January 7, 2019

Trump in No Hurry to Name Permanent Cabinet Members

At the moment, in addition to acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, five cabinet or cabinet-level positions in Donald Trump's administration are filled by "acting" officials: David Bernhardt (Interior), Patrick Shanahan (Defense), Matther Whitaker (AG), Andrew Wheeler (EPA), and Heather Nauert (U.N. Ambassador). Only Nauert is awaiting confirmation to permanent status, while only Whitaker has had a successor nominated (Bill Barr). On Sunday, Donald Trump said he is in no hurry to name permanent replacements for the other posts, including chief of staff, saying that the current situation gives him more "flexibility."

Undoubtedly, Trump is right about that. It is much easier for him, politically, to fire or reassign acting cabinet officers than it is for those who have been confirmed. Certainly, the interim folks know that, and are considerably less likely to push back against the administration. The President likes that; the fewer James Mattises and Rex Tillerson from here on out, the better.

That said, this new "policy" undoubtedly also reflects certain realities that Trump would prefer not to admit publicly. Given his administration's general dysfunction, and its legal problems, not to mention his habit of abusing his underlings and blaming them for, well, everything, "the best people" are pretty much unwilling to serve under him. The second-best and third-best aren't too interested, either, which is how a president ends up with less-than-stellar people like Whitaker, a borderline white-collar crook who has ironically been put in charge of enforcing the nation's laws.

Further, given the type of people who are willing to accept a Trump appointment, the confirmation process tends to be pretty ugly, with plenty of black eyes (or potential black eyes) for the president. Consider the embarrassments with would-be labor secretary Andrew Puzder, or would-be VA secretary Ronny Jackson, or actual AG Jeff Sessions, or actual education secretary Betsy DeVos. Just last week, in fact, it came to light that current VA Secretary Robert Wilkie hid his connections to pro-Confederate groups when filling out his disclosure paperwork. Relatively minor compared to some of the black marks on the records of Trump appointees, but a good reminder that anyone he picks is going to be subject to all sorts of scrutiny, and is probably not going to stand up well to that.

In short, Trump has all sorts of reasons to drag his feet here. At the same time, there is fairly little pressure on him to find permanent replacements. As we all learned with Merrick Garland, the whole appointment and confirmation process assumes that the various players will act in good faith and will handle their responsibilities in a timely manner. But if they choose not to do so, there is no particular penalty for it. We could get into a constitutional gray area if one of the interim appointees needs to perform certain tasks, like invoke the 25th Amendment or fire the special counsel. But that day may never come, and until then, there's nothing to light a fire under Trump. So, it wouldn't be a surprise if these people stay in their jobs for a very long time, maybe even until the end of his term. (Z)

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https://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2019/Pres/Maps/Jan07.html#item-2

January 7, 2019

The Note: Missing middle prolongs spending standoff

By RICK KLEIN and MARYALICE PARKS Jan 7, 2019, 6:01 AM ET

There was a moment, late last year, where cooler heads were prevailing and a shutdown was going to be avoided.

But since President Donald Trump reversed himself and chose a shutdown over a spending agreement that didn't fund the border wall, both parties have found themselves captive to the hotter arguments inside their own ranks.

Still now, with no end in sight to the standoff, the president appears poised to undermine negotiations -- led by the vice president -- with his own unpredictability and with his threat to order a wall built on his own if Congress doesn't act.

Democrats don't view moving from a "wall" to a "fence" as a meaningful concession. Their new House majority, meanwhile, is in danger of being defined by calls for impeachment and holding firm against a Trump demand.

Missing in all of this is a meaningful middle. A few Republican senators have said they want to pass spending bills without funding the wall, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sees little incentive to move without the president's blessing.

more
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/note-missing-middle-prolongs-spending-standoff/story?id=60192294

January 7, 2019

POLITICO Playbook: Is this the dark before the light?

