The Commentariat -- August 21, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Isaac Arnsdorf of Politico: "The Donald Trump campaign's boasts of a formidable fundraising month in July spooked Democrats.... But a closer inspection of the campaign finance report filed just before Saturday's midnight deadline indicates the haul came at a steep price.... Though the campaign touted an $80 million figure for its July fundraising, just $36.7 million of that total went directly to the campaign. The rest came in through joint fundraising vehicles with the Republican National Committee and state parties. At least $9.5 million of that money is off limits for spending on the election because it's designated for the RNC's convention, headquarters and legal accounts. Plus, the RNC is considering spending its money down-ballot instead of supporting Trump as tensions boil over between the party's apparatus and its defiant nominee. The money the Trump campaign raised also didn't come cheap. The campaign more than doubled its spending from the previous month to $18.5 million in July.... Most of that money went toward expanding the campaign's online fundraising operation."...

... CW: Those of you who thought the Trump campaign was lying about its big haul were on the right track; not a lie, but deceptive.

Ashley Killough & Karl de Vries of CNN: "Donald Trump acknowledged Saturday that the Republican Party 'must do better' in appealing to African-Americans. But in the same speech [in Fredericksburg, Va.], he again slammed an order by the state's Democratic governor, Terry McAuliffe, to restore voting rights to some convicted felons who have completed their sentences, a move McAuliffe says could help African-Americans who were disproportionally affected by laws that put lifetime bans on felons." -- CW

TBD. Jenna Johnson & Ed O'Keefe  of the Washington Post: "On Sunday morning, [Donald Trump's] newly installed campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, was asked during an interview on CNN's 'State of the Union' whether Trump still wants 'a deportation force removing the 11 million or so undocumented immigrants.' 'To be determined,' said Conway, who in the past has supported creating a pathway to citizenship for the millions of immigrants illegally living in the United States." -- CW

Jenna Johnson: "Donald Trump's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, said Sunday morning that she does not want the Republican presidential nominee to release his tax returns until an audit by the Internal Revenue Service is completed, abandoning a position that she took five months ago, when she didn't work for the campaign and urged Trump to "be transparent" and release the filings.... Trump is the first major presidential nominee from either party since 1976 to not release tax returns." -- CW

Laura Vozzella of the Washington Post: "Gov. Terry McAuliffe will announce Monday that he has restored voting rights to 13,000 felons on a case-by-case basis after Republicans and state Supreme Court justices last month stopped his more sweeping clemency effort.... McAuliffe's planned action ... comes about a month after the Supreme Court of Virginia invalidated an executive order the Democratic governor issued in April. With that order, McAuliffe restored voting rights to more than 200,000 felons who had completed their sentences.... McAuliffe also will lay out his plans for restoring rights to the remainder of the 200,000." -- CW

*****

Pete Willliams of NBC News: "Holding defendants in jail because they can't afford to make bail is unconstitutional, the Justice Department said in a court filing late Thursday -- the first time the government has taken such a position before a federal appeals court." CW: This is such a no-brainer that one wonders why an advocacy group hadn't brought it up years ago. I suspect it's because even organizations like the ACLU work on behalf of poor people only when there's something in it for elites -- e.g., voting rights.

John Eligon & Robert Gebeloff of the New York Times: "Affluent black families, freed from the restrictions of low income, often end up living in poor and segregated communities anyway. It is a national phenomenon challenging the popular assumption that segregation is more about class than about race, that when black families earn more money, some ideal of post-racial integration will inevitably be reached." The writers, using anecdotal evidence, examine the reasons more affluent blacks often don't move out of their poor, segregated neighborhoods. CW: See also stories linked below on Donald Trump's "outreach" to African-Americans.

Presidential Race

Anne Gearan, et al., of the Washington Post: "Hillary Clinton's increasingly confident campaign has begun crafting a detailed agenda for her possible presidency, with plans to focus on measures aimed at creating jobs, boosting infrastructure spending and enacting immigration reform if current polling holds and she is easily elected to the White House in November." -- CW

Amy Chozick & Steve Eder of the New York Times: "For years the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation thrived largely on the generosity of foreign donors and individuals who gave hundreds of millions of dollars to the global charity. But now, as Mrs. Clinton seeks the White House, the funding of the sprawling philanthropy has become an Achilles' heel for her campaign and, if she is victorious, potentially her administration as well.... The Clinton Foundation has accepted tens of millions of dollars from countries that the State Department -- before, during and after Mrs. Clinton's time as secretary -- criticized for their records on sex discrimination and other human-rights issues. The countries include Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Brunei and Algeria." CW: See Also Jonathan Chait's commentary, linked yesterday.

