;)
The Commentariat -- March 7, 2018
Afternoon Update:
Vikram Dodd, et al., of the Guardian: "The former Russian spy Sergei Skripal was deliberately poisoned with a nerve agent in a case that police are now treating as attempted murder, Scotland Yard's assistant chief commissioner has confirmed this afternoon. Mark Rowley said the police officer who was first to the spot where [Skripal & his daughter] were found in Salisbury on Sunday afternoon was now 'seriously ill' in hospital. His condition had deteriorated, Rowley said.... All three were suffering from 'exposure to a nerve agent'. Detectives now believed that Sergei and Yulia Skripal were specifically targeted, he added, in a deliberate act. The two victims are still critically ill in hospital."
Jeet Heer of the New Republic: "As dysfunctional as the White House is today, it likely will get worse because Trump is trapped in a vicious circle. His management style makes it difficult for him to hire and retain qualified people. This leads to an understaffed and relatively inexperienced White House, one prone to burnout and poor decision-making. And as more staffers leave, the fewer people remain to advise Trump responsibly and rein in his excesses. If this pattern continues, a trade war might seem tame compared to the wars an 'isolated and angry' Trump is willing to wage."
Louis Nelson of Politico: "... Donald Trump attacked the economic track record of his predecessors Wednesday morning, blaming presidents dating back nearly 30 years for accumulating the trade deficits that he has railed against and pledged to reverse. 'From Bush 1 to present, our Country has lost more than 55,000 factories, 6,000,000 manufacturing jobs and accumulated Trade Deficits of more than 12 Trillion Dollars,' the president wrote on Twitter. 'Last year we had a Trade Deficit of almost 800 Billion Dollars. Bad Policies & Leadership. Must WIN again! #MAGA'" ...
... Milan Schreuer of the New York Times: "European Union officials unveiled an array of tariffs on Wednesday that they would place on American-made goods if the United States followed through on President Trump's plan to impose penalties on imported steel and aluminum, raising the specter of a trade war. The announcement in Brussels was the latest rebuke to Mr. Trump's proposed tariffs, which have met with consternation domestically and with threats of retaliation abroad." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Capt Russ, in today's Comments thread has come up with a shockingly cynical -- and completely plausible -- theory of Trump Tariffs. In part: "Trump's threats to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum will be short-lived because they are just that, threats. The last-minute announcement of the tariffs is aimed at one audience - steelworkers - with aluminum thrown in as a distraction. More specifically, the target audience is steelworkers in Pennsylvania's 18th Congressional District, where a special election is scheduled for March 13th." ...
... Swampman. Sharon Lerner of The Intercept: "Among the people behind President Donald Trump's plan to impose steep tariffs on steel was Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. On February 16, Ross released a Commerce Department report finding that the amount of steel imported to the United States threatens 'to impair the national security.'... [T]he U.S. doesn't produce enough of it.... What's not mentioned in the report is that Ross, whose net worth is estimated at around $700 million, made a good chunk of that fortune [$2 billion in cash] selling U.S. steel companies to a foreign entity [India].... At the time of the ISG sale, the Washington Post noted that Ross was able to make a stunning 12-fold gain on his initial investment in part by not paying steel workers' pensions and retiree health care costs. But there was another way that Ross maximized his profits: by not putting up millions of dollars to ensure that the environmental messes associated with the plants he bought would be cleaned up." --safari
Kaitlan Collins & Dan Merica of CNN: President Trump "has emboldened Anthony Scaramucci, the boisterous former communications director who was fired after just 10 days, to continue attacking White House chief of staff John Kelly during his cable news appearances, a source familiar with the situation told CNN. ...
... Noor Al-Sibai of RawStory: "Despite publicly calling reports of White House turmoil 'fake news,' President Donald Trump has privately encouraged his former aide Anthony Scaramucci to attack his chief of staff John Kelly in the media. According to a source close to the matter that spoke with CNN, Trump condones his short-lived former communications director bad-mouthing the man that fired him last summer.... The report came just hours after Trump told reporters during a press conference that he enjoys conflict." --safari
Presidunce's Sexts. Josh Marshall of TPM: "[A]n attorney for Stormy Daniels posted a legal filing in which she asks a court to declare the 'hush agreement' between her and Donald Trump and his lawyer, Michael Cohen, to be null and void. But this rather sterile description doesn't do justice to what is contained in the filing.... [I]t focuses not so much on Stormy Daniels staying mum about a sexual relationship with Donald Trump but on 'certain still images and/or text messages which were authored by or relate to' Donald Trump. Let's put this baldly: Stormy appears to be saying she's got or had sexts and maybe even 'dick pics' from President Trump." --safari ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: If Stormy releases the dick pix, I promise not to post any of them here. But I will provide a link.
... Putin Puppet Makes "Very Good Impression." Vladimir Isachenkov of the AP: "Russian President Vladimir Putin lavished praise on ... Donald Trump, but added that he was sorely disappointed with the U.S. political system, saying that it has been 'eating itself up.' Speaking in a series of interviews with Russian state television which were included in a documentary released Wednesday, Putin described Trump as a great communicator. 'I have no disappointment at all,' Putin said when asked about the U.S. president. 'Moreover, on a personal level he made a very good impression on me.'"
The Plot Thickens. Suzanne Kianpour of BBC News: "The BBC has obtained leaked emails that show a lobbying effort to get US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson sacked for failing to support the United Arab Emirates against regional rival Qatar. Major Trump fundraiser and UAE-linked businessman Elliott Broidy met US President Donald Trump in October 2017 and urged him to sack Mr Tillerson, the emails reveal.... Mr Broidy's defence company Circinus has hundreds of millions of dollars worth of contracts with the UAE.... He emailed a detailed account of his meeting with the president to George Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman.... [Robert Mueller's] Investigators questioned Mr Nader and other witnesses on whether there were any efforts by the Emiratis to buy political influence by directing money to Mr Trump's presidential campaign.... Mr Broidy also detailed a separate sit-down with Mr Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, according to the emails." --safari ...
