1. Andrew Rosenthal; Jeff Sessions Gives a Master Class in Dissembling

If the testimony on June 8 by the former F.B.I. director, James Comey, was a startling example of candor in Washington, the appearance on Tuesday by Attorney General Jeff Sessions before the Senate Intelligence Committee was a master class in bamboozling, blustering and butt-covering.

Sessions said with outrage that any suggestion that he might have done anything wrong, especially colluding with the Russian government to influence the 2016 election, was an “appalling and detestable lie.” That was a moment of clarity. But it came in his opening statement and was not repeated during the rest of the hearing.

Sessions said at the outset that he would “respond to questions as fully as the Lord enables me to do,” by which he apparently meant not very fully.

As soon as he got questions that made him uncomfortable, Sessions stopped citing the Almighty and instead relied on supposedly long-standing Department of Justice rules against talking about private communications in public.

Sessions’s appearance on Tuesday cleared up almost nothing, but it did showcase his political skills. At the end of his opening statement, he said “this president wants to focus on the people of this country to ensure they are treated fairly and kept safe” and suggested that some people have “different agendas.” Then he launched into a tirade about opioid addiction and violent crime.

Reporters covering the late Nelson Rockefeller used to call that bomfog — when Rockefeller lost track of what he was saying or ran into trouble, he’d give the people a few minutes of “brotherhood of man, fatherhood of God.”

The sad thing is how often that works. JUNE 14, 2017 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/13/opinion/jeff-sessions-gives-a-master-class-in-dissembling.html

2. Eric Levitz: If the President Is Innocent, Then He Is Insane

Trump, for months, has bristled almost daily about the ongoing probes. He has sometimes, without prompting, injected. “I’m not under investigation” into conversations with associates and allies. He has watched hours of TV coverage every day — sometimes even storing morning news shows on his TiVo to watch in the evening — and complained nonstop… Just as he has done publicly on Twitter, Trump has told friends and associates that the investigation is a “witch hunt” and that others are out to get him. “It’s basically all he talks about on the phone,” said one adviser who has spoken with Trump and his top aides.

Trump’s actions in the months before James Comey’s firing — his attempts to interfere in the FBI’s investigation of Michael Flynn, and to commandeer America’s senior intelligence officials as his own political operatives — were impossible to explain without assuming the president’s guilt or his idiocy.

By now, he has had ample opportunity to learn that federal law enforcement is supposed to operate independent of the president. And this epiphany did not change his behavior in any way.

Either the president is acting erratically, due to a rational fear of what Mueller’s probe may reveal, or else he is suffering from an obsessive disorder that renders him helplessly self-destructive. Trump has stomped all over the naïveté defense. All that remains is the insanity plea. To plausibly deny that the president is a criminal, Republicans must stipulate that he’s out of his mind.

Which is to say: There is no credible explanation for Trump’s conduct that is compatible with the idea that he is fit for high office. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/06/if-the-president-is-innocent-then-he-is-insane.html

3. Jonathan Chait: Trump’s Cover-up May Be Worse Than the Crime, But the Crime Seems Pretty Bad

Now that the Washington Post has reported, and President Trump himself confirmed, that special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating Trump for obstruction of justice, Trump’s defense has begun to emphasize the unfairness of the process. “They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story,” tweeted the president. The supposed lack of evidence for any underlying crime for Trump to obstruct has become an article of faith on the right. Andrew McCarthy’s column in the Journal of American Greatness, large portions of which are italicized for emphasis, sarcastically notes, “All that was lacking was—wait for it—actual evidence of collusion.”

What, you might wonder, would count as evidence of Trump colluding with Russian election interference? How about one of his campaign advisers having advance knowledge of the Russian hacking operation? Because that exists. If that’s not enough to count as evidence, what if I told you Donald Trump asked Russia to hack his opponent’s email system and publicize the results in order to help Trump, and it was on video? Because that exists, too.

So the evidence for collusion in the email hacking lies right out in the open — just like evidence that Trump fired James Comey to obstruct the Russia investigation, which the president confessed to in an NBC News interview. (Sometimes it seems like this investigation doesn’t even need a special counsel, just a video-montage editor.) But the collusion is almost surely not limited to the planning of the email hack. It seems to run much deeper, into a web of financial ties between Vladimir Putin’s regime and Trump and his closest advisers.

