;)
Wednesday
Jun132018
The Commentariat -- June 13, 2018
Afternoon Update:
John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Returning to Washington on Wednesday, President Trump amped up claims of a highly successful summit with the North Korean leader as Democrats and even some Republicans grew increasingly skeptical about what had been accomplished in Singapore. In a series of tweets that began as Air Force One landed, Trump declared that there is 'no longer' a nuclear threat from the rogue regime and lashed out at those who questioned what he had achieved, branding the media as 'Our County's biggest enemy.'... Trump's rosy assessment was ridiculed by Democratic lawmakers and some analysts, who suggested that North Korea remains a serious threat. 'This is truly delusional,' Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) wrote on Twitter. 'It has same arsenal today as 48 hours ago. Does he really think his big photo-op ended the DPRK's nuclear program? Hope does not equal reality.' Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) also mocked Trump, writing: 'One trip and it's "mission accomplished," Mr. President?'... Richard N. Haas, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said 'the summit changed nothing.'" Read on. ...
... Matthew Lee of the AP: "... Donald Trump's triumphant assertions about the success of the unprecedented Singapore summit are being met with skepticism and outright derision from critics seizing on the contradiction between his withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and his willingness to accept vague pledges from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.... For Iran deal proponents..., the Singapore summit was evidence of Trump's lack of preparedness and poor negotiating skills. Iran deal opponents, meanwhile, seemed willing to wait and see.... In the case of the Iran deal, even the most generous assessors of the Singapore summit sought to remind the White House that intense diplomacy preceded the agreement with Tehran." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: President Obama's "secret weapon" in negotiating the Iran deal was Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, an MIT physicist. Trump's got Rick Perry, who couldn't even remember the name of the Energy Department years before he accepted the top job there. As Trump tucks us into bed, I'm sure we'll all follow his soothing advice to "Sleep well nonight."
... Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post imposes a reality chek [linked fixed; thanks, MAG] on some of the outlandish claims Trump made regarding his Very Successful Singapore Swing. It's a damning analysis. ...
... Troy Patterson of the New Yorker on "The Sensational Idiocy of Donald Trump's Propaganda Video for Kim Jong Un.... The nature of the film -- its grandiosity, its gaudiness, its chaotic logic, its indiscriminate idiocy -- is such that we must understand Trump as its author.... The narrator insists that the fate of the world hangs in the balance, in sentences that combine pompous syntax, palatial rhetoric, and dodgy grammar." Mrs. McC: Thanks to having read some of Tim O'Brien's biography of Trump, which came to me via a generous Reality Chex reader, I'm aware that Trump fancies himself a great movie critic, & having watched Trump's stupid propaganda video, I find Patterson's IDing of the video's auteur to be highly likely & his criticisms of the whole production to be right on. ...
... The Plot Thickens. Julian Borger of the Guardian: "The National Security Council has said that it made the video Donald Trump showed to Kim Jong-un at their Singapore summit on Tuesday in an unorthodox effort to persuade him of the benefits of denuclearisation.... The video, which Trump showed to the press after playing it on an iPad for Kim, is credited to 'Destiny Pictures Productions'..., [but] the company's founder, said in an email it had ;no involvement in the video'.... When asked about the decision to present the video as made by a non-existent company, an NSC spokesman said there would be no further comment. 'From my understanding, they were just using "Destiny Pictures" as a play on words. It just so happens there's a studio by that name in California,' said Ned Price, a former NSC spokesman. 'Leave it to this White House to fail to conduct basic due diligence. And that, of course, leaves aside the fact they thought it prudent to try to out-North-Korea North Korea in the propaganda department. The whole enterprise reeks of amateurism and comes off as an attempt to check the box on a harebrained idea that presumably originated in the oval office,' Price added.... When asked about the film at a press conference on Tuesday, Trump defended it as a masterstroke which he had sprung on Kim and his entourage."
** Uh-Oh. George Stephanopoulos of ABC News: "As attorneys for Michael Cohen rush to meet Judge Kimba Wood's Friday deadline to complete a privilege review of over 3.7 million documents seized in the April 9 raids of Cohen's New York properties and law office, a source representing this matter has disclosed to ABC News that the law firm handling the case for Cohen is not expected to represent him going forward.... No replacement counsel has been identified as of this time. Cohen, now with no legal representation, is likely to cooperate with federal prosecutors in New York, sources said. This development, which is believed to be imminent, will likely hit the White House, family members, staffers and counsels hard." ...
