The Commentariat -- November 3, 2017

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Because They're Blinded by the Stupid. Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "Three conservative House Republicans are expected to file a resolution Friday calling on special counsel Robert S. Mueller III to recuse himself from his probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, accusing him of conflicts of interest. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who wrote the resolution, accuses Mueller of having a conflict of interest because he was serving as FBI chief when the Obama administration approved a deal allowing a Russian company to purchase a Canada-based mining group with uranium operations in the United States, according to a draft obtained by The Washington Post."

Richard Oppel of the New York Times: "Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was dishonorably discharged from the Army on Friday by a military judge, but received no prison time, for desertion and endangering troops, ending a drama that began more than eight years ago in war-torn Afghanistan."

As contributor Ken W. writes, Dylan Matthews of Vox does a fine job of explaining the House's tax bill. Because of all the variables, unless you're in the top one percent, you'll just have to guess whether or not you stand to gain or lose, but most Americans -- including those of you who are financially comfortable -- are losers & as the deficit rises & more benefits for the rich kick in, more will become losers.

*****

Binyamin Appelbaum & Ana Swanson of the New York Times: "President Trump nominated Jerome H. Powell to chair the Federal Reserve on Thursday afternoon, bypassing Janet L. Yellen for a second term but turning to a replacement who is expected to stay the course on monetary policy if the economy continues its steady growth.... Mr. Powell, a member of the Fed's board of governors since 2012, has consistently voted with Ms. Yellen, and colleagues consider him a centrist and pragmatist. But his tenure as a central banker has been relatively brief, and he has expressed skepticism in the past about the unconventional measures that the Fed has taken in the wake of the severe recession of 2008 and 2009. Mr. Powell could also depart from the Fed's current trajectory when it comes to regulating banks and other financial institutions -- rules Mr. Trump has said should be loosened." (Also linked yesterday.)

Greg Sargent: "When Trump dismisses discussion of Russian interference in the 2016 election as a hoax, he isn't merely saying the charge of collusion with that meddling is a hoax. He's also saying that the alleged Russian sabotage itself, irrespective of whether his campaign colluded with it, definitively never happened at all and, by extension, doesn't merit any inquiry or discussion. Some new reporting out this morning underscores in a fresh way just how reckless, irresponsible and potentially dangerous to our democracy this stance has become." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Ken Dilanian & Carol Lee of NBC News: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions rejected a proposal by a junior campaign aide [-- George Papadopoulos --] who offered to use his 'Russian contacts' to try to set up a meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, a source familiar with the matter told NBC News.... This new revelation is significant because Sessions told Congress under oath in June [actually January 2017] that he had 'no knowledge' of any conversations by anyone connected to the Trump campaign about 'any type of interference with any campaign' by Russians. Congressional investigators want to question Sessions about the new disclosures and his new recollection, multiple Congressional officials told NBC News. Both the judiciary and the intelligence committees have an interest in doing so, the officials said. The meeting at which Papadopoulos floated the idea of Trump sitting down with Putin occurred March 31, [2016] and Sessions can be seen in a photo sitting at the head of the table. At the other end was Trump." ...

... Manu Raju, et al., of CNN: "After Trump declined to rule out the idea, Sessions weighed in and rejected the proposed meeting, according to a person who attended.... Sen. John Cornyn, the No. 2 in Republican leadership who serves on the intelligence and judiciary panels, said he was unaware of Sessions' attendance at that meeting until now. He added: 'I certainly think it's a legitimate area of inquiry' for lawmakers to pursue." ...

... Manu Raju & Jim Acosta of CNN: "Candidate Donald Trump did not dismiss the idea of arranging a meeting with Russia's president when it was suggested in a meeting with his campaign foreign policy advisers last year, according to a person in the room. The idea was raised by George Papadopoulos as he introduced himself at a March 2016 meeting of the Republican candidate's foreign policy advisers, according to a court filing. 'He didn't say yes and he didn't say no,' the official said, declining to be more specific about Trump's response to Papadopoulos." ...

... Manu Raju & Jeremy Herb of CNN: "Former Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page privately testified Thursday that he mentioned to Jeff Sessions he was traveling to Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign -- as new questions emerge about the attorney general's comments to Congress about Russia and the Trump campaign. During more than six hours of closed-door testimony, Page said that he informed Sessions about his coming July 2016 trip to Russia.... Page described the conversation to CNN after he finished talking to the House intelligence committee." ...

     ... Page Pleads the Fifth. Kyle Cheney of Politico: "... Carter Page invoked his Fifth Amendment rights Thursday when asked by House Intelligence Committee members why he hadn't turned over documents for their probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, lawmakers said." It is not clear what subpoenaed documents Page withheld. ...

... Michael Schmidt, et al., of the New York Times: "Standing before reporters in February, President Trump said unequivocally that he knew of nobody from his campaign who was in contact with Russians during the election. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has told the Senate the same thing. Court documents unsealed this week cast doubt on both statements and raised the possibility that Mr. Sessions could be called back to Congress for further questioning.... The court documents represent the first concrete evidence that Mr. Trump was personally told about ties between a campaign adviser and Russian officials.... At a Feb. 16, 2017, White House news conference, a reporter asked Mr. Trump, 'Can you say whether you are aware that anyone who advised your campaign had contacts with Russia during the course of the election?' 'No,' Mr. Trump said. 'Nobody that I know of. Nobody.'... [At the March 2016 meeting, when campaign foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos proposed arranging a meeting between Trump & Putin, Trump showed interest, but] Mr. Sessions vehemently opposed the idea, meeting attendee J. D. Gordon recalled. 'And he said that no one should talk about it.'... On Thursday, as news of Papadopoulos’s Russian ties continued to ripple through Washington, [Sen. Al] Franken [D-Minn.] sent a stern letter to Mr. Sessions. 'This is another example in an alarming pattern in which you, the nation's top law enforcement official, apparently failed to tell the truth, under oath,' he wrote." ...

... Evan Perez, et al., of CNN: "Jared Kushner has turned over documents in recent weeks to special counsel Robert Mueller as investigators have begun asking in witness interviews about Kushner's role in the firing of FBI Director James Comey, CNN has learned.... Their questions about Kushner signal that Mueller's investigators are reaching the President's inner circle and have extended beyond the 2016 campaign to actions taken at the White House by high-level officials. It is not clear how Kushner's advice to the President might relate to the overall Russia investigation or potential obstruction of justice." ...

... Juliet Eilperin & Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientist nominee, Sam Cloviswithdrew his name from consideration Wednesday amid revelations that he was among top officials on the Trump campaign who was aware of efforts by foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos to broker a relationship between the campaign and Russian officials.... In a letter to the president Wednesday, Clovis explained that he did not think he could get a fair consideration from the Senate, which was slated to hold a hearing on his appointment on Nov. 9. 'The political climate inside Washington has made it impossible for me to receive balanced and fair consideration for this position,' wrote Clovis, who currently serves as USDA's senior White House adviser. 'The relentless assaults on you and your team seem to be a blood sport that only increases with intensity each day.'" Thanks to MAG for the link. See also Dana Milbank's column on Clovis, et al., linked below. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: So unfair that meanies are picking on completely unqualified Trump nominees who also may be under suspicion of collaborating with the Kremlin. ...

... John Santucci & James Meek of ABC News: "The White House first learned one of its senior staffers met with the grand jury hearing the case presented by the special counsel into alleged Russian meddling into the 2016 election not from the staffer but from media reports, sources with knowledge of the investigation tell ABC News. Former Trump campaign co-chairman Sam Clovis recently testified before that grand jury into his role on ... Donald Trump's campaign. Clovis currently serves as the senior White House adviser to the Department of Agriculture."...

... Betsy Woodruff of The Daily Beast: "Buried deep in Robert Mueller's indictment of Paul Manafort is a new link between Donald Trump's former campaign and Russian organized crime. The indictment ... includes an extensive look into Paul Manafort's byzantine financial dealings. In particular, it details how he used a company called Lucicle Consultants Limited to wire millions of dollars into the United States.... The Cyprus-based Lucicle Consultants Limited, in turn, reportedly received millions of dollars from a businessman and Ukrainian parliamentarian named Ivan Fursin, who is closely linked to one of Russia's most notorious criminals: Semion Mogilevich. Mogilevich is frequently described as 'the most dangerous mobster in the world.'" --safari ...

