The Commentariat -- April 7, 2018
Evening Update:
Noah Goldberg of the New York Daily News: "One person was critically injured in a fast-moving fire at Trump Tower in Midtown, authorities said. The FDNY arrived at the Fifth Ave. highrise just before 6 p.m. Twitter users posted pictures of flames shooting out of windows on the 50th floor. President Trump also took to Twitter with an update, 'Fire at Trump Tower is out. Very confined (well built building). Firemen (and women) did a great job. THANK YOU!' Several firefighters suffered minor injures."
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Fred Imbert & Alexandra Gibbs of CNBC: "Stocks fell sharply on Friday as worries of a trade war brewing between the U.S. and China grew. Wall Street also digested disappointing employment data. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 572.46 points to 23,932.76, closing back in correction. Boeing and Caterpillar were the biggest decliners in the 30-stock index. The S&P 500 declined 2.2 percent to 2,604.47, with industrials as the worst-performing sector. The Nasdaq composite dropped 2.3 percent to close at 6,915.11." ...
... Ana Swanson & Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump defended his pugnacious approach to trade policy on Friday, just hours after he doubled down on a White House plan to punish China by threatening to levy tariffs on an additional $100 billion in Chinese imports. Mr. Trump, in a tweet, criticized both China and the World Trade Organization, saying that the Chinese 'get tremendous perks and advantages, especially over the U.S. Does anybody think this is fair. We were badly represented. The WTO is unfair to U.S.'... That followed another early morning tweet, in which Mr. Trump boasted that the new metals tariffs he has put into effect on China and other nations had not hurt American consumers as his critics predicted.... The price of aluminum per pound has been falling since February, a decline that started before the tariffs were imposed. Mr. Trump's decision to exempt Canada, which supplied more than half of America's aluminum imports in 2016, has also helped to soften the blow from tariffs, companies say." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Steve Benen: "At a White House event this week, Donald Trump reflected briefly on the burgeoning trade war he's initiating with China. 'We've helped rebuild China over the last 25 years, if you take a look at what's happened. We have helped rebuild China. So we intend to get along with China, but we have to do something very substantial about the trade deficit. And with that, nothing is easy.'... The idea that the United States 'helped rebuild' the country is dubious.... We don't actually have to do anything at all. But it's that last line that stood out for me: 'Nothing is easy.'... In the recent past, Trump was under the impression that these issues were quite easy, indeed.... Just last month..., after his initial moves on tariffs, the president declared, '[T]rade wars are good, and easy to win.' It apparently took a month for Trump to switch gears and discover that 'nothing is easy.' One of the amazing things about Trump's presidency has been watching the process of presidential discovery, in which he's surprised by complexities the rest of us already recognized." ...
...Trump Family First. Rebekah Entralago of ThinkProgress: "Exempt from the proposed tariffs against China ... is the clothing manufacturing industry.... Exempting clothing from the tariffs provides a big break to American clothing companies that hold trademarks in China. One of those clothing companies belongs to the First Daughter of the United States,Ivanka Trump." --safari
When Is a Timeline Not a Timeline? Matthew Lee & Josh Lederman of the AP: "... Donald Trump has spoken: He wants U.S. troops and civilians out of Syria by the fall. But don't call it a 'timeline.' Wary of charges of hypocrisy for publicly telegraphing military strategy after criticizing former President Barack Obama for the same thing, the White House has ordered Trump's national security team not to speak of a 'timeline' for withdrawal. That's even after Trump made it clear to his top aides this week that he wants the pullout completed within five or six months.... Trump's desire for a rapid withdrawal faced unanimous opposition from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Pentagon, the State Department and the intelligence community, all of which argued that keeping the 2,000 U.S. soldiers currently in Syria is key to ensuring the Islamic State does not reconstitute itself.... Documents presented to the president included several pages of possibilities for staying in, but only a brief description of an option for full withdrawal that emphasized significant risks and downsides, including the likelihood that Iran and Russia would take advantage of a U.S. vacuum. Ultimately, Trump chose that option anyway. The president had opened the meeting with a tirade about U.S. intervention in Syria and the Middle East more broadly, repeating lines from public speeches...." Read on. (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I suspect Vlad told Trump to get the hell out of Syria, or else. Otherwise, what would account for the sustained Trumpertantrum? Unless maybe he thinks he can convert Syria money to border-wall money. This is one dangerous imbecile. ...
... Margaret Hartmann: "The explanation for how we got to the point where the president is setting foreign policy deadlines on a whim may be even more troubling. The AP reports that the national security team has been giving Trump the illusion of power by presenting him with very limited choices (a tactic parents use with toddlers). But this time the game didn't work[.]" (Also linked yesterday.)...
