The Commentariat -- April 24, 2018
Afternoon Update:
Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee is examining allegations that President Trump's nominee to lead the Veterans Affairs Department oversaw a hostile work environment as the White House physician and allowed the overprescribing of drugs, according to congressional officials briefed on the committee's work. They have also received claims that Dr. Ronny L. Jackson drank too much on the job. The allegations, which have been under investigation since last week, forced the postponement of Dr. Jackson's confirmation hearing, planned for this Wednesday as senators scrutinize the nominee's time leading the White House medical staff. Officials familiar with the allegations against Dr. Jackson declined to offer precise details but said that they suggest a pattern of behavior, not just one or two isolated incidents." Mrs. McC: You read it in the New York Times, so it must be true. ...
... Update: Nothing Is Ever Trump's Fault. Michael Shear has been added to the byline. "President Trump acknowledged Tuesday that Ronny L. Jackson, his nominee to lead the Veterans Affairs Department, is in serious trouble amid allegations that he oversaw a hostile work environment as the White House doctor, allowed the overprescribing of drugs and possibly drank on the job. Speaking at a news conference with the president of France, Mr. Trump strongly defended Dr. Jackson as 'one of the finest people that I have met,' but he hinted that Dr. Jackson might soon withdraw from consideration, blaming Democrats for mounting an unfair attack on his nominee's record. 'I don't want to put a man through a process like this,' Mr. Trump said, calling the allegations about Mr. Jackson 'ugly.' The president said, 'The fact is, I wouldn't do it. What does he need it for? To be abuse by a number of politicians?' 'It's totally his decision,' Mr. Trump added, saying that he had talked with Dr. Jackson earlier in the day. Mr. Trump angrily accused his adversaries on Capitol Hill of going after Dr. Jackson because they have failed to block Mike Pompeo, the president's nominee to become the next secretary of state. 'They failed to stop him, so now they say "who's next?"' the president told reporters during the news conference in the East Room. The concern over Dr. Jackson's nomination, however, is bipartisan."
Julie Davis & Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Trump on Tuesday decried the nuclear agreement with Iran as a 'terrible deal' that failed to restrain threats from Tehran, but said he would use formal meetings with President Emmanuel Macron of France to discuss whether to preserve it.... 'It's insane. It's ridiculous,' Mr. Trump said of the 2015 nuclear accord, which lifted sanctions in exchange for restrictions on Iran's nuclear program. 'It should never have been made, but we will be talking about it.'"
The White House Communications Office Never Fails to Amuse. Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "President Trump's review of the troops to celebrate the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron's arrival at the White House Tuesday was keeping with tradition, though the president -- a self-proclaimed law-and-order leader with a professed weakness for military parades -- couldn't help but wear the Cheshire cat look of man who got to gaze upon his military might by simply stepping onto his back portico.... In announcing the arrival ceremony, the White House -- in perhaps either an effort to emphasize United States' long relationship with France or a bit of a historical blunder -- proclaimed the proud U.S. tradition of a military arrival ceremony dates back to the 17th Century -- at least approximately 76 years before the United States became a country."
The King was in the White House
Counting out his money.
The Queen was in the garden
Picking greens & honey.*
* Actually, that last bit is true.
Ben Schreckinger of Politico: Trump's lies false claims to Comey about not staying overnight in Moscow could bolster Mueller's case against him. "A conscious effort by Trump to mislead the FBI director could lend weight to the allegation -- contained in a largely unverified private research dossier compiled by a former British spy in 2016 -- that Trump engaged in compromising activity during the trip that exposed him to Russian government blackmail. It has also likely caught the eye of special counsel Robert Mueller, legal analysts say. False statements to Comey about the trip could demonstrate that Trump has 'consciousness of guilt,' according to Pete Zeidenberg, a former federal prosecutor who worked for special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation of national security-related leaks during the George W. Bush administration."
Ian Austen & Dan Bilefsky of the New York Times: "The 25-year-old driver of the van that careened down a busy Toronto street in a lethal rampage was charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder on Tuesday and 13 counts of attempted murder. The charges, announced at a Toronto court hearing for the suspect, Alek Minassian, came a day after the van rampage, which appears to have been the deadliest deliberate vehicular assault in modern Canadian history..... [Minassian] stopped the van on a sidewalk after the killings and surrendered to the police following a tense standoff in which he claimed to be armed and dared officers to shoot him in the head.... Scott Bardsley, a spokesman for Ralph Goodale, the public safety minister, said that the minister concluded that the killings 'were not national security related' following a discussions with several security officials...." ...
... Tasneem Nashrulla of BuzzFeed: "Federal authorities on Monday said they are investigating the father of Waffle House shooting suspect Travis Reinking after he returned his son's guns to him after they were confiscated by Illinois authorities last year. Reinking was arrested for using one of the weapons, an AR-15 rifle, to massacre four people Sunday. The actions of the suspect's father, Jeffrey Reinking, have also highlighted an Illinois gun law that one state senator calls a 'loophole' in the system. Democratic State Sen. Julie Morrison told BuzzFeed News on Monday that the state's Firearm Owners Identification card (FOID) Act, which allowed the father, 54, to keep his son's weapons, and then return them to him, 'should be looked into.'"