Jessie Hellmann of the Hill: "Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will be returning to the campaign trail next month to stump for ... Hillary Clinton.... 'I feel very strongly that Donald Trump would be a disaster for the country. I want to do everything I can to see that Secretary Clinton wins.'" CW: One way to do that, Bernie, is to stop calling her "Secretary Clinton." You have to pretend you and "Hillary" are BFFs.

Nikita Vladimirov of the Hill: "Hillary Clinton's campaign is questioning the sincerity of Donald Trump's new tone, highlighting in a video ad the times he has refused to apologize for his inflammatory rhetoric. The video released Saturday, titled 'No Regrets,' intersperses Trump's Thursday speech expressing 'regret' for not choosing 'the right words' at times with clips of his insults of various people an groups":

Judd Legum of Think Progress: "Trump continued his multi-day effort to court the African-American vote with an appearance Saturday night on Fox News. [CW: Which is hilarious, right there, but it's Trump, so it gets worse:]... Trump told Fox News' Jeanine Pirro that blacks in America have 'no health care, no education, no anything.' He described the lives of African-Americans as 'a total catastrophe.' Pressed on what he would actually do for African-Americans, Trump said that he would 'get jobs,' without elaborating. Trump also promised to bring 'spirit' to African-Americans by being a 'cheerleader.' Trump's argument ignores that the vast majority of African-Americans have jobs, health insurance and do not live in poverty." -- CW

Adrian Carrasquillo of BuzzFeed: In a Saturday meeting with his newly announced Hispanic advisory council, Donald Trump suggested he is interested in figuring out a 'humane and efficient' manner to deal with immigrants in the country illegally, according to three sources. Trump, however, stressed that any new announcements will still be in line with the border security-focused approach that has invited intense opposition from Latinos and immigrants since he launched his campaign.... In a statement, Steven Cheung [CW: another Steve!] with the Trump campaign dismissed the BuzzFeed News account of the meeting as 'clickbait journalism' and disputed attendee' claim that he opened the door to legalization behind closed doors." CW: So apparently what Trump meant by "humane and efficient" was that his Enforcement Patrol would not kick in your door and throw you to the floor if "self-deport" first. It's the Romney approach, but with thugs.

Susanne Craig of the New York Times: "... an investigation by The New York Times into the financial maze of Mr. Trump's real estate holdings in the United States reveals that companies he owns have at least $650 million in debt -- twice the amount that can be gleaned from public filings he has made as part of his bid for the White House. The Times's inquiry also found that Mr. Trump's fortunes depend deeply on a wide array of financial backers, including ... the Bank of China .... and Goldman Sachs.... A substantial portion of his wealth is tied up in three passive partnerships that owe an additional $2 billion to a string of lenders.... He is ... quick to stress that these days his companies have very little debt." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... CW: This puts Hillary Clinton's conflict of interest re: the Clinton Foundation in perspective. A President Trump would be unable to sign anything other than Mothers' Day proclamations without affecting his own financial interests.

You live in your poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58 percent of your youth is unemployed. What the hell do you have to lose? -- Donald Trump, addressing black voters, Friday, speaking to a nearly all-white crowd in a town that is 93 percent white (and 90 minutes from Detroit, which is not)

... He Doesn't Know Any Better. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Most black Americans don't live in poverty, just as most white Americans don't." Black unemployment is higher than white, as it has been for decades, but the disparity is not nearly as great as Trump would have it. "There are any number of reasons that black Americans might view Trump unfavorably, starting with his 2011 effort to cast suspicion on Obama's place of birth. Or, probably, starting with his full-page ad calling for the death penalty against five black teenagers in New York City who were accused of rape -- wrongly, as it turned out. Or perhaps thanks to the support his current candidacy is getting from people like former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke.... One adviser said on CNN that Trump making his appeal in a mostly white town wasn't a big deal and that 'maybe it would have been nice if he went and had a backdrop with a burning car.'" -- CW ...

