Donald Trump on the Green New Deal: 'That's a hoax like the hoax I just went through'
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Donald Trump has announced his plans for a sweeping reform to America's immigration system, calling for increased border security and the elimination of visa lottery systems he descibed as running contrary to the American belief system.
The president announced the immigration plan from the White House Rose Garden, where he claimed a strong US economy set up a perfect situation for the United States to take the plunge and fix its broken immigration system.
"We must implement an immigration system that will allow our citizens to prosper for generations to come," Mr Trump said to an assembled group of Republican lawmakers and supporters, with a warm Washington spring sun shining down.
Mr Trump's plan is likely dead on arrival, in spite of the president's use of the Rose Garden's gravitas to announce his intentions. The plan, which would drastically change Ameriac's immigration system, does nothing to address the roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the US already — a major point of concern for many Democats, who control the House of Representatives.
The announcement came as Mr Trump's administration found itself in a tense stand-off with Iran, with a military commander for that nation warning that his country is on the "cusp of a full-scale confrontation with the enemy" as the US appeared to prepare for a potential armed conflict.
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US officials, in spite of those harsh words, indicated that America is not looking for war — and reports indicated that Mr Trump himself is uncomfortable with the idea of the war preparations in his own adminstration.
The comment from Iranian major-general Hossein Salami of the Revolutionary Guards comes despite reassurances from secretary of state Mike Pompeo and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that neither sides wants their dispute over economic sanctions to descend into war.
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Meanwhile, with the US already embroiled in a trade war with China over tariffs, the president has blacklisted foreign telecoms giants including Huawei from trading in the US in the interests of national security. Later on Thursday, the presiden plans to unveil plans to revamp the country’s immigration system and launches a website to combat the censorship of conservatives on social media.
Donald Trump has weighed in on the newest entrant into the 2020 Demcoratic primary, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio.
Mr Trump — who is no darling in his home city, to say the least — attacked Mr de Blasio and called him "the worst mayor in the US", and a "JOKE".
He then proceeded to say that the newest Democrat in the field is "your man" if you like high taxes and crime, in spite of New York's relatively low crime rate.
Senators in Maine have passed a bill that would award the US state’s electoral college votes to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote.
The Maine Senate voted 19-16 in favour of joining 15 other states in an agreement aimed at reforming the electoral system.
Under the current electoral college system, voters effectively cast ballots for state electors who in turn select their party's presidential candidate. It gives small states disproportionate influence over who enters the White House.
With Mr Trump's escalating trade war as a backdrop, senator Chuck Grassley says he doesn't think the president actually thinks tariffs are a good thing, even if he praises them repeatedly.
Speaking to POLITICO's Morning Money, Mr Grassley expressed disbelief that Mr Trump would use tariffs as a tool because he believes they're a good thing. Instead, they're just a means to an end, Mr Grassley suggested.
"He believes in tariffs as a tool to get a negotiation as opposed to being an end in themselves," he said. "Then he hasn't changed anything. If he has used tariffs because he believes they're good, and I know he says that, but I don't believe he actually believes that. I don't see how he could believe it.”
“[H]e hasn't changed the Republican Party. We're still a party of free trade … I surely hope that he has learned from history that lower tariffs are good.”
In case you missed this news: Mr Trump used his power to pardon to help out his friend Conrad Black, a former business associate who wrote a flattering book about the president just last year.
Mr Black was found guilty in 2007 on mail fraud and obstruction charges for his part in a plan to swindle investors out of cash in a media company scam.
With the passage of harsh abortion bans in several states across the country this year, culminating in the recent approval of an outright ban in Alabama, 2020 Democratic presidential candidates are showing some solidarity.
Senator Cory Booker's deputy campaign manager Jenna Lowenstein announced on Twitter that she had donated to senator Kirsten Gillibrand's campaign, with the hopes of helping her qualify for the upcoming Democratic debates.
She encouraged others to do the same, so that Ms Gillibrand's perspective as a female candidate could be heard next month in Miami.
"I just donated to ensure @SenGillibrand’s important perspective is on the debate stage. Join me!" Ms Lowenstein tweeted.
Donald Trump is set to unveil a new merit-based immigration plan, which is expected to be dead in the water once it arrives as it does nothing to address some of the most pressing issues identified by Democrats (who would be needed to pass any legislation in the House).
But, Democrats aren't the only ones wary of the plan. Senator Lindsey Graham — a top Trump booster — has his own bill to fix America's immigration system, and says it is different from the president's because, well, it's actually intended to become law.
Mr Trumps' bill "is not designed to become law", Mr Graham said.
In the South, where much of the controversy this past week over abortion bans has been centered, reaction to Georgia's abortion bill have been mixed among the entertainment industry.
While some actors and television production companies have signaled that they plan to boycott the state, virtually none of the major film or television studios have actually commented on the issue, according to the Associated Press.
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy has warned Democrats considering bringing contempt of Congress charges up against attorney general William Barr.
Mr McCarthy said that bringing the measure — which has already been approved in committee — to the floor would be an embarrassment if it came before the full House.
"If it comes to the floor, it will be an embarrassment to Democrats and an embarrassment to this House," he said.
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