The Commentariat -- March 1, 2018
Late Morning Update:
Linda Qiu of the New York Times: "President Trump signaled he was open to some proposals to curb gun violence on Wednesday during an hourlong televised meeting with a bipartisan group of lawmakers. But even as he voiced support for proposals generally backed by Democrats -- including expanded background checks and raising the age limit to 21 for some gun buyers -- the president peppered his remarks with inaccuracies about mass shootings and gun policy. And many of his comments hewed firmly to traditional Republican Party tenets."
Mrs. McCrabbie: Here's an update of a WashPo story, by David Lynch & Damian Paletta, which I linked (below) about an hour ago: "President Trump has decided against announcing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports on Thursday after 18 hours of frenetic push-back from inside the White House and on Capitol Hill, two people briefed on the decision said." As I wrote, they don't know what they're doing.
Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: "President Vladimir V. Putin used his annual state of the nation speech on Thursday to threaten Western nations with a battery of new weapons, including an intercontinental nuclear cruise missile, and to assure Russians that their lives would improve through enormous new social spending. The guns-and-butter speech came 17 days before the March 18 presidential election. It seemed intended to reassure ordinary Russians that a huge increase in social spending would help salve the economic problems of the past four years, while also evoking traditional fears that Russia could be invaded at any minute. Gleb O. Pavlovsky, a political analyst and former Kremlin consultant, wrote on Facebook that, 'From tales about progress, the speech flowed into an open-ended declaration of world war.'"
**Joe Romm of ThinkProgress: "A new study finds that wind power and solar photovoltaics could by themselves meet 80 percent of all U.S. electricity demand...It's especially encouraging for two additional reasons. First, the price of solar and wind have been dropping rapidly.... Second, the study...still leaves 20 percent that could be provided by a variety of alternative types of carbon-free power...[H]ydropower already provides& 6.5 percent of U.S. powerwhile geothermal and biomass together add another 2 percent. All of those can be expanded... .This latest finding should help resolve the debate as to whether the United States can have an affordable carbon-free grid by mid-century. We absolutely can." --safari: In a normal world, this would be a "let's come together and fly to the moon" political moment. Instead, we have Scott Pruitt's turds.
*****
Outrageous Times. "This Russia Thing," Ctd.
Jon Swan & Mike Allen of Axios: "After a crazy 24 hours, sources close to President Trump say he is in a bad place -- mad as hell about the internal chaos and the sense that things are unraveling. Hope Hicks leaving is obviously a huge blow to him. Every time he reads about Attorney General Jeff Sessions, his head explodes. The staff is just trying to ride out the storm.... The people he genuinely enjoys and feels close to are gone (Keith Schiller), leaving (Hope) or getting pounded in the press (Jared). The restraints are almost fully loosened, and what staff sees in private is more public than ever. We have never seen top officials this concerned, defeated." ...
... Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Hope Hicks, the White House communications director and one of President Trump's longest-serving advisers, said Wednesday that she plans to leave the White House in the coming weeks. Ms. Hicks, 29, a former model who joined Mr. Trump's 2016 presidential campaign without any experience in politics, became known as one of the few aides who understood his personality and style and could challenge the president to change his views. Ms. Hicks had been considering leaving for several months. She told colleagues that she had accomplished what she felt she could with a job that made her one of the most powerful people in Washington, and that there would never be a perfect moment to leave, according to White House aides. Her resignation came a day after she testified for eight hours before the House Intelligence Committee, telling the panel that in her job, she had occasionally been required to tell white lies but had never lied about anything connected to the investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election." ...
... Meg Wagner, et al., of CNN: " ... Donald Trump berated Hope Hicks ... for testimony she gave to US lawmakers this week during which she admitted to telling white lies on behalf of Trump, CNN reported on Wednesday, citing an ally of the president.... 'What happened yesterday just put the nail in the coffin for her,' said April Ryan, a White House correspondent and CNN contributor. Citing her own sources in the West Wing, Ryan said Hicks had given a tentative resignation after the Porter incident. She suggested that what happened on Wednesday 'was a forced resignation.'" ...
