Friday, July 31, 2020

Trump's Phone Gaffes: (1) Favor from Ukraine Prez, and (2) From GOP Senator

Latest Phone Conversation on Speakerphone and Recorded
(In another open public restaurant)

More Trump dirty pool revealed in another “secret phone” call that was recorded by a bystander while Trump was on speakerphone and he didn’t even know it (also in a public restaurant). 

This story from Huff Post – quite revealing about Trump as if we didn’t already know with this headline:

Trump Maneuvers to Protect Robert E. Lee’s Name in Secretly Recorded Phone Call

Trump was recorded talking to Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) about keeping Lee’s name at military sites and The NY Times got the tape.

Trump dismissed the “bullshit” of the effects of cancel culture as he negotiated with a senator to preserve the name of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee at military installations, according to a recording of a phone conversation given to The New York Times.

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) put Trump on speakerphone at an Italian restaurant in Washington, DC as the two talked politics Wednesday (July 29) night. The conversation was overheard and recorded by someone in the room (The NY Times reported).

Trump said: “All right, my friend. Are you doing good? We’re going to keep the name of Robert E. Lee?” 

Inhofe responded: “Just trust me. I’ll make it happen.”

Trump piped up: “I had about 95,000 positive retweets on that. That’s a lot.” 

(Note: Trump seemed to be referring to his tweet last week wherein Inhofe promised he wouldn’t change the names of “Military Bases and Forts” and that he was “not a believer in the Cancel Culture.”)

More of this story: Trump earlier threatened to veto the Senate’s Defense Authorization Act (DPA) that overwhelmingly passed and it would change military base names that honor Confederates. The vote was 86-14 – a margin that could easily override a Trump veto.

Trump’s conversation with Inhofe appeared to be a push to protect a veto, but then Trump seemingly veered into another complaint about the so-called cancel culture. That is in which support for a person is withdrawn over offensive actions or statements. Trump said: “A lot of people want to be able to go back to life — not this bullshit.”

In the call, Trump also discussed Inhofe’s sudden cancellation of a confirmation hearing for retired Gen. Anthony Tata (Trump’s pick for a top Pentagon policy post). That followed deepening concerns from both Democrats and Republicans about Tata’s history of inflammatory tweets in which he called former President Obama a terrorist leader and attacked Islam. Early in the conversation, Inhofe, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee had referred to holding up Tata’s confirmation.

Inhofe had said in a statement that Democrats and Republicans don’t yet know enough about Tata and hadn’t received required documentation.
On the recorded portion of the phone call, the two mentioned the possibility of someone resigning and given another appointment.

Inhofe has not commented on the recording.

My 2 cents: Wow – what a story. This as bad as when Trump was also “secretly” recorded asking Ukraine’s president for a “favor” to dig up dirt on Joe and Hunter Biden (that reminder is here from USA Today).

That case and the above both recorded and overhead in public restaurants … that alone is amazing and shows how lax Trump is on the phone.

Thanks for stopping by.

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