... Spencer Ackerman of The Daily Beast: "Donald Trump's outbursts this week about getting U.S. troops out of Syria have done substantial damage to Washington's influence over its crucial Syrian ally.... That influence ... is America's most important asset as it navigates one of the world's most chaotic and transactional battlefields.... Current and former administration officials familiar with the internal Syria policy debates believe that the key to determining whether the damage is lasting or manageable will be whether the mostly Kurdish ground proxy force on which the U.S. overwhelmingly relies to fight the Islamic State, the SDF, starts hedging its bets." --safari
Dave Montgomery & Manny Fernandez of the New York Times: "Texas became the first state on Friday to deploy National Guard troops to the southern border of the United States after President Trump announced this week that he would send the military there. State officials said 250 Texas National Guard personnel would be dispatched to the border within 72 hours. The mobilization began shortly after 7 p.m. Friday at the Armed Forces Reserve Center in Austin.... The Republican governor of Arizona, Doug Ducey, said that about 150 members of the National Guard in his state would deploy next week to the border. The Republican governor of New Mexico, Susana Martinez, vowed to send troops soon, while the Democratic governor of Montana, Steve Bullock, refused.... Mr. Trump's mobilization, which could deploy thousands of troops, has reignited concerns in Texas and elsewhere about the militarization of border communities and has angered local officials and lawmakers who say that the troops are not needed and that they give the false impression that their cities are under siege."
Jonathan Chait reviews some news reports to establish that (a) Trump has lost it, & (b) his staffers are freaking out. Here's one: According to the Washington Post, "Aides sometimes plot to have guests make points on Fox that they have been unable to get the president to agree to in person. 'He will listen more when it is on TV,' a senior administration official said. [Fox host Jeanine] Pirro duty is considered important enough that 'officials rotate going on Pirro's show because they know Trump will be watching -- and partially to prevent him from calling in himself.'"
Michelle Goldberg: Diehard Trumpbots are so aware of Trump's multiple shortcomings that they have come up with an elaborate fantasy narrative in which, among other things, "Trump only pretended to collude with Russia in order to create a pretext for the hiring of Robert Mueller..., who is actually working with Trump to take down an inconceivably evil and powerful network of coup-plotters and child sex traffickers that includes Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and George Soros." Goldberg notes that Roseanne Barr is among the loons who have bought into and promoted aspects of these theories. Mrs. McC: We could sure use some of those Obama re-education camps.
Quint Forgey of Politico: "... Donald Trump will again skip the White House Correspondents' Dinner this year, and will send his press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, instead." Great! Mrs. Huckleberry is a barrel of laughs with an unparalleled sense of humor. Maybe she can get Stephen Miller to write her "jokes." The list of winners of awards at this year's dinner -- which celebrates the First Amendment -- include CNN ("fake news"), Lester Holt ("this Russia thing"), & Maggie Haberman ("Hillary flunkie"). "Among the other reporting that earned journalists awards this year were stories on former White House press secretary Sean Spicer's resignation, former HHS Secretary Tom Price's use of taxpayer-funded private aircraft, and Trump's firing of all members of his AIDS advisory committee." (Also linked yesterday.)
Tom Boggioni of RawStory: "Writing on Twitter early Saturday morning, the attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels promised he will expose the 'Trump thug' who reportedly threatened his client in 2011 to keep quiet about her alleged affair with President Donald Trump. 'Expect a major announcement in the coming days regarding our efforts to identify the thug who threatened Ms. Clifford in Las Vegas in 2011 to 'leave Trump alone' while making reference to her little girl,' Michael Avenatti wrote on Twitter." --safari
Trump Campaign Skulduggery Was Widespread. Jenna McLaughlin, et al., of CNN: "A Donald Trump foreign policy adviser pushed government agencies to review materials from the dark web in the summer of 2016 that he thought were Hillary Clinton's deleted emails, multiple sources with direct knowledge tell CNN. Joseph Schmitz approached the FBI and other government agencies about material a client of his had discovered that Schmitz believed might have been Clinton's missing 30,000 emails from her private e-mail server, sources say. The material was never verified, and sources say they ultimately believed it was fake. His push is the latest example of Trump advisers who were mixed up in efforts to find dirt on Clinton during the presidential campaign.... His status as a former Pentagon inspector general afforded him access to the agencies and a sophisticated understanding of the government bureaucracy. He was relentless, sources say, and truly believed his client had found important, sensitive material. He did not hesitate in his pursuit even though the material on the dark web -- a part of the Internet not easily accessible or traceable -- was questionable and many experts already believed the Russians had stolen Clinton's emails."
Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Lawyers for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort are arguing that what could be key evidence against him should be kept out of court because the FBI violated his Constitutional rights by illegally entering a storage locker belonging to Manafort's firm. The FBI first got into the Alexandria, Va. storage unit last May with the assistance of an employee who worked at two or more of Manafort's companies, an agent told the federal magistrate judge who issued the warrant. Then, the agent used what he saw written on so-called Banker's Boxes and the fact there was a five-drawer filing cabinet to get permission to return and seize many of the records." --safari
Andrew Kramer of the New York Times profiles Konstantin V. Kilimnik, who "has turned up in multiple court filings by the special prosecutor, Robert S. Mueller III, who identifies him as Person A." Kilimnik, who worked for Paul Manafort in Ukraine & is now skulking around Washington, D.C., says he's not a Russian spy; Mueller says he is. (Also linked yesterday.)
Trump's DHS Makes a Significant "Big Brother" Move. Michelle Fabio of Forbes: "The United States government, traditionally one of the bastions of press freedom, is about to compile a list of professional journalists and 'top media influencers,' which would seem to include bloggers and podcasters, and monitor what they're putting out to the public.... As part of its 'media monitoring,' the DHS seeks to track more than 290,000 global news sources as well as social media in over 100 languages ... for instant translation into English.... One aspect of the media coverage to be gathered is its 'sentiment.'... Unfortunately, increasing government encroachment on the freedom of the press is the sinister backdrop to all of this. Freedom House, which has monitored the status of the press for nearly 40 years, recently concluded, '... it is the far-reaching attacks on the news media and their place in a democratic society by Donald Trump, first as a candidate and now as president of the United States, that fuel predictions of further setbacks in the years to come.'..."
Where's Kelly? Jonathan Lemire & Catherine Lucey of the AP: John "Kelly, once empowered to bring order to a turbulent West Wing, has receded from view, his clout diminished, his word less trusted by staff and his guidance less tolerated by an increasingly go-it-alone president.... Trump has rebelled against Kelly's restrictions and mused about doing away with the chief of staff post entirely. It's all leading White House staffers and Trump allies to believe that Kelly is working on borrowed time.... Those close to the president say that Trump has increasingly expressed fatigue at Kelly's attempts to shackle him and that while Trump is not ready to fire Kelly, he has begun gradually freezing out his top aide. Trump recently told one confidant that he was 'tired of being told no' by Kelly and has instead chosen to simply not tell Kelly things at all.... Kelly was once a fixture at the president's side, but Trump has now cut him out of a number of important decisions." (Also linked yesterday.)
The Travels & Travails of Scotty. Michael Biesecker of the AP: "Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt's concern with his safety came at a steep cost to taxpayers as his swollen security detail blew through overtime budgets and at times diverted officers away from investigating environmental crimes. Altogether, the agency spent millions of dollars for a 20-member full-time detail that is more than three times the size of his predecessor's part-time security contingent.... Shortly after arriving in Washington, Pruitt demoted the career staff member heading his security detail and replaced him with EPA Senior Special Agent Pasquale 'Nino' Perrotta, a former Secret Service agent who operates a private security company.... Perrotta oversaw a rapid expansion of the EPA chief's security detail to accommodate guarding him day and night, even on family vacations and when Pruitt was home in Oklahoma.... Perrotta also signed off on new procedures that let Pruitt fly first-class on commercial airliners, with the security chief typically sitting next to him with other security staff farther back in the plane. Pruitt's premium status gave him and his security chief access to VIP airport lounges." ...
... AND here's some detail: "On weekend trips home for Sooners football games, when taxpayers weren't paying for his ticket, the EPA official said Pruitt flew coach.... Taxpayers still covered the airfare for the administrator's security detail.... Pruitt has said his use of first-class airfare was initiated following unpleasant interactions with other travelers.... But a nationwide search of state and federal court records by AP finds no case where anyone has been arrested or charged with threatening Pruitt." ...
... The Tenant from Hell. Eliana Johnson of Politico: "Scott Pruitt was only supposed to be living in the Capitol Hill condominium that has become a focal point of his latest ethics controversy for six weeks last year while he got settled in Washington -- but the new Environmental Protection Agency administrator didn't leave when his lease ended. Instead, he asked the lobbyist couple who became his disgruntled landlords to revise his lease several times, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. The couple, Vicki and Steve Hart, became so frustrated by their lingering tenant that they eventually pushed him out and changed their locks. [Emphasis added.] After trying to nudge Pruitt out of their home over th course of several months, the Harts finally told Pruitt in July that they had plans to rent his room to another tenant. 'The original arrangement was that he would be there living out of a suitcase ... and it just kept going and going,' said one of the people with knowledge of the arrangement.... The president denied in a tweet Friday that he had plans to get rid of him: 'Do you believe that the Fake News Media is pushing hard on a story that I am going to replace A.G. Jeff Sessions with EPA Chief Scott Pruitt, who is doing a great job but is TOTALLY under siege? Do people really believe this stuff? So much of the media is dishonest and corrupt!'" ...
