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Victor Davis Hanson:
“…So what really explains the furor now directed at Barr?
One, progressives are terrified that a number of Trump’s critics — Brennan, Clapper, Comey, McCabe — may soon be indicted. They apparently seek to preempt such indictments by attacking Barr, a seemingly no-nonsense prosecutor who will likely follow up on any criminal referrals from any inspector general that reach his desk.
Two, the 2020 progressive agenda — whether defined as the Green New Deal, a wealth tax, Medicare for All, or open borders — will not compete well with Trump’s currently booming economy. Impeaching Trump for collusion and obstruction is seen by progressives as the best (or perhaps only) way to return to power. That effort so far is failing, causing even more hysteria.
Three, the Mueller investigation is over, finished after 22 months, $34 million, and a 448-page, two-volume report.
There will be no indictments of Trump for either collusion or the obstruction of justice during the investigation of that non-crime. So now what?
Since late 2015, Trump, as the supposed Russian puppet or the Machiavellian obstructer of justice, was nightly cable-TV news fare. Now such fantasies are shattered. But progressives are not willing to let the Mueller investigation rest in peace and move on with their lives.
Perhaps they feel in the political sense that there is nothing to move on to. And they are probably right…”
GRADY MEANS:
“…He is divisive. But so is the unprecedented rejection of the 2016 election by the congressional Democrats and the Rise and Resist movement and the endless criticism from the media. Trump has shown remarkable personal strength in standing up to relentless attacks.
Moving from the defensive to the positive side of the balance sheet, despite all of the attacks and resistance, Trump has accomplished more in two years than his four immediate predecessors accomplished in four to eight years.
The economy is in the best shape in modern history. New and better trade agreements have been developed with the major economies. Our defense is much stronger, including a stronger and better funded NATO. Our principal adversaries — Russia, China, Iran, North Korea — are more off-balance than they have been in decades. Each of them is tough and ruthless, but they see in Trump someone who understands them and is equally tough in defending his country. And, with the collapse of ObamaCare, Trump has a huge opportunity to advance an effective, market-based approach to American health care coverage and cost control to help everyone.
Belying the hysteria of the left, all Americans are moving forward; these are not “sad times,” and there is no “crisis.”
This raises the central question to be framed in the next election: What should we demand of our president? If we’re looking for dignity, manners, grace and orderliness, Trump is vulnerable. If we’re looking for strong leadership to provide real opportunity for economic advancement for all Americans and a strong defense of America and its interests, then Trump has a claim to greatness over his current opponents and his predecessors…”
David Harsanyi:
“…From the moment the central claim of the Russiagate conspiracy was decimated by the Mueller Report, Democrats have generated a series of manufactured outrages to keep the conspiracy dream alive.
Why the theatrics? Well, the scope of the Trump “collusion” theory has radically contracted from its heyday.
What was once “Donald Trump personally colluded with Vladimir Putin to steal the 2016 election for the Kremlin!” is now “Why won’t the attorney general release the entire unredacted version of a report that exonerates the president of collusion!” It doesn’t have quite the same bite.
So Democrats have moved from conspiracies about Russia to conspiracies about the report debunking the conspiracy…”
Eddie Scarry:
“…The New York Times led readers to believe it had blown the lid off of President Trump’s massive business failures with its very long report Tuesday night, detailing his $1.17 billion loss between 1985 and 1994.
But the story has been told before, by Trump himself, on NBC’s “The Apprentice.”
On Jan. 8, 2004, at the top of the show’s very first episode, Trump laid out a summarized version of the same story about himself that the Times so proudly ran Tuesday.
Here’s a side by side of what Trump said in the monologue in 2004 with what the Times report said 15 years later.
Trump, 2004: “It wasn’t always so easy. About 13 years ago, I was seriously in trouble. I was billions of dollars in debt.” Times, 2019: “The numbers show that in 1985, Mr. Trump reported losses of $46.1 million from his core businesses — largely casinos, hotels and retail space in apartment buildings. They continued to lose money every year, totaling $1.17 billion in losses for the decade.”
Trump, 2004: “But I fought back and I won big league. I used my brain. I used my negotiating skills. And I worked it all out.” Times, 2019: “Mr. Trump’s 2005 returns … showed that by then he had significant sources of income and was paying taxes.”
Trump, 2004: “Now my company’s bigger than it ever was, stronger than it ever was and I’m having more fun than I ever had. I’ve mastered the art of the deal and I’ve turned the name Trump into the highest quality brand.” Times, 2019: “Mr. Trump built a business licensing his name, became a television celebrity and ran for the White House by branding himself a self-made billionaire.
