;)
The Commentariat -- January 30, 2018
Afternoon Update:
** As Plot Lines Converge. Devlin Barrett & Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department's inspector general has been focused for months on why Andrew McCabe, as the No. 2 official at the FBI, appeared not to act for about three weeks on a request to examine a batch of Hillary Clinton-related emails found in the latter stages of the 2016 election campaign, according to people familiar with the matter.... A key question of the internal investigation is whether McCabe or anyone else at the FBI wanted to avoid taking action on the laptop findings until after the Nov. 8 election, these people said. It is unclear whether the inspector general has reached any conclusions on that point.... On Monday, McCabe left the FBI, following a meeting with FBI Director Christopher A. Wray in which they discussed the inspector general's investigation, according to people familiar with the matter.... McCabe was aware of the matter by late September or early October at the latest, according to the people familiar with the matter." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie Note of Caution: It's not ridiculous to suspect the reporters' sources are members of the notorious Nunes Gang. Another likely possibility: The New York City-based Giuliani Gang, which has infiltrated the FBI branch there.
Daniella Diaz of CNN: "Rep. Paul Gosar said he requested that US Capitol Police arrest undocumented immigrants attending ... Donald Trump's State of the Union address on Tuesday.... The Arizona Republican, who is known as an immigration hardliner, tweeted his request that police 'consider checking identification of all attending the State of the Union address and arresting any illegal aliens in attendance.' He added they should "arrest those using fraudulent social security numbers and identification to pass through security.' A considerable number of Democratic lawmakers are bringing undocumented immigrants to Trump's State of the Union address amid the immigration debate that's shaking out on Capitol Hill." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. Mrs. McC: These people are such twisted SOBs they don't know they're twisted SOBs -- in fact, they boast about it.
Floor Me Once..., Floor Me Twice.... Say Congress wrote a bill, & you were the president* who signed that bill into law, a law which required your administration -- within six months -- to compile a list of Russian oligarchs involved in corruption & therefore whom the U.S. should sanction. How would you go about putting together that list? Wouldn't you assign multiple staff from, say, the CIA, the NSA, the State Department, the Treasury, providing input & sharing information & analysis? Something like that. Well, no, not if you were President* Trump. If you were Trump, you would crib that list -- not from U.S. intelligence agencies & other government sources, but from the magazine rack next to your golden throne. ...
... The Most Farcical Presidency in American History. Natasha Turak of CNBC: "The U.S. Treasury Department's list released Monday detailing 210 Russian oligarchs and close political affiliates of President Vladimir Putin bears a striking resemblance to a list of Russia's richest citizens published in Forbes Magazine in 2017. In fact, almost all 96 oligarchs listed in the unclassified annex of the report, who have a net worth of at least $1 billion, can be found in Forbes' ranking of the '200 richest businessmen in Russia 2017.'" ...
... John Hudson of BuzzFeed: "On Tuesday, a Treasury Department spokesperson confirmed to BuzzFeed News that the unclassified annex of the report was derived from Forbes' ranking of the '200 richest businessmen in Russia 2017.'" ...
... Sylvan Lane of the Hill: At a Senate Banking hearing this morning, "Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday [-- in response to outrage over his handling of Russian sanctions --] the Trump administration will impose financial sanctions on dozens of wealthy Russians despite the president declining a congressional deadline to do so. Mnuchin said that a report issued Monday on suspected financiers of Russian government political efforts is not a substitute for financial restrictions Congress mandated in a bill passed last year.... Trump announced Monday night that th current regiment of financial sanctions on Russia was doing enough to deter the country's unstabilizing political and military actions, declining to add others."
Stephanie Kirchgaessner & Nick Hopkins of the Guardian: "The FBI inquiry into alleged Russian collusion in the 2016 US presidential election has been given a second memo that independently set out some of the same allegations made in a dossier by Christopher Steele, the British former spy. The second memo was written by Cody Shearer, a controversial political activist and former journalist who was close to the Clinton White House in the 1990s. Unlike Steele, Shearer does not have a background in espionage, and his memo was initially viewed with scepticism, not least because he had shared it with select media organisations before the election. However, the Guardian has been told the FBI investigation is still assessing details in the 'Shearer memo' and is pursuing intriguing leads.... The Shearer memo was provided to the FBI in October 2016 ... by Steele -- who had been given it by an American contact -- after the FBI requested the former MI6 agent provide any documents or evidence that could be useful in its investigation.... Among other things, both documents allege Donald Trump was compromised during a 2013 trip to Moscow that involved lewd acts in a five-star hotel.... There is no evidence that the Clinton campaign was aware of the Shearer memo."
Kyle Cheney & Rachel Bade of Politico: "Speaker Paul Ryan urged Republican colleagues Tuesday to avoid overstating the findings of a classified House intelligence committee memo that alleges misconduct by FBI officials investigating Trump campaign contacts with Russia. In a closed-door meeting with House Republicans at the Capitol, Ryan (R-Wis.) also urged lawmakers not to connect the findings of the memo with the probe being run by special counsel Robert Mueller, according to a source in the room. Ryan pleaded with members not to oversell the memo and to distinguish it from Mueller's investigation." ...
