monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

Trump suggests

Definition of suggest

transitive verb

1a obsolete : to seek to influence : seduce

b : to call forth : evoke

c : to mention or imply as a possibility suggested that he might bring his family

d : to propose as desirable or fitting suggest a stroll

e : to offer for consideration or as a hypothesis suggest a solution to a problem

2a : to call to mind by thought or association the explosion … suggested sabotage— F. L. Paxson

b : to serve as a motive or inspiration for a play suggested by a historic incident

Six-in-ten Americans disapprove of President Trump's job performance, matching an all-time high for his disapproval rating in the Gallup Poll.

A weekly presidential job approval tracker released Monday found that 60 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump's performance, while 38 percent said they approve as of the week ending Nov. 25.

The president's disapproval rating has largely hovered in the mid-50 percent range in the Gallup poll, but this week marks the fourth time it has hit 60 percent.

It previously hit that threshold in August 2017 in the aftermath of a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., again in late October of 2017 and once more in December 2017 around the time the GOP passed its tax-cut legislation.

The Gallup weekly presidential approval tracker has a margin of error of 3 percentage points, and is based on a survey of roughly 1,500 adults.

The dip in numbers came during the same week that Trump signaled he would not dole out additional punishment against Saudi Arabia or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

He also clashed with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts over the Ninth Circuit's rulings, and his administration issued a report that contained a dire warning about the effects of climate change.

The president's approval rating is worse in the Gallup poll than other surveys. A RealClearPolitics average of polls shows that Trump's approval rating is roughly 43 percent, and his disapproval rating is roughly 53 percent.

President Donald Trump said on Monday that he is "not happy" with General Motors and is putting pressure on the company to undo its plans to shutter North American plants and cut thousands of jobs.

Trump said he spoke with GM CEO Mary Barra after the company on Monday announced plans to cut up to 14,000 jobs.

"I was very tough. I spoke with her when I heard they were closing and I said, 'You know, this country has done a lot for General Motors,'" Trump told reporters at the White House, adding that he encouraged Barra to maintain GM's operations in Ohio. "You better get back in there soon."

Trump said his administration is putting " lot of pressure" on GM to come up with alternatives to the cars that aren't selling well, like the Chevrolet Cruze.

"They say the Chevy Cruze is not selling well," he said. "I say well then get a car that is selling well and put it back in."

GM on Monday said it would stop manufacturing several poorly selling vehicles like the Cruze and possibly close as many as five North American plants. The news has threatened to undercut Trump’s pledge to bring factory jobs back to the United States and has put a spotlight on the impact of the administration’s trade policies. GM previously said the administration’s tariffs on imported steel have cost the company $1 billion.

The president's comments came as top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow was scheduled to meet on Monday with Barra, according to an administration official. The meeting had been scheduled prior to GM's announcement.

Barra has enjoyed a close relationship with the Trump administration, having met with the president — along with other CEOs — several times last year.

During a speech last year in Youngstown, Ohio, Trump vowed to reopen the state’s shuttered factories.

"We’re going to fill up those factories or rip them down and build new ones,” Trump said, adding, “After years and years of sending our jobs and wealth to other countries, we are finally standing up for our workers and for our companies."

GM announced Monday that it plans to halt production at its Lordstown, Ohio, assembly plant, which is about a 20-minute drive from Youngstown.

Trump admonishes GM over U.S. job cuts:

Gallup: 60 percent of Americans
disapprove of Trump's job performance.


Published November 26, 2018

Quote:

Six-in-ten Americans disapprove of President Trump's job performance, matching an all-time high for his disapproval rating in the Gallup Poll.

A weekly presidential job approval tracker released Monday found that 60 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump's performance, while 38 percent said they approve as of the week ending Nov. 25.


The president's disapproval rating has largely hovered in the mid-50 percent range in the Gallup poll, but this week marks the fourth time it has hit 60 percent.

It previously hit that threshold in August 2017 in the aftermath of a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., again in late October of 2017 and once more in December 2017 around the time the GOP passed its tax-cut legislation.

The Gallup weekly presidential approval tracker has a margin of error of 3 percentage points, and is based on a survey of roughly 1,500 adults.

