Trump 30: Donald Trump and the Deathly Comb-Over

[fraurosena]

Oh dear, whatever did Honduras do to earn the presiduncial ire?

And wtf does NAFTA have to do with it? Oh, wait... he mentioned Mexico, so that's probably it.

Aaaannnnd, I see WaPo reported yesterday that...

That caravan of migrants Trump was tweeting about? Mexico stopped it.

Quote

The Mexican government on Monday evening moved to break up the caravan of migrants moving through southern Mexico, with immigration officials registering the travelers and suggesting some could receive humanitarian visas while others would have to leave Mexico.

The caravan, estimated at more than 1,000 migrants, many from Central America, has gained increasing visibility because of tweets by President Trump that have criticized Mexico for not doing more to stop the flow of migrants to the southern border of the United States.

The bulk of the migrant group — part of an annual caravan intended to raise awareness about the plight of people making the dangerous trek across Mexico toward the United States — is currently in the town of Matias Romero Avendano in the southern state of Oaxaca. A portion of the group rode by train to the neighboring state of Veracruz, according to caravan organizers, local officials and others, but it is unclear if that group has so far dispersed.

The larger group, in Oaxaca, was being registered by immigration officials on Monday, according to people traveling with the group. An official from Mexico's National Institute of Migration told BuzzFeed News that Mexico plans to disband the caravan by Wednesday and that some vulnerable people, such as pregnant women or those with disabilities, would receive humanitarian visas, while the rest will be expected to leave Mexico within 10 days or apply for permission to remain in Mexico for a month.

Mexico’s Interior Ministry said in a statement on Monday that “under no circumstances does the government of Mexico promote irregular migration.” The statement said that the caravan has taken place every year since 2010 and is made up primarily of people from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala; and that 400 people in this group have already been deported.

The Mexican government’s response has come after repeated Twitter messages from Trump about the caravan and migration from Mexico and Central America. Trump wrote over the weekend that Mexico was doing “very little, if not NOTHING” to stop migrants from crossing its southern border. It was part of a two-day tweetstorm in which he expressed alarm about “caravans” of Central Americans heading to the United States.

[presiduncial tweets]

But in fact, Mexico already detains and deports tens of thousands of Central American migrants each year — often long before they can reach the border with the United States.

The country also staffs immigration checkpoints in southern states such as Chiapas, Tabasco and Oaxaca, which are so aggressive that indigenous people living in the region complain they have to prove to Mexican immigration officers that they are in fact citizens. Mexico deported 16,278 people during the first two months of 2018; 97 percent of them were Central Americans, according to the Washington Office on Latin America, a human rights group.

Trump’s tweets have focused on the caravan story, one that was pounced upon by conservative media.

“Mexico has the absolute power to not let these large ‘Caravans’ of people enter their country,” Trump tweeted Monday, adding that Mexican border laws “work” and U.S. ones do not.

Mexico increased its immigration enforcement in 2014, when it enacted a “Southern Border Plan” in response to a flood of unaccompanied Central American children who were transiting the country and arriving in the United States. The plan boosted patrols near Mexico’s long-neglected border with Guatemala and also aimed to improve railway infrastructure to prevent migrants from stealing rides on a northbound freight train known as “The Beast.”

Mexico’s National Immigration Institute has not commented on the caravan or Trump’s allegations. Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray responded indirectly Sunday, tweeting:

On Monday, Mexico’s interior minister, Alfonso Navarrete, said he and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen had spoken. “We agreed to analyze the best ways to attend to the flows of migrants in accordance with the laws of each country,” Navarrete tweeted.

The Wall Street Journal on Monday quoted a senior Mexican immigration official as saying that authorities hadn’t stopped the caravan at the time because its participants either had sought asylum or had humanitarian visas — so they were not in the country illegally. “This isn’t a massive influx of irregular migrants,” the official added. “They can remain in the country and move around while their immigration situation is worked out.”

Caravans of migrants moving through Mexico usually attempt to raise awareness of the plight of migrants in a country where indifference toward them is common and warm welcomes are scarce. Jorge Andrade, spokesman for the Colectivo Ustedes Somos Nosotros, an organization for migrant shelters in Mexico, said caravan participants sometimes end up receiving humanitarian visas, which allow short stays in the country.

An organizer of the caravan, Alex Mensing, said it “didn’t bring anyone” to the United States but “accompanied people who have decided to flee.”

He called the caravan “a mass nonviolent collective action” that was organized to “raise the political cost of repression” by immigration officials.

The Central Americans attempting to traverse Mexico mostly stream out of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, where gang violence is rife and the murder rates have ranked among the highest in the hemisphere. Recent elections in Honduras were marred by irregularities and accusations of fraud, and a subsequent crackdown on protesters has been condemned as heavy-handed.

