The Commentariat -- May 21, 2019
Afternoon Update:
Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Donald F. McGahn II, the former White House counsel, defied a House subpoena on Tuesday under order of the White House, stoking outraged Democrats to contemplate anew punitive measures, including opening an impeachment inquiry, to try to enforce Congress's oversight powers. The House Judiciary Committee convened the hearing on President Trump's attempts to obstruct the Russia investigation anyway, though without the man Democrats had hoped could serve as a star eyewitness as they seek to build a case before the public. Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, the panel's chairman, opened the brief session with a stern warning both to Mr. McGahn and Mr. Trump. The House, he said, would move quickly to bring Mr. McGahn to court, citing him for contempt of Congress if he does not relent. 'This committee will hear Mr. McGahn's testimony, even if we have to go to court to secure it,' Mr. Nadler said, staring down at an empty chair for Mr. McGahn. He said the president's attempts to impede the Russia investigation, witnessed by Mr. McGahn and shared with the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, 'constitutes a crime.'"
Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: As House Democrats were conducting a closed-door meeting re: how to move forward in the face of Trump's stonewalling, "Trump was shouting to a rally crowd in Pennsylvania that the FBI and Democrats are guilty of 'treason,' vowing that Attorney General William P. Barr would investigate -- that is, investigate his political opponents for invented crimes.... One Democrat involved in the Monday debate was Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a constitutional law professor.... 'I think that overwhelming evidence has been presented to us in the Mueller report, and outside of it too, of high crimes and misdemeanors, and we should launch an impeachment inquiry. Remember, an inquiry doesn't prejudge the outcome. We're not talking about articles of impeachment,' [Raskin told Sargent]."
Maggie Haberman & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "President Trump is expected to name Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, a former attorney general of Virginia and an immigration hard-liner, as his choice to coordinate the administration's immigration policies, a White House official confirmed on Tuesday. The specifics of the role -- including the title and the scope of duties -- are still being hashed out, according to the official. But Mr. Cuccinelli is expected to be based in the Department of Homeland Security, not in the White House." Mrs. McC: Maybe Kenny didn't demand a personal jet & deference from Cabinet officers (see "Good Grief" story, linked below.
~~~~~~~~~~
The Trump Scandals, Ctd.
Slowly, Slowly, the Cover-up Tarp Slips from the Cesspool Presidency
Rachel Bade & Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Members of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's leadership team confronted her in a contentious Monday night meeting and argued that it was time to begin an impeachment inquiry into President Trump, according to multiple officials in the room. At least five members of Pelosi's leadership team -- four of whom also sit on the House Judiciary Committee, with jurisdiction over impeachment -- pressed Pelosi (D-Calif.) to allow the panel to start an inquiry, which they argued would help investigators attain documents and testimony that Trump has blocked. Pelosi, according to the officials, pushed back on the idea alongside House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), arguing that it would undercut other House investigations. Pelosi has long been an impeachment skeptic and tried to tamp down impeachment talk in her caucus as recently as last week by encouraging members to focus on their legislative agenda." ...
... New York Times Editors: "... what is remarkable about [Rep. Justin] Amash's [R-Mich.] stand is how much tougher it is than that of the House’s Democratic leaders to date. Wary of a move that has little public support, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and prominent committee leaders have avoided talk of impeachment and have focused on learning what Attorney General William Barr redacted from the report, as well as subpoenaing testimony and documents.... Democratic leaders also need to be stronger and clearer about what we know." Amash's tweet-splanations of his conclusions are here and here....
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: As Akhilleus & others have been hammering for weeks, the Democrats' response to the Mueller report have been weak and, to put it mildly, uncoordinated. Now they're bickering. They need to write up a compelling rationale for impeachment, find a good orator (surely in a House-full of hundreds of kids who grew up thinking they could become president, there are a few good orators), stick her in a well-publicized prime-time slot & bring the argument home. Then they need to follow up, follow up & follow up. Right now, House leaders are doing nothing but arguing about process, and the devastating findings of the Mueller report are a distant memory to all but the few of us who are plodding out way through the report. Of course the "process" in this case -- the stonewalling of Congress -- is in itself another Article of Impeachment, but Democrats seldom even mention that.
