The Commentariat -- June 16, 2018

*****

** Kathryn Watson of CBS News: "President Trump declared in a spur-of-the-moment interview with 'Fox and Friends' Friday morning that he wants people to sit at attention for him like they do for North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.... Kim stands accused of leading a murderous regime that starves its own people. But Mr. Trump has heaped praise on Kim since meeting with him in Singapore, saying repeatedly that the two have 'good chemistry.' 'Hey, he is the head of a country and I mean he is the strong head,' Mr. Trump told Fox News' Steve Doocy on the White House lawn Friday. 'Don't let anyone think anything different. H speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same.' Pressed by a reporter about those remarks moments later, Mr. Trump said he was 'kidding.' 'I'm kidding, you don't understand sarcasm,' the president said." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. ...

     ... Mrs. McC: I don't think Trump was kidding, & -- rather than insult a reporter, as Trump did -- I'm going to assume the reporter does understand sarcasm, AND s/he can tell when Trump isn't kidding. ...

What makes Trump's comments so disturbing is that they reveal a president who believes in projecting American power but not American values -- he believes in might but not right. --Amy Zegart of Stanford University ...

... "Dictator Envy." Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "President Trump's praise Friday for Kim Jong Un's authoritarian rule in North Korea -- and his apparent envy that people there 'sit up at attention' when the 35-year-old dictator speaks -- marked an escalation of the American president's open embrace of totalitarian leaders around the world.... Whether jesting or not, no U.S. president has been as free in his admiration of dictators and absolute power as the 45th, historians say. And Trump's interest in the subject seems to be growing as he becomes better acquainted with some of the world's authoritarian leaders.... Trump earlier this week declared the media to be 'our country's biggest enemy,' and he has repeatedly voiced his desire to punish journalists who air criticisms of him. Trump remarked during his Singapore trip about how positive a female news anchor was toward Kim on state-run North Korean television, and he joked that even Trump-friendly Fox News was not as lavish in its praise. Trump condoned violence against protesters during his campaign rallies and as president has encouraged jailing his political opponents and perceived enemies...." ...

Using ... language like 'the enemy of the people' -- it-s a Stalin phrase.... What he has done is begun to stress these norms and stress them constantly, and people become inured to it. I've seen this play out in Turkey, and that's how this stuff gets normalized. And after a while, people say, OK, that's the way it is. -- Eric Edelman, Dubya's ambassador to Turkey ...

... Edward-Isaac Dovere of Politico: "... Donald Trump reliably tells the truth on one thing: He likes the way dictators do business.... He's spent the three years -- to the day -- since riding down that escalator in Trump Tower demanding loyalty, fantasizing about torture, dividing the country into 'followers' and enemies.... He stocks his staff with supplicants and family members, then pits them against one another to watch them fight for his favor in a nonstop West Wing soap opera.... Political enemies should be investigated and jailed, Trump says. He'll pardon whom he wants to, whomever gets his attention by running to a Fox News set. He blames it on a justice system he undercuts.... If you're offended, Trump and his aides say, if you disagree, if you want an explanation, you're either an idiot or not a patriot."

     ... Trumplomacy. Bob Fredericks of the New York Post: "... Donald Trump stunned his fellow world leaders at the G7 meeting when he said he would ship '25 million' Mexicans to Japan, which would result in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe losing his next election. During the gathering in Quebec -- which ended with Trump leaving early and refusing to sign the traditional joint communique -- the president was talking about what he called Europe's immigration problem when he turned his attention to the Japanese leader. 'Shinzo, you don't have this problem, but I can send you 25 million Mexicans and you'll be out of office very soon,' Trump said, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a senior EU official who was in the room. The commander-in-chief also raised eyebrows when the subject turned to Iran and terrorism. 'You must know about this, Emmanuel, because all the terrorists are i Paris,' he told French President Emmanuel Macron. 'A sense of irritation with Mr. Trump could be felt, but everyone tried to be rational and calm,' the official told the paper."

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: It's obvious Trump finds it in his interest to antagonize democratic allies & cozy up to dictators and enemies (tho the China tariffs don't fit this pattern). There's an end game in the man's mind. I don't know exactly what it is, but I know it's not good. ...

