The Patriot Post Digest 4-27-2018

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The Patriot Post Digest 4-27-2018
From The Federalist Patriot
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The Patriot Post® · Mid-Day Digest
Apr. 27, 2018 · https://patriotpost.us/digests/55629-mid-day-digest

IN TODAY’S EDITION

Cautious optimism is the proper stance for the Korean summit.
The vicious destruction of Ronny Jackson’s character is political theater.
Comey’s comeuppance is long overdue.
The ethanol swamp isn’t getting drained.
Speaking out of the “Day of Silence.”
Trump says transparency will lower health costs. He’s right.
Plus our Daily Features: Top Headlines, Memes, Cartoons, Columnists and Short Cuts.

THE FOUNDATION

“Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.” —George Washington (1796)

IN BRIEF

Korean Leaders Meet, Trump Expresses Guarded Hope1

Thomas Gallatin

In an almost surreal moment, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un crossed over the demarcation line separating the two Koreas and proceeded to shake hands and embrace South Korean President Moon Jae-in. The two leaders then proceeded to a meeting, after which both declared their commitment to moving forward in achieving “a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula through complete denuclearization” and an end to the decades-long Korean War. The event culminated in the planting of a pine tree meant to symbolize a growing peace. It is a stunning about-face from one year ago when Kim was threatening both South Korea and the U.S. with nuclear annihilation.

The goodwill meeting between the two bitter foes is clearly designed to lay the ground work for a highly anticipated summit2 between Kim and President Donald Trump, which may come as early as May. Trump has offered cautious optimism for progress on denuclearization and even praised Kim, stating, “Kim Jong-un … really has been very open. I think very honorable, from everything we’re seeing.”

The meeting largely steered clear of any specifics on denuclearization, though Kim earlier this week agreed to end nuclear tests and missile launches3 — actions that directly brought Trump’s and the world’s ire. And clearly the meeting with Trump will be the one dealing with the specifics on denuclearization.

Cautious optimism is probably the best stance to take here. The world has witnessed similar diplomatic efforts in the past only to see4 North Korea take advantage of sanctions relief while continuing to develop nuclear weapons. The question is whether the results will be any different this time. Trump seems committed to ensuring that the only acceptable outcome5 is denuclearization, and it may be that Kim is willing to offer that sizable bargaining chip in order to ensure both sanctions relief and his stranglehold on power. It also appears that China has tired of Kim’s provocations, which only invite world condemnation and serve as an economic lead weight in the region. Whatever Kim’s underlying motivation, there is no question Trump is seeing diplomatic progress no one thought possible just months ago.

VA Nominee Burned by Witch Hunt? Sure Looks That Way6

Jordan Candler

Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson’s nomination to assume control of the Department of Veterans Affairs didn’t last long. The Washington Post reports7 that the veteran White House physician “withdrew from consideration Thursday amid mushrooming allegations of professional misconduct that raised questions about the White House vetting process.” These allegations, it’s important to note, were nonexistent during his 12-year tenure leading up to his selection to lead the VA.

Jackson hammered this point in a statement: “The allegations against me are completely false and fabricated. If they had any merit, I would not have been selected, promoted and entrusted to serve in such a sensitive and important role as physician to three presidents over the past 12 years.” Even CNN’s Jake Tapper — admittedly one of the network’s more levelheaded newsmen — remains skeptical. He wondered, “Big questions remain: Are the charges accurate? If so how did he survive the Obama/Trump years until now? If not how and why did these allegations happen?” Not only survived but received praise8 as a “tremendous asset” from Barack Obama.

That’s not to say that the allegations don’t warrant concerns. The list of improprieties “include that Jackson had wrecked a government vehicle after getting drunk at a Secret Service going-away party,” according to the Post. He’s also accused of “writing himself prescriptions and contributing to a hostile work environment with ‘a constant fear of reprisal.” Jackson reportedly also “drank while traveling with the president,” who at the time was Obama.

However, the allegations are just that — allegations — and were sought out by Democrat Sen. Jon Tester (MT), who used a revealing phrase when reporting on his findings on CNN. Tester said, “Our vetting is not through yet. We still have more information to gather. But if this turns out to be solidly factual, then we’ve got a big, big problem with Admiral Jackson [emphasis added].”

As The Wall Street Journal’s James Freeman ponders9, “Is it too much to ask senators to avoid going on television and accusing people of being drunken drug peddlers without knowing if the allegations are true?” When it’s a Republican president in control, the answer is an emphatic “Yes.”

