If you have a job making political advertising for Democrats, you may want to save the video clip of this one for later use.
Labor Secretary Alex Acosta resigned Friday amid intense scrutiny of his role as a U.S. attorney a decade ago in a deal with Jeffrey Epstein that allowed the financier to plead guilty to lesser offenses in a sex-crimes case involving underage girls.
President Trump told reporters Friday morning that Acosta had decided to step aside. He called Acosta a “great labor secretary, not a good one” and a “tremendous talent.”
“This was him, not me,” Trump said of the resignation decision, as Acosta stood by his side. “I said to Alex, you don’t have to do this.”
It’s customary whenever possible for a president to say kind things about a cabinet member who is stepping down. Even if everyone knows that the president is actually furious with the person, you can expect them to say that they did a good job and they’re grateful for their service. It’s also completely normal for the president to claim that the decision wasn’t theirs and they accepted the resignation with some reluctance, even though this is only rarely true.
But this isn’t an ordinary case. This isn’t about taking unauthorized flights or buying fancy office furniture or even run of the mill cronyism and corruption. This is about an extensive international underage sex slavery ring. Secretary Acosta, who announced his resignation will become official next week, has been rebuked by a federal judge for wrongly keeping the victims in the dark about a non-prosecution agreement he struck with Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyers. This is a grotesque and unprecedented scandal involving a former close personal friend of the president.
Trump did not have to say that Acosta was “a tremendous talent” or that he’s been “great labor secretary, not a good one.” He didn’t even have to show Acosta the usual courtesies given that he’s been exposed as an unconscionable public official.
Acosta is leaving Trump’s cabinet because the public outcry has been too much to withstand, and Trump decided to create as little distance from his as possible. That’s political malpractice, but hardly unprecedented. He should have showed anger and a sense of betrayal toward Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort, but instead praises and dangles pardons in front of them. Even when he has a decent case to make that he’s been ill-served and did not know what his underlings were doing or had done, he chooses to embrace and protect them.
At some point in the general election, Trump will be asked about why he has the habit of employing people who get arrested, resign in disgrace, or both. No doubt, he’ll be dishonest about his record in these cases, which is why you want the video footage of him praising these people.
If you can’t separate yourself from a guy like Acosta, you have to pay a hefty political price for it. I’m sure the Democratic ad-makers understand this.
I sure hope the Democratic media people understand that. But if Pelosi has anything to say about it, maybe it’ll turn out to be too divisive. Wouldn’t want to divide the country!
One would hope that paying a hefty price is somewhere in the cards. But it seems that Dems are focusing a lot, once again, on “keeping their powder dry”. One would think after all the dry powder they stockpiled during the Bush Administration that they would have more than enough of that in their inventory. Maybe it’s time to actually start using a little bit of it once in a while? There might just be one or two vulnerable places they could aim their weaponry, if they are so inclined.
I would join you in that thought. Just a little bit like against these two scum bags.
“If you can’t separate yourself from a guy like Acosta, you have to pay a hefty political price for it.”
Is this really so? I might have agreed before Trump, but I don’t think any scandal will stick to him. In this particular situation, he will lie about his own involvement, accuse Bill Clinton, and lie some more about the economy. Almost all of his supporters will believe him while those who are already planning to vote Democrat (any Democrat) will have yet another reason to vote against him.
What changes?
The biggest challenge Democrats face is not the message. It is going to be reaching swing voters with that message. Trump voters consume the right wing media which means they see a different world with different political “facts” and different political issues. They all know the mainstream media writes fake news about Trump all the time. CNN is easy to ignore. Their Facebook news feeds are filled with mis- and disinformation. What messages are the Trump campaign feeding Trump and potential Trump voters as we speak? What do they think the issues are in 2020? What are Democrats doing about illegals?
I’ve pretty much given up on American democracy after 2016. That campaign was about Democrats facing an avalanche lies, racism, misogyny, voter suppression and just plain nonsense. I expect a replay in 2020. What can the Democrats do about that?
I don’t think democracy can survive in a fact free world. We cannot agree on the problems let alone agree to a solution.
Hard to disagree watching the waning of democracy around the world. Authoritarianism begets propaganda and vice versa. Can one imagine a series of “debates” with a gish-galloping pathological liar where the Dem plays the truth-seeking fall guy? And 2020 will feature a new disaster: the totally phony, virtual reality video. How many has Putin already got in the can, ready to roll?
The unintended legacy of the digital revolution: pathological liars enter politics, become unstoppable, even with a putative “free” press. Perhaps democratic politics must become a Battle of Complete Liars? In any event, the Founders’ (always theoretical) “Marketplace of Ideas” is dead as a door-nail.
5
Trump is doing such a great job draining the swamp, just like he promised he would. Of course, he first populated the swamp with creatures right out of Monster Movie Matinee. But now he’s draining it, one creature at a time. Once they’re all gone, I think his plan is to fill it all in and turn the capital into a golf course.
1. This scandal was out in the open when the criminal plutocrat-enabler was nominated/confirmed in 2017 (with several Dem votes).
2. Der Trumper is never wrong, and never makes a mistake. This is an irreducible principle of National Trumpalism.