The Commentariat -- July 5, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Morgan Chalfont of the Hill: "President Trump told reporters on Friday that he is considering an executive order to ensure a citizenship question is included on the U.S. census. Trump told reporters on the White House lawn that he has four or five options and is 'thinking of' the executive order. He also said his administration could begin printing the 2020 census and later include the question as part of an addendum." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: In another Trumpian open-mouth-insert-foot moment, according to Peter Baker of the NYT in a live report on MSNBC, Trump said he wanted the citizenship question on the Census in order to apportion Congressional representation. That's a new argument in the case, though not one that we haven't heard from Republicans in the past. U.S. population always has been measured by number of residents, not number of citizens, for the purpose of apportioning Congressional seats. If seats were allotted by number of citizens, rather than number of residents, urban areas would lose big -- and that's something Republicans want. Since judges have considered Trump's statements & tweets in making their decisions (including in a Census case last week), Trump's admission that he wants to change the basis for Congressional representation should matter. I'll look for some print reporting on this. Update: There's this:

Trump says citizenship has to be asked on the census to determine congressional districts. Actually, districts are drawn up based on total population, not the number of citizens, a practice upheld by the Supreme Court as recently as 2016. -- Peter Baker of the New York Times, in a tweet ...

... Update 2: Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "In a court filing Friday, lawyers for the Justice Department confirmed that both DOJ and the Commerce Department were still weighing 'whether the Supreme Court's decision would allow for a new decision to include the citizenship question.' The filing reiterated what the lawyers told U.S. District Court Judge George Hazel Wednesday, after the president contradicted the government's earlier assertion that it would drop efforts to include the question on next year's survey." ...

     ... Ari Berman of Mother Jones: "In response, Maryland federal district court judge George Hazel said he was weighing whether to reopen a case looking at whether the administration added the question to intentionally discriminate against Hispanics, based on smoking-gun evidence, uncovered after the death of the GOP's longtime gerrymandering mastermind, Thomas Hofeller, showing that he had pushed for the question in order to draw new political districts that he said would be 'advantageous to Republicans and Non-Hispanic Whites.'... Notably, the president has never mentioned a desire to enforce the Voting Rights Act -- the administration's principal, and now rejected, rationale for adding the question -- in his numerous tweets and public comments about the issue. In fact, on Friday morning, Trump told reporters that the 'number one' reason the question was needed was 'for Congress for districting,' which suggested that Republicans, if allowed to collect citizenship data, would use it to exclude non-citizens from counting toward voting district populations, as Hofeller had advised -- a step which would again boost representation for white Republicans."

Trump's "Somewhat Soviet" Speech. Tom Nichols of the New York Daily News: "Let's get an obvious point about President Trump's Independence Day speech out of the way right at the top. It was a bad speech.... Perhaps this was unavoidable, since it was never meant to salute America, but rather to provide the military display Trump has wanted for two years. Like any enforced celebration, it was flat and labored.... It would have been a challenging speech to deliver even for a better speaker, and Trump, who hates reading from prepared remarks, plodded through it with a strangely detached presence and a certain amount of mushy enunciation, including a weird blip* where he referred to the glorious military capture of some airports in colonial America.... Not only did it attempt to militarize our most sacred national holiday, but Trump tried to bathe himself in borrowed legitimacy from a military that was forced to march, sing and fly for him.... Mining the glories of past military battles while flanked by defense chiefs is the kind of thing Soviet leaders used to do while droning from their reviewing stand in Moscow." ...

     ... * Someone Left the Teleprompter out in the Rain. BBC News: "Explaining away the slip-up on Friday, Mr Trump also said it was hard to read the teleprompter in the rain.... 'I knew the speech very well so I was able to do it without a teleprompter but the teleprompter did go out and it was actually hard to look at anyway because there was rain all over it but despite the rain it was just a fantastic evening.'... Twitter users had some fun with the garble, using the hashtag #RevolutionaryWarAirports." Mrs. McC: This is an awfully strange excuse, inasmuch as Trump used to regularly criticize both President Obama & Hillary Clinton for using teleprompters.

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Tyrant in the Rain.Michael Shear of the New York Times: "In a made-for-television Independence Day production starring America's military weaponry, President Trump on Thursday used the Lincoln Memorial as the backdrop for a homage to the country's armed forces and a call for unity that has been largely absent during his divisive presidency. Flanked by Bradley armored vehicles and M1A2 tanks in front of the statue of Abraham Lincoln, Mr. Trump paid tribute to the five branches of the military as a chorus sang each service hymn and he cued the arrival of fighter jets and other military aircraft roaring by in the skies overhead.... [Trump] avoided any of his usual attacks on the news media, Democrats or his intelligence agencies." Also, it rained. ...

... David Smith of the Guardian: "The US president's unique interpretation of the declaration of independence was on full display on Thursday when he staged a militaristic, jingoistic and untraditional jamboree at the Lincoln memorial in Washington to celebrate the Fourth of July.... In a speech that lasted 47 minutes, Trump laboured over a heroic version of American military history..., summoned military leaders to the podium, paid tribute to gold star families and at one point referenced his proposed space force. The president sailed close to one of his campaign lines when he claimed, 'our nation is stronger than it ever was before', but otherwise swerved past party politics for once.... But in a city that projects power through monuments, statues and its own Capitol, critics said it was the moment Trump went full Roman emperor, turning a traditionally nonpartisan day of events into a vanity project. Some observers have been tempted to see the military pomp not as a show of strength, but of weakness -- a harbinger of imperial decline." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I saw less than 30 seconds of Trump's speech, but I could tell his was on script because he was using that sing-songy cadence he employs to signal he's reading somebody else's words off a teleprompter.

Kate Lyons of the Guardian: "Donald Trump made an awkward blunder during his speech on Independence Day, praising the army, which he said 'took over the airports' from the British during the revolutionary war in the late 1700s.... [A]ir travel did not occur in the US until early in the 1900s.... However this was not the only historical confusion in this section of Trump's speech. As astute listeners picked out, the battle of Fort McHenry occurred during the war of 1812, and not the American revolutionary war which took place several decades earlier." --s ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I looked at Trump's remarks in context, & I think the stuff about the airports & Fort McHenry was supposed to convey events that occurred after the American Revolution, although the speechwriter does throw in airports & "manning the air" before s/he gets to Fort McHenry's defense of Baltimore Harbor in 1812, which doesn't make a lot of sense. The whole speech was garbled, jumping from one historical event to another with no clear connections. Trump, of course, was oblivious to it all.

Quid Pro Quo. Devin Dwyer & Stephanie Ebbs of ABC News: "President Donald Trump's Fourth of July celebration will feature $750,000 of donated fireworks from an Ohio retailer who has lobbied the White House against expanded tariffs on Chinese imports. And last week, the same day the donation was announced, the company -- Phantom Fireworks of Youngstown, Ohio -- got what it wanted: Trump decided to hold off on his threatened $300 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods, which include fireworks." --s (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Steve M.: "It looks like bribery because it is bribery. Remember, the Constitution doesn't limit the reasons for impeachment to 'high Crimes and Misdemeanors' -- the full phrase is 'Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.'... If I were Tom Steyer, I would stop running ads full of people simply demanding impeachment. I'd commission ads that succinctly summarize every obstruction allegation in the Mueller report -- maybe one ad for each allegation."

