;)
Monday
Jun112018
The Commentariat -- June 12, 2018
Dylan Scott, et al., of Vox: "Voters in Virginia, Nevada, Maine, North Dakota, and South Carolina head to the polls Tuesday for important 2018 primary elections. Nevada Democrats will formally pick their candidate in their bid to unseat Sen. Dean Heller. In Virginia, at least four House Republican incumbents should be vulnerable in November. Maine presents one of Democrats' best chances to retake a governor's mansion as they seek to rebuild the state-level control they lost under President Obama -- and the state will be piloting a fancy new ranked-voting system, the first of its kind in the United States. Here is every June 12 primary election you need to know about, briefly explained."
*****
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
George Stephanopoulos interviews Trump, post-Singapore meetings. Mrs. McC: I would just assume everything coming out of Trump's mouth is somewhere between a lie & pie-in-the-sky:
... The transcript of the interview is here. ...
... Steve M.: "Barack Obama pursued deals with Cuba and Iran, but he never gushed over the leadership of either country, even though the right's caricature of him was that he was pro-terrorist and a big ol' commie. Imagine Obam talking about the Iranian or Cuban leadership the way President Trump talked about Kim Jong-un in his post-summit interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos[.]... Trump is rolling over on his back and asking Kim to give him a belly rub. And the deplorables don't care. Trump doesn't have to be tough on North Korea's dictator because the deplorables see this summit as an attack on the real enemy -- us.... Yes, summit skeptics are communist. The EU is communist. Kim Jong-un? Not communist, apparently. Liberals, Democrats, "RINOs," the mainstream media -- we are the right's real enemy. We always have been." ...
... Here's the full text of the Trump-Kim statement, via CNN. ...
... Nicholas Kristof: "It sure looks as if President Trump was hoodwinked in Singapore. Trump made a huge concession -- the suspension of military exercises with South Korea. That's on top of the broader concession of the summit meeting itself, security guarantees he gave North Korea and the legitimacy that the summit provides his counterpart, Kim Jong-un. Within North Korea, the 'very special bond' that Trump claimed to have formed with Kim will be portrayed this way: Kim forced the American president, through his nuclear and missile tests, to accept North Korea as a nuclear equal, to provide security guarantees to North Korea, and to cancel war games with South Korea that the North has protested for decades. In exchange for these concessions, Trump seems to have won astonishingly little.... The most remarkable aspect of the joint statement was what it didn't contain.... Kim seems to have completely out-negotiated Trump, and it's scary that Trump doesn't seem to realize this. For now Trump has much less to show than past negotiators who hammered out deals with North Korea like the 1994 Agreed Framework, which completely froze the country's plutonium program with a rigorous monitoring system.... Trump didn't achieve anything remotely as good as the Iran nuclear deal...." ...
... "Great Negotiator" Gives Away Store. Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "President Trump's pledge on Tuesday to cancel military exercises on the Korean Peninsula surprised not only allies in South Korea but also the Pentagon. Hours after Mr. Trump's announcement in Singapore, American troops in Seoul said they are still moving ahead with a military exercise this fall -- Ulchi Freedom Guardian -- until they receive guidance otherwise from the chain of command. Lt. Col. Jennifer Lovett, a United States military spokeswoman in South Korea, said in an email that the American command there 'has received no updated guidance on execution or cessation of training exercises -- to include this fall's schedule Ulchi Freedom Guardian.' 'We will continue with our current military posture until we receive updated guidance from the Department of Defense,' she added.'" ...
... There Was This. Lisa Rein & John Hudson of the Washington Post: "... nestled in the [joint statement] was a short bullet point that addresses a long-running concern of U.S. veterans groups: the recovery of the remains of thousands of American troops who were killed or captured in North Korea during the Korean War. On Tuesday, the two countries agreed to 'commit' to recovering the remains of fallen troops, 'including the immediate repatriation of those already identified,' according to the document. The statement represents a significant victory for veterans groups that lobbied forcefully behind the scenes for a renewed effort to recover remains in an environment where many non-nuclear issues, including human rights and the return of Japanese abductees, were left unaddressed in the joint statement.... The remains of 5,300 American forces who were killed or captured in North Korea during the war remain unaccounted for north of the demilitarized zone, resting in cemeteries, former labor camps and battle sites." Mrs. McC: I guess it depends upon what the meaning of "commit" is.
Philip Rucker & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post can barely mask their disgust: "President Trump shook his hand for 13 long seconds, patted him on the back and led him down a rich red carpet. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may be considered the world's greatest human rights abuser and a totalitarian collector of nuclear weapons, but as they met for the first time here Tuesday, Trump declared himself honored.... The extraordinary tableau was a stark contrast to what had transpired three days earlier and half a world away in Canada, where an embittered Trump sat sternly, his arms crossed and his face impassive, as the leaders of America's oldest Western allies pleaded with him not to rupture the established world order with his retaliatory trade policies.... By simply jetting here for the summit, Trump effectively threw a coming-out party for Kim and afforded his rogue state the international prestige it has long sought.... Trump began the historic day on a sour note, tweeting in grievance before dawn here about 'haters & losers' who question his accomplishment in getting this far." ...
... Mrs. McC: This may be a "historic day" for North Korea, but it's another normal day for the U.S. in the Age of Trump: somewhere between disastrous & inconsequential, full of sound and bluster, signifying nothing. ...
... Digby, in Salon: "I have written before that any day we are not in a nuclear crisis with North Korea is better than the alternative. In that regard, the Singapore summit was a success. But after Trump's aggression against U.S. allies at the G7 in Quebec and then, in his own words, the 'bond' he formed with the North Korean dictator just days later, nobody should be reassured. It looks as though the more consequential of the two big meetings was the first one...."
