;)
The Commentariat -- August 25, 2017
Citizens standing up for equality and freedom can never be equated with white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and the KKK. -- Gary Cohn, chief White House economic advisor, in an interview
... Edward Helmore of the Guardian: "Gary Cohn, Donald Trump's chief economic adviser, has become the most senior administration official to criticize the president over his initial failure to condemn neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups, following the clashes in Charlottesville.... 'This administration can and must do better in consistently and unequivocally condemning these groups and do everything we can to heal the deep divisions that exist in our communities,' Cohn told the Financial Times in his first public comments on the issue. Cohn, who was president of Goldman Sachs before accepting a position in the Trump administration as head of the White House national economic council, said he had come under 'enormous pressure' to resign after Trump equivocated in his denunciation of white supremacist groups.... The economic adviser said he had considered resigning but decided to stay on after discussions with the president." ...
... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: Gary Cohn's "comments amount to a pretty stunning rebuke of his boss. We'll see what his boss does about it, because we're in pretty uncharted territory here. Does Trump tolerate his own aides publicly chastising him in this manner? It's almost as if Cohn is daring Trump to fire him -- and relieve him of his own conflicted feelings about serving this president." ...
... Eileen Sullivan & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The sharp critique from Mr. Trump's top economic adviser, Gary D. Cohn, came nearly two weeks after deadly violence in Charlottesville, Va., in response to a rally led by white nationalist groups. Mr. Cohn, who is Jewish, seriously considered resigning and even drafted a letter of resignation, according to two people familiar with the draft.... In the days after the Charlottesville violence, Mr. Cohn's family -- including his wife -- told him he needed to think seriously about departing, according to two people briefed on the discussions. Several of his friends in the business community also urged him to step away from the administration.... Mr. Cohn came close to resigning, according to one of the people briefed on the discussions.... The markets were spooked last week amid fears that Mr. Cohn would resign, and United States stocks dropped until the White House denied the rumor. Mr. Cohn ... was deeply troubled by the market reaction, people close to him said.... Mr. Cohn's remarks were in stark contrast to a statement from the Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, who defended the president. Mr. Mnuchin is also Jewish." ...
... Yes, Yes, What about Steve? ...
... Mitch's Revenge. Drew Harwell & Beth Reinhard of the Washington Post: "Louise Linton, wife of U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, drew accusations of elitism this week for an Instagram glamour shot of her stepping off a government jet -- and for her mockery of an online critic as 'adorably out of touch.' But a watchdog group and a lawmaker seized on a different issue: Did the millionaire couple fly to Louisville on Monday, on a taxpayer-funded plane, just to see the solar eclipse? Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) suggested as much in seeking records of the trip, saying it 'seems to have been planned around the solar eclipse. It turns out that Mnuchin did view the eclipse while he was in Kentucky, and from an extraordinary place: Just outside the path of totality, from the roof of the nation's fabled Fort Knox, atop nearly $200 billion in American gold. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) posted a Facebook photo of himself, holding a pair of eclipse glasses, and Mnuchin at the U.S. Bullion Repository, where he said 'we viewed the #solareclipse from the rooftop today.'" Mrs. McC: Why, I'm ever so sure Mitch had no idea the photo could be controversial. ...
... Louis Nelson of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Friday once again renewed his call for the Senate to do away with the legislative filibuster, a step Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has vowed never to take. 'If Senate Republicans don't get rid of the Filibuster Rule and go to a 51% majority, few bills will be passed. 8 Dems control the Senate!' Trump wrote on Twitter Friday morning." Mrs. McC: Could be that Mitch doesn't give a damn what you think, Mr. P*.
