The Commentariat -- July 27, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Unhinged U.S. Presidential Candidate Urges Russia to Breach U.S. Security. Jose DelReal of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump on Wednesday said he hoped that Russia would hack into Hillary Clinton's email server to find 'missing' messages and release them to the public. 'Russia, if you're listening I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press,' Trump said during a press conference at his Doral resort in South Florida on Wednesday. 'They probably have them. I'd like to have them release. It gives me no pause, if they have them, they have them,' Trump added later when asked if his comments were inappropriate. 'If Russia or China or any other country has those emails, I mean to be honest with you, I'd love to see them.'... [Trump] sought ... to distance himself from allegations that the Russian government hacked into the Democratic National Committee to benefit his campaign.... 'It is so farfetched. It's so ridiculous. Honestly I wish I had that power. I'd love to have that power but Russia has no respect for our country,' Trump said." -- CW ...

... Ashley Parker of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump said Wednesday that he hoped Russia had hacked Hillary Clinton's email, essentially sanctioning a foreign power's cyberspying of a secretary of state's correspondence.... Mr. Trump's call was an extraordinary moment at a time when Russia is being accused of meddling in the U.S. presidential election.... At the news conference..., [Trump] refused to unequivocally call on Vladimir V. Putin ... to not meddle in the United States' presidential election. 'I'm not going to tell Putin what to do,' Mr. Trump said. 'Why should I tell Putin what to do?'" -- CW ...

     ... Looks Like mike pence didn't get the memo. Reuters: "... Mike Pence on Wednesday vowed there would be 'serious consequences' if the FBI determines Russia is behind recent hacking attempt and is meddling in the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election." -- CW ...

     ... AND Paul Ryan was never in the loop. Esme Cribb of TPM: "The top spokesperson for House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) had strong words in response to Donald Trump's call for Russian hackers to 'find' and release the deleted emails from Hillary Clinton's private server. 'Russia is a global menace led by a devious thug,' Ryan spokesman Brendan Buck told The Guardian. 'Putin should stay out of this election.'" -- CW ...

... Lisa Hagen of the Hill: "Donald Trump said Wednesday he doesn't know Russian President Vladimir Putin, contradicting a claim he made last year that he knows the leader 'very well.' 'I never met Putin. I don't know who Putin is,' the GOP nominee said at a press conference.... 'He said one nice thing about me. He said I'm a genius,' Trump continued. 'I said thank you very much to the newspaper and that was the end of it. I never met Putin.'" -- CW ...

... Louis Nelson of Politico: "President Barack Obama 'has been the most ignorant president in our history,'... Donald Trump said on Wednesday." CW: As we know by now, Trump tries to obscure his own deficiencies by accusing his rivals of having his own shortcomings. ...

... As if to prove my point ...

... Politico: "Donald Trump mixed up Hillary Clinton's running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, with the former governor of New Jersey during a news conference on Wednesday. 'Her running mate Tim Kaine, who by the way did a terrible job in New Jersey -- first act he did in New Jersey was ask for a $4 billion tax increase and he was not very popular in New Jersey and he still isn't,' Trump said. Corrected by reporters, who suggested he might be confusing Kaine with Thomas Kean, a Republican who governed New Jersey from 1982 to 1990, Trump clarified. 'What? I mean Virginia.' The New Jersey tax increase that Trump may or may not been talking about came not under Kean, a Republican, but his successor Jim Florio, a Democrat." -- CW ...

... Hadas Gold of Politico: "Donald Trump once again targeted NBC News correspondent Katy Tur during a Wednesday news conference, telling the reporter to 'be quiet.'... As Tur asked another question a few minutes later, mentioning Trump's poll numbers, Trump once again mocked her.... This is far from the first time Trump has picked on Tur." -- CW

Jonathan Easley of the Hill: "Hillary Clinton's campaign is furiously pushing back against a close ally's claims that the Democratic nominee will reverse her position on the Trans-Pacific Partnership if elected president. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a longtime friend and surrogate for the Clintons, has been saying in interviews over the last 24 hours that Clinton would support passage of the Obama administration's international trade deal or seek to renegotiate it if elected president. Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta swatted down McAuliffe's claim on Wednesday. 'I can be definitive -- she is against it before the election and after the election,' Podesta told reporters. 'She is not interested in renegotiating the TPP,' he added." -- CW

Kevin Rector & Justin Fenton of the Baltimore Sun: "Prosecutors dropped all remaining charges against three Baltimore police officers accused in the arrest and death of Freddie Gray in a downtown courtroom on Wednesday morning, concluding one of the most high-profile criminal cases in Baltimore history. The startling move was an apparent acknowledgement of the unlikelihood of a conviction following the acquittals of three other officers on similar and more serious charges by Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams, who was expected to preside over the remaining trials as well." -- CW

Margaret Chadbourn of ABC News: "John Hinckley, Jr., the man who shot President Ronald Reagan in 1981, has been granted 'full-time convalescent leave' and will be released from St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D.C., where he has been in treatment. A federal judge granted the leave, which will begin as early as Aug. 5, according to court documents. He is permitted to reside full-time in Williamsburg, Virginia, with his mother at her home, and his monitoring conditions were set by U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman of Washington." -- CW

*****

Democratic Convention & Presidential Race

John Wagner, et al., of the Washington Post: "Hillary Clinton on Tuesday became the first woman to be nominated for president by a major political party on a historic night during which her campaign also sought to reintroduce her to skeptical voters and calm continuing tensions here. Part of that task fell to former president Bill Cinton, who delivered a keynote speech ... that began by recounting his courtship of his wife and detailed her lengthy career in public service, including helping children, immigrants and people with disabilities.... The evening ended with Hillary Clinton appearing on a large screen, remote from New York, thanking the delegates for helping her put 'the biggest crack in that glass ceiling yet.'" -- CW ...

... Women's Work. "I Met a Girl." Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "As long and detailed and rambling as the speech was, it's what every woman who has ever had a job wishes her husband would say about her.... She worked and worked and worked -- usually for men with important names. She got no credit, but I am crediting her now.... And then the sound of rubber hitting road: 'How' asked Bill Clinton, 'does this square with what you heard at the Republican convention?' And all of a sudden the insane amount of detail in his speech made sense. One version of Hillary is real, Bill argued, and 'one is made up.'" ...

... Jeet Heer of the New Republic: "... it was to Bill Clinton's credit that ... he was able to craft a speech where he kept the focus on his wife and used his political capital to persuade voters to overcome their doubts about her. The speech was heavily autobiographical, lifting passages almost word for word from his 2004 memoir My Life. Although the material was recycled, Bill was adept at speaking the words in a way that seemed deceptively natural.... Bill's storytelling skills were in the service of humanizing Hillary, showing her to be a strong, independent woman...." CW ...

