Trump

919 · Apr 13, 2017

I'm not sure this is what his base had in mind with regard to #MAGA

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OPINION
[h=1]When Jared Wins[/h]By RICH LOWRY
April 12, 2017

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Can someone reacquaint Donald Trump with Steve Bannon, his ideologist whom the president now professes barely to know?

Trump's jaw-dropping public distancing from Bannon in the New York Post the other day is the latest twist in a struggle that is astonishing even by the standards of a White House that deserves its own Chris Buckley novel.

Story Continued Below

For Bannon, the internal fight with the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner is going about as well as could be expected, which is to say it couldn't be going much worse.

No one can know for sure how this ends. Perhaps it's all papered over, or maybe Bannon keeps his head down to fight another day. But it's hard to see how Kushner doesn't prevail in one form or other, together with the faction including his wife, Ivanka Trump, the influential economic adviser and former Goldman Sachs president, Gary Cohn, and deputy national security adviser, Dina Powell.

Who says bipartisanship is dead? With the exception of Powell—a non-ideological Republican—this group is all Democrats, and not lunch-bucket Democrats, but ladies-who-lunch Democrats who have marinated for decades in the financial and social elite of Manhattan.

WAR ROOM
[h=3]How Trump Can Build a 350-Ship Navy[/h]By JERRY HENDRIX and ROBERT C. O'BRIEN

Their ascendancy would potentially represent Trumpism's Thermidor. If Jared and Ivanka end up running the joint, it'd be hard to overstate the turnabout from last year's campaign.

A candidacy whose supporters reviled so-called RINOs may produce a White House run by people who aren't even RINOs. A populist revolt that disdained people who allegedly spend too much time at Georgetown cocktail parties may result in a White House run by people who have spent too much time at New York cocktail parties (and Fashion Week events, art shows, Metropolitan Museum of Art galas and celebrity birthday parties). The biggest middle finger the mainstream media has ever received in American politics may empower people who care deeply about what's written about them in The New Yorker and Vogue.

As for Cohn, he would have been the totem of everything Trump was running against in 2016, when he made Goldman Sachs into a kind of swear word. To put it in Jacksonian terms, it would be like Andrew Jackson inveighing against the Second Bank of the United States and then handing his domestic policy portfolio over to its president, Nicholas Biddle.

FOURTH ESTATE
[h=3]Putin Hoists Trump on His Own Fake News Petard[/h]By JACK SHAFER

How did we get to this point? Bannon is saddled with the failed launch of the first travel ban, a gruff personal style that doesn't necessarily wear well in the corridors of power, and (fairly or not) the rocky first several months that have seen Trump's numbers sink while the Republican Congress spins its wheels.

Bannon may talk to reporters—what White House official doesn't?—but he hasn't sought out self-glorifying media when presumably gobs of it were on offer. He has nonetheless been hurt by the narrative, driven by the press and used against him by internal enemies, that he is Trump's Svengali. It surely wasn't his idea for a big profile in Time magazine with the cover line "The Great Manipulator," or for "Saturday Night Live" to spoof him as the true power in the Oval Office.

None of this is endearing to Trump. He doesn't like attention-hounds besides himself, and wants victories and popularity. As for Jared and Ivanka, they must worry that the family patriarch is being ill-served in ways that may hobble his presidency and damage their brand. So a shake-up looms.

1600 PENN
[h=3]Why the First 100 Days Concept Is Bogus [/h]By JEFF GREENFIELD

There is much in Bannon's politics that I don't like—the hostility to traditional conservatism, the protectionism, the reflex toward needless confrontation. But he has a considered wordview and helps anchor Trump somewhere in the populist-conservative policy continuum.

If he goes, it could be a sign that everything is up for grabs. A President Trump could begin to react to political pressures from the world of Jared and Ivanka that so far haven't affected him.

Trump's views on immigration, climate change, abortion and policing are socially embarrassing, sometimes even in Republican elite circles, let alone in liberal ones. All of them would potentially be subject to softening or reversal in a White House that cares too much about polite opinion. With illegal border crossings down, perhaps a grand bargain on immigration becomes alluring next year? Maybe pulling out of the Paris climate accords isn't worth the bad optics? Who wants to expend political capital defunding Planned Parenthood? And so on.

1600 PENN
[h=3]Trump’s Secret Weapon Against Obama’s Legacy[/h]By MICHAEL GRUNWALD

The weakness of Trumpism in Washington is that it doesn't have a congressional wing and it represents only a faction within the White House, and apparently not even the dominant one. Perhaps a shake-up will only mean a more "normal" White House that is better run, although Trump himself is responsible for much of the chaos. Perhaps Trump's genuine, if inchoate, populism and Vice President Mike Pence's conservatism would be enough for the administration's basic orientation to survive any constellation of White House aides.

