Poll: More than half of Americans strongly disapprove of Trump - NBC News

JAN 19 2018, 6:01 AM ET

Poll: More than half of Americans strongly disapprove of Trump

by MARK MURRAY

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump ends his first year in office with 39 percent of Americans approving of his job performance, according to the latest national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll — the lowest mark in the poll’s history for any modern president ending his first year.

Fifty-seven percent disapprove of Trump’s job, including a majority of respondents — 51 percent — who now say they strongly disapprove, which is a record high for Trump in the survey. That’s compared with 26 percent of Americans who strongly approve of the president’s job.

Among key demographic groups, 46 percent of men, 45 percent of whites and 41 percent of seniors give Trump a thumbs-up, versus 35 percent of those ages 18-34, 33 percent of women, 26 percent of Latinos and 8 percent of African Americans who do.

By party, 78 percent of Republicans approve of the president’s job performance, compared with 8 percent of Democrats and 33 percent of independents.

Trump’s overall approval rating of 39 percent in the NBC/WSJ poll is lower than George W. Bush’s (82 percent), Bill Clinton’s (60 percent) and Barack Obama's (50 percent) at this same point in their presidencies.

Trump’s job rating in last month’s NBC/WSJ poll was 41 percent.

The new NBC/WSJ poll was conducted January 13-17 — after the controversy over Trump’s profane words about immigration from certain countries, during the possibility of a looming partial government shutdown and before the president’s one-year anniversary in office on January 20.

“Disgusted,” “Scared,” “Hopeful,” “Proud”

Asked which words best described how they felt about Trump’s first year as president, respondents' top answers (allowing for multiple responses) were “disgusted” (38 percent), “scared” (24 percent), “hopeful” (23 percent), “proud” (12 percent) and “angry” (11 percent).

“At the time of his inauguration, ‘hopeful’ was the word most used word about the 2016 results,” said Democratic pollster Peter Hart, who conducted this survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff. “But at the end of his first year, ‘disgust’ was the word most cited about him.”

"A dumpster fire," said an independent male from California in summing up Trump's first year in office.

"He does not represent the values of the country," added a female Democrat from Wisconsin. "He has no compassion and he should not be our president."

"I am in awe that he has done so much in a year," said one Republican female respondent from Georgia.

"I think he's doing the best he can with all the negative or fake news, and all the Democrats and Republicans that are against him — the establishment Republicans," added a Republican female from Alabama.

Ranking the accomplishments of Trump’s first year in office

And when asked which one or two accomplishments made them feel the most positive about Trump, 20 percent cited a strong economy and low unemployment; 13 percent said “putting America first;” 10 percent said the tax legislation that Trump signed into law late last year; and another 10 percent said the military successes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

But 37 percent of Americans said none of the potential responses made them feel positive about the president.

The rest of the NBC/WSJ poll — which was conducted of 900 adults (nearly half reached by cell phone) and which has an overall margin of error of plus-minus 3.3 percentage points — will be released later on Friday.

Trump’s Strategy for Avoiding a Shutdown: Head to Mar-a-Lago - Intelligencer ( New York Magazine )

19/1/2018

Trump’s Strategy for Avoiding a Shutdown: Head to Mar-a-Lago

By Margaret Hartmann

@MargHartmann

Back in May, President Trump called for a “good shutdown” to fix the “mess” in the federal government. Faced with an empty legal threat from Republican state lawmakers several months later, he announced he would end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. When presented with the bipartisan DACA deal he’d asked for, Trump rejected it – and complained about people from “shithole” countries. Then as GOP congressional leaders tried to avoid a government shutdown by attaching funding for children’s health insurance to a stopgap funding measure, Trump tweeted that the money “should be part of a long term solution, not a 30 Day, or short term, extension!”

All of this led some to conclude that President Trump was actually itching for a government shutdown. But on Thursday night, as Congress inched closer to the ledge, the White House proved that’s just more fake news. If Trump is so eager to see what happens when the federal government runs out of money, then why is he skipping town just hours before the funding deadline?

According to the White House itinerary posted on Thursday night, President Trump and the first lady will depart the White House for Palm Beach, Florida shortly after 4 p.m. on Friday.

Trump has visited Mar-a-Lago, his private club, 11 times since he was sworn in (costing taxpayers about $3 million each time). But this trip isn’t just about escaping the stresses of traveling between the White House and various other Trump properties. The president is celebrating the one-year anniversary of his inauguration with a $100,000-per-couple gala at Mar-a-Lago, the proceeds of which will go to the Trump reelection campaign and the Republican National Committee.

