| | | | | New White House Chief of Staff John Kelly is seen prior to a Medal of Honor ceremony in the East Room Monday. Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images | | | 250 Hours in the Life of the Mooch: Anthony Scaramucci spotted dining at Trump International after he was let go
Flake Didn't Come Here to Play, Fam: Jeff Flake brings the fire in "Conscience of a Conservative"
18 Things I Learned Driving Across the Country: Closing thoughts from The Great America Road Trip 2017 | | | What the White House is Talking About:
President Trump this afternoon holding a small business event at the White House.
What the White House Press Corps is Talking About:
Really. Do we start with whether Trump actually dictated the Donald Trump Jr. Russia statement? Or whether Chief of Staff John Kelly will make more changes to White House staff? Or if Trump will today sign the Russia sanctions bill? Or the thing where senior officials were duped by an email prankster (more below)? Buckle up, Tuesday.
But First, Tweets:
The first two of the morning are about money, which seems like the right path because it's on the up, generally. But by 10 a.m. Trump's tweets were back to fake news. | | Credit: @realDonaldTrump/Twitter
That Time an Email Prankster Had His Way with the Trump Administration:
Jake Tapper had a doozy of a scoop last night with the story of a fraudulent emailer who duped senior Trump staff into believing he was a variety of people, including Jared Kushner and Reince Priebus. I particularly liked the part where fake Jared invited Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert to "a bit of a soirée" he was (not really) having. Tbh, I feel like "a bit of a soirée" could be a term real Kushner actually would use.
Either way, the entire episode is actually a scary look at the just how easy it is to act like one person on the internet, while being someone else entirely. It's like MTV's "Catfish," but with people who control how the country works.
Ivanka Watch:
Ivanka Trump is scheduled to be at the small business event at the White House today, resuming her forward-facing role as champion of workforce issues inside the administration. The safety of the sidelines has benefitted Ivanka to some extent in the swirl of recent drama, but it's also made skeptics out of those who initially believed Ivanka knew the secret sauce recipe to getting her dad to agree with the things she wanted him to agree with. That doesn't appear to be the case. Betsy Klein with a solid look at where the first daughter finds herself today. Also, as Kelly takes over operations inside the West Wing -- will she still be allowed walk-in access to the Oval Office? | | 250 Hours in the Life of the Mooch:
Since he wasn't really there long enough to do anything else, Anthony Scaramucci's brief but highly entertaining tenure inside the Trump White House is outlined here. He was spotted last night having dinner with Katrina Pierson (another castoff from Trump island), at the Trump International Hotel in DC, and again this morning, departing the hotel in a suit and shades. He didn't say anything to gathered paparazzi, and so far hasn't talked on the record about his ouster, but here's the thing: Scaramucci isn't a quiet guy. My money is on him doing an interview of some sort before the week is out, letting fly a few choice tidbits...
Also, this shot by New York Times photographer Doug Mills of Scaramucci standing by in the Oval Office as John Kelly gets sworn in says a lot about how the Mooch was feeling as yesterday's events unfolded. | | Credit: @dougmillsnyt/Twitter
There I Am, Miss America:
So the actual big news from yesterday is that I'm going to be a preliminary judge for the Miss America pageant! WHAT??! I'm honestly super-excited to do this -- my weird knack for picking pageant winners is second only to my weird knack for being able to identify which designer people are wearing. If you're not sure what the preliminary judges do -- and why should you be -- we're the actual important ones. We take the five days ahead of the September 11 pageant and evaluate every single contestant in every category in order to narrow them down to the 15 semi-finalists. Don't worry, I'll be doing COVER/LINE from Atlantic City, and filing some fun extras via our Instagram, so you can share this crazy experience.
When Kate Hudson Posts:
The actress got in on the Scaramucci memes yesterday, posting on her Instagram a doctored poster of her rom-com with Matthew McConaughey, "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days." | | | Credit: @katehudson/Instagram | | What Washington is Talking About:
Senate Dems and Repubs will hold their weekly policy luncheon today and Sens. Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer will brief reporters afterwords.
What America is Talking About:
Chicago Cubs fan Steve Bartman, who tipped a foul ball during a 2003 National League Championship game, received a 2016 World Series Championship ring from the team.
Reminder:
Rent is due.
What Phoenix is Talking About:
An Arizona federal judge found Maricopa County's infamous Sheriff Joe Arpaio guilty of criminal contempt Monday after he was accused of targeting immigrants, violating a court order in a racial profiling case.
