;)
The Commentariat -- May 9, 2019
Afternoon Update:
Sheryl Stolberg & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that the United States was in a 'constitutional crisis' and warned that House Democrats might move to hold more Trump administration officials in contempt of Congress if they continued their refusals to comply with committee subpoenas.... Ms. Pelosi said Democrats would bring the contempt citation [against AG William Barr] to the floor for a vote of the full House 'when we are ready.'" ...
... Katherine Tully-McManus of Roll Call goes in search of the Capitol jail: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi resurfaced one of the Capitol's most enduring mysteries when answering a question about whether Democrats might imprison Trump administration officials who defy Congress: the House jail.... 'We do have a little jail down in the basement of the Capitol, but if we were arresting all of the people in the administration, we would have an overcrowded jail situation. And I'm not for that,' Pelosi said Wednesday at a Washington Post live event.... Capitol Police officers from multiple divisions told CQ Roll Call that no House jail exists, though Capitol Police headquarters on D Street Northeast does have a holding facility.... There once was a cell in the Capitol basement to hold those in contempt, but it is long gone.... A senior House Democratic aide told CQ Roll Call that the sergeant-at-arms could use existing spaces in the Capitol to hold someone, as has been done in the past." Mrs. McC: More like a "gaol," then.
Annie Karni of the New York Times: "President Trump said on Thursday that he would leave it up to Attorney General William P. Barr to decide whether Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, may testify before Congress on the Russia investigation. His comments were a seeming reversal, since Mr. Trump wrote over the weekend on Twitter that Mr. Mueller should not be allowed to appear before Congress. Mr. Barr has told lawmakers that he has no objection to letting Mr. Mueller talk to them. In a surprise, 45-minute news conference in the Roosevelt Room, his first since the release of the special counsel's report, Mr. Trump also said he was' pretty surprised' that his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., was subpoenaed to testify in front of the Senate about his contacts with Russians during the 2016 campaign.... 'My son is a good person,' Mr. Trump said. 'My son testified for hours and hours. My son was totally exonerated by Mueller.'... Mr. Trump, who for months has been advised not to personally attack Mr. Mueller, described him on Thursday as 'somebody that is in love with James Comey.'... He also appeared to hedge on claiming that the Mueller report cleared him of obstruction of justice, telling reporters that the findings showed that there was 'no collusion and, essentially, no obstruction.'" ...
... Caitlin MacNeal of TPM: "The President ... went off on several tangents related to Trump Jr.'s involvement in the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer. Trump worked in references to a favorite Republican target -- the dossier compiled by a former British intelligence officer -- as well as phone calls Don Jr. made to an unknown number while planning the infamous meeting." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: It depends upon what your definition of "a good person" is, I guess. But Mueller definitely did not "totally exonerate" Junior.
Alan Rappeport & Ana Swanson of the New York Times:"President Trump said on Thursday that the United States would raise tariffs on $200 billion of worth of Chinese goods on Friday morning and begin the process to tax nearly all of China's imports as he accused Beijing of trying to renegotiate' a trade deal. But Mr. Trump, who made his comments ahead of a pivotal meeting between United States and Chinese officials on Thursday afternoon, suggested an agreement could still be within reach, saying he had received a 'beautiful letter' from Chinese President Xi Jinping and would probably speak to him by phone.... Mr. Trump's toughened stance toward China has rattled American businesses.... The tariffs that would go into effect on Friday include many consumer products that Americans rely on from Beijing, like seafood, luggage and electronics."
Eileen Sullivan & Benjamin Weisner of the New York Times: "The United States has seized a North Korean shipping vessel that was violating American law and international sanctions, the Justice Department announced Thursday, a move certain to escalate tensions already on the rise between the two nations because of recent North Korean weapons tests. Prosecutors said the carrier ship, the Wise Honest, was being used to export North Korean coal, a critical sector of the North's economy that the United States and the United Nations have aggressively imposed sanctions on in an effort to force Pyongyang to end its nuclear weapons program."
Tara Palmeri of ABC News: "Ahead of the second summit in Hanoi, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un requested as part of the agreement between the countries moving forward that the U.S. send 'famous basketball players' to normalize relations between the two countries, according to two U.S. officials.... The request was made in writing, officials said, as part of the cultural exchange between the two countries, and at one point the North Koreans insisted that it be included in the joint statement on denuclearization. The North Koreans also made a request for the exchange of orchestras between the two countries."
