We Resist: Day 761

One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures (plus the occasional non-Republican who obliges us to resist their nonsense, too, like we don't have enough to worry about) is keeping on top of the sheer number of horrors, indignities, and normalization of the aggressively abnormal that they unleash every single day.

So here is a daily thread for all of us to share all the things that are going on, thus crowdsourcing a daily compendium of the onslaught of conservative erosion of our rights and our very democracy.

Stay engaged. Stay vigilant. Resist.

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Earlier today by me: Bernie Sanders Is Running and 16 States to Sue Trump for Invoking Emergency to Get Wall Funding.

Here are some more things in the news today...

I’m returning from Munich, Germany where they understand that this is the language of dictators. 20 months to vote this guy out. Start organizing now. https://t.co/np31u9TzNo

— Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) February 17, 2019

Ken Dilanian at NBC News: Flynn-Backed Plan to Transfer Nuclear Tech to Saudis May Have Broken Laws, Say Whistleblowers. "Whistleblowers from within [Donald] Trump's National Security Council have told a congressional committee that efforts by former national security adviser Michael Flynn to transfer sensitive nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia may have violated the law, and investigators fear Trump is still considering it, according to a new report obtained by NBC News. The House Oversight Committee has formally opened an investigation into the matter, releasing an interim staff report that adds new details to previous public accounts of how Flynn sought to push through the nuclear proposal on behalf of a group he had once advised." JFC.

Laura Jarrett at CNN: Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein Expected to Leave Justice Department in Mid-March. "Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is expected to leave the Justice Department in mid-March, according to a Justice Department official who spoke to CNN Monday. The No. 2 official at the department has become one of the highest profile figures in the Trump administration given his oversight of the Russia investigation and the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller in 2017. CNN had previously reported that Rosenstein was planning to step down after Bill Barr was confirmed as attorney general, but the precise timing was fluid. A departure next month could potentially serve as another signal that Mueller's work is coming to a close." Okay.

Natasha Bertrand at the Atlantic: Andrew McCabe Couldn't Believe the Things Trump Said About Putin. "Bertrand: Do you think we'll ever hear from Mueller? Do you think he'll come out and explain his findings once all this is over? McCabe: He'll explain his findings in the report, and then if he's called upon to testify about it, he'll certainly do that. But he is always the guy who will say less than more. He'll seek less attention than more attention. He is perfectly happy to do his job and to do it fully and completely. And then, when it's all said and done, he'll lock the door behind him and go home." Cool.

McCabe says the FBI, in the days after Comey's firing, told the Gang of 8 that the FBI had opened a counterintelligence investigation into Trump.

GUTHRIE: Did anyone object?

McCABE: No one objected. Not on legal grounds not on constitutional grounds and not based on the facts.

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 19, 2019

In case I haven't already said it ten million times, I'm really over these dudes who hold their tongues about Trump until they have books to sell.

[Content Note: Threats; stochastic terrorism] Ryan Mac and Zoe Tillman at BuzzFeed: Roger Stone Posted a Photo of the Judge Presiding over His Case Next to Crosshairs. "Roger Stone, a longtime Republican operative and adviser to [Donald] Trump who was charged with lying to Congress, posted a photo Monday on Instagram of a judge presiding over his case in which she appears to be next to a crosshairs symbol. The post comes days after the judge, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, rejected Stone's effort to get his case reassigned to a new judge. Jackson also previously ruled that Stone couldn't talk to news outlets in front of her courthouse."

The judge was not amused. Andy Towle at Towleroad: Judge Orders Roger Stone to Court After He Mocks Her with Crosshairs Photo. "Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is overseeing Trump ally Roger Stone's criminal case, ordered Stone to court on Tuesday after he posted a number of Instagram posts about her, one of which featured the judge's photo next to a set of crosshairs. The posts have since been deleted."

Tanya Snyder at Politico: Emails Reveal Coordination Between Chao, McConnell Offices. "A trove of more than 800 pages of emails sheds new light on the working relationship between Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, one of the most potent power couples in Washington — including their dealings with McConnell supporters from their home state of Kentucky. Chao has met at least 10 times with politicians and business leaders from the state in response to requests from McConnell's office, according to documents provided to Politico by the watchdog group American Oversight. In some cases, those people later received what they were hoping for from Chao's department, including infrastructure grants, the designation of an interstate highway, and assistance in getting state funds for a highway project — although the documents don't indicate the meetings led to those outcomes." Oh.

Jessica Donati and Peter Nicholas at the Wall Street Journal: With Evangelicals Behind Him, Vice President Mike Pence Takes Prominent Role in Foreign Policy. That's a distressingly benign-sounding headline for what is, in reality, perhaps the most powerful vice president in the nation's history wielding U.S. foreign policy to entrench global Christian Supremacy.

In the first two years of the Trump presidency, Vice President Mike Pence has worked to put religion at the heart of key diplomatic efforts, steering hundreds of millions in U.S. aid toward Christians and other minorities who were victimized by Islamic State.

Among the measures he has favored, Mr. Pence pushed to redirect U.S. money that would have been distributed by the United Nations widely in Iraqi areas targeted by Islamic State toward Christians, Yazidis, and other minorities. He also advocated last year for the imposition of sanctions on officials in Turkey — a North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally — over a detained U.S. pastor.

Both were causes championed by the administration's evangelical supporters, who represent a key constituency for [Donald] Trump. They view Mr. Pence as an important ally in the White House. His foreign policy actions — he also has played a leading role in the effort to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and criticizing Europe for helping Iran circumvent U.S. sanctions — contrast with the low profile he has kept on domestic issues.

...Underpinning Mr. Pence's aid prioritization is his own faith. He has famously called himself a Christian first, conservative second, and Republican third. Mr. Pence also serves, in effect, as a White House ambassador to evangelicals, many of whom viewed Mr. Trump's candidacy with skepticism but have embraced his policies and Mr. Pence's foreign priorities.

"He is a strong voice within the Trump administration who is concerned about the persecution of all religious groups — but particularly Christian religious groups," said Richard Land, president of the Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, N.C.

That last bit is, of course, a total lie. Pence is not at all concerned about "the persecution of all religious groups," including and especially people who are not religious at all and do not share his enthusiasm for using religion as a cudgel to deny people their agency, bodily autonomy, and right of consent.

What have you been reading that we need to resist today?