Presumptuous Politics

Friday, July 1, 2016

Trump doubles down on trade talk amid Chamber of Commerce feud

Donald Trump, in an interview with Fox News, doubled down on his criticism of U.S. trade policies while making clear he's not backing down from a simmering feud with the Chamber of Commerce over the issue.
“The trade deals are ripping our jobs apart,” Trump told Fox News on Wednesday. As for the chamber, he said the group is “totally controlled by the special interest groups.”
Trump and the Chamber of Commerce have been trading shots all week, underscoring a divide in the Republican Party on the trade issue. The chamber, a traditionally friendly group for mainstream GOP candidates, went after Trump hard on Tuesday over proposals the group said would cost jobs and hurt the economy.
Trump, though, reiterated Wednesday he believes new trade deals should be negotiated because foreign countries are taking advantage of the United States.
“I’ve got it, I understand it, you see the crowds I am getting, nobody has crowds like we have,” Trump told Fox News. “And it’s about, really, I think in this case trade.”
Trump initially went after the chamber on Tuesday during a rally in Bangor, Maine. The New York real estate developer accused the organization of being a special interest that only “wants to have the deals that they want to have.”
“They want to have TPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, one of the worst deals, and it’ll be the worst deal since NAFTA,” Trump said, claiming the chamber’s motives were “pretty sinister.”
The chamber, the world’s largest business organization, represents the interests of more than 3 million businesses and has members ranging from mom-and-pop shops to large corporations. The group rejects the "special interest" charge.
Trump once again is waging somewhat of a two-front war, taking on traditional GOP allies while also facing the scorn of President Obama. On Wednesday, Obama slammed Trump’s call for a withdrawal from trade deals as “the wrong medicine.”
"Ordinary people who have concerns about trade have a legitimate gripe about globalization," Obama said pointing to "growing inequality and stagnant wages."
"The question is, what do you do about it? And the prescription of withdrawing from trade deals and focusing solely on your local market -- that's the wrong medicine," he said, during a trip to Canada to meet with North Americans heads of state.
Obama added that Trump’s idea is “not feasible” because local businesses would lose jobs if they didn’t have access to international markets.
For its part, the chamber ripped Trump’s Tuesday trade policy speech in real time on Twitter, picking it apart point by point. His comments were also slammed by the National Association of Manufacturers President Jay Timmons, who tweeted that Trump’s got “it backward.”
Trump’s comments also have not been received well by some wealthy Republican donors like billionaire Paul Singer, who told CNBC Wednesday that Trump's plan for trade deals would not end well.
"The most impactful of the economic policies that I recall him coming out for are these anti-trade policies," Singer said during a panel discussion at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado.
But Trump’s tough talk has gotten the attention of some experts like Art Laffer, the former economic adviser to President Reagan.
Laffer told Newsweek while he didn’t like the “tone” of Trump’s Tuesday speech, he saw some improvements.
"I saw negotiating better trade deals rather than throwing away all the trade deals we have now. He points out the flaws in these trades, and that’s all true," Laffer said. "I don’t like the tone of it, but I dislike the tone less today than I did three weeks ago.”

Trump 'flabbergasted' by meeting between AG Lynch, Bill Clinton

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Thursday that reports of a private meeting between Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former President Bill Clinton left him "flabbergasted."
Lynch and Clinton met on Lynch's plane after she landed at the Phoenix airport Monday evening. Lynch has denied that the two spoke about the ongoing FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while secretary of state. However, Republicans and Democrats have criticized her for creating a possible conflict of interest, and some lawmakers have called for Lynch to recuse herself from the investigation.
"I actually thought ... 'No way, there's no way that's gonna happen' and it happened." Trump told Fox News' Sean Hannity. "I think it's amazing. I've never seen anything like that before."
The encounter between Lynch and Clinton took place the night before the House select committee investigating the 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi released its report. The investigation criticized the Obama administration for huddling to craft a public response to the video even as military assets waited hours to deploy to Libya.
"Who wouldn't have sent help after you got the first messages?" Trump asked Hannity. "[Hillary Clinton] has bad judgement. [Ambassador Chris Stevens] is asking for help."
"She lied," Trump said of Clinton. "That's what she does. She lies."

