Daily Archives: October 20, 2019

Editors, USA TODAY Published 4:09 p.m. ET Oct. 20, 2019 | Updated 5:26 p.m. ET Oct. 20, 2019

President Donald Trump announced Saturday that he will not use hisDoral golf resort in Miami for the G-7 summitnext year, reversing course after the decision drew swift condemnation from Democratic and Republican lawmakers. Several analysts said the sudden reversal reflects Trumps concerns about holding Republican support as impeachment heats up.Former Barack Obama and George W. Bush administration officials said the Trump Doral resort should not even have been under consideration because of the perception of conflicts of interest.The G-7 is a high-profile, annual gathering of leaders from the world's largest industrialized economies.

President Donald Trump(Photo: Evan Vucci, AP)

Britain's Parliament was expected Saturday to vote on a deal negotiated by Prime Minister Boris Johnson with the European Union for an orderly withdrawal from the bloc. Instead, opposition and rebel lawmakerspassed a last-minute motion Saturdayto postponean important Brexit vote,legally forcing Johnson to request a delay of the U.K.s exit. A reluctant Johnson sent a letter requesting the delay late Saturday night, but he also made clear that he opposed Britain's departure, scheduled for Oct. 31.The outcome, and Johnson's response, injects new confusion and uncertainty into the Brexit process and piles pressure on Britain's leader just three months into his tenure. His governmentargued that any delay increases the likelihood of a"no deal" Brexit,which experts warn could harm Britains economy and lead to border chaos.Britains Parliament may vote on his deal as early as Monday.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrives for a media conference at an EU summit in Brussels, on Oct. 17, 2019.(Photo: Frank Augstein, AP)

With one swing,Jose Altuvedelivered one of the most magical moments in franchise history for the Houston Astros in Game 6 of the ALCS on Saturday night. The 5-foot-6second baseman's two-out, ninth-inning homer propelled the team past the New York Yankees, 6-4.The Astros will take on the National League champion Washington Nationals in the World Series, beginning Tuesday in Houston. After losingwinner-take-all playoff games in 2012, 2016 and 2017, the Nats put their past postseason failures behind them and advanced to the Series by sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals last week.Altuve's walkoff homer knocked out the Yankees, who have gone adecade without a World Series trip for first time in 100 years.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper says that under current plans all U.S. troops leaving Syria will go to western Iraq and the military will continue to conduct operations against the Islamic State group to prevent its resurgence. Espers comments were the first to specifically lay out where American troops will go as they leave Syria and what the counter-IS fight could look like.Speaking to reporters traveling with him to the Middle East, Esper did not rule out the idea that U.S. forces would conduct counterterrorism missions from Iraq into Syria. But he said those details will be worked out over time. Trump took to Twitter on Sunday to defend his decision to pull U.S. troops out of Syria, opening the door to a Turkish assault on Kurds who had helped America combat the Islamic State, but in the process, he incorrectly identified his secretary of defense.

It's wedding bells for Jennifer Lawrence! The 29-year-old "Dark Phoenix" star said "I do" to her art dealer fianc, Cooke Maroney, 34, on Saturday, Lawrence's representative confirmed to USA TODAY. Maroney is the director of Gladstone 64 art gallery on New York's Upper East Side. The couple began dating in the summer of 2018, and confirmed their engagement in February.

Jennifer Lawrence attends the premiere of 20th Century Fox's "Dark Phoenix" at TCL Chinese Theatre on June 04, 2019 in Hollywood, California.(Photo: Rich Fury, Getty Images)

P.S. Like this round up of stories? We send it to inboxes every afternoon. Sign up for "The Short List" newsletter here.

This is a compilation of stories from across the USA TODAY Network. Contributing: Associated Press.

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2019/10/20/trump-g-7-syria-astros-lawrence-weekends-biggest-news/4045055002/

Go here to read the rest:

Here's the biggest news you missed this weekend - USA TODAY

ITS BEEN MORE than three weeks since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that Congress would begin an impeachment inquiry of President Trump.

She acted after reports surfaced that the president had pressured the Ukrainian government to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, one of his potential rivals in the 2020 election. Those allegations, however, only scratched the surface of the presidents mind-boggling corruption, law-breaking, and abuse of power.

For those who have struggled to keep up with the torrent of impeachable offenses that have emerged, heres a brief recap.

With the release in late September of the whistle-blower complaint against Trump and the White Houses summary of his phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky the initial allegations against the president were confirmed.

Since then text messages have been released by Congressional investigators, which show US diplomats plotting a quid pro quo that involved exchanging a White House visit for Zelensky in return for the Ukrainian government investigating an unproven conspiracy theory alleging meddling in the 2016 campaign and Hunter Bidens dealings with a Ukrainian gas company.

This week, White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney admitted that congressionally mandated military assistance to Ukraine had been held up in return for Ukraine looking into the 2016 election (he would later try to retract his confession).

In case anyone doubted that Trump was capable of such a shocking abuse of presidential power, he publicly asked Ukraine and China to investigate the Bidens while standing on the White House lawn.