John Kelly, Toddler Coddler. Margaret Talev & Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg: "Trump's appointment of [John] Kelly [as chief-of-staff] has imposed new order on a White House that had been riven with infighting among warring camps. But it hasn't been the political lifeline Republican allies had hoped for, as Kelly has so far been unable to perform one of the chief of staff's most basic duties: to stop a president from following his worst instincts. Trump's controversial initial response to the violence in Charlottesville, compounded by an off-the-cuff press conference days later and then defended again in a divisive, revisionist speech Tuesday in Phoenix, have laid bare the limits of Kelly's ability to manage his boss. This month may be the most politically damaging so far of Trump's presidency, as the legitimacy he appeared to confer on white supremacists alienated allies in corporate America and antagonized Republican lawmakers. The ultimatum Trump issued Tuesday that he would shut down the federal government unless his fellow Republicans who control Congress pay for the border wall he promised compounds the challenges for Kelly ahead of the Sept. 30 funding deadline." ...
... Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "In two memos sent to the staff on Monday [new White House Chief-of-Staff John Kelly] began to detail his plan [to bring some order to the White House], starting with how he wants information to get to the president, and how Mr. Trump will respond.... The pair of memos ... codified rules and procedures that a White House typically sets at the outset of an administration. Mr. Kelly's predecessor, Reince Priebus, sent some similar guidelines around early in the administration, according to two officials, but they were never taken seriously.... Mr. Kelly has made clear that one thing he will not seek to directly control is the behavior of the president.... Despite Mr. Kelly's fairly deft touch at approaching the president, Mr. Trump has shown signs of rebelling after stories have appeared describing how his chief of staff has put tighter controls in place and is imposing some discipline on White House operations.... Mr. Trump, presidential experts say, has shown he is immune to efforts to bring lasting change to his own behavior. And that could ultimately undermine Mr. Kelly's mission." ...
... Elania Johnson & Nancy Cook of Politico had the Kelly memos story earlier Thursday: "The new system, laid out in two memos co-authored by [John] Kelly and [staff secretary Rob] Porter and distributed to Cabinet members and White House staffers in recent days, is designed to ensure that the president won't see any external policy documents, internal policy memos, agency reports and even news articles that haven't been vetted.... The keystone of the new system is a 'decision memo' that will -- for each Trump policy -- integrate the input of Cabinet agencies and policy councils and present the president with various options...." ...
... Adam Raymond of New York: "For months, those closest to President Trump tried to keep him happy by giving him everything he wanted. He was complimented often, presented with information in the style he prefers -- brief, with lots of pictures, charts and 'killer graphics' -- and was allowed to move at his own frenetic, disorganized pace. Trump's reputation for having a short attention span and fondness for flattery spread quickly around the world and in May, as he embarked on his first international trip, foreign governments handled him as they might a sleep-deprived toddler.... [The processes John Kelly has imposed] would no doubt result in fewer embarrassments, like the botched rollout of Trump's travel ban, the ban on transgender servicemembers that was announced to the military's surprise, and the complete lack of legislative success eight months into the Trump presidency. But those problems are only avoided, and those successes only enjoyed, if Trump plays along, and those odds seem long. If he couldn't help but get distracted by cable news and TV when his aides were presenting him with big pictures and 'killer graphics,' how's he going to stay focused on a 'decision memo'?" ...
... Uh, Trump Can't Stay "Focussed" for 24 Hours. Matthew Nussbaum of Politico: "... Donald Trump ditched his recent -- if brief -- talk of unity on Thursday, instead accusing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan of provoking a 'mess' over the debt ceiling, while also lashing out at the news media and former intelligence official James Clapper. The declarations came in a series of tweets that Trump fired off early Thursday, which also included a retweet of a picture of himself covering an image of former President Barack Obama with the caption, 'The Best Eclipse Ever!'... 'The only problem I have with Mitch McConnell is that, after hearing Repeal & Replace for 7 years, he failed!That should NEVER have happened!' Trump wrote on Twitter. The morning missives come just two days after Trump told the crowd at a Phoenix campaign rally, 'I don't do Twitter-storms.'" Mrs. McC: Maybe this is Trump's way of showing Kelly who's boss. ...
