;)
The Commentariat -- August 27, 2016
Presidential Race
AP: "Seven months after a federal judge ordered the state department to begin releasing monthly batches of the detailed daily schedules showing meetings by Hillary Clinton during her time as secretary of state, the government told the Associated Press it won’t finish the job before election day. The department has so far released about half of the schedules. Its lawyers said in a phone conference with the Associated Press’s lawyers that the department now expects to release the last of the detailed schedules around 30 December...." -- CW
Jonathan Chait: "Trump ... oddly lambasted Clinton’s speech [on his racist history] as 'short,' raising the tantalizing question of what further evidence of his racism he believes she should have included. (His racialized hysteria against the 'Central Park Five'? His assertions that black people are inherently lazy?) He lambasted Clinton’s use of the racism charge, 'the last refuge of the discredited politician,' a cheap trick to which only a scoundrel would resort. Then finally, that evening, forgetting his conviction that only a discredited politician would charge his opponent with racism, Trump appeared on CNN, where he called Clinton a 'bigot.'... Party leaders who can accept Trump as their nominee have made a public admission that racism in the Republican coalition is a fact of political life they are willing to live with.” -- CW ...
** ... Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Ed Kilgore: "... Hillary Clinton offered a reasonably detailed indictment of Donald Trump’s racially offensive utterances and associations.... She made a decent prosecutor’s prima facie case. In response, Trump repeated his latest claim, offered with zero supporting evidence (unless you call assertions that she knows her policies will hurt African-Americans 'evidence'), that Clinton is herself 'a bigot.'” Chait then details how the Washington Post (in a story I purposely didn't link because I considered it professional malpractice) treated Clinton's point-by-point speech & Trump's throw-away insult as equivalent she-said/he-said back-and-forth. "... if major media organizations treat everything Trump says as equivalent in gravity and proximity to the truth as everything Clinton says, it could get even worse. After all, Trump throws out insults all the time, at nearly everybody. If insults equal fact-based attacks, the sheer volume of insults could win in the end." -- CW
Jenna Johnson & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "Ten days after he appointed new campaign leadership, Donald Trump and many of his closest aides and allies remain divided on whether to adopt more mainstream stances or stick with the hard-line conservative positions at the core of his candidacy, according to people involved in the discussions. Trump has been flooded with conflicting advice about where to land, with the tensions vividly illustrated this week as the GOP nominee publicly wrestled with himself on the details of his signature issue: immigration.... Trump tends to echo the words of whomever last spoke to him...." See also Robert Schlesinger's column, linked below. CW: As always with Trump, this principle applies, because who cares what happens to a bunch of Mexicans:
For the most part, you can’t respect people because most people aren’t worthy of respect. -- Donald Trump, at some time in the past ...
... Trump Campaign Chaos, Ctd. Yvonne Sanchez of the Arizona Republic: "Donald Trump's Arizona director said Friday afternoon the candidate had canceled a Wednesday event in downtown Phoenix. But less than two hours later, Trump himself tweeted that the event was on — and would be bigger than initially planned. 'Will be in Phoenix, Arizona on Wednesday,' Trump posted on Twitter. 'Changing venue to much larger one. Demand is unreal. Polls looking great!'... The latest confusion from the campaign reflects mixed messages surrounding the event and others the campaign has canceled in recent days.... Multiple Trump event planners initially said Trump was slated to unveil his policy agenda on illegal immigration [at the Wednesday event], but walked that back hours later." -- CW: Tiny right hand doesn't know what tiny left hand is doing.
Here's Your Laugh for the Day. Maggie Haberman & Kate Zernike of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump’s campaign has hired Bill Stepien, a former top aide to Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, whose role in the Bridgegate scandal led to his firing and denied him the central role he was expected to play in the governor’s presidential run.... Mr. Stepien was not among the three people charged by federal prosecutors in the lane closings. But earlier this month, a lawyer for one of other defendants released texts from a conversation between two Christie staffers during the two-hour news conference in which the governor denied knowing about the lane closings. 'He just flat out lied about senior staff and Stepien not being involved,' one staffer wrote to the other." CW: As Akhilleus suggested yesterday, Trump might have hired Stepien sooner if he'd changed his name to Steve. ...
... This Is a Hoot, too. Anna Schecter, et al., of NBC News: "Donald Trump's personal physician said he wrote a letter declaring Trump would be the healthiest president in history in just five minutes while a limo sent by the candidate waited outside his Manhattan office. Dr. Harold Bornstein, who has been the GOP nominee's doctor for 35 years, told NBC News on Friday that he stands by his glowing assessment of the 70-year-old's physical state.... 'If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency,' Bornstein wrote. Asked how he could justify the hyperbole, Bornstein said, 'I like that sentence to be quite honest with you and all the rest of them are either sick or dead.'" ...
