We begin today’s roundup with an editorial from The Birmingham News calling Roy Moore unfit for office:
Roy Moore simply cannot be a U.S. Senator. Even if his party and many of its adherents still think it possible, it is unthinkable -- for his state, and his country. [...]
The seriousness of these incidents cannot be overstated. They should not be parsed with talk of statutes of limitations or whether proof exists. Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is a consideration for the courtroom, not the ballot box. When choosing our representative before the rest of the world, character matters. [...]
In our view, Moore has already revealed himself as grossly unfit to be a U.S. Senator before these revelations.
Here’s Aaron Blake at The Fix:
But while the national establishment has clearly decided that the situation needs to be dispatched with — and fast — the ones that really need convincing are Moore and Alabama Republicans. Either Moore drops out or the state party withdraws his nomination. Beyond that, this drama could last another month and possibly longer, or it could conclude with Democrats winning the seat and the GOP's majority being cut in half.
George Will writes about how the Republican base won’t abandon Moore:
Absentee ballots are already being cast. Assuming that the Republican governor does not shred state law by preventing the election from occurring Dec. 12, Republicans’ Senate majority might soon be gone. It has been 21 years since a Democratic Senate candidate won even 40 percent of Alabama’s vote. It has, however, been even longer — not since the George Wallace era — that the state’s identity has been hostage to a politician who assumes that Alabamians are eager to live down to hostile caricatures of them.
Nothing about Moore’s political, financial or glandular history will shake his base, unless the credible accusations of serial pursuit of underage girls are suddenly overshadowed by something his voters consider serious, such as taking sides in the Alabama-Auburn game. Jones’s hopes rest with traditional white Democrats (scarce), Republicans capable of chagrin (scarcer) and African Americans.
Ed Burmila at Rolling Stone:
Led by the same cargo cult of alt-right types who argue it's no big deal that the Trump administration has more ties to Russia than the Bolshoi Ballet, conservatives tripped over themselves blaming the accusers or, unbelievably, arguing that his alleged actions amount to no big deal.
If this isn't rock bottom, pray that a comet hits Earth before we reach it.
Turning to the president’s trip, Ashley Parker analyzes the president’s lack of restraint:
In many ways, the president is similar to a tea kettle, with an almost physical need to let off steam after a period of contained pressure — and White House aides are now largely resigned to his periodic eruptions. So as Trump departed from his team’s carefully laid plans, senior administration officials presented a public face of calm.
Julia Ioffe at The Atlantic dives into the latest revelation that Don Jr. corresponded with Wikileaks:
Though Trump Jr. mostly ignored the frequent messages from WikiLeaks, he at times appears to have acted on its requests. When WikiLeaks first reached out to Trump Jr. about putintrump.org, for instance, Trump Jr. followed up on his promise to “ask around.” According to a source familiar with the congressional investigations into Russian interference with the 2016 campaign, who requested anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, on the same day that Trump Jr. received the first message from WikiLeaks, he emailed other senior officials with the Trump campaign, including Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Brad Parscale, and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, telling them WikiLeaks had made contact. Kushner then forwarded the email to campaign communications staffer Hope Hicks. At no point during the 10-month correspondence does Trump Jr. rebuff WikiLeaks, which had published stolen documents and was already observed to be releasing information that benefited Russian interests.
Margaret Hartmann at The New Yorker:
WikiLeaks Was Trying to Help Trump, But Wanted to Appear Impartial
While WikiLeaks bills itself as a neutral proponent of transparency, the 2016 election made it quite clear that wasn’t the case. Shortly after the site posted leaked emails from top Democratic officials to coincide with the Democratic National Convention in July 2016, Wired noted that their tone was starting to feel “more than a little biased,” and “At times, they haven’t looked so much like a group speaking truth to power as an alt-right subreddit.” A few weeks later, the New York Times ran an article titled “How Russia Often Benefits when Julian Assange Reveals the West’s Secrets.”
Meanwhile, Catherine Rampell asks the key question: If the GOP tax bill is so great, why do they keep lying about it?
2. The tax plan primarily helps the middle class.
Nope. The biggest benefits go to higher-income Americans, both in raw dollar terms and as a percentage of income, as New York University School of Law tax professor David C. Kamin has illustrated.
To give you a sense of scale: Under the Senate bill, households making more than $1 million receive an average tax cut of nearly $50,000 in 2027; those making $40,000 to $50,000 get an average cut of $480.
Averages also disguise a lot. Lots of lower- and middle-income families won’t benefit at all. Many will be worse off.
And, on a final note, here is Eugene Robinson’s take on the president’s trip:
There is a natural tendency to become inured to Trump’s gushing stream of nonsense. Resist the urge. Read that statement again. The president of the United States, in the midst of a trip to Asia, taunted the nuclear-armed dictator of North Korea in a manner most sixth-graders would consider juvenile.
There was a time when the world looked to the U.S. president to speak clearly in defense of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights. I refer to the entirety of modern U.S. history before January, when Trump assumed the high office he now dishonors.