Trump 22: Not Even Poe Could Make This Shit Up

[GreyhoundFan]

From the NYT: "Many Politicians Lie. But Trump Has Elevated the Art of Fabrication."

Spoiler

WASHINGTON — Whit Ayres, a Republican political consultant here, likes to tell his clients that there are “three keys to credibility.”

“One, never defend the indefensible,” he says. “Two, never deny the undeniable. And No. 3 is: Never lie.”

Would that politicians took his advice.

Fabrications have long been a part of American politics. Politicians lie to puff themselves up, to burnish their résumés and to cover up misdeeds, including sexual affairs. (See: Bill Clinton.) Sometimes they cite false information for what they believe are justifiable policy reasons. (See: Lyndon Johnson and Vietnam.)

But President Trump, historians and consultants in both political parties agree, appears to have taken what the writer Hannah Arendt once called “the conflict between truth and politics” to an entirely new level.

From his days peddling the false notion that former President Barack Obama was born in Kenya, to his inflated claims about how many people attended his inaugural, to his description just last week of receiving two phone calls — one from the president of Mexico and another from the head of the Boy Scouts — that never happened, Mr. Trump is trafficking in hyperbole, distortion and fabrication on practically a daily basis.

In part, this represents yet another way that Mr. Trump is operating on his own terms, but it also reflects a broader decline in standards of truth for political discourse. A look at politicians over the past half-century makes it clear that lying in office did not begin with Donald J. Trump. Still, the scope of Mr. Trump’s falsehoods raises questions about whether the brakes on straying from the truth and the consequences for politicians’ being caught saying things that just are not true have diminished over time.

One of the first modern presidents to wrestle publicly with a lie was Dwight D. Eisenhower in May 1960, when an American U-2 spy plane was shot down while in Soviet airspace.

The Eisenhower administration lied to the public about the plane and its mission, claiming it was a weather aircraft. But when the Soviets announced that the pilot had been captured alive, Eisenhower reluctantly acknowledged that the plane had been on an intelligence mission — an admission that shook him badly, the historian Doris Kearns Goodwin said.

“He just felt that his credibility was such an important part of his person and character, and to have that undermined by having to tell a lie was one of the deepest regrets of his presidency,” Ms. Goodwin said.

In the short run, Eisenhower was hurt; a summit meeting with the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev collapsed in acrimony. But the public eventually forgave him, Ms. Goodwin said, because he owned up to his mistake.

In 1972, at the height of the Watergate scandal, President Richard M. Nixon was accused of lying, obstructing justice and misusing the Internal Revenue Service, among other agencies, and resigned rather than face impeachment. Voters, accustomed to being able to trust politicians, were disgusted. In 1976, Jimmy Carter won the presidency after telling the public, “I’ll never lie to you.”

President Clinton was impeached for perjury and obstruction in trying to cover up his affair with an intern, Monica Lewinsky, during legal proceedings. Chris Lehane, a former Clinton adviser, said Mr. Clinton’s second-term agenda suffered during his impeachment, yet paradoxically his favorability ratings remained high — in part, Mr. Lehane said, because “the public distinguished between Clinton the private person and the public person.”

But sometimes it’s easier to tell what’s false than what’s a lie. President George W. Bush faced accusations that he and members of his administration took America to war in Iraq based on false intelligence about whether Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Mr. Bush and his team emphasized and in some cases exaggerated elements of the intelligence that bolstered the case while disregarding dissenting information, leading critics to accuse them of lying. Among those who said Mr. Bush had lied was Mr. Trump.

Over the past two decades, institutional changes in American politics have made it easier for politicians to lie. The proliferation of television political talk shows and the rise of the internet have created a fragmented media environment. With no widely acknowledged media gatekeeper, politicians have an easier time distorting the truth.

And in an era of hyper-partisanship, where politicians often are trying to court voters at the extreme ends of the political spectrum, politicians often lie with impunity. Even the use of the word “lie” in politics has changed.

“There was a time not long ago when you could not use the word ‘lie’ in a campaign,” said Anita Dunn, once a communications director to Mr. Obama. “It was thought to be too harsh, and it would backfire. So you had to say they hadn’t been honest, or they didn’t tell the truth, or the facts show something else, and even that was seen as hot rhetoric.”

With the rise of fact-checking websites, politicians are held accountable for their words. In 2013, the website PolitiFact declared that Mr. Obama had uttered the “lie of the year” when he told Americans that if they liked their health care plan they could keep it. (Mr. Trump won “lie of the year” in 2015.)

“I thought it was unfair at the time, and I still think it’s unfair,” Ms. Dunn said, referring to Mr. Obama. Mr. Obama later apologized to people who were forced off their plans “despite assurances from me.”

On the theory that politicians who get caught in lies put their reputations at risk, Brendan Nyhan, a political scientist at Dartmouth College (and contributor to The New York Times’s Upshot) and some colleagues tried to study the effects of Mr. Trump’s misstatements during last year’s presidential campaign.

In a controlled experiment, researchers showed a group of voters a misleading claim by Mr. Trump, while another group saw that claim accompanied by “corrective information” that directly contradicted what Mr. Trump had said. The group that viewed the corrections believed the new information, but seeing it did not change how they viewed Mr. Trump.

“We know politicians are risk averse. They try to minimize negative coverage, and that negative coverage could damage their image over time,” Mr. Nyhan said. “But the reputational consequences of making false claims aren’t strong enough. They’re not sufficiently strong to dissuade people from misleading the public.”

Of course, lying to court voters is one thing, and lying to federal prosecutors quite another. When Rod Blagojevich, the former governor of Illinois, was accused of a long list of federal corruption counts related to claims that he tried to sell Mr. Obama’s seat in the United States Senate, he was asked quite directly about lying.

While Mr. Blagojevich was testifying under oath, a prosecutor pressed him on whether he made a habit, as a politician, of lying to the public. They sparred over whether Mr. Blagojevich had fed a misleading story to a local newspaper.

“That was a lie,” the prosecutor, Reid Schar, was quoted as saying.

Mr. Blagojevich refused to fess up. “That was a misdirection play in politics,” he answered.

He was sentenced to a 14-year prison term in 2011.

Joel Sawyer, a Republican strategist in South Carolina, said there were two ways for a politician to deal with deceit.

“One is to never acknowledge it, which seems to have been employed pretty successfully by our current president,” Mr. Sawyer said. “The second is to rip the Band-Aid off and say: ‘I screwed up; here’s why. Give me another chance, and I won’t disappoint you again.’”

Mr. Sawyer worked for a politician — Mark Sanford, then the governor of South Carolina — who took the latter approach. On a June weekend in 2009, Mr. Sanford slipped out of the South Carolina capitol and flew to Buenos Aires to be with his lover, but told his staff that he had gone hiking on the Appalachian Trail. His aides, including Mr. Sawyer, unknowingly passed the lie on to reporters.

Mr. Sanford later apologized profusely. Voters eventually rewarded him; today he serves in Congress.

Many of Mr. Trump’s lies — like the time he boasted that he had made the “all-time record in the history of Time Magazine” for being on its cover so often — are somewhat trivial, and “basically about him polishing his ego,” said John Weaver, a prominent Republican strategist.

That mystifies Bob Ney, a Republican former congressman who spent time in prison for accepting illegal gifts from a lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, and lying to federal investigators about it. “It really baffles me why he has to feel compelled to exaggerate to exonerate himself,” Mr. Ney said.

But other presidential lies, like Mr. Trump’s false claim that millions of undocumented immigrants had cast ballots for his opponent in the 2016 election, are far more substantive, and pose a threat, scholars say, that his administration will build policies around them.

The glaring difference between Mr. Trump and his predecessors is the sheer magnitude of falsehoods and exaggerations; PolitiFact rates just 20 percent of the statements it reviewed as true, and a total of 69 percent either mostly false, false or “Pants on Fire.” That leaves scholars like Ms. Goodwin to wonder whether Mr. Trump, in elevating the art of political fabrication, has forever changed what Americans are willing to tolerate from their leaders.

“What’s different today and what’s scarier today is these lies are pointed out, and there’s evidence that they’re wrong,” she said. “And yet because of the attacks on the media, there are a percentage of people in the country who are willing to say, ‘Maybe he is telling the truth.’”

I think the pants on fire emoji should be part of Agent Orange's family crest.

[GrumpyGran]

2 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

"Trump says his political base is ‘stronger than ever’ despite polling to the contrary"

  Hide contents

President Trump took to Twitter on Monday morning to declare that his political base is “bigger & stronger than ever before” despite recent polling — which he branded “fake” — that shows a drop-off in support.

In a series of tweets from Bedminster, N.J., where Trump is on what aides describe as a 17-day “working vacation,” he ticked off a number of factors that he said have “driven the Trump base even closer together.

Among them: record stock-market numbers, strong jobs reports, his Supreme Court pick earlier this year and a backlash against “the Fake News Russian collusion story.”

“Will never change!” Trump declared about the strength of his base.

...

