The Commentariat -- July 21, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Green Eggs & A Ham. Matt Flegenheimer & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Facing jeers even from many of his own constituents, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas on Thursday defended his non-endorsement of Donald J. Trump, talking down hecklers at a fractious breakfast forum the morning after his performance onstage upended the Republican National Convention. In an extraordinary display of party division -- at a typically staid Texas state delegation breakfast that is held with the intentions of exemplifying convention-week harmony -- Mr. Cruz strained to manage the vitriol directed his way, stressing that he had not said a cross word about Mr. Trump.... 'I am not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father,' he said...." -- CW

Jim Rutenberg, et al., of the New York Times: "Executives at 21st Century Fox decided to end the tenure of Roger Ailes after lawyers they hired to investigate an allegation of sexual harassment against him took statements from at least six other women who described inappropriate behavior from Mr. Ailes, two people briefed on the inquiry said Wednesday.... In interviews, several current and former Fox News employees said inappropriate comments about a woman's appearance and her sex life were frequent in the newsroom." -- CW

Dom Phillips of the Washington Post: "Brazilian police have arrested 10 people suspected of planning terrorist attacks during the Rio Olympics, Brazilian prosecutors in the southern state of Parana said Thursday. The 10, all Brazilians, had declared loyalty to the Islamic State and were communicating via cellphone messenger services Telegram and WhatsApp to plan attacks during the Summer Games, which open Aug. 5, Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes told reporters in the capital, Brasilia." -- CW

Elaine Ganley & Thomas Adamson of the AP: "The truck driver who killed 84 people on a Nice beachfront had accomplices and appears to have been plotting his attack for months, the Paris prosecutor said Thursday. Prosecutor Francois Molins said five suspects currently in custody are facing preliminary terrorism charges for their alleged roles in helping 31-year-old Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel in the July 14 attack...." -- CW

Max Bearak of the Washington Post: Air strikes on Tuesday -- which may have been led by the U.S. coalition -- killed dozens of Syrians fleeing ISIS, but no ISIS fighters. "If Tuesday's airstrikes were indeed by coalition jets, and not Russian or Syrian government warplanes, this would easily be the highest civilian toll from any action by the coalition since it formed in 2014. Faced with the likelihood of a grave error by the coalition, U.S. officials responded cautiously, emphasizing the need to verify what had happened." -- CW

*****

GOP Convention & Presidential Race

CW: Many of today's ledes are pretty rich.

The New York Times is liveblogging Day 3 of the convention. -- CW ...

... Here's the Washington Post's liveblog. -- CW ...

... Nolan McCaskill of Politico: "Texas Sen. Ted Cruz declined to endorse Donald Trump on Wednesday night during his prime-time Republican National Convention speech, telling voters to 'vote your conscience' in November.... The crowd in the Quicken Loans Arena broke out in chants of 'we want Trump,' to which Cruz replied, 'I appreciate the enthusiasm of the New York delegation.' The audience proceeded to break out in overwhelming boos. As Cruz concluded his speech, cameras cut to Trump arriving in the arena, giving the crowd a thumbs up." -- CW ...

... Patrick Healy & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "The Republican convention erupted into tumult on Wednesday night as the bitter primary battle between Donald J. Trump and Senator Ted Cruz reignited unexpectedly, crushing hopes that the party could project unity. In the most electric moment of the convention, boos and jeers broke out as it became clear that Mr. Cruz -- in a prime-time address from center stage -- was not going to endorse Mr. Trump.... Mr. Trump himself suddenly appear[ed] in the back of the convention hall. Virtually every head in the room seemed to turn from Mr. Cruz to Mr. Trump, who was stone-faced and clearly angry as he egged on delegates by pumping his fist.... Security personnel escorted ... Heidi [Cruz] out of the hall.... The drama overshadowed the appearance of Mr. Pence, who was expected to be the highlight of the convention's third night.... [Later,] when [Mr. Cruz] tried to enter the convention suite of the Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, he was turned away." -- CW ...

... Ed Kilgore: "The man constantly referred to from the podium as the world's greatest negotiator went along with giving his last and strongest rival for the nomination a prime-time speaking gig knowing that Ted Cruz would not endorse him. Cruz took the stage knowing the Trump majority of the crowd would be angered if he conspicuously failed to offer the kind of straight-forward support Marco Rubio had just provided in a short video played on the giant screen in Quicken Arena. This arrangement was difficult to make sense of from either politician's perspective.... Once again, Trump has lost control of his own convention." -- CW ...

... Josh Marshall: "... I believe in my heart that Ted Cruz is an odious weasel.... But that was a singular moment.... He affirmatively not only refused to endorse Trump but exhorted fellow Republicans not to vote for Trump. Yes, he used the coded phrasing 'vote your conscience.' But in context that meant with with crystal clarity: Your Republican identity in no way obligates you to vote for Donald Trump. Rather 'vote your conscience' and do not vote for Donald Trump.... Cruz came into Trump's house, Trump's party and humiliated him." -- CW ...

