I've been denied entry to Thailand - Now What ! ?

[rooster59]

Fresh from Bannon feud, Trump meets Republican leaders to plot 2018 strategy

By Jeff Mason

 

U.S. President Donald Trump is seen as he delivers a message during the daily briefing hosted by U.S. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders (not pictured) at the White House in Washington, DC, U.S. January 4, 2018. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Following a tumultuous start to 2018, President Donald Trump left on Friday for a two-day retreat in Maryland with top Republicans to lay out legislative priorities for the year and discuss a strategy for pivotal November congressional elections.

 

Two days after explosive comments by Trump's former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, put the White House on the defensive, the president flew on the Marine One helicopter to Camp David with party leaders, including House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican establishment figures who Bannon has criticized in the past.

 

"We have a lot of things to work on, a lot of things to accomplish," Trump told reporters as he left the White House.

 

Trump achieved the first major legislative victory of his presidency in December with a tax overhaul long sought by his party and its supporters.

 

The president is eager for more wins, and the White House has targeted infrastructure policy and an overhaul of welfare programs as top priorities. Immigration legislation, in particular a plan to protect hundreds of thousands of young adults who were brought to the United States illegally as children, is also on the agenda.

 

While Trump and McConnell want to work on infrastructure first, Ryan is more interested in tackling so-called entitlement programs such as welfare.

 

A White House official said the timing of legislation would be discussed as well as the political priority of giving Republicans substantive issues to highlight ahead of the November midterm elections in which the party will battle to keep control of Congress.

 

All 435 members of the House and a third of the 100 members of the Senate will be up for re-election. A Democratic takeover of one or both chambers could stifle Trump's agenda.

 

The meeting at the Camp David presidential retreat follows an uproar over a new book's account of an inept Trump White House. In the book, Bannon was quoted as calling a meeting involving the president's son and son-in-law with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 presidential campaign "treasonous."

 

Trump broke with Bannon on Wednesday after the comments attributed to his former advisor in author Michael Wolff's "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House" were made public. Trump said Bannon had "lost his mind."

 

'COMPLETE FANTASY'

 

The Camp David strategy session will provide an opportunity to switch topics after the furore over the book, which went on sale on Friday.

 

"The White House doesn't mind the optics after a few days of the president unloading on Bannon and making our views clear on the book. The president sits down and charts the course forward ... with the actual leaders of the Republican Party," a White House official said.

 

The White House said healthcare, the fiscal 2019 budget, the opioid crisis and the effort to win Senate confirmation of Trump's nominees for various government posts would be discussed at the Camp David meeting, which will also be attended by Vice President Mike Pence, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Majority Whip Steve Scalise.

 

Cabinet members including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt will also attend, along with a handful of senior White House advisers.

 

Cornyn said the weekend meeting would help lawmakers and administration officials get on the same page about their priorities.

 

"This administration came into office perhaps not really knowing for sure that they would win the election, and was a little bit behind the curve in terms of preparing. Now I think they've recognised that that sort of coordination is really important in order to get things done," Cornyn told reporters on Thursday.

 

"So I look forward to having those conversations and making sure that the president's priorities and our priorities are aligned."

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-01-06

[ChrisY1]

You yanks have gotta get rid of this nutcase!

[KarenBravo]

2018 agenda.

Try to stay in office.

Try not to start nuclear holocaust.

Try to intimidate and jail political opponents.

Continue under-mining US institutions.

Continue making lotsa, lotsa money from US government.

[Stargeezr]

Note to the good people of USA

Good Luck in 2018!

Geezer

[JulesMad]

5 hours ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

Note to the good people of USA

Good Luck in 2018!

Geezer

PLEASE, do NOT pollute Mars and/or the Universe

[ilostmypassword]

Actually he just launched a new 2 pronged strategy. First he revoked the regulations put in place after the BP gulf disasster. And then he announced that virtually all of the coastal United States will be open for oil and gas exploration.  I guess he wants to make sure that coastal Floridians in the north of the state and on the gulf, who went heavily for Trump, don't make the same mistake twice. It's going to play real well in other coastal states, too.

[dunroaming]

Leave Donald alone.  You just do not understand.  His latest tweet says it all

 

“I went from VERY successful businessman, to top TV Star to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius and a very stable genius at that!”

 

Now some would say that anyone who thinks that, let alone says it,  is in desperate need  of a straight jacket!  From what I understand the tweet was to re-assure people of his mental stability and quite clearly it shows that he is indeed, completely nuts!

[sirineou]

4 hours ago, ilostmypassword said:

Actually he just launched a new 2 pronged strategy. First he revoked the regulations put in place after the BP gulf disasster. And then he announced that virtually all of the coastal United States will be open for oil and gas exploration.  I guess he wants to make sure that coastal Floridians in the north of the state and on the gulf, who went heavily for Trump, don't make the same mistake twice. It's going to play real well in other coastal states, too.

 Let's see what happens after the first oils spill washes out in our shores.

4 minutes ago, dunroaming said:

Leave Donald alone.  You just do not understand.  His latest tweet says it all

 

“I went from VERY successful businessman, to top TV Star to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius and a very stable genius at that!”

 

Now some would say that anyone who thinks that, let alone says it,  is in desperate need  of a straight jacket!  From what I understand the tweet was to re-assure people of his mental stability and quite clearly it shows that he is indeed, completely nuts!

He did not say he was smart , he said he was "Like smart"   LOL it is true , he said  "like smart"

Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump 2h2 hours ago

More

....Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. Crooked Hillary Clinton also played these cards very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star.....