The Commentariat -- May 28, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Another A-mazing Coincidence. Sui-Lee Wee of the New York Times: "China this month awarded Ivanka Trump seven new trademarks across a broad collection of businesses, including books, housewares and cushions. At around the same time, President Trump vowed to find a way to prevent a major Chinese telecommunications company from going bust, even though the company has a history of violating American limits on doing business with countries like Iran and North Korea.... Mr. Trump himself has more than 100 trademarks in China. Several United States senators have criticized these trademarks, warning it could be a breach of the United States Constitution and that foreign governments could use Mr. Trump's trademarks to influence foreign policy decisions.... The trademarks are not the only Trump-related deal that took place around the time of Mr. Trump's pledge to save ZTE. On May 15, an Indonesian company called MNC Group, which is partnering with the Trump Organization to build a six-star hotel and golf course in Indonesia, said it had struck a deal with an arm of the Metallurgical Corporation of China, a state-owned construction company, to build a theme park next door to the planned Trump properties." ...

... Erika Kinetz of the AP: "Ivanka Trump’s brand continues to win foreign trademarks in China and the Philippines, adding to questions about conflicts of interest at the White House.... On Sunday, China granted the first daughter's company final approval for its 13th trademark in the last three months, trademark office records show. Over the same period, the Chinese government has granted Ivanka Trump's company provisional approval for another eight trademarks, which can be finalized if no objections are raised during a three-month comment period.... 'Ivanka Trump's refusal to divest from her business is especially troubling as the Ivanka brand continues to expand its business in foreign countries,' Noah Bookbinder, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said in an email Monday. 'It raises significant questions about corruption, as it invites the possibility that she could be benefiting financially from her position and her father's presidency or that she could be influenced in her policy work by countries' treatment of her business.'... Ivanka Trump and her father ... have pursued trademarks in dozen of countries. Those global trademarks have drawn the attention of ethics lawyers because they are granted by foreign governments and can confer enormous value."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Judges appointed by Republican presidents gave longer sentences to black defendants and shorter ones to women than judges appointed by Democrats, according to a new study that analyzed data on more than half a million defendants.... 'These differences cannot be explained by other judge characteristics and grow substantially larger when judges are granted more discretion.'... The new study [by two Harvard law professors] ... find[s] that black defendants are sentenced to 4.8 months more than similar offenders of other races.... Republican appointees are tougher on crime over all, imposing sentences an average of 2.4 months longer than Democratic appointees."

... Saskya Vandoorne, et al., of CNN: "A young Malian migrant who rescued a child dangling from a balcony will be made a French citizen and has been offered a job by the Paris fire brigade, the office of the French presidency said. Video of the rescue showed 22-year-old Mamoudou Gassama climbing up four floors of the apartment building in just seconds to rescue the child, to cheers from onlookers. By the time Parisian emergency services arrived at the building, he had already pulled the child to safety. President Emmanuel Macron invited Gassama to the Élysée Palace on Monday, where he was given a certificate and a gold medal for performing an act of courage and dedication." Mrs. McC: I'm guessing Mali counts as a "shithole country."

*****

Friday I looked up from my work when I heard a bugle playing taps. There was an elderly man standing by the lake across from my house, no doubt practicing for a Memorial Day observance. He reminded me of my father's service & my uncle's during World War II. Then I realized the elderly man was far younger than my father & uncle would be. He may well be a Viet Nam vet. I expect he was about my age. Old has crept up on me; I'm not quite aware of it yet. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Michael Shear & David Sanger of the New York Times: "The United States and North Korea on Sunday kicked off an urgent, behind-the-scenes effort to resurrect a summit meeting between their two leaders by June 12, racing to develop a joint agenda and dispel deep skepticism about the chances for reaching a framework for a lasting nuclear agreement in so little time. Technical and diplomatic experts from the United States made a rare visit to North Korea to meet with their counterparts, American officials said on Sunday. Before any summit meeting, the American team, led by Sung Kim, a veteran diplomat, is seeking detailed commitments from Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, about his regime's willingness to abandon its nuclear weapons program." ...

     ... Then Comes the Embarrassing, Childish Buffoonery: In a tweet Sunday night, President Trump confirmed the meetings in the North Korean part of Panmunjom, a 'truce village' in the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas. He also expressed his administration's newfound optimism about the meeting, further embracing the conciliatory language both sides have used since he canceled the planned meeting in a bitterly worded letter to Mr. Kim on Thursday. 'I truly believe North Korea has brilliant potential and will be a great economic and financial Nation one day,' Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter after a second straight day of golf at his Virginia club. 'Kim Jong Un agrees with me on this. It will happen!'" ...

