The Commentariat -- September 3, 2017

Julie Pace of the AP: "After a summer of staff shake-ups and self-made crises..., Donald Trump is emerging politically damaged, personally agitated and continuing to buck at the confines of his office, according to some close allies. For weeks, the West Wing has been upended by a reorganization that Trump has endorsed and, later, second-guessed, including his choice of retired Marine Gen. John Kelly as chief of staff. The president recently lashed out at Kelly after a boisterous rally in Phoenix, an incident relayed by a person with knowledge of the matter. In private conversations, Trump has leveled indiscriminate and harsh criticism on the rest of his remaining team. Seven months into his tenure, Trump has yet to put his mark on any signature legislation and his approval ratings are sagging. Fellow Republicans have grown weary of his volatility, and Trump spent the summer tangling with some of the same lawmakers he'll need to work with in the coming weeks to pass a government funding bill, raise the country's borrowing limit and make a difficult bid for tax overhaul legislation."

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: No matter how many times we hash over Trump's personality disorders, his mental condition, his ignorance, etc., it is still impossible not to reflexively ask,

... What's Wrong with This Man?

Glenn Thrush & Jack Healy of the New York Times: "President Trump urged onlookers at a Houston shelter to 'have a good time' on Saturday -- and appeared to take his own advice during a daylong Gulf Coast tour that blurred the line between bucking up a battered region and taking an early victory lap. During a half-dozen events in Texas and Louisiana, Mr. Trump exchanged hugs with survivors of Hurricane Harvey, viewed the historic damage firsthand, conferred with emergency management officials and personally imprinted the Trump brand on a recovery effort expected to take years and cost $100 billion or more. Mr. Trump, who had traveled to the area four days before and was criticized for not meeting with victims of the storm, sought on Saturday to project a sense of empathy during the series of media-friendly stops. 'They're really happy with what's going on,' he told reporters after talking with local residents at the NRG Center, a convention building serving as a temporary shelter for nearly 1,200 people. 'It's something that's been very well received. Even by you guys, it's been very well received.'... 'The cameras are blazing,' he noted during one of the many photo ops...." ...

... Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "The brief encounters Trump had with storm victims seemed to consist of exchanging pleasantries, smiling for photos and sharing presidential words of encouragement. Trump also talked of his electoral victory, as he often does. When Trump shook hands with a few uniformed military members at the evacuee shelter in Houston, one of the men told him, 'We voted for you.' 'You better,' Trump said playfully. 'Who didn't in your world? Who didn't?'" ...

... Alice Ollstein of TPM: "In a visit toone of Houston's designated emergency refuge areas, the NRG Center, Trump told reporters he is seeing 'a lot of happiness.' 'It's been really nice,' he said, according to the traveling press pool. 'It's been a wonderful thing. As tough as this was, it's been a wonderful thing, I think even for the country to watch it and for the world to watch. It's been beautiful.' The president also said of the children he visited who had been displaced by the storm, 'They're doing great.' When asked about the devastating flooding still covering much of the region, he replied: 'The flooding? Oh, yeah, yeah, there's a lot of water, but it's leaving pretty quickly. But there's a lot of water, a lot of water, but it's moving out.' While handing out meals to survivors of the flood, Trump paused to inform the press that his hands were too big for the sanitary plastic gloves.... In a subsequent visit to the First Church of Pearland in the Houston suburbs, Trump reminded flood survivors that he had declared Sunday a national day of prayer. 'So go to your church and pray and enjoy the day,' he said. Trump's light-hearted tone contrasted sharply with reports from the ground, where the death toll continues to climb." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Here's video of Trump speaking to reporters for a minute as he was leaving the NRG Center. I'm guessing he's trying to follow White House staff instructions to talk about storm victims. This is the best he could do -- talk about how happy they were at the job his people were doing to help them. BTW, the White House uploaded this video to YouTube, so staff too thought he was "doing great":

... "Enjoy the Day." Oliver Milman of the Guardian: "Hurricane Harvey has resulted in Houston's petrochemical industry leaking thousands of tons of pollutants, with communities living near plants damaged by the storm exposed to soaring levels of toxic fumes and potential water contamination. Refineries and chemical plants have reported more than 2,700 tons, or 5.4m pounds, of extra air pollution due to direct damage from the hurricane as well as the preventive shutting down of facilities, which causes a spike in released toxins.... Fourteen plants, operated by firms including Shell and Dow Chemical, have also reported wastewater overflows following the hurricane.... Residents living near the sprawling industrial facilities that dominate Houston's ship channel said they have experienced pungent smells and respiratory issues in the wake of the hurricane.... Houston has not met national air quality standards since the introduction of the Clean Air Act in 1970 and the sudden surge in pollution has caused deep concern among public health advocates. ...

... EPA MIA. Jason Dearen & Michael Biesecker of the the AP: "Long a center of the nation's petrochemical industry, the Houston metro area has more than a dozen Superfund sites, designated by the Environmental Protection Agency as being among America's most intensely contaminated places. Many are now flooded, with the risk that waters were stirring dangerous sediment.... The Associated Press surveyed seven Superfund sites in and around Houston during the flooding. All had been inundated with water, in some cases many feet deep. On Saturday, hours after the AP published its first report, the EPA said it had reviewed aerial imagery confirming that 13 of the 41 Superfund sites in Texas were flooded by Harvey and were 'experiencing possible damage' due to the storm. The statement confirmed the AP's reporting that the EPA had not yet been able to physically visit the Houston-area sites, saying the sites had 'not been accessible by response personnel.'" ...

... David Atkins of the Washington Monthly: "Since his election, Trump has been doing all he can to sabotage the EPA and render it unable to do its job. Part of this sabotage has been its willfully ignorant neglect toward nearly every department of government. But the EPA has come under particular scrutiny under a president who disbelieves in climate science and views environmental regulations as obstacles to his favorite industries like oil and coal. So Trump's industry-friendly EPA director Scott Pruitt has been busily dismantling the organization from the inside, firing employees, cutting funding and generally wrecking the place however he can.... The EPA exists for a reason. As with so much else, it would have been nice if Trump knew what it was before he got elected and started dismantling it." ...

... Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post (Sept. 1): "A couple of weeks ago President Trump scrapped Obama-era rules, intended to reduce the risks posed by flooding, that established new construction standards for roads, housing and other infrastructure projects that receive federal dollars. Trump derided these restrictions, which were written in response to growing concerns over the impact of climate change, and other federal rules as useless red tape holding back the economy.... But now, in the wake of the massive flooding and destruction caused by Hurricane Harvey along the Gulf Coast, the Trump administration is considering whether to issue similar requirements to build higher in flood-prone areas as the government prepares to spend billions of dollars in response to the storm. This potential policy shift underscores the extent to which the reality of this week's storm has collided with Trump officials' push to upend President Barack Obama's policies and represents a striking acknowledgment by an administration skeptical of climate change that the government must factor changing weather into some of its major infrastructure policies.... Earlier in his tenure, Trump eliminated other policies and institutions aimed at incorporating projected climate impacts such as sea level rise and more frequent, intense storms into infrastructure planning." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: What we're probably seeing here is a clash between climate realists & climate deniers, the latter group led of course by the Reality Denier-in-Chief. Harvey has given the realists a lift, which may last as long as Donald Trump enjoys making new friends in flood-ravaged Texas. ...

... Lobbyists Are Awesome. Zachary Warmbrodt & Theodoric Meyer of Politico: "The catastrophic weather in Texas has thrown the spotlight on the federal government's troubled flood insurance program, which is nearly $25 billion in debt after huge payouts following Katrina, Sandy and other devastating hurricanes. But as Houston starts the long process of recovering, lobbyists in Washington have already maneuvered to slow lawmakers efforts' to overhaul the National Flood Insurance Program and protect their industries' profits. The powerful home builders’ lobby helped kill a proposal that would have phased out coverage for new construction in high-risk areas. The National Association of Realtors blocked an attempt to rein in discounted insurance rates that homeowners can get when their flood risk increases. And the American Bankers Association has warned of a 'regional foreclosure crisis' if Congress axes coverage for homes with excessive claims."