... Allegra Kirkland of TPM: "Shortly after the ABC News report appeared, the Wall Street Journal, too, reported that Cohen's lawyers were set to leave the case. But the Journal added that Cohen hasn’t yet decided whether he'll cooperate." The WSJ report, which is firewalled, is here. ...
... Alan Feuer, et al., of the New York Times: "But as the investigation widens, and with Mr. Cohen's legal team in turmoil, the chances increase that Mr. Cohen could cooperate with prosecutors.... The issue [between Cohen & his legal team] is primarily over payment of the legal bills of one of his lawyers, Stephen Ryan, according to a person familiar with the discussions."
A Chip off the Old Blockhead. Jonathan Swan & Alayna Treene of Axios. "Several months ago, Donald Trump ordered the promotion of Rudy Giuliani's son. But instead of getting promoted, he has lost his West Wing pass.... [White House Chief-of-Staff John] Kelly and others, including Office of Public Liaison director Justin Clark, won't promote Andrew [Giuliani] because they think he 'subverts the chain of command' and claim he had other issues in the workplace that they weren't happy about.... According to a source familiar, Kelly took away Andrew's blue staff pass about two weeks ago, revoking his West Wing access. He now only has a green pass, which means he can&'t enter the West Wing without an escort."
Katie Benner of the New York Times: "On Thursday, [DOJ inspector general Michael Horowitz] will issue the highly anticipated findings of his examination of the F.B.I.'s handling of its investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server. He is expected to castigate the decision making by the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey; his deputy, Andrew G. McCabe; and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch." Benner profiles Horowitz.
Charles Pierce: "The Republicans in Virginia, like their co-religionists in Alabama, have picked themselves a real winner to run against incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Tim Kaine in the fall. This time, though, it's not an aging scuzball like the Gadsden Mall Creeper, Roy Moore. This time it's an unreconstructed Confederate meat bag named Corey Stewart. And ... The New York Times, [CNN, & others] already []are in unfortunate soft-pedal on the whole business..... Stewart is not a ... 'hard-right firebrand,' [as the NYT described him.] He is an unapologetic public racist, and damned proud of it, who goes out of his way to associate with other unapologetic public racists, who are damned proud of it, too.... Stewart is not ... a 'bombastic conservative,' [as CNN labeled him]. He is an unapologetic public racist, and damned proud of it, who goes out of his way to associate with other unapologetic public racists, who are damned proud of it, too.... Doug Jones' surprise win in Alabama wasn't enough to keep Republican voters in Virginia from nominating Zombie Jeff Davis, despite the fact that doing so might turn out to be a termination notice for a Republican majority in Congress."
*****
Primary Election Results
Maine. The New York Times' live primary election results are here.
Virginia results are here. ...
... Jenna Portnoy of the Washington Post: "State Sen. Jennifer T. Wexton beat five Democrats in the race to challenge U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock (R) in what will be one of the most closely watched midterm elections in the nation. Wexton won about 42 percent of the vote, besting her nearest rival, anti-human-trafficking activist Alison Friedman, by almost 20 points, in Virginia's 10th Congressional District, unofficial results show. Wexton, the establishment favorite, ran on her legislative record and the strength of endorsements from Gov. Ralph Northam (D) and Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.) as well as the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. A former federal prosecutor, she is the only candidate from Loudoun County, the heart of the district.... In the Republican primary, Comstock won around 61 percent of the vote against former Air Force pilot Shak Hill. She risked losing Republican voters by breaking with President Trump on health-care legislation and his desire for a government shutdown." Comstock is among the most vulnerable House Republicans. "Once reliably Republican, [her] district's move to the middle and slightly left over the past decade coincided with an influx of young families...."
... Gregory Schneider of the Washington Post: "Virginia Republicans turned bright red Tuesday, selecting the more-Trump-than-Trump Corey Stewart as their nominee to challenge Sen. Tim Kaine (D) as primary elections played out in congressional districts across the state. The matchup ensures Virginia will keep re-litigating the 2016 presidential race in this fall's election, with Stewart running in outrageous Trump-like fashion against Kaine, who was Hillary Clinton's running mate in her failed bid for the presidency. Republican voters preferred Stewart, who has promised a 'vicious' campaign, over a more mainstream option in Del. Nick Freitas (R-Culpeper), a former Green Beret who had little name recognition but support from the party establishment. Freitas posted a surprisingly strong challenge, with the lead tipping back and forth until the final precincts reported at nearly 9 p.m. and populous Fairfax County put Stewart over the top. Stewart prevailed with about 45 percent of the vote to about 43 percent for Freitas."
South Carolina results are here. ...