State Department seeks 27-month delay for release of Clinton Foundation emails

The State Department has sought to delay the court-ordered release of emails between four of Hillary Clinton's top aides and officials at the Clinton Foundation and a closely associated public relations firm.
The motion, filed in federal court by the Justice Department late Wednesday, seeks to put off the release of the emails by 27 months. It was first reported on by The Daily Caller.
In the filing, the State Department says it originally estimated that approximately 6,000 emails and other documents were exchanged between the aides — identified as former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Michael Fuchs, former Ambassador-At-Large Melanne Verveer, Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills, and Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin — and the Clinton Foundation and Teneo Holdings, a communications shop that former President Bill Clinton helped launch.
However, the State Department said that due to errors in the initial document search, the number of "potentially responsive documents" was in fact more than 34,000. The department estimated that it had more than 13,000 pages still left to review.
U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras had previously ordered the State Department to release the requested documents by July 21.
If the State Department request is granted, the emails would not be released until October 2018, nearly halfway through the first term of a potential Hillary Clinton presidency. The documents are being sought by the conservative nonprofit group Citizens United.
"The American people have a right to see these emails before the election," Citizens United President David Bossie told The Daily Caller, adding that the delay was "totally unacceptable."
The motion was filed two days after Attorney General Loretta Lynch met Bill Clinton at the Phoenix airport. Lynch denied the meeting was anything other than a chance encounter, but Republicans and Democrats have criticized her for at least creating the appearance of a conflict of interest in the midst of a federal investigation into Hillary Clinton's time as America's top diplomat.
On Thursday, State Department spokesman John Kirby cited a surge in Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in explaining the State Department extension request.
"The Department handles FOIA in an entirely nonpartisan manner," Kirby said.
The former secretary of state has come under scrutiny over whether she used her position to aid corporate and foreign government donors to the Clinton Foundation.
In addition, Abedin worked as an employee at Teneo while simultaneously working at the State Department while Mills held a position at the Clinton Foundation while also serving in the State Department. Both matters have been flagged by Congress as possible conflicts of interest.

Thursday, June 30, 2016

Defense Secretary Robert Gates Cartoons

Did Obama White House bully anti-Muslim preacher?

Why did White House bully Anti-Muslim Preacher?

There was a troubling item tucked deep inside the House Republican’s Benghazi report on Tuesday. It involves Terry Jones -- the Florida preacher who has an affinity for burning the Koran.
According to the report -- the White House directed Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to call Preacher Jones.
There were also discussions that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton might “issue another statement to distance the United States from the Pastor Jones video.”
Click here to join Todd’s American Dispatch: a must-read for conservatives!
It was one of several action items involving the Obama administration’s efforts to blame the attack on a YouTube video that mocked Islam.
It’s not exactly clear why they were reaching out to Preacher Jones – because he had nothing to do with the YouTube video. And the report does not indicate whether they actually followed through with the telephone calls.
Nevertheless, why were the Pentagon and the State Department so fixated on Preacher Jones instead of dispatching troops to rescue our people in Benghazi?
If I didn’t know better, I’d say they were trying to find a fall guy – someone to blame other than the true culprits – Islamic radicals.
It was not the first time the Obama administration tried to strong-arm Preacher Jones.
The Washington Post reported that former Defense Secretary Robert Gates called the minister in 2010 to complain about a Koran burning event. Gates said the preacher was putting military lives in jeopardy.
A Defense Department spokesperson described the conversation to NPR:
"Secretary Gates reached out to Pastor Jones this afternoon. They had a very brief phone conversation during which the Secretary expressed his grave concern that going forward with the Quran burning would put at risk the lives of our forces around the world, especially those in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he urged the Pastor not to proceed with it."
Folks, I believe a very dangerous line separating church and state has been breached. The government has no authority to involve itself in the business of a church.
Click here to get Todd’s best-selling book – an indepth primer on how to restore traditional American values!
Is burning a Koran despicable? Absolutely. But so is burning the American flag. And both are protected forms of free speech.
Did the Secretary of Defense call Black Lives Matter and tell them to stop burning the American flag?
Did anti-Christian artists get a phone call from the White House-- urging them not to submerge a crucifix in a jar of urine?
Now some of you might say Preacher Jones deserved to get that phone call. He deserved to be intimidated by government officials. Perhaps. But where does it stop? Where do you draw the line?
Because one day it might be your pastor who gets a phone call -- maybe from the attorney general -- telling him to stop preaching sermons about traditional marriage -- telling him those kinds of sermons put people in harm's way.
Where does it stop, folks? Where does it stop?
Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary, heard on hundreds of radio stations. His latest book is "God Less America: Real Stories From the Front Lines of the Attack on Traditional Values." Follow Todd on Twitter@ToddStarnes and find him on Facebook.

