Tag: Trump Administration

White House: Steve Bannon Is Out

The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website August 18, 2017:

President’s chief strategist increasingly a lightning rod for criticism

Steve Bannon is out as chief strategist to President Donald Trump. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images file photo)

President Donald Trump has decided to part ways with White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. The former Breitbart executive infused his campaign and presidency with nationalist rhetoric and policies.

“White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Steve Bannon have mutually agreed today would be Steve’s last day,” Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. “We are grateful for his service and wish him the best.”

Bannon is just the latest senior Trump White House official or Cabinet member to leave the administration. Continue reading “White House: Steve Bannon Is Out”

Bannon and Dunford Remarks Muddle U.S. Strategy for North Korea

The following article by Jane Perlez and Choe Shang-Hun was posted on the New York Times website August 16, 2017:

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford, with President Xi Jinping of China in Beijing on Thursday. Credit Pool photo by Andy Wong

BEIJING — The Trump administration plunged America’s Asian alliances into new confusion Thursday with conflicting signals over how to counter North Korea’s nuclear threat, as the chief White House strategist said a military solution was impossible.

Three other leading officials of the administration — its top military general on a visit to China, and its defense secretary and secretary of state in Washington — effectively contradicted him, emphasizing that Mr. Trump was prepared to take military action if necessary.

The mixed messages about North Korea policy added to the sense of disarray coming from the White House, where Mr. Trump appeared to have all but forgotten the crisis a week after he threatened an ad hoc “fire and fury” response to North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, if he menaced the United States. Continue reading “Bannon and Dunford Remarks Muddle U.S. Strategy for North Korea”

President’s lawyer jumps into racial controversy by forwarding inflammatory email

The following article by Carol D. Leonnig, Amy Brittain and Aaron C. Davis was posted on the Washington Post website August 16, 2017:

While defending his initial reaction to the Charlottesville violence, President Trump on Aug. 15 said he wants “to know the facts” before making statements. Here are three times that he didn’t. (Video: Bastien Inzaurralde/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

President Trump’s lawyer on Wednesday fanned an already-incendiary racial debate by forwarding an email advocating protection of some Confederate monuments and claiming that the protest group Black Lives Matter had been infiltrated by terrorists.

Trump’s lawyer John Dowd told The Washington Post he “shares a lot of things with people” and said it was unfair to equate forwarding an email with espousing its contents. Continue reading “President’s lawyer jumps into racial controversy by forwarding inflammatory email”

President Trump’s Policies Are Hurting American Workers

The following article by Karla Walter and Alex Rowell was posted on the Center for American Progress website August 15, 2017:

President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

On the campaign trail and in office, President Donald Trump has promised to fight for the American worker. Yet in just over six months on the job, President Trump’s actions have repeatedly betrayed this promise. His administration has rolled back protections to ensure that American workers can be safe on the job, receive fair pay and benefits, save for retirement, access high-quality training programs, have a voice in their workplace, and not be discriminated against at work.

To hold President Trump accountable, the Center for American Progress Action Fund’s American Worker Project is tracking every action the president takes to weaken job protections for Americans.

Our list includes legislation, orders, and regulations signed by the president; procedural changes enacted by his administration that will weaken enforcement of worker protections; and official statements of policy, such as the president’s proposed budget. The list does not include political nominations and appointments of individuals with records of enacting anti-worker policies, since these actions happened outside their role in the administration. Continue reading “President Trump’s Policies Are Hurting American Workers”

Trump acts like the president of the Red States of America

The following article by James Hohmann with Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve was posted on the Washington Post website August 15, 2017:

THE BIG IDEA: Donald Trump often behaves as if he’s first and foremost the president of the states and the people who voted for him.

That’s at odds with the American tradition, and it’s problematic as a governing philosophy – especially in a moment of crisis. Trump’s initially tone-deaf response to Charlottesville underscores why.

Animated by grievance and congenitally disinclined to extend olive branches, Trump lashes out at his “enemies” – his 2020 reelection campaign even used that word in a commercial released on Sunday — while remaining reticent to explicitly call out his fans – no matter how odious, extreme or violent. Continue reading “Trump acts like the president of the Red States of America”

Kansas is Very Important

The following article was posted on the TrumpAccountable.org website August 14, 2017:

With the House and Senate set to take up tax reform with Donald Trump’s White House this fall, the story of Kansas and their dramatic experiment in supply-side tax policy needs to be told and understood. Those who claim that reducing taxes will create economic growth need to be able to answer the following question: Why should we as a country adopt an economic strategy that failed spectacularly in Kansas?