... David Remnick of the New Yorker: "... it is hard to agree that her deceptions were merely occasional or, as she put it to the House members, 'white lies'; the self-deception required to serve Donald Trump with such unquestioning devotion, to be his voice, knowing what she must know, has proved anything but harmless."
Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Robert S. Mueller III has been investigating a period of time last summer when President Trump seemed determined to drive Attorney General Jeff Sessions from his job, according to people familiar with the matter who said that a key area of interest for the inquiry is whether those efforts were part of a months-long pattern of attempted obstruction of justice. In recent months, Mueller's team has questioned witnesses in detail about Trump's private comments and state of mind in late July and early August of last year, around the time he issued a series of tweets belittling his 'beleaguered' attorney general, these people said.... The president, [an] adviser [said], had been hoping the attorney general would be so embarrassed by Trump's scathing comments that he would leave. Trump in this period also ordered his then-chief of staff, Reince Priebus, to get a resignation letter from Sessions.... Behind the scenes, Trump has derisively referred to Sessions as 'Mr. Magoo,' a cartoon character who is elderly, myopic and bumbling.... Trump has told associates that he has hired the best lawyers for his entire life, but is stuck with Sessions, who is not defending him and is not sufficiently loyal...." ...
... Cristiano Lima of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Wednesday slammed Attorney General Jeff Sessions' decision to have the Justice Department inspector eneral investigate claims of wrongdoing by FBI agents in obtaining a FISA warrant of a former Trump campaign official, calling the move 'disgraceful!' 'Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse. Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey etc,' the president tweeted. 'Isn't the I.G. an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!'" Mrs. McC: Anyway, this is high comedy. JeffBo bent over backwards to accommodate Trump's ridiculous demand to investigate something that doesn't need investigating, & now Trump is ragging him for it because JeffBo didn't appoint Jeanine Pirro or Sean Hannity to run the investigation. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "The tweet was the latest example of Mr. Trump publicly scolding Mr. Sessions and wading into Justice Department investigations. Though previous presidents have allowed law enforcement a large degree of independence to keep from influencing their inquiries, Mr. Trump has consistently called for investigations into his political rivals. Republicans have accused Justice Department and F.B.I. officials of abusing their powers by surveilling a former Trump campaign aide, Carter Page.... Mr. Sessions said on Tuesday that he referred those concerns to the department's inspector general, who is charged with investigating possible agency abuses. But he stopped short of announcing that a fresh inquiry had begun." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Update. Josh Gerstein & Cristiano Lima of Politico: "In an unusual public response that did not mention Trump by name, Sessions rejected the attack. 'We have initiated the appropriate process that will ensure complaints against this Department will be fully and fairly acted upon if necessary,' Sessions said in a statement. 'As long as I am the Attorney General, I will continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor, and this Department will continue to do its work in a fair and impartial manner according to the law and Constitution.'" ...
... Margaret Hartmann: "Here's how the Trump-Sessions relationship devolved to the point that two 71-year-old lawmakers are barely speaking, lobbing insults on Twitter, and sending passive-aggressive messages with their choice of dinner companion."
Katie Tur & Carol Lee of NBC News: "Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is asking witnesses pointed questions about whether Donald Trump was aware that Democratic emails had been stolen before that was publicly known, and whether he was involved in their strategic release, according to multiple people.... Mueller's investigators have asked witnesses whether Trump was aware of plans for WikiLeaks to publish the emails. They have also asked about the relationship between GOP operative Roger Stone and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, and why Trump took policy positions favorable to Russia. The line of questioning suggests the special counsel, who is tasked with examining whether there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election, is looking into possible coordination between WikiLeaks and Trump associates in disseminating the emails, which U.S. intelligence officials say were stolen by Russia."
