OPINION - Shields and Brooks 12/7/2018

"Shields and Brooks on Cohen filings and Bush’s legacy" PBS NewsHour 12/7/2018

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SUMMARY:  Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to analyze the week’s political news, including the latest court filings on Michael Cohen, President Trump’s new nominees, and the legacy of George H.W. Bush.

Judy Woodruff (NewsHour):  This week, our nation mourned a President, and got a better glimpse of the investigation into the current commander in chief and his ties to Russia.

There is a lot to unpack tonight with Shields and Brooks.  That is syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks.

Hello to both of you.  So, there's a lot of news tonight.  It's Friday, as we have seen on a lot of Fridays, David.

The special counsel, Robert Mueller, and not only he, but the Southern District of New York, the prosecutors there, have made public what they call filings that detail activities by people who are close to the President, specifically Michael Cohen, who's his former lawyer.  And later on, we had another filing about Paul Manafort.

We have been listening, trying to — rapidly reading through this.  What do we think it adds up to?  What does it tell us?

David Brooks, New York Times:  First, these guys are not very good cooperators.  If you're going to cooperate, cooperate.

But Manafort is going to jail probably for the rest of his life, and Cohen is getting a healthy sentence, because he sort of semi-cooperated, something like that.

But I think what we're seeing is the pace ramp up on a lot of fronts.  They are clearly interested, and they're more contacts than we knew with Russia in 2015 with the campaign, the so-called synergy they apparently found, and then especially the business dealings, Trump's dealings in Moscow.

And my instinct is that there's going to be a lot more investigation into business than there is into Russia collusion.  There's just a lot more there.

And the other sense you get is a lot of Republicans are looking at this White House, and they are seeing an administration under a lot of judicial and legal threat and a lot under political threat, and they see a White House Counsel's Office that is denuded of authority and people.

And then what they call the membrane around Trump is failing.  And the membrane is the group of people they put around Trump to protect him from themselves.  And over the years, the Hope Hicks of the world and maybe in the next few days the John Kellys of the world are going and gone.

And so you see a Trump unprotected from himself.  And you're beginning to see a lot of Republicans who are looking seriously at 2019, with a lot of Fridays like this one, and Trump really hurting himself and maybe not serving out the term.

Judy Woodruff:  It's a lot, Mark.

Mark Shields, syndicated columnist:  It is.

Judy Woodruff:  What do you — I mean, start with the filings, though.  What do you see here?  Are we — what are we learning?

Mark Shields:  Well, I mean, I don't know, Judy.

I look at Michael Cohen.  And he turned over computers.  He turned over tapes.  He turned over everything.  He turned over his life.  He had a public conversion to virtue.  And it saved him a year, it looks like.  I mean, that's what it looks like anyway to the layman from the outside.  It certainly doesn't look like he's skating by any means.

So, I'm not sure if he gave what he thought he was giving or what they thought he was giving or whether there was a miscommunication.  I don't know.  But it did not seem like a major reduction to me.

Judy Woodruff:  It's not clear.

Mark Shields:  No, it's not clear.  It's not clear.  And I don't pretend to be an authority on it.

I would say that Manafort is looking at a difficult choice.  I mean, it looks like he was trying to keep channels open to the White House, where the ultimate executive pardon lies, and with a mercurial President, and got caught at it.  That's what it appears to be.

Judy Woodruff:  And David's reporting on what he's hearing from Republicans expressing concern about the kind of pressure the President is — not that he hasn't been under pressure, but that it now seems to be coming together in a way that he — that is serious.

Mark Shields:  Yah, I'm not......

I have yet to see that kind of independence on the part of Republicans.  I have seen the concern there, but it's Donald Trump's party.  It really is.  I mean, there's no question.  It's the Mark Sanford experience of 2018 that has burnt into the mind and the consciousness of every Republican who is looking at 2020.

That is the idea that Donald Trump, with just the snap of a finger or an unfortunate or unflattering comment, can cost you renomination in your own Republican primary.  Sanford had been a governor, been a member of the House, and just by Trump's kind of dismissive lost the primary.

And it made no difference that his party ended up losing the general.  That's where the concern is.  I do not see that streak of independence, other than by those who are leaving.  I have yet to see it among those who are looking to 2020.

David Brooks:  I didn't say in public.  Yet they're still afraid.  They know how it's Trump's party.

Mark Shields:  Yes.

David Brooks:  But in private, it took them a while to really digest the election results and what it meant that Democrats control the House.

And then — and so what you see is that there's going to ramp up the political pressure.  The Southern District may be more important than Mueller.  You just got a legal — and then there's more fear, worry, almost mania, in the White House, as they feel all the safety guardrails coming out.

