By Todd Lassa

Since Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy begged U.S. Congress and the United Kingdom’s parliament last week for a no-fly zone over his country, Russia’s army has shelled a maternity hospital and conducted an air strike on a military facility in Western Ukraine less than 15 miles from the Polish – and thus NATO – border, killing 35 and injuring 134 according to The Washington Post. Even as Vladimir Putin’s Russia suffers severe economic and trade sanctions, Ukraine is shedding blood, of civilians as well as its military.

Despite the obvious perils of a no-fly zone, proponents of NATO fighter jets closing Ukrainian airspace to Russia argue that the consequences of not doing so will be far deadlier. The proponents note that Ukraine agreed to give up its considerable nuclear arms stockpile in the 1994 Budapest Memorandum in exchange for a guarantee of its security by the U.S., U.K. and Russia. Supporters of Zelenskyy’s pleas for a no-fly zone include retired Gen. Philip Breedlove, former commander of the U.S. European Command, who told MSNBC that Putin already considers the sanctions and weapons supplied by the U.S. and NATO to Ukraine to be acts of war. 

But the prevailing viewpoint by the Biden White House and among Western European leaders is that we can’t afford to turn this new cold war into a “hot war” with Putin, who has hinted about his nuclear might. The U.S., U.K and France combined have slightly fewer nuclear warheads compared with Russia. The violent use of but one of them, however, would be devastating. 

What to do about Zelenskyy’s pleas for help? 

Two of our pundits react to this grave issue, with Stephen Macaulay in the right and Eric Blair in the left. 

Tell us what you think with an email to editors@thehustings.news, and no matter what your position on a no fly zone, please indicate whether you consider yourself “left” or “right” in order that we place your comments in the correct column.

(MON-TUE 3/14-15/22)

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FRI 3/11/22

Gas Tax Holidays are up for consideration in several states, including Tennessee, Georgia, Michigan, Maryland and highest-gas-tax-rate-in-the-U.S., California.

Beat the Midterms – The House Democratic Issues Conference meeting in Philadelphia through the weekend are split over how to stem their much-expected loss of the majority to Republicans in this November’s midterms, Roll Call reports. But the party’s progressives, who spent much of 2021 pushing to make the White House’s sweeping infrastructure program contingent on its even more sweeping Build Back Better plan, appears to have a solution.

Progressive House Democrats are pressing President Biden to enact those “big chunks” of BBB as outlined in his State of the Union address buy signing a pile of executive orders (EOs), Punchbowl News reports. 

“We’re going to make sure that we do everything we can to cut costs for the American consumer,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), chair of the House Progressive Caucus, who will release a slate of proposed EOs next week. 

Known Knowns: While this sounds like 2022 is 2021 all over again for the Progs, who appear to be acting like they have a commanding majority in the House, it should be noted that Jim Clyburn, the moderate Democrat from South Carolina largely credited with reviving Joe Biden’s bid for the party’s presidential nomination in 2020, “threw his considerable might behind the idea,” Punchbowl News says.

If the House Progs can convince the White House to stock up on ink for Biden’s Resolute desk, chunks of the nearly $2 trillion Build Back Better program to be given EO priority will certainly include the child tax credit, portions of the Green agenda and an increase in the refugee cap.

Known Unknowns: As a war-time president who got a bump in the polls after his SOTU from Trump-level low numbers, Biden may be in a better position than he was a few weeks ago to sign a pile of EOs, as House Dems – both progressive and moderate – attack their Republican midterm opponents as coming from a party of do-nothings and including even some pro-Putin candidates from the MAGA wing of the GOP.

•••

Meanwhile, in Constitutional News -- When someone pleads “the Fifth,” it generally goes to this clause in the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution…

“nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”

The Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute, which undoubtedly knows more than a little bit about the law, explains it like this:

“To be self-incriminating, the compelled answers must pose a “substantial and ‘real,’ and not merely a “trifling or imaginary hazard” of criminal prosecution.”

Which sounds rather serious.

