Donald Trump’s mega-rally yesterday in Orlando was, for his unruly base, a really big deal. Among other things, the crowd chanted “Lock her up!” as Trump claimed that Hillary Clinton received special treatmenet when the FBI investigated her unwise use of a private server for her emails when she was Secretary of State (https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/18/donald-trump-2020-launch-florida-1369868).
And he continued to make false claims — last night, no fewer than fifteen (https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/19/politics/fact-check-trump-orlando-rally/index.html).
Trump is terribly jealous of all the media attention which twenty-three Democratic presidential candidates regularly receive, and his advisers won’t admit it, but Trump’s one primary opponent, William Weld, might just pull it off next year.
Shortly before he arrived in Orlando, Trump announced that he’s pulled the nomination of Patrick Shanahan to be his Secretary of Defense, after allegations of domestic violence surfaced.
Lost in the usual Trumpian drivel at the rally was any mention of the fact that there is a vacancy in the all-important job of running the Pentagon, as tensions between Iran and Trump escalate.
And that’s where associate solitary reporter Susanna Sherman comes in, because she was the only one in the crowd who distinctly heard Trump say that he’s sending his National Security Advisor, John Bolton, across the Potomac to be Acting Defense Secretary.
Bolton is a super-hawk who talks openly about regime change in places like Venezuela, Iran, and North Korea.
And Trump knows full well that if he were to nominate Bolton to be Secretary of Defense, he’d never get confirmed, even if Bolton were to shave his trademark mustache. That’s because Bolton couldn’t get confirmed as Ambassador to the UN in 2005 and could only get a recess appointment from Bush Two.
So ASR Sherman texted Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to tell him that Trump has picked yet another fight with him by tapping Bolton for the Pentagon.
Schumer replied to Sherman that he appreciates the gift that Trump has just given him. “I’m just as much a fighter as Trump is,” he told Sherman, “but unlike him, I know what I’m doing."