We all tell lies every day. Mostly little white lies, "No, you don't look fat in that outfit." or "Shoot, I'd love to get together but we have plans that day." Lies that allow the wheels of social interaction to continue to grind forward without unnecessary conflict.
As a parent, you have to balance out that very human tendency with consequences for lying to encourage your child to grow up to be a fundamentally honest and trustworthy person. One of the ways to do that is to place consequences when your child is caught out in a lie.
But now we have to teach our children to be honest in an environment in which there are NO consequences to politicians for being overtly dishonest. The result of living in the US in Trump-adjusted terms is that there are literally no consequences for lying, at least if you're a Republican.
And that lack of consequences will carry over to the Sunday shows. Not one of the hosts will be able to confront a politician or pundit, who is now given license to lie. Imagine how very different this country would be if every journalist was able to be prepared with facts and the ability to question politicians the way Al Jazeera's Mehdi Hasan does to Trump proxy Steven Rogers. Imagine if the consequences for being such a liar is to be shown up and humiliated like this? Imagine if Chuck Todd had even a smidgen of this kind of journalistic aptitude. What a different nation we'd be in.
And truly, this is something I think that politicians and pundits of all stripes should be prepared to take if they want public office. Be as tough to Sherrod Brown as Bernie Sanders as John Kasich. Make them show us that they understand that they must earn our trust.
ABC's "This Week" — Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Gov. John Kasich, R-Ohio; Alan Dershowitz, professor emeritus at Harvard Law School. Panel: Michelle Cottle, New York Times editorial writer; Jason Riley of The Wall Street Journal; ABC News’ Cokie Roberts; and Amanda Carpenter.
NBC's "Meet the Press" — Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah; Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md.; billionaire Tom Steyer, a potential Democratic candidate for president in 2020. Panel: Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin; Helene Cooper of The New York Times; Elise Jordan, NBC News political analyst; and Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute.
CBS' "Face the Nation" — Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Angus King, I-Maine; Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C. Panel: Jamelle Bouie of Slate, Susan Page of USA Today, Matt Viser of The Washington Post and Ramesh Ponnuru of National Review.
CNN's "State of the Union" — Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa; Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. Panel: Former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.; Symone Sanders, former press secretary, Bernie Sanders for President; Jen Psaki, former Obama White House communications director; and Bill Kristol of The Weekly Standard.
CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" — Special “Global Lessons on Guns” with Amy Barnhorst, University of California-Davis; CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta; author Jeffrey Toobin, CNN chief legal analyst; and Michael Waldman, New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice.
CNN's "Reliable Sources" — Noah Shachtman of The Daily Beast, Sabrina Siddiqui of Guardian US and David Zurawik of The Baltimore Sun; Karen Tumulty of The Washington Post; Olivia Nuzzi of New York magazine; Cenk Uygur, host of “The Young Turks”; Dave Isay, founder, StoryCorps.
"Fox News Sunday" — Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb.; Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie, formerly of the Trump campaign. Panel: Jonah Goldberg of National Review; Adrienne Elrod, former director of strategic communications for Hillary Clinton; Matthew Continetti of The Washington Free Beacon; and Mo Elleithee of Georgetown University's Institute of Politics and Public Service.
So what's catching your eye this morning?
