MORNING MESSAGE
It’s
already a Washington truism that Donald Trump, who promised to “drain the swamp”
of lobbyists and others who exploit government for personal gain, has turned to
it instead for his key appointments. It’s true. The reptiles are taking over.
Let’s take a tour of the place while we still can. Welcome to Trump Swamp. Join
us on the glass-bottom boat as we gaze on the denizens below. Keep your hands
inside the railings – and please don’t feed the gators.
DNC RACE IS ON
Rep.
Keith Ellison formally enters race for DNC chair. The Hill: “The Minnesota
Democrat begins his pursuit of the chairmanship with the support of liberal icon
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and progressive grassroots groups, as well as Senate
Democratic leaders Harry Reid (Nev.) and Charles Schumer (N.Y.) … Some Democrats
warn that the rush to anoint a successor is exactly what got the party into
trouble during the 2016 cycle … There is also a strong desire to see a Hispanic
DNC chairperson.”
SC
party chair Jamie Harrison enters race. Charleston Post and Courier:
“Harrison has an impressive resume and compelling personal narrative. He likens
his story to the ‘American dream,’ which took him from poverty and food stamps
to college and law degrees from Yale and Georgetown … Harrison also joined the
Podesta Group, a lobbying and consulting firm founded by Democratic presidential
nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta. It could be an attack
point by rivals …”
Can
the Obama coalition ever be reassembled? Politico: “…the issue of whether to
re-engage the young voters and minorities who elected President Obama to two
terms but didn’t turn out for Clinton, or reach out to the disaffected white
working class voters who swung to Trump, is too pressing to be avoided … Some
are convinced that a tighter focus on a simple economic message will be an
important start … Other top Democrats have zeroed in on the party’s
narrow-casting approach to voters, and an over-reliance on modeled targeting of
potential supporters … Already, such divisions are on display in the race for
the DNC chairmanship — a proxy for the fight over the party’s general direction
— with each candidate prescribing a different potential antidote to the party’s
ills.”
“Liberal
groups steel themselves to battle Trump,” reports Politico: “Top Democratic
operatives are huddling this week in a series of meetings to strategize about
which groups will run point on everything from safeguarding women’s access to
health care to fighting any increase in deportations to preventing attacks on
Muslim Americans. Fundraisers have also been pitching top liberal donors who are
gathering in Washington this week for a meeting of the Democracy Alliance, a
secretive club of wealthy progressives, to commit tens of millions of dollars
for a 2018 field campaign to stave off potentially massive losses in the midterm
elections. There is also discussion of forming a liberal equivalent to the
right’s Judicial Watch, which spent much of the past eight years as a thorn in
the Obama administration’s side filing legal petitions under the Freedom of
Information Act — and tormented Hillary Clinton with aggressive investigations
into her email habits.”
SCHUMER, PELOSI FEEL HEAT
“Schumer
under pressure to add Sanders to leadership team” reports The Hill:
“Pressure is growing on Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to back Sen. Bernie
Sanders (I-Vt.) as chairman of the Democratic Policy and Communications Center,
a powerful position with influence over the party’s messaging and floor strategy
… Liberal Democratic activists say Sanders and Warren have become the de facto
leaders of the party and should be given official positions that reflect their
status, if that’s what they want … ‘Warren and Sanders have very big platforms.
They will be the dominant voice of the Democratic Party,’ said Robert Borosage,
co-director of Campaign for America’s Future, a liberal advocacy group. ‘The
Wall Street wing will be very sheepish and subdued.'”
Protesters
storm Schumer’s office, demanding he relinquish leadership role. Roll Call:
“‘People here are either going to meet with Schumer or get arrested,’ said
Waleed Shahid, a leader of the group All of Us 2016 … The group said they hoped
this would be the start of many protests against ‘Wall Street Democrats … who
don’t do everything they can to filibuster Trump’s legislation that promotes his
hatred or his greed.’”