** Andrew Desiderio & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "A federal judge on Monday upheld a congressional subpoena seeking ... Donald Trump's financial records from an accounting firm, arguing that Congress is well within its rights to investigate potential illegal behavior by a president -- even without opening a formal impeachment inquiry. U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta's ruling delivers a striking blow to the president's efforts to resist Democratic investigations, and is certain to give Democrats further legal basis to investigate Trump, his finances, and his presidential campaign. In addition to upholding the House Oversight and Reform Committee's subpoena to accounting firm Mazars USA for eight years of Trump's financial records, Mehta took the extra step of denying the president's request for a stay pending appeal.... The ruling represents the first time the federal judiciary has weighed in on the ongoing oversight battle between Trump and House Democrats. Mehta's ruling is likely to provide a blueprint for other judges who are set to make their own rulings on Trump's vow to defy all congressional subpoenas. In a 41-page opinion issued Monday, Mehta systematically dismantled the Trump legal team's arguments against the validity of the subpoena -- and he pushed back on claims from congressional Republicans that the House Judiciary Committee must formally launch an impeachment inquiry before requesting such information." ...
... Trump Slams "Obama Judge's Crazy" Ruling. Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Trump on Monday said he would appeal a federal judge's decision upholding a subpoena for his financial records, blasting it as a 'crazy' ruling by 'an Obama-appointed judge.' 'We will appeal it,' Trump told reporters at the White House before leaving for a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. 'It's totally the wrong decision by, obviously, an Obama appointed judge.'"
Andrew Desiderio & Kyle Cheney: “Senior House Republicans are breaking with Donald Trump over the president's legal claims that Congress can't investigate whether a commander in chief violated the law. That view, advanced by Trump's personal attorney and the White House counsel late last week, would upend long-held understandings about Congress' ability to scrutinize presidential conduct -- especially alleged criminal activity.... Institutionalist-minded Republicans are increasingly uncomfortable with the far-reaching arguments Trump and his lawyers are using to make their case, amid fears the claims of near-immunity from congressional scrutiny would set dangerous precedents. But these lawmakers are not preparing to act in any way that constrains Trump.... '... I think we have oversight authority over the administration,' said Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), a member of the House Judiciary Committee. 'And if the president has acted illegally, then I think we have oversight authority.' Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a veteran lawmaker who first came to Capitol Hill in the early 1980s as a congressional staffer, said he didn't agree with Trump's legal theories. 'Obviously there is such a thing as congressional oversight,' Cole said." ...
... Jack Crosbie of Splinter: "It's telling, though, that the only thing that actually has the Republicans concerned is the precedent a president would set by blowing past congressional powers. They don't really give a shit what he's done, just how it affects their own political power."
Rachel Bade, et al., of the Washington Post: "The White House on Monday blocked former counsel Donald McGahn from testifying to Congress, the latest act of defiance in the ongoing war between House Democrats and President Trump. McGahn, who Democrats hoped would become a star witness in their investigation into whether Trump obstructed justice, was subpoenaed to testify Tuesday morning. 'The Department of Justice has provided a legal opinion stating that, based on long-standing, bipartisan, and constitutional precedent, the former counsel to the president cannot be forced to give such testimony, and Mr. McGahn has been directed to act accordingly,' said White House press secretary Sarah Sanders in a statement.... The 15-page legal opinion written by Assistant Attorney General Steven A. Engel argues McGahn cannot be compelled to testify before the committee, based on past Justice Department legal opinions regarding the president's close advisers. The memo says McGahn's immunity from congressional testimony is separate and broader than a claim of executive privilege." ...
... The New York Times story, by Nicholas Fandos & others, is here. "... Mr. McGahn has maintained throughout that he will follow the White House's guidance, according to a person close to him.... If he defies the White House, Mr. McGahn could not only damage his own career in Republican politics but also put his law firm, Jones Day, at risk of having the president urge his allies to withhold their business. The firm's Washington practice is closely affiliated with the party." ...
... Update. Jerry Nadler wrote to Don McGahn, explaining to McGahn why he had better show up. It's a good letter. Here's a pdf. My favorite part is Nadler's second point where he notes that the DOJ's own policy is that "executive privilege ... should not be invoked to conceal evidence of wrongdoing or criminalit on the part of executive officers.'" Tellingngly, the Department's opinion ... purporting to excuse you from testifying ... ignores that policy entirely."
