July 15, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
The Washington Post finds that Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House of chief of staff, is “building an empire for the right wing.” I think the Post means that Mulvaney is acting aggressively to make sure the administration implements the deregulatory agenda President Trump says he favors. The Post reports that Mulvaney is shrewdly “steering clear of the Trump-related pitfalls that tripped up his predecessors” — e.g., bugging the president
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July 15, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
This was a popular bumper sticker during the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was aimed at discontented left-wing radicals who claimed not just America was wrong to be fighting in Vietnam, but that it was evil for that reason and for many others. The slogan bothered me because I didn’t love America at the time, yet had no intention of leaving. But the slogan possessed an undeniable logic. If
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July 15, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Yesterday, Steve and I wrote about how Democrats are starting to worry that the leftism that infects their party may cost them dearly in the 2020 elections. Such worrying is on display in this column by E.J. Dionne. The veteran cheerleader pleads with Democrats to fight President Trump rather than each other. If you think about his column, however, Dionne is really calling on his Party to hide the ball.
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July 14, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says this about Nancy Pelosi’s criticism of her and her small congressional squad of radical leftists: When these comments first started, I kind of thought that she was keeping the progressive flank at more of an arm’s distance in order to protect more moderate members, which I understood. [I]t got to a point where it was just outright disrespectful … the explicit singling out of newly elected women
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July 14, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
This weekend, the Washington Post Magazine published a puff piece on Kirsten Gillibrand. It’s called, “Overlooked: America is ignoring Kirsten Gillibrand, is it her fault — our ours?” The Post teases the story, by Anna Peele, with this: Kirsten Gillibrand is accomplished and experienced. For Americans in 2019, that’s no longer enough. Peele is inclined to blame sexism for Gillibrand’s inability to poll better than 0-1 percent. So is Gillibrand.
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July 13, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Jim Bouton, the author of Ball Four, died this week. Half a decade before he wrote that classic, Bouton was a star pitcher for the New York Yankees. But arm trouble derailed him and his decline coincided with the end of the Yankee dynasty. Bouton reinvented himself as a knuckleball pitcher, caught on with the expansion Seattle Pilots, and chronicled his season with them (and with the Houston Astros after
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July 13, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
The Washington Post’s Lisa Rein provides a summary of Alex Acosta’s tenure at the Department of Labor. It includes this passage: Acosta, who aspired to be a federal judge, had a strategy as secretary to play a safe, inside game running the Labor Department, according to multiple current and former administration officials. He aimed for a balance in his approach to labor policy that would satisfy the White House —
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July 12, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Montgomery County, Maryland, where I live, is looking for a new police commissioner. There is an obvious candidate for the job — Marcus Jones, the acting commissioner and 34-year veteran of the force. Jones comes highly recommended by both the previous police commissioner, who has retired, and the County’s longtime State’s Attorney. Not only that, he’s African-American. But there’s a problem. Montgomery County has moved from left-liberal to flat out
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July 12, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Alex Acosta has resigned his position as Secretary of Labor. He tried to avoid this scenario by holding a press conference on Wednesday to explain the sweetheart deal he gave to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein 11 years ago. Acosta didn’t perform badly at the conference. Many of his arguments seemed reasonable on the surface, though not upon scrutiny. However, Acosta failed to stem the tide of criticism against him and therefore,
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July 11, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Pete Buttigieg soared from obscurity to third place (at one time) in the Democratic race for the presidency. His candidacy struck me as interesting for about a week. Then, I realized that he’s just another left-wing Democrat, distinguished from the rest of the field primarily because he happens to be gay. And he has fallen back in the polls. Even at its peak, the Buttigieg campaign faced a huge problem
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July 11, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Sir Kim Darroch, the British ambassador to the U.S. whose blistering and insulting dispatches about President Trump became public, has resigned his position. I don’t see that he had much choice. It is unrealistic to expect any president, and certainly not the current one, to deal with an ambassador whose contempt for him is this deep and now this public. And Britain would be poorly served by an ambassador to
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July 11, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
One intriguing aspect of Alex Acosta’s extraordinarily lenient treatment of pedophile Jeffrey Epstein is Acosta’s meeting with one of Epstein’s lawyers — Jay Lefkowitz, a Washington, DC power broker and former law firm colleague. The meeting did not occur at the U.S. Attorney’s office, as is customary, but at a hotel far away from that office. Acosta addressed this matter yesterday. He said the deal had already been reached by
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July 10, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta answered lots of questions at his press conference today. Some answers were better, and more honest, than others. But Acosta didn’t answer one question: Who at the Department of Justice did he talk to about how to handle the Epstein prosecution? The question is important because Acosta has implied that Main Justice took a softer line on Epstein than he did or, at least, that
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July 10, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Alex Acosta held a lengthy press conference today to defend his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein prosecution. Reportedly, President Trump wanted Acosta to explain himself to the public and to face the news media. Acosta did as well, I think, as he could have done under the circumstances. He may have done well enough to satisfy Trump, who clearly likes Acosta, for now. But Acosta did not do well enough
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July 10, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Politico reports that President Trump and Senate Republicans “are moving quickly to back up beleaguered Labor Secretary Alex Acosta.” They are doing so in the face of “rising pressure. . .from other corners of the White House, with acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney privately urging the president to dismiss him.” Unlike Trump and Senate Republicans, Mulvaney has direct knowledge of Acosta’s performance at the Labor Department. He
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July 9, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Ross Perot has passed away. Perot was a hugely successful businessman, but will be remembered, of course, mainly for his presidential campaign, as a third party candidate in 1992. It was a remarkable run. At times, if I recall correctly, polling placed Perot in the same tier as his opponents, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. In the end, Perot captured 19 percent of the vote. That’s truly exceptional for
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July 9, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
No, Everton, the football club, didn’t win the South American championship this weekend. Instead, it edged a Kenyan team on penalty kicks in its opening pre-season match. However, Everton, the soccer player, scored a goal and assisted on another as Brazil defeated Peru 3-1 to win Copa America. Everton was named outstanding player of the match and finished the tournament as its co-leading goal scorer. Everton probably will never play
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