... Besides Blowing His Fox "News" Interview, Pruitt Lied. Juliet Eilperin, et al., of the Washington Post: "Pruitt spoke at length during a Fox News interview about his role in [giving two young staffers steep pay raises] under an unusual maneuver involving their reappointment through a provision of the Safe Drinking Water Act. In the interview Wednesday, Pruitt implied he was not involved in those decisions. 'I found out this yesterday and I corrected the action, and we are in the process of finding out how it took place and correcting that going forward,' he told correspondent Ed Henry.... But two EPA officials and a White House official told The Post that the administrator instructed staff to award substantial pay boosts to both women, who had worked in different roles for him in Oklahoma." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: So (1) the White House told him he couldn't give these women big raises, (2) he did it anyway by misusing a provision of the Clean Water Act, (3) which he is otherwise trying to eviscerate, then (4) falsely claimed he knew nothing about it when he went on national teevee. Here's some career advice: if you try stunts like this on the job, no matter how secure you think your job is, you'll be fired...
... Liam Stack of the New York Times: "Here are some of the big-ticket items Mr. Pruitt ... wanted -- some of which he got. Private Jets and First-Class Airfare.... Expensive Furniture, Some of It Bulletproof.... Expanded 24-Hour Security Detail.... A Flashy Motorcade.... An Office Security Booth." Read the story for the details. ...
... AP Scotty Watch: 4:30 pm ET: "Embattled Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt has met with ... Donald Trump to lay out his case for why he should remain in his post. Pruitt visited the White House on Friday to discuss his agency's recent steps to roll back Obama-era fuel efficiency standards for cars. But according to two administration officials, he also fought for his job in his meeting with the president.... 3:05 pm: The White House is conducting a review of ethical questions surrounding Scott Pruitt...." ...
... ** Lorraine Woellert of Politico: "Conservative leaders are urging President Donald Trump to stand behind embattled EPA chiefScott Pruitt, organizing for the first time to present a unified front in defense of a Trump Cabinet official. In a letter delivered to the White House on Friday, the group of prominent conservatives thanked Trump for sticking with Pruitt, one of their ideological brethren, and said, in essence, that Pruitt's policy accomplishments made him worth the trouble. 'The days of a rogue, agenda driven EPA are over,' the group wrote.... 'This is the conservative movement coming forward and saying this guy is rock star,' said another strategist involved in crafting the letter. 'I have not seen a more united conservative front on behalf of a Cabinet member since the Reagan administration.'" --safari: More evidence the whole Conservative movement is corrupt to the core.
Julie Davis & Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, told President Trump last week that Scott Pruitt, his embattled administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, needed to go, according to two officials briefed about the conversation, following damaging allegations of ethical infractions and spending irregularities by the E.P.A. chief. But Mr. Trump, who is personally fond of Mr. Pruitt and sees him as a crucial ally in his effort to roll back environmental protections, has resisted firing him, disregarding warnings that the drumbeat of negative headlines has grown unsustainable, and that more embarrassing revelations could surface. White House officials said on Friday that Mr. Trump continues to believe that Mr. Pruitt has been effective in his role, and stressed that it was up to the president alone to decide his fate." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Emily Atkin of the New Republic: Scott Pruitt owes the support he's getting from President Dumbo because of his perceived effectiveness. "'I think he's done a fantastic job,' Trump told reporters Thursday. "But how 'effective' has Scott Pruitt been?... At the moment, most of Pruitt's actions are in the proposal stage, and many are years away from being finalized. Several have been halted or overturned by the courts.... At least ten of Pruitt's intended regulatory rollbacks, in fact, are on hold due to lawsuits.... Several of Pruitt's actions have been overturned by federal judges.... 'Governing by press release' -- that's how David Hayes, Environmental Impact Center's executive director, described Pruitt's strategy in an email.... In Trump's world, the press release -- or the television appearance, or the tweet -- is everything.... He should not be underestimated. To date, though, most of his alleged accomplishments are hollow or incomplete. He has started many battles, but few have been decisive." ...