Josh Gerstein: "A judge in Washington on Wednesday set a Sept. 17 trial date for former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort on charges from ... Robert Mueller, including money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent. The decision from U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson would put Manafort on trial at the height of the midterm campaign season, a potentially unwelcome distraction for Republicans as they try to maintain majorities in Congress." Mrs. McC: Let's have wall-to-wall coverage, at least of the prosecutor's case." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Jeet Heer: "Trump's entire career is a vindication of the huckster adage, 'Fake it till you make it.' For Trump, faking it and making it are one in the same. Reality and fantasy are one. His path to the presidency was based on selling the charade that he was a genius dealmaker who could outwit the Washington establishment and end partisan gridlock. The reality of his presidency has been the opposite: Trump's lack of political experience or even basic understanding of how government works has made him an easy pawn for various factions in Washington.... But the Mueller investigation shows that the power of Trump's fantasies may be limited, even among his supporters. Trump and his allies have crafted a fantasy version of the Russia story that's worthy of a pulp novel.... Over time, reality will chip away at the dream scenarios he conjures with such ease."
"Robert Mueller Has Trump & Family in His Crosshairs." Jonathan Chait: "The big picture is that, after Trump burned enough creditors that American banks stopped dealing with him, he became deeply reliant on Russian capital. The Russian economy is deeply connected to Vladimir Putin, and uses its leverage to advance political goals. For instance, Vnesheconombank, which works closely with Putin, financed a Trump hotel in Toronto. Trump's finances are totally opaque, and he has been willing to endure a great deal of critical media coverage -- th thing he most hates in the world -- in order to avoid publishing his tax returns. Kushner is also an important figure. He has his own web of business ties with Russia, and had assumed a lead role in communicating with the Russians secretly.... Meanwhile, as Steve Bannon sloppily confessed, after Donald Trump Jr. had a meeting with a Russian promising dirt on Hillary Clinton in June 2016, it is overwhelmingly likely that he proceeded immediately to tell the father whose approval is the thing he most craves." ...
...Alberto Nardelli of Buzzfeed: "The Maltese professor [Joseph Mifsud], who allegedly delivered word ofHillary Clinton’s stolen emails to Donald Trump's campaign, is an authentically mysterious figure.... And while others ... told their stories, Mifsud went to ground.... His email and cell phones went dead. And politicians, colleagues, and journalists can't find him. Neither can Anna, his 31-year-old Ukrainian fiancé, who says he is the father of her newborn child...She refused to talk then, saying her relationship with Mifsud was private. Now ...s he's changed her mind. The result is new information about Mifsud's activities, including his claim of having dined with Sergey Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister.... Mifsud also told Anna he was in Saudi Arabia at the same time as President Donald Trump's visit, and in Sicily, Italy, for the G7 Summit." --safari...
... Jared's Very Bad Week:
Knife Fight at the Not-OK Corral. Jonathan Swan of Axios: "The Trump family --; and the president's oldest son, Don Jr., in particular -- was angry about the overwhelmingly negative TV coverage about Jared Kushner last night, and feels White House Chief of Staff [John] Kelly is hanging Jared out to dry, a source familiar with the situation tells Axios." ... Mrs. McC: Which means Junior was not watching Fox "News." ...
... Tom Kludt of CNN: "Jared Kushner's downgraded security clearance is the top story for nearly every major news organization in America, but on Fox News, the stunning development has itself been downgraded. On Wednesday morning, as other outlets continued to go big on the story, which broke Tuesday afternoon, 'Fox & Friends' discussed it only once during a 20-second report that came in the final hour of the show. It was a similar situation on online, where Fox's homepage contained zero mentions of Kushner as of Wednesday morning when this story was published. And the Kushner story was ignored entirely by the network's triumvirate of conservative hosts in prime time: Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham." ...
... Amber Phillips of the Washington Post: "The Washington Post's White House team reports that Chief of Staff John F. Kelly really wouldn't mind if Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump left their jobs at the White House. And it's easy to see why Kelly feels that way. From the moment Kushner started working at the White House, he has walked on the edge of what's ethically appropriate. The clearest example of this is his work with top-secret information despite not having been cleared to access it. Kushner had only an interim security clearance, and the full one was on hold more than a year later as intelligence officials investigated his background.... Experts say that less influential federal employees (i.e. those who aren't related to the president) would have long since had their clearances denied for doing some of the things Kushner has done.... [Among the red flags:] 1. He's a prime target for foreign governments to try to get leverage with the United States.... 2. He wasn't up front about his foreign contacts with other White House officials.... 3. He repeatedly amended his application because he omitted foreign contacts." ...