To review, in 2012 Kansas governor Sam Brownback along with the Republican majority in the legislature passed enormous tax cuts for small businesses, a reduction in personal income tax, and the elimination of taxes for a variety of goods and industries. The result, Brownback promised, would be increased disposable income, more jobs, and people moving to Kansas for work and business. “It will pave the way to the creation of tens of thousands of new jobs, bring tens of thousands of people to Kansas, and help make our state the best place in America to start and grow a small business,” Brownback claimed. “It will leave more than a billion dollars in the hands of Kansans. An expanding economy and growing population will directly benefit our schools and local governments.” Continue reading “Kansas is Very Important”

Appalachians Are Harder Hit by Poverty Than All Other Americans—So Why Does Trump Want to Make Their Lives Worse?

The following article by Jennie Neufeld was posted on the AlterNet website August 8, 2017:

Infant mortality rates are rising, while life expectancies are plummeting.

Credit: Travis Dove for The New York Times

First came deindustrialization and mass unemployment, then the opioid crisis. Now a new report from HealthAffairs reveals that infant mortality rates in Appalachia dwarf those in the rest of the country. Life expectancies are considerably shorter as well.

Looking at an array of data, the study finds that infant mortality was as much 16 percent higher in Appalachia, while life expectancies had dropped by as much as 2.4 years between 1990 and 2013. Poor black men from the region are expected to live 13 years less than white women from low-poverty areas elsewhere in the United States. Continue reading “Appalachians Are Harder Hit by Poverty Than All Other Americans—So Why Does Trump Want to Make Their Lives Worse?”

Dem rep: Trump North Korea statements ‘reckless’

The following article by Max Greenwood was posted on the Hill website August 11, 2017:

© Getty Images

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) on Friday slammed President Trump’s rhetoric toward North Korea as “reckless” and urged him to pursue a diplomatic solution to Washington’s escalating tensions with Pyongyang.

“We need to engage in diplomacy. That’s the one thing that Donald Trumphas not yet done,” Lieu said in a video posted on Twitter by VoteVets, a progressive advocacy group.

“And before the president takes us down the dark and bloody path of a catastrophic war, he needs to first engage in diplomacy,” he added. “He owes that to the American people and I call on the president to do that first before issuing provocative and senseless and reckless statements.” Continue reading “Dem rep: Trump North Korea statements ‘reckless’”

Who’s Taking College Spots From Top Asian Americans? Privileged Whites.

The following article by Daniel Golden was posted on the ProPublica website August 9, 2017:

The Trump administration is preparing to investigate whether Asian Americans are treated unfairly as a result of admissions policies intended to boost the chances of other racial minorities. That inquiry should also look at colleges’ other major affirmative action effort — lower admission standards for applicants whose parents are alumni or major donors.

This story was co-published with Bloomberg View.

Harknes Tower stands on the Yale University campus in New Haven Connecticut (Craig Warga/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

More than a decade ago, I chatted with Asian-American seniors at Hunter College High School in New York City about their college admission prospects. One young woman told me she had scored 1530 out of a maximum 1600 on the SAT. When I congratulated her, she said that her score was what she and her friends called “an Asian fail.” She predicted it wouldn’t be enough to get into her dream school, Yale. She was right. The next day, she learned that Yale had rejected her.

I remembered our conversation when I read last week that the Justice Department plans to investigate a complaint by Asian-American organizations that Harvard discriminates against them by giving an edge to other racial minorities. My immediate response was: right victim, wrong culprit.

Asian Americans are indeed treated unfairly in admissions, but affirmative action is a convenient scapegoat for those who seek to pit minority groups against each other. A more logical target would be “the preferences of privilege,” as I called them in my 2006 book, “The Price of Admission.” Continue reading “Who’s Taking College Spots From Top Asian Americans? Privileged Whites.”

What are his generals telling Trump on North Korea?

The following article by James Hohmann with Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve was posted on the Washington Post website August 10, 2017:

THE BIG IDEA today is by Robert Costa. James returns next week. 

Remember this scene?

“These are central casting. If I’m doing a movie, I’d pick you general,” a smiling President Trump said months ago (see the video above) during his inaugural luncheon at the Capitol, pointing at Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. “And General Kelly,” he added, gesturing toward John F. Kelly, his pick to run the Department of Homeland Security.

Those were simpler times. Now, it’s August and as he works from his golf course in Bedminster, N.J., President Trump is facing one of the biggest crises of his presidency: escalating hostility from North Korea, which intelligence reports show has miniaturized a nuclear warhead. Continue reading “What are his generals telling Trump on North Korea?”