;)
The Commentariat -- January 26, 2019
The Trump Shutdown, Agony of Defeat Edition.
Washington Post Editors: "President Trump's temper tantrum over Congress's refusal to fund a border wall paralyzed much of the government for five weeks, sapped the morale and wallets of hundreds of thousands of federal workers and low-wage contractors, left millions of Americans disgusted and dismayed, and diminished the United States in the eyes of the world. The impasse was proof of the president's stark incapacity for leadership, which he reconfirmed Friday by threatening to re-shutter the government in three weeks. In announcing his non-deal with Congress -- in fact, it is more cease-fire than solution -- Mr. Trump rehashed his tired and truth-free arguments, asserting against logic and evidence that building a massive new border wall, to supplement hundreds of miles of barriers already in place along high-trafficked segments of the border, would cause crime to plummet and drug trafficking to dry up." ...
... New York Times Editors: "What a debacle President rump's shutdown proved to be -- what a toddler's pageant of foot-stomping and incompetence, of vainglory and self-defeat. Mr. Trump tormented public servants and citizens and wounded the country, and, in conceding on Friday after holding the government hostage for 35 days, could claim to have achieved nothing. He succeeded only in exposing the emptiness of his bully's bravado, of his 'I alone can fix it' posturing. Once upon a time, Mr. Trump promised that Mexico would pay for a wall. He instead made all Americans pay for a partisan fantasy.... In his announcement, the president struggled to obscure his failure with yet another rambling infomercial about the glory of walls."
Donald Trump is smarting at all the reports that he "surrendered" or "blinked" or "caved" or was "defeated" or "waved the white flag" or made "a humiliation capitulation" or "got his ass kicked by a girl." (Okay, maybe nobody worded it quite like that.) Here's his Twitter response: "I wish people would read or listen to my words on the Border Wall. This was in no way a concession. It was taking care of millions of people who were getting badly hurt by the Shutdown with the understanding that in 21 days, if no deal is done, it's off to the races!"
Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The Senate on Friday afternoon easily advanced a three-week funding bill to fully reopen the federal government hours after President Trump agreed to end the shutdown without securing money for a border wall. The funding legislation cleared the chamber by a voice vote. The House is expected to pass the funding bill later Friday and send it to Trump's desk for a signature. The Senate vote came a day after the chamber rejected two proposals that would have reopened the government. But the calculus changed on Friday as federal workers impacted by the shutdown missed their second paycheck and news of delays at major airports across the country dominated the headlines." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... New Lede: "Congress easily advanced a three-week funding bill on Friday to fully reopen the federal government hours after President Trump agreed to end the shutdown without securing money for a border wall. The funding legislation cleared the House by unanimous consent and the Senate by voice vote, marking an anticlimactic end to a shutdown that began 35 days ago. It's now headed to Trump's desk where he is expected to sign it later Friday." ...
... Sheryl Stolberg, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump agreed Friday to reopen the federal government for three weeks while negotiations proceeded over how to secure the nation's southwestern border, backing down after a monthlong standoff failed to force Democrats to give him billions of dollars for his long-promised wall. The decision paved the way for Congress to pass spending bills as soon as Friday that Mr. Trump will sign to restore normal operations at a series of federal agencies until Feb. 15 and begin paying again the 800,000 federal workers who have been furloughed or forced to work for free for 35 days. The plan includes none of the money for the wall that he had demanded and was essentially the same approach that Mr. Trump rejected at the end of December, meaning he won nothing concrete during the impasse. But if Republicans and Democrats cannot reach agreement on wall money by the February deadline, he indicated that he was ready to renew the confrontation or declare a national emergency and bypass Congress altogether.... The surprise announcement was a remarkable surrender for a president who made the wall his nonnegotiable condition for reopening the government." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Update: "The president&'s concession paved the way for the House and Senate to both pass a stopgap spending bill by voice vote. Mr. Trump was expected to sign it Friday evening to restore normal operations at a series of federal agencies until Feb. 15 and begin paying again the 800,000 federal workers who have been ... Mrs. McCrabbie: After the initial announcement, Trump devoted most of the rest of his speech to recounting fantastical horror stories about dangerous immigrants & coyotes binding & gagging the women they were trafficking across the border. He sounded like some joker telling scary, if slightly erotic, campfire stories. ... ... If you look at the 2:40 pm entry of yesterday's Daily Intelligencer (sadly, I can't find any way to isolate these posts), New York writers liveblog the speech. Funny. ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Looks like all it takes is Bob Mueller to get the government up & running. According to the WSJ, Trump plans to announce this afternoon he will sign a three-week continuing resolution. I'd guess that is to distract us from today's release of the Stone indictment. The news remarks were scheduled for 1:30 pm ET, which has come & gone. ... ... Steve M. agrees: "... when there's really bad news for him in the Russia investigation -- arrests, indictments, law enforcement raids -- [Trump] really does seem desperate to alter the news cycle as quickly as possible. That's why I give Robert Mueller credit for the temporary reopening of the government (without a penny for the wall)[.]" ... A lot of the conference wanted to end the shutdown by any means possible. Nothing is going to happen. This is surrender. I don't see how it becomes anything. It's just complete, total surrender. -- Republican Senator, too skeert to reveal his identity ... ... Burgess Everett & Andrew Restuccia of Politico: "... Donald Trump touted GOP unity for 33 days of a partial government shutdown. But by the 34th day, it was clearly gone -- and so was the shutdown by the end of the 35th. Senate Republicans had finally had it.... In recent days, the president has expressed frustration to allies about how the crisis was being covered on cable news, worrying that Democrats had won the upper hand, even before Friday&[s dramatic airport delays. But the erosion of Senate Republican support -- fueled by the increasingly damaged economy and worsening poll numbers -- perhaps more than anything is what pushed Trump to reverse course. On Thursday night, after the pair of failed Senate votes and a tense caucus meeting that demonstrated there could be a large GOP jailbreak if the shutdown dragged on, Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) quietly agreed that it was time to find a way out.... Trump's public battle with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also proved critical as he faced stubborn Democratic resistance no matter how he tried to split the party. Instead, he found himself on defense as Pelosi canceled his State of the Union address, infuriating the White House.... The president was particularly worried about federal law enforcement officials going without pay. Plus economists were beginning to lower their forecasts of growth because of the shutdown.... The White House also lacked a cohesive game plan and often appeared to seriously misjudge Democrats throughout the month-long stalemate." ... ... Here's the Washington Post's report on how Trump finally agreed to temporarily end the shutdown. "... when Trump stood alone in a bitter-cold White House Rose Garden on Friday afternoon to announce that the government was reopening with no money for the wall, he punctuated five weeks of miscalculation and mismanagement by him and his administration.... Trump, who fretted about the shutdown's impact on the economy and his personal popularity, cast about for blame and pointed fingers at his staff -- including Kushner -- for failing to resolve the impasse, according to aides." Mrs. McC: Because nothing is ever Trump's fault. ... ... Peter Baker of the New York Times: "For a president who believes in zero-sum politics and considers compromise a sign of weakness, it was a bruising setback, a retreat that underscored the limits of his ability to bull his way through the opposition in this new era of divided government." Baker delves into the deliberations that went on within the White House. "After watching Ms. Pelosi this week disinvite Mr. Trump from delivering the State of the Union address while the government remained closed, Mr. McConnell concluded that she would never cave and decided to come off the sidelines to try to end the standoff.... The president scheduled an announcement, and the scene in the Rose Garden was surreal. Cabinet officers and White House aides lined up and applauded when the president emerged from the Oval Office as if he were declaring victory.... And the president sounded as if he was doing just that, opening his remarks by saying that he was 'very proud to announce today that we have reached a deal to end the shutdown.' Only there was no deal, just a retreat." AND the Winner Is.... Ezra Klein of Vox: "... in recent weeks, Speaker Pelosi proved a powerful foil to Trump, politically humiliating him in a way no other public figure has.... Pelosi held her caucus together easily and calmly, creating a united front that offered Trump few avenues of egress.... Pelosi correctly read Trump's personality and had the steel to act on that read.... Pelosi has long held that Trump is weak, easily confused, and easily baited. That informed her strategy. Along with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, she baited Trump into saying, while the cameras were rolling, 'I will shut down the government. I am proud to shut down the government. I will take the mantle.' In interviews and meetings, she tweaked the president, calling the crisis 'the Trump shutdown' to Trump's face and suggesting the billionaire thought furloughed workers 'could just ask their father for more money.' She was betting that Trump would overreact rather than turn her into the aggressor, and he did.... She has enhanced her standing in her caucus, and he has diminished his standing inside his own. You don't hear many House Democrats these days grumbling about Pelosi's leadership. But you hear plenty of Republicans lamenting Trump's." ... ... Mrs. McCrabbie: And let's not forget: Pelosi didn't defeat just Trump; she forced McConnell to cave, too. Sam Stein of The Daily Beast: "Lawmakers have made notable progress on a deal to end the federal government shutdown five weeks after it first started, several Capitol Hill sources told The Daily Beast on Friday morning.... There will be no funding included in the deal for Trump's proposed wall along the southern border. Nor will the deal include a 'down-payment' as the president requested on Thursday. In exchange for those concessions, Democrats would agree to a nominal amount of money for border security but not a wall.... One Democratic Senate aide noted that the same deal had been discussed 'weeks ago' only to be shelved when the White House said it wouldn't support it. The biggest question mark remains how the president would stomach such a deal and, as importantly, who can sell him on it." --s (Also linked yesterday.) Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress: "Ever since President Donald Trump shut down much of the government last month, [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi has delivered a consistent message to Trump -- 'my offer to you is this: nothing.[*]' On Friday, Trump took that offer.... Trump;s cave on Friday is absolute.... Republicans now know that they'll be the ones in the barrel if they shut down the government again. Speaker Pelosi holds all the cards in the upcoming negotiation.... Pelosi's victory over Trump highlights why Republicans spent the better part of the last two years demonizing her -- and why they and their super PACs spent lavishly on ads intended to convince members of Pelosi's caucus that she is too toxic to elect as speaker. She's good at what she does ... and she has not lost a step." --safari: *In all fairness, Nancy did actually offer the presidunce* $1. ... ... Thanks, Donald! Adam Green in a Roll Call opinion piece: "By shutting down the government, Donald Trump unintentionally gave Democrats the biggest gift possible: Unity.... As the new Democratic House began, Democrats were ripe for division. Nancy Pelosi's leadership was under siege in her own party, fracturing the Democratic Caucus. Meanwhile, there were clear divisions among incoming House freshmen.... Democrats who wanted to stab Pelosi in the back are now watching her outmaneuver Trump and get national praise for it -- creating no incentive other than to root her on.... As Donald Trump faces increased accountability and sees 2020 voters inspired by increased congressional consensus for big progressive ideas, he will have himself to thank." Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "FBI Director Christopher A. Wray decried the government shutdown's impact on the bureau's employees in a video message released amid rising anxiety among thousands of agents and other personnel who have spent more than a month working without pay. In the unusual video message, Wray also offered a seeming apology for why the FBI's top officials were not publicly arguing for their employees, suggesting that they have not spoken out because of the repeated political criticisms of the bureau from President Trump and others in recent years. 'You know better than most that we've been thrust into the political spotlight more than we would have liked over the past few years,' Wray said in the message, which was directed to FBI staff. 'And the last thing this organization needs now is its leadership to wade into the middle of a full-on political dispute.'... 'Making some people stay home when they don't want to, and making others show up without pay, it';s mind-boggling, it's shortsighted and it's unfair,' Wray said. 'It takes a lot to get me angry, but I'm about as angry as I've been in a long, long time.'" Mrs. McC: This is pretty remarkable. Jeff Stein & Danielle Paquette of the Washington Post: "At least 14,000 unpaid workers in the Internal Revenue Service division that includes tax processing and call centers did not show up for work this week despite orders to do so, according to two House aides, posing a challenge to the Trump administration's ability to minimize the damage from the government shutdown. The Trump administration ordered more than 30,000 employees back to work unpaid to prepare for tax filing season, which is set to begin next week. But of the 26,000 workers called back to the IRS division that includes the tax processing centers and call centers, about 9,00 workers could not be reached and about 5,000 more claimed a hardship exemption, IRS officials have told members of Congress, according to aides...." Patrick McGeehan of the New York Times: "Significant flight delays were rippling across the Northeast on Friday because of a shortage of air traffic controllers as a result of the government shutdown, according to the Federal Aviation Administration." (Also linked yesterday.) ... ... Lori Aratani of the Washington Post: "Federal officials temporarily restricted flights Friday into and out of New York's LaGuardia Airport, another example of the toll the partial government shutdown -- in its 35th day -- is having on the nation's airports." (Also linked yesterday.) ... ... Henry Grabar of Slate: "The revolt of the unpaid federal workers may have begun on Friday morning in Monroe, Louisiana, where two flights were canceled because TSA workers didn't arrive to open the checkpoint. American Airlines 3243 to Dallas-Fort Worth and Delta Airlines 3942 to Atlanta, both scheduled to depart at 6 a.m., became the first U.S. flights to be canceled during the government shutdown because of a shortage of TSA workers. Security screeners missed their second paycheck on Friday, and call-out rates have surged to between 7 and 10 percent, causing intermittent delays." (Also linked yesterday.) ... ... Sarah Jones of New York: "Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, told New York on Friday afternoon that she 'just finished' recording a video message to members urging them to get to the offices of their congressional representatives until the shutdown is resolved. 