An increasing number of Central American migrants are staying put in Mexico, where they are applying for asylum in record numbers.

“#Mexico is struggling to deal with a vast influx of asylum seekers fleeing gang violence or political instability. In 2017 refugee petitions went up 66%; a 326% increase from 2015,” tweeted the Washington Office on Latin America, also known as WOLA. “These people are fleeing their homes and seeking protection for a reason.”

Not everyone offering assistance to the migrants transiting Mexico welcomed the caravan.

Andrade’s network of humanitarian shelters, which offer migrants modest places to sleep and rest en route, disavowed the caravan, saying such methods of moving migrants don’t offer better security.

“These kinds of caravans are utilized by people that are not migrants, who pass themselves off as migrants and try to extort other participants in the caravan,” said Alberto Xicoténcatl, director of a migrant shelter in Saltillo, in northern Mexico.

Andrade said members of his organization tried to accompany a caravan of migrants in 2014, but it became “infiltrated” by organized crime. “‘Polleros [smugglers] and guides and all of this criminal apparatus that traffics in people, they utilize [the caravans] for their benefit,” he said.

Adding to the difficulties, he said, caravans arriving at the U.S. border cause problems in those communities as an influx of migrants taxes scarce resources in the shelters there.

“They cannot cross the border,” Andrade said. “Some will request asylum in the United States, but the majority will do something else … and this implies insecurity for them,” because of the presence of kidnapping gangs in the border region.

Trump’s tweets once again threatened the ongoing renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement deal and came as campaigns kicked off for Mexico’s July 1 presidential elections.

Mexico has preferred to keep issues such as security and immigration out of the NAFTA renegotiations, “unlike Trump … who puts everything on the table,” said Brenda Estefan, a former security attache at the Mexican Embassy in Washington.

 

[AmazonGrace]

Jill McCabe: The president attacked my reputation. It’s time to set the record straight.

 

By Jill McCabe By Jill McCabe

Quote

 

Opinions

April 2 at 7:18 PM

Jill McCabe, an emergency room pediatrician, is married to former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe.

I am an emergency room pediatrician and an accidental politician — someone who never thought much about politics until I was recruited to run for state office after making a statement about the importance of expanding Medicaid. That decision — plus some twisted reporting and presidential tweets — ended up costing my husband, Andrew, his job and our family a significant portion of his pension my husband had worked hard for over 21 years of federal service. For the past year and a half of this nightmare, I have not been free to speak out about what happened. Now that Andrew has been fired, I am.

Andrew and I met as sophomores in college, at Duke University. He was interested in law (eventually law enforcement), I in medicine (eventually pediatrics). Andrew’s a reliable Republican; I have voted, over time, for both Republicans and Democrats.

As we have raised our children, I tried to vote more regularly and pay more attention to the issues that affect our community. And with my work in a hospital emergency room in Virginia, I saw the impact of how government decisions hurt my patients, especially when the state decided not to accept the federal government’s funding to expand Medicaid

I was providing care in the most expensive setting — the emergency room — and only once a patient’s condition became more serious, because he or she had no other options. In addition, our state’s decision was increasing the cost of health care for everyone, ultimately raising prices, premiums and taxes, while thousands of patients suffered. The whole thing just made no sense.

One day in 2014, an entourage of politicians came through the ER, and a reporter pulled me aside to ask how Medicaid expansion would affect my patients. I did not think any more of it until a year later, when I received a voice mail asking whether I might be interested in running for the state Senate.

I was stunned — I went home and told Andrew, and we laughed about how crazy that idea was. A few days later, I got another call: Clark Mercer, chief of staff to then-Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, asking me to at least speak to Ralph, who is a pediatric neurologist. I was moved by Ralph’s story about how he had used his medical background to advocate for the needs of the children he serves.

I started to become more interested, thinking, “Here’s a way I can really try to help people on a bigger scale than what I do every day.” While I was considering the possibility, Andrew and I went to Richmond to meet with various politicians, including then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe. The subject of Hillary Clinton never came up — the story about her emails had not even broken when I was first approached by Northam. All the governor asked of me was that I support Medicaid expansion.

Still, in thinking about running, one of my first concerns was Andrew and his job at the FBI, where he was the assistant director in charge of the Washington field office. I said to Andrew, “If you think this is going to be a problem for you professionally, even if it’s allowed, I won’t do it.”

