;)
The Commentariat -- April 12, 2018
Afternoon Update:
Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "Ricky Waddell, the No. 2 official on the National Security Council (NSC), plans to leave his post as new national security adviser John Bolton seeks to form his own team.... Waddell is the fourth national security aide to leave or be ousted since Bolton started in his new role on Monday. The Army Reserve general was hired last May by Bolton's predecessor, H.R. McMaster, to run operations at the NSC. He took over for K.T. McFarland, the deputy to Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn. Waddell's departure ... comes one day after deputy national security adviser Nadia Schadlow, who authored Trump's national security strategy, submitted her resignation. Homeland security adviser Tom Bossert and NSC spokesman Michael Anton are the other two officials who are leaving the White House due to Bolton." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: So the second major turnover in core NSC staff in less than 15 months. Are we feeling safer now? Well, at least we still have the same president. ...
... Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Trump's fusillade of tweets about Syria, Russia and China this week set a new standard for contradictory and inconsistent positions in Mr. Trump's approach to war, trade and relations with adversaries. The president promised never to telegraph military action against an enemy, yet all but showcased a coming missile strike on Syria. He threatened Russia and called its relations with the United States worse than during the Cold War, yet blamed the ill will not on Moscow but on the special counsel investigation. He praised President Xi Jinping of China for his 'enlightenment' on trade in a highly anticipated speech, but in it Mr. Xi actually offered little to change what Mr. Trump has called decades of predatory practices by Beijing.... The latest reversals and back flips were so jarring that they left foreign officials more bewildered than usual about Mr. Trump's next moves. The tweets also appeared divorced from the administration's policies on Russia, where the United States is expelling diplomats and imposing sanctions on cronies of President Vladimir V. Putin. They are at odds with policy on China, where the United States appears ready to escalate the confrontation over trade. They are at cross-purposes with the latest actions on Syria...." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Once again, a front-page report on the paper of record laying out that the POTUS* is stark-staring mad. ...
... If only Newt Gingrich were around to bring some reason & stability to this disaster of a White House. ...
... Rebecca Savransky of the Hill: "Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) tore into the FBI after its raid of President Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, likening agents' actions to those of the secret police during the Nazi era. Gingrich said during an interview on Fox News that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has not done his job" and has not supervised special counsel Robert Mueller.... 'This whole thing is an absurdity. We've now had Paul Manafort and his wife in their pajamas at 3 in the morning having the FBI break down the door,' he said on Wednesday, referring to an FBI raid last year at the home of Trump's former campaign manager. 'Cohen, the lawyer, had the door taken off of the hinges at 6 in the morning.... That's Stalin. That's the Gestapo in Germany. That shouldn't be the American FBI.'"
John Wagner of the Washington Post: "In advance of a publicity tour by James B. Comey to promote his new book, the Republican National Committee is preparing a widespread campaign to undercut his credibility, including a new website that dubs the former FBI director as 'Lyin' Comey.' The website prominently features quotes from Democrats highly critical of Comey before his firing by Trump nearly a year ago as the president grew agitated by the Russia probe. RNC officials say their effort will also include digital ads, a 'war room' to monitor Comey's television appearances, a rapid response team to rebut his claims in real time and coordination of Trump surrogates to fan out across other TV programs.... Comey [has been] a registered Republican for most of his adult life."
Sarah Ferris & Kaitlyn Burton of Politico: "A regretful ... Donald Trump wants to roll back spending in a massive omnibus bill he signed into law, but Republicans who helped craft the legislation are in open revolt. 'My attitude is, your word is your bond,' House Appropriations Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen said, in his first public comments on the Trump plan. Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) is among more than a half-dozen appropriators who have voiced skepticism about the Trump administration's proposal to cancel billions in spending.... The White House is seeking to essentially take a scalpel to last month's $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill, scratching out any funding that Trump doesn't personally back.... 90 House Republicans backed the spending bill, in part because they were promised cover by the White House."
Mattathias Schwartz of the New Yorker spent the last couple of days "watching Congress try to friend Mark Zuckerberg."
*****
If I wanted to fire Robert Mueller in December, as reported by the Failing New York Times, I would have fired him. Just more Fake News from a biased newspaper! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet this morning, responding to a NYT article linked here yesterday
Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "Stephen K. Bannon, who was ousted as White House chief strategist last summer but has remained in touch with some members of President Trump's circle, is pitching a plan to West Wing aides and congressional allies to cripple the federal probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to four people familiar with the discussions. The first step, these people say, would be for Trump to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who oversees the work of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and in recent days signed off on a search warrant of Trump's longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. Bannon is also recommending the White House cease its cooperation with Mueller, reversing the policy of Trump's legal team to provide information to the special counsel's team and to allow staff members to sit for interviews. And he is telling associates inside and outside the administration that the president should create a new legal battleground to protect himself from the investigation by asserting executive privilege -- and arguing that Mueller's interviews with White House officials over the past year should now be null and void." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Costa notes that Bannon's view of how to handle the Mueller probe has considerably "evolved" from his early laissez-faire approach. I would note that Bannon's "evolution" occurred right about the time Bob Mueller's team started looking into the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Bannon once boasted to Fire & Fury writer Michael Wolff that he wasn't worried about the Russia probe because he (Bannon) "didn't even know any Russians.") But he sure does know Cambridge Analytica: he was the company veep, he served on the board, he even named the company, he had a substantial investment in it, AND he "and signed off on its acquisition of the dodgy data." Funny how this stuff works, isn't it?