Daniel Dale of the Toronto Star: "Escalating his attack on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau..., Donald Trump is now pledging to punish 'the people of Canada' economically because of the post-G7 news conference in which Trudeau criticized Trump's tariffs. 'That's going to cost a lot of money for the people of Canada. He learned. You can't do that. You can't do that,' Trump said Tuesday.... Trump repeated the vague threat in an interview with ABC.... It is not clear why Trump has reacted to Trudeau's post-G7 news conference with such anger. There, Trudeau expressed the same polite criticism of the steel and aluminum tariffs, and same promise to stand up for Canadians, he had been expressing for a full week.... Trump claimed, without any basis, that Trudeau made his comments because he thought Trump could not watch them while flying to Singapore."
Emoluments! Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Monday sharply criticized the Justice Department's argument that President Trump's financial interest in his company's hotel in downtown Washington is constitutional, a fresh sign that the judge may soon rule against the president in a historic case that could head to the Supreme Court. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit, the District of Columbia and the state of Maryland, charge that Mr. Trump's profits from the hotel violate anti-corruption clauses of the Constitution.... The judge, Peter J. Messitte of the United States District Court in Maryland, promised to decide by the end of July whether to allow the plaintiffs to proceed to the next stage, in which they could demand financial records from the hotel or other evidence from the president. The case takes aim at whether Mr. Trump violated the Constitution's emoluments clauses, which prevent a president from accepting government-bestowed benefits.... Until now, the issue of what constitutes an illegal emolument has never been litigated." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Because until now, we've never lived under a pure kleptocracy.
Your Tax Dollars at Work. Amy Taxin of the AP: "The U.S. government agency that oversees immigration applications is launching an office that will focus on identifying Americans who are suspected of cheating to get their citizenship and seek to strip them of it. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director L. Francis Cissna told The Associated Press in an interview that his agency is hiring several dozen lawyers and immigration officers to review cases of immigrants who were ordered deported and are suspected of using fake identities to later get green cards and citizenship through naturalization." Mrs. McC: Francis there should start with Trump's mother & grandfather, & deport Trump.
*****
"Mr. Kim: Build Those Beach Condos." Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "In off-hand remarks delivered to a press conference in Singapore on Tuesday, Mr Trump said North Korea had great potential for condos and hotels. He also said that from watching coverage of North Korean military drills, it appeared the country boasted 'great' beaches. 'Instead of [testing missiles] you could have the best hotels in the world right there,' Trump said he told Kim. 'Think of it from a real estate perspective. You have South Korea, you have China and they own the land in the middle.'"
Trump Thinks He Did Something. David Nakamura, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump said he 'developed a very special bond' with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during their historic summit here Tuesday and proclaimed the start of a new era that could break a cycle of nuclear brinkmanship and stave off a military confrontation. 'Yesterday's conflict does not have to be tomorrow's war,' Trump said at a news conference in Singapore following more than four hours of talks with Kim. Trump said Kim 'reaffirmed' his commitment to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and also agreed to destroy a missile site in the country. 'We're ready to write a new chapter between our nations,' the president said. Trump sounded triumphant following his meeting with Kim, expressing confidence that the North Korean leader was serious about abandoning his nuclear program and transforming his country from an isolated rogue regime into a respected member of the world community.... At his news conference, Trump called Kim, an absolute ruler accused of massive human rights violations, a transformational leader for his country."
Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Trump held his first real press conference in more than a year. He said the U.S. agreed to stop its joint military exercises with South Korea (which he called "war games"). Could be Trump is actually stabbing allies S.K. President Moon Jae-in & Japanese P.M. Shinzo Abe in the the backs. Update: I was right. According to the WashPo report linked above, "South Korea's presidential office seemed blindsided by the announcement on the joint exercises." ...
... Richard Haas called this "a very Trumpian summit": all personal & aspirational except that Trump got to reduce the U.S.'s military footprint abroad. I'll get a report up when one becomes available. Victor Cha: The word "verify" doesn't appear in the "statement"; neither is there anything about a timetable. "Kim got a lot more out of this meeting than Trump." Update: Here's a start re: the presser:
... Zeke Miller, et al., of the AP: "... Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un concluded an extraordinary nuclear summit Tuesday with the U.S. president pledging unspecified 'security guarantees' to the North and Kim recommitting to the 'complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.'... Trump and Kim came together for a summit that seemed unthinkable months ago, clasping hands in front of a row of alternating U.S. and North Korean flags, holding a one-on-one meeting, additional talks with advisers and a working lunch. Both leaders expressed optimism throughout roughly five hours of talks, with Trump thanking Kim afterward 'for taking the first bold step toward a bright new future for his people.' Trump added during a free-flowing news conference that Kim has before him 'an opportunity like no other' to bring his country back into the community of nations if he agrees to give up his nuclear program. Trump announced that he will be freezing U.S. military 'war games' with its ally South Korea while negotiations between the two countries continue. Trump cast the decision as a cost-saving measure, but North Korea has long objected to the drills as a security threat." ...
... "Floppier than Expected." Joshua Keating of Slate: "The agreement signed in Singapore on Tuesday by President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un does not include any specific commitments on denuclearization or mention of sanctions relief. The two leaders did not, as Trump had suggested they might, negotiate a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War. However, both probably more or less got what they wanted out of the meeting: a dramatic and historic photo-op. The joint statement notably did not feature the phrase 'complete, verifiable, irreversible, denuclearization' (or 'dismantlement'), which Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had previously suggested was non-negotiable. Instead, Kim vaguely committed to 'work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula' -- which he had already committed to at his meeting with President Moon Jae-in of South Korea in April. The agreement does not include any specific steps or benchmarks for that process, though according to Trump, Kim did agree to destroy a missile engine-testing site 'after the agreement was signed.'... Summing up the reactions of most North Korea watchers this morning, Andrei Lankov, director of the Korea Risk Group, wrote, 'We expected it would be a flop, but it's floppier than anything w expected. The declaration is pretty much meaningless. The Americans could have extracted serious concessions, but it was not done. The North Koreans will be emboldened and the U.S. got nothing.'" Keating also notes the surprise U.S. concession re: military exercises with South Korea.
