;)
The Commentariat -- Sept. 1, 2016
Afternoonish Update:
Nate Silver of 538: "The race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump has tightened." And the Electoral College won't save Clinton because her position in important swing states is about the same as it is in the national polls.
Katie Glueck & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Several major Latino surrogates for Donald Trump are reconsidering their support for him following the Republican nominee’s hardline speech on immigration Wednesday night. Jacob Monty, a member of Trump’s National Hispanic Advisory Council, quickly resigned after the speech. Another member, Ramiro Pena, a Texas pastor, said Trump's speech likely cost him the election and said he'd have to reconsider being part of a 'scam.' And Alfonso Aguilar, the president of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, said in an interview that he is 'inclined' to pull his support." -- CW
Jessica Hopper of ABC News: "Sen. Tim Kaine ... today called Donald Trump a 'diplomatic embarrassment' when asked on 'Good Morning America' about the real estate mogul’s trip to Mexico Wednesday. 'I think it was kind of a diplomatic embarrassment,' Kaine said of Trump’s unexpected meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. 'He’s been talking for a year about we’re going to build a wall and Mexico is going to pay for it and then he goes and he sits down and goes eyeball to eyeball with the president of Mexico and, what, he forgets suddenly to bring it up or he’s too afraid to bring it up or he chokes in the meeting. It’s just kind of an indication that the guy talks out of both sides of his mouth.'” -- CW
Jo Becker, et al., of the New York Times: "... a New York Times examination of WikiLeaks’ activities during Mr. Assange’s years in exile found ... [that] whether by conviction, convenience or coincidence, WikiLeaks’ document releases, along with many of Mr. Assange’s statements, have often benefited Russia, at the expense of the West." -- CW
Rachel Swarns of the New York Times: "Nearly two centuries after profited from the sale of 272 slaves, it will embark on a series of steps to atone for the past, including awarding preferential status in the admissions process to descendants of the enslaved, officials said on Wednesday. Georgetown’s president, John J. DeGioia, who will discuss the measures in a speech on Thursday afternoon, also plans to offer a formal apology, create an institute for the study of slavery and erect a public memorial to the slaves whose labor benefited the institution, including those who were sold in 1838 to help keep the university afloat." CW: Just you wait; some aggrieved white kid who doesn't get accepted to Georgetown will start screaming "discrimination."
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Presidential Race
Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "Democrat Hillary Clinton scoffed at the capabilities and worldview of Republican opponent Donald Trump on Wednesday, including his hasty trip to Mexico, as she courted support from veterans and conservatives concerned about national security.... Trump, she said, understands little about how American alliances operate or the principles of U.S. engagement abroad. She appealed to the patriotism and military experience of a conservative-leaning audience, many of whom she jokingly observed, had probably never voted for a Democrat.... The crowd of mostly elderly men gave Clinton a polite if somewhat tepid reception, and there were numerous empty seats. She drew applause when she said that if elected president she would never insult the families of war dead or prisoners of war, a reference to Trump's remarks about the family of Humayun Khan and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)." -- CW ...
... Guardian: "Hillary Clinton took a withering swipe at Donald Trump’s impromptu visit to Mexico on Wednesday, during an address to the American Legion convention in Cincinnati that was nonetheless once again upstaged by her opponent’s unpredictable antics. 'You can’t make up for a year of insults by dropping in on our neighbours for a few hours and flying home again,' insisted the former secretary of state, famed for clocking up hundreds of thousands of diplomatic air miles. 'That’s not how it works.' Instead Clinton stressed her experience in office and expertise on foreign affairs, in a speech that leaned heavily on the same patriotic tone she adopted at the Democratic convention last month.” -- CW ...
... Clinton's campaign produced a list of some of the incendiary tweets Trump has written about Mexico, the Mexican people & the Mexican government (especially the court system). -- CW
Washington Post Editors: "HILLARY CLINTON made one of the most consequential announcements of her campaign on Monday — and hardly anyone is talking about it. The Democratic presidential nominee released a wide-ranging mental-health strategy — and, unlike much of what she has proposed this election season, it has a real chance of becoming law." -- CW
Thanks, Al! Burgess Everett of Politico: "Sen. Al Franken let his comedic past get the better of him on Wednesday, apologizing after joking that an injury to a Minnesota Vikings player was akin to [finding out] Hillary Clinton having an 'affair with Anthony Weiner.' New York Times writer Mark Leibovich tweeted Franken's (D-Minn.) response to a gruesome leg injury to Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater that shocked onlookers in practice on Tuesday.... [Franken] quickly walked back his remark. 'Pretty insensitive and stupid of me. Regret it and sincerely apologize,' Franken said on Twitter." -- CW
Alexander Burns & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "In Arizona, Mr. Trump made his most brazen attempt yet to back away from his pledge to deport all 11 million undocumented immigrants, denouncing illegal immigration in vehement terms, while at the same time revising his policy agenda. Where he has, in the past, suggested creating a special force to achieve that goal, Mr. Trump said on Wednesday that a new 'deportation task force' would focus on rounding up only the 'most dangerous criminal illegal immigrants.'... On Wednesday night, as the crowd in Phoenix grew more energized, he could not resist returning to his fiery form, even as he outlined his new approach to immigration control.... At one point, referring to Mrs. Clinton, he told the crowd that perhaps he should 'deport her.' And Mr. Trump, as is his pattern, created confusion for even his closest supporters as he appeared to embrace opposite sides of important issues as the day unfolded.” ...
