Category Archives: Donald Trump

Aris Folley, AOL.com

Jun 15th 2017 4:08PM

Of all of the strange theories about Donald and Melania Trump, this one is possibly the most bizarre.

On Wednesday it was the 71st birthday of President Donald Trump and his wife wished him well via Twitter.

But a subtle detail on the image of a birthday card she tweeted to her husband has left many online scratching their heads -- a small orange dot.

Since she published the image on Wednesday evening, more than 40,000 users have "liked" the first lady's post -- and many have speculated on about whatever could have caused the glaring stain.

RELATED: Donald and Melania Trump through the years

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Donald and Melania Trump through the years

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Real estate magnate Donald Trump (L) and his girlfriend Melania Knauss leave Hollinger International's annual meeting at the Metropolitan Club in New York on May 22, 2003. Hollinger publishes The Chicago Sun-Times, The Daily Telegraph of London, the Jerusalem Post and other newspapers. REUTERS/Peter Morgan PM/ME

Donald Trump and his girlfriend Melania Knauss arrive at the Vanity Fair Oscar party at Morton's restaurant in West Hollywood, California, February 29, 2004. REUTERS/Ethan Miller REUTERS EM/AS

Real estate tycoon Donald Trump and his friend Melania Knauss pose for photographers as they arrive at the New York premiere of Star Wars Episode I: "The Phantom Menace," May 16. JC/SV/AA

From left, Billy Crystal, host of the 76th annual Academy Awards, his wife Janice Goldfinger, Melania Knauss and her boyfriend Donald Trump, pose together as they leave the Vanity Fair Oscar party at Morton's restaurant in West Hollywood, California, early March 1, 2004. REUTERS/Ethan Miller EM

Developer Donald Trump (R) and his girlfriend Melania Knauss pose for photographers after the final show of "The Apprentice" April 15, 2004 in New York. Bill Rancic, a 32-year-old Internet entrepreneur from Chicago, edged out Kwame Jackson, a 29-year-old New Yorker and Harvard MBA, for the Trump-described "dream job of a lifetime" and its $250,000 salary. REUTERS/Jeff Christensen JC

Donald Trump's new bride, Slovenian model Melania Knauss, waves as they leave the Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church after their wedding in Palm Beach, Florida, January 22, 2005. REUTERS/Gary I Rothstein

Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs (R) accepts an award from the Rush Philanthropic Foundation for his efforts to support public education and dedication to youth and social activism, from Donald Trump and his wife Melania (L) at Trump's Trumps Mar-A-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida on March 11, 2005. REUTERS/Jason Arnold MS

Donald Trump and his wife Melania Kanauss watch the Miami Heat play the New York Knicks in the first quarter of their NBA game in New York's Madison Square Garden, March 15, 2005. REUTERS/Ray Stubblebine RFS

Donald Trump (L) and his wife Melania arrive at the Museum of Modern Art for a reception in honor of Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, in New York November 1, 2005. The Royals are on the first day of an eight-day visit to the U.S. REUTERS/Gary Hershorn

Donald Trump arrives with wife Melania at a reception in honor of Britain's Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, November 1, 2005. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Donald Trump (L) and his wife Melania (R) arrive at the Museum of Modern Art for a reception in honor of Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, in New York, November 1, 2005. The royals are on the first day of an eight-day visit to the U.S. REUTERS/Gary Hershorn

Real estate tycoon Donald Trump and his wife Melania attend a Miami Heat against the Los Angeles Lakers NBA game on Christmas Day in Miami, Florida, December 25, 2005. REUTERS/Marc Serota

Donald Trump stands next to his wife Melania and their son Barron before he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles January 16, 2007. REUTERS/Chris Pizzello (UNITED STATES)

Real estate magnate and television personality Donald Trump and his wife Melania stand on the red carpet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Benefit celebrating the opening of the exhibition "Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty" in New York May 2, 2011. REUTERS/Mike Segar (UNITED STATES - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT FASHION BUSINESS)

Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump and his wife Melania watch Rafael Nadal of Spain play against Tommy Robredo during their men's quarter-final match at the U.S. Open tennis championships in New York September 4, 2013. REUTERS/Adam Hunger (UNITED STATES - Tags: SPORT TENNIS ENTERTAINMENT REAL ESTATE BUSINESS)

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (2nd from L) watches with his wife Melania as Serena Williams of the U.S. plays against her sister and compatriot Venus Williams in their quarterfinals match at the U.S. Open Championships tennis tournament in New York, September 8, 2015. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump kisses his wife Melania as he speaks at a campaign rally on caucus day in Waterloo, Iowa February 1, 2016. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks as his wife Melania listens at a campaign rally on caucus day in Waterloo, Iowa February 1, 2016. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump reacts to an answer his wife Melania gives during an interview on NBC's 'Today' show in New York, U.S. April 21, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Melania Trump gestures at her husband Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump as they leave the stage, after she concluded her remarks at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. July 18, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Melania Trump appears on stage after U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speech at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. July 21, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar

Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump greets his wife Melania onstage after the conclusion of his first debate with Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, U.S., September 26, 2016. REUTERS/Joe Raedle/Pool

