San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Trump’s wall emergency makes good on bluster
President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency on the southern border was neither a good move nor a bad move. It was a Trump move. Trump made two commitments when he ran in 2016. He said: I’m going to build a wall along the Mexican border to keep criminals and drugs out of the U.S. And: I’m going to put Hillary Clinton away.
He was halfway through his term and realized he had achieved neither of those goals. If you count his bluster that Mexico was going to pay for the wall, he was 0 for 3.
As Trump would say, not good. Not good at all. So faced with a wall of opposition from Democrats now in control of the House, he pulled an end run. At least on paper and for the press.
Yes, he probably has the power to divert military funds to the border. But there is no rush to do so, because it’s going to take some time to spend what Congress already gave him.
He’s sure to build at least a couple of miles of concrete wall between now and November 2020, to have something he can point to.
As for Hillary, Trump can turn to that commitment once his wall is completed. Which means never.
The new Newsom: Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first State of the State speech generated more national attention than any gubernatorial address I can recall.
From the pre-speech leak that he was pulling the National Guard out of President Trump’s border operation, to the final salute to the heroic nurse who risked his life in the Paradise wildfire to save his patients, it carried the weight and tone of a presidential address.
It also appeared to uncork eight years of paybacks to former Gov. Jerry Brown, who so often dissed Newsom when he was lieutenant governor. Newsom made a point of distancing himself from Brown on two key issues, high-speed rail and the delta water tunnels. With mixed results.
Newsom’s confusing message on the future of high-speed rail backfired. His people insisted it didn’t really say what half the world thought it said: that he was giving up on extending the line out of the Central Valley.
Fortunately for Newsom, Trump bailed him out by tweeting a refund demand for the feds’ money.
That turned it into just another Trump versus the Resistance battle. What exactly the state will do about its bullettrain boondoggle returned to the back burner. Fire friendly: Original Joe’s was party central the other night when Chris Gruwell of New Deal Advisers booked the place for a 500-person celebration of Shon Buford’s elevation to president of the firefighters union.
Buford became the first African American to head the union. It’s been more than 50 years since Earl Gage broke the Fire Department’s color barrier — and that took a court order.
It’s been a long road, but now Black History Month celebrations can include this new black achievement.
Heart beat: Judy Guggenhime and Pam Baer moved the Heroes & Hearts fundraiser from a midday lunch at the ballpark to an evening party at Pier 48.
Why? More space was needed.
Some of the notables attending included pro football Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott, ought-to-be baseball Hall of Famer Barry Bonds, former Police Chief Greg Suhr, former Secretary of State George Shultz and two significant contributors: Kaiser CEO Bernard Tyson and Dignity Health CEO Lloyd Dean.
About $4.5 million was raised for San Francisco General Hospital.
Breed achieves: The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission’s annual Black History Month luncheon was moved from the Whitcomb Hotel to the Hilton, and attendance doubled. Mayor London Breed was presented with a lifetime achievement award. As she told commission General Manager Harlan Kelly, being given a lifetime achievement award by someone older than she is raises eyebrows, to say the least.
Lean in: My recent move to the Millennium Tower has meant taking apart and reassembling many pieces of furniture.
It has been both a satisfying and disturbing task.
It’s satisfying because after an hour of work, you get a chair put back together.
Disturbing because inevitably when I’m done, I still have extra pieces.
The good news is, given where I live, everything already tilts.
Want to sound off ? Email: wbrown@sfchronicle.com