The Commentariat -- July 25, 2018
Late Morning Update:
Mrs. McCrabbie: Besides making the rich richer & the poor poorer, depriving millions of Americans of health insurance, upending traditional trade & security partnerships, wrecking the Earth, making workers less safe, curbing civil rights, making college even less affordable & grade schools worse, etc., Trump & his GOP cronies bring us this ...
... Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "In the first half of 2018, corporate tax collections dropped to historically low levels as a share of the economy, according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. That is pushing up the federal budget deficit much faster than economists had predicted. The reason is President Trump's tax cuts. The new law introduced a standard corporate rate of 21 percent, down from a high of 35 percent, and allowed companies to immediately deduct many new investments. As companies operate with a lower tax burden and a greater ability to offset what they owe, the federal government is receiving far less revenue than it would have under the previous tax system." These jerks should impeach themselves. ...
... Gideon Resnick of the Daily Beast: "Republican candidates seem to be gravitating towards political messages that are devoid of talk of tax cuts and more designed to excite the base or stress biography.... Support for tax reform is slipping. And the special election in Ohio is the latest race showing that Democrats feel more comfortable using it bash Republicans." ...
... Trump's trade wars may not be winners for GOP candidates, either. ...
... Damian Paletta of the Washington Post: "Several of President Trump's senior economic advisers believe he plans to impose a 25 percent tariff on close to $200 billion in foreign-made automobiles later this year, three people briefed on discussions said. Trump wants to move forward despite numerous warnings from GOP leaders and business executives who have argued that such a move could damage the economy and lead to political mutiny. But Trump has become increasingly defiant in his trade strategy, following his own instincts and intuition and eschewing advice from his inner circle. He has told advisers and Republicans to simply trust his business acumen, a point he tried to reinforce Wednesday morning in a Twitter post. 'Every time I see a weak politician asking to stop Trade talks or the use of Tariffs to counter unfair Tariffs, I wonder, what can they be thinking?' Trump said Wednesday. 'Are we just going to continue and let our farmers and country get ripped off?'"
Trump Irritated with Lawyer He Threw under the Bus. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump lashed out at his former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen on Wednesday for releasing a recorded conversation between the two, asking on Twitter 'what kind of lawyer would tape a client?' Trump's comments came the morning after Lanny Davis, a lawyer for Cohen, released a recording of a September 2016 phone call between Trump and Cohen that makes it appear Trump was familiar with a deal that Playboy model Karen McDougal made to sell the rights to her story of an alleged affair with him. 'So sad! Is this a first, never heard of it before?' Trump wrote, adding: 'I hear there are other clients and many reporters that are taped - can this be so? Too bad!' Trump also expressed concern that the recording had been terminated 'while I was presumably saying positive things.' He did not elaborate." ...
... Philip Bump of the Washington Post on what the tape suggests or reveals: "1.This was a conversation about the campaign.... It reinforces ... that Cohen and Trump were talking about payments aimed at burying negative stories as part of their conversations about aiding the campaign. 2. Cohen appears to be an agent of the campaign.... In February, former general counsel for the Federal Election Commission Lawrence Noble told The Washington Post that such a payment from an agent of the campaign is illegal. 3. How and when Cohen and AMI spoke about the MacDougal payment becomes even more interesting.... 4. Was Trump's impulse to pay in cash?" It's not completely clear on the tape, but if so, the intention is obvious. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: One thing that pissed me off occurs early in the tape. Trump is talking to an unidentified woman in his office. The nature of their discussion suggests she is a campaign employee & not a family member. He calls the woman "babe." Unless that's the employee's name, it's an insulting diminutive. ...
... Mike Allen of Axios: "Lanny Davis -- a lawyer for Michael Cohen ... -- tells me that, following last night's release of a secret Trump-Cohen recording, we'll soon learn more 'about what Michael Cohen saw and heard.'... Davis said that the tape's release sends the message: 'I am no longer the previous Michael Cohen that you knew -- taking a bullet for Donald Trump, saying anything to defend him, being a good soldier. ... That is over.'... 'Who talks about cash like that besides drug dealers and mobsters?' [Davis said.]"
Greg Bluestein of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "The Georgia lawmaker who exposed himself and yelled racial slurs during an episode of Sacha Baron Cohen's Showtime series is resigning his seat in the state Legislature, according to House Speaker David Ralston's office. State Rep. Jason Spencer faced increasing pressure to step down shortly after the episode of 'Who is America?' aired Sunday night, and some politicians were urging a special session to oust him if he refused. He will step down at the end of the month, Ralston spokesman Kaleb McMichen said late Tuesday."
Reality Chex Correction. Oops! Philip Bump: "MSNBC's Rachel Maddow led her show Tuesday night with an explosive allegation: The administration of President Trump had intentionally buried a question asked of Russian President Vladimir Putin during last week's news conference in Helsinki. Not an insignificant question, either. The one about whether or not Putin wanted Trump to win.... Here's the thing: That's also how The Post's transcript of the news conference initially read, too. Ours came from Bloomberg Government and ours, too, excluded the first part of the reporters question.... At some point in the middle of that question, there's a switch between the feed from the reporters and the feed from the translator.... Our transcript and the White House's were apparently based on the feed that runs only in the right channel.... You can hear the actual switch-over.... This is not a conspiracy from the White House."
*****
The Realization of 1984 Came a Few Decades Late. Aaron Rupar of ThinkProgress: "Speaking to a Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) gathering in Kansas City, Trump implored his audience to forget about what they see and read -- and instead just listen to him. 'Don't believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news, Trump said, pointing at reporters as the crowd broke out in boos. 'Just remember, what you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening.'... In George Orwell's classic dystopian novel 1984, the 'final, most essential command' of the ruling totalitarian regime is 'to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears.'" ...
... Martha Raddatz of ABC News in a Washington Post op-ed: "We in the press are all sadly getting used to listening to some Americans booing, threatening and belittling the media at the behest of President Trump. But Trump's rally before hundreds of veterans at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention Tuesday in Kansas City, Mo., was especially disturbing. 'Don't believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news,' Trump said, pointing to members of the press there to cover the event. Have those veterans who booed and taunted the media in response to Trump's cue forgotten that some members of the press corps are combat veterans? Have they forgotten that there are members of the press who continue to cover the military after suffering life-altering injuries while at the side of our courageous service members? Have they forgotten that since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq began, hundreds of journalists have given their lives for their work, many times while reporting from U.S. war zones?" ...