... Dara Lind of Vox: "Ted Cruz just launched his campaign for the 2020 presidential nomination.... He's making a bet: that Donald Trump will fail catastrophically in November and the Republican Party's next leader will be someone who wasn't implicated in the catastrophe.... What made Cruz's convention speech so remarkable is that during the presidential primary..., Ted Cruz buddied up to Trump.... It all fell apart, of course, as the struggle between the two for the Iowa caucuses dissolved their partnership faster than you can say 'Lyin' Ted.'" -- CW ...

... A "source within the Cruz team" tells winger Ben Shapiro of the Daily Wire that the negative reaction to the Cruz speech "was orchestrated by the Trump campaign to make Senator Cruz a pariah within the party." CW: If so, how very Machiavellian of you Donaldo. Except the Pariah Plot is looking a bit like a backfire.

Gay or straight, the Bill of Rights protects the rights of all of us to live according to our conscience. -- Ted Cruz, convention speech

Ted Cruz believes that, gay or straight, you are protected by the fundamental rights of the constitution, unless you're gay. -- Scott Lemieux, in LG&$

** David Sanger & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump ... said Wednesday that if he were elected, he would not pressure Turkey or other authoritarian allies about conducting purges of their political adversaries or cracking down on civil liberties. The United States, he said, has to 'fix our own mess' before trying to alter the behavior of other nations. 'I don't think we have a right to lecture,' Mr. Trump said in a wide-ranging interview.... 'Look at what is happening in our country,' he said. 'How are we going to lecture when people are shooting policemen in cold blood?' During a 45-minute conversation, he explicitly raised new questions about his commitment to automatically defend NATO allies if they are attacked, saying he would first look at their contributions to the alliance." The transcript of the interview is here.-- CW ...

... Cassandra Vinograd of NBC News: "Donald Trump set off alarm bells in European capitals Thursday after suggesting he might not honor the core tenet of the NATO military alliance.... The comments were perceived by some analysts as carte blanche for Russia to intimidate NATO allies and a potential harbinger of the alliance's collapse were Trump to be elected." -- CW ...

... Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic: "Donald J. Trump, has chosen this week to unmask himself as a de facto agent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, a KGB-trained dictator who seeks to rebuild the Soviet empire by undermining the free nations of Europe, marginalizing NATO, and ending America's reign as the world's sole superpower.... Donald Trump, should he be elected president, would bring an end to the postwar international order, and liberate dictators ... to advance their own interests. The moral arc of the universe is long, and, if Trump is elected, it will bend in the direction of despotism and darkness." -- CW ...

... Jordan Weissman of Slate: In his acceptance speech for the vice-presidential nomination, "Mike Pence said that Donald Trump would stand with our allies right after Donald Trump told the New York Times that he might not stand with our allies." -- CW ...

... Jonathan Chait: "Republicans in Chaos Must Decide Whether to Elect a Madman.... [Donald Trump] is ignorant and has dangerous views completely outside the normal range.... In light of the risks presented by Trump, who might break the rule of law and the democratic form of government, his party has offered a strange message. Rather than tamp down the fears of what he would do, they have inflamed them....[Trump's New York Times interview] retroactively justified [Ted] Cruz's extraordinary decision to take the stage in prime time and decline to endorse his party's nominee, even as boos rained down." -- CW

Maggie HABERMAN: What do you think people will take away from this convention? What are you hoping?

Donald TRUMP: From the convention? The fact that I'm very well liked.

... Greg Sargent: "Trump wants the key takeaway from the whole convention -- including his speech tonight -- to be that people come to appreciate that he is very well liked, specifically, that he is already very well liked. Not that he hopes to spell out his party's vision for America (if you can call it that) with new sweep and clarity." CW: A "madman," you say, Chait? How could you?

This is a joyless convention. The mood among the delegates, I've found, is somewhere between grim resignation and the Donner Party. -- Mike Murphy, top Jeb! advisor ...

... "Donald Trump's Convention Is a Low-Energy Show So Far." Adam Nagourney & Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump came [to Cleveland] promising a nominating convention bursting with glitz, energy, celebrity and the highest of show business production values. Instead, at least for the first two nights, Mr. Trump struggled to stage the biggest show of his political career: his own convention. The party gathering, after an unusually contentious primary season, has been marked by a noticeable absence of energy and swaths of empty seats.... The crowd seemed to come alive only when the subject was not Mr. Trump but Hillary Clinton...." CW: So pleased to see this as the top story (at least for the moment) on the Times' online front page. It should really piss off Mr. Big. ...

