The Conversation -- November 19, 2024

Erica Green & Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: “President Biden urged Congress on Monday to provide nearly $100 billion in 'urgently needed' aid for communities ravaged by hurricanes and other disasters in recent months, saying funding for some critical programs has either run out or is nearly exhausted. In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, Mr. Biden cited the devastation he saw firsthand as he toured states like Florida, South Carolina and Georgia after Hurricanes Helene and Milton tore through southeastern states this fall, causing billions of dollars in damage and claiming hundreds of lives.... The aid’s passage may be eased by the fact that much of it would go to districts and states represented by Republicans.”

Matt Viser of the Washington Post: “President Joe Biden, on one of his last days headlining an international summit, attempted to shore up support for Ukraine’s war against Russia and pressure Hamas to accept a cease-fire deal with Israel, hoping to put two of his biggest foreign policy crises on a better footing before leaving office. Arriving for the first session of the Group of 20 summit [in Rio de Janeiro], Biden motioned around the room to allies and adversaries — many of whom are steeling themselves for major shifts in U.S. policy when ... Donald Trump takes office — and urged them to back Ukraine in its war against Russia.”

Ellen Nakashima & Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump, the only former president to have been charged with mishandling classified information, has begun receiving intelligence briefings, U.S. officials said. The briefings provided by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence began shortly after the election, according to U.S. officials.... Trump declined classified briefings during the campaign, saying he feared being accused of leaking classified secrets. '[Intelligence briefers] come in, they give you a briefing, and then two days later, they leak it, and then they say you leaked it,' Trump told the Daily Mail in August.... Trump has a history of treating intelligence cavalierly.”

