I
n Rick Santorum, Sean
Duffy and every other
commentator
on
cable
news, there is a politician. More
importantly, there is content.
The outrage cycle is just a part
of that content, and as long as
there is more content, everyone
is happy. Duffy, formerly of
“The Real World” fame, was
elected as part of the 2010
Tea Party wave to Congress,
where he remained for almost
ten years until resigning in
September of 2019.
After, he opted to head
where most former politicians
do — cable news. He made his
CNN debut in October 2019 by
smearing an Iraq war veteran
with a Purple Heart — Lt.
Col. Alexander Vindman — as
someone with possible dual
loyalties toward the Ukraine.
Duffy’s shameless guesswork
predictably resulted in outrage,
and much of it was justified.
Condemnation reigned down
from members of the Republican
leadership like Rep. Liz Cheney,
R-Wyo., and Sen. John Thune,
R-S.D., on Duffy’s idea.
There
was
another
kind
of
condemnation
that
was
far more interesting. CNN’s
Brianna Keilar went out of
her way to push back on anti-
immigrant bigotry — a good
thing, no doubt. She was not
the only CNN anchor to do this;
others went out of their way to
prove that Duffy’s ideas were
reprehensible, and that kind of
behavior and rhetoric had no
place in public discourse.
These
stances
may
have
had no place in the discourse;
however, that didn’t stop CNN
from handing Duffy an obscene
contract
worth
countless
millions for exactly that rhetoric
and behavior. Duffy backed the
Muslim Ban and was hired with
an entire history of problematic
actions. And yet, CNN is now
surprised he is a bigot. Was
the entire hiring department
recently hit over the head with
a two-by-four?
Duffy is a more egregious
offender than most, but he is by
no means alone. The entire Lt.
Col. Alexander Vindman cycle
with him is almost identical to
the conflict between former Sen.
Rick Santorum, R-Pa., and the
Parkland teenagers in early 2018.
The Parkland students were
asking for gun safety laws, and
Rick Santorum said that students
from the high school should
learn CPR instead of marching.
Of course, there was outrage —
there were panelists who were
offended and hosts who took
shots at Santorum. However,
Santorum behaving like this
should
not
have
surprised
anyone actually paying attention
to his long career.
Santorum wrote a book in
2006 that angrily denounced
what
he
saw
as
“radical
feminists” undermining families
among other claims that would
make Don Draper blush as far
as women in the workplace
are concerned. Again: Here is
a guy with a history of making
outlandish comments, and here
is CNN ready and willing to put
him back on your TV.
Santorum will continue to
say idiotic things on TV and
continue to get rewarded for it
with bigger contribution deals.
The cycle then feeds off itself,
because with more people
saying bigoted things, there is
more of a need to send out other
people and contributors to cut
down the nonsense. Rather
than shoveling this garbage
into the atmosphere and then
sending out the cleanup crew,
perhaps CNN could skip the
first step.
CNN
is
not
the
only
offender in this arena. Many
stations have signed former
politicians; it’s good to get
expertise. But that’s not what
CNN is getting when they
give a platform to people like
Duffy and Santorum. Duffy
was
never
a
particularly
important member — one of
his more famous projects was
a push to end endangered
protections for grey wolves.
Furthermore, one can question
Santorum’s political chops; his
Senatorial race in 2006 ended
with the 25th worst defeat by
an incumbent senator in the
history of the institution.
The endless outrage cycles
ought to end. President Donald
Trump sucks all the oxygen
out of the room, but still
leaves space for outrage, and
the American people deserve
better than that. TV journalism
was left a sparkling legacy
by journalists like Edward
Murrow and Michigan’s own
Mike Wallace. Returning to
their craft and practice will
take more than firing the
Duffys and Santorums of the
world, but it’s a damn good
start.
Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4A — Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Alanna Berger
Zack Blumberg
Brittany Bowman
Emily Considine
Cheryn Hong
Krystal Hur
Ethan Kessler
Mary Rolfes
Michael Russo
Timothy Spurlin
Miles Stephenson
Joel Weiner
Erin White
Lola Yang
ERIN WHITE
Managing Editor
Stanford Lipsey Student Publications Building
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
tothedaily@michigandaily.com
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890.
ELIZABETH LAWRENCE
Editor in Chief
EMILY CONSIDINE AND
MILES STEPHENSON
Editorial Page Editors
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of The Daily’s Editorial Board.
All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
KIANNA MARQUEZ | COLUMN
Urban development should be inclusive and proactive
T
he
way
we
think
reflects the way we
live.