Ben Popken of NBC News: "A co-founder of Facebook called for the government to break up the tech giant in an op-ed article Thursday in The New York Times. 'The Facebook that exists today is not the Facebook that we founded in 2004,' Chris Hughes, who started Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg in their Harvard dorm, told NBC News after the op-ed was published. 'And the one that we have today I think is far too big. It's far too powerful. And most importantly, its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is not accountable,' Hughes said.... In response to the op-ed article, Nick Clegg, the company's vice president of global affairs..., [said,] 'Accountability of tech companies can only be achieved through the painstaking introduction of new rules for the internet. That is exactly what Mark Zuckerberg has called for. Indeed, he is meeting Government leaders this week to further that work.'"
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The Trump Scandals, Ctd.
Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "House Democrats, infuriated by President Trump’s stonewalling, are struggling to mount a more aggressive campaign to compel him to cooperate with their investigations -- a push that could include a threat to jail officials, garnish their wages and perhaps even impeach the president. With Mr. Trump throwing up roadblocks on practically a daily basis ... Democrats and their leaders are feeling a new urgency to assert their power as a coequal branch of government. Some who previously urged caution are now saying impeachment may be inevitable."
** Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "The House Judiciary Committee voted Wednesday to recommend the House hold Attorney General William P. Barr in contempt of Congress for failing to turn over Robert S. Mueller III's unredacted report, hours after President Trump asserted executive privilege to shield the full report and underlying evidence from public view. The committee's 24-16 contempt vote, taken after hours of debate that featured apocalyptic language about the future of American democracy, marked the first time that the House has taken official action to punish a government official or witness amid a standoff between the legislative and executive branch. The Justice Department decried it as an unnecessary and overwrought reaction designed to stoke a fight." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Trump Orders Total Cover-up of Document That Totally Exonerates Him. Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "President Trump asserted executive privilege on Wednesday in an effort to shield hidden portions of Robert S. Mueller III's unredacted report and the evidence he collected from Congress. The assertion, Mr. Trump' first use of the secrecy powers as president, came as the House Judiciary Committee is expected to vote Wednesday morning to recommend the House of Representatives hold Attorney General William P. Barr in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena for the same material." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Noah Feldman of Bloomberg: "Barr already had a chance to redact anything from the Mueller report that in his judgment would've violated executive privilege -- when he did the redaction in the first place. But Barr didn't redact anything at all from the report on the basis of executive privilege.... In other words, Barr has already effectively determined that nothing in the Mueller report needed to be redacted for executive privilege reasons.... Trump already waived executive privilege when he told McGahn that he could speak to the Mueller team. Ordinarily, you can't invoke a privilege once you've already waived it.... As that battle plays out, just remember that the words 'executive privilege' occur nowhere in the Constitution. The doctrine is a judicial construction, based on the logic of the separation of powers, with the goal of making sure the president can do the people's work."
Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "Hours after the House Judiciary Committee voted to hold Attorney General Bill Barr in contempt for defying a subpoena, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who chairs the House Permanent Committee on Intelligence, [announced his committee had just subpoenaed Barr].... 'For the last month and a half, the Committee has engaged the Department of Justice in a good faith effort to reach an accommodation of our requests for all of the foreign intelligence and counterintelligence information related to the Special Counsel's investigation, and the Mueller report and its underlying materials,' Schiff said. 'The Department has repeatedly failed to respond, refused to schedule any testimony, and provided no documents responsive to our legitimate and duly authorized oversight activities.'" ...
... Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "President Trump has now formally exerted executive privilege over the redacted portions of the Mueller report and its underlying materials -- defying a House subpoena for those materials, and confirming once again that Trump will exercise maximal resistance to any and all oversight and accountability. This march into treating the House as fundamentally illegitimate is going to make it harder and harder for Democrats to resist launching an impeachment inquiry. In an interview, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif) -- the chair of the House Intelligence Committee -- said that if things continue on their current course, it will escalate the chances that 'we end up in a constitutional confrontation' and will add to 'the weight behind an impeachment process.'... As former prosecutor Mimi Rocah put it, this has the makings of a constitutional crisis, because 'the head of the Justice Department' is helping to block congressional investigations into the president 'regardless of law or merit.'" ...
... Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that President Trump is 'becoming self-impeachable,' pointing to his efforts to fight all subpoenas from congressional investigations and prevent key aides from testifying before Congress. 'The point is that every single day, whether it's obstruction, obstruction, obstruction -- obstruction of having people come to the table with facts, ignoring subpoenas ... every single day, the president is making a case --- he's becoming self-impeachable, in terms of some of the things that he is doing,' Pelosi said at a Washington Post Live event." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Sheryl Stolberg: "Even after President Trump sued him last month to keep his business records secret, Representative Elijah E. Cummings kept his cool and urged Congress to move slowly on impeachment. But with Mr. Trump manning a full-scale blockade of Democrats' access to documents and witnesses, the ordinarily careful Democrat is, like the rest of his caucus, growing impatient. 'It sounds like he's asking us to impeach him,' Mr. Cummings, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and a top lieutenant to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said in an interview last week. Ticking off all the ways Mr. Trump is stonewalling Congress, he added, 'He puts us in a position where we at least have to look at it.' Mr. Cummings's remarks, which have been echoed by Ms. Pelosi, represent a significant shift for top Democrats, who have been trying to maneuver carefully around the impeachment issue.... Mr. Cummings called the White House effort to block multiple lines of inquiry 'far worse than Watergate.' He sees a 'constitutional crisis' that even the founding fathers did not envision...." ...
... Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "President Trump's wholesale refusal to provide information to Congress threatens to upend the delicate balance that is the separation of powers outlined in the Constitution. Earlier administrations fought isolated skirmishes over congressional subpoenas. Mr. Trump, by contrast, has declared an all-out war on efforts by House Democrats to look into his official conduct and business dealings.... In a 1927 decision arising from the Teapot Dome scandal, concerning government corruption, the Supreme Court said that congressional inquiries were 'an essential and appropriate auxiliary to the legislative function.'... Raymond W. Smock, who served as historian of the House from 1983 to 1995, said it was one thing for Mr. Trump to assert a privilege and another for him to presume to decide what was a legitimate legislative purpose. 'That is part of the arrogance the Trump administration is exhibiting all up and down the line,' Mr. Smock said." ...
** Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "The Senate Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed Donald Trump Jr. to answer questions about his contention that he had only limited knowledge of a project to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, a source with direct knowledge tells NBC News. The committee, led by Republicans, is nearing completion of its investigation into Russian election interference.... Trump Jr. testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2017. He said he was only 'peripherally aware' of the Moscow development proposal, which was kept secret from voters. Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who was pursuing the project..., testified that he briefed Trump Jr. and his sister Ivanka Trump about the project 'approximately 10' times.... According to the Mueller report, Trump [Sr.] authorized and remained interested in the Moscow project, which was described as 'highly lucrative.' Trump Jr. was not charged by special counsel Robert Mueller over his Senate testimony, after months of speculation that such charges were possible." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mark Mazzetti & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The committee is particularly interested in the younger Mr. Trump's account of the events surrounding the Trump Tower meeting -- as well as his role in his father's efforts to build a skyscraper in Moscow -- and comparing the testimony to his previous answers to Senate investigators in 2017.... The decision to subpoena the president's son is an aggressive move, and appears to have come after discussions broke down about whether the younger Mr. Trump might appear voluntarily before the panel.... The subpoena was issued more than two weeks ago, one person said...."
Rachel Frazin of the Hill: "The New York State Senate on Wednesday passed a bill that would allow state prosecutors to pursue charges in some instances in which a person received a presidential pardon. Under the legislation, 'a prosecution is not considered to have occurred if a person has been granted a reprieve, pardon, or other form of clemency for the offense by the President' and other conditions are met.... The bill was created to get rid of a loophole that would make it more difficult to prosecute someone who had received a pardon. The state Assembly has not scheduled a vote on the measure...." (Also linked yesterday.)
Jordyn Hermani of Politico: "Former FBI Director James Comey said Wednesday that the bureau' doesn't spy' and that he 'had no idea' why Attorney General William Barr used that language to describe agents' investigation of ... Donald Trump's 2016 campaign. 'I have no idea what [Barr's] talking about. The FBI doesn't spy. The FBI investigates,' Comey said on 'CBS This Morning.' 'The Republicans need to breathe into a paper bag. If we had confronted the same facts with a different candidate, say a Democrat candidate ... they would be screaming for the FBI to investigate, and that's all we did.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Walter Shapiro, in the New Republic, enjoyed reading the New York Times' story (linked yesterday) about Trump's glorious business career: "Trump's dazzling failure helps explain how he and the Republicans have given the nation an era of nearly $1 trillion in annual deficits, despite the buoyant economy.... No coverup lasts forever -- and..., sooner or later, Trump's more recent tax returns will be made public.... Trump implicitly acknowledged the accuracy of the Times' tax reporting when he tweeted early Wednesday morning, 'You always wanted to show losses for tax purposes ... it was sport. Additionally, the very old information is a highly inaccurate Fake News hit job!' In his tweets, Trump claimed that his red-ink bookkeeping was all real estate gamesmanship, even though the Times' story pointedly declared, 'Depreciation cannot account for the hundreds of millions of dollars in losses Mr. Trump declared on his taxes.'... The case against Trump's reelection should be built around his bilious, maladroit, lawless presidency rather than his long-ago billion-dollar business failures." ...