New York Times reporters are live-updating the Singapore summit. Lede at 1 am ET: "President Trump and Kim Jong-un of North Korea held the first-ever meeting between leaders of their two countries on Tuesday morning in Singapore, getting together initially without any aides as they tried to end seven decades of hostility and the threat of a nuclear confrontation." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump said their meeting was "fantastic" & it was "a great honor to be with" Kim & that they were going to a "signing" of ... something. ...
... Update: The "something" Trump & Kim signed was a joint statement, the text of which Trump did not release, which is odd. (The purpose of a "statement" is to, um, say something.) According to the NYT, "In the joint statement, Mr. Trump 'committed to provide security guarantees' to North Korea. Mr. Kim 'reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.' But the statement was short on details and did not lay out potential next steps or a timetable. The joint statement was not immediately released to reporters, but it was legible in a photo of Mr. Trump holding it up at the ceremony. The statement said the two nations would hold 'follow-on negotiations' led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a high-level North Korean official 'at the earliest possible date, to implement the outcomes' of the summit meeting. The statement also said the two nations would 'join their efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime' on the divided Korean Peninsula, meaning talks to reduce military tensions that could eventually lead to a formal peace treaty to end the Korean War." ...
... Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Trump concluded a historic meeting with North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, on Tuesday, saying that denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula would begin 'very quickly.' In a televised ceremony held in Singapore, the two leaders signed a joint statement that Mr. Trump called 'comprehensive.' In the statement, Mr. Trump 'committed to provide security guarantees' to North Korea, and Mr. Kim 'reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Um, I thought Trump was supposed to produce something better than the Iran nuclear deal. By that standard, the Singapore statement is a big zero or less: a concession to N.K. with nothing in return. "The Art of the Deal" is apparently nothing but an unreality show.
... S.V. Date of the Huffington Post: "The first-ever North Korea-United States summit will start with a one-on-one meeting between a brutal dictator known for breaking his word and a president famous for his daily dishonesties. With two unreliable narrators in Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump, how will Americans know what they actually said and agreed to with each other? 'We won't,' said Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. 'The whole Trump team has been an unreliable narrator throughout this process. It's like "Rashomon," but really stupid.'" ...
... Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "When Trump meets Kim Jong Un in Singapore on Tuesday, he will be sitting down with the leader of one of the most brutal and repressive regimes in modern history -- a country that has committed 'unspeakable atrocities' on a vast scale in a manner reminiscent of Nazi Germany, according to a 2014 United Nations investigation. But two administration officials tell NBC News the U.S. has decided not to bring up human rights at the summit. And Trump has made clear he would be willing to offer security guarantees and financial aid to Kim if he gives up his nuclear arsenal."
... Another Summit Where Trump Expects to Be the Big Loser. Eric Levitz of New York: "Donald Trump has decided to leave his historic summit with Kim Jong-un 15 hours earlier than expected, flying back to Washington on Tuesday night instead of Wednesday morning. The White House says that this change of plans is a product of talks moving more quickly than expected. But there's reason to suspect that it is because they are barely moving at all. On Monday evening in Singapore, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters that complete denuclearization 'is the only outcome that the United States will accept' from Pyongyang, and that the latter will enjoy no economic relief until it has met that demand. By contrast, Pompeo did suggest that the U.S. was prepared to make unspecified concessions to North Korean security concerns before the total dismantling of its nuclear program was achieved.... The summit will open at 9 a.m. Tuesday in Singapore (which is 9 p.m. tonight in Washington) with Kim and Trump shaking hands and taking a walk in the view of the media, according to an official who spoke with Bloomberg News. The two leaders will then meet one on one (with only translators listening in), before being joined by their top aides. Among those flanking Trump will be Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton, whose belligerent rhetoric toward North Korea briefly derailed the summit last month." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Greg Sargent: Trump's behavior at & after the G-6+1 summit "was about salvaging a bit of face for Trump, and about laying the groundwork for a further escalation of Trump's trade war. And if that trade war does escalate, it is likely to cost many more U.S. jobs than it saves. Trump's conduct this weekend was rooted in fabrications, and nothing whatsoever about it was pro-worker." See also Akhilleus's commentary on this in today's thread. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Jeet Heer of the New Republic: "Donald Trump unifies the nation (Canada, that is).... As reporter Paul Wells of Maclean's magazine notes, every major political party in Canada from the social democratic New Democratic Party to the pro-business Conservatives agrees with Trudeau's stance on trade with the United States[.]" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Chuck Todd, et al., of NBC News: "Remember when Republican leaders and prominent GOP politicians criticized an American president for alienating global allies? We sure do -- during the Obama years.... But after a weekend when President Trump called Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 'very dishonest and weak,' after he refused to sign the joint communique from the G-7 summit, and after a top Trump aide said 'there's a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door' -- those same Republican leaders have been silent. (What did Trudeau do, by the way, to earn that condemnation from Team Trump? He said that Canada would respond with reciprocal tariffs on the U.S. tariffs the Trump administration imposed on Canada -- nothing he and his government haven't said before, including on 'Meet the Press' a week ago.)... And there's only one explanation for that Republican silence: Trump has bullied the entire party into submission.... Foreign-policy expert Richard Haass says that Kim Jong Un has all of the leverage heading into the Singapore summit with Trump, because the U.S. president can't afford to be seen as blowing up two back-to-back summits." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Jim Tankersley & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Larry Kudlow, President Trump's top economic adviser, suffered a heart attack on Monday evening and was at Walter Reed Medical Center, Mr. Trump said in a tweet.... The White House issued a statement late Monday evening saying that Mr. Kudlow had a 'very mild heart attack.'"
