;)
Wednesday
Jul252018
The Commentariat -- July 26, 2018
Afternoon Update:
Ha! Michael Schmidt & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, is scrutinizing tweets and negative statements from the president about Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey, according to three people briefed on the matter. Several of the remarks came as Mr. Trump was also privately pressuring the men -- both key witnesses in the inquiry -- about the investigation, and Mr. Mueller is examining whether the actions add up to attempts to obstruct the investigation by both intimidating witnesses and pressuring senior law enforcement officials to tamp down the inquiry.... The special counsel's investigators have told Mr. Trump's lawyers they are examining the tweets under a wide-ranging obstruction-of-justice law.... Mr. Trump's lead lawyer in the case, Rudolph W. Giuliani, dismissed Mr. Mueller's interest in the tweets as part of a desperate quest to sink the president."
Uh-Oh. Emily Birnbaum of the Hill: Allen Weissenberg, "the longtime financial chief of the Trump Organization, is being subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury in the criminal investigation ... Michael Cohen, according to The Wall Street Journal. Cohen mentioned Allen Weisselberg in the widely circulated tapes released on Tuesday night, the Journal noted."
The Evidence on the Tape. Miriam Rocah & Elie Honig of the Daily Beast: "Taken as a whole, the recording shows that Trump -- despite his prior statements to the contrary -- was part of an ongoing scheme to pay AMI to silence McDougal in the weeks before the election. Trump can't deny it now: He knew about and endorsed the scheme, according to the tape. The tape also reveals that the true purpose behind the proposed McDougal payment was to ensure her silence in the weeks leading up to the election.... every nuance of this tape and countless other pieces of evidence. After working for Trump for over a decade, Cohen could be the prosecutor's dream cooperator: one who had special insider access to the leader of a powerful, closed, corrupt organization." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Watching the Trump Show, New York Edition, makes me feel as if I've seen it all before in a "Law & Order" episode where Jack McCoy goes after a couple of hitmen called Books & Biscuits (Libretti & Biscotti). The teevee show (plot here), as so often is the case, was more compelling than the reality. But, yeah, Donaldo Trumpomassi could pass for the show's fictional capo Franco Tortomassi. The "Law & Order" episode ends with a cameo by real NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who holds a press conference announcing the convictions of the "dangerous criminals." Get ready for your close-up, Bill de Blasio.
Reuters via the Guardian: "Donald Trump has threatened to slap 'large sanctions' on Turkey unless Ankara frees an American pastor whose detention has further strained relations between the Nato allies.... The Trump administration escalated its pressure campaign the day after a Turkish court allowed Andrew Brunson to be transferred to house arrest after 21 months in detention. He is on trial on terrorism charges." --safari
Jonathan Chait: "Last night, the Trump administration announced with maximum fanfare that the trade war with the European Union was over. 'This was a big day for free and fair trade!,' tweeted an excited President Trump. For all the hype and surprisingly credulous press the announcement attracted, it amounts to little more than a face-saving truce. If you're looking for any details as to how this will work, too bad, they don't exist. The trade 'deal' follows the script of the ballyhooed North Korean nuclear 'deal' from last month. The cycle begins with bellicose Trumpian threats designed to increase American leverage. This leads to negotiations, which produce an impossibly ambitious and thoroughly vague 'solution' that allows Trump to boast that he has averted a crisis of his own making." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Chait goes on. But we all know the rubes will continue to verify the adage, "There's a sucker born every minute" ... with a great deal of help from the nation's press corps for putting the Trump propaganda front-and-center AND for all showing up at Trump's impromptu Rose Garden "announcement" ceremony even though Trump's henchpeople had banned a CNN reporter for, you know, asking questions.
Asawin Suebsaeng, et al. The Daily Beast: "Henry Kissinger suggested to President Donald Trump that the United States should work with Russia to contain a rising China. The former secretary of state -- who famously engineered the tactic of establishing diplomatic relations with China in order to isolate the Soviet Union -- pitched almost the inverse of that idea to Trump during a series of private meetings during the presidential transition, five people familiar with the matter told The Daily Beast. The potential strategy would use closer relations with Russia, along with other countries in the region, to box in China's growing power and influence." --safari
From the Unthinkable to the Possible. Mike DeBonis & John Wagner of the Washington Post: "House Majority Whip Steve Scalise said Thursday that he supports an effort by conservative lawmakers to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, calling it 'leverage' to get the Justice Department to provide Congress with more documents related to the Russia probe. Scalise (R-La.), who is the third-ranking Republican in the House and is eyeing a bid to become speaker, said during an interview with Fox News that he would vote for the resolution if it reaches the floor.... Scalise said he is 'very disappointed' in the Justice Department. 'They need to be transparent to the American people,' he said." Mrs. McC: Actually, no. Criminal investigations in the U.S. have never been "transparent," especially to Friends of the Criminal. ...
... Update. Kyle Cheney & Rachel Bade of Politico: "Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday firmly rejected an effort by House conservatives to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, putting him at odds with hard-liners in his party and even some in his own leadership team. The Wisconsin Republican told reporters the Department of Justice was largely complying with a GOP demand for documents surrounding the FBI's Russia investigation." ...
... Update 2. Olivia Beavers of the Hill: "Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) says he is tabling his efforts to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein after having several meetings with Republican leadership, stating that he would instead pursue contempt if the Justice Department (DOJ) does not turn over documents Congress is seeking. While the impeachment option remains on the table, Meadows told reporters Tuesday he now hopes it will be a contempt process rather than impeachment." Mrs. McC: The House Republican caucus is as disorganized as the White House & as a impetuous & irresponsible as the President*. ...
... Alayna Treene & Haley Britzky of Axios: "Congressman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), founder of the House Freedom Caucus, has just sent a letter to his colleagues announcing that he is officially running to replace Paul Ryan as Speaker of the House, Axios has confirmed." Mrs. McC: It might be okay if Jordan were minority leader; it would give the country a good chance to see how really horrible the GOP is.
