Category Archives: Donald Trump

President Trump(Photo: Pool, Getty Images)

WASHINGTON President Trump returned to the political stage Wednesday night, though there is no formal record of what he said or did.

Organizersbarred reportersfrom Trump's first campaign fundraiser since taking office, an event held at theTrump International Hotel just blocks from the White House.

Two attendees told the Associated Press that Republicans who paid $35,000 apiece listened as the president saluted GOP wins in four special House elections this year and attacked the media at the Republican National Committee fundraiser.

Donors heard a familiar message from the Trump, the AP reported: "The media, particularly CNN, keep trying to take him down, and yet Republicans just keep on winning elections," the APreported.

The White House initially said a pool of reporters would be allowed into Trump's speech. but officials closed the event just hours before it took place.

The fact that the president staged a fundraiser at aTrump hotel also drew criticism.

"Trump said he would drain the swamp, but instead he redeveloped the land and put up a new hotel," said Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Adrienne Watson. "He uses it to peddle the presidency and pad his own bank account."

Kathleen Clark, a law professor who specializes in government ethics at Washington University in St. Louis, told USA TODAYthis week that holding a fundraiser at aTrump hotel is not illegal, but does give the president another chance to "exploit his opportunities to promote Trump properties."

Wednesday's soiree also gave Trump a chance to build Republican support for next year's congressional elections and for his own not-so-secret reelection bid in 2020. Trump filed required paperwork required for reelectionon his ownInauguration Day, the earliest such filing for any president.

"Of course hes running for re-election," said White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders. "But right now, hes focused on his agenda, focused on the midterms."

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Donald Trump returns to political stage, off the record - USA TODAY

Donald Trump arrives to speak at the Energy Department in Washington, DC, on June 29, 2017.

NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images

In response to the Supreme Courts ruling earlier this week, Donald Trumps State Department sent a cable to the United States diplomatic posts explaining how officials should implement the presidents Muslim travel ban. The administrations new guidance pushes the court-sanctioned implementation to be as restrictive as possible. It was also issued in secret, which means the administration is doing its damnedest to prevent the legal challenges that will surely follow. The guidance makes clear, though, that this version of the travel ban will not affect nearly as many of people as the original ban did, nor will it be as severe as the second version of the ban would have been had the court allowed it to go into full effect.

On Monday, the Supreme Court limited the ban to individuals who do not have a connection to a U.S. entity or a close familial relationship with a person in the United States. That vague descriptionthe court cited only the example of a relationship with a mother-in-law and spouseallowed the State Department to craft its own rules. What they came up with is the most limited plausible definition that falls within those boundaries. From the State Departments guidance:

The agency acknowledges at another point in the guidance that most non-immigrant visas are exempt from review under the travel ban because their bona fide relationship to a person or entity is inherent in the visa classification. Familial relationships are also often required for immigrant visas; there are special visa categories for spouses, parents, and siblings that will also be exempted from the travel ban based on this new guidance.

Who isnt exempt from the travel ban?

Whats left, it seems are a small number of visas that visitors from the six countries in questionIran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemendont even use that often: independent media visas for those without a U.S. business connection (I visas), crewmen visas for air and sea companies that dont have some U.S. connection (C-1 and D visas), tourist visas (B visas), fiance visas (K visas), and refugee travel documents.

Its these last three categories that will affect the most people and face the most significant legal challenge. Say an Iranian woman wants to visit her American granddaughter in California on a tourist visa. Under this guidance she would be blocked. It seems possible that a court could decide a grandmother does in fact have a close familial relationship with her granddaughter. Its also possible, though, that a judge could decide that the government drew within the lines. I could see courts providing a lot of leeway to the agency to make that [familial] determination through the doctrines of deference to agency decisionmaking, Pratheepan Gulasekaram, a professor of immigration and constitutional law at Santa Clara University School of Law, told me via email.

Gulasekaram does think the government might run into trouble with its decision to exclude fiances. An entire visa category, K-1, already exists for people who are engaged to be married. Theres no sound rationale for excluding them while including in-laws, who dont have their own such visa category. I'm not sure why that makes sense, and certainly is something I would predict could and would be litigated, Gulasekaram wrote. It may not affect a huge number of people, but its an odd way to draw a line.

One final point: I wrote earlier this week that the administration might attempt to hide behind the doctrine of consular nonreviewability in order to obscure its decisionmaking around the issuance of individual visas. This State Department guidancealthough it was not issued publiclyis a tacit acknowledgement that there are now official guidelines in place regarding what does and doesnt qualify as a close family relationship. Gulasekaram said this guidance could allow the courts to review decisions that might otherwise have been hiddena district judge might issue a ruling on whether the State Departments interpretation of close family relationship is in fact the correct one. If courts decide a grandmother should get the same treatment as a mother-in-law, then Trumps feeble travel ban could become completely impotent.

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Donald Trump's State Department Is Acknowledging the Virtual Impotence of His Muslim Ban - Slate Magazine (blog)

PROFILES IN COWARDICE House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, Vice President Mike Pence, Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, and White House chief of staff Reince Priebus.

Photo Illustration by Matt Chase.

Blame for the ongoing destruction wrought by the Trump administration will always attach to Donald Trump. But Trump cannot help himself. He is a pathogen, doing what pathogens do, and as surprised as anyone to have found himself replicating in the nations bloodstream. Equal blame will attach to a small group of experienced and seemingly rational politicians who knew exactly what Trump was like; who had cause to loathe and distrust him; who understood firsthand that he knew nothing about government and did not care to know anything; who could see clearly that he was dangerous, brutal, and corrupt; and who nonetheless decided, after occasional protests, to help him achieve and hold power. These are people who have been repeatedly belittled and mocked by Trump, who have sometimes been forced to voice their disgust at his words and actions, and whofor reasons that range from ambition and fear to denial and moral blindnessnot only have declined to stand in his way but continue to prop him up. One or more of them may ultimately decide to defy him, but nothing will absolve them of the damage already done.

