The Commentariat -- August 17, 2017
Afternoon Update:
William Booth, et al., of the Washington Post: "A driver swerved a van onto a pedestrian area Thursday in Barcelona's historic Las Ramblas district, ramming into crowds and leaving at least 13 people dead and more than 50 injured scattered along a stretch of tree-shaded sidewalk. Authorities described the incident as a terrorist attack." ...
... Giles Tremlett of the Guardian: "A van has crashed into a crowd of people in central Barcelona, causing an unknown number of injuries, with local media reporting at least one armed man had subsequently entered a restaurant in the area. Spanish police, who said they were treating the incident as a terrorist attack, said several people were injured in the 'massive crash' on Las Ramblas.... Las Ramblas, a street of stalls and shops that cuts through the centre of Barcelona, is one of the city's top tourist destinations. People walk down a wide, pedestrianised path in the centre of the street, but cars can travel on either side." ...
... The Guardian has live updates here.
Sheri Fink of the New York Times: "A settlement in the lawsuit against two psychologists who helped devise the Central Intelligence Agency's brutal interrogation program was announced on Thursday, bringing to an end an unusual effort to hold individuals accountable for the techniques the agency adopted after the Sept. 11 attacks. Lawyers for the three plaintiffs in the suit, filed in 2015 in Federal District Court in Spokane, Wash., said the former prisoners were tortured at secret C.I.A. detention sites. The settlement with the psychologists, Dr. Bruce Jessen and Dr. James Mitchell, came after a judge last month urged resolving the case before it headed to a jury trial in early September. The plaintiffs -- two former detainees and the family of a third who died in custody -- had sought unspecified punitive and compensatory damages. The terms of the settlement are confidential."
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Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump found himself increasingly isolated in a racial crisis of his own making on Wednesday, abandoned by the nation's top business executives, contradicted by military leaders and shunned by Republicans outraged by his defense of white nationalist protesters in Charlottesville, Va.... The president's top advisers described themselves as stunned, despondent and numb. Several said they were unable to see how Mr. Trump's presidency would recover, and others expressed doubts about his capacity to do the job. In contrast, the president told close aides that he felt liberated by his news conference.... On Wednesday, even Fox News, a favorite of the president's, repeatedly carried criticism of Mr. Trump. One Fox host, Shepard Smith, said that he had been unable to find a single Republican to come on-air to defend Mr. Trump's remarks.... One aide who felt energized by the president's actions was ... Stephen K. Bannon...." ...
... Callum Borchers of the Washington Post: "... Republicans are in hiding, apparently unsure how to answer questions about President Trump's response to last weekend's violence in Charlottesville -- and unwilling to try. 'We invited every single Republican senator on this program tonight -- all 52,' Chuck Todd said on MSNBC's 'MTP Daily' on Wednesday. 'We asked roughly a dozen House Republicans, including a bunch of committee chairs, and we asked roughly a half dozen former Republican elected officials, and none of them agreed to discuss this issue with us today.' That's about 70 rejections altogether, and other news anchors had the same experience on Wednesday -- even on Fox News."
... Via Patrick. To watch the video, you may have to sign in to prove your age. If so, & that's too much of a hassle, you can view the video here. At 9:30 pm ET Wednesday, the video had nearly 3 million viewers. ...
... Harriet Sinclair of Newsweek: "A neo-Nazi who said he was 'ready for violence' at the deadly rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, has released footage of himself weeping after learning there is allegedly a warrant out for his arrest. Christopher Cantwell, who was followed during the gathering of neo-Nazis, KKK, white supremacists and alt-right for a 22-minute documentary for VICE, showed off his guns to journalist Elle Reeve and boasted: 'I'm carrying a pistol, I go to the gym all the time, I'm trying to make myself more capable of violence.' However, in mobile phone footage uploaded to YouTube on Wednesday, Cantwell said he was terrified after learning the police wanted to speak with him." Includes video.
Ellie Silverman, et al., of the Washington Post: "Those who loved Heather Heyer, along with strangers who have already elevated her into a symbol of defiance in the face of hate, gathered Wednesday at her memorial service to remember her as a born defender of justice who died for showing up when her beliefs demanded it. 'They tried to kill my child to shut her up, but guess what, you just magnified her,' said Heyer's mother, Susan Bro, sparking an ovation from a packed theater in downtown Charlottesville that lasted nearly a minute and a half." ...
... David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Thursday mourned the loss of 'beautiful statues and monuments' in the wake of the violent clashes in Charlottesville during a white supremacist demonstration protesting the planned removal of a statue depicting Confederate military commander Robert E. Lee." ...