... MEANWHILE. Mike Emanuel of Fox "News": "House Speaker Paul Ryan called Tuesday to 'cleanse' the FBI as he openly backed the release of a controversial memo that purportedly details alleged surveillance abuses by the U.S. government. 'Let it all out, get it all out there. Cleanse the organization,' Ryan, R-Wis., said. He added: 'I think we should disclose all this stuff. It's the best disinfectant. Accountability, transparency -- for the sake of the reputation of our institutions.' The striking remarks came at a breakfast with anchors and reporters ahead of ... Donald Trump's State of the Union address; much of the session was off the record."
Carolyn Johnson of the Washington Post: "Three major employers, Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan Chase, announced Tuesday they were partnering to create an independent company aimed at reining in health-care costs. There were almost no details available about how the company would function or how it would disrupt and simplify the complicated fabric of American health care. But there's no doubt that the companies, which collectively employ more than 1 million workers worldwide, have a real interest in ratcheting down their spending on health care. Health care premiums are split between employers and employees and have been growing much faster than wages."
Brian Fung & Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "The Hawaii employee who sent out a false alarm earlier this month warning of an incoming missile attack said he misheard a message played during a drill and believed a ballistic missile was actually heading for the state, according to a federal investigation. This contradicts the explanations previously offered by Hawaii officials, who have said the Jan. 13 alert was sent because the employee hit the wrong button on a drop-down menu."
*****
At 10:00 am ET, the top New York Times story is about how upset Trump's supporters are they he might not be leading the Hail Trump! salute & wearing his Pepe the Frog badge at tonight's SOTU speech. Mrs. McC: I'm not reading or linking the story, but there's a good chance it contains some disgusting sentiments.
Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, apparently disregarding Justice Department warnings that their actions would be 'extraordinarily reckless,' voted Monday evening to release a contentious secret memorandum said to accuse the department and the F.B.I. of misusing their authority to obtain a secret surveillance order on a former Trump campaign associate. The vote threw fuel on an already fiery partisan conflict over the investigations into Russia's brazen meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Republicans invoked a power never before used by the secretive committee to effectively declassify the memo that they had compiled. Democrats called the three-and-a half-page document a dangerous effort to build a narrative to undercut the department's ongoing Russia investigation, using cherry-picked facts assembled with little or no context." This story is breaking fast & @ 7:00 pm ET, the NYT is not yet on top of it. ...
... Chris Matthews of MSNBC News is a jerk, but he's right about this: "It looks like a slow-motion Saturday Night Massacre.... It's a purge." ...
... Ken Dilanian & Alex Johnson of NBC News: "... legal experts say the release of such classified surveillance details would be extraordinary on two counts: It could spill extremely sensitive secrets, and it could undermine the secrecy of a pending criminal investigation.... Republican House members have said the memo suggests that the FBI obtained its original Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, warrant to conduct surveillance on [Trump campaign screwball Carter] Page by citing the dossier compiled by former British intelligence operative Christopher Steele, which was funded in part by Democrats. In fact, U.S. officials say the FBI had many other sources of information -- including intelligence from foreign governments -- suggesting possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, in addition to the dossier. If the Republicans believe a national security warrant was obtained improperly, [Frank] Figliuzzi[, a former chief of FBI counterintelligence,] said, they could have alerted the Justice Department's inspector general or the judges on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, who sign the warrants. Instead, he said, they are taking a path that seems designed to inflict damage on the Russia investigation." ...
... Spencer Ackerman of the Daily Beast: "... the vote followed negotiations by both the FBI and the committee to give greater access for the bureau, to a memo that the FBI has not seen and which the Justice Department warned might harm counterintelligence investigations should it be released without vetting." ...
... Adam Goldman & Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "Andrew G. McCabe has stepped down as the F.B.I.'s deputy director, a move that was widely expected as he has repeatedly come under fire from Republicans in Congress and from President Trump. Mr. McCabe made his intentions known to colleagues on Monday, an American official said. He will immediately go on leave and plans to retire when he becomes eligible in mid-March." Mrs. McC: Well, the Von Trump Family Shitslingers can dance around the campfire tonight carrying McCabe's head on the end of stake. They're such WINNERS! (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... New Lede: "Andrew G. McCabe abruptly stepped down on Monday as the F.B.I.'s deputy director after months of withering criticism from President Trump, telling friends he felt pressure from the head of the bureau to leave, according to two people close to Mr. McCabe." ...
... David Graham of the Atlantic: "Two days before Christmas, Trump tweeted, 'FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is racing the clock to retire with full benefits. 90 days to go?!!!'... McCabe was expected to stick around until March. Instead, he abruptly departed Monday, though he'll still be collecting those benefits. The deputy director is taking what is ominously known as 'terminal leave' -- he has accrued enough leave to depart his post now but not officially retire until benefits vest."
... The Nastiest Ass in the U.S.A. Carol Lee of NBC News: "The day after he fired James Comey as director of the FBI, a furious ... Donald Trump called the bureau's acting director, Andrew McCabe, demanding to know why Comey had been allowed to fly on an FBI plane from Los Angeles back to Washington after he was dismissed, according to multiple people familiar with the phone call. McCabe told the president he hadn't been asked to authorize Comey's flight, but if anyone had asked, he would have approved it, three people familiar with the call recounted to NBC News. The president was silent for a moment and then turned on McCabe, suggesting he ask his wife how it feels to be a loser -- an apparent reference to a failed campaign for state office in Virginia that McCabe's wife made in 2015. McCabe replied, 'OK, sir.' Trump then hung up the phone." ...
