Tag: Donald Trump

What America Has To Say About Donald Trump’s Ethics

The following article by Jonathan D. Salant of NJ.com was posted on the National Memo website February 24, 2017:

President Trump speaks on Monday before signing an executive order while surrounded by small business leaders in the White House. (Andrew Harrer / Sipa USA)

As lawmakers seek to force Donald Trump to release his income tax returns, a majority of Americans indicated they believed the president has done something illegal or unethical.

In a McClatchy-Marist survey asking about potential conflicts of interest between Trump’s business holdings and his duties as president, just 41 percent said he had done nothing wrong, while 53 percent said Trump has done something illegal or unethical.

Trump broke with decades of precedent and refused to release his income tax returns while running for president. He has continued to say he will make them public once tax audits are done.

Trump’s popularity ‘sinking like a rock’

Continue reading “What America Has To Say About Donald Trump’s Ethics”

Fact-checking Donald Trump at CPAC

The following article by Jon Greenberg, Angie Drobnic Holan and Miriam Valverde was posted on the PolitiFact website February 24, 2017:

President Donald Trump spoke to an enthusiastic crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference Friday, bashing the media, attacking Obamacare, and touting his campaign promises, especially on immigration.

Trump has a point about moving on immigration. Through a flurry of executive orders, Trump has cast a wide net for people who will become deportation priorities. He’s also authorized the construction of a border wall with Mexico. PolitiFact has rated some of his promises on immigration as In the Works. (Read a summary of action on Trump’s immigration promises.) Continue reading “Fact-checking Donald Trump at CPAC”

President Trump’s first 100 days so far: 4 false/misleading claims per day, 6 of 60 promises kept

The following post is from the Washington Post’s Fact Checker email of February 24, 2017:

This week, we launched a new Fact Checker project: 100 days of Trump claims. Every day for the first 100 days of the new presidency, we will keep track of false or misleading claims made by the new president.

Trump is a unique politician in terms of the volume and frequency of false or misleading claims he makes. Moreover, he often repeats the same debunked claims even though they have been fact-checked. So far, Trump has said something misleading or false every day of his presidency. Continue reading “President Trump’s first 100 days so far: 4 false/misleading claims per day, 6 of 60 promises kept”

If Melania Trump Isn’t In Business, Why Are Her Companies Still Active?

The following article by Kevin G. Hall of the McClatchy Washington Bureau was posted on the National Memo website February 23, 2017:

REUTERS/Rick Wilking

First lady Melania Trump has several companies that are still active enterprises, raising questions about whether they will be used for profit while she is in the White House.

Beyond the 564 companies listed in then-candidate Donald Trump’s May 2016 financial disclosure were seven companies associated with his wife.

All but one of her companies had been listed in the disclosure as active, and five of the seven were still active as of Feb. 21. The one Melania Trump company he listed last year as having inactive assets — Melania LLC — appears to be an ongoing and active company in the records of the New York State Division of Corporations. Continue reading “If Melania Trump Isn’t In Business, Why Are Her Companies Still Active?”

Trump is cooking the books of the American economy

The following article by Bryce Covert was posted on the ThinkProgress site February 21, 2017:

Rather than fix the problems the economy has, the administration is trying to get the numbers it wants.

President Trump arriving at the White House on Monday. CREDIT: AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

President Trump won the White House talking about the ills of the economy and how he would fix them. But to fix what’s broken, first you need to measure where things stand. So far, it appears that the Trump administration is manipulating official data to paint the picture it wants, rather than the way things actually are.

All presidents release their own economic growth forecasts as part of the budget process. That process is currently underway in the Trump administration, and the forecasts are expected to be released in the coming weeks.

Many presidents seek to make the numbers look as positive as possible. But according to sources who spoke with the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, the Trump administration is going much further. It told White House economic advisers to start with a GDP growth target of between 3 and 3.5 percent a year for the next decade and then backfill numbers in their models to make that prediction work. Continue reading “Trump is cooking the books of the American economy”

CPAC Is Trying To Wash The “Alt-Right” Stench Off Breitbart

The following article by Matt Gertz was posted on the Media Matters website February 23, 2017:

The term “alt-right” is toxic. It should be. The loose confederation of neo-Nazis, white nationalists, and misogynists have spent the last year spreading fear, hatred, and conspiracy theories.