... Jesse Drucker, et al., of the New York Times: "Early last year, a private equity billionaire started paying regular visits to the White House. Joshua Harris, a founder of Apollo Global Management, was advising Trump administration officials on infrastructure policy. During that period, he met on multiple occasions with Jared Kushner..., said three people familiar with the meetings. Among other things, the two men discussed a possible White House job for Mr. Harris. The job never materialized, but in November, Apollo lent $184 million to Mr. Kushner's family real estate firm, Kushner Companies.... An even larger loan came from Citigroup, which lent the firm and one of its partners $325 million to help finance a group of office buildings in Brooklyn. That loan was made in the spring of 2017, shortly after Mr. Kushner met in the White House with Citigroup's chief executive, Michael L. Corbat.... Federal ethics regulations restrict government employees from participating in some matters that involve companies with which the official is seeking 'a business, contractual or other financial relationship that involves other than a routine consumer transaction.'... All of the executives who met with Mr. Kushner have lots to gain or lose in Washington." ...
... Greg Farrell & David Kocieniewski of Bloomberg: "New York’s banking regulator has asked Deutsche Bank AG and a pair of local lenders to provide information about their relationships with Jared Kushner, his family and the Kushner Cos., according to people familiar with the matter. The state's Department of Financial Services sent letters to the German lender as well as Signature Bank and New York Community Bank last week, said one of the people, who described the letter. The request was broad, covering the banks' relationships with Kushner and his business properties; documents and communications about certain loan applications; and descriptions of the banks' processes for approving Kushner loans. Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, have taken on more debt in the past year at banks including Signature and New York Community, according to their recent government disclosures.... [Regulator Maria Vullo] asked for copies of emails and other communications between the Kushners and the banks related to financing requests that have been denied or are pending. She also asked whether the banks have conducted any internal reviews of the Kushners and their companies and asked what such inquiries revealed." ...
... Marcy Wheeler, in a New York Times op-ed: According to reports, [Robert] Mueller appears to be assessing whether [Jared] Kushner, in the guise of pursuing foreign policy on behalf of the United States, was actually serving the interests of his family and foreign governments.... Such appearances of conflict might not, by themselves, get Mr. Kushner in trouble.... But Mr. Kushner might face more trouble to the extent he keeps such negotiations secret from those in charge of carrying out United States foreign policy.... If [these secret negotiations] are a concern to Mr. Mueller, he has recently gotten far more details of what happened at the meetings [from Michael Flynn & Steve Bannon].... There are many reasons to question whether he has talked with foreign officials with the proper disclosures, designed to ensure that those claiming to represent the interests of the United States aren't hiding their own interests or those of foreign governments." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Never asked: Why did Trump give Jared a portfolio without boundaries? It wasn't because Jared had vast diplomatic experience. (He has none.) So there was some other reason. And I doubt it was a legitimate reason. I think Trump is implicated in Jared's shady deal-making.
... The Least of Jared's Problems. Jordan Libowitz of CREW: "Presidential adviser Jared Kushner appears to have violated the Hatch Act, according to a complaint filed today by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) with the Office of the Special Counsel (OSC). Kushner likely violated the Hatch Act in a press release sent out by the Trump presidential campaign this morning. Kushner gave a quote about the the president's reelection campaign and is identified as 'Jared Kushner, Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President, and President Trump's son-in-law.' The Hatch Act prohibits the use of official title for political purposes." ...
... Update. Emily Stewart of Vox: "A version of the press release announcing the Parscale pick posted on the Trump campaign's website later removed Kushner's White House title, identifying him only as President Trump's son-in-law." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie PS: You can bet the original, probably illegal, campaign blurb was Hope Hicks' doing as she's (a) the White House communications director & expert blurb-writer (remember the great job she did getting everybody to endorse boyfriend & [alleged] serial abuser Rob Porter?), & (b) really good friends with Jared & Ivanka.
