The Commentariat -- July 29, 2019
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Chris Cillizza of CNN: "... on Monday morning, in a speech to first responders and others impacted by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, [Donald Trump] took his fantastical memory of himself to new and not-at-all-appropriate heights .'I was down there also, but I'm not considering myself a first responder,' Trump said. 'But I was down there. I spent a lot of time down there with you.'... It's also not the first time he's done it. 'Everyone who helped clear the rubble -- and I was there, and I watched, and I helped a little bit -- but I want to tell you: Those people were amazing,' Trump said in a speech in Buffalo in 2016. 'Clearing the rubble. Trying to find additional lives. You didn't know what was going to come down on all of us -- and they handled it.' He has also claimed that he helped pay for several hundred workers to help clean up the wreckage in the aftermath of 9/11. Independent fact-check sites have been unable to verify that claim." What Trump was really doing on 9/11, according to Cillizza, was watching from Trump Tower (which is a long way from the World Trade Center) & bragging on the radio that now that the towers had fallen he owned the tallest building in Manhattan (40 Wall Street). ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump also was at the Alamo with Davey Crockett,led Teddy Roosevelt up San Juan Hill, & raised the flag at Iwo Jima.
Kelly Weill & Audry McNamara of the Daily Beast. "The gunman who murdered three people at a food festival in Northern California on Sunday posted about a far-right book on Instagram moments before the attack.... Santino William Legan, 19..., posted a picture with a caption that told followers to read a 19th-century, proto-fascist book. The book, which is repeatedly recommended alongside works by Hitler and other fasicsts on forums like 8chan, is full of anti-Semitic, sexist and white supremacist ideology. The book glorifies 'Aryan' men, condemns inter-marriage between races and defends violence based on bogus eugenicist tropes.... Police said Legan legally purchased his assault-style rifle in Nevada this month."
Ted Barrett, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump's choice of Rep. John Ratcliffe to replace respected former Sen. Dan Coats as Director of National Intelligence in one of the most powerful and sensitive jobs in government, has gotten a tepid response to this point from Republican senators, signaling the Texas Republican, a Trump loyalist who lacks intelligence experience, could face a fight to be confirmed. The handful of GOP senators who initially put out public statements about the change mostly praised the professionalism and integrity of the departing Coats." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: As Akhilleus pointed out in today's Comments, the National Security Act requires that the DNI "shall have extensive national security expertise." Dubya appointed Ratcliffe "Chief of Anti-Terrorism and National Security for the Eastern District of Texas." Not sure how long the appointment lasted or what-all it involved, but it doesn't sound "extensive" to me.
Philip Bailey of the Louisville Courier Journal: "Republican Sen. Rand Paul is offering to buy Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar a plane ticket to visit her home country of Somalia to learn to be more grateful for living in the United States.... 'I'm not saying we forcibly send her anywhere,' Paul said in an interview last week with Breitbart News, a conservative-leaning outlet. 'I'm willing to contribute to buy her a ticket to go visit Somalia. I think she can look and maybe learn a little bit about the disaster that is Somalia.'" Mrs. McC: The suggestion that a refugee would have no idea what things were like in the country she fled but that an American would know better shows both profound ignorance & stunning hubris.
Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve this week will most likely cut interest rates for the first time since 2008, when the economy was mired in a deep recession, as the central bank tries to keep a record economic expansion from petering out. The expected change, while likely to be small, will end an era of gradual rate increases intended to return the economy to a more 'normal' state in the wake of the Great Recession, when the Fed slashed rates to near zero as it tried to rescue the economy.... In cutting now, the Fed is effectively ending its campaign to put economic policy back to normal. The shift confirms that interest rates will be much lower from now on, leaving the economy in a much more fragile state."
Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Trump, after a weekend spent assailing a leading African-American congressman from Baltimore, widened his war on critics of color on Monday morning as he denounced the Rev. Al Sharpton as 'a con man' who 'Hates Whites & Cops!'... Mr. Sharpton fired back not much later. 'Trump says I'm a troublemaker & con man,' he wrote on Twitter. 'I do make trouble for bigots. If he really thought I was a con man he would want me in his cabinet.'... [Trump] went after [Rep. Elijah] Cummings again as well. 'Baltimore, under the leadership of Elijah Cummings, has the worst Crime Statistics in the Nation,' Mr. Trump wrote. '25 years of all talk, no action! So tired of listening to the same old Bull...Next, Reverend Al will show up to complain & protest. Nothing will get done for the people in need. Sad!'"
