Republicans are trying to control Donald Trump’s appearances and limit his interaction with the press ― which is Washington speak for “pretending he’s not who he is.” The whole country is feeling the reverberations of Hillary Clinton’s cough, recalling that classic Gay Talese essay in Esquire, “Frank Sinatra Did Benghazi.” The Supreme Court won’t allow Ohio to restore early voting, disenfranchising thousands of Ohioans and, far worse, prompting even more “Trump could really win this thing” think pieces. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Tuesday, September 13, 2016:
FAR-RIGHT LAWMAKERS NOT KEEN ON EMERGING BUDGET AGREEMENT - Ben Weyl: “As the Senate grinds toward a bipartisan deal to keep the government open, House Republicans are increasingly resigned to accepting whatever the upper chamber decides to send their way. The growing fatalism comes as the Senate is on track to pass legislation in the coming days to fund the government through early December — amid chatter that senators could soon leave town for a lengthy recess, effectively forcing the House to either pass the Senate bill or allow a government shutdown weeks before the presidential election...But even members of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus say they see the writing on the wall. ‘It’s gonna happen,’ said Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va), a Freedom Caucus member who knocked off former Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a 2014 primary.” [Politico]
WEAK TEA: “Rep. John Fleming (R-La.) on Tuesday moved to force a House vote this week on a resolution to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. With Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) at his side, Fleming gave notice on his ‘privileged resolution’ to impeach Koskinen. The House will need to act on the measure no later than Thursday, since privileged resolutions have to be taken up within two legislative days once notice is given. Fleming and other members of the House Freedom Caucus have been pressing for a vote on Koskinen’s impeachment for months. They argue that the commissioner impeded Congress’s investigation into the IRS’ scrutiny of Tea Party groups’ applications for tax-exempt status.” [The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda]
PEPE THE FROG CREATOR JUST WANTS PEACE - This would be the most offensive cartoon-related development this cycle if the Dilbert guy would just shut up. Dana Liebelson: “A California cartoonist never thought the frog he drew over a decade ago would have anything to do with a U.S. presidential election or Nazis. Then 2016 happened. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign published an explainer on Tuesday about Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s “horrifying” use of Pepe the Frog, a cartoon character that white supremacists have co-opted. But Pepe wasn’t always a controversial symbol with a national platform. Until recently, he was just a frog. ’What I am going to say? ‘Hey, you anonymous white supremacist, stop making my frog Trump?’’ asked Matt Furie, the artist widely credited with creating Pepe. ‘It’s funny that this frog is in the national news right now for really negative shit.’ … But Furie says his frog is simply going through an unfortunate phase. It’s ‘super negative right now, but it comes in waves. Maybe someday he’ll be a symbol for peace and love and brotherhood,’ he said, adding that he hopes Pepe ultimately lives on as a positive symbol of youth culture.” [HuffPost]
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GOP MAKES YUGE BREAKTHROUGH - S.V. Date: “Republicans have may finally hit on the one easy trick to making their presidential nominee palatable: Minimize the words emerging from Donald Trump’s mouth that aren’t written ahead of time by somebody else. Since his most recent campaign shakeup last month, Trump has not held a news conference, has cut back on in-depth Sunday show appearances and has almost completely eliminated speeches that aren’t scripted and displayed on his teleprompter screens. “If he has the discipline to simply read a script that’s been written by someone that’s somewhat competent, he can probably avoid some unforced errors,” said Fergus Cullen, a former chairman of the New Hampshire GOP who has refused to back Trump. ‘A change in approach doesn’t fool me.’ Nevertheless, if recent polls are accurate, the plan does seem to be working: Voters are responding better to Trump talking more like a generic Republican than they did to Trump talking like Trump.” [HuffPost]
