The Commentariat -- July 15, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "President Trump, adding to the list of allies he has clashed with this past week, said in an interview released on Sunday that he considered the European Union a trade 'foe,' days after a contentious NATO summit meeting and on the eve of closely watched talks with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.... 'Now you wouldn't think of the European Union, but they're a foe.' Mr. Trump told CBS. 'Russia is a foe in certain respects. China is a foe economically, certainly a foe.'... Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, in a sharp riposte on Twitter, wrote: 'America and the E.U. are best friends. Whoever says we are foes is spreading fake news.'... As his NATO allies watched in Brussels, Mr. Trump declined to call Mr. Putin an enemy or a friend, but referred to him as a 'competitor.'"

Joby Warrick of the Washington Post: "New details from a trove of Iranian nuclear documents stolen by Israeli spies early this year show that Tehran obtained explicit weapons-design information from a foreign source and was on the cusp of mastering key bombmaking technologies when the research was ordered halted 15 years ago. Iran's ambitious, highly secretive effort to build nuclear weapons included extensive research in making uranium metal as well as advanced testing of equipment used to generate neutrons to start a nuclear chain reaction, the documents show. While Iranian officials halted much of the work in 2003, internal memos show senior scientists making extensive plans to continue several projects in secret, hidden within existing military research programs.... The stolen documents contain no revelations about recent nuclear activity and no proof that Iran has violated the 2015 nuclear accord it reached with the United States and five other global powers. U.S. officials had long known of Iran's pre-2004 nuclear weapons research, which the Obama administration cited explicitly in prodding Iran to accept the historic deal limiting its ability to make enriched uranium and placing its nuclear facilities under intensive international oversight." ...

... The New York Times story, by David Sanger & Ronen Bergman, is here. Its focus is on the dramatic heist during which Mossad obtained the 15-year-old Iranian documents. And this: "In late April, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the results of the heist, after giving President Trump a private briefing at the White House. He said it was another reason Mr. Trump should abandon the 2015 nuclear deal, arguing that the documents proved Iranian deception and an intent to resume bomb production. A few days later, Mr. Trump followed through on his longstanding threat to pull out of the accord -- a move that continues to strain relations between the United States and European allies."

*****

** Mark Landler & Julie Davis of the New York Times: "Just a few hours after President Trump doused expectations of extracting any confession from President Vladimir V. Putin on Russia's election meddling when they meet on Monday, his own Justice Department issued a sweeping indictment of 12 Russian intelligence agents for hacking the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton presidential campaign. The bold move, precisely the kind that Mr. Trump has long resisted, demonstrated how he is almost wholly untethered from his administration when it comes to dealing with Moscow. Whether it is Russia's interference in the election, its annexation of Crimea or its intervention in Syria, Mr. Trump's statements either undercut, or flatly contradict, those of his lieutenants. The disconnect is so profound that it often seems Mr. Trump is pursuing one Russia policy, set on ushering in a gauzy new era of cooperation with Mr. Putin, while the rest of his administration is pursuing another, set on countering a revanchist power that the White House has labeled one of the greatest threats to American security and prosperity." ...

... Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "President Trump said in a new interview airing Sunday that he hadn't thought of pressing Russian President Vladimir Putin on extraditing the dozen Russian officials charged with hacking Democratic emails, while continuing to blame Democrats for the stolen emails that upended the 2016 presidential campaign. 'Well, I might,' Trump said when asked during an interview with CBS News about extraditing the indicted intelligence agents. 'I hadn't thought of that. But I certainly, I'll be asking about it. But again, this was during the Obama administration. They were doing whatever it was during the Obama administration.' The United States does not have an extradition treaty with Russia. Trump also asserted that the GOP was similarly not hacked during the 2016 campaign because the Republican National Committee were equipped with better cybersecurity.... 'I think the DNC should be ashamed of themselves for allowing themselves to be hacked. They had bad defenses and they were able to be hacked.'... The array of topics, in addition to election interference, that Trump has said he will raise with Putin include the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, as well as an Reagan-era arms control agreement and the prospect of extending a 2011 nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia." (See Ben Hart, below, on the It's-Obama's-Fault defense.) ...

