The Commentariat -- October 14, 2019
Late Morning Update:
** David Sanger of the New York Times: "President Trump's acquiescence to Turkey's move to send troops deep inside Syrian territory has in only one week's time turned into a bloody carnage, forced the abandonment of a successful five-year-long American project to keep the peace on a volatile border, and given an unanticipated victory to four American adversaries: Russia, Iran, the Syrian government and the Islamic State. Rarely has a presidential decision resulted so immediately in what his own party leaders have described as disastrous consequences for American allies and interests. How this decision happened -- springing from an 'off-script moment' with President Recep Tayyip Erdoganof Turkey, in the words of a senior American diplomat -- likely will be debated for years by historians, Middle East experts and conspiracy theorists. But this much already is clear: Mr. Trump ignored months of warnings from his advisers about what calamities likely would ensue if he followed his instincts to pull back from Syria and abandon America's longtime allies, the Kurds. He had no Plan B, other than to leave. The only surprise is how swiftly it all collapsed around the president and his depleted, inexperienced foreign policy team." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This is the most scathing assessment of any president or President* I have seen from the news side of the New York Times.
Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Fiona Hill, President Trump's former top Russia and Europe adviser, headed to Capitol Hill on Monday morning where she is prepared to testify that she and other officials objected strenuously to the removal of the ambassador to Ukraine, only to be disregarded.... Ms. Hill will be the first person who worked in the White House to be deposed by House investigators.... The White House has not attempted to stop Ms. Hill from testifying, according to the person familiar with her account, but White House lawyers have exchanged letters with Ms. Hill's lawyer about precedents regarding the confidentiality of presidential communications." Mrs. McC: According to news accounts this morning, the House issued Hill a subpoena today; whether or not this was because the Trump administration tried to quash her testimony was not clear.
New York Magazine welcomes "impeachment season" with several related stories. Jonathan Chait lays out the "(full) case" for Trump's impeachment. Gabriel Debenedetti describes Nancy Pelosi's strategy & tactics."
About That U.S. China Trade "Deal." Fred Imbert of CNBC: "China wants another round of talks before signing what ... Donald Trump called last week the first phase of a trade deal between the two nations, a source told CNBC's Kayla Tausche on Monday.... Bloomberg News first reported the news and said in its report that China also wants the U.S. to scrap a tariff hike scheduled for December. China and the U.S. held trade talks in Washington last week that ended with Trump saying both sides reached a 'very substantial phase one deal.' As part of that deal, China will address intellectual property concerns raised by the U.S. and buy $40 billion to $50 billion worth of U.S. agricultural products.... But while Trump characterized the talks' outcome as a success, Chinese state media said 'substantial progress' was made. Also, it did not call phase one a 'deal' while making little mention of the agricultural product purchases." Mrs. McC: IOW, Trump lied; there was no agreement. He needed a win, so he invented one.
U.K. Alexander Smith of NBC News: "Monday marked the state opening of Parliament, a formal procession where the government set out the legislative agenda for the coming parliamentary term.... The Queen's Speech was delivered by Queen Elizabeth II -- although the speech itself is actually written by the government as a way to announce its policy agenda. 'My Government's priority has always been to secure the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union on 31 October,' she said, reading the government's words. 'My Government intends to work towards a new partnership with the European Union, based on free trade and friendly cooperation.' In reality, [PM Boris] Johnson does not have enough power in Parliament to achieve any of the aims, however — meaning the U.K. is almost certainly headed for an election soon." ~~~
~~~ CNN here and the Guardian here are liveblogging updates.
~~~~~~~~~~
Complete Capitulation
The New York Times is live-updating developments at the Syria-Turkey border. At about 6 am ET, the headline is "Assad's Army Moves into Border Town."
Charlie Savage, et al., of the New York Times: "The American military was unable to transfer about five dozen 'high value' Islamic State detainees out of Kurdish-run wartime prisons before the Pentagon decided to move its forces out of northern Syria and pave the way for a Turkish-led invasion, according to two American officials. In the same area on Sunday, hundreds of Islamic State sympathizers escaped from a low-security detention camp in the region, taking advantage of the chaos caused by the Turkish ground invasion and the accompanying strikes. Both developments underscored the pandemonium unleashed by President Trump's sudden decision to order American troops to evacuate part of the Syrian region bordering Turkey.... Mr. Trump claimed last week that the United States had taken out the worst ISIS detainees to ensure they would not escape. But in fact the American military was able to take custody of only two British detainees.... As the week progressed and Kurdish casualties mounted, the onetime American ally ... grew increasingly angry at the United States.... The Kurds refused ... to cooperate in permitting the American military to take out any more detainees from the constellation of ad hoc wartime detention sites for captive ISIS fighters. Emphasis added. Update. The AP story is here.