The President & the Tabloid. Jim Rutenberg, et al., of the New York Times: The Mueller team is investigating the intersection among Trump, Cohen, the National Enquirer's parent company & a couple of sleazebags associated with the tabloid. Mrs. McC: Funny how Trump -- world's greatest real-estate magnate -- is low-rent in every respect. "Class" has little to do with one's bank account, & Trump put the "ass" in "assets."
Jake Pearson & Jeff Horwitz of the AP: "Eight months before the company that owns the National Enquirer paid $150,000 to a former Playboy Playmate who claimed she'd had an affair with Donald Trump, the tabloid's parent made a $30,000 payment to a less famous individual: a former doorman at one of the real estate mogul's New York City buildings. As it did with the ex-Playmate, the Enquirer signed the ex-doorman to a contract that effectively prevented him from going public with a juicy tale that might hurt Trump's campaign for president.... [Ex-doorman Dino] Sajudin got $30,000 [from the National Enquirer] in exchange for signing over the rights, 'in perpetuity,' to a rumor he'd heard about Trump's sex life -- that the president had fathered an illegitimate child with an employee at Trump World Tower, a skyscraper he owns near the United Nations.... [Michael] Cohen ... acknowledged to the AP that he had discussed Sajudin's story with the magazine when the tabloid was working on it.... The AP has not been able to determine if the rumor is true and is not naming the woman."
Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "The F.B.I. agents who raided the office and hotel of President Trump's lawyer on Monday were seeking all records related to the 'Access Hollywood' tape..., according to three people who have been briefed on the contents of a federal search warrant. The search warrant also sought evidence of whether the lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, tried to suppress damaging information about Mr. Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.... The new details from the warrant reveal that prosecutors are keenly interested in Mr. Cohen's unofficial role in the Trump campaign. And they help explain why Mr. Trump was furious about the raid. People close to Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen regard the warrant as an attempt ... to pry into Mr. Trump's personal life -- using other prosecutors as his proxy." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Carol Leonnig & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "The broad request also sought Cohen's communications with Trump and campaign surrogates about 'potential sources of negative publicity' in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election. The warrant indicates that investigators appear to be examining what role the longtime Trump attorney played in trying to tamp down unflattering stories as Trump sought to win the White House.... On the same day [the WashPo released the 'Access Hollywood' tape], the U.S. intelligence community released a statement formally blaming Russia for interfering in the 2016 election. Less than an hour after The Post's story, WikiLeaks posted the first set of emails stolen from Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta. U.S. intelligence officials later blamed the Russian government for the hack of Podesta's email."
... John Cassidy of the New Yorker: "More and more, this is looking like a mobster roll-up of the type that some of Mueller's team of ace prosecutors previously specialized in. In the beginning, the feds target one or two low-level insiders with legal vulnerabilities, obtain court orders to monitor their activities, and, hopefully, get them to coöperate with the government. Gradually, the investigators work their way up the chain of command to the crew captains -- the capos -- and, eventually, to the boss of bosses, the capo dei capi.... Now the feds are also putting the squeeze on Cohen, the trusted consigliere. While the investigators of Cohen's case don't work for Mueller, the two cases are clearly linked, and there would be nothing to prevent Cohen ... from eventually agreeing to coöperate with both the Southern District of New York and Mueller. No wonder Trump seems rattled."
Much of the bad blood with Russia is caused by the Fake & Corrupt Russia Investigation, headed up by the all Democrat loyalists, or people that worked for Obama. Mueller is most conflicted of all (except Rosenstein who signed FISA & Comey letter). No Collusion, so they go crazy! -- Donald Trump, going crazy in a tweet Wednesday
Matt Zapotosky & Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department on Wednesday gave House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes access to a redacted document detailing the origin of the investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to influence the 2016 election -- a day after Nunes suggested publicly he might impeach top FBI or Justice Department officials over their failure to produce what he wanted. A Justice Department official said the department had provided Nunes (R-Calif.), ranking Democratic member Adam B. Schiff (Calif.) and all committee members access to the document, with redactions 'narrowly tailored to protect the name of a foreign country and the name of a foreign agent.' The document is said to detail how the Russia investigation started, at least in part because a young Trump foreign policy adviser boasted to an Australian diplomat in May 2016 that Russia had political dirt on Hillary Clinton. That was months before hacked Democratic Party emails began appearing online. The Justice Department's providing Nunes access to it seemed to placate him at least for the moment, as he issued a statement afterward thanking Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein for his cooperation."
Elana Schor of Politico: "A bipartisan Senate bill designed to protect special counsel Robert Mueller's job is on track for a vote in the Judiciary Committee, according to a source briefed on the committee's plans. It's a significant step forward as lawmakers warn ... Donald Trump not to fire the man investigating him.... The new bill is the product of months-long talks among Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.). Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has yet to lend his full support, but that's not stopping him from setting up the legislation to advance.... However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) reiterated yesterday that, despite fresh signs Trump is considering a firing, he is not convinced that a Mueller protection bill merits floor time in the chamber." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), "the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wants his panel to vote as soon as next week on a bipartisan bill to prevent the undue firing of special counsels like Robert S. Mueller III, according to aides familiar with his plans."
