The Commentariat -- July 2, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Lachlan Markay & Asawin Suebsaeng of The Daily Beast: "In the aftermath of last week's deadly assault on Annapolis, Maryland's Capital Gazette newsroom, President Donald Trump seemed annoyed. In conversations with those close to him, the president casually aired a complaint and a prediction -- that 'the fake news' would 'unfair[ly]' try to blame him and his demagoguing of the adversarial news coverage for the mass shooting, according to two advisers...." --safari

Uh-Oh. George Stephanopoulos of ABC News: "Michael Cohen -- ... Donald Trump's longtime personal attorney and a former executive vice president at the Trump Organization -- has always insisted he would remain loyal to the president.... But in his first in-depth interview since the FBI raided his office and homes in April, Cohen strongly signaled his willingness to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller and federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York -- even if that puts President Trump in jeopardy. 'My wife, my daughter and my son have my first loyalty and always will,' Cohen told me. 'I put family and country first.'" ...

... Betty Cracker of Balloon Juice on the news that Elliott Broidy has chosen to discontinue hush money payments to Shera Bechard (story by Paul Campos linked below): "If in fact Trump rather than Broidy knocked Bechard up and subsequently paid for her abortion, that could prove awkward as the Trump administration seats an anti-choice judge on the Supreme Court. I mean, there's no mass of hypocrisy too large for white evangelicals to swallow in ritual idolatry for their absurd and lumpy Orange Calf, but damn." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: For what it's worth, I think the Cohen interview & Broidy story are tied. Campos couldn't figure out why Broidy would decide to breach his agreement. BUT IF (1) Broidy had received a heads-up that Cohen was about to sing, & (2) Trump was "the real father" in the Bechard affair, THEN Broidy has little incentive to keep paying out on the Bechard charade, since Cohen -- who most likely knows the real story -- would soon be blowing up the Broidy-daddy hoax. It shouldn't make much difference to Broidy who spills the beans -- Bechard or Cohen.

Jeff Horwitz & Maria Danilova of the AP: Konstantin "Kilimnik, an elusive figure now indicted alongside [Paul] Manafort on witness tampering charges, was far more involved in formulating pro-Russia political strategy with Manafort than previously known, according to internal memos and other business records obtained by the AP.... Kilimnik -- who special counsel Robert Mueller believes is currently in Russia and has ties to Russian intelligence -- helped formulate Manafort's pitches to clients in Russia and Ukraine, according to the records." Kilimnik has continued to help Manafort as recently as April of this year.

Trump Doesn't Care if the Markets Tank. Matthew Belvedere of CNBC: "Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNBC on Monday that there's no level on the downside in the stock market that would alter the way ... Donald Trump approaches trade." Mrs. McC: What this means is that Trump & his family don't have much money in the markets. ...

... Ginger Gibson of Reuters: "The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation's largest business lobbying group and customarily a close ally of ... Donald Trump's Republican Party, is launching a campaign on Monday to oppose Trump's trade tariff policies. The new campaign, detailed first to Reuters, will provide an analysis of the financial hit each U.S. state stands take from potential retaliation to Trump's tariffs. It argues that Trump is risking a global trade war that will hit the wallets of U.S. consumers."

Katrin Bennhold of the New York Times: Donald "Trump's Ancestral Village Abounds With His Relatives. Few Will Admit It. 'Practically half the village is [related to Donald Trump],' chuckled Kallstadt[, Germany]'s mayor, Thomas Jaworek, before quickly adding: 'I'm not.' Both of Mr. Trump's paternal grandparents, Friedrich and Elisabeth Trump, were born in Kallstadt, home now to 1,200 inhabitants."

Monetizing Melanie. Andrew W. Lehren, et al., of NBC News: "Since her husband took office Melania Trump has earned six figures from an unusual deal with a photo agency in which major media organizations have indirectly paid the Trump family despite a requirement that the photos be used only in positive coverage.... Donald Trump's most recent financial disclosure reveals that in 2017 the first lady earned at least $100,000 from Getty Images for the use of any of a series of 187 photos of the first family shot between 2010 and 2016 by Belgian photographer Regine Mahaux.... [The agreement is] very unusual for the wife of a currently serving elected official. More problematic for the many news organizations that have published or broadcast the images however, is that Getty's licensing agreement stipulates the pictures can be used in 'positive stories only.'" Several news organizations took the pictures off their Websites when they learned of the for-profi agreement. Mrs. McC: The whole Trump family is incredibly sleazy. But you knew that.

Jennifer Rubin has a message for Susan Collins: "it's almost certainly true that a nominee able to pass muster with the Federalist Society and Trump is, in fact, going to vote to overturn Roe.... It should not be more complicated than this: Voting for a nominee on the Trump list (either the original 20, or the wider 25) opens the door to the criminalization of abortion.... [Collins also said Sunday she] "'strongly disagreed with [Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's] decision to not proceed with a vote on President [Barack] Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland,' but of course she ratified that strategy when she voted for Justice Neil M. Gorsuch."

Bruce Shreiner of TPM: "Gov. Matt Bevin's administration is cutting dental and vision coverage for nearly a half-million Kentuckians after his Medicaid overhaul plan was rejected in court. The state Cabinet for Health and Family Services calls the cuts an 'unfortunate consequence' of Friday's ruling by a federal judge.... Bevin's administration sought to place the blame squarely on the judge. The ruling means there is no longer a 'legal mechanism' in place to pay for dental and vision coverage for about 460,000 Medicaid beneficiaries, the state's health and family services cabinet said in a weekend statement." --safari

Katrin Bennhold & Melissa Eddy: "Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany struggled to keep her government together on Monday, after her rebellious Bavarian interior minister first threatened to resign, then backtracked, and finally gave her a second ultimatum on creating a hard border with Austria to stem the flow of migrants. The clash between the chancellor and the minister, Horst Seehofer, who is also the leader of the Bavarian conservatives in Ms. Merkel's coalition, escalated late Sunday, after eight hours of talks failed to resolve a standoff over a policy that would affect relatively few migrants but has become deeply political. Failure to end the stalemate could topple Ms. Merkel's government and even end her long run as chancellor."

Dominic Patten of Deadline: "Already facing rape and criminal sex act charges and a potential 25-years behind bars, Harvey Weinstein today was hit with even heavier legal weight from the Manhattan D.A. -- that could see him in jail for life. 'A Manhattan Grand Jury has now indicted Harvey Weinstein on some of the most serious sexual offenses that exist under New York's Penal Law,' said District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. today."

*****

Charles Blow: "Trump is like a drug dealer who has addicted his followers to fear and rage and keeps supplying it in constant doses. His supporters have become rage-junkies for whom he can do no wrong." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Blow has got that right. So one should not be surprised that, "Researchers found a geographic relationship between support for Trump and prescriptions for opioid painkillers." ...