Certainly, there are all sorts of way to try moderate Trump's image while still staying true to a tempered version of his populism. But a sensible recalibration would seem out of character, and it's not the next chapter Buckley would write.
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Rich Lowry is editor of National Review and a contributing editor with Politico Magazine.

919 · Apr 13, 2017

All the President's Flip-Flops

The simplest explanation for Donald Trump’s new positions on everything from Syria to interest rates? Ignorance.

Andrew Harnik / AP

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In February 2016, Jon Stewart noted that Donald Trump, not yet the Republican nominee for president, had a remarkable affinity for a certain phrase: “Believe me.” The candidate used it over and over, which made Stewart wary: “Nobody says ‘believe me’ unless they are lying.”

Whether Trump was intentionally misleading or not, he has offered reason to question the credibility of his campaign promises this week. In recent days, the president has changed positions on a range of issues, from fiscal policy to foreign wars and taxes to trade. Here’s a quick rundown.

Chinese Currency Manipulation

During the campaign, Trump railed against China’s economic policy, saying Beijing was keeping its currency artificially low as a way of getting a leg up on the U.S. In an August 2015 Wall Street Journal op-ed, for example, he promised, “On day one of a Trump administration, the U.S. Treasury Department will designate China a currency manipulator. This designation will trigger a series of actions that will start the process of imposing countervailing duties on cheap Chinese imports, defending American manufacturing and preserving American jobs.” Day one of his presidency came and went without any such labeling, and in an interview with The Wall Street Journal published on Wednesday, Trump announced he’d changed his mind: “They’re not currency manipulators.”

RELATED STORY

Trump’s Disillusioned Supporters

Trump offered two reasons for his change of heart: First, he said, China had quit manipulating its currency in recent months; and second, he was worried that starting a trade tiff now would endanger cooperation with Beijing on pressuring North Korea. The latter is admirably frank, but the former is nonsensical. Although some observers believe China deserved to be branded a currency manipulator in the past, its government had begun spending huge sums to prop up the yuan since 2014—long before Trump’s economic saber-rattling.

Janet Yellen and Low Interest Rates

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen was another punching bag for Trump during the campaign. “Janet Yellen should have raised [interest] rates,” he said in November 2015. “She’s not doing it because the Obama administration and the president doesn’t want her to.” In May 2016, he promised to replace her because she was not a Republican, but said he thought it was wise to keep interest rates low. By September 2016, he’d changed his mind again, saying she should be “ashamed” for keeping rates low.

In his new Journal interview, Trump opened the possibility of reappointing Yellen at the end of her term in 2018, saying she was “not toast.”

“I like her, I respect her,” the president said, adding, “I do like a low-interest rate policy, I must be honest with you.”

Syria

Trump’s most visible reversal has come on his policy toward Syria. As a private citizen and as a candidate, Trump repeatedly argued against American military intervention against the Assad regime, saying it was not in U.S. interests. Yet last week, Trump decided to launch missile strikes against the Assad government, following a chemical-weapons attack in Idlib.

The White House’s explanations for the flip-flop have been confusing. Administration officials have said, for example, that chemical-weapons attacks and the use of barrel bombs against innocent civilians are unacceptable, but both of those were going on in 2013 when Trump was stridently opposed to U.S. intervention. Nor has Trump made clear what his Syria policy will be going forward. Some aides have suggested a push for regime change, while others have insisted there’s been no change in stance. As my colleague Rosie Gray reported, the decision to send missiles was bitterly disappointing to many of his alt-right supporters who saw Trump as a bulwark against Middle Eastern adventurism.

Russia

Along with Trump’s reversal on Syria has come a reversal on Russia. Throughout the campaign, Trump praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, downplayed the Russian leader’s misdeeds, and argued that America had much to gain from working with the Kremlin.

Since the Idlib attack, the White House’s rhetoric toward Putin has turned decidedly chilly. “I think it’s a very sad day for Russia because they’re aligned, and in this case, all information points to Syria that they did this,” Trump told The New York Times after the attack. On Tuesday, the administration made the case that Russia had attempted to help Assad cover up the chemical-weapons attack. Russia said that relations with the U.S. are at their lowest ebb since the Cold War, a claim that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson basically confirmed after meeting with his counterpart Wednesday.

NATO

Trump frequently criticized NATO during the campaign, arguing the alliance had outlived its usefulness and threatening to pull back if other members did not increase their defense contributions. After entering office, he kept up the criticism, pressing German Chancellor Angela Merkel on German defense spending during her visit to the U.S.

At a White House press conference with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday, Trump sounded a different note, saying the alliance was a “bulwark of international peace.” The president added, “I said it was obsolete. It's no longer obsolete.” Trump attributed the change of heart to what he said was a renewed focus on terrorism. NATO officials have said the change was long planned. Trump’s change of heart here resembles his team’s shift on Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment numbers it previously criticized. “They may have been phony in the past, but it’s very real now,” spokesman Sean Spicer said in March.