Poll of the Day:
The 2016 election was the first time the combined vote of Gen X and Millennial voters outnumbered that of voters who are from the Baby Boomer generation or earlier, 69.6 million to 67.9 million according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data. | | Kushner: Team Trump Can't Collude with Itself, Let Alone Russia:
A common question Washingtonians get about how the city works is whether it's more nefarious like in "House of Cards" or more bumbling like in "Veep"and the answer is usually the latter. Jared Kushner made his case that his father-in-law's administration is more Selina Meyer during an off-the-record conversation with congressional interns Monday that was obtained by Foreign Policy. "They thought we colluded, but we couldn't even collude with our local offices," he said about Russia.
Jeff Flake Didn't Come Here to Play, Fam:
The Arizona Republican published an excerpt from his upcoming book "Conscience of a Conservative: A Rejection of Destructive Politics and a Return to Principle" (which itself is a callback to perhaps Arizona's most famous Republican Barry Goldwater's 1960 manifesto "The Conscience of a Conservative") in Politico, and, guys, it's 🔥🔥🔥. Listen, there are a million-and-one things that are going to happen between now and the start of the 2020 campaign, but I finished reading the excerpt and was like, ummm ... is Flake running for president?
He writes that he's found himself saying, "If I took the time to respond to every presidential tweet, there would be little time for anything else." Given the volume and velocity of tweets from both the Trump campaign and then the White House, this was certainly true. But it was also a monumental dodge. It would be like Noah saying, "If I spent all my time obsessing about the coming flood, there would be little time for anything else." At a certain point, if one is being honest, the flood becomes the thing that is most worthy of attention. At a certain point, it might be time to build an ark.
WaPo Reenacts The Mooch's New Yorker Call:
And they do so dramatically.
18 Things I Learned Driving Across the Country:
I know that my road trip officially ended last week, but I feel like after Politicon and traveling, I finally have time to breath and wanted to share some final, random thoughts. | | Credit: @hunterschwarz/Instagram - America is beautiful -- I lost track of how many times my jaw dropped from how gorgeous this country is, from the lush green forests of the East to the majestic expanse of the West. America, you are a 10/10
- We all live in bubbles -- Washington has gotten a lot of grief for being a bubble (and it is!), and I feel like a better reporter for having spent time outside of it in other people's bubbles. In a small way, I feel like I *get* America just a little bit better.
- There are Subways *everywhere* -- I wish I could say I ate at local authentic hole-in-the-wall restaurants the whole trip, but when you're driving on deadline, you have to deal with a lot of fast food chains, especially Subway. It's actually the biggest restaurant and retail chain in the US, with more than 26,000 locations, according to the National Retail Federation.
- Gun ownership differs depending on where you live -- A Pew poll this summer found 46% of rural adults own a gun vs. 19% of urban adults, and I learned about that IRL talking to Black Guns Matter founder Maj Toure in Philadelphia.
- Trump supporters have a different perspective than most Washingtonians -- In Washington, Trump is viewed through the prism of his stalled agenda and soap-opera-like administration drama, but in rural Pennsylvania, I met a man who said since Trump took office, his employees bought new trucks and life has gotten better.
- Nashville is a favorite city for bachelorette parties -- I saw so many groups of women in matching shirts.
- Women are grossly underrepresented in country radio -- I spoke with Change The Conversation co-founder Beverly Keel about the gender imbalance, and saw it for myself on the Billboard charts. Smh
- Bill Clinton has an apartment on the roof of his presidential library in Little Rock -- And he comes back about once a month.
- There's no guidebook for how to train people missing limbs -- At the Adaptive Training Foundation in Dallas, I spoke with trainers who have to make up workouts themselves for the wounded veterans and adaptive athletes who train there.
- George W. Bush is a really good painter -- It's one thing to see pictures of his paintings, it's another thing to see them up close yourself at the Bush Presidential Library.
- Hotels in Midland are most expensive during the week -- Because people come in to work in the oilfields then leave on the weekends.
- Marfa is an Instagram dream come true -- It's more than just the Marfa Prada too, by the way.
- El Paso is a cool city -- One of the biggest surprises from my trip was how much I fell in love with E.P. Outpost director Josh Cocktail thinks it's one of America's up-and-coming cities, and I don't disagree.
- Utah basically has two 4th of Julys -- OK, so I knew this one before since I used to live there, but the 24th of July, commemorating the Mormon pioneers entering the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, is patriotic and also has fireworks.
- Making clothes in the US is difficult -- Lady White Co. founder Phillip Proyce talked to me about all the challenges he faces making clothes for his brand here, and I found out politics finds its way into fashion, whether or not you want it to.
- Ronald Reagan starred in a movie about the Secret Service -- I learned at the Reagan Presidential Library it was called "Code of the Secret Service" and it came out in 1939.
- Tomi Laren is still on her parents' health insurance plan -- Which she revealed during her panel with Chelsea Handler during Politicon.
- COVER/LINE readers have good taste in music -- I asked you guys for your music recommendations for the road, and you delivered. Thanks for all the playlists and songs :)
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