... Josh Barro of New York: “You can't lose over a billion dollars if you don't have over a billion dollars to begin with. You can do things that cause over a billion dollars in losses.... Therefore, while we have now learned that Donald Trump reported over a billion dollars in losses over a decade on his tax returns, I object to the widespread characterization of him having 'lost' that much money himself. The math just doesn't add up.... The story I find most plausible is that Trump was claiming credit on his taxes for losses actually borne by other people or entities, such as banks that loaned money to him or his businesses and did not get paid back in full." Trump may have been able to do this through a tax loophole which Congress closed in 2002. "The primary lesson of Trump's massive reported losses from 1985 to 1994 is not that he was a comically bad businessman, but that he was comically undertaxed."
The Emperor Strikes Again. Dana Milbank: "For the past 21 years, I have had the high privilege of holding a White House press pass.... But no more. The White House eliminated most briefings and severely restricted access to official events. And this week came the coup de grace: After covering four presidents, I received an email informing me that Trump’s press office had revoked my White House credential.... It was part of a mass purge of 'hard pass' holders after the White House implemented a new standard that designated as unqualified almost the entire White House press corps, including all six of The Post's White House correspondents. White House officials then chose which journalists would be granted 'exceptions.' It did this over objections from news organizations and the White House Correspondents' Association.... The White House press office granted exceptions to the other six [Wash Po reporters], but not to me. I strongly suspect it's because I'm a Trump critic.... There's something wrong with a president having the power to decide which journalists can cover him." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is banana-republic serious. Trump has done all he can to undermine the Congress. He is treating the Supreme Court as an ally (and who knows what he'll do if the courts order him to comply with Congressional subpoenas?), and now he is shutting out the "fourth branch of government," the press. ...
... Paul Farhi of the Washington Post has more on the White House's "new rules." Mrs. McC: Not surprisingly, it's a hot mess.
Say, let's milk this one for another day:
Jerry Ianelli of the Miami New Times: "Giancarlo Granda, the former Fontainebleau pool attendant whose business bizarrely received $1.8 million in loans from famous evangelist Jerry Falwell Jr., wants the world to stop calling him a 'pool boy.' He finds the term demeaning. And, perhaps more notable, he officially denies knowing anything about alleged 'racy' photos referenced in a Reuters story published yesterday.... [Reuters reporter Aram] Roston[, who wrote the racy photos story,] was also the reporter who broke the news that Falwell Jr. had mysteriously loaned Granda's business a ton of money and that [Michael] Cohen was aware of a lawsuit involving Falwell and Granda. Reporters have, ahem, speculated that Granda was the Floridian who had obtained said photos and that Cohen might have leveraged the scandal to get Falwell Jr. to endorse the infamously lecherous and not-at-all Jesus-like Trump in 2016.... Everything about the Falwell Jr. story is extremely weird. To summarize: In 2012, Granda was working as a pool attendant at the luxurious Fontainebleau in Miami Beach. While Granda was employed there, Falwell Jr. and his wife Becki stayed at the resort and, according to court records, 'befriended' Granda. From there, Granda grew very close to the Falwell family: According to court filings first reported by Roston, Granda, along with Falwell's son Trey, bought a hostel ... in Miami Beach and has been managing it ever since. (A Politico reporter even stayed there and implied the place was gay-friendly, which would be pretty darn hypocritical for the infamously homophobic Falwell family.) The Falwells also reportedly flew Granda around in a private jet and even took him to meet Trump."
Hate-Monger-in-Chief. The Mass Murder of Immigrants Is Funny. Matt Stieb of New York: At a rally in Panama Beach, Florida last night, Trump said, “'You have hundreds and hundreds of [migrants] and you have two or three border security people that are brave and great -- and don't forget, we don't let them and we can't let them use weapons.... We can't. Other countries do. We can't, I would never do that. But how do you stop these people?' An audience member ... [shouted]. 'Shoot them'..., which caused the president, and [many] ... crowd members, to laugh. 'Only in the panhandle can you get away with that statement,' Trump said.... Trump's response, of course, provides a tacit endorsement of the audience member's call: If the president says you have gotten away with a horrendous statement, one might assume the behavior was okay."
