Sunday News: Trump Administration’s “Dark Reboot”; “Trump’s Really Weak Week”; “The Death of Expertise” and Trump

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Sunday, July 30.

• This is the Trump administration’s dark reboot (“With a new chief of staff, Trump’s refocusing on his top priority: making America afraid again.”)
• The Trump administration’s chaos has reached an astounding new level (“The chief of staff is out. The president publicly mocks his AG. The new communications director viciously attacks his coworkers.”)
• When Life on Earth Was Nearly Extinguished (“We’re doing to the atmosphere today what cataclysmic volcanoes did 250 million years ago.” And that’s just the atmosphere; how about what humans are doing to the oceans, biosphere, etc, etc?)
• Jeff Sessions: This Time It’s Personal (“Trump’s willful misunderstanding of the obligations of an Attorney General reflects a larger flaw in his Presidency and in his character.”)
• As Trump steams, Senate Republicans consider new repeal effort (“Some congressional Republicans are backing a proposal by Sen. Lindsey Graham they hope can get 50 Republican votes.” God, this never ends…)
• Trump marks new Kelly era with sharp attack on Republicans (“The president began his first weekend under John Kelly as he often did under Reince Priebus: launching grenades on Twitter.”)
• California’s cap-and-trade program could offer other states guidance (“Its recently expanded policy shows that emissions can be cut with proper sensitivity to the economic consequences.”)
• In One Week, Trump Is Defied at Seemingly Every Turn (So much “winning!”)
• President Trump’s Really Weak Week (“Congressional Republicans are losing their fear of Trump, making ever more snarky comments about him. North Korea is shooting off missiles and the White House is flustered. The generals are resisting Trump’s tweet edicts. The mortified leader of the Boy Scouts had to apologize for the president’s suggestive and partisan speech. And what could be weaker than that?”)
• G.O.P. Senators ‘Look Like Fools,’ President Says (I’d say a lot of them look like cowards, also stupid and evil.)
• How Schumer Held Democrats Together on Health Care (“Senator Chuck Schumer of New York has melded the blustery negotiating strategies of his predecessor, Harry Reid of Nevada, with the cagey tactics of Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader.”)
• Consensus Is Health Law Can Be Fixed. Now the Hard Part.
• Trump enlists Kelly to enforce order, but can the ‘zoo’ be tamed? (Highly doubtful as long as the crazy “zookeeper” – Trump – is still in charge.)
• Trump Tells G.O.P. Senators Not to Be ‘Total Quitters’ on Health Bill
• Trump transgender decision rattles Pentagon (“President Trump’s announcement that he plans to ban transgender people from serving in the military made an end run around Defense Secretary James Mattis, calling into question a relationship that so far has seemed solid.”)
• Is the American republic built to withstand a malevolent president? (Here’s a big problem: “The minority in the country – the Republican faction – is now the majority in both houses of Congress and in the state governments.” And they won’t stand up to the malevolent/insane president.)
• Trump ‘disappointed’ in China for not doing more on North Korea
• Author Tom Nichols on how Trump won: “People looked up from their phones and said, ‘Where’s my money?’” (“Author of ‘The Death of Expertise’ on how narcissism, stupidity and the internet got us an accidental president” I read this book a few weeks ago; strongly recommended.)
• The First 2020 Candidate Is … Hold On, I Had The Name Right Here … John Delaney (“I don’t know whether Delaney has any shot at winning the Democratic nomination, let alone the presidency. But I think I speak for most of us when I say this whole thing is a little nuts. In the past 45 years, there’s no record of any serious candidates announcing that they’re running for president this early.”
• Why ‘the Mooch’ Whacked Reince Priebus ( “Someone must be blamed. He’s not going to blame himself. He’s not going to say, ‘You are a failure. You fucked up. That’s why things aren’t going well.’ Someone must be blamed, and that someone is Sean Spicer and Reince Priebus.”)
• Trump’s Dangerous Game With Iran
• Donald Trump Threatens to Cancel Some Health-Care Benefits for Lawmakers (“In tweet, president also targets insurance company payments”)
• The Unending Humiliations Of Reince Priebus (I mean, Trump treats people horribly, but Priebus is also a totally horrible human being.)
• Northam: Unconscionable pain and undeniable hope in Wise (“Now, more than ever, we need someone who understands the health care system and who has empathy.” And that is definitely Ralph Northam, definitely NOT Ed Gillespie!)
• Moment of Reckoning Looms for Va. Pipelines (“The fact remains that natural gas-generated electricity is infinitely cleaner than coal generation” This is highly, highly questionable, as there are numerous studies which find that fracking releases enough methane – a potent greenhouse gas – to more than counterbalance natural gas’ environmental advantages over coal.)
• Mark J. Rozell: Virginia’s heated political campaigns can inflame racial wounds, rather than heal them (Uhhhhh…alrighty.)
• Schapiro: One Va. history-maker remembers another – ‘Miss Maggie’ (“Reid, whose lawyer-grandfather roomed at then-Hampton Institute with Booker T. Washington in the 1870s, said he and his pals had powerful influences in their parents and others, including Maggie L. Walker. Though having been a youngster when she died, Reid said he didn’t appreciate Walker’s example until he was older.”)
• Editorial: The gun-show loophole seems to have shrunk (Yep, the Republican Times-Disgrace editorial board…)
• A. Barton Hinkle: 5 easy ways to make Virginia better
• Agritourism a growing trend for Virginia farms
• Three years after opening, the Silver Line struggles to attract riders (“Boosters of the rail line, however, say it is still too early to write off the Silver Line, asserting that as more developments are built near the stations, ridership will grow.” That’s possible, but as I pointed out many times during the debate over building the Silver Line, we needed to make sure the overall Metro system is in good shape first, before expanding.)
• Virginia DMV releases interactive crash map
• EDITORIAL: Area should wait for a good pitch on minor league baseball
• Unite the Right rally sparks First Amendment questions (“The limits of constitutionally protected speech and freedom of assembly are being put to the test in Charlottesville. In less than two weeks, members of the National Socialist Movement, the pro-secessionist League of the South and hundreds of their allies in the Nationalist Front and ‘alt-right’ movement will gather in Emancipation Park for the Unite the Right rally.”)
• Suspected MS-13 Member Arrested in Arlington in Connection to Texas Killings
• Several sunny days to dry out; heat slowly builds toward midweek