The Commentariat -- August 28, 2018

Ella Nilsen & Dylan Scott of Vox: "Tuesday brings some of the most anticipated primary elections of 2018 when Arizona and Florida go to the polls. Voters will also finally decide who the Republican nominee for governor will be in the Oklahoma runoff."

*****

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Joshua Hoyos of ABC News: "Puerto Rico had a significant increase in deaths following Hurricane Maria in 2017, according to a new study. Researchers determined that an additional 2,975 people died from September 2017 through the end of February 2018 due to the hurricane. The independent study, from George Washington University's Milken School of Public Health, was commissioned by the Puerto Rican government.... Donald Trump visited the island in the days following the storm. 'If you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina, and you look at the tremendous hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died ... 16 people versus in the thousands. You can be very proud of all of your people,' he said. Hurricane Katrina claimed over 1,800 lives, according to the National Hurricane Center.... The GWU report also offered a blistering criticism of [Gov. Ricardo] Rossello and his government, saying there was 'inadequate preparedness and personnel training for crisis and emergency risk communication.'"

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "BREAKING: A federal judge in D.C. postponed Paul Manafort's trial on conspiracy and money laundering charges related to his lobbying work until Sept. 24. It had been set to begin Sept. 17." ...

... Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The judge overseeing former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's upcoming trial plans to exclude the press and public from jury selection. At a hearing Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson said she plans to conduct individual questioning of potential jurors in the jury room with lawyers from special counsel Robert Mueller's office, the defense team and the defendant present."

Bernard Condon of the AP: "The Kushner family real estate company was fined $210,000 by New York City regulators on Monday following an Associated Press investigation earlier this year that showed it routinely filed false documents with the city claiming it had no rent-regulated tenants in its buildings when, in fact, it had hundreds.... The city's buildings department fined the Kushner Cos. for filing 42 false applications for construction work on more than a dozen buildings when ... Jared Kushner ran the business. The AP report showed that the false paperwork allowed the Kushners to escape extra scrutiny designed to stop landlords from using construction to make living conditions for low-paying, rent-regulated tenants unbearable and get them to leave.... Separately, a watchdog group said Monday that former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen has engaged in the same practice, perhaps in a more brazen way, by telling the city that buildings he owned were empty, though tax records showed they were filled with tenants, many rent-regulated." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm shocked to learn that Jared is a lying, cheating scum who purposely made life unpleasant for his low-rent tenants. I wonder where he got that idea.

Dumb & Dumber Make up Stuff about Google. Adam Satariano of the New York Times: "President Trump attacked Google on Tuesday for what he claimed was an effort to intentionally suppress conservative views supportive of his administration, an accusation that increases pressure on technology companies grappling with their increasingly central role as purveyors of information. Mr. Trump's remarks -- an about-face from last month, when he said Google was 'one of our great companies' -- come ahead of congressional hearings next week in which executives from many of the country's largest internet companies will be questioned.... 'Google search results for "Trump News" shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media,' Mr. Trump said on Twitter at 5:24 a.m. 'In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD.'... Mr. Trump's criticism appeared to be inspired by a segment last night from Fox Business Network host Lou Dobbs." ...

... Isaac Stanley-Becker, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration is 'taking a look' at whether Google and its search engine should be regulated by the government, Larry Kudlow, President Trump's economic adviser, said Tuesday outside the White House. 'We'll let you know,' Kudlow said. 'We're taking a look at it.' The announcement puts the search giant squarely in the White House's crosshairs amid wider allegations against the tech industry that it systematically discriminates against conservatives on social media and other platforms." ...

... Greg Sargent: "Political Twitter is having fun this morning with President Trump's latest conspiracy theory: Google is rigging its results, so when you search 'Trump news,' only 'Fake' news criticism of Trump pops up, while conservative media are getting suppressed! Trump's claim is, of course, absurd: As Daniel Dale explains, this is based on a bogus right wing media claim, and all it really means is that when you google about Trump, you are likely to initially see stories from major news organizations that are legitimately reporting aggressively on Trump, rather than from conservative opinion sites that are putting out propaganda on his behalf. But while this might seem like typical Trumpian buffoonery, at its core is some deadly serious business. These attacks on the media -- which are now spreading to extensive conspiracy-mongering about social media's role in spreading information -- form one part of an interlocking, two-piece Trumpian strategy (whether by instinct or design is unclear) that serves to underscore the urgency of this fall's elections." Read on.

Kyle Cheney: "Bruce Ohr, the Justice Department official whose longtime relationship with former British spy Christopher Steele has drawn intense scrutiny from Capitol Hill Republicans, is facing questions Tuesday about the timing of his contacts with Fusion GPS, the firm that worked with Steele to create and disseminate his so-called dossier about... Donald Trump's relationship with Russia. Ohr, who appeared for a closed-door interview in a Capitol office building, has become the Trump allies' latest focus in their efforts to raise questions about the investigators who ran the probe into the Trump campaign's contacts with Russia. As a senior Justice Department staffer, Ohr passed along Steele's information to the FBI, even after the bureau terminated its formal relationship with Steele over media leaks." ...

... Rudy Admits to Using Cheap Trick. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "In a new profile, the New York Times gets at a question we've all been asking for months: What on earth is Rudy Giuliani doing?... Here's the most telling part of the profile...: 'Mr. Giuliani ... quickly noted with evident satisfaction that '[Robert] Mueller is now slightly more distrusted than trusted, and Trump is a little ahead of the game. So I think we've done really well,' said the president's lawyer. 'And my client's happy.'... He's admitting that job No. 1 is to undermine the man in charge of [the investigation]. It's the end that justifies all the unholy means. It's the thing that makes him a good lawyer for his client." The New York Times story is here.

Paul Krugman: "Soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a friend of mine -- an expert on international relations -- made a joke: 'Now that Eastern Europe is free from the alien ideology of Communism, it can return to its true historical path -- fascism.'... As of 2018 it hardly seems like a joke at all.... [In] Poland and Hungary, both still members of the European Union, in which democracy as we normally understand it is already dead. In both countries the ruling parties -- Law and Justice in Poland, Fidesz in Hungary -- have established regimes that maintain the forms of popular elections, but have destroyed the independence of the judiciary, suppressed freedom of the press, institutionalized large-scale corruption and effectively delegitimized dissent. The result seems likely to be one-party rule for the foreseeable future. And it could all too easily happen here.... The Republican Party is ready, even eager, to become an American version of Law and Justice or Fidesz, exploiting its current political power to lock in permanent rule."