Democrat Plagiarism Scandal! In Convention Speech, Bill Clinton Plagiarizes Former President! Yes, people, just like last week at the Republican convention when First-Lady-hopeful Melania Trump plagiarized the convention speech of the current First Lady, First-Hubby-hopeful Bill Clinton plagiarized the words of a former president -- and spouse of the current nominee -- at the Democrat convention. In an odd coincidence (or is it??), speechwriters for both parties are unable to write original material for potential First Spouses. Noted Atlantic columnist Ron Fournier was quick to point out that both sides do it. Amidst the outrage, and in an exemplary display of nonpartisanship, Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Jason Chaffetz (R) announced he would convene hearings to investigate both Clintons. -- CW ...

... CW: Since perhaps no one else will say so, I thought the most effective part of the evening was the parade of ordinary people with extraordinary challenges who spoke about how Hillary had helped them. They, to me, were a lot more convincing & enlightening that Bill Clinton's sales pitch. ...

     ... I also liked the brief speech by Rep. Joe Crowley (Queens, N.Y.):

     ... AND Howard Dean is a pretty good sport:

... But perhaps the most significant, if not the most heart-tugging, remarks came from the U.S.'s former top diplomat:

[Hillary Clinton] knows that safeguarding freedom and security is not like hosting a reality TV show. It is a complex, round-the-clock job that demands not only a steady hand and a cool head, but also a big heart. You are not just representing yourself, you are there for all of us. Hillary has displayed these qualities in every job has has ever had. And last week in Cleveland, we were reminded that her opponent possesses none of them. Many have argued that Donald Trump would harm our national security if he were elected president. The fact is: He has already done damage, just by running for president. -- Madelaine Albright

... Charles Pierce has the text of her full remarks. ...

... ** Alan Rappeport, et al., of the New York Times: "Democrats formally nominated Hillary Clinton for president on Tuesday, looking to move beyond the lingering anger that has brought protests and dissension to their convention as they unite behind the first female candidate to represent a major American political party. Mrs. Clinton officially became the party's standard-bearer in a roll-call vote of delegates on the floor of the convention. During the voting, Senator Bernie Sanders, who rallied millions of voters to his side in his battle against Mrs. Clinton, could be seen tearing up with his wife, Jane, sitting by his side. The crowd erupted in cheers when South Dakota's delegates cast their votes, putting Mrs. Clinton over the threshold for the nomination. The voting ended with a symbolic flourish, with the delegation from Mr. Sanders's home state of Vermont moving to make the Clinton nomination unanimous by acclamation." -- CW ...

... CW: In every day and every way, the Democratic convention is more thrilling that the Trumpican convention. ...

... Here's the New York Times' "live briefing." The Washington Post's live updates are here. ...

... Dave Weigel & John Wagner of the Washington Post: Sanders' move to nominate Clinton by acclamation "was the latest necessary step if Sanders was to do what few defeated insurgents have done: transform a presidential bid into a coherent and lasting movement of new voters. 'They had never been in a Democratic Party meeting,' Sanders said at a Tuesday morning breakfast with reporters. 'They wanted to get involved. And it would be a terrible, terrible shame if we do not figure out a way to capture that energy, to capture that idealism, to capture that love of this country.' As he has wound down his presidential campaign, Sanders has begun to build new organizations and plan for a possible power move if Democrats regain the Senate. He has officially launched Our Revolution, a 501(c)(4) 'social welfare' group to build support for liberal policies." -- CW ...

... Ed O'Keefe, et al., of the Washington Post: Hillary "Clinton is poised to be the Democratic presidential nominee, but her campaign spent most of Tuesday in talks to give her vanquished opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders, a symbolic role in the formal nomination process in a bid to heal rifts in the party." -- CW ...

Jordan Fabian of the Hill: President "Obama said Russian President Vladimir Putin might prefer Republican nominee Donald Trump over his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, because the business magnate has 'repeatedly expressed admiration' for the Russian leader in the past. 'I am basing this on what Mr. Trump himself has said,' the president said. 'And I think that -- Trump's gotten pretty favorable coverage -- back in Russia. The president's comments add considerable heft to mounting evidence that Russian hackers were behind the DNC hack. Obama said that the FBI is still investigating the origin of the hack, but he acknowledged that 'experts have attributed this to the Russians.'" -- CW ...

... Kevin Drum: "It's one thing when a campaign manager or some campaign surrogates say that Vladimir Putin is working to help elect Trump. It's quite another when the president says it. [CW: Especially this president, who is a careful speaker.].... And Trump himself is making things worse.... 'For the record, I have ZERO investments in Russia,' [Trump tweeted. The question is] ... whether Russian money funds his business here -- which might explain why he's so friendly to Russian interests. He has very carefully avoided answering that question. That's a bad sign since he would normally just lie about it. He must know that evidence of his reliance on Russian money is out there. Trump's tax returns would tell us the answer, of course, but Trump has declined to release them.... Maybe now we know why." -- CW ...

... Matthew Chance of CNN: "Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said Tuesday his whistleblowing website might release 'a lot more material' relevant to the US electoral campaign.... Assange refused to confirm or deny a Russian origin for the mass email leak, saying Wikileaks tries to create ambiguity to protect all its sources." -- CW ...

... Charlie Savage & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "American intelligence agencies have told the White House they now have 'high confidence' that the Russian government was behind the theft of emails and documents from the Democratic National Committee, according to federal officials who have been briefed on the evidence. But intelligence agencies have cautioned that they are uncertain whether the electronic break-in at the committee's computer systems was intended as fairly routine cyberespionage -- of the kind the United States also conducts around the world -- or as part of an effort to manipulate the 2016 presidential election.... It is unclear how the documents made their way to [Wikileaks]." -- CW ...

... Charlie Savage: "Six weeks before ... WikiLeaks published an archive of hacked Democratic National Committee emails ahead of the Democratic convention, the organization's founder, Julian Assange, foreshadowed the release -- and made it clear that he hoped to harm Hillary Clinton's chances of winning the presidency." -- CW ...

... Ken Vogel & Isaac Arnsdorf of Politico: "Leaked emails show the Democratic National Committee scrambled this spring to conceal the details of a joint fundraising arrangement with Hillary Clinton that funneled money through state Democratic parties. But during the three-month period when the DNC was working to spin the situation, state parties kept less than one half of one percent of the $82 million raised through the arrangement -- validating concerns raised by campaign finance watchdogs, state party allies and Bernie Sanders supporters.... The emails show the officials agreeing to withhold information from reporters about the Hillary Victory Fund's allocation formula, working to align their stories about when -- or if -- the DNC had begun funding coordinated campaign committees with the states." -- CW ...

... Alec Goodwin of Open Secrets: "Email exchanges involving top officials at the Democratic National Committee released along with private documents by WikiLeaks show that DNC officials hoped to reward top donors and insiders with appointments to federal boards and commissions in coordination with the White House.... None of the individuals on the list have been appointed to boards or commissions since the email exchanges took place almost three months ago. A few were named to slots in previous years. The White House strongly denied any link between financial support for the party and appointments." -- CW ...

