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Mick Mulvaney does not have the time to explain how long division works.

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During the 2016 campaign, Donald Trump's go-to tactic for attacking President Obama's economic record was to simply assert that the numbers were all fake. The unemployment rate? It was phony, a fiction, one of the biggest hoaxes in modern politics, Trump suggested. In reality, he told voters, the job market was a disaster.

On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the first jobs report covering President Trump's time in office. It was solidU.S. businesses added 235,000 workers to their payrolls. So, naturally, a reporter decided to ask press secretary Sean Spicer during his afternoon briefing that day whether, given his past statements, Trump thought this jobs report was accurate and a fair way to measure the economyyou know, whether it was still a sham.

Spicer was ready. I talked to the president prior to this, and he said to quote him very clearly, the press secretary said, grinning like a 12-year-old about to win a spelling bee. They may have been phony in the past, but its very real now.

The whole room laughed. Loudly. Then the press conference moved on. It was almost a tender moment. Except the entire White House press corps was chuckling at the president's habit of spreading conspiracy theories about his political opponentssometimes its wiretapping, more often its about unfriendly numbersand then reversing himself once convenient. Apparently, pathological dishonesty is now a winking joke. That's our Trump!

The gag took another soul-crushing turn on Sunday, when White House Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney sat down for an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper. Since the White House was now trumpeting the formerly phony jobs report, Tapper asked whether the Bureau of Labor Statistics had changed its methodology. What followed was an awkward, factually inaccurate attempt at evasion, in which Mulvaney insisted that, while he didn't want to bore the viewers with specifics, the Obama administration was definitely up to something fishy and the Trump administration was most definitely not.

Weve thought for a long timeI didthat the Obama administration was manipulating the numbers in terms of the number of people in the work force to make the unemployment rate, that percentage rate, look smaller than it actually was, Mulvaney said. And we used to tell people back home, the only thing you should really look at, number of jobs created. And as long as that number is above $250,000 [Note: He seems to have meant above 250,000 jobs], then the economy is doing extraordinarily well. And that was the number we hit last week.

Nothing in this garble was true, except perhaps for the fact that Mulvaney might believe his own nonsense. The economy did not add 250,000 jobs in February. More importantly, the Obama administration did not manipulate any percentagesthere are different ways to calculate unemployment and underemployment, some of which are broader than others. The Obama administration reported the same ones as past presidents. The Trump administration is reporting the same exact numbers as Obama, tallied in the same way. The figures haven't even changed much since Trump took officethe official unemployment rate is still 4.7 percent, like it was in December.

In his follow-up question, Tapper almost got Mulvaney to admit so much, before dropping the subject, seemingly out of exhaustion.

And that was it. Lame as his bit about the complexities of long division may have been, Mulvaney was allowed to end on the utterly baseless note that, somehow, the Trump administration was doing something differently, the specifics of which were just too dull for a television audience. And Tapper, typically one of the most aggressive interrogators on television, was content to leave it there as if this is, somehow, a B-level story.

It's not. The idea that Obama was lying about the state of the economy is a keystone in Trump's claim that he is actually making the job market great again. It's a core part of the the administration's narrative. And yet, even good reporters like Tapper barely seem to have the heart to press them on it. The rest have just decided to laugh it off.

Update, March 13, 3:50 p.m.

During Monday's press briefing, a reporter asked Spicer to elaborate on Mulvaney's comments about the unemployment rate. As usual, Spicer's response consisted of barely comprehensible verbal gymnastics. Here they are in full:

Spicer: I think he was clearly referring to Obamacare. [Note: No, he wasn't] With the number of people, but I would refer you back to him and his comments with respect to how he characterized that. I think he can discuss the precise nature of what he meant on that.

Reporter: Does the president think that the Obama administration had been manipulating the unemployment rate.