The first time Donald Trump publicly criticized Paul Ryan was in March of 2012, shortly after Trump had decided not to run for president. Ryan had unveiled a Republican budget before Obama released the Democratic version. Trump thought it was a strategic mistake. Whether @RepPaulRyans plan is sound fiscal policy is not the relevant issue, Trump tweeted. The issue is strategic timing. Why release it now? The two men met personally early on during the next presidential campaign, and the relationship had already begun to curdle. Speaking in New Hampshire, and as a Republican presidential candidate, Trump let his disdain for Ryan be known. When I heard Paul Ryan, and I like Paul Ryan as a person, but when I heard Mitt Romney chose Paul RyanI mean, what hes known for is killing entitlementsI said that election is over. In July 2015, after Trump made his first comments about Mexicans sending their rapists to the U.S., Ryan said, He doesnt speak for the Republican Party, and I think his comments were extremely disrespectful, and I dont think thats the way to have an immigration conversation. When Trump leveled an accusation of bias against Judge Gonzalo Curiel because Curiels ancestors were Mexican, Ryan was quick to repudiate the comments: Claiming a person cant do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment. (At the time, Curiel was presiding over a lawsuit which alleged fraud by Trump University, and which Trump eventually settled for $25 million.) When Trump first suggested a ban on Muslims entering the United Statesunconstitutional on its faceRyan said, What was proposed yesterday is not what this party stands for. And, more importantly, its not what this country stands for. After the Access Hollywood tape was made publicin which Trump bragged to host Billy Bush that he could do anything he wanted to women, including grab them by the pussy, because he was famousRyan maintained that he was sickened by what I heard today. Add all this up and you have a man who has said in public what he surely believes in private: that by every measure Trump is unfit for high office. And yet Ryanwhom Trump has called weak and ineffectivegave Trump his endorsement and has covered for him repeatedly. After the election, at a meeting of the House Republican caucus, Ryan responded to the assertion by one member that Trump was on the Russian payroll with a warning to everyone in the room: No leaks, he said, according to a recording of the exchange obtained by The Washington Post. This is how we know were a real family here. After former F.B.I. director James Comey described what he said was a request by Trump to drop a criminal investigation into former national-security adviser Michael Flynns Russia contacts, Ryan excused Trumps alleged behavior by noting simply, Hes just new to this. The bargain Ryan has made is clearits the one spelled out by Grover Norquist back in 2012, when Norquist defended the choice of Mitt Romney by saying hed also have endorsed a monkey, a plate of lasagna, or a potted plant. All Norquist wanted was a Republican with enough working digits to handle a pen to sign legislation. Ryan wants to gut the safety net for the poor and cut taxes for the wealthy, and believes that with Trump he can do that. He said recently that he had dreamed of cutting Medicaid since his keg-drinking days. Having Trumps digits on the Resolute Deskwhatever the existential risk to the principles of the country as a wholeis a small price to pay.

Mitch McConnell, a deft and mercurial Republican senator and the majority leader since 2015, is a creature of Washington. As Alec MacGillis has documented in his shrewd and doggedly reported book The Cynic, McConnell has never had any longstanding political values. He has allowed himself to be filledinitially by hired consultantswith whatever positions would keep money rolling in and ensure his continual election and, now, his supremacy in the Senate. That is his enduring principle. Maintaining this status requires fealty to die-hard Trump voters who make up the most active portion of the Republican base. So be it.

McConnells track record of disagreeing with Trump but continuing to support him is impressive. In 2015, when Trump called for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States, McConnell told CNNs Jake Tapper, Were not going to follow that suggestion that this particular candidate made. It would prevent the president of Afghanistan from coming to the United States. The King of Jordan couldnt come to the United States. In early 2016, McConnell reportedly laid out a plan for congressional lawmakers to break with Trumpif he became the nomineein the general election. That effort failed, and McConnell quickly came around, arguing that Trump wouldnt have much impact one way or the other. Trump is not going to change the institution, McConnell said on Hugh Hewitts morning radio show, referring to the Republicans. Hes not going to change the basic philosophy of the party. When Trump hesitated before rejecting the support of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, McConnell stated that Senate Republicans condemn David Duke, the K.K.K., and his racismbut he didnt mention Trump by name. In July, when Trump attacked the Gold Star parents of Captain Humayun Khan, who had been killed in the line of duty, McConnell called Captain Khan an American herobut again didnt mention Trump.

McConnells wife, Elaine Chao, is the secretary of transportation in the Trump administration, a prize that undoubtedly tilts McConnell in Trumps direction. But McConnell believes most fervently in his own longevity, nothing else. Channeling McConnells view of himself with respect to Trump, one Republican strategist, who knows McConnell well, put it this way: I was here long before he got here, and Ill be here long after. Im majority leader. Why do I give a damn about a president? McConnell has proven his worth in one key move, by holding off a vote on the Obama Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland until Trump was elected. That allowed Trump to nominate Neil Gorsuch, whose confirmation represents the sole clear achievement of the Trump presidency thus far. For someone who doesnt care about presidents, Gorsuch alone makes Trump worth it. Like Ryan, McConnell seems to regard Trump as a man who he hopes can be manipulatedsigning the bills that others put before him. Nothing so far suggests the correctness of this view. But a Republican Senateand McConnells tenureis now inextricably yoked to Trumps fortunes, so McConnell plays along.

Speaking recently with another Republican strategist, I raised the subject of Reince Priebus, now the White House chief of staff, and was advised to think of him as not in the same category as a Ryan or McConnell. Nor is Priebus, the strategist went on, anyone who is ever going to stand up to Donald Trump. Priebus is a perfect symbol of the Republican Party as a whole, never imagining he would find himself where he is today. Throughout the primaries, the role he played was to keep the Republican Party together at any costthwarting defections by the Never Trump movement and delivering the party more or less intact to the ultimate nominee.