... Franklin Foer argues in Slate that the Russian hack is worse than Watergate. -- CW

The Once and Former Democrat. Both Martin Longman, in the Washington Monthly, and the Googles testify that the Washington Post's top story on Clinton's nomination says Bernie Sanders "confirmed on Tuesday that he will return to the Senate as an independent, not a Democrat." But the language isn't in the Post story any more. CW: It isn't clear whether the assertion was removed because of space constraints or because it isn't true, but it looks like the former: according to a tweet by Susan Page of USA Today, Sanders told reporters yesterday he would be an independent senator. Longman complains, "It ... feels like a con game even if it isn't necessarily quite that."

"How to Answer a Damaging Charge by an Opponent" by Donald J. Trump. (1) Whether or not the charge is true, always begin by calling your opponent a liar. (2) Make conflicting AND incoherent remarks. Example: Aaron Rupar of Think Progress: After Bernie Sanders, in his Monday night convention speech, accused Donald Trump of wanting to allow states to lower the minimum wage below $7.25 an hour -- a charge PolitiFact rated as mostly true -- investigative journalist Bill O'Reilly asked Trump to clarify his position. "After accusing Sanders of lying, Trump said, 'I would leave it and raise it somewhat.... I know it's not very Republican to say but you need to help people.'... Trump went on to say $10 sounds like a reasonable number, but added, 'the thing is, Bill, let the states make the deal.'" -- CW ...

     ... Greg Sargent: "So basically, Trump flip-flopped and then back-flipped, holding three different positions in succession. The real story here is that Trump has no actual position on the minimum wage. His whole candidacy is a scam." -- CW

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: White supremacist & former Klan leader David "Duke said on Monday that [Donald] Trump did 'as much as he could' in a weekend interview to suggest that he could back Mr. Duke, who is seeking a Louisiana Senate seat. Asked about Mr. Duke's remarks, Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for Mr. Trump, emailed, 'Again, Mr. Trump has disavowed David Duke and will continue to do so.'... When Mr. Trump was asked Sunday on NBC's 'Meet the Press' if he would support a Democrat over Mr. Duke in the general election, he replied: 'I guess depending on who the Democrat is, but the answer would be yes....' On his radio program on Monday, Mr. Duke said..., '... You know, Trump basically said he could possibly vote, he could vote for David Duke if he was running against a liberal Democrat. So he did something. I think he felt like he did as much as he could do.'" -- CW

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. When Bill O'Reilly Fact-Checks Michelle Obama. David Ferguson of the Raw Story: "O'Reilly was piqued that the First Lady pointed out that the White House was built by slaves. 'Slaves that worked there were well fed and had decent lodgings provided by the government, which stopped hiring slave labor in 1802,' [O'Reilly said]. CW: So fat, happy slaves living the life of (O')Reilly. Let's all sing "Swanee River," people, & fondly remember the days on the old plantation.

Senate Races

John Bresnahan, et al., of Politico: "Rep. Alan Grayson's ex-wife repeatedly went to police with accusations of domestic abuse over a two-decade period, according to documents she has provided to Politico, revelations that come as the Florida congressman enters the final weeks of his Democratic primary campaign for Senate. Lolita Grayson called police on her husband at least two times in Virginia and two more times in Florida, sought medical attention on at least two occasions and said that, in one instance, he had threatened to kill her, according to a police report." -- CW ...

... Callum Borchers of the Washington Post: "At an event hosted by Politico in Philadelphia, site of the Democratic National Convention, Grayson on Tuesday got in the face of -- and made contact with -- Edward-Isaac Dovere, a reporter for Politico, which earlier in the day published claims of abuse by the congressman's ex-wife. If you're looking to dispute a characterization as a hot-tempered man who could be prone to violent acts, that may not be the best approach.... After Politico published its report on Tuesday, Democracy for America and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee withdrew their endorsements of Grayson." -- CW ...

... Kevin Robillard & Marc Caputo of Politico: "Rep. Alan Grayson's Senate campaign began disintegrating Tuesday as supporters and a top consultant abandoned him in the wake of a Politico report detailing decades of domestic-abuse allegations from his wife." -- CW ...

... Jason Zengerle of New York: Grayson "blames the bad headlines and the ensuing congressional ethics investigation into his hedge fund ... on researchers working for his [primary] opponent [Rep. Patrick Murphy]. 'Murphy has a staff of five people in communications who literally do nothing but call people all day long and try to throw dirt on me,' he said. And according to a confidant, he also suspects Murphy and his allies may have been behind the almost two-year court battle over his annulment, especially since the final two of the six lawyers Lolita worked with are from Murphy's stomping grounds in South Florida." -- CW

Gubernatorial Race

Brian Eason, et al., of the Indianapolis Star (July 26): "The Indiana Republican central committee has nominated Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb for governor, snubbing two members of Congress in favor of Gov. Mike Pence's former running mate." -- CW

Other News & Views

Julie Davis of the New York Times: "The White House on Tuesday announced a substantial expansion of a program to admit Central American refugees to the United States, conceding that its efforts to protect migrants fleeing dangerous conditions has been inadequate and left too many vulnerable people with no recourse." -- CW

Dahlia Lithwick: "Last week saw three major victories for voting rights. Federal courts struck down draconian voter ID laws in Texas and Wisconsin, and a federal judge in Michigan struck down a rule that would have barred straight-ticket voting.... These courts ... are now closely watching the efforts at voter suppression and finding that the myth of voter fraud does not justify the tangible harms these laws do to many voters.... But last week also saw a major voting setback when the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that Gov. Terry McAuliffe's move to restore voting rights to 200,000 disenfranchised felons violated the Virginia Constitution.... Still, the ruling also held that McAuliffe is allowed to lawfully restore voting rights for former felons, but only by individually signing the restoration orders.... That's just what he has now pledged to do in all 206,000 or so cases.... Let's bear in mind that the results of this election will go a long way toward deciding the extent to which the courts will protect the voting rights of all Americans or leave the most vulnerable out in the storm." -- CW

After conducting an exhaustive investigation, famous climate truther Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Fracklahoma) revealed last week that notorious government schools had brainwashed his own granddaughter. It seems she came home from school one and asked him why he didn't understand global warming. Apparently Inhofe failed to give the inquisitive tyke the easy, five-word answer: "Oil and gas lobby, Sweetiepie." -- CW

Way Beyond the Beltway

Kim Willsher & Julian Borger of the Guardian: "The murder of a priest and the wounding of one of his parishioners in Normandy was an act of terrorism carried out by two followers of Islamic State, the French president, François Hollande, has said. A witness to the attack has described how the two men forced the 86-year-old priest, Father Jacques Hamel, to his knees, slit his throat and filmed themselves appearing to preach in Arabic at the altar." -- CW

The Commentariat -- July 26, 2016

Democratic National Convention & Presidential Race

See also yesterday's Afternoon Update.

