BY PRIYANKA ARIBINDI, BRIAN BEUTLER
& CROOKED MEDIA

Monday, March 5, 2018

Welcome to the very first What A Day — a closer look at the day’s top stories that will help keep you informed, entertained, and inspired to stay in the fight. We appreciate you signing up. All it took was giving us your email address, which was much less of a risk than what Sam Nunberg did today, but still. You did it! So thanks, and we hope you enjoy it:

LOOK WHAT YOU MADE SAM DO

Former Trump aide Sam Nunberg appeared on every cable news show in the land today to let America know he will not be complying with a subpoena from Special Counsel Robert Mueller to produce all of his communications with Trumpland. Why? Because it would take him “80 hours” to pull together the emails, and he believes Mueller is setting him up for a perjury case against his mentor Roger Stone. 

Nunberg made it clear in his bizarre media tour that he a) is naming names and b) needs a good hug. Here are his thoughts on:

• Collusion: “Trump may have very well done something during the election with the Russians.” That’s a pretty big admission! 

• Don Jr.’s Trump Tower meeting with Russians: “The Russians offered us something and we thought they had something. And that was it. I don't know why he went around trying to hide it." Also a big admission!

• Former Trump adviser/FBI surveillance subject Carter Page: "I believe Carter Page was colluding with the Russians… Carter Page is a weird dude." Sam, don’t stop. You’re killing it.

• His refusal to comply: “I think it would be funny if they arrested me.” But maybe not "ha ha" funny. He later reversed himself to say he'll probably cooperate with Mueller now.

• What will come of this shitshow: “I’m not going to go to jail.... [Mueller] isn’t going to do anything.” Ah, the seldom seen “I dare you” legal strategy. Very cool.

• Who’s at fault: “Donald Trump caused this, because he’s an IDIOT.” No argument there! 

TRADE WAR—WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?!

“We’re not backing down” from a trade war, says President Trump, who’s sticking by his decision to impose tariffs on all imported steel and aluminum, without exemptions for U.S. allies. But Trump is pretty isolated. Even House Speaker Paul Ryan is “urging the White House not to advance with this plan.” New reports say that while tariffs will create some jobs in these sectors, they will cost 179,000 American jobs.

The European Union may retaliate with tariffs of their own on American-made Harley Davidson motorcycles, bourbon, and jeans—which happen to hit the home states of Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, and Nancy Pelosi. Mr. Art of the Deal then threatened further escalation on Twitter, saying he would “simply apply a tax on their cars, which freely pour into the U.S…” 

From Brian Beutler: What do President Trump’s proposed tariffs have to do with Russia? Possibly nothing! Trump has been anti-trade for a long time. He’s actually consistent on it. Protectionism, racism, and authoritarianism—he’s always been a fan.

But what’s also true is that Russia wants to divide the U.S. and Europe, and a trade war would do just that. And because Trump hasn’t revealed almost anything about his finances, we have no idea whether Trump is imposing tariffs for legitimate reasons or corrupt ones (same goes for imposing sanctions on Russia, or refusing to criticize Putin). If we don’t know whether someone like Putin has leverage over Trump, we can’t trust decisions our government makes.

Read more from Brian's latest →

DACA DEADLINE COMES AND GOES

Today is the arbitrary deadline Trump set to end the DACA renewal process for young immigrants, but recent court decisions that have stopped the termination of the program have made this deadline relatively meaningless. The uncertainty surrounding protections for Dreamers has led to another push for a short-term extension. A government spending bill, due by March 23, could be a way to grant some Dreamers a temporary reprieve. 

The teachers strike in West Virginia was supposed to end last Wednesday, when the governor agreed to increase teachers’ pay by five percent if state lawmakers approved the bill. But the state's 680 public schools will stay closed through tomorrow because the state Senate refused to approve the increase, passing a four percent hike instead.

In Oklahoma, educators may be gearing up for similar strikes. That state has not given educators a raise in more than a decade. 

After the election, Trump’s personal lawyer/goon Michael Cohen complained to friends that his $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels hadn’t been reimbursed. Cohen also revealed he had missed two prior deadlines to pay her because he wasn’t able to reach Trump in the final days of the campaign. If Trump ordered Cohen to pay Daniels, and promised to reimburse him, both of these bozos might be in (even more?) trouble with the law.  

Missouri Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) is resigning on April 1, for health reasons. Mitch McConnell and President Trump have pushed the state’s GOP governor to consider appointing himself to fill the seat. 

The State Department has spent NONE of the $120 million allocated to “counter foreign efforts to meddle in elections or sow distrust in democracy” since the 2016 election. On top of that, none of the 23 analysts employed by State’s Global Engagement Center speak Russian. Fantastic!

Tim Miller's latest for Crooked.com: Shun the Trumpers.“Liberals have the power to shame future politicians and operatives out of race-baiting and shameless lying by writing Trumpers out of polite society. It’s time you started using it.”
Read→

Here’s an Academy Award voter’s thoughts on the film “Get Out,” which won an Oscar for best original screenplay:

“It’s a good B-movie …[b]ut what bothered me afterwards was that, instead of focusing on the fact that this was an entertaining little horror movie that made quite a bit of money, they started trying to suggest it had deeper meaning than it does—and, as far as I’m concerned, they played the race card, and that really turned me off.”

Two words: Keep. It. 

Jane Meyer’s New Yorker profile of Christopher Steele, “the man behind the Trump dossier,” is full of new information. For example, Steele authored another unseen memo that alleges the Kremlin may have “intervened to block Trump’s initial choice for Secretary of State, Mitt Romney…[who in 2012] was notably hawkish on Russia, calling it the single greatest threat to the U.S.” 

An important subtext of Mayer’s piece: basically everything Steele did that Republicans have tried to characterize as evidence of partisanship is standard operating procedure for him. 

Read→

No one in D.C. wants to date conservatives, or how Trump cucked the entire GOP singles scene. Swipe right.