     ... Brett Samuels of the Hill: "National security adviser John Bolton said Sunday it's 'pretty silly' for President Trump to demand Russia extradite the 12 intelligence officials charged with conspiring to hack into U.S. systems during the 2016 elections.... 'The Russians take the position, you can like it or not like it, that their constitution forbids them to extradite Russian citizens,' he [said]. 'They have an agreement with the Europeans that looks a lot like an extradition treaty. Europeans, frequently, tried to use that to get the Russians to extradite their nationals and they flat out refused to do it.'" Mrs. McC: Bolton knows perfectly well that actual diplomats & dealmakers quite often make "asks" they know they won't get. ...

     ... Quinn Scanlan of ABC News: "... Donald Trump's top national security adviser said he finds it 'hard to believe' Vladimir Putin didn't know about top Russian military intelligence officials' extensive efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election -- efforts the Russian president has repeatedly denied were state sponsored. In an interview for 'This Week' on Sunday..., John Bolton ... said that when he met with Putin in Moscow at the end of June to prepare for the Trump-Putin summit, the Russian president 'made it plain that he said the Russian state was not involved,' adding, 'he was very clear with his translator that that's the word that he wanted.' 'Now,' Bolton added, 'we'll have to see given that these are allegations concerning GRU agents obviously part of the Russian state, what he says about it now.'" ...

... Jonathan Swan of Axios: "President Trump no longer doubts the basic intelligence assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 election -- he just seems incapable of taking it seriously, and tells staff that is simply what nations do, several sources close to Trump tell me.... A source who's discussed the matter with Trump tells me: 'On election meddling, a big part of it is a refusal to give in to anything that could give the impression that the election outcome resulted from anything besides his skill and success as a candidate.' 'It's not about Russia. It could be evidence of Chinese or Canadian interference, and it wouldn't make any difference.' 'In Trump's mind, 'he won the election based on political superiority, and no one is going to suggest otherwise.'... Trump's attitude toward the whole issue is summed up by his reply to reporters at his NATO presser, in a voice drenched in sarcasm: 'We will, of course, ask your favorite question about meddling. I will be asking that question again. That's a signal to Putin that it's not with any enthusiasm or genuineness that Trump will be raising the issue when they meet -- just ticking a box for domestic political consumption. Then they can get down to business." (See also Little Randy's identical assessment; story linked below.) ...

... ** The Party of Treason. David Rothkopf in the Daily Beast: "This is an extraordinary moment. It is without equal not only in American history but in modern history. A hostile foreign power intervened in our election to help elect a man president who has since actively served their interests and has defended them at every turn. That the president is abetted in his aid for the Russians -- again, in the midst of this ongoing attack -- by the leadership of the Republican Party makes the situation all the more extraordinary and dangerous. As they seek to undermine the investigation, they serve Russia as directly as if they were officers of the GRU. Some now reportedly seek to impeach Rosenstein on trumped up charges. To attack one of the leaders of our national defense as we are being attacked and to do so to benefit our foreign adversary is textbook treason." Rothkopf notes that it is Republicans -- Mueller, Rosenstein & Dan Coats -- who have been warning against Russia's bad acts.

Cat Contiguglia of Politico: "German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas warned ... Donald Trump Sunday to be careful with what he agrees to when he meets Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. 'One-sided deals at the expense of one's own partners will end up hurting the U.S. as well,' Maas told the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag." ...

... Yossi Melman of The Jerusalem Post: "'Benjamin Netanyahu worked laboriously mobilizing all his influence in Washington to persuade Donald Trump to meet Vladimir Putin. The Israeli prime minister, however, is mainly interested in two topics: Iran and the civil war in Syria. He needs both leaders to back his policy on these fronts.... [Netanyahu] has more Putin's hours than any other leader in the world. The frequency and urgency of his encounters with Putin are a result of the fact that the Syrian civil war appears to be reaching its end.... Israel...aim[s] to push Iranian troops and their allies 50-60 kilometers from the border, and to persuade Putin and via him Syrian President Bashar Assad, to prohibit the deployment of Iranian missiles and air defense systems on Syrian soil." --safari ...

... Spencer Ackerman of The Daily Beast: "Aides to President Trump are trying to keep the conflict in Syria off the agenda when Trump meets with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, a senior administration official told The Daily Beast.... What frightens some U.S. officials, Syrian activists, and many Middle East analysts is that Trump, who muses that 'hopefully, someday, maybe [Putin will] be a friend,' will finally accede to Russia's insistence on the U.S. leaving Syria -- something Trump recently expressed an eagerness to do.... According to the senior administration official, who was not cleared to discuss internal deliberations with a reporter, no actual deal is on the table, nor is the U.S. foreign policy apparatus preparing one.... That worry comes amid many guesses and misgivings about the way Putin might play Trump." --safari ...