The problem for conservatives is that the movement is directly connected to the major right-wing news outlet Breitbart.com; its former executive chairman, Stephen Bannon; and Bannon’s new boss, President Donald Trump. Continue reading “CPAC Is Trying To Wash The “Alt-Right” Stench Off Breitbart”

CNN: FBI Refused WH Request To Refute Stories About Russian Contact

The following article by Matt Shuham was posted on the Talking Point Memo website February 23, 2017:

FBI Director James Comey, center, flanked Homeland Secretary Jeh Johnson, right, and Director of National Counterterrorism Center, Office of the National Intelligence, Nicholas Rasmussen, pauses while testifying on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2016, before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on on terror threats. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

CNN reported Thursday that the FBI and other federal agencies rejected the White House’s request to refute stories about contact between members of the Trump campaign and Russian nationals, including members of the Russian intelligence community.

CNN’s report was based on multiple unnamed U.S. officials briefed on the matter.

The New York Times and CNN reported last week that members of the Trump campaign and Russian nationals were in repeated contact during the campaign. Continue reading “CNN: FBI Refused WH Request To Refute Stories About Russian Contact”

Americans think President Trump’s conflicts of interest are unethical: poll

The following article by Matthew Rozsa was posted on the Salon website February 23, 2017:

More than half of registered voters say Trump is either breaking the law or simply being unethical

President Trump at a White House news conference Wednesday. (Saul Loeb / AFP/Getty Images)

President Donald Trump’s conflicts of interest appear to be resonating with Americans, despite White House counselor Kellyanne Conway’s claims that “people don’t care” about matters like his unreleased tax returns.

More than a quarter of registered voters — 28 percent — believe Trump has done something illegal, while an additional 25 percent believe he has behaved unethically but not illegally, according to a new McClatchy-Marist Poll. By contrast, only 42 percent of poll respondents think Trump has done nothing wrong, with 6 percent saying they’re unsure. Continue reading “Americans think President Trump’s conflicts of interest are unethical: poll”

How Trump’s campaign staffers tried to keep him off Twitter

The following article by Tara Palmeri was posted on the Politico website February 22, 2017:

The trick? Making sure his media diet included a healthy dose of praise.

(Photo by Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images)

President Donald Trump’s former campaign staffers claim they cracked the code for tamping down his most inflammatory tweets, and they say the current West Wing staff would do well to take note.

The key to keeping Trump’s Twitter habit under control, according to six former campaign officials, is to ensure that his personal media consumption includes a steady stream of praise. And when no such praise was to be found, staff would turn to friendly outlets to drum some up — and make sure it made its way to Trump’s desk. Continue reading “How Trump’s campaign staffers tried to keep him off Twitter”

McMaster’s Challenge: His Boss Is Already Making America Less Safe

The following article by Vikram Singh and Peter Juul was posted on the Center for American Progress website February 22, 2017:

Photo: AP/Walsh

At a time when the Trump administration continues to spark an immediate and growing national security crises due to mismanagement and reckless policies, the national security community felt great relief at the president’s selection of Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as the next national security advisor. McMaster will be tasked with resolving a number of serious foreign policy blunders already committed by the new administration. President Trump must ensure that McMaster has the authority and tools to deal with the following seven problems.

  1. Chaotic and dysfunctional management. Even before former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s forced resignation, President Trump’s National Security Council proved disturbingly dysfunctional. For example, U.S. military officials told Reuters that the president “approved his first covert counterterrorism operation without sufficient intelligence, ground support or adequate backup preparations.” The operation in Yemen was launched with no normal process and resulted in the death of a Navy SEAL as well as dozens of civilians; it also reportedly ended American access to conduct ground operations in Yemen. Political infighting has left U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with virtually no staff. Worse still, the country lacks a systematic national security decisionmaking process to effectively deal with the inevitable next crisis.

Continue reading “McMaster’s Challenge: His Boss Is Already Making America Less Safe”