Helen H. Moore's Blog, page 769
May 25, 2016
Megyn Kelly waves a white flag: Fox News completely belongs to Donald Trump now
Megyn Kelly (Credit: Fox News)
Fox News’ combustible feud with Donald Trump began with a bang last August when Megyn Kelly pressed the candidate on his ugly history of misogynistic language. The hostilities ended with a whimper though, when Kelly last week obediently walked Trump through the now-infamous softball (or “airball”) interview as part of her first Fox Broadcast special.
Media observers have been lining up to describe just how awful and boring and disappointing Kelly’s sit-down with Trump was, especially after she had made the media rounds promoting herself as a strong, independent journalist who wasn’t going to be intimidated by Trump.
Instead, she practically bowed in Trump’s presence and produced the kind of “journalism” that Fox News is famous for — The New Yorker called the interview “a useless exercise, except, perhaps, for those watching from one group: Republicans looking for a script for how to surrender to Donald Trump.”
Professionally, Kelly’s wilting performance may have set back her dream of becoming the next Oprah or Barbara Walters; of breaking out of the Fox News conservative media word and establishing herself as a TV brand that can appeal to huge swaths of viewers. And maybe bank $20 million annually.
Based on how the special flopped, she may not have that appeal. Ratings for Kelly’s first primetime television special were meh: she drew approximately five million viewers. The only real buzz the show created was the public mocking of Kelly’s inept interviewing style. (“A carefully modulated kindergarten-teacher demeanor.”)
While Kelly huddles with her manager and agent and tries to figure out what went wrong after a long-running media love fest, the larger story that’s come into focus is how Fox News, led by Kelly’s genuflection to Trump, has signaled its institutional surrender to the presumptive GOP nominee. Fox News has been bullied and beaten into submission by a Republican front-runner who had the audacity to pick a fight with Roger Ailes and the mass media mouthpiece of the Republican Party.
Sure, holdouts like Charles Krauthammer, Stephen Hayes and Greg Gutfeld remain staples on the Fox News lineup; holdouts who have dismissed Trump as a conservative joke for months. But their numbers, and certainly their sway, seem to be shrinking as the cable channel clumsily and belatedly maneuvers itself into its traditional campaign role: a cheerleader for, and ferocious defender of, the RNC.
Like much of the Republican Party, as well as large portions of the conservative movement, Fox News is fumbling its way onto the “acceptance” mark as it comes to the final stages of its weird grieving process over the Trump nomination. Eight in 10 Republican voters now want party leaders to rally behind Trump, according to the latest New York Times/CBS poll.
On paper, Trump and Fox seem like a perfect fit since both celebrate bigotry and embrace a kind of divisiveness-on-steroids approach to attack politics. But Fox isn’t used to being pushed around by politicians, let alone by the presumptive Republican Party nominee.
And the conservative in-fighting led to major branding woes for Fox News:
By mid February, [Fox’s] perception by Republican adults 18 and over had reached its lowest point in more than three years, and has declined by approximately 50% since January of this year. Coinciding with Trump’s rise to front-runner in the GOP presidential race, Fox News Channel has seen its perception by Republicans slide.
Today we look at the capitulation landscape and think, well of course Fox News was going to surrender to Trump, right? Fox always backs the GOP front-runner. That logic makes sense today. But how quickly we forget the unprecedented brawl that played out for the last nine months, as Fox routinely found itself stumbling and bumbling; one moment supporting Trump and the next moment angrily lashing out at him.
Here’s a stroll down the civil war memory lane. We may never see anything quite like it again in conservative politics:
2015:
Rupert Murdoch reportedly orders Kelly to attack Trump at first GOP debate.
Trump tweet-storms Kelly following the debate.
Trump and Ailes reportedly smooth over their differences during private conversation.
Trump launches a personal boycott Fox News.
Trump drops his boycott.
Trump spends New Year’s Eve palling around with Fox News.
