Rock, Paper, Scissors

Election Interference:  Yesterday the Senate Intelligence Committee led by Senators Burr and Warner, which unlike it’s House counterpart appears to function on a largely bipartisan basis, released a report detailing how the election systems in all 50 states were targeted by the Russians during 2016. At the request of the intelligence agencies the report was so heavily redacted that large sections of it are unreadable but what was left unredacted reveals that among other things the Russians successfully penetrated the Illinois voter data base, accessing up to 200,000 voter registration records, a type of penetration that could easily impact the results of next election especially in one of those swing states where the outcome is likely to be determined by a relatively small amount of votes, a bigly problem given that earlier in the week Nate Cohn, the NY Times’ chief polling prognosticator, predicted that while Democrats could win the popular vote by more than Hillary’s 2016 three million vote margin just a small swing in Wisconsin could tip the electoral college to Trump in 2020.  The Russians even tried to send election observers to various states, a request that on its face just seemed like a counter to the US sending election observers into their neck of the woods but was more likely a front for getting it’s trained operatives close enough to engage in the physical tampering of voting machinery.  The committee report warns that the US remains vulnerable in the next election yet, just hours after former Special Counsel Mueller provided a similar warning, Republicans led by Senate Majority Leader McConnell blocked election security legislation that would help states improve their election security systems, particularly crucial since a number of states are still using out of date machines and/or don’t have any paper backups for electronic votes.  McConnell justified his objection to the legislation by saying that it “is a partisan bill from the same folks who spent two years hyping up a conspiracy theory about” Trump “and Russia and who continue to ignore this administration’s progress at correcting the Obama administrations’ failure on this subjection.”  McConnell is also on record saying that improving election security would benefit Democrats, and we know that he wouldn’t want to do that.  For his part Trump who also sees no need to bolster election apparatus continues to call reports of Russian interference a HOAX and a WITCH HUNT.

Mueller Fallout:  Trump was positively jubilant after Mueller’s testimony, saying “This was a devastating day for the Democrats,” adding: “The Democrats had nothing. And now they have less than nothing. And I think they are going to lose the 2020 election very big, including congressional elections.” Doubling down on that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is reported to be telling people that he also thinks there is a good chance that the Republicans can win the House back in 2020, realistic or not, their confidence is truly alarming. Many political pundits on both sides of the aisle reported that the Democrats have missed their impeachment window and though they might be correct, at least one member of Democratic leadership disagrees, Katherine Clark, the House Democratic Caucus Vice Chair, the sixth highest ranking Democrat in the House, announced that she now supports the opening of an impeachment inquiry, that number now hovers just under 100.  Additionally, the Elijah Cummings chaired House Oversight Committee keeps plugging along.  They’ve added to the avalanche of subpoenas for Trump team information by adding a few more, this time for Jared Kushner’s, Ivanka Trump’s and other White House officials’ emails and texts, the ones sent from their personal devices.  On the legislative front, yesterday the House voted to pass Trump and Pelosi’s budget deal largely because Pelosi delivered 219 votes for passage.  Only 65 of the 197 House Republicans voted for the plan despite Trump’s support.         

Swamp Denizens:   Early in the administration, Trump nominated Fox News contributor Monica Crowley to serve as deputy national security advisor but her nomination was derailed and withdrawn after it was revealed that she had plagiarized substantial portions of her PhD dissertation.  She’s back, this week she was appointed to serve as the chief spokesperson for Steve Mnuchin’s Treasury Department.  Apparently her history of advancing the Obama birther conspiracy as well as her repeated assertions that Obama was a secret Muslim who was “conforming US policy to Islam and Sharia” are qualifying attributes in this administration.  She joins Kelly Craft, the former US Ambassador to Canada who spent only a modest amount of her time as ambassador to our northern neighbor actually in Canada, who is likely to be confirmed as the US Ambassador to the UN very soon as well as new Defense Secretary Mike Esper, who formerly served as military equipment manufacturer Raytheon’s chief lobbyist but has said that he won’t recuse himself from things related to Raytheon.