** Tom Hamburger, et al., of the Washington Post: "Michael Cohen ... told a House panel during closed-door hearings earlier this year that he had been instructed by Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow to falsely claim in a 2017 statement to Congress that negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow ended in January 2016, according to people familiar with his testimony. In fact, Cohen later admitted, discussions on the Moscow tower continued into June of the presidential election year, after it was clear Trump would be the GOP nominee.... House Democrats are now scrutinizing whether Sekulow or other Trump attorneys played a role in shaping Cohen's 2017 testimony to Congress. Cohen has said he made the false statement to help hide the fact that Trump had potentially hundreds of millions of dollars at stake in a possible Russian project while he was running for president.... Cohen's claims about Sekulow are laid out in transcripts of his February and March appearances before the House intelligence panel that could be released as soon as Monday.... 'The [attorney-client] privilege doesn't apply if it's being used to conceal a crime or a fraud,' [House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff] said. 'And if the attorneys were conferring amongst themselves and Mr. Cohen about a false statement they were going to make to our committee, there's no privilege that protects that kind of conduct.'" ...
... Update. Morgan Chalfont & Olivia Beavers of the Hill: "The House Intelligence Committee has released transcripts of its private interviews with Michael Cohen.... The panel voted 12-7 at a closed-door meeting Monday evening to release the transcripts, according to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.)." ...
... Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "[In testimony,] Mr. Cohen said that [Trump attorney Jay] Sekulow told him that the president's team was considering possible pardons for him and other witnesses because they could help to 'shut down the inquiries and to shut the investigation down.'" A transcript of Cohen's February 28 testimony is here, and of his March 6 testimony is here.
Trump Never Stops Abusing the Power of His Office*. Maggie Haberman & Annie Karni of the New York Times: "President Trump on Sunday night called for an investigation into financial ties between China and the family of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., the current front-runner in a crowded Democratic 2020 field, and the candidate Mr. Trump's advisers believe could pose the biggest potential threat to his re-election.... It was not the first time that Mr. Trump has threatened investigations of his political enemies, raising questions from his critics about whether he is abusing his position as president. Some of those threats have been made in private and were revealed by the special counsel's report. Others, Mr. Trump has made in public...." ...
... Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump's escalating demands for investigations into his political opponents have intensified debate over whether his often-transparent calls for action by the Justice Department amount to abusing his power to bolster his re-election prospects.... [Trump's calls to investigate the Biden family were] the latest in a long series of statements by Mr. Trump suggesting he would like to see criminal investigations of opponents including Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and the Democratic National Committee, and [they] came as the president seems particularly preoccupied by Mr. Biden's candidacy. 'It's a terrible breach of norms for the president to publicly advocate prosecutions of his opponents,' said Jack Goldsmith..., who was an assistant attorney general during President George W. Bush's first term.... 'Trump and Barr are a dangerous combination,' said Mark Rozell, a law professor at George Mason University.... 'The president doesn't fundamentally understand the powerfully important role he plays in establishing the nature and operations of our constitutional system,' Mr. Rozell said. 'Future administrations will use what he has done to justify all kinds of behaviors and actions that were once unthinkable.'" ...
... David Smith of the Guardian: "[F]ollowing the sporting maxim that attack is the best form of defence, Trump had adopted the language of a tinpot dictator, denouncing the Russia investigation as a failed 'coup', branding his pursuers as traitors and threatening to lock them up.... But one side-effect could be a slide into an imperial presidency.... [I]t is [Bill] Barr who has emerged as the president's most indispensable ally, his improbable Darth Vader." --s
Kara Scannell of CNN: "Federal prosecutors in New York are scrutinizing tens of thousands of documents relating to Donald Trump's inauguration in a sign that the investigation into the committee's finances is advancing. The President's Inaugural Committee handed over the cache of documents over the course of several weeks in response to a wide-ranging subpoena seeking documents, records, and communications concerning the inaugural's finances, vendors, and donors sent in February by the US attorney's office with the Southern District of New York."
