The Morning Briefing: Sh!thole-gate Continues, Trump's False Missile Alarm and Much, Much More

Good MLK Day Morning.

Here is what’s on the president’s agenda today:

The president will return to Washington D.C. from West Palm Beach, Florida.

DACA/Sh!thole gate continues, witnesses step forward to deny Durbin’s account

Last week the media cycle continued with its usual Trump-hysteria when Democrat Senator Dick Durbin trashed the DACA negotiations by leaking that President Trump described certain sh!thole countries as sh!thole countries. You see, the Democrats don’t want a DACA deal because the only political principles they have are based on dividing up the country and turning people against each other. That’s it. If Trump cuts a DACA deal, it’s harder to campaign on RACISM, their central political principle, in 2018.

Several meeting attendees have stepped forward to say that Trump did not use the word “sh!thole” as Durbin reported. Senators David Purdue, Tom Cotton, and DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen have come forward with a different account of the meeting.

However, Erick Erickson reports that Trump called his friends to brag about using the word “sh!thole.”

https://twitter.com/EWErickson/status/952569551450976257

My position on sh!ithole-gate is this: It’s not appropriate for the president of the United States use this kind of language. Now, this was a private meeting and perhaps Trump did not think the Democrats would sabotage the DACA negotiations and, in this regard, Trump is terribly naive. There will be no good faith discussions on any policy because the policy of the Democrats is that Trump must FAIL, even at the expense of the Democrat constituencies they claim to be fighting so hard for. That is their position and I hope the president gets hip to this soon. Instead, the conversation we are having is not about policy but rather that Trump is a RACIST. Which is, coincidentally, the sole platform held by his political enemies. Trump denies he’s RACIST. Rand has his back.

Trump says DACA is probably dead. Funny people project “sh!thole” onto Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C.

💩💩💩 Sh*thole Projection on Trump Hotel #Resist 💩💩💩 pic.twitter.com/5Y8xH54J5K

— robin bell (@bellvisuals) January 14, 2018

Stephen Miller is getting some blame for organizing the “sh!thole” meeting. Look for more demonization of Miller to come.

“Accidental” missile alert sends media/celebrities into a tizzy

On Saturday, a state employee “accidentally” sent out an alert, warning citizens of an imminent missile attack. People were understandably panicked but it turns out that the alert was a false alarm. It took an astonishing 38 minutes to inform the public there was no impending attack. I’m skeptical this was an accident; I would hope the U.S. missile alarm system has better safeguards in place so we don’t have these kinds of accidents. The false alarm resulted in a flurry of ridiculous reactions. One popular response was to blame President Trump.

Paid clown Jim Carrey shared some deep thoughts on Twitter.

I woke up this morning in Hawaii with ten minutes to live. It was a false alarm, but a real psychic warning. If we allow this one-man Gomorrah and his corrupt Republican congress to continue alienating the world we are headed for suffering beyond all imagination. ;^ pic.twitter.com/Kwca91IIy2

— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) January 13, 2018

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) wants more negotiations with lunatic Kim Jung Un. Hey, Tusli, you can’t negotiate with someone who is insane. He wants a nuclear arsenal and we don’t want him to have a nuclear arsenal. What’s to negotiate? Negotiation got us where we are today.

“This threat of nuclear war, nuclear attack is not a game,” she said, adding that Trump should “absolutely and immediately” be speaking to Kim.

“The people of Hawaii are paying the price now for decades of failed leadership in this country, of failure to directly negotiate, to prevent us from getting to this point where we’re dealing with this threat today,” she said.

President Trump is pleased that Hawaii is taking responsibility for accident alert. The governor of Hawaii has apologized for the false alarm. The employee responsible for the butt-dial missile alert has been reassigned.

Your daily WTFs

Doctor Avoids Jail After Burning Initials onto Patients’ Livers

Teens are eating laundry detergent pods in hazardous internet challenge

[Alleged] sexual harassment update

Aziz Ansari responds to woman’s claim of sexual misconduct

Katie Couric on Matt Lauer allegations: I had no idea

Historical picture of the day