Politics

Trump is focused on crowd size as he heads to India for state visit – CNN

Published

5 years ago

February 23, 2020

1. Trump’s Indian adventure

President Donald Trump heads to India this week for a state visit — and says he can’t wait to see the crowds Indian Prime Minister Nehendra Modi has promised will be there to greet him.

“He will be welcomed with a rally in the world’s largest cricket stadium,” NPR White House reporter Tamara Keith said. “This trip doesn’t have a big trade deal to be announced, it doesn’t have a lot going on. What it has is very large crowds, and Prime Minister Modi is going to make sure President Trump sees those crowds.”

The two-day trip will also include a tour of the Taj Mahal and a state dinner in New Delhi. But it’s the crowd at the stadium he seems to be most focused on.

“President Trump has already been inflating the crowd size, saying there will be millions and millions,” Keith said. “The stadium only holds 100,000. But that’s still huge.”

2. Edging toward a peace deal in Afghanistan

While the President visits India, his foreign policy team will be watching Afghanistan, hoping a 7-day “reduction in violence” agreement with the Taliban holds. That could pave the way to a peace agreement with the US that brings the 18-year-war to an end.

“It’s really a significant step toward ending America’s longest war,” Associated Press Washington bureau chief Julie Pace said. “But this is going to be an anxious week. The US and Taliban agreed to … reduction in violence before they sign the agreement. So there’s a lot of concern that violence could erupt and derail progress here.”

But even if a peace deal is signed next weekend, that doesn’t mean an immediate withdrawal of American troops.

“There are big questions about how the US does end this war,” Pace said. “The Afghan government is in total disarray. So how fast do American troops that have been in this country for 18 years start to come home?”

3. The other billionaire in the race

Billionaire Tom Steyer spent more than $15 million on ads in Nevada, far more than any of his rivals.

But all it bought him was a sixth-place finish.

“A lot of Democratic strategists and campaign advisers were eying the bottom of the list of results,” CNN political correspondent Abby Phillip said. “The question for Democrats right now is what does money buy you … and how durable is that support? That’s a question not just for Steyer as we go into South Carolina, but also for Mike Bloomberg.”

One piece of good news for Steyer — he appears to have qualified for Tuesday night’s debate in South Carolina, after a poll out Sunday morning had him in third place there with 18%.

4. Reid and Romney make up

Former senator Harry Reid has spent the past three years of retirement at home in Nevada, where he’s fighting pancreatic cancer. And Washington Post senior congressional correspondent Paul Kane says Reid is reaching out to old enemies.

“I was in Las Vegas and went to visit Reid,” Kane said. “And I was stunned. I know politics make strange bedfellows, but he said he and Mitt Romney have kind of calmed things down.”

It was hard to find a bigger Romney critic than Reid back in 2012 — when Reid was the Senate Democratic leader and Romney was the Republican nominee for president.

“Reid was on the Senate floor almost every day accusing Romney of never paying taxes,” Kane said. “It was not true. And there were very hard feelings.”

But Reid told Kane that after that election, Reid — who, like Romney, is a Mormon — reached out to make peace.

“He says it was a good talk, and that Romney is a very nice man,” Kane said. And after watching his impeachment vote, Reid “sent a letter congratulating him.”

5. A test for AOC

And from CNN chief national correspondent John King:

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is enjoying her rising liberal stardom: emerging as a top surrogate for 2020 Democratic frontrunner Bernie Sanders while also launching a new political action committee designed to promote like-minded congressional candidates.

But the freshman congresswoman’s high profile also means there are no shortage of critics, and some of those critics believe they may now have an opportunity to at least complicate her 2020.

That hope rests in a new primary challenge launched by Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, a longtime CNBC anchor and contributor.

Caruso-Cabrera is the author of a book promoting the virtues of free-market economies and limited government, and is clearly not a fan of the Democratic socialism espoused by Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders.

It is an uphill primary fight, given the liberal leanings of the Bronx and Queens neighborhoods that make up New York’s 14th Congressional District. Plus Ocasio-Cortez is already proving her national progressive standing is an asset when it comes to fundraising.

But Ocasio-Cortez won the seat two years ago by knocking off a Democratic incumbent in the primary, and there is still some bad blood among establishment Democrats. The CNBC work gives Caruso-Cabrera high recognition with Wall Street donors who are not fans of the Ocasio-Cortez agenda.

One wild card to watch is whether organizations that are most often found supporting Republican candidates decide to take an active role in the primary. The Chamber of Commerce, for example, is among the GOP-leading organizations exploring whether to support Caruso-Cabrera.

Again, it is an uphill challenge and a smaller scale test of the criticism Sanders now faces from centrists on the presidential campaign trail. Caruso-Cabrera’s book, published a decade ago, seems an odd fit in today’s Democratic Party.

“You Know I’m Right: More Prosperity, Less Government,” is the book’s title. This, too, is an interesting wrinkle for a woman running in a Democratic primary: the forward is written by Larry Kudlow, then a CNBC colleague, but now the chief economic adviser to Trump.

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Politics

RFK Jr. says Trump would push to remove fluoride from drinking water. ‘It’s possible,’ Trump says

Published

15 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Anne Joseph

PHOENIX (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent proponent of debunked public health claims whom Donald Trump has promised to put in charge of health initiatives, said Saturday that Trump would push to remove fluoride from drinking water on his first day in office if elected president.

Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear and tear, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water has long been considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century.

Kennedy made the declaration Saturday on the social media platform X alongside a variety of claims about the heath effects of fluoride.