Some
people
live their lives with more
logical setups, others with
more free-spirited attitudes,
but the ability to live with a
balance of logic and naiveté
are
essential
for
a
well-
rounded, stable life.
In the same way, effective
sustainable
development
in urban planning should
come with both logic and
abstraction
in
its
design.
We should logically address
the
existing
technical
problems while thoughtfully
anticipating
the
possible
issues in our future society,
including how we imagine
our
future
infrastructure
and how we interact with
infrastructure
today.
University
of
Michigan
alum Kristin Baja, with her
involvement in the Urban
Sustainability
Directors
Network,
has
crusaded
a
constant focus on using the
present to address existing
problems from the past and
build for the future. Baja,
among others on the USDN
staff, has capitalized on the
idea of resilience to construct
a type of infrastructure that
addresses the climate issue
in a fast-paced and evolving
world: Resilience Hubs.
Resilience Hubs are public
facilities made to support
communication
among
residents of disadvantaged
communities,
distribute
resources
and
power
to
them
and
reduce
carbon
emissions to enhance their
quality of life. Similar to
standard community centers,
they are created to develop
social equity and community
resilience,
which
is
the
general term used to refer to
the measure of a community’s
resources,
connections,
health and mental outlook, as
well as other factors.
However, these Resilience
Hubs
also
prioritize
emergency
management
and
climate
change
mitigation while providing
opportunities
for
the
community to become more
self-sufficient. Though the
performance of these hubs has
yet to be evaluated in any case
studies, they aim to compile
both tangible and abstract
components of resilience that
make for the well-rounded
function of a community:
programming,
structure,
power, communication and
operations. As the Director
of
Climate
Resilience
for
the USDN, Baja works to
connect local governments
and
community-based
organizations
for
urban
planning, leading the effort
to
make
these
Resilience
Hubs a reality for interested
communities
in
North
America.
One of the main benefits
Resilience
Hubs
aim
to
create
for
disadvantaged
communities is a restoration
of equity. In response to the
over-extraction of resources
and
racial
inequity
that
causes people of color and
indigenous
populations
to
face the worst of climate
change, these hubs are meant
to solve systemic inequity
crises
by
acknowledging
and repairing these systems
on an administrative level.
In
supporting
Resilience
Hubs, local governments can
demonstrate
their
concern
for meeting a community’s
needs and involving it in
future decision-making. As
community directors of the
hubs gain financial support
and interest from their local
governments, the hubs can
become a central mechanism
by
which
authorities
can
enhance community cohesion
and build trust with a fair
distribution of power.
In other words, the hubs
make an effort to address
what
each
community
needs
while
maintaining
their
infrastructural
and
cultural integrity rather than
implementing a solution that is
not usable in that community.
In using this approach, a
community can receive the
specific type of help it needs in
order to flourish. In addition,
the purpose of the hubs is to
harbor collaboration among
multiple
disciplines
and
achieve the goals of more than
one
stakeholder
involved.
In upholding awareness of
the needs of communities
along with the needs of local
governments, the hubs uphold
an all-encompassing approach
to
solving
community
problems in an adaptive and
proactive way.
Here at the University,
we have a responsibility to
pursue efforts that benefit all
walks of life on our campus.
Whether we take part in
leading community reform
efforts or simply advocate
for
them
indirectly,
it’s
important
that
everyone
on
our
campus
upholds
our reputation of being the
Leaders and the Best by
working to implement and
support fair and restorative
policies for all groups of
people. With that said, I
urge University authorities
to pursue the purpose of
Resilience Hubs, if not the
facilities
themselves.
This
is especially salient as we
continue
to
boast
about
the positive impacts of our
outreach efforts, including
those
we
implement
in
Detroit.
In
terms
of
urban
development, we owe it to the
future of this campus and the
future of Ann Arbor to begin
constructing
sustainable
infrastructure
with
the
mentality of appealing to all
who interact with it. Besides
the trivial initiatives we have
executed for our city, we
should be focusing on how
we can make it multifaceted
and adaptable to the evolving
needs of our population. We
should ignore the seeming
importance of focusing on one
person’s benefit and instead
be thinking about how we
can self-determine together
as a city. We could mold our
city into one that exemplifies
our
lifestyles:
sustainable,
inclusive and proactive. In
doing so, we will create a
reality that is respectable and
one that we can relish.
Kianna Marquez can be reached
at kmarquez@umich.edu.