... Jeremy Diamond of CNN: "... Donald Trump urged the audience before him on Tuesday to support a Missouri Republican's Senate campaign, smeared Democrats and warned the crowd not to 'believe the crap you hear from (the media.)' The speech amounted to a typical political stump speech for Trump, all except for the setting. Instead of a political rally draped in campaign signage, Trump was addressing the annual convention of the nonpartisan Veterans of Foreign Wars, which invites the sitting US president every year -- regardless of party -- to address its members. Past US presidents have typically focused their remarks at the annual veteran's event on policy issues, leaving little room for partisan political attacks or political endorsements. President Barack Obama, though, in 2015 used his speech to take shots at Republicans over their budget proposal at the time."
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Trump's campaign should pay for the trip. In an irony-dripping tweet, Trump wrote, "Today, it was my great honor to be in Kansas City, Missouri to pay tribute to the men and women who make FREEDOM possible!" Most of the "tribute" paid, according to reports, was to himself, & Trump is doing his best to curb "FREEDOM," especially those freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment.
Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Tuesday claimed, without evidence, that the Kremlin will support Democrats in the November midterms, debuting a new line on Russian interference as the uproar over his shifting stances on the issue enters its second week. Trump made the claim in a late-morning tweet eight days after he held a joint news conference in Helsinki with President Vladimir Putin, at which the Russian leader himself acknowledged that he had wanted Trump to win in 2016.... 'I'm very concerned that Russia will be fighting very hard to have an impact on the upcoming Election,' Trump said in his Tuesday tweet. 'Based on the fact that no President has been tougher on Russia than me, they will be pushing very hard for the Democrats. They definitely don't want Trump!'... The U.S. intelligence community has concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election and that the effort was specifically aimed at helping Trump win.... In a statement after that summit, Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats reaffirmed the intelligence community's findings and warned of Russia's 'ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy.' Days later, a Microsoft executive said the company had discovered a spear-phishing campaign by Russian military intelligence targeting at least three candidates in this year's elections."
Donald Trump, Secret Agent. Kaitlan Collins of CNN: "The White House has suspended the practice of publishing public summaries of ... Donald Trump's phone calls with world leaders, two sources with knowledge of the situation tell CNN, bringing an end to a common exercise from Republican and Democratic administrations. It's unclear if the suspension is temporary or permanent. A White House spokesman declined to comment. Official descriptions of the President's calls with foreign leaders -- termed 'readouts' in Washington parlance -- offer administrations the chance to characterize in their own terms the diplomacy conducted at the highest levels between countries. While news is rarely contained in the rote, often dry descriptions, they do offer the only official account that a phone call took place. Readouts are still released internally." ...
... That Doesn't Matter, Since the White House Whitewashes the "Inconvenient." Uri Friedman of the Atlantic (July 17): "It was perhaps the most explosive exchange in an incendiary press conference: Russian President Vladimir Putin appearing to frankly admit to a motive for, and maybe even to the act of, meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, despite repeatedly denying Russian interference in American politics during the rest of his appearance with Donald Trump in Finland on Monday. But the exchange doesn't appear in full in the White House's live-stream or transcript of the press conference, and it's missing entirely from the Kremlin's transcript of the event." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Rachel Maddow showed last night that the White House didn't just doctor the transcript; it also edited out Jeff Mason's full question on the tape of the press conference that appears on its official Website. The White House has corrected neither the transcript nor the tape since Friedman & others pointed out the transcript error last week. So, yeah, don't believe what you see & hear, because Donald Trump & his friend Vlad have entirely different -- and of course inaccurate -- versions of reality to sell you. Update: See correction linked in Late Morning News.
This Russia Thing, Etc. Ctd.
** Chris Cuomo, et al., of CNN: "Presidential candidate Donald Trump is heard on tape discussing with his attorney Michael Cohen how they would buy the rights to a Playboy model's story about an alleged affair Trump had with her years earlier, according to the audio recording of the conversation aired exclusively on CNN's 'Cuomo Prime Time.' The recording offers the public a glimpse at the confidential discussions between Trump and Cohen, and it confirms the man who now occupies the Oval Office had contemporaneous knowledge of a proposal to buy the rights to the story of Karen McDougal, a woman who has alleged she had an extramarital affair with Trump about a decade ago." ...
... Carol Leonnig & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump appeared familiar with a deal that a Playboy model made to sell the rights to her story of an alleged affair with him when Trump discussed the matter in September 2016 with his attorney Michael Cohen, according to a transcript of their conversation. The transcript, which was provided by President Trump's legal team, shows that the then-GOP presidential nominee does not register confusion or surprise when Cohen references a plan to purchase the rights to model Karen McDougal's story from American Media Inc., the parent company of the National Enquirer.... The transcript and the audio also show that Cohen told Trump he had discussed buying the rights to McDougal's story with Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization.... In rival cable news appearances Tuesday night, Cohen and Trump's attorneys clashed over who on the tape suggested the transaction be completed with cash." ...
... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post has annotated the transcript of the tape. ...
... Juan Cole: "... when on Tuesday night the Cohen tape was leaked to CNN, the Trump team actually attempted to dictate how it was heard by releasing an obviously doctored transcript of it." ...
... Michael Schmidt, et al., of the New York Times: ... Michael Cohen "escalated his dispute with the president on Tuesday by releasing a secret recording of a conversation in which Mr. Trump appears to have knowledge about hush money payments to a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump.... Mr. Trump shows some familiarity with a deal between [Karen] McDougal an American Media Inc..., and does not act as if he is only learning about it then. When The Times reported on the existence of the payment on Friday..., Rudolph W. Giuliani ... indicat[ed] that the conversation was the first time that Mr. Trump had heard about the deal Ms. McDougal struck with A.M.I.... The recording ... does not definitively answer the question about whether Mr. Trump directed Mr. Cohen to make them in cash or by check just two months before the 2016 presidential election.... Mr. Trump's lawyers and Mr. Cohen's representatives have made completely different claims about what the recording demonstrates." ...
... Rudy Has a New Defense. He said of Fox "News," "Rudy: I've listened to lots of mafia tapes. I've dealt with much worse tapes than this." Mrs. McC: In fairness, I think he's referring to the quality of the tapes, not the quality of the gangsters (Trump & Cohen) speaking on the tape. ...