AND look at the Trump Effect here:

... Kyle Cheney & Rachel Bade of Politico: "When ... Donald Trump attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions last year, Alabama Republicans jumped to his defense, beating back the presidential incursion and sending Trump a clear signal: back off our guy. Now, as Trump reprises his public assault on the man he blames for his mounting legal woes, Sessions is getting the silent treatment from his hometown allies.... As Trump escalated his attacks on Sessions in recent days -- and signaled his desire for a new attorney general -- Alabama's leading Republican lawmakers have gone dark." ...

... Lorraine Woellert of Politico: "Jerry Falwell Jr., a top conservative religious leader, said Monday he urged ... Donald Trump to fire Jeff Sessions over his handling of investigations into Russian election meddling, saying the attorney general has lost evangelicals' support. 'He really is not on the president's team, never was,' Falwell, the president of Liberty University, said of Sessions. 'He's wanted to be attorney general for many, many years. I have a feeling he took a gamble and supported the president because he knew he would reward loyalty.'"

Trump just tried to use speakerphone on live TV.

It did not go well. pic.twitter.com/ZJRgxOxWUD

— jordan (@JordanUhl) August 27, 2018

I’m dying laughing at this log of Trump trying to use the speaker phone with Nieto. Laughing so hard. pic.twitter.com/q2KDm1sXp4

— Lauren Peikoff (@laurenpeikoff) August 27, 2018

*****

Ana Swanson, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump on Monday said the United States and Mexico had reached agreement to revise key portions of the North American Free Trade Agreement and would finalize it within days, suggesting he was ready to jettison Canada from the trilateral trade pact if the country did not get on board quickly. Speaking from the Oval Office on Monday, Mr. Trump touted the preliminary agreement with Mexico as a new trade pact that could replace Nafta and threatened to hit Canada with auto tariffs if it did not 'negotiate fairly.' 'They used to call it Nafta,' Mr. Trump said. 'We're going to call it the United States Mexico Trade Agreement,' adding that the term Nafta -- which he has called the 'worst' trade deal in history -- had 'a bad connotation' for the United States. Yet while Mr. Trump may want to change the name, the agreement reached with Mexico is simply a revised Nafta, with updates to provisions surrounding the digital economy, automobiles and labor unions. The core of the trade pact -- which allows American companies to operate in Mexico and Canada without tariffs -- remains intact." (This is a substantial revision of a story linked yesterday afternoon.)" ...

... Katie Rogers & Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "The president seemed so willing to deliver a policy win to the public that the television cameras went live before the telephone equipment had Enrique Peña Nieto, the Mexican president, on the line. 'Enrique?' Mr. Trump asked, growing flustered on live television as his aides tried to figure out the phone. 'Do you want to put that on this phone, please? Hello? Be helpful.'" ...

... Sometimes the Reality Show Does Not Go Well. David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "Parts of the conversation [between Trump & Peña Nieto] were so stilted that it took on the air of a hastily arranged photo op.... The awkward, real-time sequence in the Oval Office offered another example of Trump's willingness to discard protocol and conduct his presidency like a reality show playing out in real time, conscripting those around him in service of the spectacle. From hour-long Cabinet meetings broadcast live on cable television to White House events and campaign rallies in which he impulsively invites guests on stage to speak, Trump has employed his showman's mind-set to cast those around him in bit parts in a never-ending series about himself."

When is a deal not a deal? When Trump tweets this: A big deal looking good with Mexico!

When is a deal not a big deal? when Trump says this: This is one of the largest trade deals ever made. Maybe the largest trade deal ever made. -- Trump, during a phone call to President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico on Monday ...

... Linda Qiu of the New York Times: "False.... It is premature to consider the bilateral agreement a done deal. Canada, the third country that was a party to Nafta in 1993, has not yet agreed to the changes.... Congress would also need to approve the changes before the trade deal could go into effect. Even if [the deal with Mexico is approved], it would by definition be smaller than Nafta, a three-country deal.... Several other trade agreements eclipse the size of a potential bilateral deal between the United States and Mexico."

Adam Edelman of NBC News: "Sen. John McCain, who passed away Saturday from brain cancer, penned a farewell message before he died that appears to take thinly veiled shots at ... Donald Trump for fanning the flames of 'tribal rivalries' and hiding 'behind walls.' The moving message, a personal tribute to America and its people, was read to the public Monday by Rick Davis, a close friend of McCain's and the national campaign manager of the Arizona Republican's 2008 and 2000 presidential campaigns. Speaking of country's best qualities, McCain wrote that 'we weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all corners of the globe.'" ...

     ... The full text is here. ...

... John Wagner & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Monday ordered the American flag to be flown at half-staff this week in honor of Sen. John McCain after intense criticism of his response to the Arizona Republican's death. The announcement came after the flag atop the White House was raised to full-staff earlier in the day, less than 48 hours after McCain's family announced that the six-term senator had died Saturday.... 'Despite our differences on policy and politics, I respect Senator John McCain's service to our country and, in his honor, have signed a proclamation to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff until the day of his interment,' Trump said in a statement.... Earlier in the day, Trump ignored almost a dozen shouted questions from reporters asking for his views about McCain, who was a persistent critic of the president.... U.S. code calls for flags to be lowered in the event of the death of a member of Congress 'on the day of death and the following day.' But presidents have the power to issue proclamations extending that period, and have done so routinely." Chuck Schumer & Mitch McConnell "had asked the Department of Defense to 'provide necessary support so that U.S. flags on all government buildings remain at half mast through sunset on the day of Senator McCain's interment.'... The American Legion ... also called on Trump to treat McCain with more reverence." ...

... From the Rogers & Sullivan NYT story linked above: "Mr. Trump spent much of Monday declining several requests by journalists to comment publicly on the death Saturday of Mr. McCain after a yearlong battle with brain cancer, adding to the ire from veterans groups and critics that grew around his conspicuous silence and apparent delay in ordering the White House flag lowered to half-mast.... The president sat with his arms crossed and looked straight ahead as reporters asked him several times to expand on the single tweet he sent over the weekend offering his condolences to Mr. McCain's loved ones. During another event with President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Mr. Trump leaned forward, hands steepled, and ignored shouted questions about Mr. McCain as the cameras rolled." ...

... As Benjamin Hart of New York pointed out, the White House's lowering the flag Monday morning also violated the U.S. flag code. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... John Cassidy of the New Yorker: "The flag represents the United States and the office of the Presidency, not Trump personally.... Whatever one thinks of McCain's political views, his record -- five and a half years in a Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp, thirty-one years in the Senate, and two Presidential bids -- surely merited such an honor. As Mark Knoller, of CBS News, noted on Monday morning, Trump failed to order the proclamation. Evidently, there is no limit to his smallness.... Who persuaded Trump to change course? Was there a rebellion in the West Wing?... It was clear that the last thing the White House needs right now is another public-relations disaster. Although McCain's death knocked the saga of Michael Cohen's guilty plea off the front pages, at least temporarily, the past week was a disaster for the White House, and a reminder that Trump's pettiness is only exceeded by his deceitfulness." ...