'We're mobilizing immediately,' Nelson said. Asked if this meant that flight attendants will not be going to work, she responded, 'Showing up to work for what? If air traffic controllers can't do their jobs, we can't do ours.'" (Also linked yesterday.) E.A. Crunden of ThinkProgress: "The use of entrance fees to keep national parks open, along with a sudden decision to bring back department employees to work on offshore drilling and related tasks, have come under fire from House Democrats and environmental groups -- they argue Acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and other officials may be breaking the law. And lawmakers are looking to flex their new power once the government reopens.... At the heart of complaints lobbed at several of the Interior Department&'s shutdown decisions is the Antideficiency Act, which specifies that only 'cases of emergency involving the safety of human life or the protection of property' merit the ongoing unpaid labor of federal employees in a shutdown scenario." --s (Also linked yesterday.) ... ... Kyla Mandel of ThinkProgress: "The National Park Service is losing an estimated $400,000 per day in entrance fees as the partial government shutdown drags on into its 35th day, according to figures compiled by the National Parks Conservation Association. That means, so far, the Parks Service has lost an estimated $14 million in entrance fees alone." --s Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "The wall of Donald Trump's campaign and presidency has always operated both as a discrete proposal -- an actual structure to be built under his leadership -- and as a symbol with a clear meaning. Whether praised by its supporters or condemned by its opponents, the wall is a stand-in for the larger promise of broad racial (and religious) exclusion and domination. It's no surprise, then, that some Americans use 'Build the wall' as a racist chant, much like the way they invoke the president's name. And it's also why, despite the pain and distress of the extended government shutdown, Democrats are right to resist any deal with the White House that includes funding for its construction." (Also linked yesterday.) ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is Bouie's "debut column" at the NYT. He is one of the best thinkers on the SOTU around, so I'm thrilled he got the Big Job. This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd. ... What About All This, Mr. Trump? New York Times Editors: "In his indictment of the Trump torpedo Roger Stone, the special counsel Robert Mueller noted that on June 14, 2016, the Democratic National Committee announced 'that it had been hacked by Russian government actors.' According to the indictment, unsealed Friday, Mr. Stone participated in and helped conceal an effort by the Trump campaign to cooperate with WikiLeaks in publicizing thousands of emails stolen from the Clinton campaign, which was done to devastating political effect.... [If Mr. Trump thought there was no relationship between Russia and WikiLeaks,] why did Mr. Trump say, five days after the first WikiLeaks release, 'Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing....' ... And if Mr. Trump's first F.B.I. intelligence briefing on Aug. 17, 2016, included a warning about Russian espionage, as NBC News reported in 2017, why didn't Mr. Trump or anyone else in the campaign tell the agents about the meeting or the suspicious release of emails?... Mr. Trump's former adviser Steve Bannon told the author Michael Wolff that he thought the Trump Tower meeting was 'treasonous.' Yet he had no problem cooperating with WikiLeaks, according to the indictment. He is apparently the 'high-ranking Trump Campaign official' who asked Mr. Stone on Oct. 4, 2016, about future WikiLeaks releases. Three days later, after the first stolen emails from Mrs. Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta, were released, one of Mr. Bannon's associates texted Mr. Stone, 'well done.'&" In his Friday morning "NO COLLUSION" tweet, Donald Trump, suggesting some sort of dark conspiracy between Mueller & CNN, asks, "Who alerted CNN to be there?" Here's the answer. It's about journalism. ... ... Jeremy Herb of CNN: "The rare, dramatic video from CNN Friday capturing the early morning FBI raid of ... Roger Stone's Florida home was the product of good instincts, some key clues, more than a year of observing comings at the DC federal courthouse and the special counsel's office -- and a little luck on the timing. CNN producer David Shortell and photojournalist Gilbert De La Rosa were outside Stone's home Friday morning to witness the FBI approaching Stone's door to arrest him on a seven-count indictment that special counsel Robert Mueller's grand jury approved a day earlier. They were there staking out Stone because there was just enough evidence lurking in the special counsel's activity over the past week that CNN's team covering the Mueller investigation placed a bet that Stone could be arrested as early as Friday." ... ... The Daily Beast: "Special Counsel Robert Mueller told a federal judge he was concerned Roger Stone might destroy or tamper with evidence, if not flee, ahead of his arrest on Friday morning.... Federal agents also raided his apartment in New York and a recording studio in Florida, where they were reportedly seen carting away hard drives and evidence." --s Mrs. McCrabbie: Mueller is writing these indictments like chapters in a good mystery novel. New clues keep arising & so does provocative foreshadowing. The identities of certain characters are masked. Of course, as any experienced mystery reader knows, you have to look out for red herrings, too. But I believe that in the end, we'll find out whodunit, & the who will be He Trump. So this comes up in the Roger Stone indictment: ... On multiple occasions, including on or about December 1, 2017, STONE told Person 2 [Randy Credico] that Person 2 should do a 'Frank Pentangeli' before HPSCI [House Intelligence Committee] in order to avoid contradicting STONE's testimony. Frank Pentangeli is a character in the film The Godfather: Part II, which both STONE and Person 2 had discussed, who testifies before a congressional committee and in that testimony claims not to know critical information that he does in fact know. -- Roger Stone indictment ... ... The Mystery in the Passive Voice. