The Commentariat -- February 6, 2018

It Is Treasonous Not to Applaud the Dear Leader. Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Trump accused Democrats on Monday of 'treasonous' behavior during his State of the Union address. Trump took aim at Democratic members of Congress who refused to applaud during his speech when he mentioned his achievements over the past year. 'Can we call that treason? Why not?' the president said during a speech in Ohio. 'They certainly didn't seem to love our country very much.'" Mrs. McC: We are down the rabbithole. And here I was incensed Trump implied one Democratic Congressman was a criminal. Now it turns out they're all traitors. Hang 'em by the neck until dead. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Jonathan Chait: "It is totally beyond the pale for a president to describe the opposing party as having committed treason for failing to applaud his speech. It is the logic and rhetoric of authoritarianism in its purest form. But if Trump does it in the middle of a Don Rickles -- style riff, does that make it better? Worse? Just weirder?" ...

... "Cadet Bone Spurs." Elizabeth Preza of RawStory: "Donald Trump ... suggested Democrats who did not clap for him during the State of the Union may have committed 'treason.'... [Sen. Tammy] Duckworth [D-IL] hit back at those remarks. 'We don't live in a dictatorship or a monarchy,' Duckworth, a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, tweeted. 'I swore an oath ― in the military and in the Senate ― to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, not to mindlessly cater to the whims of Cadet Bone Spurs and clap when he demands I clap.'" --safari: For all the petty name-calling in Washington, this one has to stick in Drumpf's craw; It's right on point. ...

... Conservative Rick Wilson of the Daily Beast outlines many of the ways Donald Trump has proved to be "the real traitor." Thanks to NJC for the link. Mrs. McC: The treason riff is another Trump tell. One thing we've learned over these past few years is that Trump often calls people the names he (perhaps deep-down) realizes apply to him. So there is some significance to his accusing his adversaries of treason. Slinking through the soft tissue beneath the weird orange combover, there is an intimation of treason. The evidence Mueller is gathering, the suspicions of the public, are festering in the gelatinous gray matter. Fear of exposure has moved the Trumpster into his habitual attack practice of trying to other-direct the label that more aptly applies to him. ...

... Jim Fallows of the Atlantic briefly reviews several books about the Trump presidency, whatever one wants to call it. "And whether you prefer 'Trumpocracy,' 'dying democracy,' 'tribalism,' or 'fascism' to describe the disease, these books leave no doubt that treatment is needed, now." (Also linked yesterday.)

... President* Casually Provokes International Incident with Ally. Karla Adam of the Washington Post: "President Trump took a swing at Britain's beloved National Health Service on Monday, tweeting that Britons were marching in the streets because their universal health-care system was financially strapped and dysfunctional, and got a swift rebuke from the British prime minister. 'The Democrats are pushing for Universal HealthCare while thousands of people are marching in the UK because their U system is going broke and not working. Dems want to greatly raise taxes for really bad and non-personal medical care. No thanks!' he wrote. But the thousands of Britons who took to the streets over the weekend were marching in support of the NHS and calling for greater government funding.... A spokesman for [PM Theresa] May said that 'the prime minister is proud of our NHS, that is free at the point of delivery....'... 'I may disagree with claims made on that march but not ONE of them wants to live in a system where 28m people have no cover[,' tweeted British health secretary Jeremy Hunt.]... Responding to Trump's comments, the march organizers said they were campaigning against a U.S.-style health-care system that they said is 'expensive, inefficient and unjust.'" Inspiring Trump's attack: right-wing Brit Nigel Farage on the Fox News segment, who said the NHS was "pretty much at a breaking point" because of a "population crisis."; i.e., too many A-rabs. Emphasis added. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Whaddaya mean "unfit for office"?

Kaitlan Collins & Tal Kopan of CNN: "The White House is dismissing an immigration deal brokered by a bipartisan group of lawmakers as a non-starter just hours before it is expected to be formally introduced in the Senate. Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain and Delaware Democratic Sen. Chris Coons are slated to introduce a bill Monday that would grant eventual citizenship to young undocumented immigrants who have been in the country since 2013 and came to the US as children, but it does not address all of the President's stated immigration priorities, like ending family-based immigration categories -- which Republicans call 'chain migration' -- or ending the diversity visa program." Mrs. McC: Big surprise, right? (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

This Russia Thing

"President* Can't Testify Because He's a Liar." -- Trump Attys. Michael Shear & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Lawyers for President Trump have advised him against sitting down for a wide-ranging interview with the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, according to four people briefed on the matter, raising the specter of a monthslong court battle over whether the president must answer questions under oath. His lawyers are concerned that the president, who has a history of making false statements and contradicting himself, could be charged with lying to investigators. Their stance puts them at odds with Mr. Trump, who has said publicly and privately that he is eager to speak with Mr. Mueller as part of the investigation into possible ties between his associates and Russia's election interference, and whether he obstructed justice.... Refusing to sit for an interview opens the possibility that Mr. Mueller will subpoena the president to testify before a grand jury, setting up a court fight that would drastically escalate the investigation and could be decided by the Supreme Court." ...

... The Perp. Josh Marshall: "Let’s be candid about what this means. The President is pleading the 5th while trying to avoid saying that's what he's doing. Let's call it the de facto 5th. The constitutional law is clear cut.... A sitting President has no blanket right to refuse to cooperate with a criminal investigation.... The President is obviously guilty of obstruction of justice.... It makes perfect sense to refuse to talk. Perps do that all the time.... [T]he President's lawyers' argument appears to be that the President is innocent of any crimes but that he is also a pathological liar.... The other notable claim is that Trump's lawyers and advisors believe that if Trump refuses a voluntary request for an interview, which is his right, Mueller might lack the nerve to subpoena him." --safari...

... Kevin Drum: "The president's lawyers are playing a weak hand here. If they decline an interview and Mueller issues a subpoena, Trump has to testify without benefit of counsel. That's the last thing they want, and Mueller knows it. With the Starr precedent to back him up, all Mueller has to do is give them a simple choice: Trump can testify either voluntarily with counsel or under subpoena without counsel.... Trump is on thin ice for another reason: he can tweet all he wants about this being a witch hunt, but Republicans control every branch of government. This investigation isn't being run by Democrats and Mueller wasn't appointed by a bunch of liberals." ...

... Guardian & Reuters: "The former White House senior strategist Steve Bannon will not testify before the intelligence committee of the US House of Representatives on Tuesday, according to sources -- defying a subpoena requiring him to appear. Representative Mike Conaway, a senior Republican committee member, told reporters on Monday that he expected Bannon to comply with a subpoena and answer questions on Tuesday. But a source close to Bannon confirmed to the Guardian that he would not appear. The source cited a lack of agreement on the scope of questioning between the intelligence committee and the White House, while noting Bannon's intention to eventually meet with House investigators. In the meantime, the source said, Bannon would be interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller." ...

... Alayna Treene of Axios: "Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah told reporters on Air Force One Monday that President Trump's attorneys have already approved the idea of appointing a second special counsel to investigate the FBI and Justice Department's actions during the 2016 presidential campaign, according to White House pool reports." ...

... Another Amoral Grunt. Olivia Nuzzi of New York: "Before joining the Trump administration, the White House principal deputy press secretary, Raj Shah, called President Donald Trump 'a deplorable' and referred to the release of the Access Hollywood tape as 'some justice.'..." -safari ...

... Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "The House Intelligence Committee voted unanimously on Monday to make public a classified Democratic memorandum rebutting Republican claims that the F.B.I. and the Justice Department had abused their powers to wiretap a former Trump campaign official, setting up a possible clash with President Trump. The vote gives Mr. Trump five days to review the Democratic memo and determine whether he will try to block its release.... Mr. Trump vocally supported the release of the Republicans' memo last week, declassifying its contents on Friday over the objections of Democrats and his own F.B.I., which issued a rare public statement to warn that it had 'grave concerns' about the memo's accuracy.... If Mr. Trump tries to block the Democratic memo's release, House rules allow Democrats to seek a closed-door vote of the full House of Representatives to override the president." ...

