Banter and Intrigue

Bannon Banter:  Former Chief Strategist Steve Bannon said a lot of preposterous things during his interview with 60 Minutes’ Charlie Rose.  Despite his rag tag appearance, or maybe because of it, Bannon who characterizes himself as the ultimate street fighter, still believes that he is has the power to direct the Trump revolution, and for the record, despite evidence to the contrary, he still insists he wasn’t fired from the White House.  He continues to take credit for Trump’s election victory, but distances himself from any of the subsequent decisions that haven’t worked out well.  The Obamacare fiasco is all Paul Ryan’s fault. The failure to drain the swamp on day one, goes to Mitch McConnell.  He calls Trump’s decision to fire former FBI Director Comey, a decision that Trump made with the support of trusted son-in-law Kushner, the biggest mistake in modern politics, and is happy to say that he had nothing to do with it.  He may be right that without Comey’s firing the appointment of Special Counsel Mueller wasn’t inevitable but he stretches credulity when he goes on to say that the Russians didn’t interfere in the elections. The denizens of Trump world were less than pleased with Bannon’s comments about the decision to fire Comey so Press Secretary Huckabee Sanders struck back, justifying the Comey firing decision by attacking Comey for his false testimony, lying ways and illegal leaking, a prepared statement that is part of the White House strategy to chip away at Comey’s credibility.  In anticipation of their upcoming Mueller interviews, two more members of the White House have now hired their own lawyer, and oddly enough they hired the same guy.  Former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and White House Counsel Don McGahn will both be represented by William Burck of  Quinn Emanuel Urguhart and Sullivan. The Washington legal pool must be running dry.  As to Bannon’s failure to acknowledge that the Russians interfered in the election, the FBI is investigating Sputnik, the Russian government owned news agency for acting as an undeclared propaganda arm of the Kremlin in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).  Last week, Facebook acknowledged that it sold more than $100,000 in ads to Kremlin-linked “trolls” who spread propaganda articles some of which were originated by Sputnik.  Though that amount doesn’t sound all that impressive, $100,000 goes far on the Internet, up to 70 million target individuals may have seen those ads.  And last night the Daily Beast reported that Russian operatives used Facebook’s event management tools to organize anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rallies,  “echoing themes” from the pro-Trump press.  

The Mercer Effect:  From his perch inside the Breitbart bat cave and with the financial backing of the uber conservative, reclusive Mercer billionaires, Bannon plans to do his best to unseat vulnerable Republicans up for reelection in 2018 by supporting more conservative, Trump friendly primary opponents.  On the Senate side he is targeting Nevada’s Dean Heller, Arizona’s Jeff Flake, Tennessee’s Bob Corker,  and Mississippi’s Roger Wicker.  With the exception of Heller, who waivered before he voted for the Obamacare repeal, the others largely vote in lockstep with Trump.  However, both Flake and Corker have spoken out against Trump, questioning his abilities, breaking Bannon’s cardinal rule of undying support.  Senate Majority Leader McConnell is apoplectic about all this, he is laser focused on maintaining or increasing his Senate majority and fears that targeting Republican incumbents with right wing primary opponents risks ceding general election victories to the Democrats, particularly in Nevada and Arizona, two more vulnerable states.  Given the current environment, Corker, an influential mainstream Republican, isn’t even sure if he wants to run again but promises to announce a decision soon. Utah’s Orrin Hatch is also considering retirement.  If he doesn’t run again, erstwhile Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney plans to run for his seat.  Many more Democrats are up for reelection in 2018 and some like Missouri’s Claire McCaskill, North Dakota’s Heidi Heitkamp, and West Virginia’s Joe Manchin face brutal battles in Trump friendly states.  To the extent that Bannon’s disruptive activities end up making a few Republican seats more vulnerable, Democrats will happily take the much needed assist.  Regaining a majority in the Senate is likely a dream too far for the Democrats, but retaking the House is a possibility, helped by another Congressman’s decision to retire.  Yesterday, Michigan’s Republican Representative Dave Trott announced that he will not be running for reelection.  In response to his announcement The Cook Political Report, moved his district from “Likely Republican” to “Toss Up.”  One person who won’t be running for anything is Hillary Clinton.  She announced that she plans to stay involved in politics but doesn’t plan to run for office ever again.      

Kushner Intrigue:  Last night the Wall Street Journal reported that during the summer, some of Trump’s lawyers advised him that son-in-law and advisor for many things, Jared Kushner should be asked to step down from his role at the White House.  They even drafted his resignation letter.  They were concerned about Kushner’s many interactions with Russian businessmen and officials and his multiple erroneous security filings.  Additionally they were concerned that his involvement with others in the White House, especially Trump, would leave more people subject to Mueller’s investigation.  Ultimately, Trump rejected their recommendation, changes were made in Trump’s legal team and, curiously, Mark Corallo, then the legal spokesman, resigned around the time that Trump rejected the advice.  Last night John Dowd,  Trump’s in-house lawyer for all things Russia, denied the story adding that Kushner is extraordinarily talented and also married to favorite daughter Ivanka.  Could wingman for life, Steve Bannon, who is no fan of Kushner and would like to jettison all the elites and globalists from Trump’s orbit, be the source for this story?       

Harvey and Irma:  Though it’s a stretch to tie the incidence of hurricanes to climate change, it is fair to say that global warming contributed to Harvey and Irma’s severity.  That is, it is fair for rational, educated people.  Sadly, EPA Head Scott Pruitt remains a climate change denier.  He refused to answer any questions about climate warming this week. He said that “to use time and effort to address it at this point is very, very, insensitive.”  He didn’t say when would be a good time to face reality.  Apparently, Trump is also sensitive with regards to all things Mexican.  Following Hurricane Harvey, the Mexican government extended a neighborly offer to help out, much the way they’ve done before when they sent help after Hurricane Katrina.  Trump never responded to their offer and has not offered the Mexicans any help with or even mentioned the magnitude 8.1 earthquake they suffered through over the weekend.  Mexico’s offer has now been withdrawn.    

More North Korea Sanctions:  For what it’s worth, the UN Security Council unanimously passed more sanctions against North Korea yesterday.  The sanctions were watered down somewhat and a provision encouraging diplomacy was added to get the Russians and Chinese on board.  Even before the sanctions were passed Pyongyang said that the US would pay dearly for UN Ambassador Nikki Haley’s “hysterics.”  Expect a response soon.