April 28, 2017

Kelly Checks Expectations: No Wall At Some Points, 'See-Through' At Others

Source: Talking Points Memo


By MATT SHUHAM Published APRIL 28, 2017, 12:22 PM EDT

The Homeland Security secretary aggressively tamped down on expectations for President Donald Trump’s endlessly hyped border wall Thursday, saying that concrete barrier would only be constructed along a fraction of the U.S. border with Mexico.

“I foresee there being an increase in physical barrier, backed up by the men and women of CBP, Customs and Border Protection, and technology,” Secretary John Kelly told Bloomberg’s David Gura Thursday. “There are places along the border, and I would offer to you, down in the southern Rio Grande valley, where a wall, a concrete wall, makes all the sense in the world.”

“There are other places where a see-through wall, say a large bollard, if you will, fence, makes a lot of sense,” he said. “There’s places, probably, we won’t build a wall, because it’s across river beds, and we can’t dam up the rivers. And there’s other places that are just so rough — you know, the Big Bend area of Texas, canyons, high ground, low ground. Very little moves through there, anyways. So we are all still committed to a barrier, wall in some in places, in some places see-through wall, but once again, technology, and backed up by CBP.”

In February, Fox News’ Catherine Herridge reported that Kelly had told her the wall “will take a multi-layered approach. There will be the physical wall and then parts of the wall that you can see through because it will rely on sensors and other technology.”

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/john-kelly-see-through-wall-border-mexico

April 28, 2017

GOP lawmaker confesses: GOP pledge to repeal Obamacare is 'one of the biggest shams in history'

GOP lawmaker confesses: Republican pledge to repeal Obamacare is ‘one of the biggest shams in history’

BRAD REED
28 APR 2017 AT 11:10 ET

The Republican Party has pledged for seven years now that it would repeal the Affordable Care Act — but now that it’s in a position to do so, it suddenly seems to have gotten cold feet.

Talking with the Washington Examiner’s Byron York, one anonymous Republican lawmaker acknowledged that many Republicans in Congress don’t actually have any desire to fully repeal Obamacare, despite the fact that it has been a staple of the party’s platform for multiple election cycles.

“A pure repeal would get less than 200 votes,” the lawmaker admitted, even as he fumed that he would like to see the law entirely repealed. “It really is one of the biggest political shams in history — many of these members would not have been elected without promising repeal, and now they are wilting.”

Why are so many Republicans queasy about doing something they vowed to do for years? According to York, they believe that doing so would badly hurt people in their districts — and thus kill their hopes of getting reelected.

“The reason is fear,” York explains. “When the lawmaker said colleagues don’t want repeal “because of their district,” that was another way of saying the members are all representatives, and the voters they represent don’t want repeal.”

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http://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/gop-lawmaker-confesses-republican-pledge-to-repeal-obamacare-is-one-of-the-biggest-shams-in-history/

April 28, 2017

Trump: 'I'm A Nationalist And A Globalist. I'm Both.'

By MATT SHUHAM Published APRIL 28, 2017, 11:02 AM EDT

After a hectic day in which he rattled an entire continent with his threat to terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement, President Donald Trump made the seemingly contradictory claim: “I’m a nationalist and a globalist.”

The terms are often situated opposite each other: nationalists favor protectionist measures like tariffs and border walls, both of which Trump has advocated. Globalists support the free movement of people and capital.

Trump’s threat to terminate NAFTA — he was eventually convinced not to pursue the matter, in favor of simply renegotiating the deal — was another example of nationalist muscle-flexing. In his closing campaign ad before the 2016 election, widely criticized as anti-Semitic, Trump decried “global interests,” and “a global power structure that is responsible for the economic decisions that have robbed our working class, stripped our country of its wealth and put that money into the pockets of a handful of large corporations and political entities.”

But Trump, especially since taking office, has projected U.S. economic and military power globally himself. His administration is teeming with billionaire bankers. After endlessly pledging to label China a currency manipulator, he said he would rather have their cooperation in dealing with North Korea. He recently voiced support for the export-import bank, which finances businesses to sell their products overseas. He ordered a missile strike against a Syrian airfield.

