The President cancels secret negotiations with the Taliban in between tweeting cat videos, the House investigates whether the Defense Department has been propping up Trump’s businesses, and Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders start to pull away from the pack. Then Ady Barkan talks to Jon F. about his new video series on health care and his new memoir, Eyes to the Wind, which you can get at beaherofund.com.

Show notes:

Sharpie-gate

• Slate: “Trump Tweets Bizarre Cat Video Apparently Mocking CNN for Sharpiegate Coverage”
• Time: “NOAA Disputes Its Own Experts, Siding With President Trump Over Hurricane Dorian and Alabama. Here’s a Full Timeline of the Controversy”
• Politico: “Trump says two Washington Post reporters shouldn’t be allowed at the White House”
• Politico: “Trump drags his Alabama hurricane claims into 6th day”
• Politico: “Trump campaign is selling branded markers after Sharpie-gate
• CNN: “Washington Post: Trump was the one who altered Dorian trajectory map with Sharpie”
• Vox: “The incredibly absurd Trump/CNN SharpieGate feud, explained”
• Washington Post: “‘What I said was accurate!’: Trump stays fixated on his Alabama error as hurricane pounds the Carolinas”
• Washington Post: “President Trump showed a doctored hurricane chart. Was it to cover up for ‘Alabama’ Twitter flub?”
• Politico: “Was Trump really wrong about Hurricane Dorian’s threat to Alabama?”
• USA Today: “Trump defends golf during Hurricane Dorian preparations in attack on London Mayor Sadiq Khan”
• Yahoo: “Trump, US media just can’t let go of ‘Sharpie-gate’”
• Washington Post: “Why President Trump’s Sharpied weather map was likely a crime — and should be”
• Real Clear Politics: “Pete Buttigieg on #SharpieGate: “I’m Really Worried About” And “Pity” Trump, This Is “Literally Pathetic””
• Washington Post: “Trump warned Alabama about Dorian. So we sent someone to cover the ‘hurricane.’”
• Forbes: “Alabama’s NWS Had A Perfect Response To Trump’s Dorian Tweet”
• The New Yorker: ““Sharpiegate” and Donald Trump’s Perpetual Cone of Uncertainty”
• Washington Post: “Trump’s war on reality enters bizarre new terrain”
• HuffPo: “Ex-NOAA Official Calls Support For Trump’s Alabama Flub Agency’s ‘Darkest Day’”
• Washington Post: “NOAA staff warned in Sept. 1 directive against contradicting Trump”
• New York Times: “A Presidential Storm Leaves Forecasters Rebuked”
• Washington Post: “NOAA backs Trump on Alabama hurricane forecast, rebukes Weather Service for accurately contradicting him”
• Politico: “Air Force crew made an odd stop on a routine trip: Trump’s Scottish resort”
• The Guardian: “Scottish government criticised over US military use of airport”
• CNN: “Air Force acknowledges crew stayed at Trump resort during refueling but says it was ‘not unusual’”
• New York Times: “Checking In at Trump Hotels, for Kinship (and Maybe Some Sway)”
• New York Times: “Why Has Trump’s Exceptional Corruption Gone Unchecked?”
• USA Today: “G-7 at Trump’s Doral resort? The original sin of this presidency is failure to divest.”
• NBC News: “Here’s how Trump could escape ’emoluments’ claims that he’s profiting as president”
• New York Times: “Democrats Plan Vote to Formalize Procedures for Impeachment Investigation”
• New York Times: “Democrats to Broaden Impeachment Inquiry Into Trump to Corruption Accusations”
• CBS: “House Judiciary Committee to vote on defining impeachment inquiry”
• Politico: “House Judiciary panel preparing vote to define Trump impeachment probe”
• Media Matters: “Sunday shows mostly ignore Trump’s Turnberry corruption”
• CNN: “Democrats widen impeachment probe as they confront roadblocks”
• The Nation: “‘I Think We Need to Just Impeach the Guy’”
• New York Times: “Democrats to Broaden Impeachment Inquiry Into Trump to Corruption Accusations”
• New York Magazine: “Eric Trump Encounters Journalism, Is Confused”