All the Best People, Ctd. Jesse Drucker, et al., of the New York Times: Donald Trump planned to nominate Ken Kurson, a close friend of Jared Kushner & Rudy Giuliani, as a board member of the National Endowment for the Humanities, although Kurson has no background in the humanities. But an FBI background check turned up disturbing allegations -- that came with documentation -- that Kurson had harassed a NYC Mount Sinai doctor & the wife of her boss to the extent that the hospital took extra security measures to protect the doctor. According to a female journalist's first-person account in the Atlantic, Kurson, whom Kushner had appointed to run the New York Observer, also made commments about the the journalist's "breasts as she sought a job at The Observer." His harassment of the doctor, which the reporters describe, was way scarier than that. Coda: "Last week, the White House announced Mr. Trump's six nominees to the endowment's board. Mr. Kurson isn't on the list. In addition to three academics, it includes a corporate lobbyist, the head of a political consulting firm and an executive at the conservative Heritage Foundation."
... Mrs. McCrabbie: It would appear Trump & Co. don't know anybody who isn't as skeezy & sleazy as they are, AND they think these lowlifes deserve prestigious jobs. Birds of a feather.
Roque Planas of the Huffington Post: "A Trump appointee's decision to personally review requests to release migrant children from jail-like 'secure facilities' created a bureaucratic bottleneck that dramatically increased the amount of time kids spent locked up. Office of Refugee Resettlement chief E. Scott Lloyd ― who first attracted national interest when a federal court slapped down his attempt to ban a teenage migrant who'd been raped from obtaining an abortion ― told subordinates last year that he'd have to personally sign off before any kids could be released from ORR's secure facilities.... Lloyd decided to make release decisions himself after reading news reports that some unaccompanied minors released from ORR custody later allegedly committed gang-related crimes, he told a congressional subcommittee last year. In a deposition for a New York Civil Liberties Union lawsuit challenging his new policy..., Lloyd said he made the decision without an agency review and in consultation with just two colleagues." ...
... Rebekah Entralago of ThinkProgress: "U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents notified Orlando, Florida resident Alejandra Juarez Tuesday that she will be deported to Mexico on August 3.... Juarez, the wife of veteran Marine Sgt. Cuauhtemoc 'Temo' Juarez, also a former member of the Florida National Guard, entered the United States in 1998 and the two married in 2000. The eldest of the couple's two children was just 12 months old when their father was deployed to Iraq. Juarez's undocumented status was revealed during a traffic stop in 2013. Apart from her illegal entry into the country in 1998, she has no criminal record.... Under previous administrations..., Juarez was able to stay in the country because ICE generally deferred separation." --safari
"War on the Poor," Ctd. Danielle McLean of ThinkProgress: "House Republicans are pushing a bill that would impose work and education requirements on foster youths who are facing homelessness, putting their ability to get federal housing subsidies at risk." --safari
** IOKIYAR. Josh Israel of ThinkProgress: "A new ad from Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) accuses his Democratic opponent of rank hypocrisy for owning stock in some of the sectors he has spoken out against. There's just one problem: Buchanan's own holdings.... The ad claims that [Democrat David] Shapiro owns stock in 'two companies responsible for the Gulf Oil spill' (Transocean and Halliburton), 'drugmakers accused of fueling' the opiate epidemic (Johnson & Johnson), and 'companies that make assault weapons and cop-killer bullets' (Savage Arms).... But a ThinkProgress review of Buchanan's own personal financial disclosure form reveals that he owns ... more than 320,000 Johnson & Johnson shares, more than 24,000 shares of Halliburton, and over 130,000 shares of Transocean [and] he has received more than $14,000 in support from the National Rifle Association over his tenure in Congress." --safari
Damian Carrington of the Guardian: "Just 13% of the world's oceans remain untouched by the damaging impacts of humanity, the first systematic analysis has revealed. Outside the remotest areas of the Pacific and the poles, virtually no ocean is left harbouring naturally high levels of marine wildlife.... Furthermore, just 5% of the remaining ocean wilderness is within existing marine protection areas." --safari
Michael Wines of the New York Times: "Newly disclosed emails show Michigan Republicans angling to give their party a dominant position through gerrymandered maps and celebrating the plight of their Democratic rivals. Republicans in the state have denied that they sought partisan gain when they drew new legislative boundaries in 2011. But a federal lawsuit, which argues the maps are unconstitutional, has unearthed records showing Republicans intent on drawing boundaries that would help their party. The emails, disclosed in a filing on Monday, boast of concentrating 'Dem garbage' into four of the five southeast Michigan districts that Democrats now control, and of packing African-Americans into a metropolitan Detroit House district. One email likened a fingerlike extension they created in one Democratic district map to an obscene gesture toward its congressman, Representative Sander M. Levin.... The emails were first reported by The Bridge, a magazine run by the Center for Michigan, a public policy think tank."
*****
Mark Landler & Ana Swanson of the New York Times: "The United States and the European Union stepped back from the brink of a trade war on Wednesday, after President Trump said the Europeans agreed to work toward lowering tariffs and other trade barriers, and to buy billions of dollars of American exports, from soybeans to natural gas. The announcement, made by Mr. Trump and the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, defused, for the moment, a trade battle that began with Mr. Trump's tariffs on European steel and aluminum exports and threatened to escalate to its automobiles. 'We're starting the negotiation right now, but we know very much where it's going,' Mr. Trump said, standing next to Mr. Juncker at a hastily-scheduled appearance in the White House Rose Garden. Mr. Juncker said, 'I had the intention to make a deal today, and we have made a deal today.' He said both sides would hold off on further tariffs, and potentially drop the existing ones, unless they fail to agree on a deal to reduce tariffs, non-tariff barriers, and subsidies to zero." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: This, IMO, is Trump blinking because of GOP & constituent blowback against an unnecessary problem he created. It's an agreement to try to negotiate an agreement, which -- considering that the E.U. is comprised of allies & has been one of the U.S.'s largest trading partners AND Trump is unreliable -- ain't much. As Landler & Swanson write, "It was hard to say, given Mr. Trump's unpredictable negotiating style, if the agreement was a genuine truce or merely a lull in a conflict that could flare up again. Twice, Mr. Trump's aides have negotiated deals with China, only to have Mr. Trump reject them and threaten further tariffs." But it's better than a Twittertantrum, so that's something. ...