Michael Flynn appeared before the January 6 Committee Thursday. Politico quotes his attorney: “General Michael Flynn appeared before the January 6th Committee today in compliance with their subpoena and, on advice of counsel, exercised his Fifth Amendment right to decline to answer the Committee’s questions.”

This is the same Michael Flynn who once had a brief stint as the national security advisor and got a pre-emptive free pass from then-president Trump for charges that he lied to the FBI during an investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. (Why would you need to lie if you’d done nothing wrong?)

About that brief stint: January 22 to February 13, 2017. He barely had enough time to find out where the washroom is.

Why so short? Due to it being revealed that he’d reportedly lied to then Vice President Pence about conversations with Sergey Kislyak, who was the Russian ambassador at the time.

All of this goes without comment.

•••

Kick the Can No More – The Senate appears to have become as tired as we are with the age-old cliché about “kicking the can” -- that is, federal budget continuing resolutions, a few weeks or months down the fiscal year road in order to avoid government shutdowns. The chamber voted, 68-31 yesterday to pass a $1.5-trillion government funding bill that takes us through the end of the fiscal year, September 30, The Hill reports. That’s just two days after the House of Representatives passed the bill along with a provision to allow the Senate a CR that would have extended the deadline beyond Friday, the date set by the previous CR, to next Tuesday, to allow the upper chamber more time.

Some conservative Republicans had objected to voting on the 2,741-page bill without time to read it, but the $13.6 billion in aid tied to Ukraine helped speed the process.

--Edited by Todd Lassa and Gary S. Vasilash

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THU 3/10/22

Inflation Rate Hits 7.9% in February – The Consumer Price Index rose 0.8% in February, the Labor Department announced Thursday morning, as measured even before the effect of Russia’s attack on Ukraine on already skyrocketing oil prices, for an annual rate of 7.9%, highest since January 1982. Gasoline prices were up 6.6%, accounting for nearly one-third of the February inflation rate, with food and shelter also leading the index, the Labor Department says. The annual inflation rate for 2021 was 7.5%.

•••

(Almost the) Final Kick of the Can – In the end, the House of Representatives passage of a $1.5-trillion omnibus appropriations bill for Fiscal 2022 seems anticlimactic next to all the news coming out of the war in Ukraine. But it’s not quite the end, as the Senate needs to take up passage and send the bill to President Biden’s desk, so the House added a four-day stopgap extending the deadline for federal funding to next Tuesday, Roll Call reports. The House passed the omnibus bill 361-169. Figure a dozen or so Republicans will join Democrats in the Senate.

Speaking of Ukraine, the House bill includes $13.6-billion in funding for the crisis there. 

Democrats stripped out $15.6 billion in emergency COVID-19 funding and determined that coronavirus relief needs a standalone funding bill, which is due to happen next week.

Known Knowns: Separation of the COVID-19 funding began when House Republicans demanded budget cuts elsewhere to accommodate the White House’s $22.5 billion appropriation request for coronavirus relief. That led to infighting among Democrats over concentrated power of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to Punchbowl News – so taking up the separate appropriations bill next week looks to be far from a slam-dunk. Expect House Republicans to take advantage of the infighting.

•••

Facing Threats, 1/5 of Election Officials Plan to Quit – One in six election officials have experienced threats because of their jobs, with 77% saying the threats have increased in recent years, and fully 20% plan to leave before the 2024 election, says a new report for the Brennan Center for Justice.

“As American democracy finds itself under assault from lies about the 2020 presidential race ‘being stolen,’ election officials are a prime target in the attempt to undermine future elections,” the report begins. “In 2020, in the face of a pandemic, record-high turnout, and a flood of disinformation about the election process and its integrity, these officials managed to run ‘the most secure election in American history.’” < https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/poll-local-election-officials-finds-safety-fears-colleagues-and>.

