The Commentariat -- July 16, 2016

Tim Arango & Ceylan Yeginsu of the New York Times: "A military coup attempt plunged Turkey into a long night of violence and intrigue on Friday, threatening its embattled president, leaving dozens dead and injecting new instability into a crucial NATO member and American ally in the chaotic Middle East. The coup attempt was followed hours later by an equally dramatic public appearance by the president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose whereabouts had been unknown for hours after the plotters claimed to have taken control. Flying into Istanbul Ataturk Airport from an undisclosed location early Saturday, Mr. Erdogan signaled that the coup was failing." -- CW ...

     ... CW: In the paper's updated lede (5:45 am ET), the death toll has been raised from "dozens" to "nearly 200."

... Roy Gutman, et al., in the Los Angeles Times: "... authorities said Saturday they had managed to stave off a rebellion that has plunged one of America's most important NATO allies into chaos." -- CW ...

... Erin Cunningham, et al., of the Washington Post: "At least 90 people were killed and 1,154 wounded as ordinary Turks poured into the streets to confront tanks amid pitched battles in the main cities. By morning, government forces had closed in on the army headquarters in Ankara, the final stronghold of coup plotters, said a senior Turkish official who added that 1,563 members of the military have been arrested so far." -- CW ...

     ... New Lede: "Turkey's government defeated a coup attempt by a renegade faction of the military that pummeled government and security institutions overnight with fighter jets, restoring some control on Saturday after hours of chaos and clashes that killed at least 265 people and plunged the already troubled country into further uncertainty. More than 100 coup plotters are now dead, acting military chief Gen. Umit Dundar said on live TV, while another 161 people -- including civilians and police were killed as ordinary Turks poured into the streets to confront tanks amid pitched battles in urban areas. At least 1,440 were wounded, officials said." ...

... Nahal Toosi & Bryan Bender of Politico: "President Barack Obama called on all parties to 'support the democratically elected government of Turkey' on Friday after an attempted military coup in the country, a strategically located but fickle NATO ally whose cooperation is crucial to defeating the Islamic State terrorist network. Obama's view was announced in a readout of his call with Secretary of State John Kerry." The readout is here. -- CW ...

... Roy Gutman in The Daily Beast (in earlier reporting):"A faction in the Turkish military Friday night declared it had staged a coup and seized 'full control' over this country of nearly 80 million. But hours later, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan returned in defiance of the coup plotters, according to officials who spoke to Reuters and CNN. Erdoğan's reported landing comes as forces loyal to him battled to regain control of the instruments of state power." --safari ...

... Krishnadev Calamur, et al., of The Atlantic, have a run-down on what's going on with the coup attempt in Turkey. --safari ...

... The Guardian is liveblogging developments here, which still look volatile at 6:30 am ET.

Andrew Higgins of the New York Times: "French authorities ... [saw] Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a heavyset 31-year-old from Tunisia [who mowed down & killed 84 Bastille Day celebrants in Nice & wounded many more, as] definitely trouble but not a grave menace to the security of the nation." -- CW ...

... CW: The Washington Post had a banner at 4:50 am ET, with no story, that ISIS had claimed responsibility for the attack in Nice. ...

     ... Update. Alissa Rubin & Aurelien Breeden of the New York Times: "The Islamic State claimed responsibility on Saturday for the Bastille Day attack on the seaside promenade in Nice, France, which killed 84 people and injured 202.... The claim must be greeted with caution. The Islamic State has at times asserted responsibility for attacks carried out in its name, even when there was no indication that the terrorist network had any direct role in planning or carrying out the violence." -- CW ...

... Sudarsan Raghavan & Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: "Frustrated crowds booed French President François Hollande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Friday when they visited the bloodied seaside walkway on the French Riviera.... Many French on Friday questioned how the attacker could have swept past police checkpoints at a prominent event that clearly demanded high security. On another level, there was soul-searching once again about France's overall security strategy." -- CW

A Gentleman AND a Scholar: #ObamaJAMA. Kelly Dickerson of Science.Mic: "Barack Obama just became the first sitting president to publish a scholarly article. The article, titled "United States Health Care Reform: Progress to Date and Next Steps," with 'Barack Obama, JD' listed as the author, was published in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (known as JAMA) on July 11. It's a pretty badass move for a president, and he got a lot of love on Twitter with the hashtag #ObamaJAMA." --safari

Your Friday Afternoon News Dump. Shane Harris of The Daily Beast: "Thirteen years after the publication of a joint congressional inquiry into the 9/11 terrorist attacks, 29 pages on possible ties between the hijackers and Saudi officials were finally released to the public on Friday. (pdf) Close watchers of the possible Saudi-9/11 connection will find few surprises. And the pages will settle no controversies. But they did provide all sorts of tantalizing and inconclusive hints at links between the infamous al Qaeda terrorists and their supporters in the Saudi government--the very government that the terrorist group had vowed to destroy." --safari ...