... Anna Nemtsova of The Daily Beast: "It's often said that Donald Trump's opinion is swayed by the last thing he's heard.... So [pro-Kremlin top advisor] Sergei Markov's version of what Vladimir Putin will tell Trump about Ukraine on Monday is worth considering closely.... 'Putin is going to tell Trump the real story about what America has been doing in Ukraine, the story that Trump does not know,' Markov said.... 'The United States has been funding Nazi groups in Ukraine; we hear reports that we have got a few American prisoners, U.S. officers'.... None of this is confirmed independently -- or at all -- but facts are much less important than impressions where Trump is concerned. 'Putin's goal is to shock Trump by true facts about this war.'" --safari: Not sure if "funding Nazis" is a turn-off for this president*.

... Putin Has Won Already. Andrew Higgins & Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: "When President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia sits down with President Trump in Helsinki, Finland, on Monday for a meeting he has long wanted, he will already have accomplished virtually everything he could reasonably hope for. All he really needs to make his meeting with Mr. Trump a success is for it to take place without any major friction -- providing a symbolic end to Western efforts to isolate Russia over its actions against Ukraine in 2014, its meddling in the United States election in 2016 and other examples of what the United States Treasury Department has described as Russia's 'malign activity' around the world." ...

... Masha Gessen of the New Yorker: "Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are about to hold a meeting that will reflect their shared understanding of power: the triumph of nothing over everyone.... The deliberately empty gesture is the ultimate innovation of the Trump Presidency. Beginning with his transition-era announcement of saving American jobs at a Carrier plant -- an accomplishment of no consequence for the country as a whole and little, if any, consequence for many Carrier employees -- Trump has trafficked in hollow symbols. Each gesture is designed to affirm his image as a dealmaker, even though the deals are devoid of substance at best and costly at worst. In this context, the Trump-Putin summit, a meeting without an agenda, appears entirely logical.... Putin may ... suggest a deal whereby the United States pulls out of Syria. Being able to make such an announcement would make Trump feel like the dealmaker he longs to be. To Russians, it would look like they had won the war. If any deal happens, though, it will be merely an accidental substantive bonus attached to a performance designed to be empty." ...

... Maureen Dowd: "It is up for debate whether Donald Trump will be a sad aberration in American history, a mere blip. But, thanks to the cheeky citizens of London, he will always be a blimp." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Dowd suggests a number of possible reasons for Trump's admiration of Putin, but neither she nor the usual pundits mention one I think likely: Trump admires dictators & aspires to be one because most of them are thieves. Putin is sometimes said to be the richest man in the world, having stolen hundreds of billions of rubles from his own country. Kleptocracy, I'd guess, is Trump's preferred form of government -- especially if it's his kleptocracy. As for Trump's place in American history, I think it's solid. The shady millionaire (nowadays, billionaire) is a stock American character, from the real-life robber barons of the 19th century to the fictional characters Jay Gatsby & Charles Foster Kane. But Trump has out-Goulded Jay Gould, out-Gatsbied Gatsby & out-Kaned Citizen Kane. Trump is not an aberration; he is both a symbol & a personification of the worst of the American experience. ...

... Charles Pierce: "Rosenstein went out of his way to say that no Americans were named in the indictment, so the White House grabbed onto that as though it were the last floating deck chair off the Lusitania. But it is very clear from the indictment that Mueller has the goods, all of the goods, and that nothing is going to slow him down or knock him off pace. (Notice how the indictment details how seriously the Russians took the president* appeal to them to find HRC's 'lost' emails.)... There's so much more coming. You can feel the hoofbeats of the horseman and the baying of the hounds behind every syllable of this indictment. My guess is that Mueller's not going to move on anyone in the United States until very late in the game. He's given all those folks a look at just a piece of what he's got. That's got to have their knees watery." --safari ...

... Benjamin Hart of New York captures the essence of Trump's self-defense in the hacking case: Obama failed to stop the hacking I asked for. ...