Dan Roberts & Sabrina Siddiqui of the Guardian: "A stormy opening night of the Democratic convention battered the Philadelphia arena on Monday as defiant Bernie Sanders supporters resisted attempts to persuade them to embrace Hillary Clinton. Impassioned pleas for unity from a trio of Democratic women led by Michelle Obama raised hopes that the tumultuous first day of the convention may provide catharsis. But despite a direct plea for calm from Sanders, many of his 1,846 delegates in the arena repeatedly jeered at mentions of the party's presumptive nominee for the first hour or two of the evening." -- CW

Abby Phillip & Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Bernie Sanders closed out the first day of the Democratic party's convention with a forceful plea for his supporters to get behind ... Hillary Clinton.... Sanders stood, taking in the adulation for several long minutes before launching into what would prove to be a challenging task: finally bringing his supporters into Clinton's fold. 'If you think you can sit it out, take a moment to think about the Supreme Court justices that Donald Trump would nominate and what that would mean to civil liberties, equal rights and the future of our country,' Sanders warned":

     ... Here's the text of Sanders' speech, as prepared, via Politico. -- CW ...

Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "... as she took the stage in prime time Monday night at the Democratic National Convention for perhaps the most anticipated speech of her career, [Sen. Elizabeth] Warren positioned herself to wield singular power over Democratic politics and the party's policy agenda from her perch in the Senate, no matter who wins the presidency":

Abby Phillip & Sean Sullivan: "First lady Michelle Obama delivered a powerful character witness on behalf of the Democratic Party's nominee, Hillary Clinton, and urged her party to not be complacent":

... CW: Copy that, Melania. ...

... Gail Collins: "O.K., Michelle Obama stole the show. It would be hard to beat an African-American first lady saying that she woke up every morning: 'in a house that was built by slaves. And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn. And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters and all our sons and daughters now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States.' But she went further than that -- further, really, in lambasting the opposition than is traditional for someone in the Official Wife position. And it worked very, very well." (CW: You may want to scroll on down the page; there are several other short takes on the convention, but there is no way to isolate them.) ...

... Rebecca Traister of New York: "... it was not an elected official, but one of the most brilliant and inspiring first ladies in American history, Michelle Obama, who lit up the room, silenced the booing throngs, and opened up a can of elegant whoop-ass on everyone who has been behaving poorly, all without mentioning any offenders by name." -- CW

Brian Beutler: "... by the end of the evening, the disarray story became impossible to credit.... The basic competence, and occasional brilliance, of the stagecraft left no room for anyone other than the most partisan operatives to pretend the two conventions and parties are equally broken.... Clinton's convention lineup wasn't designed to contrast with Trump's brigade of C-list celebrities and agitators, though it did do that. It was instead meant to serve as a demonstration that Clinton is widely respected in the Democratic Party, which is much less divided than a handful of Sanders delegates would have you believe. Where Trump insists to the public that Republicans are unified, Clinton and her supporters showed that they are." -- CW ...

... NEW. Greg Sargent: "What last night really showed is that there will be a profound, fundamental imbalance between the Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump campaigns when it comes to the wattage of surrogates out there making the case this fall.The biggest speeches of the night, from New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, Michelle Obama, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders, projected a tone that seemed designed to contrast sharply with the hate-and-rage-fest otherwise known as the GOP convention.... this is also another way in which there is simply no equivalence between the degree of disunity that is afflicting the two parties." -- CW

The New York Times' "live briefing" of the convention is here. ...

     ... 6 pm ET: "Hundreds of Bernie Sanders supporters drowned out the Vermont senator with boos Monday as he tried to make the case that his fans would need to vote for Hillary Clinton to defeat Donald J. Trump." CW: I'd say they're not Sanders "supporters" if they booed him. More like brats & malcontents.

... Sean Sullivan & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "Debbie Wasserman Schultz excused herself from gaveling in the convention, bowing to heavy pressure from party activists. It was one of many dramatic developments during a day of discord that threatened to distract from high-profile speeches meant to convey Democratic unity on the first day of the convention.... The floor of the Democratic National Convention was awash with anti-Hillary Clinton sentiment and sporadic protests as it opened Monday afternoon. Every mention of her name drew boos from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders's supporters, who toted signs railing against trade pacts and distracting from the speakers on stage. Televisions news cameras and anchors swarmed each uprising, broadcasting it live and furiously tweeting the latest chants. The barrage of activity and Klieg lights only seemed to encourage the rabble rousing, which continued on for more than an hour." -- CW ...

... "Mayhem Breaks Out"! Nick Gass of Politico: "Democrats on Monday struggled to contain the chaos that threatened to take hold in Philadelphia, as Debbie Wasserman Schultz bowed out of plans to gavel in the Democratic National Convention and restless Bernie Sanders' supporters lashed out.... Clinton's campaign insisted Monday that Sanders would 'double down' on his endorsement of Clinton weeks ago in New Hampshire, 'in contrast to Ted Cruz,' who caused an uproar in Cleveland by telling Americans to 'vote your conscience' rather than explicitly endorsing Trump." -- CW ...

... Ruby Kramer of BuzzFeed: "Bernie Sanders' campaign manager repudiated a fledgling grassroots effort by progressive activists at the Democratic National Convention to challenge Sen. Tim Kaine as the party's vice presidential nominee. 'It's very divisive,' said Jeff Weaver, the top strategist.... 'She's the presidential nominee. If Bernie were the nominee, would you want the conservatives trying to nominate our vice president?'" -- CW ...

... Liz Goodwin of Yahoo! News: "Sen. Bernie Sanders sent a text message to the leaders of his delegation pleading with them not to protest on the Democratic convention floor Monday night. 'I ask you as a personal courtesy to me to not engage in any kind of protest on the floor,' he wrote in the text message to his delegate whips. 'Its of utmost importance you explain this to your delegations.'" -- CW ...

... Jonathan Swan of the Hill: "Bernie Sanders supporters should stop calling for Hillary Clinton to be put in prison, Jeff Weaver said Monday ahead of the start of the Democratic National Convention. 'I know emotions are running high right now, but I think people really have to consider the implications of what a [Donald] Trump presidency would mean for those of us who support the kind of agenda that Bernie Sanders has laid out for the country,' Weaver, who served as campaign manager for Sanders's presidential bid, told The Hill.... On Sunday, immediately preceding the opening of the Democratic convention, supporters of the Vermont senator reportedly marched through the streets of Philadelphia, chanting, 'Lock her up.'" -- CW ...

... "Fart-in, Smoke-in and Actual Crowds Come to Philly After Boring RNC Protests." Steven Nelson of US News: "After surprisingly few people took to the streets of Cleveland last week to protest Donald Trump's nomination at the Republican National Convention, this week's Democratic convention will prove activism isn't dead.... The number of participants opposing or seeking to influence Hillary Clinton on Sunday alone -- before the convention began -- easily exceeded the number of protesters targeting Trump in an entire week.... Along for the ride will be at least one -- maybe two -- enormous fan-operated inflatable joints, which cannabis activists led by the D.C. Cannabis Campaign will march south toward the convention center.... Some Sanders delegates will participate in the anti-Clinton 'fart in.'..." CW: Let's feed 'em beans. ...