... President* Accuses Congressman of Illegal Leaking; Says He "Must Be Stopped." Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump accused a top Democratic lawmaker on Monday of being 'one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington,' calling Representative Adam Schiff of California 'Little Adam Schiff' and accusing him of illegally leaking confidential information from the House Intelligence Committee. In an early-morning tweet, Mr. Trump ominously said that Mr. Schiff 'must be stopped,' though he did not elaborate. The president's insult came as Mr. Schiff is expected to call for a vote on Monday afternoon for the Intelligence Committee to release a Democratic rebuttal to the classified memo that the panel's Republicans released on Friday, which accuses federal law enforcement officials of abusing their powers to spy on a former Trump campaign official.... 'Little Adam Schiff, who is desperate to run for higher office, is one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington, right up there with Comey, Warner, Brennan and Clapper!,' Mr. Trump tweeted, referring to former James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director; Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia; John O. Brennan, the former C.I.A. director; and James R. Clapper Jr., the former director of national intelligence. 'Adam leaves closed committee hearings to illegally leak confidential information. Must be stopped!'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: It is hard to imagine another president cavalierly and without evidence accusing a sitting member of Congress of criminal behavior. But there you go. ...

... Hey, Who Reads the Footnotes? Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Republican leaders are acknowledging that a footnote to an FBI application to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page disclosed the potential political origins of a controversial private dossier cited by the application, undermining the argument of a secret memo they released on Friday and bringing new Democratic pressure on the GOP to declassify more information about the bureau's actions.... 'Neither the initial application in October 2016, nor any of the renewals, disclose or reference the role of the DNC, Clinton campaign, or any party/campaign in funding Steele's efforts, even though the political origins of the Steele dossier were then known to senior and FBI officials,' the memo alleged. But in an appearance on Fox & Friends, [Devin] Nunes was asked about reports over the weekend that the FBI application did refer to a political entity connected to the dossier.... Nunes conceded that a 'footnote' to that effect was included in the application, while faulting the bureau for failing to provide more specifics." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... The Font Was Too Small! Jonathan Chait: "Notice how The FBI LIED about the Steele dossier has been scaled back to, The FBI did not highlight the truth about the Steele Dossier in the part of the application we bothered to read. So now the main attack on the FBI is about font size. No doubt all the subsequent memos Nunes is promising to release will have additional bombshells." ...

... Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "In his Monday interview [on Fox 'News'], [Rep. Devin] Nunes demonstrated a remarkable lack of understanding of one of the unintentionally vital aspects of the memo he released: its admission that ... the FBI [launched its] investigation into the Trump campaign to the actions of ... George Papadopoulos.... Papadopoulos ... was told in early 2016 that the Russians had 'dirt' on [Hillary] Clinton and relayed that knowledge to an Australian diplomat over drinks. When information stolen from the Democratic National Committee began trickling out, the Australians tipped off the FBI, which launched an investigation.... [Nunes said,] 'As far as we can tell, Papadopoulos never ... even had met with the president. And look, getting drunk in London and talking to diplomats saying that you don't like Hillary Clinton is, really -- I think it's kind of scary that our intelligence agencies would take that and use it against an American citizen.'... Papadopoulos didn't simply say he didn't like Clinton, he allegedly told a foreign official that he'd been told that the Russians had dirt against Clinton. The argument Nunes uses to create that distance [between Papadopoulos & Trump] is an extremely poor one. Trump himself once tweeted a picture of himself meeting with Papadopoulos." ...

... Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly: "Only a couple of weeks ago, Republicans cooked up a conspiracy theory about a so-called 'secret society' at the FBI that was attempting to bring down the Trump administration. But something that got overlooked during the run-up to the release of the Nunes memo indicates that it was actually a group of Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee that had a secret group meeting to undermine the Mueller investigation. This announcement came on the same day the committee voted to release the memo. 'The House Intelligence Committee, led by Republicans, has opened a new investigation into both the Department of Justice and the FBI. Ranking Member Adam Schiff, D-Calif., told reporters the Democratic minority was informed of the apparently new investigations Monday night 'for the first time.' According to committee rules, the majority has to consult with the minority before opening an investigation. Schiff said Monday night there was no such consultation." The Nunes secret society has worked for weeks & continues to do so behind closed doors. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Strange Bedfellows. Matt Ford of the New Republic: "... skeptics are right to be wary of federal law-enforcement agencies and those who lead them, given the abuses of the past. But those abuses also underscore the danger of letting Republicans turn the bureau into a political tool for their own purposes -- and that's why Democrats are right to defend the FBI today.... Ironically, the FBI's most egregious breaches of public trust in the modern era occurred under Director James Comey.... Comey made two major interventions in the 2016 presidential race. He publicly castigated Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, despite bringing no criminal charges against her, then sent a letter to Congress two weeks before Election Day announcing the bureau had reopened its investigation. He followed up two days before Election Day to note that nothing relevant had been discovered, but the damage was already done: His actions may have cost Clinton the election. Comey's actions inflicted the very damage to the FBI that they were supposed to prevent." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I would add here that right before the election, Comey also allowed the Bureau to falsely deny (to the New York Times) any possible relationship between the Trump campaign & election-meddling, at the very time the FBI was deep into an investigation of that very likelihood. (If you don't believe me, you could ask Devin Nunes.) This created the false narrative that Clinton was suspicious & careless while Trump was pure as the driven snow.

... Garrett Graff of Wired: "Bob Mueller's investigation is larger -- and further along -- than you think.... We speak about the 'Mueller probe' as a single entity, but ... there are no fewer than five (known) separate investigations under the broad umbrella of the special counsel's office.... 1. Preexisting Business Deals and Money Laundering.... 2. Russian Information Operations.... 3. Active Cyber Intrusions.... 4. Russian Campaign Contacts.... 5. Obstruction of Justice." ...

... ** Digby has a good piece in Salon on winger hypocrisy: "In an epic example of projection, the party that launched partisan probes for decades now claims to be horrified." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Charlie Savage & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "The New York Times is asking the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to unseal secret documents related to the wiretapping of Carter Page, the onetime Trump campaign adviser at the center of a disputed memo written by Republican staffers on the House Intelligence Committee. The motion is unusual. No such wiretapping application materials apparently have become public since Congress first enacted the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in 1978.... But President Trump lowered the shield of secrecy surrounding such materials on Friday by declassifying the Republican memo about Mr. Page, after finding that the public interest in disclosing its contents outweighed any need to protect the information. Because Mr. Trump did so, The Times argues, there is no longer a justification 'for the Page warrant orders and application materials to be withheld in their entirety,' and 'disclosure would serve the public interest.'" ...

... ** Jonathan Chait: "Once again, as the facts have emerged in full, the underlying conclusions [of the Nunes memo] hyped by conservatives have melted away.... But ... the collapse of the factual underpinnings beneath the conservatives' claims left no impression on them whatsoever. There is no sense of chastening or remorse on the right. To the contrary, Republicans retain all of their initial fervor to use the memo to prosecute their targets in the deep state.... Cultivating distrust in institutions that are designed to play a neutral, mediating role is one of the central functions of conservative politics. It is a game that conservatives know how to win, because they are waging asymmetric warfare. There is no good way for an institution to withstand partisan attack when its existence relies upon maintaining some distance from partisanship.... There is no way to refute bad-faith criticism." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

...Josh Marshall: "[A]t the end of the 'Memo' drama Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) asked Nunes whether he'd worked with the White House on producing the memo. Nunes evaded the question. He has not followed up with any denial.... You don't need to look long to find the probable point of contact between Nunes and the White House. Michael Ellis is Senior Associate White House Counsel, Special Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Council Legal Advisor.... Before he went to work at the White House Counsel's office he served as Nunes' General Counsel on the House Intelligence Committee.... Ellis and Nunes have already done something just like this at least once before ... the origin of the 'unmasking' conspiracy theory." --safari...

... Nora Ellingsen, et al., of Lawfare obtained FOIA documents proving that Trump & his administration lied when they claimed in May 2017 that one reason for firing James Comey was that he did not have the backing of rank-&-file FBI personnel. For instance, "The president of the FBI Agents Association, Thomas O'Connor, called Comey's firing a 'gut punch.'... [Instead, there was] a reaction of 'shock' and 'profound sadness' at the removal of a beloved figure to whom the workforce was deeply attached. It also shows that no aspect of the White House's statements about the bureau were accurate -- and, indeed, that the White House engendered at least some resentment among the rank and file for whom it purported to speak." The article includes a a pdf of the entire FBI documentation Lawfare received. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I really would like Mrs. Huckleberry to have to answer to Bob Mueller for her remarks. She claimed "she personally had 'heard from countless members of the FBI that are grateful and thankful for the president's decision.'” Okay, fine, Mrs. H. Produce "countless" letters, phone logs, etc. It may not be a crime to lie to the American people but to invent a false narrative to cover up the "real reason" for firing Comey is to participate in obstruction of justice. And that is a crime. ...

