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“You have 40 days to make every dream you ever dreamed for your country come true,” Donald Trump told a crowd today, which sounds like the sort of thing Martin Luther King Jr. would have said if he were an Herbalife dealer. Congressional Republicans sort of, kind of, implicitly conceded that the White House may have been correct in its veto of the 9/11 Saudi bill, but LOL remember that time we squashed its veto? And the publisher of a collection of Hitler’s speeches is putting Trump’s face on the back cover, though due to issues with his earphone, Trump can’t tell you who Hitler is. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Thursday, September 29th, 2016:
9/11 SAUDI BILL: NEVER MIND, CONGRESS TOTALLY GETS THE WHITE HOUSE’S POINT - But, you know, #neverforget. Patricia Zengerle and Richard Cowan: “U.S. lawmakers on Thursday expressed doubts about Sept. 11 legislation they forced on President Barack Obama, saying the new law allowing lawsuits against Saudi Arabia could be narrowed to ease concerns about its effect on Americans abroad. A day after a rare overwhelming rejection of a presidential veto, the first during Obama’s eight years in the White House, the Republican leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives opened the door to fixing the law as they blamed Obama, a Democrat, for not consulting them adequately. ‘I do think is worth further discussing,’ Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters, acknowledging that there could be ‘potential consequences’ of the ‘Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act,’ known as JASTA. House Speaker Paul Ryan said Congress might have to ‘fix’ the legislation to protect U.S. service members in particular.” [Reuters]
TPP LIKELY BEING PUNTED TO NEXT CONGRESS, MCCONNELL SAYS - Which is to say, it will die. Michael McAuliff: “Trade reform activists worried about Congress passing a massive trade deal in the lame-duck session after the elections can probably relax — it’s the next president they have to concern themselves with, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) suggested Thursday. President Barack Obama’s major piece of unfinished business in the trade realm is getting the Trans-Pacific Partnership approved. Both House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and McConnell have said they don’t think there’s enough votes to pass the deal in the current political environment, even though Congress passed so-called fast-track authority last year to expedite trade deals. While McConnell did not flatly reject a lame-duck trade deal, he suggested that rather than bring up a measure that fails, free-traders would be better off playing the long game, and pushing the next White House.” [HuffPost]
JAIL REFORM DEAD IN CONGRESS - Laura Barron-Lopez: “One of the most widely supported pieces of legislation across both parties ― criminal justice reform ― is dead in Congress this year. All year long, proponents of passing sentencing reform pushed to make tweaks to a package of bills in order to garner more support from Republicans. But even after a number of changes, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wouldn’t budge. During the Republican and Democratic national conventions, advocates pushed the issue.… But on Thursday, McConnell threw water on any hope of bringing it before the Senate in the lame duck session when lawmakers return after the election, chalking it up to disagreement in his caucus. ‘We’ve got about three weeks back here after the election,’ McConnell said, adding that his priorities are funding the government and an appropriations bill for medical research.” [HuffPost]
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MORE OBAMA GIFTS - Miss you, Mitt! Dave Jamieson: “Making good on an earlier executive order, the Labor Department published a final rule Thursday that will guarantee at least some paid sick leave for workers employed under federal contracts. The rule is the latest in a string of new regulations aimed at improving working standards for those on the bottom rungs of the economy. Under the rule, companies that have contracts with the federal government starting in 2017 must allow workers on those contracts to accrue up to seven sick days per year. Workers get one hour of paid leave for every 30 they work, capped at 56 hours annually. The workers must be notified each pay period of how much paid leave they have banked, and they must be allowed to roll their time over into a new year.” [HuffPost]
ONE TIME DONALD TRUMP WENT ON HOWARD STERN - And many years later an oppo researcher for Hillary Clinton got to clock out of work at a reasonable hour. Igor Bobic and Sam Stein: “In a January 1997 interview with Donald Trump, shock jock Howard Stern relayed some crude marital advice that the brash businessman gave him before his second trip down the aisle, with Marla Maples. (The couple would separate a few months later.) ‘Donald pulled me aside at his wedding,’ Stern said in comments that had not resurfaced until now. ‘He said, you know I am getting remarried, but Howard, vagina is expensive. I will never forget those words. The guy is right. Those were the exact words!’ … [A]s Trump tries to improve his numbers and image with female voters in the weeks before the presidential election, episodes like these ― where he often portrays women as objects for sex and brags about his libido ― continue to haunt him.” [HuffPost]