House
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi may face challenge. The Hill: “Rep. Tim Ryan on
Monday confirmed he’s weighing a challenge … Tuesday’s elections have
exacerbated frustrations about Democrats’ minority status, leading to some calls
for a changing of the guard … Democrats are scheduled to hold their leadership
elections on Thursday. But more than two dozen in the party are urging a delay
until after the Thanksgiving break.”
TRUMP TRANSITION IN "DISARRAY"
“Trump
Staff Shake-Up Slows Transition to Near Halt” reports NYT: “President-elect
Donald J. Trump’s transition operation plunged into disarray on Tuesday with the
abrupt resignation of Mike Rogers, who had handled national security matters,
the second shake-up in a week … Pence has yet to sign legally required paperwork
to allow his team to begin collaborating with President Obama’s aides on the
handover … Eliot A. Cohen, a former State Department official, said on Twitter
that after having spoken to Mr. Trump’s team, he had ‘changed my recommendation:
stay away. They’re angry, arrogant, screaming “you LOST!” Will be ugly.'”
What
does Bannon want? The Hill: “Bannon admires right-wing nationalists and
hard-line illegal immigration opponents in Europe and elsewhere. He wants to
work more closely with them and sees them as part of a worldwide movement to
overthrow the ‘globalists,’… Bannon viewed [Speaker Paul] Ryan as part of a
globalist elite that he believes is conspiring to undermine American sovereignty
by supporting open immigration and free trade.”
DEFICIT POLITICS TAKE BACKSEAT
Trump’s
GOP to forget about deficit reduction. Politico: “For eight years,
Republicans hammered President Barack Obama for exploding the national debt. But
now a GOP-led spending spree is coming, with Donald Trump riding to the White
House on trillion-dollar promises and a Republican Congress that looks likely to
do his bidding … Trump’s plans call for $1 trillion to be spent over a decade,
in part through public-private partnerships and private investments. Trump has
also vowed to ‘rebuild’ the U.S. military and eliminate the stiff caps on
Pentagon spending that Congress enacted in the 2011 Budget Control Act.”
Trump
needs to persuade GOP on infrastructure. The Atlantic: “‘That’s not in the
“Better Way” agenda,’ the [House] speaker replied [in September.] … the hurdle
in recent years has been finding a way to pay for it … Details of what Trump has
in mind are scarce … [FreedomWorks’ Adam] Brandon said he was open to an idea
both Democrats and Republicans have discussed in recent years known as
repatriation: encouraging corporations to bring back cash they have parked
overseas by offering a one-time lower tax rate … [Rep. Dave Brat] said he could
support an infrastructure bill if the decisions about which projects to fund
were made outside of D.C.”
BANKERS EMBRACE TRUMP
“Wall
Street Is Suddenly in Love with Trump” says WIlliam D. Cohan in Politico
oped: “…Trump has just named Steve Bannon, a former Goldman Sachs banker, as
his chief strategist, and is said to be considering another Goldman alumnus,
Steve Mnuchin, as Treasury Secretary. Rebekah Mercer, the daughter of
billionaire hedge-funder Robert Mercer, is on Trump’s 16-member transition team
executive committee, as is Anthony Scaramucci, another hedge-fund manager and a
former Goldman Sachs banker … Most of Trump’s proposals are Wall
Street-friendly. Cutting corporate and personal income taxes? Check. … Reducing
burdensome regulations? Check. Rewriting the tax code? Check. Potentially
repealing the 2010 Dodd-Frank law and the burdensome Volcker Rule embedded in
it? Check, check and triple-check.”
Wall
Street may be careful about what it asks for. NYT: “While you would think
much of the finance industry would salivate at the chance to rid itself of
[Dodd-Frank], its view is more nuanced. Most companies have made large
investments and changes in their business practices to comply with the law …
‘That omelet has been made; that toothpaste is out of the tube,’ Lloyd C.
Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs … ‘I wouldn’t want regulation to
be repealed in toto,’ he added. ‘If you want to be good for bankers, you have to
have policies that would be good for economic growth.’ … [Capital Alpha Partners
research analyst Ian] Katz predicted that the Trump administration would be able
to push through a switch that critics of the [CFPB] have long lobbied for: a
shift in control of the consumer bureau from a single director to a bipartisan
commission … As for the return of Glass-Steagall — something Mr. Trump has
talked about — don’t bet on it.”
Trump
will get to name new SEC chair. CNN: “Mary Jo White announced plans on
Monday to step down as chair … White’s term at the helm of the SEC hadn’t been
scheduled to expire until June 2019 … It’s not clear who Trump would nominate to
replace White, but her departure could allow the president-elect to tap someone
more in line with his deregulatory tilt. White’s exit would also mean that Wall
Street’s top cop will become even more shorthanded, with just two of the SEC’s
five commissioner seats filled. Gridlock in Washington has prevented the Senate
from confirming Obama’s two nominees.”
Anti-worker
agenda in the offing. American Prospect: “…Republicans and their business
lobbyist colleagues hope to roll back every single one of President Obama’s
labor initiatives … At the top of the list is the new overtime rule … Other
rulemakings like the fiduciary rule that … now requires retirement advisors to
act in their clients’ best interest, and the extension of labor law protections
to long-exploited home health-care workers, are in peril as well. Obama’s
executive orders that hike up wages and mandate paid sick leave for federal
contract workers and require that their employers disclose past labor law
violations can disappear with the stroke of Trump’s presidential pen … the new
joint-employer standard that would drastically increase corporate
responsibilities for their contractors and franchisees, as well as rulings that
opposed mandatory class-action waivers for workers and [the] rules change that
sped up union elections [are] also on the chopping block.”
Obama
urges Trump to keep NAFTA and TPP. The Hill: “Once in the White House it
becomes ‘increasingly apparent’ how important agreements are with major trading
partners like Mexico, the president said. ‘So it’s not as simple as it might
have seemed,’ Obama told reporters about leaving trade deals … the president
acknowledged that he would not finish the TPP … Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) on
Monday urged Trump to follow through on his promise to renegotiate NAFTA.”
Dakota
Access Pipeline likely to be decided by Trump. Bloomberg: “The Obama
administration has yet again delayed a decision on the controversial Dakota
Access crude pipeline, even as President-elect Donald Trump vows to speed up
reviews of such projects ... While the Army Corps decision prevents the
pipeline’s completion for now, analysts have said Energy Transfer will probably
receive approval to finish the project under Trump’s administration.”
HEALTH INSURERS CAUTION TRUMP
Insurers
warn Trump about Obamacare changes. The Hill: “President-elect Donald Trump
says he wants to repeal ObamaCare but keep the protections for people with
pre-existing conditions … Insurance companies warn that requiring them to cover
anyone, regardless of their health status, could have disastrous consequences if
not paired with the right policies … Yet Republicans appear determined to repeal
ObamaCare’s coverage mandate … The possibility that Republicans could repeal
much of ObamaCare on a delayed timetable, giving themselves a year or two to
come up with a replacement before repeal takes full effect, is adding even more
uncertainty.”
Obamacare
policy consultant Jonathan Gruber explains further in NYT oped: “Suppose a
breast-cancer survivor applied for insurance in Mr. Trump’s post-Obamacare
world. It’s true that the insurer could not offer her coverage that didn’t
include breast-cancer treatments. But the insurer could simply not sell her
coverage at all. Alternatively, the insurer could offer coverage, but say that
any breast-cancer survivor had to pay, say, five times more than everyone
else.”
Progressive
Breakfast is a daily morning email highlighting news stories of interest to
activists. Progressive Breakfast and OurFuture.org are projects of People's
Action. more
»