A poll last week from Quinnipiac University found that just 33 percent of voters overall approve of Trump’s job performance, a new low. Notably, support among white voters without a college degree — a key Trump demographic — had fallen off as well.

Just 43 percent of that group approved of Trump's job performance while 50 percent disapproved, the Quinnipiac poll found. In June, 53 percent of white voters without a college degree approved of the president.

In last year’s election against Democrat Hillary Clinton, 66 percent of whites with no college degree voted for Trump, according to exit polls.

As evidence of his support among his base, Trump in his tweets cited recent campaign rallies he has held in Pennsylvania, Iowa, Ohio and West Virginia. The most recent of those, in Huntington, W.Va., last week, drew thousands of boisterous supporters to a downtown arena.

“Hard to believe that with 24/7 #Fake News on CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, NYTIMES & WAPO, the Trump base is getting stronger!” he said in one of his morning tweets.

Trump, who is staying at his golf club in Bedminster, where it was pouring rain on Monday morning, has bristled at characterizations of his stay as a “vacation.”

“Working hard from New Jersey while White House goes through long planned renovation,” he tweeted Monday morning, referring to an overhaul of heating and air conditioning system in the West Wing, among other things.

“Going to New York next week for more meetings,” Trump added.

He has no public events scheduled on Monday.

...

Poor baby, it is raining today, so he can't golf.

 Melania will get him chocolate cake and two scoops of ice cream and put him down for his nap.

As for his base getting bigger and stronger, not sure about their strength but they are getting bigger. I've seen them at his rallies. Probably a result of them eating the Trump diet. Look at how it's working for him!

[47of74]

I saw John Kelly has given up on controlling man baby's use of Twitter

Quote

Newly appointed White House Chief of Staff John Kelly has already accepted that he will not be able to control President Donald Trump’s inflammatory use of Twitter.

Over the past week, media reports have praised Kelly, a retired Marine general, for imposing military discipline on the White House.

Politico White House Correspondent Tara Palmeri revealed later on Monday that Kelly has now “accepted” that he has little control over Trump’s Twitter tirades.

 

[GrumpyGran]

25 minutes ago, 47of74 said:

I saw John Kelly has given up on controlling man baby's use of Twitter

 

And apparently he is out of control again today, throwing shade at Bleumenthal, because he was talking on CNN this morning. I hope it rains every fucking day that he's at Bedminster so he can tweet himself into impeachment. WORST. VACATION. EVER. Sad.

[Cartmann99]

18 minutes ago, GrumpyGran said:

And apparently he is out of control again today, throwing shade at Bleumenthal, because he was talking on CNN this morning. I hope it rains every fucking day that he's at Bedminster so he can tweet himself into impeachment. WORST. VACATION. EVER. Sad.

Trump is such a whiny little shitweasel. 

In other Trump news, one of his most ardent defenders has a new job:

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[GrumpyGran]

43 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

Trump is such a whiny little shitweasel. 

In other Trump news, one of his most ardent defenders has a new job:

 

Whew. Let's hope she starts by taking over press releases. And did you know she has years of experience? Years!  Makes it sound like she's 80 years old.

5 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

 

No way he wrote that. The only pledge that turd makes is to Putin and the Devil. Do you think he even knows the words to the Pledge of Allegiance?

[AmazonGrace]

17 minutes ago, GrumpyGran said:

 

No way he wrote that. The only pledge that turd makes is to Putin and the Devil. Do you think he even knows the words to the Pledge of Allegiance?

Yeah it was on his campaign website but I don't think he ever read it  
100 days ago he distanced himself from the plan like crazy and didn't even know what all was there. 

https://www.apnews.com/c810d7de280a47e88848b0ac74690c83 

[GreyhoundFan]

"America’s Whiniest ‘Victim’"

Spoiler

Donald Trump is the reigning king of American victimhood.

He is unceasingly pained, injured, aggrieved.

The primaries were unfair. The debates were unfair. The general election was unfair.

“No politician in history — and I say this with great surety — has been treated worse or more unfairly,” he laments.

People refuse to reach past his flaws — which are legion! — and pat him on the back. People refuse to praise his minimal effort and minimal efficacy. They refuse to ignore that the legend he created about himself is a lie. People’s insistence on truth and honest appraisal is so annoying. It’s all so terribly unfair.

It is in this near perfect state of perpetual aggrievement that Trump gives voice to a faction of America that also feels aggrieved. Trump won because he whines. He whines in a way that makes the weak feel less vulnerable and more vicious. He makes feeling sorry for himself feel like fighting back.

In this way he was a perfect reflection of the new Whiny Right. Trump is its instrument, articulation, embodiment. He’s not so much representative of it but of an idea — the waning power of whiteness, privilege, patriarchy, access, and the cultural and economic surety that accrues to the possessors of such. Trump represents their emerging status of victims-in-their-own-minds.

The way they see it, they are victims of coastal and urban liberals and the elite institutions — economic, education and entertainment — clustered there. They are victims of an economy evolving in ways, both technical and geographic, that cuts them out or leaves them behind. They are victims of immigration and shifting American demographics. They are victims of shifting, cultural mores. They are victims of Washington.

No one speaks to these insecurities like the human manifestation of insecurity himself: Donald Trump.

Donald Trump is their death rattle: That unsettling sound a body makes when death nears.

But, Trump’s whining is not some clever Machiavellian tactic, precisely tuned for these times. Trump’s whining is genuine. He pretends to be ferocious, but is actually embarrassingly fragile. His bravado is all illusion. The lion is a coward. And, he licks his wounds until they are raw.

Now, pour into this hollow man Steve Bannon’s toxic, apocalyptic nationalism and his professed mission — “deconstruction of the administrative state” — and you get a perfect storm of extreme orthodoxy and extreme insecurity.

Trump becomes a tool of those in possession of legacy power in this country — and those who feel that power is their rightful inheritance — who are pulling every possible lever to enshrine and cement that power. Suppressing the vote. Restricting immigration. Putting the brakes on cultural inclusion.

Make America great again. Turn back the clock to a time when privileges of whiteness were supreme and unassailable, misogyny was simply viewed as an extension of masculinity, women got back-alley abortions and worked for partial wages, coal was king and global warming was purely academic, and trans people weren’t in our bathrooms or barracks. The good old days.

Now the power of the presidency is deployed in this pursuit. The only thing that holds the line against absolute calamity is the fact that Trump lacks focus and hates work.

I have found that a close cousin of extreme caviling is sloth. As Newsweek puts on this week’s cover, he is a “Lazy Boy.”

He may keep himself busy with things he considers to be work, but his definition of that word and mine do not seem to be in alignment. Twitter tantrums, obsessive television viewing, holding campaign-style rallies to feed his narcissistic need for adulation. Those things to me do not signal competence, but rather profound neurosis. True productivity leaves little space for this extreme protestation.

And, not only is he a lazy whiner, he’s also a projectionist: He is so consumed by his insecurities that he projects them onto others. Trump branded Ted Cruz a liar, when he himself wouldn’t know the truth if it slapped him in the face. He blasted Hillary Clinton as being crooked, when he himself was crooked. He sneered at President Obama’s work ethic — among many other things — but Trump’s own work ethic has been found severely wanting.

In 2015, Trump said, “I would rarely leave the White House because there’s so much work to be done.” He continued: “I would not be a president who took vacations. I would not be a president that takes time off.”

Lies.

Trump has spent an unseemly amount of time away from the White House, playing golf, and is at this very moment on a 17-day vacation.

Trump is like the unfaithful spouse who constantly accuses the other of infidelity because the guilt of his or her own sins has hijacked their thinking and consumed their consciousness. The flaws he sees are the ones he possesses.

This projection of vice, claiming of victimhood, and complaining about vanishing privileges make Trump an ideal front man for the kind of cultural anxiety, desperation and anger that disguises itself as a benign debate about public policy.

What an excellent op-ed.

[Destiny]

Uh.. I'm watching a news report on this topic AS I TYPE THIS, and I was when this tweet came through. CNN in particular has been talking about this all morning. Is he drunk?

[GreyhoundFan]

10 minutes ago, Destiny said:

Uh.. I'm watching a news report on this topic AS I TYPE THIS, and I was when this tweet came through. CNN in particular has been talking about this all morning. Is he drunk?

No, he's just stupid.

 

"‘Apply by fax’: Before it can hire foreign workers, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club advertises at home — briefly"

Spoiler

President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club needs to hire 35 waiters for this winter’s social season in Palm Beach, Fla.

Late last month, the club placed an ad on page C8 of the Palm Beach Post, crammed full of tiny print laying out the job experience requirements in classified ad shorthand. “3 mos recent & verifiable exp in fine dining/country club,” the ad said. “No tips.”

The ad gave no email address or phone number. “Apply by fax,” it said. The ad also provided a mailing address. It ran twice, then never again.

This was an underwhelming way to attract local job-seekers. But that wasn’t the point. The ads were actually part of Mar-a-Lago’s efforts to hire foreign workers for those 35 jobs.

About a week before the ads ran, the president’s club asked the Labor Department for permission to hire 70 temporary workers from overseas, government records show. Beside the 35 waiters, it asked for 20 cooks and 15 housekeepers, slightly more than it hired last year.

