June 06, 2017 11:32 AM UTC
Get More Smarter on Tuesday (June 6)
- 5 Comments
- by: Colorado Pols
Do not cuddle up with your chickens. It’s time to Get More Smarter! If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example). If you are more of a visual learner, check out The Get More Smarter Show.
TOP OF MIND TODAY…
► President Trump is…ugh. From the New York Times:
President Trump thrust himself into a bitter Persian Gulf dispute on Tuesday, claiming credit for Saudi Arabia’s move to isolate its smaller neighbor, Qatar, which is a major American military partner.
“During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology,” Mr. Trump said in a morning post on Twitter. “Leaders pointed to Qatar — look!”
On Monday, Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen broke diplomatic and commercial ties with Qatar, citing its support for terrorist groups. Mr. Trump, who made the cutting of terrorist funding a centerpiece of his trip to Saudi Arabia in May, said he was responsible…
…Mr. Trump’s Twitter messages also appeared to contradict that of the American ambassador to Qatar, Dana Shell Smith, who tweeted earlier in the week that Qatar had made “great progress” in curbing financial support for terrorists. Both Qatar and Saudi Arabia have been previously accused of support for extremist militants.
At the Pentagon, some Defense Department officials said they were taken aback by Mr. Trump’s decision to thrust the United States into the middle of a fight with its close partners, particularly given the American military’s deep ties to Qatar.
We can’t even…
► If the Super Bowl and Election Day were held at the same time, it might approximate the level of coverage you can expect to see on Thursday when former FBI Director James Comey testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee. All of the major television networks will cover the Comey hearings LIVE, and you can be sure that there will be many hours worth of follow-up news coverage throughout the rest of the day. Corey’s testimony is scheduled to begin at 8:00 am (MST) on Thursday.
► Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) will have dinner tonight at the White House with “Two Scoops” Trump. From the Denver Post:
President Donald Trump plans to discuss foreign policy — including his first overseas trip as chief executive — during a Tuesday night dinner at the White House with U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado and five other congressional Republicans…
…The dinner also could provide a platform for Gardner to talk about his own overseas travels, including a controversial meeting with Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte that Gardner said last week included a discussion of Duterte’s brutal crackdown on drug dealers and users that’s left thousands dead. Trump has praised that bloody approach and has invited Duterte to the White House in the future.
Oh, to be a fly on the wall for this dinner meeting…So, Cory, how about that Duterte fellow?
Get even more smarter after the jump…
► Colorado residents are urging local governments to do more to ensure their safety in the midst of an alarming pattern of explosions and other fatal accidents related to oil and gas development.
► Please stop doing this, Rep. Mike Coffman:
Arapahoe County Attorney General George Brauchler, a Republican candidate for Governor in 2018, did something similar in April to “remember” the Columbine High School shootings.
► House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has some advice for anyone considering a job in the Trump administration. From The Hill:
“If you want a job at the White House, know your blood type because you’re going to get thrown overboard at some point,” Pelosi said on CNN’s “New Day” program.
Pelosi suggested some staffers might reach a breaking point — “it will be interesting to see how he reacts to their reaction to him” — but quickly added that any pushback would have little effect on Trump’s management style.
“He doesn’t care, as long as we’re talking about him — good, bad or indifferent,” she said.
Disagreements between presidents and their staffs are hardly rare, but Trump’s tendency to take those fights public is highly unusual.
In the latest episode, Trump on Monday went after his own Justice Department over the administration’s proposal to bar foreign travelers from six predominately Muslim countries — a ban that’s been blocked by the courts. The proposal was revised after a tougher earlier version was similarly rejected. Trump signed off on both, but this week placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of the DOJ, suggesting the agency has been too timid on the issue.
Pelosi’s warning is probably not necessary at this point; the White House has been having trouble filling key administrative posts because working under Trump is about as appealing as getting a hair cut from your dentist.
► Here’s more on Trump’s staffing problems from the Washington Post:
It’s been almost a month since President Trump fired James B. Comey on May 9, leaving the FBI without a director. Under normal circumstances, a president planning to fire the head of the nation’s top law-enforcement agency might do so only once he had a replacement lined up. (The only other time an FBI director was fired, President Bill Clinton announced his replacement the next day.) Trump didn’t do that, pledging instead that a new director would be identified quickly. Shortly before he left on his overseas trip last month, he promised that he was “very close” to picking a new director. That was almost three weeks ago.
There have been a number of people who were identified as being in the running to get the job. And of that group, most have publicly withdrawn their names from contention…
…Those four withdrawals are hardly the only ones the Trump administration has seen. Three of Trump’s picks to head the Army and Navy have withdrawn from consideration, Vincent Viola(Army), Philip Bilden (Navy) and Mark Green (Army). His first pick to run the Labor Department withdrew. His pick for deputy treasury secretary withdrew, as did his pick for deputy commerce secretary. Trump’s first pick to run the Office of Drug Control Policy, Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.), withdrew. Monica Crowley, his pick for National Security Council spokesperson, withdrew. A lawyer on the shortlist for solicitor general withdrew.
Even Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway’s husband, George, withdrew from consideration for a top job with the Justice Department.
► You can add something else to the lasting legacy of Donald Trump: Now everybody thinks they should run for President.
► Does President Trump believe that Climate Change is real? Nobody in his administration is willing to say one way or the other.
► Routt County Treasurer Brita Horn is joining the Republican field for State Treasurer in 2018.
OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK
► The White House has decided against creating a “war room” to deal with allegations of improper involvement between Russia and Donald Trump’s campaign for President.
► As the Huffington Post explains, even the staunch-conservative Wall Street Journal is fed up with President Trump.
ICYMI
► “National Day of Caves.” Really.
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Regarding Qatar, in the meantime, Trump sucks up hugely and bigly to the Wahhabi sect in Saudi Arabia, the main sponsors of Islamic global terrorism from the Sunni side.
Somebody needs to prevail upon Trump to stop his constant tweeting. Among other things, it's undignified and usually his version of "fake news."
Au contraire..
I'm a big fan of his tweets. They're a window into his mind.
And they're liable to hang him now that the hearings are getting underway. If he had a lick of sense (I made a funny), he'd keep his mouth shut and his short, pudgy little fingers still and stop providing Congress all the evidence they need to impeach and convict him.
Is Dominick's campaign website hosted on a porn company's server?
From my office: