Back in the CCCP

Pulling the Cord:  As expected Trump declared a national emergency on Friday, however he kind of screwed it up by acknowledging that there was no emergency, that he was just declaring one because he is really pissed at Congress for failing to deliver the money he wants for his WALL, because doing so provides great source material for his 2020 campaign and because he’d rather get his money now rather than later.  Trump’s rambling incoherent diatribe was so crazy and off topic even for him that CBS tuned him out, switching back to airing the Price is Right.  In their defense knowing the correct price for a box of Rice a Roni is important.  As usual Trump veered off topic, beginning with his opening where instead of going straight to the emergency thing he diverted to trade with China, almost forgetting that the issue at hand was the “crisis” at the border.  As to that crisis, he cited made-up statistics to justify the emergency declaration and then beat back reporters, particularly his favorite punching bag CNN’s assertive Jim Acosta, for pointing out that his facts, particularly those about the number of “illegals” and crime conflicted with actual government statistics.  Going off topic, Trump once again claimed that Obama had been on the verge of engaging in a nuclear war with North Korea, one that was only averted because of his awesome peacemaking skills, skills so impressive that he’s now been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.  Several of Obama’s former national security advisors disputed his claim regarding that imminent war but it turns out that Trump wasn’t lying about the Peace Prize.  Japanese government officials admitted Prime Minister Abe actually has nominated Trump but only because Trump ordered him to do so. With regard to North Korea, apparently Trump doesn’t believe that they actually have the intercontinental missile capability that they really do have.  According to former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, Trump’s assessment is based on conversations that he’s had with Putin who has reassured him that North Korea’s capabilities aren’t what US intelligence officials say they are and Trump, of course, believes Putin.  Returning to the emergency declaration, when asked if his shadow cabinet had influenced his decision to go the national emergency route, Trump acknowledged their influence pointing to Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh’s astute policy making prowess but dissing Ann Coulter, claiming that he really doesn’t know her, pointing out that she is “off the plantation.”  She responded by saying that “the only national emergency is that our president is an idiot.”  Predictably this weekend’s Saturday Night Live cold open was based on the press conference but, frankly, it fell a little flat, it’s hard to compete with real crazy.  Nevertheless Trump was so outraged by it that he called for retribution against NBC, tweeting there’s “Nothing funny about tired 'Saturday Night Live' on Fake News NBC! Question is, how do the Networks get away with these total Republican hit jobs without retribution? Likewise for many other shows? Very unfair and should be looked into. This is the real Collusion!" then he quickly added "THE RIGGED AND CORRUPT MEDIA IS THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE.” Kudos to host Don Cheadle who expressed his views on that collusion thing by wearing a Soviet Union hockey jersey during the closing credits, one with the Soviet letters CCCP emblazoned on the front and Trump 45 on the back.  

Revolving Door:  Heather Nauert will not be the next US Ambassador to the UN.  Nauert, the extremely unqualified former Fox correspondent who most recently served as the State Department’s Press Secretary, once cited D-Day as evidence of the tightness of US-German relations.  She pulled or was forced to pull her own nomination late on Saturday when few were paying attention purportedly because her family nanny, though in the US legally, lacked appropriate work papers and to Nauert’s shock and dismay didn’t pay income taxes on her the salary that she was paid in cash.  It’s hard to believe that the nanny problem is the real reason for Nauert’s withdrawal, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Mills had similar issues and his confirmation went through, additionally as the New York Times and Washington Post have reported, Trump’s businesses have employed almost all of the residents of at least one Guatemalan town.  Trump is now reconsidering Kelly Knight Craft, the US Ambassador to Canada,  and Richard Grenell, the US Ambassador to Germany, largely because both have already made it through the Senate confirmation process.  Whoever takes over the role will have their work cut out for them.  As shown by the reception that VP Pence received in Germany during his speech at the Munich Security Conference, our European allies have just about had it with Trump.  After Pence began his speech by saying that he brings “greetings from the 45th president of the United States of America, President Donald Trump," no one in the audience provided any of the usual applause or at least the applause that Pence expected, all Pence got from the crowd was deafening silence.  Before Pence spoke, German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave a speech where she rebuked US calls for European withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement, she received a standing ovation from everyone in the audience, that is everyone except for Ivanka Trump and the representatives of Russia and China.  It’s not really clear why Ivanka was at the meeting given that her international expertise extends mostly to manufacturing polyester dresses in China and sourcing high rise building locations in places like Russia. Fortunately, the US was also represented by Speaker Pelosi and a rather large Congressional delegation who were there to honor former Senator John McCain’s memory and to try to undo the ongoing damage of two plus years of Trump rule.  Yesterday, 60 Minutes aired their interview with another victim of the revolving door, former FBI guy Andrew McCabe, suffice it to say that the picture that he paints of Trump’s intellect and vindictiveness is not pretty.  McCabe is convinced that he was booted from his role in the FBI because Trump distrusted him from the start because he was a “Comey man,” his pediatrician wife had once run for local Virginia government as a Democrat, because he refused to go along with Trump’s antics and because he opened an investigation into Trump’s bad acts while also pushing Acting Attorney General Rosenstein to appoint the Special Counsel.  He’s probably right about all of that.  The revolving door has yet to hit Trump advisor Stephen Miller which might explain why Trump let him out to discuss all things about illegal immigration and the faux emergency order with Fox Correspondent Chris Wallace.  This time around, Miller didn’t go for the spray on hair look so the focus was on his words rather than his odd pate.  That’s too bad for him.  Wallace grilled him about his assertions about the need for the emergency declaration, specifically citing the decline in illegal crossings.  Miller just yelled back at him, coming off a lot worse for wear, as did a number of Republican Senators including Lindsay Graham who previously decried executive over reach under Obama but who are now defending Trump’s right to declare a national emergency.  Graham further doubled down by saying that he’s ready to call both Andrew McCabe and Rod Rosenstein in for a Senate Judiciary Committee grilling to learn more about that week when a very frazzled Rosenstein allegedly called for the invoking of the 25^th Amendment.        

Mueller Investigation:  The judge overseeing the Roger Stone case has imposed a limited gag order on him.  He still gets to make ridiculous claims about the various and sundry conspiracies against him and his good buddy Trump but he has to refrain from making them in the environs surrounding the court house.  His lawyers are even more constrained, they aren’t allowed to talk to the press about his case at all. As to the case against Stone, apparently Special Counsel Mueller’s investigators may have hit pay dirt during their search of his homes and office.  Late last week it was reported that they have obtained email and/or WhatsApp communications that he had with Guccifer 2.0 also known as the Russian military officer who hacked the Democratic National Committee and WikiLeaks.  No report yet on whether what was discussed incriminates the Trump team but the fact that the information exists disputes Stone’s claims that he didn’t really communicate with either entity.  One time Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort had a lot to stew about this weekend, on Friday Mueller released his sentencing recommendations.  Saying that “Manafort acted for more than a decade as if he were above the law, and deprived the federal government and various financial institutions of millions of dollars, the sentence here should reflect the seriousness of these crimes, and serve to both deter Manafort and others from engaging in such conduct,” Mueller called for a sentence of at least nineteen years; given Manafort’s age that would essentially be a life sentence.  Only a pardon from Trump can save Manafort at this point and it’s possible that his history of criminality and the evidence of his involvement with Russian “spy” Kilimnik could make granting that pardon a step too far, even for Trump.