James Comey

When Trump entered office, he decided to keep FBI Director James Comey in place, to the chagrin of some Democrats, who were upset at the director’s public comments on the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton, which they blamed for costing her the election.

In March, however, Comey confirmed that the FBI was investigating Russian interference in the election, and whether Trump aides colluded with Russia. He also refuted the president’s claim that he was surveilled before the election. That seems to have annoyed Trump. In an interview with Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo that aired Wednesday, Trump said he had confidence in Comey but also said it was not too late for him to fire the director. (He is likely correct about that, as a matter of law.) Trump criticized Comey for letting Clinton off the hook and said, “We'll see what happens. You know, it's going to be interesting.”

Export-Import Bank

During the campaign, Trump stood with many Republicans in opposing the Export-Import Bank, a government agency that encourages purchases of U.S. goods. “I don't like it because I don’t think it's necessary,” he told Bloomberg. “It’s a one-way street also. It’s sort of a featherbedding for politicians and others, and a few companies.... And when you think about free enterprise it’s really not free enterprise. I’d be against it.”

Since entering the White House, Trump has had a change of heart. Democrats claimed in February that the president had privately reversed his stance on the Ex-Im bank, and he confirmed it to the Journal, saying he intended to fill two empty seats on the board. “Instinctively, you would say, ‘Isn’t that a ridiculous thing,’” he said. “But actually, it’s a very good thing. And it actually makes money, it could make a lot of money.”

* * *

It is too early to say what sort of political price Trump might pay for his flip-flopping. The Syria strikes frustrated some of his most ardent supporters, but these core backers are also the ones who agree with Trump on the most and are less likely to find another champion. Many of the others are the sorts of nuts-and-bolts issues that few voters have especially informed opinions about. Voters care a great deal about how their own pocketbook is faring, and less about the specific monetary policies that are producing that result. Trump’s harsh words for NATO and China during the campaign were never deeply rooted in fact, as Beijing’s efforts to prop up its currency showed; they were more about showing toughness.

A more useful question at the moment is what is driving Trump’s sudden spree of reversals. It’s very tempting to read them in light of what seems to be another reversal—in Trump’s feelings toward Steve Bannon, his chief strategist. Despite, or perhaps because, of developing a reputation as the man behind Trump, he has suffered a series of setbacks. First, Bannon was removed from a spot on the National Security Council principals committee. Then in an interview with the New York Post published Tuesday, Trump expressed weak confidence in Bannon.

“I like Steve, but you have to remember he was not involved in my campaign until very late,” Trump said. “I had already beaten all the senators and all the governors, and I didn’t know Steve. I’m my own strategist and it wasn’t like I was going to change strategies because I was facing crooked Hillary.”

To the Journal, Trump referred to Bannon, who has reportedly feuded with Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, as merely “a guy who works for me.”

There is a correlation between Trump’s recently abandoned stands and Bannon’s views. Bannon has lionized Vladimir Putin, disdained NATO, and argued strenuously against military action in Syria. He has portrayed the Ex-Im Bank as a form of corporate welfare.

In other cases, however, Trump’s changed views appear to be more of a reflection of the president’s ignorance. The president was widely mocked for his claim that “nobody knew that healthcare could be so complicated.” It is true that many people recognized that, but equally apparent that Trump did not. As is becoming clear, he was a blank slate on a range of other issues as well.

Trump told the Journal he had told President Xi Jinping that China could easily solve the North Korea problem. “After listening for 10 minutes, I realized it’s not so easy,” Trump said. “I felt pretty strongly that they had a tremendous power… but it’s not what you would think.”

It’s a striking admission that just 10 minutes of lecturing from a foreign leader could reverse Trump’s view of a major challenge facing his administration. And yet that is in line with his other reversals.He seems only now to be learning about the scope of Syrian atrocities and the extent of Russia’s backing for President Bashar al-Assad. By his own admission, he has decided that the Ex-Im Bank is more useful than he realized. He’s come around on low interest rates, and is getting up to speed on what China is actually doing with its currency.

The learning curve for the president is steep, and as he climbs it, the nation may be treated to even more dizzying reversals.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DAVID A. GRAHAM is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he covers U.S. politics and global news.

919 · Apr 13, 2017

I could end up being a Trump fan after all cheersgif

Dave007inVegas · Apr 13, 2017

919 said:
I could end up being a Trump fan after all cheersgif

Why do I think this would happen first?

919 · Apr 13, 2017

[h=1]Trump's base turns on him[/h]
Steve Bannon's downgrade is just one of many complaints. 'We expect him to keep his word, and right now he's not keeping his word,' says one campaign supporter.
By ALEX ISENSTADT and MADELINE CONWAY
04/13/17 02:21 PM EDT

Donald Trump’s true believers are losing the faith.

