Trump, Corker, and Conservatism

In Defying the Odds, we explain that Trump and his allies have renounced the conservatism of Ronald Reagan. The update  -- recently published --includes a chapter on the 2018 midterms.

In American Carnage (p. 511), Tim Alberta quotes Bob Corker on the four things he believes:

I believe that America is a force for good in the world, that the post-World War II institutions have been mostly beneficial to the United States and its citizens...
I believe that free trade has been an outstanding thing for the American people and for our country and for our GDP...
I believe the fiscal issues matter....
And lastly I believe that the domestic institutions that are fundamental to our democracy are important.

Corker emphasizes that Trump believes none of these tenets of pre-Trump mainstream conservatism.

Trump and the Massacres

In Defying the Odds, we discuss Trump's character and record of dishonesty. The update -- recently published --includes a chapter on the 2018 midterms. Earlier this month, he told several Democratic congresswomen to "go back" to their countries. Then he attacked Elijah Cummings and his city of Baltimore.

Then came massacres in El Paso and Dayton.  The El Paso shooter meant to kill Mexicans, and left a manifesto echoing Trump's rhetoric.

Jake Tapper at CNN:

White House officials rebuffed efforts by their colleagues at the Department of Homeland Security for more than a year to make combating domestic terror threats, such as those from white supremacists, a greater priority as specifically spelled out in the National Counterterrorism Strategy, current and former senior administration officials as well as other sources close to the Trump administration tell CNN. "Homeland Security officials battled the White House for more than a year to get them to focus more on domestic terrorism," one senior source close to the Trump administration tells CNN.

"The White House wanted to focus only on the jihadist threat which, while serious, ignored the reality that racial supremacist violence was rising fast here at home. They had major ideological blinders on."

John Fritze at USA Today:

A USA TODAY analysis of the 64 rallies Trump has held since 2017 found that, when discussing immigration, the president has said “invasion” at least 19 times. He has used the word “animal” 34 times and the word “killer” nearly three dozen times.

The exclusive USA TODAY analysis showed that together, Trump has used the words "predator," "invasion," "alien," "killer," "criminal" and "animal" at his rallies while discussing immigration more than 500 times. More than half of those utterances came in the two months prior to the 2018 midterm election, underscoring that Trump views immigration as a central issue for his core supporters.

From the First Lady’s twitter account, this appears to be the baby both of whose parents died shielding him from the El Paso shooter. The baby in question was discharged the day before and brought back for Trumps visit. Child is not id’d on @flotus account. But appears to... pic.twitter.com/17L6XQROMS

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) August 9, 2019

Health Insurance and Underinsurance

In Defying the Odds, we discuss the health care issue in the 2016 campaign.  the update  -- recently published --includes a chapter on the 2018 midterms.

Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar at AP:

Government surveys show that about 90% of the population has coverage , largely preserving gains from President Barack Obama’s years. Independent experts estimate that more than one-half of the roughly 30 million uninsured people in the country are eligible for health insurance through existing programs.

Lack of coverage was a growing problem in 2010 when Democrats under Obama passed his health law. Now the bigger issue seems to be that many people with insurance are struggling to pay their deductibles and copays.

“We need to have a debate about coverage and cost, and we have seen less focus on cost than we have on coverage,” said Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet. He is among the Democratic presidential candidates who favor building on the current system, not replacing it entirely, as does Sanders. “The cost issue is a huge issue for the country and for families,” Bennet said.

A report this year by the Commonwealth Fund think tank in New York found fewer uninsured Americans than in 2010 but more who are “underinsured,” a term that describes policyholders exposed to high out-of-pocket costs, when compared with their individual incomes. The report estimated 44 million Americans were underinsured in 2018, compared with 29 million in 2010 when the law was passed. That’s about a 50% increase, with the greatest jump among people with employer coverage.

Trump Mistakes

"United Kingston" "Prince of Whales"

"Pour over"



"Seperation"

....children from parents, as did Bush etc., because that is the policy and law. I tried to keep them together but the problem is, when you do that, vast numbers of additional people storm the Border. So with Obama seperation is fine, but with Trump it’s not. Fake 60 Minutes!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 26, 2018

The Right Grift

In Defying the Odds, we discuss the conservative movement. The update -- recently published --includes a chapter on the 2018 midterms.

Eric Hoffer wrote: "What starts out here as a mass movement ends up as a racket, a cult or a corporation."  The conservative movement is a case in point.

Maggie Severns and Derek Willis in Politico:

After recruiting thousands of donors for the American Conservative Union — the powerful organization behind the annual CPAC conference — a Republican political operative pushed the same contributors to give millions to a PAC that promised to go after then-President Barack Obama, but then steered much of their donations to himself and his partners.

The PAC, called the Conservative Majority Fund, has raised nearly $10 million since mid-2012 and continues to solicit funds to this day, primarily from thousands of steadfast contributors to conservative causes, many of them senior citizens. But it has made just $48,400 in political contributions to candidates and committees. Public records indicate its main beneficiaries are the operative Kelley Rogers, who has a history of disputes over allegedly unethical fundraising, and one of the largest conservative fundraising companies, InfoCision Management Corp., which charged millions of dollars in fundraising fees.