Damian Paletta of the Washington Post: "President Trump has instructed advisers to prepare to withdraw the United States from a free-trade agreement with South Korea, several people close to the process said, a move that would stoke economic tensions with the U.S. ally as both countries confront a crisis over North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Withdrawing from the trade deal would back up Trump's promises to crack down on what he considers unfair trade competition from other countries, but his top national security and economic advisers are pushing him to abandon the plan, arguing it would hamper U.S. economic growth and strain ties with an important ally. Officials including national security adviser H.R. McMaster, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and National Economic Council director Gary Cohn oppose withdrawal, said people familiar with the process.... Although it is still possible Trump could decide to stay in the agreement to renegotiate its terms, the internal preparations for terminating the deal are far along, and the formal withdrawal process could begin as soon as this week, the people said." ...

... Josh Delk of the Hill: "Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) blasted the Trump administration on Saturday for having '18th-century views of trade' after it was reported that President Trump was preparing to withdraw the U.S. from its free trade agreement with South Korea. 'The president and Nebraska have a basic disagreement about trade,' Sasse said in a statement. 'His Administration holds 18th-century views of trade as a zero-sum game. I side with our farmers and ranchers who are feeding the world now,' the conservative senator added." ...

... AND There's This. Choe Sang-Hun of the New York Times: "North Korea said on Sunday that it has developed a hydrogen bomb 'with super explosive power' [link fixed] to be mounted on its intercontinental ballistic missile. The North's official Korean Central News Agency offered no evidence for the claim, other than photos of Kim Jong-un ... inspecting what it said was the weapon. The report said Mr. Kim had visited the Nuclear Weapons Institute, which the news agency said had recently 'succeeded in a more developed nuke' and in 'bringing about a signal turn in nuclear weaponization.'" ...

     ... ** NEW LEDE: "North Korea carried out its sixth and most powerful nuclear test in an extraordinary show of defiance against President Trump on Sunday, saying it had detonated a hydrogen bomb that could be mounted on an intercontinental ballistic missile. The test, which the North called a 'complete success,' was the first to clearly surpass the destructive power of the bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II.... Still, it was unclear whether the North had in fact detonated such a weapon, a far more powerful type of nuclear device than the atomic bombs it has tested in the past. And analysts were skeptical that Pyongyang had really developed the capability to mount one on an ICBM." ...

... Philip Rucker: "In a pair of tweets issued Sunday morning, Trump wrote: 'North Korea has conducted a major Nuclear Test. Their words and actions continue to be very hostile and dangerous to the United States ... North Korea is a rogue nation which has become a great threat and embarrassment to China, which is trying to help but with little success.' Trump also delivered a scolding to South Korea, a longtime U.S. ally, stating that 'appeasement with North Korea will not work' and suggesting that more severe steps must be taken to influence Kim Jong Un's government.' In a third Sunday morning tweet, the president wrote, 'South Korea is finding, as I have told them, that their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing!' This comes amid escalating economic tensions with South Korea, a democratic nation and a longtime economic and diplomatic partner with the United States. Trump is considering withdrawing the United States from a free-trade agreement with South Korea."

New York Times Editors: "The policy objective [of the tax-cut bill Congress & the White House are working on] is to steeply cut tax rates for businesses and wealthy individuals. The political aim, and the point of President Trump's speech last Wednesday, is to persuade ... the Trump working-class base that a tax cut for the wealthy would be good for them, too. It would not be, and to pretend otherwise, as Mr. Trump did, is to substitute propaganda for discourse.... Wages have long stagnated, despite tax cuts in the 1980s and 2000s, while profits, shareholder returns and executive pay have soared.... Then, too, there is the budget issue. Mr. Trump has proposed cutting the top corporate rate from 35 percent to 15 percent, a point he emphasized on Wednesday despite warnings from his economic advisers that a cut that sizable would cause the deficit to explode. Separately, he and his advisers have also proposed ending taxation on the foreign profits of American corporations, even though such profits are often actually earned in the United States and simply relabeled as foreign through the use of complex accounting maneuvers.... Over all, the cuts, paired with loophole closers, would cost at least $3.4 trillion in revenue in the first 10 years and $5.9 trillion over the following decade."

Kimberly Kindy, et al., of the Washington Post: "On June 3, 2014, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. restarted a long-dormant domestic terrorism task force created after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. A former Ku Klux Klan leader had just murdered three people near a Jewish Community Center in a Kansas City suburb and yelled 'Heil Hitler' as police took him into custody. For too long, Holder said, the federal government had narrowly focused on Islamist threats and had lost sight of the 'continued danger we face' from violent far-right extremists. But three years later, it is unclear what, if anything the Domestic Terrorism Executive Committee has done [in this regard].... As President Trump continues to suffer political backlash for his response to the deadly Charlottesville protests led by white supremacists, analysts who follow far-right groups say generations of neglect by multiple administrations has allowed them to proliferate and strengthen.... Since 9/11, there have been 95 deaths in the United States linked to Islamist militant violence, while 68 people have died at the hands of the far right during the same time, according to the nonpartisan think tank New America.... Federal authorities are also dealing with an emerging problem from an increasingly confrontational and sometimes violent leftist extremist group known as antifa."

Former Sen. Bob Graham in a Washington Post op-ed: Congressional investigative committees are not nearly prepared to adequately investigate the Trump/Russia scandal. "The nation's best option is for [Robert] Mueller to continue his investigation until it ends, wherever it leads. Should Trump find some way to remove him, it would spark a constitutional crisis unlike anything since Watergate; Congress must be ready for this worst-case scenario. In our system of checks and balances, it has the right and duty to exercise full oversight. Now is the time to start preparing for that responsibility."

Deirdre Walsh of CNN: "The Justice Department said in a court filing Friday evening that it has no evidence to support ... Donald Trump's assertion in March that his predecessor, Barack Obama, wiretapped the phones in Trump Tower before last year's election. 'Both FBI and NSD confirm that they have no records related to wiretaps as described by the March 4, 2017 tweets,' the department's motion reads. NSD refers to the department's national security division. The motion came in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by a group pushing for government transparency, American Oversight.On March 4, Trump tweeted: 'Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!' 'How low has President Obama gone to tap my phones during the very sacred election process,' Trump also tweeted. 'This is Nixon/Watergate.' Then-FBI Director James Comey told Congress in March there was no evidence to support the contention that Trump Tower had been wiretapped.... American Oversight said in a statement following the Justice Department's motion: 'The FBI and Department of Justice have now sided with former Director Comey and confirmed in writing that President Trump lied when he tweeted the former President Obama "wiretapped" him at Trump Tower.'" ...

... Chas Danner of New York: "The episode, as well as Trump and the White House's subsequent refusal to provide any evidence to back up the claim, was one of the most-outrageous early events of Trump's presidency. The most likely explanation for Trump's tweets is that someone passed him a Breitbart article writing up accusations against Obama made by conservative radio host Mark Levin, who based his claims based on dubious British media reports. In other words, a right-wing game of conspiracy-theory telephone resulted in the president of the United States accusing his predecessor of a politically-motivated criminal act via tweetstorm, which in turn kicked off one of the biggest, most-distracting scandals of Trump's early presidency."

Friday Night News Dump. Kenneth Chang of the New York Times: "Representative Jim Bridenstine, Republican of Oklahoma, will be nominated by President Trump to serve as NASA's next administrator, the White House said on Friday night. Mr. Bridenstine, a strong advocate for drawing private companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin more deeply into NASA's exploration of space, had been rumored to be the leading candidate for the job, but months passed without an announcement. If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Bridenstine, 42, would be the first elected official to hold that job." ...