... Javanka's Implosion. Olivia Nuzzi of New York: "The sun was shining everywhere in Washington on Tuesday, but not over Jared Kushner. For him dark clouds began brewing in the afternoon and by nightfall, had reached Charlie Brown -- like severity.... As the White House briefing got underway, Axios broke the story that Josh Raffel, a press official who is considered the personal spokesman of Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, would be resigning." --safari
... Margaret Talev & Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg: "More than 30 aides to ... Donald Trump have been stripped of access to top secret intelligence, two people familiar with the move said. The officials have been notified that they will be downgraded to a lower-level 'secret' interim security clearance while their background investigations continue, said the two people. None of the officials have been asked to leave the administration and their portfolios on top secret matters will be distributed to other staff members, they said." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Of course this means that at least 30 people with questionable pasts & jobs inside the White House have been rifling through top-secret documents, in some case for more than a year. That private server of Crooked Hillary through which a couple of three classified docs may have passed is looking less & less consequential, isn't it? But, hey, Trump, Fox "News," the House of Representatives, the FBI & the MSM obsessed over that server for a couple of years. Everything being equal, nothing is equal. The scales are heavily-weighted toward GOP fake "scandals." ...
Betsy Klein of CNN: "... the chief White House calligrapher now has greater access to sensitive information than White House adviser ... Jared Kushner."
... Digby, in Salon, has a very good overview of Tuesday's TrumpNews. Mind you -- that's just one day of news, & it's all scandalous. We are no longer living in interesting times. We are living through outrageous times.
Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Trump on Wednesday repeatedly embraced a series of gun control measures, telling a group of lawmakers at the White House to pursue bills that have been opposed for years by the vast majority of the Republican Party and the National Rifle Association. In a remarkable televised meeting in the Cabinet Room, the president appeared to stun giddy Democrats and stone-faced Republicans by calling for comprehensive gun control that would expand background checks, keep guns from the mentally ill, secure schools and restrict gun sales from some young adults. To the surprise of many in the room, Mr. Trump urged the bipartisan lawmakers to start with a bipartisan bill put forward in 2013 by Senators Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, a Democrat, and Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania, a Republican. That bill died months after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., after intense Republican opposition." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Nothing Trump says would make me "giddy." One call from Wayne LaPierre, & Trump will revert to NRAisms. ...
... Max Greenwood of the Hill: "The number of Floridians who approve of Sen. Marco Rubio's (R-Fla.) job performance has fallen to an all-time low, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll out Tuesday. That poll pegged Rubio's approval rating at just 38 percent -- down 8 points from the last time Quinnipiac surveyed Florida voters' approval of the junior senator in July 2016.... Rubio was criticized following a deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., earlier this month for his stance on gun control reform." Mrs. McC: Don't worry, Marco. This should help: ...
... Marco's Mouth Has Two Sides. Alex Daugherty of the Miami Herald: "Last week, Marco Rubio stared into the eyes of a father who lost his daughter during the nation's deadliest high school shooting and made an announcement: Young adults should not be able to purchase guns. 'I absolutely believe that in this country, if you are 18 years of age you should not be able to buy a rifle. I will support a law that takes that right away,' Rubio said during an intense town hall event with Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students, parents and alumni. But one of Rubio's own bills, which he has introduced twice, would overturn an assault weapons ban and legalize gun sales for young adults in the nation's capital, allowing 18- to 21-year-olds in Washington, D.C. to purchase weapons like the AR-15 used in the Parkland shooting.... The Florida Republican introduced the Second Amendment Enforcement Act in 2015 and again in 2017 that would drastically change the District of Columbia's gun laws. After introducing the bill for the first time in 2015 while seeking the Republican presidential nomination, Rubio's National Rifle Association's grade went from a B+ to an A.... Spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas said Tuesday that Rubio's D.C. gun bill won't be changed in light of his new policy position." Mrs. McC: Apparently Marco, who speaks English & Spanish fluently, is confused about what "bilingual" means. ...
