Trump is circumventing his Chief of Staff
https://politicalwire.com/2017/12/03/trump-finds-way-bypass-chief-staff/
“The president on occasion has called White House aides to the private residence in the evening, where he makes assignments and asks them not tell Mr. Kelly about the plans, according to several people familiar with the matter. At least once, aides have declined to carry out the requested task so as not to run afoul of Mr. Kelly, one of these people said.” “The president, who values counsel from an informal group of confidants outside the White House, also sometimes bypasses the normal scheduling for phone calls that give other White House staff, including Mr. Kelly, some control and influence over who the president talks to and when.”
Trump attacks his own FBI. This is a desperate, desperate man. We've had lots of hints that the Flynn plea deal and the tightening noose of Russia disclosures has Trump ranting and raving around the White House -- now he is really spinning out of control
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/03/us/politics/trump-fbi-tatters.html
President Trump lashed out at the F.B.I. on Sunday, defending himself after the guilty plea by his former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, by charging that the bureau’s reputation was “in tatters — worst in history” . . . He said in a tweet that the agency’s reputation was in ruins because of Mr. Comey’s tenure, during which the F.B.I. conducted what he called the “phony and dishonest” investigation into the private email server used by his rival in the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton. . . [read on]
[NB: First of all, Trump fired Comey seven months ago, and his own guy, Christopher Wray, is in charge of the FBI -- and his own guy, Jeff Sessions, is in charge of him. Second, the whole point of the FBI and the Justice Dept has to be its independence from the president -- he doesn't get to tell them who to investigate and who not. But of course, "Why investigate ME, why not investigate HER?" sounds awfully good to a man whose back is against the wall.]
A couple of the investigators on Mueller's team were found to have posted some anti-Trump text messages back and forth, and they were both removed from the investigation over the summer. In any sane world, this would be seen as proof that Mueller is determined to remove any hint of partisanship from the investigation. But of course that's not the way Trump and his defenders see it
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2017/12/restoring-confidence.html
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/12/presidential-attacks-on-the-fbi-are-losing-their-novelty.html
[NB: Now Trump is excited because one of the two, he says, "led" the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails -- which explains, in his mind, why there were no charges filed.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/12/03/trump-reloads-on-fbis-clinton-email-probe-after-reports-tainted-anti-trump-agent.html
Well, no, he didn't "lead" the investigation, and he didn't make the decision on whether or not to charge Clinton.
By the way, note the language in the tweet: "Report: ANTI-TRUMP FBI AGENT LED CLINTON EMAIL PROBE” (with no link). This makes it look like a news item. There is no "report" that says that he led the Clinton email probe, because it's not true. You might even call this, I don't know, "fake news"?]
Trump calls Comey a liar (in fact, a perjurer) about Trump's request that he go easy on Michael Flynn. But since Trump was pressuring lots of other agencies to curtail or abandon the Russia investigation (and because Comey has contemporaneous notes and comments to colleagues from the time), who do you believe?
https://politicalwire.com/2017/12/03/trump-accuses-comey-lying-2/
Did Flynn wear a wire?
https://politicalwire.com/2017/12/03/michael-flynn-asked-wear-wire/
Trump's lawyer now says that HE authored the Trump tweet saying that Flynn was fired for lying to the FBI (which, combined with Trump's request that Comey drop the Flynn investigation, sure looks like obstruction of justice). The lawyer doesn't explain why he is supposedly posting tweets in Trump's name, but he tries to explain that Trump did know that Flynn had lied to the FBI, but didn't think it was a crime, really, or something like that. It's all ridiculous and incoherent, but it does prove one thing: Trump has lousy lawyers
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1720716
https://www.axios.com/the-suspicious-backstory-of-a-stunning-trump-tweet-2514531611.html
More: https://thinkprogress.org/trumps-lawyer-not-making-sense-d2887073fcfc/
It’s unclear what, exactly, is going on. But one thing that is clear is that Dowd views this tweet as extremely problematic. He is now doing anything he can think of to mitigate the damage. So far it’s not going very well.
This is a novel legal theory -- since it was the main article of impeachment against Nixon. But the most revealing thing is that they are putting it forth now
https://politicalwire.com/2017/12/04/trumps-lawyer-says-president-cannot-obstruct-justice/
John Dowd, President Trump’s outside lawyer, outlined to Mike Allen a new and highly controversial defense in the Russia probe: A president cannot be guilty of obstruction of justice. Said Dowd: “The President cannot obstruct justice because he is the chief law enforcement officer under the Constitution’s Article II and has every right to express his view of any case.” “Trump’s legal team is clearly setting the stage to say the president cannot be charged with any of the core crimes discussed in the Russia probe: collusion and obstruction. Presumably, you wouldn’t preemptively make these arguments unless you felt there was a chance charges are coming.”
This is an excellent overview of the Trump-Russia contacts that we know about, and how the wheels started to come off very early on. The first of a series: must read!
