How to Tell the POTUS* Is a Fascist

Under the daily blitz of Donald Trump's remarks & actions, it is easy to let slip the overarching theme of his presidency. You may prefer a term other than fascist -- autocrat, tyrant, authoritarian, totalitarian -- but what I mean by "fascist" is a dictatorial leader who "exalts nation and often race above the individual and [who] stands for a centralized autocratic government, severe economic and social regimentation, and ... suppression of opposition." Flag Day seems an appropriate occasion to zero in on the thrust of the day's news. Limiting myself to the links I've posted as of 7 am ET, let's see what just today's news tells us of Donald Trump's adherence to fascist principles:

Makes "truth" and "facts" subjective by repeatedly making false, rosy claims. "... there is 'no longer' a nuclear threat from" North Korea.

Makes conflicting, situational statements, rendering meaningless every utterance: "[Kim's] country does love him"/"The horror of life in North Korea is so complete that citizens pay bribes to government officials to have themselves exported abroad as slaves."

Makes false, empty promises to boost his popularity. "I think we’re going to have some of the big drug companies in two weeks, and they’re going to announce – because of what we did – they’re going to announce voluntary massive drops in prices…. That’s going to be a fantastic thing."

Lies constantly. See Glenn Kessler's report.

Excuses massive human-rights abuses by other dictators. "So have a lot of other people done some really bad things."

Engages in human-rights abuses. See reports by Pete Williams & Jason Soboroff and Dana Milbank's column.

Makes on-the-spot military decisions that favor totalitarian enemies of the U.S. over our own country & our allies. Without gaining any concessions from North Korea, Trump said he was ending joint U.S.-South Korea military defense exercises, a long-held wish of North Korea, China & Russia.

Denigrates former U.S. leaders, falsely claiming they lacked his "superior" skills. "I don’t think they honestly could have done it," "it" being the Singapore summit.

Makes his own propaganda videos.

Installs propaganda murals featuring himself, trying to indoctrinate even children he has separated from their parents. See Jacob Soboroff's reporting.*

Disowns former allies & factotums when they are no longer useful to him. Michael Cohen. ...

... But retains demonstrably corrupt allies who remain helpful. Scott Pruitt. ...

... And hires unqualified people. See Axios story about Andrew Giuliani.

Demands absolute, lock-step loyalty of organizations & of administration employees, including career civil servants. Keeps an "enemies" list of those merely suspected of not supporting him personally. See digby's report on Mari Stull.

Demands absolute, lock-step loyalty from elected officials. See reports on Rep. Mark Sanford, who in fact supported most Trump-approved legislation.

Promotes racist policies. see, for instance, Pete Williams' report on the DOJ's continuing effort to end the DACA program.

Supports racist politicians. See reports on Virginia Senate candidate & long-time racist Corey Stewart, who Trump says "has 'a major chance of winning" the general election.

Repeatedly denigrates & undermines American democratic institutions like the free press, describing true news reports as "fake," and publicly labeling the press "enemies of the people." "Our Country's biggest enemy is the Fake News so easily promulgated by fools!"

Has underlings try to silence specific reporters. Trump's 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale said the press credentials of CNN's Jim Acosta should be "immediately' suspended" because Trump and he have determined that Acosta's questions to Trump during a press conference were not "polite" enough.

We should keep in mind that there is no factual counter-narrative: the news gives us no reason to hope that Trump is just an honest, if incompetent, fellow who is doing the best he can for the American people.

Of course today's news is but a tiny slice of the picture. Today, for instance, unlike many days, I have not linked stories about any of Trump's infamous efforts to subvert the rule of law vis-a-vis the Russia investigation. And there is nothing about his corrupt practices -- like the way he & his close family members are using their government positions to rake in millions. Yet even within the confines of today's news, like many a single day's news reports, one theme is apparent: the current President* of the United States is a fascist.

* It turns out the facility, Casa Padre in Brownsville, Texas, also features murals of other presidents, including Barack Obama, so this was not a fair criticism of Trump.

The Commentariat -- June 14, 2018

Afternoon Update:

News of conclusions by the DOJ's inspector general on the FBI's handling of the 2016 election, which has been released to Trump & Congress, is starting to trickle in. ...

... Chris Strohm of Bloomberg: "Former FBI Director James Comey 'deviated' from bureau and Justice Department procedures in handling the probe into Hillary Clinton, damaging the agencies' image of impartiality even though he wasn't motivated by politics, the department's watchdog found in a highly anticipated report.... Among topics the inspector general reviewed was Comey's announcement in July 2016 that no prosecutor would find grounds to pursue criminal charges against Clinton for improperly handling classified information on her private email server, as well as Comey's decision to inform Congress only days before the election that the Clinton investigation was being re-opened. Comey's public announcement of findings angered Republicans, while his reopening of the inquiry outraged Democrats." ...

... John Wagner, et al., of the Washington Post: "A highly anticipated report from the Justice Department's inspector general criticizes former FBI director James B. Comey for his actions during the Hillary Clinton email investigation and includes new text messages from FBI personnel conveying political opposition to President Trump.... Perhaps the most damaging new revelation in the report, according to multiple people familiar with it, is a previously unreported text message in which Peter Strzok, a key investigator on both the Clinton email case and the investigation of Russia and the Trump campaign, assured an FBI lawyer in August 2016 that 'we'll stop' Trump from making it to the White House.... Though the inspector general condemned individual FBI officials, the report fell significantly short in supporting the assertion by the president and his allies that the investigation was rigged in favor of Clinton, according to a person familiar with its content...." ...

... The IG's report is 500 pages long, but the Washington Post has posted the executive summary. Update: Vox has the full report here. ...

... Matt Apuzzo, et al., of the New York Times: "The former F.B.I. director James B. Comey was insubordinate in his handling of the investigation of Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election, a critical Justice Department report has concluded, according to officials and others who saw or were briefed on it. But the report, by the department's inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, does not challenge the decision not to prosecute Mrs. Clinton. Nor does it conclude that political bias at the F.B.I. influenced that decision, the officials said.... Then in late October, over the objection of top Justice Department officials, Mr. Comey sent a letter to Congress disclosing that agents were scrutinizing new evidence in the Clinton case. That evidence did not change the outcome of the inquiry, but Mrs. Clinton and many of her supporters blame Mr. Comey's late disclosure for her defeat.... The findings sharply criticize the judgment of Mr. Comey, who injected the F.B.I. into presidential politics in ways not seen since at least the Watergate era.... The report criticizes the conduct of F.B.I. officials who exchanged texts disparaging Mr. Trump during the campaign. The officials, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, were involved in both the Clinton and Russia investigations, leading Mr. Trump's supporters to suspect a conspiracy against him.... The inspector general said that, because of his views, Mr. Strzok may have improperly prioritized the Russia investigation over the Clinton investigation during the final weeks of the campaign." ...

... James Comey, in a New York Times op-ed: "I do not agree with all of the inspector general's conclusions, but I respect the work of his office and salute its professionalism."

... The Hill: "On the eve of the release of a potentially explosive new report, Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended the termination of the FBI's top two former executives and warned that the forthcoming report on the FBI's handling of the Hillary Clinton email probe could result in more people being fired.... Sessions said he is certain that Comey's firing was justified. 'It was the right thing to do. The facts were pretty clear on it. He made a big mistake and he testified only a few weeks before that termination that he would do it again if he had the opportunity. So we felt like there was a serious breach of discipline within the department if we allowed him to continue.'"

Adam Taylor of the Washington Post: "North Korean state television aired a 42-minute documentary on Thursday that offered a different view of Kim Jong Un's meeting with President Trump in Singapore. Notably, the documentary appears to have captured several scenes that international news organizations missed -- including one awkward moment when Trump was saluted by a North Korean military leader. The U.S. president then salutes in return.... 'This is a moment that will be used over and over in North Korea's propaganda as 'proof' that the American president defers to the North Korean military,' said [Jean H. Lee, a North Korea scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington]. 'It will be treated as a military victory by the North Koreans.'"

Alberto Nardelli & Julia Ioffe of BuzzFeed: "... Donald Trump told G7 leaders that Crimea is Russian because everyone who lives there speaks Russian, according to two diplomatic sources. Trump made the remarks over dinner last Friday during a discussion on foreign affairs at the G7 summit in Quebec, Canada, one of the diplomats told BuzzFeed News.... During the dinner, Trump also seemed to question why the G7 leaders were siding with Ukraine. The president told leaders that 'Ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries in the world,' the source said.... Russia invaded and then annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, leading to widespread international condemnation and sanctions. It also directly led to Russia being kicked out of the then-G8." Mrs. McC: Also, England, Australia & most of Canada are U.S. territories because everyone who lives there speaks English.

Noah Lanard of Mother Jones: "The [US Customs and Border Protections] agency is having so much trouble hiring enough border agents that it's now spending huge sums -- potentially hundreds of millions of dollars -- to recruit applicants and help them complete the application process.... Last November, CBP awarded a five-year, $297 million contract with Accenture Federal Services, a subsidiary of the global consulting company Accenture. That comes to nearly $40,000 for each of the 7,500 workers Accenture is supposed to help recruit and hire. The per-hire cost exceeds the base salary of many CBP officers.... But it is still not clear that CBP will be able to hire them, because Congress has refused to provide the funding." --safari

Juan Cole: "In a blow to the Trump administration and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted, by 120 votes in favor, a resolution introduced by Algeria and Turkey condemning Israel for deploying excessive force against Palestinians at rallies near the border of Gaza.... In another important international vote, the 4 million strong Indian Student Federation has voted to boycott Hewlett Packard computers and other equipment on the grounds that the company is involved in the oppression of Palestinians by the Israeli occupiers. This step seems to me among the more significant victories for the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement promoted by Palestinian civil society." --safari

Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "White House Counsel Don McGahn recused his entire staff last summer from working on the Russia investigation because many of his office's lawyers played significant roles in key episodes at the center of the probe, former White House attorney Ty Cobb said on Wednesday. McGahn made the decision to halt his staff's interactions with Special Counsel Robert Mueller because many of his own attorneys 'had been significant participants' surrounding the firings of nationa security adviser Michael Flynn and FBI Director James Comey, Cobb said."