... Vice News: "On Nov. 4, 2016, just days before the election, Trump's then-spokesperson Hope Hicks denied both McDougal's allegations and the notion that American Media had bought her silence, saying that 'We have no knowledge of the story,' and calling McDougal's claims of an affair, 'Totally untrue.'"
Shannon Pettypiece of Bloomberg: "... Donald Trump would agree to an interview with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigators if it's limited to questions on whether his presidential campaign colluded with Russia in the 2016 election, lawyer Rudy Giuliani said on Monday night. Trump is demanding in return that he isn't asked questions about obstruction of justice in the probe into election interference, under a proposal the president's legal team submitted to Mueller, Giuliani said. The president's legal team is concerned that Mueller and his staff might believe witnesses who contradicted Trump's account, such as former FBI Director James Comey, Giuliani said. That could leave the president vulnerable to a perjury charge, he added. Mueller hasn't yet responded to the proposal, Giuliani, a former mayor of New York, said on Monday." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Chris Matthews: This is like John Wilkes Booth agreeing to talk about anything not related to events at Ford's Theatre. (paraphrase)
Jeremy Herb & Manu Raju of CNN: "Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr told CNN Tuesday he believed there were 'sound reasons' for judges to approve the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant on former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page, in yet another break between the Republican leaders of the House and Senate intelligence committees.... Burr's comments once again put him at odds with House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, who spearheaded the memo on FISA abuses.... Nunes wants the rest of the October 2016 FISA application and three subsequent renewals to be made public. But Burr told CNN he has concerns that the document was released in any form." ...
... Julian Sanchez of the (libertarian) Cato Institute, in a New York Times op-ed, on the release of FISA applications requesting authorization to surveil Trump campaign advisor Carter Page: "The application ... does make crystal clear that [Rep. Devin] Nunes abused his position and his access to classified information to level a series of grossly misleading accusations against the F.B.I. Which is presumably why Mr. Nunes, Mr. Trump and a handful of media allies are engaged in a brazen campaign to obscure what the documents actually show.... We are now witnessing an effort to gaslight the press and the public in support of a discredited narrative about politically motivated surveillance of the Trump campaign." Sanchez objects to the FISA system itself, not to the methods of those seeking warrants, & he blames Nunes for supporting the very FISA process he sought to undermine in the Page case.
Rachel Bade of Politico: "Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters Tuesday that [Vladimir] Putin will not be invited to give a joint-session of Congress, echoing comments Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's office made Monday. 'We would certainly not be giving him an invitation to do a joint-session, Ryan said, referring to foreign leaders' ceremonial speech to Congress when they visit the nation's capital. 'That's something we reserve for allies.'... Meanwhile, the White House is moving forward with its plans to hold a second summit between Trump and Putin." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... That's Okay. Putin May Be a No-Show. Denis Pinchuk & Andrew Osborn of Reuters: "The Kremlin was reticent on Tuesday about whether it would accept an invitation from ... Donald Trump to hold a summit with Vladimir Putin in Washington later this year, saying only that the two men had other chances to meet as well. The Kremlin's failure to swiftly accept Trump's invitation for a Washington summit has been noticeable. Though Moscow saw the Helsinki summit [betwee]n the two leaders held last week as a success, the fiercely negative reaction by some U.S. politicians to Trump's performance has taken some in Russia aback." ...
... Max Boot of the Washington Post: "While the intelligence agencies are silent on the impact of Russia's attack [on the 2016 presidential election], outside experts who have examined the Kremlin campaign -- which included stealing and sharing Democratic Party emails, spreading propaganda online and hacking state voter rolls -- have concluded that it did affect an extremely close election decided by fewer than 80,000 votes in three states. Clint Watts, a former FBI agent, writes in his recent book, 'Messing with the Enemy,' that 'Russia absolutely influenced the U.S. presidential election,' especially in Michigan and Wisconsin, where Trump's winning margin was less than 1 percent in each state.... Trump and his apologists pretend that the Russian intervention ... was no big deal. That beggars belief.... Russian disinformation wasn't the only factor in the outcome and was probably less important in the end than FBI Director James B. Comey's announcement 11 days before the election that he was reopening the Clinton email investigation. But Watts concludes: 'Without the Russian influence effort, I believe Trump would not have even been within striking distance of Clinton on Election Day.'" ...
... ** Will Bunch of philly.com on the conviction & incarceration of whistleblower Reality Winner: "The nightmare of a foreign power like Russia trying to tip the scales of a weakened American democracy and install Donald Trump in the White House is the political scandal of the century, and yet two years into it, the only person convicted of a felony and sitting in a jail cell is the woman seeking to expose part of the cover-up. Yet ... the perversions of the American justice system when it comes to government secrecy made it essentially impossible for Winner to defend herself.... If America wants to emerge from the current quagmire, we need a system that will encourage responsible truth-tellers, not deprive them of their liberty." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Bunch is surprised Winner's story received so little attention. I think it's because she leaked to the Intercept & not to a major news outlet. Also, the major outlets would have done more to protect Winner; the Intercept actually outted her as the leaker by publishing photos with pointers encrypted into them.
... Jen Hayden of Daily Kos: "... Department of Homeland Security officials say the Russians successfully hacked into the control rooms of U.S. electrical utilities and could've thrown the switches at any time. From the Wall Street Journal: 'The Russian hackers, who worked for a shadowy state-sponsored group previously identified as Dragonfly or Energetic Bear, broke into supposedly secure, 'air-gapped' or isolated networks owned by utilities with relative ease by first penetrating the networks of key vendors who had trusted relationships with the power companies, said officials at the Department of Homeland Security. 'They got to the point where they could have thrown switches' and disrupted power flows, said Jonathan Homer, chief of industrial-control-system analysis for DHS." (Also linked yesterday.)...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'd guess Trump doesn't believe that. As he "explained" in December 2016, "Hacking is very interesting. Once they hack, if you don't catch them in the act, you're not going to catch them. They have no idea if it's Russia or China or somebody. It could be somebody sitting in a bed some place."
Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "Special counsel Robert Mueller's prosecutors plan to call witnesses from the IRS, FBI and the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network as part of the upcoming trial involving Paul Manafort, one of the lead investigators said in court Tuesday. The details on which government officials might be asked to testify in the former Donald Trump campaign manager's July 31 trial on bank and tax fraud charges came as the federal judge presiding in the case outlined some of its broad parameters to potential jurors, including the timeline of the alleged crimes. U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III on Monday ordered Mueller's team to produce to the court its full witness list of some 30 people. During Tuesday's brief session, Ellis said he'd release that list to the public by the end of the week, despite opposition from the special counsel's office." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Betsy Woodruff, et al., of the Daily Beast: "The first American to introduce two of the major players at the heart of a shocking Russian spy scandal has such deep ties to Moscow that he has doubted Barack Obama's American citizenship in the course of demonstrating his affinity for Vladimir Putin. 'As long as U.S. is electing foreign-born presidents,' tweeted Tennessee attorney G. Kline Preston IV in 2013, 'I propose Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.'... Alexander Torshin..., a former Russian parliamentarian now under Treasury Department sanctions, is a friend and confidant of Preston.... Preston introduced Torshin to David Keene, then the president of the National Rifle Association.... In other words, at the very beginning of what appears to be an audacious geopolitical gambit to pivot the American right in Moscow's direction is a birther who has explicitly stated a preference for Vladimir Putin to run the United States of America. He's also something of a Confederate enthusiast, according to his Facebook activity.... Preston has a longstanding relationship with Rep. Marsha Blackburn, the Tennessee Republican running for the U.S. Senate."
"Tariffs Are the Greatest!" -- Trump. Damian Paletta & Caitlin Dewey of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Agriculture Department on Tuesday plans to announce a $12 billion package of emergency aid for farmers caught in the midst of President Trump's escalating trade war, two people briefed on the plan said, the latest sign that growing tensions between the United States and other countries will not end soon. Trump ordered Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to prepare a range of options several months ago, amid complaints from farmers that their products faced retaliatory tariffs from China and other countries. The new package of government assistance funds will be announced Tuesday and is expected to go into effect by Labor Day. The aid package is expected to target soybean farmers, dairy farmers, and pork producers, among others. White House officials hope it will quiet some of the unease from farm groups, but the new plan could revive debates about taxpayer-funded bailouts and the degree to which Trump's trade strategy is leading to unforeseen costs." ...
... Rachel Siegel of the Washington Post: "President Trump praised tariffs in a tweet Tuesday morning, saying 'tariffs are the greatest!' and countries that treat the United States unfairly on trade must either negotiate fair deals or get 'hit with tariffs. It's as simple as that - and everybody's talking!' Trump wrote. 'Remember, we are the 'piggy bank' that's being robbed. All will be great!'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Adam Behsudi of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Monday threatened Europe's car exports ahead of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's visit to Washington later this week, saying the European Union has been 'very tough' on the U.S. 'They're coming in to see me Wednesday and we'll see if we can work something out,' Trump said at a White House event celebrating American-made goods. 'Otherwise, we'll have to do something with respect to the millions of cars that they send in every year. Maybe we can work something out.' Trump is weighing a 20 percent tariff on imports of automobiles and auto parts under a law that allows the executive to impose tariffs and other trade restrictions if the Commerce Department determines that imports of certain goods threaten national security." ...
... Tara Palmeri of ABC News: "Acknowledging Trump's fixation on the German car surplus, [European Commission President Jean-Claude] Juncker, according to a senior European official, will offer two solutions: eliminate tariffs on cars for all trading partners, or create a limited free trade agreement between the U.S. and EU on industrial goods. To move forward with either, the U.S. will have to drop the tariffs on steel and aluminum implemented last month and agree to not move forward with tariffs on European cars, the official said. It's unclear if either of the offers will stick." ...
... Burgess Everett of Politico: "Pro-free trade Republicans were already furious with Trump's escalation of tariffs against U.S. allies and China -- a multi-front trade war they say is hurting U.S. farmers and manufacturers. But the administration's response Tuesday -- announcing plans to send $12 billion to farmers hurt by retaliatory tariffs to ease the pain -- is the opposite of conservative, free-trade orthodoxy, they said. 'This is becoming more and more like a Soviet type of economy here: Commissars deciding who's going to be granted waivers, commissars in the administration figuring out how they're going to sprinkle around benefits,' said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) [Mrs. McC: admittedly, the stupidest senator].... 'Taxpayers are going to be asked to initial checks to farmers in lieu of having a trade policy that actually opens and expands more markets. There isn't anything about this that anybody should like,' said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 3 GOP leader.... Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) said Trump is giving farmers 'golden crutches,' while Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) said 'this bailout compounds bad policy with more bad policy.'" ...
... Michael Sheetz of CNBC: "Shares of Whirlpool, the U.S. based washing machine giant who was once in favor of stricter trade controls for its own industry, posted their worst day in over 30 years after executives blamed rising steel and aluminum costs for diminished quarterly earnings.... The U.S. company was a major advocate for legislation to protect against what [CEO Marc] Bitzer last year called a 'long story of dumping' by foreign competitors LG and Samsung in the washing machine business.... Washing machines are one example of how tariffs can have unexpected and adverse effects on the domestic companies the policies attempt to protect. Whirlpool also noted the hit taken by its suppliers."
... Sylvie Kauffmann of Le Monde, in a New York Times op-ed: "Maybe this July will be remembered as the month when Europe tried to save the liberal world order that President Trump is doing his best to dynamite.... Europe is finally realizing that ... it needs to save itself from the assault of its former protector, the United States.The European side of the trans-Atlantic family is at last accepting the idea that its reliable uncle has turned into a bully.... Mr. Trump, who has never liked strong women, brutally pressured Angela Merkel of Germany and Britain's Theresa May. The last thing he wants is a united family, so he plays on Europe's divisions, openly courting rebellious members of the bloc who promote his toxic views."
Jill Colvin of the AP: "Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan is dismissing ... Donald Trump's threat to revoke the security clearances of six former top national security and intelligence officials who have been critical of his administration. 'I think he's just trolling people, honestly,' Ryan told reporters at a news conference Tuesday, addressing what opponents and experts say would be an unprecedented politicization of the clearance process." Then Ryan laughed. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Another Ryan fail. Instead of expressing horror at a dangerous President who proposes to deprive high-profile intelligence officials of their First Amendment rights, Ryan just laughed it off. It ain't funny, McGee.