Brett Samuels of the Hill: "Ex-FBI Director James Comey compared President Trump to a 'mob boss' in a taped interview with ABC News, according to a promotional video released Wednesday.... The preview also shows [George] Stephanopoulos asking Comey if he believes President Trump obstructed justice and if he thinks the president should be impeached.... The interview is set to air on Sunday night. It will be Comey's first television interview since he was fired by Trump last May." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
It's like Forrest Gump won the presidency, but an evil, really f*cking stupid Forrest Gump. He can't help himself. He's just a f**king idiot who thinks he's winning when people are b*tching about him.... If we're going to lose because of him, we might as well impeach the motherf**ker. Take him out with us and let Mike [Pence] take over.... I say a lot of shit on TV defending him, even over this. But honestly, I wish the motherf*cker would just go away. We're going to lose the House, lose the Senate, and lose a bunch of states because of him. All his supporters will blame us for what we have or have not done, but he hasn't led. He wakes up in the morning, sh*ts all over Twitter, sh*ts all over us, sh*ts all over his staff, then hits golf balls. F*ck him. Of course, I can't say that in public or I'd get run out of town. -- Unnamed GOP Congressman, speaking to winger blogger Erick Erickson (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: "In a White House known for chaos, the process of developing the U.S. response to the Syrian government's alleged latest gas attack was proceeding with uncharacteristic deliberation, including several national security briefings for President Trump. But then Wednesday morning, Trump upended it all with a tweet -- warning Russia, the Syrian government's backer, to 'get ready' because American missiles 'will be coming, nice and new and "smart!"... White House advisers were surprised by the missive and found it 'alarming' and 'distracting,' in the words of one senior official. They quickly regrouped and, together with Pentagon brass, continued readying Syria options for Trump as if nothing had happened. But the Twitter disruption was emblematic of a president operating on a tornado of impulses -- and with no clear strategy -- as he faces some of the most consequential decisions of his presidency, including Syria, trade policy and the Russian interference probe that threatens to overwhelm his administration." ...
... ** Whaddaya Mean, "Impulsive"? Never said when an attack on Syria would take place. Could be very soon or not so soon at all! In any event, the United States, under my Administration, has done a great job of ridding the region of ISIS. Where is our "Thank you America?" -- Donald Trump, in a tweet this morning, denying what he tweeted way back yesterday ...
... The Guardian is running a livefeed of developments in the responses to Syria's chemical weapons attack.
Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "Ronny L. Jackson, President Trump's choice to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, is facing mounting skepticism from Senate Republicans over whether he has the management experience to lead the nation's second-largest bureaucracy. The comments from several GOP senators, particularly those with influence on veterans' issues, signal Jackson will have to work overtime to persuade not just Democrats but Trump's own party that he is qualified to oversee the beleaguered agency. That challenge comes at a time when Senate Republicans are already juggling other controversial nominations that will consume much of the political oxygen on Capitol Hill." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
An Excellent Hire. Tierney Sneed & Josh Marshall of TPM: "Former Trump National Security Council official Ezra Cohen-Watnick is joining the Department of Justice as a national security adviser to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a source familiar with the matter told TPM Wednesday.... During his time at the NSC as the senior director for intelligence programs, Cohen-Watnick was a source of controversy. His ascent to the NSC, after just a few years at the Defense Intelligence Agency, surprised outside observers. His name emerged in the strange episode involving House Intel Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, who made bombastic allegations of improper 'unmasking' of Trump associates by the Obama administration, though what role Cohen-Watnick played in the controversy remains in dispute." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Update: Chris Strohm & Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg: "... Donald Trump personally ordered the Department of Justice to hire a former White House official who departed after he was caught up in a controversy over the release of intelligence material to a member of Congress, according to people familiar with the matter. Ezra Cohen-Watnick ... was forced out of the National Security Council last year [by H.R. McMaster, whom Trump of course fired].
Lisa Friedman & Ken Vogel of the New York Times: "When Scott Pruitt wanted to refashion the Environmental Protection Agency's 'challenge coin' -- a type of souvenir medallion with military origins ... -- he proposed an unusual design: Make it bigger, and delete the E.P.A. logo. Mr. Pruitt instead wanted the coin to feature some combination of symbols more reflective of himself and the Trump administration. Among the possibilities: a buffalo, to evoke Mr. Pruitt's native Oklahoma, and a Bible verse to reflect his faith. Other ideas included using the Great Seal of the United States -- a design similar to the presidential seal -- and putting Mr. Pruitt's name around the rim in large letters, according to Ronald Slotkin, a career E.P.A. employee who retired this year, and two people familiar with the proposals who asked to remain anonymous because they said they feared retribution.... Mr. Slotkin said that during the design discussion, in which he participated, Mr. Pruitt wanted to remove 'anything to do with E.P.A.' The changes, he said, would have turned it into a 'Pruitt coin.'" ...
... Jacqueline Alemany & Arden Farhi of CBS News: "CBS News has obtained an August 2017 report prepared by the Environmental Protection Agency's office of inspector general that contains a list of 13 threats made against EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and his family. The threats range in severity, credibility and specificity. One tweet flagged by investigators said, 'Pruitt, I'm gonna find you and put a bullet between your eyes. Don't think I'm joking. I'm planning this.' Investigators believe the threat was made by someone living in India. Another person wished the administrator 'a very painful and horrible death through poisoning. Please explain the scientific method to this freaking neanderthal.' The inspector general also looked into a complaint that 'unknown protesters attempted to disrupt the EPA Administrator's speech during a closed event.' Another person emailed the EPA threatening to dump old paint outside Pruitt's door.... In certain cases, cases were referred to the Justice Department, but just one was deemed serious enough to prosecute. The report covers the period from Oct. 2016 to Aug. 2017."