... Marc Caputo of Politico: "Florida’s senators are voicing opposition to ... Donald Trump's pick for NASA administrator, Oklahoma Congressman Jim Bridenstine, saying a 'politician' shouldn't lead the nation's space program. Republican Marco Rubio and Democrat Bill Nelson wouldn't say whether they'd buck the president and vote against Bridenstine, who was nominated Friday. But they suggested the GOP congressman's political past would needlessly spark a partisan fight in the Senate that could ultimately damage NASA.... The bipartisan pushback against Trump's nominee for NASA administrator underscores the importance of the agency to Florida, home of the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral.... Nelson serves as the ranking member on the Senate's Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation, which oversees NASA and would hear Bridenstine's nomination.... Bridenstine was harshly critical of Rubio during the GOP presidential primary when the Oklahoma representative supported Texas Sen. Ted Cruz." ...

... Joe Romm of Think Progress: "Bridenstine is a politician without any scientific credentials, unlike previous NASA chiefs.... NASA scientists have led the way in documenting the scientific reality of climate change. But in 2013, Bridenstine not only gave a speech on the House floor filled with standard denier talking points, he actually ended his remarks with a demand that President Obama apologize for funding research into climate science.... Although Bridenstine serves on the House science committee, those remarks were in contradiction to well-established science at the time -- and indeed to NASA's own research." ...

... Wait, Wait. It Gets Worse. Ken Ward of the Charleston (West Virginia) Gazette-Mail: "... Donald Trump on Saturday indicated he has chosen as the nation's top mine safety official the former chief executive of Rhino Resources, a coal company that repeatedly clashed with federal regulators when the Obama administration Labor Department tried to step up industry-wide enforcement in the wake of the worst U.S. coal mining disaster in a generation. The White House announced that Trump intended to nominate David G. Zatezalo, of Wheeling, [West Virginia,] as assistant secretary of labor for the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration."

Lachlan Markay & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "... White House chief of staff John Kelly has sought to put a dent in the influence of one of ... Donald Trump’s most famous advisers: Omarosa Manigault. The former Apprentice co-star -- who currently serves as the communications director for the Office of Public Liaison -- has seen her direct access to the president limited since Kelly took the top White House job in late July, sources tell The Daily Beast. In particular, Kelly has taken steps to prevent her and other senior staffers from getting unvetted news articles on the president's Resolute desk -- a key method for influencing the president's thinking, and one that Manigualt used to rile up Trump about internal White House drama.... 'When Gen. Kelly is talking about clamping down on access to the Oval, she's patient zero,' a source close to the Trump administration said.... Manigault would [bring negative press reports] to Trump, often on a phone or printed out, [which] would often enrage the president, and resulted in him spending at least the rest of the day fuming about it."

Beyond the Beltway

Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill: "A bar in Minneapolis, Minn., shut its doors Friday after it was revealed the owner had donated to former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke's failed Senate campaign, The Star Tribune reported. Club Jäger closed down Friday, with staff protesting after local newspaper City Pages revealed that owner Julius De Roma had made a $500 donation to Duke's Senate bid last year. Entertainers at the bar and staffers quit after the story about De Roma's campaign donation to the former KKK grand wizard emerged. Employees said the decision to close the business was made by those who ran the bar, not the owner, according to the Star Tribune. De Roma defended his donation to local television station WCCO this week as 'free speech.' 'Well, whatever,' De Roma said. 'What do you expect? It's basically something that is blown up beyond what it should be.'"

News Lede

Los Angeles Times: "Hundreds of firefighters fought for control over a 5,800-acre brush fire Saturday in the Verdugo Mountains north of downtown Los Angeles that forced the evacuations of hundreds of homes and shut down a nine-mile stretch of the 210 Freeway. The La Tuna fire was believed to be one of the largest in L.A. city history in terms of sheer acreage, officials said. The blaze destroyed three homes in Tujunga, but no injuries were reported. The fire, which shrouded the sky with plumes of white smoke, was only 10% contained late Saturday. It broke out a day earlier, with shifting winds sending flames in multiple directions. Fire crews confronted the same erratic conditions on Saturday, Los Angeles Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas said."

The Commentariat -- September 2, 2017

Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Trump on Friday said he would announce a decision by Tuesday on whether he will end the Obama-era program that shields young undocumented immigrants from deportation, declaring 'We love the Dreamers' even as his White House grappled with how to wind down their legal status.... Several administration officials have said in recent days that Mr. Trump is likely to phase out the program, but his advisers have engaged in a vigorous behind-the-scenes debate over precisely how to do so, and the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because no decision was final, cautioned that the president was conflicted about the issue and could suddenly change his mind. As a candidate, Mr. Trump pledged to immediately terminate the program, but he has stalled for months.... He told reporters he had 'great feeling for DACA,' while declining to answer repeated questions about whether he believes the program is legal. But in recent days, Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, and Donald F. McGahn II, the White House counsel, have made it clear that they could not defend the program in court, and a group of state attorneys general have threatened to mount a legal challenge if Mr. Trump did not act to end it by Tuesday." Mrs. McC: Let's give a special shout-out to the Evil Elf. ...

... Tal Kopan & Jim Acosta of CNN: "House Speaker Paul Ryan on Friday gave a major boost to legislative efforts to preserve protections for young undocumented immigrants -- and urged ... Donald Trump to not tear up the program. Responding to a question about Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, on his hometown radio station WCLO in Janesville, Wisconsin, Ryan said Congress was working on a legislative fix to preserve the program. 'I actually don't think he should do that,' Ryan said of Trump's consideration of terminating the program. 'I believe that this is something that Congress has to fix.'" Mrs. McC: Good thing I took over here. Ryan never paid any attention to the Constant Weader, but he listened to me. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Joanna Walters of the Guardian: "Many of America's world-leading technology chiefs and dozens of business leaders have sent an open letter to Donald Trump urging him not to kill off the special legal provisions offered to 'Dreamers', people brought to the US illegally as children -- in a drastic move widely expected from the White House on Friday. The Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, and other business titans such as Meg Whitman of Hewlett-Packard, Jack Dorsey of Twitter, Tim Cook of Apple and the fashion design legend Diane von Furstenburg appealed to Trump to preserve the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or Daca, the policy generated by the Obama administration to protect those who arrived in the US as undocumented children. The letter tells the president that such Dreamers are critical to the future success and competitiveness of American companies, and that the US economy will suffer if the young peoples' job security and protected residency status are stripped away." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... The letter, with a list of its signers, is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... And Then There Were Nine. Adam Tamburen of the Tennessean: "Republican Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery no longer supports an effort to pressure ... Donald Trump to end a program that allows young immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally to stay in the country. Slatery announced the reversal Friday in a letter to Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker. In June, he had joined a coalition of [ten] conservative state attorneys general who had threatened to challenge DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, in court if Trump did not eliminate it by Sept. 5. But in his Friday letter, Slatery said his office would not participate in the litigation 'because we believe there is a better approach.' He urged Alexander and Corker, both Tennessee Republicans, to use legislation to establish a permanent policy that would address undocumented immigrants who came here as children."

Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "The White House is asking Congress for nearly $12 billion as a down payment on Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts, sending Republican leaders a request late Friday for $5.9 billion in immediate aid that will be quickly followed by a request for another $6 billion, administration officials said. The initial funding represents only a fraction of the long-term storm relief for flood-ravaged parts of Texas and Louisiana, which is likely to far exceed the $50 billion in funds allocated to northeastern states in the wake of Hurricane Sandy in 2012. President Trump is expected to make a pitch for quick passage of storm funding legislation when he travels on Saturday to the Houston area and to Lake Charles, La., his second trip to the region in the week since the hurricane made landfall at Rockport, Texas, inundating the Gulf Coast with record-breaking floods and rainfall." ...

... New York Times: "Fire engulfed part of a chemical plant northeast of Houston on Friday evening, sending thick black smoke high into the sky, a statement from Arkema, the owner of the plant, confirmed. It was the same facility where, on Thursday, a chemical storage trailer exploded, setting off a fire. Flooding from Harvey, once a Category 4 hurricane that hit southeast Texas last week, had knocked out the refrigeration system needed to keep the chemicals stable. Two trailers were on fire Friday evening, Rachel Moreno, a spokeswoman for the Houston Fire Marshal's office, confirmed. 'There are six more trailers there with the potential to do the same,' she said, but she could not predict whether any more trailers were immediately at risk. The company said in the statement Friday evening, 'We will likely see additional incidents. Please do not return to the area within the evacuation zone until local emergency response authorities announce it is safe to do so.'" Mrs. McC: Is Arkema going to compensate the people who had to leave their homes solely because of the mandatory evacuation caused by their burning mystery chemicals? ...

... Benjamin Wallace-Wells of the New Yorker on the self-fulfilling prophecy of stripped-down governmental resources: "There is a cyclic pattern to the erosion of faith in government, in which politics saps the state's capacity to protect people, and so people put their trust in other institutions (churches; self-organizing volunteer navies), and are more inclined to support anti-government politics. The stories of the storm and the navies exist on a libertarian skeleton. Through them, a particular idea of how society might be organized is coming into view."

Damian Paletta of the Washington Post: "The White House has signaled to congressional Republicans that it will not shut down the government in October if money isn't appropriated to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, potentially clearing a path for lawmakers to reach a short-term budget deal. Congress has only appropriated money to fund government operations through the end of September, and President Trump has threatened to shut down the government if lawmakers don't include $1.6 billion in new funding so that 74 new miles of wall and secondary fencing can be added to the border.... Trump could still follow through on a threat to shut down the government in December, but this marks the second time he has pulled back from the wall demand to allow lawmakers to pass a budget bill.... Trump has been threatening to shut down the government for months. In May, he said in another tweet that the government needed a 'good shutdown' to break the gridlock in Congress." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Russia Scandal

Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Trump on Friday lashed out anew at the F.B.I. director he fired in May, charging that James B. Comey had 'exonerated' Hillary Clinton before fully completing the investigation into her use of a private email server.... 'Wow, looks like James Comey exonerated Hillary Clinton long before the investigation was over,' Mr. Trump wrote on Friday. 'A rigged system!' Two Republican senators said on Thursday that Mr. Comey had begun drafting his statement recommending not to charge Mrs. Clinton before interviewing key aides in the investigation. The president's message came at the end of a week during which Mr. Trump and his aides have worked to portray the president as singularly focused on the devastating toll of storms pummeling Texas and Louisiana, and to project a more empathetic image for Mr. Trump. Just before posting his complaint about Mr. Comey, Mr. Trump used Twitter to praise the response to the storm, although with a trademark spelling error. 'Texas is heeling fast thanks to all of the great men & women who have been working so hard,' Mr. Trump wrote. 'But still, so much to do. Will be back tomorrow!'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... James Downie of the Washington Post on why this attack on Jim Comey is fake: "On Thursday, Sens. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) released a letter in which they claim Comey 'prejudged' the investigation into Hillary Clinton's email practices. Trump latched onto the story ... Friday morning.... Grassley and Graham's letter and the reactions by other Republicans show again that they'll use any excuse to hurt Comey's credibility and by extension special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's inquiry.... [The Grassley-Graham letter provides as 'evidence' the fact that] Comey began to work on a statement exonerating Clinton as early as April 2016, before Clinton herself and some key aides were interviewed.... But it's far from unusual for prosecutors and investigators to draft statements about their conclusions before the investigation is over.... As Washington veterans (and in Graham's case, a former lawyer), the senators likely know this.... If Comey and his team had taken weeks after interviews were finished to draft and announce his decision, Republicans would have claimed he was trying to slow-walk the case.... Besides, as the president admitted and as Grassley and Graham certainly know, Comey was not fired because of his treatment of Clinton.... It's a cheap stunt that both senators should be ashamed of." ...

... Michael Schmidt & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has obtained a letter that President Trump and a top political aide drafted in the days before Mr. Trump fired the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, which explains the president's rationale for why he planned to dismiss the director. The May letter had been met with opposition from Donald F. McGahn II, the White House counsel, who believed that some of its contents were problematic, according to interviews with a dozen administration officials and others briefed on the matter. Mr. McGahn successfully blocked the president from sending Mr. Comey the letter, which Mr. Trump had composed with Stephen Miller, one of the president's top political advisers. A different letter, written by the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, and focused on Mr. Comey's handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server, was ultimately sent to the F.B.I. director on the day he was fired. The contents of the original letter appears to provide the clearest rationale that Mr. Trump had for firing Mr. Comey. It is unclear how much of Mr. Trump's rationale focuses on the Russia investigation, although Mr. Trump told aides at the time he was angry that Mr. Comey refused to publicly say that Mr. Trump himself was not under investigation." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "The multi-page letter enumerated Trump’s long-simmering complaints with Comey, according to people familiar with it, including Trump's frustration that Comey was unwilling to say publicly that Trump was not personally under investigation in the FBI's inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.... Mueller is likely to look into whether Trump, in consulting the Justice Department's top two officials, was seeking a pretense to remove the FBI director...." ...

... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Neither the Times nor the WashPo reporters divulge much of what was in the letter, but it sounds as if they know more-or-less what it says. ...

... Josh Marshall speculates on what happened during a "mystery hour" on Air Force 1 -- an hour in which Trump met with Stephen Miller & Jared Kushner -- on the tarmac at Andrews AFB. The meeting took place on the night before Trump called Jeff Sessions & Rod Rosenstein about firing Jim Comey. "However that may be, I think Kushner's role in all of the entire Trump/Russia story is bigger and more central than most of us have understood. One day will find out what happened in that 45 minutes."

Nicole Perlroth, et al., of the New York Times: "After a presidential campaign scarred by Russian meddling, local, state and federal agencies have conducted little of the type of digital forensic investigation required to assess the impact, if any, on voting in at least 21 states whose election systems were targeted by Russian hackers, according to interviews with nearly two dozen national security and state officials and election technology specialists. The assaults on the vast back-end election apparatus -- voter-registration operations, state and local election databases, e-poll books and other equipment -- have received far less attention than other aspects of the Russian interference, such as the hacking of Democratic emails and spreading of false or damaging information about Mrs. Clinton. Yet the hacking of electoral systems was more extensive than previously disclosed, The New York Times found." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Joy Reid explains how the hacking can -- and probably did -- work against Democratic voters. The segment begins at about 3:40 in:

... CBS News/AP: "Acrid, black smoke was seen pouring from a chimney at the Russian consulate in San Francisco Friday, a day after the Trump administration ordered its closure amid escalating tensions between the United States and Russia. Firefighters who arrived at the scene were turned away by consulate officials who came from inside the building. An Associated Press reporter heard people who came from inside the building tell firefighters that there was no problem and that consulate staff were burning unidentified items in a fireplace.... Normally cool San Francisco temperatures had already climbed to 95 degrees by noon." ...

... Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Mrs. McCrabbie: Last month, the Constant Weader posted a link to a Nation story by Patrick Lawrence which argued that Russia did not hack the DNC's system. The Weader (and I), especially given the source, found Lawrence's conclusion weird. It turns out, so did a number of his sources, as well as his editor Katrina vanden Heuvel, & other Nation reporters. Erik Wemple of the Washington Post reports. In an e-mail to Wemple, Nation writer Katha Pollitt didn't hold back:

Patrick Lawrence published claims that accorded with his own views and presented them as conclusive. He didn’t even bother to learn that members of VIPS dissented from the report. Nor, apparently, did he consult anyone who knows more about computers than he does, which turns out to be a lot of people. He's a crackpot and a terrible writer, and I've never understood why he was hired in the first place. Katrina should have fired him. Anything less is allowing him much more credence than he deserves, which is no credence at all.

Matt O'Brien of the Washington Post: "President Trump has made the economy so much better that it has added 186,000 fewer jobs in his first seven months than it did in President Barack Obama's last seven months.... It shouldn't be surprising that the economy isn't doing any better under Trump, since Trump really hasn't done anything to make it better. There hasn't been a dollar of new infrastructure spending, let alone the trillion that Trump's since-departed ideological consigliere Steve Bannon promised. And despite the administration's tax cut bravado, it's looking pretty iffy whether it will get that done either.... It is fitting that Trump has tried to take credit for the same economy he said was a disaster.... That's just him running the government like a business -- at least his own. After his casinos went bankrupt in the early 1990s, you see, Trump figured out that it was a lot easier to let other people put his name on things they'd built rather than do so himself. (Well, that and a lot of Wall Street banks wouldn't lend to him anymore). This is no different. Trump is just putting his name on a recovery that Obama put in place with his stimulus and his Federal Reserve picks."

