Focused Read in 4-5 minutes,
depending on if you read the entire piece
depending on if you read the entire piece
"Donald Trump’s Year of
Living Dangerously ~
It’s worse than you
think..."
By Susan B. Glasser
“Over the course of the
year, I have often heard top foreign officials express their alarm in
hair-raising terms rarely used in international diplomacy—let alone
about the president of the United States. Seasoned diplomats who have
seen Trump up close throw around words like “catastrophic,”
“terrifying,” “incompetent” and “dangerous.”
In Berlin
this spring, I listened to a group of sober policy wonks debate
whether Trump was merely a “laughingstock” or something more
dangerous. Virtually all of those from whom I’ve heard this kind of
ranting are leaders from close allies and partners of the United
States. That experience is no anomaly. “If only I had a nickel for
every time a foreign leader has asked me what the hell is going on in
Washington this year … ” says Richard Haass, a Republican who
served in senior roles for both Presidents Bush and is now president
of the Council on Foreign Relations.
… Over their year of
living dangerously with Trump, foreign leaders and diplomats
have learned this much: The U.S. president was ignorant, at times
massively so, about the rudiments of the international system and
America’s place in it, and in general about other countries.
He
seemed to respond well to flattery and the lavish laying out of red
carpets; he was averse to conflict in person but more or less
immovable from strongly held preconceptions.
And given the chance, he
would respond well to anything that seemed to offer him the
opportunity to flout or overturn the policies endorsed by his
predecessors Barack Obama and George W. Bush.
… But there were other
worrisome encounters. In a meeting with Steve Bannon, the combative
Breitbart propagandist who had helped elect Trump under the “America
First” banner of nationalist populism and was now his chief White
House strategist, it was clear where some of Trump’s disruptive
foreign policy ideas were coming from. The two quickly clashed about
Russia.
When he urged the White House to take the threat from Putin
more seriously, “Bannon was very dismissive,” the European
official recalled. “‘What is the GDP of Russia?’ he asked me.
He said, ‘They’re economically weak. You should not care about
Russia, you should care about China.’
I said, ‘Maybe in 30 years
you are right, but in 30 years Russia can do a lot of nonsense.’”
Another conversation, with
Jared Kushner, the presidential son-in-law who had been given an
expansive international portfolio ranging from restarting Middle East
peace talks to dealing with Mexico and China, was just as troubling.
Kushner was “very dismissive” about the role of international
institutions and alliances and uninterested in the European’s
recounting of how closely the United States had stood together with
Western Europe since World War II. “He told me, ‘I’m a
businessman, and I don’t care about the past. Old allies can be
enemies, or enemies can be friends.’ So, the past doesn’t count,”
the official recalled. “I was taken aback. It was frightening.”
… “The bigger
miscalculation on the part of the allies was this sense that, however
off base Trump might be on some of our policy positions, the ‘axis
of adults’ will always see us through,” says Julianne Smith, the
former deputy national security adviser to Vice President Joe Biden
who now heads the transatlantic program at the Center for a New
American Security. Summing up a year of contacts with worried
European allies, she adds, “The axis of adults, it turns out, are
mere mortals, and no, they don’t have superpowers. And that I think
has been a rude awakening for a lot of our allies around the world.”
The dysfunction
continued to plague Trump’s foreign policy team as the
tumultuous year came to an end. “It’s a snake pit,” a senior
Republican who has remained in close contact with many of the players
told me in early December. “There are personality tensions between
the president and Tillerson, between the president and McMaster,
between McMaster and Tillerson. It’s broken and it’s going to
have to be fixed one way or another. It can’t go on like this.”
… Back in February,
Senator Bob Corker, the Senate Foreign Relations chairman who would
so dramatically break with Trump months later, was still trying to
understand the new president. Trump, he told me then, was a
“wrecking ball” when it came to foreign policy who truly was
determined to “just destroy everything about” the U.S.
establishment’s view of the world. Would he “evolve,” Corker
asked?
