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Of all the topics to occupy the mind of the most powerful person in the United States, one would not expect badgers to make a frequent appearance.

But the rotund, hairy omnivores were apparently an alarmingly regular topic of conversation in the White House during the early months of Donald Trumps presidency, according to Daily Beast reporters Lachlan Markay and Asawin Suebsaeng.

The authors detail Trumps preoccupation in their new book, Sinking in the Swamp: How Trumps Minions and Misfits Poisoned Washington.

Along with detailing the murky underworld of President Trumps Washington, dishing the hilarious and frightening dirt on the charlatans, conspiracy theorists, ideologues, and run-of-the-mill con artists who have infected the highest echelons of American political power, they also discuss Trumps fascination with badgers.

Over two pages, Markay and Suebsaeng explain that Trump would interrogate his former chief of staff Reince Priebus about the black, white and grey creatures.

The questions would arise at such opportune moments as when Priebus was attempting to brief the president on matters of healthcare initiatives, foreign policy, or Republican legislative agenda, they wrote.

Are they mean to people? Trump reportedly asked Priebus, perhaps thinking of badgers very long claws, which they use to dig the burrows that make their home. Or are they friendly creatures?

Trump would also demand to see photos of badgers, ask Priebus to give details on how badgers work, and wanted to know if they had a personality or were boring.

Priebus was also called upon to explain how the critters function and behave, what kind of food they like, and how aggressive or deadly they could be when presented with perceived existential threats.

Markay and Suebsaeng said Trump would frequently derail important policy discussions with questions about the animals.

An obviously enthralled president would stare at Priebus as the aide struggled for sufficiently placating answers, all the while trying to gently veer the conversation back to whether we were going to do a troop surge in Afghanistan or strip millions of Americans of healthcare coverage, they wrote.

Trump did not specify which of the 11 species of badger he especially wanted to understand, but given he appeared to be obsessed with the animal due to its association with Priebuss home state of Wisconsin, it was most likely the American badger scientific name Taxidea taxus that commanded his attention.

Wisconsin is known as the badger state less for the animal which is found in many US states than for its mining history. In the early 1800s, iron ore miners in the state would live inside the caves they were digging, and became known as badger boys or badgers.

The European badger, which is found in the UK, lives in a system of underground tunnels and chambers called a sett. Some setts have a section that is used as a bathroom.

Read more:
'Are they mean?' Donald Trump obsessed with badgers, new book claims - The Guardian

Telling reporters on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews that he had commuted the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and pardoned former San Francisco 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo, financier Michael Milken, and former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik, President Donald Trump said that in his own opinion he was the country's top cop.

"I'm actually, I guess, the chief law enforcement officer of the country," Trump said.

Watch:

TRUMP: "I'm actually, I guess, the chief law enforcement officer of the country." (The attorney general is the top law enforcement officer of the country.) pic.twitter.com/5ajK5CkTxB

Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 18, 2020

"NARRATOR: He is not the chief law enforcement officer in the country," tweeted filmmaker Billy Corben.

As Attorney General, a position created by the Judiciary Act of 1789, William Barr is the nation's chief law enforcement officer.

But, as New York Times reporter Charlie Savage pointed out on Twitter, Barr himself endorses Trump's view.

"William Barr likes to say that the president is the chief law enforcement officer of the country," said Savage. "It's part of his unitary executive theory mindset."

Trump's decision to commute and pardon Tuesday's quartet was seen by observers as another example of the president's corruption.

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In a statement, Common Cause Illinois said that by commuting Blagojevich's sentence, Trump was sending a clear message to other corrupt politicians.

"This decision is wrong and deprives the people of Illinois the justice they deserve," the group said. "After consistently ignoring our nation's ethics norms and laws for the last three years, President Trump has now chosen to side with the long line of Illinois politicians that have been imprisoned or had their careers ended due to corruption."

Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) issued a scathing statement on the pardons, drawing attention to Milken's crimes in particular.

"Trump has used pardons almost exclusively to shield unrepentant felons, racists, and corrupt scoundrels like Blagojevich and now Milken, one of the most prolific financial criminals in U.S. history," said Pascrell. "The presidential pardon is sacred under the Constitution and perhaps represents Trump's most dangerous abuse of power precisely because the pardon power is unfettered and cannot be reviewed by Congress or the courts."

In a statement, Media Matters for America spokesperson Laura Keiter said that Trump's tying of the pardons and commutations to Fox News was just another example of the corrupting influence of the network.

"President Trump's pardon of Bernard Kerik and commutation of Rod Blagojevich's sentence are further proof that Fox News continues to help drive the agenda of Trump's White House," said Keiter. "This is the 11th time that Trump's use of executive clemency and pardons has been linked to his Fox News obsession."

Blagojevich's appearance on Trump's long-lived NBC reality show "The Apprentice" and the president's history of attacking the Central Park Five present a telling contrast, saidCitizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington researcher Robert Maguire.

"As Trump commutes the sentence of a former contestant on his reality TV show who went to jail for crimes he was literally caught committing, it's worth noting that Trump called for the Central Park Five to get the death penalty, and he still thinks they're guilty," said Maguire.

