| | | | | The Houston skyline is seen after the area was inundated with flooding from Hurricane Harvey on Wednesday. Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images | | | Junior, Back in the Headlines: DJTJ will sit down with the Senate judiciary committee
Boy George on Melania: "She should change every 11 minutes like Cher in Vegas"
W. Crashes Football Practice, Offers Message to Houston Players: What he said at SMU | | | What the White House is Talking About:
Another travel day for President Trump, who heads to Missouri to kick off his tax reform plan.
What the White House Press Corps is Talking About:
What exactly the tax reform plan is that he will be kicking off, details are scant. Also armchair quarterbacking the president's visit to Texas yesterday. Some say he could have been more empathetic, met with more flood victims -- other takes suggest he did just fine.
Junior, Back in the Headlines:
CNN reports Donald Trump Jr. has agreed to sit down for a transcribed interview with the Senate judiciary committee to talk about that 2016 meeting he had with a Russian lawyer. The meeting could take place in the next few weeks. Also on the Russia front, the Special Counsel's office is digging deeper into people in the orbit of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
But First, Tweets:
Trump covered the bases this morning. We had a second pass at hurricane empathy feels, a jab at the media (magazines, in particular), a shot at North Korea, and a pump-up to the Missouri trip -- in all, a well-rounded Wednesday. | | Credit: @realDonaldTrump/Twitter
Also, Right Hand, Meet Left Hand:
Today, Defense Secretary James Mattis did this: | | Credit: @JimSciutto/Twitter
Our Daily Melania:
So many takes on her shoe situation from yesterday, especially from the fashion world. Robin Givhan in the Washington Post said Melania "looked great," but her choice of footwear proved she was cold and above feeling pain. 🤔. The headline of Vanessa Friedman's piece in the New York Times -- Friedman is a frequent critic of the first lady's sartorial choices -- said Melania "finds herself on thin heels." And Vogue went after her for caving to pressure to change her shoes on the plane. Huh? She was going to change them all the while. That was a take that came on the heels (sorry) of an earlier screed by Vogue's Lynn Yaeger, who chastised the White House for having "optics" issues. I mean, ok, everyone can have an opinion, but I feel like sometimes fashion writers get away with more blatant one-sidedness just because they can hide behind the discussion of clothes. If I were to challenge these arguments, which I can assure you from the responses and conversations I had yesterday about Melania's Manolo's are justified and many, I would just say that this is a look, and a shoe, the first lady has worn maybe 95% of the relatively few times we've seen her. If you choose to read into it being more than just a shoe, that's cool, but I think accusing her of some sort of cold-hearted social statement is a bit much.
I'd also like to say she was quick with a personal statement about her visit, and a "thank you" tweet, both of which came on their own and well ahead of any posts or statements from the president about the visit. | | | Personally, I'm With Boy George on This: | | Credit: @BoyGeorge/Twitter
Ivanka Trump's Spa is Here for You:
Noticed there's a special discount happening at The Spa by IVANKA TRUMP™ and Fitness Center at the Trump International Hotel Washington, DC. For a back-to-school special, teachers and parents can get 25% off of services that are 60-minutes or longer, Sunday through Thursday, until September 28th. You're welcome.
Meanwhile, Ivanka is apparently headed to Missouri with her dad today.
Who Wore it Best:
Sorry, had to. | | Credit: @WordsofSarah/Twitter
Dress Like the First Lady:
Let's do her *second* pair of shoes, shall we? Melania changed into a pair of iconic Stan Smith sneakers by Adidas. I found the black ones she's wearing on serious sale for $45. | | Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images; neimanmarcus.com
BTW:
So she didn't wear her ginormous diamond solitaire on the trip to Texas, a rare move. But she did wear her diamond wedding band, also ginormous. Things I notice. Hi, I'm Kate 🙋. | | | Credit: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images | | What Washington is Talking About:
Donald Trump Jr. has agreed to a transcribed interview with the Senate judiciary committee.
What America is Talking About:
Harvey has set the US record for most rainfall in a single storm, with nearly 52 inches of water in parts of Texas. At least 11 people have been killed.