2016:
Trump threatens to be a no-show for a Fox News GOP debate.
Fox releases a scathing statement about Trump skipping the debate.
Trump calls Kelly “crazy” and “unwatchable.”
During a post-debate interview, Trump suggests Bill O’Reilly go see a psychiatrist.
Fox denounces Trump’s “sick obsession” with Kelly.
Trump calls Kelly an “overrated anchor.”
Kelly meets in private with Trump to request an interview; asks him to stop insulting her.
Fox airs Kelly’s puff piece interview with Trump.
And scene.
We’re done here folks. Pack up your spectacles because the show is over. All’s that left on stage now are Ailes and Kelly, searching for their pride.
Robert Reich: Donald Trump could really be our next president
A new Washington Post/ABC News poll released Sunday finds Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in a statistical tie, with Trump leading Clinton 46 percent to 44 percent among registered voters. That’s an 11 percent swing against Clinton since March.
A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, also released Sunday, shows Clinton at 46 percent to Trump’s 43 percent. Previously she led 50 percent to 39 percent.
Polls this far before an election don’t tell us much. But in this case they do raise a serious question.
Since he clinched the Republican nomination two weeks ago, Trump has been the object of even more unfavorable press than he was before – about his treatment of women, his propensity to lie, his bizarre policy proposals.
Before this came months of news coverage of his bigotry, megalomania, narcissism, xenophobia, refusals to condemn violence at his rallies, refusals to distance himself from white supremacists, and more lies.
So how can Trump be pulling even with Hillary Clinton?
Throughout the Republican primaries, pundits and pollsters repeatedly told us he’d peaked, that his most recent outrageous statement was his downfall, that he was viewed as so unlikeable he didn’t stand a chance of getting the nomination.
But in my travels around the country I’ve found many who support him precisely because of the qualities he’s being criticized for having.
A Latina-American from Laredo, Texas, tells me she and most of her friends are for Trump because he wants to keep Mexicans out. She thinks too many Mexicans have come here illegally, making it harder for those here legally.
A union member from Pittsburgh says he’s for Trump because he’ll be tough on American companies shipping jobs abroad, tough with the Chinese, tough with Muslims.
A small businessman in Cincinnati tells me he’s for Trump because “Trump’s not a politician. He’ll give them hell in Washington.”
Political analysts have underestimated Trump from the jump because they’ve been looking through the rear-view mirror of politics as it used to be.
Trump’s rise suggests a new kind of politics. You might call it anti-politics.
The old politics pitted right against left, with presidential aspirants moving toward the center once they cinched the nomination.
Anti-politics pits Washington insiders, corporate executives, bankers, and media moguls against a growing number of people who think the game is rigged against them. There’s no center, only hostility and suspicion.
Americans who feel like they’re being screwed are attracted to an authoritarian bully – a strongman who will kick ass. The former reality TV star who repeatedly told contestants they were “fired!” appears tough and confrontational enough to take on powerful vested interests.
That most Americans don’t particularly like Trump is irrelevant. As one Midwesterner told me a few weeks ago, “He may be a jerk, but he’s our jerk.”
By the same token, in this era of anti-politics, any candidate who appears to be the political establishment is at a strong disadvantage. This may be Hillary Clinton’s biggest handicap.
The old politics featured carefully crafted speeches and policy proposals calculated to appeal to particular constituencies. In this sense, Mrs. Clinton’s proposals and speeches are almost flawless.
But in the new era of anti-politics Americans are skeptical of well-crafted speeches and detailed policy proposals. They prefer authenticity. They want their candidates unscripted and unfiltered.
A mid-level executive in Salt Lake City told me he didn’t agree with Trump on everything but supported him because “the guy is the real thing. He says what he believes, and you know where he stands.”
In the old politics, political parties, labor unions and business groups, and the press mediated between individual candidates and the public –explaining a candidate’s positions, endorsing candidates, organizing and mobilizing voters.