     ... So This Is Funny. John Bowden of the Hill: "President Trump on Friday tweeted photos of himself meeting with world leaders at last weekend's G-7 summit, accusing news outlets of reporting incorrectly that he has a negative relationship with world leaders. In a string of tweets, the president posted photographs showing him smiling alongside world leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and French president Emmanuel Macron at the summit. 'I have a great relationship with Angela Merkel of Germany, but the Fake News Media only shows the bad photos (implying anger) of negotiating an agreement - where I am asking for things that no other American President would ask for!' Trump tweeted." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Remember the Magnitsky Act? That's the U.S. law under which the U.S. has sanctioned Russians for human rights violations. Congress initiated the act specifically because of the the death of Russian tax accountant Sergei Magnitsky in a Moscow prison in 2009, but extended it to apply to any foreign government officials who commit abuses. Donnie Junior made the act well-known when news reports revealed that Junior had called a Trump Tower meeting to get dirt from Russia on Hillary Clinton but was disappointed when the Russian reps wanted to talk only about ending the sanctions imposed against Russian oligarchs under the Magnitsky Act. Well, last year, Canada passed its own Magnitsky law, with similar provisions. ...

     ... AND NOW, guess what? ...

     ... Poetic Justice. Rebecca Samuels of the pluralist: "Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said Tuesday that she is open to using a law normally reserved for leaders responsible for human rights violations to impose retaliatory sanctions on the Trump Administration. Those sanctions could target the administration itself rather than the American people. The Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act, also known as the Magnitsky law, would allow Ottowa to impose travel bans and asset freezes on foreign leaders. Regina-Lewvan MP Erin Weir proposed the measure during a Question Period with Freeland earlier this week. Weir noted that the law might be particularly useful because Trump has 'made himself vulnerable' by maintaining personal business interests." ...

... Peter Baker & Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump went on offense on Friday with a withering series of attacks on the F.B.I., congressional Democrats, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Canada's prime minister, football players, the media, the special counsel and other favorite targets even as he hailed his relations with the leaders of North Korea, China and Russia. After a couple of days out of sight following his trip to Singapore to meet with North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, Mr. Trump delivered a blizzard of pointed messages on Twitter, gave an interview to his preferred Fox News show and then engaged in a typically freewheeling encounter with reporters on the White House driveway.... The ]Justice Department IG's] report, he said, exposed what he called 'the scum on top' of the F.B.I. as 'total thieves,' and he insisted that Peter Strzok, a senior F.B.I. agent who had spoken privately against him, should be fired. 'They were plotting against my election,' he said. When it was pointed out that the report actually found that no decisions were made out of political bias, he dismissed the conclusion.... [In his Fox News interview, he said,] 'If you read the I.G. report, I've been totally exonerated.' But the report dealt only with the handling of the investigation into Mrs. Clinton and did not address allegations against Mr. Trump and his campaign related to contacts with Russia during the election and possible obstruction of justice after he took office." Read on, if you haven't had lunch. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

... Evan Hurst of Wonkette highlights some more of Trump's Friday morning whoppers. ...

... AND Linda Qiu of the New York Times has a detailed fact-check of the lies Trump told during his Fox "News" interview.

Jill Abramson of the Guardian: "Reading ... the IG report and the lawsuit [against the Trump Foundation, et al.], fills any sane person with the deepest regret that Donald Trump is president. This is a tragedy that could have been prevented, according to my reading of the Justice Department's report. And anyone needing more evidence that Trump lacks the moral or ethical moorings to be president need only peruse the New York lawsuit eviscerating the Trump Foundation. Despite his sanctimony, his best-selling book and his claims to martyrdom after Trump fired him, James Comey is a singular villain. Though the IG report states that he had no political motive in doing so, he upended the 2016 election and all but destroyed Clinton's candidacy.... The inescapable conclusion of the report is that the FBI under Comey was a ship of fools." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort will await his trial for foreign lobbying crimes from jail. Two weeks after Robert Mueller's prosecutors dropped new accusations of witness tampering on him, a federal judge Friday revoked Manafort's current bail, which allowed him out on house arrest. Judge Amy Berman Jackson's order marks an end to months of attempts from Manafort to lighten his house arrest restrictions after he was charged and pleaded not guilty to foreign lobbying violations." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... The New York Times story, by Sharon LaFraniere, is here. "Mr. Trump and members of his team lashed out against the judge's move, an attack that renewed talk about whether the president might issue pardons to curb a prosecutorial process in the special counsel's Russia inquiry that he describes as stacked against him. 'Wow, what a tough sentence for Paul Manafort, who has represented Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole and many other top political people and campaigns,' Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter on Friday in which he appeared to confuse the judge's action with a sentence handed down after conviction. 'Didn't know Manafort was the head of the Mob. What about Comey and Crooked Hillary and all of the others? Very unfair!' Rudolph W. Giuliani ... said in an interview that Mr. Trump should not pardon anyone while the special counsel inquiry is still going on, but 'when the investigation is concluded, he's kind of on his own, right?'... Mr. Trump has sought to distance himself from Mr. Manafort, who worked for his campaign for nearly five months, including three months as campaign chairman, before he was ousted in August 2016 amid controversy over his Ukraine work. 'Mr. Manafort worked for me for a very short period of time,' the president said on Friday morning. 'He worked for me, what, for 49 days or something?' he added." ...