Anita Kumar & Lesley Clark of McClatchy News: "CIA Director Mike Pompeo failed to disclose last year that he owned a Kansas business that imported oilfield equipment from a company owned by the Chinese government. That omission, on the questionnaire Pompeo was required to fill out for Senate confirmation to lead the spy agency, could cause a problem for him in Thursday's confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to be ... Donald Trump's secretary of state."
David Siders & Aubree Weaver of Politico: "In an apparent de-escalation of the raging conflict between California and ... Donald Trump over immigration, Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday agreed to increase California National Guard operations along the state's border with Mexico, while insisting personnel will not be used to support any immigration enforcement or to build a border wall. The announcement comes less than a week after Trump called for National Guard deployments along the U.S.-Mexico border until a border wall is built. The Republican governors of Texas and Arizona already committed to participate.... In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, the four-term Democrat said California 'will accept federal funding to add approximately 400 Guard members statewide to supplement the staffing of its ongoing program to combat transnational crime' but that personnel would be deployed throughout the state and will not be used to enforce immigration laws. 'But let's be crystal clear on the scope of this mission,' Brown wrote. 'This will not be a mission to build a new wall. It will not be a mission to round up women and children or detain people escaping violence and seeking a better life. And the California National Guard will not be enforcing federal immigration laws.'"
Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "As he announced his exit from public life, Speaker Paul D. Ryan tried hard to show appreciation for the man who took the Republican Party from his grasp and transformed it into something else.... The Trumpian revolution, which Ryan had long resisted, appeared to have claimed another victory, dispatching another occasional critic and reaffirming the president's growing hold on a shrinking electoral coalition.... Ryan's decision to abruptly throw in the towel, just six months before the midterms, is likely to only further Trump's control of the party. Republicans strategists worry it will also make it harder for the GOP to hold onto the House, a prospect that seems less likely after a recent Democratic victory in a special election outside of Pittsburgh." ...
... Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "... while publicly no lawmaker is yet discussing a push to get the speaker to leave early, certain quarters of the Republican Party and Capitol Hill want him out of Congress right away rather than in early 2019.... Sources inside the Trump White House tell The Daily Beast that their primary concern following Ryan's announcement was that more fellow House Republicans would follow him to the exits.... On the Hill, there is fear that a lame-duck speaker all but guarantees a legislative logjam, as no lawmaker will now feel compelled to take a tough vote at Ryan's insistence. There is also an appetite within the Republican caucus to get new leadership in right away...." ...
... Boo Fucking Hoo. Steve M.: "Paul Ryan is leaving Congress, and he's going out with a sob story, of course.... This stuff works. It works on mainstream-media journalists, at least. It's the kind of thing that used to work on the public, at least before voters in one of our major political parties decided they prefer candidates who are rage monsters rather than (real or ersatz) Boy Scouts with heart-tugging backstories.... Remember, he'll still be in his fifties in 2024 and 2028. If he ever wants to run for president, he has years to consider it. And who could possibly have more plutocrat backing? That's why I hope the money is so great that he seizes it with both fists and never looks back." ...
... Dylan Matthews of Vox: "Paul Ryan will be remembered for a lot of things -- his rise to fame as President Barack Obama's most prominent critic in Congress; his 2012 run for vice president; his role leading the Republican establishment as it accepted Donald Trump as its nominee and then president. But he deserves to be remembered as the person who, more than anyone else, committed the Republican Party to an extreme libertarian vision of government in response to Obama's election. In doing so, he ended up achieving little of the party's priorities -- and created an opening that helped propel Trump to the White House.... The entire point of Ryan's agenda was to dramatically reduce taxes on wealthy owners of capital and pay for it by gutting America's most popular programs to support senior citizens and the poor. It had no obvious popular appeal outside die-hard free marketers, who make up a vanishingly small portion of the voting public." Matthews muses about a different Republican party -- a more Bush-y one -- that he argues would not have produced a Trump presidency. ...
... Jonathan Chait: "House Speaker Paul Ryan is retiring before he can lose his majority, and potentially his own seat in Congress, but too late to save his reputation.... The image of Paul Ryan that was introduced to the country was as America's accountant, the Kevin Kline character from Dave, an earnest midwestern boy with a passion for saving the country from fiscal calamity.... What finally killed off the myth of Paul Ryan was Donald Trump.... To Ryan, the greatest danger to liberty lies not in a president who defies the rule of law but in high tax rates and a functioning social safety net.... In Ryan's worldview, he has struck a powerful blow for liberty against the socialist hordes. Ryan leaves his endangered majority convinced he has done his job well." ...
... ** Ron Brownstein of the Atlantic: "Paul Ryan, who once aspired to advance the vision of conservative icon Jack Kemp, will leave Washington carrying a more tarnished legacy -- as the most important enabler of Donald Trump. No one in the GOP was better equipped, by position and disposition alike, to resist Trump's racially infused, insular nationalism, or to define a more inclusive competing vision for the party. Instead, Ryan chose to tolerate both Trump's personal excesses and his racially polarizing words and deeds as the price worth paying to advance Ryan's own top priorities: cutting spending; regulations; and above all, taxes. The result was that Ryan, more than any other prominent Republican, personified the devil's bargain the GOP has signed with Trump. And his departure crystallizes the difficult choices Republicans face as Trump redefines the party in his belligerent image." ...
