The Commentariat -- August 3, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Marina Pitofsky of the Onion Hill: "Michael Avenatti is reportedly considering a White House bid after declaring that he would not join the slate of Democratic candidates running for president in 2020.... Earlier this year, Avenatti was arrested in New York for an alleged $20 million extortion scheme against Nike. In April, federal prosecutors in California indicted the lawyer on three dozen criminal counts, including allegedly stealing money from clients and lying about his income to regulators. Avenatti has pleaded not guilty to all charges."

Nancy Cook of the Onion Politico: "The Trump 2020 campaign has been quietly reaching out to prominent African Americans about joining its latest coalition, intended to boost Republican support in the black community. The effort comes just as th president capped off a month filled with racially divisive language and Twitter taunts aimed at House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings and four freshman congresswomen of color."

This could be the headline of half the stories about Trump's tweets & chopper chatter: "Trump Defends Recent Erratic Decision with Lies." Case in point: Tax Axelrod of the Hill reports on Trump's latest fantastical tweets defending his brilliant trade-war strategy against China. ...

... Lee Moran of the Huffington Post: "Fox News' Neil Cavuto wasted no time in fact-checking ... Donald Trump's latest claims about the tariffs his administration has imposed (and has promised to ramp up) on products imported into the U.S. from China. Trump on Friday told White House reporters that 'the tariffs are not being paid for by our people' but 'by China' because 'of devaluation and because they're pumping money in.' 'Remember this, our country is taking in billions and billions of dollars from China,' the president added. 'We never took in 10 cents from China. And out of that many billions of dollars, we're taking a part of it and giving it to the farmers because they've been targeted by China. The farmers, they come out totally whole,' [Trump claimed.] 'I don't know where to begin here,' responded Cavuto.... 'But just to be clarifying, China isn't paying these tariffs. You are. You know, indirectly and sometimes directly,' he explained.... '... this latest round of tariffs that kick in on September 1, on $300 billion worth of goods at 10%, that will most directly be felt by consumers directly,' he added. 'Because that happens on almost entirely consumer items rather than industrial-related items.... Our governments don't pay these things, you do, one way or another.'"

Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: "It was common knowledge that the founding nuns [of the Georgetown Visitation Convent school for girls in Washington, D.C.,] owned slaves, but school lore has held that the sisters allowed enslaved children to attend Saturday school and defied the law by teaching them how to read. The 65-page report, which the school has made available online, details the businesslike efficiency with which the nuns sold scores of enslaved people to pay off debts and fund new buildings. Georgetown Visitation sisters owned at least 107 enslaved people, including men, women and children, from a year after its founding until 1862, when the federal government made slavery illegal in the District, the report found.... News of the research and its findings was published Friday by New York University professor Rachel Swarns in an opinion piece for the New York Times. The Catholic Standard ran a story about the report in November."

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This Is Not an Advertisement. I am definitely not trying to sell you anything here, but Amazon Prime offers subscriptions to access the digital version of the Washington Post that is half the price of the Post's online offer ($5 vs. $10 a month). I broke down & signed up yesterday. You have to be an Amazon Prime member ($13/month) to get the cut rate on the WashPo, so if you aren't going to use Amazon for other purchases or watch Prime TV, it's a loser. The student rate for Amazon Prime is half the standard rate. I will link to non-subscription alternatives to WashPo stories I link here when they are available. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Your Friday Afternoon Twitter Dump:

Our great Republican Congressman John Ratcliffe is being treated very unfairly by the LameStream Media. Rather than going through months of slander and libel, I explained to John how miserable it would be for him and his family to deal with these people.... ...John has therefore decided to stay in Congress where he has done such an outstanding job representing the people of Texas, and our Country. I will be announcing my nomination for DNI shortly. -- Donald Trump, in tweet today ...