... Karen Tumulty & Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "Even before Donald Trump secured the Republican nomination..., [he] was promising that he would put on a convention spectacle unlike any that had ever come before.... 'It's very important to put some showbiz into a convention. Otherwise, people are going to fall asleep,' he [said].... But the Trump Show has yet to dazzle -- and there have been some moments where it has been almost painful to watch." -- CW ...

... Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "... the friends and family members who have said they want the country to know the Donald Trump they know so well have mostly spoken in generalities and bromides.... '[The convention is] an exercise in vanity.... It's not about a serious effort to win an election,'... said Stuart Stevens..., who helped run Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign." CW: Could be because #RealDonaldTrump is #RealObnoxious.

Washington Post Editors: The Republican National Convention "descended to a new low Tuesday night when delegates assembled in Cleveland kept repeating their favorite chant: 'Lock her up! Lock her up!'... 'Embarrassed for my country by this chant,' Stanford University professor (and Post contributor) Michael McFaul tweeted Tuesday. 'Dictatorships lock up the opposition, not democracies.'... New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie led the crowd in a trial by mob Tuesday night, lobbing accusation after accusation at the former secretary of state, asking the crowd after each one to declare her 'guilty or not guilty.' 'Guilty!' was the predictable reply, though nearly all of his charges concerned policy choices, not behavior that was even conceivably illegal.... The 'lock her up' motif rightly heightens fears of how Mr. Trump would govern, given the contempt he has shown for traditional democratic norms and the rank ignorance of the Constitution he has displayed." -- CW

... David Corn of Mother Jones: "'Lock her up! Lock her up!'... This moment marked the culmination of a meme on the right: that Clinton is not a legitimate leader and that her election would not be legitimate. By embracing this theme and placing it center stage at Trumpalooza, Donald Trump and the GOP were undermining, if not threatening, democratic governance.... Minutes after the 'lock her up' chants, defeated GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson linked Clinton to Lucifer (because of a college paper she wrote on leftist organizer Saul Alinsky). And on Wednesday morning, the news broke that a prominent Trump supporter, Al Baldasaro, had declared on a radio show that Clinton deserved to 'be put in the firing line and shot for treason.'... Trump once referred to Baldasaro as 'my favorite vet.' [There's more. See also the WashPo story on Baldasar, linked below.]... Trump has encouraged all this.... This is a perilous moment." -- CW ...

... ** Dana Milbank: "Delegates to the Republican National Convention are divided this week over a crucial question: Should Hillary Clinton be summarily executed? Or merely imprisoned without trial?" -- CW ...

... Rebecca Traister of New York: "The Republican Party wants to return us to a time in which white male authority and power was absolute, in which punishment could be meted out as the majority desired, quelling the threats of minority upstarts.... Even if they are tepid on Trump personally, those Republicans who are [in Cleveland] -- who are speaking nightly, on television, to millions of Americans -- are exhibiting a frothing excitement for the resentments and aggressions he's given them permission to voice openly. It turns out that Donald Trump is far from unique. What we have seen, this week, is the Republican Party offering its stage and its imprimatur to speakers who have ... [been] buoyed and energized by the way in which Trump's candidacy has allowed them to come out as inciters of sexist, racist, violent mob action and xenophobic fearmongering" -- CW

Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: Former ballet dancer "Meredith McIver ... took the blame for the disastrous plagiarism of Michelle Obama in Melania Trump's prime-time speech Monday at the Republican National Convention. In the statement, Ms. McIver, a 65-year-old co-author of several books with Donald J. Trump, said that as she and Ms. Trump were preparing her speech, Ms. Trump mentioned that she admired Mrs. Obama and read to Ms. McIver parts of the first lady's 2008 speech at the Democratic convention. Ms. McIver said she had inadvertently left portions of the Obama speech in the final draft. 'This was my mistake,' she wrote. She wrote that she had offered her resignation, but that the Trumps had rejected it." -- CW ...

... Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump's campaign finally admitted on Wednesday that parts of Melania Trump's convention speech had been plagiarized, releasing a brief statement from the person responsible.... But there's another problem.... The letterhead of the statement [Meredith McIver issued]: The Trump Organization, which is to say Donald Trump's personal business. And ... McIver describes herself: As an employee of the Trump Organization, not the campaign. If Trump used corporate resources to write a political speech, that could be illegal [depending upon the way McIver was paid for her work]." -- CW ...