... AND This. Sorry, Donnie. There Was a "Beautiful Letter" for Hillary, Too. Eliza Relman of Business Insider: "The day after James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence, questioned ... Donald Trump's fitness for office, the president shot back at the veteran intelligence leader, calling him a liar and implying he's a hypocrite. 'James Clapper, who famously got caught lying to Congress, is now an authority on Donald Trump,' Trump tweeted on Thursday, referring to Clapper's 2013 testimony before Congress in which he denied that intelligence officials 'wittingly' collected data on millions of Americans. 'Will he show you his beautiful letter to me?' Trump added. Clapper told CNN in an interview on Thursday that the president was referring to a note he sent Trump the day after his election. 'The night before the election, we deployed two teams so that we would be ready to provide a PDB brief the next morning to whomever won,' Clapper said, referring to the Presidential Daily Briefing. 'I hand-wrote almost identical short notes to each of the two candidates to accompany the first brief as President-elect; only one actually got deployed — the one to him.'" ...
... AND This. Eric Levitz of New York: Hours after the Politico published the story linked above, "the president of the United States retweeted a supporter who had recently argued that Jews 'just can't drive.'... As Trump's ill-advised retweet demonstrates, so long as the president has an internet connection (and/or a cable modem), he will be drinking from a fire hose of far-right propaganda every time Kelly turns his back.... Ultimately, the only way to prevent this president from making policy on the basis of misinformation would to dismantle the vast right-wing propaganda network that created him and the voters who put him in the Oval Office." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The full tweet the guy sent a few days ago was much worse than Levitz lets on: "We have enough of these jews where I live lol someone else take them. They just can't drive" The tweet Trump retweeted was the one where Trump "eclipses" President Obama. Gee, I guess I don't get the joke; how can the Worst President Ever "eclipse" one of the best? ...
... Wait, Wait. The Nasty Tweets Are Stra-TEE-gic. Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump is strategically separating himself from Republicans in Congress, an extraordinary move to deflect blame if the GOP agenda continues to flounder. Trump deepened the fissures in the party on Thursday when he accused the top two leaders on Capitol Hill of mismanaging a looming showdown over the nation's borrowing authority. Republican lawmakers and aides responded to the president's hostility with broadsides and warnings of their own.... The growing divide comes at an inopportune moment for Washington, however. In addition to having to raise the debt ceiling to avoid a fiscal crisis, Republicans face September deadlines to pass a spending bill to avert a government shutdown, as well as pressure to fulfill a key Trump campaign promise to rewrite the nation's tax laws." ...
... Woe Are They. Adrian Carrasquillo & Charlie Warzel of BuzzFeed: "Pro-Trump media personalities and websites are worried they may be losing a dear reader: President Trump. New White House chief of staff John Kelly is limiting the flow of information to Trump's desk, including holding out articles from far right and anti-establishment sources, BuzzFeed News has confirmed. 'I'm scared that the military complex is taking over the formerly populist White House,' said Lucian Wintrich, who writes for Gateway Pundit, one of the websites in the pro-Trump sphere, which has trafficked in conspiracies in the past. Longtime Trump adviser and occasional Infowars guest Roger Stone said Trump's 'news summaries have been sanitized, which means no Infowars, no Daily Caller, no Breitbart.... 'He's controlling every article that passes through the West Wing right now,' pro-Trump media personality Mike Cernovich, who has broken news on the administration but also propagated conspiracy theories in the past, said of Kelly. 'This shuts out a lot of people.'"
Julie Turkewitz & Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "The future of [27 national monuments] was left in question on Thursday when Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke sent recommendations for [the] monuments under federal review to President Trump, but did not make the recommendations public." Mrs. McC: This is an extraordinary update to a story linked yesterday. ...