... ** Another One of the Best Nominations Explodes. Charlie Savage, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump on Friday abruptly dropped his plan to nominate Representative John Ratcliffe, Republican of Texas, as the nation's top intelligence official, following bipartisan questions about his qualifications and pushback over whether he had exaggerated his résumé. Mr. Ratcliffe, an outspoken supporter of Mr. Trump, has come under intense scrutiny since the president declared Sunday on Twitter that the lawmaker was his pick to succeed Dan Coats, who is stepping down as director of national intelligence on Aug. 15. The selection generated scant enthusiasm among senators of both parties who would have been decided whether to confirm him. Mr. Trump&'s announcement that Mr. Ratcliffe would not be his nominee after all, also made on Twitter, spoke bitterly of the attention Mr. Ratcliffe's claims about his experience as a federal prosecutor quickly received from the news media.... The backtrack leaves Mr. Trump without any obvious candidate to fill one of the country's most important national-security jobs, heightening scrutiny on what will happen with Sue Gordon, Mr. Coats's No. 2. Mr. Trump has already decided not to allow her to rise to the role of acting director of national intelligence when Mr. Coats steps down, according to people familiar with his plans." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: A normal president would have his potential nominees vetted before announcing their nominations. Trump, however, does no vetting & picks the Fox "News" denizen he likes best, leaving it to media to do the vetting his staff should have done. Then he complains that the "LameStreamMedia" treated his lame-stream nominee "very unfairly." But nothing is ever Trump's fault. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Several days ago, I wrote that Ratcliffe was the Chief of Anti-Terrorism and National Security for the Eastern District of Texas during the Bush II administration, a factoid I learned from Ratcliffe's Wikipedia page. According to Ali Velshi of MSNBC, that can't be true, as there was never any such position.

     ... Stupid Update. Later That Same Day ... Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Friday defended the vetting process at the White House, telling the news media that he allows it to do much of the heavy lifting while simultaneously blaming it for the withdrawal of his nominee to lead intelligence agencies.... 'I get a name, I give it out to the press and you vet for me. A lot of time you do a very good job. Not always,' Trump told reporters. 'If you look at the vetting process for the White House, it is very good, but you are part of the vetting process. I give out a name to the press and you vet for me, we save a lot of money that way." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Especially for someone nominated for a high-level position in the intelligence apparatus, this makes no sense; that is, Trump's placing vetting responsibility on the press is just an excuse to cover for his chaotic "management" of the administration. Intel agencies, at least theoretically, know more about a person with (supposed) intel experience than is available to the public & the press. The agencies also have access to personal information that is not publicly available. ...

... Julian Barnes & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The White House is planning to block Sue Gordon, the nation's No. 2 intelligence official, from rising to the role of acting director of national intelligence when Dan Coats steps down this month, according to people familiar with the Trump administration's plans.... Mr. Trump did not allow Ms. Gordon to personally deliver a recent intelligence briefing after she arrived at the White House, according to a person familiar with the matter. A federal statute says that if the position of director of national intelligence becomes vacant, the deputy director -- currently Ms. Gordon -- shall serve as acting director. But there appears to be a loophole: The law gives the White House much more flexibility in choosing who to appoint as the acting deputy if the No. 2 position is vacant, said Robert M. Chesney, a law professor at the University of Texas.... On Friday, Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, who is the committee's vice chairman, said that the law was 'quite clear' that the acting role goes to the deputy when the director of national intelligence leaves and that Ms. Gordon had the Senate's confidence." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... digby writes a toljaso column in which she outlines the steps in the usual Trump nomination "process." "... as we have seen time and time again, this usually ends up hurting the person offered the position.... The White House non-vetting process reveals scandals candidates were involved in they hid before. Some might never had been uncovered until they were put in the spotlight.... When writing about this 5 whole days ago, I found out that over 60 people Trump nominated had to withdraw. There is a whole page dedicated to it. With photos and everything! List of Donald Trump nominees who have withdrawn" ...

... Betsy Woodruff & Erin Banco of the Daily Beast: "The Trump administration is taking inventory of many of America's top spies, The Daily Beast has learned. The White House recently asked the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) for a list of all its employees at the federal government's top pay scale who have worked there for 90 days or more, according to two sources familiar with the request. The request appears to be part of the White House's search for a temporary director of national intelligence -- a prospect that raises concerns in some quarters about political influence over the intelligence community."

Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Trump on Friday signed a sweeping budget deal that increases federal spending and lifts the nation's borrowing limit, the White House said. The new law suspends the debt ceiling through July 2021, removing the threat of a default during the 2020 elections, and raises domestic and military spending by more than $320 billion compared to existing law over the next two fiscal years. Trump signed the measure without fanfare at the White House one day after the Senate voted 67-28 to send it to his desk. The House last week passed the budget package by a vote of 284-149 before starting its August recess." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Brett Samuels of the Hill: President* "Trump on Friday morning reacted to reports that a Baltimore home owned by [Rep. Elijah] Cummings had been robbed following days of attacks from the president on the congressman and the city [of Baltimore]. 'Really bad news! The Baltimore house of Elijah Cummings was robbed. Too bad!' Trump [wrote in a tweet apparently meant to mock Cummings]. Cummings in a statement on Friday confirmed the incident and said he scared the intruder away by yelling before they were [Mrs. McC: s/b "he was"] able to enter the residence.... Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley on Friday pushed back against ... Trump's tweet...[: 'This is so unnecessary,' [she tweeted.]" (Also linked yesterday.)

Jonathan Chait: “When he was running for president, Donald Trump threatened to single out Amazon for retribution. 'If I become president, oh do they have problems,' he said.... He is carrying out that threat. The White House has ordered the Defense Department to reexamine a $10 billion cloud-computing contract 'because of concerns that the deal would go to Amazon,' the Washington Post reports. It's not yet possible to prove that Trump is directing this decision as punishment for Jeff Bezos's ownership of the Post.... Trump's Mafia style of management, which the Mueller report chronicles, is designed to avoid leaving a paper trail that would incriminate the boss.... But Trump ... has made it abundantly clear both that the Post is the source of his hatred of Amazon, and that his policy grounds for punishing Amazon are pretexts. Trump calls the paper the 'Amazon Washington Post,' and habitually intermingles attacks on Amazon with his periodic rants against the Post's reporting[.]... Trump is trying to grasp at of any lever he can use to punish Amazon for the Post';s reporting of him.... Trump's oligarchic methods are simply taken for granted to the point where it barely generates outrage any more when he uses the power of the federal government to punish owners of independent media."

Jerry Dunleavy of the Washington Examiner: "'Where we go one, we go all.' That popular slogan of the far-right QAnon conspiracy movement was said from the podium of Thursday's Trump rally by online personality and founder of the 'Walk Away Movement' Brandon Straka as he warmed up the crowd a few hours before President Trump took the stage in Cincinnati, Ohio. Earlier that day, a 15-page FBI memo from the Phoenix field office warning of possible dangers stemming from fringe online conspiracy theories specifically named QAnon as a source of concern.... Straka told the Washington Examiner he is not a supporter of the QAnon movement.... Straka complained about the media coverage of his speech, saying that 'the liberal media are blatant liars' for calling him a QAnon supporter." Mrs. McC: I saw video of Straka's rallying cry, and the crowd cheered. It's such a weird sentence construction, we can probably assume many of Trump's followers at the rally were QAnon enthusiasts.

Eliana Johnson of Politico: "... Donald Trump has signed an executive order imposing sanctions on Russia for its use of chemical weapons in the 2018 attack on the Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, according to two U.S. officials. The Trump administration imposed a round of sanctions last year, as required by a 1991 law. The same law requires the president to impose a second round of sanctions if he cannot determine that the state in question has stopped using chemical weapons -- and U.S. intelligence agencies were unable to make that determination with regard to Russia, which continues to deny responsibility for the attack on the Skripals. But the president, who has been loath to antagonize Russian President Vladimir Putin, dragged his feet on imposing the second round of sanctions. En route to a rally in Cincinnati on Thursday, he continued to minimize the threat of Russian interference in U.S. elections. Asked by a reporter whether Russia is continuing to meddle in American elections, Trump responded, 'You don't really believe this. Do you believe this?'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "Long before Donald Trump began his ongoing war of words with the 'corrupt city' of Baltimore, he hosted a pastor from there [-- the Rev. Donte Hickman, of Southern Baptist Church --] at the White House for a signing ceremony during which he promised to help rescue ailing, largely black urban areas around the country. Nearly a year later, the pastor is still waiting for the president to follow through on that pledge; or, as he put it, 'to put up or shut up.'... If Trump has done anything to help the city he's spent the past several days trashing, that would be news to the pastor who once stood beside him." Mrs. McC: On the other hand, Trump & GOP legislators did give Trump a huge tax cut & the U.S. a correspondingly huge deficit.