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "There is no smoking gun in the indictment when it comes to the Trump campaign[s culpability, and for most of the campaign, Stone was an informal Trump adviser -- not actually serving on the campaign.... The most significant reference to members of the campaign, though, could be this: 'After the July 22, 2016 release of stolen DNC emails by Organization 1, a senior Trump Campaign official was directed to contact STONE about any additional releases and what other damaging information Organization 1 had regarding the Clinton Campaign. STONE thereafter told the Trump Campaign about potential future releases of damaging material by Organization 1.' The words 'was directed' loom large here. Who did the directing?... Though we can't say for sure, it seems entirely possible this is Trump. He ... would seem to be the person who would have the authority to direct a 'senior Trump Campaign official' -- though it's possible another senior aide could also do so.... In many ways, this feels like another 'speaking indictment.' There's a hint of something possible to come." (Also linked yesterday.) ... ... Mrs. McCrabbie: As we learned from Brian Schwartz of CNBC (story linked below), the unnamed "senior campaign official" is Steve Bannon, assuming Schwartz's sources are right. And Steve Bannon reported to Trump. While it's not impossible that, say, Jared Kushner or Donnie Jr. was the person who "directed" Bannon, normally "directing" an employee is the job for the employee's boss, in this case, Donald Trump, not a more-or-less co-equal employee. As for the identity of the "director," one pundit on MSNBC noted there was a clue to be found in Mueller's naming scheme. People are named & numbered as "Individual 1" & "Person 2." And candidates are named as "Candidate 1." Obviously, had Mueller used the active voice & identified the "director" as "Candidate 1," there would be no question as to who that candidate was. The fact that the "director" doesn't get a label, therefore, suggests he is Trump. ... ... Matt Ford of the New Republic: "What is clear, at least from Mueller's perspective, is that the ['senior Trump Campaign] official['] didn't contact Stone of their own volition; he or she 'was directed' by someone higher in the campaign food chain to pursue it. That small turn of phrase carries serious implications for ... Donald Trump and his inner circle. It suggests that not only did Trump campaign officials try to coordinate with WikiLeaks through Stone, but that the effort came from the campaign's highest ranks." ** Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "[R]unning through Mueller's indictment of Stone and his charges against Russian hackers last July is the makings of a case that there was, in fact, coordination.... In short, Mueller said on Friday, Trump, or his most senior aides, ordered a trusted associate to bring them into the loop on the fruits of what they knew to be a Russian government hack of American victims -- and on the schedule for its publication. Trump's team could then shape their campaign tactics around this calendar. And last July, Mueller hinted at evidence of coordination in the other direction. His indictment of the Russian hackers said they attempted 'for the first time' to break into email accounts used by Clinton's personal office 'after hours' on 27 July 2016.... That day, at an event in Florida, Trump urged Russia to search for the approximately 30,000 emails[.]" --s (Also linked yesterday.) ... ... Mrs. McCrabbie: A fer-instance Swaine doesn't mention: "[Shortly after] October 4, 2016..., STONE received an email from the high-ranking Trump Campaign official [Steve Bannon] asking about the status of future releases by Organization 1." The indictment makes clear the Trump campaign was deeply & continuously seeking WikiLeaks dirt. Since there was no question at the time that the dirt (1) was illegally obtained & (2) came via Russian hacks, it is impossible to accept the lie that was "NO COLLUSION." The high-ranking campaign official" & his "director" are implicated. ... ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Also too, there's the "Godfather" 1 horsehead-in-the-bed email. From the indictment: "On or about April 9, 2018, STONE wrote in an email to Person 2 [Randy Credico], 'You are a rat. A stoolie. You backstab your friends-run your mouth my lawyers are dying Rip you to shreds.' STONE also said he would 'take that dog away from you,' referring to Person 2's dog. On or about the same day, STONE wrote to Person 2, 'I am so ready. Let's get it on. Prepare to die [expletive].'" So mobby. ... ... Here's all you'll ever want to know about Bianca, the adorable little dog Stone threatened to kidnap or snuff. (Also linked yesterday.) ... Update. Jonathan Chait: "The Russia scandal has provided us with relatively few Russia cultural references, but a proliferation of mafia references. The fact that Stone expressed himself this way is not mere color, nor is organized crime even a metaphor for the mindset and Trump and his inner circle. It is actually a reasonably literal description of the Trump organization. In the fall of 2017, a source close to the administration warned, 'this investigation is a classic Gambino-style roll-up. You have to anticipate this roll-up will reach everyone in this administration.' This turned out to be one of the most prescient descriptions of what was to come.... Mueller seems to be in the process of demonstrating that Trump's organization is not like an organized crime family, it actually is one." (Also linked yesterday.) Martin Cizmar of RawStory: "Fox News host Sean Hannity appears to have acted on directives from emails between President Donald Trump's longtime political adviser Roger Stone and an intermediary who claimed to have communicated with WikiLeaks. On Twitter, author Kurt Eichenwald points out that, among the details in the indictment of Stone, is a passage about WikiLeaks' plan to leak emails suggesting Hillary Clinton was seriously ill and Sean Hannity's focus on Clinton's health in the following days." In Eichenwald's tweets. --s ... ... Hahahahaha. Mrs. McCrabbie: Much as it's nice to know Roger Stone made his court appearance in shackles, I would be even more pleased to see Hannity in chains & irons. There's no indication in the indictment that is about to happen. But anything is possible! Sarah Sanders' interview with CNN's John Berman Friday morning did not go well: ... Aaron Rupar of Vox has more. Sarah really is a ridiculous person. ... ... Steve M.: "... at Fox & Friends, this isn't really an indictment at all, because Stone is charged with 'process crimes,' which totally aren't crimes at all. ('Just process crimes' has been a favorite right-wing talking point for a few months now.)