The Commentariat -- June 30, 2018

Afternoon Update:

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

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

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

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

*****

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Comments

[PD Pepe]

Large protest marches throughout the states today––the people speak:

" Never lose sight of the fact that the two main political parties
are too far down a path to address the nation's problems in the way they must be addressed. This is not to say we hąve lost hope, not if we recall that the major political parties have never really been the vehicles for progressive change. The New Deal, the Great Society, hell, even the right to vote in this Godforsaken political system were won not by politicians and their big-money backers, but by tremendous social movements that rocked the world. We need hope and change; it's up to us to produce them."
Alan Minsky–-2012

[Ken Winkes]

Could it be that in the world of cold logic and rationality represented by the Law, ordinary human feelings still play a small part?

Is it possible that by using him in so public (and for a man with any pride at all, humiliating) a manner, the Pretender thoroughly pissed Rosenstein off and turned him into an implacable enemy for life?*

I'd like to think so.

I'm guessing that at this point Mr. Sessions doesn't find his fellow racist all that charming either.

*The mystery to me, though, is why Mr. Rosenstein, who seems smarter than the average bear, couldn't see it coming...

[Mrs. Bea McCrabbie]

@Ken Winkes: Yeah, I always wonder about people like Rosenstein -- Republicans who seem like decent people. Where I live now I know a number of recovering Republicans -- moderates who can't abide by the nut jobs in today's party -- but Rosenstein & Wray remain Republicans. Rosenstein was only in his job for two weeks when Sessions and/or Trump told him to write that CYA memo, so I think that may explain why he did it; many of us will screw up trying to please a new boss before we find out where the pencil-sharpener is. And Rosenstein certainly was right about Comey's screwing up the E-Mails! investigation -- which, as I recall, was the gist of his CYA memo. One thing Trump said that was true: Comey should have been canned. But not because of this Russia thing (or as P.D. more properly spells it, "this 'Rusher' thing").

[Ken Winkes]

Like Twain said (or something like it), my memory improves with age. I now remember things that never happened, like a notice of Harlan Ellison's death that might (or might not) have appeared here in the last few days.

Even if it did, this obit is worth a read. Nicely done, I thought.

https://www.npr.org/2018/06/29/624641722/goodbye-to-harlan-ellison-americas-weird-uncle

Many possible explanations for Ellison's death therein, but I prefer to think the Pretender killed him, too.

[Ken Winkes]

The local immigrant rights gathering drew (I'm estimating) 2-250 people to our county courthouse. Our Congressional representative mentioned that there were six other such gatherings in our district, from Whidbey Island's Langley and Coupeville to Bellingham to our north and Lynwood and Everett to the south.

The rain did not seem to dampen anyone's spirits, and as the participants lined the streets and waved their signs, the sound of the many appreciative honking horns from cars passing by was music to my ears, as I hope it was to the thousands of immigrant families under attack by our shameless government.