Wiretap: Trump is talking gun control, but at this point it’s still just talk

In the aftermath of the Stoneman Douglas shooting, Donald Trump is starting to talk about gun control. He’s talking publicly about banning bump stocks and privately about doing more. Will he still be talking the same way when the National Rifle Association begins to weigh in? Via The Washington Post.

How the Parkland survivors started a movement — with the crazy idea that Stoneman Douglas could be the last school shooting. Via The New Yorker.

In the latest battle inside the White House, it’s a couple of heavyweights — John Kelly vs. Jared Kushner. The fight is over whether Kushner, who doesn’t have full security clearance, should still have access to highly classified material. It looks like Trump, the heaviest White House weight of them all, will have to determine the winner. Via The New York Times.

Robert Mueller is steadily putting the pressure on Paul Manafort to cut a deal — one that could presumably turn the so-called hoax investigation into something far more serious for Trump. Via The Atlantic.

Dana Milbank: Do the Mueller indictments of the Russia 13 show that Trump is, as Lenin would have put it, a useful idiot? Or is it fairer to say that Putin is playing him for a fool? Via The Washington Post

How much distance can vulnerable Republicans afford to put between them and Trump in advance of the midterms? Mike Coffman may provide the answer. Via Bloomberg.

How much will the redrawn Pennsylvania congressional districts help Democrats in November’s midterms? It depends, writes Sean Trende for Real Clear Politics. And here’s the strange part: If it’s a big wave year, it won’t help Democrats much at all. If it isn’t, it could be a boon for them.

Remember the ultimate Trumpian dream of a Mideast peace plan? It just hit another setback. Via Foreign Policy.

From The National Review on Mitt Romney: If America gave out titles of nobility, Romney would surely qualify. But as a politician who needs to appeal to a majority of voters, there’s a different Romney every election.

Long reads: Andrew Sullivan writes in New York magazine that Americans invented the modern life. And now opioids are the poison that many are picking to escape it.

 

Photo by Michael Vadon, via Flickr: Creative Commons

19 COMMENTS

  1. Speaking of Coffman, I’ll bet he doesn’t hold a town hall again anytime soon.

    I’d say that’s a taste of what’s out there this election year for the Party Trump built.

  2. According to The New York Times, “The tax overhaul that President Trump signed into law now has more supporters than opponents, buoying Republican hopes for this year’s congressional elections, 51 percent of Americans approve of the tax law, while 46 percent disapprove, according to a poll for The New York Times conducted between Feb. 5 and Feb. 11 by SurveyMonkey. Approval has risen from 46 percent in January and 37 percent in December, when the law was passed.”

    One local pundit—-not known for his political acumen—said this about President Trump’s tax cut “The biggest question about the vastly unpopular tax bill is not what the bill will do (it will make the already rich even richer) or how it will affect the 2018 midterms (the conventional wisdom is that it will not be good for Republicans, but no one really knows) but why Republicans are so intent on passing it.”

    Is it possible to be more out of touch? Possible, yes. Probable, no!

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/19/business/economy/tax-overhaul-survey.html?smid=tw-share&mtrref=t.co&mtrref=undefined

    “There is a growing public opinion that despite an occasional grunt and expectant squeak from the Mueller inner sanctum, Mr. Mueller has hit a dead end. A dry hole, as the oil drillers would call it. Much was expected from Mr. Mueller, a man with a reputation for probity, ethics, honor, positive work habits and other good stuff, but so far, for all the grunting and squeaking, he has produced only a few mice. None of the mice speak Russian with dreadful tales to tell.” That’s it in a nutshell according to the Washington Times’ Wesley Pruden.

    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/feb/19/everybodys-playing-the-new-game-in-town/

    First it was Oprah Winfrey, now George Clooney is flexing his political muscles. He and his wife Amal contributed half a million dollars to the March for Our Lives and will appear but not speak in Washington DC on March 24th.

    george-clooney-and-wife-amal-donating-500000-to-march-for-our-lives-and-will-be-there

    Some politicians can have every advantage and still lose. In an article in realclearpolitics.com Maria Bartiromo notes that, “So we know that Hillary Clinton goes to run for president and she’s got the full weight and strength and power of the U.S. government behind her, where FBI and other agencies are completely politicized to make sure she wins, and she still lost”

    https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/02/12/bartiromo_hillary_clinton_had_the_full_weight_and_strength_of_the_us_government_behind_her.html

    The New York Times warns Democrats that they will continue to lose elections if they ignore voters like Shannon Kennedy retired military officer who voted twice for Barack Obama before his conversion to Donald Trump. Now he’s a true believer, even if he thinks “Donald definitely needs to button it sometimes.”

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/09/opinion/one-honorable-americans-love-of-trump.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fopinion&module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=Opinion&action=keypress&region=FixedLeft&pgtype=article

  3. Good Russian troll, thanks for the propaganda.

    Meanwhile in planet earth, as a left leaning firearms instructor, I’ve had a fly-on-the-wall view of the gun crowd for a couple of decades. I am for regulation, but I’m always curious, in a country with more guns than people, and knowing what I do about the near religious fervor these folks have for their weapons, how does that work?

  4. Jay L. Bird,

    How disappointing, I thought you had all the answers!

    But either does Mr. Littwin and although he’ll never admit it he favors gun confiscation.

    That would put you out of a job wouldn’t it?

