Month: May 2018

Yes, he’s a racist, why do you ask?

by digby

President Donald Trump used made up Hispanic names as he predicted that his supporters would react with delight if he threw criminal immigrants out of the United States in a manner to match his rhetoric on the campaign trail, according to a Washington Post report Thursday. The scene is said to have played out in the Oval Office shortly after his inauguration last year, the night before his first speech to Congress.

Also in attendance were the president’s son-in-law, and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, as well as senior policy adviser Stephen Miller. Both laughed at Trump’s use of fake Hispanic-sounding names and description of potential crimes, like rape and murder, they could commit, The Post reported.

This is who they are.

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But what about that delicious chocolate cake?

by digby

“When Kim Jong Un had the meeting with President Xi, in China, the second meeting . . . I think there was a little change in attitude from Kim Jong Un,” Trump said Tuesday, with Moon at his side. “I don’t like that. I don’t like it from the standpoint of China. Now, I hope that’s not true, because I have a great relationship with President Xi. He’s a friend of mine. He likes me. I like him.”

Evelyn Farkas, a former Obama administration national security official who has worked on North Korea issues, said Trump was naive.

“He fails to understand that while he might have a good rapport with a head of state, that head of state will act based on his national interests and not based on his personal feelings,” Farkas said.

That’s because Trump understands “national interest” to be “Trump’s interest” and he thinks everyone else sees the world in those parochial, self-interested terms. Xi gave him a big parade so he obviously respects Trump and will do whatever he wants!

More importantly, that “good rapport” is just Xi flattering the buffoon to manipulate him for his own benefit. Anyone can see what a puerile fool the man is.

This LA Times rundown of how the summit collapsed validates that observation.

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Chris Hayes on Trump’s despicable new policy

by digby

Laura St. John of @FlorenceProject tells @chrislhayes U.S. government is separating children as young as 53 weeks old from their parents at the border #inners pic.twitter.com/DsauIGaJwJ— All In w/Chris Hayes (@allinwithchris) May 26, 2018

Chris Hayes has a new baby somewhere around that age. Also two more little kids under the age of five so it’s easy to understand why this would be shocking and horrifying to him.But you don’t have to have young children to be horrified by this ongoing horror, especially when the president, who is in charge and signed the orders, tweets this garbage:

Put pressure on the Democrats to end the horrible law that separates children from there parents once they cross the Border into the U.S. Catch and Release, Lottery and Chain must also go with it and we MUST continue building the WALL! DEMOCRATS ARE PROTECTING MS-13 THUGS.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2018

When the chips are down he proves he won’t take responsibility for his own cruelty.

Here’s the whole Chris Hayes segment on this issue. It’s important. Please take the time to watch it.

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Making the winning count
by Tom Sullivan

Martin Longman ponders the midterm elections, citing Charlie Cook’s take that the results in November are unlikely to allow either party to get anything substantial done in 2019 and 2020. The best outcome for Democrats, Cook believes, is perhaps a 52-48 Democratic majority, not enough to establish a working majority. But Longman thinks that is underplaying the impact of a shift in control.

Senate Democrats could stop the president’s march toward filling the courts with extremist and unqualified judges. They could stop more Betsy DeVoses and Scott Pruitts being confirmed. And make Donald trump more reluctant to dismiss competent officials for fear of getting replacements confirmed:

The number one thing that would change with the Democrats in control of either or both chambers on Congress is that they’d be able to hold committee hearings, call experts, issue subpoenas and compel testimony. This would obviously matter for the Russia investigation and any possibly impeachment, but it would also matter for highlighting the high level of incompetence and corruption we’re seeing across the board from the Trump administration. The Democrats could explore emoluments and stop Trump from using his hotels and golf courses as destinations for everyone on the globe who wants to influence the U.S. government. They’d be able to put a real spotlight on some of the scandals we’ve seen like Pruitt’s soundproof security booth for his personal office and Ben Carson’s fancy dining room set.

They could get conversations started on party base priorities like the behavior of ICE or climate change, and they’d be able to explore things that are weighing on the general public’s mind like possible ways to address the too common occurrence of mass shootings, including in our public schools.

In short, nothing to sneeze at.