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: Jim Mattis & Gary Cohn imply what they really think of Donald Trump.

Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Treasury's Office of Inspector General is reviewing the flight taken by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and his wife, Louise Linton, last week to Louisville and Fort Knox, Ky., following criticism of their use of a government plane on a trip that involved viewing the solar eclipse." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

"Hi, I'm a Right-wing Nutjob!" -- Mick Mulvaney. That's how Trump's budget director introduced himself to White House economic advisor Gary Cohn. Michael Grunwald of Politico writes a longish piece that verifies Mulvaney's self-description. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Glenn Thrush & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times look at the relationship between Donald Trump & Chief-of-Staff John Kelly. It's not all that good. After Trump lashed out at him last month for no good reason, Kelly told White House staffers "he had never been spoken to like that during 35 years of serving his country. In the future, he said, he would not abide such treatment, according to three people familiar with the exchange.... How long Mr. Kelly and the president, two men with such divergent approaches to the common goal of Mr. Trump's success, will be able to coexist is unclear."

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: Sarah Huckabee Sanders has a reputation for putting off reporters' questions by saying she'd have to get back to them. It often hasn't mattered how simple the subject might be; Sanders is regularly loath to offer an answer. On Friday, the last day before the Labor Day holiday, Sanders had even less to offer than normal." Bump provides an edited transcript of the Q&A, & he puts answers that provided some actual response to the questions in bold-faced type. You'll have to do some serious scrolling to get to the responsive answers.

Dana Bash, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump's longtime aide and current director of Oval Office operations Keith Schiller has told people he intends to leave the White House, three sources familiar with the decision told CNN.... Schiller has told people his primary reason for leaving was financial, the sources said. Schiller earns a $165,000 annual salary at the White House -- a downgrade from his annual earnings before he followed Trump to the White House. Schiller has been a constant presence at Trump's side for nearly two decades and was among a handful of aides from Trump's previous life as a businessman to follow Trump onto the campaign trail and into the White House. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the story was "not true" and declined to comment further. Schiller declined to comment."

Mr. P*, You Are Not the Boss of Us. John McCain in a Washington Post op-ed: "Congress will return from recess next week facing continued gridlock as we lurch from one self-created crisis to another. We are proving inadequate not only to our most difficult problems but also to routine duties.... Our entire system of government -- with its checks and balances, its bicameral Congress, its protections of the rights of the minority -- was designed for compromise.... We have to respect each other or at least respect the fact that we need each other. That has never been truer than today, when Congress must govern with a president who has no experience of public office, is often poorly informed and can be impulsive in his speech and conduct. We must respect his authority and constitutional responsibilities.... But we are not his subordinates. We don't answer to him. We answer to the American people. We must be diligent in discharging our responsibility to serve as a check on his power. And we should value our identity as members of Congress more than our partisan affiliation." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Laura Litvan of Bloomberg: "The Senate parliamentarian told lawmakers that Republicans' ability to pass an Obamacare replacement with just 51 votes expires at the end of this month, Senator Bernie Sanders said Friday. The preliminary finding complicates any further efforts by Republican leaders in Congress to pass a comprehensive GOP-only replacement for the health-care law. Sanders ... called the determination a 'major victory' for those who oppose repealing Obamacare.... The parliamentarian's new finding doesn't preclude Republicans in both chambers from seeking to restore the ability to use a 51-vote majority for an Obamacare repeal in the next fiscal year that starts Oct. 1." Mrs. McC: Litvan neither explains the reason for the deadline nor provides a link to Bernie's statement. Hey, Litvan: Who What When Where Why & How....

     ... Rachana Pradhan & John Bresnahan of Politico say it's because September 30 is the end of the fiscal year, & the 51-vote effort was attached to current budget reconciliation rules. AND right now, "the House GOP's budget resolution for fiscal 2018 does not include instructions on health care, which would likely kill the party's chances of an Obamacare repeal redo next year."

Beyond the Beltway

Melissa Gray of CNN: "Salt Lake City police apologized Friday for arresting a nurse who, citing hospital policy, refused to let officers draw blood from an unconscious crash victim. The arrest of Alex Wubbels, who was later released without charge, was captured on body camera video that the police chief said was alarming.... Wubbels, the charge nurse in the burn unit, presented the officers with a printout of hospital policy on drawing blood and said their request did not meet the criteria.... Wubbels' attorney, Karra Porter, said Friday the university and Salt Lake City police had agreed to the policy more than a year ago...." Mrs. McC: Yes, the cops can & will detain & manhandle you for doing the right, lawful thing. I'm guessing that what made the officer so mad was that (1) a woman disobeyed his order, & (2) she provided him with written evidence (and backup from a supervisor) that she was right & he was wrong. As for the Constitution rights of the accident victim, the police officer could not care less.

The Commentariat -- September 1, 2017

Afternoon Update:

Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Trump on Friday said he would announce a decision by Tuesday on whether he will end the Obama-era program that shields young undocumented immigrants from deportation, declaring 'We love the Dreamers' even as his White House grappled with how to wind down their legal status.... Several administration officials have said in recent days that Mr. Trump is likely to phase out the program, but his advisers have engaged in a vigorous behind-the-scenes debate over precisely how to do so, and the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because no decision was final, cautioned that the president was conflicted about the issue and could suddenly change his mind. As a candidate, Mr. Trump pledged to immediately terminate the program, but he has stalled for months.... He told reporters he had 'great feeling for DACA,' while declining to answer repeated questions about whether he believes the program is legal. But in recent days, Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, and Donald F. McGahn II, the White House counsel, have made it clear that they could not defend the program in court, and a group of state attorneys general have threatened to mount a legal challenge if Mr. Trump did not act to end it by Tuesday." Mrs. McC: Let's give a special shout-out to the Evil Elf.

Damian Paletta of the Washington Post: "The White House has signaled to congressional Republicans that it will not shut down the government in October if money isn't appropriated to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, potentially clearing a path for lawmakers to reach a short-term budget deal. Congress has only appropriated money to fund government operations through the end of September, and President Trump has threatened to shut down the government if lawmakers don't include $1.6 billion in new funding so that 74 new miles of wall and secondary fencing can be added to the border.... Trump could still follow through on a threat to shut down the government in December, but this marks the second time he has pulled back from the wall demand to allow lawmakers to pass a budget bill.... Trump has been threatening to shut down the government for months. In May, he said in another tweet that the government needed a 'good shutdown' to break the gridlock in Congress."

Nicole Perlroth, et al., of the New York Times: "After a presidential campaign scarred by Russian meddling, local, state and federal agencies have conducted little of the type of digital forensic investigation required to assess the impact, if any, on voting in at least 21 states whose election systems were targeted by Russian hackers, according to interviews with nearly two dozen national security and state officials and election technology specialists. The assaults on the vast back-end election apparatus -- voter-registration operations, state and local election databases, e-poll books and other equipment -- have received far less attention than other aspects of the Russian interference, such as the hacking of Democratic emails and spreading of false or damaging information about Mrs. Clinton. Yet the hacking of electoral systems was more extensive than previously disclosed, The New York Times found."

Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Trump on Friday lashed out anew at the F.B.I. director he fired in May, charging that James B. Comey had 'exonerated' Hillary Clinton before fully completing the investigation into her use of a private email server.... 'Wow, looks like James Comey exonerated Hillary Clinton long before the investigation was over,' Mr. Trump wrote on Friday. 'A rigged system!' Two Republican senators said on Thursday that Mr. Comey had begun drafting his statement recommending not to charge Mrs. Clinton before interviewing key aides in the investigation. The president's message came at the end of a week during which Mr. Trump and his aides have worked to portray the president as singularly focused on the devastating toll of storms pummeling Texas and Louisiana, and to project a more empathetic image for Mr. Trump. Just before posting his complaint about Mr. Comey, Mr. Trump used Twitter to praise the response to the storm, although with a trademark spelling error. 'Texas is heeling fast thanks to all of the great men & women who have been working so hard,' Mr. Trump wrote. 'But still, so much to do. Will be back tomorrow!'" ...