… At the time, he hoped yes. By the
fall, he was warning that Trump was risking nuclear Armageddon. ... "
You can read more here
(Note: Sometimes when I highlight articles I break some paragraphs into smaller paragraphs for easier reading at a glance and I've done that here.)
Focused Thought in 30 seconds
( Meme courtesy of Miss Revolutionaries. You can find them on Twitter here )
Focused Action in 30 seconds
You can share Bardella's Tweet here
( You
can read the piece here )
“No matter your take on
Trump, the fight is real”
Editor's note: Kurt
Bardellais a political commentator who recently left the Republican
Party to join the Democratic Party. He is a former spokesperson for
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California), Brian Bilbray (R-California),
Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Breitbart News. The views
expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
Focused Point of Interest, Personal Commentary, in 4-5 minutes
Unity Reform Commission Co-Chairs Jennifer O'Malley Dillon and Larry Cohen are pictured at the head of the table
My
letter to National Democratic Party Chair Tom Perez re Unity Reform Commission ~ a lightly edited version
I
have been following the Unity Reform Commission meetings that have
been open to the public and online since the first meeting took
place on April 4, 2017.
As
a rule, the meetings were held over weekends and were approximately
3-6 hours in length.
First, it needs to be said, Co-chairs Jennifer O'Malley Dillon and Larry Cohen did a wonderful
job keeping the Commission on track and moving forward -- not an easy task consider the contentious environment that created the Commission.
Second,
I filled out a Commission Specific survey after the August meeting. I
also shared a copy of that with Perez via e-mail, with a few additional notes – expanding on some
of my thoughts about the Party going forward that were not directly related to the Commission's work.
On
January, 2, following the final public meeting in early December, I reviewed and updated
my initial thoughts and sent those to the Chair as well.
*** UPDATE: The Report of the Unity Reform Commission, which was adopted at the December 8 & 9, 2017 meeting, was released on December, 22. You can read the report here
Next up, the recommendations will be considered by the Rules and By-laws committee where the recommendations will be considered.
Next up, the recommendations will be considered by the Rules and By-laws committee where the recommendations will be considered.
If they are not all accepted and if there is disagreement about that, the unaccepted will go to the full committee for votes and majority will rule and those who have not been heard prior to voting will not be considered.
Personally,
I wanted all of them, particularly the DNC Chair, to know what I was thinking before the process is completed.
I have been sharing my thoughts on a continuum, from the election of the Chair to the last meeting of the Commission, making this a bit unclear to anyone not a part of that running narrative, perhaps, so following my opening paragraphs I share some of the key thoughts I have shared over nearly a year in a
way that I hope will make for easy reading.
I
am a “building the basics” kind of thinker and, for me, at this particular moment in time, that means encouraging the DNC to come to terms with the fact that the Democratic Party not really a family-friendly organization and that becoming more family-friendly is the right thing to do and just may increase membership numbers in the process.
So if anyone has thoughts beyond the scope of mine I encourage you to share them so they might be considered as a part of the building of the new DNC. You can find the page here.
Many years ago, I had a state senator who told me one of the reasons he appreciated hearing from his constituents was because so much work came across his desk in a year he couldn't possibly think of everything and constructive, constituent thoughts were actually a big help to him --
since that time, I share my thoughts, especially when they have been asked for and the DNC Unity Reform Commission and the DNC Chair have asked for them.
So if anyone has thoughts beyond the scope of mine I encourage you to share them so they might be considered as a part of the building of the new DNC. You can find the page here.
Many years ago, I had a state senator who told me one of the reasons he appreciated hearing from his constituents was because so much work came across his desk in a year he couldn't possibly think of everything and constructive, constituent thoughts were actually a big help to him --
since that time, I share my thoughts, especially when they have been asked for and the DNC Unity Reform Commission and the DNC Chair have asked for them.
*
Dear
Chairman Perez,
In
the past, I have submitted edited variations of these comments ~
first, in support of your election to the position of Chair and
second, in response to the Unity Reform Commission's survey, and
third directly to you via email because the context is a bit broader
than the mandate of the Commission.
