I must admit I’m surprised that the story this White House can’t shrug off is one that, in the scheme of things, doesn’t really affect the running of the country. Puerto Rico remains a disaster area, ICE is making the Gestapo look like a crew of polite gendarmes, yet the Teflon holds and the memory hole is kept in operation. Then they lie about Rob Porter and a grease fire breaks out.
I also didn’t realize until the Porter scandal that domestic violence was a red flag for the intelligence community. But I think the real problem this White House has — and this president has — is its antediluvian attitude about women. On other subjects, they know what lies to tell to make the focus on wrongdoing go blurry. With women, all they can do is leer and say, “Nice piece of tail!”
So here we are, with the White House flailing to explain why Porter was kept in a sensitive job despite the allegations of both of his ex-wives. Part of the reason for the ongoing controversy appears to be that this is the subject of palace intrigue, with Javanka trying to push Kelly out and Trump himself suspected of leaking dirt on Kelly to the press. Partly it’s because this can’t be spun into something that’s Obama’s or Hillary’s fault, or just a partisan cause.
Meanwhile, life-and-death issues are pushed to the sidelines, so most people aren’t noticing the stories about the fight against legal opioid peddlers, like this expose about Big Pharma paying millions to “patient advocate” groups who advocate mostly for not putting restrictions on painkiller prescriptions.
The media might have trouble keeping its eye on the big picture, but voters don’t. Another Democrat won another state legislative race in a red district yesterday, this time in a Florida House contest. So what? So it’s another feather in Joe Biden’s cap, that’s what. He recorded a robocall for Margaret Good that helped her in the race. If she’s still in office in 2020, she might be a super-delegate. By the end of this year Biden will have dozens of these chits banked, meaning that even if he doesn’t run, he could have a say in who does.
There must be more Philadelphia Eagle fans than we realized. Normally after the Super Bowl, the company that makes the league’s official bobblehead dolls will put out a special edition with as many as a dozen players from the winning team. This year so many fans asked for so many players that the company’s Eagles Super Bowl set is at 40 figures and growing. The manufacturer also hints that a Jason Kelce in parade attire figure could be on the way.
Enjoy it while it lasts, football fans. California just became the fourth state in a month to see a proposal to ban youth football presented in its legislature.