Do the first 100 days of a presidency still set the tone? President Donald Trump says they don’t– but Washington’s establishment media isn’t going to stop talking about the 100-day marker (which falls on April 29) this week. We don’t really care about the symbolism of the “first 100 days,” just whether Trump is making good on his promises to voters. Here are some top stories to shed light on where he stands this week, along with other top political news.
Trump says his poll numbers are very good despite fake news.
Via The Hill:
President Trump on Sunday touted recent polling examining his approval ratings as he approaches his 100th day in office.
“New polls out today are very good considering that much of the media is FAKE and almost always negative,” the president tweeted Sunday afternoon.
“Would still beat Hillary in … popular vote. ABC News/Washington Post Poll (wrong big on election) said almost all stand by their vote on me & 53% said strong leader,” he wrote in two messages.
An ABC News/Washington Post poll released Sunday found that just 42 percent of Americans say they approve of the job Trump is doing as president.But the poll found 96 percent of those who voted for Trump in November say it was the right decision, and just 2 percent say they regret their choice.The poll also found a majority of Americans think the president is a strong leader.
President Trump and his top aides applied new pressure Sunday on lawmakers to include money for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border in a must-pass government funding bill, raising the possibility of a federal government shutdown this week.
In a pair of tweets, Trump attacked Democrats for opposing the wall and insisted that Mexico would pay for it “at a later date,” despite his repeated campaign promises not including that qualifier. And top administration officials appeared on Sunday morning news shows to press for wall funding, including White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, who said Trump might refuse to sign a spending bill that does not include any.
Democrats said they vigorously oppose any money for the border wall in a new spending bill, setting the stage for a last-minute showdown as the White House and lawmakers scramble to pass a stopgap bill to fund the government beyond the end of Friday, when funding will run out.
Trump’s position could also put him at odds with Republican congressional leaders, some of whom have voiced skepticism about including wall funding in the most immediate spending bill. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.) made clear to rank-and-file GOP lawmakers on Saturday that his top priority was to pass a bill to keep government open.
Expect to see the beginnings of the White House tax proposal by Wednesday.
Via Politico:
President Donald Trump’s tax reform proposal, to be released Wednesday, will include new tax rates, but those will mostly be generalities for Congress to consider, the White House budget director said Sunday.
Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Mick Mulvaney, the Office of Management and Budget director, said specifics about what tax cuts will be proposed Wednesday are still being determined. He said the announcement will include guidance, principles and “also some indication of what the rates are going to be.”
“Here are some of the rates we are talking about,” Mulvaney said of the proposal. Mulvaney did not elaborate about specific tax rate figures to be proposed.
Civilian airstrike casualties in the Middle East are on the rise.
Via The Los Angeles Times:
The recent airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq is believed to have caused more than 270 civilian deaths, a tragedy that provoked an international outpouring of grief and outrage.
But the uproar over the March 17 deaths in the Jadidah neighborhood of Mosul masks a grim reality: Hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of other civilians have died in hundreds of airstrikes in Iraq and Syria during the war against Islamic State, and it appears likely that the vast majority of those deaths were never investigated by the U.S. military or its coalition partners.
It also appears that the number of civilian casualties has risen in recent months as combat has shifted to densely populated west Mosul and the coalition has undertaken the heaviest bombing since the war began almost three years ago.
The Pentagon insists the written rules of engagement in Iraq and Syria have not changed, but there are signs that military commanders on the ground are more empowered under President Trump.
Obama’s Dreamers not a target of Trump’s immigration policy.
Via Reuters:
The Department of Homeland Security will not target immigrants brought to the United States as children for deportation, despite conflicting statements within the Trump administration, its secretary John Kelly said on Sunday.
Kelly, asked on Sunday morning talk shows to clarify the department’s position on the status of these illegal immigrants protected under an Obama-era program, said the agency is focused on deporting only dangerous criminals.
“My organization has not targeted these so-called Dreamers,” Kelly told CNN, referring to the name given to those granted protections under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program created by Democratic President Barack Obama and extended by Republican President Donald Trump.
“We have many, many more important criminals to go after,” he said.
Trump has said Dreamers “have nothing to worry about,” but Attorney General Jeff Sessions last week said immigrants who arrived in the United States as children were “subject to being deported.”
On Sunday, Sessions walked back his earlier statement.
The post Washington chatter: Top stories to watch this week appeared first on Personal Liberty®.
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