... Ed Kilgore: "Whatever else the firing of Comey and subsequent actions by the White House to stop the Russia investigation signify, they show a reckless disregard for the impact on the FBI, which was not demoralized until Trump demoralized it. All the loose GOP talk in connection with the Nunes memo of 'cleansing' the FBI has got to be making the atmosphere a lot worse, particularly among career types who must be in profound shock -- if not seized by hysterical laughter -- by the suggestion that the Bureau as been in the grips of some sort of leftist cabal." Mrs. McC: Yes, but Trumpetmaster Putin is awfully happy to see a U.S. intelligence agency in turmoil. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Paul Lewis of the Guardian: "The top-ranking Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee [Mark Warner] has warned that YouTube's powerful recommendation algorithm may be 'optimising for outrageous, salacious and often fraudulent content' or susceptible to 'manipulation by bad actors, including foreign intelligence entities'.... [He] made the stark warning after an investigation by the Guardian found that the Google-owned video platform was systematically promoting divisive and conspiratorial videos that were damaging to Hillary Clinton's campaign in the months leading up to the 2016 election.... An analysis of the videos contained in the database suggests the algorithm was six times more likely to recommend videos that was damaging to Clinton than Trump, and also tended to amplify wild conspiracy theories about the former secretary of state...The Alex Jones Channel, the broadcasting arm of the far-right conspiracy website InfoWars, was one of the most recommended channels in the database of videos." --safari...

... Denise Clifton of Mother Jones: "Trump supporters are among the most prolific social media users spreading fake news and conspiracy content, according to new research out from Oxford University's Computational Propaganda Research Project, which has been studying disinformation campaigns globally since 2014.... The Oxford researchers found that those pro-Trump accounts, though comprising less than a sixth of the total accounts, were responsible for 55 percent of the 'junk news' tweeted out.... (The research doesn't address whether any of these Twitter and Facebook accounts may be controlled by bots or other deceptive online operators.)" --safari

Patrick Rucker of Reuters: "Mick Mulvaney, head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has pulled back from a full-scale probe of how Equifax Inc failed to protect the personal data of millions of consumers, according to people familiar with the matter." Mrs. McC: Because protecting Americans' personal data is so wrong. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

War on Science. Brianna Ehley & Sarah Karlin-Smith of Politico: "... Donald Trump's war on opioids is beginning to look more like a war on his drug policy office. White House counselor Kellyanne Conway has taken control of the opioids agenda, quietly freezing out drug policy professionals and relying instead on political staff to address a lethal crisis claiming about 175 lives a day. The main response so far has been to call for a border wall and to promise a 'just say no' campaign. Trump is expected to propose massive cuts this month to the 'drug czar' office, just as he attempted in last year's budget before backing off. He hasn't named a permanent director for the office, and the chief of staff was sacked in December. For months, the office's top political appointee was a 24-year-old Trump campaign staffer with no relevant qualifications. Its senior leadership consists of a skeleton crew of three political appointees, down from nine a year ago." ...

... AND TrumpCare = JesusCare. Ed Mazza of the Huffington Post: "A controversial minister linked to ... Donald Trump said flu> shots aren't necessary when you have Jesus. 'Inoculate yourself with the word of God,' urged Gloria Copeland, who with her husband co-founded the Kenneth Copeland Ministries in Texas. Both serve on Trump's evangelical advisory board.... She said the faithful who don't have the flu can ward off the infection by repeatedly saying, 'I'll never have the flu. I'll never have the flu.'... Last week, the CDC said flu hospitalizations have reached their highest point in nearly a decade, and that 48 states are experiencing widespread illnesses due to the virus." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This of course was a common belief back in ancient, superstitious times. People didn't understand viruses & germs & physiological anomalies, so it was kinda "reasonable" to suspect that the gods made them sick because they had done something to displease the gods. The Gospels are full of stories about Jesus's healing the sick when they -- or their loved ones -- demonstrated their faith in the Hebrew God. That somebody would make the same argument in 2018 is not "reasonable."

Democracy Now! discusses Paul Ryan's tax policy and the Koch's major windfall, verifying the discussion in the comments section a few days back.

Senate Race

God Opposes Bachmann Run. Sarah Bailey of the Washington Post: "Former U.S. representative Michele Bachmann has decided not to run for the U.S. Senate seat recently vacated by Al Franken, just weeks after she told a televangelist she was mulling the decision.... In a broadcast published by Right Wing Watch, Bachmann told Minnesota radio host Jan Markell on Saturday that she's decided against running for office, saying she prayed about the race and 'wasn't hearing any call from God to do this.'"

** Wow! Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Monday denied a request from Pennsylvania Republicans to delay redrawing congressional lines, meaning the 2018 elections in the state will probably be held in districts far more favorable to Democrats. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who hears emergency requests from the state, turned down the petition without obvious objection from his colleagues. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court last month ruled that the state's Republican legislative leaders had violated the state Constitution by unfairly favoring the GOP. Although there are more registered Democrats than Republicans in the state, Republicans hold 13 of 18 congressional seats. It is the most significant victory by critics of the way most congressional and legislative districts are drawn and a sign that their efforts will be felt as early as this fall's midterm elections." Mrs. McC: Thanks, Sam. And I mean that this time. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Barnes spells out why this is a big deal -- and a significant change in Supreme Court "philosophy": "The justices are traditionally reluctant to order changes in an election year, for one thing. And they have never thrown out a state's redistricting plan because they found it so infected with partisan bias that it violates voters' constitutional rights."...

... GOP War on Justice, Ctd. Jonathan Lai & Liz Navratil of The Philadelphia Enquirer: "[T]he [Pennsylvania] legislature's two highest-ranking Republicans signaled Monday that they might not be willing to give up their fight. Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R., Jefferson) and House Speaker Mike Turzai (R., Allegheny) issued a joint statement saying they would attempt to comply with the state Supreme Court's order to redraw congressional maps by Friday 'but may be compelled to pursue further legal action in federal court.'... [A] rank-and-file Republican [Cris Dush (R., Jefferson)] issued a memo seeking co-sponsors for a bill that would seek the impeachment of the five Democratic justices who declared the maps unconstitutional. It's unclear exactly how far that attempt will go." --safari ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: These bozos can sue whomever they want -- probably on the state's dime. But the Supremes -- in the person of Sam Alito, no less -- have already told state Republicans they don't have a case, so a lower court -- preferring not to be overturned -- is unlikely to be sympathetic to some slightly different legal theory of their position.

Jack Ewing & Alexandra Stevenson of the New York Times: "A stock market rout in the United States took on global contours on Tuesday, as investors from Tokyo to Hong Kong and London to Frankfurt sent shares tumbling. The sharp falls have come despite generally positive economic news around the world. There is strong growth on every continent, interest rates are at or near record lows, and the United States has just passed a sweeping tax overhaul that will dramatically lower corporate taxes. President Trump has touted seemingly unending stock market highs as proof of improved economic prospects. But those positive factors have also, in part, created the circumstances for the recent sell-off. Accelerating growth means central banks are gradually looking to take away economic stimulus, and rising interest rates could eat into corporate profits. Workers, meanwhile, are increasingly demanding their share through wage increases." ...

The reason our stock market is so successful is because of me. -- Donald Trump, November 2017

Good time to recall that in the previous administration, we NEVER boasted about the stock market — even though the Dow more than doubled on Obama's watch -- because we knew two things: 1) the stock market is not the economy; and 2) if you claim the rise, you own the fall. -- Jay Carney, President Obama's first press secretary ...

... The Trump Slump. Matt Phillips of the New York Times: "The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index fell by more than 4 percent on Monday, deepening its losses from the previous week and erasing its gains for the year. The Dow Jones industrial average sank by 4.6 percent. Bond yields, the basis for key borrowing costs such as mortgage rates, have risen fast in recent weeks. In trading in Asia on Tuesday morning, markets signaled another tough day.... New leadership at the Fed is adding a degree of uncertainty. Jerome H. Powell was sworn in as the 16th chairman of the Federal Reserve on Monday, after the departure of his predecessor, Janet L. Yellen.... A rocky patch for the markets could become awkward for President Trump. He has repeatedly claimed credit for surging stocks, while business optimism over his push to cut taxes and decrease regulation has helped fuel the 'Trump Bump.'" ...

