THE RED BUTTON

Thank goodness Trump doesn't actually have a nuclear "button" -- this one summons the WH valet, who brings him twelve diet Cokes a day

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/01/trump-nuclear-button/549560/

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/complex-process-launch-nuclear-strike-trump-button 

Guess who called the Trump Tower meeting "treasonous"?

https://politicalwire.com/2018/01/03/bannon-called-trump-tower-meeting-treasonous/
“Even if you thought that this was not treasonous, or unpatriotic, or bad shit, and I happen to think it’s all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately.”

More: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/steve-bannon-trump-tower_us_5a4cde0be4b0b0e5a7a9fe93
The former White House strategist was quoted by Wolff as saying there was “zero” chance Trump Jr. didn’t walk the Russian meeting attendees “up to his father’s office on the 26th floor.” . . .

https://politicalwire.com/2018/01/03/bonus-quote-day-276/
“You realize where this is going. This is all about money laundering. Mueller chose [senior prosecutor Andrew] Weissmann first and he is a money-laundering guy. Their path to fucking Trump goes right through Paul Manafort, Don Jr and Jared Kushner… It’s as plain as a hair on your face.”

Yes, follow the money: https://www.vox.com/2017/7/18/15983910/donald-trump-russia-putin-fbi-collusion-fusion-gps

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2018/01/03/money-laundering-at-the-heart-of-trump-russia-collusion/

https://politicalwire.com/2018/01/03/bannon-remarks-catch-white-house-surprise/
“Bannon’s comments won’t surprise anyone who’s spoken to him, but as on the record statements they are shocking sources close to the president. The White House was prepared for the Wolff book to be bad for them — and sources there have told me he spent a ton of time in the building visiting with Bannon — but they weren’t prepared for Bannon doing this.” “Bannon touched the third rail of Trumpworld — going after the president’s blood family.”

It is impossible to overstate how damaging Bannon's comments are. Trump can no longer say it is only his Democratic enemies and the fake news media who think Russia is a serious issue. This comes from one of his closest advisors. And Trump's incendiary response to Bannon tells you how bad it is

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/1/3/16845920/trump-michael-wolff-book-steve-bannon 
"Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind. Steve was a staffer who worked for me after I had already won the nomination by defeating seventeen candidates, often described as the most talented field ever assembled in the Republican party. Now that he is on his own, Steve is learning that winning isn’t as easy as I make it look. Steve had very little to do with our historic victory, which was delivered by the forgotten men and women of this country. Yet Steve had everything to do with the loss of a Senate seat in Alabama held for more than thirty years by Republicans. Steve doesn’t represent my base — he’s only in it for himself. Steve pretends to be at war with the media, which he calls the opposition party, yet he spent his time at the White House leaking false information to the media to make himself seem far more important than he was. It is the only thing he does well. Steve was rarely in a one-on-one meeting with me and only pretends to have had influence to fool a few people with no access and no clue, whom he helped write phony books. We have many great Republican members of Congress and candidates who are very supportive of the Make America Great Again agenda. Like me, they love the United States of America and are helping to finally take our country back and build it up, rather than simply seeking to burn it all down."

[NB: No, I won't go back to all the quotes in which Trump praised Bannon and called him an indispensable part of the team. Just one point -- this "staffer" was the CEO of Trump's campaign and his Chief Strategist in the White House. His comments don't break new evidentiary ground, but they open a new chapter in the insane reality TV show we have been witnessing. The two BFF's have a bitter falling out and start dishing dirt on one another. Popcorn! Boy, do they deserve each other.]

