Donald J. Trump’s
transition team, headed by Vice President-elect Mike Pence is moving quickly to
assemble leaders of the new administration.
The
New York Times
is reporting that in addition to the announcement on Sunday that Reince Priebus
had been appointed White House Chief of Staff and Stephen Bannon as Chief Strategist
and Senior Counselor, John Bolton and Rudy Giuliani were under consideration as
Secretary of State and Sarah Palin Interior Secretary.
What the Gray Lady
missed apparently was the news that Jeb Bush would fill the office of Secretary
of Low Energy.
NOTE FROM OUR ATTORNEY:
There is no such cabinet post.
I hope those folks who were interested in watching the first night
of the RNC Convention from Cleveland did so without the filter of network or
cable news channels. I don’t need network
news anchors’ to tell me what I’m seeing and hearing and I’m certainly not willing
to listen to the foolish pundits on cable.
I opted to watch the convention on C-SPAN.
“Make America Safe
Again” was the theme for the first night and one speaker chosen to touch on
this theme was Pat Smith, the mother of Sean Smith who was one of four
Americans killed in the hours-long embassy attack in Benghazi. As the delegates listened to the pain in the
grieving mother’s voice, the cameras panned the floor of the convention capturing
the tears shed by so many as she angrily declared that she “personally” blamed
Clinton for her son’s death.
"In an email to
her daughter shortly after the attack, Hillary Clinton blamed it on
terrorism," said Smith. "But
when I saw Hillary Clinton at Sean’s coffin ceremony, just days later, she
looked me squarely in the eye and told me a video was responsible. Since
then, I have repeatedly asked Hillary Clinton to explain to me the real reason
why my son is dead. I’m still waiting."
The
Hill reported MSNBC's Chris Matthews was asked for his reaction to the
speech:
"I don't
understand why the Republicans would choose to put this on prime-time
television when they have such wonderful stories of American heroism to speak
to the American people. I think it was
wrong.”
"I don't care
what that woman up there, the mother, has felt," he continued. "Her
emotions are her own. But for the country in choosing a leader, it's wrong to
have someone get up there and tell a lie about Hillary Clinton. It's not true.
It's logically not true. I think it's wrong that they ruined their evening with
this."
For me, the most powerful
moment in the convention’s first night was the speech given by “America’s Mayor”,
Rudy Giuliani. I bear no shame in saying
that I rose to my feet hearing his impassioned words. Here are some excerpts from his speech. (The
video is embedded below in case you missed it.)
“In the last seven
months, there have been five major Islamic extremist terrorists attacks on us
and our allies. We must not be afraid to define our enemy.”
“It is Islamic
extremist terrorism. I did not say all of Islam. I said Islamic extremist
terrorism.”
“Failing to identify
them properly maligns decent Muslims around the world. It also sets up a fear
of being politically incorrect that can have serious consequences. And it has.”
“This is why our
enemies see us as weak and vulnerable.”
“To defeat Islamic
extremist terrorism we must put them on defense. If they are at war against
us—which they have declared—we must commit ourselves to unconditional victory
against them.”
“This includes
undoing one of the worst deals America ever made—Obama’s Nuclear Agreement with
Iran that will eventually let them become a nuclear power and put billions of
dollars back into a country that the world’s biggest state sponsor of
terrorism.”
“It was Hillary
Clinton who advocated for the overthrow of Qaddafi in Libya. Now Libya is in
chaos. Hillary Clinton is accountable for this and much more.”
“Her dereliction of
duty and failure to keep her people safe played a major role in the horrific
Islamic terrorist murders on September 11-12, 2012 in Benghazi which claimed
the lives of four brave Americans; our Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, U.S.
Foreign Service Officer Sean Smith, and CIA agents Tyrone S. Woods, and Glen
Doherty.”
“And Clinton, and the
Obama administration, for political reasons lied about the purpose of the
attacks including her lying directly to the families of those who were killed.”
“Hillary Clinton’s
answer to Congress about the death of these four brave Americans because of her
failures as Secretary of State was ‘what difference at this point does it make?’”
“Watch the video for
yourself and see the arrogant disregard for American lives lost unnecessarily.
Make up your own mind.”
“Anyone who can say
that it makes no difference how or why people serving America are killed,
should not be entrusted with the awesome responsibility to protect them and us
and should not be allowed to be our Commander-in-Chief.”
“She is in favor of
taking in Syrian refugees even though the Islamic state has told us they are
going to put their operatives in these groups so they can carry out terrorist
acts against us and our allies.”
“We can’t afford to
repeat the mistakes of the past.”
“Hillary CIinton’s
experience is the basis for her campaign. Well, Hillary Clinton’s experience is
exactly the reason she should not be our president.”
“There is no more
time for us left to revive our great country. No more time to repeat our
mistakes of the past.”
I watched with great interest the interview on CBS’s Face the Nation
this morning as Chief White House Correspondent, Major Garrett, was sitting in
for Bob Schieffer.
Garrett began the
interview with former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani by saying, “Let’s clear one thing
up. You said a while ago that President
Obama contributed to a rhetorical atmosphere about hating American police and The Washington Post fact-checked you on that. I cover the president every single
day. I’ve never detected anything that comes
along the line of propaganda urging the country to hate police. Do you want to recast that or take that back?”
Giuliani said, “Oh,
not at all. I think you missed one very
important point.”
Watch as he
eviscerates the Rev. Al Sharpton and his association with The World’s Most
Dangerous Community Organizer and current mayor Bill de Blasio.
I make no secret of my respect for Mayor Giuliani.