Please
find below what I suspect will be my final comments as the Commission
winds down and reports out and decisions are made. As a committed
Democrat, I hope you will find a few ideas that will be beneficial to
your building of the Party as we go forward and -- win, particularly
in 2018 and 2020!
Thank
you,
Updated
thoughts as 1.2.2018:
One...
I
have been hearing conversations around eliminating the Electoral
College which I find disturbing as it is my experience that
systems are only as good as those who are running them, which would
be the electorate, I hope there will be a thorough review of the
system, with consideration to who is operating it, so the Democratic
National Committee might weigh in on the side of our system of checks
and balance – even if that requires some adjusting to improve its
efficiency.
Also, in
the context of representation and checks and balances at the various
levels of our government and party structures some thought could be given to this: My Congressman represents approximately 650K citizens and that is
ridiculous.
(Perhaps
it is the near impossibility of the numbers of representatives we
have in D.C. to do their job that makes many feel out of touch with
them and not the representatives, themselves? It might be a great
study to take on in preparation for Democrats taking charge of the
country once again.)
If
we were to work on reviewing and updating the number of
representatives we have in Congress per our 21st Century
population a case
for a bit of a course correction might be made to balance out the
unfairness of less populated states having the same representation as
the more populated states in the United States Senate, for example.
Two...
We
can not depend on media to inform the electorate so it seems to
me it would be wise to provide timely interviews and clips of sitting
Democrats talking about what is really happening. Perhaps even a DNC
“Highlights of the day or week Hour” starting at the federal
level and encouraging states to do the same thing?
Three...
The DNC needs a newsletter!
Four...
Please
get it together on Factivists who are able to amplify message.
When pre-made messaging is provided in a timely fashion in a format that
allows them to be personalized digital activists can multiply the impact exponentially.
Please
note: And, in the current environment this is especially important to me, it has been my experience in my small part of the world that women have always
been the backbone of the Democratic Party and as Party member numbers
have declined over the years many women, who have been on board since oh, probably
JFK, have continued to do the work.
As
we add numbers to our Party, I encourage Democratic Party
Leadership to stand up for the knowledgeable and the experienced
members of the Party who have kept it afloat by volunteering, by supporting candidates, by running for office, and by donating money, etc., long enough to
transition into the “new” Democratic Party you are now Chairing.
Charges, such as “elitism” and "establishment," in the negative, are misguided, at best.
To
not do that is to deny their value and have one's value noted really
should be too much to ask.
TY!
Highlights
of earlier comments that could be acted on immediately with good return at little cost:
1...
Immediately
offer free memberships to the Democratic National Committee for
students and 55+ and anyone making under $25,000 a year – a rise
in the number of the Democratic Party membership would be an
indication that the “new” Party is actually growing and it could
create excitement, encouraging others to sign on and it could be a
news story and Party investment isn't always and can't always be found in money!
2...
Immediately
begin to host “new” Democratic candidates for office in sort-of
new Democratic National Committee candidate focus groups on the
Party channel - explaining, of course, that the National Party
does not take sides in primary elections but does want to
acknowledge and introduce as many people as possible who are
stepping up and running for office as Democrats!
3...
Immediately
announce the Democratic National Party is going to commit to actively
being and encouraging “family-friendly” - with a simple plan
based on family-friendly in the context of the Democratic Party. (See
below for more detailed thoughts on that.)
Earlier
comments... i.e. those that I've shared throughout your campaign for
DNC Chair and the Democratic Unity Commission work with edits.
FIRST,
I
don't have to tell the Democratic National Committee leadership what
the scope of the challenge is in expanding the Democratic National
Committee into an effective, winning governing body of the Democratic
Party and I'm certain you are hearing from all kinds of Democrats
about all of the pros and cons of the Party,
so I am just going to
ask every Democrat sitting on the DNC Unity Reform Committee, as well
as on the entire Democratic Committee (DNC), keep in mind what the
essence of the DNC is (unless it has changed and if it has please
send a memo!):
“ ...home
of the Democratic Party, the oldest continuing party in the United
States...fighting for progress and helping elect Democrats across the
country to state government, Congress, and the White House... “
i.e.,
dedicated to “perfecting the union” and providing qualified
candidates up and down the ticket to work to legislate via the
American value/principle of The Common Good determined by Compromise
and Majority.
