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JANUARY 20,  2017

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:57 P.M. ET:

IT IS DONE – Donald Trump is now President Trump.  The day went remarkably well.  There were some demonstrations in Washington, but fewer than we'd feared.  The ceremony was smooth.  Nothing was disrupted, and the various speakers were appropriately forgettable.  Even the media, from the sampling I took, tried to be reasonably respectful.  That will change, but at least they controlled themselves for a day and night. 

The inaugural balls were done with taste and class, and the Trump family came through in style. 

As we noted earlier, the inaugural address was perhaps the only discordant note.  It was Trump being Trump, without apology, and was written more as a war chant against everything Trump wants to defeat rather than an inclusive, inspirational poem.  I would have preferred a bit more of the latter, and some needed reassurance to our allies, but the policies will be more important than the words. The media did not dwell on the address.  Trump's first State of the Union message will be more important.

WINNIE – FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER:   President Trump has returned a bust of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the Oval Office, which had been removed by his predecessor in 2009.  Reporters first noticed that the bust had been placed back in the room on Friday, just as Trump was signing a series of executive orders at the Resolute desk.  Obama had moved the bust to the White House residence during his first few days in office and later installed separate busts of Martin Luther King Jr. and President Lincoln in its place.  A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed last week that Trump had personally asked if England would loan the bust of Churchill to the U.S. once he took office.  Winston deserves his place in that office.  A very flawed man who was perfect at one critical moment.

FOX WAY UP – FROM THE HILL:   Fox News had a huge night on the eve of President Trump's inauguration, scoring its highest ratings since the night after the 2016 election.  On Thursday night, Fox delivered an average of 4.818 million viewers in primetime between 8:00 pm and 11:00 pm, easily beating second-place MSNBC (1.58 million) and third-place CNN (1.462 million).  Fox also bested its competition in the key 25-54 demographic that advertisers covet most. The 21st Century-owned channel averaged 1.079 million viewers compared to 486,000 for CNN and 310,000 for MSNBC.   Trump has been a ratings boon for all the cable news networks. In 2016, all three cable news networks enjoyed record ratings, with CNN having its best year since 1995 and MSNBC capturing its largest audience ever for the year.  Fox News finished 2016 as the most-watched basic cable network for the first time in its 20-year history, beating even non-cable stations like ESPN and TBS.  Like Trump, the founders of Fox News detected something in the American people and responded to it.  What they detected was a wish that news organizations would report the stories of their lives and values, not just the perceptions originating in Washington and New York. 

January 20, 2017       Permalink

12:21 P.M. ET:  We have just heard President Trump's inaugural address.  Well, okay.  It was Trump.  It had about it a somewhat belligerent quality, but Trump tried, as best he could, to uplift the spirits of a beleaguered nation.  The speech lacked the elegance of John F. Kennedy's inaugural, which was reportedly Trump's inspiration.  There were no memorable lines.  But the new president did lay out his goal of making America great again by pointing to job creation, infrastructure development and higher-quality education.  He used the term "America first," which is somewhat controversial because it was the slogan of isolationists before World War II. 

I can't say it was a great speech.  It wasn't.  It was a defiant speech.  Now comes the action, which is much more important.

12:02 P.M. ET:  It is President Trump now.  He took the oath flawlessly.

11:54 A.M. ET:  Vice President Pence has just been sworn in by Associate Justice Clarence Thomas of the United States Supreme Court.  It was the first time an African American has sworn in one of the nation's two top officials.  I'm glad to see Clarence Thomas get this moment.  Mike Pence, of course, was absolutely smooth.  Knowing Pence, and how capable he is, he probably studied every word of that oath.

11:35 A.M. ET:  The president-elect enters to applause, and is greeted warmly on the platform by political figures, past and present, Dem and GOP.  As it should be.  The boycotters look more and more ridiculous.

11:26 A.M. ET:  All the big shots have come in to the inaugural ceremony, except Donald Trump and Mike Pence.  I've been watching Ivanka Trump.  (Who isn't?)  Some are already muttering about her political future.  I'm one of them.  There's just something about her...

