The Commentariat -- June 27, 2016

Early/Afternoon Update:

Art by MAG. Nasty mouths by the usual suspects.

... Maybe they're so mad because .... Fredreka Schouten & Christopher Schnaars of USA Today: "Thousands of wealthy donors who helped fuel Republicans' presidential ambitions in the last two election cycles have not donated to Donald Trump's campaign or to other committees supporting his bid, underscoring the challenge the real-estate magnate faces in securing the hundreds of millions he needs to finance his general-election campaign." ...

     ... CW: This appears to me to be a place where Hillary has a real advantage over Bernie. Establishment Republicans are not afraid of President Hillary MOR Clinton; they might be digging deep if the alternative was President Bernie Socialist Sanders.

The good thing is, we have a candidate who doesn't need to figure out what's going on in order to say what he wants to do. -- Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, Sunday on "Meet the Press"

Tim Mak of the Daily Beast: "After releasing fundraising reports that were anemic at best, Donald Trump's campaign announced in one single email blast he had raised at least $3.3 million. If that figure seems impossible, that's because it is.... Digital marketing experts are viewing Trump's current claims with deep skepticism." -- CW

Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "A slot at the Republican National Convention used to be a career-maker.... In the year of Trump: Not so much.... Politico contacted more than 50 prominent governors, senators and House members to gauge their interest in speaking. Only a few said they were open to it, and everyone else said they weren't planning on it, didn't want to, or weren't going to Cleveland at all -- or simply didn't respond." -- CW

** Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Monday struck down parts of a restrictive Texas law that could have reduced the number of abortion clinics in the state to about 10 from what was once a high of roughly 40. The 5-to-3 decision was the court's most sweeping statement on abortion rights since Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992. It applied a skeptical and exacting version of that decision's 'undue burden' standard to find that the restrictions in Texas must fall. Monday's decision means that similar restrictions in other states are most likely also unconstitutional, and it imperils many other kinds of restrictions. Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote the majority opinion, joined by Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. dissented." -- CW ...

... Tara Culp-Ressler of Think Progress: "The high court reversed two major provisions in Texas' law -- first, a requirement that abortion doctors obtain 'admitting privileges' from local hospitals; second, a requirement that abortion clinics bring their standards in line with 'ambulatory surgical centers' -- siding with the plaintiffs' argument that these policies do nothing to improve patient health and safety. In the majority opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote that these 'unnecessary health regulations' ultimately pose an 'undue burden' on women's right to abortion.... Monday's decision doesn't mean that those state laws will automatically be rolled back.... But it is clear that TRAP laws are now on much, much shakier ground than they were before the high court waded into this issue." -- CW ...

... Kevin Drum: "This means that probably the most important thing we've learned today is just how far Kennedy can be pushed. He's voted in favor of several abortion restrictions over the past decade, but this one went too far. In practical terms, that means abortion opponents have tested the limits of what they can get away with, and the Texas law represents the outer boundary." -- CW

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Monday unanimously overturned former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell's public corruption conviction, and made it harder to prosecute public officials for alleged wrongdoing. The court said it had no opinion on whether McDonnell should be retried under the stricter standards the decision imposes, but Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. described the former governor's actions as 'tawdry' in announcing the decision from the bench." CW: So we know what about Bob. But what about Maureen? I'm not sure what this means for Maureen McDonnell, who also was convicted & sentenced to jail. ...

... Rick Hasen: "The Supreme Court's unanimous ruling throwing out the conviction of Gov. McDonnell (while leaving open the possibility of a retrial on a narrower theory of the case) is sensible and courageous, and shows the continuing important influence of Justice Scalia in this area of the law. It is hard to write an opinion letting off the hook someone whose actions were as odious as Gov. McDonnell.... But it was the right thing to do. In an earlier case, Sun-Diamond, Justice Scalia wrote a majority opinion (involving the conviction of Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy on illegal gratuity charges) in which Justice Scalia warned about the criminalization of ordinary politics." -- CW

AP Brief: "The Supreme Court is upholding the broad reach of a federal law that bans people convicted of domestic violence from owning guns. The justices on Monday rejected arguments that the law covers only intentional acts of abuse and not those committed in the heat of an argument." -- CW

The Guardian is liveblogging developments relating to Brexit. At 11:45 am ET, PM Cameron is speaking before the Parliament. He says he's not planning a Brexit vote redux. -- CW ...

... Simon Denyer & Renae Merle of the Washington Post: "U.S. and European stock markets stumbled again Monday as investors digested the implications of Britain's historic vote to leave the European Union." -- CW ...

... Hortense Goulard of Politico: "Brussels should avoid the temptation to embrace 'revengeful premises' after British voters chose to leave the European Union in last week's referendum, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday. EU leaders need to ensure that during the exit negotiation with the U.K., 'nobody loses their head, nobody goes off half-cocked, people don't start ginning up scattered-brained or revengeful premises,' Kerry said, after a meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini in Brussels." -- CW ...

*****

... Steve Erlanger of the New York Times: "Britain's political crisis intensified on Sunday after its decision to leave the European Union, with the opposition Labour Party splitting into warring camps, Scotland's leader suggesting that its local Parliament might try to block the departure and many Britons wondering if there was a plausible way for the nation to reconsider its drastic choice." -- CW ...

