THE ROOT CAUSE

Trump on mass shootings

https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/263558-kimmel-hits-trump-on-un-american-muslim-ban
“We have people looking to . . . do tremendous harm. We’ve got to get to the bottom of it. There’s some bad stuff going on . . . . There’s a tremendous hatred out there. You can’t solve a problem until you find out the root cause. We’ve got a problem [and] we’ve got to get to the bottom of it.”

[NB: Oh, sorry, that was 2015 and he was talking about immigrants.]

More: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/08/trump-el-paso-shooting-cowardice-terrorism.html

Trump Calls El Paso Shooting “Act of Cowardice” Rather Than Terrorism

https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1157992153370566657
[Roland Martin] Had a Muslim done the shooting in El Paso or Dayton, the discussion right now would be 100% different.

[Josh Marshall] Honestly we’d be hearing calls for declaring a national state of emergency.

Gun crazy

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/08/gun-violence-2019-251-mass-shootings.html
Gun Violence in 2019: There Have Been 251 Mass Shootings in the U.S. in 216 Days

[NB: That's total deaths, not separate incidents.]

Here are all the Republicans who refused to appear on TV to talk about the shootings

https://crooksandliars.com/2019/08/texas-and-ohio-republicans-refuse-appear 

Here's one who did

https://www.vox.com/2019/8/4/20753725/el-paso-dayton-shootings-video-games-gop-mccarthy
The top House Republican is blaming video games for the weekend’s mass shootings

More nonsense: https://www.vox.com/2019/8/4/20753866/el-paso-shooting-white-supremacy-video-games

[NB: Credit to the very small numbers of Repubs who called this "white nationalism" and condemned it. Even Ted Cruz.]

The El Paso shooter's "manifesto" referred repeatedly to an immigrant "invasion." Guess what?

https://politicalwire.com/2019/08/04/trump-deletes-tweets-referring-to-immigrant-invasion/
Trump Deletes Tweets Referring to Migrant ‘Invasion’

[NB: Which, by the way, because this feed has been identified as an "official" presidential site, he cannot do without destroying government records.] 

https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2019/08/trumps-invasion-talk-cant-be-erased.html
According to Facebook's ad archive, Trump has run around 2,200 FB ads since May 2018 mentioning the word "invasion." Scrolling through, all of them seem to be about immigration. . . .  “People hate the word invasion, but that’s what it is.”
 
More dog whistles: https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2019/08/we-knew-he-was-white-supremacist-before.html

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/08/trump-getting-worse/595453/
He's getting worse [read on]
 
A state of emergency

https://politicalwire.com/2019/08/04/trump-nearly-declared-a-state-of-emergency-in-baltimore/
“In at least one conversation with senior aides and another discussion with an outside ally, Trump entertained the idea of declaring a state of emergency in Baltimore — an extraordinary action that would potentially open up new federal powers and funding… The idea would be to say that the living conditions in Baltimore were unacceptable and that people were suffering because their Democratic representatives let them down. So Trump would take action to fix things. . . . Trump also discussed declaring a state of emergency in other cities controlled by Democrats, including San Francisco and Detroit.” 

Remember? https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/07/trump-rnc-speech-alone-fix-it/492557/
‘I Alone Can Fix It’

Meanwhile, Trump went away for a golfing weekend in NJ -- and even had time to crash another wedding

https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2019/08/oh-ivanka.html

[NB: I'm glad he's enjoying himself. Here's to giving him a permanent vacation, soon.]

In other news . . . 

Trump doesn't really believe he is the president of all Americans, and never did

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/8/4/1875864/-Donald-Trump-s-color-coded-geography-of-hate

Donald Trump’s color-coded geography of hate

Trump: policy without policy analysis

https://www.salon.com/2019/08/04/the-white-house-is-upending-decades-of-protocol-for-policy-making_partner/

The media "optics" police, who went crazy -- for example -- when Obama wore a TAN SUIT, look pretty silly now with a president who has no norms or boundaries at all

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/8/4/1876172/-Media-optics-police-hounded-Obama-and-Clinton-for-years-now-give-Trump-a-pass

We need voting machines that produce a paper record

https://www.politico.com/interactives/2019/election-security-americas-voting-machines/

Another GOP retirement

https://politicalwire.com/2019/08/04/house-gop-retirements-continue/

Oh-oh. Is there another reason AOC's Chief of Staff suddenly resigned?

https://politicalwire.com/2019/08/04/feds-probing-top-aide-to-ocasio-cortez/

Bonus item: The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump

https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2017/sep/01/he-gets-verse-the-poetry-of-donald-trump