... Michael Schmidt & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has obtained a letter that President Trump and a top political aide drafted in the days before Mr. Trump fired the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, which explains the president's rationale for why he planned to dismiss the director. The May letter had been met with opposition from Donald F. McGahn II, the White House counsel, who believed that some of its contents were problematic, according to interviews with a dozen administration officials and others briefed on the matter. Mr. McGahn successfully blocked the president from sending Mr. Comey the letter, which Mr. Trump had composed with Stephen Miller, one of the president's top political advisers. A different letter, written by the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, and focused on Mr. Comey's handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server, was ultimately sent to the F.B.I. director on the day he was fired. The contents of the original letter appears to provide the clearest rationale that Mr. Trump had for firing Mr. Comey. It is unclear how much of Mr. Trump's rationale focuses on the Russia investigation, although Mr. Trump told aides at the time he was angry that Mr. Comey refused to publicly say that Mr. Trump himself was not under investigation."

Mr. P*, You Are Not the Boss of Us. John McCain in a Washington Post op-ed: "Congress will return from recess next week facing continued gridlock as we lurch from one self-created crisis to another. We are proving inadequate not only to our most difficult problems but also to routine duties.... Our entire system of government -- with its checks and balances, its bicameral Congress, its protections of the rights of the minority -- was designed for compromise.... We have to respect each other or at least respect the fact that we need each other. That has never been truer than today, when Congress must govern with a president who has no experience of public office, is often poorly informed and can be impulsive in his speech and conduct. We must respect his authority and constitutional responsibilities.... But we are not his subordinates. We don't answer to him. We answer to the American people. We must be diligent in discharging our responsibility to serve as a check on his power. And we should value our identity as members of Congress more than our partisan affiliation."

Tal Kopan & Jim Acosta of CNN: "House Speaker Paul Ryan on Friday gave a major boost to legislative efforts to preserve protections for young undocumented immigrants -- and urged ... Donald Trump to not tear up the program. Responding to a question about Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, on his hometown radio station WCLO in Janesville, Wisconsin, Ryan said Congress was working on a legislative fix to preserve the program. 'I actually don't think he should do that,' Ryan said of Trump's consideration of terminating the program. 'I believe that this is something that Congress has to fix.'" Mrs. McC: Good thing I took over here. Ryan never paid any attention to the Constant Weader, but he listened to me. ...

... Joanna Walters of the Guardian: "Many of America's world-leading technology chiefs and dozens of business leaders have sent an open letter to Donald Trump urging him not to kill off the special legal provisions offered to 'Dreamers', people brought to the US illegally as children -- in a drastic move widely expected from the White House on Friday. The Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, and other business titans such as Meg Whitman of Hewlett-Packard, Jack Dorsey of Twitter, Tim Cook of Apple and the fashion design legend Diane von Furstenburg appealed to Trump to preserve the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or Daca, the policy generated by the Obama administration to protect those who arrived in the US as undocumented children. The letter tells the president that such Dreamers are critical to the future success and competitiveness of American companies, and that the US economy will suffer if the young peoples' job security and protected residency status are stripped away." ...

     ... The letter, with a list of its signers, is here.

"Hi, I'm a Right-wing Nutjob!" -- Mick Mulvaney. That's how Trump's budget director introduced himself to White House economic advisor Gary Cohn. Michael Grunwald of Politico writes a longish piece that verifies Mulvaney's self-description.

Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Treasury's Office of Inspector General is reviewing the flight taken by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and his wife, Louise Linton, last week to Louisville and Fort Knox, Ky., following criticism of their use of a government plane on a trip that involved viewing the solar eclipse."

*****

** The Oligarch. Jonathan Chait: "The version of Donald Trump who appeared [Wednesday] in Missouri was ... [of] a populist outsider, enemy of the Establishment, and traitor to his class. He pledged to ... protect 'ordinary Americans who don't have an army of accountants.' At one point, he claimed in an aside, 'I'm speaking against myself when I do this, I have to tell you.' The message, in other words, was almost the perfect inverse of the actual policy Trump was selling: a large regressive tax cut that has thrilled the party Establishment, the economic elite, and Washington lobbyists. Trump has done many shocking things in office, but most of them follow directly, even explicitly, from the persona he put on full display during the campaign.... His utter subservience to the party's donor class breaks from the pattern. It is a complete reversal of his promise to 'drain the swamp.'... The spectacular and telegenic failures of the Trump administration are obscuring the highly effective policies under way. Trump has transformed the government into an apparatus for protecting and enriching incumbent wealth. His chaos and incompetence are tolerable to his party because Trump is fashioning an American oligarchy."

Poor, Pitiful Me. Philip Rucker & Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "Behind the scenes during a summer of crisis..., Trump appears to pine for the days when the Oval Office was a bustling hub of visitors and gossip, over which he presided as impresario. He fumes that he does not get the credit he thinks he deserves from the media or the allegiance from fellow Republican leaders he says he is owed. He boasts about his presidency in superlatives, but confidants privately fret about his suddenly dark moods. And some of Trump's friends fear that the short-tempered president is on an inevitable collision course with White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly.... Meanwhile, people close to the president said he is simmering with displeasure over what he considers personal disloyalty from National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn.... He also has grown increasingly frustrated with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.... This portrait of Trump as he enters what could be his most consequential month in office is based on interviews with 15 senior White House officials, outside advisers and friends of the president."

Jonathan Swan of Axios: "The Trump administration is urging Congress to provide $5.95 billion for response and initial recovery efforts related to Hurricane Harvey, a senior administration official told Axios. Bloomberg broke the news of the requested aid package. Budget director Mick Mulvaney is calling Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill tonight and tomorrow, asking them to support the funding. The official said the Trump administration believes the requested amount will be more than enough to support hurricane recovery efforts until the end of the year. Of the total, $5.5 billion would go to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and $450 million to the Small Business Administration for their disaster relief efforts." Emphasis original. ...

... John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump is pledging to donate $1 million toward hurricane disaster relief in Texas and Louisiana, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday.... Before taking office, Trump, a real estate baron and television personality, had a history of overstating his charitable giving and taking credit for donations that came from other sources, as documented in a series of stories last year in The Washington Post. [Sarah] Sanders said the president has not settled on specific charities and wants to solicit advice from the media." Sanders didn't know where the donation was coming from -- from Trump personally or from some entity he controls. Mrs. McC: Uh, Trump is asking the media to suggest worthy charities? Would that be the fake media or from the Trump media? ...

... mike pence hugs a victim of Hurricane Harvey. Mission Clean-up-apres-Trump accomplished:

... Nolan McCaskill of Politico: "Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday offered up a playbook for ... Donald Trump's follow-up visit to hurricane-ravaged Texas this weekend, hugging storm victims, directly offering words of encouragement, and dripping sweat as he helped clear debris. Pence -- who is always cautious about upstaging the president -- literally followed in Trump's footsteps, flying with his wife to Corpus Christi, Texas, two days after the president and first lady Melania Trump had flown there and received updates from officials on the response effort to Hurricane Harvey.... But while Trump courted controversy by barely mentioning the victims and boasting about the crowds who greeted him, his No. 2 took a more classic approach to offering comfort in the wake of a widespread natural disaster. Pence's trip was no-frills and low key. There was no buzz over second lady Karen Pence's footwear -- she was photographed wearing black flats -- or the vice president's headwear -- he didn't wear a hat, let alone one being advertised on the Trump campaign website. Unlike Trump, who claimed Wednesday to have witnessed 'first hand the horror & devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey,' it was Pence who actually met with storm survivors and slipped on blue gloves to help remove branches from fallen trees outside a battered home in Rockport. And unlike the first lady, the second lady didn't release a statement on the storm. She instead led a group in prayer." ...