Democratic draft platform seeks DOJ probe of fossil fuel companies

The Democratic Party's draft platform calls for the Justice Department to join several state prosecutors in investigating whether fossil fuel companies misled the public on global warming -- marking an escalation in a controversial campaign that critics liken to censorship.
As first reported by Inside Climate News, the committee drafting the party platform inserted the measure last Friday.
The measure called on “the Department of Justice to investigate alleged corporate fraud on the part of fossil fuel companies who have reportedly misled shareholders and the public on the scientific reality of climate change," according to the committee website.
The proposal is the latest shot fired in a broader battle being waged by environmental groups and their allies in government against oil companies and others.
Oil giant ExxonMobil is the target of several investigations being led by state attorneys general. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman subpoenaed Exxon’s financial records and emails last year, and has indicated ExxonMobil is not the only energy company in his office’s crosshairs. Other state AGs -- including those in Massachusetts and California -- have launched different probes against the company, seeking to replicate the success of the federal government’s 1999 case against Big Tobacco.
The U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General Claude Walker, an independent, also issued a subpoena in March seeking 40 years' worth of Exxon communications with 90 conservative groups “and any other organizations engaged in research or advocacy concerning Climate Change or policies.”
One of the groups targeted as part of Walker's probe was the libertarian think tank Competitive Enterprise Institute, which told FoxNews.com it would be a blow to the First Amendment if the Democratic Party endorses such an investigation as part of their platform.

Fox News Poll: Clinton up by 6 points, 89 percent say 'hot-headed' describes Trump

Donald Trump has had a few rocky weeks on the campaign trail, and it shows in the latest Fox News Poll. Just over half of Republicans would rather have someone besides Trump as their nominee, and his support in the presidential ballot test has dropped seven points since May.
Democrat Hillary Clinton is up 44-38 percent over Trump in a head-to-head matchup. Earlier this month, Clinton had a three-point edge (42-39 percent). In May, Trump was up by three (45-42 percent). Clinton’s current lead is just inside the poll’s margin of sampling error.
The national poll, released Wednesday, finds she has a similar advantage when voters are asked about confidence in the candidates to make the “right” decisions for the country if they were president: 48 percent are at least somewhat confident Clinton would. It’s 42 percent for Trump.
In the matchup, Clinton is the choice among blacks (87-3 percent), women (51-32 percent), voters under age 45 (45-35 percent), and those earning less than $50,000 annually (52-30 percent).
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL POLL RESULTS
Trump leads among white evangelical Christians (66-18 percent), whites without a college degree (51-33 percent), gun owners (52-30 percent), whites (48-34 percent), men (46-36 percent), and independents (39-31 percent).
Since May, Trump has lost ground with Republicans (-8 points), whites without degrees (-10 points), and men (-9 points).
The race is almost even among just those “extremely” or “very” interested in the election (45 Clinton to 43 Trump). This group went for Trump by four points in early June (45-41 percent).
Party unity is a trouble spot for Trump. Just 74 percent of Republicans back him over Clinton, down from 82 percent in May. For comparison, Mitt Romney lost despite garnering 93 percent support among Republicans in 2012. In addition, just over half of Republicans would prefer a different nominee (51 percent someone else vs. 48 percent Trump). And while most GOP voters describe Trump as intelligent, more than 7-in-10 feel he’s hot-headed and obnoxious. More on that later.
Eighty-three percent of Democrats support Clinton in the ballot test. That’s better than Trump does among Republicans, yet worse than the 92 percent backing President Obama received in 2012. By a 21-point margin, Democrats want Clinton (58 percent) as their party’s nominee over Bernie Sanders (37 percent).
Some 66 percent of Democrats who preferred Sanders are backing Clinton over Trump. By comparison, only 52 percent of Republicans who want someone else to lead their party support Trump over Clinton.
Twenty-four percent of Republicans lack confidence that Trump would make the right decisions for the country. Fourteen percent of Democrats feel that way about Clinton.
"The results here aren't disastrous for Trump given the troubles he's encountered the past few weeks,” says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts the Fox News Poll along with Democratic pollster Chris Anderson. “He's within striking distance. But he absolutely must combat the growing perception that he is temperamentally unsuited and intellectually unprepared to be president."
What words best describe the candidates? There are a couple things voters generally agree on, and that’s both Clinton and Trump are patriotic -- and lack honesty.
Clinton outperforms Trump by the widest margin on “experienced,” as 77 percent say that describes her, while just 34 percent feel the same of Trump.
Far more see Clinton (82 percent) than Trump (66 percent) as “intelligent,” and “sensible” (54 percent Clinton vs. 35 percent Trump).
About six-in-ten think “patriotic” fits each.
Clinton is still dogged by low honesty numbers, as a record low 30 percent think she’s “honest and trustworthy,” and 58 percent describe her as “corrupt.”
Trump doesn’t have much to brag about here either: just 34 percent describe him as “honest and trustworthy” and 45 percent say “corrupt” fits.
Most voters feel Trump is “hot-headed” (89 percent) and “obnoxious” (83 percent), while far fewer say those apply to Clinton (35 percent “hot-headed” and 45 percent “obnoxious”).
Less than half say the phrase “cares about people like me” describes Clinton (45 percent) and only about one third say it fits Trump (35 percent).
“While our polling shows a clear positive trend for Clinton, her six-point lead is notably small considering voters almost universally think Trump is hot-headed and obnoxious, and most think he’s inexperienced,” says Anderson.
“This race is nowhere close to breaking open, despite some huge perceived deficiencies in Trump’s character.”
Pollpourri
Libertarian Gary Johnson captures 10 percent in a hypothetical three-way vote. That causes both Clinton and Trump to lose ground, although for the most part she maintains her edge (41-36 percent). Another 14 percent is up for grabs.
Fully 92 percent of those backing Clinton in the two-way race also back her in the three-way matchup. For Trump, 89 percent stick with him.
The contest for the Congress looks similar to the presidential race. When voters are asked to choose between the Democratic and Republican candidates in their district, Democrats are up by five points, 46-41 percent.
The Fox News poll is based on landline and cellphone interviews with 1,017 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from June 26-28, 2016. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all registered voters.

