The reality show that is the Trump White House was the main attraction again this week – from a president’s feud with his attorney general to the exit of a communications director and drama over a son-in-law, all the way through Ben Carson’s expensive taste in furniture.
But when it came to policymaking – or at least policy pronouncements – Trump was writing his own script in ways that remind conservatives that he’s played plenty of different roles over the years.
Trump’s movement on gun legislation earned an arm pump from Sen. Dianne Feinstein. And the president’s announcement a day later, on steel tariffs, might have earned him a fist bump from Sen. Bernie Sanders, had he been in the room.
Is it all strategic? Will the president truly violate conservative dogma on guns and trade and anything else that comes across his desk? Will he risk a trade war, and a war with the NRA? (And what of his favorite numbers to cite – the Dow?)
The truth is that nobody knows. More than a year into his presidency, Trump still fosters chaos for its own sake – and remains a policy enigma.
The RUNDOWN with MaryAlice Parks
Again this week, political parties seem, at best, arbitrary, and at worst, totally broken. A Republican president has Republican lawmakers dumbfounded on his trade and gun policy prescriptions and Democratic civil warring feels as hot as ever.
While Trump’s trade talk should not have surprised folks – he ran on imposing tariffs – it still felt like Republicans’ worst nightmare about this would-be populist president.
Meanwhile, Democrats in Washington will be reviewing their Unity Reform Commission’s recommendations today, and the timing feels a little ironic.
The commission was designed to build bridges between the Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders factions – and develop best practices for a party that seemed to have bad habits.
Darron Cummings/AP Photo | Paul Sancya/AP PhotoBernie Sanders | Hillary Clinton
But on the ground, days before the first official primary voting of 2018, Democratic candidates are not just battling for votes, major Democratic institutions are aggressively battling each other.
A week ago, the organization tasked with electing Democrats to the House said it was vetoing one Democratic candidate (or at least trying to). Within a few days, the candidate, Laura Moser, who is running in the 7th Congressional District of Texas, raised more than $86,700, and gained the endorsement of Bernie Sanders’ legacy institution, Our Revolution.
The Sanders folks, still feeling like outsiders, backed the progressive Moser. The whole scene playing out in Houston put Democrats’ varied, opposing views on the way forward – smack dab into the limelight.
The TIP with Adam Kelsey
Former Vice President Joe Biden will make a long-expected trip to Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District next Tuesday to campaign for special-election candidate Conor Lamb, further focusing the nationwide spotlight on a race already viewed as a harbinger of Democratic chances in November.
Biden, whose hardscrabble, Scranton upbringing provides the blue-collar bona fides that appeal to rural voters in a way unmatched by other prominent Democrats, is one of the few party mercenaries Lamb has tapped to stump in the district, joining only Rep. Joe Kennedy III, D-Mass., and former presidential candidate Martin O’Malley.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais/APJoe Biden speaks to the House Democratic Issues Conference on Capitol Hill, Feb. 7, 2018.
Lamb’s substantial fundraising numbers — $3.2 million over the first two months of 2018 — and a recent Monmouth University poll showing a three-point race, have raised the stakes for the final week-and-a-half of the campaign. But attention is also being paid to what lies ahead for the 33-year-old former federal prosecutor, as the specter of Pennsylvania’s redistricting effort looms over the race.
Not only will Lamb live in a new district come November, but both events headlined by Biden next week will take place in towns similarly located within the current 18th Congressional District – that under redistricting will transition to what will be called the 17th Congressional District. And much of that district is currently represented by Republican Rep. Keith Rothfus.
Lamb has committed to running again, no matter the outcome of the special election, but he hasn’t indicated from where he’d do so, and there’s widespread speculation that he’ll choose to challenge Rothfus, as the demographics of the new 17th district will be more favorable to Democrats.
Upping the ante for a possible switch: On Sunday, a Pittsburgh-area LGBT group, without definitively knowing from where Lamb will be running in November, still chose to endorse him in the 17th.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY
• President Trump and Vice President Pence attend the Rev. Billy Graham’s funeral in Charlotte, N.C. at noon.