... MEANWHILE. Kara Scannell of CNN: "... Donald Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen has indicated to family and friends he is willing to cooperate with federal investigators to alleviate the pressure on himself and his family, according to a source familiar with the matter.Cohen has expressed anger with the treatment he has gotten from the President, who has minimized his relationship with Cohen, and comments from the President's lawyer Rudy Giuliani, the source said. The treatment has left him feeling isolated and more open to cooperating, the source said. Asked by reporters Friday if he was worried about Cohen cooperating, Trump said, 'I did nothing wrong, nothing wrong.' He also said he hasn't spoken with Cohen 'in a long time,' adding, 'I always liked Michael and he's a good person.'" ...

... Tucker Higgins of CNBC: "Federal investigators were able to piece together about 16 pages of shredded documents seized during a raid on President Donald Trump's former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, a court filing Friday revealed. Prosecutors also now have been able to read more than 700 pages of messages and call logs from the encrypted communication platforms WhatsApp and Signal."

Jeff Horwitz of the AP: "A company run by former officials at Cambridge Analytica, the political consulting firm brought down by a scandal over how it obtained Facebook users' private data, has quietly been working for ... Donald Trump's 2020 re-election effort.... The AP confirmed that at least four former Cambridge Analytica employees are affiliated with Data Propria, a new company specializing in voter and consumer targeting work similar to Cambridge Analytica's efforts before its collapse. The company's former head of product, Matt Oczkowski, leads the new firm, which also includes Cambridge Analytica's former chief data scientist.... In [a] conversation, which took place in a public place and was overheard by two AP reporters, Oczkowski said he and Trump's 2020 campaign manager, Brad Parscale, were 'doing the president's work for 2020.'... Both Oczkowski and Parscale told the AP that no Trump re-election work by Data Propria was even planned...."

White House Concedes Trump Has No Idea What He's Talking about. Thomas Kaplan & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "Conflicting messages from President Trump and his aides over whether he would support a compromise immigration bill sent House Republicans into fits of confusion on Friday, further diminishing the bill's fortunes ahead of a showdown vote next week. Speaker Paul D. Ryan is planning to hold votes on two immigration measures: a hard-line conservative bill, which is almost certain to fail, and new legislation worked out by Republican immigration moderates and House conservatives, which Mr. Ryan promoted Thursday as a 'very good compromise.' But a day of White House drama left Republicans unsure of where the president stood, and uncertainty will not help legislation that would bring sweeping change to the United States' immigration system. On Friday morning, Mr. Trump seemed to casually dismiss the delicate compromise. 'I'm looking at both of them,' Mr. Trump said on 'Fox and Friends.' 'I certainly wouldn't sign the more moderate one.' Senior aides in the White House quietly insisted that the president had misspoken, but it took hours for the White House to say that out loud. Finally, early Friday evening, Raj Shah, a White House spokesman, issued a statement pledging Mr. Trump's support for the compromise bill as well as for the hard-line measure...." ...

... Colleen Long of the AP: "Nearly 2,000 children have been separated from their families at the U.S. border over a six-week period during a crackdown on illegal entries, according to Department of Homeland Security figures obtained Friday by The Associated Press.... Under a 'zero tolerance' policy announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Department of Homeland Security officials are now referring all cases of illegal entry for criminal prosecution. U.S. protocol prohibits detaining children with their parents because the children are not charged with a crime and the parents are. Sessions announced the effort April 6, and Homeland Security began stepping up referrals in early May, effectively putting the policy into action." ...

