November 7, 2017--Swamp Creatures

Every day yields revelations about the arrogant behavior of one or more of Donald Trump's bottom-feeding associates. 

Be they cabinet members such as Commerce's Wilbur Ross, former chief of staff Michael Flynn, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, or recently indicted Trump campaign manager, Paul Manafort.

The list goes out.

In some cases such as Ross they are being exposed as continuing to engage in covert financial shenanigans, seemingly always involving Russians. Oligarchs as well as a son-in-law of Vladimir Putin.

In other instances, Mnuchin's, they have been nailed for deep feeding at the governmental trough. 

Our Treasure secretary, nearly a billionaire from his years at Goldman Sachs and a stint in Hollywood (like Steve Bannon), appears to have a penchant for the luxe life, especially flying around the country and world in private jets billed to the U.S. government (us) with his trophy wife who, while he spends an hour or two "working," shops.

Last week the New York Times had a good time revealing the details of these trips, quantifying their cost--how much it would have cost if he flew commercial and paid the highest coach fare versus how much his private military jet travel actually costs.

For example, the Times reported about the cost differential for the now infamous trip he and Mrs. Mnuchin took to and from Louisville, KY. Coach would have been $1,239; the private jet was a whopping $26,900!

If one costs out all his trips--Washington to/from Miami; New York to Washington; the Louisville junket; to/from Parkersburg, W.Va; a European excursion (London, Berlin, Baden-Baden); to/from Bari, Italy; and a round trip to Ottawa--commercial would have totaled $19,265 versus how much these trips in fact cost--$631,959.

As usual, when confronted with this information, the Trump administration's default response was that this is nothing new. Particularly, Obama's people did the same thing.

Actually, this is another example of alternative facts--for example, Obama's Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner always travelled commercial, not even seeking to bump up to business or first class.

I know Tim Geithner (his father was a colleague at the Ford Foundation) and this doesn't surprise me at all. I know how he was raised. At Treasury he was far from perfect, but decidedly was not a denizen of the Washington swamp.

Steve Mnuchin's Private Jet Domestic Travel--$94,101

December 1, 2016--Pelosi & Warren

Yesterday on display was the current face of the Democratic Party.

Just three weeks after getting trounced at all levels, from state legislatures to governorships to the House of Representatives as well as the Senate and White House, after falling further behind, who was being featured as the leaders around whom progressives are supposed to rally?

Nancy Polosi who at 76 was reelected to yet another term as House Democratic Leader and first-term senator Elizabeth Warren who was widely quoted for slamming Donald Trump's picks to head up his economic team--billionaires Wilbur Ross to be Secretary of Commerce and Steven Mnuchin as Secretary of the Treasury.

Pelosi one way or the other is on her political last legs--House insurgents managed to muster about one-third of their members to oppose her and this is likely, hopefully, to be her last hurrah.

Warren, on the other hand, is already propelling herself forward as the presumptive Democratic nominee for 2020. Yes, 2020. Thus, it is more important to pay attention to what she does and has to say.

Here is a glimpse--

Yesterday, in a media blitz, during which she railed against Trump's appointments--fair enough as they do not promise to be auspicious leaders, wired as they are into Wall Street--but also issued a number of more generic salvos that are worth noting. Minimally, they expose the full scope of her unbounded ambition and how when the camera is on even Professor Warren can get herself all tangled up in nonsense.

 On CNN, for example, after taking some well-aimed shots at Ross for Commerce and Mnuchin for Treasury (thankfully resisting mispronouncing the latter's name), she went on to rant--

"I mean, Donald Trump is the one who said one thing during the campaign and now has reversed that by180 degrees."

As a patriot, in the spirit of consistency, would she prefer Trump to stick to some of his absurd views about climate change, torture, and the alt-right, views he changed, among others, when he met with executives and reporters for the New York Times? Shouldn't she and we prefer this to Trump's clinging to his previously-declared extreme views? Not, I suppose, if one is already in full flagrant pursuit of the presidency.

It's going to be a long four years.