... CW: Donald Trump's doctor makes no more sense than Donald Trump. "... the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency" means "healthiest at the time he was elected." None of the former presidents was dead at the time he was elected. Bornstein is a gastroenterologist I wouldn't go to with a stomach ache. ...
... Also Funny. Andrew Kaczynski: "Eric Trump, listing off reasons his father is running for president, said in an interview this week that one of the motivations was the renaming of the White House Christmas tree to the 'holiday tree.' The tree placed on the White House lawn during the holiday season is still called the National Christmas Tree.... Chain emails that began when President Obama took office falsely claimed that tree had been renamed." CW: So now that this has been settled, Donald can quit the race. Not that the outrage of calling a conifer a "holiday tree" isn't a good reason to run for president. And nice to know that Eric, like Dad, gets his political news from crackpot chain mail. The pine nut doesn't fall far from the pine.
Not Funny at All. Olivia Nuzzi of the Daily Beast: "Appearing on The Apprentice with Donald Trump required agreeing to a series of odd and invasive demands regarding sex, nudity, and food consumption. According to a copy of an NBC contract reviewed by The Daily Beast, contestants had to agree to be filmed, 'whether I am clothed, partially clothed or naked, whether I am aware or unaware of such videotaping, filming or recording.'... They were made to undergo sexually transmitted disease screenings, which tested for 'HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, HPV, syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and herpes,' according to the contract.... Contestants had to accept 'that Producer may impose one or more Series Rules regarding the type of sexual activity, if any, that participants will be permitted to engage in.'” --CW
Philip Bump of the Washington Post: The GOP leadership, including mike pence, still has not defended Trump against Clinton's speech detailing the evidence of his racism, although they have been tweeting & writing about other things. "In a normal election cycle, that would prompt the party to line up leaders and surrogates in defense of their candidate." CW: These "leaders" aren't defending Trump because they agree with Clinton. She presented her case against Trump like a prosecutor delivering her closing arguments. She cited instance after instance that proved Trump was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The GOP "leadership" voted to convict. They just don't have the guts to deliver their verdict. Update: See also Jonathan Chait's post; he characterizes the "leaders"' silence as a tacit admission that they are willing to live with racism.
Robert Schlesinger of US News: "Maybe Donald Trump is incoherent on immigration because Donald Trump is incoherent. Maybe what he says doesn't make a lot of sense because he doesn't know what he's talking about.... Maybe Donald Trump ... speaks word salad because that's his level of substantive sophistication." Schlesinger goes on to point out that Trump doesn't seem to understand other basics, either: for instance, he appears not to know what a trade deficit is; he thinks it would be okay to crash the U.S. (and with it the world's) economy (because then he would make a deal); and on many issues, he's flip-flopped repeatedly.
Callum Borchers of the Washington Post: Recently Donald Trump "has 'mostly retreated to the relatively cozy confines of Fox News,' as the Huffington Post's Michael Calderone put it this week. Trump finally ventured out again Thursday night, appearing on CNN for the first time in more than two months. It didn't go very well.... A frustrated Trump lashed out at [Anderson] Cooper and CNN, which he has taken to calling the 'Clinton News Network.' 'I know you want to protect her as much as you possibly can,' Trump said, referring to ... Hillary Clinton. At the time, he and Cooper were debating the true poverty rate for African Americans. When Trump didn't want to engage on the merits anymore, his immediate tactic was to try to put Cooper on the defensive with an unrelated accusation." -- CW
Dana Milbank: "Moderates and reasonable Republicans who are considering voting for Trump portray it as a choice between two unpalatable options. But it isn’t. It’s a choice between one unpalatable option and one demagogue who operates outside of our democratic traditions, promoting racism, condoning violence and moving paranoia into the mainstream. This presidential election, unlike the six others I have covered, is not about party or ideology. It’s about Trump’s threat to our tradition of self-government." -- CW
Michelle Lee of the Washington Post: Donald Trump "vowed not to eat Oreo cookies anymore after Nabisco moved some U.S. factory jobs to Mexico.... We know of at least 12 countries where Trump products were manufactured (China, the Netherlands, Mexico, India, Turkey, Slovenia, Honduras, Germany, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam and South Korea).... Trump’s practice as a businessman is not consistent with his current rhetoric against trade as a presidential nominee.... If Trump brand customers took the same stance against his products as he did against Nabisco, it is clear they would be left with few Trump items to buy." But they could buy those "Make America Great Against" caps. -- CW: All the U.S. jobs Trump keeps promising to create will be for dockworkers.
