OMG, we almost went to war with Iran last night! Unless, maybe, it didn’t happen. Holy mackeral, it really didn’t! This really is getting to be too easy.

Jerry Nadler is up in arms about emoluments, now. I wish there was something he could do.

Donald Trump, who says he’s president, figures he can “win” with just his base. I guess it depends on what “win” means.

Elliott Broidy is back in the news. So that’s nice. So’s Roger Stone. Will he finally shut up? And if he does shut up, what does that mean?

On the opposite end of the spectrum, they can’t make Hope Hicks talk. Now we’ll never know how she does it!

Are there racist cops who need to be taken off the streets? Sure. How many? Well, 72—so far—in Philadelphia, alone.

Laws, especially tax laws, are for the little people, says apparent Big Person Bill Koch.

Someone’s making black voters in North Carolina disappear. It’s not crazy to think it’s Russia.

Just to bring things full circle, here’s something else Trump bragged about that also didn’t happen: that huge boost in worker bonuses following his “tax cut.”

Iran shot down a US drone, escalating tensions that were already at a fever pitch, ever since Fox bought their new graphics software. That stuff doesn’t pay for itself, you know.

Ivanka Trump takes a number and gets in line to go to jail for the Hatch act.

Hope Hicks continues to do it, by not doing it, if Donald Trump doesn’t like it. Felix Sater wishes he could do anything like Hope Hicks does it.

David Waldman and Greg Dworkin reviewed David’s masterclass yesterday in how Congress works, especially impeachment, and how leadership avoids votes to protect its own members.

Yesterday, the House just passed an appropriations bill that includes an 11 line passage that repeals the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force. As you know, legislating in an appropriations bill is against the House rules! (Unless the House Rules Committee waives the rule.) 

More moderate Democrats are finding it safe enough to call for Trump’s impeachment. Democrats will always find it less safe in 2020. Moderate Democrats own their mistakes. Who knows what it would take to embarrass Joe Biden, but he can take comfort in very stable metrics.

Donald Trump plans to do whatever he wants, and Republicans plan to do whatever he wants also.

The publisher of a slanderous book on Sandy Hook apologizes… after losing a lawsuit. (The authors remain scum.) 20 years after Columbine and they still might have to bulldoze the building.

Joe Biden, Presidential candidate, reversed his position on the Hyde amendment, right as the House is poised to pass spending legislation. Just when you thought elected officials were subject to sacrosanct, unbending rules, David Waldman is here to explain just how wrong, and right you are, in a nuance and esoterica filled procedural dissertation on the inner workings of House rules in KITM’s second hour.

But first:

If you can’t make Nancy Pelosi impeach Donald Trump, how are are you going to make her censure him?

Last night, upwards of a dozen very fine people attended Donald Trump’s rally and white pride festival.

Yesterday, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez found some shrieking Republicans and decided to rattle their cage. Of course, “cage” might not be a factually accurate term there, but no one could disagree that the baby jails filled with migrants at the border aren’t concentration camps… or maybe they could. People can fight about a lot of things. 

Greg Dworkin asserts that Elizabeth Warren is a force to be reckoned with. Republicans know that, and every single Democrat would probably vote for her… except they first need to contend with every other Democrat’s racism and sexism. So, it’s Joe.

Donald Trump knows where he stands with bigots, but he might be dismayed by how few of them are 65 and older anymore. Donald’s “never Trump” bloc is as strong as ever.

David Waldman’s morning set at the KITM World Headquarters’ Comedy Kitchen opened quite upbeat today, wondering “what’s the deal” with toothpicks, crazy parkers, idiot Presidents and such, but soon segued into darker territory—the moment a soon to be award-winning photographer captured that moment a "law-abiding" open-carrying good guy with a gun became none of the above. What is the deal with violence-cosplaying alt-right 4chan incels?

Then the discussion got real. The necessity of an impeachment inquiry has placed Democrats into competing existential crises—save their job, or save the rule of law? It would be a real shame to lose swing state Democrat Katie Porter, but even as she realizes the precariousness of her situation, she also knows the importance of this moment to everyone’s future. David returns to Robert Mueller’s “Take Care” clause, then travels over to Article Two of the Constitution to see what can be done, and finally takes a thorough look into the Office of Legal Counsel, in particular the Trump administration’s abuse of that institution.

Well, Donald Trump isn’t going away soon, maybe ever. David Waldman shows no signs of stopping either, and obeys no term limits:

In a series of ABC interviews, George Stephanopoulos patiently offered Trump a myriad of opportunities to be a dimwit, and Donald took him up on every single one, even while working in a few of his own. 

Just don’t cough during a take. For some reason, Donald Trump hates that.

So far Trump has gotten away with everything, so why stop now? Government expects a minimum of good intentions and behavior, but after that loses all mechanisms to cope. Except for, you know, impeachment. Support for a hearing surge among Democrats... just not all of them, or at least the right ones.

Whether it’s the impeachment inquiry or the Democratic nomination, Greg Dworkin recommends getting off the pot soon.  Is Joe Biden the Jeb Bush of Democrats? No, not as long as he’s seen as the best chance for getting rid of Trump. Voters are 50-50 for Trump in Texas, but are still shopping. Trump wishes he could go North Korean on his pollsters. Let’s vote already!

You can be a Democratic populist, but remember—cruelty isn’t the point. A pastor who wanted women executed for abortions was arrested for raping a child.

Donald Trump was worried there, for a few minutes, in 2016. At that time, being President of the United States seemed to require a lot of work, discipline, and responsibility! Eh… it used to. Now we have executive time, executive privilege, and executive LOL,YOLO nothing matters…

Well, somehow it still matters to David Waldman and us KITM listeners. The President doing nothing actually destroys everything. The Office of Special Counsel presented 17 pages of Kellyanne Conway violating the Hatch Act. Donald Trump says “Nah.” The White House says the OSC are the real racists, sexists, Hatch Act violators. 

The FEC chair didn’t think it had to be said that taking foreign dirt was 100% illegal. (The DOJ isn’t about to say it.) Republicans block bills requiring campaigns to say anything. Republicans would rather destroy government than to share it. The New York Times has a 5 part series on nationalists’ destruction of democracy in the European Union.

Weekend reading: How China is using capitalism as a tool to convert American economics and politics. The Gop concedes tax cuts may not pay for themselves. 

In news that doesn’t matter, Sarah Sanders interrupted her vacation to quit work. Bye!

Did anyone impeach the Prince of Wails yet? How about an impeachment inquiry? Anything? Damn Donald Trump, and the system that let him slide for 60 or so years. (Foreign interference in 2016 did matter, btw)

David Waldman brings us a special “Not Letting Trump Slide” KITM (Issued weekdays since 2015):

Donald Trump lies. Donald said you’d “freeze action” the video of his “secret trade agreement.” You did, and now Trump says he didn’t anticipate that, as each sentence he utters must be a lie. Trump said he officially submitted Patrick Shanahan’s nomination for secretary of defense weeks ago. He lied on the “submitted”, “officially”, “nomination” and the “Patrick Shanahan” parts. Trump says that in his whole life he never called the FBI… He lied. Today, Trump lies about yesterday. Tomorrow he will lie about today.

A team of two or three Democratic Presidents could be very cool, but Greg Dworkin suggests against this strategy going into 2020. For those needing to settle on just one, Elizabeth Warren is seen rising in the polls, and Joe Biden might be dropping.  

Is Joe Biden a return to the past? Is that such a bad thing? Iowans Seem To Like Warren And Buttigieg. Californians check “all of the above.” All Americans increasingly support transgender rights. Trump moves out of California.

Not all Chinese are spies. But all Chinese spies seem to be connected to Mar-a-Lago. We do seem to be pleasing our Chinese overlords. 

David Waldman presents the hump day KITM, the hump caused by the shear abundance of links, stories, and things to consider.

Today in malfeasance:

When Chaos and corruption go hand in hand,  you know it is time to invest in gravel, bananas, or anything Mitch McConnell is investing in. 22 foreign governments shop Trump. Mexican officials go to Jared.  

Russia’s social media campaign was far larger, vastly more effective, and better paying than previously reported.

Losing Alabama sheriffs still remain on brand. As far as Donald Trump is concerned, corrupt intent is executive privilege.

Greg Dworkin reports on the state of the 2020 race: Trump is losing and he knows it, but if you find out, heads will roll. Trump poll numbers are brutal, they are grim, and not likely to look better. The top 6 candidates beat him by at least 5 points. He loses age 65 & older by 17 points. Donald Trump is an unpopular president. The best hope for Republicans now is to switch the names of the parties. 

Good news for Democrats though, vote for who you want, not who you think others want. Polls on what Massachusetts voters want are coming in.

Wall Street weighs all of this and sees a Trump win. Is everything good news for Donald? Abortion might not be the wedge issue Republicans hope, and is getting more attention than expected. Donald Trump would rather be golfing.

Paula Writer, aka Paula Apynys brings her take on Dan Pfeiffer’s plan to win the impeachment fight.

Yesterday, David Waldman pushed his first baby bird out of the Kagro in the Morning World Headquarters nest. Congratulations!

Today, David welcomes Ian Reifowitz, a Daily Kos contributor, history professor, author and so much more, to discuss his latest book, The Tribalization of Politics: How Rush Limbaugh’s race-baiting rhetoric on the Obama Presidency Paved the Way for Trump. David and Ian discuss exactly that, and a few other related tangents for the first hour and a half of the show.

Eric and Donald, Jr. bought rounds for the house in an Irish Pub, and you know where this is going.

A company part-owned by Jared Kushner got $90 million from unknown offshore investors since 2017… unknown to Jared, unknown to the company.

William Barr gets ticklish around contempt votes, so we know what to do from now on.

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It's the eldest's graduation day, and they scheduled it opposite the show. So, here's where we were a year ago, with our June 11, 2018 episode:

Wow. Another “What a weekend!” Monday!

Greg Dworkin seeks to impose order on the chaos. And so does the former Prime Minister of Belgium. What’s left to be said? Trump was an addled mess at the G-7 G-6 meeting, much to the delight of his fan base, whose only policy interest is “triggering the libs.”

Could Trump be stopped if enough Republican Senators finally gave up? Well, it depends how many.

But who cares about rules and procedure, anyway? They’re all just worthless scraps of paper.

For now, it’s off to Singapore, for about a minute. Or possibly less. Which is not good. Though I don’t know how long you want to leave those two guys in the room alone.

More on that strange attraction between Russian oligarchs and the NRA. And the strange parallels between the British experience and our own. Are we just looking at a new kind of warfare? Or the revival of a very old one? Might our allies decide it’s time to roll out a new kind of sanctions? Or maybe use the very same ones we’re using?

House Democrats officially introduce a contempt resolution for Barr and McGahn.

Wait a second... the resolution would not hold Barr in contempt of Congress. It just says that committees could ask judges to please order people to comply with congressional subpoenas, so that refusal would then be a contempt of court, not contempt of Congress… and no one’s talking here about inherent contempt, but statutory contempt...

Most of us haven’t a clue about what’s going on here. Lucky for us, we have David Waldman, with decades of law and DC experience to help explain. Even better, David’s descriptions of 11 dimensional chess moves and Democratic ”tactical reversals” on subpoenas lured the doubly fluent Armando to Skype in and help consider what has been done and what can be done before Democrats just give up.

If that isn’t enough expertise for you, David fills out the last half of KITM talking to Ryan Grim, author of We Got People: From Jesse Jackson to AOC, the End of Big Money and the Rise of a Movement, to advise us on how we can win with our integrity intact.

D-Day’s 75th anniversary will be remembered by all as the day Europeans once again sent Donald Trump away from their soil. Donald had half of a Presidential moment, skipping the paragraph on his electoral college victory and moving on to heralding our unbreakable European alliances (with the exception of NATO, the EU, UN, and existing trade and climate agreements), and signing a D-Day Proclamation just like he was taught in 5th grade. The Irish Prime Minister lured him to the airport a day earlier in hopes Trump would make like a goose and leave, but that didn’t work out. No one even asked him about Brexit. What Donald wants more than anything, more than showing all the cool kids what they missed out on, is to be royal, and he and his family were just so close this week.

David Waldman and Greg Dworkin discuss plans for welcoming the President back to our shores.

Well, we could lock him up. That does have a ring to it, but not for Democrats that can’t even say the “I-word”. How about impeaching him half way to play keep away from Mitch? 1998's outcome wasn’t all about impeachment, and Trump isn’t Clinton.

After tackling the 7 deadly sins and most of the 10 commandments, Trump has been working on violating all of the constitution. Also, the US public is in a very liberal mood. Younger voters see no problem in voting for what and who they want. Older voters more politely vote for who they think you want. Nonetheless, Elizabeth Warren is rising in the 2020 race based on the strength of her ideas. That’s ok, because Joe Biden has shown he knows a good idea when he sees one. Most voters haven’t really found the one to stick with, but as you know we haven’t had a debate yet…

Both the United States and China have been courting Saudi Arabia with nuclear weapons, but so far we haven’t heard back on who the Saudis love the most.

A half mile of border wall soaked some MAGAs for $20 million, so that’s nice, but other than that it hasn’t helped. As usual, cruelty was the point anyhow. Trump is cutting art, soccer, school and lawyers for migrant kids, research into cures for HIV, Cancer, and Parkinson’s for us. Releasing war criminals back into the public might have been a step too far, however.

D-Day. The day we remember our greatest generation, and our brave men and women fighting side by side with our allies in epic battle for the future of our world. Donald Trump remembers Bette Midler and  Bobby DeNiro waltzing right past him at Studio 54. They thought they were so much better than “The Donald”… but look at him now!

David Waldman congratulates David Dale taking his fact-checking beat to CNN. Ivanka Trump is finally en route to The Hague! How does Hope Hicks do it… existentially? The DOJ promises to play nice with the House Judiciary Committee when they quit looking at them.

Greg Dworkin is back to remind us that where you stand depends on the age of what you’re sitting on. Is impeachment now too idealistic? Not pragmatic? Wrongheaded, misguided, unwise? Starry-eyed hippy Harry Reid believes "It’s not the right thing to do nothing".

Maybe we should start Trump impeachment hearings with Watergate testimonials, and maybe James Taylor or David Crosby playing an opening set. Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders continue to lead the Democratic pack, but plenty of Democrats now lead Donald Trump. Vladimir Putin faces a rocky road to 270 electoral votes in 2020.

Steve King is tired of political lynch mobs, and hopes to get back to real ones someday. The McConnell court weighs preserving white entitlement, while social conservatives are swept into the ash heap of history. Meanwhile, the House votes to give “Dreamers” a path to citizenship.

Texas will allow the killing of wild boars without a license, but you still can’t shoot them in your pajamas.

Hey, did you see David Waldman on MSNBC last night? He made it on All In with Chris Hayes without going any further out of his way than Donald Trump does to go to church.

Well doggies! Donald Trump loaded up all his kinfolk in a jet aeroplane to go chew the fat with the Queen of England! Donald made sure to wear his finest Queen-meeting clothes, as he could see everyone over there would be just mightily impressed to meet someone like him.