... Julie Turkewitz, et al., of the New York Times: "A series of explosions at a flood-damaged chemical plant outside Houston on Thursday drew sharp focus on hazards to public health and safety from the city's vast petrochemical complex as the region begins a painstaking recovery from Hurricane Harvey. The blasts at the plant, owned by the French chemical company Arkema, came after its main electrical system and backups failed, cutting off refrigeration systems that kept volatile chemicals stable. While nearby residents had been evacuated, 15 public safety officers were treated at a hospital after inhaling smoke from chemical fires that followed the explosions. The Arkema plant has been identified as one of the most hazardous in the state. Its failure followed releases of contaminants from several other area petrochemical plants and systemic breakdowns of water and sewer systems in Houston and elsewhere in the storm-struck region. The explosions -- more are expected, the company said -- will bring fresh scrutiny on whether these plants are adequately regulated and monitored by state and federal safety officials." The story includes more news about the effects of the hurricane. ...

... Steve Mufson, et al., of the Washington Post: "The [Arkema Crosby] plant had 19.5 tons of organic peroxides of various strengths, all of them requiring refrigeration to prevent ignition. But the power went out, and then the floodwaters came and knocked out the plant's generators. A liquid nitrogen system faltered. In a last-ditch move, the workers transferred the chemicals to nine huge refrigerated trucks, each with its own generator, and moved the vehicles to a remote section of the plant. That was doomed to fail, too. Six feet of water swamped the trucks, and the final 11 workers gave up. At 2 a.m. Tuesday, they called for a water evacuation and left the plant to its fate." Mrs. McC: So, um, the workers didn't drive the trucks to higher ground??? You can see a total of 10 trucks in the photo accompanying the NYT story, linked above; eight are on ground that was not flooded at the time the photo was taken; two are in what I would guess is the flooded parking lot. ..."

     ... There's More: "In February, Arkema's Crosby plant was initially fined $107,918 for 10 OSHA violations, federal records show. The violations were marked as 'serious,' meaning they could cause serious physical injury or worker deaths if not remedied.... The government later reduced the fines to about $91,000. Arkema also agreed to a settlement with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) in January stemming from a leak of a toxic and flammable compound in June 2016, state records show. The plant released 4,800 pounds of isoamylene after workers left a valve partially open for 62 hours.... A state inspection of the facility months earlier also found seven violations. The TCEQ lists the company's overall compliance history as 'satisfactory,' however." ...

... David Sirota in International Business Times: "The rules, which were set to go into effect this year, were halted by the Trump administration after a furious lobbying campaign by plant owner Arkema and its affiliated trade association, the American Chemistry Council, which represents a chemical industry that has poured tens of millions of dollars into federal elections.... While Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has given chemical companies legal cover to hide the locations of their EPA-regulated chemicals, the Associated Press reports that the imperiled Arkema facility houses large amounts of toxic sulfur dioxide and flammable methylpropene, which required Arkema to submit a risk management plan to the agency -- and which would have subjected the company to the strengthened [Obama] safety rules.... The American Chemistry Council also lauded Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton for co-authoring a letter slamming the chemical plant safety rule.... Among the 65 co-sponsors of the measure to block the rules were 10 members of the Texas Congressional delegation...."

... Matthew Daly of the AP: "The Trump administration delayed an Obama-era rule that would have tightened safety requirements for companies that store large quantities of dangerous chemicals such as the chemical plant near Houston that exploded early Thursday. The Environmental Protection Agency rule would have required chemical plants, including the now-destroyed Arkema Inc., plant outside Houston, to make public the types and quantities of chemicals stored on site. The rule was developed after a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, exploded in 2013, killing 15 people. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt prevented the safety rule from taking effect until 2019 to allow the agency time to reconsider industry objections. Chemical companies, including Arkema, said the rule could make it easier for terrorists and other criminals to target refineries, chemical plants and other facilities." ...

... Ben Lefebvre & Alex Guillen of Politico: "Explosions and fires at a Houston-area chemical plant ... generated new criticism of ... Donald Trump's efforts to repeal the industry's safety rules. Thursday morning's blasts at the plant came just a day after a federal court refused to force the Environmental Protection Agency to implement an Obama-era chemical safety regulation that the Trump administration has delayed until 2019.... [Also] Trump's proposed budget for next year would eliminate all funding for the [federal Chemical Safety B]oard, which issues safety recommendations but cannot directly enforce regulations.... Collapsed chemical tank roofs, machinery malfunctions and other accidents in the Houston area have sent more than 1,000 tons of dangerous chemicals into the air following days of pummeling from Harvey, according to a Politico analysis of incident filings with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Sometimes, toxic chemicals sit in huge storage tanks that border residents' backyards.... Texas' famously lax site regulations and inspection rates will make normally straightforward emergency response problematic, as firefighters and others may not know whether a storage site's equipment is up to date or even what chemicals it's storing, said Elena Craft, a senior health scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund in Austin."

** Anonymous Officials Say HHS Will Gut ObamaCare Funds. Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration is gutting federal funds to help Americans sign up for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act, cutting grants to grass-roots groups that assist with enrollment by 40 percent and slashing an advertising budget from $100 million to $10 million. The announcement late Thursday afternoon, just nine weeks before the start of the fifth annual enrollment season, is the first indication of how an administration determined to overturn the health-care law will oversee the window for new and returning consumers buying coverage for 2018. In a conference call with reporters, three federal health officials extended the White House's pattern of denigrating the ACA and its effectiveness. They also reversed a promise that Health and Human Services staff had made two months ago to nearly 100 organizations receiving 'navigator' grants that their funding would be renewed.... The HHS officials ... briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.... The magnitude and abruptness of the cuts sparked an immediate outcry from the Senate's top Democrats, consumer advocacy groups and members of the Obama administration, who had relentlessly championed ACA enrollment until they left office eight months ago."

** Anita Kumar & Franco Ordoñez of McClatchy News: "... Donald Trump is expected to end an Obama-era program that shielded young people from deportation, but he will likely let the immigrants known as Dreamers stay in the United States until their work permits run out, according to multiple people familiar with the policy negotiation. That plan would allow Trump to fulfill a campaign promise to end one of Barack Obama's signature initiatives while also giving the president a way to keep the pledge he made after Inauguration Day to treat the Dreamers with 'great heart,' said sources on both sides of the issue who are involved in the discussions. An announcement could come as soon as Friday, just days before a deadline imposed by 10 states that threatened to sue the U.S. government if it did not stop protecting people brought into the country illegally as children.... 'He's been advised that it's in his political interest for him to be the one to make the decision to terminate the program because he'll get the credit,' said a source who is familiar with the conversations inside the White House." ...

     ... Mrs. McC: Here again, Congress could show its collective "great heart" & fix Trump's cold-hearted plan almost immediately. This is much simpler than comprehensive immigration reform, & most Americans -- including 75 percent of Trump voters -- favor allowing Dreamers to stay in the U.S. Indeed, there's already a GOP-backed bill -- the Recognizing America's Children Act ... sitting in some committee that would allow most Dreamers to stay in the country. Of course, any such bill would probably have to pass with a veto-proof majority unless Trump's "great heart" led him to call the bill a victory for "repealing & replacing" President Obama's DACA & then quietly signing the bill or letting the veto period pass. The Hill reported a couple of days ago that Rep. Carlos Curbelo's (R-Fla.) has attached pro-DACA "amendments to a government spending bill slated for House floor consideration next week." Also, I don't see how it's in Trump's "political interest" to deport Dreamers when even his own voters oppose the draconian policy. ...

... AND Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) said Thursday he'll attempt to force a vote on a bill that would extend protections for undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as minors. When he returns to Washington next week, Coffman said he'll file what's known as a 'discharge petition' to force action on his proposal, known as the BRIDGE Act. If he can persuade a majority of the House -- 218 members -- to join him, the House will be required to take up the measure later in September.... The measure extends protection -- similar to that afforded under DACA -- to those born after June 15, 1981, were brought to the United States before their 16th birthday and have lived in the United States since June 15, 2007. Applicants for protection must also be enrolled in school, have graduated from high school or have served honorably in the military. And those convicted of a felony or certain misdemeanors would be barred from the program. Coffman's call is likely to draw support from Democrats, as well as other Republicans...." ...