To get visas for those workers, Mar-a-Lago, like other businesses that rely on temporary employees each year, must first take legally mandated steps to look for U.S. workers. That includes placing two ads in a newspaper.

Typically, this attempt to recruit U.S. workers is a ritualized failure. Its outcome is usually a conclusion that there are no qualified Americans to hire, justifying the need for the government to issue the visas.

In the past few days, that ritual began again at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s members-only club that opens every winter and has become a frequent destination for the president.

The club’s request for visas stood out because it came in the middle of “Made in America Week” at the White House, as Trump and his administration sought to highlight his push to remake U.S. trade policy. Even as Trump urged other U.S. businesses to “hire American,” his business was gathering evidence to prove that it couldn’t.

Officials at Mar-a-Lago and at the Trump Organization did not respond to questions for this article. Neither did a White House spokeswoman.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump defended his practice of using foreign workers at his club — even as he blamed immigrants for taking American jobs and keeping wages low for native-born workers.

“It’s very, very hard to get people. But other hotels do the exact same thing. . . . This is a procedure. It’s part of the law,” he said during a Republican candidates’ debate in March 2016, after Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) criticized him for using foreigners at Mar-a-Lago. “I take advantage of that. There’s nothing wrong with it. We have no choice.”

...

The category of visas requested by Mar-a-Lago is called H-2B, and the visas are intended for workers doing temporary jobs in nonagricultural fields. The number is theoretically limited to 66,000 per year, although that cap is frequently lifted: This year, for instance, the Trump administration added 15,000 visas after employers complained that they couldn’t get the workers they need.

The visas are common across the hospitality industry, including at other resorts in Palm Beach, where an influx of visitors for only a few months each year means businesses must find workers willing to take temporary — and, often, labor-intensive — jobs.

Youcheng Wang, a professor at the University of Central Florida’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management, said that Florida’s tourism industry is utterly dependent on these workers.

“This is not an easy industry to work in,” Wang said. “The jobs are typically long hours, with relatively low pay. It’s seasonal and temporary, so there’s instability in that workforce. If you want to enjoy a balance between work and life, this is not that kind of industry.”

Mar-a-Lago has relied on foreign workers since at least 2008, according to government documents. To recruit them, it relies on Petrina Group International, a firm with offices in Ithaca, N.Y., and Romania. News reports have said that Mar-a-Lago’s workers have largely been from Romania and Haiti. Representatives for Petrina did not respond to requests for comment.

In the past, Trump’s club has followed the same pattern of searching for — and not hiring — American workers. Two years ago, for instance, Jeannie Coleman, who lives in nearby West Palm Beach, applied for a job as a housekeeper.

Mar-a-Lago called back. She had an interview. Then: nothing.

“I was very disappointed. At that time, I really needed a job,” said Coleman, now 50, who works at a clothing store. “I had the qualifications. The interview went great. But they never even did the common courtesy to call me and tell me why I wasn’t hired.”

The Labor Department says that employers seeking foreign workers must “hire any [American] applicants who are qualified and available.” That year, Mar-a-Lago told the government it needed to hire 20 foreign workers as housekeepers. The government gave permission.

Now, Trump has resigned from leadership positions at Mar-a-Lago and other Trump Organization businesses. But he still owns them. And he has treated Mar-a-Lago as a second home. Last season, he spent seven weekends there, calling his club the “Winter White House.”

In determining Mar-a-Lago’s visa applications, Labor Department spokesman Egan Reich said the president’s business would be treated like any other. “The Department of Labor does not give preference or special treatment to any business or individual,” he said.

To immigration critics who have welcomed Trump’s calls for tightened border restrictions, Mar-a-Lago presents a missed opportunity for the president to lead by example.

“Let wages go up. Offer better benefits. More vacation time. Better working conditions,” said Steven Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for lower immigration levels. “We don’t have a shortage of this kind of workers. You just got to look harder. And I would encourage the president — or whoever makes the hiring decisions down there [at Mar-a-Lago] — to do that.”

So far, there is no sign that anything has changed.

Mar-a-Lago has done what is legally required to seek U.S. job applicants — including posting two newspaper ads, on nonconsecutive days, for each of the openings. It also posted the position with a local job-placement agency.

At least two people applied, according to records kept by the state workforce agency.

One was Osther Loseille, looking for a job as a cook. He had 10 years of experience.

He didn’t realize that Mar-a-Lago was the president’s club.

On the phone, he said, the Mar-a-Lago people didn’t mention it.

“I’ve been cooking at a country club most of my life, so I was interested,” Loseille said. But, after learning more about the job, he turned Mar-a-Lago down. “I’m looking for full-time work, not seasonal,” he said.

By law, Mar-a-Lago needed to search for American workers for 14 days before it could move to the next step in the process of seeking visas for foreign workers. That step is to send documentation to a Labor Department office, attesting to its inability to hire Americans.

Those 14 days ran out last week.

This week, there is a jobs fair in Palm Beach, where big resorts can meet prospective employees in person. Will a Mar-a-Lago representative be there?

At The Washington Post’s request, a job-placement center employee checked the list of attendees.

Mar-a-Lago isn’t going.

Typical of the orange menace. He wants to stop immigration, except for people working for him.

[Destiny]

how about those .... what was it? Shin splints? that kept you out of Vietnam?

Blumenthal shouldn't have lied, but at least he joined the military, unlike Cheeto who used bullshit to keep out of the military. 

[GrumpyGran]

27 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

No, he's just stupid.

 

"‘Apply by fax’: Before it can hire foreign workers, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club advertises at home — briefly"

  Reveal hidden contents

President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club needs to hire 35 waiters for this winter’s social season in Palm Beach, Fla.

Late last month, the club placed an ad on page C8 of the Palm Beach Post, crammed full of tiny print laying out the job experience requirements in classified ad shorthand. “3 mos recent & verifiable exp in fine dining/country club,” the ad said. “No tips.”

The ad gave no email address or phone number. “Apply by fax,” it said. The ad also provided a mailing address. It ran twice, then never again.

This was an underwhelming way to attract local job-seekers. But that wasn’t the point. The ads were actually part of Mar-a-Lago’s efforts to hire foreign workers for those 35 jobs.

About a week before the ads ran, the president’s club asked the Labor Department for permission to hire 70 temporary workers from overseas, government records show. Beside the 35 waiters, it asked for 20 cooks and 15 housekeepers, slightly more than it hired last year.

To get visas for those workers, Mar-a-Lago, like other businesses that rely on temporary employees each year, must first take legally mandated steps to look for U.S. workers. That includes placing two ads in a newspaper.

Typically, this attempt to recruit U.S. workers is a ritualized failure. Its outcome is usually a conclusion that there are no qualified Americans to hire, justifying the need for the government to issue the visas.

In the past few days, that ritual began again at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s members-only club that opens every winter and has become a frequent destination for the president.

The club’s request for visas stood out because it came in the middle of “Made in America Week” at the White House, as Trump and his administration sought to highlight his push to remake U.S. trade policy. Even as Trump urged other U.S. businesses to “hire American,” his business was gathering evidence to prove that it couldn’t.

Officials at Mar-a-Lago and at the Trump Organization did not respond to questions for this article. Neither did a White House spokeswoman.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump defended his practice of using foreign workers at his club — even as he blamed immigrants for taking American jobs and keeping wages low for native-born workers.

“It’s very, very hard to get people. But other hotels do the exact same thing. . . . This is a procedure. It’s part of the law,” he said during a Republican candidates’ debate in March 2016, after Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) criticized him for using foreigners at Mar-a-Lago. “I take advantage of that. There’s nothing wrong with it. We have no choice.”

...

The category of visas requested by Mar-a-Lago is called H-2B, and the visas are intended for workers doing temporary jobs in nonagricultural fields. The number is theoretically limited to 66,000 per year, although that cap is frequently lifted: This year, for instance, the Trump administration added 15,000 visas after employers complained that they couldn’t get the workers they need.

The visas are common across the hospitality industry, including at other resorts in Palm Beach, where an influx of visitors for only a few months each year means businesses must find workers willing to take temporary — and, often, labor-intensive — jobs.

Youcheng Wang, a professor at the University of Central Florida’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management, said that Florida’s tourism industry is utterly dependent on these workers.

“This is not an easy industry to work in,” Wang said. “The jobs are typically long hours, with relatively low pay. It’s seasonal and temporary, so there’s instability in that workforce. If you want to enjoy a balance between work and life, this is not that kind of industry.”

Mar-a-Lago has relied on foreign workers since at least 2008, according to government documents. To recruit them, it relies on Petrina Group International, a firm with offices in Ithaca, N.Y., and Romania. News reports have said that Mar-a-Lago’s workers have largely been from Romania and Haiti. Representatives for Petrina did not respond to requests for comment.

In the past, Trump’s club has followed the same pattern of searching for — and not hiring — American workers. Two years ago, for instance, Jeannie Coleman, who lives in nearby West Palm Beach, applied for a job as a housekeeper.

