;)
The Commentariat -- August 22, 2019
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
New Poll Finds What We Knew All Along. Jill Filipovic in the Guardian: "A new poll shows ... the 'pro-life' movement is fundamentally about misogyny. A Supermajority/PerryUndem survey released this week divides respondents by their position on abortion, and then tracks their answers to 10 questions on gender equality more generally. On every question, anti-abortion voters were significantly more hostile to gender equity than pro-choice voters."
Phil Rucker of the Washington Post has a good piece on the transactional nature of Donald Trump's pro-Israel stance. He begins, "President Trump decided long ago that it would be smart politics for him to yoke his administration to Israel and to try to brand the Democratic Party as anti-Semitic. He set about executing a pro-Israel checklist: moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing the Golan Heights as part of sovereign Israel, and taking a hard line against Iran. And he promoted himself as the greatest president -- a deity even -- for Jewish people." Mrs. McC: Rucker very much backs up what I wrote yesterday in response to a reader who argued that Trump was Israel's BFF.
Ken Vogel & Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "Months after backing out of a trip to Ukraine amid criticism that he was mixing partisan politics with foreign policy, Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump's personal lawyer, has renewed his push for the Ukrainian government to pursue investigations into political opponents of Mr. Trump. Over the last few weeks, Mr. Giuliani has spoken on the phone and held an in-person meeting, in Madrid, with a top representative of the new Ukrainian president, encouraging his government to ramp up investigations into two matters of intense interest to Mr. Trump. One is whether Ukrainian officials took steps during the 2016 election to damage Mr. Trump's campaign. The other is whether there was anything improper about the overlap between former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s diplomatic efforts in Ukraine and his son's role with a gas company there." ...
... Pamela Brown & Caroline Kelly of CNN: "Rudy Giuliani said Wednesday that he had spoken with a Ukrainian official about Joe Biden's possible role in that government's dismissal of a prosecutor who investigated Biden's son.The move shows the former New York mayor is making a renewed push for the country to investigate ... Donald Trump's political enemies."
Sam Stein & Will Sommer of the Daily Beast: "The United States ambassador tasked with cleaning up bizarrely strained relations with Denmark in the wake of Donald Trump's failed attempt to buy Greenland is a frequent retweeter of conspiracy theories who once starred in a movie so bad it was parodied on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Carla Sands heads the U.S. mission to the kingdom of Denmark.... Since becoming ambassador, she has frequently retweeted bizarre claims on her personal Twitter account.... It's rare for a top diplomat to be the one openly spreading conspiracies, even under a private account.... Sands ... appeared utterly caught off-guard by [Trump's] cancellation [of his visit to Denmark].... How Sands performs in this now-delicate role could raise a myriad of questions, from why the U.S. government continues to rely on unseasoned hands in ambassadorial roles to how she ended up in this spot in the first place."
~~~~~~~~~~
Yesterday, as I was reading & writing some of what Trump had said & done Monday & Tuesday, I felt exhausted. How much more of this can we take? I wondered. Well, here we are, another day, and the beat goes on. Intensified. Wednesday we found out that Trump considers himself to be "the Chosen One," "the Second Coming" of Jesus, & "like the King of Israel." And that doesn't get to his plan to indefinitely detain asylum applicants or to the international incident he created with cancelling his trip to Denmark & calling the Danish Prime Minister "nasty." -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ...
... Peter Baker & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times, in a story about the Greenland/Denmark debacle: "Some former Trump administration officials in recent days said they were increasingly worried about the president's behavior, suggesting it stems from rising pressure on Mr. Trump as the economy seems more worrisome and next year's election approaches. After casting off advisers who displeased him at a record rate in his first two and a half years in office, Mr. Trump now has fewer aides around him willing or able to challenge him, much less restrain his more impulsive instincts."
Not That Funny. Quint Forgey of Politico: "... Donald Trump claimed to laughter on Wednesday that he sought to give himself a Medal of Honor, but decided not to after being counseled against the move by aides. The offhand remark from the president came during his address to the 75th annual national convention of American Veterans, a volunteer-led veterans service organization also known as AMVETS.... Trump never served in the military and was granted five draft deferments -- four for college and one for bone spurs in his heel." ...
... Watch especially "Thing 2." See also safari's commentary in today's thread.
Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "President Trump said Wednesday that Jewish Americans who vote for Democratic candidates are 'very disloyal to Israel,' expanding on his remarks from the previous day and dismissing criticism that his remarks were anti-Semitic.... Asked by a reporter Wednesday to clarify his remarks, [Trump said,] 'In my opinion, the Democrats have gone very far away from Israel... I cannot understand how they can do that ... In my opinion, if you vote for a Democrat, you're being very disloyal to Jewish people and you're being very disloyal to Israel. And only weak people would say anything other than that.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... The NBC News story, by Allan Smith, is here. "Then, while speaking to reporters on Wednesday about his efforts to take on China's trade practices, Trump pointed at the sky and said, 'I am the chosen one.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump went on Twitter on Wednesday to quote a conservative radio host and known conspiracy theorist who praised him as 'the greatest President for Jews' and claimed that Israelis 'love him like he is the second coming of God.' In his tweets, Trump thanked Wayne Allyn Root for 'the very nice words.'... In his Wednesday morning tweets, Trump quoted Root saying, 'President Trump is the greatest President for Jews and for Israel in the history of the world, not just America, he is the best President for Israel in the history of the world ... and the Jewish people in Israel love him like he's the King of Israel.'... 'But American Jews don't know him or like him,' Root continued, according to Trump's tweets. 'They don't even know what they're doing or saying anymore. It makes no sense! But that's OK, if he keeps doing what he's doing, he's good for all Jews, Blacks, Gays, everyone. And importantly, he's good for everyone in America who wants a job.' In his own words, Trump added: 'Wow!'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: As Wagner notes, "Jews do not believe in a second coming." That, of course, is because they don't believe in Christians' claim there was a first coming. If Trump sees himself as the "King of Israel," you might think he'd want to buy Israel instead of Greenland. Maybe he's concerned that the Israelis are more formidable negotiators than the Danes & Greenlanders. ...