... Louis Nelson of Politico: "... Donald Trump slammed Sen. Lindsey Graham Thursday.... 'Publicity seeking Lindsey Graham falsely stated that I said there is moral equivalency between the KKK, neo-Nazis & white supremacists and people like Ms. Heyer,' Trump wrote online, breaking his message up into two posts. 'Such a disgusting lie. He just can't forget his election trouncing. The people of South Carolina will remember!'" ...
... Politico: "... Donald Trump attacked Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake as 'toxic' on Thursday, just days before the president will visit Phoenix for an upcoming rally. 'Great to see that Dr. Kelli Ward is running against Flake Jeff Flake, who is WEAK on borders, crime and a non-factor in Senate. He's toxic!' Trump tweeted Thursday morning, minutes after he also rebuked GOP South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham over criticism of the president's Charlottesville response. Ward, who unsuccessfully ran against Arizona Sen. John McCain in 2016, announced in October that she'll run against Flake in 2018." ...
You had a group on the other side that came charging in without a permit, and they were very, very violent. . . . You had a lot of people in that [white nationalist] group that were there to innocently protest and very legally protest, because you know -- I don't know if you know -- they had a permit. The other group didn't have a permit. -- Donald Trump, remarks during a news conference on infrastructure, August 15
President Trump twice claimed that counterprotesters lacked a permit to demonstrate in Charlottesville. But they did have permits for rallies -- and they did not need one to go into or gather near Emancipation Park, where white nationalists planned their rally. -- Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post
... Michael Schmidt & Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "President Trump’s personal lawyer on Wednesday forwarded an email to conservative journalists, government officials and friends that echoed secessionist Civil War propaganda and declared that the group Black Lives Matter 'has been totally infiltrated by terrorist groups.' The email forwarded by John Dowd, who is leading the president's legal team, painted the Confederate general Robert E. Lee in glowing terms and equated the South's rebellion to that of the American Revolution against England.... 'You cannot be against General Lee and be for General Washington,' the email reads, 'there literally is no difference between the two men.'... Mr. Dowd received the email on Tuesday night and forwarded it on Wednesday morning to more than two dozen recipients, including a senior official at the Department of Homeland Security, The Wall Street Journal editorial page and journalists at Fox News and The Washington Times.... 'You're sticking your nose in my personal email?' Mr. Dowd told The Times in a brief telephone interview. 'People send me things. I forward them.' He then hung up. The email's author, Jerome Almon, runs several websites alleging government conspiracies and arguing that the F.B.I. has been infiltrated by Islamic terrorists." ...
... AP: "Vice President Mile Pence is cutting short his trip to Latin America so he can join the president at a meeting about North Korea. The White House announced Wednesday that Pence would travel to Camp David with the president on Friday to meet with the White House national security team to discuss South Asia strategy." ...
... Jill Colvin of the AP: "Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday skirted questions about ... Donald Trump's comments voicing sympathy for Charlottesville protesters, but said he stands with the president nonetheless. Pence wouldn't say during a press conference in Chile whether he agrees with Trump that there were 'fine people' among the white supremacists, KKK members and neo-Nazis who took to the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend, and whether 'both sides' were to blame for the deadly violence between white supremacists and counterdemonstrators, as the president claimed." ...
The Army doesn't tolerate racism, extremism, or hatred in our ranks. It's against our Values and everything we've stood for since 1775. -- Gen. Mark Milley, chief of staff of the Army, in a tweet ...
... W. J. Hennigan of the Los Angeles Times: "America's top-ranking military officers spoke out forcefully against racial bigotry and extremism, a rare public foray into domestic politics that revealed growing unease at the Pentagon with some of President Trump's policies and views. The members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- the senior uniformed brass of the Navy, Marine Corps, Army and Air Force -- all posted messages on their official Twitter accounts to denounce the far-right extremists behind Saturday's violence in Charlottesville, Va. The messages did not mention Trump, who is the commander in chief, by name. But the rebuke seemed clear in several posts given the bipartisan furor over Trump's insistence Tuesday that 'both sides' were at fault for the violence." ...