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times gives an online quiz of the questions which applicants for U.S. citizenship most often get wrong. Mrs. McC: I got them all right, but if I had not lived here all my life & gone to school here, I certainly would have missed some, as a few are not things that would have registered even if I'd read a couple of U.S. history books. (Also linked yesterday.)

Trump Administration Thinks of Another Way to Harass Undocumented Immigrants. Elizabeth Dias of the New York Times: "Citing the Immigration and Nationality Act, ICE officials said the agency has the right to impose civil fines, up to $799 a day, on undocumented immigrants who have been ordered removed, or who have failed to leave the country. Officials said the agency began issuing such notices in December, though it was not clear on Thursday how many had been sent.... President Trump ... signed an executive order shortly after his inauguration that called on the Department of Homeland Security to collect all fines and penalties from anyone who had entered the country illegally...." Edith Espinal, who has been living in a church in Ohio, received a bill for $497,777 last week. Hilda Ramirez Mendez, living in a church in Texas, received notice she would be fined $303,620.would be fined $303,620.

Your Constitutional Crisis of the Day: Trump Considers Blowing off Supreme Court. Jonathan Swan & Mike Allen of Axios: "President Trump is considering an executive order to try to move forward with a citizenship question on the 2020 census.... But there is considerable skepticism within the administration that an executive order would succeed.... Trump's insistence on pushing ahead with the question, potentially without doing the legwork the Supreme Court called for, reflects his expansive view of executive power. A source familiar with some of the administration's internal deliberations said: 'I think that there's a good argument to be made that even though the president may lose in litigation at the end of the day, going through that process ultimately makes it clear that it's the chief justice, and not the Executive Branch, that bears responsibility for that unfortunate outcome.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Rick Hasen publishes a chunk of the Washington Post's story on DOJ lawyers' attempts to come up with a new pretext for adding the citizenship question to the Census. Here's a piece of that piece: "Before Trump's tweets plunged their week into chaos, Justice officials thought the president understood how few legal options remained, according to people familiar with he matter. They had earlier told the White House that the case was a dead-end and that pursuing it would be a waste of time. Those people said that Attorney General William P. Barr had talked to Trump and had tried to explain his limited options after the Supreme Court's ruling." Mrs. McC: Like "explaining" to a cranky toddler why he can't have a cookie.

Emily Holden of the Guardian: "Donald Trump plans to go on the offensive against criticism of his industry-friendly rollbacks of environment protections in a speech on Monday, according to three sources familiar with the plans. Trump will tout America's clean air and water, although his administration has advanced many efforts that experts say have undercut the country's environmental record.... He is not expected to make any major announcements of new policy initiatives. Yet in an off-the-record conference call on Wednesday, the White House reached out to key supporting groups requesting they spread the message that the US under Trump continues to be an environmental leader." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Kathy Gannon of the AP: "Taliban and U.S. negotiators are scrambling to finalize a draft agreement that will outline the withdrawal of American and NATO troops from Afghanistan and a verifiable Taliban guarantee to fight terrorism ahead of an all-Afghan peace conference Sunday. Officials familiar with the talks, but not authorized to speak about them, say negotiations went late into the night on Wednesday and throughout Thursday -- the sixth day of direct talks between the insurgents and U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad. They were to resume again on Friday."

Presidential Race 2020

Jonathan Martin & Katie Glueck of the New York Times report on Joe Biden & Kamala Harris campaigning in Iowa on Independence Day.

Julia Manchester of the Hill: "Democratic presidential hopefuls will be criss-crossing Iowa and New Hampshire on Thursday, using a series of appearances at Independence Day events to try to inject momentum for their campaigns in a highly volatile race." (Also linked yesterday.)

Julia Kollewe of the Guardian: "Nearly half of all global pay is scooped up by just 10% of workers, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO), while the lowest-paid 50% receive just 6.4%. The lowest 20% -- around 650 million workers -- get less than 1% of total pay, a figure that has barely moved in 13 years, the ILO analysis found. It used labour income figures from 2004 to 2017, the latest available data. A worker in the top 10% receives $7,445 a month (£5,866), while a worker in the bottom 10% gets just $22." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Damian Carrington of the Guardian: "Planting billions of trees across the world is by far the biggest and cheapest way to tackle the climate crisis, according to scientists, who have made the first calculation of how many more trees could be planted without encroaching on crop land or urban areas.... New research estimates that a worldwide planting programme could remove two-thirds of all the emissions that have been pumped into the atmosphere by human activities, a figure the scientists describe as 'mind-blowing'.... [T]he forest restoration envisaged would take 50-100 years to have its full effect of removing 200bn tonnes of carbon." --s

Beyond the Beltway

Georgia. Pema Levy of Mother Jones: "Georgia has been requiring Puerto Rican natives seeking Georgia driver's licenses to answer a special set of questions such as identifying 'what a meat filled with plantain fritter' is called; where a specific beach is located; and 'the name of the frog [that is] native only to PR,' according to a lawsuit filed this week." --s ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Read the whole story. I guess we have to give Georgia Republicans the prize for "Most Original Form of Voter Suppression," even if the effort doesn't pass the laugh test.

Pennsylvania. Akela Lacy of The Intercept: "The state of Pennsylvania is on the cusp of approving a major piece of voter suppression legislation ahead of the 2020 election, despite a Democrat serving as governor. The bill, passed largely along party lines with nearly universal opposition from Democrats in the state legislature, is on the governor's desk. If signed into law, it would ban what's known as 'straight-ticket' voting, which allows a voter to cast a ballot for all Democrats, or all Republicans, at once.... [B]anning straight-ticket voting would mean much longer lines at the polls, as each voter needs more time behind the curtain. Studies have shown the longer lines depress Democrat turnout significantly.... In late 2015, Republicans succeeded in banning straight-ticket voting in Michigan, spurring litigation that lasted for a couple of years.... Donald Trump carried Michigan by 10,700 votes and Pennsylvania by 44,000 in 2016, meaning a swing of just a percentage point could be the difference between Trump's reelection and his defeat." --s

Way Beyond

Brazil. Reuters: "Deforestation in Brazil's portion of the Amazon rainforest rose more than 88% in June compared with the same month a year ago, the second consecutive month of rising forest destruction under the rightwing president Jair Bolsonaro.... While the final text of [a newly created] EU-Mercosur deal has not been released, an outline from the EU states the agreement includes a provision that the Paris agreement on climate change must by effectively implemented along with other commitments to fight deforestation. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, had warned last week before agreement on the deal that he would not sign off on it if Brazil leaves the Paris accord." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

China. Christy Choi of the Guardian: "China is reportedly separating Muslim children from their families, religion and language, and is engaged in a rapid, large-scale campaign to build boarding schools for them. The attempts to 'remove children from their roots' exists in parallel to Beijing's ongoing detention of an estimated 1 million Uighur adults from the western Xinjiang region in camps and sweeping crackdown on the rights of the minority group, the BBC reported." --s

News Ledes

New York Times: :Employers added 224,000 jobs in June, the Labor Department reported on Friday. Economists had expected a gain of about 170,000. The unemployment rate was 3.7 percent, up from 3.6 percent in May.Average earnings rose 6 cents an hour from May, and are up 3.1 percent over the past year.... The job market roared back to life last month, shaking off a spring slowdown and easing fears that the record-setting economic expansion could be running out of steam. The rebound from May's disappointing figure was stronger than economists had predicted, suggesting that trade tensions and cooling global growth have done little to sap the job market's fundamental strength."

