Tuesday
Aug022016
The Commentariat -- August 3, 2016
Afternoon Update:
However Could This Have Happened? Philip Rucker & Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "The Republican Party was in turmoil again Wednesday as party leaders, strategists and donors voiced increasing alarm about the flailing state of Donald Trump's candidacy and fears that the presidential nominee was damaging the party with an extraordinary week of self-inflicted mistakes, gratuitous attacks and missed opportunities.... Meanwhile, Trump's top campaign advisers are failing to instill discipline on their candidate, who has spent the past days lunging from one controversy to another while seemingly skipping chances to go on the offensive against his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton." -- CW ...
... Chuck Todd! & Hallie Jackson of NBC News: "Key Republicans close to Donald Trump's orbit are plotting an intervention with the candidate after a disastrous 48 hours led some influential voices in the party to question whether Trump can stay at the top of the Republican ticket without catastrophic consequences for his campaign and the GOP at large. Republican National Committee head Reince Priebus, former Republican New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich are among the Trump endorsers hoping to talk the real estate mogul into a dramatic reset of his campaign in the coming days, sources tell NBC News." CW: Definitely need Newt & Rudy when it comes to advice on stability & probity. ...
... OR, as Jonathan Chait puts it, "Enraged Trump Toady Reince Priebus Contemplates Lashing Out With Nice Email. The gloves are off." ...
... CW: Big mistake firing Corey Lewandowski. He could have put Trump on his meds & got the candidate focusing on important things, like what country Barack Obama was born in. ...
... Chait has a very good synopsis of the Trump/Republican dumpster fire. -- CW ...
... Frank Rich of the (minor) effects of the Trump meltdown: "What does it say about [John] McCain, who stood up heroically to his North Vietnamese captors, that he is not brave enough to stand up to a bully like Trump out of fear of losing his reelection bid?... And what does it say about [Paul] Ryan's much-touted intellect that he thinks that Trump, if elected president, will allow him to pursue his sacred conservative agenda in Congress? President Trump will humiliate and disregard the Speaker of the House ... just as candidate Trump is doing now. When Trump withheld his support for Ryan's reelection yesterday, the reason he gave was his skepticism that Ryan was capable of 'very, very strong leadership.' On this point, at least, Ryan has proven Trump completely right." -- CW
Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "As Donald Trump holds off endorsing House Speaker Paul D. Ryan in Wisconsin's Republican primary, his running mate [mike pence] enthusiastically endorsed Ryan on Wednesday, calling him ;a 'longtime friend' and 'strong conservative leader.'" CW: I don't think is what the meaning of "split ticket" is. ...
... Ken Vogel & Rachel Bade of Politico: "... a group of former Trump campaign hands is quietly working to defeat the House speaker [Paul Ryan] in his primary election next week. More than half a dozen of Trump's former campaign staff members or leading volunteer organizers from around the country -- and many more local volunteers -- have signed on to the long-shot campaign of Ryan's primary challenger, businessman Paul Nehlen, who openly embraces Trump and casts Ryan as an impediment to Trump's agenda." -- CW
Julian Hattem of the Hill: "Donald Trump's presidential campaign denied a report on Wednesday [by MSNBC's Joe Scarborough] that the Republican presidential nominee had three times asked a foreign policy adviser why the U.S. could not use its vast nuclear arsenal." -- CW ...
... Steve M. thinks the unnamed foreign policy advisor may have been Henry Kissinger. Trump "sincerely believes the conspiracy theories he peddles, so not only will he respond to a loss by saying he was cheated, he'll mean it. He's a pure product of right-wing propaganda. He believes in nukes because thinks every problem has a simple solution ('toughness,' 'resolve'), and he believes he'd win a fair election because the right has been telling us for years that Democrats only win elections as a result of fraud. So no, he's not going anywhere." -- CW ...
... AND Daniel Drezner of the Washington Post has some questions for "journalist" Joe Scarborough. -- CW ...
Donald Trump, Insulting His Way to Electoral College Victory. Louis Nelson of Politico: "... at a rally Tuesday in Northern Virginia, Trump said Harrisburg[, Pennsylvania,] 'looked like a war zone' as he flew above it on his way out of town, a characterization that the city objected to strongly enough to release a statement about it." -- CW
Illinois State Senator Not Responsible for Starting Iraq War, After All. Nick Gass of Politico: "Donald Trump's national spokeswoman on Wednesday cleared up whom she holds responsible for the death of Army Capt. Humayun Khan in 2004, and it's not Barack Obama. It's Hillary Clinton. Less than a day after blaming the policies of Obama and his secretary of state for Khan's death in Iraq despite George W. Bush having been in the White House, Katrina Pierson laid the blame at the feet of Clinton, who as a U.S. senator representing New York voted to authorize the war in 2002." -- CW
Saeed Dehghan & Mazin Sidahmed of the Guardian: "... Donald Trump has jumped on reports that the US paid $400m in cash to Iran after the country's historic nuclear deal, saying that the episode was a 'scandal' for Hillary Clinton, who started the talks as secretary of state. The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that US officials secretly sent 'wooden pallets stacked with euros, Swiss francs and other currencies' to Iran, carried into the country by an unmarked cargo plane, suggesting that it may have been linked to the release of a group of Americans held in Iran. The US state department has denied this.... Although the cash payment to Iran coincided with the release of a group of Iranian American prisoners, there is no evidence to suggest any link between the two events." -- CW
Sarah Wheaton of Politico: "President Barack Obama commuted the sentences of 214 people on Wednesday, bringing his total number of commutations to 562." -- CW
Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I-Vt.) movement scored its cleanest victory yet when [state Sen. Pramila] Jayapal, a progressive state senator, blew past two rivals in the primary for Washington's bluest House district. (Washington, like Louisiana and California, has a 'top two' system in which the highest vote-getters advance to November, regardless of party.) In an April message to his donors, Sanders said he'd need members of Congress like Jayapal 'when I'm president,' crediting her with leading 'the fight for a $15 minimum wage and paid sick leave in Seattle.'" Weigel also has more on Tim Huelskamp's primary loss in Kansas. Thanks to Dan L. for the link. -- CW
*****
Presidential Race
If you're busy today, Kevin Drum writes "the Donald Trump roundup for Tuesday evening." More substantial stories linked below. ...