... Dan Balz, et al., of the Washington Post: "The political fallout from Britain's stunning decision to leave the European Union sharply escalated Sunday, with debate growing inside the governing Conservative Party over choosing a successor to Prime Minister David Cameron and a coup attempt emerging against the leader of the opposition Labour Party.... The turmoil here underscored the degree to which the decision to break with Europe -- an action seen widely here as the most significant event in the postwar history of Britain has left the country politically divided, deeply unsettled and in uncharted territory on multiple fronts." -- CW ...

... Rick Noack of the Washington Post: "Tilbury [-- a southeastern port town --] is one of England's poorest places -- and one of its most Euroskeptic. More than 72 percent of voters here and in surrounding Thurrock voted for Britain to leave the European Union in Thursday's referendum. Few places voted more decisively. But by Sunday, the initial excitement among some pro-Brexit voters had already started to disappear, making room for worries about what's next for an increasingly divided Britain. Some in this town of 12,000 have also begun to wonder whether they had been misled by politicians advocating to leave the E.U...." -- CW ...

... Max Bearak of the Washington Post: "... one of the biggest reasons for regret may end up being that promises made to 'leave' voters by leading Brexit proponents are being walked back by those very leaders. On talk shows over the weekend, three of them in particular were confronted by flabbergasted hosts over their playing down of integral elements of the Brexit campaign." -- CW ...

... Max Bearak: "After Thursday's referendum on a 'Brexit,' a wave of racist incidents have been reported to British police and documented in widely shared social media posts. Through the weekend, #Postrefracism has been trending, and its contents provide a disheartening view of how Britain's vote to leave the European Union may be emboldening those who harbor virulent racist sentiments." -- CW ...

... Max Bearak: "Sometimes, amid the I-told-you-so editorials and breathless think pieces that follow a major political event, the best take is actually in the comments section. Such is the case with a comment left by a user of the Guardian's website under the name Teebs (as shown above), written in the aftermath of Britain's Thursday vote to exit the European Union. The commenter has left many around the world, especially anxious 'remain' voters, hopeful...." The comment is reproduced in full at the top of the story. CW: I think you'll enjoy reading it. ...

... Gabriel Roth of Slate, in a pithy post on the British character(s) & how this all led to Brexit: "... for another term as prime minister, [David Cameron] gambled with his country's future, and with the future of Europe -- with the whole historic struggle to transcend nationalism and ethnic grievance. As it happens, he lost." -- CW ...

... E.J. Dionne: "History is unlikely to be kind to British Prime Minister David Cameron.... [He] called [last week's election] to solve a short-term political problem and get through an election. His Conservative Party was split on Europe and feared hemorrhaging votes to the right-wing, anti-Europe, anti-immigrant U.K. Independence Party.... He turned a normal electoral challenge into a profound crisis.... The devastating complaint of Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament: 'A whole continent is taken hostage because of an internal fight in the Tory party.'... Across Europe and in the United States, politicians can either respond to these cries of protest or face something worse than Brexit." -- CW ...

... Emily Badger of the Washington Post on why the types of decisions normally made by legislatures should not be left to popular votes. -- CW ...

... Alison Smale, et al., of the New York Times: "As Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, President François Hollande of France and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi of Italy meet on Monday in Berlin, and again with the heads of all 28 European Union members in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday, they will have to decide whether to continue pressing for immediate negotiations on the terms of Britain's withdrawal or to let passions cool in the hopes that some kind of deal might be worked out to keep Britain in the bloc." -- CW ...

... Damian Carrington of the New Republic on the many ways Brexit will be bad for the environment. It seems the EU forced Great Britain to clean up a lot of its polluting ways. -- CW

Obama Has Had Enough of Trey Gowdy. Rachel Bade of Politico: The White House and the House Select Committee on Benghazi are at a standoff over whether President Barack Obama should answer a series of questions about the 2012 terrorist attack in Libya that left four Americans dead. Neil Eggleston, counsel to the president, blasted the committee for sending the president a list of questions about the attack -- an inquiry the administration deemed inappropriate and a partisan attempt to frame the White House as uncooperative." -- CW

When the Cure Is Worse than the Disease. Matthew Goldstein, et al., of the New York Times: After the banking system failed homeowners to the extent it triggered a global recession in 2008, private equity firms stepped in, "promising to do better. But some of these new investors are repeating the mistakes that banks committed throughout the housing crisis.... Private equity firms, and the mortgage companies they own, face less oversight than the banks." Also, unlike banks, they are under no obligation to lend to poorer communities. And they're crooks: "If foreclosing on a homeowner is the most profitable option, Lone Star [one of the private equity entities] is likely to foreclose." ...

     ... CW: We can thank that little shit Tim Geithner for getting homeowners into this mess: "The Obama administration supported private investment in foreclosed homes, with Timothy F. Geithner, then the Treasury secretary, remarking in 2011 that it would 'support neighborhood and home price stability.'" There's a real danger Hillary Clinton will put Geithner-like boneheads in key administration posts.