... Beth Levin of Vanity Fair: "It's probably self-evident that anyone claiming Trump is the Messiah is not right in the head, but just so it's on the record, Wayne Allyn Root -- a self-described 'Jew turned evangelical Christian' -- is an unhinged conspiracy theorist who believes the 2017 Las Vegas shooting was a 'coordinated Muslim terror attack' by ISIS and that George Soros paid actors to stage the 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville that included Nazi chants like 'Jews will not replace us.' Trump, incredibly, seems to believe that he's going to win over Jewish voters by telling them they don't [know] what's good for them ('They don't even know what they're doing or saying anymore!')." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
This thread, not a full day after calling American Jewish Democrats disloyal, is eschatological antisemitism from a right wing extremist. It draws a line between good (right wing and/or Israeli) and bad (liberal) Jews. This is stochastic terrorism. -- Rabbi Andy Kahn, in a tweet
The President is a raving lunatic. He is not well. -- Andrew Gillum in a tweet ...
... Jonathan Chait: "If the president is seeking more insight into why Jews have failed to jump onto the Trump train, this tweetstorm itself supplies more evidence. Root is taking the traditional complaint that Christians make against Jews -- Why are you stiff-necked people forsaking your Lord and Savior? -- and substituting Trump himself for the role of the Messiah. The traditional Trumpist overture to Jews is that Trump might go after all the other minority groups but definitely won't turn on Jews. That approach having failed to yield dividends, he is now turning to castigating them for failing to worship the true King of the Jews and veritable Second Coming of God. 'They don't even know what they're doing or saying anymore' is not usually a good pitch for any constituency. And where Jews specifically are concerned, the whole 'Second Coming' thing remains a bit of a sensitive area." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Zack Beauchamp of Vox: "Trump wants American Jews to think of him as their friend, all of the evidence staring our community in the face that he isn't. If the past day's outbursts have any upside, it's that they reveal just how false this charade is -- and show that American Jews are yet another minority group threatened by the Trump presidency.... To what extent can American Jews trust America's white Christian majority to protect their community and civil rights? Historically, the answer is 'not very much.'... Jews of European descent enjoy many of the privileges of whiteness -- especially when they aren't visibly Jewish. But we also are only contingently accepted as equal participants in white American society.... We Jews are most certainly part of the 'Other' with a capital-o, a tiny percentage of the country seen as different and distinct from the majority culture. We are targeted for attacks by the growing white supremacist movement and smeared by the president when we don't do what he wants." ...
Bradley Burston of Haaretz: "[Donald Trump] has now proven himself, well beyond all rivals, as the greatest anti-Semite of our age.... This week ... he made it official.... There it is. His test of the Jews, full frontal. Come and get me, he taunts. And just watch me as I mine and inflame and leverage the Jew in you, and turn all of it into votes.... It's not Jews he's talking to at all. He's talking to Evangelicals..., and what he's telling them is simple as flat trajectory AK fire: You're better Zionists than the Jews are, and at this point, you -- and especially, I -- are even more pro-Israel than that Omar-Tlaib waffler Netanyahu." --s ...
... ** Ed Kilgore of New York: "... in ... supporting an aggressive and expansionist Jewish State, Trump may be appealing to Jewish solidarity with Israel, but more important to him politically is the demonstration to Evangelicals that in this, as in many other things (notably the fight to reverse LGBTQ and reproductive rights), he is an agent of the divine will, despite (or sometimes because of) his heathenish personal behavior. From this perspective, Trump's strange rhetoric begins to make sense: When he accuses American Jews of 'disloyalty,' he really means they are not playing the role Christians have assigned them in the great redemptive saga of the human race [i.e., the End Times]." ...
... Zak Cheney-Rice of New York sees Trump's embrace of Israel as an attack on Muslims: "... if [Rep. Ilhan] Omar [D-Minn.] is an anti-Semite, and Trump is akin to the 'King of Israel' -- as suggested in a tweet he promoted on Wednesday -- then something more sinister than concern for Jewish people is going on. And given the Republican Party's long-term investment in demonizing Muslims and galvanizing white Evangelicals to back its agenda while casting its Democratic opponents as the 'real' bigots, it's not hard to see what that is."