Priebus, a Wisconsin political apparatchik who had become head of the Republican National Committee, oversaw a G.O.P. election autopsy after Mitt Romneys defeat in 2012. The report concluded that it would be increasingly difficult for the Republicans to win another presidential election in the near future if the party did not reach out to ethnic minorities, women, and immigrants. When Trumpin the speech announcing his candidacy for presidentmade his comment about Mexican rapists, Priebus, after conferring with Republican donors about the possible damage to Latino outreach, privately urged Trump to tone it down, according to The Washington Post. Trump responded publicly after the Post story ran. Totally false reporting, he tweeted, even though a day later he conceded the main points of the story in an interview with The New York Times. Priebus, he said in that interview, knows better than to lecture me. He added that Priebus could be ignored because he was unworthy of respect: Were not dealing with a five-star Army general.

In September 2015, partly because of all the attention Trump had received over the summer, Priebus began asking Republican presidential candidates to sign a loyalty pledgeagreeing to support whoever the nominee might be. He visited Trump Tower in person to get Trump to sign. In April 2016, after Trump announced that he would abandon the loyalty pledge he had signed in September, Priebus responded lamely that actions like Trumps have consequences. When Trump criticized Judge Curiel, Priebus reportedly called Trump family members to try to make him stop. He did not. When Trump criticized the Khan family, Priebus told CNN the Khans should be off limits. He did not criticize or demand an apology from Trump.

A campaign staffer who worked for John Kasich told Politico, Every time Trump would do something dumb, Reince would be up in New York shining his shoes. Republicans inundated Priebus with requests to say somethinganythingto deter the bully who was clearing the field. Priebus did nothing. He later explained his strategy to The New York Times: I have encouraged him to constantly offer grace to people that he doesnt think are deserving of grace. Playing the grace card was a novel approach. It did not work.

By October, Priebus was justifying Trump at every turn, calling him a winner and acknowledging he could be considered a role modelbecause everyone is a role model in different waysjust days before the release of the Access Hollywood tape. In response to that episode, Priebus told Trump privately that he should consider dropping out of the race, a conversation Trump has never forgotten. He did not ask Trump to apologize for his comments, and he assured R.N.C. members on a conference call that he was coordinating with the Trump campaign and we have a great relationship with them. As Election Day neared, he told colleagues that if Trump lost the R.N.C. should not be blamed. And he was right: more than anyone else, Priebus held the G.O.P. together as a vehicle for Donald Trump. After Trumps victory, the president-elect named Priebus chief of staff. In that job, for which no previous experience had prepared him, and designed explicitly to be as weak as its occupant, Priebus must defend himself against both his White House colleagues and his boss. His role remains what it has been for years: to assuage differences, to keep as many people on board as he can, and to allow Trump to continue to be viable.

Perhaps no one has enabled Trump in his presidency more than Trumps vice president, former Indiana governor Mike Pence, and perhaps no one has paid a greater price in terms of personal humiliation. Pences role has been to serve as the genial presenter of what are already known to be lies or what are soon to be revealed as lies. How much can you look yourself in the mirror when your boss sends you out to say something in the media and within 24 hours he undercuts you? one of the Republican strategists noted. Pences personal agenda is a vaulting ambition somewhat masked by a placid half-smile and a demeanor of practiced sincerity. In his native Indiana he was seen by some as a rung climber.

Despite heavy wooing by Trump, Pence had endorsed Ted Cruz in Indianas 2016 Republican primaryin a radio interview with a local host he heaped so much praise on Trump that options were clearly being left open. Cruz lost and dropped out of the race. In early July, Pence and his wife visited Trump at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club. Trump had said he wanted a vice president who could navigate the corridors of power in Congress. In Pencea former congressman who once, back when he was a conservative radio host, described himself as Rush Limbaugh on decafhe saw a reliable link to conservative and evangelical Republicans: a dicey demographic for a thrice-married former Democrat and alleged serial harasser of women who faced ongoing allegations of fraud.

During the vice-presidential debate in October 2016, Pences cool demeanor carried the day. He shook his head sadly throughout but especially when Tim Kaine repeated Trumps most outrageous statements, including the bigoted and sexist remarks, responding that these were things Trump had never really meant or said. He dismissed Trumps comments about Mexicans being rapists as that Mexican thing. He calmly denied statements by Trump that were a matter of public record. When the Access Hollywood video became public, Pence professed himself to have been offended by the words and actions described by Donald Trump. But he got over it. When more women came forward to allege sexual harassment and assault by Trumpa dozen, all toldPence said he believed Trump, not the women.

In January 2017, Pence was called on to defend the national-security adviser, Michael Flynn, saying in interviews that the allegation, reported by The Washington Post, that Flynn had discussed sanctions with Russias ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak, was false. Pence said he had spoken with Flynn, who had told him the subject of sanctions had never come up. Flynns account turned out to be untrue, as Trump and senior White House aides soon learned. But it was another 15 days before Pence himself was so informed, and he got the news not from his colleagues but from another story in the Post, according to Axios. When Flynn was fired, Trump and his surrogates used the fact that Flynn had misled Pence as the reason. But senior staff had left Pence in the dark for two weeks. Pence absorbed the disrespect and moved on.

In May, Trump fired F.B.I. director James Comey. The next day, Pence was sent out to defend his bossarguing, as he had been told, that the president was merely accepting the recommendation of the deputy attorney general and that the firing had nothing to do with the bureaus investigation of possible ties between the Russian government and the Trump campaign. The next day, in an interview with NBCs Lester Holt, Trump flatly contradicted Pence, stating that he had been planning to fire Comey regardless of any recommendation and that the Russia investigation was the reason he did it. Again, Pence was silent.