HILLARY EXPECTED TO NAME LADY DEFENSE SECRETARY - That is, if her transition team fails to forcibly exfiltrate Robert Gates from whatever lake house he’s retired to. John T. Bennett: “If elected, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton could follow through on her desire to appoint the nation’s first female defense secretary. A widening rift between congressional Republicans and Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter, as well as Clinton’s own differing world view from Carter’s, makes that more likely. Since Clinton announced her candidacy last year, defense circles have buzzed with speculation that the first female president would likely want to nominate a woman to run the Pentagon, with Michèle Flournoy, the former undersecretary of Defense for policy in the first Obama administration, at the top of the list of contenders. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James, who has won praise even from some critics of that service during her nearly three-year tenure, and Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, have also been mentioned as possible candidates. The nomination of any of the three would likely meet little resistance from a Republican-controlled Senate, defense observers say.” [Roll
DEMOCRACY UPDATE - Cristian Farias: “The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned away an effort by Ohio Democratic groups that sought to restore a special week that allowed voters to register and vote early on the same day. In a brief order, the justices denied the groups’ request but did not note where they stood in the dispute. At least five of them are needed to grant an emergency petition. Without this six-day period, known as ‘Golden Week,’ Ohio voters now have four weeks to vote early, beginning on Oct. 12 ― either in person or via absentee ballot. State lawmakers eliminated Golden Week in 2014, leading to legal challenges alleging discrimination against minority voters. An early lawsuit couldn’t stop cutbacks for the 2014 election ― and the Supreme Court at the time agreed to let Ohio officials move forward with the shorter early-voting period.” [HuffPost]
DOJ URGED TO INVESTIGATE BONDI QUID PRO QUO - The JAIL BOND(I) headlines will follow, one imagines. Mike McAuliff: “Democrats in Congress want the U.S. attorney general to launch a criminal probe of Donald Trump’s donations to Florida’s top prosecutor, state Attorney General Pam Bondi. In a letter sent to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Tuesday, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee pointed to a $25,000 donation that Trump’s charitable foundation improperly paid to a pro-Bondi group while her office was examining a lawsuit against Trump University. They noted that after the donation was received, Bondi declined to pursue a case against Trump’s controversial real estate seminar program or to join other states’ litigation. They also cited other donations in support of Bondi’s bid for re-election.” [HuffPost]
REID HAS MAJOR WTF MOMENT WITH OBAMA - Few anecdotes more perfectly summarize the Democratic Party of the last 7 years quite as well as this one. Ryan Grim: “President Barack Obama strenuously defended the CIA’s hardball approach in its battle with Senate investigators looking into the agency’s use of torture at a pivotal moment, according to a new report. The vigor with which Obama defended the CIA prompted then-Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to offer a startled rebuttal. ‘Mr President,’ Reid said in early 2014,’ ‘I wish you could hear yourself.’ The anecdote is included in a new, deeply reported three-part series by The Guardian’s Spencer Ackerman, centered on one of the Senate staffers who led the investigation into the CIA, Daniel Jones. Jones, a lead author of the Senate’s torture report, was referred by the CIA to the Department of Justice for possible criminal prosecution, with the CIA suggesting he effectively stole classified documents before secreting them to a secure facility in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill.” [HuffPost]
ECONOMIC ANXIETY GETS DOSE OF XANAX - Jonathan Cohn: “The U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday released its annual report on income, poverty and health insurance … The percentage of people without health insurance for all of 2015 was 9.1 percent, down 1.3 percentage points from the previous year. That’s the lowest that the Census Bureau has ever measured, reflecting the impact of the Affordable Care Act. The official poverty rate in 2015 was 13.5 percent, which was 1.2 percentage points lower than in 2014. The supplemental poverty rate, which takes into account other factors such as the value of government benefits and the costs of medical expenses, fell by nearly the same amount. But it’s the figures on median household income that will, and should, get the most attention. According to the report, median household income rose by 5.2 percent, from $53,700 to $56,500. This is the largest increase the Census Bureau has ever recorded.” [HuffPost]
COMFORT FOOD
- The 1990s Cher interview that is going viral.
- The origins of dogs.
- The San Francisco rowhouse from “Full House” is pretty baller.
TWITTERAMA
@Elahezadi: CHECK OUT THIS THING THAT THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA IS IGNORING*
*(links to CNN, WaPo, NYT, rips AP Photo)
@pixelatedboat: [Hillary Clinton’s office, 2012]
*Hillary sneezes violently, the force of the sneeze depresses a button labelled DO BENGHAZI*
Hillary: Oh no
@dliebelson: Today marks the first day I have ever received comment from the Trump campaign. It was about a cartoon frog.
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