... Heather Long & Steven Mufson of the Washington Post: "At first glance Wednesday, it looked like President Trump halted his trade war.... But there's a lot of reasons to be skeptical that Trump has suddenly changed his mind on trade. The details of the agreement with Europe are thin, there's still a trade deficit that Trump hates, and only a day ago the president tweeted that 'tariffs are the greatest.'... Trump still has a 25 percent tariff on European steel and a 10 percent tariff on European aluminum. Beyond Europe, Trump's metals tariffs are still in place on many other countries, including allies like Canada and Japan.... Tariffs are moving forward on China.... The 'deal' with Europe looks odd[: a lot like a deal President Obama negotiated.]... The E.U. claims that it succeeded in getting Trump to back down on putting auto tariffs on Europe -- for now. But that point didn't make the official statement, and the Trump Administration is still moving full speed ahead with its investigation in whether other countries are hurting America's 'national security' by sending so many foreign cars, trucks and parts to the United States.... Trump has a tendency to go soft, then hard on trade." ...
... Andrew Restuccia of Politico: "Over the course of just 11 days..., Donald Trump went from calling the European Union a 'foe' and publicly questioning his own intelligence agencies to palling around with a top EU official in the Rose Garden and scheduling a meeting with his senior advisers to discuss election security [related story linked below]. It was an abrupt tonal shift for the president -- and it underscored the growing pressure on Trump from fellow Republicans to toughen his public stance against Russia and to limit the fallout of the escalating global trade wars. Few people close to the president believe he has changed much, and they expect the president to continue bashing long-time U.S. allies and cozying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin.... Still, the announcements on trade and Russia appeared to serve as high-profile messaging after a week of chaos that Trump is on the same page as his political party -- and that the White House is sensitive to the mounting criticism.... The [trade] announcement appeared to have been slapped together at the last minute. Normally, Rose Garden announcements are elaborate affairs with dozens of attendees sitting in rows of chairs to hear the president speak." ...
... Damian Paletta of the Washington Post: "Several of President Trump's senior economic advisers believe he plans to impose a 25 percent tariff on close to $200 billion in foreign-made automobiles later this year, three people briefed on discussions said. Trump wants to move forward despite numerous warnings from GOP leaders and business executives who have argued that such a move could damage the economy and lead to political mutiny. But Trump has become increasingly defiant in his trade strategy, following his own instincts and intuition and eschewing advice from his inner circle. He has told advisers and Republicans to simply trust his business acumen, a point he tried to reinforce Wednesday morning in a Twitter post. 'Every time I see a weak politician asking to stop Trade talks or the use of Tariffs to counter unfair Tariffs, I wonder, what can they be thinking?' Trump said Wednesday. 'Are we just going to continue and let our farmers and country get ripped off?'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...
** Paul Farhi & Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "A CNN reporter said she was blocked from an open media event at the White House on Wednesday after officials objected to questions she asked President Trump at an event earlier in the day. Reporter Kaitlan Collins said press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and communications director Bill Shine told her she was banned from a late-afternoon announcement in the Rose Garden involving Trump and European Union president Jean-Claude Juncker a few hours after she sought to question Trump during a press-pool 'spray' in the Oval Office. Blocking a credentialed White House reporter from an event open to all members of the media is highly unusual and possibly unprecedented, and it marks another low point in the Trump White House's highly strained relationship with the news media. It wasn't clear late Tuesday whether Shine and Sanders were acting on their own ... or were carrying out a directive from Trump himself." ...
... Jen Kirby of Vox: "According to CNN, the White House retaliated against reporter Kaitlan Collins after she directed some questions at ... Donald Trump during a pool reporter session in the Oval Office ahead of the president's trade meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. Collins was the designated pool reporter at the photo op, meaning she was representing all the major television networks, when she asked the president questions about the recently released recording of Trump and his former attorney Michael Cohen discussing a payoff to a former Playboy model, and about Trump's invitation to Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit the White House.... Trump did not answer any of Collins's questions. Collins ... said afterward she was called into the office of Bill Shine.... There, Shine and ... Sarah Sanders told her that she wouldn't be allowed to attend an open press event in the Rose Garden ... 'because they thought the questions that I posed to President Trump were inappropriate and inappropriate for that venue,' Collins recalled.... It's standard practice for reporters to throw rapid-fire questions at the president during similar photo ops." ...
... Maybe Trump Is Mad Because Melanie Watches CNN. Kate Bennett of CNN: "First lady Melania Trump will watch 'any channel she wants,' according to her spokeswoman in an apparent rebuke to the report ... Donald Trump was upset to find her Air Force One television tuned into CNN. East Wing communications director Stephanie Grisham told CNN Wednesday everyone should be focusing on the issues the first lady is seeking to highlight, such as neonatal abstinence syndrome, rather than what television channel she's watching or a tape of her husband discussing a payout to a woman who claims to have had an extramarital affair with him."
Tucker Higgins of CNBC: "... Donald Trump's national security advisor said Wednesday that the next bilateral meeting between Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin should happen after the Russia witch hunt is over.' 'The President believes that the next bilateral meeting with President Putin should take place after the Russia witch hunt is over, so we've agreed that it will be after the first of the year,' John Bolton told reporters Wednesday. The White House had earlier said that Trump would meet with Putin at the White House in the fall. The plan drew condemnation from lawmakers. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wi., said he would not invite Putin to speak before Congress during the Washington D.C. visit. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday that Putin 'will not be welcome' in the capitol. The Kremlin was lukewarm on the idea of a second meeting, with a top official telling reporters Tuesday that Russia had not begun any preparations." Thanks to MAG for the link. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: So, um, this "meeting" was just a figment of the POTUS*'s imagination. Great. I'm feeling safer now. ...
