Friendly fire: Menéndez’s sentence, RFK scares Congress and Moran signs

Can Americans still have a sensible and friendly political discussion in the partisan division? The answer is yes, and we demonstrate it every week. Julie Roginskya Democrat and Mike duhaime, A Republican, are consultants who have worked on opposite teams for all their careers, but have remained friends. Here, discuss the events of the week with editorial editor Tom Moran.

P. Senator Robert Menéndez, sentenced to 11 years in prison in the famous case of corruption of the Golden Bar, now says that President Trump is right, that our justice system is corrupt and addresses innocent victims for political reasons. Normally, one could rule out this as the ravings of an old crooked on his way to prison. But at this time, it feels dangerous. Thoughts?

Micro: Senator Menéndez is taking advantage of the distrust of selective political prosecution, but remember that Menéndez was investigated by Bush’s justice departments to Obama to Trump to Biden. He barely escaped the conviction in 2017, but had arrogance to run again and proceed to ignore any legal and ethical line. The gold bars in their basement and the cash in their suits and the payments of the car for his wife are not the fault of prosecutors or politics. Claiming himself, a victim is an insult to prosecutors and all his voters, especially those who trusted him enough to vote for him. Hail Mary to Trump is a pathetic ending for the saga.

Julie: I know I am in a minority here, but I can understand why Menéndez is doing everything possible to stay out of prison. In the absence of the Supreme Court by launching this conviction, which can take years, the only way in which it avoids spending more than a decade after bars is seeking forgiveness. Unless you have walked a mile in your place, do you know with certainty that you would not do the same to avoid spending the rest of your life behind bars?

Q. In his first major reversion, President Trump rescinded an OMB directive that freezes billions of dollars in federal subsidies and loans after a federal judge temporarily blocked. The poorly written order led to panic in schools, hospitals and other organizations concerned with losing government financial support. Was this fixed incompetence, or is there another explanation?

Micro: Trump’s objectives are the interruption and reduce waste spending, which people want. But the objectives and execution are very different things. If you want a second successful term in which you implement your vision, you will need people around you who can perform competently. In this case, the judge cited a poorly written tweet by the press secretary to revoke the board. Oh.

Julie: This is quite clear. The Congress has the power of the bag and the 1974 Embediamment Control Law requires that you spend that money as Congress intended. Foods on wheels, which froze, is not a wasteful expense. Nor is it money for more air traffic controllers, which prevents airplanes from blocking. Nor Medicaid, whose portals fell the day that order issued. But to answer your question, this is not incompetence. It is flooding the area, so we do not have time to outrak for anything before the next indignation is visited.

Q. The case raises a constitutional question about the power of a president to confiscate funds that were authorized by Congress, to have the last word about all federal expenses. The Packing Control Law prevented the presidents from doing that, but Trump said in the campaign that “do everything possible to challenge” that law, which called “an unconstitutional invasion about the president’s power.” Is this question likely to land before the Supreme Court? If Trump wins, what are the implications?

Micro: The Constitution clearly places the power of spending in the hands of Congress, not the President. But the executive branch can have a great influence on how that money is spent, and that is ultimately what Trump is trying to do here.

Julie: In fact I wrote a column About this because it is quite clear how all this ends. He is pressing the courts to see how far he can go. After having taken the power of the legislative branch bag, he is testing his power over the judicial branch. And who will stop it? Paraphrasing Joseph Stalin, “How many divisions does John Roberts have?” To prevent Trump from trampling the rule of law?

Julie: Thanks to Trump V United States, the president is immune to criminal prosecution for anything he does in his official capacity, including the seizure of money that was properly appropriate by Congress. The judicial case is so expansive that it probably allows Trump to ignore judicial decisions while he sits in the White House. The majority of Maga in the Supreme Court has given Trump the power to become absolutely irrelevant. Justice would be appropriate, if only the end of our Constitutional Republic did not spend.

P. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. seemed to stumble over and over in front of the hematlas questions at their first confirmation hearing on Wednesday, denying that it was anti -cacamic, despite a lifetime to create against their dangers, mixing repeatedly Medicare and Medicaid , and delayed by a letter from his cousin Caroline Kennedy, who described him as “predator” and said that “he has misrepresented, lying and deceiving through life.” In the end, the president of the committee, Senator Mike Crapo, a Idaho Republican, said Mr. Kennedy had “done well” and deserved to be confirmed. How is this going to play?

