The Trump thread: All things Donald

[psiberzerker]

Trump cannot win a trade war against a dictatorship.

He also either has no idea what Tariffs actually do, or claims the opposite to deny what they're doing to the economy.  It's really hard to tell incompetence from lies to hide his incompetence.

[_priapism]

Trump cannot win a trade war against a dictatorship.

He also either has no idea what Tariffs actually do, or claims the opposite to deny what they're doing to the economy.  It's really hard to tell incompetence from lies to hide his incompetence.

He can’t sell tariffs by saying (honestly), “I’m collecting billions from American consumers, to punish American consumers for buying foreign products, and to make foreign products more expensive.”  The idea that he is imposing, and collecting, a fee from China fits his “us verses them” model, and his followers lap it up.

[psiberzerker]

Right, that's not how trade works.  It's basically how trade doesn't work.

[Athos_131]

Trump promises more aid for farmers in 2020 ‘if necessary’ as China trade war drags on

Trump on Tuesday promised farmers that China’s increasing aggression against U.S. agriculture in the spiraling trade war “will not be able to hurt them” – and vowed that “if necessary” he will give them more aid in 2020.

The Trump administration has already given out billions of dollars in bailouts to farmers threatened by America’s tit-for-tat tariffs with China. In May, the Agriculture Department unveiled a $16 billion aid package.

Keeping farmers on his side is a crucial political goal for Trump, who is up for reelection next year and has shown no indication that he is willing to back off his fight with China. The Washington Post reported on Aug.1 that 9 out of 10 counties that supported Trump in the 2016 election have received subsidies related to the trade war.

The stakes for farmers shot up Monday, when Beijing confirmed that it would stop buying U.S. agricultural products altogether. The punishing blow to farmers came as retaliation for Trump’s threat last week that the U.S. would slap 10% tariffs on the remaining $300 billion of Chinese goods that don’t already have levies.

Trump assured in a tweet, however, that no harm would come to U.S. farmers.

As they have learned in the last two years, our great American Farmers know that China will not be able to hurt them,” Trump wrote Tuesday morning, “in that their President has stood with them and done what no other president would do.”

“And I’ll do it again if necessary!” Trump added.

Trump’s top economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, backed up Trump’s promise later Tuesday morning, telling reporters at the White House that the Trump administration will give farmers more assistance if need be.

China’s move to cut off U.S. agriculture from one of its biggest export markets shocked markets that were already leery about the sweeping new tariffs expected from Trump.

The Dow on Monday suffered its worst day of 2019, and all three major stock indexes fell by their biggest percentage margins of the year. Tuesday morning, the Dow clawed back some gains, rising more than 200 points in early trading before paring some of that advance.

Since Yellow Wall doesn't want federal funds being used on almost anything, I can't wait for the screed of gibberish to defend this.

#Resist

[Athos_131]

US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman resigns

U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman on Tuesday turned in his resignation letter to President Trump.

“American citizenship is a privilege and I believe the most basic responsibility in return is service to country,” Huntsman wrote. “To that end, I am honored by the trust you have placed in me as the United States ambassador to Russia during this historically difficult period in bilateral relations."

“It is my hope that this will allow sufficient time for a successor to be nominated and confirmed,” he added. “I pledge my full effort in facilitating a smooth transition that ensures our foreign policy goals are kept in proper focus.”

His resignation will take effect Oct. 3.

Huntsman, a former Utah governor, is planning to move back to the state in the fall and is reportedly weighing another gubernatorial run. He was expected to leave his role amid speculation that he would launch a bid to run for state office.

The 59-year-old ambassador was elected as Utah’s governor in 2004 and again in 2008. He left his post in 2009 to become the U.S. ambassador to China at former President Obama’s request.

He resigned in 2011 to pursue an ultimately unsuccessful GOP presidential run.

In his resignation letter, Huntsman added that he had told Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that he and his family wanted to go home “to reconnect with our growing family and responsibilities.”

Trump picked Huntsman to handle relations with Russia in his first year in the White House. Huntsman reportedly told the Trump administration at the time that he would serve in the role for two years.

Huntsman faced calls to step down after a Helsinki summit with Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018, when Trump appeared to side with Putin regarding his denial of Moscow's interference in the 2016 election.

"I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today," Trump told reporters at the time.

Huntsman said at the time he would continue to serve in the "fragile" era of U.S.-Russia relations.

Huntsman also served as U.S. ambassador to Singapore in the early 1990s, as well as a deputy U.S. trade representative under former President George W. Bush.

No need for an ambassador to Russia when Trump has Putin on speed dial.

Yellow Wall will appreciate this.  Another needless government salary eliminated.

#Resist

[psiberzerker]

No need for an ambassador to Russia when Trump has Putin on speed dial.

Not officially, but it helps to have a ceremonial one, just to keep up appearances, and transfer documents more diplomatically than cutting and pasting them...

...In his Twitter Feed.

I agree, it's about as ceremonial a position as Queen of England.