... Jonathan Martin & Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Republican voters lashed out against traditional party leaders Tuesday, ousting Representative Mark Sanford of South Carolina and nominating a conservative firebrand for Senate in Virginia, the latest illustration that fealty to President Trump and his hard-line politics is paramount on the right. Mr. Sanford, a former governor once seen as a possible candidate for president, lost to Katie Arrington, a state lawmaker, in a closely contested primary, The Associated Press reported. Ms. Arrington had made the incumbent's frequent criticism of Mr. Trump the centerpiece of her campaign. And the president endorsed her in an unexpected, and deeply personal, broadside against Mr. Sanford just three hours before the polls closed."
Nevada results are here. ...
... Michelle Price of the AP: "Pimp Dennis Hof, the owner of half a dozen legal brothels in Nevada and star of the HBO adult reality series 'Cathouse,' won a Republican primary for the state Legislature on Tuesday, ousting a three-term lawmaker. Hof defeated hospital executive James Oscarson. He'll face Democrat Lesia Romanov in November, and will be the favored candidate in the Republican-leaning Assembly district.... Hof, who wrote a book titled 'The Art of the Pimp,' has dubbed himself 'The Trump of Pahrump,' and held a rally with longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone." --safari
AND North Dakota results are here.
"Trumpier & Trumpier." Jeet Heer of the New Republic: "Tuesday's primaries reinforce the major political story of the last three years: the Republican party is becoming more and more Trumpized. The two bellwether elections were Corey Stewart's victory in Virginia, where he will be the GOP's nominee for the Senate in the fall, and Congressman Mark Sanford's loss to a primary challenger in South Carolina. Between the two races, it's easy to see which way the wind is blowing. Stewart is emblematic of the increasingly vocal wing of the GOP obsessed with white identity politics.... Sanford, by contrast, has been critical of Donald Trump.... The lesson is clear: it's easy in the current GOP to be Trumpier than Trump (as Stewart is) but there is dwindling space for those critical of Trump (such as Sanford)."
*****
He Alone Thinks He Fixed It. Louis Nelson of Politico: "... Donald Trump said Wednesday morning that North Korea no longer poses a nuclear threat to the U.S. after his meeting this week in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, adding that Americans should 'sleep well tonight.' 'Just landed - a long trip, but everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office. There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea,' the president wrote on Twitter shortly after arriving back in Washington." [In a second tweet, Trump wrote, 'President Obama said that North Korea was our biggest and most dangerous problem. No longer - sleep well tonight!'" ...
... 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. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... 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 Obama 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." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Here's the full text of the Trump-Kim statement, via CNN. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)' ...
... Who Could Have Known This Would Happen? Margaret Hartmann of New York: "As foreign policy analysts try to predict the next steps after President Trump's historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Tuesday, they're running into a problem: the two leaders can't seem to provide a consistent account of what they agreed to in Singapore.... The North Koreans are trying to seize on this confusion to put forth a favorable summit narrative -- or rather, one even more favorable than 'U.S. president legitimizes North Korean dictator.' On Wednesday North Korean state media said that in addition to suspending joint military drills, Trump agreed to lift sanctions against North Korea." Trump himself didn't seem to know if there was any transcript or other memorialization of his private talk with Kim -- while at his presser, he asked Mike Pompeo if anyone recorded the private meeting. "Trump assured reporters that it's no big deal. 'Well, I don't have to verify because I have one of the great memories of all time. So I don't have to. Okay? Okay?' he said." ...
... Liar in Chief. Aaron Rupar of ThinkProgress: "During a news conference in Singapore following the signing of his agreement with Kim Jong Un, President ... Trump had a moment of radical honesty. Asked by a reporter what he'll do if Kim 'doesn't follow through' on his promises, Trump openly admitted that he'll never admit he was wrong, but will instead obfuscate. 'Honestly, I think he's going to do these things. I may be wrong,' Trump said. 'I may stand before you in six months and say, "hey, I was wrong." I don't know that I'll admit that but I'll find some kind of an excuse.'" --safari ...
... 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...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Never-Trumper Rick Wilson in The Daily Beast summarizes Donald's international diplomacy. A fun read except for the whole depressing reality part. --safari
... "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.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... 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. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
Your Tax Dollars at Work. Here's the top-rated, must-see film that the White House put together to coax Li'l Kim to give up all his nukes & build condos on the beach and all. Based on Kim's making zero concessions to the Trumpster, it wuld appear Trump's propaganda production didn't go over too well:
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." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... 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. ...
