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The Commentariat -- March 22, 2016
If you are interested in taking over Reality Chex -- that is, owning it to do with as you will -- please contact me. I am looking forward to discontinuing my work on the site but would like to see it continue "under new management." I'll help you get started. Thank you to all who have contributed over the years. -- Constant Weader
Alissa Rubin, et al., of the New York Times: "A series of deadly terrorist attacks struck Brussels on Tuesday, with two explosions at the city's main international airport, and a third in a subway station at the heart of the city. According to news agencies, 13 people were killed at the airport, and 15 in the subway bombing, while 30 others were wounded. Prime Minister Charles Michel of Belgium said there were 'numerous' dead. 'We were fearing terrorist attacks, and that has now happened,' he said. At least one of the two explosions at the airport appeared to have been set off by a suicide bomber, officials said."
The Guardian's liveblog of developments is here. New York Times live updates are here.
Nolan McCaskill of Politico: "President Barack Obama has been briefed about the series of explosions that tore through Brussels on Tuesday morning, leaving at least 27 people dead and dozens more wounded.... He is giving a speech later on Tuesday morning at the Grand Teatro in Havana and is expected to address the attacks then.... Secretary of State John Kerry was closely monitoring the situation, the State Department said in its own statement, and extended his condolences to the victims.... The Justice Department said Attorney General Loretta Lynch has also been briefed about the activity in Brussels."
President Obama spoke in Cuba about the terror attacks in Brussels:
Nolan McCaskill: "The Islamic State is winning, a former CIA deputy director under President Barack Obama said Tuesday in reaction to the terrorist attacks in Belgium. Michael Morell, who has served as acting CIA director twice, outlined the Islamic State's goals: to spread its ideology and caliphate to other parts of the world while also creating fear in the West with its attacks -- the latter being an action it carried out Tuesday when a series of explosions struck Brussels, the Belgian capital. While the U.S. is having success diminishing the Islamic State's caliphate in Syria, Morell said, the terror group is 'growing rapidly in the rest of the world.'"
This is a subject that is very dear and near to my heart, because I've been talking about it much more than anybody else. And it's probably why I'm number one in the polls. -- Donald Trump, this morning on NBC's "Today" show ...
... Alex Shepard of the New Republic: Donald Trump reacted to the Brussels terrorist attacks by talking about his poll numbers. "And, when pressed by Today's Matt Lauer, he said that if it were up to him, Paris terror suspect Salah Abdeslam would have been tortured, or worse."
*****
Juliet Eilperin & Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "President Obama addressed the Cuban people directly for the first time Tuesday morning, saying he had come 'to bury the last remnant of the Cold War in the Americas.' The address in Havana's newly renovated Gran Teatro, before an audience of invited guests of the U.S. and Cuban governments, represented the keystone event in Obama's 21 / 2-day visit to the island. Speaking before Cuban President Raúl Castro and other government dignitaries, Obama outlined his vision of the future to ordinary citizens here, and to Cuban Americans at home": ...
Karen DeYoung & Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "In an extraordinary news conference Monday afternoon, President Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro sparred over human rights, the Guantanamo prison and their views of their own countries and the world, even as both hailed Obama's historic visit here as a new step in normalizing relations. The event was marked by a jarring juxtaposition of diplomatic formality and public jousting, as Castro responded to questions from American reporters by either ignoring them or dismissing them as misguided. At one point, he challenged a U.S. journalist to 'give me a name' of any alleged political prisoner here. For his part, Obama seemed to relish the opportunity to display his comfort in discussing both the things they agreed on, and those they did not. The public exchange was virtually unprecedented in Cuba":
... Paul Waldman: "Meanwhile, somewhere in Miami, Marco Rubio explained to the guy delivering his pizza why this trip was a terrible idea." ...
... Julie Davis & Damien Cave of the New York Times: "President Obama and President Raúl Castro discussed a path toward normalizing relations, a shift begun in late 2014 when, in a stunning announcement, they embarked on the restoration of full diplomatic relations." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
... Sara Jerde of TPM: "The conservative blogosphere had a collective melt down after President Barack Obama took a picture in front of a mural of Cuban revolutionary leader Che Guevara on Monday in Havana's Revolution Plaza.... The Washington Examiner wrote that the picture created a 'fresh wave of fury.' The Drudge Report splashed the photo across its homepage with the caption 'Mission Accomplished.'"
