The weird tweets with no apparent basis in fact are back. I didn't think the "new," more presidential Trump would last long.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing- ... -a-wiretap
A former policy adviser to President Obama is firing back at President Trump's claim that Obama wiretapped Trump Tower, saying it didn't happen — at least not under Obama's orders.
"No President can order a wiretap. Those restrictions were put in place to protect citizens from people like you," Ben Rhodes tweeted Satruday morning.
... “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!” Trump wrote on Twitter early Saturday.
“Is it legal for a sitting President to be "wire tapping" a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!” he added in subsequent tweets. “I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!”
Or does this mean that we're about to find out more evidence for ties between Trump's campaign and Russia, and Trump is trying to sway his supporters?
Pruitt (?) starts dismantling EPA programs:
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-enviro ... es-program
A document from the National Association of Clean Air Agencies says the White House is considering a 97 percent reduction in Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funding for Great Lakes restoration. The program — currently a $300 million account — would receive only $10 million under the proposed budget, Michigan Live reported Friday.
But hey, we're supposed to get lots of shiny new weapons to make up for it.
Only two Republicans willing to break with the party so far on Trump's taxes, but still:
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/32216 ... ax-returns
Two House Republicans endorsed a Democratic effort on Friday calling on the House and Senate committees with oversight of the Internal Revenue Service to request copies of President Trump’s tax returns....
Trump broke with four decades of precedent by refusing to release his tax returns after becoming the GOP presidential nominee. He cited an ongoing IRS audit, though the agency has said taxpayers are free to release their information at any time.
Like healthcare, foreign policy and defeating ISIS are, alas for Trump, "complicated."
https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/03/tr ... terrorism/
Trump’s Promises to Defeat ISIS ‘Quickly’ Run Into Syria Buzzsaw
The agonizing decision whether to arm the Kurds to beat ISIS, or defer to Turkey’s sensibilities, is Trump’s first big test.
Some questions and information about Sebastian Gorka, from someone who was national security advisor to former vice president Biden. Including whether Gorka actually has a Top Security clearance, which could raise some questions about the information he's disseminating during his media appearances.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/03/th ... clearance/
There has been a lot written lately about Sebastian Gorka. The former national security editor at Breitbart is currently deputy assistant to President Donald Trump and a member of Stephen Bannon’s internal White House “think tank,” the Strategic Initiatives Group (SIG).
And this opinion piece seemed pretty appropriate, right now. Not just because of Trump, though he certainly seems a symptom of it, and his style of governing seems to reflect it. The piece does paint all Trump supporters with a broad brush, and implies that Clinton supporters are somehow better, which I don't like. But he does have some things to say about the dumbing down of political discourse.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/02/22/th ... ate-trump/
The Shallow State
Forget the conspiracy theories. Something much more dangerous is seeking to gut our government and change the character of our society.
The “deep state” is the flavor of the month for conspiracy theorists, the “black helicopters” of 2017. The idea of career intelligence and military officers and bureaucrats marshaling the institutional power they have spent decades mastering to advance their goals regardless of the whims or wants of elected public officials or the people at large is irresistible, Tom Clancy stuff.
...
But I’ve seen what there is of a deep state, and let me tell you, based on very nearly 25 years living and working in Washington, it is not the dark fantasy of highly competent government workers that worries me.
No, what worries me is something new, more real, and much more dangerous: the shallow state.
...
The shallow state... is unsettling because not only are the signs of it ever more visible but because its influence is clearly growing. It is made scarier still because it not only actively eschews experience, knowledge, relationships, insight, craft, special skills, tradition, and shared values but because it celebrates its ignorance of and disdain for those things. ... To many of them, knowledge is not a useful tool but a cunning barrier elites have created to keep power from the average man and woman. The same is true for experience, skills, and know-how. These things require time and work and study and often challenge our systems of belief. Truth is hard; shallowness is easy.
...It is convenient to blame Trump and write this off as a flaw in his character and that of his acolytes and enablers. But, honestly, you don’t get a reality TV show president with no experience and no interest in big ideas or even in boning up on basic knowledge (like the nature of the nuclear triad — after all, it has only three legs) without a public that is comfortable with that … or actively seeks it.
btw, I think foreignpolicy.com has a limit on the number of articles you can read before logging in. So you might need to be selective and/or read some of them later, if you can't access them.