... ** Trump Vows to Continue to Use Traumatized Children as Bargaining Chips. Michael Scherer & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "President Trump has calculated that he will gain political leverage in congressional negotiations by continuing to enforce a policy he claims to hate -- separating immigrant parents from their young children at the southern border, according to White House officials. On Friday, Trump suggested he would not change the policy unless Democrats agreed to his other immigration demands, which include funding a border wall, tightening the rules for border enforcement and curbing legal entry. He also is intent on pushing members of his party to vote for a compromise measure that would achieve those long-standing priorities. Trump's public acknowledgment that he was willing to let the policy continue as he pursued his political goals came as the president once again blamed Democrats for a policy enacted and touted by his own administration. 'The Democrats are forcing the breakup of families at the Border with their horrible and cruel legislative agenda,' he tweeted. After listing his demands in any immigration bill, he added, 'Go for it! WIN!'"

So Much Winning!

Don Lee & Jonathan Kaiman of the Los Angeles Times: "China on Wednesday matched dollar for dollar the Trump administration's plan to slap tariffs on $50 billion of imported Chinese goods, issuing its own list of U.S. products of comparable value that would be subject to hefty duties should the White House follow through with its tough trade sanctions. Beijing's swift and broad retaliatory response at first seemed to confirm fears that the world's two largest economies were hurtling toward a trade war that would be costly for consumers and companies, and damage the global economy. Anxious U.S. businesses pleaded for cooler heads, and investors panicked. But after sinking sharply when markets opened Wednesday, U.S. stocks not only recovered, but the Dow ended the day up 231 points. The rebound followed assurances by White House officials that despite President Trump's sharp rhetoric and threats, chances are good that the tit-for-tat trade salvos will end in settlement rather than much further escalation." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Trump Says It's All Good. Heather Long of the Washington Post: "President Trump's decision Friday to put hefty tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese products means costs are going up for a lot of goods. A tariff is another word for a tax, and Trump just announced significant new taxes on 1,102 items.... Americans will almost certainly face higher costs as companies pay more for parts they need to build cars, dishwashers and tractors, and then firms turn around and pass those higher prices onto consumers. All of Trump's tariffs so far -- on China, on steel and aluminum, on washing machines and on solar panels -- will end up costing the average U.S. family $80 a year, Moody's Analytics estimates.... If Trump continues to pile tariffs on China (he has threatened to do another $100 billion) and China retaliates, then the cost to the average family would rise to $210, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs has also forecast rising prices from the tariffs. The [right-wing] Tax Foundation, a think tank that supported Trump's tax law, predicts that more than 45,000 jobs will be lost because of the tariffs Trump has issued so far. They also forecast a small hit to the economy and wages.... Trump is calling on Americans to pay higher prices for a while because he thinks it will be worth it if he gets concessions from China and the E.U.... Trump is arguing it will be worth it in the end.... In a rally in late April in Michigan, he told supporters to be prepared for 'a little pain' in this fight with China and the European Union." ...

... Trump & Co. Are Making $$ & You're Not. Jeff Stein & Andrew van Dam of the Washington Post: "The average hourly wage paid to a key group of American workers has fallen from last year when accounting for inflation, as an economy that appears strong by several measures continues to fail to create bigger paychecks, the federal government said Tuesday. For workers in 'production and nonsupervisory' positions, the value of the average paycheck has declined in the past year.... This pool of workers includes those in manufacturing and construction jobs, as well as all 'nonsupervisory' workers in service industries such health care or fast food. The group accounts for about four-fifths of the privately employed workers in America, according to BLS.... The fall in those wages has alarmed some economists, who say paychecks should be getting fatter at a time when unemployment is low and businesses are hiring.... The falling wages promise to exacerbate historic levels of U.S. inequality.... Gains are going almost exclusively to people already at the top of the economic ladder, economists say."