... ** Julie Davis & Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, offered Congress what he called 'proof' on Wednesday that President Trump is willing to hold Russia accountable for its malign activities, including interfering in American elections and misbehavior around the world. In testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mr. Pompeo said that the president is 'well aware of the challenges that Russia poses' and has taken 'a staggering number of actions to protect our interests.' He defended Mr. Trump's summit meeting last week in Finland with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia that sowed doubts about the American president's ability to confront Moscow.... [Pompeo's] responses [to senators' questions] highlighted the gulf between Mr. Trump's statements and actions toward Russia when contrasted to the tough policies of his administration.... Mr. Pompeo spent much of the hearing attempting to persuade senators in both parties who expressed concern about Mr. Trump that it was the administration's policy's -- not the president's own words -- that mattered. At times, under questioning from the lawmakers, that meant the secretary of state contradicted Mr. Trump.... The testimony amounts to an elaborate cleanup effort by the nation's top diplomat for Mr. Trump's performance in Helsinki...." ...
... ** Heather Hurlburt of New York: "Unsurprisingly, the hearing didn't reveal what Putin and Trump talked about in their one-on-one, two hour conversation, but it did shed some light on how some key played view each other, and the issues at stake: Secretary Pompeo has a tightrope to walk. Watching him try to maintain a minimal level of collegiality with Senators while also staying within the boundaries President Trump expects of his courtiers was exhausting.... [Only] two GOP Senators joined Democrats in pressing Pompeo hard on the Helsinki Summit, North Korea and other topics. No points for guessing that neither of the two (Corker and Flake) are running for re-election.... Rand Paul has taken a hard turn into the pro-Russia camp.... Trump is still hung up on making a commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty." ...
... Stephanie Murray of Politico: "Sen. Rand Paul warned on Wednesday that a bipartisan bill meant to deter foreigners from meddling in future U.S. elections would weaken the president's abilities to strike back at adversaries. The bill, known as the DETER Act, is backed by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). The proposed law would bar foreign governments from buying ads to influence U.S. elections, and would also give the director of national intelligence the power to deploy 'national security tools' like sanctions if the Kremlin interferes in another American election.... Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in the hot seat during Wednesday's hearing. He echoed Paul's sentiment that transferring election security power away from the president is unwise." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: As Hurlburt wrote, "Given that Rubio had used his own time [at the hearing] to solicit Pompeo's support for the legislation, this was an unusual display of intraparty hostility. It does make you wonder about the content of the conversations Paul had on his post-summit trip to Moscow." I found a lot of news stories reporting that Paul was going to Russia but none that reported on his trip there. Hard to know why Paul has taken a sudden affinity for all things Trump & Russia (what Charlies Pierce calls Randy's "curious recent campaign to be a good little doggie who would like a treat now"), but you can be certain there is a reason and it's not a principled one. Maybe it's just because Li'l Randy "is the most interesting man in politics." Any better ideas?
Mrs. McCrabbie: Besides making the rich richer & the poor poorer, depriving millions of Americans of health insurance, upending traditional trade & security partnerships, wrecking the Earth, making workers less safe, curbing civil rights, making college even less affordable & grade schools worse, etc., Trump & his GOP cronies bring us this ...
... Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "In the first half of 2018, corporate tax collections dropped to historically low levels as a share of the economy, according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. That is pushing up the federal budget deficit much faster than economists had predicted. The reason is President Trump's tax cuts. The new law introduced a standard corporate rate of 21 percent, down from a high of 35 percent, and allowed companies to immediately deduct many new investments. As companies operate with a lower tax burden and a greater ability to offset what they owe, the federal government is receiving far less revenue than it would have under the previous tax system." These jerks should impeach themselves. (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Trump's tax cut may not be a winner for GOP candidates, either. ...
... Gideon Resnick of the Daily Beast: "Republican candidates seem to be gravitating towards political messages that are devoid of talk of tax cuts and more designed to excite the base or stress biography.... Support for tax reform is slipping. And the special election in Ohio is the latest race showing that Democrats feel more comfortable using it bash Republicans." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... AND there's this new report from Bob Herman of Axios: "CEOs made a lot more than what is normally portrayed in most media coverage.... The CEOs running S&P 500 companies cumulatively took home $10 billion in 2017, an amount that is 44% higher than what is usually reported, according to an Axios analysis of Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The big reason: CEOs cashing in their stock.... Annual proxy filings bury the fact that many of America's top executives are sometimes paid even more than what headlines suggest, due almost entirely to the huge gains they reap from the stock market. Meanwhile, worker wages are stagnant, the average household is living on $59,000 a year."
Ann Marimow, et al., of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Wednesday rejected President Trump's latest effort to stop a lawsuit that alleges Trump is violating the Constitution by continuing to do business with foreign governments. The ruling, from U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte in Greenbelt, Md., will allow the plaintiffs -- the attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia -- to proceed with their case, which says Trump has violated little-used anti-corruption clauses in the Constitution known as emoluments clauses. This ruling appeared to mark the first time a federal judge had interpreted those constitutional provisions and applied their restrictions to a sitting president. If the ruling stands, it could bring unprecedented scrutiny to Trump's businesses -- which have sought to keep their transactions with foreign states private...." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Brett Kavanaugh must be suffering a case of the vapors. ...
... Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "This is the nightmare -- or one of them -- that Trump has long feared, namely litigation in which his business operations, perhaps even his tax returns, are laid bare. The decision, running over 50 pages, is an impressive, detailed analysis of the Constitution and 18th century language.... The ruling is the inevitable result of Trump's decision to maintain ownership of his far-flung business operations and to continue to reap the benefits, foreign and domestic, resulting from his presidency. (Ivanka Trump sure seems prescient in her decision to dump her clothing business....)"
Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Thursday vowed that the government would investigate Twitter for allegations that the social media giant has suppressed content from some conservative accounts. 'Twitter "SHADOW BANNING" prominent Republicans. Not good. We will look into this discriminatory and illegal practice at once! Many complaints,' Trump tweeted.... The president ... was responding to claims from some Republicans who have alleged they have been 'shadow banned' from the platform and have seen their engagement with users dissipate in recent weeks.... Vice News first reported on Wednesday that [Rep Matt] Gaetz [RTrump-Fla.], Reps. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna [Romney] McDaniel are among those who failed to appear on Twitter's auto-populated drop-down search when users entered their names. Gaetz and McDaniel accused Twitter of political bias. Twitter has acknowledged the issue and called it unintentional. The company said it's working to fix the issue and it was not targeting Republicans." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: How heartening to know that Trump finally has taken an interest in alleged discriminatory practices. I guess this means he'll get right on the actually horrifying report Washington Post report, linked below, that city police departments solve murders of black people significantly less often than they do murders of whites. Seriously, Trump's response to the Twitter story but not to the black homicide story is emblematic of his loathsome presidency.