And,
I am going to keep my comments very focused on my immediate areas of
concern, which can be summed up as primarily –
making the DNC
family-friendly which also, by its very nature, makes any
organization more accessible.
One
Rank
and File & potential Party Members need clarity re Democratic
Party vision, mission, strategy, goals and objectives.
Two
Real
access to the Party means becoming a family-friendly organization
from the the bottom up.
Three
In
an Era of Trump GOP propaganda, providing opportunities for Party
Members and Supporting Members to be informed participants on a
variety of levels is critical.
Having
said that, although we may need to be a bit operationally flexible as
the DNC expands and as The People Wake up,
our Democratic Party
values and principles and vision and mission must be the backbone of
our Party.
We can flex from there in the context of diverse tactics
and in the context of renewed Party Platforms every four years –
reflective of the process of acting, analyzing, adapting and acting
again – but the backbone is who we are and that must remain our
touchstone, our fall back position if you like.
We
are in the midst of the GOP hostile take over of our country via
lying to win, voter suppression and Russian attacks conducted with
the explicit goal, per our intelligence community, of installing
Trump in the Oval Office, etc., and probably keeping him there in 2020,
adding to the work of the Democratic National Committee the job of
standing up and defending our representative form of government, as
well as defending our Party Platform and fielding and supporting the
most informed and qualified Democratic candidates available to us in
winning elections up and down the ticket and
It
is not the job of the Party to imagine otherwise, in my opinion.
In
response to some of what I've heard in past Unity Reform Commission
meetings – in the context of The DNC should do this and the DNC
should do that I do
not see the DNC as arm of local and state parties efforts to gain
new, dedicated members
through the remnants of a chaotic and inefficient caucus system that is primarily an obstacle to many voters who do not have the time and/or the transportation
and/or the childcare, etc., to participate in them
and,
secondarily to that, oftentimes, currently, a vehicle for the ill-informed
and/or for the users and abusers of the system to come in and disrupt
and bully, respectively speaking
I also do not see any benefit to open primaries, in fact I see more risk factors in open primaries than I do in primaries that are dedicated to Party members and I've not bee able to find a good reason to take risks in the process.
I also do not see any benefit to open primaries, in fact I see more risk factors in open primaries than I do in primaries that are dedicated to Party members and I've not bee able to find a good reason to take risks in the process.
which
is not to minimize the intention of good people in the Party who
truly desire to connect Democrats in a manner that is warm and
welcoming and informative and may serve the Party in growing membership and volunteers but, –
the
process must be accessible if uninitiated Democrats are to participate and new
ways to be inclusive, informative and to grow the membership and to
inform re organizational structure and process must be found without adding unnecessary risks.
We are in a new day, after all ...
We are in a new day, after all ...
And
I say that fully acknowledging change on such a scale is not easy and
requires some flexibility as cookie cutter solutions are rarely
successful in the realm of humans.
Access is a necessity but chaos and bullying is not be an option and
I believe, particularly in 2016, some made it very clear that the
caucus system was/is a great space for some to bully others in!
SECOND,
Improving
on the operational/administrative aspects of the organization seems
to be being addressed as I am seeing some
incremental improvements of the communications of the DNC, from which
all else must flow, but as we move closer to the 2018 midterm
election, I'd like to focus on what is really my number one concern which is that
the Democratic
Party talks family friendly but does not act family friendly,
particularly in the context of bringing income
limited Democrats, specifically women, to the table whether it goes
to their ability to attend relevant meetings, to serve in Democratic
Party positions and/or to actually run for office.
My
history, personal and professional, has primarily been in working
with income limited, single moms so I will make my comments in the
context of income limited, single moms but most what I have to say
can apply completely or partially to any community of one's choice,
of course.