... Jim Fallows: "Trump ostensibly made his argument to black voters, asking 'what do you have to lose?' But if you watch the clip you'll see that in context he is talking about black people, to an audience that was mainly white. (Audience composition is something you can control, or at least foresee and influence, if you're running a national campaign. Where you hold the event, where you drum up attendance, whom you seat in the prominent on-camera places behind the candidate and in the front of the crowd -- these all have an effect and can be tuned.)" -- CW

Patrick Condon of the Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Donald Trump ... made his first visit to [Minnesota] as the Republican presidential candidate for a private nighttime fundraiser at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Dozens of protesters gathered out front ahead of the event and marched around the large building. Later in the evening, a smaller contingent grew unruly. Some fundraiser attendees were pushed and jostled, spit on and verbally harassed as they left the convention center. Trump never appeared in public, and did not grant media interviews or hold a news conference. The fundraiser was closed to the media, but a person in attendance broadcast Trumps remarks on the live-streaming app Periscope. 'If I could win a state like Minnesota, the path is a whole different thing,' Trump told the cheering crowd. 'It becomes a much, much different race. We're going to give it our ­greatest shot.'... Minnesota last went for the Republican in the presidential race in 1972 when President Richard Nixon defeated George McGovern [CW: in a race in which McGovern won only one state: Massachusetts]."

Maureen Dowd thinks up a bunch of things Donald Trump is sorry for. Droll. -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

In Hillary Clinton's America, 'illegal immigrants .. [are] collecting Social Security benefits, skipping the line. -- Voice-over in a Donald Trump campaign ad, released Aug. 19

[Donald Trump] makes a bizarre claim that undocumented immigrants will collect Social Security under a Clinton presidency.... [Even] people who obtain lawful status under DACA need to work for at least 10 years, pay taxes and reach retirement age before they are eligible to receive Social Security benefits.... We would have liked to see the nominee finally stick closer to the facts in his first general-election ad. Unfortunately, this ad is -- to borrow a line from its script -- 'more of the same.' -- Michelle Lee of the Washington Post

Jonathan Swan of the Hill: "Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) on Friday ripped Donald Trump's character.... 'There is not one character trait in Donald Trump I would want my son to emulate,' Rigell told Time Magazine on Friday. 'I'm so embarrassed to be identified with him and in fact, I couldn't be.' Rigell, who came to office in the 2010 Tea Party wave, represents Virginia's 2nd Congressional District, which has a large military constituency." -- CW

Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "When Trump made Breitbart News CEO Steve Bannon his campaign's chief executive last week, [white nationalist Jared] Taylor found reasons to celebrate. It was the latest sign for white nationalists, once dismissed as fringe, that their worldview was gaining popularity and that the old Republican Party was coming to an end.... [Trump's] strategy now resembles the alt-right dream of maximizing the white vote -- even as polling shows his standing with white voters falls short of Mitt Romney's in 2012." -- CW ...

... Kurt Bardella, formerly of Breitbart "News," in a Hill op-ed: "What eventually caused me to terminate my relationship with Breitbart was Steve [Bannon]'s guidance of Breitbart to become the de facto propaganda machine for Donald Trump.... Whatever reprehensible thing Trump did or said would be defended and supported by the daily content of Breitbart.... This is one of those times where the best interests of the whole outweigh any partisan allegiances or any specific issue. It's why I've made the personal choice to vote for Hillary Clinton> in November." -- CW

Congressional Races

Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Republicans, worried about preserving their House and Senate majorities in the face of fierce headwinds, are accelerating their plans to distance themselves from Donald Trump -- and may soon concede, if only implicitly, his defeat. Party strategists are mapping out blueprints for down-ballot candidates, in TV ads and on the campaign trail, to present themselves as checks on a Hillary Clinton presidency. It's an approach that would essentially admit a Trump loss." -- CW

Beyond the Beltway

Isabelle Khurshudyan & Dave Sheinin of the New York Times: "In an interview with NBC's Matt Lauer that aired in part Saturday evening, swimmer Ryan Lochte attempted to explain his role in falsely portraying a late-night incident involving him and three teammates at a Rio de Janeiro gas station last weekend.... 'I over-exaggerated that story,' Lochte told Lauer on Saturday. 'If I had never done that, we would never be in this mess.... It was my immature behavior.'" CW: For the record, "over-exaggerated" is not a word; it's a joke.