... P.S. Jim Fallows: The night after Melania Trump "ran into a buzzsaw for misappropriated material," Donald Trump, Jr., delivered a convention speech that recycled bits of a previously-published article by his speechwriter. Without attribution, of course. "... this is something you don't do this way. You don't recycle, without attribution, things you've written and let someone else present them as his or her own words." -- CW

Michelle Goldberg & Chelsea Hassler of Slate: "... anti-Hillary Clinton rhetoric at this week's Republican National Convention ... has been a thematic constant, often overshadowing any and all reference to the Republican nominee himself. It's no surprise, then, that RNC attendees and supporters of the party have followed suit -- but some have taken it to a much baser level, groping at the lowest of low-hanging fruit by attacking Hillary's gender and sexuality." The reporters provide photographic evidence. -- CW

David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "The Secret Service is investigating one of Donald Trump's most outspoken supporters, a New Hampshire state representative who said this week that Hillary Clinton should be shot for treason.... [Al] Baldasaro, a Republican from Londonderry, N.H., is a former Marine who calls himself Trump's 'veteran advisor.'... In May, when Trump criticized the news media for its coverage of his promise to give $1 million to veterans groups, Baldasaro was given a speaking role and a place in the background when Trump spoke.... 'Hillary Clinton should be put in the firing line and shot for treason,' Baldasaro said earlier in the week on ... a conservative radio show.... On Wednesday, Baldasaro stood by those comments in an interview with WMUR of Manchester, N.H.... 'As far as I'm concerned, it is treason and the penalty for treason is the firing squad -- or maybe it's the electric chair now,' Baldasaro said." -- CW ...

... "Meh!" -- Trump Camp. Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "Trump campaign spokesperson Hope Hicks told NH1 News, 'We're incredibly grateful for [Baldasaro's] support, but we don't agree with his comments.'" -- CW

Jane Mayer of the New Yorker: "On Monday..., the day that this magazine published my interview with [Tony] Schwartz, [who ghost-wrote The Art of the Deal,] and hours after Schwartz appeared on 'Good Morning America' to voice his concerns about Trump's 'impulsive and self-centered' character..., the general counsel and vice-president of the Trump Organization, issued a threatening cease-and-desist letter to Schwartz.... On Thursday..., Schwartz said that ... he would make no retractions or apologies. '... It is axiomatic that when Trump feels attacked, he will strike back. That's precisely what's so frightening about his becoming president.'" -- CW ...

He's been trying to get work from me for 30 years. He wrote me letters [asking for work]... I never liked him. -- Donald Trump, yesterday

Schwartz says this is 'totally false,' and that he has made no business overtures to Trump during the last twenty-eight years. Asked last night to provide any evidence that Schwartz had ever sought work from Trump after the publication of 'The Art of the Deal, [Trump attorney Jason] Greenblatt said he could provide none at that moment, but would try to find some soon. -- Jane Mayer, linked above

Calvin Woodward of the AP with a fact-check: "Donald Trump's new running mate and other Republicans are wrongly accusing Hillary Clinton of speaking with indifference about the death of Americans in Benghazi, Libya -- twisting her comments out of context to make their indictment.... At no point has Clinton said -- or even implied -- that it makes no difference whether Americans died in the Benghazi attacks." -- CW ...

... Glenn Kessler & Michelle Lee of the Washington Post also fact-check the bull. -- CW

Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "Mike Pence wasn't pleased with Indiana’s top leaders [-- then-Gov. Evan Bayh (D) & Sen. Dan Coats (R) ---] in the early 1990s as they tried to block out-of-state trash from landing in Hoosier landfills, and ... he wrote an essay comparing their efforts to how Nazi Germany had treated 'politically unpopular' Jews.... Pence ... likened what Bayh and Coats were doing to Nazi leaders as they started seizing the assets of banks owned by Jewish minorities." -- CW

Amy Chozick & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "As Hillary Clinton prepares to make her choice for a vice-presidential candidate, Bill Clinton has privately expressed his support for Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, according to three Democrats briefed on the conversations with the former president this week. Mr. Clinton believes that Mr. Kaine, 58, a former governor and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has the domestic and national security résumé that both appeals to voters and makes him prepared for the presidency." -- CW

Dan Spinelli of Politico: "Six protesters from a pro-Bernie Sanders group were arrested in a sit-in Wednesday in Philadelphia, in what could be an early hint of what's to come once the Democratic Party's convention begins next week, a spokesman for the activists said. The afternoon protest took place at the Center City headquarters of the Democratic National Convention's host committee, which the activists condemned for refusing to release the convention's financial records. The protesters were arrested for disorderly conduct and failure to disperse, but were released shortly afterward and issued civil fines...." -- CW

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Steve M.: Ron Fournier, "the king of Both Sides Do It," asks, "Why is the convention so negative? For the same reasons next weeks' Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia likely will be an anti-Trump orgy."... "Do you see what Fournier does there? He invokes things that have actually happened during the Republican convention, then says they're equivalent to things he thinks Clinton and her supporters will do at the Democratic convention. Voila! Instant false equivalence!" CW: How the hell did Fournier get a job at the Atlantic? Update: Oh, the Atlantic owns the National Journal, which employs Fournier.

