PBS Newshour: Shields and Gerson 12/21

[pat_k]

Mattis resignation = Panic throughout Washington... and the world. Gerson on Trump reversal on spending deal "manipulated like a puppet on a string" by the likes of Coulter, Limbaugh, Fox and Friends... "weak leadership" …. "Russia, Iran, N. Korea looking at this..."

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/shields-and-gerson-on-mattis-resignation-congressional-stalemate

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I watched them talk tonight, and I was impressed by both men.

Thank you for posting this. EVERYONE needs to see this.

[pat_k]

3. What knocked me out was the tone of both when they...

… talked about the panic in Washington they are seeing in the wake of the Mattis resignation. Reading news stories somehow doesn't capture the depth and breadth of the fear expressed in the tone of the discussion.


I was also struck by the "beginning of the end" discussion toward the end of the segment.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. I felt the same about both segments.

Hearing these two talk about the situation and about the leaders they were talking to, really brought the whole mess home.

I wonder just who was talking about the "beginning of the end" segment. Someone in a position to know who didn't want to be identified.

[pat_k]

6. It is quite an amazing exchange at the end

emphasis mine

Mark Shields:
Well, Judy, I think that what we have seen, quite honestly, first of all, you have got a Democratic House that's coming in. And that has struck fear....

I mean, we have seen the spotlight — or the flashlight, then the spotlight focused on Trump University. And what it saw, it closed down. We have seen it on the Trump Foundation, the charitable foundation. And what they saw, they closed down.

And now it's on the inaugural. And then it's on the campaign. And now it's the administration. I think what we see in a president, Judy, is a president who is concerned and so alarmed that what the Mueller report is going to reveal is, he's going to have to hold onto that 35 or 40 percent base, and he will do anything he can.

I think it's that serious. I think it's that grave. I don't think anybody really gauges how peril — in peril this presidency is, except a few Republicans I have talked to really believe that the end is probably in sight.

Judy Woodruff:
But the end what?

(CROSSTALK)

Mark Shields:
The end of this administration.

Judy Woodruff:
In what way, impeachment or resignation?

Mark Shields:
That the Trump — that the Mueller report will be so serious, that the Democrats, who really don't seek impeachment or the fight, that it's almost going to be inevitable that the Congress, House will be forced to vote on it.

Michael Gerson:
Yes, I have heard one Republican today that I talked to say — call this the beginning to have the end. They felt that.

That is going to be the only question, when the Mueller report comes out, and the strength of the report will determine that. I think there are at least some Republicans that are talking now that the president needs a challenge in the primaries, and that he needs to lose reelection.
And these are — but, right now, these are not loud voices in the Republican Party, because the base has not turned. But you do hear that sort of talk among responsible Republicans.

Judy Woodruff:
Sober note at the end of a week, I think, like no other.

Mark Shields:
Like no other week.

Judy Woodruff:
Like no other week that I remember in Washington, and I have been here for 40 years.
(CROSSTALK)

[msongs]

2. so repubs are concerned. but not enuff to do anything about it. putinistas nt

[2naSalit]

5. That was quite telling in some ways...

so the Rs are starting to get nervous, I think they don't actually listen to their base, they don't listen to anyone outside their handlers and paymasters. Our election system needs to be retro-fied and bring back paper ballots and public funding of election campaigns so that they all get the same amount of $ and they have to win, fair and square on only that much, teevee/radio time was free, that's what needs to come back in elections. Making elections money-less regarding campaigns the elected individual has to pay attention to the constituents, all of them. the elected folks have to live on their pay in that position and that's it, no other businesses or jobs since they are full time in this day and age.

I am concerned about what the tangerine menace might do or try to do but then, Mattis is still on the job until March, I think he might still be a sort of firewall until then. But after, I think we will be well into a transition of power because this cannot go on another fucking day even though it will, at least until January. I suspect that things will move along at warp speed by March and all the pieces necessary to go forward will have been put into place including the report from the SP.

[pat_k]

7. My fear...

Whether it is starting now, or starting when Kelly and Mattis are actually gone, I think we are entering a "new phase."

DT is scared -- whether he knows it or not, he is flailing. Beyond petulant. Raging. Looking to exert "control" anywhere he can. Casting off the shackles (voices of relative sanity) that have previously "curbed" his dangerous impulses.

He is too pissed to even give the appearance of considering the consequences of any actions he may take. For example, his next tantrum could end with removing Fed Chair Powell for some bullshit "cause." (Taking out the guy he blames for tanking the stock market would certainly be high on the list.)

From this article:

The Federal Reserve Act doesn’t explicitly give the U.S. president power to fire the Fed board members. But section 10 has a mysterious little phrase indicating it’s at least possible.

“…thereafter each member shall hold office for a term of fourteen years from the expiration of the term of his predecessor, unless sooner removed for cause by the President.”

As he rages against reports that he needs "adult supervision" against his self-aggrandizing, ego-protecting, psychopathic impulses, I think almost anything could happen -- and the more others advise against an action, the more likely he will be to do it.