The Commentariat -- June 23, 2020

Kendall Karson of ABC News: "Just two weeks after Georgia's messy day at the polls, another six states are testing the waters of voting during the coronavirus crisis on Tuesday in the final stretch of the primary season. Among the six, two are drawing outsize attention -- Kentucky and New York -- where a competitive Senate Democratic primary to take on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and a handful of congressional races are expected to be settled, but likely not on election night -- further fueling trepidations for the fall. Virginia, Mississippi, South Carolina and North Carolina are holding statewide races and primary runoffs."

Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates for coronavirus developments Tuesday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Tuesday are here.

** USA = Shithole Country. Matina Stevis-Gridneff of the New York Times: "European Union countries rushing to revive their economies and reopen their borders after months of coronavirus restrictions are prepared to block Americans from entering because the United States has failed to control the scourge, according to draft lists of acceptable travelers seen by The New York Times. That prospect, which would lump American visitors in with Russians and Brazilians as unwelcome, is a stinging blow to American prestige in the world and a repudiation of President Trump's handling of the virus in the United States, which has more than 2.3 million cases and upward of 120,000 deaths, more than any other country."

Quint Forgey of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Tuesday insisted he was serious when he revealed that he had directed his administration to slow coronavirus testing in the United States, shattering the defenses of senior White House aides who argued Trump's remarks were made in jest. 'I don't kid. Let me just tell you. Let me make it clear,' Trump told reporters, when pressed on whether his comments at a campaign event Saturday in Tulsa, Okla., were intended as a joke." ~~~

~~~ This Was a Big Fat Lie, Because ... Brianna Ehley of Politico: "The government's top infectious disease expert told a House hearing Tuesday that he and other health officials have not been told to slow coronavirus testing, just hours after ... Donald Trump again suggested he had asked for fewer tests. Anthony Fauci ... told the House Energy and Commerce Committee that the administration continues to focus on scaling up testing capacity and that, to his knowledge, none of the White House coronavirus task force members had been told to do otherwise. 'It's the opposite,' Fauci said in response to a question referencing Trump's remarks. 'We're going to be doing more testing, not less.'"

In Search of a Scapegoat. Nancy Cook & Adam Cancryn of Politico: "White House officials are putting a target on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, positionin the agency as a coronavirus scapegoat as cases surge in many states and the U.S. falls behind other nations that are taming the pandemic. Trump administration aides in recent weeks have seriously discussed launching an in-depth evaluation of the agency to chart what they view as its missteps in responding to the pandemic including an early failure to deploy working test kits, according to four senior administration officials.... Aides have also discussed narrowing the mission of the agency or trying to embed more political appointees in it.... Politically, Trump aides have also been looking for a person or entity outside China to blame for the coronavirus response and have grown furious with the CDC...."

D'Angelo Gore of FactCheck.Org: "Contrary to President Donald Trump's repeated claims that he inherited a Strategic National Stockpile with 'empty' or 'bare' cupboards, the federal government had more ventilators in stock than it ended up distributing amid the COVID-19 pandemic, FactCheck.org has learned. The SNS had 16,660 ventilators 'immediately available for use' when the federal government began deploying the breathing machines to states to treat critically ill COVID-19 patients in March, according to a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson. None of those ventilators was bought by the Trump administration, the spokesperson told us. In a separate email to us on June 17, another HHS spokesperson said the federal government has distributed 10,640 ventilators during the pandemic." --s

Karoun Demirjian & Rachel Bade of the Washington Post: "The House Judiciary Committee is preparing to subpoena Attorney General William P. Barr to testify before the panel early next month, setting up the latest showdown between congressional Democrats and the Trump administration over its handling of the Justice Department. Panel Democrats want Barr to testify on July 2 as part of a broader investigation into what they warn is dangerous politicization at the agency, where they charge that Barr has been perverting traditional judicial independence to cater to the president's political interests....It is unclear if Barr will comply with any subpoena.

Mack Burke of the Commercial Observer: "The massive retail condominium owned by Kushner Companies at 229 West 43rd Street in Midtown Manhattan is headed for a Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) foreclosure auction scheduled for June 30[.]" --s ~~~

~~~ Wendy Siegelman in Medium (Dec 2017): "The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Federal prosecutors in New York are looking at the loan made by Deutsche Bank to Jared Kushner's real estate company a month prior to the 2016 election related to the deal with [Soviet-born oligarch Lev] Leviev. The New York Times also reported on Friday about the subpoena issued out of the Eastern District of New York. The Brooklyn U.S. attorney's office sent a request mid-November to Kushner Companies for information related to a $285 million Deutsche Bank loan which was used to refinance the purchase of retail space at 229 West 43rd Street in the old New York Times Building." --s

Bible Boy. Pranshu Verma of the New York Times: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, an evangelical Christian, created a commission last July to provide a new vision for human rights policy that would more closely align with the 'nation's founding principles' and uphold religious freedom as America's most fundamental value. Human rights scholars have criticized the panel, saying it is filled with conservatives intent on promoting views against abortion and marriage equality. Critics also warn the commission sidesteps the State Department's internal bureau tasked with promoting human rights abroad. And former agency officials caution that elevating the importance of religion could reverse the country's longstanding belief that 'all rights are created equal' -- and embolden countries that persecute same-sex couples or deny women access to reproductive health services for religious reasons."