• The president then travels to Mar-a-Lago, where in the evening he holds a roundtable with Republican National Committee supporters and later delivers remarks at the RNC spring donor retreat dinner.
• Paul Manafort is expected to be arraigned on new charges in federal court in Alexandria, Va.
• This Week on ‘This Week’: The Powerhouse Roundtable debates the week in politics, with ABC News Political Analyst Matthew Dowd, ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega, Co-Host of “The View” Meghan McCain, former Bloomberg Businessweek Editor Megan Murphy, and CNN Host Van Jones.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Let’s be clear: The President is proposing a massive tax increase on American families. Protectionism is weak, not strong. You’d expect a policy this bad from a leftist administration, not a supposedly Republican one.” – GOP Sen. Ben Sasse, responding to news President Trump wants to impose steep new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
NEED TO READ
Markets plunge after Trump announces tariffs on steel, aluminum imports. President Donald Trump announced that U.S. will impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports starting next week, imposing a 10 percent tariff for aluminum and a 25 percent tariff for steel. (Jordyn Phelps) https://abcn.ws/2teohKP
National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster eyeing exit as Trump considers successors. The White House and Pentagon have been preparing for National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster to move out of his role in the administration and return with a promotion to a job in the military, sources tell ABC News. (Devin Dwyer and Alex Mallin) https://abcn.ws/2GUN5cv
Meet Hope Hicks, the outgoing White House communications director. Hicks had actively maintained a low profile both during the Trump campaign and as part of the administration, but recent circumstances have brought her closer into the spotlight. (Meghan Keneally and Lindsay Jacobson) https://abcn.ws/2idpL24
Exxon cancels involvement in Russia project once led by Tillerson, citing sanctions. A major oil exploration project between Exxon Mobil and a Russian government-owned oil company will be abandoned by Exxon after United States government sanctions prevented the venture from expanding and waivers for the project were denied. (Adam Kelsey and Conor Finnegan) https://abcn.ws/2oDRWbi
Sen. Marco Rubio outlines how he will address gun violence. Two weeks after a Florida school shooting that shook the nation and left 17 dead, Sen. Marco Rubio billed a Thursday floor speech as the moment he was going to introduce his “plan” to address gun violence. (Ali Rogin) https://abcn.ws/2FgVbiq
NSA nominee says Russian adversaries ‘do not fear us.’ President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command told Congress Thursday that even after repeated hacks of government and corporate systems, and despite the outrage over Russia’s social media disinformation campaigns, America’s adversaries have suffered few consequences. (Steve Turnham) https://abcn.ws/2oKgu1x
White House hosts opioid summit as controversies loom. President Donald Trump made a surprise stop by the White House’s summit on opioids today, where he suggested dealers face “the ultimate penalty” for their roles in drug-related deaths. (Alexander Mallin) https://abcn.ws/2F2TSEp
US ambassador to Mexico resigning in another big loss for State Department. Her departure also comes at a pivotal moment for U.S.- Mexico relations, with the seventh round of NAFTA talks underway this week and Mexican concern over new steel tariffs just announced by the White House. (Conor Finnegan) https://abcn.ws/2FJgV4e
States take initiative in passing gun laws. The pressure on state and local lawmakers crafting laws is heaviest in Florida, where the Feb. 14 deadly mass shooting at a Parkland high school sparked a national conversation on gun policy reform. (Emily Goodin) https://abcn.ws/2FIfZxd
Trump meets with NRA officials again. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence met with National Rifle Association officials Thursday night at the White House — the second time in less than a week that he’s had such a meeting. (David Caplan) https://abcn.ws/2FOAecN
Ben Carson asks HUD to cancel order for $31,000 dining set. The Department of Housing and Urban Development confirmed Thursday that Secretary Ben Carson has asked the agency to cancel an order for a $31,000 dining set for his office suite after the agency came under scrutiny for the cost of the furniture. (Stephanie Ebbs) https://abcn.ws/2FHyBgB
The New York Times reports on the cost of Trump’s “chaos theory” for the Oval Office. https://nyti.ms/2F3mE7W
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