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Worth noting: Cummings is not a local official, so he has no control over city & county leaders' actions, though one would think he might have some influence on them. Also, Balto does not have "the worst Crime Statistics in the Nation." Who taught Trump the rules of capitalization? I know those rules are nebulous, but Trump Rules are silly.
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Trump Administration Turnover, Ctd.
Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump announced on Sunday that Dan Coats will step down as director of national intelligence after a tenure in which the two were often at odds over Russia, North Korea and the president's own attacks on the intelligence community. 'I am pleased to announce that highly respected Congressman John Ratcliffe of Texas will be nominated by me to be the Director of National Intelligence,' Mr. Trump tweeted. 'A former U.S. Attorney, John will lead and inspire greatness for the Country he loves. Dan Coats, the current Director, will be leaving office on August 15th. I would like to thank Dan for his great service to our Country....'... In a meeting last week, Mr. Coats told Mr. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence that he was ready to move on." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... David Boddiger of Splinter: "Ratcliffe, a former federal prosecutor and ex-mayor of Heath, TX, population 6,900, was one of a handful of Republican lawmakers who attempted to discredit Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his report on Russian interference during Mueller's testimony before Congress last Wednesday. His performance earned him a tweet by Donald Trump Jr. and the determination by PolitiFact that he had made a false claim when trying to discredit Mueller. ...
... Trump Swaps Intel Chief for Lapdog. Matt Stieb of New York: "... Trump has swapped an Establishment voice with trust in the system for a loyalist one skeptical of the many intel reports that counter the president's view of the world.... On the Trump-Russia relationship, Ratcliffe has been particularly willing to accept the president's side of things.... It appears that Ratcliffe may have catered his Mueller testimony comments to appeal to the president. Ratcliffe reportedly met with Trump the Friday before the Mueller hearings to discuss possibly replacing Coats in the DNI position.... [At the hearings, Ratcliffe] cast doubt on the conclusions of the special counsel's independence via the conservative lightning rod Peter Strzok. On the day he got the job, he followed up on Fox Business Network claiming that the Mueller report was written by 'Hillary Clinton's de facto legal team' and that 'it does appear that there were crimes committed during the Obama administration' relating to the FBI monitoring of Trump campaign officials in contact with Russian intelligence assets." ...
[Robert Mueller] didn't follow the special counsel regulations. It clearly says write a confidential report about decisions reached. Nowhere in here does it say write a report about decisions that were not reached. -- John Ratcliffe, House hearing July 24
Federal regulations specifically require special prosecutors to explain their decisions not to prosecute. That explanation goes to the attorney general, who then decides what to make public. We found no legal scholar who agreed with Ratcliffe. -- Jon Greenberg of PolitiFact
Chris Rodrigo of the Hill: "Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Sunday slammed Rep. John Ratcliffe's (R-Texas) expected nomination for director of national intelligence, calling it a purely political move by President Trump. 'It's clear that Rep. Ratcliffe was selected because he exhibited blind loyalty to President Trump with his demagogic questioning of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller,' Schumer said in a statement. 'If Senate Republicans elevate such a partisan player to a position that requires intelligence expertise and non-partisanship, it would be a big mistake,' he added."
Trump Raging Racism, Ctd.
If racist Elijah Cummings would focus more of his energy on helping the good people of his district, and Baltimore itself, perhaps progress could be made in fixing the mess that he has helped to create over many years of incompetent leadership. His radical 'oversight' is a joke! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet Sunday afternoon
There is nothing racist in stating plainly what most people already know, that Elijah Cummings has done a terrible job for the people of his district, and of Baltimore itself. Dems always play the race card when they are unable to win with facts. Shame! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet Sunday afternoon
... This. Is. Not. Normal. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Trump escalated his attack on an African-American congressman on Sunday by accusing the lawmaker and his allies of being the racist ones.... Mr. Trump, who on Saturday disparaged the congressman, Elijah E. Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, for not doing more to fix his 'disgusting, rat and rodent infested' district, said Democrats who called him racist as a result were themselves playing 'the Race Card,' as he put it on Twitter. The president later specifically referred to Mr. Cummings as a racist without explaining why.... The president's counterattack is a common strategy he has used since entering politics, throwing accusations against him back on his accusers. He often alleges that critics are stupid, mentally unbalanced or losing a step through age, all things he himself has been repeatedly accused of. As he has provoked a racially inflammatory fight in recent weeks, he has asserted that anyone calling him racist must themselves be racist.... Mr. Trump posted repeated tweets throughout the day denying that he was racist and attacking Mr. Cummings and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, herself a Baltimore native and daughter and sister of former mayors." ...