... Joe Romm of ThinkProgress: "[W]hile [Rex] Tillerson's qualifications to be secretary of state were minimal at best, he is just the kind of guy the Kremlin would want to see in the job. So how did he get picked?.... [A]s Mueller's investigation into possible collusion between Trump officials and Russia moves forward, Tillerson's nomination is begging for a closer look." --safari
What a Mess! Lisa Rein & Emily Wax-Thibodeaux of the Washington Post: "Veterans Affairs Secretary David J. Shulkin on Wednesday announced a sweeping overhaul of the senior leadership at troubled hospitals across the country following the release of a searing investigation into what the agency watchdog said were management failures that put patients at VA's flagship medical center in the District at risk. Shulkin said that one senior regional official has been reassigned and two others forced to retire to clean up the management of hospitals and clinics in the Washington area, New England, Phoenix and parts of California. And he said he is replacing leaders of about 20 medical centers across the country, including in Maryland and Virginia, after outside teams identified low-performing hospitals.... The personnel moves came as Shulkin tries to reassert control over the second-largest federal agency in the aftermath of a separate, critical report by Inspector General Michael J. Missal on a trip he took to Europe last summer. That report exposed deep factions in the agency's senior leadership ranks, with Shulkin claiming that political appointees on his staff are trying to oust him." ...
... Donovan Slack of USA Today: "Department of Veterans Affairs officials at nearly every level knew for years about sterilization lapses and equipment shortfalls at the Washington, D.C., VA Medical Center, but they were either unwilling or unable to fix the problems, an inspector general investigation found. The failures put patients at risk and squandered taxpayer dollars. Clinicians put patients under anesthesia before realizing they didn't have equipment to perform scheduled procedures. In some cases, they canceled and redid surgeries later. In others, they ran across the street to a private-sector hospital to borrow supplies midprocedure. Investigators found more than 1,000 boxes of unsecured documents that contained veterans' personal information -- including medical records -- in storage facilities, the basement and a dumpster. The hospital paid exorbitant amounts for supplies and equipment, including $300 per speculum it could have bought for $122 each, and $900 each for a special needle that was available for $250.... Investigators did not find evidence that VA Secretary David Shulkin or his top deputies had been informed of the problems. Shulkin fired the Washington medical center director last year after the inspector general issued an emergency preliminary report concluding patients were in imminent danger at the facility."
Mark Hand of ThinkProgress: "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is giving top officials permission to moonlight for private companies in their off-time, a practice that could conflict with their official duties at the federal agency. Two of the most prominent EPA officials currently under scrutiny are John Konkus, who serves as the EPA's deputy associate administrator for the Office of Public Affairs, and Patrick Davis, an EPA senior adviser.... Konkus received approval ... to work ... as a media consultant.... The EPA is refusing to disclose Konkus's clients, raising more questions about potential conflicts of interest with his official and outside work.... Davis, a ... former director of Trump's presidential campaign in Colorado .. .work[s] as the sales director for Telephone Town Hall Meeting, which does outreach for legislators and political campaigns.... Several current EPA political appointees have received approval...to engage in outside activity for compensation." --safari
Ben Carson Hates Black People. Amanda Terkel of the Huffington Post: "Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson is changing the mission statement of his agency, removing promises of inclusive and discrimination-free communities."
Shahien Nasiripour, et al., of Bloomberg: "Wells Fargo & Co. has emerged as the preferred financier for the U.S. gun industry. The bank has helped two of the biggest U.S. firearm and ammunition companies access $431.1 million in loans and bonds since December 2012, when the gun control debate gained steam after the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That puts it on the top of the list of banks arranging funding for gunmakers. Wells Fargo also has a long relationship with the National Rifle Association, inherited from banks that Wells took over. The San Francisco-based Wells Fargo created a $28 million line of credit for the NRA and operates the primary accounts for the pro-Second Amendment group, financial documents show." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I closed out my large account with Wells Fargo last year after publication of all those stories about WF's cheating its customers. I still have a small checking account. As soon as the snow melts from this latest Nor'easter, I'm closing that out, too.
Martin Cizmar of RawStory: "Texas Republicans are not taking the Democratic surge in the Lone Star State lightly.... Record turnout has apparently sent chills through Republicans in the state.... Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is accusing local school districts of 'electioneering,' by encouraging students to vote and bussing them to polls. Paxton, who survived an indictment for securities fraud when a judge dismissed the case, has said that students cannot be bussed to the polls on election day and issued cease-and-desist letters to the school districts.... He's also tried to ferret out opponents in those schools by filing records requests for 'all emails between superintendents and principals pertaining to voting,'" --safari
*****
Kate Kelly, et al., of the New York Times: "Gary D. Cohn, President Trump's top economic adviser, plans to resign, becoming the latest in a series of high-profile departures from the Trump administration, White House officials said on Tuesday. The officials insisted there was no single factor behind the departure of Mr. Cohn, who heads the National Economic Council. But his decision to leave came after he seemed poised to lose an internal struggle amid a Wild West-style process over Mr. Trump's plan to impose large tariffs on steel and aluminum imports." ...
... Cristiano Lima of Politico: "Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven cautioned that ...Donald Trump's plan to impose additional trade tariffs 'will hurt us all in the long run' during a White House summit on Tuesday.... In his first joint public appearance with the leader of a European Union member since announcing his plan for tariffs on aluminum and steel imports last week, Trump maintained that action was needed to address the 'very unfair trade situation' between the U.S. and other nations.... The Swedish leader ... stressed that his nation's wealth has been 'built on cooperation, competitiveness and free trade' -- not increased trade barriers. 'I am convinced that increased tariffs will hurt us all in the long run,' Löfven said during a bilateral press conference with Trump in the East Room of the White House." ...