Peter Stone & Greg Gordon of McClatchy News: "Several prominent Russians, some in President Vladimir Putin's inner circle or high in the Russian Orthodox Church, now have been identified as having contact with National Rifle Association officials during the 2016 U.S. election campaign, according to photographs and an NRA source. The contacts have emerged amid a deepening Justice Department investigation into whether Russian banker and lifetime NRA member Alexander Torshin illegally channeled money through the gun rights group to add financial firepower to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential bid. Other influential Russians who met with NRA representatives during the campaign include Dmitry Rogozin, who until last month served as a deputy prime minister overseeing Russia's defense industry, and Sergei Rudov, head of one of Russia's largest philanthropies, the St. Basil the Great Charitable Foundation. The foundation was launched by an ultra-nationalist ally of Russian President Putin. The Russians talked and dined with NRA representatives, mainly in Moscow, as U.S. presidential candidates vied for the White House. Now U.S. investigators want to know if relationships between the Russian leaders and the nation's largest gun rights group went beyond vodka toasts and gun factory tours, evolving into another facet of the Kremlin's broad election-interference operation."
George Conway in Lawfare, writes a long rebuttal to the argument that the special counsel is unconstitutional. He concludes, "It isn't very surprising to see the president tweet a meritless legal position, because, as a non-lawyer, he wouldn't know the difference between a good one and a bad one.... But the 'constitutional' arguments made against the special counsel do not meet [a standard of being well-grounded in law & fact] and had little more rigor than the [Trump] tweet that promoted them. Such a lack of rigor, sadly, has been a disturbing trend in much of the politically charged public discourse about the law lately, and one that lawyers -- regardless of their politics -- owe a duty to abjure." Mrs. McC: If you think Conway's name sounds familiar, that's because he is the spouse of Mrs. Alternative Facts. Apparently, there's Alternative Law, too.
Trump v. the Law, Ctd. Jonathan Chait: "Anybody who had predicted when Trump took office that the president's lawyers would officially proclaim his right to start or stop any federal investigation would have been dismissed as a paranoid worrywart. Yet here we are. Trump's authoritarian doctrine has not been tested by the courts, and seems unlikely to prevail. Still, the fact that it has gotten as far as it has, without producing any serious blowback from his own party, is a measure of how far the peril has advanced. The rule of law in the United States is like a suspension bridge -- still upright, but with cables snapping, one by one."
Wherein Dana Milbank looks forward to a Very Trumpy G-8. Thanks to MAG for the link. Mrs. McC: Maybe it helps to laugh while Trump turns the country into an imitation North Korea.
Lisa France of CNN: Robert De Niro "ended up getting bleeped Sunday night at the Tony Awards when he dropped some f-bombs about ... Donald Trump while introducing a performance by Bruce Springsteen. 'First, I wanna say, "f**k Trump,'" De Niro said. 'It's no longer "Down with Trump," it's 'f**k Trump.'" The comments, which were not censored in the Australian telecast, earned De Niro a standing ovation from the crowd at New York's Radio City Music Hall...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Watch the standing O:
... Steve M.: "My initial reaction to [De Niro's declaration] was that it was adolescent and counterproductive[.]... But [then I read] Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic with some insight into this administration, which we're being asked to treat with respect[.]... If this is how the Trumpers talk and think, then fuck them. ...
... Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic: "Many of Donald Trump's critics find it difficult to ascribe to a president they consider to be both subliterate and historically insensate a foreign-policy doctrine that approaches coherence. A Trump Doctrine would require evidence of Trump Thought, and proof of such thinking, the argument goes, is scant.... Over the past couple of months, I've asked a number of people close to the president to provide me with short descriptions of what might constitute the Trump Doctrine.... The second-best self-description of the Trump Doctrine I heard was this, from a senior national-security official: 'Permanent destabilization creates American advantage.'... The best distillation of the Trump Doctrine I heard, though, came from a senior White House official with direct access to the president and his thinking.... 'The Trump Doctrine is "We're America, Bitch."'... What is mainly interesting about 'We're America, Bitch' is its delusional quality. Donald Trump is pursuing policies that undermine the Western alliance, empower Russia and China, and demoralize freedom-seeking people around the world. The United States could be made weaker -- perhaps permanently -- by the implementation of the Trump Doctrine."
The Quisling's Enablers. Paul Krugman: "This ... is ... about the people who are enabling [Trump's] betrayal of America: the inner circle of officials and media personalities who are willing to back him up whatever he says or does, and the wider set of politicians -- basically the entire Republican delegation in Congress -- who have the power and constitutional obligation to stop what he's doing, but won't lift a finger in America's defense.... Why are Republican politicians unwilling to discharge their constitutional responsibilities?... On one side, tax cuts for the rich have become the overriding priority for the modern G.O.P., and Trump is giving them that, so they're willing to let everything else slide. On the other side, the party's base really does love Trump, not for his policies, but for the performative cruelty he exhibits toward racial minorities and the way he sticks his thumb in the eyes of 'elites.'... The problem facing America runs much deeper than Trump's personal awfulness. One of our two major parties appears to be hopelessly, irredeemably corrupt. And unless that party not only loses this year's election but begins losing on a regular basis, America as we know it is finished."
Jesse Drucker & Agustin Armendariz of the New York Times: "Even after they ascended to top White House positions, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner continued to benefit from an extraordinary number of investment deals carried out by the companies they once ran, ethics filings released Monday evening showed. During their first year in government service, Ms. Trump and Mr. Kushner remained investors through various vehicles and trusts, which bought and sold as much as $147 million of real estate and other assets." ...