The Meddler-in-Chief, Ctd. Dino-Ray Ramos & Dade Hayes of Deadline: "It took a few days, but Donald Trump has put his two cents in regarding the FCC's shocking decision to ask an administrative judge to review Sinclair Broadcast Group's acquisition of Tribune Media -- a move tantamount to killing the deal. 'So sad and unfair that the FCC wouldn't approve the Sinclair Broadcast merger with Tribune,' Trump tweeted. 'This would have been a great and much needed Conservative voice for and of the People.' He added a gripe nearly a decade after the fact about regulators approving Comcast and 'Liberal Fake News NBC' getting together.... Trump appointed Republican FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who had furthered the administration's goal of stripping away regulation from industries from broadcasting to coal plants. Pai, who has been accused to being cozy with Sinclair, derailed its Tribune merger by raising 'serious concerns' about it last week.... It will be interesting to see if the president's Twitter handle can again tilt the balance, this time helping to resuscitate a deal widely believed to be doomed." ...
... David Shepardson of Reuters: "Trump's broadside was an unusual attack on a decision of an independent federal agency that makes merger decisions based on whether they in the public interest."
Trump's War on Reality, Ctd. Katie Rogers & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "On the first couple's recent trip overseas, Melania Trump's television aboard Air Force One was tuned to CNN. President Trump ... raged at his staff for violating a rule that the White House entourage should begin each trip tuned to Fox ... and caused 'a bit of a stir' aboard Air Force One, according to an email obtained by The New York Times ... between officials in the White House Military Office and the White House Communications Agency last Thursday.... The channel-flipping flap was the latest example of how Mr. Trump ... is increasingly living in a world of selected information and bending the truth to his own narrative. As his aides work to keep him insulated from the outside world, Mr. Trump is doubling down in his efforts to tell supporters to trust him over the words of critics and news reports."
Sad! AP: "Ivanka Trump's clothing company is shutting down and all its employees are being laid off, according to news reports. The New York Post is reporting that its sources say the company 'will be shuttered "ASAP" and that staff have been informed that they're being laid off.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Rachel Abrams of the New York Times: "A spokesman for Ms. Trump's brand confirmed on Tuesday that the process of winding down the company would begin immediately, that the brand's licensing deals would not be renewed and that employees would depart in the coming weeks. 'After 17 months in Washington, I do not know when or if I will ever return to the business, but I do know that my focus for the foreseeable future will be the work I am doing here in Washington, so making this decision now is the only fair outcome for my team and partners,' Ms. Trump said in a statement. Since Mr. Trump won the presidential election in 2016, members of his family have faced continuing criticism that they are exploiting his position to promote their own personal interests."
Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: "The Trump administration is preparing to tell a federal court on Tuesday that more than 450 migrant parents whose children were separated from them are no longer in the United States.... A report filed ahead of a hearing in Federal District Court in San Diego suggests that nearly one-fifth of 2,551 parents whose children were taken from them after crossing the southwest border were either swiftly deported before they could be reunited with their children, or somehow opted to leave the country without them. The number could change, since the Justice Department in its filing states that the cases are 'under review.' However, it is the first time the government has disclosed that hundreds of migrant families may now face formidable barriers of bureaucracy and distance that were unforeseen in the early stages of the government's 'zero-tolerance' policy on border enforcement."
Michael Wines of the New York Times: "Government emails disclosed in a federal lawsuit show that within months of taking office, the Trump administration began discussing the need to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, contradicting initial accounts of how officials made the controversial decision. In May 2017, the emails show..., Steve Bannon, requested that Commerce Secretary Wilbur L. Ross 'talk to someone about the census.' A month later, Mr. Ross began demanding that the question be added, and a top aide pledged to press Justice Department officials to say they needed better citizenship data for law enforcement. The emails, which were disclosed late Monday, cast further doubt on the administration's initial explanation that the citizenship question was added at the request of the Justice Department.... That account has steadily crumbled as more evidence has been unearthed in a lawsuit by 17 states and others challenging the citizenship question. United States District Judge Jesse M. Furman, who is hearing the lawsuit..., said last month that there was strong evidence that the Commerce Department had acted in 'bad faith' when it added the question to the census.... Representative Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight..., said in a statement that the documents contradict Mr. Ross's testimony before the committee.... 'Lying to Congress is a serious offense, and Secretary Ross must be held accountable,' he said." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Chris Hayes of MSNBC showed footage of Ross lying to Congress about the citizenship question during three separate hearings.
Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the top law enforcement officer in the country, participated in a chant of 'Lock her up' Tuesday, reviving a rallying cry from Donald Trump campaign events calling to jail Hillary Clinton. Sessions was addressing a conservative group's high school leadership summit in Washington...." Sessions chuckled as he joined the audience's chant. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Julia Jacobs of the New York Times: "After pressure from President Trump, Mr. Sessions ordered senior prosecutors last year to evaluate various accusations against Mrs. Clinton and consider whether a special counsel should be appointed. Mr. Trump had asked on Twitter earlier that year why his 'beleaguered A.G.' was not looking into 'Crooked Hillarys crimes & Russia relations.' No such special counsel has been appointed.... In his speech [to conservative high-school students], he sharply criticized American universities, saying they were coddling students and creating a 'generation of sanctimonious, sensitive, supercilious snowflakes.'" ...
... Valerie Strauss, education writer for the Washington Post, awarded Sessions the Worst Teacher of the Week prize, noting it was only Tuesday. He should have told the kids "that [Hillary] Clinton was never charged with any crimes, and that U.S. presidents don't jail their opponents because they don't like them. He could have given them a basic lesson in American jurisprudence. He didn't."
Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana, a Democrat who has crusaded against the loosening of campaign finance rules, is suing the Trump administration to block it from eliminating a mandate that politically active nonprofit groups disclose the identities of their major donors to the government. The Treasury Department announced last week that the Internal Revenue Service would no longer require a range of nonprofit organizations to identify any contributors giving more than $5,000.... Previously, certain nonprofits had to name their large donors to the government even though they were not supposed to be disclosed to the public. The change in rules stirred immediate political controversy because of its effect on so-called 'dark money' groups, which spend money in elections but are not required to reveal the sources of their funding except to the I.R.S."
Heather Caygle of Politico: "House Democrats voted Tuesday to delay their leadership elections a full month past the November midterms, setting up a potentially lengthy and contentious battle for control of the caucus. Democrats will now vote on their leaders -- including speaker if they win back the House — after Dec. 5." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "Senate Democrats are largely giving Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh the brushoff, refusing the customary 'courtesy visits' until Republicans agree to turn over voluminous documents from the Supreme Court nominee's past.... Judge Kavanaugh has met with 23 Republicans, and not a single Democrat. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said in an interview Monday that he would not meet with Judge Kavanaugh until the top Republican and the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee reach agreement on what documents should be produced. And those two senators, Charles E. Grassley of Iowa and Dianne Feinstein of California, are still far apart.... Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, who is considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats up for re-election in November, became the first Democrat to agree to a visit from Judge Kavanaugh...." (Also linked yesterday.)