Mar-a-Lago called back. She had an interview. Then: nothing.

“I was very disappointed. At that time, I really needed a job,” said Coleman, now 50, who works at a clothing store. “I had the qualifications. The interview went great. But they never even did the common courtesy to call me and tell me why I wasn’t hired.”

The Labor Department says that employers seeking foreign workers must “hire any [American] applicants who are qualified and available.” That year, Mar-a-Lago told the government it needed to hire 20 foreign workers as housekeepers. The government gave permission.

Now, Trump has resigned from leadership positions at Mar-a-Lago and other Trump Organization businesses. But he still owns them. And he has treated Mar-a-Lago as a second home. Last season, he spent seven weekends there, calling his club the “Winter White House.”

In determining Mar-a-Lago’s visa applications, Labor Department spokesman Egan Reich said the president’s business would be treated like any other. “The Department of Labor does not give preference or special treatment to any business or individual,” he said.

To immigration critics who have welcomed Trump’s calls for tightened border restrictions, Mar-a-Lago presents a missed opportunity for the president to lead by example.

“Let wages go up. Offer better benefits. More vacation time. Better working conditions,” said Steven Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for lower immigration levels. “We don’t have a shortage of this kind of workers. You just got to look harder. And I would encourage the president — or whoever makes the hiring decisions down there [at Mar-a-Lago] — to do that.”

So far, there is no sign that anything has changed.

Mar-a-Lago has done what is legally required to seek U.S. job applicants — including posting two newspaper ads, on nonconsecutive days, for each of the openings. It also posted the position with a local job-placement agency.

At least two people applied, according to records kept by the state workforce agency.

One was Osther Loseille, looking for a job as a cook. He had 10 years of experience.

He didn’t realize that Mar-a-Lago was the president’s club.

On the phone, he said, the Mar-a-Lago people didn’t mention it.

“I’ve been cooking at a country club most of my life, so I was interested,” Loseille said. But, after learning more about the job, he turned Mar-a-Lago down. “I’m looking for full-time work, not seasonal,” he said.

By law, Mar-a-Lago needed to search for American workers for 14 days before it could move to the next step in the process of seeking visas for foreign workers. That step is to send documentation to a Labor Department office, attesting to its inability to hire Americans.

Those 14 days ran out last week.

This week, there is a jobs fair in Palm Beach, where big resorts can meet prospective employees in person. Will a Mar-a-Lago representative be there?

At The Washington Post’s request, a job-placement center employee checked the list of attendees.

Mar-a-Lago isn’t going.

Typical of the orange menace. He wants to stop immigration, except for people working for him.

This pisses me off so much. He needs to be investigated for this, too. He is skirting immigration law and making the entire country complicit when he and his tax-payer funded staff go there for "meetings" and not-vacations.

[GreyhoundFan]

1 hour ago, Destiny said:

how about those .... what was it? Shin splints? that kept you out of Vietnam?

I believe it was heel spurs. Yeah, he is such a freaking hypocrite.

[Destiny]

I believe it was heel spurs. Yeah, he is such a freaking hypocrite.

I mean. Heel spurs can be really painful, but I would have liked to see a second opinion. I’m just saying.

[AmazonGrace]

1 hour ago, GreyhoundFan said:

No, he's just stupid.

 

"‘Apply by fax’: Before it can hire foreign workers, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club advertises at home — briefly"

  Reveal hidden contents

President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club needs to hire 35 waiters for this winter’s social season in Palm Beach, Fla.

Late last month, the club placed an ad on page C8 of the Palm Beach Post, crammed full of tiny print laying out the job experience requirements in classified ad shorthand. “3 mos recent & verifiable exp in fine dining/country club,” the ad said. “No tips.”

The ad gave no email address or phone number. “Apply by fax,” it said. The ad also provided a mailing address. It ran twice, then never again.

This was an underwhelming way to attract local job-seekers. But that wasn’t the point. The ads were actually part of Mar-a-Lago’s efforts to hire foreign workers for those 35 jobs.

About a week before the ads ran, the president’s club asked the Labor Department for permission to hire 70 temporary workers from overseas, government records show. Beside the 35 waiters, it asked for 20 cooks and 15 housekeepers, slightly more than it hired last year.

To get visas for those workers, Mar-a-Lago, like other businesses that rely on temporary employees each year, must first take legally mandated steps to look for U.S. workers. That includes placing two ads in a newspaper.

Typically, this attempt to recruit U.S. workers is a ritualized failure. Its outcome is usually a conclusion that there are no qualified Americans to hire, justifying the need for the government to issue the visas.

In the past few days, that ritual began again at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s members-only club that opens every winter and has become a frequent destination for the president.

The club’s request for visas stood out because it came in the middle of “Made in America Week” at the White House, as Trump and his administration sought to highlight his push to remake U.S. trade policy. Even as Trump urged other U.S. businesses to “hire American,” his business was gathering evidence to prove that it couldn’t.

Officials at Mar-a-Lago and at the Trump Organization did not respond to questions for this article. Neither did a White House spokeswoman.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump defended his practice of using foreign workers at his club — even as he blamed immigrants for taking American jobs and keeping wages low for native-born workers.

“It’s very, very hard to get people. But other hotels do the exact same thing. . . . This is a procedure. It’s part of the law,” he said during a Republican candidates’ debate in March 2016, after Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) criticized him for using foreigners at Mar-a-Lago. “I take advantage of that. There’s nothing wrong with it. We have no choice.”

...

The category of visas requested by Mar-a-Lago is called H-2B, and the visas are intended for workers doing temporary jobs in nonagricultural fields. The number is theoretically limited to 66,000 per year, although that cap is frequently lifted: This year, for instance, the Trump administration added 15,000 visas after employers complained that they couldn’t get the workers they need.

The visas are common across the hospitality industry, including at other resorts in Palm Beach, where an influx of visitors for only a few months each year means businesses must find workers willing to take temporary — and, often, labor-intensive — jobs.

Youcheng Wang, a professor at the University of Central Florida’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management, said that Florida’s tourism industry is utterly dependent on these workers.

“This is not an easy industry to work in,” Wang said. “The jobs are typically long hours, with relatively low pay. It’s seasonal and temporary, so there’s instability in that workforce. If you want to enjoy a balance between work and life, this is not that kind of industry.”

Mar-a-Lago has relied on foreign workers since at least 2008, according to government documents. To recruit them, it relies on Petrina Group International, a firm with offices in Ithaca, N.Y., and Romania. News reports have said that Mar-a-Lago’s workers have largely been from Romania and Haiti. Representatives for Petrina did not respond to requests for comment.

In the past, Trump’s club has followed the same pattern of searching for — and not hiring — American workers. Two years ago, for instance, Jeannie Coleman, who lives in nearby West Palm Beach, applied for a job as a housekeeper.

Mar-a-Lago called back. She had an interview. Then: nothing.

“I was very disappointed. At that time, I really needed a job,” said Coleman, now 50, who works at a clothing store. “I had the qualifications. The interview went great. But they never even did the common courtesy to call me and tell me why I wasn’t hired.”

The Labor Department says that employers seeking foreign workers must “hire any [American] applicants who are qualified and available.” That year, Mar-a-Lago told the government it needed to hire 20 foreign workers as housekeepers. The government gave permission.

Now, Trump has resigned from leadership positions at Mar-a-Lago and other Trump Organization businesses. But he still owns them. And he has treated Mar-a-Lago as a second home. Last season, he spent seven weekends there, calling his club the “Winter White House.”

In determining Mar-a-Lago’s visa applications, Labor Department spokesman Egan Reich said the president’s business would be treated like any other. “The Department of Labor does not give preference or special treatment to any business or individual,” he said.

To immigration critics who have welcomed Trump’s calls for tightened border restrictions, Mar-a-Lago presents a missed opportunity for the president to lead by example.

“Let wages go up. Offer better benefits. More vacation time. Better working conditions,” said Steven Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for lower immigration levels. “We don’t have a shortage of this kind of workers. You just got to look harder. And I would encourage the president — or whoever makes the hiring decisions down there [at Mar-a-Lago] — to do that.”

So far, there is no sign that anything has changed.

Mar-a-Lago has done what is legally required to seek U.S. job applicants — including posting two newspaper ads, on nonconsecutive days, for each of the openings. It also posted the position with a local job-placement agency.

At least two people applied, according to records kept by the state workforce agency.

One was Osther Loseille, looking for a job as a cook. He had 10 years of experience.

He didn’t realize that Mar-a-Lago was the president’s club.

On the phone, he said, the Mar-a-Lago people didn’t mention it.

“I’ve been cooking at a country club most of my life, so I was interested,” Loseille said. But, after learning more about the job, he turned Mar-a-Lago down. “I’m looking for full-time work, not seasonal,” he said.

By law, Mar-a-Lago needed to search for American workers for 14 days before it could move to the next step in the process of seeking visas for foreign workers. That step is to send documentation to a Labor Department office, attesting to its inability to hire Americans.

Those 14 days ran out last week.

This week, there is a jobs fair in Palm Beach, where big resorts can meet prospective employees in person. Will a Mar-a-Lago representative be there?