Ryan Goodman in a New York Times op-ed: We should stop using the word "collusion" to describe what Trump and Co. did or did not do. Except in a very limited case, "collusion" is not a legal term. Besides, Republicans and the Trump camp in particular, have used the nebulous term to muddy the waters, accusing President Obama & Hillary Clinton of "colluding" with the Russian government while denying that they themselves have "colluded" with Russian interests. ...

... The Art of the Troll. Ben Collins & Joseph Fox of The Daily Beast: "Jenna Abrams, the freewheeling American blogger who believed in a return to segregation and said that many of America's problems stemmed from PC culture run amok, did not exist.... Her account was the creation of employees at the Internet Research Agency, or the Russian government-funded 'troll farm,' in St. Petersburg.... But Abrams got very real attention from almost any national news outlet you can think of, according to a Daily Beast analysis of her online footprint.... Abrams' pervasiveness in American news outlets shows just how much impact Russia&r's troll farm had on American discourse in the run-up to the 2016 election -- and illustrates how Russian talking points can seep into American mainstream media without even a single dollar spent on advertising." --safari

The USA of, for, by Trump. Jesse Byrnes of The Hill: "President Trump pushed back Thursday on concerns about a lack of nominees for key positions at the State Department, arguing it wouldn't affect his agenda. 'Let me tell you, the one that matters is me, I'm the only one that matters because when it comes to it that's what the policy is going to be,' Trump said on Fox News when pressed about vacancies by Laura Ingraham." --safari

Fossil Fuels & Sex Crimes. Avery Anapol of the Hill: "Energy Secretary Rick Perry suggested Thursday that expanding the use of fossil fuels could help prevent sexual assault. Speakingduring an energy policy discussion about energy policy..., Perry discussed his recent trip to Africa. He said a young girl told him that energy is important to her because she often reads by the light of a fire with toxic fumes. 'But also from the standpoint of sexual assault,' Perry said. 'When the lights are on, when you have light that shines, the righteousness, if you will on those types of acts.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...

    ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Sunshine may be the best disinfectant, but apparently solar energy doesn't have as much policing power as good ole fossil fuels. ...

...Vive la Corruption! John Bowden of The Hill: "The Trump administration said Thursday it would exit an international effort to fight corruption that targeted revenue from oil and natural gas extraction. The U.S. will no longer participate in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a global initiative that requires member nations to disclose their revenues from oil, gas and mining assets, according to Reuters." --safari

Today is a reminder that the best investment 99 percent of American adults can make is to vote for candidates who have the interests of the general public in mind. There is no up-front cost to it (except in time), and the financial pay-off is real & substantial. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ...

... Jim Tankersley & Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "Republican lawmakers are unveiling the most sweeping rewrite of the tax code in decades, outlining a plan to cut taxes for corporations, reduce them for middle-class families and tilt the United States closer, but not entirely, toward the kind of tax system long championed by businesses, according to talking points circulated on Thursday. The House plan, released after weeks of internal debate, conflict and delay, is far from final and will ignite a legislative and lobbying fight as Democrats, business groups and other special interests tear into the text ahead of a Republican sprint to get the legislation passed and to President Trump's desk by Christmas. The bill keeps a top rate of 39.6 percent for the highest-earners and roughly doubles the standard deduction for middle class families. It expands the child tax credit to $1,600 from $1,000 and will not make any changes to the 401(k) plans. It does propose changes to the popular mortgage interest deduction. Under the Republican plan, existing homeowners can keep their mortgage interest deduction but future purchases will be capped at $500,000. The bill cuts the corporate tax rate to 20 percent, from 35 percent.... One of the biggest flash points will be how the bill treats the state and local tax deduction, which lawmakers are proposing to cap at $10,000. That will not be enough for Republicans in some high-tax states, where middle-class families make heavy use of the deduction." No word yet on the estate tax proposal. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... The story has been updated. Among other additions: "The proposal will double the estate tax exemption to roughly $11 million, from $5.49 million, meaning families can avoid paying taxes on large inheritance. And it eventually repeals the estate tax altogether, phasing it out entirely in six years." ...

... Ivanka at Work? Marie Solis of Newsweek: "Unborn fetuses would be eligible to be beneficiaries of tax savings accounts under the GOP's new tax plan. That means expecting parents would have the option of opening a 529 savings plan, which sets aside money for college or other higher education, before their child is even born.... The clause has stunned leading tax experts. 'It's clearly a politically motivated issue that's playing to the GOP base,' Bill Gale..., of the ... Tax Policy Center told Newsweek. He added: 'There's a normal presumption that 529s apply to people who have been born.'" --safari ...

... New York Times Editors: "With their new bill that would slash taxes on the wealthy and blow up the federal budget deficit, House Republicans and President Trump are making it absolutely clear whom they are working for -- the top 1 percent -- and whom they consider dispensable. Well, that's pretty much everybody else.... The changes that could affect middle-class families the hardest include the elimination of the deduction for state and local income taxes. And the property-tax deductible would be capped at $10,000.... One particularly hardhearted change would eliminate the deduction for medical expenses, which is primarily used by people with serious and chronic illnesses. Gone, too, would be important tax credits and deductions for college tuition and interest on student loans."

... Paul Krugman: "On Thursday, House Republicans unveiled a tax 'reform' bill with the same good order and careful deliberation with which they unveiled their various attempts to repeal Obamacare. That is, after having had years to prepare, the G.O.P. waited until the last minute to throw something together, without any hearings or serious analysis. Budget wonks are frantically going through the legislative language, trying to figure out what it means and what it would do -- but they can take some comfort in the fact that the bill's authors are almost equally in the dark. O.K., some things are clear: ... You won't go far wrong if you think of the big tax cuts in the law as having been custom designed to benefit the Trump family. But these big tax cuts would blow a multitrillion-dollar hole in the budget, so Republicans have been scrambling to find 'pay-fors' that limit the addition to the deficit.... Since the point of these measures is to offset tax cuts for the rich, they will, more or less by definition, end up raising taxes on large numbers of middle-class families."

Donna Brazile writes a startling confessional in Politico Magazine. The title of the piece is, "Inside Hillary Clinton's Secret Takeover of the DNC." Brazile fingers both Clinton & Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, from whom Brazile took over as DNC chair after the party forced out Wasserman-Schultz. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Sophie Tatum of CNN: "Asked Thursday by CNN's Jake Tapper whether she believes that the Democratic campaign organization was tipped in favor of Clinton over her primary opponent, independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, [Sen. Elizabeth] Warren responded without hesitation: 'Yes.'" ...

... Eric Levitz of New York: Brazile's "piece ... is remarkable -- both for the substance of its allegations and the melodramatic tenor of its prose.... Brazile's ... tale is by turns informative, stale, and (literally) unbelievable." ...

... Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly: "The title of Brazile's piece, 'Inside Hillary Clinton's Secret Takeover of the DNC' is seriously misleading. Back in May of 2016, Kenneth Vogel and Isaac Arnsdorf reported on almost everything Brazile covers. Other reports followed, like the one from Jeff Stein. Here's what Brazile adds to the reporting: 'The [Hillary Victory Fund] agreement ... specified that in exchange for raising money and investing in the DNC, Hillary would control the party's finances, strategy, and all the money raised. Her campaign had the right of refusal of who would be the party communications director, and it would make final decisions on all the other staff. The DNC also was required to consult with the campaign about all other staffing, budgeting, data, analytics, and mailings.'... But ... there was also a Bernie Victory Fund, it's just that Sanders never raised any money for it.... It demonstrates that the party was willing to work with any candidate in the primary who sought such an agreement.... There are similar questions that have surfaced about the RNC.... I'll leave it to the political historians to document how far all of this has come from the days when the RNC and the DNC were the powerhouses that controlled politics in this country. But right now there are two competing forces that are decimating these organizations: 1. The Supreme Court's Citizen United decision that allowed unlimited political spending by the oligarchs, and 2. The unleashing of grassroots politics that started with Howard Dean, was successfully marshaled by Barack Obama, and inflamed the candidacies of both Sanders and Trump." ...

... David Graham of the Atlantic has quite a few observations about Brazile's piece, but the most interesting one is his conclusion: "Brazile's bound toward the Bernie bandwagon is another indication of how Sanders is, at least for the moment, the de facto leader of the Democratic Party."

... Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: "The Democratic National Committee dismissed its top fundraiser [-- Emily Mellencamp Smith --] Thursday after just five months on the job, two Democrats familiar with the move told Politico.... The committee's slow fundraising has been a serious problem for the party since the 2016 election." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: AND kudos to DNC chair Tom Perez for making the announcement the very day people are talking about sneaky Democratic party fundraising tricks. Nothing like calling attention to the party's failures. AND you wonder why Democrats lose. Answer: They haven't got a lick of political sense.

Joseph Bernstein of BuzzFeed: "Robert Mercer, the hedge fund billionaire who has come under media scrutiny for his role in helping elect Donald Trump, announced today he would step down from his role as co-CEO of Renaissance Technologies. The decision, announced in a memo to Renaissance employees, followed a BuzzFeed News exposé revealing the connections of Breitbart -- partially owned by Mercer -- to white nationalists and neo-Nazis. Sources familiar with Renaissance informed BuzzFeed News in recent days of significant anger within the company about the report, which revealed that former Breitbart tech editor Milo Yiannopoulos had cultivated white nationalists and used them to generate ideas and help edit stories on the site. Mercer's statement specifically denounces Yiannopoulos and states that 'I was mistaken to have supported him, and for several weeks have been in the process of severing all ties with him.' He also announced his intention to sell his stake in Breitbart to his daughters."

Kate Aranoff of The Intercept: "National outrage has led to the cancellation of a suspicious $300 million contract doled out to a tiny Montana company that was oddly tasked with rebuilding large parts of Puerto Rico's electric grid. A separate $200 million contract has faced little scrutiny, but may ultimately be even more scandalous for what it says about the effort to rebuild the island in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. The deal was inked with a company called Cobra Acquisitions LLC, which didn't even exist until this year." --safari

Oh Noes! Michael Calderone of Politico: "Mother Jones magazine's editor and chief executive acknowledged on Thursday that they investigated Washington bureau chief David Corn for inappropriate workplace behavior three years ago, warning him about touching female staffers and insensitive descriptions of sexual violence, and would now probe the allegations further in light of two emails written by former staffers in 2014 and 2015 and obtained by Politico. One of the emails, written in 2015 by a former staffer outlining concerns she had heard from other women in the Washington office, said Corn ... made 'rape jokes,' 'regularly gave [several women] unwelcome shoulder rubs and engaged in uninvited touching of their legs, arms, backs, and waists,' and 'made inappropriate comments about women's sexuality and anatomy.' The other email, from 2014, was by a former female staffer who claimed that Corn 'came up behind me and put his hands and arms around my body in a way that felt sexual and domineering.'"

Alex Jung of Vulture: "Earlier this week, the actor Anthony Rapp alleged that Kevin Spacey made a sexual advance toward him in 1986, when he was 14 years old.... Since then, others have come forward with further allegations against Spacey, including the filmmaker Tony Montana, who said that Spacey groped him in public in 2003, and the actor Roberto Cavazos, who said he witnessed Spacey court and inappropriately touch younger male actors at the Old Vic Theatre, where Spacey was the artistic director from 2004 to 2015." ...

... Chloe Melas of CNN: "Kevin Spacey made the set of Netflix's 'House of Cards' into a 'toxic' work environment through a pattern of sexual harassment, eight people who currently work on the show or worked on it in the past tell CNN.... [A] former production assistant, whose account has never previously been disclosed, told CNN that Spacey sexually assaulted him during one of the show's early seasons. All eight people, each of whom spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity..., described Spacey's behavior as 'predatory,' saying it included nonconsensual touching and crude comments and targeted production staffers who were typically young and male." ...

... NEW. He'll Never Work in This Town Again. Jordan Crucchiola of Vulture: "Now [Spacey's] publicist Staci Wolfe has confirmed to Vulture that she has dropped the actor and producer as a client, while a source close to the actor confirms he has also been dropped by the talent agency CAA."

The Commentariat -- November 2, 2017

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Binyamin Appelbaum & Ana Swanson of the New York Times: "President Trump nominated Jerome H. Powell to chair the Federal Reserve on Thursday afternoon, bypassing Janet L. Yellen for a second term but turning to a replacement who is expected to stay the course on monetary policy if the economy continues its steady growth.... Mr. Powell, a member of the Fed's board of governors since 2012, has consistently voted with Ms. Yellen, and colleagues consider him a centrist and pragmatist. But his tenure as a central banker has been relatively brief, and he has expressed skepticism in the past about the unconventional measures that the Fed has taken in the wake of the severe recession of 2008 and 2009. Mr. Powell could also depart from the Fed's current trajectory when it comes to regulating banks and other financial institutions -- rules Mr. Trump has said should be loosened."

Juliet Eilperin & Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientist nominee, Sam Clovis withdrew his name from consideration Wednesday amid revelations that he was among top officials on the Trump campaign who was aware of efforts by foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos to broker a relationship between the campaign and Russian officials.... In a letter to the president Wednesday, Clovis explained that he did not think he could get a fair consideration from the Senate, which was slated to hold a hearing on his appointment on Nov. 9. 'The political climate inside Washington has made it impossible for me to receive balanced and fair consideration for this position,' wrote Clovis, who currently serves as USDA's senior White House adviser. 'The relentless assaults on you and your team seem to be a blood sport that only increases with intensity each day.'" Thanks to MAG for the link. See also Dana Milbank's column on Clovis, et al., linked below. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: So unfair that meanies are picking on completely unqualified Trump nominees who also may be under suspicion of collaborating with the Kremlin.

Fossil Fuels & Sex Crimes. Avery Anapol of the Hill: "Energy Secretary Rick Perry suggested Thursday that expanding the use of fossil fuels could help prevent sexual assault. Speaking during an energy policy discussion about energy policy..., Perry discussed his recent trip to Africa. He said a young girl told him that energy is important to her because she often reads by the light of a fire with toxic fumes. 'But also from the standpoint of sexual assault,' Perry said. 'When the lights are on, when you have light that shines, the righteousness, if you will on those types of acts.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Sunshine may be the best disinfectant, but apparently solar energy doesn't have the policing power as good ole fossil fuels.

Greg Sargent: "When Trump dismisses discussion of Russian interference in the 2016 election as a hoax, he isn't merely saying the charge of collusion with that meddling is a hoax. He's also saying that the alleged Russian sabotage itself, irrespective of whether his campaign colluded with it, definitively never happened at all and, by extension, doesn't merit any inquiry or discussion. Some new reporting out this morning underscores in a fresh way just how reckless, irresponsible and potentially dangerous to our democracy this stance has become."

Donna Brazile writes a startling confessional in Politico Magazine. The title of the piece is, "Inside Hillary Clinton's Secret Takeover of the DNC." Brazile fingers both Clinton & Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, from whom Brazile took over as DNC chair after the party forced out Wasserman-Schultz.

Jim Tankersley & Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "Republican lawmakers are unveiling the most sweeping rewrite of the tax code in decades, outlining a plan to cut taxes for corporations, reduce them for middle-class families and tilt the United States closer, but not entirely, toward the kind of tax system long championed by businesses, according to talking points circulated on Thursday. The House plan, released after weeks of internal debate, conflict and delay, is far from final and will ignite a legislative and lobbying fight as Democrats, business groups and other special interests tear into the text ahead of a Republican sprint to get the legislation passed and to President Trump's desk by Christmas. The bill keeps a top rate of 39.6 percent for the highest-earners and roughly doubles the standard deduction for middle class families. It expands the child tax credit to $1,600 from $1,000 and will not make any changes to the 401(k) plans. It does propose changes to the popular mortgage interest deduction. Under the Republican plan, existing homeowners can keep their mortgage interest deduction but future purchases will be capped at $500,000. The bill cuts the corporate tax rate to 20 percent, from 35 percent.... One of the biggest flash points will be how the bill treats the state and local tax deduction, which lawmakers are proposing to cap at $10,000. That will not be enough for Republicans in some high-tax states, where middle-class families make heavy use of the deduction." No word yet on the estate tax proposal.

*****

I'm in the office early and leave late; it's very smooth. Honestly, I'm really enjoying it. -- Donald Trump, in a call-in to the failing New York Times, yesterday ...

Trump is at 33 percent in Gallup. You can't go any lower. He's fucked. -- Sam Nunberg, former aide to Trump, to Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair ...