Juan Cole: "As if the coronavirus pandemic, depression-era unemployment, and Mad President in the White House were not enough, Mother Nature has decided to remind us what the Big Kahuna really is. It is the climate emergency.... The small Siberian town of Verkhoyansk had a temperature of 100.4° F. on Sunday, something that has never happened since Thomas Edison's incandescent light bulb was first used outside in 1880, and likely hasn't happened for millions of years. AP reports that 680,000 acres are on fire. In.The.Arctic. These fires are not just a summer phenomenon, and are being called 'Zombie fires' because they have kept being rekindled since last winter." --s

~~~~~~~~~~

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Monday are here. "As the coronavirus spreads at record speeds around the world, the United States accounted for 20 percent of all the new infections worldwide on Sunday, according to New York Times data, even as the country's population makes up about 4.3 percent of the world's." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Monday are here. "Twenty-nine states and U.S. territories showed an increase in their seven-day average of new reported cases on Monday, with nine states reporting record average highs. In the states where cases are spiking the most, hospitalizations are also rising sharply. More than 2,290,000 cases and 118,000 deaths have been officially reported in the United States."

Sarah Mervosh, et al., of the New York Times: "After months of lockdown in which outbreaks of the coronavirus often centered in nursing homes, prisons and meatpacking plants, the nation is entering a new and uncertain phase of the pandemic. New Covid-19 clusters have been found in a Pentecostal church in Oregon, a strip club in Wisconsin and in every imaginable place in between.... The newly emerging clusters -- which vary in size from a handful of cases to hundreds and have cropped up in large cities as well as small towns -- reflect the unpredictable course of the coronavirus. They also underscore risks that experts say are likely to persist as long as states try to reopen economies and Americans venture back into public without a vaccine. New known virus cases were on the rise in 23 states on Monday as the outlook worsened across much of the nation's South and West."

Putting Our Money Where His Mouth Is -- In a Hidey-hole. Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "The Trump administration has been sitting on nearly $14 billion in funding that Congress passed for coronavirus testing and contact tracing, according to Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York and Patty Murray of Washington. The top Democrats said in a letter Sunday to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar that ... Congress passed these funds as part of a coronavirus relief bill in April.... Donald Trump told a crowd of his supporters at his first campaign rally in months Saturday that he wanted to slow down testing for the coronavirus." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Jessie Hellmann & Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Monday refused to say whether he told staff to slow down COVID-19 testing to make it look like the U.S. had fewer cases, while White House officials denied he had ever given such an order. Trump has been blaming rising case numbers of coronavirus in the U.S. on increased testing, arguing the country has been doing 'too good a job.'... Trump generated outrage this weekend when he said at his first campaign rally in months that he told staff to 'slow the testing down, please.' Trump aides later said his comments were a joke." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ No, Trump Was Not "Just Kidding" about Reducing Testing. Steve Benen of MSNBC elaborates: The "White House quickly insisted ... that Trump was simply kidding during an unscripted moment [when he said he had told his staff to slow down testing].... CBS News reported that Vice President Mike Pence spoke to a group of governors [Monday] morning and said Trump's comments about slowing down testing were merely 'a passing observation,' but not necessarily meant in jest. Soon after..., [Trump said,] 'Uhh, if it did slow down, frankly, I think we're way ahead of ourselves if you want to know the truth. We've done too good a job.'... [That is,] the president [said] ... quite seriously that he sees value in having his administration do less testing, even as the number of coronavirus cases in the United States climbs higher."

Shannon Pettypiece & Monica Alba of NBC News: "The White House has stopped conducting mandatory temperature checks for all staffers and visitors entering the grounds, removing another layer of safeguards put in place after two officials became ill with the coronavirus last month. While those who come in close contact with the president and vice president are still having their temperature checked and being questioned about symptoms, the steps are no longer being taken for others who enter the White House campus, said spokesman Judd Deere. Tents that had been manned for the past month by staffers with thermometers were being taken down on Monday.... The White House had already stopped requiring all staffers in the West Wing to wear masks.... The move comes after the virus once again touched on Trump's orbit last week when six staffers preparing for his campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, tested positive for the coronavirus." Thanks to Bobby Lee for the lead. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: @3:40 pm ET, NBC News is reporting that two more members of Trump's Tulsa advance team have tested positive for coronavirus. @4:05 pm ET, CNN reported that the two staffers attended the rally "but were wearing masks." CNN also reported that two Secret Service agents who went to Tulsa tested positive for the virus.

Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "This is what American exceptionalism looks like under Donald Trump. It's not just that the United States has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths of any country in the world. Republican political dysfunction has made a coherent campaign to fight the pandemic impossible.... The rot starts at the top. At the beginning of the crisis Trump acted as if he could wish the coronavirus away, and after an interval when he at least pretended to take it seriously, his administration has resumed a posture of blithe denial.... So while countries with competent leadership haltingly return to normal, ours will continue to be pummeled."

Paul Krugman: "... in America, and only in America, basic health precautions have been caught up in a culture war. Most obviously, not wearing a face mask, and hence gratuitously endangering other people, has become a political symbol: Trump has suggested that some people wear masks only to signal disapproval of him, and many Americans have decided that requiring masks in indoor spaces is an assault on their freedom. As a result, social distancing has become partisan.... America's uniquely poor response to the coronavirus isn't just the result of bad leadership at the top.... There's a belligerent faction within our society that refuses to acknowledge inconvenient or uncomfortable facts, preferring to believe that experts are somehow conspiring against them. Trump hasn't just failed to rise to the policy challenge posed by Covid-19. He has, with his words and actions -- notably his refusal to wear a mask -- encouraged and empowered America's anti-rational streak. And this rejection of expertise, science and responsibility in general is killing us."

AND There's This Stupid Trump Trick. Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "Republicans are increasingly worried that their decade-long push to repeal the Affordable Care Act will hurt them in the November elections, as coronavirus cases spike around the country and millions of Americans who have lost jobs during the pandemic lose their health coverage as well. The issue will come into sharp focus this week, when the White House is expected to file legal briefs asking the Supreme Court to put an end to the program.... Speaker Nancy Pelosi, seizing on the moment, will unveil a Democratic bill to lower the cost of health care, with a vote scheduled for next week in the House. Republicans have long said their goal is to 'repeal and replace' the Affordable Care Act but have yet to agree on an alternative. This week's back-to-back developments -- Ms. Pelosi's bill announcement on Wednesday, followed on Thursday by the administration's legal filing -- has put Republicans in a difficult spot, strategists say." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Notice that Republicans aren't worried that Americans who get sick will have no health insurance coverage; they're worried it will hurt their re-election chances.

Michael Shear & Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: "President Trump on Monday temporarily suspended new work visas and barred hundreds of thousands of foreigners from seeking employment in the United States, part of a broad effort to limit the entry of immigrants into the country. In a sweeping order, which will be in place at least until the end of the year, Mr. Trump blocked visas for a wide variety of jobs, including those for computer programmers and other skilled workers who enter the country under the H-1B visa, as well as those for seasonal workers in the hospitality industry, students on work-study summer programs and au pairs who arrive under other auspices.... The directive, which has been expected for several weeks, is fiercely opposed by business leaders, who say it will block their ability to recruit critically needed workers from countries overseas for jobs that Americans are not willing to do or are not capable of performing."

AP: "The White House's stance on China was thrown into confusion on Monday night after trade adviser Peter Navarro announced a trade deal between the two countries was 'over', only to be quickly contradicted by Donald Trump.... Navarro told Fox News the 'turning point' came when the US learned about the coronavirus only after a Chinese delegation had left Washington following the signing of the phase one deal on 15 January.... 'It's over,' he said. But shortly after, the US president tweeted: 'The China trade deal is fully intact. Hopefully they will continue to live up to the terms of the agreement!' Navarro then said his comments had been taken out of context...Navarro's initial comments caused momentary panic on the markets, with contracts on the S&P 500 index falling as much as 1.6%, according to Bloomberg, and the offshore yuan weakening." --s

Axios: John "Bolton told ABC News that Trump 'directly linked the provision of that [security] assistance with the investigation' into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden in Ukraine -- the central allegation that saw him impeached in the House and later acquitted in the Senate. No official that testified was a direct witness to Trump explicitly tying aid to the investigations.... In January, Trump tweeted: 'I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens. In fact, he never complained about this at the time of his very public termination. If John Bolton said this, it was only to sell a book.'" Mrs. McC: This is why GOP Senators wouldn't allow Bolton to testify in the impeachment hearings. They knew Bolton was, as he likes to say, "in the room" when Trump demanded the tit-for-tat. They're all scum.

Paul LeBlanc of CNN: "... Donald Trump has falsely accused former President Barack Obama of committing treason in his latest unfounded accusation aimed at his predecessor. Trump for months has publicly accused Obama of committing crimes, but has repeatedly declined to say which crimes in particular when asked by reporters. But speaking with CBN News in an interview that aired Monday, Trump offered, without evidence, that Obama had committed treason for spying on his campaign. 'It's treason,' Trump said. 'Look, when I came out a long time ago, I said they've been spying on my campaign. I said they've been taping, and that was in quotes, meaning a modern day version of taping, it's all the same thing.... But they've been spying on my campaign.' In reality, there is no evidence that the Obama spied on Trump's campaign or committed any acts that reach the definition of treason. Under the Constitution, treason is narrowly defined: 'Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.'"

Paul LeBlanc, et al., of CNN: "The White House on Monday admitted that ... Donald Trump was involved in the removal of US Attorney Geoffrey Berman after Trump had claimed he was 'not involved' in the process this weekend. Speaking at the White House Monday, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Trump was 'involved in the sign-off capacity' as she sought to explain the removal of Berman as a simple swap that would allow Jay Clayton, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, to take the post. Clayton and Trump also discussed the job, which leads the powerful Southern District of New York office.... On Monday, however, McEnany wasn't able to fully explain why Berman was dismissed before Clayton was confirmed by the Senate...."

Mrs. McCrabbie: According to Rachel Maddow, among the people Bill Barr lied to about Geoffrey Berman's "resignation" was Craig Carpenito, the New Jersey U.S. Attorney whom Barr had slated to fill Berman's post until the Senate confirmed Trump's choice for the job, Jay Clayton. Barr, according to Maddow, told Carpenito that Berman had resigned. Berman had not & refused to do so after he learned from Barr's press release that he was "stepping down."

Zack Budryk of the Hill: "Geoffrey Berman, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, refused to sign a letter criticizing New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) for okaying protests but not religious gatherings a day before Attorney General William Barr announced he would be replaced, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. Justice Department supervisors asked both Berman and Eric Dreiband, the head of the agency's civil rights division, to sign the letter, but after a brief back-and-forth, Berman objected to its characterization of de Blasio's handling of the protests as a double standard and said signing the letter would hurt relations between the city and his office, the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The letter was never sent. It is unclear whether the episode contributed to the Justice Department's removal of Berman." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Quinta Jurecic & Benjamin Wittes in the Atlantic: "The administration's handling of [SDNY U.S. Attorney Geoffrey] Berman's firing was comically -- and typically -- inept.... And yet, for all the drama, the little matter of why Trump and Barr decided to get rid of Berman in the first place remains a mystery.... The most benign explanation -- though not exactly a comforting one -- is simple patronage. According to Barr's original statement, Trump had decided to appoint Jay Clayton ... to the job. Clayton, according to The New York Times, had recently golfed with the president ... and had expressed interest in the U.S. attorney job.... A second, more troubling possibility is that Berman's removal was retaliatory.... Trump has a long history of firing people who cause him trouble -- often those who are investigating him -- as a means of retribution.... Then there is the third possibility, the most sinister: that the removal of Berman was a specific effort to interfere with a specific investigation.... Trump does this as well.... If the goal of Berman's firing was to send yet another message to law-enforcement officials around the country that those who are no on the team will have to look over their shoulders at all times as long as Trump is president and Barr is running the Justice Department -- well, that message has been heard loud and clear." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ For context about Bill Barr's attempts to install Jay Clayton at USDNY. Press release 8 March 2017: "U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) ... sent a letter to Jay Clayton, the Trump Administration's nominee for Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), regarding concerns about Clayton's ability to effectively serve as SEC Chair, citing Clayton's numerous conflicts of interest and work on behalf of corporations with ties to Russia and Iran." (Emphasis mine) --s

Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "One of President Trump's most trusted economic advisers will leave the White House this summer amid one of the worst economic crises in decades. Kevin Hassett, who returned to the White House as an unpaid volunteer in March, said in an interview that his departure is in line with the administration's initial plan when he was brought back. Hassett said his agreement was to return to the White House for about 90 days, and he has already stayed for more than that amount of time. But Hassett's upcoming departure -- first reported by Axios -- could alarm critics who worry that the White House lacks respected economic officials to guide the nation through the economic calamity caused by the virus." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

New York. Robin Pogrebin of the New York Times: "The bronze statue of Theodore Roosevelt, on horseback and flanked by a Native American man and an African man, which has presided over the entrance to the American Museum of Natural History in New York since 1940, is coming down. The decision, proposed by the museum and agreed to by New York City, which owns the building and property, came after years of objections from activists and at a time when the killing of George Floyd has initiated an urgent nationwide conversation about racism. For many, the equestrian statue at the museum's Central Park West entrance has come to symbolize a painful legacy of colonial expansion and racial discrimination." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Virginia. Gregory Schneider of the Washington Post: The person responsible for developing the legal justification to allow Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) to take down Richmond's equestrian statue of Robert E. Lee is Rita Davis, a descendant of slaves & Northam's legal counsel. "It won't be easy. On Thursday, Richmond Circuit Judge Bradley B. Cavedo extended an injunction that bars the statue's removal, giving opponents more time to save it and making clear that he took a dim view of Northam's action." A good read about an impressive woman.

Washington, D.C. Fredrick Kunkle, et al., of the Washington Post: "Protesters attempted to topple a bronze statue of former president Andrew Jackson in a park next to the White House on Monday night but were thwarted when police intervened.... Protesters threw ropes around the statue of the seventh president astride a horse in Lafayette Square and began trying to pull it down, before police officers removed them from the area. Hundreds of protesters had locke arms around the statue. In a chaotic scene, a helicopter flew low over the park as 150 to 200 U.S.Park and D.C. police responded. Officers used a chemical irritant to disperse protesters and sweep them back to H Street NW. Protesters did manage to smash the wooden wheels of four replica cannons at the base of the Jackson statue. Protesters threw things at police, and officers shoved people in the melee." ~~~