More here:
After Granting Blagojevich and Others Clemency, Trump Calls Himself the 'Chief Law Enforcement Officer of the Country' - Common Dreams

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was on Fox News last night, explaining to Laura Ingraham that Donald Trump is an everyday man of the people, because unlike Democrats, who are all out-of-touch elitists, Donald Trump actually just barely puts up with the rich people with whom he surrounds himself and for whom he operates tacky, overpriced trash palaces. We haven't actually seen the whole segment, but do we really need to?

McCarthy was part of an Ingraham Very Special Episode on liberal elites last night, the same show where Candace Owens explained LBJ hated black people so much he signed civil rights laws to trap them in Democratic bondage. McCarthy's segment followed a rant called "A Party of Snobs," in which Ingraham explained that all liberals are exactly like Michael Bloomberg, who said a dumb and deceptively edited thing about how for 3,000 years, farming has been super easy because all you do is dig a hole, drop in a seed, add water, and you're a farmer, but those people can never learn tech jobs. (Apparently no liberals mocked Bloomberg at all, so you didn't see it.) So that would explain that "THE ELITIST LEFT" chyron.

McCarthy explained that, by contrast, the guy with the gold-covered penthouse apartment is just an ordinary Joe like the people who elected him:

We haven't actually ever seen a photo of Donald Trump "hanging out" with the people who built his buildings, possibly because so many of them would be asking him to finally pay them for the work they did. (The complaints continued even after Trump took office.) But McCarthy said it on Fox, so you'd best believe it will now be seen as true by Trump voters. Maybe Trump will incorporate it into his attacks on the elitists who scorn him, even though he's actually richer and better educated and more elite than them! He went to Wharton!

As for Trump hanging out with the people who buy rooms from him, let's just recall that he likes some of the people who pay dues at Mar-a-Lago so much that he lets them direct policy in his administration, like those three guys who tell the Department of Veterans Affairs what to do. We've seen plenty of photos of Trump hanging out with his many important guests, like the ones who got to listen in on Trump's dinnertime War Room while he planned a missile strike on Syria, or the grifty massage parlor lady getting rich Chinese folks to buy access to Trump and selling them millionaire visas.

We're also pretty sure the Chucklefucks aren't actual construction workers, either. Nor were the Saudis who rented enough rooms to rescue Trump's profits for 2018.

And then there are the people who are buying the buildings. That would be the Russian money launderers, of course. But sure, maybe Trump doesn't find them very authentic, and only puts up with their phoniness and airs because he has to.

In his heart, he just wants to get away from it all and drive a big truck, after all.

[Acyn Torabi on Twitter / NBC News / WaPo / Fox News]

Yr Wonkette is supported entirely by reader donations. Please help us keep the lights on and the writers elitist!

Excerpt from:
Kevin McCarthy: Donald Trump Always Hangs Out With Everyday Working Folk He Refuses To Pay - Wonkette

Steven E. Schier and Todd E. Eberly, Opinion contributors Published 6:00 a.m. ET Jan. 27, 2020

Trump is still an outsider and voters are still fed up good 2020 omens for him. But his opponent might not have Hillary Clinton's vulnerabilities.

Lots of things have to go right for President Donald Trump to retain his grasp on the Oval Office.But so far, much in the 2020 political environment and in Trumps campaign tactics point toward a replay of his upset victory.

There are three broad characteristics of the 2016 political environment that helped Trump gain the White House: a growing popular discontent with the government,the rise of the professional governmentand increasing partisan polarization.

How does all this stack up now?The three big trends that aided Trump in 2016 are still with us in 2020.

First, in the last presidential election, popular discontent with governmentcreated a widespread distrust of established leaders and institutions.Today, this dynamic is as strong as ever.The nonpartisan Pew Research Center found last yearthat only 17%of the public trusted the government in Washington to do the right thing all or most of the time, the lowest level since the question was first asked in 1958.

Second, governing professionals are an elite built on merit through occupational accomplishment. And, despite Trumps rhetorical fulminations, the professional governmentin Washington has not shrank since 2016. Federal spending in fiscal2020equals about 21%of the nations gross domestic product, a level that has remained stable during Trumps time in the White House.

Third, the public is wary of the Washington establishment Trump shrewdly labels it the swamp and disdains the constant partisan scrapping that dominates news coverage of national government.Under Trump, partisan polarization has become even more pronounced, culminating in the almost entirelyparty line votes to impeach Trump in the House.In the electorate, we have witnessed the rise of negative partisanship, with partisans taking an increasingly negative and hostile view of adherents of the other major party.

President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Toledo, Ohio, on Jan. 9, 2020.(Photo: Jacquelyn Martin, AP)

Indications are thatTrump intends to repeatmuch of the strategy used to secure victory in 2016.Can he continue to benefit from this unpleasant environment?That will very much depend on four campaign features that delivered him victory:

Outsider status. During the 2016 election, Trumps long career as a public celebrity gave him an identity and brand widely known to the publicand the perception that he was a political outsider. Despite incumbency, the president'soutsiderstatus seems intact and is reinforced by his daily cascade of unorthodox and vituperative tweets.