... AND Now This Just in. Aaron Rupar of Think Progress: "On Tuesday's Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough claimed Donald Trump asked a 'foreign policy expert' who was advising him numerous times about 'why can't we use nuclear weapons.' Prefacing his comments by saying he'd 'be very careful here,' Scarborough said: 'Several months ago, a foreign policy expert on the international level went to advise Donald Trump, and three times he asked about the use of nuclear weapons. Three times, he asked, at one point, "If we have them, we can't we use them?"... Three times, in an hour briefing,"Why can't we use nuclear weapons?"'" Thanks to contributor Nancy for the lead. -- CW
Just Desserts. CW: While I realize the Khan story will go away, I can't help hoping that Donald Trump's attacks on two Muslim immigrant citizens will prove to have been the tipping point in the presidential election.
Here are two stories that got lost yesterday when Akhilleus & I were posting at the same time:
Nick Gass & Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: "Hillary Clinton raised nearly $90 million between her campaign and joint fundraising committees with the national and state parties in July, setting her up to enter August -- and the campaign's home stretch -- with more than $58 million on hand." -- CW ...
... Ali Vitali of NBC News: "Trump, who constantly reminded that he was 'self-funding' his campaign throughout the primaries, bragged while previewing his July fundraising totals. 'It's gonna be announced tomorrow or the next day: we've raised, we think, about $35.8 million. This is unheard of for Republicans, $35.8 million,' Trump said.... GOP nominee Mitt Romney raised just over $101 million in July [2012]." -- CW ...
... CW: Also lost yesterday, my prediction that Trump would quit the race before mid-October if his poll numbers were low. Now, I find out that I'm not the only one considering that possibility. Jonathan Karl of ABC News: "ABC News has learned that senior party officials are so frustrated -- and confused by Donald Trump's erratic behavior -- that they are exploring how to replace him on the ballot if he were to drop out.... Trump would have to voluntarily exit the race ... Then, it would be up to the 168 members of the Republican National Committee to choose a successor, though the process is complicated."
** Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Meg Whitman, a Hewlett Packard executive and Republican fund-raiser, said Tuesday that she would support Hillary Clinton for president and give a 'substantial' contribution to her campaign in order to stop Donald J. Trump, whom she berated as a threat to American democracy.... She revealed that Mrs. Clinton, the Democratic nominee, had reached out to her in a phone call about a month ago, one of the first indications that Mrs. Clinton is aggressively courting Republican leaders." CW: The story is worth reading Whitman's comments. ...
... Speaking of Endorsements. Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump escalated his war with his own party's leadership on Tuesday by refusing to endorse House Speaker Paul D. Ryan or Sen. John McCain, two of the GOP's highest-ranking elected officials, in their primary campaigns. Trump's comments [are] an extraordinary breach of political decorum that underscores the party's deep divisions.... Both have endorsed Trump, but have criticized some of Trump's policies and statements.... Trump praised Ryan's underdog opponent, Paul Nehlen, for running 'a very good campaign' and said of Ryan: 'I like Paul, but these are horrible times for our country.... We need very, very strong leadership. And I'm just not quite there yet....'... Trump said Ryan has sought his endorsement, but he is only 'giving it very serious consideration.'... On Monday, McCain, a Vietnam war hero, issued a lengthy statement denouncing Trump for his comments about the Khan family. Asked about McCain's rebuke, Trump said, 'I haven't endorsed John McCain. I've never been there with John McCain because I've always felt that he should have done a much better job for the vets,' Trump continued." Trump also criticized Sen. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), who is running for re-election. CW: It's the dominance thing. ...
... Here's the full transcript of Rucker's interview of Trump. CW: Read a bit of it if you want a glimpse of crazy. Update: See also Patrick's comments today on the interview. ...
... Jonathan Chait: "If elected president, Trump will not be subject to restraint by Ryan or anybody else. His only mode of cooperation is dominance. A Trump presidency means a Trump party and a Trump state." -- CW ...
... Steve M.: "Trump is running an incompetent, id-driven campaign. It looks as if it might end in a spectacular faceplant. If so, I'm going to savor that. The death of the GOP? I don't think we're going to get that lucky." -- CW ...
... Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump's unabashed and continuing hostility toward the parents of a slain Muslim American soldier, and his attacks on Republican leaders who have rebuked him for it, threaten to shatter his uneasy alliance with the Republican Party.... Ignoring the pleas of his advisers and entreaties from party leaders in Washington, Mr. Trump only dug in further on Tuesday. He told a Virginia television station that he had no regrets about his clash with Khizr and Ghazala Khan.... Facing outcry on the left and right, Mr. Trump has insisted to associates that he has been treated unfairly by Mr. Khan, the news media and some Republicans, said people familiar with the campaign's deliberations...." -- CW ...
... Burns, Ctd. Trump "lamented to supporters that reporters had overlooked the story of Patricia Smith, the mother of a serviceman killed in the attack in Benghazi, Libya, in order to highlight 'other people' -- apparently a reference to the Khan family. 'They give her virtually no airtime, and they give other people unbelievable amounts of airtime,' Mr. Trump said. 'It's just so unfair. It's so unfair.'" ...