The presidents Ukraine machinations were quarterbacked by his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who according to testimony from former White House and State Department officials was running a shadow foreign policy for the president in Ukraine.

Giuliani has taken credit for the firing of US Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch a step Trump allegedly took because she was blocking his efforts to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate the former vice president and his family.

Now Giuliani is facing growing legal scrutiny. He is under criminal investigation by the Southern District of New York an office he once helmed.

Two of Giulianis shadier clients were recently arrested at Dulles airport with one-way tickets to Vienna and are in custody now. The men had paid $500,000 to Giuliani for consulting services and the money appears to have come from a Ukrainian oligarch with close ties to Vladimir Putin who is fighting extradition to the United States and had also sought to get Yovanovitch fired.

The former New York mayor also apparently enlisted Trumps help in pressuring then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to swap an American held in Turkey for a Giuliani client who was in a US jail facing charges of violating sanctions on Iran.

In the past few weeks, weve also found out that Attorney General Bill Barr (who simply acts like the presidents personal lawyer) has been traveling around the world seeking foreign assistance in an investigation intended to undermine the conclusions of the Mueller Report.

Back at the White House, the president has repeatedly accused Representative Adam Schiff of committing treason for paraphrasing the summary of his call with Zelensky. He has called for the impeachment of several members of Congress; warned of a civil war if hes removed from office; and repeatedly threatened the whistle-blower.

Last week his White House counsel sent a letter to the House of Representatives labeling the impeachment inquiry constitutionally illegitimate. Not surprisingly, the White House has refused to comply with repeated House subpoenas seeking information for its investigation.

Trumps high crimes and misdemeanors, however, are not just limited to the whistle-blowers allegations. This week he announced that the next G-7 summit will be held at one of his resorts in Miami a brazen act of profiting from the presidency that even for Trump is jaw-dropping.

There is still the matter of the Mueller Report and the 10 incidents of obstruction of justice that it exhaustively detailed which has somehow been flushed down the national memory hole. Three weeks ago we got a reminder of those matters when the Washington Post revealed that days after he fired FBI Director James Comey in May 2017, Trump told the Russian foreign minister in the Oval Office that he knows Moscow interfered in the 2016 election and he has no problem with it. There is also the issue of Trumps abandonment of the Syrian Kurds, his aiding and abetting of ethnic cleansing by Turkish forces in northern Syria, and his diplomatic surrender to Turkey. But thats one of the challenges of covering the president its virtually impossible to keep up with his unending malfeasance.

Indeed, if the last three weeks have shown us anything, it is to confirm what many of us already knew: Trump commits impeachable offenses on a regular, if not daily basis. Impeachment is long overdue, but so too is his removal from office. Trumps continued tenure as president puts the nation and our democratic institutions in grave danger.

Michael A. Cohens column appears regularly in the Globe. Follow him on Twitter @speechboy71.

View post:

The case against Donald Trump - The Boston Globe

Roger Ailes, the ogre-like head of Fox News who resigned following allegations of sexual harassment, had a favourite saying: If you want a career in television, first run for president. His friend Donald Trump took his advice. Trump, reportedly, did not expect to win the presidency in 2016. His preferred post-election plan was to launch his own TV network, with himself as the star turn.

It would have been a better outcome. From the moment he entered the Oval Office, Trump has produced daily proof of his unfitness for the job. He evidently dislikes the hard work, duties and responsibilities it entails. He spends more time away from the White House, at his private resorts and golf courses, than any recent predecessor. And despite potential conflicts of interest, he continues to oversee his business empire.

Trump is the first reality TV show president. He struggles with facts, truth and real-world choices. He has no discernible moral principles. His instincts, which govern his decisions, are mostly all wrong. His political views tend towards the ignorant, racist, white nationalist far right. The ever-sober New York Times has declared Americas president an autocrat. Thats quite something.

'Most excruciating of all the weeks enormities, was Trumps disgraceful ambush of the grieving parents of British teenager, Harry Dunn.'

Trump is happier on a stage, playing to a crowd and making it up as he goes along. He was at it again last week in Texas, reliving his greatest campaign hits in front of 20,000 fans wearing Make America Great Again hats. He recycled some old Hillary Clinton jokes and attacked critics who say he is not presidential enough. Its much easier being presidential, he scoffed. All you have to do is act like a stiff!

Its not funny. Its alarming. A sense of dignity, along with good judgment, honesty and basic human awareness, is what is lacking in this half-real, half-fake impresario president. These gaping deficits were painfully apparent over the past week as disaster was heaped upon disaster and only Trump appeared oblivious to what Steve Bannon, his disgraced adviser, once presciently termed American carnage.

Look at the bodies strewn across the dusty plains of north-east Syria following Turkeys invasion. Trump did that. Lying through his teeth, he said he did not give a green light. Now he is claiming credit for a ceasefire that rewards aggression. His schoolboy letter urging Recep Tayyip Erdoan, Turkeys president, to back down, full of threats and indiscretions, is damning proof of lethal incompetence.