This may seem like an extremely inopportune moment for the president to be mingling with wealthy donors 1,000 miles away from the White House, especially since he’d need to sign any last-minute deals that Congress comes up with. But according to CNN, the Trump administration has already come up with a potential solution: if an agreement is reached, the president will just send a tweet announcing that everything’s cool now.

White House staffers are mulling the idea President Donald Trump could use Twitter Friday night to signal that the federal government will not close down, a senior administration official told CNN.

The idea is that if the Senate passes the continuing resolution to keep the government open Friday, the President could then tweet that he will sign the continuing resolution. That would be an indication the government is open, even if he signs the actual bill later on.

Still, some people in D.C. were being super uptight about the president’s getaway. Here’s Democratic Representative Steve Cohen:

@RepCohen

Trump going to mar-a-lago while government shutdown looms is most irresponsible,self absorbed,dereliction of duty ever by a President.This man doesn’t comprehend work ethic,the office of President,or duty to the country.He understands golf,ice cream,and Big Macs!

2:16 PM - Jan 19, 2018

Even before they learned about Trump’s weekend plans, lawmakers were complaining that they needed more input from the president. “We don’t have a reliable partner at the White House to negotiate with,” Senator Lindsey Graham said on Thursday morning.” This has turned into an s-show for no good reason and the only way out of this thing is to grow up a little bit — and I think that’s going to happen.”

During his speech on the Senate floor that evening, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell noted that the president is “not irrelevant” under the U.S. system of government, and Republicans still need to know what he wants in a DACA bill. “On the Republican side we’re interested in what his views are, and those have not been made fully apparent yet,” he said.

Even if no deal is reached in the coming days, D.C. might experience some problems that could benefit from close presidential oversight, like about 800,000 federal workers being furloughed and most government agencies reduced to essential operations only.

Some of these issues would be unique to the Trump administration. The president’s picks for the top two positions at the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees those federal workers, haven’t been confirmed. And the Daily Beast reports that while Obama administration officials spent weeks planning for a potential shutdown, today many agencies don’t have plans that lay out which staffers are non-essential and how reserve funds would be allocated. Of the 130 agencies that submit contingency plans to OMB, 66 haven’t been updated since 2015.

“I just cannot imagine working at an agency without an updated contingency plan, without the days and weeks we spent working through the worst case scenarios of funding and staffing,” said Melanie Newman, who worked at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and OMB under Obama. “It can only result in chaos.”

One might argue that if President Trump didn’t do much to help Congress or address these management issues during his entire first year in office, there’s no need to have him around during a shutdown. But as a wise man once told Fox & Friends:

Problems start from the top and they have to get solved from the top. And the president’s the leader and he’s got to get everybody in a room and he’s got to lead. And he doesn’t do that. He doesn’t like doing that. That’s not his strength. And that’ why you have this horrible situation going on in Washington. It’s a very, very bad thing, and it’s very embarrassing worldwide.

Saudi Arabia Says There's No Evidence It Aided 9/11 Plot - Bloomberg

Saudi Arabia Says There's No Evidence It Aided 9/11 Plot

"Conclusions, speculation, hearsay are not enough," Michael Kellogg, a lawyer for the Kingdom told US District Judge George Daniels at the start of a daylong hearing in Manhattan on Thursday.

World | © 2018 Bloomberg L.P. | Bob Van Voris, Bloomberg | Updated: January 19, 2018 13:58 IST

Saudi Arabia Says There's No Evidence It Aided 9/11 Plot

Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act for the first time permitted lawsuits against the Saudis.

Saudi Arabia asked a US judge to throw out lawsuits claiming it helped al-Qaeda carry out the September 11 terrorist attacks, arguing the victims haven't provided any evidence to back their cases.

Michael Kellogg, a lawyer for the Kingdom, said reports from the 9/11 Commission, FBI, CIA and 9/11 Review Commission found no proof Saudi Arabia backed the attacks.

"Conclusions, speculation, hearsay are not enough," Kellogg told told US District Judge George Daniels at the start of a daylong hearing in Manhattan on Thursday.

Lawyers for the victims, their families and businesses harmed by the attacks claim Saudi Arabia channeled money through its charities to the terrorist group. They presented sworn statements from two former FBI officials and former Florida Senator Bob Graham, an ex-chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, in which they provide their opinions that Saudi officials in the US provided support to two of the September 11 hijackers.

