Category Archives: Donald Trump

WASHINGTON Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Sunday that our institutions are under assault internally by President Donald Trump, who is eroding the American system of checks and balances on political power.

The developments of the past week are very bothersome, very disturbing to me, Clapper told CNNs Jake Tapper. I think in many ways, our institutions are under assault externally and thats the big news here, is the Russian interference in our election system. And I think as well, our institutions are under assault internally.

Tapper asked Clapper if internally indicated Trump. Exactly, Clapper responded.

Trump fired FBI Director James Comey this week, and told NBC News that he did so out of frustration with the agencys continued investigation into alleged Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election. Trump later tweeted that Comey should be careful about leaking to the press, in case tapes of conversations between Comey and Trump exist. The tweet was widely interpreted as a threat to Comey. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) called the tweet inappropriate during an appearance on NBC Sunday.

On Sunday, Clapper praised the American system of three coequal branches of government created by the founding fathers with a built-in system of checks and balances.

I feel as though thats under assault and is eroding, Clapper said, adding that congressional Republicans should publicly condemn the presidents recent activities. I hope theyll speak up, he said.

Clapper lied to Congress in 2013 about the Obama administrations mass surveillance activities, infuriating some Democrats and libertarian-leaning Republicans, some of whom called for the government to pursue perjury charges against him.

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'Our Institutions Are Under Assault' - HuffPost

By Chip Somodevilla/Getty images.

Donald Trump, frustrated with his staffs failure to contain the fallout from his seemingly abrupt decision to fire F.B.I. Director James Comey, is reportedly weighing a huge reboot of his West Wing team. According to various reports Sunday, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, and press secretary Sean Spicer, among others could be axed. This was the first major crisis or test theyve had, and it looks like a lot of systems failed, Chris Ruddy, the chief executive of Newsmax and longtime Trump ally, told The Washington Post. My experience with the president is when he sees failure, he quickly adapts and tries new things. Hes not a guy that keeps the same ol.

What was supposed to be a quiet week in the West Wing ahead of Trumps first foreign trip, quickly devolved into chaos when the news of Comeys ouster broke on Tuesday night. Trump, who has reportedly grown increasingly distrustful of his staff amid an endless stream of White House leaks, kept a number of key staffers in the dark about his decision to fire the F.B.I. director, leaving only a close-knit circle of his top advisors privy to his thinking. But in his paranoia, the president hamstrung his own press shop. Given an hour to prepare for the media frenzy that would ensue, the White House communications team led by Spicer and communications director Michael Dubke crafted a narrativethat Comey was fired for mishandling of the probe into Hillary Clintons use of a private e-mail server at the State Department at the recommendation of deputy Attorney General Rod Rosensteinwas quickly dismissed by the media as pretext. Faced with a deluge of contradictory reports and a torrent of White House leaks, the Trump administrations story of Comeys firing shifted dramatically over the course of 48-hours, fueling speculation that the F.B.I. directors exit was related to the ongoing investigation into the Trump campaigns Russia ties.

It was Trumpacting on his belief that he is his own best spokespersonwho delivered the final blow to the White Houses Comey story. Regardless of recommendation I was going to fire Comey, Trump told NBC Newss Lester Holt during an interview that aired on Thursday. In fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story, effectively confirming that his teams initial talking points were a lie. And to make matters worse, a series of tweets the president fired off on Fridaywherein he attacked the media and made a vague threat about tapes of his conversations with Comeycreated new headaches for the administrations embattled press team. Trump is putting a lot on the backs of his spokespeople, while simultaneously cutting their legs out from underneath them, Alex Conant, a Republican strategist and a former adviser to Florida Senator Marco Rubio, told the New York Times. There is nothing more discouraging or embarrassing for a spokesman than to have your boss contradict you. In political communications, youre only as good as your credibility.

Despite the self-inflicted nature of the crisis swirling around Trump, the president is blaming his staff and a series of media reports indicate that a White House staff shakeup could be imminent. Mike Allen of Axios reported on Sunday that Trump is mulling a huge reboot of his staff. A close confidant of Trumps told Allen, Hes frustrated, and angry at everyone, and added, The advice he's getting is to go bigthat he has nothing to lose, the confidant said. The question now is how big and how bold. I'm not sure he knows the answer to that yet. The potential White House purge could take out high-ranking aides. According to Axios, even Priebus, who has struggled to find footing in the West Wing; senior strategist Stephen Bannon, who has a reportedly contentious relationship with Trumps son-in-law Jared Kushner; and White House counsel Donald McGahn might be on the chopping block. But one trusted adviser told Allen that top aides who have fallen out of favor with the president might just find themselves cut out of key discussions and decision making rather than out of jobs. Most reports indicate that a staffing overhaul is more likely to originate within the White House press shop.

