Being home bound, I have the t.v. on all day to a mix of CNN and MSNBC. It’s background noise, and it gives me useful grist for some of these diaries. I try to be open minded, and I tend to leave the sound on, even for GOP shills. First, I want to get at least a glimmer of what they’re spouting now. Second, sometimes they say such incredibly stupid shit that it’s natural fodder for a diary. The only two exceptions were KellyAnne Conway and Boris Epshteyn, they were too robotic and irritating to listen to. But since Conway befouled the White House, I want to hear her pushback on the nonstop pressure on Der Trumpkopf. And gratefully, Boris has slithered back under whatever rock he originally crawled out from, at least on CNN and MSNBC. And good riddance.
As of yesterday I have new auto mute, Hugh Hewitt. Full disclosure. I have never liked Hewitt, I always thought of him as a Trump normalizer, but at least he was quiet and measured, and at least answered the question, even if only with nonsense. But no more, not after yesterday.
In less than ten minutes with Greta van Susteren on MSNBC, he not only managed to misrepresent history, he defied current political logic. And he did it with a straight face, sitting there looking all knowledgeable and qualified, and serious.
First, he compared the current Trump struggle with Mexico over his big, beautiful wall with Nixon’s “China moment”. What?!? I was old enough to be cognizant of the world, and of the US move on China. I seem to remember it as first Kissinger, on Nixon’s orders, then Nixon himself going to China to try to normalize relations, to bring China out of isolation and into the international community. Which meant that we in the US ended up with cheap electronics that blew up in a year, and clothes that were two sizes too small and the stitches came out in months. Mein Furor is threatening a trade war with China, and another one with Mexico if they don’t pony up. He Tweeted that the President of Mexico may as well not bother coming up if he wasn’t bring a check for fifty billion big boys, a bluff the Mexican President was more than happy to call, cancelling his visit. How in the hell can these two events possibly collate and mesh with each other, they’re diametrically opposite!
The second example was equally insane. He said that Trump had an opportunity to pass comprehensive immigration reform, and to be bulletproof in doing it. He said The Trumpster Fire was in the unique position to pass comprehensive immigration reform, with a “normalization” of undocumented immigrants already here, and somehow usher in a golden age of relations with Mexico. WTF?!? If he did this, if he proposed a bill that the Democrats could get on board with, he would be dead meat. His base doesn’t want to hear shit about “normalization” of immigrants, they want them gone, preferably with some scars as souvenirs of their visit. Even base conservative Republicans would be out in the street with pitchforks and torches, they want these people marginalized and in the shadows, picking produce, mowing lawns and flipping burgers, not “normalized”. If they feel “normalized”, they might start to think that they have like, some basic human rights and shit. Hewitt is not a conservative, he is a deluded rationalist.
And so, now I have a new mute button toy. From now on whenever Hugh Hewitt puts in an appearance, I’ll either mute the t.v., or switch to the other channel. Hell, there;s no sense to come from the man, and even a Cialis commercial would be preferable.