Idiocracy

Business Insider reports: President Donald Trump tweeted on Tuesday morning about a new poll from Rasmussen, the polling company often most favorable to the president, that found approval over his job performance to be 46% from the US public. Trump also used the occasion to attack the media and the majority of polling institutions and to speculate that his actual …

Politico reports: Vice President Mike Pence was not aware of communications between WikiLeaks and President Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., during the 2016 campaign, his office said in a statement on Monday. Trump Jr. exchanged messages with WikiLeaks during the fall of 2016, and alerted top campaign officials of the contacts, The Atlantic reported on Monday. Trump Jr. later …

The Washington Post reports: Attorney General Jeff Sessions is entertaining the idea of appointing a second special counsel to investigate a host of Republican concerns — including alleged wrongdoing by the Clinton Foundation and the controversial sale of a uranium company to Russia — and has directed senior federal prosecutors to explore at least some of the matters and report …

The New York Times reports: Anxious Republican officials spent much of the weekend trying to determine what, if anything, they could do to halt Mr. Moore without simply turning over the seat. If Doug Jones, the Democratic nominee, wins, it would narrow the Republican advantage in the Senate to a single seat. But if Mr. Moore stays in and goes …

The New York Times reports: One of President Trump’s most controversial judicial nominees did not disclose on publicly available congressional documents that he is married to a senior lawyer in the White House Counsel’s Office. The nominee, Brett J. Talley, is awaiting a Senate confirmation vote that could come as early as Monday to become a federal district judge in …

This is actually a pro-Trump film. From the description: Donald Trump dominated the 2016 Presidential race with a master plan of political incorrectness, using The Art of the Insult to brand political opponents and bash the media all the way to the White House. In this film, Trump emerges as a marketing genius and performance artist who, despite being a …

The Week reports: Trump is often staggeringly incoherent, but “the real damage isn’t in how he says things, but from three key techniques that he uses to insulate himself from criticism and consequence,” Oliver said: Delegitimizing the media, “whataboutism,” and trolling. “Despite Trump’s few real policy accomplishments to date, he has consistently achieved one thing, and that is making his …

The Hill reports: President Trump told reporters Saturday that he doesn’t watch much television while at the White House because he’s busy “reading documents.” “Believe it or not, even when I’m in Washington or New York, I do not watch much television,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “People that don’t know me, they like to say I watch …

Politico reports: One year after the 2016 presidential election, the vast majority of Donald Trump voters have no regrets. According to a POLITICO/Morning Consult poll conducted on the eve of the first anniversary of Trump’s historic election, 82 percent of those who say they supported Trump last year would vote for him again if they had to do it over. …

The Hill reports: President Trump in China on Thursday blamed past administrations instead of Beijing for “unfair” trade practices, offering a starkly different tone from the rhetoric he used during his campaign. Trump said during an event in Beijing that he does not place blame on China for what he described as “one-sided and unfair” trade practices, noting he gives …

The Hill reports: A key Democratic senator who attended Tuesday’s meeting on tax reform with Trump administration officials recounted to The Hill trying to get off the phone with President Trump. Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) said National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn and White House legislative affairs director Marc Short came ready to listen; the president – who joined by …

Talking Points Memo reports: Maine voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to become the first state in the nation to expand Medicaid by ballot initiative, approving the measure by a nearly 20-point margin. But Republican Gov. Paul LePage, a vehement opponent of Medicaid who has vetoed expansion bills five times since the Affordable Care Act became law, is threatening once again to …

The Hill reports: President Trump congratulated his supporters on the Wednesday anniversary of his historic victory in the 2016 election, calling them “deplorables” in a nod to former Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. The anniversary tweet came attached to a photo of the president with key White House aides aboard Air Force One on Trump’s 13-day trip through Asia, including White …

Media Matters reports: On Fox & Friends, one of the president’s favorite shows, co-host Steve Doocy took issue this morning with the idea that the election results were a “Trump rebuke,” saying of the Republican gubernatorial candidates in Virginia and New Jersey, “Neither one of them really brought Donald Trump on board.” “It’s a wake-up call for establishment Republicans,” he …

Politico reports: Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said Tuesday night his “memory has been refreshed” regarding his email exchange with Carter Page in which the former foreign policy adviser requested Lewandowski’s permission to travel to Moscow. Page, who testified last week before the House Oversight Committee as a part of their ongoing probe into Russian election meddling in 2016, …

Newsweek reports: With President Donald Trump out of the country, his son Donald Trump Jr. decided to urge people to vote Tuesday in the Virginia gubernatorial election. Except he completely messed it up, and, of course, Stephen Colbert had great fun at his expense. Colbert remarked: “Donald Jr. woke up this morning to urge people to get the vote out…but …

Mediaite reports: During his major address to the South Korean National Assembly, President Trump invoked his Bedminster golf club. Trump was complimenting South Korea and at one point talked about Korean golfers being some of the best on earth. And then the President said this: “In fact, and you know what I’m going to say, the Women’s US Open was …

The Washington Post reports: In a tweet after the election, Trump, who is traveling in South Korea, tried to explain away Gillespie’s loss by claiming that it did not reflect poorly on his own political potency. But it was not clear that a further embrace would have produced any better results. Virginia, which has been trending blue in recent years, …

Forbes reports: Fresh off a tour through Thailand, Laos and China, United States Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross Jr. picked up the phone on a Sunday afternoon in October to discuss something deeply personal: how much money he has. A year earlier, Forbes had listed his net worth at $2.9 billion on The Forbes 400, a number Ross claimed was …

The Washington Examiner reports: Justice Department prosecutors dropped their case against the woman who was arrested after laughing during Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ confirmation hearing, according to a report Tuesday. Desiree Fairooz, who was set to face a second trial next week, is a 61 year-old veteran activist associated with the organization Code Pink. She was arrested during Jeff Sessions’ …