Week 50: Very stable genius.

I’m not going to report much on the revelations in Michael Wolff‘s new gossipy tell-all book because I don’t put a lot of credence in third-party political books (not since a slew of books pushing false narratives came out about Obama and Clinton). Wolff reportedly has recordings of his interviews in the West Wing, though, so if he’s just publishing what people said, he can back that up.

That doesn’t mean I didn’t secretly revel in some of the stories—they corroborate what most people who don’t support Trump already think anyway. Most of the staff quoted in the book think Trump is truly a dope and it doesn’t seem like he really wanted to be president at all. The book did launch a huge and public feud between the Trump and Bannon camps. I’ll talk about the fallout below.

But here’s what happened in real politics this week.

Missed from Last Week:

1. The Interior Department rolls back yet another Obama-era regulation. This one protected migratory birds endangered by oil, gas, wind, and solar operations.
2. The Interior Department reverses a decision by the Obama administration and renews leases for copper and nickel mining at the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota.
3. The Trump administration scales back Obama-era fines against nursing homes that harm or endanger residents. Enforcement of these Medicare programs were already weak, and this just gives fewer protections to their elderly residents.
4. The DOJ wants to ask about citizenship on the 2020 census, which would certainly reduce participation by immigrants, both documented and undocumented. The results of the census determine the distribution of congressional seats, funding of social programs, elections, and ways that state and federal dollars are spent.

Russia:

1. Paul Manafort sues Robert Mueller, Rod Rosenstein, and the DOJ. The suit asks the federal court to narrow the scope of Mueller’s authority. Manafort’s legal team thinks Mueller is out of bounds investigating money laundering. Legal experts say the suit probably won’t hold water, based on Rod Rosenstein’s earlier testimony to Congress where he said he gave Mueller leeway to follow the investigation where it led. Remember, Kenneth Starr’s Whitewater investigation led to Monica Lewinsky.
2. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Directory Christopher Wray meet with Paul Ryan about Representative Devin Nunes’ request for documents in the Russia investigation. Rosenstein and Wray were there to ask to keep the documents private at this time because sharing could hamper their investigation.
3. Ryan, who had previously supported the Russia investigation, caves to Nunes and orders the FBI to turn over the documents to Nunes, which they do. Nunes, by the way, is supposed to be recused from this investigation. The documents in question are law enforcement sensitive and documents of this type are rarely shared outside the FBI.
4. Fusion GPS founders write an op-ed asking the Senate to release their testimony and explaining some of the testimony they gave. Fusion thinks the Senate is trying to hide their testimony.
5. Instead of complying with Fusion GPS’s request to publicize their testimony, Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley instead says they can come back and testify publicly. Why not just save us the time and money and publish the testimony that was already given?
6. Representatives Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan, leaders of the Freedom Caucus, call on Jeff Sessions to step down over recusing himself from the Russia investigation.
7. Senators Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham send a letter to the FBI requesting an investigation into Christopher Steele, author of the Steele dossier. They claim that Steele misled the FBI when talking about his contacts with the media. After a year of investigation, this is all they’ve got? Mueller is light years ahead of them.
8. The AP confirms that Trump directed his White House counsel to tell Jeff Sessions not to recuse himself from the Russia investigation. Sessions obviously refused the directive and recused himself shortly thereafter, prompting Trump to tell him to resign. Which he did. And which Trump refused to accept.
9. Hand-written notes by Reince Priebus confirm some of James Comey’s testimony about Trump’s requests of him before he was fired.
10. A few days before Trump fired Comey, an aide to Jeff Sessions asked one congressional staffer if he had any damaging information on Comey, an apparent effort to undermine the FBI.
11. The FBI releases new documents that show Andy McCabe didn’t have any conflicts of interest overseeing the Clinton email investigation.