... Washington Post: "Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner ... brought in at least $82 million in outside income while they served as senior White House advisers last year, according to new financial disclosure forms released Monday afternoon.... The filings show how the couple is collecting immense sums from other enterprises while serving in the White House, an extraordinary income flow that ethics experts have warned could create potential conflicts of interests. This is a developing story. It will be updated." ..
... The story has been updated, with Amy Brittain at the top of the byline: "... while Kushner divested some holdings, he and his wife have maintained large stakes in businesses with domestic and foreign ties. Kushner's family real estate company has properties around the country, including thousands of apartment units in states including New Jersey and Maryland. Trump's eponymous clothing and accessories line is produced exclusively in foreign factories in countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia and China."
Olivia Exstrum of Mother Jones: "In April, President Donald Trump nominated Patrick Wyrick, currently a justice on the Oklahoma Supreme Court [and Scott Pruitt protégé], to an Oklahoma district court judgeship.... He is expected to be confirmed. At 37 and with little more than a year of experience on the bench, if confirmed, Wyrick would be the youngest federal judge of the 42 so far confirmed under Trump. Wyrick is also on the president'sshortlist for the Supreme Court.... Wyrick's record is in line with the administration’s goals of rolling back reproductive rights and ending environmental protections." --safari
Katie Benner of the New York Times: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Monday that fear of domestic violence is not legal grounds for asylum in a closely watched immigration case that could have a broad effect on the asylum process, women who have endured extreme violence and the independence of immigration judges. Mr. Sessions reversed a decision by a Justice Department immigration appeals court that had given asylum to a woman from El Salvador who had been raped and abused by her husband. The appeals court decision had overruled earlier orders in similar cases. 'The prototypical refugee flees her home country because the government has persecuted her,' Mr. Sessions wrote in his decision. 'An alien may suffer threats and violence in a foreign country for any number of reasons relating to her social, economic, family, or other personal circumstances. Yet the asylum statute does not provide redress for all misfortune,' Mr. Sessions wrote.... His decision echoes remarks he made earlier Monday morning at a gathering of immigration judges in Virginia.... In his speech on Monday, he also said that the Obama administration had created 'powerful incentives' for people to 'come here illegally and claim a fear of return.'... Immigration courts are housed under the Justice Department..., meaning Mr. Sessions has the authority to refer cases to himself and overturn earlier decisions." ...
... The story has been updated, also adding Caitlin Dickerson to the byline. New Lede: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday made it all but impossible for asylum seekers to gain entry into the United States by citing fears of domestic abuse or gang violence, in a ruling that could have a broad effect on the flow of migrants from Central America." The original story made no mention of Sessions' disallowing gang violence as justification for asylum. ...
... Maria Sachetti of the Washington Post: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions signaled Monday that victims of domestic abuse and gang violence generally will not qualify for asylum under federal law, a decision that advocates say will endanger tens of thousands of foreign nationals seeking safety in the United States.... 'Generally, claims by aliens pertaining to domestic violence or gang violence perpetrated by non-governmental actors will not qualify for asylum,' he wrote." ...
... Dara Lind of Vox: "Tens of thousands of people who are currently waiting for their asylum cases in the US to be resolved -- or waiting for their chance to apply -- just got the door all but slammed on them.... Sessions is using his traditional, but rarely used, powers of self-referral to reshape the way that immigration courts work.... Because immigration courts aren't fully independent courts, the decision Sessions just issued is now law for all immigration judges in the US -- and everyone else considering asylum cases.... [Sessions' decision] could even trap some of the families separated in the last few weeks by the Trump administration's new 'zero-tolerance' border policy -- depriving the parents of any way to stay in the country, and drastically reducing their chances of relocating their children before they're deported.... Sessions isn't just raising the standard for who can ultimately get asylum. He's raising the standard for who can pass the initial screening at the border to apply for asylum.... It's generally accepted that the governments of Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala don't have sufficient control to keep their residents safe from gang violence -- in fact, they're often compromised by gang ties. But Sessions argues that the burden of proof still lies on the asylum seeker[.]" ...
... Matt Ford of the New Republic: "Even for an administration whose immigration policy is defined by cruelty, Sessions's unilateral move stands out for its heartlessness.... Advocates for domestic-abuse survivors had long feared that Sessions, an avowed foe of legal and undocumented immigration alike, would use his powers to deny safety to women fleeing abusive households. In Monday's ruling, those fears became a reality." ...
... "First They Came for the Migrants." Michelle Goldberg: "We still talk about American fascism as a looming threat, something that could happen if we’re not vigilant. But for undocumented immigrants, it's already here. There are countless horror stories about what's happening to immigrants under Trump.... But what really makes Trump's America feel like a rogue state is the administration’s policy of taking children from migrants caught crossing the border unlawfully, even if the parents immediately present themselves to the authorities to make asylum claims.... The human consequences have been horrific.... What is happening is the sort of moral enormity that once seemed unthinkable in contemporary America.... Senator [Jeff] Merkley [D-Ore.] told me he asked people working in the detention center if they were concerned about the impact that family separation would have on the children who had been put under their authority. The answer, he said, was, 'We simply follow the orders from above.'"
... Madison Pauly & Noah Lenard of Mother Jones outline how "the decision is in line with other steps Sessions and the Trump administration have taken to undercut the American asylum system."
