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From The Reporter’s Notebook
A National Rifle Association employee accidentally shot himself when his pistol discharged during a firearms training, police told NBC News 4. The unnamed 46-year-old man sustained the injury while putting his gun in his holster, according to NBC News 4 and suffered a minor injury to his “lower body,” TPM’s Kristin Salaky wrote.
Agree or Disagree?
Josh Marshall: “Let’s not be naive. Personal political interest is always in tension with ideology for every politician. But there is something qualitatively different here. What is I think being accurately described is an understanding of the ‘interests of the president’ which is entirely separate not only from ‘ideology’ but what we’d likely consider even the broadest sort of political viewpoint and belief. The ‘interests of the president’ here is being popular, having strong poll numbers, ‘winning’ as Trump himself might put it. Bannon is putting ‘ideology’ ahead of that.“
BUZZING: Today in the Hive
From a TPM Prime member: “Russia may have seen this as an opportunity to take the measure of Trump as Commander in Chief. Would he stick to his old rhetoric, that no retaliatory bombing should occur? Would he launch a more significant action and, if so, would it be largely symbolic or something more aggressive? Would Trump reveal a larger plan for the region, or the lack of a plan for either the conflict or the region? Would the U.S. act while taking care to avoid harm to Russian forces? If Putin gave the green light for the gas attack in order to assess Trump, he got a lot of information about what he can expect from Trump. The cost? If there ever is a negotiated end to the conflict, Assad has to go… but is there any reason Russia would care about keeping Assad in power in such a circumstance? It seems to me that their long-term goals would be better advanced by replacing him with somebody who is less likely to make the same sort of mistakes that led his nation into this civil war. Had Trump not acted, he would have been criticised as weak, even from within his own party. As it stands, even with the strike, he’s not exactly striking fear into the hearts of the world’s tyrants. The message to North Korea would seem to be that, despite the strong words and suggestion of possible military action, the U.S. is not likely to take any action that poses a significant risk to either U.S. forces or to civilians.”
Related: McMaster: There ‘Has To Be Significant Change In The Nature Of’ Assad Regime
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