Felicia Sonmez, et al., of the Washington Post: "Conservative lawmakers on Wednesday introduced a resolution calling for the impeachment of Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, in a move that marks a dramatic escalation in the battle over the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The effort, led by Reps. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), also sets up a showdown with House Republican leaders, who have distanced themselves from calls to remove Rosenstein from office. But Meadows and Jordan stopped short of forcing an immediate vote on the measure, sparing Republican lawmakers for now from a potential dilemma.... Democrats have said that House Republicans' clashes with Rosenstein are little more than a pretext to weaken Mueller's efforts.... 'Any attempt to do so will be viewed by Congress and the American people as further proof of an effort to obstruct justice with severe consequences for Trump and his presidency,' said Reps. Elijah E. Cummings (Md.), Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.) and Adam B. Schiff (Calif.)." ...
... Elliot Hannon of Slate: "Congress just filed articles of impeachment! It's happening! Our long national nightmare could soon be... oh wait, never mind, they're going after the wrong guy.... The point is not to get to the bottom of anything in particular; the point is muddy the water, create confusion, and false equivalencies that might serve the president. The point is there is no point to what they're asking for. There is also no good faith point to their move for impeachment of Rosenstein, who also happens to be a Republican, and appears to have operated admirably in turbulent times.... It's hard to say exactly what the game plan is for Trump's congressional minions, but it's like an alley-oop for the president who will use it to make the case that everyone's guilty, so he can't possibly be." ...
... Ed Kilgore: "... it's hard to imagine that they took this course of action without at least a tacit green light from the White House. It's most likely that the whole gesture is just part of an effort to ratchet up the pressure on Rosenstein and DoJ to play along with their conspiracy theories, or perhaps to undermine Mueller by discrediting Rosenstein.... It should go without saying that even if the House impeached Rosenstein, there's no way the Senate would come up with the two-thirds margin necessary to make him the first non-presidential executive branch official since Ulysses Grant's corrupt Secretary of War William Belknap to be removed from his position by Congress."
Trump Irritated with Lawyer He Threw under the Bus. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump lashed out at his former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen on Wednesday for releasing a recorded conversation between the two, asking on Twitter 'what kind of lawyer would tape a client?' Trump's comments came the morning after Lanny Davis, a lawyer for Cohen, released a recording of a September 2016 phone call between Trump and Cohen that makes it appear Trump was familiar with a deal that Playboy model Karen McDougal made to sell the rights to her story of an alleged affair with him. 'So sad! Is this a first, never heard of it before?' Trump wrote, adding: 'I hear there are other clients and many reporters that are taped - can this be so? Too bad!' Trump also expressed concern that the recording had been terminated 'while I was presumably saying positive things.' He did not elaborate." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Philip Bump of the Washington Post on what the tape suggests or reveals: "1. This was a conversation about the campaign.... It reinforces ... that Cohen and Trump were talking about payments aimed at burying negative stories as part of their conversations about aiding the campaign. 2. Cohen appears to be an agent of the campaign.... In February, former general counsel for the Federal Election Commission Lawrence Noble told The Washington Post that such a payment from an agent of the campaign is illegal. 3. How and when Cohen and AMI spoke about the MacDougal payment becomes even more interesting.... 4. Was Trump's impulse to pay in cash?" It's not completely clear on the tape, but if so, the intention is obvious. (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: One thing that pissed me off occurs early in the tape. Trump is talking to an unidentified woman in his office. The nature of their discussion suggests she is a campaign employee & not a family member. He calls the woman "babe." Unless that's the employee's name, it's an insulting diminutive. Update: BUT see Nisky Guy's comment in yesterday's thread. He thinks the woman Trump was talking to could have been Ivanka Trump, who campaigned in Charlotte, N.C. -- the city being discussed on the tape -- later in 2016. ...
... Mike Allen of Axios: "Lanny Davis -- a lawyer for Michael Cohen ... -- tells me that, following last night's release of a secret Trump-Cohen recording, we'll soon learn more 'about what Michael Cohen saw and heard.'... Davis said that the tape's release sends the message: 'I am no longer the previous Michael Cohen that you knew -- taking a bullet for Donald Trump, saying anything to defend him, being a good soldier. ... That is over.'... 'Who talks about cash like that besides drug dealers and mobsters?' [Davis said.]" (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... David Corn of Mother Jones: "With Cohen blowing the whistle, Mueller and other prosecutors will end up with a symphony of leads. After all, he likely has inside information on each of the three rings of the Trump scandal circus: the Russia affair, the business affairs, the affairs affair.... This ex-consigliere poses a triple threat to the godfather he once ruthlessly served." Corn goes on to make his case. ...
... Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "The government has seized more than 100 recordings that Cohen made of his conversations with people discussing matters that could relate to Trump and his businesses and with Trump himself talking, according to two people familiar with the recordings. Cohen appeared to make some recordings with an iPhone -- without telling anyone he was taping them. A significant portion of the recordings is Cohen surreptitiously recording reporters who met with or questioned Cohen about Trump during the campaign and after Trump's election, the people said. Trump's voice is on several of the recordings, but only in snippets.... The only recording in which Trump and Cohen have a substantive conversation is the one that [Cohen's lawyer Lanny] Davis released Tuesday, according to these people."
