Coming soon: Stand Up! How to Get Involved, Speak Out, and Win in a World on Fire by Gordon Whitman.
Daily Archives
January 3, 2018
36 posts · Wednesday
Trump Never Wanted to Win
New York Magazine runs an excerpt from Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House:
Not only did Trump disregard the potential conflicts of his own business deals and real-estate holdings, he audaciously refused to release his tax returns. Why should he? Once he lost, Trump would be both insanely famous and a martyr to Crooked Hillary. His daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared would be international celebrities. Steve Bannon would become the de facto head of the tea-party movement. Kellyanne Conway would be a cable-news star. Melania Trump, who had been assured by her husband that he wouldn’t become president, could return to inconspicuously lunching. Losing would work out for everybody. Losing was winning.
Shortly after 8 p.m. on Election Night, when the unexpected trend — Trump might actually win — seemed confirmed, Don Jr. told a friend that his father, or DJT, as he calls him, looked as if he had seen a ghost. Melania was in tears—and not of joy.
There was, in the space of little more than an hour, in Steve Bannon’s not unamused observation, a befuddled Trump morphing into a disbelieving Trump and then into a horrified Trump. But still to come was the final transformation: Suddenly, Donald Trump became a man who believed that he deserved to be, and was wholly capable of being, the president of the United States.
White House Not Prepared for Bannon Remarks
Jonathan Swan: “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.”
Trump Missile Would Break Arms Control Treaty
Time: “Buried inside the mammoth $700 billion defense bill President Donald Trump signed last month is a relatively miniscule $25 million to fund development of a new road-mobile, ground-launched cruise missile. The program could be easily overlooked amid the Christmas list of military hardware the administration is buying, except for one thing: the missile is prohibited by a 30-year-old Cold War arms control agreement with Russia.”
“The research and development on the medium-range missile is intended to serve as a direct response to Russia’s deployment in recent years of its own treaty-busting missile. U.S. intelligence first recognized Moscow’s potential violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty when the Russian missile was still in test phase. The Obama administration worked unsuccessfully to persuade the Kremlin to stand down the program. Now the Trump administration has decided to respond with a missile of its own.”
Obama Won the Iowa Caucuses 10 Years Ago
Chris Liddell-Westefeld: “How did one of the whitest states in the union propel the first African-American president to the nomination? What about him captured Iowans’ imaginations? What compelled hundreds of young people to uproot their lives and join a movement considered so unlikely in its nascent stages? What was unique about his organization that future candidates, aides, volunteers, and activists can learn from?”
“I spent a year looking for answers to these questions… The Obama campaign billed itself as an organic effort whose success would be built upon bringing new voters into a caucus process that discouraged broad participation. I wanted to tell that story from the perspective of the bit players history usually forgets.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“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.”
— Stephen Bannon, quoted in Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House on the Russian investigation.
How Trump Uses Twitter as a Weapon
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Bannon Called Trump Tower Meeting ‘Treasonous’
Steve Bannon has described the Trump Tower meeting between the president’s son and a group of Russians during the 2016 election campaign as “treasonous” and “unpatriotic”, according to an explosive new book seen by the Guardian.
Said Bannon: “They’re going to crack Don Junior like an egg on national TV.”
Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, “reportedly based on more than 200 interviews with the president, his inner circle and players in and around the administration, is one of the most eagerly awaited political books of the year. In it, Wolff lifts the lid on a White House lurching from crisis to crisis amid internecine warfare, with even some of Trump’s closest allies expressing contempt for him.”
Two New Democratic Senators Sworn In Today
“Two new Democrats will be sworn in to the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, narrowing the Republican majority and complicating efforts by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to advance the White House’s legislative agenda before the November midterm elections,” the AP reports.
“Doug Jones, the first Alabama Democrat elected to the Senate in a quarter century, is one of two new members who will take the oath of office on the Senate floor at noon. The other is Minnesota Lt. Gov. Tina Smith, who was appointed to replace Al Franken following the Democrat’s resignation over accusations of sexual misconduct. Smith also plans to compete in the special election taking place in November to complete the final two years of Franken’s term.”
White House Alarmed By Possible Romney Bid
New York Times: “Mr. Romney’s potential ascent is particularly alarming to the White House because the former presidential candidate has an extensive political network and could use the Senate seat as a platform to again seek the nomination. Even if he were not to run again for president, a Senator Romney could prove a pivotal swing vote, impervious to the entreaties of a president he has scorned and able to rally other Trump skeptics in the chamber.”
Salt Lake Tribune on a possible Romney Senate bid: “No decision, but if he wants it, he’ll likely win.”
Quote of the Day
“Every war in history was an accident. You just don’t know what’s going to send him over the edge.”
— A Trump administration insider, quoted by Axios.
Much Worse Than Disarray
Richard Haass tells Mike Allen that the title of his book a year ago, A World in Disarray, actually understated the situation.
Said Haass: “Things have become even worse that I had imagined. Disarray is greater than expected.”
Trump Doesn’t Actually Have a Nuclear Button
Associated Press: “The process for launching a nuclear strike is secret and complex and involves the use of a nuclear ‘football,’ which is carried by a rotating group of military officers everywhere the president goes and is equipped with communication tools and a book with prepared war plans.”
“If the president were to order a strike, he would identify himself to military officials at the Pentagon with codes unique to him. Those codes are recorded on a card known as the ‘biscuit’ that is carried by the president at all times. He would then transmit the launch order to the Pentagon and Strategic Command.”
This Month May Define Trump’s Presidency
Steve Bannon tells Jonathan Swan that January will define Donald Trump’s presidency — “and is his last, best chance to make good on his most controversial campaign promises.”
What If Trump’s ‘Nuclear Button’ Tweet Wasn’t Insane?
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NSA Faces Brain Drain
Washington Post: “The National Security Agency is losing its top talent at a worrisome rate as highly skilled personnel, some disillusioned with the spy service’s leadership and an unpopular reorganization, take higher-paying, more flexible jobs in the private sector. Since 2015, the NSA has lost several hundred hackers, engineers and data scientists, according to current and former U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter. The potential impact on national security is significant, they said.”
Another Government Shutdown Threat Looms
Politico: “Another shutdown showdown looms this month and Congress isn’t even back yet. Happy New Year, Washington. Congressional leaders from both parties will sit down with top White House officials on Wednesday to haggle over the basics of a budget deal they were supposed to settle last spring. And while aides say the talks will stick to spending, a fight over immigration looms along with a host of other thorny policy disputes that will shape the 2018 legislative agenda.”
“Ahead of the meeting, there was little sign of conciliation on either side.”
North Korea Re-Opens Communication with South
Associated Press: “North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reopened a key cross-border communication channel with South Korea for the first time in nearly two years Wednesday as the rivals explored the possibility of sitting down and talking after months of acrimony and fears of war. The sudden signs of easing animosity, however, came as President Donald Trump threatened Kim with nuclear war in response to his threat earlier this week.”
“The recent softening of contact between the rival Koreas may show a shared interest in improved ties, but there’s no guarantee tensions will ease. There have been repeated attempts in recent years by the rivals to talk, but even when they do meet, the efforts often end in recriminations and stalemate.”