Reuters: "A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment protects the right to openly carry a gun in public for self-defense, rejecting a claim by Hawaii officials that the right only applies to guns kept at home. The ruling by a three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, makes the San Francisco-based court the sixth U.S. circuit court to interpret the Second Amendment this way and could set the issue on a path toward the U.S. Supreme Court, which has not taken up a major gun rights case since 2010."
Book Review. Matt Shuham of TPM: "Former White House press secretary and communications director Sean Spicer's book is riddled with elementary errors, according to a Tuesday review in the Wall Street Journal. ABC News chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl, who lived through Spicer's legendarily dishonest press briefings, wrote for the Journal that Spicer's memoir, 'The Briefing,' 'is much like his tenure as press secretary: short, littered with inaccuracies and offering up one consistent theme: Mr. Trump can do no wrong.'... Karl lists some basic mistakes in the book[.]" (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Rafi Schwartz of Splinter: "According to Karl, Spicer also continues his habit of debasing himself for the benefit (pleasure?) of ... Donald Trump, calling him at various points a rock star, the Energizer bunny, and even 'a unicorn, riding a unicorn over a rainbow.' Sorry Sean, but there is a 100% chance that the president is never, ever going to read your silly book. Next time try adding some pretty pictures." ...
... Oh, Rafi, You're So Wrong. Henrietta Reily of Axios: "Trump tweeted his approval of the book in June: 'A friend of mine and a man who has truly seen politics and life as few others ever will, Sean Spicer, has written a great new book, "The Briefing: Politics, the Press and the President." It is a story told with both heart and knowledge. Really good, go get it!." Mrs. McC: I'm sure Trump read every line of the proofs.
Benjamin Fearnow of Newsweek: "Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ramped up threats against special counsel Robert Mueller on Monday, calling him a 'monster' and described shooting the former FBI Director. Jones' nearly 3-hour July 23 InfoWars broadcast ranged from rants about Hollywood pedophilia to social media 'shadow bans' to outlandish allegations Mueller was personally involved in a child sex ring composed of left-leaning political figures.... Jones took on a particularly insidious tone during his Monday show, accusing Mueller of violent child sex acts before dramatizing a hypothetical 'wild west' shootout with Mueller.... 'It's not a joke. It's not a game. It's the real world. Politically. You're going to get it, or I'm going to die trying, bitch. Get ready. We're going to bang heads,' Jones continued, pretending to fire a gun at Mueller." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Maybe if JeffBo is looking to lock up somebody, he could start with Jones, who just made a death threat against a top law enforcement official in Sessions' own department. ...
... BUT It's All Good with Facebook. Charlie Warzel of BuzzFeed: "As the clip of Jones went viral Monday evening, multiple observers flagged it as a threat of violence, which would be a violation of Facebook's rules. But on Tuesday morning, a Facebook spokesperson told BuzzFeed News that Jones' comments do not violate the company's community standards as they are not a credible statement of intent to commit violence.... Facebook appears consistent in its desire to keep Jones and Infowars up on the platform. This month, the head of Facebook's News Feed told reporters that Infowars is a publisher with a 'different point of view' and added that the site's history of 'just being false doesn’t violate the community standards.'" ...
... Here's another example of how FaceBook "manages" right-wing fake news:
... Eli Rosenberg of the Washington Post: In a video that went super-viral, "Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, the congressional candidate from New York..., appeared to give bizarre answers.... [The video] was staged as an interview with conservative commentator Allie Stuckey on the site CRTV.... [It] did not depict a real interview.... Instead, it used heavily edited footage from an interview Ocasio-Cortez did with PBS earlier this month spliced to appear as answers to questions read by Stuckey.... After an outcry, the Facebook page for Stuckey's show, which the social media giant has given an informal imprimatur in the form of a blue verification check mark, was updated to note that the video was satire and include a reference to the original PBS show.... [The video] appeared to be taken seriously after it was shared on some conservative-leaning pages on Facebook, and was viewed about 1 million times before the company posted the clarification to its caption."
Primary Results. Georgia Gubernatorial Run-off. Greg Bluestein of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Secretary of State Brian Kemp decisively won the Republican nomination for Georgia governor Tuesday, defeating Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle after a grueling runoff shaped by secret recordings, provocative ads and the late intervention of ... Donald Trump. Kemp's victory sets up a November showdown against former House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams to decide one of the nation's most-watched races. The two are bitter foes have scrapped over voting rights and election security since 2014. Cagle was the heavy favorite when he entered the race last year, thanks to three statewide victories and a huge fundraising advantage. But Cagle was hobbled by damaging audio covertly recorded by a former GOP rival, and any chance of his victory slipped away after Trump endorsed Kemp."
Beyond the Beltway
Joseph Serna of the Los Angeles Times: "The Los Angeles Police Department announced Tuesday that one of its officers fired the bullet that struck and killed a Trader Joe's employee in the frantic moments they exchanged gunfire with a suspect in an attempted murder case over the weekend.... The chief said he would wait until the investigation was completed before determining what consequences, if any, the officers involved in the gun battle would face internally. But on its face, he said, their decision to shoot at [the gunman] appeared justified." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
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Reader Comments (21)
Jeffbo really demonstrated him some fine leadership qualities to those winger high schoolers. Going along to get along by joining in the chant to jail a presidential candidate his boss repeatedly demands be locked up really shows those kids how a true leader should act: obsequiously and cowardly. Good going, little Jeffy. You show those kids how they should behave if they ever achieve a position of authority in Trump’s Amerika. Heil Trump! Lock up those who oppose der Führer.
I’m not sure it’s possible for these traitors to the Constitution and the American Experiment to be any less decent and upright. When the nation’s most powerful representative of law and order joins in a furious chant to imprison, without cause, an opponent, we’ve hit a bottom harder than rock.
Sean, “a unicorn riding a unicorn, over a rainbow?” WTF. I’m tempted to wonder, per Hemingway, where do the horns go, but really, I don’t wanna know. Isn’t that a little like My Weird Little Pony, squared, with a couple of tabs of acid on the side? This presidency gets more bizarre by the hour.
