Guess Who Came to Dinner

From NBC NEWS:

WASHINGTON — As federal workers file out of the State Department at the end of a Washington workday, an elite group is often just arriving in the marbled, flag-lined lobby: Billionaire CEOs, Supreme Court justices, political heavyweights and ambassadors arrive in evening attire as they’re escorted by private elevator to dinner with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Until the coronavirus shut them down in March, the gatherings were known as “Madison Dinners” — elaborate, unpublicized affairs that Pompeo and his wife, Susan Pompeo, began in 2018 and held regularly in the historic Diplomatic Reception Rooms on the government’s dime.

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Floridiot!

Go ahead and google the definition of fluffer, kids. I’ll wait.

From Fox 13 News:

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Thursday, President Donald Trump laid out his three-phase plan to re-open America. It’s a gradual, deliberate approach, first depending on, in part, a downward trend in positive COVID-19 cases and robust testing.

Friday, Governor Ron DeSantis said Florida would follow the federal guidelines — mostly.

”We will obviously use that as a baseline,” he said. “Doesn’t mean that Florida is going go do everything they say and not say. That’s a pretty good baseline.”

Translation: “I will do everything Twitler says.”

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Her Reign In Maine Has Really Left a Stain

From HILL REPORTER:

Whenever there is a close controversial vote, democrats normally hold out hope that Maine senator, Susan Collins, will vote with them. […] She broke liberal hearts, however, when she voted to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in October of 2018.

That Kavanaugh vote, while it pleased the GOP, may have done the senator more harm than good. According to a new poll from Critical Insights, Collins’ Maine approval rating has dipped 17 points since last spring.

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Mean Girls

From The Mercury News:

While most of President Donald Trump’s offspring and their spouses have been mired in scandal or investigations, or have just been the butt of late-night jokes (see: Eric and Tiffany), Eric Trump’s wife Lara Trump has managed to glide above the fray.

That was until Thursday when former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman released a secret recording of a conversation with Lara Trump. Manigault Newman played the recording on MSNBC to bolster her contention that Trump’s loyal daughter-in-law tried to buy her silence after she was from the White House staff by offering her a $15,000-a-month contract to work in his re-election campaign.

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Where shopping is no longer a pleasure

Some Floriduhhh news, from The Buzz at the Tampa Bay Times:

The Florida supermarket giant Publix has given more money to Adam Putnam’s gubernatorial bid than any other candidate since at least 1995 and likely for the entirety of the company’s history.

Publix, the heirs to the company’s founder and its current and former leaders have given Putnam $670,000 in the last three years — or enough money to buy 74,527 chicken tender subs.

I thought they might want to update their logo.

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The Other Smoke-filled Room

From The Guardian:

Tobacco companies have moved swiftly to strengthen their grip on Washington politics, ramping up lobbying efforts and securing significant regulatory wins in the first six months of the Trump era.

Day one of Donald Trump’s presidency started with tobacco donations, senior figures have been put in place within the Trump administration who have deep ties to tobacco, and lobbying activity has increased significantly.

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Honey, They Skunked the Kids

From The Boston Globe:

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday confirmed school choice advocate Betsy DeVos as Education secretary by the narrowest of margins, with Vice President Mike Pence breaking a 50-50 tie in a historic vote.

Two Republicans joined Democrats in the unsuccessful effort to derail the nomination of the wealthy Republican donor. The Senate historian said Pence’s vote was the first by a vice president to break a tie on a Cabinet nomination.

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Here Comes the Bribe

From Vanity Fair (September 6, 2016):

Donald Trump has long boasted that his past political contributions have given him unique insight into the way Washington is rigged. “I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And you know what? When I need something from them, two years later, three years later, I call them. They are there for me,” he bragged during the first presidential debate. Trump’s candor won him fans, and burnished the billionaire’s claim to be the one candidate who both understands how the donor-donee relationship really works while not being beholden to donors himself.

Now, with just two months until Election Day, the Republican presidential nominee’s claims to have worked the system to his advantage are coming back to haunt him. Over the Labor Day weekend, Trump faced renewed questioning about why his family foundation had donated $25,000 to a political group supporting Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi in 2013—in violation of federal rules preventing foundations from donating to political candidates—at the same time that her office was considering whether to investigate Trump University for alleged fraud. Bondi, according to reporting by the Associated Press in July, “personally solicited” the political contribution, just before she declined to move forward with the Trump University case.

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