*****
Katie Rogers of the New York Times: At President Trump's first White House state dinner, the "guest list was whittled to around 120 people, down from highs of 350 or so people who attended previous bipartisan and media-filled dinners featuring celebrities and pop icons like Beyoncé. (The Washington National Opera will perform this year instead, the White House said.) Typically the leadership of the opposing party is invited to a state dinner, but the Trumps threw out that tradition as they also shunned journalists, who in previous administrations received a handful of invitations -- not surprising for a president who derides the 'fake news' media. There is at least one Democrat on the list, according to a White House official: John Bel Edwards, the governor of Louisiana.... The full guest list is expected to be released on Tuesday, right before the start of the dinner.... Much of the planning for Mr. Macron's arrival on Monday and the Tuesday dinner -- components of the most prominent affair a first lady can pull off -- has fallen to a small East Wing staff of 10 people."
Trumps take Macrons on a field trip to Mount Vernon even though Trump is "more presidential" than Washington:
Pamela Brown & Sarah Westwood of CNN: "... Donald Trump is increasingly relying on his personal cell phone to contact outside advisers, multiple sources inside and outside the White House told CNN, as Trump returns to the free-wheeling mode of operation that characterized the earliest days of his administration.... During the early days of [John] Kelly's tenure, multiple sources said, Trump made many of his calls from the White House switchboard -- a tactic that allowed the chief of staff to receive a printed list of who Trump had phoned. Kelly has less insight into who Trump calls on his personal cell phone. While Trump never entirely gave up his personal cell phone once Kelly came aboard, one source close to the White House speculated that the President is ramping up the use of his personal device recently in part because 'he doesn't want Kelly to know who he's talking to.'" ...
... Lock Him Up! Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: How secure do you think Trump's personal cell phone is? Probably just as secure as Princess Diana's cell was when she was making those "Squidgy" calls.
Sarah Sanders will have to get back to you on whether Trump, in a tweet this past weekend, used the white supremacist term "breeding" to refer to Latinos having, you know, litters of babies, like animals. Mrs. McC: That's okay, Sarah. We already know the real answer.
Trump & Sanders Signal Trump & Cohen Are Criminals. Callum Borchers of the Washington Post: "Over the weekend, [President Trump] tried to project confidence that his longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen -- under federal investigation for possible bank fraud, wire fraud and campaign finance violations -- will not flip to avoid legal trouble. But in doing so, and skipping a denial of wrongdoing, the president implied two things. One is that Cohen would need to strike a deal with prosecutors to avoid charges or prison time. Trump's tweet did not even entertain the idea that the investigation will turn up nothing because Cohen committed no crimes. The second is that Cohen possesses damaging information about the president. Trump said he believes Cohen will keep his mouth shut, not that Cohen can talk all he wants because there is no dirt to dish.... The simple, playing-it-cool response would be that the president encourages Cohen to cooperate fully with an investigation that will surely end in exoneration. But the White House hasn't said anything of the kind. n fact, the White House appears to be leaving open the door to a presidential pardon for Cohen -- which, of course, would be necessary only if there were a crime to pardon." When asked about a Cohen pardon, Sarah Sanders referred reporters to "personal attorneys." Borchers: But "questions about a presidential pardon fall squarely in the domain of the White House, not Trump's outside attorneys." ...
... "The Golden Shower Couldn't Have Happened Because I Wasn't Even There." Vernon Silver of Bloomberg: "... Donald Trump twice gave James Comey an alibi for why a salacious report about the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow couldn't be true: He never even spent the night in Russia during that trip, Trump told the former FBI director, according to Comey's memos about the conversations. Yet the broad timeline of Trump's stay, stretching from Friday, Nov. 8, 2013, through the following Sunday morning, has been widely reported. And it's substantiated by social media posts that show he slept in Moscow the night before the Miss Universe contest. Now, flight records obtained by Bloomberg provide fresh details. Combined with existing accounts and Trump's own social-media posts, they capture two days that, nearly five years later, loom large in the controversy engulfing the White House...." According to flight records, Trump arrived in Moscow during the day November 8 & left in the early morning hours of November 10. (Open link in private window.)
John Cassidy of the New Yorker: "... the seventy-one-year-old Trump currently in the White House is merely an older version of the thirty-seven-year-old Trump who misled [Forbes reporter Jonathan] Greenberg [about his fake wealth, using a fake persona] all those years ago.... At practically any other time in American history, public confirmation that the occupant of the Oval Office is a serial con man who lied, schemed, and impersonated his way to public prominence would have dominated the news for weeks. These days, though, the media is virtually overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of Trump stories." ...
Well, Of Course. Victoria Guida of Politico: "The Treasury Department Monday eased sanctions on Russian aluminum producer Rusal and said it would consider lifting them altogether if the company severs ties with Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch with close ties to President Vladimir Putin. Rusal was sanctioned earlier this month by Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control because of Deripaska's stake in the company. The Russian billionaire is alleged to have conducted a range of illegal activities, including money laundering, extortion and ordering the murder of a businessman, according to Treasury. He is also reportedly part of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Update. Polina Devitt, et al., of Reuters recount how Oleg Deripaska has been working since December to weaken the impact of U.S. sanctions. Mrs. McC: The reporters don't mention the part where Deripaska called his good friend Donald & told him to lay off. Or else.
Michael Gerson of the Washington Post: "The attitude of President Trump toward federal law enforcement is, to put it mildly, mixed. The FBI refused to bend to his will.... The FBI was, according to Trump, too preoccupied with the Russia investigation to prevent the Parkland, Fla., school shooting.... But Immigration and Customs Enforcement has passed the loyalty test. ICE's enforcement surge 'is merely the keeping of my campaign promise,' the president tweeted. Referring to ICE acting director Thomas Homan, Trump said, 'Somebody said the other day, they saw him on television.... "He looks very nasty, he looks very mean." I said, "That's what I'm looking for!"' This is territory more familiar in political systems of personal rule. The agency that defies the ruler must be discredited. The agency that does his bidding is viewed as a kind of Praetorian Guard.... ICE's 40 percent increase in arrests within the United States after Trump took office is now closely associated with the president's political priorities.... This is an issue ripe for more rigorous congressional oversight -- even an independent commission to investigate charges of physical and sexual abuse in the ICE system." ...
