Still BrazyOn most of the TV news broadcasts yesterday, it appeared as though Trump was doing something vaguely government-related by pointing at some fencing-- approved by President Obama-- claiming it was part of his own big new beautiful wall and declaring the U.S.is "full" and can't accept any more refugees or immigrants. The photo op, though, was just a cover for a couple of campaign events. Tarpley Hitt reported for the Daily Beast that Trump's event in Beverly Hills was a dud by L.A. standards-- bot star-studded, for one thing.
“Celebrities? No celebrities,” Rabbi Marvin Hier said of the event. Hier is the dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and gave the prayer at Trump’s inauguration. Multiple valets in royal blue jackets, who declined to give their names because of their job, echoed his sentiment.“No celebrities,” said one valet, driving past in a golf cart.“Yeah, no celebrities,” claimed a second.The event was held in the 22,000-square-foot Beverly Hills home of health-care executive and GOP donor Lee Samson. The 15-bathroom “Italian-style limestone villa” runs about $10 million, according to Zillow, and was named Robb Report’s Ultimate Home of the Year in 2012. Tickets started at $15,000 for dinner, $50,000 for a photo op with Trump, and $150,000 to join his roundtable discussion, according to an invitation obtained by the City News Service....Republican National Committeeman Shawn Steel told the Washington Post that during his speech Trump talked at length about winning California during the 2020 election. He also reportedly discussed socialism and “got a big round of applause talking about his administration’s decision to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.”The event, whose location was leaked to TMZ, drew a tiny crowd, with four flag-clad supporters in MAGA hats, and 10 protesters holding a banner that read “TRUMP AND PENCE MUST GO.” More than one passing driver blared YG and Nipsey Hussle’s “Fuck Donald Trump.”Michelle Xai, a young woman with a Monroe facial piercing, a megaphone, and dozens of anti-fascist stickers on her clothes, carried two signs, each with the names and images of children who died in Border Patrol custody. She was there on behalf of RefuseFascism.org, an activist organization which conducts sustained nonviolent protests at Trump-related events. Xai had already attended dozens.“For the past two years, people have been sitting passively and waiting for the Mueller report and for somebody else in power to do something,” Xai said. “We need to shake them awake and say this is already a very dangerous situation and we can’t just sit back and wait for two more years for something to happen.”Just feet away stood Holly Cleeland, a middle-aged white woman with bright pink lip liner and an American flag shawl. “The organization I’m here for is Make America Great Again. Patriots Unite, or anyone that’s a conservative and believes the way I believe,” she said. “We want America great again. We want it back to the way it was. We don’t want Hillary Clinton giving our money away. Giving our uranium away.”Behind Cleeland-- who claimed that all undocumented immigrants receive $3,500 a month from the government for their entire lives--stood Atlas Winfrey, a teenage-looking boy with a notebook wedged in his pocket.“I’m with the Time to Get Organized for an Actual Revolution National Tour. The slogan of this tour is ‘You think you’re woke but you’re sleepwalking through a nightmare,’” Winfrey said. “We’re touring all across the country to organize thousands into the ranks of the revolution.”The section cordoned off for protesters was labeled the “Free Speech Zone.”Prior to this visit, Trump had visited Los Angeles only twice: once for a March 2018 fundraiser, and again this past fall, to tour areas hurt by wildfires and the site of the Thousand Oaks shooting. By contrast, Barack Obama had visited Los Angeles around 21 times by this point in his presidency.After about an hour, Trump left in his motorcade and traveled by boat to his golf course in Palos Verdes, California, where he reportedly dined with his son Eric. He is scheduled to leave Los Angeles late Friday night for Las Vegas to address [Sheldon Adelson's] Republican Jewish Coalition for their annual leadership meeting.
Meanwhile, halfway across the country, Chicago Tribune reporter Steve Chapman noted that all that bluster about closing the border was just more Trump bullshit. "His inability to reach deals to get what he wants," wrote Chapman, "is a recurring theme of his administration. Trump tried to get Mexico to pay for his cherished wall and failed. He tried to get Congress to provide $5.7 billion to construct it and failed despite putting the country through a 35-day government shutdown. He has since demanded that Congress give him $8.6 billion for the barrier, which is also not going to happen. It takes a special perversity to repeatedly bang your head against an imaginary wall."
It has never been a secret that Donald Trump didn’t actually write his famous book, The Art of the Deal. It was composed by Tony Schwartz. What we can deduce now is that Trump also didn’t read it-- or any other books on the topic. We can reach that conclusion based on the abundant evidence that Trump is terrible at making deals.His threat to close the U.S.-Mexico border offers the latest example. The president had spent several days raising that prospect “if Mexico doesn’t immediately stop ALL illegal immigration coming into the United States.” But his threat succeeded mostly in terrifying Republicans. “Closing down the border would have a potentially catastrophic economic impact on our country,” warned Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.So on Thursday, Trump backed down while trying to disguise his surrender by saying he wouldn’t carry out his plan immediately. “We’re going to give them a one-year warning,” he said of the Mexicans, and if they don’t submit, he’ll impose tariffs or close the border.But he’s been making this threat for several months already and so far has neither gotten his way nor kept his word. He’s negotiating with himself, and he’s losing....Trump is good at making demands and issuing threats, but those are useful only if you know how to bargain and compromise. He fails at making deals because he has never learned that in negotiations, as in war, the other side gets a vote.
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