[Athos_131]

Here's How to Find Out Who Donated Thousands to Trump in Your Area

Yesterday, the campaign of Congressman Joaquin Castro (brother of current presidential candidate Julián) published the names of dozens of San Antonians who had already given the maximum amount allowed under federal law to the re-election campaign of Donald Trump.

This sparked outrage from Republicans and some in the media who compared the publication of the names to “doxxing” the people who had donated to Trump. The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman called it “dangerous.”

When you donate to political candidates, you’re giving the Federal Election Commission permission to publish your name and occupation, which they do on their website as part of campaign finance data. It is not doxxing. But not everyone knows how to access that information, so we’ve decided to put together a guide for you to find out who in your community has given thousands of dollars to Donald Trump, or really any other political candidate.

1. Go to fec.gov/data. You should see the screen below; either you can look up all contributions to a given candidate, or you can look up individual names to see if they’ve donated in this cycle or in the past. For our purposes today, we’re just going to click on the name of, oh, I dunno, Trump, Donald J.

2. Once you click through, you’ll be taken to a screen which allows you to toggle which election cycle you’re looking at. We want the 2020 election and “all years,” meaning everything our candidate has raised since 2017. Then click on “browse receipts.”

3. When you pop through to the next screen, you’ll be able to narrow your search down using the filters. (The election cycle and political committee are automatically toggled.) You can find who in your area is bankrolling the campaign of a man who is responsible for this, and this, and this, and this, and this, by simply plugging in your zip code or the name of the city in which you reside.

For our purposes, I plugged in New York, NY, and found dozens of people who’ve given the max to Trump. Here’s one: Woody Johnson, the co-owner of the New York Jets and Trump’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Wow!

(Note: Clicking on “open original image” will show you the original itemized receipt from the FEC. That, unlike Castro’s tweet, shows their home addresses.)

To mix up the cities a little bit, here’s D.C., which, in addition to the maximum contributions from individual donors, includes a whopping $165,702 from the law firm Jones Day.

And here is Los Angeles. And yes, that is former California Gov. Pete Wilson right at the top of the list.

That way, you’ll see the biggest donations first. And if you want to see if one of those major donors had given the max, all you need to do is look at the “year to date”; if it says $5,600.00, like Woody Johnson’s above, then they gave the max.

Hope this helps!

#Resist

[Athos_131]

He.  Turned.  His.  Trip.  To.  Dayton.  Into.  A.  Campaign.  Ad.

#Resist

[psiberzerker]

He.  Turned.  His.  Trip.  To.  Dayton.  Into.  A.  Campaign.  Ad.

That's one of the reasons why El Paso told him to stay away.  They knew, with an absolute certainty, that it would turn into another Rally.

[Athos_131]

Trump attacks local leaders as he visits two cities grieving from mass shootings

On a day when President Trump vowed to tone down his rhetoric and help the country heal following two mass slayings, he did the opposite — lacing his visits Wednesday to El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, with a flurry of attacks on local leaders and memorializing his trips with grinning thumbs-up photos.

A traditional role for presidents has been to offer comfort and solace to all Americans at times of national tragedy, but the day provided a fresh testament to Trump’s limitations in striking notes of unity and empathy.

When Trump swooped into the grieving border city of El Paso to offer condolences following the massacre of Latinos allegedly by a white supremacist, some of the city’s elected leaders and thousands of its citizens declared the president unwelcome.

In his only public remarks during the trip, Trump lashed out at Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, both Democrats, over their characterization of his visit with hospital patients in Dayton.

“We had an amazing day,” Trump said in El Paso as he concluded his visit. “As you know, we left Ohio. The love, the respect for the office of the presidency.”

Trump also praised El Paso police officers and other first responders and shook their hands, telling one female officer, “I saw you on television the other day and you were fantastic.”

None of the eight patients still being treated at University Medical Center in El Paso agreed to meet with Trump when he visited the hospital, UMC spokesman Ryan Mielke said. Two victims who already had been discharged returned to the hospital with family members to meet with the president.

“This is a very sensitive time in their lives,” Mielke said. “Some of them said they didn’t want to meet with the president. Some of them didn’t want any visitors.”

Before Trump’s visit Wednesday, however, some of the hospitalized victims accepted visits from a number of city and county elected officials, as well as Reps. Veronica Escobar (D-Tex.) and Jesús “Chuy” García (D-Ill.).

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said the president and first lady Melania Trump met with “victims of the tragedy while at the hospital” and were “received very warmly by not just victims and their families, but by the many members of medical staff who lined the hallways to meet them. It was a moving visit for all involved.”

El Paso and Dayton were not merely the latest in the multiplying series of American mass shootings. The carnage in El Paso is being investigated as an act of domestic terrorism, with parallels between a racist manifesto posted minutes before the shooting and the president’s own anti-immigration rhetoric.

This has thrust Trump into the center of a roiling political and societal debate, with some Democratic leaders saying the president has emboldened white supremacy and is a threat to the nation.