... BUT the Washington Post is on the case. Juliet Eilperin & Darryl Fears: "Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recommended Thursday that President Trump alter at least three national monuments established by his immediate predecessors, including two in Utah, a move expected to reshape federal land and water protections and certain to trigger major legal fights. In a report Zinke submitted to the White House, the secretary recommended reducing the size of Utah's Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, as well as Oregon's Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, according to multiple individuals briefed on the decision.... A White House official confirmed that Trump had received the report but would not say when it would be released or when the president would act on Zinke's recommendations.... Nearly 3 million people submitted comments to Interior on the review, which stemmed from an executive order Trump signed in late April.... 'Comments received were overwhelmingly in favor of maintaining existing monuments and demonstrated a well-orchestrated national campaign organized by multiple organizations,' Zinke said in the statement on Thursday."
Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The White House isn't even pretending that Mexico is going to pay for that wall anymore. With President Trump threatening to shut down the government over Congress funding the border wall, reporters pressed White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday about why Trump would insist upon Congress funding something that Mexico was supposed to be paying for -- something Trump promised at dozens and dozens of campaign rallies to the delight of his crowds. Huckabee Sanders's responses were telling. Asked four times, she completely declined to reiterate that Mexico would pay for the wall. Each time, she deflected.... Trump himself has suggested that Congress would fund the wall in the near term but that Mexico would be made to pay for it later.... Apparently the company line has changed, and it no longer includes Mexico paying for the wall at some future date. Of course, we probably should have seen that coming, given we now know Trump told Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto privately back in January that it wasn't actually a huge priority for him."
Martin Redish in a New York Times op-ed: "... on its face the Constitution's pardon power would seem unlimited.... But the Arpaio case is different: The sheriff was convicted of violating constitutional rights, in defiance of a court order involving racial profiling.... If the president [pardons Arpaio, it] signals to government agents that there exists the likelihood of a pardon when they violate a judicial injunction that furthers his policies.... Indeed, the president could even secretly promise a pardon to agents if they undertake illegal activity he desires.... If the president can immunize his agents in this manner, the courts will effectively lose any meaningful authority to protect constitutional rights against invasion by the executive branch." Redish theorizes that the presidential pardon may not be absolute, & if Trump pardons Arpaio, the courts may have the power to issue an injunction against the pardon.
Lies White and Black. But Mostly Black. And Huge. Philip Bump of the Washington Post. "There's not much that is remarkable about Paulding County, Ohio. Slotted into the northwest corner of the state along the Indiana border, the rural county is home to about 20,000 people. The reason we're interested in Paulding County today is because of 334 of those people, about 2 percent of the population. Those 334 people were, as of this week, the only people in America who participate in an Obamacare exchange for which no 2018 insurance provider had yet been lined up.... Earlier this week, our factcheckers identified the Trump falsehood that he has repeated with the most regularity. 'Trump's most repeated claim, uttered 50 times,' they wrote, 'was some variation of the statement that the Affordable Care Act is dying and 'essentially dead.' The turnaround in Paulding County reinforces the idea that this isn't true." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
... Akhilleus: This goes just a tad -- a tad, I say -- against the regular pronouncements of Lyin' Ryan that "Obamacare is not working...We've got dozens of counties around America that have zero insurers left." So, let's see. This must be some new kind of math. One county with problems = "dozens". Hmmm....Confederate math. No wonder they think killing taxes on the rich will lead to enormous increases in the federal coffers. I think I'll try this next time I'm filling out my taxes. "Taxable Income?" they'll ask. "One dollar" I'll say. ...
... Update. Eric Levitz: "Republicans ... opposed [ObamaCare] because the law was passed by a Democratic president; raised capital gains taxes on millionaires; and provided the poor and middle-class with yet another public benefit that their big-dollar donors didn't want to subsidize. And so, the GOP lied.... Meanwhile, Trump did what he could to make his prophesies self-fulfilling. The president routinely threatened to cut-off subsidies to insurers, while his department of Health and Human Services actively discouraged Americans from seeking insurance through the exchanges. And, of course, congressional Republicans created perpetual uncertainty about Obamacare's near-term survival.... Obamacare has proven strong enough to withstand judicial challenge, legislative attack, and administrative sabotage: On Thursday, America's last 'bare' county finally found an insurer for its exchange, as CareSource agreed to provide coverage to the good people of Paulding County, Ohio."
