| | | | | Steve Bannon, who as of early Friday afternoon is out as senior White House adviser, attends a Cabinet meeting in March. Credit: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images | | | BREAKING: Steve Bannon is out
Our Daily Melania: On Twitter, she was first on Charlottesville and on Barcelona; How Melania runs @FLOTUS --
without her husband's approval
Does He Blow This Fire Up Or Put It Out: It's Friday. Trump's news conference was Tuesday. And the controversy still isn't over, with a potentially explosive rally in Phoenix around the corner. | | | What the White House is Talking About:
President Trump's four-hour trip to Camp David to talk Steve Bannon departure strate--- I mean, national security. | | What the White House Press Corps is Talking About:
🔥STEVE BANNON IS OUT🔥
It's Friday, His News Conference Was Tuesday:
Trump's words at his impromptu presser from the Trump Tower lobby on Tuesday are still resonating. I say this because the cycle of "Trump does something-*flare*-people respond-response dies down-Trump does something new," is much slower this time. Mitt Romney, Sen. Tim Scott, Sen. Bob Corker, James Murdoch, the White House presidential arts commission, the mother of Heather Heyer ... the responses and feedback continue to make headlines. I'm not saying this signals that Trump is going down, or that he can't or won't survive this latest controversy, but I do find it compelling that there is still palpable thoughtfulness happening on the topic.
Our Daily Melania:
Though still on vacation at Trump's Bedminster golf club, Melania Trump has been quick to the Twitter machine with her thoughts about the events this week, both in Charlottesville and Barcelona. I wondered if she coordinates with the President about when she tweets and what she says, because on both of those topics, she was out ahead of her husband. So, I asked. A White House official told me that the first lady does not, has not, and will not run her posts by Donald Trump -- that she runs her East Wing office and her Twitter account as she personally sees fit. I wrote a story about it.
Magazine Covers Go From Blunt To Artsy:
The trend of late for politically inclined magazines has been to put bold photographs of Trump, sometimes with alterations, on their covers. But this week, there's been a shift to artsy, and KKK-y. There's a bit more thought behind this tactic, maybe because it's a heavy theme. Germany's Der Spiegel also went the hood route, but these from The Economist and The New Yorker are really compelling. | | Credit: economist.com, newyorker.com
Creatives Gonna Creative:
Conspiracy theorists are having a field day about the resignation letter that members of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities sent to Trump. The first letters of each paragraph spell out the word "resist." | | Charlotte Pence Has Left the Nest:
I repeat, Charlotte Pence has left the nest! According to an Instagram post last night from the Vice President's daughter, Char's moved out of Mom and Dad's house (well, mansion). The eldest daughter of Mike and Karen Pence, Charlotte had been living with them since the inauguration at the Naval Observatory, posting about life behind the scenes there, especially with the Pence family pets. Apparently, she doesn't have much in her new place yet. And no word on whether she's taken Marlon Bundo with her to the new digs. But rest assured, I have asked the Vice President's press secretary this very important question because, Hi, I'm Kate. | | Credit: @charlotterosepence/Instagram
If Trump Were a Dessert:
TGIF, Cover/Line fam. | | | Credit (and hat tip): @jsidman/Twitter | | What Washington is Talking About:
Bannon. And Republican defections. Sen. Bob Corker said Trump "has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful"; Sen. Tim Scott said Trump's "moral authority is compromised"; and Mitt Romney said this is a "defining moment" for Trump. "The world is watching," he wrote in a statement. "Mr. President, act now for the good of the country."
What America is Talking About:
The attack in Barcelona that has left 13 dead, including an American, and more than 100 injured.
Poll of the Day:
Six in ten people who support Trump say they'll never stop approving, per a Monmouth University poll. | | 'Conscience of a Conservative,' the Remix: Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake named his new book, in which he attacks Trump, after one of the most famous books in conservative politics, "The Conscience of a Conservative," by fellow Arizona Republican Barry Goldwater. I read both to see what I could learn and wrote about it here. TL;DR: Flake is going to war with Trump ahead of his 2018 re-election campaign and inoculating himself with back-to-basics Goldwater conservatism to withstand the fight. | | | Credit: Hunter Schwarz
Trump Has a Choice: Does He Blow This Fire Up or Does He Put It Out? | | | Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Better than most men who've had his job, President Trump is familiar with the feel of a controversy, its life cycles, how it grows, how it goes out. Instead of climbing the political ladder as a state legislator or US House member before becoming a Senator or governor to audition for the top role in politics, he worked in show business, first as a brash tabloid real estate tycoon, later a reality show host and most recently, the leader of the debunked "birther" movement. Controversies are like fires, and he's played with them before.
The Charlottesville attack was the spark. It was the first terrorist attack of his presidency, and he responded differently than some thought he would have if the suspect had been a "radical Islamic extremist" -- a phrase he's said was must-use. "To solve a problem, you have to be able to state what the problem is, or at least say the name," he said during a presidential debate.
But he didn't say the name this time. His response Saturday did not mention the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists or the so-called "alt-right." But it did include the phrase "on many sides." The white supremacists viewed it as tacit support. A statement Monday seemed to be damage control, calling out the enemies by name, calling them "repugnant," and leaving no wiggle room: "Racism is evil," Trump said.
