I wouldn’t count on it:
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Friday that President Donald Trump’s comments about African nations being “shithole countries” are “beneath the dignity of the presidency,” and if he can’t take his job seriously, he shouldn’t have it.
“If the president can’t control himself and lead this country with the authority, dignity and leadership it requires, then he shouldn’t be the president,” she said in a scathing statement. “There’s no room for racism in the Oval Office.”
Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said people need to be clear about what Trump was really saying when, during a Thursday meeting with senators, he rejected their idea of cutting the visa lottery in half and allotting the rest to underrepresented countries in Africa and nations like Haiti that have temporary protective status. That designation lets people stay in the U.S. after natural disasters or other crises in their home nations.
Trump reportedly said no to that proposal, referred to African nations as “shithole countries,” asked why the United States needs any more Haitians, and then said people from Norway would be more welcome.
“The president’s expressed desire to see more immigrants from countries like Norway must be called out for what it is: an effort to set this country back generations by promoting a homogenous, white society,” Feinstein said. “We all need to stop pretending that there are no consequences when the most powerful person in the world espouses racist views and gives a wink and a nod to the darkest elements in our society.”
I will say that Feinstein at least has been really reading the wind here. We all praise her for this:
Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s office released a transcript Tuesday of Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson’s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The committee questioned Simpson in August about Russian interference in the 2016 election. A dossier compiled by Fusion GPS with the help of former British spy Christopher Steele alleged collusion between the Donald Trump campaign and the Russian government.
“After speaking with majority and minority committee staff for 10 hours, Glenn Simpson requested the transcript of his interview be released publicly. The American people deserve the opportunity to see what he said and judge for themselves,” Feinstein (D-Calif.) said in a statement Tuesday. “The innuendo and misinformation circulating about the transcript are part of a deeply troubling effort to undermine the investigation into potential collusion and obstruction of justice. The only way to set the record straight is to make the transcript public.”
And Feinstein has taken a different tone from late last year on Trump:
It was a boilerplate political event at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on Aug. 29. Feinstein outlined her views on immigration, the threat of North Korea and the president’s response to white nationalist protests in Charlottesville, Va., while answering friendly questions from confidante and former Rep. Ellen Tauscher, a Democrat.
There were some angry members of the crowd who called for Trump’s impeachment. Amid the 70-minute discussion, she said two things that lit a fire under liberals already frustrated by her measured approach.
Each comment has already been shorthanded by rivals: Feinstein thinks Trump can be a good president! and, She asked Americans to be patient with Trump!
There’s more to the story.
Fifty-five minutes into the conversation, Feinstein was asked when GOP leaders would turn against Trump and either urge him to resign or pursue impeachment. She replied with these 121 words. Her critics have boiled that statement down to six.
“Well, um, I’d really rather not comment. However, I think you all know impeachment and the House brings the impeachment and then the Senate sits as a court and votes. At the end there is a trial in front of the Senate. I’ve kind of been there done that. It’s not the greatest thing in the world. That’s for sure.”
“Look, this man is going to be president, most likely for the rest of this term. I just hope he has the ability to learn, and to change. And if he does, he can be a good president. And that’s my hope. I have my own personal feelings about it.”
“Yeah, I understand how you feel,” Feinstein responded. “I understand how you feel.”
Later, she was asked why the Democratic message seemed muted compared with all the airtime Trump gets. This was just after the flooding in Houston. Feinstein urged the crowd to give Trump latitude in his early tenure. But that call for “patience” was followed by words marked by skepticism.
“This man is president of the United States. That’s unlike any other job out there, by far, has enormous powers. And I think what’s happened is that he has shown several holes in himself. And I think the press has picked this up and really sees what’s been happening, and following it very closely. I was listening to his comments in Texas and generally the press wouldn’t run comments at an emergency — they didn’t in the big earthquake or the fire, the president came out and that wasn’t really run. But this is his first big American emergency and I think, I think we have to have some patience. I do,” Feinstein said.
“I mean, it’s eight months into the tenure of the presidency and it’s buffeted by being rent asunder. It really is,” she went on. “And we’ll have to see if he can forget himself and his feeling about himself enough to be able to really have the kind of empathy and the kind of direction that this country needs. And if it doesn’t happen, there are things that could happen that I don’t think it’d be responsible for me to begin to speak about here.”
And it sounds like she’s taking a primary challenge seriously:
For all the talk about do-nothing moderates, Democrats have mostly left their vulnerable Senate candidates alone. Perhaps that’s because, aside from early defections on Cabinet secretary confirmations, Senate Democrats have uniformly held the line on big votes in the Trump era. Democrats voted unanimously against GOP efforts to dismantle Obamacare and cut taxes, for example. But in deep-blue California, Sen. Dianne Feinstein wasn’t so lucky. The 26-year incumbent, who has frustrated liberals with her moderation—and frustrated ambitious California Democrats by being a 26-year-incumbent—will face state Senate President Kevin de Leon in the June 5 open primary. Under California’s election rules, Democrats and Republicans compete in the same primary, and the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, move on to the general election. So there’s a good chance this race won’t be settled until November.
We shall see. Stay tuned.