We know to a near certainty that Putin tried to corrupt the American political system. What the investigations will reveal is not whether but how thoroughly he succeeded through the Trump campaign. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/06/trumps-cover-up-worse-than-crime-but-the-crime-seems-bad.html

4. LA Times Editorial: A shooting in Alexandria brings gun violence directly to those best situated to act

Certainly American political discourse is too vituperative. Anger leads to resentment and stubbornness, and away from reasoned discussion and rational compromise. That’s bad for the country and bodes unfavorably for the years ahead. Let’s tone it down by all means. But there’s a difference between even the most rancorous and impassioned speech, and violence.

When Giffords was shot in 2011 (and six other people died), calls went out for more rigid gun control measures. The injured congresswoman, who supports the right to own firearms, now devotes significant time and energy to strengthening gun control laws and limiting access to firearms. But little has been gained. Since 2011, more than 100 bills seeking to control access to guns — from tougher background checks to banning magazines holding more than 10 rounds to closing the “gun show loophole” — have failed to pass, primarily because of the cozy relationship between the gun lobby and Republican lawmakers.

We fervently hope that the victims of today’s shooting recover fully. We also hope that the next time National Rifle Assn. lobbyists visit Capitol Hill with their guns-for-everyone agenda, Republican members of Congress greet them with more probing skepticism than they have in the past. But we’re not optimistic. Even after getting shot at, Brooks remained steadfast Wednesday in his pro-gun, pro-2nd Amendment rhetoric, describing the incident as “one of the bad side effects of someone not exercising those rights properly.”

Unfortunately, such “side effects” are daily occurrences. The Republicans who run Congress need to learn from the awful incident in Alexandria and drop their cynical posturing on behalf of the NRA. It’s time to take a stand against gun violence. http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-congress-shooting-baseball-gun-violence-gun-control-20170614-story.

5. Paul Waldman: Trump is used to breaking the rules with impunity. That will be his undoing

Trump is used to breaking the rules with impunity. That will be his undoing

Being rich is more pleasant than not being rich for many reasons, one of which is that the more money you have, the less society's rules and obligations weigh on you. You slide through life using your wealth and connections to avoid the hassles and complications that occupy ordinary people, seldom having your choices impeded by what others or even the government demand of you. In theory the rules apply to everyone, but in practice there are almost always ways around them that are only available to a few.

A wealthy person with a powerful conscience and moral foundation can avoid having that fact turn them into a jerk, the kind of person who would look down with contempt on the plebes shuffling through their modest lives without ever knowing the rush that comes from shooting an exotic animal while on safari or evicting a poor family from their home. President Trump, however, is not possessed of such a conscience.

In fact, his entire life has been defined by the fact that the rules haven't applied to him. So on those rare occasions when he finds himself constrained by rules, he loses control. He becomes erratic, petulant, self-pitying, and begins to undermine himself and his goals. And that's what's happening now.

You can almost understand it, if you think about Trump's life experience. When have the rules ever applied to him? He grew up rich, cheated on his wives, evaded financial disaster through multiple bankruptcies (always leaving someone else holding the bag), consorted with sketchy characters, cheated vendors, scammed regular people, and basically lied his way through seven decades on Earth. And then what happened? He ran for president, obeying none of the rules people told him he'd have to adhere to in order to win, yet win he did — with an entire party of bootlickers standing behind him to nod their heads and defend every dirtbag thing he did. And now he's supposed to tolerate some two-bit judge or prosecutor telling him that he broke the rules? 6/16/17 http://theweek.com/articles/706156/trump-used-breaking-rules-impunity-that-undoing

6. E.J. Dionne: Gutting the Health Care Law in Darkness

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell once had passionate views about how carefully Congress should consider sweeping changes to the health-care system.

“Fast-tracking a major legislative overhaul such as health care reform or a new national energy tax without the benefit of a full and transparent debate does a disservice to the American people. Democrats using such means, he added, “would make it absolutely clear they intend to carry out their plans on a purely partisan basis.” McConnell said in 2009, referring to the two big issues of the moment.

Republican hypocrisy is now so rampant that it’s typically ignored or, worse, granted the political class’s all-purpose form of absolution: “Everybody does it.”

