What A Day: One coup over the cuckoo's nest

BY BRIAN BEUTLER, PRIYANKA ARIBINDI

& CROOKED MEDIA

Friday, April 26, 2019

TRUMP MAKES HIS MOVE

President Trump has escalated his assault on the people who launched the Russia investigation, including implicit threats that he will use the Justice Department to retaliate against them.

Trump described the investigation as a “coup” Thursday night on Sean Hannity’s show, and again on Friday afternoon at a National Rifle Association convention.

"This was an attempted overthrow of the United States government," he told Hannity. He added that he was confident Attorney General William Barr will open an investigation of “dirty cops” and Hillary Clinton, and that he expects an internal Justice Department report on the origins of the Russia investigation will be a “blockbuster”—which is either an effort to compromise the inspector general who’s writing the report, or a hint that he already has.

Trump has every reason to expect that Barr will do what he wants. In two different appearances, Trump revealed that Barr’s assertion Trump hadn’t committed obstruction was a reflexive effort to protect his boss. He told Hannity that Barr came to his conclusion “right on the spot,” and told reporters on Friday that Barr’s decision was “immediate.” You know, like all thorough and honest investigations!

At the same time, Trump continues to insist he will prohibit current and former White House officials from testifying before Congress.

House Democrats have had little to say about Trump’s impeachable efforts to shut down their oversight and to gin up counter-investigations of people involved in the Russia probe. They will need to decide quickly whether they intend to confront these abuses of power with all the tools available to them, or whether they intend to capitulate.

One thing’s for sure: We’re really missing our old friends “checks” and “balances” right about now.

President Trump’s authoritarian outbursts make it easy to forget that his main policy goal is to take away everyone’s health care, but fortunately he has a habit of reminding us. At Friday’s NRA convention, he bragged about getting rid of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, then added “now we’re going for the rest.” Trump has promised that Republicans will vote on a plan to repeal and replace the ACA if he wins re-election and they reclaim control of the House.

As it turns out, the Affordable Care Act is very popular—people like pre-existing conditions protections, free preventative care at point of service, and the peace of mind that if they lose their jobs, they can still afford insurance. So much so, that Democrats won back the heavily gerrymandered House in the 2018 midterms by campaigning almost exclusively on health care. Trump is very good at distracting the public from the concrete, material stakes of politics, but let’s not lose sight of this critically important one—hey look! did you see that funny meme Trump retweeted? What a kook!

Failed Confederate general Robert E. Lee is back in the headlines thanks to superfan President Trump, who said his comments after the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, VA recognizing the “very fine people on both sides” was aimed at those defending the city’s Lee monument. 1) This is a lie—there weren’t people defending Lee’s monument at the rally, only Nazis and white supremacists; 2) Helpful reminder from Sen. Brian Schatz:

Joe Biden’s unwillingness to apologize to Anita Hill caught up with him on The View, where he reiterated that he’s sorry about the “way she got treated,” but restated that he, personally, didn’t treat her badly. Despite the early stumble, his campaign was able to raise $6.3 million in its first 24 hours—more than any of the other candidates in the field.

A federal judge has sentenced Russian agent Maria Butina to 18 months in prison, where she will probably befriend the Fyre Fest guy who she’ll star with in a reality show by 2021.

Amazon will make free one-day shipping standard for Amazon Prime members—an investment that will cost the company $800 million, and cost the environment a lot too. A good reminder to choose normal shipping options when you don’t actually need something ASAP (you don’t need new socks or chip clips ASAP). Counterpoint: the cheetos are gonna get stale, Brian!

A federal judge has temporarily blocked a Trump administration rule meant to deny federal funding to organizations that provide abortion referrals, because the policy would force health-care providers to cause harm to patients. The rule was scheduled to take effect May 3.

The students whose families paid $1.2 million and $6.5 million in the college admissions scandal were both from China. Looks like Felicity Huffman and Willam H. Macy didn’t love their kid THAT much.

Two Los Angeles universities quarantined hundreds of students who were exposed to measles, until they could demonstrate that they were vaccinated against the disease. The number of measles cases in the U.S. has risen to 695 across 22 states, and though President Trump finally told parents to vaccinate their children on Friday, as the world’s most prominent anti-vaxxer he bears a great deal of responsibility for the outbreak.

The “Soho Scammer” known as Anna Delvey was found guilty on multiple charges of fraud and attempted grand larceny on Thursday after posing as an heiress in Manhattan, defrauding banks, hotels, restaurants, and people. She faces up to 15 years in prison for the attempted grand larceny charge, and her story is set to be immortalized on the small screen by both Shonda Rhimes for Netflix and Lena Dunham for HBO. If you have no idea what we’re talking about, feel free to fall down the rabbit hole →

The new single Taylor Swift spent the past few weeks teasing is here. Meh. (Apologies to Emily Favreau.) (From Jon Favreau: I’m editing and feel conflicted)