President Obama has asked Steven Spielberg for help crafting a "narrative" after he leaves office, so the Obama post-presidency will probably have father issues, Nazis and really big monsters. Donald Trump unveiled his immigration policy, which was apparently borrowed from a man angrily talking to himself at the bar of an exurban chain restaurant. And when asked about Trump, Mitch McConnell said he won't waste his time talking about presidential politics. He then quit Facebook in a huffy status update. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Monday, August 17th, 2015:
LOL TRUMP STILL WINNING - Reid Wilson: "Real estate mogul Donald Trump continues to dominate the Republican field, bolstered by strong support among conservative voters and a fragmented electorate still learning about his lesser-known rivals. A new Morning Consult survey of self-identified Republicans and Republican-leaning independents shows Trump maintaining his standing at 32 percent, far ahead of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), who earns 12 percent of the vote." [MorningConsult.com]
@SamYoungman: Reporter asked McConnell about Trump. "Don't waste your time. I'm not going to get into the presidential race."
THERE'S APPARENTLY SOME KIND OF PROBLEM WITH HILLARY'S EMAILS - And no, it's not that her password was "MyTurnDammit2016." Josh Gerstein: "Intelligence agency officials have flagged more than 300 emails from Hillary Clinton’s personal account as warranting further review because they might contain classified information, according to a court filing Monday." [ Politico]
TRUMP'S IMMIGRATION PLAN IS FOOLPROOF - Loud orange person Donald Trump will solve America and Mexico's immigration problem by shouting at Mexicans in English. Sean Sullivan: "Trump's paper said Mexico 'must pay for the wall and, until they do, the United States will, among other things: impound all remittance payments derived from illegal wages; increase fees on all temporary visas issued to Mexican CEOs and diplomats (and if necessary cancel them); increase fees on all border crossing cards -- of which we issue about 1 million to Mexican nationals each year (a major source of visa overstays); increase fees on all NAFTA worker visas from Mexico (another major source of overstays); and increase fees at ports of entry to the United States from Mexico [Tariffs and foreign aid cuts are also options].'" [Washington Post]
Scott Walker also wants to big ol' wall, he quickly said after Trump already said it.
BERNIE SANDERS IS SORRY HE'S NOT SORRY - Amber Ferguson: "Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) says he was not the person who sent an apology email to Black Lives Matter activists and believes an apology is unnecessary." [HuffPost]
Bernie Sanders has no time for your stupid questions about Hillary Clinton's haircut.
DAILY DELANEY DOWNER - The 33-page police report associated with charges against Ryan Reilly and Wes Lowery asserts that the journalists' "unlawful actions" at McDonald's "directly contributed" to the civil unrest in Ferguson last August. That document, which was written by the St. Louis County Police Department more than six months after the fact, goes to great lengths to establish the presence of the New Black Panther Party -- as well as various anarchists and communists -- not actually in the McDonald's, but in the general area at the time. "Incident Command determined it would be prudent to warn the citizenry" that "the presence of members of a known domestic terrorist group" would hamper police response to 911 calls, the report states. [HuffPost]
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LIBERAL HILLARY CLINTON IS LIBERAL - Long celebrated by the American right as a bastion of conservatism, Hillary Clinton is running for president like she's a liberal Democrat or something. Mike Lillis: "Yet liberals are also seeing in Clinton’s policy proposals an acknowledgement by the Democratic establishment that the party needs stronger champions of core Democratic ideals, which many feel have been too often neglected under President Obama and previous Democratic administrations." [The Hill]
Also, Clinton wants to [make Social Security more generous, just like a real liberal would.