More than half of poll respondents are concerned about the safety of their colleagues, and more than a quarter are concerned about being assaulted on the job. The Brennan Center reports that safety concerns range from death threats that name officials’ young children to racist and gendered harassment. The report says 90% of election officials either are not aware of, or know little about, the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, which investigates and prosecutes threats against election officials. (Hat tip to NPR’s Morning Edition.)

--Edited by Todd Lassa and Nic Woods

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Please email your comments to editors@thehustings.news

WED 3/9/22

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (at right, above) last night thanked the U.S. for banning Russian oil imports.

Biden Bans Russian Oil, Natural Gas Imports – No American relishes the added hike to prices -- currently more than $120 per barrel according to NPR -- that will be caused by President Biden’s ban on oil imports from Russia, the world’s largest exporter, in an executive order announced Tuesday. Biden also banned natural gas and coal imports. Republicans looking to boost gains expected in this year’s midterms already have attempted to paint the White House’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as weak, even as former President Trump and a faction on Fox News continue to fawn over Vladimir Putin. 

Pump Gas: Average price for a gallon of regular unleaded nationwide has reached $4.25 per gallon according to AAA, NPR’s Morning Edition reports Wednesday, with prices averaging over $5.50 per gallon in car-happy California. 

GOP Arguments: This is no time to subsidize electrification and renewable energy sources (as found in the “green” provisions of Biden’s stalled Build Back Better plan), but instead we should drill our way back to energy independence.

“Democrats want to blame surging prices on Russia,” The New York Times quotes House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). “But the truth is, their out-of-touch policies are why we’re here in the first place.”

Biden’s Counterpoints: Oil companies operating in the U.S. “have 9,000 permits to drill now. They could be drilling right now, yesterday, last week, last year,” Biden said in announcing his ban Tuesday, (NYT). “They have 9,000 to drill offshore that are already approved. So let me be clear. They are not using them for production now. These are the facts.”

Other Support: Great Britain has pledged to phase out imports by the end of the year, and the executive arm of the European Commission intends to make itself independent of Russian oil in the coming years – even if that’s too little, too late. Moderate conservatives are lining up behind Biden, including the group Republicans Against Trumpism, which tweeted a copy of the ex-president’s “Save America” message from yesterday calling out the “highest gas prices in history,” which asks, “Do you miss me yet?” To which Republicans Against Trumpism tweeted, “NO.”

Also: The U.S. has been an oil exporter for most of the century, with oil supplies playing on the price-setting global market. American refineries built in the ‘00s mostly treat Brent Crude from other oil-producing countries so much of low-sulfur sweet crude from the U.S. is exported. 

A Mess for Texas?: A potential bright spot for Democrats this year is that the high oil prices likely will benefit states like Texas, Oklahoma and North Dakota that were hit by historically low oil prices over the past few years, especially when prices turned negative briefly early in the pandemic. 

•••

American Authoritarian In-Waiting? – Former press secretary for the Trump White House Stephanie Grisham on ABC TV’s The View Tuesday, (per The Hill): “I think (Trump) feared (Putin). I think the man intimidated him. I also think he admired him greatly. I think he wanted to kill whoever spoke out against him.”

•••

Would the Wall Have Helped? — A 30-year-old U.S. citizen was arrested at the San Ysidro border with Mexico trying to smuggle 52 live reptiles into the U.S. that he had placed in bags and secreted on his body, the AP reports. Included were nine snakes and 43 horned lizards.

Note: “I would build a great wall – and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me – and I’ll build them very inexpensively,” said you-know-who. Would that have stopped this creepy-crawly case? Probably not.

•••

Insurrectionist Convicted – Guy Reffitt, a recruiter for the extremist group Texas Three Percenters, was found guilty on all counts for his actions in the January 6 Capitol insurrection. He is the first insurrectionist to go to trial for the riot. Jurors deliberated for two hours before finding Reffitt guilty of five felonies in the federal case, The Washington Post reports:obstruction of an official proceeding, interfering with police in a riot, transporting a firearm for that purpose, armed trespassing and witness tampering. Reffitt faces a maximum sentence of up to 20 years. 