As Trump struggles to keep his campaign promises and flirts with political moderation, his most steadfast supporters — from veteran advisers to anti-immigration activists to the volunteers who dropped their jobs to help elect him — are increasingly dismayed by the direction of his presidency.

Story Continued Below

Their complaints range from Trump’s embrace of an interventionist foreign policy to his less hawkish tone on China to, most recently, his marginalization of his nationalist chief strategist, Steve Bannon. But the crux of their disillusionment, interviews with nearly two dozen Trump loyalists reveal, is a belief that Trump the candidate bears little resemblance to Trump the president. He’s failing, in their view, to deliver on his promise of a transformative “America First” agenda driven by hard-edged populism.

"Donald Trump dropped an emotional anchor. He captured how Americans feel," said Tania Vojvodic, a fervent Trump supporter who founded one of his first campaign volunteer networks. "We expect him to keep his word, and right now he's not keeping his word."

Earlier this week, Vojvodic launched a Facebook group called, “The concerned support base of President Trump,” which quickly drew several dozen sign-ups. She also changed the banner on her Facebook page to a picture of Bannon accompanied by the declaration: “Mr. President: I stand with Steve Bannon.”

"I'm not so infatuated with Trump that I can't see the facts," she said. "People's belief, their trust in him, it’s declining."

The swiftness and abruptness of Trump’s shift from bomb-throwing populist outsider to a more mainstream brand of Republican has taken the president’s stalwarts by surprise.

“It was like, here’s the chance to do something different. And that’s why people’s hopes are dashed,” said Lee Stranahan, who, as a former writer at Breitbart News, once worked with Bannon. “There was always the question of, ‘Did he really believe this stuff?’ Apparently, the answer is, ‘Not as much as you’d like.’”

1600 PENN
[h=3]Why the First 100 Days Concept Is Bogus [/h]By JEFF GREENFIELD

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

The deflation of Trump’s base threatens to further weaken a president who’s already seen his public support drop to historic lows. Frustration among the president’s allies has intensified in recent days, with many expressing worry that Bannon, the intellectual pillar of the nationalist movement that catapulted Trump to the presidency, is being pushed out.

As Bannon’s influence wanes, on the rise is a small group of Wall Street-connected advisers whose politically moderate and globalist views are anathema to the populist cause.

The palace intrigue intensified this week after Trump refused to say he still had confidence in Bannon and downplayed the former Breitbart chairman's role in his campaign victory. And it’s feeding suspicions that the president is changing his priorities.

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), one of the president’s most vocal backers on Capitol Hill, said he’s been disheartened by the chief strategist’s isolation.

"A lot of us look at Steve Bannon as the voice of conservatism in the White House," said King, who has known Bannon for years.

The displeasure over Bannon’s reduced status has trickled down to Trump’s grass-roots army of volunteers. Among those unsettled is Shane Bouvet, a 24-year-old campaign volunteer and blue-collar single father from Illinois who became something of a hero in the Trump movement. On the eve of the inauguration, Trump, who had read about how Bouvet trekked across the country by car so he could watch the swearing-in, gave him a check for $10,000.

Bouvet later said the gift saved the life of his father, who was battling cancer and needed the money to cover medical costs.

WHITE HOUSE
[h=3]Trump shifting positions at breakneck pace[/h]By MATTHEW NUSSBAUM

That day, Bouvet also was introduced to Bannon. The two spoke briefly, and Bouvet came to identify with the adviser who, like him, represented a “forgotten America” that Trump had appealed to with his blue-collar pitch. He said in an interview that he still supports the president, but is troubled by reports that Bannon is on the outs and that senior adviser Jared Kushner, a New York City real estate scion, is accumulating influence.

“I see a lot of people upset about his role,” Bouvet said of Bannon.

“I love our president,” he added. “I would tell him, follow his heart instead of whispers in his ears.”

On his South Florida-based radio show, Trump backer John Cardillo has begun to hear from listeners who are disillusioned with the rising influence of moderate staffers like Kushner and Gary Cohn, the Goldman Sachs executive-turned-Trump economic adviser.

For Cardillo, too, it’s been a letdown. During the 2016 Republican primary, he was attracted to Trump because of his insurgent streak. As a former New York City police officer, Cardillo identified with the candidate's blue-collar style. He fell hard and got aboard the Trump train early, backing the insurgent candidate over home-state favorite Marco Rubio.

Trump voters “felt like they were voting for an anti-establishment candidate — and they're terrified, they're losing faith," Cardillo said. "They're saying, ‘Why does he have these people around him?’"

The gripes go beyond Bannon’s apparent downgrade. Many of Trump’s most stalwart supporters, including radio show hosts Michael Savage and Laura Ingraham, called last week’s bombing of Syria a betrayal of Trump’s pledge to be an “America First” commander in chief who would avoid unnecessary conflicts overseas.