Now This Is a Rigged System. Maggie Severns of Politico: "The FEC will not investigate ... Donald Trump's political campaign for enriching his businesses after considering a complaint from a liberal watchdog group, which alleged that Trump's boasting about his hotels and use of his private jets constituted a violation of campaign law. The agency released its decision Friday, two years after the complaint was filed during the 2016 primaries, when then-candidate Trump plugged Trump-branded wine, steaks and golf courses during political events and held press conferences at Trump properties. The complaint from American Democracy Legal Fund alleged that represented a use of campaign funds to further Trump's business and personal interests in violation of campaign finance law. Additional complaints alleged that Trump had 'charged his own campaign significantly more money' for events than he had charged others for similar events. But the FEC dismissed the complaints on a 3-1 vote, with Democratic commissioner Ellen Weintraub dissenting, after the agency's general counsel recommended against moving forward." Mrs. McC: The FEC has only four commissioners, although it is supposed to have six, with no more than three from one party. The three who voted to forget about Trump's money-making campaign endeavors are all Republicans appointed by Dubya.

Friday in Scott Pruitt Scandals. Eric Lipton, et al., of the New York Times: "Senior staff members at the Environmental Protection Agency frequently felt pressured by Scott Pruitt, the administrator, to help in personal matters and obtain special favors for his family, according to interviews with four current and former E.P.A. officials who served as top political aides to Mr. Pruitt. The officials said that Mr. Pruitt, who 'had a clear sense of entitlement,' in the words of one of them, indicated that he expected staff members' assistance with matters outside the purview of government, including calling on an executive with connections in the energy industry to help secure tickets to a sold-out football game in January at the Rose Bowl. The aides said the administrator ... had also made it clear that he had no hesitation in leveraging his stature as a cabinet member to solicit favors himself. As an example, Mr. Pruitt, shortly after taking the E.P.A. job, reached out to the former speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates seeking help for his daughter, McKenna, in securing admission to the University of Virginia School of Law. William Howell, the former speaker, appears on Mr. Pruitt's official E.P.A. calendar, and he confirmed in an interview that he was approached by Mr. Pruitt and subsequently wrote a letter to the school's dean on the daughter's behalf.... Separately, at least three E.P.A. staff members were dispatched to help Ms. Pruitt obtain a summer internship at the White House, the current and former staff members said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... But Pruitt still has Trump's support. (Also linked yesterday.)

Stephanie Nebehay of Reuters: "Talks with the United States over how to reform the main U.N. rights body have failed to meet Washington's demands, activists and diplomats say, suggesting that the Trump administration will quit the Geneva forum whose session opens on Monday. A U.S. source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the withdrawal appeared to be 'imminent' but had no details. Diplomatic sources said it was not a question of if but of when the United States retreats from the Human Rights Council, which is holding a three-week session through July 6.... Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, publicly told the Council a year ago that Washington might leave the body unless a 'chronic anti-Israel bias' were removed." Mrs. McC: Isn't the real reason we're pulling out that the Trump administration doesn't care about human rights?

Simon Romero of the New York Times: "Tensions flared on Friday between federal authorities in Arizona and residents of a Native American reservation straddling the border with Mexico after a video surfaced in which a Border Patrol vehicle appears to hit a man from the tribe before driving away. The video, which was recorded on the phone of the victim, a member of the Tohono O'odham Nation identified as Paulo Remes, spread quickly on social media after several tribe members and Indivisible Tohono, an organization focused on the impact of border policies, posted the footage on Twitter and Facebook.... He told The Arizona Daily Star that he was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment of injuries from the incident.... The ... Border Patrol said in a statement that it was 'actively investigating' the incident." Mrs. McC: Includes video, which is awful. The driver appears to purposely run down Mr. Remes.

Reed Abelson of the New York Times: "Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced founder of Theranos, the lab testing company that promised to revolutionize health care, and its former president, Ramesh Balwani, were indicted on Friday on charges of defrauding investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars as well as deceiving hundreds of patients and doctors. The criminal charges were the culmination of a rarity in Silicon Valley -- federal prosecution of a technology start-up. This one boasted a board stacked with prominent political figures and investors, and a startling valuation of $9 billion just a few years ago."

Comments

[safari]

Lewandoski appears to be making cash trying to gin up separatist forces in the Balkans, alongside other former Trump officials, and in line with Moscow's meddling.

https://thinkprogress.org/these-trump-campaign-officials-are-causing-trouble-in-bosnia-2873f3e205c4/

Sure, great, let's foment a few authoritarian separatists with a past of genocidal violence, and then see how we can make some cash after the fallout... I can't help but thinking the forces of evil in this world are getting stronger by the day. And Republicans are a major mobilizing source for this evil.