... John Cassidy of the New Yorker on how ICE raids affect the children of immigrants swept up in ICE raids. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: If you are wondering what happens to these children, most of whom are U.S. citizens, after their parents run into the deportation mill, here's a year-old report from the American Immigration Council that has some answers.
Rafael Bernal of the Hill: "Mexico's top diplomat on Monday rebuffed President Trump's suggestion to make immigration enforcement a precondition for a trade deal. 'Mexico decides its migratory policy in a sovereign way, and migratory cooperation with the United States happens because it's in Mexico's interest,' tweeted Secretary of Foreign Relations Luis Videgaray. Videgaray's tweet came an hour after Trump used the platform to threaten tying Mexico's record on immigration to the ongoing North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiations. 'Mexico, whose laws on immigration are very tough, must stop people from going through Mexico and into the U.S. We may make this a condition of the new NAFTA Agreement,' tweeted Trump." (See also news of Mexico's pending trade deal with the E.U., linked yesterday.) (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Seung Min Kim, et al., of the Washington Post: "Senate lawmakers have postponed the confirmation hearing for Ronny L. Jackson, President Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, after top Republicans and Democrats raised concerns about his qualifications and oversight of the White House medical staff, White House and other administration officials were told Monday. The development came just two days before Jackson, the White House physician, was scheduled to testify before the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs and threw what was looking to be a difficult confirmation process into further jeopardy. In addition to Jackson's lack of management experience, the former combat surgeon had come under fire for his glowing appraisal of Trump's health following his annual physical in January.... In recent days, fresh concerns arose about Jackson's management of the White House medical office, said the officials, who declined to provide details." ...
... Juana Summers, et al., of CNN: "Committee members have been told about allegations related to improper conduct in various stages of his career, two sources said [of Jackson].
... ** Ed O'Keefe & Nancy Cordes of CBS News: "The ranking Democrat on the Senate Veterans Affairs committee is reviewing allegations he's hearing about Ronny Jackson.... Sources familiar with the tales say that [Jon] Tester's [D-Mont.] staff is reviewing multiple allegations of a 'hostile work environment.' The accusations include 'excessive drinking on the job, improperly dispensing meds,' said one of the people familiar, who was granted anonymity to speak frankly about the situation. The other people familiar with the stories also confirmed those details. If proven true, 'it'll sink his nomination,' said one of the sources." Mrs. McC: One might surmise that the Trump White House did not vet Jackson at all after Trump made his surprise-tweet-announcement he had nominated Jackson. ...
... Tom Levenson of Balloon Juice: This "is also a reminder: Trump diminishes every single person who touches him." Mrs. McC: That's not an accident. If Trump hadn't impulsively tweet-announced Jackson's nomination, if he had even interviewed Jackson for the job, as apparently he didn't, if the nomination process had gone through a vetting process -- Jackson's alleged foibles would not have splashed onto CBS News' Website. Government by whim, obviously, is bad for everyone. I'm not the only one who says so:
... Margaret Hartmann: "In a New York Times op-ed, Norm Eisen, Obama's former ethics czar, and Bandy X. Lee, a forensic psychiatrist at the Yale School of Medicine, said Trump was taking a big risk by announcing the nomination without properly vetting Jackson first: '... Very presentable and capable individuals -- sometimes even those with existing security clearances -- are sometimes disqualified by the rigorous personnel investigations that are normally undertaken for cabinet positions. Such cabinet-level vets complement but are more thorough than a typical pre-existing security clearance, and can uncover conflicts, misdeeds or other disqualifying information.'" The op-ed is here.
Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a late pivot on Monday evening, approved the confirmation of Mike Pompeo to be the next secretary of state, after Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, bowed to pressure from President Trump and dropped his opposition. For days, the committee appeared ready to deliver a historic rebuke. Since it began considering nominees in the late 19th century, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has never given a nominee for secretary of state anything but a favorable vote, according to the Senate historian. It has been almost 30 years since any cabinet nominee was reported to the full Senate with an unfavorable recommendation. But minutes before the committee convened, Mr. Paul, an ardent opponent of interventionist foreign policy, declared his support for Mr. Pompeo, the C.I.A. director, to lead the State Department, securing approval from the committee." ...