... CW: Let's parse that. One reason the media were "so unfair" to Trump is that Trump himself drew attention away from Patricia Smith. During her convention speech, Trump gave a live interview to Bill O'Reilly as she spoke, one that Fox "News" carried instead of Smith's speech. Another reason: although Smith said she held Hillary Clinton personally responsible for the death of her son in Benghazi -- a rather more dire (and less defensible) charge than asking Trump if he's read the Constitution -- Clinton responded kindly, not criticizing Smith but expressing sorrow for her loss, and then only as a response to a reporter's question (can't readily find a reliable link*). Trump, on the other hand, has repeatedly criticized both Khizr & Ghazala Kahn, therefore creating the media story himself. Blaming a host of others for his own actions is not Donald Trump cleverly working the media to get attention; it is evidence of severe personality disorder. Trump is one sick fuck. ...
... *Update: Joan Walsh, now at the Nation, has it: "Asked about Smith's claims by Fox's Chris Wallace on Sunday, Clinton said: 'Chris, my heart goes out to [her]. I understand the grief and the incredible sense of loss that can motivate that.'" -- CW ...
Ben Kamisar of the Hill: "Donald Trump cast doubt on general election polls that show him trailing Hillary Clinton, calling those polls 'phony.'" -- CW ...
... The "Rigged Election" Excuse, Ctd. Dave Weigel: "Donald Trump, trailing narrowly in presidential polls, has issued a warning...: The election will be 'rigged' against him -- and he could lose as a result. Trump pointed to several court cases nationwide in which restrictive laws requiring voters to show identification have been thrown out. He said those decisions open the door to fraud in November. 'If the election is rigged, I would not be surprised,' he told The Washington Post in an interview Tuesday afternoon. 'The voter ID situation has turned out to be a very unfair development. We may have people vote 10 times.' Those comments followed a claim Trump made Monday, to an audience in Ohio, that 'the election is going to be rigged.' That same day, in an interview with Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity, he beseeched Republicans to start 'watching closely' or the election will be 'taken away from us' through fraud.... Trump's only evidence for fraud consisted of 'precincts where there were practically nobody voting for the Republican' in the 2012 election. In reality, voter fraud is rare." CW: Trump-GOP Rule: If Democrats are allowed to vote, then the election is rigged. ...
... Weigel, Ctd.: "... off-again, on-again [Trump] adviser Roger Stone [told] Breitbart News that Trump needed to be ready for a violent post-election contest. 'I think he's gotta put them on notice that their inauguration will be rhetorical,' Stone said. 'I mean civil disobedience, not violence, but it will be a bloodbath. The government will be shut down if they attempt to steal this and swear Hillary in.'" ...
... Josh Voorhes of Slate argues that none of the outlandish things Trump has said is as dangerous as his claim that the election will be rigged. "Trump's latest allegation is, in the words of the usually staid Associated Press, an 'unprecedented assertion by a modern presidential candidate,' one that could 'threaten the tradition of peacefully contested elections and challenge the very essence of a fair democratic process.' Trump has laid the groundwork for only two possible outcomes in the eyes of his most passionate supporters: He wins the presidency, or he has it stolen from him.... Until now, the greatest dangers posed by Trump were predicated on him winning.... Now he's dangerous even if he loses." -- CW
Ben Kamisar of the Hill: "Donald Trump cast doubt on general election polls that show him trailing Hillary Clinton, calling those polls 'phony.'" -- CW
"Get the baby out of here." Yeah, Trump actually kicked a crying baby out of a rally Tuesday. -- CW
** Michael Shear of the New York Times: "In his strongest denunciation of Donald J. Trump so far, President Obama on Tuesday said Mr. Trump was 'unfit to serve as president' and urged the leaders of the Republican Party to withdraw their backing for his candidacy. Mr. Obama said the Republican criticisms of Mr. Trump 'ring hollow' if the party's leaders continue to support his bid for the presidency this fall, particularly in light of Republican criticisms of Mr. Trump for his attacks on the Muslim parents of an American soldier, Humayun Khan, who died in Iraq.... Mr. Obama said that ... Mr. Trump ... had demonstrated that he was 'woefully unprepared to do this job.' The president said Mr. Trump lacked knowledge about Europe, the Middle East and Asia." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... C-SPAN has video of the full joint press conference, held with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. ...
He [President Obama] talks about Ukraine. I believe I know far more about foreign policy than he knows. He talks about Ukraine, how tough he is, how tough he is with Russia. In the meantime, they took over Crimea and I understood that. -- Donald Trump, to Bill O'Reilly, Tuesday ...
Trump, still defending his false claim he knew Crimea was part of Ukraine. -- Constant Weader
... Ryan Cooper of the Week: "Trump ... is at bottom an impulsive and profoundly ignorant racist bully. But the reaction [to Trump's bullying the Kahns] from establishment Republicans is equally damning. With a few exceptions, they have squirmed and rationalized past Trump's comments. It's a portrait of a party in utter moral and intellectual freefall.... None rescinded their endorsement [of Trump]. The reason is obvious: Many Republican voters are fine with bigotry. They support Trump's big wall to keep out Latinos. They support his Muslim ban. Ninety percent of Republicans want Trump to win. He is now the party's center of gravity.... This generation of Republican elites are, for the most part, cowards, bigots, fools, or some combination thereof." (See also Jill Lawrence's commentary linked below.) -- CW ...
... Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "At a campaign event in Virginia on Tuesday, Trump tried to mend any damage he'd done with members of the military in an unusual way: He accepted a Purple Heart from a veteran in the audience. 'Something very nice just happened to me. A man came up to me and he handed me his Purple Heart,' Trump said. "I said to him, is that the real one, or is that a copy?" He said, "That's my real Purple Heart. I have such confidence in you." And I said, "Man, that's big stuff." I always wanted to get the Purple Heart,' Trump continued. 'This was much easier.' The Purple Heart is given to those serving in the armed forces who are wounded in combat." Thanks to Patrick for the link. ...