Late Morning Update:

Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "The New York State attorney general's office filed a scathingly worded lawsuit on Thursday taking aim at the Donald J. Trump Foundation, accusing the charity and the Trump family of sweeping violations of campaign finance laws, self-dealing and illegal coordination with the presidential campaign. The lawsuit, which seeks to dissolve the foundation and bar President Trump and three of his children from serving on nonprofit organizations, was an extraordinary rebuke of a sitting president. The attorney general also sent referral letters to the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Election Commission for possible further action, adding to Mr. Trump's extensive legal problems. The lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, culminated a nearly two-year investigation of Mr. Trump's charity, which became a subject of scrutiny during and after the 2016 presidential campaign. While such foundations are supposed to be devoted to charitable activities, the complaint asserts that Mr. Trump's was often used to curry political favor or settle legal claims against his various businesses, and even spent $10,000 on a portrait of Mr. Trump that was hung at one of his golf clubs."

** Nickles and Dimes! Ryan Koronwoski of ThinkProgress: "The federal government just admitted that workers are earning lower wages since the passage of the GOP tax cuts.... On Tuesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics issued a new release detailing the 'real earnings summary' through May 2018...: 'From May 2017 to May 2018, real average hourly earnings decreased 0.1 percent, seasonally adjusted,' it read." --safari ...

.. Josh Boak of TPM: "[On Wednesday] the head of the world's most powerful central bank was asked a question weighing on the minds -- and the checking accounts -- of Americans everywhere: When will people finally start getting meaningful pay raises? Jerome Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, had no satisfactory answer. He called it a 'puzzle.' And then, as if measuring his words, he said he wasn't prepared to call it a 'mystery.'... Powell acknowledged that he couldn't say for sure why wage growth remains generally tepid. He said he 'certainly would have expected pay raises to react more' to falling unemployment." --safari

Jacob Soboroff of NBC News: "Life inside the biggest licensed child care facility in the nation for undocumented immigrant children looks more like incarceration than temporary shelter. The kids, a mix of those who crossed into the U.S. unaccompanied and those who were separated from their parents under Attorney General Jeff Sessions' new zero-tolerance policy, spend 22 hours per day during the week (21 hours on weekends) locked inside a converted former Walmart, packing five into rooms built for four.... NBC News was among the first news organizations granted access to the overcrowded Casa Padre facility. The average stay at the center in Brownsville, Texas, is 52 days. Minors are subsequently placed with a sponsor.... Dr. Juan Sanchez, the president of the nonprofit that operates the facility, South West Key, warned that the temporary locations might not have to be licensed or staffed by trained child welfare professionals if they are established on federal land, which the Trump administration has been considering." ...

... Michael Miller, et al., of the Washington Post: "Casa Padre now houses more than 1,400 immigrant boys, dozens of them forcibly separated from their parents at the border by a new Trump administration 'zero-tolerance' policy. On Wednesday, for the first time since that policy was announced, and amid intense national interest after a U.S. senator was turned away, federal authorities allowed a small group of reporters to tour the secretive shelter, the largest of its kind in the nation." ...

... Manny Fernandez of the New York Times: "Where there were once racks of clothes and aisles of appliances, there were now spotless dorm-style bedrooms with neatly made beds and Pokemon posters on the walls. The back parking lots were now makeshift soccer fields and volleyball courts. The McDonald's was now the cafeteria. All this made it difficult to visualize what the sprawling facility used to be -- a former Walmart Supercenter. The converted retail store at the southern tip of Texas has become the largest licensed migrant children's shelter in the country -- a warehouse for nearly 1,500 boys aged 10 to 17 who were caught illegally crossing the border. The teeming, 250,000-square-foot facility is a model of border life in Trump-era America, part of a growing industry of detention centers and shelters as federal authorities scramble to comply with the president's order to end 'catch and release' of migrants illegally entering the country. Now that children are often being separated from their parents, this facility has had to obtain a waiver from the state to expand its capacity."

*****

The bar is so low for Trump. 'At least a nuclear bomb is not flying over as we speak' is the most popular sentiment I have heard since the end of the summit. -- RAS, in yesterday's Comments ...

... Peter Baker & Choe Sang-Hun of the New York Times: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that the Trump administration hopes to complete 'major disarmament' of North Korea within the next 2½ years, even as conflicting accounts of discussions between the two sides left unclear what had actually been agreed to. A day after President Trump's landmark meeting with North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, in Singapore, the two leaders and their governments sought to shape the understanding of their talks to their advantage. But the contours of the vague agreement remained unclear and open to divergent interpretations." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Two-and-a-half years. Huh. What else is scheduled to happen in 2-1/2 years? I'd be shocked, shocked if President* Trump insisted that he alone can effect the denuclearization of North Korea, so anyone who votes against him is a treasonous threat to world peace.

... John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Returning to Washington on Wednesday, President Trump amped up claims of a highly successful summit with the North Korean leader as Democrats and even some Republicans grew increasingly skeptical about what had been accomplished in Singapore. In a series of tweets that began as Air Force One landed, Trump declared that there is 'no longer' a nuclear threat from the rogue regime and lashed out at those who questioned what he had achieved, branding the media as 'Our County's biggest enemy.'... Trump's rosy assessment was ridiculed by Democratic lawmakers and some analysts, who suggested that North Korea remains a serious threat. 'This is truly delusional,' Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) wrote on Twitter. 'It has same arsenal today as 48 hours ago. Does he really think his big photo-op ended the DPRK's nuclear program? Hope does not equal reality.' Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) also mocked Trump, writing: 'One trip and it's "mission accomplished," Mr. President?'... Richard N. Haas, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said 'the summit changed nothing.'" Read on. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "In an interview with Bret Baier of Fox News as he was leaving Singapore following the denuclearization summit with the North Korean leader, Trump declined to condemn the record of [Kim Jong-un]. International bodies have accused Kim of crimes against humanity including assassinations of political rivals, public executions and holding captive tens of thousands of political prisoners. Speaking in a wood-paneled office aboard Air Force One, Baier put it to the US president that Kim was 'a killer. He's executing people.' Trump replied by praising Kim ... as a 'tough guy', a 'smart guy' and a 'great negotiator'.... Baier, sounding taken aback by the president's flippant response, pressed Trump on the issue: 'But he's still done some really bad things.' To which Trump said: 'Yeah, but so have a lot of other people done some really bad things. I could go through a lot of nations where a lot of bad things were done.'... The issue of human rights was notably absent from the joint statement signed by Trump and Kim at their five-hour summit on Tuesday."

His country does love him. His people, you see the fervor. They have a great fervor. -- Donald Trump, speaking of Kim Jong-un to George Stephanopoulos, Tuesday

The horror of life in North Korea is so complete that citizens pay bribes to government officials to have themselves exported abroad as slaves. They would rather be slaves than live in North Korea.... Leaders imprison their people under the banner of tyranny, fascism and oppression.... Citizens spy on fellow citizens, their homes are subject to search at any time, and their every action is subject to surveillance. In place of a vibrant society, the people of North Korea are bombarded by state propaganda practically every waking hour of the day. North Korea is a country ruled as a cult. -- Donald Trump, at a speech before the South Korean National Assembly in Seoul, November 2017

Did Mr. Trump not believe or understand those words he read in his speech in Seoul last November? Has he forgotten them, now that he has looked the cult leader in the eye? Or does he know his latest statement is hogwash? -- Washington Post Editors

... Matthew Lee of the AP: "... Donald Trump's triumphant assertions about the success of the unprecedented Singapore summit are being met with skepticism and outright derision from critics seizing on the contradiction between his withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and his willingness to accept vague pledges from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.... For Iran deal proponents..., the Singapore summit was evidence of Trump's lack of preparedness and poor negotiating skills. Iran deal opponents, meanwhile, seemed willing to wait and see.... In the case of the Iran deal, even the most generous assessors of the Singapore summit sought to remind the White House that intense diplomacy preceded the agreement with Tehran." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: President Obama's "secret weapon" in negotiating the Iran deal was Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, an MIT physicist. Trump's got Rick Perry, who couldn't even remember the name of the Energy Department years before he accepted the top job there. As Trump tucks us into bed, I'm sure we'll all follow his soothing advice to "Sleep well tonight." ...

... Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post imposes a reality chek [linked fixed; thanks, MAG & Ken W.] on some of the outlandish claims Trump made regarding his Very Successful Singapore Swing. It's a damning analysis. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... A Gift to China & Russia, Too, Opens the Door for More Such Gifts. Spencer Ackerman of the Daily Beast: "The former deputy defense secretary for both Barack Obama and Donald Trump is criticizing the substance and framing of Trump's abrupt cancellation of joint military exercises with South Korea as a 'pretty substantial concession' to North Korea -- something that both Russia and China could turn to their advantage elsewhere. 'This seems like a pretty substantial concession on our part,' Robert O. Work, the number-two official at the Pentagon from April 2014 to July 2017, told The Daily Beast.... Work warned that Trump's language could be a lever for Russia and China to press the U.S. on similar military exercises with allies far from the Korean Peninsula. 'The Russians could easily say that exercises in Europe with NATO are provocative, and they are also expensive. So I think the president has opened a door that he didn't need,' [Work said].... 'Under normal circumstances, this is something that would have been discussed intensively within the administration, and also discussed intensively with our allies before it was announced,' Work said. [Instead, Trump surprised, well, everybody with his concession to Kim.]... In announcing the pause, Trump called what he termed exercises 'very expensive' and 'very provocative,' something that struck Work as an adoption of Pyongyang's language."