Ana Swanson & Keith Bradsher of the New York Times: "President Trump taunted China on Wednesday morning, saying in a tweet that Chinese negotiators were attempting to drag out trade negotiations until a 'very weak' Democrat was back in the White House and insisting he would be happy to keep tariffs on Chinese exports rather than make a deal. 'The reason for the China pullback & attempted renegotiation of the Trade Deal is the sincere HOPE that they will be able to "negotiate" with Joe Biden or one of the very weak Democrats, and thereby continue to ripoff the United States (($500 Billion a year)) for years to come,' Mr. Trump said on Twitter Wednesday morning.... 'Guess what, that's not going to happen! China has just informed us that they (Vice-Premier) are now coming to the U.S. to make a deal. We'll see, but I am very happy with over $100 Billion a year in Tariffs filling U.S. coffers...great for U.S., not good for China!' he added.... But Mr. Trump appears ready to impose higher tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods on Friday morning, regardless of whether the talks get back on track." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday made a blistering attack against China as he stepped up pressure on Britain, warning that American intelligence sharing could be risked by the involvement of a Chinese company in a new British telecommunications network. Speaking in London, Mr. Pompeo argued that China posed such a range of economic and security threats that the world now faced 'a new kind of challenge, an authoritarian regime that's integrated economically into the West.' 'China steals intellectual property for military purposes,' he said. 'It wants to dominate A.I., space technology, ballistic missiles and many other areas.' The question on the table in Britain is whether the government should allow Huawei, a Chinese company considered a security risk by the United States, to help build some of the next-generation, 5G cellular network in Britain."
Wesley Morgan of Politico: "Former national security adviser H.R. McMaster accused some of his former White House colleagues on Wednesday of being 'a danger to the Constitution' because they are either trying to manipulate ... Donald Trump to push their own agenda or see themselves as rescuing the country from what they view as the commander in chief's bad policy choices.... He said others whom he declined to identify by name had very different agendas.... He declined to offer his opinion of his successor, John Bolton. Nor did he assess Trump directly."
** "The Gravedigger of Democracy." digby: "You might think that it makes no sense that members of Congress would go along with [turn(ing) the presidency into a (Republican) unitary executive office], seeing as it directly interferes with their own constitutional prerogatives.... But it turns out that the modern Republicans are loyal to their party above all else, and no one personifies that dedication more than Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.... Recall that McConnell blithely announced after Barack Obama's election that his top priority was to see to it that Obama was a one-term president. He forced the Democrats to change the filibuster rules when he blocked 79 of Obama's judges, beating the previous record. (That would be the 68 judicial nominees that had been blocked in the entire history of the United States.) McConnell ... hen refused to even hold hearings for Merrick Garland, Obama's choice to fill Antonin Scalia's seat on the Supreme Court. Since Trump's election, McConnell has been dutifully jamming through hundreds of judicial appointments at breakneck speed.... On Tuesday, McConnell surpassed himself." Read on.
Steve Contorno of the Tampa Bay Times: "An investigation into U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz [R] will proceed, the Florida Bar said Wednesday, meaning the Panhandle Republican could face discipline for allegedly intimidating ... Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen. A grand jury-like panel called the Grievance Committee will next decide whether there is probable cause that Gaetz's tweet broke the state Supreme Court's rules for lawyers. Gaetz, one of Trump's top allies in Congress, is licensed to practice law in Florida.... The complaint against Gaetz stems from a menacing tweet he sent on Feb. 27, the eve of Cohen's testimony before a House committee. Gaetz wrote: 'Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends? Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if she'll remain faithful when you're in prison. She's about to learn a lot...' He has since deleted the tweet, but not before it went viral. Legal experts compared it to intimidation of a witness."
Presidential Race 2020. Whatever Happend to Howard Schultz? Matt Stieb: "We're still 18 months out from the presidential election, and yet the campaign process already includes distant memories like Howard Schultz's 2019 winter media blitz. In January and February, the billionaire and former Starbucks CEO aggressively toured the TV-news talk circuit, where he was barraged with questions about why he should pursue an independent run if it would pull business-minded centrists away from the Democratic nominee. But as of early May, the Schultz pre-campaign has gone dark. Aides who spoke to the Daily Beast say that Schultz has not given up on his presidential ambitions, but Schultz hasn't appeared in public since a visit to Arizona to discuss border security in late April. Recently scheduled events in Utah, San Francisco, and Dallas were canceled, and Schultz has cut down on his social-media presence.... Schultz spokesperson Erin McPike told the Daily Beast, he has been quiet recently because he is 'taking a break while he is recovering from back surgery.'"
Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post: "A new survey finds white Republicans are far more likely to be put off by foreign language speakers than their Democratic counterparts. According to Pew Research Center, 47 percent of such Republicans say it would bother them 'some' or 'a lot' to 'hear people speak a language other than English in a public place.' Eighteen percent of white Democrats said they would be similarly bothered. Aside from politics, age and education are the major predictors of linguistic discomfort."
Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Sam Roberts of the New York Times: "Robert Pear, a reporter whose understated demeanor belied a tenacious pursuit of sources and scoops during his 40 years at The New York Times covering health care and other critical national issues, died on Tuesday in Rockville, Md. He was 69."
Beyond the Beltway
Rhode Island. Some School Board Members Really Hate Kids. Elisha Fieldstadt of NBC News: "Students at a Rhode Island school district who owe money on their lunch accounts will have the sole option of a sunflower butter and jelly sandwich until they are able to pay their balances, the district announced Sunday. Warwick Public Schools, which has more than 9,000 pre-kindergarten through 12th grade students, said the district-wide policy will go into effect on May 13.... Warwick School Committee chairwoman Karen Bachus told NBC News that the sandwiches are served with the vegetable of the day, a fruit and milk. Public schools in Rhode Island are mandated by state law to provide lunches to students."
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IMPEACHMENT by Jeffery A. Engel
William Davie of North Carolina, at the 1787 Congress noted that A president that came to power under questionable circumstances- a flawed or tampered election for example-would no doubt be further incentivized to retain office by the same means.
Does anyone suspect that Trumps hour with his superior Putin may have included a plan for the 2020 election?
@carlyle: Couldn't find the link here. I did find a WashPo op-ed by Engel on impeachment but it didn't include the reference to Davie. Can you give me some guidance? That is, just cut & paste the URL, assuming you found this online. Thanks.
Here's something else about Trump's taxes I don't get: why were lenders throwing so much money at him?
The last time I took out a mortgage, up till 2017, was in about 1980. The process was arduous & fraught, which seemed reasonable, inasmuch as I didn't have nearly enough money to purchase the house outright. There's no doubt I was a risky customer.
Then, in 2017, I found it financially advantageous to take out a mortgage on a property I was purchasing, even though I had the funds to pay cash. The process was just as arduous & fraught as it was in 1980. Worse, maybe, because the lender knew perfectly well I had money in the bank; a lot of it was in the lender's bank. To make matters worse, at the last minute, the lender even raised the mortgage rate a quarter-percent, because they charged, despite my written attestations otherwise, that I was going to rent out the property. (I didn't rent it, and I haven't since.) I felt humiliated by their suspicions & accusations, and -- more importantly, the rate hike made my decision to get the loan slightly less advantageous, of course. Even if I didn't meet my obligations under the loan agreement, the lender had a property in a desirable area to foreclose on that was worth considerably more than my mortgage. They have a department for that. In other words, it would be really, really difficult for the lender to loss money on that loan.
So what were the lenders expecting from Trump? Why were their loans so careless they couldn't recoup their losses? Or did they? Was Fred guaranteeing the loans, then letting Donald renege? Or did Donald renege & Fred paid up, letting Donnie take the losses? Or were they both claiming the losses on their returns?
Josh Barro writes that Trump's "deductions" don't add up. That seems to be so at a number of levels.
Walter Shapiro takes up the Worst business man in America and starts out by explaining one of Trump's money scams:
This one is an example of the few profit-making ventures in the late 1980's: It was his version of the age-old Wall street boiler-room scam known as "pump and dump" ( see the excellent film "Boiler Room). Trump would announce he was seeking to acquire majority control of a major company like United Airlines; when the stock jumped, he'd sell his small holdings at a major profit. He did this multiple times until he was ignored and laughed at.
Shapiro reminds us that for the majority of voters the only things that matter in a re-election of a president is what he accomplished in the oval office–-not his record prior to his presidency. He cites examples of Reagan, Clinton and G.W. Bush. The case against this president's reelection should be built around his bilious, maladroit, lawless presidency. (The masculine pronoun here just signifies, I reckon, that so far we have never had a female president).
https://newrepublic.com/article/153855/trump-tax-returns-worst-businessman-america
The questions revolving around money lending will be answered in good time, I hope. Of course, if Shapiro is correct, voters don't care about the past but I think there are plenty of us who do care, if only for the purpose of that old meme, "past is present"–––never again to overlook its significance when voting for people who take an oath to protect and defend.