But everybody doesn’t do it. McConnell is trying to eviscerate the Affordable Care Act using methods completely at odds with how the law was originally brought to life in the early Obama administration. The ACA was debated for more than a year and went through an elaborate hearing and amendment process that included some changes urged by Republicans. June 15, 2017 https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2017/06/15/gutting_health_care_in_darkness_134201.html

7. Mark Joseph Stern: Mueller Is Coming for Trump

hat you don’t know can hurt you very badly, and there is a great deal that Republicans do not know about Donald Trump. From shady business dealings to questionable tax schemes to potential Russian collusion, the president is dogged by scandals whose depth and significance remain unclear. With few exceptions, Republicans are eager to protect Trump from serious inquiries, running interference where they can while pushing through their legislative agenda as quickly and secretively as possible. The GOP isn’t quite sure what it’s helping Trump to cover up—but as long as he promises to sign its bills, the party will condone his outrageous misdeeds.

This strategy now appears poised to backfire spectacularly. On Wednesday, both the New York Timesand the Washington Post reported that special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating Trump’s inner circle for financial crimes. This aggressive shift toward Trump associates’ personal dealings is disastrous news for the president, his allies, and his enablers. At long last, federal investigators will probe Trump’s sprawling network for wrongdoing, picking up where reporters left off, only this time with subpoena power. And Trump can only stop them by firing Mueller—a blatant obstruction of justice that would likely be more damaging than any crime the president may have committed in the past.

That is the dilemma that Trump faces: Answer for his old crimes, or commit a new one. Neither option will allow him to get to the business of governing; both pave the way to impeachment if the GOP grows frustrated by the lack of legislative progress. Mueller’s deepening dragnet has greatly increased the likelihood the president will face real consequences for his actions. We don’t yet know what those consequences look like. But they seem to be fast approaching. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2017/06/
robert_mueller_s_probe_will_reveal_loads_of_dirt_from_trump_s_financial.html

8. Andrew Sullivan: Trump’s Derangement Deepens

Let me put this as simply as I can. After firing FBI Director James Comey for investigating the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russians, the president is now openly smearing and threatening to fire his successor as most prominent investigator, special counsel Robert Mueller. There is no question about the motive behind all this, because Trump has told anyone within hearing distance or access to a television that he fired Comey to kill a vital and important investigation into Russian interference in our elections, which yesterday Putin all but admitted: “They meddle in all other countries’ affairs, what did they expect?” For good measure, Trump is now openly arguing through surrogates that Mueller is acting in bad faith, pursuing a “witch hunt,” and should be fired if his investigation gets anywhere near the president.

Every now and again, you have to take a moment, stop being distracted by the constant breaking news, and let all this sink in.

This is now a slow-moving version of Nixon’s Saturday Night Massacre — but graver. It’s graver because the original crime — the Kremlin’s attempt to hack our elections in possible cahoots with some on the Trump campaign — has so much wider ramifications than an office break-in. It’s an act of virtual war by a foreign adversary that came close to rigging the voting machines, for Pete’s sake. If it was in any way abetted by an American connected to Trump, we absolutely need to find out. And this crisis is more dangerous because the president has not only been trying to prevent or rig any such investigation for months — demanding personal loyalty from the FBI director, pressuring national intelligence officials to exonerate him before the inquiry is finished — but also continues to boast about this obstruction of justice as if there were nothing wrong with it at all. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/06/andrew-sullivan-trumps-derangement-deepens.html

9. David Remnick: Who in the White House Will Turn Against Donald Trump?

The yearning in the character of Donald Trump for dominance and praise is bottomless, a hunger that is never satisfied. Last week, the President gathered his Cabinet for a meeting with no other purpose than to praise him, to note the great “honor” and “blessing” of serving such a man as he. Trump nodded with grave self-satisfaction, accepting the serial hosannas as his daily due. But even as the members declared, Pyongyang-style, their everlasting gratitude and fealty to the Great Leader, this concocted dumb show of loyalty only served to suggest how unsustainable it all is.

The reason that this White House staff is so leaky, so prepared to express private anxiety and contempt, even while parading obeisance for the cameras, is that the President himself has so far been incapable of garnering its discretion or respect. Trump has made it plain that he is capable of turning his confused fury against anyone in his circle at any time. In a tweet on Friday morning, Trump confirmed that he is under investigation for firing the F.B.I. director James Comey, but blamed the Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein, for the legal imbroglio that Trump himself has created. The President has fired a few aides, he has made known his disdain and disappointment at many others, and he will, undoubtedly, turn against more. Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Jared Kushner, Jeff Sessions, Sean Spicer­—who has not yet felt the lash?