More importantly, Freeman notes that if the allegations against Jackson have merit, “they suggest that federal background checks, White House personnel management and bipartisan presidential judgment are all so flawed that this country has far bigger problems than Ronny Jackson.” Maybe Democrats are angered that Jackson isn’t a political animal like past VA secretaries. Or maybe they’re furious that, as The Washington Post reminds us, Jackson gave “a fawning assessment of Trump’s health” in January. Had he declared Trump senile or deranged, Democrats would be unanimously in favor of his nomination.

Whatever the reason, it’s extremely difficult to see this uproar as anything but politically motivated. This is a peculiar and bewildering situation all around, so expect to hear more about it in the days ahead. In the meantime, our veterans could have benefited from Jackson’s experience. As columnist Marc Thiessen writes10, “No other nominee to run VA has seen the plight of our wounded warriors in the war on terrorism up close like he has. Jackson understands what our vets went through on the battlefield, because he was on the battlefield with them. He understands their mental and physical wounds, because he has treated them.” Whoever he may be, Trump’s next nominee needs to recognize the difficulties, like Jackson did, of a reality that only our veterans are capable of understanding.

Comey’s Comeuppance Is Long Overdue11

Nate Jackson

The James Comey12 Book Tour continued last night on Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier,” as the former FBI director took his toughest questions yet from Baier. We’ll note three key exchanges and make a more general observation about Comey.

First, Comey has an odd definition of the word “leak.” Speaking on “Fox & Friends” Thursday morning, President Donald Trump declared, “Comey is a leaker and he’s a liar. … He’s been leaking for years.” Comey responded Thursday night, “He’s just wrong. Facts really do matter.” Comey leaked a two-page memo recording his meetings with President Trump to his friend Dan Richman, a Columbia University Law School professor who Comey had previously hired as a former special employee of the FBI, with instructions to get the information to The New York Times. Comey’s stated intent in testimony to Congress was that he hoped to bring about a special prosecutor to investigate Trump. Yet to Bret Baier he insisted, “I don’t consider what I did with [Dan] Richman a leak. I told him about an unclassified conversation with the president.” He likened the memo to a “diary,” supposedly meaning it wasn’t a leak to reveal it.

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) responded13 later, “Jim Comey has a definition of the word ‘leak’ that no one else has. What he says is a ‘leak’ is what the rest of us call a felony. Leaking is disclosing a confidential conversation, which is exactly what he did.”

Second, Comey denied knowing who funded the fake Russian dossier. “When did you learn that the DNC and Hillary Clinton’s campaign had funded14 Christopher Steele’s work?” Baier asked. “I still don’t know that for a fact,” Comey replied. Baier was incredulous. “What do you mean?” Comey stuck to his guns: “I’ve only seen it in the media. I never knew exactly which Democrats had funded it. I knew it was funded first by Republicans.” Wrong. It’s true that The Washington Free Beacon originally hired Glenn Simpson and Fusion GPS to research Trump, but it ended that relationship before Steele was even hired. “That [dossier] was initiated by Democrats,” Baier correctly noted.

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The Patriot Post Digest 4-27-2018
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Comey can’t admit the truth here because that phony dossier was the impetus for initially investigating Trump, including the bulk of the justification to the FISA court to conduct surveillance of his team15. Comey’s denials here ring worse than hollow. Later in the interview, he even had the gall to insist “I don’t see the disparity” between how the Clinton and Trump cases were handled.

Third, Comey was asked about the anti-Trump texts16 between FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. Strzok interviewed both Hillary Clinton and Michael Flynn — he was integral to both cases. Comey said that, had he known about those texts at the time, he would have “removed both of them from any contact with significant investigations.” He also admitted their work product could be called into question, but he insisted the team was big enough to compensate.

In summary, Comey gave the interview to Fox for one reason and one reason only — to sell more books. His celebrity media blitz accounts for 600,000 sales in his first week. But more important, Comey has a terminal case of Potomac fever. He is so sure he made all the right decisions that he’s revising the history of two major investigations to justify those decisions. He is delusional about the extent of his own gross bias in favor of Clinton17.