... digby's headline: "Good God what an asshole."
... Another Time Trump Lost It. Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg: "... Donald Trump's frustrations with the Russia investigation boiled over on Air Force One last week when he learned that a top Justice Department official had warned against releasing a memo that could undercut the probe, according to four people with knowledge of the matter. Trump erupted in anger while traveling to Davos after learning that Associate Attorney General Stephen Boyd warned that it would be 'extraordinarily reckless' to release a classified memo written by House Republican staffers.... For Trump, the letter was yet another example of the Justice Department undermining him and stymieing Republican efforts to expose what the president sees as the politically motivated agenda behind Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe. Trump's outburst capped a week where Trump and senior White House officials personally reproached Attorney General Jeff Sessions and asked White House Chief of Staff John Kelly to speak to others -- episodes that illustrate Trump's preoccupation with the Justice Department." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... David Atkins in the Washington Monthly: "In the last 24 hours we've seen two stories of Trump throwing deranged temper tantrums related to the FBI probe.... Donald Trump has spent his entire life insulated from repercussions by his father's money, and by an entire coterie of much more intelligent and talented people protecting him from his actions. A fixer like Roy Cohn takes care of everything for him: every woman he assaults or uses gets paid off or destroyed in the press, every business partner or contractor he burns gets pennies on the dollar or countersued, every bad investment and scam that would put a normal person into the poorhouse or worse gets taken care of through clever legal and accounting jujitsu.... The problem for Trump is that there is no fixer for the situation he is in. He famously asked 'Where's my Roy Cohn?' when the walls of the Russia investigation slowly began to close in around him.... What will he do when the pressure becomes too much to bear? ... When that day comes, it will be a trial for American democracy like few before it." ...
... Susan Glasser of Politico Magazine: "Congress late last year received 'extraordinarily important new documents' in its investigation of ... Donald Trump and his campaign's possible collusion with the 2016 Russian election hacking, opening up significant new lines of inquiry in the Senate Intelligence Committee's probe of the president, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) says in an exclusive new interview.... Warner calls out [Rep. Devin] Nunes [R-Calif.], the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, in arguably more explicit terms than any Democrat has yet, saying he has read the underlying classified material used in the memo and that Nunes misrepresented it as part of a McCarthyite 'secret Star Chamber' effort to discredit the FBI probe of the president.... Warner offers a provocative rationale for why it is we are now seeing such a stepped-up campaign by Trump and his defenders against those who seek to provide us the answers. 'Mueller is getting closer and closer to the truth,' Warner tells me, and 'closer and closer to the truth is getting closer and closer to the president.'... The spectacle on Capitol Hill is sure to continue." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Paul Rosenzweig, in the Atlantic, details why Robert Mueller, Rod Rosenstein, or anybody else in the Justice Department is highly unlikely to indict Trump. "The resolution of the current American crisis is going to be political, not criminal. The future lies with Congress and, ultimately, the electorate, not with prosecutors and the courts." Mrs. McC: I have no idea whether or not Rosenzweig is correct in every particular & conjecture -- many attorney disagree with him -- but his is a sober reality chek for those of us hoping something would be done to rid us of Trump.
What's wrong with this picture?They Screw up Everything, Including M & N. Heather Caygle of Politico: Here's a shot of the official invitation to the event formerly known as the State of the Union address. ...
... Keeping It Classy. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump is seeking to parlay his first State of the Union address on Tuesday into cash for his reelection campaign by offering supporters a chance to see their name flashed on the screen during a broadcast of the speech. In a fundraising solicitation on Monday, Trump offered those willing to pay at least $35 the opportunity to see their name displayed during a live streaming of the address on his campaign website." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Ah well, their names probably will be misspelled. Let us pause to remind ourselves that the SOTU address is a solemn Constitutional mandate. "[The President] shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." (Article II, Sec. 3) The SOTU address or is not a campaign speech even if most presidents in recent memory have treated it as a vehicle for self-promotion. To treat the SOTU like the jumbotron at a ball game might be the sleeziest thing I've ever heard of. The same guy who claimed ball players kneeling for justice were "disrespecting the flag" (they were doing the opposite), also thinks it's A-OK to treat the Constitution as a marketing tool. (The Constitution is far more important than the flag, since the Constitution is the basis of nation while the flag is merely a symbol of it.) I thought Trump had lost the power to floor me. I was wrong. ...
... "Please Don't Call Him Presidential." Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "... I'm begging my fellow pundits not to get too excited should Trump manage to read from a teleprompter without foaming at the mouth or saying anything overtly racist. No matter how well Trump delivers the lines in his State of the Union ... he will not become presidential. There will be no turning of corners or uniting the country. At best, Trump will succeed in impersonating a minimally competent leader for roughly the length of an episode of 'The Apprentice.' And if he does, recent history suggests that he will be praised as the second coming of Lincoln." ...