... Maggie Haberman & Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Trump ... insist[ed] to The New York Times that he was not 'angry at anybody' and that investigations into his campaign's links to Russia had not come near him personally. 'I'm not under investigation, as you know,' Mr. Trump said in a brief telephone call late Wednesday afternoon. Pointing to the indictment of his former campaign chief, Paul Manafort, the president said, 'And even if you look at that, there's not even a mention of Trump in there.' 'It has nothing to do with us,' Mr. Trump said. He also pushed back against a report published Monday night by The Washington Post, which the president said described him as 'angry at everybody.'" ...

... Oh Yeah? Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair: "The first charges in the Mueller probe have kindled talk of what the endgame for Trump looks like, according to conversations with a half-dozen advisers and friends of the president. For the first time since the investigation began, the prospect of impeachment is being considered as a realistic outcome and not just a liberal fever dream.... Trump, meanwhile, has reacted to the deteriorating situation by lashing out on Twitter and venting in private to friends.... Speaking to Steve Bannon on Tuesday, Trump blamed Jared Kushner for his role in decisions, specifically the firings of Mike Flynn and James Comey, that led to Mueller's appointment, according to a source briefed on the call. When Roger Stone recently told Trump that Kushner was giving him bad political advice, Trump agreed, according to someone familiar with the conversation. 'Jared is the worst political adviser in the White House in modern history,' [Trump campaign aide Sam] Nunberg said. 'I'm only saying publicly what everyone says behind the scenes at Fox News, in conservative media, and the Senate and Congress.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

"Name Those Goons." Can you ID these three business partners? Hints: They owned a lobbying firm in 1985, when the photo was taken. They're all despicable weasels. (No fair if you've seen the photo before.):

Update: We have a winner! See today's Comments.

... Cecilia Kang, et al., of the New York Times: "Lawmakers released scores of political ads on Wednesday purchased by Russian agents on Facebook and Twitter that showed the extent of the Kremlin's attempts to polarize the American voting public on issues like race, police abuse and religion.... The sampling of ads, some of which had been made public earlier, came during a second day of hearings with the top lawyers for Facebook, Twitter and Google and were intended to show the executives how pervasively Russia used their platforms to further its campaign of misinformation. Lawmakers of both parties expressed frustration with answers that fell short of what they had hoped and insisted that the companies, long the darlings of American technology, do better.... The tech companies also provided new numbers on the reach of Russia's influence campaign. Facebook said an estimated 150 million users of its main site and its subsidiary, Instagram, were exposed to the posts, a larger figure than it provided even as recently as Monday." ...

... Here are some of the Russia-generated ads. ...

... Ben Collins & Kevin Poulsen of the Daily Beast: "Former White House National Security Adviser Michael Flynn followed five Twitter accounts based out of the Russian-backed 'troll factory' in St. Petersburg -- and pushed their messages at least three times in the month before the 2016 election.... The Daily Beast had previously discovered Flynn, Donald Trump Jr., Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, and Trump campaign digital director Brad Parscale retweeted Ten_GOP [-- a Russia-generated account --] several times in the month before the election.

** Raphael Satter, et al. of the AP: "The hackers who upended the U.S. presidential election had ambitions well beyond Hillary Clinton's campaign, targeting the emails of Ukrainian officers, Russian opposition figures, U.S. defense contractors and thousands of others of interest to the Kremlin, according to a previously unpublished digital hit list obtained by The Associated Press.... Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskovcalled the notion that Russia interfered 'unfounded.' But the list examined by AP provides powerful evidence that the Kremlin did just that." --safari ...

... Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Federal prosecutors have identified more than six Russian government officials involved in the hacking of the Democratic National Committee emails that were dumped online during the 2016 presidential election. The Justice Department has assembled enough evidence to bring charges against the officials, likely next year, according to sources familiar with the investigation, reported the Wall Street Journal. The case would provide the clearest picture yet of how the DNC computers were hacked, and attack that U.S. intelligence services have blamed on their Russian counterparts.... [The] investigation is being conducted separately from special counsel Robert Mueller's probe of the Trump campaign's possible collusion with Russia..." ...

... The Best People, Ctd. Dana Milbank: "Robert Mueller brought to light a huge scandal this week, and it has nothing to do with Russia. He has introduced the world to Sam Clovis. Clovis, we now know, was the Trump campaign official who oversaw George Papadopoulos and encouraged his efforts to meet with Russian officials.... He has been nominated to be the chief scientist at the Agriculture Department, a position that by law must go to 'distinguished scientists,' even though he is, well, not a scientist. He is a talk-radio host, economics professor (though not actually an economist, either) and, most importantly, a Trump campaign adviser.... Among his scientific breakthroughs: being 'extremely skeptical' of climate change, calling homosexuality 'a choice,' suggesting gay rights would lead to legalized pedophilia, pushing the Obama birther allegation, and calling Eric Holder a 'racist bigot' and Tom Perez a 'racist Latino.'" Milbank runs down a short list of "the best people," including "a 'cabana attendant' at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y. According to his résumé, he 'identified and addressed customer's needs in a timely and orderly manner.' This is important, because you never know when somebody at the USDA is going to need a towel." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: It is impossible not to suspect that Trump is purposely making the federal government a running joke. It's not a reality show; it's a comedy series, parodying the presidency. Trump is the producer & star of the series, & Steve Bannon -- one a would-be Hollywood impresario -- is head writer of the spoof. BUT ...

... E. J. Dionne: "It’s essential to recognize that Trump is faithfully following the autocrat's playbook. He's trying to undermine a lawful inquiry that endangers his hold on power. He has suggested that his opponent in the last election deserves to be jailed. He's inventing stories about dark coverups by his enemies to sow confusion about the proven facts of his own team's skulduggery. And now he is blaming his foes for violence and disorder. Even more alarming is the extent to which Republicans in Congress and Trump's media allies are falling into line behind their leader's efforts to obstruct and divert. What's going on cannot be written off as normal partisanship. The push to discredit and derail Mueller risks becoming an existential threat to our democratic values and republican practices. The interference by a foreign adversary in our electoral process is not a routine event. Resistance to uncovering what happened should not be seen as part of the everyday give-and-take of politics."

Peter Baker: "With a Twitter message just before midnight, President Trump introduced a surprise complication that may come to haunt prosecutors in a trial against the suspect charged with mowing down passers-by in New York's deadliest terrorist attack since the World Trade Center was destroyed. 'NYC terrorist was happy as he asked to hang ISIS flag in his hospital room,' Mr. Trump wrote late Wednesday, referring to a report from the F.B.I. about the suspect's expressed admiration for the Islamic State extremist group. 'He killed 8 people, badly injured 12. SHOULD GET DEATH PENALTY!' Presidents are typically advised never to publicly weigh in on pending criminal cases. Such comments can be used by defense attorneys to argue that their clients cannot get a fair trial -- especially when the head of the executive branch that will prosecute a case advocates the ultimate punishment before a judge has heard a single shred of evidence at trial. But Mr. Trump is not one for cautious detachment, and he has disregarded such advice before. Just this week, a military judge said he would consider similar comments by Mr. Trump as evidence in favor of a lighter sentence for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who pleaded guilty to desertion and endangering fellow troops by walking away from his post in Afghanistan, where he was later captured and held prisoner by the Taliban for five years." ...

     ... New Lede: "President Trump on Thursday backed off his threat to send the suspect in this week's New York terrorist attack to the American military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, but once again called for the man to be executed, a public intervention in the case that could come back to haunt prosecutors in any future trial."

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: For Trump justice is when he gets what he wants. You can see why he admires extra-judicial thugs like Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines & Vladimir Putin. ...