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Monday upheld Ohio’s aggressive efforts to purge its voting rolls. The court ruled that a state may kick people off the rolls if they skip a few elections and fail to respond to a notice from state election officials. The vote was 5 to 4, with the more conservative justices in the majority.... Federal laws prohibit states from removing people from voter rolls 'by reason of the person’s failure to vote.' But they allow election officials who suspect that a voter has moved to send a confirmation notice. The central question in the case was whether a failure to vote could be the reason to send out the notice. Ohio is more aggressive than any other state in purging its voter rolls. After skipping a single federal election cycle, voters are sent a notice. If they fail to respond and do not vote in the next four years, their names are purged from the rolls.... A Reuters study in 2016 found that at least 144,000 people were removed from the voting rolls in recent years in Ohio’s three largest counties, which are home to Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus." Thanks to Ken W. for the lead. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Richard Hasen, in Slate: In her dissent to Justice Alito's majority opinion, "Justice Sotomayor pointed out that another provision of the Motor Voter law requires that any removal program 'be uniform, nondiscriminatory, and in compliance with the Voting Rights Act,' and this part of the law provides a potential path forward. As more states enact laws like Ohio's, it will become further apparent that these laws have discriminatory effects.... Justice Alito's response to Justice Sotomayor is quite telling. He rightly noted that the challenge in this case was not about whether Ohio's law was discriminatory. But he added that Justice Sotomayor did not point 'to any evidence in the record that Ohio instituted or has carried out its program with discriminatory intent.' Contrary to Justice Alito's intimation, plaintiffs alleging a violation of the Voting Rights Act need not prove discriminatory intent; discriminatory impact is enough. Justice Alito may be subtly signaling where the Court's conservative majority is likely to go in future years. At some point the Court may well consider striking down as unconstitutional that part of the Voting Rights Act that holds it is illegal for states to pass voting laws that have a discriminatory impact."
Way Beyond the Beltway
David Agren of the Guardian: "Fernando Purón had just finished an election debate with his rival congressional candidates in the Mexican border city of Piedras Negras, when ... [he was] shot ... in the head.... Purón was the 112th political candidate murdered in Mexico since September 2017, according to Etellekt, a risk analysis consultancy. And the country is bracing for more bloodshed before 1 July elections, when voters will pick a new president, renew congress and fill hundreds of state and local positions.... Mexico registered a record number of homicides in 2017 --; the 11th year of a militarized crackdown on organized crime.... Analysts offer varying theories to explain the growing number of attacks on politicians, including efforts by organized crime to infiltrate local institutions and the growing amount of cash in local government." --safari
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IMHO the MSM commentary in the whole Justin Trudeau completely misses the mark. The entire spectacle is absolutely reprehensible, that's obvious. But throughout the G6 + 1 Moron, the White House narrative was about Drumpf's inability to chew gum and walk at the same time, saying the meeting with our strongest allies (which is really just a chum-fest among leaders while aides do the heavy lifting) was distracting him from his real priority: sizing-up Kim Jong-Un.
Despite his intellectual misgivings, even Drumpf could see the historical significance of being the first president* to meet with the Kim regime. And looking "weak" is the biggest fear of the manchild currently occupying the White House. With that in mind, let's narrow in on Peter Navarro's apocalyptic remarks, supposedly about Trudeau:
"There's a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door."
This is a frantic, bellicose warning aimed directly at Kim Jong-Un. Insecurities abound between the obvious bluster.
Trudeau got targeted to be thrown under the bus because he represents Canada, and our friendly neighbors are completely dispensable to Trump's "America, bitches!" guiding philosophy. Now that the summit's over, expect Drumpf to claim huge laughs and just kiddings and assume the relationship to remain subservient and cordial. Or maybe Drumpf will still double down attacking Trudeau, even though he didn't do anything even slightly disrespectful, just because our leader* is a raging asshole.
The "place in hell" remark is a trademark of the hyperbole used in North Korean rhetoric towards us, and so the Trump Org wanted to make sure the message would make it through all the other noise and be understood by Kim: don't you dare embarrass me, especially after I walk off, or my hissy fits could end with a "boom!". The scramble to leave before Kim hints at this, too. Drumpf can't be seen as being needy, or at the whims of anybody else. His time is far too precious and he needs to get back to belittling people on Twitter and watching reruns of himself on Fox News' Adulation Network.
Likely lots of hyped-up whoopty-doo today, but there so much more to keep an eye on. Trump likes to take credit for a booming economy even though there are many warning signs that the growth and improvements that began in the Obama years will be undercut in the near future. Welcome to 2008 all over again! Steven Pearlstein at the WAPO writes: Beware the "‘mother of all credit bubbles’."
Now, 12 years later, it’s happening again. This time, however, it’s not households using cheap debt to take cash out of their overvalued homes. Rather, it is giant corporations using cheap debt — and a one-time tax windfall — to take cash from their balance sheets and send it to shareholders in the form of increased dividends and, in particular, stock buybacks. As before, the cash-outs are helping to drive debt — corporate debt — to record levels. As before, they are adding a short-term sugar high to an already booming economy. And once again, they are diverting capital from productive long-term investment to further inflate a financial bubble — this one in corporate stocks and bonds — that, when it bursts, will send the economy into another recession.
P.S. Dana Milbank's piece on "‘Standing Up to Canada’." is spot on the loonie.
Why am I reminded this AM of the Hitler-Stalin agreement?
Hardly equivalent, I know, and yes false analogies reek of bad history, but there is that thing about two (lying) dictators smiling at one another while making historic deals.
@safari: If you recall it was Madeline Albright who said during the Clinton campaign, "There's a special place in hell for women who don't support women."
I like what you had to say today–-"a frantic, bellicose warning"––perfect!
