“John McCain is increasingly mad as hell about President Trump. And on Friday, he went after Trump — hard,” the Washington Post reports.
“During a speech at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, the Republican senator from Arizona delivered a pointed and striking point-by-point takedown of Trump’s worldview and brand of nationalism. McCain didn’t mention Trump’s name once, but he didn’t have to.”
A new Gallup poll finds a record-high 72% of Americans see foreign trade as an opportunity for economic growth.
This is up sharply from 58% last year, after much debate about trade during the presidential election cycle.
Washington Post: “Barely a month into the Trump presidency, the unusually elaborate lifestyle of America’s new first family is straining the Secret Service and security officials, stirring financial and logistical concerns in several local communities, and costing far beyond what has been typical for past presidents — a price tag that, based on past assessments of presidential travel and security costs, could balloon into the hundreds of millions of dollars over the course of a four-year term.”
“Adding to the costs and complications is Trump’s inclination to conduct official business surrounded by crowds of people, such as his decision last weekend to host Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for a working dinner while Mar-a-Lago members dined nearby.”
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“A number of senior White House officials, including Press Secretary Sean Spicer, have at one point downloaded the Confide messaging app that touts “military grade encryption,” allowing users to secretly and securely message one another. But it may be a great deal less secure than they think,” BuzzFeed reports.
“Cybersecurity experts warn that the Confide app, which boasts a feature that deletes messages as soon as they are read, is rife with security concerns. It also raises questions about whether senior members of the White House should be using an app which purposefully deletes their conversations, potentially flouting rules requiring that they keep an accurate record of communications within the White House.”
New York Times: “For days, a frustrated and simmering president fumed inside the West Wing residence about what aides said he saw as his staff’s inadequate defense and the ineffectiveness of his own tweets. Over the objections of some top advisers who wanted to steer him away from confrontation, Mr. Trump demanded to face the media, determined to reject the narrative that his administration is sinking into chaos, scandal and incompetence.”
“Paul Ryan showed up to Senate Republicans’ weekly lunch on Tuesday hoping to salvage a controversial pillar of his tax reform plan that would change how imports and exports are taxed,” Politico reports.
The next day, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) took to the Senate floor to slam Ryan’s so-called “border adjustment tax,” saying “some ideas are so stupid only an intellectual could believe them.”
“The sequence was an ominous sign for a linchpin of Ryan’s tax plan — and perhaps for the prospects of tax reform happening at all. The border adjustment tax would generate more than a trillion dollars over a decade; there’s no obvious way to replace that money, which is needed to help pay for a steep cut in corporate and income taxes.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told the Weekly Standard that President Trump’s approval rating would be “10 to 15 points higher if he allowed himself to stay on message.”
McConnell said he likes “what the president is doing,” citing deregulation efforts, his Supreme Court nominee, and Cabinet picks. But “what he’s saying makes everything harder.”
“Employees of the Environmental Protection Agency have been calling their senators to urge them to vote on Friday against the confirmation of Scott Pruitt, President Trump’s contentious nominee to run the agency, a remarkable display of activism and defiance that presages turbulent times ahead for the EPA,” the New York Times reports.
“Many of the scientists, environmental lawyers and policy experts who work in E.P.A. offices around the country say the calls are a last resort for workers who fear a nominee selected to run an agency he has made a career out of fighting — by a president who has vowed to ‘get rid of’ it.”
Associated Press: “Historians can point to plenty of past presidents who have sparred with the press. But they’re hard-pressed to find anything that approaches the all-out attack on the media that President Donald Trump seems intent on escalating at every turn.”
Said Rice University’s Douglas Brinkley: “There has never been a kind of holistic jihad against the news media like Trump is executing. Trump is determined to beat and bloody the press whenever he finds himself in a hole, and that’s unique.”
For members: Trump’s Clear Strategy for His Crazy ‘News’ Conference
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) says President Trump made him order meatloaf when they dined together at the White House this week, the AP reports.
Christie said while guest hosting a New York sports talk radio show that Trump pointed out the menu and told people to get whatever they want. Then he said he and Christie were going to have the meatloaf.
Said Christie: “This is what it’s like to be with Trump. He says, ‘There’s the menu, you guys order whatever you want.’ And then he says, ‘Chris, you and I are going to have the meatloaf.'”
“So beefy you could eat it with a fork, okay? But you’re going to want to use a spoon to get every drop of the crazy.”
Jared Kushner “met with a senior Time Warner Inc. executive in recent weeks and expressed the administration’s deep concerns about CNN’s news coverage,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“In a meeting at the White House, Mr. Kushner complained to Gary Ginsberg, executive vice president of corporate marketing and communications at CNN’s parent Time Warner, about what Mr. Kushner feels is unfair coverage slanted against the president.”
“While the administration is battling a large swath of the media, the fight with CNN has special intrigue because its parent company has a massive piece of business awaiting government approval: a proposed $85.4 billion sale to AT&T Inc. Messrs. Kushner and Ginsberg, who have been friends for a decade and whose discussion covered a variety of issues including Israel and the economy, didn’t discuss the merger in their recent meeting, said the people familiar with the matter.”
Politico: CNN chief says attacks are boosting morale
“Several White House staffers were dismissed Thursday morning after failing FBI background checks, according to sources familiar with the matter,” Politico reports.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, is seeking criminal charges against a former State Department employee who helped set up Hillary Clinton’s private email server, the AP reports.
Chaffetz sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions “asking him to convene a grand jury or charge Bryan Pagliano, the computer specialist who helped establish Clinton’s server while she was secretary of state.”
“Donald Trump is trying to persuade his preferred candidate to succeed Michael Flynn as national security adviser to change his mind after the retired admiral tapped for the role told the US president that he could not accept the White House position, according to two people familiar with the situation,” the Financial Times reports.
“Mr Trump asked Robert Harward, a retired navy special forces officer, to succeed Mr Flynn, who was fired as national security adviser on Monday. At a press conference on Thursday, he said his decision to replace Mr Flynn had been made easier because he had an “outstanding” candidate to serve as a replacement. But Mr Harward is said to have turned Mr Trump down.”
“Nevada’s chief gaming regulator surreptitiously recorded a conversation with Attorney General Adam Laxalt (R), who approached him about interceding in a lawsuit on behalf of his biggest donor and Nevada’s wealthiest casino magnate, Sheldon Adelson,” the Nevada Independent reports.
Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) said that too many people are vying for power within the White House and that the President should stop treating it like a TV show, CNN reports.
Said LePage: “The thing I’m sensing is that there’s three or four chiefs at the top. I would say this: You’ve got to put someone somebody in charge.”
He added: “In his case, too much competition. Everybody’s fighting to be that No. 1 person. You’re gonna have a lot of slip ups. I’ve met Donald Trump, I think he does promote some competition. He brings that business aspect to it. We got to tell him that the TV show’s over and he’s gotta move on now.”
“Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn denied to FBI agents in an interview last month that he had discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with that country’s ambassador to the United States before President Trump took office, contradicting the contents of intercepted communications collected by intelligence agencies,” the Washington Post reports.
“The Jan. 24 interview potentially puts Flynn in legal jeopardy, as lying to the FBI is a felony, but any decision to prosecute would ultimately lie with the Justice Department.”
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.
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