... Dana Milbank: "Let us ponder what the reaction among Republicans and conservatives would have been if President Barack Obama had done what President Trump did on Tuesday: Sat down with a dictator whose regime had killed hundreds of thousands of people and who tortures and enslaves as many as 130,000 political prisoners in gulags. Set no specific preconditions for the meeting and secured no commitment on human rights nor any firm promise to denuclearize. Blindsided allies by agreeing to the dictator's request to cease 'provocative' military exercises with those allies. Praised the dictator in
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Rachel Maddow made an provocative observation on her show last night. Russia, which shares about 11 miles of its border with North Korea, has become increasingly vociferous about getting the U.S. to end its annual joint military exercises with South Korea. So then, to the surprise of everyone, Trump announces that he's going to end the exercises. The concessions was not in the joint statement, nobody told South Korea about it, nobody told our other allies about it, nobody told the Pentagon about it, and apparently nobody even told mike pence about it: ...
... Evan Osnos of the New Yorker: "Nobody greeted the news from Singapore with more delight than China. For years, Chinese officials have urged Trump to freeze military exercises in South Korea, which Beijing regards as a threatening gesture in its neighborhood.... Trump may have also precipitated an outcome that he does not fully grasp: by suspending military exercises, and alluding to removing troops from South Korea, he will stir doubts about the strength of America's commitment to its allies in Asia, including Japan, Taiwan, and Australia. They will have no choice but to begin to reimagine America's role in the region, and their relationships to Beijing. From Trump's perspective, the encounter with Kim was an end in itself. For those who bear the consequences of his words and actions, this is just the beginning." ...
... Burgess Everett of Politico: "Confusion is reigning among Republicans over how far ... Donald Trump went in agreeing to pull back military exercises on the Korean peninsula in his talks with Kim Jong Un. Vice President Mike Pence told Senate Republicans Tuesday that some training exchanges and readiness training with South Korea will continue, according to Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.). Gardner told reporters that Pence and the administration will continue 'to clarify what the president had talked about' but said that 'exercises will continue with South Korea.'... Spokespeople for Pence denied that he had said anything that would contradict the president." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Just because we don't hear mikey lying six times a day the way we do Donald doesn't mean mikey doesn't lie six times a day.
... 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, not the second." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
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 in Singapore after meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. 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 becaus he thought Trump could not watch them while flying to Singapore." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
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 either at home or abroad. Until now, the issue of what constitutes an illegal emolument has never been litigated." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Because until now, we've never lived under a pure kleptocracy.
Josh Gerstein & Theodoric Meyer of Politico: "... Robert Mueller made public new evidence Tuesday that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort directed an organized but unregistered lobbying campaign in the U.S. on behalf of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. In a public court filing, Mueller's team released two memos from 2013 detailing Manafort's involvement in efforts to influence debate in Congress and in the U.S. press about the imprisonment of Yanukovych's main political rival, Yulia Tymoshenko.... Manafort's defense lawyers have argued that the lobbying campaign on behalf of Yanukovych and his allies was focused on Europe and that any outreach he made to potential witnesses was consistent with that. But the memos Mueller submitted Tuesday show an evident attempt by the former European politicians -- known as the 'Hapsburg group' -- to shape the Ukrainian leader's image in the U.S.... U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson is scheduled to hold a hearing Friday on prosecutors' request to revoke Manafort's house arrest or tighten the restrictions on him as a result of the alleged witness tampering."...
... Josh Gerstein: "A federal judge has ordered special counsel Robert Mueller to identify by Friday all the individuals and organizations involved in ... Paul Manafort's alleged scheme to lobby on behalf of Ukraine without registering as a foreign agent under U.S. law. Among the people Mueller will be required to identify to the defense are top European former politicians who took part in the influence campaign, as well as others whose testimony Manafort has been accused of trying to influence in recent months. Manafort's alleged effort to shape the accounts of those people led to two new felony obstruction of justice charges last week. The ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson Tuesday represents a rare courtroom win for Manafort's defense, which is battling Mueller's prosecutors in two different federal courts and faces two looming jury trials. Prosecutors resisted the defense motion, but the judge's decision is not likely to be significant since many of the names are well known to the defense and have been reported in the media."
