December 23, 2018

Trump: Drones are 'lots of fun,' but only a 'good old fashioned wall' works

Source: The Hill



BY KYLE BALLUCK - 12/23/18 09:29 AM EST

President Trump in a tweet on Sunday stressed his promised wall as the key to border security, saying "drones and the rest are wonderful and lots of fun."

“The only way to stop drugs, gangs, human trafficking, criminal elements and much else from coming into our Country is with a Wall or Barrier,” he said. “Drones and all of the rest are wonderful and lots of fun, but it is only a good old fashioned Wall that works!”

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1076844349860823042

The tweet came on the second day of a partial government shutdown, after Congress missed a midnight funding deadline on Friday.

Lawmakers are warning they believe roughly a quarter of the government could remain shuttered well into the week.

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/finance/422636-trump-drones-are-lots-of-fun-but-only-a-good-old-fashioned-wall-works

December 23, 2018

'Very possible' shutdown could last into new year, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney says

Source: The Washington Post



By Erica Werner December 23 at 9:37 AM

The partial government shutdown may last through the New Year and into the next Congress, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said Sunday.

“It’s very possible that this shutdown will go beyond the 28th and into the new Congress,” Mulvaney said on Fox News Sunday.

The new Congress starts Jan. 3, at which time Democrats will take over control of the House.

Mulvaney said the White House had made Democrats an offer below the $5 billion President Trump had previously demanded for his wall and “the ball is in their court.”

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/very-possible-shutdown-could-last-into-new-year-white-house-budget-director-mick-mulvaney-says/2018/12/23/2e6de67c-06bf-11e9-a3f0-71c95106d96a_story.html

December 23, 2018

Republicans Face 2020 Repeat on Health Care

December 23, 2018 at 8:21 am EST By Taegan Goddard

The Hill: “When a district judge in Texas ruled Obamacare unconstitutional last week in a case brought by Republican states, it gave Democrats another opportunity to box in GOP lawmakers on protections for people with pre-existing conditions — a line of attack that Democrats credit with helping them win back the House.”

“With an appeal of the decision certain, and a possibility it will reach the Supreme Court, the case could haunt Republicans defending their seats in 2020, when Democrats hope to take back the Senate and the White House.”

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https://politicalwire.com/2018/12/23/republicans-face-2020-repeat-on-health-care/

December 22, 2018

NY Daily News mocks Trump as 'The Grinch' over shutdown

https://twitter.com/NYDailyNews/status/1076311257584676865


https://thehill.com/homenews/media/422611-ny-daily-news-mocks-trump-as-the-grinch-over-shutdown

December 22, 2018

Trump ridiculed on CNN for bragging he knows more than anyone about everything

December 22, 2018

'I Am the Woman Trump Hates': Meet Sherrod Brown's Louder Half

Pulitzer-winning columnist and Trump foe Connie Schultz will redefine the role of campaign spouse if her husband runs in 2020.

By MICHAEL KRUSE December 21, 2018

CLEVELAND—Connie Schultz stood at her stove this week and stirred a big pot of thick vegetarian chili. On the long brown table set and waiting for lunch was a copy of that day’s New York Times, folded and opened to a page with a column with a headline I couldn’t help but notice, “The Secret to Winning in 2020,” and on the refrigerator and the walls around her were pictures of her four children and her seven grandchildren and of course her husband, too—the only statewide elected Democrat in Ohio, the potential presidential candidate, Senator Sherrod Brown.

Brown, 66, the curly-haired progressive populist who was preaching fair trade over free trade back when Donald Trump was reintroducing himself as a reality television business boss, last month won a third term in the Senate in part by winning back a sufficient slice of those who had voted for Trump two years before. His six-point victory in a state Trump carried by 8 prompted immediate 2020 chatter. Brown himself labeled it “a blueprint for America.” Hailing from this perennially critical swing spot—and this region of the country that decided the last presidential election and almost certainly will decide the next one as well—he has the unusual and proven ability, according to strategists from both parties, to appeal to black voters and urban liberals and workers in fading factory towns. For these reasons, Trump aides say, Brown is on a short list of possible foes the president fears.

“We’ve heard that, too,” Schultz said, ladling chili into bowls.