Poll of the Day:
The percentage of Americans who believe racism is a "big problem in our society today" is on the rise. It's at 58%, per a Tuesday Pew poll, more than double what it was in 2011 and up 8% since 2015. | | How to Handle Hurricane Recovery, According to Christie:
Chris Christie knows a thing or two about being a governor during a hurricane. The New Jersey gov said this morning on CNN's "New Day," that five years after Sandy hit his state, it's "still not completely recovered," and offered this checklist for Texas' recovery efforts: 1. "Restore power," 2. "Clear the roads," 3. "Make sure gasoline is available for generators and for cars," and 4. "Return kids to school."
"If you can do those four things within the next 14 days, then people are going to have a sense that they're being helped, that they're being saved, and that their lives have a chance to be normal again," he said.
W. Crashes Football Practice, Offers Message to Houston Players:
Former President George W. Bush stopped by football practice at Southern Methodist University (that's the school next door to his presidential library) Tuesday and told players, some of whom are from the Houston area, "The days are dark now, but they're going to get better." "If you're from that area you'll be amazed at the people who come down there to help," he said. | | Credit: @SMU_Football/Twitter
Palin's NYT Case Gets Tossed Out:
A federal judge in New York City dismissed Sarah Palin's defamation suit against the New York Times Tuesday, and his opinion is a pretty epic defense of the First Amendment. Here's how Judge Jed Rakoff opened his opinion: | | Credit: US District Court, Southern District of New York/Document Cloud
This Made Me Sad:
You may have seen the footage of our Rosa Flores interviewing a Houston woman in a shelter who was upset. "Y'all sitting here, y'all trying to interview people during their worst times," the woman said. "Like, that's not the smartest thing to do."
Listen, these sort of things happen. People who are truly going through their worst times are being asked to talk about them publicly to journalists. Some of them might not want to, and that's OK. Journalists are out there doing their job, trying to show the rest of the country what is happening and tell these peoples' stories.
"The people of Houston are going through a very difficult time," CNN spokeswoman Barbara Levin told the Washington Post when asked about the moment. "Our hearts go out to this woman and her family. Our reporter handled the situation graciously."
It's been disheartening, though, to see that moment get turned into a political anti-media attack. I've seen it shared across pro-Trump social media the past day, and yesterday Kellyanne Conway tweeted an article about it, attacking CNN, followed by a tweet 25 minutes later praising Fox News for also interviewing survivors. It made me sad :( | | Credit: @KellyannePolls/Twitter
Flores is still out in Houston, where she and other reporters from CNN, Fox News, and elsewhere have been doing amazing work telling these peoples' stories -- and even in the case of our Drew Griffin, rescuing a man from a sinking truck.
🐸Pepe Watch🐸:
Pepe creator Matt Furie has killed a children's book featuring his cartoon frog that he called racist and homophobic, according to Pacific Standard. The storyline involved Pepe and a centipede (which is a symbol used by Trump's online right supporters) fighting against a bearded alligator named Alkah. "Matt has really decided he wants to aggressively enforce his intellectual property against somebody who is using it in a racist way, or to promote white supremacy, or any kind of hate," Furie attorney Louis Tompros said. Furie reached an out-of-court settlement with the book's author, Eric Hauser.
Obama, the Cartoon:
There's a Kickstarter seeking $100,000 to produce a pilot of a cartoon about time traveling duo "Barry & Joe" and a villainous Trump, whose face is never seen. "In this way, he is like our Doctor Claw from the original Inspector Gadget cartoon," creator Adam Reid wrote. "A villain to be heard and felt but not seen. Except for his tiny hands, we'll see those."
From the Kickstarter's description: "Isn't this just leftist fan fiction meant to give solace to those who need some hope and healing Yes. If I love Trump, will I want to watch this and then rant about it online? Probably." It's currently raised more than $87,000 from more than 1,200 donors. | | Credit: Barry & Joe - The Animated Series (Pilot)/Kickstarter
Street Art Sighting:
As seen in Dupont Circle yesterday: an inflatable rat that resembles Trump. | | Credit: @hunterschwarz/Instagram story
Send me your pics of political street art to coverlinehunter@cnn.com, tweet me @hunterschwarz or tag @cnncoverline on Instagram. | | | | | | |
