The Commentariat -- January 6, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Boris Sanchez of CNN: "... Donald Trump is inclined to declare a national emergency to secure military funding for his long-promised southern border wall if talks between administration officials and top lawmakers from both parties continue to stall, a White House official told CNN on Saturday. While not the administration's preferred plan, the use of emergency powers to fund the wall 'provides a way out' amid a series of contentious meetings and disagreements among Department of Homeland Security officials and Democratic lawmakers over basic facts related to border security, the official said. 'We can only stay like this for so long,' said the official, who attended both meetings with congressional officials at the White House led by Trump this week, explaining that factual disputes have hung up discussions.... On several occasions, discussions became combative during presentations by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. According to the White House official, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi twice cut into Nielsen's presentations to dismiss DHS statistics on border security as inaccurate.... 'In presentations made, they have repeatedly used statistics not supported by fact. They're trying to cast every single migrant as a terrorist or someone with a violent criminal history. The secretary has proven herself to not be credible on these issues,' a Pelosi aide told CNN." ...

     ... See Bruce Ackerman's NYT column, linked below, on why a presidential attempt to usurp Congress's powers would be unconstitutional, particularly in this case where the "national emergency" is fake.

Mike Allen & Jim VandeHei of Axios: "With the departure of White House chief of staff John Kelly, the misinformation emanating from President Trump has only escalated.... Although Kelly was thwarted in many of his efforts to control the president, one place he made authentic inroads was clamping down on the paper flow to the Oval Office. 'Anyone who circumvented that process was going to have a serious problem,' said a former official who saw the transformation up close. 'It has devolved into anarchy,' added another alumnus of Trump's White House.... Wednesday was Kelly's last formal day in the White House, but his influence had declined since he announced his departure on Dec. 8. Since then, Trump has made several unusually specific factual assertions that were quickly shown to be inaccurate, suggesting more unvetted information may be reaching him than had been the case in the heyday of Kelly's control[.]" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: At the top of Allen & VandeHei's list is Trump's claim that the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan because "'because terrorists were going into Russia. They were right to be there.' A Wall Street Journal editorial scolded: 'We cannot recall a more absurd misstatement of history by an American President.'" Since these & some other remarks Trump made about Poland/Belarus & Montenegro are Russian talking points, both Chuck Rosenberg & Joyce Vance said on MSNBC that it's highly likely Bob Mueller will want to know why Trump is parroting Russia's propaganda playbook.

Ha! Zeke Miller of the AP: "... Donald Trump's national security adviser said Sunday that the American military withdrawal from northeastern Syria is conditioned on defeating the remnants of the Islamic State group and on Turkey assuring the safety of U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters. John Bolton said there is no timetable for the pullout, but insisted the military presence is not an unlimited commitment.... Bolton's comments were the first public confirmation that the drawdown has been slowed. Trump had faced widespread criticism from allies about his decision, announced in mid-December, that he was pulling all 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria. Officials said at the time that although many details of the withdrawal had not yet been finalized, they expected American forces to be out by mid-January. 'We're pulling out of Syria,' Trump said Sunday at the White House. 'But we're doing it and we won't be finally pulled out until ISIS is gone.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: So that would be never. ...

... Carol Lee of NBC News: "... Donald Trump will not withdraw American troops from northern Syria until the Turkish government guarantees it won't then attack Syrian Kurdish forces that have been critical allies in the fight against ISIS, national security adviser John Bolton said Sunday. Bolton said a commitment from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that protects the Kurds after American forces exit is something Trump is demanding, and that it's just one of several conditions that have to be met before U.S. troops leave.... Since Trump abruptly announced on Dec. 19 that all U.S. forces in Syria would exit immediately, administration officials have shifted the timing to say it would happen more slowly."

Trump, Bolton, Pompeo rely on AltWorld to decide US foreign policy. Mrs. McC: Okay, this is a portion of an unmarked photo accompanying Zeke Miller's story, so I don't know what these yahoos are really watching, but obviously, it isn't the real world.

Wallace Plays Whack-a-Hack. Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders ran into a buzzsaw Sunday morning when Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace challenged the Trump administration's repeated false claims about terrorism and the southwestern border of the United States.... Wallace attacked a central theme of Trump's push for a wall, the lie that tons of terrorists are streaming over the border with Mexico. He played a clip of Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen claiming, at this week's Rose Garden press conference, that 'CBP has stopped over 3,000 what we call special interest aliens trying to come into the country on the southern border....'... Wallace said ... that 'the state department says, quote, "there were no credible evidence of any terrorist coming across the border from Mexico,"' citing a report that was released in September. 'We know that roughly nearly 4,000 known or suspected terrorists come into our country illegally, and we know that our most vulnerable point of entry is southern border,' Sanders began, but Wallace cut her off.... '“I know the statistic...," Wallace said. 'Do you know what those 4,000 people come where they are captured? Airports.'" And so forth. ...

OMG! Steve M. "On Wednesday, Tucker Carlson delivered a monologue on his Fox show that was not just white-nationalist populist but economically populist. It had many of the things Carlson's audience expects from him -- sexism, anger at immigrants -- but there was also this: 'We are ruled by mercenaries who feel no long-term obligation to the people they rule.... They're just passing through. They have no skin in this game, and it shows. They can't solve our problems. They don't even bother to understand our problems.... Not all commerce is good. Why is it defensible to loan people money they can't possibly repay? Or charge them interest that impoverishes them? Payday loan outlets in poor neighborhoods collect 400 percent annual interest....'... And then yesterday, in response to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's call for a return to top margin tax rates of 70% (i.e., the rates we had before the Reagan presidency), Ann Coulter tweeted this: 'Ocasio-Cortez wants a 70-80% income tax on the rich. I agree! Start with the Koch Bros. -- and also make it WEALTH tax.'... This is what right-wing populism might look like in America if it weren't completely co-opted by mainstream Republican corpocratic thinking.... I think this is a minority strain of conservatism that will never be dominant. But we'll see."

Florida. Election Officials Defy GOP Political Leaders. Langston Taylor of the Tampa Bay Times (via the Miami Herald): "Despite hedging from Florida's Republican leaders, an amendment that allows eligible former felons to register to vote will go into effect on Tuesday, state elections officials say. Considered to be one of the most significant voting rights acts in state history, Amendment 4 passed last year with 64 percent of the vote. Experts believe that the pool of those whose voting rights have been restored is at least 1.2 million people.... Elections supervisors reached by the Times said that, beginning Tuesday, they won't hesitate to implement Amendment 4 and will register those who, under the law, have regained their right to vote. 'By law, the amendment goes into effect Jan. 8, and the language was very clear that it restores voting rights to all who have completed their terms of sentence, except those convicted of murder or sexual offenses,' said Gerri Kramer, spokesman for the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections.... That elections supervisors are saying they will implement Amendment 4 helps dispel some of the confusion that arose last month.... At the time, Sen. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, the new chairman of the Senate Ethics & Elections Committee, said the amendment 'may or may not' need legislative action for implementation. Later in December, Governor-elect Ron DeSantis told the Palm Beach Post the law should be put on hold until the Legislature passes 'implementing language.'"

*****

David Leonhardt of the New York Times Has Had Enough: "The presidential oath of office contains 35 words and one core promise: to 'preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.' Since virtually the moment Donald J. Trump took that oath two years ago, he has been violating it.... The cost of removing a president from office is smaller than the cost of allowing this president to remain. He has already shown, repeatedly, that he will hurt the country in order to help himself. He will damage American interests around the world and damage vital parts of our constitutional system at home. The risks that he will cause much more harm are growing." Leonhardt breaks down Trump's offenses into four "articles of impeachment": "Trump has used the presidency for personal enrichment.... Trump has violated campaign finance law.... Trump has obstructed justice.... Trump has subverted democracy." Thanks to MAG for the link.

Michael Tackett & Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "As a partial government shutdown entered its third week, negotiations between Vice President Mike Pence and congressional aides from both parties yielded little progress on Saturday while the impact on government services and on federal workers was worsening by the day." ...

... Seung Min Kim, et al., of the Washington Post: "Inside the meeting..., Pence refused to budge from the more than $5 billion President Trump has demanded from Congress to pay for a portion of his promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to two Democratic officials briefed on the negotiations.... Pence was deputized by Trump to oversee Saturday's talks, but he did not have the president's blessing to float new or specific numbers as he did last month in a meeting with Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.).... Trump is annoyed by news reports about the negotiations that make it seem that he is backing away from his demands and wants to avoid stories about new numbers for wall funding being discussed, Trump aides said.... Trump exasperated members of both parties with his comments Friday, but Trump spent that evening boasting to friends that he was in a strong negotiating position because he was able to capture attention and make a flurry of points that he feels his core voters appreciate, White House officials said." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Once again, if the shutdown weren't hurting so many people, this would be hilarious. Remember how, at the initial meeting in December with Chuck & Nancy, pence never said a word? Apparently that was by design. Trump sent pence out to "negotiate" Saturday but ordered him to do nothing. There's no point in Democrats even talking to the designated bump-on-a-log. ...

... Josh Marshall: "... the President hasn't actually given Pence the authority to discuss specific numbers of even specific proposals. And this is compounded by the fact that no one would put much stock in such offers even if Pence were nominally empowered to make them because the President routinely overrules them in tweets.... At the moment, the President's main angle seems to be haranguing supporters and aides about how strong a position he's in." ...