As William Saletan has pointed out in Slate, Pences behavior shows a pattern of being willing to vouch for people who say what is not true. Because Trump is a liar, he urgently needs a sidekick who possesses this genial capacityit has virtually become Pences job description. The payoff for Pence will come when Trump leaves office, whatever the circumstances.

In July 2015, after Donald Trump attacked Senator John McCains war record and insulted him as a non-hero for having been captured, his Senate colleague from South Carolina Lindsey Grahama presidential candidate and one of the most respected voices on foreign policy on Capitol Hillcalled Trump a jackass and declared that he shouldnt be commander in chief. The following day, during a rally in South Carolina, Trump claimed that Graham had called him three or four years earlier, begging Trump to put in a good word for him with the Fox News morning show Fox & Friends. Trump called Graham a lightweight and an idiot. In October of that year, when Graham was interviewed on CNNs New Day, he said of Trump, Hes the most unprepared person in the entire field to be commander in chief, and over time I think that will matter. Americans better wake up. In December 2015, Graham, again on CNN, called Trump a race-baiting, xenophobic religious bigot. As the primary season wore on, Grahams warnings grew more desperate. He said on MSNBC, I think Donald Trump is a con man. I think he would destroy the Republican Party.

In the end, as Trumps nomination became inevitable, Graham began to soften. He made a conciliatory call to Trump, who tweeted about the conversation: Senator Lindsey Graham called me yesterday, very much to my surprise, and we had a very interesting talk about national security, and more! On Election Day, Graham couldnt bring himself to pull the lever for his partys nominee, but the softening continued. Five days later, Graham conveyed his congratulations to the new president-elect on his choice of Reince Priebus as chief of staff, tweeting that the choice shows me he is serious about governing. In January 2017, after Trump needled Graham for how poorly he had done in the primaries, Graham responded, Let it go. He added, adopting Trumps campaign slogan in what seemed like a pep talk to himself, Lets move on. Were going to make America great again.

TRUMPS ENABLERS WILL BE TREATED WITH THE SPECIAL CONTEMPT RESERVED FOR THOSE WHO ACTED KNOWINGLY.

Lindsey Graham is what is known as an institutionalist. He cherishes his role as an minence grise in the Senatehe has said that he intended to stay long enough to make Strom Thurmond the second-longest-serving member of that body. (Thurmond served for 48 years, dying at the age of 100.) He has criticized President Trump on certain mattersthe travel ban, for instance. He favors a robust investigation into Russian interference in the presidential election. But he also promotes the projection of U.S. military might, as Trump does, and he has a deep-seated respect for the office of the president. Graham, along with John and Cindy McCain, had dinner with Trump at the White House in April. Graham still sometimes critiques Trump, but it is for his style or lack of organization, rather than his basic character, as used to be the case. The President has a hard time colluding with his staff, Graham commented after Comeys testimony, so he couldnt have been colluding with the Russians. After Trump lashed out at Comey on Twitter, calling him a leaker and describing his actions as cowardly, Graham appeared on CBSs Face the Nation and addressed Trump directly from the set: You may be the first president in history to go down because you cant stop inappropriately talking about an investigation that if you just were quiet, would clear you. Graham said Trumps continued outbursts were frustrating because he thought that Trump, if he didnt sabotage himself, might deliver us from a broken immigration system. Recalling Grahams earlier view of Trumpracist, jackass, bigot, con mansome have looked to Graham as a figure who might lead a form of opposition to Trump on Capitol Hill. Not a chance: Graham continues to protect Trumps foreign-policy flank, recently banishing hopes of rebellion with the blanket affirmation to Fox & Friends, Im all in. Keep it up, Donald.

Gone is the Lindsey Graham who, during the campaign, attacked Ted Cruz on CNN for not condemning Donald Trump and his lack of integrity: So what Ted Cruz did is ignore the moral imperative here to speak out . . . .This doesnt cut it for me. This is not a policy debate, Ted. This is about you and us and our character as a party. Up your game. Condemn it because it needs to be condemned. He concluded, You know how you make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to hell.

When Donald Trump descended the escalator in Trump Tower to announce his candidacyand, in the course of that speech, to declare Mexican immigrants to the United States to be rapistsMcCain called the comment offensive but added that Trump was entitled to say what he wants to say. Trump responded with an insult: Graduated last in his class at Annapolisdummy! Not long afterward, Trump encouraged a primary challenge to McCain, saying to conservative pollster Frank Luntz at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, Somebody should run against John McCain, whos been, in my opinion, not so hot. And I supported him for president. I raised a million dollars for himthats a lot of money. I supported him. He lost; he let us down. But he lost and I never liked him much after that cause I dont like losers . . . . Hes not a war hero. Trump then both managed to reverse himself and double down: Hes a war herohes a war hero because he was captured. I like people that werent captured, O.K.?

In March of 2016, McCain said he shared the concerns of Mitt Romney about TrumpRomney had delivered a blistering denunciationand he also put out a statement urging Republican voters to pay close attention to the open letter from Republican national-security leaders, which stated that Trumps vision of American influence and power in the world is wildly inconsistent and unmoored in principle. In April, McCain said he was not going to attend the Republican convention. In August, after Trump insulted the Khan family, McCain issued a statement: It is time for Donald Trump to set the example for our country and the future of the Republican Party. Trump eventually endorsed McCain in his Senate race, and McCain eventually endorsed Trumpbut pulled the endorsement after the Access Hollywood tape surfaced. Trump responded on Twitter, The very foul mouthed Sen. John McCain begged for my support during his primary (I gave, he won), then dropped me over locker room remarks! After Trump was elected, McCain said he would show deference to the president, but I am not a rubber stamp.

