As is plainly evident, there will be no honeymoon for President Trump. The Left has refused to accept the results of the 2016 election and are already engaged in what they called the “Resistance” against… what, exactly? The time to express disapproval of Donald Trump was at the ballot box, except they lost. Now, they’re taking out their impotent frustration in the streets and in the halls of Congress, where they are led in part by one of the nastiest men in American public life, Sen. Charles Schumer, who apparently has lied right to their faces. Surprise!
When President Donald Trump visited the CIA Saturday, he had hoped that CIA Director Mike Pompeo would accompany him. But when Trump arrived at the Langley, Virginia, headquarters of the Agency, he was instead accompanied by Congressman Mike Pompeo.
Representative Pompeo will almost certainly be confirmed as CIA Director on Monday. And the CIA will no doubt survive two days without its new leader. But the nastiness of the partisan sniping between top Republicans and Democrats that led to the delay may well have a lasting impact on the Senate – in this Congress and beyond.
According to six sources familiar with the negotiations over Pompeo’s confirmation, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told Republican leaders that he would allow Pompeo to be confirmed by voice vote on Inauguration Day, along with two other Trump nominees who have national security responsibilities. But Schumer broke his promise, these sources say, and offered an insulting excuse for having done so.
“Trust is important, even between adversaries,” says Senator John Cornyn, one of the Republicans involved in the discussions. “And that trust has been damaged.”
What a shock. Chuck Schumer, insulting? The man is a walking caricature of a rude, arrogant New Yorker, and the only wonder is that Cornyn, who’s known him for years, professes to be surprised by his bad behavior. One upside is that newer senators, such as Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Richard Burr of North Carolina, now have no further reason to trust Chuck Schumer, ever.
Cotton angrily confronted Schumer about his broken promise. According to witnesses, Schumer told Cotton to lower his voice and asked him move off of the Senate floor to an adjacent hallway for a private discussion. “We need to take this out into the hallway,” Schumer said. Cotton walked with Schumer but loudly rejected his first request. “Don’t tell me to lower my voice!” he shouted, with an additional salty admonition tacked on for emphasis. Burr and Cornyn were present, as was Senator Mark Warner, ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and several aides.
Schumer told Cotton that the Senate had never previously confirmed a CIA director on Inauguration Day and if Cotton had been around eight years earlier, he’d know that Republicans didn’t extend that courtesy for incoming president Barack Obama. “Eight years ago, I was getting my ass shot at in Afghanistan,” Cotton snapped. “So don’t talk to me about where I was 8 years ago.”
Good to see some signs of life from Cotton, who generally has all the charisma of a rutabaga. As for Burr:
Burr, not known for his aggressiveness, pointedly told Schumer that Republicans had learned something important about taking Schumer at his word. “I won’t make that mistake again,” he said.
No one should.
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