Glenn Kessler & Meg Kelly of the Washington Post: "... there have been a number of instances in which the president or his surrogates have flatly denied something -- only to have that denial contradicted weeks or months later by new documents or statements.... Here's a sampling of White House denials that eventually unraveled after new information was disclosed. Strikingly, these examples often involve situations that might place the president in legal jeopardy.... Trump knew nothing about Daniels, McDougal or payoffs. [The tape released this week shows that] not only was Trump aware of the payment by AMI [to McDougal], he even knew the figure.... In May, Trump attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani admitted that Trump had reimbursed Cohen for the payout to Daniels.... Trump had no role in Trump Jr.'s statement on Russia meeting.... In January, Trump's lawyers admitted in a memo to special counsel Mueller that Trump himself had dictated the statement issued by his son, a disclosure apparently forced because of documents obtained by Mueller's office.... Michael Flynn did not discuss sanctions with the Russians.... But when Flynn pleaded guilty to misleading the FBI in December, the criminal information made it clear that other Trump transition team members were involved in the discussion about what to tell the Russians about the sanctions.... Trump did not give classified information to Russia.... the next morning, Trump tweeted that he had an 'absolute right' to disclose such information to the Russians."
Max Boot of the Washington Post: Donald Trump says there's "no collusion" & Paul Ryan "insists 'there's no evidence of collusion.'... While there is not yet proof of collusion..., there is copious evidence of it.... In Helsinki..., Vladimir Putin admitted he wanted Trump to win -- something Trump continues to deny to this day.... The Moscow Project of the Center for American Progress reports, there were 82 known 'contacts between the Trump team and Russia-linked operatives.' 'None of these contacts were ever reported to the proper authorities,' according to the project. Team Trump tried to conceal all of them.... Mueller's recent indictment of 12 Russian military intelligence officers ... notes that the Russians first tried to hack into Clinton's email on July 27, 2016, hours after Trump asked them to do just that.... The Russians stole ... the data analytics Democrats used to run their campaign.... A few weeks later, the Trump campaign shifted its 'datadriven' strategy to focus on the states that would provide the margin of victory.... Trump certainly gives the impression that he knows how much he owes Russia and how important it is to repay that debt lest Putin release the evidence that might bring him down."
Lachlan Markay of the Daily Beast: "A mysterious company that made a huge contribution to a pro-Trump political group this year is run by two Soviet-born businessmen, one of whom was feted at a donor retreat at Mar-a-Lago in March. Global Energy Producers LLC donated $325,000 to America First Action, a pro-Trump super PAC, in May, according to the group's most recent filing with the Federal Election Commission.... Igor Fruman ... was born in Belarus and lived for years in Ukraine before immigrating to Miami. He maintains extensive business operations in Ukraine.... Lev Parnas ... runs a company called FraudGuarantee, which also goes by Strategic Global Assets, that says it has operations in New York, Florida, North Carolina, California, Russia, India, and the U.K.... In 2015, a federal judge ordered Parnas to repay more than $500,000 to a friend who loaned Parnas money to invest in a film project four years earlier.... Parnas never repaid the money, according to recent court filings in Florida, and the investor is currently seeking redress in a court in Florida.... In the meantime, Parnas has also been sued by his landlord, who is seeking to evict him and his wife and children over $11,000 in unpaid rent. Despite those outstanding debts, Parnas now appears to be involved with a financial venture that is pouring huge sums into political campaigns." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: It isn't clear from Markay's account whether or not either Fruman (sometimes Furman) or Parnas is a U.S. citizen. You know who backs Democratic candidates? Mostly people like you and me, who want good government & don't run any shady businesses. Is this even a fair fight?
Derek Myers of the Fayette [County, Ohio,] Advocate: "... the Advocate has obtained emails from a whistleblower from inside the Columbus[, Ohio,] Police Department that outline the arrest of Stormy Daniels earlier this month may have been pre-planned days before she ever arrived in town. Columbus Police arrested the adult entertainer -- who claims to have had an affair with ... Donald Trump in 2006 -- on July 12.... Within hours of her arrest, Daniels' personal attorney Michael Avenatti called it a political hit-job and vowed to investigate.... Inside the emails are news clippings discussing Daniels' planned appearance in Columbus, pictures of Daniels with ... Donald Trump, videos of her dancing, and even a map to the club where she would be performing, all sent days before she would pull into town...."
Vernon Silver of Bloomberg: "... Vladimir Putin's gift of a soccer ball to ... Donald Trump last week set off a chorus of warnings -- some of them only half in jest -- that the World Cup souvenir could be bugged. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham even tweeted, 'I’d check the soccer ball for listening devices and never allow it in the White House.' It turns out they weren't entirely wrong. Markings on the ball indicate that it contained a chip with a tiny antenna that transmits to nearby phones. But rather than a spy device, the chip is an advertised feature of the Adidas AG ball.... 'The security screening process that is done for all gifts was done for the soccer ball,' White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in an email. 'We are not going to comment further on security procedures.'" Mrs. McC: She isn't a very fun person, is she?
Michael Isikoff of Yahoo! News: "Amid mounting warnings about another Russian cyberattack on the 2018 midterm elections, President Trump’s former homeland security adviser said a recent staff shakeup ordered by national security adviser John Bolton has left the White House with nobody in charge of U.S. cyber policy.... 'On cyber, there is no clear person and or clear driver, and there is no clear muscle memory,' said Tom Bossert, who served as White House homeland security adviser until last April, in an interview with the Yahoo News podcast Skullduggery." ...
... Yes But. Philip Rucker & Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "President Trump will convene a meeting Friday of the National Security Council on election security, a session that could include a discussion of possible Russian interference in November's midterm elections, according to a White House official. In addition, national security adviser John Bolton plans to hold two NSC Principals Committee meetings this week, one Thursday on Iran and one Friday on North Korea, according to the White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal plans.... Trump is expected to be confronted with the government's latest intelligence regarding election threats, including from Russia. It was unclear what Friday's agenda entailed, but it would be striking to convene a meeting on election security without delving into the Russian threat -- especially as the president is under scrutiny for his war overtures to Putin." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Actually, Friday's agenda is limited to reports & analyses of hacker threats 1. Angela Merkel (she's a girl scientist!); 2. Steve Bannon; 3. 400-pound New Jersey man.