Back in the US, we were just glad Trump was away from us a while. Some thought he might be gone permanently, but alas that would be incorrect. There is a danger and a cost to allowing Trump to stay in office. Democratic support for impeachment is rising, and pro-impeachment Dems are are hoping to build a critical mass of members to force Nancy Pelosi towards their viewpoint.

The problem is, Pelosi thinks there’s a lot of dumb people out there that wouldn’t understand the impeachment process, including her own members of congress. (David might agree with that assessment.)  The other problem is, Pelosi is happy to use that same ignorance to further her ends, which could run out the clock on impeachment.

Armando and David agree, Nancy Pelosi is an ideal “regular order” Speaker of the House, but right now we have an irregular situation.  This isn’t their first impeachment rodeo, and the two review the history and strategize for our future. 

Oh, and another pervert connected to Trump is caught.

June! School’s out, people going on vacation, David Waldman hits local summer poetry slams to read the Mueller report, Donald Trump steps up his golf schedule... 

Trump is the puppet, Trump’s the puppet! Donald Trump spent Sunday golfing, duh, then actually attended church… to listen to people pray for him, skipping the part where he was to pray for the victims of Saturday’s mass shooting. The gunman introduced some innovations sure to influence upcoming massacres. He stuck with extended magazines, but increased caliber and introduced a silencing noise suppressor. Of course, we knew that would happen.

Chaos spread through the Chinese shipping industry, but not into a scheduled government meeting, once the New York Times discovered Elaine Chao's plan to boost her families’ businesses.

Donald Trump golfs and tweets. Mitch McConnell gets the job done, killing democracy in ways few could ever imagine, until after they attend informative how to kill democracy seminars.  Democrats and Republicans describe two different constitutions. New digital methods enable scholars to chart how our definition of the scope of “executive power” have changed over time.

Last night Donald Trump placed a surtax on importers of Mexican goods, automakers, farmers and you as what...vengeance against Haitian refugees? Sure, why not? Maybe Donald is deal art-ing some leverage over Mexico… or Canada. Maybe this is another of his patented meeting storm-outs, always guaranteed to shake things up a bit... 

It is a little much to ask David Waldman to peer into Donald Trump’s malevolent idiocy, burning with the intensity of a thousand suns, just to tell us what he may or may not be thinking. 

Leave that to the 3, 4 and 11 dimensional chess players in Democratic Leadership to figure out. Trump might actually benefit from impeachment, but if you think this is all the plan of a criminal mastermind, Donald Trump just might be smarter than you. Trump is either dumb enough to think the courts might save him from impeachment, or smart enough to think the Mitch McConnell Court will save him from impeachment. Leonard Leo raised $250 million in dark money to fill those courts. Clarence Thomas tried to tie abortion to eugenics, but the author he sited disagrees.

The IRS has been ACORNed into submission, and gave up fighting political dark money groups. The Russians plan to sow racial discord—and violence—in the U.S. 

Wow, is there any good news? Yes, and about 15 minutes of it, prerecorded by the irreverent duo at Irreverent Testimony, listing the legislation that can happen in a blue state house, in this case Colorado’s.

David Waldman welcomes us on board Kagro in the Morning, the USS John McCain of the Daily Kos Radio fleet:

Somebody, probably aware that Donald Trump is dim-witted and unbalanced, thought they’d do Donald a favor by hiding an entire naval destroyer and crew so that the Dotard in Chief wouldn’t fill his pants on Memorial Day in front of the Japanese. 

Robert Mueller revealed some spoilers from the Mueller Report movie, for those of you who haven’t yet made it through the book… and when Fox reporters had worked so hard to keep the true identities of the villains under wrap. Trump has tried to get impeached for years, but you know that Democrats always refuse to give him anything he asks for. Does Trump think that an impeachment inquiry could boost his popularity? Does Trump think? Democrats do think… and think… and think and think. Meanwhile, the window to move the Overton Window is closing.

Greg Dworkin informs us that Israel’s Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu, has finally succeeded in failing, right as he hoped to form an axis with Donald and Vlad, and before Jared Kushner could pass on his wisdom and secrets. Hopefully this will open Netanyahu’s schedule for future endeavors. Britain’s Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, might fail before he even gets his name on the door.

Kentucky’s Donald Trump, Matt Bevin, aspires to ever more Trumpiness on his road to failure. At least Republicans still have gerrymandering, voter suppression and Russians to help them through, as well as the Saudis, as long as we don’t cross them.

Federal prosecutors subpoena Cindy Yang’s Mar-a-Lago records. Also on China’s most wanted: Ponzi schemer, Elliot Broidy supporter and Trump buddy/coffee boy, Shi Jianxiang. U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of New York, Geoffrey Berman is recused on Michael Cohen, partner of Rudy Giuliani, replaced Preet Bharara, despite not being Senate-confirmed.

The religious freedoms of Christians (and just about everyone else) are being violated at the border.

Here are the priorities when states really become red or blue.

Remember the time, back before Robert Mueller’s live statement on the Russia investigation? Relive those moments of 9 -11am Eastern with David Waldman on Today’s KITM:

If Nancy Pelosi was waiting for Robert Mueller to talk, she can be done waiting now. What powers does a formal impeachment inquiry give the House? And, is there any power that Mitch McConnell would ever give a damn about? Joan McCarter reminds us that Mitch is a soulless, hypocritical, lying... but that’s not news to us. Fetal “personhood” takes another step forward in the Supreme Court.

Mick Mulvaney is acting chief of staff, so why not acting Labor Secretary while he’s at it?

Greg Dworkin has diagnosed Trump’s re-electile dysfunction, and the prognosis isn’t good, despite a priapic economy. The people most helped by the Obama economy voted for Trump and have become sadder, but perhaps not wiser. So, for those people, will the discovery that the Trump tax plan was a scam move them? Will tariffs punish them into changing their vote? Or will further plagues just harden their resolve to return to yesteryear? Voters with less yesteryears have less problems voting for change.

Ok, for the moment, the yesteryear crowd lead the blue side of the polls too. Joe Biden leads everywhere, in every way, although in Michigan at least, there aren’t any Democratic candidates that wouldn’t beat Trump. If Justin Amash gets tired of fighting congressional challengers, he should probably run against Donald Trump.

Trump says he has nothing against Roy Moore, but understands why no one would want anything against Roy Moore.

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Have a nice weekend? Three days for most of us, which is nice, including David Waldman and KITM. We lost Donald Trump for a few days, which is even nicer, at least for us.

It was Honest Abe Shinzō/Shinzō Abe’s turn to babysit Donald. They were almost buddies once they lost the ol’ balls and chains. There was golfing, natch, and a trophy presentation to a Sumo champion that wore a mawashi almost as big as the Presidential Depends. (Trump remembered the lifts, so he retained his height advantage.) Then, finally on to a celebration of the Allied defeat of the Axis nations aboard a Japanese military ship. Man, if only their buddy Jong-un could have been there to join in, to maybe throw a needle in there about Pearl Harbor or something, it would’ve been perfect.

Back at home, William Barr put the final touches on Trump’s public enemies list. Sarah Sanders can tell you this is so proper and the other side is so treasonous, that neither she nor you have to look into it at all. You and I agree, or else we would have forced Democrats into impeachment hearings by now.

Meanwhile, the IRS is being made into a partisan tool… why didn’t we think of that? Future Department Department of Homeland Security chief Ken Cuccinelli says that states can use their secret war powers to fight immigration, once Donald Trump uses his secret anti-constitutional powers to loosen up some things.

Stephen K.G. Bannon’s European revolution is still going strong, although his allies seem to be moving forward without him. That’s ok, he can lean on his day job, installing fencing near El Paso.

17 are injured, 2 dead in a mass stabbing near Tokyo. Mass assaults can be made much more efficient with the use of science.

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It's Memorial Day, so let us remember the live show we did last year.

Welcome to today’s Greg Dworkin in the Morning show! Sure, there are holidays off from work, but there are no good days to take off from the job of documenting the atrocities, so Greg gave us an extended segment today, rounding up Monday’s top headlines.

Two big stories burned up the bulk of political Twitter’s oxygen. The first was a two-parter: Just how big of a liar is Trump is, given his ridiculous whopper about the North Korea briefing, and; why won’t “the media” say so? And if they do say so, why not say so all the time?

The second: Push-back and record-straightening on the heartbreaking and cruel stories of separated migrant families.

Most of the rest of the available bandwidth was taken up with how Trump is a bumbling idiot (or worse) in his dealings with North Korea and China, and a serial liar in his dealings with Russia and the domestic fallout from it.

From the Political Science corner: House Republicans carry ten times the risk of Dems. Generic ballot polls remain mostly constant. Even the outliers are back in line. Not that Dems have their house in order, or anything. Because that would be ridiculous.

Resistance is important everywhere. Really. Everywhere.

Calm down! It’s not the end of the world, just the end of the week. OK, It might be the end of the world too, but that’s no reason to get so upset about it. For those who refuse to accept the unacceptable, David Waldman offers a way back from nihilism—knowledge and action—and of course a nice weekend couldn’t hurt.

Check out how CALM our Commander in CHIEF is! Any of his staff will TELL YOU that! Sure, Donald is probably GOLFING at this moment, and that always helps, but EXECUTING his enemies—that would be sooo FINE… except for the HOT ones, leave them! 

William Barr is turning out to be exactly the calming influence Donald Trump was hoping for. Once Barr has access to secret CIA intelligence and compiles an enemies list… actually he doesn’t even need that much to play the press and Democrats.

In fact, fake videos of Nancy Pelosi are playing, and being played by millions of people today. That joke was funnier the first time.

Donald is still browsing through swatches and cronies for his wall. He wants it to be perfect, the “Trump Tower Moscow” of walls. Meanwhile, Maxine Waters is leafing through Trump financial records from two more banks.

Democrats don’t need Republicans to tell them what to do about Trump… or maybe they do.

The i-word is still the order of the day, Greg Dworkin reports. Though, for some reason, we’re supposed to believe it’s that Elizabeth Warren had a job and got paid for it. This, despite the fact that the world watched the “president” melt down yesterday, right in the Rose Garden.

Checking in on our friends across the pond, Brexit is still a bit of very stable genius, if you know what I mean.

The ongoing debate over what to do with anti-abortion Dems.

California is cracking down on vaccine exemptions.

Like, what is “polling,” man? And just how bad are Trump’s “bad polls?” Speaking of bad polls: here’s one. It’s never really time for some game theory. But why not have one on the Dem primaries, anyway?

Armando joined the show, too, ostensibly to recap his day at the CAP conference. But you’ll never guess what happened! We were sidetracked by a discussion of the courtroom whippings Trump has been taking on his idiotic theories of presidential immunity-from-everything-because-reasons. And Teh Stupid is catching, too: Republicans are already asking “what if” a Gop Congress decided to subpoena the taxes of its enemies?

A new front opens on Trump’s corrupt “banking” practices, even while a Manafort banker gets busted.

Meanwhile, Trump schemes up more norm-breaking chaos. And are you ready for Iran? Just a reminder: Afghanistan isn’t over yet, but “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh’s sentence is!

Ben Carson doesn’t know what REO stands for, or OMWI, and apparently not even HUD. David Waldman can’t fight this feeling anymore... maybe Donald Trump hasn’t really hired the best people.

Sensing the end is near, Kris Kobach issued his list of demands, including a jet waiting for him on the tarmac, and one can assume a briefcase of Krugerrands. It looks as if Jim Jordan isn’t going to get away this time, so he’ll just call vindication. Meanwhile, Rex Tillerson sneaks in the back door at the Foreign Affairs Committee marked “stool pigeons”.

They all wish they could be Donald Trump. “Billionaire” Donald took $11 million from a Florida bank, paid off the CEO, then tried to AirBNB it. He soaked you and me for $102 Million to pay his golf bills, not including his upcoming world golf tour. Even Hitler didn’t skim this much off the top.

Maybe the time has come for the House of Representatives to open an impeachment inquiry into the conduct of President Trump. 

Greg Dworkin (Happy Birthday!) believes impeachment is inexorable if not too damn speedy. Democrats might gripe, but Nancy Pelosi is still the leader, and is setting the pace. Justin Amash set an example for Democrats on the Mueller report and might as well caucus with them at this point. The tide is definitely turning. No one ever accepted Trump’s legal arguments, and judges will be confirming that more and more. Greg points to the polls, especially Trump’s disapproval and opposition numbers, to say that Trump should be concerned about 2020.

Some people are in trouble, and yet somehow not because of Donald Trump. Theresa May will try again to sell her new Brexit plan and keep her job. Bridget Kelly goes to prison in July, but doesn’t believe she should go alone.

Today David Waldman gives us a lot of what we aren’t getting anywhere else: A discussion of impeachment. Sure, you have heard a lot about the “impeachment inquiry”, but most of that has just been gobbledygook laid down by both sides. David squeegees away for almost two hours:

A federal judge upheld a congressional subpoena seeking Donald Trump’s financial records, so let’s get on with this thing.

The House Judiciary Committee did the empty chair bit again, this time for Don McGahn, which could be a turning point on impeachment. Or maybe not, as McGahn isn't legally required to appear before Congress, but that doesn’t mean he can’t testify, or maybe…

Nancy Pelosi could cut through all of this, but it looks as if no member of Congress, Democrat or Republican can move her until she a few Senators stand up.

David hopes to address the rest of the collapse of society and democracy later this week. Check in to hear of how the IRS is giving up on fighting political dark money groups, or any rich people for that matter.

A million spears but no brooms... The Wicked Witch had better palace security... At least they finally got the elevator working...  And you thought the crew on Presidential Apprentice were bumbling! Who writes this stuff?

KITM’s “Siskel and Ebert” (hey, you gotta keep up with some historical references on here) David Waldman and Greg Dworkin share their reviews across the Skype aisle:

Congratulations to Justin Amash, the first Republican to finish reading the Mueller report. None of his classmates appreciate an egghead, though.

See? Joe Biden told you there would be bipartisan support out there. Is Biden nostalgic, or an idiot to believe that? More importantly, will Joe find enough voters who are… nostalgic enough to believe him, over the issues important to them? Donald Trump scrambles to hold on to Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, while in Ohio there’s plenty of people still believing his bullshit. 

"The unborn" are the most convenient group of people to advocate for.

It takes less effort and money to convince a non-voter to vote than to convince a Trump voter he’s wrong. That won’t stop Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg from trying. They spend hours of their valuable time at Fox town halls so that Fox can spend weeks of their cheap time beating them with it.

Finland uses its many superpowers (including not trusting what Russians or Americans tell them) to battle fake news.

Deutsche Bank staff saw suspicious activity in Trump and Kushner accounts, but like Trump and Kushner, didn’t think you’d make such a big deal about it. Ben Carson didn’t expect this level of sensitivity either. And, sure, Cindy Yang sold “access” to guests at Mar-a-Lago. It was probably the bargain item on her menu.

Michael Flynn was used to DM’ing Matt Gaetz, but in the future they might need to send messages by tapping on the cell walls.

We had a lot of catching up to do before heading into the weekend. There was the latest Flynn story that turned out not to be new to everyone. And news about the Florida election hacking that couldn’t be shared with everyone. (Though it does make you wonder...)

It’s Walmart vs. Trump on tariffs, and we hope no one wins.

The Hatch Act was all an act.

