Red, Blue and Green

Red and Blue:  Last April then Chief of Staff Kelly killed off an effort by former EPA Head Scott Pruitt to engage in a series of public “red team/blue team” debates over the validity of climate change.  Trump who continues to believe that since it still snows in winter climate change isn’t happening was all in on the debate but other administration officials agreed with Kelly’s decision, not because they acknowledged the dangers of ignoring climate change but because they believed that a public debate on science could become a “damaging spectacle, creating an unnecessary distraction from the steps the administration” was and continues to take to unravel previously established environmental regulations. The scandal ridden Pruitt is long gone but the idea of subjecting climate science to scrutiny in order to avoid actually doing something to blunt its impact remains.  Early this week the White House announced plans to establish a Presidential Committee on Climate Security to be led by a climate science skeptic named William Happer, a former Princeton professor who is on record stating that the carbon emissions that virtually every respected scientist believe are linked to climate change should be viewed “as an asset rather than a pollutant.”  Happer has compared the demonization of carbon dioxide to the demonization of the “poor Jews under Hitler.” Really, he said that during a 2014 interview with CNBC.  One expert said that Happer’s appointment is “the equivalent of setting up a committee on nuclear-weapons proliferation and having someone lead it who doesn’t think nuclear weapons exist,” adding it’s “honestly a blunt-force political tool designed to shut the national security community up on climate change.”  The administration’s decision to move forward with the Happer led committee is part of an effort to counter various warnings from intelligence leaders and reports coming out of the Pentagon about the very concerning impact of climate change on national security, reports that, among other things, warn that changing sea levels provide a near term danger to US bases around the world. On the political front, Trump together with his chief enabler Senate Majority Leader McConnell continue to do their best to mock the Green New Deal being espoused by many Democrats, most notably the outspoken new Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a favorite Republican target. Yesterday, the NY Times published a summary of just what the Green New Deal would entail, and while they observe that the radical changes that the plan calls for would be hugely expensive and probably impossible to achieve within its recommended ten year time horizon, they observe that it would be folly to think that ignoring the really dire impact that climate change is already having is a viable option. Having environmental policy dictated by politicians in the pockets of the fossil fuel industry isn’t much of a good idea either.

Mueller Time:  Rudy Giuliani who has been suspiciously quiet for the past few weeks, possibly because he’s been overseas representing a few of his nastier clients, has emerged once again to report that the administration is as much in the dark about the timing of the release of the much anticipated Mueller report as the rest of us.  He goes on to say that if the report indicates that Trump is guilty of anything, he’ll contest it, if it concludes that Trump is as innocent as the driven snow, then he and everyone in the White House will embrace it, of course. As to the Trump orbit, good buddy Roger Stone was lucky to escape, or at least escape for now, an immediate trip to the slammer.  Yesterday, rejecting his feeble excuse that he hadn’t meant to cause her any danger and an attempt on his part to blame his interns for “their” bad Instagram judgment, Judge Amy Berman Jackson expanded the terms of his gag order, dramatically restricting what he can say in public about his case, a problem for Stone because he appears to lack the ability to shut up and because restrictions on his ability to say provocative things to his fans limits his earnings potential and given his increasing legal bills he really does need to maximize that potential.  She warned him that her court isn’t like baseball, you only get two strikes not three, anymore stupid statements or Instagram posts of her face together with a target will result in the revocation of his bail and his immediate incarceration.  As to jail Special Counsel Mueller’s Paul Manafort sentencing report is due in by midnight tonight.  Mueller’s reports have generally included new details about his investigation so to the extent that it’s not overly redacted tonight’s report might make for some compelling reading.

Other News:  Trump was happy to weigh in on the sad case of Jussie Smollet, the Empire actor who appears to have staged his own assault.  Yesterday he tweeted “What about MAGA and the tens of millions of people you insulted with your racist and dangerous comments?” It might be nice if he’d consider showing similar outrage about Chris Hasson, the Coast Guard officer and avowed white supremacist, his arsenal and his threats against Democratic leadership and various main stream media hosts. Trump also hasn’t weighed in on the North Carolina Election Board’s decision to hold a new election for the North Carolina 9^th House District seat.  Apparently voter fraud is only worthy of his attention if it involves bad acts by Democrats.  The Election Board reached it’s unanimous decision after Mark Harris, the Republican candidate who hired the consultant who interfered with the absentee ballots surprised everyone by saying that even he though that a new election was warranted.  Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta’s days in the administration could be numbered.  Yesterday a  federal judge ruled that federal prosecutors, led by Acosta who was then the US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, broke the law when they signed a plea agreement with financier Jeffrey Epstein without notifying his  30 underage sex abuse victims.  Epstein faced long term imprisonment for his actions but got off with spending only 13 months in jail.  Frequent Trump defender Alan Dershowitz was one of Epstein’s lawyers.  On the 2020 front, several Republicans including former Massachusetts Governor William Weld and current Maryland Governor Larry Hogan are considering challenging Trump for the Republican nomination.  And Bernie Sanders’ chief campaign adviser says that Bernie, who isn’t a Democrat except when he’s running for president, will sign a pledge affirming that he will run for president as a Democrat and serve as one in the event that he is elected.