... "You're the Mark." William Saletan of Slate: "Trump is ... a skilled salesman, and his presentation of the new U.S.-North Korean denuclearization agreement is a fine sales job. But the target of that sales job isn't Kim. It's you. Trump and Kim are working together to pass off their toothless pact as a milestone. It's a con, and you're the mark.... Trump isn't competing with Kim or even trying to win him over. He's using Kim to compete for status with previous American presidents.... In a post-summit interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, Trump said Kim had explained that 'he was let down by the United States.' Far from challenging this statement, Trump used it to bolster his argument that no other American president could have worked with North Korea as Trump has. 'I don't think they honestly could have done it,' said Trump.... The summit, too, was an entertainment success. For that, Trump is happy to praise Kim and collaborate in the pretense of landmark concessions Thanks for watching." ...

... Troy Patterson of the New Yorker on "The Sensational Idiocy of Donald Trump's Propaganda Video for Kim Jong Un.... The nature of the film -- its grandiosity, its gaudiness, its chaotic logic, its indiscriminate idiocy -- is such that we must understand Trump as its author.... The narrator insists that the fate of the world hangs in the balance, in sentences that combine pompous syntax, palatial rhetoric, and dodgy grammar." Mrs. McC: Thanks to having read some of Tim O'Brien's biography of Trump, which came to me via a generous Reality Chex reader, I'm aware that Trump fancies himself a great movie critic, & having watched Trump's stupid propaganda video, I find Patterson's IDing of the video's auteur to be highly likely & his criticisms of the whole production to be right on. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... The Plot Thickens. Julian Borger of the Guardian: "The National Security Council has said that it made the video Donald Trump showed to Kim Jong-un at their Singapore summit on Tuesday in an unorthodox effort to persuade him of the benefits of denuclearisation.... The video, which Trump showed to the press after playing it on an iPad for Kim, is credited to 'Destiny Pictures Productions'..., [but] the company's founder, said in an email it had 'no involvement in the video'.... When asked about the decision to present the video as made by a non-existent company, an NSC spokesman said there would be no further comment. 'From my understanding, they were just using "Destiny Pictures" as a play on words. It just so happens there's a studio by that name in California,' said Ned Price, a former NSC spokesman. 'Leave it to this White House to fail to conduct basic due diligence. And that, of course, leaves aside the fact they thought it prudent to try to out-North-Korea North Korea in the propaganda department. The whole enterprise reeks of amateurism and comes off as an attempt to check the box on a harebrained idea that presumably originated in the oval office,' Price added.... When asked about the film at a press conference on Tuesday, Trump defended it as a masterstroke which he had sprung on Kim and his entourage." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Trailer 2. The New York Times' Opinion section video team liked Trump's little video so much, they made one, too. Mrs. McC: I hope, I hope, I hope Trump sees this & his head explodes:

This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.

Rosalind Helderman & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "Michael Cohen, President Trump's personal attorney, is facing mounting pressure from two active federal investigations, contending with skyrocketing legal bills and planning to change lawyers in the near future, according to people familiar with the situation. Amid his escalating legal concerns, Cohen is feeling neglected by the president, his longtime patron for whom he has long professed his loyalty, the people said.... Cohen is under intensifying scrutiny from federal prosecutors in Manhattan who are examining his business practices, as well as special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.... Andrii V. Artemenko, a former member of the Ukrainian parliament, said in an interview that many of the questions he faced during several hours of testimony Friday were focused on his interactions with Cohen. Artemenko met with Cohen in January 2017 to discuss a back-channel peace initiative for Ukraine. 'I realized that Michael Cohen is a target' of special interest to Mueller, Artemenko told The Washington Post.... The dual investigations of Cohen are fueling anxiety inside the White House.... For his part, the Trump attorney has been frustrated by the lack of outreach by the president...." ...

... ** Uh-Oh. George Stephanopoulos of ABC News: "As attorneys for Michael Cohen rush to meet Judge Kimba Wood's Friday deadline to complete a privilege review of over 3.7 million documents seized in the April 9 raids of Cohen's New York properties and law office, a source representing this matter has disclosed to ABC News that the law firm handling the case for Cohen is not expected to represent him going forward.... No replacement counsel has been identified as of this time. Cohen, now with no legal representation, is likely to cooperate with federal prosecutors in New York, sources said. This development, which is believed to be imminent, will likely hit the White House, family members, staffers and counsels hard." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Allegra Kirkland of TPM: "Shortly after the ABC News report appeared, the Wall Street Journal, too, reported that Cohen's lawyers were set to leave the case. But the Journal added that Cohen hasn't yet decided whether he'll cooperate." The WSJ report, which is firewalled, is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Alan Feuer, et al., of the New York Times: "But as the investigation widens, and with Mr. Cohen's legal team in turmoil, the chances increase that Mr. Cohen could cooperate with prosecutors.... The dispute between Mr. Cohen and his lawyers involves the payment of his legal bills, part of which are being financed by the Trump family." Also linked yesterday, but the story has been updated. ...

... Emily Fox of Vanity Fair: "The switch reflects the changing nature of Cohen's case moving forward [a], friend [of Cohen's] suggested. With privilege designations coming to a close, Cohen has been in talks with lawyers who have close ties to the Manhattan U.S. attorneys office. He is close to hiring one of them, according to three people familiar with the situation. The breakup was also spurred by a disagreement over payment, and how much the Trump Organization was expected to foot on Cohen's behalf, according to two sources with knowledge of the dispute." ...

... Martin Longman in the Washington Monthly: "The widespread assumption is that this indicates that Cohen is preparing to cut a deal with the Special Counsel's office, but it could be as simple as Cohen not being able to pay his lawyers' fees. Maybe all that money from AT&T and Novartis really doesn't go very far when the Feds come knocking.... I think it's too early to say what's really going on here, although I can't fail to mention that there is now more than one media outlet reporting that Cohen has told friends he expects to be arrested at any moment. I don't think he'll be arrested before the prosecutors have combed through all his records which they'll be able to do starting sometime on Friday. Of course, Cohen has to be considered a substantial flight risk, and there should be considerable concern about his physical safety. So, he could be arrested at the soonest practicable moment, even before the Feds know all they've got on him." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: It's probably worth pointing out here thatCohen has been cooperating with Trump all along, & in a very significant way. This whole costly exercise of combing through those millions of Cohen documents -- in which, as far as we know, very few are attorney-client-privileged -- is really an exercise in providing Trump's lawyers -- who are combing right alongside Cohen's lawyers -- with access to every single piece of evidence Mueller's team found in their raids of Cohen's offices & homes.

Surprise! Trump Made Another Empty Promise. Steve Benen: "... on May 30..., the president declared with pride, '... I think we're going to have some of the big drug companies in two weeks, and they're going to announce -- because of what we did -- they're going to announce voluntary massive drops in prices. That's going to be a fantastic thing.' Many of the nation's largest pharmaceutical companies had absolutely no idea what Trump was talking about, but the White House made no effort to walk back the president's vow.... Two weeks after Trump talked up the 'fantastic thing' that would happen on June 13 ... Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) pressed Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar [-- a former drug company CEO --] for an update on the presidential promise. It didn't go especially well." All Azar could come up with was to claim that "several drug companies" were "looking at" lowering prices. Meanwhile, the WashPo reported on numerous hikes in drug prices.

From the Horse's Mouth. stonehenge of Daily Kos: "Justify won the Belmont Stakes, becoming the 13th triple Crown winner, and turned down an invitation to the White House. Asked why, the winner neighed, 'If I wanted to see a horse's ass, I would've finished second.'" Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

Annie Karni of Politico: "The White House -- which has been having trouble filling positions as it bleeds staffers -- is now trying to find recruits at a conservative job fair on the Hill. 'Interested in a job at the White House?' is the subject line of an email that was blasted out widely to Republicans on the Hill late Wednesday advertising the upcoming event.... The flyer lists positions open in the White House as well as a handful of government agencies including Defense, Interior, Commerce, Homeland Security, Health & Human Services, NASA, Energy, and Treasury. The 'Executive Branch Job Fair' is scheduled for Friday afternoon in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, according to a flyer attached to the email.... A job fair is seen as an unusual step for a White House to take. Typically jobs in the executive branch are coveted career-making opportunities." ...

... Jacqueline Alemany of CBS News: "Two of the most visible members of the Trump administration are planning their departures, the latest sign of upheaval in a White House marked by turmoil. Press secretary Sarah Sanders and principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah are both heading for the exits, according to sources inside the White House and close to the administration. Sanders, who has become a confidante of President Trump since the departure of former communications director Hope Hicks, has told friends that she plans to leave the administration at the end of the year. Shah is also considering his exit, but he has not yet settled on an exact date. Neither Sanders nor Shah responded to repeated requests for comment before this story was published. When reached Wednesday evening, both declined to comment on the record, and Sanders tweeted that she is 'honored to work for @POTUS.'" ...

... Margaret Hartmann of New York: "Sanders ... disputed [the report of her retirement plans] on Twitter. (Sanders isn't known for her dedication to the truth, so make of this what you will.)... These days, it seems like everyone in the Trump administration is thinking of quitting (except Scott Pruitt)." ...

... Umair Irfan of Vox: "Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt's nonstop scandals are finally beginning to test the patience of some of his staunchest political allies. The latest Republican to question whether Pruitt should remain in office is one of his biggest patrons, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK).... One of Inhofe's former aides, Andrew Wheeler, is now Pruitt&'s second-in-command at the EPA. But on Wednesday, in a conversation about Pruitt with conservative radio host Laura Ingraham, Inhofe said, '... I would say this that there's a guy behind him, Andrew Wheeler, who's really qualified too, so that might be a good swap,' Inhofe added. Ingraham also called on Pruitt to resign following reports that the administrator had pressed lobbyists and donors to get a job for his wife, the latest in a long, long list of alleged transgressions.... Four House Republicans have also openly called for Pruitt to step down.... A right-wing dark money group called the American Future Fund released a withering attack ad on Tuesday calling on President Trump to fire Pruitt." ...

