L'état c'est moi
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-only-one-that-matters
Trump: Don’t Worry About Vacant Posts, ‘I’m The Only One That Matters’
More: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/11/03/in-new-interview-trump-openly-rages-at-checks-on-his-authoritarianism/
In new interview, Trump openly rages at checks on his authoritarianism
Trump understands that he can't order the Justice Dept to investigate someone, but that won't stop him hinting at it -- because what he says he "would love to be doing" is using the Justice Dept to go after his enemies. That's illegal, and a fundamental abuse of office (Nixon was impeached for doing just that)
https://thinkprogress.org/trump-steps-up-his-attacks-on-rule-of-law-calls-for-political-prosecution-of-hillary-clinton-68dfaa255823/
Trump steps up his attacks on rule of law, calls for political prosecution of Hillary Clinton
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/11/trump-to-fbi-arrest-my-rivals-for-things-that-arent-crimes.html
Trump Calls on the FBI to ‘Go After’ His Political Enemies (for Things That Aren’t Crimes)
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/11/3/1712346/-Six-times-in-24-hours-desperate-Donald-calls-for-DOJ-and-FBI-to-investigate-Hillary
Six times in 24 hours, desperate Donald calls for DOJ and FBI to investigate Hillary
More: https://www.salon.com/2017/11/03/trumps-latest-comments-on-the-justice-department-may-be-his-scariest-yet/
"The saddest thing is that because I'm the president of the United States I'm not supposed to be involved with the Justice Department, I'm not supposed to be involved with the FBI, I'm not supposed to be doing the kinds of things I would love to be doing and I'm very frustrated by it. . . ." [read on]
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/11/trump-gop-are-running-against-president-hillary-clinton.html
But the broader picture is that, day in and day out, Trump is bringing up and savaging Crooked Hillary again and again. It was his first impulse when the Mueller investigation produced its initial indictments of former Trump campaign officials. And it is the touchstone to which he returns almost no matter which controversy has arisen about his own behavior. Perhaps this habit just reflects Trump’s proclivity for counter-punching, for “often accus[ing] others of the exact thing he stands accused of.” It was certainly the hallmark of his 2016 campaign, most notably when he responded to the politically devastating revelations of the Access Hollywood video by bringing Bill Clinton’s sexual misconduct accusers into the audience at a presidential debate with the 42nd president’s wife. But as we get farther and farther away from that campaign, you have to wonder if Trump is determined to keep in place the dynamics that produced his unlikely election as president. Yes, his base is excited by his immigrant-bashing and law-and-order rhetoric and his defense of “our history and our heritage” and his chronic defiance of political correctness. But as the chants of “Lock Her Up” at a Trump event in Alabama 319 days after the 2016 election showed, nothing is as exciting as are attacks on Crooked Hillary. . . . [read on]
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2017/11/03/standing-on-the-edge-of-despotism
Standing on the Edge of Despotism
Trump is furious that Bowe Bergdahl's sentence is so light. Guess whose fault that is?
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-bergdahl-sentencing-disgrace
[NB: And of course he just did the same thing with the NYC truck attacker, calling for him to be executed before he's even set foot in a courtroom. The irony is that his interference has made convicting and sentencing these folks MORE difficult. Screaming at the Justice Dept to go after Hillary makes them LESS likely to do so, because they won't do it if it looks like he forced them to.]
More: https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/03/trump-justice-department-independence-244531
“Any probe would be suspect from the get-go because it was instigated by Trump, against his former political rival, and was promised during the campaign and then only revived when Trump got into his own political hot water,” said Peter Zeidenberg, a former Justice prosecutor who worked on the Bush-era special-counsel inquiry into who leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson. “I cannot imagine DOJ would entertain this — at least I would hope not,” he added. “It would set a horrendous precedent if the president of the United States could dictate to the DOJ who should be investigated and then start that practice by investigating his former political rival.”