Follow the $$$$$. David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times: Trump's billionaire friend Tom Barrack was the driving force behind "Mr. Trump's improbable transformation from a candidate who campaigned against Muslims to a president celebrated in the royal courts of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi as perhaps the best friend in the White House that their rulers have ever had. It is a shift that testifies not only to Mr. Trump's special flexibility, but also to Mr. Barrack's unique place in the Trump world, at once a fellow tycoon and a flattering courtier, a confidant and a power broker. During the Trump campaign, Mr. Barrack was a top fund-raiser and trusted gatekeeper who opened communications with the Emiratis and Saudis, recommended that the candidate bring on Paul Manafort as campaign manager -- and then tried to arrange a secret meeting between Mr. Manafort and the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. Mr. Barrack was later named chairman of Mr. Trump's inaugural committee. But Mr. Manafort has since been indicted by the special prosecutor.... The same inquiry is examining whether the Emiratis and Saudis helped sway the election in Mr. Trump's favor -- potentially in coordination with the Russians.... Investigators have also asked witnesses about specific contributions and expenses related to the inauguration.... Mr. Barrack's company ... has raised more than $7 billion in investments since Mr. Trump won the nomination, and 24 percent of that money has come from the Persian Gulf -- all from either the U.A.E. or Saudi Arabia, according to an executive familiar with the figures."
WTF? Betsy Woodruff of The Daily Beast: "Michael Avenatti, the outspoken attorney for porn star Stormy Daniels, says the Russian government is trying to smear him in the press. Avenatti told The Daily Beast that people in the Kremlin have been trying to plant damaging stories about him in media outlets. Avenatti did not offer concrete proof to support the claim, but said two media figures and a high-ranking American intelligence official have all told him about the alleged Russian effort.... Avenatti said people in the Russian government have claimed that he traveled to Moscow and had questionable encounters with women there.... 'They suggested that I had had a liaison with multiple women in Russia,' he added. 'I found that to be rather ironic.'" --safari
"The Lady Vanishes." Rhonda Garelick of New York on how & why Melania Trump's disappearance is right out of an old Hitchcock film. -- a series of plays & films of the 1930s & early 1940s were an artistic reaction to fascism. And we're back.
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. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Mr. Pruitt Has EPA Aide Get Mrs. Pruitt a Temp Job. Juliet Eilperin, et al., of the Washington Post: "Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt last year had a top aide help contact Republican donors who might offer his wife a job, eventually securing her a position at a conservative political group that has backed him for years, according to multiple individuals.... The job hunt included Pruitt's approaching wealthy party supporters and conservative figures with ties to the Trump administration. He enlisted Samantha Dravis, then serving as associate administrator for the EPA's Office of Policy, to line up work for his wife. And when one donor, Doug Deason, said he could not hire Marlyn Pruitt because of a conflict of interest, Pruitt continued to solicit his help in trying to find other possibilities.... Dravis, who has left the EPA and declined to comment, complained to friends at the time that she felt uncomfortable tapping Pruitt's extensive political network and her own to find a new source of income for his family. 'He pressured her,' one friend recalled...." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: If the wife of a Republican Cabinet official can't get a high-paying position on her own, she either (a) doesn't want a job, or (b) is completely unemployable.
** Mark Hand of ThinkProgress: "A member of President Trump's own political party is leading the charge at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) against the president's plan to prop up financially struggling coal and nuclear plants. FERC Commissioner Robert Powelson, a Republican appointee, did not shy away from expressing his opposition to Trump's proposal on Tuesday at a Senate oversight hearing.... Powelson, a former state regulator in Pennsylvania, was not alone among his colleagues.... Each of them -- three Republicans and two Democrats -- do not believe the nation is anywhere close to facing an emergency shortage of electricity supplies to keep the nation's lights on.... Trump's bailout plan, as outlined in a memo leaked to Bloomberg News, could raise electric utility rates by as much as $65 billion, or about $500 more per year for the average consumer, for no added benefit" --safari
Sheryl Stolberg & Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "After frenzied late-night negotiations, Speaker Paul D. Ryan defused a moderate Republican rebellion on Tuesday with a promise to hold high-stakes votes on immigration next week, thrusting the divisive issue onto center stage during a difficult election season for Republicans. The move by Mr. Ryan, announced late Tuesday by his office, was something of a defeat for the rebellious immigration moderates, who fell two signatures short of the 218 needed to force the House to act this month on bipartisan measures aimed more directly at helping young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children. Instead, the House is most likely to vote on one hard-line immigration measure backed by President Trump and conservatives -- and another more moderate compromise bill that was still being drafted.... Had the rebels secured just two more signatures for their 'discharge petition,' they would have also gotten votes on the Dream Act, a stand-alone bill backed by Democrats that includes a path to citizenship for the young undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers, and another bipartisan measure that couples a path to citizenship for Dreamers with beefed-up border security." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: That's a long way of saying, "Paul Ryan doesn't care about Dreamers."