... Summary of GOP Response to Russia Interference. Aaron Rupar of ThinkProgress: "On Saturday, Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN) parroted one of President Trump's talking points, and attempted to shift blame for Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election to former President Obama.... While DesJarlais resorted to straight-up lying, other Republicans responded to the latest Mueller indictment with desperate gaslighting.... Trump, meanwhile, responded to the indictment by pushing debunked conspiracy theories about the DNC hack being an inside job, and posting a string of tweets blaming Obama for not doing more to stop Russian interference before the 2016 election." --safari: A more feckless pack of rats has never been electorally assembled. ...

... Little Randy Boards the Trump Train. Brett Samuels: "Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Sunday said he believes it's a 'waste of time' to try to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin accountable for meddling in U.S. elections, arguing that the U.S. and other countries have engaged in similar behavior.... 'If we have proof that they did it, we should spend our time protecting ourselves instead of having this witch hunt on the president,' Paul said. 'I think we need to be done with this so we can protect our elections.'"

Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Theresa May on Sunday revealed the advice President Trump had given her on how to negotiate Britain's withdrawal from the European Union: Go straight to court. Mrs. May was asked by the BBC about comments Mr. Trump made both in an interview in the British tabloid The Sun and later at a news conference on Friday at Chequers, the prime minister's country residence, northwest of London. 'He told me I should sue the E.U.,' Mrs. May said.... During his long business career, Mr. Trump has been famously litigious, initiating cases and defending many, too." ...

... Dan Sabbagh of the Guardian: "The prime minister smiled, and indicated she had disregarded the advice, saying 'actually we're going into negotiations with them', in remarks that will be interpreted as a put-down of the president." Mrs. McC: Both Castle & Sabbagh suggest that May & the interviewer, Andrew Marr, considered Trump's advice absurd. ...

... Who Knew Brexit Could Be So Complicated? The Queen, for One. Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Donald Trump has discussed his private conversation with the Queen who, as well as being 'beautiful inside and out', he said thinks Brexit is 'a very complex problem'.... 'It was a very easy talk,' he said. '... We had a great, a great feeling.' [Interviewer Piers] Morgan asked: 'Did you get the feeling she liked you?' 'Well I don't want to speak for her,' Trump said, 'but I can tell you I liked her. So usually that helps. But I liked her a lot.' Asked if he had discussed Brexit, Trump said: 'I did. She said it's a very -- and she's right -- it's a very complex problem. I think nobody had any idea how complex that was going to be... Everyone thought it was going to be, "Oh it's simple, we join or don't join, or let's see what happens".... Speaking to ... Morgan in an interview published by the Mail on Sunday ahead of broadcast on ITV, the US president repeated his claim that he had given the prime minister, Theresa May, an 'option' to give the UK an advantage over the European Union in Brexit talks. He would not say what that option was. He also said he had told May to get a 'carve out' in any agreement with the EU, to make possible a trade deal with the US.... Asked about mass protests against him in London on Friday, the day of the interview, Trump insisted: '"Some of them are protesting in my favour, you know that? There are many, many protests in my favour.'"

Paul Kelbie of the AP: "From the capital of Edinburgh to seaside golf resorts, thousands in Scotland staged colorful, peaceful protests against Donald Trump on Saturday as the U.S. president played golf at one of his luxury retreats.... On the beach outside [Trump's Turnberry] resort, a dozen demonstrators staged a 'protest picnic,' chanting 'Trump is a racist! Trump is a liar!' as hotel guests played golf just 100 meters (yards) away. A line of police, some on horseback, separated the protesters from the golf course. Snipers were also perched atop a nearby tower overlooking the vast property. Police were still trying to find a paraglider who breached a no-fly zone Friday night and flew a Greenpeace protest banner over the resort. The glider carried a banner reading 'Trump: Well Below Par' to protest his environmental and immigration policies. Greenpeace, in a statement, claimed the protest forced the president to take cover, saying 'as the glider appears overhead, the president can be seen making for the entrance, breaking into a trot.' The environmental group said it had told police about the stunt 10 minutes before the glider arrived.... In Edinburgh..., 10,000 people weaved through the capital's streets in an anti-Trump protest as amused tourists looked on and motorists beeped their horns in support. A choir, a bagpiper, a tambourine band and poetry readings added to the carnival spirit. Protesters launched into the sky a 20-foot (6-meter) tall blimp depicting Trump as an angry orange baby holding a phone for tweeting." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: A number of the protest signs in Scotland read "Ya Radge Orange Bampot." I hadda look it up. It means something like, You mad orange idiot." Remember when the Irish claimed President O'Bama as their own? (And he is. So is Michelle O'Bama.) ...

