The Commentariat -- March 3, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Thanks to Rand Paul, Trumpy-Dumpty's Wall Just Had a Great Fall. Dan Sergent of the Bowling Green Daily News: "The Republican Party cheerleading session that is the Southern Kentucky Lincoln Day Dinner veered slightly off course Saturday with this pronouncement by U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Bowling Green: 'I can't vote to give extra-Constitutional powers to the president.' In a speech to the crowd of nearly 200 Republican officeholders and supporters at Western Kentucky University's Augenstein Alumni Center, Paul interjected, in a speech devoted largely to praising the work of ... Donald Trump, his opinion that Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the Mexican border is a dangerous precedent.... Three GOP senators -- Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina -- have already said they will vote to derail the emergency declaration. If Paul joins them and the Senate's 47 Democrats, the president will need to veto the measure in order to get his emergency money."

Quinn Scanlan of ABC News: "Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said that his committee will be issuing document requests on Monday to dozens of individuals. 'Tomorrow, we will be issuing document requests to over 60 different people and individuals from the White House to the Department of Justice, Donald Trump, Jr., Allen Weisselberg, to begin the investigations to present the case to the American people about obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power,' Nadler said on 'This Week' Sunday.... 'Do you think the president obstructed justice?' asked ... George Stephanopoulos. 'Yes, I do,' Nadler said." ...

... Kelsey Tamborrino of Politico: "The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee said Sunday lawmakers have found 'enormous amounts of evidence' into potential collusion between the presidential campaign of Donald Trump and the Russians during the 2016 election. Mark Warner of Virginia made his remarks in response to an assertion that there is 'no factual evidence of collusion' from the Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who is chairman of the Intelligence Committee.... Warner's House Intelligence Committee counterpart, Adam Schiff, said Sunday on CBS' 'Face the Nation' that there's both 'direct evidence' and 'abundant circumstantial evidence' of collusion with Russia."

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Presidential Race 2020. Gregory Krieg of CNN: "Bernie Sanders on Saturday spoke about his father's escape from Europe, where 'virtually his entire family there was wiped out by Hitler and Naz barbarism.' He talked about the 'three-and-a-half room, rent-controlled apartment' his parents and brother shared in Flatbush, not far from here in Brooklyn. He recalled his mother, who died soon after Sanders began college, and her dream -- unrealized -- of moving to 'a home of our own.'But then, in the midst of delivering the most personal remarks of his political career at the first major rally of his 2020 campaign, Sanders veered off the somber script. 'I know where I came from!' he howled, a hint of exuberance in his voice. 'And that is something I will never forget.'... The crowd of around 13,000 supporters, according to a campaign estimates..., roared back." ...

... Bernie & Larry David Find Their Roots:

MEANWHILE. Just so you know, Donald Trump has slipped right into dictator territory with a two-hour-plus speech at CPAC. ...

... Andrew Restuccia of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Saturday delivered a scorched-earth speech to conservative activists, calling the Russia investigation 'bullshit,' adopting a southern accent to mock his former attorney general, and asserting that some members of Congress 'hate our country.'... The president also revisited his infamous 2016 appeal to Russia to hack Hillary Clinton's emails, arguing that he was just joking and criticizing the press for taking his comments seriously. 'So everybody is having a good time, I'm laughing, we're all having fun. Then that fake CNN and others say, "He asked Russia to go get the emails. Horrible,"' Trump continued, adding,'These people are sick, and I'm telling you, they know the game and they play it dirty, dirtier than anybody has ever played the game.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Saturday, Trump claimed he made the hacking "joke" in front of an audience of 25,000 people; in fact, he was speaking to a small group of press, and it wasn't a "joke." Here's a contemporaneous report (July 27, 2016) by Benjy Sarlin of NBC News: "On Wednesday, Trump publicly called on Russian intelligence agents to hack Hillary Clinton's emails and release the results, a direct appeal to a foreign power to commit espionage that came as Trump faced increased scrutiny over his ties to Putin. 'Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,' Trump said at a press conference in Florida.... When NBC News' Katy Tur asked Trump whether he had qualms about encouraging the release of stolen intelligence, he told her to 'be quiet.' 'If Russia or China or any other country has those e-mails, I mean, to be honest with you, I'd love to see them,' he said.... And, in case Trump's pleas to Russia were not obvious enough, he told a reporter he would not warn Putin against influencing the American election. 'I'm not going to tell Putin what to do -- why should I tell Putin what to do?' Trump said.... Russia has been widely blamed by experts for hacking the Democratic National Committee's emails. The release of some of those by WikiLeaks prompted DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz to resign this week just one day before her party's national convention began. FBI Director James Comey has said it's unclear if Clinton's private email server, which Trump referred to in his remarks, has been hacked." ...

... Here's the Washington Post's report on Trump's demagoguery, by Seung Min Kim & Brian Fung. ...