In this era of anti-politics, it’s possible for anyone with enough ego, money, and audacity – in other words, Donald Trump – to do it all himself: declaring himself a candidate; communicating with and mobilizing voters directly through Twitter and other social media; and getting free advertising in mainstream media by being outrageous, politically incorrect, and snide. Official endorsements are irrelevant.
Donald Trump has perfected the art of anti-politics at a time when the public detests politics. Which is why so many experts in how politics used to be played have continuously underestimated his chances.
And why Trump’s demagoguery – channeling the prejudices and fears of Americans who have been losing ground – makes him the most dangerous nominee of a major political party in American history.
May 24, 2016
Lawyer: Groundwork being laid for possible Savchenko swap
MOSCOW (AP) — A lawyer for one of two Russian servicemen jailed in Ukraine says the groundwork is being laid for a possible exchange with Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, who is imprisoned in Russia.
Lawyer Valentin Rybin told the state news agency Tass on Wednesday that both Russians have submitted a petition for a pardon to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
He said the same procedure is underway in Russia regarding Savchenko and the outcome will be clear by evening.
One of Savchenko’s lawyers, Mark Feygin, said Tuesday that he was trying to persuade Savchenko to file a petition for pardon.
Savchenko was captured by Russia-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and sentenced in March to 22 years in prison for her alleged role in the deaths of two Russian journalists.
Mount Vernon exhibit looks at Washington as slaveholder
MOUNT VERNON, Va. (AP) — George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate is turning a museum space previously dedicated to the Founding Father’s furniture and fineries into an exhibit that takes a hard look at Washington’s life as a slave owner.
The $750,000 Lives Bound Together exhibition will open in October and explore the lives of hundreds of slaves who provided the labor that kept Mount Vernon running as a Southern plantation.
A centerpiece of the new exhibit is a display of Washington’s handwritten list of slaves on the estate from 1799, likely written in preparation for his will. Washington’s will freed the slaves that were under his control upon the death of his wife, Martha.
The exhibit also includes an acknowledgment that Washington’s adopted son likely fathered a child with one of the family’s slaves.
German Cabinet finalizing details on migrant integration
BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet is meeting to finalize details of new measures to help deal with the influx of some 1.1 million migrants who were registered entering Germany last year, including getting them into the workforce faster and promoting broader German language skills.
Among other things, the measures being discussed Wednesday foresee expanded orientation courses for migrants and reduced waiting times for integration courses, with a greater emphasis on learning the German language.
To try to avoid migrant ghettos in big cities, the measures would mandate newcomers to stay where they have been officially placed for a minimum of three years unless a job is found that takes them elsewhere.
The proposals also foresee the creation of government-funded jobs for migrants, and relaxed rules on entering the workforce.
Protests turn violent outside Trump rally in New Mexico
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — In one of the presidential campaign year’s more grisly spectacles, demonstrators at a Donald Trump rally in New Mexico threw burning T-shirts, plastic bottles and other items at police officers, injuring several, and toppled trash cans and barricades. Authorities labeled it a “riot.”
Police responded by firing pepper spray and smoke grenades into the crowd outside the Albuquerque Convention Center.
During the rally, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee was interrupted repeatedly by protesters, who shouted, held up banners and resisted removal by security officers.
The banners included the messages “Trump is Fascist” and “We’ve heard enough.”
At one point, a female protester was physically dragged from the stands by security. Other protesters scuffled with security as they resisted removal from the convention center, which was packed with thousands of loud and cheering Trump supporters.
Trump responded with his usual bluster, instructing security to remove the protesters and mocking their actions by telling them to “Go home to mommy.”
He responded to one demonstrator by asking, “How old is this kid?” Then he provided his own answer: “Still wearing diapers.”
Trump’s supporters responded with chants of “Build that wall!”
The altercations left glass at the entrance of the convention center smashed.