(L-R) Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Tiffany Trump and Ivanka Trump attend an official ribbon cutting ceremony at the new Trump International Hotel in Washington U.S., October 26, 2016. REUTERS/Gary Cameron TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump cuts the ribbon at his new Trump International hotel in Washington, DC, U.S., October 26 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump kisses his wife Melania Trump at a campaign rally in Wilmington, North Carolina Florida, U.S. November 5, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Republican U.S. President-elect Donald Trump kisses his wife Melania at his election night rally in Manhattan, New York, U.S., November 9, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and his wife Melania take part in a Make America Great Again welcome concert in Washington, U.S. January 19, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and his wife Melania take part in a Make America Great Again welcome concert in Washington, U.S. January 19, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attend the Liberty Ball in honor of his inauguration in Washington, U.S. January 20, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attend the 60th Annual Red Cross Gala at Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., February 4, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump greet a marching band as they arrive at Trump International Golf club to watch the Super Bowl LI between New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., February 5, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

U.S. President Donald Trump hugs his wife Melania during a "Make America Great Again" rally at Orlando Melbourne International Airport in Melbourne, Florida, U.S. February 18, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

U.S. President Donald Trump holds up H.R. 321 as his daughter Ivanka Trump (C) and U.S. first lady Melania Trump (2nd R) watch after it was signed in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, DC, U.S. February 28, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

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Here are a few ideas, according to the people of Twitter.

Some argued the small dot came from the president's finger print, given his previous issues with the size of his hands.

Others linked the mark to covfefe -- the president's Twitter typo from late May that's taken on a whole new meaning.

And then came the spray tan jokes.

SEE ALSO: First lady Melania Trump slaps at President Trump's hand on Tel Aviv tarmac in Israel

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Tiny mark on Melania Trump's birthday card to Donald Trump sparks wild theories - AOL

In a white-walled suite on the second floor of the West Wing, about a dozen of Donald Trump's top aides gathered with their early-evening coffees on a recent Monday to map out the President's midsummer message. Most people in the country now know that that task is akin to staging an opera in a hurricane. But for a handful of senior aides, imposing order on the chaotic nature of the Trump presidency has become something of an obsession.

Just a few weeks earlier, White House aides had christened June "Jobs Month" only to find the story line's launch upended by a misfired May 31 midnight tweet from the President featuring the nonword covfefe. "Infrastructure Week" largely fell victim to the testimony of former FBI director James Comey, prompting mockery from no less than Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, who returned from a trip to the gleaming airports of China to ask, "How did 'Infrastructure Week' go?" And "Workforce Development Week" might have had more success had Trump's visit to Wisconsin not been overshadowed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions' raising his right hand and taking an oath to tell the truth to the Senate Intelligence Committee about the Russia investigation.

Yet this group--including chief of staff Reince Priebus, staff secretary Rob Porter, legislative and policy aides, and press secretary Sean Spicer--has stayed focused on its task, plotting from the second floor where Trump seldom wanders. They tout accomplishments their predecessors have pulled off with greater ease, albeit under relatively easier circumstances. Trump's overseas trip, organized by Jared Kushner and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, proved that a well-scheduled and prepared President could avoid major missteps. Since then, they have pointed to the months of meetings and meticulously staged announcements around Trump's decision to quit the Paris climate accord and to privatize the air-traffic-control system as emblematic of the more ordered West Wing. "What people don't see is that this stuff doesn't just happen by accident," says one senior official involved, who, like most of the 11 White House officials TIME spoke with for this article, asked not to be named in order to speak freely. "You can't take 52 cards and throw them down and have them fall into a neat stack."

Neat is not a word most people would use to describe anything about the Trump Administration to date. Most of the men and women working in the West Wing didn't work with the President on the campaign before they took over the Executive Branch on Jan. 20, and many had never worked in government before. Their politics ran from far-right nationalist to centrist, and internal disagreements were frequent and noisome. Arguments became public, and senior advisers tried to circumvent one another for short-term advantage. The leaks seldom resulted in punished, even when the offenders were easily identified. And Trump's open-door policy left aides vying to be the last voice in his ear, undermining the finality of his decisions. His aides have since pledged to no longer try to outmaneuver the policymaking process by stealing private moments with the President to make their case. "We've all been burned," explains one West Wing staffer. "You can win today, but you pay for it tomorrow."

Trump's self-assurance made things worse. He entered the Oval Office as confident in his abilities as he was unprepared for the task of managing the government. In marked contrast to other Administrations, just one senior staffer, deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin, had prior White House experience in a senior role, and his new job was primarily logistical. A reluctant delegator, Trump initially believed the White House was just a larger-scale version of Trump Tower, with him seeking counsel from a wide circle. As ever, he expected aides to jockey for his favor.

Some things have changed. In late April, Priebus and Porter imposed a strict flow chart for every decision heading the President's way, requiring the buy-in--and, most important, the participation--of all appropriate senior aides, Cabinet secretaries and Capitol Hill liaisons. Dissenting voices are channeled in brief memos and organized meetings for the President, who likes to take in the differing views as if he's watching a judges' table on a reality show. Aides often don't agree, but there is a growing recognition that they're heard regularly. "Increasingly, everyone has more ownership of it," said Porter. "There's a lot more discipline now."

The White House has also fallen into a set rhythm of weekly meetings, despite regular disruptions from the President, who still surprises top aides with inflammatory tweets, impromptu gatherings and unscheduled announcements. The goal is modest: one out-of-town trip and one agency visit a week, bolstered by a handful of White House roundtables and meetings with stakeholders and Capitol Hill lawmakers. The team had already set aside the last two weeks of June for the themes of "technology" and "energy." July is set to have a "Made in America" theme, playing the nationalist strings that helped Trump win the White House in the first place.