A Healthcare Plan for the Rich, the Young & the Healthy. Washington Post Editors: "House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) ... released an Obamacare alternative that is less detailed in a variety of crucial ways than previous conservative health reform proposals. The outlines that the speaker did provide suggest that it would be hard on the poor, old and sick." -- CW

Alicia Parlapiano of the New York Times: According to analyses, the eight-member Supreme Court has leaned left in its decisions. -- CW

Mark Mazzetti & Ali Younes of the New York Times: "Weapons shipped into Jordan by the Central Intelligence Agency and Saudi Arabia intended for Syrian rebels have been systematically stolen by Jordanian intelligence operatives and sold to arms merchants on the black market, according to American and Jordanian officials.Some of the stolen weapons were used in a shooting in November that killed two Americans and three others at a police training facility in Amman, F.B.I. officials believe.... The existence of the weapons theft, which ended only months ago after complaints by the American and Saudi governments, is being reported for the first time after a joint investigation by The New York Times and Al Jazeera." -- CW

Verena Dobnik & Jennifer Peltz of the AP: "Rainbow flags were held high along with portraits of the dead as thousands of people marched Sunday in gay pride parades tempered by this month's massacre at a Florida gay nightclub. Crowds of onlookers stood a dozen deep along Fifth Avenue for New York City's parade. Some spectators held up orange 'We are Orlando' signs, and indications of increased security were everywhere, with armed officers standing by." -- CW ...

... Jennifer Epstein of Bloomberg: "Hillary Clinton ... on Sunday marched the final few blocks of New York's annual gay pride parade through throngs of cheering supporters packed along iconic Christopher Street. 'Hillary! Hillary!' crowds chanted as she walked slowly to shake hands and pose for photos, flanked by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. An entourage of dozens, including other elected officials, campaign aides and Secret Service agents, surrounded her...." -- CW

Presidential Race

Jill LePore of the New Yorker offers a fine, short history of how U.S presidential candidates have been selected. -- CW

Our Very Occasional Poll Report. Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "Weeks of provocative and outlandish behavior have hurt Donald J. Trump's standing in two new national polls of registered voters, which showed the presumptive Republican presidential nominee falling further behind Hillary Clinton. A Washington Post-ABC News survey had Mrs. Clinton with a double-digit lead: 51 percent to 39 percent. A Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll had Mrs. Clinton with a smaller advantage of five percentage points." -- CW ...

... James Downie of the Washington Post: "Just about everything that could have gone right for [Hillary] Clinton in the past month has.... Sixty-four percent call Trump 'not qualified' for the presidency, up six points from May.... Only 77 percent of Republicans now support Trump, down eight points from a month ago.... In other good news for Clinton, Sanders voters are already coming around to supporting her.... Finally, Trump will have to deal with a newly popular president on the campaign trail.... Hillary Clinton hasn't even had to go out of her way to hurt Trump. He has already self-destructed." -- CW ...

... Elena Schneider of Politico: "Sen. Mitch McConnell hedged on whether he considers Donald Trump as qualified for the job, saying he would 'leave that to the American people to decide.'... McConnell added that he doesn't believe Trump can win the presidency with so little money in the bank. According to recent filings, Trump has $1.3 million in cash on hand to Clinton's $42.5 million." -- CW

Jeremy Peters: "The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee are moving quickly and aggressively to head off the fledgling effort to stage a revolt at their convention next month in Cleveland, hoping to spare the party an embarrassing spectacle that could deeply wound the presumptive nominee. They are employing hard-nosed tactics, warning delegates that attempting to undermine Donald J. Trump's claim to the nomination violates party rules, and threatening to deny speaking slots to Republicans they deem disloyal.... 'If there's no endorsement, then I would not invite them to speak,' Mr. Trump said in an interview, adding that former rivals like Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Gov. John Kasich of Ohio should not expect to address the convention if they continue to withhold their support." -- CW ...

... MEANWHILE. Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Anti-Trump forces will be sending an 'advance team' to Cleveland this week to begin preparing their effort to strip the Republican presidential nomination from Donald Trump." -- CW

Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "Donald Trump reacted to the news that former Bush administration Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson has endorsed Hillary Clinton with a familiar retort. 'Don't know anything about him,' Trump told reporters in Scotland, where he is visiting his golf properties in an overseas trip. Convenient memory lapses are a common dodge for Trump over the years. When confronted with unpleasant remarks made by prominent people, Trump often says he has never heard of such person (despite usually having commented them directly in the past by name).... In the case of Paulson..., [Trump] actively praised him at length in an appearance on CNN in October 2008." -- CW ...

Trump Forgets He Has the World's Greatest Memory. Seth Millstein of Bustle: "... Donald Trump claimed in December to have 'the world's greatest memory.' But according to newly released documents, Trump doesn't remember saying that.... This claim came up again weeks later when Trump testifying in the Trump University lawsuit.... In a deposition..., [when] Trump claimed he couldn't remember certain aspects of the case ... the plaintiff's attorney [said.] 'You've stated, though, that you have one of the best memories in the world.'... Trump eventually admitted that 'I don't remember saying that.'" Includes excerpt of deposition transcript. -- CW

"Jan Brewer Goes Berserk on CNN." David Edwards of the Raw Story: "During an explosive CNN segment on Sunday, former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) lashed out at President Barack Obama because she said she was tired of being called a 'bigot' for supporting ... Donald Trump. At a fundraiser for Gov. Jay Inslee (D-WA) on Friday, Obama took a shot at Trump. 'We don't have time for charlatans and we don't have time for hatred and we don't have time for bigotry and we don't have time for film-flam,' the president said.... The comments appeared to hit a nerve with Brewer when she was asked about them during a panel segment on CNN." Includes video. -- CW