... Matthew Haag of the New York Times: "Walmart, the largest retailer in the United States, said Wednesday evening that it would stop selling guns and ammunition to anyone under 21 years of age and remove from its stores all toys and airsoft rifles that resemble assault-style weapons.... In 2015, Walmart said it would no longer sell high-powered rifles in the United States, but cited lower customer demand for the military-style rifles and not politics. Walmart also does not sell handguns, except in Alaska, and has not sold high-capacity magazines or 'bump stocks,' an attachment that enables a semiautomatic rifle to fire faster, which was used by the gunman in Las Vegas in October." ...
Mr. Davidson in happier days.... Madison Kircher of New York: "Earlier on Wednesday, an armed teacher, Jesse Randall Davidson, reportedly fired several shots after barricading himself in a classroom at Dalton High School in Georgia. Fortunately, nobody was injured, according to local police, but students were still evacuated from the campus. One student, junior Chondi Chastain, detailed the evacuation in a tweet directed at the NRA. 'I dare you to tell me arming teachers will make us safe,' Chastain tweeted.... If only there had been another teacher with a gun, in the room with the teacher with the gun. That would definitely have deescalated the situation."
... Rebecca Savransky of the Hill: "New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is inviting Delta Airlines to relocate its headquarters to New York. '[Delta], i Georgia politicians disagree with your stand against gun violence, we invite you to move your headquarters to New York,' Cuomo tweeted on Tuesday.... Cuomo is not the only Democrat to make an offer to Delta amid the backlash. Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) on Tuesday invited Delta to relocate its headquarters to Ohio." Mrs. McC BTW: I'm sure Delta is aware that taxes are a lot higher in New York State than in Georgia, with or without Georgia's previously-planned tax break. Of course, NYS could always make Delta a sweetheart deal. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Louis Nelson of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Tuesday celebrated a 'big legal win' delivered by a federal judge against whom he once leveled racial criticism. Earlier Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel rejected lawsuits brought by environmentalists and the state of California related to the Trump administration's efforts to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. 'Big legal win today. U.S. judge sided with the Trump Administration and rejected the attempt to stop the government from building a great Border Wall on the Southern Border. Now this important project can go forward!' the president wrote online. Trump made no mention in his Tuesday tweet of his previous feud with Curiel, which dates back to the summer of 2016, when the then-GOP candidate characterized the federal judge as a 'Mexican' whose heritage meant he could not capably oversee a lawsuit against Trump, even though Curiel was born in Indiana." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: So Judge Curiel has gone from being a "Mexican judge" to a "U.S. judge" because he ruled in favor of Trump. That's how it works for all of us: we're not "Americans" unless we are pleasing to Donald Trump. I'm sure Judge Curiel is not celebrating Trump's belated recognition of his U.S. citizenship. He knows he'll go back to being a "Mexican judge" if he rules against the Trump administration in the future. ...
... New York Times Editors: "... there are in fact still people of principle in public service, and they're doing important work every day to preserve our institutions and counteract this president's worst impulses. Judge Curiel, for one, has continued to do his job, carefully applying the law to the cases that come before him, no matter how obnoxious the litigants might be. In his ruling on Tuesday, the judge acknowledged the 'heated political debate' surrounding the border wall, and quoted a passage on the role of courts by Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. -- who, he slyly noted, is a 'fellow Indiana native': 'Courts are vested with the authority to interpret the law; we possess neither the expertise nor the prerogative to make policy judgments. Those decisions are entrusted to our nation's elected leaders, who can be thrown out of office if the people disagree with them. It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.' That is what being a public servant in America sounds like, and it requires a level of selflessness and devotion to democratic ideals that are alien to Mr. Trump."
All the Best People Do. Not. Know. What. They're. Doing. ...