Some Good News to Beat Back the Trump Fake News. Steve Benen of MSNBC. "In predictable fashion, Donald Trump spent quite a bit of time at his Phoenix rally this week whining about American news organizations. In fact..., the president said of reporters, 'I really think they don't like our country....' It was reminiscent of Trump's argument from earlier in the year that major news outlets, including NBC News, are 'the enemy of the American people' -- a phrase with a fraught history. is anyone actually buying the president's nonsense?.... When it comes to trust, Trump has invested an enormous amount of energy into telling the public not to trust the media, and for the most part, Americans disagree.... The only constituencies that trust the president more than news organizations are self-identified Republicans, white men, and whites without college degrees. In every other group of people, the media tops Trump, usually by wide margins." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Akhilleus: Now if we could only get those other groups to vote more often.
Birds of a Feather. A Tour of the Trump "Updates" to the West Wing. The Guardian. "It's a fresh new look for the White House, after a two-week renovation that reportedly cost more than $3m. The Oval Office, the Roosevelt Room and other parts of the West Wing have been given a facelift -- and the heating and AC systems have also been updated." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Akhilleus. The updates include the usual gaudy, gold-plated Trump patina along with plenty of eagles, to demonstrate the patriotic manliness of the new occupant. The renovations include 6,700 yards of new carpet and new wallpaper in the Oval Office because the Obama wallpaper was "damaged...with a lot of stains on it". Trump just can't bring himself to walk through hallways and sit in an office formerly occupied by a black guy who dirtied the wallpaper. Oh, and about those eagles? Here's what Ben Franklin had to say about Trump's choice of decorations. He believed the bald eagle to be a "rank coward" and "a bird of bad moral character ... that "does not get his living honestly" because it steals food from the fishing hawk and is "too lazy to fish for himself." Sounds pretty accurate to me...
Jeff Shesol in The New Yorker: "The Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, hardbound and handsome in ersatz leather, are not a beach read. A typical volume, each a compendium of speeches, statements, and proclamations, weighs four pounds.... It won't be until 2019, when the U.S. Government Publishing Office begins to release the papers of President Donald J. Trump, that any volume will have contained the sentence, 'not all of those people were neo-Nazis, believe me,' or the transcribed cry of a crowd in Phoenix, incited by a President of the United States, chanting 'CNN sucks!'... What the Trump papers will not include ... is much by way of significant speeches.... Donald Trump..., is, as he intends, dominating the national discussion. But he is not leading it; he is not driving it in any clear direction. His papers -- their pages filling up with digressions, obfuscation, invective, and lies -- will someday reflect that." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Akhilleus: I've already got the Trumpy Papers on my Amazon wish list! Doesn't everyone?
Scaring the Dickens out, er... into Them. Doug Donovan of the Baltimore Sun. "The real estate company owned by Jared Kushner ... has been the most aggressive in Maryland in using a controversial debt-collection tactic: getting judges to order the arrest of people who owe his company money. Since 2013, the first full year in which the Kushner Cos. operated in Maryland, corporate entities affiliated with the firm's 17 apartment complexes in the state have sought the civil arrest of 105 former tenants for failing to appear in court to face allegations of unpaid debt.... That's more than any other landlord in the state over that time, an analysis of Maryland District Court data shows. Court records show that 20 former Kushner tenants have been detained." (Also linked yesterday.)
... Akhilleus: Ahh...an evil bastard to rank with the most conniving Dickens villains. So what's next? Debtors prisons? That would be suitably vindictive. I'm sure if it's a Trump/Kushner idea, it will be a for-profit privately run prison. Maybe they can perfect the "enhanced interrogations" Trump would love to use during his new Afghanistan war. Try it out on the poors first. Perfect! Lady Munchkin would approve. "None of them have pearls on. To the waterboarding table with them." Maybe Young Jared can try this approach with his Peace in the Middle East plan. Anyone who doesn't do what he says, have them jailed. No wonder Trump loves this little twit.