Former vice president Joe Biden, who is running to unseat Trump in 2020, said in a speech Wednesday, “We have a president with a toxic tongue who has publicly and unapologetically embraced a political strategy of hate, racism and division.”

Both in Dayton and El Paso, Trump kept almost entirely out of public view, a marked break with tradition, as presidents visiting grieving communities typically offer public condolences.

Trump avoided the Oregon district where the shooting in Dayton took place, and just a short drive from Miami Valley Hospital, which he did visit. Whaley said he would not have been welcome in the Oregon District, where scores of demonstrators congregated, holding ­anti-Trump signs and chanting “Do something!” in a call for stricter gun laws.

Brown and Whaley described the visit by the president and first lady in favorable terms.

“They were hurting. He was comforting. He did the right things. Melania did the right things,” Brown told reporters. “And it’s his job in part to comfort people. I’m glad he did it in those hospital rooms.”

Whaley added: “I think the victims and the first responders were grateful that the president of the United States came to Dayton.”

Both Brown and Whaley, however, were also sharply critical of Trump’s divisive rhetoric and Republican resistance to gun-control legislation.

Whaley later responded to Trump’s comments about her and Brown by calling him “a bully and a coward.” She said on CNN, “It’s fine that he wants to bully me and Sen. Brown. We’re okay. We can take it.”

The traveling press corps was not allowed to observe Trump’s visit with three victims who remained hospitalized. It fell therefore to White House aide Dan Scavino to proclaim in a tweet that Trump “was treated like a Rock Star inside the hospital.”

Trump and the first lady also met with police officers, fire officials, trauma surgeons and nurses at the facility, which treated 23 victims of the shooting. The hospital invited victims who had already been released to come back and meet with the president and the first lady.

“It was an authentic visit,” hospital president Mike Uhl said, praising Trump as “attentive, present and extremely accommodating.”

Trump offered his own affirmation on Twitter: “It was a warm & wonderful visit. Tremendous enthusiasm & even Love.”

Grisham said journalists were kept out of the hospital visit because staff did not want it to devolve into “a photo op” and overwhelm the victims with media.

The White House, however, distributed its own photos of Trump smiling for pictures with first responders, along with a slickly produced video, helping make the president the center of attention.

Trump’s reception in El Paso was less hospitable, and not only because so many local leaders have said they believe his rhetoric inspired Saturday’s slayings at a shopping center near the U.S.-Mexico border. Although he won the state of Texas in the 2016 election, Trump captured just 25.7 percent of the vote in El Paso County, the worst performance recorded here by a major-party presidential candidate in at least two decades.

An ever-growing makeshift memorial has sprouted near the shooting scene that features piles of colorful flowers, a row of white crosses, a line of prayer candles, as well as messages to the president. “Mr. T, Respect our sorrow and grief. Do not ‘invade’ our city,” reads one note, a reference to Trump’s repeated warnings of a migrant “invasion” at the border.

Just before Trump arrived in El Paso — where he and the first lady met with law enforcement personnel at an emergency operations center following their hospital visit — several hundred people gathered in opposition to his trip .

Congregating under the hot midday sun in a baseball field for an “El Paso Strong” event, some held homemade signs. “Go home! You are NOT welcome here!” read one. “This was Trump-inspired terrorism,” read another. “Trump repent,” read a third.

At one point, the crowd chanted, “Send him back!” — a nod to the incendiary “Send her back!” chant about Somali-born Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) at one of Trump’s campaign rallies last month.

“We feel like right now we should be in mourning, and we feel like we should be collecting our thoughts, we should be doing vigils and we should be gathering together as a community. We believe it is an insult that the president is coming here,” said one of the organizers, Jaime Candelaria, a 37-year-old singer and songwriter.

Escobar said onstage, “In this moment, someone is visiting … I felt it was important that we come together and not focus on the visitor, but focus on El Paso.” She added, “We will not stop resisting the hate! Resisting the bigotry! Resisting the racism!”

In the crowd at the El Paso Strong event was Shawn Nixon, 20, a Walmart employee who was at work restocking the school supplies area when the gunman opened fire Saturday morning. At the sound of the shots, Nixon said he fell to the ground, pulling with him a young child who had been shopping with his mother.

“All I’m just asking for Donald Trump, for the president, to do is to say ‘sorry,’ ” Nixon said. “He created this crime. He created it because of his words. Every time that he’s on TV, that’s what he’s doing.”

During his flight home from El Paso, Trump attacked Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Tex.), the twin brother of presidential candidate Julián Castro, tweeting that he “makes a fool of himself every time he opens his mouth.” The congressman has come under scrutiny for publicizing a list of San Antonio donors who have contributed to Trump and accusing them of “fueling a campaign of hate.”

On Saturday in El Paso, authorities said, a man opened fire inside the Walmart, killing 22 people and injuring two dozen others. At 1:05 a.m. Sunday, a gunman killed nine people and injured 27 others outside a bar in Dayton, police said.

All week, Trump has zigzagged between two competing instincts: unite and divide.