On Friday, Trump seemingly provided cover for his press team when he tweeted, As a very active President with lots of things happening, it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with perfect accuracy! Longtime Trump ally and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, echoed the sentiment, telling the Times that the president resembles a quarterback who doesnt call a huddle and gets ahead of his offensive line so nobody can block him and defend him because nobody knows what the play is. Despite having been caught largely flat-footed by Trumps decision to fire Comey, the White House communications team has bore the brunt of the blame for the sharp criticism the president has faced over the past week, according to multiple media reports. And during an interview with Fox Newss Jeanine Pirro, Trump reiterated a suggestion he made earlier on Twitter that he might cancel the daily White House press briefingsundercutting the work of Spicer and deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who took up the podium this week while Spicer was out for two days on Naval reserve duty.

Any shakeup of the White House communications team would likely begin with Spicer. According to the Times, Trump might already have a candidate in mind to go head-to-head with the White House press corps everyday: Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle. And for his part, Spicer is reportedly aware that his days in the Trump administration might be numbered. An ally of the press secretary told The Wall Street Journal, that he recognizes this hasnt been a good week for him.

But overhauling his communications team might prove to be a difficult task for Trump. The fallout from the Comey debacle laid bare the dysfunction within the West Wing, but most notably exposed that the incoherency in its messaging lies with Trump. As former Obama advisor David Axelrod noted to the Times, The most hazardous duty in Washington these days is that of Trump surrogate because the president constantly undercuts the statements of his own people. He added, You wind up looking like a liar or a fool, neither of which is particularly attractive. And to Axelrods point, one anonymous White House official asked CNN during an interview, Do you think were liars? This dynamic, that Trump surrogates are always at risk of being contradicted by the president, is unlikely to cease and likely to ward off competent potential candidates.

Of course, as Allen notes, this wouldnt be the first timenor is it likely to be the last that Trump has engaged in a Hamlet-esque should-I-or-shouldnt-I deliberation about staff. As has proven to be the case on many occasions with Trump, his talk of a staff overhaul could be nothing more than bluster.

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Donald Trump Is Reportedly Considering Blowing Up the West Wing - Vanity Fair

As is customary for a sitting US president, Donald Trump proclaimed today Mothers Day. As is customary for Donald Trump, the proclamation is light on substance, and also treats mothers as people who belong first and foremost in the home.

Our deep appreciation for the strength and spirit of mothers and their resolve to do what is right for their children and families cannot be overstated. They are often the first to lend a hand during hard times and the first to celebrate our proudest victories. The boundless energy of our mothers inspires us to be people of action, people who strive relentlessly toward our goals. Above all, they teach us the power and joy of unconditional love.

Compare that to the Mothers Day proclamation Barack Obama issued in 2012, which contains a lengthy paragraph on the challenges faced daily by working moms in America, as well as his administrations efforts to improve their lot:

Mothers raise children under an array of circumstances, and many work long hours inside and outside the home balancing myriad demands. Mothers are leaders and trailblazers in every part of our societyfrom classrooms to boardrooms, at home and overseas, on the beat and on the bench. We celebrate the efforts of all our Nations mothers, and we recognize that when more households are relying on women as primary or co-breadwinners, the success of women in our economy is essential to the success of our families, our communities, and our country. That is why I created the White House Council on Women and Girls as one of my first acts in officeto ensure we integrate the needs of women and girls into every decision we make. I was proud to sign the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which continues to help women secure equal pay for equal work, and my Administration continues to promote workplace flexibility so no mother has to choose between her job and her child. And because of the Affordable Care Act, women finally have more power to make choices about their health care, and they have expanded access to a wide variety of preventive services such as mammograms at no additional cost.

Or even this one from George W. Bush in 2001, which nods to the many women who are heads of their household:

Many American families are now headed solely by women, and these women shoulder enormous responsibilities. For the good of their families and our Nation, we must strive to provide support and assistance to those mothers, such as, opportunities for training and employment; early childhood education for their young ones; and safe, affordable, and high-quality childcare.