~~~ Paul LeBlanc of CNN: "The US Secret Service on Monday evening told members of the White House press corps to immediately leave the White House grounds, a highly unusual decision that did not immediately come with an explanation. The decision came during an ongoing demonstration in Lafayette Square, across the street from the White House where protesters were trying to bring down a statue of former President Andrew Jackson that stands in the middle of the park. Those protesters were eventually pushed back out of the park by police." ~~~

     ~~~ The story has been updated: "The US Secret Service issued a statement early Tuesday, saying 'four members of the media were misdirected' to leave the White House grounds." Whatever that means.

Presidential Race

Justine Coleman of the Hill: "... Joe Biden's campaign is committing to participate in three debates in the fall, while President Trump's campaign is pushing for four events. Biden's campaign manager, Jen O'Malley Dilllon, confirmed in a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates sent on Monday and obtained by The Washington Post that the former vice president would debate Trump on the dates previously scheduled by the commission -- Sept. 29, Oct. 15 and Oct. 22. Biden's running mate, who has not yet been announced, will debate Vice President Mike Pence on Oct. 7.... Biden's commitment to the debates comes days after several Trump aides, including ... Rudy Giuliani, started advocating for another debate and to conduct them earlier in the day than usual. Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale said last week that the aides don't want the debates to compete with football games." Mrs. McC: The candidate who wants more debates is usually the candidate who's losing. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ A Debate in Search of a Venue. David Jesse of the Detroit Free Press: "The University of Michigan is withdrawing from hosting a presidential debate between ... Donald Trump and ... Joe Biden, sources told the Detroit Free Press. The official announcement is expected to come Tuesday. U-M is making the move because of concerns of bringing the campaigns, media and supporters of both candidates to Ann Arbor and campus during a pandemic, two sources with direct knowledge of the move told the Free Press. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak on behalf of the university. U-M had been scheduled to host the second debate of the cycle on Oct. 15 and had been planning a wide range of events and education around it."

Hallelujah! Mrs. McCrabbie: Here's my favorite entry from the Washington Post's live coronavirus updates for Monday, also linked above:

"President Trump will hold a rally Tuesday at an Arizona megachurch that claims its air purification system kills '99.9 percent of covid within 10 minutes' -- despite no scientific evidence that is the case. In a video posted by Dream City Church, senior pastor Luke Barnett and chief operations officer Brendon Zastrow touted an ionization system by CleanAir EXP that, Zastrow said, 'takes particles out and covid cannot live in that environment.' Barnett said, 'You can know when you come here you will be safe and protected. Thank God for great technology and thank God for being proactive.' Air purifiers can help reduce airborne contaminants but, on their own, cannot kill the coronavirus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency said....CleanAir EXP said on its website that 'lab tests confirm that CleanAir EXP eliminates 99.9% of coronavirus surrogate from the air in less than 10 minutes.'"

Mrs. McCrabbie: Who is responsible when the dummkopfs who attend the Trump revival get Covid-19 in a couple of weeks? God? The Devil? Trump? Luke & Brendon? The liars at CleanAir EXP, who are apparently Luke's parishoners?

Ashley Parker & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: Donald Trump is increasingly preoccupied "over perceptions of his mental and physical health, at a time when critics have mocked him for episodes in which they say he has appeared frail or confused. The attacks Trump has previously levied against [Joe] Biden -- dismissing the former vice president as 'Sleepy Joe,' secreted away in his basement and enfeebled -- have boomeranged back on him, as opponents have seized on Trump's own missteps to raise concerns.... Saturday night in Tulsa..., the president devoted more than 14 minutes to regaling a campaign rally crowd with the tale of 'the ramp and the water.'" The article includes a photo of the West Point ramp, which Trump described as being as slippery as 'an ice-skating rink.' The ice-skaking ramp has non-slip strips every couple of feet.

Just can't get enough of these Trump rally fiasco postmortems: here's one from Alex Isenstadt of Politico, who focusses on Trump's inability to effectively attack Joe Biden. "Trump advisers have long been convinced that if the race is a referendum on him, rather than a choice between him and Biden, Trump will likely lose." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

Mrs. McCrabbie: Most of the mail-in voter "scandal" in the U.S. seems to be coming from Trump, his relatives and allies: ~~~

~~~ William Bredderman of the Daily Beast: "... Donald Trump went postal on Twitter Monday morning over the threat he claims mailed ballots pose to the integrity of U.S. elections -- but his family seems to have never gotten the message.... 'RIGGED 2020 ELECTION: MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALLOTS WILL BE PRINTED BY FOREIGN COUNTRIES, AND OTHERS. IT WILL BE THE SCANDAL OF OUR TIMES!' Trump tweeted.... The White House has acknowledged the president mailed in ballots in New York in 2018 and in Florida this year, and the Orlando Sun-Sentinel reported that First Lady Melania Trump had recently also taken advantage of the Sunshine State's remote voting program. On reviewing records from the Manhattan Board of Elections, The Daily Beast discovered that Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner and the First Lady all had ballots mailed to them in Washington D.C. as recently as the 2018 election cycle, and have done so since decamping to the capital three years ago. Eric Trump, who remains in New York, similarly exercised his franchise via envelope and stamp in 2017. Various errors -- from the First Lady's forgetting to sign the crucial affidavit, to the First Daughter's sending her ballot back too late, to Kushner's failure to mail it back at all -- prevented the Washington-based wing of the family's votes from counting in 2017. But the Board of Elections documents show they all successfully returned their votes in the most recent election cycle." ~~~