By Driftglass.... Eli Stokols of Politico: "After playing at diplomacy in Mexico following two weeks of muddled messaging on his signature issue, Donald Trump shed any pretense of a softer message or general election 'pivot' with a declaration of his fealty to the hardline positions and inflammatory rhetoric that propelled him to the Republican nomination. Having ditched his traveling press corps, Trump’s lie that he and President Enrique Pena Nieto didn’t discuss who would pay for his border wall wasn’t exposed until the Mexican president tweeted that they had a few hours later. And minutes after he stepped onto another stage [in Phoenix, Arizona,] Wednesday night and began to speak to his raucous supporters, it was even more clear that the sojourn across the southern border, much like his campaign's two-weeks of gentle walkbacks, was a ruse — that Trump and his campaign had used Pena Nieto as a prop in an opening act that served only to set up an evening stem-winder. The farce was, in hindsight, clear even before Trump approached the mic, as two of his warm-up speakers, Rudy Giuliani and Jeff Sessions, donned Trump hats that read 'Make Mexico Great Again.'” CW: This is a straight news report. ...
... Josh Marshall: "This was as wild and as unbridled a speech as I've seen from Trump. Even if you couldn't understand English, it would be stunning to watch the slashing hand gestures, the red face, the yelling. It's hard to imagine any presidential candidate in living memory giving such a speech.... Watching this speech, compared to the press conference today in Mexico City, what kept coming to my mind was the contrast between Hitler's uniformed rally speeches from the hustings and the suited, statesman Hitler we see in the old news reels.... On balance, Trump doubled-down on just about everything. He'll build the Wall and Mexico will pay for the Wall.... On mass deportation, there was more obfuscation than change. Trump said everyone without proper documentation is subject to deportation.... There is no path to citizenship or legal residency for any undocumented immigrants.... This is a blood soaked white nationalist politics that has caught fire with a significant minority of the electorate." Thanks to Haley S. for the link. -- CW ...
... Jeet Heer of the New Republic: "... the Trump we saw in Arizona was a return to form. His entire speech was a long nativist tirade about the dangers immigrants of all sorts (the undocumented, refugees, and those who come on legal work visas) pose to America. The themes were familiar to anyone who has paid attention to Trump over the last year, but the tone was, if anything, even more strident and desperate. To go by Trump’s words, immigrants were nothing less than an existential threat to America’s very integrity as a sovereign state." -- CW ...
... Dana Milbank: "Trump landed in Phoenix for what was supposed to be a detailed 'policy address' on immigration but was a familiar, nativist rant. Preceded at the lectern by Joe Arpaio, the Arizona sheriff and anti-immigration hard-liner, Trump launched into a lament for the 'countless Americans' who are 'victims of violence' by illegal immigrants who are 'dangerous, dangerous, dangerous criminals.'... Trump’s attempt at appearing diplomatic was only a feint.... It’s called America First! . . . There will be no amnesty! . . . You cannot obtain legal status or become a citizen of the United States by illegally entering our country. After a trip to Mexico, it was the return of a nativist son.” -- CW
Jose DelReal of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump’s latest deportation priorities could target more than six million individuals for immediate removal, according to a Washington Post analysis.... Trump spelled out hard-line immigration priorities in a fiery speech here in Phoenix. He not only called for removing all undocumented immigrants who had committed crimes, but also said he would prioritize those who have overstayed their visas for deportation.... [He] also said he would triple the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and create a “new special deportation task force” to track the most serious security threats. Together, those proposals represented his most specific comments on deportation policy — and they pointed to a massive undertaking.... If visa overstays are also included in the immediate priorities, as Trump said he would order during his speech, the number would grow by about 4.5 million individuals according to estimates that place overstays at about 40 percent of total undocumented population." -- CW ...
