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Perhaps it was because the week ends on Friday the 13th, but whatever the real reason was, Donald Trump didn't have a great week this week. Which, of course, is good news for everyone else! There was actually a lot of good news in the political world this week -- so much that we're not even going to bother with the other news that wasn't so good.
The freedom of speech in America just got two big confirmations from the judicial system, which is good news for everyone who cherishes their constitutional rights. Both of these were related, since they both stemmed from the same cause: the video that six members of Congress (all of whom had previously served either in the military or for the nation's intelligence services) released last year informing serving military members that it was their right and their duty to refuse to follow illegal orders. This is the indeed the law (in the Uniform Code of Military Justice), and all the members of Congress did was to reiterate what the law says.
The House of Representatives -- against the wishes of the Republican speaker -- seems poised to vote today on a direct rebuke to Donald Trump's willy-nilly tariff regime. This is interesting news at the start of a midterm election year, but it probably won't actually serve to rein in Trump. Even so, it would be only the second time the Republican Congress expressly pushed back on Trump for any reason at all, so it is at least noteworthy.
Sometimes, when candidates or groups spend money campaigning for an election, the strategy works and the desired outcome is achieved. Other times, however -- especially when money is spent to "game" an outcome in sneaky ways -- the effort can backfire spectacularly. The latter just occurred in New Jersey, in a special election to fill a U.S. House seat.
Did everyone have a nice time in church yesterday?
I ask that question ironically, because while the big main event yesterday wasn't technically religious in nature, it is the closest thing we have to a national American religion that everyone can participate in equally: watching the Super Bowl. There is no overt praying (but plenty of spontaneous praying by fans of the team that is losing), no pastor or minister or priest or rabbi or imam, and no hymns. There was an actual wedding this time around (a first, surely?) but it was part of a staged musical event and therefore doesn't really count as a religious service per se. Nevertheless, an enormous slice of the American public gathered together around their television sets and all watched the same thing for hours on end. That's as close to a national worship service as you can get, even though it was completely secular.
Today Donald Trump proved yet again that he is nothing short of a stone-cold racist. He reposted a message on social media that depicted Barack and Michelle Obama as apes. That's really all you need to know about it, other than the fact that (for once) it was so unbelievably offensive that, hours later, it was deleted. The White House blamed an unnamed "staffer," to which Black voters everywhere responded: "Yeah, right." Trump's hatred for the Obamas is well-known, of course, but even some Republicans complained at this latest racist outrage from Trump.
Today marks the end of an era. The geopolitical legacy of the 1980s has now disappeared. Today the last remaining nuclear arms treaty between Russia and the United States expires, with nothing left in its place. Some are predicting that this could set off another nuclear arms race that could see all the nuclear powers beefing up their nuclear arsenal, while other countries decide it is time for them to join the nuclear club.
Up until now, some Democratic worries about the upcoming midterm elections have been dismissed by the "It could never happen here" crowd as unfounded nightmares. They pooh-pooh such worries as being laughably outlandish and accuse people who express these worries for overreacting about things that couldn't possibly happen right here in the good ol' U.S. of A. But this week should make such scenarios a whole lot less laughable and a whole lot more worrisome.
The government shutdown is over. Today the House passed the Senate funding bill and sent it to Donald Trump, who signed it into law. Which means all parts of the federal government are now open, and a full-year budget is in place for everything except the Department of Homeland Security (which only has a two-week extension). So the stage is set for the negotiations to begin over the reforms Democrats want to impose on ICE and the Border Patrol and all other federal immigration enforcement agents.
I do realize it is Groundhog Day, but I am going to refrain from making the easy references to the movie of the same name, mostly because the elections in question happened over the weekend, not today. But it's undeniable that Democrats are on a repetitive roll, winning special election after special election -- and even when they lose one, they manage to shift the margins by double digits their way. Which all bodes well for the midterms, although how much of a harbinger this might all be is always an open question.
This weekend's special elections both happened in Texas: one for a vacant seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and one for a state senate seat. Democrats romped to victory in both.