Congress in 2015 passed a law, the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, JASTA, which for the first time permitted lawsuits against the Saudis over the attacks. The nation was previously covered by sovereign immunity, a legal doctrine protecting nations against most lawsuits.

The allegations are sufficient to go forward under JASTA and the victims should be permitted to seek additional evidence from Saudi Arabia, their lawyers said. JASTA was passed over a veto by President Barack Obama, who feared subjecting Saudi Arabia to legal claims threatened to strain relations between the two countries.

Daniels didn't say when he will rule on the Saudi requests to throw out the suits.

Pope marries flight attendant couple mid-flight - CBS News

January 18, 2018, 8:48 AM

Pope marries flight attendant couple mid-flight

Last Updated Jan 18, 2018 11:42 AM EST

Pope Francis has married a couple of flight attendants on board a flight from Santiago, Chile, to the northern city of Iquique.

Carlos Ciuffardi and Paola Podest had planned to wed on February 27, 2010, but a massive earthquake struck and their church collapsed on their intended wedding day. They eventually had a civil service, but had yet to be formally married in the eyes of the Catholic Church.

The two LATAM Airlines flight attendants were on the trip from Santiago to Iquique and, as all crew members are given the opportunity to do, went up to the front of the aircraft for a photo with Pope Francis.

When the pope asked them if they were married, the couple revealed the story of how the deadly quake had forced them to cancel their wedding. The pontiff asked if they would like him to conduct the ceremony right there on the plane, and they agreed.

A photo released by the Vatican shows Pope Francis marrying LATAM Airlines flight attendants Paula Podest and Carols Ciuffardi during a flight between Santiago and Iquique, Chile, Jan. 18, 2018.

The pope asked them repeatedly if they were sure, but they didn't waver. Pope Francis blessed the wedding rings the couple have worn since their civil ceremony. The couple, who met when Podest was working as Cuiffardi's boss, now live in Santiago with their two children.

Carlos and Paola Ciuffordi kiss after being married by Pope Francis on board a LATAM Airlines flight between Santiago and Iquique, Chile, Jan. 18, 2018. POOL

"We can't believe the Pope married us," Carlos told members of the media on the flight. "A pope has never married anyone on a plane."

"We hope it will promote marriage," the groom added. "We have a Vatican document, it's all valid."

The chairman of LATAM was roped in as an official witness to the wedding, and an accompanying Chilean cardinal drafted the legal document for the marriage by hand.

A handwritten wedding certificate records the marriage of LATAM Airlines flight attendants Carlos and Paula Ciuffordi, conducted by Pope Francis during a flight on Jan. 18, 2018 between Santiago and Iquique, Chile. POOL

Pope Francis gave the bride a white rosary and the groom a black one. He asked Ciuffardi if his wife was still the boss, to which Ciuffardi laughed and said yes.

The Catholic Church leader told the couple. "this is what's missing in the world, the sacrament of marriage. I hope this motivates couples to marry."

The couple said they planned to celebrate in Iquique Thursday night with colleagues, and have a "tiny honeymoon," as they were scheduled to fly back to Santiago the following day.

U.S. House Passes Spending Bill to Avoid Government Shutdown, Senate in Doubt - Bloomberg

U.S. House Passes Spending Bill to Avoid Government Shutdown, Senate in Doubt

By Anna Edgerton , Laura Litvan , Erik Wasson , and Sahil Kapur

January 19, 2018,

Government funding ends at midnight Friday without new deal

Senate Democrats say they have enough votes to block bill

Blue Star's Tramontano Sees High Probability of Gov't Shutdown

Karen Tramontano, Blue Star Strategies CEO, discusses the looming federal government shutdown deadline.

The House passed a spending bill Thursday to avoid a U.S. government shutdown, but Senate Democrats say they have the votes to block the measure in a bid to force Republicans and President Donald Trump to include protection for young immigrants.

The 230-197 vote came just over a day before current funding is set to run out at midnight Friday. The bill would keep the government open through Feb. 16 while all sides negotiate on longer-term funding for defense and domestic programs.

The Senate took an initial vote to advance the bill late Thursday, but was headed toward an additional procedural step requiring 60 votes, which Democrats say they will be able to block. The Senate adjourned until Friday morning without taking further action.

Shortly before the House vote, Trump wrote on Twitter: "House of Representatives needs to pass Government Funding Bill tonight. So important for our country - our Military needs it!"

In a show of strength, House Republicans had enough support within their own ranks to pass the measure without help from Democrats.