WHITE HOUSE
[h=3]Trump turns to CEOs amid White House turmoil[/h]By JOSH DAWSEY and BEN WHITE

Concerns about Trump’s foreign policy approach intensified on Wednesday when he backed away from his oft-repeated campaign line that NATO is “obsolete.” Instead, during an appearance with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Trump called the organization a “great alliance.”

Howie Carr, an influential Boston radio show host and a vocal Trump backer, said he’s been mostly satisfied with the president’s tenure so far. But he said he and his listeners weren’t on board with the Syria bombing and warned against a U.S.-led push to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad.

“People are concerned because it’s such a morass over there,” Carr said. “I don’t think any of my listeners have any great stomach for overthrowing Assad, as odious as he is.”

Other Trump boosters worry that he’s ditching his economic agenda. They wonder why he backed off his vow to label
China a currency manipulator, and are chagrined by his reversal on his position to eliminate the Export-Import Bank.

On Thursday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer took issue with the premise that Trump's switch on labeling China a currency manipulator amounted to abandoning a campaign promise.

"The president's tough talk ... on a variety of subjects was to get results for the American people. That's what he has pledged to do, to get more jobs here, to grow more manufacturing, to keep our country safe," Spicer told reporters. "At the end of the day, this is always about developing a better situation for the American people, and I think he's done that."

Still others are concerned about Trump’s lack of progress on reforming the tax code.

Larry Kudlow, a veteran economist who advised Trump’s campaign, expressed dismay that the president hadn’t yet released a tax plan. He said he was beginning to wonder whether the president is about to walk back his pledge to cut taxes.

"What is their product?" Kudlow asked. "It doesn't make any sense to me. I'm not giving up hope. But it's looking very shaky to me."

Conservative economist Stephen Moore, who also advised the Trump campaign, said he’s reached out to the White House about the lack of a tax package.

“They're all over the map," he said. "I don't know if they're listening or not."

[h=3]Carter Page can't rule out that he talked sanctions with Russian officials[/h]By KELSEY SUTTON

Then there’s immigration, the issue that catapulted Trump to front-runner status. Activists are increasingly alarmed that the president has yet to follow through on his pledge to rescind protections for undocumented parents and children put in place under former President Barack Obama.

Brenda Sparks, an “angel mom” whose son was killed by an illegal immigrant, appeared onstage with Trump at an August campaign event in Phoenix. She said he promised her that he would overturn the program known Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, in short order.

While Sparks said she didn't think it would be done immediately, "I had expected it before now."

"I still support Trump, but I'm going to hold his feet to the fire," she said. "He has not lived up to that promise."

Michelle Dallacroce, an anti-immigration activist, is more pointed. Immigration is "why we voted for Donald Trump," she said. "This could be the most elaborate reality show. I'm wondering, was this all an illusion for us, using our movement so he could get in there?"

Trump is hardly the first president to get crosswise with his supporters. After running on a promise to infuse Washington with change, Barack Obama faced sharp accusations from backers that he was moving too slowly to change the culture of the capitol. Governing, Obama learned, is a lot different than campaigning.

919 · Apr 14, 2017

[h=1]Here's Trump chastising the media for not covering Wikileaks enough, which his CIA Director recently called "a hostile intelligence service" [/h]Donald J. Trump‏
@realDonaldTrumpVery little pick-up by the dishonest media of incredible information provided by WikiLeaks. So dishonest! Rigged system!

Acebb · Apr 14, 2017

[FONT=&quot]"I will quickly and decisively bomb the hell out of ISIS"

[/FONT] :103631605

919 · Apr 14, 2017

Acebb said:
"I will quickly and decisively bomb the hell out of ISIS"

I'm all for that

919 · Apr 14, 2017

After some "tough" talk yesterday, Trump says things will work out fine between U.S. and Russia.

919 · Apr 14, 2017

The Hill‏
@thehill
[h=1]Professor who predicted Trump's election victory now says he'll be impeached (link: [url]http://hill.cm/GMI9mHi) hill.cm/GMI9mHi[/URL] [/h]

919 · Apr 14, 2017

#Draining the swamp
#MAGA

POLITICS04/13/2017 01:04 pm ET | Updated 13 hours ago
[h=1]Trump Taps Salesman To Run Military Draft[/h][h=2]Don Benton has a long record of controversies, but no record of military service.[/h]

By Christina Wilkie

THE COLUMBIAN
Former Washington state senator Don Benton was an early supporter of President Donald Trump and the chair of his Washington state presidential campaign in 2016.

Late Monday night, when many Americans were in bed, President Donald Trump quietly announced his intention to nominate former Washington state senator Don Benton (R) to be director of the Selective Service System, which operates the nation’s military draft.

