Spontaneous Combustion

Rinse and Repeat:  Trump’s “send her back” routine got a little more pushback from his usual crowd of enablers than he expected. A number of Republican members of Congress expressed their concern to VP Pence who passed their agitation to Trump.  Additionally, Ivanka, who has remained largely silent about the disgusting conditions in the border holding tanks, and Melania, who’s on record caring about nothing, spoke out within the confines of the White House or at the very least had their PR people say that they did.  Trump responded to the pushback by insisting that the crowd’s “send her back” chant was just one of those spontaneous things that was outside of his control.  He claimed in that tone he uses when he’s obviously lying that he wasn’t happy about it and  insisted that he tried to drown them out by immediately speaking over the cacophony.  Of course none of that is true, the videotape shows him smirking and waiting a bit, at least thirteen seconds, before returning to his speech. Almost everyone expects that the chant and his smirk will reappear at his next rally with a vengeance, kind of one of those Charlottesville rinse and repeat things.  A number of Republicans actually went public with their disapproval, Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois called the chant "ugly" and "wrong" and said it "would send chills down the spines of our Founding Fathers" but Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy defended Trump asserting that only a small group were chanting, that Trump didn’t egg them on and that he never actually mentioned the names of any of the four “radical squad” members targeted.  All of McCarthy’s assertions was provably false, again because everything was on videotape.  The most bizarre defense came from Senator Lindsey Graham who said he did not believe Trump was being racist with his comments, comparing them to the 1960s refrain of "love it or leave it" that was frequently leveled against Vietnam war protesters, adding a Somali refugee embracing Trump, one wearing a MAGA hat, would not have been asked to go back, because “if you're a racist you want everybody from Somalia to go back because they're black or they're Muslim."  As to Somali refugees, Representative Ilhan Omar was treated like a hero when she arrived back in Minneapolis, it’s not clear if that is a bigger problem for Trump or for the Democrats.

Investigatory Front:  Substantially unredacted versions of the Michael Cohen warrants were released yesterday.  They reveal that in the run up to the 2016 presidential election the Trump team, most notably Trump, Michael Cohen and Hope Hicks were consumed with covering up Trump’s affairs with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, particularly concerned that revealing more evidence of Trump’s cheating and womanizing following the release of the Access Hollywood “grab them by the whatever” tape would doom his chances of winning the election, the one he won in part by silencing the two women.  The documents confirm that Trump, who was previously referred to only as “Individual 1” was involved in all aspects of the hush money cover up scheme that helped land Michael Cohen in jail.  Despite his involvement, at least for now and possibly forever, Trump gets a pass because he’s the sitting president and the Justice Department, sticking with policy, doesn’t indict sitting presidents.  Additionally, though Trump’s involvement is detailed, there is no direct evidence that he knew that the hush payments to the two women violated any campaign finance laws even though he probably did know. Although, it doesn’t appear that anyone else in the Trump organization will face any charges related to the hush payment scheme, Hope Hicks might not get off scot free.  Apparently she “misrepresented” as in lied about her involvement when she testified before Congress and has now been formally asked to reappear to “clarify” her statements, the statements where she denied any involvement or any knowledge about the payments made to Stormy Daniels.  Lying before Congress is one of those bigly no no’s that can land you in jail, but then again Hopey is one of Trump’s favorites so she’s probably more concerned about what to wear for her next appearance than actual jail time.  Things didn’t work out all that well for Trump’s “sometime” friend Jeffrey Epstein yesterday.  As expected he was not granted bail, instead he gets to spend lots of quality time in a cell where he is no doubt thinking about who to rat on first.  Though he isn’t likely to see the inside of a prison cell any time soon, Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan is very familiar with camps and cages.  Yesterday he testified before the House Oversight Committee where he was questioned about things like child separation,  conditions in the migrant camps, and the Customs and Border Patrol hate filled Facebook group. One of Trump’s favorite targets Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez asked him what he was doing about the death threats and rape images of her that are posted on the Facebook site and Chairman Elijah Cummings tore into him, reading from a court document in which a federal judge found that Homeland Security “did a better job of tracking immigrants’ personal property than their children,” adding “I’m talking about human beings. I’m not talking about people that come from, as the president said, sh--holes. These are human beings. Human beings. Just trying to live a better life.” He then went on to say that you wouldn’t treat a dog the way that DHS is treating people.

2020:  Earlier this week VP Joe Biden provided details of his health plan, one that involves improving rather than replacing the Affordable Care Act, an approach that is dramatically different from Bernie Sanders rip the whole thing up and start over with a Medicare for All.   Though the two won’t be appearing during the same night during round two of the Democratic debates, expect that heath care policy will be front and center.  The line-up and placement for July 30, the first night, is as follows: Marianne Williamson, Tim Ryan, Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Beto O’Rourke, John Hickenlooper, John Delaney and first time debater Montana Governor Steve Bullock.  The July 31, second night, line-up and placement is a follows:  Michael Bennet, Kirsten Gillibrand, Julian Castro, Corey Booker, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Andrew Yang, Tulsi Gabbard, Jay Inslee and Bill de Blasio. Since a number of these candidates are expected to drop out before or miss the poll/fundraising qualification targets for the third debates, scheduled to take place in September, this could be our last chance to see such a crowded stage.

Other News:  Yesterday, Trump reported that a US warship shot down an Iranian drone over the Gulf of Hormuz; this morning the Iranians who assert that none of their drones were destroyed  claimed instead that the referenced drone was one of ours, not theirs.  In all likelihood, it was their drone, but regardless the bottom line is that things continue to heat up in the region. On the domestic front, yesterday evening Trump tweeted his intention to nominate Eugene Scalia, son of former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, to become the next Secretary of Labor. Scalia, who was recommended by arch conservative Arkansas Senator Cotton, is of course as conservative as you would expect a Scalia to be and is also a member of the Federalist Society. Democrats may find themselves missing former Secretary Acosta, the guy who got canned for letting Jeff Epstein off easy.