Those who speak in public on behalf of Donald J. Trump have all developed their own phrases to try to tread that tightrope between maintaining integrity and not angering or defying the boss. Sean Spicer's catchphrase was "the tweet speaks for itself." Sarah Sanders is understandably a big fan of "I'd refer you back to the president’s outside counsel."
What's happening: Now, it looks like John Bolton is developing a good one: "That's not the position of the United States."
Top Supreme Court contender Brett Kavanaugh received the worst imaginable treatment in The Washington Post on Saturday: a giant photograph of him taking the oath beside George W. Bush coupled with a photo of him hugging Karl Rove.
The big picture: Given Trump's hatred of all things Bush, Kavanaugh would almost be better off if WaPo had doctored up pictures of him leading the Women's March, wearing a Planned Parenthood t-shirt, and waving an "Abolish ICE" sign.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s interior minister rejected a deal on Sunday that she had clinched just days earlier with other European Union leaders to curb the migration crisis, per the Wall Street Journal.
Why it matters: Merkel is seeking to end a standoff with Horst Seehofer, the chairman of the Christian Social Union, the sister party to her Christian Democratic Union. The CSU has taken a hardline stance on immigration, and the growing tension between both parties — which have a seven-decade alliance in government — has put Merkel’s coalition government on the brink of collapse.
"The turmoil on the left mirrors that of Republicans in the first two years of Mr. Obama’s administration, when Democrats controlled all the levers of government and left the Tea Party-inflected Republican Party to thrash around in impotent protest, raging with an energy that eventually propelled it back to power," the N.Y. Times' Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns write.
The big picture: "But some Democrats see the moment in even more sweeping terms, akin to the era following the Vietnam War and Watergate, when the reaction to a controversial Republican president triggered a moderate and liberal backlash. That movement delivered dozens of new seats, but it also unleashed a generational changing of the guard that jolted party leaders."
This weekend's massive flash rallies to protest President Trump's immigration policies — following the global women's marches and the March For Our Lives after the Parkland school shooting — represent a unified, accelerated activism surpassing even what was seen in the late '60s, social movement historians tell me.
Why it matters: The speed and scale of yesterday's pop-up protests is fascinating.
More than 13,000 migrants, including children and pregnant women, have been abandoned by Algeria in the Saharan desert over the last year, causing an unknown number to die, an AP investigation has found.
Why it's happening: Europe has been applying "renewed pressure on North African countries to head off migrants going north to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea," per the AP, and has blocked most crossings from Libya. That has led more migrants to travel through Algeria, where authorities have been rounding them up, dropping them near the border with Niger, and forcing them to walk through the desert until they can reach safety in Niger or potentially be found by U.N. rescue teams.
President Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo, which will air on Sunday Morning Futures tomorrow, that if ICE was abolished, “you’re going to have a country that you’re going to be afraid to walk out of your house.“
"Well I hope they keep thinking about it. Because they’re going to get beaten so badly. You know ICE, these are the guys that go in and take MS-13, and they take them out. Because they're much tougher than MS-13, like by a factor of 10. And these are the ones – you get rid of ICE you’re going to have a country that you’re going to be afraid to walk out of your house. I love that issue if they’re going to actually do that."
President Trump, tweeting from his golf club in Bedminster, NJ, while thousands of people across the country protest his administration's "zero-tolerance" policy, doubled down on his demand that immigrants who unlawfully cross the border into the U.S. be turned away "IMMEDIATELY" — without due process.
Be smart: This radical suggestion would deprive those immigrants of due process, and could deter asylum seekers from attempting to reach the U.S.
Thousands of protestors took to the streets in hundreds of cities across the U.S. Saturday, participating in "Families Belong Together" rallies and demonstrations.
What protestors are hoping to gain: The immediate reunification of families that have been separated, the end of family detentions, and, more broadly, the dissolution of Trump administration's "zero-tolerance" policy.
More than 600 marches are planned around the country on Saturday to protest President Trump's family separation policy at the southern border.
The big picture: Images of children being separated from their parents at the border has sparked national, and global, outcry. Anti-Trump protestors hope that the marches "will attract people who have otherwise been on the sidelines," the Associated Press reports, and so far it's done just that.
Top Democrats tell Axios they're worried that a sudden wave of ambitious party members calling for the abolition of ICE — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is newly controversial because of the detained kids — will make the party look weak on security, a key issue for many swing voters.
Between the lines: These Dems fear the phrase makes them an easy target for conservatives who accuse Democrats of wanting "open borders."
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the 28-year-old who defeated top Democrat Rep. Joe Crowley in Tuesday's New York primary for the 14th district, has run on an issue that is picking up traction: The call to abolish ICE.
Why it matters: Expect to see a lot more of this in Democrats' platforms as we near the midterms, and 2020. Rep. Mark Pocan, who plans to introduce legislation to abolish ICE, told Axios that "as long as the president is abusing what the agency is intended to do, there's going to be a growing opposition."
President Trump tweeted Saturday that he will announce his pick to succeed Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy on July 9,
Be smart: Almost immediately after Kennedy announced his retirement, Trump said he would choose his replacement as soon as possible. And on Thursday, just one day after the announcement, Trump met with a group of bipartisan senators — including Republicans who could be a defining vote during the confirmation process, and red-state Democrats who voted for Justice Neil Gorsuch — to discuss potential candidates. All of this is so the president, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, can try to get Trump's nominee confirmed before the midterm elections in November.
President Trump's hardline stance on immigration and his administration's policies designed to make it more difficult to win visas to work in the United States are making the once-esteemed H-1B visa less desirable, the San Francisco Chronicle reports, worrying tech companies that depend on that labor.
Why it matters: H-1B advocates and employers argue that there are real skills gaps in the U.S. that make hiring foreign talent through programs like H-1B crucial for keeping Silicon Valley tech companies on the cutting edge.
The Justice Department filed a notice of compliance Friday evening explaining their interpretation of the recent court order forbidding the separation of migrant families, which they say allows Homeland Security to legally keep children in detention with their parents longer than 20 days, despite no change to the Flores Settlement.
Why it matters: This move creates a “Sophie’s choice” for migrant parents, former DOJ immigration lawyer Leon Fresco tells Axios — either they keep their kids in detention for an extended period of time, or allow them to be taken into the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services.
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