AMERICAN POLITICS - Trump the Racists

This IS about people not understanding that racism can, and often is, inconscient.  People who have racist tenancies often are not aware of them.  It is others, looking from the 'outside,' that see the racism.

"The political fallout from Trump’s racist tweets" PBS NewsHour 7/15/2019

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SUMMARY:  President Trump is defending racist tweets targeting four House freshmen, all women of color.  Three of the four lawmakers had recently testified about their visits to crowded border detention facilities, lamenting what they saw there.  But despite condemnation from congressional Democrats, some Republicans and even the British Prime Minister, Trump isn’t expressing remorse.  Yamiche Alcindor reports.

"Why Rep. Gallego says Republicans should be ‘ashamed’ of silence over Trump tweets" PBS NewsHour 7/15/2019

REMINDER:  Three of the 4 women are born Americans, one is a Naturalized Citizen.

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SUMMARY:  A political firestorm has erupted over tweets from President Trump telling four American women of color in the House to “go back” to where they came from.  Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz) joins Judy Woodruff to discuss what Trump is trying to achieve with his inflammatory rhetoric, why Republicans who don’t condemn his tweets “should be ashamed" and how the President has “broken the border.”

"Trump’s tweets aren’t racist, argues Rep. Comer" PBS NewsHour 7/15/2019

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SUMMARY:  Washington is reeling as a result of racist tweets President Trump made Sunday, in which he blasted four women of color in the House and said they should return to where they came from, although all four are American citizens.  Rep. James Comer (R-Ky) joins Judy Woodruff to explain why a “frustrated”  Trump’s comments are “overblown” and how he knows his constituents aren’t offended by them.

"How Trump’s controversial tweets are exposing a party divide on race" PBS NewsHour 7/16/2019

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SUMMARY:  Lawmakers continue to react to racist tweets President Trump posted Sunday about four women of color in the House.  So far, most Republicans have defended the President or tried to reframe the conversation as about ideology rather than race, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi moved to officially condemn Trump’s remarks.  Lisa Desjardins reports and joins Judy Woodruff to discuss an ongoing divide.

"Trump’s racist tweets and the ‘politics of distraction’" PBS NewsHour 7/17/2019

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SUMMARY:  President Trump’s attacks on women of color in the House have launched fierce debate about whether his meaning was racist.  There is no doubt, though, that his words echo threats and insults that have been lobbed against perceived outsiders in America for generations.  To explore the painful history, William Brangham talks to the University of Minnesota’s Erika Lee, and UC-Berkeley’s Ian Haney Lopez the author of "Merge Left."

"Former Sen. Jeff Flake on why Republicans aren’t disavowing Trump’s ‘awful’ words" PBS NewsHour 7/18/2019

My answer, power.  Trump's win gave the Republicans more power to remake America in their despicable image.

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SUMMARY:  It's been a tumultuous week in Washington, amid fallout from President Trump’s racist attacks on four members of Congress, all women of color.  On Thursday, Trump held a rally in North Carolina, where his words -- and the crowd’s -- took the controversy to a new level.  Former Arizona Senator and CBS Contributor Jeff Flake [R-Ariz] joins Judy Woodruff to discuss what he calls Trump’s "awful" rhetoric and the Republican response.

TRUMP DIPLOMACY - Meeting With Hungarian Prime Minister

"Why Trump’s meeting Hungary’s Orban is a ‘bit controversial’" PBS NewsHour 5/13/2019

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SUMMARY:  President Trump welcomed controversial Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to the White House Monday, breaking with recent presidents who shunned the right-wing nationalist.  Like Trump, Orban has made restricting immigration a cornerstone of his agenda.  William Brangham talks to Charles Kupchan of the Council on Foreign Relations and Georgetown University about the significance of the alliance.

William Brangham (NewsHour):  For people who have not been following Viktor Orban's career or really appreciate where he sits in the orbit of European politics, tell us a little bit more about him.

Charles Kupchan, Georgetown University:  Well, as your piece said, he starts off as a disheveled liberal post-communist progressive.

He has one bite at the apple as prime minister from '98 to 2002.  And then he comes back in 2010.  And he's been there ever since.  And he essentially tracks from the left to the right to the further right over the course of his political career, and, in many respects, is a person that's ahead of his time, in the sense that he became anti-immigrant, anti-Europe, close down the borders, take over the media, compromise the independence of the judiciary, well before it became mainstream.

You now see it happening in Poland, in Italy.  The far right is gaining ground in Germany.  It's a widespread phenomenon.  He was in many respects the person who blazed that path.

William Brangham:  Former Trump senior adviser Steve Bannon once referred to Viktor Orban as Trump before for Trump.  Is that an accurate characterization of him?

Charles Kupchan:  There's no question that there is an ideological affinity between Trump and Orban.