10:59 A.M. ET:  Hillary and Bill Clinton have just arrived at the inauguration, and have received, appropriately, a friendly and warm round of applause.  Contrast please with the reception given President George W. Bush at President Obama's inauguration in 2009.  Bush was booed relentlessly, perhaps signaling the tone of the modern Democratic Party.

10:55 A.M. ET:  President Obama and President-elect Trump have left the White House and are heading for Capitol Hill.

INAUGURATION – AT 10:18 A..M. ET:  It really is the only story today, unless something else intervenes.

I'm watching the same screens you are.   I have seen this ritual on television since the inauguration of Dwight D. Eisenhower on January 20, 1953.  I still recall watching on a 12-inch Dumont black-and-white television set.  Only two swearings-in since then have been abnormal – the oath-taking of Lyndon B. Johnson on Air Force One after the assassination of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963, and the swearing-in of Gerald Ford after the resignation of Richard M. Nixon in 1974. 

An inauguration is, despite the traditional rituals, a remarkable event.  It signifies the peaceful transfer of power in the most powerful nation on Earth.  More than 60 House Democrats have chosen not to attend this ceremony, in protest against Donald Trump.  Frankly, they look like fools.  They were sent to Washington to participate in government, not to avoid it.  But most come from safe districts, and have lifetime jobs, and thus have no political worries.  No member of the Senate is boycotting, reaffirming the Senate's traditional role as a deliberative body.   

JANUARY 19,  2017

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET:

A DIFFERENT POLL – FROM RASMUSSEN REPORTS:  Voter attitudes about President-elect Donald Trump have changed little since Thanksgiving, with just over half of voters continuing to give him favorable marks.  The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 52% of Likely U.S. Voters share a favorable opinion of Trump, with 30% who have a Very Favorable one. The president-elect is viewed unfavorably by 48%, including 37% with a Very Unfavorable view.  A far better view of the president-elect than reported by other polls earlier in the week, which oversampled Democrats.

A NORTH KOREAN SURPRISE? – FROM BRITAIN'S SUN:   North Korea is ‘readying two intercontinental ballistic missiles’ to ‘nuke’ Donald’s Trump inauguration, it’s been reported.  Military officials say the rogue state wants to send a “strategic message” to the incoming US President by timing launches to ruin his big day tomorrow.  In a statement, South Korea’s Joint Chief of Staff said the reports could not be confirmed but said the military was monitoring the situation closely.  However, according to news reports in South Korea two missiles have already been placed on mobile launchers.  This may be Trump's first crisis.  How he handles it will be examined with journalistic microscopes.  He must stand firmly with our South Korean ally, and show the toughness that Obama lacked.

REAL CLASS – FROM FOX:   WASHINGTON – Trump supporters arriving for the “Deploraball” inauguration celebration in Washington Thursday night were greeted by screaming profanities and threats as they entered the National Press Club Building.  Some of the hundreds of protesters sprayed Mace, while others were peaceful as law enforcement officers lined the streets to monitor the chaotic scene. At least one passer-by reported bottles were being thrown as he showed off a gash in his head.  The “Deploraball” was organized by a pro- Trump organization, MAGA3X, and invited over 1,000 guests to celebrate on the eve of the President-Elect’s swearing in.  Real style.  Anybody denouncing this kind of behavior?  Any Democrats?  I hear only silence.

January 19, 2017       Permalink

STEPPINGSTONE? – AT 9:16 A.M. ET:  Look, this is speculative, even silly, but it's so much fun.   Pressure is building on Hillary Clinton to run this year for mayor of New York City.  Would she?  Would she see it as a steppingstone back to another presidential run in 2020?  From the Daily Mail:

Hillary Clinton fans are urging her to make a political comeback after a poll showed how she would trounce Bill de Blasio in a hypothetical race for New York Mayor.

Clinton, who has given no indication she will run for office again, won 49 percent of the hypothetical vote over de Blasio's 29 in the survey.

The poll sparked calls among her fans to revive her political career. They started a 'Hillary for Mayor' hashtag on Twitter and told de Blasio to 'watch out'.

The poll, conducted by Quinnipiac University, asked: 'If the election for Mayor were being held today, and the candidates were Bill de Blasio the Democrat, and Hillary Clinton running as an independent candidate, for whom would you vote?'