... Peter Baker: "President Trump said on Wednesday that he would consider sending the suspect arrested after the terrorist attack in New York to the American prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and called on Congress to cancel a longstanding immigration program that he blamed for allowing the man into the country. The president's comments came at the beginning of a cabinet meeting a day after an immigrant from Uzbekistan plowed a pickup truck along a crowded bicycle path in Manhattan, killing eight people.... No one arrested on American soil has ever been sent to Guantánamo Bay, and no one captured on foreign soil has been sent there since 2008. Transferring the suspect from New York would raise a host of constitutional and legal issues, and it was not clear that Mr. Trump actually would follow through on the idea since his comment was in reaction to a question rather than part of his prepared remarks.... Mr. Trump's comments came hours after he blamed the attack on Senator Chuck Schumer ... because he supported the diversity visa program enacted 27 years ago." Both Schumer & New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo chided Trump for dividing the country. Cuomo also said that Trump's comments were "not even accurate." "Mr. Schumer supported getting rid of the program as part of a comprehensive plan to overhaul the nation's immigration laws crafted by eight lawmakers and passed by the Senate in 2013." House Republicans blocked the bill. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Benjamin Mueller & Michael Schwirtz of the New York Times: "The driver who sped down a crowded bike path in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday, killing eight people, had been planning the attack for weeks and appeared to have connections to people who were the subjects of terrorism investigations, police officials said on Wednesday. As counterterrorism investigators drilled into whether the attacker, identified by officials as Sayfullo Saipov, had meaningful ties to terrorist organizations, it also became clear that some of those close to the attacker had feared for years that he was heading down the path of extremism." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Benjamin Mueller, et al., of the New York Times: "Federal prosecutors on Wednesday filed charges accusing the driver in the Manhattan truck attack of carrying out a long-planned plot, spurred by Islamic State propaganda videos, to kill people celebrating Halloween. The charges, filed just over 24 hours after the deadliest terror attack on New York City since Sept. 11, 2001, placed the case in the civilian courts even as President Trump denounced the American criminal justice system as 'a joke' and 'a laughingstock.'" ...

... Why, Trump said no such thing. Just ask Mrs. Huckleberry ...

... To Trumpistas, Caught-on-Tape Is No Deterrent. Christina Wilkie of CNBC: "The White House [in the person of Sarah Sanders] on Wednesday flatly denied that ... Donald Trump had ever called the American criminal justice system 'a joke and a laughingstock,' just hours after Trump said precisely that during a televised Cabinet meeting." Mrs. McC: All press secretaries spin -- that's the job. "Bald-faced lie" does not equal "spin." Every word Sanders says is a lie, including "and" and "the." H/T Mary McCarthy

The Audacity of Thugs. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "President Trump slipped something cryptic into his remarks to reporters on Wednesday: It was about his upcoming trip to the Philippines. 'You remember the Philippines -- the last trip made by a president that turned out to be not so good,' Trump said. 'Never quite got to land.' It was, in fact, the second day in a row that Trump mentioned the last administration's failure to 'land' in the Philippines. On Tuesday, he said, 'We're going to the Philippines, which is a strategically important location where the previous administration was not exactly welcome, as you probably remember.'... These asides -- in which he seems to be bragging about his ability to woo Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in a way Obama didn't -- are exceedingly strange. The first reason is that Obama actually called off his meeting with Duterte -- not the Philippines. So it's unclear what Trump means when he says the Obama administration 'was not exactly welcome.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yeah, Trump is way better than Obama at making friends with mass murderers. Congratulations, Donaldo. ...

... Andrew Restuccia, et al., of Politico: "... Donald Trump has been holed up in a series of rapid-fire briefing sessions on his upcoming 12-day, five-country tour through Asia -- an effort the White House hopes will help avoid the kind of diplomatic snafus that have dogged his presidency.... Top aides have sought to keep the briefings short to avoid overloading the president with details but have scheduled dozens of them to plan public remarks and outline what he should say about North Korea on defense and China on trade.... The upcoming trip -- which includes stops in Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines as well as China -- will put pressure on Trump's divided advisers to better define what some experts say is a muddled Asia strategy. And it will force the president to navigate a nuanced set of policy issues that have long divided U.S. allies in the region.... The president's advisers acknowledge privately that Trump's unpredictable behavior could complicate the trip in ways big and small, from potentially escalating the crisis on the Korean Peninsula to flouting complicated rules of procedure." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: As we all know, nobody does "nuance" better than President Ham Hand. I'm confident everything will go smoothly. ...

     ... BUT Martin Longman of the Booman Tribune Does Not Share My Confidence: "We all know this is pointless. They can have a thousand two-minute meetings, each one devoted to avoiding just one potential land mine, and the president is still going to screw up and screw up massively and repeatedly.... This trip is supposed to serve as a distraction from the Russian probe at home, but it's only going to intensify the sentiment in favor of impeachment."

Damian Paletta of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Wednesday said congressional Republicans should make a major change to their upcoming tax cut bill by including changes to the Affordable Care Act, an idea that has divided the GOP for months. The idea had already been rejected one day earlier by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Tex.), who had said it risked bogging down the process. But Trump, in two Twitter posts Wednesday, pushed the idea, which has gained currency with some Senate Republicans. The biggest proponent of the idea is Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.)." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: That's fine, Donaldo. Keep mucking up the process. Get your nutty friends to help. As long as your so-called party can't agree on just how to screw the American people, we're good. ...

... Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Some Senate Republicans are pushing for changes to the party's tax-reform bill, fearing it will be portrayed as a handout to the rich that hurts the poor. A group of GOP lawmakers want to leave the lowest tax bracket where it is, rather than raising it from 10 percent to 12 percent. Some senators also support creating a fourth tax bracket to limit the size of the tax cut for millionaires.... Republican senators fear it will be difficult to explain to voters why they're raising the tax rate for low- and middle-income Americans while cutting the tax rate for the wealthiest.... [BUT] 'I never thought anybody should pay over 25 percent,' said Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.). 'People with money save money, create jobs, create risk. People with no money -- I've been there -- create nothing....'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Notice how these senators don't really care about sticking it to the poor & middle class for the benefit of the wealthy; their concern is the perception or the appearance -- which happens to be accurate -- that they're sticking it to the poor & middle class for the benefit of the wealthy. How lucky we are to have honest senators like Shelby who just say outright that rich people deserve tax breaks & the rest of us don't. ...

... Gail Collins talks about taxes -- with her usual twists. "Don Jr. tweeted that he was going to take half of his daughter Chloe's candy and give it to 'some kid who sat at home. It's never to early to teach her about socialism.' The most important thing about that tweet is that Junior misspelled 'too.' His dad does that a lot." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: No, the most important thing is that some people, including kids, know how to share. They don't need to "learn about socialism" to give away half their candy to a hapless child. Besides, if they're as wealthy as Chloe's parents, they know that there are more goodies at home for them when they run out of the posh bon-bons they got from their rich neighbors. These kids already are generous to those who have less. I do not believe for a minute that Junior is capable of sharing with "some kid who sat home." More likely, he would steal his daughter's candy & eat it himself. In no circumstance, short of threats of physical or financial harm, would Junior give the stolen candy to a needy kid. For one thing, he probably doesn't want them to find out about delicious pumpkin-shaped Ghirardelli chocolate truffles. The pathetic little tykes might get wild ideas about better fare than the Dickensian gruel they deserve.

The Foxification of the American Mind. Jason Wilson of the Guardian: "If you are inside the 'alt-right' information bubble, you might be preparing yourself for a civil war to commence this Saturday. Since late September, the idea has been circulating on Facebook groups, subreddit message boards, Twitter, and leading conspiracy media outlets that on 4 November, anti-fascist groups will begin a violent insurrection...Some websites are telling their readers that antifa groups are 'planning to kill every single Trump voter, Conservative and gun owner' this weekend...

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "The top newsroom executive at NPR resigned on Wednesday, a day after he was placed on leave by the broadcast news organization following reports that he had harassed at least three women. Michael Oreskes quit as senior vice president and editorial director at Washington-based NPR, the organization announced." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Lede

Houston Chronicle: The Houston Astros won baseball's World Series in their seventh game of the series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Commentariat -- November 1, 2017

Afternoon Update:

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Trump said on Wednesday that he would consider sending the suspect arrested after the terrorist attack in New York to the American prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and called on Congress to cancel a longstanding immigration program that he blamed for allowing the man into the country. The president's comments came at the beginning of a cabinet meeting a day after an immigrant from Uzbekistan plowed a pickup truck along a crowded bicycle path in Manhattan, killing eight people.... No one arrested on American soil has ever been sent to Guantánamo Bay, and no one captured on foreign soil has been sent there since 2008. Transferring the suspect from New York would raise a host of constitutional and legal issues, and it was not clear that Mr. Trump actually would follow through on the idea since his comment was in reaction to a question rather than part of his prepared remarks.... Mr. Trump's comments came hours after he blamed the attack on Senator Chuck Schumer ... because he supported the diversity visa program enacted 27 years ago." Both Schumer & New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo chided Trump for dividing the country. Cuomo also said that Trump's comments were "not even accurate." "Mr. Schumer supported getting rid of the program as part of a comprehensive plan to overhaul the nation's immigration laws crafted by eight lawmakers and passed by the Senate in 2013." House Republicans blocked the bill. ...