** U.S. Moves Out, Syria Moves In. Liz Sly, et al., of the Washington Post: "Syrian government troops began moving toward towns near the Turkish border Sunday night under a deal struck with Syrian Kurds, following a chaotic day that saw the unraveling of the U.S. mission in northeastern Syria.... The announcement by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that they had reached an agreement with the Iranian- and Russian-backed government of President Bashar al-Assad further undermined the prospect of any continued U.S. presence in the country. The deal will bring forces loyal to Assad back into towns and cities that have been under Kurdish control for seven years." ~~~
~~~ Christopher Dickey & Spencer Ackerman of the Daily Beast: "Brett McGurk, who resigned as the presidential special envoy to the coalition against ISIS last December, told The Daily Beast on Sunday that such a move by the Syrian Kurds was predictable under the circumstances. Even last year, when McGurk was still serving, Kurdish leaders in Syria were telling the Americans that if support for them and deterrence against a Turkish attack was not going to continue, they needed to make a deal with the Assad regime and Russia for protection."
Chas Danner of New York has a good recap of developments as of Sunday evening ET.
Julian Barnes & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said Sunday that President Trump ordered a withdrawal of American forces from northern Syria, a decision that will effectively cede control of the area to the Syrian government and Russia, and could allow a resurgence of the Islamic State. Mr. Esper, appearing on both Fox News and CBS News, said that American troops, mostly Special Operations forces, would move south but not leave the country in the face of Turkey's incursion into the section of Syria controlled by Kurdish forces, a group of fighters trained and backed by the United States government. The Pentagon has slow-walked previous orders by Mr. Trump to evacuate from Syria, to protect its Kurdish partners and hold the ground it took back from the Islamic State. But Mr. Esper's comments Sunday indicated that this time Mr. Trump's drawdown order was being acted on with haste.... Mr. Esper said the Pentagon expected Turkish forces to annex even more territory than originally estimated." This is confirmation of reports linked earlier yesterday. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Seung Min Kim & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "President Trump's order to withdraw essentially all U.S. forces from northern Syria came after the commander in chief privately agitated for days to bring troops home, according to administration officials -- even while the Pentagon was making public assurances that the United States was not abandoning its Kurdish allies in the region. The officials, granted anonymity to describe internal deliberations, described Trump as 'doubling down' and 'undeterred,' despite vociferous pushback from congressional Republicans.... Behind the scenes, Trump has tried to convince advisers and lawmakers that the United States is not to blame for Turkey's military offensive.... But experts -- and many Republicans -- say otherwise." Mrs. McC: Apparently, all this had no effect because Tucker Carlson & Lou Dobbs.
~~~ Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "President Trump faced bipartisan criticism Sunday for his decision to order a withdrawal of U.S. forces from northern Syria, with one congressional Republican denouncing the move as 'weak' and a former Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman warning that it will 'diminish the character of our great nation.' Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), meanwhile, announced that both chambers are readying a joint resolution urging Trump to reverse his decision.The developments came on the same day that Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper announced the planned withdrawal of virtually all U.S. forces from northern Syria in the face of a Turkish military offensive targeting Kurdish fighters in the region. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), an Air Force veteran who was a pilot in Iraq and Afghanistan, was among the most vocal members of the president's party to condemn the move."
Committee to Protect Journalists: "The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the Turkish air strike on a civilian convoy that killed journalist Saad Ahmed and injured at least four other reporters. At about 4:15 pm today, a Turkish airstrike hit a civilian convoy traveling between the northern Syrian towns of Qamishli and Ras al-Ain, killing Ahmed, a Syrian Kurdish reporter for the local news agency Hawar News (ANHA), according to ANHA Director Alan Roj and Editorial Director Delshad Judy, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app. At least four other journalists from local news outlets were also injured in the attack, according to news reports and sources who spoke to CPJ. According toa report by the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, five other civilians were killed in the strike."
Humeyra Pamuk of Reuters: "The United States is looking into reports that a Kurdish politician and captured Kurdish fighters were killed in northeastern Syria amid Turkey's offensive, a State Department spokesman told Reuters on Sunday, adding that Washington found the reports disturbing.... 'We find these reports to be extremely troubling, reflecting the overall destabilization of northeast Syria since the commencement of hostilities on Tuesday,' the spokesman said in an email." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Eric Schmitt, et al., of the New York Times: "... with the White House revoking protection for these Kurdish fighters, some of the Special Forces officers who battled alongside the Kurds say they feel deep remorse at orders to abandon their allies. 'They trusted us and we broke that trust,' one Army officer who has worked alongside the Kurds in northern Syria said last week in a telephone interview. 'It's a stain on the American conscience.' 'I'm ashamed,' said another officer who had also served in northern Syria. And the response from the Kurds themselves was just as stark. 'The worst thing in military logic and comrades in the trench is betrayal,' said Shervan Darwish, an official allied with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.... As the Americans pulled back, the Kurds moved north to try to reinforce their comrades fighting the offensive. The American soldiers could only watch from their sandbag-lined walls. Orders from Washington were simple: Hands off. Let the Kurds fight for themselves. The orders contradicted the American military's strategy in Syria over the past four years, especially when it came to the Kurdish fighters, known as the Y.P.G., who were integral to routing the Islamic State from northeastern Syria." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Paul LeBlanc & Jake Tapper of CNN: "A retired four-star Marine general on Sunday bluntly criticized ... Donald Trump over the ongoing Turkish military offensive in northern Syria, saying, 'There is blood on Trump's hands for abandoning our Kurdish allies.' Gen. John Allen, the former commander of American forces in Afghanistan and former special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIS under the Obama administration, told CNN the unfolding crisis in Syria was 'completely foreseeable' and 'the US greenlighted it.'"
Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Looks as if Trump is getting worried about Republican support. Shortly after patting himself on the back for his "very smart" move greenlighting Turkey's assault on Kurdish regions, he tweeted this: "Dealing with @LindseyGrahamSC and many members of Congress, including Democrats, about imposing powerful Sanctions on Turkey. Treasury is ready to go, additional legislation may be sought. There is great consensus on this. Turkey has asked that it not be done. Stay tuned!" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) Update: The WashPo story by SMK & Dawsey linked above confirm my earlier supposition: Republicans privately had been pushing Trump.
Carlotta Gall & Patrick Kingsley of the New York Times: "Hundreds of relatives of Islamic State fighters fled a Kurdish-run detention camp on Sunday morning after Turkish airstrikes hit the surrounding area, deepening the crisis prompted by the Turkish-led invasion of northern Syria. The escapes came hours before the United States military said it would withdraw its remaining troops from northern Syria in the coming weeks, despite a likely resurgence of the Islamic State amid chaotic efforts by Turkish-led troops to wrest the region from Kurdish control. A Kurdish official also said that the flag of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, had been raised in the countryside between the camp in the Kurdish-held town of Ain Issa and the Turkish border, another indication of how the Kurdish authorities were losing control of a region they had freed from the extremists only months ago." This is confirmation of reports linked earlier yesterday. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Joshua Posaner of Politico: "Turkey's military offensive in Syria threatens to destabilize the region and boost ISIS, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a phone call Sunday.'The chancellor spoke in favor of an immediate end to the military operation,' said Ulrike Demmer, a spokesperson for Merkel, adding that the Turkish leader had requested the call. The call came after Berlin moved to suspend some arms exports to Turkey on Saturday after Ankara launched an offensive against Kurdish militias in northern Syria last week following ... Donald Trump's withdrawal of troops from the region.... EU foreign ministers are meeting early this week ahead of a summit of heads of state, with both sessions set to address the situation in Syria." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
What Trump Has Wrought. Vladimir Isacenkov of the AP: "From Syria to Ukraine, new fault lines and tensions are offering the Kremlin fresh opportunities to expand its clout and advance its interests. The U.S. military withdrawal from northern Syria before a Turkish offensive leaves Russia as the ultimate power broker, allowing it to help negotiate a potential agreement between Syrian President Bashar Assad and the Kurds who were abandoned by Washington. And in Ukraine, where the new president saw his image dented by a U.S. impeachment inquiry, Russia may use the volatility to push for a deal that would secure its leverage over its western neighbor."
Mrs. McCrabbie: A pundit (and I wish I could give the person credit) said on MSNBC last week that the real reason Lindsey Graham was so upset about Trump's abandonment of the Kurds was that Trump had failed to consult him first. So this from Felicia Sonmez's WashPo report linked above tends to confirm that opinion: "Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who had previously called Trump's decision on Syria 'the biggest blunder of his presidency,' praised the president Sunday for offering his support for sanctions on Turkey. 'Good decision by President @realDonaldTrump to work with Congress to impose crippling sanctions against Turkeys outrageous aggression/war crimes in Syria,' Graham tweeted.... Earlier Sunday, Trump had tweeted that he was dealing with Graham 'and many members of Congress, including Democrats, about imposing powerful Sanctions on Turkey.'"
Mrs. McCrabbie: So many have feared "what Trump would do in an international crisis," when the more likely eventuality was "what international crisis Trump would cause." We have one answer now; the longer he remains in office, the more certain it is there were be more. safari asks today, "What fresh hell will Monday bring?" The implication of his question is that whatever it may be, there will be fresh hell.
Trump, Inc. -- The Criminal Enterprise, Ctd.
Washington Post Editors: "... President Trump's corruption in Ukraine was not limited to his pressure for politicized investigations that could help his reelection campaign. We now know that the president's unjustified firing of the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine in May advanced the interests of two businessmen who made large contributions to his political campaigns ... and did business with his personal lawyer.... According to reporting by The Post and other news organizations, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two emigres from the former Soviet Union with checkered financial histories, made $630,000 in contributions to Republican candidates and political action committees beginning in 2016." ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE, "Putin Changes the Channel on Ukraine." Michael Bennetts of Politico: "... when ... Vladimir Putin declared this month that Kremlin-funded television channels should give Ukraine a break..., [his] that Kremlin-funded television channels should give Ukraine a break, underscored a thaw in relations between the two former Soviet states since Volodymyr Zelenskiy ... came to power in Ukraine in May. Last month, in a long-awaited development, the two countries exchanged dozens of prisoners, including 24 Ukrainian sailors seized by Russia during a naval clash in the Black Sea. And then, on October 1, Ukraine agreed to hold elections in its war-torn eastern regions controlled by Kremlin-backed separatists. It's a move that could bring an end to a five-year conflict that has killed more than 13,000 people and displaced another million."