But Cook ends his take with this:

To the extent that really big things happen coming out of this election, they are more likely to be on the gubernatorial and state-legislative level. Don’t take your eyes off of those contests; in the long haul, they may matter more.

Indeed, trying to get friends glued to MSNBC to turn their attention to state rather than higher-profile federal races should be easier than it is. The GOP REDMAP takeovers of state legislatures of 2010 (and 2014) resulted in a wave of voter suppression legislation on top of the “surgical” gerrymandering control of state legislatures gave the GOP in the wake of the 2010 census. The 2010 elections gave Wisconsin Scott Walker and the numerical advantage to push his agenda for all he’s worth. Flipping control of the U.S. House and Senate won’t change that. Voters in Wisconsin have to change that.

Republicans control 31 state Houses and 36 state Senates. Flipping that balance in 2018 and 2010 will change who controls redistricting in the country in 2021. If there is a blue wave in 2018, its impact might be felt strongest at the state level.

In North Carolina, Democrats are fielding candidates in every legislative race in the state. They need a pickup of four state House seats to have the margin to sustain a veto of GOP legislation by Gov. Roy Cooper, sixteen to win a majority. The state Senate is a longer reach with a net of six to sustain a veto. Occupying the governor’s mansion is one thing. Being able to govern is another.

Stacey Abrams won the Democratic nomination for governor this week in Georgia. Winning in this solidly Republican state will be a challenge. While Abrams won the Democratic vote by an overwhelming margin, 55,000 more Republicans voted in Georgia on Tuesday. On Election Night, they don’t count turnout percentages, they count raw votes.

Abrams is counting on registering and mobilizing black voters across the state. But she will be crisscrossing the state delivering fiery stump speeches finished with a fist pump and a shout of “Let’s get out the vote!” to many counties with little idea how to do that. (I have a modest tool below for showing them how.) There is a band of over two dozen south-central Georgia counties, for example, whose only digital presence are identical, untended Facebook pages. (Georgia is by no means unique in this.) They will need more than enthusiasm for a telegenic candidate to deliver votes for her. They will need skills.

Should Abrams win, she will need seats in the legislature to make something of her tenure as governor. Again, flipping control of the U.S. House and Senate won’t change that. Those changes have to come at the state level.

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For The Win 2018 is ready for download. Request a copy of my county-level election mechanics primer at tom.bluecentury at gmail.

Friday Night Soother

by digby

It’s time for a tall adult beverage… and a playful corgi pup.

Ok, and here’s some other good news in this world full of hell:

A group of teenagers learning to sail on the Patuxent River this past summer spotted it in the distance: A dolphin’s fin bouncing above the water. They steered closer and were surrounded by friendly marine mammals.

“All of a sudden, there were like 50 of them around us,” said Patuxent High School student Carolyn Wilson, an instructor for the Southern Maryland Sailing Association’s summer camp. She pulled out her iPhone and snapped some pictures.

Those photos helped researchers confirm one of hundreds of dolphin sightings reported around the Chesapeake Bay last year. The effort to better track movement of dolphins through the bay and its tributaries began in June, and the response has been overwhelming, said Helen Bailey, a research professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.

“We were only expecting maybe 25 to 30 [dolphin sightings] a year,” Bailey said. “We had over 900 reported last year, and we were able to verify nearly 450 of those.”

Scientists say dolphins used to visit the bay more frequently. Published reports of sightings date back into the 1800s. But as pollution degraded the Chesapeake’s water quality through the 20th century, they became more rare.

Now, researchers are exploring whether more dolphins are swimming up the bay, possibly invited by clearer waters, abundant submerged grasses and rebounding fisheries. Through a website they set up to collect sighting reports — and a smartphone app that will launch soon — the researchers are learning that the beloved creatures venture miles upstream in rivers such as the York and Potomac, and as far north as Annapolis and the Bay Bridge.

“It’s very likely they’re following fish into the bay. Hopefully, that’s a good sign,” Bailey said. “It doesn’t look like it’s just amusement from the coast into the bay.”

We get dolphins playing here in Santa Monica bay and it’s always wonderful. I’m happy for the Maryland folk that they get to experience it too.

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Trump unmoved by objections to ZTE deal. I wonder why.

by digby

Trump and his Indonesian partners

The NY Times reports:

The Trump administration has told lawmakers it reached a deal that would keep the Chinese telecom firm ZTE alive, a person familiar with the matter said, a move that could clear the way for continued trade negotiations with China but at the risk of provoking a backlash in Congress.