Bob Corker is enjoying his last few months in office
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/corker-trump-justice-department-pressure-totally-inappropriate
“Like me, most Americans hope that our justice system is independent and free of political interference,” Corker said in a statement. “President Trump’s pressuring of the Justice Department and FBI to pursue cases against his adversaries and calling for punishment before trials take place are totally inappropriate and not only undermine our justice system but erode the American people’s confidence in our institutions.”
Trump brags that he has "one of the great memories of all time" -- but can't seem to remember the dramatic suggestion that he should travel to Russia during the campaign to meet with Putin
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/11/3/1712259/-Russia-turns-Trump-from-one-of-the-great-memories-of-all-time-to-I-don-t-remember-much
https://www.salon.com/2017/11/03/a-history-of-trumps-great-memory-and-when-it-failed-him/
More: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/11/trump-just-got-caught-in-a-big-lie-about-russia/544886/?utm_source=feed
President Trump’s February 2017 press conference is an indictment of his leadership. Standing before the country, he had an obligation to be truthful about facts pertinent to the FBI effort to determine what Russia did and how it did it. Untruths wouldn’t just mislead the public—they would impede federal investigators and make it harder to safeguard the 2018 elections against foreign interference. But to what degree was Trump untruthful? The answer is clearer than ever before . . . [read on]
Jeff Sessions can't keep pulling this "oops, I forgot" trick
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/11/3/1712265/-Sessions-is-proven-to-be-a-liar-again-and-this-may-be-the-final-straw
Standing before reporters in February, President Trump said unequivocally that he knew of nobody from his campaign who was in contact with Russians during the election. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has told the Senate the same thing. . . .
More: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/3/16599426/jeff-sessions-russia-testimony
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/what-sessions-knew-trump-campaign-contacts-russia
http://crooksandliars.com/2017/11/nbcs-chuck-todd-jeff-sessions-revelation
NBC's Chuck Todd On Jeff Sessions' Revelation: 'He's In Extraordinary Trouble'
The question
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/11/3/1712395/-With-Sessions-legal-jeopardy-mounting-the-question-arises-Will-he-turn-on-Trump
With Sessions' legal jeopardy mounting, the question arises: Will he turn on Trump?
Carter Page has been lying
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/03/us/politics/trump-campaign-page-russian.html
Carter Page, a foreign policy adviser to the Trump presidential campaign, met Russian government officials during a July 2016 trip he took to Moscow, according to testimony he gave on Thursday to the House Intelligence Committee. Shortly after the trip, Mr. Page sent an email to at least one Trump campaign aide describing insights he had after conversations with government officials, legislators and business executives during his time in Moscow, according to one person familiar with the contents of the message. The email was read aloud during the closed-door testimony. The new details of the trip present a different picture than the account Mr. Page has given during numerous appearances in the news media in recent months and are yet another example of a Trump adviser meeting with Russians officials during the 2016 campaign. In multiple interviews with The New York Times, he had either denied meeting with any Russian government officials during the July 2016 visit or sidestepped the question, saying he met with “mostly scholars.”
George Papadopoulos, not just a "coffee boy"
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/papadopoulos-repeatedly-represented-trump-campaign-record-shows-n817421
Looks like the House tax plan is DOA in the Senate
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2017/11/03/house-republicans-proposed-a-tax-bill-that-cant-pass-the-senate/
House Republicans Proposed a Tax Bill That Can’t Pass the Senate
More: https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/03/tax-reform-senate-demands-244481
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/11/if-these-senators-arent-lying-trumps-tax-plan-is-dead.html
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/3/16599788/republican-tax-plan-failures-child-credit-expensing
I've spent months covering Republican tax policy. This bill is way worse than I expected.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/11/3/1712408/-Republicans-try-to-sneak-fetal-personhood-language-into-tax-plan
Republicans try to sneak fetal personhood language into tax plan
Trump's attempts at sabotaging Obamacare are actually backfiring
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/11/3/1712280/-Trump-s-Obamacare-sabotage-backfires-which-means-free-healthcare-for-many
How rich of this? Donald Trump's sabotage of the Affordable Care Act, his work to send premium costs so high no one would sign up, has actually resulted in free health insurance for lower-income people in 98 percent of counties. Premiums aren't skyrocketing for the very big majority of consumers in the Obamacare markets—they're shrinking. . . .