Alayna Treene of Axios: "... documents obtained by Axios show how Democrats are taking the impeachment inquiry in two tightly focused directions: Ukraine and obstruction of justice.... There are new temptations for Democrats to broaden the scope of their inquiry after developments last week including President Trump's gift to Turkey, new questions about coordination with the Chinese over Hunter Biden, and the dramatic airport arrests of two of Rudy Giuliani's associates with Eastern European backgrounds and their indictments on campaign finance violations. But ... if the document request for Trump's former Russia adviser Fiona Hill, reviewed by Axios, is a road map for what Dems plan to ask Trump administration officials this week -- and committee sources tell me that it is -- then the inquiry remains focused on Ukraine and has not yet branched out into other countries." Treene lists "some of the key areas of interest to the committees, as outlined in their Oct. 9 letter to Hill," & the link is to the full docs request to Hill.
Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "Donald Trump's secretary of defense said on Sunday the Pentagon would cooperate with the House's impeachment inquiry, while cautioning that Trump may try to restrict his disclosure of information. Mark Esper said in two interviews his department would work to comply with a subpoena from committees seeking records relating to the withholding of US military aid to Ukraine.... But Esper warned on Fox News Sunday that Trump and other officials may yet create complications for the compliance before Tuesday's deadline for him to respond. 'I don't know what restrictions we may have internally in regard to releasing them,' Esper said. 'The White House has a say on the release of documents as well.'" Mrs. McC: I find it hard to believe that Esper will stand up to Trump on Ukraine when he didn't stand up to him on the Kurds -- a life-and-death blunder. I'd like to be wrong.
Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Ever since former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker handed over those text messages, President Trump's defenders have pointed to one of them as supposedly exonerating Trump. 'Bill, I believe you are incorrect about President Trump's intentions,' Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, told another diplomat. 'The President has been crystal clear no quid pro quo's [sic] of any kind.' This text has been a linchpin of the Trump Ukraine defense. But on Saturday night, the linchpin broke.... Sondland will ... indicate that he was merely relaying Trump's defense, which he had discussed with the president on a phone call before the text message[.]... This is remarkable stuff, especially considering that Sondland, unlike the two diplomats he was conversing with in those text messages, was a big-time Trump donor.... Sondland's impending testimony sounds like that of a man covering his own backside and knowing his apparent defense of Trump could quickly fall apart upon further examination." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Nahal Toosi of Politico: "Current and former career U.S. diplomats say Trump has handed far too many ambassadorial posts to unqualified candidates, many of whom were political donors with thin diplomatic resumes and little respect for the U.S. Foreign Service. Some say it's time to rethink, if not cap or outright bar, political appointments for ambassadorships. 'It is out of whack under Trump,' said Dana Shell Smith, a former career Foreign Service officer who served as the U.S. ambassador to Qatar. 'These ambassadorships are being seen as the spoils, as opposed to being very serious jobs that act in the interest of the country.' Most modern presidents have given roughly 30 percent of U.S. ambassador postings to political appointees, with the rest drawn from career government ranks.... As of now, nearly 45 percent of his ambassador picks -- people who have been confirmed or are awaiting confirmation -- are political appointees, one database shows." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Maggie Haberman & Annie Karni of the New York Times: "For 24 hours last week, Trey Gowdy, the former South Carolina congressman best known for leading congressional investigations of Hillary Clinton, was the new face of President Trump's outside legal defense and a symbol of a streamlined effort to respond to a fast-moving impeachment inquiry. A day later, the arrangement fell apart, with lobbying rules prohibiting Mr. Gowdy from starting until January, possibly after the inquiry is over. Now, according to two people familiar with events, Mr. Gowdy is never expected to join the team. And Trump advisers are back to square one, searching for a different lawyer.... Several [Trump aides] pointed fingers at Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, suggesting he had botched the rollout." The story goes on to report what-all happened in the "botched rollout." One upside: Gowdy lost his paid gig at Fox "News" in the wake of the annoucement he would be working for Trump. Mrs. McC: I suppose Gowdy will be back on air shortly now that he's not an official frontman for our Top Mobster.