CNN: "Alaska's heat wave continued through Independence Day, and in Anchorage, the temperatures shattered an all-time record. The temperature at the airport was 90 degrees Thursday, besting June 14, 1969, for the highest mark ever recorded in the city, according to the National Weather Service. Last month was the warmest June on record, with an average temperature of 60.5 degrees -- 5.3 above average, according to the National Weather Service Anchorage, whose records for this location date to 1954 (66 total Junes). June marks the 16th consecutive month in which average temperatures ranged above normal. 'All 30 days in June had above average temperatures, the service noted."

The Commentariat -- July 4, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times gives an online quiz of the questions which applicants for U.S. citizenship most often get wrong. Mrs. McC: I got them all right, but if I had not lived here all my life & gone to school here, I certainly would have missed some, as a few are not things that would have registered even if I'd read a couple of U.S. history books.

Your Constitutional Crisis of the Day: Trump Considers Blowing off Supreme Court. Jonathan Swan & Mike Allen of Axios: "President Trump is considering an executive order to try to move forward with a citizenship question on the 2020 census.... But there is considerable skepticism within the administration that an executive order would succeed.... Trump's insistence on pushing ahead with the question, potentially without doing the legwork the Supreme Court called for, reflects his expansive view of executive power. A source familiar with some of the administration's internal deliberations said: 'I think that there's a good argument to be made that even though the president may lose in litigation at the end of the day, going through that process ultimately makes it clear that it's the chief justice, and not the Executive Branch, that bears responsibility for that unfortunate outcome.'"

Quid Pro Quo. Devin Dwyer & Stephanie Ebbs of ABC News: "President Donald Trump's Fourth of July celebration will feature $750,000 of donated fireworks from an Ohio retailer who has lobbied the White House against expanded tariffs on Chinese imports. And last week, the same day the donation was announced, the company -- Phantom Fireworks of Youngstown, Ohio -- got what it wanted: Trump decided to hold off on his threatened $300 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods, which include fireworks." --s

Emily Holden of the Guardian: "Donald Trump plans to go on the offensive against criticism of his industry-friendly rollbacks of environment protections in a speech on Monday, according to three sources familiar with the plans. Trump will tout America's clean air and water, although his administration has advanced many efforts that experts say have undercut the country's environmental record.... He is not expected to make any major announcements of new policy initiatives. Yet in an off-the-record conference call on Wednesday, the White House reached out to key supporting groups requesting they spread the message that the US under Trump continues to be an environmental leader." --s

Presidential Race 2020. Julia Manchester of the Hill: "Democratic presidential hopefuls will be criss-crossing Iowa and New Hampshire on Thursday, using a series of appearances at Independence Day events to try to inject momentum for their campaigns in a highly volatile race."

Julia Kollewe of the Guardian: "Nearly half of all global pay is scooped up by just 10% of workers, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO), while the lowest-paid 50% receive just 6.4%. The lowest 20% -- around 650 million workers -- get less than 1% of total pay, a figure that has barely moved in 13 years, the ILO analysis found. It used labour income figures from 2004 to 2017, the latest available data. A worker in the top 10% receives $7,445 a month (£5,866), while a worker in the bottom 10% gets just $22." --s

Reuters: "Deforestation in Brazil's portion of the Amazon rainforest rose more than 88% in June compared with the same month a year ago, the second consecutive month of rising forest destruction under the rightwing president Jair Bolsonaro.... While the final text of [a newly created] EU-Mercosur deal has not been released, an outline from the EU states the agreement includes a provision that the Paris agreement on climate change must be effectively implemented along with other commitments to fight deforestation. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, had warned last week before agreement on the deal that he would not sign off on it if Brazil leaves the Paris accord." --s

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Everything Is Now Officially Upside-Down & Crazy

President* Dismisses IG Report & Photo Proofs

** Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Wednesday came to the defense of border agents and scoffed at Democratic lawmakers' furor after an internal watchdog report found detained migrants are living in dismal conditions in federal detention facilities. In a series of tweets, Trump credited Border Patrol with doing a 'great job' and going 'above and beyond.' He blamed Democrats and existing immigration laws for ongoing issues at the border. He further claimed that many immigrants detained in the overcrowded facilities are 'living far better now than where they came from, and in far safer conditions.' 'No matter how good things actually look, even if perfect, the Democrat visitors will act shocked & aghast at how terrible things are. Just Pols,' Trump tweeted. 'If they really want to fix them, change the Immigration Laws and Loopholes. So easy to do!'... A short time later on Wednesday, Trump added: 'If Illegal Immigrants are unhappy with the conditions in the quickly built or refitted detentions centers, just tell them not to come. All problems solved!'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: That final tweet is proof that Trump favors the deplorable conditions to which he has subjected immigrants, including children, as means of deterrence.

Oh, They Knew. Ted Hesson & Cristiano Lima of Politico: "Customs and Border Protection officials have been aware for up to three years that a secret Facebook group for current and former Border Patrol agents was posting offensive messages -- far longer than previously reported. Border Patrol leadership knew about photos posted to the group as far back as 2016, when agents reported them, according to a current Homeland Security official. The images -- several of which were provided to Politico -- show agents engaging in conduct that includes simulating sex acts and taking selfies while defecating.... Neither official knew of any serious punishment ever leveled at members of the Facebook group.... [After ProPublica reported on the site & some of its comments this week,] top Homeland Security Department officials, including acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan and Border Patrol Chief Carla Provost denounced those posts ... and pledged to hold any culpable agents accountable."

Judges Don't Buy Fake National Emergency. Elliot Spagat of the AP: "An appeals court on Wednesday upheld a freeze on Pentagon money to build a border wall with Mexico, casting doubt on ... Donald Trump's ability to make good on a signature campaign promise before the 2020 election. A divided three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco agreed with a lower court ruling that prevented the government from tapping Defense Department counterdrug money to build high-priority sections of wall in Arizona, California and New Mexico.... 'As for the public interest, we conclude that it is best served by respecting the Constitution's assignment of the power of the purse to Congress, and by deferring to Congress's understanding of the public interest as reflected in its repeated denial of more funding for border barrier construction,' wrote Judges Michelle Friedland, a Barack Obama appointee, and Richard Clifton, a George W. Bush appointee. The decision is a setback for Trump’s ambitious plans. He ended a 35-day government shutdown in February after Congress gave him far less than he wanted. He then declared a national emergency that the White House said would free billions of dollars from the Pentagon.... The administration immediately appealed."

Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill: "The White House on Wednesday condemned a federal judge in Seattle who blocked an order from the administration allowing for the indefinite detention of some asylum-seekers, claiming that the ruling 'is at war with the rule of law.' White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham claimed in a statement that the ruling, which she characterized as being issued by 'a single, unelected district judge,' will only motivate 'smugglers and traffickers, which will lead to the further overwhelming of our immigration system by illegal aliens.'"

Government by Insane Tweet

Alan Rappeport, et al., of the New York Times: "A day after pledging that the 2020 census would not ask respondents about their citizenship, the Justice Department reversed course on Wednesday and said it was hunting for a way to restore the question on orders from President Trump. Officials told a federal judge in Maryland that they thought there would be a way to still add the question, despite printing deadlines, and that they would ask the Supreme Court to send the case to district court with instructions to remedy the situation. President Trump had been frustrated with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for mishandling the White House's effort to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, according to an administration official, and said on Wednesday that he was 'absolutely moving forward' with plans to add it despite a Supreme Court decision last week rejecting the move.... On Tuesday, the Justice Department said that the census forms were being printed without the citizenship question and Mr. Ross said that he was heeding the court's ruling. But the president ... is not letting the matter go. 'The News Reports about the Department of Commerce dropping its quest to put the Citizenship Question on the Census is incorrect or, to state it differently, FAKE!' Mr. Trump wrote Wednesday on Twitter." (This is an update of a story linked yesterday afternoon.)

David Graham of the Atlantic recounts the phone conference call among federal judge George Hazel, who is overseeing the Maryland census case & DOJ lawyers. The full transcript of the call is here. Chris Hayes' opening segment on this was good, & I'll try to get up a video when MSNBC makes one available.

President* Hijacks Popular National Holiday

A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. -- Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

Nancy Cook of Politico: "... White House officials and allies are wringing their hands over the risk of the hastily arranged event morphing into Trump's Inauguration 2.0, in which the size of the crowd and the ensuing media coverage do not meet the president's own outsized expectations for the event. 'They started this too late and everyone has plans already,' said Dan Eberhart, a Republican donor.... Less than 36 hours before the event, White House aides were crafting Trump's speech, while administration and RNC officials finalized the guest lists. A White House official declined to explain the system for handing out tickets or the various tiers of VIP access, except to say the reserved seating area -- extending from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to the middle the reflecting pool -- will feature veterans, Trump family and friends and special guests. The first lady, vice president and second lady, and a number of Cabinet officials are expected to attend, as well as several senior White House officials -- though the aide stressed this, too, was still coming together."

Put troops out there so we can thank them — leave tanks for Red Square. -- Gen. Anthony Zinni, Ret. four-star Marine general and former head of CentCom ...

... Thomas Gibbons-Neff, et al., of the New York Times: "... some retired and active-duty military officers, and, privately, even some Defense Department personnel said the participation of the military in President Trump's 'Salute to America' appears to politicize the armed forces on a day when the nation traditionally toasts its independence in a nonpartisan environment.... The festivities have put the Pentagon in a bind in trying to both follow orders from the commander in chief while also trying to sidestep the inevitable accusation that Mr. Trump is being allowed to politicize the military.... Two Defense Department officials said the vision for a relatively small contribution from the military was greatly expanded over the past two weeks.... Originally, 1,000 troops were supposed to participate in the event, but that number was whittled down to 300 -- including about a dozen who were ordered to build a platform for the tanks to keep from damaging the ground beneath...." ...

... Wesley Morgan of Politico: "Most top military chiefs [are] skipping Trump's July Fourth fest.... The only service chief in attendance will be Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz. Instead of their top officers, the Navy, Air Force, Army and Marine Corps are sending a group of their next tier of leaders...."

Elizabeth Thomas & Luis Martinez of ABC News: "Amid growing questions about the added cost to taxpayers for his July Fourth 'Salute to America' event on the National Mall that will include tanks and military flyovers..., Donald Trump tweeted on Wednesday that the added expense will be worth it. 'The cost of our great Salute to America tomorrow will be very little compared to what it is worth. We own the planes, we have the pilots, the airport is right next door (Andrews), all we need is the fuel. We own the tanks and all. Fireworks are donated by two of the greats,' Trump tweeted.... While the Pentagon and other agencies involved so far have declined to give specifics on how much the military's participation and other added factors will cost taxpayers, the Washington Post reported that the National Park Service is using nearly $2.5 million in park entrance fees to help pay the cost, funds that would have been used to do repairs on the nation's parks. The NPS and Interior Department have acknowledged costs will be higher than in previous years in part because of the added security when the president attends an event."

Niv Elis of the Hill: "Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees Interior Department spending, threatened on Wednesday to investigate the reported use of National Park Service entrance fees to finance President Trump's July 4th celebration on the National Mall. 'Mr. Trump's event is on federal grounds. The National Mall belongs to all of us. I'm prepared to use my full oversight authority as Chair of the Interior-Environment Appropriations Committee to determine how this decision was made and hold the responsible parties accountable,' McCollum said in a statement. 'This administration needs to be reminded that the power of the purse belongs to Congress.'... The Interior Department is reportedly diverting $2.5 million from National Park Service entrance fees to help pay for the event." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... ** Lili Loufbourow of Slate: "By inserting himself (and military tanks, over the military's objections) into the event, and by conflating a celebration of American independence with a celebration of himself, Trump is trying to twist one of the few nonpartisan spectacles this country has left into an endorsement of the ugly policies he stands for, which includes 'border security' so brutal, inhumane, and ineffective that people are dying in American custody." ...

... Rex Huppke of the Chicago Tribune: "Greetings, fellow Americans* (*designation of 'Americans' does not apply to critics of President Donald J. Trump) and WELCOME to President Donald J. Trump's 'Salute to America' celebration of the Fourth of July and of President Donald J. Trump." Huppke goes on in this vein. For instance: "There will be, as the president promised, 'the brand-new Sherman tanks' on display in the Definitely-Not-Overcompensating-for-Something Dome of Manliness. (Don't believe the LYING MEDIA claims that Sherman tanks were last used in the 1950s. These Sherman tanks will be new, and they will be MAGNIFICENT!)" Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

Mrs. McCrabbie: I celebrated Independence Day early when I attended (and participated in) a reading of "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?", Frederick Douglass's 1852 speech delivered in Rochester, New York. The performance was, to my surprise, a standing-room only event in our small-town hall, proving that Donald Trump was right, after all, when he said two years ago, "Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who's done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice." Some things are still good. Even now.

