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I don't know why CNN included a parenthetical exclamation point in this headline. Nobody should be surprised by how often Trump lies. In fact, he told three times as many lies in 2018 as he told in 2017. Maybe this year he'll set a new record.
Donald Trump said more than 6,000(!) untrue things in 2018
https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/01/21/pol...ing/index.html
Donald Trump loves Vladimir Putin so it makes sense that he would also love Putin's friends and do huge favors for them. And this friend has had business dealings with Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who shared polling data with Russian agent Konstantin Kalimnik. But there has never been any collusion with Russia -- Trump says so.
Russian oligarch and allies could benefit from sanctions deal, document shows
The New York Times, Jan 21 2019
When the Trump administration announced last month that it was lifting sanctions against a trio of companies controlled by an influential Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, it cast the move as tough on Russia and on the oligarch, arguing that he had to make painful concessions to get the sanctions lifted. But a binding confidential document signed by both sides suggests that the agreement the administration negotiated with the companies controlled by Deripaska may have been less punitive than advertised. The deal contains provisions that free him from hundreds of millions of dollars in debt while leaving him and his allies with majority ownership of his most important company.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/21/u...sanctions.html
Nancy Pelosi last month said Trump's expensive, unnecessary, ineffective border wall is "like a manhood thing for him," adding, "As if manhood could ever be associated with Trump." CNN political analyst Gloria Borger elaborates on that idea. Here are excerpts of her essay:
Trump sees the wall as a monument to himself
Gloria Borger, CNN, Jan 22 2019
One thing about Donald Trump: He knows how to tell you what he's really thinking. About the wall, for instance. Consider this from Trump during the campaign in 2015, explaining the rationale for his favorite edifice: "What I do best in life, I build. I want it to be so beautiful because maybe someday they'll call it The Trump Wall. Maybe. If they call this The Trump Wall, it has to be beautiful."
There you go. The wall, for the President, is a monument. To himself. A visible legacy of his achievement; an example of what he considers himself best at: building and branding. It's not like tax reform or trade policy. It's actually concrete (or slats) and there for all the world to see as a Trump achievement. Even when he leaves the Oval Office. And way beyond. If he could put his name on it in gold filigree, he would. But maybe calling it The Trump Wall is good enough.
This is not new for Donald Trump. His life has always been about the theatrical product. "It's like the curtains opening at an opera," says biographer Michael D'Antonio. "It's like a piece of scenery for his show." Indeed. And as Trump produces this scene, his concern for the hundreds of thousands of furloughed government workers is lost, taking a back seat to his star, the wall.
Trump has boxed himself in. He truly believes the artifice he has constructed about both his great ability to build and his prowess at negotiating for permission to build. He did it in real estate, he tells us, and he was brilliant, or so he claims. But now Trump is left with the ideal of a shrine to himself but no deal. Concrete or slats, who cares? Furloughed workers in distress, never mind. So long as the monument can be built, standing for future generations to be reminded of the President of the United States, the Master Builder.
https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/01/22/pol...acy/index.html
Donald Trump insists the White House is a "smooth-running machine" and denounces the news media for saying the White House is "in crisis." (Trump, of course, can say there's a "border crisis" and a "humanitarian crisis" where none exists but that's another matter.) A new book by a former White House aide details the "chaos, dysfunction and duplicity" among Trump and his family and administration. (Trump, of course, will say everything in the book is a lie.)
Former White House communications aide Cliff Sims describes 'completely out of control' White House in new book
https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/01/22/pol...yan/index.html
I doubt many people will be surprised by this news -- and Trump, Giuliani, McConnell, Sarah Sanders and Kellyanne Conway will probably denounce the poll as "fake."
Support for Donald Trump's impeachment is higher than his approval rating, new poll shows
https://www.newsweek.com/support-don...w-poll-1300633
I admire Kerry for his terse response -- but he should know Trump never takes advice from anyone.
Asked what advice he would give Trump, former Secretary of State John Kerry says 'Resign'
The crowd at Davos economic forum laughed first, then cheered.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/01/...y-says-resign/
The orange-skinned buffoon who came up with that silly "Make America great again" slogan, and who has never explained when America was "great" and what made it great, has come up with another silly slogan. Once again, he seems to be blaming Mexican immigrants for our nation's crime and drugs. Here is today's message from the Tweeter-In-Chief:
"Great unity in the Republican Party. Want to, once and for all, put an end to stoppable crime and drugs! Border Security and Wall. No doubt! BUILD A WALL & CRIME WILL FALL! This is the new theme, for two years until the Wall is finished (under construction now), of the Republican Party. Use it and pray!"
I will say this in my very best 1960s top-40 disc jockey voice: "And the troubles for the Trump administration just keep on comin'!"
House Democrats probing how Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner got security clearance
The probe was launched "in response to grave breaches of national security at the highest levels of the Trump administration," said Rep. Elijah Cummings.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...arance-n961721
Citing security concerns, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi disinvited Trump from giving his State Of The Union address from the House Chamber. She said it should be postponed until after the partial government shutdown has ended. I think she was just being petty. I also think she was letting Trump know he won't be able to intimidate her. Trump considered other venues but tonight he agreed to postpone the address. The battle over his demand for $5.7 billion of US taxpayers' money so he can build the "Trump Wall" monument to himself remains at a standstill as the shutdown enters its 34th day. As for the State Of The Union battle: Pelosi 1, Trump 0.
Trump says he won't give State Of The Union address until after shutdown has ended
https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/01/23/pol...ard/index.html
Overall, nearly two-thirds of Americans surveyed in a new poll disapprove of Trump's performance as President. Among women, 71% disapprove. Among college graduates, 76% disapprove. And Trump's support among the GOP is eroding: 20% of Republicans now disapprove of his job performance. Trump, of course, will denounce this poll as "fake" and "rigged."
Shutdown drags President Trump's approval rating down to 34%: AP-NORC poll
http://time.com/5511358/trump-approval-rating-falls/