... Benjamin Mueller & Michael Schwirtz of the New York Times: "The driver who sped down a crowded bike path in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday, killing eight people, had been planning the attack for weeks and appeared to have connections to people who were the subjects of terrorism investigations, police officials said on Wednesday. As counterterrorism investigators drilled into whether the attacker, identified by officials as Sayfullo Saipov, had meaningful ties to terrorist organizations, it also became clear that some of those close to the attacker had feared for years that he was heading down the path of extremism."

Damian Paletta of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Wednesday said congressional Republicans should make a major change to their upcoming tax cut bill by including changes to the Affordable Care Act, an idea that has divided the GOP for months. The idea had already been rejected one day earlier by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Tex.), who had said it risked bogging down the process. But Trump, in two Twitter posts Wednesday, pushed the idea, which has gained currency with some Senate Republicans. The biggest proponent of the idea is Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.)." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: That's fine, Donaldo. Keep mucking up the process. Get your nutty friends to help. As long as your so-called party can't agree on just how to screw the American people, we're good.

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "The top newsroom executive at NPR resigned on Wednesday, a day after he was placed on leave by the broadcast news organization following reports that he had harassed at least three women. Michael Oreskes quit as senior vice president and editorial director at Washington-based NPR, the organization announced."

*****

Benjamin Mueller, et al., of the New York Times: "Eight people were killed when a man drove 20 blocks down a bike path beside the Hudson River in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon before he crashed his pickup truck, jumped out with fake guns and was shot by a police officer, the authorities said. Federal authorities were treating the incident as a terrorist attack and were taking the lead in the investigation, a senior law enforcement official said. Two law enforcement officials said that after the attacker got out of the truck, he was heard yelling, 'Allahu Akbar,' Arabic for 'God is great.'" ...

     ... New Lede: "A driver plowed a pickup truck down a crowded bike path along the Hudson River in Manhattan on Tuesday, killing eight people and injuring 11 before being shot by a police officer in what officials are calling the deadliest terrorist attack on New York City since Sept. 11, 2001. The rampage ended when the motorist -- whom the police identified as Sayfullo Saipov, 29 -- smashed into a school bus, jumped out of his truck and ran up and down the highway waving a pellet gun and paintball gun and shouting 'Allahu akbar,' Arabic for 'God is great,' before he was shot in the abdomen by the officer. He remained in critical condition on Tuesday evening." ...

... As P.D. Pepe notes in today's thread, the attack did not deter New Yorkers from enjoying Hallowe'en events, like the fabulous Sixth Avenue parade. The New York Daily News has a slide show, suggesting a bigger-than-usual police presence, about a mile from the site of the attack. ...

... Derek Hawkins & Samantha Schmidt of the Washington Post: "President Trump and some of his allies on the extreme right have found a new culprit in Tuesday's deadly terrorist attack in Manhattan: Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). As details emerged about the incident, prominent right-wing commentators and news outlets seized on an ABC7 story reporting that alleged attacker Sayfullo Saipov had come to the United States from Uzbekistan under a State Department program known as the Diversity Visa Lottery. That story is unconfirmed. Schumer, they claimed, was the brains behind the program and therefore, of course, bears responsibility for the attack. In a flurry of news interviews, blog posts and overnight tweets, critics tried to pin blame on the New York Democrat, saying he was 'responsible' for allowing the 29-year-old suspect's entry into the country. Trump joined the criticism with a series of tweets early Wednesday morning.... Schumer responded by saying: 'I guess it's not too soon to politicize a tragedy.'... The New York Democrat was part of the Senate's Gang of Eight, which in 2013 came up with a sweeping bipartisan proposal to revamp U.S. immigration laws. Among other things, that proposal called for eliminating the diversity lottery. The bill passed the Senate but died in the House. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), another member of the Gang of Eight, defended Schumer on Wednesday[:] 'Actually, the Gang of 8, including @SenSchumer, did away with the Diversity Visa Program as part of broader reforms. I know, I was there https://t.co/QQFJzPyRzC'" ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: I swore I would no link to Trump's predictably off-the-wall reaction to the New York mass murder unless that reaction was remarkably crazy. It is. You can read the tweets in the linked WashPo report.

Philip Rucker & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "Debate intensified in President Trump's political circle Tuesday over how aggressively to confront special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, dividing some of the president's advisers and loyalists.... Despite his growing frustration with a federal probe he has roundly dismissed, Trump has been cooperating with Mueller and lately has resisted attacking him directly, at the urging of his attorneys inside and outside the White House ... are clamoring for a more combative approach to Mueller that would damage his credibility and effectively kneecap his operation by cutting its funding. Still, Bannon and others are not advising Trump to fire Mueller, a rash move that the president's lawyers and political advisers oppose and insist is not under consideration." ...

... The Best People, Ctd. Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "Former Trump campaign co-chairman Sam Clovis is facing renewed opposition to his nomination to serve as the Agriculture Department's chief scientist amid revelations that he encouraged a campaign adviser to foster ties with Russian officials. On Tuesday, several thousand scientists and researchers affiliated with two national organizations that have rallied against Clovis's nomination signed letters urging the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry not to confirm him, calling him unfit for the post.... Clovis, who is not a trained scientist, is a climate change skeptic who has said protecting gay rights could lead to the legalization of pedophilia.... Mike Lavender, senior Washington representative for the Food and Environment Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in a statement that 'emerging evidence of Clovis' potential involvement with the Trump campaign's Russian connections should be the final nail in the coffin for his confirmation.' The Center for Science in the Public Interest sent the committee a similar letter Tuesday." ...

... TBD. Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: Senate Agriculture "Committee chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) on Tuesday would not say if Clovis' confirmation hearing will go ahead as planned. 'To be determined,' Roberts told Mother Jones when asked if the nomination would be withdrawn. Roberts had previously criticized Clovis' statements about crop insurance but had suggested that the nominee should be given an opportunity to explain his views." ...

... Catherine Boudreau & Josh Dawsey of Politico: "Sam Clovis ... has been 'a fully cooperative witness' in the Senate Intelligence Committee's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts told Politico.... Victoria Toensing, a lawyer representing Clovis, said in an e-mailed statement that after an initial meeting of the advisory panel, all of [George] Papadopoulos' communications with the campaign were 'self-generated,' and that Clovis did not believe an improved relationship with Russia should be a foreign policy focus of the campaign. 'Dr. Clovis always vigorously opposed any Russian trip for Donald Trump or staff,' Toensing said. 'However, if a volunteer made any suggestions on any foreign policy matter, Dr. Clovis, a polite gentleman from Iowa, would have expressed courtesy and appreciation.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I could buy Toensing's claim that a comment like "Great work!" might be nothing more than a courtesy -- or even a jibe, as in "Thanks, Donaldo!" -- if not for the fact that Clovis later told Papadopoulos, 'Make the trip, if it is feasible.' ("Make the trip" uses the command form of the verb.) As Aaron Blake of the Washington Post writes, "Er, okay. So basically, Clovis told someone to do something he opposed and was against campaign rules because he was only being a polite Midwesterner and he couldn't technically prevent him from doing it. (As a Minnesotan, I'll gladly try to use this excuse going forward.)"

... Ken Dilanian & Mike Memoli of NBC News: "Sam Clovis, the former top Trump campaign official who supervised [George Papadopoulos]..., was questioned last week by special counsel Robert Mueller's team and testified before the investigating grand jury, a person with first-hand knowledge of the matter told NBC News.... The court documents unsealed Monday describe emails between Papadopoulos and an unnamed 'campaign supervisor.' The supervisor responded 'Great work' after Papadopoulos discussed his interactions with Russians who wanted to arrange a meeting with Trump and Russian leaders.... [Clovis] is currently serving as an unpaid White House adviser to the Agriculture Department, awaiting Senate confirmation before the Agriculture Committee for the scientist job. He is not a scientist. [His attorney, Victoria] Toensing confirmed that Clovis was the campaign supervisor in the emails." ...

Collusion is what Papadopoulos did. Collusion is what Trump Jr. and others in that meeting did. It's meeting and discussing and seeing what common interests they can advance for each other. -- John Q. Barrett, an independent counsel in the Iran-Contra case ...

