Trump’s Cabinet Meeting a Tour de Force, Ignored by Mainstream Media by Liz Peek
The Democrat-friendly media mostly ignored yesterday’s cabinet meeting hosted by President Trump, and who can blame them? Comparisons with similar gatherings held by his incapable predecessor Joe Biden do not help their cause. After an hour and a half of newsworthy updates on the activities of this energized and aligned White House, the media focused on one question – about Jeffrey Epstein.
There is ongoing rumor-mongering about possible links between Trump and Epstein, even though the most widely-reported political connection is with Bill Clinton. Can you imagine that political opponents who were willing to fabricate the Steele Dossier to discredit Trump would blanche at exposing his ties to the dreadful Epstein? Good grief. Trump is tired of the inquiries, and said so. Enough!
Of course, Biden barely met with his cabinet, either as a group or, according to reporting in The Original Sin, even individually. During his four years in office, Joe Biden held 9 cabinet meetings; in his first term, President Trump hosted 25. Six months into his second term, he has already held 6.
Not only does Trump invite the press in for a photo op, which presidents typically do, but he also takes – and encourages his cabinet members to take — questions from the press. You would think the press corps would appreciate being given this kind of access, after four years of being iced out by the clandestine Biden team. (No, I know better.)
But, hours after the meeting, CNN decided to “fact-check” the president. Here’s their opening: “President Donald Trump again turned a Cabinet meeting into a wide-ranging conversation with reporters – and again uttered a whole bunch of false claims in the process.” What were those false claims? Trump’s usual exaggerations – like claiming we “have no inflation.” I know what he meant; there has been no discernible inflation impact from tariffs. Surely CNN knows that too. Honestly, it’s amazing he doesn’t just toss them out for a month or two.
The most important revelation of the meeting was Trump’s obvious anger with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, which has surfaced several times in recent weeks. Trump wants peace in Ukraine; Putin so far has resisted the president’s overtures. Worse, every time Trump and Putin speak, the Russian ex-KGB thug launches another devastating attack on Ukraine, seemingly targeting and purposefully killing civilians.
Last week, likely to gain some leverage, the U.S. announced a halt to weapons shipments to Kiev. Today, Trump overrode that decision, reportedly made by the Pentagon, and the arms flow will resume. In addition, President Trump indicated he was seriously considering imposing secondary sanctions on Moscow. This is an important threat. We have already levied tough primary sanctions on Russia; secondary sanctions – penalizing countries that trade with Russia – would hurt. I assume the White House has been reluctant to take that next step since China would be hit. But if Trump is riled enough, and is tired of Putin playing him, he has to step up. Just as with Iran, if threats don’t work, eventually you have to take action in order to establish credibility.
The Heritage Foundation’s Virginia Coates, former deputy national security advisor to President Trump, joined us on Mornings With Maria on Monday; she agreed that secondary sanctions is the logical and maybe only reasonable next move if Trump wants to make progress settling the war in Ukraine. She says Trump used that threat in his first term in dealing with Iran, and that it worked precisely because it warned China off supporting the mullahs.
Every day that passes now Russia advances into Ukraine’s territory. That makes crafting any kind of settlement that much harder.
This has to be the most transparent administration ever. Many cabinet members brought the president up to date on their activities, publicly. Sean Duffy talked about making important upgrades to our Air Traffic Control systems, which is long overdue. Less Zeldin described his takedown of green energy, the day a report emerged predicting power failures in the future. The cabinet and Trump talked tariffs and trade, with the president announcing he will likely slap a big import fee on copper, as he has on aluminum and steel. It was an energized, productive meeting.
Of course, comparisons with the Joe Biden White House are worthless; his cabinet meetings were rote affairs, concluding little of importance. The last one was presided over by Jill Biden, with almost no participation from her diminished husband.
Here’s what is remarkable: in the back and forth, President Trump never missed a beat. He can weigh in on everything his administration is doing, which is a boatload of new initiatives, programs etc., with a truly granular understanding. He can talk trade, Hamas negotiations, the war in Ukraine, our military’s capabilities, the reconciliation bill he just signed into law, immigration issues – the whole agenda.
He even took time to talk about the portraits now hanging in the Oval Office and the refurbishment of the Cabinet Room. Seriously, does the man ever sleep?
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