... Damian Paletta & Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "President Trump and congressional Republicans have spent much of the past year trying to connect a giddy stock market rally with their economic agenda, but stocks' precipitous plunge in the past five days has delivered a sobering reality: What goes up can come back down -- quickly and with little warning. With Monday's steep fall, Trump has presided over the biggest stock market drop in U.S. history, when measured by points in the Dow Jones industrial average. The free fall began in earnest Jan. 30 and snowballed Friday and Monday, for a combined loss of almost 2,100 points, or 8 percent of the Dow's value. It is also unclear if the past week will amount to a small correction o the beginning of a painful slide that many investors said was overdue.... Trump delivered a speech on his economic agenda Monday that didn't mention the stock market once, a rare occurrence for him. After tweeting incessantly about the stock market in 2017, Trump has stopped since Jan. 20." ...

... Poetic Numeric Justice. Aaron Rupar of ThinkProgress: "... Fox News interrupted a live broadcast of a speech Trump delivered in Ohio on Monday to tout the tax cut bill to instead cover a historic drop in the Dow Jones industrial average. During the speech, Trump said that the tax cut bill 'set off a tidal wave of good news that continues to grow every single day.' But his message was contradicted by chyrons detailing the Dow's plunge.... Trump’s conflation of the stock market and the broader economy was problematic to begin with, given that nearly half of the country has nothing invested in the market. And it never made sense for Trump to take credit for a stock market that has been gaining steadily since it recovered from the financial collapse of 2008." ...

... Paul Krugman: "It's surely not a good thing that Trump got rid of one of the most distinguished Federal Reserve chairs in history just before markets started to flash some warning signs. Jerome Powell, Janet Yellen's replacement, seems like a reasonable guy. But we have no idea how well he would handle a crisis if one developed. Meanwhile, the current secretary of the Treasury -- who declared of Davos, 'I don't think it's a hangout for globalists' — may be the least distinguished, least informed individual ever to hold that position. So are we heading for trouble? Too soon to tell. But if we are, rest assured that we’ll have the worst possible people on the case."

Just another day in the life of ...

Damian Carrington of the Guardian: "The ozone layer that protects people from the sun’s ultraviolet radiation is not recovering over most highly populated regions, scientists warned on Tuesday. The greatest losses in ozone occurred over Antarctica but the hole there has been closing since the chemicals causing the problem were banned by the Montreal protocol. But the ozone layer wraps the entire Earth and new research has revealed it is thinning in the lower stratosphere over the non-polar areas.... Reduced protection from cancer-causing UV rays is especially concerning towards the equator, where sunlight is stronger and billions of people live." --safari

The Commentariat -- February 5, 2018

It Is Treasonous Not to Applaud the Dear Leader. Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Trump accused Democrats on Monday of 'treasonous' behavior during his State of the Union address. Trump took aim at Democratic members of Congress who refused to applaud during his speech when he mentioned his achievements over the past year. 'Can we call that treason? Why not?' the president said during a speech in Ohio. 'They certainly didn't seem to love our country very much.'" Mrs. McC: We are down the rabbithole now. And here I was incensed Trump implied one Democratic Congressman was a criminal. Now it turns out they're all traitors. Hang 'em by the neck until dead. ...

... Jim Fallows of the Atlantic briefly reviews several books about the Trump presidency, whatever one wants to call it. "And whether you prefer 'Trumpocracy,' 'dying democracy,' 'tribalism,' or 'fascism' to describe the disease, these books leave no doubt that treatment is needed, now." ...

... President* Accuses Congressman of Illegal Leaking; Says He "Must Be Stopped." Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump accused a top Democratic lawmaker on Monday of being 'one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington,' calling Representative Adam Schiff of California 'Little Adam Schiff' and accusing him of illegally leaking confidential information from the House Intelligence Committee. In an early-morning tweet, Mr. Trump ominously said that Mr. Schiff 'must be stopped,' though he did not elaborate. The president's insult came as Mr. Schiff is expected to call for a vote on Monday afternoon for the Intelligence Committee to release a Democratic rebuttal to the classified memo that the panel's Republicans released on Friday, which accuses federal law enforcement officials of abusing their powers to spy on a former Trump campaign official.... 'Little Adam Schiff, who is desperate to run for higher office, is one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington, right up there with Comey, Warner, Brennan and Clapper!,' Mr. Trump tweeted, referring to former James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director; Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia; John O. Brennan, the former C.I.A. director; and James R. Clapper Jr., the former director of national intelligence. 'Adam leaves closed committee hearings to illegally leak confidential information. Must be stopped!'" ...

     ... Mrs. McC: It is hard to imagine another president cavalierly and without evidence accusing a sitting member of Congress of criminal behavior. But there you go. ...

... President* Casually Provokes International Incident with Ally. Karla Adam of the Washington Post: "President Trump took a swing at Britain's beloved National Health Service on Monday, tweeting that Britons were marching in the streets because their universal health-care system was financially strapped and dysfunctional, and got a swift rebuke from the British prime minister. 'The Democrats are pushing for Universal HealthCare while thousands of people are marching in the UK because their U system is going broke and not working. Dems want to greatly raise taxes for really bad and non-personal medical care. No thanks!' he wrote. But the thousands of Britons who took to the streets over the weekend were marchingin support of the NHS and calling for greater government funding.... A spokesman for [PM Theresa] May said that 'the prime minister is proud of our NHS, that is free at the point of delivery....'... 'I may disagree with claims made on that march but not ONE of them wants to live in a system where 28m people have no cover[,' tweeted British health secretary Jeremy Hunt.]... Responding to Trump's comments, the march organizers said they were campaigning against a U.S.-style health-care system that they said is 'expensive, inefficient and unjust.'" Inspiring Trump's attack: right-wing Brit Nigel Farage on the Fox News segment, who said the NHS was "pretty much at a breaking point" because of a "population crisis." i.e., too many A-rabs. Emphasis added. ...

... Whaddaya mean "unfit for office"?

Kaitlan Collins & Tal Kopan of CNN: "The White House is dismissing an immigration deal brokered by a bipartisan group of lawmakers as a non-starter just hours before it is expected to be formally introduced in the Senate. Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain and Delaware Democratic Sen. Chris Coons are slated to introduce a bill Monday that would grant eventual citizenship to young undocumented immigrants who have been in the country since 2013 and came to the US as children, but it does not address all of the President's stated immigration priorities, like ending family-based immigration categories -- which Republicans call 'chain migration' -- or ending the diversity visa program." Mrs. McC: Big surprise, right?

Nora Ellingsen, et al., of Lawfare obtained FOIA documents proving that Trump & his administration lied when they claimed in May 2017 that one reason for firing James Comey was that he did not have the backing of rank-&-file FBI personnel. For instance, "The president of the FBI Agents Association, Thomas O'Connor, called Comey's firing a 'gut punch.'... [Instead, there was] a reaction of 'shock' and 'profound sadness' at the removal of a beloved figure to whom the workforce was deeply attached. It also shows that no aspect of the White House's statements about the bureau were accurate -- and, indeed, that the White House engendered at least some resentment among the rank and file for whom it purported to speak." The article includes a a pdf of the entire FBI documentation Lawfare received. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I really would like Mrs. Huckleberry to have to answer to Bob Mueller for her remarks. She claimed "she personally had 'heard from countless members of the FBI that are grateful and thankful for the president's decision.'" Okay, fine, Mrs. H. Produce "countless" letters, phone logs, etc. It may not be a crime to lie to the American people but to invent a false narrative to cover up the "real reason" for firing Comey is to participate in obstruction of justice. And that is a crime. ...

... Ed Kilgore: "Whatever else the firing of Comey and subsequent actions by the White House to stop the Russia investigation signify, they show a reckless disregard for the impact on the FBI, which was not demoralized until Trump demoralized it. All the loose GOP talk in connection with the Nunes memo of 'cleansing' the FBI has got to be making the atmosphere a lot worse, particularly among career types who must be in profound shock -- if not seized by hysterical laughter -- by the suggestion that the Bureau has been in the grips of some sort of leftist cabal." Mrs. McC: Yes, but Trumpetmaster Putin is awfully happy to see a U.S. intelligence agency in turmoil.