Daniel Strauss of Politico: "Sen. Bernie Sanders' national press secretary has decided to leave the campaign, she confirmed on Sunday night. Symone D. Sanders (no relation to the senator) said she was departing the campaign amicably." -- CW

Beyond the Beltway

Jazmine Ulloa, et al., of the Los Angeles Times: "Seven people were stabbed, with some injured critically, during clashes between rallying neo-Nazis and counter-protesters Sunday at the state Capitol, authorities said.... The Traditionalist Worker Party had a permit to hold a rally at noon.... Hours before the scheduled rally, more than 400 counter-protesters began showing up.... Around 11:45 a.m., when word spread that about 30 people showed up for the rally, the counter-protesters swarmed towards them and a brawl immediately broke out, [George] Granada [of the California Highway Patrol] said. 'I don't think there was any verbal exchange, just full on fight,' he said.... No arrests have been made. The Capitol was placed on lockdown...." -- CW

Jessica Contrera of the Washington Post: "Tyriece Travon Watson, better known as [rapper] Lor Scoota, had just finished hosting a charity basketball game. The fliers advertising the event had said, 'Pray for peace in these streets.'... Lor Scoota was about a mile away from the arena when he was shot and killed.... Homicide detectives are investigating the shooting as a targeted attack." -- CW

Desiree Stennett of the Orlando Sentinel: "Sanford[, Florida] Mayor Jeff Triplett was standing outside a friend's home ... Saturday when he was forced to the ground by 18-year-old Jermine Horne and a 17-year-old accomplice, who then threatened to kill him.... Police say Horne and the 17-year-old were both armed. The duo is accused of stealing the mayor's wallet.... The suspects are also accused of stealing the keys to Triplett's 2012 Mercedes-Benz ML350 and using the vehicle as a getaway car.... [The] two suspects ... have been arrested.... [A] third suspect escaped." -- CW

Laurie Goodstein of the New York Times: "In the beginning, Ken Ham made the Creation Museum in northern Kentucky. And he saw that it was good at spreading his belief that the Bible is a book of history, the universe is only 6,000 years old, and evolution is wrong and is leading to our moral downfall. And Mr. Ham said, let us build a gargantuan Noah’s ark only 45 minutes away to draw millions more visitors. And let it be constructed by Amish woodworkers, and financed with donations, junk bonds and tax rebates from the state of Kentucky. And let it hold an animatronic Noah and lifelike models of some of the creatures that came on board two-by-two, such as bears, short-necked giraffes -- and juvenile Tyrannosaurus rexes." -- CW

Way Beyond

Steven Mufson of the Washington Post: "A mammoth [Chinese] ship bearing 9,472 containers ... began the first official voyage through the new expanded Panama Canal, a $5.25 billion project designed to modernize a 102-year-old landmark of human ambition, determination and engineering prowess.... Officials say the larger locks and new lane will double the waterway's cargo capacity.... The Boston Consulting Group and C.H. Robinson, a transportation logistics company, estimated last year that as much as 10 percent of the container traffic from East Asia to the United States could shift to East Coast ports instead of landing on the West Coast and finishing the journey by truck or rail." -- CW

Sinan Salaheddin & Susannah George of the AP: "Five weeks after a military operation began, a senior Iraqi commander declared Sunday that the city of Fallujah was 'fully liberated' from the Islamic State group, giving a major boost to the country's security and political leadership in its fight against the extremists. Recapturing Fallujah, the first city to fall to the Islamic State group more than two years ago, means that authorities can now set their sights on militant-held Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city." -- CW

AP: "Dozens of activists assembled on Istanbul's main pedestrian street to publicly read a statement marking the end of the gay, lesbian and transgender pride week and to denounce the ban. Several of them were detained however, before they could speak. Turkish police later used tear gas and rubber pellets to chase activists from side streets." -- CW

Nicole Winfield of the AP: "Pope Francis says gays -- and all the other people the church has marginalized..., -- deserve an apology.... 'I think the church must not only apologize ... to a gay person it offended, but we must apologize to the poor, to women who have been exploited, to children forced into labor, apologize for having blessed so many weapons' and for having failed to accompany families who faced divorces or experienced other problems." -- CW

The Commentariat -- June 26, 2016

The "Special Relationship" Frays. Julian Borger of the Guardian: "When [President Obama} came to Britain in April to help make the case for the remain camp, he warned that, if the UK left the EU, it would have to go to the back of the queue for a deal like the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) being negotiated between Washington and Brussels. The White House made clear on Friday that the threat he made then still stuck. 'Obviously, the president stands by what he said and I don't have an update of our position,' spokesman Eric Schulz told reporters.... Reactions from the rest of the world's leaders ranged from trepidation to thinly disguised glee in Moscow and Tehran." -- CW ...

... AFP: "Top US diplomat John Kerry will fly to Brussels and London on Monday for talks with Washington's key allies in the aftermath of Britain's vote to leave the European Union. US officials travelling to Rome with the secretary of state told reporters on the flight that two stops had been added to his European itinerary at the last moment." -- CW ...