Also: Longtime Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was charged with conspiracy in the Capitol insurrection Tuesday.

Plea Deal Warning: While Reffitt’s son testified against him during the three-day trial, Reffitt’s wife stands by him, saying “This fight has just begun,” according to NPR’s Morning Edition. “Do not take a plea,” Nicole Reffitt said. “They are making a point out of Guy.”

--Edited by Todd Lassa, Gary S. Vasilash and Nic Woods

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TUE 3/8/22

‘I’m not leaving Kyiv…I’m not hiding and I’m not afraid of anything.’ –Volodymyr Zelenskyy (at right, above). President Biden today announces a ban on Russian oil, natural gas and coal imports.

Welcome to the 20^th Century – The Senate passed by unanimous voice vote the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act late Monday to send it to President Biden’s desk for a certainly quick signature (per UPI). The bill makes lynching a federal hate crime.

“After more than 200 failed attempts to outlaw lynching Congress is finally succeeding in taking a long overdue action” by passing the act, says Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). “Hallelujah, it’s long overdue.”

•••

Meanwhile, back in the late 18^th Century -- Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee and consequently important to confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson as justice to the Supreme Court, put out a statement yesterday regarding the vetting procedure (which, from the outside, looks more like a meet-and-greet that an elementary school teacher might conduct with parents before a full-blown conference, wherein Mrs. Wilbur explains why Johnny’s behavior is too disruptive. . .) that is underway:  

“Vetting a nominee for a lifetime appointment to the high court is serious business. The American people rightly expect a full and thorough vetting process. We should not sacrifice the integrity of our constitutional advice and consent responsibility to meet an arbitrary timeline.” 

The Court’s next term doesn’t begin until October, so there’s absolutely no need to rush.” (Hat-tip, Punchbowl PM.)

That the Republicans put Amy Coney Barrett in the big chair in 30 days doesn’t seem to be precedent.

But here’s something to think about vis-à-vis the Iowa senator’s position. Grassley said, when opposing Jackson’s nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, he wasn’t “satisfied” that she “will adhere to the Constitution as originally understood.”

Yes, there is a school of thought of Constitutional originalism. But look at that: “as originally understood.”

How can anyone in the 21^st century claim that he can get into the mindset of someone from the 18^th century?

Did Grassley ride a horse from Des Moines to Washington? Does he work a pump in order to get water? Does he light his house with whale oil? Does he own more than one pair of breeches?

To claim that one can understand how someone thought in 1788 is, well, disturbing.

•••

No More Can-Kicking? – The House of Representatives expects to pass the fiscal year 2022 appropriations budget Wednesday, with the Senate following shortly after, Roll Call reports. House and Senate appropriations committees were making progress Monday on the 12 annual appropriations that compile the bulk of the budget. The third continuing resolution since the fiscal year began last October 1 is set to expire this Friday.

According to Roll Call, COVID-19 aid is one of the few major items still being negotiated Tuesday. If the House and Senate can resolve that, we’re good until this coming October 1, just a month ahead of the mid-term elections. 

•••  

Republicans Can’t Redraw Maps in NC, PA -- …for now. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to block state courts in North Carolina and Pennsylvania from throwing out their Republican legislatures’ congressional maps gerrymandered toward their party in favor of redrawn maps of the state courts’ own, according to SCOTUSblog.

Republican legislators in both states took their cases to the Supreme Court arguing their state courts do not have the authority to redraw their maps. SCOTUS declined to intervene without explanation in the North Carolina case and turned down Pennsylvania Republican legislators’ request in a two-sentence order, the website says, though four conservative justices on the Supreme Court signaled intent to return to the issue on a later date. It’s a Democratic Party victory in both states that may stanch, at best, their losses in the midterms. 

--Edited by Todd Lassa, Gary S. Vasilash and Charles Dervarics

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MON 3/7/22

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (right) and fellow soldiers fight to hold off Russia’s invasion. Russia has set another "cease-fire," but keeps hitting civilians.