... As top White House staff run for the exits, Trump sez ...
... A Pre-emptive Lie. Maegan Vazquez of CNN: "... Donald Trump rebuffed claims Tuesday that his White House is in chaos amid reports of high-profile departures and discord within the top ranks of the West Wing. 'The new Fake News narrative is that there is CHAOS in the White House. Wrong! People will always come & go, and I want strong dialogue before making a final decision,' Trump tweeted. 'I still have some people that I want to change (always seeking perfection). There is no Chaos, only great Energy!'" Mrs. McC: At the same time, Trump knew Cohn was on his way out the door. ...
... Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg: "... Donald Trump demanded economic adviser Gary Cohn's cooperation on tariffs in a meeting in the Oval Office Tuesday -- asking Cohn directly if he would support his decision to move forward with the plan. Cohn would not offer his support, according to two people familiar with the episode -- and just hours later, the White House announced Cohn's resignation." ...
... Back to Constant Chaos. Andrew Restuccia & Nancy Cook of Politico: "... with his resignation announcement Tuesday, [Gary] Cohn joins the long list of policy experts who have departed in recent months -- a brain drain that leaves the president with fewer people around him who know how to get policy made, and how to stop Trump from moving ahead with unworkable ideas. Some worry the White House could return to the uncontrolled days immediately following Trump's inauguration, when many West Wing jobs were still unfilled and former strategist Steve Bannon was writing executive orders with policy adviser Stephen Miller.... Cohn's resignation comes a month after staff secretary Rob Porter stepped down amid domestic abuse allegations. Porter, a Harvard Law graduate, had emerged as the White House's lead policy coordinator, corralling the president's often-divided advisers in a bid to reach consensus.... Porter had worked closely with Cohn to persuade Trump to narrow the tariffs.... Several other senior officials on the [National Economic Council] are separately weighing whether to step down in the coming weeks, according to multiple administration officials and outside advisers to the president." ...
... Mike Allen of Axios: "Cohn had planned to leave last week, according to ... sources. But then with the departure announcements by Hope Hicks and Josh Raffel, Cohn didn't want to pile on..., sources said.... The Trump White House is bleeding talent, losing a half dozen or more officials who helped advise and contain the president. Worse, warn several officials, there is little to no succession planning to quickly fill vacancies with top-flight talent. This leaves the Trump White House understaffed and devoid of the moderating forces that helped shape his first 14 months in office. What remains is a more pliant, nationalistic staff, one much more aligned with Trump on trade, immigration and other issues." ...
... Linda Qiu of the New York Times: "In defending his embrace of steep tariffs -- and in comments that seem to encourage a trade war -- President Trump has repeatedly claimed enormous trade imbalances, unfair practices and an international system that benefits everyone but the United States. But these claims are often overstated and contradicted by his own economic council. Here is a fact-check of recent comments that Mr. Trump has made on trade deficits, the World Trade Organization and tariffs." Trump's claims rate quite a few "exaggerated"s, one "partly true," a "misleading," a "confusing" and a "false." ...
... Greg Sargent looks at the larger picture & notes how the tariffs & other stunts "Trump is objectively putting other imperatives before the national interest.... And if the White House makes no serious good-faith effort to present an affirmative case for some of Trump's biggest agenda items; and if independent reporting shows that other factors are what really weighed on his decision-making -- such as his emotional state or his desire to please his base or his fear of appearing 'weak' 'at what point do we get to say that, broadly speaking, Trump is actually not operating out of any vision of what is good for the country?" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... As the Worm Turns. Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "House Speaker Paul Ryan said Tuesday that ... Donald Trump's proposed plan to impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imports should be 'more targeted' in order to prevent retaliation or 'collateral damage.'... On Monday, Ryan came out against the president's plan to apply duties of 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on aluminum."
This Russia Thing, Ctd.
Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Trump on Tuesday vowed to prevent Russia from interfering in this year's midterm elections, even as he claimed that Moscow had 'no impact' on the vote total during his run for president. 'You don't want your system of votes to be compromised in any way,' Trump said during a joint press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven. 'We won't allow that to happen. We will counteract it very strongly.'" Mrs. McC: We have learned, of course, in sworn testimony from top intelligence officials & from news reports that Trump has done nothing.
Mark Mazzetti, et al., of the New York Times: "An adviser to the United Arab Emirates with ties to current and former aides to President Trump is cooperating with the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, and gave testimony last week to a grand jury, according to two people familiar with the matter. Mr. Mueller appears to be examining the influence of foreign money on Mr. Trump's political activities and has asked witnesses about the possibility that the adviser, George Nader, funneled money from the Emirates to the president's political efforts. It is illegal for foreign entities to contribute to campaigns or for Americans to knowingly accept foreign money for political races. Mr. Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman who advises Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the effective ruler of the Emirates, also attended a January 2017 meeting in the Seychelles that Mr. Mueller's investigators have examined. The meeting, convened by the crown prince, brought together a Russian investor close to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia with Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater and an informal adviser to Mr. Trump's team during the presidential transition, according to three people familiar with the meeting.... Mr. Nader's presence at the Seychelles meeting appears to connect him to the primary focus of Mr. Mueller's investigation: examining Russian interference during the 2016 presidential campaign."
Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has requested documents and interviewed witnesses about incidents involving Michael Cohen, the longtime lawyer for President Trump whose wide-ranging portfolio has given him a unique vantage point into Trump's business, campaign and political activities. There is no indication that Cohen is a subject or target of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. But the scrutiny of his interactions is another sign of the far-reaching nature of the special-counsel probe, which is examining members of the president's inner circle and aspects of Trump's past business outreach to Russia." ...