One weird thing about that Alabama abortion law is… how much it hates America.

Your current events assignment will be: reading about who’s doing school shootings.

Trump’s accusing everybody else of treason. And you know what that means. Meanwhile, he’s also saying he’s hoping for a negotiated settlement with Iran. Maybe he’d be interested in saving money by buying a used one? And his new wall plan? Sharks with frickin’ lasers!

The dog ate Trump’s tax returns.

WhatsApp got hacked. But Jared Kushner’s emails, right? Or maybe not.

Trump cronies just can’t get enough of Mike Flynn’s plot to sell nukes to the Sauds.

But all of that’s just one long round of appetizers for the good stuff, from frequent contributors Travis & Rachel of Irreverent Testimony, on the unforced political errors after Highlands Ranch, and Eric Posman on the unforced political errors (maybe) of… Beto O’Rourke.

It’s Thursday and David Waldman welcomes us to the weekend! Well, it’s always the weekend somewhere… Nah, not even Donald Trump would call Thursday… no, I guess he would:

This week, the White House lit the boosters, leaving our our Earth’s laws and even reality far below. What can Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats do? Other than impeachment, of course. If you think impeachment proceedings are inevitable, you underestimate House Democrats. William Barr and Nancy Pelosi get that accountability is a joke.

You also underestimate Donald Trump. Donald takes patriot farmer money and sends it to Brazilian criminals. Donald hands out pardons to the felons that praise him the most. (Conrad Black is so vile that he… ew.) Donald takes his wall and his baby cages and adds more racism for 2020.

Iran doesn’t underestimate Donald the Dove. They understand John Bolton might be running the war, but Donald Trump remains our artisan of the stupid deal. We could return to a treaty in 2020, if there is an “us”, and a “them” in 2020.

How could Trump be more totalitarian? With a second term. Greg Dworkin rounds up the latest polls, and tips off the odds for you horse race fans out there. Polling seems to show that people that like Joe Biden, like Joe Biden because they think you like Joe Biden. Maybe we do—voters in Pennsylvania sure seem to... even compared to Trump. Codgers pick Joe as their favorite codger. The codgers are running wattle to wattle in Nevada!

Also—Arliss Bunny hops into our discussion of tariffs with informed, and personal perspective.

Donald Trump wants a do-over—of the Iraq war, in Iran. Few of his coalition may be willing at the moment, but as long as he has his base Donald can do no wrong... sort of. As long as there are people to place the accent on the first syllable of “A-rab”, Trump will have his base. The Pentagon will let you know what’s happening over there right when they find out.

KITM is brought to you by the Arabic numeral 3: The third day of the week again brings us our Skype troika of David Waldman, Greg Dworkin, Joan McCarter (and their dogs!)

Right at this moment, Joe Biden looks more like a winner than a loser, but so does every major Democratic candidate right down to Pete Buttigieg, who’s just getting re-started. A gay Presidential candidate would have been unthinkable… oh, about a year ago. The sun belt turns blue as Trump chases his shrinking base into shrinking states.  

By the way, it looks like the failed Ukrainian/Biden scandal was all made up.

Heading into the election, Republicans pass heartbeat bills instead of flag-burning bills because today’s Republicans are much worse people. Miscarriages will be investigated like murders.

Religiously unaffiliated voters, or “nones” (“Nuns”, OTH are religiously affiliated) are becoming an increasingly powerful force in politics, as they tend to follow their moral compass rather than their preachers. Anti-vaccine rallies draw hundreds of ultra-orthodox Jews.

In between sharing heavyhearted sighs, Joan and David tried to raise each other’s spirits. Trump’s lawyers aren’t laughed out of court as they promise to return with more jokes. Steve Bullock rides in from Montana to be our President. Republicans still have no health care plan, but a couple talking points to share. Susan Collins probably feels something deeply, thinking of her Kavanaugh vote. Donald Trump proposes kicking 55,000 kids out of their homes. Mitch McConnell tears a little more out of the nation, because that is all he has left to do.

Meanwhile, aides keep ignoring Trump in hopes that he’ll forget he asked them to do that stupid thing. Usually they’re right. China will pay for tariffs when Mexico pays for the wall.

US-China trade talks have halted. Actually, Donald Trump can’t shut up, and China has found other ways to get their ideas across. Is Trump an idiot? Yes! More importantly, he’s a lying idiot, hoping to attract enough people dumber than him before the election.

David Waldman lured smart person Armando onto the show today, first to talk about Justice Stephen Breyer warning to his colleagues (and us) that the Supreme Court is becoming partisan and political. Armando will tell you, and has told you, it always was so. Is this the end of Roe? Armando also has a few thoughts about the Mueller report, specifically pages 171-177, and generally with Rule 6(e), executive privilege, and how to deal with dumb people.

As Presidential Apprentice finally heads toward its climatic denouement, David Waldman says he has a feeling the good guys might just come out on top. (KITM scripts contain only David’s dialog to guard against spoilers.)

Greg Dworkin reports on the constitutional crisis, which is also an everyday life crisis. China isn’t about to let tariffs and Trump rule them. The death of rural hospitals will mean the eventual death of patients. Donald the dove might start a pre-election war. Anti-abortion bills flood red states ahead of the election. Unfortunately, after the elections we would have to then live with those laws. Winning the Presidential election in 2020 will not be enough. Abortion isn’t a national issue, it is a global issue with international players.

For now, ahead of the televised debates, Joe Biden has a commanding lead.  Is Biden the candidate everyone really wants, or the candidate everyone thinks everyone else wants? Each Democratic candidate can assure you that once you listen to them, you will vote for them. Elizabeth Warren proves it, by wowing MAGA country. Iowa is going to ruin everything.

The FBI is now investigating whether the Florida spa owner connected to Robert Kraft’s prostitution case was funneling money from China into the Trump campaign.

How golf explains Donald Trump: Trump is a disgusting, loathsome jerk, who plays golf.

School shootings. Why, it’s almost as if something was terribly wrong with our country.

The subpoena saga plods on. It’s moving faster than usual, but still too slow for some. What’s the plan? We’re in a constitutional crisis, all right. But as with everything, this can be both sides-ed. Impeachment support grows. Is it a feedback loop?

Today’s Twitter chatter: Giuliani’s planning a trip in Ukraine, though there are sometimes tragic results when people trip in Ukraine.

Trump’s moronic bragging about the “sport” of tax cheating may make it easier to get those returns, after all. The closer we get to nailing him, the more he calls for other people to be arrested.

Another ghost writer, hired to make it look like Trump isn’t an empty-headed dipshit, says Trump is an empty-headed dipshit.

Weekend reading: WTF is The Epoch Times, and why are they cheating so hard for Trump?

David Waldman and Greg Dworkin return for Thursday’s KITM, and not a moment too soon. The last 24 hours have been hectic for our Loser in Chief—and right after the boss chewed him out about his oil well interventionism down south! It’s hard making a buck, especially if you never made one.  

A few people (like… Armando) have been telling you Trump’s billionaire bit is the heart of his con. Tax records show how Trump profited off spreading rumors—until investors stopped believing him... And yet, the people that believe a microwave oven can prove you aren’t poor still think a yacht makes you rich. A few Obama-Trump voters in battleground states might be catching on, however.

Matt Gaetz is being investigated by the Florida Bar for threatening Michael Cohen. Trump’s day in court can’t come soon enough, as the Supreme Court redistributes its wedge issue decisions into election season.

David knew actor Patrick Leahy long before he hit it big, but still isn’t his biggest fan. He has a bone to pick with Leahy’s handling of the the blue-slip rule, the Gop’s handling of the blue-slip rule, and in fact, the past, present and future handling of the blue-slip rule.  

“Strike the last word”... David explains that often heard phrase, while Greg explains the concept of co-equal branches of government to the New York Times.

It’s not just Dana Milbank having his access to the White House curtailed... but now that it is him, it has become an outrage.

Chaos shifts into mayhem. You’d think it would be… louder. You’d think people would miss their “rule of law”, “checks and balances”, “co-equal government”... constitutional republic… or maybe not. Maybe, the case is closed.

David Waldman and Armando don’t think so. There are Democrats who believe impeaching Donald Trump would somehow be a trap. Nancy Pelosi might agree, or maybe she’s only waiting for the precisely most powerful time (Watergate 50th anniversary: July 2023!) to spring into action. Others believe it is now or never. KITM is the kind of show you won’t hear anywhere else—an in-depth discussion on what has to happen to save democracy!

More voter fraud, more Republicans indicted, hopefully more to come.

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One million species are now threatened with extinction. Stocks are tumbling around the world. Donald Trump is sending bombers to Iran. North Korea is testing missiles, cutting rations, and after Trump’s poor execution of the Hanoi Summit are well executing some flunkeys... How was your weekend?

Buck up. David Waldman is here this morning to brighten our day and illuminate our mind, while Greg Dworkin brings the coffee and impeachment pie. Leonard Pitts, Jr. once gave impeachment strawberries, but no more. 45 years after Watergate, Nancy Pelosi leads the House Democrats down that same path. If Congress does not act to preserve its powers, it will make itself forever subservient (which was always the first priority of Donald Trump’s 6 year plan). 

Speaking of contumacious reprobates, Steven Mnuchin doesn’t quite get what “shall furnish” means, and he is past due for a lesson. As for those wanting to lock them up, note that the “Capitol jail down in the basement” is a myth, however a janitor’s closet with a mop handle wedged under the knob really should suffice.

Learn a lot (while you can) from perusing the Congressional Research Service Reports catalog.

Or, you could just skip the effort and have Joe Biden fix it. Biden is the one to beat, on both sides of the aisle. Or, maybe 90% of the Republican party will finally realize the error of their ways, and... A group running robocalls impersonating Trump's campaign has already raised more than $100,000. The IRS commissioner charged with releasing Trump’s tax returns earns as much as $1 million in rental income from Trump properties. Erik Prince is more rich and powerful than ever before. James O’Keefe is an idiot, but still makes a living off of Trumpists… but then again, so is Trump.

“America First” may be the last hope for these cattle ranchers.

Relax! It’s the weekend! Don’t get too comfy in that hammock, David Waldman has various alarms he’d like to raise before anyone dozes off. 

Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee Lindsey Graham assures us that William Barr will sleep well once Lindsey has a little talk with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. Right now Donald Trump is “down on FISA", Graham knows that soon Trump will be “up on FISA” therefore he needs the law on whatever end Trump’s heading toward. Whether up is down or down is up for Trump, William Barr is all for it, and as luck would have it, Donald’s morality is passing right through Glenn Greenwald’s and Tucker Carlson’s sweet spot, and just out of Eric Holder’s. Donald Trump finally has his Roy Cohn, and Nancy Pelosi finally has someone to impeach.

Of course there are plenty of reasons to also impeach Donald Trump… and plenty of ways Trump will try to run out the clock on the investigations. A few federal marshals could speed the process up, a few thousand troops could slow it down.

David Waldman and Greg Dworkin return for today’s KITM, leaving an empty seat for William Barr.

The parties play by two very different sets of rules, and Barr will tell you no rules apply to Donald Trump. Barr stunk up the place with lies yesterday, but Kamala Harris didn’t let that happen on her watch. Democrats who voted for Barr knew this was their cue to find a microphone and fret, while Speaker Pelosi told you it was a crime. So, if the system is to continue to work, what does it need to do? The White House agrees: Jerry Nadler needs to step it up, and you know Trump, Barr, and FBI Director Wray would never hesitate. 

Does Donald Trump make people corrupt, or attract corrupt people? Definitely both, as anyone could tell you, however not everyone agrees on what to do about that. How about… electing Joe Biden? Trump sure seems to think Biden has a chance, therefore you can expect Trump and his allies the New York Times to go on the attack.

The “uncalled witness” in the Anita Hill trial/Clarence Thomas confirmation doesn’t want an apology from Joe Biden, she wants one from Clarence Thomas.  

White nationalists have thoroughly infiltrated conservative media. Where are they becoming radicalized? You were told ICE would reunite thousands of migrant families, and of course it was around 60.

A Florida Officer’s naughty, naughty gun convinced a school full of kids they were all about to die. This would be a logical assumption, given how things go at schools anymore, where the best one can hope for is to die a hero.

Now that Donald already stole the silverware, he and Melania steal the White House.

David Waldman joins Greg Dworkin and Joan McCarter around the KITM maypole for 2 hours of revelry and analysis:

Today, William Barr is griping to the Senate Judiciary Committee about a disgruntled employee of his. Two time Attorney General Barr hates to “verdicts” questioned by anybody, especially when he’s been conspiring to perjure and obstruct justice… which only leads to more perjury and obstruction, which, in a just world…

If Robert Mueller would like to get his side of the story out, he should note that the second hour of tomorrow’s KITM is still open to guests (When the Skype’s working, that is).

Donald Trump has recruited almost 100 firefighters to vote for him in 2020, and yet Joe Biden keeps pulling ahead. Joe is definitely a known quantity. Trump is definitely not the 2020 frontrunner (he wasn’t at the end of 2016 either). Speaking of Republican gerrymanders, 75,000 files have turned up from the computer of a dead redistricting guru. With a Trump second term looking everyone in the face, “electability” is on every Democrat’s list of priorities.

People that know Mitch McConnell like him even less than Trump, therefore Mitch would rather you did not even think about him, and leave him alone with his tobacco execs. Still, McConnell must know that one day, it will be either him or Trump under that bus. It better be a big bus, as Erik Prince, brother of dope Betsy DeVos, is to be the subject of a criminal referral from the House over the Russia investigation.

Taxpayers pick up the tab for the open bar at Mar-a-Lago.

OK everyone, David Waldman saw Game of Thrones, you can share your spoilers now. Donald Trump can finally ask “why didn’t the dragons just fly over and dump water on them all?”

Hey, but not Endgame though! Let David gain the satisfaction of finding Howard on his own.

Back to The Scourge of the Dotard King: Battle of the Subpoenas. Trump can’t stop lying, even in federal lawsuit filings. Eric Trump throws his drunken sister under the bus. David points out that they keep rebooting this story every 15 years or so.

Actually, the Republican war on democracy is never-ending. Remember back in 2016, when Trump inexplicably showed interest in Michigan and Wisconsin? This year, Donald and campaign manager Brad Parscale are interested in New Hampshire, Nevada and Colorado...

Then there’s the Maryland elections company bought by a Russian oligarch close to Putin. Maryland ditched the election servers tied to the Russian oligarch. Now, the company with the Russian investment no longer owns the firm.

Armando likes Joe Biden’s “Trump is Evil and Must Be Stopped!” argument, and the strategy of coming out for impeachment when Trump blocks the investigations spurred by the Mueller report. There have been few impeachments, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot to learn by studying them.

Meanwhile, Republican trolls, agents provocateur, smear merchants, and mercenary dicks Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl can’t resist attempting to manufacture a homophobic scandal around Pete Buttigieg, even though it’s still 9 months to the primaries.

A growing number of university students from Saudi Arabia flee the U.S. after being charged with rape and manslaughter.

And now for the world’s saddest cage match with the world’s happiest outcome, Jared Kushner and Stephen Miller are about to throw down.