There is, I think, an effort to create what you might call an illiberal alliance, in which Trump sides with Orban, Salvini the head of the League in Italy, Kaczynski the head of what's called Law and Justice Party in Poland, Alternatives for Germany in Germany, the National Rally in France.

They're trying to create a political movement that pushes democratic politics to the right and in the anti-immigrant direction.  I don't think it's any accident that this meeting today occurred less than two weeks before votes for the European Parliament.

It's a bellwether election.  No question that the far right, the anti-E.U., the anti-immigrant forces will gain ground.  The question is, how much ground will they gain?  How much influence will they wield in the new [EU] Parliament?

EUROPEAN POLITICS - France and United Kingdom Under Pressure

IMHO:  This is all due to nearsighted and dangerous nationalism (aka populism).

"Why the UK and France are facing ‘fundamental transformations’" PBS NewsHour 12/10/2018

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SUMMARY:  Political upheaval is building on both sides of the English Channel.  British Prime Minister Theresa May postponed a vote on her Brexit plan.  French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to increase wages to try and appease Paris protesters.  What does all this mean for the two leaders and the EU?  Nick Schifrin talks to Anand Menon of King’s College London and the Brookings Institution's Célia Belin.

OPINION - Shields and Brooks 9/22/2017

"Shields and Brooks on GOP’s health care uncertainty, Trump’s UN nationalism" PBS NewsHour 9/22/2017

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SUMMARY:  Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week’s news; including the fate of the latest Senate Republican plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, President Trump’s role in the special Senate election in Alabama, and what that runoff says about the state of the GOP, plus the President’s debut address at the United Nations.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  But let’s go right now to Shields and Brooks.  That’s syndicated columnist Mark Shields, as you just saw, and New York Times columnist David Brooks.

The only thing better than seeing you guys once is seeing you guys twice, three times.

MARK SHIELDS, Syndicated Columnist:  Just a great…

(LAUGHTER)

JUDY WOODRUFF:  So, the health care story.

David, the Senate Republicans have been trying to so hard to once again resurrect an effort to repeal Obamacare.  They thought they were getting — or at least they sounded like they were getting somewhere.

But, today, John McCain throws down the red flag, says he’s not voting for it.  Where does this leave all this?

DAVID BROOKS, The New York Times:  It’s pretty grim.  Francisco Franco is still dead, to quote that old “Saturday Night Live” joke.

(LAUGHTER)

DAVID BROOKS:  It’s — I should say, first of all, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with having state flexibility and sending the health care thing back to the states.  We’re a diverse country.  We might profit from different systems.

And there is nothing wrong with reducing the rate of increase in the cost, the amount we spend on health care.  We would spend a lot more than other countries.  Personally, I would be happy if we spend a little less on health care and a little more on education.

But the way the Republicans have done this yet again is without a deliberate process in a way that seems to have magically offended every single person outside the U.S. Capitol Building, no matter what party, and in a way that raises anxiety on every single level.

And so, it’s very easy for John McCain to say, you haven’t followed regular order, you haven’t worked with Democrats, you haven’t held hearings, and so I’m going to be against this thing.

And that’s him being very consistent with the way he’s been over the past several months.  And one would have to suspect that Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski will follow suit.  And, therefore, it’s down the tubes.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  What does it look like to you?

MARK SHIELDS:  I hate to say that I agree with David, but I agree with David.

And I would just add this.  It’s no accident, Judy, that the Republicans find themselves in this position.  It’s really since the retirement of John Chafee of Rhode Island in 1999 or David Durenberger from Minnesota in 1995, that there’s been any Republican senator who has any earned credentials or any deserved reputation for working on health care.

They have just been an against party.  That’s all.  So, who’s the sponsor of this?  Lindsey Graham.  I happen to like Lindsey Graham.  Lindsey Graham’s credentials, military, national defense.  He’s worked bipartisan on global warming, campaign finance.

Is there a — Lindsey Graham on health care?  And Bill Cassidy, who got to the Senate a year ago, not exactly a long-toothed, long-term legislator.

I mean, all they have succeeded in doing this year is taking the Affordable, which had always been controversial and never had majority support, and now has majority support in the country.  And they have convinced voters that Democrats care much more about health care than they do.

And Democrats had an advantage.  They believe in Medicare and Medicaid.  They believe in federal action.  There is no coherent Republican organizing principle or philosophy about health care.  Everybody should have it, and it should be private.

It’s an abstraction.  It doesn’t work in the real world.  And voters have concluded it doesn’t.  And Pat Roberts, to his credit, the senior senator from Kansas, said, this is not the best bill possible.  It’s the best possible bill.  And this is the last stage out of Dodge.  Because of the quirky rules of the Senate, they need 50 votes until the 30th of September, when the fiscal year ends.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  Yah.