Ted Hesson, et al., of Politico: "Homeland Security officials may have neglected to give a choice to as many as three-quarters of all migrant parents removed from the United States about leaving their children behind, contradicting repeated public assurances from Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.... 'All of these adults who left without their kids left based on a decision to leave their children,' Nielsen said July 19 at a national security forum. 'The parents always have the choice to take the children with them,' Nielsen repeated to Fox News on Tuesday.... "If any parent has been deported ... without their child," HHS Secretary Alex Azar said July 5, "that likely would be a scenario where the parent had actually asked that the child remain.'... The Trump administration failed to document consent in most such cases, an administration official told Politico. That lapse increased the number of departed parents whom officials must now find and contact about whether they wish to be reunited with their children, and, if so, figure out the logistics of how to bring them together. The revelation threatens to delay reunifications and renews questions about the administration's original intent one day ahead of a court-ordered deadline to return most migrant children to their parents. That migrant parents gave consent to leave their children behind has been a key talking point for Trump administration officials defending the deportations." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: We should not be surprised that kidnappers are also liars.
Thanks, Betsy! Erica Green of the New York Times: "Education Secretary Betsy DeVos proposed on Wednesday to curtail Obama administration loan forgiveness rules for students defrauded by for-profit colleges, requiring that student borrowers show they have fallen into hopeless financial straits or prove that their colleges knowingly deceived them. The DeVos proposal, set to go in force a year from now, would replace Obama-era policies that sought to ease access to loan forgiveness for students who were left saddled with debt after two for-profit college chains, Corinthian Colleges and ITT Technical Institute, imploded in 2015 and 2016. The schools were found to have misled their students with false advertisements and misleading claims for years.... In June 2017, just one month before the Obama rules were to take effect, Ms. DeVos announced that she would block and rewrite them.... Advocates for student borrowers said ... the new rules would establish insurmountable barriers to relief for many vulnerable students, and would eliminate accountability for institutions that employ predatory tactics in recruitment and advertising...."
** "Unequal Justice." Wesley Lowery, et al., of the Washington Post: "In the past decade, police in 52 of the nation's largest cities have failed to make an arrest in nearly 26,000 killings, according to a Washington Post analysis of homicide arrest data. In more than 18,600 of those cases, the victim ... was black. Black victims, who accounted for the majority of homicides, were the least likely of any racial group to have their killings result in an arrest, The Post found. While police arrested someone in 63 percent of the killings of white victims, they did so in just 47 percent of those with black victims. The failure to solve black homicides fuels a vicious cycle: It deepens distrust of police among black residents, making them less likely to cooperate in investigations, leading to fewer arrests. As a result, criminals are emboldened and residents' fears are compounded. In almost every city surveyed, arrests were made in killings of black victims at lower rates than homicides involving white victims.... No major U.S. city had a wider gap in arrest rates for white and black victims than Boston...."
Beyond the Beltway
Georgia Gubernatorial Race. Mrs. McCrabbie: Reporters are giving Trump's endorsement credit for giving Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp the edge in Tuesday's run-off election for the state's Republican nomination for governor. But Benjamin Wallace-Wells of the New Yorker puts the win down to a secret recording an also-ran GOP gubernatorial candidate made of Kemp's run-off opponent Casey Cagle speaking frankly about "the reptilian maneuvers of Republicans in the Trump era.... After the recordings became public, polls suggested that Cagle's lead was shrinking.... It has been a long time since Republican primaries felt like clashes of principle. President Trump dominates G.O.P. politics, and his party does not feature pro- and anti-Trump factions so much as a knot of midcareer calculation and opportunism."
Greg Bluestein of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "The Georgia lawmaker who exposed himself and yelled racial slurs during an episode of Sacha Baron Cohen’s Showtime series is resigning his seat in the state Legislature, according to House Speaker David Ralston's office. State Rep. Jason Spencer faced increasing pressure to step down shortly after the episode of 'Who is America?' aired Sunday night, and some politicians were urging a special session to oust him if he refused. He will step down at the end of the month, Ralston spokesman Kaleb McMichen said late Tuesday." (Also linked yesterday.)
News Lede
New York Times: "The long, discouraging quest for a medication that works to treat Alzheimer's reached a potentially promising milestone on Wednesday. For the first time in a large clinical trial, a drug was able to both reduce the plaques in the brains of patients and slow the progression of dementia. More extensive trials will be needed to know if the new drug is truly effective, but if the results, presented Wednesday at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Chicago, are borne out, the drug may be the first to successfully attack both the brain changes and the symptoms of Alzheimer's."
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Reader Comments (13)
The members of the press who showed up at the Rose Garden announcement should be ashamed and pilloried. A credentialed White House reporter, a pool reporter, is barred from an open press event for asking the wrong questions. Press must push back - or there will be no one when they come for you.
CNN (Jake Tapper) stood up for Fox under Obama, and when Fox was barred from an event, WHPC threatened to boycott that event. Too little, too late for Fox to put out some milquetoast response after the fact.
@Gloria: Wouldn't it have been great if NO press had showed up at the Rose Garden event? No pictures, no reports, no nuthin'. Total blackout. It would have humiliated Donald in front of the E.U. commissioner. That might have been the last time TrumpShineSanders pulled rank on a reporter for asking topical questions. But our press, even tho some are union members, don't seem to know how to unite for their own good -- and for the public's good.
Mrs. McC, that's exactly what I was thinking - should have been a boycott, or in this case, a babycott. Any parent knows, never reward bad behaviour.
Gloria,
Trumpy’s bad behavior has always been rewarded. Unfortunately for us and the free world. The dictators, however, love him. He’s their useful idiot.
Another thought about that $12 billion bailout/handout to farmers...
Why is it just the farmers who are getting paid off? Surely workers in other industries are suffering from Trump’s EZ to Win trade wars. Why no taxpayer bailout for them? Are farmers the only group that’s “too big to fail” (along with Wall St. billionaires)?
I’ve heard one interesting possibility that sounds entirely plausible. The payoff is hush money to keep farmers and their allies (a substantial pro-Trump voting bloc) from grousing until the midterms are over. It is, in effect, an attempt to buy their continued loyalty and ensure that they vote Party of Traitors in November. It’s unlikely they would, as a group, desert the little king, but there’s no sense leaving things to chance. Remember, everything Trump does benefits him in some way. He’s never going to make the cover of Altruism Monthly.
Corrupt, like you read about. And this time he didn’t need Mike Cohen to dish out the payoff money. He’s having the taxpayers foot the bill.
