Author: Data and Research Manager

Trump Hotels has had its eye on China — but the door hasn’t opened

The following article by Simon Denyer and Jonathan O’Connell was published on the Washington Post website December 26, 2016:

President-elect Donald Trump speaks in Hershey, Pa., during his “thank you” tour. (Don Emmert/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images)

BEIJING — Donald Trump calls China an “enemy” of the United States, a threat and an international pariah whose modus operandi is to lie, cheat and steal — but for at least eight years his hotel chain has been trying to do business here.

Although negotiations have yet to bear fruit, Trump Hotels has made confident predictions this year about opening 20 or 30 luxury hotels in China. It is an ambition that would involve the company in direct negotiations with a Communist Party that the president-elect professes to fundamentally distrust.

On Dec. 12, Trump tweeted that he would do “no new deals” during his time in the White House. It is not clear what that means for Trump Hotels as a company, and both the Trump Organization and the Trump transition team declined to comment for this article.

If Trump Hotels goes ahead with its efforts to expand to China, or even if it only lays plans to do so after his term in office, it could hugely complicate one of the most important foreign policy relationships Trump will have to negotiate during his presidency. And the suspicion that Trump as president might be trying to badger China or butter it up to promote his business there risks coloring perceptions of his every move in regard to Beijing — even those that are completely aboveboard. Continue reading “Trump Hotels has had its eye on China — but the door hasn’t opened”

Trump Is Like King Henry VIII Revived — Without The Charm

The following article by Jamie Stiehm was posted on the National Memo website December 31, 2016:

WASHINGTON — It’s a good thing to be king, holding court high in a gold tower. And the 45th American president, Donald Trump, reminds me of one English Tudor king, known for his reddish hair, huge body heft, six wives of various nationalities and, um, forceful personality.

Trump is like King Henry VIII revived — without the charm the early Henry famously had. But there are parallels: Henry had France across the water to warily watch and, of course, Trump has Vladimir Putin’s Russia and his reckless wish to start a nuclear arms race. Is he going to make an enemy out of a friend before he takes office? One difference, however, is that Henry set sail to lead his men in battle. That’s what kings did.

The history major in me feels compelled to note this male bonding over the span of five centuries and a mighty ocean.

Let’s get used to it. Donald Trump behaves much like the first American king. With his mean-spirited tweets, threats and contradictions of U.S. policy as president-elect, he’s messaging to the American people that there will be no limits as ruler. What about losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by nearly three million votes? No problem! We will all be his subjects, forced to endure outrages at all hours as he tweets from his tower — and when he deigns, the White House.

Trump resembles King Henry VIII in his ferocity and willingness to follow his whims wherever they go. Once the 6’2″ Henry cut a fine figure on a horse hunting a hart. Can the same be said of Trump on a golf course? (Let’s not answer that.) Henry also was a lover and player of music, even a composer. Enchanting poetry wafted through the halls of his court, notably that of Sir Thomas Wyatt, author of “To His Coy Mistress.”

Our man has neither poetry nor music to compensate for his rough edges.

A real Renaissance man in his time and prime, Henry VIII is characterized as a “supreme egoist” by the Columbia Encyclopedia. He did pretty much as he pleased, in epic proportions. To marry the clever, witty, beautiful Anne Boleyn, he defied the pope’s decree to keep his marriage vows to the Spanish Catherine of Aragon, setting off the Protestant Reformation. Continue reading “Trump Is Like King Henry VIII Revived — Without The Charm”

11 curious quotes from Trump’s New York Times interview

The following article by Aaron Blake was posted on the Washington Post website December 29, 2017:

President Trump speaks Dec. 29, 2017, as he meets with members of the U.S. Coast Guard, whom he invited to play golf, at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Evan Vucci/AP)

President Trump sat down with the New York Times’s Michael S. Schmidt on Thursday for a wide-ranging half-hour interview. And while he didn’t make any really big news, there were plenty of worthwhile nuggets, bold claims and factual inaccuracies.

Below are 11 of them, with a little analysis of each (and click here for the full excerpts from the Times): Continue reading “11 curious quotes from Trump’s New York Times interview”

Trump’s Deep Character Flaws Will Define His Presidency; Media Should Focus Attention There

The following article by Eric Boehlert was posted on the Media Matters website January 26, 2017:

Donald Trump continues to make history.