And so they really don't know what's going to happen.  And to me, the including thing — the crucial thing over the next year — or a crucial thing — is how the base Republicans react if there are indictments, if there is a political catastrophe, if people start leaving the White House in droves.

The Republican base is still very pro-Trump.  On the talk radio circuit, they're getting rid of anyone like Mike Medved, who is a radio — right-wing conservative radio jockey who is not pro-Trump.  They're replacing him with pro-Trump.

"The Weekly Standard," a magazine I used to work at, it may be closed because it's not sufficiently pro-Trump.

So what you see is the Republican base going so pro-Trump, at the exact moment when it's possible the wheels are coming off the whole thing.

Judy Woodruff:  And Mark?

Mark Shields:  I mean, they're really slow learners, Judy, Republicans are.

I mean, they lost the midterms by more votes than any midterm election in the history of the country, all right?  The Republicans got fewer.  Democrats got more votes.

I mean, I don't know what point has to be driven home to them.  Donald Trump announced the day after election it was a great victory.  That's 40 seats later.  And with North Carolina 9 still hanging in the balance, it could be 41 seats later.

So I don't know what they — they lost 324 house seats, state legislative seats.  I mean, it was a pretty stinging rebuke of the sitting administration.

NUMBER 41 - George H.W. Bush

"Reflections on George H.W. Bush, a man of ‘lovely, sweet reticence’" PBS NewsHour 12/3/2018

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SUMMARY:  As the nation mourns George H.W. Bush, we share some personal reflections.  Amna Nawaz speaks with USA Today’s Washington bureau chief Susan Page who's writing a biography of Barbara Bush, Peter Roussel now a professor at Sam Houston State University and previously a Bush press secretary, and Christopher Buckley a novelist who served as chief speechwriter for Bush when he was Vice President.

"How President George H.W. Bush ‘saw things differently’" PBS NewsHour 12/4/2018

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SUMMARY:  As Americans pay their respects to former President George H.W. Bush, we speak with some of the political colleagues who knew him best.  Andy Card his former deputy chief of staff, and former Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) join Judy Woodruff to discuss Bush’s ‘courageous’ commitment to the Americans with Disabilities Act and his remarkable ability to build relationships across party lines.

"Untold anecdotes of George H.W. Bush" PBS NewsHour 12/5/2018

George H.W. Bush, the Anti-Trump.

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SUMMARY:  It's difficult to sum up an entire life in a memorial service, no matter how grand.  New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, Presidential historian Michael Beschloss, Bush family friend David Bates, and Margaret Warner [formerly NewsHour] who covered the President on the campaign trail and is now a senior fellow at Yale University, join Judy Woodruff to share their personal stories of President George H.W. Bush.

MEMORIAM - President George H.W. Bush

"Remembering President George H.W. Bush, dead at 94" (video 16:48 min)

"A tribute to 41 and his ‘kinder, gentler’ legacy" PBS NewsHour 12/1/2018

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SUMMARY:  Less than eight months after his wife Barbara Bush passed, former President George H.W. Bush died Friday night at the age of 94.  Hari Sreenivasan reports.

"As UN Ambassador, head of CIA and 41, Bush built a political patriarchy" PBS NewsHour 12/1/2018

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SUMMARY:  From his time as a United Nations ambassador to reaching the highest office in the land, former President George H.W. Bush's career in public service covers decades of American history and carved the way for his son’s presidency.  For more, historian and PBS NewsHour contributor Michael Beschloss, joins Hari Sreenivasan from Washington, D.C.

"For parts of his presidency, Bush had more support from Democrats" PBS NewsHour 12/1/2018

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SUMMARY:  While former Republican President George H.W. Bush has been characterized for his ability to create bridges across party lines, some of those compromises cost him support from his own party.  Barbara Perry, a historian and professor at the University of Virginia, who wrote a book about Bush's tenure, spoke to Hari Sreenivasan about some of the lasting effects he had on U.S. politics.

NEWSHOUR BOOKSHELF - “The Last Republicans”

"Author: Former Bush Presidents concerned GOP has strayed from its principles" PBS NewsHour 1/25/2018

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SUMMARY:  They are a living political dynasty, and they rarely weigh in on the politics of the day, but in the new book “The Last Republicans,” former Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush reflect on the man currently inhabiting the Oval Office, and much more.  Lisa Desjardins sits down with author and historian Mark Updegrove to discuss their father-son relationship and their shared ethos.

OPINION - Shields and Brooks 11/6/2015

"Shields and Brooks on Keystone pipeline politics, Ben Carson claims" PBS NewsHour 11/6/2015

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SUMMARY:  President Obama rejected the Keystone XL pipeline after seven years, and the October jobs report offered a brighter labor outlook.  Judy Woodruff discusses the week’s news with syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks, including claims about Ben Carson’s past, questions about Marco Rubio’s finances and revelations in a new biography about George H.W. Bush.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  But, first, a White House decision finally on the Keystone pipeline, a rough week for some Republican candidates, and wins for conservatives on Election Day.