In the immediate aftermath of the shootings, Trump remained cloistered at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., issuing only short statements on Twitter. Back at the White House on Monday, the president delivered a scripted speech in which he preached harmony.

“Now is the time to set destructive partisanship aside — so destructive — and find the courage to answer hatred with unity, devotion and love,” Trump said, reading from teleprompters.

The president did not heed his own advice, however. Late Tuesday night, he took to Twitter to attack Beto O’Rourke, the former El Paso congressman running for president who has said Trump bears some responsibility for the shooting there because of his demonization of Latino immigrants.

Trump tweeted: “Beto (phony name to indicate Hispanic heritage) O’Rourke, who is embarrassed by my last visit to the Great State of Texas, where I trounced him, and is now even more embarrassed by polling at 1% in the Democrat Primary, should respect the victims & law enforcement — & be quiet!”

Then, as he departed the White House on Wednesday morning en route to Ohio, Trump told reporters he would refrain from attacking his adversaries during the trip.

“I would like to stay out of the political fray,” the president said. Asked about his rhetoric, he said he thinks it “brings people together” and added, “I think we have toned it down.”

That detente lasted only a few minutes. Answering a reporter’s question about Biden, Trump pounced. “Joe is a pretty incompetent guy,” the president said. “Joe Biden has truly lost his fastball, that I can tell you.”

By the time the president had left Dayton, he was back on Twitter and sniping at Democrats, a tirade triggered by his consumption of cable television news aboard Air Force One.

“Watching Sleepy Joe Biden making a speech. Sooo Boring! The LameStream Media will die in the ratings and clicks with this guy,” the president wrote.

Then he lashed out at Brown and Whaley, falsely accusing them of “totally misrepresenting” the reception he received at Miami Valley Hospital. He alleged that their news conference immediately after the president’s visit “was a fraud.”

But neither Brown nor Whaley said Trump received a poor reception at the hospital.

When Whaley first saw Trump’s tweets criticizing her and Brown, she paused for a moment to read them on a cellphone and said, “I don’t — I mean, I’m really confused. We said he was treated, like, very well. So, I don’t know why they’re talking about ‘misrepresenting.’

“Oh, well, you know,” the mayor added with a shrug. “He lives in his world of Twitter.”

#Resist

[Athos_131]

Trump’s videos showing his visits to Dayton and El Paso are mostly about Trump

Trump spent Wednesday traveling to Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, visiting communities that were the sites of mass shootings last weekend. It’s the sort of thing presidents do, offering condolences and comforting those affected by a disaster. When there was a mass shooting at a church in Charleston, S.C., in 2015 for example, Barack Obama visited the city and gave a speech eulogizing a pastor who had been killed and decrying gun violence.

Trump’s visits were a bit more opaque. The White House kept journalists at a distance during his stops at hospitals in both cities, telling reporters at one point that this was because the visit was “about the victims” and “not a photo op.”

Asked if Trump was well received, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham told reporters on Air Force One, “I don’t think that there was a supportive/not supportive element to this. This was a ‘How are you feeling?’ ‘We’re with you.’ We’re sorry this happened to you.' It wasn’t about supportive or not supportive."

And then Trump tweeted some videos from his trip.

The first was an overview of his stop in Dayton. It’s framed entirely as a documentation of his trip, beginning with a shot of the Dayton skyline from the presidential motorcade and then pairing brief shots of Trump shaking hands with an evocative musical score. Several snippets show Trump posing for photos with police officers or medical staff, with the president smiling and giving a thumbs up.

Curious about how much of the video featured Trump, we walked through it, frame-by-frame. The video was about 50 seconds long in total. Trump is visible for about 37 seconds of that, or nearly three-quarters of the entire video. That includes only shots in which Trump’s head is visible — meaning that it doesn’t include several shots of him shaking hands.

What we don’t learn from that video is anything about the people with whom Trump was meeting. We can identify their jobs from their uniforms, but there is no audible discussion about what they saw or about how the federal government can help. It’s just Trump, working the room. At the end, a tag: “America stands with Ohio!”

After leaving El Paso, Trump tweeted a similar video. The structure is the same: Trump arrives, he shakes hands, talks with some people, gives some thumbs ups. In one shot, Trump talks with a young boy wearing a signed MAGA hat.

It ends the same way: “America stands with Texas!”

Late last night, right as Trump was landing back in the Washington area, he tweeted a video overview of the entire day. This one is a little different: The music is less emotional and more background-to-an-NFL-Films-video. The focus isn’t on Trump consoling or talking with people; instead, the focus is on people who wanted to clap at and take pictures with the president.

It’s only 27 seconds long, but Trump’s in 20 of them. The shots in which he isn’t visible are mostly shots in which people are waving at him or scrambling to get a look at him.

That includes shots from inside the hospitals, visits which Grisham insisted were not “about supportive or not supportive.” That third video is pinned to Trump’s Twitter page, the first thing seen by anyone who visits it.

On Thursday morning, video recorded by one of the people who met with Trump at the hospital in El Paso emerged. In it, Trump praises the hospital’s work — and then talks about his turnout at a February rally, disparages former El Paso congressman Beto O’Rourke and says how the results of the 2016 election surprised the media.

