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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Paul Krugman: Trump’s Manchurian Trade Policy
Remember “The Manchurian Candidate”? The 1959 novel, made into a classic 1962 film (never mind the remake), involved a plot to install a Communist agent as president of the United States. One major irony was that the politician in question was modeled on Senator Joe McCarthy — that is, he posed as a superpatriot even while planning to betray America.
It all feels horribly relevant these days. But don’t worry: This isn’t going to be another piece on Donald Trump’s collusion with Russia, which is being ably covered by other people. What I want to talk about instead are Trump’s actions on international trade — which are starting to have a remarkably similar feel.
On one side, the “Make America Great Again” president is pursuing protectionist policies, supposedly in the name of national security, that will alienate many of our democratic allies. On the other side, he seems weirdly determined to prevent action against genuine national security threats posed by foreign dictatorships — in this case China. What’s going on?
Richard Eskow: How Trump And The GOP’s SCOTUS Screw Workers
Many have observed, correctly, that the Supreme Court’s recent 5 to 4 decision upholding forced arbitration for employees is a “devastating blow” to the rights of working people. This decision by the court’s conservative majority will affect an estimated 60 million workers, who will now be unable to band together to fight the legal and financial power of their employers when they have been mistreated in the workplace.
Americans have traditionally viewed the Supreme Court as an unbiased, apolitical institution. But today, more than ever, this is an illusion. The court’s conservatives are now an openly partisan cadre. They’re political operatives, not jurists. They’re part of a vast and well-funded Republican machine that seeks to screw American workers so it can further enrich its wealthy patrons.
Were it not for some underhanded Republican machinations, they wouldn’t even have a court majority.
Catherine Rampell: Republicans’ inhumanity at the border reveals their grand scam
Since October, more than 700 minor children have been separated from their parents at the border. More than 100 have been under 4 years old.
Some, like an 18-month-old Honduran boy torn from his mother in February, are just toddlers.
“The immigration officers made me walk out with my son to a government vehicle and place my son in a car seat in the vehicle. My son was crying as I put him in the seat,” the boy’s mother said in a sworn statement. “I did not even have a chance to try to comfort my son, because the officers slammed the door shut as soon as he was in his seat. I was crying, too. I cry even now when I think about that moment when the border officers took my son away.”
This mom was not trying to “sneak across” the border, by the way. She had crossed an international bridge into Brownsville, Tex., and presented herself to immigration authorities to request asylum from political violence.
Instead of receiving refuge, she lost her child. It was months before they were reunited.
Such stories are enraging and shameful. They also put the lie to sacred principles that Republican politicians have long claimed to stand for, chiefly: family values and rule of law.
Michael Tomasky: The Giuliani of 1989 Would Try to Lock Up the Giuliani of 2018
Once upon a time, Rudy Giuliani, as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, put crooked politicians in jail. This is 30 years ago now, which is a long time, and time, well, it does things to people.
In fact, Giuliani himself delivered a pretty observant remark about time Sunday on CNN, speaking to Dana Bash: “Hey, there are a lot of people with decades of service,” Giuliani said. “Some are good, some bad, and some men get consumed with power, and some begin to lie.”
You can say that again, bub.
Since becoming Donald Trump’s lead lawyer and defender, Giuliani has piled lie on top of lie— statements the Giuliani of the 1980s would have assembled into a devastating dossier that he would have presented with glee to a grand jury.
That Giuliani of 1988—so zealous in pursuit of wrongdoing that he had a daughter wear a wire to record a conversation with her mother, a judge accused by Giuliani of a corrupt act (and acquitted!)—would have been scouring the law books looking for a way to indict the Giuliani of 2018.
Jennifer Rubin: Will Trump finally pay a price for his abject cruelty?
Nothing so personifies the administration’s lack of humanity coupled with its utter cowardice as its attempt to duck responsibility for the very “shock and awe” immigration policy Trump demands his attorney general and secretary of homeland security carry out.
There are several issues intertwined. Trump would have us believe he is responsible for none of the suffering inflicted on immigrant youth. The facts tell us something quvite different. [..]
If the administration and its apologists treat the new child-separation policy as just another immigration issue in which they can look tough to their base, they may be surprised. It’s not good enough to mumble something about the rule of law, and blame parents fleeing oppressive conditions. Every parent in American, every decent American, will be sickened by the sight of young children being taken from the parents. If Republicans have a problem with women voters now, wait until scenes of tearful family separations make their way into midterm ads.
Democrats have an opportune time to highlight the ramifications of a cruel, anti-immigrant administration bent on juicing up its white grievance message machine. If Trump hasn’t the nerve to defend his own handiwork, maybe he should change the policy. If not, Americans in November will add this to the list of issues weighing in favor of changing the House and Senate majorities.
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