... Adam Taylor of the Washington Post: "A petition calling for another referendum on whether Britain should stay in the European Union has now received at least 2.1 million signatures -- a level that means it must now be debated by British politicians. It was apparently so popular that the British Parliament's website, where the petition was hosted, briefly crashed.... This referendum was only called in a bid by Prime Minister David Cameron to calm tensions over the E.U. within his own Conservative Party ahead of a general election. Cameron thought he could win. Obviously he was completely mistaken.... Meanwhile, Britain has not yet triggered Article 50 -- the procedure for actually leaving the E.U. -- and there are signs it may try to delay doing so as long as possible." -- CW ...

... Where Dimwits Prevail. Kim Soffen of the Washington Post: "Polling showed the areas that had the most to lose and the least to gain from the Brexit are precisely those where the referendum saw the most support. In other words, the places -- the most export-heavy regions -- most hurt by the economic disruptions caused by Brexit could be the places that pushed hardest for it, as this scatter plot shows." CW News Flash: Racist hurts racists, too, sometimes in the pocketbook. ...

... Let's look at idyllic Cornwall, where 56 percent of voters, along with its Members of Parliament voted to leave. Rick Noack of the Washington Post: "The county is heavily dependent on the more than 60 million British pounds ($82 million) in E.U. subsidies per year that are transferred to the region and that have helped finance infrastructure projects and education schemes. Now, county officials are panicking -- fearing the worst for the county's future and wondering why one of the most E.U.-dependent counties in Britain voted against the E.U. -- and its money." -- CW ...

... Tara Palmeri of Politico: "According to a poll, commissioned by the Sunday Times, support for Scotland to break away from the U.K. has risen by seven points since Scotland's independence referendum last year. More than 52 percent now say they'd leave while 48 percent would vote to stay in the U.K." -- CW

... The Guardian is liveblogging more fallout from the Brexit vote, including a Labour party crash-and-burn. -- CW

Michael Olivas, in a Los Angeles Times op-ed, explains why the Supreme Court's failure to rule on President Obama's executive action re: undocumented immigrants is not a decision & that -- eventually -- a full Court might act in (probably a future) president's favor. In the meantime, "the deadlock in the court only underlines the pressing need for Congress to act on comprehensive immigration reform. The real malefactors on immigration aren't the Supreme Court justices, but the House and Senate." -- CW

Sarah Kaplan of the Washington Post: "Conservative columnist George Will has left the Republican Party over its presumptive nomination of Donald Trump. Will, who writes a column for The Washington Post, spoke about his decision Friday at an event for the Federalist Society in Washington. 'This is not my party,' he told the audience, the news site PJ Media first reported. Speaking with The Post, Will said that he changed his voter registration from 'Republican' to 'unaffiliated' several weeks ago, the day after House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) endorsed Trump." ...

     ... CW: A moment in Reality Chex history: the first time George Will made the Commentariat two days running. The interesting bit: Ryan, may have ticked off more than half the Republican base with his half-baked endorsement of Trump: Trump supporters must be irritated by his continuing dissing of Trump, while anti-Trump establishment types like Will found the endorsement appalling. ...

     ... Update. Trump tweets back: "George Will, one of the most overrated political pundits (who lost his way long ago), has left the Republican Party.He's made many bad calls" -- CW

Presidential Race

Ken Thomas of the AP: "A draft of the Democratic Party's policy positions reflects the influence of Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign: endorsing steps to break up large Wall Street banks, advocating a $15 hourly wage, urging an end to the death penalty. Hillary Clinton's supporters turned back efforts by Sanders' allies to promote a Medicare-for-all single-payer health care system and a carbon tax to address climate change, and freeze hydraulic fracking. While the platform does not bind the Democratic nominee to the stated positions, it serves as a guidepost for the party moving forward. Party officials approved the draft early Saturday." -- CW

Brexit Makes the U.S. the Last, Best Hope for Liberalism. Benjamin Wallace-Wells of the New Yorker: "The Democrats have become the party of vocal American exceptionalism. This is partly a direct response to Donald Trump's paranoid claims that the United States is a 'third-world country' and the subject of collective global mockery. But it's also the case that, against the nationalism rising across Europe and at home, American liberalism does look more isolated, and more singular.... One irony of [Hillary] Clinton's candidacy is that she is projecting a globalism not obviously shared by others around the globe -- not even by America's most traditional ally. The liberal project is increasingly an American one." -- CW ...

... Patrick Healy of the New York Times: "... Hillary Clinton ... shares more with the defeated 'Remain' campaign than just their common slogan, 'Stronger Together.' Her fundamental argument, much akin to Prime Minister David Cameron's against British withdrawal from the European Union, is that Americans should value stability and incremental change over the risks entailed in radical change and the possibility of chaos if Donald J. Trump wins the presidency.... According to their friends and advisers, Mrs. Clinton and former President Bill Clinton have worried for months that she was out of sync with the mood of the electorate, and that her politically safe messages ... were far less compelling to frustrated voters than the 'political revolution' of Senator Bernie Sanders or Mr. Trump's grievance-driven promise to 'Make America Great Again.' Mr. Sanders and Mr. Trump won a combined 25 million votes during the primary season, compared with 16 million for Mrs. Clinton." -- CW

I speak to foreign policy advisors all the time. But the advice has to come from me.... These people don't have it. Honestly, most of them are no good. Let's go to the 14th! -- Donald Trump, Saturday

You know, they're advisers, they're like everybody else. They probably know less, every one of these advisers. -- Donald Trump, Saturday

I've been in touch with them [his foreign policy advisors] there's nothing to talk about. -- Donald Trump, Friday, in reply to a question about whether or not he'd spoken to advisors about Brexit

