Morning Briefing: Indictments Are Coming, Plus Don Jr. Self Owns

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | November 13, 2018 |

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | November 13, 2018 |

— Donald Trump is looking to remove Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in the coming weeks, according to several sources. He apparently doesn’t appreciate that Nielsen isn’t able to work around existing immigration laws, and I suspect he wants to try and find someone who will ignore federal law. I suspect that Trump will deny this news at some point today, and then fire Nielsen within two weeks.

— This was an amazing self-own by Donald Trump Jr. He retweeted an article without actually reading anything beyond the headline because this is at the very top of this 2012 piece:

The initial list of 180,000 names was whittled to 2,625, according to the Florida Department of State. The state then checked a federal database and stated it found 207 noncitizens on the rolls (not necessarily voting but on the rolls). That list was sent to county election supervisors to check and it also turned out to contain errors. An Aug. 1, 2012, state elections document showed only 85 noncitizens were ultimately removed from the rolls out of a total of about 12 million voters at that time.

In other words, Don Jr. just tweeted proof to all of his followers that voter fraud is not an issue in Florida (and there is no evidence that any of the 85 noncitizens — among 12 million voters — actually voted).

— Remember when Donald Trump started attacking Canada’s Justin Trudeau? His approval ratings jumped 5 points in Canada in a single month as Canada rallied around their Prime Minister. It looks like Trump is now trying to boost the dismal approval ratings of France’s Emmanuel Macron:

Emmanuel Macron suggests building its own army to protect Europe against the U.S., China and Russia. But it was Germany in World Wars One & Two - How did that work out for France? They were starting to learn German in Paris before the U.S. came along. Pay for NATO or not!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2018

On Trade, France makes excellent wine, but so does the U.S. The problem is that France makes it very hard for the U.S. to sell its wines into France, and charges big Tariffs, whereas the U.S. makes it easy for French wines, and charges very small Tariffs. Not fair, must change!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2018

The problem is that Emmanuel suffers from a very low Approval Rating in France, 26%, and an unemployment rate of almost 10%. He was just trying to get onto another subject. By the way, there is no country more Nationalist than France, very proud people-and rightfully so!……..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2018

……MAKE FRANCE GREAT AGAIN!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2018

Mark my words: Macron’s approval ratings will jump over the next few days. France may dislike him, but I’m betting they hate Trump even more. Also, Trump is clearly offended by the fact that France (and broader Europe) might build their own army and tell Trump and America to go screw. He doesn’t want Europe to be independent. He wants Europe to depend on us so that he can leverage their reliance.

— Oh?

By the way, when the helicopter couldn’t fly to the first cemetery in France because of almost zero visibility, I suggested driving. Secret Service said NO, too far from airport & big Paris shutdown. Speech next day at American Cemetary in pouring rain! Little reported-Fake News!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2018

Did the Secret Service also stop Trump from visiting Arlington Cemetary yesterday, too? Trump is basically the first President in modern history to sit in his bed and tweet during Veteran’s Day without appearing in a single event to celebrate the Veterans.

— Indictments are coming.

.@PaulaReidCBS reports: “I’ve spoken with many sources with knowledge of the Special Counsel investigation, and we do expect new indictments to be coming as soon as today.” pic.twitter.com/v7SJHR1r2g

— Norah O'Donnell🇺🇸 (@NorahODonnell) November 13, 2018

— Finally, I know it’s way too early to talk about 2020 — we haven’t even finished tallying the 2018 results. But it does not look good for Republicans, as the last two years under Trump — and the GOP’s insistence upon limiting its electorate to white men — is coming home to roost. Axios outlines the Doomsday scenario for the GOP, and it is not pretty. Basically, the bad news for the GOP from the midterms will only get worse as the House investigations kick off and as the economy inevitably slows. Add to that the fact that the Asian and Hispanic populations are growing in places like Arizona, Florida, Georgia and Texas (plus, 40 percent of Black men in Florida were just given the right to vote), and the fact that more women vote than men and the path to the Presidency looks “tenuous” at best.

As always, however, it will depend on who the Democrats put forth.

So here's an updated map showing House popular vote winners, mapped onto the Electoral College. Dark blue/dark red means the party won by >= 5 points, light blue/pink means it was close. pic.twitter.com/nehg9YEZ6u

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 11, 2018

(Publisher’s Note: I can’t believe we haven’t replaced Don Jr. in header photos yet. We thought long and hard about this one and after rejecting SNL’s Target Lady and Heidi Montag, we’ve landed on Ian Ziering. You’re welcome.)