... MEANWHILE, Cristian Farias, in New York, writes that the "deadline" supposedly imposed on Trump is totally fake. "Texas's threat lacks merit, is internally inconsistent, and there's little evidence that it was dreamed up for any other reason than political grandstanding. If Trump is the grand negotiator that he claims he is, he would be well advised to ignore it. First things first: [horrible Texas AG Ken] Paxton's 'deadline' is a sham. Federal policy that applies nationwide doesn't rise or fall because someone threatens a lawsuit. And any president, no matter the party, would look weak if his decision-making depended on a cease-and-desist letter that shows up in the mail.... [To end DATA] would be a political disaster for Trump. Dreamers remain a popular group with Democrats and Republicans alike, are a boon to the economy...."

Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "The Trump administration signaled on Thursday that the black abolitionist Harriet Tubman may not replace President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill after all. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin declined to endorse the plan for a 2020 redesign of the $20 bill that was announced by the Obama administration last year. 'People have been on the bills for a long period of time,' Mr. Mnuchin told CNBC. 'This is something we'll consider. Right now we've got a lot more important issues to focus on.' President Trump, who has described himself as a 'big fan' of the populist rabble-rousing president from Tennessee, made clear as a candidate that he didn't like the proposal to replace Jackson."

David Sanger & Rick Gladstone of the New York Times: "The world's nuclear inspectors complicated President Trump's effort to find Iran in violation of the two-year-old nuclear accord with the United States and five other world powers, declaring on Thursday that the latest inspections found no evidence that the country is breaching the agreement. Mr. Trump has made no secret of his desire to scrap the agreement, even over the objections of many of his top national security officials. But the reports of the International Atomic Energy Agency make it harder to create an argument that Iran is in violation."

Daniel Bice & Bill Glauber of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. -- the controversial, Stetson-wearing official who rose to national prominence with his no-holds-barred conservative rhetoric -- resigned his office Thursday. Clarke, who is in his fourth term, submitted a resignation letter to Milwaukee County Clerk George Christenson on Thursday. 'After almost forty years serving the great people of Milwaukee County, I have chosen to retire to pursue other opportunities,' Clarke said in a statement." ...

... Andrew Restuccia, et al., of Politico: "David Clarke, the controversial outgoing sheriff of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, is expected to take a job in the Trump administration, according to two sources familiar with the matter.... But he has come under fierce criticism amid a series of deaths in the Milwaukee County prison, including that of Terrill Thomas, who died of dehydration last year after guards turned off the water in his cell. Trump has been one of Clarke's most vocal cheerleaders, and even promoted his book on Twitter earlier this month.... Clarke likely won't be offered a Senate-confirmed role because his nomination would face opposition from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle." See also the Slate story, linked yesterday, which likens Clarke to Joe Arpaio. Mrs. McC: ... And that is what makes Clarke Trump's kind of guy.

Kimberly Hefling of Politico: Candice Jackson, "who runs the Education Department's civil rights division cited her work attacking Bill and Hillary Clinton at the top of her resume when she applied to work for ... Donald Trump, according to a copy of the document obtained by Politico.... Jackson, who brought a group of women who had accused President Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct to a presidential debate last year between Trump and Hillary Clinton, listed that event as one of her 'top five qualifications' for working in the administration. At the Education Department, Jackson has taken a prominent role helping Education Secretary Betsy DeVos shape federal policy pertaining to protections for transgender students and the handling of campus sexual assault cases. She drew fire in June for telling The New York Times that 90 percent of campus sexual assault cases 'fall into the category of "we were both drunk."'" Mrs. McC: And that is what makes Jackson Trump's kind of gal.

This Should Work, Noor Al-Sibai of the Raw Story: "In a series of legal memoranda submitted on behalf of ... Donald Trump to special counsel Robert Mueller, lawyers for the president attacked fired FBI Director James Comey's character as a means of defending the president. According to sources close to the case who spoke to the Wall Street Journal, the president's legal team submitted a memo to Mueller in June that claimed Comey was an 'unreliable witness' because he is 'prone to exaggeration, unreliable in congressional testimony and the source of leaks to the news media.'" ...

... Betsy Woodruff of the Daily Beast: "Special counsel Bob Mueller has teamed up with the IRS. According to sources familiar with his investigation into alleged Russian election interference, his probe has enlisted the help of agents from the IRS' Criminal Investigations unit. This unit -- known as CI -- is one of the federal government's most tight-knit, specialized, and secretive investigative entities. Its 2,500 agents focus exclusively on financial crime, including tax evasion and money laundering. A former colleague of Mueller's said he always liked working with IRS' special agents, especially when he was a U.S. Attorney.... If [Mueller] wants to bring charges against Trump associates related to violations of tax law, he will need approval from the Justice Department's elite Tax Division. Trump hasn't yet named his pick to run the division, which is a post that requires Senate confirmation. At the moment, career officials are helming the division.... 'The fact that there is not a senate-confirmed Assistant Attorney General for the Tax Division, and that the Trump people have disregarded it despite warnings as far back as December that they needed to fill the AAG's spot ... shows what a self-created mess the Trump administration has found itself in,' said [a] former prosecutor, who requested anonymity.... 'They have no one to keep Mueller and his Brooklyn team honest. They should be concerned about that.'" ...

... Jonathan Chait (Aug. 30): Robert "Mueller is apparently handling his investigating like the prosecution of a mob boss, pressuring underlings to flip on the boss. Trump's advantage is that, unlike a mob boss, he can give out an unlimited number of get-out-of-jail-free cards. Trump has reportedly mused in public about using the pardon -- and his pardon of Joe Arpaio flaunted his willingness to use it on behalf of a political ally, even in outrageous fashion. But it turns out that there is a flaw in Trump's strategy. The presidential pardon only applies to federal crimes.... [So] Mueller is teaming up with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.... Trump can pardon anybody facing charges from Mueller, but not from Schneiderman. It is probably significant that Mueller is letting this fact be known to Trump's inner circle. Trump's biggest source of leverage over Mueller just disappeared."

... Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "Paul Manafort's notes from a controversial Trump Tower meeting with Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign included a mention of political contributions near a reference to the Republican National Committee, two sources briefed on the evidence told NBC News.... It is illegal for foreigners to donate to American elections. The meeting happened just as Trump had secured the Republican nomination for president, and he was considered a longshot to win. Manafort was the campaign chairman at the time.... Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni told NBC News that 'it is 100 percent false to suggest this meeting included any discussion of donations from Russian sources to either the Trump campaign or the Republican Party. Mr. Manafort provided the Senate Intelligence Committee with the facts and his notes so this speculation and conjecture is pointless and wrong.'"

Richard Gonzales of NPR: "A federal judge temporarily blocked an anti-abortion law set to take effect in Texas on Friday that would have limited second trimester abortions in that state. U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel issued an injunction lasting 14 days that prevents Texas from outlawing an abortion procedure known as dilation and evacuation, commonly used on women seeking to terminate their pregnancies in their second trimester. In his ruling, Yeakel wrote, 'The act leaves that woman and her physician with abortion procedures that are more complex, risky, expensive, difficult for many women to arrange, and often involve multi-day visits to physicians, and overnight hospital stays.' The ruling came in response to a lawsuit brought by abortion providers who argued that the Texas law, signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in May, would deny women access to a safe procedure."

News Lede

Washington Post: "Job growth lagged in August, with the economy adding a lower-than-projected 156,000 jobs and the unemployment rate ticking up slightly to 4.4 percent. Average hourly wages rose 3 cents last month to $26.39, up 2.5 percent from a year ago -- a raise economists call tepid and government officials say 'has room for improvement.' The growth missed expectations, as analysts thought federal economists would report approximately 200,000 new jobs in August."