... The New York Times story, by Mark Mazzetti, is here. -- CW

Alec McGillis, in Politico Magazine:, looks at "the Great Republican Party Crackup" through the lens of Dayton, Ohio, "once a bastion of the GOP establishment, but now ... Trump Country.... The disruption that the nomination of Trump represents for the party of Lincoln, Eisenhower and Reagan has been cast as a freakish anomaly, the equivalent of the earthquakes that hit the other side of Ohio in recent years. But just as those earthquakes had a likely explanation -- gas and oil fracking in the Utica Shale -- so can the crackup of the Republican Party and rise of Trump be traced back to what the geologists call the local site conditions." -- safari

Annals of "Journalism", Ctd. Mathew Barakatof the AP: Former Fox "News" contributor Wayne Simmons "was sentenced to nearly three years in prison Friday on multiple fraud charges, as well as being a felon in possession of a firearm.... For decades, Wayne Simmons told the world he was a CIA man. And he benefited from the connection.... But it was all, in the words of U.S. Senior Judge T.S. Ellis III, 'buffalo chips.'... Simmons appeared frequently as an unpaid contributor on Fox News before his arrest last year. In a 2009 clip, he called House Minority LeaderNancy Pelosi 'a pathological liar' in a segment about CIA interrogation techniques. Ellis took note of that work at the conclusion of Friday's hearing. 'That should give us all pause as we listen to the news,' Ellis said...." --safari

Presidential Race

Louis Nelson of Politico: "A spokesman for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign confirmed Friday evening that the former secretary of state held several meetings Friday about her upcoming vice presidential selection. According to multiple media reports, Clinton met Friday at her Washington home with Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro. All three are considered candidates to join the Democratic ticket, though Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) is said to be leading the pack. Both Warren and Kaine have appeared with Clinton on the campaign trail at high-profile events." -- CW

Kelly O'Donnell of NBC News: "... Hillary Clinton's campaign said Friday that [Donald Trump's] selection of [Indiana Gov. Mike] Pence [as his running mate] shows that Trump has 'doubled down on some of his most disturbing beliefs by choosing an incredibly divisive and unpopular running mate known for supporting discriminatory politics and failed economic policies that favor millionaires and corporations over working families." In particular, the Clinton camp highlighted Pence's conservative record on abortion issues as well as his support last year for a religious freedom law that critics said allowed discrimination against LGBT individuals. (Pence later amended the law after a national outcry.)" -- CW (Also linked yesterday.) ...

Cristiano Lima of Politico: "In his first televised interview since being named Donald Trump's running mate Friday, Mike Pence said the attempted military coup in Turkey was 'evidence' of Hillary Clinton's ]failed leadership' during her tenure as secretary of state." CW: Evidently it doesn't matter that this makes absolutely no sense.

It's very important to put some showbiz into a convention, otherwise people are going to fall asleep. -- Donald Trump, to the Washington Post ...

... Gail Collins: Many of the big "celebrities" Trump planned to feature at his "showbiz" convention begged off in very public ways. "... if Trump can't negotiate some cheesy diversions [at the GOP convention], what makes anybody think he can negotiate a new trade deal with China?" -- CW ...

... Shane Goldmacher, et al. of Politico: "The last-minute plea for $6 million from Las Vegas billionaire Sheldon Adelson to rescue the Republican convention has erupted in controversy, as four of the five signatories to the letter from party organizers never saw it before it was sent and major donors flagged serious errors that forced the convention hosts to apologize to one of the GOP's most influential financiers." --safari

Patrick Healy & Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "On Friday, as he announced Mr. Pence as his choice and prepared to claim the Republican nomination at the party's convention next week, Mr. Trump still lacked a detailed foreign policy agenda and a deep bench of advisers, appearing instead like a man who had taken his cues about war from Fox News commentators and Twitter users.... Mr. Trump's remarks after the carnage in Nice, France -- such as agreeing with Bill O'Reilly of Fox News that 'we are in a world war scenario' -- are the latest in a startling pattern in which he has projected an image of a country willing to throw out international laws and treaties.... At the Pentagon, interviews with more than a dozen top generals revealed alarm over many of Mr. Trump's proposals for the use of American power, even among officers who said privately that they lean Republican." -- CW

Alexander Burns, et al., of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump named Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana as his running mate on Friday, adding to the Republican ticket a traditional conservative who boasts strong credentials with the Christian right, and bringing an end to a vice-presidential selection process that seemed at risk of spinning out of control. Mr. Trump had said on Thursday night that he intended to delay the unveiling of his running mate out of respect for the attack in Nice, France.... On Friday, he proceeded with the announcement anyway. Instead of a showy rollout in a Manhattan hotel, as his campaign had planned, Mr. Trump named Mr. Pence to the Republican ticket by way of Twitter. He said they would hold their first joint event on Saturday morning." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... OR, as Gail Collins put it, "Veep by Tweet": "... this is an excellent vision of what America would be like with Donald in the White House. There's a terrible hurricane. Trump Cabinet members offer several conflicting proposals. President calls various cable TV stations making colorful yet somehow oblique assurances. Rumors abound. Everybody flies to New Orleans. Where they are informed the hurricane was in Florida. Emergency meeting and then Donald Trump tweets out the National Guard." CW: I dunno. I think Gail's a little optimistic. I'm still expecting Trump to go on Hannity & claim Hillary hacked his Twitter account & he's really still trying to decide between Newt & Ivanka. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... ** OR, as Philip Bump of the Washington Post put it, "Donald Trump just turned a key moment into a complete mess (once again).... The announcement of a vice-presidential choice is a guaranteed moment of media attention, and so campaigns do their best to manage how the announcement is made.... Trump badly fumbled one of the first moments during which he was tasked with making an important, high-profile decision in the eyes of the American public." Read the whole post for the play-by-play, which is humorous only if you're sure this guy will never get near the Oval. -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Here's a highlight: "Scoop: @realDonaldTrump was so unsure about @mike_pence that around midnight last night [i.e., Thursday night] he asked top aides if he could get out of it" -- Dana Bash of CNN, in a tweet ...

     ... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "If anything, this leak [which Kelly O'Donnell of NBC News also picked up] is just the latest proof of how poorly the whole thing has been handled. And that poor handling, in turn, makes the rumor seem quite plausible. Also making it believable: Basically everything the Trump campaign said on Thursday." -- CW ...

... Philip Rucker & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "... Trump's apparent 11th-hour indecision and private hesitation about Pence, coupled with a delayed and fitful introduction, threatened to undercut part of the rationale for Pence joining the ticket: steadying a turbulent general-election campaign.... Trump's campaign, meanwhile, left Pence largely defenseless [against attacks by Hillary Clinton & other Democrats]. After Trump's tweet, the campaign did not distribute a video or other promotional materials to relate Pence's life story and governing accomplishments, nor did it forcefully push back against the Democratic attacks." -- CW ...

     ... CW: For a candidate who binds his employees to contracts in which they agree to be guillotined if they say anything bad about him, all of these damaging leaks come as a shock, as Rucker & Costa (and others, because the leaks drip in many directions) report. ...

... Nikita Vladimirov of the Hill: "Donald Trump's decision to postpone the announcement of his running mate was an emotional reaction to the deadly attack in France, campaign chairman Paul Manafort said Friday.... 'The postponement today was because he thought what happened in France yesterday was so tragic. He emotionally reacted to it,' Manafort told CNN. 'It really bothered him to see that carnage, and he felt the pain of the people there. He said it's just not right to do something self-serving and political the morning after.'" -- CW ...

Jonathan Chait: "To recap the events, the Republican vice-presidential candidate has said that the presidential pick should not be elected president; the Republican presidential candidate has tried as recently as last night to replace his vice-presidential candidate; and the campaign manager has publicly described the presidential candidate as jittery and emotional in the face of upsetting news. And all this has come out in the last day!" --safari ...

     ... CW: Uou'll want to read Chait's whole post, especially the series of tweets by Matt Fuller, to get a full picture of what an amateur fuck-up Trump is. AND, on that same subject ...