Trump's Winning Strategy. Eric Levitz of New York: "Over the past two weeks, Donald Trump has named the CEO of an 'alt-right' website his campaign chief, 'softened' and then 'hardened' his immigration policy until he pissed off Latino activists and his nativist base, reached out to African-American voters by suggesting black people have nothing in their lives worth preserving, held a campaign rally in the crucial swing state of Mississippi, and released a campaign ad that suggested it doesn’t really matter whom you vote for this fall because the election will be rigged. But on Friday afternoon, Reuters dropped a bucket of cold water on such dumpster blazes: Donald Trump has, apparently, gained seven points on Hillary Clinton in just seven days." CW: Yesterday, the Los Angeles Times daily tracking poll had Trump up by two over Clinton. (The LA Times poll tracks eligible, not likely, voters.)
"All the Best People." Sean Sullivan & Alice Crites of the Washington Post: "Allegations of domestic violence and anti-Semitism from a former wife of Donald Trump’s new campaign chief executive [Steve Bannon] brought fresh scrutiny on Friday to how well Trump vets his most senior employees and advisers — another distraction from the themes the GOP nominee wants to emphasize less than 11 weeks from the election. Records show that Stephen K. Bannon changed his voter registration address in Florida ... from an address in Miami-Dade County to Sarasota County ... this week as reporters were preparing a story about how he was registered at an address where he did not live." -- CW ...
... Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "Donald Trump’s campaign chief [Steve Bannon] has moved his voter registration to the home of one his website’s writers, after the Guardian disclosed that he was previously registered at an empty house in Florida where he did not live. Stephen Bannon is now registered to vote at the Florida house of Andy Badolato, who reports for Breitbart News and has worked with Bannon in the past on the production of political films. According to public records, Badolato, 52, and two of his adult sons are also registered to vote at the property, which he co-owns with his ex-wife.... Badolato states on his website that he is an 'entrepreneur, senior level executive, venture capitalist and seed stage investor' and claims to have founded companies that reached a total of $26bn in market capitalization. According to federal court records, he has filed for bankruptcy four times since 2008. (Emphasis added.) -- CW ...
... CW: The bankruptcies explain why Badolato lives in Florida. "Florida’s bankruptcy exemptions are quite favorable to its residents, and include unlimited exemptions for homestead, annuities, and the cash surrender value of a life insurance policy." Anyway, hope Badolato & his sons enjoy living with Bannon.
... Nancy Dillon of the New York Daily News: "Donald Trump's campaign CEO Stephen Bannon was branded an anti-Semite by the same ex-wife who claimed he choked her, court documents reveal. Mary Louise Piccard said in a 2007 court declaration that Bannon didn't want their twin daughters attending the Archer School for Girls in Los Angeles because many Jewish students were enrolled at the elite institution.... 'The biggest problem he had with Archer is the number of Jews that attend,' Piccard said in her statement signed on June 27, 2007. 'He said that he doesn't like the way they raise their kids to be "whiny brats" and that he didn't want the girls going to school with Jews,' Piccard wrote." According to Piccard, Bannon was troubled by the number of Jewish students in two other private schools in the area, too.
Other News & Views
Ariana Cha of the Washington Post: "The Food and Drug Administration on Friday took the radical step of recommending that blood donations in all 50 states and U.S. territories be screened for the Zika virus. Such costly and time-consuming testing is typically only done for the most dangerous infectious disease outbreaks and signals how seriously U.S. officials are taking the Zika threat. The announcement comes as the outbreak in Florida, the first state with local mosquito transmission of the virus, appears to be spreading." -- CW
Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Federal officials on Friday announced a $2.45 billion loan to Amtrak for the purchase of state-of-the-art trains to replace the aging Acela trains that use the Northeast Corridor from Washington to Boston. Amtrak plans to put the first of 28 new trains into service in about five years. Once they are fully deployed, officials expect the Acela to depart every half-hour between Washington and New York and every hour between New York and Boston. That should increase passenger capacity by about 40 percent, they said. While the new trains will not approach the speeds of some Asian and European trains, officials said they hoped that the new Acela would travel at 160 miles per hour in some places, up from 135 m.p.h. now. The trains will theoretically be able to go faster than 160 m.p.h., though that would require a huge upgrade of the track system." -- CW
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Erik Wemple of the Washington Post on "the crisis of morality at Fox News." Wemple's take is pretty damning, all around, not just of Roger Ailes. ...