~~~ Homeless Couple Claim Governor's Mansion as Their Residence. Marina Pitofsky of the Hill: "Vice President Pence and his wife, Karen Pence, voted by mail in Indiana earlier this year using the address of the Indiana governor's mansion, Business Insider reported. The couple mailed in their ballots for the June GOP primary in their home state of Indiana on April 13, according to voter files obtained by the outlet. They used the address of the governor's mansion in Indianapolis, where they have not lived since December 2016, when they transitioned to Washington, D.C. It is not illegal for the Pences to use their previous address to vote by mail. They remain registered to vote in Indiana. Pence's press secretary Devin O'Malley said in a statement to The Hill that the Pences do not own another home in Indiana, so the governor's mansion remains their 'legally correct' address for registration." Mrs. McC: O'Malley is probably right, but it seems weird for someone who hasn't been governor for years to use the governor's mansion as his legal residence. ~~~

~~~ Brian Slodysko of the AP: "A half-dozen senior advisers to ... Donald Trump have repeatedly voted by mail, according to election records obtained by The Associated Press, undercutting the president's argument that the practice will lead to widespread fraud this November." Among them, Bill Barr, Brad Parscale, Kayleigh McEnany & the lovely Betsy DeVos. "DeVos, the education secretary, has voted absentee in all but three Michigan elections over the past decade, according to records. Trump threatened last month to withhold federal funding after Michigan's Democratic secretary of state mailed out absentee ballot applications to registered voters. DeVos' family has donated millions of dollars to Republican causes, including groups that are now part of a fierce court fight to limit the expansion of vote-by-mail." And others.

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "An Army private confessed to sharing secret information with a satanic neo-Nazi-group in a plot to attack his own unit while it was overseas and cause 'the deaths of as many of his fellow service members as possible,/ federal prosecutors in Manhattan said on Monday. The private, Ethan Phelan Melzer, was charged in an indictment unsealed this week with collaborating with the Order of the Nine Angles, or O9A, a group that prosecutors described as 'an occult-based neo-Nazi and racially motivated violent extremist group.'"

AP: "Venezuela's socialist government tried to recruit then-Congressman Pete Sessions to broker a meeting with the CEO of Exxon Mobil [-- Darren] Woods, then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's successor --] at the same time it was secretly paying a close former House colleague $50 million to keep U.S. sanctions at bay.... The purpose: to lure Exxon back to Venezuela after a decade's absence and inject much-needed dynamism into the OPEC nation's collapsing oil industry.... [F]ormer Miami Congressman David Rivera ... at the time was collecting part of a whopping $50 million contract for three months of consulting work..., now being investigated by federal prosecutors in Miami because he never registered as an agent of a foreign government.... It's not clear how Sessions, who is running again for Congress this fall, acted on the request.... But Sessions did engage in other mediation efforts in Venezuela over the next 15 months." --s

Nina Lakhani of the Guardian: "Millions of ordinary Americans are facing rising and unaffordable bills for running water, and risk being disconnected or losing their homes if they cannot pay, a landmark Guardian investigation has found.... Analysis of 12 US cities shows the combined price of water and sewage increased by an average of 80% between 2010 and 2018, with more than two-fifths of residents in some cities living in neighbourhoods with unaffordable bills.... Water bills exceeding 4% of household income are considered unaffordable.... Meanwhile, federal aid to public water utilities, which serve around 87% of people, has plummeted while maintenance, environmental and health threats, climate shocks and other expenditures have skyrocketed...In Washington, 90 lawmakers from across the country -- all Democrats -- are pushing for comprehensive funding reforms to guarantee access to clean, affordable running water for every American." --s

Way Beyond the Beltway

U.K. Thomas Colson of Business Insider: "Brexit is set to have cost the UK more than £200 billion in lost economic growth by the end of this year -- a figure that almost eclipses the total amount the UK has paid toward the European Union budget over the past 47 years.... The British economy is 3% smaller than it might have been if the UK had not voted to leave the EU.... That means the combined cost of Brexit since 2016 is likely to soon eclipse the total cost of the EU's budget payments, which were a central part of the Leave campaign's case for Brexit in the first place." --s

The Commentariat -- June 22, 2020

Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Monday are here. "As the coronavirus spreads at record speeds around the world, the United States accounted for 20 percent of all the new infections worldwide on Sunday, according to New York Times data, even as the country's population makes up about 4.3 percent of the world's."

Putting Our Money Where His Mouth Is -- In a Hidey-hole. Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "The Trump administration has been sitting on nearly $14 billion in funding that Congress passed for coronavirus testing and contact tracing, according to Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York and Patty Murray of Washington. The top Democrats said in a letter Sunday to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar that ... Congress passed these funds as part of a coronavirus relief bill in April.... Donald Trump told a crowd of his supporters at his first campaign rally in months Saturday that he wanted to slow down testing for the coronavirus." ~~~

~~~ Jessie Hellmann & Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Monday refused to say whether he told staff to slow down COVID-19 testing to make it look like the U.S. had fewer cases, while White House officials denied he had ever given such an order. Trump has been blaming rising case numbers of coronavirus in the U.S. on increased testing, arguing the country has been doing 'too good a job.'... Trump generated outrage this weekend when he said at his first campaign rally in months that he told staff to 'slow the testing down, please.' Trump aides later said his comments were a joke."”

Shannon Pettypiece & Monica Alba of NBC News: "The White House has stopped conducting mandatory temperature checks for all staffers and visitors entering the grounds, removing another layer of safeguards put in place after two officials became ill with the coronavirus last month. While those who come in close contact with the president and vice president are still having their temperature checked and being questioned about symptoms, the steps are no longer being taken for others who enter the White House campus, said spokesman Judd Deere. Tents that had been manned for the past month by staffers with thermometers were being taken down on Monday.... The White House had already stopped requiring all staffers in the West Wing to wear masks.... The move comes after the virus once again touched on Trump's orbit last week when six staffers preparing for his campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, tested positive for the coronavirus." Thanks to Bobby Lee for the lead. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: @3:40 pm ET, NBC News is reporting that two more members of Trump's Tulsa advance team have tested positive for coronavirus. @4:05 pm ET, CNN reported that the two staffers attended the rally "but were wearing masks." CNN also reported that two Secret Service agents who went to Tulsa tested positive for the virus.

Justine Coleman of the Hill: "... Joe Biden's campaign is committing to participate in three debates in the fall, while President Trump's campaign is pushing for four events. Biden's campaign manager, Jen O'Malley Dilllon, confirmed in a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates sent on Monday and obtained by The Washington Post that the former vice president would debate Trump on the dates previously scheduled by the commission -- Sept. 29, Oct. 15 and Oct. 22. Biden's running mate, who has not yet been announced, will debate Vice President Mike Pence on Oct. 7.... Biden's commitment to the debates comes days after several Trump aides, including his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, started advocating for another debate and to conduct them earlier in the day than usual. Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale said last week that the aides don't want the debates to compete with football games." Mrs. McC: The candidate who wants more debates is usually the candidate who is losing.

Just can't get enough of these Trump rally fiasco post-mortems: here's one from Alex Isenstadt of Politico, who focusses on Trump's inability to effectively attack Joe Biden. "Trump advisers have long been convinced that if the race is a referendum on him, rather than a choice between him and Biden, Trump will likely lose." ~~~

Zack Budryk of the Hill: "Geoffrey Berman, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, refused to sign a letter criticizing New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) for okaying protests but not religious gatherings a day before Attorney General William Barr announced he would be replaced, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. Justice Department supervisors asked both Berman and Eric Dreiband, the head of the agency's civil rights division, to sign the letter, but after a brief back-and-forth, Berman objected to its characterization of de Blasio's handling of the protests as a double standard and said signing the letter would hurt relations between the city and his office, the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The letter was never sent. It is unclear whether the episode contributed to the Justice Department's removal of Berman." ~~~

~~~ Quinta Jurecic & Benjamin Wittes in the Atlantic: "The administration's handling of [SDNY U.S. Attorney Geoffrey] Berman's firing was comically -- and typically -- inept.... And yet, for all the drama, the little matter of why Trump and Barr decided to get rid of Berman in the first place remains a mystery.... The most benign explanation -- though not exactly a comforting one -- is simple patronage. According to Barr's original statement, Trump had decided to appoint Jay Clayton ... to the job. Clayton, according to The New York Times, had recently golfed with the president ... and had expressed interest in the U.S. attorney job.... A second, more troubling possibility is that Berman's removal was retaliatory.... Trump has a long history of firing people who cause him trouble -- often those who are investigating him -- as a means of retribution.... Then there is the third possibility, the most sinister: that the removal of Berman was a specific effort to interfere with a specific investigation.... Trump does this as well.... If the goal of Berman's firing was to send yet another message to law-enforcement officials around the country that those who are not on the team will have to look over their shoulders at all times as long as Trump is president and Barr is running the Justice Department -- well, that message has been heard loud and clear."

Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "One of President Trump's most trusted economic advisers will leave the White House this summer amid one of the worst economic crises in decades. Kevin Hassett, who returned to the White House as an unpaid volunteer in March, said in an interview that his departure is in line with the administration's initial plan when he was brought back. Hassett said his agreement was to return to the White House for about 90 days, and he has already stayed for more than that amount of time. But Hassett's upcoming departure -- first reported by Axios -- could alarm critics who worry that the White House lacks respected economic officials to guide the nation through the economic calamity caused by the virus."

Robin Pogrebin of the New York Times: "The bronze statue of Theodore Roosevelt, on horseback and flanked by a Native American man and an African man, which has presided over the entrance to the American Museum of Natural History in New York since 1940, is coming down. The decision, proposed by the museum and agreed to by New York City, which owns the building and property, came after years of objections from activists and at a time when the killing of George Floyd has initiated an urgent nationwide conversation about racism. For many, the equestrian statue at the museum's Central Park West entrance has come to symbolize a painful legacy of colonial expansion and racial discrimination."

