Tom Keane

The Week That Was: Trump's Worst Week Since Last Week, $758M Powerball Jackpot And More

It was Donald Trump’s worst week ever, except for all the others.

• Been there, done that. A series of disastrous statements and missteps cost the president support and drew scorn from both parties, leading to predictions of his imminent political demise. Oh, wait. That sentence could have been written last week. Or six months ago. Or dozens of times since. Yes, this week Senate leader Mitch McConnell reportedly is wondering whether Trump’s presidency might fail. The president is bickering with GOP leaders who should be his allies. And major policy initiatives appear to be going nowhere. But Trump’s approval ratings haven’t gotten worse post-Charlottesville and his base seems as thrilled with him as ever. Trump’s been written off many times before. There’s no reason to believe this time is any different.
• Fake Donald; genuine Donald. On Tuesday, Trump gave a solemn address urging Americans to “find the courage to heal our divisions within.” At a raucous event in Phoenix the next day, he exacerbated those divisions. The solemn language Tuesday was obviously scripted by staff, words put in the mouth of an unhappy puppet. Wednesday, on the other hand, was vintage Trump — playing to his base, attacking the media bogeyman, making up facts and uttering dire threats to enemies all around. Chief of staff John Kelly may be able to control his charge when he’s in the White House. But let him outside and the @realDonaldTrump emerges.
• Finding someone to pick on. The president appears to be making good on a tweeted promise to ban transgendered folks from the military, with the White House now preparing to issue rules blocking new transgendered recruits and kicking out those already serving. This has the feel of red meat thrown to a starving dog. Trump’s failed to achieve any of the big policy items he promised and — a la Afghanistan — has reversed himself on others. So, he must be wondering, what to do? I know! Let’s beat up on folks different from us!
• Proving their point. CNN’s Don Lemon’s reaction to Trump’s Phoenix diatribe was off the charts. Trump’s “unhinged,” Lemon said. “His speech was without thought …without reason… there was no sanity there.” This is journalism? Lemon’s supposed to be an anchor and a reporter, not a partisan. Now his credibility — at least in reporting on the president — seem shot. Worse, Lemon's performance has given Trump’s base plenty of grist for their case that the media is, in fact, completely biased against their guy.
• Tree falls in forest; no one around to listen. Over 40,000 Bostonians showed up at the Common on Saturday to protest a “free speech” rally in favor of … well, actually, no one knows. There were only a handful of folks at the rally, police kept media away from them and while we think they were in favor of bad stuff, they might just as well have been extolling the virtues of Tupperware.
• Staring at the sun. Americans on Monday forgot their troubles and took off work to see the once-in-a-lifetime experience of a total eclipse. But wait! It turns out that over the next 13 years the world will see eight more total eclipses as well as another 22 partial or annular eclipses. So once-in-a-lifetime means, I guess, if you have the lifespan of, say, a gerbil.
• Reefer regression. Surprise, surprise. Gov. Charlie Baker’s first appointment to the Cannabis Control Commission, the regulatory body that’s supposed to oversee the nascent pot industry, is — wait for it — an ardent opponent of pot. Look, we all know what’s going on here, right? Baker, along with almost every other elected politician, vociferously opposed the voter-approved legalization of the drug. Now that it’s happened, they’re still opposing it, just in other ways. Looking forward to the opening of your local weed store? Keep on looking.
• Hyannis hijinks. Max Kennedy and his daughter got arrested on Cape Cod for having a loud party, thereby proving that all Kennedys are entitled louses and creeps — oh, come on. With nine Kennedys in the original clan, sons and daughters and grandchildren and great grandchildren are adding up to a lot of folks. Most families (mine excepted, of course) have a few jerks that they’d rather not talk about. The problem for families of wealth and fame is that everyone knows who those few are.
• American dream. And finally, a Chicopee gas station sold one lucky lottery player the $758.7 million Powerball jackpot, hereby proving once again that if you go to school, sacrifice, work hard, and are on the right side of a 1-in-292 million chance, America really is the land of opportunity.

This column was first published by Cognoscenti on August 25, 2017.