... Kyla Mandel of ThinkProgress: "In what some legal experts view as an unusual move, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has started referring reporters to Administrator Scott Pruitt's outside legal counsel when inquiring about his numerous scandals. Recent revelations have raised questions about whether Pruitt broke federal law by using public office for personal gain.... Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University..., explained, the job of the EPA spokesperson is to speak on behalf of the agency, not on behalf of Pruitt in his personal capacity." The reason for the referral to his personal counsel is that Pruitt's scandals now involve potential criminal activity as opposed to simple bad judgment....

A Chip off the Old Blockhead. Jonathan Swan & Alayna Treene of Axios. "Several months ago, Donald Trump ordered the promotion of Rudy Giuliani's son. But instead of getting promoted, he has lost his West Wing pass.... [White House Chief-of-Staff John] Kelly and others, including Office of Public Liaison director Justin Clark, won't promote Andrew [Giuliani] because they think he 'subverts the chain of command' and claim he had other issues in the workplace that they weren't happy about.... According to a source familiar, Kelly took away Andrew's blue staff pass about two weeks ago, revoking his West Wing access. He now only has a green pass, which means he can't enter the West Wing without an escort." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Worse Than McCarthy. digby reproduces part of a Foreign Policy report: "A senior advisor to the State Department appointed just two months ago has been quietly vetting career diplomats and American employees of international institutions to determine whether they are loyal to ... Donald Trump and his political agenda, according to nearly a dozen current and former U.S. officials. Mari Stull, a former food and beverage lobbyist-turned-wine blogger under the name 'Vino Vixen,' has reviewed the social media pages of State Department staffers for signs of ideological deviation. She has researched the names of government officials to determine whether they signed off on Obama-era policies -- though signing off does not mean officials personally endorsed them but merely cleared them through the bureaucratic chain. And she has inquired about Americans employed by international agencies, including the World Health Organization and the United Nations, asking their colleagues when they were hired and by whom, according the officials." There's more. digby: "This is a form of Trumpism that takes McCarthyism to a new level. Even Joseph McCarthy wanted to purge the State Department of people he deemed traitorous to the country, not himself."

Katie Benner of the New York Times: "On Thursday, [DOJ inspector general Michael Horowitz] will issue the highly anticipated findings of his examination of the F.B.I.'s handling of its investigation into strong>Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server. He is expected to castigate the decision making by the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey; his deputy, Andrew G. McCabe and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch." Benner profiles Horowitz. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jim Tankersley & Neil Irwin of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve raised interest rates on Wednesday and signaled that two additional increases were on the way this year, as officials expressed confidence that the United States economy was strong enough for borrowing costs to rise without choking off economic growth. Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chairman, speaking in unusually blunt terms at a news conference on Wednesday, said the economy had strengthened significantly since the 2008 financial crisis and was approaching a 'normal' level that could allow the Fed to soon step back and play less of a hands-on role in encouraging economic activity. The Fed's optimism about the state of the economy is likely to translate into higher borrowing costs for cars, home mortgages and credit cards over the next year as the central bank raises interest rates more quickly than was anticipated."

Dana Milbank: "Donald Trump's America has taken on a Dickensian pall.... The news is full of ugly accounts about the consequences of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, including reports about the tent cities for unaccompanied minors (McClatchy News), the 'dreamer' killed after his forced return to Mexico (Des Moines Register) and the suicide of the Honduran father (The Post's Nick Miroff). Vulnerable Republicans, seeking shelter from the gruesome consequences of the administration's actions, tried to force a vote on the Dream Act -- but conservatives prevailed. The House will instead take up alternatives next week that are unlikely to pass.... Republican lawmakers aren't willing to stand up to the source of their Dickensian dilemma. Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) spoke out against Trump — and lost his primary Tuesday. Rep. Martha Roby (R-Ala.) once expressed concern about Trump -- and was forced into a runoff. Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who is retiring, complains his GOP colleagues won't defend their own trade principles because they don't want to 'poke the bear.' Republicans may be afraid voters will see them as heartless — but they are more afraid of crossing Trump." ...

... House Republicans, Including Speaker, Pretend They Have Hearts. Rebecca Shabad, et al., of NBC News: "The compromise House GOP immigration bill will include a provision that children will not be separated from their parents at the border. Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., one of the moderate Republicans involved in negotiations over the legislation, said the provision will be part of the yet-to-be-written text of the measure. A senior GOP aide confirmed the provision to NBC and said Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., briefed House Republicans last week that it would be included in any bill that's considered. In addition to protecting the 1.8 million Dreamers who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children, the compromise bill would also eliminate the diversity lottery and include $25 billion for border security, Denham told reporters Wednesday. He said leadership is committed to completing the text of the bill this week.... The speaker told House Republicans on Wednesday morning that he had spoken to ... Donald Trump about the plan, and that the president was excited about it...." Emphasis added. ...

... How "Excited" Is Trump? He & JeffBo Are Not Even Pretending to Have Hearts. Pete Williams of NBC News: "The Trump administration is urging a federal court in Texas to declare DACA illegal, setting up a potential conflict that could allow the government to shut the program down within a matter of weeks. While this latest development has received little attention, it could suspend or stop a federal initiative that has allowed 700,000 young people, known as Dreamers, to avoid deportation. In a motion filed late Friday, Justice Department lawyers told a judge in Texas that the program violates federal immigration law. Assuming, as expected, that the judge grants the request from DACA opponents and orders the government to stop enforcing DACA, the ruling would conflict with orders from two other federal courts that require continued enforcement of the program. If faced with competing court orders, the Justice Department said it would then rush to the U.S. Supreme Court.... If the justices agreed [with the DOJ], the Trump administration would be free to shut DACA down immediately, because nothing would be in effect to prevent the government from taking that action." ...

... They're All Steve King Now. Arthur Delaney of the Huffington Post: "On Tuesday, [Rep. Steve] King [R-Confederacy] ... retweeted Mark Collett, a prominent British white supremacist, with a comment about the need for America to wake up to the perils of immigration. It was at least the second time King had retweeted Collett, who makes YouTube videos ranting about Jews and downplaying the historical significance of slavery and the Holocaust. King's office ignored requests for comment, so HuffPost asked King in person if he knew he'd been retweeting a gu with clear Nazi sympathies. 'I'm going to follow her advice right here,' King said, referring to an aide who said the congressman wouldn't stop to talk after a HuffPost reporter identified himself. Members of Congress talk to reporters in Capitol Hill hallways every day, and King is usually one of the chattier ones...." Delaney tried twice more to get a comment from King, with no success. ...

... "Putinesque." Daily Beast: "A Texas shelter housing child immigrants who are separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border is reportedly overcrowded, highly structured, and full of murals featuring President Trump. The Casa Padre shelter in Brownsville was opened up to a group of journalists Wednesday for the first time since the Department of Homeland Security announced a controversial new family separation policy. According to MSNBC reporter Jacob Soboroff, who live-tweeted about his tour of the shelter, visitors are almost immediately greeted by a massive Trump mural featuring a quote that reads, 'Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war' [Mrs. McC: in Spanish]. Soboroff said on Twitter that similar presidential murals are 'everywhere' throughout the facility. Nearly 1,500 boys between the ages of 10 and 17 are currently held in the facility and reportedly get only two hours a day of fresh air." Mrs. McC: Also, if the photo is any indication, filthy towels.

GOP = Cult of Trump. Dave Weigel, et al., of the Washington Post: "Fiercely and undeniably, the Republican Party this week confirmed its rebranding as the party of Trump. Buoyed by a late Tuesday presidential tweet, voters in South Carolina cast out Rep. Mark Sanford, a firmly conservative member of Congress who had survived earlier scandal, in favor of a state legislator who had condemned Sanford for publicly criticizing the president. In Virginia, Republicans nominated for senator a Trump-like candidate with a history of embracing, as the president has, Confederate symbols and white nationalists. The week was marked by continued deference to Trump on the part of congressional leaders.... Legislative efforts by some in the party to wrest trade authority back from Trump and rewrite the nation's immigration laws in ways he has opposed both fell in defeat. Meanwhile, many in the party who in the past have opposed talks with North Korea&'s leader this week praised Trump for his summit with Kim Jong Un.... His hotel, down Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, has become the requisite gathering place for Republican groups, political donors and foreign visitors, a visual and, for the president, financially rewarding symbol of demonstrated loyalty.... 'It's becoming a cultish thing, isn't it?' Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee told reporters Wednesday morning." ...

... Jonathan Martin & Michael Tackett of the New York Times: "The president's transformation of the G.O.P. -- its policies, its tone, even the fate of its candidates -- has never been so evident.... Mr. Trump's harsh attacks, including describing the news media as 'the country's biggest enemy' Tuesday, draw muted responses or silence from most Republicans these days.... The president exulted over [the defeat of Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) & the victory or Corey Stewart (R-Confederacy)] Wednesday, crowing about his last-minute help torpedoing Mr. Sanford, a reference to an 11th-hour tweet that called Mr. Sanford 'nothing but trouble' and endorsed [Sanford's Trumpy primary opponent Katie] Arrington. And Mr. Trump argued that Mr. Stewart has 'a major chance of winning' in a state that has not elected a statewide Republican in nearly a decade."

Senate Race

Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "Corey Stewart, the provocative conservative who won Tuesday's Republican primary to challenge Democratic Senator Tim Kaine in Virginia in November, has spent years courting voters on the rightward fringes of his party, often by playing to anti-immigration sentiment.... In January 2017, as Mr. Stewart ran for governor, he met with and praised Paul Nehlen, an outspoken anti-Semite who is now making his second run for Congress in Wisconsin. He called Mr. Nehlen 'one of my personal heroes' and said he was 'so honored' to have Mr. Nehlen's endorsement. And in a June 2017 campaign finance filing reported by CNN, he disclosed a $759 payment to Mr. Nehlen, described as a 'fund-raising commission.' Mr. Stewart was also endorsed last year by the white nationalist Jason Kessler, who later organized the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. In February 2017, Mr. Stewart appeared with Mr. Kessler at an event sponsored by Mr. Kessler's group Unity and Security for America.... Mr. Stewart has since distanced himself from both men.... Mr. Stewart has been a vocal defender of Confederate monuments, including the statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville around which last year's rally was organized.... After the 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville in August..., Mr. Stewart adopted similar language to President Trump, saying that 'half the violence' was the fault of the counterprotesters, including 'far-left nut cases.'" ...