Some members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus withheld their support through much of the day Thursday, but reached a last-minute agreement with Speaker Paul Ryan to hold votes later on a conservative immigration bill and a measure to boost defense spending without increasing non-defense spending.

Still, Senate Democrats said they have the votes to block the measure in their chamber. At least 10 of the 18 Democrats who voted for a temporary funding measure in December have publicly announced their opposition, and a Democratic aide said there won’t be enough party members who support the House bill.

Republicans would need at least a dozen Democratic votes to get the bill, H.R. 195, through the Senate after at least three of the 51 Republicans in the chamber said they would vote against it.

What Shuts Down During a U.S. Government Shutdown:

Congress has needed to extend current funding levels while congressional leaders haggle over how much to raise spending on defense and domestic programs and whether to give protection from deportation to at least 690,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.

Democrats have been demanding that Congress act now to protect the young immigrants who are shielded under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which Trump plans to end on March 5. Republicans want to pair that issue with stronger border security and restrictions on other immigration programs.

As passed in the House, the bill would fund the government for four weeks, extend the Children’s Health Insurance Program for six years and delay implementation of three taxes imposed by the Obama-era Affordable Care Act.

Trump threw a wrench into the talks Thursday morning by tweeting that he didn’t want the children’s health-insurance provision in the short-term spending bill. He said it “should be part of a long term solution, not a 30 Day, or short term, extension!” The White House later backtracked and said the president supported the spending bill.

If Congress can’t agree on a spending bill by midnight Friday or soon after, about 800,000 federal workers face furloughs and many government functions would be closed. In past shutdowns, that meant national parks were shuttered, some government contractors halted work and many agency functions, including release of economic statistics, were suspended. National security functions continued, as did others including air-traffic control and delivery of Social Security benefits.

2013 Shutdown

The last shutdown occurred in 2013 when Republican lawmakers unsuccessfully tried to eliminate funding of then-President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement, the Affordable Care Act. Republicans had the majority in the House, while Democrats held the Senate.

The GOP now controls both chambers of Congress and the White House, and Democrats are using the must-pass bill to force other policy concessions.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday found that if there is a shutdown, blame would be divided: 34 percent say Democrats would be at most fault, 32 percent say Republicans would be most at fault, while 21 percent say Trump would be most at fault.

To avoid a government shutdown, the Senate can either pass the House temporary spending bill or make changes and send it back to the House for another vote. The House isn’t scheduled to be in session next week, but a shutdown may force members to stay.

Extreme drought grips parts of South Africa - Al Jazeera

18/1/2018

Extreme drought grips parts of South Africa

by Everton Fox

MORE ON SOUTH AFRICA

Cape Town confronts looming 'Day Zero' water crisis

South Africa's Cape Town, one of the world's iconic tourist destinations, could run out of water by April as the city's worst drought in a century risks forces residents to join queues for emergency rations.

After three years of unprecedented drought, parts of the city have less than 90 days' supply of water in their reservoirs.

"Day Zero", the date taps are due to run dry, has crept forward to April 22 as city authorities race to build desalination plants and drill boreholes.

Almost two million tourists flock to Cape Town every year, with travel and tourism accounting for an estimated 9 percent or 412 billion rand ($33bn) of South Africa's economic output last year, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.

At a trial water collection site, similar to an estimated 200 the city may introduce, people queued to fill up their water bottles, limited to a maximum 25 litres of water per person, a day, officials said.

Cape Town's mayoral committee member for water, Xanthea Limberg, said the dire situation was being worsened by some people ignoring a push for residents and visitors to use no more than 87 litres of water per person a day.

City officials say dam levels dipped below 30 percent in the first week of the new year, with only about 19.7 percent of that water considered usable. Residents will have to queue for water when dams reach 13.5 percent.

The impact of the drought has been exacerbated by the fact that Cape Town's population has almost doubled over the past 20 years. Despite that, climatologists describe this as a "once in a millennium" event.

This lack of rain over a three year period would challenge even the best-planned water regulations. It could be a taste of things to come. Climate change researchers predict more frequent dry years and fewer wet years to come.

A Norwegian Airline Claims to Have Set a New Record for New York to London Flights - TIME

19/1/2018

A Norwegian Airline Claims to Have Set a New Record for New York to London Flights

By LAIGNEE BARRON

Norway’s budget air carrier says it has set a new transatlantic record.

