The Commentariat -- February 6, 2018
It Is Treasonous Not to Applaud the Dear Leader. Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Trump accused Democrats on Monday of 'treasonous' behavior during his State of the Union address. Trump took aim at Democratic members of Congress who refused to applaud during his speech when he mentioned his achievements over the past year. 'Can we call that treason? Why not?' the president said during a speech in Ohio. 'They certainly didn't seem to love our country very much.'" Mrs. McC: We are down the rabbithole. And here I was incensed Trump implied one Democratic Congressman was a criminal. Now it turns out they're all traitors. Hang 'em by the neck until dead. (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Jonathan Chait: "It is totally beyond the pale for a president to describe the opposing party as having committed treason for failing to applaud his speech. It is the logic and rhetoric of authoritarianism in its purest form. But if Trump does it in the middle of a Don Rickles -- style riff, does that make it better? Worse? Just weirder?" ...
... "Cadet Bone Spurs." Elizabeth Preza of RawStory: "Donald Trump ... suggested Democrats who did not clap for him during the State of the Union may have committed 'treason.'... [Sen. Tammy] Duckworth [D-IL] hit back at those remarks. 'We don't live in a dictatorship or a monarchy,' Duckworth, a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, tweeted. 'I swore an oath ― in the military and in the Senate ― to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, not to mindlessly cater to the whims of Cadet Bone Spurs and clap when he demands I clap.'" --safari: For all the petty name-calling in Washington, this one has to stick in Drumpf's craw; It's right on point. ...
... Conservative Rick Wilson of the Daily Beast outlines many of the ways Donald Trump has proved to be "the real traitor." Thanks to NJC for the link. Mrs. McC: The treason riff is another Trump tell. One thing we've learned over these past few years is that Trump often calls people the names he (perhaps deep-down) realizes apply to him. So there is some significance to his accusing his adversaries of treason. Slinking through the soft tissue beneath the weird orange combover, there is an intimation of treason. The evidence Mueller is gathering, the suspicions of the public, are festering in the gelatinous gray matter. Fear of exposure has moved the Trumpster into his habitual attack practice of trying to other-direct the label that more aptly applies to him. ...
... Jim Fallows of the Atlantic briefly reviews several books about the Trump presidency, whatever one wants to call it. "And whether you prefer 'Trumpocracy,' 'dying democracy,' 'tribalism,' or 'fascism' to describe the disease, these books leave no doubt that treatment is needed, now." (Also linked yesterday.)
... President* Casually Provokes International Incident with Ally. Karla Adam of the Washington Post: "President Trump took a swing at Britain's beloved National Health Service on Monday, tweeting that Britons were marching in the streets because their universal health-care system was financially strapped and dysfunctional, and got a swift rebuke from the British prime minister. 'The Democrats are pushing for Universal HealthCare while thousands of people are marching in the UK because their U system is going broke and not working. Dems want to greatly raise taxes for really bad and non-personal medical care. No thanks!' he wrote. But the thousands of Britons who took to the streets over the weekend were marching in support of the NHS and calling for greater government funding.... A spokesman for [PM Theresa] May said that 'the prime minister is proud of our NHS, that is free at the point of delivery....'... 'I may disagree with claims made on that march but not ONE of them wants to live in a system where 28m people have no cover[,' tweeted British health secretary Jeremy Hunt.]... Responding to Trump's comments, the march organizers said they were campaigning against a U.S.-style health-care system that they said is 'expensive, inefficient and unjust.'" Inspiring Trump's attack: right-wing Brit Nigel Farage on the Fox News segment, who said the NHS was "pretty much at a breaking point" because of a "population crisis."; i.e., too many A-rabs. Emphasis added. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Whaddaya mean "unfit for office"?
