Check out Friday’s newsletter!
|
|
From The Reporter’s Notebook
President Donald Trump had an emphatic response Thursday night to a federal appeals court’s refusal to reinstate his executive order temporarily barring visitors from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States, TPM’s Esme Cribb reported. “SEE YOU IN COURT,” the President tweeted in all-caps.
Agree or Disagree?
Josh Marshall: “One might also argue, with some cause, that Trump would be temperamentally inclined to issue lots of executive orders even if bill after bill were landing on his desk for signatures. That may be so. There are also complex reasons for the legislative slowdown, many tied to the rules governing tax changes and the Republicans’ narrow Senate majority, not to mention the perhaps impossible political dynamics of Obamacare repeal. But Trump himself is the unmistakable connection between the two – a characterological penchant for the bald assertion of executive orders and impatience and inexperience with how presidents provide the motive force to press Congress to action.”
BUZZING: Today in the Hive
From a TPM Prime member: “I don’t know that the goal is necessarily to provoke armed conflict — although the Trump Administration does not seem even slightly concerned about avoiding armed conflict. But yes, the Muslim ban does seem to be part of a bigger strategy — us against them, Eastasia vs. Eurasia, “the dangerous other”. It’s a message that resonates with the Republican base, with alt-right white nationalists, and with people who largely claim to be of the left but are highly susceptible to anti-Islamic messaging (think: Bill Maher). The goal seems to blur the line between Islam, the religion, and the goals of radical Islam, and to try to color religious bigotry as somehow thereby constitutional, all the while characterizing those who oppose the demonization of the Islamic world or who suggest that five-year-old children should not be presumed to be terrorists as naive, weak, and dangerous to the country.”
Related: Fight On Travel Ban On Hold After Appeals Court Refuses To Reinstate The Order
Have something to add? Become a Prime member and join the discussion here.
What We’re Reading
Americans Renouncing Citizenship at Record High (Bloomberg)
What Does The Raised Fist Mean In 2017? (BuzzFeed)
|
|