... Those Protesters (Including Some Delegates) Aren't Democrats. Paul Waldman: "The Democratic Party isn't being torn apart from the inside; it's being attacked from the outside.... For a certain kind of activist on the left, the real enemy is never the right; it's always the liberals who are insufficiently committed to their brand of revolution.... For some of [Sanders'] most ardent followers, joining the Democratic Party was never part of the deal. Many of the ones now protesting are quite open about the fact that their goal is to destroy the party.... This is a real contrast with the conflicts we saw highlighted in Cleveland...." -- CW ...

... Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Pew asked ... consistent Sanders supporters whom they support in the general election. Ninety percent said they back Hillary Clinton.... Last week, as the Republican convention was going on, Pew offered similar research about the Republicans. Of the 44 percent of the party that never supported Donald Trump, 79 percent were planning on backing him in the general election -- lower than the percentage of Sanders supporters backing Clinton, but still nearly 8 in 10. So why so much outrage in Philadelphia? Delegates to party conventions are not normal members of political parties." -- CW ...

** Why Are Sanders Delegates Such Jerks? Blame the Clinton Establishment. Matt Yglesias of Vox: "Sanders had little control over his delegates.... This was in part a matter of sloppiness on the part of Sanders's team in selecting delegates. But as one operative told me, there was another reason Sanders's delegation was so unruly: Everyone was so afraid to cross Clinton by serving as a Sanders delegate that he couldn't convince the kind of party loyalists who normally take the job to do it.... Many Sanders delegates come from the world of left-wing protest culture rather than party politics." -- CW

Lose the Air Quotes, Donald Donaldovich. Katherine Krueger of TPM: "Donald Trump on Monday attributed the Democratic National Committee hack that led to the ouster of its chair to 'one of our many, many "friends"' in Russia or China.... 'Little did [Wasserman Schultz] know, Russia, China, one of our many, many "friends"' -- Trump emphasized with air quotes -- 'came in and hacked the hell out of us.'" -- CW ...

... ** Thomas Rid in Vice: "The forensic evidence linking the DNC breach to known Russian operations is very strong. On June 20, two competing cybersecurity companies, Mandiant (part of FireEye) and Fidelis, confirmed CrowdStrike's initial findings that Russian intelligence indeed hacked Clinton's campaign.... The larger operation, with its manipulative traits, fits well into the wider framework of Russia's evolving military doctrine, known as New Generation Warfare or the 'Gerasimov Doctrine,' named after Valery Gerasimov, the current Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces.... The operation is not over." -- CW ...

... Shane Harris & Nancy Youssef of the Daily Beast: "The theory that Moscow orchestrated the leaks to help Trump, who has repeatedly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and practically called for the end of NATO, is fast gaining currency within the Obama administration because of the timing of the leaks and Trump's own connections to the Russian government.... Two U.S. officials told The Daily Beast that while hacking is a crime, and therefore falls under the FBI's jurisdiction, trying to manipulate an election is not. That may limit what the FBI can investigate...." -- CW ...

Dana Houle in the New Republic: "The main problem with the notion that the DNC rigged the results for Clinton is that it requires one to assume the improbable. The DNC had no role or authority in primary contests, which are run by state governments. Clinton dominated the primaries. The DNC, through state parties, had a bit more influence over caucuses ... where Sanders dominated Clinton.... Furthermore, if it is true that last fall Clinton campaign chair John Podesta tried but failed to have DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz sacked, the underlying premise of the entire WikiLeaks dump -- that Wasserman Schultz machinated to deliver Clinton the nomination -- is hard to believe." ...

     ... Houle identifies the real threat to the party that the Russian DNC hacks signalled: just as "Republican operatives jammed the phone lines of Democratic phone banks in New Hampshire, possibly costing them a seat in the U.S. Senate," so could Drumpovich-leaning hackers mess up "the digital and data infrastructure of the Democratic Party and its allies in organized labor and liberal interest groups." -- CW ...

... CW: Echoing what I wrote yesterday, Paul Waldman writes: "... the fact that Russia is trying to swing the outcome of an American presidential election is about a million times more important than the fact that some DNC staffers talked trash about Bernie Sanders in emails to one another."

Prognostications on the Trumpinproletariat: "How Rousseau Predicted Trump." Pankaj Mishra in the New Yorker: "No Enlightenment thinker observing our current predicament from the afterlife would be able to say 'I told you so' as confidently as Jean-Jacques Rousseau..., who was memorably described by Isaiah Berlin as the 'greatest militant lowbrow in history.' In his major writings, beginning in the seventeen-fifties, Rousseau thrived on his loathing of metropolitan vanity, his distrust of technocrats and of international trade, and his advocacy of traditional mores.... Against today's backdrop of political rage, however, Rousseau seems to have grasped, and embodied, better than anyone the incendiary appeal of victimhood in societies built around the pursuit of wealth and power." -- CW

Annals of "Journalism" & Journalism, Ctd. New York invites media luminaries to critique the media. -- CW

Beyond the Beltway

Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (July 22): "Gov. Scott Walker on Friday named a little-known Waukesha lawyer with no judicial experience to the state Supreme Court, putting Daniel Kelly on the bench and keeping in place the high court's 5-2 conservative majority. Kelly -- who in his application called affirmative action and slavery the same morally -- will replace retiring Justice David Prosser on Aug. 1, the start of the court's new term. Kelly, 52, initially applied for the appointment in secret, but his name became public in June.... Kelly took just one question from reporters after Walker announced the appointment in the state Capitol, but he declined to discuss his writings opposing affirmative action and gay marriage." -- CW ...

... OR, as Charles Pierce put it, Walker "is hard at work still putting the bananas in his banana republic...." -- CW

The Commentariat -- July 25, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Sean Sullivan & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "... the FBI said it was investigating an email breach that triggered much of the friction [within the Democratic party] over the weekend.... National security officials are increasingly concerned about possible efforts by Russia to meddle in the election, according to several individuals familiar with the situation.... Outgoing Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz faced an angry backlash at a meeting of her home state activists Monday morning. And liberal delegates stood ready to shower her with boos the moment she steps onto the stage at the convention, according to a top Democrat familiar with their plans." -- CW ...

... CW: Nick Gass & Daniel Strauss of Politico describe Wasserman Schultz's reception at the breakfast as "chaos" and "bedlam." Well, it's Politico. The shouters were wearing Sanders t-shirts. ...

... Patrick Tucker of Defense One on "How Putin Weaponized Wikileaks to Influence the Election of an American President. Evidence suggests that a Russian intelligence group was the source of the most recent Wikileaks intel dump, which was aimed to influence the U.S. election." Tucker lays out, more-or-less in layman's terms, the evidence which various cybersecurity firms have found. Via David Graham of the Atlantic. -- CW ...

... Again, via Graham, this was Jeff Goldberg of the Atlantic last week (before the Wikileaks dump), in a post titled, "It's Official: Hillary Clinton Is Running Against Vladimir Putin.... I am not suggesting that Donald Trump is employed by Putin - though his campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was for many years on the payroll of the Putin-backed former president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych. I am arguing that Trump's understanding of America's role in the world aligns with Russia's geostrategic interests; that his critique of American democracy is in accord with the Kremlin's critique of American democracy; and that he shares numerous ideological and dispositional proclivities with Putin -- for one thing, an obsession with the sort of 'strength' often associated with dictators. Trump is making it clear that, as president, he would allow Russia to advance its hegemonic interests across Europe and the Middle East. His election would immediately trigger a wave of global instability ... because America's allies understand that Trump would likely dismantle the post-World War II U.S.-created international order. Many of these countries, feeling abandoned, would likely pursue nuclear weapons programs on their own...." -- CW ...

... John Schindler of the New York Observer: "Russian hackers working for the Kremlin cyber-pilfered the DNC then passed the purloined data, including thousands of unflattering emails, to Wikileaks, which has shown them to the world.This, of course, means that Wikileaks is doing Moscow's bidding and has placed itself in bed with Vladimir Putin. In response to the data-dump, the DNC has said as much and the Clinton campaign has endorsed the view that Moscow prefers Donald Trump in this election, and it's using Wikileaks to harm Hillary. This view, considered bizarre by most people as late as last week, is being taken seriously by the White House -- as it should be.... ...It's obvious that Moscow prefers Trump over Clinton in this election, which ought not surprise given the important role of Putin-friendly advisors in the Trump campaign, and what better way to help is there than to discredit Team Clinton?" ...

     ... CW: Schindler's column is all the more remarkable because his boss is Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law.ti

Tim Canova, who is challenging Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz in the Democratic primary: "Our lawyers are preparing a complaint against Wasserman Schultz that we will file with the FEC for her wrongful use of DNC resources in her campaign against me, based on the wikileaks disclosures." Via Adam Smith of the Tampa Bay Times. -- CW

Some Sandersistas as Stupid as Trumpbots. Alex Griswold of Mediaite: "During a Sunday night MSNBC interview with Hillary Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon, supporters of Clinton's primary opponent Bernie Sanders began chanting his name and 'Lock her up!' in the background." -- CW

Frank Rich on the media: "... when Democrats throw up their hands in frustration and complain that the press is giving Trump a free ride, they are missing the point about Trump. The problem is not that the press is failing to do due diligence; the problem is that many of his adherents are impervious to that diligence.... Logic, empiricism, and the other niceties of civilized discourse have nothing to do with his ascendance, a reality that eluded the press for too long during his rise." -- CW

*****

Democratic Convention & Presidential Race

George Back of Yahoo! News: "Tim Kaine and Hillary Clinton sat down with 60 Minutes reporter Scott Pelley for their first joint interview since it was announced that Kaine will be Clinton's vice presidential pick.... 'I often feel like there's the Hillary standard and then there's the standard for everybody else, said [Clinton].... She elaborated on the 'Hillary Standard' saying, 'As you saw at the Republican convention - unfounded, inaccurate, mean-spirited attacks with no basis in truth, reality, which take on a life of their own.'... Tim Kaine ... prais[ed] Republican Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan [for trying to work through Washington gridlock.]." CW: Good grief! The full interview is here. ...

... Brian Beutler on the implication of "Lock her up!": "The impropriety of the rhetoric and the frankly unsettling mob-like mentality that inspired it ... [left] Republicans ... broadly untroubled by any of it.... [But] on top of all the troubling democratic implications of a major political party believing the opposition party's leader belongs in prison, Republicans may have successfully damaged Clinton with a false but powerful narrative. And if that's the case, she will need to be prepared to deal with it." -- CW

** Jonathan Martin & Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "... Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, abruptly said she was resigning that position after a trove of leaked emails showed the party conspiring to sabotage the campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. The revelation, along with sizable pro-Sanders protests in the streets [of Philadelphia] to greet arriving delegates, threatened to undermine the delicate healing process that followed the contentious fight between Mr. Sanders and Hillary Clinton. And they raised the prospect that a convention that was intended to showcase the Democratic Party's optimism and unity, in contrast to the Republicans, could be marred by dissension and disorder.... Donna Brazile, the D.N.C. said, will be the interim chairwoman through the election." -- CW ...

... Abby Phillip of the Washington Post: "The release of thousands of embarrassing internal email exchanges among Democratic officials threatens to overshadow the party's message of unity on the eve of the its convention in Philadelphia. A trove of messages released by hackers on the website WikiLeaks apparently show party officials working to boost Hillary Clinton's candidacy during the primary.... On Sunday, [Bernie] Sanders renewed his call for [Debbie] Wasserman Schultz to resign and said that the emails vindicate his claims during the primary that party officials were actively working to undermine his candidacy." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Jeff Zeleny & Eric Bradner of CNN: "Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz will not have a major speaking role or preside over daily convention proceedings this week, a decision reached by party officials Saturday after emails surfaced raising questions about the committee's impartiality during the Democratic primary. The DNC Rules Committee has named Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, as permanent chair of the convention, according to a DNC source. She will gavel each session to order and will gavel each session closed. 'She's been quarantined,' another top Democrat said of Wasserman Schultz, following a meeting Saturday night. Wasserman Schultz faced intense pressure Sunday to resign her post as head of the DNC, several party leaders told CNN, urging her to quell a growing controversy threatening to disrupt Hillary Clinton's nominating convention. David Axelrod, a former top adviser to Barack Obama's presidential campaigns and a CNN senior political commentator, said Wasserman Schultz should resign." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Glenn Thrush & others at Politico claim to have the inside scoop on "the scramble to oust Debbie Wasserman Schultz." From President Obama & Hillary Clinton on down, party poobahs have wanted to deep-six Debbie for some time, but nobody wanted to take on the task because it was "a pain in the ass." CW: Speaking of which, there seems to be some major ass-covering in all the "I never liked Debbie" claims that have surfaced over the past 24 hours. (Say, Mr. President, if you thought Debbie was such a bad DNC chair, why did you & Joe Biden endorse her over her primary challenger?) ...

... Marc Caputo & Daniel Strauss of Politico: "Wasserman Schultz spent Sunday afternoon hiding from reporters and huddling with advisers and Democrats connected to Clinton who urged her to quit, sources said." "The Sanders people have a right to be angry because these emails convey their worst suspicions -- that Wasserman Schultz is to Democratic dirty tricks what Richard Nixon was for Republican dirty tricks,' said John Morgan, a Florida donor & Clinton backer who has clashed with Wasserman Schultz before. Rep. Wasserman Schultz's primary opponent, Tim Canova, "said it appeared DNC staff was acting like an arm of Wasserman Schultz's reelection effort and might have violated campaign-finance laws." -- CW ...

... Hillary Super-Shocked by DNC Collusion, Distances Herself from Debbie the Disgraced. Jon Queally of Common Dreams: "Following Sunday's news, however Clinton responded with a statement thanking her 'longtime friend' for her service to the party and, seemingly without irony, announced that Wasserman Schultz would now serve as her campaign's honorary chair." -- CW ...