(It goes on to call for fathers to fulfill their financial and nurturing responsibilities, but points for trying.)

That Trump fails to celebrate mothers for anything other than their role in bearing and nurturing children is hardly surprising: His comments about women include, among other things, I think that putting a wife to work is a very dangerous thing. Since ascending to the presidency, Trump has wrenched aid from organizations that provide family planning and basic womens health care, and championed a health care bill that promises to revert the US to a time when being a womanand especially a mother!was essentially a pre-existing condition.

The bill passed on May 4 by the US House of Representatives would waive protections that keep insurance companies from charging higher premiums to women who have been sexually assaulted, domestically abused, pregnant, infertile, or even had a C-section. The legislation has drawn comparisons to The Handmaids Tale, Margaret Atwoods dystopian-novel-turned-TV-series about a futuristic US that strips women of their rights and relegates them to reproductive slavery, all while preaching the value of child-bearing women to society.

Blessed be the fruit, they say in The Handmaids Tale. Whether by birth, adoption, or foster care, our Nations mothers give selflessly of themselves for the wellbeing of the lives and futures of others, says Trump in his Mothers Day proclamation. We humbly thank them for this greatest gift.

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Donald Trump's Mother's Day proclamation is straight out of The Handmaid's Tale - Quartz

Saturday Night Live mocked Donald Trump's interview with NBC's Lester Holt as Alec Baldwin's president stumbled his way through questions about James Comey's firing and comparisons to Richard Nixon.

Regarding the controversial firing of the FBI director, Trump accidentally negated the explanations doled out by his press secretaries during the NBC interview, a mistake that SNL seized on.

"I fired him because of Russia. I thought 'I don't like that. I should fire him,'" Baldwin's Trump said in the cold open. Michael Che's Holt then pointed out that is obstruction of justice and wondered aloud, "That's it? Did I get him? Is it all over?" before being informed "nothing matters anymore."

"That's right, nothing's gonna stop me because I have the Republicans in the palm of my hand," Baldwin's Trump said before ringing a bell, which summoned Paul Ryan holding a tray of two scoops of ice cream.

The president is then forced to fight off comparisons between his administration and Nixon's during Watergate. "I am nothing like Nixon because I am not a crook, plus I bet Nixon only got one scoop of ice cream for dessert, but I get two."

Holt pointed out another difference between Nixon and Trump: Nixon actually won the popular vote.

On SNL, Trump again (falsely) reiterates that he invented the economic term "priming the pump," although the definition has grossly changed: "It's when I tug on myself a half-hour before Melania comes in so she can find it easier, okay?"

After an especially WTF week at the White House, Holt asked Trump to pump the brakes on a presidency that's become a 24-7 reality show.

"Too bad because this is gonna run for eight years, okay? Even though it should've been canceled months ago, but don't worry: We have plenty of fun plot twists coming up," Trump told Holt. "A lot of your favorite characters will be coming back: Kim Jong Un, Carter Page, even that little psycho Steve Miller. Also, I don't want to give away too much but in an upcoming episode we will find out that Kellyanne was dead this whole time."

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See Alec Baldwin's Donald Trump Dismiss Nixon... - RollingStone.com

It may just be one of the most perfectand least celebratedsuccess stories of the American dream: a poor, 18-year-old immigrant moves to New York City, escaping economic hardship in her homeland of Scotland. She falls in love with the son of two German migrants, and the couple eventually builds a family together consisting of five healthy, happy children; one of whom will eventually become the president of the United States.

Sunday marks Donald Trumps first Mother's Day in the Oval Office.Mary Anne MacLeod Trump has been deceased since 2000, when she quietly passed away a year after her husband at the age of 88. However, if she were still alive, she likely would have reveled in the fact that her son became the leader of the free world.

Related: Will Donald Trump Be Impeached Or Removed From Office?

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"Looking back, I realize now that I got some of my sense of showmanship from my mother,"Trump wrote in The Art of the Deal. "She always had a flair for the dramatic and grand. She was a very traditional housewife, but she also had a sense of the world beyond her."