Kaitlan Collins & Tal Kopan of CNN: "The White House is dismissing an immigration deal brokered by a bipartisan group of lawmakers as a non-starter just hours before it is expected to be formally introduced in the Senate. Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain and Delaware Democratic Sen. Chris Coons are slated to introduce a bill Monday that would grant eventual citizenship to young undocumented immigrants who have been in the country since 2013 and came to the US as children, but it does not address all of the President's stated immigration priorities, like ending family-based immigration categories -- which Republicans call 'chain migration' -- or ending the diversity visa program." Mrs. McC: Big surprise, right? (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
This Russia Thing
"President* Can't Testify Because He's a Liar." -- Trump Attys. Michael Shear & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Lawyers for President Trump have advised him against sitting down for a wide-ranging interview with the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, according to four people briefed on the matter, raising the specter of a monthslong court battle over whether the president must answer questions under oath. His lawyers are concerned that the president, who has a history of making false statements and contradicting himself, could be charged with lying to investigators. Their stance puts them at odds with Mr. Trump, who has said publicly and privately that he is eager to speak with Mr. Mueller as part of the investigation into possible ties between his associates and Russia's election interference, and whether he obstructed justice.... Refusing to sit for an interview opens the possibility that Mr. Mueller will subpoena the president to testify before a grand jury, setting up a court fight that would drastically escalate the investigation and could be decided by the Supreme Court." ...
... The Perp. Josh Marshall: "Let’s be candid about what this means. The President is pleading the 5th while trying to avoid saying that's what he's doing. Let's call it the de facto 5th. The constitutional law is clear cut.... A sitting President has no blanket right to refuse to cooperate with a criminal investigation.... The President is obviously guilty of obstruction of justice.... It makes perfect sense to refuse to talk. Perps do that all the time.... [T]he President's lawyers' argument appears to be that the President is innocent of any crimes but that he is also a pathological liar.... The other notable claim is that Trump's lawyers and advisors believe that if Trump refuses a voluntary request for an interview, which is his right, Mueller might lack the nerve to subpoena him." --safari...
... Kevin Drum: "The president's lawyers are playing a weak hand here. If they decline an interview and Mueller issues a subpoena, Trump has to testify without benefit of counsel. That's the last thing they want, and Mueller knows it. With the Starr precedent to back him up, all Mueller has to do is give them a simple choice: Trump can testify either voluntarily with counsel or under subpoena without counsel.... Trump is on thin ice for another reason: he can tweet all he wants about this being a witch hunt, but Republicans control every branch of government. This investigation isn't being run by Democrats and Mueller wasn't appointed by a bunch of liberals." ...
... Guardian & Reuters: "The former White House senior strategist Steve Bannon will not testify before the intelligence committee of the US House of Representatives on Tuesday, according to sources -- defying a subpoena requiring him to appear. Representative Mike Conaway, a senior Republican committee member, told reporters on Monday that he expected Bannon to comply with a subpoena and answer questions on Tuesday. But a source close to Bannon confirmed to the Guardian that he would not appear. The source cited a lack of agreement on the scope of questioning between the intelligence committee and the White House, while noting Bannon's intention to eventually meet with House investigators. In the meantime, the source said, Bannon would be interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller." ...
... Alayna Treene of Axios: "Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah told reporters on Air Force One Monday that President Trump's attorneys have already approved the idea of appointing a second special counsel to investigate the FBI and Justice Department's actions during the 2016 presidential campaign, according to White House pool reports." ...
... Another Amoral Grunt. Olivia Nuzzi of New York: "Before joining the Trump administration, the White House principal deputy press secretary, Raj Shah, called President Donald Trump 'a deplorable' and referred to the release of the Access Hollywood tape as 'some justice.'..." -safari ...
... Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "The House Intelligence Committee voted unanimously on Monday to make public a classified Democratic memorandum rebutting Republican claims that the F.B.I. and the Justice Department had abused their powers to wiretap a former Trump campaign official, setting up a possible clash with President Trump. The vote gives Mr. Trump five days to review the Democratic memo and determine whether he will try to block its release.... Mr. Trump vocally supported the release of the Republicans' memo last week, declassifying its contents on Friday over the objections of Democrats and his own F.B.I., which issued a rare public statement to warn that it had 'grave concerns' about the memo's accuracy.... If Mr. Trump tries to block the Democratic memo's release, House rules allow Democrats to seek a closed-door vote of the full House of Representatives to override the president." ...