... "The State of the Union Is Awfully Precarious." Michael Tomasky of the Daily Beast: "How does a 'union,' of the sort the president will boast about tonight,go from being a nation of laws to a fiefdom of a dear leader's whim? Through a hundred small steps from Jan. 20, 2017, to now. But for present purposes, let's focus on three. And interestingly ... they're not mostly Donald Trump's fault. They're mostly the fault of his Republican enablers.... we are in imminent -- imminent -- danger of losing the right to call ourselves a republic, a nation of laws."
Patricia Zengerle of Reuters: "The Trump administration said on Monday it would not immediately impose additional sanctions on Russia, despite a new law designed to punish Moscow's alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, insisting the measure was already hitting Russian companies.... Under [a law Congress passed almost unanimously last summer & President Trump signed to avoid the embarrassment of a veto override], the administration faced a deadline on Monday to impose sanctions on anyone determined to conduct significant business with Russian defense and intelligence sectors, already sanctioned for their alleged role in the election. But citing long time frames associated with major defense deals, [an administration spokesperson] said it was better to wait to impose those sanctions.... Shortly before midnight (0500 GMT) on Monday, the Treasury Department released an unclassified 'oligarchs' list [as mandated by the law], including 114 senior Russian political figures and 96 business people.... Critics blasted [Trump] for failing to announce any sanctions."
** Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "The White House's immigration plan is ... a sleight of hand designed to help the far right shove through sharp new limits on legal immigration, under the pretense of moderation and reasonableness.... Nearly everyone, Democrat and Republican, wants to protect dreamers.... Yet somehow Trump and his fellow Republicans [and media observers] pretend that any offer to protect dreamers is a painful giveaway, for which Democratic leadership should grovel in gratitude.... the Trump framework packages protection for dreamers -- something both sides demand -- with stuff only the right demands, such as border wall funding, curbs to family-sponsored visas and an end to the diversity visa lottery.... It's not a quid pro quo; it's just quid." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Democrats must, once again, insist upon a "clean" DACA bill. ...
... Charles Pierce: "When the damage done by this administration* is toted up, assuming there will be somebody left to count the cost, the unleashing of Border Patrol and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division, and the subsequent depredations thereof, are going to rank right at the top of the list. If you want to see real fascism in action, look at what these people have been up to. Somebody leaves water in the desert for undocumented immigrants, and the Border Patrol pours it all out and then arrests the guy.... Meanwhile, ICE has run wild. They are busting parents while their kids are at school. They're publicizing 'sweeps' in cities like they're chasing down Capone or someone. And there's a very good possibility that, in the so-called 'sanctuary cities,' we will see confrontations between ICE agents and local law enforcement. And now we have this latest insanity, whereby technology will be handed to an agency sliding swiftly toward a very dangerous point. From The Verge: 'The system gives the agency access to billions of license plate records and new powers of real-time location tracking, raising significant concerns from civil libertarians...."
Emily Stewart of Vox: "National security officials are reportedly considering a plan to nationalize the United States' next-generation 5G wireless network in an effort to guard against competitive and cybersecurity threats from China. It would be an unprecedented move -- especially from a Republican administration. And so ... Donald Trump's Federal Communications Commission, which would be a major player in such a project, immediately pushed back. This all started Sunday, when Axios reported that officials at the National Security Council have put together a memo saying that America needs a centralized nationwide 5G network within the next three years. It proposes that the best option would be for the US government pay for and build the network and then rent it to carriers like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile." ...
... Mrs. McC: Can hardly wait to see how Trump can screw up my 5G service AND raise the price.
Another One Bites the Dust. Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.), the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, will retire from Congress at the end of this term, giving a boost to Democratic hopes of winning back the House of Representatives with wins in fast-changing suburbs.... Frelinghuysen, first elected in 1994, represents suburbs and exurbs of New York City that had long voted solidly Republican.... Donald Trump won just 48.8 percent of the vote in Frelinghuysen's 11th Congressional District. Democrats piled into the 2018 campaign, with Mikie Sherrill, a Navy veteran and federal prosecutor, garnering the most attention and largely clearing the field." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Eric Levitz of New York: Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), who is challenging Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018, outraised Cruz over the last three months. O'Rourke has not taken money from corporate superPACS. Cruz will probably win -- because Texas. But Levitz has written a fine remembrance of just in case:
Ted Cruz is living proof that the invention of high-school debate was a world-historic error on par with the Manhattan Project. He is a seething mass of smug self-regard; a 'populist' who, whilst at law school, refused to study with anyone who hadn't gotten their bachelor's degree at Harvard, Princeton, or Yale; an anti-Establishment gadfly who tried desperately to win a spot in George W. Bush's inner circle; a one-time #NeverTrump conservative who spent much of the past year licking the president's boots; and (almost certainly) a serial killer with a taste for cryptography.... (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Paul Krugman advises his barber not to buy Bitcoin. A very useful column.
Way Beyond the Beltway
A Cautionary Tale. Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: "... political analysts agree that the only sure bet in Italy's coming and critical March 4 elections is that [former Prime Minister Silvio] Berlusconi will return as a major force in Italian, and possibly European, politics. Even if he will not be prime minister immediately (he is barred until next year following a fraud conviction), he is likely to be the kingmaker.... He has been investigated over accusations of mob links. He entered politics in part to protect his vast business interests and then, as the owner of the majority of Italy's commercial television stations, used his sprawling media empire to stay in power. He hosted underage women at what he called 'elegant dinners' but what the world knew as sex-fueled Bunga Bunga bacchanals. He made a habit of embarrassing Italy on the global stage."