Top Headlines18

Senate confirms Mike Pompeo as 70th secretary of state — more votes than Rex Tillerson, but far fewer than Hillary Clinton or John Kerry (ABC News19)

House Republicans accuse U.S. intelligence community of “significant … tradecraft failings” in report on Russian interference (The Washington Post20)

Facebook said it ignored terms and conditions of app that collected user data on 87 million accounts (The Washington Times21)

Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez admonished by Ethics panel, which says he broke the law (The Hill22)

Feds could save billions by cutting duplicative programs (The Washington Free Beacon23)

Paul Ryan forces out House chaplain (New York Post24)

Deputy union says it has “no confidence” in Broward Sheriff Scott Israel (Sun-Sentinel25)

Bill Cosby guilty on all three counts of aggravated indecent assault (USA Today26)

Trump keeps some JFK documents sealed until 2021 as Archives release final batch (The Dallas Morning News27)

Humor: Liberals urge nation to respect minorities’ opinions until those opinions contradict them (The Babylon Bee28.)

Policy: How federal consumer agency puts your financial data at risk (The Daily Signal29)

Policy: Sanders’ “jobs” program would undo our real economic progress (The Daily Signal30)

For more of today’s news, visit Patriot Headline Report31.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

Speaking Out on the ‘Day of Silence’34 — Johnny may not be able to read, write or do math, but he sure knows a lot about left-wing activism.
The Ethanol Swamp Isn’t Getting Drained35 — Why would a billionaire businessman-turned-president support an ethanol industry that hurts the economy?
Trump: Transparency Will Lower Health Care Costs36 — HHS is working to produce regulations requiring hospitals to publish standard care costs online.
Video: Kanye West and Counterculture37 — Dave Rubin discusses rapper Kanye West’s seeming turn to common sense.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Michael Reagan: Presidential Morals38
David Harsanyi: Democrats’ Universal Job Plan Would Be a Socialist Disaster39
Jonah Goldberg: When Will Machine-Like Thinking Prompt Moral Panic?40
Erick Erickson: Madness in the Western Mind41
Rich Lowry: Judges for the #Resistance42
For more of today’s columns, visit Right Opinion43.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Michael Reagan: “The attack on Dr. Jackson’s morals reminds me of the cheap remark made about President Trump by James Comey, the former FBI director, admitted leaker and professional truth-stretcher. Comey has famously said he doesn’t think Donald Trump has the moral qualifications to be president. During his triumphant book tour I’ve been waiting for one of Comey’s friendly interviewers to ask if he thought Hillary was morally qualified to be president in 2016. Or if he thought lying about Benghazi, erasing emails, destroying hard drives, attacking the women who accused her husband of rape, etc., etc., did not disqualify her. … Comey’s remark about Donald Trump’s morals was not just another of his cheap shots. It was also a dumb thing to say. Jimmy Carter was probably the most morally qualified human on the planet ever to be president. What did he accomplish? He gave Iran to the mullahs and he gave the rest of us gas lines, a dead economy and a sky-high ‘Misery Index’ (the rate of inflation plus the rate of unemployment). Carter proved there’s no connection between a president’s good or bad private morals and his ability to be a good or bad president. Trump’s doing the same thing. … The way things are going now, Trump’s enemies would not support Jesus Christ for secretary of anything because he was pro-life, was seen talking to prostitutes and turned water into wine without a permit.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over the government.” —Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945)

Upright: “Facts are facts and fiction is fiction, and a lie doesn’t become truth just because it appears on the front page of the newspaper.” —EPA chief Scott Pruitt

For the record: “Britain outlaws guns, started taking knives and now starves toddlers to death. Something tells me the first 2 had to happen before the 3rd.” —Bethany S. Mandel

Food for thought: “The great silver lining in the collapse of the West is that people of faith are still producing large families while the secularists are either aborting or not having children at all.” —Erick Erickson

Good question: “You called the dossier unverified, salacious. Why did you [bring] that to the FISA court to ask for surveillance for Carter Page?” —Fox News’ Bret Baier to James Comey11

It goes without saying… “Here’s the difference between the two parties. For the past eight years, the GOP has been the party that begins each conversation with, ‘This is why we can’t do it.’ The Democrats begin theirs with, ‘This is how we’ll get it done.’” —L. Brent Bozell and Tim Graham

Friendly fire: “I have said over and over again that I don’t think that we should be talking about impeachment. … I don’t think that we have the information to go to that place, and I discourage any discussion of impeachment. On the political side, I think it is a gift to the Republicans to talk about impeachment.” —House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi

And last… “Kayne West has triggered the entire snowflake empire. The amount of hair on fire this week will contribute enormously to global warming.” —Gary Bauer

Join us in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm’s way in defense of Liberty, and for their families. We also humbly ask prayer for your Patriot team, that our mission would seed and encourage the spirit of Liberty in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis

Nate Jackson, Managing Editor
Mark Alexander, Publisher