Trump’s Harvey -- According to WebMD, about 65% of children have imaginary friends at some point prior to age seven. The site notes, “Many children know that these friends don’t actually exist, but they experience real feelings of comfort thanks to the friendship.”

Although it probably doesn’t take the form of an imaginary person or animal per se, it is almost as though Donald Trump’s continued fixation on how the 2020 election was “stolen” from him is predicated on him having an imaginary pal who is continuing to tell him that lie.

A reasonable person would think that after having lost more than a year ago, after failed lawsuits and recounts that showed his opponent actually gaining more votes Trump would have given up on this. How else to explain this other than his imaginary friend consistently telling him he is a winner making the only explanation for his not having won is because he was cheated out of his imaginary victory?

While it might seem to be a bit excessive to suggest that the former president of the United States has the cognitive capabilities of a pre-K student, a comment that he made at a Republican donors’ event in New Orleans on Saturday seems to belie that.

The Washington Post, which obtained a tape of the speech, quotes Trump as describing Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-CA) as a “watermelon head. . .because his head is shaped like a watermelon.”*

This is how a grown-up describes someone? The Wharton School ought to consider revoking his diploma.

One more thing from WebMD: it describes “Having an imaginary friend beyond age 12” as a “concerning” sign.

Indeed.

*It is perplexing to imagine that these wealthy Republican donors, women and men who have become successful in their given fields, serious people, could listen to a childish remark like this with anything but horror. Those among them who have children would undoubtedly tell Suzy or Johnny that such name-calling is completely unacceptable. Yet the line undoubtedly received laughs and applause, further goading the lengths to which Trump’s imaginary friend will take him.

•••

Ex-Prez: Don’t Buy This Book -- Donald J. Trump sent Lester Holt a letter because the NBC newsman interviewed former Trump Administration attorney general Bill Barr. The interview, broadcast last night on NBC and excerpted everywhere, was predicated on Barr’s book, One Damn Thing After Another, which will be released tomorrow.

Trump, who seems not to have done too well vis-à-vis leaders in the Department of Justice, calls Bill Barr “a big disappointment to me as Attorney General [sic], he was afraid to act, and usually didn’t,” in a letter filled with his typical superfluous capitalization. The letter was obtained by Axios.

Conservative and liberal pundits alike say no one should buy it, because Barr raises serious issues about Trump’s competence that he should have voiced while the ex-president was still in the White House. Perhaps there is some concern that sales of Barr’s book might take away from the demand for Our Journey Together, Trump’s word-un-intensive picture book, which the Republican National Committee purchased to hand out at last weekend’s fundraiser in New Orleans.

Trump did not feel it necessary to read the book before reviewing it for Holt: “I would imagine that if the book is anything like him, it will be lazy, slow and very boring.”

No word on whether Jeff Sessions has read the tome.

•••

Meanwhile … Up on the Hill – GOP lawmakers are attempting to pre-emptively stop the current attorney general, Merrick Garland, from carrying out prosecution of Donald J. Trump based on an expected referral by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection, The Hill reports. 

Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) said such a referral “would probably have as much political taint on it as you can get. … To me, it’s politically driven.”

--Edited by Gary S. Vasilash and Todd Lassa

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THU-FRI 3/3-4/22

Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky: “We are a nation that broke the enemy’s plans in one week.” (Axios) 

Words of the Day: Conspiracy to Defraud – …This is a key potential charge against then-President Donald J. Trump over an alleged attempt to overturn the presidential election listed in a brief that the attorney for the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection has filed in a California federal court.

The brief challenges lawyer John Eastman’s refusal to turn over thousands of emails the House committee had requested that the panel believes reveals his role in trying to persuade Vice President Mike Pence to reject electors from states now-President Joe Biden won. (The Washington Post and NPR)

Eastman cited attorney-client privileges as a shield against releasing the emails. The House panel has questioned whether Trump was in fact an Eastman client, and the panel’s attorney also argues that Eastman’s claim is a potential violation of the “crime/fraud” exception.