Anyone interested in the specifics of how Trump blew through hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and credit loans, or how he sunk bad dollar after bad dollar in failing projects can learn a lot from Trump’s 35-year-old tax information, though history suggests there’s little appetite for it.
The Times certainly had a big Trump story on Tuesday. It’s just that Trump had already told it 15 years ago.
Capt. Eric Doyle, commanding officer of the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels, flies in formation with an F-22 Raptor assigned to the U.S. Air Force’s F-22 Raptor Demonstration Team during a photo exercise above Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort.
Kevin Daley:
LIZ SHELD:
“…The House Judiciary Committee voted to hold Attorney General Bill Barr in contempt because he refused to turn over the unredacted Mueller report, including material he is legally prevented from releasing to Congress. A copy of the complete report, without the grand jury material, is available for some members to view. No Democrats have gone to read it. Nadler, the chairman of the committee, could go to court to get an order to release the material but he hasn’t done that, so one has to wonder if he wants the complete report or he wants to damage the attorney general. That’s a rhetorical question. Of course the goal is to create a spectacle and damage Barr.
At the same time as Nadler began his circus, the administration claimed executive privilege over the redacted parts of the report…”
CHRISTIAN BRITSCHGI:
“…Working its way though the legislature right now is S2776. As written, the legislation would ban food service businesses and other retailers who have stores larger than 1,000 square feet from providing their customers with plastic bags. The bill would also naturally ban plastic straws…
and
…Smith stands a good chance of getting his paper bag ban through. He claims to already have the support of Senate leadership. The state’s grocery store association is also on board with the policy.
Still, one wonders what the practical effects of Smith’s amendment, as well as the wider plastic bag ban, will be.
A recent study of plastic bag bans in California found that the policy—while still reducing plastic bag consumption overall—did lead to a 120 percent spike in the purchase of smaller garbage bags.
As it turns out, the single-use plastic bags people used at the grocery store were hardly single-use at all, but rather were reused to line waste baskets or clean up after pets. When the free option disappeared, people simply started purchasing unprohibited garbage bags.
New Jersey’s bag ban would seem to have a similar potential for this kind of substitution. While it bars stores from handing out thinner plastic bags, it still allows them to provide customers with plastic tote bags provided they’re thicker than 10 mils.
As written, stores could well end up ditching their current carry-out bags for another type of thicker plastic bag, which would seemingly increase overall plastic consumption…”
Paul Bedard:
“…The House Democrat demanding President Trump’s tax returns is coming under fire for not releasing his returns and spending lavishly on lobbyists and potential donors.
Massachusetts Rep. Richard Neal, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, hasn’t released his recent returns, though said he planned to in the future.
Neal is seeking six years of Trump’s tax returns. The president and his team have refused to comply.
Neal’s suggestion he’d release his returns later came after he didn’t respond to a question about releasing his taxes in a 2017 Roll Call survey.
Pressed last month on the issue, he told the Washington Times, “Oh, sure yeah, down the road, sure that’s nothing.” He added, “I’ve done that in the past, by the way,” he added.
Back home, he was criticized for demanding Trump’s returns but not releasing his. Mass Livereported: “Neal has been drawing charges of hypocrisy for not releasing his own taxes. Although he said Thursday that he likely would release them, he did not give a date…”
Robert W. Wood:
“…The fervent quest for President Trump’s tax returns continues, and is actually heating up. So with all the tax return fever, shouldn’t he just hand them over? Like MAGA hats and the Wall, President Trump’s tax returns are polarizing, perhaps even a flash point. Scuffles over President Trump’s tax returns are hardly new, although the stakes and the forum may be changing. Anyone else would surely have handed them over before the 2016 election. But at this point, the President should arguably keep them private until the courts order otherwise. His administration may well help him do that. It is not surprising that the President’s tax advisers are telling him to sit tight. In fact, as a lawyer for clients with tax problems, it hard for me to conjure up a tax reason for the President to reveal his returns for dissection. Of course, this isn’t really about taxes. But political considerations may well cut the same way. Any scrutiny he faced as a candidate will pale against today’s feeding frenzy. Trump’s tax returns will be pilloried by armies of experts, perhaps even placing him on the grassy knoll with Ted Cruz’s father. Even if his storied audit is over, Congressional or public viewing could change that. His tax returns could become the new Mueller investigation…”
DEBRA HEINE:
“…The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled that the Trump administration can continue to send Central American migrants back to Mexico while their requests for asylum in the U.S. are adjudicated. The three judge panel struck down a lower court’s preliminary injunction blocking the policy, allowing it to continue on a temporary basis, while the court considers broader issues in the case.
The decision from the San Francisco-based appeals court was a surprise victory for the White House, as the administration has lost several other immigration-related rulings by the left-leaning court in the past…”