In February, when Trump called a deadly military strike in Yemen a success, McCain took issue with that characterization. In May, The New York Times reported that Trump had asked F.B.I. director James Comey to drop his investigation into N.S.C. director Michael Flynn, and McCain said on Face the Nation, I think we have seen this movie before. I think its reaching a point where its of Watergate size and scale. Yet when McCain had the opportunity to question Comey directly, despite his obvious confusion, he displayed a knee-jerk defense of Trump. McCain has not been a rubber stamp. What he has been is a gamblerhis default persona. McCain showed in 2008, when he selected Sarah Palin as his running mate, that he was willing to overlook deficiencies of character and stability in order to achieve his own ends. Taking dangerous risks has marked McCain throughout his career.

One Republican political strategist explained to me that what made Trump palatable to McCaindespite everything McCain dislikes about the manis that Trump lacks any true convictions of his own, making McCain feel Trump can be swayed. McCain, with Graham, respects the generals who make up the national-security apparatus in the Trump administration. According to a White House adviser who has spoken to McCain and Graham, both men are fired up about the tax reform that Trump promises. After Graham and the McCains dinner with Trump, the Daily Beast reported that Cindy McCain was set to join Trumps State Department as a U.S. ambassador-at-large for human rights. Like Paul Ryan, McCain seems willing to tolerate almost anything in return for the working digits that hold a pen.

The Trump administration may last for months or it may last for years. There will be crises and catastrophes. A corrosion of values and spirit has already set in. The outside world pulls away. John Boehner, the Republican former Speaker of the House, now retired and fortified with tobacco and Merlot, has called Trump a disaster. Donald Trump will suffer his own grim fate in the eyes of historians, but it will come with an asterisk: he is a profoundly damaged human being with no true understanding of his capacities, his emotions, his ignorance, his job, or the fundamentals of human decency.

His enablers will get no asterisk. They will be treated with the special contempt reserved for those who acted knowingly and cravenly, with eyes wide open.

The O.G. Never Trumper, Romney effectively renounced his past denunciations of the president-elect, whom he had previously called a con man, when Trump began publicly courting him for secretary of state. (He did not get the job.)

A long time ago, in the year 2016, the R.N.C. chairman threw everything he could to prevent Trump from becoming the partys nominee. Days after Trump won, Reince stood by his side as his chief of staff, possibly getting the least humiliating outcome for an erstwhile Trump foe.

The House Speaker spent months trying to maintain a safe distance from Trump, condemning his statements (even as he declined to renounce him) and at one point canceling a rally appearance with Trump after his past p****-grabbing comments came to light. Flash-forward two months, and Ryan was praising Trump in front of a cheering crowd in Wisconsin, thanking him for clinching the first Republican presidential win in the state in decades.

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The O.G. Never Trumper, Romney effectively renounced his past denunciations of the president-elect, whom he had previously called a con man, when Trump began publicly courting him for secretary of state. (He did not get the job.)

Digital Colorization by Ben Park; From Getty Images.

Digital Colorization by Ben Park; From Getty Images.

Digital Colorization by Ben Park.

A long time ago, in the year 2016, the R.N.C. chairman threw everything he could to prevent Trump from becoming the partys nominee. Days after Trump won, Reince stood by his side as his chief of staff, possibly getting the least humiliating outcome for an erstwhile Trump foe.

Digital Colorization by Ben Park; From Getty Images.

Digital Colorization by Ben Park; From PBS.

The House Speaker spent months trying to maintain a safe distance from Trump, condemning his statements (even as he declined to renounce him) and at one point canceling a rally appearance with Trump after his past p****-grabbing comments came to light. Flash-forward two months, and Ryan was praising Trump in front of a cheering crowd in Wisconsin, thanking him for clinching the first Republican presidential win in the state in decades.

Digital Colorization by Ben Park; From Getty Images.

Digital Colorization by Ben Park; From Getty Images.

Digital Colorization by Ben Park; From Getty Images.

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A Definitive Guide to the GOP Insiders Enabling Donald Trump - Vanity Fair

The Fix's Callum Borchers explains the years-long feud between President Trump and the hosts of MSNBC's "Morning Joe." (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

Well allow @RealPressSecBot, an automated Twitter bot that takes President Trumps tweets and formats them like official White House statements, do the honors with the tweets Trump issued Thursday morning.

Yeah, you know, just the president of the United States getting mad at cable news pundits and then lobbing a stunningly personal insult at one of them. Its almost odd to still be shocked by a Trump tweet, but here we are.

Trump has, in the past, celebrated his Twitter account as a means of communicating to the country without the filter of traditional media. (In this case, I can assure the president that if hed made this comment to a reporter, it would have been reported without any editing.)

He has no choice but to tweet, he said in December.

Earlier this month, he declared that the media hates his tweets precisely because it allows him to share his honest and unfiltered words with the country.

But, interestingly, the media is one of the few groups in the country that actually supports his Twitter addiction. Not only because most members of the media suffer from the same affliction, but also because it offers a fascinating insight into the mental processes of an unusual political figure.

Most other Americans, though, are more skeptical.

A PBS NewsHour-Marist poll releasedWednesday asked respondents if they thought Trumps tweets were effective and informative or if they were reckless and distracting. Overall, 7-in-10 adults chose the latter description.

In no group even Trump supporters did at least half say the tweets were effective and informative. Even Republicans were about split between the two choices. More than a third of those who approve of the job Trump is doing in office think his tweets are a net negative.

More than half of whites without college degrees and evangelical Christians two groups at the core of Trumps base of support think his tweeting is a net negative. Only 1-in-5 Americans thinks his tweets are effective, a figure so low that its almost at Senate-health-care-bill levels.

Nearly every Democrat, unsurprisingly, and two-thirds of independents view Trumps tweets in a negative light.