... CW: In other words, Trump would prioritize mass deportations, and he has changed the name of his "deportation force" to "deportation task force." Since every undocumented foreigner who lives permanently in the U.S. has "committed a crime" by entering or staying illegally -- a point you hear many "real Americans" make -- all undocumented Mexicans are technically "criminals." So I'd put the figure back at 11 million. Trump spokesperson Katrina Pierson was right: "He hasn’t changed his position. He has changed the word he is saying." ...
... One of These Men Is a Liar. Harper Neidig of the Hill: "Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said he told Donald Trump that Mexico would not pay for the Republican nominee's proposed border wall, despite what Trump told the press after their meeting. 'At the start of the conversation with Donald Trump I made it clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall," [Peña Nieto] wrote on Twitter.... During a joint press conference following their surprise meeting in Mexico City Wednesday, Trump told reporters..., 'We did discuss the wall, we didn't discuss payment of the wall, that will be for a later date...,' Trump said. 'What the president said is that Mexico, as he has said on several occasions ... will not pay for that wall,' Peña's spokesman Eduardo Sanchez told Reuters." -- CW ...
... Patrick Healy of the New York Times: Trump "displayed an almost unrecognizable demeanor during his afternoon in Mexico, appearing measured and diplomatic, while hours later he took the stage at his campaign rally and denounced illegal immigrants on the whole as a criminally minded and dangerous group that sows terror in communities and commits murders, rapes and other heinous violence." Straight news story. -- CW ...
... As Haley S. notes in today's Comments, Healy appears to have written his story prior to Trump's giving his speech. (News organization often get advance copies of prepared speeches.) Haley says Healy did a major rewrite later.
... Charles Blow: "Donald Trump is the internet troll of presidential politics. When he’s securely removed from the objects of his scorn, he’s tough as nails; when he’s in their presence, he quivers like a bowl of Jell-O.... When he is surrounded by supporters who cheer his base nature, he amplifies the enmity. When the applause of hostility is out of earshot, he tones down his vitriol to a whimper. He is not only a bully, it seems to me, but also something of a coward, who lacks the force of his convictions — or who lacks basic convictions at all. He seems to be simply playing to the audience, whatever that audience may be." -- CW ...
... Steve M: "Trump talks a big game about confronting people, then he meets those people and wimps out. The art of the deal? Call it the art of the kneel." CW: In most cases, one would use the cliche, "He doesn't have the courage of his convictions. Trump, however, has no convictions. He has poses. ...
... Jessie Hellmann of the Hill: "A prominent Mexican TV news anchor is blasting Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto for inviting Donald Trump to Mexico City. Jorge Ramos, anchor for Univision and Fusion, criticized Peña Nieto for not holding Trump accountable for some of his previous rhetoric on illegal immigration and Mexican-Americans. Instead, during a joint press conference in Mexico Wednesday, Peña affirmed that the two men would work together to end illegal immigration if Trump is elected president. 'What a poor, lukewarm and fearful response by [Nieto] before Trump,' Ramos tweeted in Spanish Wednesday. Where is the indignation to Trump's insults?'" CW: Looks like Hellmann has the same view of "Mexicans" as Donald Trump does. Ramos, who was born in Mexico, is a naturalized American citizen, not a "Mexican." ...
... Alex Burns, et al., of the New York Times: " met in Mexico on Wednesday with President , who is being criticized by many Mexicans for holding the meeting. In a subdued joint appearance before the press in Mexico City, the two men described the meeting as warm, despite maintaining significant disagreements on issues of trade and immigration." The report contains "highlights from the day." -- CW ...
... Joshua Partlow, et al., of the Washington Post: "Addressing the media after the meeting alongside Peña Nieto, Trump said the two discussed trade, illegal immigration, and border security — issues where their views do not align. 'I was straighforward in presenting my view on the impact of current trade and immigration policies on the Untied States,' said Trump.... Trump said the two discussed his proposed wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, but, 'we didn’t discuss who pays for the wall.' Peña Nieto offered a polite and careful rebuke to many of Trump’s signature stances in his remarks. According to an interpreter, he said illegal immigration and border security is a shared challenge, but that undocumented immigration has slowed in recent years. He also praised the merits of free trade....” -- CW ...
... CW: The statements sounded like the kinds of remarks you hear when representatives of enemy states meet: "frank exchange of ideas," blah-blah. But, um, Mexico is an ally, not an enemy, of the U.S. ...