... Anna Fifield of the Washington Post: "A team of U.S. officials crossed into North Korea on Sunday for talks to prepare for a summit between President Trump and Kim Jong Un, as both sides press ahead with arrangements despite the question marks hanging over the meeting. Sung Kim, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and former nuclear negotiator with the North, has been called in from his post as envoy to the Philippines to lead the preparations, according to a person familiar with the arrangements. He crossed the line that separates the two Koreas to meet with Choe Son Hui, the North Korean vice foreign minister, who said last week that Pyongyang was 'reconsidering' the talks." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "President Trump's attempt to blame Democrats for separating migrant families at the border is renewing a political uproar over immigration, an issue that has challenged Trump throughout his presidency and threatens to grow more heated as he imposes more restrictions to stem the flow of illegal immigration. In one of several misleading tweets during the holiday weekend, Trump pushed Democrats to change a 'horrible law' that the president said mandated separating children from parents who enter the country illegally. But there is no law specifically requiring the government to take such action, and it's also the policies of his own administration that have caused the family separation that advocacy groups and Democrats say is a crisis.... As he detailed the 'zero-tolerance' policy during a pair of appearances May 7, Attorney General Jeff Sessions stressed: 'If you don't want your child separated, then don't bring them across the border illegally. It's not our fault that somebody does that.'... 'He [Trump] used DACA kids as a bargaining chip, and it didn't work,' said Kevin Appleby ... of the Center for Migration Studies.... 'So now he's using vulnerable Central American families for his nativist agenda. It's shameless.'"

P.D. Pepe pointed out the New York Times' editors' Guide to Presidential Etiquette in the Age of Trump. Unfortunately, most if it is way worse than eating a New York slice with a fork. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.

Trump Tweets Some Stuff, Ctd. Brent Griffiths of Politico: "... Donald Trump tweeted Sunday that the Russia probe has 'devastated and destroyed' the reputations of people, continuing his weekend Twitter assault against the Robert Mueller investigation.... 'Who's going to give back the young and beautiful lives (and others) that have been devastated and destroyed by the phony Russia Collusion Witch Hunt? They journeyed down to Washington, D.C., with stars in their eyes and wanting to help our nation.... They went back home in tatters,' the president wrote on Twitter." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Rudy Says Some Stuff, Ctd. Tom McCarthy of the Guardian: "... Rudy Giuliani said on Sunday that his repeated imputations of a supposed scandal at the heart of the Robert Mueller investigation -- which Donald Trump calls 'Spygate' -- amounted to a tactic to sway public opinion and limit the risk of the president being impeached. 'Of course we have to do it to defend the president,' Trump's lawyer told CNN State of the Union host Dana Bash, who accused him of being part of a campaign to undermine the Mueller investigation.... 'It is for public opinion,' Giuliani said of his public campaign of dissimulation. 'Because eventually the decision here is going to be impeach or not impeach. Members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, are going to be informed a lot by their constituents. And so our jury -- and it should be -- is the American people.'" ...

... Connor O'Brien of Politico: "Asked in an interview with CNN's 'State of the Union' if he believed special counsel Robert Mueller's probe was legitimate, [Rudy] Giuliani responded, 'Not anymore.' 'I did when I came in, but now I see Spygate,' Giuliani told host Dana Bush...." ...

... Cheyenne Haslett of ABC News: "Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said he sees 'no evidence' to support President Trump's claims that the FBI used an informant to gather information on his campaign, but that instead the federal probe was focused on 'individuals with a history of links to Russia that were concerning.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill: "Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) fact-checked President Trump's tweet claiming that special counsel Robert Mueller's probe is 'phony,' noting that it has led to several indictments and guilty pleas. 'I hate repeating myself Mr. President, but let me remind you again: Special Counsel Mueller's investigation has either indicted or secured guilty pleas from 19 people and three companies -- that we know of,' Schumer tweeted Sunday." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee on Sunday called on voters to 'throw the bums out' of Congress whom he has accused of trying to help President Trump undermine the special counsel's Russia probe. 'The only thing tha makes this possible is a Congress that is complicit,' Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) said on ABC News's 'This Week,' naming several conservative leaders in the Republican Party and accusing 'a weak' Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) of refusing to 'stand up for the independence of the Justice Department.' 'As long as there's a majority in Congress that is willing to do this president's will and as long as we have a deeply unethical president, there's only one remedy,' Schiff said."

Everything Is Going Very Smoothly, Ctd. Jonathan Swan of Axios: "Shortly after word leaked that Kelly Sadler had taken a nasty shot at John McCain, President Trump convened a meeting in the Oval Office for a tiny group of communications staffers, according to sources familiar with the gathering. Sadler, Mercedes Schlapp, Raj Shah, and John Kelly all gathered ... for a conversation with Trump about the leaking problem. They were the only people in the room, though the door to the outer Oval was open.... The president told Sadler she wouldn't be fired for her remark. He added, separately in the conversation, that he's no fan of McCain. Then Trump ... told Sadler he wanted to know who the leakers were. Sadler then stunned the room: To be completely honest, she said, she thought one of the worst leakers was Schlapp, her boss. Schlapp pushed back aggressively and defended herself in the room.... Sadler went on to name other people she also suspected of being leakers. The allegation -- like a previous internal meeting to deal with leaking -- ultimately got leaked to us."