If that seems harsh, look at the verdict of Americas fighting men. Gen James Mattis, a former defence secretary, was joined by Gen William McRaven, a former special forces commander, Adm James Stavridis, a former Nato chief, and others in condemning the Syria withdrawal as a geopolitical mistake of near epic proportions. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, said Trump had caused a strategic nightmare. Or look at the latest testimony in Congresss impeachment inquiry. Mick Mulvaney, Trumps Oval Office gatekeeper, inadvertently confirmed the president used US financial aid to Ukraine to dig up dirt on his Democrat rival, Joe Biden. He later said he didnt say what he said. He must have learned that wacky routine from his boss. It wont wash.

Most excruciating of all the weeks enormities, in purely human terms, was Trumps disgraceful ambush of the grieving parents of British teenager Harry Dunn. The US authorities, including the US embassy in London, acted improperly, and perhaps illegally, in facilitating the return to the US of an American, Anne Sacoolas, who allegedly drove the car that killed Dunn. Trumps shmaltzy, made-for-TV attempt to force a surprise, face-to-face reconciliation was sickening.

Trumps dangerous, dishonest and undignified behaviour, in these and many other instances, demeans his office. He should quit before he is impeached and go back to being a TV host. At least hes good at that.

Link:

The Observer view: a week that shows us why Donald Trump is unfit for high office - The Guardian

Much of the world watched aghast, last week, as President Donald Trump shattered any notion of an informed or sane U.S. foreign policy. He paved the way for President Recep Tayyip Erdoan, of Turkey, to invade Syria, abandoning Americas Kurdish partners in the Syrian Democratic Forces, who had eliminated the Islamic States caliphate in March, after five years of gruelling warfare. (The S.D.F. lost eleven thousand soldiers; the U.S. lost six.) Erdoan views Kurdsthe worlds largest ethnic group without a stateas terrorists, because of a Kurdish separatist campaign in Turkey. After a phone call with Erdoan, Trump ordered the withdrawal of a thousand U.S. Special Forces soldiers, who had been backing the S.D.F., even though ISIS sleeper cells are still waging an insurgency in Syria and Iraq. The retreat was so abrupt that the U.S. had to bomb a depot full of arms that it didnt have time to remove.

Trumps ignorance of the world has never been so blatantor produced such bipartisan opposition. The House of Representatives voted 35460 to condemn the pullout. On the Senate floor, Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, rebuked the President for leaving a bloodstain on the annals of American history. Yet Trump seemed delighted with his decision to let the Turks and the Kurdsboth U.S. alliesfight it out. It was unconventional, what I did, he told the crowd at a campaign rally in Dallas, on Thursday. Sometimes you have to let them fight like two kids. Then you pull them apart.

Trump and Erdoan share a crude egotism and a paranoia about deep states trying to undo them, but Erdoan deftly gamed Trump. On October 9th, Trump sent a remarkably puerile letter to the Turkish leader, warning him not to go too far. History, he wrote, will look upon you forever as the devil if good things dont happen. He added, Dont be a fool! Erdoan reportedly tossed the letter into the trash. The same day, he launched Operation Peace Spring, to destroy the S.D.F.

Erdoans perfidy dates back years. His government allowed thousands of jihadis to cross the Turkish border and join the caliphate. With Turkey as a partner, the Obama Administration spent millions of dollars training and equipping Syrian Arabs to fight the jihadis; those militias failed. Obama turned to the Kurds as a last option, in 2014. Over time, two thousand Special Forces soldiers were deployed in Syria. Erdoan has long pressed Trump to remove them. Last December, he persuaded him to do it, even though the caliphate had not yet been defeated. The Pentagon called for leaving half the soldiers in place, and prevailed. To forestall an invasion, the U.S. agreed to get the S.D.F. to withdraw up to nine miles from the Turkish border. In August, U.S. troops supervised as the Kurds destroyed their own military posts along a sixty-mile stretch of the border; meanwhile, Turkey deployed more troops and matriel. The real salt in the wound, a U.S. official said last week, is that we told the S.D.F. not to worry. He went on, Turkey was building up for an invasion the whole time. We made it easier for them.

Last Thursday, Vice-President Mike Pence, after a hastily arranged trip to Ankara, announced a five-day ceasefire. The terms of the agreement give Erdoan exactly what he wanted: Turkey claims that the S.D.F. has to retreat twenty miles along three hundred miles of the Turkish border, in order to create a buffera safe zonefor Turkey. Trump took a kind of perverse credit for the ceasefire. What Turkey is getting now is theyre not going to have to kill millions of people, he said. Where exactly the Kurds would goor whether Turkish troops would stayremained unclear.

The deal immediately appeared tenuous. The Turkish foreign minister said that Turkey had agreed only to a pausenot a ceasefirefor the terrorists to leave. General Mazloum Kobani Abdi, the S.D.F. commander, said in an interview that his troops would begin to withdraw only along the sixty-mile border where the Turks invaded. The Kurds, he said, are not leaving the lands and graves of their grandfathers. Brett McGurk, who resigned last year as the U.S. special envoy for the coalition fighting isis, said that the safe-zone plan is totally non-implementable. He added, This is Erdoans fantasy scenario, and it includes, of course, nearly all the Kurdish, Assyrian-Christian, and other minority areas of Syria.