Donald Trump standing next to his sister Maryanne Trump Barry, during a break in proceedings of the Aberdeenshire Council inquiry into his plans for a golf resort, Aberdeen, northeast Scotland June 10, 2008. Reuters

Unlike former President Barack Obama, who often spoke of his fathers migration to Hawaii and his familys own American success story,Trump didnt speak much about his mother (if at all) throughout the 2016 presidential election. Despite the obvious ability his familyhistory had to pull on votersheartstrings across the country, the Republican candidate made no mention of Mary Anne Trump or even his Scottish roots on his campaign website. And yet, she seems to have had an enormous influence on the presidents life.

Trump has previously written about the love and respect he held for his mother and how that shaped his relationships with the women in his life. "Part of the problem Ive had with women has been in having to compare them to my incredible mother, Mary Trump,"he wrote in The Art of the Comeback. "My mother is smart as hell."

Two of his three wives, First Lady Melania Trump and Czech-American businesswoman Ivana Trump, were young immigrants who moved to the United States for employment. His second wife, Marla Maples, a TV actress, had a short-lived marriage with Trump which kicked off with an extravagant wedding reportedly attended by more than a thousand guests.

Despite numerous controversies over disturbing comments the president has made about women in the past, including a Hollywood Access tape from 2005 in which Trump said he fondles womens genitals without their expressed permission because hes "a star,"and several women claiming Trump sexually assaulted them over the years, hisdaughter Ivanka Trump and other female colleagues defend him as a supporter of women, mothers and families.

"I'm very proud of my father's advocacy, long before he came into the presidency, he championed this in the primaries. He's been a tremendous champion of supporting families and enabling them to thrive," the first daughter and assistant to the president said in April, focusing on womens issues, alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel.Ivanka Trumps comments were met with hisses and boos from the audience.

"I've certainly heard the criticism from the media and that's been perpetuated, but I know from personal experience,"Trump continued, "and I think the thousands of women who have worked with and for my father for decades when he was in the private sector are a testament to his belief and solid conviction in the potential of women and their ability to do the job as well as any man."

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Who Is Mary Anne Trump? Donald Trump's Immigrant Mother Came To America For A Better Life - Newsweek

Silicon Valley is known for its politically progressive culture and distaste for the policies of President Trump. But Twitter executives are voicing their support for Trump's frequent use of their social media platform and have even encouraged the president to use Twitter more.

On Sunday's broadcast of the "Today" show on NBC, Chief Executive Jack Dorsey said in an interview that he thinks Trump's frequent use of Twitter serves a greater political good.

"I believe it's really important I hear directly from our leadership. And I believe its really important to hold them accountable," Dorsey said. "And I believe it's really important to have these conversations out in the open rather than have them behind closed doors."

He said Trump has "found a tool that's useful for him."

Dorsey said that the absence of platforms like Twitter would be bad for open political discourse. "It goes in the dark and I just don't think that's good for anyone," he said.

His remarks came shortly after Anthony Noto, Twitter's chief financial and operating officer, encouraged the White House to use the social media platform even more.

Noto was responding to a recent tweet Trump posted in which the president said he was considering eliminating regular White House press briefings.

"May I suggest questions submitted and answered via Twitter," Noto said on his Twitter account. "A perfect record and we distribute to the world not just those with a TV."

Last month, Twitter leaders suggested in an earnings conference call that the platform has experienced a bump in users thanks to the rise in political discourse during Trump's first weeks in office.

The company said it had 328 million active users after adding 9 million in the first quarter of the year.

There is "some evidence that we benefited from our new and resurrected users following more news and political accounts in [the first quarter], particularly in the U.S.," Noto said during the call.

"That's a really positive thing."

The San Francisco company reported its first year-over-year decline in quarterly revenue in the first quarter. But the stock has been on the upswing this month after Twitter announcing a deal to stream videos from Bloomberg Media around the clock as it pursues a strategy to make itself more of a video destination.

david.ng@latimes.com

@DavidNgLAT

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Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey supports Donald Trump's use of the social media platform - Los Angeles Times

Last January, the former leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev,eerily declared that it looks like the world is preparing for war. In fact, many notable commentators agree with this dismal assessment, including some who see the Syrian civil war as the beginning of World War III.

Perhaps buttressing this view, President Donald Trump recently decided to arm the Syrian Kurds, a move that will likely inflame relations with the increasingly less democratic state of Turkey, which is a key ally in the fight against the Islamic State. Meanwhile, U.S.-Russian relations may be at an all-time low according to Trump himself, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has repeatedly affirmed that all options [are] on the table with respect to the rogue state of North Korea, an avid experimenter with nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.