... David Cohen of Politico: "Having spent Saturday lashing out against Rep. Elijah Cummings and other Democratic opponents..., Donald Trump began Sunday by attacking the Maryland Democrat again. The president opened Sunday by tweeting: 'Someone please explain to Nancy Pelosi, who was recently called racist by those in her own party, that there is nothing wrong with bringing out the very obvious fact that Congressman Elijah Cummings has done a very poor job for his district and the City of Baltimore.' He added: 'Just take... ....a look, the facts speak far louder than words! The Democrats always play the Race Card, when in fact they have done so little for our Nation's great African American people. Now, lowest unemployment in U.S. history, and only getting better. Elijah Cummings has failed badly!'... [In the wake of Pelosi's defense of Cummings Saturday,] Trump followed ... with some vitriol aimed at Pelosi: 'Speaking of failing badly, has anyone seen what is happening to Nancy Pelosi's district in San Francisco,' he tweeted Sunday. 'It is not even recognizeable lately. Something must be done before it is too late. The Dems should stop wasting time on the Witch Hunt Hoax and start focusing on our Country!'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Ian Swanson of the Hill: "White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney defended President Trump's remarks calling a black congressman's district a 'disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess,' stating during an interview with Fox News's Chris Wallace that there was nothing racist about the president's comments.... Wallace said there was a 'clear pattern here,' stating that before Trump's inauguration, he had said that another black congressman, Rep. John Lewis (R-Ga.), should spend time in his 'crime-infested district.' He then noted the president's recent criticisms of four Democratic congresswomen, who are all members of minority groups. Trump also used the word 'infested' in criticizing those four lawmakers, stating that they should 'go back to the crime-infested countries' they came from.... 'Infested. It sounds like vermin, it sounds sub-human. And theses are all six members of Congress who are people of color,' Wallace said Mulvaney responded by saying he thought Wallace was spending way too much time 'reading between the lines.' 'I'm not reading between the lines, I'm reading the lines,' Wallace interjected." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I don't know if Elijah Cummings ever hoped to be famous, but he is now, thanks to President Racist. Since a third of Americans can't ID Chief Justice John Roberts, it's a safe bet that a majority never heard of Elijah Cummings before now. But today, even the Drumpfendopes know who the Congressman from Maryland is. ...
... Kevin Kruse in a New York Times op-ed: "In both style and substance, [Donald Trump's] campaign appearances bear strong resemblances to the rallies held a half-century ago by Gov. George C. Wallace of Alabama.... By articulating their audiences' hatred, both men effectively encouraged them to act on it.... But there is one significant difference -- and it shows how Mr. Trump remains a greater danger and poses a graver threat to peaceful political discourse.... Mr. Wallace's targets were, for the most part, presented in the abstract. Though he denounced broad categories of generic enemies -- 'agitators,' 'anarchists' and 'communists' -- he rarely went after an individual by name. Mr. Trump, in pointed contrast, has used his rallies to single out specific enemies.... Since the midterms, Mr. Trump's rhetoric and the threats from his supporters have only intensified."
At Essex Park, [a Kushner Companies-owned apartment complex] east of [Baltimore], Marquita Parmely ... told me she had a mouse infestation that was severe enough that her 12-year-old daughter recently found one in her bed.... She moved her own bed and other furniture away from the walls to dissuade mice, kept the family's laundry in tote bags after mice started appearing in the hamper and vacuumed twice a day. -- Alec MacGillis, in the New York Times, May 2017 ...
... "No Human Being Would Want to Live" in Kushnerville. Mary Papenfuss of the Huffington Post: "Jared Kushner's many Baltimore area housing projects -- which he continues to own even as he works as a senior White House adviser -- racked up hundreds of building-code violations creating the kind of conditions that Trump hints at [in his tweets knocking Baltimore & Rep. Elijah Cummings].... A scathing investigation in 2017 by ProPublica and co-published by The New York Times -- headlined 'The Beleaguered Tenants of Kushnerville' -- slammed the multiple projects purchased by Kushner Cos. when it was helmed by Jared Kushner and managed by a subsidiary.... None of the housing complexes are in Cummings' district but several are close enough to share a ZIP code, Bloomberg reports, and many house African-Americans.... One court case described a leaking bedroom ceiling, maggots in the living room carpet and raw sewage spewing [from] the kitchen sink.... Though Trump is bashing Cummings over his complaints about treatment of immigrants, he may be trying to undermine the congressman as he seeks records from Kushner." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Then of course there was the Guardian story safari linked yesterday, reprising the health inspectors' reports that the Trump Tower Grille in Manhattan was home to 'live mice' in the kitchen as recently as last summer. I hope there were mouse droppings in that taco salad Trump featured in an effort to troll Hispanics during his 2016 campaign. As usual, Trump has projected his own failings on others.
