With Friends Like These. Wonkagenda For Tues., July 17, 2018

Not even Fox & Friends can defend Trump, a gun-humping Russian spy, and House Dems have huge cash haul. Your morning news brief.

Morning Wonketariat! Here's some of the things wemaybe talking about today.

In the wake of Trump's big sloppy Monday morning blowjob with Russian President Vladimir Putin, reporters and columnists are legit freaking out, openly calling Trump treasonous , and considering the "worst case scenario." [ Morning Maddow ]

 Fox news couldn't stomach Trump's defense of Putin either. And in a rather shocking interview, Chris Wallace pressed Putin to answer questions about election fuckery, going so far as to present him with Mueller's indictment, and ask pointed questions about the trail of dead bodies in his wake. [ Wallace ]

 Not even Fox & Friends could defend Trump this morning! Geez, with friends like these!

Meanwhile, over on Fantasy Island, Lou Dobbs mumbled some gibberish about MAGA and "the Russkies," Tucker Carlson blamed Mexico , and Hannity had an "interview" with Trump that included gushing about Putin's strength , and complaining that people are treating Paul Manafort like Al Capone. [ Hannity ]

 White House officials actually hoped Trump would read about 100 pages of briefing material before his meeting with Putin, and weren't prepared to watch him drive a bulldozer over the global order during that press conference.

 Trump's staffers aren't even bothering to defend his actions, with one NSC official texting Axios, "Dude. This is a total fucking disgrace. The President has lost his mind." Now there's calls from the left and the right for aides to resign. 

A Russian gun-rights advocate who tried to get cozy with the GOP and the NRA has been charged as a Russian spy. And this isn't even part of Robert Mueller's investigation! Bonus: is that her in that infamous Oval Office meeting ?

Fearing the appearance of endorsing Trump's baby jails, Paul Ryan has killed a bill by progressive Democrats to abolish ICE. 

ICYMI:  Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has been secretly meeting with a bunch of companies wrapped up in his personal fortune, despite claims that he's divested himself from all his corporate megabucks. Whatever, he's one of the lead negotiators in Trump's trade war.

 Democratic gubernatorial candidates are going all in on abortion after the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh for SCOTUS, but their Republican counterparts keep dodging the question.

 Ted Cruz is still skulking around the Hill trying to kill Obamacare one piece at a time, and he has his beady little eyes set on pre-existing conditions.

Up and down the ballot Republican candidates are starting to echo Trump's rhetoric with name calling, race baiting, and denying evidence, but they aren't exactly doing that well at the polls.

It's not just Trump's rhetoric, a number of politicians have set up bogus websites and social media campaigns to push propaganda/fake-news in an effort to drive public opinion.

 Rand Paul thinks we should all cut Trump some slack, telling Politico that we're all suffering from "Trump derangement syndrome." Rand Paul is that annoying hipster who hates things the moment they become popular.

 Dana Rohrabacher was the only sitting Republican politician to endorse Sacha Baron Cohen's satirical guns-for-toddlers program. But rather than defend himself, Rohrabacher went on Bloomberg to defend Trump's presser with Putin. 

 A handful of Democrats in Texas are outraising reliable Republican incumbents, including Sen. Ted Cruz and Reps. John Carter, John Culberson, Will Hurd, Pete Olson, Pete Sessions and Roger Williams. #BlueWave

It's not just Texas, a number of Democrats in the House are outraising Republican challengers and Senate counterparts, many of whom are entering the general election with depleted warchests due to contentious primary fights.

The mega-rich Mercer family is backing "Chemtrail" Kelli Ward for Senate. Poor racist ex-con Joe Arpaio ain't got nobody!

 It's election day in Alabama, and Republican Rep. Martha Roby is battling the Trump-endorsed Bobby Bright. During the 2016 election, Roby pulled her endorsement of Trump following the Access Hollywood tape. Grab some popcorn!

After a lengthy debate, city officials in Charlotte have begrudgingly voted to host the 2020 Republican National Convention, 6-5.

Following the disaster of Trump's Putin presser, a Southeastern Ohio Republican party chairman resigned his position.

 Two security experts from the Idaho National Laboratory accidentally lost some plutonium last year when their car was broken into in Texas. Oops...

 MGM in Las Vegas is suing 1,000 victims of last years mass shooting on the grounds that it wasn't MGM's fault they all got shot. No, I didn't read that story wrong.

After a power plant fell behind schedule, North Korean state media aired rare criticisms from Kim Jong Un. That's what happens when you use slave labor.

With Uncle Sam turning his back on European allies, the rest of the world is quickly forging trade alliances to mitigate the damage from Trump's trade war. 

In a surprising turn, the judge in Paul Manafort's tax evasion and bank fraud case delayed court proceedings, and some law nerds are wondering if that's a sign he's cutting a deal with prosecutors. 

 The FCCseemsto have kicked the Sinclair merger with Tribune Media into legislative hell , but this is Ajit Pai we're talking about...

And here's your morning Nice Time! TIGER SEXY TIMES!!

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