At The Washington Post’s request, a job-placement center employee checked the list of attendees.

Mar-a-Lago isn’t going.

Typical of the orange menace. He wants to stop immigration, except for people working for him.

Apply by fax? Does anybody have fax anymore?

[AmazonGrace]

Today in  pathological Trump lies: 

http://www.grubstreet.com/2017/08/trump-made-up-21-club-renovation-story.html?utm_source=tw&utm_medium=s3&utm_campaign=sharebutton-t

Quote

 

Last week, it was reported that President Donald Trump compared an Afghanistan policy review to the renovation of upper-crust restaurant the 21 Club. In typical Trumpian fashion, it turns out that the morality tale he was trying to tell was just made up. That’s what “Page Six” has been told by the restaurant’s former CEO Ken Aretsky and former owner Marshall Cogan, who did not mince words in saying, “I have no idea what was in his head. I never have.”

According to Trump, the 21 Club closed for a full year and management hired an expensive consultant who recommended nothing but making the kitchen bigger. (How useless!) His point was that this was a colossal waste of money, fancy consultants are lazy grifters, and, uh, the troops on the ground might have better insights into the war than the generals. The problem is that Trump’s story, Aretsky and Cogan say, is totally fabricated.

Not only did the renovation take half as long as Trump claimed, but Aretsky says they never hired a consultant. The kitchen was 60 years old at the time, ancient by restaurant standards, and they did put in all new equipment and ductwork. Aretsky says that he’s “proud of the job I did,” but “got a great kick out of” Trump’s story. At least someone was amused. As for why Trump spun this yarn? Cogan says that he thinks the president “has a psychological problem that only a therapist can define for you. I can’t.”

 

 

[candygirl200413]

How the Trump hotel changed Washington’s culture of influence

Quote

On a June morning, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis Klaus Iohannis President of Romania. Iohannis thanked Trump the next morning for his “strong leadership.” His office did not say whether he stayed at the hotel overnight. and his wife enjoyed croissants in the lounge of the opulent hotel, a day before joining President Trump a few blocks away at the White House for a Rose Garden news conference.

Downstairs that same day in the grand ballroom, hundreds of bankers discussed their industry’s future under Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Steven Mnuchin Treasury secretary. Mnuchin, sometimes spotted carrying his small dog while staying at the hotel, is the architect of Trump's tax reform plan. , who lived in the hotel for six months at his own expense, according to a spokesman, after Trump picked him for the job.

The scenes illustrate a daily spectacle of Washington influence at 1100 Pennsylvania Ave., the city’s newest luxury hotel that has quickly become a kind of White House annex. Since Trump’s election, the Trump International Hotel has emerged as a Republican Party power center where on a good day — such as July 28 around 8 p.m. — excited visitors can watch the president share intimate dinner conversation with his just-named chief of staff, John F. Kelly, and be the first to brag about it on social media.

This is nothing Washington has ever seen. For the first time in presidential history, a profit-making venture touts the name of a U.S. president in its gold signage. And every cup of coffee served, every fundraiser scheduled, every filet mignon ordered feeds the revenue of the Trump family’s private business.

In conversations with The Washington Post, the hotel’s management described its strategy to capitalize on the president’s popularity. It markets the hotel to Republican and conservative groups that embrace Trump’s politics but takes care not to solicit business from fringe groups that would embarrass the president. Trump supporters in red “Make America Great Again” caps get a chance to rub elbows with White House officials against an American flag backdrop at the Benjamin Bar, where a signature concoction of winter wheat vodka, oysters and caviar goes for $100.

“While we can’t quantify how much business we have received because of politics, neither can we quantify how much we have lost,” Patricia Tang Patricia Tang Trump International Hotel director of sales and marketing. Tang is an industry veteran who has worked for the Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, Mandarin Oriental and other luxury brands. , director of sales and marketing, said in an interview.

It is difficult to see comings and goings at the hotel. There are no signs in the lobby to direct guests to daily events, velvet ropes block the public from meeting areas, and some groups holding conventions and banquets omit references to Trump’s name in their promotional materials. Many decline to answer questions about why they chose the Trump hotel from the many similar luxury Washington venues.

The Post spent part of every day in May in the hotel’s bars, restaurants and lobby. What reporters saw ranged from events hosted by foreign groups with policy priorities to Republican glitterati — Rudolph W. Giuliani Rudolph W. Giuliani Lobbyist and former New York City mayor. Giuliani spoke to two reporters at the hotel that night and assured them he was not a candidate to replace Comey. posing for selfies at the bar the night Trump fired FBI Director James B. Comey; White House aide Omarosa Manigault conferring with the former producer of “The Apprentice”; former Trump campaign adviser Corey Lewandowski Corey Lewandowski Former Trump campaign manager. Lewandowski stepped down from the lobbying firm he co-founded in early May. plopping into a black leather chair marked “Reserved”; then-press secretary Sean Spicer Sean Spicer Former White House press secretary. Spicer stepped aside from running the White House press briefing the day he was at the hotel, May 5, for Navy Reserve duty. scrolling through his phone on a plush blue sofa in the lobby.

The parade included out-of-town tourists gawking in the lobby; bartenders hawking $2,500-per-bottle champagne; a light artist at nightfall projecting a protest message on the gray stone facade that read “Pay Trump Bribes Here.”

Trump, as titular leader of the Republican Party, has showcased the hotel as a destination of choice for GOP loyalists.

In July, about 300 Republican donors, paying $35,000 apiece, gathered at the hotel for a fundraiser headlined by the president. The event raised an estimated $10 million for Trump’s campaign, the Republican National Committee and other GOP groups, according to news reports at the time.

Money also has poured in from other Republican political committees that have chosen the Trump hotel as a venue for receptions. The hotel has hosted events for Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) A Republican congressman from California. Rohrabacher is an early Trump supporter whom Politico recently dubbed "Putin’s favorite congressman." , Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) A Republican congressman from Pennsylvania. Shuster also supported Trump's campaign. The committee he chairs has oversight over the GSA — the Trump hotel's landlord. and nine other Republican members of Congress, according to campaign spending disclosures.

No one has yet calculated how much taxpayer money is being spent at the hotel. A Texas newspaper is seeking records of state expenditures at the hotel. In Maine, the Portland Press Herald dug into Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s spending at the hotel when in Washington for White House meetings. LePage’s spokesman defended the expenditures, telling the newspaper that the governor was meeting with federal officials “in an effort to benefit the Maine people.”

Business from foreign customers is brisk, the hotel says, but as an ethical precaution, it says it does not market directly to foreign embassies. Under an agreement signed by Trump, the hotel has promised to donate any profits made from foreign governments to the U.S. Treasury. An obscure constitutional provision known as the emoluments clause prohibits the president from profiting from foreign governments without specific approval from Congress.

But groups with foreign interests have found that the location helps attract Washington star power. In May, a pair of business groups promoting Turkish American relations staged their annual convention at the Trump hotel during a tense moment between the countries.

The Turkish ambassador was there, and a high-ranking State Department official offered his thoughts on a violent protest that led to arrests at the ambassador’s residence in Washington. Trump confidant Newt Gingrich Newt Gingrich A member of Trump’s inner circle and a former congressman. Gingrich also made a speech to the National Funeral Directors Association in the hotel’s Lincoln Library in April. stressed the importance of smooth relations in a keynote luncheon speech.

At the convention’s end, 190 guests feasted on a three-course dinner at $95 per person, with the bill paid by the event sponsors, according to a billing obtained by The Post. Breakfast, dinner and drinks on May 23 alone ran to more than $30,000, including a “Banquet Event Service Charge” of 24 percent and eight gallons of Trump Signature Segafredo Zanetti Coffee, internal documents show.

A high-end renovation of the historic Old Post Office Pavilion, the 263-room hotel has become a symbol of the tangled ethical questions posed by Trump’s presidency. The Trump Organization, then headed by the billionaire New York developer, leased the property from the General Services Administration in 2013 and pays the federal agency $250,000 in rent each month.

Since Trump’s election, his critics have charged that anyone seeking favor from the White House has an incentive to stay in posh rooms that can be booked on the Internet for $400 per night or more. One of Washington’s most expensive hotels, the Trump International brought in $19.7 million between its opening last fall and mid-April, according to Trump’s most recent financial disclosure. Some hotel industry experts say that number is higher than expected, and senior analyst Michael Bellisario of Robert W. Baird and Co. said, “Anecdotally, it’s doing well because people are staying there when they come to visit the White House.”

Trump tried to address ethical concerns by turning over the hotel’s management to his two eldest sons and vowing to take no hotel profits during his tenure. But he retained his ownership interest, allowing him to eventually profit from the holdings.

How the Trump hotel changed Washington’s culture of influence

The hotel’s managers press conservative, Republican and Christian groups to do business where they can rub shoulders with Trump’s Cabinet.

 

On a June morning, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis Klaus Iohannis President of Romania. Iohannis thanked Trump the next morning for his “strong leadership.” His office did not say whether he stayed at the hotel overnight. and his wife enjoyed croissants in the lounge of the opulent hotel, a day before joining President Trump a few blocks away at the White House for a Rose Garden news conference.