Frank Wilkenmeyer of Winning Democrats: "Christians" invent another Malia Obama "scandal" and use it as an excuse for spewing more racial slurs. Where he can, Wilkenmeyer names the names of the Jesus- and Trump-loving "authors." CW: Wilkenmeyer is on the right track: shaming the low-lifes who write this crap. Let's hope some of their neighbors give these scum what-for. Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link.

Way Beyond

** Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "Used extensively in the Soviet era, political murders are again playing a prominent role in the Kremlin's foreign policy, the most brutal instrument in an expanding repertoire of intimidation tactics intended to silence or otherwise intimidate critics at home and abroad.... Muckraking journalists, rights advocates, opposition politicians, government whistle-blowers and other Russians who threaten [the] image [of Russia that Vladimir Putin wants to project] are treated harshly -- imprisoned on trumped-up charges, smeared in the news media and, with increasing frequency, killed.... No other major power employs murder as systematically and ruthlessly as Russia does against those seen as betraying its interests abroad." ...

... CW: Bear in mind that Donald Trump admires Putin for his "leadership." Notice, too, as is pretty clear in the linked conversation, Trump doesn't know how to distinguish between killing (a) foreign operatives who are allegedly backing violent actions against a particular nation, and (b) citizen-protesters, whistleblowers & other dissidents: 'He's running his country and at least he's a leader, unlike what we have in this country,' Trump said when asked by ... Joe Scarborough about Putin's alleged killing of journalists and political opponents. 'I think our country does plenty of killing also, Joe, so you know. There's a lot of stupidity going on in the world right now, a lot of killing, a lot of stupidity,' he said. Finally, when asked whether he would condemn Putin's alleged brutal tactics, Trump responded: 'Sure, absolutely.'" Trump's inability to see the difference between clearly distinguishable acts & motives is part of what I mean when I say he's stupid. So, yeah, Donaldo, there is "a lot of stupidity going on," starting with you.

News Ledes

Washington Post: "Donald 'D.A.' Henderson, an American epidemiologist who led the international war on smallpox that resulted in its eradication in 1980, the only such vanquishment in history of a human disease and an achievement that was credited with saving tens of millions of lives, died Aug. 19 at a hospice facility in Towson, Md. He was 87." -- CW

New York Times: "... a suspected suicide bombing tore through the site of [a wedding] ceremony in southeastern Turkey late Saturday, killing at least 50 people and wounding more than 90, in the latest in a string of attacks to strike the restive region in the past week. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey said in a statement that the Islamic State militant group was probably behind what appeared to be a suicide attack on Saturday in the city of Gaziantep, and that its aim was to sow divisions among ethnic groups in the country and 'spread incitement along ethnic and religious lines.'" -- CW

Comments

[Marie Burns]

Trump reminds me of an older relative from the Midwest who was visiting my husband and me in Los Angeles in the 1970s. On our way home from some Saturday-afternoon excursion, we drove through a lovely, upscale neighborhood. Our relative admired the beautiful houses and landscaping.

As we passed, perhaps for the third time, a man mowing a lawn, our relative said, "Gee, they have Negroes to do their yardwork. I thought in Los Angeles they'd have Japs."

I cannot exaggerate how pleased I was to tell him (without a hint of condescension in my voice because I'm such a nice person), "Oh, I don't think those guys mowing the lawn are the gardeners. They're the homeowners."

This was decades ago and our old relative was kind of a rube. What's Trump's excuse?

Marie

[pat]

Isn't it obvious that Trump is not speaking to African-Americans, but rather is telling his white audience what they want to hear, just to make their bigotry legitimate.

He is despicable. I have a long list of words beginning with D to describe him. I look forward to finishing it with Defeated, Demolished and Destroyed on Nov. 9.

