Connect with us

WATCH: Anderson Cooper Speechless Over Trump’s Realization North Korea, China, NATO, Russia, Healthcare Are Complicated

Published

on

Trump Learns Presidenting Is Hard

Nearly two months ago President Donald Trump met with governors from across the nation as he was trying to put together a health care plan – or at least, trying to look like he was. On camera that Monday morning, Trump sat at the table and actually told reporters, “nobody knew that healthcare could be so complicated.” It was a stunning moment, because everybody knows healthcare is complicated. And everybody has known that for decades. Trump, the world’s greatest dealmaker – or so he told us – ultimately couldn’t make a deal. 

On Wednesday, President Trump revealed that, contrary to his previous remarks, he’s now learned the situation with China and  North Korea is also complicated. Trump, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, “said he developed a warm rapport” with Mr. Xi, the President of China, “after their first meeting last week at his estate in south Florida.”

He said they hit it off during their first discussion. Mr. Trump said he told his Chinese counterpart he believed Beijing could easily take care of the North Korea threat. Mr. Xi then explained the history of China and Korea, Mr. Trump said.

“After listening for 10 minutes, I realized it’s not so easy,” Mr. Trump recounted. “I felt pretty strongly that they had a tremendous power” over North Korea,” he said. “But it’s not what you would think.”

“I realized it’s not so easy.”

“It’s not what you would think.”

“Nobody knew.”

“So complicated.”

Politico Thursday morning rounded up what it calls the recent “WEST WING WHIPLASH”:

Before: Trump said NATO is obsolete. Now: Trump said NATO is a “great alliance.” Before: Trump said it would be great if the U.S. and Russia could get along. Now: Trump says the U.S. and Russia are not getting along, and Rex Tillerson says “There is a low level of trust between our countries.” The president intimated that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad consulted Russia before launching a chemical attack on its people. Before: The Trump administration’s foreign policy mantra was “America First.” The U.S. wouldn’t promote regime changes in places like Syria. Trump criticized U.S. involvement in the Middle East. Now: Trump is involved in the Middle East, and depending on who you talk to, the U.S. government would like to topple Assad …

… Before: China is a currency manipulator and could easily convince North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions. Now: China is not a currency manipulator, and its relationship with North Korea is complicated. Before: The Export-Import Bank has to be eliminated. Now: The Export-Import Bank is important. 

… Before: Trump says he’s moving on from health care. Now: He says there will be a vote to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Calling it Trump’s “180,” Wednesday night, CNN’s Anderson Cooper experienced that whiplash, and was left speechless, as Mediaite reported. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOZHS6JlRtc

Here’s how the segment opened:

Later in the show, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour said, We have to hope that the president of the most important country in the world “is educatable on the job.”

Presidenting is hard. It’s too bad Trump didn’t realize that when he was campaigning.

There's a reason 10,000 people subscribe to NCRM. You can get the news before it breaks just by subscribing, plus you can learn something new every day.
Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

Trump ‘Laser-Focused’ on Affordability Says White House After Calling It a ‘Hoax’

Published

on

The White House says President Donald Trump has been “laser-focused on making America affordable” since taking office. Just one month ago, President Trump called affordability a “hoax” perpetrated by Democrats.

President Trump has recently attempted to preserve his sweeping tariffs amid Supreme Court review, has engaged in foreign policy messaging involving Venezuela, Iran, and Greenland — including promoting himself as the “acting President of Venezuela” — and has responded sharply to protests involving federal officers.

The president campaigned on lowering the cost of living on “day one,” but nearly 51 weeks into his second term, inflation remains high.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that the president would travel to Detroit on Tuesday to deliver a speech about “all of the positive economic news that we continue to see as a result of his agenda.”

READ MORE: ‘Organized Gangs of Wine Moms’ Are Impeding Federal Agents Says Fox Columnist

“So tomorrow, he looks forward to traveling to the great state of Michigan, a state he won big, to not only tour a factory that produces Ford F-150s, and is going to be hiring more, and producing more trucks right here in the USA because of President Trump’s effective tariff policies,” Leavitt said.

