Another One of Those Days

Except it's getting worse.

So Trump held a meeting with Congressional leadership, ostensibly on the situation he's created in Syria. It didn't go well:

The President started the meeting with a lengthy bombastic monologue, according to a senior Democratic aide. He bragged about the "nasty" letter he sent to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the Turkish leader's decision to invade northern Syria, the aide said. . . .

"He was insulting, particularly to the speaker," Schumer told reporters later on Wednesday. "She kept her cool completely. But he called her a third-rate politician. He said that there are communists involved and you guys might like that. I mean, this was not a dialogue. It was sort of a diatribe — a nasty diatribe not focused on the facts, particularly the fact of how to curtail ISIS, a terrorist organization that aims to hurt the United States in our homeland."

Hoyer echoed those remarks, saying that the meeting "deteriorated into a diatribe" and that they were "deeply offended" by the way Trump treated Pelosi. He said that after serving in Congress over the course of six presidential administrations, he has "never" seen a president "treat so disrespectfully a co-equal branch of the government."

Via Joe.My.God., who found this:

NEW: White House Press Secretary tells me: "The President was measured, factual and decisive, while Speaker Pelosi’s decision to walk out was baffling, but not surprising...While democratic leadership chose to storm out ... everyone else in the meeting chose to stay in the room." pic.twitter.com/eoxZaZ6Nzz

— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) October 16, 2019

This is the White House Press Office, whose job in this administration has been to lie to the American people. That's what they get paid for.

That's not all. Digby has a run-down of the insanity coming from Trump. Here's a sample:

Trump darkly insinuates that Obama was involved in the "corruption" of the 2016 election pic.twitter.com/JkW72kRJO8

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 16, 2019

He is completely delusional. The impeachment inquiry is really getting under his skin.

And she follows up with a litany of his foreign policy disasters.

And this is the most powerful man in the world -- for as long as it lasts.

Today's Must-Read: More on That Meeting

From the inimitable Charles P. Pierce:

Well, now we know what Rex Tillerson's job really is. He tells the administration's bedtime stories so we can all sleep peacefully because everything is under control, dammit. (Don't make him come upstairs again!) Friday's story was of the meeting between El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago and Vladimir Putin of the dead eyes and, according to Daddy Rex, everything went swimmingly. Pressed, old Vladimir was, on the subject of his having allegedly ratfcked the 2016 election on behalf of the president.

Pressed, I tell you. From NBC:

Tillerson said Trump opened the more than two hour meeting by questioning Moscow's cyber intrusions in America's political system. The two had a "very robust and lengthy exchange on the subject," Tillerson said. Putin continued to deny Russian involvement.

Pressed, by cracky!

Tillerson departed the briefing room after leaving unanswered questions about whether Trump accepted Putin's denial of election meddling.

That seems to be something of an omission, at least to this untrained observer.

On the issue of election meddling, the subhead seems to say it all:

According to Rex Tillerson, Putin will try to make sure Putin stops meddling in our elections.

If nothing else, this proves that The Art of the Deal was ghost-written. (And do keep in mind that one of Tillerson's last acts as CEO of Exxon-Mobil was to try to negotiate a deal to open up the Russian arctic to drilling. Just sayin'.)

Read it -- it's not that long, and it's deliciously snarky as only Pierce can be.

(Via Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

Digby has more on that meeting, as well as the speech.

Today's Must-Read: Military Justice

If you or anyone you know is thinking of joining the Air Force -- or any branch of the military -- think again:

At the end of the week, Mario Manago, 33, will be out of the Air Force after 12 years.

But he's not just out of a job -- he's now a felon.

His crime? Being six minutes late to a meeting.

Manago, of Willingboro, was convicted at court-martial March 9 of failing to go to his "appointed place of duty." He was late to a meeting he requested with his commander to discuss his concerns that he was being treated unfairly by his supervisors at the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Burlington County, according to him and his attorney.

You might well ask "Why was he late?"

He got a meeting with his commander, Lt. Col. Eric B. Quidley, to discuss his concerns that he was being targeted. But that morning, he was told he couldn't leave his post on the base because things were too busy. He called to reschedule the meeting, but was told he could not.

This is sort of like having the police department investigate charges of police misconduct.

His commanding officer will probably get a promotion.

