Only days after Donald Trump said it would be “silly” to try to oust Syria President Bashar al-Assad, Trump now says the horrific chemical-arms attack on Assad’s own people has changed his “attitude.” He didn’t say what he might do about an attack he called “an affront to humanity,” but he suggested he might do something – about Syria and also about North Korea. Via The New York Times.
Trump is still blaming Obama for the “heinous” attack in Syria and also for the problems in North Korea. Dana Milbank writes that these are just the latest examples of Trumpian buck-passing. Via The Washington Post.
A partial transcript of Trump’s exclusive interview with the, uh, failing New York Times, in which Trump baselessly smears Susan Rice, offering no evidence but suggesting that the top Obama aide might have broken the law.
Trump boots Steve Bannon from his controversial role on the National Security Council, and it just might signify a decreased role for Bannon elsewhere at the White House. Via The Washington Post.
Now it’s Republican conservatives slamming Republican moderates for failing to come to an agreement in a new round of intraparty negotiations on repealing and replacing — or not repealing or replacing — Obamacare. Via Politico.
In an early clue as to how Trump’s policies on undocumented immigrants are affecting Hispanic communities, the Houston police chief says reports by Hispanics of rape and other violent crimes have plummeted. Via The Houston Chronicle.
The Neil Gorsuch maybe-it’s-plagiarism flap is probably no more than a misdemeanor, but in these hyperpartisan times, it wouldn’t change anyone’s vote even if were a felony. Via The Atlantic.
Some Republicans seem to be on different pages on the so-called nuclear option. Mitch McConnell says it would be good for the Senate. John McCain says anyone who thinks that way “is a stupid idiot.” So maybe you think that McCain won’t vote with McConnell to end the Supreme Court filibuster? Nah. Via The Washington Post.
From The National Review: Jonah Goldberg writes that the most significant problem facing the beleaguered Trump presidency is that Trump is the president.
Amy Davidson: Trump says his new energy directive ends the war against coal, but what he seems not to understand is that the real war is on science and on the widely acknowledged harm that burning coal, and other fossil fuels, can do. Via The New Yorker.
Matt Taibbi: Whatever the truth turns out to be about Russia and Trump, there’s no question that we’ve been struck with a bad case of Putin Derangement Syndrome. Via Rolling Stone.
Photo credit: Zio Fabio, Creative Commons, Flickr
