Protesters greet Pelosi with expletives during Florida campaign stop

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was confronted during a campaign stop in Coral Gables, Fla., on Wednesday, with protesters cursing at her and calling her a communist.
The incident was caught on camera, showing Pelosi calmly entering Florida Democratic House candidate Donna Shalala’s headquarters as she gets surrounded by the protesters. She did not engage with them.
“Look at Nancy Pelosi right here – f---ing communist. Get the f--- out of here. F--- you and your f--king Democrats,” the protesters shouted in both English and Spanish while carrying anti-communist signs.
“You don’t belong here,” one person was also heard yelling. “Socialism sucks,” said another.
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The video of the confrontation was uploaded on YouTube and titled “Nancy Pelosi was heckled at a Miami Restaurant by Trump Supporting Cuban Americans,” but it actually occurred outside the campaign stop for Shalala, The Washington Post reported.
The protest was organized by Nelson Diaz, the chairman of the Republican Party in Miami-Dade County, the Post reported. Some protesters reportedly wore signs of Proud Boys, a notorious right-wing group that is often accused of participating in violent scuffles with their opposition.
FLORIDA DEM CANDIDATE UNDER FIRE FOR EVENT INVITING REP WHO PRAISED CASTRO
The protest was in response to Pelosi attending an event with Shalala that was also supposed to feature California Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee, a liberal lawmaker who drew the fury from the local Cuban community for praising the late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.
Lee once said after Castro’s death that “we need to stop and pause and mourn his loss,” and called it “very sad for the Cuban people.”
Shalala’s campaign eventually dropped Lee after the outcry and the event included just Pelosi.
The hostile episode, which followed months of public harassment of mostly GOP lawmakers, drew bipartisan condemnation.
“I don’t agree with Nancy Pelosi’s agenda, but this is absolutely the wrong way to express those disagreements,” tweeted Republican Rep. Steve Scalise, who last year was seriously wounded after a shooting at a congressional baseball team practice. “If you want to stop her policies, don’t threaten her, VOTE! That’s how we settle our differences.”
A spokesman for Pelosi, Drew Hammill, told the Post that Republicans and President Trump are responsible for inciting such mob behavior.
“It is deeply sad but unsurprising that we now see that ugliness rearing its head,” she said. “It is stunning that Republicans have the gall to call courageous survivors of sexual assault a ‘mob’, at the same time they incite and condone violent actions like this. Republicans must condemn this vile and dangerous conduct, and stop the reckless and dangerous rhetoric that encourages it."

Bernie Sanders Cartoons

Trump praises 'tough cookie' Montana rep who 'body slammed' reporter last year, urges voters to 'never forget Benghazi'

President Trump hosted his third wide-ranging rally of the midterm season in Montana on Thursday night, where he urged voters to "never forget Benghazi" and praised Republican Rep. Greg Gianforte, who pleaded guilty to body slamming a reporter last year, as a "tough cookie."

Only three other sitting presidents have ever visited Missoula, where between 6,000 and 8,000 people were attending the event at the Minuteman Aviation hangar, according to The Misssoulian.
"I love these hangars," Trump said at the opening of the rally, as the crowd chanted "USA!" He continued: "I love a hangar. There's nothing like a hangar. You get out of the plane, you walk over, and you have massive crowds." Later, Trump remarked repeatedly that he was underneath a "beautiful, beautiful, big sky."
He quickly turned to Gianforte, advising the crowd: "Never wrestle him. Any guy that can do a body slam, he's my kind of guy."
Gianforte, who is running against Democrat Kathleen Williams, was required to undergo anger management classes for pummeling Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs the day before his election. He was sentenced to community service and fined $385 last year.