... Brian Fung: "A new executive order from the White House will aim to make federal research funding for colleges and universities contingent on their support for 'free speech,' President Trump said Saturday. The announcement, during Trump's address to the Conservative Political Action Conference, appeared to target complaints by some university critics that institutions of higher education stifle right-wing viewpoints. 'If they want our dollars, and we give it to them by the billions, they've got to allow people like Hayden and many great young people, and old people, to speak,' Trump said, bringing onstage a young conservative, Hayden Williams, who was physically attacked last month while tabling for a conservative organization at the University of California at Berkeley.... Trump told the CPAC crowd, meeting at National Harbor, Md., that he planned to sign the order 'very soon' but did not provide specifics or say whether a draft has already been prepared.... Trump's policy could inadvertently disqualify many religious academic institutions from receiving federal research funding, to the extent that their religious beliefs prohibit certain views or speakers on campus." ...

... March of the Lemmings. Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "Acquiescence to Trump is now the defining trait of the Republican Party more than two years into his presidency -- overwhelming and at times erasing principles that conservatives viewed as the foundation of the party for more than a half century. Trump's ownership of the GOP was on vivid display again Saturday, when the president appeared at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland, an annual gathering that has transformed into a raucous celebration of Trump, featuring propaganda-style art and a speaker who declared that the president was 'chosen by God.'... In interviews over the past week, Republicans on Capitol Hill offered an array of reasons for their unflinching loyalty to Trump as the 2020 campaign begins to take shape: a deep-seated fear of his pull with their supporters in primary races; fraying consensus about conservatism as nationalism takes hold of the party; and shared partisan disdain for Trump's perceived enemies in the news media and the Democratic Party.... Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) publicly acknowledged what many Republicans say privately: The GOP is wholeheartedly accepting behavior and policies from Trump that would spark outrage from a Democratic president...."

The Trump Scandals, Ctd.

Grifter-in-Chief. #realDonaldTrump used his official Twitter account yesterday to boast about one of his Scottish golf courses: "Very proud of perhaps the greatest golf course anywhere in the world. Also, furthers U.K. relationship!" March 2. As part of the tweet, Trump retweeted a promotion for the course, which the course's architect wrote. ...

5 CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) § 2635.702: "An employee shall not use his public office for his own private gain, for the endorsement of any product, service or enterprise...."

Trump's latest tweet about his golf course not only used the prestige of the presidency to promote his business - squalid, possibly illegal - but also directly linked the US-UK relationship to his golf courses. Was that some kind of request? Or threat? -- David Frum in a tweet

This is Trump's most explicit commingling of personal interests and public office to date.... This is shameless, corrupt and repugnant presidential profiteering. -- Walter Shaub of CREW, formerly head of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.

The Framers adopted the Foreign Emoluments Clause because they were deeply concerned that the nation's leaders might put their financial self-interest above the national interest. -- Brianne Gorod, chief counsel for the Constitutional Accountability Center

Trump claimed that the Aberdeen course improves relations with the United Kingdom. The reality is that it has incited a long-running feud between Trump and the Scottish government because of Trump's opposition to a wind farm planned just off the coast. Trump sued the Scottish government over the wind farm, claiming it would hurt the views from the golf course, and he lost. The wind farm has begun operation. Just days ago, a Scottish court ruled Trump will have to pay the Scottish government back for the legal costs associated with the lawsuit. -- David Fahrenthold & Joel Achenbach of the Washington Post

Christian Vasquez of Politico: "... Donald Trump said Saturday that a 'just released' manuscript of a book written by Michael Cohen would show his longtime personal lawyer had lied to Congress, without offering further evidence for the explosive claim. 'Virtually everything failed lawyer Michael Cohen said in his sworn testimony last week is totally contradicted in his just released manuscript for a book about me. It's a total new love letter to "Trump" and the pols must now use it rather than his lies for sentence reduction!' Trump tweeted. It's not yet clear whether the manuscript exists, if Trump has actually seen it or if he is simply continuing a line of attack started on Friday, when the president demanded Congress obtain the alleged manuscript as proof that Cohen was lying in his testimony." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Of course this is nonsense at every level. Hagiographic books are not written under oath. As to the book's "release," I'm guessing the White House got a copy for vetting & a Trump enforcers read it.

Nicholas Kristof: "Jared Kushner slipped quietly into Saudi Arabia this week for a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman[.]... Of all the harebrained and unscrupulous dealings of the Trump administration in the last two years, one of the most shocking is a Trump plan to sell nuclear reactors to Saudi Arabia that could be used to make nuclear weapons.... This is abominable policy tainted by a gargantuan conflict of interest involving Kushner. Kushner;s family real estate business had been teetering because of a disastrously overpriced acquisition he made of a particular Manhattan property called 666 Fifth Avenue, but last August a company called Brookfield Asset Management rescued the Kushners by taking a 99-year lease of the troubled property -- and paying the whole sum of about $1.1 billion up front. Brookfield also owns Westinghouse Electric, the nuclear services business trying to sell reactors to Saudi Arabia.... It may be conflicts like these, along with even murkier ones, that led American intelligence officials to refuse a top-secret security clearance for Kushner."

