Daily Archives
July 26, 2017
34 posts · Wednesday
Trump Bans Transgender People In Military
President Trump announced in a series of tweets a ban on transgender people in the U.S. military, the Washington Post reports.
“After consultation with my generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.”
Jonathan Swan: “It’s the most aggressive I’ve seen Trump wade into culture wars since becoming president — and perhaps his most polarizing decision since the original travel ban. This issue had been quietly burning for months, with social conservative leaders pressing the White House on why it hadn’t made a decision on this.”
For members: Trump Makes a Big Play to His Base
Clinton’s Memoir Out in September
Hillary Clinton’s still untitled memoir on the 2016 presidential race will be released on September 12, 2017.
The Hill reports Clinton “will double down on Russia’s interference and James Comey’s involvement in her stunning election defeat… Privately, Clinton has told friends and longtime associates that she ‘wants the whole story out there’ as she rushes to tweak and put the finishing touches on the book due out in September.”
Said one ally: “She really believes that’s why she lost, and she wants to explain why in no uncertain terms. She wants the whole story out there from her own perspective. I think a lot of people are going to be really surprised by how much she reveals.”
‘This Is Not Okay’
The Washington Post runs a scathing editorial on President Trump:
In a rule-of-law state, government’s awesome powers to police, prosecute and imprison are wielded impartially, with restraint and according to clearly defined rules. These rules apply equally to rich and poor, powerful and weak, ruling party and opposition. In such states, individuals advance on the basis of their talent and initiative, not whom they know. …
What’s at stake is much more than the careers of a particular attorney general or special counsel. The United States has been a role model for the world, and a source of pride for Americans, because it has strived to implement the law fairly. When he attacks that process and seeks revenge on his opponents, Mr. Trump betrays bedrock American values. It’s crucial that other political leaders say so.
Reince Priebus Marginalized
Washington Post: “Typically, the job of firing staffers — even those in the press shop — would be left to the chief of staff, but Priebus has found himself increasingly isolated in recent days, with few areas of the White House reporting directly to him.”
The New York Times reports that Priebus “is still on the bubble and said to be looking for a graceful exit of his own.”
Republicans Just Want to Pass Any Health Care Bill
James Hohmann: “It’s hard to overstate the degree to which White House officials and Senate GOP leaders just want to pass something — really, anything — to show the base that they are keeping their promise to roll back Obamacare. They would happily portray even most modest tweaks to the Affordable Care Act as major successes to save face. As far as they’re concerned, whatever gets passed will be the basis for negotiations with the House. So this is not even a final product.”
“Opening floor debate may be a Pyrrhic victory for the GOP: Democrats are going to force Republicans to cast some uncomfortable votes in the coming days as part of the freewheeling amendment process. Regardless of whether a bill ultimately passes, and how they try to spin it, every senator who voted for the motion to proceed just gave years of fodder to Democratic admakers. “
The Scariest Nuclear Threat Might Be in the White House
Michael Lewis has a must-read piece on the Department of Energy — from the “ceremonial and bizarre” role of energy secretary Rick Perry to the Trump administration’s apparent total disinterest in the agency.
In his confirmation hearings to run the department Perry confessed that when he called for its elimination he hadn’t actually known what the Department of Energy did—and he now regretted having said that it didn’t do anything worth doing.
The question on the minds of the people who currently work at the department: Does he know what it does now? D.O.E. press secretary Shaylyn Hynes assures us that “Secretary Perry is dedicated to the missions of the Department of Energy.” And in his hearings, Perry made a show of having educated himself. He said how useful it was to be briefed by former secretary Ernest Moniz. But when I asked someone familiar with those briefings how many hours Perry had spent with Moniz, he laughed and said, “That’s the wrong unit of account.” With the nuclear physicist who understood the D.O.E. perhaps better than anyone else on earth, according to one person familiar with the meeting, Perry had spent minutes, not hours. “He has no personal interest in understanding what we do and effecting change,” a D.O.E. staffer told me in June. “He’s never been briefed on a program—not a single one, which to me is shocking.”
Sessions Says He Won’t Quit
Mike Allen: “Attorney General Jeff Sessions doesn’t plan to take the hint. President Trump continues hitting him in all body parts — apparently hoping he’ll resign, which could pave the way for firing special counsel Bob Mueller.”
“But Sessions allies tell us he won’t quit, and will have to be fired: This is his life’s work and dream job. (Yesterday, he took on sanctuary cities.) And in Trumptown, you can be down now, but back in favor after you endure a little humiliation. Ask Steve Bannon.”