... Betsy Woodruff & Spencer Ackerman of the Daily Beast: Evidence "suggests that some people working on the [House Intelligence C]ommittee investigation may be trying to covertly assist [Trump attorney Michael Cohen,] one of the president's closest allies -- when the president's inner circle is ostensibly a focus of their probe.... This isn't the only leak accusation leveled against House intelligence committee officials.... Last week, The New York Times reported that leaders of the Senate intelligence committee believe House investigators leaked text messages that Sen. Mark Warner sent." Mrs. McC: That is, in their supposed investigation into "collusion," House Republican "investigators" are actually "colluding" with the target of the investigation. If this were a movie, it would be a comedy.
A reader recommended Olivia Nuzzi's late-night/early-morning interview of former Trump advisor & guy-gone-wild Sam Nunberg: "... close to midnight, he seemed to have a change of heart. He told New York, 'Of course, I'm going to cooperate!'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Steve Vladeck in an NBC News opinion piece: "This isn't about [Sam] Nunberg thumbing his nose at the special counsel; it's about disrespecting the integrity of the federal courts. They tend not to react too kindly to such abuse.... As if that weren't bad enough, Nunberg's antics will almost certainly create trouble for him with the Washington D.C. and New York bars (and any other state bars to which he is admitted to practice). Rule 8.4(d) of the D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct prohibits conduct 'that seriously interferes with the administration of justice.'... The analogous New York rule is even broader, prohibiting conduct 'that is prejudicial to the administration of justice.'"
Just Another Day in TrumpWorld. Sarah Fitzgerald of NBC News: "Adult film star Stormy Daniels sued Donald Trump Tuesday, alleging that he never signed the nondisclosure agreement that his lawyer had arranged with her. The civil suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and obtained by NBC News, alleges that her agreement not to disclose her 'intimate' relationship with Trump is not valid because while both Daniels and Trump's attorney Michael Cohen signed it, Trump never did."
Benjamin Hart of New York: "In a scene just faintly reminiscent of the ending of A Few Good Men -- but with a different sort of killing involved -- Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney got Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao to admit that President Trump personally asked House Speaker Paul Ryan to block funding for New York City's badly needed Gateway project.... The [Washington] Post reported that Trump may be using funding for the project as a bargaining chip with Senator Chuck Schumer to pass a bigger spending bill later this year, though that seems too clever by half for the president. The president could just be leveling a vendetta against Schumer.... Or he may just delight in punishing an area of the country that loathes him -- even if it's his hometown -- the way the president's tax bill did. With this presidency, it can be downright difficult to narrow down which petty grievance might be getting in the way of doing some actual good in the world."
M.J. Lee of CNN: "The US Office of [a different] Special Counsel announced Tuesday that White House aide Kellyanne Conway violated the Hatch Act on two occasions by 'advocating for and against candidates' in last year's Alabama Senate special election. In a new report, the OSC special counsel, Henry Kerner, pointed to Conway's TV interviews conducted in her 'official capacity' in November and December of last year. The agency said Conway 'impermissibly mixed official government business with political views about candidates in the Alabama special election.'... In a letter to ... Donald Trump, Kerner said he is referring her violations for the President's 'consideration of appropriate disciplinary action.' In a statement, White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said Conway was expressing the President's position for lawmakers who support the administration's agenda." Mrs. McC: In other words, "Meh." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Juliet Eilperin & Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: "Two senior Senate Democrats asked Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt on Tuesday to provide details about how a business associate of the head of his security detail got a security contract with the agency. Pasquale 'Nino' Perrotta -- who heads Pruitt's security detail and also serves as a principal of Rockville-based Sequoia Security Group -- advised EPA officials to hire a member of the management team at Sequoia.... Sens. Thomas R. Carper (Del.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee are seeking documentation that Perrotta obeyed federal conflict-of-interest rules."
Nicholas Fandos & Dave Philipps of the New York Times: "In an administration rife with intramural fights, the battle over the Department of Veterans Affairs has stood out, not only for its vitriol but also for its consequences. At stake is the future of the nation's veterans health care system. For now at least, it appears moderation has prevailed, with the Veterans Affairs secretary, David J. Shulkin, thwarting a pitched conservative push to drive him out. 'It's my job as secretary to get the organization singly focused on making the V.A. work better for vets,' the secretary, a physician and holdover from the Obama administration, said in an interview on Monday, after the latest in a string of meetings with the White House chief of staff. 'I've been making it clear to the organization that we will not be distracted as we have in the last couple weeks.' 'People need to get on board with that or need to leave,' he added."
Evan Halper of the Los Angeles Times: "The Trump administration, seeking to force a defiant California to cooperate with its agenda of stepped-up immigrant deportations, went to federal court Tuesday to invalidate three state laws -- the administration's most direct challenge yet to the state's policies. Administration officials say the three laws in question, all passed by the Legislature last year, blatantly obstruct federal immigration law and thus violate the Constitution's supremacy clause, which gives federal law precedence over state enactments.... The laws make it a crime for business owners to voluntarily help federal agents find and detain undocumented workers, prohibit local law enforcement from alerting immigration agents when detainees are released from custody, and create a state inspection program for federal immigration detention centers. Administration officials, who briefed reporters before the suit was filed, said other states that are pursuing law similar to California's are also likely to be targeted in court."
Erica Werner & Renae Merle of the Washington Post: "A plan to scale back post-financial crisis banking rules cleared a key Senate hurdle Tuesday, with more than a third of the Senate Democratic caucus joining united Republicans to move the measure toward passage. The vote was 67 to 32, well over the 60 votes needed in the closely divided Senate, setting up debate and final passage in coming days. Days of contentious wrangling on the Senate floor lie ahead, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) pledging to deliver speeches in opposition. But the level of bipartisan support Tuesday, with 17 members of the Senate Democratic caucus voting 'yes,' suggested the measure will ultimately get the chamber's approval."