It's What He Says about Women. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Trump on Wednesday said that the new prime minister of Denmark was 'nasty' to him when she rejected his interest in purchasing Greenland, as he explained why he abruptly canceled a trip to the European nation next month. Mr. Trump made the remarks to reporters outside the White House as he departed for a trip to Kentucky for an official event. The statement from Mette Frederiksen, the 41-year-old prime minister of Denmark, had called Mr. Trump's hope of buying Greenland 'absurd,' a statement the president called 'nasty.'... 'She's not talking to me, she's talking to the United States of America,' he said. 'They can't say "how absurd."'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Allie Malloy of CNN: "The President has frequently used the word 'nasty' to describe women he is angry with." Malloy cites "nasty" remarks Trump made about Nancy Pelosi, Meghan Markle, Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris & Elizabeth Warren. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Rick Noack, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Trump continued to lash out [at Denmark].... After departing on a trip to Kentucky, Trump ... [wrote] on Twitter that despite being 'a wealthy country,' it was falling short of a NATO goal for defense spending.... A Trump adviser said the president was annoyed at planned back-to-back trips to Europe in the coming days and the extensive flying involved and that the comments by [Danish PM Mette] Frederiksen gave him a reason to cancel the Denmark leg. Trump is scheduled to leave later this week for a Group of Seven summit in France. 'It doesn't take a member of the Intelligence Committee to know that canceling meetings with our foreign allies over the momentary whims of the President is absurd,' Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) wrote on Twitter. 'We can't keep making foreign policy decisions based on this President's fantasy world.'" ...
... As Baker & Haberman of the New York Times write (also linked above), after Trump chastised Denmark for re: NATO spending, "he went after NATO as a whole for not spending enough on their militaries. 'We protect Europe and yet, only 8 of the 28 NATO countries are at the 2% mark,' he wrote, referring to the goal set by the alliance for members to spend 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense. The dust-up could have wider ramifications, analysts said."
... Shaun Walker of the Guardian: "The Danish prime minister has said she is surprised and disappointed that Donald Trump has called off his planned visit to the country over Copenhagen's refusal to sell Greenland to the US.... [Danish] politicians from across the spectrum were united in their condemnation.... Villy Søvndal, a former foreign minister, said the decision 'confirms that Donald Trump is a narcissistic fool.... If he had been a clown in a circus, you could probably say that there is considerable entertainment value. The problem is that he is the president of the most powerful nation in the world,' he said." ...
... New York Times Editors: "What came through in Mr. Trump's approach [to purchasing Greenland] was not realpolitik, but a crude and insulting transactional vision of a world in which buying a self-ruled territory and its more than 56,000 people was just another 'large real estate deal' -- in his view, one that Denmark should welcome because Greenland was purportedly draining $700 million a year in Danish subsidies. When first reported in The Wall Street Journal last Friday, the idea drew howls of hilarity. But when Mr. Trump made clear he was serious, amusement turned to astonishment and, in Denmark and Greenland, to indignation.... That the president of the United States would demonstrate such willful ignorance of how the world works, that he would treat a territory and its independent people like goods and chattel, that he would so readily damage relations with an old and important ally out of petty pique, is frightening." ...
... Thomas Wright of the Brookings Institution in the Atlantic: "The cancellation of Trump's visit to Denmark is part of a disturbing pattern. Trump regularly beats up on and abuses America's closest democratic allies while being sycophantic to autocrats.... This is the kind of thing the Russians and the Chinese do. It is territorial revisionism -- the use of national power to acquire territory against the desire of its sovereign government and its people.... Free societies and autocracies are at odds with each other -- over human rights, the rule of law, technology, freedom of the press, the free flow of information, and territorial expansion. At this particular moment, it is not sufficient to say that the free world is without a leader. He has actually defected to the other side." Emphasis added.
Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Wednesday said his administration is once again seriously considering an executive order to end birthright citizenship months after several lawmakers cast doubt on his ability to take such action. 'We're looking at that very seriously,' Trump told reporters as he left the White House for Kentucky. 'Birthright citizenship, where you have a baby on our land -- walk over the border, have a baby, congratulations, the baby's now a U.S. citizen.'... [Last year, Trump said he] would sign an executive order to enact the change. Numerous lawmakers, including several Republicans, quickly pushed back on the idea and argued Trump lacked the authority to make such a change using an executive order. They cited that birthright citizenship is a right enshrined under the 14th Amendment. Trump responded to the criticism by saying birthright citizenship would be ended 'one way or another.'" ...
... Also at the "rambling, 35-minute back-and-forth with reporters..., Trump denied he is considering a payroll tax cut to head off a recession, arguing that there is no need to do so even after he confirmed it was under consideration the previous day," according to Washington Post reporters Rick Noack and others (also linked above). ...
... Yet Another "Catch & Release" Trump Plan. Matt Stieb of New York makes a stab at listing the crazy things Trump said yesterday, but he misses a few. Here's one he caught, though, that I haven't seen reported elsewhere: "As if his reputation in the European Union needed any further damage, Trump threatened to 'release' captured ISIS fighters from the continent in their respective countries if 'Europe doesn't take them.' It was the second time this month Trump had proposed that ultimatum: On August 2, he told reporters, 'We have 2,500 ISIS fighters that we want Europe to take,' and, if they were not received, 'we'll probably have to release them to Europe.'"
