July 23, 2018 01:41 PM UTC

Daily D'oh: The Walls Are Closing in on Trump

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• by: Colorado Pols

There is so much breaking news lately on the ever-widening allegations about Russian ties to the Trump campaign that it can be difficult to keep track of everything. With that in mind, we’ve created what we’re calling “The Daily D’oh!” to help you stay up-to-date on President Trump and the rest of the White House staff as more news emerges about Russia, James Comey, Robert Mueller, special investigations and everything else related to this ongoing crisis…

♦ Wiretap Documents Crush Trump Narrative

Charlie Savage of the New York Times breaks down President Trump’s increasingly-desperate, and now easily-disputable, claims about the origin of an FBI wiretap targeting former Trump adviser Carter Page:

The government released the court documents in which the F.B.I. made its case for conducting the surveillance — records that plainly demonstrated that key elements of Republicans’ claims about the bureau’s actions were misleading or false.

On Sunday, Mr. Trump nevertheless sought to declare victory. In a series of early-morning tweets, he claimed without evidence that the newly disclosed files “confirm with little doubt that the Department of ‘Justice’ and FBI misled the courts” to win approval to start wiretapping the former adviser, Carter Page, shortly after he had left the campaign amid criticism of his ties to Russia…

…But in respect after respect, the newly disclosed documents instead corroborated rebuttals by Democrats on the panel who had seen the top-secret materials and accused Republicans of mischaracterizing them to protect the president.

♦ President Trump is Really Unpopular

As Vox.com explains, President Trump isn’t likely to win any battles of popular opinion on his Russia problems:

American politics has grown more polarized over time. It’s become easier for presidents to maintain the political support of their co-partisans than it was in the days when both party coalitions were regional hodgepodges with little underlying ideological coherence. This, combined with Trump’s personal focus on his base, has enabled Trump to mostly hang on to his GOP supporters.

The truth, however, is that Trump is an unpopular president by historical standards, and his party appears to be suffering predictable consequences.

A useful corrective to these niche polls showing Trump’s appeal to select segments of the electorate is to use FiveThirtyEight’s presidential approval tracker to compare his overall popularity to that of other presidents.

As you can see, at this point in their presidencies, every president going back 60 years — Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, John Kennedy, and Dwight Eisenhower — was more popular than Trump is.

The numbers say plenty…and so do the anecdotes.

♦ U.S. Intelligence Agencies Go Back Under the Bus

From the Washington Post:

It shouldn’t be surprising that just days after Trump declared that he had confidence in U.S. intelligence agencies, he would attack them. One of the areas where Trump has been most consistent is in dismissing the investigation and the individuals in the intelligence community who have concluded that Russia could not be trusted. And a large percentage of Americans seem not to be pleased about how he handled the summit with Putin.

Trump is also undercutting his own “nothing to see here” message by apparently seeking to revoke the security clearances of anybody who says mean things about his relationship with Russia.