| | | | Donald Trump is playing zero-dimensional chess (again) | | | On Sunday night, President Donald Trump attacked Jeff Flake on Twitter. It went like this:"Sen. Jeff Flake(y), who is unelectable in the Great State of Arizona (quit race, anemic polls) was caught (purposely) on 'mike' saying bad things about your favorite President. He'll be a NO on tax cuts because his political career anyway is 'toast.'" The Trump tweet came after Flake, the Arizona Republican senator, was caught on a live mic Friday saying that "if we become the party of Roy Moore and Donald Trump, we are toast." The Trump insinuation is that Flake's hot mic moment wasn't accidental at all, that it was just a way to slam Trump again. (Flake wrote a book in the spring attacking Trump and the GOP, which accepted Trump into its ranks.) But that's not the key part of Trump's tweet. The key part is when he concludes Flake will be a "no" on the tax reform package in the Senate because, well, his political career is "toast" -- or something. I submit this as yet another piece of evidence that Trump is playing zero-dimensional chess.
What do I mean? Simply this: When Trump won the White House -- against all odds -- the working assumption was that he had executed a plan so brilliant and so complex that only he (and the few advisers he let in on the plan) could see it. He was playing three-dimensional chess while the media, the Clinton campaign and virtually everyone else was still playing checkers.
But as his first year in the White House has progressed, there's mounting evidence that Trump may not be playing three-dimensional chess. In fact, he might just be playing zero-dimensional chess. As in, the only strategy Trump is pursuing is no strategy at all.
It's damn near impossible to see any real strategy in what Trump tweeted. Why did Trump do it? For the same reason he does most things: Personal pique. He saw the coverage of Flake's comments. He was annoyed by a guy taking potshots at him. He already doesn't like Flake because of the book. And he assumes Flake is purposely attacking him because the Arizona Republican is retiring. So, Trump attacks. Because when hit, he always, always, always punches back. It's what he does. He doesn't know -- or want to know -- any other way of doing things.
Which is OK! That is his choice! And in truth, Trump's I-do-what-I-want-at-all-times approach to politics, business and, well, life, has worked pretty well for him. But acting on impulse at all times isn't a strategy. Which means that not only is Trump not playing three-dimensional chess, he isn't playing chess at all.
Read my full take here.
-Chris | | ANOTHER FRANKEN ACCUSER COMES FORWARD | | | Lindsay Menz, a 33-year-old woman who now lives in Frisco, Texas, reached out to CNN's MJ Lee on Thursday hours after Tweeden made her story public. MJ reports: "[Menz] says Sen. Al Franken inappropriately touched her in 2010, telling CNN that he grabbed her buttocks while taking a photo at the Minnesota State Fair. It is the first allegation of improper touching by Franken, who is a Democrat, while he was in office. It comes just days after Leeann Tweeden, a local radio news anchor in California, said Franken forcibly kissed and groped her in 2006, when Franken was a comedian. Franken has since issued an apology to Tweeden and faces a potential investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee."
Read more in MJ's story here. | | | On "Saturday Night Live" this weekend, host Chance the Rapper said he wanted to be the Mariah Carey of Thanksgiving -- so he sang a Thanksgiving-themed song in his opening monologue. It's pretty great. | | Investigators working for special counsel Robert Mueller are scheduled to interview additional senior White House officials in the coming weeks. CNN's Marshall Cohen outlined the list of high-profile interviews Mueller's team has already done and what's coming up.
Already done - President Trump's former chief of staff Reince Priebus
- Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer
- White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller
- Retired Lt. Gen Keith Kellogg, who served as interim national security adviser after Michael Flynn's exit and before Trump announced that Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster would serve as his next national security adviser.
Coming up - White House communications director Hope Hicks
- White House counsel Donald McGahn
- Josh Raffel, a communications aide to White House senior adviser Jared Kushner
Read more in Marshall's full story here. | | | CNN's John D. Sutter, Leyla Santiago, Khushbu Shah and McKenna Ewen went to Puerto Rico, where they surveyed 112 Puerto Rican funeral homes to check the accuracy of the hurricane death toll. Puerto Rico says the hurricane killed 55 people, but funeral homes claim the storm caused nine times that many deaths (499). Watch CNN's video package here and read the full story here. | | | Photo courtesy: White House / Twitter | | It's officially holiday season at the White House: As of Monday, the Thanksgiving turkeys arrived in town and the Christmas tree has been delivered.
The White House's official Twitter account teased the arrival of both turkeys and the tree, which was being presented to first lady Melania Trump and son Barron Trump. The two turkeys (pictured above) are Drumstick and Wishbone. They are participating in this year's National Thanksgiving Turkey Pardoning Ceremony. Per the White House's tweets, after the pardoning they will join last year's turkeys, Tater and Tot, at Virginia Tech's "Gobblers Rest" exhibit.
And per CNN's Kate Bennett: Melania Trump and Barron Trump, 11, emerged from the North entrance of the White House to officially greet the White House Christmas tree, as "Oh Christmas Tree" -- performed by members of the President's own Marine band -- played in the background. Just minutes before, a cart pulled by two Clydesdales rolled up the driveway with the 19.5-foot-tall Balsam fir tree, which will be positioned in the Blue Room of the White House. The tree is from a farm in Wisconsin, the owners of which were on hand today to greet the tree and take a picture in front of it with the first lady and Barron. Each year the National Christmas Tree Association holds a contest among tree growers to determine which tree will be the lucky winner. | | | CNN's Ashley Killough and Lauren Fox write: "After recess this week, senators will return from Thanksgiving and move immediately to vote on a plan that would permanently lower the corporate tax rate, temporarily lower rates across the middle class and would drastically reshape the country's tax code. But the math is tough. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is moving forward with a Senate process that only allows him to lose two members and still pass his bill. Already one member has announced he's opposed and another is leaning against the bill. That means that in the next two weeks, McConnell has to hold his conference together or be faced with yet another failure on one of the GOP's top campaign promises." The players to watch? Sen. Ron Johnson, Sen. Jeff Flake, Sen. Susan Collins, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Sen. John McCain, Sen. Bob Corker and Sen. Rand Paul. Read why these are key Senate Republicans to watch in Ashley and Lauren's story here. | | | In honor of former VP Joe Biden's birthday (and former President Barack Obama posting a meme of the duo), we brought you another Biden GIF. Cheers -- don't forget to tell everyone you know to subscribe to The Point. | | We'd love to share our other newsletters with you. Follow this link for daily coverage of the world's top stories, savvy market insights, an insider's look into the media, and more. Our authors for The Point are Chris Cillizza and Saba Hamedy. Send your tips and thoughts via email to Chris or Saba. Follow on Twitter: Chris and Saba. | | | | | | |
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