NEW. David Lynch & Damian Paletta of the Washington Post: "The White House is planning to make a major announcement Thursday about whether it will impose new limits on steel and aluminum imports, three people familiar with the event said, following months of speculation about whether President Trump would follow through on trade threats and impose tariffs that could roil global markets. The details of the announcement were closely held and the situation remained very fluid, the people warned. A decision could still be postponed. Trump hinted at a decision Thursday morning." ...
... Or Maybe Not. Jonathan Swan: "But the news comes as a big surprise to many administration officials, signaling a truly remarkable breakdown in process -- and the event may not happen. The confusion last night among senior officials on the trade announcement -- a decision of global consequence -- is like nothing I've seen in the Kelly era:... Senior White House officials had no idea what was going on, and tried to find out after seeing the WashPost story." ...
... AND. Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "More than a year after President Trump abruptly pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, saying it was a bad deal for the United States, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Tuesday that the United States is discussing rejoining the multilateral trade agreement. Mr. Mnuchin, speaking at an investment summit meeting sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said that renegotiating the trade agreement was 'on the table' and that he had been in talks with other countries about what it would take for the United States to reverse course." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I do believe Mr. Davidson's social studies students could do a better job of running the government than the bozos were paying to do it. Of course the kids would have to keep Mr. Davidson in lockdown. But then that's what All the Best People have failed to do to President* Trump.
Fake News Nobel Nomination. BBC News: "A nomination made for US President Donald Trump to receive the Nobel Peace Prize was potentially fraudulent, according to the awarding committee. The Norwegian committee has filed a report with police over its concerns. Mr Trump was reportedly nominated for his 'ideology of peace by force' by an anonymous American.... 'I can say that we have good reason to believe that [the nomination of Mr Trump] is a fake,' Nobel Institute Director Olav Njølstad told Norwegian broadcaster NRK. 'The same "fake" nomination probably took place last year too, Mr Njølstad said."
Jessie Hellman of The Hill: "Vice President Pence predicted Tuesday that legal abortion would end in the U.S. 'in our time.' 'I know in my heart of hearts this will be the generation that restores life in America,' Pence said at a luncheon in Nashville, Tenn., hosted by the Susan B. Anthony List & Life Institute, an anti-abortion organization.... He told the crowd he has seen more progress in the Trump administration's first year in office than he has in his entire life." --safari
Danny Vinik of Politico: "Two top public-affairs officers of the Federal Emergency Management Agency have resigned over the past month, with one complaining that as the agency faced unprecedented challenges in responding to hurricanes, its top public-affairs official was excluded from meetings because of her gender. Former FEMA press secretary Paul McKellips, who resigned o February 12, wrote in his resignation letter that FEMA's front office was a 'boys club' that excluded the former head of external affairs, Susan Phalen. 'When the front office shut her out, you effectively shut me out as well,' McKellips wrote. Phalen announced her resignation in early February."
Cristiano Lima: "Rep. Trey Gowdy, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, on Wednesday requested that Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson turn over all documents and communications pertaining to allegations by a high-ranking civil servant that she was the target of reprisals after sounding the alarm on agency spending."...
... Cristina Alesci, et al. of CNN: "A CNN review of documents found several examples that ethics watchdogs say raise questions about whether [Interior Secretary Ryan] Zinke is misusing his travel privileges, despite receiving approval from the department's lawyer and ethics officer.... His career as a Navy SEAL was derailed when he admitted to poor judgment for taking government flights back to his hometown of Whitefish, Montana, using taxpayer expenses at a time he was supposed to be helping to prevent such abuses.... His travel as secretary is currently the subject of two government reviews.... Records obtained by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, and shared with CNN, show that Zinke's office was told in October that he was on pace to be $200,000 over budget for travel." --safari: His corruption is absolute. Of course Drumpf loves him.
Gail Collins: "Well, the votes are in, people, and the winner of our latest competition for Worst Member of the Trump Administration is ... Scott Pruitt of the Environmental Protection Agency! It was a landslide. To be fair, if we had included Donald Trump himself in the balloting, I'm sure the big guy would have swept the field -- actually winning the popular vote for the first time in his presidential career. But pitted against his peers, Pruitt walloped the competition. The winner of our last Worst survey, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, hardly got a mention. She even came in behind Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a person whose only actual power is to be irritating while claiming the president was just joking/isn';t really going to do that/was totally misunderstood."