People who reach for an opioid might also reach for ... near-term fixes. I think that Donald Trump's campaign was a promise for near-term relief. -- Dr. Nancy E. Morden

Christopher Dickey of The Daily Beast: "[A]s of this moment we still have a system of government that might save us from the increasingly dangerous trends of the Trump era. But the moment is fast approaching when that will no longer be possible.... History is full of precedents.... But ... There are cautionary ones all around us in the present. From Venezuela and Nicaragua to Turkey and Egypt to Russia and the Philippines we've seen presidents use their initial popularity to tear apart the institutions that might have checked their power.... The real estate shyster in [Trump] does not believe in a nation of laws, but of lawyers who, if you pay them enough, will allow you to do just about anything. The messianic huckster that he's become just makes up 'facts,' then finds to his amusement that his faithful followers believe them. The innate bigot in him believes minorities should remain minorities, and preferably powerless ones, forever. And, perversely, as a 'reality' television star he discovered he could stitch all those elements together and people would find them, yes, entertaining." --safari

The TrumpenCourt. Jeff Toobin of the New Yorker: "The whole purpose of Trump's Supreme Court selection process has been to eliminate the possibility of nominating someone who might commit Kennedy's perfidies of moderation.... [Here's] what, if such a nominee is confirmed, a new majority will do. It will overrule Roe v. Wade, allowing states to ban abortions and to criminally prosecute any physicians and nurses who perform them. It will allow shopkeepers, restaurateurs, and hotel owners to refuse service to gay customers on religious grounds. It will guarantee that fewer African-American and Latino students attend élite universities. It will approve laws designed to hinder voting rights. It will sanction execution by grotesque means. It will invoke the Second Amendment to prohibit states from engaging in gun control, including the regulation of machine guns and bump stocks. And these are just the issues that draw the most attention." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Perhaps the most sickening part of all this is that Trump isn't nominating wingers out of any ideological belief. He's doing so, as Toobin writes, because "He recognized that evangelicals and their political allies would overlook his vulgar demeanor if he pledged to give them the judges they wanted." Trump is taking away the rights of ordinary Americans for his own personal benefit & for no other reason. ...

... E.J. Dionne: "When Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy announced his retirement, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) quickly tweeted: 'This is the fight of our lives.'... The future of abortion rights is central to the coming battle. But so are civil rights, corporate power and our democratic capacity to correct social injustices. Conservatives should not be allowed to distract attention from the aspects of their agenda that would horrify even many who voted for Donald Trump." ...

The existing Court's assault on voting rights, collective bargaining, and religious liberty is awful enough -- just imagine how bad working people will have it if another right-wing justice joins the Court. This is a red alert moment for the American people -- we need all hands on deck to stop the Court from taking a vicious, anti-worker, anti-women, anti-LGBT, anti-civil rights turn. -- Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Ct.) ...

... Heather Long of the Washington Post: "Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a key swing vote on President Trump's next Supreme Court pick, said Sunday that she would not vote for any judge who wanted to end access to abortion in the United States by overturning Roe v. Wade. 'I would not support a nominee who demonstrated hostility to Roe v. Wade,' Collins said Sunday on CNN's 'State of the Union,' adding that Roe v. Wade established abortion as a 'constitutional right.' In another appearance, on ABC News's 'This Week,' Collins said that any judge who wants to overturn Roe has an 'activist agenda' that she thinks goes against the fundamental tenets of U.S. law and the Constitution." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Hear Susan talk. Hear Susan hem and haw. See Susan fold. ...

... A Reminder of What Janus Was Really About. Noam Scheiber of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court decision striking down mandatory union fees for government workers was not only a blow to unions. It will also hit hard at a vast network of groups dedicated to advancing liberal policies and candidates.... onservatives have acknowledged as much.... Even President Trump took notice of the justices' ruling, declaring on Twitter that it was a 'big loss for the coffers of the Democrats!'" ...

... **Micro-targeting Death to Unions. Lee Fang & Nick Surgey of The Intercept: "Just moments after the Janus vs. AFSCME ruling came down, several conservative think tanks launched campaigns to leverage the pivotal Supreme Court decision as a means of starving unions of funds and eventually disbanding them altogether.... [T]he advocacy groups will launch decertification campaigns to nullify certain unions in certain jurisdictions.... The well-funded effort is being coordinated by the State Policy Network, an organization that steers a national patchwork of right-wing think tanks to advance policies favored by business lobbyists and GOP donors.... Not all public sector union members are expected to want to opt-out, so the organizers of the campaign developed methodology to target those who might be most sympathetic to withholding union fees." The article lays out the right-wingers' vicious strategy --safari

Obama Derangement Syndrome. Saritha Rai of Bloomberg: "... Donald Trump's plan to ban spouses of high-skill visa holders from working will likely push 100,000 people out of jobs and negatively affect the visa holders and their employers, according to a new research study. The Trump administration has been tightening the rules for H-1B visas, which allow foreign workers to take jobs in the U.S. for several years, and plans to revoke the ability of spouses to work as part of the effort.... The U.S. began allowing spouses of H-1B visa holders to work in 2015, under the preceding Obama Administration." --safari ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: My guess is that the majority of married H-1B visa holders are men; thus, this fits in well with Trump's misogynistic policy preferences; most of the spouses will be wives, rendered powerless by their inability to earn their own incomes. Shooing out quasi-Roe supporter Kennedy is part of the same inclination.

Elliot Spagat of the AP: "Border Patrol arrests fell sharply in June to the lowest level since February, according to a U.S. official, ending a streak of four straight monthly increases. The drop may reflect seasonal trends or it could signal that ... Donald Trump's 'zero-tolerance' policy to criminally prosecute every adult who enters the country illegally is having a deterrent effect. The agency made 34,057 arrests on the border with Mexico during June, down 16 percent from 40,344 in May, according to the official.... The June tally is preliminary and subject to change. Arrests were still more than double from 16,077 in June 2017, but the sharp decline from spring could undercut the Trump administration's narrative of a border in crisis."

Cruelty for Cruelty's Sake. Paloma Esquivel & Brittny Mejia of the Los Angeles Times: Trump "Administration officials have said repeatedly that asylum seekers who don't want to be separated from their children should present themselves at a port of entry.... But court filings describe numerous cases in recent months in which families were separated after presenting themselves at a port of entry to ask for asylum. This happened even when asylum seekers carried records, such as birth certificates or hospital documents, listing them as the parents of their children, according to interviews and court records."

On June 29, I linked to these two stories: (1) ... Jonathan Swan of Axios: "President Trump has repeatedly told top White House officials he wants to withdraw the United States from the World Trade Organization, a move that would throw global trade into wild disarray, people involved in the talks tell Axios...." (2) ... Axios Update: "Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo Friday that it's an 'exaggeration' to say President Trump wants to withdraw the United States from the World Trade Organization...." ...

... So Now This. Jonathan Swan: "Axios has obtained a leaked draft of a Trump administration bill -- ordered by the president himself -- that would declare America's abandonment of fundamental World Trade Organization rules.... The draft legislation is stunning. The bill essentially provides Trump a license to raise U.S. tariffs at will, without congressional consent and international rules be damned.... 'It would be the equivalent of walking away from the WTO and our commitments there without us actually notifying our withdrawal,' said a source familiar with the bill." Includes text of draft bill. ...

... Massive Trump FART Smelt 'Round the World. Kate Lyons of the Guardian: "A report that Donald Trump is looking to walk away from the World Trade Organisation and instead adopt a United States Fair and Reciprocal Tariff Act, or Fart Act, has been greeted with loud amusement on Twitter." Mrs. McC: I'm wating for Sarah Sanders' scowly-face answers to reporters' questions about the FART Act. Hey, it's only a draft. Thanks to unwashed for the link.

Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Sunday refused to back down on his administration's tariffs against U.S. allies, arguing that the European Union is 'as bad as China' in its trade policies. Trump appeared on Fox News's 'Sunday Morning Futures,' where host Maria Bartiromo asked if he'd considered teaming up with U.S. allies to combat China's trade policies. 'The European Union is possibly as bad as China, just smaller. It's terrible what they do to us,' Trump said." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Washington Post: "President Trump told Maria Bartiromo on Fox News that he wants to 'wait until after the election' to sign any new agreement with Canada and Mexico and seemed to indicate there won&'t be an end soon to the ongoing trade battle brewing between the United States and its neighbors." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Alanna Petroff of CNN: "Canada has retaliated against US steel and aluminum tariffs by slapping its own penalties on American exports. The Canadian government confirmed Sunday that it has imposed tariffs on US exports worth 16.6 billion Canadian dollars ($12.5 billion). More than 40 US steel products attract tariffs of 25%. A tax of 10% has been levied on over 80 other American items including toffee, maple syrup, coffee beans and strawberry jam. The response from Canada is designed to be proportional, with the new taxes being based on the amount of steel and aluminum shipped last year from Canada to the United States."

Donald Beats Dead Horse. Emily Stewart of Vox: "The Republican tax cuts aren't even a year old, nor are they particularly popular with voters. And already, President Donald Trump is talking about more of them. In an interview with Fox News aired on Sunday, Trump promised a second tax cut plan would be on the way by October. He said the proposal would be aimed at the middle class -- then offered an example of reducing the corporate tax rate further.... Beyond the promise to reduce the corporate rate..., Trump didn't offer specifics on what this new potential legislation might do.... The [Washington] Post estimates that additional 1 percent decrease to the corporate tax rate would result in an additional $100 billion in tax cuts over the next decade." --safari

Brett Samuels: "President Trump on Sunday blamed his opponents for the division in the country, warning that those who have spoken out against him should 'take it easy.'... 'Because some of the language used, some of the words used, even some of the radical ideas, I really think they're very bad for the country. I think they're actually dangerous for the country,' he added." (Also linked yesterday.)

Brian Wingfield, et al. of Bloomberg [July 1]: "U.S. President Donald Trump's administration backed off an assertion he made earlier indicating he persuaded Saudi Arabia to effectively boost oil production to its maximum capacity, which would have threatened to blow up a fragile truce agreed by OPEC and inflamed the Saudi-Iran rivalry.... The White House statement aligned with one by the state-run Saudi Press Agency saying that the king and Trump, in a phone call Saturday ... stressed the importance of maintaining oil-market stability.... The agency didn't say the leaders agreed and didn't make any reference to 2 million barrels.... If the Saudis had agreed to Trump's request..., Iran's OPEC governor Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, said in an interview..., 'There is no way one country could go 2 million barrels a day above their production allocation unless they are walking out of OPEC.'" --safari ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: So just another phony boast to hookwink his cult. ...

... Anthony Dipaola of Bloomberg [July 2]: "The U.S. president tweeted on Saturday that the Saudi king had agreed to raise production to cut the cost of oil for consumers. While the White House later backpedaled from his assertion, Trump on Sunday compounded the pressure, demanding that OPEC stop what he called its manipulation of the oil market and insisting the group pump more.... 'Saudi Arabia is under massive pressure,' said Jaafar Altaie, managing director of consultant Manaar Group in Abu Dhabi.... Trump's comments could also complicate the planned sale of shares in Saudi Arabian Oil Co.... The initial public offering is the centerpiece of the kingdom's strategy to diversify its economy away from oil.... The U.S. president's involvement ... 'furthers the impression there's a lack of independence in the company and makes it look like Trump is setting Saudi oil policy' [Altaie said]." --safari

Kanyakrit Vongkiatkajorn of Mother Jones: "President Donald Trump on Sunday lashed out at Democrats and activists who have called for abolishing or replacing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.... 'You get rid of ICE, you are going to have a country that you're going to be afraid to walk out of your house.'... [H]e said in a tweet that without ICE, 'crime would be rampant and uncontrollable.'" --safari

Paul Campos in LG&$: "The Elliott Broidy-Shera Bechard-Donald Trump saga has suddenly taken a very weird twist: Broidy is backing out of the NDA he entered into with Bechard last fall. That agreement required him to make eight $200,000 payments over two years. The first payment was made on December 1st, 2017, and the third was due [Sunday]. Broidy is refusing to make it[. According to the Wall Street Journal,] 'A lawyer for Mr. Broidy ... said Ms. Bechard's lawyer at the time of the agreement, Keith Davidson, improperly discussed the hush-money agreement with another lawyer, Michael Avenatti, who has replaced Mr. Davidson in representing Stephanie Clifford....'"... If the last thing Broidy wants is for people to be discussing his supposed affair with Shera Bechard, this is an extremely strange way of pursing that goal. By claiming the agreement is void, Broidy gives Bechard the legal right to do whatever she wants with her story -- whatever it may actually be."

Ian Kullgren of Politico: "White House national security adviser John Bolton on Sunday downplayed reports suggesting that North Korea is trying to conceal parts of its nuclear weapons program.... 'We're very well aware of North Korea's patterns of behavior over decades of negotiating with the United States.'..." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... David Sanger & William Broad of the New York Times: "President Trump's national security adviser [John Bolton] said on Sunday that North Korea could dismantle all of its nuclear weapons, threatening missiles and biological weapons 'in a year,' a far more aggressive schedule than the one Secretary of State Mike Pompeo outlined for Congress recently, reflecting a strain inside the administration over how to match promises with realism.... [Pompeo's] approach [is] fraught with risk, and runs contrary to what Mr. Bolton, before entering the government, and Mr. Trump had said the North must do: dismantle everything first, and ship its bombs and fuel out of the country. If the North is permitted to keep its weapons until the last stages of disarmament, it would remain a nuclear state for a long while, perhaps years."

Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "Littered among tens of thousands of [EPA] emails that have surfaced in recent weeks, largely through a public records lawsuit filed by the Sierra Club, are dozens of requests for regulatory relief by industry players. Many have been granted. In March 2017, for example, a lobbyist for Waste Management, one of the nation's largest trash companies, wrote to two top EPA appointees seeking reconsideration of 'two climate-related rules' affecting business.... The EPA subsequently delayed a rule targeting methane emissions from landfills until at least 2020."

Ron Nixon of the New York Times: "Ronald D. Vitiello, a senior Border Patrol official, will serve as acting director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, the Trump administration announced on Saturday, in a move that comes amid calls by some activists and politicians for the agency to be abolished.... He will replace Thomas D. Homan, the current acting head of ICE, who retired this month. The Senate must approve a full-time director for ICE, with Mr. Vitiello now viewed as the leading candidate." (Also linked yesterday.)

Nicole Acevedo, et al., of NBC News: "U.S. District Judge Leo T. Sorokin of Massachusetts ordered that the Federal Emergency Management Agency cannot end its Transitional Sheltering Assistance (TSA) program until at least midnight Tuesday, meaning those depending on the aid to pay for hotel and motel rooms should be able to stay at least until check-out time Wednesday.... The national civil-rights group that filed a lawsuit Saturday seeking the restraining order said the end of the FEMA assistance would lead to Puerto Rican evacuees being evicted. The temporary restraining order affects around 1,744 people...."

