San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Trump meets his match in crying children
We’ve finally found the person who can make President Trump back down — a crying child.
Trump has insulted a former prisoner of war for being captured, gotten into a public feud with the parents of a fallen American soldier, and said a U.S.-born jurist couldn’t be impartial in a lawsuit against him because he was a “Mexican” judge. He hasn’t apologized for any of it — heck, he revels in it. It was hard to envision him ever conceding a mistake, right up until he started yanking children from their mothers’ arms at the southern border.
True, after that blew up in his face last week, he never said he was wrong to toss children in cages and tent camps while their parents wait to be deported, wondering if they’ll ever see their daughters and sons again. But everyone saw his executive order for what it was — a cavein, an admission that his insistence that only Congress could undo what he’d done was a fabrication. So many people came out of this looking horrible — Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, White House adviser Stephen Miller. Here’s another name to add to that list: GOP Rep. Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield, who is poised to become speaker if the Republicans hold onto the House in
November.
McCarthy spent weeks trying to piece together an immigration bill that could pass the House, an effort that required balancing the interests of Republicans in swing districts who are trying not to look anti-Latino with those of hard-liners who would be happy to see the borders all but closed. It was always a long-shot effort, but it wasn’t quite dead until Trump managed to bring it all crashing down with one tweet Friday, telling Republicans not to bother with immigration till after the election.
McCarthy has to be wondering whether standing in Paul Ryan’s shoes is such a great idea.
We really do care: Speaking of looking bad, let’s dish about Melania Trump for a minute.
She’s flying off to visit with immigrant kids who have been separated from their parents by her husband, and she boards the plane in a jacket with graffiti on the back, reading, “I really don’t care. Do U?”
What was she thinking? Who knows? No one but Donald Trump is floating an explanation — he says she was trolling the media, but he seems incapable of telling the truth, so why start believing him now?
So, lacking anything else to go on, maybe we can agree on this: No explanation required. The message speaks for itself — she was a walking billboard for the president’s views on immigration.
Chef ’s special: Style points for stupidity for Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, giving a news conference filled with legalisms about why the administration just had to split up families at the southern border, then heading to dinner at a Mexican restaurant.
Activists found out where she was in no time, showed up to heckle her, and eventually chased her out.
She should thank them for saving her life. I’ve worked in restaurants, and I know what happens in the kitchen to the dishes for customers who need to be taught a lesson.
Numbers game: Mayor-elect London Breed will be sworn in at 11 a.m. on July 11. July is the seventh month of the year, so it’s all good. In my Uncle Itsy’s dice games, 7 and 11 were always winners.
And as long as we’re on the subject, what’s with the whining by the architects of Mark Farrell’s ascendency about Breed’s move to leave the board presidency Tuesday? Her idea is to time the vote on a new president so that the board will elect someone friendlier to her.
The progressives say this is somehow unfair. Given the shrewdness they showed in bouncing Breed from the acting mayor’s job in January, I would think they’d be grudging admirers.
I’m guessing this isn’t the only time they’re going to find themselves outmaneuvered. Breed is just that smart.
On the menu: The Chronicle’s Michael Bauer had a report the other day on my favorite food — hamburgers — and where to find the best ones.
Now I am on a mission. It will be a hamburger a day, starting with Boulevard. I’ll have to figure out how not to eat anything else — otherwise, alterations to the wardrobe may be in order.