It's amazing that Trump's numbers are so low when you consider the economy is doing pretty well. What happens if (when) the economy starts to slow down?
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/11/trumps-historic-unpopularity-triumphs-over-prosperity.html
[NB: "Obama's fault," no doubt.]
Unemployment is down, and that's good. But labor force participation is also down, to record numbers, and that's very bad -- because when people give up on looking for jobs, they aren't counted as unemployed. That's why these two numbers need to be seen in relation to one another
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/us-job-market-bounces-back-big-way-october
4.1%
https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/95385000-record-number-americans-not-labor-force-participation-rate-falls
62.7%
The Dems need to move left to recapture lost and demoralized voters. And this Hillary Clinton/DNC disclosure has the Left rightly enraged
http://crooksandliars.com/2017/11/poll-majority-democrats-want-party-move
https://www.thedailybeast.com/democrats-determined-to-wage-civil-war-forever
More: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/11/warren-agrees-that-the-democratic-primary-was-rigged.html
Elizabeth Warren Agrees That the Democratic Primary Was ‘Rigged’
The DNC emails were hacked AND altered
https://www.salon.com/2017/11/03/the-dncs-emails-werent-only-hacked-they-were-edited-report/
Climate change is getting worse
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/11/a-major-new-us-report-affirms-climate-change-is-getting-worse/544952/?utm_source=feed
Bonus item: Ahhhhhhhh!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/11/03/happy-hour-roundup-1233/?utm_source=rss_plum-line
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/11/3/1712408/-Republicans-try-to-sneak-fetal-personhood-language-into-tax-plan
Republicans try to sneak fetal personhood language into tax plan
Trump's attempts at sabotaging Obamacare are actually backfiring
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/11/3/1712280/-Trump-s-Obamacare-sabotage-backfires-which-means-free-healthcare-for-many
How rich of this? Donald Trump's sabotage of the Affordable Care Act, his work to send premium costs so high no one would sign up, has actually resulted in free health insurance for lower-income people in 98 percent of counties. Premiums aren't skyrocketing for the very big majority of consumers in the Obamacare markets—they're shrinking. . . .
It's amazing that Trump's numbers are so low when you consider the economy is doing pretty well. What happens if (when) the economy starts to slow down?
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/11/trumps-historic-unpopularity-triumphs-over-prosperity.html
[NB: "Obama's fault," no doubt.]
Unemployment is down, and that's good. But labor force participation is also down, to record numbers, and that's very bad -- because when people give up on looking for jobs, they aren't counted as unemployed. That's why these two numbers need to be seen in relation to one another
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/us-job-market-bounces-back-big-way-october
4.1%
https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/95385000-record-number-americans-not-labor-force-participation-rate-falls
62.7%
The Dems need to move left to recapture lost and demoralized voters. And this Hillary Clinton/DNC disclosure has the Left rightly enraged
http://crooksandliars.com/2017/11/poll-majority-democrats-want-party-move
https://www.thedailybeast.com/democrats-determined-to-wage-civil-war-forever
More: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/11/warren-agrees-that-the-democratic-primary-was-rigged.html
Elizabeth Warren Agrees That the Democratic Primary Was ‘Rigged’
The DNC emails were hacked AND altered
https://www.salon.com/2017/11/03/the-dncs-emails-werent-only-hacked-they-were-edited-report/
Climate change is getting worse
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/11/a-major-new-us-report-affirms-climate-change-is-getting-worse/544952/?utm_source=feed
Bonus item: Ahhhhhhhh!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/11/03/happy-hour-roundup-1233/?utm_source=rss_plum-line
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