Melania's Revenge

Brooding and Sulky:  Despite Trump’s assertions that the midterms were a wild success, a success he attributed to his brilliant and herculean campaign efforts, reality has set in the White House, a reality that continues to be hammered home as results from the few remaining uncalled House elections continue to break for Democrats.  The final Democratic pick-up figure isn’t in yet,but it’s closing in on 40 seats.  That gain, together with the smaller than initially thought Republican gain in the Senate has Trump in the dumps, lashing out and resorting to one of his old themes, that any election that doesn’t go his way was stolen by illegal voters and Democratic fraud.  He’s particularly focused on the Florida Senatorial race fearing that the recount process could put Republican Rick Scott’s victory in jeopardy.  Though Florida law mandates what is likely to be a two step recount process, at least for the race between Scott and Democrat Bill Nelson which is expected to progress from a machine to a manual recount later this week, Trump, to borrow a phrase from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, continues to “bully, harass, and lie” about the recount process.  Trump wants to stop the recount, declare Scott the victor and move on and to no one’s surprise, Scott who has not been able to convince any courts or legal authorities that any election fraud has taken place, is on board with that plan.  So far, despite calls from Nelson and Schumer, Scott continues to remain involved in the recount process and, unless he recuses himself. will have some say over who is declared the victor. It’s not just the Florida Senate outcome that is on Trump’s mind, he feels the same way about the Florida Governor election and the ongoing election tussle in Georgia, where Stacy Abrams continues to press on, hopeful that another court decision will result in more votes going her way.  So far Trump hasn’t had much to say about the upcoming November 27 runoff in Mississippi between Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat Mike Espy but nonetheless his influence is being felt there too. Taking a page from his “never say you’re sorry” songbook, Hyde-Smith has refused to apologize for her really inappropriate “hanging” joke. It’s not just the election that has Trump in a dither, he’s quite unhappy that no one is really buying his excuse for the “rain” cancellation of his trip to the cemetery outside of Paris, the one where he was supposed to commemorate fallen American soldiers.  He’s also quite angry at French President Macron, bruised by Macron’s repudiation of nationalism, the petulant Trump tweet attacked him by going after his popularity ratings, France’s performance in the World Wars and even knocked the nation’s wines.  Son Eric who manages the Trump winery was particularly pleased with the last part of that tweet.  On the press front, having been rebuffed in its efforts to get White House Correspondent Jim Acosta’s Washington press pass returned, CNN filed a First Amendment lawsuit against Trump, Chief of Staff Kelly, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Bill Shine and several Secret Service Agents.  They’ve retained respected conservative lawyer Ted Olson who earlier in the year turned down an offer to join Trump’s defense team mostly because he doesn’t want to be associated with Trump.  CNN might actually win this case, precedent is on their side.   

The Revolving Door:  The White House exit door is spinning out of control.  It’s looking more and more likely that Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen will be unemployed very soon, perhaps by the end of the week. Though she’s implemented some of Trump’s most horrific policies, think kids in cages, Trump thinks she’s a Bushie, finds her too moderate and has grown frustrated with her refusal to follow through on orders, especially the ones that break the law.  Apparently he really hates it when she tries to explains legal impediments to him.  Those it’s not definite and despite reports that he was staying on until 2020, Chief of Staff Kelly, who strongly supports Nielsen and who pushed for her appointment to the cabinet, may accompany her out the door.  Vice President Pence’s Chief of Staff Nick Ayers, who cancelled plans to accompany Pence on his trip to Asia, a trip that Trump decided not to attend mostly because he’s too depressed to travel right now, would be Kelly’s likely replacement, assuming he wants the job.  He has the support of Ivanka and Jared and we all know how much Trump values their advice and how spot on their acumen can be.  Budget Chief Mick Mulvaney who had previously been named as a possible Kelly successor has pulled himself out of the running, apparently he’s holding out for one of those soon to be vacant Cabinet positions though he does not appear to be all that interested in Nielsen’s spot which could go to the current head of the INS or anyone else who looks really tough and promises to pursue all of Trump’s policies, legal or not.  It appears that Deputy National Security Advisor Mira Ricardel, John Bolton’s number two, is on her way out too.  Yesterday, Melania made it clear to her husband that she wanted Ricardel fired pronto by having her spokesperson release the following statement: "It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she (Ricardel) no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House."  Apparently Ricardel really pissed off Melania during their recent sojourn to Africa and keeping Melania happy remains a Trump priority.  Although it was reported that Ricardel was perp walked out of the White House yesterday, she is still there but only to clean out her desk.  She is expected to leave shortly, something that is expected to make Defense Secretary Mattis very happy.  He opposed her appointment in the first place and has been trying to get her fired for some time, but then again who knows how long he’ll stick it out.  He’s been on the departure list for some time but at this point Trump may opt to keep him around only because he needs to keep a few cabinet slots occupied while he searches for replacements and then tries to get those replacements confirmed.  One of those temporary replacements, Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker, who has not been confirmed, may be coming to the realization that stepping into the little bitty shoes of Jeff Sessions comes with some really big pitfalls.  The line of people questioning the legality of his appointment continues to grow, soon to be Chair of the House Judiciary Committee Jerry Nadler has made it clear that he plans to call Whitaker in to testify about what he promised Trump to get the job in early January, and more dirt about his questionable business past keeps emerging.  His appointment also seems to have reinvigorated some dormant Mueller protection legislation.  Senators Flake and Coons plans to ask for a vote on their Mueller protection bill is gaining some traction.  Though Senate Majority Leader McConnell remains a stumbling block, he still insisting that the legislation isn’t necessary, Senator Lindsay Graham, of all people, now says that he is on board.  The soon to be departed, that is departed from the Senate, Flake says that he is prepared to introduce and reintroduce the legislation up until his last day in office. As to Mueller, reports are that some more indictments will be dropping from his shop next week.  Hopefully, that is.

Little Rocket Man:  Reports are that one time Little Rocket Man now Trump BFF, Kim Jong Un is still up to no good.  Despite Trump’s insistence that its just some more fake news, intelligence reports reveal a lot of nefarious activity at sixteen sites across North Korea.  The North Koreans recently cancelled a planned meeting with Secretary of State Pompeo, possibly because they were too busy working on their anti-ballistic program.