More: https://politicalwire.com/2018/01/03/bannon-called-trump-narcissist-private-emails/
Bannon Called Trump a ‘Narcissist’ In Private Emails 

More from the Wolff book: Trump and his team never thought he would win the election -- and never really wanted to

https://politicalwire.com/2018/01/03/trump-never-thought-win/ 

Wow. More excerpts: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/01/michael-wolff-fire-and-fury-book-donald-trump.html 

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/03/the-wildest-claims-about-trump-from-michael-wolffs-fire-and-fury.html

http://www.newsweek.com/top-20-revelations-trump-fire-and-fury-book-about-golden-showers-ivanka-bannon-769899

https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2018/01/qotd-craziest-crazy.html

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/white-house-pushes-back-michael-wolff-book
White House Bashes New Book On Trump: It’s ‘Trashy Tabloid Fiction’

Nicolle Wallace does a great opening segment on the "total meltdown" in the White House following the release of the Wolff book. It isn't just that it is full of nasty, cutting stories dished by various actors -- not only Bannon -- who have scores to settle. It is that it portrays a White House, and a president, EVEN LESS prepared for the job than we imagined. Trump can say Bannon's lost his mind now, but who brought Bannon into the administration? Who has set the tone for a staff that have such deep contempt and mistrust for one another? Who has created a climate in which there is no loyalty, not to him and not from him?

http://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/watch/sources-white-house-in-total-meltdown-after-bombshell-1128765507610

http://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/watch/bombshell-book-hits-white-house-like-a-ton-of-bricks-1128765507669

To me this is one of the biggest substantive revelations in the book

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/03/the-wildest-claims-about-trump-from-michael-wolffs-fire-and-fury.html
Wolff reports that a spokesman for Trump's legal team left the job because he feared possible obstruction of justice related to a statement drafted aboard Air Force One that defended Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Russian lawyer in June 2016: "Mark Corallo was instructed not to speak to the press, indeed not to even answer his phone. Later that week, Corallo, seeing no good outcome - and privately confiding that he believed the meeting on Air Force One represented a likely obstruction of justice - quit. (The Jarvanka side would put it out that Corallo was fired.)" 

And here's another one: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/15-behind-scenes-tales-new-book-trump-s-white-house-n834476
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump were convinced that the FBI Director might go after the Kushner family's real estate dealings and encouraged the president to fire him. The book says that Comey became the focus of Trump family discussions and they feared he would rise by damaging them. 

Trump, being Trump, threatens to sue Bannon -- oh, how he likes to threaten to sue people -- for violating his NDA
 
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2018/01/trump-threatens-to-sue-bannon-in-fight-to-crown-washingtons-alpha-chimp/

More: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/01/bannon-joins-many-trump-enemies-hit-with-cease-and-desist.html 
Presumably, President Trump doesn’t actually want Bannon and various members of his family and staff to be deposed under oath; issuing cease-and-desist letters has just become habit for him. Over the years, Trump’s attorneys have issued similar threats over a protest against Trump’s relationship with Macy’s, Art of the Deal ghostwriter Tony Schwartz publicly disparaging Trump, the “failing” New York Times reporting on Trump sexual-misconduct allegations, a Club for Growth attack ad, more negative ads from Jeb Bush and John Kasich supporters, and a Ted Cruz ad that consisted of an undoctored clip of Trump calling himself pro-choice on Meet the Press. . . . FiveThirtyEight counted 20 instances in which Trump threatened to sue during the campaign alone, and he only followed through twice. 

A useful overview of where we stand with the Russia story, and what we will soon learn

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-end-of-the-beginning
There were not one but numerous instances in which Russian cut-outs or intelligence officers reached out to Trump associates with offers of support and/or news of stolen documents to support his campaign. These overtures were eagerly reciprocated. None of them were reported to US authorities. . . . [read on]

More Trump-Russia contacts

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/russian-social-media-giant-gave-info-on-trump-contacts-to-senate-probe
Russian Social Media Giant Gave Info on Trump Contacts to Senate Probe

Paul Manafort files a hail-Mary lawsuit saying Mueller doesn't have a mandate to investigate him. Good luck with that

http://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/367283-manafort-sues-mueller-justice-department
“The investigation of Mr. Manafort is completely unmoored from the Special Counsel’s original jurisdiction to investigate ‘any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump,’ ” the complaint reads.  “It has instead focused on unrelated, decade-old business dealings—specifically, Ukraine political campaign consulting activities of Mr. Manafort.”