Rebecca Burns of The Intercept: "[A] damning new report from the American Civil Liberties Union ... finds that collectors ranging from federal student lenders, to third-party debt buyers, to utility and ambulance services routinely wield the threat of arrest to intimidate people into paying up. Federal law outlawed debt prisons in 1833, but lenders, landlords and even gyms and other businesses have found a way to resurrect the Dickensian practice. With the aid of private collection agencies, they file millions of lawsuits in state and local courts each year, winning 95 percent of the time.... When being in debt can get you sent to prison, and being in prison can drive you further into debt, 'what we're really seeing is the broad criminalization of poverty,' said Marceline White, executive director of the Maryland Consumers Union." --safari
Presidential Race 2020. Oh God! Oprah Goes Full Bachmann. Brett Samuels of the Hill: "Oprah Winfrey said she’s had billionaires offer to fund her presidential campaign if she runs for the White House, but said she’s waiting for a sign from God. 'I went into prayer,' she said of calls for her to run for president. '"God, if you think I'm supposed to run, you gotta tell me, and it has to be so clear that not even I can miss it." And I haven't gotten that yet,' Winfrey told People Magazine in an interview published Wednesday." Mrs. McC: Whatever God tells Oprah, I am not voting for Oprah Winfrey for president. ...
... Ed Kilgore: "One interpretation of her remarks is that she's really saying no power on earth can get me to run for president. If so, it would have been much better if she had expressly put it that way."
Way Beyond the Beltway
Oren Liebermann & Amir Tal of CNN: "For the first time, prosecutors directly linked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to what is known as Case 4000, alleging he gave regulatory benefits worth up to 1 billion shekels (approximately $280 million) to his friend in exchange for favorable media coverage. Case 4000 is one of five investigations targeting the Prime Minister and members of his inner circle. Netanyahu has been named as a suspect in two cases, though not in Case 4000. He has denied any wrong doing in those cases." --safari
"Capitalism is Awesome", Ctd. Dom Phillipsof the Guardian: "Six months before a dam containing millions of litres of mining waste collapsed, killing 19 people in Brazil's worst environmental disaster, the company operating the mine accurately predicted the potential impact of such a disaster in a worst-case risk assessment. But federal prosecutors claim the company -- a joint venture between the Brazilian mining giant Vale and the Anglo-Australian multinational BHP Billiton -- failed to take actions that they say could have prevented the disaster. The prosecutors instead claim the company focused on cutting costs and increasing production...[The disaster] polluted the water supply for hundreds of thousands of people, decimated wildlife and spewed a rust-red plume of mud down the Doce river. Yet more than two years later, nobody has accepted responsibility.... President Michel Temer's business-friendly government wants to increase mining, even in sensitive areas like the Amazon, and make environmental licensing more flexible." --safari
Nathan Hodge & Mary Ilushina of CNN: "Last week, Argentine police announced the drug bust: The country's Gendarmería Nacional said police had discovered and seized 389 kilograms of cocaine -- more than 850 pounds -- on the grounds of the Russian Embassy in Buenos Aires in December 2016.... It seemed to have been a textbook example of cross-border cooperation, with Russian diplomats tipping off the Argentinians about the drugs, and the two countries working together to stop illicit drug traffic. Now it's a story the Russian government appears to want to wish away." --safari
All Work, No Play. Benjamin Haas of the Guardian: "Employees in one of the most overworked countries in Asia are about to get a break after South Korea passed a bill ... which cut the maximum weekly work hours to 52, down from 68.... The cut was a campaign promise by President Moon Jae-in, who also secured a 16% increase in the minimum wage this year.... The law faced opposition from businesses but was seen as necessary to improve living standards, create more jobs and boost productivity. It is also aimed at increasing the country’s birth rate, which hit record lows last year." --safari
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