- Donald Trump’s stunning first major interview as president, annotated by Aaron Blake
- White House says Mexico border wall might be funded by tax on imports by Joshua Partlow
- Trump pressured Park Service to find proof for his claims about inauguration crowd by Karen Tumulty and Juliet Eilperin
- Trump lays groundwork to change U.S. role in the world by Karen DeYoung and Philip Rucker
- Trump is starting a trade war we don’t need by Editorial Board
- In these six American towns, laws targeting ‘the illegals’ didn’t go as planned by Chico Harlan
- Why a tweeting president is so bad for our politics by Michael Gerson
- Trump signs order temporarily halting admission of refugees, promises priority for Christians by Carol Morello
- In Trump’s mind, it’s always ‘really sunny.’ And that’s terrifying. by Dana Milbank
- An ‘America first’ philosophy? During May’s visit, it’s more like ‘Trump first.’ by Ashley Parker
- Trump’s evidence-free attack on the vote could cause serious harm by Editorial Board
- What we talk about when we talk about Donald Trump and ‘gaslighting’ by Caitlin Gibson
- Trump’s erratic first week was among the most alarming in history by Ruth Marcus
As promised, snippets from each article appear below.
- Donald Trump’s stunning first major interview as president, annotated by Aaron Blake
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Okay, so I'm glad you asked. So, I went to the CIA, my first step. I have great respect for the people in intelligence and CIA. I'm — I don't have a lot of respect for, in particular one of the leaders. But that's okay. But I have a lot of respect for the people in the CIA.
That speech was a home run. That speech, if you look at Fox, okay, I'll mention you — we see what Fox said. They said it was one of the great speeches. They showed the people applauding and screaming and — and they were all CIA. There was — somebody was asking Sean — “Well, were they Trump people that were put--" we don't have Trump people. They were CIA people.
- White House says Mexico border wall might be funded by tax on imports by Joshua Partlow
President Enrique Peña Nieto on Thursday called off a trip to Washington after emphasizing that Mexico would not finance the wall. Hours later, Trump’s press secretary, Sean Spicer, said the border barrier would be funded by a 20 percent import tax on goods from Mexico.
Spicer did not provide details of how the policy would work. Later, he appeared to backtrack, telling reporters that the tax was “one idea” to pay for the wall and that his intent was not to “roll out” a new policy. He said it could be part of a broader import tax plan backed by some House Republicans.
Critics said that if implemented, such a tax would mean that the wall’s cost ultimately would be borne by U.S. consumers.
- Trump pressured Park Service to find proof for his claims about inauguration crowd by Karen Tumulty and Juliet Eilperin
For Trump, who sees himself and his achievements in superlative terms, the inauguration’s crowd size has been a source of grievance that he appears unable to put behind him. It is a measure of his fixation on the issue that he would devote part of his first morning in office to it — and that he would take out his frustrations on an acting Park Service director.
- Trump lays groundwork to change U.S. role in the world by Karen DeYoung and Philip Rucker
If implemented, these initiatives and other steps Trump has previewed will usher in a new era of American foreign policy, after decades of bipartisan agreement that the United States has a responsibility to spread democracy and stand up for the oppressed, and that it would prosper when a united, free world prospered.
In the policies Trump has outlined, there are no apparent trade-offs to be made that balance short-term American advantage with global goals benefiting the United States over the longer term. Instead, as a policy posted on the White House website on Inauguration Day put it, “The world will be more peaceful and more prosperous with a stronger and more respected America.”
- Trump is starting a trade war we don’t need by Editorial Board
After decades of economic integration, the United States and its southern neighbor have established a valuable trading relationship exchanging $1.4 billion in goods every day. Mexico is the second-largest foreign market for U.S.-made products. Trade and investment between the two nations create wealth for both nations, and for innumerable American companies, workers and consumers, all of whom would be harmed by a trade war. Moreover, Mexico has become a valuable partner in promoting liberal values, having institutionalized multi-party democracy and steadily increased economic freedoms within its borders. As it has matured into a middle-class nation, the flow of Mexicans north has reversed, with more returning home in recent years than migrating to the United States.
* * *
U.S. officials should reach out and seek to repair the week’s damage. It took the United States nearly a decade to recover from the economic wreckage of the last recession. A wealth-destroying trade war with one of America’s closest partners would threaten that long-sought recovery.
- In these six American towns, laws targeting ‘the illegals’ didn’t go as planned by Chico Harlan
“It wound up costing our city $9 million in attorney’s fees,” said Bob Phelps, the mayor of Farmers Branch, Tex., a Dallas suburb that saw its ordinance defeated in court after a seven-year legal battle. “And we accomplished zero.”
The local efforts were championed by two men who are now Trump advisers and reportedly were considered for Cabinet positions. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who counseled most of the cities in their legal challenges, consulted with Trump during his campaign about issues including a border wall with Mexico. Barletta is now a U.S. House member and was part of Trump’s transition team.
- Why a tweeting president is so bad for our politics by Michael Gerson
Make no mistake: This is not only change, it is regression. I make this judgment both as a fogey and a former speechwriter. A presidential speech may be two thousand or three thousand words, every one of them run through the staffing process (in which senior White House officials can comment), fact-checked and approved by the president before delivery. A good presidential speech is the result of both thought and craft. A great presidential speech reflects literary, historical and moral inspiration and can speak far beyond its moment.