... Jan Wolfe & Joel Schectman of Reuters: "U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Democrats would pass new legislation to try to reopen parts of the government next week after talks between the Trump administration and Democratic negotiators on Saturday failed to end a two-week partial government shutdown.... Pelosi said House Democrats would seek to reopen government agencies next week through piecemeal appropriation bills, starting with the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service. 'This action is necessary so that the American people can receive their tax refunds on schedule,' she said.... A Democratic aide familiar with the meeting said Democratic staffers urged the administration to reopen the government, arguing that progress on the contentious issue of border security would be difficult while the government was closed. The aide said the administration instead 'doubled down on their partisan proposal that led to the Trump shutdown in the first place.'... Trump reiterated his demand for a border wall in a series of tweets on Saturday. 'The Democrats could solve the Shutdown problem in a very short period of time,' Trump said. 'All they have to do is approve REAL Border Security (including a Wall), something which everyone, other than drug dealers, human traffickers and criminals, want very badly!'" ...

... Ryan Koronowski of ThinkProgress: "[Mitch]McConnell's role as the wrench in the senatorial works and defender of Trump's shutdown is a curious one..., given his previous derision toward shutting down the government. In 2013, he went so far as to argue shutdowns were antithetical to 'conservative policy.'... In November 2018, McConnell dismissed the idea that the government would shut down in December. 'No, we're not going to do that,' he told reporters who asked about Trump's demand for wall funding. Less than two months later, nobody in Congress is doing more to keep the government closed than McConnell himself." --s ...

... Peter Baker & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Two weeks into the showdown over a border wall, Mr. Trump is now crafting his own narrative of the confrontation that has come to consume his presidency. Rather than a failure of negotiation, the shutdown has become a test of political virility, one in which he insists he is receiving surreptitious support from unlikely quarters. Not only are national security hawks cheering him on to defend a porous southern border, but so too are former presidents who he says have secretly confessed to him that they should have done what he is doing. Not only do federal employees accept being furloughed or forced to work without wages, they have assured him that they would give up paychecks so that he can stand strong. Never mind how implausible such assertions might seem. The details do not matter to Mr. Trump as much as dominating the debate.... He has told people that 'my people' love the fight, and that he believes he is winning." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Wait Till You Read the Real Reason for "Wall." Julie Davis & Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Before it became the chief sticking point in a government shutdown drama that threatens to consume his presidency at a critical moment, President Trump's promise to build a wall on the southwestern border was a memory trick for an undisciplined candidate. As Mr. Trump began exploring a presidential run in 2014, his political advisers landed on the idea of a border wall as a mnemonic device of sorts, a way to make sure their candidate -- who hated reading from a script but loved boasting about himself and his talents as a builder -- would remember to talk about getting tough on immigration, which was to be a signature issue in his nascent campaign.... To many conservative activists who have pressed for decades for sharp reductions in both illegal and legal immigration -- and some of the Republican lawmakers who are allied with them -- a physical barrier on the border with Mexico is barely relevant...."

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: So Trump shut down the government because three years ago he didn't have the discipline to read his campaign speech notes. "Because it's a slogan a dimwitted candidate can remember" is the most absurd reason for a government policy I've ever heard. ...

... Bruce Ackerman in a New York Times op-ed: "President Trump on Friday said that he was considering the declaration of a 'national emergency' along the border with Mexico, which he apparently believes would allow him to divert funds from the military budget to pay for a wall, and to use military personnel to build it.... Not only would such an action be illegal, but if members of the armed forces obeyed his command, they would be committing a federal crime." Ackerman explains why. ...

... Ellen Knickmeyer & Stephen Braun of the AP: "... despite the federal government shutdown, a historic clock tower at the Trump International Hotel [in Washington, D.C.,] remained open Friday for its handful of visitors, staffed by green-clad National Park Service rangers. The Trump administration appears to have gone out of its way to keep the attraction in the federally owned building that houses the Trump hotel open and staffed with National Park Service rangers, even as other federal agencies shut all but the most essential services.... A watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the GSA, seeking documents explaining why the tower was open, how it continues to be funded, and any communications between the agency and the Trump Organization, the president's company.... 'We have not seen a satisfactory basis for why one park service property is opened when no others are,' [Noah] Bookbinder[, CREW's executive director,] said." ...

... Ha Ha. Peter Whoriskey of the Washington Post: "Federal agencies have been told to suspend pay raises for top Trump administration officials after an uproar from critics who said it was unseemly to reward top political appointees while hundreds of thousands of workers are going without pay during the partial government shutdown. The raises had been set to go into effect on Sunday, after a long-standing pay freeze for senior officials lapsed. The turnabout on the pay hike came late Friday in a memo from Margaret Weichert, the acting director of the Office of Personnel Management. The pay freeze for senior officials, she said, should be extended.... The Weichert memo followed a Washington Post story on Friday afternoon reporting that scores of senior Trump political appointees were poised to receive annual raises of about $10,000 a year.... 'It looks like Trump has protected his own appointees, and everyone else gets screwed,' said Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), whose Northern Virginia district has 77,000 federal workers." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: And another "acting" department head. ...

... Scott Martelle of the Los Angeles Times: "Nothing untoward has happened to the president, and I hope nothing does, but the revelations that Trump National [in Bedminster, N.J.,] managers knowingly hired people who had entered the country illegally..., and then hid their status from even the Secret Service is the kind of security lapse that normally would have conservatives fuming. And then there's the blatant hypocrisy of the president profiting from the labor of such workers even as he rails against them as a threat to public safety. In fact, Trump has profited before from the labor of people working in the U.S. without permission, including clients of his modeling agency and Polish laborers who demolished a store to make way for his flagship Trump Towers project in Manhattan (Trump paid nearly $1.4 million in a legal settlement for that one). I'm still waiting for Trump to tell us which of the migrants working for him after entering the country illegally -- and whose names were withheld from the Secret Service -- were the rapists and the gang members." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump doesn't see anything hypocritical about his hiring undocumented workers. It's all about racism, not immigration per se. George Washington & Thomas Jefferson never dreamed of giving equal rights to their African-American slaves, but they were good with slave labor. Trump is very Washingtonian or Jeffersonian in that regard. He's good with underpaid workers. As one commentator said on MSNBC this evening, "Democrats would be stupid to fund the wall; it's a symbol of racism." Yes, it is. ...

... Eric Lach of the New Yorker: At his impromptu press conference Friday, Trump "hemmed, hawed, bragged, made arguments out of thin air, and seemed to be enjoying himself. When he was asked about the government workers who don't know when their next paycheck will arrive, he had no difficulty imagining that they loved him and what he was doing. 'This really does have a higher purpose than next week's pay,' Trump said. Putting himself in their shoes for a moment, he said, 'I think they'd say, "Mr. President, keep going. This is far more important."'" Mrs. McC: We should quit complaining that Trump lacks empathy for the federal employees he's furloughed or forced to work without pay. It turns out Trump does understand the common man! He completely gets it.

Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: National Security Advisor John Bolton & Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Joseph Dunford will travel to Turkey next week to discuss with Turkish officials Turkey's "concerns and expectations" regarding the U.S.'s planned withdrawal of troops from Syria. Accompanying Bolton & Dunford will be James Jeffrey, appointed Friday "as the envoy to the global anti-Islamic State coalition.... Turkey wants the United States to disarm Syrian Kurdish forces it has trained and supplied for the fight against the Islamic State, and to provide air and logistical support for Turkish troops and allied Syrian opposition forces.... U.S. strategy was thrown into confusion last month, when President Trump announced the immediate withdrawal of some 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria. For the past three years, those forces have advised and directed Syrian Kurdish fighters who, with the aid of U.S. airstrikes, have driven the Islamic State out of most of its Syrian strongholds." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump tweeted last month the U.S. was withdrawing because "We have defeated ISIS in Syria." Oddly enough, as Patrick points out in an essential comment yesterday, DeYoung reports, "In an update issued Friday, the U.S. Central Command listed a total of 469 strikes conducted against the Islamic State in Syria between Dec. 16 and 29." If Trump were right, we'd have to assume that those strikes were simply "pounding sand."

Robert Windrem of NBC News: "CIA Director Gina Haspel has appointed another woman to the top level of the agency, naming Cynthia 'Didi' Rapp as deputy director for analysis, essentially the top analyst in the CIA. The appointment means that the top three directorates of the agency, for operations, analysis and science and technology are now all headed by women. Haspel, the first woman director of the agency, had previously named Elizabeth Kimber, like her a 34-year veteran of the agency, as the first female deputy director for operations, responsible for the agency's worldwide spy network. Kimber and Rapp join Dawn Meyerriecks, the deputy director for science and technology, as the top executives in the agency's traditional power centers." Mrs. McC: "Direcorates"? Shouldn't that be "directorettes"? Ha ha. Girl power!

Christian Davenport of the Washington Post: "Facing mounting criticism from Capitol Hill, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has rescinded an invitation to the controversial head of the Russian space agency to visit the United States.... [Dmitry] Rogozin was placed on a sanction list by the Obama administration in 2014 response to Russia's military actions in Ukraine when he was the deputy prime minister of the Russian Federation. After the sanctions were issued, he said Russia should stop flying NASA's astronauts to the International Space Station in retaliation. 'After analyzing the sanctions against our space industry, I suggest the U.S. delivers its astronauts to the ISS [International Space Station] with a trampoline,' he wrote on Twitter. Given Rogozin's history as a bombastic Russian nationalist and presence on the sanction list, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and others said Bridenstine should have never invited him.... Earlier Friday, a NASA spokesman said that the visit, originally scheduled for February, would be postponed. But as the criticism mounted, the agency decided it was best to withdraw the invitation entirely." (Also linked yesterday.)

