Trump’s economic adviser is faster than a speeding bullet and can leap tall buildings in a single bound, we’re told.
.. Known inside the trade as “beat sweeteners” or “source greasers,” such praiseful articles lavish flattery upon officials in hopes that the subject will come to trust the reporter and return the favor in the future by leaking inside skinny or providing other access.
.. Conservative press critics can’t shut up about liberal media bias, but for my money the enduring bias in the Washington press is for moderation, centrism and bipartisanship. If a politician or policymaker signals a willingness to make deals in Washington—no matter what the deal—the press will treat him like a wise and worldly figure.
.. Wall Street Journal editorial in Friday’s edition pegs Cohn—accurately, I think—as a “pragmatic Wall Street Democrat
.. Cohn’s smartest move has been to position himself inside the Trump administration as the anti-Bannon
.. Cohn has already convinced willing scribes that he’s an effective power broker.
.. struggled with dyslexia
.. If Cohn makes that leap—and given current White House disarray, that’s more than possible—he would make a most excellent source.
How Kasich’s Religion Is Hurting Him With Conservatives
“I don’t go out and try to win a vote by using God. I think that cheapens God.” That would be John Kasich.
.. The irony here is not just that the most pious Republican candidate has been largely overshadowed in a campaign for which Christianity is a major calling card. As Kasich makes what could be his last big campaign push to win Ohio’s primary on Tuesday, his devout faith might actually be hurting him. The governor’s faith appears to drive his politically moderate stances on immigration, climate change and gay marriage—positions that alienate him from mainstream conservatives whose support Kasich needs to have a chance at the nomination.
.. For example, a cornerstone of Kasich’s governorship has been his expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Expanding Medicaid wasn’t a politically savvy move for an aspiring presidential candidate of a party almost single-mindedly dedicated to repealing Obamacare. But, as Kasich told the Christian Broadcasting Network, “I’m playing for a bigger game.” He cited as his motivation a passage from the Gospel of Matthew, in which Jesus speaks about the importance of kindness: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine,” Jesus tells his disciples, “you did for me.”
.. That Kasich would link the expansion of health care benefits so explicitly to the Bible upset the conservative establishment
.. .“When you die and get to the meeting with St. Peter, he’s probably not going to ask you much about what you did about keeping government small,” he said in 2013. “But he is going to ask you what you did for the poor. You better have a good answer.”
.. “I happen to believe there is a problem with climate change,” he said in 2012. “I don’t want to overreact to it, I can’t measure it all, but I respect the creation that the Lord has given us, and I want to make sure we protect it.” Compare this with Rubio’s claim that “for all we know, God wants the Earth to get warmer.”
.. If you’re in the business of commerce, conduct commerce. That’s my view. And if you don’t agree with their lifestyle, say a prayer for them when they leave and hope they change their behavior.”
.. Kasich cites the late University of Southern California philosophy professor Dallas Willard as one of his theological inspirations—an unusual choice because Willard was not always accepted by the Christian establishment. His teaching that the Kingdom of God is available here and now—“eternity is already in session,” he was known to say—follows a school of thought known as spiritual formation, or the idea that with discipline and spiritual development, ordinary Christians can grow to become more like Jesus.
.. Kasich, with his unique mix of left- and right-leaning views, seems to have adopted Willard’s focus on the Kingdom of God as far more important than the Republic of the United States.
.. Recently, a voter at a Georgia town hall asked the governor when would he “live out [his] purpose” by finally punching back at Trump and Rubio. Kasich’s response—perhaps not surprisingly—was a study in temperance: “I don’t know if my purpose is to be president,” he said. “Whether I’m president or whether I am not president, OK, I’m carrying out my mission. Don’t you think?”
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