Downstairs that same day in the grand ballroom, hundreds of bankers discussed their industry’s future under Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Steven Mnuchin Treasury secretary. Mnuchin, sometimes spotted carrying his small dog while staying at the hotel, is the architect of Trump's tax reform plan. , who lived in the hotel for six months at his own expense, according to a spokesman, after Trump picked him for the job.

The scenes illustrate a daily spectacle of Washington influence at 1100 Pennsylvania Ave., the city’s newest luxury hotel that has quickly become a kind of White House annex. Since Trump’s election, the Trump International Hotel has emerged as a Republican Party power center where on a good day — such as July 28 around 8 p.m. — excited visitors can watch the president share intimate dinner conversation with his just-named chief of staff, John F. Kelly, and be the first to brag about it on social media.

This is nothing Washington has ever seen. For the first time in presidential history, a profit-making venture touts the name of a U.S. president in its gold signage. And every cup of coffee served, every fundraiser scheduled, every filet mignon ordered feeds the revenue of the Trump family’s private business.

In conversations with The Washington Post, the hotel’s management described its strategy to capitalize on the president’s popularity. It markets the hotel to Republican and conservative groups that embrace Trump’s politics but takes care not to solicit business from fringe groups that would embarrass the president. Trump supporters in red “Make America Great Again” caps get a chance to rub elbows with White House officials against an American flag backdrop at the Benjamin Bar, where a signature concoction of winter wheat vodka, oysters and caviar goes for $100.

“While we can’t quantify how much business we have received because of politics, neither can we quantify how much we have lost,” Patricia Tang Patricia Tang Trump International Hotel director of sales and marketing. Tang is an industry veteran who has worked for the Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, Mandarin Oriental and other luxury brands. , director of sales and marketing, said in an interview.

It is difficult to see comings and goings at the hotel. There are no signs in the lobby to direct guests to daily events, velvet ropes block the public from meeting areas, and some groups holding conventions and banquets omit references to Trump’s name in their promotional materials. Many decline to answer questions about why they chose the Trump hotel from the many similar luxury Washington venues.

Inside D.C.’s Trump International Hotel

The Lounge is full of couches and over-size chairs where members of Trump's administration, Trump family members and fans in MAGA hats regularly stop in.

 

The Presidential Ballroom seats 1,300 and is the largest luxury ballroom in the city. This is where the Trump Organization books weddings, receptions for foreign delegations and conferences for federal contractors.

 

The Franklin Study was originally planned as a restaurant by chef Geoffrey Zakarian. Instead, it is meeting space that seats 175.

The Lincoln Library meeting space seats about 200. Members of the Trump inner circle have given paid speeches to lobbying groups here.

 

BLT Prime steakhouse overlooks the lobby from space that was meant for chef José Andrés before he opted against opening a restaurant with Trump.

Source: Diagram based on floor plans submitted to the National Capital Planning Commission.

The Post spent part of every day in May in the hotel’s bars, restaurants and lobby. What reporters saw ranged from events hosted by foreign groups with policy priorities to Republican glitterati — Rudolph W. Giuliani Rudolph W. Giuliani Lobbyist and former New York City mayor. Giuliani spoke to two reporters at the hotel that night and assured them he was not a candidate to replace Comey. posing for selfies at the bar the night Trump fired FBI Director James B. Comey; White House aide Omarosa Manigault conferring with the former producer of “The Apprentice”; former Trump campaign adviser Corey Lewandowski Corey Lewandowski Former Trump campaign manager. Lewandowski stepped down from the lobbying firm he co-founded in early May. plopping into a black leather chair marked “Reserved”; then-press secretary Sean Spicer Sean Spicer Former White House press secretary. Spicer stepped aside from running the White House press briefing the day he was at the hotel, May 5, for Navy Reserve duty. scrolling through his phone on a plush blue sofa in the lobby.

The parade included out-of-town tourists gawking in the lobby; bartenders hawking $2,500-per-bottle champagne; a light artist at nightfall projecting a protest message on the gray stone facade that read “Pay Trump Bribes Here.”

Trump, as titular leader of the Republican Party, has showcased the hotel as a destination of choice for GOP loyalists.

In July, about 300 Republican donors, paying $35,000 apiece, gathered at the hotel for a fundraiser headlined by the president. The event raised an estimated $10 million for Trump’s campaign, the Republican National Committee and other GOP groups, according to news reports at the time.

Money also has poured in from other Republican political committees that have chosen the Trump hotel as a venue for receptions. The hotel has hosted events for Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) A Republican congressman from California. Rohrabacher is an early Trump supporter whom Politico recently dubbed "Putin’s favorite congressman." , Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) A Republican congressman from Pennsylvania. Shuster also supported Trump's campaign. The committee he chairs has oversight over the GSA — the Trump hotel's landlord. and nine other Republican members of Congress, according to campaign spending disclosures.

No one has yet calculated how much taxpayer money is being spent at the hotel. A Texas newspaper is seeking records of state expenditures at the hotel. In Maine, the Portland Press Herald dug into Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s spending at the hotel when in Washington for White House meetings. LePage’s spokesman defended the expenditures, telling the newspaper that the governor was meeting with federal officials “in an effort to benefit the Maine people.”

 

The Trump International Hotel, Washington’s newest luxury hotel, has quickly become a kind of White House annex. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)

Business from foreign customers is brisk, the hotel says, but as an ethical precaution, it says it does not market directly to foreign embassies. Under an agreement signed by Trump, the hotel has promised to donate any profits made from foreign governments to the U.S. Treasury. An obscure constitutional provision known as the emoluments clause prohibits the president from profiting from foreign governments without specific approval from Congress.

But groups with foreign interests have found that the location helps attract Washington star power. In May, a pair of business groups promoting Turkish American relations staged their annual convention at the Trump hotel during a tense moment between the countries.

The Turkish ambassador was there, and a high-ranking State Department official offered his thoughts on a violent protest that led to arrests at the ambassador’s residence in Washington. Trump confidant Newt Gingrich Newt Gingrich A member of Trump’s inner circle and a former congressman. Gingrich also made a speech to the National Funeral Directors Association in the hotel’s Lincoln Library in April. stressed the importance of smooth relations in a keynote luncheon speech.

At the convention’s end, 190 guests feasted on a three-course dinner at $95 per person, with the bill paid by the event sponsors, according to a billing obtained by The Post. Breakfast, dinner and drinks on May 23 alone ran to more than $30,000, including a “Banquet Event Service Charge” of 24 percent and eight gallons of Trump Signature Segafredo Zanetti Coffee, internal documents show.

‘It’s doing well’

A high-end renovation of the historic Old Post Office Pavilion, the 263-room hotel has become a symbol of the tangled ethical questions posed by Trump’s presidency. The Trump Organization, then headed by the billionaire New York developer, leased the property from the General Services Administration in 2013 and pays the federal agency $250,000 in rent each month.

Since Trump’s election, his critics have charged that anyone seeking favor from the White House has an incentive to stay in posh rooms that can be booked on the Internet for $400 per night or more. One of Washington’s most expensive hotels, the Trump International brought in $19.7 million between its opening last fall and mid-April, according to Trump’s most recent financial disclosure. Some hotel industry experts say that number is higher than expected, and senior analyst Michael Bellisario of Robert W. Baird and Co. said, “Anecdotally, it’s doing well because people are staying there when they come to visit the White House.”

Trump tried to address ethical concerns by turning over the hotel’s management to his two eldest sons and vowing to take no hotel profits during his tenure. But he retained his ownership interest, allowing him to eventually profit from the holdings.

The Trump International Hotel inside the federally owned Old Post Office building in downtown D.C. has been mired in controversy even before opening its doors. (Claritza Jimenez, Osman Malik, Jonathan O'Connell/The Washington Post)

The arrangement did little to quell controversy. Early this year, lobbying reports revealed that some veterans groups had been brought in to lobby Congress against a law allowing victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to sue Saudi Arabia. The veterans groups ran up $270,000 in hotel charges, including about $190,000 for rooms, $78,000 for catering and $1,600 for parking, the filings showed.

The bill was ultimately paid by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, leading to criticism as Trump embarked three months later to Saudi Arabia on his first international trip. The White House did not respond to questions. The Saudi embassy did not respond to requests for comment.

The Trump hotel has faced lawsuits since its opening. The most recent ones filed by two state attorneys general, members of Congress and competing Washington convention businesses contend that Trump is violating the emoluments clause.

Trump’s donation to the U.S. Treasury is aimed for the end of the year, and Tang said the hotel keeps a separate ledger to record any payments from foreign governments.

But Trump critics such as Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) The District's delegate in the House. Norton holds a top position overseeing GSA and pressed the agency to put the property out to bid. (D-D.C.), who worked with Ivanka Trump on the original development plans for the hotel, argue that the novel legal questions posed by the emoluments lawsuits will eventually force the president to give up ownership.