"Never wrestle him. Any guy that can do a body slam, he's my kind of guy."
— President Trump on Rep. Greg Gianforte

Trump continued: "I shouldn't say this -- it's nothing to be embarrassed about. I was in Rome with a lot of the leaders of other countries ... and I heard about it, and we endorsed Greg very early, but I had heard that he had body slammed a reporter. And he was way up, and I said, and this was the day of the election or just before -- 'This is terrible, he's going to lose the election.' And then I said, 'Wait a minute, I know Montana pretty well. I think it might help him.' And it did. He's a great guy. Tough cookie."
The president also took aim at his opponent in the 2016 presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton, criticizing her for her email practices and telling the crowd to "Never Forget Benghazi."
His comments came days after a federal judge excoriated the State Department for "lying" by presenting the court with "clearly false" affidavits documenting their review of Clinton's emails and communications concerning the 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
A State Department lawyer acknowledged that the government's review of the materials could be considered inadequate.
'SHOCKED', 'DUMBFOUNDED' FEDERAL JUDGE UNLOADS ON STATE DEPARTMENT LAWYER OVER CLINTON PROBE 'LIE'
With just weeks until the pivotal midterm elections, the president was primarily seeking to convince Montana to replace his longtime bitter rival, incumbent Sen. Democratic Jon Tester, with GOP state auditor Matt Rosendale. But his rally was also part of his long-running effort to help preserve Republicans' tenuous holds on the Senate and House of Representatives.
"This will be an election of Kavanaugh, the caravan, law and order, and common sense," Trump said, referring to his successful Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh and a Central American migrant caravan approaching the U.S. border with Mexico.
U.S. and Mexican officials have agreed on a plan to handle the caravan, a senior administration official told Fox News on Thursday.
"I just want to thank the Mexican government because they're stopping it hopefully before it even gets to Mexico," Trump said to applause. "As you know, I'm willing to send the military to defend our southern border if necessary, all caused by the illegal immigration onslaught brought by the Democrats because they refuse to acknowledge or change the laws. And they figure everyone who's coming in is going to vote Democrat."
"I have caused the problem," Trump went on. "Because I have created such an incredible economy, I have created so many jobs. I have made this country, with you, so great, that everybody wants to come in. So they're all pouring in -- or trying to."
Losing one or both chambers in November's midterm elections, Trump himself has warned, could not only compromise border security and complicate his legislative agenda -- which top Republicans recently said might include another attempt at fully repealing ObamaCare -- but also empower Democrats to open a series of investigations and potentially even impeachment proceedings.
Trump emphasized that possibility in a previous rally in Montana just last month.
"I don't even bring it up," Trump told the crowd. "Because I view it as something that, you know, they like to use the impeach word. Impeach Trump. Maxine Waters, 'We will impeach him.' But he didn't do anything wrong. 'It doesn't matter, we will impeach him. We will impeach.' But I say, how do you impeach somebody that's doing a great job that hasn't done anything wrong?"
DEMS POISED TO MAKE HISTORIC IMPEACHMENT PUSH AFTER MIDTERMS
Fox News currently rates the Senate race in Montana, a state Trump won over Hillary Clinton by double digits in 2016, as lean Democrat -- and in the final weeks of the campaign season, there are renewed signs that Trump has made it his personal mission to push the state back into the Republicans' column.
Earlier this year, Trump called for Tester’s resignation for his role in torpedoing Dr. Ronny Jackson's nomination to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs. Jackson had been besieged by unproven and disputed allegations compiled by Tester’s office concerning his prescription-drug practices and use of alcohol. (Tester is the top Democrat on the Republican-controlled Senate Veteran Affairs Committee.)
The president repeated that line of attack this week, saying that Tester had treated Jackson more unfairly than Democrats who fiercely opposed Kavanaugh's nomination. Democrats promoted a series of uncorroborated sexual misconduct and rape accusations against the then-nominee.
"Ever since his vicious and totally false statements about Admiral Ron Jackson, the highly respected White House Doctor for Obama, Bush & me, Senator John Tester looks to be in big trouble in the Great State of Montana!" Trump wrote on Twitter Wednesday. "He behaved worse than the Democrat Mob did with Justice K!"
At Thursday's rally, Trump simply called Tester "disgraceful" and accused him of leading a "mob" to unfairly destroy Jackson's reputation.
JON TESTER CAMPAIGNS ON HUNTING, BUT HASN'T HAD HUNTING LICENSE IN SIX YEARS
"Tester said things about him that were a disgrace," Trump said, adding that "a series of lies" had ultimately derailed Jackson. He compared Jackson to Kavanaugh, saying both men were respected and had been wrongly maligned.
"The only thing keeping Tester's campaign alive, are millions and millions and millions of dollars from outside liberals and radical leftists who couldn't care less about Montana," Trump said. He added that Tester opposed his tax bill and wants "open borders."
He added that his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, was "so cool you wouldn't believe it" during a mid-flight scare this week, when smoke filled the cabin of her military jet.
Trump wrapped up the event by mocking Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren for "making a fool out of herself" by releasing the results of a disputed DNA test she claimed proved she likely had a recent Native American ancestor.
ANALYSIS: ELIZABETH WARREN'S DNA TEST IS A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL
"She has so little Indian blood -- she has none -- that I can no longer call her Pocahontas," Trump taunted.
Thursday's rally comes two days after the Marine Corps veteran who served as Montana's GOP chairman from 2009 to 2015 warned potential protesters on Facebook that Trump supporters tend to carry guns.

