Bizarre Things

 The Narcissist Speaks:  Something, perhaps the imminent release of the Mueller report, the ongoing investigations taking place in New York or maybe an anticipation of some new indictments, has Trump even more bent out of shape than usual.  That can be the only explanation for his obsession with and continued attacks on the very dead John McCain.  Yesterday during a speech to workers at a Lima, Ohio tank manufacturing plant he continued his tirade against McCain missing that the crowd included a significant number of veterans, few of whom were happy to hear one of their heroes get slammed by Cadet Bone Spurs. Among other things, Trump attacked the dead McCain for failing to thank him for giving him the “kind of funeral he wanted, which as president I had to approve” and though he did approve the use of a military transport to carry McCain’s body to Washington from Arizona, he had little to do with the rest of the funeral arrangements for the funeral that he was specifically asked not to attend and anyway expecting a thank you from a dead man is kind of nuts. Senator McCain’s daughter Megan, called Trump’s newest “broadside” against her father a bizarre new low adding “if I had told my dad, 'Seven months after you’re dead you're going to be dominating the news and all over Twitter,' he would think it's hilarious.” Her mother, Cindy, responded by sharing a hate and expletive filled message that she had received from someone inspired by Trump’s attacks, a chilling example of how Trump’s cruelty can bring out the “best” in others. Melania, too busy with her own “Be Best” campaign and tweeting birthday wishes to son Barron who turned 13 yesterday had little to say about her husband’s diatribes. Republican Senators Mitt Romney and Johnny Isakson did weigh in calling Trumps attacks of McCain deplorable, but most of their Republican colleagues fearful of getting some of the Trump wrath sent their way remained either silent or like Senators McConnell, Graham (McCain’s one time bestie), and McSally (McCain’s Arizona replacement), said something nice about McCain while intentionally omitting any criticism of their exalted leader Trump.  Trump also continued to rage at George Conway, the man that he’s taken to calling Mr. Kellyanne while Kellyanne continued to defend him, Trump not her husband, saying well after all it’s not like her husband is a psychiatrist or anything. George doesn’t seem all that swayed by either Trump or Kellyanne’s comments, he’s now started referring to Trump by his court name: Individual 1.  As to the Mueller report, the one that is supposed to be released “imminently” or so we hope and Trump fears, Trump asserted that he wants to see it made public in its entirety but that he will defer the details of that release to Attorney General Barr which is his way of saying that he’ll do his best to see it squashed or so thoroughly redacted that any parts of it that don’t exonerate him remain outside of the public domain but will blame any of that on Barr.  Trump then went on to attack Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein who he appointed and who was confirmed by the Senate for being just an unelected “deputy” who hired that “conflicted” guy Mueller, who he described as a friend of that “bad cop” Comey, finishing by saying that “it’s sort of interesting that a man, out of the blue, just writes a report….it’s ridiculous.”  Trump may or may not know what will be in the report, but he's taking no chances so he’s doing his best to knock it’s credibility by going after its authors and the basis for its creation.  And sadly, the same people who think that sending Cindy McCain hate filled messages is acceptable are probably buying his message hook, line and sinker.  Getting back to the Lima, Ohio audience of tank workers at the tank factory, Trump told them the only people to blame for the recent closing of the nearby General Motors auto plant, the one that he promised would stay open, was the United Auto Workers Union, not GM and most certainly not him.

Come What May:  Trump is kind of trying to stay out of the Brexit fray or at least look like he’s staying out of the fray because even he knows that being seen weighing in on another country’s domestic affairs, especially when that country is our “special” friend  isn’t a good thing so instead he’s got his surrogates, national security advisor John Bolton and son Don Jr, delivering his message for him.  Both hit British media scolding the country’s political leadership over Prime Minister May’s plan to request a delay in Britain’s “seemingly endless divorce” from the European Union. In an opinion piece published in Britain’s Daily Telegraph that someone must have written for him largely because it’s highly likely that he’s much of a whiz at authoring political commentary, Don Jr said “Next Friday, March 29, is supposed to be the British people’s Independence Day but because the elites control London from Brussels, the will of the people is likely to be ignored.”  He then went on to say that had May taken his father’s advice the whole Brexit thing would have gone much more smoothly.  For his part Bolton gave an interview to British broadcaster Sky News, accusing political leaders in London of failing voters who “chose more than two years ago to quit the European Union and its collective trade policy.”  He then went on to “dangle” a separate trade deal between Britain and the United States once Brexit gets done, assuming that it ever gets “done” saying “we are ready to go.” So much for staying out of other country’s politics. Nervous that the outcome of the Israeli elections could damage any chance that son in law Kushner’s peace plan will see the light of day, Trump also appears to be weighing in on the Israeli elections.  He’s sent Secretary Pompeo to Israel to discuss security with Prime Minister Netanyahu, a visit that is seen as bolstering Netanyahu’s position with his electorate and he plans to host Netanyahu at the White House next week for a working dinner and dinner.  

Other News:  The Department of Defense Inspector General is looking into complaints raised by outside group  Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics that Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, who was employed by  Boeing for 30 years, might have promoted Boeing during conversations about the awarding of lucrative military contracts even though he had promised to recuse himself from anything related to Boeing.  Given recent concerns about Boeing’s senior management’s too tight relationship with Trump and the impact that might have had on the US decision to keep the Boeing Air Max flying longer than every other country, those concerns have become more difficult to ignore. Shanahan’s chances of becoming the permanent Secretary of Defense have now taken a serious hit but then again this is the Trump administration so maybe not.  A federal judge has temporarily blocked oil and gas drilling on 300,000 acres of federal land in Wyoming ruling that the Interior Department “did not sufficiently consider climate change” in its assessments of whether to lease the land for drilling.  In their defense it’s kind of hard to take the time to consider climate change when you don’t believe or pretend not to believe that it’s a thing.  Lastly, @devoncow the parody Twitter account that likes to make fun of Congressman Devon Nunes now has 500,000 followers up from the 1000 it had before the Nunes lawsuit.