Washington Post: How Alex Jones, Conspiracy Theorist Extraordinaire, Got Donald Trump’s Ear

By Manuel Roig-Franzia:

Alex Jones, America’s foremost purveyor of outlandish conspiracy theories, was in a buoyant mood that day. He’d had Matt Drudge, the influential conservative news aggregator, on recently. But this was much bigger.

Trump wasted no time signaling that his mind-set aligned with the host’s. Trump said he wouldn’t apologize for asserting that large numbers of Muslims in New Jersey celebrated the collapse of the twin towers in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a claim that fact-checkers have repeatedly refuted.

“People like you and I can’t do that so easily,” the New York developer, speaking from his office in Trump Tower, said. He would later call Jones “a nice guy.”

The December interview would reverberate into the general election as Hillary Clinton tried to use it to paint Trump as an irresponsible crackpot associating with an irresponsible crackpot. It also pushed Jones, who operates the websites Infowars.com and Prisonplanet.com, from the realm of niche showman into the mainstream national dialogue. The man who said that the Newtown, Conn., school shooting was a “hoax” involving child actors and claimed that elements of the U.S. government were responsible for bombing the Oklahoma City federal building and for the 9/11 attacks had been granted an enormous new audience.

“I think Alex Jones may be the single most important voice in the alternative conservative media,” says Roger Stone, the Nixon-era political trickster who orchestrated Trump’s appearance on the show.

The Full Story (November 17, 2016)

NPR: 'We're Not Going Away' - Alt-Right Leader On Voice In Trump Administration

By All Things Considered:

MCEVERS: So you ride the subway in New York City. And you're sitting in a subway car, and you're looking at people from all over everywhere. And nobody's punching each other. Nobody's stabbing anyone. Everyone's going about their life, going to work, you know? You don't see that as, like, a way where people are getting along?

SPENCER: Do we really like each other? Do we really love each other? Do we really have a sense of community in that subway car? What I see are a lot of...

MCEVERS: Or a cul-de-sac or in kindergarten.

SPENCER: Whenever many different races are in the same school, what will happen is that there'll be a natural segregation at lunchtime, at PE, at - in terms of after-school play.

MCEVERS: Richard Spencer's views are obviously not easy to hear, but we do think they're important to hear because of the link between the alt-right and Donald Trump's team. I asked Richard Spencer what policies he's pushing for - natural conservation, he said, a foreign policy that's friendlier to Russia and this.

SPENCER: Immigration is the most obvious one. And I think we need to get beyond thinking about immigration just in terms of illegal immigration. Illegal immigration is not nearly as damaging as legal immigration. Legal immigration - they're here to stay. Their children are here and so on.

And I think a really reasonable and I think palatable policy proposal would be for Donald Trump to say, look; we've had immigration in the past. It's brought some fragmentation. It's brought division. But we need to become a people again. And for us to do that, we're going to need to take a break from mass immigration. And we're going to need to preference people who are going to fit in, who are more like us. That is European immigration.

The Full Story (November 17, 2016)

Economic Times: Donald Trump Meets Indian Partners, Hails PM Modi's Work

By Kailash Babar:

Trump met Atul Chordia, Sagar Chordia and Kalpesh Mehta at Trump Tower, New York on Tuesday noon (US time). The discussion revolved around Indian economy and Modi. Trump’s family, including daughter Ivanka and sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr, was also present. Mehta is managing partner of Tribeca Developers, Trump's India representative responsible for supporting the brand in the country. 

Trump currently has five luxury projects in India including a Trump Tower, a 46-apartment block with Panchshil Realty in Pune, and an under-construction 300-apartment project in Mumbai’s Lower Parel with the Lodha Group. These are not equity joint ventures. Trump has lent his name to the projects in return for payment.
The Full Story (November 17, 2016)

[Special] Washington Post Transition Round-Up

I'm a subscriber to the Washington Post, so by extension I read quite a few articles from that newspaper every day. Recently, I have noticed I have been favoring posting WaPo pieces. While I consider it to be a fairly good mainstream newspaper, hence the subscription, I do try to diversify when presenting news on this blog. Whether I have an audience of one or one million, it would be nice to make it seem like I am trying, even though this is just a simple blog. So anyway, here are a few Washington Post stories from late November:

Huffington Post: Donald Trump’s Transition Team, Or Lack Thereof, Is Causing Real Panic

By Sam Stein:

On Tuesday morning, for example, the Obama administration alerted the press that it had not yet received a memorandum of understanding signed by Pence, which would legally allow the old and new administrations to begin discussions on how to hand off critical government functions. That document still hadn’t arrived by 4:30 p.m., and only later in the evening did a White House official confirm it had been received. The official noted that the language signed by Pence was identical to a memo signed by Christie, making the holdup all the more peculiar.