Now whether or not there’ll be enough to buy their silence after his pals take their cut remains to be seen, but for now it seems that farmers are okay with mooching, despite what they say. After all, if they really didn’t want help from the hated guv’mint, they could suck it up and decline the offer. But I’m betting at least some of them will be happy to cash their big government check. Hey, them damn nigras and murderin’ Mexicans get everything handed to them. Why shouldn’t decent white people get taken care of for a change.
Doncha just love the image of the little dictator blowing his top at aides for letting Melanie watch CNN?
I watched the whole of the Senate Foreign Relations hearing with Mike Pompeo in the hot seat. The guy is good and is almost convincing that his boss hasn't lost his marbles. He reminded me of the father who is trying to convince the football coach who just kicked the guy's son off the team for skimping practice, bad attitude, and bad performance. "But, coach,believe me, the kid is motivated, his heart is in the right place ...blah, blah...In essence what big Mike was asking us was not to pay attention to Donald's ducky-ness–-pay attention to the actual polices (and those, according to Mike, are hunky dory). At times Pompeo's arrogance came through and his confrontational exchange with Bob Menendez was worth its weight in, if not gold, something close to it. And I loved Bob Corker's (who was co-chairing with Menendez) hearing opening: Telling big Mike how concerned the congress is about the antics and chaos this president is displaying–-in other words, Trump is bat shit crazy and we have a big problem with that.
An Oldie but Goodie:
Back in 2014, Trump tweeted this:
"The way President Obama runs down the stairs of Air Fore 1, hoping [sic], bobing[sic] and jumping all the way is so inelegant and so unpresidential."
There are no words.
@PD Pepe: I listened to parts of the hearing & what I found most impressive in Pompeo's delivery was the way he repeatedly gave his boss credit for initiatives that others -- Congress, the administration, or he himself -- had actually taken. Why, to hear Pompeo, you might think "no President has been tougher on Russia than" Trump.
Pompeo clearly was performing for an audience of one. I'm not sure if he was just sucking up or if he also was attempting to inform Trump on what "Trump" had done; that is, what the administration's policy is, no matter what Trump says.
As is too often the case with these clowns, I'm not sure whether I'm grateful when some administration representative, in this case Pompeo, performs well.
It's a rare comfort to know they are not all nuts and/or stupid, even when I find their politics disagreeable (Pompeo again), because it provides some hope we might survive the Pretender's reign, but at the same time I hate to see any display of competence, regardless of its source, propping up such an obviously disastrous regime. Something so rotten should have the grace to simply collapse our of embarrassment.
About Pompeo specifically (with a clear window into my own psychology...): Smart as he is, there is something fundamentally wrong with anyone who continually sucks up to his inferiors in such an obvious way, and Pompeo has been acting the Pretender's toady since the beginning of the Pretender era.
He's disgusting.
I've always thought of Thomas Frank's "What's the Matter with Kansas?" as a sort of warning siren about how crony governance can run its own constituency into a self-defeating frenzy. I never looked at it through the conservative lens as a new Tome of Perpetual Governance.
The newest GOP tax cut is a monsoon for the rich in this country, while the "middle class" and others hardly feel a trickle. Lyin' Paul Ryan accidentally spoke the truth once when referencing the great benefits his life's work would bring the masses of America: a year's subscription to f*king Sam's Club.
Given a few more years, this abominable tax cut will hastily drain the government of much-needed resources, while skyrocketing salaries vacuum up any significant economic growth.
The disasterous Brownback model has gone national and the first results are mirror images.
Couldn't Make This Up Dept.
One of those two Russians who have been donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to a Trump PAC (see link above) runs a company called--and I am not even kidding--Fraud Guarantee. How perfect is it that a guy who runs a company with "fraud" in its name supports the most fraudulent con man in presidential history.
And not for nothin' but when you look at who else is on the list of big donors to this particular Trump piggy bank, it's a collection of crooks, creeps, and shady Russians, including Vegas mogul Steve Wynn who was kicked out of his own company for a long list of sexual assault and abuse going back decades, as well as Murray Energy, a coal industry giant with a lengthy history of safety violations that have led to serious injury and death for its employees. Then the two Russians who guarantee fraud.
As Marie says, Democrats are supported mostly by those who are looking for good government. Wingers like Trump are supported by characters out of the Godfather, porn movies, and John le Carré novels.
I must mention that, while he MIGHT be smart, Pompouspeo is so arrogant I could hardly listen to him without lobbing grapefruits at the flatscreen. He shut down Jeanne Shaheen (she's just a girl, anyhow--)and his exchange with Menendez was nothing short of a temper tantrum directed at anyone questioning the puppet regime. "Brave" Corker (raspberries all around--)sounded like he was reading something he just wrote on his piece of paper, and forget Flake... At no time did the Blovasaurus of State actually admit he either DID or DID NOT have any idea what went on when Trump sat (awkwardly, as usual--)with Vlad, and I remain convinced that no one knows except the Russians, not even Dolt45, since he hasn't a clue what comes out of his fat face. These people are sick puppies. There is not a redeeming value among the entire lot of them. Not one.
A friend just sent me this:
"It’s just hit me: I finally understand what Giuliani is doing. It’s brilliant really — a cunning ploy. Rudy is setting it up so that, if Le Donald ever is convicted of anything, he will instantly have an appeal on the grounds of — Incompetent Council...
Who could argue with that?
Judge: “Who’s defendant’s council?”
Respondent: “Rudy Giuliani.”
Judge: “Oh. Crap. That’s a gimme. Motion granted”
Or maybe Rudy will bring the appeal himself. Could be a first in the history of jurisprudence — a lawyer seeking an appeal based on his own incompetence. This would dovetail nicely with Donald’s fondness for convoluted multiple negations."
and this: "... Mrs. McCrabbie: It would appear Trump & Co. don't know anybody who isn't as skeezy & sleazy as they are, AND they think these lowlifes deserve prestigious jobs. Birds of a feather."
It's so crazy, it's hilarious! One does have to laugh at the antics of this mishmash nightmare of an administration––-but I'm crossing my fingers that those soybean farmers and agricultural lovers of Trump's Make America Great Again scam will start to smell the stink that is emanating from that broken promise.