DONALD TRUMP JUST A FATTER JEAN-RALPHIO - Matt Pierce: “Donald Trump wanted only the pretty ones, his employees said. After the Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes opened for play in 2005, its world-famous owner didn’t stop by more than a few times a year to visit the course hugging the coast of the Pacific. When Trump did visit, the club’s managers went on alert. They scheduled the young, thin, pretty women on staff to work the clubhouse restaurant — because when Trump saw less-attractive women working at his club, according to court records, he wanted them fired. ‘I had witnessed Donald Trump tell managers many times while he was visiting the club that restaurant hostesses were ‘not pretty enough’ and that they should be fired and replaced with more attractive women,’ Hayley Strozier, who was director of catering at the club until 2008, said in a sworn declaration.” [LA Times]
Arbeit macht yuuuuge: “The publisher of a re-released collection of Adolf Hitler’s speeches is hoping that Donald Trump’s alleged affinity for the Nazi dictator’s work will boost sales. A photo of Trump, his right arm raised as he bellows into the microphone, appears on the back cover of My New Order. The image comes from the Dec. 10, 2015, front page of the Philadelphia Daily News, which ran with the headline ‘The New Furor.’ At the time, Trump had just proposed a ‘complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.’” [HuffPost’s Daniel Marans]
My god when will this election be over: “In the late 1990s, Trump publicly discussed his efforts to get Machado to lose weight in several television and radio interviews. He also sent a camera crew to ambush her during a workout at a New York gym. The tension between the businessman and the former Miss Universe is palpable in a May 1997 ‘CBS This Morning’ interview that resurfaced on Thursday.… ‘She had a little problem during the middle where she gained a little weight,’ Trump told interviewer José Díaz-Balart. ‘I don’t think so,’ Machado shot back. ‘Yeah, she’s probably right. OK,’ Trump responded. ‘I am the most beautiful woman in the world, with 20 pounds or no pounds. I am the most beautiful woman in the world,’ Machado said.” [HuffPost’s Igor Bobic]
TRUMP TO SURROGATES: PLEASE CLAP - Maybe Fox News can look into installing some kind of “APPLAUSE” sign in its chyron ― which wouldn’t really make sense as it would just have people at home clapping but, ffs, work with us here, we’re trying to work the problem. Gloria Borger, Dana Bash and Ed Brander: “Donald Trump is angry that his aides and advisers have conceded to reporters ― largely without attribution ― that the Republican nominee struggled in his first presidential debate. In a conference call with surrogates Wednesday afternoon, Trump aides made clear the Republican nominee is upset that his allies publicly acknowledged they pushed him to change his preparation and tactics before his next bout with Hillary Clinton. And he wants them to stop it immediately. The message was ‘not subtle,’ a source familiar with the call said. Trump wants his supporters to make an energetic defense of his performance and refuse to concede that he didn’t nail it.” [CNN]
First they came for the Christians, because they are REALLY great, just spectacular: “Donald Trump bragged about the support he received from Christian conservatives at an event in Iowa on Wednesday night, and even asked those backers to raise their hands. Then he asked audience members who were not Christian to identify themselves. ‘Raise your hand if you’re not a Christian conservative. I want to see this, right? Oh there’s a couple people, that’s all right,’ Trump said as he dismissively waved a hand. ‘I think we’ll keep them, right? Should we keep them in the room, yes? I think so.’” [HuffPost]
COREY LEWANDOWSKI FINALLY, ACTUALLY FIRED BY TRUMP CAMPAIGN - He’s losing his campaign salary, but what about his income streams from The Verge and Apple? Michael Calderone: “CNN commentator Corey Lewandowski acknowledged Thursday that he is no longer receiving recurring severance payments from the Trump campaign, a situation that’s presented a glaring conflict of interest for the network. ‘Everything comes to an end,’ Lewandowski told CNN co-host Alisyn Camerota after she mentioned on-air that he’d received a final payment. The campaign paid Lewandowski the rest of what he was owed in one lump sum rather than through monthly installments. CNN hired Lewandowski in June just three days after he was fired by the Trump campaign, a controversial move given the Republican operative’s hostile relationship with the press, which included overseeing a media blacklist and once manhandling a reporter.” [HuffPost]
BECAUSE YOU’VE READ THIS FAR - Here are donkeys seeing grass for the first time.
DATING, POST-TRUMP - Lisa Bonos: “So here’s what happened: I was on a first date with man who’s a Donald Trump supporter, a tidbit I did not know ahead of time. (Thanks, JSwipe.) ... When I asked whether he had concerns about how Trump might handle the delicate politics of the U.S.-Israel relationship and the Middle East in general, he responded that Trump was on the same page with the Israelis on how to handle terrorism and security. ‘Besides,’ he said, leaning in so the bar patrons on either side of us wouldn’t hear, ‘he wants to get rid of the Muslims.’ … I felt certain that someone who’s aligned with Trump isn’t for me. This wasn’t a political mismatch, but one of deeply held values. So I had the distinct pleasure of telling him something I’ve never said while on a first date: ‘Yeah … this isn’t going to work out.’” [WaPo]
COMFORT FOOD
- A rap video courtesy of the Afghan army
- Typhoon pork bun lady is our spirit animal.
- We’ve posted this before, but it’s making the rounds again, and that is reason enough to repost the video from the 1986 National Aerobic Championship.
TWITTERAMA
“Sydney Morning Herald”
@ThePlumLineGS: You’d think fact that Trump personally vilified the very women he is now depicting as Hillary Clinton’s victims would be relevant.
@mobute: if i ever wake up in a heavily self-branding gladiator dystopia, i hope i can die cowering behind a shield with lyndon johnson’s face on it
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