Ivanka Trump’s Instagram account is helping her cultivate a Trump version of Camelot, CNN reports.
“She has almost six million followers — 2.7 via Instagram, 3.01 via Twitter. With the advent of a social media-savvy first daughter, the opportunity for the public to be voyeurs into the personal moments of the younger generation of Trumps is more available than ever before.”
“Forget the first 100 days. It’s only been a week and Donald Trump is reinventing the presidency,” CNN reports.
“Amid a torrent of action, disruption and protest, the new President’s moves on trade, immigration and foreign policy have honored his campaign promises — and dramatically reshaped Washington’s role in national and global affairs.”
Politico: “Trump’s first seven days in office were historic, chaotic, often astonishing and sometimes unsettling. With a flurry of provocative executive orders, surreal events, unapologetic falsehoods and did-he-really-say-that tweets, Trump continued to obliterate political norms, serving notice that the gaze of history won’t change who he is. He made so much news and did so many unorthodox things that it was hard to keep track of everything that was changing in Washington.”
For members: Trump Thrives In Chaos
Mike Allen: “White House and Hill GOP leaders are astonished by the unambiguous, far-reaching power of Steve Bannon and policy guru Stephen Miller over, well, just about everything.”
“Reince Priebus’ people were feeling like they ‘won November and December,’ having filled the White House with so many loyalists. The spin was that Reince was outmaneuvering Bannon and would be the real power source. But now it’s dawning on them, as Trump makes his early moves, that maybe they spoke too soon.”
Nicholas Weaver: “Lost amid the swirling insanity of the Trump administration’s first week, are the reports of the President’s continued insistence on using his Android phone (a Galaxy S3 or perhaps S4). This is, to put it bluntly, asking for a disaster. President Trump’s continued use of a dangerously insecure, out-of-date Android device should cause real panic. And in a normal White House, it would.”
“A Galaxy S3 does not meet the security requirements of the average teenager, let alone the purported leader of the free world. The best available Android OS on this phone (4.4) is a woefully out-of-date and unsupported. The S4, running 5.0.1, is only marginally better. Without exaggerating, hacking a Galaxy S3 or S4 is the type of project I would assign as homework for my advanced undergraduate classes. It’d be as simple as downloading a suitable exploit—depending on the version, Stagefright will do—and then entice Trump to clicking on a link. Alternatively, one could advertise malware on Breitbart and just wait for Trump to visit.”
Ted Malloch, President Donald Trump’s likely pick for ambassador to the European Union, told the BBC that the single currency “could collapse” in the next year and a half.
Malloch also said that despite the obstacles, Britain “would gain a free trade deal well ahead of the rest of the EU and the elections in the Netherlands, France and Germany could lead to a fundamental shake-up of the union.”
Said Malloch: “I personally am not certain that there will be a European Union with which to have free trade negotiations.”
“The White House is drafting a presidential directive that calls on Defense Secretary James Mattis to devise plans to more aggressively strike the Islamic State,” the New York Times reports.
“President Trump, who is to make his first visit to the Pentagon as commander in chief on Friday, will demand that the new options be presented to him within 30 days… During the presidential campaign, Mr. Trump repeatedly said that he had a secret plan to defeat the Islamic State, but he also said that he would give his commanders a month to come up with new options.”
Peggy Noonan: “It’s a mistake for observers in Washington and New York to fixate on Mr. Trump’s daily faux pas at the expense of the political meaning of what he’s doing. He’s changing the face of the GOP…”
“And here is the important political point: Democrats don’t have a playbook for this. They have a playbook to use against normal Republicans: You’re cold, greedy, racist, sexist elitists who hate the little guy.”
“They don’t have a playbook to use against a political figure like Mr. Trump yet, because he jumbles all the categories. Democrats will wobble around, see what works. For now they’ll stick with saying he’s scary, unstable, right-wing. It’s going to take them a while to develop a playbook against an independent populist, some of whose advisers hate Republicans more than they do.”
“On the morning after Donald Trump’s inauguration, acting National Park Service director Michael Reynolds received an extraordinary summons: The new president wanted to talk to him,” the Washington Post reports.
“In a Saturday phone call, Trump personally ordered Reynolds to produce additional photographs of the previous day’s crowds on the National Mall, according to three individuals who have knowledge of the conversation. The president believed that they might prove that the media had lied in reporting that attendance had been no better than average.”
“The Trump administration has pulled the plug on all Obamacare outreach and advertising in the crucial final days of the 2017 enrollment season,” Politico reports.
“Even ads that had already been placed and paid for have been pulled.”
“Following GOP victories in the 2016 elections, Democrats have descended to their lowest levels of power in Washington, D.C., and capitals across the country since the Hoover administration. And with the Clintons and Obamas exiting the stage, there is no natural leader to take the party forward,” the Boston Globe reports.
“Unfortunately for Democrats, the race for Democratic National Committee chairman — one of the party’s most powerful open posts in D.C. — is unlikely to give much clarity to their conundrum. The DNC chairman’s race features no clear front-runner and, so far, little debate about the soul and direction of the party.”
For members: The Democratic Frontrunner in 2020
Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s 20-year-old daughter wrote an angry open letter to former President Barack Obama, saying she lost respect for him after he declined to commute her father’s 14-year federal prison sentence before he left office, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Said Amy Blagojevich:”Everyone seems to be mourning your exit from office. I’m glad you’re gone. I’m not delusional — you’re not a saint. You were a mediocre president with unoriginal ideas.”
She added: “I thought you would finally right this wrong. You didn’t have to pardon him, only commute the sentence. You just had to let him come home. You didn’t. You released others, like Chelsea Manning or FALN terrorists, who actually committed reprehensible crimes, but you failed to release an innocent man.”
A new Public Policy Polling survey finds Democrats leading Republicans in the generic congressional ballot, 48% to 40%.
The Mississippi House Elections Committee “unanimously passed measures to allow early voting, online voter registration and to create a study committee to come up with clearer rules for restoration of voting rights for convicts,” the Hattiesburg American reports.
“In the past, all three issues were heatedly partisan, with most Republicans opposed to such reform. On Monday, all three bills passed were authored by Republicans and passed by a Republican-led committee.”
But the Clarion Ledger reports that Senate Republicans are likely to kill the bill.
“President Trump plans to make Mexico pay for his border wall by imposing a 20 percent tax on all imports into the United States from Mexico, raising billions of dollars that would cover the cost of the new barrier,” the New York Times reports.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer “said the 20 percent tax on annual Mexican imports would raise $10 billion a year and would easily pay for a border wall that is estimated to cost between $8 billion and $20 billion. The value of imported goods from Mexico in 2015 was $296 billion.”
However, the White House insisted a few hours later “that it was not endorsing the plan.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Twitter: “Simply put, any policy proposal which drives up costs of Corona, tequila, or margaritas is a big-time bad idea. Mucho Sad.”
Trump adviser Stephen Bannon laced into the American press during an interview, arguing that news organizations had been “humiliated” by an election outcome few anticipated, and repeatedly describing the media as “the opposition party” of the current administration, the New York Times reports.
Said Bannon: “The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for awhile.”
He added: “I want you to quote this: The media here is the opposition party. They don’t understand this country. They still do not understand why Donald Trump is the president of the United States.”
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Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and one of his closest White House advisers, is registered to vote in both New Jersey and New York, the Washington Post reports.
Four Trump family members or top administration appointees who were registered in two states during the fall election. The others are strategist Stephen Bannon; Tiffany Trump and Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.