... Jena McGregor of the Washington Post: "President Trump's relationship with the American business community suffered a major setback on Wednesday as the president was forced to shut down his major business advisory councils after corporate leaders repudiated his comments on the violence in Charlottesville this weekend. A slew of corporate chieftans announced they were resigning from the councils in recent days after they said Trump was slow to condemn white supremacy groups. On Twitter, Trump said it was his decision to disband both councils. 'Rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople of the Manufacturing Council & Strategy & Policy Forum. I am ending both,' he tweeted." At 1:30 pm, this is a breaking news story, which is likely to be expanded later. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... David Gelles, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump's main council of top corporate leaders disbanded on Wednesday following the president's controversial remarks in which he equated white nationalist hate groups with the protesters opposing them. Soon after, the president announced on Twitter that he would end his executive councils, 'rather than put pressure' on executives. The quick sequence began late Wednesday morning when Stephen A. Schwarzman, the chief executive of the Blackstone Group and one of Mr. Trump's closest confidants in the business community, organized a conference call for members of the president's Strategic and Policy Forum. After a discussion among a dozen prominent C.E.O.s, the decision was made to abandon the group altogether, said people with knowledge of the details of the call." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Dan Diamond of Politico: "The president's tweet followed the announcements Wednesday that the leaders of Minnesota-based 3M and Campbell Soup had quit his manufacturing council, while a second strategic and advisory group was on the verge of collapse. 'Racism and murder are unequivocally reprehensible and are not morally equivalent to anything else that happened in Charlottesville,' said Denise Morrison, the head of Campbell Soup, who became the 8th executive to announce in a statement that she was leaving the manufacturing council.... Inge Thulin, the CEO of Minnesota-based 3M, announced earlier in the day that he was leaving the manufacturing council." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Patti Domm & Jacob Pramuk of CNBC: "Members of ... Donald Trump's Strategic and Policy Forum have agreed to disband the group, sources told CNBC, as corporate backlash mounts against the president. The business advisory council made up of top business leaders is separate from Trump's manufacturing council, which several business leaders left this week.... After the members agreed to disband and condemn Trump's statements, the president said he would end both the Strategic and Policy Forum and the manufacturing council." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Russell Berman of the Atlantic: "After Trump finished speaking [Tuesday], the rebukes from congressional Republicans started rolling in all over again. Some, like Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and Representative Will Hurd of Texas, criticized the president directly in tweets and statements. Others, like House Speaker Paul Ryan, withheld Trump's name even if their target was obvious. 'We must be clear. White supremacy is repulsive,' Ryan tweeted. 'This bigotry is counter to all this country stands for. There can be no moral ambiguity.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "President Trump's off-the-rails Tuesday news conference -- in which he once again blamed 'both sides' in Charlottesville, effectively undoing his earlier conciliatory remarks -- earned him another wave of backlash from world leaders Wednesday." ...
... Mark Landler of the New York Times: " Mr. Trump's refusal Tuesday to pass an explicit moral judgment on the violence in Charlottesville seemed a genuine reflection of his beliefs. Certainly, it is similar to his refusal to condemn the tactics of autocrats like President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines or President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.... Mr. Trump's predecessors, going back to George Washington, have all tried, with varying degrees of success, to summon Americans to a higher moral purpose.... Barack Obama, appealed to the best in Americans through a heartbreaking succession of police shootings and racially motivated killings. He often invoked the notion of grace -- never more indelibly than in Charleston, S.C., after a white supremacist gunned down nine people, all African Americans, during a prayer service at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church." ...
... Ashley Parker & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "The uproar [over Trump's support of white supremacists] -- which has consumed not only the White House but the Republican Party -- left [Chief of Staff John] Kelly deeply frustrated and dismayed just over two weeks into his job, said people familiar with his thinking. The episode also underscored the difficult challenges that even a four-star general faces in instilling a sense of order around Trump, whose first instinct when cornered is to lash out, even self-destructively.... Some aides and confidants privately described themselves as sickened and appalled, if not entirely surprised, by Trump's off-the-cuff comments. And the president watched, furious, as a cascade of chief executives distanced themselves from him, prompting the dissolution of his major business advisory councils.... Those close to [top economic advisor Gary] Cohn described him as 'disgusted' and 'frantically unhappy,' although he did not threaten to resign." ...
... Gail Collins: "Admit it -- during the campaign you did not consider the possibility that if a terrible tragedy struck the country involving all of our worst political ghosts of the past plus neo-Nazism, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz would know the appropriate thing to say but Donald Trump would have no idea. George W. Bush would have been at the funeral for the slain civil rights demonstrator in a second. About the best Trump could do was to praise Heather Heyer's mother, Susan Bro, for writing 'the nicest things' about him. Bro did indeed express appreciation for the president's denunciation of 'those who promote violence and hatred.' That was his written-by-someone-else statement, which preceded the despicable impromptu version."
