Jeffrey Goldberg/Atlantic:
The Man Who Couldn’t Take It Anymore
“I had no choice but to leave,” General James Mattis says of his decision to resign as President Trump’s secretary of defense.
I’ve known Mattis for many years, and we spent several hours in conversation this summer, at his home in Richland, Washington, and at the Hoover Institution, on the campus of Stanford University. In these conversations, we discussed the qualities of effective leadership, the workings of command-and-feedback loops, the fragility of what he calls the American experiment, fishing the Columbia River, the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, and many other topics. But about Trump he was mainly silent. I caught glimpses of anger and incredulity, to be sure. But Mattis is a disciplined man. While discipline is an admirable quality, in my conversations with Mattis I found it exasperating, because I believe that the American people should hear his answer to this question: Is Donald Trump fit for command?
He should answer the question well before November 3, 2020. Mattis is in an unparalleled position to provide a definitive answer. During moments of high tension with North Korea, he had worried that being out of reach of the president for more than a few seconds constituted a great risk. No one, with the possible exception of John Kelly, has a better understanding of Donald Trump’s capacities and inclinations, particularly in the realm of national security, than James Mattis.
Quinnipiac:
A majority of registered voters nationwide, 56 percent, say that climate change is an emergency, while 42 percent do not. Democrats say that climate change is an emergency 84 - 14 percent, independents say the same 63 - 36 percent, and Republicans say that climate change is not an emergency 81 - 18 percent. Among 18 to 34 year old voters, who may expect to be the most affected by climate change, 74 percent say that climate change is an emergency, while 24 percent do not.
Voters also think that the United States isn't doing enough to address climate change, with 67 percent of voters saying more needs to be done - a new high since the question was first asked by the Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pea-ack) University Poll in December 2015. An additional 20 percent say that the U.S. is doing enough to address climate change, and 8 percent saying that the U.S. is doing too much. Asked whether or not they are worried that they or someone in their family might be affected by an extreme weather event, 40 percent of voters say that they are worried, while 59 percent say that they are not worried.
"As fires in the Amazon rainforest serve as just the latest concern about the planet, there is a sense of urgency about climate change among American voters," said Mary Snow, Polling Analyst for the Quinnipiac University Poll. "More than half call it an emergency."
NY Times:
Sick Migrants Undergoing Lifesaving Care Can Now Be Deported
A spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Services said requests for deferred action must now be made to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency responsible for removing people from the country.
But an ICE official said that the department had not been notified in advance about the change and questioned the agency’s ability to assume that role….
Among others who could be forced to leave the country are children being treated for sickle-cell anemia, cancer and other illnesses.
Representative Ayanna Pressley, a Democrat from Massachusetts, said Wednesday that she planned to call for a congressional oversight hearing on the matter after learning about 20 patients who had received denial letters for renewals.
Joe Biden speaks for me and for all of us: "He’s seeking to deport sick kids seeking life-saving medical treatment in the United States. Like every bully, he’s trying to make himself seem stronger by picking on the most vulnerable among us.
Trump denies anything to do with an explosion in Iran while sending out classified pictures to prove it.
Splinter:
Leaked Emails Show How White Nationalists Have Infiltrated Conservative Media
Campus conservative groups like Turning Point USA have been a target both of external coups and their own racist representatives who used them as a means to legitimize their beliefs. Figures such as Milo Yiannopoulos, the once-beloved conservative commentator and far-right troll, found refuge in havens such as Breitbart. Despite their prevailing view that much of the GOP constituted “cuckservatives,” numerous white nationalists have sought to use the party to propel them out of obscurity.
And then there’s the Daily Caller, the conservative publication co-founded by Tucker Carlson, who stepped down from his role as editor-in-chief in 2016. Even since the “alt-right” rose to prominence during the 2016 election, the site has been sucked into its own game of “Who goes Nazi?” Since Trump’s election, numerous Caller employees have come under fire for their semi-secret white nationalist affiliations. For instance, Andrew Kerr, an investigative reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation, was outed as having appeared on a number of programs with far-right conspiracy theorist Brittany Pettibone. (Pettibone—wife of European white nationalist leader Martin Sellner, a man who recently sparked outrage for corresponding and accepting thousands of dollars in donations from the perpetrator of the Christchurch massacre—has branded herself as one of the most prominent “experts” of the Pizzagate conspiracy theory.)