But by Tuesday, he'd reversed course. "I think there is blame on both sides," he said from a lectern in front of the elevator bank at Trump Tower. As a man who proudly champions winning and winners, he defended the losers of a more than century-and-a-half war, opposing the removal of Confederate monuments and equating them with the country's founders. "So, this week, it is Robert E. Lee. I noticed that Stonewall Jackson is coming down. I wonder, is it George Washington next week? And is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You know, you really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop?"
It was the political equivalent of adding more kindling to the fire and blowing on it, giving it air, letting it grow. You can tell how big a controversy is by how many people it gets too hot for. It started with business leaders. One by one, CEOs resigned Trump's manufacturing council. First Merck, then Under Armor, then Intel. Before the trickle of defections could become a flood, Trump disbanded the council. You can't break up with me if I break up with you first.
A Murdoch bailed. James, son of Rupert, the executive chairman of Fox News. "There are no good Nazis," he wrote in an email. He pledged to donate $1 million to the Anti-Defamation League. Down in Palm Beach, organizations like the American Cancer Society cancelled their events at Mar-a-Lago, after holding them there for years. A trickle of Republicans came out in condemnation -- Sens. Bob Corker and Tim Scott, and the party's 2012 nominee Mitt Romney. Their words were strong, but none has an election next year. At what point does it get too hot for those who do?
As Trump watches the coverage while on his "working vacation" in New Jersey, he has a choice: Does he kill the fire or pour gasoline on it? Weekends can be useful to killing a controversy. People step away from their phones and TVs, depriving a story of oxygen. New stories bubble up that become front-page news by Monday.
But the stage is set for a raging blaze in Phoenix. On Monday morning, Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, another outspoken Republican critic of Trump will hold an event in my hometown of Gilbert, and on Tuesday, Trump will hold a campaign rally in Phoenix. If his Twitter account is any indication of where he's head at, Trump is itching for a fight. He tweeted an attack on Flake Thursday, and on Tuesday, RTed a @foxandfriends tweet trumpeting an exclusive: "President Trump 'seriously considering' a pardon for ex-Sheriff Joe Arpaio," the controversial Arizona sheriff who late last month was found guilty of criminal contempt and accused of violating a court order in a racial profiling case by continuing patrols that targeted immigrants.
The bar for Trump controversies is "Access Hollywood." The fire got too hot, with Republicans en masse calling for him to get off the ticket. But he didn't, and he won anyway. At what point do the flames of Charlottesville become a 10-alarm fire? And can Trump make it through anyway? These things can spiral out of control. Rallies this weekend across the country could get violent. An unexpected shoe could drop in the Russia investigation. Or nothing could happen at all. But the President of the United States of America stands over it with lighter fluid and a choice.
What do you think he's going to do?
'Merica Isn't Just for Conservatives Anymore:
Killer Mike, the rapper who endorsed and campaigned for Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primary, announced Thursday a new line of anti-Confederacy merchandise.
The T-shirts, sweatshirts and mugs feature a scoreboard set at 18:65 (the year the Civil War ended), with the US flag and a Confederate flag, the score: USA 1, CSA 0. | | | Credit: Daylight Curfew
It's a play on a meme familiar to conservatives, "Back-to-Back World War Champs," that shows up on shirts and coozies popular with the type of bros who shop at Vineyard Vines. It's 'Merica, for the Patagonia set.
Killer Mike's tees aren't the only ones popping up. Arnold Schwazenegger is promoting his own, that say "Terminate hate." And yesterday, Fifth Harmony member Lauren Jauregui posted a photo in a shirt that reads, "Why be racist, sexist, homophobic, or transphobic when you could just be quiet?" -- a take popularized by Frank Ocean. But hers is not a shirt you can easily imagine Vineyard Vines and Patagonia bros both wearing, whereas Killer Mike's is, speaking in the language that crosses a partisan divide.
Conservatives are often the originators of political culture. It was conservatives who first used #thanksObama, as a critique of the 44th President, and "special snowflakes," to mock liberals who needed their "safe space." But those memes can mutate, and liberals find ways to co-opt them. #thanksObama became a way to poke conservatives for blaming Obama for anything and everything under the sun, and later, an earnest way to voice their support for him. And "snowflakes" has increasingly been used against Trump and members of his administration when they seem a little too hurt by criticism.
But Killer Mike's play on 'Merica feels different; it's less about needling the other side, less about settling partisan scores. "Don't cheer for the team that was trying to break up the country that you're now in charge of leading," he says to Trump in an Instagram post.
Street Art Sighting:
Artist Robin Bell, who projects images and texts onto Trump properties, was on a roll Thursday night in Washington, projecting the words "THE PRESIDENT OF THE United States IS A KNOWN RACIST AND A NAZI SYMPATHIZER" on the Trump International Hotel ... | | Credit: @bellvisuals/Twitter
... the words "HEATHER HEYER 1985-2017" over the place the First Amendment is etched on the outside of the Newseum ... | | Credit: @bellvisuals/Twitter
... and the words "REMOVE RACISM ABOVE LINE" below the statue of Confederate General Albert Pike in Judiciary Square. | | Credit: @bellvisuals/Twitter
Send me your pics of political street art to coverlinehunter@cnn.com, tweet me @hunterschwarz or tag @cnncoverline on Instagram. | | | | | | |
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