Hey, let's end today's discussion of the Trump Scandals on a bizarre (ergo, totally Trumpy) note:
... Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: "On Thursday, lawyers for Roger Stone, whose travel is restricted ahead of his November trial on obstruction of justice and perjury charges, requested a judge's permission to visit Tennessee and Illinois 'for business opportunities.' One of those opportunities is at the Pony, an adult entertainment club in Memphis, where Stone is scheduled to appear June 5-7. A longtime political adviser to President Donald Trump, Stone 'is coming out to judge the national exotic dancer competition that we're hosting,' the club's owner, Jerry Westlund, tells Mother Jones.... In a Facebook post, the club said Stone will judge dancers alongside Kristin Davis, who is known as the 'Manhattan Madam' for her role running a high-end prostitution ring in New York City in the early 2000s. Stone has previously employed Davis, and they are close friends."
Aaron Rupar of Vox: "During an interview on Steve Hilton’s Fox News show on Sunday, President Donald Trump bragged about how rapidly his administration is getting stuff done. But he revealed a profound misunderstanding of how federal lawmaking is supposed to work in the process. 'We're changing laws as rapidly as we can get them through the courts,' Trump said. Congress, of course, is supposed to be in the business of 'changing laws.' Courts, on the other hand, interpret them.... Trump doesn't have a legislative agenda to speak of. He's not allowing Congress to exercise its lawful oversight functions. So while he may have already made more than 10,000 false or misleading claims since taking office, his remark to Hilton about how he's relying on the courts to make policies wasn't one of them." --s ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump really has no idea whatsoever about how the government runs. It's stunning.
Asawin Suebsaeng, et al., of the Daily Beast: "The president isn’t just watching the [Fox 'News'], he's taking policy advice from its morning hosts.... Over the weekend, news broke that Trump is preparing to pardon several U.S. servicemen involved in high-profile cases of gunning down civilians or killing detainees, with the White House having already ordered that the necessary paperwork be drawn up ahead of the coming Memorial Day. The news came roughly two months after Trump publicly intervened in what the president called 'restrictive' confinement conditions of one of the alleged war criminals. At the heart of both these moves has been a months-long lobbying campaign by Pete Hegseth, a Fox & Friends co-host and a buddy and informal adviser of the president's.... According to three people with knowledge of the situation, Hegseth had multiple private conversations on the topic with President Trump over the past four-and-a-half months...."
Peter Baker of the New York Times: Donald Trump "is the profanity presidency, full of four-letter denunciations of his enemies and earthy dismissals of allegations lodged against him. At rallies and in interviews, on Twitter and in formal speeches, he relishes the bad-boy language of a shock jock, just one more way of gleefully provoking the political establishment bothered by his norm-shattering ways. In a single speech on Friday alone, he managed to throw out a 'hell,' an 'ass' and a couple of 'bullshits' for good measure. In the course of just one rally in Panama City Beach, Fla., earlier this month, he tossed out 10 'hells,' three 'damns' and a 'crap.' The audiences ... cheered and whooped and applauded.... An unscientific survey seems to suggest that if anything, Mr. Trump is growing more comfortable with crudeness." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Actually, the examples Baker cites are all obscenities or vulgarities. "Profanity" refers to obscenities that show disrespect to god. Unless Trump used these vulgarities in a house of worship, Trump is the obscenity president* or the vulgarity president*.
Czar Kris. Maggie Haberman & Annie Karni: "Access to a government jet 24 hours a day. An office in the West Wing, plus guaranteed weekends off for family time. And an assurance of being made secretary of homeland security by November. Those were among a list of 10 conditions that Kris Kobach, the former Kansas secretary of state, has given to the White House if he is to become the administration's 'immigration czar,' a job President Trump has been looking to create to coordinate immigration policy across government agencies. The list was described by three people.... Mr. Kobach, who once served as an adviser to the hard-line immigration Sheriff Joe Arpaio and helped write an Arizona law requiring local officials to verify the citizenship of anyone they had 'reasonable suspicion' to believe was an unauthorized immigrant, said he would need to be the main television spokesman for the Trump administration on immigration policy. And he said he wanted a guarantee that cabinet secretaries whose portfolios relate to immigration would defer to him, with the president mediating disputes if need be. The list was submitted by Mr. Kobach in recent weeks as he discussed his interest in the job. Other conditions included having a staff of seven reporting to him, 'walk in' privileges to the Oval Office, a security detail if deemed necessary and the title of assistant to the president." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Unbelievable. It's hard to imagine anyone's being that arrogant, even a racist, egotistical prick like Kobach. The guy is out of a job, his disgusting voter suppression commission blew up, he lost the governor's race to a Democrat in a red state, the highest office he's ever held is secretary of state in a small state (pop. less than 3 million), & now he's demanding that Cabinet secretaries defer to him? Update: safari has a theory! See top of the Comments below. ...
