On today’s “To the Contrary” Podcast, I’m joined by my good friend Jonathan Rauch, a Brookings Institution Senior Fellow and a contributing writer at The Atlantic. In a wide-ranging conversation, we talk about Trump’s slush fund, US-Israel relations, the war with Iran… and whether we have a “psychotic” government.
Rauch recently wrote about this with Peter Wehner in the NYT: “Trump Is Turning America Into a Psychotic State.” (Gift link)
It has been clear for a long time that President Trump is a person with a disorganized mind and a disordered personality. What the past few months and especially the past few weeks have brought into focus is how his pathologies have cascaded downward and outward through his administration. They have become institutionalized. The reason the administration so often does not act coherently is that it cannot. The world faces something new and baffling and frightening in Mr. Trump’s second term: a psychotic state.
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Happy Thursday.
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Catching up
Largely symbolic, but still an embarrassing defeat for DJT: “House votes to rebuke Trump over war with Iran”
The Iran war powers resolution, offered by Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, had been heading for a vote before the House left for its Memorial Day recess May 21. But it was abruptly pulled from the floor when it appeared too many Republicans were absent to defeat it.
On Wednesday, it passed 215-208, with four Republicans joining all Democrats in voting yes: Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Tom Barrett of Michigan and Warren Davidson of Ohio.
The resolution directs Trump to remove U.S. armed forces from hostilities with Iran, unless Congress votes to declare war or authorizes using military force against it. It would not force him to end the conflict, however; it is a symbolic expression of disapproval of the war with Iran.
It’s almost like a pattern. “Iran vote caps Trump’s congressional losing streak”- POLITICO
The vote further stymies the White House’s political priorities in recent weeks after the GOP scuttled several Trump goals. Senate Republicans, who already helped push back against Trump on the Iran war in an initial vote, have also rejected the president’s billion-dollar proposal to aid his ballroom project and a Justice Department fund to compensate presidential allies he claims have been unfairly prosecuted.
The Goon Squad Slush fund is back. “DOJ Eyes Alternative Payout Methods After Trump ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’ Faces Pushback” - WSJ
While the Trump administration has reluctantly retreated from its $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund,” the Justice Department is signaling a willingness to work through other legal channels to pay allies of the president who claim the government targeted them for political reasons.
Department officials have emphasized in recent days that, even without the contentious fund, they have the authority—and an uncapped source of money—to settle lawsuits against the federal government as they see fit.
“We’re on it,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said in a now-deleted social-media post responding to a suggestion Tuesday from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) that the government should use existing law to compensate people who claim they were harmed.
Trump goes all-in on his deplorable acting AG. “Trump says he will nominate Todd Blanche to serve as attorney general” | AP News
Blanche’s actions have outraged Democrats and other critics who accuse him of still acting like Trump’s personal lawyer to carry out the president’s campaign of retribution. The $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” also prompted backlash from Republicans in the Senate whose support Blanche will now need in order to be confirmed as attorney general.
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Matt Labash on Trump’s latest attack on CNN’s Kaitlin Collins.
Donald Trump actually had the nerve to say this to Kaitlan Collins today in front of a crowd, a woman who does her job a lot more ably than Donald Trump does his, after he was asked about his fraudulent slush fund:
“CNN’s a very corrupt organization, but….. with a corrupt reporter standing right there. Never smiles. You never…..she’s a young, beautiful woman. Never smiles, I never see a smile off her face, I see her standing there with hatred in her eyes.”
He hits on her, and demeans her, at the same time. And no male White House reporters ever stand up against the atrocities he commits against female reporters. Which happens all the time. Is gallantry totally dead? Here’s a working script for male White House reporters. Say something like this, which is how it would/should go in the real world, if you weren’t afraid for your livelihoods:
“Hey Donald, f— you. You mushroom-dicked, digital-rapist. Unlike Kaitlan, who is good at her job, you’re a disgrace to your office. An abject failure. So crooked, they’re going to have to screw you into the ground when they bury you. Quit taking out your micro-schwantz energy on women who are better at what they do than you are.”
But feel free to put it in your own words. These are just rough guidelines…..
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Ron Fournier also has some thoughts on the feckless chodes of the WHCA:
[The] White House Correspondents’ Association — an organization I once helped lead — is bowing again to Trump. At the request of, and in honor of, a president who defiles the First Amendment, degrades reporters, and designs to make the White House and Pentagon press corps his propaganda arms, the WHCA has rescheduled its annual dinner for July 24 after a shooting disrupted the first one.
My plea to my former colleagues: Don’t go. Stay home. Your jobs are hard enough without debasing yourselves. I made the same case shortly before the first dinner in April.
WTF, folks?
This man mocks you, sues you, and targets you for prosecution. He calls the truths you’ve dedicated your lives to reporting “fake news” and orders devastating budget cuts to your colleagues at NPR, PBS and Voice of America.
In the last year, he banned the AP from the Oval Office and took over the rotating press pool. His Defense secretary Pete Hegseth imposed draconian restrictions that drove dozens of news outlets out of the Pentagon. His FCC commissioner Brendan Carr threatens broadcasters with their licenses for covering the administration truthfully. His Justice Department pursued charges against two reporters covering an ICE protest, and searched the home of a Washington Post reporter in hopes of punishing public servants who spoke to her about public service. He called one of your colleagues “ugly,” another “piggy” and routinely ducks your questions by attacking your news outlets and industry.
And you’re having dinner with this man?
And finally. Our stable genius: “Trump Riffs to Reporters on Reflecting Pool For Seven Solid Minutes — With Absurd Visual Aid”
FFS.
Some highlights of my conversation with Jonathan Rauch
Rauch explains what he means by a “psychotic state”.
As Trump loses power, he becomes more desperate and more malicious.
Ukraine is now Europe’s great military power.
Thursday dogs
Wednesday night Auggie, checking out the mosquito sticks.