Ivana Saric of Axios: "... Trump confirmed Monday that he is planning to declare a national emergency and use the U.S. military to carry out mass deportations.... Tom Fitton, the president of the conservative group Judicial Watch, posted on Truth Social earlier this month that Trump was 'prepared to declare a national emergency and will use military assets to reverse the Biden invasion through a mass deportation program.' Trump reposted Fitton's comment Monday with the caption, 'TRUE!!'" (Also linked yesterday.) the New York Times story is here. ~~~

~~~ Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: “Civil-liberties lawyers alarmed by ... Donald Trump’s plan to launch mass deportations of undocumented immigrants sued the federal government Monday for information about how authorities might quickly remove people from the United States. The federal lawsuit alleges that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has failed to respond to requests for basic information about its existing contracts with private airline companies that make up 'ICE Air,' as well as ground transportation services, airfields and policies governing deportation flights, including those carrying children. Lawyers said the information is urgent because of Trump’s election victory this month and his upcoming inauguration on Jan. 20. Advocates for immigrants have accused ICE and its contractors of treating migrants harshly and holding them in inhumane conditions.”

Here We Go. Jacob Bogage, et al., of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump’s economic advisers and congressional Republicans have begun preliminary discussions about making significant changes to Medicaid, food stamps and other federal safety net programs to offset the enormous cost of extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts next year. Among the options under discussion by GOP lawmakers and aides are new work requirements and spending caps for the programs....” (Also linked yesterday.)

Mark Walker of the New York Times: “A former Wisconsin congressman and Fox Business host, Sean Duffy, was selected by ... Donald J. Trump on Monday to lead the Transportation Department.... Mr. Duffy served in Congress from 2011 to 2019 as a Republican. He resigned in September 2019 to help care for a newborn daughter with a birth defect, according to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Mr. Duffy departed Fox News Media on Monday, according to a spokeswoman for the network. He had joined as a contributor in 2020 ... and had hosted 'The Bottom Line' on Fox Business with Dagen McDowell since 2023.... Mr. Duffy originally rose to fame in the late 1990s on the MTV reality show 'The Real World: Boston.' He also appeared on its sister show, 'Road Rules: All Stars,' where he met his wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, who is now a Fox News host herself.... As a Fox News contributor, Mr. Duffy was critical of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It is hardly surprising that Trump picked a reality-teevee star as his transportation secretary. Duffy would follow Pete Buttigieg, who is definitely the most teevee-ready Biden Cabinet Secretary. And Trump knows this because Buttigieg often appeared on Fox. Why, if you squint a bit, you may find that Duffy & Buttigieg even look a little alike.

Steven Myers, et al., of the New York Times: Tulsi “Gabbard’s comments [knocking U.S. international policy and making up false claims that correspond to Russian propaganda assertions] have earned her sharp rebukes from officials across the political spectrum in Washington.... Her remarks have also made her a darling of the Kremlin’s vast state media apparatus — and, more recently, of ... Donald J. Trump, who last week picked her to oversee the nation’s 18 intelligence agencies and departments.... Her selection to be the director of national intelligence has raised alarms among national security officials, not only because of her lack of experience in intelligence but also because she has embraced a worldview that mirrors disinformation straight out of the Kremlin’s playbook.... In Russia, the reaction to her potential appointment has been gleeful....”

Mikhail Zygar, a Russian journalist, in a New York Times op-ed: Moscow was delighted with the outcome of the presidential election because “to many in the Kremlin, a Trump presidency might bring about the collapse of the American state.... Mr. Putin’s ... is convinced that America is nearing its end.... To Moscow, [Mr. Trump] looks like a figure who could dismantle the ideology of liberalism at home and abroad, unraveling the country in the process.” Zygar disagrees with the Kremlin's assessment.

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: “A lawyer representing two women who testified that former Representative Matt Gaetz paid them for sex told multiple news outlets on Monday that one of the women described witnessing Mr. Gaetz having sex with an underage girl at a party in 2017. The lawyer, Joel Leppard, told CBS News, ABC News and CNN about his clients’ testimony to the House Ethics Committee, which was investigating allegations about Mr. Gaetz and young women, as well as accusations of drug use.... Both women also told the committee that they were paid for sex using Venmo, Mr. Leppard said.” MB: Oh, Maggie's got her beat back, hasn't she? The ABC News report is here.

Marie: None of the many sober "journalistic" reports I've read or scanned acknowledges the point that Robert Tracinski does in the essay linked next. Even if you wind up disagreeing with him, please at least read what he has to say and give it a bit of consideration when you read all these reports outlining how unqualified this or that nominee is and how Senate confirmation seems nearly impossible, blah-blah. I've said chaos is the point, but Tracinski goes further, and I'm adopting his view. For now, anyway. ~~~

⭐ ~~~ Robert Tracinski of the UnPopulist: Trump selected “every appointee ... as a deliberate negation, even a mockery, of the function of government he or she will be in charge of.... These individuals are not merely unqualified for their offices. They are disqualified. They are anti-qualified — the antithesis of what the offices call for. If Trump gets his way, we will have a defender of war criminals as Secretary of Defense, a Russian lackey as Director of National Intelligence, a criminal running the Department of Justice, and a crank promoter of quack remedies in charge of Health and Human Services.... Trump is already trying to pressure the Republican Senate to declare a fake recess so he can appoint his officers without any approval process.... This is an attempt to destroy both the independence of the legislative branch and the Advice and Consent Clause of the Constitution in one fell swoop.... Trump campaigned against 'elites' only to subject government to the whims of his billionaire friends.” Read the whole essay. Tracinski goes a long way in a short essay to expose Trump. Thanks to laura h. for the link and even to (argh!) Bill Kristol for suggesting it. (Also linked yesterday.)

They Can't Handle the Truth. Ron Dicker of the Huffington Post: “Scott Pelley recapped the Cabinet picks of ... Donald Trump in the '60 Minutes' opening Sunday, enraging MAGA supporters despite the segment’s recitation of facts.... Pelley ... began by noting 'some nominees appear to have no compelling qualifications other than loyalty to Trump.'... One commenter who approved of the report observed on X, 'This 60 Minutes open didn’t tell one lie, didn’t exaggerate, and gave very pertinent information regarding these poor nominations. And the MAGA cult thinks 60 Minutes is wrong for doing it. The country is fucked.'... But Trump supporters took umbrage. Check out other reactions here[.]” (Also linked yesterday.)

Paul Waldman on Substack busts some Democratic myths about why (and by how much) Democrats lost the election. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~