A statement released by House panel Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) says in part; “The facts we’ve gathered strongly suggest that Dr. Eastman’s emails may show that he helped Donald Trump advance a corrupt scheme to obstruct the counting of electoral college ballots and a conspiracy to impede the transfer of power.”

Known Knowns: It has been nearly 13 months since most of us witnessed the obvious in coverage of the attack that disrupted Congress’ certification of the electors from the November 2020 presidential election, and it will likely take additional time for Attorney General Merrick Garland to decide whether and of what, exactly, to charge Donald J. Trump. As long as we still have a democracy, the ex-president can thank our judicial system for that much.

•••

More Words: Seditious Conspiracy – That’s what Oath Keeper Joshua James pleaded guilty to in a Washington, D.C., federal district court for his participation in the January 6 Capitol insurrection (per Newsweek). To be exact, it contains one count of seditious conspiracy and one count of obstructing an official proceeding (the electoral count certification). James’ attorney filed a separate statement of offense in the plea in return for dropping all other charges, according to the Newsweek report. 

James is expected to “fully co-operate” with the Justice Department during its investigation of Oath Keepers’ role in the riot. Sentencing, at a later date, is expected to be 87 to 108 months.

Known Knowns: The big Oath Keeper catch in this investigation is organization founder Stewart Rhodes. When District Judge Amit Mehta asked whether he entered the Capitol to prevent certification of Biden as president, James replied, “Yes sir.”

Masks are a violation of liberties, but not government interference with one’s self? — Governor Greg Abbott directed the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate parents who allow their children to medically transition genders for possible crimes. According to The Washington Post, a Texas judge has granted a temporary restraining order against those covered by the plaintiffs who brought the suit, not others.

Note: Abbott initiated bans on mask mandates. According to the Centers for Disease Control “Masking is a critical public health tool and is important to remember that any mask is better than no mask.”

Yet Abbott said no!

And now here is Abbott, going after parents as criminals with regard to their children who may undergo medical procedures. 

Last year it was an abortion law that bars the procedure after six weeks.

This is really quite remarkable.

Somehow the man believes that when it comes to personal medical decisions, if it is politically popular it is good. Otherwise, no one is going to mess with the political freedom of Texans.

--Edited by Todd Lassa, Gary S. Vasilash and Charles Dervarics

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By Stephen Macaulay

“Jefferson suggested it was a waste of time.” —The American Presidency Project

I’m with Jefferson. It is a waste of time. Especially now, as there is a war in Europe that requires the absolute attention of political figures across the globe.

Yes, there must be a message to Congress. As Article II, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution states, “He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”

Putting aside the pronoun, nowhere does it say that this must be done live and on television. Nowhere does it say that it must be a speech. He can send a memo. He could tweet it.

He could simply say: “I need to be spending this time talking with world leaders who are actually doing something besides pissing and moaning about some personal, artificial grievances. I’ll get back to you once this is over.”

Let’s face it: outside of people who read such outlets as The Hustings, there are very few people who care about the State of the Union. Even Trump’s 2020 State of the Union had a viewership that declined 20% from the year before. There were 33.7-million views, according to Variety, and I would be willing to bet that there were far more than 33.7-million people who were annoyed that their prime-time viewing was interrupted.

For those people who do read things like The Hustings, is there any possibility that there will be something said that they’re not already aware of?

What’s more, the whole thing has turned into a urination Olympics, before, during and after the speech.

And to what end?

Do we really need to see more politicians showing off?

It is no longer something where there is someone talking to other people. It has become a political sideshow where people are talking at others or past others.

Rhetoric replaces substance.

The content of most of these speeches is “I’m a great guy. I have done great things. I will do more great things. Isn’t that great?”

Then the “counter” speeches are: “He is a jackass. He has done jackass like things and plans to do more of them. Isn’t that what a jackass would do?”

And then there are gigabytes of memory (the contemporary analogue for “barrels of ink”) spent breaking that all down.

To what end?