The impact of Trumps decisionson the campaign against isis, on the balance of power in the Middle East, and on Americas image globallycant be undone by the deal that Pence negotiated. I dont understand how, in any way, the U.S. is better off on the ground, Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said. Its a question of when, not if, American forces will have to return to the region to deal with a reconstituted isis. And, just as Trump was abandoning the most effective campaign ever conducted against jihadi extremists, he committed some three thousand troops to Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of the ideology that spawned Sunni jihadism, including Al Qaedaa movement that was inflamed when the U.S. stationed troops in the Kingdom during the first Gulf War.

The Kurds, left stranded, turned to the Syrian government for military help. President Bashar al-Assad regained control of more territory in a day than he had in years of fighting Syrias civil war. Russian troops, who are propping up Assads regime, also moved in. A Russian journalist posted a video from a strategic U.S. base in Manbijonce the hub where foreign isis fighters plotted attacks on five continentsshowing food left uneaten on plates in the mess hall and cans of Coke in a refrigerator. The American withdrawal coincided with Vladimir Putins arrival in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia appreciates the active role of the Russian Federation in the region and the world, King Salman said last Monday, welcoming him. During the Turkish offensive, Putin invited Erdoan to Moscow. Turkeys agreement to a pause expires on October 22nd, the day that Erdoan will meet with the Russian President.

Trumps actions are already raising questions about Americas trustworthiness. Partnership is a principal way we establish and maintain influence, particularly as we strive to maintain a competitive advantage against our great-power rivals, General Joseph Votel, who retired in March as the head of the U.S. Central Command, said. It is hard to see how this policy decision will contribute to that end. Trump claimed that he withdrew to avoid being sucked into another endless Middle East war. He may instead have facilitated one.

Here is the original post:

Turkey, Syria, the Kurds, and Trumps Abandonment of Foreign Policy - The New Yorker

DALLAS Donning a camouflage Trump baseball cap and Trump-Pence 2020 sneakers, Ronnie Drury arrived nearly 12 hours early to hear President Donald Trump speak Thursday evening at a reelection rally in Dallas.

This is the biggest thing on my bucket list, and Im checking it off, he said.

For Drury, of Plano, the draw wasnt hearing Trump discuss any particular policy issue but receiving affirmation on his staunch beliefs toward Social Security and immigration policy. They cant live off of you and Is benefits, Drury said of migrants entering through the U.S.-Mexico border. They have to work just like everybody else does.

The president didnt disappoint.

Were building a great wall along the southern border, Trump said as raucous cheers of build a wall radiated from the brimming crowd. It is going up rapidly, we are building that sucker right now, and it is having a tremendous effect.

Trump also drew praise from the crowd as he took aim at Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 2020 presidential candidates Beto ORourke and Joe Biden, Bidens son Hunter (some in the crowd derisively referred to him as Cokehead Biden), and former President Barack Obama.

I really dont believe they love our country, Trump said, also referring to Democrats as corrupt people.

National headlines Thursday would suggest the president was having a rough day. Just hours before, his acting chief of staff admitted, then tried to walk back, that the president used military aid as leverage to pressure Ukraine into a political investigation. Hours later, Energy Secretary Rick Perry announced he was resigning at the end of the year. But Trump and his supporters were unfazed, eager to embrace the rally as a sort of therapeutic escape.

For the thousands of faithful supporters who found themselves at Thursday evenings rally, the night was more than a political spectacle. Attendees donned bright red, white and blue garments adorned with buttons and carried signs insisting they were neither racist nor stupid. Trump strode onstage nearly an hour after he was slated to speak, but the audience paid no mind. Energized by a pump-up playlist that included Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie and Elton John, attendees waved their hands in the air, paraded blue and red Trump-Pence signs, and cheered and booed on cue with those who warmed up the crowd.

In talks with more than a dozen Trump supporters before and after the rally, the message was clear. Their support for Trump was steeped in two main beliefs: Hes done exactly what he said hed do, and his remarks toward Democrats and people of color matched what they said and believed.

He talks like me. He thinks like me, said Patrick Stevenson, 34, of Arlington. He can talk like a normal person, which is weird because the guy is a flippin billionaire. Hes just like a regular cab driver dude.

The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one.

Stevenson, who said he voted for Obama in 2008 because he was black and we needed change, didnt fully embrace the Republican ideology until he was deployed to Afghanistan in 2011 under the Obama administration. He said he noticed a change in policy on the ground that led him to develop a callous attitude toward the military and the government.

Then Trump entered the 2016 presidential race.

This orange guy gets on the TV and starts campaigning, you know, and it just hits home, he said. Im like, You know what, this guy gets me.