... President* Accuses Congressman of Illegal Leaking; Says He "Must Be Stopped." Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump accused a top Democratic lawmaker on Monday of being 'one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington,' calling Representative Adam Schiff of California 'Little Adam Schiff' and accusing him of illegally leaking confidential information from the House Intelligence Committee. In an early-morning tweet, Mr. Trump ominously said that Mr. Schiff 'must be stopped,' though he did not elaborate. The president's insult came as Mr. Schiff is expected to call for a vote on Monday afternoon for the Intelligence Committee to release a Democratic rebuttal to the classified memo that the panel's Republicans released on Friday, which accuses federal law enforcement officials of abusing their powers to spy on a former Trump campaign official.... 'Little Adam Schiff, who is desperate to run for higher office, is one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington, right up there with Comey, Warner, Brennan and Clapper!,' Mr. Trump tweeted, referring to former James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director; Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia; John O. Brennan, the former C.I.A. director; and James R. Clapper Jr., the former director of national intelligence. 'Adam leaves closed committee hearings to illegally leak confidential information. Must be stopped!'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: It is hard to imagine another president cavalierly and without evidence accusing a sitting member of Congress of criminal behavior. But there you go. ...
... Hey, Who Reads the Footnotes? Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Republican leaders are acknowledging that a footnote to an FBI application to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page disclosed the potential political origins of a controversial private dossier cited by the application, undermining the argument of a secret memo they released on Friday and bringing new Democratic pressure on the GOP to declassify more information about the bureau's actions.... 'Neither the initial application in October 2016, nor any of the renewals, disclose or reference the role of the DNC, Clinton campaign, or any party/campaign in funding Steele's efforts, even though the political origins of the Steele dossier were then known to senior and FBI officials,' the memo alleged. But in an appearance on Fox & Friends, [Devin] Nunes was asked about reports over the weekend that the FBI application did refer to a political entity connected to the dossier.... Nunes conceded that a 'footnote' to that effect was included in the application, while faulting the bureau for failing to provide more specifics." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... The Font Was Too Small! Jonathan Chait: "Notice how The FBI LIED about the Steele dossier has been scaled back to, The FBI did not highlight the truth about the Steele Dossier in the part of the application we bothered to read. So now the main attack on the FBI is about font size. No doubt all the subsequent memos Nunes is promising to release will have additional bombshells." ...
... Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "In his Monday interview [on Fox 'News'], [Rep. Devin] Nunes demonstrated a remarkable lack of understanding of one of the unintentionally vital aspects of the memo he released: its admission that ... the FBI [launched its] investigation into the Trump campaign to the actions of ... George Papadopoulos.... Papadopoulos ... was told in early 2016 that the Russians had 'dirt' on [Hillary] Clinton and relayed that knowledge to an Australian diplomat over drinks. When information stolen from the Democratic National Committee began trickling out, the Australians tipped off the FBI, which launched an investigation.... [Nunes said,] 'As far as we can tell, Papadopoulos never ... even had met with the president. And look, getting drunk in London and talking to diplomats saying that you don't like Hillary Clinton is, really -- I think it's kind of scary that our intelligence agencies would take that and use it against an American citizen.'... Papadopoulos didn't simply say he didn't like Clinton, he allegedly told a foreign official that he'd been told that the Russians had dirt against Clinton. The argument Nunes uses to create that distance [between Papadopoulos & Trump] is an extremely poor one. Trump himself once tweeted a picture of himself meeting with Papadopoulos." ...
... Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly: "Only a couple of weeks ago, Republicans cooked up a conspiracy theory about a so-called 'secret society' at the FBI that was attempting to bring down the Trump administration. But something that got overlooked during the run-up to the release of the Nunes memo indicates that it was actually a group of Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee that had a secret group meeting to undermine the Mueller investigation. This announcement came on the same day the committee voted to release the memo. 'The House Intelligence Committee, led by Republicans, has opened a new investigation into both the Department of Justice and the FBI. Ranking Member Adam Schiff, D-Calif., told reporters the Democratic minority was informed of the apparently new investigations Monday night 'for the first time.' According to committee rules, the majority has to consult with the minority before opening an investigation. Schiff said Monday night there was no such consultation." The Nunes secret society has worked for weeks & continues to do so behind closed doors. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Strange Bedfellows. Matt Ford of the New Republic: "... skeptics are right to be wary of federal law-enforcement agencies and those who lead them, given the abuses of the past. But those abuses also underscore the danger of letting Republicans turn the bureau into a political tool for their own purposes -- and that's why Democrats are right to defend the FBI today.... Ironically, the FBI's most egregious breaches of public trust in the modern era occurred under Director James Comey.... Comey made two major interventions in the 2016 presidential race. He publicly castigated Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, despite bringing no criminal charges against her, then sent a letter to Congress two weeks before Election Day announcing the bureau had reopened its investigation. He followed up two days before Election Day to note that nothing relevant had been discovered, but the damage was already done: His actions may have cost Clinton the election. Comey's actions inflicted the very damage to the FBI that they were supposed to prevent." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I would add here that right before the election, Comey also allowed the Bureau to falsely deny (to the New York Times) any possible relationship between the Trump campaign & election-meddling, at the very time the FBI was deep into an investigation of that very likelihood. (If you don't believe me, you could ask Devin Nunes.) This created the false narrative that Clinton was suspicious & careless while Trump was pure as the driven snow.
... Garrett Graff of Wired: "Bob Mueller's investigation is larger -- and further along -- than you think.... We speak about the 'Mueller probe' as a single entity, but ... there are no fewer than five (known) separate investigations under the broad umbrella of the special counsel's office.... 1. Preexisting Business Deals and Money Laundering.... 2. Russian Information Operations.... 3. Active Cyber Intrusions.... 4. Russian Campaign Contacts.... 5. Obstruction of Justice." ...
... ** Digby has a good piece in Salon on winger hypocrisy: "In an epic example of projection, the party that launched partisan probes for decades now claims to be horrified." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Charlie Savage & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "The New York Times is asking the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to unseal secret documents related to the wiretapping of Carter Page, the onetime Trump campaign adviser at the center of a disputed memo written by Republican staffers on the House Intelligence Committee. The motion is unusual. No such wiretapping application materials apparently have become public since Congress first enacted the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in 1978.... But President Trump lowered the shield of secrecy surrounding such materials on Friday by declassifying the Republican memo about Mr. Page, after finding that the public interest in disclosing its contents outweighed any need to protect the information. Because Mr. Trump did so, The Times argues, there is no longer a justification 'for the Page warrant orders and application materials to be withheld in their entirety,' and 'disclosure would serve the public interest.'" ...
... ** Jonathan Chait: "Once again, as the facts have emerged in full, the underlying conclusions [of the Nunes memo] hyped by conservatives have melted away.... But ... the collapse of the factual underpinnings beneath the conservatives' claims left no impression on them whatsoever. There is no sense of chastening or remorse on the right. To the contrary, Republicans retain all of their initial fervor to use the memo to prosecute their targets in the deep state.... Cultivating distrust in institutions that are designed to play a neutral, mediating role is one of the central functions of conservative politics. It is a game that conservatives know how to win, because they are waging asymmetric warfare. There is no good way for an institution to withstand partisan attack when its existence relies upon maintaining some distance from partisanship.... There is no way to refute bad-faith criticism." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
...Josh Marshall: "[A]t the end of the 'Memo' drama Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) asked Nunes whether he'd worked with the White House on producing the memo. Nunes evaded the question. He has not followed up with any denial.... You don't need to look long to find the probable point of contact between Nunes and the White House. Michael Ellis is Senior Associate White House Counsel, Special Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Council Legal Advisor.... Before he went to work at the White House Counsel's office he served as Nunes' General Counsel on the House Intelligence Committee.... Ellis and Nunes have already done something just like this at least once before ... the origin of the 'unmasking' conspiracy theory." --safari...
