What I Should Have Said Is Nothing

One of my favorite comedians is Mike Birbiglia. He still performs regularly, but he's doing a lot of behind-the-scenes work these days. The album of his that always sticks out is one titled "What I Should Have Said Is Nothing." Here's a link to an excerpt with a perfect example starting around the 3:27 mark.

Anyway, that's what I kept thinking about the Trump-Gold Star family dispute. At multiple times, Trump could have saved himself by Saying Nothing.

Let's start at the beginning. Four Green Berets died in Niger after an ambush by ISIS-connected attackers. Sgt. LaDavid Johnson's body was found nearly a mile away from the other three Green Berets. We, the public, still don't know much about this ambush. We don't know what the Green Berets were doing there, what happened, etc. There was nearly two weeks of public silence by the Trump Administration about the incident.

At some point, President Trump calls the soldier's (pregnant) widow Myeshia Johnson, with Florida Rep. Frederica Wilson in the room as well. The White House has not refuted reports that Trump said Sgt. Johnson "knew what he was getting into, but I guess it still hurt" and that he seemed not to know Sgt. Johnson's name. Rep. Wilson tweeted about those things as a criticism of Trump. What Trump and his allies could have said... was nothing.

Instead, Trump attacked Rep. Wilson over the course of the week and the two battled over who was telling the truth. Trump called her "wacky" and a surrogate, Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly, alluded to her as an "empty barrel."

But both Trump and Kelly stepped into further issues in their attempts to defend Trump's phone call. What they should have said... was nothing. They didn't have to drag in other people. Yet that's what happened.

First Trump claimed that he called ALL the Gold Star families killed under his watch, whereas his predecessors had not. That was a) false, since Trump hadn't called all the Gold Star families under his watch, and b) both Bush and Obama had called nearly all the Gold Star families AND visited soldiers in the veteran's hospital. As far as I know, President Trump hasn't visited the veteran's hospital. It was an ugly fight to have over an issue that presidents should absolutely not be fighting over. It's shameful.

Then, as if to double down on his previous claim, told the media to ask Gen. Kelly if Obama had called him when his son had died in battle. He didn't directly answer that during a press conference (though it appears he has confirmed that claim later). But again: We're now fighting not just over, in effect, "Who Cared About Fallen Soldier's Families More," but we're dragging people into it that didn't necessarily want to be in the conversation.

Anyway, Gen. Kelly had a press conference and used that opportunity, while calling Rep. Wilson an "empty barrel," to tell a story about how Rep. Wilson (unnamed, but clearly her) had once touted her own success in securing the funding for an FBI field office in Miami. He was intentionally derogatory to her in telling this story, let's be clear. What he could have said about her... was nothing. The problem is that the speech is on video. And she did not tout her success in securing the funding for the field office, she said merely how she helped get it renamed after fallen FBI agents. In fact, she wasn't in office when the funding was secured and said as such in the speech. Yet Sarah Huckabee Sanders said something to the effect of "Yeah, but she said it when no one was taping... and backstage," which was... you don't have to keep doubling down on a lie.

My point to all of this is that this scandal could have gone away much faster. It could have been less messy, involved fewer people, kept the President of the United States out of mudslinging with uninvolved people, and generally been less of a disaster if only... they had said nothing.

Fall of Raqqa

For the life of me, I can't figure out why this wasn't the lead story on any of the major news sites. Fox News had it buried at the bottom of the front page, CNN had it listed as the third story, and NBC News had it as the fourth or fifth. I couldn't find it at all on ABC News, and CBS News had it in the third or fourth spot.

It's shocking, because here's the story: ISIS lost its capital. U.S.-backed troops (NOT U.S. troops) have been highly successful in pushing ISIS out. ISIS is losing. ISIS is already pushed out of Iraq almost entirely, and now the Syrian Democratic Force (Kurds + local Arabs) has pushed ISIS out of its own capital in Syria. The ISIS territory is now limited to a few pockets in Syria and a larger pocket along the Iraq-Syria border and the banks of the Euphrates — but without a true stronghold.

ISIS is losing, folks. If we give credit to Obama for killing bin Laden, then we have to give credit to Trump for ISIS losing much of its territory, even if the plans were already in the works. It's a success, and he deserves credit for it. Which is strange: This is arguably Trump's most successful accomplishment yet, and a man of his ego is not making a big deal of it. This is the same guy that threw a victory party on the White House lawn for passing a health care bill through the House before it went to the Senate. I'm honestly more shocked that he's not touting this more.

Flake and Corker Don't Impress Me Much

Two of the most outspoken Republican critics of Donald Trump have recently announced they will not seek re-election. Both Jeff Flake and Bob Corker, who have each been at odds with the President over his style, substance and various other reasons, have said their time will soon be up. A third, John McCain, is unlikely to make it to another term because of his unfortunate brain cancer diagnosis.

With the exception of Sen. McCain, Flake and Corker appear to be either a) emboldened to speak out against Trump because they don't have to worry about re-election or b) cowed into not running for re-election because of their anti-Trump stance. I don't think either option is particularly healthy for our country. Any president needs checks, and the most powerful checks on presidential power often come from one's own party — especially when one's party controls both houses of Congress. But neither reasoning is a good sign for Flake and Corker, either. It means either they were too cowardly to speak out before now or they are too cowardly to stand by their stances. If they believe what they were saying, shouldn't they be willing to die on that particular hill?

Summary Judgments

CNN had an interesting story from Iran: Trump's rhetoric has united the country against the U.S. There was and is an opportunity in Iran, as there is a deep rift between moderates and conservatives. But Trump's words, both belligerent and geographical in nature, have pushed even the moderates to an anti-U.S. stance.   •  •  •  Please read this interesting piece by The New Yorker on the possibility of a President Pence. Be careful what you wish for, as there's a lot of terrifying things there, including Trump joking that Pence wants to hang gay people. He jokes about that.  •  •  •  I linked to this story last week, but what powerful reporting from a 15-year-old in Texas, interviewing a man who calls the Border Patrol on immigrants.  •  •  •  I almost never recommend people read comments. But when Ivanka Trump revealed she had a "punk phase" in which she listened to grunge music (not punk) before Kurt Cobain died (she was 12 1/2 when he died) and died her hair blue, it sparked some hilarious comments in at least one site. I don't care about proving her right or wrong and it doesn't change my view of her at all. My point is: The comments were hilarious on that one.  •  •  •  Best wildlife photos of 2017.  •  •  •  Does the Trump decision to drop insurance subsidy payments sound confusing? Then this short video will explain why it's short-sighted and simply punitive.  •  •  •  I haven't been running. I need to start, but starting again is harder now that it's dark early in the morning and I don't like running in the dark.  •  •  •  We've finally gotten a reprieve from the every-morning madness of Little Einsteins. We have a new favorite at Casa del Nash: P.J. Masks. However, Roland can't quite remember the name of the show. "Can we watch Three Jay Masts?" "Can we watch T.J. Maxx?" Usually he gets it right on the third try or so, but it's fun to watch him stammer for the right words.