Idiocracy

The Hill reports: Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley lashed out at classified leaks after a Fox News story Tuesday morning on North Korea missiles, saying that it is “incredibly dangerous” that it was reported, even after President Trump tweeted out the story. The story used anonymous sources to report that North Korea loaded anti-ship missiles into a patrol …

CNN reports: Six months into his presidency, Donald Trump’s overall approval rating stands at its lowest point in CNN polling, while three-quarters of Americans say they can’t trust most of what they hear from the White House. Overall, 38% say they approve of Trump’s handling of the presidency, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS, with 56% saying …

The Washington Post reports: White House senior adviser Stephen Miller famously used the adjective “cosmopolitan” to insult CNN’s Jim Acosta during an exchange in the White House briefing room last week, implying that the journalist somehow bore an air of swampy elitism. But wait, what’s that expression about people in glass houses? It turns out that Miller calls home a …

Talking Points Memo reports: Senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway on Sunday gave her boss some advice she attributed to hypothetical supporters who have been responsible for a dip in his approval ratings: “Focus on the agenda.” “His approval rating among Republicans and conservative and Trump voters is down slightly. It needs to go up,” Conway said on ABC News’ …

Reuters reports: The White House may appoint a senior policy adviser with hardline views on immigration, who recently sparred with reporters in a televised briefing, as its new communications director, a senior administration official said on Saturday. Stephen Miller, a top aide and speechwriter for President Donald Trump, is a candidate to lead the White House’s communications team after a …

Politico reports: John Kelly’s predecessor, Reince Priebus, complained privately about the president’s Twitter tactics and was often blindsided by his pronouncements. For example, advisers believed for days that Trump was likely to pick John Pistole as FBI director. Inside the administration, three officials said, there was little initial support for Christopher Wray, the former FBI official who was New Jersey …

The Washington Post reports: In meeting after meeting with his national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, this spring and summer, President Trump angrily hammered home two questions: He wanted to know why the U.S. military wasn’t winning in Afghanistan, and he asked, repeatedly, why, after more than 16 years of war, the United States was still stuck there. Among his biggest …

The Virginian-Pilot reports: A retired attorney in Virginia Beach is so incensed that Republicans couldn’t repeal the Affordable Care Act he’s suing to get political donations back, accusing the GOP of fraud and racketeering. Bob Heghmann, 70, filed a lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court saying the national and Virginia Republican parties and some GOP leaders raised millions of dollars …

CBS News reports: Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein held a news conference about ongoing leak investigations Friday, a day after the Washington Post first published leaked transcripts of President Trump’s January phone calls with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Sessions began his press conference mentioning the leaked phone calls, …

The Washington Post reports: With a tap of the thumb, President Trump on Friday invited speculation that he or a family member could be indicted by a federal grand jury whose existence was reported a day earlier by the Wall Street Journal. The president retweeted a video clip from the “Fox & Friends” morning show, his favorite, in which the …

Everything is fake: Presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway insisted Friday that a federal grand jury empaneled by special counsel Robert Mueller to probe allegations that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia last year will turn up nothing. “Let me remind everyone what the president has said about this: It’s a witch-hunt. It’s fake. Last night I believe he called it a …

Politico reports: Sean Spicer has been floating around the White House since he announced his resignation almost two weeks ago, dipping in and out of his office, attending meetings on tax reform and popping up for public ceremonies like retired Gen. John Kelly’s swearing in as chief of staff and a medal of honor ceremony for a Vietnam veteran. Aides …

Vice reports: After segments of that on-the-record call were published—including the Mooch slamming his colleagues at the upper echelons of Team Trump, threatening to “eliminate everyone in the comms team,” calling Reince Priebus a “fucking paranoid schizophrenic,” and accusing Steve Bannon of “trying to suck [his] own cock”—many people wondered a) Where’s the audio? and b) what the hell Lizza …

Politico reports: New Hampshire leaders reacted angrily Thursday to President Donald Trump’s description of their state as a “drug-infested den” in a leaked transcript of a phone call earlier this year with Mexico’s president. “Up in New Hampshire — I won New Hampshire because New Hampshire is a drug-infested den,” Trump told Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto in January, according …

Vanity Fair reports: Before he (temporarily) disappears from public view, however, Scaramucci had a few things to get off his chest. Which is why he promised to tell the American people what really went down during his week and a half on the job, in an “online event” Friday that could be the biggest spectacle in Washington since James Comey’s …

CNN reports: Anthony Scaramucci wants to tell his own story. Following his departure from the White House after less than 11 days as communications director, Scaramucci will be hosting an online event on Friday where he will address the American people directly. Scaramucci said this daytime event — which will be broadcast on various live platforms with help from former …

ABC News reports: President Donald Trump denied late Wednesday that he called the White House a “dump.” Trump responded on Twitter to an article posted Tuesday on the website golf.com. The story recounts a scene in which Trump was chatting with some club members at his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey. Trump reportedly told the members he visits the …

CBS Chicago reports: Chris Christie reminded people Wednesday that he didn’t dump nachos on a Chicago Cubs fan who heckled him. Speaking at an unrelated event in Trenton, the Republican governor said three days after he confronted a heckler at a Milwaukee Brewers-Cubs game that he won’t quit attending baseball games. “I didn’t dump the nachos on him or anything, …

The Hill reports: President Trump’s approval rating hit a new low on Wednesday, according to a new poll. A Quinnipiac University poll finds 61 percent of voters disapprove of the job Trump is doing in office, compared to just 33 percent who approve of Trump’s performance. This marks the president’s lowest approval rating since he was inaugurated, according to the …

UPI reports: White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is scheduled to give a press briefing Wednesday afternoon. Sanders’ briefing is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. EDT. All briefings are now live on-camera. Since the last briefing Tuesday, President Donald Trump signed into law stronger sanctions against Russia, North Korea and Iran. In the signing statement, Trump said the …