Its probably true that Trump sees his Twitter account as a way of sharing his unvarnished thoughts with the world. For all the constraints of his new position, @realDonaldTrump is one of the few outlets he has to be himself, to riff on whatever strikes his fancy at the moment. (You cant have a giant rally in a red state every night, after all. Probably.) The Twitter account is not really about keeping the public informed, then. Its a pressure release valve. Its a way to keep the boiler from exploding.

It may, therefore, do Trump some good personally. It almost certainly doesnt do him much good politically.

Originally posted here:

Donald Trump is in the small minority of Americans who thinks Trump's tweets are good - Washington Post

Trump announced Wednesday that he would be in Paris on Bastille Day, July 14, for a day of pageantry at an event that will mark 100 years since the US entry into World War I.

The US President, on his second trip to Europe in two weeks -- he heads to Germany for the G20 summit and Poland next week -- will bask in the pomp of his official role as commander-in-chief at a time when he is under political siege at home.

"The two leaders will further build on the strong counter-terrorism cooperation and economic partnership between the two countries, and they will discuss many other issues of mutual concern," the White House said in a statement on Wednesday.

Macron, who was elected in May and won a broad mandate for his brand of outsider politics in parliamentary elections earlier this month, will use the visit to signal that despite his deep differences with Trump on issues like global warming, he is determined to maintain the alliance between the US and France, which has endured for more than two centuries.

"Macron is not inviting Donald Trump, he is inviting the President of the United States," said Nicholas Dungan, a former president of the French American Foundation, who teaches at Sciences Po, a prestigious French research university.

The visit will also further Macron's clear attempt to establish himself in the top rank of world leaders, despite his inexperience and relative youth. The French President is 30 years younger than his American counterpart.

Macron recently flattered Russian President Vladimir Putin at the French royal palace at Versailles but also put on a bravura performance, speaking directly about alleged Russian meddling in the French election and the "lying propaganda" of Russian state media networks.

"Tonight I wish to tell the United States, France believes in you. The world believes in you. I know that you are a great nation," Macron said in the video against a backdrop of the French tricolor and the flag of the European Union.

"I know your history, our common history," he said, calling on scientists, engineers and "responsible citizens" disappointed by Trump's decision to find a "second homeland" in France to work together on concrete solutions to climate change, and co-opted Trump's campaign theme in a swipe at the President by saying he wanted to "make the planet great again."

The trip to Paris also represents an about turn for Trump, who has sometimes denigrated the French capital and French government's policies on Muslim immigration following a series of terror attacks.

"A friend of mine, he said he was going to France like three or four months ago. I saw him yesterday. I said, how did you like France? He said, 'I wouldn't go to France. I wouldn't go to France because France is no longer France,'" Trump said in Florida at a campaign event last July.

"France is no longer France. They won't like me for saying that but ... France is no longer France and this world better be very careful and they better get very tough and very smart," Trump said.

Macron was endorsed by Obama ahead of his election win and may be making an attempt to fill the global leadership vacuum that many allies perceive was left by the US decision to walk away from global efforts to combat climate change and Trump's oft voiced skepticism towards NATO.

His victory over far right leader Marine Le Pen in May represented a triumph over the wave of populism that has been sweeping democracies and helped elect Trump and has already elevated him to the top tier of Western leadership, alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

A source who spoke with Trump after the G7 summit told CNN's Kevin Liptak that the President was annoyed after sitting through lectures from leaders including Macron and Merkel about the Paris accord during his previous visit to Europe.

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Trump's surprise Paris visit marks shrewd political calculation - CNN

Vice Medias Motherboard tech site has retracted two articles supposedly revealing discord at Disney Parks about Donald Trumps presence in the Hall of Presidents attraction citing factual errors and questions about sourcing for the pieces.

After a thorough investigation into the sourcing of two stories, Heres the Secret Backstage Trump Drama at Walt Disney Worlds Hall of Presidents and Behind the Scenes of Disneys Donald Trump Hall of Presidents Installation, and the identification of several factual errors, we have decided to retract both pieces, Motherboard said in an editorial note posted Wednesday in place of the two articles.

The note added, We are conducting a full editorial review to pinpoint how this source was vetted, and how these stories were approved and published in violation of our usual editorial workflow. We fell short of our standards, and regret the error.

The Motherboard story published on Monday, June 26, alleged that there was internal debate at Disney about whether Trumps animatronic figure would be speaking in the exhibit. The story also claimed, citing an anonymous source, that Trumps team was insisting on writing the entire speech for his robotic avatar in Disney Worlds Hall of Presidents.

That led Disney Parks to issue a statement that Trump will in fact be represented in the Hall of Presidents with a speaking role. The earlier Motherboard story, Heres the Secret Backstage Trump Drama at Walt Disney Worlds Hall of Presidents, published May 19, had cited an anonymous source close to Walt Disney Imagineering who claimed the animatronic Trump will probably not have a speaking role.

Disney is among Vice Medias investors, holding a $400 million stake in the millennial-skewing media company.

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Vice Retracts Articles About Donald Trump's Animatronic Robot at Disney World - Variety

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's failure to ram through an Obamacare repeal bill before the July 4 recess does more than reveal tribal divisions ravaging the Republican Party.

It also highlights President Donald Trump's role -- or lack of one -- in forging a GOP majority to squeeze the bill through the Senate, on an issue that has grave implications for the fate of the rest of his presidency.

Almost as soon as McConnell shelved a bid to vote on the measure this week, senators piled into a blue Capitol Police bus to head down to the White House for a brainstorming session with Trump.

The contrast was obvious to the euphoric Rose Garden rally that Trump hosted with GOP House members after they passed their Obamacare repeal bill in May. This time, Republicans sat around tables in the East Room expressing frustration at negative ads being aired against moderate Sen. Dean Heller, who has opposed the bill.