He consulted with the ethics experts at the FBI and committed to follow their advice. We tried to go even beyond what the rules required — Andrew kept himself separate from my campaign. When the kids and I went door-knocking, he did not participate; he wouldn’t even drive us. He could have attended one of my fundraisers but never did. One day he put on a campaign T-shirt so we could take a family picture and share it with my proud parents. You may have seen it — it seems to have taken on a weird life of its own — but that was it, just a family picture at a swim meet.

Meanwhile, my campaign received funding from the state Democratic Party and the governor’s PAC — on par with what other candidates in competitive races on both sides of the aisle received. All those contributions were publicly reported. And of course, again, Clinton’s emails never came up — if they had, I would have found that alarming, immediately reported it and likely pulled out of the campaign. I know enough from being married to Andrew for 20 years to know what is right and what is wrong.

I lost my race in November 2015. It was disappointing, and particularly hard for me because I have always been the kind of person who gives everything her all. But I felt good about my effort and enjoyed returning to normal life.

Almost a year later, everything changed. A reporter called my cellphone on a Sunday in October 2016, asking questions about contributions to my campaign and whether there had been any influence on Andrew’s decisions at the FBI.

This could not be further from the truth. In fact, it makes no sense. Andrew’s involvement in the Clinton investigation came not only after the contributions were made to my campaign but also after the race was over. Since that news report, there have been thousands more, repeating the false allegation that there was some connection between my campaign and my husband’s role at the FBI.

After the 2016 election, I thought for a while that it was all over — at least now that President-elect Trump won, he would stop coming after us. How naive that was. After then-FBI Director James B. Comey was fired, we knew that Andrew could be the next target of the president’s wrath.

Then the president started tweeting about how the contributions to my campaign made it clear that Andrew (and all the senior leadership at the FBI) were corrupt and that he should be removed. It went one step further in the days before Christmas, when the president made threats related to my husband’s retirement.

To have my personal reputation and integrity and those of my family attacked this way is beyond horrible. It feels awful every day. It keeps me up nights. I made the decision to run for office because I was trying to help people. Instead, it turned into something that was used to attack our family, my husband’s career and the entire FBI.

Nothing can prepare you for what happens when your life is turned upside down by current events. Nothing prepares you for conversations you have to have with your teenage children. Nothing prepares you for the news crews staking out your house, your back yard, your place of business. Nothing prepares you for the fear you feel every time you receive a package from a stranger.

I have spent countless hours trying to understand how the president and so many others can share such destructive lies about me. Ultimately I believe it somehow never occurred to them that I could be a serious, independent-minded physician who wanted to run for office for legitimate reasons. They rapidly jumped to the conclusion that I must be corrupt, as part of what I believe to be an effort to vilify us to suit their needs.

Throughout this experience, my work has been a sanctuary. I walk into the hospital, and everybody there knows me as a professional. The patients know me as a doctor and not a news story. It is not easy, but I have to put all of our challenges aside to focus on the patients and families I treat.

Now that I can speak on my own behalf, I want people to know that the whole story that everything is based on is just false and utterly absurd.

No matter what the path ahead, I have faith that our family will get through this. Despite everything, we are closer than ever. Andrew and I have amazing children and a support network that knows who we truly are. We will not allow ourselves to be defined by a false narrative.

While I have no intention of running for office again, I believe in what my campaign stood for, and I still hope we can see our way to Medicaid expansion in Virginia. The patients who inspired me to run continue to come to the ER every day, and they need our help.

 

 

 

[Howl]

From now going forward, there will never be a legal issue that hasn't been brought up by Trump's bizarre behavior, greed, vicious need for revenge, total lack of boundaries and any sense of humanity or common decency. 

[fraurosena]

Now he's calling Obama a cheat. 

As the presidunce is known for saying the polar opposite of the truth, he's as much as admitting he's the cheat himself. 

[fraurosena]

He is so not attending.

Trump’s correspondents’ dinner decision gets complicated

Quote

If President Donald Trump attends this month’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, he’ll be onstage as journalists from a network he routinely calls “fake news” are honored for reporting on intelligence findings that were partly based on a dossier he also calls “fake.”

CNN won the WHCA’s Merriman Smith Award in the broadcast category for its January 2017 report on how the intelligence community believed Russia had compromising information on Trump; that report was followed by BuzzFeed’s decision to publish the entire “dossier” of opposition research on Trump’s alleged ties to Russia, which has become a particular focus of the president’s wrath.

The announcement on Monday of CNN’s victory — along with a trove of other awards to various outlets for largely critical coverage of Trump and his administration — appeared to complicate the WHCA’s invitation to Trump to attend this year’s dinner, a symbolically important gesture of mutual respect.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders did not respond to a question as to whether Trump has yet made up his mind.