Albuquerque attorney Doug Antoon said rocks were flying through the convention center windows as he was leaving Tuesday night. Glass was breaking and landing near his feet.
“This was not a protest, this was a riot. These are hate groups,” he said of the demonstrators.
Albuquerque police said several officers were treated for injuries after getting hit by rocks thrown by protesters. At least one person was arrested from the riot, police said.
During the rally, protesters outside overran barricades and clashed with police in riot gear. They also burned T-shirts and other items labeled with Trump’s catchphrase, “Make America Great Again.”
Tuesday marked Trump’s first stop in New Mexico, the nation’s most Hispanic state. Gov. Susana Martinez, head of the Republican Governors Association and the nation’s only Latina governor, has harshly criticized his remarks on immigrants and has attacked his proposal to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. The governor did not attend the rally and has yet to make an endorsement.
Trump read off a series of negative statistics about the state, including an increase in the number of people on food stamps.
“We have to get your governor to get going. She’s got to do a better job, OK?” he said, adding: “Hey, maybe I’ll run for governor of New Mexico. I’ll get this place going.”
The governor’s office fired back, saying Martinez has fought for welfare reform.
“The potshots weren’t about policy, they were about politics,” said spokesman Michael Lonergan. “And the Governor will not be bullied into supporting a candidate until she is convinced that candidate will fight for New Mexicans, and she did not hear that today.”
Trump supporters at the rally said they appreciated his stance on boosting border security and stemming the flow of people crossing the border illegally, but some said they were frightened by the violent protests outside.
Karla Molinar, a University of New Mexico student, said she participated in disrupting Trump’s speech because she felt he was attacking members of her family who are living in the country illegally. She said she believes Trump is using them as scapegoats for the nation’s problems.
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Associated Press writer Susan Montoya Bryan contributed to this report from Albuquerque.
Israeli official says deal reached to expand government
JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reached a deal to expand his coalition government by bringing in the ultranationalist Yisrael Beitenu party and appointing its leader Avigdor Lieberman as the new defense minister, a government official said Wednesday.
Moshe Leon, a representative for Lieberman, said the deal will be signed later in the day. The government official, speaking on condition of anonymity under regulations, confirmed both sides have reached the agreement.
The development caps a tumultuous week of politics that began with Netanyahu negotiating with the moderate Labor Party, against a backdrop of international pressure to relaunch peace efforts with the Palestinians, before choosing Lieberman’s party instead.
With the deal, Netanyahu expands his coalition to 66 of parliament’s 120 members. He previously only had 61, the slimmest of majorities, which made it difficult to govern and legislate and opened him to potential extortion of any single lawmaker.
Lieberman, one of Israel’s most polarizing politicians, will take over as defense chief in place for former military chief Moshe Yaalon, who resigned earlier this week.
Yaalon, like Netanyahu, is a security hawk who was deeply skeptical of peace prospects with the Palestinians and led the military through a 50-day war against Islamic militants in the Gaza Strip in 2014. At times, he angered the U.S. by criticizing American peace initiatives in the region as naive or messianic. But he was protective of the military when it came under fire from ideologically-driven hardliners.
His departure leaves the Cabinet dominated by religious and ultranationalist ministers who oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state and have close ties to the West Bank settler movement. Lieberman himself is a West Bank settler.
In a three-decade political career, Lieberman has at times been Netanyahu’s closest ally and at other times a rival. While he is an experienced politician who has been foreign minister and held other top jobs, his security experience is limited.
Over the years, Lieberman has made headlines for a series of incendiary comments. At one point, he called for bombing Egypt’s Aswan Dam and suggested toppling the internationally-backed Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Just a few weeks ago, he threatened to kill a Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip. He has repeatedly voiced skepticism about pursuing peace with the Palestinians.
Those close to Lieberman say he is far more pragmatic and level-headed in person than he appears in public. Netanyahu, in an apparent attempt to ease concerns over Lieberman’s arrival, has insisted his government remains committed to pursuing peace with the Palestinians.