A July 24 press release from CA attorney general Xavier Becerra:

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra today filed a lawsuit against Move America Forward, a nonprofit that sends care packages to combat troops. The lawsuit alleges that Move America Forward’s marketing practices misled donors about the nonprofit’s affiliations and charitable outreach. Further, the lawsuit alleges that the charity used pictures and quotes of veterans without permission in order to seek donations. The lawsuit also claims Move America Forward violated Internal Revenue Service rules by supporting a political action committee and using charitable donations to support at least two political campaigns.

“Our troops and their commitment to our country should never be used for deceitful gimmicks,” said Attorney General Becerra. “Preying on donors’ support for military service members and veterans with deceptive marketing not only hurts generous donors, but also hurts military families. These actions taint the good work done by the many honest charities in California that support our troops and veterans. Our troops deserve respect and Californians deserve transparency. My office is committed to holding fraudulent charities accountable.”

In the lawsuit, Attorney General Becerra argues that charity directors Salvatore Russo and Shawn Callahan operated separate for-profit entities that charged fees for services provided to Move America Forward and did not comply with California’s Corporations Code guidelines for self-dealing transactions. Russo’s companies were paid an estimated $1,818,000 as a result of these transactions. The complaint further alleges that the nonprofit also invaded the privacy of injured veterans by using their names and stories to solicit donations without their permission. Move America Forward also plagiarized images, quotes, and information from other organizations to mislead donors and falsely inflate its effectiveness in executing its mission. Additionally, Move America Forward improperly shared its resources by providing free office space for the political action committees Move America Forward PAC and the Tea Party Express. The charity also used its charitable assets to support two political campaigns endorsed by those political action committees. Under United States Treasury rules, charities are prohibited from candidate electioneering, and their lobbying capabilities are strictly limited.

The lawsuit seeks the removal of defendants Russo and Callahan as directors of Move America Forward for abusing their authority. It also seeks to ban the defendants from operating charities and from soliciting charitable donations in California. The Attorney General’s Office will pursue further penalties.
A copy of the complaint can be found here.

Trump v. the Constitution

In Defying the Odds, we discuss Trump's character and record of dishonesty.  He also has a weak understanding of the Constitution.  The update  -- recently published --includes a chapter on the 2018 midterms.

Trump on July 23:

Then I have an Article 2, where I have the right to do whatever I want as President. But I don’t even talk about that because they did a report and there was no obstruction. After looking at it, our great Attorney General read it. He’s a total professional. He said, “There’s nothing here. There’s no obstruction.” So they referenced, “No obstruction.” So you have no collusion, no obstruction, and yet it goes on.

Trump on July 12:

Also, take a look at one other thing.  It’s a thing called Article II.  Nobody ever mentions Article II.  It gives me all of these rights at a level that nobody has ever seen before.  We don’t even talk about Article II

“Billionaire Tech Investor Peter Thiel believes Google should be investigated for treason. He accuses Google of working with the Chinese Government.” @foxandfriends A great and brilliant guy who knows this subject better than anyone! The Trump Administration will take a look!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 16, 2019

Jason Zengerle at NYT:

After the C.B.P. press event, Nielsen, sporting aviator sunglasses and a navy blue quilted vest, escorted Trump across a dusty field to inspect a new section of border wall. Briefly pulling him aside from the Kevlar-clad C.B.P. officers and gun-toting local law-enforcement officials who were accompanying them, Nielsen, according to two people familiar with the conversation, reviewed with the president the options available to him short of refusing to let people in. Trump wasn’t pleased. Kevin McAleenan, then the commissioner of C.B.P., one of the agencies under the D.H.S. umbrella, was also on the wall-inspecting trip. According to two people familiar with the encounter, Trump urged him to block asylum seekers from entering the United States. If McAleenan went to prison for doing so, Trump said, he would pardon him. (The White House has denied that Trump said this.)

In 2016, Kevin McCarthy wrote:

Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution reads very clearly: The president “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” The take-care clause is a bulwark against tyranny. It supports the separation of powers stipulated in the Constitution: The legislative branch makes law and the executive branch administers it.

...
 Unfortunately, we live in a dangerous time, and many of our nation’s elected representatives accepted the president’s argument, implicitly consenting to his subversion of congressional authority by refusing to block the president’s actions. It seems they are happy to hand Congress’s constitutional powers to the president as long as the policy that gets enacted suits them. 

Pique Above Party

In Defying the Odds, we discuss congressional elections as well as the presidential race.  The update  -- recently published --includes a chapter on the 2018 midterms.

Presidents have often come into conflict with their congressional partisans:  such is the separation of powers.  But Trump is unusual in that he is willing to throw away a seat just for personal spite.

Jonathan Swan at Axios:

What's new: Tim Alberta, the chief political correspondent for Politico Magazine, has a book out this week that documents Trump's conquest of the Republican Party — the domination evidenced above. Axios obtained an advance copy of the book, "American Carnage," which is deeply reported and engrossing. The book reveals Trump's delight in tormenting Republicans who he views as weak or disloyal, and it helps explain the partywide silence on days like today.
...

"In one case, Trump endorsed as a means of punishment. Having heard that Minnesota congressman Erik Paulsen was distancing himself from the White House in the hope of holding his seat in the Twin Cities' suburbs, the president stewed and asked that the political shop send a tweet of support for Paulsen — thereby sabotaging the moderate Republican's efforts.

When his aides demurred, Trump sent the tweet himself, issuing a 'Strong Endorsement!' of the congressman in a late-night post that left Paulsen fuming and his Democratic opponent giddy. [Note: Paulsen lost his re-elect.]"