| | | | | President Trump gestures to silence a reporter while speaking to members of the media on the South Lawn Thursday. Credit: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images | | What the White House is Talking About:
President Trump today heads to the border to shore up support for his border wall funding. He will also attend a roundtable on immigration, and head to the Rio Grande for a briefing on border security. He returns to the White House later this evening.
What the White House Press Corps is Talking About:
Shutdown Day 19.
A national emergency looks like it might be a thing.
Will Trump Declare a National Emergency?:
It's inching closer and closer to a reality -- the President even confirmed it this morning on his departure for Texas. And by "confirmed," I mean in his way of "confirming." Here's Trump: "If this doesn't work out, probably I will do it, I would almost say definitely. This is a national emergency. The lawyers have so advised me. I'm not prepared to do that yet, but if I have to, I will. I have no doubt about it, I will... I have absolute right to do national emergency if I want," Trump said. The President does have executive authority to declare a national emergency, but there could be legal holdups, as well as partisan wrangling. Either way, it does nothing for the government workers who are still without pay, and a country growing weary of the domino effect of a political battle.
Phil Mattingly with this summary of where we are today in the shutdown, and what the next 48 hours could hold.
Trump Denies Trump-Tantrum:
The President this morning also said he did not yell or pound the table when he walked out of yesterday's shutdown meeting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer. He said, and I quote: "I don't have temper tantrums."
He also tweeted that he had simply said "bye-bye," and left. "Cryin Chuck told his favorite lie when he used his standard sound bite that I 'slammed the table & walked out of the room. He had a temper tantrum.' Because I knew he would say that, and after Nancy said no to proper Border Security, I politely said bye-bye and left, no slamming!"
But Are They Easier Than China:
Trump said "Chuck and Nancy" are more challenging to deal with than China and, according to him, not as trustworthy. "I find China, frankly, in many ways, to be far more honorable than Chuck and Nancy," Trump told reporters from the South Lawn of the White House on Thursday.
"I think China actually is much easier to deal with than the opposition party." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
New Time Cover:
I like this one. And, bonus, you can see it animated if you click here. | | Credit: time.com
The President Weighs in on Bezos Divorce:
Not sure why, but he commented this morning. Trump, of course, is not a fan of Jeff Bezos -- who, in addition to owning Amazon, also owns the Washington Post. I believe this is what they call schadenfreude: "I wish him luck. It's going to be a beauty."
Chaos of Communication:
I think this smart New York Times piece is worth a read because not only does it try to explain what the heck Bill Shine actually does as White House communications director -- with a president who is basically his own PR person -- but for revealing just how messy and disjointed the strategic messaging arms of the West Wing really are. Essentially, since the beginning of his tenure, Trump has overseen an administration that has divided into factions, and Shine's presence seems to be yet another example.
But His Legal Team is Stacked:
One department of Trump's administration that is getting in order -- and staffing -- is the legal team. With Democrats now in charge of the House, threats of all sorts of investigations into Trump and his world are looming and, as such, the White House has recently hired 17 new lawyers. Beefing up, indeed. | | Wait, What in the Actual What?!:
Congressman Steve King is a congressman, in Congress. Let me say that again: Congressman Steve King is a congressman, in Congress. This snippet from a New York Times profile on King today:
"White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?" Mr. King said. "Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?" | | What Washington is Talking About:
The House passed the first of four planned appropriations bills Wednesday (the first was for financial services), in an attempt to open parts of the government, with eight Republicans crossing party lines to pass it; and following yesterday's failed meeting with President Trump, Republican senators met in Sen. Lindsey Graham's office to discuss the possibility of pitching Democrats on a deal that would give Trump $5.7 billion for a border wall but would also include provisions Democrats support on DACA and visas.
What America is Talking About:
The Oscars will now have no host, according to Variety; and Lady Gaga has apologized for her 2013 song "Do What U Want" featuring R. Kelly, which she said she made "at a dark time in my life" and will be pulled from iTunes and streaming services (let's just spin her version with Christina Aguilera instead).
The Ratings Are In:
More than 40 million people tuned into Trump's Oval Office presidential address Tuesday. But he was narrowly beat out in the ratings by Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader Schumer, who had about a 4% better household rating in metered markets than Trump.
Steyer Won't Run, But...:
California billionaire Tom Steyer announced Wednesday in Des Moines that he's not running for president in 2020. Instead, he said he's going to focus on his campaign to impeach Trump, promising to pour $16 million into the effort and push Democratic presidential candidates to back impeachment.
Age is the Best Predictor of Sharing Fake News:
A new study out by researchers at New York and Princeton Universities found that Facebook's fake news problem during the 2016 election was concentrated among older Americans. Researchers tracked 3,500 people and found 11% of users 65 and older shared a link from a fake news site, compared to just 3% for those 18 to 29.
WaPo Marks 100 Days Since Khashoggi's Murder:
Here's the full-page ad it ran in today's paper: | | Credit: Washington Post
Wikipedia's Top Politicians of the Year:
The American politician who ranked the highest on Wikipedia's list of top English-language pages of 2018 was Trump, with nearly 17.5 million views, putting him just behind Cardi B and Elon Musk.
Trump is followed by George H.W. Bush, with more than 11.9 million views; John McCain, with more than 10.8 million; Barack Obama, with more than 8.7 million, and Brett Kavanaugh, with more than 8.6 million. They were all beat by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, with nearly 26 million views. You can see the top 30 list here.
Street Art Sighting:
Ransom note-style posters written as if by Trump holding the government hostage have been spotted around Washington, including in Adams Morgan. This one was put up on a utility box outside the Trump hotel: | | Credit: Hunter Schwarz
Tag or DM me your political street art sightings @hunterschwarz on Twitter or Instagram, or email me at coverlinehunter@cnn.com. | | | | | | |
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