Other News & Views

Manny Fernandez & Erik Eckholm of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that Texas' voter identification law, one of the strictest in the country, violated the Voting Rights Act and that the state must find ways to accommodate voters who face hardships in obtaining the necessary documents.... The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, found that the law had a discriminatory effect on blacks and Latinos, who often lack the forms of identification required under the Texas law. But the ruling did not strike down the law entirely, ruling instead that new procedures must be found to assist potential voters lacking the required identification. The ruling also sent back for reconsideration the question of whether Texas legislators had acted with a discriminatory purpose...." CW: The Fifth Circuit is the most conservative in the country. ...

... Reid Wilson of the Hill: "A federal judge in Milwaukee on Tuesday blocked a Wisconsin state law that would have required voters to show a photo identification when casting a ballot in November's presidential election. U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Adelman issued a preliminary ruling allowing voters who do not have photo identification to cast a ballot provided they sign an affidavit attesting to their identity. Voters without identification will have to list a reason they were unable to obtain a document, including lacking a birth certificate, work schedules or disability or illness. CW: Adelman is a Clinton appointee. Thanks to Haley S. for the lead.

Beyond the Beltway

Michael Miller of the Washington Post: "Police in South Florida shot an unarmed black caretaker Monday as he tried to help his autistic patient. Charles Kinsey was trying to retrieve a young autistic man who had wandered away from an assisted living facility and was blocking traffic when Kinsey was shot by a North Miami police officer. In cell phone footage of the incident that emerged Wednesday, Kinsey can be seen lying on the ground with his hands in the air, trying to calm the autistic man and defuse the situation.... 'All he has is a toy truck in his hand,' Kinsey can be heard saying in the video as police officers with assault rifles hide behind telephone poles approximately 30 feet away.... 'There is no need for guns,' [Kinsley tells the police].... Seconds later, off camera, one of the officers fired his weapon three times. A bullet tore through Kinsey's right leg.... Kinsey said he was even more stunned by what happened afterwards, when police handcuffed him and left him bleeding on the pavement for 'about 20 minutes.'" ...

     ... CW: Just when you think police violence can't get worse, you find out it's now a capital offense to help the disabled while black.

Way Beyond

Ben Hubbard & Ceylan Yeginsu of the New York Times: "Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, declared a three-month state of emergency on Wednesday that gave the state extra powers to pass laws as the authorities pursue individuals suspected of attempting to topple his government." -- CW

Recep Tayyip Trump

Contributor Ken W. sees the link between these two stories, both currently appearing in today's top Reuters reports:

"Erdogan targets more than 50,000 in purge after failed Turkish coup" and

"Trump could seek new law to purge government of Obama appointees."

In her lede, Reuters' Emily Flitter has that "could" as a "would":

If he wins the presidency, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump would seek to purge the federal government of officials appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama and could ask Congress to pass legislation making it easier to fire public workers, Trump ally, Chris Christie, said on Tuesday.

Christie, who ... leads Trump's White House transition team, said the campaign was drawing up a list of federal government employees to fire....

'As you know from his other career, Donald likes to fire people,' Christie told a closed-door meeting with dozens of donors at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, according to an audio recording obtained by Reuters and two participants in the meeting.

Trump's transition advisers fear that Obama may convert these [political] appointees to civil servants, who have more job security than officials who have been politically appointed. This would allow officials to keep their jobs in a new, possibly Republican, administration, Christie said.

'It’s called burrowing,' Christie said. 'You take them from the political appointee side into the civil service side, in order to try to set up ... roadblocks for your successor, kind of like when all the Clinton people took all the Ws off the keyboard when George Bush was coming into the White House.'

We're not Turkey -- yet. While Christie's proposed purge does not rise to the level of Ergodan's purges, it is alarming nonetheless. As Christie says, there is a tradition of "burrowing" some political appointees into the civil service. However, those who are transitioned into civil service jobs are hardly Cabinet-level appointees or undersecretaries. Rather, they're functionaries who do the gruntwork of government. Moreover, the Office of Personnel Management routinely sets guidelines and reviews the suitability of each political appointee the administration proposes to convert to a civil servant. So there are strict limits on the extent of the "problem" Christie plans to "fix."

Christie himself is the King of Cronies (which is why we got "Bridgegate" and related indictments) in a state infamous for its tradition of political corruption. Christie's purpose would seem to be to ensure that he & Trump don't miss a single chance to give some useful hack a desk in Washington.