... Li'l Randy -- the Most Principled Man in Washington -- Caves. Again. Elana Schor of Politico: "Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) flipped from -no' to 'yes' on Mike Pompeo's nomination to be secretary of state Monday, paving an unexpectedly easy path for the CIA director to win confirmation from the full Senate as soon as this week. Paul's surprising turnabout on Pompeo came after multiple conversations with ... Donald Trump, the Kentucky Republican said, as well as getting what he described as 'assurances' that the hawkish nominee sees the war in Iraq as 'a mistake' and wants to wind down the U.S. presence in Afghanistan." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Michael Sykes of Axios: "Senator Joe Manchin [D-W.Va.] announced via Twitter on Monday that he would vote to confirm CIA Director Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly: "Barring unforeseen circumstances, Mike Pompeo will be confirmed as the next secretary of state by the end of the week. We now know of at least three Democrats who plan to vote for him: Heitkamp, Manchin and Donnelly. That doesn't stop the kind of nonsense we heard this morning from Sarah Huckabee Sanders:... 'At some points Democrats have to decide whether they love this country more than they hate this president.'... First of all, Republicans hold a majority of seats in the Senate, so if there was some trouble with the Pompeo confirmation, it would be because of defections from the president's party. But more importantly, Sanders chose to attack the patriotism of Democrats who opposed this nomination by suggesting that if they vote 'no' on confirmation.... That, my friends, is a perfect example of how to shut down meaningful dialogue in this country. I'd even go so far as to suggest that it is unpatriotic to ignore political differences and, instead, challenge the patriotism of your opponents." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: LeTourneau seems to be under the misapprehension that the Trump regime is interested in "meaningful dialogue."
** Heidi Przybyla of NBC News: "John Bolton..., Donald Trump's new national security adviser, chaired a nonprofit that has promoted misleading and false anti-Muslim news, some of which was amplified by a Russian troll factory, an NBC News review found. The group's authors also appeared on Russian media, including Sputnik and RT News, criticizing mainstream European leaders like French President Emmanuel Macron. From 2013 until last month, Bolton was chairman of the Gatestone Institute, a New York-based advocacy group that warns of a looming 'jihadist takeover' of Europe leading to a 'Great White Death.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie Update: Rachel Maddow pointed out last night that chairman John Bolton there -- who, in the absence of our having a secretary of state, would be the White House's principal liaison re: the French President's visit -- was until recently chairing a right-wing nut group that has put out outlandishly critical reports of Emmanuel Macron. Have a nice dinner, folks!
Jennifer Dlouhy & Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg: "White House officials are cautioning Republican lawmakers and other conservative allies to temper their defense of Scott Pruitt, according to two people familiar with the discussions, in a sign that administration support for the embattled EPA chief may be waning.... Republicans are now sharpening their criticisms about Pruitt amid a revelation that he met at least once with the lobbyist whose wife rented him a bedroom on Capitol Hill.... 'We're reviewing some of those allegations," White House spokesman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters in a briefing Monday. She added that while Pruitt has done a good job of implementing Trump's policies, 'the other things are certainly something that we're monitoring.'" (Open in private window.)
In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace to the legislature, and not to the executive department. Beside the objection to such a mixture of heterogeneous powers: the trust and the temptation would be too great for any one man.... War is in fact the true nurse of executive aggrandizement. In war a physical force is to be created, and it is the executive will which is to direct it. In war the public treasures are to be unlocked, and it is the executive hand which is to dispense them. In war the honors and emoluments of office are to be multiplied; and it is the executive patronage under which they are to be enjoyed. It is in war, finally, that laurels are to be gathered, and it is the executive brow they are to encircle. The strongest passions, and most dangerous weaknesses of the human breast; ambition, avarice, vanity, the honorable or venial love of fame, are all in conspiracy against the desire and duty of peace. -- James Madison, 1793, warning of Donald Trump ...
... "What Could Go Wrong?" Robert Borosage in the Nation: "The recent missile attack on Syria, in response to alleged use of chemical weapons on civilians by the Assad regime, revealed the scope of Donald Trump's lawlessness.... That the impulsive, erratic, ignorant president claims the power to use the military anywhere at any time that he might decide is frightening enough. It becomes terrifying when combined with the views of the war cabinet he now seeks to assemble.... This is where we are headed: An impulsive and bellicose president empowered to use force on his own authority advised by the advocates of aggressive war [Bolton & Pompeo] with a covert arm headed by a practitioner of torture [Gina Haspel]. This is precisely what the founders of the country sought to protect against by giving Congress the power to declare war."
Congressional Races
Elena Schneider of Politico: "Colorado's state Supreme Court ruled Monday that GOP Rep. Doug Lamborn cannot appear on the primary ballot in his district because of a problem with his ballot petitions. The court ruled that a petition gatherer working for Lamborn's campaign did not live in the state at the time, rendering the signatures he gathered invalid and moving Lamborn below the threshold for ballot access in his conservative district.... The decision overruled Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams, whose office had certified Lamborn to the primary ballot using a broader interpretation of the state residency requirement for petition gatherers. But Deputy Secretary of State Suzanne Staiert said Lamborn could 'go to the federal court and ask them to strike the residency requirement.'"
It's Election Day in Arizona. Jonathan Martin & Denise Lu of the New York Times: "Debbie Lesko, a former Republican state senator, is facing the Democrat Hiral Tipirneni, a doctor, in the race for the Phoenix-area seat that is reliably Republican. Donald J. Trump won the district by more than 20 percentage points in 2016. Four years earlier, Mitt Romney had won it by almost 25 points. Republican leaders and groups have poured money into Ms. Lesko's race.... Republican leaders and groups have poured money into Ms. Lesko's race, taking a variety of precautionary measures.... The Republican National Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee have together spent more than $900,000 to boost Ms. Lesko. The Eighth District seat was vacated by Representative Trent Franks, a Republican who resigned after he was revealed to have offered $5 million to an aide in exchange for carrying his child.... The House Democratic campaign arm and House Majority PAC -- the best-funded House Democratic super PAC -- have not supported Ms. Tipirneni to the same extent.... the closer the margin [of Lesko's likely win], the more alarmed Republicans will be about the enthusiasm gap between the two parties going into November." ...