Perry Duped Into Fake Interview by Russian Comedians
Energy Secretary Rick Perry “optimistically discussed expanding American coal exports to Ukraine and other energy matters during a lengthy phone call this month with a Russian prankster who Perry thought was Ukraine’s prime minister,” Reuters reports.
“Perry actually was talking with comedians known in Russia for targeting celebrities and politicians with audacious stunts… During the 22-minute call on July 19, Perry, whose department oversees the U.S. nuclear weapons program, discussed a range of topics in a business-like tone, including sanctions against Russia and helping Ukraine develop oil and gas.”
The audio from the call is online.
State Department Says Tillerson Taking Time Off
Business Insider: “When asked about the discrepancies between Rex Tillerson’s public schedule and his reported movements, and why the department hadn’t updated the press on his whereabouts, Heather Nauert said Tillerson ‘does have the ability to go away for a few days on his own.'”
Said Nauert: “Just taking a little time off. He’s got a lot of work. He just came back from that mega-trip overseas, as you all well know — many of you were over there with the G-20.”
“Asked why she didn’t just say Tillerson was on vacation, Nauert said she didn’t know the standard protocol for listing private days.”
GOP Lawmakers Warn Trump Not to Fire Sessions
“Congressional Republicans on Tuesday warned President Trump not to fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions, fearing it could be the first step in an attempt to kill the federal investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 elections,” the Washington Examiner reports.
Said Sen. Mike Simpson (R-ID): “All hell would break loose. If he fired Mueller, that would be a problem. It wouldn’t pass the smell test. The American people would demand we do something.”
Mike Allen: “In this showdown, there’s the potential for grave collateral damage to Trump. Many establishment/pragmatic Republicans, including lawmakers and administration officials and aides, ‘got there’ on Trump not because they were wild about the man, but out of respect for the office (and self-interest, of course).”
Many Republicans Doubt Clinton Won Popular Vote
A new Morning Consult/Politico poll finds that 47% of Republican voters believe Donald Trump received more popular votes in the presidential election than Hillary Clinton. Just 42% think Clinton won by 2.9 million votes, which was the official tally after all the states certified their election results.
Quote of the Day
“If the leaks continue then I’ve got to let everybody go.”
— White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, quoted by the New York Daily News.
What Trump Is Reading
President Trump suggested in a Wall Street Journal interview that he’s read Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes.
Said Trump: “The Russian – the Russian story’s all an excuse for the Democrats losing. In fact, if you read the book, Shattered, they have a whole chapter where they sat the day after the election and they said: Yeah, Russia. It was Russia. And, you know, Trump was involved. OK, the one thing interesting, you never heard me even associated with anybody. But, no, that’s a total witch hunt, the whole Russia story. It’s a hoax. It’s a hoax. We had no collusion with Russia. We never dealt with Russia.”
What Mike Lee Was Texting About Health Care
Politico: “On a Delta flight from Salt Lake City to Washington on Monday afternoon, Lee sat in the middle seat, furiously texting about his latest thinking in the health care debate, according to an eyewitness who sat next to Lee.”
“In one text, Lee told a recipient that he might still vote to proceed to the repeal debate, but that it was ‘still too early to do so in good conscience because we’re not being told anything.'”
“‘This leadership line of pass something, anything, is dangerous and potent,’ Lee typed out in another message, written in a large enough font that fellow passengers could easily read his words, according to the eyewitness. In another text, Lee wrote: ‘This bill is nothing more than bailing out insurance companies with a few minor reforms thrown in for good measure.'”
McAuliffe Hits the Road with Pelosi
USA Today: “Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Rep. Nancy Pelosi have been quietly courting major party donors during a series of weekend trips that illustrate how the Democratic Party’s road to rebuilding begins with changing the habits of labor unions and traditional donors.”
“The duo has traveled to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston and New York to try to convince traditional donor groups and grassroots organizations to channel more funding to local and state elections — with a particular focus on the next generation of governors who will oversee redistricting around the 2020 Census — as well as legal battles and ballot initiatives to challenge gerrymandered congressional districts.”
Said McAuliffe: “I don’t care who the president of the United States is, it doesn’t matter in the sense that, if we don’t have governors to stop these horrible maps, they’re going to pass a lot of this stuff at the state level. Politically, this is what I’m going to do. I’m obsessed.”
