From the midweek Morning Jolt:
I Guess We’re Just Not Going to Make a Fuss About That.
Remember throughout the summer when Republicans had great fun counting the number of days it had been since Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had held a press conference?
The Republican National Committee had fun pointing this out, again and again. Donald Trump had fun pointing this out.
Townhall. IJR. Yup, I noted it, too. When the networks didn’t make a fuss, Newsbusters called them out on it.
President-elect Trump hasn’t held a press conference since before the election – since July 27, in fact. You don’t see many Republicans complaining about it, though. I guess he’s “our” guy now, so we’re just not going to make a fuss about that.
Yesterday his office announced plans to hold a press conference January 11.
At this upcoming press conference, Trump is expected to give an update on how his separation from his vast personal financial empire is progressing. On November 30, he tweeted, “legal documents are being crafted which take me completely out of business operations. The Presidency is a far more important task!”
Good. Republicans spent a lot of time in the past few years arguing that the vast financial donations to the Clinton Foundation from private donors and foreign countries represented a massive conflict of interest. We wanted to cross-check every massive donation against every decision Clinton had made as Secretary of State – and we found plenty of reasons to be suspicious.
But you haven’t heard many Republicans demanding a full separation of President Trump from the Trump businesses. You really haven’t heard any complaining about the Kuwaiti, Bahraini and Azerbaijan embassies booking events at Trump’s new Washington hotel, and that backdoor way of a foreign government putting money into Trump’s pocket. I guess Kuwaiti money is only bothersome when it ends up at the Clinton Foundation.
I guess he’s “our” guy now, so we’re just not going to make a fuss about that.
After promising to release his tax returns several times as a candidate, and then not doing so, the president-elect may not file any more financial disclosures than legally required:
The president-elect is not required to file the annual disclosure until 2018, but the past several presidents have filed in the spring after their inaugurations and then every year in office from then on, as a show of openness. Trump’s transition team did not respond to inquiries about whether he plans to follow that example.
Would Republicans have been fine with that kind of a delay from Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, or Joe Biden? Those financial disclosure forms were key to showcasing the “pay-for-play” allegations at the Clinton Foundation.
But I guess he’s “our” guy now, so we’re just not going to make a fuss about that.
Back during the campaign, I said a temporary embrace of Julian Assange was dangerous for Republicans. I pointed out Assange’s deeply anti-American ideology and his exposure of Afghan informers to the U.S. military. Silly me for thinking the embrace would be temporary. Kellyanne Conway says “we should pay significant attention” to what Assange says, and Sarah Palin is publicly apologizing to him.
I guess he’s “our” guy now, too, so we’re just not going to make a fuss about that, either.
There must have been some memo I didn’t get, announcing that Republicans don’t care about press conferences, tax returns, payments from foreign governments, financial disclosure or Julian Assange leaking classified information anymore. Or some revision emphasizing that we only care about these things when Democrats are involved.
As noted yesterday, Mary Barra is the CEO and longtime high-ranking executive of General Motors, the taxpayer-saved company once reviled by conservatives as “Government Motors.” She was saluted at the State of the Union by President Obama and in March, Clinton Campaign Chair John Podesta sent the candidate a “first cut of people to consider for VP”, a list of 39 names that included Barra.
Barra’s on Trump’s economic advisory panel now.
I guess she’s “our” gal now, so we’re just not going to make a fuss about that, too.