Hey, Who Reads the Footnotes? Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Republican leaders are acknowledging that a footnote to an FBI application to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page disclosed the potential political origins of a controversial private dossier cited by the application, undermining the argument of a secret memo they released on Friday and bringing new Democratic pressure on the GOP to declassify more information about the bureau's actions.... 'Neither the initial application in October 2016, nor any of the renewals, disclose or reference the role of the DNC, Clinton campaign, or any party/campaign in funding Steele's efforts, even though the political origins of the Steele dossier were then known to senior and FBI officials,' the memo alleged. But in an appearance on Fox & Friends, [Devin] Nunes was asked about reports over the weekend that the FBI application did refer to a political entity connected to the dossier.... Nunes conceded that a 'footnote' to that effect was included in the application, while faulting the bureau for failing to provide more specifics." ...

... Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly: "Only a couple of weeks ago, Republicans cooked up a conspiracy theory about a so-called 'secret society' at the FBI that was attempting to bring down the Trump administration. But something that got overlooked during the run-up to the release of the Nunes memo indicates that it was actually a group of Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee that had a secret group meeting to undermine the Mueller investigation. This announcement came on the same day the committee voted to release the memo. 'The House Intelligence Committee, led by Republicans, has opened a new investigation into both the Department of Justice and the FBI. Ranking Member Adam Schiff, D-Calif., told reporters the Democratic minority was informed of the apparently new investigations Monday night 'for the first time.' According to committee rules, the majority has to consult with the minority before opening an investigation. Schiff said Monday night there was no such consultation." The Nunes secret society has worked for weeks & continues to do so behind closed doors. ...

... ** Digby has a good piece in Salon on winger hypocrisy: "In an epic example of projection, the party that launched partisan probes for decades now claims to be horrified." ...

... ** Jonathan Chait: "Once again, as the facts have emerged in full, the underlying conclusions [of the Nunes memo] hyped by conservatives have melted away.... But ... the collapse of the factual underpinnings beneath the conservatives' claims left no impression on them whatsoever. There is no sense of chastening or remorse on the right. To the contrary, Republicans retain all of their initial fervor to use the memo to prosecute their targets in the deep state.... Cultivating distrust in institutions that are designed to play a neutral, mediating role is one of the central functions of conservative politics. It is a game that conservatives know how to win, because they are waging asymmetric warfare. There is no good way for an institution to withstand partisan attack when its existence relies upon maintaining some distance from partisanship.... There is no way to refute bad-faith criticism."

Patrick Rucker of Reuters: "Mick Mulvaney, head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has pulled back from a full-scale probe of how Equifax Inc failed to protect the personal data of millions of consumers, according to people familiar with the matter." Mrs. McC: Because protecting Americans' personal data is so wrong.

** Wow! Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Monday denied a request from Pennsylvania Republicans to delay redrawing congressional lines, meaning the 2018 elections in the state will probably be held in districts far more favorable to Democrats. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who hears emergency requests from the state, turned down the petition without obvious objection from his colleagues. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court last month ruled that the state's Republican legislative leaders had violated the state Constitution by unfairly favoring the GOP. Although there are more registered Democrats than Republicans in the state, Republicans hold 13 of 18 congressional seats. It is the most significant victory by critics of the way most congressional and legislative districts are drawn and a sign that their efforts will be felt as early as this fall's midterm elections." Mrs. McC: Thanks, Sam. And I mean that. ...

     ... Barnes spells out why this is a big deal -- and a significant change in Supreme Court "philosophy": "The justices are traditionally reluctant to order changes in an election year, for one thing. And they have never thrown out a state's redistricting plan because they found it so infected with partisan bias that it violates voters' constitutional rights."

*****

Elise Viebeck & Shane Harris of the Washington Post: "Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee dissented Sunday from President Trump's view that corruption has poisoned the special counsel's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. In a sign of a growing rift within the House GOP, four members of the panel dismissed the idea pushed by Trump and other Republicans that a controversial memo criticizing how the FBI handled elements of its Russia probe undermines the investigation led by Robert S. Mueller III into possible coordination between Trump associates and the Kremlin. The memo's release Friday by the Intelligence Committee has raised fears Trump will fire Mueller or Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who oversees the probe. Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), who helped draft the memo, said Trump should not fire Rosenstein and rejected the idea that the document has bearing on the investigation. 'I actually don't think it has any impact on the Russia probe,' Gowdy, who also chairs the House Oversight Committee, said on CBS's 'Face the Nation.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: In fairness to Trump, he had only "a few hours" to read the memo, so he has had to rely on Sean Hannity to find out what it says. (In the linked commentary, Jonathan Chait doubts that "a few hours" alone with a memo is any guarantee he Trump would read it. "(The television isn't going to watch itself)," Chait explains. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Shane Harris: Former CIA Director "John Brennan accused Rep. Devin Nunes (R.-Calif.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, of selectively releasing information to accuse law enforcement officials of improperly obtaining a warrant to monitor the communications of a former Trump campaign adviser. 'It's just appalling and clearly underscores how partisan Mr. Nunes has been,' Brennan said in an interview on NBC's 'Meet the Press.' 'He has abused the chairmanship of [the Intelligence Committee],' Brennan said.... He emphasized that the dossier played 'no role whatsoever' in an assessment by all U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election. He added that intelligence agencies were also developing their own information on Russia's interference 'on multiple fronts' and that the FBI had its own sources of information." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Jonathan Landay & Doina Chiacu of Reuters: "On Monday, the House intelligence panel will consider whether to release a memo from Democratic lawmakers that is expected to outline what they see as flaws in the Republican memo. Two sources told Reuters ... on Sunday that the intelligence committee would consider declassifying the Democratic memo on Monday and making it public. One said the meeting would take place at 5 p.m. (2200 GMT) and that there would be a vote. A Democratic member of the intelligence committee, Representative Michael Quigley, said on Sunday he was concerned that Trump could censor the Democratic memo that must be sent to him for a five-day security review before it is released under the same rule by which the Republican document was made public." ...

... Philip Carter, in Slate: "Trump betrayed the intelligence community to save his own skin.... Trump signaled ... that ... between the integrity of government investigations and his own political interests, he'll choose the latter. If he's willing to overrule his senior intelligence and law enforcement leaders over something so inconsequential and fake as the Nunes/Patel memo, it's frightening to think what he would choose in an actual crisis, when we really need him to put America first." ...

... E.J. Dionne invokes Hannah Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism to put Devin Nunes' memo in context. ...

... Make That "Memos." Jonathan Swan of Axios: "'The memo' -- which pitted the Justice Department against the White House and brought ugly partisan sniping into stark relief -- is only the beginning. Republican sources close to Devin Nunes tell me he's assured them there's much more to come.... Republicans close to Nunes say there could be as many as five additional memos or reports of 'wrongdoing.'... A Republican member briefed on Nunes' investigations told me: 'There are several areas of concern where federal agencies used government resources to try to create a narrative and influence the election. Some have suggested coordination with Hillary Clinton operatives, [Sidney] Blumenthal and [Cody] Shearer, to back up the false narrative.' I'm told the Nunes team has discussed producing additional reports or disclosures that don't require declassification." ...

This Week in Wingnutia. Republicans have increasingly claimed that the memo written by GOP staff members of the House Intelligence Committee, which was declassified by President Trump on Friday, shows how the FBI conspired with Democrats to interfere in the election and even spy on the Trump campaign. [For instance:]

#FISAMemo shows real collusion between Dem operatives & key officials at the FBI & DOJ to spy on the #Trump campaign & interfere in the 2016 election. The politicization of our intelligence & law enforcement agencies should concern every American. More: https://t.co/ajJzczgB78 -- [Rep.] Raúl R. Labrador [RTP-Id.], February 2, 2018

... The GOP memo provides no evidence that the FBI spied on the Trump campaign. Instead, it shows that the court order for surveillance of Page was obtained weeks after Page and the Trump campaign had said Page was no longer part of the campaign. Trump has asserted that he never even met or spoke to Page. Moreover, the GOP memo confirms that the separate investigation into Russian contacts with the Trump campaign was prompted by information that was not contained in the Steele dossier. One wonders if Republicans making claims of FBI spying on the Trump campaign have even read the memo. -- Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post (Thanks to MAG for the link.) ...

... Juan Cole: "The confident pronouncements by pundits and politicians that the Nunes memo is a dud, dead on arrival, neglect to consider the main tactic of the Republican right wing for some time now. It is a conspiracy theory, and conspiracy theories carried Trump to the White House and many Republicans into Congress or state legislatures.... Nunes and Trump know that Rupert Murdoch's lying Fox Cable News will be happy to become The Nunes Memo Network 24/7. They know that Sinclair radio stations ... will play it up big time. They know that NewsMax and Breitbart and other right wing webzines will beat this drum continually.... They already have 36% of voters and just need to create doubts in or support for Trump in 15% of voters who are independents, and they keep winning politically." --safari ...

