ALL TRUMP POLITICS ARE LOCAL

Haslam not waiting for Trump

Thank you, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam for assembling a task force to recommend quick, practical responses to make schools safer in the wake of the recent deadly shooting attack in a Parkland, Fla., school and a teacher firing his own weapon out the window of a Dalton, Ga., high school.

The key words here are quick and practical.

That’s important since it’s clear that neither “quick” nor “practical” will come out of Washington.

President Donald Trump has already gummed up whatever energy Congress seemed to have been gaining to make incremental starts on gun safety reform. He did that in typical Trump chaos fashion — by creating confusion and whiplash.

On Wednesday in an hour-long televised meeting at the White House, the president shocked lawmakers from both parties when he voiced support for far stricter gun-control measures than most Republicans seem willing to support. He even mocked the lawmakers working on a bipartisan compromise, Republican Sen. Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania and Democrat Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, saying they are “afraid of the NRA.”

But on Thursday, Trump met privately with officials of the National Rifle Association and came out calling it a “great” meeting.

The next day, the White House softened its tone on gun-control measures, with press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders saying Trump still supports raising the age limit to buy assault rifles from 18 to 21 but understands there is “not a lot of broad support” for it. “I think he thinks it would probably have more potential in the states than it would at the federal level,” Sanders told reporters. She also said Trump does not necessarily support universal background checks “but certainly improving the background check system. ‘Universal’ means something different to a lot of people,” Sanders said. Here we go again.

So, yes, thank you, Gov. Haslam.

The governor said Thursday he will name select legislators, mental health professionals, law enforcement and educators to the group, which is expected to develop strategies.

Are VW, tariff messages coincidence?

Have you thought about the timing of Trump’s announcement that he’ll impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and Volkswagen’s announcement that the Chattanooga VW auto assembly plant will be idled for two weeks?

VW says the plant, which employs about 3,450 people, will be idle “to correct course a little bit” because “the market is shifting” from sedans — like the sluggishly selling Passat — to SUVs.

But Automotive News writes that Trump’s decision to announce tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum from all countries “is a defeat for the auto industry, which had been urging the president not to follow through on recent Commerce Department recommendations to limit steel and aluminum imports, arguing that measures intended to shore up U.S. material producers would end up undermining the competitiveness of the domestic auto industry.”

In other words, even if the timing of Trump’s and VW’s announcements are purely coincidental, the long-term impact likely won’t be.

The American Automotive Policy Council, which represents Fiat Chrysler, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors, told Automotive News that the proposed combination of tariffs and quotas would raise their costs.

Similarly, Cody Lusk, CEO of the American International Automobile Dealers Association, said the tariffs couldn’t come at a worse time and warned that the higher materials costs would offset gains American manufacturers see from tax and regulatory reforms.

“Auto sales have flattened in recent months, and manufacturers are not prepared to absorb a sharp increase in the cost to build cars and trucks in America,” Lusk said in a statement. “The burden of these tariffs, as always, will be passed on to the American consumer. Car shoppers looking for a deal will instead find that they are paying a new tax to transport themselves and their families.”

Make us laugh, Alec Baldwin

But while we face higher prices, mourn students lost to senseless AR-15 school violence and wonder if our government will ever get around to punishing Russia for meddling in our election, our thin-skinned president tweets up some anticipation for comic relief on Saturday Night Live.

On Friday morning, President Trump tweeted: “Alex[sic] Baldwin, whose dieing[sic] mediocre career was saved by his terrible impersonation of me on SNL, now says playing DJT was agony for him. Alex, it was agony for those who were forced to watch. You were terrible. Bring back Darrell Hammond, much funnier and a far greater talent!”

Clearly, Trump needs a spell-checker. Where’s Hope? Someone later deleted the error-ridden tweet and reposted it with correct spellings.

It’s worth noting that the Russia “hoax” meddling aside, Trump hasn’t uttered a public word on Vladimir Putin’s announcement Wednesday that Russia now has powerful new nuclear weapons he claims can avoid interception by missile defense systems. Putin made his announcement with an accompanying animated video showing the nukes in air over Florida where Trump spends much time at “the Winter White House,” Mar-A-Lago. Instead, Trump tweets insults at actor /comedian Alec Baldwin.

Baldwin didn’t wait for tonight’s episode of SNL to start. He responded:

“Agony though it may be, I’d like to hang in there for the impeachment hearings, the resignation speech, the farewell helicopter ride to Mar-A-Lago. You know. The Good Stuff. That we’ve all been waiting for.”

We can’t wait for tonight’s show. Bring on the laughter, Alec. We need it to help us stop crying.