... Matt Yglesias of Vox: "Paul Ryan was the biggest fraud in American politics.... His Senate counterpart, Mitch McConnell, was always willing to wear the black hat.... But [Ryan] also craved a certain form of respectability that's led him to leave behind a staggering track record of broken promises and glowing press clips from journalists who were gullible enough to believe them." Ygesias reprises Ryan's brilliant career. ...
... Charles Pierce has some heartfelt thoughts on Paul Ryan's retirement. Conclusion: "Biggest. Fake. Ever." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
... Mitch may have spoken too quickly when he told some supporters a short while ago that stealing a supreme court seat was his greatest accomplishment. Helping Trump destroy our democracy would leave a much bigger mark on the world. -- RAS, in yesterday's Comments
Jennifer Kaplan of Bloomberg: "The U.S. marijuana industry has a new spokesman: John Boehner. The Republican former Speaker of the House has joined the advisory board of Acreage Holdings, a company that cultivates, processes and dispenses cannabis in 11 U.S. states. Boehner's endorsement, after saying nine years ago he was 'unalterably opposed' to legalization, could be considered a watershed event: Marijuana has gone mainstream.... Former Massachusetts Governor William Weld will join Boehner on the advisory board of Acreage, which holds 35 licenses for cannabis businesses in the U.S." Mrs. McC: Watershed event? Sounds like SOP for Boehner: he goes where the money is. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday faced a tougher, tenser grilling at his second congressional hearing, as lawmakers unleashed a litany of complaints about the company's privacy practices, its failure to fight the opioid crisis and the lack of diversity within its executive ranks. For five hours, Democrats and Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee took turns swiping at Zuckerberg, holding him to 'yes' and 'no' questions and frequently cutting him off -- a tactic that at times appeared to frustrate the Facebook co-founder." ...
... Olivia Solon of the Guardian: "... when it came to the nuts and bolts of Facebook's business model..., [Mark Zuckerberg] deflected scrutiny through a combination of declared ignorance, amnesia, and world-class public relations spin. Here are five responses that don't stand up to scrutiny."
Beyond the Beltway
** Allison Kite & Tessa Weinberg of the Kansas City Star: "A growing number of Missouri lawmakers are calling on [Missouri] Gov. Eric Greitens [R] to step down over 'horrendous' and 'disgraceful' allegations of abuse detailed in an investigative report released Wednesday.... Nearly a dozen Democrats and four Republicans called for Greitens' resignation immediately after the report was released.... After more than a month of investigation, the special House committee deemed 'credible' the testimony of the woman with whom Greitens had an affair in 2015. The report detailed her claims that Greitens on multiple occasions hit her. She said he bound her to exercise equipment, put a blindfold on her, undressed her and took a photo of her without consent in order to keep her silent. She felt coerced to give him oral sex on his basement floor while she cried.... In a press conference an hour before the report's release, Greitens was defiant against calls for his resignation and said the report signed by five Republicans and two Democrats would include 'lies and falsehoods.' He repeatedly called it a 'political witch hunt,' mimicking Donald Trump's complaints about the ongoing investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 campaign." The committee's report is here.
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Reader Comments (18)
Far from being the Master of the Universe and evil genius he fancied himself back when he got his sodden puss plastered on the cover of Time as not just a king maker, but perhaps the true king, Steve Bannon is still sniffing around the dumpster out behind the White House for a few scraps with which to lord it over the other mutts.
His continued sorry attempts to Molotov cocktail the country into submission at his feet paints him as less a Lord of All he Surveys than just another running dog, boot licking lackey of the neo-nationalist fascist hordes.
It’s sad watching a has been try to revive his one failed shot at the big time. Have a couple more whiskey and whiskies and fantasize another laughable Breitbart fairy tale for the mentally and morally incapacitated, you pickled jabroni.
Wonder if the warden will let him wear his trademark three shirts at a time under his prison togs.
More from Ed Burmila. Read and remember.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/attorney-tyrant-privilege-burmila
OK, a quiz for today, three questions: identify the person.
1) I am smarter than all the worlds scientists and am so important I need special security.
2) I have created a problem for journalists because putting the words leadership and coward in the same sentence doesn't work well.
3) 'Forrest Gump' was a very popular movie so I must be like the Gump.
In the 1997 film, "Wag the Dog," the story line was about inventing distraction, not starting an actual war as Chris Mathews on his program a few nights ago was evoking. What we have here and now with this administration anomaly is a president* whose dog wagging has been his modus operandi. Jeet Heer agrees and gives us a run-down on how the connection to Levinson's film is misunderstood; that it's about the "political uses of fake news and blurring the line between reality and fiction."
https://newrepublic.com/article/147968/trump-already-wagging-dog
One wonders if Paul Ryan realizes that his opting out at this time will result in a lame duck little House of horrors–does he care? I think Ryan has always been for Ryan––his Ayn Randian philosophy instilled in him early on made him believe he was on to changing the ways of that government largesse––the "makers and the takers" message that he never really left. He'll pop up again in a decade or so and maybe run for president having been chastised fully after seeing what his tax cuts (not reform) bill has wrought, and how our democracy was sullied even more by this president that he never stood up to.