What no one controls is Trump himself, who has encouraged the new structure but also takes the opportunity to regularly disrupt it or work outside the process. Trump continues to be critical of many of his senior staff, creating internal tensions and fraying levels of trust. The President punctuates meetings and visits with allies with questions about the performance of everyone, from Vice President Mike Pence to Spicer. The result is a West Wing staff that functions with an unspoken motto akin to the Serenity Prayer, the meditation common among 12-step program participants: aides focus on changing what they can, seeking to accept what they cannot and trying to keep a level-enough head to know the difference between the two.

Trump advisers now talk about the self-inflicted wounds of the first five months as largely out of their hands--forced upon them by an instinctual, impulsive President. They believe their advice will best position the President for success--if he chooses that path. "He has his own opinions as far as reading the tea leaves and watching the news and trusting his gut on how things need to be done," the senior official says.

Maybe so, but Trump has yet to empower any single person to speak authoritatively in his stead, and there is little sign that he trusts his team to steer him in the right direction. Trump has prevented Priebus from assuming the traditional chief-of-staff role as first among equals. If an aide's profile grows too big, the President has a tendency to publicly shoot that person down, or privately raise the specter of a staff change. (Even son-in-law Jared Kushner drew the President's ire over his elevated public profile and contributions to the internal discord.)

As a result, the careful planning in the White House is often upended from within. On June 7, when Trump tweeted that he would pick Christopher Wray to be his new FBI director, his communications operation was left in the dark, rushing to craft a response without forewarning. The same was true when he announced the firing of Comey, or the dozens of times he has redirected the news cycle with an early-morning tweet.

Several senior Republicans expect that a breaking point will come, which will force the President to cede more of his control. "When his numbers go down to 30%, he has got to listen," said one Republican with prior White House experience. "And they are starting to decline." On June 12, Trump hit 60% disapproval in the Gallup daily poll.

Those declining numbers may explain why, inside the West Wing, an alternative mood is sometimes the order of the day. Trump's entire Cabinet gathered steps from the Oval Office for its inaugural meeting in a classic Trump style, with effusive public praise of the President himself. "It is just the greatest privilege of my life to serve as Vice President," Pence began, after which each officer followed. Priebus called the chance to serve Trump's agenda a "blessing." The televised performance offered a rare public glimpse to the sort of praise aides often give Trump in private as they seek to win his favor. But such tactics won't solve the many headaches that still shadow the President. Dozens of key positions throughout the federal government--like deputy Cabinet secretaries, independent agency heads and U.S. Attorneys--have still not been appointed, in part because of disagreement at the White House. Congress is still waiting to be briefed on strategic plans for the wars against Islamic extremism, and there is little hope of passing any of Trump's big-ticket legislative priorities before the end of the summer.

Hours after the Cabinet meeting, White House aides returned to the second floor to focus on the task at hand: cobbling together a message to incorporate disparate agenda items like the budget, health care reform and infrastructure investment. Then, as the group was heading out, the careful planning was thrown off again as a friend of Trump's said in a television interview that the President was considering firing the Russia investigation's special counsel, Robert Mueller. The White House team quickly rushed out denials, but for many top aides--even those central to the planning process--the news had struck a nerve. No matter how much they prepare, they just can't be sure what the President will do next.

--With reporting by MICHAEL SCHERER/WASHINGTON

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President Donald Trump departs the White House on June 7 in Washington.

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Have you filed an emoluments lawsuit against Donald Trump yet? If not, you better act fastthe docket is getting crowded. The attorneys general of D.C. and Maryland filed a suit on Monday alleging that the presidents receipt of foreign gifts and payments violated the Constitution. Two days later, nearly 200 members of Congress also sued Trump for the same purportedly unconstitutional conduct. Trumps attorneys at the Department of Justice, meanwhile, are busy fighting another emoluments lawsuit, this one filed back in January on behalf of an ethics watchdog and Trumps business competitors.

Mark Joseph Stern is a writer for Slate. He covers the law and LGBTQ issues.

Do any of these lawsuits have a real chance of success? And what would success even look like in this deeply ambiguous and heretofore uncharted area of constitutional law?

The very first emoluments suit is beginning to provide an answer to those questions. Spearheaded by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, this lawsuit elevated the emoluments problem from academic blogs to front-page headlines. The Constitutions Foreign Emoluments Clause declares that no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state. CREW reads this clause very broadly, arguing that it bars the president from receiving any payment from a foreign government.

CREW hopes to obtain a court order compelling Trump to divest from his business empire, which continues to receive cash from foreign, state-owned corporations. Its secondary goal is much more modest: The group wants to get to discovery, allowing it to demand financial records from Trump and his business empireincluding the presidents tax returns. To get to that point, however, CREW must prove it is an injured party and thus has standing to sue in court. CREW alleges that Trump injured the group by forcing it to divert valuable resources to an investigation into his ethics violations. This theory of standing was clearly a long shot. So, in March, CREW brought a restaurant association and a luxury hotel booker into its suit; both claim Trumps emoluments violations are causing them to lose business, a more solid ground for standing.

Even if CREW cant get past this threshold, it has already scored one political victory: The lawsuit forced the Justice Department to defend Trumps acquisition of wealth. In its lengthy brief, the DOJ argued that the Foreign Emoluments Clause applies only to benefits arising from services the president provides to the foreign state. Under the DOJs theory, Trump wont run afoul of the Constitution unless he receives payment from a foreign government for engaging in some official act.