... Steve Doocy shrieks 'Where is the Russia collusion?'... Dan Bongino says: '... this is another process crime, where the Mueller investigation -- the result of the investigation has produced the crime. As a resul of the investigation, we have this witness -- alleged witness tampering and failure to produce documents." (Also linked yesterday.) ... ... Matt Naham of Law & Crime: "The latest criticism of FBI tactics made by defenders of ... Donald Trump and/or his indicted former associates is that the Friday morning break-out-the-big-guns arrest of Roger Stone was a bridge too far. Fox News personality Laura Ingraham went so far as to say that Stone was being treated like Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman Loera. The problem is, legal experts in a position to know how the FBI conducts its business say this is standard operating procedure." (Also linked yesterday.) Lucien Bruggeman & Katherine Faulders of ABC News: "Paul Manafort, the onetime campaign chairman for ... Donald Trump, made a rare court appearance in Washington, D.C., Friday morning to address allegations lodged by special counsel Robert Mueller that he lied to federal investigators.... At the hearing, defense counsel and attorneys with the special counsel's office debated the merit of Mueller's allegation that Manafort lied to investigators after striking a plea deal with prosecutors in September. The alleged lies amounted to a breach of his plea agreement, prosecutors said.... If [Judge Amy] Jackson sides with Mueller and finds Manafort in breach of his plea deal, he could face up to 80 years in prison, though legal experts say he would likely receive something closer to seven years. Manafort is scheduled for sentencing on March 5 in the Washington case." (Also linked yesterday.) Richard Wolffe of the Guardian: "Like Trump's favorite steaks, [Roger] Stone himself is now well and truly done. He appears to have lied to Congress about those contacts with the Trump campaign. And he botched his efforts to cover up the conspiracy by apparently asking his co-conspirators to lie for him.... He threatened to hurt [Randy] Credico's pet dog and told him to 'Prepare to die [expletive].' Instead of preparing to die, Stone's former friend told him 'you've opened yourself up to perjury charges like an idiot.'... The endless irony of Donald Trump and his brazen hacks is that they are so fantastically incompetent at deceiving the world about their own deception.... Not since Russian assassins left a trail of polonium across Europe have we seen such stupendously stupid puppets of Vladimir Putin." --s Scott Shane of the New York Times: "A group of transparency advocates on Friday posted a mammoth collection of hacked and leaked documents from inside Russia, a release widely viewed as a sort of symbolic counterstrike against Russia's dissemination of hacked emails to influence the American presidential election in 2016. Most of the material, which sheds light on Russia's war in Ukraine as well as ties between the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church, the business dealings of oligarchs and much more, had been released in Russia, Ukraine and elsewhere, sometimes on obscure websites. There were no immediate reports of new bombshells from the collection. But the sheer volume of the material -- 175 gigabytes -- and the technical challenges of searching it meant that its full impact may not be felt for some time.... The core files from the new collection, called 'The Dark Side of the Kremlin,' included 'hundreds of thousands of messages and files from Russian politicians, journalists, oligarchs, religious figures, and nationalists/terrorists in Ukraine,' said the group that posted it, Distributed Denial of Secrets, or DDoSecrets." Your Tax Dollars at Work. Mark Hand of ThinkProgress: "In the administration's latest effort to help the coal industry, the Department of Energy (DOE) is providing up to $38 million in funding for research into improving the performance and reliability of the nation's existing coal-fired power plants.... 'This funding is in line with the Trump administration trying to do everything it can think of to throw a bone to the coal industry,' Jeremy Richardson... [of] the Union of Concerned Scientists told ThinkProgress. 'It's sort of like, let's throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks. Fortunately, nothing has stuck yet.'... And yet, more coal plants have shut down during President Donald Trump's first two years than during Barack Obama's entire first term as president." --s "Capitalism is Awesome", Ctd. Kevin Poulsen of The Daily Beast: "Facebook's own internal studies showed that children as young as kindergarten age were unwittingly putting hundreds or even thousands of dollars on their parents' credit cards while playing games like Social Empires, Pocket God, and Angry Birds, newly released internal documents show. But Facebook officials elected not to put speed bumps in its payment process that would reduce the unintended charges, for fear it would also cut into legitimate grown-up purchases, the documents show. At the same time, the company routinely refused refund requests from sticker-shocked parents." --s Joel Simon of the Guardian has a long read on the "Business of Kidnapping" --s Amanda Holpuch of the Guardian: "A prominent 'conversion therapy' advocate, David Matheson, has come out as gay after spending what he said were decades of his life entrenched in homophobia.... Matheson told the Salt Lake