Cecilia Kang, et al., of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Tuesday approved the blockbuster merger between AT&T and Time Warner, rebuffing the government's effort to stop the $85.4 billion deal, in a decision that is expected to unleash a wave of corporate takeovers. The judge, Richard J. Leon of United States District Court in Washington, said the Justice Department had not proved that the telecom company's acquisition of Time Warner would lead to fewer choices for consumers and higher prices for television and internet services. The merger would create a media and telecommunications powerhouse, reshaping the landscape of those industries. The combined company would have a library that includes HBO's hit 'Game of Thrones' and channels like CNN, along with vast distribution reach through wireless and satellite television services across the country." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: No need to worry about Trumpie's team ending net neutrality, folks. Just a lot of needless regulation. Besides, I'm sure we'll all enjoy watching Netflix in slo-mo.
Josh Gerstein: "A lawyer for Andrew McCabe, the fired deputy director of the FBI, is suing the Justice Department and the FBI, claiming that his client is being denied access to records critical to defending him in connection with the misconduct allegation that led to his dismissal in March.... The lawsuit claims that McCabe's firing 'violated federal law and departed from applicable administrative rules, standards, policies, and procedures.' The suit does not directly challenge McCabe's dismissal, but rather claims that the Justice Department is violating the law by refusing to identify and share the internal policies that led to his termination one day short of the 20 years' service he would need to be eligible for an immediate pension."
Sarah Jones of the New Republic: "America is in a new Gilded Age.... [The] key difference ... is that there was no welfare state back then: It took the grotesque inequalities of the era to inspire the necessary social reforms.... Reformers and revolutionaries both forced these issues into the public square.... The welfare state eventually emerged from this struggle.... The Trump administration does pose a specific threat to the welfare state.... [History professor Premilla] Nadasen ... [says], 'Those reforms really happened because of massive organizing and protest in the streets. And it started with labor organizing....' There are solutions [to today's Gilded Age].... Policy experts and analysts already have begun to fill in the gap: A federal jobs guarantee no longer sounds quite like a fantasy. A sovereign wealth fund, as outlined recently by Ryan Cooper at The Week, could allow the state to collect and redistribute its collective wealth to public health, public works, or other social goods. These redistributive efforts could accompany a renewed trust-busting focus in Congress. The struggle to prevent another Gilded Age doesn't suffer from a lack of political imagination. It suffers from a lack of political will."
Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "The New York Times is reviewing the work history of Ali Watkins, a Washington-based reporter at the newspaper whose email and phone records were seized by [DOJ] prosecutors in a leak investigation case that has prompted an outcry among press advocates. The private communications of Ms. Watkins, 26, who joined The Times in December, were obtained by the Justice Department as part of an investigation into a former Senate Intelligence Committee aide, James A. Wolfe, who was charged last week with making false statements to the F.B.I. Ms. Watkins and Mr. Wolfe, 57, had an extended personal relationship that ended last year.... Mr. Wolfe was one of the highest-ranking aides on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which Ms. Watkins covered extensively at Politico, BuzzFeed News, The Huffington Post and the McClatchy Company.... Her reporting for McClatchy on the Senate Intelligence Committee led to an investigative series that was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize.... She has said that Mr. Wolfe did not provide her with information during the course of their relationship."
Dan Spinelli of Mother Jones: "The level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has never been higher, scientists at a prominent Hawaii observatory announced last week.... 'There's a whole lot of bad news here,' said Pieter Tans, the lead scientist of NOAA's Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network. 'Our society, globally, is making a commitment to warming that will be there for several thousand years.'" --safari
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Reader Comments (14)
Diffusion confusion...whatever did Trump accomplish at the Summit if anything? And then there is this: New York magazine presents a chilling scenario: This Is What a Nuclear Bomb Looks Like If America is attacked, (and) the strike probably won’t come from North Korea. And it will be even scarier than we imagine. "‘mother of all bombs’."
Waiting on the ranked-choice voting results here in Maine. With a high number of candidates it will take some time to know the answer for the Democrats. Wondering how this will play out long term since 'we' are so used to getting election results early or within hours of polls closing...with a result drawn out over days it may frustrate future voters. Hope not.
There are some who say whatever you may think about how Trump handled this connection with Kim, it is an outstanding accomplishment. Some compare this opening to Nixon's China opening. There are others, of course, who parse the details of this summit with alarm. Last night Rachel did a bang up job (see above) of reminding us that China and Russia–-the border buds–-have a whole lot of skin in this game. Evan Osnos (New Yorker) agrees:
THE BIGGEST WINNER AT THE U.S. N.K. SUMMIT: CHINA
https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-biggest-winner-at-the-us-north-korea-summit-china
"From Trump's perspective, the encounter with Kim was an end in itself. For those who bear the consequences of his words and actions, this is just the beginning."