... Steve Benen: "... when presidents travel abroad, sometimes they're photographed with politically controversial images in the background. Ronald Reagan was seen in 1988 delivering comments below a Vladimir Lenin bust and the USSR's flag.... The image drew no meaningful criticisms from Democrats. George H.W. Bush was pictured -- more than once -- in front of a Mao portrait in China. It wasn't a big deal, either." ...
... THEN AGAIN, Charles Pierce reproduces a picture of "President Reagan presid[ing] over a wreath-laying ... at the base of a brick cemetery tower looming over the graves of nearly 2,000 German soldiers, including 49 SS troops." (Second link is to contemporaneous NYT report.) That's different:
Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "The FBI may have found a way without Apple's assistance to unlock the iPhone used by one of the shooters in the San Bernardino terrorist attack, Justice Department officials said Monday. Less than 24 hours before a highly-anticipated hearing over access to the phone was set to begin, Justice Department lawyers requested a delay. A federal judge agreed to postpone the oral arguments in which Apple and the U.S. government were set to face off over whether a court could force Apple to help the FBI unlock the phone."
New York Times Editors: "The refusal by Senate Republicans to consider the nomination of Judge Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court vacancy has rightly prompted indignation. But it is only the most glaring example of unreasonable intransigence by lawmakers who have turned the process of appointing senior federal officials into a political game.... Beyond having crucial positions unfilled, the bruising nomination battles are making senior government jobs unappealing to the most qualified and sought-after individuals."
Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "The Justice Department has closed its espionage investigation into the former American diplomat Robin L. Raphel and will file no charges, her lawyer said Monday, ending a case that had put her under a cloud of suspicion over her ties to Pakistan for more than a year. F.B.I. agents raided Ms. Raphel's home and office in 2014, looking for evidence that she was spying for Islamabad, which Ms. Raphel adamantly denied. 'It was clear from the outset that this investigation was based on a fundamental misunderstanding,' Amy Jeffress, a lawyer for Ms. Raphel, said in a statement that sharply criticized government officials for revealing details of the investigation to reporters."
Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar of the AP: "There's growing evidence that most of the dramatic gain in the number of Americans with health care coverage is due to President Barack Obama's law, and not the gradual recovery of the nation's economy. The health care law has been difficult to navigate for consumers, and its skinny policies can expose patients to high medical bills. But it's becoming a backstop for millions of Americans in a changing economy.... That could pose a political risk for Republicans running against 'Obamacare' in the GOP primaries as they shift to the general election later this year.... Hillary Clinton has already previewed how Democrats might use the issue this fall, frequently reminding voters they risk losing some popular benefits if the health care law is eliminated. Meanwhile, a nonpartisan analysis of Trump's initial outline for repealing and replacing the health care law found it would push millions back into the 'uninsured' category."
A Show about Nothing. Lauren French of Politico: "Call it the Seinfeld Congress -- all about nothing. It's gotten so small-ball that one congressman, a chairman of a highly influential committee, introduced legislation last week to recognize the national significance of magic. 'It doesn't surprise me at all. They are going to need magic to save their party,' joked Rep. Steve Israel of New York, who heads the House Democrats' messaging arm. 'The American people are used to a Republican do-nothing Congress, they are now getting used to a Republican ridiculous Congress.' All this non-activity comes as the House is set to take a nearly three-week vacation. The Senate skipped town last week."
Justin Gillis of the New York Times: "The nations of the world agreed years ago to try to limit global warming to a level they hoped would prove somewhat tolerable. But a group of leading climate scientists warned on Tuesday that permitting a warming of that magnitude would actually be highly dangerous."
Presidential Race
Both parties are holding presidential primaries in Arizona today, & caucuses in Utah. Democrats caucus in Idaho, & Republicans hold a convention in American Samoa.
Stephen Collinson of CNN: "On the eve the next 2016 contests, each of the remaining presidential candidates appeared Monday night on CNN to take on issues ranging from foreign policy to their own political futures." The page includes video clips & reported highlights.
Anthony Salvanto, et al., of CBS News: "More than half of voters have unfavorable views of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump; each has a net negative rating in the double-digits.... Trump and Clinton's unfavorable ratings (57 percent and 52 percent respectively) are the highest in CBS News/New York Times Polls going back to 1984, when CBS began asking this question." CW: If this translates into low voter turnout in November, as I suspect it will, that's bad for Democrats.