* * *
But in politics, Twitter has dramatic limits and can become a disturbing substitute for disciplined thought.
One hundred and forty characters are suitable to expressing an impulse, but not an argument. It is the rhetorical equivalent of a groan, a shriek, a sneer or a burp. If reason and persuasion are what our politics lacks and needs, Twitter is not the answer.
- Trump signs order temporarily halting admission of refugees, promises priority for Christians by Carol Morello
President Trump signed an order Friday to suspend admission of all refugees for 120 days while a new system is put in place to tighten vetting for those from predominantly Muslim countries and give preference to religious minorities. Trump said that the goal is to screen out “radical Islamic terrorists” and that priority for admission would be given to Christians.
“We don’t want them here,” Trump said of terrorists in a signing ceremony at the Pentagon. “We only want to admit those into our country who will support our country and love deeply our people.”
In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network earlier Friday, Trump was asked whether he would prioritize persecuted Christians in the Middle East for admission as refugees, and he replied, “Yes.”
“They’ve been horribly treated,” he said. “Do you know if you were a Christian in Syria it was impossible, at least very tough, to get into the United States? If you were a Muslim you could come in, but if you were a Christian it was almost impossible. And the reason that was so unfair — everybody was persecuted, in all fairness — but they were chopping off the heads of everybody, but more so the Christians. And I thought it was very, very unfair.
- In Trump’s mind, it’s always ‘really sunny.’ And that’s terrifying. by Dana Milbank
“It was almost raining,” the new president told CIA workers in Langley, recounting his inaugural address, “but God looked down and he said, we’re not going to let it rain on your speech. In fact, when I first started, I said, oh, no. The first line, I got hit by a couple of drops. And I said, oh, this is too bad, but we’ll go right through it. But the truth is that it stopped immediately. It was amazing. And then it became really sunny. And then I walked off and it poured right after I left. It poured.”
* * *
I rehash this weather history because it’s not subject to debate. This is tantamount to Trump declaring black is white or day is night. It was overcast, and he declared that it was “really sunny.”
This disconnect from reality is my biggest fear about Trump, more than any one policy he has proposed. My worry is the president of the United States is barking mad.
Trump bragged that he had correctly predicted Britain’s Brexit vote to withdraw from the European Union. He also viewed it in terms of a business deal gone wrong, saying that in his previous life as a real estate magnate, he had a “very bad experience” when dealing with the group of European nations.
“Getting the approvals from the country was fast, easy and efficient,” he said. “Getting the approvals from the group — I call them the consortium — was very, very tough.”
Then, his negative business experience firmly established as the lens through which he views the E.U., Trump issued his final verdict: “I think it will go down that it will end up being a fantastic thing for the United Kingdom,” he said. “I think in the end, it will be a tremendous asset, not a tremendous liability, okay?”
Never one to miss a branding opportunity, Trump — who has turned over management of his holdings to his adult sons but retains ownership of the company — also managed to plug his golf course, Trump Turnberry. “I happened to be in Scotland at Turnberry cutting a ribbon when Brexit happened and we had a vast amount of press there,” Trump said.
- Trump’s evidence-free attack on the vote could cause serious harm by Editorial Board
Mr. Trump’s claims of widespread voter fraud escalated this week after he told congressional leaders during a private reception Monday that between 3 million and 5 million ballots were illegally cast in November’s election, allowing his Democratic rival to win the popular vote by more than 2.8 million votes even as she lost the electoral college vote. With back-to-back tweets on Wednesday, Mr. Trump said he would be ordering an investigation that would cover “those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal” and “those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time).” The White House said an executive order would be forthcoming, but details remain unclear. A signing scheduled for Thursday afternoon was postponed.
Mr. Trump has offered no evidence — unsubstantiated ravings of a conspiracy theorist and a fourth-hand yarn involving a German golfer don’t count — and even leaders of his own party have agreed with the conclusion of state election officials that there was no significant fraud. Indeed, that was the assessment of Mr. Trump’s lawyers last year as they worked to stop recount efforts by Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein. “All available evidence suggests that the 2016 general election was not tainted by fraud or mistake,” the lawyers wrote.
- What we talk about when we talk about Donald Trump and ‘gaslighting’ by Caitlin Gibson
It wasn’t until late 2015 that we began to see “gaslighting” applied to Trump. Among the first to do so was conservative pundit Matt K. Lewis, in a November 2015 article for the Telegraph: “Any introspective person covering Mr Trump will eventually have to grapple with whether or not they want to believe The Donald or their lying eyes.”
And then, even some psychologists took up the idea, drawing parallels between Trump’s actions and the classic tricks of gaslighting — such as undermining the victim’s perspective, controlling the topic of conversation and forcefully denying the truth.
- Trump’s erratic first week was among the most alarming in history by Ruth Marcus
But the first week of the Trump presidency was alarming in a different way, because the frightening part involved the president’s own erratic, even bizarre, behavior.
Anyone who paid even glancing attention to the 2016 campaign already understood Donald Trump to be undisciplined, easily provoked and self-absorbed to the point of narcissism. But it was one thing to know that in theory; it was much more unsettling to witness President Trump in action. In depressing retrospect, the dark inaugural address, with its invocation of “carnage” and “tombstones,” was the week’s high point.
No comments:
Post a Comment