... Steve M. "... I could easily see Trump telling his staff to 'raise the fucking flag' one day between now and McCain's interment, just because McCain will be receiving laudatory news coverage all week and Trump won't.... It's quite possible he'll go back on his word, because he's a sullen brat, and he doesn't like being compelled to do anything he doesn't want to do." ...

... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: So much fake news! Trump was not dishonoring McCain. Rather, he was having trouble finding the right flag: the one with the red and blue stripes. (See Sunday's post on Trump's True Colors.)

Asawin Suebsaeng of The Daily Beast: "It took two full days for President Donald Trump to issue a lukewarm statement about the death of Sen. John McCain.... The president's handling of the situation further added to Trump's lengthy track record for botched responses to solemn occasions involving recently deceased celebrities, grieving Gold Star family members, natural disaster victims, and even mass murder and traumatized communities." --safari ...

... Two Funerals & a Wedding, Etc. Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "Shunned at two funerals and one (royal) wedding so far, President Trump may be well on his way to becoming president non grata. The latest snub comes in the form of the upcoming funeral for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), which, before his death, the late senator made clear he did not want the sitting president to attend.... Less than two years into first term, Trump has often come to occupy the role of pariah -- both unwelcome and unwilling to perform the basic rituals and ceremonies of the presidency, from public displays of mourning to cultural ceremonies. In addition to being pointedly not invited to McCain's funeral and memorial service later this week ... Trump was quietly asked to stay away from former first lady Barbara Bush's funeral earlier this year. He also opted to skip the annual Kennedy Center Honors last year amid a political backlash from some of the honorees, and has faced repeated public rebuffs from athletes invited to the White House after winning championships.... During a trip to the United Kingdom in June, his visit with Queen Elizabeth II was undermined by reports in the British press that she was the only member of the royal family willing to meet with him."

... The Onion: "In a timely tribute to a woman they are calling a fearless American hero, the White House released a statement Monday recognizing and honoring the woman who called then-presidential candidate Barack Obama an Arab during a town hall event in 2008. 'It is with great reverence that we celebrate the courage, life, and work of the woman who told John McCain at a 2008 campaign rally that she couldn't trust Barack Obama because he was an Arab,' the statement read in part." (It's satire! But plausible!) ...

... Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) on the Senate floor Monday:

... Russell Berman of the Atlantic on the McCain-Trump feud that Trump started. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Franklin Foer of the Atlantic: McCain had a history of making mistakes, owning up to them & rectifying them. "One of John McCain's mistakes, which he would belatedly rectify, was a relationship with the just-convicted lobbyist Paul Manafort.... At the same time as [McCain] sincerely railed against influence-peddlers ... his inner circle contained the very forces he decried. One of these loyalists was the man who eventually managed his campaign in the 2008 presidential race, Rick Davis. For nearly a decade, Davis was the named partner in Paul Manafort's lobbying firm, Davis, Manafort.... Paul Manafort ... hoped to leverage his relationship with Rick Davis to enrich himself.... Davis Manafort's most prized client in 2006 was the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, one of the richest men in the world.... [The] story [of McCain & Deripaska] is fully told in an outstanding investigative piece, published by The Nation.... Manafort lobbied desperately to become manager of the Republican National Convention [of 2008].... But McCain didn't want any further association with Manafort, so he denied him the job.... All the evidence for rejecting Paul Manafort as a man of dubious character was amply available in 2008 -- and McCain acted upon it." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Juan Cole reminds us of "That Time the Republican Party Made McCain Black to Defeat his Presidential Bid." --safari

Chris Sosa of Alternet: "Fox News has disabled comments on YouTube videos about the death of John McCain following an outpouring of nastiness on the network's own website from its commenters." --safari ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: As ye sow, so shall ye reap. There is a curious miracle story in Matthew (8:28-34), in which Jesus drives some demons into a large herd of pigs, "and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water." It seems Fox "News" has driven the Trump demon into a whole herd of pigs. Now we need a miracle worker to drown the Trumpbot swine. ...

... Greg Jaffe & Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "Sen. John McCain had been dead only a few hours before hard-line critics in his own party began to pounce. Some tore apart McCai's unsuccessful first marriage and his military service, reveling in long-debunked conspiracy theories about his time as a prisoner of war. A few suggested that he should 'rot in hell.'... [Polarization] appears to account for much of the animosity toward McCain, particularly among Republicans.... [Some] McCain partisans blamed Trump, who has remade the Republican Party in his pugilistic image. Trump's overwhelming popularity among Republicans has increased the demand for party members -- even elected ones -- to fall into line.... In the final years of his life, McCain railed against this disturbing trend in American politics as forcefully as anyone. On three major occasions, two speeches delivered in the last year of his life and a statement issued posthumously Monday, McCain spoke in favor of modesty, bipartisanship and compromise." ...

... Yes, But Those Are the Saner Critics. Dana Milbank: "... according to a conspiracy theory network popular among some Trump boosters, when McCain supposedly died on Saturday, he did not succumb to cancer but took his own life to avoid being hauled off to Guantanamo Bay and put before a military tribunal for his longtime work helping Islamic State terrorists and others. (And before he died, he concealed his criminal ankle bracelet by wearing a medical boot on his leg.) Unless, of course, the suicide, like the cancer, was just a ruse. In that case, McCain will continue to work secretly for the deep state and for the Clinton Foundation.... Last Thursday..., Trump hosted Lionel Lebron, a prominent conspiracy theorist, and posed with him in the Oval Office. Lebron ... is a leading promoter of the very online network floating the notion McCain is alive or a suicide. Three days after his White House visit, Lebron tweeted an image of Trump crossing a swamp of Democrats, featuring racist images of Barack and Michelle Obama and the words 'fire at will.'... McCain answered these nuts with calm reason. In memory of him, let's continue his fight until they, and their leader in the Oval Office, return to the crevices whence they came."

Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair: "More than ever, Trump is acting by feeling and instinct. 'Trump is nuts,' said one former West Wing official. 'This time really feels different.' Deputy Chief of Staff Bill Shine has privately expressed concern, a source said, telling a friend that Trump's emotional state is 'very tender.' Even Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are unsettled that Trump is so gleefully acting on his most self-destructive impulses.... Senior officials talked about inviting Rudy Giuliani and a group of Trump's New York real-estate friends including Tom Barrack, Richard LeFrak, and Howard Lorber to the White House to stage an 'intervention' last week. 'It was supposed to be a war council,' one source explained. But Trump refused to take the meeting, sources said.... 'He spent the weekend calling people and screaming,' one former White House official said." ...