Did you catch today’s Kagro in the Morning? If not… SPOILERS AHEAD! David Waldman and Greg Dworkin return to team up against the forces of evil, and stupid:  

So far, Nancy Pelosi is correct on holding off on impeachment, or at least for calling for impeachment. Opinion will change once… or if... the truth reaches the masses.

You won’t be hearing the truth from Donald Trump, ever. For his 10,000th lie, Trump had to make it something special, so why not endanger women and doctors, nurses, or anyone that has lost a baby recently?  

Polls do not look great for Republicans. The majority of voters would not consider voting for Trump in 2020. The majority of women wouldn’t, the majority of seniors will not, vote Trump. As in 2018, Republicans are losing the health care debate. Wisconsin’s milk farmers face extinction, so you’d think they might be less enthusiastic Trump voters as well. Well... they still have cheating, which they’re always happy to do. And… they have Russian hackers. Bill Nelson told you Russians penetrated the Florida voting system. The Mueller report confirmed that. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio are now getting around to confirming that as well. Hackers will just have to find some new states to “flip”.

Oh, and racism. Racism always helps check the "R" on the ballot.

Then there was that mass shooting at a synagogue in California. Heroes and miracles, but unfortunately, also shooting and death.

Even Donald Trump can see that Betsy DeVos is an idiot, he just doesn’t care. What Trump really cares about is watching fellow grifters come to a falling out at the NRA. Protecting both Mueller and Trump was like landing two planes at the same time for Rob Rosenstein.

Avengers: Endgame. Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 3. Kagro in the Morning.

How will you split up your time, energy and attention for maximum water cooler cred by Monday? Well, at least David Waldman gives you bathroom breaks:

North Korean post-interrogation health care might be world-class, but it’s expensive. They issued a $2 million ransom note/hospital bill to the US which we paid. That’s why hostage negotiations are so successful with this administration—for the hostage takers. (The world’s Memers let me down by not photoshopping a picture of Donald Trump handing Kim Jong Un a giant novelty check that I could link to here by press time.)

Democrats know oversight is their responsibility, they just hope you don’t.

Why won’t Twitter treat white supremacy like ISIS? Because many Republicans are white supremacists, and boy, would they pitch a fit. Donald Trump demanded Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tell him why people don’t love him more. Trump calls up Rupert Murdoch to fix his cable. Fox can’t keep advertisers, and Trump, and will have to choose.

Mar-a-Lago can’t find US workers to hire, no matter how many apply. The same corrupt people nearly killed the NRA twice, and might finally get it right this time. Did Trump’s personal lawyers violate criminal law and ethical rules enough to keep their jobs?  Bridget Kelly invites Chris Christie to share an adjoining cell.

The Russians hit the jackpot with people who were neither intelligent nor intelligence savvy. Lara Trump discovers the cause of the downfall of Germany.

Today is the day Joe Biden runs for President! Again! Feel the Joementum? David Waldman does... he really does... It’s just that there are so many out there to be elated about! (The only bad thing about having 20 Democratic candidates is eventually hearing Donald Trump brag about beating 19 of them.) Biden is the front runner—over Democrats, and over Trump, perhaps because it’s still an old white guy world. On the other hand, other old white guy Bernie Sanders finds that there are a lot of women and minorities out there too.

Joe has wide support over many demographics though, especially young voters who just might be thinking of Onion Joe rather than Uncle Joe. Both Joes could run into future problems. And, Barack Obama feels, uhm, favorable about Joe and would give him a positive employment review maybe if requested.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Warren rolls out another well-thought plan, this time to make childbirth safer. Polls show that voters need and demand solutions like this, if only someone like Pete Buttigeig would present them.

Greg Dworkin (Happy Birthday!) reports that Trump’s weak approval wouldn’t exist at all without Fox News and Russian hackers. Donald has a lot to worry about before the election. For instance, he never locked Hillary Clinton up. Every single person he ever knew is a liar out to get him. And, people won’t quit reading the Mueller report. Here are 14 Mueller report takeaways you might have missed. (If you weren’t a KITM listener) 

The White House refuses to let Steven Miller testify to Congress about his immigration policy. Think of all the white power signs that could’ve be thrown during that hearing!

Mar-a-Lago is becoming the #1 Communist party destination. A phony lawyer joins the Trump 2020 grifter stampede. Bridget Kelly shakes her fist out of her jail window as Chris Christie drives past.

It’s Wednesday and David Waldman takes us into the weekend! Well, not right away—all good things take time and patience. And who better to increment with, than KITM Wednesday guests Greg Dworkin and Joan McCarter?

Donald Trump, who is not a patient guy, entered emergency tweet mode to declare that if one co-equal branch of government threatens him, he’ll get 5 out of 9 of the other co-equal branch to rescue him.

Democrats are nervously checking consultants and polls to determine if the proper percentage of people are on fire to warrant bringing out the fire hose. In fact, Megan McArdle-bargle not withstanding, even some Republicans are feeling the breeze from the Overton window at this point. Indeed, Laurence Tribe has found himself braving impeachment talk.

The Supreme Court is almost set to throw the electoral college for 2024, but have to pick between Ivanka or Don Jr. Republicans need to fix the election early to get ahead of the huge demographic shifts toward Democrats. Russians were happy to help fix 2016, and will be ready in 2020. That’s why Trump doesn’t want to hear about Russian election hacking, let alone discourage it. Mitch McConnell is in deep with Russia too. Impeaching Trump now is the only solution to having a totalitarian US. France almost merged with Britain in 1940, so things can change that fast.

David Waldman brings us Treason Tuesday on KITM! “Treason” is a word not bandied about enough, and it’s high time we get on to bandying it:

Greg Sargent and George Conway agree that “Collusion” is not the word to describe the last few years. In 2016, Republicans weighed just how much treason they were willing to tolerate in their Presidential candidates. They determined it was a lot.

Naive country girl Maria Butina came to the United States for love and opportunity, and now longs to return to her simple life. She needs to wait another 18 months. A DoJ filing last Friday sheds light on the ongoing counter-intelligence investigation. Erik Prince and Kirill Dmitriev long for that time they shared secrets along the Seychelles beach.

Treason Tuesday continues, with the White House ignoring a congressional subpoena on a matter of National Security.

Rex Tillerson needs to come to Congress and point on a globe exactly where Donald “asked him to do illegal things”.

Kamala Harris joins Team Impeach.

Sri Lankans died,  maybe because New Zealanders died?

Meanwhile, more teachers become armed, because more teachers became armed.

David Waldman hosts today’s Earth Day special from beneath a fresh layer of the finest organic mulch, just outside KITM World Headquarters:

Don’t cast your vote yet! There’s a new Democratic candidate! Seth Moulton hopes to be the “young Joe Biden” of 2020, but sadly looks to be the “Seth Moulton” of 2020. College Students already have their “Joe Biden”, and it just might be “Joe Biden”.

And, we’re still all reading the Mueller report… well, we aren’t but other people are, and we're reading their latest analysis. Greg Dworkin has no inclination for exoneration but for excoriation. First, William Barr must resign. Barr wasn’t supposed to rebut Robert Mueller. Former federal prosecutors are speaking out in objection. The public is beginning to agree that that a check on Donald Trump is past due. So… how about impeachment? Some Democrats feel that impeachment has a certain harshness they’d prefer not to encounter during any 4 year term with an election in it. So how about the new impeachment, impeachment-lite, impeachment minus the impeachment? Let’s censure!

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Warren wonders if we would like to talk about anything other than Trump during the next 18 months... like maybe solving our nation’s other problems, such as universal child care, or student debt  alleviation... Oh, ok, she’ll talk about impeachment too. 

Greg ties the present to the past with a discussion of The R’s, the D’s, and the Arrrrr’s and how they were all a bit cooler back in the day.

David brings our attention back to the usual parade of scandals and corruption. A former CIA officer racks his brain to imagine any innocence in the behavior of Chinese national Yujing Zhang’s visit and possible infiltration of Mar-a-Lago. The Russians throw us a bone and let us know what Erik Prince and Moscow’s Money Man discussed in Seychelles. The Trump Organization is suing Rep. Elijah Cummings to block a subpoena for of Trump’s financial records.

Friday, finally! Some of us could use a little break from all of this before they snap. Not David Waldman, and not any of you reading this, who are now about to hit play on today's KITM. We need a couple of hours to prepare for the dozens of hours we plan on devoting our attention to Mueller report analysis this weekend!

Armando returns to remind us that the administration of justice is a constitutional responsibility that is shared by all three branches. Unlike William Barr, Robert Mueller agrees that Congress has this responsibility as well. For a moment there, a few Democratic leaders spaced on that. Lately, some are beginning to smarten up, others… no.

Speaking of smarts, Donald Trump kept trying to break the law, but was continually stymied by his smarter, law abiding staff. Certainly, plenty of his staff were neither, as shown by the Special Counsel's 14 referrals of potential criminal activity to outside offices. Only two referrals are publicly known at this point, but the report does describe Mike Flynn contacting foreign intelligence services for Hillary Clinton dirt, and Steve Bannon and Erik Prince exchanging dozens of text messages (since acid-washed from their phones, natch). Prepare to return to the Seychelles in the coming months.

There’s plenty more dumbness and dishonesty to discover. For instance, Sarah Sanders helped out where she could. Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr fed the White House Senate intelligence. Rod Rosenstein wouldn’t stick his neck out for Trump, although he’s still happy to stand behind those who do. By the way, that mountain man lawyer on Rod’s right represents a whole different (maybe) can of worms. By the way, how dumb and dishonest can you be to not collude with the Russians only because you couldn’t ask for anything in return… because you know your entire life is filled with blackmailable offenses?

David Waldman sits high atop Mount Kagro, mead in hand, surveying all before him and dispensing opinions. Unfortunately, the Mueller report was not yet before him, so consider today’s KITM  to be your pre-Mueller report primer. Today is also Greg Dworkin’s retirement day! (But not from this show, so he still had to clock in here.) 

You know what someone should’ve asked William Barr this morning? Of course, Barr would have just lied, or even worse, told the truth. The media is not fully prepared to handle either tactic. Barr doesn’t care what the media, or you think. Alarmed? Appalled? Enraged? Armando was made for this moment, and brings the rant down. Legislators have a constitutional responsibility to confront this head on. Our leaders leap into action, by becoming incrementally sterner, a gambit they’ve employed for over a generation.

Oh well, at least in the end the Kavanaugh hearings motivated Dems more than Republicans, it seems. (Brett Kavanaugh is still on the Supreme Court.) Voters aren’t awfully impressed with the Trump tax scam, it turns out. (It is still law.) Polls are looking pretty good though. (C’mon 2020!)

David Waldman brings us Wednesday’s message, broadcasting from the kitchen/nave of St. Kagro’s Cathedral, (somehow still under constant renovation).

Meanwhile, generous donations are pouring in for Notre Dame, and Louisianan black churches. Notre Dame’s fire seemed so destructive, probably because its designers preferred it burning rather than Paris burning. Luckily for everyone, a pioneering architectural historian managed to laser scan the Cathedral’s architecture. Notre Dame is now promised to be even more beautiful than before, but should that be the goal? Well, it is to the sponsors of the 2024 Olympics, where visitors will be able to check out the new Cathedral, just down the Seine from the new Arc de Trump.

Richard Spencer hopes the Notre Dame fire finally spurs the white man into action. Good luck on that!

Greg Dworkin counts down the hours before the release of William Barr’s second Mueller report obfuscation. Conservatives that are interested in the truth are interested in reading the actual report. If Congress wants the report enough, they can get it. Trump 2020 spends $1 in every $5 donated on lawyers.

Several people have said that several children have had sex with Alan Dershowitz; Alan is certain that no one saw him. 

Donald Trump purports that he vetoed the resolution to end US participation in Yemen’s Civil war. Congress.gov wants to see receipts. Gop congressmen pretended they watched Trump’s wall being built, when they didn’t. A pro-Brexit group pretended to see violent migrants sneak into Britain, when they didn’t.

Voters know who to blame for immigration policy.

Joan McCarter reports that top House Democrats are demanding White House documents on their plan to send asylum seekers to sanctuary cities. William Barr told immigration judges to deny bond hearings to asylum seekers.

Republicans love measles, but unfortunately can’t keep them to themselves.

Watch your mouse around Facebook; Amazon is taking notes.

Great news, the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral made it through the night, and you can hold up on cancelling any tours you might have scheduled over the next thousand years or so. That was some prime real estate opening up downtown, so of course that got Donald Trump’s attention. Donald hoped to clean up the area a little and maybe build something really nice in Paris for once, if only France could meet him halfway with their fire regs...

Luckily, France did have experts to address their situation. We, however, have Trump, and his usual gang of idiots at Fox, assisted by their extraordinary gang of idiots that always seem available for these events. If Donald wasn’t President, he’d be cable news’ number one guest right now.

But that was only half of today’s KITM! David Waldman has only two days left to prepare us for the release of the 2nd William Barr summary. Actually, the latest Barr summary wasn’t the first time Barr pulled this sort of thing. Barr misled Congress in his 1989 summary memo, redacting just the right/wrong information about violation of UN charter, international law, abductions in foreign countries... yada, yada. Oh, and Bill Barr has some connections to Vector Group, Alfa Bank, Deutsche Bank, Russia, yada yada...

Maybe you're wondering if a cabinet member has ever been impeached? “Watergate grand jury member No. 1” personally lived through the Teapot Dome of American scandals, and therefore he knows a bit about those things.

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Can’t get enough of intricate, complexly Machiavellian stratagems played out by an ever conniving set of deceiving backstabbers? Then you came to the right place! David Waldman can’t offer you dragons today, but we do have a surplus of elephants.

The world is going nuts, and Greg Dworkin found some of the nuttiest in the UK. Brexit is threatening to break the Tory party apart, leaving an opening for hardliners. A new referendum might be the best way out of their crisis.

Donald Trump turns his mob back onto Muslims, starting with insufficiently grateful Ilhan Omar, whose death Donald will probably consider simply an example of her bad branding.

Here’s an aggravatingly long list of the times Trump has asked people who work for him or the government to break laws. The list does not include laws broken, but then reinterpreted, pardoned, or disappeared.

Republicans do know Donald Trump is terrible, they just aren’t tired of winning yet.  Trump tests out his post-recession pitches. Obama/Trump voters now wish to be Obama/Trump/Obama voters. They might even vote for a woman candidate if they hear of any running.

On Thursday the media gets a second chance to get it wrong on the Mueller report.

At the beginning of the month the House passed a resolution withdrawing military support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, which Donald Trump… uhm, whatever happened with that? Prepare to be engrossed in David’s explanation and examination of engrossment, enrollment, and the presentation of legislation.

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David Waldman is on the road again, college shopping with #1 son, and enduring his sticker shock one weekend at a time. Dishonest entry into college is crazy expensive, ostensibly honest ain’t cheap either. Now students are being sold on handing over part of their future earnings in return for loans.

William Barr is trying to Rule 6(e) his way out of letting anyone see the complete Mueller report. House committees are already having their subpoenas rebuffed. David looks into conservative arguments supporting Barr, and the counterpoints.

Georgia Rep. Lucy McBath was trolled by the Gop... at least for a while, until people that could read cursive showed up.