... Jeet Heer of the New Republic: "... the best evidence of chaos in the Trump camp is the botched vice presidential announcement, which revealed a level of anarchy rarely seen outside of schoolyards at recess.... The whole sorry spectacle shows that Trump's campaign is riven by internal rivalries and that the cronies he's surrounded himself with (and put on his vice-presidential shortlist) are ranting fools.... The chaos of the Trump campaign is the biggest story of the election, and the key indicator of where the race is headed." -- CW

... A Low Bar: Better than Tyson or Busey. Paul Waldman: "When he ought to be figuring out how to appeal to the broad American electorate, Trump is still acting as though his most urgent task is to persuade Republican primary voters to get behind him. He's still running a white nationalist campaign, and has discarded the 'pivot' he was going to do for the general election. It may have been too tall an order for his VP pick to change how people see him ... but it might have at least been a chance to make a gesture indicating that he cared what those who aren't already Republicans think.... I suppose you can give him some credit for not picking Gary Busey or Mike Tyson to be his running mate...." -- CW

Here's the new Trump-Pence logo, which got the Friday afternoon Twitter response it deserves. If you're in the mood for clever frat-boy snark, you'll get a kick out of this Eric Levitz collection. -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

... Aaron Blake: "Chris Christie's tour of Donald Trump-related indignities ends with one final snub." -- CW (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... AND there's this, from Rucker & Costa's WashPo report linked above: Newt Gingrich said, an hour after the Pence announcement, that he had not heard directly from Trump about his decision but was 'totally committed' to supporting the ticket." ...

... CW: Obviously Donald Trump was not "totally committed" to the minimal courtesies due runners-up whom he had made jump through hoops during his vetting circus. Trump mistreats friend and foe alike. He is far worse than the rube from Queens who is unfamiliar with sophisticated Manhattan table manners; he lacks common decency. (And, no, I don't feel sorry for Cap'n. Chrisco & the Newt; they're big boys who allowed themselves to be serially humiliated. But still.) ...

... BTW, Noah Feldman, in a New York Times op-ed, tries to explain Sharia to that ignoramus Newt Gingrich, who suggested the other night that the U.S. should be running a Sharia inquisition. -- CW ...

... Jeff Goldberg of the Atlantic takes a different tack in explaining Sharia law to Newt, but the upshot is the same: everything Newt said was stupid. -- CW ...

... President Obama, on the other hand, evidently thinks Newt passeth all understanding. Esme Cribb of TPM: "After hosting the Diplomatic Corps reception Friday, Obama spoke out against divisive rhetoric, referencing former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's proposal to 'test' and deport American Muslims who follow Sharia law. 'We have heard more suggestions that Muslims in America be targeted. Tested for their beliefs, some deported or jailed,' he said. 'The very suggestion is repugnant and an affront to everything we stand for as Americans.'" -- CW

CW: Under normal GOP conditions, I would say Mike Pence is a heartbeat away from a great gig on the new Trump Channel, the flagship of the post-campaign Trump Media conglomerate. (Don't miss the Trump Golf Channel!) But all things being Trump, it's more likely that sometime in late September/early October, we'll hear that Trump has either fired or tried to fire Pence as his veep choice for some perceived or real Pence screw-up or slight of Don. You read it here first.

Betsy Woodruff of The Daily Beast: "Though Mike Pence, Donald Trump's brand new running mate -- is maximally conservative on most of the issues grassroots conservatives care about, he has a history on immigration that could upset the mogul's xenophobic base.... Despite his wishy-washy history on LGBT rights, abortion, the Iraq War, and other topics that typically galvanize Republican primary voters, Trump shored up conservative support by being as far-right as possible on immigration.... On abortion, LGBT rights and the Iraq War Pence has stood firmly with the right wing of the Republican Party. But on immigration .. well, that may just undercut Trump a bit." --safari ...

... Shane Harris: "With Donald Trump's selection of Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his running mate, the Republican ticket is one of the least experienced in national security and foreign policy in the modern political era.... Perhaps the Pence pick should come as no surprise. Throughout his campaign, Trump has showed little interest -- and at times outright hostility — towards foreign policy and national security expertise." --safari

AND Jeb Bush writes a WashPo op-ed to remind people of all political persuasions why they didn't want him to be president. -- CW

Way Beyond the Beltway

Anushka Asthana of the Guardian: "Theresa May continued with a reshuffle that some have called ruthless with the announcement that Anna Soubry -- a supporter during the leadership battle -- was out of her position as small business minister." -- CW

Juan Cole: "Daesh wants us to be afraid, to hate, and to push Western Muslims into their arms. The only effective riposte is Gandhian. Show Muslims some love, and include them in political society.. The US budget is $3.8 trillion, and foreign aid, contrary to what people think, is a piddling little part of it, especially once you get past Israel and Egypt...If the West can't be bothered to proffer genuine and substantial aid to a success story like Tunisia, then it will get more basket cases like Syria, which spill over onto the West...So the answer to Nice is the opposite of what the politicians think. It isn't to declare war on Daesh (Trump), or to do more warrantless surveillance (HR Clinton), or to get rid of the Rights of Man (Francois Hollande)." --safari