Since nearly all Trump's inner circle is corrupt and the footsoldiers enacting his "policies" follow their Dear Leader, I'm guessing that the $12 billion meant for struggling farming families will end up being mostly pork. The fat cat insiders who surely "paid to play" are likely to inherent a windfall of 'guv'mint schocialism' as no oversight will be charged with the doling out the FREE MONEY! The pigs are surely lining up to the trough, licking their chops.
Look for many disappointed farmers in the near future railin' against the guv'mint because they only got access to the 'trickle down' program.
@safari, as I've stated here in the past the repug's m.o. is to privatize the gains and to socialize the losses. As long as they get theirs, fuck everyone else.
INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE:
Inside the oval office: An aide tells Trump it's time for the interview with the reporter from Newsweek, Benjamin Fearnow.
Trump: Huh? why the fuck should I fear this guy?
Aide: No, Mr. President, sir, that's his last name.
Trump: Huh? what kind of cockamamie name is that?
Aide: I'm not sure, sir, you may want to ask him.
Trump: Sounds Arabic–-hmmm–-ok, send him in.
Fearnow: Good morning, Mr. President, Ben Fearnow here, ready for our interview, sir?
T: I gotta ask––what kind of piss poor name is that?
F: Fear not, Mr. President, I come bearing garlic and good will, sir, my name should not cause you concern unless of course you are prepared to dish out the usual lies, and palaver–plus, given that you are a pitiful mess of evasion and poltroonery this interview should proceed accordingly.
REPORT: Unfortunately we have no idea what ensued here–-Trump was found slumped over at his desk barely audible, but able to raise his middle finger in a wagging way emanating what sounded like grunts. When only two people are in a room without witnesses, we are left, as they say, in the dark. We have been informed that Mr. Fearnot's next interview is with Alex Jones, another controversial figure in our ongoing soap of the season. Stay tuned.
Thoughts and prayers for Ivanka at going out of business and for
that big tax write off she'll get and all those poor 20 cent an hour
Chinese workers with no income to buy that cheap American pork.
We should send them 12 billion to help out.
That's only $87 per American taxpayer.
This curious mind wanted to know.
Where does the Ag Dept. get a cool 12 billion without Congressional approval (which, if any R is to be believed, might not be forthcoming*)?
CNBC reported, "The aid will come from a mix of programs overseen by the USDA, including direct payments to producers of some goods, including soybeans, as well as distribution assistance for producers of goods that can be easily provided to food banks, such as fruits, nuts, rice, legumes, and some meats. A third program, looking to build international markets, is open to producers of all commodities."
This out of a total Ag. Dept. budget of around 140 billion, 117 of which is supposedly not discretionary. But if only 23 billion is discretionary, we can assume at least part of the 12 billion will take a big bite out of somebody's mandatory...In any case, shifting that much money (over 8 percent of the total ag budget) will cause major disruptions in service. Whadda mess.
So now we have a better idea of who's getting screwed. Wanna bet any program having to do with food assistance will not be the first target?
*We also know why some R's can afford to complain about the plan. They can stick to their "principles" and won't have to cast a vote...
And speaking of Alex Jones: "... "As the clip of Jones went viral Monday evening, multiple observers flagged it as a threat of violence, which would be a violation of Facebook's rules. But on Tuesday morning, a Facebook spokesperson told BuzzFeed News that Jones' comments do not violate the company's community standards as they are not a credible statement of intent to commit violence."
Seriously, folks, this is sheer madness. What exactly would Facebook consider a credible statement of intent to commit violence? This is infuriating––this madman should be locked up, as Marie mentioned.
When one of our congressional dullards, Ron Johnson, the cheese wonk from Wisconsin speaks out negatively re: the tariffs then we have made enormous progress. And wasn't he among the other two. Thune and Toomey, who have spoken out against, who went on that little junket to Moscow? And now we have Ben Sasse whose sass the Big Guy ain't too keen about––interesting to watch.
@Ken Winkes: Looks like Sonny is going to borrow billions from the Commodity Credit Corporation to cover the cost of aid to help save farmers from the guy they voted for.
Thanks, Bea
Tough on my morning brain, but it would seem then that the 12 billion will come out of the air, that is, from a U.S Treasury that is already borrowing at a furious rate to support the great tax giveaway.
Think China will buy those bonds to support those same farmers they are targeting with their retaliatory trade threats?
As I said, my head hurts. I'm guessing I'm feeling a lot like the Pretender's accountant must have felt for years.
@Ken Winkes: You raise an excellent point. According to a CNBC story, dated April 5, 2018, "If China did decide to sell off those bonds [-- it holds about $1.17 trillion in U.S. t-bills --] in a fit of rage aimed at President Donald Trump, then it could cause major havoc on international markets, said Jeff Mills, co-chief investment strategist at PNC Financial Services Group....
"The biggest impact would be on interest rates and bond prices, he says. If China floods the market with treasuries, and the supply of U.S. bonds spikes, then fixed income prices would fall and yields would rise. If yields climb then it would become more expensive for U.S. companies and consumers to borrow and that would cause the U.S. economy to slow down.
"It will also become more expensive for the U.S. government to issue debt — they'll have to pay higher rates to borrowers — while the $15 trillion of treasuries held by itself and investors would fall in value. Equities would be sent crashing, too, as yields climb."
Trade wars are easy to win. Like Akhilleus, I'm getting tired of so much winning.
In the first part of the recording when trump is speaking to someone on the phone, I heard "Honey" and "I'm proud of you." There was also talk about an upcoming event in Charlotte. That may have been Ivanka, who the googles say campaigned there for daddy in November of 2016.
And ... maybe DiJiT had a talking pig on the campaign staff. That's as probable as many other developments in the past two years ...
Defence of the Indefensible
The Trumpy trade war fiasco exemplifies one of the core problems with this administration: governance by childish sloganeering. Trump, who fancies himself a stable genius, is famously uninterested in details or facts. He's interested in ACTION! Thinking too deeply about something (or deeply at all, in his case) is a sign of liberal weakness and unmanly dilly-dallying. Wingers are Men of Action. Worrying too much about consequences is for wimps. Let's grab our guns and mow down the enemy. POW-POW! Take that you Chinese trade cheats! Take that EU cry babies! BAM! POW!