First: A dog is decked out in Trump regalia at the Dallas rally. Last: Nicole Rogers, 34, who flew in from New Mexico, says she has seen the problems at the border and wants to let people know.Leslie Boorhem-Stephenson for The Texas Tribune

Shelly Gish of Hallsville said she believed in everything Mr. Trump is doing. Regarding the Democrats, she said, All they want to do is impeach, impeach, impeach since the first day.

If I get to talkin about it, I get angry," she said, laughing a little. Hes a smart man. The way he is diplomatin with other countries. Hes doing everything great.

Although a flurry of campaign activity in Texas over the past week signaled to some Democrats that the president and his team may be wary that the state is in play, the synergy between the president and his audience last night only helped to affirm the crowds confidence in his grip over Texas Republicans and their shared belief that the country under the presidents leadership is better than ever heading into what is already a tumultuous 2020 campaign.

Trump carried Texas by 9 percentage points in 2016, the smallest margin for a Republican presidential nominee here in two decades. His approval rating typically comes in several points above water here, but recent polling has shown him trailing or only narrowly defeating a number of potential Democratic nominees in the state.

Trump, and the Texas elected officials who spoke before him Thursday, were undaunted by those stats, instead spending their time at the mic to warn that if theyre not reelected in 2020, theyll be replaced by liberal Democrats who are coming to get your guns.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and Trump campaign manager and former San Antonio resident Brad Parscale were among those who warmed up the crowd before Trumps speech.

We did not have an election in 2016. We had a revolt, Patrick, who is chairing Trumps campaign in Texas, said to huge cheers. The revolution is only getting louder and larger.

Trumps presence also prompted outcry and a counter-rally by ORourke. The presidents critics decried how Trumps sometimes vulgar language and actions have made some vulnerable people feel unsafe or unvalued. And they warned of a backlash thats brewing among the Texas electorate.

Tonight, this President is going to go on stage and lie to his supporters about his standing in the state of Texas and the destruction that hes caused our state and our country, Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa said in a statement. Lets be clear: the only reason Donald Trump is in Texas tonight is that he knows he will lose the state and lose this election.

First: Nathan Quick drove more than 1,000 miles to be at the rally in Dallas. He says he follows the president all over the country selling merchandise. Last: A big crowd turned out for the rally. Lines continued for blocks around the arena.Leslie Boorhem-Stephenson for The Texas Tribune

The rally and talks of an election nearly 13 months away werent the only things in place to help electrify the crowd. Hours before Trump took the stage, his campaign hosted 45 Fest, where supporters stood in winding lines for cheesy nachos, bobbed their heads to a medley of country music and watched various big screens that rolled pretaped interviews of the president, Donald Trump Jr., Lara Trump, and social media stars Diamond and Silk.

Attendees bemoaned the long lines to get into the arena, but many, including Drury, the man from Plano, found solace among the likeminded strangers all eager to embrace the concert-like atmosphere of the event well before Trump took the stage.

Two men got there early to buy knockoff Make America Great Again merchandise: LGBT shirts where the letters stood for liberty, guns, beer and Trump. Nicole Rogers, a 34-year-old corrections officer who had flown in from New Mexico that morning to attend, paraded around with a sign declaring she was gay but not stupid.

For some, the lead-up to the rally was better than seeing it firsthand.

Nathan Quick, 51, drove from North Carolina with his cousin to sell merchandise adjacent to the American Airlines Center. Quick estimated that Thursday was his 80th Trump rally.

Hes a man of his word, Quick said. I follow him everywhere because he hasnt told a lie yet.

The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one.

The presidents speech stuck to his main points on the campaign trail the fake news, the whistleblower who spurred an impeachment inquiry, a trade war with China, the countrys economic performance during his term, his friendships with Republican politicians in the state and his strongly held belief that he will be reelected president.

Alicia Lyon of Garland predicted that would be the case before the rally started. Hes not a robot practicing his speech in a mirror, she said of Trump. What you see is what you get.

Hes a human, and everyone who says, Well hes not presidential, she said. "Well what does that really mean? To me, thats fake.

She laughed a little before insisting that the media would twist and spin Trumps words to fit their agenda regardless of what he said onstage. But much like Trump during his speech, she was unperturbed. Thats just one inconvenience, she said, of defending a man who is doing everything right.

Trump 2020, she said, grinning. Its going on again, baby.

Read related Tribune coverage

Read more from the original source:

Donald Trump fans in Dallas say the president just gets them - Texas Tribune

Nobel-prize winning economist Robert Shiller believes a recession may be years away due to a bullish Trump effect in the market.

According to the Yale University professor, President Donald Trump is creating an environment that's conducive to strong consumer spending, and it's a major force that should hold off a recession.

"Consumers are hanging in there. You might wonder why that would be at this time so late into the cycle. This is the longest expansion ever. Now, you can say the expansion was partly [President Barack] Obama," he told CNBC's "Trading Nation" on Friday. "But lingering on this long needs an explanation."

Shiller, a behavioral finance expert who's out with the new book "Narrative Economics," believes Americans are still opening their wallets wide based on what President Trump exemplifies: Consumption.

