Robert Lighthizer: Absolutely OK to use tariffs to squeeze nations on non-trade issues   37%

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Megan Cassela on politico.com on June 18, 2019.US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Tuesday he sees no issue with President Donald Trump's inclination to use tariffs to pressure countries to make policy changes in areas unrelated to trade, specifically when they present threats to national security.Lighthizer, in testifying before the Senate Finance Committee, was asked about Trump's…

Deutsche Bank faces criminal investigation for potential money laundering lapses  

Insiders say the investigation includes a review of Deutsche Bank's handling of possibly problematic transactions, including some linked to President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner.

President Donald Trump is thinking dirty   -12%

President Donald Trump says he'd accept campaign dirt from foreign governments and individuals.

Leadership crisis roils Election Assistance Commission   -25%

Lawmakers lash out at Trump’s foreign interference remarks — Cybersecurity remains weak in 2020 campaigns

Comics mock Trump's campaign kickoff event   -30%

Late night comics took on President Trump's reelection kickoff in Orlando.

Xi Jinping and Donald Trump to broaden agenda beyond US-China trade war for meeting at G20 summit in Osaka   -1%

When Chinese President Xi Jinping meets his US counterpart Donald Trump in Japan at the end of the month they are expected to discuss a broad range of issues, including the trade war, in an effort to stop the relationship from tilting towards sustained confrontation, analysts said.Neither side has provided an agenda for the meeting on the sidelines of the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, despite confirmation coming from both sides that it was to take place, after weeks of speculation.A summary of…

Hong Kongs extradition turmoil wont dampen the property market greatly but Chinas economy might   -3%

As a keen observer of global markets, I have learned not to be dismissive of political risks, especially those that are downplayed by investors yet have the potential to affect sentiment significantly, and may even pose a systemic threat. In the past decade, the influence of politics on asset prices has not only increased dramatically – the rise of populism, which led to Britain’s decision to leave the European Union and the election of Donald Trump as America’s president, is the best example …

Trump arrives in London amid a flurry of tweets and a royal welcome  

Although the president insulted London Mayor Sadiq Khan, a critic of Mr. Trump, on Twitter hours before landing, the two-day state visit aims to bolster U.S.–U.K. relations. Mr. Trump also plans to visit his golf resort in Ireland. 

With Maduro entrenched in Venezuela, Trump loses patience and interest in issue, officials say   11%

The ouster of the Venezuelan president seemed a sure bet last winter. Less so, now.

Netanyahu declares establishment of community named after Trump in Golan Heights  

Premier calls founding of Ramat Trump a 'historic day,' but the community cannot be officially established until next government takes office

At rally, Trump lied a lot about the economy. Heres whats worrying him.  

Voters like the economy, but don't credit Trump for it. That's a big problem for him.

White House offers budget freeze if Dems don't agree to deal   16%

Trump administration bargainers are offering a one-year budget freeze, say Democratic spending demands remain too high

Justice Department sides with Maine families suing for right to use public funds for religious school   25%

It's the latest move by the Trump administration to try to overturn state laws that restrict the use of public funds.

Wife of ex-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn seeks Trumps help to urge Japan to ensure fair trial conditions   35%

The wife of ex-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn on Monday reached out to US President Donald Trump, asking him to press Japan at upcoming talks about “fair trial conditions”.Carlos Ghosn is awaiting trial in Japan over charges of under-reporting his salary for years while at Nissan and using company funds for personal expenses. The 65-year-old denies the accusations.“World leaders are going to be meeting at the G20 at the end of the month,” Carole Ghosn told the BBC in an interview broadcast on Monday…

Why Trump Uses Mock Spanish   13%

When Donald Trump tweeted Thursday morning that Democrats “have gone absolutely ‘Loco,’” the most surprising thing about it was that he had never called anyone loco on Twitter before.

There was a time last fall when Trump couldn’t stop using the Spanish loanword for crazy in speeches and interviews. As the Factba.se database of presidential statements reveals, from late September to early November, Trump used loco at no fewer than 10 different events. Most of the time it appeared in his rambling stump speeches supporting Republicans in the midterm elections. He kicked things off on September 29 in Wheeling, West Virginia, when he said of Democrats, “These people are—they’ve gone crazy; they’ve gone loco.” Perhaps pleased by the reaction the word got, he came back to it later in the same speech, referring to critics of his meeting with the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un: “They don’t know what to do. It’s driving them crazy, they’re loco, it’s driving them crazy.”

