White House in crisis

This CNN headline is comical. There's been a "White House staffing shuffle" almost every month that Trump's been in office!

A White House staffing shuffle could come after midterms

https://www-m.cnn.com/2018/10/21/pol...ast/index.html

In Mein Kampf (1925), Adolf Hitler described a propaganda technique known as the "big lie." In 1941, Joseph Goebbels wrote, "The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous." There is a popular expression, "Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth." In 2018, Trump and the Republicans have perfected the Big Lie propaganda technique.

White House officials and GOP leaders scramble to make Trump's false assertions real
The Washington Post, Oct 24 2018 12:00 PM

When President Trump abruptly told reporters over the weekend that middle-income Americans would receive a 10% tax cut before the midterm elections, neither officials on Capitol Hill nor in his administration knew anything about such a tax cut. The White House released no substantive information. And although cutting taxes requires legislation, Congress is not scheduled to be back in session until after the November 6 elections. Yet Washington's bureaucratic machinery whirred into action nonetheless — working to produce a policy that could be seen as supporting Trump's whim.

One such option now under discussion by administration officials is a symbolic nonbinding "resolution" designed to signal to voters ahead of the elections that if Republicans hold their congressional majorities they might pass a future 10% tax cut for the middle class. And House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady said Tuesday he would work with the White House and the Treasury Department to develop a plan "over the coming weeks."

The mystery tax cut is only the latest instance of the federal government scrambling to reverse-engineer policies to meet Trump's sudden public promises — or to search for evidence buttressing his conspiracy theories and falsehoods. The Pentagon leaped into action on plans to hold a military parade and launch a "Space Force" on the president's whims. The Commerce Department moved to create a plan for auto tariffs after Trump angrily threatened to impose them. And just this week, Vice President Mike Pence, the Department of Homeland Security and the White House all rushed to try to back up Trump's unsupported claim that "unknown Middle Easterners" were part of a migrant caravan in Central America — only to have the president admit late Tuesday that there was no proof at all.

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-n...024-story.html

In the past few days, explosive devices were mailed to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, George Soros, Maxine Waters, Cory Booker, John Brennan and CNN. All the devices were intercepted before they reached the recipients. None of the devices exploded. Authorities are working to identify the sender. All the intended targets have been mercilessly attacked and criticized by Donald Trump. (At his rallies, his supporters still chant "Lock her up!" in reference to Hillary.)

Does Trump believe his hateful rhetoric led one of his blindly-devoted followers to send bombs to Trump's opponents? No, of course not. Trump blamed the "negative" news media and the "negative" Democrats. Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Candace Owens and other right-wingers went so far as to say Democrats sent the bombs as a way to get sympathy and votes!

Trump's attacks on the media have real-life consequences
Brian Stelter, Oliver Darcy, CNN, Oct 24 2018 11:01 PM ET

Almost as soon as the bombs arrived in the mail, the debate began: What role does violent political rhetoric have on these real-life acts of violence?

Well, truth be told, a version of this debate has been raging for a while. Witness the reactions to President Trump's recent praise of a congressman for body-slamming a reporter. But the debate has been renewed now, in the wake of the threatening deliveries to CNN's New York office and several prominent Democratic politicians. The intended recipients all had something in common: They were frequent targets of right-wing criticism. As the Washington Post succinctly put it, "Amid incendiary rhetoric, targets of Trump's words become targets of bombs."

News industry executives have repeatedly warned that Trump's reckless attacks against the media are having real-world consequences. Some journalists now travel to Trump rallies with security personnel, for example. CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker spoke out about the problem, saying,
"There is a total and complete lack of understanding at the White House about the seriousness of their continued attacks on the media. The President, and especially the White House Press Secretary, should understand their words matter. Thus far, they have shown no comprehension of that."

Journalism advocacy groups uphold this view as well. Dan Shelley, the head of Radio Television Digital News Association, pointed out the irony in Trump's recent statements. Responding to the mailings, Trump said "threats of political violence of any kind have no place in the United States of America." Shelley said, "Those words were uttered by the same person who has used harsh rhetoric targeting journalists and political opponents during campaign rallies in an extremely tense and divisive political environment." Shelley told fellow journalists, "Don't succumb to intimidation and fear. Watch your backs but don't back down."

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/24/media...ces/index.html

One of Trump's mentally deranged and blindly loyal supporters seems to think he would be doing the President a favor by getting rid of everyone whom Trump perceives as an enemy. And of course Trump, who is a racist, immigrant-hating, woman-hating, Democrat-hating, news media-hating blowhard who stokes fear and hatred in his followers, refuses to take responsibility for his hateful rhetoric. Today in a tweet, he again blamed the news media:

"A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News. It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!"

"Purposely false," Donald? "Hateful"? Really?

Pipe bombs sent to Joe Biden and Robert De Niro, the latest Trump critics to be targeted

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/pi...SaSr?ocid=AMZN

Trump could be jeopardizing national security. Maybe we should go to his rallies and start chanting, "Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!"

When Trump phones friends, the Chinese and the Russians listen and learn
New York Times, Oct 24 2018

When President Trump calls old friends on one of his iPhones to gossip, gripe or solicit their latest take on how he is doing, American intelligence reports indicate that Chinese spies are often listening — and putting to use invaluable insights into how to best work the president and affect administration policy, current and former American officials said.

Trump's aides have repeatedly warned him that his cellphone calls are not secure and they have told him that Russian spies are routinely eavesdropping on the calls, as well. But aides say the voluble president, who has been pressured into using his secure White House landline more often these days, has still refused to give up his iPhones. White House officials say they can only hope he refrains from discussing classified information when he is on them.

American spy agencies, the officials said, had learned that China and Russia were eavesdropping on the president's cellphone calls from human sources inside foreign governments and intercepting communications between foreign officials.