#Resist

[Athos_131]

Some El Paso shooting victims wouldn’t meet Trump, medical center spokesman says

None of the eight victims of the El Paso mass shooting still being treated at University Medical Center agreed to meet with President Trump when he visited on Wednesday, the hospital’s spokesman said.

“This is a very sensitive time in their lives. Some of them said they didn’t want to meet with the president, some of them didn’t want any visitors,” UMC spokesman Ryan Mielke said.

Two victims who had been discharged from UMC and their families returned to the hospital to meet with Trump, Mielke said.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s visit to El Paso was unwelcome for many elected officials and other El Pasoans, who believe Trump’s rhetoric about immigrants and the border has emboldened anti-immigrant groups. The suspected gunman, Patrick Crusius, is believed to have written an anti-immigrant and anti-Hispanic manifesto before the shooting.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said the president and first lady Melania Trump met with “victims of the tragedy while at the hospital” and were “received very warmly by not just victims and their families, but by the many members of medical staff who lined the hallways to meet them. It was a moving visit for all involved.”

The White House did not allow independent journalists to observe the Trumps’ hospital visit, but Grisham pointed to a video released by the White House as evidence of the president’s reception at the hospital.

Following his visit, Trump tweeted, “The love, respect enthusiasm were there for all to see. They have been through so much. Sad!”

Five people are in critical condition at UMC and three are in serious condition.

Fifteen victims of the Walmart attack were taken to UMC on Saturday, including one who died shortly after arriving.

The hospitalized patients also declined to meet with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), who came to UMC on Wednesday, Mielke said. Cruz did meet with staff in the hospital’s emergency department, he said.

A spokeswoman for Cruz said he met on Wednesday with several patients and families at Del Sol Medical Center, the other hospital treating shooting victims.

A number of elected officials have visited with the victims in recent days. Before Trump’s visit Wednesday, a number of city and county elected officials met with some of the hospitalized victims, as did Reps. Veronica Escobar (D-Tex.) and Jesús “Chuy” Garcia (D-Ill.)

Escobar has been visiting victims and their families at UMC each day since Sunday. She said she’s met with six patients and the families of three others who aren’t able to communicate because of medical treatment.

“The first couple days were very difficult because people were in a lot of emotional and physical pain. They have since become so cathartic and beautiful and have given me so much hope,” Escobar said.

El Paso City Council member Claudia Ordaz Perez was among a group of local elected officials who accompanied Escobar and Garcia on Wednesday morning. She said she met with two patients, a man and a woman, and their families.

“Their spirits are just incredible. They were very grateful to see the support from this community and they were grateful to see us there,” Perez said.

#Resist

[Athos_131]

During El Paso hospital visit, Trump compared his and O’Rourke’s crowd sizes at political rallies, video shows

Trump grew angry with aides on Air Force One on Wednesday for failing to allow cameras to record his visits to hospitals treating the victims from two mass shootings, complaining that he was not receiving credit for the trips and his foes were dominating television news.

But a video that surfaced Thursday of Trump’s visit to an El Paso hospital shows him talking to medical staff about the crowd sizes that he and former congressman Beto O’Rourke drew at political rallies earlier in the year.

As Trump exchanges pleasantries with doctors and others at the University Medical Center of El Paso, the video shows him pausing to reminisce about dueling rallies that he and the Texas Democrat staged in El Paso in February focused on immigration and border security.

“That was some crowd,” Trump says of his event. “We had twice the number outside. And then you had this crazy Beto. Beto had like 400 people in a parking lot, and they said his crowd was wonderful.”

The video shows no one responding to Trump’s assertion before convening for group photos.

O’Rourke, now a presidential candidate, responded later Thursday: “This community is focused on healing. Not hatred. Not racism. Certainly not crowd sizes,” he wrote on Twitter.

Inside the White House, the trip was generally seen as “not ideal,” in the words of one senior administration official, as the president spent much of the day attacking his foes and complaining via Twitter as he traveled to Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso. The weekend shootings left 31 dead and dozens injured.

Four other aides, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions, described the trip in similar terms. Trump pushed back against such criticism in one of his more than a dozen tweets Wednesday.

“Leaving El Paso for the White House. What GREAT people I met there and in Dayton, Ohio. The Fake News worked overtime trying to disparage me and the two trips, but it just didn’t work. The love, respect & enthusiasm were there for all to see. They have been through so much. Sad!” he wrote.

Separately, he bragged that people showed him and the office of the presidency great respect, and a top adviser, Dan Scavino, wrote that he was greeted as a “ROCK STAR.”

Trump, complaining loudly on Air Force One, wanted pictures and video released immediately, according to people with knowledge of what happened, and asked aides to defend him. Trump has complained to allies since the shooting that he has not gotten enough credit for his response, according to these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share private conversations.