All the Best People, Ctd. David Pittman of Politico: "The White House official who will shape a large part of the administration's drug price plan worked on many of the same issues as an industry lobbyist, raising questions about whether he violated ... Donald Trump's ethics rules. Joe Grogan -- who has sweeping authority over drug pricing, entitlement programs and other aspects of federal health policy at the Office of Management and Budget -- didn't obtain a waiver from a directive Trump issued during his first week in office that imposed a two-year cooling-off period between lobbying and regulating on the same 'specific issue area.' Grogan worked as the top lobbyist for Gilead Sciences until he arrived at OMB last March, dealing with issues including how much federal health programs would pay for its medicines. Gilead was the company that in 2014 effectively set off the drug price controversy with Sovaldi, its breakthrough hepatitis C cure that cost $1,000 per pill and triggered a lengthy and highly critical Senate Finance Committee probe." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Keith H. points to a story that, um, everybody missed. Jim Dean of Veterans Today: "Congress stepped up to the plate with a surprise unanimous vote [in the House] attaching an amendment to a Defense authorization bill stating that 'no law exists which gives the president power to launch a military strike against the Islamic Republic.'" As the National Iranian American Council noted, "The amendment could be stripped out in negotiations with the Senate...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Darryl Fears of the Washington Post: "Across [New Jersey's] Atlantic Coast strip, mayors in nearly every city teamed with council members, conservationists, business leaders and residents to craft resolutions that denounced the [Trump administration's] proposal to widen federal offshore leasing to 90 percent of the outer continental shelf, an effort that began just days after Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced the plan in January. They helped put New Jersey at the forefront of resistance to Trump's 'energy dominance' agenda.... Last month, New Jersey became the first Atlantic state to adopt a legal barrier to offshore drilling. Lawmakers passed a bill, signed by Gov. Phil Murphy (D), that prohibits oil exploration in state waters, which extend three miles from shore. An amendment to the law went further, barring the construction of infrastructure such as a pipeline to deliver oil and natural gas from drilling platforms in federal waters that start where state waters end.... And a Republican state senator in Delaware submitted a bill in mid-May that mirrors those of the state's northern neighbors. Some chamber of commerce estimates put the economic impact of coastal Atlantic beach tourism at $95 billion a year."

"The Trump Effect." Noah Berlatsky at NBC News: "Political scientists Steven V. Miller of Clemson and Nicholas T. Davis of Texas A&M have released a working paper ... [on a] study [which] finds a correlation between white American's intolerance, and support for authoritarian rule. In other words, when intolerant white people fear democracy may benefit marginalized people, they abandon their commitment to democracy.... For instance, people who said they did not want to live next door to immigrants or to people of another race were more supportive of the idea of military rule, or of a strongman-type leader who could ignore legislatures and election results.... The Founders supported democracy as long as it was restricted to white male property holders.... The GOP has increasingly been embracing a politics of white resentment tied to disenfranchisement.... The growing concentration of intolerant white voters in the GOP ... has created a party which appears less and less committed to the democratic project."

Millions of Republicans Are Delusional/Suckers. Kyle Balluck of the Hill: "Almost half of the Republican respondents in a new poll said they believe millions of voters illegally cast ballots in the 2016 presidential election, as President Trump has claimed. Forty-eight percent of Republicans in the HuffPost/YouGov poll said they believe as many as 5 million votes were cast illegally, compared to 17 percent who said they do not. More than one-third of Republican respondents, 35 percent, said they are unsure." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I do think this poll result speaks to the larger point that one has to be delusional (or really, really rich) to vote Republican. Democracy cannot function if one of the two major political parties is fundamentally dishonest.

No, You're Not Getting a Raise. Steve Levine of Axios: "Very few Americans have enjoyed steadily rising pay beyond inflation over the last couple of decades, a shift from prior years in which the working and middle classes enjoyed broad-based wage gains as the economy expanded.... Now, executives of big U.S. companies suggest that the days of most people getting a pay raise are over, and that they also plan to reduce their work forces further.... This was rare, candid and bracing talk from executives atop corporate America, made at a conference Thursday at the Dallas Fed.... To cash in, workers will need to shift to higher-skilled jobs that command more income."

Louis Lucero of the New York Times: "Hoping to thwart a sophisticated malware system linked to Russia that has infected hundreds of thousands of internet routers, the F.B.I. has made an urgent request to anybody with one of the devices: Turn it off, and then turn it back on. The malware is capable of blocking web traffic, collecting information that passes through home and office routers, and disabling the devices entirely, the bureau announced on Friday. A global network of hundreds of thousands of routers is already under the control of the Sofacy Group, the Justice Department said last week. That group, which is also known as A.P.T. 28 and Fancy Bear and believed to be directed by Russia's military intelligence agency, hacked the Democratic National Committee ahead of the 2016 presidential election, according to American and European intelligence agencies."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Angela Giuffrida, et al., of the Guardian: "A standoff over Italy’s future in the eurozone has forced the resignation of the populist prime minister-in waiting, Giuseppe Conte, after the country’s president refused to accept Conte's controversial choice for finance minister. Sergio Mattarella, the Italian president who was installed by a previous pro-EU government, refused to accept the nomination for finance minister of Paolo Savona, an 81-year-old former industry minister who has called Italy's entry into the euro a 'historic mistake'.... Italy has been without a government since elections on 4 March ended in a hung parliament. The country is now expected to go to the polls again in the autumn. The president's move to quash Savona's nomination was unprecedented in recent history...." ...