... Charles Pierce: "The Republicans in Virginia, like their co-religionists in Alabama, have picked themselves a real winner to run against incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Tim Kaine in the fall. This time, though, it's not an aging scuzball like the Gadsden Mall Creeper, Roy Moore. This time it's an unreconstructed Confederate meat bag named Corey Stewart. And ... The New York Times, [CNN, & others] already []are in unfortunate soft-pedal on the whole business..... Stewart is not a ... 'hard-right firebrand,' [as the NYT described him.] He is an unapologetic public racist, and damned proud of it, who goes out of his way to associate with other unapologetic public racists, who are damned proud of it, too.... Stewart is not ... a 'bombastic conservative,' [as CNN labeled him]. He is an unapologetic public racist, and damned proud of it, who goes out of his way to associate with other unapologetic public racists, who are damned proud of it, too.... Doug Jones' surprise win in Alabama wasn't enough to keep Republican voters in Virginia from nominating Zombie Jeff Davis, despite the fact that doing so might turn out to be a termination notice for a Republican majority in Congress." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Primary Elections, Ctd. -- Maine

Kevin Miller of the Portland Press Herald: "The winner of Tuesday's Democratic gubernatorial primary was unclear Wednesday and likely won't be known until early next week. But with 90 percent of precincts statewide reporting, [Janet] Mills was maintaining a roughly 5,000-vote lead over [Adam] Cote on Wednesday evening. Yet Mills' 33 percent share of the vote totals – compared to Cote’s 29 percent -- was well below the 50 percent threshold needed to win the race outright. As a result, Maine will see its first ranked-choice voting tabulation for a statewide race starting Friday." ...

... Scott Thistle of the Portland Press Herald: Shawn "Moody captured the party's nomination [for governor] in stunning fashion, as he quickly took and never relinquished a dominating lead in an election that featured two state lawmakers and a former member of Gov. Paul LePage's inner circle. With 90 percent of the precincts reporting Wednesday evening, Moody had strong majority support with 56 percent of the vote.

Edmund Lee & Brooks Barnes of the New York Times: "Comcast announced an offer worth $65 billion for the bulk of 21st Century Fox's businesses on Wednesday, setting up a showdown with the Walt Disney Company for Rupert Murdoch's media empire. The all-cash bid by Comcast, the largest cable company and broadband provider in the United States, came a day after a federal judge approved a merger between AT&T and Time Warner. Comcast executives had awaited the decision in that case before mounting their bid for 21st Century Fox. The one-upmanship reflects an industry under threat from Silicon Valley, where deep-pocketed technology companies like Netflix and Amazon are stealing audiences, ad dollars and big name creative talents. In December, Disney struck an all-stock deal, worth $52.4 billion at the time, for Fox's assets, shortly after Fox rebuffed an offer from Comcast that was worth roughly $60 billion, all in stock. Now Comcast is back -- creating a likely bidding war for a conglomerate that Mr. Murdoch has spent a lifetime building...."

Brian Stelter of CNN: "Hours after returning from a trip where he lavished praise on one of the world's worst dictators, President Trump declared that ... 'Our Country's biggest enemy is the Fake News so easily promulgated by fools!'... He singled out NBC and CNN in his angry tweet on Wednesday. Trump frequently portrays the news media as one of his enemies, but rarely has he been this blunt about it. Wednesday's tweet harkens back to February 2017, when he called several news outlets 'the enemy of the American People!'... No modern American president has publicly spoken this way about the press. Richard Nixon sometimes talked this way, but only in private.... Trump officials and their allies in the media attacked [CNN reporter Jim] Acosta for asking Kim and Trump questions during a signing ceremony at the Singapore nuclear summit. In plainer words, Acosta was assailed for doing his job. Brad Parscale, the Trump 2020 campaign manager, said Acosta's press credentials should be 'immediately' suspended'... New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman translated the tweet this way: 'Someone is unhappy with headlines reflecting what happened instead of what he wants to say happened.' MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell asked: 'What deal? There is no deal with North Korea.'" ...

... Trump Has Lost Blitzer. David Rutz of the Washington Free Beacon: "CNN host Wolf Blitzer said on behalf of the media 'we love the American people' on Wednesday in response to ... Donald Trump's latest broadside against the profession.... Blitzer went on to say a lot of Trump's supporters believed the charge, which was 'a really, really awful situation.'"

Kendra Pierre-Lewis of the New York Times: "Antarctica is ... melting, and a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature shows that the melting is speeding up. The rate at which Antarctica is losing ice has tripled since 2007, according to the latest available data. The continent is now melting so fast, scientists say, that it will contribute six inches (15 centimeters) to sea-level rise by 2100. That is at the upper end of what the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has estimated Antarctica alone could contribute to sea level rise this century."

Beyond the Beltway

Molly Beck of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Wisconsin Democrats came one step closer to gaining control of the state Senate by picking up a seat held by Republicans for more than 40 years, while the GOP held on to an Assembly seat in a pair of special elections Tuesday. Caleb Frostman topped Rep. Andre Jacque in the 1st Senate District and Jon Plumer defeated Ann Groves Lloyd in the 42nd Assembly District. Frostman will be the first Democrat to represent the northeast Wisconsin district since the 1970s -- a win Democrats are hailing as more evidence of a so-called blue wave ready to flip more Republican-held seats i elections later this year."

Way Beyond

Margaret Coker & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "An Arab military coalition invaded Yemen's main Red Sea port on Wednesday, worsening what is already the world's most severe humanitarian disaster by disrupting the delivery of food and other supplies to millions of Yemenis. The air and ground attack by forces loyal to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates was aimed at tipping the balance in Yemen’s long-running civil war and driving Iranian-backed rebels out of the port of Al Hudaydah. Although fighting appeared to be limited to the outskirts of the city on Wednesday, the prospect of sustained fighting there stands to produce one of the bloodiest urban battles of the war, deepening what is already a catastrophic humanitarian situation. After years of war, eight million of Yemen's estimated 28 million people are at risk of starvation, according to the United Nations and aid agencies.... The war between the Saudi-Emirati coalition and the Houthis is just one facet of the unrest that has splintered the impoverished country. In the south, Emirati-backed local forces, assisted by American drones, are battling the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda. A southern insurgency wants to secede from the north. And the country’s internationally recognized president, Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, has no natural constituency in the country and instead lives in exile in Saudi Arabia."

The Commentariat -- June 13, 2018

Afternoon Update:

John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Returning to Washington on Wednesday, President Trump amped up claims of a highly successful summit with the North Korean leader as Democrats and even some Republicans grew increasingly skeptical about what had been accomplished in Singapore. In a series of tweets that began as Air Force One landed, Trump declared that there is 'no longer' a nuclear threat from the rogue regime and lashed out at those who questioned what he had achieved, branding the media as 'Our County's biggest enemy.'... Trump's rosy assessment was ridiculed by Democratic lawmakers and some analysts, who suggested that North Korea remains a serious threat. 'This is truly delusional,' Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) wrote on Twitter. 'It has same arsenal today as 48 hours ago. Does he really think his big photo-op ended the DPRK's nuclear program? Hope does not equal reality.' Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) also mocked Trump, writing: 'One trip and it's "mission accomplished," Mr. President?'... Richard N. Haas, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said 'the summit changed nothing.'" Read on. ...

... Matthew Lee of the AP: "... Donald Trump's triumphant assertions about the success of the unprecedented Singapore summit are being met with skepticism and outright derision from critics seizing on the contradiction between his withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and his willingness to accept vague pledges from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.... For Iran deal proponents..., the Singapore summit was evidence of Trump's lack of preparedness and poor negotiating skills. Iran deal opponents, meanwhile, seemed willing to wait and see.... In the case of the Iran deal, even the most generous assessors of the Singapore summit sought to remind the White House that intense diplomacy preceded the agreement with Tehran." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: President Obama's "secret weapon" in negotiating the Iran deal was Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, an MIT physicist. Trump's got Rick Perry, who couldn't even remember the name of the Energy Department years before he accepted the top job there. As Trump tucks us into bed, I'm sure we'll all follow his soothing advice to "Sleep well nonight."

... Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post imposes a reality chek [linked fixed; thanks, MAG] on some of the outlandish claims Trump made regarding his Very Successful Singapore Swing. It's a damning analysis. ...

... Troy Patterson of the New Yorker on "The Sensational Idiocy of Donald Trump's Propaganda Video for Kim Jong Un.... The nature of the film -- its grandiosity, its gaudiness, its chaotic logic, its indiscriminate idiocy -- is such that we must understand Trump as its author.... The narrator insists that the fate of the world hangs in the balance, in sentences that combine pompous syntax, palatial rhetoric, and dodgy grammar." Mrs. McC: Thanks to having read some of Tim O'Brien's biography of Trump, which came to me via a generous Reality Chex reader, I'm aware that Trump fancies himself a great movie critic, & having watched Trump's stupid propaganda video, I find Patterson's IDing of the video's auteur to be highly likely & his criticisms of the whole production to be right on. ...

... The Plot Thickens. Julian Borger of the Guardian: "The National Security Council has said that it made the video Donald Trump showed to Kim Jong-un at their Singapore summit on Tuesday in an unorthodox effort to persuade him of the benefits of denuclearisation.... The video, which Trump showed to the press after playing it on an iPad for Kim, is credited to 'Destiny Pictures Productions'..., [but] the company's founder, said in an email it had ;no involvement in the video'.... When asked about the decision to present the video as made by a non-existent company, an NSC spokesman said there would be no further comment. 'From my understanding, they were just using "Destiny Pictures" as a play on words. It just so happens there's a studio by that name in California,' said Ned Price, a former NSC spokesman. 'Leave it to this White House to fail to conduct basic due diligence. And that, of course, leaves aside the fact they thought it prudent to try to out-North-Korea North Korea in the propaganda department. The whole enterprise reeks of amateurism and comes off as an attempt to check the box on a harebrained idea that presumably originated in the oval office,' Price added.... When asked about the film at a press conference on Tuesday, Trump defended it as a masterstroke which he had sprung on Kim and his entourage."