“And I would say,” she added, “… good—because he should.”

She readied shredded cheese and sour cream and offered cornbread from a cast-iron skillet.

more
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/12/21/connie-schultz-sherrod-brown-donald-trump-democratic-primary-2020-223416

December 22, 2018

Shelby warns Trump against firing Fed chairman

Source: Politico



By BURGESS EVERETT and BEN WHITE 12/22/2018 03:50 PM EST

A top Senate Republican is warning President Donald Trump not to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Saturday amid the president's evident distaste for Powell's moves to raise interest rates.

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), a former Banking Committee chairman who currently chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Trump needs to be "very careful" how he proceeds with Powell. Powell was confirmed in January by the Senate, 84-13.

"The Federal Reserve is set up to be independent of the presidency. Although I disagree with Powell at times, I’ve been on the Banking Committee longer than most people ever have, and I chaired it. I think the Federal Reserve should remain independent, as much as it can."

A senior administration official said Trump has privately raged about Powell's decisions on interest rates much as he has complained publicly. But senior officials are strongly cautioning the president against any attempt to remove Powell both because his legal authority to do so is highly questionable and because markets would likely react very negatively.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/22/trump-fed-jerome-powell-criticism-richard-shelby-1074495

December 22, 2018

Comey mocks Trump: Staffers resigning on principle 'must be confusing'

BY JOHN BOWDEN - 12/22/18 02:42 PM EST

Former FBI Director James Comey took aim at President Trump on Saturday, saying that resignations of staff members on matters of principle must be confusing for Trump, whom Comey says governs "without any external ethical framework."

Comey's tweet followed the resignations of both Defense Secretary James Mattis and Trump's envoy to coalition forces fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Brett McGurk, but mentioned neither.

"To a president without any external ethical framework, folks who resign on principle must be confusing," the former FBI chief, who was fired last year by Trump, wrote on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/Comey/status/1076556446886739973

McGurk and Mattis both announced their resignations this week following the president's announcement of a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, and reports that Trump is considering a reduction of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

more
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/422608-comey-mocks-trump-staffers-resigning-on-principle-must-be

December 22, 2018

GOP Rep. Norman on Border Fight: Democrats 'Want Illegals to Vote, Particularly in the 2020 Census

GOP Rep. Ralph Norman on Border Fight: Democrats ‘Want Illegals to Vote, Particularly in the 2020 Census’

by Josh Feldman | Dec 22nd, 2018, 2:47 pm

Congressman Ralph Norman (R- SC), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said the Democrats’ pushback to border security is about “power and votes”––specifically getting more Democratic voters for the census.

On Fox News this afternoon, he said that President Donald Trump is “rightfully” shutting the government down, noting how POTUS “said he would own it.”

And as he blasted intransigence from the Democrats, Norman added, “I’ll tell you what it’s about. It’s about power and votes. They want illegals to vote, particularly in the 2020 census that’s coming up, and we’re just simply not going to allow that.”

Norman said the public will eventually see what’s going on if Democrats wait until January 3rd, when Democrats take over the House, adding, “I’m prepared, along with a lot of others, to sit, and if we have to wait the clock out until January 3rd, we’ll do it.”

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https://www.mediaite.com/tv/gop-rep-ralph-norman-on-border-fight-democrats-want-illegals-to-vote-particularly-in-the-2020-census/

December 22, 2018

Trump Makes Another Call to Build 'A Great Steel Barrier or Wall' as Shutdown Negotiations Continue

Source: Mediaite



by Josh Feldman | Dec 22nd, 2018, 3:23 pm

President Donald Trump met with Republicans for a lunch this afternoon discussing border security, and following that lunch he tweeted once again his demand for a wall on the border.

Or at least a “great Steel Barrier”:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1076569051768516608

In the past few days, Trump has talked several times about “beautiful steel slats” at the border, even sharing a crude illustration last night of what he’s envisioning.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1076239448461987841

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said earlier this afternoon to the President that if he wants to end the shutdown, he needs to “abandon the wall.”

Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/online/trump-makes-another-call-to-build-a-great-steel-barrier-or-wall-as-shutdown-negotiations-continue/