Rachel Frazin of the Hill: "The Trump administration is reportedly planning to withdraw thousands of troops from Afghanistan in a new deal negotiated with the Taliban Thursday. The Washington Post reported that the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan would be reduced to between 8,000 and 9,000 from the current 14,000, citing U.S. officials. In exchange, the Taliban would reportedly have to begin negotiating a peace deal with the Afghan government; the deal would also involve a cease-fire and a Taliban renunciation of al Qaeda. The proposal is the result of months of talks between the Taliban and Zalmay Khalilzad, an Afghan-born American diplomat, according to the Post." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Robin Wright of the New Yorker: "Last month, amid a rapid-fire escalation in tensions between Washington and Tehran, the Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, received an unexpected invitation -- to meet ... Donald Trump in the Oval Office. The diplomatic overture was made by Senator Rand Paul.... During an hour-long conversation, Zarif offered Paul ideas about how to end the nuclear impasse and address Trump's concerns.... Paul proposed that the Iranian diplomat lay out the same ideas to Trump in person.... Zarif told Paul that the decision to meet Trump in the Oval Office was not his to make; he would have to consult with Tehran.... They did not approve a meeting -- at this time.... On July 31st, with no breakthrough on the horizon, the Trump Administration sanctioned Zarif for 'reprehensible' behavior, for having links to the Revolutionary Guard..., and for functioning 'as a propaganda minister, not a foreign minister.'... On his Twitter account..., [Paul] shared an Associated Press story about the Administration's move against Zarif, above which he wrote, 'If you sanction diplomats you'll have less diplomacy.'"

Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill: "A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled Friday against a Trump administration policy that would only allow migrants who enter the U.S. through legal ports of entry to claim asylum, the latest blow against the administration's agenda. U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss, an Obama appointee, threw out the policy, finding it to be 'inconsistent with' the Immigration and Nationality Act. The policy has been already blocked by a federal judge in San Francisco and is now being appealed before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Quinta Jurecic in a New York Times op-ed: "The [Mueller] report tells what is probably one of the biggest stories of our lifetimes -- and understanding that narrative as a narrative can help make sense of the confused political moment.... The first half of the report -- on efforts by the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 election -- is a spy thriller, a high-stakes caper with greed, dirty deals and intrigue straight out of a Cold War potboiler. The second half -- on President Trump's efforts to obstruct Mr. Mueller's investigation -- is a Shakespearean drama about deception and power. But at its core, the 448-page volume is a detective story.... [But] the Mueller report may turn out to be more of a film noir than anything else. The detective successfully uncovers the plot, only to discover that the society around him is too rotten to do anything about it."

Nick Miroff & Damian Paletta & of the Washington Post: Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) "... held up the confirmation of a White House budget official [Michael Wooten] this week in an attempt to obtain sensitive information about border wall contracts he has been trying to steer to a major donor, according to emails obtained by The Washington Post.... In recent months, Cramer has touted his preferred construction firm, North Dakota-based Fisher Industries, and campaign finance records show the senator has received thousands of dollars in contributions from company chief executive Tommy Fisher and his family members.... The North Dakota senator has repeatedly promoted Fisher, and Trump too has joined the effort, pitching the company in meetings at the White House and aboard Air Force One that have troubled military commanders and Department of Homeland Security officials.... Despite Cramer's efforts to influence and the president's endorsement, Fisher was not picked by the Army Corps in recent rounds of bidding.... During previous bids, the Army Corps said the company's design did not meet its requirements and lacked regulatory approvals. DHS officials also told the Army Corps in March that Fisher's work on a barrier project in San Diego came in late and over budget." The Hill has a summary of the WashPo report here.