MARK SHIELDS:  After that, it’s 60.  So, they’re trying to pass something.  And they won’t.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  It’s a tough moment for Republicans.

DAVID BROOKS:  They’re caught with a divide.

I do think there is a defensible case that an intelligent market-based system could reduce — cause efficiencies.  There’s models around the world that Republicans and conservative policy wonks can get to, to point to that.

But if you are going to get people to entertain the idea of some sort of reform, you have to give them universal coverage.  We’re at the point where even a lot of conservative health care economists think, if we give them universal coverage, if your get your preexisting, you’re going to have coverage, then we can work on the reforms.

But the Republican Party and the Republican Congress — congressional party — is basically out of touch with their voters.  Their voters are not libertarians.  Their voters are insecure economically and want some security.  And Medicaid and Medicare and even now Obamacare offers some of them security.  And they will not support their own Republican Party when it takes that away.

TRUMP AGENDA - To Hell With the Rest of the World

An agenda of self-interest and selfishness.  And threats of WWIII.

"Trump urges more nationalist worldview in first UN address" PBS NewsHour 9/19/2017

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SUMMARY:  In his inaugural address to the U.N. General Assembly, President Trump laid out a broad vision for self-interest and nationalism across the world, while directing criticism toward the “wicked few” he singled out: North Korea, Iran, Syria, Cuba, and Venezuela.  Lisa Desjardins reports on the President's address and some of the responses it drew.

INSIDE PUTIN'S RUSSIA - The Putin Definition

aka "Spin Politics of an Autocratic" a model for Trump

"Pride, patriotism and how Putin helped redefine what it means to be a 'true Russian'" PBS NewsHour 7/10/2017

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SUMMARY:  The new Russian identity is a combination of religion, old Russian traditions and rediscovered patriotism.  It helps explain how today's Russians think, how President Putin acts and why he remains popular.  As part of our week-long series Inside Putin's Russia, special correspondent Nick Schifrin and producer Zach Fannin report in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

"Inside Russia's propaganda machine" PBS NewsHour 7/11/2017

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SUMMARY:  For years, the Kremlin and the media it controls have waged a multifaceted information (and disinformation) campaign inside Russia and pointed at its perceived adversaries, including the U.S.  As part of our week-long series Inside Putin's Russia, special correspondent Nick Schifrin and producer Zach Fannin report on the information wars, in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

"Why are so many from this Russian republic fighting for ISIS?" PBS NewsHour 7/12/2017

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SUMMARY:  In the republic of Dagestan, a brutal separatist insurgency has long fought against the Russian state.  Now, as many as 5,000 Dagestanis have left to fight for the Islamic State.  Why have so many answered the call?  As part of our week-long series Inside Putin's Russia, special correspondent Nick Schifrin and producer Zach Fannin report, in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

"The deadly risk of standing up to Putin" PBS NewsHour 7/13/2017

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SUMMARY:  What can happen to you if you oppose the Kremlin?  There is a high mortality rate among prominent critics of the Russian government, which some say is emblematic of how President Vladimir Putin runs the country.  As part of our week-long series Inside Putin's Russia, special correspondent Nick Schifrin and producer Zach Fannin report in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

"What Russians think about Trump and the U.S." PBS NewsHour 7/14/2017

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SUMMARY:  There may be no more consequential relationship for the U.S. than with Russia.  As part of our week-long series “Inside Putin's Russia,” special correspondent Nick Schifrin and producer Zach Fannin report in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting on how Russians perceive the U.S. and how the relationship between the two world powers has evolved under Trump.

FRANCE - Presidential Election

IMHO:  A choice of openness vs shaking in fear, crippling nationalism vs European Union.

"How French voters see their presidential choices" PBS NewsHour 5/5/2017

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SUMMARY:  French voters head to the polls Sunday in the second-round runoff between centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen.  Macron has been buoyed this week by an endorsement by former President Obama and a solid debate performance.  But Le Pen's anti-immigrant party continues to press its case.  Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports.

"In presidential election, French youth confront 'two visions of France'" PBS NewsHour 5/6/2017

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SUMMARY:  Two candidates facing off this weekend in the French presidential election runoff offer starkly different visions for the country.  Centrist Emmanuel Macron supports immigration and the European Union, while the far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen wants to curb immigration and pull France out of the EU.  Special Correspondent Christopher Livesay reports from France.

"Macron declares 'new page of our history' in France" PBS NewsHour 5/7/2017

Sanity wins!

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SUMMARY:  One of the most divisive political campaigns in French history that had much of Europe on edge came to an end during Sunday's runoff election.  Centrist Emmanuel Macron defeated his controversial opponent, the right-wing populist Marine Le Pen.  NewsHour Weekend Special Correspondent Malcolm Brabant joins Hari Sreenivasan from Macron's campaign headquarters in Paris.