     ... Those were the days. ...

... "The Arrogant American." David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "President Barack Obama had just wrapped up a meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron when they took a detour, visiting a school in South London where they rolled up their sleeves and engaged a pair of students in a table tennis doubles match.... The informal photo op served a political purpose -- presenting the two leaders as close partners in touch with the day-to-day lives of ordinary Britons. Such cultural moments have long been a staple of foreign trips for U.S. presidents determined to promote America's democratic values and openness to the world.... President Trump ... has studiously avoided interacting with the public at large.... Trump also has largely eschewed public events during his previous foreign trips, and this weekend he is cloistered at his private golf resort in Turnberry, Scotland.... Trump campaigned as a populist against the ruling 'elite,' but on his foreign trips he has clearly reveled in the trappings of extravagant state visits.... Trump's decision not to mix with the public 'makes him seem like the arrogant American that looks down his nose at all foreigners,' [historian David] Brinkley said. 'He's not pandering to the Europeans; he's using foreign trips to feed the base more red meat.'" ...

... "Super Callous Fascist Racist Sexist Loser POTUS." Julia Rampen of Slate: Trump united Britain -- against Trump. "The opposition to the president's visit to London was wide, and surprisingly diverse."

Dan Barry, et al., of the New York Times report on what life is like for children the Trump administration has captured & jailed. "Do not misbehave. Do not sit on the floor. Do not share your food. Do not use nicknames. Also, it is best not to cry. Doing so might hurt your case. Lights out by 9 p.m. and lights on at dawn, after which make your bed according to the step-by-step instructions posted on the wall. Wash and mop the bathroom, scrubbing the sinks and toilets. Then it is time to form a line for the walk to breakfast.... Do not touch another child, even if that child is your hermanito or hermanita — your little brother or sister.... Most of all, these facilities are united by a collective sense of aching uncertainty -- scores of children gathered under a roof who have no idea when they will see their parents again." ...

     ... Over there is Right Wing World, they describe these Dickensian lock-ups as "essentially summer camps." ...

... Caitlin Dickerson of the New York Times: "The federal judge who ordered the swift reunification of thousands of migrant families sharply chastised the Trump administration late on Friday, after it said that complying with the judge's order would increase the risk of harm to children.... 'Unfortunately, H.H.S. appears to be operating in a vacuum, entirely divorced from the undisputed circumstances of this case,' [Judge Dana Sabraw] said. Its position, he added, was inconsistent with explicit statements from top government officials — including the president himself -- that the reunifications proceed, and do so quickly.... '... H.H.S. either does not understand the court's orders or is acting in defiance of them,' Sabraw said." ...

... Jamilah King of Mother Jones: "Immigration detention isn't just costly -- it's deadly. Efrain De La Rosa, a 40-year-old Mexican national, was found unresponsive in his cell at Georgia's Stewart Detention Center on July 10 and was pronounced dead soon after.... The cause of death appears to be suicide.... De La Rosa is the eighth person to die in U.S. immigrant detention centers so far this year.... Since 2002, the number of immigrants detained by ICE has fallen by more than half. But that hasn't stopped private companies from doubling down on facilities to hold them.... ICE told Congress that it expects to spend $2.7 billion to detain 51,379 people this year." --safari ...

... How to Lose a White House Job: Stand up for Facts -- & Refugees. Nahal Toosi of Politico (July 13): "A top National Security Council official who skirmished with White House aide Stephen Miller and other immigration hardliners was forced out this week, the latest staffing change at the NSC since ... Donald Trump named John Bolton his national security adviser in March. Jennifer Arangio, a senior director in the NSC division that deals with international organizations, was let go Thursday, according to a former White House official and a former NSC staffer. The former NSC staffer said Arangio was escorted off the premises and told her services were no longer needed.... 'She has fought to correct misleading information about refugees and migrants provided to the president by Miller and the DPC,' the former White House official said.... Arangio is a lawyer and former Capitol Hill staffer who worked for Trump's presidential campaign as national director of women's engagement...."