What in the fuck is going on with the our country? It seems the Trump-led GOP has just openly embraced the dark side worldwide. The headlines of the most well-respected newspapers across the world are highlighting Trump's obvious dictator envy, and the GOP and its electorate just sits back, and smiles. Cheering the bonfire, in between propaganda and conspiracy theories.

And lies. And lies. And lies. And lies.

[Bobby Lee]

as for lies, why aren't Democrats loudly and constantly denouncing the lie that Democrats are responsible for the separation of families?

Crickets.

[PD Pepe]

@safari: It's uncanny that those "lies, lies lies" that are reported as such don't seem to deter HIM from continuing with a litany of even more lies. I find this so bizarre. Yesterday when Trump was doing his walk-about and answering questions (lying) from reporters, we heard from one reporter who asked twice, "Why are you lying?" but his voice was barely audible and of course, Trump, if he did hear hear it, ignored it.

The story today that really gets under my skin is the possibility of the Trump administration pulling out of the Geneva forum because, as Niki Haley proclaimed a year ago that Washington might leave the body unless a "chronic anti-Israel bias" was removed. This is almost laughable, as though there isn't reason enough to harbor that bias. Besides their treatment of the Palestinians, the Israeli government has recently begun deporting asylum seekers from Sudan and Eritrea. Close to 40,000 were scheduled for deportation or, if they refused to go, for open-ended incarceration in miserable conditions. The government was ready to pay the governments of Rwanda and Uganda to take these people but when it was made clear that what awaited these people would be horrible outcomes (both countries cited here are engulfed in nightmarish violence) they were forced to change that plan. Most of these refugees have been in Israel for close to ten years. Hebrew is now their language–-their children go to Israeli schools; except for citizenship, these people are Israelis.

The cognitive dissonance that arises from watching a Jewish state, founded by refugees fleeing from lethal oppression, sending tens of thousands of desperate African refugees to an unknown and precarious fate, is something that might have something to do with that "chronic bias."

Looks to me as if Bibi and our Big Boy here are in sync in more ways than both being despicable human beings. Our big boy dumps a load on our justice system while Bibi and his Jewish Home cabal are trying to get a bill passed to bypass the High Court's decision to let half of the refugees remain in Israel while others would be absorbed by western democracies. Like Trump, Bibi agreed to this and the next day changed his mind.

Here is what Michael Stard, author of "The Wall and the Gate..." a battle for human rights, said re: this issue:

"The only explanation that I can find for the deportation [of the Africans] is that they have brown skin... Everything about the asylum seekers story and about Jewish history should lead to the conclusion that we are the first among nations that should have embraced them."

I included this quote because it pertains to us–-the country of immigrants––our country tis of thee––welcoming ––protecting–- and is now, like Israel, turning our back, shutting our doors, and losing our soul.

[PD Pepe]

P.S. almost forgot to mention what a kick it is to have a biblical scholar in our midst. Marie's explanation of the Session's quote was most instructive and enlightening. I thank her bigly!

[Akhilleus]

The barrage of vitriol, hatred, and lies from the White House will never stop. Why? It works. Trump didn’t invent this line of attack however. These strategies were developed, tested, and perfected by the Party of Traitors and their attack dogs in the media. Trump has just moved all of the dirty work out of the boiler room and onto the bridge of the ship. And that dirty work has two primary goals, to sow fear and chaos, to make Americans fearful not just of The Other, but of going against winger power structures, and to provide enough shifting sand under their feet so as to allow the most concrete, unassailable facts to be challenged and overwhelmed.

It works.

Why did Jim Comey go after Clinton for emails he knew were nothing to worry about while keeping his mouth shut about possible (and likely) collusion between Trump and the Russians?

Fear. Mr. Last Moral Man was scared down his boots that the right-wing attack dogs would come after him if he didn’t knuckle under to their demands to go after Clinton (again!) with the full force of the FBI. So he caved. And gave us the Trump Monster.

Fear won the day. And he counted on those ever shifting sands to cover enough of the truth so as to provide cover for his craven exercise in ass saving. He threw Clinton’s election chances into the fire in order to keep the animals from his own door.

Republican candidates for office have quickly learned the lesson. Trump it up or we will be coming for you.

It’s still working.

Where are the Democrats?

