Hello! I hope everyone is doing well and had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. There’s a lot that I’ve been wanting to write about, so I’m excited to get to it, but first.
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Now let’s get to it:
We are less than two months until President-elect Donald Trump moves back into the White House, but one of the most busy spots in the country has been Mar-a-Lago, which has had a near constant stream of folks filing in and out to meet with Trump.
A few that have led to considerable attention among my social media orbit and media consumption are the visits of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the visits of “Morning Joe” team Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski of MSNBC.
Let’s begin with Trudeau. He made an unannounced visit to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump this past Friday. This meeting came in the wake of Trump’s recent threat to impose sweeping 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico. Trump threatened he would do this as one of his first actions upon taking office next month, arguing that it would be from what Trump sees as a failure of the two countries to prevent migrants and drugs from coming across the borders into the United States.
Trudeau arrived at Palm Beach International Airport on Friday evening and proceeded to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. The two shared a dinner that lasted approximately three hours. Accompanying Trudeau was Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who is responsible for border security.
The common argument I’ve seen so far against the meeting have been:
- Trump is not president yet
- Trudeau visiting somehow shows Trudeau bowing down to Trump
Trudeau has openly discussed the way he sees his relationship with Trump going.
“Ultimately, it is through lots of constructive, real conversations with President Trump that I’m going to have that will keep us moving forward on the right track for all Canadians,” Trudeau stated.
Trudeau did seem quite concerned about the possibility of the tariffs:
“When he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out,” Trudeau said.
“He would be actually not just harming Canadians who work so well with the United States,” the prime minister continued. “He [would] actually be raising prices for American citizens as well, and hurting American industry and businesses.”
The two have mostly not seen eye-to-eye, with Trudeau being a member of Canada’s liberal party. Trump has previously referred to him as a “far-left lunatic.” The Canadian leader has been much more leveled with his criticism of Trump, choosing to often take the high road instead of resulting to name-calling.
As far as the argument that Trump is not president yet, this is obviously true. However, there is history of an incoming president’s team beginning to coordinate with other world leaders during the presidential transition (the period between the election and the day the new president takes power).
I did some research on previous instances of a president-elect actually meeting with foreign leaders. Here is a bit of what I found:
In 1953, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill visited President-elect Dwight Eisenhower in New York to emphasize the importance of the Anglo-American “special relationship.
Also, between election day 2008 and Inauguration Day 2009, President-elect Barack Obama began engaging with foreign leaders shortly after Election Day, starting with phone calls to close American allies like the United Kingdom, Israel, Japan, Canada, and Mexico.
There are, however, a number of expectations that are put on such calls and meetings. The State Department traditionally helps coordinate phone calls between a president-elect and foreign dignitaries to ensure the government speaks with one voice on matters of national security and foreign policy. Presidents-elect are also advised to avoid making commitments that might undermine the current administration’s policies. These interactions are usually limited and strategic, aimed at building relationships with key allies and addressing pressing international issues.
There is no evidence that Trump has been working with the State Department to coordinate these conversations in a similar way, and in 2016’s transition before the first Trump administration, it was noted that he did not follow these standard procedures.
The other visit that got a lot of attention, as mentioned above, was the visit by MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” team of Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, who are married.
The visit, which took place on November 17, was their first face-to-face interaction in seven years. The pair stated that the visit was an attempt to restart communication between the trio after years of public feuding and criticism.
Scarborough and Brzezinski have been vocal critics of Trump, especially during his presidency. Their relationship soured after Trump publicly insulted them on social media and engaged in controversial accusations against Scarborough, implying he murdered an intern.
The pair fiercely criticized Trump on-air for years, but after visiting MAL in November, Brzezinski stated, “For those asking why we would speak to the president-elect during such fraught times, I would ask back: Why wouldn’t we?”
During their meeting, which Trump described as “extremely cordial,” they discussed various contentious issues, including abortion and media relations. Both hosts expressed a desire to find common ground while maintaining their commitment to hold Trump accountable for his actions and rhetoric. Scarborough emphasized that they are not there to “defend or normalize Donald Trump” but rather to report on him and provide insights into the current political climate.
But many on the left have fiercely criticized the visit, with many accusing Scarborough and Brzezinski of “kissing the ring” and normalizing Trump’s behavior, which they argue undermines journalistic integrity. For instance, former lawmaker David Jolly criticized their decision to meet with Trump, suggesting that it could send the wrong message about accountability.