There is a reported split in Trump’s administration between nationalists (Steve Bannon, Stephen Miller) and globalists (Jared Kushner, Reince Priebus). Asked about that split in an interview with the Wall Street Journal Thursday, Trump dismissed the idea.

“Hey, I’m a nationalist and a globalist,” he said. “I’m both. And I’m the only one who makes the decision, believe me.”

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-nationalist-globalist-wall-street-journal

April 28, 2017

Trump now agrees with the majority of Americans: He wasn't ready to be president

By Philip Bump April 28 at 7:30 AM

Donald Trump spent a great portion of 2016 insisting that being president would be easy — at least for him. HuffPost compiled a number of examples of him dismissing the problems that accompany the job as being easily dispatched. Building a wall on the border with Mexico is easy. Beating Hillary Clinton would be easy. Renegotiating the Iran deal would be easy. Paying down the national debt would be easy. Acting presidential? Easy.

To a reporter from Reuters this week, though, Trump had a slightly different assessment of the presidency. “I love my previous life. I had so many things going. This is more work than in my previous life,” Trump said. “I thought it would be easier. I thought it was more of a … I’m a details-oriented person. I think you’d say that, but I do miss my old life. I like to work so that’s not a problem but this is actually more work.”

It wasn’t the first time that Trump copped to the job being trickier than he anticipated. In November, NBC News reported that Trump had told former House speaker Newt Gingrich that “This is really a bigger job than I thought.” (Gingrich’s response? “…good. He should think that.”) Then there are individual issues. “Nobody knew health care could be so complicated,” he said at one point. At another, he revealed that it took a conversation with the president of China to realize that the situation on the Korean peninsula was “not so easy.”

There’s an element of surprise in Trump’s comments, a hint of bafflement that having responsibility for the welfare of 320 million people entwined in a global economy and international relationships might end up being trickier than running a real estate and branding shop from midtown Manhattan. One group that probably wasn’t surprised that Trump wasn’t prepared? The majority of Americans.

-snip-





more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/04/28/trump-now-agrees-with-the-majority-of-americans-he-wasnt-ready-to-be-president/?tid=pm_politics_pop&utm_term=.a000688ab491

April 28, 2017

Trump names anti-abortion leader Yoest to top HHS post

Source: Politico



By RACHANA PRADHAN 04/28/17 10:32 AM EDT

President Donald Trump Friday said he would name one of the most prominent anti-abortion activists in the country to a top communications post at Health and Human Services.

Charmaine Yoest, tapped to be to be assistant secretary of public affairs, is a senior fellow at American Values. She is the former president of Americans United for Life, one of the most prominent anti-abortion groups in the country, which has been instrumental in advancing anti-abortion legislation at the state level to restrict access to the procedure.

AUL’s website — which states that the group offers state lawmakers 32 different pieces of model legislation to restrict access to abortion — characterizes Yoest as “public enemy #1” for abortion rights organizations. The assistant secretary of public affairs shapes communications efforts for the entire agency.

Yoest isn’t the only Trump administration appointee who has expressed critical views about abortion and other social issues. Katy Talento, a health aide for the White House Domestic Policy Council , has taken the controversial view that contraception poses major dangers to women and causes abortion and miscarriages.

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Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/28/charmaine-yoest-assistant-secretary-of-public-affairs-hhs-237743

April 28, 2017

Hopes for Trump's military buildup dimming

By JACQUELINE KLIMAS 04/27/17 05:25 AM EDT

Defense hawks are starting to lose hope in President Donald Trump’s promises of a “historic” military buildup.

Trump vowed during the campaign to make the military so big and powerful that “nobody — absolutely nobody — is going to mess with us,” and since his inauguration he has rattled sabers at North Korea, launched an airstrike on Syria and dropped an enormous bomb on Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan.

