San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Trump’s base appeal makes debate unlikely
Everyone’s wondering which Democratic candidate could destroy President Trump in the 2020 debates. Here’s one question Trump’s hard veer into naked racism raises: What makes anyone think he’s going to debate? First he tweets out that four U.S. citizen congresswomen, three of them born in this country, should “go back” to where they came from. Three of the four come from states that voted against Trump in 2016, though to be fair to him, he probably figures that makes them foreign countries.
He keeps up the drumbeat, saying the four Democrats “hate” America and that they’re welcome to leave. Then Trump travels to North Carolina, a state he won in 2016, to address his MAGA fans and bask in their chants of “send her back” when he blasts one of the four congresswomen, Somaliborn Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.
Does all of this suggest to you that Trump is reaching out beyond the base that got him elected?
Winning over undecided voters or trying to flip the other candidate’s supporters are the only reasons a sitting president would want to debate a reelection opponent. But no one is undecided about Trump, and it’s now clear that Trump thinks all he has to do to win next year is fire up the voters who put
him in the White House in the first place.
That means the Democrats’ best hope is turning out people who sat it out in 2016 because they couldn’t get over their dislike of Hillary Clinton.
A reminder to them: You’re partly to blame for what’s happening. Don’t forget that next year.
Trump’s S.F. base: Donald Trump Jr. was in San Francisco the other night with Kimberly Guilfoyle, who was once married to Gavin Newsom — God, that seems like a long time ago — for a Trump Sr. reelection fundraiser at Carole McNeil’s home on California Street.
It drew a pretty good crowd — who says there are no Republicans in San Francisco?
The location was a closely guarded secret — I’ve got a pretty decent network of cops, caterers, doormen, cabdrivers and ridehailing jockeys, and none of them sniffed it out in advance.
So when word finally got out as the fundraiser was under way, all the protesters in town were out to dinner. Crickets: Where are all the tourists? Not in San Francisco. I’m hearing that the numbers are way down, and that’s bad news for hotels, restaurants and all the attractions that depend on tourism to keep the economy moving.
It could be that all our problems — and the negative press they’re attracting — are finally taking their toll.
Road trip: A visit to Festival Napa Valley last weekend proved to be fun. The concert at the Charles Krug winery featured the Havana Chamber Orchestra; the solo attraction was cellist Sheku KannehMason, who came in from London for the gig and had played at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
For 14 years, Festival Napa Valley has featured good music, great food and fabulous wine. It runs through this weekend, and if you’re anywhere within driving distance, it’s worth the trip.
Movie time: “SpiderMan: Far From Home.” The latest addition to the SpiderMan series takes us on a tour of Europe with the high school student body. Each stop is predetermined by Samuel L. Jackson and his team. Not overly violent — it’s worth seeing.
“Stuber.” A big guy played by Dave Bautista has Lasik surgery that blurs his vision, so he uses Uber to get to the bad guys who killed his female partner. It’s a great ad for Uber, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t see it.
Where to shop: Believe it or not, Costco is selling more clothes than Old Navy, Neiman Marcus or Ralph Lauren.
The membershiponly chain store racks up a whopping $7 billion a year in clothing sales, according to a recent story in the Washington Post. That’s especially impressive considering that most clothes at Costco go for less than $25.
It seems that people like to buy food and clothes at the same time.
In other fashion news, I was in Barney’s in Beverly Hills recently, and on the fifth floor they were selling pot bongs next to the menswear department.
Gives a whole new meaning to the term “high fashion.”