Alexandra Hutzler of Newsweek: "... Donald Trump has spent nearly a third of his presidency visiting his business properties at taxpayer expense, according to a new report by the government watchdog group Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington. CREW has found over 2,300 conflicts of interest resulting from Trump's decision not to divest ownership of his global business empire upon entering office.... The nonprofit added that there are likely more conflicts of interest than the ones they have been able to identify." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Partly this is because Trump avoids doing the inconvenient or quasi-arduous parts of this job. As the WashPo reported (linked above), "A Trump adviser said the president was annoyed at planned back-to-back trips to Europe in the coming days and the extensive flying involved," so he picked a fight with Denmark as an excuse to avoid a state visit. Even when Trump is in the White House, at the times of day most people are at work, Trump is taking "executive time," fixing his hair & watching Fox "News."
Michael Shear & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "The Trump administration unveiled a regulation on Wednesday that would allow it to detain indefinitely migrant families who cross the border illegally, replacing a decades-old court agreement that limited how long the government could hold migrant children in custody and mandated the level of care they must receive.... The new regulation would codify minimum standards for the conditions in family detention centers and would specifically abolish a 20-day limit on detaining families in immigration jails, a cap that has prompted President Trump to repeatedly complain about the 'catch and release' of families from Central America and elsewhere into the United States. The change will require approval from a federal judge before it can go into effect, and administration officials said they expect it to be immediately challenged in court." The NPR story is here. Mrs. McC: It's like, it's like, DHS has revealed Stephen Miller's wet dreams. But left out the torture part. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Jake Thomas of The Intellectualist: "In Hildalgo County, Texas, residents are fighting to protect the graves of veterans under threat by ... Donald Trump's border wall, according to local news station KVEO-TV. The Eli Jackson Cemetery is the final resting place of veterans of bot World Wars as well as the Korean War, but the Trump administration wants to have those graves moved in order to make way for the proposed barrier along the southern U.S. border. Others buried in the cemetery, which is considered sacred land by local natives, include freed slaves and native ancestors." --s
Jim Tankersley & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "The federal budget deficit is growing faster than expected, even as President Trump muses about more tax cuts and other ideas that would add to government debt. The deficit will reach $960 billion for the 2019 fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, and $1 trillion for the 2020 fiscal year, the Congressional Budget Office said in updated forecasts released on Wednesday. Previously, it had projected an $896 billion deficit for 2019 and $892 billion for 2020. Those numbers would be even higher, if not for lower-than-expected interest rates, which are reducing the cost of servicing the national debt." The CBS/AP story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Ben Casselman of the New York Times: "Employers added a half-million fewer jobs in 2018 and early 2019 than previously reported, the Labor Department said Wednesday. The revisions, which are preliminary, are part of an annual process in which survey-based estimates are brought into alignment with more definitive data from state unemployment insurance records. Wednesday's revision covers the period through March; final updates, which will include the rest of 2019, will be released in February. The revisions don't change the overall picture of a healthy job market. But they do mean that 2018, which had ranked among the strongest years of job growth in the decade-long recovery, was weaker than previously believed." ...
... Jeffry Bartash of Market Watch: "The newly revised figures indicate the economy didn't get a huge boost last year from President Trump's tax cuts and higher federal spending. They also signal the economy is a bit weaker than previously believed and could give the Federal Reserve even greater reason to cut interest rates in September."
Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Ever since Trump announced his Farmer Welfare Program to help make up for the billions American farmers were losing as a result of his trade wars, I have been wondering how much of that money was going to actual farmers. Well, contributor Anonymous looked into it, and the answer is not much:
... Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story (July 30): “... Donald Trump has tried to paper over the disaster his trade war has been causing for American farmers by issuing a $16 billion bailout, paying farmers for the work they lost due to the tariffs.... But ... according to a new report from the Environmental Working Group, of the $16 billion in 'Market Facilitation Payments' Trump's Department of Agriculture appropriated, the group found, 54 percent of it went to just the top one-tenth of farms, with 82 farmers receiving at least $500,000 and many of the recipients actually living in large cities. Smaller family farms, meanwhile, have received very little, with the bottom 80 percent of farmers getting less than $5,000 each -- and farmers of color have received almost nothing. The USDA initially said it would cap payments at $125,000 -- but in practice, Trump officials have allowed the richest farmers to get around that limit by having family members who do not do meaningful work on the farm apply for their own payments, double-dipping again and again." ...
... Sarah Burris of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump's officials were abruptly told to end their agricultural tour in the Midwest this week as tensions among farmers continue to rise.... Trump has claimed farmers support his trade war with China, that is going into its second year. Farmers told [Ag Secretary Sonny] Perdue that things weren't 'great' and they were concerned Americans see Trump's bailout as a welfare program for farmers. To make matters worse, the bailouts were given to corporate farms over family farms and put those in rural areas at a greater disadvantage as they struggle through Trump's trade war." ...
... Mario Parker, et al., of Bloomberg: "In a sign of rising tensions with the farm community, the Trump administration withdrew staff from a privately run tour of Midwestern corn and soybean fields after a government employee was threatened.... The USDA's data arm has been the subject of ire in recent months after crop estimates surprised traders and growers who had expected the agency to significantly reduce its outlook after rain delayed planting.... Its withdrawal from the crop tour comes about two weeks after farmers leveled criticism at Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue at a fair in Minnesota over ... Donald Trump's yearlong trade war with China, which has eroded demand and pressured already low prices."