But nearly 100 days into his presidency, Republican legislative stumbles have fueled doubts that Congress will approve the $84 billion defense boost he has proposed for this fiscal year and next — a jump that many advocates have already slammed as too small. And without serious new spending, military leaders have warned Congress, the services’ readiness will continue to erode.

For example, three Navy ships set to deploy this year to Europe and the Middle East will stay in their home ports without the supplemental funds Trump requested. And the Marine Corps has said it will have to ground all of its planes from July to the end of September unless Congress gives it more money in a fiscal 2017 spending bill.

more
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/27/post-election-euphoria-dims-for-defense-industry-237652?lo=ap_e1

April 28, 2017

Sessions recuses himself from any Michael Flynn investigation

Source: Politico



By LOUIS NELSON 04/28/17 08:20 AM EDT

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Friday that his recusal from Justice Department investigations into the 2016 campaign for president will extend into inquiries into the activities of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, under fire for his ties to foreign governments.

“My recusal deals with the campaign issues,” Sessions told NBC’s “Today” show. “But I would expect not to be involved in this one.”

"You would recuse yourself from any decision dealing with general Flynn?" asked Today anchor Matt Lauer. "Yeah," Sessions replied.

Flynn, a former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency who served briefly as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, has been the subject of scrutiny in recent weeks amid reports surrounding lobbying work he did for the Turkish government and a paid speech he delivered at an event for RT, a propaganda arm of the Russian government.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/28/jeff-sessions-recusal-michael-flynn-investigation-237736

April 28, 2017

'Appalling': CNN panel stunned that Trump thought being president would be easier than reality TV

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/it-is-appalling-cnn-panel-stunned-that-trump-thought-being-president-would-be-easier-than-reality-tv/

April 28, 2017

'The meds have changed': Morning Joe panel offers explanation for Trump's recent 'hushed tones'

TRAVIS GETTYS
28 APR 2017 AT 08:17 ET

As s President Donald Trump nears his 100th day on the job, he’s been admitting to reporters that governing is much harder than he expected.

A panel on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” agreed this signaled something like a change in tone for the blustery and self-aggrandizing Trump, who is loath to show weakness.

“Notice, when he’s speaking now, he’s speaking in much more hushed tones,” said panelist Donny Deutsch. “It’s a nuance, but there’s not the volume to the voice and the words themselves, even when he describes the North Korean leader as, ‘I’m not saying this, I’m not saying this,’ kind of presenting facts, there seems to be a much more nuanced, rational, restrained — yes, there’s still the political Tourette’s, and we still get some of these ridiculous things — but if you really step back and, if you just landed from Mars in the last two weeks and you really listened to the president, both in tone and content, you would say maybe there’s a bit more normalcy going on there.”

Co-host Willie Geist, who’s filling in for Joe Scarborough, reminded Deutsch that Trump has a rally Saturday, where he’s less likely to deliver a nuanced viewpoint.

“You might see more nuance, the volume will go up, but there is something that has happened — whether it’s (Steve) Bannon going away, whatever it is, something — the meds have changed,” Deutsch said. “Whatever it is, something has turned a bit in the last few weeks.”

more
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/the-meds-have-changed-morning-joe-panel-offers-explanation-for-trumps-recent-hushed-tones/

April 28, 2017

Sessions: 'Not Sure Anyone' Could've Caught Flynn's Foreign Payments

Source: Talking Points Memo



By MATT SHUHAM PublishedAPRIL 28, 2017, 10:09 AM EDT

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Friday that nobody could have been expected to catch ousted National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s failures to disclose payments from foreign governments.

That’s a departure from White House press secretary Sean Spicer, who noted Thursday that Flynn’s security clearance was last issued during the Obama administration.

“We need to do a good job of vetting that, but that’s a complex issue, and I’m not sure anyone could be expected to find that,” Sessions told “Good Morning America.”

He told “Today” the same on Friday: “They do the best they can,” referring to the Trump transition team who vetted Flynn. “It’s impossible to know everything. I don’t know what they did in that case.”

-snip-

https://twitter.com/GMA/status/857916874679398401

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/sessions-not-sure-anyone-catch-flynn-foreign-payments