Today’s headlines are all about what Biden did or didn’t say. About gaffes. About people sleeping or people who didn’t stand and applaud.

It is all a show. And not a very good one.

People are dying in Ukraine, a democracy, right now because of an autocrat who is making a land-grab.

Every bit of attention and energy in Washington and other national capitols needs to be on that.

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Macaulay is our pundit-at-large. His commentary most often appears in the right column.

By Charles Dervarics

In political parlance, it’s called a reset or pivot — a chance to start anew. For a nation weary of COVID and worried about Russia, President Biden last night offered a vigorous pep talk and a detailed agenda that he hopes will improve his political fortunes and those of fellow Democrats.

“Last year, COVID kept us apart. This year, we are finally together again,” he said at the start of a State of the Union speech designed to turn the page on the pandemic and emphasize unity. He spoke early and forcefully against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, telling a supportive audience that Vladimir Putin will pay “a high price” for this military action and announcing further steps such as closing off U.S. airspace to Russian flights. 

But he turned from there to his domestic agenda, touting first-year achievements such as the infrastructure bill and American Rescue Plan plus an ambitious second-year agenda. Whether Congress will approve Build Back Better is a big question, given the failure of the plan last year. 

[Asked whether Biden’s effort to revive the $1.5-2.0 trillion package with claims it would “lower costs” for most Americans, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) laughed it off. “They just can’t help themselves,” Manchin responded, The Hillreports Wednesday.]

But the president offered a sales pitch not only to woo lawmakers but also persuade skeptical voters in this fall’s midterm elections.

His agenda items included a $15/hour minimum wage, lower prescription drug prices, more funds for education and clean energy tax credits. To address inflation, he called for companies to “lower costs, not your wages.” One way to do this is through a renaissance in U.S. manufacturing of everything from cars to semiconductors. 

“Rather than rely on foreign supply chains, let’s make it in America,” he said.

Clearly aiming at moderate voters in the upcoming midterms, he broke with progressives by praising both law enforcement and border security. “The answer is not to defund the police. It’s to fund the police,” he said, calling for more resources and training for law enforcement.

He touched briefly on the fight against COVID, noting that the nation now has the tools to fight the disease and citing a need to open schools and bring workers back into the office.

But another topic high on the White House agenda got barely a mention Tuesday night—climate change. That is perhaps testament to the way inflation and foreign policy now dominate the short-term outlook for 2022. 

•••

Meanwhile in the U.S. — Three Bits of Data that are Massively Telling:

1. “Biden didn’t spend much time explaining why Americans should care about the deadly war in Eastern Europe, although he did warn that the country faces risks both economically and militarily.” —Punchbowl News

2. According to polling by Morning Consult, after the invasion, 66% of Americans have an unfavorable view of Russia. While that figure comes from polling between February 21 and 27, a poll taken February 14 to 20 had that number at 58%. It is worth noting the U.S. has the lowest unfavourability view of Russia among any of the countries polled: France, 68%; Germany, 74%; UK, 77%; Italy, 69%; Spain, 67%; Australia, 68%; Japan, 76%; South Korea, 75%.

3. In a survey conducted February 1-17 by Gallup World Affairs, 51% of Americans think the U.S. has the number-one military in the world. Gallup noted that it was conducted prior to the Russian invasion and that it isn’t clear whether a post-invasion poll would have had an effect on the results, given that the U.S. military is not on the ground there. 

So what does this mean? It means that the consequences of the Trump administration still resonate, particularly (a) his “American first” rhetoric and (b) his bombast about the military.

Why would it have been necessary for Biden to explain to us the reason Americans should care about a democracy being invaded by a leader who is a foe of the American way of life? Despite what people have been led to believe by Trump’s undoubtedly one-sided chumminess with Putin, that guy is attacking Ukraine because it is becoming too Westernized, a.k.a., becoming more like America. That needs to be explained to us? Citizens of other Western or Westernized countries don’t have that issue to the extent that American citizens seem to.