Mrs. McCrabbie: You know how mike pence had to abort his scheduled trip to New Hampshire to rush back to the White House & nobody will tell us why? (See yesterday's Commentariat.) I personally suspect -- and I emphasize here that I have absolutely no evidence this is true -- that Trump was so wigged out that officials thought pence might have to come back to take over the presidency until Trump got his bearings again. Evidently by the time mike got back from Andrews, Trump had calmed down or was otherwise back to "normal." I really believe the POTUS* is insane, and sooner or later the cover-up experts will be out of tricks.

Corruption as Usual

Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "The Justice Department's top watchdog will review why the F.B.I. scuttled plans to erect a new headquarters in suburban Washington and instead chose to replace the J. Edgar Hoover Building on its current site near the White House, he wrote to lawmakers this week. The F.B.I.'s abrupt change of plans has fueled concerns among Democrats in Congress that President Trump personally intervened to make sure that the land was not redeveloped with a project that would compete with his company's nearby hotel. In May, Democrats asked the Justice Department's inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, to examine the decision.... the F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray..., has insisted that the decision to stay in Washington was his.... The inspector general for the General Services Administration, which handles real estate for the federal government, has already said that the proposal to rebuild the existing headquarters could cost hundreds of millions of dollars more than the long-term relocation plan and that the new headquarters would accommodate about 2,500 fewer employees." Emphasis added.

Paid Leave??? Meredith Lerner of CREW: "Heather Nauert, a former State Department spokesperson and President Trump's original pick to replace Nikki Haley as the United States Representative to the United Nations, reported in her termination financial disclosure report that she received salary payments from 21st Century Fox while she was working in government. Nauert was an anchor and correspondent on Fox News from August 2007 until April 2017, when she joined the State Department as a spokesperson. She reported receiving $167,000 from 21st Century Fox, which she characterized as 'Salary' ... cover[ing] the period from January 1, 2018, eight months after she entered government, to March 31, 2019, the date she left the State Department. If Nauert's termination financial disclosure report is correct, the salary payments are problematic because the White House gave her an ethics waiver that authorized her to meet, interview, and communicate with 21st Century Fox employees. The Counsel to the President explained that the basis for the waiver included a finding that she did not have a 'continuing relationship with' or 'financial interest in' the company. The State Department's ethics official gave Nauert a related ethics waiver, and he offered the same explanation." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times: "Iran will 'take the next step' on Sunday and begin to enrich uranium beyond the levels specified under its 2015 accord with the United States and other global powers, President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday, state news outlets reported. Mr. Rouhani's pledge to accelerate the country's uranium enrichment is the latest step in an escalating confrontation with the United States over President Trump's withdrawal from the nuclear pact and imposition of crippling economic sanctions on Iran." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Haley Byrd of CNN: "Rep. Justin Amash, the only congressional Republican who publicly argues that ... Donald Trump has engaged in impeachable conduct, announced Thursday he is quitting the GOP. 'Today, I am declaring my independence and leaving the Republican Party,' Amash wrote in a Washington Post op-ed Thursday morning.... Amash didn't mention the President by name, but his decision to abandon the party comes after months of escalating criticism not just of the President but of his own colleagues for their failure to hold Trump to account, specifically for the actions detailed in special counsel Robert Mueller's report on the 2016 election and its aftermath."

Presidential Race 2020. Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "Kamala Harris on Wednesday debuted a new line of attack against ... Donald Trump, saying that her background as a prosecutor made her uniquely suited to take on 'a predator' like the president. At an Iowa event, during a riff on Trump's trade and health care policies and his handling of the surge of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, the 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful ripped the president for betraying the American people."

Rebecca Klar of the Hill: "Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) is turning down a Harvard research fellowship amid public backlash over the university choosing the governor, who was widely criticized for his handling of the Flint, Mich., water crisis. Snyder tweeted Wednesday that he notified the Harvard Kennedy School of his decision." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Bob Orgeta of CNN: "Federal prosecutors in Tucson, Arizona, said in court Tuesday that they were dropping a charge of conspiracy to transport 'illegal aliens' against humanitarian aid worker Scott Warren, but will seek to retry him on two charges of 'harboring illegal aliens.' Warren's first trial on those three charges ended in a mistrial June 11, after jurors told US District Court Judge Raner Collins they couldn't reach a verdict. Eight of the 12 jurors had favored acquitting Warren of all charges. That trial drew widespread attention over concern that it represented an effort by the Trump administration to criminalize humanitarian aid work."

New York. Jeffery Mays & Jan Ransom of the New York Times: "The Democratic primary for district attorney in Queens, a race that drew nationwide attention, was thrown deep into uncertainty on Wednesday after a count of paper ballots flipped the primary-night result. Tiffany Cabán, a 31-year-old public defender, saw her almost 1,100-vote lead evaporate, with Melinda Katz, the Queens borough president, edging out to a 20-vote lead.The tight margin will automatically trigger a recount, according to Valerie Vazquez-Diaz, a spokeswoman for the New York City Board of Elections. It also spurred accusations from Ms. Cabán's side that elections officials improperly invalidated more than 2,000 affidavit ballots before the paper ballots were counted."

Ohio. Jessie Hellmann of the Hill: "A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked an Ohio law that would have banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. The law, which bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, was signed earlier this year by Gov. Mike DeWine (R) and challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Planned Parenthood."

News Lede

AP: "The strongest earthquake in 20 years shook a large swath of Southern California and parts of Nevada on Thursday, rattling nerves on the July 4th holiday and causing injuries and damage in a town near the epicenter, followed by a swarm of ongoing aftershocks. The 6.4 magnitude quake struck at 10:33 a.m. in the Mojave Desert, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles, near the town of Ridgecrest, California. Multiple injuries and two house fires were reported in the town of 28,000. Emergency crews were also dealing with small vegetation fires, gas leaks and reports of cracked roads, Kern County Fire Chief David Witt said."

The Commentariat -- July 3, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Alan Rappeport & Michael Wines of the New York Times: "President Trump said on Wednesday that the Commerce Department is 'absolutely moving forward' with plans to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, contradicting statements made by his Department of Justice and Wilbur Ross, the Commerce secretary, and calling reports based on them 'fake.'... On Tuesday, the Justice Department said that the census was being printed without the citizenship question and Mr. Ross said that he was heeding the court's ruling. But the president is not letting the matter go. 'The News Reports about the Department of Commerce dropping its quest to put the Citizenship Question on the Census is incorrect or, to state it differently, FAKE!' Mr. Trump wrote Wednesday on Twitter. 'We are absolutely moving forward, as we must, because of the importance of the answer to this question.'"