~~~~~~~~~~

Presidential Race

This Just Gets Better & Better. Jacob Knutson of Axios: "Just under 6,200 people attended President Trump's rally in Tulsa Saturday, well below the BOK Center's total capacity of 19,200, a public information officer for the Tulsa Fire Department told Forbes Sunday.... Trump's campaign had planned to turn the rally into a massive pro-Trump festival to energize his re-election bid amid the coronavirus pandemic and nation-wide protests against police brutality." (Also linked yesterday.)

Monica Alba, et al., of NBC News: "... Donald Trump is 'furious' at the 'underwhelming' crowd at his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday evening, a major disappointment for what had been expected to be a raucous return to the campaign trail..., according to multiple people close to the White House. The president was fuming at his top political aides Saturday even before the rally began after his campaign revealed that six members of the advance team on the ground in Tulsa had tested positive for COVID-19, including Secret Service personnel, a person familiar with the discussions said. Trump asked those around him why the information was exposed and expressed annoyance that the coverage ahead of his mega-rally was dominated by the revelation.... 'This was a major failure,' one outside adviser said. (Also linked yesterday.)

Anatomy of a Disaster. Kevin Liptak & Kaitlan Collins of CNN: "Once viewed inside the White House and Trump's campaign as a reset button for a presidency beset by crises and self-inflicted wounds, Saturday evening's campaign rally in Tulsa instead became plagued with pitfalls, a disappointing microcosm of the blindspots, denial and wishful thinking that have come to guide the President as he enters one of the most precarious moments of his first term. By the time he strode out to the strains of Lee Greenwood on Saturday evening into a partially-full Bank of Oklahoma Center, the event had devolved from a triumphant return to the campaign trail after a 110-day pandemic-forced absence into something else altogether. The launch of a new assault on former Vice President Joe Biden fizzled, replaced by recycled grievances and race-baiting. The sparse crowd was a reminder that many Americans, even Trump's supporters, remain cautious of a pandemic that continues to rage in places like Oklahoma...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Maggie Haberman & Annie Karni of the New York Times: "The president, who had been warned aboard Air Force One that the crowds at the arena were smaller than expected, was stunned, and he yelled at aides backstage while looking at the endless rows of empty blue seats in the upper bowl of the stadium, according to four people familiar with what took place.... By the end of the rally, Mr. Trump's mood had improved, advisers said. But after he left the stage, the fight seemed to have left him, at least temporarily. Leaving the arena, he wasn't yelling. Instead, he was mostly muted. When he landed back at the White House and walked off Marine One, his tie hung untied around his neck. He waved to reporters, with a defeated expression on his face, holding a crumpled red campaign hat in one hand.... [Campaign manager Brad Parscale] blamed the news media for the low turnout. 'The fact is that a week's worth of the fake news media warning people away from the rally because of Covid and protesters, coupled with recent images of American cities on fire, had a real impact on people bringing their families and children to the rally,' he said.... In an interview, Mr. Parscale said the empty arena was not his fault, and that local law enforcement in Tulsa had overreacted, making it difficult for supporters to gain entry. He claimed to have thousands of emails from supporters who tried to get into the Bank of Oklahoma Center and were turned away, but he did not share those messages or names of supporters."

The Kids Punked Trump. Taylor Lorenz, et al., of the New York Times: "Hundreds of teenage TikTok users and K-pop fans say they're at least partially responsible [for Trump's disappointment].... TikTok users and fans of Korean pop music groups claimed to have registered potentially hundreds of thousands of tickets for Mr. Trump's campaign rally as a prank. After the Trump campaign's official account @TeamTrump posted a tweet asking supporters to register for free tickets using their phones on June 11, K-pop fan accounts began sharing the information with followers, encouraging them to register for the rally -- and then not show. The trend quickly spread on TikTok, where videos with millions of views instructed viewers to do the same, as CNN reported on Tuesday.... Many users deleted their posts after 24 to 48 hours in order to conceal their plan and keep it from spreading into the mainstream internet.... Twitter users on Saturday night were quick to declare the social media campaign's victory. 'Actually you just got ROCKED by teens on TikTok, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York tweeted in response to Mr. Parscale, who had tweeted that 'radical protestors' had 'interfered' with attendance." A CNN story is here.

Jose Del Real of the Washington Post: "... while much attention on his Saturday night appearance in Tulsa focused on the sparse turnout..., Trump's litany of racially offensive stereotypes sent a clear signal about how he plans to try to revive his flagging reelection effort.... But today, amid an emerging movement against racism and police brutality, the president's rhetoric on race is increasingly out of step with polling that shows a surge in support for the idea that racial discrimination is a major problem in the United States, including among white voters.... [At his rally,] He attacked several Democratic women of color, in one instance accusing Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) of 'telling us how to run our country.' The congresswoman, who came to the United States when she was 12 as a refugee from Somalia, is a United States citizen. In repeated comments about 'heritage,' the president also embraced those defending the controversial tokens of Confederate history.... As he railed against recent calls by some activists to defund or dismantle police forces, he made up a scenario involving a criminal 'hombre,' the Spanish-language word for man. As he railed against recent calls by some activists to defund or dismantle police forces, he made up a scenario involving a criminal 'hombre,' the Spanish-language word for man."

Gabby Orr of Politico: In 2008, Barack "Obama's campaign stops at churches, sermonlike speeches and his professed belief in Jesus Christ earned him 24 percent of the white evangelical vote -- doubling Democrats' support among young white evangelicals and gaining 3 percentage points with the overall demographic from the 2004 election. Now, allies of ... Donald Trump worry his 2020 opponent, Joe Biden, can do the same -- snatching a slice of a critical voting bloc from Trump when he can least afford departures from his base. Biden, a lifelong Roman Catholic, has performed better in recent polling among white evangelicals -- and other religious groups -- than Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton did in 2016 and is widely perceived as more religious than the current White House occupant."

Mr. Mustache Says. Conor Finnigan of ABC News: 'Donald Trump's longest-serving national security adviser John Bolton condemned his presidency as dangerously damaging to the United States and argued the 2020 election is the last 'guardrail' to protect the country from him. In an ... interview with ABC News, Bolton offered a brutal indictment of his former boss, saying, 'I hope (history) will remember him as a one-term president who didn't plunge the country irretrievably into a downward spiral we can't recall from. We can get over one term -- I have absolute confidence, even if it's not the miracle of a conservative Republican being elected in November. Two terms, I'm more troubled about.'... 'I don't think he's a conservative Republican. I'm not going to vote for him in November -- certainly not going to vote for Joe Biden either. I'm going to figure out a conservative Republican to vote in,' he told Raddatz." Here's the transcript of Martha Raddatz's interview of Bolton.