... Charles Pierce: "So thus does ideologically aligned press get a Dems In Disarray narrative to write, the ostensibly non-aligned press gets the Both Sides In Chaos story of its dreams, and the DNC under DWS demonstrates, for possibly the last time, that it would screw up a two-car funeral if you spotted it the hearse. These are the people standing between the Republic and El Caudillo de Mar-A-Lago." CW: So, it's all good for Ron Fournier. ...

... CW: Having written that, I decided to check to see what Ron Fournier himself did in fact have to say about all this. He doesn't disappoint: "The email dump jeopardizes Clinton's ability to unify the party in Philadelphia and avoid the public fratricide that spoiled Donald Trump's convention in Cleveland. [Clinton campaign manager Robby] Mook's attack [see story linked below] is brazenly hypocritical, given the fact that Clinton herself exposed U.S. secrets to electronic theft by running an off-the-books email system in violation of administration policy.... The emails suggest the Republican Party doesn't have a monopoly on intolerance.... Trump flunked his test in Cleveland last week. Clinton is off to a poor start." -- CW ...

... Amber Phillips of the Washington Post: “Hillary Clinton's campaign manager, Robby Mook, indicated that he believes 'Russian state actors' had some involvement in the leaked Democratic National Committee emails that show top Democrats writing off Sen. Bernie Sanders's chances during the primaries. 'There's evidence Russian state actors broke into the DNC, stole those emails, and there are experts saying they are releasing these emails for the purpose of helping Donald Trump,' Mook told CNN's Jake Tapper in an interview that aired Sunday.... 'I don't think it's coincidental these emails were released on the eve of our convention here.... We need to be concerned Trump and his allies made changes to the platform to make it more pro-Russian, and we saw him talking about how NATO shouldn't intervene [in Russian disputes]. So I think when you put it all together, it's a disturbing picture,' he said." CW: See Also Josh Marshall's commentary, linked below. ...

... CW: No, this is not a crazy conspiracy theory, as the Trump camp claims. (And it's pretty rich when the Trumpettes think other people are as loony as Donald.) ...

... ** David Sanger & Nicole Perlroth of the New York Times: "... researchers have concluded that the national committee was breached by two Russian intelligence agencies, which were the same attackers behind previous Russian cyberoperations at the White House, the State Department and the Joint Chiefs of Staff last year.... The release to WikiLeaks adds another strange element, because it suggests that the intelligence findings are being 'weaponized' -- used to influence the election.... Whether the thefts were ordered by Mr. Putin, or just carried out by apparatchiks who thought they might please him, is anyone's guess." ...

     ... CW: Sanger & Perlroth call it "remarkable" that the Clinton campaign had accused Trump of "essentially secretly doing the bidding of a key American adversary." No, what's remarkable is that there's a pile of evidence that the charge is true. The big story here is not the Debbie & Bernie spat -- we already knew quite a lot about that -- but the likelihood that Donald Trump's oppo research team is funded & run by Russian oligarchs. ...

... ** Josh Marshall of TPM (July 23): "... many believe Trump is an admirer and would-be emulator of Putin's increasingly autocratic and illiberal rule. But there's quite a bit more to the story. At a minimum, Trump appears to have a deep financial dependence on Russian money from persons close to Putin. And this is matched to a conspicuous solicitousness to Russian foreign policy interests where they come into conflict with US policies which go back decades through administrations of both parties. There is also something between a non-trivial and a substantial amount of evidence suggesting Putin-backed financial support for Trump or a non-tacit alliance between the two men.... Trump's financial empire is heavily leveraged and has a deep reliance on capital infusions from oligarchs and other sources of wealth aligned with Putin." -- CW ...

... Charles Pierce: "Marshall presents a judicious but comprehensive bill of indictment as regards He, Trump's relationship with Putin. He doesn't allege direct complicity, only a mutuality of interest that should alarm anyone concerned about the stability of American democracy.... This should be the only story about the Trump campaign until he comes clean. It should be the only question anybody asks him." -- CW ...

... AND Forrest M. points out in today's Comments that this Trump logo makes sense now.

... CW: Commenter Nancy says today, "Why aren't we reading more about this. If Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama were involved in something like this, I can assure you it would be front page 24/7." ...

... ** Kevin Drum agrees: "The weirdest part is (a) Clinton's campaign might be right, and (b) this is not really getting an awful lot of attention from the media. Let that sink in: the Clinton campaign has explicitly accused the Russians of being on Team Trump and suggested that Trump might be on Team Russia. And although the media is covering it, it's not the top story anywhere. Seriously. WTF does it take these days to lead the news?... [Trump's remarks about Russia & Putin, as well as his insistence] on gutting a plank that said the US should provide weapons to Ukraine... add up to a suspiciously large number of positions that are not just pro-Russia, but unusually pro-Russia." CW Note: As if to answer Drum & Nancy, Sanger & Perlroth's story is the top story at the Times online today.

CW: A commenter writes in today's thread: "I haven't seen anything to-date to suggest that HRC had anything to do with what was going on inside the DNC." But there is evidence:

     ... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "When the Sanders campaign alleged that the Clinton campaign was improperly using its joint fundraising committee with the DNC to benefit itself, Clinton campaign lawyer Marc Elias offered the DNC guidance on how to respond." Elias was responding "to an email about the issue sent by [DNC] communications director Luis Miranda to other DNC stuff [CW: probably "staff"] that copied Elias and another lawyer at his firm, Perkins Coie.... The fact that he was talking to the DNC about how to respond would appear to suggest coordination between the DNC and Clinton campaign against Sanders...." That is, the DNC was copying Clinton's lawyer on internal emails about Sanders, & Clinton's lawyer was advising them. That's a conspiracy. Blake has more on "the most damaging things in the DNC's leaked emails." ...

... Charles Blow: "No matter whom one supported during the primaries, or even what party one aligns with, [the DNC e-mails] should turn the stomach. This kind of collusion is precisely what is poisoning faith in our politics. This reinforced the feeling of many that the system was rigged from the beginning." -- CW ...

... Matea Gold of the Washington Post: "The DNC emails show how the party has tried to leverage its greatest weapon -- the president -- as it entices wealthy backers to bankroll the convention and other needs. At times, DNC staffers used language in their pitches to donors that went beyond what lawyers said was permissible under a White House policy designed to prevent any perception that special interests have access to the president.... The emails show several instances in which DNC fundraisers pitched donors with promises of a 'roundtable' chat with Obama.... Top [White House] aides also get involved in wooing contributors, according to the emails." -- CW ...

... Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "It has been an open secret for some time that one of the weakest elements of the extended Democratic Party family under President Obama has been the Democratic National Committee.... The cascade of internal DNC emails released Friday by WikiLeaks underscore what Sen. Bernie Sanders and his advisers have long claimed: The DNC appeared to have its finger on the scale for rival Hillary Clinton through the long nominating contest.... The national committee's role is to maintain strict neutrality during the primaries, and the emails indicate that did not happen.... The problems at the DNC date back years.... A long-standing problem that could have been dealt with before has emerged as a disruptive force at a moment of maximum visibility." -- CW

Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Michael R. Bloomberg, who bypassed his own run for the presidency this election cycle, will endorse Hillary Clinton in a prime-time address at the Democratic convention and make the case for Mrs. Clinton as the best choice for moderate voters in 2016, an adviser to Mr. Bloomberg said. The news is an unexpected move from Mr. Bloomberg, who has not been a member of the Democratic Party since 2000; was elected the mayor of New York City as a Republican; and later became an independent." -- CW (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Steve M.: "Does it make sense for Bloomberg to speak at the convention? Most people would say yes -- but I don't see the point.... Trump isn't running as just a businessman -- he's (dishonestly) running as a businessman who's also a class traitor. He's pretending to be a champion of the common people... If you want to counter Trump, you don't counter him with a businessman who's uncritical of the rich.... Warren Buffett might have been effective in this slot -- deserved or not, he has a reputation as a billionaire with the common touch." -- CW

Still Feeling the Bern. Matt Pearce of the Los Angeles Times, on the ground, Sunday afternoon: "If anyone was wondering if the brutal heat forecast for Philadelphia [97 degrees] would deter Bernie Sanders supporters from marching and rallying outside the Democratic National Convention this week, I can tell you the answer already appears to be no. For almost an hour now, hundreds of pro-Sanders protesters (and possibly more, I can't even see the back of the crowd) have been parading -- slowly -- from City Hall toward the heart of the DNC's events in south Philadelphia." -- CW

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.

Driftglass reflects on the amazing journalistic talents of Chuck Todd, who remarked on-air Sunday, "I'm in one of the [DNC] emails just-- I'm the complaint department here sometimes at NBC. Somebody was complaining about coverage. And I said, 'Okay, let's talk on the phone,' or whatever. But we didn't do anything about it, because I get complaints about coverage every hour, every day." CW: See also Saturday's Commentariat on Todd's interactions with the DNC when Debbie complained Mika was way too mean.

Driftglass reveals all to those of you who may have wondered, "Whatever happened to Ed Schultz?" Make that "Comrade Schultz," because it turns out that the former MSNBC host has been working for the Russia-funded network RT America. And, um, he likes Trump now. CW: This shocks even me.

Speaking of hacks, the GOP's Top Twitterbird, #RealDonaldTrump comments on the DNC e-mail hack (via Caputo & Strauss, linked above):

Leaked e-mails of DNC show plans to destroy Bernie Sanders. Mock his heritage and much more. On-line from Wikileakes, really vicious. RIGGED -- Friday

The WikiLeaks e-mail release today was so bad to Sanders that it will make it impossible for him to support her, unless he is a fraud! -- Saturday

Today proves what I have always known, that @Reince Priebus is the tough one and the smart one, not Debbie Wasserman Shultz -- Sunday

I always said that Debbie Wasserman Schultz was overrated. The Dems convention is cracking up and Bernie is exhausted, no energy left! -- Sunday

Caitlin Yilek of the Hill: "... Reince Priebus on Sunday defended ... Donald Trump, who again linked Sen. Ted Cruz's father to President Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald last week. 'He's got a right to talk about whatever he wants to talk about, however, I don't think he was every saying this was some of factual information,' Priebus said at a Sunday press conference in Philadelphia...." CW: Yes, yes, we all have a right to say stupid things, but that doesn't make it prudent for a presidential nominee to spread unsubstantiated rumors about family members of a rival candidate. ...

... Kevin Cirilli of Bloomberg: "... Donald Trump said he prevented Ted Cruz from being ripped off the stage by entering Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena as hundreds of angry delegates lashed out at the Texas senator. 'You know what, he's lucky I did it,' Trump told Bloomberg Politics' ... Mark Halperin in an interview to air Sunday night.... 'I walked in and the arena went crazy. Because there's great unity in the Republican Party and people don't know it,' Trump said. 'Had I not walked in, I think that audience would have ripped him off the stage. I think I did him a big favor.' When asked point blank if he entered the arena at the conclusion of Cruz's speech on Wednesday to 'tweak' his former primary rival, Trump responded: "Tweak him? I would never do a thing like that. But yes.'" -- CW

** Alexander Burns: "... consciously or not, Mr. Trump has followed a path trod for more than a century by nationalist outsiders who coveted the presidency, from [newspaperman William Randolph] Hearst to Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Ross Perot. Like them, he has presented himself as an archetype of American ingenuity and grit -- a tough, patriotic businessman -- and offered himself as a champion against swirling international forces that he describes, in conspiratorial terms, as undermining the United States.... Historians see in Mr. Trump's candidacy the winding together of different strains in reactionary politics under a single banner.... To the extent that he has an ideology, it is a kind of fortress conservatism...." -- CW ...

... digby: "... the salient point about all of these previous examples of similar strong men types is that none of them actually got the nomination of one of America's two main political parties. It's much closer to actual reality than it's ever been before." -- CW

Imaginary Chaos. Paul Krugman: "... it's hard to see how anyone who walks around with open eyes could believe in the blood-soaked dystopian vision Mr. Trump laid out [in his acceptance speech]. Yet there's no question that many voters -- including, almost surely, a majority of white men -- will indeed buy into that vision.... When Mr. Trump talks about making America great again, you can be sure that many of his supporters are imagining a return to the (partly imagined) days of male breadwinners and stay-at-home wives. Not incidentally, Mike Pence ... used to fulminate about the damage done by working mothers...." -- CW ...

... David Remnick of the New Yorker: "The Ailes-Trump relationship has been turbulent, roiled by the differences of large narcissisms -- two immense egos competing for the same ideological berth.... For the unconverted, the Convention was a disaster that will not likely broaden Trump's appeal.... Still, Ailes could take paternal pride in Trump's acceptance speech [which echoed some of Richard Nixon's 1968 speech. Ailes was Nixon's "media advisor."] What heightened the drama was that, just hours before, Ailes's long career had come to an ignominious end, amid multiple accusations of sexual harassment." -- CW

Dan Barry of the New York Times: American ranchers at the U.S.-Arizona border say the Great Wall of Trump is "idiotic ... and it's not going to change anything." While the number of migrants who cross the border has "plummeted" because the U.S. has stepped up border security, ranchers say the number of drug traffickers, usually armed, has increased." CW: BTW, these old boys are not Democrats.

Beyond the Beltway

The News from My Neighborhood. Dan DeLuca, et al., of the (Fort Myers, Florida) News-Press: "Two people are dead and up to 16 are injured following a deadly shooting during a teen night at Club Blu in Fort Myers. At about 12:30 a.m. Monday, Fort Myers police responded to the club at 3580 Evans Ave. after a shooting in the parking lot. Officers found several victims suffering from gunshots wounds with injuries ranging from minor to life threatening. All victims, reported to be between the ages of 12 and 27, were transported from the scene by Lee County Emergency Medical Services to area hospitals." CW: The NYT calls this a "mass shooting," which is accurate. It's yet another iteration of Second Amendment America.

News Lede

New York Times: Verizon, seeking to bolster its meager digital content for consumers, announced on Monday that it was acquiring Yahoo's core internet business for $4.83 billion in cash." -- CW