Roll over rules to build the wall, Trump orders

Push the boundaries

The clock is ticking and the border wall hasn't been going up fast enough for Donald Trump. Having repeatedly promised 500 more miles by Election Day 2020, Trump has directed officials to blow through any legal obstacles that stand in the way, The Washington Post reported.

The president has told them to fast-track construction contracts, brushing aside concerns about vetting who gets the awards, and to disregard environmental rules. Where private property along the border must be acquired, he has said officials should move aggressively to "take the land."

He even told worried subordinates that he will pardon them of any potential wrongdoing should they have to break laws to get the barriers built quickly, according to current and former officials involved with the project who spoke to the Post. Asked for comment, a White House official said Trump was joking about that. After the story was published, Trump tweeted an accusation that the Post "made up" that part of it.

What's no joke is that the president voiced worries that a failure to deliver on the signature promise of the 2016 campaign would be an embarrassing defeat and a letdown to his supporters. With the next election 14 months away, only about 60 miles of “replacement” barrier has been erected, all of it in areas that previously had barricades in some form.

Trump returned to the subject on Twitter Wednesday afternoon. "The Wall is going up very fast despite total Obstruction by Democrats in Congress, and elsewhere!" he said.

What Mattis couldn't defend

Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis wrote in The Wall Street Journal that he quit last year because Trump did not see the value of America's allies the way his Pentagon chief did.

"Nations with allies thrive, and those without them wither. Alone, America cannot protect our people and our economy," Mattis wrote. "When my concrete solutions and strategic advice, especially keeping faith with our allies, no longer resonated, it was time to resign," he said.

The retired general who served for four decades in the Marines, said that now, "What concerns me most as a military man is not our external adversaries; it is our internal divisiveness."

Janison: Saved by the fail

Trump's best route out of the whopping conflict of interest he would create by bringing next year's G-7 summit to his Doral golf resort near Miami might be to let a sensible adviser or two talk him out of the idea, writes Newsday's Dan Janison.

His previous failures to get his plans carried out produced the happy side effect of stemming potential corruption, such as when then-White House counsel Don McGahn put up blocking maneuvers for Trump's plan to fire special counsel Robert Mueller, or when the efforts to make a deal for a Trump Tower in Moscow never got off the ground.

Winnowed from 2020: Gillibrand

New York's Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand dropped out of the Democratic 2020 presidential race Wednesday after failing to qualify for the third Democratic debate in September, reports Newsday's Emily Ngo.

"It's important to know when it's not your time," said Gillibrand, who tried to build support on her role as a champion of women's rights but couldn't reach the 1 percent mark in the latest polls. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio also looked unlikely to get a spot on the debate stage.

A gracias gap

Trump declared a national emergency for Puerto Rico on Tuesday night to get federal disaster relief agencies moving in advance of Hurricane Dorian. On Wednesday, he was back to complaining about a lack of gratitude for his efforts after Hurricane Maria.

"FEMA and all others are ready, and will do a great job," Trump tweeted. "When they do, let them know it, and give them a big Thank You — Not like last time." He returned to the subject later, calling Puerto Rico "one of the most corrupt places on earth" and concluding, "by the way, I’m the best thing that’s ever happened to Puerto Rico!"

Trump hounds Fox

The president is making noises again about breaking up with Fox News and seeing other networks. He was set off this time over an interview on the network with a Democratic National Committee spokeswoman and still upset that Fox hired former Democratic operative Donna Brazile as a commentator.

"HOPELESS & CLUELESS! They should go all the way LEFT and I will still find a way to Win — That's what I do, Win. Too bad!" Trump said during a three-part tweetstorm. He continued that he and his followers "have to start looking for a new News Outlet. Fox isn’t working for us anymore."

Fox political analyst Brit Hume tweeted back: "Fox News isn’t supposed to work for you."

What else is happening:

• Trump's Environmental Protection Agency is set to announce Thursday that it will curb the regulation of powerful methane emissions — another  unusual case where even affected industries don't support the new laxity.
• Deutsche Bank revealed in a New York court filing that there are tax returns among its records that are being sought in a House probe of Trump. Unclear is whether they are Trump's returns.
• Two new polls of the Democrats' 2020 race produced similar standings. Joe Biden led with 32 percent in both the Quinnipiac and USA TODAY/Suffolk University surveys, followed by Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, both in the teens. Rounding out the Top Five were Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg in the 5 percent to 7 percent range.
• Quinnipiac also looked at matchups between Trump and the top five Democrats, and found the president behind each of them by at least 9 points: Biden led Trump 54 percent-38 percent; Sanders bested Trump 53 percent-39 percent; Warren, 52 percent-40 percent; Harris, 51 percent-40 percent; and Buttigieg, 49 percent-40 percent.
• Sanders put up his fists and took a few swings at a speed bag. That bag swung back and landed a solid shot to Sanders' head. A viral video was the result.
• Trump's press secretary Stephanie Grisham has yet to hold a briefing but told a Washington Post interviewer that it's wrong to say Trump tells a lot of lies. “I don’t think they’re lies. ... I think the president communicates in a way that some people, especially the media, aren’t necessarily comfortable with," she said.