By Denny Gulino
THE WHITE HOUSE (MaceNews) – Did you hear? No government shutdown! It’s hardly news worth talking about, of course, as the impeachment inquiry crowds out everything else.
At least, there’s no government shutdown next Tuesday. The short-term extension to the budget passed by the Senate, already passed by the House and being signed by the president lasts only until Nov. 21.
It will keep aid flowing to farmers and give Ukraine permission to keep spending that big package of military money held up by the administration until … but why bother? No one in Washington and probably far beyond cares about anything as mundane as a government shutdown avoided for now.
With President Trump’s only public appearance Friday his evening remarks before a Hispanic Heritage Month reception, it fell to adviser Kellyanne Conway to berate, chastise, argue with and otherwise joust with reporters in a White House driveway scrum.
For 26 minutes she took issue with virtually everything that has been reported about the impeachment inquiry, throwing in a leavening of insults that seemed intended to firmly establish the press is the enemy of the White House.
“Ask a question that matters,” she told one reporter. “You didn’t ask me a coherent question that made any sense,” she said to another. “You’re asking a question that’s not relevant or thoughtful.”
Niceties aside, Conway wanted to get across Joe Biden was corrupt in his own dealings with Ukraine, that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff is a liar and that the press is intent on undoing the 2016 election.
Of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to label the several House probes an impeachment inquiry, she “finally capitulated to her angry mob,” she said.
At 1 p.m. Tuesday Pelosi said, “‘No, no, no, we need an investigation first. We’re not close to impeachment.’” Conway went on. “A couple hours later she did the worst thing a woman in power can do, she changes her mind.” She did that “without seeing the transcript,” a comment echoing Trump earlier in the week.
Pelosi’s move did catch the White House off guard, as examined in Thursday’s White House Watch. Conway seemed to be saying the White House is not now consumed with anti-impeachment strategizing. An impeachment war room? Why, she said, would we need one?
The contentious appearance may have cheered up her boss, apparently sitting in the Oval Office a few dozen yards away, as indicated by the Marine guard at the door.
Asked about Trump’s mood, Conway answered, “Are you a psychologist now?” And then, “I wouldn’t dignify such a completely ridiculous question with a response.”
Another question she would not answer was about the explosive story first reported by Bloomberg and then confirmed by Reuters, the mind-boggling suggestion that the Trump administration is considering by some means excising China companies and securities from being listed on U.S. stock and bond exchanges, removed from securities indices and otherwise excluded from U.S.-based capital markets.
More than 150 China firms are listed and traded, and more than a trillion dollars of China debt is bought and sold in the U.S. credit market. Such a move would undo more than a decade of U.S. efforts, with some progress lately, to establish reciprocal privileges in China’s financial system.
Alibaba shares dropped more than 5%, as did the shares of many other China names.
Traders in several markets seemed to believe it could happen and the stories were blamed for losses in stocks and the general astonishment reflected in many comments from analysts and market participants. Some thought such a trial balloon of such drastic move to be a negotiating ploy.
Mace News posed the obligatory question to the Treasury Department. There was no response.
Conway also would not address another question, whether Oct. 10 is actually the date for a resumption of high-level trade negotiations in Washington with China officials.
Trump fired off many tweets during the day, with one proclaiming, “I am draining the swamp” coupled with video clips of Biden meeting with Ukraine officials when he was trying – along with many other countries’ officials – to get a prosecutor fired for alleged corruption.
There was also one curious tweet that spawned hundreds if not thousands of responses on Twitter and news stories as well, in which Trump seemed to confuse an apostrophe and a hyphen while criticizing CNN for dropping said apostrophe/hyphen in a citation of a previous tweet blasting Rep. Schiff. Too bad there isn’t space here to delve further into a subject of such significance.