"I think that [strong spending] has to do with the inspiration for many people provided by our motivational speaker president who models luxurious living," said Shiller.

Shiller emphasizes there's still uncertainty and risk surrounding Wall Street.

Before the markets can take-off, Shiller stresses President Trump needs to get past the impeachment inquiry. He sees this as the biggest threat to his optimistic forecast.

"If he survives that, he might contribute for some time in boosting the market," said Shiller. "We're maybe in the Trump era, and I think that Donald Trump by inspiration had an effect on the market not just tax cutting."

Despite Shiller's optimistic stance, he cautions not everything is rosy in the economy. His Shiller PE Ratio, also known as CAPE, tracks the price-to-earnings ratio based on average inflation-adjusted earnings over the last 10 years. He cautions it's still at a concerning level.

"I'm not saying that I'm so bullish because I have a CAPE ratio that is bearish," said Shiller, who predicted on "Trading Nation" last March there was a 50% chance the economy would tip into a recession within 18 months.

Yet, he's sticking with the idea that the economy and markets should have a lot of runway left for gains if President Trump remains in office due to his pro-spending, pro-business narrative.

Shiller contends the next recession may not hit for another three years, and it could be mild.

"Let's not make the mistake of assuming it's right around the corner," Shiller said. "If the economy is strong, which is what he built is case on, 'make America great again,' he has a good chance of getting re-elected."

Disclaimer

Go here to read the rest:

Robert Shiller: Recession likely years away due to bullish Trump effect - CNBC

But the latest concerns about Trump are just a crescendo in a long-running drama. Sam Nunberg, a former 2016 Trump-campaign aide, told me that a colleague once approached him and asked if Trump was losing it, saying they had just had the same conversation twice. Nunberg dismissed such concerns, assuring him that it was only because Trump likely wasnt paying attention the first time.

His speech has changed over time, too. Software programs show that Trump currently speaks at a fourth-to-sixth-grade level. (Politicians are practiced at speaking to wide swaths of Americans, but Obama, for example, according to those speech analyses, spoke at an 11th-grade level in his final news conference as president.) A study last year by two University of Pittsburgh professors examining Trumps appearances on Fox News found that the quality of his speech was worsening. They studied his comments over a seven-year period ending in 2017just as his presidency beganand found that he had begun using substantially more filler wordssuch as um and uh, though the authors did not conclude that the change signaled cognitive decline.

Even a casual observer can see the disordered and nonlinear thinking behind Trumps speech. A case in point was Trumps rally last week in Minneapolis. Within minutes of taking the stage, Trump launched, without explanation, into a dramatic reading of what he imagined was the pillow talk between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, a pair of former FBI officials who had exchanged text messages critical of the president. He gave no context as to why he was talking about them, leaving it to the audience to fill in the Mall of Americasize blanks. Trump never even mentioned that they had worked for the FBI or that Strzok was at one point involved in the Russia investigationjust that they were lovers who disliked him. (Still, as theater, it seemed to work. When Trump cooed, Oh, God. I love you, Lisa! the audience laughed appreciatively.)

Other people who have worked with Trump in the White House and on the 2016 campaign pushed back on the notion that his mental acuity has eroded over time. Every president has a super-exaggerated ego and personality in some way, Tom Bossert, Trumps former homeland-security adviser and a former official in President George W. Bushs administration, told me. I asked him if presidents or presidential candidates should be subject to a fitness test measuring whether theyre up to the job. Various psychologists have floated this idea in response to Trumps behavior. Im not sure what the fitness standard would reveal about people who are already wired that way, Bossert said.

Conventional wisdom in Washington is that impeachment wont lead to Trumps removal, but that view rests on Republicans continuing to stay by his side. Even those most loyal to Trump could lose patience if his rash decision making collides with their own interests. Trumps impulsive decision to pull U.S. troops out of northern Syria last week, setting the stage for Turkeys attack on Americas Kurdish partners, has already infuriated some of his closest friends in Congress. It was soon after the House, in an overwhelming bipartisan vote, rebuked his Syria gambit on Wednesday that Trump lashed out at Pelosi, prompting her to abruptly walk out of their meeting. (Democrats, of course, are seizing the opportunity. For those who dont do politics professionally or even follow it closely: It is getting worse. He is getting worse, Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii tweeted last night.)

Read more:

The Unraveling of Donald Trump - The Atlantic

As theimpeachment inquiryagainstPresident Donald Trump rapidly unfoldsin Washington,the president is venting his frustration atcampaign rallies where his attacks on House Democrats and the media are serving to further energize his supporters.

Trump, facing impeachment over allegations he improperly used the power of his office to pressureUkraine to investigate his political enemies, isrousing his devotees on the road rather than hunkering down at home. He has derided the accusations as a "witch hunt."

While Trump has faced intense criticism in Washington over the Ukraine scandal and his abrupt pullout of U.S. troops from Syria, he has reveled in the rock-star reception he has receivedat rallies thousands of miles away in Minneapolis and Dallas.

