Tag: Theodore Roosevelt

The Story: Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has returned $30,000 of donations to the lobbyists it came from as part...

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump struck a nakedly political tone during a Thanksgiving call with US service members stationed around the world as he steered the conversation toward controversial political topics. Speaking with a US general in Afghanistan, Trump likened the fight against terrorists to his efforts to prevent a group of migrants from illegally entering the United States, and he assailed federal judges who have ruled against his administration. US Presidents have traditionally called troops stationed abroad during the holidays to boost morale and remind the country of their service, making Trump's rhetoric yet another striking break from the norms of presidential behavior. Trump has not shied away from politicizing the military in the past, and on Thursday, he drew on US men and women in uniform to justify his controversial deployment of nearly 6,000 US troops to the southern border. After the call wrapped, Trump continued to focus on the 9th Circuit and his administration's efforts to prevent the group of migrants -- many of whom are seeking asylum -- from crossing into the US illegally. "The whole border." Trump also once again undermined the CIA's assessment that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was responsible for the murder of Khashoggi, insisting the agency did not conclude bin Salman was responsible. I don't know if anybody's going to be able to conclude that the crown prince did it," Trump said. That's a big difference." This country is so much stronger now than it was when I took office that you wouldn't believe it."

Trump then produces a scripted response that is adequate, but in the moment or in subsequent days undercuts that message with radioactive comments or tweets that spark fierce criticism and mobilize the conservative media machine in his defense while he often deflects blame back onto the media as he did in a pointed 3 a.m. tweet early Friday morning. he said on Wednesday, letting a crowd in Wisconsin in on the joke of a performance toned down after the bombs were discovered. "I just want to tell you that, in these times, we have to unify. It was only later that his unwillingness to play the role presidential tradition requires became clear. "It was one of the worst moments in the Trump presidency," said CNN presidential historian Douglas Brinkley. One Trump confidant told CNN's Jeff Zeleny that criticism of the President's behavior over the bomb scares just cemented Trump's view that he is "treated with hostility and unfairly -- there's no talking him out of that." He went on to claim that while he faces much media criticism, he is called "not Presidential" when he hits back. It was almost as if the President couldn't let his scripted, "presidential"-style remarks have the last word. "He is now the President of the United States. The President also knows he's most effective when he's attacking an enemy, in the heat of a fight.

As 2017 ends and 2018 begins, Democrats from red states and blue states will run against the Gilded Age policies of President Trump and Republicans in Congress that are widely rejected by majorities of voters as the midterm elections come closer. Democrats will run against the disastrously unpopular GOP plans to repeal and replace ObamaCare, which were in part incorporated into the tax bill that will raise insurance premiums for tens of millions of Americans. Democrats will run against the highly unpopular and regressive repeal of net neutrality rules by the Trump Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which will raise the price of internet service and streaming video for more than a hundred million Americans who watch movies, television and sports online. It is a striking and historic blunder for Republicans to gamble their hopes for 2018 on three of the most unpopular measures in modern political history on health care, taxes and net neutrality. They won a stunning upset victory in the Alabama Senate race. They lead Republicans in generic balloting for 2018 by double-digit margins in most recent polling. In recent elections, Democratic turnout surged far above any expectations that existed when Trump and the GOP Congress took one-party power in January 2017. High-quality Democratic candidates are inspired to run for the House and Senate. The Democratic battle cry in 2018 will be that, on issue after issue, Democrats fight on behalf of the vast majority of Americans, while Republicans fight on behalf of financial elites, special interests and the swampland of lobbyists who serve them. The great Democratic battle cry in 2018 will be social justice and a fair deal for all Americans regardless of race, gender or income.