Under the agreement brokered by the Commerce Department, ZTE would pay a substantial fine, hire American compliance officers to be placed at the firm and make changes to its current management team.

In return, the Commerce Department would lift a so-called denial order that is currently preventing the company from buying American products, the person said. The Commerce Department did not respond to requests for comment.

The move would allow ZTE to once again begin doing business with American companies, including Qualcomm, the chipmaker based in San Diego that is a primary ZTE supplier. The Chinese company was recently banned from buying American technology components for seven years as punishment for violating United States sanctions against Iran and North Korea, a penalty that industry analysts say threatened to put the company out of business within weeks.

The collapse of ZTE would be an embarrassing outcome for China and the company’s fate has become a hurdle in trade negotiations between the two countries. President Trump directed the Commerce Department to re-examine ZTE’s penalty based on a personal request from Chinese president Xi Jinping, triggering a fierce pushback from some of Mr. Trump’s national security advisers, as well as lawmakers from both parties.

Yesterday both the House and the Senate passed bills to curb the administration’s authority to ease sanctions. And a biaprtisan groups of senators have sent letters warning the president not to compromise national security. He has basically told them all to go to hell.

Mr. Trump, however, has appeared unmoved by those concerns and has been pushing to reach some type of trade resolution with China, which has so far proved elusive. The administration wants to cut a deal on ZTE in exchange for trade concessions from China, including purchases of American agriculture and energy products, people familiar with the discussions said.

Yeah, and also the big Indonesian elephant is over in the corner of the room not saying a word.

And yet it goes unmentioned in this article for some reason.

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Lindsey Graham speaks mushy platitudes and calls it courage

by digby

“A confidential informant is not a spy,” he told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt Friday morning. “I don’t know if there’s a reason to have a confidential informant following a campaign. But let’s put it this way. There needs to be some protocols in place if this ever happens again. Right now, there are rules saying you can’t, you know, you don’t want investigations to change political cycles. So there’s rules about, you know, ending and starting investigations because of the political cycle.”

Weirdly, I don’t recall Lindsey worrying about the “protocols” of investigating Hillary Clinton on Benghazi and the notorious email server during the campaign. In fact, he demanded it. Evidently, he draws the line at investigating a campaign that seems to be conspiring with a foreign power to undermine the democratic process. Good to know.

Still, it’s very brave of him to speak out about the definition of “confidential informant.” Super impressive speaking truth to power.

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She could quit after all

by digby

President Trump began berating Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in the Oval Office earlier this spring, according to administration officials, griping about her performance and blaming her for a surge in illegal border crossings.

Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, who installed her in the job, jumped in to defend her.

The two men then sparred over Nielsen as she silently watched. At one point, Trump noted the border numbers were lower under Kelly and wondered aloud why Nielsen could not perform as well, according to these officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private meeting.

As illegal crossings are once more on the rise and Trump hears a cascade of criticism from conservative allies, Nielsen finds herself on the receiving end of the president’s visceral anger about immigration, seeing the issue as the reason he won in 2016 and a key to his politicking ahead of the midterm elections.

The president has chastised her on several occasions this spring, including a much publicized meeting earlier this month when he attacked her in front of the entire Cabinet. He has grown furious because his administration has made little progress building the border wall, and his most ardent supporters have blamed Nielsen for not doing more to halt the caravan of Central American migrants whose advance Trump saw as a personal challenge.

He has also seen her as a proxy for Kelly, whose relationship with the president has frayed in recent months. Trump has decided, according to several aides, that Nielsen is a George W. Bush kind of Republican, the worst in his view.

Nielsen has complained that it is almost an impossible task working for Trump, according to administration officials and others familiar with her thinking, and that he doesn’t understand the nuances of immigration law.

It remains unclear, according to several people familiar with the situation, how much longer the relationship can last, but the strains illustrate the difficulty faced by Trump subordinates who are tasked with delivering policy solutions to match his most soaring promises.

“The president has a very rudimentary understanding of what the border is all about and how you secure it,” said a former DHS staffer who worked closely with Nielsen. “And she’s also not one of the border fire-eaters that have his ear right now. She’s in an impossible, no-win situation.”

