Ironic Emailing

Lock Her Up: Trump plans to travel to Mississippi on Monday to bolster Cindy Hyde-Smith who is running into unexpected headwinds in her effort to win the runoff election to serve out the remaining term of former Senator Thad Cochran’s term.  Hyde-Smith who should be a shoe-in for the spot has been shooting herself in the foot, or in her case the mouth, lately with some really racist statements including a joke about attending a hanging and a “caught on tape” moment about the merits of blocking voting access for liberal college students.  The lynching comment is particularly problematic because of the combination of Mississippi’s past and the fact that her Democratic opponent Mike Espy, a former Agricultural Secretary and Mississippi Congressman, is Black.  Usually Trump rallies include at least one chant of “lock her up,” it will be interesting to see if that lovely tune remains in the Trump songbook this time around and if it does, if anyone shouts out “we mean you Ivanka.”  A few months ago, it was revealed that she had used a personal email account set up with husband Jared to send some White House related emails.  At that time, we were led to believe that it had only been used a few times and that the emails related to playdates for her kids and other personal stuff so the story didn’t gain as much traction as it should have.  As a result of an oversight group’s Freedom of Information Act request we now know that she sent hundreds of emails, far more than initially disclosed, and that many of them related to her official White House functions, to the extent that she really has any.  Anyway, the irony of Ivanka being too stupid to know any better or, more likely, thinking that the rules didn’t apply to her because, you know, she’s Ivanka and Hillary’s not, is superbly absurd and just a wee bit criminal.  Anyway, listen carefully at Trump’s next rally, I’ve got to believe that at least one person in the crowd will shout Ivanka’s name out during the obligatory “lock her up” chant, at least until he or she is tossed out or worse by Trump’s MAGA hatted security forces. As to the Mississippi election, although Republican Hyde-Smith is still favored, Democrat Espy’s chances were bolstered a bit yesterday when one of the Republicans who ran in the first round of the election threw his support to Espy.  Democrats hoping for another Alabama moment though it’s not clear that allegations of racism will carry as much weight in Mississippi as pedophilia did in Alabama.  We should know soon, the runoff election takes place on November 28.

Migrant Hordes:  Remember the migrant hordes, the teeming mobs of leprosy and small pox infected terrorists closing in on the border.  It turns out that they aren’t such a bigly problem after all.  Last night Politico reported that most of the soldiers that Trump sent to the border to unravel barbed wire will be sent home by December 15.  They weren’t needed after all, especially now that the midterms are almost over.  As to those mobs, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen who is still in office but is likely to be booted shortly as soon as Trump can identify a Senate confirmable replacement, temporarily shut the border near San Diego after learning that a large number of migrants “were planning to rush the border.”  Well at least that was the stated reason, it turns out that there was no “migrant rush” it was just an unfounded rumor, or maybe, just maybe an effort by Nielsen to prove to her great leader in Washington that she can be tough when she wants to be.  As to that not so great leader, Trump he woke up to another court headache this morning.  Last night, a federal judge in San Francisco temporarily blocked his administration’s new rules that prevented migrants who entered the country illegally from requesting asylum.  The judge ruled that the new policy runs “afoul of US law that specifically allows them to do so.” The judge’s order remains in effect until December 19, at which point the court will consider arguments for a permanent order.  No doubt Trump will send out a few choice tweets on this subject this morning, if he hasn’t already.  Also, the  Justice Department will appeal assuming that Acting Attorney General Whitaker has the legal standing to do so.

Mueller Time:  Except for a few court filings, Special Counsel Mueller continues to remain silent.  It’s still too early to tell if his silence is the result of his muzzling by Acting Attorney General Whitaker, the guy with no qualifications beyond his frequently stated disapproval of all things Mueller, or if he’s just following his own timeline and isn’t yet ready to take action.  Yesterday, in response to an inquiry from the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in a case brought by Andrew Miller, an associate of Trump’s long-time nefarious friend Roger Stone, Mueller’s office said that Whitaker’s appointment did not effect his eligibility to lead the investigation into Russian interference.  The Miller case which has been percolating through the courts for a while challenges the constitutionality of Mueller’s position and centers on who is doing what job at the Justice Department and oversight of the probe.  It’s likely that the court will rule against Miller, but the question regarding Whitaker was just one of those unexpected complications related to his recent appointment.  In any case, Whitaker to the extent that he gets to do anything is more likely to hinder, starve and squelch Mueller’s team rather than to dismiss it entirely.  As to Whitaker, as expected the legality of his appointment continues to be questioned.  Yesterday, Senators Richard Blumenthal, Maize Hirono, and Sheldon Whitehouse, three Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sued to block Whitaker from serving as acting attorney general on grounds that his placement in the post was unconstitutional.  They argue that Whitaker’s appointment violates the Constitution’s Appointments Clause because the US Senate did not confirm him to his prior post. Senator Blumenthal added that Whitaker was a “constitutional nobody” who would never get past the advice and consent test and that installing him “so flagrantly defies constitutional law that any viewer of Schoolhouse Rock would recognize it.” The three Senators base their grounds to sue on their claim that by elevating Whitaker to the Acting Attorney General spot Trump denied them, as Senators and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee the ability to carry out their constitutional obligations.  Though he’s been too busy to visit any US Troops or attend memorial services at any cemeteries,  Trump has been spending some of his Executive Time coming up with derisive nicknames for his Democratic opponents.  On Sunday, he revealed one of those names when he tweet slammed Adam Schiff, the Democratic Congressman who will take over the Chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee in January.  He named him “little Adam Schitt,” clearly not a typo but an intentional diss from Trump over Schiff’s criticism of his Whitaker appointment and his ongoing threatening remarks about the Mueller investigation. The quick witted Adam Schiff immediately tweeted back “Wow, Mr. President, that’s a good one. Was that like your answers to Mr. Mueller’s questions, or did you write this one yourself? “  Schiff was referring to the long awaited written response to Mueller’s questions that Trump and his team of lawyers have been crafting for months.  Trump asserts that his answers are ready for submission, that he wrote them himself and that they will be turned in right after he pardons Peas and Carrots, this year’s lucky Turkeys.  As to those questions, Trump will only submit answers to ones related to the campaign time period and collusion. He and his legal team are refusing to address anything related to obstruction.  Although his lawyers probably asked him to take a first stab at the answers to cover their butts, it’s fair to assume that the lawyers did most of the writing, that said, Trump is now on the record saying that he was the drafter in chief, something he may regret later when he tries to deny anything that Mueller proves false.

Other News:  For a while yesterday it looked like the White House planned to take CNN’s Jim Acosta’s press credentials away again but they’ve backed off that decision.  Instead, in an effort to maintain decorum during press Q & A sessions, the White House Press Secretary’s office plans to impose a limit of one question per correspondent, a policy intended to prevent follow-up questions.  That’s a problem because it’s usually the answers to the follow-up questions that are most revealing.  As to decorum, that standard will only apply to the media, Trump gets to continue acting inappropriately.  Lock her up cheers will still be okay as long as Ivanka is kept out of them.  Insulting expletive ridden nicknames, they are fine too.  More than fine, highly desirable.