Paul Waldman: "... while [Bernie Sanders] probably won't be president, given the place where he started, that isn't anything like the failure it is for a different kind of candidate. No one expected Sanders to get as far as he did -- maybe not even Sanders himself. When the campaign is over, he'll have a lot of reasons to call it a success."
Dan Merica of CNN: "Bill Clinton, while campaigning for his wife in Spokane, Washington, on Monday, seemingly knocked President Barack Obama's legacy in a riff that his aides said was unintended. 'If you believe we can rise together, if you believe we've finally come to the point where we can put the awful legacy of the last eight years behind us and the seven years before that where we were practicing trickle-down economics, then you should vote for her,' the former president said about his wife.... A Bill Clinton aide later clarified that the former President was 'referring to the GOP's obstructionism and not President Obama's legacy.'" ...
... Gaffe Clean-up. Nolan McCaskill: "Hillary Clinton's campaign early Tuesday morning pushed back against reports that former President Bill Clinton called President Barack Obama's policies 'awful,' insisting that only Bernie Sanders' campaign would openly attack the sitting president.... on Monday night [Sanders] said he didn't know that he'd 'call President Obama's 72 straight months of job growth an "awful legacy."'"
Mark Landler & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Hillary Clinton pledged on Monday that she would stand unyieldingly with Israel and warned that her potential Republican rival, Donald J. Trump, would be an unreliable partner for one of America's closest allies. In a rock-ribbed speech in Washington that previewed how she might confront Mr. Trump on foreign policy in a general-election campaign, Mrs. Clinton said, 'We need steady hands, not a president who says he's neutral on Monday, pro-Israel on Tuesday, and who-knows-what on Wednesday.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Charles Pierce: "It was as remarkably hawkish an address as HRC has delivered during this campaign, and it was an indication that pivoting toward the general election and pivoting toward 'the middle' are not necessarily the same things. It also was an indication of how tough she's going to be on He, Trump if the two wind up running against each other." ...
... ** Paul Waldman: "What was striking is how Clinton positioned herself to Trump’s right on the issue of Israel and the Palestinians.... She's unlikely to pay any real price for having nothing to say on Israel that is at all encouraging to anyone who wants a lasting peace. Maybe that's just being realistic. But it's still nothing to cheer about." ...
... Michelle Boorstein & Julie Zauzmer of the Washington Post: At AIPEC, "Slams on Iran, President Obama and Hillary Clinton triggered applause. But not only that. Hundreds of rabbis and others stood in separate groups once [Donald] Trump took the podium and simply walked out in protest, activists said. Many went directly to locations at the Verizon Center to pray and study Torah." When Trump criticized Obama, the crowd was "ROARING with applause," according to Ben Silverstein of J Street. ...
... Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump expressed his solidarity with Israel in passionate terms on Monday, promising a gathering of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee that as president he would always stand up for it against its enemies in the Middle East.... He assailed the United Nations and the Obama administration for failing to side with Israel and promised to take a hard line against Iran." ...
... Eric Levitz of New York: "Trump opened his speech by saying, 'I'm not here to pander to you about Israel.' As with so many of the Donald's statements, this turned out to be less than true. The GOP front-runner touted his experience in defending Israel -- experience that apparently consists of lending Rudy Giuliani his plane and heroically agreeing to serve as the grand marshal of a pro-Israel parade in 2004. He then pledged his animosity for AIPAC's sworn enemies -- Iran, the United Nations and Barack Obama." ...
... Sarah Posner in the Week: "Israel Hayom, the free daily newspaper owned by Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, appears to be on a mission to make ... Donald Trump palatable to the Israeli public. In the so-called Adelson primary, Trump, who has boasted that he'd never let a Jew buy him off, is not angling for Adelson's generous campaign contributions. He just wants his fawning press coverage."
Under the Lion's Mane, a Gentle Pussycat. Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "On the campaign trail, Donald Trump's foreign policy smacks of bluster and bellicosity. He is, as he often says, ready to 'knock the hell out of ISIS.' But that kind of rhetoric appears to mask a far different philosophy, that of an inward-looking politician whose views represent a dramatic break with years of Republican Party orthodoxy. From the Middle East to Europe to Asia, Trump's instincts appear shaped by his belief that too much has been asked of the United States and that it's time for other nations to shoulder a far bigger share of the financial and other burdens of dealing with a world of dangerous terrorists and aggressive states such as Russia and China." ...