Jill Serjeant of Reuters: "In Sacha Baron Cohen's provocative new comedy show, American politicians are filmed backing a fictitious program to teach kindergartners how to use guns to defend themselves in school shootings.... Republican congressmen Dana Rohrabacher of California and Joe Wilson of South Carolina, along with former Senate Republican leader Trent Lott, who is now a lobbyist at a Washington law firm, are shown enthusiastically backing the idea, alongside gun rights advocates and a former congressman-turned-talk radio host, Joe Walsh.... Walsh ... told CNN on Saturday that he had been asked by a documentary crew to read lines from a teleprompter endorsing various supposed Israeli innovations, including the idea of arming four-year-olds to defend themselves against terrorists." ...

... Make Your Own Arsenal for Fun & Profit -- No Permit Required. Tiffany Hsu & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "The United States last month agreed to allow a Texas man to distribute online instruction manuals for a pistol that could be made by anyone with access to a 3-D printer. The man, Cody Wilson, had sued the government in 2015 after the State Department forced him to take down the instructions because they violated export laws. Mr. Wilson, who is well known in anarchist and gun-rights communities, complained that his right to free speech was being stifled and that he was sharing computer code, not actual guns. The case was settled on June 29, and Mr. Wilson gave The New York Times a copy of the agreement this week. The settlement states that 3-D printing tutorials are approved 'for public release (i.e. unlimited distribution) in any form.' The government also agreed to pay nearly $40,000 of Mr. Wilson's legal fees. The willingness to resolve the case -- after the government had won some lower court judgments -- has raised alarms among gun-control advocates, who said it would make it easier for felons and others to get firearms. Some critics said it suggested close ties between the Trump administration and gun-ownership advocates, this week filing requests for documents that might explain why the government agreed to settle."

Senate Race. Phil Willon of the Los Angeles Times: "California Democratic Party leaders took a step to the left Saturday night, endorsing liberal state lawmaker Kevin de León for Senate in a stinging rebuke of Democratic icon Sen. Dianne Feinstein. De León's victory reflected the increasing strength of the state party's liberal activist core, which was energized by the election of Republican President Trump. The endorsement was an embarrassment for Feinstein, who is running for a fifth full term, and indicates that Democratic activists in California have soured on her reputation for pragmatism and deference to bipartisanship as Trump and a Republican-led Congress are attacking Democratic priorities on immigration, healthcare and environmental protections. De León, a former state Senate leader from Los Angeles, received 65% of the vote of about 330 members of the state party's executive board -- more than the 60% needed to secure the endorsement."

Presidential Race 2020. Alexander Burns & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: Sen. Elizabeth "Warren, 69, now leads a small advance guard of Democrats who appear to be moving deliberately toward challenging President Trump. Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., wielding a political network cultivated over decades, has been reasserting himself as a party leader, while Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California have emerged as fresher-faced messengers for the midterms. And Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the runner-up in the 2016 primaries, has been acting like a candidate as he considers another race. All five have been traveling the country, raising money for Democrats and gauging the appeal of their personalities and favorite themes. As a group, they are a strikingly heterogeneous array of rivals for Mr. Trump, embodying the Democratic Party's options for defining itself: They are distinguished by gender and race, span three decades in age and traverse the ideological and tonal spectrum between combative Democratic socialism and consensus-minded incrementalism."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Damian Carrington of the Guardian (July 12): "The Republic of Ireland will become the world's first country to sell off its investments in fossil fuel companies, after a bill was passed with all-party support in the lower house of parliament. The state's €8bn national investment fund will be required to sell all investments in coal, oil, gas and peat 'as soon as is practicable', which is expected to mean within five years. Norway's huge $1tn sovereign wealth fund has only partially divested from fossil fuels, trillions of dollars of investment funds have been divested, including large pension funds and insurers, cities such as New York, churches and universities."

News Lede

New York Times: France won the World Cup, beating Croatia 4-2.

Comments

[Patrick]

PM May says DiJiT advised her to sue the EU to achieve rapid Brexit, according to WaPo.

A commenter ("lore fisch") to the article notes:

"Prince Charles and Prince William refused to meet U.S. President Donald Trump and his wife Melania on their visit to the U.K, according to the the Sunday Times of London. Queen Elizabeth II was left alone to receive the Trumps at Windsor Castle Friday. According to a “well-placed source” quoted by the Times, the absence of the two princes during Trump’s visit “was a snub,” and they “simply refused to attend.” ... The Times also quotes a Whitehall official who said Trump’s time with the Queen was “kept to a bare minimum,” and that the royal family “were not as enthusiastic as they were when Obama came over.”" (Politico)

Of course. He told Howard Stern that he would have nailed Diana if he had ever met her, but only if she had shown him an aids test. "

How can anybody expect her sons, and the father of her sons, could meet with him for tea and smile?"