Rebecca Leber of Mother Jones: "Allan Blutstein, an America Rising [a Republican opposition research outfit] lawyer and senior vice president, [has been] seeking the records of EPA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employees who have contributed to Democrats.... Blutstein appears to be searching for evidence that ... EPA and NOAA employees violated the Hatch Act, which forbids government employees from performing any electioneering during work hours and from hosting political fundraisers.... Blutstein targets have included an EPA geologist, several EPA attorneys, and a National Weather Service staffer." --s ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: As Leber notes, "Government employees ... are free to donate to political candidates so long as the contribution is made on their personal time and does not involve the use of government resources or equipment." Blutstein's requests smack of harassment & attempts to intimidate career federal employees.
Presidential Race 2020
John Bowden of the Hill: "Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) dropped out of the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination on Wednesday. Inslee told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow during an interview that he would withdraw from the race because it had 'become clear' to him that he had no path to the nomination." ...
... The more extensive Washington Post report, by Eli Rosenberg, is here.
Jeff Toobin of the New Yorker: "A fledgling liberal organization, Demand Justice, is trying to force the [Democratic presidential] candidates to take a stand on a provocative proposal for the next Democratic administration. The group's founders, Christopher Kang, who helped run judicial selection for President Barack Obama, and Brian Fallon, a former aide to Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer, argue that the next President should not nominate any judicial candidates who come out of the world of corporate law. As Kang and Fallon, two insiders to the process, point out, even in Democratic administrations, there is a recurring pattern among nominees to the federal bench: 'A typical nominee might have an Ivy League degree and clerkships with one or more respected federal judges,' they write, in a new article in The Atlantic. 'But perhaps no qualification is more prevalent than prior work at a major private-sector firm, representing the interests of large corporations.' As they note, roughly sixty per cent of federal appellate judges come from corporate firms.... Sheldon Whitehouse, a senator from Rhode Island, has been one of the few Democratic politicians to focus on this issue of corporate power in the courts; he's even written a book about it."
Senate Race 2020. Kyle Balluck of the Hill: "Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D), who last week ended his 2020 presidential campaign, announced on Thursday that he will seek a seat in the U.S. Senate. 'I'm not done fighting for the people of Colorado,' he said in a video attacking Washington over preexisting conditions, prescription prices and the opening of public land to developers." Cory Gardner (R) currently holds the seat & is running for re-election.
Jessica Campisi of the Hill: "A Tennessee man was arrested Wednesday for allegedly posting threats online to 'shoot up' a Planned Parenthood facility in Washington, D.C. Jacob Cooper, 20, allegedly wrote in an Aug. 13 comment that he planned 'to shoot up a planned parenthood facility in Washington D.C., on August 19th at 3pm,' the Department of Justice (DOJ) wrote in a release. The FBI and U.S. attorneys in Washington and Nashville said in the release that Cooper appeared in court Wednesday on a charge of unlawfully transmitting a threat to injure. According to a criminal complaint, Cooper allegedly wrote in a separate Aug. 13 post, 'If you are a member of the FBI, CIA, whatever, and are on my profile I will trace your IP address and kill you if the opportunity arises.'" ...
... Steve Almasy, et al., of CNN: "... more than two dozen people ... have been arrested over threats to commit mass shootings since 31 people were killed in one weekend this month in shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. The raft of cases follows a directive by the FBI director immediately after the two early August massacres for agency offices nationwide to conduct a new threat assessment in an effort to thwart more mass attacks." The report lists "the known threats with publicized arrests that law enforcement agencies have investigated since the Dayton and El Paso shootings[.]"
Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "At least eight Bureau of Prisons staffers knew that strict instructions had been given not to leave multimillionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein alone in his cell, yet the order was apparently ignored in the 24 hours leading up to his death, according to people familiar with the matter. The fact that so many prison officials were aware of the directive — not just low-level correctional officers, but supervisors and managers -- has alarmed investigators assessing what so far appears to be a stunning failure to follow instructions, these people said.... Investigators suspect that at least some of these individuals also knew Epstein had been left alone in a cell before he died...." The Raw Story has a summary report of the WashPo story. ...
... Tom Sykes of The Daily Beast: "Flight logs for Jeffrey Epstein's private jet reportedly suggest that Prince Andrew was in the same part of the world as Virginia Roberts Giuffre on at least three occasions. Giuffre alleges she was 'given' to Andrew by Epstein three times. The flight logs ... show that Giuffre was flown around the world by Epstein, while Andrew was touring the globe himself, touching down in similar locations." --s
News for MAGA Users. Lateshia Beachum of the Washington Post: "Now, people can apparently purchase 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), known as ecstasy or molly, in the shape of Trump's face." Here's the ABC News story.