"Turd Reich." Julia Wong of the Guardian: "Hundreds of San Franciscans plan to prepare Crissy Field, the picturesque beach in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge where rightwing protest group Patriot Prayer will gather, with a generous carpeting of excrement.... [Tuffy] Tuffington, a 45-year-old artist and designer, created a Facebook event page based on the concept, and the dog owners of San Francisco responded in droves. Many have declared their intention to stockpile their shitpiles for days in advance, then deliver them in bags for the site. (The group is also planning to reconvene on Sunday to 'clean up the mess and hug each other'.)"
Jonathan Chait points that all of those Obama-era deficit scolds suddenly quit wagging their fingers the day the Obamas moved out of the White House. And the breathless media reports about the horrors of the deficit -- they're gone, too. Mrs. McC: It's worth noting that it is quite reasonable -- and necessary -- for the federal government to rack up a big deficit in an effort to rescue a tanking economy, which is what President Obama & Democrats did. Now that the economy is in much better shape, it would be sensible to tax the rich -- and the super-rich -- at higher rates in order to bring the deficit down to a more comfortable level. Needless to say, that won't happen.
Abha Bhattarai of the Washington Post: "Amazon's $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods Market will be finalized Monday, and shoppers will see an immediate markdown in prices on a number of items, including salmon, avocados, baby kale and almond butter, as the tech giant looks to shake up the grocery business. Amazon and Whole Foods announced the news on Thursday. 'The two companies will together pursue the vision of making Whole Foods Market's high-quality, natural and organic food affordable for everyone,' they said in a joint statement."
Beyond the Beltway
Jen Kirby of New York: "Florida has executed its first death-row prisoner in more than 18 months using a drug that has never before been used in a lethal injection. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the last-minute appeal from 53-year-old Mark James Asay to stay his execution, clearing the way for Asay to be put to death Thursday at 6:22 p.m., using a lethal-injection cocktail that included the untested sedative etomidate.... Asay was convicted in 1988 for the murders of two men, which prosecutors alleged was a racially motivated attack. Asay was accused of having white-supremacist tattoos and yelling slurs during the murder of a black man, Robert Booker. On the same night, Asay also killed Robert McDowell, who was dressed as a woman at the time. Court documents originally identified McDowell as a black man, though it later was revealed that he was white or Latino." Mrs. McC: I presume Asay is the worst of the worst, but I don't condone his execution.
"White Male" Seeks Better than "the Best." Natasha Korecki of Politico: "Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner [R-Rich] has shaken up his staff yet again, clearing out his communications team less than six weeks after they were hired. Last month, Rauner abruptly fired several longtime staffers, saying he wanted to build 'the best team in America.' On Wednesday evening, the new hires in the communications office were let go. The latest turnover comes just days after staffers on the communications team said that, 'as a white male,' the governor had nothing more to add to a debate over a political cartoon that critics had called racist. The cartoon, which showed a black Chicago public school student begging for money from a portly white man with a cigar, was created by a conservative think tank -- the Illinois Policy Institute -- that has deep ties to the administration. Three of the four staffers who tendered resignations had come to the administration from that same think tank. One source close to the governor, said Rauner, who was out of town when the response was released, 'blew a gasket' when he found out about his staff's response."
News Ledes
Houston Chronicle: "Hurricane Harvey strengthened into a Category 4 storm Friday evening, according to the National Weather Service. The eye was quickly approaching the Texas coast and the hurricane was expected to make landfall within the next several hours." ...
... The Washington Post is live-updating Hurricane Harvey developments here. ...
... Weather Channel: "Hurricane Harvey continues to intensify and will be the nation's first Category 3 landfall in almost 12 years tonight or Saturday morning, poised to clobber the Texas Gulf Coast with devastating rainfall flooding, dangerous storm-surge flooding and destructive winds this weekend that could leave parts of the area uninhabitable for an extended period of time."
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