The disarray has left agencies virtually frozen, unable to communicate with the people tasked with replacing them and their staff. Trump transition team officials were a no-show at the Pentagon, the Washington Examiner reported. Same goes for the Department of Energy, responsible for keeping the nation’s nuclear weapons safe, where officials had expected members of the Trump transition team on Monday. Ditto for the Department of Transportation. Over at the Justice Department, officials also are still waiting to hear from the Trump team.

“The Department began planning for this transition well before the election and we are fully prepared to assist the incoming transition team,” Justice Department spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle said in a statement. “As the President has said, we are committed to a smooth and successful transition, including the seamless continuation of the department’s essential law enforcement and national security functions which are performed each and every day by its career staff.”

The transition dysfunction extends beyond failure to promptly execute a memorandum of understanding. According to several sources close to the Trump transition team and inside the Obama administration, the president elect and his staff have had difficulty finding able-minded Republicans willing to take on critical posts. One Democratic source, who like others would only discuss sensitive talks on condition of anonymity, said transition officials had been informally asking Obama political appointees to recommend Republicans to take over their jobs.

The Full Story (November 15, 2016)

Washington Post: With Ivanka’s Jewelry Ad, Trump Companies Begin to Seek Profit Off Election Result

By Drew Harwell:

One day after President-elect Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka spoke to "60 Minutes” about her father's rise to power, her jewelry line alerted journalists to a surprising fact: The incoming first daughter was wearing an Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry-brand bracelet, which could be bought for $10,800.

It was the first televised interview with the new commander in chief of a deeply anxious America. Part of the segment included members of his family. But it was also, for the Trump company, an undeniable promotional opportunity. The 18-karat Metropolis diamond bangle, a gold version of which sold for $8,800, was Ivanka's “favorite bangle,” a company vice president told journalists in a “style alert.”

The sales tactic marked one of the first moments since the election during which the Trump companies have sought to use Trump's presidential prominence to boost their private fortunes.

But it may not be the last. Ethics advisers have increasingly voiced concerns over the unprecedented conflicts of interest that could arise from the soon-to-be first family's empire of real estate, luxury goods and licensing deals.

The Full Story (November 15, 2016)

Washington Post: How Bannon Flattered and Coaxed Trump on Policies Key to the Alt-Right

By David A. Fahrenthold and Frances Stead Sellers:

Today, Trump is president-elect. Bannon, the former Breitbart News chief who helped guide Trump’s victorious campaign, is set to be one of the new president’s most influential advisers. The clearest public sense of how the two will work together — and what policies Bannon may try to push — can be gleaned from a series of one-on-one interviews on Bannon’s radio show between November 2015 and June of this year.

In those exchanges, a dynamic emerged, with Bannon often coaxing Trump to agree to his viewpoint, whether on climate change, foreign policy or the need to take on Republican leaders in Congress.

At times, Bannon seemed to coach Trump to soften the harder edges of his message, to make it more palatable to a broader audience, while in other cases he pushed Trump to take tougher positions. He flattered Trump, praising his negotiating skills and the size of his campaign crowds.

* * *

Bannon also seemed to recognize when Trump had made a potential gaffe — even when Trump had not — and to try to steer him back to correct it. The first time Bannon asked Trump about U.S. foreign policy toward Turkey, Trump volunteered that he had business interests there.

“I have a little conflict of interest, because I have a major, major building in Istanbul,” Trump said. “It’s called Trump Towers. Two towers, instead of one. Not the usual one, it’s two. And I’ve gotten to know Turkey very well.”

A little later, Bannon circled back, asking Trump to explain why his conflict of interest should not bother voters.

“They say, ‘Hey look, this guy’s got vested business interests all over the world. How do I know he’s going to stand up to Turkey?’ ” Bannon said.

Trump did not directly address the question.

The Full Story (November 15, 2016)