Niv Elis of the Hill: "Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees Interior Department spending, threatened on Wednesday to investigate the reported use of National Park Service entrance fees to finance President Trump's July 4th celebration on the National Mall. 'Mr. Trump's event is on federal grounds. The National Mall belongs to all of us. I'm prepared to use my full oversight authority as Chair of the Interior-Environment Appropriations Committee to determine how this decision was made and hold the responsible parties accountable,' McCollum said in a statement. 'This administration needs to be reminded that the power of the purse belongs to Congress.'... The Interior Department is reportedly diverting $2.5 million from National Park Service entrance fees to help pay for the event." ...

Paid Leave??? Meredith Lerner of CREW: "Heather Nauert, a former State Department spokesperson and President Trump's original pick to replace Nikki Haley as the United States Representative to the United Nations, reported in her termination financial disclosure report that she received salary payments from 21st Century Fox while she was working in government. Nauert was an anchor and correspondent on Fox News from August 2007 until April 2017, when she joined the State Department as a spokesperson. She reported receiving $167,000 from 21st Century Fox, which she characterized as 'Salary' ... cover[ing] the period from January 1, 2018, eight months after she entered government, to March 31, 2019, the date she left the State Department. If Nauert's termination financial disclosure report is correct, the salary payments are problematic because the White House gave her an ethics waiver that authorized her to meet, interview, and communicate with 21st Century Fox employees. The Counsel to the President explained that the basis for the waiver included a finding that she did not have a 'continuing relationship with' or 'financial interest in' the company. The State Department's ethics official gave Nauert a related ethics waiver, and he offered the same explanation."

David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times: "Iran will 'take the next step' on Sunday and begin to enrich uranium beyond the levels specified under its 2015 accord with the United States and other global powers, President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday, state news outlets reported. Mr. Rouhani's pledge to accelerate the country's uranium enrichment is the latest step in an escalating confrontation with the United States over President Trump's withdrawal from the nuclear pact and imposition of crippling economic sanctions on Iran."

Bob Orgeta of CNN: "Federal prosecutors in Tucson, Arizona, said in court Tuesday that they were dropping a charge of conspiracy to transport 'illegal aliens' against humanitarian aid worker Scott Warren, but will seek to retry him on two charges of 'harboring illegal aliens.' Warren's first trial on those three charges ended in a mistrial June 11, after jurors told US District Court Judge Raner Collins they couldn't reach a verdict. Eight of the 12 jurors had favored acquitting Warren of all charges. That trial drew widespread attention over concern that it represented an effort by the Trump administration to criminalize humanitarian aid work."