Allan Smith of NBC News: "Sen. Ted Cruz said Sunday that it was wrong for ... Donald Trump to call on China to probe former Vice President Joe Biden and his son in the Texas Republican's most direct rebuke of the president yet. Asked on CBS's 'Face the Nation' whether Trump's comments were 'appropriate,' Cruz said 'of course not. Elections in the U.S. should be decided by Americans and it's not the business of foreign countries, any foreign countries, to be interfering in our elections,' he said.... Host Margaret Brennan then asked if it was improper for Trump to ask Ukraine to probe the Bidens.... 'Listen, foreign countries should stay out of American elections,' Cruz said. 'That's true for Russia. That's true for Ukraine. That's true for China. That's true for all of them. It should be the American people deciding elections....'... Cruz added that it would make 'sense for [Rudy] Giuliani to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has already invited Giuliani to do so." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE. Chris Rodrigo of the Hill: "President Trump on Sunday hit Fox News anchor Chris Wallace for his coverage of the phone call between Trump and Ukraine's president that is at the center of the House's impeachment inquiry. 'Somebody please explain to Chris Wallace of Fox, who will never be his father (and my friend), Mike Wallace, that the Phone Conversation I had with the President of Ukraine was a congenial & good one,' Trump tweeted. 'It was only Schiff's made up version of that conversation that was bad!' he added." Mrs. McC: I know many of you think it doesn't matter whether or not Trump believes his own B.S., but I think he does believe "it's all Adam Schiff's fault," and I think Trump's amazing facility for deluding himself is an essential ingredient in furtherance the problems he causes. This coping mechanism may appear to work for him, but it a plague upon the nation. ~~~
~~~ Michael Grynbaum & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Fed up with the coverage on his favorite cable news station, President Trump ... telephoned the chief executive of Fox News, Suzanne Scott, and let loose. In a lengthy conversation, Mr. Trump complained that Fox News was not covering him fairly.... The president has rarely been satisfied with the adulation he receives from the network's prime-time and morning opinion shows. Instead, he often fixates on any hint of criticism, deeming the network ungrateful for the high ratings that he attributes to himself." The Hill has a summary report here.
Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Brittany Shammas of the Washington Post reports on WSMV Nashville reporter Nancy Amons' interview of Mike Pompeo, embedded here Saturday. Mrs. McC: It really is delicious when a reporter gets the best of a bully like Pompeo who goes out of his way to avoid situations where he might get substantive questions.
Jackson Diehl of the Washington Post: "The uproar in Washington over President Trump's corruption in Ukraine and malfeasance in Syria has obscured a broader story. In little more than a month, virtually every other foreign policy initiative the Trump administration has pursued has imploded -- thanks mostly to the president's increasingly unhinged behavior." Diehl ticks of the catastrophes: the Afghan-Taliban summit at Camp David that didn't happen; the failed "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran' Kim Jong-un's refusal to accept an "interim" nuclear deal. "... there isn't [a common thread], other than Trump's mounting erraticism.... But the carnage of Trump’s foreign policy likely isn't over yet."
Michael Schmidt & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "A video depicting a macabre scene of a fake President Trump shooting, stabbing and brutally assaulting members of the news media and his political opponents was shown at a conference for his supporters at his Miami resort last week, according to footage obtained by The New York Times.... The video, which includes the logo for Mr. Trump's 2020 re-election campaign, comprises a series of internet memes. The most violent clip shows Mr. Trump's head superimposed on the body of a man opening fire inside the 'Church of Fake News' on parishioners who have the faces of his critics or the logos of media organizations superimposed on their bodies. It appears to be an edited scene of a church massacre from the 2014 dark comedy film 'Kingsman: The Secret Service.' The disclosure that the video was played shows how Mr. Trump's anti-media language has influenced his supporters and bled into their own propaganda.... A spokesman for Mr. Trump's campaign said ... 'That video was not produced by the campaign, and we do not condone violence.'..." ~~~
~~~ David Cohen of Politico: "The White House Correspondents' Association on Sunday night condemned 'a video reportedly shown' at a pro-Trump event held at a Trump resort in Miami that depicted graphic violence against journalists and various political figures." Cohen also summarizes the NYT story linked above.
Nancy Gibbs in a Washington Post op-ed: "What if the president wants out? There's much about the job he never liked, which is one reason he spends so much time watching TV rather than actually doing it.... He has claimed so often to love being president that it's easy to think he protests too much.... Trump escapes the frustration of failing to accomplish his agenda by not having ever had one, beyond his continued exaltation.... Resigning is out; that's for quitters. Defeat in 2020 is worse; losing is for losers. But being impeached and removed from office is the one outcome that preserves at least some ability to denounce the deep state and the quislings in the Senate who stabbed him in the back, maintain his bond with his tribe, depart the capital and launch a media business to compete with the ever more flaccid Fox News.... With a choice of bad options, impeachment doesn't look so bad, and gets you home to your gilded tower sooner. Assuming, that is, that you don't think you can just burn the Constitution to the ground and be the last one standing." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Every time I'm away from the news for several hours, I open up my computer & hope to see the bold headline, "Trump Resigns." I really do, even though I know any headline involving Trump is apt to be news of another abomination. If Gibbs' thesis is right, I'll have to count on Mitch & Lindsey & Ted to make my fantasy come true.