"All you protesters ... This is a concealed and open carry state, and we know how to use em."
— Fmr. Montana GOP chair Will Deschamps

“Also all you protesters, show up as well," the former state Republican chairman, Will Deschamps, wrote on the social media site. "This is a concealed and open carry state and we know how to use em."
He ended his message by noting that he is “USMC trained,” referring to his military service.
Trump has held more than two dozen rallies to benefit GOP candidates, and more than 350 rallies since beginning his presidential bid in 2015.
Trump's campaign has said it is paying all the bills for the rallies, including the costs of fueling and using Air Force One to ferry the president and his staff to and from the events.
The billionaire businessman can apparently afford it, and then some: New filings with the Federal Election Commission show Trump's campaign has already hauled in more than $100 million for his 2020 reelection effort, an unprecedented sum that owes to his early start on the campaign trail.
Thursday's rally was Trump's first stop in a three-date tour of western states that will include Arizona and Nevada.

While ripping Trump, media and Hollywood rush to cut ties to Saudis

The media and political criticism of President Trump for his handling of the crisis with Saudi Arabia is growing louder.
And I understand why his approach — slow it down, wait and see, we do a lot of business with the Saudis — is upsetting those who are outraged about the apparently gruesome murder of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi.
But the larger picture is that a whole lot of important people in this country have gotten cozy with the Saudis, despite their horrendous record on human rights and the treatment of women.
From Washington to Los Angeles, they have engaged in the typical rationalizations for representing a sleazy regime, as long as the oil money kept the coffers full.
And now, with the kingdom unable to explain why Khashoggi walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and never walked out, many of them are embarrassed.
The giant Hollywood firm Endeavor is giving the Saudis back a $400 million investment, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The CEO, Ari Emanuel, brother of Rahm, made the decision to return the dough, provided by a Saudi investment fund overseen by Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince who is suspected of either approving or acquiescing in the hit squad dispatched to deal with Khashoggi.
But Emanuel did this under pressure from high-profile clients of the company's WME agency, which represents such journalists as Ronan Farrow, Mika Brzezinski, Chris Matthews, and Scott Pelley. "Had Endeavor kept the money," the story says, "it likely would have led to departures."
The company declined to comment, but Farrow tweeted: "This was absolutely the right thing to do and I'm glad Ari Emanuel addressed it quickly."
Other Hollywood outfits still doing business with the Saudis include AMC, Imax and World Wrestling Entertainment, which either had no comment or say they're "monitoring the situation" — corporate-speak for doing nothing unless the pressure gets to be too great.
The administration made headlines when it pulled Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin from next week's big-deal Saudi investment conference. But under this harsh spotlight, lots of major media organizations are bailing as well. These include the owner of the L.A. Times, the CEO of Viacom and CNBC anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin.
What's more, CNN, CNBC, the New York Times, Bloomberg and Financial Ties have all withdrawn as sponsors of the conference. Those kinds of partnerships are what has lent the Saudi regime a sheen of respectability over the years.
And then there are the Beltway lobbyists.
Three major firms — the Glover Park Group, the Harbour Group and the BGR Group — have ended agreements they had to represent the kingdom. Those contracts were worth a combined $3.7 million.
But the Saudis, who spend $6 million a year on lobbying and promotion, still have deals with the likes of the blue-chip firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and the McKeon Group, headed by former House Armed Services Chairman Buck McKeon.
The Washington Post yesterday devoted its entire op-ed page to Khashoggi's final column. In recalling that a Saudi friend has been jailed for five years for "supposed comments contrary to the Saudi establishment," Khashoggi wrote that "Arab governments have been given free rein to continue silencing the media at an increasing rate."
Those are chilling words. And the question for the president, the media companies, the lobbyists and others who deal with Saudi Arabia is whether much will change once the Khashoggi controversy inevitably fades.

