing so, that they are increasingly at risk of sounding like whiners.

    At the end, you can blame the Russians all you want, but Americans do a pretty good job of creating division themselves when it’s in their interest to do so.

    So Democrats, don’t spend the next year and half going down a rabbit hole trying to impeach him. As the Trump anointed ‘Crazy Bernie’ rightfully pointed out, this will merely play into his hands.

    Start, instead, by giving him a nickname that sticks – like the ‘The Mafia Don’ or simply ‘The Don.’

    (BTW, ‘Sleepy Joe Biden’ just entered the race. If elected he’ll be the oldest president ever at 76, and he’s got more than a few skeletons in his closet. For now, he’s polling first ahead of the twenty other candidates in the race. It should make for an interesting Democratic primary. More on this in due course)

    For now, the Democrats need to hammer aggressively on the issues and differentiate themselves from ‘The Don,’ by being more principled and solution-oriented.

    He’s banking on being able to play the victim – please don’t fall for that trick again.

    [i] Luke Harding, ‘What’s missing? The clues to Barr’s 1,000 Mueller report redactions’, 20th of April, 2019, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/19/mueller-report-redactions-whats-missing-clues, accessed 26/4/19.

  • Bull Moose – A New Monthly Column from Across the Pond.

    Bull Moose is a monthly bulletin discussing the politics and society of the United States.

    A Gift to Dems – should they take it…

    The news that Donald Trump had not been adjudged to have colluded with the Russians prior to the 2016 election was greeted with elation on the Right and disappointment and annoyance on the Left. Emboldened, the White House renewed calls to investigate the investigators. Little was said about how Attorney General Barr did exactly as promised when he wrote a memo in 2018, stating that the President should not be indicted for collusion, and that, frankly, he should be considered above the law in certain respects.[i] The 4-page memo of the 300-page Mueller report that Barr sent to Congress merely followed up on this promise to protect the President.

    The Democrats, for their part, reacted with a mixture of incredulity, anger and promises to continue the investigations. Clearly, they are within their rights – there is plenty of smoke, and where there is smoke there should be some fire at least. But they are missing an opportunity by not refocusing attention on issues that matter to Americans

    Realistically this shouldn’t be a win from Trump – he is not celebrating innocence, only the inability of prosecutors to pin conclusively any charges on him, even as some of his closest allies fester in jail. Trump’s strategy is clear and simple: aggressively go after anyone who questions him and say, repeatedly, ‘we want the full report released,’ without having any intention of ever doing so. Does ‘I will disclose my tax returns’, ring any bells?

    Most Americans have more progressive views than the Republican party. On issues like the environment, immigration, health care, and yes, even freedom and civil liberties, the public should naturally side with Democrats. Even on core issues like balanced budgets, debt and higher rates of marginal taxation, Republicans are vulnerable.

    Yet, the next election will be won by whoever controls the dialogue in the media. Trump won last time out, and will likely win again, because of his ability and desire to maintain a firm grip on the narrative.  Not for nothing, in order to get an idea to stick in a listener’s head he will mention a soundbite three times in a row – it’s a simple trick that is wildly effective.

    For him any day that he is not in the headlines is a bad one. Under this principle – bad publicity is better than none. At least he is still at the center of the conversation. Few Democrats seem to realize this. Yet, in order to win back the White House, they will need to learn from Trump, rather than simply demonize him.

    Control the narrative, control the outcome…

    Not Rich Enough

    News that some celebrities had paid bribes for their children to gain entry into the most prestigious universities in America received widespread attention in March. Some had paid around a million dollars to coaches and middle men, who helped game the system in their favor. About fifty people were accused and some will, no doubt, spend time in jail.

    The best take on this whole ‘scandal’ emerged organically, via social media. Dr Dre posted a picture of his daughter’s acceptance letter from USC, proudly boasting how she had ‘earned’ her entry. Shortly afterwards, one commenter reminded him of his $70 million gift to USC, whereupon he quickly deleted the post.

    The lesson? Don’t try to bribe your way into college unless you can pay for an entire building.

    The most interesting insight into the American mindset came from the comments section – the most liked ones were those adopting this line of thinking: if he donates that much money, he should be allowed to send his daughter there because he is providing opportunities for those less fortunate on scholarships.

    Twisted thinking to be sure, but clearly, if you are rich enough you can act like a socialist to rig the capitalist system in your favor.

    [i] Jonathan Hafetz and Brett Max Kaufmann, ‘William Barr’s Unsolicited Memo to Trump About Obstruction of Justice’, February 14th, 2019, ACLU, https://www.aclu.org/blog/executive-branch/william-barrs-unsolicited-memo-trump-about-obstruction-justice, accessed 30/3/19.