... "Mexican President Fact Checks Donald Trump to His Face." Alice Ollstein of Think Progress: “'Undocumented immigration from Mexico to the U.S. had its highest point 10 years ago and it has slowed down consistently, even to the point of being negative in a net effect at this point,' said Peña Nieto, referring to data that supports these claims. He added that Trump’s portrayal of the border as a one-way street is 'a clearly incomplete version' that 'doesn’t account for the illegal flow' of money and firearms that goes into Mexico from the United States. 'Every year, millions of dollars and weapons come in from the north that strengthen the cartels and other criminal organizations that generate violence in Mexico,' Peña Nieto pointed out, adding that criminals in the U.S. benefit from the sale of illegal drugs." -- CW ...
... Azad Ahmed of the New York Times: "... for many Mexicans, the surprising invitation from Mr. Peña Nieto — who has likened Mr. Trump’s language to that of Hitler and Mussolini in the past — is even worse [than Mr. Trump's many insults to the Mexican people]. Newspapers, television stations, social media and all manner of national communication were awash in vitriol at the idea of a meeting between the two men.... Protests were lined up for the day. Digital invitations designed like party fliers circulated on social media overnight, heralding the visit with a handwritten message: 'Trump, you are not welcome!'” -- CW ...
... Morgan Winsor of ABC News: "Donald Trump and Mexico’s former President Vicente Fox ... engaged in a bitter back-and-forth just hours before the Republican presidential nominee is scheduled to visit the country." -- CW ...
Hispanic citizens have been suffering under this president. Since President Obama came into office, another 2 million Hispanics have joined the ranks of those in poverty. … The number of Hispanic children living in poverty increased by 15 percent in that short period of time. — Donald Trump, at a rally in Tampa, Aug. 24
... we should be pleased that Trump’s statistics are based on an official government report. But he cherry-picks the year to inflate the figures — and then uses raw numbers, which is misleading, especially when discussing a fast-growing population such as Hispanics. The net result is a claim that the ranks of Hispanics in poverty have grown, when in fact by basic statistical analysis the status of Hispanics has improved under President Obama. -- Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post
Trump Won't Speak to Black Churchgoers. Kathleen Gray of the Detroit Free Press: "When ... Donald Trump comes to Detroit this weekend to try to strengthen his standing in the African-American community, he will be attending a service at a church and doing a one-on-one interview with the congregation's leader, Bishop Wayne T. Jackson. That's about it. Trump won't be speaking to the black congregation at Great Faith Ministries International.... And his Saturday interview with Jackson on the church's Impact Network — which will not be open to the public or the news media — won't air for at least a week after the event." -- CW: Maybe he'll "drink his little wine and have his little cracker," though.
More on Trump's exploitation of illegal immigrants:
Steven Shepard of Politico: "After months of being swamped on the swing-state airwaves by Hillary Clinton and her allies, Donald Trump’s campaign this week announced a broad and extensive television advertising campaign that included ads set to run in nearly all the battleground states. But Trump’s actual investment over the next week or so falls far short of his campaign’s claims." -- CW
A Messiah for Angry White Men. Paul Waldman: "If it's not about building walls and tossing out undocumented immigrants, Trumpism is about nothing at all, at least nothing having to do with anything he might actually do as president. His candidacy has transcended substance entirely. This isn't a 'pivot,' it's a kind of rapture, where Trump loses all flesh and becomes a being of pure affect." -- CW
Brian Stelter of CNN: Joe Scarborough "is promoting his new name for Trump, 'Amnesty Don,' with a music video posted to Facebook on Wednesday. The 'Amnesty Don' song is virulently anti-Trump, describing the GOP nominee as a 'soft and flaccid man' with 'tiny little hands.'" -- CW ...
... CW: Sorry, Joe, the "soft and flaccid man" is in evidence only while on Mexican soil.
Congressional Race
Heather Caygle of Politico: "Rep. Ed Whitfield, the Kentucky Republican dogged by ethics problems around 'special favors'” he granted his lobbyist wife, is resigning from Congress next week. Whitfield sent a letter to Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin and House Speaker Paul Ryan announcing his retirement, effective Sept. 6, the day Congress returns from August recess.... Bevin said in a statement he will hold a special election on Nov. 8, the same day as the general election, to fill the remaining two months of Whitfield’s term.... James Comer, the GOP nominee running for Whitfield’s seat, has already said he plans to run to fill the vacancy. Whitfield, first elected in 1994, had already planned to retire after this Congress...." -- CW
Other News & Views
Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post: "How Americans feel about the state of their lives have improved markedly in the eight years since Barack Obama was elected president, according to Gallup data released Tuesday. In 2008, fewer than half of Americans said their life was good enough to be considered 'thriving,' according to Gallup. But that's changed: 'The 55.4% who are thriving so far in 2016 is on pace to be the highest recorded in the nine years Gallup and Healthways have tracked it,' according to the report." -- CW
Greg Stohr of Bloomberg: "An evenly divided U.S. Supreme Court refused to reinstate North Carolina’s Republican-backed voting restrictions for the November election, leaving intact a lower court’s conclusion that lawmakers intentionally discriminated against racial minorities. The high court rejected the state’s bid to halt much of the federal appeals court ruling, dividing 4-4 along ideological lines on the central questions. The rebuff -- issued without explanation -- is a victory for the Obama administration and civil rights groups, which challenged the North Carolina law and won a ruling that is likely to help Democrats in November." -- CW ...