‘Fantastic’ Beto O’Rourke gets endorsement from former Mexican President Vicente Fox

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox endorsed Beto O'Rourke in the Texas Senate race in a Twitter video on Thursday. (Twitter)

Vicente Fox, the former president of Mexico who famously said his country will not (expletive) pay for President Trump’s proposed border wall on Thursday announced his support for the "great American” and “fantastic” Democratic Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke.
“Wow! What a candidate! What a man! Beto, you are fantastic,” Fox said in a video posted to Twitter. “You’re great! You’re an all-American.”
With just a few weeks left before the midterm elections, O’Rourke is in a tight race with Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.
Fox, who served as Mexico’s president from 2000 to 2006, has openly voiced his discontent for Trump and his immigration policies – including the hotly debated wall along the southern border.
“I’ve been an opponent and resistant (of Trump) because I feel as part of this nation — I am part of this nation — and I don’t like what I’m seeing,” Fox said during a speech at Northwestern University on Tuesday night, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The former Mexican president praised O’Rourke as compassionate and intelligent who understands Americans, “but you also understand we are human beings.”
“You are the enlightenment for Texas and I hope every single Mexican, Latin, every Hispanic in that great state of Texas is going to vote for you,” Fox said. “You deserve it because you are going to respond to the hope and expectations of Texas, understanding what they need and understanding what America needs.”
O’Rourke has some catching-up to do if he hopes to be the first Democratic Senator in Texas since 1993.
A CNN poll released this week shows Cruz with a 7 percent edge over his Democratic challenger among likely voters, with only 9 percent of Texas voters saying they could change their mind about who to support.
One of O’Rourke’s challenges is that he is running against Cruz, a Cuban-American who has held the seat since 2013, in a state with a large Hispanic population.
The El Paso congressman is a fluent Spanish-language speaker, who occasionally sprinkles the language in his speeches and talks about inclusion and representing everyone.
“That means going to every county in Texas, but it also means listening and speaking in English y tambien en Espanol,” O’Rourke, a Democrat, said during a rally at Rice University last week.
A recent Quinnipiac poll shows Cruz leading the Senate race by 9 points, but O’Rourke holds a 24-point lead among Hispanic voters.
Texas has routinely ranked near the bottom for voter turnout, and census data shows only 40 percent of Hispanics voted during the 2016 presidential election.
Trump renewed his support for Cruz on Wednesday, saying the GOP senator “has done so much for Texas” and bashing opponent Beto O’Rourke as a “flake” after the candidates sparred in a feisty Senate debate.
Fox News' Madeleine Rivera contributed to this report.

Ocasio-Cortez refuses to endorse Bernie Sanders 2020 run

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic socialist congressional candidate who has spent weeks campaigning with fellow socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, on Thursday refused to endorse his prospective candidacy in the 2020 presidential race.
Ocasio-Cortez, 29, worked as an organizer for Sanders' failed presidential campaign in 2016 before winning in a surprise upset over longtime establishment Rep. Joe Crowley, D-N.Y., in the state's 14th Congressional District primary in May.
"She’ll see what the field looks like," Corbin Trent, Ocasio-Cortez’s communications director, said in an interview with Politico. "She’s focused on 2018, [Bernie’s] focused on 2018. We’re all focused on 2018."
For his part, the 77-year-old Sanders did not endorse Ocasio-Cortez's run against Crowley. And in August, former President Barack Obama, in turn, initially declined to endorse Ocasio-Cortez even after her stunning primary win, underscoring the challenges facing progressives campaigning to the left of the Democratic Party establishment in hopes of taking their views mainstream. (Obama endorsed her earlier this month.)
Despite the back-and-forth snubs, Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez have nonetheless teamed up in the past several months to tout socialist and far-left candidates throughout the country during the midterm season, to varying degrees of success.

