The Stream

Al’s Afternoon Tea: Mayhem at the Met Gala; Can Shrimp and Grits Solve the Middle East Crisis?

Kamala Harris' answer to getting a ceasefire in Gaza.

By Al Perrotta Published on May 7, 2024 •

Al Perrotta

Glad you’ve dropped in for another sampling of Al’s Afternoon Tea.

Stormy Daniels has taken the stand in former President Donald Trump’s so-called “hush money” trial after the judge approved a request from the prosecution to allow her to outline the sex acts she now alleges she engaged in with Trump back in 2006. What do those alleged sex acts have to do with the legal question at the heart of this case — whether Trump’s lawyer paid Daniels for her silence to protect his 2016 presidential campaign? Nothing. But then, there’s a legitimate question about whether this case has anything to do with the law in the first place. We’ll have more on that in tomorrow’s Brew. 

Anti-Israeli Protesters Arrested After Breaking Through Barricades to Disrupt Met Gala

Oh no! They’ve gone too far. A least a dozen anti-Israeli protesters were arrested Monday night after breaking through barricades to disrupt the annual Met Gala. Blocking traffic, canceling commencements, and interrupting Congress are one thing, but messing with the elite’s greatest night of playing dress-up?! One of the holiest days on the secular calendar? Risking getting a spot of dirt on J-Lo’s gown? It’s a miracle those detained weren’t drawn and quartered.

Fortunately, some real men were on hand among the Gala attendees to take care of business.

Then again, maybe not. Where are the Cary Grants? The Sean Connerys? The Steve McQueens? 

We can’t leave the Met Gala without talking about its whole “Hunger Games” Capital City vibe, where celebrities and elites glam it up while the world outside falls apart. Take rapper Cardi B. She needed nine people to carry her dress up the steps into the gala. Her train was so long it had a dining car.

What do you think? A fabulous moment of fashion or an impersonation of an oil spill?

The only good thing about that is it must have driven the unwashed, miserable anarchists embedded in the protests half-mad.

Speaking of half-mad …

Kamala’s Answer to a Question About War and Peace Is “Shrimp and Grits”

Joe Biden has officially reached the stage where he’s mumbling about cannibals dining on his dear uncle and is incapable of holding normal campaign events. Yet every time thoughts of the 25th Amendment cross your mind, Kamala Harris opens her mouth.

Yesterday, to much fanfare, Hamas announced it had agreed to a cease-fire proposal put forth by Qatar and Egypt. (The announcement would prove to be mostly smoke and mirrors, but for a while it was a meaningful story.)

The vice president of the United States — who has personally been pushing hard for Israel to agree to a cease-fire — was asked about the news when leaving a restaurant. “Madame Vice President, Hamas says it accepted a ceasefire deal. Your reaction?”

The response from the second-most powerful person on the planet, as the Middle East sits on edge with Israel preparing its assault on Rafah? “Shrimp and grits! If you wanted to know, shrimp and grits.”

Huh? If she were from the South, perhaps we could translate that into, “That’s great! There’s nothing better!” (And I am the last person to knock a person for having a singular focus on yummy take-out. A good meal can make the burdens of the day more bearable.) But really? “Shrimp and grits”? That’s her response?

“Russia says it’s going to use nukes in Ukraine? What’s your response?”

“Tater Tots!” 

I am being half-facetious, but in the mad mindset of this conflict, where the people who behead and burn babies alive are seen as the victims, Harris crowing about shrimp could be seen as a signal. After all, observant Jews can’t eat shrimp because it’s not kosher. But Muslims can. “See? Kamala is showing her support for Hamas!”

Harris has terrible instincts for knowing how to meet the moment. She again undercut the idea that we have serious people in charge.

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Actually, there’s another story within the story. The media is so in bed with the Democrats that Harris assumed she wouldn’t be asked any real questions, only about her lunch. After all, the toughest question Biden gets when he’s out is, “What flavor of ice cream?”

And that’s just how his team likes it. 

Jen Psaki Thinks Biden Needs to Ignore Reporters and Be Interviewed by Whoopi and Joy

Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki doesn’t want Biden doing pressers or real interviews. She thinks the president ought to do more interviews with friendly journalists. 

“Great idea,” said Biden. “Let’s set something up with Walter Cronkite.” (Yeah, we made that one up.)

In fact, Psaki wants Biden to go onto The View. While appearing on The View herself, she said, “When you’re communicating from the White House … you’re also just really trying to communicate with the American people, right? So my view is he should come on The View before he does a press conference.”

Psaki is conceding that Biden cannot even handle questions from hand-picked reporters, with hand-picked questions, prepared in advance, in a room full of journalists who want him to win. 

Meanwhile, back home at MSNBC, Psaki offered some Trump death porn for the Morning Joe audience, discussing all sorts of ways Trump could be kept from office. “Maybe he will die,” she said, “Not to be morbid. He’s not a young man.”

Did Biden Just Do What Trump Got Impeached For Allegedly Doing?

Donald Trump was impeached by House Democrats because he supposedly threatened to withhold aid to Ukraine that had been approved by Congress for his own political purposes. Some are noting that is precisely what Joe Biden has done by stopping U.S. ammo shipments to Israel that Congress approved in the middle of Israel’s war against Hamas — a bone he’s thrown to the pro-Palestinian Muslim voters he needs in Michigan and Minnesota.

It might be fun — just to make the point — for the current House to quickly vote on an article of impeachment that is a word-for-word replica of the Trump impeachment, but with the names and particulars changed. If Dems vote against it, immediately move to have the House expunge Trump’s Ukraine impeachment. That’d be almost as tasty as shrimp and grits.

Trump, of course, would be impeached a second time over January 6. A story out last week indicates there was nearly a coup on January 6 — but not one led by Trump.

Shocking Allegation: Chief of Staff Mutinied Against Trump on J6

You want to talk coup on January 6?

Then-Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Milley and others in senior military leadership positions usurped the authority of the Commander-in-Chief on January 6, laying plans to ignore any military orders Trump gave that day. This is what Col. Earl Matthews, who was the chief legal advisor for the National Guard, testified under oath two weeks ago and is now speaking about publicly.

“I think a very plausible argument can be made that through no fault of his own, President Trump’s command authority over both the D.C. National Guard and the U.S. Army itself had been surreptitiously curtailed by the senior leadership of the Army on January 6, 2021,” Matthews told the Daily Mail.

“Army leadership had unreasonably anticipated an ‘unlawful order’ from the president, an order that the president had no plans to issue, and were preemptively seeking to curtail his discretion to issue such an order.”

According to Matthews, Milley and cohorts thought Trump was going to order the National Guard to block the certification of the 2020 election, when in truth, as we know now, Trump only suggested the National Guard be used to protect the U.S. Capitol — a request that was rebuffed.

This wouldn’t’ be the only time Milley famously dodged the chain of command. He admits he was prepared to ignore any orders from Trump regarding China — in fact, promising to tell China of any action Trump planned against our chief global rival.

On the Menu for The Stream

Dr. Michael Brown’s latest is piping hot out of the oven: “The Nonrevolutionary Spirit of the Pampered Protesters.” 

Stream contributor Raymond Ibrahim answers “How Western Media Covers For and Enables Muslim Persecution of Christians.”

 

Al Perrotta is The Stream’s Washington bureau chief, coauthor with John Zmirak of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration, and coauthor of the counterterrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.

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