Way Beyond the Beltway
Brazil. Jonathan Watts of the Guardian: "The Brazilian president,Jair Bolsonaro, has accused environmental groups of setting fires in the Amazon as he tries to deflect growing international criticism of his failure to protect the world's biggest rainforest. Brazil has had more than 72,000 fire outbreaks so far this year, an 84% increase on the same period in 2018.... More than half of them were in the Amazon..., Bolsonaro suggested the fires were started by environmental NGOs to embarrass his government.... Bolsonaro said there were no written records and it was just his feeling." --s
Japan/North Korea. Justin McCurry of the Guardian: "Japan's government will reportedly state that North Korea is capable of miniaturising nuclear warheads in a forthcoming defence report, it has emerged. Tokyo will upgrade its estimate of the regime's nuclear capability, having said last year only that the technical feat was a possibility[.]" --s
Japan/South Korea. Choe Sang-Hun of the New York Times: "South Korea said on Thursday that it would abandon a vital military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan, a move that is likely to alarm the United States, which pushed for the arrangement in part to ensure that North Korea's missile activity is closely tracked. South Korea's relations with Japan have been at a low point in the weeks since Tokyo imposed a series of trade restrictions on the South. Kim You-geun, first deputy chief of the South Korea's National Security Council, said Thursday that the South had chosen to terminate the intelligence-sharing deal because the restrictions had 'caused an important change in security-related cooperation between the two countries." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: In case you don't think that trade wars precipitate or at least portend more serious tensions.
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Reader Comments (20)
Do the opponents of Planned Parenthood know how terrible \the death of women in childbirth is in America?
About twenty seven American women per hundred thousand births die in childbirth. Great Britain and Canada loose about seven or eight mothers. The northern European countries loose four or less.
This whole Greenland thing may seem crazy on first through tenth glance but when seen in the context of the Pretender's usual way of doing business, it followed a familiar pattern--up to the point of when it all fell apart.
The US is broke. Its deficit skyocketing. We're living on borrowed trillions. Sound familiar? Perfect conditions to do another real estate deal. This time no problem borrowing the money. Have that full faith and credit thing going. Won't have to rely on the Russians (tho' Russia as a silent partner might have its benefits....hmmm).
Then stand back and bit and look at the I-alone-can-fix-it Pretender who constantly confuses himself with the country. You know, the guy who equates any criticism with treason, any insults directed at him as insults to the country as a whole.
So...a really big real estate deal swung by the Great Developer of All, again with borrowed money.
Really nothing new here at all. Pretender SOP.
Until that nasty lady up and said no.
The Trump/Greenland debacle and his self-proclaimed status as a god add new levels of potency to the emetic reality of this “administration” (admittedly a ridiculous word for describing the chaos and insanity that are all things Trump).
Talk of buying Greenland means also buying it’s residents. Another reason for white supremacists and confederates to love this monster. What’s more confederate than the buying and selling of human beings?
Prior to casting aside all pretense of humanity, Trump reveals his godhead to the world and with it, a real estate deal like no other, the purchase of human beings and their land. Would they be required to worship Trump as he demands of Jews?
Of course the selling part would have followed in short order because like nearly every other major “deal” in his storied career, Trump would both overpay, under perform, fuck it up six ways from Sunday and finally be forced to sell off. But to whom? It’s likely that he’d try to make another “best deal ever” and sell Greenland and it’s people to Putin or some other dictator looking for slaves. Would he hold auctions for those in the best shape?
And lest anyone think I indulge a hyperbolic yen, just look at who Trump has surrounded himself with and the daily horrors they dream up to inflict upon those they consider, as slaves are, less than human.
I hesitate assessing this latest astonishing nadir as rock bottom, because there is apparently nothing too low for this despicable dolt.
@Ken Winkes: Well put. Trump does indeed have a history of buying property with other people's money -- then leaving his investors in the lurch while he manages to make millions in "management" fees, licenses, & other skimming ploys. And as @Akhilleus points out, Trump would be buying not just land but people.
Of course a normal real estate developer tries to find out if there is any will to sell before he invests any effort in bidding for a property, and there was never a reason -- as far as I know -- to think Greenlanders were interested in becoming Trump's non-voting slaves.
Therefore, he must have thought he could effect a hostile takeover, and maybe he still has that in mind. I doubt he'll try to launch an invasion for Thule Air Base, but his complaints yesterday afternoon about Denmark's & other European countries' contributions to NATO, for instance, suggests Trump might try to hold our participation in NATO hostage if Denmark & Greenland don't show some interest in the sale.*
With any luck, the Greenland episode is a fleeting fancy, and Trump will move on to other absurd projects. But Trump never forgets a slight, so I think the Danes & Greenlanders should be worried while Trump remains in office.
* Update: And his threat to release captured ISIS fighters into European countries (see Matt Stieb's report, linked above).
@Akhilleus: As @Ken points out, Trump "confuses himself with country." Yesterday he claimed that PM Frederiksen insulted not him but the U.S., and a pundit on MSNBC remarked that Trump, in the same chopper talk, referred to "my economy." So I don't think it's only Democratic-voting Jews whom Trump thinks are "disloyal" & stupid, but ALL Democrats -- voters as well as elected officials.
Were Trump to get a second term, all non-Trump supporters would become "enemies of the people," the "people" being Trump loyalists. And elected Republicans, who have already proved themselves to be chickenshit quislings, would do nothing to stop him from whatever punishments he might impose upon us. Trump is targeting Jews (and other minorities) now, but we're all at risk. This is a "first they came for the Jews" moment.
We all noticed Trump's authoritarian tendencies during the 2016 election, but those tendencies now define Trump. And one crazy man is not the only person to blame for the current state of affairs. Everyone who supports Trump, makes excuses for him or merely tolerates him is at fault. We are still a democratic republic, but Trumpists are doing their best to end that. As Thomas Wright wrote (linked above), Trump has defected to the other side. But so has every one of his enablers.