Randolph 'Tex' Alles proposed saving money by withdrawing security protection for Trump’s family members and aides unless they had received threats. You can imagine how well that went over.

Donald Trump is spending millions on Facebook ads, so what’s a few Howards between friends?

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BREAKING: The world’s first picture of a black hole reveals an image of a large, black void. Why? Because they look like large, black voids, and also some science stuff.

Closer to home, but still kind of far away, Greg Dworkin examines potential political collapses in Israel and the UK.

No closer to home at all, and in fact, in exactly the same place, Julian Assange is arrested, and Armando joins us in not knowing, initially, exactly how to feel about it, until things clear up, somewhat. Then, right here at home, we all bemoan William Barr’s shallow and craven predictability, and wonder how our various national big brains could ever possibly have missed the clues. Later, it’s time to wonder the same with regard to the Republican Senate and the filibuster.

We didn’t neglect electoral politics entirely, though. Poll cravers got their fix.

In other corruption news, Trump’s sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, retired from her senior, inactive status on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, thereby mooting a court inquiry into… those taxes Trump keeps refusing to give up. But also reaffirming that there’s there there.

Oh, and did we mention that the Russians tried to hack election systems in every single state? Yes we did, but only just.

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Hump day! Always good news for David Waldman, because he has Greg Dworkin and Joan McCarter to give him a hand up. Good news for all of us, as today there is a very big hump to ascend:

Claire Grady, pesky obstacle of Donald Trump, retires to spend more time with her family. No wait—that’s Greg Dworkin, and he’s retiring to spend more time with us! More details to come.

Meanwhile, House Republicans are directly intervening in the House Oversight Committee's efforts to investigate prescription drug prices. Donald Trump is turning the Fed into a reality show, and Mitch McConnell is letting it happen.

Who is the most dangerous man in DC? Is it Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s newest puppet-master? Is it Stephen Miller, white nationalist and chaos agent? Is it Stephen Miller’s arch nemesis, Jared Kushner? Or is it Jared Kushner’s arch nemeses, the tea party Republicans? Or maybe William Barr, moving attention and resources into battle against the deep state? Nah, it’s our nitwit 4th grader in chief, wondering why Mt. Vernon wasn’t named Mt. Washington, destroyer of all he touches, unless he thinks he can steal it. When can we go back to ignoring him? Maybe after the election? Right now, voters prefer the white guy whose name they recognize, especially if he can beat Trump. Social media and cable news might not reflect where the vote will go, and Israel’s election and Brexit show the awful places votes can possibly go.

In Europe dozens of women have married ISIS fighters, and could be tried for war crimes, but now have children who are citizens in their countries, creating many other complications.

Back in the US, the Feds bust a $1.2 billion health-care fraud scheme peddling orthopedic braces to senior citizens via foreign call centers. Devin Nunes’ Cow and the the Fresno Bee fight Devin Nunes SLAPP suit… something about a yacht, cocaine and prostitutes.

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You might not know his name, but you know his birthday. Happy birthday, David Waldman’s brother!

What else is happening today? Oh yeah, Donald Trump continues his purge of enemies, dissidents, and those that have disagreed with him in front of people. (Donald had a nickname for the departing Secret Service director Randolph Alles, and it wasn’t “Tex”.) Trump plans to install lackeys to the DHS might be illegal, but legality has been a minor consideration.

Whatever Trump is playing, it isn’t golf. However he earned money, it wasn’t in business. Can Donald cheat his way out from under the Mueller report? A federal court decision on Friday shows how Congress can finally get its hands on the special counsel's work. A bill in the New York state Legislature could allow Congress to obtain Trump's tax returns.

The Chinese woman caught at Mar-a-Lago had nine USB drives, five sim cards, and a hidden camera detector, but only a fraction of what a spy would really require to sneak in undetected.

Mitch McConnell sped up his conga line of conservative judges once again before the music runs out.

Rep. Ilhan Omar said Stephen Miller is a white nationalist. Stephen Miller is a white nationalist. Stephen Miller is a white nationalist, and it’s not anti-Semitic to say so. Black activists can be made more terrifying with rumors of Communist or Islamic terrorism.

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David Waldman, on the road this weekend, hoped to return to find everything normal this morning. Of course, he was disappointed, unless he was expecting the normal level of abnormality.

For instance, Kirstjen Nielsen was fired by tweet, as would be expected, and Donald Trump ignored the law in naming her replacement, of course. She certainly won’t be missed, maybe even after we meet the new guy.

Former White House counsel Don McGahn is quoted, uhm, off the record, dropping really big hints that his boss was not fun to work for, and interestingly, that the White House operations model was hub and spoke, a business model familiar to lawyers, especially those in antitrust law.

Greg Dworkin has noticed that someone might be worried about the Mueller report. In fact, the closer it gets, the more Trump squeals, and the more lies are being tossed out. As the Mueller report coverup proceeds, the Trump tax return dodge begins. Trump has always considered his tax dodging a priority, even over the Mueller report. Democrats always considered a reasonable law-based argument would make a difference to anyone in their right mind. As a result, White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney replied, Na-na ah boo boo, you can’t make me. Trump's personal lawyer Jay Sekulow, backed him up with, Oh yeah, what about Nancy Pelosi?

Donald Trump's week of utter chaos sent the message that he is out of control. On the other hand, Democratic freshmen are already posting huge fundraising numbers. Democrats should stop chasing Trump’s base. They already have their own white working-class voters, plus plenty of others.

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David Waldman is on the road today, but today’s ALL-NEW, pre-recorded KITM veers off the beaten path to attend to topics we need to attend to, other than how awful, awful, awful, awful, awful, awful, awful the President is.

Donald Trump is really good at getting stuff done or whatever, although usually it’s too illegal to allow to continue, as again was the case when Trump’s order to open arctic waters to oil drilling was unlawful. The secret is, however, that ANWR’s milkshake cup might be empty—the real reservoir Donald is protecting is the vast reserves of lobbyist money threatened. The big scandal that the Mueller report reveals is how much of it we ever allowed to be legal.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is taking the media heat and focusing it into fundraising energy. Not a new idea, not a bad idea, but if you have a problem you can contact her on Twitter.

Homeland Security disbands its domestic terror intelligence unit. Domestic terror is global nowadays.

Intelligence reports for law enforcement treat Antifa Anti-fascists as equivalent to the “anti-anti-fascists”… or fascists.

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Greg Dworkin rounded up headlines and analyses today. The big news: Mueller’s team is finally speaking up about the nature of the report, and what they say is being left out by Barr. Is it really possible they just didn’t anticipate how partisan Barr was going to be? One thing everybody anticipated, though, was how the Savvy, optics-obsessed press was going to play things, no matter how many times they’ve been warned.

House Dems are stepping up their game, though, finally demanding Trump’s tax returns (which some Republicans used to favor), and the full Mueller report.

We return to Perv-a-Lago, for the continuing story of The Spy Who Rubbed Me.

The pundits are wondering: WTF with Wisconsin? Is it just that Republicans can get away with a certain kind of campaigning? Are Dems just… different?

Some forgotten history on the Trump-Fox relationship. Are the new filibuster changes as bad as they’re made out to be?

Yes, Rick Scott is as bad as he’s made out to be. Texas bikers can be as bad as they want, apparently.

What’s Netanyahu doing in Moscow with an election looming? What all the cool kids do, I guess.

Trump’s latest shameless shift to autocracy: get rid of judges.

Orange you glad it’s Wednesday?  David Waldman sure is! As you know, Wednesday is the day David picks to jam with his pears on KITM... Like Greg Dworkin, who although he does know a little german, still finds himself unable to explain why Donald Trump wants you to believe his father wasn’t born in US. Everyone knows exactly where Trump’s hatred of wind turbines comes from, however.

Greg reminds us that Republicans adopt policies the public hates. That could be helpful  for Democrats in 2020, except for the Republicans that don’t care, and still vote. Tight races, like Wisconsin’s supreme court race will take more work.

Joe Biden, experienced or out of touch, comforting or discomforting, is running or not running for President, but definitely has everyone’s attention right now.

Students are putting stickers on their ID and cellphones permitting their pictures to be shared if they are killed by gun violence.

Joan McCarter joins Donald Trump in welcoming Trumpcare to the center of the 2020 debate. Senator Susan Collins has become concerned, and troubled. Mitch McConnell pushed Trumpcare to after the election, because he wasn’t finished destroying everything for everybody, forever. Mitch hopes to get the reactionary judge assembly line down to a few a day. What’s Chuck Schumer going to do about that?

North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Robin Hayes got indicted by the Feds, and the net is taking a few more fish with it, including Gop Rep. Mark Walker.

A Chinese woman missed her once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to directly spy on a US President by being so incredibly inept and obvious that she finally earned the suspicion of someone at Mar-a-Lago.

David Waldman and Greg Dworkin aren’t fooling around today, no one’s got time for that:

The public hasn’t seen the Mueller report, and won’t be fooled by White House spin. Special elections in Louisiana illustrate that voters aren’t falling for the same old Republican tricks anymore. Overall, Trump remains stable in the polls, as his base will always trust him and no one else ever will. The press did fall for the Barr letter, but no one fell for those few good days of headlines. America wants to move on from the Mueller report, and on to subpoenas to discover the whole truth. Democrats will uncover the whole story, even if one or two people might be impeached along the way. We might even get to find out how Hope Hicks did it.

Sen. Rick Scott becomes the Trump point man on Gop health care policy. Who says Donald doesn’t have a sense of humor?

Donald Trump is the world’s worst cheat at golf, in that he cheats the most often, and with the greatest stupidity.

Alex Jones decides he must have been psychotic to say the things he did, but can’t explain the mental disorder that caused millions to pay attention to him.

Fake news infections spread like measles through the uninoculated. 

Fox News had to refer to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador as “3 Mexican Countries”, otherwise their viewership wouldn’t know what they were talking about.

You won’t believe how much David Waldman has packed into today’s KITM. Forget the weekend, you could become more conversant for weeks by just listening to this one show:

Sure, Donald Trump purports that the Great Lakes have record deepness, but as usual, don’t believe him until you see him prove it. Donald remains really good at getting stuff done or whatever: A federal judge blocked Trump Medicaid work requirements in Arkansas and Kentucky. Another pesky judge struck down Trump rules governing association health plans. 

Meanwhile, Democrats on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee noticed the State department block of a journalism award going to a Trump-critical journalist. Trump documents to banks and insurers are clearly fraudulent. The Trump administration approved secret nuclear power work for Saudi Arabia. Hell, we now know Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University has Pentagon contracts! Aren’t all of these, or any one of these, worthy of impeachment, I mean investigation?

Vladimir Putin’s one world order of transnational white nationalism continues apace, in Australia, with the help of NRA, as revealed by an Al Jazeera undercover report. Pro-Putin, pro-gun, anti-vax, terrorism-truther, Pauline Hanson says she isn’t connected to the Christchurch massacre. Putin says he isn’t connected to Pauline. Hanson’s One Nation’s nationalism is for sale.

Aaron Kleinman, the Give Smart Guy, aka Bobby Big Wheel, of FutureNow.org, shares America’s Goals, and makes it his job to alert us when politicians stray from sanity and ethics. He is a KITM special guest for a 30 minute segment at the top of the second hour!

David Waldman continues working out the bugs in the new KITM computer. At 9:00 each morning, the new Mac’s prompt pops up to ask if he is inclined to run for President, and David just keeps ticking the “Remind me tomorrow” box...

You think you got it tough? The moneyed elite are forced to bribe elite colleges to enroll their elite kids as a signal to non-elites that their kids are not elite.

Greg Dworkin tells us that Donald Trump insisting on "Brexit for Obamacare" is going to get them just where the UK is now. Where is that? Greg examines the indicative votes polling. What do indicative votes… indicate? Greg can explain. So, Brexit means Brexit, but does it mean more? Yes, it does! Will Teresa May’s resignation halt the Britain’s decent into chaos? No, it won’t! So, in a nutshell, that’s WTF is happening with the Gop’s Obamacare attack, with the exception that we all get Donald Trump in our deal.

Is Betsy Devos’ cut off of the Special Olympics actually Trump bullying by proxy? Trump’s executive orders are all part of the scam.

The majority say Trump was not exonerated by the Barr report on the Mueller report. Just wait until they read the Mueller report! Most voters say they will vote yes on Trumpexit, and that is before the economy really begins to tank. Urban youth are here to help us out of this mess.

Stanford University released a study based on 37 years of data debunking the Good Guy with a Gun theory, just in case you want to reason with some pro-gun partisans, heh heh heh.

Did Trump try to undo North Korea penalties? David finds himself explaining to Vox.

Willbur Ross may or may not testify to a Senate appropriations subcommittee, if it doesn’t coincide with his nap time. America’s corruption is a national security threat.

This week is all about Bill Barr and Obamacare! So, same topics, different day… but, because today is Wednesday, David Waldman gets both Greg Dworkin and Joan McCarter with their added analysis and entertainment value!

A clod has been lifted... maybe, no, not really by the release of the Barr report on the Mueller report. There are a few facets of Mueller's report Barr didn’t touch upon. For instance, what Mueller was actually investigating? Sarah Sanders calls for the death of someone, but is still working out who.

Donald Trump finally made the long awaited pivot to… WTF is wrong with him? No one wants to eliminate the Affordable Care Act. No one wants the entire health care system destroyed. No one at the DOJ wants to defend their own filing to district court.

Donald certainly is succeeding in making Republicans the party of health care in 2020. Voters may not remember Barr, but they will remember this. Republican voters are finding out just how deeply Republicans hate healthcare. Today, Barbara Bush wouldn’t waste her beautiful mind on Republicans. Donald Trump also tried to take sanctions off buddy Kim Jong-un, but that ended up being a little too WTF.

Republicans also hate the environment. In the Senate, Mike Lee blew milk out his nose until he finally caught the attention of that cool smart girl across the aisle. Is the “warm” in Global Warming a little too inviting for chilly people? Maybe the “global” is a little too round for flat-earthers?

Mitch McConnell is helping Russia help Trump, again. He’s also giving Democrats incentive to pack the courts when they can take back the White House and Senate. Chuck Schumer would like to avoid talking about the filibuster before the election, but he doesn’t have that luxury.

Betsy DeVos, billionaire, owns several mansions and yachts, but not one crap about kids.

At the swearing in of Pennsylvania’s first Muslim woman, State Rep. Stephanie Borowicz asked forgiveness from Jesus 13 times. Jesus might forgive her, but he’ll be the only one.

Joan has awesome dogs. LOOK AT THEM.

William, Bill (just don’t call him Bob) Barr’s summary of the Mueller Report is awful, sure, but in his defense, he didn’t have to write a good one. Barr made a hot take on deadline, which was exactly what his bosses wanted, and all that Republicans have needed since the 2000 election.

My job is much tougher. Today, for two hours, David Waldman and Armando talked about the politics and realpolitik behind the scenes, the structure of laws, rules and precedent supporting it all, and how and where it really doesn’t matter. Really, I can’t do it justice. You will need to listen to all of it, maybe twice, to get all the details.