When Trump says "they know less," he means "they know less than I do." (Trump has a habit of dropping predicates, as in "I renounce.") Several high-profile Republicans, in backing Trump, have claimed that Congress & the professional bureaucracy (like the Pentagon) would constrain a President Trump's impulsiveness. Clearly, they will not. Trump is certain he "knows more" than any of these lesser gods, and he would do whatever he thought, in his glorious ignorance, that "best" thing might be. -- Constant Weader

Ashley Parker of the New York Times: On Saturday, at a Trump-owned golf course in Balmedie, Scotland, the course's VP said "Mr. Trump would love to take advantage of the weather and give reporters a tour -- but that it would not be an opportunity for them to ask questions. But Mr. Trump quickly threw his team's plans aside, urging reporters to follow his 'golf buggy' through perhaps the 'largest dunes anywhere in the world' and answering questions along the way. At one point, when Secret Service agents tried to halt the press, Mr. Trump looked down from his perch atop a dune and hollered, 'Guys, get up here!' At each hole, Mr. Trump riffed and ad-libbed...." -- CW ...

... Muslims in Kilts Okay -- Maybe. Ali Vitali of NBC News: "Donald Trump once again muddled the points of his Muslim ban, telling reporters Saturday on the 14th hole of his Aberdeen course that it 'wouldn't bother' him if a Scottish Muslim came into the United States. But he later revised his past remarks that the proposed prohibition would be a blanket ban and is more a question of proper vetting -- with extra emphasis placed on certain countries. 'I don't want people coming in -- I don't want people coming in from certain countries,' Trump clarified to The Daily Mail.... 'I don't want people coming in from the terror countries. You have terror countries! I don't want them, unless they're very, very strongly vetted.'" -- CW

A Boor Abroad. Ewen MacAskill & Alan Yuhas of the Guardian: "The Guardian appeared on Saturday to have been barred by Donald Trump's presidential campaign after a spat the previous day.... A Guardian reporter and photographer were denied access to Trump's golf resort in Aberdeen, Scotland, on Saturday morning.... The decision had come from the highest authority, [Trump security personnel] said.... At a press conference on Friday at his Turnberry golf course in Ayrshire, Trump took offence when the Guardian asked him why UK and Scottish senior politicians had not come to meet him, suggesting it might be because he was toxic. He replied by saying the questioner was a 'nasty, nasty guy'." -- CW ...

... Here's part of the Clinton campaign's response to the Idiot Abroad:

Hours after the #BrexitVote, Donald Trump was in the U.K.

Talking about how he, personally, would benefit.https://t.co/YEt5LozDpt

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 24, 2016

... Cockwomble! Heather Timmons of Quartz reprints some Scots' reactions to Donald Trump's claim that Scots had "taken their country back" by voting for Brexit (which the majority didn't). Thanks to Whyte O. for the lead. -- CW

Con-Man-in-Chief. The Trumps Are Even Sleazier than You Knew. Mike McIntire of the New York Times: "'Easy target' might describe the audience for several enterprises stamped with the Trump brand that have been accused of preying upon desperation, inexperience or vanity.... [One is] Cambridge Who's Who, which generated hundreds of complaints that it deceptively peddled the promise of recognition in a registry, as well as branding and networking services of questionable value. Dozens of people who paid Trump-endorsed businesses were also sold products by Cambridge, which benefited from its partnership with Donald Trump Jr.... Cambridge employees played up the Trump association when pursuing customers.... When Donald Trump Jr. joined Cambridge, the company had already had about 400 complaints filed against it with the Better Business Bureau since 2006.... On one of several Cambridge websites for its members, a chat group ... contained an appeal to join ACN, a multilevel marketer of telecommunications and energy services that was 'endorsed by Donald Trump....' Mr. Trump's financial disclosure shows that he has collected more than $1 million in speaking fees from ACN...." -- CW

Beyond the Beltway

Marina Villeneuve of the AP: "The wife of Maine Gov. Paul LePage has taken on a summer waitressing job near their Boothbay home. And she's saving up for a Toyota RAV4. Ann LePage had kept quiet about the gig, but her husband told a crowd at a recent town hall that his wife took a job to 'supplement' his lowest-in-the-nation $70,000 salary. This year, the Republican governor unsuccessfully proposed to more than double his successor's salary to $150,000." CW: If they paid the governor what he was worth, he would have to moonlight as a waitperson.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Bill Cunningham, who turned fashion photography into his own branch of cultural anthropology on the streets of New York, chronicling an era's ever-changing social scene for The New York Times by training his busily observant lens on what people wore -- stylishly, flamboyantly or just plain sensibly -- died on Saturday in Manhattan. He was 87." -- CW

New York Times: "Michael Herr, who wrote 'Dispatches,' a glaringly intense, personal account of being a correspondent in Vietnam that is widely viewed as one of the most visceral and persuasive depictions of the unearthly experience of war, died on Thursday at a hospital near his home in Delaware County, N.Y. He was 76." -- CW

The Commentariat -- June 25, 2016

Steve Erlanger of the New York Times: "Britain's startling decision to pull out of the European Union set off a cascade of aftershocks on Friday, costing Prime Minister David Cameron his job, plunging the financial markets into turmoil and leaving the country's future in doubt.... The British pound and global stock prices plummeting in value as the vote tally showed the Remain camp falling further behind.... European officials met in Brussels to begin discussing a response and to emphasize their commitment to strengthening and improving the bloc, which will have 27 members after Britain's departure.... [Brexit] was seized on by far-right and anti-Brussels parties across Europe, with Marine Le Pen of the National Front in France calling for a 'Frexit' referendum and Geert Wilders of the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands calling for a 'Nexit.'" CW ...