The delay in the Senate vote represents a failure -- that could yet be temporary -- by the GOP that has a monopoly on power in Washington yet can't yet honor the fundamental promise it has made to its voters for years.

But in this Washington cloud, there could be a silver lining for Trump.

A significant effort to reshape argument on the bill, to breach deep party divides on the issue and to sell a vision of health care reforms to Americans, could do a lot of good to a presidency that has been under siege for months.

It would also suggest that the President has a decent chance of building support for the rest of his agenda, that includes a push for tax reform and a program to repair the nation's decaying infrastructure.

But early signs are not encouraging for those who hope that the President can mine a golden seam of political support to get the bill passed.

Before grim faced senators, the President spoke in vague terms about the bill, showing the lack of specificity that has hampered his attempts to wield political influence on Capitol Hill.

"We are going to try and solve the problem. So, I invited all of you. ... We are going to talk. We are going to see what we are going to do," Trump told the group, before offering an assessment that did not seem to reflect the aggravated state of Republican debate over the bill or address the specific concerns many senators have with the bill.

"We are getting very close," he said. "This will be great if we get it done," he said, before asking reporters to leave the room.

By now, everyone knows in Washington that the President is not keen on thrashing through the details of a bill to try to win wavering votes.

In fact, he's often seemed ready to embrace any measure that he could portray as a political win -- whatever it contains.

There's certainly no sense that he is driving the debate towards an outcome that would fit into any ideological vision of his presidency. More often, he's shown more appetite to simply slam Obamacare than offer solutions.

Even Trump's supporters would admit that the President is yet to impose his considerable persona on Washington or shown he has the political skills and stock of capital to pilot legislation through Congress.

His consistency is also in question, since he labeled the House health care bill "mean," hanging members out to dry after celebrating its passage with them.

"Here's what I would tell any senator: If you're counting on the President to have your back, you need to watch it," GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham said Monday.

"This President is the first president in our history who has had neither political nor military experience," Maine Sen. Susan Collins told reporters on Capitol Hill Monday.

That impression will have to change if the President is to play on the loyalty of Republican senators who are against the bill, who McConnell said used their White House meeting, to explain their reservations to Trump.

Trump is the most unorthodox President in memory, and has broken many political norms. But if he is to amass a significant legislative legacy, he may have to put more political skin of his own in the game.

"He would knock peoples' socks off if he came forward with a venture of his own proposing," said Bruce Buchanan, a presidential historian at the University of Texas at Austin, who doubts Trump has such a play "in his playbook."

The next few weeks, as McConnell and Trump seek to unpick the GOP deadlock over the Senate proposal, pose a stern test for the President.

He must calm moderate senators scared about the consequences of voting for a measure the Congressional Budget Office says will lead to 22 million more people without coverage over the next decade.

Senate Republicans are also split on issues like cuts to the Medicaid expansion under Obamacare, the prospect of rising premiums for low income and working class Americans, and fears that opioid addicts could lose vital treatment.

Bringing Republicans together will test the clout of a president whose approval rating has dipped below 40% and has little support outside his, albeit solid, base. It will also reveal just how much loyalty Republican senators feel towards a President who has often departed from the orthodoxies of his own party.

Trump's stock on Capitol Hill may have taken a dent after a group that supports him, America First Policies, started airing ads against Heller in Nevada.

At the White House Tuesday, Heller and other senators complained, calling for party unity. Heller, a source said, brought the issue up first, while joking that he was disappointed that they used Matt Damon's face instead of his in the ad.

Trump may also need to up his persuasion game because though he's been speaking to holdout senators it's not clear he has changed many minds.

Utah Sen Mike Lee, a conservative who opposes the bill because he believes it does not do enough to strip down Obamacare, spoke to Trump by phone on Monday.

An aide said the tone of the call was "positive" but was also at a "high level" with no sign Trump addressed specific policy details.

McConnell said Tuesday that the President had been helpful and engaged. But he also appeared to hint that Trump would have to do more.

"We always anticipated the president would be very important in getting us to a conclusion. After all, under our system, he's the man with the signature," he said, adding that for Trump to show his cards earlier would have been a waste of time.

But Trump's time is now.

"There have been presidents that have been able to break through and Senate Majority leaders that have been able to put together a coalition," said Julian Zelizer, a CNN political analyst.

"(But) McConnell has been dealing with a President who has not been totally invested in this fight and is not selling to Americans what the idea is, behind the change other than people are going to lose many benefits."

CNN's MJ Lee, Lauren Fox and Jim Acosta contributed to this report.

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Donald Trump has a chance to step up for a signature win - CNN

BBC News

Irish reporter's unexpected encounter with Trump BBC News Irish reporter Caitrona Perry had an unexpected encounter with US President Donald Trump during his telephone conversation with Taoiseach (prime minister) Leo Varadkar. Mr Trump told Mr Varadkar Irish media were in the Oval Office and called over ... President Trump Was on a Diplomatic Call. He Paused It to Single Out a Female ReporterTIME Donald Trump Just Had The Weirdest Phone Call With Ireland's New LeaderHuffPost Did Donald Trump flirt with Irish reporter Caitriona Perry during diplomatic phone call?Telegraph.co.uk NDTV -Mirror.co.uk -NEWS.com.au all 135 news articles »

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Irish reporter's unexpected encounter with Trump - BBC News

Paul Manafort, the onetime manager of the Trump presidential campaign, retroactively reported that his consulting firm had received more than $17 million in payments from a Ukrainian political party with ties to the Kremlin.

And in this weeks magazine, a Nixon biographer makes the case that President Trump has essentially misunderstood the F.B.I.s role. Since Watergate, the agency has come to view itself as an independent check on the president.

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Syrian and Russian officials rejected an American accusation that Syria was preparing for another chemical attack. Above, President Bashar al-Assad visiting troops at a Russian air base in western Syria.