At this point, no one would put it past the Orange Menace to spend the last month holding Rose Garden ceremonies daily having various cabinet officials awarding him the totality of the various awards and medals coming from Washington:
Congressional Medal of Honor (for military valor): Dear Leader prevented nuclear holocaust through love letters with Kim Jong-Un.
Presidential Medal of Freedom: Relentlessly fought the Enemy of the State and refused to budge on gun protections.
Presidential Citizen's Medal: For being the greatest birth ever on American soil.
Public Safety Officer medal of valor: For helping dig out more bodies at the World Trade Center than any other volunteer, overcoming severe bone spurs pain.
National Medal of Arts: Highest number of drawings created in the Oval Office.
And don't forget the REAL claim that he touted at least seven times–-we got the videos––of him telling us that Michigan named him "Man of the Year" and yet Michigan says they never did such a thing.
Are what we are seeing and hearing after the latest "Trump holds hour long presser in 96 degree weather" more and more voices coming forth proclaiming "the guy is a raving lunatic"? I'll repeat once again what Akhilleus has been repeating:
ARE YOU LISTENING NANCY AND CHUCK?
Yesterday on NPR I listened with barely contained rage as Trump robot, White House assistant something, something, communications, and winger twit Adam Kennedy, droned on about how this new rule about keeping immigrant children and their families locked up indefinitely is all the fault of Democrats who demanded that families not be torn apart, the previous Trump policy.
In the most robotic but condescending tone, Kennedy assured an increasingly frustrated interviewer that this had nothing to do with punishing children and families, it's all about the humanitarian goodness of Donald J. Trump and his administration of Nazi henchmen.
They're doing it for "the good of the children".
Isn't that what sexual molesters say?
The interviewer several times tried to get Kennedy to admit that this meant that children could be locked up for years in terrible conditions. Kennedy, just smirked (if one can "hear" a smirk over the radio) and repeated that they are just obeying the law. The interviewer pointed out that children die in the "care" of ICE. Kennedy blamed the parents. "They shouldn't be bringing them here then, if they don't want them to die". In other words, they should stay where they are, to be raped and murdered.
The inhumanity of these people is almost beyond belief. And I'm not comparing anyone here to Nazi prison camp guards. It's not that. But we're not Nazi Germany (at least not yet). This is still America and we can do better than shoving kids and their families into holes and letting them rot there for years while Trumpbots snicker that it's all the Democrats' fault and they're just innocently obeying the law.
The arrogance of these people is equal to their inhumanity.
Every day, as Marie notes, it gets worse and worse.
Marie,
I entirely get Trump's use of language in separating those who venerate him (good Americans), from those who want his ass in the nearest dumpster or prison cell, whichever is closest (traitors). My especial favorite is his constant reference to "our country", by which he means the Disunited States of Trump, not the USA. Conflating oneself with the nation is a standard monarchic worldview and Trump often employs such figures of speech as "We are blah, blah, blah..." You can practically see him waving his scepter around as he makes such kingly pronouncements.
This is not just unAmerican (even though that is about as primary a descriptor of Trump as one can hope for), it's nuts. It's megalomaniacal. It is ethically and morally corrupt to the core.
I've read in the past that Trump never wanted the job of president (clearly he doesn't want the duties and responsibilities), but he is very much enamored of the power that comes with it. And for a person for whom self-aggrandizement is job one, what could be better? He can insult other world leaders and threaten them with military action (or inaction). He can piss on the Constitution he has sworn to defend and uphold because the obsequious turds in his own party allow it. He can tear up treaties and upend longstanding alliances if it suits his royal whim.
Basically, he can do what he wants. In some ways (except for pesky elections, which he is trying to do away with, or at least make as predictable as his too long red ties), he's more powerful than many constitutional monarchs who are, like Queen Elizabeth, largely figureheads.
In his twisted mind, the presidency is what he has always deserved. A throne from which he can hurl thunderbolts at enemies and those who displease his royal lowness, a place from which he can steal from taxpayers with no worries of legal troubles (his Minister of Wingnut Casuistry, Sir Robbie Barr, sees to that), a pulpit from which he can say whatever he likes and get away with.
No wonder he thinks he is synonymous with "his" country.
Not my country, of course. I live in the USA, not TrumpLand.
And it's way past time to put that place back in the fantasy nightmare from which it came.
Chuck? Nancy? Anyone home?
A full-on savior complex. Wow. That is not the kind of 'breaking bad' I was hoping for. Now a continuous covfefe while wetting himself would have fit nicely in the 25th amendment box, but "I am the chosen one"? The confederates are probably OK with that, so long as he appears coherent. What possible morbid scenarios could follow this? I'm guessing he'll abandon his lapdog Pence and be courting one of his generals for running mate in 2020, preferably one with an evangelical flavor. Somehow this 'chosen one' declaration in the face of a 41% approval rating could signal that he'll push the administration away from civilian control.
Don't want to give Wunderkind ideas, but have wondered if the Pretender has floated the idea of trading Puerto Rico for Greenland, even up?
Or in addition to a carload of I.O.U's., tossing P. R. in as a sweetener?
I'll do some repeating myself: Perhaps the only way to sway those that think Trump is the cat's meow is start running ads that show his lies (Haye's Thing one and two would be a starter) and at the end in bold face lettering––HE THINKS YOU ARE STUPID. Most people don't like being conned––I would think.