... Update. Giada Zampano of Politico: "Italy's President Sergio Mattarella on Monday asked Carlo Cottarelli to try and form a government after an attempt to forge a populist coalition failed. Cottarelli, 64, a former International Monetary Fund senior official known as 'Mr. Scissors' for making cuts to public spending, would lead a technocratic government. But he faces an uphill task getting the necessary support. He will face staunch opposition from the two populist forces that won most votes in the March 4 election -- the anti-establishment 5Star Movement and the far-right League. Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia, which had previously promised its support to a government backed the president, said Monday it will vote against the new Cabinet."

The Commentariat -- May 27, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Keith H. points to a story that, um, everybody missed. Jim Dean of Veterans Today: "Congress stepped up to the plate with a surprise unanimous vote [in the House] attaching an amendment to a Defense authorization bill stating that 'no law exists which gives the president power to launch a military strike against the Islamic Republic.'" As the National Iranian American Council noted, "The amendment could be stripped out in negotiations with the Senate...."

Anna Fifield of the Washington Post: "A team of U.S. officials crossed into North Korea on Sunday for talks to prepare for a summit between President Trump and Kim Jong Un, as both sides press ahead with arrangements despite the question marks hanging over the meeting. Sung Kim, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and former nuclear negotiator with the North, has been called in from his post as envoy to the Philippines to lead the preparations, according to a person familiar with the arrangements. He crossed the line that separates the two Koreas to meet with Choe Son Hui, the North Korean vice foreign minister, who said last week that Pyongyang was 'reconsidering' the talks."

Trump Tweets Some Stuff, Ctd. Brent Griffiths of Politico: "... Donald Trump tweeted Sunday that the Russia probe has 'devastated and destroyed' the reputations of people, continuing his weekend Twitter assault against the Robert Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. 'Who's going to give back the young and beautiful lives (and others) that have been devastated and destroyed by the phony Russia Collusion Witch Hunt? They journeyed down to Washington, D.C., with stars in their eyes and wanting to help our nation. ... They went back home in tatters,' the president wrote on Twitter."

Rudy Says Some Stuff, Ctd. Connor O'Brien of Politico: "Asked in an interview with CNN's 'State of the Union' if he believed special counsel Robert Mueller's probe was legitimate, [Rudy] Giuliani responded, 'Not anymore.' 'I did when I came in, but now I see Spygate,' Giuliani told host Dana Bush...."

Cheyenne Haslett of ABC News: "Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said he sees 'no evidence' to support President Trump's claims that the FBI used an informant to gather information on his campaign, but that instead the federal probe was focused on 'individuals with a history of links to Russia that were concerning.'"

Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill: "Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) fact-checked >President Trump's tweet claiming that special counsel Robert Mueller's probe is 'phony,' noting that it has led to several indictments and guilty pleas. 'I hate repeating myself Mr. President, but let me remind you again: Special Counsel Mueller's investigation has either indicted or secure guilty pleas from 19 people and three companies -- that we know of,' Schumer tweeted Sunday."

All the Best People, Ctd. David Pittman of Politico: "The White House official who will shape a large part of the administration's drug price plan worked on many of the same issues as an industry lobbyist, raising questions about whether he violated ... Donald Trump's ethics rules. Joe Grogan -- who has sweeping authority over drug pricing, entitlement programs and other aspects of federal health policy at the Office of Management and Budget -- didn't obtain a waiver from a directive Trump issued during his first week in office that imposed a two-year cooling-off period between lobbying and regulating on the same 'specific issue area.' Grogan worked as the top lobbyist for Gilead Sciences until he arrived at OMB last March, dealing with issues including how much federal health programs would pay for its medicines. Gilead was the company that in 2014 effectively set off the drug price controversy with Sovaldi, its breakthrough hepatitis C cure that cost $1,000 per pill and triggered a lengthy and highly critical Senate Finance Committee probe."

P.D. Pepe pointed out the New York Times' editors' new Guide to Presidential Etiquette in the Age of Trump. Unfortunately, most if it is way worse than eating a New York slice with a fork.

Millions of Republicans Are Delusional/Suckers. Kyle Balluck of the Hill: "Almost half of the Republican respondents in a new poll said they believe millions of voters illegally cast ballots in the 2016 presidential election, as President Trump has claimed. Forty-eight percent of Republicans in the HuffPost/YouGov poll said they believe as many as 5 million votes were cast illegally, compared to 17 percent who said they do not. More than one-third of Republican respondents, 35 percent, said they are unsure." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I do think this poll result speaks to the larger point that one has to be delusional (or really, really rich) to vote Republican. Democracy cannot function if one of the two major political parties is fundamentally dishonest.