We know of no other president in American history who has started out his tenure by unfurling two preposterous bookend lies, the way Trump did during his first days in office.

He lied fantastically about the size of his inauguration crowd. And then, taking a sledgehammer to the premise of free and fair elections, he lied fantastically about millions of Americans having voted illegally on Election Day, supposedly costing him the popular vote victory. Continue reading “Trump’s Deep Character Flaws Will Define His Presidency; Media Should Focus Attention There”

Joe warns in new column ‘A Storm is Gathering’

In his latest Washington Post column, Joe Scarborough says ‘…2018 will be the most consequential political year of our lives.’ The Morning Joe panel discusses.

View the NBC post here.

Trump Again Tries To Pass Off New Sprint Jobs As His Own Deal (It’s Not)

The following article by Richard Cowan of Reuters was posted on the National Memo website December 29, 2016:

PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) – U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday said telecommunications group Sprint Corp and a U.S. satellite company OneWeb will bring 8,000 jobs to the United States, and the companies said the positions were part of a previously disclosed pledge by Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp.

SoftBank holds stakes in both companies and its chief, billionaire businessman Masayoshi Son, earlier in December said he would invest $50 billion in the United States and create 50,000 jobs. Continue reading “Trump Again Tries To Pass Off New Sprint Jobs As His Own Deal (It’s Not)”

Russian operation hacked a Vermont utility, showing risk to U.S. electrical grid security, officials say

The following article by Juliet Ellperin and Adam Entous was posted December 31, 2016 on the Washington Post website:

A code associated with the Russian hacking operation dubbed Grizzly Steppe by the Obama administration has been detected within the system of a Vermont utility, according to U.S. officials.

While the Russians did not actively use the code to disrupt operations, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a security matter, the discovery underscores the vulnerabilities of the nation’s electrical grid. And it raises fears in the U.S. government that Russian government hackers are actively trying to penetrate the grid to carry out potential attacks. Continue reading “Russian operation hacked a Vermont utility, showing risk to U.S. electrical grid security, officials say”

Trump on alleged election interference by Russia: ‘Get on with our lives’

The following article by John Wagner was posted on the Washington Post website December 28, 2016:

President-elect Donald Trump answers questions from the media during transition team meetings at Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., on Wednesday. (Photo by Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

President-elect Donald Trump distanced himself Wednesday night from the Obama administration’s plans to punish Russia for its alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election, telling reporters that “I think we ought to get on with our lives.”

Trump, appearing at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., was asked what he thought about the Obama administration’s plans to sanction Russia for what U.S. intelligence officials say was state-sanctioned hacking of Democratic organizations, the targeting of state election systems and meddling in the U.S. presidential election. Continue reading “Trump on alleged election interference by Russia: ‘Get on with our lives’”

Trump must prove that he supports ‘our LGBTQ citizens’

The following editorial from the Editorial Board at the L.A. Times posted the following December 29, 2016:

Artwork and signatures cover a fence around the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla. on Nov. 30. In his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in July, Donald Trump brought up the mass-shooting that took place at the nightclub. (John Raoux / Associated Press)

Among the many constituencies viewing the presidency of Donald Trump with apprehension are gay, lesbian and transgender Americans, who are disturbed by what they’ve heard from members of the president-elect’s inner circle and by language in the Republican platform.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence, for example, has espoused troubling views on issues of importance to the gay community. As a member of Congress, for instance, he supported a constitutional amendment to outlaw same-sex marriage, warning that “societal collapse was always brought about following an advent of the deterioration of marriage and family.” As governor of Indiana, Pence signed a “religious freedom” bill that many feared would allow businesses to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation (though he later signed a revised version making it clear that businesses couldn’t deny services to anyone based on sexual orientation or gender identity). Continue reading “Trump must prove that he supports ‘our LGBTQ citizens’”

Americans — especially but not exclusively Trump voters — believe crazy, wrong things

The following article by Catherine Rampell was posted on the Washington Post website December 28, 2016:

Many Americans believe a lot of dumb, crazy, destructive, provably wrong stuff. Lately this is especially (though not exclusively) true of Donald Trump voters, according to a new survey.

The survey, from the Economist/YouGov, was conducted in mid-December, and it finds that willingness to believe a given conspiracy theory is (surprise!) strongly related to whether that conspiracy theory supports one’s political preferences. Continue reading “Americans — especially but not exclusively Trump voters — believe crazy, wrong things”