... Marc Fisher of the Washington Post: "From his first public controversy in the 1970s, when the federal government sued Trump and his father over discriminatory rental practices in their New York real estate empire, to the opening salvo in his 2016 presidential campaign, when he said that Mexicans entering the United States were criminals and 'rapists,' Trump has regularly fanned the flames of racial controversies.... Those who've worked with Trump for many years say he also has a history of making rough, stereotyping comments about racial minorities. John O'Donnell, who was president of Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, said Trump blamed blacks for his financial problems.... 'The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day.... Laziness is a trait in blacks. It really is; I believe that. It's not anything they can control.'"
... Lyrics by Woody Guthrie, who was a tenant of Fred Trump's, performance by Ryan Harvey.
I suppose that Old Man Trump knows just how much racial hate
He stirred up in that bloodpot of human hearts
When he drawed that color line
Here at his Beach Haven family project
... Jonathan Swan of Axios: "On Tuesday night, while Gary Cohn was fuming about President Trump's latest comments, Steve Bannon was excitedly telling friends and associates that the 'globalists' were in mass freakout mode. Today, Bannon reveled in the disbanding of the president's business council, seeing this as yet more evidence that the Trump administration is at odds with the 'Davos crowd,' as Bannon often calls these corporate elites, in a voice dripping with contempt.Bannon saw Trump's now-infamous Tuesday afternoon press conference not as the lowest point in his presidency, but as a 'defining moment,' where Trump decided to fully abandon the 'globalists' and side with 'his people.' Per a source with knowledge: 'Steve was proud of how [Trump] stood up to the braying mob of reporters' in the Tuesday press conference." ...
... Margaret Hartmann: "Previously on the Bizarro World version on The West Wing, Steve Bannon's far-right campaign to get the national security adviser [H. R. McMaster] fired appeared to be backfiring.... But Wednesday's episode ended with a shocking twist: in a call back to the dramatic departure of Anthony Scaramucci after he called The New Yorker to share some profane thoughts about his co-workers, Bannon called Robert Kuttner of The American Prospect and shared his own unfiltered, possibly career-ending musings." Hartmann reports various theories about what Bannon game was. ...
... Robert Kuttner of the American Prospect was "stunned" to get an unsolicited email from Steve Bannon's aide requesting a meeting re: U.S.-China trade policy. A phone interview ensued: "Contrary to Trump's threat of fire and fury, Bannon said: 'There’s no military solution [to North Korea's nuclear threats], forget it....'... Bannon explained that his strategy is to battle the trade doves inside the administration while building an outside coalition of trade hawks that includes left as well as right.... He dismissed the far right as irrelevant and sidestepped his own role in cultivating it: 'Ethno-nationalism -- it's losers. It's a fringe element. I think the media plays it up too much, and we gotta help crush it, you know, uh, help crush it more.' 'These guys are a collection of clowns,' he added. From his lips to Trump's ear. 'The Democrats,' he said, 'the longer they talk about identity politics, I got 'em. I want them to talk about racism every day. If the left is focused on race and identity, and we go with economic nationalism, we can crush the Democrats.'" ...
... Jonathan Chait questions the rationales of Trump's aides who have tried to cover up his rampant racism & other horrible views. ...
Nolan McCaskill & Marc Caputo of Politico: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions came to Miami to trash Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. In a 30-minute speech on Wednesday criticizing Chicago's 'sanctuary city' policy, Sessions used Miami-Dade County as a foil to accuse Emanuel of neglecting murder rates associated with undocumented immigrants and putting federal funds at risk.... Sessions rebutted the claim from Chicago officials that sanctuary-city policies help reduce crime by pointing to a lack of evidence and the city's low murder investigation clearance rate.... Emanuel responded swiftly, vowing not to 'cave to the Trump administration's pressure' because they are morally, factually and legally wrong.... Miami-Dade County in January went out of its way to accommodate ... Donald Trump's new policy by agreeing to honor detainee requests for all inmates booked into the county jail."
Trump Wars. Episode 4: A New Hope. Jeff Zeleny, et al., of CNN: "Senior communications adviser Hope Hicks has been named as the interim White House communications director, a White House official told pool reporters Wednesday. The official added in a statement that the administration will 'make an announcement on a permanent communications director at the appropriate time.' The role of communications director has been vacant since Anthony Scaramucci was ousted from the position shortly after John Kelly took over as chief of staff last month.... The White House has had difficulty filling the role of communications director." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Akhilleus: "Difficulty filling the role...?" I wonder why. So here we have another rank amateur taking over one of the most important jobs in any administration. I'm sure her experience working on fashion lines and resort PR projects will come in handy. "Nazis in Charlottesville? Oh, I don't know about Nazis, but over here we have a lovely champagne pink peignoir, an Ivanka original, sure to make the little woman in your life feel desirable!" Poor Hope. More Trump chum. And I don't mean as a buddy. Her primary job, if I remember correctly, was printing out online stories about Trump's greatness and circling his name in yellow hi-liter to comfort his roiling ego. The Trump White House is rapidly coming to resemble a crumbling monarchy in its last days, the dyspeptic, paranoid monarch cutting off heads right and left, and surrounding himself with obsequious, sycophantic lackeys who help pour boiling oil on the heads of peasants trying to storm the castle.