The correspondents’ organization hasn’t gotten any word yet either, according to Margaret Talev, a Bloomberg correspondent and the organization’s president.

“We don’t have anything to report yet on whether the president plans to attend,” she said.

Earlier on Monday, in announcing the awards, Talev said in a statement that the correspondents’ association “congratulates these award winners, and we're proud to honor them at our annual dinner as we celebrate the First Amendment and the crucial role of journalism in informing and protecting the public.”

Trump skipped last year's dinner following numerous battles with various news organizations. He even counter-programmed the 2017 event by holding a rally in which he mocked the “Hollywood actors and Washington media” who were “consoling each other" in a hotel ballroom. The crowd in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, ate it up.

But Trump attended last month’s Gridiron Dinner, a smaller journalist gala that doesn’t permit photo of video coverage, and hasn't yet ruled out going to the April 29 dinner.

The potential for awkwardness with the press-bashing president in a room full of journalists, carried live on TV, only increased Monday as the correspondents’ association announced several award winners whose work has particularly infuriated him.

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, who the president claimed in March was a “Hillary flunky” who "knows nothing about me," won the Aldo Beckman Award for — in the words of the judges — showing “her deep understanding of what makes President Trump tick.”

POLITICO’s Josh Dawsey won the Merriman Smith Award for print media for his reporting on the resignation of White House press secretary Sean Spicer. Dawsey has since joined The Washington Post, a news organization the president labeled “fake” on Saturday. Trump also has been recently attacking Amazon, the company led by Post owner Jeff Bezos.

But perhaps no news organization has felt Trump’s wrath like CNN, which is taking home the Merriman Smith Award for broadcast media. CNN's Evan Perez, Jim Sciutto, Jake Tapper and Carl Bernstein are being honored for their January 2017 report on how the intelligence community had briefed President Barack Obama and then-President elect Trump that Russia claimed to have compromising information the incoming president.

BuzzFeed followed up on the CNN report by publishing the dossier, compiled by an opposition-research company funded in part by the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign. BuzzFeed’s decision, which was criticized even among some other media organizations, led to a particularly raucous news conference the following day. Trump refused to answer a question from CNN’s Jim Acosta, whom he instead dubbed “fake news.” He's gone on to repeatedly call the dossier — which included unverified claims about the president and his allies' ties to Russia — fraud and part of a larger "hoax."

The honorable mention for The Merriman Smith Award went to NBC’s Lester Holt for his May 2017 interview with Trump in which the president admitted to considering the Russia investigation when firing former FBI Director James Comey. Trump is still bothered by the Holt interview, telling the NBC Nightly News anchor at a private, January meeting with TV journalists that it was unfairly edited, as POLITICO reported.

The Edgar A. Poe Award went to a team from Reuters for its investigation of Taser-related deaths and litigation — the only non-Trump related prize. But an honorable mention was given to POLITICO’s Dan Diamond and Rachana Pradhan for their reporting on Tom Price's private jet travel, which led to the Health and Human Services Secretary’s resignation.

At past Correspondents' Dinners, the president is typically on stage to greet journalists as they get their awards. So this year, that would include Bernstein, the famed Watergate reporter and current CNN reporter and commentator. Bernstein has called Trump a “demagogic authoritarian president” and has accused him of “incessant, compulsive, continual lying.”

The dinner is usually a time when presidents of both parties and members of the media gather in a show of patriotism and common respect. The president congratulates the award-winning journalists and students who receive scholarships from the correspondents’ association; the reporters and editors raise a toast to the president.

In the past, the dinner has been criticized for creating a perception of coziness between journalists and members of an administration they’re expected to hold accountable. The New York Times decided more than a decade ago not to attend for those reasons. But Trump’s attacks on the legitimacy of the press and suggestions that journalists’ actions are anti-American raised a different set of issues last year.

News organizations didn't end up having to decide whether to attend in response to Trump's attacks because he announced in a February 2017 tweet that he would not be going. Without the president or the many big-name celebrities who attended in the past, the 2017 dinner ended up becoming a celebration of the Fourth Estate that included speeches by Bernstein and Bob Woodward on the importance of aggressive coverage of any administration.

“Journalists should not have a dog in the political fight except to find [the] best obtainable version of the truth,” Woodward said, adding later, “Whatever the climate, whether the media’s revered or reviled, we should and must persist, and I believe we will.”

 

[AmazonGrace]

50 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

Now he's calling Obama a cheat. 

As the presidunce is known for saying the polar opposite of the truth, he's as much as admitting he's the cheat himself. 

 

[Cartmann99]

3 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Now he's calling Obama a cheat. 