Leadership

Digby has a trenchant comment that I thought worth noting:

It's hard to believe sometimes, but when leaders lead on issues it often forces people to "sit down and think about it". Certainly not the haters or the hardcore ideological opponents who will never vote for them anyway. But others, the people who aren't quite sure, often find leadership to be a helpful guide.

It's a simple formula that goes back a long way. I'm surprised more politicians don't use it.

Maybe Obama should have figured this out three years ago?

Marriage In New York: The Story (Updated, Updte II)

Good piece at NYT on how marriage in New York state actually happened. There are lessons here for everyone, I think, starting with the gay groups who lost the Prop 8 fight in California:

Mr. Cuomo was diplomatic but candid with gay-rights advocates in early March when he summoned them to the Capitol’s Red Room, a ceremonial chamber with stained-glass windows and wood-paneled walls.

The advocates had contributed to the defeat of same-sex marriage in 2009, he told them, with their rampant infighting and disorganization. He had seen it firsthand, as attorney general, when organizers had given him wildly divergent advice about which senators to lobby and when, sometimes in bewildering back-to-back telephone calls. “You can either focus on the goal, or we can spend a lot of time competing and destroying ourselves,” the governor said.

This time around, the lobbying had to be done the Cuomo way: with meticulous, top-down coordination. “I will be personally involved,” he said.

The gay-rights advocates agreed, or at least acquiesced. Five groups pushing for same-sex marriage merged into a single coalition, hired a prominent consultant with ties to Mr. Cuomo’s office, Jennifer Cunningham, and gave themselves a new name: New Yorkers United for Marriage.

I'm reminded of the beginnings of Perry vs. Schwarzenegger, when HRC et al. were criticizing AFER for launching the case, and then turned around and asked to participate. Saying "no" was one of the smartest things Boies and Olson did, and they did it for the right reason: HRC and the rest of the Gay Inc., legal team would probably have lost the fight for them.

Speaking of HRC, the lesson they could learn from this is how to reach a goal. You don't do it by going to a meeting with a presidential advisor and listening. Not when the president and his advisors don't give a rat's ass about your goals, you don't. You get them on board, or you don't talk to them. GetEqual did it without the president, if you'll remember.

And as for the president: this is what "fierce advocacy" looks like. But it's not just a lesson on same-sex marriage. It's a lesson on getting anything done.

Update II:

Maureen Dowd seems to agree with me:

But for the president, “the fierce urgency of now” applies only to getting checks from the gay community, not getting up to speed with all the Americans who think it’s time for gay marriage.

As with “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” Obama is not leading the public, he’s following. And worse, the young, hip black president who was swept in on a gust of change, audacity and hope is lagging behind a couple of old, white conservatives — Dick Cheney and Ted Olson.

As a community organizer, Obama developed impressive empathetic gifts. But now he is misusing them. It’s not enough to understand how everybody in the room thinks. You have to decide which ones in the room are right, and stand with them. A leader is not a mediator or an umpire or a convener or a facilitator.

Sometimes, as Chris Christie put it, “the president has got to show up.”

Update: An interesting post from Bmaz at Emptywheel on how the New York event relates to Perry, ith some predictions:

As you may recall, the issue of standing was punted by the 9th down to the California Supreme Court, where the matter is currently pending.

Between last night’s marvelous happening in New York, the clear cut and admirable new policy by the Obama Administration, and the ever enlightened movement of society, I think the writing is on the wall for the California Supreme Court, and I think they will indeed find that the D-Is have the requisite standing, the 9th will roll with that and away we go to the United States Supreme Court. I truly believe the New York passage will leave such a marker that will carry all this through, and that is a beautiful thing.

As I am going out on a limb here, let me go one step further out. The Supremes will seal the deal. If you read Lawrence v. Texas, penned by Anthony Kennedy, and are a Kennedy watcher, it is extremely hard to see how he will not maintain consistency with his Lawrence decision and vote for marriage equality. I think that was the case from the start, and the action of New York, and, yes the Obama Administration, makes it almost certain. Justices do not want to look like asses in history, the way things are going, the margin may be even more favorable than 5-4 if we get to that point. Wouldn’t that be beautiful?

I'm not sure I have that much faith in the Supreme Court, not after their most recent decisions, but since there are no major corporations being sued, it could happen.