Presidential Race 2020. Charles Blow of the New York Times: "At a campaign rally in Minnesota, Trump said of Joe Biden: 'He was only a good vice president because he understood how to kiss Barack Obama's ass.'... The insult invokes a fear and disdain that white racists have had throughout American history: The subjugation of the white man to the black one.... The white supremacists see ... the subjugation of Biden ... to the black man ... as a particular kind of racial betrayal and racial subjugation that can never be made normal.... That is why Obama stays on the tip of Trump's tongue.... The racism is coded, received, without the burden of delivery." Mrs. McC: I was surprised that Trump didn't say "kiss his black ass," but Blow's explanation clears that up: "black ass" is understood in Trumpland. American black English has always employed a lot of code words designed to escape the understanding of white listeners. The irony is that now it is white racists who have to use coded language to appear socially acceptable to the larger population. I'm sure the racists resent that constriction of their freeedoms.
Matthew Green of Reuters: "Almost 400 scientists have endorsed a civil disobedience campaign aimed at forcing governments to take rapid action to tackle climate change, warning that failure could inflict 'incalculable human suffering.' In a joint declaration, climate scientists, physicists, biologists, engineers and others from at least 20 countries broke with the caution traditionally associated with academia to side with peaceful protesters courting arrest from Amsterdam to Melbourne. Wearing white laboratory coats to symbolize their research credentials, a group of about 20 of the signatories gathered on Saturday to read out the text outside London's century-old Science Museum in the city's upmarket Kensington district."
News Ledes
New York Times: "Harold Bloom, the prodigious literary critic who championed and defended the Western canon in an outpouring of influential books that appeared not only on college syllabuses but also -- unusual for an academic -- on best-seller lists, died on Monday at a hospital in New Haven. He was 89."
New York Times: "Three professors who have done experimental work toward alleviating poverty have been awarded the Nobel in economic sciences: Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, both of M.I.T., and Michael Kremer of Harvard University. Professor Duflo is the second woman and, at 46, the youngest person to win the economics prize." The Guardian has a liveblog here.
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Reader Comments (20)
"Stay tuned!"
JFC. Cadet Bone Spurs still has the capacity to revolt me. Videos are streaming out of summary executions and lifeless children bodies and Fatty McGee thinks it's...great teevee.
Never did I ever imagine our country would fall so far. Bush N Cheney were bad, but this is just wicked bloodshed and suffering for the sick thrill of it. And the GOP, the "national security", throw the military at eveything folk, still support their Demented Leader despite a few tough love pouts this weekend.
And what in the fucking hell is this idea of going on teevee and threatening to "blow up/take down the economy" of other countries, let alone a purported NATO ally, ie Turkey. Bone Spurs has done it multiple times, and I just caught Steve fucking Mnuchin saying it on teevee too. Do other responsible countries do this too, and we just don't hear about it? I feel like I've slipped into another Brave New World cuz this astonishing hyperbole doesn't even get push back from the journalists, just a head nod or another unrelated question. Are we all losing our minds?
I can't decide how MAGA mouth breathers are going to take a clear cut and run from Syria. I don't think they give two shits about the Kurd massacre because (1) they're too dumb to find them on a map (2) brown skin (3) Mooslim. But it does look weak and the grumblings by the armed forces will surely trickle down through MAGA community. Though I understand a large part of the military makes up that solid 35% of Drumpf's base and he's their demented hero. Go figure.
What fresh hell will Monday bring?
Safari,
All that tough-boy talk is just that. It's what Fatty does best: talk. Oh, besides balloon the deficit, desert allies, put babies in cages, and use taxpayer moneys and the power of his office for his personal whims.
Remember when he promised to nuke North Korea? Now he kisses Kim's ass. No more Little Rocket Man even though Kim tests rockets on a regular basis. He promised to destroy the ACA and replace it with something far better and ridiculously cheap. Although this sort of promise is akin to someone bragging that he's going to build a rocket ship to the Mars for less than the price of a Ford Fiesta and he'll do it in a couple of weeks. Idiots who believe that are waiting in line for tickets to ride that rocket.
And, as I pointed out yesterday, Trump won't touch the Turkish economy. They paid him good money (and continue to fatten his wallet) for use of his name on a building in Istanbul. If he screws with their economy, maybe he starts getting the old "check is in the mail, Don" emails.
It's just more of his chest thumping for the droolers.
Surely there will be a tweet today from the dear leader disparaging Kim Jung Un for ruining his chance of being nominated for the Nobel peace prize. If not Kim, the Nobel committee will be called losers, posers, hacks, and if not them, he'll belittle Abiy Ahmed Ali and his s*hole country. Just wait - you'll see. We've come to expect the worst.
Had a terrible thought while shaving this morning.
So say Trump gets impeached. This would be a political judgment, not a legal one, correct?
