Shortsighted Trump team blinded by official’s S.F. ties
When you’re wondering why weird stuff happens, the quick and correct answer is: “It’s all political.” And so it goes, quicker than usual.
President Trump’s Justice Department is about to blow another one. The same crew that is intent on reviving the failed drug war and pulling back on overseeing troubled police departments isn’t going to hire a highly qualified person to lead its civil rights division. That would be San Francisco civil rights attorney and Republican National Committeewoman Harmeet Dhillon, who was under consideration for the job.
We know that Dhillon faces a huge obstacle to being hired: the San Francisco part of her resume. Otherwise, it’s hard to explain why she shouldn’t get the job.
She’s had a distinguished 24-year career, taking on all kinds of high-profile civil rights and free-speech cases. Most recently, the former ACLU board member represented student groups who were fighting for Ann Coulter’s right to speak at UC Berkeley — easy there, liberals, that’s roughly the same position Sen. Bernie Sanders took.
In 2011, she represented a Sikh man whom the Department of Corrections wouldn’t hire as a prison guard because he refused to shave his beard, the beard required by his religion. They settled: The man won a pile of cash and a different job in the department.
But what should recommend her most — at least to Trump’s hiring managers, who are obsessed with fealty to the presi-
dent — Dhillon has been a loyal, high-profile Republican, the former vice chair of the California Republican Party. That is not easy to do in the deep, deep blue Bay Area. They apparently thought enough of her last summer to invite her to deliver a Sikh prayer on the night Trump was nominated at the Republican National Convention.
Bonus: Dhillon would be a high-profile female woman of color in an administration that doesn’t have a lot of them.
So who is getting the job? Several news organizations are reporting the DOJ wants to hire Eric Dreiband — another white guy to blend into the snowstorm. He served in President George W. Bush’s administration as the top lawyer on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Then he worked on the corporate side of the street, representing the interests of little guys, like the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., in age-discrimination cases.
Key fact: He’s a partner at Jones Day, the same law firm as Trump’s White House counsel, Donald McGahn. There are 14 Jones Day attorneys in the administration. That makes it a bit harder to chant a rousing chorus of “Drain the swamp! Drain the swamp!”
The DOJ can redeem itself, however. Dhillon, who declined to comment, is up for the federal prosecutor’s job in Northern California. She has the support of California’s GOP congressional delegation, but the supposed rap against her is that she hasn’t been a prosecutor.
You know which other high-profile Republican wasn’t a prosecutor before GOP President George W. Bush named him a federal prosecutor: former Trump bestie Chris Christie, before he became New Jersey governor. Another white guy in the snowstorm.
Just in time for this month’s California Democratic Convention, the 2018 governor’s race is starting to heat up. How do we know? Because the smack talk has begun.
It’s starting small, mind you. The other day, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was asked what the differences were between him and Lt. Gov. and former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. Said Villaraigosa to the tech news site Cheddar:
“I think the biggest difference between us is that I have a track record. I wasn’t just mayor of any city, I was the mayor of the second-largest city in the nation during the recession, during the toughest times since the 1930s.” Boom! Newsom is capable of defending his track record, but let me pick up my San Francisco pompoms for a second.
“Just mayor of any city”? That city is SAN FRANCISCO, not West Covina. A place that (self-affectionately) calls itself
“The City.” I’m guessing that somebody is going to hand Team Villaraigosa a Warriors cap with “The City” logo on it at the Dem convention.
We know that Villaraigosa’s campaign is focusing on a “two Californias” theme. But we thought it was about the part of California that is thriving and the one that isn’t. Voters can connect to that theme.
They won’t care less if the two Californias are about L.A. versus San Francisco. Besides, that rivalry is best settled on the baseball field, where the Dodgers haven’t won a World Series since 1988. After the sudden departures of commentator Bill O’Reilly and Fox News Co-President Bill Shine after allegations of sexual harassment at the network, one man is ready to bury Fox News. And that man is Fox News commentator and President Trump footrubber Sean Hannity.
When news broke on Twitter that Shine was on his way out, Hannity tweeted, “I pray this is NOT true because if it is, that’s the total end of the (Fox News Channel) as we know it. Done.” After that came multiple reports that Hannity was trying to leave, too.
Sorry, progressives and Fox-haters, but Fox News isn’t going anywhere, and neither is Hannity. (He confirmed on Twitter that he’s not going anywhere.)
Fox is bigger than O’Reilly, as the Death Star of cable news shows no signs of being detonated by rebel fighters. In its first post-O’Reilly week, Fox continued to be the dominant prime-time cable-news outlet, averaging 2.4 million primetime viewers, far more than MSNBC or CNN. The ratings are holding steady.
Hannity’s Nielsen ratings have increased 47 percent in the three months before March 26. So though other conservative outlets like One America News Network might try to pick him up should he change his mind and bolt, it wouldn’t be worth his time. He wouldn’t have the built-in Fox audience. And as long as he remains tight with Trump and parrots his line, the ratings will remain strong.