In addition, Christie "justifies" his proposed with a false equivalency. (I'm sure that surprises you.) He claims his purge will prevent minor vandalism/sabotage "kind of like when all the Clinton people took all the Ws off the keyboard." First, "all the Clinton people" did not take "all the Ws" off the keyboards. An initial GAO investigation found no evidence of widespread pranking and concluded that "the condition of the real property was consistent with what we would expect to encounter when tenants vacate office space after an extended occupancy." Only when confederate then-Rep. Bob Barr (Georgia) demanded a more thorough investigation did a subsequent GAO investigation turn up the Ws-off-the-keyboards claim. (No doubt much of the GAO's "evidence" was based on testimony by Bush appointees.) The second GAO report also considered the problem minor & said it occurred mostly in the Executive Office Building, not in the White House.

But here's the thing. It is most likely that the Clinton pranksters, whoever they were, were political appointees who lost their jobs -- that is, ones whom the Clinton administration had not "burrowed" in. If you still had a job _here you had to type reports & memos, etc., _ould you remove the '_' from your keyboard? I didn't think so. 

So here we have bully-in-charge Chris Christie, evidently with the approval of Donald Trump, planning to urge Congress to write new law with the purpose of making it easier for a Trump administration to purge experienced federal employees and replace them with Trump loyalists. To that end, Christie is "drawing up a list," which well may remind you of Richard Nixon's dark-side "enemies list." And Christie's team has begun this effort months before the election. Should Trump win, one has to wonder how long the list of Trump "enemies" would be by the time of the inauguration.

Should Americans be worried about this pre-emptive, authoritarian urge-to-purge? I think so.

The Commentariat -- July 20, 2016

GOP Convention & Presidential Race

Alexander Burns & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "... the gap between Mr. Trump and the party he now aims to lead yawned as wide as ever across the convention. At times, the only unifying appeals -- the only themes truly capable of rallying the Republican Party, even briefly -- were ominous denunciations of Hillary Clinton.... In the roll call vote that began the night, formally marking Mr. Trump's capture of the Republican nomination, 721 delegates cast their votes for candidates other than Mr. Trump -- the most significant expression of party dissent since 1976, when Republicans had a contested convention.... For the second consecutive night, long stretches of the program were desultory, and the convention floor emptied out well before the speeches ended." (See Adam Nagourney's illustration below.) -- CW ...

He's a Regular Guy -- He Hangs with Mobsters! He didn't hide out behind a desk in an executive suite. He spent his career with regular Americans. He hung out with the guys at construction sites ... pouring concrete and hanging sheetrock. -- Donald Trump, Jr., on his humble sheetrocker Dad

Maybe Junior shouldn't have mentioned the concrete-pouring inasmuch as Donald Sr. got that done only because he let mobsters do the work. -- Constant Weader

... Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "The convention's second-day program was choreographed to promote party unity under the banner, 'Make America Work Again,' but there were sparse references to economic policies. Instead, convention viewers were served scattered messages, underscoring the party's discomfort with Donald Trump.... The case for Trump is increasingly being framed as little more than an opportunity to fend off [Hillary] Clinton...." -- CW ...

...Jonathan Freedland of the Guardian: "We now know how Donald Trump will take on Hillary Clinton this autumn -- by framing her as a criminal who should be sent not to the White House, but to jail. Trump had already signalled as much via the two-word label he likes to hang around the neck of his Democratic opponent: Crooked Hillary. But the Republican convention in Cleveland, which on Tuesday formally nominated Trump as its presidential candidate, has given colour and shape to that strategy. Now we know how it will look and sound." --safari

... Unable to eschew the spotlight, Donald Trump beamed himself into the convention via the Jumbotron:

Michael Shear & Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times: Donald Trump "formally took control of the Republican Party on Tuesday as delegates to the convention here officially chose him as their nominee.... The State of New York cast its delegates for Mr. Trump just after 7 p.m. Tuesday, giving him the majority of delegates and crushing, once and for all, the panicked efforts of the 'Never Trump' movement inside the Republican Party establishment." -- CW ...

... Karen Tumulty, et al., of the Washington Post: "Trump's clinching votes were cast by his own son, Donald Trump Jr., who spoke for the New York delegation. 'It is my honor to be able to throw Donald Trump over the top in the delegate count tonight,' he said. 'Congratulations, Dad, we love you!'... At about 8:10 p.m., after Alaska's votes had been sorted out, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wisc.) announced the official results. Trump, he said, 'has been selected as the Republican Party nominee for president of the United States.' Shortly afterward, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence was named the Republican Party's vice-presidential nominee...." ...