As the presidunce is known for saying the polar opposite of the truth, he's as much as admitting he's the cheat himself. 

Trump's fans on Twitter are getting excited about this tweet. They think Trump has received some very damaging information about President Obama that will soon be made public.

[fraurosena]

7 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

Trump's fans on Twitter are getting excited about this tweet. They think Trump has received some very damaging information about President Obama that will soon be made public.

Let me guess... Obama cheated on his birth certificate! And, and.. he was part of a super secret necrophiliac society based in the attic of a shoarma restaurant! Where he also engaged in satanic rituals drinking the blood of Faux news pundits! And he was receiving donations from George Soros! And Jeff Bezos! And Mexicans, who have caravans and trailers full of Hondurans who want DACA and NAFTA! We gotta build the WALL...

 

[onekidanddone]

7 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

Let me guess... Obama cheated on his birth certificate! And, and.. he was part of a super secret necrophiliac society based in the attic of a shoarma restaurant! Where he also engaged in satanic rituals drinking the blood of Faux news pundits! And he was receiving donations from George Soros! And Jeff Bezos! And Mexicans, who have caravans and trailers full of Hondurans who want DACA and NAFTA! We gotta build the WALL...

 

 

[smittykins]

I just got a banner ad saying "Help Stop George Soros!" 

[Cartmann99]

1 hour ago, fraurosena said:

Let me guess... Obama cheated on his birth certificate! And, and.. he was part of a super secret necrophiliac society based in the attic of a shoarma restaurant! Where he also engaged in satanic rituals drinking the blood of Faux news pundits! And he was receiving donations from George Soros! And Jeff Bezos! And Mexicans, who have caravans and trailers full of Hondurans who want DACA and NAFTA! We gotta build the WALL...

 

Hot damn woman, you must be psychic! 

I'm busting out the spoiler tag for those who aren't interested in the nutters:

Spoiler

 

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[fraurosena]

What?!

 

This does not bode well... 

[AnywhereButHere]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-hosts-leaders-of-baltic-nations-for-white-house-talks/ar-AAvpXpY?li=BBnb7Kz

Quote

President Donald Trump says he wants to use the military to secure the U.S.-Mexico border until his promised wall is built.

Trump says during a lunch with Baltic leaders that he's spoken with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis about the idea.

He says, "We're going to be doing things militarily until we can have a wall and proper security."

He's calling it a "big step."

Trump begrudgingly signed a spending bill last month that provided far less money for the wall than he wanted.

He's been complaining that U.S. borders are too porous and its immigration laws are too weak.

Yeah.... This does not give me a warm, fuzzy, safe feeling. Hopefully, like so many of his grand plans, it will die a fizzly death.

[47of74]

7 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Oh dear, whatever did Honduras do to earn the presiduncial ire?

God only knows.  Fuck face might have picked out my next international destination for me.  I'm seriously considering going to Honduras and spending money there just to spite fuck face. 

[fraurosena]

Snort. 

The man is laughably ludicrous.

"Well, we'll be able to have great dialogue, I hope. But if we don't you'll be the first to hear about it. Nobody's been tougher on Russia than I have. And you can - and I know you're nodding yes, because everyone agrees when they think about it. Strong energy, the United States. My opponent was into... other forms of energy, like windmills. Uh, we're uh, we're very strong on energy, we're essentially now energy independent, we're an exporter of energy. That is not a positive for Russia, but it's certainly a positive for the United States."

Sweet Rufus, he even managed to get Hillary in that ramble.

[candygirl200413]

Does he need approval to do this?! Like someone can stop this right?

[fraurosena]

27 minutes ago, candygirl200413 said:

Does he need approval to do this?! Like someone can stop this right?

Yes, YOU can stop him. By voting in November.

[fraurosena]

Your words have consequences, presidunce dear.

Mexico formally asks US to clarify Trump's border remarks

Quote

Mexico's ambassador to the U.S. said Tuesday that his country has formally asked the Trump administration to clarify the president's announcement that he is planning to deploy troops along the U.S. southern border.

"The Mexican government has formally asked for clarification of the president's statements, both through the State Department and the Homeland Security Department," Gerónimo Gutiérrez said on CNN International, adding that he had personally spoken to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

"The important thing is that both countries share the idea of having a secure border," he added. "We don't always agree in how to achieve that objective, and I do expect that, in the next few hours, we will get clarification on this issue."

Gutiérrez's comments came shortly after President Trump said he plans to deploy U.S. troops along the southern border to prevent unauthorized crossings into the country until his proposed border wall is built.

Such a move would dramatically escalate the U.S. presence along the border, which is currently protected by the U.S. Border Patrol. 