The world situation is rife with risk potential, and its immense complexity requires cool heads capable of careful reflection on both the ethical and strategic implications of different foreign policy options. Unfortunately, it would take the most ideologically blinded individual to maintain that Trump is the right guy for the job, given his ignominious record of outbursts, rejecting expertise and making demonstrably false statements.

But the situation is worse than this, and theres hard data to back it up. Consider a phenomenon identified by the psychologist Philip Tetlock called integrative complexity, which captures a sense of intellectual balance, nuance, and sophistication. Individuals with low integrative complexity preferentially use strong language that divides the world into black and white; words like absolutely, definitely and indisputably are common in low-complexity political speeches. Slightly higher complexity is associated with hedging terms like usually and almost, and still higher complexity involves acknowledging multiple points of viewas well as connections, tradeoffs, or compromises between these views. The very highest level of integrative complexity is marked by the use of abstract principles to elucidate and navigate the relationships between different perspectives, as when one adopts a particular view because it comports with Immanuel Kants categorical imperative, or the utilitarian maxim that one should always act so as to maximize pleasure and minimize suffering in the world.

What does integrative complexity have to do with Donald Trump? First, by any objective account, the complexity of Trumps speech is abominably low. Studies show that he literally talks at a fourth-grade level, despite his claim of having the best words. He is also known (indeed, famous) for relying heavily on simplistic adjectives like huge, best, beautiful and terrible, as well as making sweeping categorical assertions like I alone can defeat ISIS, There is nobody who understands the horror of nuclear more than me, Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it, Theres nobody bigger or better at the military than I am and Nobody in the history of this country has ever known so much about infrastructure as Donald Trump. Talk about a lack of balance, nuance and sophistication!

Second, low integrative complexity levels are associated with bad outcomes for individuals in mundane settings and while playing war games. As Steven Pinker puts it, People whose language is less integratively complex, on average, are more likely to react to frustration with violence and are more likely to go to war in war games. Even more alarming, Tetlock and his colleague Peter Suedfeld discovered that war tends to follow a decline in the integrative complexity of speeches given by political leaders. In other words, the lower the complexity, the higher the probability of military conflict. Given that the world is a giant propane tank ready to blow with a single spark, the fact that Trump is a simple-minded, know-nothing, solipsistic sociopath with the nuclear codes is extremely worrisome.

Even more, Pinker observes that there also exists a link between the IQ of American presidents and the total number of soldiers killed in conflict. That is to say, the lower a presidents IQ, the more Americans will likely end up dead on the battlefield. In Pinkers words:

A presidents IQ is negatively correlated with the number of battle deaths in wars involving the United States during his presidency. . . . One could say that for every presidential IQ point, 13,440 fewer people die in battle, though its more accurate to say that the three smartest postwar presidents, Kennedy, Carter, and Clinton, kept the country out of destructive wars.

Notice that the three smartest presidents have all been Democrats, a fact that aligns with studies showing that liberals are on average more intelligent than conservatives. The point, though, is that despite Trumps claim to have one of the highest IQs, impartial observers can agree that Trumps intelligence level is abysmally low for a world leaderany world leader. He most certainly does not have an IQ of 156, as one viral meme claimed, nor is he especially known for his abstract reasoning skills, insight, thoughtfulness or deliberation on complex issues like health care (nobody knew!) and foreign policy. (Incidentally, abstract reasoning is the feature of human intelligence that Pinker links to the steady expansion of our circles of moral concern during the Long Peace, or the period from World War II to the present.)

So not only do we find ourselves in an unusually volatile moment in world history, but robust psychological research suggests that Trump will significantly inflate the probability of bloody conflict during his term in office. In addition to expert economists worrying that Trump will destroy the economy and the catastrophic consequences of failing to curb carbon dioxide emissions, we have all the ingredients needed for an unprecedentedly destructive administration.

This article draws from my forthcoming book Morality, Foresight, and Human Flourishing.

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Yet another reason Donald Trump is bad news: He's utterly lacking in integrative complexity and that's dangerous - Salon

By Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images.

According to reports, President Donald Trump spent his day Sunday on the course at his his Loudon County Trump National Golf Club in Washington, D.C. It marks the 21st outing to a golf course the president has taken since being sworn in.