... CW: Obviously, Trump has no idea what the Purple Heart signifies. Nobody wants to earn a Purple Heart, and it certainly is not believable that a man who can't even handle flak as innocuous as personal criticism "always wanted" to get wounded in combat. If he'd really wanted a Purple Heart he would have signed up for the military & requested combat duty. Like people who receive honorary doctorates & insist upon being called "Doctor," you can bet Trump will now claim that he's a Purple Heart recipient. ...
... Cristiano Lima of Politico: "Responding to Donald Trump's claim that he 'always wanted to get the Purple Heart,' Rep. Tammy Duckworth on Tuesday tweeted a picture of her injured self in a hospital with her own medal.... 'This is how one usually looks when you are awarded the Purple Heart. Nothing easy about it,' the Illinois congresswoman tweeted directly at [Trump]... Duckworth is currently involved in one of the nation's most high-profile Senate races, against Republican incumbent Mark Kirk." -- CW
Katie Zezima & Philip Rucker: "Donald Trump said Tuesday that women who are sexually harassed in the workplace [have a alternatives.] 'I think it's got to be up to the individual,' Trump said in an interview. 'It also depends on what's available. There may be a better alternative; then there may not. If there's not a better alternative, then you stay. But it could be there's a better alternative where you're taken care of better.'.... [Trump's] comments came after he drew criticism late Monday for an interview with USA Today in which he said that if his daughter Ivanka were sexually harassed it would be up to her to find a new situation. 'I would like to think she would find another career or find another company if that was the case,' Trump said.... In recent weeks, Trump has defended [Roger] Ailes, a longtime friend, who was ousted [from Fox 'News'] after being accused of sexually harassing at least two dozen women. Trump has also questioned the motives of some of the women." CW: That's right, little ladies. If a colleague abuses you, it's your problem.
Trump Has Yuuge Infrastructure "Plan." Sahil Kapur of Bloomberg: "Donald Trump on Tuesday proposed a plan to rebuild U.S. infrastructure that costs 'at least double' the amount that Hillary Clinton has floated, in what would amount to a massive new government program.... Trump was vague when asked how he'd pay for his much larger plan. 'We'll get a fund. We'll make a phenomenal deal with the low interest rates,' he said. Who would provide the money? 'People, investors. People would put money into the fund. The citizens would put money into the fund,' he said, adding that he'd use 'infrastructure bonds from the country, from the United States.'" CW: It will be, like, free, okay? Trump seems unaware that the federal government would have to pay off the bonds when they matured. But, hey, by then he wouldn't be president anymore, so it would be somebody else's problem. ...
... BUT he doesn't think much of renewable energy sources: It's so expensive. And honestly, it's not working so good. -- Donald Trump, Monday
I just want to tell you we've had thousands of people outside, thousands. They were turned away -- for political reasons -- purely for political reasons. They said in this massive building you are not allowed to have any more than 1,000 people. And that is nonsense -- we could have had 4, 5, 6,000 people. They have all been turned away. It is a disgrace. -- Donald Trump to reporters just before a Columbus, Ohio, event, Monday
I have to tell you, the fire marshal turned away thousands of people. They turned away thousands of people. Look at the size of this place. They turned away thousands. They were given orders that no more than 1,000 people could attend.... Is the mayor a Democrat over here? That's what I heard. He ought to be ashamed of himself. They turned away thousands of people. -- Donald Trump, to the crowd at the Columbus event
The event in Columbus is a Town Hall so it is purposefully limited seating! -- USAforTrump2016 early on Monday
Trump's ... own senior campaign staff officials were fully aware and had agreed in writing that the Trump event in Columbus was to be restricted to a maximum of 1,000 people, according to documents signed on Friday, July 29, between the Trump campaign and Columbus Convention Center for the Monday event. -- Nate Thayer, in Politico Magazine
Even Trump's own campaign is conspiring against him. Everything is rigged! No, seriously, this is how a petit demagogue operates: he piles up slights, some real but mostly imaginary, to convince his followers they are under attack from a host of powerful, evil forces, and only he can save them from their attackers. -- Constant Weader
Zach Montellaro of Politico: "Donald Trump’s spokeswoman blamed the policies of President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for the death of Army Capt. Humayun Khan, despite the fact that Khan died in 2004. 'It was under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton that changed the rules of engagement that probably cost his life,' spokeswoman Katrina Pierson said in an interview Tuesday with CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer. Khan died during the presidency of George W. Bush, while Obama was a state senator in Illinois." ...
... CW: This is the second time in two days that a Trump surrogate has faulted Obama & Clinton for Humayun Kahn's death. Veep nominee mike pence did so this weekend (see link in August 1 Commentariat), so obviously this is a Trump-approved nonsense talking point. P.S. I'm sorry Montellaro doesn't tell us just what Wolf's follow-up was. Probably nothing. ...