"She’ll see what the field looks like."
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s comms director Corbin Trent

For example, socialist-backed candidates have prevailed in Pennsylvania, Kansas, and Washington. But Abdul El-Sayed, an avowed populist who was vying to be Michigan's first Muslim governor, finished nearly 20 percentage points behind establishment Democrat Gretchen Whitmer in the state's August primary, despite the backing of both high-profile socialists.
Also in August, Fayrouz Saad, who was angling to become the first Muslim woman elected to Congress, finished in a distant fourth place in Michigan's 11th Congressional District primary, despite support on the stump from Ocasio-Cortez.
Similarly, in Missouri, Rep. Lacy Clay soundly defeated far-left progressive Cori Bush. And in Hawaii in August, a fiscally conservative Democrat, Ed Case, took down 29-year-old Kaniela Ing, a democratic socialist who had Ocasio-Cortez's endorsement.
For Sanders, who has kept the door open on running again for the White House in 2020, the defeats were a continuation of his recent losing streak. Over the past two years, several candidates he has backed in several important races -- including in gubernatorial primaries in Virginia and Ohio, and in several House races in Iowa and New Jersey -- have come up short.
Some former Sanders staffers, meanwhile, have said in interviews they hope to find another torchbearer in 2020 for the Vermont senator's beliefs.
“All the former staff I’ve talked to agree Bernie should focus on making sure the nominee is someone who continues what he started,” Keegan Goudiss, Sanders’ former digital advertising director, told Politico. “It’s a sure thing that he will be able to influence 2020 from the outside. But if he decides to run, I doubt many former staffers will return unless directly asked to. Either way, he misses capturing energy if he doesn't decide soon.”
The magazine quoted several other former Sanders staffers with a similar perspective on Sanders' future, although some did say they would support him running again for the presidency.
One of those people, Sanders spokesman Jeff Weavers, who also ran his 2016 campaign, wrote a book published earlier this year titled “How Bernie Won."
“Bernie Sanders is an extremely energetic and vigorous person, and has more energy, I would say, than people half his age,” Weavers said in an interview, dismissing criticisms that Sanders would be too old to compete in 2020.
His book concludes: “Run, Bernie, Run!”

Media Fact-Check Cartoons

Colorado seen as model for election security

Election officials in Colorado implemented changes after concerns about foreign interference in the 2016 presidential election, including paper ballots and 'risk-limiting audits'; Alicia Acuna reports from Denver.

With less than three weeks until the midterm elections, many Americans are still concerned about the integrity of the country’s voting systems.
According the Department of Homeland Security, the only system successfully breached by Russian government actors in 2016 was Illinois’ voter registration system.
“Although no votes were changed,” Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen said, “we saw without question that Russian government cyber actors were actively seeking vulnerabilities and access to our election infrastructure. We assume ... that Russia’s campaign probably targeted all 50 states.”
While they weren’t successful in altering the outcome, Russian interference has had a lasting effect, according to election expert David Becker, executive director of The Center for Election Innovation & Research: “There’s no reason to think they’re going to stop. To be perfectly honest, if their goal is to get Americans to lose faith in their systems, it appears that they are somewhat successful.”
A recent poll by The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research bears that out. It found 79 percent of American adults are somewhat to extremely concerned that the country’s voting system might be vulnerable to hackers.
Nielsen and others are looking to the state of Colorado as a model for how to conduct secure elections.
“Colorado has been called the safest state in America to vote,” Secretary of State Wayne Williams said.
After 2016, his office decided it wouldn’t wait for federal help, and began making upgrades to its election systems.
“It’s absolutely critical that people have confidence in the election system,” he explained. “It gives legitimacy to government once that election takes place, but the other part is we want people to participate in the election.”
Colorado has invested in new tabulating machines, and uses a two-factor authentication system for the operators. The state does routine post-election audits and uses paper ballots, generating them even when votes are cast electronically.
TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER TO IMPOSE SANCTIONS AGAINST ANY ELECTION INTERFERENCE
Last November, Colorado became the first state in the nation to conduct risk-limiting audits during an election. That’s where random samples of paper ballots are compared to the electronic record, making sure there is a 100 percent correlation. If there are any discrepancies at all, that means something is wrong.
Nielsen agreed with election security experts that risk-limiting audits are the best way to ensure election results are accurate: “It really leaves those leaving the polls with the confidence that ... the democracy worked, and they had a voice and their voice was heard.”
“People see what we’re doing in Colorado,” Williams said. “They want to be able to implement a lot of the things we’re doing here, things like paper-based ballots and risk-limiting audits.”
When the state held an election-security training session in September, election officials from around the nation came to observe. Nielsen was on hand to give the keynote speech, saying, “If you don’t mind, we’d like to continue to use you as a best example of what other states can adopt.”
TRUMP OFFICIALS SOUND ALARM ON RUSSIAN MEDDLING, VOW TO FIGHT BACK
Earlier this year, the federal government provided $380 million to help states beef up their election security, but many say they have not had enough time to get everything in place for the midterm elections. And Congress failed to pass a bipartisan bill in its last session that would have required risk-limiting audits in all states. So far, only Rhode Island and New Mexico have joined Colorado in implementing the measure.
On the plus side, all but five states are now using paper ballots, more than ever before, according to Becker: “We’re going to need to give resources to election officials to make sure they can stay on par, or ahead of the game, against the bad guys.”
He and other experts hope the practices Colorado already is using will be in place nationwide by the time the 2020 presidential election arrives.