Don't Blame It on Rio. Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post: The Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro are a disaster waiting to happen, & the IOC is at fault. -- CW

Comments

[PD Pepe]

"Throughout his campaign, Trump has showed little interest — and at times outright hostility — towards foreign policy and national security expertise." (Harris)

Our world is getting dangerouser and dangerouser as GW once said and if ever we need someone who is steady at the helm it is now. Throughout last night's coverage of the Turkey eruption quite a few diplomats weighed in on how Obama was handling this; Cindy Sherman, (who once said, "You look for the enemies of your enemy") our esteemed under Sec. of State for political affairs was one of the first to comment: "How important it is in these kinds of situations to have a a President like Obama who knows exactly how to handle this." All the others said the same. Message: Unlike that buffoon who'd probably send fighter jets and strong armed soldiers but would have no idea what side we should be on.

And speaking of Turkeys: Mike Pence–– winner of the ticket to the circus where the poor Ducky was waddling around at the last minute wondering––wondering whether he made the right decision. The problem, of course, is you have someone unfit for the highest office in the land trying to pick one out of three unfit to be a Vice for the highest office of the land.

Juan Cole's advice : Show some love for goodness sake! And deal differently with countries that show genuine progress. We give 3 billion to Israel (they are asking for 5) and this is a country that calls itself a democracy? that we call a democracy? This is a topic for another discussion but ... and yes, Cole is right that we play right into Daesh's demonic hands when we resort to fear and loathing of our fellow Muslims.

[MAG]

OK, so Trump waffled on his VP choice...and considering the negative comments about Pence on a multitude of Web sites; e.g.: ("...he lacks Palin's charisma!" hahahahahahahah!) he will be the perfect patsy when Drumpf goes down...'cause, Drumpf LOST because Pence was/is such a LOSER!

Here's a link to other graphic design fails. (Keep TrumpPence logo in mind). design issues "

[NiskyGuy]

With all of the dithering over officially announcing his VP choice, was dt trying to appear "pensive?"

But seriously, he delayed the official announcement because the Nice attack affected him emotionally? When one is President of the United States, life has to go on while the world swirls around you.

[Ken Winkes]

TP. I like it.

For me, doesn't embarrass; smacks instead of juvenile hi-jinks with their sometimes annoying--when I was the object-- but often wry entertainment--with others the butt--value and have decided I will try to view the political scene through that lens for one or two days.

Lordy knows, juvenile and TP are natural partners, even if T and P themselves aren't.

We'll see how that marriage of (in?)convenience works out.

[NiskyGuy]

The number that keeps going through my mind is 52. Philando Castile, the man shot in Minnesota last week, had been pulled over 52 times in recent years, to the tune of $6,588. I have been driving for more than 35 years in cars that have been reasonably clean but not perfect, and I have been pulled over maybe four times, with a grand total of $150 for which I deserved to be pulled over.

Charles Blow's column the other day raises the point that first received national attention after Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson, that of municipalities raising money on the backs of poor people through law enforcement.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/14/opinion/blood-on-your-hands-too.html

Driving home yesterday on the Mass Pike, I observed tracking stations every so often. These are probably used for traffic flow data, but I am sure they could be programmed to send out tickets to any vehicle that gets from A to B faster than they ought to. If the Mass Pike Authority announced that they were going to install speed cameras or use the existing infrastructure in that mode, I would happily stick to the speed limit or pay the fine when I exceeded the speed limit by more than a couple of mph, but as it is now, I drive 70 to 75 to avoid getting run down.

I remember reading that speed cameras have been removed in various states because of complaints about their impersonal intrusiveness. I would gladly live with this impersonal intrusiveness if it meant fewer people died at the hands of scared police officers who need to raise revenue to keep their jobs.

[cakers]

@NiskyGuy
I too would be perfectly happy with speed cameras in this country (or "safety zones" as they are called in the U.K.). Maybe it would actually work to control speed on our highways and free up officers for more important work. Unless the cameras employ facial recognition software to target people of color! Unfortunately, you will hear a lot of "buffalo chips" about "facing your accuser" from people who want to be free to break the law.

[Nancy]

I commented the other day that I thought looks would be the main criterion for shallow Trump's VP pick.

From TalkingPointsMemo: "Trump said the primary reason he chose Pence, interjecting 'other than he looks very good,' and talking about his family, ..."

Tol' ya.

[Cowichan's Opinion]

@MAG: thx
enjoyed design issues on kerning then got lost in design/graphics creativity. many thx