Daily Archives

August 27, 2017

10 posts · Sunday

Trump Sought Moscow Deal While Running for President

August 27, 2017 at 8:58 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“While Donald Trump was running for president in late 2015 and early 2016, his company was pursuing a plan to develop a massive Trump Tower in Moscow, according to several people familiar with the proposal and new records reviewed by Trump Organization lawyers,” the Washington Post reports.

“As part of the discussions, a Russian-born real estate developer urged Trump to come to Moscow to tout the proposal and suggested he could get President Vladimir Putin to say ‘great things’ about Trump.”

“The details of the deal, which have not previously been disclosed, provide evidence that Trump’s business was actively pursuing significant commercial interests in Russia at the same time he was campaigning to be president — and in a position to determine U.S.-Russia relations.”

Bonus Quote of the Day

August 27, 2017 at 8:07 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“I know there are some people in the room right now that are upset. I know there are some globalists in the room right now. And they don’t want them, John, they don’t want the tariffs. But I’m telling you, I want tariffs.”

— President Trump, quoted by Axios, in an Oval Office discussion with chief of staff John Kelly and others.

Trump’s Frustration with Tillerson Grows

August 27, 2017 at 8:02 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Jonathan Swan: “There’s a ticking problem with Rex Tillerson, and it’s growing louder by the day, according to officials inside and close to the White House.”

“President Trump has been growing increasingly frustrated with his Secretary of State. One time recently, after Trump had returned from a meeting on Afghanistan, a source recalled Trump saying, ‘Rex just doesn’t get it, he’s totally establishment in his thinking.'”

“Tillerson’s jaw-dropping comments on TV today will likely only worsen their relationship.”

Kasich Rules Out Bid with Hickenlooper

August 27, 2017 at 12:34 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Gov. John Kasich “tried to shut down reports that he is considering an independent presidential bid in 2020 with Colorado’s Democratic Governor John Hickenlooper,” NBC News reports.

Said Kasich: “Look, ‘Kasich-Hickenlooper,’ first of all, you couldn’t pronounce it and second of all, you couldn’t fit it on a bumper sticker.”

When told that those words weren’t a denial, Kasich flatly said, “the answer is ‘no,’ okay.”

Trump Increasingly Alienated from GOP Leaders

August 27, 2017 at 12:32 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Mike Allen: “Until now, most Republicans on the Hill have either backed Trump, or mostly stayed silent about their differences. Now, he’s being openly defied.”

“After the President has spent weeks seemingly divorcing himself from the GOP — openly blaming Mitch McConnell for healthcare’s failure and pre-blaming McConnell and Ryan for debt-ceiling headaches — many feel liberated to speak their minds.”

“All that will hamper Trump’s ability to help muscle tax reform through Congress. But the endgame is Special Counsel Bob Mueller… Trump’s attacks on McConnell are self-defeating for a lot of reasons. But if Mueller ever makes an impeachment referral (like the Watergate special counsel did), Trump needs McConnell more than anyone in the world.”

Tillerson Backs Away from Trump

August 27, 2017 at 12:18 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Asked on Fox News about President Trump’s values, Secretary of State Tillerson said, “the president speaks for himself.”

When pressed if he was separating himself from Trump’s values, and Tillerson indicated that he was: “I have made my own comments as to our values.”

What If Trump Left the Republican Party?

August 27, 2017 at 12:17 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Aaron Blake: “I wouldn’t be the first to note that it seems, well, counterproductive to attack your own party’s leaders. It’s entirely possible that this is Trump simply trying to motivate his team in his own divisive, Trump-ian way. It’s also possible he’s just lashing out and doesn’t actually have a plan.”

“But there’s also an Option C here. What if Trump, fed up by a lack of progress and fealty, is ready to take on his own party? What if, having systematically attacked what seems like every other institution involved in American government — the judiciary, the intelligence community, the press, the election process, law enforcement, Congress — he’s now set to attack and undermine the institution whose nomination he commandeered to obtain the presidency? What if he simply ditched the Republican Party, either officially or in spirit?”

For members: Trump’s re-election may depend upon leaving the GOP.

Trump Could Set Off Shutdown And Debt Ceiling Bombs

August 27, 2017 at 12:10 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Stan Collender says there’s a 60 % chance of a government shutdown because there are actually seven different power groups in the Republican party.

“Trump’s political needs and goals are different from almost every congressional Republican. Not only is he not up for reelection in 2018, his base of supporters is very different from that of most GOP representatives and senators. As the Affordable Care Act debacle amply demonstrated, what’s politically correct for Trump sometimes isn’t even close to what’s right for many others in his party…and continued funding for the federal government and the debt ceiling are two of those times.”

“Trump also continues to refuse to accept that Congress is not a wholly-owned subsidiary of his presidency. His ongoing attacks on individual Senate Republicans for not doing what he wants on health care, the wall, the debt ceiling, the Russia sanctions law and the collusion-with-Russia investigation undeniably shows that he considers the House and Senate to be subservient divisions of Trump Administration, Inc. rather than the equal partners created by the U.S. Constitution.”

“The existence of these seven Republican groups all point directly to legislative and political chaos and perhaps an explosion in September on the shutdown and debt ceiling.”

Quote of the Day

August 27, 2017 at 7:12 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“If it wasn’t clear before, it’s clear now: We are living through a battle for the soul of this nation.”

— Former Vice President Joe Biden, writing in The Atlantic.

A Divider, Not a Uniter

August 27, 2017 at 6:52 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Dan Balz: “President Trump has set his presidency on an unambiguous course for which there could be no reversal. He has chosen to be a divider, not a uniter, no matter how many words to the contrary he reads off a teleprompter or from a prepared script. That’s one obvious message from Friday’s decision to issue a pardon for controversial former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio.”

“Trump has been a divisive force from the very start of his campaign for president, a proud disrupter of the political status quo. His swashbuckling contempt for political correctness and the rules of the game endeared him to millions of Americans who were fed up with Washington, with career politicians, with liberal elites and with the mainstream media. The more he is under fire — as he is now — the more he returns to that strategy.”