... Elliot Hannon of Slate: "... Donald Trump is in the market for an immigration czar to help implement his dystopian policies at the border, and former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is in the market for, well, a job of some sort. What's not to like here! To be fair, Kobach has immigration and voter suppression instincts similar to Trump's, not to mention a kindred penchant for self-aggrandizing. All of that has added up to Kobach's name being bandied about as a potential figurehead to lead Trump's anti-immigration charge.... Kobach reportedly discussed with Trump the possibility of creating a czar role, a job that Kobach could, crucially, assume without Senate confirmation.... [since] the Senate seems to be adhering to a general trend started by voters that the more one gets to know Kobach, the less one likes him."
Spencer Woodman, et al., of the Intercept: "An investigation by The Intercept and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has found that ICE uses isolation [i.e., solitary confinement] as a go-to tool, rather than a last resort, to manage and punish even the most vulnerable detainees for weeks and months at a time. The Intercept's and ICIJ's reporting ... found that the immigration agency has used isolation cells to punish immigrants for offenses as minor as consensual kissing, and to segregate hunger strikers, LGBTQ detainees, and people with disabilities. In nearly a third of the cases, detainees were described as having a mental illness, which made them especially vulnerable to breakdown if locked up alone in a small cell.... The review found that immigrants held in the agency's isolation cells had suffered hallucinations, fits of anger, and suicidal impulses. Former detainees told ICIJ that they experienced sleeplessness, flashbacks, depression, and memory loss long after release. 'People were being brutalized,' said Ellen Gallagher, who currently holds a supervisory role in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.... Gallagher, a whistleblower who is going public for the first time, told The Intercept and ICIJ that ICE, a DHS agency, has violated policies that often require a search for less restrictive measures...."
Nomaan Merchant of the AP: "A 16-year-old Guatemala migrant who died Monday in U.S. custody had been held by immigration authorities for six days -- twice as long as federal law generally permits. The teenager, identified by U.S. Customs and Border Protection as Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez, was the fifth minor from Guatemala to die after being apprehended by U.S. border agents since December.... CBP said Carlos reported early Sunday morning that he was not feeling well and diagnosed with the flu by a nurse practitioner.... He was not hospitalized, according to the agency official who briefed reporters.... Asked about the death, Trump blamed Democrats, saying they are refusing to approve changes that could improve the system."
Curt Prendergast of the Arizona Daily Star: "A Nogales [Arizona] Border Patrol agent called the people he apprehends 'disgusting subhuman s--- unworthy of being kindling for a fire' and asked the president to 'PLEASE let us take the gloves off trump!,' federal prosecutors said in court documents. The statements were made in a text message sent by Agent Matthew Bowen, 39, who is accused of knocking down a Guatemalan man with his Border Patrol vehicle on Dec. 3, 2017, and then lying in a report about the incident, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Tucson. Prosecutors ... are asking a judge to allow some of Bowen's text messages to be used as evidence of his 'great disdain' for the people he apprehends, which could shed light on his state of mind when he hit the man with his truck.... Among the examples the prosecutors cite is an exchange on Dec. 18, 2017, in which an unidentified person asked Bowen: 'Did you gas hiscorpse (sic) or just use regular peanut oil while tazing?? For a frying effect.' Bowen responded, 'Guats are best made crispy with an olive oil from their native pais," using a derogatory term for Guatemalan citizens and the Spanish word for country, pais."