Mark Hand of ThinkProgress: "A clear sign of the Democratic leadership's direction on climate action came on Thursday when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) -- who reclaimed the House leadership position in the new Congress -- introduced a select climate committee that will be almost identical to the one she created a dozen years ago.... In fact, Pelosi's select climate committee will have fewer powers -- not more, as most climate activists expected -- than the committee she created during her first stint as House Speaker.... But as the Sunrise Movement highlighted, the committee will allow its members to accept political donations from fossil fuel companies, will have no mandate to lead the writing of a comprehensive bill to fight climate change, and will have no language on economic and racial justice -- all key elements of the proposed Green New Deal...[T]here will, however, be one major difference between the 2007 and 2019 select climate committees.... [T]he new climate committee, to be chaired Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL), will not have subpoena power [as the previous one did]." --s

Paul Krugman: "... The right's denunciation of [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]'s 'insane' policy ideas serves as a very good reminder of who is actually insane. The controversy of the moment involves AOC's advocacy of a tax rate of 70-80 percent on very high incomes, which is obviously crazy, right? I mean, who thinks that makes sense? Only ignorant people like ... um, Peter Diamond, Nobel laureate in economics and arguably the world's leading expert on public finance (although Republicans blocked him from an appointment to the Federal Reserve Board with claims that he was unqualified. Really.) And it's a policy nobody has every implemented, aside from ... the United States, for 35 years after World War II -- including the most successful period of economic growth in our history."

Presidential Election 2020

Natasha Korecki of Politico: "Just two months ago, Sen. Elizabeth Warren risked political backlash ... by opting to avoid a trip to Iowa during the critical midterm elections -- the only major potential 2020 candidate to do so. But less than a week into the new year, Warren already flipped that on its head, becoming the first major candidate to land on the ground in the first-in-the-nation presidential caucus state, lapping up media attention, locking down key staff and organizers, and capitalizing on pent-up 2020 Democratic excitement.... Her early-out-of-the-gates visit looked more than promising. [In Des Moines], hundreds of people snaked around one block then wrapped around another, waiting outside for her evening appearance. In all, more than 1,000 people packed into the venue and spilled into an overflow area." ...

... Annie Linskey, et al., of the Washington Post: "People stood in parking lots, jostled into front yards and packed into the rafters to witness Sen. Elizabeth Warren's inaugural appearances [in Iowa] in the first presidential caucus state.... The Iowa caucuses remain 13 months away, but a pent-up demand for change in the White House is tangible among Democrats eager for the 2020 campaign to start in earnest."

Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress: "The Supreme Court announced on Friday that it will hear challenges to two aggressive partisan gerrymanders -- one created by Democrats in Maryland and another by Republicans in North Carolina.... [Justice Anthony Kennedy's loss is likely to have devastating consequences for opponents of gerrymandering.... Kennedy['s] seat is now held by Brett Kavanaugh, a far more conservative judge who is unlikely to vote against partisan gerrymandering.... During his confirmation hearing last year, Kavanaugh appeared to threaten revenge against Democratic senators who probed credible allegations that he tried to rape future psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford when the two were in high school. 'As we all know in the political system of the United States in the early 2000s,' Kavanaugh told these Democrats, 'what goes around comes around.'" --s

Julie Ray & Neli Esipova of Gallup: "While Donald Trump has spent much of his presidency focused on the number of people who want to get into the U.S., since he took office, record numbers of Americans have wanted to get out. Though relatively average by global standards, the 16% of Americans overall who said in 2017 and again in 2018 that they would like to permanently move to another country -- if they could -- is higher than the average levels during either the George W. Bush (11%) or Barack Obama administration (10%). While Gallup's World Poll does not ask people about their political leanings, most of the recent surge in Americans' desire to migrate has come among groups that typically lean Democratic and that have disapproved of Trump's job performance so far in his presidency: women, young Americans and people in lower-income groups." (Also linked yesterday.)

Will Sommer of The Daily Beast: "Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes is still struggling to distance himself from his extreme image. After stepping down in November from the far-right group he created, McInnes now wants neighbors in his tony New York suburb to take down yard signs [denouncing hate] aimed at him and his former group.... In [a] letter [to his neighbors]..., McInnes claims that his neighbors won't find anything 'hateful, racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic or intolerant' in 'any of my expressions of my worldview.'... In fact, though, McInnes ... has ranted about Jews, saying that he was 'becoming anti-Semitic' after a trip to Israel. He has called trans people 'gender n**gers,' and once wrote that women want to be 'downright abused.'... Despite his conciliatory tone in the letter, though, McInnes ... devoted an hour-long podcast ;on Friday to the signs, with a decidedly less neighborly tone. 'If you have that sign on your lawn, you're a fucking retard,' McInnes said." --s

News Ledes

New York Times: "Harold Brown, a brilliant scientist who helped develop America's nuclear arsenal and negotiate its first strategic arms control treaty, and who was President Jimmy Carter's secretary of defense in an era of rising Soviet challenges, died on Friday at his home in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. He was 91."

Deadline: "Christine McGuire, whose pop hits propelled her and her singing sisters to many radio and television appearances, died Dec. 28 in Las Vegas, where she lived. She was 92 and her family confirmed the death, but did not provide a cause."

The Commentariat -- January 5, 2019

Late Morning Update:

Peter Baker & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Two weeks into the showdown over a border wall, Mr. Trump is now crafting his own narrative of the confrontation that has come to consume his presidency. Rather than a failure of negotiation, the shutdown has become a test of political virility, one in which he insists he is receiving surreptitious support from unlikely quarters. Not only are national security hawks cheering him on to defend a porous southern border, but so too are former presidents who he says have secretly confessed to him that they should have done what he is doing. Not only do federal employees accept being furloughed or forced to work without wages, they have assured him that they would give up paychecks so that he can stand strong. Never mind how implausible such assertions might seem. The details do not matter to Mr. Trump as much as dominating the debate.... He has told people that 'my people' love the fight, and that he believes he is winning."

Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: National Security Advisor John Bolton & Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Joseph Dunford will travel to Turkey next week to discuss with Turkish officials Turkey's "concerns and expectations" regarding the U.S.'s planned withdrawal of troops from Syria. Accompanying Bolton & Dunford will be James Jeffrey, appointed Friday "as the envoy to the global anti-Islamic State coalition.... Turkey wants the United States to disarm Syrian Kurdish forces it has trained and supplied for the fight against the Islamic State, and to provide air and logistical support for Turkish troops and allied Syrian opposition forces.... U.S. strategy was thrown into confusion last month, when President Trump announced the immediate withdrawal of some 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria. For the past three years, those forces have advised and directed Syrian Kurdish fighters who, with the aid of U.S. airstrikes, have driven the Islamic State out of most of its Syrian strongholds." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump tweeted last month the U.S. was withdrawing because "We have defeated ISIS in Syria." Oddly enough, as Patrick points out in an essential comment below, DeYoung reports, "In an update issued Friday, the U.S. Central Command listed a total of 469 strikes conducted against the Islamic State in Syria between Dec. 16 and 29." If Trump was right, we'll have to assume that those strikes were simply "pounding sand."

Christian Davenport of the Washington Post: "Facing mounting criticism from Capitol Hill, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has rescinded an invitation to the controversial head of the Russian space agency to visit the United States.... [Dmitry] Rogozin was placed on a sanction list by the Obama administration in 2014 response to Russia's military actions in Ukraine when he was the deputy prime minister of the Russian Federation. After the sanctions were issued, he said Russia should stop flying NASA's astronauts to the International Space Station in retaliation. 'After analyzing the sanctions against our space industry, I suggest the U.S. delivers its astronauts to the ISS [International Space Station] with a trampoline,' he wrote on Twitter. Given Rogozin's history as a bombastic Russian nationalist and presence on the sanction list, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and others said Bridenstine should have never invited him.... Earlier Friday, a NASA spokesman said that the visit, originally scheduled for February, would be postponed. But as the criticism mounted, the agency decided it was best to withdraw the invitation entirely."

Julie Ray & Neli Esipova of Gallup: "While Donald Trump has spent much of his presidency focused on the number of people who want to get into the U.S., since he took office, record numbers of Americans have wanted to get out. Though relatively average by global standards, the 16% of Americans overall who said in 2017 and again in 2018 that they would like to permanently move to another country -- if they could -- is higher than the average levels during either the George W. Bush (11%) or Barack Obama administration (10%). While Gallup's World Poll does not ask people about their political leanings, most of the recent surge in Americans' desire to migrate has come among groups that typically lean Democratic and that have disapproved of Trump's job performance so far in his presidency: women, young Americans and people in lower-income groups."

*****

Michael Tackett & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "President Trump threatened on Friday to keep the federal government partially closed for 'months or even years' if he does not get money to build a wall along the southern border, but he also expressed optimism he could reach agreement with congressional Democrats within days. Mr. Trump and Democratic leaders emerged from a two-hour meeting without a deal to reopen government agencies that have already been shuttered for 14 days and offered sharply contrasting views of where they stood. Democrats called the meeting 'contentious' while the president and Republican allies called it 'productive.'... Mr. Trump had no hostile words for the opposition. 'I found the Democrats really want to do something,' he said. He designated Vice President Mike Pence, Kirstjen Nielsen, the Homeland Security secretary, and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and senior adviser to meet with congressional representatives this weekend." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

Katherine Faulders, et al., of ABC News: "... Donald Trump said Friday he is considering declaring a national emergency to help pay for his long-desired border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.... Earlier Friday, multiple sources familiar with the ongoing discussion told ABC News that options could include reprogramming funds from the Department of Defense and elsewhere -- a move which would circumvent Congress. Sources tell ABC News the discussions are still on the 'working level' adding that there's a range of legal mechanisms that are being considered before such a decision is announced." ...