... Molly McKew in Politico Magazine: "Russian bots and their American allies gamed social media to put a flawed intelligence document atop the political agenda.... The #releasethememo campaign came out of nowhere. Its movement from social media to fringe/far-right media to mainstream media so swift[ly] that both the speed and the story itself became impossible to ignore. The frenzy of activity spurred lawmakers and the White House to release the Nunes memo, which critics say is a purposeful misrepresentation of classified intelligence meant to discredit the Russia probe and protect the president." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: That is to say, having helped elect Trump, Putin/Russia is now helping to protect him from U.S. law enforcement agencies. Think about that. There is a reason the Founders went out of their way to try to protect the presidency from foreign coups (the president & veep must be native-born). See also Emoluments Clause (a/k/a Title of Nobility Clause). Unfortunately, the Founders could not foresee bots. So congratulations! Many of you have now become subjects of the nation ostensibly ruled by Prince Donaldovich von Putin von Clownstick. The rest of you will be deported.

     ... Update: AND, as safari pointed out in yesterday's Comments, the whole exercise has given Russian intelligence a view of the timeline of the surveillance of Page & thus a good idea of what the U.S. has on him & on the Russians with whom he interacted. This is really why DOJ & FBI officials said releasing the memo was so reckless, & other intelligence officials (like former CIA director Brennan )are so bent out about it.>

... ** Ezra Klein of Vox, reviews How Democracies Die: "Demagogues and authoritarians do not destroy democracies. It's established political parties, and the choices they make when faced with demagogues and authoritarians, that decide whether democracies survive.... '2017 was the best year for conservatives in the 30 years that I've been here,' Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said this week. 'The best year on all fronts.'... If you want to know why congressional Republicans are opening an assault on the FBI in order to protect Trump, it can be found in that comment." Read on. --safari

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "In mid-April, hundreds of members of the payday lending industry will head to Florida for their annual retreat featuring golf and networking at a plush resort just outside Miami. The resort just happens to be the Trump National Doral Golf Club. It will cap a year in which the industry has gone from villain to victor, the result of a concentrated lobbying campaign that has culminated in the Trump administration's loosening regulatory grip on payday lenders and a far friendlier approach by the industry's nemesis, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.... Two weeks ago, [Mick] Mulvaney[, whom Trump installed as the new head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau] put the brakes on a contentious rule, ushered in by [Obama appointee Richard] Cordray, that was set to impose tight restrictions on short-term payday loans." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is just one of a thousand cuts Trump & Co. have used to bleed ordinary Americans. Trump's pretense of populism was the biggest cons ever pulled on a gullible public. But it sure is nice of these chiselers to kick back a little something to Trump by way of their annual confab.

David Sanger & William Broad of the New York Times: "A treaty committing the United States and Russia to keep their long-range nuclear arsenals at the lowest levels since early in the Cold War goes into full effect on Monday. When it was signed eight years ago, President Barack Obama expressed hope that it would be a small first step toward deeper reductions, and ultimately a world without nuclear weapons. Now, that optimism has been reversed. A new nuclear policy issued by the Trump administration on Friday, which vows to counter a rush by the Russians to modernize their forces even while staying within the treaty limits, is touching off a new kind of nuclear arms race.... The Pentagon envisions a new age in which nuclear weapons are back in a big way -- its strategy bristles with plans for new low-yield nuclear weapons that advocates say are needed to match Russian advances and critics warn will be too tempting for a president to use. The result is that the nuclear-arms limits that go into effect on Monday now look more like the final stop after three decades of reductions than a way station to further cuts." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Thanks, generals! Nothing like tempting Trump to go nuclear. Fortunately, I guess, he won't be going nuclear against Russia.

Dan Barry, et al., of the New York Times: "For more than a year, an F.B.I. inquiry into allegations that Lawrence G. Nassar, a respected sports doctor, had molested three elite teenage gymnasts followed a plodding pace as it moved back and forth among agents in three cities.... Nearly a year passed before agents interviewed two of the young women.... The accumulating information included instructional videos of the doctor';s unusual treatment methods, showing his ungloved hands working about the private areas of girls lying facedown on tables. But as the inquiry moved with little evident urgency, a cost was being paid. The New York Times has identified at least 40 girls and women who say that Dr. Nassar molested them between July 2015, when he first fell under F.B.I. scrutiny, and September 2016, when he was exposed by an Indianapolis Star investigation. Some are among the youngest of the now-convicted predator's many accusers -- 265, and counting.... The [FBI's] silence had dire consequences, as the many girls and young women still seeing Dr. Nassar received no warning."

** Julia Manchester of the Hill: "Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Christopher Coons (D-Del.) will introduce immigration legislation on Monday in an effort to reach a budget deal before the federal government's current funding runs out on Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported. The bipartisan piece of legislation provides recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, commonly known as 'Dreamers,' an opportunity for citizenship while ordering a study to figure out what border security measures are needed, according to the Journal. Senate aides told the Journal that the plan would provide people who have resided in the U.S. since Dec. 31, 2013, with legal status and a path to citizenship. The Journal reported that the legislation is similar to House legislation introduced by Reps. Will Hurd (R-Texas) and Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.)." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: On its face, this plan sounds so simple sensible I don't see how it can pass. And giving Trump a "study" is perfect, though I don't suppose he'd settle for that. I'm hearing screams of "Amnesty!" P.S. In case you forgot, the federal government will run out of money again at the end of this week. ...

... Niraj Warikoo of the Detroit Free Press reports on what it's like for one 39-year-old family man to be deported from the U.S. to a country where he hasn't lived since he was 10 years old. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Amy Wang of the Washington Post writes of a chemistry professor, husband & father whom ICE is about to deport. He has lived in the U.S. for 30 years. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: It would appear both of these men could embark on a path to citizenship under the McCain-Coons bill. Since they both apparently have been good citizens for decades, why wouldn't we want them to stay here & continue the life they've built? Well, maybe because these men are not from Scotland, Germany or Norway & we're nasty xenophobes & racists. But other than that.

Congressional Races

Nick Corasaniti & Kate Zernike of the New York Times rehash the case against Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) which federal prosecutors dropped last week after the judge threw out many of the charges, following a mistrial caused by a hung jury. Menendez is up for re-election this year. Mrs. McC: Uh, still not the best candidate.

The Best Candidates. Jay Silverstein of Newsweek: "Arthur Jones, [an Illinois] anti-Semite..., is ... the only GOP candidate for a congressional spot representing parts of Chicago and its suburbs.... His campaign website features a page called 'Holocaust?' that includes a typed note calling the murder of six million Jews by Nazis 'the biggest, blackest, lie in history' and falsely claiming there is no proof of the Holocaust beyond 'a few professional concentration camp survivors.' The website also features a page calling the Confederate flag 'a symbol of White pride and White resistance' and the LGBT rainbow flag 'an attack on traditional Christian morality and religious freedom.' Jones' campaign includes the slogan, 'It's time to put America First!.'... Jones last ran for office in 2016, when he expressed his support for Trump's candidacy, noting that his only concern was that Trump's daughter Ivanka is married to a Jew, Jared Kushner. (He has since said he regrets voting for Trump because the president has 'surrounded himself with hoards of Jews.')... The Illinois Republican Party ... made clear it has no support for the man who seems to destined to represent it this year.... Jones is all but guaranteed to lose in November to one of the Democratic candidates -- incumbent Representative Dan Lipinski or challenger Marie Newman -- since the 3rd Congressional District leans heavily to the left."

Gubernatorial Race

The Best Candidates. Natasha Korecki of Politico: "A new ad that's been denounced as anti-immigrant, 'racist,' 'sexist' and 'transphobic,' is causing an uproar in Illinois, with leaders from both parties calling for its removal. But Republican state Rep. Jeanne Ives, whose campaign produced the ad in her primary election challenge to Gov. Bruce Rauner, is refusing to pull the spot, saying it exposes Rauner's 'betrayal' of GOP voters. The new ad mockingly thanks the governor for clearing a path in support of a series of social issues. Then it taps just about every conservative bogeyman in Illinois politics, and every lightning-rod cultural issue."