*****

Peter Baker & Katie Benner of the New York Times: "For more than a year, President Trump has been at war with law enforcement agencies that answer to him, interjecting himself into an investigation in which he himself is a subject. And he has escalated the conflict drastically in recent days by accusing the F.B.I. of placing a 'spy' inside his 2016 campaign, pressuring the agencies to reveal secret information and demanding an investigation of his investigators. The confrontation has no precedent in the modern era and holds great stakes not just for the president but for the relative autonomy for law enforcement investigations established after Watergate.... Since even before taking office, Mr. Trump has disparaged intelligence agencies that concluded that Russia sought to influence the election on his behalf, at one point in effect comparing them to Nazis. He has publicly badgered law enforcement officials to shut down the Russia investigation and instead open inquiries into his political adversaries. But he went even further last week by effectively ordering an investigation into the actions taken regarding his campaign." ...

... It's Working! Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "President Trump is waging a war of attrition against special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's investigation. If his goal is to poison the reception to whatever Mueller's findings turn out to be, as seems evident from what he and his allies have done, he is making progress. The slow but steady separation of public opinion underscores the degree of success in the president's strategy. Through constant tweets in which he has used exaggeration, distortion and outright falsehoods -- combined with the activities of his congressional supporters in hectoring the Justice Department and the FBI -- Trump hopes to turn the ultimate confrontation into one more partisan battle.... Step by step, week by week, the president and his allies cross lines that legal experts insist should not be crossed. The president's ongoing conflict with the Justice Department and his inflammatory tweets about the Mueller investigation have become so commonplace that it can be easy for people to forget how abnormal it all is." ...

... This Russia Thing, Ctd. Spanish Edition. Michael Isikoff of Yahoo! News: "The FBI has obtained secret wiretaps collected by Spanish police of conversations involving Alexander Torshin, a deputy governor of Russia's Central Bank who has forged close ties with U.S. lawmakers and the National Rifle Association, that led to a meeting with Donald Trump Jr. during the gun lobby's annual convention in Louisville, Ky., in May 2016, a top Spanish prosecutor said Friday. Spanish organized crime said that bureau officials in recent months requested and were provided transcripts of wiretapped conversations between Torshin and Alexander Romanov, a convicted Russian money launderer.... Asked if he was concerned about Torshin's meetings with Donald Trump Jr. and other American political figures, [José] Grinda [of the Spanish police] replied: 'Mr. Trump's son should be concerned.'... Torshin has been the subject of intensifying U.S. government and congressional scrutiny over the past year and was recently among a lengthy list of oligarchs and Russian political figures sanctioned by the Treasury Department."

Jonah Shepp of New York: "Less than a year and a half into his term..., Donald Trump has done more damage to U.S. foreign policy credibility than even the right-wing bogeyman version of [President] Obama managed to do in eight years. Yet, strangely, few of these credibility hawks seem particularly perturbed by his choices.... Under Trump, the world is finding that we can no longer be trusted to engage in consultation, deliberation, or dialogue of any kind. Instead, we do whatever we want (or whatever he wants) with no real concern for the impact our decisions have on other countries, be they allies or adversaries. When other countries behave this way, we ... call them rogue states." ...

... Robin Wright of the New Yorker: "In the fifteen months of Trump's Presidency, the United State has witnessed a stunning undoing of long-standing norms — of the U.S.-led world order, core alliances, trade pacts, principles of nonproliferation, patterns of globalization, world institutions, and most of all, U.S. influence. A lot of it began in 2003, with the U.S. invasion of Iraq. But it has accelerated with breathtaking speed since Trump took office. And, in virtually every case, there is increasingly no alternative to replace the institutions, ideas, accords, and relationships that Trump is undoing." ...

... Masha Gessen of the New Yorker ponders how to cling to reality in the Trump era, when many are inclined to react to "an outburst as though it were politics, a tantrum as though it were diplomacy, and a delusion as though it were aspiration."

Brent Griffiths of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Saturday urged voters to pressure Democrats into accepting an immigration deal on his terms, appearing to cite his own administration's 'horrible' policy of stepping up the separation of families held at the U.S.-Mexico border. 'Put pressure on the Democrats to end the horrible law that separates children from there parents once they cross the Border into the U.S. Catch and Release, Lottery and Chain must also go with it and we MUST continue building the WALL! DEMOCRATS ARE PROTECTING MS-13 THUGS,' the president wrote on Twitter.... "The law does not remotely require the administration's family separation practice,' [Lee Gelernt of the ACLU] said. 'The administration is trying to shift the blame to Congress. [But] it's the administration's own choice to seperate [sic.] families. This law his been in effect for years but no prior administration believed it required family separation.'" ...

... Daniel Politi of Slate: "Even though his attempt to shift blame on Democrats for his own policies may be galling, it was hardly new. Earlier this month [Trump] did the same while talking to California officials about immigration policy. 'I know what you're going through right now with families is very tough but those are the bad laws that the Democrats gave us,' Trump told Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. 'We have to break up families. The Democrats gave us that law. It's a horrible thing where you have to break up families.' Factcheck.org declared that statement was 'false.'"

... Lost Children Not Our Concern. Dakin Andone of CNN: "The federal government has placed thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children in the homes of sponsors, but last year it couldn't account for nearly 1,500 of them.... That's more than 19% of the children that were placed by the ORR. But [Steven] Wagner[, acting assistant secretary for the Administration for Children and Families,] said HHS is not responsible for the children. 'I understand that it has been HHS's long-standing interpretation of the law that ORR is not legally responsible for children after they are released from ORR care,' Wagner said."