** Uh-Oh. George Stephanopoulos of ABC News: "As attorneys for Michael Cohen rush to meet Judge Kimba Wood's Friday deadline to complete a privilege review of over 3.7 million documents seized in the April 9 raids of Cohen's New York properties and law office, a source representing this matter has disclosed to ABC News that the law firm handling the case for Cohen is not expected to represent him going forward.... No replacement counsel has been identified as of this time. Cohen, now with no legal representation, is likely to cooperate with federal prosecutors in New York, sources said. This development, which is believed to be imminent, will likely hit the White House, family members, staffers and counsels hard." ...

... Allegra Kirkland of TPM: "Shortly after the ABC News report appeared, the Wall Street Journal, too, reported that Cohen's lawyers were set to leave the case. But the Journal added that Cohen hasn’t yet decided whether he'll cooperate." The WSJ report, which is firewalled, is here. ...

... Alan Feuer, et al., of the New York Times: "But as the investigation widens, and with Mr. Cohen's legal team in turmoil, the chances increase that Mr. Cohen could cooperate with prosecutors.... The issue [between Cohen & his legal team] is primarily over payment of the legal bills of one of his lawyers, Stephen Ryan, according to a person familiar with the discussions."

A Chip off the Old Blockhead. Jonathan Swan & Alayna Treene of Axios. "Several months ago, Donald Trump ordered the promotion of Rudy Giuliani's son. But instead of getting promoted, he has lost his West Wing pass.... [White House Chief-of-Staff John] Kelly and others, including Office of Public Liaison director Justin Clark, won't promote Andrew [Giuliani] because they think he 'subverts the chain of command' and claim he had other issues in the workplace that they weren't happy about.... According to a source familiar, Kelly took away Andrew's blue staff pass about two weeks ago, revoking his West Wing access. He now only has a green pass, which means he can&'t enter the West Wing without an escort."

Katie Benner of the New York Times: "On Thursday, [DOJ inspector general Michael Horowitz] will issue the highly anticipated findings of his examination of the F.B.I.'s handling of its investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server. He is expected to castigate the decision making by the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey; his deputy, Andrew G. McCabe; and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch." Benner profiles Horowitz.

Charles Pierce: "The Republicans in Virginia, like their co-religionists in Alabama, have picked themselves a real winner to run against incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Tim Kaine in the fall. This time, though, it's not an aging scuzball like the Gadsden Mall Creeper, Roy Moore. This time it's an unreconstructed Confederate meat bag named Corey Stewart. And ... The New York Times, [CNN, & others] already []are in unfortunate soft-pedal on the whole business..... Stewart is not a ... 'hard-right firebrand,' [as the NYT described him.] He is an unapologetic public racist, and damned proud of it, who goes out of his way to associate with other unapologetic public racists, who are damned proud of it, too.... Stewart is not ... a 'bombastic conservative,' [as CNN labeled him]. He is an unapologetic public racist, and damned proud of it, who goes out of his way to associate with other unapologetic public racists, who are damned proud of it, too.... Doug Jones' surprise win in Alabama wasn't enough to keep Republican voters in Virginia from nominating Zombie Jeff Davis, despite the fact that doing so might turn out to be a termination notice for a Republican majority in Congress."

*****

Primary Election Results

Maine. The New York Times' live primary election results are here.

Virginia results are here. ...

     ... Jenna Portnoy of the Washington Post: "State Sen. Jennifer T. Wexton beat five Democrats in the race to challenge U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock (R) in what will be one of the most closely watched midterm elections in the nation. Wexton won about 42 percent of the vote, besting her nearest rival, anti-human-trafficking activist Alison Friedman, by almost 20 points, in Virginia's 10th Congressional District, unofficial results show. Wexton, the establishment favorite, ran on her legislative record and the strength of endorsements from Gov. Ralph Northam (D) and Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.) as well as the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. A former federal prosecutor, she is the only candidate from Loudoun County, the heart of the district.... In the Republican primary, Comstock won around 61 percent of the vote against former Air Force pilot Shak Hill. She risked losing Republican voters by breaking with President Trump on health-care legislation and his desire for a government shutdown." Comstock is among the most vulnerable House Republicans. "Once reliably Republican, [her] district's move to the middle and slightly left over the past decade coincided with an influx of young families...."

     ... Gregory Schneider of the Washington Post: "Virginia Republicans turned bright red Tuesday, selecting the more-Trump-than-Trump Corey Stewart as their nominee to challenge Sen. Tim Kaine (D) as primary elections played out in congressional districts across the state. The matchup ensures Virginia will keep re-litigating the 2016 presidential race in this fall's election, with Stewart running in outrageous Trump-like fashion against Kaine, who was Hillary Clinton's running mate in her failed bid for the presidency. Republican voters preferred Stewart, who has promised a 'vicious' campaign, over a more mainstream option in Del. Nick Freitas (R-Culpeper), a former Green Beret who had little name recognition but support from the party establishment. Freitas posted a surprisingly strong challenge, with the lead tipping back and forth until the final precincts reported at nearly 9 p.m. and populous Fairfax County put Stewart over the top. Stewart prevailed with about 45 percent of the vote to about 43 percent for Freitas."

South Carolina results are here. ...

     ... Jonathan Martin & Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Republican voters lashed out against traditional party leaders Tuesday, ousting Representative Mark Sanford of South Carolina and nominating a conservative firebrand for Senate in Virginia, the latest illustration that fealty to President Trump and his hard-line politics is paramount on the right. Mr. Sanford, a former governor once seen as a possible candidate for president, lost to Katie Arrington, a state lawmaker, in a closely contested primary, The Associated Press reported. Ms. Arrington had made the incumbent's frequent criticism of Mr. Trump the centerpiece of her campaign. And the president endorsed her in an unexpected, and deeply personal, broadside against Mr. Sanford just three hours before the polls closed."

Nevada results are here. ...

     ... Michelle Price of the AP: "Pimp Dennis Hof, the owner of half a dozen legal brothels in Nevada and star of the HBO adult reality series 'Cathouse,' won a Republican primary for the state Legislature on Tuesday, ousting a three-term lawmaker. Hof defeated hospital executive James Oscarson. He'll face Democrat Lesia Romanov in November, and will be the favored candidate in the Republican-leaning Assembly district.... Hof, who wrote a book titled 'The Art of the Pimp,' has dubbed himself 'The Trump of Pahrump,' and held a rally with longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone." --safari

AND North Dakota results are here.

"Trumpier & Trumpier." Jeet Heer of the New Republic: "Tuesday's primaries reinforce the major political story of the last three years: the Republican party is becoming more and more Trumpized. The two bellwether elections were Corey Stewart's victory in Virginia, where he will be the GOP's nominee for the Senate in the fall, and Congressman Mark Sanford's loss to a primary challenger in South Carolina. Between the two races, it's easy to see which way the wind is blowing. Stewart is emblematic of the increasingly vocal wing of the GOP obsessed with white identity politics.... Sanford, by contrast, has been critical of Donald Trump.... The lesson is clear: it's easy in the current GOP to be Trumpier than Trump (as Stewart is) but there is dwindling space for those critical of Trump (such as Sanford)."

*****

He Alone Thinks He Fixed It. Louis Nelson of Politico: "... Donald Trump said Wednesday morning that North Korea no longer poses a nuclear threat to the U.S. after his meeting this week in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, adding that Americans should 'sleep well tonight.' 'Just landed - a long trip, but everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office. There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea,' the president wrote on Twitter shortly after arriving back in Washington." [In a second tweet, Trump wrote, 'President Obama said that North Korea was our biggest and most dangerous problem. No longer - sleep well tonight!'" ...

... George Stephanopoulos interviews Trump, post-Singapore meetings. Mrs. McC: I would just assume everything coming out of Trump's mouth is somewhere between a lie & pie-in-the-sky:

     ... The transcript of the interview is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Steve M.: "Barack Obama pursued deals with Cuba and Iran, but he never gushed over the leadership of either country, even though the right's caricature of him was that he was pro-terrorist and a big ol' commie. Imagine Obama talking about the Iranian or Cuban leadership the way President Trump talked about Kim Jong-un in his post-summit interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos[.]... Trump is rolling over on his back and asking Kim to give him a belly rub. And the deplorables don't care. Trump doesn't have to be tough on North Korea's dictator because the deplorables see this summit as an attack on the real enemy -- us.... Yes, summit skeptics are communist. The EU is communist. Kim Jong-un? Not communist, apparently. Liberals, Democrats, "RINOs," the mainstream media -- we are the right's real enemy. We always have been." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Here's the full text of the Trump-Kim statement, via CNN. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)' ...

... Who Could Have Known This Would Happen? Margaret Hartmann of New York: "As foreign policy analysts try to predict the next steps after President Trump's historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Tuesday, they're running into a problem: the two leaders can't seem to provide a consistent account of what they agreed to in Singapore.... The North Koreans are trying to seize on this confusion to put forth a favorable summit narrative -- or rather, one even more favorable than 'U.S. president legitimizes North Korean dictator.' On Wednesday North Korean state media said that in addition to suspending joint military drills, Trump agreed to lift sanctions against North Korea." Trump himself didn't seem to know if there was any transcript or other memorialization of his private talk with Kim -- while at his presser, he asked Mike Pompeo if anyone recorded the private meeting. "Trump assured reporters that it's no big deal. 'Well, I don't have to verify because I have one of the great memories of all time. So I don't have to. Okay? Okay?' he said." ...