Betsy Woodruff & Sam Brodey of The Daily Beast: "The Department of Homeland Security's cybersecurity agency ... is urging staffers tasked with handling cyber threats to set their day jobs aside and go on mini-deployments to the U.S.-Mexico border after an earlier request from headquarters failed to recruit enough officials.... Earlier this spring, top officials asked employees from all DHS entities to go volunteer at the border, according to a DHS official.... Among the officials who were asked on Friday to assist the federal government at the border are those tasked with protecting the U.S. government's cyber infrastructure -- including election systems considered vulnerable...." --s
Eric Levitz of New York: "Donald Trump wants to let old coal plants remain in operation longer than existing federal rules would allow. To rationalize such a policy, the White House encouraged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to produce research showing that the economic benefits of keeping the sky sooty would outweigh the cost to public health.... EPA scientists found that keeping these uniquely dirty energy providers on the grid will cause 1,400 more Americans to perish from premature deaths every year.... So the administration decided to bite the bullet, admit its error -- and order EPA scientists to engineer a lower body count." --s
Juan Cole: "Iran's clerical Leader, Ali Khamenei threw cold water on the idea of a military conflict between Iran and the US. Khamenei thus proved himself more mature than US warmongers such as National Security adviser John Bolton.... Khamenei's lead has been followed by the new head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, who also underlined that Iran does not want military conflict with the United States. Then the US side defused some tensions by reporting that Iran had brought its little boats back to shore that the US maintained had missiles (i.e. rockets) on them. Iran does not have a navy to speak of and those little boats can't carry a missile system." --s
Congressional Race 2020. Todd Spangler of the Detroit Free Press: "A Republican state representative plans to challenge U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, R-Cascade Township, after Amash said this weekend he believes ... Donald Trump committed impeachable offenses. State Rep. Jim Lower, R-Greenville, announced that he would run for the 3rd Congressional District seat Amash has held since 2011 and would forgo a race for a third term in the state House. Lower said he had been planning to run for some time and had expected to make an announcement closer to July 4. But he said he decided to move up that schedule after Amash said on Twitter on Saturday that after reading Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report he believes the president committed impeachable offenses. Amash became the first Republican to voice support for impeachment. Trump attacked Amash on Sunday on Twitter, calling him a 'loser' and saying Amash only made the remarks to get attention." ...
... Presidential Race 2020
... Jonathan Chait: Justin "Amash's fellow Republicans immediately set about proving how brave it was by excommunicating him from the party. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy appeared on Fox News to unleash a wild flurry of lies.... The grain of truth in the accusations against Amash is that Amash is contemplating a presidential candidacy with the Libertarian Party.... A real right-wing third-party challenge, by a Republican (who hails from a swing state) would be a nightmare for Trump's reelection. And the more Republicans attack Amash, the more they close the door on any chance he can return to Congress, where he mostly votes with them, and push him instead to run against Trump. The short-term goal of discrediting Trump's critics may bring with it a much larger long-term cost." ...
... Steve M. disagrees with Chait: "It would be nice to believe this, but the overwhelming majority of Republican voters would not consider Amash a 'real' right-winger, especially not after Trump and the GOP noise machine began publicizing [a series of supposed] apostasies[.]... Oh, and did I mention that he's of Palestinian and Syrian descent? Amash will win the votes of a few #NeverTrumpers in the commentariat. He'll also win the usual libertarian voters, and maybe a few disaffected lefties. (He wants to end federal marijuana prohibition.) But he won't be seen as a genuine conservative alternative. It would be nice to think so, but that won't happen." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: But I think Chait could be right. Tara Golshen of Vox (Nov. 2016): "The final totals revealed that, in fact, [Jill] Stein's total voters exceeded Clinton's margin of victory. In other words, if every Stein voter had voted for Clinton instead, she [Clinton] could have won Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and the presidency." However, as Golshen points out, there's no reason to think all (or even enough) of Stein's voters would have come to the polls & voted for Clinton. BUT if Michigan, for instance, is close in 2020, a few tens of thousands of votes for Amash could rob Trump of a majority.
The Perceived "Most Electable" Is Not Necessarily the Most Electable. Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "... I suspect that Biden is surging in the polls in part because, rather than pretend that the election is about so-called kitchen table issues, he's taking on Trump's desecration of the presidency directly. What worries me about Biden -- above and beyond policy disagreements -- is that, in contemporary politics, the quest to find an electable candidate hasn't resulted in candidates that actually win. Voters don't do themselves any favors when they try to think like pundits.... Ultimately, the paradox of primaries is that it's most strategic to ignore the experts and follow your emotions."