The Week That Was: Fallout From Charlottesville, Boston Braces For Its Own 'Free Speech' Rally And More

It was the week when a protest in Charlottesville made us forget about North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

• Foot permanently in mouth. Has there ever been a politician more adept at stepping on his message than Donald Trump? During the campaign, he was deemed a media genius for his ability to draw attention to himself. Now in office, he still effectively draws attention to himself, but at the cost — as we saw this week — of undermining anything of substance he might have ever wanted to accomplish.
• An administration adrift. The president’s agenda — health care, tax reform and infrastructure — is going nowhere. Republicans across the board -- notably Marco Rubio, Mitt Romney and Lindsey Graham — are harshly denouncing his comments on Charlottesville. Trump’s relationship with the GOP members of Congress is clearly fraught. Even the business community is giving him the cold shoulder, with CEOs forcing the disbanding this week of two advisory groups. So where does that leave us? Nowhere. Impeachment still appears unlikely — none of the above amount to “high crimes and misdemeanors.” The man himself seems far too egotistical to resign. And chief of staff John Kelly, trying to wrangle a chaotic White House, can’t bring discipline to the one who’s most undisciplined: his boss.
• Something to talk about. Neo-Nazis, the KKK and white supremacy seem so far outside the mainstream experience that it’s easy to dismiss the Tiki-wielding marchers in Charlottesville as a fringe group of little consequence. Yet those groups find succor in a belief that America discriminates against white people — a grievance held by fully 30 percent, according to a March poll from the Public Religion Research Institute. That works out to about 97 million people, by the way. Some, deeming white nationalist thinking too toxic, would just as soon ban any speech about it. Others, such as the Antifa, would meet it with violence. Yet, trying to ban or shut down discussion of those grievances (even if imaginary) simply allows them to fester and grow. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis got it right: In the face of bad or evil speech, “the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence.”
• The infection spreads. Boston fears for its own Charlottesville moment this weekend, as the “Free Speech Coalition” plans to rally on Saturday. The coalition’s a misnomer; ACLU types are not behind the group. Rather, it appears to be a loose collection of the alt-right with a sprinkling of white supremacy. At first, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Gov. Charlie Baker gave off signals they’d try to stop the event. More constitutionally grounded heads prevailed, however, and the city issued a permit. It was the right decision. With the number limited to 100, bans on weapons or weapon-like items, and a heavy police presence, this event — unlike Charlottesville — will likely fizzle.
• One bad weekend. A moment of sympathy for beleaguered Charlottesville. I once went to school there: It’s a bucolic and artsy college town, home to Thomas Jefferson and lots of horse farms. But from now on — similar to names and places such as Watergate, Hiroshima, Selma and September 11 — it will be known to most by a single, awful event rather than a long and good history. Kind of like the last name “Trump.”
• Tall tales. In the aftermath of the attacks in Barcelona, Trump surprised everyone, tweeting out a sympathetic message of condemnation and support: “Be tough & strong, we love you!” A few minutes later, a follow-on tweet urged the Spanish essentially to murder Muslims: “Study what General Pershing…did to terrorists.” The Pershing incident – where he allegedly lined up suspects and shot them with bullets dipped in pig blood – has been thoroughly debunked. Ah, good. The president’s back to his old form.
• Take me out of the ballpark. In the wake of Charlottesville, Red Sox owner John Henry said he’s considering a name change for Yawkey Way. The reason: Tom Yawkey, the team’s long-time owner, was also an inveterate racist. But what would the new name be? Um, let’s see. John Henry Way?
• War games. North Korea appeared to stand down a bit this week, withdrawing (for the moment) its threat to nuke Guam. Does that mean that, crazy as it seemed, Trump’s aggressive saber rattling (“locked and loaded”) worked? I get the argument and have seen it in action: A business person adopts an extreme position, one that seems to fly in the face of rationality, in order to intimidate the other side and gain concessions. Of course, if a business deal falls apart, it’s just money lost. In matters of nuclear war, the risks are quite different.
• The heavy hand of the state. The taxi industry took another hit, with a reported 10 percent decline in rides from Logan Airport ever since Uber and Lyft were permitted in February to pick up passengers. But there is good news buried here: The total number of rides out of Logan increased by 26 percent over last year. Ride-hailing, it turns out, isn’t a zero-sum game; it appears to be encouraging more people than ever to let someone else drive them. Cabbies have one huge advantage over ride-hailing — they can be hailed — but are being killed by local requirements that mandate high prices and limit the number of medallions. Deregulation — not more regulation — is their potential salvation.
• Bad old days. And finally, four Teamsters were acquitted this week of extortion in the “Top Chef” trial. Folks such as the Boston mayor were quick to say that this wasn’t giving a green light to union harassment. Hogwash. The case failed because what the union members did really wasn’t illegal under federal law. But the feds got involved only because they knew local prosecutors wouldn’t. Why? Because the locals are beholden to union largesse for their campaigns. So yes, the light is green — or, perhaps, amber. And as for the Bay State’s once-booming television and film business? Hello, Atlanta!