Trump narrowly won Michigan, taking less than half of the vote and besting Vice President Kamala Harris by 1.4 percentage points.

Leavitt said that “mortgage rates that are falling under 6% for the first time in years,” “the national average of gasoline is the lowest that it’s been in five years,” and core inflation is “at its lowest level in five years.”

She suggested that “with a little bit of patience, the American people are going to continue to see that the best is yet to come,” and claimed that Trump “has a proven economic formula that works.”

Leavitt also said that Trump has a housing plan “in the works” and a healthcare plan “in the works,” and vowed that Americans will “continue to hear from the president, and he’ll continue to hit the road across the country to speak directly with the people he loves most, the American people.”

READ MORE: Trump ‘Losing Political Fight’ to Fed Chair: Analyst

 

Image via Reuters

Continue Reading

News

Trump DOJ Fires Attorney Who Refused to Prosecute James Comey

Published

on

The Trump Department of Justice has terminated a 64-year old attorney, the number-two official in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, after he refused to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey in a highly-controversial case.

MS NOW on Monday reported that Robert McBride, a senior DOJ prosecutor and former Navy lawyer, “was brought into the prominent satellite office of the Justice Department to serve as first assistant to U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan and took a more prominent role as her status was in question and after a judge ruled in late November that she was not legally appointed to run the office.”

McBride reportedly had held private meetings with judges, MS NOW reported, calling it a move that was “viewed as undermining the Administration.”

He had declined to prosecute Comey, sources said, reportedly telling top Justice Department officials that it would be difficult to do that and also run the office.

MS NOW’s Carol Leonnig added that McBride was also suspected of “gunning for” the top job.

The New York Times reported that there was a “disagreement about whether he would take charge of the Trump administration’s effort to re-indict James B. Comey,” and called McBride’s firing “the latest development in the fallout in the Justice Department over President Trump’s effort to punish Mr. Comey, the former F.B.I. director and his longtime nemesis, whom the president blames for past investigations of his conduct.”

The Times added that meeting with judges is considered “commonplace.”

 

Image via Reuters 

Continue Reading

News

‘Screwed’: Trump Warns Supreme Court on Tariffs

Published

on

With many Americans awaiting a Supreme Court decision on the sweeping Trump tariffs and some experts believing the Court will rule on them any day nowpossibly as soon as Wednesday — the president is once again sending a clear warning to the justices: allow the tariffs or America is “screwed.”

During the November oral arguments, liberal and conservative justices appeared skeptical of the administration’s claim it has the power to impose global tariffs by declaring a national emergency.

President Trump has repeatedly said the tariffs are necessary for national security, and said that if the court does not allow them the U.S. would be in no position to give refunds of billions of dollars. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent late last week said refunds “won’t be a problem.”

Trump on Monday appeared to disagree.

READ MORE: ‘Organized Gangs of Wine Moms’ Are Impeding Federal Agents Says Fox Columnist

“The actual numbers that we would have to pay back if, for any reason, the Supreme Court were to rule against the United States of America on Tariffs, would be many Hundreds of Billions of Dollars,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday afternoon. It is possible the Court could rescind the Trump tariffs and not require refunds.

The president then added that “the amount of ‘payback’ that Countries and Companies would require for the Investments they are making on building Plants, Factories, and Equipment, for the purpose of being able to avoid the payment of Tariffs. When these Investments are added, we are talking about Trillions of Dollars!”

He claimed any negative ruling would create “a complete mess,” and make it “almost impossible for our Country to pay.”

Despite his Treasury Secretary’s remarks, Trump added, “Anybody who says that it can be quickly and easily done would be making a false, inaccurate, or totally misunderstood answer to this very large and complex question.”

“It may not be possible but, if it were, it would be Dollars that would be so large that it would take many years to figure out what number we are talking about and even, who, when, and where, to pay,” he claimed.

And he warned point-blank, “if the Supreme Court rules against the United States of America on this National Security bonanza, WE’RE SCREWED!”

READ MORE: Trump ‘Losing Political Fight’ to Fed Chair: Analyst

 

Image via Reuters

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.