The common call I’ve seen on social media has been a call for folks to boycott the show following the meeting, and ratings were markedly lower in the aftermath of it. On Monday of the week after the meeting, when Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski spoke about the meeting, viewership fell to 769,000 from their 2024 average of 1.1 million total viewers. By Tuesday, it shrunk to 683,000 total viewers, and by Wednesday, ratings decreased to 618,000 total viewers, 43% smaller than the year-to-date average.
It is somewhat commonplace for journalists to privately meet with sources and newsmakers for a variety of reasons, with journalists often cultivating relationships with politicians to gain access and insider information. In addition, politicians may provide off-the-record information or context to help journalists understand complex issues.
The concern many have, however, is the idea of “normalizing” a president that many believe is uniquely dangerous. There is also the concern that close relationships between journalists and politicians may compromise journalistic objectivity, and many argue that private meetings can hinder the media’s role in holding politicians accountable.
Meanwhile, we have been focusing here on the more controversial picks Trump has made for his administration. I have lots more to say about Pete Hegseth, whose nomination may be dead as early as Wednesday, but I will save that for another column, assuming he is still the nominee.
Today, I would like to focus on Trump’s nominee for the Director of National Intelligence, one Tulsi Gabbard.
From Bloomberg: “Donald Trump’s inflammatory selection for America’s top intelligence post may be at risk of becoming his second post-election defeat when it comes to a slew of highly-controversial cabinet picks.
“Tulsi Gabbard, the Democrat-turned-Republican, who sided with Russia over its war on Ukraine, met secretly with a key Russian ally and is often praised by Russian state media, is under renewed scrutiny.
“Already the subject of caution by some Republicans, key Democrats are warning that if confirmed, she’ll endanger national security, because allies will limit intelligence cooperation out of fear their secrets won’t be safe.”
Gabbard ran for the Democratic nomination in 2020, and was a member of the House of Representatives from Hawaii. In recent years, her views have turned much more MAGA-like, frequently appearing on Fox News, including being a guest opinion host several times. She officially switched to the Republican Party and endorsed Trump this year.
During her political career, one thing many pointed to as a strong quality was her military experience.
Her military career began in 2003 when she enlisted in the Hawaii Army National Guard, where she served for 17 years. During this time, Gabbard was deployed twice: first to Iraq in 2004-2005, where she worked in a medical unit and earned the Combat Medical Badge, and later to Kuwait in 2008-2009 as an Army Military Police platoon leader.
Her leadership skills were recognized in 2007 when she was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant after graduating from the Accelerated Officer Candidate School. Gabbard continued to advance in rank, being promoted to Major in the Hawaii Army National Guard in 2015. In June 2020, she transitioned from the National Guard to the U.S. Army Reserve, where she currently serves.
Her military career reached another milestone in 2021 when she was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve. Throughout her service, Gabbard has received various awards and recognitions, including the Meritorious Service Medal and a gold German Armed Forces Badge for Military Proficiency.
However, in her time in the public eye, Gabbard has expressed foreign policy views that have been labeled as concerning.
Here are some of the views and statements she has made that many have cited as particularly alarming:
First, she opposed U.S. aid to rebels fighting Bashar al-Assad’s regime and met with Assad in 2017, defending him against allegations of using chemical weapons on civilians. Gabbard stated that “Assad is not the enemy of the United States.” The United States government assessed with high confidence that the Syrian regime used sarin gas in an attack on Eastern Ghouta on August 21, 2013, killing an estimated 1,400 people. Additionally, the Assad regime has used chlorine gas nearly 350 times throughout the Syrian civil war, according to analyses. She strongly criticized the U.S. intelligence agencies that she would be in charge of in many of their conclusions about Syria.
In addition, a UN investigation corroborated the US assessment that the Syrian Air Force used sarin in an attack on Khan Sheikhoun in April 2017.
Regarding Russia, Gabbard has repeatedly echoed Russian propaganda, including justifications for invading Ukraine, suggesting the conflict could have been avoided if the West had acknowledged Russia’s NATO concerns. She also promoted claims about U.S.-funded biolabs in Ukraine, which have been labeled as Russian propaganda.
Gabbard has, however, criticized foreign policy decisions of both Democratic and Republican administrations, including criticizing Trump’s actions against Iran, including the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani and the withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal.
Some Democrats, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have referred to Gabbard as a “Russian asset.”
So many more stories I want to cover, but I want to keep these columns short enough that folks can get through them quick enough without being overly long.
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