@MAG: Here's another piece to piggy back on yours–-Corporate executives are using stock buybacks to pad their own compensation according to the SEC:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/11/sec-official-clamp-down-on-officials-who-cash-in-on-stock-buybacks.html
Word has it that when Trump left the summit, surrounded by Police and onlookers, he broke into song and did a little jig singing "every little thing I do is magic, every little thing I do is great!" People were dumb struck, surprised that Trump could even carry a tune much less move his massive bulk in such a choreographed way. Word also has it that he disliked all that Asian food so made a call to Singapore's Super Duper Weenie wagon for some REAL Merican vittles.
I have it on the best authority.
Kim: Donald! Sit! Good boy.
Xi: Trumpy, jump. Here’s a treat.
Putin: Roll over. Play dead. That’s a good doggie.
As usual, Trump, who slings the tough guy talk from afar, is obsequious, kittenish, and wholly submissive to the world’s biggest thugs and real tough guys once things get up close and personal.
Kim, ruler of one of the most repressive regimes on the planet gets everything he wants (prestige, security, and possible reduction in sanctions, and as an extra, as Trump helps him on with his coat and holds the door for him, a cessation of US military training operations with South Korea) but has yet to give up anything. Obsequious Donald gave away the store because the two canoodled for a bit then signed an agreement agreeing to agree on agreements to be agreed upon at a later date.
Can’t wait for the “summit” with Putin. Maybe Trump will give him Alaska and throw in an offer to allow Russian troops to be stationed in California. Mexico will pay for the new bases.
Canada too. Backstabbers!
And, oh, now that I've read the text of the "historic" agreement, I see why the Pretender saw no need for arduous pre-summit preparation.
He got that one right.
"“He [Jon Stewart] said ‘I’m leaving because I’m tired.’ And he said, ‘I’m tired of being angry.’ And he said, ’I’m angry all the time. I don’t find any of this funny. I do not know how to make it funny right now, and I don’t think the host of the show, I don’t think the show deserves a host who does not feel that it is funny.” Trevor Noah
Being angry all the time takes such a toll; we here don't have to, as Jon had to, go on every night taking that anger and turning it into humor. But for many of us this anger can start eating at our insides while causing havoc on our sunny dispositions if indeed one possesses such a trait. I find that just thinking about the horrific immigration debacle–-the absolute cruel and inhumane handling of these poor souls makes me so furious that I just cry in frustration.
Tough to make comedy out of that.
I'm hearing a lot of hurrahs from the right and the middle on this sham of a summit. This morning I listened to one commenter talk about how this meeting was incredibly successful because both Trump and Kim are unconventional leaders. Sure. I suppose, if by unconventional you mean venal, sneaky, unreliable, self-dealing, and authoritarian.
"Unconventional" certainly works in specific times and places, but let's not all start running around calling this thing a yuuuuuge success just because Trump and his media lackeys are branding it so. Had it been handled differently, it's possible something good could have come out of this. Had Trump not gone into it with the singular goal of self-glorification. But that will never be the case. He couldn't even restrain himself at a post-meeting press conference. When I read that, in the middle of talking about US-North and South Korea relationships, he launched into a pitch to sell condos on the beaches of North Korea, I thought it was a joke (Andy Borowitz again). Sadly, it wasn't. He is incapable of putting anything, world peace, economic stability, international relations, poverty, crime, healthcare, immigration, education, ahead of his own personal interest in making money and looking good.
So, yeah. Another photo-op sham. Nothing to show for it but his wonderful new relationship with another dictator.
There's a reason that some things are done in a conventional way. The mode of interaction between nations of the world has been carefully developed, modified, and refined over the course of thousands of years. Diplomacy works but it's a long, tedious process, one best handled by those qualified for this kind of work. Yesterday I mentioned the preparation taken by interpreters for high-level talks between heads of state. That sort of prep work is nothing compared to the training necessary for successful diplomacy. But Trump thinks nothing of upending all of that purely for the sugar rush of a photo-op with another tyrant. Typically, summits are arranged after all the prep work has been accomplished. Everyone knows what the stakes are and what each side will give and get. The big names show up at the very end to put their John Hancocks on the page and the photo-ops begin in earnest.
This is how it's done. This is the careful, not very sexy way things work. But it's also a convention because, like the Iran Agreement that Trump so roundly, and ignorantly, excoriates, all the details have been worked over and darefully set down. There's no maybes, no agreements to agree to meet again to agree, no fuzzy bullshit, no "Well, we'll give it our best" sort of language.
It ain't sexy, but it's how it's done. But not with Trump. And Kim knew that. He and his people realized that all they needed to do was smile for the camera, say a few nice things to the little dictator, and they get everything they want.
He is the antithesis of a good negotiator. He caves even before he sits down to talk.
When's that Russia "summit"? Somewhere, Putin must be grinning broadly, smacking his lips, and rubbing his hands together.
Now that the wingers on the Supreme Court have decided that you get to vote only if Confederates don't kick you off the voting rolls, get ready for a tsunami of new laws across the country allowing Confederates to derail the franchise of hundreds of thousands of (mostly Democratic) voters. If Ohio can do it, so can they. Little Johnny and the Dwarfs say so.
The bottom line is "make voting as hard as possible for those we hate".
Simple as that. Hey, if your ideas suck, your leader is three steps from Hitler with a side of misogyny, and your base of racist knuckleheads is shrinking by the month, gotta have a Plan B. In this case Plan B is "Only We Get to Vote".
Regarding the Ohio decision, it seems that ol' Sunny Sam Alito has adopted yet another fine Confederate casuistry to bolster what is in effect a discriminatory action. Ol' Sam sniffs that you gotta prove that guys like voting rights enemy Jon Husted (and, ostensibly, out and out crooks and schemers like Kris Kobach) have "discriminatory intentions" in their heart when they create laws designed to kick people off voting rolls.
Wrong, oh ballot box stuffer. As has been pointed out, discriminatory effect should be more than enough to deep six actions taken to make voting more difficult.
