Big Boy Pants

White House Disarray:  The battle between Israel and Iran has ratcheted up dramatically, the stock market may be in free fall, the immigration fight is moving to the Senate floor and, while trains keep crashing, the acting head of the Federal Rail Administration has been forced to step down after being caught moonlighting.  Nevertheless, little of this was discussed on this weekend’s news shows because attention remained focus on how two domestic abusers, one privy to the most top secret information, managed to stay employed at the White House for so long.  Although it’s been reported that Trump actually thinks wife beating is a bad thing, you’d never know it from his public statements and tweets.  Publicly, he is still sticking by Rob Porter, that nice impeccably groomed Harvard grad, though apparently in private he’s telling everyone that he thinks Porter is “sick.”  The public Trump tweeted “People’s lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation. Some are true and some are false. Some are old and some are new. There is no recovery for someone falsely accused - life and career are gone. Is there no such thing any longer as Due Process?  Senator Kirsten Gillibrand latched on to Trump’s call for due process, offering to hold Senate hearings, giving his multiple accusers an opportunity to air their grievances.  Appearing on one of the morning talk shows, Budget Director Mulvaney actually said that everyone was misinterpreting Trump’s tweet, he’s sure that it wasn’t about the White House abusers but was instead a reference to how upset Trump is that his good friend Steve Wynn is getting such a raw deal.  That’s the Steve Wynn who was forced out of his own company and who had to step down from his role as chief Republican fund raiser after his record of harassment, abuse, and payoffs went public, a fairly odd explanation but one that probably played well with Trump.  Kellyanne Conway told anyone who would listen that Trump was the last to know about Porter, that she believed his ex-wives, and that Chief of Staff Kelly’s job was safe.  She also found time to add that Gillibrand’s statement was just grandstanding by someone who had abetted Bill Clinton and who’s just positioning herself for a run for higher office, and at least in that regard she’s probably correct.  To the extent that it matters Conway also made it clear that she’d was too insignificant a player to ever have been in the information loop about Porter. She then tried to pivot, lauding Trump for increasing the size of the female workforce and cutting taxes.  As to Kelly, both Mulvaney and Conway stated unequivocally that his job was safe and that Trump was not currently looking for his replacement.  Despite those reassurances, it’s now an open secret that Trump has had it with Kelly. He's been annoyed with Kelly for a while and the mishandling of the Porter case appears to be the Kelly tipping point. The whispering campaign against Kelly is in full force, with the usual cavalcade of “leakers,” probably including Jared Kushner and Trump himself, throwing shade at Kelly for his ever changing versions of the Porter timeline.  The list of potential Kelly replacements grows longer by the day, Mulvaney, who already has two jobs, Budget Director and Acting Head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, is on the top of everyone’s list but this weekend Economic Advisor Gary Cohn and Legislative Affairs Director Marc Short’s names was added to the mix and even Kellyanne has been suggested as a possible replacement because someone thinks that her willingness to lie on demand would make her a perfect Trump gatekeeper. Kellyanne’s response to that suggestion, was a sly smile and a denial.  For his part, Mulvaney said, no, not me I already have two jobs.  The smart money is on Mulvaney.

The Immigration Battle:  As promised, Senate Majority Leader McConnell will be opening the floor to a “free for all” process on DACA and immigration reform today.  He’s told his Senate colleagues to "Listen boys and girls, you all have lots of different ideas about what should be done on immigration. So put your big boy and big girl pants on, and put your ideas on the floor for a vote. Do your best; try to get to 60 votes to pass a bill."  Trying to get out ahead of the process the hardline set is prepared to throw their version of immigration reform, one that articulates the Trump party line, into the mix first but it is unlike to garner sixty votes.  The process begins today and it will be raucous, a form of old style legislating that harkens back to an earlier time. Still it’s not clear that a consensus will be met and what will happens next which is why Senator Flake said that’s its also worth considering a Plan B, one that just extends the DACA deadline.

Infrastructure Again:  Every few months Trump rolls out the red carpet and announces his infrastructure plan.  One of the last times he tried, he got mired in a battle over white supremacists and those “good people on both sides.”  Today, if he can avoid getting mired in the Porter wife abuse scandal, another one of those situations with good people on both sides” he will try again. Don’t be fooled, though he will announce a humongous $1.5 trillion plan, at best he plans to allocate only $200 billion of federal funding to infrastructure projects.  The Trump plan will call for cash strapped states to come up with 80% of the money for their projects, with the federal government throwing in no more than 20%.  Tax cut legislation has already left many states with big holes in their budgets so the idea of states having the money to come up with 80% of the funding for big projects is another one of those Trumpian pipe dreams.  The Trump plan is for states to come up with their disproportionate share of the pie through some mix of local funds, new user fees (i.e. tolls) and consumption taxes (i.e. more gas taxes), theoretically possible but practically unworkable.  Get ready for more crumbling bridges and bigger potholes.  Also, to the extent that any new roads are actually built, get ready for a few more floods.  The Trump plan calls for more streamlined permitting processes for new construction but also calls for that process to ignore environmental concerns.  Roads at sea level in flood plains, what could go wrong? The administration will also release it’s 2018 budget plan this week.  Administration budget plans are generally aspirational blue prints that are rarely implemented as designed and in this respect Trump’s plan will follow the norm.  Axios calls it a piece of science fiction.   

Nunes Gets Weirder:  Devin Nunes is still bouncing off walls, in addition to continuing his attack on the Democrats by alleging that it’s their fault that Trump didn’t release their memo, the one that attempts to rebut the veracity of his version of the facts behind the relationship between the Steele dossier and the Carter Page warrant, Nunes is now planning to build a wall, an actual physical wall, between the desks of Republican and Democratic House Intelligence Committee staffers to insure that bipartisan cooperation remains a thing of the past.  His campaign has also established its own news network, one that includes Nunes style “fake” news as well as sports updates. Nunes, who served on Trump’s transition team, is doing his best to remain one of Trump’s favorite people in Washington.  Quite possibly his news service is a “test case.” An expanded Trump News station, something beyond even Fox, the current unofficial Trump station, could be next.  Already, Lara, Eric’s wife is practicing her commentator skills, so it’s only a matter of time.  Trump may be taking another page from the official Putin playbook.