By ANNA PALMER, JAKE SHERMAN and DANIEL LIPPMAN 01/07/2019 06:09 AM EST

DRIVING THE DAY

SHUTDOWN … DAY 17 … The one positive element our sources took out of yesterday’s meeting at the White House is that this government funding stalemate needs to get much worse before it gets solved, and that is what began happening yesterday.

DEMOCRATS were put off when, at the beginning of the meeting, the White House did not have the budgetary information ready that they had asked for. Democrats complained that it took 45 minutes for the administration to come up with it. Meanwhile, Republicans say that VP MIKE PENCE simply asked for OMB to dig up more information because Democrats were asking for it. They had to produce the information in one day.

THE WHITE HOUSE sent a letter to the Hill, detailing what it wants as part of this funding bill. The Trump administration is asking for $5.7 billion for a “steel barrier,” which is doubling down on a position that Democrats have rejected countless times already.

SOMETHING ELSE THAT STUCK OUT: The administration is looking for $798 million more for detention beds. Democrats have been trying to slash the bed funding number for years. Republicans believe more beds are needed because more people are crossing the border illegally. The letter … Marianne LeVine and Quint Forgey on the request

more
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2019/01/07/is-this-the-dark-before-the-light-371203

January 7, 2019

President Trump bets big on Supreme Court to uphold controversial policies after lower court losses

Richard Wolf, USA TODAY Published 7:00 a.m. ET Jan. 7, 2019 | Updated 7:56 a.m. ET Jan. 7, 2019

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump is betting big on the Supreme Court in 2019 to revive controversial policies on issues ranging from immigration and border security to transgender soldiers in the military.

Seeking to match the success he had at the high court on his immigration travel ban against predominantly Muslim countries last year, Trump is counting on the justices – including two that he picked – to reverse lower court losses at the hands of both liberal and conservative judges.

How the Supreme Court rules on the requests in the coming months will shed light on the justices' views about executive power, judicial discretion and Trump's proclivity for upending longstanding policies by whim, or even tweet.

Waiting for word are more than 700,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children who could be threatened with deportation under Trump's policy. Also in play are some of the estimated thousands of transgender troops serving in the military and others seeking to join who face a partial ban.

more
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/01/07/president-donald-trump-bets-supreme-court-turn-losses-into-wins/2462732002/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatodaycomwashington-topstories

January 7, 2019

Trump's Self-Massacre

January 7, 2019 at 8:34 am EST By Taegan Goddard

Edward Luce: “Politics isn’t usually this simple. But Donald Trump lives and dies by marketing slogans. In this case — ‘Build the wall!’ — the outcome is near certain defeat. It’s all the more remarkable for being self-created. The fact that he only started to care about redeeming his promise after Democrats regained the House in the midterms, makes it even more self-destructive. He had two years of Republican control to push it through and failed. It’s hard to see Democrats striking almost any deal to fund a wall they revile and that even anti-immigrant hardliners concede would do little to fix America’s immigration problems… As a result, Trump is hurtling with great steam into an entirely needless train wreck.”

“The question is why he is only now becoming serious when he has the least chance of succeeding. The charitable answer is that he didn’t see the midterm election defeat coming. He tried to win that election by hyping up a crisis about an invasion of central American migrants. It backfired. This is his last chance to fund a wall. The uncharitable answer, which I think is the right one, is that Trump’s politics only works in a climate of permanent frenzy. A government shutdown meets that test.”

“But even if he got his wall, it wouldn’t redeem his election promise. The second half of his promise was ‘…and Mexico will pay for it.’ Two years later, Trump is holding the federal government to ransom in an attempt to force Americans to pay for it. We shouldn’t overlook that irony. In the unlikely event Trump upheld his promise, he would be breaking it.”

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https://politicalwire.com/2019/01/07/trumps-self-massacre/

January 6, 2019

U.S. Envoy to Israel: Trump's Peace Plan Won't Be Released for Several Months

Source: Haaretz



U.S. officials have repeatedly said 'deal of the century' will cause discomfort to both Israel and the Palestinians

Reuters, Noa Landau and Amir Tibon Jan 06, 2019 2:59 PM

U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said on Sunday that President's Donald Trump's peace plan will not be released for several months.