... OR, as a wag named Jaideep Krishna put it, "Upcoming risky events in Europe: Brexit to be followed by Grexit. Departugal. Italeave. Fruckoff. Czechout. Oustria. Finish. Slovlong. Latervia. Byegium, until EU reach the state of Germlonely." Thanks to LT for that. ...

... Ylan Mui of the Washington Post: "The domino effect of Britain's vote was on full display as the Dow plummeted more than 600 points, with even more dramatic effects in Europe and Asia. Experts said Britain's exit from the E.U. could prove to be the final straw to send the economy into recession.... Britain will spend at least two years negotiating the terms of its departure from the 28-member alliance.... Britain must elect new leadership, strike new trade deals and craft a dizzying array of new regulations about issues such as immigration and investment." -- CW ...

... Kevin Liptak of CNN: "Instability in Europe and beyond is providing 'fertile terrain for reactionary politicians and demagogues,' Vice President Joe Biden cautioned during remarks in Ireland on Friday. Listing global irritants like mass migration, terrorism, climate change, Biden said those factors are leading to leaders 'peddling xenophobia, nationalism, and isolationism,' including in the United States.... Biden is on a mutli-day trip to Ireland, meeting with leaders there and visiting sites in the West that relate to his ancestry.... The White House was vocal in its opposition to Britain's exiting the EU, a rare foray into another country's political affairs." -- CW ...

... Charles Pierce: "Some of the Oldest and Whitest people on the planet leapt at a chance to vote against the monsters in their heads.... Without the accelerant of pure racism -- the existence of which among the British comes as no surprise to those of who descend from involuntary members of their old Empire -- this thing never gets off the ground." -- CW ...

... Could Be Why George Will, one of the oldest, whitest people on the planet, likes it. CW: George's favorable opinion remains one of the best ways to tell something is awful. ...

... Brian Fung of the Washington Post: "The British are frantically Googling what the E.U. is, hours after voting to leave it." -- CW ...

... Haroon Siddique (June 23): "The simple answer to the question as to whether the EU referendum is legally binding is 'no'. In theory, in the event of a vote to leave the EU, David Cameron, who opposes Brexit, could decide to ignore the will of the people and put the question to MPs banking on a majority deciding to remain. This is because parliament is sovereign and referendums are generally not binding in the UK." CW: Siddique's report is echoed elsewhere in the news. Of course, Cameron now says he's leaving on a slow train to his country estate, but it does seem possible that a new government could just say "Never mind." ...

... BUT. Ta-Ta, Mofos. Jennifer Rankin, et al., of the Guardian: "The EU's top leaders have said they expect the UK to act on its momentous vote to leave the union 'as soon as possible, however painful that process may be' and that there will be 'no renegotiation'.... There were early warnings of difficulties ahead. The German MEP Elmar Brok, who chairs the European parliament's committee on foreign affairs, told the Guardian ... 'They will have to negotiate from the position of a third country, not as a member state. If Britain wants to have a similar status to Switzerland and Norway, then it will also have to pay into EU structural funds like those countries do. The British public will find out what that means.'" -- CW ...

... MEANWHILE, We're Stuck with at Least One Texas. Aneri Pattani of the Texas Tribune: "In the wake of Britain’s historic vote to leave the European Union ... speculation of a Texit on the horizon has cropped up once again. The secessionist movement has a long history in the Lone Star State. Delegates for the Texas Republican Party even recently debated adding secessionist language to the party's platform. But ... historical and legal precedents make it clear that Texas could not pull off a Texit -- at least not legally.... The European Union is a loose association of compound states with pre-existing protocols for a nation to exit. In contrast, the U.S. Constitution contains procedures for admitting new states into the nation, but none for a state to leave.... Texas can split itself into five new states.... Even before Texas formally rejoined the nation, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that secession was not legal...." -- CW ...

... Andy Borowitz: "Across the United Kingdom on Friday, Britons mourned their long-cherished right to claim that Americans were significantly dumber than they are." -- CW

Katia Hetter & Kevin Liptak of CNN: "President Barack Obama announced Friday he was designating the area around the Stonewall Inn in New York City as the country's first national monument to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights." President Obama's statement is here. ...

Tom Vanden Brook of USA Today: "The Pentagon plans to announce the repeal of its ban on transgender service members July 1, a controversial decision that would end nearly a year of internal wrangling among the services on how to allow those troops to serve openly, according to Defense officials. Top personnel officials plan to meet as early as Monday to finalize details of the plan, and Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work could sign off on it by Wednesday...." -- CW

Presidential Race

The people of the United Kingdom have exercised the sacred right of all free peoples. They have declared their independence from the European Union and have voted to reassert control over their own politics, borders and economy. Come November, the American people will have the chance to re-declare their independence. Americans will have a chance to vote for trade, immigration and foreign policies that put our citizens first. They will have the chance to reject today's rule by the global elite, and to embrace real change that delivers a government of, by and for the people. -- Donald Trump, Friday, on a promotion tour of his golf courses in Scotland, where the majority of the people did not exercise their sacred right ...