This column was first published by Cognoscenti on August 18, 2017.

The Week That Was: Trump's Fiery Warning, Boorish Behavior, Climate Newspeak And More

It was the week when new Chief of Staff John Kelly brought discipline, order and calm to the White House ... that is, until the president offhandedly threatened to nuke North Korea.

• Closer to midnight. Strictly from a writer’s perspective, kudos to Donald Trump for his nicely alliterative "fire and fury” warning to North Korea, one that echoes folks like Harry Truman (“rain of ruin”), James Taylor (“fire and rain”) and Robert Frost ("Fire and Ice"). Trump's bellicose remarks were reportedly unscripted, giving heartburn to many experienced foreign policy hands. Still, Trump’s blunt language may finally get China to sit up and start paying attention to the mess in its own backyard.
• Civil war. Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had a public spat over Congress’ failure to get rid of Obamacare. McConnell said the president had “excessive expectations” over what Congress could accomplish. Trump shot back via Twitter, “After 7 years of hearing Repeal & Replace, why not done?” Trump’s making the same argument as Democrats: It’s easy to carp from the sidelines but it’s far harder to govern. Of course, it’s one thing for the opposition party to point this out. But for the titular head of the GOP to mock his own party’s competence? Some arguments are best held behind closed doors.
• Never-ending story. The FBI stepped up its probe of the administration’s Russia ties. We learned this week that agents in late July raided the home of Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort. Meanwhile, an increasing number of polls found not only that the president’s popularity was dropping, but that his so-called “base” — white people without a college education — was also growing disillusioned. What's a president to do? More than a few have seen crises abroad as a way to both distract from troubles at home and boost their popularity. North Korea may be just the latest example of “Wag the Dog.
• Like-mindedness. Google fired an employee who wrote an email that challenged company policies on diversity because Google encourages diversity as long as everyone uniformly agrees.
• Time wastin’. A new government report found that productivity growth continued to be slow — just 0.9 percent in the second quarter. Tepid growth has been the pattern for more than 10 years and it’s left economists puzzled. The rise of computers, automation and the Internet should, in theory, have caused productivity to surge. That certainly was true when, for example, word processors replaced typewriters in the '80s and '90s. But few of the technological wonders popularized over the last decade help us do our jobs better. Quite the opposite, in fact. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook — what would we be doing if we didn’t have these and more at our fingertips? Oh, yeah. Sitting at our desks actually doing our jobs.
• Get ready for the stampede. Massachusetts will soon have an open congressional seat; Rep. Niki Tsongas said this week that she doesn’t intend to run for re-election. Politicians consider a job in Congress the plummest of the plums — next step, president! — and the coming months will see a mad scramble of wannabes eyeing their opportunity to climb the ladder. Better still, you don’t even have to live in the district to run. It’ll be a statewide free-for-all.
• Land of the boors. The haven of harassment known as Fox News became embroiled in yet another sexual harassment scandal. This time, it was Eric Bolling, co-host of “Fox News Specialists,” who was suspended for sending to various women what his lawyer called “inappropriate communications” — which is to say (shades of Anthony Weiner), penis pix. Seriously, what gives at Fox? Bill O’Reilly, Roger Ailes, Bill Shine, Charles Payne. One is an exception. Two is a pattern. But five? Maybe it’s time to shut down the whole network and start all over again.
• Why you don’t know your neighbors. Cambridge passed an ordinance with modest restrictions on short-term rentals through Airbnb and similar websites. Hosts will have to live in (or close to) the buildings they are renting out. And they’ll need to get a license and get inspected every five years. You’d have thought the industry would be up in arms about this but — like Uber and Lyft when it came to ride-sharing — agreeing to a little bit of regulation is better than being subjected to a lot. And the regulations themselves become an implicit acknowledgment that short-term rentals are permissible. The sharing economy proceeds apace!
• Newspeak from the Thinkpol. And finally, the feds are mandating government employees use new language when it comes to describing environmental issues. “Climate change” is now to be “weather extremes.” Instead of “reduce greenhouse gases,” staff should say “build soil organic matter.” And “climate change adaption” has been banned in favor of “resilience to weather extremes.” The only thing George Orwell got wrong in “Nineteen Eighty-Four” was the year.