Rebecca Klar of the Hill: "Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) is turning down a Harvard research fellowship amid public backlash over the university choosing the governor, who was widely criticized for his handling of the Flint, Mich., water crisis. Snyder tweeted Wednesday that he notified the Harvard Kennedy School of his decision."

~~~~~~~~~~

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: I thought I had misread the following headline:

"Trump Administration Drops Effort to Add Citizenship Question to 2020 Census." Michael Wines of the New York Times: "The Trump administration said Tuesday that it would be printing forms for the 2020 census without a question asking about citizenship, abandoning its quest to add the query after being blocked last week by the Supreme Court. The decision is a victory for critics who said the question was part of an administration effort to skew the census results in favor of Republicans. It was also a remarkable retreat for an administration that typically digs into such fights and refuses to give up. Just last week after the Supreme Court's decision, President Trump said he was asking his lawyers to delay the census, 'no matter how long,' in order to fight for the question in court.... Word of the action came in a one-sentence email from the Justice Department to lawyers for plaintiffs in a New York lawsuit that sought to block the question's inclusion in the head count." ...

... Jeremy Stahl of Slate: "The email comes just hours after the president told reporters he was still considering delaying the printing of the census.... Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross issued a statement registering his disappointment with the Supreme Court ruling while confirming the decision to print.... The purpose of the census, as described in the Constitution, is for a full enumeration of the entire population, and it cannot be legally used for any other purpose -- including to take action against undocumented immigrants -- so it's unclear that [Trump's argument that 'it's very important to find out if somebody is a citizen as opposed to an illegal,'] would have held up.... If the case is truly over, it would be one of the biggest legal defeats of the Trump presidency." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: My bet is that Ross cried "uncle" because he didn't want his lies/perjury to get more press exposure. ...

... Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "Does Roberts deserve credit here? He does. But also going forward this is a modest victory. As he's made clear with his voting rights decisions, Roberts is fine with Republican elected officials doing racist things, and preventing legislatures from addressing racism; he just wants Republican public officials to engage in more bad faith when doing so.... Even given the incredibly egregious set of facts, four of the Court's five Republican nominees sided fully with the Trump administration, and did so in opinions that made no effort to hide their partisanship." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: BUT, Trump says he is not giving up. After DOJ sent its e-mail to litigants & after Wilbur conceded, Trump wrote, in two tweets, "A very sad time for America when the Supreme Court of the United States won't allow a question of 'Is this person a Citizen of the United States?' to be asked on the #2020 Census! Going on for a long time. I have asked the Department of Commerce and the Department of Justice.... ....to do whatever is necessary to bring this most vital of questions, and this very important case, to a successful conclusion. USA! USA! USA!' It seems unlikely Trump will prevail even if his minions make a stab at trying. The Constitution & federal law require the census be taken every ten years, not when it better suits the president*. Of course, Bill Barr seems to think the president* is immune from Constitutional constraints, so I could be wrong.

Hamed Aleaziz of BuzzFeed News: "The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General on Tuesday released its final report on overcrowding at several border facilities in the Rio Grande Valley -- nearly a week after BuzzFeed News reported on a draft version -- revealing shocking photographs of people crammed into small detention spaces. Inspectors detailed how, when they visited several the facilities earlier this month, they found adults and minors with no access to showers. Many adults were only fed bologna sandwiches, and detainees were seen banging on cell windows -- pressing notes to the windows that detailed their time in custody. Inspectors described the conditions as 'dangerous' and 'prolonged.' Some adults were held in standing-room only conditions for a week. There was little access to hot showers or hot food for families and children in some facilities." ...

... Adolfo Flores of BuzzFeed News: "In the wake of at least five children dying in US government custody, two nurses told BuzzFeed News immigration agents have delayed taking sick children in increasingly dire condition to a hospital near the border for treatment, putting the kids at risk of potentially severe health issues. The two registered nurses, who have treated immigrant children at a hospital in the Rio Grande Valley, said young patients arriving in recent months are often in such poor health that they're 'on the borderline' of medical staff needing to call a specialized rapid response team of doctors to prevent them from going into respiratory or cardiac arrest." ...

     ... The New York Times story, by Zolan Kanno-Youngs, is here. ...

... John Parkinson of ABC News: "Congressional Democrats on Tuesday blasted conditions at an immigrant detention center in Homestead, Florida, following a second-straight day of inspecting the government facilities, calling the shelter a 'warehouse of children for profit.'... 'It's what I didn't see that bothers me the most,' [Rep. Bennie] Thompson, D-Miss., told reporters, expressing concern that the Miami-Dade school system was not involved in the education of immigrants while lamenting that U.S. taxpayers pay $775 per day, per child. 'It doesn't matter what the president or any of his people say, we're going to get it right.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: As contributor Forrest reminded us yesterday, one of the people getting a cut of that $775/day/child is former DHS secretary & Trump chief-of-staff John Kelly. "... the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had awarded Caliburn's subsidiary a no-bid $341 million contract and that John Kelly ... joined the board of the company." Get that? DHS awarded a no-bid contract for a company where the former head of DHS sits on the board, a company that used that award to abuse children. It's all a grift where little children be damned. ...

     ... Also too, where the fuck are the Republicans? In the last couple of days, different delegations of House Democrats visited two immigrant concentration camps, without a single Republican in tow. Are Republicans now okay with child abuse? With gross human rights violations? One would certainly think rage against the Trump torture machine would be bipartisan. But, at least so far, it is not.

... Mrs. McCrabbie: What kind of man oversees crimes against humanity at the same time he throws himself a big party with fireworks? ...

... Morgan Chalfont of the Hill: "The House Oversight and Reform Committee has scheduled a hearing next week to hear testimony from Trump administration officials about the separation and treatment of immigrant children at the southern border. Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) has invited acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan and acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan to testify at a hearing on July 12. Neither have confirmed their appearance, according to the committee." According to the ABC News report linked above, Cummings has signaled "he is prepared to subpoena senior Trump officials if they do not accept his invitation to testify." ...

... Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "Top officials in the agency overseeing border security condemned a secret Facebook group for current and former Border Patrol agents that featured jokes about migrant deaths, obscene images of Hispanic lawmakers and threats to members of Congress as the lawmakers themselves on Tuesday amplified their criticism of the agency. Carla Provost, the chief of the Border Patrol, sent an email to her agents describing the posts in the group as 'highly inappropriate and offensive.' The Customs and Border Protection agency's Office of Professional Responsibility and the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general began an independent investigation into the posts, Ms. Provost said." ...

... Gene Johnson of the AP: "A federal judge in Seattle has blocked a Trump administration policy that would keep thousands of asylum seekers locked up while they pursue their cases. U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman ruled Tuesday that people who are detained after entering the country to seek protection are entitled to bond hearings. Attorney General William Barr announced in April that the government would no longer offer such hearings, but instead keep them in custody. It was part of the administration's efforts to deter a surge of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border." Mrs. McC: Constitutional considerations aside, it looks as if the judge just dealt a blow to the administration's torture chamber scheme. DHS will have to release a lot of the people Trump has packed like sardines into his concentration camps. ...

... Zak Cheney-Rice of New York: As Members of Congress described "disgusting" conditions at a migrant concentration camp they visited Monday, confederate media were more concerned that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez might have been impolite to a Border Patrol guard (she says she was not). "The entire news cycle surrounding the congresswoman's behavior was an example of how debates about political violence get subsumed by debates about civility. It is hard to imagine conditions more worthy of an outburst than those in which the U.S. government has killed seven migrant children and imprisoned thousands more. Yet accounts of Ocasio-Cortez losing her cool -- false or devoid of context though they may be -- are framed as scandalous and characterized as threats against the law officers who maintain those conditions. It is a familiar standard, echoing the same logic by which many critics oppose nonviolent protests against racist police violence: By objecting to the method of protest -- blocking traffic, kneeling during the national anthem -- they obscure the fact that it is the protest that actually bothers them." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is a good part of what Trump's "fake news" charges are about. Instead of facing the facts, which Trump never does, he excoriates the "enemy of the people" for reporting those facts. That makes the media, not Trump's lies & his incompetent, corrupt administration the targets & he the victim.

Zack Ford of ThinkProgress: "In an interview with Fox News' Tucker Carlson..., Donald Trump claimed that sanctuary cities and increased homelessness are 'destroying a whole way of life,' adding, 'It's not our country. It's not what our country is all about.' During the interview, which aired Monday night, Trump was asked whether U.S. cities have more 'filth,' which both Carlson and Trump appeared to understand was a metaphor not for trash but for people living on the streets. Trump claimed this homelessness problem only started two years ago and bemoaned that 'police officers are getting sick just by walking the beat.'... 'You have people that work in those cities, they work in office buildings,' he said. 'To get into the building they have to walk through a scene that no one would have believed possible. This is the libera establishment. This is what I am fighting.' Trump also claimed that there were 'certain areas of Washington, D.C. where that was starting to happen,' but that he 'ended it very quickly.' D.C.'s homeless population has declined, but there is no evidence to suggest that Trump did anything to impact it. Even in this false history, his concern was not the homeless people of D.C., but guests of his who might have to witness them. 'When we have leaders of the world coming into to see the president of the United States and they're riding down the highway, they can't be looking at that,' he insisted. 'I really believe that it hurts our country. They can't be looking at scenes like you see in Los Angeles and San Francisco.'"