"We want to release it a way that gives it the best chance of getting a good reception," Friedman said in Jerusalem. The Israeli elections, he added, "are a factor, but not the only factor."

According to Friedman, the contents of the peace plan are "pretty much completed," but there is additional "wordsmithing and smoothing."

"The challenge to a peace plan is making the case for a much more sober assessment of the realities in this region," he said. "The last time there was a meaningful agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians was 1993. A lot has happened since 1993.”

Read more: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/u-s-envoy-to-israel-trump-s-peace-plan-won-t-be-released-for-several-months-1.6810025

January 6, 2019

Graham: no progress on shutdown negotiations 'as long as the radical left is in charge'

https://twitter.com/FaceTheNation/status/1081945787632766977

January 6, 2019

House Democrats release bills to end shutdown

Source: The Hill



BY KYLE BALLUCK - 01/06/19 12:05 PM EST

House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita M. Lowey (D-N.Y.) on Sunday released the text of four bills meant to end a partial government shutdown, now in its third week.

The House will first consider an appropriations bill that funds the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service, Lowey’s office said. Other bills cover departments including Agriculture, Interior, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development.

“While Senate Republicans acting at the behest of President Trump have blocked our bipartisan, comprehensive plan to end the government shutdown, it is urgent that we take steps to reopen parts of the government that most directly affect working families,” Lowey said in a statement.

“These bills, which have already passed the Senate on a 92-6 vote, do exactly that.”

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/424066-house-democrats-release-bills-to-end-shutdown

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Read text of bills here:

Financial Services and General Government

Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies

Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies

Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies

January 6, 2019

Mulvaney Says Nobody Blames Trump for 'Coarsening' of Politics After Tapper Shows Devastating...

Mulvaney Says Nobody Blames Trump for ‘Coarsening’ of Politics After Tapper Shows Devastating %!@#ing Montage

by Caleb Howe | Jan 6th, 2019, 12:06 pm 24

Last week, President Donald Trump said that newly sworn-in Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) “dishonored” herself when she dropped an eff-bomb about him at an event. On Sunday, CNN’s Jake Tapper challenged new interim White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney on whether Trump really has any room to talk when it comes to coarseness.

“The president said her remark, saying that it was time to impeach the mf’er, was quote ‘disgraceful’, President Trump obviously is not known as a delicate flower with his language he uses, he’s sworn publicly quite a bit,” said Tapper. “Take a listen to some of it.”

He then played a montage of clips of President Trump cursing in public events, including the eff bomb, and getting cheers from his crowds. Tapper asked Mulvaney, “does President Trump think that he has played any role in the coarsening of our national discourse?”

“No, no, I think…” began Mulvaney.

“He doesn’t?” Tapper asked somewhat incredulously.

“I think people can be coarse, as clearly this member of Congress is,” Mulvaney continued. “By the way, I was very glad to see some of my former Democrat colleagues distance themselves from that type of language.”

“The president does use coarse language in private a lot with us,” he said. Tapper interrupted to point out that those clips of Trump cursing using the same word and style as Tlaib were, like hers, in front of a crowd. “Those were public,” he said.

“Many people–I recogni–many people do,” Mulvaney said, without actually addressing the point that contrary to his own characterization the remarks were not private, but public, and were exactly like what Tlaib said, which Trump called “disgraceful” and that he said “dishonored her family.”

“But no, I don’t think anybody blames the president for the coarsening of the language of the —” he continued.

more + video
https://www.mediaite.com/tv/mulvaney-says-nobody-blames-trump-for-coarsening-of-politics-after-tapper-shows-devastating-ing-montage/

January 6, 2019

'I Have No Idea': Mulvaney Juggles Trump's Wild Border Wall Claims

https://twitter.com/CNNSotu/status/1081918316153917440

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/i-have-no-idea-mulvaney-juggles-trumps-wild-border-wall-claims