... Annals of "Journalism" Update. Yup, I guessed right. Media Matters: "After allowing Pierson to falsely claim that 'it was under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton that changed the rules of engagements that probably cost [Humayun Khan] his life,' Blitzer failed to inform viewers that Barack Obama wasn't President in 2004 and was first sworn in as a U.S. Senator on January 4, 2005." -- CW
Trees and Rotten Apples: Little Eric Trump Rips the Khans and Lies Some More. Surprised? David Wright of CNN: "Eric Trump defended his father Tuesday ... and said that he had already apologized to the Khans and Gold Star families -- despite the fact that the senior Trump has pointedly declined to apologize. Appearing on 'CBS This Morning,' [Eric] Trump was pressed about his father's lack of apology for his criticism of the Khan family." Akhilleus: No, Eric, he has not apologized. Another proficient Trump liar. Even better, little Eric began the segment by implying that the Khans were ruthless for 'attacking' daddy. A bit later, in response to a question about sexual harassment in the workplace, especially if it involved his sister, Ivanka, Trump sniffed that she would never allow herself to be 'objected' to such a thing. Another English scholar. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Josh Gerstein of Politico: U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel "has decided not to make public videos of Donald Trump facing lawyers' probing questions about his Trump University real estate seminar program and his public statements about prominent politicians. Trump has repeatedly accused ... Curiel of bias, but in a ruling Tuesday the judge sided with Trump and his lawyers, rejecting a bid the media and lawyers suing Trump made to put the deposition videos in the public domain." -- CW
Air Force Mom Attacked by Trump Supporters: Matthew Nussbaum of Politico: Catherine Byrne "stood before the crowd of hundreds at a town hall-style event [in Carson City, Nevada] with Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and announced that her son serves in the Air Force. The crowd applauded. But then the woman said, 'Time and time again, [Donald] Trump has disrespected our nation's armed forces and veterans. And his disrespect for Mr. Khan ... 'The reaction of the crowd was immediate and fierce, drowning out her words.... Byrne ... continued to speak through the jeers." Akhilleus: Anyone wondering if Trump's continued attacks against a Gold Star mother bothered the stormtrumpers has their answer. There will be no questioning of der Führer. Achtung! (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Life Lessons. By Donald J. Trump: "You learn to live good, you learn to stay healthy, you learn to have a good common smart mind by turning off the negative." Also, don't watch CNN. -- CW
Congressional Race
Out with the Krazy in Kansas. Elena Schneider of Politico: "GOP Rep. Tim Huelskamp a three-term incumbent and House Freedom Caucus member from Kansas, lost his House primary Tuesday night to challenger Roger Marshall, a physician backed by agricultural interests and several big-spending outside groups. Marshall had 57 percent of the vote to Huelskamp's 43 percent when The Associated Press called the race.... Huelskamp's primary in the 'Big First' district, a safely Republican seat, became a proxy war between hard-line conservatives and more traditional GOP groups and donors. And in a twist on the usual script in recent anti-incumbent House GOP primaries, Marshall campaigned as a more pragmatic voice, promising voters he would reclaim the district's longtime seat on the House Agriculture Committee. Huelskamp was removed from the committee in 2012 after angering House GOP leadership." -- CW
Other News & Views
Abby Phillip & Katie Zezima of the Washington Post: "Three top officials at the Democratic National Committee will leave their posts this week amid the controversy over the release of a cache of hacked emails from the committee. Chief executive Amy Dacey, Chief Financial Officer Brad Marshall and Communications Director Luis Miranda will leave the DNC just days after a new leader [-- Donna Brazile --] took the helm.... Dacey was implicated in one of the most damaging exchanges, in which Marshall appeared to speculate about how Sanders's Jewish heritage could be used against him.... The messages were sent to a group that included Dacey, Miranda and another communications aide...." -- CW
AND Now for a Word from CNN's Top Birther Correspondent. Nick Gass of Politico: "During an animated discussion about his former boss Tuesday night on CNN, former Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski suggested that President Barack Obama might be concealing his true birthplace by withholding his transcripts from his time at Harvard University.... "... the question was did he get in as a U.S. citizen or was he brought into Harvard University as a citizen who wasn't from this country?'... CNN chief Jeff Zucker defended hiring Lewandowski in an interview published Tuesday, before the panel aired." CW Note: I don't know what Harvard Law transcripts look like, but none of my college transcripts shows my place of birth.
** The Party of Racists. Jill Lawrence of USA Today: "If you want to quantify the distance Republicans have traveled since its 'party of Lincoln' days, look away from Donald Trump long enough to read the federal court ruling that struck down a North Carolina voting law. It's as damning a document as you will ever encounter. The evidence shows the state party as an institution that conspired -- OK, schemed -- to suppress the votes of one particular race.... The ruling that North Carolina Republicans 'surgically' targeted African Americans to deprive them of voting rights is as blatant as Trump's attacks on other minorities.... The whole law is a smoking gun in a much broader sense, one that exposes the institutional, integral role of racism in the Republican drive to grab and hold power; one that puts the lie to the fictions that non-racist Republicans hold tight: That they are color-blind, a welcoming party, a party that judges people on their merits and character." -- CW
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Liz Spayd, the New York Times public editor: "Hillary Clinton, in a rare interview on Fox News last Sunday, claimed that the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey Jr., had called her statements about her private email servers 'truthful' and said she has been consistent with the American people in her accounts about the controversy.... Clinton's contentions in the interview were misleading, bordering on false.... Clinton's remarks were covered by several major news organizations, several of which pointedly challenged the Democratic nominee's candor. But nothing on the interview ever appeared in The Times, either online or in print.... It was surprising that Clinton would prominently stumble over the email servers again, and on Fox. It was clearly news." -- CW
Beyond the Beltway
Jessica Reyes of the Delaware News Journal: "The Delaware Supreme Court has ruled the state's death penalty law is unconstitutional -- and the only chance at fixing it is to punt the issue to the already-divided General Assembly. The top court released its ruling Tuesday that said Delaware's current capital punishment statute violates the U.S. Constitution by giving judges, and not juries, the final say to impose a death sentence." -- CW
David Goodman & Al Baker of the New York Times: "William J. Bratton, the commissioner of the
... Amber Jamieson of the Guardian: "Protesters in New York City began occupying the park next to city hall in Manhattan on Monday, declaring they would not leave until police commissioner Bill Bratton was fired. Organized by Millions March NYC, a group affiliated with Black Lives Matter movement, the #ShutDownCityHallNYC protest has been inspired by protesters setting up encampments in public spaces in Chicago and Los Angeles to fight for the abolition of the police." CW: Hmm, nothing about this is the Times story. But then the Times often doesn't think protests are news fit to print. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Way Beyond
Jason Gutierrez of the New York Times: "Since Rodrigo Duterte became president of the Philippines just over a month ago, promising to get tough on crime by having the police and the military kill drug suspects, 420 people have been killed in the campaign, according to tallies of police reports by the local news media. Most were killed in confrontations with the police, while 154 were killed by unidentified vigilantes. This has prompted 114,833 people to turn themselves in, as either drug addicts or dealers, since Mr. Duterte took office, according to national police logs." -- CW
Josh Keller, et al., of the New York Times: "Only rarely in modern history has a leader detained and fired as many perceived adversaries as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has since a failed coup attempt last month. Here is how Mr. Erdogan's vast purge would look if Americans were targeted at a similar scale." The reporters run the numbers. -- CW
Julie Zauzmer of the Washington Post: "In May, Pope Francis remarked that the Catholic Church should study whether women could be 'reinstated' as deacons -- a proposal that could introduce a role for women in the Catholic clergy that has been open only to men for centuries. On Tuesday, he made good on that comment.... The Vatican announced the members of the new Commission for the Study of the Diaconate of Women...." -- CW (Also linked yesterday.)