... The Sun Also Rises on Sun City. Michelle Goldberg: "... an unexpectedly competitive Eighth District election and a rare labor action by teachers -- are connected.... Both the walkout and the surprising viability of Tipirneni's campaign are manifestations of the explosive activist energy, particularly among women, set off by the catastrophe of Trump's election.... Even if she comes up short, the work she's done to build up the Democratic Party in her district will have a lasting impact, [Democrat Hiral Tipirneni ]said: 'It's going to be incredible to see what Arizona looks like after November.'" ...
... Paul Krugman: "At the state and local levels, the conservative obsession with tax cuts has forced the G.O.P. into what amounts to a war on education, and in particular a war on schoolteachers. That war is the reason we've been seeing teacher strikes in multiple states. And people like [Kentucky Gov. Matt] Bevin [RTP] are having a hard time coming to grips with the reality they've created.... State and local governments ... are basically school districts with police departments.... How, after all, can governments save money on education?... Squeeze teachers themselves."
Peter Martinez of CBS News: "Former President George H.W. Bush was admitted to a Houston hospital Sunday after contracting an infection, according to a statement from his office Monday evening. The 41st president of the United States is 93 years old. 'President Bush was admitted to the Houston Methodist Hospital yesterday after contracting an infection that spread to his blood,' a statement from family spokesman Jim McGrath read. 'He is responding to treatments and appears to be recovering. We will issue additional updates as events warrant.' His wife, former first lady Barbara Bush, was buried Saturday. Barbara died Tuesday at her Houston home. She was 92. The couple were married for 73 years." ...
... Jamie Gangel of CNN: "Former President George H.W. Bush ... is in intensive care, CNN has learned."
Henry Grabar of Slate: "In 2008, in an advertisement for a three-day, $1,495 Trump University workshop, the future president was quoted as saying, 'I've always made a FORTUNE in foreclosures, and you will too.' It appears the president's most ardent televised defender, Sean Hannity, took his advice. On Sunday, the Guardian uncovered public records suggesting that the Fox News host is behind or affiliated with shell companies that, over the past decade, have spent more than $90 million on 870 homes in seven states, including dozens of foreclosed houses. It also offers an explanation why Hannity said last week that he had consulted Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's personal lawyer who is under criminal investigation, to ask some questions about real estate.... Hannity represents the rise of the corporate landlord.... In addition to public or well-known companies, you also have hard-to-track LLCs like the ones Hannity set up.... The trend is clear: You're more likely than ever to be cutting rent to a faceless corporation or obscure LLC, behind which may lie the very man who has been yelling about the injustice of foreclosures at you on the television."
Beyond the Beltway
James Shaw, Jr., who -- unarmed himself -- wrestled an assault weapon from a mass-murderer.We Have Met the Real Donald Trump. And He Is Black. (Also, young & good-looking.) As Akhilleus writes in yesterday's Comments, "Isn't this what Trump himself boasted, with great pomp and bravado that he would have done (brave, brave Sir Donald) had he been in Stoneman Douglas High School when a shooter opened fire? He told a phalanx of Confederate governors that he, brave Sir Donald, would have run, unarmed up to the gunman and valiantly disarmed him, because...well, I guess it sounded good." Real Akhilleus' entire commentary on this as he explores how things likely would have gone had black been white & white black. ...
... Alan Blinder & Matthew Haag of the New York Times: "During a sudden break in the firing, [James] Shaw[, Jr.,] sprinted through [a] door [near a restroom] as fast as he could, slamming into the gunman and knocking him to the ground. He grabbed the rifle and tossed it over the restaurant counter.... Mr. Shaw said Sunday that he eventually learned that the pause in the gunman's firing came when he was trying to reload the rifle. It was a brief enough break, Mr. Shaw said, for him to make a move. (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Natalie Alund & Adam Tamburin of the Tennessean: "Police on Monday said they planned to expand the search for Travis Reinking, 29, the suspect in a deadly shooting at an Antioch Waffle House shooting after investigators said a Tennessee resident found evidence in a different part of the city." Mrs. McC: I heard on the TV that Reinking had stolen a BMW using some kind of automatic key. Police recovered the vehicle via GPS tracking, but Reinking himself is still at large. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... New Lede: "Metro police announced Monday afternoon that Travis Reinking, the suspect in a shooting that killed four people at an Antioch Waffle House, had been arrested after a 34-hour manhunt. Shortly after 1 p.m. [CT], police announced Reinking had been arrested in a 'wooded area' near Old Hickory Boulevard and Hobson Pike -- less than two miles from the Waffle House where the shooting took place. Police photos from the scene showed Reinking, 29, being loaded into a car wearing a torn maroon T-shirt with scratches on his exposed shoulders." Thanks to Marvin S. for the heads-up. ...
... Christal Hayes of USA Today: "The suspected gunman on the run after riddling a Tennessee Waffle House with bullets dubbed himself a 'sovereign citizen,' before being arrested in July 2017 outside the White House. Travis Reinking, 29, used that term -- which the FBI has also used to describe a group of anti-government extremists -- during a clash last year with the Secret Service, according to a police report obtained by USA Today. Reinking told agents he needed to see President Trump and defined himself as sovereign citizen who had a right to inspect the grounds, according to an arrest report by the Metropolitan Police Department in D.C. He was arrested on an unlawful entry charge after refusing to leave the area." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Washington Post Editors: "There is no law in Tennessee, where Mr. Reinking moved from Illinois, that would have barred him from owning guns. Voters should elect a Congress that will undertake comprehensive gun law reform. Reinstating the federal ban on assault weapons is a must. So, too, is restricting magazine capacity. That the shooter at the Waffle House apparently stopped to reload gave a quick-thinking patron, James Shaw Jr., the chance to disarm him, thus saving countless lives. In a few months, Americans will have a chance to vote for candidates for Congress who support constitutional limits on weapons of war, and against candidates who remain complicit in letting peaceable Waffle House patrons be terrorized by them."
