Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Sanctions: “The Trump administration is hitting Russia with new sanctions punishing President Vladimir Putin’s government for using a chemical weapon against an ex-spy in Britain, U.S. officials told NBC News Wednesday.”
* Trade war: “China struck back Wednesday at the U.S. with $16 billion in retaliatory tariffs, exactly matching President Donald Trump’s latest escalation in the ongoing international trade war. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce declared a 25 percent levy on certain U.S. goods, including coal, crude oil, automobiles, motorcycles and scrap metal.”
* The deterrent didn’t work: “The number of migrant families taken into custody along the U.S. border with Mexico remained nearly unchanged from June to July, according to government data released Wednesday, an indication the Trump administration’s controversial move to separate thousands of parents and children did little to deter others from attempting the journey.”
* So I guess this story is about to get weird: “Multiple sources with direct knowledge of the situation tell The Daily Beast that Omarosa Manigault-Newman, the infamous former Apprentice star who followed Trump to the White House, secretly recorded conversations with the president—conversations she has since leveraged while shopping her forthcoming “tell-all” book, bluntly titled UNHINGED.”
* California “went on the offensive Tuesday against the Trump administration’s plan to weaken fuel-efficiency rules for cars, laying out a scathing rebuttal that the state’s clean-air regulator said would shape the battle with Washington in the coming months and years.” * The FCC claimed its site was hacked several months ago. It wasn’t: “Instead, investigators concluded that the comment system was probably unable to withstand the influx of comments that stemmed from John Oliver’s ‘Last Week Tonight’ segment on net neutrality, in which the comedian urged viewers to take to the FCC’s website to express their opposition to the repeal.” * Winston Churchill had plenty to say about fascists. There’s no reason for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to peddle made-up quotes online as if they were real. Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past." Recommended