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Trump falsely accused The New York Times on Saturday of making up a source in an article about North Korea, even though the source was in fact a senior White House official speaking ... in the White House briefing room... [to] about 50 reporters, with about 200 or so more on a conference call.... The rules of the briefing imposed by the White House required that the official be referred to only as a 'senior White House official.'... The article, headlined, 'Trump Says North Korea Summit May Be Rescheduled,' said that the United States was 'back in touch with North Korea' and that the meeting might yet happen. Mr. Trump posted on Twitter to denounce part of the article, which reported in the 10th paragraph that 'a senior White House official told reporters that even if the meeting were reinstated, holding it on June 12 would be impossible, given the lack of time and the amount of planning needed.' In a tweet, the president took issue with that sentence, saying, 'WRONG AGAIN! Use real people, not phony sources.'... Mr. Trump's attack on The Times was only the latest of many efforts by the president to discredit reporting by news organizations by questioning the validity of their sources." ...

... There's a Recording. The "Phony Source" Has a Name & a White House Badge. A.J. Vicens of Mother Jones: "As pointed out by freelance journalist Yashar Ali, the official that Trump says 'doesn't exist' was actually Matt Pottinger of the National Security Council, and Pottinger's statement was recorded (and subsequently posted by Ali)."

Choe Sang-Hun of the New York Times: "The leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, said during a surprise summit meeting that he is determined to meet President Trump and discuss a 'complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,' South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Sunday.Mr. Kim met unexpectedly with Mr. Moon on Saturday to discuss salvaging a canceled summit meeting between Mr. Kim and President Trump, a new twist in the whirlwind of diplomacy over the fate of the North's nuclear arsenal."

John Bowden of the Hill: "Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) is using his personal attorney, formerly his administration's attorney general, to block the release of correspondence between his office and the company formerly managed by White House adviser Jared Kushner.... Kushner Companies, a real estate firm now managed by Kushner's brother, benefited under Christie's administration, during which it was the recipient of a $33 million tax credit for the development of One Journal Square Project, a planned skyscraper in Jersey City.... Experts in New Jersey's open records law told the news outlet that Christie's use of his personal lawyer to shield the release of documents from his administration was 'disturbing.'"

Way Beyond the Beltway

Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura of the New York Times: "Ireland voted decisively to repeal one of the world's more restrictive abortion bans, the prime minister said Saturday, sweeping aside generations of conservative patriarchy and dealing the latest in a series of stinging rebukes to the Roman Catholic Church. The surprising landslide cemented the nation's liberal shift at a time when right-wing populism is on the rise in Europe and the Trump administration is imposing curbs on abortion rights in the United States. In the past three years alone, Ireland has installed a gay man as prime minister and has voted in another referendum to allow same-sex marriage." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Nice to see Ireland come crashing into the 20th century as we recede into the 19th.

The Commentariat -- May 26, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura of the New York Times: "Ireland voted decisively to repeal one of the world's more restrictive abortion bans, the prime minister said Saturday, sweeping aside generations of conservative patriarchy and dealing the latest in a series of stinging rebukes to the Roman Catholic Church. The surprising landslide cemented the nation's liberal shift at a time when right-wing populism is on the rise in Europe and the Trump administration is imposing curbs on abortion rights in the United States. In the past three years alone, Ireland has installed a gay man as prime minister and has voted in another referendum to allow same-sex marriage."

*****

Trump Again Wins Lies & Empty Words Trophy. Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Trump declared Friday that the United States is 'respected again' because of a military that is 'a lot stronger,' as he welcomed the 2018 graduates of the Naval Academy into what he called 'the most powerful and rightful force on the planet.'" ...

... "Three False Claims From Trump's Naval Academy Speech." Linda Qiu of the New York Times: (1) 'We have ended the disastrous defense sequester. No money for the military, those days are over.' False. (2) 'Very soon, you're going to have 355 beautiful ships -- 355. That's almost a couple hundred more ships.' False twice. (3) 'We just got you a big pay raise, first time in 10 years.' Mrs. McC: Trump often makes this last false claim.

Noam Scheiber of the New York Times: "President Trump on Friday signed a series of executive orders making it easier to fire federal government workers and to curb the workplace role of unions that represent them.... The push also reflects conservatives' long-running suspicion of the federal bureaucracy, one reflected in pronouncements by the president's advisers. Shortly after Mr. Trump took office, Stephen K. Bannon, then his chief strategist, called for 'the deconstruction of the administrative state.'" ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: So here we taxpayers are paying $400K/year to a man -- and untold millions ferrying him to golf outings to promote his own resorts -- who has done nothing but muck up the federal government & sabotage its purposes & operations, and that same guy is doing everything he can to punish modestly-paid workers trying to do their jobs. However, I think the real problem Trump finds with federal workers is that there are half-again as many black federal employees per capita (about 18%) as in the general population (about 12.5%). The reason Trump thinks maybe black athletes who protest police brutality should be deported & federal employees' union activity should be curtailed is no doubt the same reason -- as it turns out -- he's really good with police unions. ...