Way Beyond
Jesse McLean & Moira Welsh of the Toronto Star: "Ten people were killed and 15 injured after a van ran down pedestrians along Yonge St. between Finch and Sheppard Aves. on Monday afternoon, Toronto police say. Multiple tarps covered what appear to be victims' bodies along the two-kilometre stretch of Yonge. Witnesses described the van driver deliberately mounting the sidewalk along Yonge and mowing down pedestrians outside on the sunny day. A trail of destruction was left in the van's wake as people screamed for help.... Police say the driver of the van has been arrested. A police source has identified the man arrested as Alek Minassian. No charges have been laid and Toronto police have not officially released the name of the driver." Mrs. McC: A video aired on CNN showed Minassian drawing a pistol on a police officer before the officer took him into custody. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... CBC News: "A profile on social networking site LinkedIn identifies Minassian as a student at Seneca College in North York, the northern Toronto neighbourhood where the attack took place.... At a news conference Monday night, Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders declined to provide a motive, saying officials were still investigating. But he said the driver's actions 'definitely looked deliberate.'... An apparent Facebook post by a man with the same name and photo as Minassian's LinkedIn profile refers to the 'Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger,' a 22-year-old responsible for a deadly rampage in Isla Vista, Calif., that left six people dead and a dozen more injured. In a video posted ahead of that 2014 attack, Rodger raged about a number of women turning down his advances, rendering him an 'incel,' or involuntarily celibate." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
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Reader Comments (21)
So, ICE has become a sort of Praetorian Guard for Trumpus the Magnificent, eh? Sounds okay to me. Seems to me I recall that an earlier version of Trump, a nasty, ignorant, narcissistic pervert, Caligula, was murdered by his Praetorian Guard. Trump should watch out. If his ICE thugs run out of dirty immigrants to beat on, they might get bored.
" It is in war, finally, that laurels are to be gathered, and it is the executive brow they are to encircle. The strongest passions, and most dangerous weaknesses of the human breast; ambition, avarice, vanity, the honorable or venial love of fame, are all in conspiracy against the desire and duty of peace."
Madison's words, poetic and searing, are like wisps in the wind for Trump and his henchmen, but clearly present what is at this time, with this president,* a dire warning for what may lay ahead. The Founders may have foundered on a number of things, but on this they were right and certain of that rightness.
RE: The State dinner: just 120 guests down from 350 and only one Democrat and zero journalists smacks of pettiness and revenge–-exactly the kind of gesture we expect from that someone who has thrived on these tactics for most of his life.
@AK: Your last sentence above sends chills––ICE methods deplorable and reading what their methods have done to children is beyond comprehension––oh, scratch that! It's NOT.
George Bush senior, I predict, is on his way up to heaven. For him, I would think, any kind of life without his "Bar" would be agony.
Tough quiz: today's American leadership-
a) immoral
b) incompetent
c) dangerous
d) unethical
e) stupid
1. Ronny L. Jackson
2. Michael Cohen
3. Scott Pruitt
4. John Bolton
5. Mike Pompeo
Dîner d'État, avec l'opera.
First state dinner for the Trumpados. A little different than other state dinners. Even a little (a lot!) different than the type of affair PROMISED by Donaldo when he was a candidate colluding with Russians:
"'We give them state dinners like you've never seen,' he said. 'Forget the state dinners — that cost, by the way, a fortune.'
Speaking to an Atlanta crowd ahead of the Republican National Convention [in 2016], Trump had a more specific cost-saving entertainment concept in mind. 'We shouldn't have dinners at all,' he said. 'We should be eating a hamburger on a conference table.'"
Well....um, looks like no burgers and no TV tables at this one. King Trump is in a different place now. This soirée will include goat cheese gateau, tomato jam, variegated greens, rack of lamb, burnt cipollini soubise (yeah, I had to look that one up too...), jambalaya, and nectarine tart (Whoa! A tart? Sorry Donnie, not that kind of tart). Gee, that's a real Man of the People menu, in'it?
Trump will have to send one of his flunkies out to McDonald's for a couple of Big Macs before this one is over.
But what about after dinner?
Well, the little dictator has decreed "No Beyoncé" for his first state dinner. And so be it. No minorities, no Democrats (almost none), no pesky media, and no one, ostensibly, rooting for Robert Mueller. And for entertainment, a little opera. Hmmm....so, I wonder, what opera(s)?
What would be suitable for the little dictator? I think I have some good options that befit his, shall we say, personal idiom.
First, in honor of his incessant tweeting, how about an aria from "Die Zauberflöte", The Magic Flute? Papageno, the birdcatcher, is a bit of an idiot who flits around the forest day and night. That could be a good one. Except that Papageno is rather sweet and kind.
Hmm..not very Trump like.
Okay, how 'bout this? Another by Mozart, Leporello's catalogue aria from "Don Giovanni". Trump, I'm sure, fancies himself a Don Juan, and this particular aria lists all the Don's conquests "In Italy, six hundred and forty; In Germany, two hundred and thirty-one; A hundred in France; in Turkey, ninety-one; But in Spain, one thousand and three." But then Leporello, the Don's servant, goes on to note that the Don doesn't discriminate: all sizes, shapes, and states in life. Sorry, that would never do for Don Trumpi. He only cheats on his wives with porn stars and models. Although the opera does have the ending going for it: the Don is dragged off to hell for all his misdeeds.