MORE BAD NEWS FOR HILLARY CLINTON: VOTERS KNOW THAT SHE IS HILLARY CLINTON - Nice try, former secretary of state and senator and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, but Iowans are on to your sneaky game! Amy Chozik: "All the while, Mrs. Clinton’s celebrity had a way of encroaching on her efforts to show she can be just like everybody else." [New York Times]
CLINTONS STAR IN NEW 'FOUND FOOTAGE' HORROR FILM - Neetzan Zimmerman: "Hillary and Bill Clinton let their hair -- and other body parts -- down during a birthday party on Martha’s Vineyard this past weekend, and the candid moment was caught on tape and posted online." [The Hill]
OBAMA ASKS RICH PEOPLE WHAT HE SHOULD DO LATER - Obama will graduate from being president to being super-wealthy when he leaves office, and this finally is giving rich and famous people the attentive ear of a powerful politician. Michael D. Shear and Gardiner Harris: "The heart of the postpresidential planning is Mr. Obama’s own outreach to eclectic, often extraordinarily rich groups of people. Several aides close to Mr. Obama said his extended conversations over the lengthy dinners -- guests say his drink of choice at the gatherings is an extra-dry Grey Goose martini -- reminded them of the private consultations Mr. Obama had with donors and business leaders as he sought to build a winning campaign." You gotta click for the Spielberg part. [New York Times]
ANOTHER BANKER DEFIES 'GOLDMAN SACHS CURSE' - A lot of people think working at mega investment bank Goldman Sachs is bad for your career, but that's not always true. Good for you, Robert Kaplan! Zach Carter and Ben Walsh: "On Monday, the Dallas Fed named former Goldman Sachs Vice Chairman Robert Kaplan as its president -- a post with major regional regulatory responsibilities and influence over critical monetary policy decisions. Kaplan will serve on the the powerful Federal Open Market Committee, which sets interest rates that have a massive impact on economic growth, unemployment and inflation." [HuffPost]
IF ONLY THERE WERE SOME WAY OF KNOWING WHO INVADED IRAQ IN 2003! Hillary Clinton (who voted in the Senate to invade Iraq) and Jeb Bush (whose brother started the war in Iraq, which Jeb thinks was pretty cool) are having a slapfight over whose fault it is that Iraq is a hot mess. Marina Fang: "Hillary Clinton disputed Jeb Bush’s claim that the Obama administration’s foreign policy decisions caused the growth of the Islamic State, or ISIS, continuing a foreign policy blame game between the two campaigns." [HuffPost]
NO, SIR. THEY'RE SAYING 'BOO-ALKER' - Scott Walker ain't a-scared of nobody. "Scott Walker took on hecklers during his stump speech Monday at the Iowa State Fair, arguing things are better in Wisconsin because of the labor reforms he introduced as governor. 'I am not intimidated by you, sir, or anyone else out there,' he said Monday at the Des Moines Register’s soapbox at the fair." [The Hill]
OBAMA UNVEILS BIG HEROIN POLICY - Julia Edwards: "The White House announced a new strategy on Monday to tackle the explosion in heroin use in a collection of eastern states, focusing on treating addicts rather than punishing them and targeting high-level suppliers for arrest." [ Reuters]
TODAY IN EXISTENTIAL TERROR - Jason Linkins has a great piece about Donald Trump's ability to repurpose his reality TV skills for presidential politics. "And Trump demonstrated his mastery of these skills over the weekend in Iowa, when he brought a helicopter along, in order to give young Iowa State Fair participants a ride above the fairgrounds. Two of the tykes that went along for the ride were ABC News' Martha Raddatz and Bloomberg Politics' Mark Halperin, who took selfies while enthusing, 'WOW, HELICOPTER.'" [HuffPost]
MEET THE 'FOOD STAMP SURFERS' OF SUBSIDIZED HOUSING - Hoo boy. Lisa Rein: "A family of four in New York City makes $497,911 a year but pays $1,574 a month to live in public housing in a three-bedroom apartment subsidized by taxpayers." [Washington Post]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Have you seen the video for David Bowie's 1983 hit "Let's Dance"? It's soooo good.
OBAMA AND CLINTON WOULDN'T DO 'THE ONION' VERSION OF BIDEN LIKE THIS - A consensus emerged during an Illuminati shindig on Martha's Vineyard last weekend: Joe Biden shouldn't run for president. Sarah Wheaton: "Not all 400 people who gathered at a waterfront estate here on Sunday have been die-hard supporters of Hillary Clinton. In fact, many of them recall a rough summer eight years ago when Martha’s Vineyard’s liberal elite split their loyalties between Clinton and Barack Obama. But on Sunday, they were reveling in party unity and had little appetite for Biden to complicate the field, despite their affection for him." [Politico]
COMFORT FOOD - by @dmoralesgomez & @yujia_pan
- Mashable PSA: Starbucks’s PSL will now include real pumpkin
- Mitch McConnell is happy about something
(h/t @Moody via Janie Velencia)
TWITTERAMA
@UNTRESOR: At night, Donald Trump's toupee goes rogue, scouring the Earth for succulent grubs and root vegetables.
@rowenaboggle: I love how Amazon is driven by a "thrilling power to create" but all they came up with was a button you press to order more toilet paper.
@laurenist: PAC names are weird: The Mythic History of America, For America
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