See also the NYT story by Haberman & Karni, linked above, re: Trump's call for an investigation of Joe Biden & his family.
Fox "News" Hosts Slime Buttigieg. Matt Gertz of Media Matters on why Democrats should not appear on Fox "News": "South Bend, IN, Mayor Pete Buttigieg's performance at a Fox News town hall garnered rave reviews Sunday night from journalists and pundits, with some arguing that his successful turn proved that Democratic presidential candidates should be making on-air appeals to the network's viewers.... Within hours ... the network began smearing Buttigieg in an effort that will likely minimize any gains he might have made with its viewers.... No matter how persuasive the candidates might be, they can't reverse years of propaganda in a single evening.... The network has spent decades priming its audience to hate Democrats. To the extent that regular Fox viewers were tuning in to Buttigieg's town hall, he had an opportunity to speak to them. But now that he's no longer on their airwaves, Fox's hosts, who have a much more extensive and durable relationship with their audience, get to rebut everything he said for hours on end.... As Fox faced [financial] disaster, Democratic presidential candidates bailed it out. And now the network will pay them back by doing whatever it can to undermine their message and ensure their defeat." ...
... Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times writes along the same vein, but is less direct than Gertz about the downside of Democrats' appearing on Fox "News." There is an upside, too, Grynbaum reports: "Mark McKinnon, a veteran political strategist, said he could understand why Mr. Trump might be alarmed at seeing potential rivals show up on his favorite network. 'Anyone who goes to a Fox town hall is going to come off better, more reasonable, more human, and not nearly as evil, ideological or stupid as they are currently being painted by the network,' Mr. McKinnon said. 'The bar is low. Viewers will be pleasantly surprised when Democrats show up to town halls and they're not wearing Mao caps.'"
Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Maxwell Tani of The Daily Beast: "In a new report shared exclusively with The Daily Beast, liberal media-monitoring group Media Matters found that on-air personalities at the right-leaning news network [Fox News] have made a total of at least $500,000 in speaking fees for appearances at Republican groups and conservative organizations while working at Fox News." --s
"Charity Is Not a Route to a Just Society." Zak Cheney-Rice of New York: "Several commenters, including Senator Bernie Sanders and writer Anand Giridharadas, have praised [the] generosity [of private equity billionaire Robert F. Smith, who pledged to eliminate the college debt of members of Morehouse College's class of 2019,] while maintaining that its necessity stems from policy failures.... As Giridharadas points out, Smith's philanthropy comes with a caveat: That despite his investment in this tiny subset of the borrower population, his opposition to closing tax loopholes for phenomenally-wealthy people like himself indicates a lack of interest in systemic change that could generate enough money to make college free for everybody -- a great way, in Smith's words, to 'make sure that every class has the same opportunity going forward.'... Smith's financial launchpad will ensure that 396 Morehouse men enter the job market with a stability that should be their right. But it should be others' as well -- even the less accomplished.... Charity is not a route to a just society."
Eoin Higgins of Common Dreams: "Journalist Judd Legum, the founder and former editor-in-chief of ThinkProgress, revealed Monday at his new subscription service outlet Popular Info that corporate donations to state legislators instrumental in pushing abortion bans in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri are in contrast to the public image of those companies. Legum took aim at six specific companies: AT&T, Walmart, pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Eli Lilly, Coca-Cola, and insurance corporation Aetna. Each corporation proudly promotes inclusion, equality, and concern for the health of women in company statements. 'In their corporate literature, these companies present themselves as champions of women and gender equality,' wrote Legum. 'But they have collectively donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to politicians seeking to roll back reproductive rights.'"
Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "The animating impulse of Trump's campaign -- the beating heart of 'Make America Great Again' -- was a defense of traditional hierarchies. Trump promised, explicitly, to weaken America's commitment to principles of fairness and equality to strengthen privileges of race, gender and wealth.... With his nomination of conservative judges -- and Mitch McConnell's successful drive to confirm them in the Senate -- Trump has given white evangelicals and their Republican representatives the opportunity to pass the laws and measures that reflect their ultra-traditionalist ideals. So even if Trump distances himself from any particular law, that's how one should understand the new wave of abortion restrictions -- as direct attacks on the social and economic autonomy of people who can become pregnant designed to strengthen strict hierarchies of gender.... MAGA is the Muslim ban; MAGA is child separation; MAGA is a woman in handcuffs for thinking she had the right to her own body." See also Yvonne Sanchez's Arizona Republic story, linked below.