FEC Democrats voted to punish Fox News over debate changes

Democratic members of the Federal Election Commission, in a decision to be made public on Thursday, voted last month to punish Fox News over criteria changes for the network’s first Republican presidential primary debate – but were blocked by Republican commissioners.
Commissioner Lee Goodman, one of those who voted to block the move, confirmed the details of the vote to FoxNews.com.
He called the attempt to punish Fox News over the debate changes “astonishing” and described it as a move toward censorship.
“All press organizations should be concerned when the government asserts regulatory authority to punish and censor news coverage,” Goodman said in a statement.
The vote concerned changes made to the criteria for the Fox News-hosted GOP primary debate on Aug. 6, 2015 in Cleveland. For that debate, Fox News decided to alter the format – hosting two debates instead of one and expanding the first debate to include lower-polling candidates, as well as any candidate identified as such in national polls. Seven candidates ultimately participated in the first debate, and 10 participated in the prime-time event.
A complaint subsequently was filed with the FEC claiming those changes were tantamount to an illegal corporate contribution to the candidates on stage.
FoxNews.com is told that after consideration, three commissioners – Ellen Weintraub, Ann Ravel, and Steven Walther – determined the network had made such an illegal contribution to the seven candidates invited to the first debate.
The case ended on a split 3-3 vote, resulting in no action. Three commissioners concluded Fox News violated election law; two of the Democratic commissioners went a step further and voted to penalize the network. But because any enforcement action requires four votes, the case was dismissed.
While political debate rules have come before the FEC in the past, rarely has the commission come so close to penalizing a news outlet over the issue.
The commission in 2002 dismissed a complaint about debate rules that had been lodged against the Boston Globe and WBZ-TV. And years earlier, in 1980, the commission threatened an injunction against the Nashua Telegraph over a planned debate between George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan that excluded other candidates. Reagan then stepped in to pay the costs – and during that debate, famously said, “I am paying for this microphone.”
Until recently, the FEC had steered clear of threatening action over press-sponsored debates.
Goodman argued that such “editorial decisions” regarding debate rules should be free from FEC regulation. He suggested there is “no practical or logical difference” between hosting a debate with 17 candidates and interviewing 17 candidates.
“How could expanding debate news coverage from 10 to 17 candidates be against the law?” he said.

Friday, July 1, 2016

Thursday, June 30, 2016

Related Image

Related Image

Related Image