... Liar in Chief. Aaron Rupar of ThinkProgress: "During a news conference in Singapore following the signing of his agreement with Kim Jong Un, President ... Trump had a moment of radical honesty. Asked by a reporter what he'll do if Kim 'doesn't follow through' on his promises, Trump openly admitted that he'll never admit he was wrong, but will instead obfuscate. 'Honestly, I think he's going to do these things. I may be wrong,' Trump said. 'I may stand before you in six months and say, "hey, I was wrong." I don't know that I'll admit that but I'll find some kind of an excuse.'" --safari ...

... Nicholas Kristof: "It sure looks as if President Trump was hoodwinked in Singapore. Trump made a huge concession -- the suspension of military exercises with South Korea. That's on top of the broader concession of the summit meeting itself, security guarantees he gave North Korea and the legitimacy that the summit provides his counterpart, Kim Jong-un. Within North Korea, the 'very special bond' that Trump claimed to have formed with Kim will be portrayed this way: Kim forced the American president, through his nuclear and missile tests, to accept North Korea as a nuclear equal, to provide security guarantees to North Korea, and to cancel war games with South Korea that the North has protested for decades. In exchange for these concessions, Trump seems to have won astonishingly little.... The most remarkable aspect of the joint statement was what it didn't contain.... Kim seems to have completely out-negotiated Trump, and it's scary that Trump doesn't seem to realize this. For now Trump has much less to show than past negotiators who hammered out deals with North Korea like the 1994 Agreed Framework, which completely froze the country's plutonium program with a rigorous monitoring system.... Trump didn't achieve anything remotely as good as the Iran nuclear deal...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Never-Trumper Rick Wilson in The Daily Beast summarizes Donald's international diplomacy. A fun read except for the whole depressing reality part. --safari

... "Great Negotiator" Gives Away Store. Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "President Trump's pledge on Tuesday to cancel military exercises on the Korean Peninsula surprised not only allies in South Korea but also the Pentagon. Hours after Mr. Trump's announcement in Singapore, American troops in Seoul said they are still moving ahead with a military exercise this fall -- Ulchi Freedom Guardian -- until they receive guidance otherwise from the chain of command. Lt. Col. Jennifer Lovett, a United States military spokeswoman in South Korea, said in an email that the American command there 'has received no updated guidance on execution or cessation of training exercises -- to include this fall's schedule Ulchi Freedom Guardian.' 'We will continue with our current military posture until we receive updated guidance from the Department of Defense,' she added.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... There Was This. Lisa Rein & John Hudson of the Washington Post: "... nestled in the [joint statement] was a short bullet point that addresses a long-running concern of U.S. veterans groups: the recovery of the remains of thousands of American troops who were killed or captured in North Korea during the Korean War. On Tuesday, the two countries agreed to 'commit' to recovering the remains of fallen troops, 'including the immediate repatriation of those already identified,' according to the document. The statement represents a significant victory for veterans groups that lobbied forcefully behind the scenes for a renewed effort to recover remains in an environment where many non-nuclear issues, including human rights and the return of Japanese abductees, were left unaddressed in the joint statement.... The remains of 5,300 American forces who were killed or captured in North Korea during the war remain unaccounted for north of the demilitarized zone, resting in cemeteries, former labor camps and battle sites." Mrs. McC: I guess it depends upon what the meaning of "commit" is. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

Your Tax Dollars at Work. Here's the top-rated, must-see film that the White House put together to coax Li'l Kim to give up all his nukes & build condos on the beach and all. Based on Kim's making zero concessions to the Trumpster, it wuld appear Trump's propaganda production didn't go over too well:

Philip Rucker & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post can barely mask their disgust: "President Trump shook his hand for 13 long seconds, patted him on the back and led him down a rich red carpet. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may be considered the world's greatest human rights abuser and a totalitarian collector of nuclear weapons, but as they met for the first time here Tuesday, Trump declared himself honored.... The extraordinary tableau was a stark contrast to what had transpired three days earlier and half a world away in Canada, where an embittered Trump sat sternly, his arms crossed and his face impassive, as the leaders of America's oldest Western allies pleaded with him not to rupture the established world order with his retaliatory trade policies.... By simply jetting here for the summit, Trump effectively threw a coming-out party for Kim and afforded his rogue state the international prestige it has long sought.... Trump began the historic day on a sour note, tweeting in grievance before dawn here about 'haters & losers' who question his accomplishment in getting this far." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. McC: This may be a "historic day" for North Korea, but it's another normal day for the U.S. in the Age of Trump: somewhere between disastrous & inconsequential, full of sound and bluster, signifying nothing. ...

... Dana Milbank: "Let us ponder what the reaction among Republicans and conservatives would have been if President Barack Obama had done what President Trump did on Tuesday: Sat down with a dictator whose regime had killed hundreds of thousands of people and who tortures and enslaves as many as 130,000 political prisoners in gulags. Set no specific preconditions for the meeting and secured no commitment on human rights nor any firm promise to denuclearize. Blindsided allies by agreeing to the dictator's request to cease 'provocative' military exercises with those allies. Praised the dictator in lavish terms: 'very talented man ... wants to do the right thing ... very worthy, very smart negotiator ... excellent relationship ... funny guy ... loves his people ... great personality ... a great honor ... very special bond ... I do trust him.' But we don't have to wonder what the reaction would have been to Obama doing such things, because we know what happened when he even floated the idea." Milbank runs down the litany of GOP criticism, some of which came from the very same critics who now are writing Nobel nominations for the Trumpster. "What Trump has gotten, at least so far, is far flimsier than the Iran nuclear deal he tore up." Trump, in his news conference after the talks..., hemmed and hawed when asked what North Korea gave in return for his concession calling off 'war games' with South Korea: 'Well, we've got, you know, I've heard that, I mean, some of the people that -- I don't know ...'... This points to the asymmetrical partisanship in our current politics: Republicans are blithely hypocritical in praising Trump for doing the same thing they blasted Obama for suggesting, but at least some Democrats retain enough integrity not to dismiss diplomacy just because it is being attempted by their opponent." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Rachel Maddow made an provocative observation on her show last night. Russia, which shares about 11 miles of its border with North Korea, has become increasingly vociferous about getting the U.S. to end its annual joint military exercises with South Korea. So then, to the surprise of everyone, Trump announces that he's going to end the exercises. The concessions was not in the joint statement, nobody told South Korea about it, nobody told our other allies about it, nobody told the Pentagon about it, and apparently nobody even told mike pence about it: ...

... Evan Osnos of the New Yorker: "Nobody greeted the news from Singapore with more delight than China. For years, Chinese officials have urged Trump to freeze military exercises in South Korea, which Beijing regards as a threatening gesture in its neighborhood.... Trump may have also precipitated an outcome that he does not fully grasp: by suspending military exercises, and alluding to removing troops from South Korea, he will stir doubts about the strength of America's commitment to its allies in Asia, including Japan, Taiwan, and Australia. They will have no choice but to begin to reimagine America's role in the region, and their relationships to Beijing. From Trump's perspective, the encounter with Kim was an end in itself. For those who bear the consequences of his words and actions, this is just the beginning." ...

... Burgess Everett of Politico: "Confusion is reigning among Republicans over how far ... Donald Trump went in agreeing to pull back military exercises on the Korean peninsula in his talks with Kim Jong Un. Vice President Mike Pence told Senate Republicans Tuesday that some training exchanges and readiness training with South Korea will continue, according to Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.). Gardner told reporters that Pence and the administration will continue 'to clarify what the president had talked about' but said that 'exercises will continue with South Korea.'... Spokespeople for Pence denied that he had said anything that would contradict the president." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Just because we don't hear mikey lying six times a day the way we do Donald doesn't mean mikey doesn't lie six times a day.

... Digby, in Salon: "I have written before that any day we are not in a nuclear crisis with North Korea is better than the alternative. In that regard, the Singapore summit was a success. But after Trump's aggression against U.S. allies at the G7 in Quebec and then, in his own words, the 'bond' he formed with the North Korean dictator just days later, nobody should be reassured. It looks as though the more consequential of the two big meetings was the first one, not the second." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Daniel Dale of the Toronto Star: "Escalating his attack on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau..., Donald Trump is now pledging to punish 'the people of Canada' economically because of the post-G7 news conference in which Trudeau criticized Trump's tariffs. 'That's going to cost a lot of money for the people of Canada. He learned. You can't do that. You can't do that,' Trump said Tuesday in Singapore after meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Trump repeated the vague threat in an interview with ABC.... It is not clear why Trump has reacted to Trudeau's post-G7 news conference with such anger. There, Trudeau expressed the same polite criticism of the steel and aluminum tariffs, and same promise to stand up for Canadians, he had been expressing for a full week.... Trump claimed, without any basis, that Trudeau made his comments becaus he thought Trump could not watch them while flying to Singapore." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Emoluments! Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Monday sharply criticized the Justice Department's argument that President Trump's financial interest in his company's hotel in downtown Washington is constitutional, a fresh sign that the judge may soon rule against the president in a historic case that could head to the Supreme Court. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit, the District of Columbia and the state of Maryland, charge that Mr. Trump's profits from the hotel violate anti-corruption clauses of the Constitution.... The judge, Peter J. Messitte of the United States District Court in Maryland, promised to decide by the end of July whether to allow the plaintiffs to proceed to the next stage, in which they could demand financial records from the hotel or other evidence from the president. The case takes aim at whether Mr. Trump violated the Constitution's emoluments clauses, which prevent a president from accepting government-bestowed benefits either at home or abroad. Until now, the issue of what constitutes an illegal emolument has never been litigated." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Because until now, we've never lived under a pure kleptocracy.

Josh Gerstein & Theodoric Meyer of Politico: "... Robert Mueller made public new evidence Tuesday that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort directed an organized but unregistered lobbying campaign in the U.S. on behalf of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. In a public court filing, Mueller's team released two memos from 2013 detailing Manafort's involvement in efforts to influence debate in Congress and in the U.S. press about the imprisonment of Yanukovych's main political rival, Yulia Tymoshenko.... Manafort's defense lawyers have argued that the lobbying campaign on behalf of Yanukovych and his allies was focused on Europe and that any outreach he made to potential witnesses was consistent with that. But the memos Mueller submitted Tuesday show an evident attempt by the former European politicians -- known as the 'Hapsburg group' -- to shape the Ukrainian leader's image in the U.S.... U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson is scheduled to hold a hearing Friday on prosecutors' request to revoke Manafort's house arrest or tighten the restrictions on him as a result of the alleged witness tampering."...