... A Chip off the Old Blockhead, Junior "throws Dad over the top":

... The Post has live updates here. This is the lede to the entry at 9:55 pm ET: "New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie briefly tried to turn the Republican National Convention into a courtroom as he delivered a scathing attack on Hillary Clinton's record as secretary of state. The former prosecutor ... argue[d] that Clinton had failed badly in her handling of Libya, China, Syria, Iran and other places across the globe. He enlisted the participation of the crowd, repeatedly asking them: 'Guilty or not guilty?' 'Guilty!' the audience screamed back. They also broke into chants of 'Lock her up! Lock her up!' several times." -- CW ...

... David Smith of the Guardian: Christie created "a mood of mob justice." -- CW ...

Trump convention planners are doing something wrong. This is a primetime shot of the hall. Empty. pic.twitter.com/q2vXXLjQSw

— adam nagourney (@adamnagourney) July 20, 2016

... Charles Pierce: "The [Trump] campaign was inevitable. The ground has been prepared for it for almost five decades. The ground was prepared when the Republican Party married itself to the flotsam of American apartheid. The ground was prepared when the Republican Party married itself to a politicized form of American Protestantism.... The ground was prepared when the Republican Party divorced itself from the proudest elements of its historical identity..., most critically, the party's dedication to some form of racial equality that was its founding purpose in the first place.... Sooner or later, as Mary Shelley warned the world, the monster always breaks the chains." -- CW

Donald's Coalition. Brad Reed of Raw Story: "You can live stream the Republican National Convention on the RNC's official YouTube page, but you can't chat about it live anymore.... The Republicans have now disabled the live chat window on the page after it got overrun by anti-Semitic Trump supporters. As former Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle gave a speech promoting inroads that Republicans have made with Jewish voters, as well as ripping the Democrats for allegedly being more hostile to Israel, Trump's alt-right followers flooded the page with anti-Semitic vitriol." --safari (Also linked yesterday.) ...

Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time-Players Get Caught Plagiarizing Rival. Hilarity Ensues. Louis Nelson of Politico: "Trump campaign does damage control after Melania plagiarism charges." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... CW: Make that "damage control." The campaign put out several conflicting stories; e.g., Melania said she wrote the speech; the campaign said she didn't. Corey Lewandowski -- still being paid by the Trump campaign but also working for CNN -- shadowboxed with rival & current campaign mismanager Paul Manafort. Manafort, for his part, mounted a baldly ludicrous defense: "This is once again an example of when a woman threatens Hillary Clinton, how she seeks out to demean her and take her down." That is, when numerous reporters & some Republicans, including the RNC chair, point out that Mrs. Trump copied Mrs. Obama's speech, somehow Hillary Clinton masterminded the whole thing. Wow! Hillary would be a powerful president! Here's another funny defense: "Manafort said the similarities between the two speeches were limited to just three sections and 'fragments of words.'" Fragments of words? Like Michelle said "family" & Melania said "fam"? Or what? ...

... ** Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "The possibility that Ms. Trump's remarks had been plagiarized cast a cloud over the second day of the Republican National Convention and laid bare lingering tensions within the party surrounding the nomination of Donald J. Trump, whose campaign continues to be plagued by stumbles and infighting despite several reboots. The disarray was evident as Mr. Trump's campaign and senior Republicans offered conflicting explanations for the similarities in the speeches, with some officials conceding that the passages were lifted and demanding accountability, and others arguing that nothing untoward had occurred. Among Mr. Trump's aides, there was a palpable sense of frustration that Ms. Trump's speech, which they considered a highlight of the evening, had become a cause for embarrassment." CW: This is a straight news report. ...

... ** It Was Melania's Fault. Maggie Haberman & Michael Barbaro: The Trump campaign hired two former George W. Bush "speechwriters, Matthew Scully and John McConnell, [to write Melania Trump's speech. They] sent Ms. Trump a draft last month.... Ms. Trump ... began tearing it apart, leaving a small fraction of the original. Her quiet plan to wrest the speech away and make it her own [CW: or rather, Michelle Obama's] set in motion the most embarrassing moment of the convention.... It was, by all accounts, an entirely preventable blunder.... [It] reinforces dominant themes of Mr. Trump's campaign...: a deliberately bare-bones campaign structure, a slapdash style and a reliance on the instincts of the candidate over the judgments of experienced political experts, like Mr. Scully and Mr. McConnell." CW: It seems Melania & a ballet-dancer friend did "research for the speech" by reviewing [make that copying & pasting] "previous convention speeches delivered by candidates' spouses." ...

... Rebecca Traister of New York: "... the words that came out of [Melania's] mouth were empty, meaningless. If she had really paid attention to Michelle's speech from 2008, what she should have taken from it was a lesson about the power of narrative specificity: Michelle told detailed, intimate stories of her life as a young person and her life as a wife and mother, details that shed light on her life, her personality, the nature of her relationship with her husband." -- CW ...