The root of this trade war is a mix of classic xenophobia, paranoia, and a startling ignorance about the actual nature of trade. To Trump, it's all a zero-sum game. If a trading partner makes out, we must be doing it wrong. They're getting the better of us and have to PAY! Dammit! (Actually, right now, it's the American taxpayer who's paying.)
And Twitter is the perfect vehicle for governance by sloganeering. There's not enough space for detailed and thoughtful arguments, there's just enough room for "Fuck you! America is the balls, and I AM A GENIUS!"
The Think Progress piece (posted above) referencing the similarity between Trump World and the world of Orwell's "1984" reminded me of an article written some years ago by Umberto Eco about the nature of fascism. After digging up this piece, I was amazed how much of Eco's description of what he calls Ur-Fascism, a kind of root form of this political disease, matches up with the world view promulgated by Trump and his brownshirts.
Eco lists the essential properties of Ur-Fascism:
Disagreement is Treason (Democrats didn't clap for me? Traitors!)
The Cult of Action of Action's Sake (which is also underpinned by a virulent hatred of intellectuals and any form of critical thinking).
Fear of Difference.
Obsession with Conspiracy Theories (Eco calls this the use of "plots", such as the constant appeal to the canard of the Deep State).
Combination of Victimization and Supreme Power (yes, weird, I know...it's the idea that we--the Trumpbots--are put upon by everyone, all the time, but we are, in fact, supremely able and powerful enough to vanquish all our enemies).
Appeal to a Frustrated Middle Class who feel humiliated by the mongrel minorities.
Machismo (and its evil twin Misogyny).
Contempt for the Weak.
And then there is the use of Newspeak, the Lingua Franca of fascists. Here's Eco:
"Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak. Newspeak was invented by Orwell, in 1984, as the official language of Ingsoc, English Socialism. But elements of Ur-Fascism are common to different forms of dictatorship. All the Nazi or Fascist schoolbooks made use of an impoverished vocabulary, and an elementary syntax, in order to limit the instruments for complex and critical reasoning. But we must be ready to identify other kinds of Newspeak, even if they take the apparently innocent form of a popular talk show." Or tweets.
The limited vocabulary and restrictions on the use of language as a tool for intellectual engagement seems a perfect analog for how Trump uses Twitter, and perhaps, even more frightening, how he thinks. Thinking in short bursts of poorly constructed language guarantees uncritical, badly informed decisions, like this bullshit trade war. (See Orwell's essay on "Politics and the English Language" and his thoughts on how poor language skills lead to dim thinking.)
Of course this isn't news to anyone who's been paying attention, but Trump's ignorance and incompetence will forever be overlooked by his fellow ur-fascists. He's what they've been waiting for, what was promised by the Powell Memo, by the Gingrich Revolution, by Fox, by Reagan, by Bush. Simplistic slogans make thinking unnecessary, and, for many of them, dangerous (critical thinking would water down the gut punch of hatred and ignorance), so there'll be a lot more of that.
Slogan heavy TrumpSpeak is, as Orwell puts it, "a defence of the indefensible".
See ya later (or maybe not)!
Trump's next meeting with Putin postponed until 2019 or after Mueller's 'witch hunt is over,' John Bolton says (according to CNBC: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/18/trump-believes-next-meeting-with-putin-should-happen-after-the-russia.html )
...didn't get much of a reception either.
The Kremlin was lukewarm on the idea of a second meeting, with a top official telling reporters Tuesday that Russia had not begun any preparations.
MAG,
Putin isn't anxious to spend another hour-long press conference with Trump humping his leg and panting.
Twitter responds in sorrow to the news that Princess Ivanka is hanging a CLOSED sign in her shop window (that's the sign that says "Made in China, suckers!" on the other side).
Thoughts and prayers to @IvankaTrump
Page Six has leaked that Ivanka is shutting down her fashion line, to concentrate on sitting in her White House office staring into space.
Ivanka Trump is shutting down her failed fashion line so that she can devote more time telling American companies how to run their businesses.
Ivanka Trump shuts down her fashion line to concentrate on pretending to do other work.
When Jared Kushner is done bringing peace to the Middle East and solving the opioid crisis, maybe he can fix Ivanka Trump’s brand.
And my two favorites so far:
A crushing blow to the 90% Off Final Clearance Rack at TJ Maxx.
Ivanka Trump’s fashion company shutting down immediately after failing to secure lucrative contract clothing incarcerated babies.
The whole trade surplus thing is asinine. We send them money, they send us stuff. Why do we send money halfway around the world to get stuff they make there? Because [entity] has determined that it's a better value to get the stuff from there.
In my business, I buy parts from German supply houses. They make the stuff accurately. I can't get the same things made here to the same quality level at any price. But the Germans will be damned if they ever buy a finished pipe organ from an American. "How could a New World ignoramus understand the culture and history?"
Hence, trade deficit.
NiskyGuy,
I'm afraid your understanding of trade is much different from that of the Glorious Leader. To him, things only work if he makes out like a bandit and everyone else traipses off to the poor house.
But your mention of pipe organs rocketed me back to college days. My college had a Flentrop tracker organ (Dutch built) installed in one of its museums and at lunch time, a few days a week, guest organists would give recitals. I made it a point to visit whenever I had time (it's still the King of Instruments, dammit). Eating a tuna salad sandwich while listening to Buxtehude or César Franck is a paradigm shifting experience. One afternoon I sat there with my book bag and sandwich and sat bolt upright as Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor ripped across the pipes. Those in attendance sat in bug-eyed awe.
Hairs stood up of their own accord and did an eight minute allemande. After the concert, as I was leaving, I saw the master descend the stairs from the loft. It was E. Power Biggs. I was so stunned I couldn't even say hello.
Anyway, thanks for the memory.
yes, Akhilleus, I also went to the same place to hear E.Power Biggs, and to eat my sandwich. I also ended up with a deep appreciation of the German expressionists because of those lunches. I got to know EPB a little more, when he was ill with the cruellest illness: rheumatoid arthritis which twisted his hands into useless objects. He was a great artist.
Victoria,
Despite the better known art museum up the street, I was likewise enthralled by the BR, it’s architecture, and its collections. I only heard Biggs that one time but it was an exalted experience. So happy to run into another who enjoyed those lunchtime concerts. By the way, the tuna salad sandwich came from Elsie’s if you remember that place. I didn’t know that Biggs’s amazing chops were stifled by arthritis. A sad end for such an amazing artist.