    However, Mr. Littwin does know the definition of sedition.

  5. Jay L. Bird,

    I’m serious, Mr. Littwin actually does know the definition of sedition unlike less educated folks.

    He not only knows the definition of sedition he can explain what the definition means. Unlike less educated folks.

    Pretty classy mentioning the tragic shootings in Florida.

    Not surprising though.

  6. Jay L. Bird,

    Is it true you flunked your induction physical because they couldn’t find a spine?

    2016 Electoral College results:

    President Trump 306
    Hillary Clinton 232

    President Trump duly, legally and Constitutionally elected.

  7. I’m not surprised you’ve gone back to lying after the intellectual stomping you got the last time you childishly refused to acknowledge Mueller’s work.

    2016 Electoral College results:

    President Trump 306*
    Hillary Clinton 232

    There…fixed it for you. Now it’s honest.

    After Friday, it will always look like that…

  8. Jay L. Bird,

    So it is true you flunked your induction physical because they couldn’t find a spine!

    Not surprising but it does explain a lot,

    Two things:

    What does the asterisk mean?

    Have you finally—-finally!!—-figured out what sedition is and if so please explain who, in your opinion, is the “lawful military authority” that definition refers to?

    But we are making progress. At least you finally—-finally!!!—-admit that President Trump won the 2016 Electoral College count meaning, of course, he is the duly, lawfully and Constitutionally elected president.

    Thanks Jay, now we’re getting somewhere.

  9. You know, for a Russian troll, you’re not very good at it. At least you’re no longer trying to pretend you still have honor. That’s a start.

    How does that black hat fit?

  10. Jay L. Bird,

    You don’t have to hide your ignorance behind insults.

    Or maybe you do.

    If you don’t know what the asterisk means just say so.

    I’ll simply add it to the ever growing list of things you don’t know like the meaning of sedition or the meaning of honor.

    No one’s gonna laugh at you. Okay, that’s not true.

  11. Jim,

    I thought you’d enjoy this. I know I did.

    “It is both dismal and amusing to see the rationalizations of the diehard Kremlin collusionists after Robert Mueller’s spurious indictment of the 13 Russians who will never encounter the vagaries of U.S. justice. The charge of conspiring against the United States is nonsense, and the whole ambiance of the investigation now is that of a phantom consolation prize for the absence of a crime, a victim, or a culprit, all amplified by the hollow sanctimony of an official America that has meddled countless times in the elections of other countries (usually for the general good of the Western alliance). The desperation of the Trump impeachers is piquant: This indictment doesn’t cover hacking — where might that lead? And the fact that Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein said, “This indictment refers to no Americans,” and that it contains no allegation of affecting the election result or of collusion by Americans, may mean that perhaps another indictment will. It is to this pathetic wisp that the New York Times’ Tom Friedman’s claim of a Russian assault on American sovereignty equivalent to Pearl Harbor and 9/11, and Senator Mark Warner (D., Va.)’s thousand Russian agents delivering Wisconsin to Trump on election night, have been reduced.”

    “It is all, and always has been, nonsense. The Russian activities Mueller has attacked began before Trump had announced his candidacy, were favorable to Sanders and the Green candidate, Stein, as well as to Trump, and were almost entirely Internet advertisements decrying the state of the country in terms many Americans would sadly endorse — violence, corruption, poverty, crime, racism, etc. — in a presidential campaign in which the major candidates spent $2.5 billion, and Mrs. Clinton spent the unheard-of sum of $250 million on attack ads. This was her version of “going high when they go low”: She was obviously speaking of money spent, not moral tone. And that was without counting the 10 to 12 million dollars the Clinton campaign contributed to assembling the outrageous Steele dossier, which Mrs. Clinton cites in her book as evidence of the ”treason” Trump committed with Russia to cheat her of the election. Trump critics are correct to say that this piffling pseudo-prosecution is not “a complete vindication,” in that it is not an explicit exculpation, but it is a stark confession of the extent of the collusion fiction.”

  12. ” the Mueller investigation is nonsense because I say so” is nothing new and not really my thing, but, hey, if you enjoy such pablum, to each his own !

  13. Jim,

    I couldn’t find that particular quote but I did find this one ” The desperation of the Trump impeachers is piquant: This indictment doesn’t cover hacking — where might that lead? And the fact that Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein said, “This indictment refers to no Americans,” and that it contains no allegation of affecting the election result or of collusion by Americans, may mean that perhaps another indictment will. It is to this pathetic wisp that the New York Times’ Tom Friedman’s claim of a Russian assault on American sovereignty equivalent to Pearl Harbor and 9/11, and Senator Mark Warner (D., Va.)’s thousand Russian agents delivering Wisconsin to Trump on election night, have been reduced.”

    Anyhow don’t be bitter just because the facts don’t fit your fiction . You’re not the only “diehard Kremlin collusionists” that reads the Colorado Independent. If misery loves company you should feel right at home reading the CI. You might even get a warm fuzzy feeling all over.

    And if don’t, try reading Vox.

  14. Oh Don, you can piddle around with the details all you like, but the fact is the Russia investigation has already yielded a lot of fruit – Flynn, Gates, Papadapolous, Manafort, Van Der Zwaan – remember any of those guys ?

    Insist the world is flat if you want, but Mueller isn’t going to stop. Any bets on when Manafort starts singing ?

Comments are closed.