Well that sounds tempting.
But we would be remiss without something Russian, da? How about......Oh, I know. Something from "Boris Godunov" about the rise and fall of a scheming Tsar who eventually succumbs to paranoia and hallucinations. Sounds perfect, don't it? They could do the post-coronation scene in which Boris mutters that he has achieved total power. If they do it in the Italian translation it would be "Ho il poter supremo" which either means he's just been named Tsar of all the Russias, or he's ordering a large pizza. Either works for Trump.
But, alas, "Boris" doesn't have enough of the absurd to properly epitomize Tsar Trumpskyev.
Well, since the Macrons will be there, how about combining Russia with France? "Le Coq d'or", is a Russian opera most often done in French. It's about a buffoon who becomes Tsar and sees enemies all around. He consults an astrologer (shades of Nancy Reagan!) who lends the Tsar his golden cockerel, which, he claims, will solve all his problems. The Tsar declares war on the next door neighbors and sends his sons (Uday and Qusay), who are blithering idiots, to oversee the proceedings. They stumble around the battlefield and end up killing each other. The Tsar is tricked by the astrologer and the cockerel plucks out his jugular. Problems solved! The End.
Sacre bleu!
Guess we'll go with that one. Could someone pass the crème fraîche, s'il vous plait?
Ak:
I want the statue in Don Giovanni to move, to grab Trump by the short hairs and to drag him down to hell. Music optional.
So just the last part of the last act, because otherwise Trump might not be paying attention.
PD,
Trump's dinner arrangements do smack of pettiness. But what would you expect? And really, would you want to be there and watch King l'etat c'est moi preen and gawk all night? I'd rather read Dick Cheney's autobiography "Yes, I AM an Unrepentant Asshole" than spend a night in the company of the First Boor. Although it would be funny to watch him glower, chapfallen, at the dinner when it arrives. "Where's the burger? Where are my FRIES, dammit! What is this goat cheese bullshit?!"
Like everything trumpesque, I wonder who whispered in his shell-like ear (gag) that "opera" sounds fancy and edumacated, so it's good to have that at the restricted state dinner (whites only). I give this couple NO points for choosing it, and I always wonder where the ideas REALLY originate...
Would I be surprised to learn that this was Trump's first visit to Mount Vernon?
Would I be surprised that Macron had to explain to Trump details about this historic site?
Would I be surprised to learn that Trump messed up the talking points given to him by his staff about George Washington and Mount Vernon?
Long ago there was a future President who couldn't tell a lie, and now we have a President who lies constantly.
Victoria,
But we can't leave out the last bit. After the statue of the Commendatore drags Trump, er, I mean, the Don, off to hell, the rest of cast gathers round and gleefully sings "Serves him right, the bastard."
@MarvinS: Are we limited to only one descriptive per name?
MAG,
From Parson Squeams Tale of Young Trumpy, an exchange following Trumpy's cutting down of his dad's cherry tree.
KKK Daddy Trump: Donnie, did you cut down my prize cherry tree? I planted that so's we could lynch unruly slaves. What the fuck!
Little Donnie: Why of course not, daddy. I think that Obama kid cut it down. He's gettin' mighty uppity.
Hey, did Macron really have to school Trump on the history of Mount Vernon? I'm not a bit surprised but I couldn't find that little nugget in any of the stories I've skimmed so far. Most people, when taking newcomers to famous or historic sites, would take a few minutes to look up some basic facts so as to be just a bit informed and not look like a moron "Well, this here is a famous site. Not sure why it's famous. It just is." But not Trump. He's, like, really smart.
Can you picture Macron and his wife back in their rooms later? "Jesus, this guy really is an idiot. But we have to make nice with him, at least for now."
@Akhilleus: The golden cockerel who pecks out Tsar
DodonDonald's jugular will be played by Bob Mueller, who, conveniently, will need little make-up. The Tsaritsa of Shemakha will be played by Hillary Clinton. And the astrologer, in an epilogue, informs us that only he -- played by Nate Silver -- & the Tsaritsa are mortal & real. Then we will all wake suddenly from our national nightmare & Hillary will be President (no asterisk) just as the astrologer had told us long ago. The Macrons & Melania will applaud wildly. All things are possible.Marie,
I LIKE IT! And maybe the Tsaritsa (Hillary) would end up marrying the astrologer (Nate). Hey, she could do worse.
Wait. She DID do worse.
@AK: No. I didn't come across a story about Macron having to tell/correct The Donald something about Mt. Vernon...but, it sure wouldn't surprise me one bit if we'd come to learn that later.
That's why I posed it as a question!
For your operatic picks, Le Coq d'or seems totally apropos.
Or maybe a special occasion version: "Le Coq d'orange"
Mag, that's the game. If you used any or all choices for this crew, it might be too easy. You know all of them can get any or all choices.
MAG,
Okay. But no, I wouldn't be a bit surprised either. As for the talking points, I'm sure Trump, who rarely sticks to the script, spent time taking Washington to task for not using his prime real estate to put up a casino or to build something a bit more impressive, like, with a lot of gold and flags and maybe a whorehouse on the property. He, Trumpy, would, naturally, have done it a lot better.
Plus, I wonder if he was ogling Macron's wife like he did when he was in Paris. "You're in such good shape!" he said, with Melania standing right there.