Spicer: I think you know what the presidents view is. Hes made it very clear in the past what his comments were on how those numbers were, were articulated in the past. I think theres a question between the total number of people that are employed. And the presidents comments in the past have reflected that his big concern was getting to the bottom of how many people are working in this country, and that the denominator, meaning that the percentage rate of the total number of people, is not the most accurate reflection of how many people are employed in this country. How many jobs were creating, how many people are getting back to work, how many companies are committing to hiring more people is a much more accurate assessment of where were heading as a country, where our employment is, where our economy is headed. But to look at a number and say we have 4.7 or 4.8 or 5.9 percent unemployment is not necessarily an accurate reflection of how many people are working, seeking work, or want to work, and if you know how they conduct those surveys, theres a lot of time when a lot of people, whether theyre older or younger or because of how long theyve been searching for work are not considered statistically viable anymore and theyre washed away. So I think how you look at the percentage of people working can sometimes be a manipulated number. The number of people that are added to the rolls every year, every month rather, is a much more accurate understanding of whats happening in the economy.

This is obfuscatory nonsense. One can argue about whether the headline unemployment rate, which Trump has criticized, tells us anything useful about the health of the economy. For what it's worth, I think there are better, more informative stats out there. But the administration has not accused Obama of emphasizing the wrong number. It has accused him of manipulating the numbers, which is a lie. The facts here are simple: The Department of Labor is publishing the same exact statistics it reported under the last administration, tallied the exact same way. But Trump and his underlings refuse to admit that, because it would undercut their message about the economy.

Still, it's good to see that the White House press corps didn't let this issue drop today. Again, it isn't something that should be chuckled away.

Read more:
The White House still insists Obama manipulated the jobs numbers.

Sean Hannity implied that the federal judge in Hawaii who put a hold on President Donald Trumps travel ban may have shared marijuana and a little blow with former President Barack Obama.

Further, he suggested U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson should recuse himself because of it.

This judge who issued the travel ban ruling is an Obama law school classmate, Hannity said on his radio show Thursday.Maybe he should have recused himself from the case. Just a maybe? Were they best friends in Hawaii? Were they part of the Choom Gang, smoking pot and hanging out and doing a little bit of weed and maybe even a little blow?

Media Matters, which posted audio of the comments, notes that right-wing media have been pushing a conspiracy theorythat Obama was involved in stopping Trumps travel ban.

Obama admitted to smoking marijuana in his youth in his book Dreams of My Father.

The Choom Gang is a reference to a nickname Obama and some of his pot-smoking friends in Hawaii called themselves, according to David Maraniss biography, Barack Obama: The Story.

There is no indication that Watson was part of it, not did Hannity indicate why that would be cause for recusal since Obama is not a party to the lawsuit over the travel ban.

Watson was nominated to the U.S. District Court in 2012 by Obama. The two both graduated from Harvard Law School in 1991 along with Judge Neil Gorsuch, Trumps Supreme Court nominee.

Link:
Sean Hannity Suggests Travel Ban Judge Did 'Weed' And 'Blow ...

White House press secretary Sean Spicer on March 16 said President Trump "stands by" allegations he made that President Barack Obama ordered a wiretap on him in 2016. Trump has provided no evidence for the claims. (Reuters)

White House press secretary Sean Spicersaid Thursday thatPresident Trump stands by his allegation that former president Barack Obama ordered wiretapping surveillance of Trump Tower last fall, despite statements from the leaders of congressional investigationsthat no evidence had been found to support the claim.

In a remarkably combative exchange with reporters at his daily news briefing, Spicer was asked whether Trump still believes Obama ordered the alleged surveillance effort.

He stands by it, Spicer said,going on to assail journalists for the way they have reported on the controversy.

Earlier Thursday, the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee said their investigation into the matter so far has turned up no evidence that the U.S. government hadconducted surveillance on Trump Tower in New York, either before or after the election on Nov. 8.

[Key senators say they have no evidence that Trump Tower was wiretapped]

Based on the information available to us, we see no indications that Trump Tower was the subject of surveillance by any element of the United States government either before or after Election Day 2016, read the statement by Sen.Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the committee chairman, and Sen. Mark R. Warner (Va.), the committee's ranking Democrat.

In a Fox News Channel interview on Wednesday, Trump acknowledged that he based his initial accusation on news reports that referred to wiretapping generally. Hesaidthat information would soon be revealed that could prove him right.

