Comments@THE GUSS REPORT-The phrase may you live in interesting timescertainly applied to the past week when one story after the next was bad news for those on the American Left, or at least those for whom partisanship (like those on the Alt Right) is the most important thing.
- The “President Trump” and “Nobel Peace Prize” chatter.
As images of the high profile visual gathering between Kim Jong-un of North Korea and Moon Jae-in of South Korea reached every corner of the planet – including the stunning image of their holding hands as Jong-un symbolically stepped over the border into South Korea, Trumpand Nobel Peace Prizewere discussed on CNN, MSNBCand elsewhere before and after Saturday night’s White House Correspondents Dinner, which Trump did not attend.
While it is a long way from cup to lips, just the possibility of de-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is a major development that could influence the 2018 and 2020 elections. If the pugnacious president were to win a Nobel Peace Prize, it would be lights-outfor any chance of impeaching him let alone defeating him in 2020.
- Speaking of Impeachment, Nancy Pelosi and friends said to knock it off.
You know that the idea of impeaching President Trump is essentially over when former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, former Obama adviser David Axelrod, former Obama Attorney General Eric Holder and Senator Chuck Schumer are all saying it’s a bad idea.
- Mike Pompeo was confirmed as Secretary of State.
As former Vice President Joe Biden infamously said on a hot mic, this is a big effing deal. In early April, Pompeo, then head of the CIA, made a secret trip to the DPRK to meet with Kim Jung-un, and there is little doubt that this is what led to the extraordinary events that took place on the border last week. It’s particularly bad news for the American Left because Pompeo possesses copious skills that the president lacks. Despite his anti-LGBTQ beliefs, he was quickly confirmed as Secretary of State after a brief pause in the Senate committee. It is important to note that six Secretaries of State became president, though none in the past 150+ years, as Hillary Clinton recently discovered.
- MSNBC’s Joy Reid denied, then finally took ownership of herhomophobic remarks.
While Pompeo stood by and explained his views about the LGBTQ community, MSNBCcommentator Joy Reid did everything except take ownership of her own homophobic and transphobic statements until she had no other option but to apologize for them. At first, Reid blamed the comments on her social media accounts being hacked, which her forensics consultant was unable to substantiate. Then Reid disowned her comments, claiming, “I genuinely do not believe I wrote those hateful things.”Reid finally apologized, putting her boss, NBCNews Chairman Andy Lack in a three-way tug of war between the not-monolithic African-American, women and LGBTQ communities, and he cannot afford to disenfranchise any of them. Still, his 2016 firing of another black commentator, Melissa Harris-Perry, unceremoniously came and went. The American Left simply cannot afford to lose another black female voice, but it might.
- Influential black men speaking their mind, and it’s not at all in sync with the Left, Progressives and Democrats.
In the late 1850s, the American population reached the 30 million-mark. That is approximately how many followers rapper and Kardashian husband Kanye West has on Twitter. This week, he Tweeted a photo of his red Trump-autographed Make America Great Againbaseball cap along with this message:
“You don’t have to agree with trump but the mob can’t make me not love him. We are both dragon energy. He is my brother. I love everyone. I don’t agree with everything anyone does. That’s what makes us individuals.”
The talking heads became apoplectic, suggesting that West was mentally ill.Even the supposedly free-speech supporting entertainment industry, including singer John Legend, whose texts to West encouraging him to rethink his views on Trump, were then Tweeted by West. The men publicly reconciled toward the end of the week, though West’s peer and friend Chance the Rapper tweeted “Black people don’t have to be democrats” to his seven and a half million Twitter followers, which was re-Tweeted tens of thousands of times.
Chance later clarified his view, and it doesn’t at all shine the American Left in a positive light:
“My statement about black folk not having to be democrats (though true) was a deflection from the real conversation and stemmed from a personal issue with the fact that Chicago has had generations of democratic officials with no investment or regard for black schools, neighborhood or black lives. But again, said that shit at the wrongest time.”
The lingering message from the American Left is that if a black man speaks his mind, but his views are not as hostile toward Trump or as favorable to Democrats as it wishes, mental illnessmust be at-play.
- Women’s looks were attacked, but Trump wasn’t the offender.
While many may have enjoyed the comments comedian Michelle Wolf made at Saturday’s White House Correspondents Dinner, there were far more groans than laughs, as the physical appearance of White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee-Sanders stood out most. It would have been perfectly fine to go after Huckabee-Sanders for things she said or how she performs her job. But in the #MeToo era and immediate aftermath of the Bill Cosby sexual assault trial, attacking women for their appearance was another indicator of how the American Left eats its own, and that’s a bad thing when it is trying to get people to choose candidates it supports.
And finally…
- No News from Mueller, Stormy Delayed and Cohen Pleads the 5
There is still no news from Special Counsel Robert Mueller on anything and everything he is investigating about President Trump, Russia et al. The Stormy Daniels legal matter has been delayed for at least three months, and Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen has indicated that he will plead the 5th. Few doubt that if Cohen were to be indicted and convicted, Trump will pardon him. That makes sense, since a recent poll indicates that 73% of Americans don’t care much for Trump’s alleged one-nighter with porn star Daniels. That has long been baked in to the Trump cake. Peace and prosperity matter more than porn.
And all of that took place in just one week. News in Los Angeles, such as Mayor Eric Garcetti’s latest glittery distraction – a gondola from Union Station to Dodger Stadium – quickly fell off the radar. So, for the most part, has the capture of the alleged and elusive Golden State Killer. As the late Charles Manson once said, “You know, a long time ago being crazy meant something. Nowadays everybody's crazy.”
(Daniel Guss, MBA, is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, and has contributed to CityWatch, KFI AM-640, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Magazine, Movieline Magazine, Emmy Magazine, Los Angeles Business Journal and elsewhere. Follow him on Twitter @TheGussReport. Verifiable tips and story ideas can be sent to him at [email protected]. His opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of CityWatch.) Prepped for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.