Norwegian Airlines flight DY7014 from New York JFK landed in London’s Gatwick airport just 5 hours and 13 minutes after take-off on January 15. It was the fastest transatlantic flight recorded on a subsonic commercial aircraft, according to a statement released by the airline.

The 284 passengers on board arrived 53 minutes earlier than scheduled.

Favorable weather conditions helped push the flight to its early landing and gave it just enough of a boost to capture a three-minute victory over the previous record-holder. (A British Airways flight in 2015 had set the previous standard for the transatlantic route at 5 hours and 16 minutes, the Telegraph reports.)

Flight 7014 “benefitted from strong tailwinds over the Atlantic Ocean that reached a maximum of 176 knots (202mph). The tailwinds pushed the aircraft to a top speed of 776mph during the flight,” said the Scandinavian carrier.

Some girl power inspiration might have also helped. Norwegian planes feature iconic figures on its tails. The record-breaking aircraft was graced by an image of Amy Johnson, a pioneering British pilot and the first female to fly solo from England to Australia in 1930.

Captain Harold van Dam said in the statement that his flight could have been even speedier had minor turbulence not slowed things down.

“It’s a great feeling to know that we have set a new record in this aircraft,” he said.

Donald Trump's unprecedented first year in the White House in numbers - Independent

19/1/2018

Donald Trump's unprecedented first year in the White House in numbers

From his tweets to his global visits, his poll numbers to US job numbers it has been quite a 12 months for the US president

Chris Stevenson International Editor

As we approach the anniversary of Donald Trump’s inauguration as president on 20 January, it is clear that it has been 12 months full of incident.

Mr Trump has drastically changed how the president interacts with everyone from world leaders to the press, particularly in terms of his communication with the masses via Twitter.

His White House has been at the centre of a number of controversies, while Mr Trump himself has been involved in a number of spats. Here is his extraordinary year in numbers.

This is how the US economy performed in Trump’s first year

2500+ – The number of times Mr Trump has tweeted in his first 12 months, including 174 mentions of “Fake News”

2 – The number of times Mr Trump has posted directly from the official @POTUS account, rather than his personal @realDonaldTrump account. During his last year as president, Mr Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama used the @POTUS account 139 times.

96 – Number of references to the Fox News show Fox & Friends. Mr Trump has lavished praise on the right-wing show a number of times and several of his tweets on various other topics have appeared at the same time as the programme is discussing an issue. The President has also mentioned Fox News a further 45 times.

58 – The number of executive orders signed by Mr Trump since becoming president. Mr Obama signed 41 orders during his first year, while George W Bush signed 56. Mr Trump’s total of 58 is the highest for any single presidential year (from January 20 to January 19) so far this century.

4 – Mr Trump has visited a golf course every four days on average during his first year. At least 88 rounds have been played, although the White House has said he does not play every day he visits a property. The President had criticised Mr Obama – who played 29 times in his first year – for his time on the course.

14 – Number of different countries visited by Mr Trump since becoming president. His itinerary has included China, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, Germany and France, but not the UK. Mr Obama visited 21 different countries during his first year in office, including the UK.

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$1.75m – The General Services Administration showed the President’s office spent that amount on White House furniture, rugs, wallpaper and other furnishings as the Trump family renovated the 55,000sq-foot mansion and surrounding buildings.

25 seconds – Mr Trump is known for his strong handshakes and there have been a number of examples in his first year, but he met his match in French President Emmanuel Macron on a visit to Paris in July when seemingly neither leader wanted to be the first to let go.

34% – The amount of turnover in the White House in the past 12 months, representing staff that had been fired, resigned or reassigned, according to Kathryn Dunn-Tenpas, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Mr Trump’s first-year turnover rate is exactly double that of Ronald Reagan’s 17 per cent in 1981, which is the next highest in the past four decades.

Processing Trump’s first year – from fake news to a federal probe

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3.2 million – The rise in the number of Americans who did not have health insurance in 2017 according to polling company Gallup, as Mr Trump and his administration looked to repeal elements of Mr Obama’s flagship healthcare policy.

8 – The number of prototypes built as part of Mr Trump’s drive to put a border wall up between the US and Mexico, a flagship element of his immigration plan.

2 million – The number of jobs added in the US across 2017, with December being the 87th straight month of gains.

37 per cent – Donald Trump’s current approval rating, according to Gallup. This is the lowest rating for any US president since the end of the Second World War. Gallup recorded Barack Obama as having a rating of 50 per cent at the end of his first year as president, while Bill Clinton had a rating of 54 per cent. George W Bush enjoyed a rating of 83 per cent.