Donald Trump’s take on the meaning of Bully Pulpit is twisted.This President uses his Bully Pulpit towell, actually bully.Is he just a dunce who takes things too literally?Or is he just a bully?The term Bully Pulpit was coined by our 26th President, Theodore Roosevelt.It was his way of saying the presidency was a matchless opportunity to raise consciousness and ethics regarding important issues of the day. He felt he “could use the presidency as a bully pulpit to bring out the best in civic life.”Whereas TR often used the word Bully ( a popular phrase at the time) as an adjective meaning excellent, Trump has his own re-definition of Teddy Roosevelt’s ideal. He uses it literally.Bullying itself seems to be Trump’s only agenda.Roosevelt understood that a modern president could reach the country with high minded ideals through public speeches and command of the press.Trump spars on twitter, mocking, abusing, taunting and browbeating. William Safire called Roosevelt’s Bully Pulpit “the active use of the president’s prestige and high visibility to inspire or moralize.”Think about that.The most powerful person in the country -the President of the United States- on twitter bullying a girl. Roosevelt knew the power of the presidency and knew it gave the occupant an exceptional opportunity to instruct or inspire.Trump uses it to “Bully.”The President of the United States sent out a tweet to his 60 plus million followers mocking a 16-year-old girl with Aspergers.He has shown no qualms about bullying anyone.
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The Bully Pulpit is a remarkable study of a tumultuous period in our history.”, St. Louis Post-Dispatch “Swiftly moving account of a friendship that turned sour, broke a political party in two and involved an insistent, omnipresent press corps.
He has mocked reporters with physical disabilities, mocked women and men for their looks, taunted and teased allies, why not a 16 years old girl who has inspired millions as a climate change activist?Why?Because he can’t bear to be bested. “Be Best” was his motto long before his enabler Melania co-opted it for her non-existent anti-cyberbullying program.He must “Be Best.”Always.Fake News. An Ego driven fake cover of TIME magazine (R) was hung in 5 of Donald Trump’s clubs.
(L) The Power of Truth- TIME Magazine Person of the Year 2019 Greta ThunbergFor decades Trump has lusted after a TIME magazine cover. It was the Gold Standard for him of importance.
He likes visible signs that he’s tops.So when a 16-year-old Swedish girl was named TIME Person of the Year 2019, chosen over Donald Trump himself a nominee, it was just too much to bear. A girl with Aspergers, no less! Think of that.
Trumps altered mockup of the TIME Person of the Year Cover was likely inspired by the Toddler in Chiefs own angry scribblingsWithout a hint of irony of the pot calling the kettle black, Trump suggested in his tweet that Greta should work on her “anger management problem.” The anger rumbling through the halls of the White House after this embarrassment was palpable. His team got to work to manage it.Later that day, Trump’s 2020 re-election team proudly tweeted out a photoshopped cover of TIME’s Person of the Year with Dear Leader’s bloviated, ego-soaked head superimposed on Greta Thunberg’s tiny body.You can bet this childish idea was inspired by toddler Donnie’s angry scribblings done in the Oval Office. Enough is EnoughImagine your own daughter being bullied by an adult.
A man who is the President of the United States, the single most powerful man on earth.You would call the authorities.That’s what Congress is doing now. It’s high time to knock this Bully off his Bully Pulpit.He is a Dunce.© Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream, 2019. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
'For $80 billion, we could have universal preschool for every 3-year-old & 4-year-old in America' — on what we spent on incarcerations— The White House (@WhiteHouse)More than 50 cities have set up programs to help young black and Hispanic males as part of Obama’s “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative, 14 states and a number of large cities like Los Angeles have raised their minimum wage, corporations like McDonald’s and Microsoft and cities like Atlanta have expanded paid sick and family leave programs for their workers. New York City created universal preschool, and 34 states have expanded their preschool programs since Obama advocated the idea in his 2013 State of the Union address, according to White House officials.Related:Oregon over the last few weeks has created a program to allow students to attend two years of community college nearly tuition-free and mandated businesses offer employees at least five paid sick days a year, both Obama administration initiatives. Oklahoma and Michigan, both of which have GOP governors, have passed provisions over the last year that bar cities in those states from increasing the minimum wage on their own. Even as Louisville hikes its minimum wage, several more conservative cities and counties in Kentucky have enacted right-to-work laws, which Obama opposes.Obama is following, not leading, on some issues, proposing them nationally in part because they already had momentum in states.Even conservative places like Oklahoma had launched universal preschool programs in their states before Obama proposed the idea nationally.
Progressives have been pushing to increase the minimum wage and expand sick leave programs for workers for decades.New. In an interview with NBC News, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, said that the policy changes in her state reflect not just a push from the White House, but a broader coalition on the left.She said she reads 'Governing,' a magazine focused on state policy, to find new policy ideas as well as talking to officials at the city level, like New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who called to congratulate Brown after the sick leave law was enacted. Both chambers in Oregon’s state legislature are Democratic.“The states and the local governments are the innovators, we are the petri dishes that help cultivate good ideas,” said Brown.The administration acknowledges many of these ideas were percolating locally. But they argue Obama’s advocacy helps put them in the mainstream. Broderick Johnson, a senior adviser to the president whose official role is coordinating the Cabinet, in fact spends much of his time working with cities and groups on developing their MBK programs. Labor Secretary Tom Perez and Valerie Jarrett, Obama’s longtime senior adviser, have flown to cities all over the country encouraging local officials and businesses to adopt paid sick leave and family leave programs.White House aides write policy briefs tailored to states, explaining how increasing the minimum wage and or expanding preschool will have help local communities.
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Aides in the White House’s public engagement and intergovernmental affairs operations, run by Jarrett, are constantly tracking what is happening in cities and states and looking to advance Obama’s agenda.When Republicans in the Missouri state legislature last month pushed through a bill that would have banned cities in the state from increasing the minimum wage, one of Jarrett’s aides called the office of Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, who is a Democrat, and urged him to veto the legislation, which he did. Jarrett herself intervened earlier this year, urging state lawmakers in Pennsylvania not to pass a provision that would have weakened a paid sick leave law in Philadelphia. “I told the president of the United States ‘we’re going to pass this thing,’ so the pressure was on,” Haas said.There is an obvious limit to this approach: Congress controls much of the government’s money, and they are not working with Obama on many these projects.MBK calls on cities and states to take steps like creating mentoring programs and suspending fewer young black male students, initiatives that cost little money. The cost of paid leave programs and increases to the minimum wage are incurred by private companies and potentially the workers themselves, not the government directly.Only a few, very progressive states like California have dramatically expanded preschool, which is more expensive. And only Oregon has recently adopted universal community college programs, another costly idea.
Obama’s team of course is hoping some of their changes will outlast the president and continue even after he leaves office, no matter who is his successor.' Local folks making local decisions play a really strong role in this administration,” said Jerry Abramson, the former mayor of Louisville who is now the director of intergovernmental affairs at the White House. “And I think that other presidents who understand the power of local and state elected officials and advocacy groups, I would think would follow that lead.' Perry Bacon Jr.Perry Bacon Jr.
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Is a senior political reporter for NBC News. Prior to joining the site in 2014, Bacon was political editor for theGrio.com, as well as a contributor to MSNBC. While at The Grio, Bacon led the site's coverage of the 2012 election and Obama’s second term, with a special focus on the Affordable Care Act and its impact.A Louisville native and graduate of Yale, Bacon is a longtime Washington political reporter. He covered the 2004 presidential campaign and Congress for TIME magazine, then moved on to a similar role at the Washington Post, where he served as a national political correspondent and White House reporter.He can be reached at [email protected].
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