Beyond the Beltway
Alabama. Abbey Crain of al.com: "Alabama Public Television chose not to air PBS's Arthur episode that included a same-sex marriage.... APT has no plans to air the episode at a later date.... APT previously pulled an episode of Arthur in 2005, when Buster, a bunny character in Arthur visited a girl who had two mothers.... The episode is available online at pbs.org." Mrs. McC: The federal government funds PBS (funding which Trump, BTW, proposed cutting to zero). Besides its regular federal funding, last November APT received a special $175,000 grant "to provide science and literacy resources for the youngest learners to underserved areas." So good job on that, APT, you ignorant bigots!
Arizona. Yvonne Sanchez of the Arizona Republic: Right-wing extremists are re-inserting themselves into Arizona Republican politics, and the "mainstream" GOP is welcoming them. "With nativism rising in the U.S., Arizona's far-right, enamored with conspiracies and comfortable among bigots and nationalists, is mobilizing after years of feeling alienated by the state GOP. They are motivated by a president and state party leader who are voicing action for a pro-Trump 'America First' agenda they support and the state's rapidly changing demography towards a younger, more diverse population, experts say. 'It's not necessarily just how widespread support may be for a particular leader or policy, but how deep it is within certain pockets,' said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University-San Bernardino. 'What extremists are reveling in is not only the fact that some of their policies are becoming mainstream, but sometimes the bigotry which bleeds into these discussions is not fully repudiated. And they take that as a wink and a nod.'... Donald Trump's affirmation of white nationalists after a 2017 neo-Nazi 'Unite the Right' rally turned deadly in Charlottesville, Virginia..., was taken by many as tacit approval of the fringe right and its tactics."
Way Beyond
Australia. Joe Romm of ThinkProgress: "The unexpected victory of conservatives in Australia's election Saturday is bad news for the future of global climate action, warn climate experts. Polls had suggested that the Labor Party, which supports strong climate action, held a narrow lead in recent days. But in the end, Prime Minister Scott Morrison won re-election.... 'We have lost Australia for now,' warned Penn State climatologist Michael Mann in an email. 'A coalition of a small number of bad actors now threaten the survivability of our species,' he said." --s
Austria. Philip Oltermann of the Guardian: "Austria's far-right interior minister, Herbert Kickl, has been fired in the wake of the 'Ibiza' corruption scandal that has engulfed the Freedom party (FPÖ), leading to the complete collapse of the country's governing coalition.... Kickl's sacking follows the resignation of FPÖ leader, Heinz-Christian Strache, as vice-chancellor following the emergence of a video that showed him offering lucrative public contracts [to Putin-linked cronies] in exchange for campaign support." --s
Uganda. Ed Pilkington & Alon Mwesigwa of the Guardian: "An American pastor from New Jersey [Robert Baldwin] backed by a British former clairvoyant [Sam Little from Arlesey in Bedfordshire] is running a network that gives up to 50,000 Ugandans a 'miracle cure' made from industrial bleach, claiming drinking the toxic fluid eradicates cancer, HIV/Aids, malaria and most other diseases.... [C]hlorine dioxide ... has no known health benefit and can be extremely dangerous.... The American pastor has 'trained' about 1,200 clerics in Uganda on administering the 'miracle cure'.... As an inducement, Baldwin is offering smartphones to those clerics who are especially 'committed' to spreading the bleach cure." --s
Aaron Clark & Anuchit Nguyen of Bloomberg: "While Southeast Asia remains one of the last places where coal power can attract international financing, one maverick tycoon [Sarath Ratanavadi thinks the region will no longer tolerate burning the dirtiest fuel.... At least 100 major lenders in the past five years have put restrictions on financing coal mines and power plants that burn the fuel, Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis said in February.... [A]mid dire warnings that the world must abandon coal power entirely by 2050 to avoid catastrophic damage from climate change..., [t]hose predictions are beginning to convince developers and investors to avoid coal as pressures are expected to mount against the fuel." --s
Share Article