This was when the problems first came to light.

They started with a White House statement that lauded Benton’s environmental record, and the three years he spent leading the Environmental Services Department in Clark County, Washington.

From the White House:

During his tenure [Benton], reduced the cost of removing hazardous waste from the waste stream while doubling citizen participation and tripling the tonnage of hazardous waste removed. Mr. Benton was also responsible for Clark County certifying more Green Schools than in any other county in Washington State.

Of the 204 words in the announcement, there wasn’t one mention of the military, the draft, or anything related to what the Selective Service System actually does. Nor were there any references to qualifications or experiences that prepare Benton to manage the millions of records in the draft system, or the agency’s roughly $25 million budget.

It was as if the White House had written the statement for a completely different job than the one Benton was being given.

Turns out, that’s exactly what happened.

The Accidental Nominee

Benton had originally been expected to fill a top position at the Environmental Protection Agency, where he was part of the Trump “landing team” during the presidential transition.

But this was before Benton began to infuriate his boss, the newly confirmed EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.

Benton’s habit of interrupting policy discussions to make bizarre comments became so maddening, according to The Washington Post, that senior staff began keeping him out of policy meetings.

THE COLUMBIAN
Benton is the first director in the history of the Selective Service who has not served in any branch of the military.All of which posed a dilemma for the president: On one hand, Benton was an early Trump supporter and the chair of Trump’s Washington state campaign. Given how few Republican legislators were early Trump supporters, there was a real desire to reward each one. On the other hand, the agency where Benton was actually qualified to work, the EPA, did not want to hire him.

So Trump’s solution was to give Benton oversight of the military draft.

Benton did not respond to detailed questions from The Huffington Post about his background and qualifications, nor did a White House spokeswoman.

But following publication of this article, Benton, a sales consultant by trade, was sworn in Thursday afternoon, according to the Selective Service System website. The agency didn’t announce Benton’s swearing in or respond to questions Thursday evening from The Huffington Post.

Benton is the first director in the history of the Selective Service who has never served in the military.

“This is a completely inappropriate appointment for that position,” said Richard Painter, the chief ethics lawyer for former Republican President George W. Bush.

“We need to convince young men to register for the draft, and to step up if they’re needed to fight. And who is it who’s asking them to do that? Someone who’s never served, and for whom this is a throwaway political patronage job.”

MARC BIRTEL VIA GETTY IMAGES
Benton was embroiled in a series of controversies as a Washington state senator.As the Trump administration struggles to fill more than 450 senior government positions, its combination of inexperience and political patronage risks creating a federal bureaucracy where patently under-qualified people are given oversight of critical government functions.

Benton’s case is a prime example of how this happens.

According to the White House, one of the chief reasons why Benton is qualified to run the Selective Service is that he has experience in business. “Benton started his first company when he was 17 years old, and has built and sold several companies since,” according to his White House biography.

Yet HuffPost was unable to find any evidence that Benton started a company at 17, or that he has ever sold any companies. That doesn’t mean he didn’t, but if he did, he did it awfully quietly.

Moreover, a wide-ranging HuffPost review of Benton’s public records, past interviews, marketing materials, biographies and corporate disclosures reveals that his career has been marked by lawsuits, ethics problems, public feuds and allegations of cronyism.

As a member of the Washington state senate for two decades, Benton was known for getting into vicious arguments with his fellow senators, some of which resulted in formal complaints.

A brief stint as state GOP chairman in 2000 lasted only eight months, during which Benton, who was already under pressure for allegedly mishandling party funds, fired the committee staff and changed the locks at party headquarters. Benton’s fellow Republicans ultimately voted to replace him.

In 2012, he threatened to file a $1 million libel suit against a challenger who pointed out that Benton had missed nearly 300 Senate votes in his four-year term.

In 2014, he accused a fellow senator of behaving like “a trashy, trampy-mouthed little girl.” The senator also said that Benton followed her around the Senate floor yelling, “You are weird and … weird! Weird, weird, weird. Just so weird!”

At the time, Benton had a job as director of the Clark County Environmental Services Department. But this position, too, was mired in controversy.

Political allies had given Benton the job, despite his having no background in environmental policy. After three tumultuous years, the department was dissolved in May of 2016. Six months later, Benton sued Clark County for $2 million.

Through it all, his marketing firm, The Benton Group, had continued to peddle motivational seminars to sales teams at local TV stations.

Luckily for Benton, by the time his job for the county environmental services department was eliminated last year, he’d already found a new patron: Trump.

The president first met Benton in the spring of 2016, during Trump’s only campaign stop in deep blue Washington state. The two men reportedly bonded over a meal of McDonald’s. “I had Filet-O-Fish and he had a Big Mac,” Benton later said.

Soon after, Trump hired Benton to be his campaign director in Washington state, a doomed mission (Trump lost by 15 points).