First, we turn to the analysis of Shields and Brooks.  That’s syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks.

Gentlemen, welcome.

MARK SHIELDS, syndicated columnist:  Judy.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  It’s great to have you here.

So, that Keystone pipeline decision, David, the president finally — seven years later, we now know he’s against it.

DAVID BROOKS, New York Times:  Yes.  Well, first of all, it could be mythical.  With oil prices so low, they might never build it anyway.  So, it really doesn’t matter at some level.

But pretending it matters, I do think it’s an anti-environmental, anti-science move.  His State Department and many other experts decided, if the oil is going to come out of the sands, it’s a lot cleaner to have it go through the pipeline than to put on trains or trucks and send it over to China through ships that way.

And, so, if the oil comes out of the sands, which it’s going to do if it makes economic sense, we might as well do it in the cleanest way possible.  So, to me, this is just a political decision to placate some people who he’s offended with some of his other decisions.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  Political decision, Mark?

MARK SHIELDS:  I don’t think anyone could accuse the President of being impulsive.  It was seven years, five exhaustive studies.

(LAUGHTER)

MARK SHIELDS:  And I think it became a symbol for both sides, bigger than it was really.

I don’t think it was going to be an environmental disaster.  And I don’t think, with gasoline $2 a gallon cheaper than it was the day that Barack Obama was nominated, the urgency had abated.

POLITICS - Bush on Bush

"What did Bush 41 think of his son’s presidency?  New bio reveals" PBS NewsHour 11/5/2015

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SUMMARY:  In writing “Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush,” Jon Meacham was given unprecedented access to the Bush family and their personal diaries.  Judy Woodruff sits down with Meacham to talk about what he learned about the former President, as well as what Bush 41 thought of his son George W.’s administration.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  Biographies don’t always make news, but a new book on George H.W. Bush is garnering headlines across the country today for how Bush 41 felt about his son’s response to the 9/11 attacks and subsequent invasion of Iraq, among other things.

The book will not be published until next week, but we have an early look.  For “Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush,” Jon Meacham, the executive editor at Random House, relied not only on extensive interviews of the president’s family, staff, and friends, but also on the nearly daily audio diaries the President recorded while in the White House.

Judy Woodruff talked with him earlier this week for the NewsHour Bookshelf.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Jon Meacham, welcome.

JON MEACHAM, Author, Destiny and Power:  Thank you, Judy.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  You had extraordinary, maybe unprecedented access to this president, all of his diaries, Barbara Bush’s diaries, the ability to interview almost everybody in the family.  Why do you think they trusted you with all this?

JON MEACHAM:  Well, I hope they felt that I would call it like I saw it, which was the sort of the mandate from the president.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  A life of privilege.  I mean, he certainly grew up in this family involved in politics, great wealth, but he also had a sense of responsibility from a very early age.  What do you think shaped him?

JON MEACHAM:  Well, you know, he comes out of the same world of noblesse oblige that shaped Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt, and, frankly, some of the founding fathers.

You could argue that, culturally and temperamentally, George H.W. Bush has more in common with the founders than he does with his successors generationally, in terms of their life experience.  You know, his mother was hugely important.  She was very religious and very competitive in equal parts, I think, it’s safe to say.

And he believed in the doctrine, to whom much is given, much is expected.  What’s really interesting, I think — and I hadn’t realized this until I got into Mrs. Bush’s diary — is that there was an expectation, there was a sense that he could be president, that possibility was within the realm of the probable, as early as the 1950s.

AMERICA - State of Americans with Disabilities Act 2013

"Limited Funds" thanks to Republican Scrooge mindset.

"Limited Funds, Lingering Bias Has Delayed States' ADA Compliance" PBS Newshour 8/7/2013

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SUMMARY:  George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law in 1990, but more than two decades later, problems still persist in implementing portions of the landmark civil rights measure.  Judy Woodruff reports on the struggle states face to fully transition individuals with disabilities out of institutional living.

POLITICS - View of the Presidents Club

"The Decorum, Skullduggery and Rivalries of the Presidents Club" PBS Newshour 5/31/2012

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SUMMARY: Time magazine editors Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy explore how current and former American presidents interact with one another in their new book, "The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity." The authors spoke with Gwen Ifill about cross-party mentoring and the infighting that can occur.

RAY SUAREZ (Newshour): .... Three of the five members of the presidents club gathered at the White House today, as former President George W. Bush and his wife Laura returned for the unveiling of their official portraits.

Mr. Bush's father, former President George H.W. Bush, was on hand, as the current White House occupant, President Barack Obama, thanked his predecessor for his service.