Trump delivered brief remarks Monday and has expressed interest in extensive background checks and “red flag” laws — also known as extreme risk protection orders — for gun purchasers that allow family members or law enforcement to petition a judge to ban gun access for someone they believe is an imminent threat to themselves or others.

But Congress has no plans to cut short its August recess to work on any legislation.

While the president’s aides explained to reporters that cameras were kept out of the hospital because of logistical and privacy concerns, two White House officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said there were concerns that they could capture an impolitic moment or the president making an insensitive comment.

The two events staged by Trump and O’Rourke in February along the U.S.-Mexico border came as congressional negotiators labored to avoid a partial government shutdown and Trump sought more funding for construction of his long-promised border wall.

About a mile down the road from Trump’s rally, several thousand demonstrators gathered at a high school carrying American flags, rainbow banners, “Beto for President” flags, and flags for Mexico and Texas. There were also signs decrying Trump and his border wall — such as “Trump made America hate again” — and chants from the crowd that included “Make tacos, not walls!”

A piece in the El Paso Times on the night of the rallies said that Trump had overstated his crowd size.

During his remarks, Trump thanked the fire department for allowing 10,000 people in the El Paso County Coliseum, beyond its stated capacity, and said “tens of thousands” of additional people were watching on screens outside.

A fire department spokesman told the Times that 6,500 people were inside the venue and no special accommodations were made.

Reporters traveling with Trump during his visits Wednesday were not permitted to witness his visits with hospital staff, first responders and others impacted by the shootings. While the media was kept at bay, Trump later tweeted two video montages documenting the visits.

The video showing part of his visit to the University Medical Center of El Paso was posted on Twitter late Wednesday by KDBC-TV, a local CBS-affiliated television station. The station has been soliciting videos shot by viewers who were present for Trump’s visit.

#Resist

[psiberzerker]

During El Paso hospital visit, Trump compared his and O’Rourke’s crowd sizes at political rallies, video shows...

I bet he requested Extra Large gloves, too.

[Athos_131]

Banks Hand Over Documents on Russians Possibly Linked to Trump

Major Wall Street banks have given congressional committees investigating President Trump thousands of pages of documents related to Russians who may have had dealings with Mr. Trump, his family or his business, people familiar with the congressional probes said. Some banks are also giving documents related to Mr. Trump’s business, the Trump Organization, to New York state investigators, people familiar with the New York investigation said.

Wall Street firms including Bank of America Corp. , Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG , JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo & Co. have recently provided the documents to congressional investigators, according to people familiar with those probes. The investigators are working on a joint probe into potential foreign influence on Mr. Trump and his family by the House Financial Services Committee and the House Intelligence Committee. More information will likely be handed over in coming weeks as the banks continue to respond to subpoenas sent in April, the people said.

Separately, Deutsche Bank, Mr. Trump’s primary bank, has turned over emails, loan agreements and other documents related to the Trump Organization to the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, in response to a civil subpoena sent earlier this year, according to people familiar with the New York investigation.

Ms. James’s office has also in recent weeks received financing documents and emails from Investors Bancorp Inc., the people said. The Short Hills, N.J., regional bank handed over thousands of pages in response to a civil subpoena demanding information on a 2010 mortgage on Trump Park Avenue, a condominium building in Manhattan owned by Mr. Trump, the people said.

Mr. Trump has filed several lawsuits seeking to block lawmakers and states from getting access to his bank, accounting and tax records. The documents being provided by the banks could give investigators some of the same information Mr. Trump is trying to block.

The legal fights “could drag on for months, if not years—and that of course is the president’s strategy,” said Saikrishna Prakash, a law professor at the University of Virginia. “The Democrats are seeking to investigate, embarrass the president, and he’s trying to delay his personal finances becoming public.”

Mr. Trump is fighting in court to try to stop Deutsche Bank and Capital One Financial Corp. , two of the banks with the most information on his business, from handing over information to Congress. A federal appeals court in New York is due this month to consider a challenge by Mr. Trump, his three oldest children and his business to subpoenas from the House Intelligence and Financial Services Committees seeking records from the two banks. The banks have said they aren’t taking any position on whether they should be compelled to provide information.

Another federal appeals court last month considered a bid by Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization to block a subpoena issued by the House Oversight Committee seeking eight years’ worth of financial statements and other records from Mazars USA LLP, Mr. Trump’s longtime accounting firm. Mazars said in a statement it will “respect the legal process and fully comply with its legal obligations.”

Mr. Trump also last month sued the Democratic-led U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, as well as the New York attorney general, to block the disclosure of years of his state tax returns.

Committee investigators are reviewing the documents provided to Congress so far by the Wall Street firms, House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D., Calif.), said in an interview in June. “We’ve gotten information from a lot of banks.”

Senior Democrat House intelligence committee officials said last month they are looking for evidence of foreign influence on the administration “whether it was during the campaign, the transition, the inauguration or currently.” Democrats are looking in particular for any evidence of Russian money going into Trump properties, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Mr. Trump has accused New York’s Ms. James, a Democrat who took office in January, of “harassing all of my New York businesses” to make him look bad. Ms. James responded in a tweet that “no one is above the law, not even the President.”