President Trump conferred by phone with President Emmanuel Macron of France on finding a common response should the attack take place. Mr. Macron seized the opportunity to invite Mr. Trump to Paris for Bastille Day next month.

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Googles record 2.4 billion euro fine for violating European antitrust rules highlights the aggressive stance E.U. officials have taken in regulating many of the worlds largest technology companies.

Googles legal battle with the E.U. is far from over, but for now the focus will probably shift to changes the company will have to make to comply with the decision. Google is facing two separate antitrust charges related to Android, its mobile software.

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Its picnic season, and we have tips on how to make yours a success. (Two simple ones, often forgotten: Bring trash bags and enough water.)

Making a get-together a potluck, and moving it outside, instantly ensure things are more affordable and communal. Our food writer tagged along with a family that has perfected the art of the picnic in the park.

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Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and Wilbur Ross, the American commerce secretary, said they wanted to revive talks on a trans-Atlantic free trade deal.

Li Keqiang, Chinas premier, affirmed his countrys desire to be seen as the worlds new leader in free trade, in a speech at a World Economic Forum conference in Dalian, China.

Nestl said it was prepared to spend billions of dollars on stock buybacks and acquisitions. Heres a short history of the Swiss conglomerate, which sells more than 2,000 brands around the world.

Heres a snapshot of global markets.

Rogue police forces in Venezuela attacked the Supreme Court, dropping grenades from a helicopter, officials said. [The New York Times]

Few details have emerged in the car bombing in Kiev yesterday that killed a colonel in Ukraines military intelligence. [Kyiv Post]

The issue of same-sex marriage moved to the center of Germanys national election campaign. Martin Schulz, the left-wing candidate, demanded a parliamentary vote this week. [The New York Times]

Meanwhile, the Chaos Computer Club, a Hamburg collective, is working on hacker-proofing the German election in the fall. [Bloomberg Businessweek]

A court in the Netherlands ruled that the Dutch government was partly liable for the massacre of about 350 Muslim men in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica in 1995. [The New York Times]

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotlands first minister, postponed plans for a second independence referendum after her partys setback in Britains general election. [The Scotsman]

In Britain, the authorities identified more buildings with flammable facades, or cladding, similar to what was used on the London highrise that caught fire this month. The authorities in Germany evacuated a building with similar cladding. [The New York Times]

Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life.

What prospective university students do online could have consequences in real life.

Ransomware is in the news. Heres how to protect yourself.

Recipe of the day: Somali-style rice, flavored by rich stock and an aromatic spice mixture.

Our photographer visited the charred countryside of Portugal, where survivors of the countrys worst wildfire in decades confronted anger and grief.

FIFA published an investigators top-secret report into the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, which was widely reported to have been tainted by corruption.

Our Interpreter columnist explains why right-wing populism has not upended politics in Canada. (Theres no mention of Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus footwear, but our fashion team explored his sock diplomacy.)

In memoriam: Michael Nyqvist, the Swedish actor perhaps best known for the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, died at 56. And Alain Senderens, a founding father of nouvelle cuisine, died at 77.

Today is the 48th anniversary of the riots at the Stonewall Inn in New York City, a watershed moment in L.G.B.T. history.

The protests against a police raid helped galvanize the movement for gay rights. Former President Barack Obama made the bar an official U.S. monument last year, but Stonewall was already famous around the globe.

The name has come to be synonymous with gay pride. Among those invoking it: The Stonewall Hotel in Sydney, Australia, which is not actually a hotel, but a three-floor bar and club.

Theres also Stonewall in Britain, a charity that fights for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. Stonewall Japan says it has 2,000 members. Stonewall Javeriano, a student group in Colombia, has attracted attention outside the country for its existence at a Catholic university.

In the U.S., Stonewall is the name of a museum and archive in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., because the riots gave visibility to a community that had previously faced a life in the shadows, its executive director said.

And to make sure future generations learn its history, theres a new effort to record the oral histories of those who took part in the 1969 uprising, announced this month, with funding from Google.org.

Karen Zraick contributed reporting.

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This briefing was prepared for the European morning. We also have briefings timed for the Australian, Asian and American mornings. You can sign up for these and other Times newsletters here.

Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings and updated online.

What would you like to see here? Contact us at europebriefing@nytimes.com.

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Cyberattack, Donald Trump, Syria: Your Wednesday Briefing - New York Times

Talk about fake news.

Time magazine has asked the Trump Organization to remove copies of a fake magazine cover featuring Donald Trump from its golf clubs walls.

The request came Tuesday after a Washington Post report found framed copies of Trump on the cover of Time displayed in at least five of Trumps clubs. The magazine cover, dated March 1, 2009, features the headline: Donald Trump: The Apprentice is a television smash!

However, there was no Time magazine published on March 1, 2009. Nor was Trump ever on the cover that year. And there are a number of design inaccuracies. I can confirm that this is not a real TIME cover, Time spokeswoman Kerri Chyka told the Post.

Just last year, Trump boasted about his Time magazine cover appearances. I think I was on the cover of Time magazine twice in my life and like six times in the last number of months, he said in July 2016. Perhaps he was counting the fake one before launching his presidential bid in 2015, Trump had only been on the cover once before, in 1989, according to Time.

Its not known who made the fake cover, but anyone with decent Photoshop skills could pull it off. There are also a number of websites that let users upload their own photos to make a mock magazine cover, usually to be used as gag gifts or to tout childrens athletic achievements.

Sports Illustrated, which also falls under the Time Inc. TIME, +0.00% umbrella, responded to the odd development with a wink Tuesday:

Fellow faux cover boy Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) also chimed in:

In real news, Trump could soon be on friendlier terms with Time. National Enquirer owner David Pecker, a longtime friend of Trumps, is considering buying the struggling publisher, according to a new report by The New Yorker.

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Time magazine wants Donald Trump's fake covers taken down - MarketWatch