... The full transcript of the Q&A is here. The Guardian has a summary here. CW: My debate advice to Hillary or Bernie: When you walk out on the stage & shake hands with Trump, say, "My, what small hands you have!" He'll go Rumplestiltskin...
... Washington Post Editors: "... his answers left little doubt how radical a risk the nation would be taking in entrusting the White House to him. There was, first, a breezy willingness to ignore facts and evidence.... No one can match the chasm between his expansive goals and the absence of proposals to achieve them." ...
... Philip Rucker & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump revealed part of his foreign policy advisory team and outlined an unabashedly noninterventionist approach to world affairs during a wide-ranging meeting Monday with The Washington Post's editorial board.... Trump said that U.S. involvement in NATO may need to be significantly diminished in the coming years, breaking with nearly seven decades of consensus in Washington." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Team of Crackpots. Missy Ryan of the Washington Post follows up. Here's the headline: "One of Trump's foreign policy advisers is a 2009 college grad who lists Model UN as a credential." CW: But the kid isn't the worst of them. ...
... Michael Crowley of Politico: "Donald Trump's new lineup of little-known foreign policy advisers isn't exactly assuaging concerns about the Manhattan real estate mogul's readiness to be commander in chief.... Befitting a candidate who has threatened to cut off Muslim immigration into the U.S. "until we figure out what the hell is going on," Trump's roster includes two Middle East analysts who view Islamic Sharia law within the U.S. as a dire threat -- even though many conservatives consider the issue a fringe obsession." ...
... Claire Landsbaum of New York: At his meeting with the Washington Post, "Donald Trump Says He'll Fix Racism by Being "a Cheerleader for the Country.'" CW: That should work.
... AND there's this. Karen Attiah of the Washington Post, who attended the meeting with Trump: "I asked Trump a policy question. Then he called me 'beautiful.'"
Trump's "Demographic Trap." Greg Sargent: "All of the things that Trump might say and do to drive up white turnout -- particularly working class white turnout -- would also likely drive up nonwhite turnout. So there's no reason to expect a major boost in turnout from one group and not the other...."
David Edwards of the Raw Story: "Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Monday charged that CNN was fueling violence at Donald Trump's rallies by spending too much time reporting on violent incidents at his campaign events."
Nolan McCaskill: "'The problem with the country right now [is] it's so divided, and people like Elizabeth Warren really have to get their act together because it's going to stay divided,' [Donald Trump] told reporters during a news conference Monday. Trump also referred to Warren as 'the Indian' -- a swipe at the controversy that touched her Senate campaign after it was revealed that she had in the past claimed minority status, citing Native American ancestry." ...
... Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "As [Donald] Trump arrived in [Washington, D.C.,] to deliver a speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, [Elizabeth] Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, said Mr. Trump had skipped out on debts, managed scam businesses and used bankruptcy laws to keep his father's empire afloat." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Jordain Carney of the Hill has moreon Warren's Twitter strikes against Trump. (Also linked yesterday.)
Ryan Cooper of the Week: "... despite the goons surrounding him, [Donald Trump] doesn't have an official paramilitary group..., and it's sort of hard to imagine building one out of the elderly people who make up the bulk of conservative voters. But there is another group that is ready-made to serve as Trump's stormtroopers: the police. Whether they will jump on the Trump bandwagon may be the key to whether Trumpism becomes a movement of outright fascism.... It's disturbingly easy to imagine Trump co-opting some police to act as his paramilitary wing." CW: Maybe this is idle speculation. And maybe not.
Brian Beutler: "The notion that President Obama played some substantial role in awakening the Donald Trump phenomenon has evolved from a form of buck-passing that conservatives once struggled to justify into a full-blown conventional wisdom.... There are above-board ways to argue that Obama isn't blameless in Trump's rise.... [For instance,] Obama could have done much more to mitigate the foreclosure crisis he inherited.... These are significant errors, and any good-faith effort to comprehensively reckon with Trump's rise should include them. The way conservatives are implicating Obama, by contrast, is meant to serve the rather different purpose of avoiding that reckoning altogether."
Charles Pierce: On Sunday, Chuck Todd asked "former former Sarah Palin ventriloquist Steve Schmidt" why the anti-Trump contingent isn't rallying around Trump runner-up Ted Cruz. Of course Schmidt didn't given a straight answer because that would "demonstrate how completely movement conservatism has caused the Republican Party to fck itself. And these are things we do not say." So Pierce provides the actual answer. ...