Amy Walter/Cook Political:
The 2020 Democratic Candidates and Their Coalitions
Two topics have dominated the political dialogue this week: Bedbugs (who has them — or doesn't — and who reacted poorly to being described as one) and one poll (Monmouth), which showed Biden's lead in the race for the Democratic nomination slipping. Needless to say, I'm not particularly interested in diving into either one of these. But the outcry over one national poll (that even Monmouth pollsters ultimately conceded was an outlier), provided an opportunity to take a broader look at the most recent national polls. I wanted to focus less on the horserace and more on the demographics. Where are certain candidates strong and where are they weak.
To do this, I dug into the crosstabs of six of the most recent, reputable national polls. I also included the share of the vote that each group represented at the national level. For example, according to Ron Brownstein's excellent analysis of the 2016 CNN exit polls, 62 percent of the Democratic electorate was white, and 24 percent was black, voters older than 45 made up 60 percent of the overall electorate, while those under 45 years old constituted 40 percent.
Here Are My Biggest Takeaways:
Hartford Business Journal (turns out this is a local case):
Trial begins in civil case against Knights of Columbus
Jury selection has begun in a multi-million-dollar civil case against the Knights of Columbus over a failed vendor relationship.
While the New Haven-based Knights are most known for their charitable efforts, the Catholic organization also sells life insurance products.
In 2017, a Colorado company, UKnight, sued the Knights in U.S. District Court in Colorado, claiming it engaged in “fraud, deception, theft, and broken promises.” The plaintiff is seeking compensatory damages, and claims the Knights “destroyed UKnight’s business” and cost the company “millions of dollars in losses.”
The trial, before Colorado U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson, started with jury selection on Monday, and the parties anticipated the evidence phase of the trial to begin as soon as jurors were picked.
WaPo includes some corruption with their environmental angle:
How beef demand is accelerating the Amazon’s deforestation and climate peril
Major investment companies such as the Capital Group, BlackRock and Vanguard collectively hold hundreds of millions of dollars in investments in Brazil’s major meatpackers, Birss’s report found. “Foreign investors have enormous influence over what happens in the Brazilian Amazon,” according to the report. “Big banks and large investment companies play a critical role, providing billions of dollars in lending, underwriting and equity investment to soy and cattle companies. This capital and financial security enables agribusiness to maintain and expand operations, causing further devastation to the Amazon.”
JBS, for instance, is Brazil’s biggest meatpacker, controlling about 35 percent of its beef export market, according to data compiled by Trase, an organization that tracks global supply chains. Despite being party to Brazil’s major deforestation agreements, the company has been caught numerous times in recent yearssourcing its beef from ranchers engaging in illegal deforestation. The company’s leadership has been implicated in numerous bribery and corruption scandals involving government officials. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
Those scandals haven’t deterred American investors, who own well more than $1 billion in JBS stock, according to Amazon Watch. The company’s stock price has roughly tripled since Bolsonaro’s election, hitting a record.
Nate Cohn/NY Times:
Two Polling Methods, Two Views of Trump’s 2020 Re-election Chances
Is the president basically like other presidents, or is he uniquely divisive?
One theory holds that Mr. Trump is fundamentally like any other president. This would be good news for his chances in 2020: Many presidents have gone on to win after having approval ratings like Mr. Trump’s today, and many presidents have won after a midterm drubbing. The state of the economy could be pivotal; if it stayed strong, he would have a real chance to win. His approval rating could rise, like that of prior presidents, once voters began to assess his presidency in comparison with the alternative. His relative advantage in the Electoral College could put him over the top.
Another theory holds that President Trump and this polarized era are unique. In this view, Mr. Trump is deeply unpopular, and opinions of his presidency are entrenched. The economy cannot save him from defeat. After all, his approval ratings are poor despite low unemployment; nothing short of fundamental changes in his conduct could improve them. In this view, the 2018 midterm election, when Democrats won the national House vote by almost nine percentage points, would be a harbinger of the general.
Of course, the truth could be somewhere in between (and probably is). But these two theories have different consequences for how to think about the campaign in 2020.
NB: There will be no APR on Labor Day, Monday September 2.