Mediaboss Marketing

WASHINGTON (JTA) President Donald Trump reportedly decided against nominating Elliott Abrams as deputy secretary of state because of Abrams opposition last year to Trumps nomination.

CNN cited three anonymous Republican sources on Friday as saying Abrams, known for his closeness to the Israeli establishment and the pro-Israel community, was out of the running.

Abrams, a veteran of several Republican administrations in senior State Department and National Security Council positions, reportedly was a favorite for the job because Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, formerly the CEO of Exxon, wanted someone with extensive diplomatic experience advising him.

Trump interviewed Abrams on Tuesday and was favorably impressed. According to CNN, also lobbying for Abrams was Jared Kushner, Trumps Jewish son-in-law. Trump wants Kushner, who is serving as a top non-paid aide to the president,to spearhead Israeli-Arab peacemaking.

Abrams is close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is meeting with Trump at the White House next week.

However, it came to Trumps attention after the interview, CNN reported, that Abrams had criticized Trump during the campaign although he had never joined the Never Trump movement among disaffected Republicans and had not forsworn serving in a Trump administration.

In May Abrams wrote a column in The Weekly Standard that likened Trump to the failed Democratic nominee in 1972, George McGovern. It was titled When You Cant Stand Your Candidate.

As a prominent member of the neoconservative movement, whose followers favor aninterventionist foreign policy, Abrams would have been a counter to many in Trumps circle who favor pulling back from American involvement overseas.

Trump would have made the third Republican administration for which Abrams worked. He was assistant secretary of state in the Reagan administration, as a result ofwhich he agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges of withholding evidence related to the Iran-Contra arms sale scandal, and was deputy assistant to George W. Bush and his deputy national security adviser.

Read more from the original source:
CNN Reports Trump Nixed Senior Jewish Republican for State Department Job - Forward

Democrats are confidently selling Obamacare for perhaps the first time since the law was passed.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have rallied behind the case that the Affordable Care Act needs to be amended and not repealed, using the prospects of coverage disappearing as a cudgel against Republicans, including newly installed Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price. But the real action has been in the districts, where constituents and activists alike have overwhelmed phone lines and town halls demanding that Republicans put the brakes on their repeal efforts.

The latest bit of disruption took place Thursday night, when constituents practically upended Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetzs town hall over concerns about an Obamacare repeal and the Republican lawmakers handling of congressional oversight with respect to the Trump administration. Other representatives have had similar experiences, with some fleeing their events, others beingforced to leave with police protectionand a select few (maybe just one: Justin Amash) forcefully pushing back against the crowd.

Feeling buoyed by what theyve seen, groups tasked with defending the law are ramping up their efforts. Save My Care, which is in the middle of a two-month bus tour, is planning a new demonstration targeting Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) outside his appearance at a Republican Party dinner this weekend. And from there, its going to Arizona to target GOP Sen. Jeff Flake.

What Obamacare defenders need in the Senate are three Republican votes unwilling to support repeal legislation so long as there isnt a replacement to accompany it. And for that, Heller and Flake are prime targets, as both have had some moderate streaks in the past, both come from states that expanded Medicaid coverage under Obamacare and both are up for re-election in 2018.

But even if groups like Save My Care are able to sow enough doubt of the efficacy of repeal among elected officials and the evidence is mounting that serious doubt exists the law remains under obvious threat. Price has vast administrative control at HHS over Obamacares implementation. And he could try to reduce and upend the legislation through its administration.

For now, the hope is that enough localized pressure will force members to legislate around the law (as opposed to killing it) and make even Price think twice about letting Obamacare simply crater to death.

How will Trumps first 100 days impact you? Sign up for our weekly newsletter and get breaking updates on Trumps presidency by messaging us here.

See the original post here:
Obamacare Advocates Set Their Sights On Republican Senators Out West - Huffington Post

Consumer sentiment is very high, but Democrats and Republicans have starkly different views on the economy.

A measure of how optimistic Americans are about the economy, known as consumer sentiment, fell in February just a month after hitting the highest level since 2004. But Democrats and Republicans see the economy in starkly different terms.

The consumer sentiment survey dropped to 95.7 this month from 98.5 in January, based on a preliminary reading by the University Michigan. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast a reading of 98.