This cramped interpretation is designed to ensure that private commercial transactions fall outside the clauses scope. To bolster that proposition, the brief embarked upon a comically tone-deaf tour of presidential profiteering through the ages. We learned that, during their presidencies, George Washington owned a gristmill; Thomas Jefferson, a nail factory; James Madison and James Monroe, tobacco plantations. According to the DOJ, these enterprises are constitutionally analogous to Trumps empire which, to give just one of many examples, allows the president to receive millions of dollars from a state-controlled Chinese bank.

The DOJs thesis is probably wrong; a wealth of historical evidence suggests the Framers viewed an emolument as any good or service of value, not one specific kind of bribery. But even if Trumps lawyers are right, their brief is still politically deleterious. The DOJ is now defending the chief executives constitutional right to rake in as much money as he can from foreign states, so long as the exchange doesnt involve a demonstrable quid pro quo. Trump and his lawyers are defining corruption downward. First, we were told the president would separate himself from his businesses. Now we have learned that he wont, but he promises not to take any outright bribes. As far as presidential ethics go, only Richard Nixon set a lower bar.

Should a federal judge toss out CREWs suit, Trumps opponents will have at least two more bites at the apple. The Washington and Maryland suit is especially interesting, since both jurisdictions have a strong case for standing. Maryland argues that Trumps D.C. hotel is drawing foreign business out of the state, reducing its tax revenue; the District of Columbia alleges the hotel is drawing business away from its convention center, which is taxpayer-owned. The congressional lawsuit, on the other hand, asserts Trump is injuring members of Congress by depriving them of the opportunity to vote on his emoluments. Because the Constitution allows the president to receive emoluments with the consent of the Congress, these representatives argue they must be able to allow or prohibit Trumps acceptance of foreign payments.

That theory is certainly creative, although law professor and emoluments expert Andy Grewal doubts it will succeed since Congress could vote on Trumps emoluments and has simply chosen not to. Either way, both suits will force the Justice Department to continue defending Trumps profiteering. If one makes it past the standing stage, the plaintiffs will enter the promised land of discovery (and tax returns). The emoluments litigation has already put Trump on the defensive and forced his lawyers to justify presidential enrichment; it now poses a real threat of unveiling his secretive business dealings as well. What started as a single long-shot lawsuit may soon turn into a nightmare for the president.

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Donald Trump Is Now Facing Three Emoluments Lawsuits - Slate Magazine

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull risks a fresh rift with Donald Trump after leaked footage showed him parodying the president and alluding to a U.S. probe into election campaign links with Russia.

In a closed-door speech Wednesday night to journalists and lawmakers at Australias equivalent of the White House correspondents dinner, Turnbull imitated Trump speaking about online opinion polls: They are so easy to win. I have this Russian guy...believe me, its true, its true.

While journalists were told the speech was not for reporting, a local television network broadcast audio portions on Thursday of Turnbulls comments to the backdrop of audience laughter.

Trump has faced scrutiny over allegations his campaign colluded with Russia to influence the last U.S. election. A special counsel plans to interview top U.S. intelligence officials about whether Trump sought their help to get the FBI to back off a probe into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, according to three people familiar with the inquiry.

Turnbull on Thursday played down his Trump impression, calling it affectionately light-hearted. Still, the two had a rocky start after Trump complained about a promise by the prior U.S. administration to resettle refugees held by Australia in offshore detention centers. The leaders smoothed things over at a meeting in the U.S. in May.

It was good natured and the brunt of my jokes was myself, Turnbull said Thursday in a radio interview, rejecting the notion his speech was at Trumps expense. He said he was disappointed the comments were leaked.

Relations between the U.S. and its military ally Australia sank after Trump blasted the refugee resettlement plan negotiated by Barack Obama, calling it a dumb deal in a late-night tweet. That came after the Washington Post reported that Trump berated Turnbull in a phone call and abruptly ended their conversation.

After a face-to-face meeting in New York last month, Trump described Australia and the U.S. old friends and really natural partners.

In the speech on Wednesday night, Turnbull said his May summit with Trump was beautiful; it was the most beautiful putting-me-at-ease ever.

The Australian leader also poked fun at his own low ratings. Turnbull has struggled to win over voters since coming to power and won last Julys election by a one-seat margin.His Liberal-National coalition trails the Labor opposition by six percentage points on a two-party-preferred measure, according to a Newspoll published in late May.

The Donald and I, we are winning and winning in the polls, Turnbull said, imitating Trumps manner of speaking. We are winning so much. We are winning like we have never won before. We are winning in the polls. We are, we are. Not the fake polls, not the fake polls.

Were winning in the real polls, he said. You know, the online polls. They are so easy to win. I know that, did you know that? I kind of know that.

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Leaked Footage Shows Australian PM Mocking Donald Trump - Bloomberg

Just talking about this guy.

Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

In the tradition of the Clintonometer and the Trump Apocalypse Watch, the Impeach-O-Meter is a wildly subjective and speculative daily estimate of the likelihood that Donald Trump leaves office before his term ends, whether by being impeached (and convicted) or by resigning under threat of same.

It feels crass to make jokes about the chances of the Republican president being impeached on a day when Republican legislators faced a violent assault and were nearly killed by a deranged man who professed to have liberal politics. But, as Rep. Roger Williams said after escaping that shooting spree with his life, if we dont play this baseball game, they win. (A Williams staffer was injured during the assault.)