... The Speech That Keeps on Giving. David Frum in the Atlantic: "The incident throws a harpoon into the heart of the Trump campaign's racial politics. Trump's message: Non-white people are ripping off hard-working white Americans who play by the rules. 'They' cheat; 'we' lose. Could there be a sharper reversal of that racialized complaint than Melania Trump in her designer dress stealing Michelle Obama's heartfelt words?" And ..."In 2008, Michelle Obama summed up the values that she had learned from her parents and that she and Barack Obama now tried to instill in their children: work hard; tell the truth; keep your promises; treat others with dignity and respect. Donald Trump epically does not tell the truth, does not keep his promises, and does not treat others with dignity and respect. A plagiarized speech (and the failure to detect the plagiarism) pretty strongly confirms that the Trumps do not much care about hard work, either." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Akhilleus: As with another seemingly innocuous blunder years ago when a group of clowns were nabbed trying to break into a room at the Watergate Hotel, the Plagiarized Speech could have long-lasting--and historic--ramifications. At least we hope so. ...

... Callum Borchers of the Washington Post: "... whoever wrote/copy-pasted Trump's speech figured the journalists covering the convention wouldn't notice. That turned out to be true. But the aide responsible for the speech didn't account for the out-of-work reporter [31-year-old Jarrett Hill, who was watching] in an L.A. Starbucks" and tweeted out reports of the plagiarism. -- CW

Robert Draper, in the New York Times Magazine, on how Trump whittled down his vice-presidential list -- with a lot of help from potential candidates who begged off. -- CW

The Amazing Donaldo. He Don't Need No Stinkin' Money! Jay Newton-Small of Time reports: "On a bright sunny Tuesday morning, the Trump Leadership Council gathered at FirstEnergy Stadium for their second official meeting. The group of 40 CEOs and top executives had flown to Cleveland to attend the Republican National Convention and meet with the nominee presumptive, billionaire businessman Donald Trump...and Trump never showed..., [underlining] to at least a few council members that he doesn't view meeting with them as a priority." -- Akhilleus (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

Other News & Views

** MEANWHILE, in Today's Other Train Wreck. John Koblin & Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times: Roger "Ailes and 21st Century Fox, Fox News's parent company, are in the advanced stages of discussions that would lead to his departure as chairman, Susan Estrich, one of Mr. Ailes's lawyers, said in an interview on Tuesday.... Rupert Murdoch, who was on vacation with his wife, Jerry Hall, on the French Riviera, had been in constant telephone contact with his sons, James and Lachlan, on the matter, according to a person familiar with the discussions." -- CW ...

... Gabriel Sherman of New York: "As a chorus of prominent Fox News women have gone public defending Roger Ailes against the wave of sexual-harassment allegations sparked by former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson's lawsuit, the network's biggest star, Megyn Kelly, has been conspicuously silent.... According to two sources briefed on parent company 21st Century Fox's outside probe of the Fox News executive..., Kelly has told investigators that Ailes made unwanted sexual advances toward her about ten years ago when she was a young correspondent at Fox. Kelly, according to the sources, has described her harassment by Ailes in detail." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Roxanna Hegeman of the Washington Post: "The American Civil Liberties Union filed a class-action lawsuit Tuesday seeking to block a two-tiered election system that would require Kansas election officials to throw out thousands of votes in state and local races from people who registered at motor vehicle offices or used a federal form without providing documents proving U.S. citizenship.... The rule, sought by Secretary of State Kris Kobach, would remain in effect through Nov. 8, the date of the general election. If that action is allowed to stand, thousands of Kansas voters will be denied their right to vote in state and local elections in a year when all 165 seats of the Kansas Legislature are up for election, the ACLU argued." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Akhilleus: All the hoopla surrounding the Daily Donaldo foibles conveniently draws attention from the fact that Republicans have been winding up their election rigging machine once again. Who needs money if you can screw with voters and deny them the chance to vote against your guy? Or in the case of Kansas, all your guys.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. -- John, Baron Acton ...

... Worser & Worser. Ceylan Yeginsu of the New York Times: "The Turkish authorities extended their purge of state institutions on Tuesday, suspending more than 15,000 employees of the education ministry for suspected links to a failed military coup last week. Shortly after the suspensions were announced, the High Education Board ordered the resignation of more than 1,500 deans from universities across the country and revoked the licenses of 21,000 teachers, Turkish officials said." -- CW

News Lede

New York Times: "If one were to count up the number of times any American -- or maybe anyone anywhere -- laughed in the last half-century, the person responsible for more of those laughs than anyone else might well be Garry Marshall, who died on Tuesday in Burbank, Calif. He was 81.... It would be difficult to overstate Mr. Marshall's effect on American entertainment. His work in network television and Hollywood movies fattened the archive of romantic, family and buddy comedies and consistently found the sweet spot in the middle of the mainstream." -- CW