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Reader Comments (27)
Marie: I like the logo, very nice. But if your graphic skills can handle it (I have none), let me suggest adding a can of Morton salt, pouring onto that hair-chapeau. The ground upon which he stands must be turned and salted to give true flavor to the idea "delenda." And, I believe the Morton's motto is "If he reigns, it pours."
Love the Cato reference. Keep it flying!
Over fifty years ago in an army basic training class we were told that "the Purple Heart is the only medal awarded for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's an award no one wants."
So, BobbyLee, I understand that, but I think that concept changed in Vietnam. All types of medals were presented, not just Washingtons, to folks who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Categorically.
I won't get started up (too much) but saw lots of people get medals for really screwing up and then somehow getting out alive.
Another observed Trump pathology: read the WaPo Phil Rucker interview with DJT, and note how DJT consistently repeats phrases he just said, sometime immediately, sometimes after a few digressions.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/donald-trump-transcript-the-republican-nominee-in-his-own-words/2016/08/02/77e9fa68-58eb-11e6-831d-0324760ca856_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_trump-440pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
This seems like a trait shared by a character in "Goodfellas", nicknamed "Two Times" because he repeats everything.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfW-MPUjC_0
A harmless tic, but I think there's something going on there, I don't know what, there's something going on.
"TRVMPUS DELENDA EST"
Excellent logo, Marie!
And your toll-free number for the tee-shirts is . . . ?
On Wikipedia, that speech tic is described as "palilalia" (and to show that all things are related and part of the joke, its root is Greek, "palin.")
"Palilalia may occur in conditions affecting the pre-frontal cortex or basal ganglia regions, either from physical trauma, neurodegenerative disorders, genetic disorders, or a loss of dopamine in these brain regions.[4] Palilalia occurs most commonly in Tourette syndrome and may be present in neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's disease and progressive supranuclear palsy."
Obama's speech yesterday telling the world that Trump is unfit to be President is unprecedented. It seemed almost shocking and at the same time felt like a breath of fresh air.
"There has to come a time when you say––ENOUGH!"
This coming from a man who attended a dinner honoring John McCain the night before he, Obama, was to take office. He gave a speech extolling McCain's achievements and wrapped his arms around John at the end with John reciprocating. This is grace––this is decency dressed to the nines. This is what we expect from people who represent us in this country.
What we have now is a McCain who is visibly troubled by Trump, verbally denouncing the asininity that flows from that mouth, but still says he will vote "for the candidate of my party's nomination." Big mistake and it could cost him his seat. a Ms Kirkpatrick might just snatch it away from him. She has an ad that features McCain putting party before country.
And what we have now is total chaos erupting in the Republican party–-however the many reasons this came to fore has been hashed and rehashed. Our only goal at this point is to stop this loose canon from ever becoming President.
Richard Hanna and Meg Whitman will be voting for Hillary among many other Republicans or so I've heard, that are not in the public eye, but nevertheless weld much influence.
Here is a thorough and excellent piece by Bill Blum, a lawyer by trade, who managed to gather information from quite a few psychiatrists: "The Psychopathology of Donald Trump."
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_psychopathology_of_donald_trump_20160731
The new Trump word, 'Fit', the polite word for competent. I am sure we all notice that there is virtually no discussion in the POTUS race of details of positions on anything. All we hear is 'fit'. And lets see, Trump knows more about the Ukraine the Obama, the election is rigged, all polls are phony and the Purple Heart is fun! That's just yesterday, a typical Trump day.
Take a look at the NJ Star Ledger editorial that covers Monday.
http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2016/08/clintons_lies_vs_trumps_lies_separate_and_unequal.html
The good news, three articles in the paper of prominent Republicans saying they are voting for Clinton.
Please take a break from the ubiquitous coverage of Trumpism to read this or watch (video) Andrew Hacker showing us his thinking about math in terms of literacy–-not levels. I found this fascinating. If his ideas are implemented we may see hundreds more students graduate from high school; we may see many more kids make it in a system that would like to keep them down.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/thinking-math-terms-literacy-not-levels/
A weird speech tic, which could be afflicting the out of control Republican nominee reminiscent of a character from a violent gangster film, with a name derived from the word "palin".
Sometimes life just drops funny things at your front door, no charge.
Ruh-roh. Looks like Joe Scarborough may be Trump's next target. O.M.G., as the kidz say.
TRVMPVS DELENDA EST!
Mirabile dictu.
We now have our motto for the rest of this 100 days battle. If it's anything like Napoleon's Hundred Days, may it end in Waterloo for you know who.
And then, a self-paid one-way ticket to Saint Helena, if you please, where the delended Trvmpvs can lord it over the plovers.