Trump hits the AP as media fact-check his nonstop interviews

As President Trump continues his midterm media blitz, he is sharpening his language against the press even as some of its practitioners ramp up their criticism of his claims.
This was inevitable, given the sheer volume of words that the president is putting out there and the journalistic desire to fact-check the hell out of him.
In one dispute, I have to say, Trump is basically right.
While he is making this FBN week, with back-to-back sessions with Stuart Varney and Trish Regan of Fox Business Network, Trump also did a lengthy interview with the AP. It was a solid and substantive sitdown. But then the Associated Press slapped this headline on the story:
"Trump Tells AP He Won't Accept Blame If GOP Loses House."
That's pretty eye-catching, a preemptive alibi less than three weeks before the midterms. It got picked up by Drudge and a whole lot of other places. But it doesn't match what Trump said.
Asked if he would accept any responsibility if the Democrats capture the House, the president responded:
"No, I think I'm helping people. They would say that in the old days that if you got the support of a president or if you've got the support of somebody it would be nice to have, but it meant nothing, zero. Like literally zero. Some of the people I've endorsed have gone up 40 and 50 points just on the endorsement."
Come on: "No, I think I'm helping people" is not even close to "I won't accept responsibility if my party gets shellacked." Trump didn't even address the possibility of the GOP losing the House. That's the wire-service equivalent of clickbait. (Though I'd like to see any candidate who went up 50 points [!] based on a Trumpian endorsement.)
The president called the headline "FAKE NEWS" on Twitter, and told Varney Tuesday: "I get such phony news. Everything's a fake. Even yesterday I gave an interview to AP and the headline was totally different from everything I said. The headline was this terrible headline, everything else was perfect."
Trump is on shakier ground with his response about the budget deficit. It's ballooned to $779 billion, a 17 percent jump and the highest in six years. The administration's own projections say the deficit will top a trillion dollars in 2020. And while the deficit has faded as a political issue — used mainly by the out party to bash the in party — that tide of red ink is basically unsustainable.
Trump told the AP he had "no choice" because "I had to take care of our military." He said the administration also had to deal with "a tremendous number of hurricanes and fires" and that "now we're going to start bringing numbers down."
First, boosting spending on defense is a choice — a defensible choice, to be sure — but a political decision that adds to the deficit. And that's especially true if you simultaneously slash corporate and individual taxes by $1.5 trillion. The notion that the tax cuts would pay for themselves has not been proven true, at least so far.
Trump asked his Cabinet members yesterday to come back with 5 percent budget cuts, but made clear that the Pentagon would barely be touched, if at all. So having cut taxes and raised defense, he will now go after domestic spending — precisely the argument the two parties have been having for decades.
And then the AP got to the Stormy Daniels insult:
"Sir, as the president of the United States, is it appropriate to call a woman, and even one who is making serious allegations and who you are in litigation against, to call her a horseface?"
Trump's response: "You know what? You can take it any way you want."
"How should we take it?"
"Did you see the letter?" Trump asked. "She put out a letter. I had nothing to do with her. So she can lie and she can do whatever she wants to do. She can hire a phony lawyer. You take a look at this guy, a stone-cold loser. Take a look at his past. They can say anything about me. I'm just saying, I just speak for myself. You take a look, and you make your own determination."
I'm taking a look, and I think Trump does this deliberately. He knows full well the press and the left will go nuts over his denigrating another woman's looks, but he also knows that will spark days of media debate, put the focus on his winning the porn star's suit, and perhaps detract from the confrontation with Saudi Arabia.
So the criticism is justified, but where's the media and liberal outrage over the rapper T.I.?
This guy posted a video of himself in the Oval Office with a Melania look-alike who walks in, starts stripping (it's R-rated) and then begins attending to T.I. It is beyond demeaning.
Melania spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham called it "disrespectful and disgusting to portray her this way simply because of politics. These kinds of vulgar attacks only further the divisiveness and bias in our country -- it needs to stop."
This is the first lady we're talking about. So anyone who's disgusted by the slam against Stormy should find this mocking of Melania equally gross.