Courts/Justice:

1. Jeff Sessions reverses Obama-era guidance on keeping federal hands off of regulating states that have legalized marijuana. At his hearings, he said he would not change anything in this regard. On the flip side, veterans can now discuss marijuana use with the VA and not lose their benefits.
2. Just in the nick of time, because the acting U.S. attorneys were temporary and their term runs out this week, Sessions appoints 17 interim attorneys. There’s a little cronyism going on here, starting with the replacement for Preet Bharara in the Southern District of New York. His replacement is a law partner with Rudy Giuliani.
3. Scott Pruitt says he’d like to be attorney general if Jeff Sessions leaves.
4. Trump calls on the DOJ to prosecute Hillary’s former aide Huma Abedin and also James Comey.
5. Trump also calls the DOJ part of the “deep state.” Sarah Huckabee Sanders says he didn’t mean it.

Healthcare:

1. Dismantling the ACA piece by piece. After removing the individual mandate in last year’s tax plan, Trump proposes alternative healthcare plans that wouldn’t have to cover the 10 essential health benefits required by the ACA.
2. Deaths in the coal mining industry almost doubled this year over last, with 15 miners dying in 2017.
3. Last year, Susan Collins (R-Maine) acknowledged that the healthcare reforms she was promised in return for her yes vote on the tax bill wouldn’t be enacted in 2017, but hopefully would be in January 2018. Now she’s saying she hopes to see them by 2019.

International:

1. Protests continue in Iran this week. But Iran deploys the Revolutionary Guard, and at least 21 are dead and around 450 protestors are in custody in Tehran.
2. The U.S. plans to call for an emergency UN session to address the Iranian protests.
3. A few pro-government rallies pop up across Iran to counter the ongoing anti-government protests.
4. Trump announces a freeze on military aid to Pakistan, which has been a strategic but befuddling ally in the fight against terrorism. The Pakistani government holds an emergency security meeting to figure out how to deal with Trump’s accusations of lies and deceit.
5. The State Department also places Pakistan on a watch list of countries that don’t protect religious freedom.
6. In response to Kim Jung Un tweeting that he has a nuclear button, Trump tweets that his button is bigger. Which only serves to work up more fear of a nuclear war.
7. The CDC plans a briefing for how to prepare for a nuclear war.
8. North and South Korea plan to sit down for formal talks to find ways to improve their relations and to cooperate on the Winter Olympics.
9. The U.S. fails to make its scheduled payment of $125 million to the United National Relief and Works Agency. Some think it’s a ploy to get leverage on Israel/Palestine talks, but the U.S. says we’re just working out the details.
10. The National Security Agency joins the State Department in losing its top talent under the Trump administration.

Legislation/Congress:

1. New Senators Doug Jones (D-Ala.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) are sworn in. Smith replaces Al Franken, who stepped down at the urging of his colleagues over allegations of harassment.
2. Congress comes back to a full schedule this year. Here are a few things on their plate:
   • Budget: Congress has until January 19 to sign a budget to avoid a government shutdown.
   • DACA: Congress technically has until March to prevent DACA recipients from potentially being deported (but in reality, this needs to be done sooner).
   • Disaster recovery: Last year was the most expensive year for U.S. emergency relief, coming in at around $306 billion, not all of which has been authorized.
   • FISA reauthorization: Constituents are asking for this to be reformed rather than simply reauthorized. This allows the NSA to collect communications information about U.S. citizens who communicate with foreigners suspected of spying or terrorism.
3. Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) releases a video defending the freedom of the press. Here are a few key quotes:
   • “A republic will not work if we don’t have shared facts.”
   • “The only way the republic can work is if we come together and defend each other’s rights to say things that we differ about.”
   • “And it’s not helpful to call the press the enemy of the American people.”

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

1. There were nearly 100 immigration-related retaliation claims to the California Labor Commissioner last year, up from 20 in 2016. Most say their bosses threatened to deport them. This largely occurs around workers contract to do work (like construction and odd jobs) and often when the worker asks for his agreed upon payment. People say they won’t pay and if the worker complains, they’ll report them to ICE.
   