... Robert Barnes' Washington Post report is here. -- CW ...
... Rick Hasen: "The fact that this petition got four votes should be very depressing to those who have been hoping that perhaps Justice Kennedy and the Chief Justice would have had a change of heart on voter id laws as Judge [Richard] Posner and Justice [John Paul] Stevens have since the Crawford case. The petition was exceptionally weak because North Carolina waited 17 days to file it and then claimed an emergency. So even apart from the merits, this was a weak case. And on the merits, we have a finding that the state of North Carolina engaged in intentionally racially discriminatory conduct.... [The deadlock in the Supreme Court] this really empowers the lower courts...." -- CW
Reversal of Fortunes. Linda Greenhouse: Bill Clinton, Ken Starr, and a word to the wise from Antonin Scalia. CW: Not only a fun read, but also a glimpse at Scalia's rare moment of good judgment.
New York Times Editors: " and the United States are crying foul over the ruling in Europe that Apple received illegal tax breaks from Ireland and must hand over 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion).... The money won’t be repatriated and taxed ... if Europeans ... get their hands on it first. And that ... is why members of Congress and Treasury officials are so upset about the Apple ruling.... But Apple and the United States have only themselves to blame for the situation. Apple has engaged in increasingly aggressive tax avoidance for at least a decade, including stashing some $100 billion in Ireland without paying taxes on much of it anywhere in the world, according to a Senate investigation in 2013. In a display of arrogance, the company seemed to believe that its arrangements in a known tax haven like Ireland would never be deemed illegal — even as European regulators cracked down in similar cases against ... multinational corporations.... Congress, for its part, has sat idly by as American corporations have indulged in increasingly intricate forms of tax avoidance.... The biggest tax dodge in need of reform involves deferral, in which American companies can defer paying taxes on foreign-held profits until those sums are repatriated." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Beyond the Beltway
Eric Russell of the Portland (Maine) Press Herald: "Gov. Paul LePage apologized personally Wednesday to Democratic Rep. Drew Gattine for leaving a threatening and obscene voice mail on the lawmaker’s phone last week, but the governor said he will not resign and is ready to move on from the sustained controversy. Whether he’s successful, though, could depend on Senate Republicans, whose leader, President Mike Thibodeau, said he was glad the governor apologized but is still 'struggling' over LePage’s ability and willingness to change his behavior. 'I just know when something is wrong,' Thibodeau said of LePage’s actions. 'But what I’m sure of is that we can’t continue to have the explosiveness that we’ve seen. So we are in hopes that he is going to find a way to correct that.'” -- CW ...
... Nolan McCaskill of Politico: "Maine Gov. Paul LePage on Wednesday blamed a reporter in part for his fiery outburst to a state lawmaker last week and vowed never to speak with the press again. LePage last Thursday left an obscenity-laced voicemail on Democratic state Rep. Drew Gattine’s phone after he was told by a reporter that Gattine had called the governor a racist.... 'After speaking with Representative Gattine, I think that the reporter who put the mic in my face owes the people of Maine an apology as well, because [Gattine] never called me racist,' LePage told reporters.... 'I will no longer speak to the press ever again after today,' LePage said, prompting laughter from reporters. 'And I’m serious. Everything will be put in writing. I am tired of being caught — the gotcha moments.'” -- CW
Iowa Amateur Hour. Pat Rynard of Iowa Starting Line: "It seems all the targeted Republican state senate candidates had a big TV shoot recently, as they’ve all posted their first ads online in the past few weeks. The ads themselves are so-so at best.... However, one thing does stand out: each candidate is talking to the exact same group of students in the exact same school hallway." CW: I hope those kids earned better than scale for having to listen to all those dimwits.
Way Beyond
Marina Lopes & Dom Phillips of the Washington Post: "Brazil’s Senate ousted Dilma Rousseff as president Wednesday, voting overwhelmingly to impeach the leftist leader in the culmination of a protracted process that has divided the country. The vote to impeach Rousseff was 61 to 20." CW: This is an update of a story also linked yesterday.
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