Presidential Race 2020. Patrick Condon of the Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Sen. Amy Klobuchar's campaign said Friday that she has met the requirements to participate in the third and fourth Democratic presidential debates[.] The Democratic National Committee set both polling and fundraising thresholds that candidates must hit in order to make the debate stage in September and October. Klobuchar previously reached at least 2% support in four early-state or national polls; now, her campaign said, the Minnesota Democrat also has reached 130,000 individual donors to her campaign." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Thanks, Supremes! Tom McCarthy of the Guardian: "US election jurisdictions with histories of egregious voter discrimination have been purging voter rolls at a rate 40% beyond the national average, according to a watchdog report released on Thursday. At least 17 million voters were purged nationwide between 2016 and 2018, according to a study by the Brennan Center for Justice. The number was basically unchanged from the previous two-year period. While the rate of voter purges elsewhere has declined slowly, jurisdictions released from federal oversight by a watershed 2013 supreme court ruling had purge rates 'significantly higher' than jurisdictions not previously subjected to oversight, the Brennan Center found in a previous report. That trend has continued, the watchdog said, with the disproportionate purging of voters resulting in an estimated 1.1 million fewer voters between 2016 and 2018. Voter purges accelerated in the United States with the 2013 Shelby County v Holder ruling which released counties with histories of voter discrimination from federal oversight imposed by the 1965 Voting Rights Act." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The voters' worst enemy is not the self-serving southern Republican legislator plotting to deprive Democratic-leaning voters of the franchise but the high-and-mighty Supreme Court confederates who are protecting the state legislator. The Robert Court is a shameful throwback to an anti-democratic status system.

Beyond the Beltway

California. Chelcey Adami & Kate Cimini of the Salinas Californian in USA Today: "The gunman who opened fire on unsuspecting festivalgoers in Gilroy on Sunday killed himself, the Santa Clara Coroner's Office found. The gunman shot himself in the mouth and died by suicide, a representative of the coroner's office said Friday. Earlier in the investigation, Gilroy police said they had "engaged" the shooter, Santino William Legan, and it was widely believed that police had shot and killed Legan. Legan gunned down three others at the festival before he died."

New York. Ashley Southall & William Rashbaum of the New York Times: "Five years after Eric Garner died in police custody and ignited a national outcry, a police administrative judge recommended on Friday that the officer who placed him in a chokehold during the botched arrest should be fired, according to a person with knowledge of the decision. The judge's decision sets in motion the final stage of a long legal and political battle over the fate of the officer, Daniel Pantaleo, who has become for many critics of the department an emblem of what they see as overly aggressive policing in black and Hispanic neighborhoods.... Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat running for president, has resisted pushing for the officer's dismissal for years, saying he was respecting due process. He was heckled at a national debate on Wednesday night by protesters shouting 'Fire Pantaleo,' and vowed that Mr. Garner's family would soon receive justice. The judge's recommendation comes two weeks after Attorney General William P. Barr announced that the Justice Department would not seek a federal indictment against the officer on civil rights charges, ending five years of internal debate among federal prosecutors." It will be up to New York's police commissioner James O'Neil to decide Pantaleo's fate. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The story has been updated, adding the byline of Ali Watkins, and including an account of a press conference Mayor de Blasio gave Friday in which he announced he could not say anything! “'Today, for the first time in these long five years, the system of justice is working,' Mr. de Blasio said. He continued, 'I want to remind everyone, this is an ongoing legal matter, so there's very little I can add.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Puerto Rico. Frances Robles & Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: “As the clock ticked toward 5 p.m. on Friday, when Ricardo A. Rosselló was to step down as Puerto Rico's governor, no one knew who the next governor would be. Not the lawmakers inside the Capitol who had voted on his possible successor an hour earlier. Not the protesters who gathered outside the governor's mansion to celebrate Mr. Rosselló's departure. Only once Mr. Rosselló's resignation became effective did the outgoing governor reveal that Pedro R. Pierluisi, whom he had recently nominated to be the island's secretary of state, would take the oath of office as his successor.... But the announcement did little to resolve the turmoil that has roiled Puerto Rico for three weeks, following a popular rebellion that forced Mr. Rosselló out of office. Mr. Pierluisi's ascent to the governor's seat will probably be contested in court, thrusting the island into a period of constitutional uncertainty." The NPR story is here.

