“Pondering the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.
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Joe Conason: Is it Watergate yet?
As Donald Trump and his subordinates lash out wildly in their campaign to suppress discussion of his presidential campaign’s alleged collusion with the Kremlin, they conjure visions of a truly monumental scandal. With their latest attempts to manipulate the FBI and intimidate the Washington press corps, they clumsily encourage comparisons with Watergate—although, as usual with this crew, it isn’t so simple to distinguish malevolence from incompetence.
Both the New York Times and CNN clearly struck a sensitive nerve with reports that the FBI is investigating the multiple contacts last year between Russian officials and the Trump campaign. Whatever the nature of those contacts and officials, those stories fit neatly into the long-developing narrative of an illicit effort by Kremlin operatives to sway our presidential election on Trump’s behalf through email hacking, fake news reports and hired internet trolls among other things.
If the Russian hacking story was troubling for Trump, it was not nearly as dangerous as the possible collusion of Trump aides and advisers in that conspiracy. While no direct evidence of such collusion has emerged, the implication was inescapable.
Richard (RJ) Eskow: Trump Offers ‘A Nation of Miracles.’ Your Move, Democrats.
The bad news for Democrats in President Trump’s first speech to a joint session of Congress is that he exceeded expectations. A Washington Post headline called the speech “surprisingly presidential.” it’s likely to solidify Trump’s hold on his base, and will probably gain him some additional ground.
Expectations weren’t very high, especially after the apocalyptic tone of his inaugural address. The fact that he didn’t announce the End of Days and call down hellfire on four-fifths of the globe probably caused sighs of relief all over the country.
Still, Trump’s detractors forget that he has a gift for aspirational rhetoric that plays well among many Americans. It’s a gift many Democrats seem to have lost.
Jonathan Freedland: Trump wants ‘peace through strength’ – but this budget is a recipe for war
Whenever you’d interview Donald Trump supporters during last year’s election campaign, one line would come up more than any other: “He’s a successful businessman,” they’d say, “and it’s about time someone ran the country like a business.”
If those voters were expecting Trump to steer the US government with technocratic efficiency, they will have been disappointed by the performance so far. Of course the president himself insists it’s running like a “fine-tuned machine”, but the resignations, leaks, unfilled posts and overturned executive orders suggest a rather less sleek operation.
Still, none of that seems to matter much to Trump’s base who, polls show, are sticking loyally to their man (partly because they simply don’t believe the reports of his serial failures). But now comes the big test of Trump’s promise to act like an incoming CEO and get a grip on USA Inc: his first budget. This is what Trump was hired to do, to cut waste, to get more for less, to make the smart decisions that somehow eluded decades of useless Washington politicians.
Will it surprise you to hear that the early signs point to a budget that is anything but smart – that is, in fact, short-sighted, dumb and self-defeating?
Heather Digby Parton: Donald Trump wants to run the government as a business. But he’s never been any good at that either
Tuesday night’s big speech by President Donald Trump to the joint session of Congress was yet another in the series of disorienting and surreal spectacles over the last year and a half that make you blink your eyes and pinch yourself to ensure you aren’t dreaming. You shake your head and mutter under your breath, “Yes, Donald Trump really is our president.”
Since Trump has so much trouble telling the truth and makes conflicting comments to different people every day, it’s a waste of energy discussing the policies he laid out in the speech. His actions are the only way to determine his real agenda, so one has to evaluate these events as performances.
As Bill Maher said on MSNBC, the president was “Teleprompter Trump” on Tuesday night. That means he was tolerably disciplined and semi-articulate, reading a speech written by others. This particular performance style always compels media outlets to declare his tone “moderate” and “measured.” Some said Trump has finally “pivoted” to a more presidential demeanor. They were enthusiastic enough about this speech that Trump may even stop tweeting insults about them for a few days. All in all, it was a good night for the president.
Steven W. Thrasher: Trump’s next target: people living with HIV/Aids
A month into Donald Trump’s presidency, and the ways in which Trumpism is a threat to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender existence are almost too many to count. However, those most vulnerable to HIV/Aids will be hit the hardest.
The threat of actually losing health insurance due to the president’s promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act is making millions of Americans so terrified, even his own voters are increasingly warming up to Obamacare.
But the ACA’s death is still a real possibility, and it would take a particular toll on queer Americans. According to a Yahoo investigation: “Before the ACA was passed, only about 13% of people with HIV had private health insurance and 24% had no coverage at all.” Indeed, the ACA has been a lifesaver for many people living with HIV: its subsidies for private insurance and its robust expansion of Medicaid in many states have greatly increased their access to medical treatment. If you doubt the scale of the continuing epidemiological emergency, consider that only about half of African Americans with HIV have access to continuous medical treatment, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
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