* As I noted earlier, today Donald Trump tweeted that “our country needs a good shutdown.” Perhaps this is another item that we should add to the list of things that this president doesn’t know.
If Pres Trump really wants a “good shutdown”, he could just veto the new spending bill. Doesn’t need to wait until fall. https://t.co/KlohhwH8vo
— Carl Hulse (@hillhulse) May 2, 2017
* Apparently Trump isn’t the only one in this administration that is ignorant and delusional.
OMB Director Mick Mulvaney to reporters: “We might need a shutdown at some point” because “Washington needs to be fixed.” (via @JDiamond1)
— David Wright (@DavidWright_7) May 2, 2017
It is beyond me to figure out how a government shutdown fixes anything. But these are the same people who think that hiring billionaires and lobbyists is how you “drain the swamp.” Go figure.
* Philip Rucker identifies another disturbing Trump pattern.
It’s no longer just Vladimir Putin.
As he settles into office, President Trump’s affection for totalitarian leaders has grown beyond Russia’s president to include strongmen around the globe.
Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi has had his opponents gunned down, but Trump praised him for doing “a fantastic job.” Thailand’s prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, is a junta chief whose military jailed dissidents after taking power in a coup, yet Trump offered to meet with him at the White House. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has eroded basic freedoms, but after a recent political victory, he got a congratulatory call from Trump.
Then there’s the case of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. He is accused of presiding over the extrajudicial killing of thousands of drug dealers and users. And in response to U.S. criticism of his human rights record last year, he said President Barack Obama “can go to hell.”
Yet on Sunday, in what the White House characterized as a “very friendly conversation,” Trump invited Duterte to Washington for an official visit.
* As a follow-up from my story this morning about Sen. Elizabeth Warren, she tried to walk back one of her statements about President Obama a bit on Boston Public Radio.
Warren defended former President Obama, whom she had criticized earlier in the week for receiving a $400,000 sum from a Wall Street firm for a speech. On Thursday, Warren told SiriusXM’s Alter Family Politics she was “troubled” by Obama’s choice to accept the money. On Monday, she clarified her comments.
“I also want to be clear here about false equivalence,” Warren said. “President Obama stood up and fought to get the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau…
“I worry about the influence of money on Washington,” Warren continued, “but I also know who has been out there fighting for the consumer financial protection bureau, who has been out there fighting for more funding for NIH, who has been out there fighting to raise the minimum wage, who has been fighting to reduce the interest rate on student loans, I don’t want to lose the forest here.”
* Finally, if you are not one of the almost 4 million people who have watched what Jimmy Kimmel said last night about the birth of his son Billy, please do so as soon as possible.
Personally, I’d like to preserve what he said at the very end.
If your baby is going to die and doesn’t have to it shouldn’t matter how much money you make.
I mean I think that’s something that whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat or something else – we all agree on that, right?
This isn’t football. There are no teams; we are the team. No parent should ever have to decide if they can afford to save their child’s life. It just shouldn’t happen, not here.
* Obviously, this guy agrees.
Well said, Jimmy. That’s exactly why we fought so hard for the ACA, and why we need to protect it for kids like Billy. And congratulations! https://t.co/77F8rZrD3P
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) May 2, 2017
