The Daly Weekly (1/17)

Trump's cabinet nominees, Jimmy Carter's funeral, "Mr. Baseball" Bob Uecker, and more!

Hi everyone.

Welcome to this week’s Daly Weekly, where I answer whatever questions you throw at me.

Let’s get right to it…

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John: I know you get your hair on fire (well, you don’t appear to have much hair, so maybe it’s not THAT on fire) about Trump. But aren’t there some political and electoral realities to his cabinet nominations specifically? You take to task senators who don’t stand up to Trump and block his more problematic nominees. I think we should cut these senators a little slack. First, you can’t die on every hill. Second, shouldn’t we start with the default position that a president is elected by the public, and in this case by a majority as well? Any president should be given at least the benefit of the doubt to form a cabinet team to his preferences. — Steve R

Hair on fire, Steve? Lol. I actually think I’ve been pretty clear-eyed, rational, and intellectually consistent on Trump — much more so than his reflexive attackers and defenders. Unlike a lot of people, I hold him to the same standards as others.

When Trump nominates good or satisfactory people (whether its for the Supreme Court or his administration), I say so. When he nominates someone I’m simply not crazy about, or if the position isn’t highly consequential, I shrug it off. But when it’s someone who’s glaringly unfit, and possibly even dangerous, vying for a very important public position, I’m going to call it out (like I’ve done here and here).

You say that Republican senators can’t die on “every” hill. With the exception of Mitt Romney (who’s now gone) and maybe one or two others, I’m curious when you think they have ever died on a hill against Trump? I mean, if shutting down Gaetz behind the scenes (a guy credibly accused of heavy drugging, and paying a 17-year-old for sex) is the best example, it’s an awfully weak one.

You ask: “Shouldn’t we start with the default position that a president is elected by the public, and in this case by a majority as well? Any president should be given at least the benefit of the doubt to form a cabinet team to his preferences.”

The president is indeed elected by the public. You know who else is? U.S. senators, most of whom won their seats by larger margins than Trump did. In our system of separated powers, their job isn’t to blindly do whatever the president wants. We have a senate confirmation process for a reason: checks and balances. I want elected representatives to take that role seriously, because their responsibility is to the public, not the president or a political party. If that’s a “hair on fire” take, Steve, hand me a match.

A viral moment from Jimmy Carter’s funeral was when Trump & Obama were sharing an apparently GENUINE good-natured laugh together! While I would love to know what it was about, I think that THIS should be used as a poster, meme, GIF, whatever, to show our nation that it’s okay for ALL OF US on opposite sides of the ideological spectrum to get together and share a few laughs, chats or just special moments with each other INSTEAD of name-calling, labeling, canceling, and lying about each other. Not that I expect this to occur, but I’m curious about your thoughts on the shared laugh itself and the Public and media responses to it. —“Four Laughs & A Funeral” Regards from The Emperor

As I wrote in a piece earlier this week, Emperor, I found a good amount of amusement in the clips coming out of that funeral. Like you (and as I’ve written before), I think it’s a good thing for the country when politicians from opposing parties treat each other cordially and with respect… especially those who’ve served as President of the United States. A great template for that, for some time now, has been Bill Clinton and the Bushes (RIP George H.W.). But there are reasons why such camaraderie no longer really exists, and I covered some of them in my aforementioned piece.

Hi John: what do you think about this video from the DEI lesbian fire chief? At first glance I would think this is a joke from the Babylon Bee but Apparently the LAFD was 100% serious here. — EZ Ryder

I’m not sure why it matters that she’s a lesbian, but I think a fire chief (I believe she’s actually an assistant chief) mocking people caught in a fire is absolutely insane. She clearly thought that was a clever or witty line, and it was just idiotic.

Trump declared this week that he doesn’t want anyone in his administration who worked with, or has been endorsed by, Charles Koch, John Bolton, Nikki Haley, Mike Pence, the Cheneys, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Mark Milly, James Mattis or Mark Esper. Thoughts? — Ben G.

My initial thought, Ben, is that Trump himself worked with nearly all of the people he listed, and endorsed several. He even hired a number of them for his first administration. So, if those people’s cooties disqualify an individual from serving in the next administration, Trump might as well resign right now. My second thought is that Pete Hegseth, Trump’s Secretary of Defense nominee, worked for Charles Koch (oops). My third: isn’t it interesting how Trump takes no such issue with people from the far-left serving his administration (like Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr.)? It’s conservative associations that offend him.

What drives you the craziest about today’s political arguments and debates? I’m sure you have a long list, but can you come up with a top item? —Alex D.

I could write an entire book on this topic, Alex, but if I were to narrow it to a single thing, it would probably be how people hold the “other side” to high moral, ethical, and political standards, while refusing to hold those on their own side (most notably their preferred politicians) to any standards at all. Unfortunately, this defines most of our political discourse.

Non political question! Thoughts on the passing of “Mr. Baseball” Bob Uecker? — Steve W.

Truth be told, I’ve never been into baseball, and Mr. Uecker had already retired from the sport by the time I was born. But as an entertainer in the 1980s, I thought he was uproariously funny, especially in those Miller Lite commercials. I find self-deprecating humor to be endearing, and he was a master of it.

The hardest Uecker ever made me laugh was in the below professional-wrestling segment with Andre The Giant. His comedic delivery was so great that Andre can be seen breaking character and laughing as he leaves the shot.

Just superb!

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Thanks everyone! You can send me questions for next week by leaving a comment in the comment section.