A few samples: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53LywLMTjcM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lJm9smPdSs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMjhXXwz_U8

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=974629106030373

***If you enjoy Progressive Blog Digest 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.***

BLACK AND WHITE

Trump wants to court black voters -- but he has a funny way of showing it

https://politicalwire.com/2019/08/03/trump-fuels-racial-discord-while-courting-blacks/

https://politicalwire.com/2019/08/03/is-the-gop-just-a-white-party/

More: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/03/trump-black-voters-2020-1445491
President Donald Trump is looking to woo black voters — if he can make them forget about his tweets. . . . The campaign’s pitch to African Americans is simple: Ignore the president’s words and instead focus on his policies, like the state of the economy and the low unemployment rate, the passage of criminal justice reform or the creation of Opportunity Zones, which are meant to bolster investment in underserved or poorer cities. . .

Remember? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOYMFkFgPzk
"Look at my African-American over here..."

Trump threatens Sweden over rapper's arrest

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/08/asap-rocky-released-us-warned-of-negative-consequences-sweden.html

More: https://www.salon.com/2019/08/03/everything-we-know-so-far-about-aap-rockys-sweden-trial-and-trumps-involvement/

The second hate-fueled mass shooting in a week. At least twenty dead in El Paso. Trump sends his thoughts and prayers -- in case you believe that he prays. But thoughts and prayers aren't what is needed. What is needed is for him to strongly condemn anti-immigrant hate and racism. But he can't do that

El Paso: https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/03/us/el-paso-shooting/index.html
Trump: "Terrible shootings in ElPaso, Texas. Reports are very bad, many killed. . . . God be with you all!"

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
"Melania and I send our heartfelt thoughts and prayers to the great people of Texas."

Gilory: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/7/31/1875732/-Gilroy-terror-underscores-how-deep-the-tide-of-white-nationalist-hate-and-violence-has-become

[NB: I am not linking here to the El Paso killer's alleged "manifesto." You can find it online if you want. The content will be depressingly familiar.] 

BREAKING NEWS: Another mass shooting, in Dayton, Ohio. Details scarce 

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/08/dayton-ohio-mass-shooting-ned-peppers-oregon-district.html

More: https://washingtonmonthly.com/2019/08/04/trump-still-refuses-to-condemn-violent-white-supremacy
Trump Still Refuses to Condemn Violent White Supremacy

Trump says he pulled the Ratcliffe nomination for DNI because of "unfair" media coverage. Of course, that was a lie

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/08/john-ratcliffe-withdraws-director-national-intelligence.html
President Donald Trump blamed the media for the decision to withdraw Rep. John Ratcliffe from consideration as the new Director of National Intelligence. But the move also came shortly after the White House received an email that revealed how Ratcliffe was apparently involved in a “controversial whistleblowing case”. . .

In investigation news . . .

Trump's ties to Russia, detailed

https://www.salon.com/2019/08/03/donald-trumps-connections-to-russia-explained/

In other news . . . 

Sometimes I am left speechless. Donald Junior posted this

https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2019/08/shamelessness-is-seriousness-political.html

I'll believe it when I see it

https://politicalwire.com/2019/08/03/trump-weighs-september-rollout-of-health-plan/
Trump Weighs September Rollout of Health Plan

How Trump uses evangelical voters

https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2019/08/trump-treats-evangelicals-like-idiots-yet-again/ 

More: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/08/the-rank-hypocrisy-of-trumps-ebola-tweets/595420  

Trump's golf tab

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-obama-golf_n_5d45c72de4b0acb57fcd4eb8
Conservative group Judicial Watch criticized Obama for spending $106 million for travel over his two full terms. Trump’s golf tab surpassed that in just 30 months. 

Voter suppression in Michigan helped Trump win

https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2019/08/booker-was-right.html

They're still doing it: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/8/2/1876307/-Voting-Rights-Roundup-Michigan-GOP-sues-to-strike-down-voter-approved-redistricting-commission 

How the Supreme Court helped voter suppression

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/8/3/1875994/-New-study-shows-voter-purges-escalated-after-Supreme-Court-gutted-Voting-Rights-Act-protections
 
Could Texas turn blue?

https://politicalwire.com/2019/08/03/gop-anxiety-spikes-in-texas/

https://politicalwire.com/2019/08/02/hurd-thinks-texas-may-turn-blue/ 

How the odious Stephen Miller gets what he wants

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/02/stephen-miller-green-card-immigration-1630406

Not that long ago, when Mitch McConnell took over as Majority Leader, he promised to "end gridlock." No, stop laughing -- he really did

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-29925583/presumptive-us-senate-majority-leader-mcconnell-to-end-gridlock
At a news briefing following resounding Republican mid-term victories, he said "we have an obligation to change the behaviour of the Senate. . . . We're going to go back to work and actually pass legislation," adding that Democrats were "anxious to be relevant again."