Nonetheless, over the next few months Benton charged the Trump campaign more than $135,000 in fees and reimbursements, according to a review of Federal Election Commission records. This included rent paid for by the Trump campaign, along with money paid to Benton’s son, his wife, Mary, and his sales training company, The Benton Group.

Benton’s company also goes by the name National Advertising Consultants as well as National Consulting Services Inc. Over the years, Benton has frequently used these entities as brokers for his own campaign ads in Washington state. In these cases, Benton pays himself the standard 15 percent commission.

Here Is Where It Stops Being Funny

The last time the draft was used was toward the end of the Vietnam War in 1973, and today the U.S. armed forces are staffed entirely with volunteers. But in an interview with HuffPost, Painter warned against taking the nation’s current all-volunteer army for granted.

“If we’re going to abolish the draft, let’s abolish it,” he said. “But if we’re not, we need to assume that it could still be used, and that men’s lives are going to be at stake here.”

This is why, for Painter, Benton’s record is particularly worrisome. “We cannot have someone at the top who is not of the utmost integrity,” he said. “Because you effectively get to decide who gets drafted and who doesn’t.”

Painter also dismissed the notion that the draft board’s relatively small size made the director’s job a less important one, and thus easier for Trump to give to one of his cronies.

“There are plenty of jobs in the Pentagon that would only be activated in the event of a nuclear attack, but those jobs would never be considered less important than others,” Painter said.

In addition to concerns about Benton’s ethics and his temperament, experts noted that there are also more basic questions about his ability to run the agency, which employs 400 full and part-time workers with a budget of roughly $25 million.

“If you have a job that’s relevant to the military, like this one, it’s important to ask, ‘what kind of experience does the nominee have to do this kind of work?” said Alex Howard, deputy director of the nonprofit Sunlight Foundation. “And what kind of experience does this nominee have managing a system with tens of millions of individual records?”

HuffPost put these questions to both Benton and a White House spokeswoman, but neither responded.

For Howard, what’s troubling about this nomination isn’t simply Benton. It’s the entire administration’s attitude towards ethics, hiring, and experience.

“The lack of certain qualifications, which would have been prohibitive to job seekers in previous administrations, are not prohibitive in this one,” he said.

As for the White House’s bizarre announcement about Benton’s experience cleaning up hazardous waste, Howard chalked it up to mismanagement in the White House press office. Still, he said, “these are taxpayer funded positions, so it’s not unreasonable to expect them to be up to the standards of public disclosure. This is nuts and bolts stuff.”

Painter was less forgiving. “If this administration doesn’t understand the difference between disposing of hazardous waste and determining the fate of young men’s lives, then they’ve got bigger problems to deal with than this one nominee,” he said.

This article has been updated to include Benton’s swearing in.

919 · Apr 14, 2017

The Hill‏
@thehill
[h=1]Trump has spent a quarter of his presidency at Mar-a-Lago with recent visit (link: [url]http://hill.cm/GCPgOm2) hill.cm/GCPgOm2[/URL] [/h]

919 · Apr 14, 2017

Hopefully Don sends some tweets, that'll show em

2h The New York Times‏
@nytimes
[h=1]North Korea threatened to attack U.S. military bases in South Korea, warning it could destroy them "within minutes" [/h]

China Warns of ‘Storm Clouds Gathering’ in U.S.-North Korea Standoffnytimes.com

919 · Apr 14, 2017

Donald J. Trump‏
@realDonaldTrumpWhy is @BarackObama spending millions to try and hide his records? He is the least transparent President--ever--and he ran on transparency.

Trump White House refuses to release visitor logs..

919 · Apr 14, 2017

919 said:
Donald J. Trump‏
@realDonaldTrumpWhy is @BarackObama spending millions to try and hide his records? He is the least transparent President--ever--and he ran on transparency.

Trump White House refuses to release visitor logs..

The same WH that just agreed to sell your browsing history won't disclose visits to WH to protect privacy of lobbyists. Swamp wins again.

919 · Apr 14, 2017

919 said:
Hopefully Don sends some tweets, that'll show em

2h The New York Times‏
@nytimes
North Korea threatened to attack U.S. military bases in South Korea, warning it could destroy them "within minutes"

China Warns of ‘Storm Clouds Gathering’ in U.S.-North Korea Standoffnytimes.com

Doug Stanglin‏
@dstanglin
[h=1]China warns U.S., NKorea to cool the rhetoric or risk war. [/h]

China warns U.S., North Korea: 'If war breaks out ... no one will win'usatoday.com

SgtLanquel · Apr 14, 2017

919 said:
The Hill‏
@thehill
[h=1]Trump has spent a quarter of his presidency at Mar-a-Lago with recent visit (link: [url]http://hill.cm/GCPgOm2) hill.cm/GCPgOm2[/URL] [/h]

Current week, insiders note, is at 27 work hours thus bringing his weekly average time on the job down to just under 33

919 · Apr 15, 2017

[h=1]George W. Bush Calls Foreign Aid A Moral And Security Imperative[/h]

Listen· 4:59

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http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=523615019

gettyimages-664463690_custom-7274aa176f558e7be8f6c16d12bb97caa5a6787d-s1100-c85.jpg

Former President George W. Bush visits the Theresanyo primary school in Gaborone, Botswana, during an official visit on April 4.