China is seeking to use what it is learning from the calls — how Trump thinks, what arguments tend to sway him and to whom he is inclined to listen — to keep a trade war with the United States from escalating further. In what amounts to a marriage of lobbying and espionage, the Chinese have pieced together a list of the people with whom Trump regularly speaks in hopes of using them to influence the president.

Russia is not believed to be running as sophisticated an influence effort as China because of Trump's apparent affinity for President Vladimir Putin, a former official said.

Officials said the president has two official iPhones that have been altered by the National Security Agency to limit their abilities — and vulnerabilities — and a third personal phone that is no different from hundreds of millions of iPhones in use around the world. Trump has been pressured into using the secure White House landline more often but has still refused to give up his iPhones. None of them are completely secure.

The issue of secure communications is fraught for Trump. As a presidential candidate, he regularly attacked his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, during the 2016 campaign for her use of an unsecured email server while she was secretary of state and he basked in chants of "lock her up" at his rallies.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/24/u...-security.html

Fox News Network and Fox Business Network should be renamed Fake News Network and Fake Business Network. Is it any wonder Fox News is the favorite channel of our fake President? Fox and Trump speak the same language.

Fox Business Network host Lou Dobbs peddles conspiracy theory about suspicious packages
CNN, Oct 25 2018 5:02 PM ET

Fox Business Network host Lou Dobbs, who is prone to peddling conspiracy theories and is a prominent supporter of President Trump, asserted without evidence today that it was "fake news" that*suspicious packages*were mailed this week to high-profile Democrats and the New York City offices of CNN.

"Fake bombs," Dobbs tweeted this morning. "Who could possibly benefit by so much fakery?" Dobbs deleted his tweet after immediate and widespread condemnation. Authorities have said that the bombs found in the packages were rudimentary but functional.

After Dobbs deleted the tweet, he posted a second tweet which carried the same suggestion: "Fake News just successfully changed the narrative from the onslaught of illegal immigrants and broken border security to 'suspicious packages.'" Dobbs later deleted that tweet as well. It was not clear if Dobbs would face any disciplinary action for his tweets.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/25/media...mbs/index.html

Julian Zellner teaches history and public affairs at Princeton and co-hosts the Politics & Polls podcast. He co-wrote (with Kevin Kruse) Fault Lines: A History Of The United States Since 1974, which will be published January 8 by W.W. Norton & Company.

Donald Trump forfeited the moral authority of his presidency from day one
Julian Zelizer, CNN, Oct 25 2018 3:05 PM ET

President Donald Trump forfeited the moral authority of the presidency from his first day in office. The issue has not been that Trump doesn't know about this important presidential role -- for our commander in chief to stand as a guide during times of crisis -- but rather it has never been of interest to him. For Trump, the presidency is a raw tool he has used to achieve political power and the office is a partisan bludgeon to keep the other side on the defense. The presidency is about power for its own sake.

Trump can't ever see any issue outside the prism of his political lens. From Charlottesville to the pipe bombs, he never lets anything stand in the way of his raw political instincts. He can only contain his feelings for a few minutes, at best, before devolving into the kind of barnstorming partisan rhetoric that makes him feel so comfortable.

On Wednesday night, soon after the nation learned that explosive devices had been sent to some of Trump's top political targets -- Obama, Hillary Clinton, CNN and George Soros -- the President blamed the media for creating so much anger in society and he returned to his attacks on Democrats . It was as if the incidents had zero effect on his midterm campaign strategy. The next morning, the media reported that Joe Biden and Robert De Niro (also a major Trump critic) were the intended recipients of suspicious packages as well.

Although there are many other parts of our government that will work hard to find out what happened and to make certain those responsible are brought to justice, something is lost in this moment of political history when a frightened nation turns to the commander in chief for solace, only to see him give back the kind of vitriol and anger that helped create the current environment to begin with.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/25/opini...zer/index.html

Two more pipe bombs were discovered today, bringing the total to 12, and authorities have arrested a suspect: Cesar Sayne Jr., a 56-year-old Florida man with a lengthy criminal history including drugs, fraud, bomb threats and felony theft.

And he's a Republican.

Pipe bomb suspect arrested in southern Florida

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/26/n...ombs-sent.html

Awww, it's so cute when a child invites his BFF to come to his house for a sleepover.

Donald Trump invites Vladimir Putin to Washington
The Guardian, Oct 26 2018

Donald Trump has invited Vladimir Putin to visit Washington DC next year, national security adviser John Bolton has confirmed. It is not clear whether Putin has accepted the White House's invitation.

The meeting would be a highly anticipated sequel to the pair's controversial summit in Helsinki in July, igniting a firestorm of criticism against Trump, who has ignored Republican hawks to seek a close personal relationship with Putin.

Trump was widely criticized for appearing deferential to Putin in the Finnish capital and suggesting that he trusted the Russian leader's denials about meddling in US elections more than reports from his own intelligence agencies.

A Washington visit would be far more controversial, with relations between Russia and the west at their worst since the cold war. The US is to impose new sanctions on Russia next month over the use of a novichok nerve agent in the attempted murder of the former spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, England. Meanwhile, Moscow has accused Washington of sparking a new arms race by pulling out of a nuclear arms treaty that has been credited with keeping nuclear missiles out of Europe.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...VyN2?ocid=AMZN

Letter from Bernard Rapkin of Los Angeles in today's Los Angeles Times:

"Trump said he could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and not lose any support. He said that in the old days a heckler at one of his rallies would have been carried out on a stretcher. He said he would pay the legal fees for someone who roughed up a protester. He praised, only a few days ago, Rep. Greg Gianforte for body slamming a reporter. Now the president says 'acts or threats of violence of any kind have no place in the US.' This doesn't pass the smell test."