Day: January 22, 2019

The Intelligence of Washington Politicians Is Overestimated

Buck Banks

“One of the first things you learn covering American politicians is that they’re not terribly bright. … The notion that Hill denizens are brilliant 4-D chess players is pure myth, the product of too many press hagiographies of the Game Change variety and too many Hollywood fantasies like House of Cards and West Wing. … The average American politician would lose at checkers to a zoo gorilla. They’re usually in office for one reason: someone with money sent them there, often to vote yes on a key appropriation bill or two. On the other 364 days of the year, their job is to shut their yaps and approximate gravitas anytime they’re in range of C-SPAN cameras.”

— Matt Taibbi

Trump’s Lies Tripled in Second Year of His Presidency

Buck Banks

8,158

“Two years after taking the oath of office, President Trump has made 8,158 false or misleading claims,” the Washington Post reports. “That includes an astonishing 6,000-plus such claims in the president’s second year. … Put another way: The president averaged nearly 5.9 false or misleading claims a day in his first year in office. But he hit nearly 16.5 a day in his second year, almost triple the pace.”

Giuliani Walks Back Trump Tower Moscow Comments

Buck Banks

“My recent statements about discussions during the 2016 campaign between Michael Cohen and then-candidate Donald Trump about a potential Trump Moscow ‘project’ were hypothetical and not based on conversations with the President. My comments did not represent the actual timing or circumstances of any such discussions. The point is that the proposal was in the earliest stage and did not advance beyond a free non-binding letter of intent.”

— Rudy Giuliani, walking back his statement from Sunday suggesting President Trump continued discussions on a Trump Tower Moscow deal through the 2016 presidential election, the New York Times reports.

Finding More Undisclosed Missile Sites in North Korea

Buck Banks

20

“With a second U.S.-North Korea nuclear summit looming in February, researchers have discovered a secret ballistic missile base in North Korea — one of as many as 20 undisclosed missile sites in the country,” NBC News reports. “The Kim regime has never disclosed the existence of the Sino-ri Missile Operating Base to the outside world. Ballistic missiles are the primary delivery mechanism for North Korean nuclear warheads.”