Will Bunch/The Inquirer:
Michael Cohen and Donald Trump take American graft to the Bada Bing club
Did Trump know which companies were hiring Cohen to influence him? Were monies from these influence-seekers somehow connected to the funds that seem to have directly benefited Trump, by solving problems in his personal life? If not, where did the money that paid off Stormy Daniels come from? The powers that be have made it almost impossible to prove the crime of political bribery in modern America. The wrong answers to these questions, though, could make the impossible suddenly seem possible, and raise serious doubts about the survival of Trump’s presidency.
But what if the dollars from Novartis, AT&T, et al, didn’t benefit Trump in any illegal way? What if Michael Cohen simply sold these large corporations a bill of goods, winning huge contracts for high-level access and insights that he then didn’t deliver. There’s a valid argument that what Cohen did after Trump’s surprise victory in November 2016 is no different from how other Trump insiders cashed in — what, for example, is the deal with Qatar paying Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski $500,000 a month? — and what close associates of both Democratic and Republican presidents or top Capitol Hill lawmakers have been doing for many decades. Under this scenario, the work of Essential Consultants is about as shocking as gambling in the back room of a Casablanca nightclub.
Speaking of Qatar:
It’s a complicated story, read the two pieces above. But Michael Avenatti is on it.
Ethan Grey with a twitter piece on sexism:
1. Donald Trump ascended to the White House in 2016 because sexism still has electoral potency in the 21st century. This thread will comprehensively delve into all the evidence supporting that conclusion.
2. Hillary Clinton ran for the most powerful position in the country. Prejudice against a woman's authority is tied to whether she respects the notion that men should hold the most powerful positions.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.117…
3. Indeed, if a woman is actively seeking power (e.g. running for President) or perceived as seeking power, she is less likely to receive votes. This trend was NOT observed with men actively seeking power or perceived as seeking power. wappp.hks.harvard.edu/files/wappp/fi…
Scott Shane/NY Times:
When Spies Hack Journalism
What does this mean for journalism? The old rules say that if news organizations obtain material they deem both authentic and newsworthy, they should run it. But those conventions may set reporters up for spy agencies to manipulate what and when they publish, with an added danger: An archive of genuine material may be seeded with slick forgeries.
This quandary is raised with emotional force by my colleague Amy Chozick in her new book about covering Hillary Clinton. She recounts reading a New York Times story about the Russian hack of the Democrats that said The Times and other outlets, by publishing stories based on the hacked material, became “a de facto instrument of Russian intelligence.” She felt terrible, she reports, because she thought she was guilty as charged.
Others hurried to reassure Ms. Chozick that she and hundreds of other reporters who covered the leaked emails were simply doing their jobs. “The primary question a journalist must ask himself is whether or not the information is true and relevant,” wrote Jack Shafer, the media critic for Politico, “and certainly not whether it might make Moscow happy.”
I happened to have written the sentence that distressed Ms. Chozick, and I don’t find either her mea culpa or Mr. Shafer’s championing of the old rules fully satisfying. For reporters, withholding valuable information from the public is anathema. But in a world in which foreign intelligence services hack, leak and fabricate, journalists will have to use extreme caution and extra transparency.
Sahil Kapur/Bloomberg:
The Democrats Are Moving Left Without Self-Destructing
Moderates continue to win primaries, with the “resistance” avoiding the suicidal tendencies of the Tea Party.
Liberal voter intensity and grass-roots energy, driven by anger at Trump, sometimes evokes comparisons to the Tea Party. But the resistance has less money, is less organized, and therefore is less able to bend the party in its direction. “I envy how well-funded the right is,” says Karthik Ganapathy, a spokesman for the progressive activist group MoveOn. “It’s not the most glowing thing to say about the progressive movement, but at this point in the Tea Party cycle they were purifying the ranks. And we’re still catching up to that.”
At the same time, the resistance is avoiding the suicidal tendencies of the Tea Party, which nominated radical candidates who blew winnable races for the Senate, such as Sharron Angle in Nevada, Todd Akin in Missouri, and Richard Mourdock in Indiana. In 2010 and 2012 the movement defeated Republican incumbents with strong general election appeal such as Delaware’s Mike Castle and Indiana’s Dick Lugar, only to watch Democrats win those races.
I get “Democrats in disarray” stories but I still am not used to “Democrats in array”.
EJ Dionne/WaPo:
Trump’s failure to deliver to the voters who hoped he’d be a working-class hero creates a large opening for Democrats and progressives in key swing areas that drifted Trump’s way, especially in the Midwest and Pennsylvania.
But here again, conventional wisdom is hard at work, this time with cliches that contradict each other. The first is that Democrats have no new ideas about the economy. The second is that they are moving to the left.
But if the second is correct, that must mean that they are offering ideas that are more progressive than the ones they put forward before — which, in turn, means that the first assertion can’t be true.
Here’s the reality: The economic crash of 2008 and Trump’s success among blue-collar voters in parts of the country that have fallen behind moved moderates as well as liberals alike toward a tougher critique of how the American economy is working. There is nothing ultra-left about this. It is just a reckoning with what is happening to the lives and livelihoods of millions of our fellow Americans.
Steve Schmidt with a twitter rant about his friend Nicolle Wallace, whom Trumpsters attacked on Friday for suggesting that Sarah H Sanders was so frustrating, it made you want to strangle her. No, she wasn’t advocating violence, it’s an idiom. But it‘s illustrative of how the right always plays victim.
It’s important to understand the deliberateness of the misinformation campaign being waged against Nicolle Wallace by Trump media after she used a common and benign idiom to express her dismay around the venality of Sarah Sanders responses to ?’s about this disgraceful WH
It’s strategic purpose is to incite the most intense part of Trumps base to the ecstasy of collective victimhood. There is no greater achievement in Trumpistan than to wear the cloak of victimhood. Sarah Sanders role in the debasement of the country as the propaganda minister
Of the most mendacious administration in US History is obscured in a fog of nonsense, grievance and the fiction of a conspiracy that never rests. No apology is owed to Sarah Sanders. There is however an apology owed to the American people for the conduct of this feculent WH
This is propaganda. Period. It is indistinguishable from what people would be subjected to in an autocratic country.The accumulation and constancy of Trumps’ lies is harming our country and our character. The truth is Nicolle Wallace has done nothing but be honest and real.
Paul Ryan is responsible for Devin Nunes.
Atlantic:
The Burnout Crisis in American Medicine
Are electronic medical records and demanding regulations contributing to a historic doctor shortage?
This story rings true. In fact, it’s becoming a political issue, especially with the VA. From Politico:
Kushner-backed health care project gets ‘devastating’ review
The Pentagon report could delay the VA’s plans to install the multibillion-dollar software project begun under Obama
POLITICO reported last month that the VA contract has been delayed by concerns expressed by close friends of the president, including Marvel Entertainment chairman Ike Perlmutter, who has advised the president on veterans’ issues, and West Palm Beach doctor Dr. Bruce Moskowitz, who got White House approval to participate in the discussions.
VA officials on Wednesday said they will decide whether to go ahead with their deal by Memorial Day. To date, indications are they plan to sign it.
Because you want Marvel to make decisions about veterans. I mean, Captain America and all.