News Ledes

NBC News: "A shooting near a shopping mall in El Paso has resulted in multiple fatalities, with at least 18 people taken to local hospitals, law enforcement officials said. El Paso police also said at about 1 p.m. local time that one person is in custody and there was no imminent threat at tha point. Earlier Saturday, in several tweets, police urged people to stay away from the area near the Cielo Vista mall due to an 'active shooter.'" Apparently there were multiple casualties. ...

... New York Times Update: "A gunman who opened fire at a shopping mall in El Paso on Saturday killed at least 18 people, according to State Senator José Rodríguez, who represents El Paso. The death toll has not been officially confirmed by law enforcement, but Mr. Rodríguez said his information was based on a briefing from a state official. The number of fatalities was also reported by local media. The police said that one suspect, a white male in his 20s, was in custody, and that the gunman had fired a rifle into the crowded store, sending panicked shoppers fleeing for their lives. The office of the El Paso mayor, Dee Margo, said in a statement that the police had confirmed several fatalities. The police declined to elaborate on the number and status of the victims." This is a liveblog. ...

     ... NYT Update: "20 people were killed in the shooting, the governor said. Twenty-six others were injured in the attack." (Same link as above.)

Comments

[Bobby Lee]

MrsMcC: On Amazon Prime memberships they used to, and may still, give you two gift accounts you could give to anyone. That's how I get WaPo, as a charity case.

[MAG]

Better yet, consider the annual Prime membership rather than monthly. My sister-in-law was paying $12.00 monthly ($144.00 for the year) ...while I paid a one-time $99.00. I know the rates have changed somewhat in the meantime.

[PD Pepe]

Marie–-thanks for the Wash Po that is not poo but a really good publication.

And mention here of the real stuff of smelly detritus Trump once again doesn't seem to know his media from his madness: "I blame the media for fake news but depend on it to do my vetting." We have to sit back and think about that– for a minute–-–and then wonder how in hell we have put up with this crazy fruitcake for as long as we have.

I was thinking last night of the film "Rosemary's Baby" and how she discovers that all of them––even the second Doctor she went to––were either witches or involved in the coven and how terrifying ––no way out kind of terror and I thought what we are experiencing is similar: when we start doubting our judicial system–-when the A.G. and our Supreme Court fit into that anagram of Rosemary's then...

[Schlub]

If you have a (dot)edu email address you can qualify for the student discount for most electronic versions of major newspapers. Many universities allow their alumni to keep their old email addresses (warning: the university foundation will use it to send solicitation after solicitation). Fortunately for me, the papers only look at the address and not the status of the person behind it, so I get the student discount despite being faculty.

I try to subscribe to as many as I can as their survival is of the utmost importance. Without the Times (NY and LA), the Post, NY Magazine, The Atlantic, etc., there would be no pushback at all on the spambots that make up so much of the "news" most people receive.

[safari]

I understand talking heads up in arms about the fact that Americans are taking Drumpf's tariff war right on the chin. But I'm seriously doubtful about how much this self-inflicted wound will actually hurt the pres* come election time. As a whole, Americans are nickeled and dimed at every financial transaction, and I've yet to see concrete reports about severely inflating prices due to the tariffs. My best guess is that this whole "oh my gosh Americans paying for tariffs" will have zero impact on actual voting, as the amount shelled out comes from so many different sources and never in any lump sum to be attributed to bonehead economic policy.