2. Washington’s attorney general files a suit against Motel 6 for sharing their guests’ personal information with ICE officials without warrants and without reasonable cause other than Hispanic sounding names.
3. Democrats in Congress want a clean DREAM Act as part of any negotiations for a spending bill. Trump set a deadline of March 5, at which time DACA recipients could start being deported. Congress now has only two months to fix it. Even if they pass something now, it will take weeks if not months for the DHS to accommodate the changes.
4. The FBI charges an armed man who stopped an Amtrak train in Nebraska with terrorism after finding the man has ties to a Neo-Nazi group and that he talked about killing black people.
5. Trump’s pick to run ICE says that politicians in sanctuary cities should be charged with a crime and have their funding withheld, something courts have already called unconstitutional.
6. Two Republican legislators are trying to put up monuments to African-Americans who fought with the Confederacy. They’re getting pushback from historians, who say no African-Americans chose to fight for the Confederacy, and from white supremacists, who want the Confederacy remembered as white supremacy.
7. The price tag for Trump’s wall is expected to start at $18 billion, but to actually be closer to $33 billion. And since he’s asking Congress to fund it, the taxpayers will pay for it.
8. And here’s why marijuana laws fall under discrimination: Police found less than an ounce of marijuana at a party in Cartersville, GA. They arrested all 65 people at the house, ranging in age from 15-31 and all black, and charged them with drug possession. Many who couldn’t afford bail were fired from their jobs because they couldn’t get out of jail, and their mug shots were publicly released. All of these people could end up with a police record. This is about 45 minutes from Atlanta, where if one person has that much pot, they might get a ticket.

Climate/EPA:

1. Trump’s administration announces plans to allow offshore drilling in the Arctic, Atlantic, and Pacific oceans, opening up about 90% of U.S. waters for exploration. This is opposed by both Democrats and Republicans in almost all east and west coast states, which have some control over certain portions of their coasts.
2. Of note, part of the reason Obama didn’t approve this was because of objections from the military (along with the states).
3. The governors from all three western states—Washington, Oregon, and California—promise they’ll do everything they can to prevent drilling off their coasts. Santa Barbara, CA, had an oil spill in 1969 and another in 2015, and no one wants to increase the odds of that. There’s already oil in the waters around Santa Barbara, and tar balls constantly wash up on the beaches.
4. While northeastern U.S. gets hit by a frigid bomb cyclone, Australia is suffering a great heat wave that’s melting asphalt and causing wildfires.
5. Scott Pruitt bragged that they’re cleaning up Superfund sites faster than ever, but the sites they removed from the contaminated list were actually cleaned up years ago. The only reason they were still on the list was because they required follow-up testing to evaluate the success of the cleanup.
6. Trump rescinds rules requiring that companies disclose the chemicals they use when fracking.

Budget/Economy:

1. Republicans on the hill are suddenly deficit hawks again, saying we need to cut spending. This is a shift from the tax bill passed in December, in which they added as much as they could to the deficit in a finance bill and still comply with parliamentarian rules on reconciliation.
2. Fox News research reports the average monthly job gain by year, showing 2017 to be the lowest since 2010 (though it’s possible these numbers will be adjusted):
   • 2017: 171,000
   • 2016: 187,000
   • 2015: 226,000
   • 2014: 250,000
   • 2013: 192,000
   • 2012: 179,000
   • 2011: 174,000
   • 2010: 88,000
3. 2017 was the strongest year for manufacturing in the U.S. since 2004.
4. Following in the steps of AT&T, Comcast fired 500 salespeople after saying how they’d create thousands of new jobs with the recent tax cuts.
5. The DOW passes 25,000 for the first time.
6. California legislators propose a bill that would allow Californians to get around the tax bill by giving to the California Excellence Fund instead of paying certain taxes that are no longer deductible. Donations to the fund are deductible.