More: https://thinkprogress.org/four-fatal-flaws-in-paul-manaforts-lawsuit-claiming-mueller-cant-prosecute-him-d40e47e09611/
4 fatal flaws in Paul Manafort’s lawsuit claiming Mueller can’t prosecute him

Of course Fox World picks up the racist attack against the Mueller grand jury

https://thinkprogress.org/fox-friends-mueller-jurors-e7a6e74e5bd3/

Did the initial quote come from Trump? It sure seems so: https://thinkprogress.org/anonymous-leak-racist-attacks-mueller-trump-da557b23e613/
“The grand jury room looks like a Bernie Sanders rally,” my source said. “Maybe they found these jurors in central casting, or at a Black Lives Matter rally in Berkeley [Calif.]”

Trump is in a state of fury. Just a few days ago he was basking in his first big legislative victory, people like Orrin Hatch were gushing that he could become one of the greatest presidents ever, and he was convinced that the Russia investigation would be over soon and Robert Mueller would be "fair" to him. Oh, how quickly all that unraveled

http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/03/politics/donald-trump-russia/index.html 

I guess they've given up entirely on exercising any kind of control over Trump's tweets

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2018/01/03/who-is-minding-the-toddler-in-chief/

More: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/1/3/16844404/trumps-tweets-north-korea-fox-news
The scary reality behind Trump’s long Tuesday of weird tweets. He’s relying on Fox News for all his information. . . 

Here's a list of all the times Trump has profited from the presidency

https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/january-february-march-2018/a-year-in-trump-corruption/

Trump dissolves the phony "election fraud" commission 

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/president-dissolves-election-integrity-commission

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/trumps-voter-fraud-commission-is-disbanded/549641/?utm_source=feed

And, as usual, lies about it: https://www.salon.com/2018/01/04/donald-trump-spouts-falsehoods-over-disbanded-voter-fraud-commission/  

Trump promised to work to lower drug prices -- another promise broken

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/drug-makers-raise-prices-trumps-tough-talk-disappears

Trump deportation czar is all ready to prosecute the leaders of sanctuary cities

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/1/3/1729498/-Trump-s-deportation-czar-threatens-sanctuary-city-leaders-with-criminal-charges-increased-raids

Trump's Election Brag Tracker -- he just can't go more than a few days without returning over and over again to his great victory

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/06/the_donald_trump_election_brag_tracker.html

Would Mitt Romney in the Senate be a rallying point for anti-Trump Republicans?

https://politicalwire.com/2018/01/03/white-house-alarmed-possible-romney-bid/

White House Alarmed By Possible Romney Bid 

51-49

https://politicalwire.com/2018/01/03/two-new-democratic-senators-sworn-today/
Two New Democratic Senators Sworn In Today 

Another special election looks promising for the Dems

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/1/3/1729302/-Morning-Digest-Pennsylvania-Republicans-fret-their-feeble-nominee-will-blow-March-special-election

More from Pennsylvania: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/gop-transportation-chair-bill-shuster-announces-retirement

Another list of potential Dems for 2020, including some new names

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/1/3/16841444/presidential-race-2020-democrats-trump

Trump wants to branch out into TV production

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/1/3/1729465/-Former-reality-TV-host-Donald-Trump-wants-to-turn-his-hatred-of-the-free-press-into-an-awards-show
Former reality TV host Donald Trump wants to turn his hatred of the free press into an 'awards' show

More: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/kellyanne-conway-reporters-nervous-around-trump

Colbert says he wants one of the awards

https://crooksandliars.com/2018/01/colbert-promotes-himself-trumps-dishonest
“Or, as we call ’em in the biz, the Fakies,” Colbert quipped. “Because nothing gives you more credibility than Donald Trump calling you a liar, and I, of course, don’t want to get snubbed.”