... Nora Ellingsen, et al., of Lawfare obtained FOIA documents proving that Trump & his administration lied when they claimed in May 2017 that one reason for firing James Comey was that he did not have the backing of rank-&-file FBI personnel. For instance, "The president of the FBI Agents Association, Thomas O'Connor, called Comey's firing a 'gut punch.'... [Instead, there was] a reaction of 'shock' and 'profound sadness' at the removal of a beloved figure to whom the workforce was deeply attached. It also shows that no aspect of the White House's statements about the bureau were accurate -- and, indeed, that the White House engendered at least some resentment among the rank and file for whom it purported to speak." The article includes a a pdf of the entire FBI documentation Lawfare received. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I really would like Mrs. Huckleberry to have to answer to Bob Mueller for her remarks. She claimed "she personally had 'heard from countless members of the FBI that are grateful and thankful for the president's decision.'” Okay, fine, Mrs. H. Produce "countless" letters, phone logs, etc. It may not be a crime to lie to the American people but to invent a false narrative to cover up the "real reason" for firing Comey is to participate in obstruction of justice. And that is a crime. ...
... Ed Kilgore: "Whatever else the firing of Comey and subsequent actions by the White House to stop the Russia investigation signify, they show a reckless disregard for the impact on the FBI, which was not demoralized until Trump demoralized it. All the loose GOP talk in connection with the Nunes memo of 'cleansing' the FBI has got to be making the atmosphere a lot worse, particularly among career types who must be in profound shock -- if not seized by hysterical laughter -- by the suggestion that the Bureau as been in the grips of some sort of leftist cabal." Mrs. McC: Yes, but Trumpetmaster Putin is awfully happy to see a U.S. intelligence agency in turmoil. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
** Paul Lewis of the Guardian: "The top-ranking Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee [Mark Warner] has warned that YouTube's powerful recommendation algorithm may be 'optimising for outrageous, salacious and often fraudulent content' or susceptible to 'manipulation by bad actors, including foreign intelligence entities'.... [He] made the stark warning after an investigation by the Guardian found that the Google-owned video platform was systematically promoting divisive and conspiratorial videos that were damaging to Hillary Clinton's campaign in the months leading up to the 2016 election.... An analysis of the videos contained in the database suggests the algorithm was six times more likely to recommend videos that was damaging to Clinton than Trump, and also tended to amplify wild conspiracy theories about the former secretary of state...The Alex Jones Channel, the broadcasting arm of the far-right conspiracy website InfoWars, was one of the most recommended channels in the database of videos." --safari...
... Denise Clifton of Mother Jones: "Trump supporters are among the most prolific social media users spreading fake news and conspiracy content, according to new research out from Oxford University's Computational Propaganda Research Project, which has been studying disinformation campaigns globally since 2014.... The Oxford researchers found that those pro-Trump accounts, though comprising less than a sixth of the total accounts, were responsible for 55 percent of the 'junk news' tweeted out.... (The research doesn't address whether any of these Twitter and Facebook accounts may be controlled by bots or other deceptive online operators.)" --safari
Patrick Rucker of Reuters: "Mick Mulvaney, head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has pulled back from a full-scale probe of how Equifax Inc failed to protect the personal data of millions of consumers, according to people familiar with the matter." Mrs. McC: Because protecting Americans' personal data is so wrong. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
War on Science. Brianna Ehley & Sarah Karlin-Smith of Politico: "... Donald Trump's war on opioids is beginning to look more like a war on his drug policy office. White House counselor Kellyanne Conway has taken control of the opioids agenda, quietly freezing out drug policy professionals and relying instead on political staff to address a lethal crisis claiming about 175 lives a day. The main response so far has been to call for a border wall and to promise a 'just say no' campaign. Trump is expected to propose massive cuts this month to the 'drug czar' office, just as he attempted in last year's budget before backing off. He hasn't named a permanent director for the office, and the chief of staff was sacked in December. For months, the office's top political appointee was a 24-year-old Trump campaign staffer with no relevant qualifications. Its senior leadership consists of a skeleton crew of three political appointees, down from nine a year ago." ...
