Mullings An American Cyber Column By Rich Galen

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Hope Hicks Nix Trump's Trix

Rich Galen

Thursday March 1, 2017

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Wednesday, February 2, 2018, is not a date that will live in infamy, but is a date that was remarkable for the number of plates that were whirling around the center ring in the circus we call Washington, DC.
Like every other one-industry town, we spend a lot of time on personalities: Who's in, who's out, who's up, who's down, who's new, who has disappeared? A lot of time.
On February 28, for instance, there was the Hope Hicks surprise. Shock, really.
I have never met Ms. Hicks, but she is a somebody in Our Nation's Capital. Her story, in short, is she worked for Ivanka as a publicist for her clothing line and, about two days later, was the Communications Director at the White House.
There are a bunch of bios on Hicks this morning, but in keeping with the tone of this particular essay, I chose the bio published by Town & Country magazine to which you can find a link on the Secret Decoder Ring page today.
Hicks bears, in some photos, a remarkable resemblance to Emma Watson who played Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies.
If you don't count people whose last name is Trump, or people who are married to people whose last name is Trump, it has been generally accepted that no one had an ear attuned to the shifting moods of Donald Trump than Hope Hicks.
So much so, that before she ascended to the title of Communications Director, she was known as "The Trump Whisperer."
But now, as the Beatles sang in "She's Leaving Home,"
She goes downstairs to the kitchen
Clutching her handkerchief
Quietly turning the backdoor key
Stepping outside, she is free
This is a big deal. Other than Ivanka and Jared, I believe Hope Hicks is the last of the Trump Tower Team that came into the White House with Trump.
Hicks made her resignation public (although WH staff said she had told some people she was going to do this) after a marathon session testifying before the House Intelligence Committee.
The biggest news coming out of that appearance was her telling them that, on occasion, she had told "white lies" in the service of Donald Trump.
WHOA! Check Please!
In the hyperventilating world of the media in 2018, this - THIS - was big news.
Even I felt the need to weigh in when I Tweeted (@richgalen):
We need a ruling: Where does a "white lie" end and "fake news" begin?
Also on the radar yesterday was an escalation of the on-going public spat between Donald Trump and his - HIS - Attorney General, Jeff Sessions.
Trump has never gotten over the fact that Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigations and has not been able to provide the kinds of protections he (Trump) has routinely come to expect from his bull-dog lawyers.
Trump has taken to call his AG "Mr. Magoo" after (from Wikipedia) the cartoon character of the 1950s:
Voiced by Jim Backus, Mr. Magoo is a wealthy, short-statured retiree who gets into a series of comical situations as a result of his extreme near-sightedness, compounded by his stubborn refusal to admit the problem.

SIDEBAR
The one Mr. Magoo gag I can remember from my days sitting in front of a 12" black-and-white TV on Saturday mornings was Mr. Magoo peering at at "No Parking" sign and reading it as "Please Do Not Feed the Bears."

END SIDEBAR
There's More!
Then, at a meeting with Rs and Ds at the White House on guns, Donald Trump allowed that the age to purchase a AR-15 (and similar assault-style long guns) should be raised to 21 from its current 18; was against reciprocity between states' concealed carry laws; and was for expanded background checks.
But, if you think Trump would stop with stepping on the 2nd Amendment, he then tossed sections of both the 5th and 14th Amendments onto the fire.
When the discussion went to taking weapons from someone like the Florida shooter (via The Hill newspaper):
I like taking the guns early, like in this crazy man's case that just took place in Florida ... to go to court would have taken a long time.
"Take the guns first, go through due process second."
And you wonder why Hope Hicks decided to leave.
Which led me to Tweet:
Hope Hicks Nix Trump's Trix.

LAD LINK: @ReedGalen weighed in to the gun debate from, as usual, his unique perspective. Read his RealClearPolitics.com essay HERE.
On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: Links to Hope Hicks' bio, to Mr. Magoo, to a scholarly video of "She's Leaving Home, to a discussion of the "Due Process" clause in the Constitution, and to Trump's Due Process remarks. [Whew!]
The Mullfoto is of a sign in the Starbucks on Columbus Circle in New York City.

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