I dont want to assess what todays assault will mean politically for the president, because it just feels too soon and too gross. I will say that, in the long run, I hope and believe that neither side can or will very effectively use a tragedy such as this for partisan gain.

With that said, there were some new polls out today. Democrat Jon Ossoff leads his must-win race against Republican Karen Handel in Georgias 6th special House election by 3 points, according to a poll released on Wednesday by Trafalgar Group. Thats a good number for Democrats and their hopes of taking back the House in 2018, the only scenario right now that looks like it might lead to impeachment. According to a YouGov poll, meanwhile, 54 percent of voters say Congress should be investigating Trump campaign members contacts with Russian government officials before the inauguration to 30 percent who dont. Thats good news for those who want such an investigation to continue.

Democrats also lead Republicans by 2 points in that polls generic Congressional ballot. That number is probably less good for Democrats, who will need to win by a lot more than that to take back the House. Overall, Im taking the Impeach-O-Meter down two points to 43.

Photo illustration by Natalie Matthews-Ramo. Photos by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images, Win McNamee/Getty Images, Chris Kleponis-Pool/Getty Images, Drew Angerer/Getty Images, and Peter Parks-Pool/Getty Images.

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Today's Impeach-O-Meter: Not Going There - Slate Magazine (blog)

President Donald Trump says the man who opened fire on a congressional baseball practice has died from injuries in the shootout with capitol police.

The shooter has been identified as James T. Hodgkinson -- a 66-year-old man from Illinois who has publicly called for the destruction of Trump and his supporters.

POTUS addressed the media moments ago and said Hodgkinson "has now died."

As we previously reported, Hodgkinson walked up to a baseball practice in Virginia early Wednesday morning and opened fire -- striking Rep. Steve Scalise and others.

Capitol police officers on the scene exchanged gunfire with Hodgkinson -- striking him. The officers were also shot. They survived and are being treated for their injuries.

Trump called the incident a "very, very brutal assault."

He described Scalise as a "good friend, he's a patriot and a fighter."

Trump also praised the capitol police officers as heroes.

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Congress Shooter Is Dead - TMZ.com

We checked a statement by President Donald Trump at his first official cabinet meeting on June 12, 2017.

Some commentators called it "the weirdest Cabinet meeting ever": President Donald Trumps leadership team gathered to deliver a litany of praise for the president.

Trump saved some of the boasting for himself, making claims that his administration has been one of historic accomplishments.

"I will say that never has there been a president -- with few exceptions; in the case of FDR, he had a major depression to handle -- who's passed more legislation, who's done more things than what we've done, between the executive orders and the job-killing regulations that have been terminated," Trump said, later adding, "We've achieved tremendous success."

Weve previously checked Trumps claim in April that "no administration has accomplished more in the first 90 days" and found that assertion to be False. But given the high-profile setting of Trumps comment -- his first formal Cabinet meeting -- we decided to take a look at his new statement.

Presidential and congressional scholars arent any more convinced than they were in April. "Trumps boasts are empty," said Max J. Skidmore, a University of Missouri-Kansas City political scientist who has written several books on the presidency.

Legislation signed by Trump

When we checked with the White House, they noted that in this remark Trump acknowledged exceptions such as Roosevelt. They also pointed to the statistics for the number of laws and executive orders signed by a president in 100 days --a metric that Trump fares well on.

Around the 100-day point of Trumps presidency, we found that White House press secretary Sean Spicer was accurate on the numbers when he said that the current president has "worked with Congress to pass more legislation in his first 100 days than any president since (Harry) Truman." We noted that in the first 100 days of his first full term, Truman signed 55 bills; the president with the highest count since then is Trump with 28.

However, none of the bills Trump had signed at that point qualified as major pieces of legislation. None of the ones since are, either. They include, among others, two federal spending bills of the sort required periodically of every president and Congress to keep the government running; a bill overhauling government-employee travel policy; a bill about the United States competing for an international expo; a measure addressing Department of Homeland Security vehicle fleets; and the official naming of a federal courthouse in Tennessee.

While the White House is pursuing several major issues in Congress -- notably the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act and efforts to cut taxes and promote infrastructure -- it would be premature for Trump to take credit for these. The health care bill has passed the House but not yet passed the Senate, while the tax and infrastructure measures havent even gotten that far.

Trump is "correct that he has signed a rather large, although not unprecedented, number of bills," Skidmore said. However, "most of the bills he has signed are routine and unimportant."

Sarah Binder, a George Washington University political scientist who specializes in Congress, agreed that "the absence of significant legislative movement is glaring. Contrary to Trump's statement, this is a Republican government struggling to legislate, despite control of both chambers and the White House."

By contrast, even if you set aside Franklin D. Roosevelt -- as Trump did -- other presidents signed more far-reaching legislation during their first 100 days.

Bill Clinton signed the Family and Medical Leave Act, while Barack Obama signed not only a nearly $800 billion stimulus package to combat a spiraling recession but also the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and a law expanding the Childrens Health Insurance Program. Obama also implemented two urgent economic programs formally passed in the final weeks of George W. Bushs presidency -- the Troubled Asset Relief Program and the auto industry bailout.

Meanwhile, John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps (later ratified by Congress), while Trumans first 100 days were a whirlwind of foreign-policy actions -- the end of World War II in Europe, the writing of the United Nations charter, the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan, and Japans unconditional surrender.

Trumps most significant legislative achievements may be his use of the Congressional Review Act -- a previously little-used power that makes it easier for Congress and the president to overturn federal regulations.