... ** How to Make Dubya Look Like a Statesman. Steve Benen: "Even by the low standards of Donald J. Trump, it was among the most baffling press conferences anyone has ever seen. The entirety of Scotland is reeling; the future of the U.K. and the continent is uncertain; and an American presidential candidate arrived to deliver a testimonial about a country club and how fond he is of the design of a golf course. Wait, it gets worse.... This was a test he failed so spectacularly, it's as if Trump isn't even trying to succeed." (Emphasis added.) CW: Now, there's a thought. Read the whole post. ...

... Hunter of Daily Kos: "And now here's Donald Trump, human NASCAR crash, promising in a hastily-scribbled fundraising letter to do for America what Brexit is doing for the United Kingdom.... 'With your help, we're going to do the exact same thing on Election Day 2016 here in the United States of America.... Let's send another shockwave around the world.'... In general, mind you, financial 'shockwaves' are considered a bad thing. Promising that if you're elected, financial markets will tank three percent in an afternoon is certainly not your average campaign vow -- but it may be the one promise Donald Trump can keep." -- CW

Jonathan Martin & Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Although [Donald] Trump may struggle to convert a message of national retrenchment into victory here, some of the stark divisions on display in Britain do mirror political trends in this country.... But beneath those generalities, there are crucial distinctions between the Brexit vote and the 2016 presidential election.... American presidential elections are largely decided by a diverse and upscale electorate, anchored in America's cities and suburbs. These communities more closely resemble London than Lincolnshire.... And while Britain decided to leave the European Union through a popular vote, the White House race will be determined by the Electoral College, which is tilted toward the Democrats.... Further, the vote in Britain was a referendum on a European entity that was easy to rally against, while the presidential vote here is increasingly becoming a referendum on a polarizing individual." -- CW ...

... Ben Jacobs of the Guardian: "The biggest difference is that the UK is a lot whiter. According to the most recent census data, 86% of the British population is white. In the US, only 63% is non-Hispanic white.... The Brexit vote looked a lot more like that in a Republican presidential primary.... Trump may yet regret this attempt to tie his campaign to the Brexit victory. After all, he is facing a different electorate, one familiar with the precipitous collapse in global markets that followed Thursday's vote." -- CW

Henry Paulson, former Bush II Treasury Secretary & current CEO of Goldman Sachs, in a Washington Post op-ed: "The GOP, in putting Trump at the top of the ticket, is endorsing a brand of populism rooted in ignorance, prejudice, fear and isolationism. This troubles me deeply as a Republican, but it troubles me even more as an American. Enough is enough. It's time to put country before party and say it together: Never Trump.... When Trump assures us he'll do for the United States what he's done for his businesses, that's not a promise -- it's a threat.... [blah, blah] ... reforming entitlements... [blah, blah]. I'll be voting for Hillary Clinton, with the hope that she can bring Americans together to do the things necessary to strengthen our economy, our environment and our place in the world." -- CW

Tierney Sneed of TPM: "A delegate to the Republican national convention from Virginia filed a federal lawsuit Friday to avoid being bound to vote for Donald Trump on the first ballot in Cleveland. The delegate, Carroll Boston Correll, is a longtime local GOP official who claims Trump is 'unfit to serve' as President. Correll alleges in the lawsuit that state law which binds him to vote for Trump on the first ballot at the convention violates his constitutional right to free speech. Correll is seeking class action status for the suit on behalf of other bound delegates in Virginia, where Trump won 17 delegates in March." -- CW ...

... BUT Kevin Drum outlines how Trump could win the election. CW: Then again, I think Steve Benen is on to something when he suggests Trump is trying to lose. Even if his campaign evolves into a professional organization, he gets an infusion of money from the party & he betters learns how to use a teleprompter, the Real Donald Trump seems either incapable of or unwilling to STFU.

Beyond the Beltway

Annals of "Justice," Ctd. Bill Rankin of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "With a murder defendant shouting obscenities at him and threatening to kill his family, a Superior Court judge in Rome[, Georgia,] last week became so enraged that he threatened to lock the man up for years and said, 'You know, you look like a queer.' A transcript of the hearing shows how an attempt by defendant Denver Fenton Allen to get a different public defender devolved into heated and nasty exchanges with Judge Bryant Durham Jr. At one point..., [the judge] even challenged the defendant to masturbate in front of him in the courtroom.... He also said it was his 'guess' that he'd find Allen guilty and that Allen would find out 'how nasty I really am.'" -- CW

Let's Get Stupid! Elahe Izadi of the Washington Post: "Five people were taken to the hospital and about 30 to 40 were evaluated after sustaining 'burn injuries to their feet and lower extremities' after attempting to walk across hot coals" during a "motivational seminar" in Dallas, Texas, led by goofball Tony Robbins. "A total of 7,000 people participated in the fire walk.... This isn't the first time a Robbins coal walk has resulted in injuries. In 2012, nearly two dozen people were injured during a 'Unleash the Power Within' seminar in San Jose, Calif." -- CW

News Lede

Washington Post: "As storms have swept West Virginia, roads have turned into rivers, cars have been swallowed whole and at least 23 people have been killed -- including a preschooler who fell into floodwaters that carried him away.'" -- CW