The Wolff book has other revelations, too

https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2018/01/daddys-not-going-to-be-happy-about-this.html
Ivanka described Trump’s hair as a perfectly engineered hairdo that takes many steps to complete. “She often described the mechanics behind it to friends: an absolutely clean pate — a contained island after scalp-reduction surgery — surrounded by a furry circle of hair around the sides and front, from which all ends are drawn up to meet in the center and then swept back and secured by a stiffening spray,

Bonus item: Roy Moore's wife famously said that they couldn't be antisemitic because “One of our attorneys is a Jew.” Well . . . just . . . go ahead and read this

https://crooksandliars.com/2018/01/luck-would-have-it

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sharing its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com) with others via email or social media. Thanks for helping to spread the word!

I don’t get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don’t run ads, etc.). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a “mission,” it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

HEY, YOU LOOK GREAT! HAVE YOU LOST WEIGHT?

China looks at Trump and thinks, You are SO easy . . .

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/02/opinion/trump-china.html
The piece is a calm but devastating indictment of Trump’s foreign policy. The canceling of the trade pact, Osnos explains, is merely one of the ways Trump is helping China. The details include: a World Trade Organization meeting that the Trump administration left early, only to have Chinese officials then hold sway; the easy ways that Chinese officials have manipulated Trump by favoring his family business; and a quotation from the prime minister of Singapore, explaining that other countries now look first to China for international engagement.  “Trump is the biggest strategic opportunity” for China, as one influential foreign-affairs scholar in Beijing tells Osnos. . . .

More: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/glanton/ct-met-trump-china-bully-dahleen-glanton-20171110-story.html
Trump goes to China and gets played

Trump actually believes that Latinos will flock to him and the GOP after all the racist fearmongering he has thrown their way 

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/1/2/1729171/-Trump-completely-disconnects-from-reality-claims-Latinos-will-go-Republican-because-of-DACA

More: https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2018/01/what-human-rights.html

It's revealing how often Trump's tweets are just rechanneling the latest report he watches from Fox World

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-huma-abedin-emails-deep-state

[NB: And he keeps telling the Justice Dept who they should be investigating. Read below.] 

More: https://washingtonmonthly.com/2018/01/02/president-trumps-misadministration-of-justice/
Benjamin Wittes is the editor in chief of Lawfare and a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. Yesterday, he decided to revisit a piece he wrote back in May 2016 warning of what a prospective President Donald Trump might do to the administration of justice in this country. With the benefit of hindsight, he concludes that his forebodings “could not—unfortunately—have been more spot-on.” Wittes also produced a helpful list . . . [read on]

https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2018/01/beyond-abnormal.html
[Sally Yates] POTUS on 12/28: “I have the absolute right to do what I want with the Justice Department.” Today he slanders career DOJ professionals as “deep state,” calls for prison for a political opponent, and tries to sic DOJ on a potential witness against him. Beyond abnormal; dangerous.
 
The new, despicable attack on the Mueller investigation: the grand jury is full of blacks

https://thinkprogress.org/mueller-witness-racist-comments-d49ceef6c1f9/   

Dems may issue a Trump-Russia minority report
 
https://politicalwire.com/2018/01/02/democrats-may-issue-minority-report-russia-investigation/  

Fusion GPS defends the Steele dossier

https://politicalwire.com/2018/01/02/firm-defends-dossier-trump/
Yes, we hired Mr. Steele, a highly respected Russia expert. But we did so without informing him whom we were working for and gave him no specific marching orders beyond this basic question: Why did Mr. Trump repeatedly seek to do deals in a notoriously corrupt police state that most serious investors shun? What came back shocked us. . . . [read on]

More: https://crooksandliars.com/2018/01/it-time-stop-chasing-rabbits-fusion-gps

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/02/fusion-gps-steele-dossier-trump-russia-320236
In their op-ed, Simpson and Fritsch urged Congress to release their testimony: "Republicans have refused to release full transcripts of our firm’s testimony, even as they selectively leak details to media outlets on the far right. It’s time to share what our company told investigators."