... AND TrumpCare = JesusCare. Ed Mazza of the Huffington Post: "A controversial minister linked to ... Donald Trump said flu> shots aren't necessary when you have Jesus. 'Inoculate yourself with the word of God,' urged Gloria Copeland, who with her husband co-founded the Kenneth Copeland Ministries in Texas. Both serve on Trump's evangelical advisory board.... She said the faithful who don't have the flu can ward off the infection by repeatedly saying, 'I'll never have the flu. I'll never have the flu.'... Last week, the CDC said flu hospitalizations have reached their highest point in nearly a decade, and that 48 states are experiencing widespread illnesses due to the virus." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: This of course was a common belief back in ancient, superstitious times. People didn't understand viruses & germs & physiological anomalies, so it was kinda "reasonable" to suspect that the gods made them sick because they had done something to displease the gods. The Gospels are full of stories about Jesus's healing the sick when they -- or their loved ones -- demonstrated their faith in the Hebrew God. That somebody would make the same argument in 2018 is not "reasonable."
Democracy Now! discusses Paul Ryan's tax policy and the Koch's major windfall, verifying the discussion in the comments section a few days back.
Senate Race
God Opposes Bachmann Run. Sarah Bailey of the Washington Post: "Former U.S. representative Michele Bachmann has decided not to run for the U.S. Senate seat recently vacated by Al Franken, just weeks after she told a televangelist she was mulling the decision.... In a broadcast published by Right Wing Watch, Bachmann told Minnesota radio host Jan Markell on Saturday that she's decided against running for office, saying she prayed about the race and 'wasn't hearing any call from God to do this.'"
** Wow! Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Monday denied a request from Pennsylvania Republicans to delay redrawing congressional lines, meaning the 2018 elections in the state will probably be held in districts far more favorable to Democrats. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who hears emergency requests from the state, turned down the petition without obvious objection from his colleagues. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court last month ruled that the state's Republican legislative leaders had violated the state Constitution by unfairly favoring the GOP. Although there are more registered Democrats than Republicans in the state, Republicans hold 13 of 18 congressional seats. It is the most significant victory by critics of the way most congressional and legislative districts are drawn and a sign that their efforts will be felt as early as this fall's midterm elections." Mrs. McC: Thanks, Sam. And I mean that this time. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Barnes spells out why this is a big deal -- and a significant change in Supreme Court "philosophy": "The justices are traditionally reluctant to order changes in an election year, for one thing. And they have never thrown out a state's redistricting plan because they found it so infected with partisan bias that it violates voters' constitutional rights."...
... GOP War on Justice, Ctd. Jonathan Lai & Liz Navratil of The Philadelphia Enquirer: "[T]he [Pennsylvania] legislature's two highest-ranking Republicans signaled Monday that they might not be willing to give up their fight. Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R., Jefferson) and House Speaker Mike Turzai (R., Allegheny) issued a joint statement saying they would attempt to comply with the state Supreme Court's order to redraw congressional maps by Friday 'but may be compelled to pursue further legal action in federal court.'... [A] rank-and-file Republican [Cris Dush (R., Jefferson)] issued a memo seeking co-sponsors for a bill that would seek the impeachment of the five Democratic justices who declared the maps unconstitutional. It's unclear exactly how far that attempt will go." --safari ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: These bozos can sue whomever they want -- probably on the state's dime. But the Supremes -- in the person of Sam Alito, no less -- have already told state Republicans they don't have a case, so a lower court -- preferring not to be overturned -- is unlikely to be sympathetic to some slightly different legal theory of their position.
Jack Ewing & Alexandra Stevenson of the New York Times: "A stock market rout in the United States took on global contours on Tuesday, as investors from Tokyo to Hong Kong and London to Frankfurt sent shares tumbling. The sharp falls have come despite generally positive economic news around the world. There is strong growth on every continent, interest rates are at or near record lows, and the United States has just passed a sweeping tax overhaul that will dramatically lower corporate taxes. President Trump has touted seemingly unending stock market highs as proof of improved economic prospects. But those positive factors have also, in part, created the circumstances for the recent sell-off. Accelerating growth means central banks are gradually looking to take away economic stimulus, and rising interest rates could eat into corporate profits. Workers, meanwhile, are increasingly demanding their share through wage increases." ...