I read somewhere that he's losing those Evangelicals because of the immigration disaster. It ain't Christian to treat people like dogs, they say. Another ad might use the words of one of our own:
"The inhumanity of these people is almost beyond belief. And I'm not comparing anyone here to Nazi prison camp guards. It's not that. But we're not Nazi Germany (at least not yet). This is still America and we can do better than shoving kids and their families into holes and letting them rot there for years while Trumpbots snicker that it's all the Democrats' fault and they're just innocently obeying the law." AK
A wee tidbit from my German family who have returned from their stay in NYC. They were having dinner with Todd Williams and his wife, Billie Chen, they of the architectural firm of the same name that my son was part of for years before he moved to Germany. Todd's phone rang midway into the dessert servings: It was Obama who wanted to discuss another glitch re: the Obama Library –– (Williams/Chen are the main architects). Seems some of the board of directors are putting their two cents in and causing delays. Obama also told Todd that Michelle definitely wants a large vegetable garden in the back to share with the local children; a replica of what she had in the White House.
"Oh my," I said after hearing this, "I would have wanted to grab the phone from Todd and tell Obama how much we miss him and Michelle and just thank him for eight years of sanity–-a thing we no longer have."
As I'm sure he's well aware as he is re: Trump's obsession with "besting" him in everything. Both must give him much satisfaction along with the fury we all feel.
Nine days. How many more candidates will qualify for another near incoherent appearance on stage? I'm ready for a good dose of humor if the total is 11 or 12 with all the hand wringing over who gets night one or two.
Jennifer Rubin has a suggestion worth a thought that they do away with using TV anchors as moderators and use Inslee, Swalwell, and Hickenlooper instead. As she notes, at least they know the issues and have the partys interests at heart.
PD,
Next time the last real president calls, tell him to get Michelle to run. She would kick fat-ass around the block. He’d be rode hard and put away wet. And tell him we like the veggie garden idea. But nothing orange. At least for a couple of years.
@Bobby Lee: Good idea. I doubt Hickenlooper, Inslee & Swalwell would ask any candidates if they love their country how come they're not wearing flag pins.
Considered Great by Danes ?
Well, this is interesting.
The Orange Menace jumped up and down in his crib until the bottom crashed out (too many baby treats, methinks) over his trip to Denmark and the "nasty" prime minister who refused to kowtow to him, as all women should, he clearly believes.
So his planned trip to the kingdom is off.
In some corners it's been suggested that the latest Trumper-tantrum was pulled in order to get out of visiting Denmark at all, he being tired of doing presidenty stuff.
But could there be an even better reason? A reason made up of cowardice, fear, narcissism, envy, and hatred, all essential Trump qualities?
Hey, guess who will be visiting Denmark a few weeks after the OM? The last real president of the United States, Barack Obama, who is sure to get a wild welcome with thousands of cheering Danes.
And guess who would wet his very large diaper if the media were to compare crowds (and receptions): Enormous for Obama, tiny for the Trumper. Warm and friendly, gushing even, for Obama; cold, suspicious, and aloof for the OM (oh, except from any racists and white supremacy terrorists on hand). Holy Inauguration Crowd Embarrassment all over again, Batman!
He wouldn't be able to stand it. Cheers for the horrible nee-groe, brickbats for the wonderful Donald. Don't they realize he's a god? He just couldn't handle it and perhaps that's a more believable reason for the OM's latest skeedaddle.
Makes a lot of sense to me. And that's not a phrase you can employ often when talking about the Orange Menace, so enjoy it while it lasts. More crazy is sure to barrel around the corner any second now.
Akhilleus;
Michelle is well qualified to be President. She was better lawyer than her husband. He married up.
A Democratic President could not make a better choice for the SCOTUS. Her brilliance should be a part of our government.
Her children are old enough for her to find a new role.
Carlyle,
Right on, brother. Can you picture the tattoos Michelle would plaster across the asses of Bart O’Kavanaugh, Die for for Your Bosses Gorsuch, Hit Man Sam, Little Johnny, and Pubic Hair Thomas? It’d be Homeric.
Goodness!
I hadn't seen this until just now:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/trump-joked-about-trading-puerto-rico-greenland-puerto-ricans-are-n1045296
Am I sharing the Pretender's brain?
Say it ain't so...pleeeze.
Another reason Biden shouldn't be the guy. Trump and Giuliani are working up another ratfuck session involving Ukraine and Biden's son. It doesn't matter how many lies are involved, this will be another Hillary email clusterfuck.
Everyone in the MSM will feel obliged to "report" on it (ie, repeat word for word every lie out of Giuliani's gaping pie hole, lies that will change by the day). It will become an enormous distraction. Upchuck Todd will run a two hour special on it. No one will let it go. Jim Comey will make a comeback and declare on the Tonight Show (or Dancing With the Stars, whichever show calls him first) that he had always thought Biden was clean, but now he's sorry his FBI didn't investigate his family. Just like he investigated the Trump family, doncha know?
The enormous number of Trump connections to Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs won't matter. But a single, tiny drop of black ink in the Biden milk bottle will kill him.
And after the election, when the Orange Monster slithers back into the White House, MSM editors will bemoan the fact that there was really nothing there after all and they shouldn't have listened to Trump's liars (again), but *sigh* they did. And now Trump is president* again. For the second of his four terms.