     ... MEANWHILE, Sherman reports: "... Trump continues to raise the possibility of a pardon for [Paul] Manafort.... Trump has been clashing with White House counsel Don McGahn, who, sources said, is strongly against granting Manafort a pardon.... Trump has told people he's considering bringing in a new lawyer to draft a Manafort pardon, if McGahn won't do it. 'He really at this point does not care,' a former official said. 'He would rather fight the battle. He doesn't want to do anything that would cede executive authority.'" ...

... So Guess What "Brave" Paul Manafort Has Been Doing? Aruna Viswanatha of the Wall Street Journal: "Paul Manafort's defense team held talks with prosecutors to resolve a second set of charges against the former Trump campaign chairman before he was convicted last week, but they didn't reach a deal, and the two sides are now moving closer to a second trial next month, according to people familiar with the matter. The plea discussions occurred as a Virginia jury was spending four days deliberating tax and bank fraud charges against Mr. Manafort, the people said. That jury convicted him on eight counts and deadlocked on 10 others.... Prosecutors have until Wednesday to report whether they plan to retry Mr. Manafort on the deadlocked counts.... The plea talks on the second set of charges stalled over issues raised by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, one of the people said. It isn't clear what those issues were, and the proposed terms of the plea deal couldn't immediately be determined." (Open in private window.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: In an interview on MSNBC, Viswanatha said it was not clear whether or not Manafort offered to cooperate with investigators. Still, the news that Manafort's lawyers attempted to negotiate a plea deal could upset Trump & his plans to pardon Manafort.

The Stormy Glitch. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "... in President Trump's recent scandal involving Stephanie Clifford, the pornographic film star known as Stormy Daniels, something that was never there to begin with could play an unexpected role. The missing item is the signature that Mr. Trump failed to place on Ms. Clifford's non-disclosure deal two years ago. And if her lawyer has his way, there is a chance that the inch-long blank space could force Mr. Trump to testify about what he knew of the arrangement.... Earlier this year, Ms. Clifford's lawyer, Michael Avenatti, filed a civil lawsuit against Mr. Trump and [Michael] Cohen, claiming that the non-disclosure contract was 'null and void' because Mr. Trump left empty the [signature] line.... The lawsuit was stayed this spring after federal agents raided Mr. Cohen's office and apartment, prompting him to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to avoid having to testify in the suit.... But now that Mr. Cohen has pleaded guilty, he may no longer be able -- or choose -- to avail himself of the Fifth Amendment's safeguards." If the court lifts the stay, as Avenatti has requested, he could depose Trump & ask unanswered questions about the hush-money deal.

Addy Baird of ThinkProgress: "In a video posted to Twitter last week, President Trump referenced critics of his administration's family separation policy ... comparing the plights of those separated immigrant families with [Mollie] Tibbetts in a racist monologue.... At Tibbetts' funeral Sunday, her father, Rob Tibbetts, alluded to the president's remarks, suggesting Trump was not only wrong, but that hateful commentary was not what his daughter would've wanted.... Rob Tibbetts' comments are the latest in a line of statements from Mollie's family hitting back at the racist, anti-immigrant narrative pushed by the president and his supporters.... Another relative, Sandi Tibbetts Murphy, released a similar statement on Facebook over the weekend. Murphy said the real problem, one that may have led to Tibbetts' death, was male entitlement.... She added, 'Our national discussion needs to be about the violence committed in our society, mostly by men[...].'" --safari

Poor Melanie. Kyla Mandel of ThinkProgress: "Melania Trump on Saturday held an event to celebrate the 102nd anniversary of the National Parks Service (NPS). She thanked the service for its 'commitment to this country.'... Over the course of Trump's presidency so far, the NPS has repeatedly been in the administration's crosshairs.... The backlash was similarly swift after Melania's tweet on Saturday in praise of the NPS. Twitter was quick to point out the irony, with individuals asking whether this was the 'same Parks service that was punished for telling the truth about the inauguration crowd size?'" --safari

Tim Teeman of The Daily Beast: "It was an evening that featured a room full of LGBT prejudice and hatred, and in the photographs Ivanka Trump, alleged one-time supporter of LGBT equality, looked like she was enjoying every second. Jim Garlow, senior pastor of Skyline Wesleyan Church in San Diego, California ... whose passionate hatred of LGBT people appears as powerful as his taste for selfies, managed to get his picture taken with [nearly all the White House Trumpenfrauds], and -- most surprising of all, given that past professed support for LGBT people -- Ivanka Trump.... Perhaps she had forgotten, or simply didn't know, that Garlow has said LGBT marriage is the creation of Satan, and much more besides." --safari ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Hard to know which is worse: (1) Ivanka went knowingly to this event; or (2) The White House is so incompetent, staff didn't warn Ivanka to stay away from Garlow.

Ken Sweet of the AP: "The government's top official overseeing the $1.5 trillion student loan market resigned in protest on Monday, citing what he says is the White House's open hostility toward protecting the nation’s millions of student loan borrowers. Seth Frotman will be stepping down as student loan ombudsman at the end of the week, according to his resignation letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press. He held that position since 2016, but has been with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau since its inception in 2011. Frotman is the latest high-level departure from the CFPB since Mick Mulvaney..., Donald Trump's budget director, took over in late November. But Frotman’s departure is especially noteworthy, since his non-partisan office is one of the few parts of the U.S. government that was tasked with handling student loan issues."

Joshua Shneyer & Andrea Januta of Reuters: "The U.S. Army has drafted a plan to test for toxic lead hazards in 40,000 homes on its bases, military documents show, in a sweeping response to a Reuters report that found children at risk of lead poisoning in military housing." --safari

Congressional Race. Shameless Wretch. Josh Israel of ThinkProgress: "Over his more than 20 years in Congress, Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) has literally taken millions of dollars from corporate political action committees. And his campaign committees have spent more than $170,000 in possibly illegal payments to his son-in-law's web design company. But in an odd twist, a new campaign ad by Chabot attacks his Democratic opponent [Aftab Pureval] for taking a much smaller sum -- $200,000 -- from 'Washington special interests.'" --safari

"Capitalism is Awesome", Extinction Ed. Emily Gerty of Mother Jones: "An analysis of [Brett] Kavanaugh's 12-year record on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit finds that he has consistently ruled against measures to protect species. In the 18 significant, species-related suits that have come before Kavanaugh, he's decided against protections in 17 — or about 95 percent of the time.... Recently-retired Justice Anthony Kennedy was a centrist whose swing vote sometimes landed environmental cases like Weyerhaeuser in favor of protection. But Kavanaugh's confirmation to the court would give it an even stronger 5-4 pro-business majority, dramatically stacking the odds against species in future decisions.... By comparison, Judge Merrick Garland, whom President Bill Clinton appointed to the same court in 1997, favored wildlife protection in about 54 percent of his species-related cases." --safari...