... Greg Farrell, et al., of Bloomberg: "... George Papadopoulos [claimed] ... in an email [that] top Trump campaign officials agreed to a pre-election meeting with representatives of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The message, if true, would bolster claims that Trump's campaign attempted to collude with Russian interests. But it's unclear whether Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty to lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, was merely boasting when he sent the July 14, 2016, email to a Kremlin-linked contact. There's also no indication such a meeting ever occurred. The email is cited in an FBI agent's affidavit supporting criminal charges against Papadopoulos.... But it's not included in court documents that detailed his secret guilty plea and his cooperation with Special Counsel Robert Mueller.... Writing to the Russian contact a week before the Republican National Convention, Papadopoulos proposed a meeting for August or September in the U.K. that would include 'my national chairman and maybe one other foreign policy adviser' and members of Putin's office and Russia's foreign ministry. 'It has been approved by our side,' Papadopoulos wrote." ...

... Josh Marshall: "A former federal prosecutor with highly relevant experience weighs in on what we learned from yesterday. Upshot: Manafort's strategy is a pardon. '... given the apparent strength of the case against Manafort, he's really only got two options to avoid spending a significant amount of time in jail: cooperate or get a pardon/sentence commutation. His lawyer's statements yesterday sucking up to Trump suggest strongly to me that he is playing for a pardon or commuted sentence. The very real possibility of Trump going that direction is a real problem for Mueller and potentially saps his leverage,' [said the former prosecutor]. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: BUT remember that Trump cannot pardon Manafort for charges the New York State Attorney General may bring against him. Per Politico's Josh Dawsey (August 30): "Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is working with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on its investigation into Paul Manafort and his financial transactions, according to several people familiar with the matter." ...

Yes, there is a [foreign policy] team. There's not a team. I'm going to be forming a team. -- Donald Trump, on 'Morning Joe,' March 8, 2016 ...

Positive proof that Trump can make two mutually exclusive declarative statements in immediate succession. The Times reporters (below) describe Trump's "Morning Joe" statement as "confusing." No, it's flat-out nuts. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

... The Best People, Ctd. Matthew Rosenberg, et al., of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump's solution [to his lack of foreign policy expertise] was to cobble together a list of men who were almost immediately written off as a collection of fringe thinkers and has-beens and unknowns in Washington foreign policy circles. Some from that group have now created far deeper problems for Mr. Trump, providing federal and congressional investigators with evidence of suspicious interactions with Russian officials and their emissaries.... The fact that so many of Mr. Trump's foreign policy aides from that period have now acknowledged contacts with Russian officials or their intermediaries hints at Moscow’s eagerness to establish links to his campaign." ...

     ... Then There's This. Matt Shuham of TPM: "Former Donald Trump campaign adviser Michael Caputo on Tuesday blamed simple youthful indiscretion for efforts by former campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos and Donald Trump Jr. to meet with Russians promising dirt on Hillary Clinton. 'He was the coffee boy,' Caputo told CNN's Chris Cuomo, referring to Papadopoulos." Mrs. McC: So the man formerly known as "Excellent Guy" was "Coffee Boy" in disguise. Thanks for recommending the Russian coffee, George, but before noon I prefer hazelnut black. ...

... Sameera Chan of ProRepublica has a rundown of some of the best reporting of Paul Manafort, Rick Gatesand George Papadopoulos. --safari

... Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times profiles Andrew Weissman, "Robert Mueller's top lieutenant." ...

... Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha.

... Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly: "We all watched last week as the right wing attempted to weaponize stories that would undermine Robert Mueller, the FBI, and the investigation into possible ties between Russia and Trump. Specifically, it came on two fronts: 1. A story from John Solomon that revived the debunked lies about Clinton, Russia, and uranium by pointing to an FBI investigation into Russians involved in uranium transport. 2. The news that the DNC and the Clinton campaign paid for the Steele dossier.... [Eli] Lake's argument [in Bloomberg] ... is premised on the idea that Russians tried to help the Democrats. To the extent that some individual Russians were willing to talk to sources [Christopher] Steele had developed in that country based on his time as a British spy, it would be like claiming that the Nixon administration helped Woodward and Bernstein based on the information passed on to them via 'Deep Throat' (hat tip to Jay Bookman for that one)." ...

... Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times: "As the country grapples with a still more serious affront to American democracy, the agreement on the basic facts in the mainstream news media does not extend to Rupert Murdoch's media empire and other important parts of the conservative media.... As [Robert] Mueller and his team home in on people connected to President Trump..., the president and his allies in the conservative media sphere are pointing at the Democrats and Hillary Clinton.... The counternarrative was particularly pronounced in the outlets controlled by Mr. Murdoch.... Adding to the problem is the recent behavior of the tech companies...." ...

... Oliver Darcy of CNN: "Some employees at Fox News were left embarrassed and humiliated by their network's coverage of the latest revelations in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election meddling, according to conversations CNN had with several individuals placed throughout the network. 'I'm watching now and screaming,' one Fox News personality said in a text message to CNN.... 'I want to quit.' 'It is another blow to journalists at Fox who come in every day wanting to cover the news in a fair and objective way,' one senior Fox News employee told CNN of their outlet's coverage, adding that there were 'many eye rolls' in the newsroom over how the news was covered. The person said, 'Fox feels like an extension of the Trump White House.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Apparently these Fox "News" have never watched the network before today. Could someone tell them about Hannity? Could someone tell them that Fox hired Laura Ingraham to more-or-less replace the $32-million sex abuser & general in the War on Christmas? Could someone introduce them to Steve Doucy & Brian Kilmeade? ...

... Alvin Chang of Vox: "To put it bluntly: As Mueller brings charges against top Trump officials, Fox News is trying to plant doubt in its viewers' minds. We analyzed the past week of Fox News transcripts, measuring them against those of Fox's cable news rivals CNN and MSNBC.... Fox News was unable to talk about the Mueller investigation without bringing up Hillary Clinton, even as federal indictments were being brought against top Trump campaign officials. Fox also talked significantly less about George Papadopoulos ... whose plea deal with Mueller provides the most explicit evidence thus far that the campaign knew of the Russian government's efforts to help Trump -- than its competitors. Fox News repeatedly called Mueller's credibility into question, while shying away from talking about the possibility that Trump might fire Mueller." ...

... Steve M.: "Politico notes that Rupert Murdoch's media properties -- even the ones that have sometimes criticized President Trump -- are now unified in their demand for an end to Robert Mueller's investigation[.]... With Fox, I get it -- Fox's core audience has been primed by twenty years of Fox propaganda to believe that every Republican officeholder is the victim of an evil liberal juggernaut. But you'd think some of the New York Post's readers would be moderate or even liberal, and that many of the Journal's readers would at least prefer a textbook conservative like Mike Pence to Trump. But I guess Murdoch sees his competition now as Breitbart and InfoWars, not CNN and The New York Times, so his media properties have to toe the crazy party line." ...

     ... The Politico story, by Jason Schwartz, is here. ...

... Cecilia Kang, et al., of the New York Times: "Executives from Facebook, Google and Twitter appeared on Capitol Hill for the first time on Tuesday to publicly acknowledge their role in Russia's influence on the presidential campaign, but offered little more than promises to do better. Their reluctance frustrated lawmakers who sought stronger evidence that American elections will be protected from foreign powers. The hearing, the first of three in two days for company executives, served as an initial public reckoning for the internet giants. They had emphasized their role as public squares for political discourse but are being forced to confront how they were used as tools for a broad Russian misinformation campaign." ...

... ** Stephen Marche, in the New Yorker, asks & answers why Americans are so susceptible to media distortion. "Marshall McLuhan predicted that the Third World War would be 'a guerrilla information war with no division between military and civilian participation,' and that's exactly what it has turned out to be. America seems more vulnerable than other developed countries to the kind of distortion that Facebook and Twitter bring to news and politics.... Self-determination is the source of America's oldest political commitments and its deepest clichés -- 'Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness,' the cowboy, the astronaut, Thoreau at Walden, Emerson on 'Self-Reliance.' In America, everyone is entitled to his or her own vision of the universe.... The Trump-Putin breed of celebrity authoritarianism operates on a crude double strategy -- control the media you can, muddy the rest. The Russian disinformation campaigns are based not just on promoting the viewpoints that it wants promoted but by destabilizing entire systems of meaning.... The latest technology has revealed an ancient crisis. The most glorious feature of American life is also a great weakness -- a glamorous flaw. Nobody is going to tell Americans what to think. They have to work it out for themselves."