~~~ Michael Berube in New Lines Magazine, makes one of the same arguments Waldman makes: "By now, everyone knows why Kamala Harris lost to Donald Trump: because she didn’t do the thing I wanted her to do." (But then, after knocking the pundits, he goes ahead and punditifies, knocking her for not allowing a pro-Palestinian Congresswoman to speak at the convention.) "I’m in the camp that believes my side lost because every incumbent party in every wealthy democracy paid a political price for presiding over post-COVID-19 inflation, whether they deserved it or not. Granted, it’s galling that the American version of this global phenomenon entailed losing to a petulant and amoral individual with a criminal record, who continually flirts with the idea of political violence.... We are now left to live with the bitter irony that many of those long-term investments in American manufacturing and infrastructure will bear fruit during Trump’s second term." Thanks to RAS for the link.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Suck-up City Edition. Alex Weprin of the Hollywood Reporter: "Seven years after they last spoke to him, MSNBC Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski traveled to Mar-a-Lago over the weekend to meet with ... Donald Trump. The duo, who used to be friends with Trump, turned into fierce critics during his first term in office, and he returned the favor, occasionally ripping into them in posts on X. At the top of Monday’s program, they disclosed their trip...." (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times report, by Michael Grynbaum, is here.

    ~~~ Marie: If you read to the bottom of Grynbaum's report, you'll be confronted with this: “On Sunday, the president-elect accused a respected pollster of 'ELECTION FRAUD' because she had predicted a Trump defeat in Iowa that did not materialize.” No, pollster Ann Selzer did not “predict a Trump defeat.” Pollsters don't normally predict election outcomes. Or anything. What they do is provide a snapshot of what potential voters told them during a particular time frame. There are many variables, including the method of selection of sample voters and the precise language in the questions asked. Selzer's firm may (or may not) have made mistakes in some aspect or aspects of the poll. Grynbaum is a media reporter, but he often reports on political aspects or ramifications of media coverage. He should know what a poll does. As for Joe & Mika, they're just appalling nitwits. ~~~

     ~~~ Isaac Schorr of Mediaite: “SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly absolutely lost it on MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski over their Monday morning monologue about their meeting with President-elect Donald Trump over the weekend, animatedly telling the pair to 'Go fuck yourselves!'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Gosh, this confuses me. Kelly, who used to be a Fox "News" "journalist" and is now a podcaster, was famous for questioning Trump during a 2016 primary debate about the degrading things he said about women. But right before this year's election, she endorsed Trump and called him a "protector of women." Really? Isn't she guilty of the same craven hypocrisy she is so upset Mika & Joe have showed?

Nothin' But Bluesky from Now On. Paul Krugman of the New York Times: “I won’t go through the litany of ways the [X] platform has changed for the worse under [Elon] Musk’s leadership, but from my point of view it has become basically unusable, overrun by bots, trolls, cranks and extremists.... Then came this year’s presidential election, which seems to have sparked an exodus ('Xodus'?) from Muskland. From my point of view, Bluesky, in particular — a site that functions a lot like pre-Musk Twitter — quite suddenly has reached critical mass, in the sense that most of the people I want to hear from are now posting there. The raw number of users is still far smaller than X’s, but as far as I can tell, Bluesky is now the place to find smart, useful analysis.... What I see is that you can indeed ruin a network if you try hard enough. And it’s starting to look as if Musk has managed to pull it off.”

Holly Bailey of the Washington Post: “The Georgia Court of Appeals on Monday abruptly canceled oral arguments on Donald Trump’s appeal of a state court ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) to continue prosecuting the 2020 election interference case against the president-elect and several of his allies.... The notice gave no reason for the cancellation and caught many parties involved in the case by surprise. The abrupt notice comes amid lingering questions about the future of the Georgia case against Trump as he prepares to return to the White House after his election victory this month.”

Mean Girl. Kyle Stewart & Raquel Uribe of NBC News: “Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., introduced a resolution Monday that would ban transgender women from using female bathrooms in the Capitol just weeks before Democratic Rep.-elect Sarah McBride of Delaware is set to become the first out transgender member of Congress. The measure would prohibit any lawmakers and House employees from 'using single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex.'  Asked by reporters whether her resolution was meant to target a marginalized person, Mace said, 'Sarah McBride doesn’t get a say in this.'... A spokesperson for McBride told NBC News that Mace did not reach out before she introduced the measure and that McBride found out about it in the media.... The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy group, said Monday that Mace was cruel and discriminating against her incoming colleague, calling the resolution a 'political charade by a grown-up bully.'”