Smooth, Donnie. Really smooth.
Interesting that authorities in Toronto resisted the urge to call the awful attack by a driver of a van that killed or injured 25 people, terror related.
Can you imagine if this were Trump? Initially--until he heard that the driver was white, of course--he'd be on Twitter first thing screaming about a terrorist attack and how we needed walls and bombs and more weapons.
Officials in Canada are not quite so quick to rush to judgment.
Nice to see that there are still places where facts matter.
Paul Krugman today took as an example of the GOP war on education, the governor of Kentucky, Matt Bevin, a tax evading businessman turned crooked politician. Krugman points out that many Confederates of Bevin's ilk have run into serious fiscal problems because of the GOP fetish for tax cuts that, in Krugman's words, "never work" to bring about the promised enormous financial gains. Never. The upshot is that, in a largely inelastic world, scheming pols like Bevin target whatever elasticity they can find, and in many cases, that ends up being teachers, students, and, by extension, education.
All that is true. But there's more in Bevin's case.
While he spends time finagling cushy state jobs for his cronies, and scoring gigantic state funded grants for his own companies, he's busy trying to monetize education even as he takes funding away from public schools. Last week, according to a series of reports sent to me by a Kentucky native out of Louisville, Bevin forced out the state's education commissioner (in an illegally closed door session in which his orders were given the rubber stamp). Anyone interested in public education has been purged from the board. The new board is stacked with cronies and fellow wingnuts and hypocritical Christianists, all fierce proponents of for-profit charter school scams.
It's a classic Republican ploy based on the starve the beast theory. Take funding away from an operation. The operation begins to founder. Then assault it for foundering. Finally, try to kill it and attack any and all who support it. Thus, in this case, blaming teachers, incredibly, for sexual assault and childhood abuse for daring to exercise their First Amendment rights. Rights people like Bevin believe only belong to their tribe.
No wonder many people thought Bevin would have made a great second for Trump.
Had a Democratic governor tried to get away with this sort of crap, Fox would be doing live stand-ups outside their house demanding answers. In Bevin's case, his house--mansion--was partially gifted to him by a crony (at $1 million under market value) who was then gifted in return with a state position and a business he invested in was then further blessed with state funding.
Funny how that works.
So, yes, it's a war on education, but it's also let's pick their pockets as fast as we can before we get voted out.
This is some evil shit. And it's not just happening in Kentucky. It's rampant wherever there are Republicans. It's Trump promising Joe Sixpack that he'd be sitting down with a burger at a fold up table when heads of state came calling and instead strutting into a gold plated room with rack of lamb on the table. It's Scott Pruitt picking our pockets as he sells us out to pals in the extraction business. It's incompetent, greedy fools, like Paul Ryan, who play us for whatever they can get while the gettin's good, then retire to their mansions and their seven figure salaries while someone else tries to clean up their mess.
And it's kids sitting in classrooms with 25 year old textbooks and the paint peeling off the walls with no heat in the winter, while Betsy DeVos adds up how much she can make off each kid--before they get shot by one of Wayne LaPierre's All Stars, that is.
The Republican Way.
Dear Mr. President*:
I used to be a well respected guy. I'm a rear admiral, fer crissakes. I did my bit in a shock trauma unit in Iraq. I have an appointment at Harvard Medical School. I was the White House physician. I'm doing pretty well. More than pretty well, actually. Then you pin a target on my back without even thinking it through.
Now everyone thinks I'm a drunk, a creep, and a quack who hands out pain pills like Dr. Feelgood.
My reputation is shot and now you're gonna give me the boot.
Thanks for nothing, asshole.
Sincerely,
Ronny Jackson
P.S. After the next physical, I'm gonna tell everyone what a broken down, fat-ass, out of shape, heart-attack-waiting-to-happen, imminent stroke victim tub of lard motherfucker you really are. Good shape, my ass.
THE FRENCH CONNECTION
One afternoon in early Spring a Fox was ambling along in the woods, taking in the air and writing poetry in his head when suddenly he spied a very large crow at the tippy top of an oak eating a huge chunk of cheese that looked mighty fine."Yo! Crow," he yelled, "I am most impressed by your beautiful feathers, by your forceful voice, by your magnificence, but mostly I admire your "smarts"––you must be the smartest of all Avian creatures, No?" At this question, the Crow, always a sucker for admiration, opened his beak to tell the Fox, that yes, indeed he was all those things; the cheese fell to the ground, the Fox picked it up and high tailed it out of sight.
Macron is one of the wiliest allies around––watching him operate this afternoon at that presser I have no doubt he will get that cheese in the end. The contrast between these two men couldn't be more distant and Macron's kisses and hand shakes are such fun to watch. Such a sly fox he is.
PD,
Nice call about Macron as a sly fox. The figure of Reynart (later renard), the fox, was a favorite among French creators of medieval folk tales. Reynart was typically a shrewd, clever character who was able to string along and get the better of the bigger, more self-important, less astute creatures.
The story to which you refer (a great one, by the way), Le Corbeau et Le Renard offers a good lesson for Trump, if he's awake enough to hear it. After grabbing the cheese, Le Renard advises the preening Monsieur Corbeau to "Learn that every flatterer lives at the expense of the one who listens to him."
In the story, the crow wisely takes that advice to heart and vows not to be caught like that again.
Sadly, for us, the Trumpy Bird hasn't brain enough to learn this lesson. Blandishments are like opium to the orange one.
Little Rocket Man...are you paying attention? Flatter the idiot, and you get the cheese.