Jim Rutenberg, Emily Steel and Mike McIntire in the NYTimes Investigators Focus on Another Trump Ally: The National Enquirer "...How do they (AMI) get away with it? "
Probably the most important sentence in the above article: "Yet even the staunchest defenders of the press say fraudulent activity is not protected by journalistic freedoms."
The cast of repellent characters in this saga continues to grow.
@PDPepe: True, Ryan might pop up in a decade or so to run for President, but it doesn't take a decade to make someone irrelevant, especially if and when someone loses front page position. Much can happen in the world (if Trump doesn't set it afire). Let's hope Ryan quickly fades into obscurity.
Wrestling with my ego this AM--and losing.
Started off thinking about Paul Ryan and his rightful place in history but can't get any farther than the thought that it took him far too long to find it: Out of the public eye and at home with his otherwise obscure family.
When Krugman called him a flim-flam man, I never saw reason to disagree. Only wondered why anyone took him seriously for even a second. Was he the only Republican in congress who could pretend to do arithmetic or had an assistant who could create a spreadsheet? Otherwise, he was such an obvious intellectual lightweight I couldn't understand his elevation to high office, let alone any office at all.
Then I thought of taller than average young boys and girls growing up in America and their heightened (!!) chances of being channeled by their parents, peers, and communities into playing a lot of basketball, from little league and if they turn out to have any talent through high school and maybe even college.
The point: In many important ways, we don't direct our own lives. Our society pushes us into places "it" thinks we will fit, and it's likely that's what happened to Ryan, as it does maybe to most politicians and so-called leaders. Many times they fulfill social needs more than anything else, and as such their utility is at least as symbolic and circumstantial as it is substantial.
I would explain Ryan's career that way. The nation had just elected a smart, young black President, and the opposition, who hated everything he represented, had to find a plausible champion. Ryan was young, white and if you didn't scratch too deeply seemed smart enough. Not only that but his Ayn Randian patter fit at least enough of the Repugnant's anti-government schtick to pass as genuine.
In other words Ryan's own ambition coincided with his party's need, and he was thrust forward far beyond the point that his own capabilities (let alone his silly and shallow ideas) warranted.
That's the only way I can explain how such an obvious lightweight becomes a vice-presidential candidate and House speaker.
Of course, he does belong to the party of loons, and to carry the basketball analogy to its conclusion, you don't have to be very tall to play center on a team of midgets.
As I said, ego won.
All he's missing is the Al Hirshfeld sketch on Playbill...
Like the fraud of a president* he has enabled in his goal of tearing down democracy and handing the reins of power to the one percent, Paul Ryan isn't actually a real public servant, he just plays one on TV.
As Ken suggests, Ryan came out of Wingnut Casting and changed his role as new scripts were slipped under his dressing room door. First he was a Reagan supply side warrior, then a budget busting crazy man under Bush, who came up with insane plans to privatize the hated Social Security (killing two birds with one stone by taking money from average working Americans--their own money, by the way!--and handing it to his Wall Street pals, whose validation he mightily craved, to do with what they would).
He was fine with Bush's wars which were never properly planned or financed, and with the bailout. both enormous budget busters. Then the Decider was out on his ass and a horrible nee-groe was in the White House.
SHIFT! Time for a costume change and new script. Suddenly, he was Simple Ol' Paulie from Janesville, aw shucks honest boy scout with a Texas Instrument calculator for a brain who was all about attacking those deficits those mean Demycraps had forced on decent 'mericans. Completely forgotten was his last role as a deficit lover.
So he joined the "green eye-shade" begrudgers he once made jokes about. It was a good role and he got great reviews from the press, ratings were good, so he signed on to that role for a few more years.
Then the Terrible Tyke appeared and the jig was up. No new scripts, no matter how carefully tailored or crafted to make him look heroic and honest worked. None of the old schtik helped either. His act started to bomb. So, rather than attempt a fourth act reworking of his image, he cuts and runs.
In that way, Ryan is an avatar for modern Republicans. He is a sham. A fraud. He playacts his way through an incredibly important job. Republicans are all show and no go. It wasn't always like this, but I can't think of a single one now who is worth the powder to blow them to hell. They pretend to do the nation's business without even understanding what it is. They are uninterested in things like history, precedence, honesty, integrity. If the script they're working off requires them to pretend to have those qualities, they'll do it. But it's all for show.
And when things get really bad, they have no answer but to cut and run and blame all the destruction they've caused on someone else.
As for PD and MAG's question about whither Paul Ryan, I'm gonna say he's pretty much done. Oh, he might, à la the reprehensible Newt Gingrich, show up on talk shows and make like he knows what the hell he's talking about (I'm sure if a Democrat ends up booting the boor, he'll be happy to quote Ayn Rand whenever the new administration tries to help the people he spent his career pissing on) and he might crave the sort of reviews he got early on, but he's finished and here's why: he was only ever as good as the scripts he was working off.
Politicians who change their positions do so for two reasons. First, they adjust their thinking based on new evidence and experience (Bobby Kennedy). Second, their transfiguration comes about because of the need to appear to be someone else (Paul Ryan).
The best politicians have a set of core beliefs that might be tweaked over time, but seldom are cast aside when a new, better, hotter script comes across their desk. They have developed positions based on hard thought and experience and just because the public doesn't like chocolate anymore, they're not going to start selling tutti-frutti, like Ryan.