"Some of these regulations are substantively and politically important," such as the overturning of the Stream Protection Act, an environmental regulation that Trump and others said harmed coal mining, said Gregory Koger, a University of Miami political scientist.

Still, Koger added, "these definitely do not rise to the level of landmark legislation, or even major legislation." And John Frendreis, a political scientist at Loyola University in Chicago, added that such powers were not available to most postwar presidents, since the Congressional Review Act was only passed in the 1990s. This makes comparisons with past presidents difficult, he said.

Trumps executive orders

As president, Trump has signed some three dozen executive orders, which also places him numerically above the presidents since Franklin Roosevelt.

A number of these orders have addressed high-profile issues, and some could potentially have significant impacts. One -- a visa ban for individuals from certain Muslim-majority nations -- remains tied up in lawsuits and is headed to the Supreme Court. Another notable order directs the Treasury Department to stop collecting penalties related to not having health insurance. If this policy is followed and isnt blocked by the courts, "it could cripple this aspect of the Affordable Care Act without altering the law," Frendreis said.

Trump also used executive orders to pull out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and to green-light key pipelines that had been held up by the Obama administration. And Trump also announced that the United States would be pulling out of the Paris climate agreement, though he didnt use an executive order in that case.

These are significant policy changes -- but its important to note some caveats about Trumps use of executive orders.

First, many of these orders started the ball rolling to overturn federal regulations, rather than overturning them in one fell swoop. Often, Congress needs to weigh in to change a law, or Cabinet departments must undertake a lengthy administrative process before policies officially change.

And second, new presidents routinely issue orders during their first 100 days that overturn actions of their predecessors of the opposite party.

Just two days after taking office, President Bill Clinton signed orders overturning restrictions on abortion imposed during the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, and with equal speed, President George W. Bush overturned Clintons opposition to a ban on aid to international groups that participate in abortions.

"Every president uses executive orders, especially when they cannot pass legislation because of a hostile Congress," Frendreis said. "So his actions here are typical, and not unusually impressive. In fact, his need to act administratively instead of legislatively implies legislative weakness, not strength, because he should be able to make policy through the legislative process since he has unified partisan control."

All told, he said, "the early Trump presidency stands out in terms of the number of symbolic actions he has taken to fulfill campaign promises, but his record of changing policy is not off to a fast start. Like all presidents, he has taken some impactful actions, but he does not stand out in this regard."

Our ruling

In his Cabinet meeting, Trump said that rare is the president "who's passed more legislation, who's done more things than what we've done, between the executive orders and the job-killing regulations that have been terminated."

Scholars of the presidency and Congress are unconvinced that Trumps legislative and administrative output is exceptional by historical standards. Trump has signed a relatively large number of bills so far, but comparatively few with significant impact. And while some of his executive orders have made an immediate impact, most have merely expressed his policy preferences or set in motion a process that may, or may not, change policies down the road.

We rate the statement Mostly False.

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2017-06-13 18:56:28 UTC

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Rare is the president "who's passed more legislation, who's done more things than what we've done, between the executive orders and the job-killing regulations that have been terminated."

a cabinet meeting

Monday, June 12, 2017

2017-06-12

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Donald Trump's boasts about accomplishments in office ring hollow - PolitiFact

New York Times

Jeff Sessions, Dennis Rodman, Donald Trump: Your Morning Briefing New York Times On Monday, a friend of President Trump said that Mr. Trump was considering whether to fire Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating possible ties between Russia and his campaign. A White House official said that only the president or his ... and more »

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Jeff Sessions, Dennis Rodman, Donald Trump: Your Morning Briefing - New York Times

Donald Trump announces that the United States will withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, June 1, 2017. (Reuters / Kevin Lamarque)

In its own inside-out, upside-down way, its almost wondrous to behold. As befits our presidents wildest dreams, it may even prove to be a record for the ages, one for the history books. He was, after all, the candidate who sensed it first. When those he was running against, like the rest of Washingtons politicians, were still insisting that the United States remained at the top of its game, not anbut theindispensable nation, the only truly exceptional one on the face of the earth, he said nothing of the sort. He campaigned on Americas decline, on this countrys increasing lack of exceptionality, its potential dispensability. He ran on the single word againas in make America great againbecause (the implication was) it just isnt anymore. And he swore that he and he alone was the best shot Americans, or at least non-immigrant white Americans, had at ever seeing the best of days again.

In that sense, he was our first declinist candidate for president, and if that didnt tell you something during the election season, it should have. No question about it, he hit a chord, rang a bell, because out in the heartland it was possible to sense a deepening reality that wasnt evident in Washington. The wealthiest country on the planet, the most militarily powerful in the history of well, anybody, anywhere, anytime (or so we were repeatedly told) couldnt win a war, not even with the investment of trillions of taxpayer dollars, couldnt do anything but spread chaos by force of arms.

Meanwhile, at home, despite all that wealth, despite billionaires galore, including the one running for president, despite the transnational corporate heaven inhabited by Google and Facebook and Apple and the rest of the crew, parts of this country and its infrastructure were starting to feel distinctly (to use a word from another universe) Third Worldish. He sensed that, too. He regularly said things like this: We spent six trillion dollars in the Middle East, we got nothing. And we have an obsolete plane system. We have obsolete airports. We have obsolete trains. We have bad roads. Airports. And this: Our airports are like from a third-world country. And on the nations crumbling infrastructure, he couldnt have been more on the mark.