Now that the DOJ has killed the Mueller threat, it’s time to move on to killing healthcare. Republicans zeroed out the penalty for being uninsured under the Affordable Care Act, and now hope to zero out the whole thing. David and Armando talk about the politics, yes politics, behind the decisions of the Supreme Court.

Donald Trump doesn’t have to collude with Russia, if he just cedes all foreign policy to them.

Good news. Robert Mueller and his gang of 13 angry Democrats were completely exonerated in all deep-state witch-hunt allegations this weekend. Mueller can finally kick back at his local golf course, once he handed off his report to AG William Barr, who pretty much already had his summary written and only had to press send on Sunday. Celebrations commence at the Capital, and also at the White House.

KITM’s work has only just begun, however. David Waldman calls on Greg Dworkin and Armando to get us back on our feet and back to work. Journalists did a good job, and  now need to keep it up. Legal experts, including Armando, are questioning the rationales supporting the Barr report. Also, even though there is a lot to discuss in the Barr report, it is NOT the Mueller report, not even close, so we really need to see that.

Is this the long anticipated pivot towards the one world order of transnational white nationalists lead by Vladimir Putin? Wait, who was waiting for that?

Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi, who is looking pretty smart again, will be moving forward with ACA 2.0. aka  HR5155.  Stephen Moore knows the quickest way to Trump’s heart, and puckers up for a Federal Reserve seat. Are we heading for a recession? You read this and tell me. In Parkland, Florida leaders react and take steps, several years too late.

David Waldman never said the live simultaneous engineering, producing and hosting of KITM was easy, and he never will after maneuvering through today’s production hassles. One thing he has always said though, is that KITM welcomes pre-recorded submissions, and so this morning David brought out two guests to broaden our discussions and understanding of events going into the weekend:

First up, The most REASONABLE man in America, Darwin H. M., aka @Darwin_Darko, to alert us that a US Navy warship has been quarantined at sea for over 2 months because of a rare virus outbreak similar to the mumps.

Also, Serena Blaiz, aka @peacearena, wonders if Oklahoma’s “Opportunity Zones”,  which were intended for the poor, benefit mostly the rich?

Once again, Donald Trump is just such an incredible dick. And, he also lies all of the time. Trump will lie between each of his lies before you can even catch a breath. Bob Kerrey demands, “Let’s see those X-rays!”

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump often tell the truth, just not to you, and they will erase it so you will never find out. Looks as if Cindy Yang invited several Chinese businessmen down to Massage-a-Lago to try out the “beautiful piece of chocolate cake”… which they call “the #4” down in the spa area. 

At Boeing, safety is extra.

Unlike New Zealand, the US isn’t coming for anyone’s guns, so teachers will need to learn how to take a bullet instead.

This morning, KITM World Headquarters took tentative steps towards inclusivity, by attempting to unite PCs and Macs in an initially uneasy truce. David Waldman checked in with his IT guy, Greg Dworkin, and they got to talking about politics:

New Zealand shows the world how representative government works, by banning military-style semiautomatic weapons and assault rifles less than a week after its tragedy.

Donald Trump gave John McCain the funeral he wanted (one without Donald Trump) but John’s thank you card must have been delayed in transit.  Senator Johnny Isakson places Trump in his basket of deplorables, at least until the next Gop vote comes up. Republicans don’t mind Trump’s lies that much, but are really irritated when he tells the truth.

Appraisals of Democrat’s campaign launches are in... pre-Biden that is. Does the number of small donors determine how closely a candidate will follow the will of the people? If so, will “Devin Nunes’ Cow” lead the herd? Bernie Sander’s electability argument becomes tougher for him if he isn’t electable. Some 2020 Democrats back Liberals’ goals, which is fine, because most Americans do too.

Friendless, empty, singularly self-serving nihilist Mitch McConnell is the closest thing Donald Trump will ever have to a soul-mate.

Donald laid his wall down somewhere, and it was lost, but then it was found that local Mexicans were putting it to good use. The White House will empty out its international graft piggy bank to pay for the wall. Jared Kushner, the world’s most absent-minded super-genius, forgot to apply for certificates of occupancy for 9 of his buildings.

How does Hope Hicks do it? Democrats hope to ask her that soon.

Donald Trump didn’t say he was going to make the Mueller report public, so don’t ever believe him, even after you see it in writing. James Comey isn’t even sure if a subpoena would work in obtaining an unredacted copy.

With Greg Dworkin’s help, we finally got around to the hilarious-but-equally-insane story of the Devin Nunes lawsuit.

Bernie Sanders’ latest hires roil the social media waters. Rod Rosenstein will be staying put for the time being, as we await the Mueller… whatever thingy. Daniel Dale presents another of his trademark catalogs of a particular genre of Trump lie.

Trump and George Conway are going at it on Twitter again. But at least Conway is alive, unlike Trump’s other favorite target, John McCain. About which, Sen. Johnny Isakson says he just might get riled up over that, soon.

The Electoral College is under scrutiny again, and being “defended” by some of the Republicans’ worst rhetoricians.

Germans may love David Hasselhoff, but they’re not exactly loving 5G.

The New York State Attorney General says everything is just fine at the Trump Foundation.

Trump inserts himself into the life-and-death decision-making at the FAA after the latest Boeing crash, which is fine because he has a private jet. So, you know. There you go.

Are we set to deregulate Wall Street again? Republicans have a real problem with democracy.

David Waldman welcomes Ian Reifowitz, author of The Tribalization of Politics: How Rush Limbaugh's Race-Baiting Rhetoric on the Obama Presidency Paved the Way for Trump to discuss the themes in his book and the rise of white nationalism, or transnationalism, as white power is protected and projected world-wide as quickly now and with more ease than face to face. Just ask the Virginia police officer caught working his High School beat to recruit and organize white supremacists (while also hoping to “downplay racism”). It is also apparent that pwning the libs is getting people killed. No joke: the man charged with Gambino family hit job showed up in court with “MAGA Forever” written on his hand. Ian explains that Democrats must call out Republican race-baiting to win voters of all races. 

The Deutsche Bank helped Donald Trump get the presidency. They helped him get a lot of things. Is the bank just an incredible sucker for Trump’s wiles, or did they get something out of deal?

After its darkest day, New Zealand demonstrates that government is capable of acting quickly and efficiently on behalf of its citizens. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern showed empathy and steel, compassion and resolve in her response to the white nationalist terrorist attack on Christchurch NZ mosque. Ardern promises new gun laws to pull New Zealand out of the hell we put ourselves into. Mosque attendee Abdul Aziz, armed with an empty gun and a credit card machine, heroically fought the shooter away, saving lives.

Back in the US, Donald Trump tweeted once for each death, and abstained from golf on Sunday... It isn’t complicated, Trump and his base are white supremacists, but Donald took the extra time and effort to be awful in all ways this weekend, not just in white supremacy. David Waldman and Greg Dworkin reviewed Trump’s latest insults to races, genders, intelligence, morality and Saturday Night Live reruns.

The Feds raided Elliott Broidy’s office for documents related to China, Saudi Arabia, and probably a few other very interesting things. How did this young Russian website bride go from inhaling NOx from a whipped cream bottle to running a modeling agency with access to Mar-A-Lago?

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s powers have been stripped, so any future bone-sawing is out of his pocket from now on.

Meanwhile, 2020 Democrats want to build a movement. Andrew Yang has some bad ideas. Pete Buttigieg has some good ideas. “Bill de Blasio” is a terrible idea, while some think “Beto O’Rourke” is a pretty awesome one.

Daily Kos goes down in the history books, or at least an AP Comparative Government textbook.

Well, today was the umpteenth time we’ve done the show under the cloud of a mass shooting. And although the shooting wasn’t here at home, yes, it’s still a “we” situation. More than that, we actually bear some responsibility for it.

It didn’t help matters that Trump had just finished threatening civil war if he doesn’t get his way on everything, forever and ever.

As fans of the show know, everything is always connected. And it wasn’t hard to connect events to the news that Connecticut’s highest court has ruled that a suit by the families of the Sandy Hook shooting against the makers of the “Bushmaster” AR-15 can go forward.

Adam Serwer, once again, finds himself on point.

You want connections? Let’s talk, once again, and as complicated as it can be, about Rep. Ilhan Omar. No, seriously. There’s a new twist to this story, and maybe only KITM (though in all fairness we have to credit Politico) can make it about procedure! (Although I think it’s fair to say we have a way of making the story our own, for having covered the scourge of motions to recommit for… [checks notes]… a decade.)

Happy Pi Day! Mmmm Hmmmm! David Waldman just placed a piping hot KITM on the windowsill to cool:

Beto O'Rourke and his teeth have announced they are running for President. You know who else has big teeth? (I think those articles were about teeth, maybe. Who has the time anymore?) Greg Dworkin suggests skipping the human candidates and concentrating on their dogs. But who can choose between so many great contenders?

Donald Trump’s emergency is turning into a real one for him and his declaration. Mike Lee wanted to help Trump out, but Donald wasn’t interested. Nancy Pelosi, proponent of bipartisanship, saw some today with a 420-0 vote calling for the public release of the Mueller report. Mark Warner and Susan Collins introduced a bill to control how Trump grants and revokes security clearances.

The university bribing and cheating scandal shows that money is the real affirmative action scandal. As mom Lori Loughlin enters a holding cell, daughter Olivia Jade boards the USC Trustee Chairman’s yacht. Rick Singer set up a fake charity to mask bribes and payoffs from the IRS. The difference between corruption and philanthropy is the number of zeros on the check.

Donald Trump’s shutdown brought chaos to the skies, with pilots now finding out how much they were screwed. 

Paul Manafort’s lawyer was fact-checked live in front of the Washington D.C. federal courthouse, just as New York prosecutors stepped up for their turn. 

Fox News will have to lose a lot of money before they drop Tucker Carlson and Jeanine Pirro, and are well on their way to that goal.  Jacob Wohl caught making death threats against Jacob Wohl. Matt Whitaker might be gone, but is still digging. Staunch Trump ally James Risch tried to temper bipartisan criticism to Trump's response to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, but he sucks at his job.

Generic Dem edges out Donald in Florida, but won’t be the one running against him.

Today, we let everybody onto the show, and none of them even had to pay to cheat on their SATs! Greg Dworkin was here! Joan McCarter was here! Armando was here!

Paul Manafort, however, was back in court. And Matthew Whitaker was back before the House Judiciary Committee. And a couple dozen college kids and their naughty, naughty parents were stuck in social media purgatory. Better than where Tucker Carlson and Jeanine Pirro are stuck, though.

The past week or so has been no great shakes for Dotard J. Trump, either. His whipping effort on the border “emergency” may be doing more harm than good, and even House Republicans are looking to buy some distance from him. Nor are early Republican voters in Iowa too keen on him. And I don’t know if Trump loves New York, but New York(‘s Attorney General) doesn’t love him.

Calling Mitch McConnell an “institutionalist” should get you institutionalized. He and his fellow Republicans don’t think much of this “voting” idea.

Still hung up on Pelosi’s comments on impeachment? You’re not alone. For one thing, Trump appears to have liked them. Although she doesn’t much like the idea of Pence’s proposed one-time pass for the boss. There’s still plenty about her with which we can be pleased.

So what should Dems be doing if they can take back control of the government?

And are we still better off than those stuck in Brexit hell? There are two ways to understand how bad the situation is: the long way, and the short way.

David Waldman and son rushed off this morning to pick up some strep throat over at their 24/7 walk-in clinic waiting room... But not before one last healthy KITM:

Jeffrey Epstein’s case files are going to be unsealed, revealing sordid details of pedophilia and human trafficking pouring in from over the border at the spa at Mar-a-Lago.

Donald Trump’s DOA budget proposes $4.75 trillion in lies, tears and broken promises. He’ll plead ignorance, which sure would be the truth, but if he is lying, remember that Donald is fully capable of fighting for days over a single word. Trump won a 2018 golf championship without playing in it, a lie he somehow forged into truth. Jack Nicklaus takes Donald’s bullshit to make the flowers grow.

Is hanging too good for Donald Trump? Nancy Pelosi thinks Trump isn’t worth impeaching, or much of anything really. Ivanka and Jared don’t believe Daddy Mealticket is a racist or that you even heard that he was.

You can hardly believe anything anymore! Well that’s showbiz.

David Waldman's back up computer has whirred its last. It has shuffled off its Tesla coil. It is in eternal sleep mode. It’s more room temperature than usual. It is dead. We must all move on:

Donald Trump did mention that Tim Cook was from Apple in under 1/30th of a second, it’s not his problem if you can’t keep up.

Greg Dworkin pays his respects with a bouquet of lovely spring polls. It’s Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, leading the pack for those that select names base on who they recognize. The two also lead in how long they’ve been hanging around. Candidates will soon be judged on the issues, also by if they are not “Howard Schultz”. Sherrod Brown throws his hat into the Vice Presidential ring.

Fox News is not home to the 2020 Democratic debates, but not coincidentally is the home to Tucker Carlson and Jeanine Pirro. Tucker and Jeanine’s Venn diagram of theocracy and child rape meets at white supremacy.

Being an old rich white guy is only half of how Paul Manafort got off so lightly. Trump-branded spas, escort services, and massage parlors is only half of why Cindy Yang peddled access to Donald Trump.

Marco Rubio confuses Germán Dam with his brothers Hoover and Hot.

Oh look, the DOJ was cleaning out Matt Whitaker’s desk and found Jeff Sessions’ lock Hillary up letter.

Adding more justices to the Supreme Court was always somebody’s idea, but now it’s a Democratic one.

The pizzagate virus spreads into Canada. Justin Trudeau has been turning up lately with feet of clay.

Great news for conversationalists and conversation devotees, every Friday David Waldman sends you into the weekend with guaranteed conversation starters… or enders, depending on who you are talking to:

We can now talk insurance fraud, thanks to Michael Cohen. More banks are being caught up in money-laundering scandals.

Paul Manafort was sentenced to a few years in prison. Manafort could have gotten more, but laws haven’t applied to him before and Judge T. S. Ellis didn’t want to start now, as he still has a long life ahead of him. (the judge, that is) 

A Scranton, PA dentist can’t fill out a state license request, but who cares when you know the king? Donald Trump isn’t that smart either, but who cares when you are the king? Roger Ailes tipped off Trump about Megyn Kelly’s 2016 debate questions.

Wilbur Ross not only broke the law, but a judge rules he violated the Constitution. The Trump inauguration took money from shell companies tied to foreigners. Jared Kushner kicked embassy staff out of his Mohammed bin Salman pocket. Donald Trump shakes down allies for another 50%.

The founder of the Florida spa renown for their rub & tugs, crank & yanks, poke & strokes, and that occasional “Hans Solo on the old Darth Vader”, enjoyed spending her time with Robert Kraft and Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

David Brooks slowly, slowly comes around. This time, to the case for reparations.

Yesterday, Democrats resolved to punch themselves in the head for the duration of their administration as House majority. Today, they cleaned up elections, protected voting rights, strengthened ethics laws, and limited dark money. If Democrats really want to heal America, Trump must be held accountable also.

