| | | | The real reason Woodward's book is damaging for Trump | | Bob Woodward's new book -- "Fear: Trump in the White House" -- exploded onto the political scene on Tuesday morning. It included anecdotes like: President Donald Trump's aides purposely keeping information from him in order to protect the country; a failed mock-interview in preparation for a potential sit-down with special counsel Robert Mueller over Russia; and Trump lashing out at aides, most notably Jeff Sessions, referring to his attorney general as "mentally retarded."
All of this is salacious. And makes for great headlines.
But what's truly worrisome for President Trump and his administration is that the portrait Woodward paints of a chaotic, dysfunctional, ill-prepared White House is all strangely familiar. It's the same vision of the White House that Michael Wolff wrote way back in January in "Fire and Fury." It's the same picture that Omarosa Manigault-Newman constructed in her memoir of her year in the White House. It's the same story that White House reporters at CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and virtually every other mainstream media outlet has told of the Trump White House.
Sure, Omarosa could be a disgruntled former aide trying to make money while exacting revenge on her enemies. Sure, Michael Wolff could have been misled by a few sources with scores to settle with Trump. Sure, reporters could get a detail or two wrong. Sure, Woodward could have cast a scene or two in ways that are less than favorable to Trump.
But how could all -- and I mean all -- of the reporting on this White House reach a striking similar conclusion? The portraits of Trump drawn by Wolff, Omarosa and Woodward are all eerily similar to one another -- a man hopelessly out of his depth in the job, but entirely incapable of understanding how desperately out of depth he actually is. A man motivated almost entirely by personal grievance. A man willing to humiliate people who work for him, to play staffers against one another, to scapegoat underlings to keep blame off of himself. Someone who has so much self-belief that he rarely adequately prepares for situations involving international diplomacy and national security. Top aides who view that their jobs are primarily keeping Trump from causing serious harm, and grousing every step of the way about the man.
And now Bob Woodward -- without question the preeminent political reporter and chronicler of the White House in the last four decades -- has written a book that confirms every bit of the portrayals we've seen about who Trump is, who he surrounds himself and how he conducts his business.
The consistency in those storylines is virtually impossible to explain in any other way than this: It's true. To believe otherwise, you have to convince yourself that not only the entire daily media but also the likes of Wolff and Woodward all got together and agreed on how to portray Trump across tweets, stories and books. Which is, of course, beyond ridiculous.
The Point: What Woodward's book does is confirm all of the negative stories we've already heard about Trump and his administration. This isn't the work of a reporter with credibility problems or a press-loving former aide. This is the story. This is the President and how he really acts and thinks.
-- Chris | | "He's an idiot. It's pointless to try to convince him of anything. He's gone off the rails. We're in Crazytown. I don't even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I've ever had."
- White House chief of staff John Kelly on President Trump, according to Bob Woodward's new book. (Kelly later pushed back on the quote Woodward attributed to him, saying, "The idea I ever called the President an idiot is not true.") | | | KAVANAUGH CONFIRMATION HEARING | | Did you expect anything less than a dramatic start to Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing?
President Donald Trump's nominee to replace Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy began on Tuesday with a coordinated effort by Senate Democrats to slow the hearings. Democrats accused Republicans of hiding details about the judge's time as a White House lawyer for President George W. Bush by denying the release of tens of thousands of documents related to his time there. Democrats also unsuccessfully called to adjourn the hearing, arguing they didn't have time to review 42,000 documents delivered Monday night.
There were several disruptions from protesters during the hearing, which led to Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch to call a demonstrator a "loudmouth." CNN's Supreme Court reporter Ariane de Vogue called it "the most politicized start of a Supreme Court nomination that I can remember."
Fred Guttenberg, the father of a Parkland, Florida, student killed in February's mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, tweeted that when he walked up to Kavanaugh for a handshake, "He pulled his hand back, turned his back to me and walked away." The White House disagreed with Guttenberg's recollection of the incident, saying that before Kavanaugh "was able to shake his hand, security had intervened."
Oh, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was there: | | MCCAIN'S SENATE REPLACEMENT | | Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey named retired Republican Sen. Jon Kyl to replace John McCain in the Senate. Before retiring in 2013, Kyl served as the No. 2 in the Republican Party's Senate leadership.
Here's what to know:
Kyl isn't committed through the special election: Ducey was presumably appointing a McCain replacement until a special election is held at the same time as the November 2020 general election, but it's not clear whether he'll end up staying in the seat that long. Kyl has only committed through the rest of this congressional session, which ends around December 2018 or early 2019. Kyl said Tuesday that he won't run for re-election for the seat's remaining two years in 2020.
SCOTUS 'sherpa': The White House tapped Kyl, who retired from the Senate in 2013, to act as a "sherpa" to steer Kavanaugh through the Senate confirmation process. CNN's Eric Bradner points out that Kyl's appointment to McCain's seat means Kyl could get to vote to confirm Kavanaugh.
By the numbers: Kyl will be the 36th US senator to serve nonconsecutive terms since 1913, when senators became elected by popular vote, according to the Senate Historical Office, which CNN's Ethan Cohen points out.
Kyl will be the second senator from Arizona to serve nonconsecutive terms, the first being Sen. Barry Goldwater, who served from 1953-1965 and then again from 1969 – 1987.
Kyl will also become the third senator to have been appointed this year, and the 12th current senator who was initially appointed to their seat (including senators who were later elected in their own right). | | Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Tuesday that he won't seek a third term in February 2019, reversing earlier declarations he made this year signaling he would seek re-election.
Emanuel, who is also known for being President Barack Obama's former chief of staff, became the city's first Jewish mayor in 2011.
Why the timing matters: CNN's Veronica Stracqualursi reports that Emanuel's decision came a day before the start of jury selection for the trial of Jason Van Dyke, a Chicago police officer who shot and killed 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in 2014.
Emanuel and city officials faced criticism for preventing the release of a video of the incident involving Van Dyke and McDonald through much of 2015, citing concern that it could taint investigations into the shooting.
However, the 13-month gap from the incident until the charge and video release was too long for some critics, who accused police and Emanuel of a cover-up. At the time, Emanuel rejected the calls to step down and denied he was involved in keeping the video from being released. | | | From Brenna: "This perennial favorite Trump gesture is everyone who had Monday off coming back into the office this morning. Help your friends shake their post-holiday weekend Tuesday blues by telling them to sign up for The Point!" | | | | | | |
Post a Comment