The New York Times' live updates for coronavirus developments Sunday are here. "Nationwide, cases have risen 15 percent over the last two weeks. Cases are rising in 18 states across the South, West and Midwest. Seven states hit single-day case records yesterday, and five others hit a record earlier in the week.... At the same time, overall deaths have dropped dramatically. The 14-day average was down 42 percent as of Saturday. Strikingly, the new infections have skewed younger, with more people in their 20s and 30s testing positive, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida said." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd., Coronavirus Edition. Jessica Silver-Greenberg & Amy Harris of the New York Times: "More than any other institution in America, nursing homes have come to symbolize the deadly destruction of the coronavirus crisis. More than 51,000 residents and employees of nursing homes and long-term care facilities have died, representing more than 40 percent of the total death toll in the United States. But even as they have been ravaged, nursing homes have also been enlisted in the response to the outbreak. They are taking on coronavirus-stricken patients to ease the burden on overwhelmed hospitals -- and, at times, to bolster their bottom lines.... They are kicking out old and disabled residents -- among the people most susceptible to the coronavirus -- and shunting them into homeless shelters, rundown motels and other unsafe facilities..." to make room for more profitable Covid-19 patients. (Also linked yesterday.)

~~~ New York. Sharon Otterman of the New York Times: "New York City's ambitious contact-tracing program, a crucial initiative in the effort to curb the coronavirus, has gotten off to a worrisome start just as the city's reopening enters a new phase on Monday, with outdoor dining, in-store shopping and office work resuming. The city has hired 3,000 disease detectives and case monitors, who are supposed to identify anyone who has come into contact with the hundreds of people who are still testing positive for the virus in the city every day. But the first statistics from the program, which began on June 1, indicate that tracers are often unable to locate infected people or gather information from them. Only 35 percent of the 5,347 city residents who tested positive or were presumed positive for the coronavirus in the program's first two weeks gave information about close contacts to tracers, the city said in releasing the first statistics. The number ticked up slightly, to 42 percent, during the third week.... Contact tracing is one of the few tools that public health officials have to fight Covid-19 in lieu of a vaccine...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Alison Rourke of the Guardian: "China has suspended imports of poultry products from a plant owned by an Arkansas-based meat processor, Tyson Inc, that has been hit by coronavirus, as authorities struggle to bring an outbreak in Beijing under control." --s

Jonathan Swan of Axios: "... President Trump told Axios that his niece, Mary Trump, is 'not allowed' to write her forthcoming book about him because doing so would violate a nondisclosure agreement she signed.... 'You know, when we settled with her and her brother, who I do have a good relationship with -- she's got a brother, Fred, who I do have a good relationship with, but when we settled, she has a total ... signed a nondisclosure.' Trump said his niece's nondisclosure agreement with him was a 'very powerful one. ... It covers everything.'" ~~~

~~~ Speaking of books Donald Trump says should not be published, if you really want to read John Bolton's book but are loathe to see him collect his halfpenny on your purchase ~~~

~~~ AP: "A PDF of 'The Room Where It Happened' has turned up on the internet, offering a free, pirated edition of the former national security adviser's scathing takedown of ... Donald Trump, who has alleged that the book contains classified material that never should have been released."

Jennifer Senior of the New York Times: "... it's precisely because Trump feels overwhelmed and outmatched that I fear we've reached a far scarier juncture: he seems to be attempting, however clumsily, to transition from president to autocrat, using any means necessary to mow down those who threaten his re-election....Trump has torn through almost all of [the honorable civil servants & appointees] and replaced them with loyalists. He now has a clear runway. What we have left is an army of pliant flunkies and toadies at the agencies, combined with the always-enabling Mitch McConnell and an increasingly emboldened attorney general, William Barr."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post: Journalist Maria "Ressa was convicted, in her native Philippines, on trumped-up charges of cyber libel.... While [a highly-respected journalist in] the Philippines' fragile democracy was under attack by the authoritarian Rodrigo Duterte, a Trump appointee was purging highly respected news executives within the United States taxpayer-funded agency whose intended role is to counter disinformation around the world.... All of [the] departures stemmed from Trump's appointment of Michael Pack, a conservative filmmaker and associate of his longtime adviser Stephen K. Bannon.... [According to John Bolton,] at a summer 2019 meeting in New Jersey, Trump said journalists should be jailed so they have to divulge their sources, according to the former national security adviser's account. 'These people should be executed. They are scumbags,' Trump said. Maybe he didn't mean that literally, but it's still language that ought to shock every American." (Also linked yesterday.)

David Edwards of RawStory: "Attorney General William Barr suggested recently that the investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 U.S. election was similar to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. During an interview that aired Sunday on Fox News, host Maria Bartiromo posed [a] question to Barr. 'A source said to me a couple of years ago, speaking of the Russia collusion story, that this was the closest the United States ever came to a coup to take down a president since the assassination of Lincoln,' Bartiromo told Barr. 'Is that an appropriate statement?' Barr agreed: 'In this sense, I think it is the closest we have come to an organized effort to push a president out of office.'" --s

Sarah Westwood of CNN: "House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler said Sunday that he believes Attorney General William Barr deserves to be impeached, but that pursuing it would be a 'waste of time' because of the Republican-controlled Senate. Nadler, a New York Democrat, told CNN's Jake Tapper on 'State of the Union' that House Democrats would instead work to withhold $50 million from the Department of Justice in an effort to punish Barr.... Nadler called the Republican Senate 'corrupt' over its decision earlier this year to acquit Trump on on two articles of impeachment, and he stressed there was nothing to be gained from pursuing Barr's impeachment because it would likely end in the same not guilty vote."

Susan Page of USA Today: "If he had been a senator during ... Donald Trump's impeachment trial earlier this year, John Bolton says he probably would have voted for a conviction. There's a certain irony in that, given that ... [Bolton] refused to testify in the House impeachment hearings and then offered to testify in the Senate trial if subpoenaed; Senate Republicans predictably declined before voting to acquit.... One tantalizing passage in the book suddenly seemed prescient this weekend when the Trump administration fired Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan complained in December 2018 about the office's investigation into a Turkish state-owned bank, Bolton wrote, 'Trump then told Erdogan he would take care of things' once he replaced Southern District prosecutors with 'his people.'"

Preet Bharara in a New York Times op-ed: "Forcing out a well-performing U.S. attorney of the same party, without explanation, on the eve of election, in favor of a less qualified candidate who golfs with the president (as [nominee Jay] Clayton does), in the midst of investigations known to be irksome to the president, does not reflect a commitment to law enforcement independence. Within the Department of Justice, hardworking public servants ... are angry, dismayed and demoralized.... They are disheartened by the bad faith of Bill Barr and his determined efforts to undermine prosecutorial independence. On Saturday, finally assured his well-regarded and principled deputy, Audrey Strauss, would take over the reins, [Geoffrey] Berman left S.D.N.Y. with his head held high. I believe the wrong Department of Justice official left office that day."

John Zenor of the AP: "A noose was found in the garage stall of Black driver Bubba Wallace at the NASCAR race in Alabama on Sunday, less than two weeks after he successfully pushed the stock car racing series to ban the Confederate flag at its tracks and facilities. NASCAR said it had launched an immediate investigation and will do everything possible to find out who was responsible and 'eliminate them from the sport.'" --s

AP: "A Tennessee newspaper said on Sunday it was investigating what its editor called a 'horrific' full-page advertisement from a religious group that predicts a terrorist attack in Nashville next month. The paid advertisement that appeared in Sunday's editions of the Tennessean from the group Future For America claims Donald Trump 'is the final president of the USA' and features a photo of Trump and Pope Francis. It begins by claiming that a nuclear device will be detonated in Nashville and that the attack will be carried out by unspecific interests of 'Islam'.... According to its [Future for America] website, the group's ministry warns of so-called end-of-the-world Bible prophecies whose fulfillment 'is no longer future_for it is taking place before our eyes'." --s

Natasha Bertrand of Politico (June 19): "The Trump administration is warning law enforcement and public safety officials that a far-right extremist movement known as 'boogaloo' may be setting its sights on the nation's capital. On Monday, the National Capital Region Threat Intelligence Consortium, a fusion center for Washington, D.C., that provides support to federal national security and law enforcement agencies, warned in an intelligence assessment that 'the District is likely an attractive target for violent adherents of the boogaloo ideology due to the significant presence of US law enforcement entities, and the wide range of First Amendment-Protected events hosted here'."

Daniel de Simone & Ali Winston of BBC: "Secret efforts to groom and recruit teenagers by a neo-Nazi militant group have been exposed by covert recordings. They capture senior members of The Base interviewing young applicants and discussing how to radicalise them. The FBI has described the group as seeking to unite white supremacists around the world and incite a race war.... Rinaldo Nazzaro, founder of The Base, is a 47-year-old American. Earlier this year the BBC revealed he was directing the organisation from his upmarket flat in St. Petersburg, Russia.... The BBC investigation reveals the real identity of a man who is both a senior member of The Base and the creator of a successor online forum linked to several UK terrorism prosecutions involving teenagers. Matthew Baccari, an unemployed 25-year-old from Southern California, used the alias 'Mathias' to run a notorious website called Fascist Forge, where terrorism and sexual violence were openly encouraged." --s

The Commentariat -- June 21, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

This Just Gets Better & Better. Jacob Knutson of Axios: "Just under 6,200 people attended President Trump's rally in Tulsa Saturday, well below the BOK Center's total capacity of 19,200, a public information officer for the Tulsa Fire Department told Forbes Sunday.... Trump's campaign had planned to turn the rally into a massive pro-Trump festival to energize his re-election bid amid the coronavirus pandemic and nation-wide protests against police brutality." ~~~