Impeachment_ an American history, published 2018
Introduction by Jeffery A. Engel
The Constitution- by Jeffery A. Engel
Andrew Johnson by Jon Meacham
Richard Nixon by Timothy Naftali
Bill Clinton by Peter Baker
Conclusion by Jeffery A Engel
The comments of William Davie are on pages thirty four and thirty five. A great book so far, but I am just past Meacham.
The problem with the media.
I have previously in this space criticized NPR for what I deemed insufficiently dogged reporting. This is not always the case, certainly, as they do have many fine reporters. Mostly my ire has been raised during interviews by hosts during which lying scoundrels are allowed to get away with murder and often entirely untroubled by egregiously obvious follow up questions. Still and all, when compared to a lot of what else is out there, it ain't that bad.
BUT...
So yesterday I heard two reports on Trump's tax returns. One was an interview on a PBS show with David Cay Johnston, a highly respected, Pulitzer winning journalist. Johnston goes about, shovel in hand, and gets down below the surface to where the real gold often rests in a story. Case in point. During this interview (and you can read several transcripts of his interviews covering this same ground with other outlets over the last few days, here, and here), he lays the groundwork for the fact that Trump is a tax cheat. He has lost two past cases of charges of tax fraud (one of which featured his own lawyer who testified against him because Trump tacked on the guy's signature to phony documents--he really is a fucking crook) and there is no reason to think he has changed his ways, another reason it's vital that congress gets a look at his more recent serial lies, er, I mean, returns.
He does mention that it was (and still is) common practice for big real estate moguls to find ways out of paying taxes, but he reiterates the fact that the immensity of Trump's write-offs could not possibly obtain from the properties he claimed losses on. Many of those properties he only owned a small piece of.
So then, on NPR, reporter David Zarroli (whose reporting I normally find pretty decent) looks at the same set of facts, but here's how the first couple of minutes of his report goes:
"So it's reasonable to think that Trump had real, actual losses as well in addition to paper losses, which would cut his tax bill even more. Trump has never made a secret of the fact that he took advantage of tax laws whenever possible. During his campaign, he often argued that because he knew how to use the tax code, he was in a good position to reform it. He knew which loopholes to close."
Zarroli and a guest, a professor from Columbia Business School, spend most of the report telling listeners that Trump did what any smart real estate guy would have done and it was all frightfully legal. The only fault they seem to find is that Trump promised, during the stolen election, to close those loopholes, something he has not done.
Okay, fine. But this is like saying that the mobster who gunned down three people in the street ran a red light during his getaway, and now the red light running is the story. Johnston's point is that Trump was and is a criminal tax cheat and fraud whose finances need to be gone over with a fine tooth comb to see who has been supporting him lately and to whom he owes money and favors. Zarroli's point is, well, Trump hasn't followed through on a campaign promise, which in the larger scheme of things is a reporting coup on the level of "dog bites man".
Many listeners would come away from this report thinking that Trump was just a regular guy doing what regular guys do and is guilty only of something, something, something, loopholes. What's the big deal?
My point here is that serious problems with the media are ongoing. Even good reporters often go no more than an inch below the surface when all the really important stuff needs to be exhumed with shovels and pickaxes, carefully reviewed and reported with clarity and authenticity, and this is far and away NOT the case most of the time.
And remember, we're talking about NPR, not Fox or the NY Post, or other outlets that are less ideological but equally lackadaisical with facts and authoritative exegeses.
This lack of interest/reportial abilities was a huge part of Trump's rise and election and it may play a major role in his retaking of the White House.
The country deserves better. There are, of course, structural reasons for bad reporting, but that's another looooong post for a later time. Right now, the best I can say is "This sucks".
And not for nothin', but when does this "self-impeach" thingy get started? Surely Nancy's not waiting for Trump to impeach himself. Is this like the Rat's idea about immigrants self-deporting? We might need to help this along. Like, today. Knowwhatamean?
Wow. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md) isn't holding back.
AK: your talk about NPR is exactly what I end up shouting at the radio about, mornings...It's not that they shy away from the subjects, it's that, time after time, they put on people that are intimately involved on the RW side, and only touch on the left with regard to their "guests." I don't see that changing, as the network is always mindful that trumpsterfire and his minions giveth and taketh away funding. It's been like that for more years than I can remember. God forbid they be fair...
And re Nancy, I screeched at my husband awhile ago that I was fed up with "reasonable, polite" Democrats, including her. She is so careful to not rile up the varmints on the other side...Nance, get on with the impeachment already-- it's the least you can do. Yes, the Senate will not budge, but he will STILL have that stain on him, although, come to think of it, will it even show, what with ALL the stains already on the monster?? What a trio: presidunce, Barr and McConnell-- hard to know whom to hate most...
