White House Staff Upset Trump’s Beliefs Are Now Public
“Members of the president’s staff, stunned and disheartened, said they never expected to hear such a voluble articulation of opinions that the president had long expressed in private,” the New York Times reports.
Jonathan Chait: “This raises the question once again of why they are working for Trump at all. A legitimate public rationale can be made for serving the administration in certain roles. The federal government plays a vital role in domestic and global security, Trump is a dangerous and erratic figure, and somebody needs to try to steer him away from decisions that would provoke unalterable tragedy. That justification covers serving Trump as a foreign-policy adviser, or as homeland security and disaster-response officials.”
“Preventing Trump from doing something damaging is a legitimate and even noble calling. But that admirable motivation can easily mutate into rationalization. Are Trump aides really working to protect the country from him? Or are they working to keep the country from seeing his real nature?”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“We polled the race stuff and it didn’t matter.”
— Stephen Bannon, quoted in Joshua Green’s Devil’s Bargain.
Associated Press Won’t Use Term ‘Alt-Right’
New guidance from the Associated Press:
At AP, we have taken the position that the term “alt-right” should be avoided because it is meant as a euphemism to disguise racist aims. So use it only when quoting someone or when describing what the movement says about itself. Enclose the term “alt-right” in quotation marks or use phrasing such as the so-called alt-right (no quote marks when using the term so-called) or the self-described “alt-right.”
Colbert Tears Apart Trump’s Presser
“He held a press conference today, in I believe the seventh circle of hell.”
Curtis Wins GOP Primary for Chaffetz Seat
Provo Mayor John Curtis (R) declared victory in the Republican primary Tuesday night against his two staunchly conservative rivals in the special election to replace retired Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R), the Salt Lake Tribune reports.
“The congressional primary, unlike most races in the past year, has not been defined by the candidates’ alignment with the president. Instead, the GOP runoff has been a race to the right, an attempt to establish the most conservative credentials in a state where voters were largely unsettled by Trump’s campaign.”
Baltimore Removes Confederate Statues Overnight
“Confederate statues in Baltimore were removed from their bases overnight, as crews using heavy machinery loaded them onto flat bed trucks and hauled them away, an end to more than a year of indecision surrounding what to do with the memorials,” the Baltimore Sun reports.
Said Mayor Catherine Pugh: “It’s done. They needed to come down. My concern is for the safety and security of our people. We moved as quickly as we could.”
Quote of the Day
“It is not a dog whistle if everybody can hear it.”
— Jon Meacham, on the Charlie Rose Show, on President Trump’s racist messages.
Trump Approval Drops to New Low in Another Poll
A new Marist poll finds President Trump’s job approval rating is at its lowest point since taking office with only 35% of Americans giving him a positive score, while 55% disapprove of the job he is doing.
Key findings: “Although still popular among his key constituency, notably, his job performance rating has dropped among strong Republicans from 91% in June to 79% now. In addition, by more than two to one, Americans who strongly disapprove of his job performance, 42%, outnumber those who strongly approve, 20%.”
Hicks to be White House Communications Director
Hope Hicks will be named the new White House communications director, the Daily Caller reports.
“President Trump has offered the job to Hicks and she has accepted the position, according to a White House insider. Hicks has been close by Trump’s side since the early days of the campaign and is one of his most trusted staffers. She has been serving on the press team in more of a behind-the-scenes role as the director of strategic communications.”
Jonathan Swan: “A lot of people think she is the only one who can do the job, and it shouldn’t be ruled out that Hicks, who didn’t actively seek the job, could last in the position on a more permanent basis.”
When Will the Next Resignation Come?
A West Wing confidant tells Jonathan Swan: “The danger for Trump now is that one senior resignation will start a run on the bank” — as soon as one top staffer quits, several others could follow.
Two Nations, Divisible, Under Trump
Mike Allen: “It started with the dog-whistle presidential campaign: constant plays — some subtle, some blaring — on racial fears.”
“But it wasn’t until the past five days — fittingly, in a fight over a Southern statue narrowly, and the stain of slavery broadly — that President Trump officially and indelibly divided the nation over race: setting us back decades, at least for now, in our common purpose of healing old, awful wounds.”
“Let’s be honest with ourselves: A huge chunk of Trump’s base lapped it up, too. That’s what Steve Bannon thought would unfold, and what the president knows instinctively. It was a green light for more hatred, and probably more violence — because now the president has put white supremacy on the same level as angry people reacting harshly to it.”
USA Today: “Divisions escalate between red states and blue cities.”
GOP Voters Side with Trump Over McConnell
A new Politico/Morning Consult poll finds Republican voters are taking President Trump’s side in his war with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“The poll shows more GOP voters think Trump is looking out for the party’s best interests than think McConnell is. By a more than three-to-one margin, they say that Trump is more in touch with Republican voters and that Trump is more honest. More evidence Trump has the upper hand, at least among Republicans: McConnell’s favorability rating among GOP voters is down over the past three weeks, and half of Republicans say Trump’s attacks against him were appropriate.”
Trump Goes Off the Rails Again
Playbook: “Remember all the bluster that recently named chief of staff John Kelly was going to install order and help get Trump’s presidency back on track so Republicans could make good on their promises to pass tax reform and an infrastructure package, not to mention fund the government and raise the country’s borrowing limit? No dice. White House aides we talk to were surprised this happened, but have grown immune to the president’s unpredictability. Many are dispirited.”
“This was a news conference aimed at boosting an infrastructure bill — Trump’s best chance of bipartisan legislating for the year. Instead, he did this. Remember that there are just four-and-a-half months left in this year, and there’s a lot the president wants to get done.”
“How much sway is the president going to have with lawmakers as he is saddled with a 34-percent approval rating coming off playing footsie with neo-Nazi and white-supremacist groups?”
White House Defends Trump as ‘Entirely Correct’
The White House urged Republican lawmakers to defend President Trump as “entirely correct” in his assertion that Saturday’s violence in Charlottesville was caused by “both sides,” The Atlantic reports.
In its daily “evening communications briefing” sent to GOP members of Congress last night, the White House main talking point is: “The President was entirely correct—both sides of the violence in Charlottesville acted inappropriately, and bear some responsibility.”
That Was the ‘Real Donald Trump’ You Saw Today
Trump Cribbed His Remarks Straight From Fox News
Wired: “Trump notoriously picks up proclamations from either Twitter or his cable news habit, of which Fox News plays a significant role. That Trump’s divisive comments Tuesday appear to stem from sources with a national audience suggests that they shouldn’t have come as a complete surprise—and that the white supremacists marching through Virginia this past weekend have far more apologists than one might have assumed.”
“To help you get a glimpse of how Trump’s Nazi-friendly statements formed, here are his more salient points, traced to the likely source.”
Daily Beast: Fox News’ Tucker Carlson helps Trump push ‘both sides’ narrative.
Stunned TV Hosts Reacted in Real Time to Trump
New York Times: “For a few visceral minutes on Tuesday, television’s partisan lines dissolved as dumbfounded anchors reacted on-air — some in clearly personal ways — to Mr. Trump’s fiery remarks, in which he seemed to cast equal blame on white supremacists and the demonstrators who marched against them during the weekend’s deadly clash in Charlottesville.”
“Like many of Mr. Trump’s dramatic moments, Tuesday’s impromptu question-and-answer session unspooled on cable television. But as the president’s exchanges grew testier, ABC and CBS cut into regular programming to carry the news conference, adding millions of households to the audience.”