Suggesting otherwise is like saying "Well, I know that drunk guy certainly didn't mean to run down that mom and her three kids, so we can't prosecute." Does anyone believe a court of law will take into account the intentions of the drunk in such a case or will it be more concerned with the dead family?
Effect, not intention, is what should count. Taken to its logical conclusion, meting out consequences based on intentions rather than actual outcomes would warp the justice system beyond all recognition. "Yeah, I really didn't mean it" would be the preferred Get Out of Jail Free card for everyone standing in front of a judge. And, according to Alito, there'd be no way for the court to gainsay any defendant's proclamation of lack of intent.
But such is the debased state of corrupt Confederate legalism today.
@Akhilleus
Regarding voting, in addition to the R's shenanigans, their purging and gerrymandering, which will require Dems to win House seats by more than 8-10 % (estimates vary) to win them at all this coming November, the hoary Electoral College, whose effects we are already too familiar with, we also have the very undemocratic Senate, which with the continuing concentration of the population in urban areas and the relative emptying of the rural states will only get more so as the years pass.
Since those rural states also happen to be bastions of the mostly white, that growing Senate disproportion will continue to provide those who tend to be least educated, most xenophobic and racist with a formidable base of political power.
Think that's what the Founder's had in mind?
Maybe that's what those strict Constructionists inhabiting the SCOTUS believe....
Light 'em if you got 'em.
Well kids, if you're tired (and angry, per PD's comment, above) of Stupid Trump Tricks, never fear, stupidity is not limited to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
You guys know Elon Musk, right? The car-space-computers in the brain, investor, entrepreneur, and engineer guy. Okay. In his spare time, apparently, ol' Elon makes toys for morons. And morons looooove their toys.
So tell us, Akhilleus, what, perchance is Mr. Musk up to with the morons lately?
Flamethrowers.
For idiots.
I am not even kidding. Fucking flamethrowers. You can now purchase your very own flamethrower and do whatever it is you can think of to do with a unit that propels propane fueled fire out of its muzzle. Light a cigar? Sure. How about nuke a burger? Show the kids stupid flamethrower tricks on the Fourth of July? Torch the neighborhood while you're at it? Light up the forest. In the middle of the summer. Cue Talking Heads, "Burning down the house".
So, okay, I'm not anti-business at all or even completely anti-capitalism. We, as a society, make and sell a lot of stuff that is downright bad and dangerous, kooky and weird. But flamethrowers? Fuck me.
Just look at what some knuckleheads are up to with these things. Gee, they look smart.
Musk apparently has already sold 20,000 flamethrowers to knuckleheads (because honestly, who buys a flamethrower who is not a knucklehead?). A state rep in California put in a bill to regulate the units (called, legally speaking, "Not a Flamethrower") because, well, as one tweet put it, you can really tell a lot about the sincerity of someone regarding climate issues if he sells flamethrowers to morons during California's dry season.
But that legislation stalled out. Guess who leaped on that bill and jumped up and down on it with hobnail boots?
THE GUN LOBBY! Of course! Because there can't be any legislation against anything remotely considered a weapon.
Stupid reigns.
Can't wait for the first 170,000 acre forest fire started with one of these "Not a Flamethrower" things.
Jesus. More bread and circuses for the idiocracy.
Ken,
Confederates will never get rid of the Electoral College. As you point out, red states with a mostly white, rural, extremely right-wing population wield far greater power per voter than most blue states
.
"In Wyoming, there are 143,000 people for each of its three electoral votes. The states with the weakest votes are New York, Florida, and California. These states each have around 500,000 people for each electoral vote.
In other words, one Wyoming voter has roughly the same electoral power as four New York voters."
Which means that you'd need five New Yorkers all voting the same way to outweigh the voting power of one Wyoming winger.
That sort of electoral math is not going anywhere fast if Confederates have anything to say about it.
Comrades All
Hmmm...this stuff gets more interesting by the day.
"Several prominent Russians, some in President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle or high in the Russian Orthodox Church, now have been identified as having contact with National Rifle Association officials during the 2016 U.S. election campaign, according to photographs and an NRA source.
The contacts have emerged amid a deepening Justice Department investigation into whether Russian banker and lifetime NRA member Alexander Torshin illegally channeled money through the gun rights group to add financial firepower to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential bid."
Torshin has been connected with both Putin and the Russian mob in various illegal endeavors, notably money laundering. Naturally he denies that he funneled money through the National Ratfucker Association to help elect Comrade Trump, because Putin insiders and Russian gangsters would never tell a lie, cross their heart and hope you die.
But here's another thought. What if Trump isn't the only traitor receiving the financial backing of Vladimir Putin and the Russian mob?
"Of the $30 million the NRA reported spending to support Trump, more than $21 million was spent by its lobbying arm, whose donors are not publicly reported.
Two NRA insiders say that overall, the group spent at least $70 million, including resources devoted to field operations and online advertising, which are not required to be publicly reported."
So, tell me, why would the NRA limit the money it had gotten from Russians to only help Fat Boy? Why not spread those rubles around? Thus, it's possible that money flowing from the NRA into Confederate election war chests came, indirectly (but not all that indirectly), from Mother Russia.
Puts the obstruction of justice by such as tovarisch Devin Nunes and the cavalier approach to Russian meddling by such as Czar Mitcheyovich McConnell in a different light, don't it?
They're all together in a big red bag with "From Russia With Love" stamped on their asses.
Fucking traitors.
Oops. Just noticed that Marie had already linked that McClatchey piece on the NRA. Still, I think there's a strong possibility that other Confederates, besides Donaldavich, got money from Russia.
Regarding identifying "Americans who are suspected of cheating to get their citizenship ...", how about Drumpf's mother- and father-in-law? And oh, by the way, didn't Melania engage in some sort of cheating?