David Waldman’s Mac’s wait cursor spins no more. It is survived by its partner Apple (no relation to Tim) In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Patreon and Square Cash:

In one of the oh so many moments we’ve all been waiting for, Paul Manafort will be sentenced in federal court today. Kirstjen Nielsen finally got to feel some oversight when confronted over family separation, caging of children, and the rejection of asylum seekers. Greg Dworkin joins in acknowledging the expertise of house members such as Lauren Underwood, Nanette Diaz Barragán, and others in their cross-examination of Nielsen. 

The House Oversight Committee fears questioning Ivanka, Don Jr. and Eric, although unfortunately that is their job. David and Greg discuss how the resolution to terminate Trump’s emergency declaration doesn’t specify how it may lose privilege. Will that trip up Mitch McConnell? Nah. The Oversight Committee saves the nation one state at a time.

The Trump economy barrels on, right over all of the warning signs.

Howard Schultz puts together his team of Gop operatives to better handle whatever Gop operatives do. Andrew Yang and the Yang Gang connect with their Tucker Carlson watching 4chan base to win for the Dems in 2020.

White Evangelical male Republicans revel in their wait for the Rapture by watching Jewish Democrats in a public brawl with Muslims and women of color, staged in a ring assembled just for them in the center of the House floor... Oh well,  Democrats had such big plans, too.  Maybe the next time Dems win the House, life will be more fair, and people will be more understanding.

Ever consider designing your lifestyle around a 4-hour workweek? The computers at KITM World Headquarters gave that a try today and took a little “meditation break”. Never fear, David Waldman made some midair repairs, allowing Greg Dworkin and Joan McCarter to keep their Wednesday visit, and the show to go on:

Greg tells us the Democrats are not here to play games, but if they did, they’d still be winning. In America’s opinion, Donald Trump is losing in almost every way imaginable. As border apprehensions decline, family apprehensions surge. The U.S. trade deficit is at a 10 year high. Trump’s own executive branch is exploiting the dotard power vacuum. Bill Kristol thinks there might be room for a primary challenger, and Nancy Pelosi sees Texas as 2020 “ground zero”.

The Democrats aren’t planning to keel over waiting for the Mueller report, and are taking steps necessary to secure justice now. Requests today, subpoenas tomorrow. The DOJ used to insist that a Vice President couldn’t be indicted, until the one day they needed to.

Joan tells us how Clarence Thomas stretches ethics to pull in more judges that stretch ethics. Donald Trump and Mitch  McConnell destroy the country by packing the courts, and Democrats have to prepare to fix it.

Trump pressured staff to grant security clearance to Ivanka Trump, just as he did for hubby Jared, although Ivanka probably did not kill Jamal Khashoggi. Remember that money laundering is often combined with body disposal.

Rand Paul inserts his backbone to look good for the camera.  Chuck Grassley is enraged when the Treasury Department treats him like a common Democrat.

R. Kelly might need to start a new band with P.J., Tobin and Squee if he’s unable to intimidate reporters.

And they’re off! Only two years after the starting gun (plus a couple of extra months to tighten their laces) and the Democrats are taking off down the straight, issuing dozens of document requests into their investigation of Donald Trump. 81 familiar, and not so familiar names are on their list, with plenty more to come soon… unless of course that siren song of disarray draws them back into their doom, which, yep that looks like what’s going to happen:

David Waldman and Armando discuss how the House Dems will take floor action to deal with freshman Democrat Ilhan Omar’s latest comments about Israel, and review just a few of the absolutely infinite number of more rational actions they might have taken. Also Republicans, unfettered by rational thought or principles, hold an advantage in procedural battles. Republican-sponsored motions to recommit are easy on them, tough on Democrats, and need to be revised to eliminate surprise attacks.

A Clinton-era centrist Democrat explains why it is not their time to lead anymore. The Maryland redistricting commission unanimously selects a congressional map drawn by Daily Kos Elections writer Stephen Wolf!

There must be some March 4th joke to be made to start this KITM week off, but no one has the time for that, there’s too much going on. David Waldman proceeds apace:

They may not mean it, but Greg Dworkin is glad they’re saying it: Rand Paul makes a temporarily principled stand against Trump’s extra-Constitutional powers, as well as enough other Senate Gops to earn a Trump veto… almost as if they’ll return to override it.  

Jerry Nadler sincerely believes Trump obstructed justice. Adam Schiff believes Trump colluded with Russia. Soon, The House Judiciary Committee is going to find out what a few dozen individuals from the White House to the Department of Justice believe. Heck, Rudy Giuliani might even take down Trump.

Trump remains around the same place he always has in the polls, which was never good, and his unpopularity has become disconnected from the economy. His base, however will never leave him. So what? Well, although some on the right play nice, that isn’t how the Trump/Fox machine operates, as described in this week’s big, big article.

Donald Trump knows that emoluments are fungible, so forgiving Donald’s debt can alter the course of the US as well as any other bribe. After some consideration, Trump decides the failure of the North Korea nuclear summit was not his fault. Trump will issue an executive order to help a guy pwn a lib. Political shame seemed an adequate enforcement mechanism back in the day, but not anymore. David discusses the legislative procedures and history behind motions to recommit.

Donald Trump enters March like a liar. He’ll probably exit that way too. In between we’ll have David Waldman, who as far as we know has never lied, but still remains quite familiar with the techniques involved. Today’s KITM breaks down the lies, and lying behind the granting of Jared Kushner’s top-secret security clearance, and the denials of Trump’s involvement.

Donald Trump would rather forgive and forget this whole Kim Jong Un, Otto Warmbier situation, forgiving Kim Jong Un, and forgetting Otto Warmbier.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is out there draining the swamp in DC, and making certain those who are guilty are locked up, but she couldn’t do it without a well-trained, well-paid staff...  Hey — if you listen to this show on the RadioPublic app, a “RadioPublic Tip” is a super simple way for you to give this show money whenever you want!

The Cohen hearing was such a big deal yesterday, we had to give over almost the whole show for the hot takes on it today. There was the one about Republican sinking even further into Trump’s “cesspool.” The one about how Republicans didn’t even bother to dispute claims about what a slug Trump is. And the one about how Trump was going to drag them all to hell with him.

Greg Dworkin also brought us a collection of the best/worst moments from the hearing, which were often the same ones. There was the One Black Friend. A ritual bus-tossing. Some astonishingly nonsensical accusations from Republicans. An incidental accusation that Roger Stone might have violated his gag order, along with a more measured guess that he did not. And some encouraging performances from the new kids.

How did it all go? Well, Reuters decided it was time to run a plain, matter-of-fact impeachment primer.

Meanwhile, Dotard J. Trump actually skipped lunch on his way out of Hanoi. But all they were serving was nothingberders, anyway. Though to no one’s surprise, Matt Gaetz couldn’t get enough.

In other news, Paul LePage is still disgusting. Texas may be up for grabs in 2020, and yet another Dem is staffing up for it. Impatience grows over Trump’s tax returns. (And we learn about franking along the way.) Yet another Attorney General wants in on investigating the most corrupt inaugural committee ever. While another wants out with the committer of the most corrupt in Israel.

Hey, hey! Over here! Sure, history is happening as you read this, but really, you should pause it just for a minute, maybe 118 or so, and check out today’s KITM. David Waldman, Greg Dworkin, and Joan McCarter offer a primer for today’s events that will help you better appreciate the intricacies and asininities of the day:

Plenty of bombshells were already dropped in Michael Cohen’s written opening statement. House Democrats make sure everybody has a chance at bat. BuzzFeed says they told you so. Donald Trump shouldn’t have to remind people to lie, that’s expected. Will you believe Donald, or his lying signatures? Matt Gaetz tested everyone’s patience, as well as the legal system, then ran off to hide... sort of… ok, not really. Was Gaetz delivering a message from Trump, or was he “just saying”?

Not to say the President’s a putz or anything, but a third portrait of The Donald shows up, paid for with charity money. Not to say that Donald Trump has a mental disorder, but George Conway thinks you should read up on sociopathy, just in case. Oh, and Donald and his friend hate it when you yell, so shut up and go away.

Michael Cohen’s testimony isn’t the only thing happening in DC. House members will tear themselves away to take up two gun safety bills this week. U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal is introducing a Medicare-for-All bill that would create a government-funded, single-payer health-care system to cover every person in the United States. Mitch McConnell is set to launch just a lil’ nuke into the Senate to get even more judges through while they still can. Mitch says that if Democrats only had let Republicans block votes, they wouldn’t have had to steal them.

Chief Justice John Roberts sides with the liberals in a death penalty case, and might be looking toward his legacy.

Mark Harris won’t try to re-cheat his way to congress in North Carolina. Who could possibly replace him? Always dress for the job you want.

Special election alert for NYC today. And a regular election, just getting underway, that’s special to me: local activist/national hero Juli Briskman is running (not cycling) for office.

The House is set to take up H.J. Res. 46, the super-complex resolution to terminate Trump’s fake “emergency” declaration. Republicans are dodging questions about it, claiming they haven’t been able to review the language. It ain’t complicated.

Yes, there really was something off about Matt Whitaker’s purported appointment as purported “acting Attorney General,” it is allegedly purported, supposedly.

Sergey Lavrov is also in Hanoi, just in case Dotard J. Trump needs any of the help with Kim Jong-Un that the Russians seem intent on having us believe Trump asked for.

Still waiting for the Mueller “report” before deciding if Trump’s a crime-doing criminal? Don’t forget his campaign finance criminally crime-y crimes. And don’t forget that those things—about which Michael Cohen will be testifying this week—happened right around the same time (and possibly in many of the same ways) that the Epstein case and reportedly related rape accusations against his friend Donald Trump made a sudden and amazingly well-timed disappearance from the headlines.

Did The Donald have any help with that from his friends at American Media, Inc., the way his Saud family friends seem to have had, when they are said to have targeted Jeff Bezos?

Unlike the Academy Awards, Kagro in the Morning selected their host years ago. David Waldman and Greg Dworkin once again showcased their topical political quips with renown repartee and red carpet glamor unseen since the golden years of radio:

Greg reviews Andrew McCabe’s book, even before the movie is released. Just wait until you see the figure skating scenes!

Donald Trump told you all you needed to know about everyone’s least favorite President while describing Spike Lee’s acceptance speech. Green Book is so white.

The 2020 Trump campaign lacks a strategy, or a clue, but maybe Gop donors will come up with one.

Worldwide, Donald Trump is the first name in escort services and massage parlors, which China is finally acknowledging. Other names in prostitution and trafficking include Robert Kraft, Alex Acosta, and Jeffrey Epstein, with many more to come!

The 2020 Democratic field has become too crowded for Elizabeth Warren, who will attempt to differentiate herself by publicly disavowing private big-dollar-only events. There is no perfect candidate, except for Lindsay Graham, who is the perfect politician.

What sort of disaster is needed for lead-poisoning to become a health concern? Money doesn’t buy happiness, but a living wage can keep away misery. It takes a village to save a bat.

Of course Ryan Zinke lied to federal investigators,  and a grand jury is looking into specifics.

David’s face is forever palmed by Ed Kilgore’s advice to trust democracy and kill the filibuster. The Gop is ready to ‘Nuke’ Senate Democrats again over nominee delaysDemocrats remember that Republicans sometimes use, but never respect norms. 

The Chinese will never respect, but sometimes use Donald Trump.

David Waldman’s kids were escorted out of KITM World Headquarters early this morning, raising both local school attendance along with netcast production values, while allowing the coverage of more adult subject matter... which unfortunately can brought to us today courtesy of billionaire sex predator Jeffrey Epstein and Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta:

Federal prosecutors, under former Miami U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta, broke the law when they concealed a plea agreement from more than 30 underage victims who had been sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein. Acosta made his name in battling the “evil, hideous, horrendous crime” of human trafficking, and yet seems to have committed a special kind of evil to protect Epstein. If you know people who might be “nuts”, you might have heard Donald Trump is the hero of this story, when in fact he might be one of many, many villains. After about a dozen years, we might find out. This wasn’t Acosta’s first scandal, but impeachment could make it one of his last.

Speaking of making politicized hiring decisions, and lying about it to Congress, someone now needs to tell Bradley Schlozman to get the hell out of Dodge City, Kansas.

Political rivals of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have joined forces against him, as Netanyahu cuts a deal with the Jewish Power movement. Nationalist, anti-immigrant terrorists are international terrorists.

Decriminalization of homosexuality around the world doesn’t sound like a thing that Donald Trump would even fake-support.

In #nuclearmaterialsFAIL news, someone misplaced three 5 gallon buckets full of uranium at a Grand Canyon tourist spot a couple of decades ago and it took several months for anyone to admit that.

Snow... Ok, “wintry mix” day at KITM World Headquarters. David Waldman presses on, even as snow-blindness tragically renders his own kids incapable of seeing that dad’s speaking into a microphone just inches away from their faces:

Nancy Pelosi moves swiftly to block Donald Trump’s emergency declaration. Trump moves swiftly to screw over anyone stepping out of line, or at least, he purports to. Donald Trump purports. Trump has purported more than anything else for his entire life, so David makes the argument that reporters always include that word in their reporting.

Is it time to un-clench? The Justice Department and the White House prepare for the end of Robert Mueller’s investigation.

Greg Dworkin calls in a terrorist report, and has a good idea of who radicalized him, uncovering a plot to kill millions.

The racial divide is the political divide, and many prefer to be divided. The Obamas showed how to bridge the race gap, in case anyone’s interested.

The Gop is going down one way or another in North Carolina.

CNN baffles reporters that still believe CNN is in the news business. 

Benjamin Netanyahu inspires the creation of the anti-Benjamin Netanyahu party.

Way up yonder in the far northern frontiers of Virginia, David Waldman is holed up with his kids, and yet another snow typhoon bearing down upon KITM World Headquarters. He needs a cocoa, but first he has to dig us out of this avalanche of scandals:

The Trump administration is rushing to transfer nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia. Wait, wasn’t Jared Kushner supposed to be taking care of that?

Heavies from the Education Department leaned on independent investigators to shut up on Betsy DeVos.

In Munich, the real show was behind the scenes, as even Lindsey Graham fought against withdrawal from Syria.

We know something really bad happened between Trump and Russia in 2016, as Donald has told us that over a thousand times, and so did many others, including Matt Whitaker.

Who knew there would be so many Trump scandals that we’d get sick of them? Don’t worry, the main stream media is watching out for us. (Wilbur Ross looks around and slowly sneaks out the back door.) Greg Dworkin rounds up the latest scandals, and predicts that in 2020 Republicans will think 2018 was a good year for them. Donald Trump could win his Omelet Emergency, but the emergency remains a political loser. The same fundamentals in 2018 mean the Gop loses in 2020, or for maybe a generation or two.  Of course, Democrats could still pull out a loss if they put some effort into it.  The 2016 Bernie Sanders voters had some anti-establishment, and some anti-Hillary in there. It’s up to Sanders’ campaign manager Faiz Shakir to get progressives. There will plenty of 400 lb. guys on couches ready to take on any Democratic candidates. Quit paying attention to Twitter trolls!

David pulled some strings and scored an exclusive interview with Armando (You know him as the “Armando” over at Daily Kos) Armando clears up any confusion there might be on what he will say, where he will say it, and how some insults involve idiomatic expressions, which when taken literally may not be physically possible, or culturally/socially probable. More importantly, Democratic Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg has become the first of the candidates to express a willingness to expand the Supreme Court after the Republican Party stole a seat in 2016!