Tensions between the two could soon flare again — the Border Patrol’s May arrest numbers are due to be released early next month, and immigration hawks, including the president, now treat them as a kind of barometer for Nielsen’s performance.

And yet she says stuff like this:

[I]f you are single adult, if you are part of a family, if you are pregnant, if you have any other condition, you’re an adult and you break the law, we will refer you. Operationally what that means is we will have to separate your family. That’s no different than what we do every day in every part of the United States when an adult of a family commits a crime. If you as a parent break into a house, you will be incarcerated by police and thereby separated from your family. We’re doing the same thing at the border.

A mother simply trying to work as a maid or pick fruits and vegetables for money to feed her kids is committing the same crime as a burglar. But only if she’s a non-citizen. Got it.

I don’t feel sorry for Kristjen Nielsen.

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The isolationist speaks

by digby

Trump said a bunch of words someone else wrote for him at the Naval academy today. It sounded absurd.

But this was him, all him:

You don’t give up. You don’t give in. You don’t back down. And you never surrender. Wherever you go, wherever you serve, wherever your mission takes you, you only have one word in mind, and that’s victory. That is why you are here. Victory. A very important word. You are now leaders in the most powerful and righteous force on the face of the planet. The United States military. And we are respected again, I can tell you that. We are respected again.

A lot of things have happened. We are respected again…

Each of you enters service at a truly exciting time for our country. For we are witnessing the great reawakening of the American spirit and of American might. We have rediscovered our identity, regained our stride, and we are proud again. Prosperity is booming at home. Our economy is the strongest it has ever been. And our country has regained the respect that we used to have long ago abroad. Yes, they are respecting us again. Yes, America is back.

We have begun the great rebuilding of the United States military. We have ended the disastrous defense sequester. No money for the military? Those days are over. And we have just secured, you have read all about it, a $700 billion, largest-ever amount of money to support our great war fighters. And I might add that next year—the $700 billion, not million. They’re liking the sound of million, but billion is better—the $700 billion goes to $716 billion, and we are going to be stronger than ever before. We will have the strongest military that we have ever had, and it won’t even be close. And when did we need it more than now?

And when did we need it more than now???

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Meanwhile, in the camps

by digby

From the ACLU:

Separating children from their parents. Harassing and arresting passengers on Greyhound buses. Detaining asylum seekers for no reason. These are just some of the horrific abuses unleashed by the Trump administration’s anti-immigration deportation machine.

Now, we’ve uncovered tens of thousands of pages of evidence documenting U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials physically, sexually, and verbally abusing children. The majority of these children are asylum seekers fleeing violence in Mexico and Central America. Some are teenage mothers. Some are escaping gang violence. Some are in need of medical attention. All of them have risked their lives to find safety – and tragically, CBP has shattered that dream for so many.

CBP’s abuses are not only unconscionably inhumane, but they also violate United States law and international human rights law, which give protections to migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers – no matter their country of origin.

The uncovered documents show CBP officials – including Border Patrol agents – committing the following abuses:

• Threatening children with rape and death
• Depriving children of food and water and holding them in freezing and unsanitary detention cells
• Shooting children with Tasers and stun guns
• Punching a child in the head repeatedly
• Running over two 17-year-olds with patrol vehicles
• Subjecting a 16-year-old girl to a search in which they forcefully spread her legs and touched her genitals

The violations are numerous. By law, CBP can’t hold unaccompanied children for longer than 72 hours. Children in CBP custody are entitled to safe facilities, adequate food and water, and proper medical care. And as federal officials, CBP officers are legally required to report all allegations of child abuse to law enforcement, child protective services, or the FBI.

All human beings deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of their immigration status – and children, in particular, deserve special protection. The misconduct demonstrated in these records is breathtaking, as is the government’s complete failure to hold officials who abuse their power accountable.

What’s even more alarming is that these abuses occurred before President Trump came into office. The officials who oversaw these abuses are still in power today. What’s more, Trump’s hateful anti-immigrant policies and rhetoric are bound to worsen the treatment of immigrant children.

We have to do everything we can to stop CBP’s abuse of children. Add your name to hold the Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection accountable and demand an end to the brutal abuse of children in his agency’s custody.

You can sign this petition here.