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The State of the Union
So I took off an hour Monday afternoon to watch an episode of a French murder mystery series where there are all these low-life characters & even groups of low-life characters who may have been the murderers. There's a mafia angle, there's a crooked politicians/developers angle, there's a sports angle (which includes a game-fixing angle), there's a racist angle, there's a diplomatic angle; there's abuse of women, there's lots of illicit sex among & between people married to other people, (there's also drugs & rock 'n roll), there are loads of incompetent idiots, everybody is stabbing everybody else in the back, people are out of control yelling at each other when they're not beating each other up or torturing each other, even the murder victim may have been a murderer.
Then I checked back in with the Trumpish news. Pretty much the same thing. Just waiting for Trump to shoot somebody in the middle of 5th Avenue.
The surveillance memo:
Haven't read it of course, but it seems to me it will appeal only to the believing flock; its other and more likely effect will be to chain Nunes and his gang of lowlifes more firmly to the deck chairs they are so bent on riding to political perdition.
I really dig Digby, but her headline for the short piece on trump and McCabe is only half right. Shoulda been
My god what a stupid asshole.
And I love Digby's last remark: "McCabe is going to be free to speak now. I wonder if Trump realizes this."
Re: Trump's phonecon with McCabe about Comey's return flight and the 'loser wife' came across this paragraph below on NBC News.com:
"A White House official, who would not speak on the record, disputed the account, saying, "this simply never happened. Any suggestion otherwise is pure fiction.” The FBI declined to comment on the call. "
Hmmmm! You don't suppose the FBI records calls, do you?
Over on RawStory they have a report that sleazy Putin ball-licker Julian Assange sent a private message to Sean Hannity peddling damaging info on Mark Werner, except Assange is as much as a fucking moron as the rest of the group of stumbling dolts and dupes chained to the fortunes of Mr. Donald. Assange ended up sending his private messages to some random guy in Texas who set up a Sean Hannity handle.
Hmmmm..... I wonder where Assange could have gotten any potential dirt on Werner, if true? Certainly not his Russian pals I hope. I wouldn't be surprised for a second if the Trumpets tried to weaponize info hacked by Russians even this far into the investigation. And notice Trump refused to carry out the sanctions against his best bud Vladdy. Anf we've still taken zero precautions to protect the 2018 elections from further foreign meddling. What a Russian puppet Trump has turned out to be, Hillary hit the nail on the head with that remark and Trump could only squirm.
And I'm wondering how much this Nunes witch hunt is going to hurt the GOP in the eyes of the FBI and DOJ officials. They reportedly lean conservative historically, but after getting dragged through the mud and feathered by the "Patriot" Party, how could those officials justify keeping their faith? The GOP is being transformed in front of our eyes, all the spineless ingrates have collapsed inward and what's emerged is a deranged version of the tragic Koato infant in the original Total Recall, this time with zero morals and even more slime.
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/01/julian-assange-sent-wrong-sean-hannity-message-offering-damaging-information-top-intel-dem/
My gratitude to all those who are consistent at commenting here at RC. I frequently compose comments in my head, and then have no time to share them. Also, as Victoria said, sometimes the news is so awful and overwhelming, words fail.
So file this comment under History Repeats. I know that "America First," one of Trump's rallying cries, has unpleasant roots. Still, I was startled to see it in a book I am reading: "The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington," by Jennet Conant. Who knew there were British spies in the US in the late 30s, early 40s? They were here largely to convince the US government to join the Allies in the war against Hitler and the Axis countries. One agent with the British Security Coordination explained their mission to a recruit: "'Our best information is that the forces of isolationism, a front here for Nazism and Fascism, is gaining, not losing ground. ... We feel there is German money and German direction behind the America First movement, though many of its followers may not know it ...'"
Of course, the world is not entering another global war at the moment, so there is no actual isolationist movement called America First. Still, I got a chill reading that.
I many times find Chris Hedges unsettling in his world view but this piece––"The Useful Idiocy of Donald Trump" rings true. He begins with the fact that although Trump has no inclination or ability to govern, he has handed the machinery of government over to the bankers, corporate executives, right-wing think tanks, intelligence chiefs and generals.
"All news[ Trump's take] was manipulated and designed, planned and planted. All news was to some extent fake––[Trump] understood that very well because he himself had faked it so many times in his career. this was why he had so naturally cottoned to the "fake news" label.
'I've made stuff up forever, and they always print it', he bragged."
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/useful-idiocy-donald-trump/
We have reached a pivotal point in this experiment––having elected a person completely unsuited to be president––in a showdown with the justice department along with the democrats in congress. @safari's comments today signify the collapse of entities we thought had at least a bit of a spine but sadly, looks like cracked discs all round. Hedge's point about Trump being useful to the machinations of many paints a pretty pathetic picture of our nation's trajectory.
From the local paper: "Jersey Democrats send message to Trump by inviting dreamers to State of the Union address".
Maybe ICE will come in and arrest them. They are illegal but ICE seems to specialize in arresting men with US citizen children. I wonder how many M 13 members they have caught?