Of course there are some Confederates who have convictions they won't change, like some of the Freedom Caucus loons. But largely those convictions themselves are warped and unsound. And they are never above getting down and dirty, supporting a crook like Trump, for instance, to get what they want. So there's that.
Ryan has had his last curtain call.
Good riddance, shithead. Here's a tomato for the ride back to Janesville. Oh, and don't miss your final reviews. Critics all agree: You suck.
Seems to me that the money quote from Matt Yglesias' Vox article linked above about Ryan's getaway is that "he chose to cut and run before a midterm election that’s shaping up to be a race between his party’s deep unpopularity and the strength of its aggressive gerrymandering."
After leaving the Caribbean in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria I've become involved with local politics to GOTV. In my precinct there is a hole where a SINGLE RESIDENCE is assigned to another nearby precinct. I knew there was gerrymandering, but I didn't realize that it goes all the way down to the precinct level.
A recent NYTimes Op-Ed posits that the citizenship question on the 2020 census could hurt confederates: "An accurate census count should deliver Texas billions of additional dollars in federal grants and perhaps an extra three or four congressional seats most likely drawn by Republican legislatures. If Texans are substantially less likely to fill out the census forms than residents of other states, those benefits vanish...The other big states at the top of the growth charts? Florida, Washington, Arizona, North Carolina and Georgia: red states aplenty. California is next, but also feverishly working to bolster its census response. 'Love thy neighbor' turns out to be good fiscal policy; jurisdictions comparatively less responsive to their minority communities may have more to lose."
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/03/opinion/trump-census-citizenship-question.html
We need to regain control of statehouses and congress in 2018, strengthen that control and retake the WH in 2020. We can't do that in 2018 by campaigning on impeachment. Let the complicit GOP do that job for us. Either they do what is right (not likely) or they get hoisted on their own petard.
While it would be preaching to the choir for me to remind any RCer's to vote, please remind your family, friends and neighbors to do so.
OH, if your congress critter voted for the tax scam, they are disqualified from talking about the deficit, especially as it relates to those "entitlements" that all of us have paid into each pay period since we were "flipping burgers at McDonald's in high school," to quote Lyin' Ryan.
From the Politico piece posted above this afternoon:
"A regretful President Donald Trump wants to roll back spending in a massive omnibus bill he signed into law, ..."
Of course he does. It is his MO: sign the contract and then stiff the other parties. Then you get to "renegotiate" after all the initial dynamics have changed and investments have been made. The other parties decide its better to deal with that crap than to sue or walk.
But ... that don't fly in appropriations. Or if it does, like a brick, it flies just once.
His GOP hill members act surprised. Where have they been the last twenty years?
@ Marie
For what it's worth re: the Russian "deaths" debate yesterday, I take your point but I still find the articles linked lacking in clarity. That said, Pompeo just threw another curveball into the mix, declaring that we killed "a couple hundred" Russians that day in February. So either he's blowing smoke up our asses or the "in depth investigation" by Der Speigel got it completely wrong. He is the head of the CIA so I think he could figure out the truth is he really wanted to, but it could be Trump Inflation Syndrom that causes lies to fly out of pie holes uncontrollably.
@Patrick have you got any idea what's going on with this story, seeing as you seem to have links to the DoD or something of the sort?
http://thehill.com/policy/defense/382864-pompeo-defending-trumps-russia-policy-confirms-a-couple-hundred-russians
@Patrick you noted: A regretful President Donald Trump wants to roll back spending in a massive omnibus bill he signed into law, ..."
...and continuing speaking out of both sides of his mouth(?)
—The president said he has instructed chief economic advisor Larry Kudlow and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to consider trying to rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership... (cnbc.com)
—US considering 8 possible targets in Syria – President Trump says decision coming 'fairly soon' (also cnbc.com) ......or may not be imminent.
—Never said when an attack on Syria would take place. Could be very soon or not so soon at all! In any event, the United States, under my Administration, has done a great job of ridding the region of ISIS. Where is our “Thank you America?” (Tweet from the chief Twit at 3:15 am April 12).
—A deal on the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement is "getting pretty close" but still weeks or months away, President Trump tells reporters.
(boldface added).
Safari - nope, no insights greater than those discussed yesterday.
But ... as a general rule ... the increased use of contractors for support roles and for operations, by several countries in several hostility areas, makes it very difficult to get good presence or casualty counts. Which is one reason why these arrangements are attractive to some folks. Hard to count = hard to be accountable.
Walking Like Ducks. Quacking Like Ducks
So, liars gonna lie. Standard stuff for Confederates. But here in the Era of Trump, liars seem to be lying with far more arrogance and ease, and getting away with it.
Two cases in point.
Wendy (Abortion KILLS!) Vitter, whom the American Bar Association places on the lowest rung of qualifications (other ABA members have voted her entirely unqualified) to stand for a federal judgeship, is questioned about several issues of vital importance to anyone deciding legal disputes in America today, especially today when Trumpian misogyny, bigotry, and racism are rampant. She is asked, in a Congressional hearing, whether her well known views about abortion would affect her judgment.
Her answer, one that goes against decades of her own public pronouncements on the subject, was that of COURSE she'd abide by the law (wink, wink).
Then she was asked about whether she thought the Supreme Court decision in the landmark Civil Rights case, Brown v Board of Education, was decided correctly. She hemmed and hawed and finally said that she couldn't possibly say.