Jelani Cobb of the New Yorker: "A defining trait of Donald Trump -- and, thereby, of Trumpism -- has been abiding avarice frustrated by an equal level of incompetence.... Yet the net result of [Michael] Cohen's testimony indicated that, whatever his previous deficiencies, he's done a great deal of learning on the job. He parried and jabbed with the Republicans on the committee, more than once blocking what they'd apparently perceived as a surefire line of attack. At times, they appeared outmatched.... Perhaps Cohen's true calling is the theatre, and his demeanor throughout the day -- slightly slumping shoulders, a hangdog expression -- was evidence of a master thespian at work." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: There are few more impressive feats than spending a full day beating off a string of rabid Congressmembers aligned against you. When Hillary Clinton did it in 2016, she wowed us. But Clinton is smart as a whip. Cohen, not so much. So one thing Cohen proved this week is that not only are our Republican "leaders" morally bankrupt, they're pretty stupid & incompetent, too. BTW, if you think it's easy to stand up to competent questioning by an MOC, look what happened last week to Equifax CEO Mark Begor (whom one would expect to be fairly bright, wily & well-prepped) when freshman Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) got her 5 minutes:

Alex Shephard of the New Republic argues what should be -- but isn't necessarily -- obvious: soaking the rich to pay for programs like Medicare for All & the Green New Deal is good politics. Poll after poll shows that the American public favors more benefits for themselves & higher taxes for the rich. "The answer is to merge a number of the Democratic plans floated by presidential candidates and politicians like Ocasio-Cortez into a larger program aimed at creating a fairer economy, providing universal health care, and decarbonizing the economy -- and to be clear about exactly how they plan to pay for it. The politics of taxes are changing. Now the Democrats need to change their message accordingly."

So this ex-con, a black guy named James Stern, buys this Neo-Nazi group, the National Socialist Movement. Katie Mettler of the Washington Post reports.

News Lede

New York Times: "At least 14 people in Alabama were killed after tornadoes touched down in the Southeast on Sunday, leaving a trail of devastation, an official said. The tornadoes were part of a series of storms that moved east through Alabama, Georgia and Florida. They uprooted trees and blasted through homes, video footage and photographs posted on Twitter showed."

Comments

[PD Pepe]

Katie Porter–-you go girl!

Yesterday was reading a piece in the New Yorker about Eugene Debs and learned some things about Pullman ( George Mortimer Pullman was one of the richest men in the U.S.) trains I never knew, for instance: "Pullman porters were always black men and ex- slaves and at the start, were paid nothing except the tips they could earn by bowing before the fancy passengers who could afford the sleeping car, and who liked very much to be served with a shuffle and a grin, Dixie style."

It was said that every man that worked on the American railroad in the last decades of the nineteenth century became a scholar of the relations between the rich and the poor, the haves and have nots, the masters and the slaves, the riders and the ridden upon. And Debs, who once worked on the railroads, formed unions, gave speech after speech everywhere he could, was considered a socialist, and ran for president five times, including one from prison. He happens to be Bernie Sanders hero.

[Ken Winkes]

A Sunday Sermon, lazily produced, as it was ready to hand. It appeared in today's local paper.

"Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s Republican leader, reacted to the first bill introduced in the Democratic House, HR 1, by saying it’s a “power grab.” As a leader of a party with declining voter affiliation (peoplepress.org), Mr. McConnell should know.

Since no part of this anti-corruption bill has a chance of making it through the Republican Senate, what raised Mr. McConnell’s hackles?

It might be that unlike many Republican measures—think of the 2017 tax giveaway to the wealthy, falsely advertised as a tax cut for the middle class that would “pay for itself”--the provisions of HB 1 mean exactly what they say. They target the corruption in government that has moved us rapidly along the path to rule by the rich, not government by and for the people.

As Vox.com put it. “The bill covers three main planks: campaign finance reform, strengthening the government’s ethics laws, and expanding voting rights."

It includes public campaign financing, a call to overturn the SCOTUS “Citizens United” decision, public disclosure of all campaign contributions and it prohibits coordination between candidates and super-pacs.

Presidential and vice-presidential candidates would have to disclose ten years of tax returns. Members of Congress could not use taxpayer money to settle harassment or discrimination cases

To no surprise, McConnell singled out the voting rights elements of the bill. There is something about voting rights that gets under Republican skins.

HB 1 would create a new automatic voter registration system, make Election Day a holiday and end partisan gerrymandering in Federal elections. It would encourage early voting, on-line voter registration and train more poll workers to shorten long lines and waits experienced in some voting jurisdictions.

It all does sound kinda awful, doesn’t it--if you are a corporate Republican whose legislative agenda is increasingly removed from the popular will."

[Marie Burns]

@Ken Winkes: Ha ha. Shame on you for informing the locals what-all is actually in one of these horrifying socialist bills. The next thing you know, people will be saying voting rights & ethical members of Congress are good things.