In parts of the United States, white working-class and middle-class Americans could sense that the future was no longer theirs, that their children would not have a shot at what they had had, that they themselves increasingly didnt have a shot at what they had had. The American Dream seemed to be gaining an almost nightmarish sheen, given that the real value of the average wage of a worker hadnt increased since the 1970s; that the cost of a college education had gone through the roof and the educational-debt burden for children with dreams of getting ahead was now staggering; that unions were cratering; that income inequality was at a historic high; and well, you know the story, really you do. In essence, for them the famed American Dream seemed ever more like someone elses trademarked property.

Indispensable? Exceptional? This country? Not anymore. Not as they were experiencing it.

And because of that, Donald Trump won the lottery. He answered the $64,000 question. (If youre not of a certain age, Google it, but believe me, its a reference in our presidents memory book.) He entered the Oval Office with almost 50 percent of the vote and a fervent base of support for his promised program of doing it all over again, 1950s-style.

It had been one hell of a pitch from the businessman billionaire. He had promised a future of stratospheric terrificness, of greatness on an historic scale. He promised to keep the evil onesthe rapists, job thieves, and terroristsaway, to wall them out or toss them out or ban them from ever traveling here. He also promised to set incredible records, as only a mega-businessman like him could conceivably do, the sort of all-American records this country hadnt seen in a long, long time.

And early as it is in the Trump era, it seems as if, on one score at least, he could deliver something for the record books going back to the times when those recording the acts of rulers were still scratching them out in clay or wax. At this point, theres at least a chance that Donald Trump might preside over the most precipitous decline of a truly dominant power in history, one only recently considered at the height of its glory. It could prove to be a fall for the ages. Admittedly, that other superpower of the Cold War era, the Soviet Union, imploded in 1991, which was about the fastest way imaginable to leave the global stage. Still, despite the evil empire talk of that era, the USSR was always the secondary, the weaker of the two superpowers. It was never Rome, or Spain, or Great Britain.

When it comes to the United States, were talking about a country that not so long ago saw itself as the only great power left on planet Earth, the lone superpower. It was the one still standing, triumphant, at the end of a history of great power rivalry that went back to a time when the wooden warships of various European states first broke out into a larger world and began to conquer it. It stood by itself at, as its proponents liked to claim at the time, the end of history.

As we watch, it seems almost possible to see President Trump, in real time, tweet by tweet, speech by speech, sword dance by sword dance, intervention by intervention, act by act, in the process of dismantling the system of global powerof soft power, in particular, and of alliances of every sortby which the United States made its will felt, made itself a truly global hegemon. Whether his America first policies are aimed at creating a future order of autocrats, or petro-states, or are nothing more than the expression of his libidinous urges and secret hatreds, he may already be succeeding in taking down that world order in record fashion.

Despite the mainstream pieties of the moment about the nature of the system Donald Trump appears to be dismantling in Europe and elsewhere, it was anything but either terribly liberal or particularly peaceable. Wars, invasions, occupations, the undermining or overthrow of governments, brutal acts and conflicts of every sort succeeded one another in the years of American glory. Past administrations in Washington had a notorious weakness for autocrats, just as Donald Trump does today. They regularly had less than no respect for democracy if, from Iran to Guatemala to Chile, the will of the people seemed to stand in Washingtons way. (It is, as Vladimir Putin has been only too happy to point out of late, an irony of our moment that the country that has undermined or overthrown or meddled in more electoral systems than any other is in a total snit over the possibility that one of its own elections was meddled with.) To enforce their global system, Americans never shied away from torture, black sites, death squads, assassinations, and other grim practices. In those years, the US planted its military on close to 1,000 overseas military bases, garrisoning the planet as no other country ever had.

Nonetheless, the canceling of the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal, the withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, threats against NAFTA, the undermining of NATO, the promise of protective tariffs on foreign goods (and the possible trade wars that might go with them) could go a long way toward dismantling the American global system of soft power and economic dominance as it has existed in these last decades. If such acts and others like them prove effective in the months and years to come, they will leave only one kind of power in the American global quiver: hard military power, and its handmaiden, the kind of covert power Washington, through the CIA in particular, has long specialized in. If Americas alliances crack open and its soft power becomes too angry or edgy to pass for dominant power anymore, its massive machinery of destruction will still be left, including its vast nuclear arsenal. While, in the Trump era, a drive to cut domestic spending of every sort is evident, more money is still slated to go to the military, already funded at levels not reached by combinations of other major powers.

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Given the last 15 years of history, its not hard to imagine whats likely to result from the further elevation of military power: disaster. This is especially true because Donald Trump has appointed to key positions in his administration a crew of generals who spent the last decade and a half fighting Americas catastrophic wars across the Greater Middle East. They are not only notoriously incapable of thinking outside the box about the application of military power, but faced with the crisis of failed wars and failing states, of spreading terror movements and a growing refugee crisis across that crucial region, they can evidently only imagine one solution to just about any problem: more of the same. More troops, more mini-surges, more military trainers and advisers, more air strikes, more drone strikes more.

After a decade and a half of such thinking we already know perfectly well where this endsin further failure, more chaos and suffering, but above all in an inability of the United States to effectively apply its hard power anywhere in any way that doesnt make matters worse. Since, in addition, the Trump administration is filled with Iranophobes, including a president who has only recently fused himself to the Saudi royal family in an attempt to further isolate and undermine Iran, the possibility that a military-first version of American foreign policy will spread further is only growing.