Some reporters at Fox News just haven't gotten the memo

https://www.thedailybeast.com/fox-news-host-neil-cavuto-tells-viewers-trump-is-wrong-china-isnt-paying-these-tariffs-you-are
Fox News Host Neil Cavuto Tells Viewers Trump Is Wrong: ‘China Isn’t Paying These Tariffs. You Are.’

More: https://crooksandliars.com/2019/08/ugly-breakup-begins-trump-freaks-out-over
Trump Freaks Out Over Fox 'Disloyalty'

Elizabeth Warren is making a move

https://politicalwire.com/2019/08/03/warren-begins-to-steal-sanderss-network/
“Warren is publicly projecting a friendly attitude toward the Vermont senator — backing him up on the debate stage, refusing to criticize him when reporters ask, restraining her staffers from posting tweets needling him. . . . That avoids alienating Sanders voters whom she may need later. But strategists for both candidates say there’s only room for one of them to survive far beyond the early primaries, making for a below-the-surface battle, especially in Iowa and New Hampshire.”

More: https://politicalwire.com/2019/08/02/warren-is-running-a-brilliant-campaign/
“Her unsparing critique of corporate excess and her expansive — and expensive — agenda for change mirror those of the reigning left champion, Bernie Sanders, in places. But where Sanders sometimes seems like a parody of himself — or of Larry David’s parody of Sanders — Warren seems fresher, deeper and more precise in her execution.”

Two views on criticizing Obama

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-biden/biden-mounts-fierce-defense-of-obama-legacy-after-debate-attacks-idUSKCN1UT0K2
Biden mounts fierce defense of Obama legacy 

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/08/2020-election-when-will-obama-stop-dividing-democrats-by-attacking-obamas-record.html
Have 2020 presidential candidates begun engaging in suicidal attacks on Obama’s legacy . . . Not really. . . . Let’s look at the issues one by one. . . 

Is AOC trending into the political mainstream?

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/02/aoc-staff-saikat-chakrabarti-climate-1445478
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's chief of staff, spokesman leave her office

Bonus item: This is really well done -- philosophy, emotional self-examination, and "No Exit"

https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/8/2/20749452/best-youtube-video-philosophy-tube-men-abuse-trauma-oliver-thorn

***If you enjoy Progressive Blog Digest 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.***

BACK TO THE FUTURE

People underestimate the genius of Putin's hijack of our 2016 election. The headline was whether Trump would be friendlier to Russia, end sanctions, etc. But the real purpose was to sabotage this country, damage its development and growth, hurt its international partnerships, divide the nation, and undermine its global stature and leadership. Trump has been everything Putin could have hoped for, and more. Economic growth that began under Obama has continued, but we have done NOTHING to prepare for the economy of the future or change our energy profile. Trump's "back to the past" ethos has us still talking about COAL, for crying out loud. He decries wind power ("it kills birds!") and his trade policies have turned solar panel industries over to China. We might never recover from the setbacks he has imposed

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-is-trying-to-kill-electric-cars-but-will-kill-jobs-and-the-climate-instead/
Trump is trying to kill electric cars but will kill jobs and the climate instead

[NB: In the famous line of A Nation at Risk, "If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war." Putin's interference WAS an act of war, in which our own voters and craven politicians were complicit. He couldn't have done this if we didn't do it to ourselves.]

Trump's "America First" has become "America Alone"

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/02/trump-iran-coalition-of-one-1444834

The ignoramus in the White House calls it "the Soviet Union," then says, "before they decided to start calling themselves Russia"

https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2019/08/stable-genius-quote-o-day.html
Trump offers an interesting historical interpretation of the fall of the Soviet Union: "Remember the Soviet Union? When it was all together. Before they decided, 'we have to call ourselves Russia.'"
 