The dip in numbers came during the same week that Trump signaled he would not dole out additional punishment against Saudi Arabia or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

He also clashed with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts over the Ninth Circuit's rulings, and his administration issued a report that contained a dire warning about the effects of climate change.

The president's approval rating is worse in the Gallup poll than other surveys. A RealClearPolitics average of polls shows that Trump's approval rating is roughly 43 percent, and his disapproval rating is roughly 53 percent.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/gallup-60-percent-of-americans-disapprove-of-trumps-job-performance/ar-BBQ81Lm?ocid=UE13DHP

It's hard to believe that after two years his approval rating is that high.

It's hard to believe that after two years his approval rating is that high. If it stays like that he is going to be harder to beat than I would have expected.

oralloy wrote:

If the Europeans start giving heavy weapons to Ukraine,

To whom do you refer?

There's an entity over in Europe known as the EU. They may or may not care if Putin invades them.

WASHINGTON — Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley said President Donald Trump should move quickly to nominate a new attorney general to end demands for hearings on his appointment of Matthew Whitaker as the acting head of the Justice Department.

“I think the president would be wise to get somebody appointed like yesterday,” Grassley told reporters at the Capitol on Monday. “How long does it take to make up your mind who you want to be your attorney general?”

Grassley, an Iowa Republican, has resisted calls by Democrats for hearings on Whitaker and his appointment. But he said an oversight hearing would be appropriate early next year if Whitaker is still in the job. Grassley turns over chairmanship of the Judiciary panel in January to Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, who also has said he wants Trump to quickly choose a nominee.

Whitaker’s appointment has prompted Democrats to push for legislation to protect special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election as the two parties and the White House negotiate a year-end, must-pass funding bill to avoid a government shutdown. Whitaker has previously criticized the Mueller inquiry and had outlined last year how an acting attorney general could defund it.

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, a member of the Judiciary Committee, sent Grassley a letter Monday calling for hearings on Whitaker, including over contributions for his failed Iowa Senate campaign received while he was serving as Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ chief of staff, as well as $1.2 million in earnings from a conservative political group with anonymous donors.

Blumenthal is among the Democratic senators challenging Whitaker’s appointment in court.

Besides that, the formation of a real EU military to counter Russia's threats and also get independence from the USA is discudded heavily again (like in the 1950's).

I should be weeping.

But keeping Putin so busy in Ukraine that he doesn't have time to even think about invading you would also be useful.

Seven years ago, a former aide to Ralph Reed — who also worked, briefly, for Paul Manafort — published a tawdry, shallow memoir that is also one of the more revealing political books I’ve ever read. Lisa Baron was a pro-choice, pro-gay rights, hard-partying Jew who nonetheless made a career advancing the fortunes of the Christian right. She opened her book with an anecdote about performing oral sex on a future member of the George W. Bush administration during the 2000 primary, which, she wrote, “perfectly summed up my groupie-like relationship to politics at that time — I wanted it, I worshiped it, and I went for it.”

It’s not exactly a secret that politics is full of amoral careerists lusting — literally or figuratively — for access to power. Still, if you’re interested in politics because of values and ideas, it can be easier to understand people who have foul ideologies than those who don’t have ideologies at all. Steve Bannon, a quasi-fascist with delusions of grandeur, makes more sense to me than Anthony Scaramucci, a political cipher who likes to be on TV. I don’t think I’m alone. Consider all the energy spent trying to figure out Ivanka Trump’s true beliefs, when she’s shown that what she believes most is that she’s entitled to power and prestige.

Baron’s book, “Life of the Party: A Political Press Tart Bares All,” is useful because it is a self-portrait of a cynical, fame-hungry narcissist, a common type but one underrepresented in the stories we tell about partisan combat. A person of limited self-awareness — she seemed to think readers would find her right-wing exploits plucky and cute — Baron became Reed’s communications director because she saw it as a steppingstone to her dream job, White House press secretary, a position she envisioned in mostly sartorial terms. (“Outfits would be planned around the news of the day,” she wrote.) Reading Baron’s story helped me realize emotionally something I knew intellectually. It’s tempting for those of us who interpret politics for a living to overstate the importance of competing philosophies. We shouldn't forget the enduring role of sheer vanity.

