Trump Demands Congressional Applause. Wonkagenda For Wed., March 1, 2017

Morning Wonketariat! Here's some of the stories we may be talking about today.

•  Trump read his teleprompter just so bigly-good during an address to a joint sessions of Congress last night, and people all around the political spectrum are lining up to blow him for blathering a bunch of hollow, theatrical nonsense instead of sputtering out a series of incoherent and vulgar sentence fragments, per usual.

•  The Democratic response to Trump's address was given by former Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, and was a reminder that sane, rational dialogue with folksy appeal is what actual politicians sound like.

• Just before coming out and rambling for an hour, Trump spoke with a number of reporters about immigration reform and his openness to a pathway to legal status (not citizenship), provided he was credited as as one of the anonymous sources he hates so much. 

• The newMuslim ban  travel restrictions on religious and ethnic minorities from Muslim majority countries will be delayed (again) and this time there's no ban on Iraqi colonists.

•  Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate don't want massive cuts to the State Department because it might make the lives of poor, pathetic people in Not America worse.

•  House Republicans killed a measure by House Democrats to request the Department of Justice release "any document, record, memo, correspondence, or other communication" in "criminal or counterintelligence investigations" involving Trump and Russia, after which they collectively rinsed their hands and mouths, and dusted off their knees.

• During Republican Senator Dan Coats's confirmation hearing to be Director of National Intelligence, Coats admitted that Trump's Russian connections are something that should be investigated, oh, and IF we're going to torture someone, it should follow the guidelines in the Army Field Manual...

• Poor Joe Manchin and other Red State democrats are being left for dead by the GOP despite being groped by Trump's puss-grabber, and now Democrats are threatening them with primary challenges. What's a coward to do?

• People in the parts of Not America that would have been impacted by the TPP are worried that Trump's bilateral trade rhetoric could kill reform measures for workers rights and environmental regulations. 

•  Russia is drawing sad faces and broken hearts all over its Trapper Keeper this morning because Trump didn't mention Russia at all last night, just some glossed over line about new friends and allies. : (

•  People in D.C. are fucking sick and tired of Jason Chaffetz meddling in District affairs, so they're getting a head start on booting his ass out of office.

• Here's your late night wrap up! Colbert went live to digest Trump, then he spoke with Josh Earnest about fake news; Conan imagined Trump calling Obamaa little too much; the Daily Show offered a handy 'splainer on how to spot paid liberal protesters. 

• And here's your morning Nice Time, 40 minutes of a kitten!