My good news: I just checked, there is an episode of Big Bang Theory at 9 tonight.
Elizabeth,
Good point. I think even at the time (the 30's and 40's) there were suspicions that fifth columnists were helping to propel the America Firsters.
History is a funny thing. Certain story lines are privileged and others are kept in the shadows. But those are often the ones most worth knowing about. The isolationism of the interwar years, especially leading up to the second world war was a quilt of many shapes and colors. Some were anti-war activists who, recognizing the carnage (real carnage, not the Trump kind) of WWI, felt a strong desire to keep the country from further such entanglements.
But others, like Charles Lindbergh (who chaired the America First Committee), an open admirer of Hitler and the Nazis, felt that America needed to let the chips fall where they may (his belief was that no one could beat the Nazis).
Isolationists in Congress passed the Neutrality Acts which forbade any commerce between the US and nations of Europe for weapons and materiel. FDR got around this with the lend-lease program, but the delay allowed the Axis nations to ramp up their forces significantly, arguably lengthening the war and increasing its body count.
Some were anti-Semites like Father Coughlin (and Lindbergh) who saw any support of European countries under threat of war a sure sign of support for Jews, a non-starter for many.
So America Firsters and nativists (like Trump) ended up giving aid and support to Germany and Japan, whether many of them saw it that way or not. It was a much more complicated time than it appears in retrospect.
In William Wyler's classic post-war film "Best Years of Our Lives" (1946) there's a scene at a drug store lunch counter in which a sailor who had lost his hands (Harold Russell who really did lose both hands in a military training exercise) talks to a man who tells him that it was a shame that he had to suffer because we "fought the wrong people". He goes on to suggest that Germany and Japan had nothing against the US but certain people in Washington pushed us into the war. It's a stunning moment in a film following the harsh realities that hit soldiers coming back from war.
But today, there's a big difference. Today, the America Firsters are led by the president* whose actions, whose words, whose retreat on many fronts, have cleared the decks for Russia and China. If he were a fifth columnist, born and bred, he couldn't have done more damage. And in a way, there is a war going on. The war is for influence, also economic control. Trump has raised the white flag and fled the field in those wars. Russia has happily entered the fight for dominance and influence through the holes left for him by his good pal Donnie.
The problem with America First, in Trump's incarnation, is that he means America is the only country that matters. He has unhooked America from multiple international agreements and trade deals and cooperative ventures. So what you end up with is America by itself. America first implies there are others behind it. This isn't so when it's just America.
Making America Alone Again.
And a nation alone in today's world, is in trouble.
PD,
Your comment about Trump's boasts of making stuff up and having it published reminds me of something I was considering yesterday, about how much alike Trump and Putin are in some ways.
Aside from the obvious authoritarian, homophobic, racist urges, they both seem to have a knack for serious projection. Putin, who has made meddling in other nations' elections (most successfully in ours) his new favorite past time is now screaming that America is trying to influence Russia's upcoming elections. No doubt Putin has multiple attack points for trying to screw with our mid term elections, so he naturally expects that other countries do the same.
Trump, in the same way, because he has been unusually successful at simply making shit up and having it printed as fact, suspects that everyone else does the same thing.
Which leads to the not entirely tangential point about why Trump and his party are happy to pretend that there's nothing to worry about in the upcoming mid terms, vis a vis Russian interference. They likely HOPE that Putin will fuck with the election, suspecting, correctly, that he will do so in their favor. Trump, very likely, has other reasons for keeping his fat mouth shut, reasons that could land him in prison. But the rest of his party merely likes to look the other way and act surprised when a bunch of their candidates win easily thanks to Russian hacking and twitter bots spreading rumors and lies at lightning speed.
And why will Putin help Trump and the Confederates? Anyone paying the slightest bit of attention can't help but notice that these jamokes have done more in one year to destabilize centuries of American democratic institutions than Stalin, Hitler, Hirohito, Ho Chi Minh, and Rush Limbaugh could do in a hundred years. Why not keep the ball rolling until America is just a shell company for oligarchs and haters, run by idiots?
The whole situation is far more complicated and dangerous than one would think, and that's saying something. Generals, CEO's, Russian oligarchs, foreign heads of state, white supremacists, racists, haters, all playing Monopoly with our money and our country.
It shouldn't be a surprise when Park Place is renamed Tverskaya Ulitsa and Boardwalk refashioned as Blankfein Way.
@Elizabeth. Thanks. Sounds like an interesting read. I was aware that Dahl had worked for British intelligence, but I never knew what he did. It sounds like most of the British "intelligence" work in the U.S. was propaganda, trying to get Americans -- especially of course Americans of influence -- more interested in the European War. (Dahl didn't get to the U.S. till after Pearl Harbor.) It also does look as if he & his cohort passed back to Britain any insider information they garnered that might help their cause. But I wonder if any of that was the equivalent of Kompromat. For instance, it seems it might be a mistake to suggest Churchill bring up Lucy Mercer to Roosevelt.
As for the U.S.'s current problem, I think Trump is probably partly right about "this Rusher thing." Was Trump thrilled to get help from Russia? Yes, of course. He said so. His son said so. The fact that it was illegal was immaterial to Trump. He's done a lot worse, I'm sure. Lying & cheating is Trump's MO. To Trump, the exact particulars of any scheme represent a distinction without a difference from all his other schemes.