Senate Races
Jeremy Wallace & Kevin Diaz of the Houston Chronicle: "Late voting returns showed U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Democrat Beto O'Rourke easily beating their respective primary opponents on Tuesday, putting them on the verge of their highly anticipated general election battle in November.... O'Rourke has heavily outraised Cruz since the start of 2018, according to the latest campaign reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.... Overall, Cruz still has more money in his campaign account than O'Rourke. O'Rourke had about $5 million in his main campaign account, while Cruz has about $6 million. But that doesn't tell the full story of the financial battle in the race. Cruz is also expected to benefit from Super PACs that have been created by his allies. A new PAC called Texans Are has piled up $1.7 million.... Despite O'Rourke's surprising fundraising numbers, he remains very much an underdog in the race."
Andrew Kaczynski of CNN: "The radio show hosted by Republican Senate candidate Chris McDaniel listed a group that advocates for southern secession among a list of 'favorite websites' featured on the show's website. McDaniel, a conservative firebrand who ran a failed campaign against Sen. Thad Cochran in 2014, announced last week that he would challenge incumbent Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, setting up a divisive primary race from Wicker's right flank. On Monday, Cochran announced he was retiring and vacating his Senate seat on April 1, opening up the possibility that McDaniel could run in the special election to replace Cochran instead. McDaniel co-hosted 'The Right Side Radio Show,' at the time a nationally syndicated broadcast, from the mid-2000s until he was elected to the Mississippi state Senate in 2008. He still appeared once weekly after the leaving the show as a full-time host." Mrs. McC: Not sure why someone who advocates for secession would even want to be a U.S. senator. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Beyond the Beltway
Manny Fernandez & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "... even as Democrats in [Texas'] biggest cities came out in large numbers [for the state's first primary elections yesterday], Republicans still cast more ballots over all thanks to their rural strength." The story reports several results.
Jake Zuckerman & Ryan Quinn of the Charleston (W. Va.) Gazette-Mail: "Gov. Jim Justice signed into law a 5 percent pay raise for public school teachers and school service personnel Tuesday that appears to mark the end of the nine-school-day statewide strike. By 7 p.m., multiple county school systems ... announced that they're reopening schools Wednesday.... Before a meeting of a conference committee composed of Senators and members of the House of Delegates, Justice announced that all state employees, along with teachers, school service personnel (a category including bus drivers and cooks) and State Police would receive a 5 percent raise. The raises will take effect next fiscal year, which starts July 1, and equal $2,020 for teachers. Both houses of the Legislature voted unanimously Tuesday ... to accept the conference committee report and pass the bill." ...
... AP: "West Virginia lawmakers acted swiftly Tuesday after Gov. Jim Justice and Republican leaders tentatively agreed to end the state's nine-day teachers' walkout by giving 5 percent raises not just to teachers, but to all state workers.... With striking teachers cheering from the gallery, the House of Delegates subsequently passed the pay raise for teachers, school service personnel and state troopers on a 99-0 vote. It now awaits action in the state Senate. The governor, union leaders and the House had agreed to the raise for those groups last week. State teachers are among the lowest paid in the nation and haven't had a salary increase in four years." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Exodus. Arelis R. Hernández of the Washington Post: "Even before Maria strafed the region, a record number of Puerto Ricans were realizing that the declining island might be where their heart is but cannot be where their feet stay. Nearly 500,000 people left Puerto Rico for the mainland during the past decade, according to the Pew Research Center, pushing the stateside Puerto Rican population past the number living on the island last year -- an estimated 3.3 million. The government of Puerto Rico's guess is that by the end of 2018, 200,000 more residents will have left the U.S. territory for good, moving to places such as Florida, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New England. It would mean another drop of more than 5 percent in the island's population. Experts say the storm and its widespread devastation undoubtedly have sped up the pace of migration as residents have dealt with extended power outages, communication lapses, infrastructure failures and, in some cases, isolation. What already was the largest exodus in the island's history now includes people fleeing in droves simply to achieve some sense of normalcy." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie Note to GOP: For all of you bigoted lamebrains who are skeert of Spanish-speaking Americans, you might want to rethink your moves to go hard on Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, & once they move to U.S. states, they can vote in those states following a very short period (typically, 30 days) of taking up state residency. And it is not likely they will vote for you. So adios & all that.
Joey Garrison & Nate Rau of the Tennessean: "Nashville Mayor Megan Barry resigned on Tuesday amid a sex scandal involving her former head of security, a stunning fall from power for a leader who was once among Tennessee's brightest political stars. Barry, a Democrat, announced her resignation at a packed morning news conference at the mayor's office. It came after she pleaded guilty in court a half-hour earlier as part of a negotiated agreement with District Attorney Glenn Funk to felony theft over $10,000 related to her affair with her former police bodyguard. Barry's resignation, which is part of the plea agreement, takes effect at 5 p.m. Vice Mayor David Briley will then be sworn in as Metro's eighth mayor Tuesday.... As part of her plea deal, Barry was sentenced to three years of probation and has agreed to reimburse the city $11,000 in unlawful expenses." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Bracey Harris & Anna Wolfe of the (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger: "After a heated floor debate, the [Mississippi] Senate on Tuesday passed a bill 35-14 to ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, bringing the state one step closer to enacting the most restrictive abortion ban in the country. In a statement Gov. Phil Bryant reiterated his support for the measure."
Maegan Vazquez: "Republicans in Utah are working their way toward naming a highway after ... Donald Trump in thanks of his decision to dramatically scale down national monuments in the state. State Democrats, however, have another idea: naming a rampway after Stormy Daniels, the porn star who has alleged a decade-old sexual encounter with the President...." ...