Kriston Capps of the Washington Post: “The Smithsonian Institution quietly removed the director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum this summer and placed her in another role, following years of complaints from staff about her management of the prominent institution.... Stephanie Stebich, who joined the museum as director in 2017, told staff in July that she was taking indefinite medical leave. In September, she became a senior adviser within the Smithsonian Institution. Current and former employees at the American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery, which Stebich also led, accused the director of having a management style that frequently left staff members frustrated and confused. After years of declining morale, several senior staffers in the museum system outlined their complaints in a letter to Smithsonian leadership in July 2023, according to people familiar with the document.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Niraj Chokshi of the New York Times: “Spirit Airlines, whose approach to selling cheap tickets without amenities earned it fans and detractors, filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday after a string of setbacks, most recently a failure to renegotiate its looming debt. The airline, which last reported an annual profit in 2019, has had trouble finding its footing after a federal judge blocked a planned merger with JetBlue Airways in January. Spirit has also struggled to capitalize on the recovery from the pandemic because of intense competition, engine problems and other factors. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York. It also announced an agreement with bondholders to restructure its debts and raise money to help it operate during the bankruptcy process, which it expected to exit in the first quarter of next year.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

~~~~~~~~~~

Pennsylvania. Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: “The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Monday that election officials must abide by an earlier decision and stop counting mail-in ballots that were invalidated because of an incorrect date on the outer envelope — a major victory for Republican Senate candidate David McCormick, who holds a narrow lead over Democratic Sen. Bob Casey ahead of a statewide recount. The decision comes after Democratic-majority election boards in Philadelphia as well as Bucks and Montgomery counties, two large suburban areas outside of Philadelphia, chose to include those votes, arguing that the handwritten date on the outer envelope is a technical error completely unrelated to the legitimacy of the vote itself.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Hong Kong/China. Tiffany May of the New York Times: “Forty-five former politicians and [pro-democracy] activists who had organized or taken part in the 2020 primary by the opposition camp were sentenced by a Hong Kong court to prison, including for as long as 10 years. The sentences were the final step in a crackdown that cut the heart out of the city’s democracy movement, turning its leaders into a generation of political prisoners.... It was the most forceful demonstration of the power of a national security law Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in response to months of large protests against Chinese rule in 2019.” ~~~

     ~~~ J'Accuse! Marie: It is not at all loony to think this kind of trial of pro-democracy advocates could take place in Trumpland, with a similar outcome. On Sunday, Trump called for an “investigation” of a pollster because her poll showed Harris winning a race she ultimate lost by 13 points. What would be the point of an investigation, if not to determine if there was wrongdoing involved? And if the investigators (Trump appointed U.S. attorney??), determined, rightly or wrongly, that the pollster had committed some kind of fraud, then what? A criminal trial, I presume.

Israel/Palestine, et al. Hiba Yazbek & Erika Solomon of the New York Times: “A large convoy of trucks carrying aid was 'violently looted' in the Gaza Strip over the weekend and its drivers forced at gunpoint to unload supplies, the main United Nations agency that helps Palestinians said on Monday, calling it one of the worst such incidents of the war.... Most of the [109] trucks were lost, some of the drivers were reportedly shot, and some vehicles sustained extensive damage, the agency said.... It was not clear who was responsible for the looting.” ~~~

     ~~~ Claire Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: “As Gaza’s hunger crisis worsens, organized gangs are stealing much of the aid Israel allows into the enclave, operating freely in areas controlled by the Israeli military, according to aid group officials, humanitarian workers, transport companies and witnesses.... Armed bands of men have killed, beaten and kidnapped aid truck drivers in the area around Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing, the main entry point into Gaza’s south.... The thieves ... are tied to local crime families, residents say. The gangs are described by observers as rivals of Hamas.... An internal United Nations memo obtained by The Washington Post concluded last month that the gangs 'may be benefiting from a passive if not active benevolence' or 'protection' from the Israel Defense Forces. One gang leader, the memo said, established a 'military like compound' in an area 'restricted, controlled and patrolled by the IDF.'”