Tag: Trump Administration

Fact-checking President Trump’s February 16, 2017 Press Conference

Fact-checking President Trump’s press conference

Earlier this afternoon, President Trump held a free-wheeling press conference to defend his fledgling administration as competent and disciplined. 

“I turn on the T.V., open the newspapers and I see stories of chaos. Chaos,” Trump said from the East Room of the White House. “Yet it is the exact opposite. This administration is running like a fine-tuned machine, despite the fact that I can’t get my Cabinet approved.” Continue reading “Fact-checking President Trump’s February 16, 2017 Press Conference”

The 10 Most Galling Republican Responses To The Flynn Scandal

The following article by Alexandra Rosemann was posted on the AlterNet website February 14, 2017:

Rand Paul needs to be heard to be believed.

Michael Flynn’s abrupt resignation from the National Security Council has reignited a controversy that has followed Donald Trump since he was elected president, with scores of Democrats calling for a special investigation into the administration’s possible ties to the Kremlin. But with a few notable exceptions, those calls have largely fallen on deaf ears with a Republican Party that has proven time and again it is willing to accomodate scandal and disgrace so long as it doesn’t impede its exercise of power. Senator Rand Paul even suggested the matter didn’t merit further inquiry, because it would require that Republicans investigate a fellow Republican.

Here are 10 of the more galling responses to the Flynn scandal so far. Continue reading “The 10 Most Galling Republican Responses To The Flynn Scandal”

Trump is showing a reluctance to take responsibility for White House chaos

The following article by Michael A. Memoli was posted on the L.A. Times website February 15, 2017:

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

Asked for the first time publicly to address the dismissal of Michael Flynn, his national security advisor, President Trump was clear Wednesday in his frustration.

But the president’s target was not Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general, nor his conduct.

“Gen. Flynn is a wonderful man,” Trump said. “I think he’s been treated very, very unfairly by the media — as I call it, the fake media — in many cases.” Continue reading “Trump is showing a reluctance to take responsibility for White House chaos”

Pence remains above the fray, but is he outside the inner circle?

The following article by Robert Costa and Ashley Parker was posted on the Washington Post website February 14, 2017:

For nearly two full weeks, nobody told Vice President Pence that he had been misled by national security adviser Michael Flynn. Continue reading “Pence remains above the fray, but is he outside the inner circle?”

Trump campaign CEO once charged in domestic violence case

Where it took footage from Oprah Winfrey of Andy Puzder’s wife talking about domestic abuse, we thought returning to this would be appropriate.  It kind of disappeared under all the other Trump hoopla during the campaign:

You could call US tourism a victim of Trump’s travel ban

The following article by Christopher Muther was posted on the Boston Globe website February 14, 2017:

Photo: Mark Lennihan, Associated Press, file

President Trump’s travel ban targeting nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries may not have held up in court, but it appears quite successful at keeping plenty of other people out of the United States.

Trump’s order brought with it a swift decline in the number of worldwide tourists and travelers looking to visit the United States, say people in the tourism industry. Some say it could be as damaging to the US tourism sector as the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Continue reading “You could call US tourism a victim of Trump’s travel ban”

Upheaval is now standard operating procedure inside the White House

The following article by Ashley Parker and Philip Rucker was posted on the Washington Post website February 13, 2017:

President Trump often stokes the nation’s anxieties in arguing for his agenda. (Washington Post Staff Illustration/The Washington Post)

With President Trump in his fourth full week in office, the upheaval inside the administration that West Wing officials had optimistically dismissed as growing pains is now embedding itself as standard operating procedure. Continue reading “Upheaval is now standard operating procedure inside the White House”

A ‘Spicy’ Memoir: How To Lie With A Straight Face

The following article by Carl Hiaasen was posted on the National Memo website February 15, 2017:

Anonymously mass-mailed proposal for a blockbuster new book:

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Dear [fill in name of editor],

As you devour the explosive details of this book manuscript, you’ll understand why I need to withhold my identity at this time. Continue reading “A ‘Spicy’ Memoir: How To Lie With A Straight Face”

Influential conservative group: Trump, DeVos should dismantle Education Department and bring God into classrooms

The following article by Emma Brown was posted on the Washington Post website February 15, 2017:

A policy manifesto from an influential conservative group with ties to the Trump administration, including Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, urges the dismantling of the Education Department and bringing God into American classrooms.

The five-page document produced by the Council for National Policy calls for a “restoration of education in America” that would minimize the federal role, promote religious schools and home schooling and enshrine “historic Judeo-Christian principles” as a basis for instruction. Continue reading “Influential conservative group: Trump, DeVos should dismantle Education Department and bring God into classrooms”

‘Morning Joe’ has blacklisted Kellyanne Conway. And that’s not all.

The following article by Callum Borchers was posted on the Washington Post website February 15, 2017:

Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” say they won’t invite White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on their show because she doesn’t provide reliable information. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski said Wednesday that she refuses to book Kellyanne Conway on “Morning Joe” — and that wasn’t even the harshest thing Brzezinski and co-host Joe Scarborough said about the counselor to the president. Continue reading “‘Morning Joe’ has blacklisted Kellyanne Conway. And that’s not all.”