[PD Pepe]

"If the president of the United States is constantly lying, complaining that the independent press is responsible for fake news, calling for the withdrawal of licenses from television networks, publicly demanding jail sentences for political opponents, undermining the authority of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, magnifying social divisions, delegitimizing critics as “crooked” or “failing,” and even refusing, in violation of the law, to protect young children against the risks associated with lead paint—well, it’s not fascism,* but the United States has not seen anything like it before."

"With our system of checks and balances, full-blown authoritarianism is unlikely to happen here, but it would be foolish to ignore the risks that Trump and his administration pose to established norms and institutions, which help preserve both order and liberty. Those risks will grow if opposition to violations of long-standing norms is limited to Democrats, and if Republicans laugh, applaud, agree with, or make excuses for Trump—if they howl with the wolf."
Cass Sunstein

* Well, some of us here think it clearly smacks of it and Trump can certainly be called a fascist––or if that label is too stark, how about a "fast fucking fascist on the rise."

[Akhilleus]

Hey, Palestinian assholes, we're here to ram our peace plan up your ass!

Trumplomacy, Middle East style.

As with everything else Trumpy, the Grand Middle East Plan is being handled as if it's a zero sum game played with contractors he has over a barrel whom Trump feels he can squeeze and bully to accept ten cents on the dollar and be grateful they got that.

So here's how this is playing out so far (and mind you, Trump's "experts" haven't even met anyone yet and already they've pissed off the other side to the point of walking; but maybe that's the point...).

Trump is sending his crack Middle East negotiators, Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt to make another try for a Nobel prize. We all know how "qualified" Young Jared is. And Jason Greenblatt? I'm sure he has decades of experience handling delicate international negotiations in hot spots of the world, able to listen carefully to both sides and bring both to the table with deftness and aplomb.

Deafness and a bomb is more like it.

Right from the get go, Greenblatt decides that the best way to establish his bona fides as a peace negotiator is to insult the lead negotiator for the Palestinians, call him a liar, and say that he has no business sitting down at the table across from him and the Israelis. Way to go, Greenie. That'll show 'em.

So what, actually, are Greenblatt's qualifications for this job?

Remember, we're talking Trump here, right? C'mon, I know you know...Trump?....Peace?...important stuff requiring decades of experience?....C'mon...that's right....Greenblatt's qualifications?

NONE!

Of course!

He's a mucky muck in the Trump organization, meaning he's been a shit shoveler for the Orange Baboon his whole career. But never let that stop Trump from sending this loser to broker a peace deal with the Israelis and Palestinians.

So what more Trumpy way to start "negotiations" than to question the qualifications of the Palestinian guy and call him a fucking liar. Peace is in sight already!

From a Haaretz letter to the editor: "No respectable Palestinian official can take the advice Greenblatt doles out, basically calling on them to abandon their core positions – which Greenblatt dismissively refers to as 'talking points' – and accept President Trump’s delusional vision of the road to peace in which the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel created “a realistic basis for negotiations” and “economic peace” is mistakenly considered a sufficient substitute for Palestinian realization of the right to self-determination."

And the Palestinian president?

"Top U.S. diplomats heading to the Middle East to discuss their plan to settle the Israel-Palestinian conflict are wasting their time if they disregard previous Arab initiatives to reach peace, according to the spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas."

Those initiatives, carefully crafted by Palestinians are what Greenblatt refers to as "talking points".

But maybe, just maybe, none of these people are the least bit interested in peace or a better life for a single Palestinian. Maybe they're more interested in allowing Bibi to maintain the status quo. Meaning, all this stuff for Israel over here, and over there, a hole in the ground for the Palestinians.

But hey, I'm sure it's a very nice hole. And knowing Trump, he won't charge them more than 100% over current market rates. Hey, the guy has to make some profit, right?

Word Peace, the Trump Way.

[Akhilleus]

The Anti-Father

On this, the eve of Father's Day, a day set aside to acknowledge the role played by that member of the family, a role traditionally described as that of a guardian, a teacher, a mentor, a partner, a protector, it is instructive to consider the evil inversion and sick perversion of that role by a thug who demands that he be kowtowed to as the Father of All, the dictator patriarch to whom fealty, money, power, and the abasement of us all is required. He, of course, as is typical with Trump, is not required to provide a thing. There is no reciprocation. He is a taker and the conditions of the inhabitance of this role does not in any way modify that one-sided relationship.

