Real Housewives? The White House has hit a new "reality" low
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TRUMP FAMILY |
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THE DONALD |
Memorable Quotes
“I will love to have you in the Oval Office,”
Trump said [to the Philippines Duterte], per the transcript. “Seriously, if you
want to come over, just let us know.
"Love your shoes. Boy, those shoes. Man!" — President Trump, returning a compliment given by
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, who had told Mr. Trump, "You are
a unique personality that is capable of doing the impossible."
Putin, through his actions, is the one
who has taken this relationship back to levels we haven’t seen since 1991. Sen.
Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee
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CHEETO-LINI |
The beasty is called an American Trump.
Its skin is bright orange, its figure is plump.
Its fur so complex you might get enveloped.
Its hands though are, sadly, underdeveloped.
-- FROM A Child’s First Book of Trump, written by comedian Michael Ian Black and illustrated by Marc Rosenthal
MELANIA
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IVANA TRUMP |
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DONALD, JR. |
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IVANKA |
ART OF THE DEAL: First daughter Ivanka
Trump is working hard behind the scenes to notch her first policy victory:
an expansion of the Child Tax Credit as part of tax reform. Trump has pushed
the idea in meetings and phone calls with GOP lawmakers, conservative tax wonks
and business groups, among others, Nancy Cook reports. She also plans to host
dinners with lawmakers at her Kalorama home on Wednesday and Monday.
Trump latched onto the idea,
which has been pushed most notably by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)
and Mike Lee (R-Utah),
after her original pitch for a new tax credit for parents with formal child
care arrangements was criticized by the left for primarily benefitting the
well-off and the right for ignoring the needs of stay-at-home parents and those
with other child-care arrangements. "I don't think anyone would say that
she came up with this idea herself," one conservative lobbyist told Nancy.
"There is increasing consensus among conservatives in Washington on this
issue and significant support among strong voices like Sens. Rubio and Lee. She
is viewed as a prominent spokesperson."
Working in Trump's favor is
Republicans' vow to make sure tax reform delivers for the middle class. They're
already battling bad publicity from a report by the Tax Policy Center that their
plan would mostly benefit the wealthy - a conclusion they call unfair since
they haven't released the entire thing yet. The framework congressional
Republicans and the White House unveiled in late September called for
"significantly" increasing the child credit and boosting the income
levels at which it begins to phase out. But there were no numbers attached to
the proposal, and it's unclear exactly what Trump is pushing.
"That still doesn't mean
Trump's pet idea will survive the politics of a potential overhaul of the tax
code - if the White House's ambitious plan gets through Congress at all,"
Nancy cautions. "Expanding the child tax credit does not consume
lawmakers, or even President Trump, behind-closed-doors in the same way as
lowering tax rates does." [POLITICO's
Morning Tax, October 10, 2017]
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JARED |
Jared and Ivanka's dinners
Jared and Ivanka have been working with the White House Office
of Legislative Affairs to host dinners with Democratic and Republican members
of Congress at their home in the upscale D.C. neighborhood of Kalorama. The
dinners, which have been going on for months but have been ramping up more
recently, have focused on a range of policy issues, and have yet to result in
any substantive leaks.
Capitol Hill sources told me that last Tuesday night, four
senators visited Chez Javanka to talk about criminal justice reform: one
Republican senator, Mike Lee, and three Democrats: Dick Durbin, Sheldon
Whitehouse, and Amy Klobuchar. A source with knowledge of the event told me a
handful of White House officials also attended, including Reed Cordish — a
friend of Kushner's and assistant to the president — as well as White House
Staff Secretary Rob Porter.
Between the lines: Kushner describes his
role in the administration as helping solve problems that should be above
partisan politics: improving government systems, brokering peace in the Middle
East, and shepherding through criminal justice reform. Some administration
officials privately complain he's naïve, entitled, and unqualified for such
transcendent challenges. Meanwhile, Republicans and Democrats on the Hill tell
me he keeps pushing for bipartisan wins.
Why last week's dinner matters: Over
the last week, Congress has shown the first signs of
movement on criminal justice reform in more than a year, with
two bills being introduced. Kushner is especially passionate about this issue,
even though Attorney General Jeff Sessions favors a "tough on crime"
approach.
Kushner recently
convened a criminal justice roundtable at the White House where attendees said
he spoke about his personal interest in the issue. Kushner said he got a
first-hand taste of the challenges of the criminal justice system when his
father, Charles Kushner, was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading
guilty to tax evasion. [Axios Sneak Peek, October 8, 2017]
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NOTE: The news sources here vary. Not all sources have the same credibility, but in an effort to share some different perspectives, they are included here. This compendium itself cannot claim to be unbiased. Please take into consideration where these different perspectives originate in assessing their value. Thank you
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