Elections:

1. Orrin Hatch, the longest-serving Senator in Utah history, announces his plans to retire, opening the door for Mitt Romney to run. Hatch says he’ll throw his support behind Romney.
2. Trump dissolves his voter fraud commission because states weren’t cooperating and the commission was the target of several lawsuits. He still maintains that there’s a high level of voter fraud, but he’s throwing the issue over to the Department of Homeland Security (which indicates that he thinks most voter fraud is committed by illegal immigrants).
3. Kris Kobach, the head of the voter fraud committee, dismisses the lawsuits as baseless, though he lost most of the lawsuits against him in Kansas for his similar efforts so doesn’t have the greatest track record.
4. Postscript: Studies since 2000, including George Bush’s own voter fraud task force, have found that voter fraud is minuscule…extremely rare.
5. Virginia drew Republican David Yancy’s name out of a bowl to push the GOP into the majority in the Virginia House of Delegates, 51-49. State law says the loser of the draw can demand a second recount, so this still might not be over.
6. And speaking of Virginia, there’s still a challenge to the results of one House of Delegates race because nearly 200 homes were reassigned to the wrong district and given the wrong ballots. The race was won by less than 75 votes, and the voters are the ones challenging the results.
7. The Trump administration puts Republican candidates on rocky ground with his expansion of oil drilling off our beaches and with the crackdown on state-legalized marijuana. Many politicians whose seats are up for grabs this year worked fast to distance themselves.

Miscellaneous:

1. In his new book, Michael Wolff quotes Bannon criticizing and insulting Trump, and then Trump goes after Bannon in return. Trump’s lawyers send Bannon a cease and desist letter, saying legal action is imminent.
2. After excerpts from the book start coming out, Chief of staff John Kelly bans the use of personal devices, like personal cell phones, in the West Wing. Wolff was allowed pretty open access during his time there, and even hosted dinner parties for White House staff.
3. Trump’s legal team demands that Wolff and his publisher stop the release of the book and apologize. Which resulted in the publisher moving the publish date up.
   • If Obama and Clinton sued every author who lied about them, there wouldn’t be any books out there about them at all.
   • If the Trump legal team ends up suing, we’ll find out if there really are recordings.
4. Of note, Trump had campaign staffers sign a non-disclosure agreement that said they couldn’t make any disparaging comments about Trump, his family, or the campaign.
5. White House officials discuss whether to fire Katie Walsh for her statements in Wolff’s book (she said working with Trump is like trying to figure out what a child wants).
6. Breitbart board members debate whether to fire Steve Bannon after excerpts from the book are published. His financier, Rebekah Mercer, says she won’t finance him any longer.
7. Trump takes credit for a very safe year in airline travel, though there’s been no fatal commercial passenger airline incident since 2009.
8. Several legislators meet with a psychiatry professor to discuss Trump’s mental state and fitness for office. The prognosis isn’t good, but you can’t really analyze someone without meeting with them.
9. Trump nominates Marie Royce to a senior position in the State Department. Marie is the wife of Ed Royce (R-Calif.), who is the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, creating a conflict of interest since Ed’s committee is responsible for State Department oversight.
10. Trump finally makes an appearance in the press briefing room, but it’s not in person. He pre-taped a message for the press briefing even though he was right there in the same building at the time.
11. One of the women who accused Roy Moore of sexual misconduct loses everything she owns when her house burns down as a result of arson.
12. Another of the women accusing Roy Moore’s of sexual misconduct is now suing him for defamation.
13. Trump brings a bunch of his cabinet and top legislators to Camp David for a Republican leadership retreat.
14. Big tech puts its weight behind opposing the repeal of net neutrality. A group called the Internet Association, which includes Facebook, Google, Netflix, and other large tech firms, is joining the lawsuit against the FCC.
15. The FBI is investigating whether donations were made to the Clinton Foundation in return for political favors while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. Previous investigations have shown such allegations to be false, but we’ll have to wait and see if they turn up anything new.
16. The chairman of Alaska’s Marijuana Control Board resigns when the DOJ announces its crackdown on marijuana use.

Polls:

1. 61% of Americans support the legalization of marijuana.