Idiocracy

Talking Points Memo reports: After the President sent out a vicious tweet attacking MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski and claiming she had a “face lift,” deputy White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended President Donald Trump, saying he “fights fire with fire.” “Look, I don’t think that the president’s ever been someone who gets attacked and doesn’t push back. There …

The Hill reports: Two GOP senators assailed President Trump’s Thursday morning Twitter attack on the hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” saying the insults were “beneath the dignity” of the office of the president. Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Ben Sasse (Neb.) joined a loud chorus on social media denouncing the president’s latest tweets. Trump savaged “Morning Joe” co-hosts Mika …

The Hill reports: President Trump on Wednesday attacked The Washington Post and its owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, for its coverage of him and his administration. The president is escalating his attacks on the news media as he struggles to advance his agenda in Congress and grapples with the wide-ranging probe into whether his associates colluded with Russia in its …

The Washington Post reports:  The framed copy of Time Magazine was hung up in at least four of President Trump’s golf clubs, from South Florida to Scotland. Filling the entire cover was a photo of Donald Trump. “Donald Trump: The ‘Apprentice’ is a television smash!” the big headline said. Above the Time nameplate, there was another headline in all caps: …

ABC News reports: President Donald Trump says that if the health care bill fails to pass in the Senate, he won’t like it — but “that’s OK.” Trump spoke Tuesday at a gathering of Senate Republicans after their leaders shelved a vote on their prized health care bill until at least next month. Trump says, “This will be great if …

Mediaite reports: Sanders began with a question from Breitbart’s Charlie Spiering, who asked if Donald Trump went on a tweetstorm against CNN this morning because the network’s retraction wasn’t good enough to satisfy the president. Sanders responded that Trump is frustrated by the “constant barrage of fake news,” and she suggested that people should watch the new video from Project …

UNDERWAY. On camera! Via the Daily Beast: White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer is finally back on camera today. White House–press relations have been contentious the past few weeks as the Trump administration has cut off media access more and more. During yesterday’s audio-only, off-camera briefing, CNN’s Jim Acosta asked the question most media is wondering: “Why not turn the …

Bloomberg reports: Donald Trump has been U.S. president for less than six months but it’s been enough time to send opinions of American leadership plunging. According to a Pew Research Center public survey of 37 countries, a median of just 22 percent of respondents have confidence in Trump to do the right thing in international matters, compared with 64 percent …

Raw Story reports: Responding to news that a Super PAC sponsored by supporters of President Donald Trump is running ads against Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) for opposing Trumpcare, Fox News host Neal Cavuto got into a squabble with Trump booster Katrina Pierson. It was when Pierson accused Heller of “governing as a Democrat” that Cavuto really dug in. “He’s looking …

The New York Daily News reports: A Trump family wedding planner was officially appointed Monday to her new job overseeing federal housing in New York. Lynne Patton, the regional administrator for Housing and Urban Development, has zero experience in housing. She is responsible for distributing billions of taxpayer dollars to public housing in New York and New Jersey. “I have …

Via White House press release: Today’s unanimous Supreme Court decision is a clear victory for our national security. It allows the travel suspension for the six terror-prone countries and the refugee suspension to become largely effective. As President, I cannot allow people into our country who want to do us harm. I want people who can love the United States …

The Hill reports: President Trump on Monday accused former President Obama of colluding or obstructing with the actions he took during the 2016 presidential election. His tweet comes after Trump in an interview that aired last week criticized Obama over Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, accusing the former president of doing “nothing” before the election. “Well I just …

Politico reports: After more than five months as president, Donald Trump is still talking about the 2016 election. On Sunday morning, the president tweeted that Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton “colluded with the Democratic Party” to beat Bernie Sanders. It’s not clear why the president chose to revisit the 2016 campaign this morning or where his newfound sympathy for Sanders came …

The New York Times reports: The opportunity to take over behind the White House briefing room lectern would be the apex of a political operative’s career in any other presidency, a path to riches, fame and power. But after weeks of fitful efforts to sell a job that for decades people have plotted to get, no one has jumped at …

“The personal wreckage suffered by many people during the Clinton years is well documented. Just ask Paula Jones, Jim and Susan McDougal, Kathleen Willey and many others. However, in my discussion about Loretta Lynch and Vince Foster, I took the accusations a step too far. I regret my choice of words. The fact remains Hillary Clinton broke the law, violated …

The Washington Examiner reports: President Trump slammed the Democratic Party Wednesday morning for what he described as a failure to work with Republicans in Congress. Trump late Tuesday also mocked Democrats for losing five special elections since he was elected president. On Tuesday night, Republican Karen Handel beat Democrat Jon Ossoff in the special election for Georgia’s 6th congressional district, …

USA Today reports: Jeff Sessions, the nation’s chief law enforcement officer and top prosecutor, has private lawyer of his own. Attorney Charles “Chuck” Cooper, a longtime advocate for conservative causes, has been providing counsel to the attorney general, most recently in preparation for his appearance last week before the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating possible collusion between President Trump’s …

The Atlantic reports: Instead of canceling them entirely, the White House has appeared to embrace a different strategy: simply downgrading them bit by bit, from “briefings” to “gaggles,” and from on-camera to off-camera. Guidance for the briefings have begun to include a note that audio from them cannot be used. Additionally, though Trump has held short press conferences when foreign …

Politico reports: White House press secretary Sean Spicer is leading a search for his own replacement at the briefing room podium as part of a larger plan to shake up the White House communications operations, according to two people with knowledge of the effort. Last week, Spicer and White House chief of staff Reince Priebus reached out to Fox News …

The right wing Daily Caller reports: CNN’s Jim Acosta is incredibly frustrated with the communications team in Trump’s White House, arguing on Monday that the non-answers, off-camera briefings, and stonewalling does a disservice to the American people. On Monday, press secretary Sean Spicer opted to hold a press gaggle off-camera with no audio, leaving correspondents to work only with transcripts. …