Gutiérrez said that militarizing the U.S.-Mexico border would not be welcomed by the Mexican government, but added that further clarification by the Trump administration was necessary to determine "where we are."

Trump has ramped up his rhetoric on immigration and border security in recent days, reviving a topic that served as a central theme of his presidential campaign.

In a tweet over the weekend, Trump quashed the prospect of a deal to protect young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children – known as "Dreamers."

And on Monday, he called on Mexico to step up efforts to detain people who attempt to cross the border illegally, and warned of a "caravan" of immigrants from Central America heading toward the U.S.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

You couldn't make this shit up: "Donald Trump ‘Cherishes’ Lou Dobbs So Much He Puts Him on Speakerphone for Oval Office Meetings"

Spoiler

It is difficult to fully understand the Trump presidency without first understanding Lou Dobbs, the Fox Business powerhouse host and one of the main precursors to Trumpism.

It’s not just that President Donald Trump loves Dobbs’ show and his on-air style. It’s not just that the president asks West Wing aides and confidants if they’ve seen specific, recent segments of Dobbs’ program, or that Trump calls the cable-news personality semi-regularly to gossip or solicit counsel, or that he’s boosted Dobbs on his Twitter account. It’s not just that the president has sat for a friendly interview with Dobbs or that he is on a first-name basis with “Lou.”

Indeed, much of this can describe Trump’s relationships with various other television personalities. What sets Dobbs apart is the degree to which the president views him as a political and populism godfather, the #MAGA Socrates to Trump’s Plato.

As such, Dobbs doesn’t get to just interview and socialize with the president; he is involved in some of the administration’s more sensitive discussions. During the first year of the Trump era, the president has patched in Dobbs via speakerphone to multiple meetings in the Oval Office so that he could offer his two cents, according to three sources familiar with these conversations. Trump will ask Dobbs for his opinion before and after his senior aides or Cabinet members have spoken. Occasionally, he will cut off an official so the Fox Business host can jump in.

Dobbs, these sources all independently recounted, has been patched in to senior-level meetings on issues such as trade and tax policy—meetings that featured officials such as senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, former top economic adviser Gary Cohn, former chief strategist Steve Bannon, trade adviser Peter Navarro, and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.

During the more intense days of the tax-bill push, Trump made sure to have his White House personal secretary get Dobbs on the line. And toward the conclusion of one memorable meeting, when the line was disconnected and Dobbs said farewell, Trump looked up, smiled, and simply told the room, “Love Lou.”

“He cherishes Lou,” a senior White House official told The Daily Beast. And the feeling is, evidently, quite mutual.

For anyone who has watched Dobbs’ transformation over the past several years, and his jump from CNN to Fox Business, it’s no mystery why he and the 45th president of the United States get along so well.

Over the past decade and a half, Dobbs has transformed himself from a Wall Street ally with a skepticism of immigration into a full-on conservative nationalist-populist and culture warrior.

A former colleague told The Daily Beast that before he departed CNN, Dobbs had staffers pull reels of then Fox News star Bill O’Reilly’s show. Dobbs studied the tapes and began to borrow some of the Fox anchor’s on-screen mannerisms, becoming more confrontational with guests with whom he disagreed. Another former colleague said when Dobbs began hosting a radio show in 2007, he studiously listened to successful conservative hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck for pointers and ideas.

In the intervening years, Dobbs became one of the most prominent figures in the Fox family as it has embraced Trump’s economic and immigration agenda. And he has been given the green light to pump out as much pro-Trump agitprop as possible in large part because he’s so successful. One former higher-up who still occasionally talks to Dobbs said the veteran anchor gets little direction from executives at Fox Business, who aren’t inclined to mess with his format because of the show’s strong ratings. Dobbs has been the top-rated business network host for almost two years.

“Nobody with… leverage is left at Fox,” another former exec told The Daily Beast, when asked why Dobbs is allowed to serve as a booster for Trump so openly. “And if they are, they’re either looking to leave or lazy. Or they believe in the cause.”

Fox Business, the White House press shop, and Dobbs did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

... < typical unhinged tweet >

For Dobbs, however, Trump is a revelation as much as a cause. For years, Dobbs has staked out a position for himself as one of cable news’ most strident and devoted immigrant-bashers, as well as, more recently, a staunch crusader against what he lambastes as multiculturalism’s excesses in American life—to the point where he has repeatedly attacked St. Patrick’s Day and other “ethnic holidays.”

Much like the sitting president, Dobbs has also long railed against the forces of political correctness and was similarly an early mainstream promoter of racist Obama birther conspiracy theories. Also like the president, Dobbs earned himself the political backing of Trump’s one-time White House chief strategist and campaign chief. According to two sources familiar with their past discussions, in 2010 Bannon tried, but ultimately failed, to convince Dobbs to run for president as a right-wing populist firebrand.