More and more I have been wondering about what will happen when Trump completes his meltdown. "The Rules of the Republican Party" adopted 2012 in Tamps, Section 9, "Filling Vacancies in Nominations".
https://s3.amazonaws.com/prod-static-ngop-pbl/docs/Rules_of_the_Republican+Party_FINAL_S14090314.pdf
Of course there is a small chance the GOP may have changed Rule 9 with regard to vacancies in 2016. I never doubt that the GOP can come up with a work around like an emergency concerning of the Rules Committee. However, a switch in candidates might pose a bigger problem than the GOP can handle. Then again, lying and conniving are their best skills.
The 250 people, places, and things donald trump has insulted on
twitter. A complete list.
Sorry, Marie, you and the rest of us didn't make the list (yet).
www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/01/28/donald-trump-twitter-
insults.html?_r=0
An old list but recently updated.
Today in Batshit Bothsiderism
What should remain no more than a tipsy parlor game for delusional Confederates has become a roaring media industry. Everyone is playing. Chuck Todd wakes up in the middle of the night and thinks "Well, if Republicans do it, Democrats must too...". Major news outlets are loath, and I mean looooaaaathhh to do a story about Republican insanity in the highest reaches of the party without trying desperately to balance it with a quote from some drunken hippie leftist, in an attempt to demonstrate clearly that they are not biased against stupid.
You know what? They should be.
But that's where we've been for years now. A Republican leader says "Blow up the world!" and that statement is countered with one from a Democratic voter who says "Hug a tree!". The first is described as an overzealous defender of freedom, the second as an out of touch idiot, and both together are determined to cancel each other out. Seriously, it's that bad.
So what now? Some moron on Slate is demanding that everyone agree that if the Democrats had their own Donaldo, they would "totally vote for him"--like, totally, dude. And who might be a DJT for Democrats? How about Sean Penn? Okay, before the laughing stops, let me just say, that there were millions of Republicans who were ready to vote for Donald Trump even before he threw his backup wig into the ring. Do you know anyone who would vote for Sean Penn? Okay, he's an activist and he shoots his mouth off now and then, but he has never put himself out there as the one and only leader who could fix all problems. He's a fine actor and not a bad director, but I would never vote for the guy for president.
I won't go over the entire "logic" put forward here except to say that this is execrably stupid stuff. You can invent any kind of fairy tale you want to try to prove that 1.) your guy is not as bad as everyone says, 2.) that Democrats are just as bad as crazy Republicans, and 3.) they would so vote for someone as extreme as Trump.
First, Sean Penn is in no way, as far as I can tell, as megalomaniacal and ignorant as Trump. He's not a racist pig, and he's never seemed to be mentally disturbed. The writer claims that Penn is no expert on foreign affairs. Well neither is Trump. The difference is that Penn doesn't claim to be smarter than everyone else. But let's forget about Sean Penn. Trying to rebut every Penn "reason" is playing this guy's ridiculous fantasy game. Here's the crushing blow to any argument of this sort. There IS no Donald Trump on the left. There is NO Rush Limbaugh on the left. There just isn't. But intellectually dishonest counterfactual wanking like this piece is constantly given pride of place and considered "serious journalism". Of course Slate helps by inserting a picture of Sean Penn photoshopped into a convention setting giving a Hitler salute. I guess if your argument blows you might as well try some fakey Photoshop.
But the best evidence that contentions like this are truly nothing but Confederate mental masturbation of the most sordid kind, is the fact that the fantasist who wrote this dreck calls upon Ross Douthat as proof positive that he's right:
"Imagine a race where the choices were an unfit, paranoid, unstable Democratic nominee and Rick Santorum."
Whoa. First of all, at this point, Rick Santorum is probably not as bad a choice as Trump (not by much though) AND there are (or rather, were) no unfit, paranoid, unstable Democratic nominees. You might as well say "Suppose there was a guy who painted himself blue every day and ran around naked in his yard yelling racist slurs. AND he was a DEMOCRAT!" Okay, let's suppose that. Your next point is that Democrats, by the millions, would line up to vote for this guy?
Seriously?
The fact that shit like this gets print space or air time is abominable, but I will bet you every cent I've ever earned, or ever will earn, that this article will be waved around by GOP pundits like a fire hose in a conflagration.
Counterfactual is one thing. Fever dream horseshit is another.
Jesus, these fucking people!
Forrest,
We might make that list after all. The other day I ran across a commenter to a NY Times piece who referred to his Soiled Orangeness as "Donaldo". Looks like more people read RC than we might think. Just wait for someone to grab hold of "Trvumpvs delenda est" now. Although Trump might read that and think someone's trying get him to lend them some money. Either way, he won't like it.
Caught up with the news this AM here in the City by the Bay. Wonderful! The City, that is, far more than the news, which makes me think of those old, common small town values--certainly not SF values, no, no, never, not those!-- around which my father's Republican Party coalesced.
I'm thinking of decency, of strength of character, and all that those words and their kin stated and implied. The Norman Rockwell, Saturday Evening Post and Boy Scout world I really think I was growing up in during the 1950's of my youth, doubts not intruding until my teens when I first encountered those skeptical elitists I have since thanked many times over for ruining my life.
This morning's thoughts hover between those two worlds, my relatively uncomplicated childhood when I drank in the ideals of manhood, of quiet strength and courage, of stiff upper lip, of the virtues of hard work and service to others, and that other world presented by the skeptics, the Menckens, the Lewises, the Andersons, who stripped away the gloss on the American portrait I thought I was a part of and showed me how much ugliness and meanness there was just below the surface of my mostly pleasant world.
So this morning I see in the Republican Presidential candidate the antithesis of the innocent ideals of my youth. There is nothing admirable about him. He exhibits nothing I was taught by "The Saturday Evening Post" or The Cub Scouts to be proud of. A bully who whines (everything's unfair!), he possesses no manly virtues whatsoever, and unlike Reagan, he does't even pretend to put a smiley face on the quivering greed that moves him.