This column was first published by Cognoscenti on August 11, 2017.

 

The Week That Was: White House Reboot, Russia Sanctions, North Korean Missiles And More

It was the week when the White House rebooted. And then rebooted again.

• Mr. Fun versus Mr. No-Fun. Anthony Scaramucci had tons of entertainment value but newly installed chief of staff John Kelly was apparently not amused. The Mooch was Donald Trump’s doppelganger: profane, bullying and unmanageable. Kelly is the opposite: a straight-laced man who values discipline and restraint. Trump’s claims of “no WH chaos” notwithstanding, he needs someone who takes control — and Kelly has the chops to do so. Kelly’s No. 1 obstacle to making that happen, however, is the guy who hired him.
• A sound and fury, signifying nothing. Is the White House shake-up too late? The latest opinion polls put Trump’s popularity solidly below 40 percent. The Senate especially seems to be taking notice, killing health care, ignoring the president’s tweeted demands, and dissing him on everything from Jeff Sessions to Russian sanctions. Official Washington’s feeling seems to be, if no one else likes him, then we don’t either.
• It’s the economy, stupid. On the other hand, when it comes to one matter of deep importance, Trump is doing quite well. The Dow industrial average this week hit a new high of 22,000. The economy continues to create jobs, wages are (slowly) inching up, more of the disaffected are rejoining the workforce and GDP growth remains steadily positive. Granted, this has more to do with world growth and policies put in place by Barack Obama. But the iron rule of politics is that if it happens under your watch, you own it. And this is something Trump definitely wants to own.
• Slap in the face. One of Congress’ disses to Trump was a bill tying his hands on Russian sanctions. He reluctantly signed it, while at the same time saying the law is “clearly unconstitutional” and “significantly flawed.” I’m with Trump on this one. Foreign policy is one area where presidents do — and should — have broad discretion. Diplomacy is often a delicate dance back and forth and clumsy rules from Congress make that difficult. Yes, many distrust Trump’s motives when it comes to Russia, and this new law reflects that. But that still doesn’t make it right.
• The “I’m too dumb” excuse. In remarks to a group of interns, Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner explained that the campaign team was too much of a tangled and confused mess to have ever plotted colluding with the Russians. Given the first six months of the Trump administration, there’s a ring of truth to this. But as with “The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight,” just because you’re incompetent doesn’t mean your intentions aren’t nefarious.
• Make the meals better, too. A federal judge ordered the FAA to review whether airline seat sizes are some sort of safety hazard. Sorry, but cramped seats are a consequence of our demands for low fares. There’s a trade-off somewhere. I mean, if you refuse to pay more than $2 per pound, you’re not getting filet mignon, right? While I appreciate the judge’s sentiment, it sounds like he’s less judicial and more planning to run for office. And if somehow the FAA actually does start mandating seat sizes? The losers will be fliers, who’ll just end up seeing higher fares.
• NIMBY. Bostonians breathed a sigh of relief when it turned out that North Korea’s newest ICBM can only reach as far east as Denver, or perhaps, Chicago.
• Sky is falling. Reconstruction began on the Commonwealth Avenue bridge. Gov. Baker’s transportation secretary urged folks to “stay away,” promising a “hellish” three weeks while commentators spoke darkly of “Pikeocalypse.” OK, can we get a grip here? It’s just one bridge. There are many alternative ways into the city aside from the Mass Pike. I suspect the hyperventilating was all about getting us to pay attention so we might, in fact, seek out those alternate routes. But too many of the “scare us to death” routines and we’re going to stop paying attention at all.
• Hive heaven. And finally, in a bit of good news, it appears the widely reported honeybee colony collapse is reversing. The number of colonies subject to collapse declined markedly from 2016 and the total number of bees in the U.S. rose by 3 percent. Hurray! It’s a nice reprieve that sure must please the busily buzzing bees.

This column was first published by Cognoscenti on August 4, 2017.