“Dobbs is pretty strong on immigration enforcement issues... so better that the president listen to him than his son-in-law or his daughter,” Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies and a leading activist for a stricter immigration system in the U.S., told The Daily Beast. “Dobbs has been talking about immigration for years. He has a certain body of knowledge that other advisers, even people working in the administration, don’t have.”

Krikorian added, “Dobbs tapped into a pool of dissatisfaction [among] the public that already existed. And Trump tapped into it.”

... < fawning tweet by twitler >

Though Trump regularly calls Dobbs to riff on immigration and other issues, some of the president’s earliest political supporters have hopes that the Fox host will play an even larger role in the second year of the administration. That is especially true for those pushing a more nativist immigration policy, who see Dobbs as potentially a useful cog in keeping Trump on his America First track.

“I wish the president watched no TV, except Lou Dobbs,” Ann Coulter—a conservative columnist who has over the past year expressed her sense of betrayal at President Trump’s actions versus candidate Trump’s assurances—wrote to The Daily Beast in an email.

Coulter had recently appeared on Dobbs’ show to discuss her horror at how the Trump era has played out so far. “I don’t know what happened. But that’s a different president. I haven’t changed. He has,” she insisted.

Dobbs was quick to stick up for the president he informally advises and the man he has known for years. Nothing here, to Trump’s “Lou,” was President Trump’s fault, as he pushed back on Coulter’s broadside.

“Affirmation complexes are never attractive and unfortunately I believe there is some truth to the fact that there are those in the White House who would like to guide him toward this liberal fantasy that is a nightmare for America and has proved to be such for our middle class, which has been dwindling for the past 20 years,” Dobbs replied. “Under this president, they’re starting to grow and money is starting to come in and we’re starting to see housing prices rise.”

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Trump is hoping you’re too stupid to notice"

Spoiler

You can tell what President Trump is afraid of by what he chooses to lie about. That means he must be petrified of losing support over his failure to build a single mile of the “big, beautiful” border wall he promised.

Trump is scared of a lot of things — special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation, honest reporting by the news media, adult-film actress Stormy Daniels and, reportedly, sharks. But nothing seems to make him quake and tremble more than the fear that his core base will realize all his tough-guy huffing and puffing about Latino immigration was a bunch of hot air.

On Easter morning, while many of the president’s most loyal supporters were celebrating the Resurrection, Trump was dishonestly tweeting in a frantic attempt to look strong and uncompromising. His first tweet ended with this bleat: “ ‘Caravans’ coming. Republicans must go to Nuclear Option to pass tough laws NOW. NO MORE DACA DEAL!”

That requires some translation. Trump was apparently referring to a Fox News story — I know, you’re shocked — about a “caravan” of 1,200 would-be immigrants who say they are coming north through Mexico to enter the United States; they were last seen traveling on foot 900 miles south of the border, meaning the “threat” is less than imminent. The reference to the nuclear option is yet another call for the Senate to eliminate its filibuster rule, which Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has no intention of doing. And finally, Trump appeared to rule out any agreement on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program — which he canceled — allowing undocumented immigrants brought here as children to stay.

The president followed up with two more tweets, one blasting Mexico and threatening to “stop” the North American Free Trade Agreement, the other assailing imaginary “big flows of people” who are “trying to take advantage of DACA.”

First thing Monday morning, Trump was at it again. A 7:02 a.m.tweet blamed Mexico for allowing “these large ‘Caravans’ of people” to enter Mexico, which made no sense. A second attacked Congress and claimed that “our country is being stolen!” And the third must be quoted in its entirety:

“DACA is dead because the Democrats didn’t care or act, and now everyone wants to get onto the DACA bandwagon . . . No longer works. Must build Wall and secure our borders with proper Border legislation. Democrats want No Borders, hence drugs and crime!”

Leaving aside Trump’s rather Germanic approach to capitalization, that tweet is an occasion to paraphrase Mary McCarthy’s famous quip about Lillian Hellman: Virtually every word is a lie, including “and” and “the.” Democrats repeatedly offered to deal on DACA, as did Trump. No newcomers could possibly “get onto the DACA bandwagon,” because only immigrants who were brought here before 2007 were eligible. And immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native-born citizens.

Why such a frenzy of untruth? Because Trump apparently sees anger building among his most fervent supporters over his utter failure to deliver on what they understood as his central campaign promise: to halt or reverse the flow of Latino immigration and the “browning” of America.