... Lay of the Land. For a wider perspective on the Utah highway system, see Akhilleus's comment below.
News Lede
New York Times: "A second major winter storm in less than a week descended on the Northeast United States on Wednesday, with more than a foot of snow expected in some areas. Schools were closed in counties throughout the region and the governors of Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York declared states of emergency. Many people were still reeling from last week's fierce nor'easter, in which eight people died, millions lost power and thousands of flights were canceled." The Times is updating developments here.
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Reader Comments (30)
Anyone with a scintilla of integrity can't stand the stench after a while, I'm guessing. Would you?
Ms. Bea, if you can turn the clock back from March 7 to March 2, could you nudge it back a little further to like August 2015...visualize a smile emoji
@Periscope: Oh, whoops. Thanks for catching my mistake. Guess I was in too much of a hurry to get out the Gary Cohn news. I copied an old title (as I always do) & forgot to update it (as I occasionally do). But if it's okay with you, I'd rather go back to May 2015 before Fuckface von Clownstick announced his seemingly implausible run for the presidency. Back then I happened to see former Md. Gov. Martin O'Malley on the street & thought, "Oh, he looks presidential!"
The joke's on all of us. But it ain't funny, McGee.
Is it Infrastructure Week again?
If Utah Democrats are proposing a roadway section named for Trump, I suggest they specify an off-ramp.
So there's more Stormy weather ahead. The guy that likes signing things didn't sign the agreement to keep Ms. Clifford quiet. Is it mere coincidence that in the document she is referred to as PP? Curious minds want to know.
MAG,
Well, if’n y’all wanna get to the Trump highway, take the Vladimir Putin Expressway south until you pass the site of the former Trump Hotel and titty bar, now just a very biiig titty bar, look for the Stormy Daniels Non-Non-Disclosure Agreement Tell All on-ramp. Once yer on the Trump road, you gotta be careful of all the potholes and the ocassional IED’s, and try not to pay too much attention to all the No Collusion billboards. If you’re hungry you can stop at the Donald Trump, Jr. rest area and payoff plaza. You can git a super sized Coke and Big Mac for about $75. Get back on the highway, after slipping Junior a couple of hundred and keep going until you run into the Robert Mueller toll plaza and prisoner intake building. The road stops there.
@AK: sounds to me that with your musician's talent, you've got the basics for all the lyrics, jus a-fixin to hit the Nashville top ten charts with "On the Trumpy road agin"! Keep working the rhyme scheme.
Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum will be short-lived because they are just that, threats. The last-minute announcement of the tariffs is aimed at one audience - steelworkers - with aluminum thrown in as a distraction. More specifically, the target audience is steelworkers in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District, where a special election is scheduled for March 13th. Conor Lamb is running against Republican Rick Saccone to fill the congressional seat vacated by Republican Tim Murphy, who ran unopposed in the last two elections. Trump beat Hillary Clinton there by 20 points in the 2016 election. He is throwing the global economy and our allies under the bus to avoid the humiliation of a Saccone defeat, which will be indicative of the erosion of his base. He will back off after the election next week. As we know, it’s ALWAYS ABOUT TRUMP. If Lamb, the Democrat wins, then the steelworkers abandoned Trump, so screw them, no tariffs. If Saccone wins, then the steelworkers were useful tools, so screw them, no tariffs. Also, chaos.
I suppose Trump thinks Trade Wars are “easy” and “good” because in his teeny brain he is conflating Trade Wars with Wars on Tradesmen. You know, the tactics he has famously used to avoid paying contractors for their work on his construction projects.
Oh, MAG, MAG, you just don't get country music. There's a succinct explanation 3 minutes in on this video. (I was -- am -- a big fan of Steve Goodman's.)
"Never underestimate the joy people derive from hearing something they already know.
Enrico Fermi "
So, RC habitues will probably enjoy this article from today's NYT.
The author, Farhad Manjoo, switched off his digital news feeds and limited his intake to print, for the past several months. He reports a positive experience, freed from the incoming bullshit of social media and unvetted opinion. And he reports that the careful work of professional newsgatherers is useful, important and liberating. He is after all a NYT writer.
RCers will also take joy from this bit of advice:
"You don’t need to read a print newspaper to get this; you can create your own news ritual by looking at a news app once a day, or reading morning newsletters like those from Axios, or listening to a daily news podcast. What’s important is choosing a medium that highlights deep stories over quickly breaking ones."
My news ritual is well met by Marie's daily gatherings, whose editorial selection, judgment and apt-but-minimal commentary is a godsend of information in a bullshit environment. I read print, too, but find that Marie's hard work has made it all easier to get the facts than if she weren't there -- which, if I recall, is what she set out to do many years ago when she began this work. We all owe her a great deal.
With respect, Goodman's extra lrics still fell short of the perfect country music song (which, in fact, my brother and I created riding in his pickup coming back from deer hinting in 1971), because there is no dog in them. No dog.
Serendipitously, over on the rightside of the screen whilst Coe performed, was this oeuvre about a dog. The Good Lord do provide.
@CaptRuss
I think you nailed the tariff thing. Good call.
Add to Pennsylvania, the absolutely essential requirement that the Pretender seem (to himself) to be in charge at all times, and if it is possible to be "more essential," like "more pregnant," to be even more in charge when all evidence mounts that he's not effectively in charge of much but what he eats and tweets.
Working in the White House must be a joy, and the good news for the nation is that it looks like more people than ever before will have the chance to experience it.
Some, such as MAG, may think "deer hinting" a malapropism, but I assure you my brother and I saw not a hint of deer on that trip.
I don't think we should stop with just naming a highway in Utah
for the pretender.
