How is Donald Trump reacting to the leaks, the setbacks, the accusations, the newspapers, the cable news shows? How do you think? The Washington Post writes that he is “mad — steaming, raging mad.”
In a startling rebuke to Trump, FBI Director James Comey is asking the Justice Department to tell the world that there was no FBI wiretap of Trump. James Clapper, former national security director, made the case himself — saying there was no FISA wiretap. Via The Washington Post.
A conspiracy theory’s journey from right-wing talk radio to the president’s twitter feed. The journey didn’t take as long as you might have thought. Via The New York Times.
After baselessly accusing Barack Obama of wiretapping his phones, the White House now says that the president will have nothing more to say about it. Um, unless they’ve taken the president’s phone away, that may not be the surest best. Via The Atlantic.
From The National Review: You don’t have to think that Trump is an authoritarian to be worried about the course of his presidency.
Long read via The New Yorker: Trump, Putin and the new Cold War. What comes next?
The Koch brothers are letting Republicans in Congress know they are growing increasingly impatient about the lack of action in repealing Obamacare. Their mantra, writes The New York Times, might as well be repeal, replace or revolt.
In other news, the war on science may be coming to Colorado. According to The Washington Post, the Trump administration wants to cut the budget of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the government’s leading climate science agency, by 17 percent.
Meet the immigrants who are being rounded up by ICE. They may not be the bad hombres you’ve been told they are. Via the Austin American-Statesman.
Doyle McManus: Everything that has gone wrong for Trump when it comes to Russia is Trump’s fault. In other words, he has met the enemy and it is him. Via The Los Angeles Times.
What would David Letterman do today now that Trump is president? Vulture’s David Marchese thought it was a good enough question that he decided to ask Letterman himself. If you miss Dave, you’ll want to read the answer.
Photo by Cory Doctorow via Flickr:Creative Commons
Were the media cheerleaders for former President Barack Obama?
Victor Davis Hanson thinks so and he also points out, “ The media suffer the lowest approval numbers in nearly a half-century.” Via Hoover.org.
http://www.hoover.org/research/presidential-payback-media-hubris
How do you spell hypocrite? M-C-C-A-S-K-I-L-L, as in Democrat Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri who, after “demanding the attorney general’s head” for meeting with the Russian ambassador, categorically stated as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee for 10 years she had never met with the Russian ambassador. She then spent an entire afternoon walking that statement back because several of her tweets were uncovered in which she mentioned visiting with—-you guessed it—-the Russian ambassador. Via the Washington Times.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/mar/2/jeff-sessions-affair-shows-republicans-must-stick-/