"Monetizing Poor People." I Never Could Stand Tim Geithner. Peter Whoriskey of the Washington Post: "Mass-mailing checks to strangers might seem like risky business, but Mariner Finance occupies a fertile niche in the U.S. economy. The company enables some of the nation's wealthiest investors and investment funds to make money offering high-interest loans to cash-strapped Americans. Mariner Finance is owned and managed by a $11.2 billion private equity fund controlled by Warburg Pincus, a storied New York firm. The president of Warburg Pincus is Timothy F. Geithner, who, as treasury secretary in the Obama administration, condemned predatory lenders.... The company's other tactics include borrowing money for as little as 4 or 5 percent -- thanks to the bond market -- and lending at rates as high as 36 percent, a rate that some states consider usurious; making millions of dollars by charging borrowers for insurance policies of questionable value; operating an insurance company in the Turks and Caicos, where regulations are notably lax, to profit further from the insurance policies; and aggressive collection practices that include calling delinquent customers once a day and embarrassing them by calling their friends and relatives...."

Katie Moeller, et al., of the Idaho Statesman: "Refugee families at a low-income apartment complex were attacked Saturday night by a man who stabbed nine people -- more than any other attack in Boise's history, police said. Four of them suffered injuries that police called life-threatening. A 30-year-old man was quickly taken into custody at gunpoint, police said. All of the victims were taken to a hospital. Boise Police Chief Bill Bones hinted that some victims may be children...." ...

     ... Update. Ruth Brown, et al., of the Idaho Statesman: "A brutal attack at a Boise apartment complex on Saturday started with the interruption of a 3-year-old girl's birthday party and ended in the stabbing of nine people, six of whom were children. Timmy Kinner is accused of stabbing them randomly after he was asked to leave the low-income apartment complex ... on Friday.... Boise Police Chief Bill Bones said Kinner has an extensive criminal record in multiple states, including charges for violent crimes, weapons and drugs."

Ericka Guevarra of Oregon Public Broadcasting: "Jason Erik Washington, the man killed by armed Portland State University officers early Friday morning, had a valid concealed carry permit at the time of his death. Two of Washington's colleagues and at least one witness say Washington, 45, was black. Keyaira Smith, a witness who took video of the moments leading up to Washington's death, told OPB that he was 'trying to be a good Samaritan' by breaking up a fight."

Avi Selk of the Washington Post: Politce arrested Shane Ryan Sealy, who claims to be a former high school teacher, for pulling a gun on immigration protesters at a rally in Huntsville, Alabama. A few minutes earlier, an Episcopalian priest was leading a prayer; she said, "We pray for the children of this nation and all nations..." At that point, Sealy yelled, "WOMP, WOMP!" "parroting former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, who had uttered the same sound on Fox News several days earlier during a discussion about migrant children being seized from their parents at the border.... [Sealy] was initially arrested for possessing a gun within 1,000 feet of a protest. But he would later be booked into jail on misdemeanor charges of menacing and reckless endangerment." Mrs McC PS: That arming teachers idea is looking so sensible.

Conservative "Intellectuals". Martin Cizmar of RawStory: "Conservative activist Dinesh D'Souza retweeted an anti-Semitic message to promote his upcoming movie, Death of a Nation. The movie argues that Donald Trump is the second coming of Abraham Lincoln. The tweet ... shared the trailer to the movie with the hashtag #BurnThejews. D'Souza retweeted it and then later deleted his retweet when he was called out on it. D'Souza said that he had not seen the hashtag." --safari ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'll bet Donald's daughter & son-in-law are very, very proud of the old man for pardoning D'Souza, whose racist bigotry is far worse than his corruption. His racism, BTW, is psychopathic; D'Souza is Indian American.

Beyond the Beltway

E. A. Crunden of ThinkProgress: "Environmental activists are slamming two controversial bills signed into law Friday by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R), arguing that they will give polluting companies the ability to undermine state environmental guidelines.... The two bills signed by Snyder will allow for oversight of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), which is meant to serve as a watchdog for environmental issues throughout the state.... Both laws have been dubbed 'polluter panels' bills based on the leeway they give to industries known for poor environmental practices." --safari

Way Beyond

Azam Ahmed & Paulina Villegas of the New York Times: "Riding a wave of populist anger fueled by rampant corruption and violence, the leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador was elected president of Mexico on Sunday, in a landslide victory that upended the nation’s political establishment and handed him a sweeping mandate to reshape the country. Mr. López Obrador's win puts a leftist leader at the helm of Latin America's second-largest economy for the first time in decades, a prospect that has filled millions of Mexicans with hope — and the nation's elites with trepidation." ...

... Melanie Schmitz of ThinkProgress: "López Obrador, a former mayor of Mexico City and left-wing nationalist who ran for president in 2006 and 2012, has drawn the support of Mexican voters with his populist policies, many of which mirror those of President Trump.... López Obrador has proposed a policy similar to Trump's 'America First' agenda.... [He] is also an ardent critic of Trump's foreign policy, slamming the U.S. president's proposal for a border wall.... He also has slammed Trump’s family separation policy ... as 'arrogant, racist and inhuman.'" --safari

"Ghetto Children." Ellen Barry & Martin Sorensen of the New York Times: "Denmark’s government is introducing a new set of laws to regulate life in 25 low-income and heavily Muslim enclaves, saying that if families there do not willingly merge into the country's mainstream, they should be compelled. For decades, integrating immigrants has posed a thorny challenge to the Danish model, intended to serve a small, homogeneous population. Leaders are focusing their ire on urban neighborhoods where immigrants, some of them placed there by the government, live in dense concentrations with high rates of unemployment and gang violence.... Starting at the age of 1, 'ghetto children' must be separated from their families for at least 25 hours a week, not including nap time, for mandatory instruction in 'Danish values,' including the traditions of Christmas and Easter, and Danish language."

Justin McCurry of the Guardian: "Japan has set itself on a diplomatic collision course with Australia and other anti-whaling nations amid reports that it plans to push for the partial resumption of commercial whaling later this year. The country's delegation to a meeting of the International Whaling Commission ... in Brazil in September will attempt to alter voting rules that would make it easier to resume for-profit whaling, media reports said.... Commercial whaling was banned under a 1986 IWC moratorium, but Japan has continued to hunt whales legally in the Southern ocean every winter for what it claims is 'scientific research.'... Japan faced criticism in May after reporting that its heavily subsidised whaling fleet killed 122 pregnant whales during its annual 'research' hunt in the Southern Ocean last winter." --safari

The Commentariat -- July 1, 2018

Late Morning Update:

Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Sunday refused to back down on his administration's tariffs against U.S. allies, arguing that the European Union is 'as bad as China' in its trade policies. Trump appeared on Fox News's 'Sunday Morning Futures,' where host Maria Bartiromo asked if he'd considered teaming up with U.S. allies to combat China's trade policies. 'The European Union is possibly as bad as China, just smaller. It's terrible what they do to us,' Trump said." ...

... Washington Post: "President Trump told Maria Bartiromo on Fox News that he wants to 'wait until after the election' to sign any new agreement with Canada and Mexico and seemed to indicate there won't be an end soon to the ongoing trade battle brewing between the United States and its neighbors."