That brings us to Monday’s New York Times article about Bill White and his husband, Bryan Eure, headlined “How a Liberal Couple Became Two of N.Y.’s Biggest Trump Supporters.” The answer: ego. A former big-ticket Democratic fund-raiser, White went straight from Hillary Clinton’s election night party to Donald Trump’s when he realized which way the wind was blowing. (“I didn’t want to be part of that misery pie,” he said of the dreary vibe at the Clinton event.) Another turning point came earlier this year when, he claims, Chelsea Clinton snubbed him at Ralph Lauren’s Polo Bar in Manhattan, leading him to call Donald Trump Jr., who offered to come to him right away.

This story, like Baron’s book, is arresting in its picture of shameless, unvarnished thirst. White and Eure mouth some talking points about disliking “identity politics” and valuing “authenticity.” Like a lot of Trump apologists, White insists the president isn’t racist because African-American employment figures have improved during his administration. But the lurid opportunism that’s driving him and his husband to embrace Trump is obvious. Such opportunism is far from rare; it’s just not often that we see it exhibited so starkly.

Trump is hardly the first politician to attract self-serving followers — White and Eure, after all, used to be Clintonites. (The guest list at their lavish wedding, The Times once wrote, “read like a telephone book, if the White Pages printed a version containing only the rich and influential.”) But Trump is unique as a magnet for grifters, climbers and self-promoters, in part because decent people won’t associate with him. With the exception of national security professionals sticking around to stop Trump from blowing up the world, there are two kinds of people in the president’s orbit — the immoral and the amoral. There are sincere nativists, like Bannon and senior adviser Stephen Miller, and people of almost incomprehensible insincerity.

In many ways, the insincere Trumpists are the most frustrating. Because they don’t really believe in Trump’s belligerent nationalism and racist conspiracy theories, we keep expecting them to feel shame or remorse. But they’re not insincere because they believe in something better than Trumpism. Rather, they believe in very little. They are transactional in a way that makes no psychological sense to those of us who see politics as a moral drama; they might as well all be wearing jackets saying, “I really don’t care, do u?”

Baron’s book helped me grasp what public life is about for such people. “I loved being in the middle of something big, and the biggest thing in my life was Ralph,” she wrote in one of her more plaintive passages. “Without him, I was nobody.” Such a longing for validation is underrated as a political motivator. Senator Lindsey Graham, another insincere Trumpist, once justified his sycophantic relationship with the president by saying, “If you knew anything about me, I want to be relevant.” Some people would rather be on the wrong side than on the outside.

Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort held secret talks with Julian Assange inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, and visited around the time he joined Trump’s campaign, the Guardian has been told.
[...]
It is unclear why Manafort wanted to see Assange and what was discussed. But the last meeting is likely to come under scrutiny and could interest Robert Mueller, the special prosecutor who is investigating alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
[...]
Manafort’s first visit to the embassy took place a year after Assange sought asylum inside, two sources said.

A separate internal document written by Ecuador’s Senain intelligence agency and seen by the Guardian lists “Paul Manaford [sic]” as one of several well-known guests. It also mentions “Russians”.

According to two sources, Manafort returned to the embassy in 2015. He paid another visit in spring 2016, turning up alone, around the time Trump named him as his convention manager. The visit is tentatively dated to March.

Manafort’s 2016 visit to Assange lasted about 40 minutes, one source said, adding that the American was casually dressed when he exited the embassy, wearing sandy-coloured chinos, a cardigan and a light-coloured shirt.
[...]
The revelation could shed new light on the sequence of events in the run-up to summer 2016, when WikiLeaks published tens of thousands of emails hacked by the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency. Hillary Clinton has said the hack contributed to her defeat.

The previously unreported Manafort-Assange connection is likely to be of interest to Mueller, who has been investigating possible contacts between WikiLeaks and associates of Trump including the political lobbyist Roger Stone and Donald Trump Jr.

One key question is when the Trump campaign was aware of the Kremlin’s hacking operation – and what, if anything, it did to encourage it. Trump has repeatedly denied collusion.
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