The reason our stock market is so successful is because of me. -- Donald Trump, November 2017
Good time to recall that in the previous administration, we NEVER boasted about the stock market — even though the Dow more than doubled on Obama's watch -- because we knew two things: 1) the stock market is not the economy; and 2) if you claim the rise, you own the fall. -- Jay Carney, President Obama's first press secretary ...
... The Trump Slump. Matt Phillips of the New York Times: "The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index fell by more than 4 percent on Monday, deepening its losses from the previous week and erasing its gains for the year. The Dow Jones industrial average sank by 4.6 percent. Bond yields, the basis for key borrowing costs such as mortgage rates, have risen fast in recent weeks. In trading in Asia on Tuesday morning, markets signaled another tough day.... New leadership at the Fed is adding a degree of uncertainty. Jerome H. Powell was sworn in as the 16th chairman of the Federal Reserve on Monday, after the departure of his predecessor, Janet L. Yellen.... A rocky patch for the markets could become awkward for President Trump. He has repeatedly claimed credit for surging stocks, while business optimism over his push to cut taxes and decrease regulation has helped fuel the 'Trump Bump.'" ...
... Damian Paletta & Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "President Trump and congressional Republicans have spent much of the past year trying to connect a giddy stock market rally with their economic agenda, but stocks' precipitous plunge in the past five days has delivered a sobering reality: What goes up can come back down -- quickly and with little warning. With Monday's steep fall, Trump has presided over the biggest stock market drop in U.S. history, when measured by points in the Dow Jones industrial average. The free fall began in earnest Jan. 30 and snowballed Friday and Monday, for a combined loss of almost 2,100 points, or 8 percent of the Dow's value. It is also unclear if the past week will amount to a small correction o the beginning of a painful slide that many investors said was overdue.... Trump delivered a speech on his economic agenda Monday that didn't mention the stock market once, a rare occurrence for him. After tweeting incessantly about the stock market in 2017, Trump has stopped since Jan. 20." ...
... Poetic Numeric Justice. Aaron Rupar of ThinkProgress: "... Fox News interrupted a live broadcast of a speech Trump delivered in Ohio on Monday to tout the tax cut bill to instead cover a historic drop in the Dow Jones industrial average. During the speech, Trump said that the tax cut bill 'set off a tidal wave of good news that continues to grow every single day.' But his message was contradicted by chyrons detailing the Dow's plunge.... Trump’s conflation of the stock market and the broader economy was problematic to begin with, given that nearly half of the country has nothing invested in the market. And it never made sense for Trump to take credit for a stock market that has been gaining steadily since it recovered from the financial collapse of 2008." ...
... Paul Krugman: "It's surely not a good thing that Trump got rid of one of the most distinguished Federal Reserve chairs in history just before markets started to flash some warning signs. Jerome Powell, Janet Yellen's replacement, seems like a reasonable guy. But we have no idea how well he would handle a crisis if one developed. Meanwhile, the current secretary of the Treasury -- who declared of Davos, 'I don't think it's a hangout for globalists' — may be the least distinguished, least informed individual ever to hold that position. So are we heading for trouble? Too soon to tell. But if we are, rest assured that we’ll have the worst possible people on the case."
Just another day in the life of ...
Damian Carrington of the Guardian: "The ozone layer that protects people from the sun’s ultraviolet radiation is not recovering over most highly populated regions, scientists warned on Tuesday. The greatest losses in ozone occurred over Antarctica but the hole there has been closing since the chemicals causing the problem were banned by the Montreal protocol. But the ozone layer wraps the entire Earth and new research has revealed it is thinning in the lower stratosphere over the non-polar areas.... Reduced protection from cancer-causing UV rays is especially concerning towards the equator, where sunlight is stronger and billions of people live." --safari
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