Remember Trump talking about supporting the military (and his diminution of the leaders of the military because he, of course, claimed to be smarter than they are)? While 51% is better than 49%, it isn’t all that impressive. While Biden has been in office for more than a year, odds are that had Trump done as much for the military as he often claimed, those effects wouldn’t have disappeared in the last year.

Strange how we no longer know who our enemy is and that we consider our military to be #1 — but by a small edge. (Here’s something to consider: the U.S. FY ’21 military budget: $705 billion. The Russian spending? -- $65 billion.)

--Gary S. Vasilash

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All images this page from C-Span’s broadcast.
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Due to the nature of the State of the Union address, today’s left and right columns do not line up directly with our usual liberal-conservative format.

By Todd Lassa

Republican Response

Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has never come up as a potential presidential candidate for 2024. She did not receive one straw in last weekend’s poll at CPAC in Orlando. Conversely, Reynolds did not have to gulp down gallons of water during her GOP response in Des Moines to President Biden’s first State of the Union address, like Sen. Marco Rubio (FL) in his response to President Obama in 2013. Nor was she an absolute disaster, like ex-Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, also in response to Obama, but in 2011.

She may have a future as a running mate. Reynolds’ politics appears to fit somewhere between Trump-tolerant Republicans like House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA) and the faithful pro-Trump MAGA-right – a preternatural Glenn Younkin.

Reynolds hit on the expected talking points to counter Biden’s State of the Union address. The president promised to move the country forward, she said, but instead has taken us back to the 1970s and early ‘80s with four-decade-high inflation in the U.S. 

Biden also favored “political correctness instead of military readiness,” Reynolds said, with a response toward Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that’s “too little, too late.” The White House’s “anti-energy policies” have driven up prices at the pump by 50%, she said. “You don’t have to check grocery prices,” the governor said, “just step outside the D.C. bubble.”

Reynolds characterized Biden’s spending plans as “giveaways” to millionaires and billionaires “in California, New York and New Jersey.” Good thing Build Back Better did not pass “because of President Biden’s own party,” she added, referring to Sens. Joe Manchin (WV) and Krysten Sinema (AZ). 

But the Iowa governor spent much of her time criticizing the Biden administration for trying to force mask mandates on public school students while Republican governors were allowing parents the right to determine what their children are taught. She did not mention Critical Race Theory (which is not taught below the college level anywhere) by name.

Reynolds’ GOP counterpoint to Biden’s State of the Union address stands out for not in any way standing out; She checked all the boxes in the list of Fox News nation grievances – repeating recent Republican talking points on Ukraine and inflation even as Biden’s address had anticipated them – without a full embrace of Donald J. Trump’s MAGA movement and with none of the sort of gaffes that once made Bobby Jindal and Marco Rubio stand out for their awkwardness. 

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Response from the Left – As part of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) Squad Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) is a key member of the progressive wing of her party who tilted at President Biden’s Build Back Better windmill last year. Tlaib was chosen to respond to Tuesday’s State of the Union address on behalf of the Working Families Party, although unlike the GOP response, which was carried on all the major networks shortly after Biden concluded his hour-long speech, hers was on YouTube (which carries perhaps a hipper, cut-the-cable vibe these days). 

The purpose of Tlaib’s response was to revive Biden’s BBB plan, last sticker-priced in the $2-trillion neighborhood. Democrats have roughly eight months to get tranches of the plan passed (as Biden already has announced he push “big chunks” of it this year). For the Squad and the Working Families Party, that means reviving the Child Tax Credit first. 

Tlaib did her cause no favors by calling out as the “two forces” that stopped BBB in 2021 – all 50 Republicans and “just enough corporate-backed Democrats” to “make them succeed.” 

Manchin and Sinema, of course. And now progressive Democrats want “Manchinema” to get on board this year and provide the necessary plus-Vice President Harris majority to pass “big chunks” of BBB, after Reynolds’ shout out in the Republican response. 

On Build Back Better, big chunks or otherwise, look to 2022 to be much like 2021.

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