In local scandals:

In North Carolina they found someone stole votes, but now what?

Virginia voters know they have some losers at the top, but also know it could be worse. 

Joan McCarter tells us that as the walls close in, Trump finds it easier to catch the rats.

Americans with health insurance pretty much like that insurance. Want to know more about what Americans think? Check out, and join Civiqs!

Mitch McConnell and wife Elaine Chao work hand in hand to get their hands on more money and power.

David Waldman throws us a KITM lifeline, to pull us from the jaws of yet another emergency. No, not Donald Trump’s omelet emergency! (Just don’t tell him those aren’t olives.):

Sound the Daily Kos klaxons! Bernie Sanders is again running for President! Once more unto the breach, dear Bernie bros and foes, once more unto every social media thread and type, type away as our enemy advances!

Amy Klobuchar plans to fight the revolution incrementally.

Mick Mulvaney’s been picking the olives out of Donald’s omelet for a couple days now, but back in 2015 he was busy fighting imperialism. 

Mitch McConnell has his wife tidy up behind him.

Does Trump paint his face orange so you don’t see the yellow?

Donald Trump must be sick of winning with all of his judicial appointees.

A West Virginia official’s economic anxiety made her racist, and also a convict.

A hedge fund saves newspapers by getting rid of the employees, selling the buildings, taking the money, and leaving.

Roger Stone spent his whole life trying to get into prison, but has not yet succeeded.

You won’t have Payless Shoes to kick around (in) anymore!

David Waldman presents a special President’s Day KITM! Hey, remember when we had a President? 

At Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach, Donald Trump can let his hair down (on the nightstand) to take a break from Emergency Executive Time and walk the walk over from the telly-telly to the omelet bar, his Twitter thumb hovering at Defcon 1 status.

Mike Pence sycophanted his hardest at Munich, but "Please clap" translated badly with his audience. Angela Merkel knew the room a bit better. Ivanka Trump was there for no reason, but did say "America first doesn't mean America alone," even as more and more prefer it that way.

Donald Trump, winner of the Six Star “Joey No Socks” Diamond Award, received the most beautiful Xerox of a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. This will be Donald’s third nomination, and his first non-forged nomination.

Greg Dworkin reviews Trump’s doubling down on nothing strategy, a real dictator move that creates more problems than it solves, and for 2020, some good old fashioned immigrant-bashing and Democrat-dissing. Dems can take their tried and true surrender route, or maybe this time supporting their constituents. The Family Fun Pack makes parenting easy for everyone!

Republican constituents are beginning to hate how the Tax Plan worked out for them, hate how the Immigration Plan is working out for them, and will hate how the National Emergency Declaration is going to work out for them. North Korea has bedeviled past Presidents, but that doesn’t mean Trump isn’t the worst on them too.

Is Robert Mueller almost finished? Don’t believe anyone but Bobby on this one. Either way, Trump won’t be able to run the Mueller playbook on the New York feds. The House of Commons in London shows how to handle Cambridge Analytica. More emoluments to Trump show up, from Paul LePage. 

Are you insane to not know how the 25th amendment works by now? Armando is more than ready to invoke the 25th Amendment, raze the Electoral College, and impeach Elliot Abrams.

This morning, David Waldman declared a national emergency KITM. We must stand as one against the scourge of little girls making eating noises for money. Seriously, why would anyone go out of their way to listen to something designed to make their skin crawl?

Donald Trump also declared a national emergency today, then picked up his piece of chocolate cake and headed onto the fairway. David broke the glass and took Armando out for two-hour discussion on what Trump expects, what he wants, and what he might get. Trump’s state of emergency is the constitution itself. David and Armando analyze the upcoming legal fight, statutory arguments and strategies.

Armando and David hoped to have time to discuss how horrible Elliot Abrams is, but he’s been awful for a while and keeps turning up, so next week’s fine.

Happy Holidays! Like most holidays, Valentine’s Day doesn’t bear much scrutiny, it is what you make of it... And, you can make the most of your day, by making David Waldman and KITM your morning information choice! 

A tentative deal is reached in #DenverTeacherStrike. Denver teachers ♥ teacher unions! The House doesn’t ♥ Saudis like Donald Trump does.  Americans don’t ♥ Trump's tax plan. The GOP ♥s AOC. No one ♥s the Tea Party anymore. Rep. Ilhan Omar doesn’t ♥ Elliott Abrams, or any genocidal war criminals.

Trump ♥s golf.

Who doesn’t ♥ Greg Dworkin? Greg continues the discussion of the Paul Manafort bombshell, and the deepening mystery in the Russia probe. The US foreign policy community is poorly equipped to cope with individual and community failures, and Loren DeJonge Schulman will tell you how.

Sen. Chris Coons went to the National Prayer Breakfast last week thinking it was a Christian event. Donald Trump set him straight. Trump helps Chuck Grassley find religion. Trump is beginning to figure out that the spending/border bill might not be a winning deal for him. Mitch McConnell hopes Donald figures that out slowly. Does Lou and Sean still ♥ Donald? Laura Ingraham grows a bit cold. Tomi Lahren finds herself the wisest, most sane commentator in her twitter feed. Donald wishes he knew how to quit his wall, but he just can’t. Trump urges the TVA to keep open a coal-burning power plant for the good of coal, his buddy, and money. Trump’s DHS guts task forces protecting elections from foreign meddling. Every day Is a new low in Trump's White House. 

At least the latest threat of measles epidemics inspires cool animations.

It is also the one year anniversary of the Parkland Tragedy, the beginning of the Parkland Students fight against gun death, and one year closer to Alex Jones going to Hell.

David Waldman reminds us that Valentine’s Day is tomorrow! Drop what you’re doing and… No wait, CVS is open all night, you still have time to listen to the show:

Donald Trump loses again. He can pretend that he won, or he could lose some more, but actually “winning” is no longer an option. Greg Dworkin calls in to review Trump’s defeat, what he lost, and how he will keep on losing. Mitch McConnell was smart enough to keep from being made the biggest loser. Nancy Pelosi is smart enough to keep out of Mitch’s traps. Congress is poised to put Trump in a veto bind.

Democratic candidates can climb in the polls and all, but are they “likable” and “authentic”? (No one talks about gravitas anymore.) Of course, you can be unlikable and inauthentic and still become a candidate.

Republicans prefer power over principle, so their scandals become temporary obstacles to their goal. Meanwhile, Virginia’s women clean up the Democratic men’s mess.

Trump ally Tom Barrack feels we all need to understand that when a young Saudi man commits an atrocity or two, it’s just a part of growing up.

David deep-dives into the latest Russia news: The Grand Havana Room is the latest Mos Eisley in the Trump-Russia saga.  The Senate Russia investigation is slowed when Republican investigator/suspect Richard Burr stands up and shouts there’s nothing to see here.

David Waldman shares his thoughts on the latest news, but not the ingredients of his kid’s packed lunches, although you can be pretty certain it’s NOT Philly Cheesesteaks, and if so, they sure wouldn’t contain Cheez Whiz, which could contain anchovies, and maybe even cheese, for which David does not hanker. Oh, and Cloud sucks. But we digress:

Donald Trump lies. Last night in El Paso, he lied just about every second. It’s tempting to disregard Donald’s lying, until it gets someone hurt, or worse. Even Trump doesn’t bother lying about his wall sometimes. Just so you know, he will continue to lie about the wall, even if he never gets a dollar or an inch of a wall.

Rod Rosenstein says he really did not want to write his memo justifying the Comey firing. Qatar says it "unwittingly" bailed out Jared Kushner and his Mark of the Beast on 5th Avenue.

Democrats refuse to become disarrayed over Nancy Pelosi's disinterestedness in their priorities. David reenters the debate on the “debate to debate”, and people, do we want chaos or discipline?

The ‘Nextdoor effect’ shows that fear of crime does not always follow the threat of crime.

David Waldman, Most Reasonable Dad in the World, and host of Kagro in the Morning, Billingsleys and Beaumonts the boys through another snow delay morning, all while still bringing us all up-to-date on the latest:

Over the weekend more Democratic presidential candidates have declared for 2020, and a record number are women, making news editors lives so much easier. What if we lived in a world where contenders were judged on their merits? Meanwhile, remember the time Amy Klobuchar went after a baseball Hall of Famer for sexual assault? Steve Schmidt stormed off his own podcast when asked about advising Howard Schultz. As 2020 goes,  Joe Biden might not be all that. Go where the need is, and the center will come to you.  This moment belongs to the bold. People are moving to red states, but to join them, or beat them?

Gimmetarians might soon take out the filibuster, so maybe it’s time to get ahead of it with some solutions. Don’t look back to past scandals. It’s time to look forward to stop the bigger scandals.

Emmy Award-nominated American news anchor, entertainment reporter, media personality, actress, producer, pilot and entrepreneur Lauren Sanchez’s brother, Michael Sanchez, might be the dirty one in the family that provided texts to the National Enquirer, to incriminate her boyfriend. Bezos’ digital security must have been world-class, but Jeff Bezos and Greg Dworkin have an idea of who might be capable of bone-sawing their way in. Private Mossads for hire are capable of a lot for the right price. Even Saudis might be amazed at what the National Enquirer has stashed away in their safe.

Talks on border security sort of resume today. National security analyst Juliette Kayyem empties a lot of what Dan Crenshaw was full of in just a few tweets.

Why does the RNC keep handing former Trump bodyguard Keith Schiller money?

Another good Republican is unfortunately a dead Republican with the passing of Walter Jones. A great Democrat, John Dingell, also left much too soon.

For those of you who prefer to listen to KITM in the nude, please, do not send David Waldman pictures in your comments. In fact, maybe you should cut that out altogether. After all, look at Jeff Bezos. The richest guy on earth didn’t keep it in his pants and now even he can’t keep it off the World Wide Web, all due to his, and this, Pecker. David presents a Pecker-packed podcast for your general decomplexification:

Jeff decided not to blackmailed by the National Enquirer, and so he wrote a no thank you letter to publisher David Pecker outlining what seems a lot like extortion, and which might have been fed through hacking by a “government entity”. After all, the Saudis do keep a soft place in their pocket for the Trumps, as well as American Media Inc. Ronan Farrow is now among those coming forward, and saying “me too” about additional AMI blackmail attempts.

A while back, Eric Trump pledged $20 million for St. Jude Children’s research hospital, but then Dad took the donation box and ran off. In the SOTU, Donald promised to pay it all back with interest, and taxpayer money.

TSA screeners found a record number of firearms in carry-on bags in 2018… 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, and 2008. Guns attract crime, but gun stores remain protected, from prosecution, that is.

Speaking of prosecution, Paul Erickson, Russian agent Maria Butina’s boyfriend, has been indicted for fraud. The Justice Department opened a probe into Jeffrey Epstein's plea deal, and playacting Attorney General Matt Whitaker avoided a subpoena, today.

A pipeline of illegal workers for Trump goes back through the years and walls.

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Virginia is for lovers! Alas, not all Virginia residents toe the bureau of tourism line. From KITM World Headquarters, David Waldman reminds us #notallVirginians are so irresponsible, inappropriate, and uhm, racist even in college. Some are though, even in other states. For $900, you can be the most racist fashionista at your ski lodge!

Greg Dworkin points out the one tragic flaw in Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech: It wasn’t delivered by a President. Speaker Nancy Pelosi vows that Trump will not shut government down again, and he’s not getting his wall. Republicans look for messaging on Healthcare that they can actually say out loud in public. Meanwhile Democrats free up voting, clean up the government, exercise oversight, and save the world for humankind. Donald wildly thrashes as Dems start to haul in his net.

Kamala Harris has the money and skills to be the 2020 frontrunner. Amy Klobuchar is coming up short on the slacker vote... good thing slackers don’t vote. Democratic moderates may be too different in their goals to make a difference nationally.

Some day we will miss Seb Gorka’a colossal head and his brand of wide ranging lunacy and incompetence. Sadly, we can’t miss him until he leaves.

Another member of the Hubris Inc. organization is apprehended at Trump Tower Chicago.

Yet again @emptywheel was right. Carter Page was just one part of Russia’s slight of hand.

What’s the difference between Cindy McCain and that crazy lady behind you in the checkout line? Not much.

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Ok, so that’s over. Yesterday, Mr. Unity shat on Democrats to entertain some news anchors, stepped on Nancy Pelosi’s opening, then spent a couple hours being stupid on purpose.  Donald Trump slurred through words never before heard in a SOTU, but still somehow didn’t address immigrant child separation, saving education, the Crimean annexation, his Kanye West collaboration, mind deterioration, finger elongation, or corrupt administration... but hey, forget about any investigation. Donald didn’t get the applause he expected, got some applause he didn’t understand, and then Nancy Pelosi gave him a cookie and he got to go back to his executive time.

Now Stacey Abrams, that was a great response. Just about everybody liked it, even David Waldman, mostly, but he’s a tough audience. A lot of people will become a tougher Trump audience after they see this year’s tax refund. Most of America's riches are owned by people who didn't work for them. McClatchy’s CEO was paid a couple million this year, but needed $35K a month for a stipend. 

Regular listeners of KITM knew to spot the Easter Egg hidden in the State of the Union… and it was a mace, and a broach/brooch!

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As you know, it’s infrastructure week 106, and Donald Trump has a thing he’s going to say tonight. He says it is about unity, therefore it is not. It will be the Maroon 5 of speeches performed by the Nickleback of Presidents. You could get more out of watching a pretend Ivanka vacuum a rug. What would Barack Obama being doing today? More.

Nonetheless, David Waldman devoted a good chunk of this morning’s KITM performance art to the SOTU, before then digging into the process of how Nancy Pelosi could jam Republicans if Trump declared an emergency, and Republicans cared about rules, governance, shame, etc.  Republicans don’t care about those things, and that sums up their plan to keep Trump’s taxes hidden. Russia used the US court system to attack America. Federal investigators use that system as it was intended, to subpoena documents from the Trump inaugural committee. 

The US gave weapons and secrets to the Saudis, and they gave some to our enemies, who always seem in the market for those things.

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Were you looking for something super this weekend, but then had to just settle for a big steaming bowl of queso?  Good news, David Waldman returns this week to meet our zesty high exceptions:

Well, Ol’ Queso-face spent the whole weekend working on his completely natural tan. Weekdays, Donald Trump spends up to a third of his time ruining our lives.

Greg Dworkin describes how weakness manifests in the White House and the state house. Mitch McConnell is the enemy of democracy, Donald Trump's not too big a fan either. Tuesday’s SOTU won’t be a Trump rally. Wall support continues to sink, while support for raising taxes on top earners continues to rise. Not taxing the rich is the radical idea. Nancy Pelosi could  block Trump from invoking a national emergency for his wall. The Gop works to block Trump on his national emergency, and foreign policy insanity. Heaven knows you can’t teach him anything. Donald likes pretend cabinet officials the best.

Republicans can’t condemn Ralph Northam and give Trump a pass… (sure they can)

How can a measles outbreak happen in this day and age? Like this.

Kirsten Gillibrand found a bi-partisan solution to helping 9/11 responders.

Greg proposes a nice solution to all of our problems.