... Kyla Mandel of ThinkProgress: "Ten Democratic Senators have written to Charles Grassley (R-IA), chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, demanding the release of documents showing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's environmental record.... Kavanaugh is known to take a more narrow interpretation of what environmental protections the federal government can implement.... He does, however, acknowledge that climate change is happening. Two years ago he told a federal courtroom hearing that 'the earth is warming. Humans are contributing.' 'There is a moral imperative. There is a huge policy imperative,' he said at the time." --safari

** Rick Hasen: "In a case with potentially national implications both short term and long, a three judge district court in North Carolina has held that the congressional redistricting plan — put in place after North Carolina's districts last time were found to be a racial gerrymander — are an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. The remedy is not set yet, but the court may have a remedy in place for the 2018 elections, something I find surprising. You can find the 321 pages of opinions (which consists mostly of a majority opinion by Judge Wynn) at this link. If this opinion stands (and given the current 4-4 split on the Supreme Court, any emergency action could well fail, leaving the lower court opinion in place), the court may well order new districts be drawn in time for the 2018 elections.... If the lower court orders new districts for 2018, and the Supreme Court deadlocks 4-4 on an emergency request to overturn that order, we could have new districts for 2018 only, and that could help Democrats retake control of the U.S. House." ...

... The New York Times story, by Michael Wines & Richard Fausset, is here. "The decision, which may have significant implications for control of Congress..., is likely to be appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which for the moment is evenly split on ideological lines without a ninth justice to tip the balance."

Elizabeth Dias & Laurie Goodstein of the New York Times: "In a remarkable break from the usual decorum among the bishops, American Catholic leaders are in open conflict over the explosive allegations from a former Vatican diplomat that Pope Francis knew about, and ignored, accusations of sexual abuse against a now-disgraced American cleric.... Archbishop [Carlo Maria] Viganò's extraordinary 11-page letter, filled with personal attacks, has brought simmering ideological differences among American Catholics out into the open. Divisions in the church are quickly coming to a head, with many conservatives lining up to defend Archbishop Viganò and progressives rallying around Pope Francis, wrapping ideological competition and political maneuvering into what is quickly threatening to be the church's biggest scandal in decades."

Chico Harlan, et al., of the Washington Post: "A former Vatican ambassador to the United States has alleged in an 11-page letter that Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis -- among other top Catholic Church officials -- had been aware of sexual misconduct allegations against former D.C. archbishop Cardinal Theodore McCarrick years before he resigned this summer.... Speaking to reporters on the papal plane while returning [from Ireland] to Rome, Francis declined to address the claims but said the letter 'speaks for itself.' 'I read the statement this morning and, sincerely, I must say this to you and anyone interested: Read that statement attentively and make your own judgment,' Francis told reporters, according to the Catholic News Service. Asked when he first learned of allegations about McCarrick, Francis declined to comment. 'This is a part of the statement on McCarrick. Study it, and then I'll speak,' the pope said, according to Crux, another Catholic outlet." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Damien Carrington & Lily Kuo of the Guardian: "Air pollution causes a 'huge' reduction in intelligence, according to new research, indicating that the damage to society of toxic air is far deeper than the well-known impacts on physical health. The research was conducted in China but is relevant across the world, with 95% of the global population breathing unsafe air. It found that high pollution levels led to significant drops in test scores in language and arithmetic, with the average impact equivalent to having lost a year of the person's education." --safari

Beyond the Beltway

Capitalism is Awesome, Ctd. Fernando Salazar of The Wichita Eagle: "The state [of Kansas] allowed hundreds of residents in two Wichita-area neighborhoods to drink contaminated water for [6] years without telling them.... In 2011, while investigating the possible expansion of a Kwik Shop, the state discovered dry cleaning chemicals had contaminated groundwater ... in Haysville.... The delays stem from a 1995 state law that places more emphasis on protecting the dry cleaning industry than protecting public health.... When consumed [the dry cleaning chemical perchloroethylene] can build up over time, potentially harming a person's nervous system, liver, kidneys and reproductive system." --safari

Way Beyond

Hannah Ellis-Peterson of the Guardian: "Myanmar's military has been accused of genocide against the Rohingya in Rakhine state in a damning UN report that alleged the army was responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity against minorities across the country.... They found that the military were 'killing indiscriminately, gang-raping women, assaulting children and burning entire villages' in Rakhine, home to the Muslim Rohingya, and in Shan and Kachin. The Tatmadaw also carried out murders, imprisonments, enforced disappearances, torture, rapes and used sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence, persecution and enslavement -- all of which constitute crimes against humanity." --safari

Juan Cole: "Mohamed Bin Salman, the thirty-two-year-old crown prince of Saudi Arabia, is finding his wings clipped, by his father and by the heavy hand of reality, so severely that some are speculating about whether he can survive politically.... It is said that Salman is afraid his historical legacy will be tarnished by his son's rash policy moves, some of which are deeply unpopular in the Arab World." --safari

Tom Dart of the Guardian: "In the autumn and winter of 2013, the so-called 'Frack Master' [Chris Faulkner] was one of 16 witnesses who appeared before the [Welsh affairs] committee [of the British parliament], which was considering the economic and environmental impact of drilling potentially thousands of shale gas wells.... In June 2014, the MPs issued a cautiously supportive report that cited Faulkner five times.... But Faulkner was not in fact much of a 'technical animal' with a 'scientific oil background'. According to the US government, he is a fraudster who ran an investment scam worth between $60m and $80m.... In June this year, Faulkner was arrested by federal agents as he attempted to board a flight from Los Angeles to London. Charged with securities fraud, mail fraud and illegal monetary transactions, he could face decades behind bars. Deemed a flight risk, he is currently detained in a Texas prison." --safari

News Lede

New York Times: "The adoring public came from far and wide to glimpse [Aretha] Franklin, resplendent in a red gown and red pumps and with cherry red lipstick on a placid smile, lying in a gold coffin surrounded by flowers. The dress was a tribute to the Delta Sigma Theta, a sorority of African-American women of which Ms. Franklin was an honorary member. At one point in the morning, the line of visitors waiting to enter the first of two 12-hour viewing periods on Tuesday and Wednesday stretched for five blocks. Ms. Franklin was only the third person to lay [lie!!] in state at the Wright Museum, the other two being the civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks and Detroit's first African-American mayor, Coleman Young Jr...."