... MEANWHILE, it seems the Nastiest Man in Washington has been looking in vain for a smiling, baby-faced friend. Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Ted Cruz's campaign has been exploring the possibility of forming a unity ticket with ex-rival Marco Rubio -- going so far as to conduct polling looking into how the two would perform in upcoming primary states.... But Rubio's camp is uniformly dismissive of the idea." ...
... CW: Marco should be careful. His wife Jeanette was a Miami Dolphins cheerleader, & there are some risque photos of her out there on the Intertubes. You never know what Cruz & friends might do if Rubio continues to refuse to cooperate. But here's a clue:
... Emily Crockett of Vox: "An anti-Donald Trump Super PAC is running ads to try to convince Mormons not to vote for Trump -- by slut-shaming his wife, Melania.... [One ad by Make America Awesome] features Melania Trump posing nude and mocks the idea that she could be the first lady one day. The photo comes from a shoot Melania did for British GQ in 2000." ...
... McKay Coppins of BuzzFeed: "The goal [of the ad campaign] is twofold: increase turnout among LDS voters, and urge them to strategically consolidate around Ted Cruz, who is close to the 50% winner-take-all threshold in Utah."
Robert Draper in the New York Times Magazine on why Republican establishment types don't like John Kasich. For one thing, he's "sanctimonious and rude."
Beyond the Beltway
In my next life, when I come back, I want to be someone in the WTA [Women's Tennis Association], because they ride on the coattails of the men. They don't make any decisions and they are lucky. They are very, very lucky. If I was a lady player, I'd go down every night on my knees and thank God that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born, because they have carried this sport. They really have. -- Raymond Moore, CEO of the Indian Wells, California, Tennis Garden Club, Sunday ...
... Ben Rothenberg of the New York Times: "Raymond Moore stepped down from his posts as chief executive of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California and tournament director of the BNP Paribas Open late Monday, one day after his comments about female tennis players drew strong rebuke from many in tennis, including the tournament's runner-up Serena Williams.... Moore ignited controversy Sunday morning at a news conference when he asserted that women's tennis players owed a debt of gratitude to stars of the men's game."
Way Beyond
Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: "Russia warned on Monday that it was prepared to act unilaterally in Syria against groups that it said were breaking the cease-fire there, injecting a volatile new element into a conflict that has been calmer in recent weeks. Russia's Defense Ministry said the country's military was ready to strike as early as Tuesday against groups that it said were violating the cease-fire unless U.S. leaders agree to discuss a Russian proposal for how to maintain the peace. So far, Russian warplanes have been observing the cease-fire, U.S. officials say. The ultimatum may be as much a negotiating gambit with the United States as it is a warning...."
Kevin Sieff of the Washington Post: "The International Criminal Court broke new ground Monday by adding rape to a war-crimes conviction, finding the former vice president of Congo guilty of abuses -- including sexual crimes -- in connection with a militia intervention in the neighboring Central African Republic. It was the first time the Netherlands-based court has convicted anyone of sexual violence since it was launched in 2002, raising the possibility of future prosecutions that include accusations of rape and related abuses as elements of war."
Bill Chappell of NPR: "The manhunt for terrorism suspect Salah Abdeslam ended with his arrest Friday -- and on Monday, police said they've also learned the true identity of one of his alleged accomplices in the deadly Paris attacks in November. That suspect is Laachroui Najim, who used a fake name and is wanted for arrest. Police say Najim, 24, used the alias Soufiane Kayal to rent a safe house used by the attackers in Belgium -- and that he's one of two men who were with Salah Abdeslam in a car that was checked by Hungarian police on Sept. 9.... The other man in that car died last Tuesday, when police conducted an anti-terrorism raid in Belgium. He had initially been identified as Samir Bouzid -- but police say that was a fake identity, and that the man was actually Mohamed Belkaid, a 35-year-old Algerian."
News Ledes
Toronto Sun: "Tributes are pouring in for former Toronto mayor Rob Ford, who died Tuesday at age 46. The family confirmed Ford succumbed to cancer -- 18 months after doctors discovered a softball-sized malignant tumour in his abdomen."
Washington Post: "Andy Grove, the refugee from Hungary who became one of the pillars of Silicon Valley and, as both scientist and executive, was a principal figure in the rise of the Intel Corp. and a symbol of the world-wide computer revolution, died Monday. He was 79."
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