... Brian Stelter of CNN: "The memo is dated January 5, 2012.... 'Re: Gabriel Sherman.' Two full years before Sherman published a book about Roger Ailes, this book-length memo ... 400 pages ... made the rounds inside Fox News. It has all the markings of 'opposition research' about a political enemy — which is precisely how Ailes viewed Sherman. The memo, obtained by CNNMoney from two anonymous sources, is a stunning display of Ailes' campaign-like strategies. It includes, among other things, property records, voter registration information, and a note that the researchers could find no criminal record for Sherman.... Some of the information contained in the memo subsequently showed up on Conservapedia, a right-wing version of Wikipedia. Anti-Sherman stories also appeared on Breitbart News in 2012 and 2013.... Sherman told CNNMoney he had heard about possible 'oppo research' against him and had ample reasons to believe it existed, but has never seen it." ...
... CW: Donald Trump could have used Fox "News"'s PR team to vet Steve Bannon (and on Ailes himself). Maybe he did, & didn't care that Bannon is an anti-Semite who allegedly roughed up his wife. Plus. Ailes is "informally" advising Trump, so you can bet intensive oppo-research is one tool a Trump administration would use against media adversaries. Not all reporters have as squeaky-clean a personal history as Sherman apparently does; an oppo research team could come up with some embarrassing incidents for reporters & their families & could use those personal events to try to silence the reporters.
Beyond the Beltway
Inae Oh of Mother Jones: "In a statement, [Gov. Paul] LePage [R-Insane-Maine] said his suggestion to duel [a Maine legislator] was not meant to incite any physical violence." See yesterday's Commentariat for context. CW BTW: LePage did threaten the legislator, Drew Gattine (D), in a profanity-laced voicemail. -- CW ...
... Here's some background, the content of which was linked within a story I linked yesterday, but which I did not specifically link myself. David Graham of the Atlantic: LePage told reporters Wednesday, "... I made the comment that black people are trafficking in our state, now ever since I said that comment I’ve been collecting every single drug dealer who has been arrested in our state.... And I will tell you that 90-plus percent of those pictures in my book, and it’s a three-ringed binder, are black and Hispanic people from Waterbury, Connecticut, the Bronx and Brooklyn.... The publicly available evidence did not support LePage’s idea that minorities were behind the heroin epidemic. Several recent arrests of dealers at the time had involved predominantly or exclusively white people.... Naturally, reporters were interested to get their hands on LePage’s binder full of minorities. On Thursday, they asked the governor for it. He refused and stomped off. 'Let me tell you something: Black people come up the highway and they kill Mainers. You ought to look into that!' he said. 'You make me so sick!'”
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Reader Comments (8)
Maddow had an ex CIA briefer on her show, for the purpose of asking if any new info that Clinton gets in her briefing will require Trump to also be briefed on that new info. The short answer was yes. In 2 appearances I have seen, this guy has emphasized the neutrality innate in the process. Tonight, he was compelled to say Clinton might ask for a lot of info, knowing Trump would also get the info, in hopes Trump would reveal classified info. What??? He stated "It raises questions." Raising questions is akin to "I'm not a doctor, but...."
Clinton doesn't need to set up some contrived scenario to force Trump to expose his deficits. Being an ignorant malignant narcissist, he demonstrates breathtaking buffoonery on his own.
In the video, Trump's doctor mumbles that he knows Clinton's doctor and he makes some statements about Clinton's health. He looks and acts like he's under the influence of something, but his statements sounded like a HIPPA violation.
Soooo...the latest Trump campaign boss, Number One Steve, the Breitbart bully, is a wife beater, anti-Semite, and practioner of voter fraud. Great. Another abusive thug like the first one and to go along with the aide de camp to Russian backed dictators. What's next? A pederast? A kiddie porn producer?
If this is an example of Donaldo's "extreme vetting", and hiring of "the best people", I can't wait to see the rogues' gallery of miscreants, criminals, and unstable low-lifes he'll want in his cabinet. I can see it now, another sparsely attended cabinet meeting to discuss Trump's latest war. Three guys are being arraigned, two are meeting with lawyers to discuss plea bargains, and one is absent because the voices told him to stay home and clean the guns.
@Akhilleus: I'm just not sure about the voter fraud. Since Bannon has refused to respond definitively to the Guardian, it seems fair to assume it is some kind of fraud (I'll get to that).
