MORNING MESSAGE
Inauguration Day: Letter to a Trump Voter
He’s
going to let you down. It gives me no joy to say this, but no, he won’t. You’ve
been conned. Trump hasn’t come up with a single concrete proposal to create jobs
... If you’ve been watching the Senate confirmation hearings for Trump’s
appointees, your positive feelings may have started to fade. They should. His
nominees are politically extreme, most are clueless, and at least one of them
should be criminally investigated.
TAKE
ACTION
Trump
set to violate the Constitution
The
Emoluments Clause of the Constitution prohibits all government
officials—including the President—from taking gifts or money from a foreign
government. In December, ethics lawyers from both the Bush and Obama
Admininistrations, together with a constitutional law professor at Harvard,
authored an academic brief on the issue. According to them, Trump appears to be
on a “direct collision course” with the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. They say that, under the
Emoluments Clause, it is “totally irrelevant” whether someone else is
running the Trump Organization day-to-day. So Trump’s announcement last week
that he will hand over management of the business to his sons fails to address
the conflict. They say that the only “true solution” is for Trump (and his
children) to fully divest from the business and place their assets in a blind
trust.
PROTESTS MAY SHAKE WASHINGTON
“Washington
braces for massive protests” reports Reuters: “…officials braced for
hundreds of thousands of people planning to celebrate or protest Donald Trump’s
inauguration as president of the United States … About 30 groups have obtained
permits for protests they estimate will attract about 270,000 people on Friday
and Saturday …”
“New
Yorkers Rediscover Activism” says NYT: “…the desire to fight back … is
producing what will probably turn out to be one of the most fertile periods of
activism on the left in decades … progressive activists believe that the
complacency and will to compromise that has characterized a dominant faction of
the left has now been shaken to a point where few can easily regard the course
as a tenable one.”
Democracy
for America makes early 2018 endorsements. The Hill: “DFA announced it is
backing Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Bernie Sanders
(I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) … Senate Democrats have a rough map in
2018 as they embark on an uphill battle for regaining the majority in the upper
chamber. They need to defend 23 seats … Brown has already drawn a challenger:
Ohio State Treasurer Josh Mandel.”
The
Nation publishes a special “The People Vs. The President” inauguration issue
featuring Zephyr Teachout’s “Donald Trump Will Violate the Constitution on Day
One”: “On the day that Donald Trump takes office, his family will be ‘in foreign
pay.’ The Trump Organization will be getting a substantial paycheck from the
Chinese government by way of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the
largest tenant of Trump Tower. Trump will also be paying interest to China: He’s
invested in a partnership that borrowed $950 million from lenders including the
state-owned Bank of China. Each of these roles—as landlord and debtor—puts Trump
and the country in a position of vulnerability to China. The Chinese government
has the capacity to make him richer or poorer, and can use that capacity to
influence trade policy and military decisions.”
MNUCHIN ON HOT SEAT
Dems
grill Mnuchin. The Hill: “While Democrats highlighted individuals who lost
their homes to OneWest, Mnuchin emphasized the efforts his bank took to help
struggling homeowners adjust their mortgages. ‘There were mistakes. We regret
those mistakes,’ … [But] said Mnuchin. ‘I’m proud of these results.’ … Sen. Ron
Wyden … lamented the ‘Mnuchin web of bank accounts and shell companies’ reported
in Mnuchin’s lengthy financial disclosures. Mnuchin admitted that he did not
have any employees or customers in those areas but insisted that they were set
up there at the behest of clients, not for his own personal benefit … The only
GOP senator to express some reticence was Dean Heller (Nev.).”
Mnuchin
expresses openness to Glass-Steagall, Volcker Rule. Business Insider: “‘I
don’t support going back to Glass-Steagall as is,’ Mnuchin told the Senate
Finance Committee. ‘When we talked about policy with the president-elect, our
view is we need a 21st century version.’ … ‘I support the Volcker rule, but
there needs to be proper definitions around the Volcker rule so that banks can
understand exactly what they can do and what they can’t do, and that they can
provide the necessary function of liquidity in customer markets,’ Mnuchin
said.”
The
Nation’s David Dayen underwhelmed: “[Democrats] got bogged down into an
arcane discussion of hedge-fund rules and tax law, when there were literally
thousands of human stories, of people who lost everything they had at the hands
of Steve Mnuchin’s bank, waiting to be discussed.”
Only
two cabinet nominees will clear Senate today. Politico: “Senate Minority
Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday that his caucus will allow quick
votes on retired Marine Gen. James Mattis to lead the Pentagon and retired
Marine Gen. John Kelly to become secretary of the Department of Homeland
Security … a confirmation vote for [CIA nominee Mike] Pompeo might not come
until Monday … ‘It’s possible that some other noncontroversial nominees could be
considered relatively quickly,’ Schumer told reporters on Thursday. ‘But from
there, we intend to have a full and rigorous debate on the president-elect’s
remaining nominees.'”
BREAKFAST SIDES
Democrats
yet to agree on comeback strategy. Politico: “What’s clear from interviews
with several dozen top Democratic politicians and operatives at all levels,
however, is that there is no comeback strategy—just a collection of half-formed
ideas, all of them challenged by reality. And for whatever scheme they come up
with, Democrats don’t even have a flag-carrier … Most doubt Democrats have the
stamina or the stomach for the kind of cohesive resistance that Republicans
perfected over the years … everyone from Obama on down is talking about going
local, focusing on the kinds of small races and party-building activities
Republicans have been dominating for cycle after cycle. But all that took
decades, and Democrats have no time.”
Some
Republican governors resist rush to scrap Medicaid expansions under Obamacare.
Bloomberg: “The leaders of states such as Ohio, Nevada, Idaho and even
Alabama are urging a heavy dose of caution, according to statements and letters
solicited by U.S. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy … ‘We must be careful not
to increase the rate of uninsured, particularly for our most vulnerable
citizens,’ Utah Governor Gary Herbert wrote … Other GOP-led states said little
to defend the law. Arkansas, for instance, expanded Medicaid eligibility,
helping almost halve the uninsured rate, while premiums in its ACA marketplace
increased just 2 percent this year, a fraction of the national average. The
state still wants out.”
Progressive
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