... Josh Gerstein: "A federal judge has ordered special counsel Robert Mueller to identify by Friday all the individuals and organizations involved in ... Paul Manafort's alleged scheme to lobby on behalf of Ukraine without registering as a foreign agent under U.S. law. Among the people Mueller will be required to identify to the defense are top European former politicians who took part in the influence campaign, as well as others whose testimony Manafort has been accused of trying to influence in recent months. Manafort's alleged effort to shape the accounts of those people led to two new felony obstruction of justice charges last week. The ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson Tuesday represents a rare courtroom win for Manafort's defense, which is battling Mueller's prosecutors in two different federal courts and faces two looming jury trials. Prosecutors resisted the defense motion, but the judge's decision is not likely to be significant since many of the names are well known to the defense and have been reported in the media."

Follow the $$$$$. David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times: Trump's billionaire friend Tom Barrack was the driving force behind "Mr. Trump's improbable transformation from a candidate who campaigned against Muslims to a president celebrated in the royal courts of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi as perhaps the best friend in the White House that their rulers have ever had. It is a shift that testifies not only to Mr. Trump's special flexibility, but also to Mr. Barrack's unique place in the Trump world, at once a fellow tycoon and a flattering courtier, a confidant and a power broker. During the Trump campaign, Mr. Barrack was a top fund-raiser and trusted gatekeeper who opened communications with the Emiratis and Saudis, recommended that the candidate bring on Paul Manafort as campaign manager -- and then tried to arrange a secret meeting between Mr. Manafort and the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. Mr. Barrack was later named chairman of Mr. Trump's inaugural committee. But Mr. Manafort has since been indicted by the special prosecutor.... The same inquiry is examining whether the Emiratis and Saudis helped sway the election in Mr. Trump's favor -- potentially in coordination with the Russians.... Investigators have also asked witnesses about specific contributions and expenses related to the inauguration.... Mr. Barrack's company ... has raised more than $7 billion in investments since Mr. Trump won the nomination, and 24 percent of that money has come from the Persian Gulf -- all from either the U.A.E. or Saudi Arabia, according to an executive familiar with the figures."

WTF? Betsy Woodruff of The Daily Beast: "Michael Avenatti, the outspoken attorney for porn star Stormy Daniels, says the Russian government is trying to smear him in the press. Avenatti told The Daily Beast that people in the Kremlin have been trying to plant damaging stories about him in media outlets. Avenatti did not offer concrete proof to support the claim, but said two media figures and a high-ranking American intelligence official have all told him about the alleged Russian effort.... Avenatti said people in the Russian government have claimed that he traveled to Moscow and had questionable encounters with women there.... 'They suggested that I had had a liaison with multiple women in Russia,' he added. 'I found that to be rather ironic.'" --safari

"The Lady Vanishes." Rhonda Garelick of New York on how & why Melania Trump's disappearance is right out of an old Hitchcock film. -- a series of plays & films of the 1930s & early 1940s were an artistic reaction to fascism. And we're back.

Your Tax Dollars at Work. Amy Taxin of the AP: "The U.S. government agency that oversees immigration applications is launching an office that will focus on identifying Americans who are suspected of cheating to get their citizenship and seek to strip them of it. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director L. Francis Cissna told The Associated Press in an interview that his agency is hiring several dozen lawyers and immigration officers to review cases of immigrants who were ordered deported and are suspected of using fake identities to later get green cards and citizenship through naturalization." Mrs. McC: Francis there should start with Trump's mother & grandfather, & deport Trump. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Mr. Pruitt Has EPA Aide Get Mrs. Pruitt a Temp Job. Juliet Eilperin, et al., of the Washington Post: "Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt last year had a top aide help contact Republican donors who might offer his wife a job, eventually securing her a position at a conservative political group that has backed him for years, according to multiple individuals.... The job hunt included Pruitt's approaching wealthy party supporters and conservative figures with ties to the Trump administration. He enlisted Samantha Dravis, then serving as associate administrator for the EPA's Office of Policy, to line up work for his wife. And when one donor, Doug Deason, said he could not hire Marlyn Pruitt because of a conflict of interest, Pruitt continued to solicit his help in trying to find other possibilities.... Dravis, who has left the EPA and declined to comment, complained to friends at the time that she felt uncomfortable tapping Pruitt's extensive political network and her own to find a new source of income for his family. 'He pressured her,' one friend recalled...." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: If the wife of a Republican Cabinet official can't get a high-paying position on her own, she either (a) doesn't want a job, or (b) is completely unemployable.

** Mark Hand of ThinkProgress: "A member of President Trump's own political party is leading the charge at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) against the president's plan to prop up financially struggling coal and nuclear plants. FERC Commissioner Robert Powelson, a Republican appointee, did not shy away from expressing his opposition to Trump's proposal on Tuesday at a Senate oversight hearing.... Powelson, a former state regulator in Pennsylvania, was not alone among his colleagues.... Each of them -- three Republicans and two Democrats -- do not believe the nation is anywhere close to facing an emergency shortage of electricity supplies to keep the nation's lights on.... Trump's bailout plan, as outlined in a memo leaked to Bloomberg News, could raise electric utility rates by as much as $65 billion, or about $500 more per year for the average consumer, for no added benefit" --safari

Sheryl Stolberg & Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "After frenzied late-night negotiations, Speaker Paul D. Ryan defused a moderate Republican rebellion on Tuesday with a promise to hold high-stakes votes on immigration next week, thrusting the divisive issue onto center stage during a difficult election season for Republicans. The move by Mr. Ryan, announced late Tuesday by his office, was something of a defeat for the rebellious immigration moderates, who fell two signatures short of the 218 needed to force the House to act this month on bipartisan measures aimed more directly at helping young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children. Instead, the House is most likely to vote on one hard-line immigration measure backed by President Trump and conservatives -- and another more moderate compromise bill that was still being drafted.... Had the rebels secured just two more signatures for their 'discharge petition,' they would have also gotten votes on the Dream Act, a stand-alone bill backed by Democrats that includes a path to citizenship for the young undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers, and another bipartisan measure that couples a path to citizenship for Dreamers with beefed-up border security." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: That's a long way of saying, "Paul Ryan doesn't care about Dreamers."

Cecilia Kang, et al., of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Tuesday approved the blockbuster merger between AT&T and Time Warner, rebuffing the government's effort to stop the $85.4 billion deal, in a decision that is expected to unleash a wave of corporate takeovers. The judge, Richard J. Leon of United States District Court in Washington, said the Justice Department had not proved that the telecom company's acquisition of Time Warner would lead to fewer choices for consumers and higher prices for television and internet services. The merger would create a media and telecommunications powerhouse, reshaping the landscape of those industries. The combined company would have a library that includes HBO's hit 'Game of Thrones' and channels like CNN, along with vast distribution reach through wireless and satellite television services across the country." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: No need to worry about Trumpie's team ending net neutrality, folks. Just a lot of needless regulation. Besides, I'm sure we'll all enjoy watching Netflix in slo-mo.

Josh Gerstein: "A lawyer for Andrew McCabe, the fired deputy director of the FBI, is suing the Justice Department and the FBI, claiming that his client is being denied access to records critical to defending him in connection with the misconduct allegation that led to his dismissal in March.... The lawsuit claims that McCabe's firing 'violated federal law and departed from applicable administrative rules, standards, policies, and procedures.' The suit does not directly challenge McCabe's dismissal, but rather claims that the Justice Department is violating the law by refusing to identify and share the internal policies that led to his termination one day short of the 20 years' service he would need to be eligible for an immediate pension."

Sarah Jones of the New Republic: "America is in a new Gilded Age.... [The] key difference ... is that there was no welfare state back then: It took the grotesque inequalities of the era to inspire the necessary social reforms.... Reformers and revolutionaries both forced these issues into the public square.... The welfare state eventually emerged from this struggle.... The Trump administration does pose a specific threat to the welfare state.... [History professor Premilla] Nadasen ... [says], 'Those reforms really happened because of massive organizing and protest in the streets. And it started with labor organizing....' There are solutions [to today's Gilded Age].... Policy experts and analysts already have begun to fill in the gap: A federal jobs guarantee no longer sounds quite like a fantasy. A sovereign wealth fund, as outlined recently by Ryan Cooper at The Week, could allow the state to collect and redistribute its collective wealth to public health, public works, or other social goods. These redistributive efforts could accompany a renewed trust-busting focus in Congress. The struggle to prevent another Gilded Age doesn't suffer from a lack of political imagination. It suffers from a lack of political will."

Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "The New York Times is reviewing the work history of Ali Watkins, a Washington-based reporter at the newspaper whose email and phone records were seized by [DOJ] prosecutors in a leak investigation case that has prompted an outcry among press advocates. The private communications of Ms. Watkins, 26, who joined The Times in December, were obtained by the Justice Department as part of an investigation into a former Senate Intelligence Committee aide, James A. Wolfe, who was charged last week with making false statements to the F.B.I. Ms. Watkins and Mr. Wolfe, 57, had an extended personal relationship that ended last year.... Mr. Wolfe was one of the highest-ranking aides on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which Ms. Watkins covered extensively at Politico, BuzzFeed News, The Huffington Post and the McClatchy Company.... Her reporting for McClatchy on the Senate Intelligence Committee led to an investigative series that was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize.... She has said that Mr. Wolfe did not provide her with information during the course of their relationship."

Dan Spinelli of Mother Jones: "The level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has never been higher, scientists at a prominent Hawaii observatory announced last week.... 'There's a whole lot of bad news here,' said Pieter Tans, the lead scientist of NOAA's Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network. 'Our society, globally, is making a commitment to warming that will be there for several thousand years.'" --safari