... AND AND Andy Borowitz of the New Yorker gets to the crux of the problem: "A government-subsidized housing structure [a/k/a the White House] has fallen into a dangerous state and has become thoroughly infested with criminals and rats, a leading congressman warned on Saturday."
Safari asks, 'How far does their racist animus go?' Is getting an Aryan dog for their daughter's birthday far enough? -- unwashed, in yesterday's comments on "Racism As a Business Model"
The story unwashed linked is worth reading for the tweeted responses. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie
... Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Ken Meyer of Mediaite: "CNN's Brian Stelter opened Reliable Sources on Sunday by dissecting the Donald Trump-Fox News feedback loop that led to the president's attacks on Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD). As Stelter called out the 'pattern of racism' evidenced by Trump's slams on Cummings and his Baltimore congressional district, he honed in on the fact that Trump's tweets came shortly after Fox & Friends aired a segment with Republican strategist Kimberly Klacik on Saturday. The conversation focused on footage from Baltimore Klacik gathered in order to suggest the city is completely overrun with abandoned buildings, trash, and vermin.... Stelter noted how Fox boosted Klacik's profile by repeatedly having her on as a commentator."
Trump Impeachment, Ctd.
Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Four more rank-and-file Democrats called for opening an impeachment inquiry against ... Donald Trump on Sunday, inching lawmakers closer to a significant symbolic milestone: a majority of all House Democrats. Though the steadily climbing total may not move Speaker Nancy Pelosi off of her resistance to opening a formal impeachment inquiry, Sunday's burst of support suggests momentum behind the effort is growing and accelerating. More than a dozen Democrats -- including Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), a member of Pelosi's leadership team -- have newly signaled their support since ... Robert Mueller testified to Congress on Wednesday. The four who issued their support on Sunday, all from Washington state, bring the total number of House Democrats who have publicly said they'd vote for an impeachment inquiry to 104 -- 14 shy of a majority of the Democratic Caucus -- with backers of an inquiry promising there are more waiting in the wings. The lawmakers received a significant endorsement a short time later from Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the third highest-ranking Democrat in the Senate...."
Zachary Basu of Axios: "House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) declined to explicitly say on ABC's 'This Week' whether Democrats are pursuing an official impeachment inquiry, but repeated to George Stephanopoulos what he wrote in a court filing last week: 'We have impeachment resolutions before the committee.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Laurence Tribe in USA Today: "We are engaged in an impeachment inquiry into ... Donald Trump's 'high crimes and misdemeanors.'... The inquiry began on Friday, July 26 .... in the House Judiciary Committee's court petition for access to redacted material in the Mueller report, and its intention to compel testimony from relevant witnesses. Articles of impeachment have been formally referred to the Judiciary Committee for its consideration, House counsel Douglas Letter said in the Friday filing to U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.... Savvy House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to spare the Democrats in red and purple congressional districts from facing electoral revolt, gave Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler the go-ahead without first holding a floor vote on whether to conduct hearings into the president's impeachment.... As Nadler said Sunday on ABC News' 'This Week': 'The history of impeachments is that sometimes the House has authorized the Judiciary Committee to begin (an) impeachment inquiry. Sometimes the Judiciary Committee has done it on its own.'"
Trumpy Scandals, Ctd.
Sharon LaFraniere, et al., of the New York Times: Federal "investigators have [been looking] ... at whether Thomas J. Barrack Jr., a top campaign fund-raiser and close friend of Mr. Trump, or others violated the law requiring people who try to influence American policy or opinion at the direction of foreign governments or entities to disclose their activities to the Justice Department, people familiar with the case said.... A series of interactions [between Barrack & others working on the Trump campaign & transition] ... have come under scrutiny by federal prosecutors looking at foreign influence over [Trump's] campaign, his transition and the early stages of his administration, according to documents and interviews with people familiar with the case.... Among other lines of inquiry, they have sought to determine whether Mr. Barrack and others tried to sway the Trump campaign or the new administration on behalf of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.... Between Mr. Trump's nomination and the end of June, Colony Capital, Mr. Barrack's real estate investment and private equity firm, received about $1.5 billion from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates through investments or other transactions like asset sales, Mr. Barrack's aides said." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: You can see how this works. Barrack & others are not lobbyists, they're "informal advisors sharing their ideas," and completely coincidentally ha-ha, those ideas jibe perfectly with the interests of the foreign governments & entities that simultaneously drop millions & millions of dollars into these "informal advisors'" coffers. All this was going on while Trump was labeling Hillary Clinton "crooked" & leading chants of "lock her up." Trump & Bill Barr are still interested in investigating "Crooked Hillary." Every Trump complaint is a cover-up of some actual scandal he & his friends in the kleptocracy have perpetrated.