Tribune's podcast Mormon Land that he was exposed to homophobia as a youth in the Mormon church.... Matheson said he knew his work had helped some people, but was certain he had hurt some people too." --s Kari Sonde of Mother Jones: "Researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine, building on prior research, determined that from 2010 to 2015, firearm injuries amounted to $911 million in inpatient hospitalizations nationwide annually and that 9.5 percent of that cost, or $86 million, was from victims needing to return to the hospital." --s (Also linked yesterday.) Way Beyond the Beltway Mexico. Jeff Ernst & Kirk Semple of the New York Times: "Mexico's new president has moved decisively to encourage migrants fleeing poverty and violence in Central America to stay and work in Mexico, making it easier for them to get visas and work permits and promoting investments and ambitious public works projects to create jobs. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's policies are already proving to be a magnet for migrants, who are finding it harder to enter the United States given President Trump-s antipathy toward immigration. A migrant caravan heading to Mexico from Central America -- the largest ever -- has already swollen to over 12,000 people, with many saying they intend to remain in Mexico, at least for the time being." Jon Henley & Mark Rice-Oxley of the Guardian: "Liberal values in Europe face a challenge 'not seen since the 1930s', leading intellectuals from 21 countries have said, as the UK lurches towards Brexit and nationalists look set to make sweeping gains in EU parliamentary elections. The group of 30 writers, historians and Nobel laureates declared in a manifesto published in several newspapers, including the Guardian, that Europe as an idea was 'coming apart before our eyes'." --s (Also linked yesterday.)
Daily Beast art.Mark Mazzetti, et al., of the New York Times: "The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, revealed on Friday the most direct link yet between parallel efforts by the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks to damage Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election using Democratic Party material stolen by Russians. A top Trump campaign official dispatched Roger J. Stone Jr., a longtime adviser to President Trump, to get information from WikiLeaks about the thousands of hacked Democratic emails, according to an indictment. The effort began weeks after Democratic officials publicly accused Russian intelligence operatives of the theft, which was part of Moscow's broad campaign to sabotage the 2016 presidential race.... On Friday, the day that Mr. Stone stood on the steps of a courthouse and pledged his enduring loyalty to the president, Mr. Trump bashed the investigation that had led armed federal agents to his friend's house in the morning darkness. 'Greatest Witch Hunt in the History of our Country!' he wrote on Twitter. 'NO COLLUSION!'" ...
Roger Stone, just before he declared his innocence this afternoon, doing his best Richard Nixon imitation. (Roger must be aware that Nixon made the gesture after his resignation, at the moment he departed the White House in disgrace on August 8, 1974.)
Margaret Talev, et al. of Bloomberg: "The American base at Al-Tanf, originally established as a southern foothold against Islamic State and a training ground for Syrian rebels, has become one of the main obstacles to the president's plan to leave. Israeli and some U.S. officials argue that a continued American presence there is critical to interrupting Iran's supply lines into Lebanon, where Hezbollah -- Iran's proxy and Israel's enemy -- has been building up its arsenal.... The debate over what to do with Al-Tanf reveals U.S. goals in Syria that go beyond the official rationale of defeating Islamic State -- complicating Trump's desire to exit....[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu has repeatedly urged the U.S. to keep troops at Al-Tanf, according to several senior Israeli officials[.]" --s
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The media is replaying Turncoat Donny colluding on live teevee with his call to Putin, and there's a turn of phrase that I haven't heard any one talk about, maybe because it's too obvious or because it's too fucking sneaky to prove.
Our presidunce* clearly has a way with words, and I'll admit he has moments of expert trickery in his use of words. He's careful to the extent that it promotes his interests while deflecting blame to throw "loyalists" under the bus whenever the heat cranks up.
Drumpf proclaimed: "Russia, if you're listening: I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by the press."
If you rewatch the clip, you can almost see the machinations of quid pro quo working in his mind as he goes into the second phrase. The first part of the phrase is the Offer (lifting sanctions, getting out of Syria, protecting Russia from future investigations stemming from the meddling, etc...). It's the second phrase that gives the tell, as he gives a short hesitation mid-sentence in formulating the quid pro quo. The inclusion of the final words "by the press" is the source of his evil genius. Those words tumble out completely ad hoc, and then he gestures towards the press as he seems amazed at his own Big Criminal Brain absolving himself for asking Putin for help on live teevee with the world watching.
Through its formulation, there's nothing but conjecture and presumptions. The best we can hope is someone got him on tape when he had his guard down scheming and cussing up a storm as he apparently does every time the cameras stop.
Could we have one more Shit Sandwich, please, to go?
One could express surprise at the rapidity with which the Fatty Experiment in "Wingnut Ideology Triumphant" has crashed into a concrete barrier and is currently dismembered and aflame, but that would be overlooking the toxic and illegitimate basis for his rise in the first place.
