MORNING MESSAGE
What Student Protests Tell Us About America Under Trump
An
outpouring of opposition coming from students in k-12 public schools and college
campuses is especially significant. Why? Public schools have long been the
frontline of many of the nation’s most important societal
battlegrounds.
KNIVES OUT FOR MEDICARE, DODD-FRANK
Trump
is going after Medicare, warns NYT’s Paul Krugman: “During the campaign,
Donald Trump [said,] ‘I’m not going to cut Social Security like every other
Republican and I’m not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid,’ … It was, of course,
a lie. The transition team’s point man on Social Security is a longtime advocate
of privatization, and all indications are that the incoming administration is
getting ready to kill Medicare, replacing it with vouchers … it’s important not
to let this bait-and-switch happen before the public realizes what’s going
on…”
Mixed
feelings for anti-Dodd-Frank bill on Wall Street. Bloomberg: “There are a
lot of things Wall Street likes … It scraps the Volcker Rule … It reins in the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau … It eliminates a Dodd-Frank provision that
set limits on how much banks can charge retailers when merchants accept debit
cards … But passing [Rep. Jeb] Hensarling’s bill wouldn’t necessarily free large
banks from the handcuffs Washington put on them after the financial crisis,
unless lenders want to take the unappealing step of raising hundreds of billions
of dollars in new capital … ‘Wall Street has long believed Hensarling is their
obstacle to getting reasonable compromise,’ said [Cato’s] Mark Calabria…”
AP
reviews how Dodd-Frank could be gutted: “Beyond the CFPB, other elements of
Dodd-Frank that could be vulnerable to a Trump-driven attack are: The Financial
Stability Oversight Council [which] monitors the banking system for any risks
that could trigger another crisis … Rules that critics say especially hurt
regional and community banks that had little to do with the financial crisis …
The Volcker Rule, which in most cases bars the biggest banks from trading for
their own profit. The idea was to prevent high-risk trading bets that could
implode at taxpayer expense.”
TRUMP LIES ABOUT FORD, AGAIN
“Donald
Trump Takes Credit for Helping to Save a Ford Plant That Wasn’t Closing” reports
NYT: “President-elect Donald J. Trump claimed credit on Thursday night for
persuading Ford to keep an automaking plant in Kentucky rather than moving it to
Mexico. The only wrinkle: Ford was not actually planning to move the plant …
Ford makes the Lincoln MKC, a sport utility vehicle, at a factory in Louisville.
Last week, Ford said it planned to move production of the vehicle elsewhere. On
Thursday night, after Mr. Trump’s Twitter messages, the company said that Mexico
had been the intended destination and that it would now keep MKC production in
Kentucky. But Ford had not planned to close the Louisville factory. Instead, it
had planned to expand production of another vehicle made in Louisville, the Ford
Escape. And the change had not been expected to result in any job losses.”
“A
Timeline of Ford Motor Co. Debunking Trump On Sending Jobs To Mexico” going back
to October 2015 at OurFuture.org.
TRUMP CONFLICTS IN SPOTLIGHT
Dems
press Trump on conflicts. WSJ: “Democrats are … introducing legislation that
would force the incoming president to distance himself from his business
interests … [The bill] would force the Mr. Trump to put his assets into a blind
trust to avoid any real or perceived conflicts of interest.”
Trumps’
national security adviser choice took money from foreign clients while getting
security briefings. Yahoo! News: “…two months ago, during the height of the
presidential campaign, his consulting firm, the Flynn Intel Group, registered to
lobby for a Dutch company owned by a wealthy Turkish businessman close to
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey …”
“Lobbyists
scoff at Trump’s five-year ban” reports Politico: “…Trump’s ban would last
longer than any policy hitherto in force. But it’s already become increasingly
common for former officials to find ways to use their influence without
registering as lobbyists. Trump’s ban will probably intensify that trend …
Trump’s ban would last longer [than Obama’s] but apply more narrowly. It also
might not be enforceable beyond his time in office.”
TRUMP FACES MARCH BUDGET WAR
Congress
may strike short-term spending deal. Politico: “Capitol Hill Republicans and
the incoming Trump administration are nearing agreement on a plan to fund the
government at current levels through March 31 … Punting to early next year …
will give the right more leverage to get its spending priorities and pet policy
riders into law … [But] Senate Republicans generally prefer a longer-term
spending bill to avoid fouling up their schedule in March or April … shutdown
deadlines have a way of seizing the attention of the entire Capitol and
distracting from other matters … Yet [Sen. Mitch] McConnell’s top deputy said
that Republicans are beginning to accept that’s what the House and Trump’s team
want … ‘It’s going to be their headache,’ [Rep. Charlie Dent] said of the Trump
administration. ‘They’ll find that out soon enough.'”
Senate
Republicans suggest they would scrap filibuster for SCOTUS noms if Dems fight
Trump’s pick. Politico: “Republicans won’t come out and say it, but there’s
an implicit threat in their confidence: If Democrats play things the wrong way,
they might find themselves on the wrong end of a legacy-defining change to
Senate rules … McConnell would need at least eight Democrats to clear 60 votes.
But even some Democrats representing states that overwhelmingly went for Trump
aren’t prepared to say they’ll automatically back his high court nominee.”
Trump
voters want action. Politico: “…in one conversation after another, voters
revealed meaningful distinctions about what issues they most want solved … that
variation—plus the urgency expressed by those who swung so passionately for
Trump—suggests less a permanent bloc than an anxious and impatient coalition
that could fracture as quickly as it formed … and the clock is ticking.”
INDUSTRY CUTTING CARBON
Utilities
already meeting Clean Power Plant goals. Politico: “Even though President
Obama’s historic Clean Power Plan was stayed by the Supreme Court and appears
doomed in the Trump Administration, the electric sector is getting so green so
fast that it has already met the plan’s 2024 goal for slashing carbon emissions
and its 2030 target for reducing coal use … Utilities are rapidly abandoning
coal for cleaner-burning natural gas and zero-emission renewables …
independently of Obama’s controversial climate rules …”
Bill
O’Reilly urges Trump to keep Paris agreement. Mother Jones: “O’Reilly is no
fan of climate action. He said in 2011 that ‘nobody can control the climate but
God.’ But on Wednesday, O’Reilly said staying in the Paris agreement would ‘buy
some goodwill overseas’ for the incoming president.”
TIM RYAN CHALLENGES NANCY PELOSI
Rep.
Tim Ryan of Ohio challenges Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. The Hill: “…the
43-year-old Ryan said last week’s disastrous election results … show the party
needs a new direction that can be accomplished only with new leaders.”
Politico
explores Ryan’s background: “Ryan, 43, just won election to an eighth term
in his heavily Democratic district, which includes hurting industrial centers
like Youngstown and Akron … [His run for Leader] a chance for Ryan to cajole the
caucus back toward his more moderate brand of politics … in 2003 [he won a]
bruising primary in which he hammered his opponent for supporting international
trade deals ,,, Ryan opposed abortion rights his entire political career until
2015 …”
Progressive
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