The Commentariat -- February 4, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Elise Viebeck & Shane Harris of the Washington Post: "Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee dissented Sunday from President Trump's view that corruption has poisoned the special counsel's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. In a sign of a growing rift within the House GOP, four members of the panel dismissed the idea pushed by Trump and other Republicans that a controversial memo criticizing how the FBI handled elements of its Russia probe undermines the investigation led by Robert S. Mueller III into possible coordination between Trump associates and the Kremlin. The memo's release Friday by the Intelligence Committee has raised fears Trump will fire Mueller or Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who oversees the probe. Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), who helped draft the memo, said Trump should not fire Rosenstein and rejected the idea that the document has bearing on the investigation. 'I actually don't think it has any impact on the Russia probe,' Gowdy, who also chairs the House Oversight Committee, said on CBS's 'Face the Nation.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: In fairness to Trump, he had only "a few hours" to read the memo, so he has had to rely on Sean Hannity to find out what it says. (In the linked commentary, Jonathan Chait doubts that "a few hours" alone with a memo is any guarantee he Trump would read it. "(The television isn't going to watch itself)," Chait explains. ...

... Shane Harris: Former CIA Director "John Brennan accused Rep. Devin Nunes (R.-Calif.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, of selectively releasing information to accuse law enforcement officials of improperly obtaining a warrant to monitor the communications of a former Trump campaign adviser. 'It's just appalling and clearly underscores how partisan Mr. Nunes has been,' Brennan said in an interview on NBC's 'Meet the Press.' 'He has abused the chairmanship of [the Intelligence Committee],' Brennan said.... He emphasized that the dossier played 'no role whatsoever' in an assessment by all U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election. He added that intelligence agencies were also developing their own information on Russia's interference 'on multiple fronts' and that the FBI had its own sources of information." ...

... Molly McKew in Politico Magazine: "Russian bots and their American allies gamed social media to put a flawed intelligence document atop the political agenda.... The #releasethememo campaign came out of nowhere. Its movement from social media to fringe/far-right media to mainstream media so swift[ly] that both the speed and the story itself became impossible to ignore. The frenzy of activity spurred lawmakers and the White House to release the Nunes memo, which critics say is a purposeful misrepresentation of classified intelligence meant to discredit the Russia probe and protect the president." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: That is to say, having helped elect Trump, Putin/Russia is now helping to protect him from U.S. law enforcement agencies. Think about that. There is a reason the Founders went out of their way to try to protect the presidency from foreign coups (the president & veep must be native-born). See also Emoluments Clause (a/k/a Title of Nobility Clause). Unfortunately, the Founders could not foresee bots. So congratulations! Many of you have now become subjects of the nation ostensibly ruled by Prince Donaldovich von Putin von Clownstick. The rest of you will be deported. ...

... Niraj Warikoo of the Detroit Free Press reports on what it's like for one 39-year-old family man to be deported from the U.S. to a country where he hasn't lived since he was 10 years old.

*****

The Gray Lady Removes Her Dainty Gloves. Sharon LaFraniere, et al., of the New York Times: "The war between the president and the nation's law enforcement apparatus is unlike anything America has seen in modern times.... The president has engaged in a scorched-earth assault on the pillars of the criminal justice system in a way that no other occupant of the White House has done. The president's focus on a memo drafted by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee and released on Friday reflected years of conspiracy-minded thinking by Mr. Trump.... At the start of his administration, Mr. Trump targeted the intelligence community for his criticism. But in recent months, he has broadened the attacks to include the sprawling federal law enforcement bureaucracy that he oversees, to the point that in December he pronounced the F.B.I.'s reputation 'in tatters' and the 'worst in history.'" ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Simple mental acuity test notwithstanding, this is the New York Times' news arm -- not the editorial pages -- announcing the POTUS* is nuts. See also Emily Cochrane's story linked late yesterday morning. She pulled no punches, either, on Trump's Lie-o'-the-Day, even tho it was the sort of lie (one in which a measure of judgment is needed as opposed to a cold hard fact, like how many people showed up at an event) to which the paper would have applied the he-said/she-said standard a couple of years back. ...

... Renato Mariotti in a New York Times op-ed: "... Mr. Trump's approval of the release of the [Nunes] memo and his comments that releasing it could make it easier for him to fire [Deputy AG Rod] Rosenstein could help Robert Mueller, the special counsel, prove that Mr. Trump fired James B. Comey, then the F.B.I. director, with a 'corrupt' intent -- in other words, the intent to wrongfully impede the administration of justice -- as the law requires.... The memo also offers the outlines of a broader probable cause case against [former Trump campaign aide Carter] Page.... The fact that the warrant was renewed three times indicates that the F.B.I. obtained useful intelligence each time -- a judge wouldn't have approved a renewal if the prior warrant came up empty.... Because the allegations in the memo are legally irrelevant, I would be surprised if the memo was more than a short-lived publicity stunt." ...

... Massimo Calabresi & Alana Abramson of Time: "Former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page bragged that he was an adviser to the Kremlin in a letter obtained by Time that raises new questions about the extent of Page's contacts with the Russian government over the years. The letter, dated Aug. 25, 2013, was sent by Page to an academic press during a dispute over edits to an unpublished manuscript he had submitted for publication, according to an editor who worked with Page. 'Over the past half year, I have had the privilege to serve as an informal advisor to the staff of the Kremlin in preparation for their Presidency of the G-20 Summit next month, where energy issues will be a prominent point on the agenda,' the letter reads.... 'I just came to see him as a kook,' the editor says." ...

Until now, we could only really accuse House Republicans of ignoring the President's open attempts to block the Russia investigation. But with the release of the Nunes memo ... we can only conclude that House Republicans are complicit in the effort to help the President avoid accountability for his actions and the actions of his campaign. -- Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), in a rebuttal to the Nunes memo ...

... Mike Memoli of NBC News: "NBC News has exclusively obtained a six-page rebuttal to the Nunes memo from Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, which was to be circulated to all House Democrats on Saturday.... Nadler is one of the small number of lawmakers who has viewed the highly sensitive documents that are the basis of Nunes' memo. The rebuttal focuses on four key points.... That [Rep. Devin] Nunes' memo fails to demonstrate that the government lacked enough evidence beyond a dossier from former British spy Christopher Steele to obtain a FISA warrant on [Carter] Page. That Steele's expertise on Russia and organized crime would have outweighed any concerns a FISA court would have had about the funding of Steele's work by partisan actors -- funding sources that Steele may not have even known about. That Nunes' memo 'provides no credible basis whatsoever' for removing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.... That Nunes' memo shows that Republicans 'are now part and parcel to an organized effort to obstruct' [Robert] Mueller's probe." Unlike the Democratic House Intelligence Committee's rebuttal, Nadler's rebuttal does not contain classified information. ...

     ... A pdf of Nadler's memo -- which he describes as a "legal analysis" -- is here. ...

... Rats Clinging to a Stinking Ship. Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "This was the week when the Republican Party finally went all in with President Trump.... The turnaround in the relationship came from two directions.... Big majorities of Republicans said they approved of the job Trump was doing, and his personal ratings were far better than those of [Paul] Ryan, [Mitch] McConnell or any other prominent Republican leader.... The other major turning point came from the inside, with the passage of the tax cut in late December.... The Nunes memo moves the relationship to a different place. Its release puts much of the Republican leadership fully behind the president in his efforts to discredit the Russia investigation.... The fact that the memo's release came with the imprimatur of the House speaker and many other leading Republicans only adds weight to what has become a Trump-led effort to muddy the eventual conclusions of the investigation." ...

... Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "A federal judge told the Department of Justice to explain why the release of the House Intelligence Committee's memo today shouldn't force investigators to acknowledge the existence of more records related to foreign surveillance.... The Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, filed by the James Madison Project and USA Today reporter Brad Heath in April, sought records from the FBI of FISA applications and authorizations for surveillance of the Trump Organization..., Donald Trump, his campaign and associated people. A filing from USA Today's lawyers Friday pointed out that the ate-October 2016 issuance of the FISA warrant on [Carter] Page matched the month that Trump claims the Obama administration started wiretapping his phones at Trump Tower in New York." ...

Katie Rogers & Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times introduce us to the "real author" of the Nunes memo -- Kashyap Patel, a 37-year-old lawyer & screw-up. Patel, for instance, was apparently the catalyst for a federal judge's issuing this "Order of Ineptitude." Mrs. McC: Are we surprised that Devin Nunes picks/attracts the same quality of staff our dear leader hires? ...