What?
I get that had she been asked her opinion on abstruse subjects of corporate legal machinations or contract law or land disputes, issues on which there could be serious differences of opinion, cases that could have been decided any number of ways, she would be reluctant to second guess established determinations of the court.
But Brown v Board of Education? Was there another way to go with this? What she's indicating (by not saying anything) is that, she won't go on record by saying that it's okay for black kids to go to the same school as white kids. Differences of opinion on that one are held by white supremacists.
Next came a question about the disparity of discipline handed down in many schools which finds black students treated far differently than white students. Her answer was calculated and weaselly. "Well, sometimes people get their numbers wrong."
Really? The numbers are wrong?
Do these answers give any of you a sense that Vitter would make a fair and impartial judge?
Waddle, waddle.
Then Mike (Benghazi!!) Pompeo. Pompeo, a noted bigot of longstanding, was asked directly whether he stood by his earlier statements that gay sex was perverse. He weaseled out by saying that he would treat everyone equally ("Except" sotto voce "those fucking queers").
Here's what Zeke Stokes of the Advocate has to say about Pompeo's "promise" to behave like a decent (ie, non bigoted prick) person when dealing with nations, as Secretary of State, that are all for killing gays.
"His extensive anti-LGBTQ record includes opposing marriage equality and the repeal of 'don’t ask, don’t tell' as well as calling same-sex parents less 'ideal.'
But far more concerning are his ties to the anti-LGBTQ hate group Family Research Council. The anti-LGBTQ hate and extremism of FRC led to the Southern Poverty Law Center to designate it an anti-LGBTQ hate group in 2010. FRC has openly supported Uganda’s efforts to punish and execute LGBTQ citizens — known as the 'kill the gays' bill — claiming the heinous legislation “uphold[s] moral conduct.” It also promotes and defends the dangerous and discredited practice of conversion therapy and actively opposed repealing laws that criminalized being gay.
Mike Pompeo consulted with FRC during his time as CIA director and has earned its endorsement and praise throughout his career; he is even a regular guest on FRC president Tony Perkins’s anti-LGBTQ radio program.
Make no mistake: These are the advisers who would follow Mike Pompeo to the State Department if he is confirmed..."
Quack, Quack.
Can any reasonable observer look at these two nominees and say, without a doubt, that they believe their bullshit?
Perfect Trump nominees. Bigoted assholes but not man or woman enough to admit their prejudices and stand up for what they truly believe. Rather, it's much more useful to lie so they can worm their way into seats of power then unleash their hatred on the world.
Waddle, waddle, quack, quack.
@safari: I'm feeling the smoke. The lede sentence in the Hill story is "Secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo pointed Thursday to the U.S. military killing 'a couple hundred' Russians in Syria as evidence of the Trump administration’s toughness on Moscow."
You're right that Pompeo ought to know, and maybe his "couple hundred" figure is close to some heretofore secret U.S. estimate based on various pieces of evidence. But since he was using the figure to tout Trump's supposed toughness, I don't think his remark is any more credible than those sugary encomiums the Trumpy Cabinet officers blow at Trump before meetings.
Nonetheless, the encounter says zero about Trump. The attack on Americans, according to reports, was a surprise, & the troops & their officers reacted to it. Trump had nothing to do with it. He could not have "planned" the U.S. response, or "authorized" it; probably he didn't know about it till the encounter was well underway or over. Toughness, my (smoke-filled) ass.
"Vox" on the Convenient (far from the Magic) Christian, Mr. Pruitt:
https://www.vox.com/2018/4/7/17207350/5-lies-scott-pruitt
Thou shalt not lie*, which is I just learned the eight or ninth commandment, depending on your Christian flavor of choice.
*except when it's convenient? Or maybe for the greater good (of oil companies)?
Just a quick observation. Jonathan Swan of Axios gets so much inside, fly on the wall information about the Trump Debacle that I'm surprised Donaldo doesn't have the guy tailed 24/7 to see who he's talking to. He broke the story about Bannon getting the boot and great insider stuff like Trump's Egg-Zecutive Time and his cushy banker's hours schedule. Every few days he comes out with something that everyone else tweets/quotes/forwards.
Someone is feeding the guy some seriously good stuff, stuff that makes the orange wig looking thing stand on end.
Long may he continue. At least until the rat bastard is gone.
Oh, and Ken, Confederates know that commandment. They simply adhere to a version minus the negatory adverb.
@AK: Glad you mentioned Pompeo's adversity to human beings with different sexual makeups than big Mike. It was Cory Booker that quizzed him on this and you could detect a distinct look of "Oh, shit, I knew this was coming." BUT–-as you mention–-he told us he respects everyone no matter what–-treats everyone the same. I thought about that for a moment and concluded it was bullshit. It's like saying, yeah, I hate the idea of you being gay, find it abhorrent, but golly gee, I respect you anyway.
Watching him today during the hearing I thought here is a man who would be great fun to be with, the kind you'd love to have a beer with. He has the affability and sense of humor that would go over in the boardroom, and along with a bit of bravado that sometimes reads as strength, you can see why he was a Trump pick. The trick here is whether we can trust this guy to do the right thing––-for the country.Will be interesting to see who won't vote for him.
So now that Paul Ryan is a lame duck Speaker the House will come to a screeching halt because of the "Merrick Garland" Rule, right? Nevermind IOKIYAR.