Maybe Will Rogers Was Right

Will Rogers once said, “I’m not a member of any organized political party … I’m a Democrat.”

Senate Democrats are proving that to still be true when it comes to regulation of the financial services industry.

Democrats are sitting in pretty good shape right now. Polls show that the nation’s voters prefer them to the other alternatives.

Yeah, it is going to be difficult for the party to take control of the Senate, given the seats that are up for reelection this year.

But instead of taking shots at members of the Grand Old Party, Senate Democrats are taking shots at each other.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) was an ardent opponent of S. 2155, the recently enacted regulatory overhaul bill. So, she was pretty upset when the House passed it and sent it to the president for his signature.

Here’s what she tweeted: “Senate Republicans voted unanimously for [S. 2155]. But this bill wouldn’t be on the path to becoming law without the support of these Democrats. The Senate just voted to increase the chances your money will be used to bail out big banks again.”

And she went on to name the Democrats who voted for the measure. That list included several of the most endangered Democrats up for reelection – moderate Democrats who are trying to walk a fine line in an effort to gain another term.

Take Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.). Donald Trump won her state by more than 30 points. The race is considered a “toss-up” by the people who do this sort of thing for a living.

Heitkamp was part of a group of moderate Senate Banking Committee Democrats who negotiated with Republican colleagues on S. 2155.

Here’s what her campaign website said following the House passage: “Heitkamp helped write and negotiate the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act over several years and introduced it last fall with a bipartisan group of four other senators, including Republican U.S. Senator Mike Crapo from Idaho, the Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.”

It goes on to say, “Heitkamp’s bill would provide needed relief for community banks and credit unions so they can support consumers in rural areas like North Dakota, where regulations designed for big banks are making it harder for small lenders to provide mortgages or loans to expand small businesses and family farms.”

You can debate the merits of S. 2155, but Heitkamp needs Republicans to get reelected. And so, she needed to tout her support for this bill.

Or take Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.). Again, political analysts have consulted their crystal balls and rated this race a “toss-up.”

She was a co-sponsor of S. 2155, so she naturally was among those whom Warren criticized.

McCaskill fired back, though.

“Some of the criticism was just flat wrong, and some of it was unfair,” McCaskill said in an interview with NBC News. “But you’re talking to somebody who’s not afraid to say I’m a moderate. I proudly claim that. I think we need more moderates around here, because it’s the moderates who get things done.”

And she disputed Warren’s claims.

“I would disagree with Elizabeth Warren, but I’m used to both sides of the equation hollering at me,” she said.

Maybe Will Rogers was right.

Again?

The President of the United States came home from the North Korean summit and called the news media “our country’s biggest enemy.’

What?

Yeah, the president, a voracious consumer of news he even considers fake, was unhappy with the tone of the coverage of the summit.

And so, in a tweet, Donald J. Trump said that the “Fake News,” especially NBC and CNN, were trying to downplay the deal with North Korea.

He went on to write, “Our Country’s biggest enemy is the Fake News so easily promulgated by fools!”

You want to debate whether reporting is accurate? Fine.

You want to question whether the use of anonymous sources is proper? Do it.

But calling the press the biggest enemy? That flies in the face of everything this country stands for. Once again, the president is demonstrating his total ignorance of the Constitution.

Despite what he thinks, those serving in the federal government did not take an oath to support and defend Donald J. Trump.

The employees and elected officials, including the president himself, “took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

In case you need reminding (he certainly does), here’s what the First Amendment to the Constitution states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Calling our nation’s news media our biggest enemy is not only is a disservice to those of us who have chosen journalism as our profession, it’s downright dangerous.

Some idiot who considers himself or herself to be a patriot is liable to read those words and decide to do something about the people Trump considers to be our nation’s biggest enemy.

Think about it. We live in dangerous times. Who would have thought that people with guns would be invading our nation’s high schools?

David Baumann is a correspondent-at-large for CU Times. He can be reached at dbaumann@cutimes.com.