... Julia Ainsley of NBC News: "As the government shutdown drags on, lawyers from the White House, the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon are meeting to discuss whether ... Donald Trump can declare a national emergency to deploy troops and Defense Department resources to build his border wall, according to two sources.... One of the sources, a senior administration official, said the White House has kept this option on the table for some time, but is now considering it more seriously.... The numbers of border crossers are not at all-time highs." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: That's funny, because for the past two years, "wall" has not been a national emergency. The real "emergency" is Trump's fear that if he doesn't build "wall," he'll lose support from winger personalities & his bigoted voter base. While there's nothing illegal about "looking into" such a move, if Trump attempted to so abuse his ability to declare national emergencies by using it to usurp the Congress's Constitutional power of the purse in defiance of the Congress's wishes, such an act would be not only impeachable but unconstitutional, IMO. ...

... Rafi Schwartz of Splinter: "And as for all those people who actually own the property along the border where the president's wall would theoretically be built? Well, he's got something he likes to call the 'military version of eminent domain.' Neato! (also: not a real thing)." ...

... Off the Effing Rails. Asawin Suebsaeng & Sam Stein of the Daily Beast: "President Trump kicked off ... Friday's meeting at the White House over the ongoing shutdown standoff ... with a rant lasting roughly 15 minutes that included his $5.6 billion demand for a border wall, and threatened that he was willing to keep the government closed for 'years' if that's what it took to get his wall. He also, unprompted, brought up the Democrats who want him impeached, and even blamed [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi for new Democratic congresswoman Rashida Tlaib saying at a party earlier this week that Democrats would impeach the 'motherfucker' Trump. (It is unclear why Trump would think Pelosi was responsible for this.) Trump proceeded to tell the room he was too popular to impeach. [Mrs. McC: Impeachment is not supposed to depend upon or measure popularity.] Along with saying the word 'fuck' at least three times throughout the meeting, the president bizarrely stated that he did not want to call the partial government shutdown a 'shutdown,' according to [a] source. Instead, he referred to it as a 'strike.' (Many of the federal employees affected by the weeks-long shutdown have been working without pay. That is essentially the opposite of a strike.)" ...

... Another Trump Whopper. Andrew Restuccia of Politico: "... Donald Trump claimed without evidence on Friday that past presidents have privately confided to him that they regret not building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. But at least three of the four living U.S. presidents -- Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama -- did no such thing. Asked if Clinton told Trump that he should have built a border wall, Clinton spokesman Angel Ureña said, 'He did not. In fact, they've not talked since the inauguration.' Bush spokesman Freddy Ford also said the two men had not discussed the matter. And Obama, for his part, has not spoken with Trump since his inauguration, except for a brief exchange at George H.W. Bush's funeral in Washington, D.C. Obama has consistently blasted Trump's pledge to build a border wall.... Spokespeople for George H.W. Bush, who died in November, and Jimmy Carter did not immediately respond to requests for comment.... Since taking office, Trump has had little contact with past presidents...." Mrs. McC: There is zero chance Poppy or President Carter told Trump they wished they'd spent billions on a quixotic wall. I would not say "claimed without evidence"; I'd say "lied." ...

... Nancy Cook of Politico: "... Donald Trump's new acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, is already putting his stamp on the West Wing after just a few days on the job. While his recently departed predecessor, Gen. John Kelly, often tried to restrain ... Donald Trump, Mulvaney -- who has said he won't seek to be a check on the impulsive president -- has been egging on the president in his confrontation with congressional Democrats over a border wall." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Never Mind All This. Damian Paletta & Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "Food stamps for 38 million low-income Americans would face severe reductions and more than $140 billion in tax refunds are at risk of being frozen or delayed if the government shutdown stretches into February, widespread disruptions that threaten to hurt the economy. The Trump administration, which had not anticipated a long-term shutdown, recognized only this week the breadth of the potential impact, several senior administration officials said. The officials said they were focused now on understanding the scope of the consequences and determining whether there is anything they can do to intervene. Thousands of federal programs are affected by the shutdown, but few intersect with the public as much as the tax system and the Department of Agriculture;s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the current version of food stamps." Emphasis added. ...

... OR This. "Blue Flu." Rene Marsh & Gregory Wallace of CNN: "Hundreds of Transportation Security Administration officers, who are required to work without paychecks through the partial government shutdown, have called out from work this week from at least four major airports, according to two senior agency officials and three TSA employee union officials. The mass call outs could inevitably mean air travel is less secure, especially as the shutdown enters its second week with no clear end to the political stalemate in sight.... Union officials stress that the absences are not part of an organized action, but believe the number of people calling out will likely increase....Two of the sources, who are federal officials, described the sick outs as protests of the paycheck delay. One called it the 'blue flu,' a reference to the blue shirts worn by transportation security officers who screen passengers and baggage at airport security checkpoints. A union official, however, said that ... officers have said they are calling in sick ... [because] single parents can no longer afford child care or they are finding cash-paying jobs outside of government work to pay their rent and other bills, for example." ...

... OR This. Darryl Fears & Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "Three days after most of the federal workforce was furloughed on Dec. 21, a 14-year-old girl fell 700 feet to her death at the Horseshoe Bend Overlook, part of the Glen Canyon Recreation Area in Arizona. The following day, Christmas, a man died at Yosemite National Park in California after suffering a head injury from a fall. On Dec. 27, a woman was killed by a falling tree at Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which straddles the borders of North Carolina and Tennessee. The deaths follow a decision by Trump administration officials to leave the scenic -- but sometimes deadly -- parks open even as the Interior Department has halted most of its operations. During previous extended shutdowns, the National Park Service barred access to many of its sites across the nation. National Park Service spokesman Jeremy Barnum said in an email that an average of six people die each week in the park system, a figure that includes 'accidents like drownings, falls, and motor vehicle crashes and medical related incidents such as heart attacks.'... Several former Park Service officials, along with the system's advocates, said in interviews that activities such as viewing animals and hiking outdoors can carry a greater risk when fewer employees are around." ...

... Peter Whoriskey & Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "While many federal workers go without pay and the government is partially shut down, hundreds of senior Trump political appointees are poised to receive annual raises of about $10,000 a year. The pay raises for cabinet secretaries, deputy secretaries, top administrators and even Vice President Mike Pence are scheduled to go into effect beginning Jan. 5 without legislation to stop them, according to documents issued by the Office of Personnel Management and experts in federal pay. The raises appear to be an intended consequence of the shutdown: When lawmakers failed to pass bills on Dec. 21 to fund multiple federal agencies, they allowed an existing pay freeze to lapse.... Cabinet secretaries, for example, would be entitled to a jump in annual salary from $199,700 to $210,700." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Frank Rich: "When Trump capitulates on the shutdown, he'll say he's 'won' no matter what the particulars are. He's already been readying that plan, at various times declaring that the wall is already nearing completion, or redefining the word 'wall' as 'steel slats' or 'barrier' or whatever.... He knows that his base will buy any victory he claims, and it's likely that the hard-liners at Fox News, including Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity, will get with the program as well when there's no other way out."

How do you impeach a president who has won perhaps the greatest election of all time, done nothing wrong (no Collusion with Russia, it was the Dems that Colluded), had the most successful first two years of any president, and is the most popular Republican in party history 93%? -- Donald Trump, in a tweet Friday morning

I did not lift this from the Onion; this is a real tweet Trump wrote this morning. It represents either (a) one purposeful lie after another, or (b) grounds to immediately invoke the Twentyfifth Amendment. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Jonathan Chait: "Basic facts about Trump's life, which would have been thoroughly plumbed were he any other presidential candidate, are only starting to be investigated.... One reason Trump has escaped scrutiny, of course, is that he has withheld his tax returns.... Trump has an obvious motive to conceal his decades of dependency on his father's largesse, as well as the apparent role played by Russian money laundering in replacing those cash infusions after his father's money ran out.... Measured in absolute terms, or against other candidates, Trump was subject to harsh, unrelenting scrutiny. But measured against the scale of his own dark past, he skated into office with barely any vetting at all, abetted by decades of friendly propaganda.... The review of Trump's life is only beginning now. It will probably tell us that Trump is not merely a politician who has abused his power, or a businessman who has cut corners. He is a criminal who happened to be elected president." Thanks to MAG for the link. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Bob Just Keeps on Truckin'. Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Special counsel Robert Mueller's federal grand jury has been extended so it may continue to meet and vote on criminal indictments for up to six more months. The grand jury's initial 18-month term was set to expire over the weekend. The extension is the surest sign yet that the Russia investigation isn't finished. It means, broadly, that Mueller may continue pursuing alleged criminal activity related to the Russian government's interference in the 2016 presidential election, and that more indictments may be coming."

