Let’s see, where were we?
Oh yeah, Trump, our man-child “president” whose mind-numbing, irrational behavior was best- captured this week in a dispatch by the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank:
“He shuts down the government, maybe for ‘years.’ He wants a wall that is ‘transparent,’ then concrete, then slatted, then steel. One moment he’s leaving Syria, the next he isn’t. He’s watching too much TV and yelling at everyone.
This is all to be expected. President Trump is entering his terrible twos.
The Trump presidency turns two this month, and though we often hear the mantra ‘this is not normal,’ what the president is doing actually is normal. For a 2-year-old.”
And as Journey’s Steve Perry crooned in the song “Don’t stop believin” — it goes on and on and on and on.
Big collective sigh, everybody.
***
Of course, Trump gave a ridiculous speech on national TV Tuesday night about his ridiculous wall and his trumped up “border crisis.”
It was widely panned, but the best came from the venerable Charles Pierce, whose exquisite writing can be read in Esquire.
“El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago gave his first big-boy Oval Office speech Tuesday night, in which he went back to the American Carnage theme, blaming the Democrats for a) the crimes of undocumented migrants, b) the government shutdown, and c) the utter chaos within his own administration*. In 2016, we were going to have a big, beautiful wall with a big, beautiful door for which Mexico was going to pay. Now, we’re going to have some kind of ‘barrier’ that will be financed through drug busts and a trade deal that hasn’t passed Congress yet.
“Obviously, as CNN reported, somebody in the administration* with an ounce of functioning gray matter convinced him that the whole ‘national emergency’ bit would result in his being buried under a hail of writs, and perhaps an actual rebellion in rural Texas, so that particular saber stayed unrattled. Instead, he begged for a ‘45-minute meeting’ with Congressional Democrats designed to get the country out of the ditch into which his conduct has driven it.”
NDP Chair Jane Kleeb was quoted after the speech by the Omaha World-Herald:
“Trump lied. Again. He promised during his campaign that Mexico would pay for his wall. Now he wants to saddle American taxpayers with the bill. His administration continues to lie and obfuscate the facts over border security to fan the flames of hysteria.
“And he seems content with shutting down much of the federal government because of his temper tantrum, which hurts the more than 800,0000 federal workers who are not being paid and denies vital services to the American people.
“It is, in a word, unconscionable. And Nebraska’s GOP congressional members — Sens. (Ben) Sasse and (Deb) Fischer and Reps. Bacon, (Jeff) Fortenberry and (Adrian) Smith — are in lock-step with Trump and follow along without making a peep,” Kleeb said.
***
Speaking of serial liars at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders was schooled by — of all people — Chris Wallace of Fox News over her dubious claim that U.S. Customs and Border Protection picked up nearly 4,000 known or suspected terrorists last year “that came across our southern border.”
Wallace showed a clip of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen claiming that Customs and Border Patrol has stopped “over 3,000 what we call ‘Special Interest Aliens’ trying to come into the country in the southern border.”
WALLACE: But Special Interest Aliens are just people who come from countries that have ever produced a terrorist. They’re not terrorists themselves. And the State Department says that there is, quote, their words: no credible evidence of any terrorist coming across the border from Mexico.
SANDERS: We know that roughly, nearly 4,000 known or suspected terrorists come into our country illegally, and we know that our most vulnerable point of entry is at our southern border.
WALLACE: Wait, wait, wait – I know the statistic; I didn’t know you were going to use it. But I studied up on this. Do you know where those 4,000 people come – where they’re captured? Airports.
SANDERS: Not always.
WALLACE: At airports … they’re not coming across the southern border, Sarah. They’re coming and they’re being stopped at airports.
***
Meanwhile, legal eaglet Rudy Giuliani says President Trump’s legal team should be allowed to “correct” special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report before Congress or the American people get the chance to read it.
To that we say: Rub a lamp and make a wish, Rudy,
***
Here in Nebraska, state lawmakers pushed away from the dock for the 2019 legislative session with 18 Democrats among the 49 senators.
Twenty-six senators in all were sworn in Wednesday and we now have 18 Democrats representing the great people of our state.
Freshman Democrats Machaela Cavanaugh, Wendy DeBoer, Megan Hunt and Steve Lathrop join Senators Morfeld, Pansing Brooks and Hansen, who were all elected in 2018.
Lawmakers chose committee chairs, including Democrats Sen. Matt Hansen to lead the Business and Labor Committee; Sen. Sara Howard as Chair of Health and Human Services; Sen. Justin Wayne as Chair of the Urban Affairs Committee; Sen. Sue Crawford as Chair of the Rules Committee; and Sen. Steve Lathrop as Chair of the Judiciary Committee. Also, Sen. Tony Vargas was elected Vice-Chair of the Executive Board.
Lawmakers introduce bills for 10 legislative days. You can track the action online at the NDP Legislative Page.
Big issues will abound, but property-tax relief, medical marijuana and funding the Medicaid expansion approved in November by voters, look to get the most attention — for now.
Something unexpected always comes up.
Stay tuned.
***
We leave with a wag of the finger to Gov. Pete “Gosh My Daddy’s Rich” Ricketts, who deservedly took it on the chin on social media and in the mainstream press for his ridiculous refusal to sign a proclamation honoring the 2019 “One Book One Nebraska” selection by the Nebraska Center for the Book (a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Library of Congress) — calling the author a “political activist” and suggesting the book is divisive.
“This Blessed Earth: A Year in the Life of an American Family Farm,” follows the life of Rick Hammond, a York County farmer. It was written by Nebraska author and journalist Ted Genoways.
The Omaha World-Herald noted that center’s annual selection of a recommended book with Nebraska ties has been marked by a proclamation from the governor since 2005.
Genoways told the World-Herald, “I think it’s really disappointing and shocking that the governor would say he doesn’t want the people of Nebraska to hear from a farm family that’s been confronting major issues, and to hear their thoughts as they work through them and try to keep the farm in the family for the next generation.”
Rickets told reporters he has not read the book.
But, by gawd, he — like Trump — can sure throw a hissy fit.
— By Kevin O’Hanlon/NDP Communications Director
###
IMPORTANT DATES
Jan. 12: NDP Training: Phone Banking, Canvassing, Hustle, College Campus
Jan. 12: Book Talk & Signing – Ted Genoways
Jan. 19: Women’s March on Lincoln, Wayne and and Grand Island
Jan. 25: NDP Block Captain Training
Feb. 9: NDP Training:Voter Registration, Voter Education, Vote By Mail
March 9: NDP Training: Candidate Interest Training
March 10: NDP Training: Block Captain Training
March 29-31: State Central Committee Meeting, Trainings and Caucus Meetings
April 8: NDP Salute to State Senators
April 9: City of Lincoln Primary Election
May 7: City of Lincoln General Election