Our juvenile Commander in Chief

https://www.vox.com/2018/1/2/16843480/trump-taunts-kim-jong-un-nuclear-button-tweet
Trump taunts Kim Jong Un: My nuclear button “is a much bigger & more powerful one”

More: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/ban-all-world-leaders-from-twitter/549548/
This may be the most irresponsible tweet in history. Julian Sanchez articulated the best-case scenario: “The good news is, other countries won’t take talk like this too seriously because they understand Trump is a small man who blusters to make himself feel potent. That’s also the bad news; there’s nowhere left to go rhetorically when we need to signal that we’re serious.”

Last year there were no major air crashes around the world. Trump takes credit

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/trumps-bogus-claim-of-credit-for-aviation-safety/549461/

Every president likes to take credit when things go well and pass along blame when they go poorly, but perhaps no president has taken that pattern to so brazen an extreme as Donald Trump. . . . [read on]

More: https://www.salon.com/2018/01/02/heres-why-donald-trump-can-take-no-credit-for-a-lack-of-aviation-deaths-in-2017/

https://thinkprogress.org/you-didnt-die-in-a-plane-crash-last-year-and-trump-wants-credit-68ec1fa493af/
Trump also hasn’t actually done anything to make flying safer. 

An administration of grifters -- and it starts at the top

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1729208
Trump's violations of the emoluments clause are huge, obvious ... and apparently unstoppable  

https://thinkprogress.org/zinke-helicopter-trip-in-nevada-53442d1ace98
Interior gets caught charging Zinke’s $39,295 helicopter trip to wildfire preparedness fund

Midterms are usually bad news for the party in power. This Fall could be a real turnaround -- but there's a lot of hard work to do first

https://politicalwire.com/2018/01/02/will-americans-vote-constrain-trump-2018/
Will Americans Vote to Constrain Trump In 2018?  

More: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/1/2/16795804/elections-2018-midterms-consequences

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/01/2018-will-be-a-fight-to-save-democracy-from-trump.html
2018 Will be a Fight to Save Democracy  

Orrin Hatch decides to retire after all, opening up a spot for Mitt Romney. This will be fun to watch

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/01/orrin-hatch-to-retire-opening-door-for-romney-in-senate.html 

Another Trump failure: https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trumps-drive-to-block-mitt-romney-from-senate-stumbles
Donald Trump’s Drive to Block Mitt Romney From Senate Stumbles

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/02/trump-romney-utah-senate-hatch-320235
Trump-Romney rivalry set to take center stage again
 
What Romney said about Trump: https://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/full-transcript-mitt-romneys-remarks-on-donald-trump-and-the-2016-race-220176
Donald Trump tells us that he is very, very smart. I'm afraid that when it comes to foreign policy he is very, very not smart. I am far from the first to conclude that Donald Trump lacks the temperament of be president. After all, this is an individual who mocked a disabled reporter, who attributed a reporter's questions to her menstrual cycle, who mocked a brilliant rival who happened to be a woman due to her appearance, who bragged about his marital affairs, and who laces his public speeches with vulgarity.  . . .Think of Donald Trump's personal qualities, the bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd third grade theatrics. We have long referred to him as "The Donald." He is the only person in America to whom we have added an article before his name. It wasn't because he had attributes we admired. 

Trump rips the NYT, which just gave him a very soft-touch interview. He wants to be treated "fairly," which apparently means never reading anything he doesn't like

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/02/trump-new-york-times-ag-sulzberger-319926

I hate this. No, Trump isn't just "unconventional." He isn't "reinventing the presidency." He is a corrupt liar, a bully, an egomaniac, and an ignorant buffoon who is damaging and endangering the country. He's not an INNOVATOR

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2018/01/02/is-trump-merely-unconventional/

Trump's rate of lying is INCREASING: https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2018/01/record-mendacity-ftw.html

Trump will give out his "dishonest and corrupt media awards" next week. Fill in your own joke here. . . .