“On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water,” Kennedy wrote. Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, “want to Make America Healthy Again,” he added, repeating a phrase Trump often uses and links to Kennedy.

Trump told NBC News on Sunday that he had not spoken to Kennedy about fluoride yet, “but it sounds OK to me. You know it’s possible.”

The former president declined to say whether he would seek a Cabinet role for Kennedy, a job that would require Senate confirmation, but added, “He’s going to have a big role in the administration.”

Asked whether banning certain vaccines would be on the table, Trump said he would talk to Kennedy and others about that. Trump described Kennedy as “a very talented guy and has strong views.”

The sudden and unexpected weekend social media post evoked the chaotic policymaking that defined Trump’s White House tenure, when he would issue policy declarations on Twitter at virtually all hours. It also underscored the concerns many experts have about Kennedy, who has long promoted debunked theories about vaccine safety, having influence over U.S. public health.

In 1950, federal officials endorsed water fluoridation to prevent tooth decay, and continued to promote it even after fluoride toothpaste brands hit the market several years later. Though fluoride can come from a number of sources, drinking water is the main source for Americans, researchers say.

Officials lowered their recommendation for drinking water fluoride levels in 2015 to address a tooth condition called fluorosis, that can cause splotches on teeth and was becoming more common in U.S. kids.

In August, a federal agency determined “with moderate confidence” that there is a link between higher levels of fluoride exposure and lower IQ in kids. The National Toxicology Program based its conclusion on studies involving fluoride levels at about twice the recommended limit for drinking water.

A federal judge later cited that study in ordering the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to further regulate fluoride in drinking water. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen cautioned that it’s not certain that the amount of fluoride typically added to water is causing lower IQ in kids, but he concluded that mounting research points to an unreasonable risk that it could be. He ordered the EPA to take steps to lower that risk, but didn’t say what those measures should be.

In his X post Saturday, Kennedy tagged Michael Connett, the lead attorney representing the plaintiff in that lawsuit, the environmental advocacy group Food & Water Watch.

Kennedy’s anti-vaccine organization has a lawsuit pending against news organizations including The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking action to identify misinformation, including about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy is on leave from the group but is listed as one of its attorneys in the lawsuit.

What role Kennedy might hold if Trump wins on Tuesday remains unclear. Kennedy recently told NewsNation that Trump asked him to “reorganize” agencies including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and some agencies under the Department of Agriculture.

But for now, the former independent presidential candidate has become one of Trump’s top surrogates. Trump frequently mentions having the support of Kennedy, a scion of a Democratic dynasty and the son of former Attorney General Robert Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy.

Kennedy traveled with Trump Friday and spoke at his rallies in Michigan and Wisconsin.

Trump said Saturday that he told Kennedy: “You can work on food, you can work on anything you want” except oil policy.

“He wants health, he wants women’s health, he wants men’s health, he wants kids, he wants everything,” Trump added.

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Politics

Danielle Smith receives overwhelming support at United Conservative Party convention

Published

15 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Anne Joseph

Danielle Smith receives overwhelming support at United Conservative Party convention

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Politics

America’s Election: What it Means to Canadians

Published

2 days ago

November 2, 2024

Steven Kaszab

Americans and Canadians are cousins that is true. Allies today but long ago people were at loggerheads mostly because of the British Empire and American ambitions.

Canadians appreciate our cousins down south enough to visit them many millions of times over the year. America is Canada’s largest and most important trading partner. As a manufacturer, I can attest to this personally. My American clients have allowed our firm to grow and prosper over the past few decades. There is a problem we have been seeing, a problem where nationalism, both political and economic has been creating a roadblock to our trade relationship.

Both Democrats and Republicans have shown a willingness to play the “buy only American Made product” card, a sounding board for all things isolationist, nationalistic and small-mindedness. We all live on this small planet, and purchase items made from all over the world. Preferences as to what to buy and where it is made are personal choices, never should they become a platform of national pride and thuggery. This has brought fear into the hearts of many Canadians who manufacture for and service the American Economy in some way. This fear will be apparent when the election is over next week.

Canadians are not enemies of America, but allies and friends with a long tradition of supporting our cousins back when bad sh*t happens. We have had enough of the American claim that they want free trade, only to realize that they do so long as it is to their benefit. Tariffs, and undue regulations applied to exporters into America are applied, yet American industry complains when other nations do the very same to them. Seriously! Democrats have said they would place a preference upon doing business with American firms before foreign ones, and Republicans wish to tariff many foreign nations into oblivion. Rhetoric perhaps, but we need to take these threats seriously. As to you the repercussions that will come should America close its doors to us.

Tit for tat neighbors. Tariff for tariff, true selfish competition with no fear of the American Giant. Do you want to build homes in America? Over 33% of all wood comes from Canada. Tit for tat. Canada’s mineral wealth can be sold to others and place preference upon the highest bidder always. You know who will win there don’t you America, the deep-pocketed Chinese.

Reshaping our alliances with others. If America responds as has been threatened, Canadians will find ways to entertain themselves elsewhere. Imagine no Canadian dollars flowing into the Northern States, Florida or California? The Big Apple without its friendly Maple Syrup dip. Canadians will realize just how significant their spending is to America and use it to our benefit, not theirs.

Clearly we will know if you prefer Canadian friendship to Donald Trumps Bravado.

China, Saudi Arabia & Russia are not your friends in America. Canada, Japan, Taiwan the EU and many other nations most definitely are. Stop playing politics, and carry out business in an unethical fashion. Treat allies as they should be treated.

Steven Kaszab
Bradford, Ontario
skaszab@yahoo.ca