The Taliban at Camp David

• NYT: Trump Says He’s Called Off Negotiations With Taliban After Afghanistan
• AP: AP Explains: How Trump upended US-Taliban peace talks
• WaPo: Collapse of Afghanistan peace talks spotlights internal Trump administration divisions
• WaPo: Pompeo defends Trump’s decision to invite Taliban to talks at Camp David
• Politico: Pompeo: Taliban must behave
• NYT: Taliban Failed to Live Up to ‘Commitments’ in Peace Talks, Pompeo Says
• Axios: Pompeo defends Trump inviting Taliban to Camp David for peace talks
• WaPo: Trump canceled his secret meeting with the Taliban. The negotiations were in trouble anyway. – Analysis
• Politico: No deal: Trump’s skills face new questions after scuttling of Afghan talks
• Vox: Trump cancels an imminent US-Taliban peace deal over a deadly
• LA Times: Trump’s planned Camp David retreat with the Taliban draws flak from all sides
• Reuters: More Americans will die after Trump abruptly ends Afghan talks, Taliban say
• NYT: Taliban Talks Hit a Wall Over Deeper Disagreements, Officials
• WaPo: Afghans welcome Trump’s cancellation of Taliban peace talks
• Al Jazeera: Trump cancels Taliban talks: What does it mean for Afghanistan?
• WaPo: A young Afghan pledged to better his country. Then he was shot dead.
• Politico: Can Jared’s millennial ‘mini-me’ bring peace to the Middle East?
• NY Mag: Trump Somehow Replaces Unqualified Mideast Envoy With Even Less Qualified One
• Business Insider: Avi Berkowitz was a White House administrative aide 2 years ago. Now he’s taking on the Middle East peace process
• From 2017 – Business Insider – Jared Kushner’s 28-year-old protégé is his right-hand man in the White House
• Vanity Fair: Trump’s New Mideast Point Man Is Jared Kushner’s Former Coffee Boy Avi Berkowitz
• Politico Magazine: What Henry Kissinger Can Teach John Bolton About Keeping the President Happy
• Politico: ‘Tequila-drinking Navy SEAL’ in the running to oversee elite troops
• WaPo: Lindsey Graham and far-right leader Geert Wilders were photographed smiling together

2020

• WaPo: Joe Biden ahead in Democratic race, with Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren filling out the top tier
• Full WaPo / ABC Poll Results
• CBS News: Elizabeth Warren rises as Joe Biden clings to delegate
• Politico: Top trio far ahead in 2020 Democratic poll
• NYT: Elizabeth Warren Stands Out at New Hampshire Democratic Party Convention
• CNN: Joe Biden still bests fellow Democrats on electability, polls show
• WaPo: Joe Biden, Gary Hart and the perils of being atop the polls
• Politico: We asked 100 New Hampshire insiders about the Democratic field. Here’s who they favor.
• WaPo: Warren, Sanders draw enthusiastic responses as candidates make their cases at New Hampshire Democratic Party convention
• FiveThirtyEight: Why Warren Can’t Count On A ‘Women’s Vote’
• WaPo: Biden and Warren, longtime frenemies, will finally meet in a debate chasing the biggest prize of all
• WaPo: How Joe Biden attracts both black voters and racially ‘resentful’ voters
• Politico: Top Biden backer warns he’s at risk of losing New Hampshire
• Politico: ‘I don’t see any path for Biden to win the nomination without South Carolina’
• AP: Analysis: Black votes will define electability for Democrats
• AP: Biden in lead, but does campaign have enthusiasm to keep it?
• Mother Jones: Trump to Ukraine: No Aid Unless You Smear Joe Biden
• NYT: Biden Wants to Work With ‘the Other Side.’ This Supreme Court Battle Explains Why.
• The Intercept: Joe Biden Is Proud of His Record on Iraq, but His Plan to Segregate It Would Have Unleashed Chaos
• HuffPo: Bernie Sanders Pursues Joe Biden Voters As Primary Field Narrows
• WSJ: Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren Vie for Supremacy in New Hampshire
• The Guardian: How Warren surged past Sanders – and how he fought back
• CNN: Biden remains dominant over Dems nationwide, but early state poll shows stiff competition
• The Week: Why Bernie is stalled
• NYT: Candidates Are Jockeying for Union Endorsements. Bernie Sanders Just Got One.
• Politico: Biden and Bernie the only Democrats to beat Trump in new poll
• The Hill: Polls suggest Sanders may be underestimated
• NYT: Why Bernie Sanders Stood Out at the Iowa State Fair
• NYT: The One-Two Punch That Second-Tier Democrats Are Counting On
• Politico: Buttigieg launches TV ad campaign in Iowa
• Daily Beast: Mayor Pete Buttigieg: I Can ‘Bring Americans Together’—Unlike Warren, Sanders – Mayor Pete Buttigieg previewed his debate strategy on ‘The Late Show’ with Stephen Colbert.
• New Yorker: A Fresh, Well-Funded Start for Pete Buttigieg in Iowa
• WaPo: With time ebbing, trailing candidates search for a presidential message
• WaPo: The Trailer: 16 candidates in search of an upset
• WSJ: Kamala Harris’s Team Huddles to Plot Path Forward
• WaPo: Harris apologizes after seeming to agree that Trump’s policies are ‘mentally retarded’
• Politico: Can the F-Bomb Save Beto?
• WaPo: Democrats try to curse their way to voters’ attention
• WaPo: Tucker Carlson and Bill de Blasio spent 26 minutes talking past each other on Fox News
• NYT: Tom Steyer Qualifies for October Debates, Bringing Field to 11
• Axios: Scoop: Howard Schultz to end presidential campaign
• CNN: Howard Schultz drops plans to run as independent candidate in 2020
• NYT: Howard Schultz, Former Starbucks Chief, Won’t Run for President in 2020
• FiveThirtyEight: How Much Trouble Could Mark Sanford Cause Trump In The 2020 GOP Primary?
• The Atlantic: Texas Is Changing—Quickly
• WaPo: Trump and his family are ‘a dynasty that will last for decades,’ campaign manager says
• WaPo: Why Democratic ideas will dominate the 2020 campaign