Trump promised a wall. No wall. And there won't be. He screamed that drugs were streaming into the country in the pockets of immigrants. Wrong. He called them all rapists and murderers. They're mostly moms and dads and little kids. He promised to bring back coal. More coal plants have closed on his short watch than in four years under Obama. He said that trade wars were good and easy to win. The stock market clearly doesn't agree. All the gains made in the first year have been lost in the second, and then some. He said tax cuts were necessary to assure future growth. We are now on track to have the biggest deficit in our history because of his cuts for the rich. Historic growth couldn't come close to closing the gap. He said there was no collusion... well...heh-heh. Okay.
The point is that Fatty came into the campaign with the idea that he could gull the rubes and build his popularity on the poisonous, hate-filled, racist, misogynistic, irrational, untrue belief systems that have been pushed by Fox and Breitbart and Drudge for years. That ideological system is about as stable as an alcoholic on roller skates at a New Year's Eve bash, and it has proven to be so.
Confederates have succeeded for some time due largely to the unquestioning support of wingnut media and the fecklessness of the MSM which has been neutered by a generation of right-wing attacks.
But in Trump, they found a standard bearer at once brutishly unapologetic and witlessly aggressive about their most bizarre and intemperate, irrational goals (denunciation of any who don't toe their line, unswerving support for white supremacy and the rich, and hatred of non-white, non-fundamentalist Christian groups), and an incompetent, bullying coward who could be backed down in a trice by a good long stare.
They lose on both sides of the ball.
(As an aside here, I read someone last week describing Nancy Pelosi's SOTU stance as merely a "suggestion" to the president*. This morning on the NPR quiz show "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me", the host, Peter Sagal, pointed out that Italian grandmothers don't "suggest" anything. "I think you might want to change that dress before you go out tonight, dear" to a granddaughter, means "If you think you're leaving this house with that thing on, honey, you're nuts".
Trump's Italian grandmother just told him where to get off. Twice. In a week.
He's toast. And he's bringing his entire house down with him. They all signed on and they're all getting Davy Jonesed like the crew of the Pequod (and there ain't an Ishmael in the bunch).
This is, as they say, a watershed moment. He is not coming back from this. If he thinks he's gonna shut down the guv'mint again in three weeks, cuz he don't get his wall (wah-wah), I'm guessing he'll get support from shiftless shitheads like Hannity and Newtie, neither of whom have anything to lose, but Republican pols, who have already seen their stock drop faster than Enron in 2000 (from $90.75 to $0.67 a share), won't be lining up to sign on for another giant sized shit sandwich, made with Trumpy thirty-five day old deli meat.
Sorry, donnie, could I have an Italian, with everything on it?
Thanks. Oh, and by the way, addio, stronzo.
The view from under the urinal...
So, just for the hell of it, I checked to see what Breitbart, former demesne of Stepan Bannonofsky, self-described genius (aren't all Fatty's gangster pals "self-described geniuses"?) is saying about Trumpskyev's humiliating, but unavoidable cave.
On the front page? Zip. Zero. Nothing.
But here's what they do say: "12,000 dangerous, murderous, criminal migrants are racing to the border. Aiyeeeee! With their little brats who will all grow up to be 'merica hatin'. Demycrap votin' murderers!". Also, "Hollywood liberals attacking Fatty. UNFAIR", and "Democrats' chief deputy whip, Dan Kildee, of Michigan, is all for the wall."
It really is an alternate universe.
Deeper into the site, where they do reference Nancy Pelosi, they don't miss the opportunity to let their readers know that even though Pelosi smacked the Glorious Leader upside the head, she is revered by...wait for it...BLACKS!!! Calling all Stonewall Jacksons!
Get out the nooses!
They also scream that although the government is open, so are the borders. Wide open, per Democrats' demand that every rapist and murderer in countries south of the border c'mon in and do their worst here in the great US of (white) A.
The view from under the urinal...
So, just for the hell of it, I checked to see what Breitbart, former demesne of Stepan Bannonofsky, self-described genius (aren't all Fatty's gangster pals "self-described geniuses"?) is saying about Trumpskyev's humiliating, but unavoidable cave.
On the front page? Zip. Zero. Nothing.
But here's what they do say: "12,000 dangerous, murderous, criminal migrants are racing to the border. Aiyeeeee! With their little brats who will all grow up to be 'merica hatin'. Demycrap votin' murderers!". Also, "Hollywood liberals attacking Fatty. UNFAIR", and "Democrats' chief deputy whip, Dan Kildee, of Michigan, is all for the wall."
It really is an alternate universe.
Deeper into the site, where they do reference Nancy Pelosi, they don't miss the opportunity to let their readers know that even though Pelosi smacked the Glorious Leader upside the head, she is revered by...wait for it...BLACKS!!! Calling all Stonewall Jacksons!
Get out the nooses!
They also scream that although the government is open, so are the borders. Wide open, per Democrats' demand that every rapist and murderer in countries south of the border c'mon in and do their worst here in the great US of (white) A.