Brett Samuels: "President Trump on Sunday blamed his opponents for the division in the country, warning that those who have spoken out against him should 'take it easy.'... 'Because some of the language used, some of the words used, even some of the radical ideas, I really think they're very bad for the country. I think they're actually dangerous for the country,' he added."

Ian Kullgren of Politico: "White House national security adviser John Bolton on Sunday downplayed reports suggesting that North Korea is trying to conceal parts of its nuclear weapons program.... 'We're very well aware of North Korea's patterns of behavior over decades of negotiating with the United States.'..."

Ron Nixon of the New York Times: "Ronald D. Vitiello, a senior Border Patrol official, will serve as acting director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, the Trump administration announced on Saturday, in a move that comes amid calls by some activists and politicians for the agency to be abolished.... He will replace Thomas D. Homan, the current acting head of ICE, who retired this month. The Senate must approve a full-time director for ICE, with Mr. Vitiello now viewed as the leading candidate."

Heather Long of the Washington Post: "Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a key swing vote on President Trump's next Supreme Court pick, said Sunday that she would not vote for any judge who wanted to end access to abortion in the United States by overturning Roe v. Wade. 'I would not support a nominee who demonstrated hostility to Roe v. Wade,' Collins said Sunday on CNN's 'State of the Union,' adding that Roe v. Wade established abortion as a 'constitutional right.' In another appearance, on ABC News's 'This Week,' Collins said that any judge who wants to overturn Roe has an 'activist agenda' that she thinks goes against the fundamental tenets of U.S. law and the Constitution." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Hear Susan talk. Hear Susan hem and haw. See Susan fold.

*****

Cass Sunstein, in the New York Review of Books, reviewed three books that recount life in Nazi Germany, two of which are first-hand reports. The title of Sunstein's review is "It Can Happen Here," and the writings he reviews makes that evident. But he hedges in his conclusion: "With our system of checks and balances, full-blown authoritarianism is unlikely to happen here, but it would be foolish to ignore the risks that Trump and his administration pose to established norms and institutions.... Those risks will grow if opposition to violations of long-standing norms is limited to Democrats, and if Republicans laugh, applaud, agree with, or make excuses for Trump -- if they howl with the wolf." Mrs. McC: At any rate, the content of the writings he cites is chilling, & I'm going with "it can happen here." Right now, our "system of checks and balances" seems to be limited to the press & to the people they write about in the next linked stories.

Brent Griffiths of Politico: "Protesters gathered in front of the White House and across the nation on Saturday slammed the Trump administration's separation of migrant families, the latest mass demonstration to push back on the president and his administration. Marchers chanted 'families belong together,' the name of the rally in Washington and in events that were scheduled to take place in more than 750 cities across the country. The protest was organized by the liberal organization MoveOn.Org, the Americans Civil Liberties Union, The Leadership Conference and National Domestic Workers Alliance." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... The New York Times story is here. Here's the Guardian's main story. The Guardian liveblogged protests around the U.S. (Liveblog also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Saturday opened a new front in the immigration debate, diverting attention away from his administration's treatment of undocumented immigrants to a broader fight over the federal agency charged with detaining and deporting them. In a pair of tweets from his private golf club in Bedminster, N.J., Trump forcefully defended the performance of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and lambasted Democrats as pushing a 'radical left' agenda to abolish it, even though only a handful have publicly supported doing so. 'To the great and brave men and women of ICE, do not worry or lose your spirit,' Trump wrote in one tweet. 'You are doing a fantastic job of keeping us safe by eradicating the worst criminal elements.' In an interview on Fox News set to air Sunday, Trump suggested that the issue would hurt Democrats in the midterm elections because ICE helps eradicate violent gangs. Trump's public support of ICE came as tens of thousands marched in cities across the country to protest a 'zero tolerance'...." ...

... Brent Griffiths: "... Donald Trump falsely claimed on Saturday that he never encouraged House Republicans to vote for an immigration bill, despite tweeting such an encouragement three days earlier [IN ALL CAPS]." ...

... ** Tal Kopan of CNN: "... newly reviewed court filings show that the byzantine system that has resulted in thousands of children separated for weeks and months from parents elsewhere in government custody ... was always the design.... A government attorney admitted in court just days before the border-wide initiative was unveiled in early May that there was never a plan for parents like her to be proactively reunited with their kids. And an analysis of the purported success of the pilot shows that the Department of Homeland Security's justification that the program worked as a deterrent was likely based on dubious data."

Chris Rukan, in the Washington Post, tests Donald Trump's performance against many of George Washington's 110 rules of civility (which he copied as a boy from a late-16th-century list of rules compiled by Jesuits). Here's the compleat list.

Peter Berman, in a New York Times op-ed: "... there is another reason to withhold confirmation [of a new Supreme Court justice] that both Republicans and Democrats should be able to agree on: People under the cloud of investigation do not get to pick the judges who may preside over their cases. By this logic, President Trump should not be permitted to appoint a new Supreme Court justice until after the special counsel investigation is over, and we know for sure whether there is evidence of wrongdoing. True, that point is unlikely to stop Mr. McConnell or his colleagues. But it highlights the real risk involved in letting a deeply compromised president shape a court that may one day stand between him and impeachment." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: There's an obvious problem with this argument: any time there's Republican Congress & a Democratic president when a Supreme Court vacancy arises, Republicans will open up an "investigation" of the president (if they didn't already have several such "investigations" going) & claim they can't possibly confirm a new justice who might have to rule on issues relating to what they perceive as presidential misconduct.

Stanley Reed & Mihir Zaveri of the New York Times: "President Trump tweeted on Saturday that he had once again leaned on Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, to increase production by as much as 2 million barrels a day. Since May, Mr. Trump has put pressure on the Saudis and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to increase supplies through tweets and other messages.... In recent weeks, worries about declining oil exports from Iran have been pushing up oil prices. Analysts say that Saudi help in making up for lost Iranian crude oil will be crucial to Mr. Trump's efforts to put pressure on the government of Iran while not forcing prices up too high to cause political damage in the United States." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Nahal Toosi of Politico: "The Trump administration is barreling ahead in its high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with North Korea even though it lacks a full-time envoy to oversee the negotiations. Currently, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is serving as the point man on the administration's effort to convince North Korea to give up its atomic arsenal. But some lawmakers and former officials are urging ... Donald Trump to put a special representative in charge, arguing that Pompeo can't give the topic the explicit, sustained attention it requires. The calls for an envoy come as Trump aides remain coy about details of their strategy to deal with the isolated Asian country. There have been no formal talks announced since Trump held a much-ballyhooed June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.

Trump Is Working Overtime to Destabilize Western Alliances. Josh Rogin of the Washington Post: "During a private meeting at the White House in late April, Trump was discussing trade with French President Emmanuel Macron. At one point, he asked Macron, 'Why don't you leave the E.U.?' and said that if France exited the union, Trump would offer it a bilateral trade deal with better terms than the E.U. as a whole gets from the United States, according to two European officials. The White House did not dispute the officials' account, but declined to comment.... This is an instance of the president of the United States offering an incentive to dismantle an organization of America's allies, against stated U.S. government policy. Trump has been publicly trashing the E.U. and NATO since his campaign, but the pace and viciousness of his attacks have increased.... Of course, Trump's opinions closely track those of Putin, including on the status of Crimea, aid to Ukraine and Russia's interference in the U.S. elections. Overall, Trump's attack on the E.U. and the U.S.-Europe relationship is a huge strategic windfall for Russia." ...