Okay. So what if he is impeached and then convicted in the Senate (be still, my heart)? Can he run again anyway?
The Constitution, as far as I can tell, doesn't say one way or the other. The Senate is given the responsibility of establishing a disqualification standard (so I've read), and could, in theory (again, as far as I can see), direct Fatty to tell his story walking and not come back. But they could also just tell him his term is history and let the chips fall where they may.
I can easily see him revving up the engines to go full bore into an election. And he would whip up the haters and droolers to a febrile ferocity. "They all hate me. And they hate YOU TOO! Aieeeee!"
It's never a good idea to assume anything with this clown.
Anyway, after that thought, my next, razor in hand, was to cut my own throat.
But I got over that. I gotta stick around long enough to see his fat ass impeached.
Since the consensus among most that aren't carrying water for the demented leader is that, indeed, he IS demented and dangerous why would the military brass–-Esper, let's say–-refuse the directive of abandoning the Kurds which has resulted in the uptake of violence and death which they KNEW would happen. There is something seriously wrong with this scenario. Our system should protect us from erratic decisions made by unfit presidents. Someone once said that presidents have too much power––said during the Obama era–-of course–-but it looks as though we may want to take another look at this.
The other procedure that needs to be reevaluated is the confirmation process of the ambassadors. I wrote about this after watching McCain questioning a prospective one––a woman Trump had seen on Fox who once had been in a soap opera. She knew zilch about the country she would be serving and it was crystal clear she was totally inappropriate for the job. McCain had some snarky feedback on the whole process. Don't recall if she was confirmed but it appears that people like her have been. So yes, we need to change the way we deal with this problem and it's up to congress to enact it.
The other story this morning that I'm questioning is Trump being nice to Ukraine re: TV access. Could it be the fox buttering up the chicken before he gobbles him up?
And safari: the "fresh hell" (coinage by Dorothy Parker, by the way, and brought to life by David Remnick) hits us every day in every way and it's about to heat up bigly and hopefully end in a good slow cooking of you know who!
Correction" Why wouldn't Esper––not would. Sounds like Fatty's make believe correction after Helsinki.
Periscope,
I've been thinking the same thing. "No Nobel Peace Prize?!? Hey, I've left the Middle East in pieces, din I?"
If he could somehow rescind Obama's Nobel, he'd have done it half an hour after those 75 people who came to his coronation cleared off the Mall.
Obama has one, Jimmy Carter too, both Democrats ( Woodrow Wilson and Teddy Roosevelt are the other two recipients). I'm certain Fatty will respond to this horrible slight with his typical blend of nastiness, ignorance, self-pity, and animosity. A true leader.
Re: A Trumpy resignation.
Yeah....well....hmmm....ummmm......
Nope.
He'll never resign. Nixon came to that decision after he was visited by Barry Goldwater and the Republican leaders of the House and Senate. There is no one of Goldwater's stature in the party now. Yes, in our guts we knew he was nuts, as that famous LBJ line went, but not so nuts as to see that the center could not hold. And Nixon knew it too.
Trump has no ability to understand things that are outside that stunted, solipsistic dung heap that passes for a brain. He's the greatest. Ever. That's it. If people don't get that, they need to go to prison. Or worse.
He might actually prefer impeachment over resignation. It would be "proof" of his whacko deep state conspiracy theories, a handy catch-all backstop for his every ignominious failure.
And besides, as much as a resignation would be a quick and relatively painless process, and one which would provide immense relief (until visions of president half-pence started invading the higher thought processes), I'd much rather see him drawn and quartered through a full-on Constitutionally mandated impeachment. Roast his ass good on national TV.
And let him continue his caterwauling about impeachment being illegal. He likely has visions of himself as being in the room with Madison and Jay and Hamilton when impeachment was being framed, fantasizing that they meant it for everyone else except him.
Which I guess would make him a Foundering Father.
(Cue cymbal crash. And roll tape of Fatty leaving the White House in disgrace.)
So this is Trump's version of a REALLY BIG DEAL with China:––Maleeha Bengali from "RealMoney."
https://realmoney.thestreet.com/investing/stocks/so-this-is-trumps-version-really-big-deal-with-china--15124745?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO&yptr=yahoo
@Akhilleus: I don't see any Constitutional impediment to Trump's being impeached & removed, then running again. I doubt he would get the GOP nomination again because the party would find some way to cut him out, & if he ran on the Trump Forever ticket, he would split the winger vote.
Besides, even if you were a voter who was skeert President Kamala would make you blackish or President Pete would make you gay, you still might think twice about voting for a guy who was going to be impeached, tried & convicted again right after he got through taking/lying the oath of office.
But it's Trump, so who knows?
Anyhow, I was out moving rocks & stones for a few hours, & I was disappointed when I came back in to do the late morning update to find that once again, Trump had not resigned.