Molly Roberts of the Washington Post: "John Kelly's comments about the Civil War, according to historians, were 'strange,' 'sad' and 'wrong.' One thing they shouldn't be, however, is surprising.... [Kelly & other administration officials serve at the pleasure of Trump.] Last week, while many Democrats still were fawning over Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) for calling on conservatives to condemn Trump, Flake was back on the Senate floor voting to make it harder for consumers to sue the financial industry. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), another unlikely 'resistance' hero, was doing the same thing. So were Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). These senators are also all likely to back a tax bill that, however it comes out, will help rich Americans and drag down the rest of the economy.... The disaster of Trump has led to a widespread lowering of standards. Kelly, in the end, has proved unable to reach a bar that now rests close to the ground. But even those [Republicans] who meet that diminished mark don't deserve wholesale approval from liberals who, independent of Trump, wouldn't agree with most of the things they stand for. If we fall into that trap, we're in for many more unpleasant 'surprises.'" ...

... NEW. Charles Pierce: "Being the first guest on the debut of Laura Ingraham's new electric teevee show should be a black-enough mark on your professional history for anyone, but White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, fresh off slandering a sitting congresswoman and lecturing the nation on the demise of chivalry, decided to blow up what was left of his reputation by opining on how tragic was the American Civil War.... [Compromise is] a tool. It can be constructive or destructive, and, in the long view of history, one has to conclude that the compromises leading to the Civil War were little more than the foundation for the destruction to follow. 'Compromise' as an airy goal to be pursued without an appreciation of the consequences has embedded a terrible ambivalence in our history -- and an awful kind of amnesia into the bargain." ...

... ** Kashana Cauley in a New York Times op-ed: "... our country's tortured attempt to find some kind of balance on whether it was right to enslave African-Americans wasn't limited to the Three-Fifths Compromise. To argue that the Civil War came about because Americans couldn't compromise ... would require us to ignore at least six other major compromises on slavery, from the first fugitive slave law in 1793, which said that escaped slaves in any state could be caught, tried and returned to their masters, to the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which allowed residents of the two territories to vote on whether to allow slavery. Slaveowners and abolitionists compromised on slavery over and over again, throwing black people's rights onto the bargaining table like betting chips in a casino.... Someone should tell John Kelly that our history is based on too much compromise concerning slavery and black lives, not too little." Read it all. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The bit about Nixon is prelude to all that has followed in the GOP. In fact, the "Southern Strategy" itself was another Great Compromise, this one made entirely by Republicans. Nixon was a racist, but there were many Republicans back in the day who were not, or at least not virulently so. Still, these Republicans were willing to bend their own moral values right to the point of breaking in order to blindly follow their party. They made up lots of fake excuses for ideologies and policies -- that were obviously racist in effect. Lyndon Johnson is supposed to have said, "We [Democrats] have lost the South for a generation," when he signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But the real devastation to our two-party system came not to the Democratic party but to the Republicans. The Republican party lost its soul. It moved from being the Party of Lincoln to becoming the Party of Haters & Hypocrites, first by gobbling up the South & then by spreading Southern-style racism around the country, particularly to western states.

Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "Two collisions between Navy destroyers and commercial vessels in the Western Pacific earlier this year were 'avoidable' and the result of a string of crew and basic navigational errors, the Navy's top officer said in a report to be made public on Wednesday. Seven sailors were killed in June when the destroyer Fitzgerald collided with a container ship near Japan. The collision in August of the John S. McCain -- another destroyer, named after Senator McCain's father and grandfather -- and an oil tanker while approaching Singapore left 10 sailors dead. In the case of the Fitzgerald, the Navy determined in its latest reports that the crew and leadership on board failed to plan for safety, to adhere to sound navigation practices, to carry out basic watch practices, to properly use available navigation tools, and to respond effectively in a crisis.... In the case of the John S. McCain, the investigation concluded that the collision resulted from 'a loss of situational awareness' while responding to mistakes in the operation of the ship's steering and propulsion system while in highly trafficked waters."

Zachary Fryer-Biggs of Newsweek: "Defense Secretary James Mattis, testifying on Monday evening before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was asked repeatedly about a preemptive strike against North Korea, and specifically about the use of nuclear weapons. 'I will just tell you that we have not been discussing this sort of thing in any kind of an actionable way,' Mattis said.... A separate senior Pentagon official confirmed to Newsweek that there has been 'no meaningful conversation on the matter,' adding that efforts and plans thus far remain diplomatic.'" --safari...

... The Costs of War. Jay Cassano of International Business Times, via RawStory: "The Department of Defense periodically releases a 'cost of war' report.... American taxpayers have spent $1.46 trillion on wars abroad since September 11, 2001. The Afghanistan War from 2001 to 2014 and Iraq War from 2003 to 2011 account for the bulk of expenses: more than $1.3 trillion. The continuing presence in Afghanistan and aerial anti-ISIS operations in Iraq and Syria since 2014 have cost a combined $120 billion.... [The report] most notably does not include the expense of veteran's benefits for troops who serve in these wars or the intelligence community's expenses related to Global War on Terror. A 2011 paper from Harvard Kennedy School professor Linda Bilmes estimated the cost of veterans' benefits as $600 billion to $1 trillion over the next 40 years." --safari...

... Fletcher of RawStory: "Modernizing and maintaining the U.S. nuclear arsenal over the next 30 years will cost more than $1.2 trillion, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office." --safari

Jesus Loves Greed and Pollution. Rebecca Leber of Mother Jones: "Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt on Tuesday used the Bible to explain his major changes to the composition of the agency's independent science advisory committees, which play an important role in guiding and advising the EPA's regulatory work.... What the 'Joshua Principle' means for the EPA is that scientists who receive agency grants for their research are now barred from serving on any of its independent advisory boards.... Well-known climate change deniers [Lamar] Smith and Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.) joined a parade of white men who gave speeches at the EPA headquarters heralding the new era of its scientific review." --safari...

... Umair Irfan of Vox: "The Environmental Protection Agency announced new rules Tuesday that will force out science advisers who have received grants from the agency and pave the way to replace them with researchers from industry.... By changing the makeup of EPA's science advisory boards this way, Pruitt will be able to change how the government builds the foundation for environmental regulations." --safari...

Ed Kilgore: "[A]fter having all year to prepare for 2017's big barbecue of tax cuts, and on the very eve of the House GOP's unveiling of its version of 'tax reform,' the process has apparently devolved into sweaty madness, with a strong possibility the whole show will have to be delayed." --safari

... "Capitalism if Awesome", Ctd. Michael Slezak of the Guardian: "Global negotiations seeking to implement the Paris agreement have been captured by corporate interests and are being undermined by powerful forces that benefit from exacerbating climate change, according to a report released ahead of the second meeting of parties to the Paris agreement -- COP23 -- next week. The report, co-authored by Corporate Accountability, uncovers a litany of ways in which fossil fuel companies have gained high-level access to negotiations and manipulated outcomes." --safari

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "NPR is investigating allegations by two women who said the head of its news department made unwanted physical contact with them while he was employed by [the New York Times] nearly two decades ago. The women, both journalists at the time of the alleged incidents, made the accusations in recent weeks against Michael Oreskes, senior vice president of news and editorial director at the Washington-based public broadcasting organization. In response to the allegations, NPR said Tuesday that it has placed Oreskes on indefinite leave.... In a memo to employees on Wednesday, NPR chief executive Jarl Mohn said he asked Oreskes to resign because of 'inappropriate behavior.'... NPR reported late Tuesday that an NPR employee, Rebecca Hersher, had registered a complaint about Oreskes in October 2015, a few months after Oreskes was hired by NPR from a senior management position at the Associated Press. Hersher characterized Oreskes's behavior as an inappropriate conversation."

Congressional Elections

Dana Milbank: "I called some of my favorite strategists, both Republican (who were happy to be named) and Democrat (who were not), for this column, to see how they thought the Party of [Will] Rogers would, as one Democratic operative put it, 'seize defeat from the jaws of victory.' Bernie backers and 'establishment' types will chop each other to pieces in primaries even if their ideology is much the same. Democrats will overplay the Russia scandal rather than simply letting special counsel Robert S. Mueller III do his job. Underfunded party committees won’t vet the flood of new candidates, some of whom will turn out to have played guitar in nudist colonies. And Democrats will struggle, as out-of-power parties do, with the absence of a leader."