Supporters echo the president'sattacks on impeachment, House Democratsand what Trump calls the "swamp" of Washington, D.C. Like the president, they view impeachment as an illegitimate effort to take him down and defend his phone call with Ukraine's president in which he pushed for an investigation of former vice president Joe Biden, a top political rival. Impeachment, many said, will wind up re-electing Trump in 2020.

President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019, at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.(Photo: Jeffrey McWhorter, AP)

James Wilson, 47, a payroll manager in Rowlett who grabbed a front-row seat at Trump's rally in the Dallas sports arena Thursday, saidimpeachment was just another in a long line of attacks including special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

But he likened it to a "boomerang."

"Every time the other side throws something, it comes back and it hits them," Wilsonsaid.

It will never stop, he said.

"The Democrats don't want him in," Wilson said."They're going to do everything they can legally and illegally to get him out. But they're going to lose in 2020."

Supporters of President Donald Trump hold a "Stop Impeachment" rally in front of the US Capitol Oct. 17, 2019 in Washington, DC.(Photo: OLIVIER DOULIERY, AFP via Getty Images)

It's not just Democrats going after Trump, supporters said; it's also members of what the president calls "deep state" of the government bureaucracy.

"I think the swampis fighting back and they're going down hard," saidMary Shea, 65, a retiree from Houston who waited for hours to get into the Dallas arena.

"I don't think he did anything that most other presidents haven'tdone," she said. "All presidents cut around the corners."

The impeachment inquiry centers on Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Vlodomyr Zelensky, in which he repeatedly urged him to investigate Biden and his son Hunter, who served on the board of Burisma, an energy company in Ukraine.Ukrainian officials have found no evidence of wrongdoing bythe Bidens.

Autoplay

Show Thumbnails

Show Captions

Trump supporters slammed hisaccusers.

"That's a bunch of guilty people trying to keep their crooks covered up," said Naomi Hodgkins, 64, a semi-retired business consultant from nearby Mesquite, Texas, who wore a button that said "Trump 2020: No More Bullshit."

"They're doing a psychological transference of their guilt to him ... The Biden thing is going to go real deep."

Origins of a conspiracy:Trump's conspiracy theories thrive in Ukraine, where a young democracy battles corruption and distrust

Hodgkins' sentiment was echoed among the president's supporters hundreds of miles north in Minneapolis, where Trump held a rally on Oct. 10, his first campaign event since the impeachment inquiry was announced on Sept. 24.

Impeachment signs sailed above crowds outside the downtown arena, where protesters blew whistles and beat drumsin the rain along Minneapolis' First Avenue. Dallas saw its own share of protesters thrusting similar impeachment signs into the air.

Supporters react as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a "Keep America Great" Campaign Rally at American Airlines Center on October 17, 2019 in Dallas, Texas.(Photo: Tom Pennington, Getty Images)

Meanwhile, his supporters flocked to rallies, lining up hours and in some cases days ahead of time to get in.

Barb Koy, a Bloomington, Minn., resident who attended Trump's Minneapolis rally, said the inquiry is "another game by the Democrats."

Everybody is tired of it. I know people who voted blue and theyre voting red now because theyre sick of it, she said."I'd think even if you're a Democrat you'd be sick of it."

The Minneapolis rallycame on the heels of a new FoxNews pollthat found 51% of voters supported impeaching Trumpand removing himfrom office, the latest in a string of polls showing a plurality of Americans have shifted their attitudeon impeachment.

Trump campaign press secretaryKayleigh McEnany dismissed the poll as inaccurate.

The campaign and the Republican National Committee are pushing back, spending$10 million onads attacking the impeachment inquiry, with $8 million coming from the campaign itself, McEnany said.

Trump's schedule over the next few weeks has plenty of events that will take him out of Washington.He will attend a 2020 presidential candidate forum in Columbia, S.C. and a natural gas conference in Pittsburgh next week, and has rallies in Tupelo, Miss. and Lexington, Ky. at the beginning of November.

What Americans think:Nearly 3 weeks into the Trump impeachment inquiry, polls show a shift in public opinion

Not all Trump supporters were shrugging of the impeachment inquiry. Some worried it could cast a shadow over his re-election effort.

University of Minnesota student Blake Paulson,one ofdozens who slept in a downtown Minneapolis skywalk ahead of Trump's rally, said he's concerned at how his classmates perceive the impeachment inquiry.

Paulson said students scrolling through social media are taking their cues from headlines that he believes are misleading.

Autoplay

Show Thumbnails

Show Captions

"They see these headlines and think, 'Oh, he did something bad,' and that's what they go offof," said the 20-year-old, who will cast his first vote for Trump in 2020."These are new voters who are going in with that shallow information and not thinking it through."

"I'm afraid ofa lot that's happening next year," he added.

While several supporters in Minneapolis and Dallas said theyexpect the Democratic-led House to impeach Trump, they contend it would bepolitical act with no meaning. They expressed confidence that Republican-dominated Senate would never vote to convict and remove Trump from office.