Such more thinking is typical as well of much of the rest of the cast of characters now in key positions in the Trump administration. Take the CIA, for instance. Under its new director, Mike Pompeo (distinctly a more kind of guy and an Iranophobe of the first order), two key positions have reportedly been filled: a new chief of counterterrorism and a new head of Iran operations (recently identified as Michael DAndrea, an Agency hardliner with the nickname the Dark Prince). Heres how Matthew Rosenberg and Adam Goldman of the New York Times recently described their similar approaches to their jobs (my emphasis added):

Mr. DAndreas new role is one of a number of moves inside the spy agency that signal a more muscular approach to covert operations under the leadership of Mike Pompeo, the conservative Republican and former congressman, the officials said. The agency also recently named a new chief of counterterrorism, who has begun pushing for greater latitude to strike militants.

In other words, more!

Rest assured of one thing, whatever Donald Trump accomplishes in the way of dismantling Americas version of soft power, his generals and intelligence operatives will handle the hard-power part of the equation just as ably.

If a Trump presidency achieves a record for the ages when it comes to the precipitous decline of the American global system, little as The Donald ever cares to share credit for anything, he will undoubtedly have to share it for such an achievement. Its true that kings, emperors, and autocrats, the top dogs of any moment, prefer to take all the credit for the records set in their time. When we look back, however, its likely that President Trump will be seen as having given a tottering system that necessary push. It will undoubtedly be clear enough by then that the US, seemingly at the height of any powers power in 1991 when the Soviet Union disappeared, began heading for the exits soon thereafter, still enwreathed in self-congratulation and triumphalism.

Had this not been so, Donald Trump would never have won the 2016 election. It wasnt he, after all, who gave the US heartland an increasingly Third World feel. It wasnt he who spent those trillions of dollars so disastrously on invasions and occupations, dead-end wars, drone strikes and special ops raids, reconstruction and deconstruction in a never-ending war on terror that today looks more like a war for the spread of terror. It wasnt he who created the growing inequality gap in this country or produced all those billionaires amid a population that increasingly felt left in the lurch. It wasnt he who hiked college tuitions or increased the debt levels of the young or set roads and bridges to crumbling and created the conditions for Third World-style airports.

If both the American global and domestic systems hadnt been rotting out before Donald Trump arrived on the scene, that again of his wouldnt have worked. Thought of another way, when the US was truly at the height of its economic clout and power, American leaders felt no need to speak incessantly of how indispensable or exceptional the country was. It seemed too self-evident to mention. Someday, some historian may use those very words in the mouths of American presidents and other politicians (and their claims, for instance, that the US military was the finest fighting force that the world has ever known) as a set of increasingly defensive markers for measuring the decline of American power.

So heres the question: When the Trump years (months?) come to an end, will the US be not the planets most exceptional land, but a pariah nation? Will that again still be the story of the year, the decade, the century? Will the last American Firster turn out to have been the first American Laster? Will it truly be one for the record books?

The rest is here:

Donald Trump Might Set a Recordfor the Biggest Decline of American Power in History - The Nation.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized the House-passed health care bill, calling it "mean" in a meeting with Republican senators and urging them to develop a "more generous" version. But just over a month ago, the president repeatedly praised the GOP-sponsored legislation, describing it as a "great plan" after a vote confirmed the bill's approval in the House.

Here are all the ways Trump lauded the American Health Care Act in his speech from the White House Rose Garden on May 4th:

"And I will say this, that as far as Im concerned, your premiums, theyre going to start to come down," Trump said during the beginning of his remarks, before later adding: "And I think, most importantly, yes, premiums will be coming down. Yes, deductibles will be coming down. But very importantly, its a great plan. And ultimately, thats what its all about."

A forecast from the Congressional Budget Office, an independent, nonpartisan agency, said that premiums will actually increase over the next few years should the bill pass in its current form, and long-term effects will ultimately fall to individual states.

"Right now, the insurance companies are fleeing. Its been a catastrophe. And this is a great plan," Trump said. "I actually think it will get even better. And this is, make no mistake, this is a repeal and replace of Obamacare. Make no mistake about it. Make no mistake."

"And this really helps it. A lot of people said, how come you kept pushing healthcare, knowing how tough it is? Dont forget, Obamacare took 17 months. Hillary Clinton tried so hard really valiantly, in all fairness, to get healthcare through. Didnt happen," Trump remarked. "Weve really been doing this for eight weeks, if you think about it. And this is a real plan. This is a great plan. And we had no support from the other party."

"But we want to brag about the plan, because this plan really uh oh," Trump began before he was cut off by a laughing audience. "Well, we may. But were just going to talk a little bit about the plan, how good it is, some of the great features."

The CBO in the same aforementioned report said that if the bill goes through in its current condition, 23 million Americans will lose insurance over the next 10 years.

"So what we have is something very, very incredibly well-crafted. Tell you what, there is a lot of talent standing behind me. An unbelievable amount of talent, that I can tell you. I mean it," Trump gushed.

"But we have an amazing group of people standing behind me," the president added. "They worked so hard and they worked so long. And when I said, lets do this, lets go out, just short little shots for each one of us and lets say how good this plan is we dont have to talk about this unbelievable wasnt it unbelievable? So we dont have to say it again. But its going to be an unbelievable victory, actually, when we get it through the Senate."

See the original post:

Here Are All the Ways President Trump Praised the GOP Health Care Bill He Just Called 'Mean' - TIME