Monirul Bhuiyan/AFP/Getty Images

President Trump's budget blueprint is all about "hard power" — increasing the country's military might by slashing foreign aid. The proposed cuts are in contrast to the dramatic boost to foreign aid under President George W. Bush.

Bush dedicated billions to combating HIV/AIDS in Africa with a program called PEPFAR that still exists today. So far, it has been spared from cuts. He highlighted the program's work and that of his post-presidency initiative to combat AIDS and cervical cancer during a recent trip to Africa.

[h=3]POLITICS [/h][h=3]Bush Talks Trump, Describes 'Pretty Ugly' Political Climate In Pair Of Interviews[/h]

[h=3]POLITICS [/h][h=3]Former President Bush Says SNL Impressions Never Bothered Him A Bit[/h]

"I think the most meaningful moment for me was going to a maternity ward in Namibia," he told NPR at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas. "Seeing a roomful of ladies, most of whom — if not all — had the AIDS virus, and every one of their babies was born without AIDS. Mother-to-child transmission efforts of PEPFAR have been unbelievably successful."

Asked what he would say to a mom struggling in the United States and watching money flow to foreign places like Botswana and Namibia, Bush responded:

"Look, we can't solve every problem. And I would tell the person who's out of work, hopefully there's enough aid there to help you transition. But, you know, the idea of turning our back on a pandemic that would've wiped out an entire generation of people, I don't think is in the spirit of the United States."

National security is also at stake, Bush argued.

[h=3]PARALLELS [/h][h=3]Russia, The Place Where U.S. Presidents Get Their Hopes Dashed[/h]

"When you have an entire generation of people being wiped out and the free world turns its back, it provides a convenient opportunity for people to spread extremism," he said. He added, "I believe in this case that it's in our national security interests as well as in our moral interest to continue funding this program."

Bush also spoke with Morning Edition about immigration and his new compilation of veterans' portraits.

[h=3]Interview Highlights[/h]On whether President Trump's proposed budget cuts to foreign aid are an attack on Bush's legacy, as former USAID head Andrew Natsios has said

First of all, I'm not real comfortable with "legacy." That kind of assumes that I'm doing this in order to protect my own reputation. And that's the last reason one would take on a humanitarian mission. But I do know that we set priorities in my administration, and one such priority was human life on the continent of Africa. And it surprised people. Of all places, why? And the answer ... is that, had nothing been done about this pandemic and a whole generation died, which would've created enormous instability on the continent of Africa ... I would've been ashamed.

On immigration and relations with Mexico

I have been dealing with the immigration issue ever since I was a governor of the state of Texas. I laid out what I thought was a comprehensive plan that would work in an Oval Office address when I was the president. I still think that's going to be the plan that ends up being adopted at some point in time. ...
[h=4]INTERVIEWS[/h][h=2]George W. Bush On Immigration Overhaul Efforts, Anti-AIDS Efforts[/h]Listen· 7:18

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There needs to be a way for somebody to be able to get in line to become a citizen so long as they met certain criteria. ...

I think it's very important for us to recognize the importance of Mexico and the relationship we have with Mexico. We want Mexico to succeed. It's in our national interest they succeed.

On his book, Portraits of Courage

[h=3]FINE ART [/h][h=3]A Green Beret Sits For A Portrait By His Former Commander In Chief[/h]

I know these men and women quite well. There is not an ounce of self-pity in their being. They need help. And so the book's purpose is to call attention to their courage, but also to the need to help them transition from the military life to civilian life. You know, as a matter of fact, getting to know them ... has been uplifting. And that's what this book is all about is honoring them.

LENBO · Apr 15, 2017

Trump Derangement Syndrome’: Fareed Zakaria Responds to Criticism of His Syria Remarks

You’ve probably heard about how Fareed Zakaria said, after the Syria strike, that Donald Trump “became President of the United States”in taking that action.

Liberals have to avoid Trump Derangement Syndrome. If Trump pursues a policy, it cannot axiomatically be wrong, evil and dangerous. In my case, I have been pretty tough on Trump. I attacked almost every policy he proposed during the campaign. Just before the election, I called him a “cancer on American democracy” and urged voters to reject him. But they didn’t. He is now president. I believe that my job is to evaluate his policies impartially and explain why, in my view, they are wise or not.

superbeets · Apr 15, 2017

Trump

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