The Commentariat -- August 27, 2018

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Breaking News @ 4 pm ET Monday. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "After flying at half-staff for barely a day in tribute to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), U.S. flags at the White House and many other federal properties were raised Monday morning, sparking criticism that President Trump was not properly honoring the senator. He reversed that decision Monday afternoon. 'Despite our differences on policy and politics, I respect Senator John McCain's service to our country and, in his honor, have signed a proclamation to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff until the day of his interment,' Trump said in a statement. This story is developing and will be updated." ...

...As Benjamin Hart of New York pointed out, the White House's lowering the flag Monday morning also violated the U.S. flag code.

When is a deal not a deal? When Trump tweets this: A big deal looking good with Mexico!

... Ana Swanson of the New York Times: "The United States and Mexico have reached agreement to revise key portions of the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement and a preliminary deal could be announced on Monday, a crucial step toward revamping a trade pact that has appeared on the brink of collapse during the past year of negotiations. Reaching an agreement on how to revise some of the most contentious portions of what President Trump has long called the worst trade pact in history would give Mr. Trump a significant win in a trade war he has started with countries around the globe.... Still, a preliminary agreement between the United States and Mexico would fall far short of actually revising Nafta. The preliminary agreement still excludes Canada, which is also a party to Nafta but has been absent from talks held in Washington in recent weeks. The agreement with Mexico centers on rules governing the automobile industry, resolving a big source of friction, but leaves aside other contentious issues that affect all three countries. The revised Nafta would also need congressional approval before it can go into effect, including votes by Republican lawmakers who have criticized some of the president's plans for remaking the deal."

Chico Harlan, et al., of the Washington Post: "A former Vatican ambassador to the United States has alleged in an 11-page letter that Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis -- among other top Catholic Church officials -- had been aware of sexual misconduct allegations against former D.C. archbishop Cardinal Theodore McCarrick years before he resigned this summer.... Speaking to reporters on the papal plane while returning [from Ireland] to Rome, Francis declined to address the claims but said the letter 'speaks for itself.' 'I read the statement this morning and, sincerely, I must say this to you and anyone interested: Read that statement attentively and make your own judgment,' Francis told reporters, according to the Catholic News Service. Asked when he first learned of allegations about McCarrick, Francis declined to comment. 'This is a part of the statement on McCarrick. Study it, and then I'll speak,' the pope said, according to Crux, another Catholic outlet."

Russell Berman of the Atlantic on the McCain-Trump feud that Trump started. ...

... Franklin Foer of the Atlantic: McCain had a history of making mistakes, owning up to them & rectifying them. "One of John McCain’s mistakes, which he would belatedly rectify, was a relationship with the just-convicted lobbyist Paul Manafort.... At the same time as [McCain] sincerely railed against influence-peddlers ... his inner circle contained the very forces he decried. One of these loyalists was the man who eventually managed his campaign in the 2008 presidential race, Rick Davis. For nearly a decade, Davis was the named partner in Paul Manafort's lobbying firm, Davis, Manafort.... Manafort ... hoped to leverage his relationship with Rick Davis to enrich himself.... Davis Manafort's most prized client in 2006 was the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, one of the richest men in the world.... [The] story [of McCain & Deripaska] is fully told in an outstanding investigative piece, published by The Nation.... Manafort lobbied desperately to become manager of the Republican National Convention [of 2008].... But McCain didn't want any further association with Manafort, so he denied him the job.... All the evidence for rejecting Paul Manafort as a man of dubious character was amply available in 2008 -- and McCain acted upon it."

*****

Donald Trump -- Even Worse than You Thought. Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "President Trump nixed issuing a statement that praised the heroism and life of Sen. John McCain, telling senior aides he preferred to issue a tweet before posting one Saturday night that did not include any kind words for the late Arizona Republican.... 'My deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator John McCain. Our hearts and prayers are with you!' Trump posted Saturday evening shortly after McCain's death was announced. Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Chief of Staff John F. Kelly and other White House aides advocated for an official statement that gave the decorated Vietnam War POW plaudits for his military and Senate service and called him a 'hero,' according to current and former White House aides, who requested anonymity.... The original statement was drafted before McCain died Saturday, and Sanders and others edited a final version this weekend that was ready for the president, the aides said. But Trump told aides he wanted to post a brief tweet instead, and the statement praising McCain's life was not released." ...

... Margaret Hartmann: "... it did not go unnoticed that the president offered no kind words about [John McCain], and memorialized him on Instagram with a photo of himself[.]... All three GOP candidates in the race to replace Arizona's other senator, Jeff Flake, have embraced Trump and distanced themselves from McCain. Representative Martha McSally, the front-runner, had avoided mentioning McCain while campaigning, but offered kind words in recent days. However, her opponent Kelli Ward ... mused in a Facebook post that his announcement about discontinuing treatment was timed to distract from the kickoff of her statewide bus tour. [More on the lovely Dr. Ward linked under Congressional Races below.] Similarly, after tweeting his well wishes to the McCains, Joe Arpaio lashed out at Cindy McCain for blocking him on Twitter.... Living presidents and first ladies usually make a show of unity when a prominent political figure dies, and McCain made it clear he wants that tradition to continue, without Trump. He asked that the two men who defeated him in his quest for the presidency -- George W. Bush and Barack Obama -- deliver eulogies." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: I believe in showing respect to the recently-deceased, even if I didn't much do so when they were alive. Their grieving families have enough to handle without having to read cheap criticism of their loved ones. If I'm still around when Trump dies, I'll make an exception for him. I hope you'll do the same. He is cruel in life, and we all should return the favor on the day he dies. ...

... digby: "There was no way this deranged cretin could rise above personal feelings to lead the nation.... As McCain's friend John Weaver said, 'if we heard something today or tomorrow from Trump, we know it'd mean less than a degree from Trump University.'" ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Even all-around jerk Dan Scavino, Trump's former golf caddy & current White House social media director, has more class than the boss. BTW, according to a commenter on Scavino's Twitter feed, the flag atop the White House is back at full mast now that Trump is back in residence. Traditionally, flags stay at half-mast until the honored person is buried. ...

     ... Update. Joseph Lyons of Bustle confirms the commenter's account: "Flags in Washington D.C. remain at half-staff in honor of the late Sen. John McCain -- or at least some of them do. In what is being seen as another potential slight to McCain, the White House flags were raised back to full-staff on Monday morning, Aug. 27. That puts the White House at odds with not only recent precedent but also the U.S. Capitol, where flags continue to fly at half-mast."