Mr. Trump has publicly declared that he was exonerated by former special counsel Robert Mueller’s nearly two-year probe into alleged Russian influence on the 2016 presidential election. Mr. Mueller in his report said he wasn’t exonerating Mr. Trump.

The New York attorney general’s subpoenas to Deutsche Bank and Investors Bancorp are part of a civil investigation, which could yield fines or other civil actions if the office alleges illegality. The Deutsche Bank documents relate to three mortgages the bank extended to Mr. Trump’s business, as well as proposed financing that didn’t go through, people familiar with the New York investigation said. CNN reported earlier this year that Deutsche Bank had begun providing financial records to the New York attorney general.

Mr. Trump is seeking to quash the congressional subpoenas by arguing that Democrats are exceeding their constitutional powers by conducting investigations not directly tied to legislation. That legal argument couldn't be used to contest information demands from the New York attorney general, lawyers not involved with the investigation said.

The congressional and state investigations are seeking different types of information. The congressional subpoenas being contested in court are seeking a broad range of financial documents from the Trump family. In contrast, the documents being turned over to the New York attorney general involve loans to the Trump Organization, according to people familiar with the New York investigation.

The information already handed to Congress by banks includes records on Russian business people connected to a Trump Tower meeting in June 2016 involving members of Mr. Trump’s family, the people familiar with the congressional probes said.

The meeting, set up at the request of a billionaire Russian-Azerbaijani real-estate developer’s family, became a focal point in the Mueller investigation. The investigation didn’t establish that anyone affiliated with the Trump presidential campaign knowingly conspired with Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election, the report said.

The congressional subpoenas are also seeking any information the banks may have about Russians connected to conversations the Trump organization officials had about a potential real-estate development in Moscow, one person familiar with the matter said. The Trump Organization had explored the possibility of a new Trump Tower in Moscow before and during the campaign, and Mr. Mueller reported on the discussions about that project.

#Resist

[Athos_131]

Trump boasted about making Air Force One cheaper. He didn’t.

In December 2016, then-President-elect Trump sent word that, when it came to government spending, there was a new sheriff in town.

“Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion,” he tweeted. “Cancel order!”

With great fanfare, Trump opened talks with Boeing and as recently as June declared that he had forced Boeing to knock $1.6 billion off the price. He boasted about his negotiating triumph over and over.

Welp. The Pentagon just put out its first formal acquisition report on the presidential planes, and the new cost is . . . $5.2 billion, Air Force Magazine reports. That’s $4.7 billion for the jets themselves and $500 million for associated costs such as hangar construction. In response to my inquiry, an Air Force spokeswoman broke down the costs differently — $3.9 billion for Boeing and the rest for associated costs — and came up with a slightly higher figure for the new Air Force One: $5.3 billion.

Heckuva job!

Actually, it’s even worse. Though Trump in 2016 had claimed costs were $4 billion for the two-jet order, the Government Accountability Office had estimated the cost that year at only $3.2 billion. Apples-to-apples comparisons are tricky, largely because Trump tends to make up numbers, but by any measure, the price tag is up — bigly — from when Trump first complained about it.

The tale of Air Force One is a study of Trump’s presidency in miniature. He makes fantastical claims and forecasts that are implausible at the time but that can’t be proved wrong empirically because sufficient time hasn’t passed. As the Trump presidency wears on, however, time exposes more claims as fraudulent.

He claimed the economy would grow consistently at 4 percent and occasionally as high as 8 percent; after an initial boost because of tax cuts, it has settled back down to 2.1 percent.

His administration claimed the tax cut would pay for itself, and he claimed he would halve the debt; the budget deficit jumped 23 percent in the first nine months of this fiscal year, and he has added $4 trillion to the debt.

His treasury secretary said in April that the United States and China were close to a trade deal. The two are now fighting a trade and currency war.

He proclaimed North Korea no longer a nuclear threat and said its main missile-launching site “is going to be destroyed very soon”; North Korea has resumed weapons testing.

He claimed he would turn around the coal and steel industries and deliver cheaper and better health care and Middle East peace progress; all deteriorated.

Trump gets a pass on much of the above, because of strong markets and continued job growth. But time appears to be catching up with this happy situation: Markets have wobbled recently, and the long expansion shows signs of fragility.

On the Air Force One contract, Trump complained in November 2015 to radio host and Post columnist Hugh Hewitt: “They’re giving out a new, as you know, Air Force One, and that’s a $3 billion, with a ‘b’, $3 billion plane . . . I guarantee you I could save hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars.”

By February 2017, he had a new set of numbers: “They were close to signing a $4.2 billion deal to have a new Air Force One. Can you believe this? I said no way,” he said. “I said I refuse to fly in a $4.2 billion airplane. I refuse. So I got Boeing, and it is actually — a lot of people don’t know — the Air Force One project is actually two planes . . . but we’ve got that price down over $1 billion.”