Five suggestions based on my primary issue of concern:
1
It
is important that the DNC strongly encourage and support Democratic
places of “operation” (city committees/clubs/state committees) to
locate near public transportation whenever possible not
everyone has a car and if you want all Democrats to come to the Party
you have to give some thought to the idea that they have to be able
to get there.
2
It
is important that the DNC strongly encourage and support Democratic
places of “operation” (city committees/clubs/state committees) to
consider family-friendly times when scheduling meetings as well as
accommodate those who can not physically make a meeting with
phone conferencing or other online communications. Their really is no
reason meetings can't be video taped and put on the website with a
time-limited window for public comment.
3
It
is important that the DNC strongly encourage and support Democratic
places of “operation” (city committees/clubs/state committees) to
consider offering child care at meetings which makes it easier for
the adult guardians of children to attend meetings and which also
begins to impact and involve a second generation in the Party.
(I'd say the same thing about volunteer situations, as well, where
possible – including children helps the adults and informs the
children in a show and not a tell fashion.)
4
It
is critical that the DNC strongly encourage and support relevant
Democratic places of “operation” to elevate child care and travel
expenses for candidates running for office to a level in the Party
where there is a designated fund raising component and a designated
expense line item for it on an as needed basis – reasonable child
care costs should not be an obstacle to participation in the
Party and the return on investment can be great in the context of
gaining members who want to learn and to train and to become a part
of the Party as volunteers, as leaders and/or as potential
candidates.
5
It
is critical that the DNC strongly encourage and support Democratic
places of “operation” in recognizing that most of them are
disconnected from many Rank and File Democrats – primarily because
they assume everyone is civics illiterate and they assume everyone
feels of value to the Party without any actual attention being paid
to make sure they are civics literate and of value to the Party.
I
can only speak based on limited observation but it seems apparent to
me that civics illiteracy in this country is at the highest rate it
has ever been and Democrats can not win if we do not have an informed
electorate.
A
few related thoughts:
1
Immediately,
Create and support a system that:
Offers
free Democratic National Party card carrying membership to
Democrats 55 and up and college students which will immediately
boost the Democratic Party membership numbers which will also peak
interest and project a positive growth image which will also be a
media story as such numbers have not changed in a very long time;
Assign a monetary value for
volunteer hours to be considered and to be recorded as a inkind
donations to the Party no Democrat actively work on behalf
of the Party should ever get emails basically complaining that they
have not donated to the Part yet!;
Stop click bait fundraising Do not email Democrats for a one reason then suck them into hitting
a link that takes them to a donation page. It is lazy and it is
annoying.
2
Create
a glossary of terms and define National Democratic Party specific
terms, particular those related to the various communities and
factions under the DNC umbrella...For example, What is a Democrat?
What is a Progressive Democrat? What is a Green Democrat? Etc.
3
Create
simple, perhaps animated, slide shows of how the Party structure
works/roles and responsibilities; the basics of how the election
process works within the Party;the basics of running for office and
gaining budgeting, for example, so new Democrats can look, learn and
perhaps be inspired to do more. And offer mentors to guide new member
through the process.
4
Create
a simple main calendar that lives on the Democratic National Party
website with all relevant national dates and include links to all
State and Local calendars. The DNC website really should be the
go-to website for all things Party.
5
Create
a safe place for Democratic rank and file members to share thoughts
with Democratic National Committee leadership perhaps something
similar to a relevant, public comments sections government agencies
use to gather input - where people have to use their names –
which tends to result in serious people offering serious comments...
That
^^^ would also mean making sure in your organizational chart online
that clear descriptions of leadership responsibilities are available.
I
also strongly encourage offering a “verifiable” membership option
that provides access to video taped meetings with opportunities to
make comments over a limited period of time. Democratic
membership should offer something for commitment.
Make
sure everything is on the DNC website! (Which, by the way, should
also offer recommended relevant, Party relevant blogs...)
And,
frankly, the website and other social media platforms desperately
need updating...
