7 Ways Trump’s Arizona Speech Complicates Congress’ Fall Agenda

The following article by Lindsey McPherson was posted on the Roll Call website August 23, 2017:

President threatens a shutdown, criticizes senators and their chamber’s rules

President Donald and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, pictured shaking hands after Trump’s address to Congress in February, are at odds over willingness to shutdown the government and change the Senate’s filibuster rules. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Short on legislative accomplishments so far in his tenure, President Donald Trump went out of his way to complicate Congress’ fall legislative agenda during a campaign-style rally in Phoenix, Arizona, on Tuesday.

Here are seven ways in just that one speech that Trump said things that don’t bode well for his ability to work with Congress:

1. Shutdown threat

Little more than a month before the Sept. 30 deadline for funding the government into the next fiscal year, Trump threatened to shut down the government if Congress doesn’t agree to fund the border wall he repeatedly promised to build — and have Mexico pay for — during the campaign.

“The obstructionist Democrats would like us not to do it, but believe me, if we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall,” he said.

This didn’t seem to intimidate Democrats, several of whom took to Twitter to emphasize that they will continue to fight against the wall. Continue reading “7 Ways Trump’s Arizona Speech Complicates Congress’ Fall Agenda”

Morning Joe hosts say Trump tried to blackmail them with National Enquirer hit-piece

The following article by Aaron Rupar was posted on the ThinkProgres.org website June 30, 2017:

Top White House aides promised the story would go away if they apologized to the President

Source: MSNBC Screen Grab

The Washington Post op-ed Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough penned in response to the sexist tweets President Trump posted Thursday morning mocking Brzezinski’s appearance contains a bombshell allegation: that Trump tried to blackmail them with a National Enquirer hit-piece.

“This year, top White House staff members warned that the National Enquirer was planning to publish a negative article about us unless we begged the president to have the story spiked,” they write. “We ignored their desperate pleas.”

During their show on Friday morning, the Morning Joe hosts provided more details. Continue reading “Morning Joe hosts say Trump tried to blackmail them with National Enquirer hit-piece”

White House vigorously defends Trump’s sexist tweets about Mika Brzezinski

The following article by Ryan Koronowski was posted on the ThinkProgress.org website June 29, 2017:

You’d think that the president ridiculing a female journalist’s looks and calling her crazy would be universally condemned.

On Thursday morning, the president of the United States tweeted this:

 

 

He was referencing Mika Brzezinski, co-host of the MSNBC morning show “Morning Joe,” who is engaged to her co-host, Joe Scarborough. Ten minutes before, White House digital director Dan Scavino Jr. tweeted that Brzezinski (“#DumbAsARockMika”) and Scarborough (“JealousJoe”) were “unhinged” because Trump “stopped returning their calls.” Continue reading “White House vigorously defends Trump’s sexist tweets about Mika Brzezinski”

Beneath the Office

The following was posted on the trumpaccountable.org website June 29, 2017:

In a pair of tweets this morning Donald Trump continued his attacks on the media with an incredibly personal and humiliating attack on Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski that promptly evoked a cascade of criticism. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was particularly pointed in his response calling the comments out as representing “what is wrong with American politics.”

GrahamTweet

Graham was quickly joined by Paul Ryan (R-WI), Ben Sasse (R-NE), and other Republican leaders who called the personal attacks inappropriate and indefensible. Continue reading “Beneath the Office”

Alternately charming and boorish, Trump plays the role of a lifetime overseas

The following article by Philip Rucker and Karen DeYoung was posted on the Washington Post website May 27, 2017:

TAORMINA, Italy — Little matters more to Donald Trump, the brander-turned-American president, than imagery. Trump staffed his government out of central casting, and this past week it was time for him to audition for his role: leader of the free world.

In Washington, Trump is mostly seen only when he chooses. At a lectern in the Rose Garden. Saluting as he boards Marine One. Behind the Resolute Desk of the Oval Office signing jumbo-sized executive orders, pushing his red button to summon a butler with Diet Coke or flashing a thumbs up from his high-backed cherry leather chair. Continue reading “Alternately charming and boorish, Trump plays the role of a lifetime overseas”

How Trump’s Thuggish Style Incites and Rationalizes VIolence

The following article by Jeffrey Morley was posted on the AlterNet website May 26, 2017:

America’s new normal:  attacks on reporters and demonstrators exercising their free speech rights.

President Trump listens as he and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg participate in a news conference in the East Room of the White House on April 12 . (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

The president of the United States sets a tone, an example, a style. With Donald Trump, that tone conveys a suffused rage and a violent intolerance that equates questions with insults and disagreement with disloyalty. It is a style that openly sanctions assault on those who dare to dissent.

Gianforte, who won the seat, apologized, saying, “I made a mistake.” His defenders showed no such decency. Continue reading “How Trump’s Thuggish Style Incites and Rationalizes VIolence”

The price of loyalty to Donald Trump is high and rising

The following article by James Hohmann with Breanne Deppisch was posted on the Washington Post website February 17, 2017:

THE BIG IDEA: Donald Trump has an unending need to feel like he’s in total control of his surroundings. That helps explain why he’s felt so frustrated and lashed out so much over the past month. The president’s alpha male personality drives him to firmly assert himself whenever he can, whether in handshakes with foreign leaders or at lunch with friends.

It’s a little thing, but it’s telling: When Chris Christie came to the White House to discuss the opioid epidemic earlier this week, Trump made him order the meatloaf. Continue reading “The price of loyalty to Donald Trump is high and rising”