“I can’t believe that there’s any court that will say the emoluments clause does not apply here, notwithstanding that it has never been tried in court before,” Norton said.

or Trump supporters, the hotel offers a safe space in an overwhelmingly Democratic city. For Republican lobbyists, conservative groups and foreign entities, including many that do not typically enjoy White House access, it has become a frequent stop.

The hotel’s visibility also has made it a central target for activists representing immigrants, climate science and labor groups who aren’t always successful on Capitol Hill but can sometimes make the evening news protesting at the hotel.

In May, Trump’s son Eric Eric Trump Trump's son and executive vice president of the Trump Organization. Eric runs Trump’s company with his brother Donald Jr. He spent four days in town overseeing the tournament. and his wife, Lara, stopped by while in town for a golf tournament at Trump’s Virginia course. Spicer Sean Spicer Former White House press secretary. Spicer stepped aside from running the White House press briefing the day he was at the hotel, May 5, for Navy Reserve duty. , who promoted the hotel as “absolutely stunning” after Trump was elected, ate alone near the bar.

Lobbying groups and foreign entities held galas in the 13,200-square-foot Presidential Ballroom designed by daughter Ivanka to offer larger event space than any other luxury hotel in the city.

The Benjamin Bar, named for Benjamin Franklin, served as a nightly resting spot for White House visitors and a green room for Trump surrogates on their way to or from media hits.

Lewandowski Corey Lewandowski Former Trump campaign manager. Lewandowski stepped down from the lobbying firm he co-founded in early May. , the former campaign strategist, rolled through once a week or more. On the day Robert S. Mueller III was appointed special counsel to investigate possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, Lewandowski — shortly after denying on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show that he saw anyone on the campaign have conversations with a foreign government — showed up to pace the marble-floored lobby. Weeks later, he sat and had beers with New York Times Magazine reporter Mark Leibovich Mark Leibovich Chief national correspondent for the New York Times Magazine. A few weeks after Leibovich was there, Trump tweeted “The failing @nytimes writes false story after false story about me.” .

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) Republican senator of Kentucky. Paul told reporters that morning it was “going to take a little bit of work” to get him to vote for a health-care bill replacement but that he does “have an open mind.” had dinner with his wife. David Clarke David Clarke Sheriff of Milwaukee County, Wis. Clarke said the month prior that the Trump administration had appointed him assistant secretary in the Department of Homeland Security. He remains a sheriff. , the Milwaukee sheriff who was then reportedly under consideration for a homeland security job, hung out at the bar in camo shorts. The Trump family’s event planner, Lynne Patton Lynne Patton HUD director for New York-New Jersey. Patton frequented the hotel in May. The next month, the Trump administration named her to the HUD position. , now a senior official in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, posted a video online from the hotel lobby in which she and friends pitched Ivanka Trump’s new book.

One Friday evening in May, a group of Russian clerics arrived in the long, black flowing robes and beards of the Eastern Orthodox church for closing ceremonies of the World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians, in partnership with the Rev. Franklin Graham and his evangelical organization, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. More than 800 people from 130 countries and territories attended.

A spokesman for Graham said the choice to use the Trump hotel “was based on space and availability.” He said Graham “isn’t aware of any facts that would give him concern at this point” regarding Trump’s continued property ownership.

The Turkish event May 21 to 23 was booked before the election, according to organizers, but came as the government of Turkey stepped up its presence in Washington, hiring a Florida-based Trump fundraiser, Brian Ballard Brian Ballard Lobbyist and fundraiser. Ballard’s clients include American Airlines, MGM Resorts, Reynolds American tobacco and U.S. Sugar. He came to the hotel for the RNC in July. , as a lobbyist with a $1.5 million initial contract, according to public filings.

The event was co-chaired by a group headed by K. Ekim Alptekin K. Ekim Alptekin Chairman of the Turkey-U.S. Business Council. Alptekin told the crowd he hired Flynn “to help me understand where the Turkish American relationship is going.” , founder of a company that paid retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn for lobbying work that may have benefited the Turkish government. The former Trump national security adviser is now under investigation by the Pentagon and congressional committees regarding his relationships with foreign governments.

Alptekin surprised ballroom guests during the first morning session by directly addressing the hiring of Flynn’s company to “help me understand where the Turkish American relationship is going and what the obstacles to the relationship are.”

An Italian medical foundation hosted cancer doctors from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the University Medical Center in Hamburg from May 11 to 13. The program omitted mention of Trump, listing the location as “Congress Center — Old Post Office Building.”

A spokesman for the German university said it played no role in selecting the location, and the foundation, Fondazione Internazionale Menarini, did not respond to a request for comment.

The PenFed Foundation held its 800-person charity gala at the hotel to benefit veterans, and president Tamara Darvish said the hotel choice was not political. “We are there to help veterans,” she said.

Consulting giant Deloitte did not respond to questions about its decision to use the hotel for a June 8 event that attracted hundreds of banking leaders as Congress discussed whether Dodd-Frank financial regulations should be rolled back.

Meanwhile, the ties between the hotel and the White House have only strengthened. First lady Melania Trump chose the hotel’s director of rooms as White House usher, adding to a former caddie, hotel spokeswoman and bodyguard from Trump’s business who have all found positions in the White House.

Trump has yet to name a new GSA administrator, who will oversee his company’s lease. And congressional Democrats, led by Rep. Peter A. DeFazio (D-Ore.) Rep. Peter A. DeFazio (D-Ore.) A Democratic congressman from Oregon. His staff recently produced a 24-page report on the hotel called "Breach of a Lease: The Tale of the Old Post Office in the Swamp." , have accused the GSA of withholding documents about the Trump lease arrangements from the committee overseeing the agency.

Anti-Trump protesters continue to use the venue to speak out on the president’s policies. It is not unusual for the hotel to suspend service at its European-style sidewalk cafe and move guests inside.

One evening, hotel staff guided guests inside just in time to miss a man in a wheelchair rolling down the street out front giving the hotel the middle finger as part of a demonstration for disabled rights.

“It’s such a symbol of Trump and his excesses,” said Donna Norton of MomsRising, a liberal network with more than 1 million members who led about 100 people on a march to the hotel in May.

She said when her protest group arrived, the hotel staff was very polite in turning them away.

“I think they’re getting used to it,” she said.

 

How is this fucking allowed?!

[fraurosena]

9 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

Apply by fax? Does anybody have fax anymore?

Which was exactly the point. 

3 hours ago, candygirl200413 said:

How the Trump hotel changed Washington’s culture of influence

How is this fucking allowed?!

It's not.

Repugs, however, are too busy cooking up the upteenth iteration of their zombie healthcare bill to invoke the emoluments clause.

[fraurosena]

But of course...

I wonder, will sinners Ivanka, Betsy, Kellyanne, Omarosa, Sarah, Hope, Kathleen, Dina, and Lindsey all (be asked to) resign now?

[fraurosena]

When you are the presidunce, it's just so irritating that there is that pesky First Amendment to mess with your authoritarian tendencies.

Trump bans coverage of golf outings after media exposes sham “working vacation”

Quote

Donald Trump has banned the media from covering him as he takes a break from his failing presidency to indulge in multiple rounds of golf for the month of August.

While Trump aides have described his escape to this New Jersey golf club as a “working vacation” — and Trump claimed, during a Monday morning Twitter tantrum, that he is “working hard from New Jersey” — the luxury getaway at taxpayer expense has already been exposed.

White House aide and Nazi sympathizer Seb Gorka said in July that Trump was justified in taking off the month of August because he’s been “crushing it” as president.

Trump did not allow the traveling White House press pool to go with him to the Trump National Golf Club over the weekend. Instead, as they reported, they were stuck “in a windowless conference room at the Marriott in Bridgewater, N.J.,” 12 miles away from Trump’s club. White House officials did not tell the press what Trump would be up to that day.

If they had been permitted to travel with Trump, they would have caught him crashing a wedding over the weekend as he hit the links dressed up “wearing typical golf clothes mixed in with a red Make America Great Again hat.”

Sports Illustrated posted an Instagram video of Trump in full golf regalia, inquiring if wedding guests were having a good time. These are images that would not have been seen if not for amateur videographers toting their iPhones.

While Trump tweeted that the planned 17-day getaway was “not a vacation” and that he was taking “meetings and calls,” his attempted media blackout isn’t working because it is 2017 and it’s virtually impossible for someone as infamous as Trump to completely hide.

Unlike Trump, President Barack Obama’s first August in the White House was filled with official duties and actions, as he worked to improve the economy and pass his health care legislation, which brought insurance to millions. Trump’s health care plan failed to pass.

Trump has tried to hide his golf escapades several times before, perhaps aware that his apparent addiction to the game makes his tweets complaining about Obama’s golfing, which happened far less often, sound ridiculous.

Banning the press to hide his behavior hasn’t worked, but it speaks volumes about Trump’s authoritarian mindsetthat he ever thought it would.

Ugh. How gross is that 'shake of his belt' that he does in the video in the embedded tweet? 

[GreyhoundFan]

I guess he was too busy with "calls and meetings": "Trump still has not condemned the Minnesota mosque bombing. Muslim leaders are waiting."

