Trumpster Diving

* The Mueller Report comes with its own Bob Mueller summary of his 400-page report. Too bad that wasn’t sufficient summary for the public.  

* How blatantly ironic–and grossly unfair–that Joe Biden’s run at Donald Trump could be undermined by behavior toward women.

* “You’ve got to deny, deny, deny and push back on these women.”–According to Bob Woodward’s book, “Fear: Trump in the White House,” this was advice proffered by Trump to male friends who had found themselves accused of sexual misconduct, including assault.

* “There is not a Black America and a White America and a Latino America and Asian American–there’s the United States of America.” That was Barack Obama in 2004. That was then–and this is not. Not even close.

* Say this for Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway: At least she stands by her man. Too bad he isn’t her husband.

* For what it’s worth, Trump continues to affirm that he won’t be sharing his tax returns with anybody other than Mick Mulvaney. “I’m under audit,” explains the precedent of the United States. “When you’re under audit, you don’t do it.” For the record, the IRS has been saying all along that taxpayers under audit are free to release their returns.

* With the Stephen Miller-induced resignation–and Trump scapegoating–of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, a Berkeley Prep grad, there is, mercifully, no longer a Trump Administration insider with Tampa roots. At least until Pam Bondi resurfaces.

* If Joe Biden is still planning to enter the Democratic presidential field, he has to make that call really soon. Ideally yesterday. Time is not his ally right now, and he will have to make up ground organizationally and financially. But the way he handles his touchy-feely MO will be telling.  He’s not Harvey Weinstein or Matt Lauer or Bill Cosby or DONALD TRUMP, but this kind of baggage in the 2019 Democratic Party could be game-changing in the progressive primaries.

Who can vouch for and de facto vet him on this one? Look for Jill Biden, who has an autobiography out now, to play a role. And then there’s Barack Obama, who came up shy of an endorsement when it was Hillary’s turn last time.

The ultimate bottom line if there’s no Biden nomination: Too bad being an anti-Trump good guy and a thoroughly qualified commander-in-chief was not enough.

* Back in the day, political surveys could seem almost sacrosanct. It was before social media, robo harassment and routine push polls. When professional pollsters were the acknowledged experts, and land-line participants were willing–and probably flattered–that they were being asked to weigh in on something really important. I miss George Gallup.

* Back in the day, the Republican Party was a democratic alternative on the non-left side of the spectrum. There were Cold War, Vietnam War, poverty-program and integration  differences, but nobody equated the GOP with frightening incompetence, debauched values, Faustian motivation and scary authoritarianism. I miss Harold Stassen.

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