I think you're going to find some very interesting items coming to the forefront over the next two weeks, Trump told Fox host Tucker Carlson.

Spicer refused to say whether Trump was relying on classified information to base his claims, and pointed repeatedly to news articles and widespread, open source material.

The president said last night that there would be additional information coming forward, Spicer said. There are a ton of media reports out there that indicate that something was going on during the 2016 election.

He added that he believed the president would ultimately be vindicated.

Spicer spent nearly 10 minutes reading a litany of news stories, including from conservative reporters and the New York Times, that discuss reports of inquiries into the president's campaign aides and Russian officials. But it did not appear that any of the reports confirm that Trump Tower was wiretapped.

Asked whether the president has directed the Justice Department to provide information in support of his claim to the relevant congressional committees, Spicer said that he had not.

I think the appropriate process is to allow the House and Senate to do this so that it doesn't appear that we are interfering, Spicer said. We're allowing that process to play through.

At one point, Spicer quoted a report from Fox News alleging that Obama relied on British intelligence to gain access to transcripts of conversations involving Trump. Spicer would not say if the president had raised the allegation with Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain, a close ally of the United States.

All we're doing is literally reading off what other stations and people have reported, Spicer said. We're not casting judgment on that.

In response to the allegations, which were first made by Fox News analyst Andrew Napolitano this week, the British intelligence agency GCHQ responded flatly denying any such surveillance occurred.

"Recent allegations made by media commentator Judge Andrew Napolitano about GCHQ being asked to conduct 'wire tapping' against the then President Elect are nonsense," the agency said. "They are utterly ridiculous and should be ignored."

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Spicer says Trump 'stands by' unproven allegation that Obama ordered wiretapping of Trump Tower - Washington Post

Former President Barack Obama is in an exclusive Polynesian resort for the next month. No, really. This is true. He has arrived in the far South Seas for 30 days of languid palms, bright sunshine and sparking waters. Will he start writing his multimillion-dollar memoir, visit a nearby turtle sanctuary or kite surf? That remains to be seen, even as rumors percolate in the nations capital that Mr. Obama is planning a shadow presidency to counter President Trump and his administration. For now, though, it is time for an exclusive tropical retreat for the 44th president, who is traveling solo a fact that has sent the press looking for details and answers.

This week finds Obama spending the current leg of his retirement tour in beautiful French Polynesia. Obama reportedly landed in Tahiti, before traveling from the island to an even more exclusive locale: Marlon Brandos private resort at the Tetiaroa atoll, says Conde Nast Traveler, which has rated this gorgeous property as one of the most magnificent on the planet. It better be, with rentals starting around $2,100 to $11,000 a night. The accommodations at the eco-minded spot include private villas with luxury furnishings and baths; theres a treetop spa with waterfall, classic French cuisine and activities like lagoon exploration, biology tours and deep sea fishing.

It is quite something. Indeed, Brando discovered this exotic hideaway in 1961 while filming Mutiny on the Bounty, eventually buying the site six years later. Mr. Obama also is expected to visit nearby Bora Bora and other picturesque destinations during his stay.

No political meetings have been announced during Obamas stay. It is unknown if his daughters or wife, Michelle Obama, will join him on the island, reports Kelly McLaughlin, a Daily Mail correspondent who also wonders if Mr. Obama will get to work on his much-awaited memoirs now part of a $60 million deal for the former president and his spouse with Penguin Random House. Find the Brando Resort here

VOTERS TO GOP: OVERHAUL OBAMACARE WITH CARE

The public is often confused by coverage of the American Health Care act aka Trumpcare or Ryancare, depending on the day of the week or the mood of the news organization. As usual, much of the news media are opposed to whatever policies President Trump and his allies offer; conflicting or confusing coverage is a part of that bias. Meanwhile, a clear voter sentiment has emerged for all to consider.

Voters tend to agree that Obamacare is in big trouble but fear Republicans may go too far in trying to fix it, reports a new Rasmussen Reports survey of 1,000 likely voters. Nearly half (48 percent) agree with President Trumps recent statement that Obamacare is collapsing, and we must act decisively to protect all Americans, the pollster says.