I've been living in Florida for more than six months a year, which is something I hope will end after my next trip there, set to begin in a little more than a month. Once I've left Florida permanently, I'll register to vote in the state where I have two other homes & where I intend to live permanently. But I won't formally cancel my voter registration in Florida. I just won't vote there any more. That's SOP.
The Guardian story does not say Bannon has actually voted in Florida, another reason I'm not convinced voter fraud is involved. He might have voted in the presidential primary there, and his absentee ballot for the state's general primary, which is this Tuesday, might be in the mail.
It would seem the purpose for Bannon's Florida registration is to avoid state & local taxes wherever he does live -- California, I guess, mostly. Florida has no income tax.
If Bannon doesn't really live in the Florida property -- and it appears he doesn't -- then the real fraud may be tax fraud, and the state (or D.C.) in which he actually resides, if it has a state income tax, would have a case against him. Since, like Trump, Bannon is "very rich," that could be mighty costly for him, as not only would he have to pay back taxes, a steep penalty might apply.
If Bannon owns Florida property (and it looks like the places he has registered to vote were rentals) but doesn't live there, there could be tax fraud in Florida, too. The state's homestead exemption is quite generous, and in fact, it's the main reason I've kept voting and registering my vehicles in Florida. (All are required to maintain Florida residency.) If I had given up my Florida residency, property taxes on my house there would be $10,000 higher than they are now.
At any rate, the Guardian story, absent any meaningful clarification from Bannon, is pretty speculative. Bannon's registry there looks illegal, but the Guardian story does not present an open-and-shut case. That's why I didn't link to it yesterday. There is so much about Bannon & his boss that is horrible, until there's some kind of definitive proof that Bannon's Florida voter registration is illegal & the registration has an illicit purpose, this seems minor -- until it isn't.
Marie
Update: Looks like Bannon does not own a home in Florida. His new registration is at the home of one of his lovely friends.
To sum up another typical Trump day.
He hires his third manager who might wind up in prison.
He hires a person closely linked to Bridgegate.
His physician does not have the credentials he claims. (and says Trump has excellent mental health).
And don't assume that Trump does a poor job vetting. That would require that he actually spends a second doing that job. No, if you want to work for Trump your only qualification is that you kiss his ass.
And remember, this is a person running for POTUS. Hollywood is probably planning for a new comedy next year- The Trump!
Marie,
I realized when I wrote the comment that I should probably have qualified the voter fraud charge but had this been a story about Clinton's campaign manager and questionable residences and voting registrations Breitbart would be the first to start screaming fraud.
Maybe it's just sloppiness or forgetfulness or apathy on his part but this is just one more example of the Trump ethos "it's okay if you're an asshole, but if someone we hate does it, we slit their throats with it". If you're going to insist that your enemies make no mistakes, or else, then you better be like Caesar's wife yourself. So I don't mind if Breitbart Steve has to dance a couple of jigs to his own music.
Oh, and it wouldn't matter if you were squeaky clean anyway; these assholes will just make up something to hang over you.
But you're correct. Until there's more proof of actual voter fraud on his part, we'll have to content ourselves with the raft of actual wrongdoing by Trump's latest pit viper.
Ak does have a point about "how the other side would handle it..." tho' that said, when I posted this (below) yesterday on RC, upon reading the Guardian's article I felt it was hyped and more implied innuendo than anything known:
The Guardian sez: "Trump campaign chief Steve Bannon is " registered voter " at vacant Florida home ."
Scandalous or not? Makes me wonder, I've lived in different places over the years, am I still showing up as a potential voter elsewhere? No love here for Bannon, but, despite his being registered in Florida is there any way to show/prove any such individual is 'guilty' of multiple state voting?
Is this just more noise about a creepy guy?
@Marie, you filled in many of the gaps that I wondered about.
Makes wonder about the tax avoidance aspect, especially when I see amazing million-dollar properties come on the market in South Florida that don't have a lived-in look! I remember wondering why Celine Dion (among others) was a homeowner there!
Before assaulting anyone with my thoughts on this, was wondering what you all think of it.
Just read "The Great Dissent," a fine O.W. Holmes biography built around his free speech decisions and dissents that eventually brought us everything from acceptance of flag burning to, more distantly, "Citizens United."
So the presentation (manufactured?) confrontation between the forces of PC and free speech are again on my mind.
http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-88714723/
The NYTimes also has a front page story on the University of Chicago's welcoming letter to freshmen which has aroused such controversy.