Spoiler

Since a makeshift bomb tore through a Minnesota mosque early Saturday morning, President Trump has used Twitter, his preferred platform for communicating with the American people, to rail about “fake news,” attack a Democratic senator from Connecticut and insist that he’s working hard while vacationing in New Jersey.

One topic Trump has yet to address: the mosque attack at the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in the Twin Cities suburb of Bloomington, where several people were gathering for prayer. Nobody was injured, authorities said, but the attack has left the Muslim community feeling unsettled.

And Minnesotans and others are still waiting for the president to condemn the attack.

“Silence on the part of public officials at the national level only serves to empower Islamophobes,” Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a statement calling for Trump to condemn the attack, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“We are wondering why President Trump has not tweeted about this,” Asad Zaman, director of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, told BuzzFeed News. “He seems to want to tweet about security and terror issues.”

On Sunday, the Department of Homeland Security released a statement saying that its acting secretary, Elaine Duke, was “aware” of the explosion and that the agency was in “close contact” with investigators and community leaders.

“The Department of Homeland Security fully supports the rights of all to freely and safely worship the faith of their choosing and we vigorously condemn such attacks on any religious institution,” the statement said. “We are thankful that there were no injuries, but that does not diminish the serious nature of this act.”

New York Times White House correspondent Glenn Thrush tweeted an email statement from the White House Monday. According to Thrush, it read: “The President has been and is continuing to be updated and we are monitoring situation for now.”

Also Monday, FBI Special Agent in Charge Rick Thornton reassured the community his agency was thoroughly investigating the attack.

“While it is fortunate that no lives were lost, and the physical damage is reparable, the FBI recognizes the pain and anger of our communities anytime a place of worship is attacked and we will work hard to hold those responsible accountable,” Thornton said in a statement.

...

But many Muslims and others want Trump to denounce the attack.

Mohamed Omar, executive director of targeted mosque, invited Trump to “come and see — to come and see what happened,” reported BuzzFeed News.

“He is the president of this country, and this happened to us,” Omar told the publication. “He has to come here and at least express his feelings and say this is bad.”

That sentiment has been echoed across social media.

...

Silence after attacks where Muslims are the victims is not uncharacteristic for the president, who has been previously lambasted for a perceived double standard that critics claim he applies when denouncing terrorism. Attacks perpetuated by Muslims draw his attention and sharp tongue, they argue, while violence targeting Muslims is overlooked.

“President Trump has to date not expressed any significant opposition to Americans turning on Americans of the Islamic faith,” Corey Saylor, with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told the Huffington Post. “Through his Muslims ban and comments from the campaign trail, he has instead painted the entire American Muslim community as suspect.”

A Pew Research Center survey released last month revealed that 48 percent of Muslims in the United States said they had faced discrimination in some form over the past year. The results showed that nearly 75 percent of those surveyed considered Trump “as unfriendly toward Muslims in America.”

While Trump’s Twitter feed remained mum on the Minnesota mosque bombing as of early Tuesday morning, other local, state and federal leaders had been quick to address the attack.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton said the “terrible, dastardly, cowardly act” was “an act of terrorism” while visiting the center Sunday, reported the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “The destruction done to this sacred site is just unthinkable, unforgivable,” he said. “I hope and pray the perpetrator will be caught and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

Dayton was joined by the state’s lieutenant governor, the mayor of Bloomington and state Rep. Andrew Carlson and state Rep. Ilhan Omar, the first Somali American elected to the legislature. Also in attendance was Rep. Keith Ellison, a Democrat and the first Muslim elected to Congress, who said he was heartened by how the community had rallied around the mosque, reported the Star-Tribune.

“This is the right spirit and there is no better way to condemn the person who would throw a bomb into this mosque than to react in a loving, kind, inclusive way,” Ellison said.

 

[GrumpyGran]

15 hours ago, Destiny said:

I mean. Heel spurs can be really painful, but I would have liked to see a second opinion. I’m just saying.

It's just a cover for the real reason. The doctor told Trump's daddy that he couldn't in good conscience let Donnie go to Vietnam because he was so stupid and arrogant he wouldn't last five minutes there. As a matter of fact, the doctor was pretty sure Donnie wouldn't even survive the plane trip over.

[GrumpyGran]

6 hours ago, fraurosena said:

  9 hours ago, candygirl200413 said:

How the Trump hotel changed Washington’s culture of influence

How is this fucking allowed?!

I have to admit that it does make me laugh-all these leghumpers who are staying there pouring all their money into the black hole of a Trump venture. I'm sure there are all kinds of violations of finance rules but if the rich idiots who stay there just to support Trump and get an inside lane want to waste their money, fine by me. Trump ultimately only does for Trump and that place will be bankrupt in 10 years.

[fraurosena]

47 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

I guess he was too busy with "calls and meetings": "Trump still has not condemned the Minnesota mosque bombing. Muslim leaders are waiting."

  Reveal hidden contents

Since a makeshift bomb tore through a Minnesota mosque early Saturday morning, President Trump has used Twitter, his preferred platform for communicating with the American people, to rail about “fake news,” attack a Democratic senator from Connecticut and insist that he’s working hard while vacationing in New Jersey.

One topic Trump has yet to address: the mosque attack at the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in the Twin Cities suburb of Bloomington, where several people were gathering for prayer. Nobody was injured, authorities said, but the attack has left the Muslim community feeling unsettled.

And Minnesotans and others are still waiting for the president to condemn the attack.

“Silence on the part of public officials at the national level only serves to empower Islamophobes,” Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a statement calling for Trump to condemn the attack, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“We are wondering why President Trump has not tweeted about this,” Asad Zaman, director of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, told BuzzFeed News. “He seems to want to tweet about security and terror issues.”

On Sunday, the Department of Homeland Security released a statement saying that its acting secretary, Elaine Duke, was “aware” of the explosion and that the agency was in “close contact” with investigators and community leaders.

“The Department of Homeland Security fully supports the rights of all to freely and safely worship the faith of their choosing and we vigorously condemn such attacks on any religious institution,” the statement said. “We are thankful that there were no injuries, but that does not diminish the serious nature of this act.”

New York Times White House correspondent Glenn Thrush tweeted an email statement from the White House Monday. According to Thrush, it read: “The President has been and is continuing to be updated and we are monitoring situation for now.”

Also Monday, FBI Special Agent in Charge Rick Thornton reassured the community his agency was thoroughly investigating the attack.

“While it is fortunate that no lives were lost, and the physical damage is reparable, the FBI recognizes the pain and anger of our communities anytime a place of worship is attacked and we will work hard to hold those responsible accountable,” Thornton said in a statement.

...

But many Muslims and others want Trump to denounce the attack.

Mohamed Omar, executive director of targeted mosque, invited Trump to “come and see — to come and see what happened,” reported BuzzFeed News.

“He is the president of this country, and this happened to us,” Omar told the publication. “He has to come here and at least express his feelings and say this is bad.”

That sentiment has been echoed across social media.

...

Silence after attacks where Muslims are the victims is not uncharacteristic for the president, who has been previously lambasted for a perceived double standard that critics claim he applies when denouncing terrorism. Attacks perpetuated by Muslims draw his attention and sharp tongue, they argue, while violence targeting Muslims is overlooked.

“President Trump has to date not expressed any significant opposition to Americans turning on Americans of the Islamic faith,” Corey Saylor, with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told the Huffington Post. “Through his Muslims ban and comments from the campaign trail, he has instead painted the entire American Muslim community as suspect.”

A Pew Research Center survey released last month revealed that 48 percent of Muslims in the United States said they had faced discrimination in some form over the past year. The results showed that nearly 75 percent of those surveyed considered Trump “as unfriendly toward Muslims in America.”

While Trump’s Twitter feed remained mum on the Minnesota mosque bombing as of early Tuesday morning, other local, state and federal leaders had been quick to address the attack.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton said the “terrible, dastardly, cowardly act” was “an act of terrorism” while visiting the center Sunday, reported the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “The destruction done to this sacred site is just unthinkable, unforgivable,” he said. “I hope and pray the perpetrator will be caught and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

Dayton was joined by the state’s lieutenant governor, the mayor of Bloomington and state Rep. Andrew Carlson and state Rep. Ilhan Omar, the first Somali American elected to the legislature. Also in attendance was Rep. Keith Ellison, a Democrat and the first Muslim elected to Congress, who said he was heartened by how the community had rallied around the mosque, reported the Star-Tribune.

“This is the right spirit and there is no better way to condemn the person who would throw a bomb into this mosque than to react in a loving, kind, inclusive way,” Ellison said.

 

I would advise them not to hold their breath... 

6 minutes ago, GrumpyGran said:

I have to admit that it does make me laugh-all these leghumpers who are staying there pouring all their money into the black hole of a Trump venture. I'm sure there are all kinds of violations of finance rules but if the rich idiots who stay there just to support Trump and get an inside lane want to waste their money, fine by me. Trump ultimately only does for Trump and that place will be bankrupt in 10 years.

He'll bankrupt America long before that though.