ISABELLE SCHINDLER | COLUMN
T
he beginning of 2020
has been defined by
international
turmoil,
ranging from our escalating
conflict with Iran to sustained
tensions with North Korea. As
the United States grapples with
these issues and many others,
it is more important than ever
that there are experienced and
competent leaders in critical
diplomatic posts.
During
his
presidential
campaign,
Donald
Trump
promised to “drain the swamp”
and rid Washington of career
politicians. Consequently, once
elected, Trump failed to fill many
important diplomatic positions
or nominated people who lack
critical international relations
experience. One of the clearest
examples of an underqualified
diplomat is Kelly Craft, the
current U.S. Ambassador to the
United Nations. Craft’s husband
is a coal baron who donated
heavily
to
GOP
candidates,
including over $2 million to
Trump’s campaign. After his
election,
Trump
nominated
Craft to be the U.S. Ambassador
to Canada. She served in this
role for 20 months, but came
under fire for not being present
in Canada for nearly half her
time as Ambassador.
The role of a U.S. Ambassador
to the U.N. is one of great
importance as the ambassador
represents America on a world
stage and helps facilitate the
resolution of important global
issues
through
diplomacy.
Whether it is imposing sanctions
on North Korea, advocating for
an arms embargo to prevent
weapons being sent to a war-torn
region or helping to organize
the international response to
the Ebola crisis, this is a vitally
important position.
Craft
is
particularly
concerning due to her ties to
the fossil fuel industry. She has
made
concerning
comments
in the past about how she sees
“both sides” in the climate
change debate — remarks which
she was later forced to retract.
Although she agreed to recuse
herself on any coal-related U.N.
discussions due to her husband’s
business, there is still concern
about how her ties to the fossil
fuel industry will impact her
work.
The U.N. is on the front lines of
the fight against climate change,
from hosting Greta Thunberg at
the 2019 Climate Action Summit
to commissioning reports that
emphasize the true magnitude
of the issue. Given Craft’s ties to
the coal industry, it is concerning
that she will be in this position.
Despite these issues, Craft was
confirmed as U.N. ambassador
by the Senate with almost no
Democratic support.
We have seen similar stories
of inexperienced officials being
awarded
important
roles
in
government,
including
Rex
Tillerson — former Exxon Mobil
CEO — who served as Trump’s
first Secretary of State, despite
having no formal diplomatic
experience
or
background.
Trump has shown a propensity
for
nominating
donors
to
ambassadorships,
despite
their inherent lack of relevant
experience for the role. Such was
the case with the Ambassador to
the United Arab Emirates, where
Trump broke the longstanding
precedent
of
appointing
a
career diplomat to the role and
instead chose John Rakolta Jr., a
businessman with no diplomatic
background.
One may argue Trump is
simply following a precedent
set by past U.S. presidents on
both sides of the aisle, who
also
awarded
donors
with
ambassadorships.
However,
an
analysis
of
Trump’s
picks has shown that he has
nominated
underqualified
donors to ambassadorships at
a higher rate than any of his
predecessors. In an equally
dangerous
fashion,
many
important
positions
related
to international relations or
national security remain vacant.
There are hundreds of open
positions in the administration,
with at least 88 of them in
the Department of Defense.
Important
roles
such
as
Secretary of the Navy, Director
of National Intelligence and
Secretary of Homeland Security
are all vacant or are filled by
acting personnel who have
not had to face questioning or
a Senate confirmation vote.
This is extremely concerning
because, without the proper
staffing,
these
departments
and agencies may be stretched
too thin or may be unable
to meet the needs of our
rapidly changing geopolitical
situation. Given our current
international uncertainty, it is
more important than ever that
these critical positions are filled
by competent and experienced
officials.
As we have seen with the
recent
situation
with
Iran,
students
are
taking
notice
of the volatile state of our
international
affairs.
From
protests to memes, University
of
Michigan
students
have
expressed concern over the
condition of our world and our
relationship with other nations.
If we want to maintain a safe
and secure world, we need to
be aware of the incompetent but
powerful figures guiding our
foreign policy and use our voices
to advocate for stronger and
more capable leaders to resolve
the issues facing our nation and
our world in the future.
Isabelle Schindler can be reached
at ischind@umich.edu.
ANNA GETZINGER | CONTACT CARTOONIST AT GETZINGA@UMICH.EDU
The need for qualified voices in government
ANIK JOSHI | COLUMN
Why does CNN keep putting these people on TV?
Anik Joshi can be reached at
anikj@umich.edu.
Was the entire
hiring department
recently hit over
the head with a
two-by-four?
The hubs uphold an
all-encompassing
approach to
solving community
problems.