The Problem With The Trump White House is Donald Trump, Not Steve Bannon

Justin Sink at Bloomberg pushes back against the idea that Stephen Bannon's departure is likely to lead to a calmer, less chaotic, White House: In any other White House, Bannon's departure as chief strategist on Friday would serve as a reset for the administration following a disastrous week dominated by the president's combative insistence that "both sides" were to blame for the violence at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. It's the boldest stroke in Chief of Staff John Kelly's attempt to impose order on a White House divided into warring camps.

Dems risk culture war fight in Charlottesville response

President Donald Trump's widely criticized response to white supremacist violence in Virginia has left Democrats in a quandary: how to seize the moral high ground without getting sucked into a politically perilous culture war. Democrats have denounced Trump for blaming "both sides" for deadly protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, and, more recently, for defending Confederate monuments.

Trump hands communications reins to longtime confidante

After three people tackled the assignment with limited success, the job of keeping President Donald Trump on message has for now fallen to Hope Hicks, a young former public relations aide and political neophyte who entered his orbit not knowing the ride would eventually take her into the cutthroat world of Washington politics. Word of Hicks' promotion - she already was director of "strategic" communications at the White House - landed this week just as she and other top Trump aides confronted one of the biggest communications challenges in recent memory.

Bannon’s Exit Leaves Trump Untethered

Steve Bannon, the enigmatic but influential strategist who joined Donald Trump's campaign at a low ebb, helped coax a win in the 2016 election from it, and then won acclaim and hatred as Trump's eminence grise, is leaving the White House. It is the latest in a string of senior departures from a White House that-like the Republican Party itself-was split between establishment Republicans and populist outsiders.

For Bobby Scott, a District Carved in Calm

At a recent town hall here in Virginia's second most populous city, Rep. Robert C. Scott patiently took questions from more than two dozen residents waiting in line. The queue stretched to the very back of a high school auditorium with some standing for the entire portion of the two-hour public meeting.

California congressmen meets Wikileaks founder, who denies Russia was source of DNC leaks

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange told Costa Mesa congressman Dana Rohrabacher on Wednesday that Russia was not involved with leaking controversial emails from the Democratic National Committee during last year's presidential campaign. “He reaffirmed his aggressive denial that the Russians had anything to do with the hacking of the DNC during the election,” Rohrabacher said by phone from London.

Whataboutism

What about Antifa? What about free speech? What about the guy who shot Steve Scalise? What about the mosque in Minnesota that got bombed? What about North Korea? What about murders in Chicago? What about Ivanka at the G-20? What about Vince Foster? If white pride is bad, then what about gay pride? What about the stock market? What about those 33,000 deleted emails? What about Hitler? What about the Crusades? What about the asteroid that may one day kill us all? What about Benghazi? His campaign may or may not have conspired with Moscow, but President Trump has routinely employed a durable old Soviet propaganda tactic.

Trump and Charlottesville threaten to upend Virginia governor’s race

Racial politics and President Trump are roiling Virginia's governor's race and threatening to derail Republican nominee Ed Gillespie. Gillespie is saying and doing all the right things in the wake of a white supremacist uprising and left-wing counter-protest in Charlottesville, Va., and Trump's decision to spread equal blame for the unrest between the racists and opposition demonstrators.

Media plead ignorance of the ‘alt-left’

Members of the national media are disputing President Trump's decision to blame the " alt-left " for engaging in acts of violence, and many say there is no such thing even though the term has been used for months. Trump said in a Tuesday press conference that "both sides" bear some of the blame for the violence at a white supremacy rally in Charlottesville, Va., and asked why reporters were ignoring reports that the "alt-left ... came charging at the ... alt-right."

Hicks likely to become next WH communications director

Senior communications adviser Hope Hicks will likely take on the role of White House communications director, according to two sources inside the White House and one outside. Earlier this month, a White House official told CNN there were internal discussions that Stephen Miller, a senior adviser on policy, could be considered for an elevated communications role in addition to his current position.

Moderate Utah mayor wins 3-way GOP primary for US House seat

The mayor in the Mormon stronghold of Provo won a three-way Republican primary Tuesday in the race to replace former Rep. Jason Chaffetz, putting him on track to clinch the congressional seat in the general election in the overwhelming GOP district. John Curtis pulled off the win despite being dogged by attack ads from deep-pocketed outside groups in a race whose three candidates were emblematic of the divisions roiling the GOP under President Donald Trump.