... Gregory Pratt of the Chicago Tribune: "... Donald Trump on Friday tweeted his support for Chicago police union members who protested Mayor Rahm Emanuel this week.... 'Chicago Police have every right to legally protest against the mayor and an administration that just won't let them do their job,' Trump tweeted. 'The killings are at a record pace and tough police work, which Chicago will not allow, would bring things back to order fast...the killings must stop!' Trump's comment followed a Wednesday protest by more than 100 off-duty officers and Fraternal Order of Police members who marched at the City Council meeting. Police officers called for Emanuel to be removed from office, with FOP officials saying the mayor has cast their interests aside by endorsing a federal consent decree and not yet agreeing to a new contract nearly a year after the union's last one expired.... Emanuel spokesman Adam Collins tweeted a response to Trump's tweet: '... Chicago is a Trump-free zone, not a fact-free zone, and we had a 21% drop in gun violence in 2017 and a 21% drop in 2018. Have a nice weekend!'"

This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.

Jonathan Lemire & Eric Tucker of the AP: "... Donald Trump's legal team wants a briefing on the classified information shared with lawmakers about the origins of the FBI investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential election and may take it to the Justice Department as part of an effort to scuttle the ongoing special counsel probe. Rudy Giuliani ... told The Associated Press on Friday that the White House hopes to get a readout of the information next week, particularly about the use of a longtime government informant...."

William Rashbaum, et al., of the New York Times: "Eleven days before the presidential inauguration last year, a billionaire Russian businessman with ties to the Kremlin visited Trump Tower in Manhattan to meet with ... Michael D. Cohen according to video footage and another person who attended the meeting. In Mr. Cohen's office on the 26th floor, he and the oligarch, Viktor Vekselberg, discussed a mutual desire to strengthen Russia's relations with the United States under President Trump, according to Andrew Intrater, an American businessman who attended the meeting and invests money for Mr. Vekselberg." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Jonathan Chait runs down what-all else we know about Vekselberg's U.S. dealings & concludes: "The chance that the firm [Columbus Nova] linked to a Russian oligarch [Vekselberg] with a record of using his influence for secret state purposes met with Trump's fixer, and then the firm he is linked to gave [Michael] Cohen $1 million, and that all this occurred without Vekselberg's knowledge seems quite low. The likelihood that their protestations of innocence hold up is lower still given that they forgot to mention the small detail of Vekselberg's meeting with Cohen. It looks, instead, like a secret payoff from the Kremlin to Cohen. And then the more explosive question is whether any of that money ever made its way into Trump's pockets."

Trump Is Not Giving up on SPYGATE! Max Greenwood of the Hill: "President Trump on Friday once again made the claim that the FBI improperly spied on his presidential campaign, suggesting that the bureau used a top-secret informant to surveil his team long before it began investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election. 'The Democrats are now alluding to the the concept that having an Informant placed in an opposing party's campaign is different than having a Spy, as illegal as that may be,' he tweeted. 'But what about an "Informant" who is paid a fortune and who "sets up" way earlier than the Russian Hoax?'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Say, why haven't we heard from Devin Nunes since he got the goods on the intelligence agencies way yesterday? No press conference decrying FBI spies? No interviews revealing a CIA conspiracy? I'm so disappointed.

Max Greenwood of the Hill: "South Korean President Moon Jae In and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met on Saturday to discuss the possibility of renewed talks between the U.S. and North Korea, the South's Blue House said. The meeting came as a surprise, and was not made public until after it ended. Moon and Kim met on the North Korean side of the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two countries, in the village of Panmunjom." ...

... Blah, Blah, Blah. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Trump said on Friday that his administration was back in touch with North Korea and the two sides may reschedule his summit meeting with Kim Jong-un, perhaps even on the original June 12 date, a stunning reversal just a day after the president canceled the get-together. 'We'll see what happens,' Mr. Trump told reporters. 'It could even be the 12th,' he said. 'We're talking to them now. They very much want to do it. We'd like to do it. We'll see what happens.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Susan Glasser of the New Yorker: "Sixteen months into the Trump Presidency, it is finally time to say: ... There are no deals with Trump, and there are increasingly unlikely to be. Not on NAFTA. Not on Middle East peace. Or Obamacare or infrastructure. On tax cuts, the one big deal that did get passed, Republicans in Congress agreed to give their grandchildren's money to American corporations and wealthy families and put it all on the nation's credit card; Trump championed it but ... played little role in shaping the legislation, and did nothing to build consensus with skeptical Democrats. On North Korea, Trump spontaneously (and over the fears of his advisers) agreed to meet a dictator whose family, for three generations, has made the acquisition of nuclear weapons the centerpiece of its national security; Trump's negotiating strategy was to demand that the Kim dynasty completely give them up. How surprised are we that it didn't work out? No, Trump is a much better dealbreaker than dealmaker." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ana Swanson of the New York Times: "The Trump administration told lawmakers it had reached a deal that would keep the Chinese telecom firm ZTE alive, a person familiar with the matter said, a move that could clear the way for further trade talks with China but provoke anger in Congress. Under the agreement brokered by the Commerce Department, ZTE would pay a substantial fine, hire American compliance officers to be placed at the firm and make changes to its current management team. In return, the Commerce Department would lift a so-called denial order that is preventing the company from buying American products, the person said." ...

