Trump campaign donors are under pressure.
Two high-profile episodes this week could signal a year in which the glare of the campaign usually reserved for candidates pivots to put those who make personal donations to political campaigns in the spotlight.
The first comes courtesy of Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, of San Antonio, who is also the co-chairman of his twin brother Julian Castro's campaign for the Democratic nomination for president.
I think it’s fair to say that many of President Donald Trump’s views are racist, or at least excessively conventional and unwilling to accept the multicultural, diverse nation we are that benefits from trade and maintaining a strong relationship with other nations. I am hesitant to call anyone a racist, just because I think it’s important to judge ideas on their merits and not by labels.
To be sure, some of the policies that the president has called for reexamination are overdue but you have to wonder if his ideas are rooted in fairness and sound economics. There’s a case to be made that many are not rooted in those principles. But maybe it’s time for a change, to experiment and try new ideas. To be critical of existing institutions which haven’t necessarily served the American people well.
In Allegany County NY I saw a Donald Trump flag that said, “No Bullshit”. I had to wonder if that person had ever seen Trump’s Twitter feed.
Roughly $2.5 million allocated for the National Park Service will be diverted to fund President Donald Trump's "Salute to America" Fourth of July celebration, two unnamed sources familiar with the matter said, according to a Washington Post report published Tuesday. The funds were reportedly diverted from entrance and recreation fees generated by the National Park Service. Denis Galvin, a former Park Service deputy director, told The Post that the Fourth of July celebrations at the National Mall in Washington, DC, normally cost the Park Service around $2 million.
I bet it will be one hell of a party! 🎆
President Trump has a history of treating nonpolitical events like they're campaign rallies, especially if there is a large crowd on hand. His Fourth of July speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial will be just such a setting.
A White House official who declined to be named said the speech will be about celebrating America, the flag and members of the military — not political. But all assurances about what Trump will say or do need to be taken with a grain of salt. Tanks, Flyovers And Heightened Security: Trump's 4th Of July Ups Taxpayer Cost Politics Tanks, Flyovers And Heightened Security: Trump's Fourth Of July Ups Taxpayer Cost
Asked Monday whether he thought he "can give a speech that can reach all Americans," Trump said yes, he thought he could. But 17 seconds into answering the question, the president launched into an attack on Democrats, whose ideas for health care would "destroy the country."
Even before he utters a single word, Trump's decision to deliver a speech on the National Mall on the Fourth of July injects a political figure (and a deeply polarizing one at that) into what has traditionally been a day where presidents have stayed away.
A political speech could also cause legal problems for the Trump administration. Walter Shaub, a former head of the Office of Government Ethics and now with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, wrote that Trump's event could quickly fall afoul of ethics laws and laws preventing the spending of government resources for political purposes if Trump or others on the stage start attacking Democrats or talking about his reelection campaign.
Donald Trump often claims that he does not now nor has he ever imbibed alcohol, explaining that he wanted to avoid the fate of his alcoholic older brother Freddy, an airline pilot who died at 43 in 1981. It has always seemed unlikely that Trump, who has regaled other writers with raunchy tales of partying in the 1970s at Studio 54, never tried an intoxicant. But sobriety has been part of the persona he peddles. Let everyone else get sloppy, the subtext goes. He wants consumers of the Trump brand and would-be lenders to believe he always keeps it together.