Lauren Egan & Mosheh Gains of NBC News: "Tanks for ... Donald Trump's 'Salute to America' Fourth of July celebration were seen arriving in Washington on Tuesday morning.... NBC News captured video of the tanks -- two Bradley and two Abrams tanks -- purportedly en route to the National Mall for Thursday's event.... The military hardware will be transported from bases around the country, ranging as close as Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to as far away as the Naval Air Station in California. With the increased air traffic in Washington on Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration said that it would suspend operations at the Ronald Reagan National Airport, the closest commercial airport to D.C., from 6:15 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. ET. Operations at the airport will also be impacted from 9:00 p.m. to 9:45 p.m. ET, during the fireworks show.... On Monday, the Republican National Committee said they had received tickets to the Fourth of July event for distribution.... An official from the Democratic National Committee confirmed to NBC New that, as of Tuesday morning, they had not received any tickets to the Independence Day celebration." ...

... Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "... Donald Trump is throwing himself a parade this week, complete with a flyover by the Navy's Blue Angels and Air Force One, the chiefs of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines standing by his side, and tanks that the District of Columbia emphatically does not want.... Perhaps he will [salute] America in a unifying and sober fashion, with no reference to his party, his enemies, or his reelection bid, but it seems much more likely that he will turn it into a Trump rally. Putting aside for a moment the property damage and waste, the cost to a cash-strapped National Parks Service, and the horrifying authoritarian spectacle of a military tribute to one man's ego, there is also the astronomical waste of taxpayers' dollars to consider.... Then, of course, there are the separate legal problems. CREW, the watchdog group that has been bird-dogging the administration on ethics violations, emoluments violations, and Hatch Act violations tweeted that it will be watching the 'Salute to America' to determine whether the president will violate the Hatch Act when delivering his remarks.... The president himself is not bound by the act,...," But Walter Shaub of CREW has outlined numerous ways the rally event could violate the act. ...

... Jeffrey Cimmino of the Washington Free Beacon: "MSNBC host Joy Reid claimed President Trump's decision to include tanks and military equipment in Washington, D.C's Fourth of July celebrations is a threat to Americans.... "What is the message Donald Trump is trying to send by rolling tanks down Constitution Avenue?" Reid [said during an appearance on MSNBC]. "Who is that message to? It's certainly not to tyrants because he likes tyrants, he loves tyrants. It's not to Putin, it's not to Kim Jong-Un, not to the Saudis. Is it to our friends, to Western democracies who he doesn't particularly like, or is it to us? Is it to the resistance in this country? I got tanks. I have this military armada. The message is a threat, but it's always a threat when you roll out your military. But it's to whom is the threat, and I suspect that the threat is to his fellow Americans. And I hate to say that, but I think that Donald Trump styles himself a tyrant, not a defeater of tyrants." ...

... Baby Blimp Time. Jonathan Chait: "President Trump has yearned to combine his political rallies with militaristic displays that visually conflate support for American troops with his political identity. After some false starts, he has settled on taking over the Independence Day fireworks display in Washington, D.C. But Trump's ambition is running headlong into another peculiarity of the Trump psyche: He is terrified of being booed.... Trump's efforts to control the rally should be seen in the context of his fear that the crowd will boo him. He is advertising the event on his Twitter feed, cordoning off the immediate area around his speech for ticket holders, and giving tickets away to Republican donors. Trump has 'requested that the chiefs for the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines stand next to him.' Get it? The service chiefs have to stand next to Trump as human patriotism bodyguards."

Finally, a Baby Step. Nicholas Fandos & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The House's tax-writing committee sued the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday demanding access to President Trump's tax returns, escalating a fight with an administration that has repeatedly dismissed as illegitimate the Democrats' attempt to obtain Mr. Trump's financial records. The lawsuit moves the dispute into federal courts after months of sniping between the Democratic-led House Ways and Means Committee, which requested and then subpoenaed the returns, and the Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin. The outcome is likely to determine whether financial information that Mr. Trump -- breaking with longstanding tradition -- has kept closely guarded as a candidate and as president will be viewed by Congress and, ultimately, by the public." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Presidential Race 2020

Wow! Trump Supporters Are Beautiful! And Diverse! Oh, Wait. And Foreign. Bernard Condon of the AP: "A series of Facebook video ads for ... Donald Trump's re-election campaign shows what appears to be a young woman strolling on a beach in Florida, a Hispanic man on a city street in Texas and a bearded hipster in a coffee shop in Washington, D.C., all making glowing, voice-over endorsements of the president.... The people in the videos that ran in the past few months are all actually models in stock video footage produced far from the U.S. in France, Brazil and Turkey, and available to anyone online for a fee." Mrs. McC: Yesterday, news broke that the Trump campaign had collected a zillion dollars this past quarter, when it already had a fat campaign chest. But it can't afford to hire, you know, real Trumpbots for its ads? Maybe they're not pretty enough.

Tal Axelrod of the Hill: "President Trump plans to hold a campaign rally in North Carolina later this month as he seeks to buoy his reelection bid in a key battleground state.... The rally is scheduled for the same day as former special counsel Robert Mueller's testimony on Capitol Hill. Mueller's highly anticipated appearance before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees follows a subpoena from House Democrats." Mrs. McC: I've got bad news for Trump; the top story July 18 will be Mueller, not Trump.

The mikey mystery. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "... on Tuesday, when [mike pence] abruptly abandoned a planned trip to New Hampshire after he had already boarded Air Force Two at Joint Base Andrews in suburban Maryland, it raised immediate questions. It is rare that something causes a vice president to abandon a publicized trip once aboard a plane. Mr. Pence's aides said that there was no national security emergency or personal health issue that prompted the change. They said that he had boarded the plane but that it never took off. They would not say much else.... Multiple people familiar with what happened offered at least a partial explanation. They said it was related to the place Mr. Pence was scheduled to visit, the Granite Recovery Center, but they did not offer any details."

Mrs. McCrabbie: I meant to look for this video yesterday, but it's still good today. I thought this was Maddow's best segment ever. It aired Monday night:

Cassidy Gard & Bonnie McLean of ABC News: "Former Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher was found not guilty on Tuesday on charges of killing an ISIS prisoner during a deployment in Iraq, though he was convicted on a lesser charge of wrongfully posing for an unofficial picture with a human casualty. Gallagher was facing a court-martial on charges of murdering the ISIS prisoner in 2017. He will be sentenced on the lesser charge on Wednesday.... In a shocking twist during the trial, Special Operator 1st Class Corey Scott, a Navy medic, testified he saw Gallagher stab the ISIS prisoner, but that it was Scott who suffocated the prisoner to death as an act of mercy."

A Fox "News" Gaffe. Adam Raymond of New York: "On Monday's episode of The Five, the Fox News talk show ... panel members Dana Perino, Jesse Watters, and Greg Gutfeld praised President Trump for his impromptu meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un over the weekend.... Perino called the get-together' historic,' which is technically true, and Watters said, 'I think everybody can agree we're headed in the right direction....' Greg Gutfeld followed with a point that was both obvious and shockingly candid. 'Of course they're going to attack him,' he said of Democrats who've criticized Trump's meeting with Kim. Then he admitted that if President Obama had done exactly what Trump just did, he and the other hosts on The Five would be doing a 180. 'Let's be honest: If it were an adversary from the other party, we'd be doing the same thing,' Gutfeld said."

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Isaiah Smalls & Nicholas Nehamas of the Miami Herald: "A state panel has voted unanimously to revoke the law enforcement accreditation of the Broward Sheriff's Office, the largest sheriff's office in Florida. The loss of accreditation -- a voluntary certification sought by law enforcement agencies -- won't affect BSO's operations in a major way. But it is a further blow to the agency's prestige at a time when a new command staff, including a new sheriff, are dealing with a string of failures and questionable conduct by deputies. The Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation (CFA) cited BSO's mishandling of the Parkland school shooting last year and the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport shooting in 2017 as reasons for its decision in a 13-0 vote last week. Both incidents were marked by chaotic and disorganized responses from the sheriff's office."

New Jersey. When Is Rape Okay? When the Rapist Comes from a "Good Family." Luis Ferré-Sadurní of the New York Times: A New Jersey 16-year-old taped himself raping an intoxicated girl & sent the video to friends with the text, "When your first time having sex was rape." "But a family court judge said ... the young man came from a good family, attended an excellent school, had terrific grades and was an Eagle scout. Prosecutors, the judge said, should have explained to the girl and her family that pressing charges would destroy the boy's life.... Now the judge has been sharply rebuked by an appeals court in a scathing 14-page ruling.... In doing so, the appeals court cleared the way for the case to be moved from family court to a grand jury, where the teenager, identified only as G.M.C. in court documents, will be treated as an adult.... The appellate division reversed another judge's decision not to try a 16-year-old boy as an adult after he was accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in 2017."

News Lede

New York Times: "Lee A. Iacocca, the visionary automaker who ran the Ford Motor Company and then the Chrysler Corporation and came to personify Detroit as the dream factory of America's postwar love affair with the automobile, died on Tuesday at his home in Bel Air, Calif. He was 94."