Bloomberg: Why Trump’s Staff Is Lying. By Tyler Cowen.
“One of the most striking features of the early Trump administration has been its political uses of lying. The big weekend story was the obviously false claim of Donald Trump’s press secretary, Sean Spicer, that Trump pulled in the largest inauguration crowds in American history. This raises the question of why a leader might find it advantageous to promote such lies from his subordinates.”
Link via Metafilter: Building a Cabinet.
Handelsblatt Global: Trump Team Leaves Germany Out in the Cold. “As Donald Trump officially enters office, the German government is still struggling to establish contacts with the new administration and distinguish campaign bluster from actual policy.” January 20, 2017.
“Ms. Merkel’s foreign policy advisor, Christoph Heusgen, has called for Germany and Europeans to have “strategic patience“ with the new U.S. administration, which is largely staffed by people who have little or no government experience.
Mr. Heusgen said his initial conversations with the Trump team gave him the impression that they have little understanding of the European Union and how it operates.
Ms. Merkel’s cabinet is resting its hopes on retired Marine Corps general James Mattis, Mr. Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, as a voice of reason within the new U.S. administration. Mr. Mattis is well connected in Europe and views NATO as an anchor of stability.”
New York Times: Foreign Payments to Trump Firms Violate Constitution, Suit Will Claim. By Eric Lipton and Adam Liptak. January 22, 2017.
“A team of prominent constitutional scholars, Supreme Court litigators and former White House ethics lawyers intends to file a lawsuit Monday morning alleging that President Trump is violating the Constitution by allowing his hotels and other business operations to accept payments from foreign governments.
The lawsuit is among a barrage of legal actions against the Trump administration that have been initiated or are being planned by major liberal advocacy organizations. Such suits are among the few outlets they have to challenge the administration now that Republicans are in control of the government.”
The Guardian: I’ve reported on Putin – here are my tips for journalists dealing with Trump. “There’s been much hand-wringing about how the media should deal with the Trump administration. First of all: don’t get distracted.” By Alexey Kovalev. January 23, 2017.
“consider the Trump team’s proposition to move the press room out of the White House to a more spacious facility to accommodate the “off the chart“ interest in the new president. And to dilute the “elite“ DC press corps with bloggers and talk radio hosts: to anyone who’s ever seen the mad scramble for Putin’s attention inside that cavernous hall where his press conferences are held, the purpose is obvious.
The biggest threat to informing the public in Russia is not censorship, state pressure or fake news: it’s the chaff constantly thrown out to keep the media distracted. There are politicians in Russia that throughout their decades-long careers have done nothing but make statements aimed at raising outrage or suggesting deliberately absurd bills, with the sole reason of staying in the headlines. Putin himself and his spokesman Dmitry Peskov are famous for their tendency to brazenly deny the plainly obvious – only to make a rhetorical U-turn later, completely dumbfounding everyone.”
The Economist: A helluva handover: What Donald Trump’s appointments reveal about his incoming administration. “The drama of the transition is over. Now for the drama of government.” See the large version of the Trump Cabinet here.
“Mr Trump’s post-election behaviour has been every bit as belligerent as it was during the campaign. In his victory speech he said it was time to “bind the wounds of division“ ; he has ever since been insulting and threatening people on Twitter, at a rate of roughly one attack every two days. His targets have included Meryl Streep, Boeing, a union boss in Indiana, “so-called A-list celebrities“ who refused to perform at his inauguration, Toyota and the “distorted and inaccurate“ media, whose job it will be to hold his administration to account.
[…]
Mr Trump has named most of his senior team, including cabinet secretaries and top White House aides, and their Senate confirmation hearings are well under way.”
The Washington Post: Which Trump Cabinet nominees are still awaiting confirmation. “How the confirmation process works, How long confirmations might take”.
“Who Trump chooses to surround himself with greatly affects what his administration will accomplish. These top aides are just a slice of the 4,100 positions Trump’s transition team may need to find appointees for — people who will oversee day-to-day operations at the agencies that make up the executive branch of government.
[…]
The following list includes descriptions of each of Trump’s Cabinet picks and their nomination timelines.”
Die Zeit: AfD: Björn Höcke greift unsere Identität an. “Wieder hat Thüringens AfD-Vorsitzender eine umstrittene Rede gehalten. Sein Ziel: Symbole des demokratischen Diskurses zu besetzen, bis die Demokraten sprachlos werden.” Ein Kommentar von Karsten Polke-Majewski.
“Bei einer Veranstaltung der Jugendorganisation der AfD sagte [Höcke]: “Die Bombardierung Dresdens war ein Kriegsverbrechen. Sie ist vergleichbar mit den Atombombenabwürfen über Hiroshima und Nagasaki.” Man habe nichts anderes gewollt, “als uns unsere kollektive Identität rauben”. Als sei die damals gepflegte deutsche Identität nicht die der Nazis gewesen.”
Spiegel online: Björn Höcke in Dresden: Schauen Sie diese Rede. “Wer meint, die AfD sei wählbar, weil sie die Flüchtlingspolitik der Regierung kritisiert, muss den Auftritt Björn Höckes in Dresden sehen. Danach kann keiner mehr sagen, er habe nicht gewusst, was Höcke mit der AfD vorhat.” Eine Kolumne von Sascha Lobo.
“Sagen Sie nicht, man hätte es nicht wissen können. Denn Sie hätten. Die vielleicht größte und zugleich dunkelste Eigenschaft des Internet ist die ständige Archivierung des Jetzt. Groß ist sie, weil die Milliarden Sensoren, Kameras, Mikrofone immer näher an die Allaufzeichnung herankommen. Und darin ist auch die dunkle Eigenschaft begründet, denn das ständige Archiv wird uns irgendwann mit dem konfrontieren, was wir hätten ahnen können und sehen sollen. Was Sie – genau Sie – hätten wissen können.”
The New York Times Magazine: Joe Biden: ‘I Wish to Hell I’d Just Kept Saying the Exact Same Thing’. “The vice president looks back — and forward.” By Jonathan Alter.
Link via MetaFilter: The Penultimate Week.
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