Margaret Talev & Toluse Olorunnipa of Bloomberg: "... Donald Trump left the door open to recognizing Russia's annexation of Crimea, telling reporters that such a move would be up for discussion when he meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin next month. 'We're going to have to see,' Trump told reporters Friday on Air Force One when asked if the U.S. would accept Russia's claim on the territory it seized from Ukraine in 2014.... 'I'll talk to him about everything,' Trump told reporters when asked if he would speak with Putin about Crimea. 'We're going to be talking about Ukraine, we're going to be talking about Syria, we'll be talking about elections, and we don't want anybody tampering with elections.'" ...

... Chris Riotta of the (U.K.) Independent: "Russia's state-owned television shows have mocked the outcry over the country's alleged hacking of the US 2016 presidential election ahead of an upcoming summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.... A Russia 24 ... analyst ... [said] Americans viewed the alleged hacking as 'aggression against the country' and believed the Russian government 'caused some trouble there.' 'What trouble did we cause?' he asked. 'We just elected Trump, that's all.'" ...

... Jonathan Chait: "The more we learn, the more clearly the pattern of behavior in the [U.S. & U.K.] becomes similar, and the more suspicious the denials of Putin's partners grows. In both countries, the right-wing pro-Russian populists indignantly insist there is no more incriminating information to be found beyond what was known at any given moment, even as the bounds of what is known at any moment continues to expand.... At this point, it seems virtually certain that Russia did use [British financier Arron] Banks ... as a pass through to covertly finance the Brexit referendum."

Julianne Smith & former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) in a Hill opinion piece: "Two years after the Russian government attempted to undermine the 2016 presidential election, the United States still does not have a comprehensive strategy to address the threat posed by foreign interference in our democracy. Successive U.S. administrations of both parties and Congress have neglected this threat and left Americans exposed to foreign manipulation."

Washington Post: According to Trump punker John Melendez, the Secret Service came calling at his home after Melendez's call to President* Trump, a call in which he posed as Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.). The Post still has not verified the call. The podcast is here; the actual conversation with the president, president* or "president" is about 7/8ths of the way in.

Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "The chief ethics officer of the Environmental Protection Agency -- the official whose main job is to help agency staffers obey government ethics laws -- has been working behind the scenes to push for a series of independent investigations into possible improprieties by Scott Pruitt, the agency's administrator, a letter sent this week says. The letter is the first public acknowledgment that Kevin S. Minoli, who has frequently defended Mr. Pruitt's actions since he took over the agency in February 2017, is now openly questioning whether Mr. Pruitt violated federal ethics rules."

Congressional Races

Maureen Dowd discusses the primary win of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Mrs. McC: I supposed this was my favorite graf: "The Democrats wandered the capital, looking stunned. It finally seemed to be sinking in that if you insist on putting up presidential candidates who leave voters cold, really bad things can happen." I've been saying this for a long time, but no one seems to be able to convince the Democratic leadership that "boring" & "ethically-compromised" are not compelling attributes for presidential candidates. This is all the more mystifying inasmuch as the last Democrat to win the top job was exciting & about as honorable as a politician can be. Rather, Democratric leadership in 2016 copied exactly the same playbook that had failed in 2008: backing the very same boring, ethically-compromised candidate.

Patrick Svitek of the Dallas Morning News: "Despite nine candidates on the ballot, Republican Michael Cloud drew enough support to win Saturday's special election to fill former U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold's seat, sparing the GOP a runoff in the 27th District. With all precincts reporting, Cloud led Democrat Eric Holguin 55 percent to 32 percent, according to unofficial returns. Cloud, a former chairman of the Victoria County GOP, needed to finish above 50 percen to avert a runoff later this summer. The special election determined who finishes Farenthold's term, which ends in January. Both Cloud and Holguin are their party's nominees in November for the full term that starts after that." Mrs. McC: Pajama Boy never will be truly replaced.

Everton Bailey of the Oregonian: "A Portland man fatally shot early Friday outside a sports bar near Portland State University by campus police officers was a U.S. postal worker and father of three daughters who served in the Navy and married his high school sweetheart, friends say. They identified the man as Jason E. Washington, 45.... [Two witnesses] said Washington wasn't involved in the fight and was trying to break it up. A[nother] witness also told Oregon Public Broadcasting that the man wasn't fighting and was shot after a holstered handgun he was carrying fell onto the ground and he appeared to be trying to pick it up. After the officers yelled that there was a gun, there was no apparent hesitation before the gunfire, the witness said." Mrs. McC: Washington was black; both officers appear to be white.

The Commentariat -- June 30, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Brent Griffiths of Politico: "Protesters gathered in front of the White House and across the nation on Saturday slammed the Trump administration's separation of migrant families, the latest mass demonstration to push back on the president and his administration. Marchers chanted 'families belong together,' the name of the rally in Washington and in events that were scheduled to take place in more than 750 cities across the country. The protest was organized by the liberal organization MoveOn.Org, the Americans Civil Liberties Union, The Leadership Conference and National Domestic Workers Alliance." ...

... The Guardian is liveblogging protests around the U.S.

Stanley Reed & Mihir Zaveri of the New York Times: "President Trump tweeted on Saturday that he had once again leaned on Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, to increase production by as much as 2 million barrels a day. Since May, Mr. Trump has put pressure on the Saudis and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to increase supplies through tweets and other messages.... In recent weeks, worries about declining oil exports from Iran have been pushing up oil prices. Analysts say that Saudi help in making up for lost Iranian crude oil will be crucial to Mr. Trump's efforts to put pressure on the government of Iran while not forcing prices up too high to cause political damage in the United States."

Nahal Toosi of Politico: "The Trump administration is barreling ahead in its high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with North Korea even though it lacks a full-time envoy to oversee the negotiations. Currently, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is serving as the point man on the administration's effort to convince North Korea to give up its atomic arsenal. But some lawmakers and former officials are urging ... Donald Trump to put a special representative in charge, arguing that Pompeo can't give the topic the explicit, sustained attention it requires. The calls for an envoy come as Trump aides remain coy about details of their strategy to deal with the isolated Asian country. There have been no formal talks announced since Trump held a ... June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un...."

*****

Dana Milbank: "The backlash is coming. It is the deserved consequence of minority-rule government protecting the rich over everybody else, corporations over workers, whites over nonwhites and despots over democracies. It will explode , God willing, at the ballot box and not in the streets. You can only ignore the will of the people for so long and get away with it."

David Jackson of USA Today: "... Donald Trump on Friday denounced the 'horrible, horrible' shooting at a Maryland newspaper office.... Trump said Thursday's attack that killed five people at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Md., 'shocked the conscience of our nation, and filled our hearts with grief.' 'Journalists, like all Americans, should be free from the fear of being violently attacked while doing their job,' Trump said at an event to mark the six-month anniversary of the passage of the Republican tax cut legislation." Mrs. McC: So when Trump has encouraged violence against the press & described them as "the enemy of the people" he was just kidding?