Philippine population growth slows as contraceptives spread
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Officials say the Philippines’ population growth has slowed amid an increased use of contraceptives in the predominantly Roman Catholic country.
The Commission on Population said Wednesday the 2015 census results show the population grew 1.72 percent last year, down from the 1.9 percent rate during the previous census in 2010.
The commission’s executive director, Juan Antonio Perez III, says the country’s population of 100.98 million recorded last year was half a million lower than what was forecast in 2010.
Perez says that use of modern contraceptives — which the Catholic Church opposes — has increased to 45 percent of couples as of last year, up from 38 percent recorded by a national survey in 2013.
House GOP faces first vote on Puerto Rico bill
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are attempting to hold together a rare bipartisan deal to help Puerto Rico manage its crippling finances as a committee begins considering the legislation Wednesday.
The bill to create a financial control board and restructure some of the U.S. territory’s $70 billion debt has support from House Republican and Democratic leaders, as well as the Obama administration. But some bondholders, unions and island officials have opposed it.
“We have a constitutional, political, and moral imperative to act,” said House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop, the Utah Republican who has led negotiations on the bill. The panel began considering the legislation Tuesday evening, and a final committee vote is expected as soon as Wednesday.
The legislation won new support from Pedro Pierluisi, Puerto Rico’s representative in Congress, who said people on the island fear for their finances and their future.
“Accepting a board is personally painful, but it is also the right and necessary thing to do,” Pierluisi said.
The island’s governor, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, has been less enthusiastic, arguing that the seven-member board would be too powerful.
Bishop introduced the bill May 18 after weeks of negotiations that involved House Speaker Paul Ryan, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew. Pelosi has endorsed the legislation, and Lew called it a “fair, but tough bipartisan compromise.”
Ryan, R-Wis., has worked to align his fractured caucus behind the bill, arguing that the legislation would avoid an eventual taxpayer bailout.
The Senate hasn’t yet acted. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said the chamber is waiting for the House to move first.
Puerto Rico, which has struggled to overcome a lengthy recession, has missed several payments to creditors and faces a $2 billion installment — the largest yet — on July 1. Two government agencies have been under a state of emergency, and the economic crisis has forced businesses to close, driven up the employment rate and sparked an exodus of hundreds of thousands of people to the U.S. mainland. Schools lack proper electricity and some hospitals have said they can’t provide adequate care.
But like U.S. states, Puerto Rico cannot declare bankruptcy. The legislation would allow the control board to oversee negotiations with creditors and the courts over reducing some debt.
It would also require the territory to create a fiscal plan. Among other requirements, the plan would have to provide “adequate” funds for public pensions, which the government has underfunded by more than $40 billion.
During negotiations, the Obama administration pushed to ensure that pensions are a priority in the bill, while creditors worried they would take a back seat to pension obligations. Bishop says the control board is designed to ensure all are paid.
While some bondholders have backed the legislation, others have lobbied forcefully against it.
“If passed, this bill will serve as a landmark moment in American municipal finance — the moment when Congress made clear that it will not hesitate to rewrite rules and override contracts so that bondholders are forced to foot the bill for the pension systems that negligent governments have bled dry and refused outright to fund,” read a release from a group called the Main Street Bondholders Coalition.
Some conservatives have wavered on the bill, echoing the concerns of bondholders and voicing concern that the legislation could set a precedent for financially ailing states. Some Democrats, including presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, have said they worry the board would neglect the needs of Puerto Ricans.
“We must stop treating Puerto Rico like a colony and start treating the American citizens of Puerto Rico with the respect and dignity that they deserve,” Sanders wrote.
Sanders also criticized a provision in the bill that would allow the governor of Puerto Rico to cut the minimum wage temporarily for some younger workers. Unions have also lobbied against the legislation for that reason.
Pierluisi said Tuesday that he doesn’t think the island would ever decide to trigger the minimum wage provision.