While Trump continues to destroy and defile the United States in service of his own greed and the demands of antagonistic foreign powers, his enablers bat their eyes at him and swoon over each anti-democratic outrage and unconstitutional excess. It’s as if supporters in the Roman senate, watching Nero strumming his lyre after torching the city, cheered for an encore.
Here's a story that caught my eye: rural schools in Wisconsin are forced to close. These districts are small–-town population under a thousand, if that. Young people leave after graduation and never come back because there's nothing to come back to, job wise, unless you are into dairy farming or other small enterprises. This NYT's piece illustrates the fissure this creates within the communities which produces divisions within friendships and above all hardships for the children and their education.
This may not be as news worthy as what we daily grabble with but it is another example of a big problem in our rural communities; when it comes to voting which way do they lean?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/13/us/arena-wisconsin-schools-empty.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
@PD Pepe: This is why Wisconsin voted for Trump -- people are terribly upset about having to give up a way of life their families may have lived for generations. Trump tapped into this even this weekend when he renewed his whiny-baby fight with Trudeau over Canadian dairy protections (the U.S. produces way more dairy products than we consume -- remembrances of "That's nacho cheese!" [If you don't know the joke, don't ask. It's kinda racist]).
There really isn't a good retort to nostalgia. We feel what we feel, & it's not nuts to want to stay in one's comfort zones. The future is always scary, especially so when an essential part of it will lie in unknown territory. Look at coal miners. They have HORRIBLE, dangerous jobs, but they're clinging to those horrible, dangerous jobs even while Democrats -- like Hillary Clinton -- try to show them, & their children, a way out. It's easy to see right-wing resistance in all kinds of negative terms, including the limitations of winger imaginations -- but I'm afraid a lot of us want our blankies, even when the blankies are so threadbare they no longer provide real warmth.
I think maybe the most important part of a college education is the going-away part: a young person who has to quickly learn to navigate a completely new environment is already on his way out of the old one. Although I certainly support community colleges, & I get that many students have no choice but to be stay-at-home college students, I really think it does help to get out of Dodge. Joining the military can have the same effect. I think the U.S. became the world leader precisely because so many young men entering their most productive years had done remarkable things far, far from home. After serving in a chaotic world war waged in strange lands, it was much easier for them to try new things at home.
I remember watching a 2008 exchange between John McCain & a New Hampshire voter who was faulting McCain for not backing some road-to-nowhere good-old-days policy. "Wouldn't you rather your son had a better job than you do?" McCain asked the voter. The voter had no answer. That's a hard proposition to say "no" to, but for that voter, the real answer was "no": he wanted his offspring to follow in his footsteps, to have the "opportunity" to replicate his hard-scrabble experiences in the New Hampshire hinterlands. If that voter is still around, you can bet he enthusiastically voted for Trump in 2016.
Quote of the Week: So many to choose from, but this has got to be classic: (DiJiT, of course, speaking of NK nuc))
"... once you start the process, it means its pretty much over."
Most of the red state DiJiT voters are supposed to be "hard-working" Americans, which if true means that they know that starting means jack, its finishing that counts. And an old project aphorism is that the first 90% of the job takes 90% of the time and work, and the last 10% takes the other 90% of time/work.
Those voters have done so well in wallowing DiJiT's other bullshit, I wonder of they can swallow this obvious crap. They probably will just ignore it without swallowing ... yeah, that feels better ...
@Patrick: On being Donald Trump. What you say is true in the real world of "'hard-working' Americans," but not if you're Donald Trump. I suspect his experience in Singapore was exactly like his experiences in every "negotiation" throughout his glorious business career: (1) Trump gets an idea for a new project, which may or may not be a good idea & may or may not be one he got from somebody else. (2) He gets other people -- Michael Cohen, Mike Pompeo -- to lay all the groundwork for a deal to accomplish the project, set up a negotiating framework, etc. (3) Trump breezes into a meeting, shakes some hands & says some stuff & breezes out. The stuff he says may help or harm his prospects. (4) His flacks and/or the other parties to the deal clean up after him. (5) No matter how things worked out, Trump believes (a) he did a fantastic job beating down the other parties, or (b) he did a fantastic job, but they treated him "very unfairly." (6) Others do all the actual work of completing the project, whether it be a building or a typical Trump business scam. (7) Trump poses for a picture. (8) Trump sues people involved in the project and/or they sue him.