... A Note of Caution. Amy Sorkin of the New Yorker: "In the context of FISA, it wouldn't have taken much to get a warrant, with or without [Christopher] Steele, especially given [Carter] Page's business relations in Russia. Although the memo notes that the application was one involving 'probable cause,' under Title I of FISA, rather than the even more lax Section 702 of Title VII, one problem that the memo does illustrate is how easy it is to get permission to spy on Americans; the FISC is non-adversarial and almost never says no. And ... whatever one thinks of Page, any American with whom he had been in contact might have been drawn into the surveillance, too. (The government calls this 'incidental' contact.) Republicans, including [Devin] Nunes, have not been as interested in abuses of FISA that do not involve their President, and recently passed on a chance to reform the standards of Section 702, in particular. (Many Democrats have been absent, too.) But critics of Trump should also not fall into the trap of elevating that process.... Otherwise, they risk landing in the same territory as Trump, who, in a tweet on Thursday, claimed that the 'investigative process' had once been 'sacred' -- until it was directed at him." ...

... Part of the Problem. Judd Legum of ThinkProgress: "Hannity summarized the Nunes memo for his 4 million viewers. Every word is a lie." Most Hannity fans will take him at his word & accept his "summary." Of the few who bother to read the memo, some won't understand it, & some will think they're just not good enough at reading "legal documents" (of which Nunes' memo is not one) to cull from it whatall Hannity has "explained." Not a single Hannity viewer will realize the memo is just smoke-&-mirrors hackery.

Emoluments. Cristina Alesci & Curt Devine of CNN: "An employee for the federal agency supervising the lease for the Trump hotel in Washington spent more than $900 for a stay there last year, according to a document reviewed by CNN -- the first publicly know movement of federal taxpayer dollars into the highly scrutinized business. The federal employee worked for the General Services Administration, the agency which supervises the lease of the Old Post Office building to the Trump Organization. The GSA reimbursed the employee for a majority of the charges, which was in line with the agency's policy on per diem expenses, according to a person familiar with the document.... Multiple other federal agencies have paid Trump companies for lodging or services since Trump's inauguration. CNN previously reported that the US Secret Service paid the Mar-a-Lago Club $63,700 between roughly February and April of 2017. The payments were categorized as hotel costs on government expense forms. In September, the Washington Post credited Property of the People for obtaining a receipt from the US Coast Guard that showed Mar-a-Lago billed the government $1,092 for a two-night stay. That charge was listed as a rack rate, which usually refers to a non-discounted price." Donald Trump can profit personally from these payments....

The Best People, Ctd.

... Juliet Eilperin & Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: "The White House will withdraw its controversial nominee to head the Council on Environmental Quality, Kathleen Hartnett White.... Hartnett White, who once headed the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and now serves as a fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation..., [testified] in the fall before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee ... that while humans probably contribute to current warming, 'the extent to which, I think, is very uncertain.'... Just days before she testified, the federal government released its Climate Science Special Report, a collaboration among more than a dozen agencies that found 'no convincing alternative explanation' other than human influence for the warming the world has experienced in the past 70 years.... In November, more than 300 scientists from around the country signed a letter urging the Senate to reject her confirmation.... Before being nominated, Hartnett White criticized the 2007 Supreme Court decision finding that the federal government had the legal authority to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act.... In 2016, she described carbon dioxide -- emissions of which rank as one of the primary ways human activity contributes to climate change -- as a key asset to the planet." ...

... Aaron Davis & Jack Gillum of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration's nominee to coordinate billions of dollars in assistance to migrants around the world has suggested in social-media posts that Islam is an inherently violent religion and has said Christians in some cases should receive preferential treatment when resettling from hostile areas. In tweets, social media posts and radio appearances reviewed by The Washington Post, Ken Isaacs, a vice president of the Christian relief organization Samaritan's Purse, made disparaging remarks about Muslims and denied climate change -- a driving force behind migration, according to the agency the State Department has nominated him to lead.... Isaacs was announced Thursday as the Trump administration's pick to become director general of the United Nations' International Organization for Migration, or IOM.... Trump's pick could be at risk of being the first U.S. nominee since the late 1960s to lose an election by the group's voting members, according to several people involved in international relief coordination."

The Party of Debt, Ctd. Heather Long of the Washington Post: "The federal government is on track to borrow nearly $1 trillion this fiscal year -- Trump's first full year in charge of the budget. That's almost double what the government borrowed in fiscal year 2017. Here are the exact figures: The U.S. Treasury expects to borrow $955 billion this fiscal year, according to a documents released Wednesday. It's the highest amount of borrowing in six years, and a big jump from the $519 billion the federal government borrowed last year. Treasury [Mrs. McC: that would be Steve Mnuchin] mainly attributed the increase to the 'fiscal outlook.' The Congressional Budget Office was more blunt. In a report this week, the CBO said tax receipts are going to be lower because of the new tax law.... This is the first time borrowing has jumped this much (as a share of GDP) in a non-recession time since Ronald Reagan was president.... Trump didn't mention the debt -- or the ongoing budget deficits -- in his State of the Union address.... Investors are concerned about all the additional borrowing and the likelihood of higher inflation, which is why the interest rates on U.S. government bonds hit the highest level since 2014. That, in turn, partly drove the worst weekly sell-off in the stock market in two years.... [Trump] campaigned on reducing the national debt." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The experts attributed the U.S. stock market plunge last week largely to a low unemployment rate here & abroad, which would lead to higher production costs. My guess is the freefall had more to do with the ballooning U.S. debt -- the opposite of what should happen in a strong economy. Once again, Mnuchin & Wall Street are facing the fact that trickle-down economics is a con -- even if they won't say so. ...

... The Costco Bump. Thanks, Paul! Avi Selk of the Washington Post: "... Saturday morning, by way of good news [about the GOP tax heist, Paul] Ryan's Twitter account shared a story about a secretary taking home a cool $6 a month in tax savings. 'A secretary at a public high school in Lancaster, PA, said she was pleasantly surprised her pay went up $1.50 a week ... she said [that] will more than cover her Costco membership for the year.'... The tweet was deleted within hours, probably guaranteeing it will never be forgotten, and leaving people baffled as to why Ryan ever thought it would make a good advertisement for the tax plan's supposed middle-class benefit. It's true that the bill is stingy to people at the bottom of the pay scale. In fact, the average tax break for someone making $25,400 a year or less happens to be $60 -- the exact price of a Gold Star Costco membership. And it's true that the bill showers money on those in the top income brackets. But between these extremes, millions of workers should see substantial cuts, ranging into the hundreds and thousands of dollars." Twitterworld turned up its sarcasm dial. See also Akhilleus's comment in yesterday's thread.

News Ledes

CNN: "Two people were killed in a crash involving a freight train and an Amtrak passenger train headed to Miami early Sunday in South Carolina, authorities said. In addition to the fatalities, more than 50 people were injured, according to Derrec Becker of South Carolina Emergency Management Division. Amtrak Train 91 was involved in the crash with a CSX freight train about 2:35 a.m. in Cayce. The lead engine and some passenger cars derailed, Amtrak said in a statement." ...

... Washington Post Update: "An Amtrak train en route from New York to Miami collided with a CSX freight train and derailed near Columbia, S.C., early Sunday, leaving two dead and 116 injured, police and Amtrak officials said. The crash occurred at 2:35 a.m. in Cayce, S.C., about four miles southwest of Columbia, causing the lead engine and 'some passenger cars' to derail, Amtrak said in a statement. There were eight crew members and approximately 139 passengers on board, Amtrak said. The CSX train was empty, according to South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R). The two people killed were Amtrak employees, the railroad said. The Lexington County coroner identified the victims as the train's engineer, Michael Kempf, 54, of Savannah, Ga., and conductor Michael Cella, 36, of Orange Park, Fla." ...

... New York Times Update 2: "Amtrak suffered its third high-profile crash in less than seven weeks early Sunday when a passenger train traveling on the wrong track slammed into a stationary freight train in South Carolina, killing two people and intensifying worries about the safety and reliability of passenger rail service in the United States. Although the crash was the subject of a federal inquiry on Sunday, Amtrak's chief executive, Richard H. Anderson, said that a signal system had been down and that dispatchers from another company, CSX, were routing trains at about the time of the wreck. The passenger train, heading south, was diverted onto a rail siding where, while apparently traveling below the speed limit, it crashed into a CSX train that had been loaded with automobiles."