Who couldnt blame Trump for seeking to blow off some steam on the fairway, like many a president before him? It was a very busy week in Trumpland, with the abrupt firing of F.B.I. director James Comey and its ensuing fallout. Some driving range therapy would do the man well. Trumps packed calendar even entered the shifting Comey narrative. White House press secretary Sean Spicer has said that Trumps robust schedule sometimes doesnt allow them to get his full and accurate thoughts on a subject before press conferences, which leads to confusion down the road. Trump even tweeted about abolishing the conferences altogether for this very reason:

As plenty of Twitter users noted, Trumps latest golf outing came shortly after Fox News aired an interview the president granted Jeanine Pirro in which he praised his own work ethic.

Heres the thing, the difference between me and another president, Trump said in the clip, which aired Saturday. Another president, I wont use names, but another president doesnt do what Im doing. They really dont. Im not saying that in a bragging way.

I know, Pirro responded.

Im not saying it any way, Trump said. Another president, Jeannine, will sit in the Oval Office and do practically nothing all day.

On Sunday, he was true to his word.

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Today Marks Trump's Twenty-First Visit to a Golf Club Since Becoming President - Vanity Fair

New York Times

Donald Trump la Mode New York Times You heard it here first: James Comey was fired because during his White House dinner with Donald Trump, when dessert arrived, he noticed that the president had two scoops of ice cream to his one, and dared to remark on it. Don't believe me? O.K., I did ...

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Donald Trump la Mode - New York Times

Ever since President Donald Trump took office, the main question on the minds of investors has been, will the market optimism his election inspired prove justified by economic activity, or did the rally simply set stocks up for a bigger fall? According to a Goldman Sachs analysis of corporate commentary, its a little of both.

Management teams were mixed in their assessment of whether a much-discussed rekindling of animal spirits since the election has led to a tangible increase in demand, the investment bank wrote in its quarterly Beige Book, which examines the earnings transcripts of companies in the S&P 500 for trends.

Most management teams recognized an improvement in sentiment and growth expectations, but many said they have not yet seen evidence that improving sentiment is translating into increased business activity.

See also: Trumps animal spirits are ahead of reality, says 17-time winner of forecasting contest

While the Trump Era has been accompanied by some positive economic data, including a labor market that continues to hover near full employment, other indicators have suggested economic activity remains tepid. First-quarter GDP came in at its slowest pace in three years.

Goldmans report examined transcripts from several companies conference calls, including those from firms that havent seen notable improvement despite the uptick in sentiment. One of these was American Express Co. AXP, -0.55% which said that as we look at our results, its hard for us to see anything thats suggestive of a material uptick in consumer confidence or consumer or commercial spending.

Certainly, we are as hopeful as anyone that there, in fact, is stronger economic growth to come in the future. I just cant say I see any evidence of it right now in our results, said Jeffrey Campbell, the companys chief financial officer, in an April 19 conference call.

Trumps election sparked an extended rally in stocks that lifted the S&P 500 SPX, -0.15% nearly 12% and took major indexes to repeated records. Those gains primarily came as investors bet that the economic policies Trump was expected to advocate forand presumably pass, given the Republican Party also controlled majorities in the House and Senatewould accelerate economic growth and boost corporate profits.

Initiatives to roll back regulations were particularly desired, but according to Goldman, corporate management teams see little progress on this front, while remaining optimistic.

Managers hoped for widespread deregulation and improved regulatory clarity, but uncertainty remains high, the Goldman report said. A large number of transcripts referenced management enthusiasm about a potential easing of regulatory burdens. However, only a few firms pointed to examples where such a change in ideology or enforcement is already taking place.

In January, Trump signed an executive order requiring the elimination of two rules for every new regulation created. However, investors continue to await more concrete details on key issues like tax reform, which has been delayed multiple times, and health care. While a health care reform bill passed the Houseafter an earlier attempt failedits prospects in the Senate were less clear.

One of the firms that was optimistic on the regulatory front was AT&T Inc. T, +0.13% where Chief Executive Officer Randall Stephenson told analysts on an April 26 conference call that there was clearly a return to a lighter touch pro-growth regulatory philosophy. He added, We think this is incredibly positive for our country and that it could catalyze the economic growth all of us have been looking for.

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Is Donald Trump boosting the economy? Goldman finds mixed signals - MarketWatch