Trump tweeted that he absolutely opposed renaming military bases named to honor Confederate heroes. The renaming was proposed by military leaders and the Defense Department.
Hours later, the Republican Senate Armed Services Committee voted to rename the bases.
The Democratic Appropriations Committee Will attach a requirement to the $740 billion defense budget that the bases must be renamed.
Will Trump veto the defense appropriations—which includes pay raises for the troops—to protect the names of the bases that honor Confederate heroes (who made war against their nation and killed more Americans than all other wars combined)?
From The NY Times:
WASHINGTON — A key Senate committee voted on Wednesday to require the Pentagon to strip military bases and equipment of Confederate names, monuments or symbols within three years, setting up an election-year clash with President Trump on the issue amid a rapidly building national outcry against historical representations of racism.
The move by the Armed Services Committee to insert the mandate into a must-pass defense authorization bill, which was supported by Republicans and Democrats alike, came as Mr. Trump publicly declared his refusal to even consider removing any of the names. He raged about it on Twitter on Thursday, exhorting members of his party to resist the effort even as a growing number of Republicans on Capitol Hill said they were open to removing symbols of the Confederacy.
The conflict underscored how isolated the president is becoming, even from members of his own party, as protests of police brutality against black people fuel a broader discussion of race and identity in America.
The break is more than rhetorical. The move to include the proposal, written by Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, raised the prospect of an election-year Senate vote on the issue.
“The American people know these names have to go,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at a news conference on Thursday. The president, she continued, “seems to be the only person left who doesn’t get it.”
Republican lawmakers’ willingness to break with the president on the issue comes as they have also distanced themselves from his bellicose response to the protests, instead scrambling to come up with a plan to combat racism in policing.
Dramatizing the rift between Mr. Trump and members of his own party, he lashed out on Twitter on Thursday afternoon, apparently dismayed by the support the measure was picking up in Congress.
“Seriously failed presidential candidate, Senator Elizabeth ‘Pocahontas’ Warren, just introduced an Amendment on the renaming of many of our legendary Military Bases from which we trained to WIN two World Wars,” Mr. Trump tweeted. “Hopefully our great Republican Senators won’t fall for this!”
But the president’s message came as many Republicans on Capitol Hill had already endorsed or expressed openness to the idea, including the top leader in the House and several Republican senators. He posted it the day after the closed-door vote on the proposal, which would require the Defense Department to set up a panel to develop a plan to rename, within the next three years, military bases and other assets currently named for Confederate figures. The vote happened after Mr. Trump announced that his administration would not consider the idea.
Trump’s arrogant fueled malignant narcissism and deep-seated racism keeps stepping in one pile of dog poo after another as the gap between the Always Trump and Never Trump voters grows wider every day. This morning,
Today, FiveThirtyEight reported a gap of 15 points between disapproval at 55.2% and approval at 40.2%.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/adults/
Real Clear Politics reported a gap of 13.6 points/percent.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/trump_favorableunfavorable-5493.html
These two sites do not report one or two polls. Both sites average all the polls together into one number. FiveThirtyEight grades each poll and adjusts the final result based on that grade. For instance, Monmouth University has an A+ for its poll, but Morning Consult gets a B/C grade. What is that a B- or a C+?
“I am the least racist man in America. I just honor great racists of the past.” –White Supremacist “Dog-Whistle Don” Trump
VoteVets (@votevets) Tweeted:
Our new ad cuts to the chase, and pulls no punches: We’d never name bases after America’s enemies, like Osama bin Laden. Why does Donald Trump so desperately want to keep the names of other racist enemies on our Army bases? https://t.co/Pfixi2Tu6w
Vote Vets ad is GREAT! Maybe Bloomberg will be willing to pay to run it is an ad on Trump’s favorite Fox misinformation program during Trump’s favorite time to watch TV. How many hours does he watch Fox each day when he isn’t playing golf?
We need some comic relief:
Comic Relief = Randy Rainbow
When will Randy publish his next Trump-bashing video on You Tube?
If there was a choice between a horse or Trump running around in a hospital, the horse would be chosen because at least the horse would wear a mask. Funny video. Thanks for sharing.
On Fri, Jun 12, 2020 at 11:47 AM Diane Ravitch’s blog wrote:
> GregB commented: “We need some comic relief: > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhkZMxgPxXU&feature=youtu.be” >
Speaking of renaming things, in a demonstration how attitudes about race are changing the world over, the Premier League in England will restart this weekend and all players names on the back of their jerseys will be replaced by “Black Lives Matter.” Similar acts took place last weekend in the German Bundesliga.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/53030146
Could this be a trend… Military generals speaking out against the president. GOP Senator Committee voting against the president. Hundreds of DOJ staffers’ letter against the president.
And, side note – Sen. Hawley from MO must be honoring it as border state (still is) and voted with the confederacy on the statues. Since he never goes into cities, at least he doesn’t know there’s a statue of Dred and Harriet Scott in front of the Old Courthouse.
I referred to MacPherson’s writing last night. Braxton Bragg really sucked as a general. I wonder if there’s a Fort Quisling in Norway.