My other screech is for the poor, poor farmers; for days we have been treated to interviews with soybean merchants, and the tariffs etc. For gods' sake-- they voted for this vile human being, and stood in line to hoot and holler every time he showed up at his rallies. How come they aren't tractoring to the Mall and letting him know that he doesn't even know how tariffs work? How come the GM plant workers aren't storming GM headquarters re sending car-building to Mexico? How come those who saw zero relief from taxes and even had to pay more this year aren't more upset? How come that tea party SoS PoS thinks the melting of the arctic ice is an economic opportunity? BECAUSE THEY ARE ALL blindingly stupid. The vaunted "uneducated", some with Ivy degrees... The mind she boggles...
I don't think that we give enough credit to the awful people around
Donald right now. Trump has been ordering people to do
unconstitutional acts for most of his presidency. Now he has people in his White House who will follow those orders instead of ignoring them or tempering them. Trump doesn't know jack about the law or procedures or governing. It is his lawyers and staff that are knowingly putting into motion all the actions attempting to destroy our democracy.
Not to forget about Trump & Co destroying the country while they line their pockets, for a minute, but....
Jerry Falwell, Jr. in the cabana with his wife and the pool boy?
Geez. Those Evangelicals. So racy. So...open minded? So...HYPOCRITICAL.
Hey, we don't know nothin' for sure 'bout Jerry and Giancarlo and Becki and who the hell knows who (or what) else, but it sounds awfully spicy and dicey, specially for the guy who is touted on Fox as "DEAR LEADER'S SPIRITUAL ADVISOR" or some bullshit. (Is that like the priest who told John Gotti which Latin prayer to pull up after he shot someone then chopped them up? Hmmm...must be a humdinger of a prayer...)
But to return to Jerry, his wife, and the pool boy ( reminds me of that movie "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover", the one where they cooked the guy and the thief made his wife...well, you'd have to see it...), the thing that stands out (so to speak) is Mickey (the Dunce) Cohen's claim that he saw one of those pictures of whatever these Bible beaters were up to (how come they didn't invite Donnie?) and his description of it was "It's terrible". Remember now, this is Cohen the Trump Fixer. Just imagine all the disgusting, stupid, weird, and repulsive things he's seen and heard being around Trump all those years and HE thinks what the Holy Rollers and the pool boy were up to was "terrible". So, okay. Cohen has been known to fudge the truth. But even being if he's a little bit truthful here...
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
Sorry. Had to get that out.
Doesn't it seem like these Evangelicals get awfully baroque when they stray from the path of goodness and light and garden variety grifting? I mean, they don't just boink the babysitter, they get wild! They get down to it. With the pool boy! In the cabana. And the plane. And hotel rooms. And after they introduce him to Trump, at the God University place. With pictures, already!
Hold on....it's coming again....
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahhahaha...
Whew...
Okay, back to Trump destroying the country now.
Also, Jerry Falwell Jr. is the guy who says about Pete Buttigieg,
marriage is between a man and a woman. Or was that a man and
a woman and a pool boy?
I believe the more appropriate sect is referred to as the Evangenitals. It's larger than most people would think.
Unwashed,
The group or the genitals?
Forrest,
You forgot the camera guy. And the guys who sued Falwell and Pool Boy Giancarlo after they didn't get their cut of the business Falwell purchased for his, um, pal the pool boy. Then there was the endorsement of Trump! By Falwell, after his wife, the pool boy, the pictures, Cohen, and the money, blah, blah, blah...
Is all that in the Bible?
I wonder if Pecker was involved, too.
Always, always, cherchez le pecker
The press has learned nothing. Here is a rant from Driftglass on the media in 2007.
"Why is it that if Dick Cheney were caught sodomizing an underage manatee in the triforium of the National Cathedral, the first three words out of any MSM haircut’s mouth would be, “But the Democrats…”?"
"And yet the MSM continues to prop up the rotting carcass of the GOP like the corpse in ”Weekend at Bernie's”, and waltz it lovingly across the national stage year after year after year, protecting it as ferociously as they would their own children even as it goes raving mad, putrefies and crumbles to reek and maggots in their arms."
https://driftglass.blogspot.com/2019/05/rubio-mcconnell-and-party-of-ritual.html
RAS,
Driftglass knows whereof he speaks.
Twelve years on, he still ain't wrong.