Battlegrounds 2020: Its not the economy, stupid. It's Donald Trump.

Social media. Much like his 2016 efforts, his campaign is well positioned to exploit social media to itelectoral advantage.While Democratic presidential candidates spent millions sparring with each other, Trump in 2019 amassed $143 million for his campaign. He can tout a growing economy as a major campaign theme.

Disillusioned voters. As in 2016, Trumps outsider style and message seemlikely again to resonate with thevoters fed up with the Washington establishment.

Big wild card.Trumps 2020 opponent may or may not have the same vulnerabilities asHillary Clinton had.Clinton represented the polarized and professional governing class that Trump rightly saw as an inviting target for his outsider message and demeanor. With historically high negatives, Trump and his 2016 campaign team understood that he would not win a popularity contest. Instead, the focus was on winning a contest among the unpopular.

Beating Trump: Four clues for Democrats from Michigan's winning 2018 playbook

Reelection is far from a sure thing for President Trump.After all, his job approval in office has seldom matched the 46.1%of the vote he received in the 2016 election an election in which he lost the popular vote by 2.87million ballots. But the signs point toward another bitter, divisive and closely contested presidential race in 2020.That worked for Trump in 2016 and may well work for him again.

Steven E. Schier is emeritus professor at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. Todd E. Eberly is professor of political science at Saint Marys College of Maryland. Their book, "How Trump Happened: A System Shock Decades in the Making," will be published in March.

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Trends and tactics that propelled Donald Trump to his 2016 win could reelect him in 2020 - USA TODAY

As I write this, theNo. 1book on Amazon is titled A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trumps Testing of America. It was written by two reporters from the Trump-averse Washington Post, who, as publicity for the book tells us, are both Pulitzer Prize winners.

That same publicity does not acknowledge that only liberals now typically win Pulitzers, Nobel Prizes, Oscars or Emmys. But then, that would detract from the purpose of the book which is to weaken, belittle and even smear the president.

Ironically but not surprisingly, the title of this umpteenth book attacking Trump came about because of a series of tweets by the president two years ago when he was defending himself against wait for it another book from another liberal writer filled with personal attacks on the president.

That particular effort was Michael Wolff's Fire and Fury, a book that many Trump supporters and even liberal media personalities believe is filled with multiple inaccuracies or outright flights of imagination. As the media gave that book andits author saturation coverage, Trump seemingly felt he had no option but to defend himself against its charges. So he tweeted, in his own style.

Said the president, in part, two years ago, Now that Russian collusion, after one year of intense study, has proven to be a total hoax on the American public, the Democrats and their lapdogs, the Fake News Mainstream Media, are taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence. Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. ... I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star ... to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius ... and a very stable genius at that!

Anyone who has followed Trumps career knows that he likes to use hyperbole to push buttons and elicit responses that he often is trying to create for his own purposes down the line.

No doubt the reporters from The Washington Post knew this but still chose to use A Very Stable Genius in its most literal sense to paint the president as an egotist and create clicks and book sales.

That said, the presidents tweet and this subsequent book title raise a legitimate question that will create a very loud, rage-filled debate: Is Donald J. Trump one of the smartest presidents in U.S. history?

The answer depends upon the criteria used and here you can cue the predictable outrage. Liberals will scream out the names of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy, Clinton and Obama.

To be sure, Thomas Jefferson and Bill ClintonWilliam (Bill) Jefferson ClintonFox News poll: Half of Americans say Trump should be convicted and removed Sunday shows - Spotlight shifts to Trump tweet, Senate trial witnesses Fox's Wallace confronts Dershowitz with clip arguing crime not necessary for impeachment MORE are among the presidents estimated to have had tremendous intellectual horsepower. Speaking to Jeffersons true genius, President John F. Kennedy remarked at a 1962 dinner honoring that years Nobel Prize winners, I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at The White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.

Almost 200 years after Jeffersons death, his genius continues to pass the test of time. Not so with other presidents.

If the definition of smart, at least for this purpose, folds in raw intelligence, street smarts, intuition, real-world experience, business success, job creation, wealth creation, a fighters instinct, and knowing when to roll the dice or to bluff, then Trump might stand relatively high onthe presidential smarts pyramid.

Just the fact that he got himself elected president of the United States on his first try, as he says on his own, against all odds, as an outsider with zero political experience, amid ridicule and attacks by both political parties, the mainstream media, Hollywood and academia should get Trump honorable mention for top billing.

For nearly five decades, reporters and rivals have been writing the End of Trumps 15 Minutes of Fame obituary. Except that, on Jan. 20, 2017, this purported failure and human asterisk to fame, business success and history was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States.

This Very Stable Genius is up for reelectionin November. Most likely, those who dislike the man who has continually beaten the odds and the predictions of failure will have to try to beat him at the ballot box and not with doomed-to-failurepolitical tricks.

Douglas MacKinnon, a political and communications consultant, was a writer in the White House for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and former special assistant for policy and communications at the Pentagon during the last three years of the Bush administration.

Read more:
Is Donald Trump one of the smartest presidents in US history? | TheHill - The Hill