As for Republicans in Congress, their initial interest in focussing on Russian interference was probably a smokescreen for their own, more rampant interference: their constant lies, their gerrymandering, their voter suppression, etc. It wasn't until the Rusher thing enveloped their Free Ticket to a Bill Signing that the whole thing became an FBI cabal against truth, justice & the American way.
If German money helped the "America First" movement of the 1930s, there is ample American money to drive it now. And that's largely what's happening. It may well be that the hackers of 2016 were Russians, but could they be Republicans & Democrats in 2020? I think so. When the two parties can't agree on anything because one of them won't compromise on anything -- and considers compromise itself a sellout -- the only answer is an unholy war. Unholy alliances are kinda out for the near future.
So how does this look?
Confederates on the Intelligence Committee (how's that for a world class oxymoron?) have a made up piece of shit written by Devin Nunes, created after reading not a single bit of the underlying documentation in the Russia investigation, but merely working up handy talking points to help his boss, Trump, stay out of prison, vote to release this piece of shit.
Democrats on the committee, more than appalled that a fact-free document created to sell lies is about to be released, write up their own report to correct the record, a report based on facts and the underlying documentation which they HAVE read.
Confederates vote to NOT release that one.
But there's no politics involved here, right? They're just patriots.
It's like one of those scenes from Kafka where the evil prosecutor brings a case full of lies and innuendo against a defendant. The judge then asks the defendant to respond. Cut to shot of defendant, blindfolded and gagged. "Defendant does not deny the charges? Fine. He is sentenced to death. Take him away."
What the GOP is engineering is not far off from Kafka's worst nightmare.
We really are in a bad way here, kids.
And let's not forget that the "Trump campaign official" who was surveilled by the FBI, is Carter Page, a guy with longstanding ties to Russia, who spoke with Russian officials during the campaign then traveled to Russia. Confederates are OUTRAGED that he was given more than a casual look-see by the FBI, but it's their job to keep tabs on guys like that who have the serious look of a Russian asset.
Can you imagine the screams had a Clinton campaign official traveled to Russia and met with Russian officials in the run up to the election and the FBI declined to look at that person, especially in the wake of information that Russia may be trying to hack the election?
Exalto,
I sure hope McCabe feels free to open up about Trump but I'm gonna have to guess he'll stay mum. At least for now, unless he's really got the urge to slap back at the Orange Baboon who has been pillorying him for months.
What will he do now? Likely get some kind of high paying consulting job in some security industry company. Those sorts of employers like hires that can be circumspect and keep their cool, especially about former employers. They'd probably be unlikely to hire someone who, feeling dissed, went out and gave a raft of interviews about what an unconscionable prick his previous boss was.
Also, being pretty much an FBI lifer, he's unlikely to do or say anything that could compromise an ongoing investigation.
We may have to wait some time before we get his side of the story. Maybe not as long as we waited for Mark Felt, but probably not next week.
President*, Inc. LLC
How does Trump cash in? Let us count the ways.
Monetizing the presidency for Trump and his brood of moochers and con artists has been job one, as they used to say in those old Ford commercials, since before the coronation.
Here's a flash report, as the business suits say, of Trump's profits for his first year as CEO of President*, Inc, courtesy of Money and Career Cheatsheet:
Trump hotel income jumped from $33.8 million in 2016 to $60.5 million in 2017
Various Trump properties banked at least $720,000 from Trump’s own campaign events. (money going straight into his pocket)
After Trump was elected, Mar-a-Lago doubled member fees to $200,000 before taxes.
Secret Service golf-cart rentals alone cost taxpayers $137,000 in nine months. The payments go to Trump’s business. (ie, straight into his pocket)
The Republican National Committee (RNC) spent over $300,000 at Trump properties in 2016 and 2017.
Disclosures reveal 2017 real estate income at $168.5 million, the highest amount recorded of any listed year.
The Trump Organization opened an online store in November 2017.
Mar-a-Lago’s New Year’s party tickets jumped to as much as $750 per person in 2017.
This, of course, is only a partial list which doesn't include scams by Trump spawn to sell condos in Trump properties abroad by dangling a meeting with Junior. It also doesn't include the benefits being greedily raked in by other Trump spawn.
And the latest pocket-lining scam? Yes, friends, you too can have your name scroll across the screen during the SOTU livestream. Just send Donnie your EZ payment of anywhere from $35 to $2,700 and we'll give you the very great honor of seeing your name on the VERY SAME SCREEN as the GLORIOUS LEADER!! Act now! Space is limited.
Monetizing the State of the Union??
What an asshole, indeed.
Oops, here's a link for that last little tidbit about Donaldo selling the SOTU for fun and profit.
The headline--"For $35, the Trump campaign will include your name on its SOTU livestream"--for this CNN story reads like one of those Andy Borowitz snickers, the ones I used to have to double check because they sounded almost too real to be invented (he's good at that, but hey, look at the material he has to work with: a president who lines his pocket by selling air time on the SOTU!!!!), but it's not.
Jesus, what a shameless prick.