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/02/trump-dishonest-corrupt-media-awards-320233

Yes, there is a "fake news" industry -- and it's the one that Trump and his supporters rely on for information

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-supporters-consumers-of-fake-news-c511ba18c1e0/
“Misinformation is currently predominantly a pathology of the right.”

More: https://www.salon.com/2018/01/03/the-president-spent-his-holiday-tweeting-at-the-television_partner/
 
Colonel Sanders tries to explain why Trump spends so much time golfing

https://thinkprogress.org/sarah-sanders-explains-why-trumps-golf-addiction-is-making-america-great-again-cd0bb3fcbacf/

Bonus item

https://twitter.com/Trollin_Trump/status/946546085970968583
Here's a few of @realDonaldTrump actual first year presidential records:

1. Most days vacationing 
2. Most games of golf played 
3. Least amount of bills signed 
4. Lowest approval ratings 
5. Most provable lies 
6. Most cabinet firings/registration
7. Most criminal indictments

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sharing its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com) with others via email or social media. Thanks for helping to spread the word!

I don’t get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don’t run ads, etc.). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a “mission,” it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

GET READY

White House aides think 2018 is going to be a rough year -- and they should know

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/01/trump-aides-anxieties-worries-2018-319861
The grim reality of 2018 has generated a sense of foreboding among White House aides, according to more than a dozen current and former officials and outside advisers. West Wing aides, who worked furiously to push through legislation and executive actions during Trump’s first year in office, expect limited prospects for getting things done in Washington this year heading into a contentious midterm election. . . . [read on]

More: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/01/trump-through-twitter-and-the-times-dominates-holiday-news-cycle-319860

https://www.salon.com/2018/01/02/donald-trump-fears-it-wont-be-a-very-good-2018-heres-why/ 

Pakistan has always been an ambivalent U.S. ally. But threatening via Twitter to cancel all aid is probably not the way to make things better 

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-kicks-off-2018-by-provoking-nuclear-armed-country-2be0c9f97a33/
Trump made it seven hours in 2018 before creating an international incident on Twitter

More foreign policy by tweet: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/graham-urges-trump-to-clarify-iran-strategy/2017/12/31/14f7bb0c-ee4f-11e7-97bf-bba379b809ab_story.html
“President Trump is tweeting very sympathetically to the Iranian people, but you just can’t tweet here. You have to lay out a plan. If I were President Trump, I’d lay out a plan as to how I would engage the regime,” Graham said . . .

From a meeting with Latin American leaders in which war with Venezuela was discussed

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/02/donald-trump-foreign-policy-analysis-dangerous-216202
By the time the dinner was over, the leaders were in shock, and not just over the idle talk of armed conflict. No matter how prepared they were, eight months into an American presidency like no other, this was somehow not what they expected. A former senior U.S. official with whom I spoke was briefed by ministers from three of the four countries that attended the dinner. “Without fail, they just had wide eyes about the entire engagement,” the former official told me. Even if few took his martial bluster about Venezuela seriously, Trump struck them as uninformed about their issues and dangerously unpredictable, asking them to expend political capital on behalf of a U.S. that no longer seemed a reliable partner. “The word they all used was: ‘This guy is insane.’” . . .

More: Over the course of the year, I have often heard top foreign officials express their alarm in hair-raising terms rarely used in international diplomacy—let alone about the president of the United States. Seasoned diplomats who have seen Trump up close throw around words like “catastrophic,” “terrifying,” “incompetent” and “dangerous.” In Berlin this spring, I listened to a group of sober policy wonks debate whether Trump was merely a “laughingstock” or something more dangerous. . . . So what the hell is going on? I’ve come to believe that when it comes to Trump and the world, it’s not better than you think. It’s worse. The president is not playing the leadership role the rest of the world has come to expect from the United States, and the consequences are piling up. . . .  

