SHOW NOTES: D*ckhead Diplomacy; Iran; Midterms
Welcome! I’m coining a new term many of you will not like, but I think is an accurate summation of a particular situation: dickhead diplomacy. The White House staff have decided that they will be dickheads to their allies and bully them into what they want, including taking Greenland from our NATO ally, Denmark.
Sorry. I don’t mean to come swinging out of the gate this morning on that, but it’s just not a good look and ultimately undermines the President’s ambition, which is a very good ambition.
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Listen to Ana. Seriously.
_____________ Guess what’s missing.
🙏 Prayers for the LaMalfa Family. Congress Doug LaMalfa has died. Mark Halperin broke the news this morning while I was on his program. LaMalfa, from Northern California, was loved on a bipartisan basis. The Republican helmed the Western Caucus and had great relationships across the House.
🙏 Also Prayers for the Bairds. Congressman Jim Baird and his wife have been in a serious car wreck. They are in stable, but serious condition.
➗✖️➕➖ A One Vote Margin. This now makes the math harder for the GOP. They now have 218 seats to the Democrats’ 213 seats. Marjorie Taylor Greene is gone. The LaMalfa special election and Greene’s are both a long way off. Thomas Massie is alienated from Trump. There should be a two-seat margin, but Massie’s regular opposition makes it a one-vote margin and now Congressman Baird is out of commission. Good luck getting anything done and the odds of Hakeem Jeffries taking over before November will go up, though there are ways for the House GOP to short circuit that until the election. But, good luck trying to do a reconciliation package now. Or renewed healthcare subsidies. Or anything.
The GOP Is Meeting. They’re at the Kennedy Center. Here is some of the President talking to them.
_____________ Guess what’s missing still.
Bad Guys Think They’re Good. Sorry, y’all, but as much as I support re-engagement in the Western Hemisphere, the toppling of Maduro, the destruction of the Cuban regime, and putting Brazil and Colombia in their proper places (and Mexico), the Trump Administration’s insistence on being dickheads to everybody, including allies, is getting exhausting. The Danes have actually been a pretty solid European partner — even more than France, Germany, and the UK. To engage, as the Trump Administration is, in this bullying behavior is unbecoming of the greatest nation on the planet. No bad guy, except in movies, looks in the mirror to celebrate being bad. They think they are good and their motives pure. Stephen Miller et al in the White House are the bad guys here.
But. But. But. We do need to note the President is right about Greenland. Denmark has let the island stagnant. Suicide is rampant. The economy is under developed. We need military upgrades on the island and expansion. The dickhead diplomacy distracts from valid points. Maybe let Jason Miller run point on this instead of Stephen Miller.
Floridian Foreign Policy. Speaking of Cuba, the regime is under new pressure with the cut to their oil supplies from Venezuela. We’re looking at foreign policy being driven by Floridian interests. Toppling Venezuela and Cuba plays not just to our own core national interests, but to the political interests of major constiuencies in Florida. This is really good and good riddance to the Cuba commies if we can pull it off.
🚨🚨🚨 Major Anti-Semitism Scandal in the United Kingdom. It involves a coordinated smear campaign between local politicians and police against Jews.
▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮ Still not there. _____________________ What are you missing that I’m not talking about?
Russia Wants More War. Vladimir Putin has expanded a shadow war with all of Western Europe and it may spill out of the shadows.
FAFO Hilton Edition. Hilton is removing a hotel franchise from its system after employees at the franchised Hampton Inn in Lakeville, MN refused to honor reservations for ICE employees. As a Diamond member of the Hilton Honors program, I appreciate Hilton’s swift and decisive action.
Related. Over Christmas, I had a conversation with a guy who owns a national business. He said his company now refuses to even consider anyone who puts their personal pronouns in their résumés or signature lines. He noted it is business protection as the company has found people who play the pronoun game are not just not good workers, but also disruptive malcontents. I’m willing to bet the employees who made the call in Minnesota to drag Hilton into the culture wars all had pronouns in their signature lines.
It’s Not Always About the Polling. Harry Enten has some polling, though it is snap polling and it suggests voters are not supportive of what Trump did in Venezuela. Who cares? Sometimes global strategy is more important than polling.
Presidents who let the polling run their presidency tend to be the worst presidents. As Dick Morris told Bill Clinton, polling is not to tell you what to do. Polling is to tell you how to sell to the public what you already wanted to do.
On That Point. Mark Halperin brought up a good point this morning. This President and has team have really not tied Russia, China, and Iran to the Venezuelan action very much. Did you know Iran and Hezbollah have facilities in Venezuela? Did you know Iran makes drones in Venezuela? Did you know Hezbollah has a money laundering operation there? I bet most people do not know these things. It might be worth the President talking about Iran and Venezuela. Then we can talk polling.
Likewise. All the opposition comes from uniform opposition by Democrats. If the President cured cancer, it’d have 42% support because Democrats would be 100% in opposition.
1,000,000+ That’s the number of Epstein documents Pam Bondi still has not released.
▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮ Still not there. _________________ Erickson, what are you intentionally leaving out that is clearly supposed to be a big deal? Oh, it’s January 6th. And no one cares except the press corps. It’s become their anniersary to pretend they got PTSD and democracy died. Move on, people.
This Right Here. This is Good.
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