~~~ Monica Alba, et al., of NBC News: "... Donald Trump is 'furious' at the 'underwhelming' crowd at his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday evening, a major disappointment< for what had been expected to be a raucous return to the campaign trail..., according to multiple people close to the White House. The president was fuming at his top political aides Saturday even before the rally began after his campaign revealed that six members of the advance team on the ground in Tulsa had tested positive for COVID-19, including Secret Service personnel, a person familiar with the discussions said. Trump asked those around him why the information was exposed and expressed annoyance that the coverage ahead of his mega-rally was dominated by the revelation.... 'This was a major failure,' one outside adviser said. ~~~

~~~ Anatomy of a Disaster. Kevin Liptak & Kaitlan Collins of CNN: "Once viewed inside the White House and Trump's campaign as a reset button for a presidency beset by crises and self-inflicted wounds, Saturday evening's campaign rally in Tulsa instead became plagued with pitfalls, a disappointing microcosm of the blindspots, denial and wishful thinking that have come to guide the President as he enters one of the most precarious moments of his first term. By the time he strode out to the strains of Lee Greenwood on Saturday evening into a partially-full Bank of Oklahoma Center, the event had devolved from a triumphant return to the campaign trail after a 110-day pandemic-forced absence into something else altogether. The launch of a new assault on ... Joe Biden fizzled, replaced by recycled grievances and race-baiting. The sparse crowd was a reminder that many Americans, even Trump's supporters, remain cautious of a pandemic that continues to rage in places like Oklahoma...."

The New York Times' live updates for coronavirus developments Sunday are here. "Nationwide, cases have risen 15 percent over the last two weeks. Cases are rising in 18 states across the South, West and Midwest. Seven states hit single-day case records yesterday, and five others hit a record earlier in the week.... At the same time, overall deaths have dropped dramatically. The 14-day average was down 42 percent as of Saturday. Strikingly, the new infections have skewed younger, with more people in their 20s and 30s testing positive, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida said." ~~~

~~~ Sharon Otterman of the New York Times: "New York City's ambitious contact-tracing program, a crucial initiative in the effort to curb the coronavirus, has gotten off to a worrisome start just as the city's reopening enters a new phase on Monday, with outdoor dining, in-store shopping and office work resuming. The city has hired 3,000 disease detectives and case monitors, who are supposed to identify anyone who has come into contact with the hundreds of people who are still testing positive for the virus in the city every day. But the first statistics from the program, which began on June 1, indicate that tracers are often unable to locate infected people or gather information from them. Only 35 percent of the 5,347 city residents who tested positive or were presumed positive for the coronavirus in the program's first two weeks gave information about close contacts to tracers, the city said in releasing the first statistics. The number ticked up slightly, to 42 percent, during the third week.... Contact tracing is one of the few tools that public health officials have to fight Covid-19 in lieu of a vaccine...." ~~~

~~~ Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd., Coronavirus Edition. Jessica Silver-Greenberg & Amy Harris of the New York Times: "More than any other institution in America, nursing homes have come to symbolize the deadly destruction of the coronavirus crisis. More than 51,000 residents and employees of nursing homes and long-term care facilities have died, representing more than 40 percent of the total death toll in the United States. But even as they have been ravaged, nursing homes have also been enlisted in the response to the outbreak. They are taking on coronavirus-stricken patients to ease the burden on overwhelmed hospitals -- and, at times, to bolster their bottom lines.... They are kicking out old and disabled residents -- among the people most susceptible to the coronavirus -- and shunting them into homeless shelters, rundown motels and other unsafe facilities..." to make room for more profitable Covid-19 patients.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post: Journalist Maria "Ressa was convicted, in her native Philippines, on trumped-up charges of cyber libel.... While [a highly-respected journalist in] the Philippines' fragile democracy was under attack by the authoritarian Rodrigo Duterte, a Trump appointee was purging highly respected news executives within the United States taxpayer-funded agency whose intended role is to counter disinformation around the world.... All of [the] departures stemmed from Trump's appointment of Michael Pack, a conservative filmmaker and associate of his longtime adviser Stephen K. Bannon.... [According to John Bolton,] at a summer 2019 meeting in New Jersey, Trump said journalists should be jailed so they have to divulge their sources, according to the former national security adviser's account. 'These people should be executed. They are scumbags,' Trump said. Maybe he didn't mean that literally, but it's still language that ought to shock every American."

~~~~~~~~~~

Presidential Race, Schadenfreude Edition

What if you hosted a rally for a million people and only 10,000 6,200 showed up?

Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times deliver a withering assessment of the Traveling Trump Show: "President Trump's attempt to revive his re-election campaign sputtered badly on Saturday night as he traveled to Tulsa for his first mass rally in months and found a far smaller crowd than his aides had promised him, then delivered a disjointed speech that did not address the multiple crises facing the nation or scandals battering him in Washington. The weakness of Mr. Trump's drawing power and political skills, in a state that voted for him overwhelmingly and in a format that he favors, raised new questions about his electoral prospects for a second term at a time when his poll numbers were already falling. And rather than speak to the wide cross-section of Americans who say they are concerned about police violence and systemic racism, he continued to use racist language, describing the coronavirus as 'Kung Flu.' While the president's campaign had claimed that more than a million people had sought tickets for the rally, the 19,000-seat BOK Center was at least one-third empty during the rally. A second, outdoor venue was so sparsely attended that he and Vice President Mike Pence both canceled appearances there. Tim Murtaugh, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, falsely blamed the small numbers on 'radical protesters' and the news media who he said had frightened away supporters. But there were few protests in the area and no sizable effort to block entrances, and there was a strong security presence." ~~~

     ~~~ Here's how Trump tried to explain away the sparse attendance. It's 100% false. "Look at what happened tonight. Law enforcement said, 'Sir, they can't be outside, it is too dangerous.' We had a bunch of maniacs come and sort of attack our city. The mayor, the governor did a great job. But they were very violent. And our people are not nearly as violent, but if they ever were, it would be a terrible, terrible day for the other side." ~~~

~~~ Philip Rucker & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "To a nation broken by a pandemic and a recession -- and with a racial justice movement roiling communities across the country -- Trump offered neither reconciliation nor rapprochement. Instead, he put up a fight.... With cities coast to coast pulsating in protest of racial injustice, Trump used his bully pulpit to exacerbate the chaos and division in hopes of capitalizing on the nation's fraying bonds. He condemned what he called 'this cruel campaign of censorship' and, in reference to the debate over removing monuments and memorials to Confederate generals, declared: 'They want to demolish our heritage.... We have a great heritage. We're a great country.'... His 101-minute address was rambling and discordant, ranging from some of his favorite hits, such as attacks on CNN and the 'fake news' to dark imagery about 'Joe Biden's America' as overrun by rioters and looters to a lengthy monologue explaining his slow and unsteady walk down a ramp and two-handed sip of water last weekend at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point." Here's a portion of Trump's reconstruction of his harrowing afternoon at West Point: ~~~

~~~ Washington Post live updates are here. "In a speech lasting nearly two hours -- filled with grievances, falsehoods and misleading claims -- Trump said that because more testing means higher numbers of known coronavirus cases, his direction was to curtail it. 'So I said to my people, "Slow the testing down,"' he said. A White House official said later the president was 'obviously kidding,' but he has previously expressed skepticism about testing, which public health experts say is required to contain the outbreak." ~~~

"A Tulsa mayoral aide resigned Saturday in response to the city's handling of the president's campaign rally. Jack Graham said the decision has been building since the pandemic began, but the lack of enforcement of CDC guidelines at the presidential rally was the last straw.... Graham told the Post...., '... I started becoming unsupportive [of the mayor] when people kind of just passed the baton along and didn't want to make a firm decision to adhere to the CDC guidelines or social distancing that any other event like this should deal with,' he said. 'Someone told me the basic test for anything is: Are people going to die? In this case, people are going to die.'" ~~~

~~~ The New York Times' live updates of Trump's Tulsa rally are here. "Inside the arena..., most of the attendees were not wearing masks or social distancing. But the bigger concern for Mr. Trump was that as the rally started the arena appeared only a little more than half full. Campaign advisers, who had hyped a mega-rally that would help undercut polls that show Mr. Trump's support sagging nationwide, claimed that their supporters had trouble entering the arena, and blamed 'radical' protesters and the media. 'Sadly, protestors interfered with supporters, even blocking access to the metal detectors, which prevented people from entering the rally,' said Tim Murtaugh, the campaign communications director. 'Radical protestors, coupled with a relentless onslaught from the media, attempted to frighten off the President's supporters. We are proud of the thousands who stuck it out.' But in reality, there were few protests across the city, and black leaders in Tulsa called for people to stay away from the rally. There was also a huge security presence around the arena." ~~~

~~~ A Politico story is here.

