Keystone Kops
President Trump signed the Keystone Pipeline authorization on Friday (3/24/17), just like he promised he would. Another in a string of campaign promises made good—at least the ones he has direct control over.
But, later in the day his almost friends in Congress showed how utterly inept they are. Speaker Paul Ryan and his subalterns wore new grooves into the shiny floors of The Capitol, what with all their frantic shuffling from one caucus room to the next, trying to herd a bunch of clueless cats into some sort of half-assed voting bloc to pass a Repeal of Obama Care Bill. The House had passed such legislation sixty times in the previous seven years. This time it didn’t happen of course and in the end Ryan had to explain to The President why he was unable to fulfill the GOP’s most fervent promise to voters — namely, to enact a decent, common sense, affordable health care plan that was not named Obama Care.
Perhaps it is just as well. A philosophical Donald Trump explained away his first major legislative defeat as a chance to craft a better bill later. Perhaps he’s learning a thing or two in President School. Compromise. The art of politics—compromise. The Art of the Deal? That’s for building golf courses. The Art of Politics is compromise.
Which didn’t happen because his own party excluded a big conservative faction when writing their flawed health care package. Keystone Kops. The tomfoolery was unnecessary and childish. Maybe the whole cast of characters learned a thing or two about governing.
The Tweeter In Chief no doubt has learned a hard lesson about the damage wrought by his own imprecise language. When he blurted out in January that former President Obama had “wiretapped” him what he meant was that someone in the shadows might have “surveilled” him. Turns out he might have been right. A little, or a lot.
The initially insignificant Watergate Break-in occurred on June 17, 1972. Richard Nixon did not resign the Presidency until 26 months later on August 9, 1974. Between the act and its consequences there was a whole lot of obfuscating, investigating, special prosecuting, world-class political intrigue and blind ambition. I was a young news director at KHOW-Radio in Denver during the Watergate months. I recall the daily drips of new information and not quite comprehending its full significance until much later, for we were also reporting Nixon going to China, Nixon going to Moscow, Nixon re-elected 520 electoral votes to Hubert Humphrey’s 17. There was Viet Nam, Roe v. Wade, Secretariat wins the Triple Crown, Spiro Agnew resigns, the Arab Oil Embargo. And Watergate.
We didn’t know it then, but we were watching something monumental unfolding in daily drips of information.
The thing is, I’m getting the same vibe today. Forget how flawed Donald Trump is. Forget the petty party squabbling. Pelosi, Schumer, Wolf Blitzer? Forget them, too. Washington has gotten a whiff of smoke from a distant fire. Something monumental is in the wind.