Micro: Kennedy is an enigma for some. Sometimes, he is clearly completely in his head, he lacks a command of simple but important political distinctions, he often sounds naive, throwing silly ideas based on conspiracy theories, some of which are flat. Ah, and then often contradicts your own previous statements.

Micro: However, on other occasions, it sounds convincing, reflective, intelligent, challenging for the status quo and is not afraid of asking uncomfortable questions, all positive qualities. But asking difficult questions does not make one qualify: many people ask questions. Not many of them have the experience to direct one of the most important agencies in the United States.

Julie: Come on. If this were any other administration, we would not even be taking this nomination seriously. But we live in interesting times, where Republicans are more terrified with the primary than to unleash another pandemic or bring polio. Kennedy is a symptom, not the cause, of this national disease, which ultimately can cost more lives than Covid.

P. Senior officials of the Washington Department of Justice visited New York to discuss the case of corruption against Mayor Eric Adams, which increases the fear that the case could be withdrawn, or that Trump could grant a forgiveness. Help me understand this: How could Trump help forgive Adams?

Micro: Trump wants to make all the investigations of politicians look corrupt, since it helps discredit all investigations against him. If the Department of Justice seems politically selective, then it becomes the best victim. Adams’s case is complicated, and is accused of taking updates from airlines, not in cash or gold bars. If Trump has no problem forgiving the violent uprooters who beat the police, it is not difficult to say that a guy who took improvements from the airlines can be a victim of a selective political prosecution.

Julie: I agree with everything Mike said, and I will only add that Adams has intelligently absorbed Trump, who never met a flatter who did not love. Again, I can’t blame Adams for this. He knows that his political career is over. His only objective is now to remain out of prison.

P. Finally, a personal note: this is my last week as a moderator of this column, a project that three began in 2017 in an attempt to demonstrate that Americans from both sides of the halls can have a friendly argument and based on facts about facts about facts about The problems of the day. We did that, but I fear, unfortunately, that the biggest world has not realized that our national dialogue is even more bitter and crazy than when we started. What do you think?

Micro: We must all play our little role to break the barriers between the people who love our country but who do not agree on politics or policies. And you have done it with this column, I hope. We have much more in common than we often admit. You did a good job gathering us, and I hope we did our part to demonstrate that we can disagree without being unpleasant, and that we can give ourselves the benefit of the doubt of good intentions even in bad policies. If we see ourselves as opponents instead of enemies, and we remember our common humanity, focusing more on everything we have in common than what divides us, we will all be fine.

Julie: In a personal note, I want to thank him, Tom, for creating this column at a time when Governor Murphy was doing everything possible to talk about his mistreatment of women and other little ethical behaviors. In large part, he failed because you never hesitated. He never prevented us from telling the truth, despite the immense (and, ultimately, useless), Murphy and his assistants. In Trump’s era, which is not so different from Murphy in this regard, inherited media should take a lesson on how to stand firm against powerful people when you know you are right.

Julie: The good news is that this column will continue in Nj.com In the predictable future, although he will not be with you as part of him, which seems difficult to understand. (To all the people who wrote when asking that Mike and I continue with friendly fire, thanks. His emails made the difference and that is why this column is not going anywhere). As for what it means about courtesy, it is important to remember that we are all human beings. Mike and I can disagree or even execute campaigns against the candidates of others, but none of that is personal. We are both human beings who can have different political priorities. If more people thought of their political adversaries that way, it would be a much better world.

A note for readers: Mike and Julie are deeply involved in political and commercial defense in New Jersey, so both have connections with many players discussed in this column. Duhaime, the founder of Mad Global, has worked for Chris Christie, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and George W. Bush. Roginsky, director of the Comprehensive Communications Group and author of the Sushack Salada policy column, has served as main advisor to Cory Booker campaigns, Frank Lautenberg and Phil Murphy.

As of next week, the Star-Ledger online newspapers editor, Enrique Lavín, assumes Friendly Fire’s moderator.