Watch: https://theslot.jezebel.com/we-finally-beat-the-soviet-union-thank-god-1836914111
 
Trump makes major foreign policy and military decisions by looking at the electoral calendar

https://politicalwire.com/2019/08/02/trump-wants-all-troops-out-of-afghanistan-by-2020-election/

Showing yet again that if you flatter Trump, you can get away with ANYTHING

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/8/2/1876189/-Trump-is-okay-with-Kim-Jung-Un-lobbing-missiles-at-U-S-allies-because-of-his-beautiful-vision 

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-kim-jong-un-friend-missile-tests_n_5d44d716e4b0ca604e323e87
 
Trump doesn't just dump DNI Dan Coats. Now he's after the #2 in that office

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/8/2/1876273/-Trump-trying-to-force-number-2-spy-chief-out-of-job-so-he-can-install-a-lackey

Who knows how Trump picked John Ratcliffe for DNI -- maybe he pointed at the TV screen during the Mueller hearings and said, "I want THAT guy." Either way, he picked another major Cabinet nominee without regard to qualifications and with no background vetting. In a matter of just a few days he's already had to withdraw him

https://www.thedailybeast.com/john-ratcliffe-trumps-pick-for-intel-chief-drops-out-of-nomination

[NB: Of course Trump blames the "unfair media" for beating up on Ratcliffe -- but that's clearly not the reason. He's being told by Republicans that Ratcliffe is an unqualified joke and unconfirmable. If Ratcliffe was really the guy Trump wanted, do you think he would let media coverage stop him?]

And then he said this

https://crooksandliars.com/2019/08/trump-admits-white-house-doesnt-vet-likes
Q: What does this withdrawal by Ratcliffe say about the White House vetting process?
Trump’s answer: The press does the vetting for me and it’s much cheaper that way.

[NB: So, you should be GRATEFUL to the press for doing your job for you?]

Trump is breaking the process of political appointments

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/08/whom-do-political-appointees-serve/595342/

Trump keeps using the levers of government to punish his critics

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/08/trump-punish-amazon-washington-post-owner-jeff-bezos.html

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/just-how-far-trump-prepared-go-his-amazon-obsession
 

In other news . . . 

An alphabetical font, made out of cockamamie gerrymandered districts 

https://www.uglygerry.com/

If Russian bots are already targeting Kamala Harris, it's because they're afraid of her

https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/16/politics/kamala-harris-twitter-bots/index.html

https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/8/2/20751789/kamala-harris-destroyed-tulsi-gabbard-bots-google
 
Dems, stop attacking Obama

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/01/democratic-debate-obama-biden-1444825

More: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/8/2/20751676/democrats-debate-criticizing-obama-immigration

Another Dem, Amy Klobuchar, makes the cut for the next debate

https://politicalwire.com/2019/08/02/klobuchar-makes-the-cut-for-next-debate/ 

Fox World just makes s--t up

https://www.thedailybeast.com/fox-news-host-ainsley-earhardt-trumps-a-rust-belt-guy-a-blue-collar-worker
Fox News Host Ainsley Earhardt: Trump’s a ‘Rust Belt’ Guy, a ‘Blue-Collar’ Worker

Trump used to read from a collection of Hitler's speeches (thanks to BR for the link)

https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trumps-ex-wife-once-said-he-kept-a-book-of-hitlers-speeches-by-his-bed-2015-8

Now Trump calls Steve Bannon his "best pupil"

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/455995-trump-calls-bannon-one-of-my-best-pupils-over-his-2020-analysis
"Nice to see that one of my best pupils is still a giant Trump fan," Trump tweeted. "Steve joined me after I won the primaries, but I loved working with him!"
 
Trump, January 2018: “Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency,” Trump said at the time. “When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.” "Michael Wolff . . . used Sloppy Steve Bannon, who cried when he got fired and begged for his job."

[NB: You can see that Trump is still ultra-touchy about suggestions that Bannon masterminded his campaign.]

Don't know much about his-tory

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-poland-warsaw-uprising_n_5d44fc35e4b0acb57fccbc51
When President Donald Trump was asked by a reporter Thursday what message he had for the Polish people on the 75th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising, he dodged the question — and instead talked about himself. . . . “I have a lot of respect for Poland, and, as you know, the people of Poland like me, and I like them. And I’m going to be going to Poland fairly soon.”

Ezra!

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/8/2/20702029/donald-trump-racism-squad-tweets-media-2020
[Ezra Klein] Donald Trump's political career, in one quote:

Reporter: "Does it concern you that many people find that tweet racist?"
Trump: "It doesn’t concern me because many people agree with me.”

Bonus item: Trump's eulogies

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/george-conway-trump-eulogies-twitter-trends-narcissism_n_5d43a1f9e4b0aca3411b41a4

***If you enjoy Progressive Blog Digest 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.***