Soros-backed group fires operative after arrest over alleged battery against GOP campaign manager

The liberal group American Bridge 21st Century announced Wednesday night that it had fired one of its operatives a day after he was arrested and accused of battery against the female campaign manager for Nevada GOP gubernatorial candidate Adam Laxalt.
In a statement, American Bridge said that Mike Stark had been relieved of his duties "effective immediately."
American Bridge was founded in November 2010 by David Brock, who also founded liberal watchdog group Media Matters. The group’s largest donor is liberal billionaire George Soros, who contributed more than $2 million between 2015 and 2016. Soros is still involved with the group, most recently donating $300,000 in February, and $80,000 last year.
Stark, 50, was arrested by Las Vegas city marshals Tuesday evening after 31-year-old Kristin Davison said he grabbed and twisted her arm, refusing to let go.
DEM OPERATIVE FOR SOROS-FUNDED GROUP ARRESTED FOR 'BATTERY' AGAINST NEVADA GOP CANDIDATE'S CAMPAIGN MANAGER
"Politics is a little bit aggressive these days, but this is just insane," Davison told Fox News earlier Wednesday. "I’ve never seen anything like it."
Davison told Fox News that Stark “burst into the room where [Laxalt] and I were talking with a camera” and got "very physical" with her.
"This man was physically almost body-checking me," she said. "I was getting nervous for my safety, so we left, and went into an open room.” However, she said Stark tried to follow her, Laxalt and other staffers into the second room.
"He grabbed my right arm, my leg was lodged between the door and the wall. He twisted my arm, and contorted it behind my back,” she explained. “I was scared. Every time I tried pulling away, he would grab tighter, and pull me closer into him.”

Davison was bruised after allegedly being held by Stark on Tuesday. (Kristin Davison)

Davison said Stark pulled her head into his chest, bruising her neck, and held her there for several minutes. She said it “felt like an hour.”
“I was scared and screaming ‘stop—you’re hurting me,’” she explained.
Davison said Stark warned Laxalt, saying, “Adam, there’s only one way you can make this stop.”
“That really scared me,” she said.
Stark also has a record of arrests while working for American Bridge. He was arrested in October of last year for disorderly conduct at an event in Virginia while covering then-GOP gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie. He was found guilty of disorderly conduct in February of this year.
Earlier this year, Stark was arrested for allegedly assaulting the press secretary for Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. The incident with press secretary Heather Swift unfolded in March at the Longworth House Office Building after a budget hearing before a House committee. Stark allegedly approached Zinke and reportedly “used his full body to push” Swift as she tried to leave the room. Swift, who called the incident “terrifying,” told police that she decided to press charges to help obtain a “stay-away order” against him.

Stark, right, allegedly held Davison in the doorway, threatening Attorney General Laxalt. (Kristin Davison)

“Assaulting the female campaign manager of the opposing campaign is disgusting and it has no place in our system,” Laxalt campaign spokesperson Parker Briden said. “This mob behavior from the left is out of control. Encouraging violence, as many prominent Democrats like former Attorney General Eric Holder have recently done, is having real, dangerous consequences.”
Democratic candidate Steve Sisolak and Nevada State Democratic Party officials have denied any connection to Stark.