That’s what this is really about. On the emotional level, Trump appealed to white Anglo chauvinism. He skillfully stoked the anger and resentment of those who are annoyed when they phone the electric company to straighten out a bill and are told to press 1 for English, press 2 for Spanish. When he writes things like “our country is being stolen,” it’s crystal-clear who’s supposed to be stealing it.

What I didn’t realize during the campaign was that Trump’s base realized he could never fulfill his absurd pledge to deport all of the estimated 11 million people who are here without papers. But his supporters did expect him to do something to stem what they see as an invasion — something concrete and unambiguous. Like the promised wall.

But a man with his name emblazoned on skyscrapers and golf courses around the globe, a man who fancies himself a master builder, has been unable to even begin construction of a new border wall. And some of the most vocal anti-immigration commentators — with influence among Trump’s base — have been getting restless.

I don’t know how to break this to you, folks, but Trump’s wall promise was no more serious than anything else that comes out of his mouth. His antipathy toward Latinos and non-whites is genuine, I trust, but his ability to follow through is pure counterfeit. With all of his heart, he hopes you’re too stupid to notice.

 

[fraurosena]

Uhhh.... Not a trade war?

China is calling it a trade war. So which is it?

US-China trade: Beijing responds with tariffs of its own

 

Quote

Trade tensions between China and the US have been ramped up after Beijing responded to US plans for putting new taxes on hundreds of Chinese imports. China said it would place 25% trade tariffs on 106 US goods, including soybeans, cars and orange juice.

The tit-for-tat action comes hours after Washington detailed about 1,300 Chinese products it intended to hit with tariffs - also set at 25%. US-targeted items include Chinese-made televisions and motorcycles.

The White House said its proposals were a response to unfair Chinese intellectual property practices.

Stock markets in Europe fell, with investors taken aback by the speed of China's response. In New York, the Dow Jones is expected to open about 550 points lower.

Earlier, Beijing said it "strongly condemns and firmly opposes" the proposed US tariffs, calling them "unilateralistic and protectionist", and vowing to retaliate.

The products targeted by the Chinese tariffs were worth $50bn (£35.5bn) in 2017, according to the Chinese commerce ministry. US chemicals, some types of aircraft and corn products are among the goods facing the taxes, the finance ministry said. Extra tariffs will also be placed on whiskey, cigars and tobacco, some types of beef, lubricants, and propane and other plastic products. US orange juice, certain sorghum products, cotton and some types of wheat, as well as trucks, some SUVs and certain electric vehicles, will also be subject to the new duties, the ministry added.

Economists had previously warned the Trump administration's move to penalise China with the tariffs could prompt Beijing to retaliate and lead to higher prices for US consumers.

'No winner'

The planned US tariffs are the result of an investigation ordered by US President Donald Trump into China's intellectual property practices. Last month, he said the inquiry had found evidence of problems, such as practices that pressure US companies to share technology with Chinese firms

The office of the US Trade Representative, which handles trade negotiations, said that its tariffs would apply to about $50bn of Chinese imports. That was an amount which was "appropriate both in light of the estimated harm to the US economy and to obtain elimination of China's harmful acts, policies and practices", it said.

The list includes parts of communication satellites, semiconductors, aviation equipment and brewery machinery, as well as more niche products such as bakery ovens and rocket launchers.

A final list will be determined after a public comment period and review, expected to last about two months.

Beijing has been adamant that it did not want a trade war, but that it would not not back down under US pressure.

"Any attempt to bring China to its knees through threats and intimidation will never succeed," foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said."There is no winner in a trade war, and an initiator will harm itself as well as others."

Mr Geng said China had referred the US to the World Trade Organization.

Hopes for a resolution

China's economy has become less dependent on selling goods abroad in recent years, which is likely to blunt the effect of the US tariffs, according to analysts for S&P Global Ratings.

The US was the destination for about 18.2% of all Chinese exports in 2016, according to the US trade department.

American business groups have urged the two sides to try to resolve the issues through talks, expressing concern that threatening tariffs could lead to a dispute that hurts the US economy.

"The administration is rightly focused on restoring equity and fairness in our trade relationship with China," said the US Chamber of Commerce."However, imposing taxes on products used daily by American consumers and job creators is not the way to achieve those ends."

 

[fraurosena]

Sweet Rufus.

Just when you think you've gauged his stupidity, he says something even more moronic.

[CTRLZero]

Whatever he calls it, it will probably result in scarcity and higher prices.  It's not doing the stock market any favors.  I'm interested in how it is affecting Ivanka's clothing/trinket line and the Trump family's own various manufacturing ventures out of China.

[Cartmann99]

Thank Rufus that the wife beater landed on his feet.