I
am encouraged to know the Democratic National Committee has finally
decided to go full-time all the time. I am also encouraged to know
some of our greatest leaders remain involved in building our Party
and in winning elections, i.e. President Obama, Former AG Holder &
our first woman presidential nominee and winner of the
presidential popular vote, Hillary Clinton!
I
am hopeful that is an indication that the DNC will not shy away from
being the Democratic Party first and adding new Democrats and or
Friends of Democrats as we all work together to course correct GOP
harm that has been done and to stop any further GOP harm being done.
For
the record: A summarized
version of my thinking here will appear in my upcoming Blog, date
dependent on the dates surround the Unity Reform Commission's
submission of it's report to the Rules and By Laws Committee and the
follow up from there.
Thank
you so much, again, for taking the time to listen...
*
I
hope the Unity Reform Commission and the National Democratic Committee Chair know what you-all think, too!
This weekend: is a great time to share your thoughts with them because between mid-terms and the presidential election there is not going to be much time for visioning...
You should feel free to cut and paste and adapt anything you like if that is helpful to you!
.
This weekend: is a great time to share your thoughts with them because between mid-terms and the presidential election there is not going to be much time for visioning...
You should feel free to cut and paste and adapt anything you like if that is helpful to you!
.
.
.
→ Direct sources for Democrats:
* ( Personal favored and most informative follows are shared here with the understanding that readers will always apply their own critical thinking to any information provided anywhere by anyone. #StrongerTogether does not share sources of information lightly but -- no one is perfect! -- so always #DistrustAndVerify I am using a star rating that is strictly based on my situational experience with the work of the media personality specifically in relation to issues of interest to me. )
The Democratic Party Website
Also
C-SPAN (a good place for speeches & hearings direct source (s))
→ Fact checking organizations courtesy of the Society of Professional Journalists
in alphabetical order...
→ Some of my favorite, most informative
follows on Twitter include:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ US Intelligence | Author | Navy Senior Chief | NBC/MSNBC
⭐⭐⭐ Federal Government Operations | Vanity Fair | Newsweek | MSNBC Contributor | Author
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Voting Rights/Voter Suppression | Author | Mother Jones
→ Some of the most credible media -- at the moment:
📰📰📰 Mother Jones
📰📰📰 The Washington Post
📰📰📰 The New York Times
💻💻💻 News And Guts on Facebook
→ Some of the most credible Talking Heads -- at the moment -- and their Twitter handles:
📺📺📺 Rachel Maddow on MSNBC
📺📺📺 The Beat With Ari on MSNBC
( ⬆⬆⬆ Wallace is new to the job but for right now
her work on Trump GOP has been credible, IMO)
...for Networking for Democrats today!
.
.
.
(Linked) "...is our 2016 platform...a declaration of how we plan to move America forward. Democrats believe that cooperation is better than conflict, unity is better than division, empowerment is better than resentment, and bridges are better than walls.
It’s a simple but powerful idea: We are stronger together."
( #its2018now )
In honor of women leading the American Resistance ~
" ... Susan, a Quaker, came from a background where girls were valued and educated just as Quaker boys were, but Susan began to see the real world when she became a teacher and was routinely paid about one-quarter of the salary she would have received if she had been a man.
Elizabeth was from a well-to-do family where boys were favored. Elizabeth married and began having children ... At that time, women had little opportunity to control whether or not they became pregnant, and it frequently happened that just as Elizabeth was about to attend a new round of meetings or take on a new push for voting rights, she would find herself pregnant and more or less homebound again. Despite this, Elizabeth attended everything she could and when she was needed at home, she served their team effort by writing speeches that Susan could use at conventions or on the road. ... "
You can read more about this power friendship here
*
Curated by Gail Mountain, with occasional personal commentary, Network For #StrongerTogether ! is not affiliated with The Democratic Party in any capacity. This is an independent blog and the hope is you will, at a glance, learn more about the Party and you will, with a click or two, also take action on its behalf as it is provided!
( You can also find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/GKMTNtwits )
*
See the League of Women Voters website:
Vote411 here
Thank you for focusing!
g., aka Focused Democrat
✊ Resisting "Fake News"
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