But a nervous 43 percent disagree with that statement while 52 percent worry that changes to Obamacare may go too far.

A new Fox News poll had similar results, revealing that 54 percent of voters oppose the GOP health plan for assorted reasons. Two-thirds said it made too many changes in Obamacare, 21 percent said it didnt make enough changes, and 13 percent said they didnt know why they opposed the Republican solution.

HILLARY IN SCRANTON

The trajectory of former presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is always interesting but elusive. Assorted press reports indicate shes running for mayor of New York City in the fall. Press reports also indicate that shes not running for New York City mayor in the fall. There are revelations that Mrs. Clinton went to a Broadway show, or dined with a celebrity. Her rare tweets maybe one or two a week get ample press, as does her personal news, like future speaking engagements or a forthcoming book of her essays to be released this fall by a major publisher, along with a reissue of her 1995 bestseller It Takes a Village.

One thing we do know for sure is that Mrs. Clinton will be in Scranton, Pennsylvania, for a sell-out St. Patricks Day dinner organized by the Society of Irish Women, a group of dedicated Irish-American ladies. Mrs. Clinton was last in Scranton birthplace of her father, Hugh Rodham in August for a campaign stop, accompanied by then-Vice President Joseph R. Biden.

Will there be news, Trump-bashing, revelations? The hostesses of the dinner reveal nothing other than telling the local Scranton Times-Tribune that their first reaction once Mrs. Clinton agreed to appear at the event was, Oh, my God.

DAYS OF YORE

Our Constitution is to be celebrated not for being old but for being young.

Ronald Reagan, in his annual address to Congress on Jan. 27, 1987

FOXIFIED

This could be interesting: The spirited Fox News host Jesse Watters will sit down with President Trump for an interview to air Saturday at 8 p.m. EDT, set to cover pivotal subjects like the economy, tax reform, immigration policy and Trumpcare.

In the meantime, Fox News Channel bested all basic cable networks for the 10th consecutive week, according to Nielsen Media Research this week. Yes, that means Fox News outdid the likes of ESPN and HGTV. Additionally, Fox News programs made up 11 of the top 25 telecasts across the cable realm.

WEEKEND REAL ESTATE

For sale: Warren Buffets beach house, built in 1936 in Laguna Beach, California. Six bedrooms, seven baths, living and dining rooms, family rooms, interior patio; 3,588 square feet overlooking Emerald Bay, owned for the last 40 years by the Oracle of Omaha. Primarily white and marble interior, chefs kitchen, unique levels encompassing three stories, multiple fireplaces, oversize windows and window walls, recessed lighting and multiple skylights. Ocean-viewing deck, patio, balcony, pool, detached garage.

Priced at $11 million through VillaRealEstate.com; find the home here

POLL DU JOUR

61 percent of Americans feel more optimistic about their personal happiness; 88 percent of Republicans, 63 percent of independents and 39 percent of Democrats agree.

53 percent feel more optimistic about their family financial situation; 82 percent of Republicans, 61 percent of independents and 28 percent of Democrats agree.

51 percent say President Trump has done more to fulfill campaign promises than other presidents at this point; 84 percent of Republicans, 55 percent of independents and 23 percent of Democrats agree.

42 percent feel more optimistic about the direction of the country; 86 percent of Republicans, 40 percent of independents and 8 percent of Democrats agree.

40 percent think everything will be all right in the rest of the world; 51 percent of Republicans, 49 percent of independents and 28 percent of Democrats agree.

Source: A Fox News poll of 1,008 registered U.S. voters conducted March 12-14.

Churlish remarks, cheers, jeers to jharper@washingtontimes.com

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Obama in Paradise: He's in Tahiti for a month - Washington Times

Well, yes and no. The budget does boost spending for the Departments of Defense and Homeland Securityincluding $2.6 billion to build a border wall that Mexico was supposed to pay forwhile cutting funding by 28 percent for the Department of State. The proposal would eliminate programs such as the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the U.S. Institute for Peace. Assuming that this budget is enacted by Congress as writtenand there is scant chance of that happeningit would indeed represent a blow to soft power spending. But defense hawks are hardly content with its increases in hard power.

