Tag: Trump Administration

Memos signed by DHS secretary describe sweeping new guidelines for deporting illegal immigrants

The following article by David Nakamura was posted on the Washington Post website February 18, 2o17:

Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly has signed sweeping new guidelines that empower federal authorities to more aggressively detain and deport illegal immigrants inside the United States and at the border.

In a pair of memos, Kelly offered more detail on plans for the agency to hire thousands of additional enforcement agents, expand the pool of immigrants who are prioritized for removal, speed up deportation hearings and enlist local law enforcement to help make arrests. Continue reading “Memos signed by DHS secretary describe sweeping new guidelines for deporting illegal immigrants”

In Congress, Republicans Are Starting To Fret

The following article by Lisa Mascaro of the Tribune Washington Bureau was posted on the National Memo website February 18, 2017:

The relationship between President Donald Trump and GOP leaders in Congress started as a marriage of convenience, thrown together by necessity and sustained on the promise of pushing a Republican agenda into law.

Until recently, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tolerated Trump’s turbulent debut because they agreed with the direction the White House was heading — or were confident they could nudge it in the desired one. Continue reading “In Congress, Republicans Are Starting To Fret”

At Trump’s southern White House, wealthy guests pay, play

The following article by Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times was posted February 18, 2017:

Photo: Vanity Fair

On any given weekend, you might catch President Trump’s son-in-law and top Mideast dealmaker, Jared Kushner, by the beachside soft-serve ice cream machine, or his reclusive chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, on the dining patio.

If you are lucky, the president himself could stop by your table for a quick chat. But you will have to pay $200,000 for the privilege — and the few available spots are going fast.

Continue reading “At Trump’s southern White House, wealthy guests pay, play”

McCain: We Need a Free Press

The following article was posted on the TrumpAccountable.org website February 19, 2017:


John McCain spoke with NBC’s Chuck Todd on Meet The Press about the importance of a free press in response to a tweet by the president that called out the press as “the enemy of the American people.” While he was careful not to call Donald Trump a dictator, McCain bluntly said that history shows that one of the first things that dictators do when taking power is to marginalize or suppress the free press. Continue reading “McCain: We Need a Free Press”

Trump Administration Moves To Block Access To Health Insurance

The following article by Sarah Okeson was posted on the DCReporting.org website February 19, 2017:

Proposal Makes It Harder and More Expensive to Get Coverage

The Trump administration is moving to make it harder for you to get health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. The net effect of the proposals would be significantly greater regulatory and paperwork burdens for both consumers and health insurance exchanges, the opposite of Trump’s promise during the campaign and since taking office.

The proposed rules also would lower the percentage of expenses that insurers must cover, forcing patients to pay more for their health care.

Andy Slavitt, the former acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said the Trump administration has created a “manufactured crisis” in the Affordable Care Act with talk of a repeal and not enforcing rules. Continue reading “Trump Administration Moves To Block Access To Health Insurance”

Warring West Wing factions dismay management experts

The following article by Annie Linskey was posted on the Boston Globe website February 18, 2017:

President Trump was accompanied by (from left) Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Vice Prsident Mike Pence, press secretary Sean Spicer and Flynn on Jan. 28 during a phone call with Vladimir Putin.

Donald Trump rode into the White House on a promise that he’d be a strong leader who could run the government with the efficiency of a CEO. He’d hire “the best people” and manage the country with the same success that he has had running his business empire.

The reality has been much, much different.

Management experts from across the country view Trump’s tumultuous style in the White House as deeply troubling, unlikely to produce the type of helpful internal team debate that can solve difficult problems and well outside the norms of a coherent management philosophy. Continue reading “Warring West Wing factions dismay management experts”

The Rudderless Ship of State

The following article by Eliot A. Cohen* was posted on the Atlantic website February 14, 2017:

The departure of Michael Flynn leaves the administration with a feuding crew, and no one at the helm.

There are two theories of the future of President Trump’s foreign policy and the National Security Council. In one, the good ship NSC, like a Nantucket whaler of old, has had a hard shakedown cruise, but is coming to. A couple of misfits have been tossed overboard, and the captain has given up trying to run the ship. He periodically shows up on deck to shake his fist at the moon and order a summary flogging, but for the most part he stays in his cabin emitting strange barks while competent mates and petty officers sail the NSC. It’s not pretty—the ship rolls and lurches alarmingly—but it gets where it needs to go.

This could happen. Trump, overwhelmed by a leadership task far beyond his experience and personality, will focus his efforts on infrastructure projects and the like, and quietly concede the direction of foreign policy to his sober secretaries of state and defense, with a retired general or admiral to reassemble something like an orderly White House process. He is erratic but not stupid: he knows he is in over his head, hates the bad publicity his first few weeks bought him, and has family members nudging him in this direction. Continue reading “The Rudderless Ship of State”