On Friday, Dana Milbank of the Washington Post brutally mocked National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre in a column for demanding extra security for himself in a charged political atmosphere.

“After two horrific mass shootings, we come together as a nation to confront an urgent question: How are we going to keep Wayne LaPierre safe?” wrote Milbank. “The longtime head of the National Rifle Association, it turns out, is worried sick about his personal safety in this gun culture.”

Milbank noted the recent reports that the NRA considered buying a $6 million mansion in Dallas for LaPierre, who considered his Virginia home too easy for potential attackers to find.

“Some will see hypocrisy in LaPierre trying to get the NRA to buy him a mansion in a gated community when the NRA, at the time of the attempted acquisition, issued a statement decrying the anti-gun ‘elites’ who ‘live in gated communities,’” wrote Milbank. “Many will see it as ironic that LaPierre feels unsafe because of the very gun culture his policies have created. But it’s good to know he apparently feels some of what most Americans feel: that gun violence is out of control.”

“My 15-year-old daughter was caught up in one such panic in June. At the Capital Pride Parade in Dupont Circle, a man with a BB gun set off a stampede of hundreds of people, and falling metal barriers may have convinced others that shots had been fired. Several were injured. My daughter, separated from her group, sheltered in a hotel basement until police gave the all-clear,” noted Milbank. “She has been skittish about being in crowds since then, and understandably so. Since El Paso and Dayton, and Gilroy and Virginia Beach and Pittsburgh, millions don’t feel safe shopping, attending festivals, going to school or houses of worship, walking the streets or going out at night.”

“This is directly because of the madness LaPierre’s NRA has inflicted on America,” concluded Milbank. “Now he knows what it feels like.”

President Donald Trump has burned through White House officials at a record pace— and he’s often gone out of his way to publicly humiliate them on their way out the door.

A new report from The Daily Beast claims that the president is now worried that all of the former officials whom he regularly bashed both publicly and behind the scenes will come back to haunt him as he tries to mount a campaign for reelection in 2020.

In fact, the report claims that Trump is “terrified” that these former officials will try “seeking revenge” on him by spilling dirt on him in a series of tell-all books timed to be released during the height of the 2020 election campaign.

“Those who have worked with Trump say he understands the dangers of having so many disgruntled ex-employees — including former corporate titans and revered military figures — speaking out during the re-election,” the report claims. “And yet, they also recognize that the president is largely unwilling, or incapable, of doing the main thing to prevent such a situation from happening: not humiliate members of his team before (or in some cases after) their banishment.”

White House aides, however, have developed a counter-strategy that has so far worked well for the president — namely, to lie to his supporters and insist that none of the stories about him are true, even if they’re being told by multiple former Trump administration officials.

Read the whole report here.

The Republicans thought they could hand out huge permanent tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy and cover them up with smaller tax cuts that expire for middle and lower-income Americans.

It didn’t work.

Public perception of Trump’s tax cuts for the rich has been dropping steadily. Just one in three Americans (34%) support the new law.

And now opposition is coming from Trump’s strongest defenders: the religious right.

As it turns out, there’s a hidden, hefty tax on religious organizations, something they’ve never seen before.

And they’re furious.

Churches, synagogues, mosques, and other faith-based nonprofits will have to pay a 21 percent tax on the benefits they offer employees, like gym memberships, parking, and even meals.

Politico reports “many organizations are still unaware of the tax,” and “more than 600 churches and other groups have already signed a petition demanding it be repealed.”

Mike Batts, chairman of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, calls the Republican tax “absurd.”

And the vice president of government relations at the National Association of Evangelicals, a group of evangelical Christian organizations, says, “we don’t need this kind of hassle.”

“There’s going to be huge headaches,” Galen Carey told Politico. “The cost of compliance, especially for churches that have small staffs or maybe volunteer accountants and bookkeepers — we don’t need this kind of hassle.”

At least one Republican lawmaker is trying to repeal the tax. If the bill is signed into law, it will cost American taxpayers $40 billion over the next decade.

Photo: December 21, 2017 – President Donald J. Trump celebrates the passage of the Tax Cuts Act.
Image via Flickr