How about the Okefenokee Swamp? He has lots of experience not
draining swamps. The DJT Swamp.
The San Andreas Fault. The DJT It's Not My Fault.
And there are numerous sewage treatment plants just waiting to be
named.
Then there's the Russian River in Ca. He'd like that one for sure.
What about the Finger Lakes in NY? The DJT Little Fingers Lakes.
Something to do on a blizzardy day.
Oh, BEA, BEA, I think I do get it about country music...Ak’s story seems to include many of all them thar ellyments per David Allen Coe’s idees on what makes a perfect country music song: There’s the (FREIGHT TRAIN A-coming) aka Mueller’s investigation, we got us a (BIG MOMMA) Stormy Daniels, and (DRUNK on power trip) DJT, Jr. and others unnamed, (PRISON) see also, Mueller.
Today's commentors are wicked witty as we say heah in Maine.
Deer hinting, Patrick! Uh huh!
MAG,
Also, if we're talking about country-western motifs, Donaldo has lot to do with pick-ups, although it's more like feel-ups, unwanted, of course.
And guns? Oh, fer sure. Plen'y a' guns. Two for every teacher and one for every teacher's aide, oh, and three or four for that disturbed kid down the block who talks to himself in home room.
Donnie himself don't need no guns. No sirree bob. He gits them desperadoes with his bare hands. Take THAT, bad guy with a gun! D'ja see that, Wayne? That's Hopalong Wayne, his sidekick. Wayne needs three horses to carry all his guns . He's a bit of a homicidal maniac but that just adds to his "western" character.
And sort of like that old Johnny Cash country song, Donnie is the "Boy Who Sues" And speaking of country songs, he's a big fan of D-I-V-O-R-C-E. Not to mention C-H-E-A-T-I-N-G. And he knows what it's like to be down on your luck, havin' to go crawlin' to the dang R-U-S-S-I-A-N-S.
He sells jen-you-wine cheap-ass trucker hats (made in that great Texas town of El Beige-ing). And fiddles? Why he's the greatest fiddler since Nero. Fixin' to surpass that there feller too, as Washington burns to the ground, he'll be doin' his best Charlie Daniels, playin' "The Devil Went Down to DC."
Cain't wait.
The little dictator is lately channeling his inner Yogi Berra. As personnel stream out of the cesspool that is his White House, he blathers on about how everyone wants to work there.
Reminds me of Yogi's pronouncement on a certain night spot in New York: "That place is so crowded, no one goes there anymore."
Oh, and Forrest, "Little Finger Lakes". Love it.
The Stormy Daniels Thing
Nothing will come of this. It doesn't matter what she says. If she says Trump had sex with a goat while she blew smoke rings up his ass, nothing would come of it. A blowjob brought the Clinton administration to a screeching halt for two years as an unhinged asshole, Ken Starr, and his fellow Confederates chased down the tiniest salacious detail, magnified through the lens of Fox. Back then "character mattered".
Clearly it doesn't matter anymore. At least not for one of theirs.
If Trump's possible treason in a conspiracy against the United States doesn't matter to the entire right-wing, an adulterous affair (one of many) with a porn star won't even make a dent.
They used to call Reagan the Teflon President. Trump is the Shit President*. There's so much crap covering him already, a few more turds won't matter.
But at what point will it matter? At what point do Confederates pick themselves off the ground where they grovel in fear and supine obeisance to a fucking idiot traitor and his 30% base, man up, and do their job?
My guess is never.
2018 can't get here fast enough for me.
I wish we had a fly on the wall in the Pence's living room right now. mike pence and his "mother" have to feel queasy just holding hand these days knowing how close they are to the Devil Incarnate. Does Jesus tell mike to stay and defend the embodiment of everything he's supposedly against? Or is his Messiah posturing all a fucking show? I'm going with numero dos.
And I second Capt. Russ theory that Drumpf's calculus for Steel Wars was aimed at Pennsylvania's election. He probably definitely didn't think any of it through to the details, but was hot and bothered and prodded by old Wilburt (who I'm sure is making illicit $$$ out of this whole mess). Problem is, he blurted the "proposal" out way too early. The election isn't 'til the 13th, and until then he's going to get hammered from all sides for being a fucking moron. He'll naturally dig in deeper, shred more credibility, and be hopelessly backed into a corner by the 13th.
Or, maybe, since nothing matters anymore, he'll rant and rave about the absolute necessity of steel tariffs until the 13th, then just publish his dick pics on the 14th and watch the news cycle move on, stonewalling on tariff questions ever after.
The Staffing Snafu (or is that the Snaffing Staffu?)
The little dictator is right when he says that a lot of people line up to work at the White House. Just not his White House.
Typically, a stint at the WH translates to a pretty good (and high paying) gig in business, high finance, white shoe law firms, pricey consultancies, think tanks, world banks, or CEO-ships, any number of which pop on one's resume. But this assumes that work was done in a (relatively) sane and stable White House not run by a clueless wanker with a thing for treason, lying, and chaos, with a side of porn stars.
Coming out of the Trump White House, potential employers have to ask "Are you really that much of an idiot?" and seriously question your judgment, especially since one of two things happened. You had no effect on national policy, none whatsoever, or if you did, you aided and abetted stupidity on a scale not seen since stupid was invented. That is, unless your prospective employer is the KKK, Stormfront, or the NRA.
So scratch a yuuuge pool of likely qualified and experienced candidates, candidates who value their continued career paths, and who, under other circumstances would see a tour of duty at the White House as a stepping stone to bigger things, or, if they were already at the top of their game, a jewel in the crown and five or six excellent chapters in their upcoming memoirs.
Memoirs of work in the Trump White House are all likely as not to have titles like "Holy Shit! My Six Weeks in the Trump White House" or "Fucking Hell. What Was I Thinking?" or simply "Pandemonium!"