Trump Plays "Find the Collusion." So Funny. Julie Davis of the New York Times: "... Mr. Trump, a president facing the most serious of threats, has sought to minimize and trivialize what is happening in and around his White House, and in the process, to desensitize his supporters to grave charges.... It's a way of mocking what is in fact a serious allegation, of muddying the waters of what is a clear-cut question that Mr. Mueller is working to answer.... If the issues looming over his presidency are a kind of game, then perhaps voters will consider themselves nothing more than popcorn-munching spectators in a drama, rather than people deeply invested in the outcome." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yes, if only Bill Clinton had told some dick jokes, we would not have had to go through that impeachment thing. Back in the day, it was late-night comedians who trivialized Clinton's bad behavior; today it's comedians like Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers & Trevor Noah who inform the public on what's happening & the POTUS* & his Party of Craven Opportunists who downplay it.

Trump Has a Problem Bigger than Bob Mueller. Noah Feldman of Bloomberg: "Trump is now facing a two-front war against the Justice Department. The team led by special counsel Robert Mueller is supposed to focus on Russian interference in the 2016 election. But the Southern District can investigate any aspect of Trump's behavior that took place in its jurisdiction, at any time. And unlike Mueller, who could in principle be fired, the Southern District isn't one man; it's a whole office of career lawyers. It can't be fired. Even if Robert Khuzami, the acting U.S. attorney in this case, were removed, no new U.S. attorney could realistically call off the prosecutors.... It remains to be seen how far the Southern District will go. But its opening salvo -- [Michael] Cohen's statement against the president ... made in consultation with the Southern District prosecutors ... -- already went further than any part of the Justice Department has gone since Richard Nixon's administration." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Alan Dershowitz Agrees. Feliciz Sonmez of the Washington Post: "President Trump should be more worried about federal prosecutors in New York than about the Russia probe led by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, retired Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz said Sunday. Dershowitz, an informal Trump adviser, said in an appearance on ABC News's 'This Week' that the expanding probe by prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York could spell the greatest peril for Trump because of the lack of constitutional protections for the president at that level. 'I think he has constitutional defenses to the investigation being conducted by Mueller,' Dershowitz said. 'But there are no constitutional defenses to what the Southern District is investigating. So, I think the Southern District is the greatest threat.'... 'Look, my advice to the president --; I never gave it to him privately because I'm not his lawyer, but on television -- is: Don't fire, don't pardon, don't tweet and don't testify. And if he listened to those four things, he'd be in less trouble than he is today,' Dershowitz said."

Tom Hamburger & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "An attorney for Michael Cohen ... is backing away from confident assertions he made that Cohen has information to share with investigators that shows Trump knew in 2016 of Russian efforts to undermine Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Lanny Davis, a spokesman and attorney for Cohen, said in an interview this weekend that he is no longer certain about claims he made to reporters on background and on the record in recent weeks about what Cohen knows about Trump's awareness of the Russian efforts. Davis did not rule out that his claims were correct but expressed regret that he did not explain that he could not independently corroborate them, saying that he now believes he 'should have been more clear.'... The information in the Post story, which was attributed to one person familiar with discussions among Cohen's friends, came from Davis, who is now acknowledging his role on the record.... 'Michaels Cohen's attorney clarified the record, saying his client does not know if President Trump knew about the Trump Tower meeting (out of which came nothing!),' Trump tweeted Saturday. 'The answer is that I did NOT know about the meeting. Just another phony story by the Fake News Media!'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: No, the original stories were not "phony" & the media outlets that reported them are not "fake." If a credible source (like an attorney representing the supposed speaker) makes a statement, on or off the record, then it is responsible, not "phony" or "fake," to report that information, as long as the reporters indicate -- as they did -- that the information is a statement of fact by a source, not a statement of fact. Today's Post report demonstrates that Lanny Davis is unreliable, not that the Post (& CNN) were. I have no idea if Trump understands the difference, but you should.

Jeannie Gersen of the New Yorker: Michael Cohen's statement to the court "made clear that he engaged in this conduct in order to influence the Presidential election.... But ... Cohen's confession of a criminal motive does not necessarily establish Trump's. In fact, a lifetime habit of behaving sleazily may very well help the President.... This is presumably why Rudy Giuliani, Trump's current lawyer, has suggested, since May, that there was a 'longstanding agreement' that Cohen 'takes care of situations like this, then gets paid for them sometimes.' What would seem like a puzzling admission is likely part of a legal strategy to make the payments from 2016 seem indistinguishable from those that Trump has made for reasons other than winning an election." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Commentators seem to be forgetting this WSJ story (open in private window) of August 16, 2018: "Michael Cohen initially balked at the idea of buying the silence of a former adult-film star who says she had sex with Donald Trump, but he did an about-face after a video of Mr. Trump talking about groping women became public in October 2016. A day after the recording surfaced of outtakes of Mr. Trump speaking to a host of NBC's 'Access Hollywood,' Mr. Cohen, then Mr. Trump's senior counsel, told a representative for the performer that he was open to a deal, according to a person familiar with the conversation.... Mr. Cohen had resisted paying [Stephanie] Clifford when it was floated in September 2016, the person said. Federal prosecutors in New York view the 'Access Hollywood' tape as a trigger that spurred Mr. Cohen to bury potentially damaging information about his boss...." The conversations re: Clifford are not laid out in the criminal Information that accompanied Cohen's plea deal, but the "catch and kill" arrangement to deal with negative stories "during the course of the campaign," made in August 2015, between David Pecker & Cohen/Trump/Trump campaign is. Assuming the SDNY has some documentation to back up the assertions in the WSJ story & the Information, it's pretty clear that the payments to Clifford & Karen McDougal were related not to protecting Melanie but to protecting Donald from more public scrutiny of his extramarital relationships.

Presidents Behaving Badly -- But Not as Badly as Trump. Jill Lepore of the New Yorker: In 1974, at the request of John Dohr, the special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, the historian C. Van Woodward & a team of historians quickly pulled together a compendium of presidential malfeasance, from the dawn of the republic to Richard Nixon. Nixon, Woodward concluded, was worse than all the rest. BUT "These days, even Nixon's underhandedness begins to look upstanding. William McFeely, now eighty-seven, and retired from the University of Georgia, covered Andrew Johnson and [Ulysses] Grant. 'I think Nixon was pretty bad, but I think that even he had a respect for the Constitution, and for a constitutional sense of the value of the Presidency,' McFeely says. 'Trump trounces on those.'... Trump has already done some of [Nixon's bad deeds] -- not secretly but publicly, gleefully, and without consequence -- and is under investigation for more."

