A Step Too Far

Cohn Out: Economic Advisor Gary Cohn, one of the last remaining members of the White House “globalist” squad is leaving the White House.  Bloomberg reports that while Cohn was setting up meetings that have now been cancelled with industry leaders to try to convince Trump that imposing aluminum and steel tariffs would be counterproductive and would damage economic growth prospects, Trump called him into the Oval Office and demanded his cooperation on those planned tariffs.  Cohn refused to offer his support and subsequently resigned.  Apparently, the implementation of tariffs was a step too far for Cohn who somehow or other found it within himself to stick by Trump after Charlottesville and Trump’s “good people on both sides” statement.  Announcement of Cohn’s resignation was held up until after the market close in an attempt to blunt its impact, but Trump hinted that something was up when, during a press conference with the leader of Sweden, he said that rumors of chaos and disarray among the White House staff were wrong because “I could take any position in the White House and I'll have a choice of the 10 top people having to do with that position. Everybody wants to work in the White House.” Though there had been reports that Cohn had grown increasingly weary of life on the Trump train, as recently as last month he was seriously being considered as a replacement for Chief of Staff Kelly. Given the suddenness of Cohn’s announcement, no succession plan is in place.  It’s reported that Peter Navarro, the architect of Trump’s protectionist policy and economist Larry Kudlow, the former host of CNBC’s Kudlow Report are among those 10 “top” people now under consideration.  For his part Kudlow may have jinxed his chances by saying that Cohn’s departure would be a bad thing for the administration and the markets and a “turn for the worse in the ongoing trade debate.” Navarro didn’t say much, it goes without saying that his appointment would be that “turn for the worse” that Kudlow was referencing.   Asian markets were down last night and the US markets are expected to open sharply down this morning.  As to the tariffs, one thought is that Trump timed his announcement in an attempt to influence the outcome of the increasingly close Pennsylvania special congressional election between Democrat Conor Lamb and Republican Rick Saccone, that election takes place on March 13.  Trump plans to extol the virtues of his promised tariffs during his upcoming visit. Given the choice between tanking the markets, economy busting tariffs and a house seat, even one for a shortened term, Trump will choose an election victory every time.

Russia, Russia, Russia:  Sam Nunberg, the former Trump campaign aide who had a breakdown on national TV on Monday, has calmed down and now plans to cooperate with Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation.  Points go out to CNN’s Erin Burnett for her observation that the troubled Nunberg was under the influence during his multi-network cable rant; Nunberg says that he is considering checking himself into rehab after he testifies.  Though there is no indication that George Nader, the advisor to the United Arab Emirates has a substance abuse problem, he probably needed a stiff drink after he was greeted by the FBI upon his arrival at Dulles Airport in January.  Nader had been on his way to Mar a Lago to help celebrate the anniversary of Trump’s first year in office when his electronic equipment was confiscated and he was detained by the FBI for questioning about his involvement in a January 2017 meeting in the Seychelles  with a number of Emirati officials, Erik Prince, the Blackwater founder who is also the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian investor close to Putin.  It’s believed that Nader was serving as an intermediary for the UAE Crown Prince, while Dmitriev and Prince were serving as intermediaries for Putin and Trump, respectively.  The exact nature of the meeting has been a mystery for some time, Erik Prince deceptively asserted in his testimony to the House Intelligence Committee that running into Dmitriev was pure happenstance and that they just shared a drink or two.  More likely the meeting had more to do with establishing the back channel to the Russians that Jared Kushner had earlier discussed with then Russian Ambassador Kislyak.  Nader who testified before Mueller’s grand jury last week is now on team Mueller and is fully cooperating with the Russia investigation.  In addition to the back channel, Mueller is also probing  whether Nader helped funnel payments from the UAE to Trump’s political efforts.  It’s illegal for foreign entities to contribute to campaigns or for Americans to knowingly accept foreign money for political races so this would be a bigly problem for all involved, especially Prince and Trump.      

Footnotes:  The US Office of Special Counsel, not Mueller but the other counsel, the one who rules on prohibited personnel practices and Hatch Act violations, announced that Kellyanne Conway violated the Hatch Act twice by standing on the White House lawn and advocating for serial child molester Judge Roy Moore during last year’s Alabama Senate election.  As required, the conclusion was referred to the White House for Trump action which means that Kellyanne is off the hook; Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced that no one at the White House really cares about the violation, in fact they loved it.   Just one day after it was reported that the payment that Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen’s made to adult film star Stormy Daniels is being investigated, Stormy announced that she is suing Trump saying that her “hush agreement” isn’t valid because he never signed it.  In the context of what’s happening elsewhere in the Trump administration this is a big yawn for everyone except for Stormy who is clearly seeking to extend her fifteen minutes of fame.  Jared Kushner may have found something he can do without a super-secret security clearance.  He is off to Mexico to try to repair the damage that Trump did last week when he picked a fight with Mexico’s President Pena Nieto over funding of Trump’s disputed wall.  Kushner’s job will not be easy, his father in law’s tariff plans and threat to NAFTA further complicate his mission.  Buena suerte, Senor Kushner.  

Elephant Trophies: Last year, Trump weighed in against trophy hunting and the transport of carcass trophies saying that he would be “very hard pressed to change my mind that this horror show in any way helps conservation of Elephants.” Sadly, on a day when so much else was diverting press attention, Trump has gone back on his promise to maintain the Obama era ban on importing sport-hunted trophies of elephants from Africa.   Import permits will now be considered on a case-by-case basis which probably means that sons Erik and Don Jr will be allowed to bring their “trophies” back to the US.  Score another one for nepotism and the brutal murder of beautiful animals.