MORNING MESSAGE
“Financial Elder Abuse Charges” Against Trump. Business As Usual in DC.
As
Donald Trump prepares to assume the presidency, Americans must learn to
distinguish the ways he is uniquely terrible from the ways in which he is not so
terribly unique — except as a matter of degree. His extreme behavior shouldn’t
be “normalized,” to use the year’s newest word. But neither should the lies and
deceptions of his more “respectable” colleagues. Last week’s Trump University
settlement is a case in point...
TRUMP PREVIEWS FIRST 100 DAYS
Trump
lays out initial agenda. Roll Call: “On the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade
deal, the president-elect said he’d issue a ‘a notification of intent to
withdraw’ from the agreement. He also plans to ‘cancel’ what he called
‘job-killing restrictions on the production of American energy.’ … The
president-elect promised new regulatory rules that would require two old
regulations to be dismantled any time a new regulation is created.”
Trump
leaves out what would require Congress. CNN: “… left out his biggest
campaign promises — including promises to build a wall along the Mexican border,
establish a ‘deportation force,’ place new restrictions on immigration from some
majority Muslim countries, repeal Obamacare and spend $1 trillion on
infrastructure … those measures would require the approval of Congress and are
likely to take significantly more work.”
Trump
will make key appointment to Fed. Bloomberg: “…the biggest banks are
laser-focused on [the] first-ever Federal Reserve vice chairman to oversee Wall
Street[, a] post established by the Dodd-Frank Act … Obama never named anyone to
the position, because [of] the Republican-controlled Senate. If someone was
appointed under President-elect Trump, one of the sharpest thorns in Wall
Street’s side would be removed: Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo, who has handled
supervision unofficially in the six years since Dodd-Frank’s approval.”
“Nominating
Mnuchin for Treasury Will Dredge Up Mortgage Meltdown Controversies” notes
Bloomberg: “Mnuchin is a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner and movie
financier with no government experience who spent the past six months working as
Donald Trump’s chief fundraiser … If Mnuchin gets the nod, the world will hear
more about people like Leslie Parks, who found the locks on her Minneapolis home
changed during a blizzard in December 2009 after OneWest foreclosed.”
Incoming
National Security Adviser Michael Flynn supports “global war” says The Nation’s
James Carden: “…Flynn stated his belief that the United States is in ‘a
global war, facing an enemy alliance that runs from Pyongyang, North Korea, to
Havana, Cuba, and Caracas, Venezuela. Along the way, the alliance picks up
radical Muslim countries and organizations such as Iran, al Qaeda, the Taliban
and Islamic State.’ In other words, we must wage global war for global peace.
What could possibly go wrong?”
“GOP
debates going big on tax reform” reports The Hill: “Some Republicans,
including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), want to lower
individual and corporate tax rates at the same time. They say focusing on
corporate rates alone would leave out smaller businesses that are taxed under
the individual code … But rewriting the entire tax code … would be a massive and
risky undertaking … Ryan voiced worries that waiting for Washington to agree on
individual and corporate reform — which would require controversial trade-offs —
might take too much time.”
Most
Americans expect change for the worse. CNN: “…66% say a Trump presidency
will bring change to the country, but just 43% say it will be change for the
better, twenty points below the 63% who thought Obama would bring change for the
better in November 2008 … 46% approve of his handling of the transition … well
below approval ratings for Obama, Bush or Clinton during their transitions to
the presidency.”
DEMS DEBATE STRATEGY
Dems
struggle with whether to work with Trump. Bloomberg: “…giving Trump a big
early win would come with a risk: Democrats might help make him more popular …
But Democrats … have 25 seats up for re-election in 2018, including five in
states Trump won by double digits … and another five in states he won more
narrowly … Senator Joe Manchin, who represents Trump-loving West Virginia, has
been the Democrat most eager to work with the president-elect…”
“Young,
restive Dems want change in House” reports The Hill: “Rep. Tim Ryan’s
(D-Ohio) long-shot challenge to House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.)
has shone a rare public spotlight on rank-and-file frustrations that have
simmered, largely in whispers, for more than half a decade … [But some]
Democrats say that experience … is needed now more than ever to counter the
incoming Trump administration…”
“De
Blasio vows defiance” reports Politico: “…Mayor Bill de Blasio vowed he
would fight any policies that negatively impacted city residents, declaring that
the election was the start of a new counter-movement against the forces that put
Trump in the White House … ‘If all Muslims are required to register, we will
take legal action to block it … If federal government wants our police officers
to tear immigrant families apart, we will refuse to do it,’…”
TNR’s
Jeet Heer says Democrats can exploit Trump’s self-enrichment: “… once he’s
sworn in, Trump’s conflicts of interest can be linked to his actual policies.
(For example, the way in which Trump’s expanding business ties to countries like
Saudi Arabia and India contradict his calls for American businesses to invest in
jobs at home.) … What the opposition needs is a strong, ongoing argument that
his corruption is integrally linked to policies that go against ordinary
people.”
SANDERS FIRES WARNING SHOT
Sanders
slams Trump on infrastructure: “…the plan he offered is a scam that gives
massive tax breaks to large companies and billionaires on Wall Street who are
already doing phenomenally well. Trump would allow corporations that have
stashed their profits overseas to pay just a fraction of what the companies owe
in federal taxes. And then he would allow the companies to ‘invest’ in
infrastructure projects in exchange for even more tax breaks. Trump’s plan is
corporate welfare coming and going.”
Jared
Bernstein dissects Trump’s plan in Politico oped: “…because the tax credits
in the Trump plan would be far more generous than what they’re currently
getting, many of these investors would switch over to the Trump plan. And they’d
only switch into the profitable parts of the system that have no problem raising
funds already (munis and utilities markets are highly liquid).”
NYT’s
David Leonhardt spotlights effective policies to help working class: “In the
wake of the financial crisis, Delaware’s new governor, Jack Markell, and other
officials did obvious things, like using stimulus money to stem the damage …
[Then] he began looking for ways both to save old jobs and to create new ones …
expanding high-quality pre-K and helping low-income teenagers go to college. And
he worked on … the many students who won’t graduate from college but who also
need strong skills to find decent jobs … [One high school] reorganized itself
into 20 different ‘majors,’ and every student must pick one, be it
manufacturing, computer science or agriculture…”
BREAKFAST SIDES
Federal
appellate court strikes down Wisconsin gerrymandering. Salon: “…a federal
court overturned Wisconsin’s Republican-drawn legislative maps as an
‘unconstitutional gerrymander’ that likely played a major factor in the party’s
disproportionate electoral success … In 2004, Supreme Court Justice Anthony
Kennedy said he was open to review a case of gerrymandering if the plaintiffs
could develop a reliable test to measure the political maneuver’s intent to
squash competition.”
ExxonMobil
attacks Rockefellers. NYT: “The company, which has been accused of scheming
to pay surrogates to deny the threat of climate change, is trying to turn the
tables by calling its opponents the real conspirators … Rockefeller family
charities, longtime backers of environmental causes, have supported much of the
research and reporting that has called the company to account for its climate
policies, and Exxon Mobil is crying foul.”
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