Caiden Anderson, 15, a high school sophomore from Alvin, Texas, and a volunteer at the Dallas event, said House Democrats'impeachment drive is "nothing."

"Even if they get it past the House, they won't get it in the Senate," Anderson said.

Autoplay

Show Thumbnails

Show Captions

Wayland Hunter, a 24-year-old who didn't vote for Trump in 2016 and was attending his first rally in Minneapolis, dismissed the inquiry's legal implications.

"It's just an inquiry," the dental school studentsaid. "It's not even like an official, drawn-out government procedure. It just seems like political staging."

Impeachment will only embolden voters, backers said Trump voters like themselves.

Halona Porter, 45, who works in an auto parts store in Fort Worth, said Trump's enemies "need to give it up, because it's not going to happen."

After 2020, she said. "we're going to have him for another four years."

Autoplay

Show Thumbnails

Show Captions

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2019/10/19/impeachment-fight-energizes-trump-fans-dallas-minneapolis-rallies/4023289002/

Read more:

'We're going to have him for another four years.' Impeachment fight riles up Donald Trump supporters for 2020 - USA TODAY

Justin Amash, the Michigan congressman who left the Republican party over his criticism of Donald Trump and support for impeachment, has refused to rule out a run for the White House.

I think Im very effective in the House, the Michigan independent told NBCs Meet the Press on Sunday. I think my constituents want an independent congressman. My support in the district has been great as an independent.

But we do need new voices on the national stage running for national office, including the presidency.

Amash criticised the Democrats seeking their partys nomination in a sprawling field.

I dont think that the current Democratic field is sufficient, he said. If you look at the top three candidates on the Democratic side Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren theyre all over 70 years old.

The presidents over 70 years old. I think that there is a large segment of the population that is not represented in the top candidates on either side of the aisle, and thats something I think about.

Amash is running for re-election as an independent but he told NBC he wouldnt say 100% of anything.

Im running for Congress, he added, when asked about the possibility of being the Libertarian candidate for the White House, but I keep things open and I wouldnt rule anything out.

In the 2016 election, Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson won 4,489,221 votes, 3.28% of ballots cast. Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump in the popular vote by nearly 3m but Trump won the presidency in the electoral college.

Amash is a libertarian-tinged founder member of the hard-right Freedom Caucus who drifted away from its support for Trump.

He first called for impeachment and was attacked by Trump in return earlier this year, over the presidents behaviour in relation to Russian election interference and the investigation into links between Trump and Moscow led by special counsel Robert Mueller.

The current impeachment inquiry is focused on Trumps attempts to have Ukraine investigate his political rivals.

Earlier this month, Amash told the Hill: Assuming the articles are drafted properly, yeah, I think theres impeachable conduct that could be included in articles that I would support.

Amashs former Republican colleagues are under increasing pressure. On Friday, Francis Rooney of Florida indicated that he could support impeachment if it comes to a vote on whether to send Trump to the Senate for trial.

On Saturday, Rooney told Fox News he had decided to retire, becoming the 14th Republican to decide to leave the House in 2020.

On Sunday he told CNNs State of the Union he had not made up his mind about impeachment. He also said he did not know if he still called himself a Republican, and added: We only have one thing in our life, and thats our reputation And so Im not going to ruin mine over anything, much less politics.

Go here to see the original:

Justin Amash: Republican who took on Trump won't rule out White House run - The Guardian

Former governor and presidential candidate John Kasich discusses President Trump.

President Trump's campaign rally in Dallas on Thursday cost the city roughly $170,000, a city spokeswomantold FOX Business.

"The city of Dallas does not charge heads of state for the security measures necessary to accommodate their visits," thecity told WFAA ahead of the rallly.

A spokesperson for the Secret Servicewould not reveal whether the Trump campaign has an agreement toreimburse Dallas for its spending to keep the president and rallygoers safe.

"[T]he Secret Service cannot speak to the conditions surrounding the mechanisms in place for reimbursement to local law enforcement agencies," the spokesperson told WFAA.

President Donald Trump takes the stage at a campaign rally at American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Some rallygoers started liningup days in advance for the Thursday event.

Roughly 20,000 people could fit inthe American Airlines Center where it was held, chief operating officer Dave Brown told WFAA. The Trump campaign has paid for renting the facility, Brown said.

The public safety costs for Trump's rallies, in both the 2016 and 2020 election cycles, range from under $10,000 to approximately$530,000.

Trump accused Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey of trying to "price out" free speech on Tuesday after claiming city government told Trump's recentrally venue that it , not the Trump campaign, would be on the hook for $530,000 in security costs.

"Someone please tell the Radical Left Mayor of Minneapolis that he can't price out Free Speech. Probably illegal! I stand strongly [and]proudly with the great Police Officers and Law Enforcement of Minneapolis and the Great State of Minnesota! See you Thursday Night!" Trump wrote onTwitterearlier in October.

FOX Business' inquiry to the Trump campaign was not returned at the time of publication.

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

Link:

Here's how much Trump's campaign rally cost the city of Dallas - Fox Business