How is this for a good statement (thanks, Harry Rado)?

Judge Coughenour is a Senior Judge on the United States District Court for the District of Western Washington in Seattle. He was appointed to the Court 41 years ago by a guy named Ronald Reagan.

As we get near Trump’s 100 Days, we also get near the end of Rachel Maddow’s nightly comeback on MSNBC. Last night,  Rachel (I call her Rachel and if she wants to call me Art, that’s fine with me) had some frightening words. She said that she expects that Trump, losing more and more support in the polls, will not only fail to reverse course, but will double down on outlandish things. She was not more specific, but this is very different from what Lawrence O’Donnell, who follows Rachel at 10 p.m., has consistently said. He says continually: Trump will blink and back down. So who claims MSNBC does not provide diversity?

Speaking of MSNBC, there are a lot of changes afoot, as you may or may not know. The biggest change is that MSNBC and NBC are getting a divorce, although staying under the Concast umbrella. MSNBC and CNBC, along with 9 other cable channels, are being set loose to live or die under a new corporate structure. Most of their journalists will wind up in one, but not the other. How this will affect MSNBC programming in the short run is becoming clear, as a modified program schedule starts next Monday, but MSNBC in the the long run is much less clear. I hope it keeps its current identity and does not try to be more “neutral” as we have seen CNN attempt to become (very unsuccessfully, IMHO).

This raises another issue – federal finding for public radio and TV, facing a challenge in Congress. As I understand it, the funding goes to the local stations, who use the money both for local operations and for subscribing to PBS and NPR programming. So, a cut-off would be significant. Interestingly, one of the planks in the Liberal platform in yesterday’s Canadian elections was an increase in funding for Canadian public broadcasting.

Which brings me to Canada. Mark Carney, the prime minister now elected to a full term, has one person to thank for his victory, and that is Donald Trump. Trump’s full-blown attack on Canadian independence turned the country from Conservative to Liberal overnight. Yes, as Trump apparently said yesterday in an interview with The Atlantic. “…I rule the world.”

Or, I guess not. Better if he had said, “I interfere with the world.” His interference may change the world, but not in ways he would like.

Going back to Lawrence O’Donnell for a second, Trump may be blinking again on the 25% tariffs on Canadian auto parts, providing a multi year lead time to let the industry prepare for more manufacturing here. Of course, why bother if Canada becomes a state? Wouldn’t we want State of Canada to be economically strong?

Clearly, none of this makes any sense. And that leads to O’Donnell’s other consistent conclusion, that Donald Trump is mentally ill and delusional. Anyone disagree with that? And that brings us right back where we started. With Judge Coughenour.