... Here's the Real Explanation for Trump's Support. Dina Radtke of Media Matters: "Fox News' morning show Fox & Friends continues to cover up the growing number of scandals plaguing Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt, giving the story less than two minutes of coverage throughout the week." Mrs. McC: Dirty Scotty has a job till White House personnel directory Steve Doocy sends a pink slip. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: And, like the Harts, I was so hoping we'd have a Friday afternoon news dump/farewell party for Scotty. Ah, well -- here's your consolation prize:
Mrs. McC: Guess I'll have to "retire" this photo.... Good Night, Pajama Boy, Wherever You Are. Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Rep. Blake Farenthold, a Texas Republican who was facing an ethics investigation after using taxpayer funds to settle a sexual harassment claim from a former staffer, abruptly resigned his seat Friday. Farenthold had announced in December that he would not seek reelection, but until Friday he appeared determined to serve out his fourth term in the House. He said in a statement Friday that he had sent a letter to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) resigning his seat effective at 5 p.m." ...
... Here's the Dallas Morning News story, by Todd Gillman.
Jamie Lovegrove of the Charleston, S.C., Post & Courier: "A South Carolina Republican congressman is not backing down from critics after he pulled out his own personal -- and loaded -- .38-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun during a meeting with constituents Friday. U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, R-Rock Hill, told The Post and Courier he pulled out the weapon and placed it on a table for several minutes in attempt to make a point that guns are only dangerous in the hands of criminals. 'I'm not going to be a Gabby Giffords,' Norman said afterward, referring to the former Arizona Democratic congresswoman who was shot outside a Tucson-area grocery store during a constituent gathering in 2011.... Far from regretting the decision, Norman said he plans to do it more often at constituent meetings moving forward. He contested the notion that anyone was frightened at the sight of the gun, saying nobody reacted strongly or tried to leave the meeting. 'I'm tired of these liberals jumping on the guns themselves as if they are the cause of the problem,' Norman said. 'Guns are not the problem.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: No, Ralph, you -- and idiots like you -- are. And your remark about Gabby Giffords was unconscionable.
Ella Nilsen of Vox: "It's official: The number of women running for the US House of Representatives this year has broken a record, a new analysis from the Associated Press has found. 309 women, Republicans and Democrats alike, have filed candidacy papers to run for the House, eclipsing the previous record of 298 set in 2012, according to data from the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University that AP analyzed. And that number is likely to grow in the coming months.... The current representation of women and men in Congress is severely lopsided. Women make up less than 20 percent of Congress. Out of 535 total members, there are just 22 women senators and 83 women representatives." --safari
Maria Cramer of the Boston Globe: "A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit on Friday that challenged Massachusetts' ban on assault weapons, delivering a significant victory for Attorney General Maura Healey, who had tightened enforcement of the state's laws against such weapons after the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Florida. In his ruling, U S District Judge William Young wrote the state's two-decade-old ban on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines do not violate the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment."
Extreme Snowflakes. Kelly Neill of The Daily Beast: "Before the group imploded amid a domestic violence case last month, the neo-Nazi Traditionalist Worker Party was bickering with former allies, and besieged by anti-fascist protesters, leaked chat logs reveal.... Their grievances weren't just with anti-fascists, however. The leaked chats reveal a fragile relationship with Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi group implicated in four recent murders.... A TWP member later shared a screenshot of a piece of fanfiction an Atomwaffen member allegedly wrote about him, which described him having sex with [TWP leader Matthew] Heimbach and a chicken leg.... [T]he TWP logs reveal a group increasingly worried about attacks from protesters, either real or imagined." --safari
E. A. Crunden of ThinkProgress: "Puerto Rico will close 283 schools across the island following a sharp enrollment drop as the U.S. territory continues to languish in recovery efforts almost seven months after a devastating hurricane...Many of the island's schools are still experiencing power outages and interruptions in their schedules. In January, the Washington Post reported that many teachers were resorting to printing assignments at spots like Burger King, where power is functioning more consistently.... Puerto Rico isn't alone. The U.S. Virgin Islands, also badly hit during last year's hurricane season, are struggling as well." --safari
Way Beyond the Beltway
Loveday Morris of the Washington Post: "Two Palestinians succumbed early Saturday to injuries sustained in a protest on the border fence with Israel a day earlier, including a journalist shot by Israeli forces despite apparently wearing a vest that clearly marked him as press. Video and photos of Yasser Murtaja, 31, being treated after sustaining a bullet wound to the lower abdomen, including one shot by Agence France-Presse news agency, show him wearing a blue and white protective jacket with 'PRESS' emblazoned on the front." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Maybe Trump can get away with caging reporters & shooting somebody in broad daylight on Fifth Avenue, but let's see if Bibi can get away with murdering a working journalist.
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