We begin today’s roundup with Eugene Robinson at The Washington Post and his analysis of Donald Trump’s campaign strategy:
I predict this will be a summer of nonstop, shameless propaganda from Trump and his minions. It will be clumsy, ridiculous and pathetic — but don’t ignore it. Call it out. Laugh at it. Recognize it for what it is: a sign not of strength but of fear. [...]
As the congressional investigations gradually pry loose financial information that Trump has done everything in his power to keep secret, as pain from the tariffs increases, as Trump finds himself having to work with Pelosi whether he wants to or not, and as Trump worries more and more about his reelection prospects, the propaganda machine — using its megaphone, Fox News — will crank up the volume.
Asawin Suebsaeng at The Daily Beast describes how Trump is leaning is to another propaganda network beyond Fox:
The overt flattery seems to be paying off. Fox News is still the president’s favorite media behemoth. But OAN’s team has been catching his eye. This year, Trump has tuned in more often than ever to OAN, two sources close to him say. There’s been a conspicuous uptick in his public promotion of OAN’s segments, including on his personal Twitter account. And, it appears, he’s even pitching the network to those roaming the halls at Mar-a-Lago.
Others outside the network have noticed this trend. According to a source familiar with the matter, over the last six months OAN has seen a clear rise in the number of groups strategically pitching stories to the channel in the hope of catching the president's attention. It’s similar to the way that activists and conservatives have often used their airtime on Fox News to get their causes in front of the cable news-obsessed president.
Ted Gup, writing at CNN, explains that Trump’s recent demand that Congress cease its investigations before he governs is similar to an abdication:
Now the nation faces a new worry -- abdication. That's right, the President who imagines himself a king, and expects others to treat him the same way, has declared that he will have nothing to do with Congress on infrastructure legislation -- perhaps the one area where he could have won bipartisan support -- so long as the Dems insist on holding him accountable. In effect, Donald Trump has announced that he has abdicated, having no longer any wish to serve.
Fittingly, the word "abdication"
has two meanings. The first applies to when a monarch relinquishes his throne (in Trump's case, not likely); the second, when anyone in a position of authority chooses to neglect or ignore his duties. The latter is what this petulant President has said he will do so long as anyone dares question him. He has announced, in effect, that America now has a government in absentia.
Catherine Rampell examines the role the press has in accommodating the president’s propaganda and overall narrative that Democrats are focused only on impeachment:
But, in fairness, there have been a lot of other issues — kitchen table issues, you might even say — that Democrats have also been pursuing, and to which pundits like me haven’t given sufficient time or attention. Many of the proposals are good, some are bad; but, in any case, it’s hard to argue that Democrats have been underinvesting in policy because they’re overinvesting in oversight.
On a final note, Alex Moe at NBC has a list of all the pending congressional investigations...worth a click:
At least 14 Democratic-led House committees have been investigating various aspects of President Donald Trump's businesses, campaign and his presidency since the beginning of this year, an NBC News review shows. In all, those committees have launched at least 50 probes into Trump world.
The investigations include whether Trump obstructed justice in the Russia probes, whether his businesses inflated their assets, how his daughter and son-in-law obtained their security clearances, whether he used his power to interfere with mergers, how his actions might have slowed aid to Puerto Rico, and conflict of interest allegations involving cabinet members.