It has become nearly impossible to get through the day without the dank, dangerous idiocy of the Orange Menace hovering about nearby. This weekend, reading through several chapters of Jacob Burkhardt’s thoroughly enjoyable history of the “Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy” it was impossible to encounter the various political, artistic, and military personalities without comparing leaders of Cinquecento with the buffoon in the White House currently lashing out at his enemies and causing death and destruction in the wake of his of rash and willfully ignorant sputterings.
One index of the appeal of a particular character has to be whether one would enjoy spending time with them, say over drinks or at dinner. Trump in no way offers such enticements. But one who does is Federico da Montefeltro, more commonly known as Frederick, Duke of Urbino. Federico seems to be the polar opposite of a blundering, lying mountebank like Trump. He was a gifted, even famous, military commander, operating as a condottiero, a sort of mercenary general who lent his army to various powers in need of someone to beat back enemies.
But the duke was much more. Burkhardt describes him as "...an accomplished ruler, captain, and gentleman, he had mastered the greater part of the science of the day, and this with a view to its practical application…he knew thoroughly not only the 'Ethics' and 'Politics" of Aristotle but the ‘Physics’ and some other works. The rest of his reading lay chiefly among the ancient historians, all of whom he possessed." (Try to picture Trump reading anything. I know, it's tough. Now...try to picture him reading anything with "ethics" in the title. Unpossible.)
Federico took great pains to look after his men and the citizens of Urbino. He worked hard, studied to improve himself and his abilities as a ruler and a man. As Burkhardt put it, he “squandered nothing”.
Sound like Fatty?
It’s not without some envy that I read about such individuals, especially when we are stuck with a self-aggrandizing, greedy poltroon. This isn’t to say that all Renaissance era rulers in Italy were carbon copies of Federico. Far from it. But it’s useful to hold on to a vision of what a real leader should be, should aspire to be, and how he or she should act.
Elsewhere, Burkhardt writes about the Borgias and their particular habit of getting rid of leaders of whom they were not fond. A favorite method seems to have been application of a poison reduced down to an odorless, colorless white powder which could be introduced slowly over time in food and drink (or quickly, if need be) until the desired result was achieved. It seems, however, that not all Borgias were cagey Renaissance men. A couple of Cinquecento Udays and Qusays accidentally indulged in a leg of mutton that had been, shall we say, “prepared” for someone else, with an unhappy ending for both.
Isn’t it time for the Trump brood to visit Italy? "Here ya go Junior, try the mutton."
Marie,
Do send some of those rocks off to the RNC. There are some heads that could use a few more.
Marie,
Yeah, I don't really see him running and winning, but it's Trump, so we could expect more scorched earth. And with enough bad luck, he might begin encouraging his supporters that another "second amendment" solution was required (you may recall that he once advised that murdering Hillary Clinton might be a good idea). In any event, a third party ticket headed by this fool would be certain to further rend an already tattered political scene in this country, driving us farther down the road to banana republicdom.
He might get re-elected but I don't think he'd get sworn in:
"Article I, section 3, clause 7 provides further that judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States."
If I were a megadonor I would consider it a risky investment, especially when I could buy a Romney for much less and then claim to be "healing the country."
@Patrick: Thanks. I forgot about that clause; it does seem to mean a person can't get a good job after having been impeached & convicted. However, there's some historical question as to whether or not the Senate would have to vote twice: once to remove & a second time (by simple majority vote) to disqualify. But you're right; as a practical matter, Trump would be a bad bet. But then he always has been.
Speaking of history books my wife brought one home this weekend that her father had. It's titled "The History of the United States; Told In One Syllable Words, by Miss Josephine Pollard. With Colored Illustrations." Copyrighted 1884.
Longer words are printed as: A-mer-i-ca, Co-lum-bus, In-di-ans, etc.
Drumpf might be able to read it, but, given that it's about history and is 120 pages long, I doubt that he'd even pick it up.
Unwashed,
Trump would most definitely not read your book. He'd take a look at the title and interpret "colored illustrations" as pictures of or by black people. A complete non-starter.
Jackson Diehl's piece reminded me of a moniker that I don't hear bandied around anymore, Dealmaker. I know that anyone actually looking at Trump's past could see that he is an utter failure. But optimists everywhere tried to wish into existence a Trump presidency of reaching across the aisle and all the opportunities to be had. Now we understand that everything Trump touches wilts and it was truly just daddy's bucks bailing out the loser time and again. Daddy's not here anymore and we are left to clean up his mess when he is finally done squandering opportunity after opportunity.
"Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been hosting informal talks and small, off-the-record dinners with conservative journalists, commentators and at least one Republican lawmaker in recent months to discuss issues like free speech and discuss partnerships."
Looks like Warren's ads about Zuckerberg weren't that far off the mark, no wonder they got approved so quickly.
RAS, yes I thought at the time that the problem with SPW’s fb add was that it was not false. It was so accurate it was a wonder fb permitted its publication. Can’t have truth smearing their reputation, shocking the cult.