Your Tax Dollars at Work. DOJ Won't Retract Its Very Trumpy Anti-Immigrant "Report." Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department has acknowledged errors and deficiencies in a controversial report issued a year ago that implied a link between terrorism in the United States and immigration, but -- for the second and final time -- officials have declined to retract or correct the document.... The report was written in compliance with President Trump's March 2017 executive order halting immigration from six majority-Muslim countries.... Released by the departments of Justice and Homeland Security, the report stated that 402 of 549 individuals -- nearly 3 in 4 -- convicted of international terrorism charges since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were foreign-born.... [But] it is unclear how many were foreign-born...." About 100 of the 402 were people accused of committing terrorist acts in foreign countries, then extradicted to the U.S. These would not be "immigrants." At least 189 of the 549 were convicted with crimes not related to terrorism. "One flaw the Justice Department acknowledged was the report's assertion that between 2003 and 2009, immigrants were convicted of 69,929 sex offenses.... [But] the nearly 70,000 offenses spanned a period from 1955 to 2010 -- 55 years, not six; the data covered arrests, not convictions; and one arrest could be for multiple offenses...." ...

... Another Very Trumpy Whopper. Julia Ainsley: "White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Friday that Customs and Border Protection picked up nearly 4,000 known or suspected terrorists last year 'that came across our southern border.' But in fact, the figure she seems to be citing is based on 2017 data, not 2018, and refers to stops made by Department of Homeland Security across the globe, mainly at airports. In fiscal 2017, the latest year for which data is available, according to agency data and the White House's own briefing sheet, the Department of Homeland Security prevented nearly 4,000 known or suspected terrorists from 'traveling to or entering the United States.' According to Justice Department public records and two former counterterrorism officials, no immigrant has been arrested at the southwest border on terrorism charges in recent years."

Ken Vogel of the New York Times: "Congress is reviewing the Trump administration's decision to lift sanctions on companies owned by Oleg V. Deripaska, an influential Russian oligarch with close ties to President Vladimir V. Putin, Democrats said on Friday. The reviews could fuel a congressional effort to block the administration's decision, which came after an aggressive lobbying and legal campaign against the sanctions by Mr. Deripaska's corporate empire. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, laid the groundwork to block the lifting of the sanctions on Friday, filing a congressional resolution disapproving of the move by the Treasury Department.... To keep the sanctions in place, the resolution would have to be approved by both chambers of Congress before Jan. 18. That seems unlikely, given that it would require the Senate's Republican majority to split with the administration." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Let's not forget Deripaska's "close ties" to President* Trump; he was a big client of Trump's former campaign chair Paul Manafort, who sought to pay off a huge financial debt to Deripaska with special "favors." Lifting sanctions is a helluva favor.

Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "Hours after she was sworn in to Congress, Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib used an expletive Thursday in pushing for impeaching ... Donald Trump. Speaking to a crowd at an event sponsored by the progressive group MoveOn, Tlaib recalled the moment she won her election in November. 'And when your son looks at you and says, "Mama look, you won. Bullies don't win," and I said, "Baby, they don't," because we're gonna go in there and we're going to impeach the motherf[ucke]r,' Tlaib said Thursday, speaking of Trump, according to a video posted on Twitter...." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Leigh Ann Caldwell of NBC News: "... Nancy Pelosi on Friday shied away from moving forward with impeachment at this time, calling it a 'divisive' option and saying that a colleague's use of an expletive to describe ... Donald Trump was no 'worse' than some of the language the president himself has used. 'I do think that we want to be unified and bring people together. Impeachment is a very divisive approach to take and we shouldn't take it ... without the facts,' Pelosi said during an MSNBC town hall at Trinity University in Washington, her alma mater." (Also linked yesterday.)

Mrs. McCrabbie: I would not vote for any of these Republican Congressmen, two of whom are freshmen, but I would give them a heartfelt, humble vote of thanks:

5 eyes. 5 arms. 4 legs. All American.

Welcome to Congress, @ElectJimBaird & @DanCrenshawTX. pic.twitter.com/NU7YnbAE4u

— Rep. Brian Mast (@RepBrianMast) January 3, 2019

... Caitlin Doornbos of Stars & Stripes: "Army veteran and Florida Rep. Brian Mast tweeted a photo Thursday marking the swearing-in ceremony of fellow wounded veterans and Republican congressmen Jim Baird and Dan Crenshaw.... Mast lost both legs in 2010 while clearing improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan; Baird, R-Ind., lost an arm while serving in the Vietnam War with the Army; and Crenshaw, R-Texas, lost an eye in a 2012 IED blast while serving in the Navy SEALs in Afghanistan."

Tiffany May of the New York Times: "On the eve of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's swearing-in as the youngest woman ever elected to the House of Representatives, video footage from her college days suddenly appeared on the internet. The video showed Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, 29, dancing barefoot on a rooftop. If it was meant to be an embarrassing leak, it backfired badly.... A dubbed and edited version of the original footage surfaced when a Twitter account with the handle @AnonymousQ1776 published it online. 'Here is America's favorite commie know-it-all acting like the clueless nitwit she is,' read the tweet from @AnonymousQ1776, which incorrectly described it as a video from her high school days. The account has since been deleted." And this: "When Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, dressed in white in homage to suffragists and pioneering women in politics, officially took office in Washington on Thursday, Republicans booed her. To which she replied on Twitter: 'Over 200 members voted for Nancy Pelosi today, yet the GOP only booed one: me. Don't hate me cause you ain't me, fellas.'" ...

James Arkin of Politico: "Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) announced Friday that he will retire in 2020 instead of running for reelection. Roberts, 82, has served four terms in the Senate and last won reelection in 2014 after facing a bruising Republican primary." (Also linked yesterday.)

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to take another look at whether the Constitution bars extreme partisan gerrymandering. The move followed two decisions in June in which the justices sidestepped the question in cases from Wisconsin and Maryland. Those earlier cases had raised the possibility that the court might decide for the first time, that some election maps were so warped by politics that they crossed a constitutional line. Challengers had pinned their hopes on Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who had expressed ambivalence on the subject, but he and his colleagues appeared unable to identify a workable constitutional test. Justice Kennedy's replacement by Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh makes a ruling limiting partisan gerrymandering less likely, election law experts said. Indeed, the court could rule that the Constitution imposes no limits on the practice."

Stranger & Stranger. Paul Sonne, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Marine Corps found Paul Whelan, the American citizen detained by Russia on espionage charges, guilty of attempting to steal more than $10,000 worth of currency from the U.S. government while deployed to Iraq in 2006 and bouncing nearly $6,000 worth of checks around the same time [and other charges], according to records obtained by The Washington Post. The details of the charges against Whelan from a special court-martial two years later, which resulted in his discharge for bad conduct, add to an increasingly complex picture of the 48-year-old former Marine, whom Russian officials have accused of spying. His case grew more perplexing on Friday after Ireland became the fourth nation to acknowledge him as a citizen and seek consular access.... People who served alongside Whelan said he was learning Russian and traveled to Moscow and St. Petersburg on vacation during the same deployment in which the Marine Corps accused him of attempted larceny.... Whelan also had an active profile for years on the Russian social media platform VKontakte.... [Besides his U.S. citizenship,] Whelan also carried passports from Canada, where he was born, as well as from Britain and Ireland."

Beyond the Beltway

Maine. Micheal Shepherd of the Bangor Daily News: "A state legislator from York County left the Republican Party on Thursday without explaining his decision to unenroll, reducing the party's minority in the Maine House of Representatives to 56 and becoming the seventh independent in the chamber. Rep. Don Marean confirmed that he left his party in a Friday text message, but he said 'out of respect' for House Republicans, he had no comment on his decision and would let it speak for itself.... Democrats won 89 seats in the 151-member chamber in last year's election."

The Commentariat -- January 4, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Michael Tackett & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "President Trump threatened on Friday to keep the federal government partially closed for 'months or even years' if he does not get money to build a wall along the southern border, but he also expressed optimism he could reach agreement with congressional Democrats within days. Mr. Trump and Democratic leaders emerged from a two-hour meeting without a deal to reopen government agencies that have already been shuttered for 14 days and offered sharply contrasting views of where they stood. Democrats called the meeting 'contentious' while the president and Republican allies called it 'productive.'... Mr. Trump had no hostile words for the opposition.... He designated Vice President Mike Pence, Kirstjen Nielsen, the Homeland Security secretary, and Jared Kushner..., the president's son-in-law and senior adviser to meet with congressional representatives this weekend."

How do you impeach a president who has won perhaps the greatest election of all time, done nothing wrong (no Collusion with Russia, it was the Dems that Colluded), had the most successful first two years of any president, and is the most popular Republican in party history 93%? -- Donald Trump, in a tweet this morning

I did not lift this from the Onion; this is a real tweet Trump wrote this morning. It represents either (a) one purposeful lie after another, or (b) grounds to immediately invoke the Twentyfifth Amendment. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Jonathan Chait: "Basic facts about Trump's life, which would have been thoroughly plumbed were he any other presidential candidate, are only starting to be investigated.... One reason Trump has escaped scrutiny, of course, is that he has withheld his tax returns.... Trump has an obvious motive to conceal his decades of dependency on his father's largesse, as well as the apparent role played by Russian money laundering in replacing those cash infusions after his father's money ran out.... Measured in absolute terms, or against other candidates, Trump was subject to harsh, unrelenting scrutiny. But measured against the scale of his own dark past, he skated into office with barely any vetting at all, abetted by decades of friendly propaganda.... The review of Trump's life is only beginning now. It will probably tell us that Trump is not merely a politician who has abused his power, or a businessman who has cut corners. He is a criminal who happened to be elected president." Thanks to MAG for the link.

Nancy Cook of Politico: "... Donald Trump's new acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, is already putting his stamp on the West Wing after just a few days on the job. While his recently departed predecessor, Gen. John Kelly, often tried to restrain ... Donald Trump, Mulvaney -- who has said he won&'t seek to be a check on the impulsive president -- has been egging on the president in his confrontation with congressional Democrats over a border wall."