Americans were just as optimistic about current economic conditions in February as they were in January, but they set their sights a bit lower for the next six months. A gauge that measures expectations slipped to 85.7 from 90.3.

In February, roughly six in 10 consumers polled made either positive or negative references to some government action by the new Trump administration, an unusually high level. About the half the responses were favorable and half were unfavorable.

Expectations for the next six months among Democrats were near a historic low while expectations among Republicans was near a record high.

These differences are troublesome, said Richard Curtin, chief economist of the Michigan survey.

He said consumer spending is more influenced over time by negative instead of positive expectations, perhaps a sign that it could eventually weigh on the economy.

A similar survey of consumers by the New York Federal Reserve suggests that recent highs in consumer confidence are exaggerated by partisanship. After factoring out how liberals and conservatives view the economy, the New York Fed concluded that overall consumer confidence is probably little changed compared to pre-election levels.

Read more:
Democrat, Republican consumers have starkly different views of US economy - MarketWatch

MSNBC

A Republican megadonor and the 'perfect little puppet' MSNBC Seated behind Trump were members of Congress, members of the new president's family, former presidents, and one Republican Party megadonor: billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. It was the first time in recent memory a new president ... and more »

Read this article:
A Republican megadonor and the 'perfect little puppet' - MSNBC

Just three weeks into Donald Trumpspresidency, Republican lawmakers are getting a taste of how hispolicies are going over with voters at home.

On Thursday night, a town hall outside Salt Lake City by Congressman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, boiled over into a raucous display of grassroots rage, largely in opposition to Trump and Republican leaders attempts to dismantle Barack Obamas legacy.

As many as 1,000angry constituents packed into a high school auditorium to chant Do your job! Do your job! at Chaffetz. This was in reference to Chaffetzs position on the House Oversight Committee and refusal to investigate Trump for his alleged conflicts of interest. Chaffetz struggledto respond to the swelling of rage and strained to make himself heard over the microphone.

Youre not going to like this part, Chaffetz said to loud boos. The president, under the law, is exempt from conflict of interest laws. That did not go over well with the crowd.

At other points throughout the evening, protesters yelled Your last term and Shame! at the congressman.

Come on, come on, youre better than this, Chaffetz tried to say over the din.

No were not! a voice shouted back in return.

The event was remarkable, considering town halls are usually quiet civic events where the local PTA ask their elected representatives polite questions. In this case, people made emotional pleas to Chaffetz not to take away their healthcare orgut Planned Parenthood, and to hold the new administration to account for possible ethics violations.

At one point a young girl asked Chaffetz, Do you believe in science? Because I do.

I dont pretend to have all the answers, he responded. There are good people on both sides of the aisle, he said, nearly drowned out by boos.

The scene was reminiscent of the fledgling tea party movement during the summer of 2009, when angry conservative voters descended onto their representatives town halls. Many credit that tactic with getting the wave of conservative Republicans into office during the 2010 midterm elections.

Chaffetz tried to stay cheerful and nonchalant, even while protests outside the high school auditorium swelled to even greater crowds and the din inside grew so loud he joked it was like the Price Is Right here.

The protesters were largely organized by progressive activist organizations, including Indivisible and Town Hall Project, which is working to mobilize Democrats to fight Trump and Republicans. According to a CNN reporter, many of the people who were at the Utah event had never been to a town hall before.

Many of the questions yelled at Chaffetz were about Kellyanne Conway, a senior Trump adviser, who recently promoted Ivanka Trumps fashion brand during an appearance on Fox News. Chaffetz said yesterday he would refer Conway to his committee for an ethics investigation and that her statement was clearly over the line and unacceptable.

The protest in Utah wasnt the only emotional town hall on Thursday. In Tennessee, around a 100 protesters descended on Republican Rep. Diane Blacks Ask Your Rep event with a similar angry message, including one woman who made an impassioned plea for preserving the core tenets of the Affordable Care Act.

As a Christian, my whole philosophy in life is pull up the unfortunate, one young woman, visibly shaken, said toBlack. The individual mandate, thats what it does: The healthy people pull up the sick.

Follow Olivia Becker on Twitter: @oliviaLbecker

Read the original:
Angry protesters took over a Republican town hall in Utah - VICE News