------------------------------

We are reminded daily that DiJiT has been an a$$hole his whole life, and in public.

[PD Pepe]

"The shady millionaire (nowadays, billionaire) is a stock American character, from the real-life robber barons of the 19th century to the fictional characters Jay Gatsby & Charles Foster Kane. But Trump has out-Goulded Jay Gould, out-Gatsbied Gatsby & out-Kaned Citizen Kane. Trump is not an aberration; he is both a symbol & a personification of the worst of the American experience." Marie

I do believe you've got it––by George, I think she's got it! This fair lady has described, not the rain in Spain, but the reign of a over-sized plutocratic, pertinacious patsy of Putin perfectly.

Times is hard...

And when I viewed the above video of Obama and Michelle in Ireland I broke down in tears.

[Marie Burns]

@Patrick: Tom Porter of Newsweek: "The British heir to the throne Prince Charles and his son and next-in-line, Prince William, were unwilling to meet ... Donald Trump on his visit to Britain, British newspaper The Sunday Times reported.... 'This business of Prince Charles and Prince William not being there for the Trump visit was a snub,' the source said, as cited by the publication. 'They simply refused to attend. It’s a very, very unusual thing for the Queen to be there on her own. Usually she is accompanied by somebody. Prince Charles has been substituting for Philip [who has retired from public duties] a lot recently.'... The Prime Minister’s office in Downing Street said that Trump’s trip was not a state visit but a working visit, so Trump had not been scheduled to meet any members of the royal family other than the Queen. However Trump’s trip, in which he was confined to a half hour tea with the Queen, contrasts with a working trip to the U.K. made by Barack Obama in 2016, when he had lunch with the Queen and Prince Philip and also a private dinner at Kensington Palace with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.”

Kinda mean to leave Grandma to suffer that radge orange bampot, but that's what she gets for not abdicating.

[Marie Burns]

@PD Pepe: re: the Obamas, me too. As for that ping-pong game, just linked, Obama seemed to have a good time & was happy to admit he & Cameron "got whupped" by the kids. Trump no doubt would get whupped, too, in a game of ping-pong, but that is not something up with which he could put (see Churchill). The only game he'd play would be one in which he could win, then boast about his prowess. Trump is the anti-Obama in every way. But never in a good way.

[PD Pepe]

Having had a little British flavor this morning here is a piece from the NYT from July 10 that I finally got around to reading.

BORIS JOHNSON HAS RUINED BRITAIN.

I always connected Boris with Trump––two people who, like bulls in that old china shop, smashed plates, shattered glass and caused havoc in their country.

"It is petrifying that the deliberate deceptions and wild ego of one man can so mislead a nation (Americans know all about that.)"

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/10/opinion/boris-johnson-resignation-brexit.html

[Ken Winkes]

Don't want to ruin a beautiful day by peering too long into the mind of the Pretender, but I'm thinking that all his thinking about "foes" and "competitors" might come naturally to someone who has met very few people who actually like him.

Now, in his position as head of state, about seven of ten of the citizens his own country don't.

[RAS]

It's nice to see, after the fact, that Trump would have been fine if Obama had come out and told everyone that Russia was meddling in the election and was trying to get Trump elected. I'm sure that Trump would have been gracious when Obama told everyone Russia hacked the DNC and gave Trump a heads up. Or when Obama told everyone about the Trump Tower meeting. Somehow I think the word "rigged" and "fake news" would be bandied about even more.

[Marie Burns]

@RAS: Not only would Trump not have gone for it, neither would GOP Congressional leaders. In fact, that didn't. As Jonathan Easley of Politicus USA wrote yesterday, "... it is important to remember that it was Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who stopped any bipartisan action before the election against the Russian attack." President Obama "wanted to issue a joint statement condemning Russian election meddling with Republicans, but Mitch McConnell refused to cooperate." As much as anyone, the Turtle stuck us with the TrumPutin administration. David Rothkopf calls that treasonous. Hard to disagree. This was Mitch siding with Russians' cyberattack on the U.S.

All Obama's fault? Hardly.