[ed. Comedy gold.]
President Donald Trump on Friday held what the administration said was the first televised Cabinet meeting at Camp David, assembling his deputies at the secure wooded retreat to tout the administration’s accomplishments.
But the rural Maryland setting, long used by presidents for sensitive private meetings or as a tranquil escape, swiftly became the latest stage for Trump’s frustrations over a series of stalled domestic and foreign policy initiatives.
Trump railed against Republican senators blocking his nominee for attorney general, lamented the collapse of his proposed $1.8 billion Justice Department payout fund, questioned whether Iran was negotiating a potential ceasefire in good faith and warned that Democrats would open U.S. borders if they won the midterm elections.
He again lashed out at Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), one of several GOP lawmakers to resist Trump’s policies as his popularity drops and the midterms approach. Cornyn — who lost his primary bid this year after Trump endorsed his opponent — has joined with other lame-duck senators to hold up acting attorney general Todd Blanche’s nomination for the full-time position.
Cornyn has “become a very angry person,” Trump said, also praising Blanche, his former personal attorney. “Todd Blanche is a very, very good man, and he shouldn’t be in the middle of this.”
The president’s remarks Friday, which echoed similar complaints he has made in person and on social media, were most striking because of the unusual backdrop. The media has historically not been allowed to visit Camp David, and reporters who covered Friday’s Cabinet meeting were told to leave their cellphones outside the room, because it was a secure information facility. However, the White House allowed several live video streams of the meeting, and photographers were permitted to take pictures.
The president and White House officials said it was the first televised Cabinet meeting from the rustic compound. Trump in May had planned a Cabinet meeting at the site but canceled it, citing the risk of bad weather. [...]
Trump spent time at Camp David in his first term but has preferred visiting his own properties recently and is set to spend this weekend at his resort in Bedminster, New Jersey [ed. golf course]. He touted his decision Friday to trade the increasingly gold-festooned White House for the wood-paneled walls of the presidential retreat, located in Catoctin Mountain Park.
“This room is a very, very special room,” Trump said, as the meeting began. “I don’t believe the press has ever come anywhere near it, but we are the party of transparency.” [...]
Trump’s Cabinet members, as they have at past meetings, also took the opportunity to lavish praise on the president. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth credited Trump for policies that he said had boosted morale in the military, including the president’s effort to rebrand the department as the “Department of War” and putting military vehicles on parade and in flyovers to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary.
“Parades, 250 [anniversary] flyovers, the American people seeing and feeling their military in ways they have not in the past,” Hegseth said. “That’s spirit.”
“Parades, 250 [anniversary] flyovers, the American people seeing and feeling their military in ways they have not in the past,” Hegseth said. “That’s spirit.”
by Dan Diamond, Washington Post | Read more:
Image: Daniel Heuer/Reuters[ed. Sorry, worthless news but couldn't resist. Yes, we're all "seeing and feeling" our military in new ways. But "spirit" is not the word I'd use. Who even owns a babyshit blue jacket like that? (well, one person anyway : ). Here's another attendee, sweating an upcoming confirmation vote:
I know the feeling... everyone would like to be somewhere else