Did Trump once again blurt out classified information? 

https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2018/01/is-trump-being-loose-lipped-with-his.html 

[NB: Oh, and by the way, "Istanbul" is not "Islamabad"]

The Greatest President Ever 

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-back-to-work-golfing-7-straight-days-36bd0fe3d62d

Trump said he was going ‘back to work.’ Then he went golfing — for 7 straight days. "I'm going to be working for you. I'm not going to have time to go play golf." . . .

Trump's failures: https://thinkprogress.org/4-things-2018-because-trump-was-elected-a462f0b34a0e/ 
4 things that were supposed to happen by 2018 because Trump was elected 

https://www.salon.com/2018/01/01/new-years-update-for-trump-voters_partner/ 
Almost one year in, it’s time for another update for Trump voters on his election promises . . . [read on]

Now there's the to-do list of things that may not happen in 2018 either

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/01/trump-torn-between-two-2018-legislative-failures.html

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/02/obamacare-gop-quandary-319619

I love how these tough "law and order" types react when they're the subject of legitimate investigations

https://crooksandliars.com/2017/12/david-clarke-goes-berserk-violent-tweets

Some Democratic names for 2020

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/01/which-2020-democrat-won-2017-216169

Will Trump bring back the Mooch?

https://www.thedailybeast.com/anthony-scaramucci-is-telling-pals-that-donald-trump-wants-him-back

A new right-wing meme. Watergate only happened because of the elite media; it wouldn't have happened today. Is that supposed to be a GOOD thing?

https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-party-of-law-and-order.html

[NB: Another chapter in the degradation of reality. It doesn't matter what Trump and his cronies actually did -- it only matters that you have a branch of the media, and of the corrupt Republican party, who will defend him no matter what.]

Bonus item: Kevin Drum's top ten quotes

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2018/01/top-10-quotes-of-the-day-for-2017/

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sharing its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com) with others via email or social media. Thanks for helping to spread the word!

I don’t get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don’t run ads, etc.). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a “mission,” it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy 2018! This is going to be a very eventful year. A fall election that could flip one or both houses of Congress. More challenges that will reveal Trump's shortcomings. Perhaps a final report from Robert Mueller. Certainly more revelations about the extent of Trump-Russia collaboration. And PBD will be covering it all
 
We mentioned the other day that about half of Republicans believe that Trump has already repealed Obamacare (because he said he did). About the same number believe the "Pizzagate" story -- that Hillary Clinton was involved in a satanic child abuse ring operated out of a Washington pizzeria. Trump has exploited the post-reality GOP, but he didn't invent it. It started with Rove and the constant drumbeat of brainless conspiracy theories emanating from Fox World. Research says that all of us are inclined toward information that reinforces our deeply held beliefs and resistant to facts that contradict them. But this phenomenon is deeper than that, and more disturbing: a complete blurring of all information sources and a willingness to believe almost anything, facts be damned, if it attacks your enemies and advances your political agenda

https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2017/12/reality-on-trial.html

Trump is already warning that if the Dems win in 2018 the economy will collapse

https://crooksandliars.com/2017/12/trump-suggests-he-fears-democrats-will

What's happening in Iran?

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/12/the-battle-for-iran/549446/

More: https://thinkprogress.org/iran-protests-turn-deadly-9f6b69825acb

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/01/donald-trump-doesnt-understand-whats-happening-in-iran/549440/?utm_source=feed
Donald Trump Doesn’t Understand What’s Happening in Iran

Top ten governor's races to watch

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/31/top-ten-governors-races-to-watch-2018-255823

What Trump's staff thought about his impromptu, incoherent NYT interview

https://crooksandliars.com/2017/12/trump-embarrasses-white-house-staff-ny

Bonus item: TPM's Golden Dukes 

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/golden-dukes-2017-winners

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sharing its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com) with others via email or social media. Thanks for helping to spread the word!

I don’t get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don’t run ads, etc.). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a “mission,” it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***