Donald Judd of CNN: "The Trump campaign confirmed six staffers working on the Tulsa rally tested positive for coronavirus." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Kaelan Deese of the Hill: "The Trump Death Clock truck moved in to join the camaraderie in Tulsa, Okla. ahead of President Trump's rally there Saturday evening. The truck displays digital statistics on three different faces of the vehicle, delivering a real-time tracker of alleged needless American deaths due to Trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic, The Guardian reported. The mobilized death clock is strategically placed outside of the Bank of Oklahoma (BOK) Center, where Trump's rally is scheduled for at 7 p.m. CT Saturday. Eugene Jarecki, an award-winning filmmaker, is the administer behind the clock, and said the truck's presence in Tulsa is a public service. 'We want everyone who attends Trump's rally to have an opportunity to make an informed choice based on real numbers,' Jarecki said. The display uses information pulled from the Trump Death Clock webpage, which claims, 'Experts estimate that, had mitigation measures been implemented one week earlier, 60% of American COVID-19 deaths would have been avoided.' The tracker currently suggests around 71,700 American deaths could have been avoided had the administration acted sooner in response to the pandemic." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Michelle Lee of the Washington Post: "... Joe Biden outraised President Trump in May for the first time, outpacing Trump by nearly $7 million as he ramped up his high-dollar fundraising capacity, new figures show. But Trump's reelection committees maintain a significant war chest, entering June with $265 million of cash on hand, according to his campaign. Biden's campaign has not yet released its cash-on-hand figure, but his committees had about $105 million at the end of April, according to filings."

Alan Feuer, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump on Saturday personally fired the United States Attorney in Manhattan, Geoffrey S. Berman, whose office has pursued one case after another that has rankled the president and his allies, putting his former personal lawyer in prison and investigating his current one.It was the culmination of an extraordinary clash after years of tension between the White House and New York federal prosecutors. In a letter released by the Justice Department, Attorney General William P. Barr accused of Mr. Berman of choosing 'public spectacle over public service' because he would not voluntarily step down from the position. 'Because you have declared that you have no intention of resigning, I have asked the President to remove you as of today, and he has done so,' the letter read. Mr. Barr said Mr. Berman's top deputy, Audrey Strauss, would become the acting United States Attorney.... Speaking briefly to reporters outside the White House before heading to a campaign rally in Tulsa, Okla., Mr. Trump appeared to try to distance himself from the firing.Mr. Trump insisted that he was 'not involved,' despite Mr. Barr's letter, which made clear that Mr. Trump had dismissed Mr. Barr.... In a statement released Saturday evening, Mr. Berman said he would step down immediately in light of Mr. Barr's 'decision to respect the normal operation of law' in replacing him with Ms. Strauss." Emphasis added. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Betsy Swan, et al., of Politico: "Geoffrey Berman ... is ending his standoff with Attorney General William Barr, stepping down voluntarily after Barr reversed course and named Berman's deputy to lead the powerful U. S. attorney's office. 'In light of Attorney General Barr's decision to respect the normal operation of law and have Deputy U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss become Acting U.S. Attorney, I will be leaving the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, effective immediately,' Berman said in a statement, following a tense 12-hour-period in which Barr twice sought to remove Berman, only to see his efforts frustrated.... Barr, who hasn't explained why he issued a false initial statement about the circumstances of Berman's departure, then accused Berman of creating a 'public spectacle' and said he had gotten Trump's authorization to fire him.... Barr's drive to oust Berman hit [another] speed bump Saturday when Trump told reporters he was 'not involved' in Barr's handling of the matter. The episode has prompted the House Judiciary Committee to open an investigation, with the explicit backing of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who suggested Barr's involvement had 'base and improper motives.'"

~~~ Harry Siegel & others of the Daily Beast have a good post on this fiasco titled, "Berman Leaves SDNY in Trusted Hands After Bill Barr Fucks Up His Ouster." ~~~

~~~ Renae Merle of the Washington Post: "President Trump's pick to be the next U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, is the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and a longtime corporate lawyer with deep connections to Wall Street. But he has no experience as a federal prosecutor. On his 2017 SEC financial disclosure form, for example, Clayton listed Deutsche Bank as a source of compensation 'exceeding $5,000.... The German bank has repeatedly run afoul of federal and state laws and was implicated in large money laundering schemes. It is also at the center of a battle between the Trump administration and House Democrats over the release of the president's financial records. The bank has played critical role in Trump's real estate business, lending him more than $360 million since 2012.

"Clayton is facing an uphill battle to win Senate confirmation. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) has already called on Clayton to drop out. 'Jay Clayton can allow himself to be used in the brazen Trump-Barr scheme to interfere in investigations by the U.S. Attorney for SDNY, or he can stand up to this corruption, withdraw his name from consideration, and save his own reputation from overnight ruin,' Schumer said on Twitter. Schumer also called on the Justice Department's inspector general as well as its office of professional responsibility to investigate why Trump and Barr dismissed Berman. Meanwhile, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said Saturday that he would not move forward on confirmation hearings for Clayton unless the appointment is supported by New York's two U.S. senators, Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)." Mrs. McC: I do wonder what got into Lindsey. ~~~

~~~ Manu Raju, et al., of CNN: "Attorney General Bill Barr's effort to push out one of the most powerful prosecutors in the country ran into headwinds Saturday, with Republicans signaling little appetite to fight to confirm a new US attorney amid Democratic accusations that the move was an effort to shield ... Donald Trump's associates from federal investigation. Republicans on Capitol Hill were blindsided by the late Friday night effort by Barr to seek the ouster of Geoffrey Berman, whose office at the Southern District of New York was investigating Trump confidante Rudy Giuliani and other sensitive matters." Mrs. McC: Maybe Lindsey is just pissed off that Barr didn't tell him he was planning to fire Berman. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: And don't kid yourself. Firing Berman & replacing him with a lawyer for the miscreants at Deutsche Bank isn't about Rudy, Lev & Igor. It's about SDNY investigations into Trump's finances. Full stop. Trump's pretense that he was "not involved" in Berman's firing is as true as his assertion that he had no idea why Michael Cohen had paid Stormy Daniels $130K.

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "... John R. Bolton can go forward with the publication of his memoir, a federal judge ruled on Saturday, rejecting the administration's request for an order that he try to pull the book back and saying it was too late for such an order to succeed. 'With hundreds of thousands of copies around the globe -- many in newsrooms -- the damage is done. There is no restoring the status quo,' wrote Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the Federal District Court of the District of Columbia. But in a 10-page opinion, Judge Lamberth also suggested that Mr. Bolton may be in jeopardy of forfeiting his $2 million advance, as the Justice Department has separately requested -- and that he could be prosecuted for allowing the book to be published before receiving final notice that a prepublication review to scrub out classified information was complete.... The judge wrote that after viewing classified declarations and discussing them in the closed hearing, he was 'persuaded that defendant Bolton likely jeopardized national security by disclosing classified information in violation of his nondisclosure agreement obligations.'... Judge Lamberth will also oversee the part of the lawsuit that seeks to seize Mr. Bolton's proceeds...." Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: On the other hand, Bigmouth Donald may have hurt the so-called "Justice" Department's case for clawing back Bolton's profits. As Savage notes, "Mr. Trump has accused Mr. Bolton of lying -- and false information is not classified." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Fortunately, Donald Trump accepted the ruling in a mature & circumspect manner: ~~~

~~~ Tax Axelrod of the Hill: "President Trump touted a judge's ruling on former national security adviser John Bolton's memoir that allowed the book to proceed with publishing but panned its author as possibly threatening the nation. 'BIG COURT WIN against Bolton. Obviously, with the book already given out and leaked to many people and the media, nothing the highly respected Judge could have done about stopping it...BUT, strong & powerful statements & rulings on MONEY & on BREAKING CLASSIFICATION were made,' Trump tweeted. 'Bolton broke the law and has been called out and rebuked for so doing, with a really big price to pay. He likes dropping bombs on people, and killing them. Now he will have bombs dropped on him!'" Mrs. McC: You may find it odd to characterize a loss as a win, but you're not Donald Trump. And you probably don't have a phalanx of obsequious aides telling you, "You won, Sir. You won!" (Also linked yesterday.)

The Washington Post's live updates for coronavirus developments Saturday are here. "New daily coronavirus cases in the United States on Friday exceeded 30,000 for the first time in seven weeks as states in the South and West continued to report alarming spikes in new infections.... The last time new daily cases in the United States topped 30,000 was on May 1...." The New York Times' live updates for Saturday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)