Instead, what we have in Trump is all of that ugliness and meanness the Great Skeptics (some part time Cynics, I have come to admit) warned me about. It's as if the Republican Party took George Babbitt, who was always at home in their midst and whom an elitist could nonetheless feel a little sorry for, to their secret underground laboratory, squeezed out any remaining essence of goodness, infused him with all that is miserable in a human being, gave him an ego large enough to eat the world and told him to run for President.
The whole thing does have a nightmare quality.
I know it's been said before, but Trump is truly the Republican Party's Frankenstein. And as they have already repeated shown by their pusillanimity (Trump did choose the right party), Republicans cannot be counted on to control him.
It's up to us.
We haven't heard from Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions lately. A few days ago he supported DJT in the Khan-Trump donnybrook. JBS' madness is the slow, persistent, Southern-gothic type, not the manic incandescence of that NYC bedlamite:
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/289904-trump-surrogate-i-reject-khans-attacks
Things are moving swiftly.
We're not the only ones who have noticed how much more kookamunga Trumpskyev has become just in the last 48 to 72 hours. In between unremitting insults to a dead serviceman and his family, woe-is-me whining that no one is being fair to him, declining in unprecedented fashion to support members of his own party in reelection bids (one of the nominee's chief tasks as party leader) one of whom is a sitting speaker and another of whom a past presidential nominee, and dangerously unsound, completely unsupported claims that the election has already been rigged against him, Donaldo seems to be unraveling very quickly. Much more quickly than I expected him to.
And the speech thing, as noted, is getting worse as well. If this were Dateline or one of those TV mystery shows, we'd be hearing the announcer ominously point to the way the suspect begins to mumble and twist and repeat his words and contradict himself as his fate becomes ever more inescapable. I firmly believe that Donaldo had no real concept of what a general election race was going to be like.
The other day, little Eric Trumpy whined that the family knew it would be "vicious" and "ruthless" (the poor dears), but had no idea it would be like this. No. And you know why? Because none of them, least of all Donaldo, has ever had to face this kind of scrutiny from people they couldn't fire, insult into shutting up, pay off, or ignore. He's caught now and the usual tricks, the snarky bullying tactics employed on weaklings and hopeless ideologues in the run up to the general aren't working anymore.
So he's starting to panic. He might not recognize it as panic ("Trump doesn't panic!"), but there certainly seems to be a lot of confusion now in the Trump camp, and it all comes from the candidate. Word is, from a number of sources, that the campaign insiders have pretty much thrown their hands in the air. It's every liar for themselves at this point. No one controls this guy or even gets to him, except for Grima Wormtongue (aka Roger Stone), who is filling his already muddled head with nightmares and scary monsters.
Months ago, I would not have thought it likely that Trumpskyev's ego would allow him to skeedaddle in so cowardly a manner, but he has never really had to show his mettle. All things have been laid out before him. It's rich to hear this scion of wealth and privilege, for whom all has been rigged his entire life, whine about rigging going against him, no matter how specious the claim.
Therefore, it might be, after all, an arranging of an excuse for him to declare victory and depart the field before any further humiliation. I wouldn't care so much if that was all there was to it. My guess is that, like the most petulant and spoiled child, if he has to turn tail and run, he may not want anyone else to play with the toys he leaves behind and may go along with Wormtongue's plan to piss in the sandbox on the way out, to begin a traitorous uprising and spread the idea that the election and the new president are both illegitimate and in need of violence to restore order.
That would be just his speed. And the less connected to reality, the more likely is that outcome.
On a different matter, now that the Zika virus has arrived in the US, the Republicans in Congress have refused to fund the money to fight this potential epidemic. These people who claim serious concern for the fetus are having a problem. Protecting the unborn might cost them a penny or two whereas claiming protection from abortion cost nothing. The new definition of morality.
As they say in Oz, ho, ho, ho, ha, ha, ha, and a couple of tra la las....
Tim Huelskamp (R-Douchebag) has had his lying Confederate, Freedom Cockus ass handed to him.
In case anyone forgets what a rat bastard this guy is (was--but probably always will be), here's a reminder, an interview with a sane person (Rachel Maddow) who just doesn't get a fucking thing he's selling.
The crazy starts as soon as he opens his mouth.
Fare fucking well, asshole.
Akhilleus, Trump's ego is a fake. All we have is the loud mouth trying to hide the tiny brain. In that little brain is a neuron that knows perfectly well how stupid he really is. That's is what the mental disorder is all about. Trump knows he actually nothing.
Marie: Your editorial output here over the past several weeks (not to mention the years) has been prodigious. One might say yuuuuge. For information and entertainment value, you've got the best juke joint this side of the tracks. We cannot thank you enough. Thank you!
I'm thinking that Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) is praying that Donaldo
becomes President. That will give him a chance to stand up every
time Donaldo opens his pie hole and yell "you lie" "you lie".
Or is that reserved for Pres. Obama or Pres. HRC?
@Akhilleus
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/08/03/victories-for-kansas-moderates-and-sanders-progressives-in-tuesdays-primaries/
There will be dancing in the streets tonight in Lawrence, Kansas. And some places out west in the Red Sea, I hear.
And thank you fellow Sandernistas.
Pardon my exuberance. We don't get much to celebrate out here.
Clearly the Republican party is confused. They are under the impression that their candidate for POTUS is a Republican.
Donald is not a Republican or any other party member. Donald is a TRUMP.
(In other words he doesn't give a damn about literally anything except himself.)
Dan,
You are excused any exuberance (especially given the circumstances) except the irrational kind in which case Alan Greenspan will be at your door in a trice, or maybe on a tricycle from the seat of which he may attempt to regale you with tales of the glory days of tricel down economics.
Sorry. There's just no accounting for the bad puns lately. It must be a trike of the mind, or maybe an apt-ical allusion.