Yvonne Sanchez of the Arizona Republic: Arizona "Gov. Doug Ducey [R] will wait to name a successor to John McCain until after the late senator has been buried at the U.S. Naval Academy Cemetery in Maryland, an aide to the governor told The Arizona Republic on Saturday.... Ducey is required by law to appoint a Republican to fill McCain's seat, and he understands it is viewed as the most consequential decision he has faced. McCain's successor would serve until the 2020 general election.... Ducey, who is seeking re-election, will be measured by the performance of the person he chooses to fill the state's Senate vacancy...." ...

... David Leonhardt of the New York Times: "Today's Republican Party is the biggest threat to the country that McCain served and loved. He offered an alternative."

Congressional Races

Jonathan Swan of Axios describes this as a "scoop": "Axios has obtained a spreadsheet that's circulated through Republican circles on and off Capitol Hill -- including at least one leadership office -- that meticulously previews the investigations Democrats will likely launch if they flip the House." Swan goes on to list "some of the probes it predicts.... Lawyers close to the White House tell me the Trump administration is nowhere near prepared for the investigatory onslaught that awaits them, and they consider it among the greatest threats to his presidency." ...

... Beware of Republicans Airing Woes. Steve M.: "... left-leaning sites are gleefully quoting ... Swan.... I'd like to savor the schadenfreude, but this isn't really a scoop, as Swan claims. He's not exposing a secret that Republicans tried to conceal. Republicans wanted him to publish this story. This is a GOP campaign ad and fund-raising pitch. It's an extension of a central Republican message for the midterms: If the Democrats take the House, impeachment is inevitable.... Even the bit about Trump being unprepared is part of the message. Trump, to the GOP faithful, is an innocent outsider, unschooled in the sinister ways of Washington. He has no idea what tortures the enemy has in store for him -- unless the voters save him."

The Nastiest Candidate Ever. Morgan Gstalter of the Hill: "Arizona GOP Senate candidate Kelli Ward suggested Saturday that the Friday statement issued by Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) family about ending medical treatment for brain cancer was intended to hurt her campaign. McCain died Saturday hours after she made the suggestion on Facebook." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... OR, as Martin Cizmar of the Raw Story put it, "Arizona GOP Senate candidate Kelli Ward accuses John McCain of dying to push -negative narrative' about her.... 'I wonder if John McCain's trying to steal attention from Ward's bus tour by announcing his life is coming to an end,' [a Ward] staffer wrote. Ward, a Trump-loving extremist who primaried McCain in 2016, had a contentious relationship with McCain, who she frequently slammed. Ward ... agreed that McCain was trying to have a 'negative' effect on her by dying. 'I think they wanted to have a particular narrative that was negative to me,' Ward wrote in response to the conspiracy theory." ...

... Yesterday, James Arkin of Politico reported that on the campaign trail, Ward kept up her criticism of McCain after the family announced he was discontinuing cancer treatment. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... AND last summer, after McCain announced he had cancer, Ward said, "'the medical reality of [McCain's] diagnosis is grim,' and he should consider stepping down and having her take his place." Ward is in a primary race against Martha McSally -- the "establishment" candidate -- and that nice Joe Arpaio. to replace Sen. Jeff Flake (R), who is retiring. Mrs. McC: My guess is that McSally will win because Ward & Arpaio will split the white nationalist/crazy person/sadist vote. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Mrs. McCrabbie BTW: McCain's death pretty much ensures Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court, not that it wasn't already nearly a done deal. McCain was a "not-vote"; his replacement will be a "yea" vote.

Trump's True Colors

Time for a Left-Wing Conspiracy Theory:

This is the Russian flag:

Daniel Politi of Slate: "... Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump visited children at a hospital in Columbus, Ohio as part of an effort to call attention to the way the opioid crisis affects infants. Plus, it’s always a good idea to have a photo-op with kids at the end of a no good, very bad week. For politicians it’s 'a time-honored tradition,' writes Esquire, 'sitting in tiny desks alongside adorable kids in hope that the guileless innocence on the little faces surrounding them will take some of the heat off of their craven politicking.' Yet things didn’t go so well for Trump this time. The president and his wife joined the children in an arts-and-crafts activity that involved coloring in the American flag. But it seems Trump didn’t quite color his flag right. A photo posted on Twitter seems to show that the president colored in a blue stripe on the U.S. flag.” Thanks to Akhilleus for the link.

Coloring Between the Lines. Let's look at these photos in chronological order:

1. This is Donald Trump coloring a stripe with a red marker:

You can see the red marker in his hand.

2. This is Donald Trump coloring a stripe with a blue marker:

This photo comes via the Raw Story. You can see the red stripe was completed earlier. Notice how intent Trump is on getting it right.

3. This is Donald Trump with his "finished product":

This photo comes from the Twitter feed of Alex Azar, the Secretary of Health & Human Services.

Here's a close-up from that photo:

You can see the blue marker Trump used.

Weirdly, Trump skipped a line. The colors on his flag are red, white, white, blue. As we all know, white is pretty important to Trump: white is more equal than others, you might say.

Okay, I'll admit Trump has painted the colors of the stripes in the Russian flag out of order. But you have to admit you've never seen a mentally-competent, adult, native-born, U.S.-educated person who thinks some of the stripes in the stars and stripes are blue.

Trump's coloring exercise was a Freudian slip. It showed his true colors. They're Russian. We've seen a great deal of evidence Trump is a Russian asset. But this slip-up is like total proof, man. He's a sleeper.

*****

Here's Akhilleus's take:

You might think that a president* who threatens people for “disrespecting” the flag would have at least a vague clue what that symbol looks like.

You’d be wrong.

Here are photos that show Trump the Patriot demonstrating for little kids in a classroom that they should color the stripes on the American flag red, white, and, um, blue.

Hope he didn’t try to help them spell potato.

*****

Trump has always been hazy about the American flag he now claims to cherish so much it deeply disturbs him when NFL take a knee to honor the equality it represents to most of us.

In this clip from about ten years ago, Stephen Colbert revealed what Trump really knew about the American flag:

... How would he know? When I was in grade school learning what the 13 stripes represented, little Donald was -- somewhere else.

P.S. This is a joke. The real reason Trump has absolutely no knowledge of the American flag is that he's an ignorant narcissist who, in all fairness, probably has a severe learning disability that explains his inability to read the presidential briefing books and accurately color an American flag. *

     ... *Update: Be sure to see the Comments below for better explanations.