Peter Whoriskey & Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "While many federal workers go without pay and the government is partially shut down, hundreds of senior Trump political appointees are poised to receive annual raises of about $10,000 a year. The pay raises for cabinet secretaries, deputy secretaries, top administrators and even Vice President Mike Pence are scheduled to go into effect beginning Jan. 5 without legislation to stop them.... The raises appear to be an intended consequence of the shutdown: When lawmakers failed to pass bills on Dec. 21 to fund multiple federal agencies, they allowed an existing pay freeze to lapse.... Cabinet secretaries, for example, would be entitled to a jump in annual salary from $199,700 to $210,700."

Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "Hours after she was sworn in to Congress, Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib used an expletive Thursday in pushing for impeaching ... Donald Trump. Speaking to a crowd at an event sponsored by the progressive group MoveOn, Tlaib recalled the moment she won her election in November. 'And when your son looks at you and says, "Mama look, you won. Bullies don't win," and I said, "Baby, they don't," because we're gonna go in there and we're going to impeach the motherf[ucke]r,' Tlaib said Thursday, speaking of Trump...." ...

... Leigh Ann Caldwell of NBC News: "... Nancy Pelosi on Friday shied away from moving forward with impeachment at this time, calling it a 'divisive' option and saying that a colleague's use of an expletive to describe ... Donald Trump was no 'worse' than some of the language the president himself has used. 'I do think that we want to be unified and bring people together. Impeachment is a very divisive approach to take and we shouldn't take it ... without the facts,' Pelosi said during an MSNBC town hall at Trinity University in Washington, her alma mater."

James Arkin of Politico: "Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) announced Friday that he will retire in 2020 instead of running for reelection. Roberts, 82, has served four terms in the Senate and last won reelection in 2014 after facing a bruising Republican primary."

*****

Julie Davis of the New York Times: "On a day of pomp and pageantry, ebullient Democrats assumed control of the House on Thursday and elected Representative Nancy Pelosi of California to be speaker, returning her to a historic distinction as the first woman to hold the post at the pinnacle of power in Congress, second in line to the presidency. The investiture of Ms. Pelosi, whose talent for legislative maneuvering is surpassed only by her skill at keeping her fractious party in line, placed her at the fulcrum of divided government opposite an increasingly combative President Trump. With Mr. Trump, his presidential campaign and his businesses all under federal and state investigations, her handling of him will likely define the 116th Congress." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Paul Krugman schools Pelosi on deficit spending. "... while fiscal prudence is always necessary, for Democrats to put spending in a straitjacket -- especially when Republicans have shown themselves completely irresponsible -- looks like a bad move."

Burgess Everett & Sarah Ferris of Politico: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday used her first day in power to attempt to end a government shutdown that's lurching into its third week while denying any new money for ... Donald Trump's border wall. Just before 10 p.m., the Democrat-controlled House voted to fully fund nearly all of the government agencies that have been shuttered since Dec. 22. The House also voted to temporarily fund the Department of Homeland Security.... On Thursday afternoon the White House officially issued a veto threat, and the president also held an event with the National Border Patrol Council [-- the border patrol agents' union --] at the White House, during which the president said he's 'never had so much support as I've [had] in the last week over my stance for border security.'" Mrs. McC: The report doesn't say so, but according to MSNBC, a handful of House Republicans voted with Democrats to fund the government. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The "event," which Trump inexplicably held in the Brady press briefing room -- a venue into which he has never stepped before but where he nevertheless refused to take questions from the hastily-assembled press, who thought they were there to be briefed on something -- was a stunt requiring all of the extras to shave their heads:

     ... Mrs. McC, Ctd: This was a clown show, people. I expected, at the very least, to see some acrobatics. But nothing. Maybe the Screen Extras Guild wouldn't let them perform without pay, shutdown or not. ...

     ... Dara Lind of Vox: "... Donald Trump's hastily called 'press conference' on Thursday afternoon ... was less a press conference, in the traditional sense, than a way for Trump to signal-boost a politically helpful message. And that message, delivered by Brandon Judd, Art Del Cueto, and Hector Garza of the National Border Patrol Council (the union representing Border Patrol agents) was this: Border Patrol agents are willing to keep the government shut down for as long as it takes to get the money Trump wants for his border wall -- even if that means they have to continue working without pay. Generally, a public sector union would hardly be expected to make a public appearance urging Congress not to pass a bill that would start paying their salaries again. But Judd and the other leaders of the National Border Patrol Council aren't your typical public sector union -- and have now become, by all appearances, closer allies to Trump than some of his appointed officials.... It's worth noting that National Border Patrol Council executives get paid salaries by the union.... The executives have something of a cushion; their members do not." ...

... The Faux Presidency. Steve M: "[T]he president ... had a message, and he brought along guests to deliver it: Why these agents? Well, Fox News frequently hosts [Brandon] Judd, [Art] Del Cueto, and [Hector] Garza -- go to the links to read Fox stories and see Fox clips.... Also, curiously, Judd doesn't even work on the southern border anymore, according to the Times -- he's stationed in Montana.... So this was just Fox News in the White House briefing room, nothing more." --s ...

     ... The Bald Head of Courage. Mrs. McCrabbie: Looks as if President* I-Know-More-Than-the-Generals is replacing his ersatz admiration for chestfuls of brass to crazy bald-headed Border Patrol union leaders. This would be one area where Trump actually shows his "populism." Generals of course are at the top of the food chain & most are highly-educated in matters military. The Border Patrol, on the other hand, is kind of a dumping ground for law enforcement applicants who don't qualify for more prestigious jobs at the FBI, Secret Service, etc. Agents are not required to have college degrees. Of course by "populism" here, we mean people who support Trump, not people Trump supports.

... Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) warned reporters on Thursday that the partial government shutdown could last for the 'long haul' with no clear way out in sight. '... I don't see any quick resolution to this,' Shelby told reporters. Shelby separately told reporters that the shutdown could last for 'months and months.'... 'My personal preference [is] we already would have had all these bills done as you well know.... Right now, let's see what happens. At the moment things don't look good, as far as reaching a resolution,' Shelby added." ...

... BUT. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Republican unity on the partial government shutdown is starting to crack in the face a tough election map in 2020 and no end in sight to the standoff that has hobbled key departments and agencies. At least three Senate Republicans on Thursday called on Congress to move on legislation to reopen federal agencies -- or as many as possible -- that have been shuttered since Dec. 22.... Mitch McConnell< (R-Ky.) has declared any legislation passed by the House to fully reopen federal agencies will be a non-starter in the Senate but he may have trouble keeping all his troops in line."Sens. Cory Gardner (Colo.), Susan Collins (Me.), Shelly Capito (W. Va.) & Mike Rounds (S.D.) all suggested ways the government, or most of the shuttered departments, could reopen soon. ...

... AND Sheryl Stolberg & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "... [Mitch] McConnell for the first time is facing pressure from members of his own party to step in to resolve the stalemate that has left 800,000 federal workers either furloughed or working without pay. By absenting himself, Mr. McConnell had hoped to push the blame for a prolonged shutdown onto Democrats while protecting Republicans running for re-election in 2020 -- including himself.... He has repeatedly said he will not bring up legislation that Mr. Trump does not support -- a point he reiterated in a speech on Thursday on the Senate floor.... After two years of trying to advance Mr. Trump's agenda, Mr. McConnell now sees his primary job as standing in the way of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who vowed in her inaugural speech on Thursday to 'reach across the aisle in this chamber.'..." ...

... AND Jordain Carney: "Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on Thursday that a House package to fully reopen the government could pass the Senate -- if Republicans would give it a vote.... Schumer blamed Trump on Thursday for the partial shutdown and questioned why senators should let 'a temper tantrum determine how we vote.'" ...

... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Ari Melber of MSNBC, in noting that Trump promised Mexico would pay for the wall, said, "This has to be the first time in history a president shut down the government over his own broken promise." (paraphrase) No link. ...

... Campbell Robertson, et al., of the New York Times: "By Saturday, the federal government will have been shut down for two weeks, a full pay cycle for federal workers. If the shutdown lasts through Monday, it will surpass the one of 2013, and if it lasts beyond the following Saturday, it will be the longest shutdown in United States history. Politicians have said they were hopeful that the standoff could be over in a matter of 'days and weeks,' a reassurance that rang hollow to hundreds of thousands of federal workers who were not getting paid.... Nearly all of those affected, the contractors, furloughed employees and employees who were working without pay, were experiencing a growing, gnawing anxiety.... The impasse may be centered within a few blocks in Washington, D.C., but the federal work force shouldering the burden is spread across the country.... Less-populated areas may be hit disproportionately hard, including small towns such as Pollock, La., where the biggest employer is a federal penitentiary.... In addition to the federal workers, thousands of people who work for contractors -- cleaning offices or serving food -- are missing wages, but are not considered in proposed legislation that promises back pay once a deal is worked out." ...

I was in the White House all by myself for six or seven days. It was very lonely. My family was down in Florida. I said stay there and enjoy yourself.... I was here on Christmas evening. I was all by myself in the White House. It's a big, big house -- except for the guys on the lawn with machine guns.... But I was all alone with the machine gunners.... [My job would be] a lot easier if I just relaxed and enjoyed the presidency like a lot of other people have done. -- Donald Trump, Wednesday ...

