The Morning Briefing: Notre Dame, Mueller Report and Much, Much More

Good Tuesday morning.

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

The president has lunch with the vice president
President Trump participates in the ceremonial swearing-in of the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency

Notre Dame fire

A large part of the Notre Dame cathedral was devastated by a fire yesterday as the world watched in horror. Even this Jewish girl was brought to tears.

Junior Interior Minister Laurent Nunez announced that architects and other experts would meet at the cathedral early Tuesday “to determine if the structure is stable and if the firefighters can go inside to continue their work.”

Officials consider the fire an accident, possibly as a result of restoration work taking place at the global architectural treasure, but that news has done nothing to ease the national mourning.

People have already stepped up and donated money to rebuild the magnificent building.

François-Henri Pinault — chairman and CEO of Kering, the French-based luxury group behind Gucci, Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent and other world-renowned brands — has pledged over $110 million towards the rebuilding of the Notre Dame cathedral.

“We will rebuild Notre Dame because it is what the French expect,” Emmanuel Macron said, calling it “the epicenter” of their lives. “It is what our history deserves,” he added. “It is, in the deepest sense, our destiny.”

Shep Smith shuts down French commentator suggesting Notre Dame fire wasn’t an accident

The Mueller report is coming

Yesterday it was announced that the latest political Rorschach test will be released on Thursday, so enjoy your Passover and Easter. Attorney General William Barr sent a letter announcing that the Mueller report found there was no conspiracy, collusion or cooperation between the Trump campaign and RUSSIA. Barr along with Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein determined there was no obstruction of justice after Mueller said his team did not determine one way or the other if President Trump obstructed justice. As Barr pointed out in his congressional testimony last week, the job of a prosecutor is binary: bring charges or don’t bring charges. Mueller did not bring charges, so game over.

It doesn’t matter what Barr wrote or what Mueller’s bottom line is, the Democrats and the media are so invested in getting Trump, the response to the Mueller report will be as if he were found guilty.

Schiff, Nunes sent joint request for Mueller briefing

I am so sick of talking about AOC and her posse

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is desperately trying to stop her party from being branded as lunatic fringe mob because she has some rogue ladies that just won’t stop trying to out woke each other.

“When we won this election, it wasn’t in districts like mine or Alexandria’s,” Pelosi said. “[S]he’s a wonderful member of Congress as I think all of our colleagues will attest. But those are districts that are solidly Democratic.”

To drive the point home she picked up a water glass next to her and said: “This glass of water would win with a ‘D’ next to its name in those districts.”

Pelosi made her comments overseas while speaking at the London School of Economics.

Black Caucus warns Trump is putting Omar’s life at risk

Dems rally behind Omar as Trump escalates attacks

Ocasio-Cortez says cutting military aid to Israel is ‘on the table,’ slams Netanyahu as a ‘Trump-like figure’

AOC quits Facebook, doubles-down on opposition to Amazon

Trump blasts Pelosi for defending Ilhan Omar

Sanders’ clash with liberal think tank highlights divides in Democratic Party

Center for American Progress CEO Throws ThinkProgress Under Bus After Sanders Criticism

Who is the most discriminated against?

A new survey from Pew reveals public opinion about discrimination levels against minority groups. The Pew headline reads: “Sharp Rise in the Share of Americans Saying Jews Face Discrimination.”

CNN ran the Pew story but had a little different interest. Here’s their headline: “More Americans think Muslims face discrimination than any other group; Jews see sharp rise.”

The survey shows that the number of people who say Jews face discrimination has markedly increased from 2016 to 2019, moving from 44% to 64%. The number of people who say Muslims face discrimination has stayed the same around 82%, so why lead with that? With tracking surveys, the most important element is change over time.

Another group facing a jump in the number of people saying they face discrimination? Men. In 2016 there wasn’t enough data to even register on a graph but in 2019 that number skyrocketed to 50%. How about that?

Historical picture of the day: