Last 24 hours has seen stories about Mueller pursuing lines of Trump inquiry on:
Email Hacking/release coordination (NBC)
Obstruction via Sessions threats (Post)
Business dealings in Russia (CNN)In other words, he is investigating everything. Everything.
— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) March 1, 2018
it rules that Trump's weird family pathologies are going to result in scandal timebomb Kushner hanging around the White House doing nothing except absorbing controversy until everything inevitably blows up
— Simon Maloy (@SimonMaloy) February 27, 2018
And here Donald thought he’d found himself a “son” who was a competent grifter!
It’s been a truism since at least Jimmy Carter’s presidency that Washington DC is “wired for Republicans”, but it’s a company town and these Trump goniffs are damaging the brand. I suspect the stories Roxanne Roberts shares in the Washington Post hurt Jared, Ivanka, and their socially-insecure old man’s feelings much more than any Democratic accusations of treason / incompetence / general venality — “Washington society and Team Trump: A year in, the fear and loathing is mutual”:
… The president and many of his closest advisers are contemptuous and suspicious of the Washington establishment, which they dismiss as the “swamp.” And the city’s social elite, normally quick to embrace a new chief executive and his inner circle, are judgmental, wary and afraid of being, as one Republican put it, “tainted for life.”
“This establishment is trying to reject Trump and his family like white blood cells chasing off an infection,” says conservative anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist, who has lived in Washington for 33 years. And Trump loyalists, he says, see little value in rubbing shoulders with people who didn’t want anything to do with them before the election…
The Trumps, for their part, seem to want not just respect and courtesy but personal allegiance. One Republican hostess, eager to introduce Trump family members to some of her friends, was told that they were interested only in people who are “loyal” — a term rarely used to describe social acquaintances…
There was a moment when Ivanka and Jared seemed like the perfect bridge between the White House and social Washington. They were young, glamorous and chic, the ultimate power couple in a city full of them. They had impeccable manners and were eager to engage. They hosted small dinners at their Kalorama home for members of Congress, administration officials and other prominent Washingtonians…
That mutual admiration was short-lived. The couple apparently became increasingly disenchanted with Washington after the Russia scandal broke, surprised by what they considered vicious, unfair attacks. Whatever goodwill they felt toward the establishment has reportedly evaporated, and the two are rarely seen at social events outside the president’s orbit.
Meanwhile, the A-list was surprised by what some describe as the self-importance and humorlessness of Team Trump. “This is the first administration,” one fundraiser says, “where you can’t tease.” …
The Kushner saga would be so bizarre – the president putting a vastly underqualified relative in charge of making Mideast peace, solving the opioid crisis and dealing with China – even if he could get a security clearance and didn't revise his disclosure forms 40-plus times.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 27, 2018
New: Jared Kushner, whose demeanor has been described as paranoid in recent days, suspects that the timing of the story about his foreign contacts was coordinated to be released when issues surrounding his security clearance were in the news. https://t.co/2d5ky3iuwk
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) February 28, 2018
Late-Night Open Thread: The Lyin’ in WinterPost + Comments (65)