... Annie Karni of the New York Times: "The one thing President Trump has not talked about publicly during 13 days of the partial government shutdown is the 800,000 federal workers who are not being paid because of it. Mr. Trump's apparent indifference to the Transportation Security Administration agents, correctional officers, scientists and other federal employees caught in the cross hairs of a political standoff presents a remarkable contrast with how other presidents have made a point of trying to demonstrate their empathy during other shutdowns. In 2013, for instance, President Barack Obama wrote an open letter to the workers affected when the government was closed. 'None of this is fair to you,' he wrote, adding, 'You and your families remain at the front of my mind.'... Mr. Trump's one mention of government employees in his daily Twitter blasts in recent weeks made it that clear he viewed many of them as a hostile force, part of the 'deep state' he and his supporters mistrust. 'Do the Dems realize that most of the people not getting paid are Democrats?' Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter last week." ...

... William Saletan of Slate on Trump's "explanations" for the shutdown. Funny, in a pathetic sort of way, more so if you're not directly affected by this particular manifestation of Trump's caprice.

They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people. -- Donald Trump, announcing his candidacy for president in 2015 ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump has shut down the government in a melodramatic effort to blackmail Congress into sending him unnecessary billions, supposedly to deter immigrants (but actually to boost his re-election chances). Because undocumented immigrants are such a threat to Americans. Oh, wait. Except those who work for him: ...

... Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: "A former employee of the Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey said that her name was removed from a list of workers to be vetted by the Secret Service after she reminded management that she was unlawfully in the United States, the latest worker to assert that supervisors at the elite resort were aware that some members of their work force were undocumented.... Emma Torres ... said that she told a human resources employee, whose name she does not know, that she did not have legal status. She said that the woman replied, '"It's O.K. No problem." She scratched me off the list,' [but did not terminate Torres or other undocumented workers at the club]. The Bedminster golf club has recently terminated several workers who were determined to be ineligible to work in the country, according to several people familiar with the matter, following a New York Times report that revealed that immigrants who presented false documents were knowingly kept on the payroll, sometimes for years. A lawyer representing the women has met with investigators from the New Jersey attorney general's office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, presenting what he said was evidence that managers at the golf club knew that some workers were in the country illegally, and that at least one supervisor helped an employee obtain forged working documents." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I assume these Bedminister employees are the "good people"; not the criminals & rapists.

That Crazy "Cabinet Meeting"

Today's Presidential* Mystery. Who Has Donald's Ear? Rachel Maddow Is on the Case. Maddow, as is her wont, devoted two segments to this mystery, but the answer to the question, as yet a secret, is worth discovering. In yesterday's Commentariat, we linked Aaron Blake's take on Trump's "bizarre" aside during his rambling "Cabinet meeting" Wednesday on the history of the Soviet Union's disastrous war in Afghanistan. But, as Maddow pointed out, Trump's weird take precisely mirrors the Kremlin's new revisionist history of its "reason" for its war of aggression in Afghanistan: mythical Afghan terrorists sneaking into Russian territory. Then Maddow noted two other instances in which Trump, out of nowhere again, mimicked obscure Russian talking points, talking points at odd with, um, facts: (1) a claim he made this past summer that Montenegro was likely to start World War III because Montenegrans are "very aggressive people." (1) Right after he took office, the AP reported that the Trump administration was concerned about Poland's invading Belarus, another made-up piece of Russian propaganda. Clearly, somebody is feeding Trump Kremlin spin. No link. ...

... ** "To See Oursels as Ithers See Us!" Terry Glavin of Macleans (Canada) on Trump's claim that the Soviet Union was right to invade Afghanistan. Mrs. McC: This is a refreshing take on, well, us. The column begins, "It's been two years since a reality-television mogul, billionaire real estate grifter and sleazy beauty-pageant impresario who somehow ended up on the Republican ticket in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, failed to win the popular vote but fluked his way into the White House anyhow by means of an antique back-door anomaly peculiar to the American political system known as the Electoral College. We're now at the half-way mark of Donald Trump's term in the White House, and the relentless hum of his casual imbecilities, obscenities, banalities and outright fabrications has become so routine to the world's daily dread that it is now just background noise in the ever-louder bedlam of America's dystopian, freak-show political culture." ...

... Professor Juan Cole Schools the Presidunce: "'A Commentary on the words that spewed from Trump's mouth at his news conference during a cabinet meeting on January 2, 2019,' or, 'A Ph.D. who has been teaching at a public Ivy since 1984 is forced to spend his time chasing the rabid ferrets running around in the head of a decrepit reality t.v. star whom my compatriots in their wisdom made president'" --s ...

... Steve Benen: "About halfway through Donald Trump's odd cabinet meeting at the White House [Wednesday], Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker delivered some brief, gushing remarks about his deep admiration for his boss. 'Sir, Mr. President,' Whitaker said, 'I will start by highlighting the fact that you stayed in Washington, D.C. over the holidays, giving up Christmas with your family, New Year's with your family, trying to bring an end to this shutdown and security to our southern border, while members of Congress ... went on vacation and ignored the problem.'... But the president didn't spend late December 'trying to bring an end to this shutdown.' Rather, he spent the holidays tweeting and watching television. Trump could've held negotiations, called Congress to return to session, or worked the phones with lawmakers, trying to work out a deal, but he didn't do any of these things. In fact, there's no evidence of him doing any meaningful work on the issue at all." ...

... Chris Cillizza of CNN: "Like much of Trump's presidency, the [Cabinet] event felt entirely free-form -- as if Trump was making all of it up as he went. He seemed to support the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, proclaimed that he would have made a good military general and spouted falsehoods at an alarming rate -- even for him. I went through the transcript of the question-and-answer portion of Trump's Cabinet meeting and picked out the most, uh, noteworthy lines." Mrs. McC: Chris Cillizza is far from a serious guy, but compared to Trump, Cillizza is the Sage of Mount Washingtonia. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ...

... Susan Glasser of the New Yorker: "... in general, Washington these days is hardly a town for optimists.... And how could it be, in this opening to the third year of Trump's Presidency?... Trump sent out a New Year's message on Tuesday that conveyed less year-opening enthusiasm than it did a warning about the crazy times to come.... On January 2nd, he convened a Cabinet meeting that seemed fully in keeping with his promise of a wild ride, offering an unscripted, extended look at a Presidency in meltdown mode.... The President's long discourse was a grievance-filled litany that offered little in the way of comfort for optimists of any party...."

Drumpy by the Numbers. Ryan Koronoswki of ThinkProgress: "Here is the truth of how the Trump administration is doing, looking at the numbers.... America's trade deficit hit $55.5 billion in October, rising almost a billion dollars from September. This is a ten-year high.... For the first time in almost a decade, the rate of uninsured children in the United States increased.... 276,000 more kids didn't have coverage in 2017 than in 2016, raising the total to 3.9 million.... Zero miles of new wall have been completed.... [Trump] also signed legislation opening up 1.5 million acres in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil exploration. This paired with some additional public lands changes ... adds up to 3.3 million acres which lost protections.... [A] Pew survey found that 70 percent of people across the globe said they lacked confidence in Trump&'s ability to do the right thing in world affairs.... Obama's rating [was] 64 percent at the end.... [I]n 2018, more coal-fired electricity generation capacity will be shut down than ever before -- 15.4 gigawatts, to be precise.... [T]here are actually 17 total investigations targeting Trump and his businesses[.]" --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Alan Yuhas of the New York Times: "Mexico has asked the United States for an investigation into American border officers' actions along the nations' shared border, two days after agents near San Diego used tear gas, smoke and pepper spray to repel a group of migrants trying to cross into the United States. On Thursday, Mexico's Foreign Ministry said it sent a diplomatic note to the United States Embassy about two episodes, on Jan. 1 and Nov. 25, in which American agents sent tear gas into Mexico near San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. The note requested 'a thorough investigation' and 'deplores the occurrence of any sort of violent act on the border with Mexico,' the ministry said in a statement. Mexican officials also repeated their 'commitment to safeguard the human rights and safety of all migrants,' and said they would hold a meeting with the United States Department of Homeland Security and the Border Violence Prevention Council, a joint American-Mexican body meant to prevent violence at the border." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The first thing I thought when I read about U.S. Border Patrol agents firing tear gas into Mexico was, "Why is the Mexican government putting up with this? This is a violent, weaponized foreign attack on their country." Apparently, the new government agrees with me.

Matt Zapotosky, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department's public integrity section is examining whether newly departed Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke lied to his agency's inspector general investigators, according to three people familiar with the matter, a potential criminal violation that would exacerbate Zinke's legal woes. Zinke, who left the Trump administration Wednesday, was facing two inspector general inquiries tied to his real estate dealings in his home state of Montana and his involvement in reviewing a proposed casino project by Native American tribes in Connecticut. In the course of that work, inspector general investigators came to believe Zinke had lied to them, and they referred the matter to the Justice Department to consider whether any laws were violated.... The Justice Department's interest in the matter is significant, signaling prosecutors felt Zinke's account was suspect and warranted further scrutiny. Department officials have not yet decided, though, whether he should face charges, people familiar with the matter said."

Clean-up Ops. Margaret Talev & Nick Wadhams of Bloomberg: "Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton plan to crisscross the Middle East to reassure nervous U.S. allies after ... Donald Trump's surprise withdrawal from Syria and Jim Mattis's resignation as defense secretary.... The two men face allies worried that Trump is ceding influence in the Middle East to Iran after his announcement that he'd remove U.S. military forces from Syria -- apparently a snap decision made during a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan." ...