Margaret Talev & Greg Stohr of Bloomberg: "... Donald Trump said Friday he has narrowed down his search for a nominee to fill a Supreme Court vacancy to about five finalists, including two women, and will announce his pick on July 9. Trump said that he may interview one or two candidates this weekend at his resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, as his effort to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy accelerates. A person familiar with the process said White House officials are focused primarily on five federal appeals court judges -- Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, Thomas Hardiman, Raymond Kethledge and Amul Thapar." ...

... Michael Kranish & Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "U.S. Circuit Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, a former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy who is viewed as one of the leading contenders to replace him, has argued that presidents should not be distracted by civil lawsuits, criminal investigations or even questions from a prosecutor or defense attorney while in office. Kavanaugh had direct personal experience that informed his 2009 article for the Minnesota Law Review: He helped investigate President Bill Clinton as part of independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr's team and then served for five years as a close aide to President George W. Bush.... Kavanaugh's position that presidents should be free of such legal inquiries until after they leave office puts him on the record regarding a topic of intense interest to Trump -- and could be a central focus of his confirmation hearing if Kavanaugh were nominated to succeed Kennedy, legal experts said.... The 53-year-old judge was not on Trump's original list of Supreme Court candidates released during the campaign, but the White House added his name in the fall -- a move that some believed might make Kennedy more comfortable with retiring." ...

... Emily Atkin of the New Republic: Although Anthony Kennedy wasn't exactly the Environmental Justice, if Trump succeeds in appointing a far-right justice, it's likely that Scott Pruitt will succeed in stripping the Clean Water Act of protecting any of the U.S.'s streams & wetlands & perhaps the Clean Air Act "which gave the EPA the authority to regulate greenhouse gases." ...

... Frank Rich: "Scenarios that pro-choice GOP senators like Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski might block Trump's nominee are wishful thinking. It might be more profitable to start moving past the Democratic leadership that helped bring us to this moment. As my colleague Eric Levitz has pointed out, if Barack Obama had nominated a bolder choice than Merrick Garland ... -- a pick who might have roused the Democrats' minority base much as Trump's will the GOP's old-white-guy base -- it would have been far harder politically for Mitch McConnell to rob America's first black president of his nominee in 2016. The Democratic leadership in Congress that went along with this thinking with nary a peep ... is still in place. Who can now watch them promising fierce resistance on MSNBC without laughing or crying? This is why, in a terrible week, the one bit of hopeful political news was the upset primary victory of a 28-year-old political novice, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, over the ten-term incumbent Joseph Crowley in New York City."

How Easy Is It to Prank the POTUS*? Very. Julie Davis of the New York Times: "... on Wednesday, when a radio shock jock and comedian dialed the White House switchboard impersonating a United States senator's aide, he found himself -- in between barely suppressed giggles and off-color jokes with his producer -- patched through to Mr. Trump on Air Force One. The result was an impromptu six-minute conversation on immigration and the Supreme Court between the president and the radio host and comedian John Melendez, known to his listeners as 'Stuttering John.'... As far as Mr. Trump knew, he was taking a call from Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, who seemed to have an urgent legislative matter he wanted to raise." Mrs. McC: This story first appeared in the Daily Mail. I've been waiting for a "real" news outlet to cover it; I didn't see the BuzzFeed piece, published yesterday. I think I'll be Kirsten Gillibrand, calling to discuss Trump's Supremes nominee.

Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration plans to detain migrant families together in custody rather than release them, according to a new court filing that suggests such detentions could last longer than the 20 days envisioned by a court settlement. 'The government will not separate families but detain families together during the pendency of immigration proceedings when they are apprehended at or between ports of entry,' Justice Department lawyers wrote in a legal notice to a federal judge in California who has been overseeing long-running litigation about the detention of undocumented immigrants.... The new filing does not explicitly say the Trump administration plans to hold families in custody beyond the 20-day limit, but by saying officials plan to detain them 'during the pendency' of immigration proceedings, which in many cases can last months, it implies that families will spend that time in detention." ...

... Trump Admin Practiced Separating Families but Not Reuniting Them. Lisa Seville & Hannah Rappleye of NBC News: "The government was separating migrant parents from their kids for months prior to the official introduction of zero tolerance, running what a U.S. official called a 'pilot program' for widespread prosecutions in Texas, but apparently did not create a clear system for parents to track or reunite with their kids. Officials have said that at least 2,342 children were separated from their parents after being apprehended crossing the border unlawfully since May 5, when the Trump administration's 'zero tolerance' policy towards migrants went into effect. But numbers provided to NBC News by the Department of Homeland Security show that another 1,768 were separated from their parents between October 2016 and February 2018, bringing the total number of separated kids to more than 4,100." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Dara Lind of Vox: "The Department of Justice, under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, is drafting a plan that would totally overhaul asylum policy in the United States. Under the plan, people would be barred from getting asylum if they came into the US between ports of entry and were prosecuted for illegal entry. It would also add presumptions that would make it extremely difficult for Central Americans to qualify for asylum, and codify -- in an even more restrictive form -- an opinion written by Sessions in June that attempted to restrict asylum for victims of domestic and gang violence.... When the regulation is ready, it will be published in the Federal Register..., with 90 days for the public to comment before it's enacted as a final regulation." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Is Kudlow Lying or Just Stupid? Ryan Koronowski of ThinkProgress: "Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, said that the deficit is 'coming down rapidly' in a Friday morning appearance on Fox Business.... The deficit is actually rising."

Tiffany Hsu of the New York Times: "General Motors warned Friday that if President Trump pushed ahead with another wave of tariffs, the move could backfire, leading to 'less investment, fewer jobs and lower wages' for its employees. The automaker said that the president's threat to impose tariffs on imports of cars and car parts -- along with an earlier spate of penalties -- could drive vehicle prices up by thousands of dollars. The 'hardest hit' cars, General Motors said in comments submitted to the Commerce Department, are likely to be the ones bought by consumers who can least afford an increase. Demand would suffer and production would slow, all of which 'could lead to a smaller G.M.'"

Doug Palmer of Politico: "... Donald Trump said today he does not intend to withdraw the U.S. from the World Trade Organization, despite a news report earlier today that he often privately expresses that desire to advisers. 'I'm not talking about pulling out,' Trump told reporters on his way to Bedminster, New Jersey, where he owns a resort. 'We've been treated very badly. ... It's an unfair situation.'"

Kate Rooney of CNBC: "Canada's foreign minister announced Friday that Ottawa plans to impose about $12.6 billion worth of retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods on July 1, joining other major U.S. allies striking back in the escalating trade dispute. The country is working closely with the European Union and Mexico, according to Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland.... Canada's announcement is part of larger fallout from ... Donald Trump's announcements on trade. The U.S. has levied tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum on Canada, the EU and other nations. As a result, some of the U.S.' biggest trading partners have retaliated with counter-tariffs. Canada's plan taking effect next week will include imports of U.S. products such as yogurt, caffeinated roasted coffee, toilet paper and sleeping bags. Mexico's tariffs took effect June 5 on U.S. products such as pork, cheese, cranberries, whiskey and apples. The EU enacted tariffs Friday on more than $3 billion worth of U.S. goods including bourbon, yachts and motorcycles."