Li Zhou & John Hendel of Politico: "Antitrust lawyer Joseph Simons is ... Donald Trump's pick to lead the Federal Trade Commission, according to three people familiar with the decision. Simons is co-chairman of the antitrust group at the law firm Paul Weiss and served as director of the FTC's competition bureau during the George W. Bush administration."
Perry Stein of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration has dismantled aspects of Obama's legacy, big and small -- including the Capital Bikeshare station that was installed on the White House grounds at the request of the Obama administration."
John Solomon of the Hill: "Julian Assange told a U.S. congressman on Tuesday he can prove the leaked Democratic Party documents he published during last year's election did not come from Russia and promised additional helpful information about the leaks in the near future. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican who is friendly to Russia and chairs an important House subcommittee on Eurasia policy, became the first American congressman to meet with Assange during a three-hour private gathering at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where the WikiLeaks founder has been holed up for years. Rohrabacher recounted his conversation with Assange to The Hill.... Rohrabacher said he had information to share privately with ...Donald Trump. Assange has suggested in the past that Russia wasn't the source of his leaked information. Tuesday marked the first time he has engaged with a U.S. lawmaker."
Ari Berman of Mother Jones: "On Tuesday..., a federal court ruled that congressional districts drawn by Texas Republicans after the 2010 election were enacted with 'racially discriminatory intent' against Latino and African American voters. This is the seventh time since 2011 that a federal court has found that Texas intentionally discriminated against minority voters, through its redistricting plans and strict voter ID law. This repeated finding of intentional discrimination means that federal courts could once again require Texas to clear any changes to voting laws or procedures with the federal government -- a requirement that was in place until the Supreme Court struck down part of the Voting Rights Act in 2013." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Margaret Hartmann: "The mayor of Phoenix, Arizona said on Wednesday that one good way to keep the peace would be delaying a visit from the president. Hours earlier, President Trump promoted his Phoenix rally, which is scheduled for Tuesday night.... Mayor Greg Stanton, a Democrat, released a statement saying he's 'disappointed' that Trump is holding a campaign rally so soon after the violence in Charlottesville, and requesting that he delay the visit. He added that if President Trump is coming to Phoenix to pardon Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted of criminal contempt for defying an order to stop using racial profiling, then it will be clear that his true intent is to enflame emotions and further divide our nation.'"
... Beyond the Beltway
Janell Ross, et al., of the Washington Post: "City officials across the country are nervously trying to figure out how to avoid becoming the next Charlottesville as alt-right leaders and white nationalist groups vow to stage more rallies in coming days.... Cities also are grappling with what to do about their Confederate monuments, an issue that has suddenly become much more urgent.... Violence is at the center of the concerns, and the Charlottesville rally showed law enforcement authorities that they need to be better prepared. Darrel Stephens, executive director of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, noted that many of the people who came to Charlottesville wore helmets and carried shields. 'These guys, the shields that they showed up with ... you don't bring that stuff to a demonstration to just express a view,' Stephens said. 'You bring that there prepared for violence. Why else would you have them?'... Colleges have been resisting attempts to have rallies on their campuses, and in the days after the Charlottesville violence, schools including Texas A&M and the University of Florida canceled events tied to white nationalist groups that were scheduled for the week of Sept. 11." ...
... Erin Edgemon of al.com: "The Alabama Attorney General's Office has filed a lawsuit against the city of Birmingham and Mayor William Bell for violating state law and covering a Confederate monument in Linn Park.... Bell told reporters Wednesday afternoon that the city's legal department reviewed the law. He said the plywood barrier doesn't break the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act.... Following the violent incident involving white supremacists and counter protesters in Charlottesville, Va., Bell said the plywood barrier was installed to protect the monument from possible vandalism from either side.... The Alabama Memorial Preservation Act, passed by the Alabama Legislature and signed into law in 2017, prohibits the relocation, removal, alteration, renaming, or other disturbance of any architecturally significant building, memorial building, memorial street, or monument located on public property which has been in place for 40 or more years, the AG's office stated."
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