... Thomas Gibbons-Neff & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The Trump administration is considering Jim Webb, a former Democratic senator and Reagan-era secretary of the Navy, to be the next defense secretary, according to three officials, potentially bypassing more hawkish Republicans whose names have been floated to replace Jim Mattis. Mr. Webb, an outspoken opponent of the Iraq war, is being considered as President Trump seeks to carry out campaign promises to withdraw American troops from Syria and Afghanistan.... How seriously he is being considered was unclear...."

Ben Schreckinger of Politico: "A pair of senior Senate Democrats are threatening to block the Trump administration's invitation of a sanctioned Russian official to visit the U.S. The threats -- from Sens. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Robert Menendez of New Jersey -- come in response to a recent Politico report about NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine's invitation to his Russian counterpart to visit Houston and speak at Rice University some time early this year.... The sanctioned official, Dmitry Rogozin, currently leads the Russian space agency, Roscosmos and previously served as deputy prime minister. He is among several Russian officials barred from entering the country under sanctions imposed by the Obama administration for their role in Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea. Rogozin is also an ultranationalist infamous at home and abroad for racist, homophobic and harsh anti-American rhetoric." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Why are we not surprised by Bridenstine's invitation to a racist, homophobic nationalist? Here's an excerpt from Sen. Patty Murray's (D-Wash.) floor speech opposing Bridenstine's confirmation to head NASA:

Rep. Bridenstine has openly expressed his opposition to the rights of LGBTQ individuals, immigrants, and women. In a May 2013 speech, he suggested that LGBTQ people were immoral, stating, 'some of us in America still believe in the concept of sexual morality.' And in response to the Supreme Court's marriage equality ruling in 2013, he stated that he would keep fighting for 'traditional marriage.' Rep. Bridenstine has a history of supporting anti-Muslim groups and has consistently defended a number of President Trump's discriminatory policies on immigration, including the Muslim Travel Ban. He defended President Trump's comments about sexually assaulting women, saying they were 'locker room talk.' He has gone on shows and stages to stand with bigots and racists -- not to debate with them, but to agree with them. -- Sen. Patty Murray, April 18, 2018

Josh Lederman of NBC News: "On the first day of the new Senate, top Republicans are pushing back on President Trump's move to >withdraw all U.S. troops from Syria with a bill imposing new sanctions on the country and boosting security cooperation with neighboring Israel and Jordan. Although Congress can't force the commander-in-chief to keep troops in Syria, Senate aides say the move is designed to illustrate the need for a strong, continuing U.S. presence in the Middle East and re-assert the role of Congress on national security.... Senate Bill 1, introduced Thursday by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is being co-sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and incoming Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch of Idaho. It's expected to be considered under what's known as Rule 14, which lets a bill bypass the time-consuming committee process and head directly to the Senate floor. Senate officials say they expect it to be one of the first pieces of business taken up by the new Senate."

Ed Kilgore: In the wake of Republican Senate Judiciary Committee members' disastrous performances during the Kavanaugh hearings, "Republicans hastened to supply some gender balance -- or cover, depending on how you look at it -- from the slim ranks of Republican women. They've placed Iowa's Joni Ernst and Tennessee's Marsha Blackburn on the committee. What Ernst and Blackburn ... bring to the table other than gender diversity are two assets: unquestioned party loyalty (Ernst recently joined the Senate GOP leadership, and Blackburn was in the House leadership) and a fervent commitment to the cause of outlawing abortion." Read on for their horrifying anti-abortion creds.

Linda Greenhouse: "Perhaps you haven't realized that the Supreme Court’s disinclination to expand on its landmark 2008 decision creating an individual right to gun ownership means that the justices are treating the Second Amendment as a 'second-class right.' A 'watered-down right.' A 'disfavored right.' If you are unaware of these outlandish claims, then you haven't tuned into the rising chorus of judicial voices demanding more from the Supreme Court than gun fanciers already won in that intensely disputed 5-to-4 decision a decade ago, District of Columbia v. Heller.... Justice Thomas ... has taken up the phrase ['second-class-right'] as a weapon, using it in a series of opinions over the past four years to accuse his colleagues of failing in their duty to keep pushing back against limitations on gun ownership and use.... On his former court, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Justice Kavanaugh took an aggressive gun-rights position.... The Supreme Court's appetite for expanding the Second Amendment, if such an appetite develops, will be wildly out of sync with the mood of the country.&"

Kevin Rawlinson of the Guardian: "The former US marine who is being held in Moscow on charges of spying is a British citizen, it has emerged. Paul Whelan, who is thought to be facing 20 years in a Russian prison if convicted, was initially thought to be American, but was revealed to be a dual national on Thursday evening. The UK Foreign Office said: 'Our staff have requested consular access to a British man detained in Russia after receiving a request for assistance from him.'... The US ambassador to Russia, Jon Huntsman, met Whelan at Lefortovo prison, the former KGB facility where he is being held, the same day.... Whelan works for a Michigan-based car parts supplier and, according to the Rosbalt news agency, was arrested shortly after receiving a USB drive containing a classified list of names." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Hmmm. Wonder if this dual-citizenship thing will change any plans Trump might have had to quickly trade Whelan for Maria Butina, the Russian who is cooperating with U.S. authorities & might implicate the NRA & other Trump supporters in criminal acts.

Beyond the Beltway

Zak Cheney-Rice of New York: "Voters dissatisfied with their local prosecutors -- who in several high-profile cases have shielded police from accountability by declining to charge them for killing unarmed black boys and men -- have sent old officials packing in favor of more reform-minded replacements. New top prosecutors in places like Cook County, Illinois, and Orange and Osceola Counties, Florida, have taken office on vows to curtail their predecessors' more punitive practices, especially concerning black and brown people. Nowhere was this more apparent than in St. Louis County, Missouri, where former-Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch guided a grand jury into declining charges against Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson for killing Michael Brown, a black teenager, in 2014. In August, McCulloch was primaried into early retirement by Wesley Bell, a fellow Democrat and black former Ferguson city councilman.... Since his swearing in on Tuesday, he has wasted little time demonstrating his intentions to fulfill his promise to 'fundamentally change the culture' of the office that his predecessor held for 27 years."

Florida. Casey Quilan of ThinkProgress: "A state-appointed commission investigating last year's school shooting in Parkland, Florida has issued a report that includes a recommendation to arm teachers [and install bulletproof glass]. The commission unanimously approved the report Wednesday.... An FBI study of 163 instances of mass shootings found that only one shooting was stopped by one armed person, compared to 21 shootings that were stopped by unarmed people.... Some of the other recommendations in the commission's report include mandatory lockdown training for teachers, increasing taxes to raise funds for more school security, doors that lock from the inside, safe areas for students to hide, and bulletproof glass on school windows." --s

Illinois. "Chicago Politics." Big Fish, Big Pond. Jason Meisner of the Chicago Tribune: "Longtime Ald. Edward Burke, one of Chicago's most powerful figures and a vestige of the city's old Democratic machine, has ... been ... charged ... with attempted extortion for allegedly using his position as alderman to try to steer business to his private law firm from a company seeking to renovate a fast-food restaurant in his ward. The charge carries a maximum of 20 years in prison.... The [federal criminal] complaint also alleged Burke asked one of the company's executives in December 2017 to attend an upcoming political fundraiser for 'another politician.' Sources identified the politician as Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who is running for Chicago mayor.... Prosecutors revealed during [a] 10-minute [bond] hearing [Thursday] that the FBI found 23 guns in the raids on Burke's City Hall and ward offices in November."

Maine. What a Difference a Democrat Makes. Joe Lawlor of the Portland Press Herald: "Gov. Janet Mills signed an executive order Thursday to expand Medicaid, fulfilling a campaign vow that ends the long delays imposed by the fervent opposition of her Republican predecessor, Paul LePage. More than 70,000 Mainers will be eligible for MaineCare health insurance under the expansion. Mills, who had promised to act on 'day one' of her administration, was sworn into office Wednesday evening and signed 'Executive Order 1' on Thursday.... 'More than a year ago, the people of Maine voted to expand Medicaid. Today, my administration is taking the long-awaited steps to fulfill their will,' Mills, a Democrat, said in a written statement." ...

... Eric Russell of the Portland Press Herald: "Paul LePage's last-minute pardon as governor of a former Republican lawmaker from Dresden for a drug trafficking conviction 35 years ago went against the recommendation of his own board on executive clemency. In fact, the board didn't even schedule a public hearing before rejecting the pardon request of Jeffrey Pierce, which makes LePage's decision even more unusual, said Lenny Sharon, an Auburn attorney who served on the board for 23 years. 'I've never seen it happen,' Sharon said. Other pardons were issued by LePage during his final days in office. It's possible that some were done in the same manner as Pierce's, but there is no way of knowing because Maine law was updated last year to make all pardon decisions confidential." Read on to see why the clemency board disapproved Pierce's application.

News Lede

New York Times: "The Labor Department released its official hiring and unemployment figures for December on Friday morning, offering the latest picture of the American economy. 312,000 jobs were added last month. Wall Street analysts had anticipated an increase of about 180,000.... The unemployment rate rose to 3.9 percent. November's jobless rate was 3.7 percent.... The average hourly wage rose by 3.2 percent from a year earlier.... In the last couple of months, as stocks swayed and concern over the prospect of a recession ensued, the labor market was relatively steady. And December's numbers ended the year with a flourish.... And the unemployment rate seems to have risen for good reasons -- more people are being drawn into the job market, perhaps because of higher wages."