Shane Harris, et al., of the Washington Post: "Trump administration officials are debating whether to declare a 'national emergency' to protect U.S. telecommunications networks in a move that would give the federal government broad powers to prevent American companies from doing business with foreign suppliers, according to a White House document and officials familiar with the matter. Under a draft executive order reviewed by The Washington Post, the president would authorize the commerce secretary to block transactions involving U.S. and foreign telecommunications equipment makers on national security grounds. U.S. networks, which underpin the day-to-day running of the economy and vital public services, are 'attractive targets for espionage, sabotage and foreign interference activity,' the order says. The president already has the authority to veto proposed acquisitions of American companies by foreign buyers if he believes they endanger national security. But the new order would give the commerce secretary authority to order American companies not to buy equipment from foreign suppliers, experts said."

Courtney Kube, et al., of NBC News: "U.S. intelligence agencies believe that North Korea has increased its production of fuel for nuclear weapons at multiple secret sites in recent months -- and that Kim Jong Un may try to hide those facilities as he seeks more concessions in nuclear talks with the Trump administration, U.S. officials told NBC News. The intelligence assessment, which has not previously been reported, seems to counter the sentiments expressed by ... Donald Trump, who tweeted after his historic June 12 summit with Kim that 'there was no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea.'... While the North Koreans have stopped missile and nuclear tests, 'there's no evidence that they are decreasing stockpiles, or that they have stopped their production,' said one U.S. official briefed on the latest intelligence. 'There is absolutely unequivocal evidence that they are trying to deceive the U.S.'"

John Hudson, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Pentagon is analyzing the cost and impact of a large-scale withdrawal or transfer of American troops stationed in Germany, amid growing tensions between President Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to people familiar with the work. The effort follows Trump's expression of interest in removing the troops, made during a meeting earlier this year with White House and military aides, U.S. officials said. Trump was said to have been taken aback by the size of the U.S. presence, which includes about 35,000 active-duty troops, and complained that other countries were not contributing fairly to joint security or paying enough to NATO. Word of the assessment has alarmed European officials, who are scrambling to determine whether Trump actually intends to reposition U.S. forces or whether it is merely a negotiating tactic ahead of a NATO summit in Brussels, where Trump is again likely to criticize U.S. allies for what he deems insufficient defense spending."

Rebecca Morin of Politico: "The U.S. ambassador to Estonia will retire at the end of July following a series of inflammatory comments ... Donald Trump made about the European Union. Jim Melville has served as ambassador since 2015.... Foreign Policy reports that the early retirement is related to Trump's controversial comments about U.S. allies in Europe. Melville wrote in a private Facebook post obtained by Foreign Policy that he decided it was time for him to leave after Trump's comments on how the EU was 'set up to take advantage of the United States, to attack our piggy bank' and that 'NATO is as bad as NAFTA.'"

Elise Labott of CNN: "The UN migration agency on Friday voted down Ken Isaacs, the Trump administration's candidate to lead the International Organization for Migration, a US official told CNN, leaving it without an American at the helm since 1951. Isaacs once wrote on Twitter that Austria and Switzerland should consider building a wall in the Alps to keep refugees out.... The tweet is one of more than 140 previously unreported tweets from before Isaacs was nominated reviewed by CNN's KFile. The migration agency coordinates assistance to migrants worldwide. CNN's KFile previously reported on tweets from Isaacs that revealed an extensive history of sharing anti-Muslim sentiment. The screenshots provide the most robust picture of his social media activity and a wider window into his views of refugees, Islam and climate change -- issues that would have been central to the position with IOM. In several of the recently unearthed tweets, Isaacs shared a post that called climate change a 'hoax,' shared a story from the conspiracy-peddling website InfoWars about the 'Clinton body count,' and wrote'"#Islam is not peaceful.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Katherine Burgess of the Wichita Eagle: "For the first time in recent memory, an official from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spoke at a conference of the nation's largest anti-abortion organization. 'Our president is fearless when it comes to life and conscience,' said Roger Severino, who directs the Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights. 'We're just getting started.' Severino was a featured speaker at the National Right to Life convention Thursday in Overland Park.... Severino praised the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, Trump's executive order in May about freedom of speech and Jeff Sessions' guidance on religious liberty to federal agencies." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Severino looks like one of those enthusiastic young men who believe deeply in oppressing women because they're so mean to him. Civil rights? Ha Ha. Pathetic wanker? Yeah.

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Special counsel Robert Mueller's office is asking a federal court to continue postponing setting a sentencing hearing for Michael Flynn.... The delay suggests that Flynn is still actively cooperating with Mueller's office, that prosecutors believe his testimony could be useful at some future trial, or that the sentencing process might disclose some aspect of the investigation that Mueller still wishes to keep secret."

Michael Schmidt & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "In the days after the F.B.I. director James B. Comey was fired last year, the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, repeatedly expressed anger about how the White House used him to rationalize the firing, saying the experience damaged his reputation, according to four people familiar with his outbursts.... He alternately defended his involvement, expressed remorse at the tumult it unleashed, said the White House had manipulated him, fumed how the news media had portrayed the events and said the full story would vindicate him.... According to one person with whom he spoke shortly after Mr. Comey's firing, Mr. Rosenstein was 'shaken,' 'unsteady' and 'overwhelmed.'"

David Kirkpatrick & Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times: "... a leaked record of some of [British financier & chief Brexit backer Arron] Banks's emails suggest that he and his closest adviser had a more engaged relationship with Russian diplomats than he has disclosed. While Mr. Banks was spending more than eight million British pounds to promote a break with the European Union -- an outcome the Russians eagerly hoped for -- his contacts at the Russian Embassy in London were opening the door to at least three potentially lucrative investment opportunities in Russian-owned gold or diamond mines.... The extent of these business discussions, which have not been previously reported, raise new questions about whether the Kremlin sought to reward critical figures in the Brexit campaign. Much as in Washington, where investigations are underway into the possibility that Donald J. Trump's campaign may have cooperated with the Russians, Britain is now grappling with whether Moscow tried to use its close ties with any British citizens to promote Brexit.... Investigators for ... Robert S. Mueller III, and Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee ... have taken a special interest in close ties Mr. Banks and other Brexit leaders built to the Trump campaign.... 'From what we've seen, the parallels between the Russian intervention in Brexit and the Russian intervention in the Trump campaign appear to be extraordinary,' said Representative Adam B. Schiff of California.... On Nov. 12, 2016, Mr. Banks met President-elect Trump in Trump Tower. Upon his return to London, Mr. Banks had another lunch with the Russian ambassador where they discussed the Trump visit." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The Banks story (and isn't "Banks" a perfect name?), if nothing else, is a now-open window into how the Russians purchased Trump, not that we didn't already figure as much.

Abby Goodnough of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Friday blocked Kentucky's closely watched plan to require many Medicaid recipients to work, volunteer or train for a job as a condition of coverage. The state had been poised to start carrying out the new rules next week and to phase them in fully by the end of this year. Judge James E. Boasberg of Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, an Obama appointee, ruled that the Trump administration's approval of the plan had been 'arbitrary and capricious' because it had not adequately considered whether the plan would 'help the state furnish medical assistance to its citizens, a central objective of Medicaid.'" Mrs. McC: "Arbitrary & capricious" is the way I'd describe the entire Trump presidency, though I'd add "nasty."