Right from the get-go he was scraping the bottom of the barrel with his choices. Steve Bannon, Andrew Puzder, Rob Porter? All wife beaters. Corey Lewandowski? Assaulter of women. The Mooch? An idiot. Manafort, Gates, Flynn, all criminals, Sebastian Gorka, Nazi, Tom Price, Ryan Zinke, living high on the taxpayers' dime. All the best people, right? Bottom of the barrel has been scraped. So where does he go now?
Well, anyone who has ever moved a barrel that's been sitting in the yard for a year or more knows what to expect underneath it.
Here come the maggots!
WaPo:'Canada and Mexico could be spared as Trump is poised to sign steel and aluminum tariffs by week’s end'
"But press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that the White House may exempt Canada, Mexico and other countries on a “national security” basis."
In other words the entire 'plan' is meaningless. SURPRISE!!
The current presiduncial m.o. in five words:
lie, deflect, lie, project, lie.
Bloomberg and CBC report that Canadian and Mexican exemptions from the steel and aluminum tariffs are contingent upon capitulating to the US on a renegotiated NAFTA agreement. An agreement which grants trump and ross all their demands.
@Marvin
So looks like the Pretender's revised trade war goals will be to pick on only the "shithole" countries, who don't do much business with us anyway. Maybe someone pulled a gun on him and made him read this chart:
Year-to-Date Total of U.S. Trade from the Census Bureau, January 2018, which you'll have to google yourself because it loses its integrity when I tried to copy and paste it. But here's a hint:
In order, China, Canada and Mexico are our top three trading partners, followed by Japan and Germany. Together, they make up around 55% of our total international trade.
Yeah, a real trade war with them would be another one of the Pretender's great ideas.
@Cowichan
That darn NAFTA.
Thought the other day that the U. S. is truly in the middle, not just geographically. When it comes to taking care of workers, which is directly related to support for unions, Mexico is at the bottom. That's why Mexico has a trade advantage. Mexico can produce things cheaply.
Positioned to the north, Canada's unions keep their wages at the top, and the U.S remains in the middle. Along with its natural resources, of which I see trainloads heading south by my house every day, Canada wants to export its relative respect for workers south.
The U.S. would like to wall that effort off, and that whole union and wage thing comprises much of the NAFTA kerfuffle.
I'm hoping Canada doesn't cave. I'm looking to the north for salvation.
Memo to Anastasia Vashukevich, sex worker who claims to have 16 hours of tape connecting Trump to Putin in the stolen election of 2016:
"Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were deliberately poisoned by a nerve agent in England over the weekend, UK police said Wednesday."
Per CNN.
Oh yeah, a cop who showed up later is also in the hospital after just a minor exposure to someone's (Putin's?) nerve agent. These boyos don't fuck around. He could have just killed Skripal, but he went for his daughter too.
If he kills one of his own, what will he do to you? Trump won't save you either. He'd rather see you gutted.
Sorry.
I'm thinking Donald's temper tantrums might be intimately linked with his lawyer's incompetence trying to snuff out the dick pics scandal. It feels like a Storm is a' Brewing right now with some new seriously salacious details and, while Donny will deny until he dies, this episode is going to give more plausibility to all of his alleged victims who will be again showing up on the sacred television screen to whip him into fits until the can switch back to his warm blanket Faux News. Stormy Daniels seems prepared to take on the pussy grabber and his henchmen head on. This is going to be the ultimate media rubber-necking train collision. Bigly. We need to keep our eyes on the prize, but the storm's eye is coming in dangerously close to the midterm elections. Hopefully it's a slow motion crash.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/stormy-daniels-lawyer-more-evidence-is-going-to-come-to-light?ref=home
Anastasia and Stormy. I've tried checking the Las Vegas odds
on their life continuing past March. So far, it doesn't look good
for either of them. Maybe I should try something in Russia?
Safari,
Prez PussyGrabber and Stiffer of Porn Stars should just shut up, but he can't help himself, so he sends Liarby Sanders out to rip Stormy Daniels and declare that in no way, shape, or form, did Trumpy have sex with that woman. Hmmmm...where have we heard that before? And how did that turn out, pray tell?
I'm guessing that Stormy has the gumption to see this through. Why not? A tell all book about Trumpy's peccadilloes and tiny peenie would bring her a helluva lot more than the measly $130,000 promised by PPG.
Trump has always been able to bully and strong arm people he wanted to bury. Most of them had no pulpit from which to preach. Stormy has. And how. He thinks he can just say "She's a fucking liar" and everyone will believe him. There is so much evidence to the contrary, and Daniels' story conforms so closely to the stories of other women Trump has cheated with and paid off to keep quiet.
Just a side note about Liarby Sanders. Her predecessor, as much of an asshole as he was, finally cracked under having to lie so blatantly and so often. Not Sanders. She revels in the lies. She loves it. She thrills at being able to lie, straight-faced to the press and scream at them if they try to call her on it. If it were high noon, and Trump decided it was midnight, she'd attack anyone who said different. A perjurer after Trump's own mendacious, withered, black little heart.
The real wild card here is Melania. Can she really put up with this amount of public humiliation? I guess her parents' citizenship and her own, and her son's position in line to inherit at least some of whatever Trump really does have (very likely far less than the $10 billion he claims) will interfere with her presumed desire to kick his fat ass out the door.
Too bad. For her, and for us. I'm sure he's threatening her with dire consequences if she leaves him. But is she really having fun being married to President Adulterer Pussy Grabber? Does she enjoy having her status and that of her parents questioned? I guess she's okay as long as the money's there. I wish it were different. She might not realize what leverage she has right now. Once he's out of office (or in prison), she'll never have it again.