👓 Why Manafort and Cohen Thought They’d Get Away With It | ProPublica

Read Why Manafort and Cohen Thought They’d Get Away With It (ProPublica)
It takes a special counsel to actually catch white-collar criminals.

👓 Ex-Trump World Tower doorman releases ‘catch-and-kill’ contract about alleged Trump affair | CNN

Read EXCLUSIVE: ex-Trump World Tower doorman's "catch-and-kill" contract released (CNN)
A former Trump World Tower doorman who says he has knowledge of an alleged affair President Donald Trump had with an ex-housekeeper, which resulted in a child, is now able to talk about a contract he entered with American Media Inc. that had prohibited him from discussing the matter with anyone, according to his attorney.

👓 Analysis | By a 3-to-1 margin, Trump supporters embrace his personality over his policies | Washington Post

Read Analysis | By a 3-to-1 margin, Trump supporters embrace his personality over his policies by Philip Bump (Washington Post)
About as many supporters like his approach to the economy as his combativeness.

👓 Trump’s company approved $420,000 in payments to Cohen, relying on ‘sham’ invoices, prosecutors say | Washington Post

Read Trump’s company approved $420,000 in payments to Cohen, relying on ‘sham’ invoices, prosecutors say by Carol D. Leonnig, Michelle Ye Hee Lee (Washington Post)
President Trump’s real estate company authorized paying $420,000 to lawyer Michael Cohen in his effort to silence women during the presidential campaign and then relied on “sham” invoices from Cohen that concealed the nature of the payments, according to legal filings released Tuesday. The payments began flowing in February 2017, soon after Trump took office, when Cohen approached Trump Organization executives seeking to be reimbursed for “election-related” expenses, prosecutors said.

👓 What Michael Cohen’s Guilty Plea Means for Trump | The Atlantic

Read What Michael Cohen’s Guilty Plea Means for Trump by David A. Graham (The Atlantic)
The president’s former fixer on Tuesday said he broke campaign laws at Trump’s behest, paying off two women who alleged extramarital affairs.

👓 Blind Confidence Couldn’t Save Paul Manafort | The Atlantic

Read Blind Confidence Couldn’t Save Paul Manafort (The Atlantic)
President Trump's former campaign chairman was found guilty on eight counts of fraud and financial crimes. But it’s not too late for him to cut a deal.
I initially caught the news about this as an interruption while a soap opera was on after lunch. It reminded me of summers with my mom watching television and interruptions for news about the Reagan administration, Oliver North, and even Clarence Thomas hearings. Oh the nostalgia…

It’s incredibly rare that I’ve randomly got soaps on the television, and I had even contemplated the nostalgia before the news broke. It’s almost as if the universe were listening to my brain.

👓 Trump’s Strange Tweet About Joseph McCarthy | Politico

Read Trump’s Strange Tweet About Joseph McCarthy (POLITICO Magazine)
People who have actually studied the disgraced Wisconsin senator describe a man who bears similarities to some of the president’s most notable attributes.
I had previous read about Trump’s reliance on Roy Cohn, but somehow had never drawn the historical line from Cohn to Joseph McCarthy. This piece not only draws the parallel very clearly, but indicates a lot of similarities between Trump and McCarthy.

Sadly, we’re all being doomed to repeat history here.

👓 Let’s Hope There Is No Tape of Trump Using the N-Word | Weekly Standard

Read Let’s Hope There Is No Tape of Trump Using the N-Word by Jonathan V. LastJonathan V. Last (The Weekly Standard)
But if there is …
His track record is terrifically clear, I have no more hope for him, or anyone who can’t bring themselves to speak up against him.

👓 Trump at a precarious moment in his presidency: Privately brooding and publicly roaring | Washington Post

Read Trump at a precarious moment in his presidency: Privately brooding and publicly roaring by Philip Rucker, Robert Costa, and Ashley Parker (Washington Post)

In private, President Trump spent much of the past week brooding, as he often does. He has been anxious about the Russia ­investigation’s widening fallout, with his former campaign chairman standing trial. And he has fretted that he is failing to accrue enough political credit for what he claims as triumphs.

At rare moments of introspection for the famously self-centered president, Trump has also expressed to confidants lingering unease about how some in his orbit — including his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. — are ensnared in the Russia probe, in his assessment simply because of their ­connection to him.

👓 An inside look at how Trump’s infamous jobs day tweet roiled some government economists | Quartz

Read An inside look at how Trump’s infamous jobs day tweet roiled some government economists (Quartz)
The email subject lines run the gamut: "Interesting," "In case you didn't see this," "Holy moley," "Breach by POTUS," "Is it OK for us now too?"

📺 The Daily Show with Trevor Noah – July 23, 2018 | Comedy Central

Watched The Daily Show with Trevor Noah - Extended - July 23, 2018 - Tip "T.I." Harris from Comedy Central
President Trump tweets an all-caps threat to Iran's president, Roy Wood Jr. and Ronny Chieng react to bizarre baseball news, and Tip "T.I." Harris talks "The Grand Hustle."

👓 Why I Needed to Pull Back From Twitter | Maggie Haberman

Read Why I Needed to Pull Back From Twitter by Maggie Haberman (nytimes.com)
The viciousness, toxic partisan anger and intellectual dishonesty are at all-time highs.

👓 I'm Bill Browder. Putin Made a Big Mistake When Trying to Get Access to Me Through Trump | Time

Read I'm Bill Browder. Putin Made a Big Mistake When Trying to Get Access to Me Through Trump (Time)
Even though the U.S. President called it "an incredible offer"

👓 Trump Putin summit: John McCain and Republicans attack Donald Trump for trusting Putin, ignoring FBI | Quartz

Read “Abased before a tyrant.” Read John McCain’s scorching review of Trump’s meeting with Putin (Quartz)
"Our president failed to defend all that makes us who we are—a republic of free people dedicated to the cause of liberty at home and abroad."