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/taking-stock-pt-1-the-race-for-russia
The Race for Russia
Trump keeps sayimg he has built the biggest, best military ever. But its just not true
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/03/trump-military-defense-buildup-201962
Jared "The Genius" Kushner is at the center of WH power -- but still can't get a security clearance
https://politicalwire.com/2017/12/03/kushner-still-cant-get-security-clearance/
The perfect guy to negotiate Middle East peace: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1720739
Jared Kushner failed to disclose role in foundation financing illegal Israeli settlement
https://crooksandliars.com/2017/12/israeli-media-mogul-slams-kushner
Israeli Media Mogul Slams Kushner: 'A Bunch Of Orthodox Jews Who Have No Idea'
How sad that the people we were told would constrain and counterbalance Trump's worst excesses have now been co-opted into enabling them
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/19/john-kelly-frederica-wilson-trump-243956
Kelly emotionally defends Trump’s call to military widow
https://crooksandliars.com/2017/12/hr-mcmaster-claims-trump-shared-fake-anti
McMaster Claims Trump Shared Fake Anti-Muslim Video To 'Break The Cycle Of Ignorance And Hatred'
Here's a what-if: http://fnews.me/news/detail/312413
Trump retweets white fascists. Imagine if Obama retweeted so-called 'black identity extremists'
"Hillbilly Elegy" and other recent books have asked us to understand the very real suffering, loss, and sense of anxiety that drives the working class white supporters of Trump. The problem is that they have come to blame blacks, ethnics, and immigrants for their grievances. Trump clearly promoted, and exploited, that resentment. But the real causes of unemployment, regional decline, and dislocation are globalization, the death of unions, and the inevitable workings of capitalist production that have made coal, steel manufacturing, and many other traditional sources of U.S. employment no longer viable. Trump has been pretending that he will bring those jobs back. He can't. These are potentially Democratic constituencies, if the Dems figure out how to talk to them. (And no, calling them "deplorables" isn't a very good place to start)
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/11/the-nationalists-delusion/546356/
The Democrats establish a "Unity and Reform Commission." Good luck with that
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1719721
Can you have a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that isn't interested in, like, PROTECTING CONSUMERS? We're about to find out
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/mulvaney-authority-should-frighten-people
Mulvaney Aims To Alter CFPB: Authority I Have ‘Should Frighten People’
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/12/03/trump-cfpb-elizabeth-warren-215997
Trump Wants to Dismantle Elizabeth Warren's Agency. Good Luck With That. The CFPB is the most powerful new agency in decades—and stacked with loyalists.
Who's lobbying Mulvaney, and why don't they want us to know?
https://www.salon.com/2017/12/04/koch-lobbyists-and-opus-dei-who-is-dropping-in-on-trump-budget-czar-mick-mulvaney_partner/
The Republican two-step: cut taxes to create a deficit, then say that because of the deficit we have to cut social programs. Listen to how familiar Orrin Hatch's excuses sound -- we've heard all this before
https://www.vox.com/2017/12/3/16730496/orrin-hatch-chip-tax-bill
GOP Senator says it’s hard to fund $14 billion children’s health care program
https://thinkprogress.org/hatch-chip-help-themselves-05e0cac2e3df/
Hatch claims poor people don’t deserve government help because “they won’t help themselves”
https://crooksandliars.com/2017/12/orrin-hatch-bemoans-freeloaders
Orrin Hatch Bemoans 'Freeloaders' Threatening The CHIP Program
Trump doesn't want Mitt Romney in the Senate
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/03/trump-mitt-romney-utah-senate-hatch-276805
The new dodge for craven Roy Moore apologists: "let the people of Alabama decide." Now Mitch McConnell is on board. I guess that means the Senate won't be voting to expel him if he wins
https://politicalwire.com/2017/12/03/mcconnell-backs-off-opposition-roy-moore/
Two things that sorta seem to hang together
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/12/poll-most-alabama-republicans-think-moore-allegations-fake.html
71 Percent of Alabama Republicans Think Roy Moore Allegations Are Made Up
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/education
Education Rankings
#47 Alabama Higher Ed 49 K-12 39
Trumpistemology
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/12/quote-of-the-day-you-just-tell-them-and-they-believe-you/
“You Just Tell Them and They Believe You” [read on]
Trump wants people to "sue" ABC news
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-people-should-consider-suing-abc-over-inaccurate-flynn-report
[NB: As mentioned here, the Brian Ross story was a dreadful mistake. But the fact that ABC admitted it, pulled the story, and disciplined Ross is just the opposite of "fake news"]
In Fox World, 'There Needs To Be An Investigation Of The Investigation'
https://crooksandliars.com/2017/12/foxs-huckabee-attacks-mueller-there-needs
More: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/12/3/1720780/-Open-thread-for-night-owls-Sean-Hannity-plays-a-dangerous-rhetorical-game
Sean Hannity plays a dangerous rhetorical game
https://www.salon.com/2017/12/03/trump-twitter-worst-2017/
The 25 worst Donald Trump tweets of 2017, so far
More: https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/03/trump-twitter-flynn-advisers-277296
Trump's uncontrollable tweeting triggers deeper anxiety among advisers . . . Peter Zeidenberg, who served on the Justice Department’s special prosecution team during the George W. Bush-era Valerie Plame investigation, said Trump’s tweets and public statements “are extremely damaging to him and helpful to Mueller’s team.” “The toughest thing in bringing an obstruction case is proving the state of mind of the defendant,” Zeidenberg said. “Trump is making their job easy.”
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