Warner Takes on Moscow Mitch & Putin's Puppet. Zack Budryk of the Hill: "Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Sunday that 'common-sense' election security measures would get a supermajority on the Senate floor if a vote was allowed. 'I think there's come common sense things that would get 75 votes if they could get to the floor of the Senate,' Warner said Sunday on CBS’ 'Face the Nation.' They included an 'obligation ... to tell the FBI' about offers of dirt on political opponents by foreign governments and paper ballot backups for all polling stations, as well as 'some rules of the road for Facebook, Twitter, social media,' he told CBS' Margaret Brennan. However, he said, 'this administration has stopped every election security legislation coming to the floor and they've been supported in that effort by the Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: A contributor on this site (I think) asked rhetorically (and now I can't find the comment) if anyone thinks that Russians hacked into voting systems in all 50 states & did not change any election results? When you consider (1) that prolific hacking alongside (2) Paul Manafort's sharing of polling data for battleground states with Russian agent Konstantin Kilimnik & (3) the tiny margins by which Trump won in the three states that gave him the Electoral College majority, it's foolish not to at least consider it likely that Donald Trump did not actually win the Electoral College vote. I don't think I'm an insane conspiracy theorist, and it certainly is possible the vote counts in those states were not compromised, but it seems just as possible that hackers switched a few thousand votes to Trump here & there to put him over the top. It's also possible, BTW, that some federal cybersecurity experts know Clinton won, & they're not revealing their findings in order to avoid complete chaos.
Ewww! Kate Briquelet of the Daily Beast: "In July 1980, [Jeffrey] Epstein was featured as [Cosmopolitan] magazine's 'Bachelor of the Month,' a tiny section advertising successful single men across the country. At the time, the future sex-offender was a Bear Stearns trader and asked potential dates to write him at the investment bank's former headquarters in Lower Manhattan.... The personals ad, which included a photo of Epstein in a suit, portrayed him as a 'New York dynamo' seeking 'a cute Texas girl.'"
Way Beyond the Beltway
Brazil. Letícia Casado & Ernesto Londoño of the New York Times: "The destruction of the Amazon rain forest in Brazil has increased rapidly since the nation's new far-right president took over and his government scaled back efforts to fight illegal logging, ranching and mining. Protecting the Amazon was at the heart of Brazil's environmental policy for much of the past two decades. At one point, Brazil's success in slowing the deforestation rate made it an international example of conservation and the effort to fight climate change. But with the election of President Jair Bolsonaro, a populist who has been fined personally for violating environmental regulations, Brazil has changed course substantially, retreating from the efforts it once made to slow global warming by preserving the world's largest rain forest." See the photo partway down the page of a neat rectangle in the forest stripped bare. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Why does the New York Times insist upon calling a man a populist when he vehemently opposes rights for gays, women & ethnic Africans? These groups together comprise more than half the world's population, so I don't see where Bolsonaro is in any way a "populist."
Russia. Patrick Reevell of ABC News: "A doctor for Russia's most prominent opposition leader, Alexey Navalny, has suggested the activist has been poisoned after he was hospitalized Sunday after falling mysteriously ill in a Moscow jail. Navalny was taken by ambulance to the hospital early on Sunday morning from the jail with what authorities said was a 'severe allergic reaction,' his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh wrote on Twitter.... Navalny's lawyer released a statement from his long-time doctor saying that his symptoms were the result of 'an undefined chemical substance.'"
U.K. A relatively painless way to learn all you need to know about Boorish Johnson. Thanks to Nisky Guy for the link:
News Lede
New York Times: "At least three people were killed and 15 more were injured in a shooting at a garlic festival in Gilroy, Calif., on Sunday, the authorities said. A suspect carrying an assault-style rifle was fatally shot by the Gilroy police, the city administrator, Gabriel Gonzalez, said in a statement. Late Sunday evening, the police were continuing to search for a possible accomplice in Gilroy, which is about 30 miles southeast of San Jose." This is an update of an NBC News story linked late last night.
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