“It’s not worth discarding the bill over this misguided but ultimately meaningless authority,” Pierluisi said.
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Associated Press writer Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this report.
Eric Trump, helping his father, balances company, campaign
NEW YORK (AP) — The windows of Eric Trump’s office in the Trump Tower offer breathtaking views of some of Manhattan’s most expensive real estate. It’s there the youngest of Donald Trump’s adult sons is reflecting on eye-opening moments from a world far away.
“Having to speak at a Pizza Ranch in Iowa, you hear things you never would,” he says from the 25th floor office in Trump Tower, steps from the offices of siblings Ivanka and Don Jr. and one floor down from their father. “For us, the learning curve was exponential.”
As his father’s seemingly quixotic campaign caught fire, Eric Trump, 32, an admitted political neophyte, found himself thrust into the heart of it all. He barnstormed across small towns in Iowa and New Hampshire, gamely doing interviews on local radio stations and Fox News, all while balancing growing responsibilities to the company.
“The process makes you go out there and see this country,” he says. “I knew nothing about the nuts and bolts of politics before this.”
When Donald Trump announced his underdog candidacy for president last June, he empowered his three grown children to take the lead running the billion-dollar business that made him a worldwide celebrity.
Eric Trump says he and his siblings would relish the opportunity to prove themselves by taking over the empire completely if their father becomes president. If so, he says: “We’d always be one phone call away if he needs it. We’d do anything for the man. But our focus is this company. He’s had to make politics his focus and he’s shown confidence in us that we’ll do a great job with the company.”
Eric Trump estimated that at the start of his father’s campaign, he spent just 10 percent of his time on the campaign and the rest on the business, overseeing projects like new hotels in Vancouver and Rio de Janeiro and a golf course in Scotland.
Now he’s heavily invested in the campaign and that’s expected to grow further. Those around the campaign say Eric, though at times overshadowed by his brother Don’s seniority and his sister Ivanka’s celebrity, has been tireless in providing advice and appearing on behalf of his father.
And all three children — whose mother is Ivana, Trump’s first wife — are expected to do even more in the general election campaign, including pitching in to soften the rough edges of his public image.
Their love for their father — and apparent level-headedness, despite growing up among fabulous riches and bold-faced names — was prominently on display during a good-humored and affectionate appearance on CNN last month. Eric Trump said he is happy to act as a walking, talking testament to his dad in the likely showdown against Hillary Clinton, which would feature a pair of prominent and complicated families. “If I can be a character witness for him, and tell people about the man that he is, I want to do that,” Eric said.
There have been some bumps in the road.
Eric and Ivanka Trump were the subject of some embarrassing headlines when it was revealed that they were not registered to vote in time for their father in last month’s New York primary. An African big-game safari Eric and Don Jr. took drew criticism from animal rights activists. And an envelope filled with white powder was sent to Eric Trump’s Manhattan home in March, though tests later revealed the substance was harmless.
And there have been moments when their father’s divisive policies have conflicted with the family business. The furor over Trump’s rhetoric about illegal immigrants and plans to build a Mexican border wall caused a celebrity restaurateur to back out of a hotel project in Washington, and a charity golf tournament was canceled after organizers feared it had become too political.
It remains to be seen how the Trump Organization would be run with Trump in the White House. His would be the largest business empire to belong to a sitting president, and that means a nest of ethical questions.
On the most basic level, federal ethics rules would not bar Trump from personally running his business interests from the White House, or — perhaps more likely — from having influence over decisions made by his children.
Eric — whose wife, Lara, works at the tabloid TV show “Inside Edition” and sports a Trump sticker on her smartphone case — insists that, if elected, his father would completely walk away from the family business, ensuring a “distinct separation” between the enterprise and public office.
“I think we’re going to win this crazy thing,” he said.
For now, Eric Trump’s life is a juggling act. The day after the interview, he caught a flight to Ireland to open a Trump-branded golf course.