Clinton won 49 percent of the hypothetical vote while de Blasio got just 29.

The next Mayoral election in New York will be held on November 7. De Blasio has already begun campaigning for reelection.

While Clinton's camp has not directly denied the possibility she may run for mayor, advisers say it is unlikely.

COMMENT:  Okay.  Well, Richard Nixon ran for governor of California after losing the presidential election of 1960...and lost again.  But he bounced back to win the presidency in 1968.

No former mayor of New York has become president.  The highest-ranking New York City official to make it to the White House was Theodore Roosevelt, who'd been police commissioner. 

As a job, mayor of New York is thankless.  Former mayors tend to disappear.  I once passed former Mayor Abe Beame on the street, and no one around me seemed to recognize him,.  Rudy Giuliani, a great mayor, tried to run for president and didn't come close to the GOP nomination. 

To run for mayor, Hillary would have to displace a Democratic incumbent, the above-mentioned Bill de Blasio.  He is an awful mayor, but a favorite of the Democratic Party's left-wing Zoloft-inducing fringe. 

Odds are, Hillary won't take the bait.  But you just never know.  Being mayor would keep her in the public eye, and the mayor of New York is the mayor of Trump Tower.  She could have all the elevators condemned.

January 19,  2017     Permalink

EVEN THE DEMS – AT 8:51 A.M. ET:  Outrage is growing in Washington over President Obama's commutation of the sentence of the treacherous Chelsea Manning.  Even Democrats, especially those from heartland states, are joining in the denunciations.  From The Hill: 

President Obama's 11th-hour decision to cut short former Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning's prison sentence is drawing backlash from a growing number of Senate Democrats.

The White House announced this week that the president had commuted the prison sentence. Manning, who was sentenced to 35 years in 2013 for leaking classified information about U.S. national security activities to WikiLeaks, will now be released in May.

A small, but growing, number of Senate Democrats are distancing themselves from the decision, which they warn could have negative consequences for national security.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said the decision sends the "wrong signal."

"[It's] something I wouldn't have done," he told Fox News.

Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) told The Hill that he was "disappointed" in the decision, while Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va) separately called the president's decision "dead wrong."

"I think he's dead wrong. Absolutely dead wrong," he told "Meet the Press Daily." "This is treason, espionage at the highest level."

COMMENT:  There are actually Democrats who don't represent New York or California.  They're running scared.  Their states deserted the Democratic Party, and their voters can sweep them out of office when they're up for re-election.  A number of Senate Democrats will be defending their seats in 2018.

January 19, 2017       Permalink

ONE MORE DAY – AT 8:40 A.M. ET:  In one day Barack Obama will leave the presidency.  We only wonder how much damage he can do in this day.  There are stories circulating, unconfirmed, that he will announce more pardons and commutations.  I suspect he'll do something to take the spotlight off Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, the Democrats are doing everything to ruin the opening days of the new administration.  From The Hill: 

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is warning that President-Elect Donald Trump could only get three nominees cleared through the Senate on Friday.

The Kentucky Republican blamed Democrats for the heated confirmation battles, after lawmakers spent the past two weeks grilling Trump's picks.

“It’s safe to say the Democrats are in a bad mood. You can see that in the way the confirmations process is going on in the Senate. We are getting off to kind of a rough start,” he told USA Today.

Unless Republicans are able to get a broader deal from Democrats, McConnell's prediction means Trump is on track to get fewer than half the number of nominees that President Obama got confirmed on the same day as his 2009 inauguration.

The Senate, then controlled by Democrats, cleared seven Obama nominees on the first day of his administration.

McConnell and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) are currently locked in negotiations over which nominees will be get a vote on Friday. Thirteen of Trump's nominees have faced Senate panels so far, with two more confirmation hearings slated for Thursday.

COMMENT:  The Democrats cannot accept that they lost the election.  They not only lost the presidency, they lost at every level.  They are in the wilderness.  But watch some of their "spokespeople" on television.  So condescending.  So superior.  Why, they might be willing to work with President Trump, but they'd have to feel comfy cozy about it.  They don't talk much about constituents.  Those deplorables, you know.  Only good for votes on election day.

January 19,  2017     Permalink