Trump’s egotism, his demand for one-way loyalty, and his incapacity to assume responsibility for his own untruths and mistakes were, his biographers make plain, his pattern in business and have proved to be his pattern as President.

Veteran Washington reporters tell me that they have never observed this kind of anxiety, regret, and sense of imminent personal doom among White House staffers—not to this degree, anyway. These troubled aides seem to think that they can help their own standing by turning on those around them—and that by retailing information anonymously they will be able to live with themselves after serving a President who has proved so disconnected from the truth and reality. http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/who-in-the-white-house-will-turn-against-donald-trump

10. LA Times Editorial: Trump just reopened the Cold War with Cuba. His excuse was completely disingenuous

Consistent with that amoral approach, human rights wasn’t on the agenda when Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose regime has engaged in a years-long crackdown on dissidents, visited President Trump at Mar-a-Lago two months ago. The subject went unaddressed when Egypt’s authoritarian president, Abdel Fattah Sisi, visited the White House earlier in April. Sisi’s government, which receives $1.3 billion a year in military aid from the U.S, is accused of killing, jailing or torturing thousands of dissidents. Trump has also praised President Rodrigo Duterte for doing an “unbelievable job on the drug problem” in the Philippines — a campaign that has involved, according to human rights monitors, the extrajudicial executions by police and vigilantes of more than 7,000 suspected addicts and dealers.

Now Trump decides to draw a line at Cuba’s human rights policies? He could at least try to make a fake excuse a little more believable.

What’s really happening is that Trump has let the anti-Castro sect in Congress take the wheel on this issue, no doubt for cynical political reasons.

Trump has said he wants to help the Cuban people “begin their journey toward prosperity and liberty.” He can’t do that, though, by reverting to the ineffective policies that caused so much pain for so many years. A better outcome, for the U.S. and Cuba, would be reached through normalized relations, diplomacy and the exercise of soft power. http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-trump-cuba-obama-20170616-story.html

11. Maureen Dowd: Trump, Uber and the Hazards of Broism

President Trump has no intention of working on a Donald 2.0. His paranoia about the Deep State seems to be feeding the Deep State’s ability to corral him. His angry and reckless tweets have time and again led to self-incrimination.

It was his taunting tweet suggesting that he may have taped his conversations with James Comey that caused the former F.B.I. director to prompt the appointment of a special counsel by giving a memo to a friend to share with a reporter.

After a brief flirtation with being classy, as he reacted to the grisly shootout at the congressional baseball game practice here Wednesday, Trump returned to form early Thursday morning, tweeting: “They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice.”

So much for the notion that Melania moving into the White House would restrain the president.

It seems to have just occurred to Trump that while he bizarrely shrugs off proven Russian interference in the election and sulks about Jeff Sessions recusing himself, Mueller is building a top-flight team of investigators. Turns out Mueller is the one building infrastructure: He has hired 13 lawyers and plans to bring on more. (And Trump’s personal lawyer has hired a lawyer, too.)

If you investigate Donald Trump with a dream team, nightmares are bound to follow. Remember how a failed Clinton real estate deal led to Monica Lewinsky?

It doesn’t take a Brostradamus to predict that, even for the most driven bros, there is some stuff you can’t brazen out. 6/17/16 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/17/opinion/sunday/trump-uber-and-the-hazards-of-broism.html

12. Jonathan Chait: Trumpcare Might Pass, But the Conservative Health-Care Agenda Is Dead

The Senate Republican plan to unveil a health-care bill, then race it to the floor without hearings, has inspired an archival outpouring of vintage 2010 Republican complaints over the allegedly secretive passage of Obamacare (which in fact was developed in public, with dozens of hearings).

The current Senate Republican plan is to introduce a bill next Tuesday and vote on it Thursday. “By all accounts,” summarizes health-care reporter Dylan Scott, “Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is agnostic about the actual policy of the bill his chamber is drafting.” The Republicans’ notion of taking their time and getting it right, rather than rushing to meet an arbitrary deadline, has been turned on its head. Why did Republicans suddenly decide to get health care done fast, not right? There is a larger point here than hypocrisy and broken promises. A short period of examination yielded the same conclusion in the Senate as the House: Republicans have realized their party is constitutionally incapable of writing a satisfactory health-care law. Whether the Republican health-care law passes or fails, an entire policy agenda has died in the process. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/06/trumpcare-might-pass-but-conservative-health-care-is-dead.html