The top line defense number is impressive: $603 billion. And thats just the base budget; there is also $65 billion budgeted for the Overseas Contingency Operations fund used to support ongoing operations in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. But John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, believes that at least $640 billion is needed for the base budget to make up for the declining size and readiness of the U.S. armed forces. While Trumps defense budget is billed as a 10 percent increase from sequestration levels, it is actually only a 3 percent increase over President Obamas proposal. When this Trump defense budget was first unveiled, McCain complained, With a world on fire, America cannot secure peace through strength with just 3 percent more than President Obamas budget. We can and must do better.

McCains complaints have been supported by well-respected conservative analysts such as Tom Donnelly and Gary Schmitt of the American Enterprise Institute who have written about Trumps Fake Defense Buildup, complaining that Trump is coming nowhere close to funding the ambitious increases in force size he promised during the campaign.

In truth, its hard to know exactly what Trump is proposing to do because the budget blueprint that was released is so general; it contains only two pages of discussion of each government department. Thus the budget raises more questions than it answers.

When it comes to the Department of State and international aid programs, the Trump budget calls for a 28 percent slash. But it begins by saying what wont be cut: It wont cut funding for new embassy construction and increased security. It wont cut $3.1 billion in aid to Israel. It maintains funding for President Bushs Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

So what gets cut? It reduces U.S. contributions to the United Nations and the World Bank, especially to the UNs climate-change initiatives. It reduces funding for States cultural exchange programs although it does maintain the Fulbright Scholars program. But mostly the budget engages in the kind of slight-of-hand that denizens of the Washington swamp have always favored. The budget claims, for example, that it refocuses economic and development assistance to countries of greatest strategic importance to the U.S. and ensures the effectiveness of U.S. taxpayer investments by rightsizing funding across countries and sectors. Whatever that means.

This simply looks as if the Trump White House is using foreign aid as a convenient cut to offset some of the increased Pentagon spending, even though there isnt nearly enough money in foreign aid to make up for even the modest defense budget increases that Trump is calling for. All foreign assistance, after all, amounts to $42.4 billion, which sounds like a lot but is only 1 percent of the federal budget.

Its easy to say in the abstract that you will cut foreign aid, but which countries specifically is Trump going to right-size? He already said there will be no cuts for Israel. Is he going to cut Afghanistan, thereby undermining its ability to fight the Taliban? Cut Egypt, thereby undermining its capacity to fight ISIS and other Islamic extremists, and to uphold a peace deal with Israel? Cut Iraq and Jordan and thereby undermine their ability to fight ISIS? Cut Pakistan and undermine the stability of a nuclear-armed state? Cut Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia and other African states that are on the frontlines fighting against groups such as Boko Haram and al-Shabaab?

In fact, while there is a lot of waste in foreign aid spending, the major recipients are clearly of major strategic importance to the United States, and U.S. assistance does play a significant role in allowing them to fight our mutual enemies, so we dont have to put U.S. troops on the frontlines. As for the State Department, reviled as it often is, is also has a major role to play in expanding American power, which is why 120 retired generals and admirals released a letter calling for full funding for the State Department and foreign aid.

There is little sense that anyone in the Trump administration did much hard thinking about these difficult issues before producing this budget. Indeed its hard to know who could even tackle such an assignment given the dearth of any political appointees at the Departments of State and Defense below the cabinet level and the lack, before that, of any serious policy apparatus on the campaign.

Thus the budget appears to be nothing more than a representation, in numerical form, of the very vaguely stated preferences of a president who likes military power but has contempt for foreign-assistance programs. There has been too little thought given to what it will actually take to increase U.S. military power, what that power should be used for, and how the diplomatic and foreign aid initiatives of the U.S. government can support that grand strategy. The Trump budget gives the appearance of coming up with budget numbers out of more or less thin air, without doing the kind of hard, bottom-up analysis that is actually necessary to figure out how to use spending most effectively.

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The Obama 'Resistance' Blew It - Commentary Magazine