At least that was my thought, until I saw evening news shows, which report that Bannon is returning to Breitbart News to a position of power; and he has told outside sources that he's "going to war for Trump." Repeat: for Trump. Apparently, his view is that the Trump presidency has been taken over by the generals, bankers, and New York liberals in the White House. And they are the once he's going to war with -- with all the media tools he knows how to use.
2. In addition to the resignations earlier in the week of large numbers of CEO's who were members of Trump's corporate advisers, it was announced yesterday that all the remaining members of the president's Council on the Arts and Humanities have resigned.
These arts and humanities advisers were holdovers from the Obama administration who had agreed to remain until replacements were named -- replacements that had yet to be chosen. Their letter to the president was tough and candid, including these words:
"The false equivalencies you push cannot stand. . . . We cannot sit idly by, the way your West Wing advisors have, without speaking out against your words and actions. . . . Your values are not American values. . . . If this is not clear to you, then we call on you to resign your office too."The CEO resignations is a different matter. Trumps thinks of himself as being of their same world; these are appointments that he made himself. But they turned against him for similar moral reasons, in addition to seeing that a failed presidency would also lead to severe economic consequences. Top financier Carl Ichan, someone that Trump had greatly admired and sought advice from, also announced late yesterday, that he is withdrawing from an informal advisory role.,
3. At least eight big charity groups have cancelled plans to hold their fund-raising events at Mar-a-Lago because of the Charlottesville fallout. These include the Cleveland Clinic, the American Cancer Society. the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and the Susan G. Comen Foundation. Each event cancelled represents a loss in revenue to Mar-a-Lago of between $175,000 and $250,000.
4. Although none of them has resigned, the top five military chiefs -- the Chiefs of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marines, and the Coast Guard -- each has released a statement condemning racism, white supremacy, and the neo-Nazi movements, in obvious contradiction to what Trump said. None of them named Trump in their statements, but the significant thing is how unusual it is for active duty military leaders to ever make any statement that could be misconstrued as taking a political position. They obviously felt that their speaking out on this subject was worth taking that risk.
5. Numerous Republicans in Congress have made statements in direct contradiction to the position taken by President Trump. The two former Presidents Bush issued a joint statement. Former Vice President Al Gore, when asked what Trump should do at this point, had a simple, one-word answer: Resign.
It is quite apparent that the president is becoming increasingly isolated. Losing his chief strategist; losing his advisory boards; losing support of the military chiefs, as well as Republicans in Congress -- this is a major defeat, clearly of his own making and against the advice of those close to him -- except perhaps Bannon. Which makes it all the more confounding that some of his staff have told reporters that Trump says he feels free and energized after having spoken his mind.
Or dare we hope that his "free and energized" means he's already anticipating how he will feel . . . after he does resign?
Ralph
No comments:
Post a Comment