[Ken Winkes]

Though I split five years ago with the ACLU over the contorted reasoning that allowed them to concur with the "Citizen's United" decision, and have been a only a tepid supporter of their work since, I would note that here in Washington State for some time they have been working to reform the draconian rules that have turned our jails into debtors' prisons.

Safari won't open the pages I wished to link, so I can't check my memory, but as I recall from my reading and from a radio interview I conducted with an ACLU spokesman two years ago, the ACLU here has been working to reform the rules that lead to incarceration for unpaid fines as well as those that set much higher bail rates for the poor.

Can't report on the details of their progress so far, but know the local ACLU has been active in the fray for at least the last three or four years.

Interestingly, in preparation for the interview, the person I talked to at the local ACLU told me each state organization operates (fudge word alert!) somewhat independently of the national, so they have some freedom to set their own agendas. Nor does each local necessarily endorse everything the national does. I know the interviewee had the same thoughts about "Citizens United" I did; he was just not in a position to make his feelings national policy.

Saw on the net that some similar work on the disparate treatment of rich and poor in our courts is being done in other states but had no more luck opening those pages. Maybe someone else will have better.

BTW, this Justice Department court filing is in its way as big a deal as the recent action to eliminate private prisons.

Seems we're getting very meaningful criminal justice reform from this truly transformational President, whether the Repugnants like it or not.

[carlyle]

Our system of requiring money to avoid incarceration is a form of summary punishment. Bail is required for unattractive, poor, and unpopular minorities. Obvious, upright, white, middle class citizens are released with instructions to appear Bail bondsmen charge ten percent of the bail amount. No unattractive defendant goes unpunished in America.

[MAG]

Momentum appears to be building, as the question on everyone's mind is HOW Trump will handle defeat?

Vanity Fair "Donald Trump enters the" " "Hospice Phase"" ... The appointment of Bannon, and departure of Manafort, suggest how a campaign might end—but a movement is only beginning.

The article goes on to state: "...given his ego and his business interests, Trump has probably been thinking as much about a post-loss future as a post-victory one. That’s especially likely if he’s in financial trouble, a real possibility."

Oh, and those elusive tax returns! A loss means the pressure on Trump for show-and-tell-all goes bye-bye!

Another interesting piece over on Esquire covers young Jared Kushner ... ...with his father-in-law's bid for the White House in shambles. " can he fix it?" Shades of daddy, when things don't go his way he apparently has a 'get-even' streak (see his push to have Observer writers do a hit piece on Richard Mack)!

[Marvin Schwalb]

My guess is Trump's true net worth is $137.42.

[Ophelia M.]

At The Helm Of Manhattan's Destruction

MAG -
Thank you for linking Esquire's Jared [+ Family] Kushner offering.

I found myself riveted.
And nauseated.

An overall -
nauseatingly riveting & rivetingly nauseating exposé.

The City Weeps -

[Diane]

The "bar" currently in play to judge Trump's legitimacy, presidential demeanor and character, communication skills, truthfulness, empathy etc, currently rests on a poop pile in an especially stinky pig pen. Therefore, if he's not screaming and spitting on the audience or yelling for deportation, calling women vile names, overtly insulting ethnic and/or minority groups, coming up with non substantive policy "ideas" (deportation plan TBD) or touting his imagined greatness of intellect, business acumen and physical attributes, he's getting a pass. In many cases more than a pass, some veritable hoorahs. All is forgotten and forgiven.

His campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway gets a pass on every single thing she's done or said in the course of her political career. With a smile and a softer voice, she gets atta girls from many in the media. With memories as short as the penis displayed on "Emperor without Balls", there's no grading on a curve. It is simply out of the question for Trump and his lot. The tax release spin today was ridiculous. In unambiguous terms, Conway called for Trump to release his tax returns while wearing the Cruz button. These surrogates are paid shills and have no investment in a candidate absent a paycheck. OK, its a job, but the shit you shovel should be understood as paid shoveling and not some higher calling.

Some of the transcripts below are from 2005/06/07, some are not. It gives a flavor of the Conway lurking beneath the surface. Integrity is not a job skill. I LUV Cruz and hate Trump until I don't.

https://mediamatters.org/research/2016/08/17/media-meet-donald-trump-s-new-campaign-manager-kellyanne-conway/212458