In August 2018, he claimed even greater savings . “I had a price of $5.6 billion,” he said. “So we worked very long and very hard, and we have the same exact product for $1.6 billion less.”

Just over a year ago, the Pentagon said it awarded Boeing a $3.9 billion contract to build the two 747-8 presidential jets. That’s $100 million less than Trump originally claimed the Obama administration was set to pay — itself a dubious figure — but there was no sign of the $1.6 billion savings he boasted about. (The White House at this point claimed the original estimate, which Trump himself put at $4 billion, had always been over $5 billion.)

Now we’re at $5.3 billion for the jets and associated costs — and counting.

As the industry publication Defense One put it: “Air Force officials have always privately conceded that the program was going to cost more than the $3.9 billion figure touted by the White House last year. . . . Now the projected costs are out in the open.”

Time has a way of doing that.

#Resist

[psiberzerker]

LOL! the state of California passed a new law requiring Tax Returns for Presidential Candidates to qualify:

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-08-06/trump-california-tax-returns-law-suit

The punch-line is that the White House is actually suing for Defamation of Character, despite the fact that the sitting president isn't even mentioned in the law.  "How dare you compel future candidates to provide credentials?"

Nobody thought that the simple way around it might be just to release the damned Tax Returns.  "I'm under audit."  Yes, that's like the best reason to release your tax returns.  It's also a requirement of an Audit.

It's kinda funny/sad.

[joan1984]

What? Releasing of tax return is a requirement on a IRS audit?
--------
Anyway, will be interesting to see how the California action, which is in contrast with the Constitution as to 'requirements' for U.S. President, extraconstitutional I believe. The Constitution lays out exactly the requirements for the office, thus the exact requirements for elections with respect to said office.

States do have authority regarding conducting elections, so this may help clear up exactly who has what ability, who has what responsibility, and be helpful.

LOL! the state of California passed a new law requiring Tax Returns for Presidential Candidates to qualify:

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-08-06/trump-california-tax-returns-law-suit

The punch-line is that the White House is actually suing for Defamation of Character, despite the fact that the sitting president isn't even mentioned in the law.  "How dare you compel future candidates to provide credentials?"

Nobody thought that the simple way around it might be just to release the damned Tax Returns.  "I'm under audit."  Yes, that's like the best reason to release your tax returns.  It's also a requirement of an Audit.

It's kinda funny/sad.

[psiberzerker]

Releasing of tax return is a requirement on a IRS audit?

To the IRS, yes it is.  He's not just withholding them from the Public, that's WHY he's perpetually under Audit..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_evasion

Anyway, will be interesting to see how the California action, which is in contrast with the Constitution as to 'requirements' for U.S. President, extraconstitutional I believe. The Constitution lays out exactly the requirements for the office, thus the exact requirements for elections with respect to said office.

What do they lay out for Presidential Campaign?  California can't regulate the federal requirements for holding the office, but they can for campaigning in their state, and other states have plenty of time to follow suit.

What are you afraid of, transparency of Government, or what we have to find in those Tax returns, that he's been witholding longer than Hillary has her E-mails? (*)  Sauce for the goose...

States do have authority regarding conducting elections.

No, but they do for Campaigning.  Not national elections, those are covered by the federal Government.  They can withhold their Tax Records from the public, they just can't Campaign in California (Or any state that follows suit.)  As much money goes into campaigning, they can look on the bright side.  Campaigning in California can take a lot of time and money.

*Donald Trump offered to turn in his Taxes in exchange for Obama's Birth Certificate, back in 2011.  Obama released his Birth Certificate 1 week later, now 8 years later, we still haven't seen the Tax forms.  The last time Trump filed was in 2005, before Clinton was appointed Secretary of State, and those had to be leaked for anyone to see them.

[joan1984]

  Haha.. you actually believe the altered PDF, including shading to make it seem as if it was photographed from a thick 'bible' like book, is the birth certificate? I will withhold judgement for now. So he was lying when he wrote his first Autobiography? He was lying when he wrote the next Autobiography, two books from which he continues to get rich, by the way...

  Nope, everyone knows he was just making all that up. His family cannot be trusted to know or tell anything consistent with Democrat filings as to his birth, nope, nope, nope... Believe the PDF, in altered typeface, airbrushed shadowing and whatever else which they finally decided passed a focus group, after the election, after painting anyone thinking rationally who asked follow up question as Racist.  Today, White Supremacist would be the buzz word to slime anyone who dared to doubt... right? Got a question? Go to the transcripts... oh, NM...
---------------
  The IRS has President Trump's Tax Returns, of course. Those attempting to out personal information on another citizen "by any means necessary" seek every old and new thing that their minions may believe... meanwhile, the same Pols have nothing to run on, no accomplishments other than twitter swipes, and hope their voters will do as before, and pull the AllDem handle once again.

  Sad they actually may do that. One would hope those claiming Independent as their label, and thinking people of both Democrat and Republican Parties will be thinking of the BEST thing for our Nation for the next 8 years.. is it Ole' Joe?
I don't think so. Biden does not do well at the top of the ticket. Always loses.