... Damian Paletta of the Washington Post: "A growing group of lawmakers is threatening to intervene to stop the White House from cutting a deal with China to save ZTE Corp., seeking to upend sensitive negotiations over the embattled Chinese telecommunications company that are expected to intensify next week.... Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has led the GOP charge pushing against President Trump's effort to release ZTE from strict prohibitions, and he criticized the administration again on Friday.... It's unusual for a White House to advance a foreign policy decision that has virtually no congressional support, and so far few lawmakers have said they believe helping ZTE is a good idea." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yes, but it's also unusual for a president to take a big bribe to advance a foreign policy decision that has virtually no congressional support, and that's what it appears Trump did.

Ellen Knickmeyer of the AP: "Newly released emails show senior Environmental Protection Agency officials collaborating with a conservative group that dismisses climate change to rally like-minded people for public hearings on science and global warming, counter negative news coverage and tout Administrator Scott Pruitt's stewardship of the agency. John Konkus, EPA's deputy associate administrator for public affairs, repeatedly reached out to senior staffers at the Heartland Institute, according to the emails.... The emails underscore how Pruitt and senior agency officials have sought to surround themselves with people who share their vision of curbing environmental regulation and enforcement...." ...

... Chris Sommerfeldt of the New York Daily News: "Taxpayers have spent nearly $3.5 million on Scott Pruitt's security detail over the past year, far exceeding the cost of protecting his predecessors, according to figures released by the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday.... The actual taxpayer-funded security tally might be even higher, because the records released Friday do not account for training, equipment and vehicle costs."

Trump Nominates Hate-Group Fellow for Top State Immigration Post. Adam Raymond of New York: "President Trump on Thursday nominated Ronald Mortensen, a vocal critic of undocumented immigrants, to serve as assistant secretary of State for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. The Utah native is the founder of the Utah Coalition on Illegal Immigration and serves as a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies. The group, which says its mission is to highlight the negative effects of legal and illegal immigration, is considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center."

Theodoric Meyer & Margaret McGill of Politico: "Corey Lewandowski is advising T-Mobile on how to win approval for its proposed merger with Sprint, according to the company. Lewandowski is advising T-Mobile through Turnberry Solutions, a lobbying firm started last year by two fellow veterans of ... Donald Trump’s campaign, which Lewandowski managed before being fired. T-Mobile hired Turnberry last year, but Lewandowski has denied any connection to the firm in the past.... Jason Osborne, a Turnberry lobbyist, said in an interview that Lewandowski was acting as an 'unpaid strategic adviser' to the firm and had never lobbied for its clients."

New Candidate for Worst Congressional Boss. Rachel Bade, et al., of Politico: "Virginia Rep. Tom Garrett [R] and his wife turned the congressman's staff into personal servants, multiple former employees to the freshman Republican told Politico -- assigning them tasks from grocery shopping to fetching the congressman's clothes to caring for their pet dog, all during work hours.... The couple called on staff to pick up groceries, chauffeur Garrett's daughters to and from his Virginia district, and ... watch and clean up after Sophie, their Jack Russell-Pomeranian mix, the aides said. The staffers said they feared that if they refused Garrett's or his wife's orders -- both were known for explosive tempers -- they would struggle to advance in their careers. It wasn't just full-time staff: many of the allegedly inappropriate requests were made of interns, the former aides said."

Marwa Eltagouri of the Washington Post: "The supermarket chain Publix on Friday announced that it would suspend its political contributions to Adam Putnam, a Republican candidate for Florida governor, after being faced with overwhelming pressure to cut ties with him because of his fierce support for the National Rifle Association. The announcement came moments before 'die-in' protests organized by 18-year-old gun-control activist David Hogg began at several Publix supermarkets, forcing store managers to reroute shoppers around the protesters, who lay on the floors of the aisles.... The protesters were calling for an end to Publix's support for Putnam, Florida's agricultural commissioner, who has called himself a 'proud NRA sellout.'... Publix has faced increasing backlash since the Tampa Bay Times reported that the company had given $670,000 to Putnam in the past three years." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Publix -- where has stores throughout the South -- is employee-owned, & for that reason I've been happy to shop there, although I never bought their produce because they refused to support the Immokalee farmworkers' modest demands. But employees are people, too, as Mitt might acknowledge, & people make mistakes. Supporting a far-right "proud NRA sellout" is a terrible mistake. It's pretty clear I didn't go far enough with my lettuce-and-tomato boycott. Then again, thanks to Publix for making sure innocent grads don't have to see the "cum" in "cum laude."

News Lede

New York Times: "Alan Bean, who became the fourth man to walk on the moon and turned to painting years later to tell the story of NASA's Apollo missions as they began receding into history, died on Saturday at Houston Methodist Hospital. He was 86."