The evil of this person (I will not promote him, ever, to the status of "man" for he is not a man. At least not one that I recognize; certainly not the type of man my father was, that I aspire to, and that I hope one day will describe my son) has become incarnate at so rapid a rate that it's hard to keep track of all the ways that evil has been inhaled by America since his illegitimate election and gaudy (if poorly attended) coronation.

The fact that he and his evil horde have torn families asunder, for the fun of it, makes an epic joke of how a father should act. We often call George Washington the father of our country, but not just because so much of our heritage stems from his actions in war and stewardship in peace. Washington, who, ironically, had no children of his own, offered a model for the generous, wise, humanitarian father, a role not determined by what was in it for himself, but what was best for the rest of America.

But Trump has become the evil anti-father, the philanderer, the cheater, the greedy, selfish, narcissistic, punishing, pain-instilling, chaos sowing, soul-killing patriarch. His treatment of immigrant children is exhibit one in his trial as a thoroughly evil person. The tearing apart of families is done purely to inflict as much pain as possible, and to gather up the dead rosebuds thrown by the white supremacists he courts. And anyone who tries to describe what's going on under his command in cautiously anodyne DC-speak journalese deserves perdition.

He is not just pandering to the white supremacist hordes who demand punishment for blacks and browns and see their children as little more than chattel. He likes it. He enjoys the pain of others. He and Sessions are operating off the old slave master's handbook, and using the Bible as cover for their crimes. Break up the family, crush the mother, the father, and the little children, shatter their souls and smash their wills. Make them subservient, and now and then, whip them. Just for the pure sadistic fun of it.

And as we see with so many of Trump's voters, the evil he so deliciously indulges in shouts to the devils of their worser nature. His racism, hatred, and thirst for violence encourage the worst, most damaging, inhuman instincts in his supporters. Just look at how ICE agents, freed from ethical, moral, or legal constraints, have taken to life under their new anti-father. Perhaps not all, but those whose inherent hatreds were previously kept under wraps are unleashing the dogs of racism and letting them howl.

The evil of Trump is so rampant and so overwhelming I can barely believe this is America. But this America has always been with us. We've just never had a president* who celebrated it with such relish.

And to make it worse, he is simply too much of a coward to acknowledge his own evil. He blames Democrats. He throws his hands up. "Oh geez, I wish I didn't have to tear these babies away from their mothers' breasts, but Obama is making me do it."

Not just evil, but cowardly and evil. A craven, vicious, blackhearted liar.

So, happy father's day to all the real men who take care of children and their families, who put themselves on the line every day, sometimes at great cost to themselves, who stand between their families and a hard, hard world (thanks, Dad, you were the best!).

For Trump and his evil, greedy, lying brood and his equally malicious supporters--for they are all accursed--go straight to hell.

[NiskyGuy]

On the plane today, the guy in middle seat asks me why I'm coming to Houston. "Going to fix a mistake" said I. Fellow in the window seat says "Shouldn't you be heading for Washington?" We all had a pleasant conversation.

[Akhilleus]

NiskyGuy,

Thanks, man. I needed a laugh. The maddening thing about all of this is that the Trump Monster does not have the popular support of Americans. What he does have is the support of certain voters, Russia, Fox, the winger echo chamber, supine congressional clowns, James Comey, Wikileaks, crooks, and, of course, white supremacists.

Had everyone able to exercise the franchise done so, there is no doubt that he'd now be wallowing in self-pity, trying to cobble together dirty money to ramp up TrumpTV, and looking for another porn star to bang.

The question at this juncture is will all decent Americans eligible to vote show up in both the midterms and in 2020 to kick this piece of shit out the door.

If so, we can all most definitely have an infinite number of pleasant conversations. And lots of laughs.

[RAS]

Now that Manafort is in jail will he finally flip? There has been much speculation about why he hasn't already turned on Trump. One reason that I have not seen is the idea of once a rat always a rat. If he is willing to sell out Trump who else might he rat on next for a few less years in prison. Manafort has been envolved in a lot of shady business over the years. Manafort probably has first hand knowledge of Putin's influence in Ukraine. And I don't think that warlords and shady oligarchs like people walking around with loose lips. He's probably more scared for himself (and his family) of all the criminals he's worked with than the US government.