So when Trump says, "... once you start the process, it means it's pretty much over," for him, & for him alone, that is true, at least till he gets to the lawsuit part. (In the N.K. "process," of course, the consequences are likely to be far worse than a lawsuit.) His participation in every "process" is fairly minimal.
@BeaMcCrab: Excellent and insightful explanation in your response to PD (and the rest of us)! People are resistant to change and it is hard to change those mindsets.
When I was growing up, coal mining was still a big thing in northeastern Pennsylvania. In our home we had a coal furnace requiring delivery of a few tons of anthracite per year as did many of our neighbors. Then along came cheap electricity and everyone switched to a cleaner and more comfortable option. Alas, this contributed to the demise of coal mining in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area.
But, along came manufacturing (jobs mainly for the women) but plants sprang up throughout the counties...clothing was supplied for retailers in NYC and throughout the country, to the military, etc. So there was a recovery. Major brand names and designers had their clothing lines produced there and life was better again.
Then one day a store named Walmart opened. It was an instant success in the area. Wow! The deals! The savings! as those workers rushed to shop there for shirts, skirts, blouses and pants—Made in China or elsewhere in the Far East.
Plants began to shutter. I can’t say I know of any major
manufacturers from that area who are still in business today.
Those job opportunities are gone.
Yet, there are those in the area who still think...coal might come back. Manufacturing might come back. That the tooth fairy might really exist.
Funnily enough, as far as I have progressed in my own life, I confess to being stymied by my GD iPhone and keep stumbling through propelling myself into this technologically-challenging 21st Century. Too many decades have passed and as I look back it is astounding how much things around us have changed. Once prominent brand names and companies are gone. Just last week it was reported that Lord & Taylor will be gone from Fifth Avenue. B. Altman was shuttered decades ago. Bonwit Teller gone. Franklin Simon gone. Alexander’s gone. and so on and so on. But what really blew me away was learning that the last of the prairie schooners probably rolled off the production line in my toddler years! (Probably lasted that long to supply the dude ranches).
Recently, I got a loaner car while mine was in for service. It was electric and the driving experience left me feeling unnerved. Damn! I want a gear shift in the middle with my bucket seats, not all this LED dashboard/console junk that I haven’t a clue as to what to press or move or speak to. I ask myself, “...is this dinosaur ready for all the AI stuff coming my way?” Which is like most of those stuck-in-the-mud others who can't see the handwriting on the wall. Things will never be the same. Families won’t work for the same company generation after generation as in the past. Wake up!
OK. I'll stop. I'm over my Akhilleus word-limit!
To sum up these excellent posts in another tone. "Light bulb, airplane, radio. More functional change to adapt to in one century than the previous million years. Easy for some but not for all. Your boss is a really smart black guy? Are you sure? To be fair I have never met a black person. I have a special relationship with God."
Or to sum it up again. 'Reality? That is what is in my head.'
Here's a WaPo article that his staffers will never show DiJiT.
Washington went nuts this week over the Caps' taking the Stanley Cup, and yesterday's downtown victory parade caused many to ride Metro (the subway) to join in. It was also a workday, so most Metro commuters also boarded. The ridership was big, but not biggest.
The Park Service doesn't count crowds anymore, since around the time of the "Million Man March" in the 90's. So Metro ridership has become a way for local news to gauge event attendance.
So here's the point: Obama's first inauguration remains far and away the largest event on the "Top Ten" attendance records.
The DiJiT inauguration does not even make the list.
Maybe his attendees took stretch limos instead of the subway.
Regarding Melania's disappearance: whatever it was caused her to lose about 20 pounds. She looked thin and awful at the charity lunch - her first public appearance. Surgery could do that, but so could chemotherapy. anorexia? bulimia? i have no idea, but her clothes, usually so form fitting, were loose, almost baggy on her. She was perfectly made up, but she did not look well.
The bar is so low for Trump. "At least a nuclear bomb is not flying over as we speak" is the most popular sentiment I have heard since the end of the summit.
I have wondered if Melania has had a nervous breakdown. This is not a criticism, just thought this was an explanation for her absences, silence, and appearance. She is clearly not a willing or prepared FLOTUS, unlike Ivanka who would happily "shoot someone on Fifth Avenue" for the chance to improve her brand presence. This latest absence has coincided with intense publicity around trump's affairs, and Melania's "modelling" pics resurfacing around the internet.
Cheap joke, I know, but my wife and I were in the mood. Some of you may be, too.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/6/13/1771644/-Triple-Crown-Winner-Won-t-Visit-White-House?detail=emaildkre