My father grew up in NYC and knew NY like the back of his hand. In the late 30's and early 40's, there were so-called "peace" demonstrations in Yorkville (east 80's area), which was then a center of german speaking culture. My father went to some, and there were some that got violent. Although the appearance was supposed to be pacifist and isolationist, they were definitely Nazi run and Nazi inspired, from his perspective. Seeing this was one of the things that convinced my father there would be war. Charlottesville reminded me of his stories.
Preview of the president's* SOTU address (why does spell check
keep trying to change that to STFU?).
1.DACA: Give me $25billion for a fantastic wall and dreamers
stay. If not, each of my voters will send me $500 and that will be
over $30billion so there will be enough left over for miles and miles
of gold leaf. Sorry Ivanka, your plan to open a chain of running
shoe stores along the border is hereby cancelled.
2.My great tax cuts and jobs act (what an act). We gave massive
tax cuts to my donors and you suckers thought it would help the
middle class. Another win for me.
3.My infrastructure plan: You states and counties and cities are
going to really get dumped on so start raising those taxes and get
busy on "my" infrastructure plan.
4.Record high stock market and record low unemployment, not
to mention record high attacks on workers rights.
5.And here's my great list of all my great accomplishments in my
great record setting first year......it's written right here on my tiny
little finger nail. Oops, I bit it off.
@forrest morris: Okay, thanks. Not that I ever intended to watch, but in case I thought it was my civic duty, you're better than Cliff Notes. I could fool anybody by reciting your pre-summary.
Marie
Dear Mr. Morris:
"...SOTU address (why does spell check
keep trying to change that to STFU?)."
I'm so very terribly sorry, but I'm going to have to steal that one.
Sincerely,
I. Swipem.
Confederate villains of the Dickensian stripe are demanding that any DACA attendees brought by Democrats to the STFU* speech by Hater in Chief Trumpy be arrested on sight.
The excuse, that the "rule of law needs to be enforced" is rich given that the rule of law is laughably nowhere to be seen among Confederate confreres and indeed is considered an inconvenient and preposterous hindrance to winger lusts.
These assholes couldn't be more stupidly, obviously, and viciously anti-American if they tried, and believe me, they do try.
If we truly were a nation of laws, the only people arrested at the STFU* would be the entire GOP contingent and their Glorious Leader, Trumpado the Tiny Fingered Fuckface Douchewad.
Naturally, these evil motherfuckers don't care that DACA is still in effect until March 5th, so technically no one in that cohort could be arrested because they are all legal. But when have legalities ever stopped these suck-ass criminal Nazi fucks?
Thesaurus.com needs to add something to their site. When looking up any term, there is a section that outlines antonyms. Anyone looking up the term "American" should see a picture of the entire GOP congressional contingent when scanning antonyms of that word.
Fuckers.
Here's hoping that Democrats invite dozens and put Confederate anti-American intentions to the test.
*Thanks Forrest!
Often I feel much as some of the commenters have mentioned, the news at times is so overwhelming, disappointing, heartbreaking, frustrating, irritating that one doesn't know where to begin. I share that sense with Elizabeth. I've composed numerous responses in my head, I written paragraphs out to test drive my views, I've dropped the text in this very Post: box to Preview before posting. Can't tell you how many times, I've just say "screw it' and delete everything.
One feels the anger, the desire to protest, to be heard...but, at times it feels "Oh, does it matter? Who cares what I think?" and then other times the words will flow and with a bit of courage, I quickly hit the Create Post button.
Today is one of those days...what issue do I tackle? One? or more? All? Which pisses me off most?
The deportation methods of ICE, the individual stories that appear are so outrageous. Nothing makes sense. ICE seems to operate as an entity above any kind of oversight, control, etc.
Reading Howard Fineman's piece wherein he writes that according to a source, Trump wants Sessions to 'prosecute' Mueller on what grounds is beyond my comprehension (since Trump has come to recognize that firing Mueller would not go well...for Trump. (See NBC News).
I'm actually enjoying today's huge stock market drop that follows yesterday's slide...especially with the STFU* speech on tap for tonight. (Ak: I swipe good ones, too!) as I am sure that Trump would love to be boasting tonight about how the economy and the markets are doing so fantastically well since he became president. Everyone he talks to sez it bigger and better than what happened under other administrations.
Oh, I won't be watching tonight either.
MAG,
Your thoughts are always welcome here, as are those of all other sentient beings, with the exception of those who don't know what that means.
As for tonight, as I mentioned before, I'll likely be spending my time more constructively, cleaning out my gutters by flashlight. I'm sure Trumpy will be upset that I won't be there cheering on his wonderfulness, but I've about had it, speaking of gutters, with funnels of fecal effusions, aka the Trumpy Pie Hole.
Wonder how much he had to pay Melania to be there?
@Elizabeth: I question the value of Conants book. Dahl arrived in Canada on April 1942 en route to Washington. At that date I don't think America needed much persuasion to take up arms against the axis. Dahl's bio in wikipedia makes it sound as though Sir William Stevenson worked for him rather than the reverse. After all Stevenson was the liason between Churchill and Roosevelt since 1940.
I am sorry to see so many Democrats boycotting the STFU. I would prefer they attend and carry on that great Republican tradition of crying "LIAR!!!!" at anything they disagree with.
@forest morris: I do so hope I get to hear at least one more time all the details about the greatest electoral victory in history. That would leave about 2 minutes for new lies.