He kept up the loco theme at campaign stops in Tennessee, Minnesota, Kansas, Nevada, Missouri, and Indiana, wielding it against unnamed foes in party politics and the media. At a news conference on October 1, he said of the press: “They’re worse now than ever. They’re loco, but that’s okay. I put up with it.” And on October 10, in an interview with Shannon Bream on Fox News, he went after the Federal Reserve Bank for raising interest rates: “The Fed is going loco and there’s no reason for them to do it.”

But after the midterms, Trump seemed to tire of the adjective, until he broke it out again this week on Twitter. The on-again, off-again pattern resembles his infatuation with another Spanish borrowing: hombres. Trump famously warned of “some bad hombres” coming across the Mexican border in a debate with Hillary Clinton in 2016, and he continued inveighing against “hombres” who were variously “bad” or “tough” or “rough” as part of his alarmist campaign rhetoric on border security. But the word did not join his Twitter repertoire until last month, when he tweeted, “The bad ‘hombres,’ of which there are many, are being detained & will be sent home.” By putting hombres in quotation marks, he was perhaps signaling its foreignness, while at the same time self-consciously quoting his own memorable usage from the debate three years ago. (In Thursday’s loco tweet, the word was both bracketed by quotation marks and capitalized, a one-two punch of Trumpian emphasis.)

[Read: Donald Trump and the art of the ‘con’]

Trump’s use of hombres and loco illustrates what the late linguistic anthropologist Jane Hill termed “Mock Spanish,” an anglophone appropriation of Spanish words that, she argued, can serve as “a site for the indexical reproduction of racism in American English.” In her 2008 book, The Everyday Language of White Racism, Hill presented “tough hombre” as an example of “Cowboy Anglo Spanish” that persisted from early frontier usage thanks to reinforcement in Western movies—no doubt how Trump was exposed to the word hombres.

When Trump referred to “bad hombres” in the 2016 debate, Adam Schwartz, a specialist in Spanish-language education at Oregon State University, wrote that “Donald Trump just made it a hell of a lot easier for me—and for all of us who teach about language, race and racism—to talk with students about Mock Spanish and the power of covert racist discourse.” Schwartz observed that while “hombre itself might not be a racial slur,” Trump’s use of it crystalized “the scope of that word’s injury, its offensiveness, its oppressive potential.”

As for loco, it too represents a remnant of English-Spanish linguistic contact along the western and southwestern frontier. According to Cowboy Talk: A Dictionary of Spanish Terms From the American West by Robert M. Smead, the word goes back to 1844 in American English, used in conjunction with locoweed, a poisonous plant that caused a distemper in cattle called loco or locoism. Like hombre, it was kept alive in the limited lexicon of anglicized Spanish found in cowboy movies.

Jane Hill noted in her book that loco has exemplified one pattern of Mock Spanish, the euphemistic substitution of “vulgar” English words with “insulting, lewd, or scatological” Spanish equivalents. She observed that it could be used for political name-calling in conjunction with other typical Mock Spanish elements, such as the article el and the suffix -o, as when Rush Limbaugh called the former Democratic congressional leader Dick Gephardt “El loco poco Dicko.”

[Read: Trump’s ‘down payment’ trick]

For Trump, loco fits into his own pejorative arsenal when caricaturing the mental instability of his rivals. He has used crazy in his nicknames for various Democratic leaders (Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Bernie Sanders, Maxine Waters) and for members of the media (Jim Acosta, Mika Brzezinski, Maureen Dowd, Megyn Kelly). The -o ending comes out in the Trumpian use of psycho (for Joe Scarborough and Bette Midler) as well as wacko (for Sanders, Pelosi, and others). While loco provides a Mock Spanish spin, it is clearly of a piece with these other “crazy”-sounding epithets. And it just could be yet another kind of “I’m rubber, you’re glue” projection used by Trump as a defense mechanism whenever his own mental fitness comes into question.

Would Americans follow President Trump into a war with Iran?   -30%

How the suspicion he has cultivated limits President Trump's options in a dangerous Middle East

With his reputation on the line over Mexico deal, Trump is already moving the goal posts   27%

Trump hails the deal as a major win. Critics suggest it will do little. The good news is: We're actually going to find out.

Trump says having extended meeting with Xi at G20 summit   7%

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he had a positive phone conversation with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and that they will hold an “extended meeting” next week at the G20

Worst of the trade war over?  

Fiscal nightmare remains — Trump machine kicks into gear

U.S. House Speaker Pelosi blasts Trump pressure on Fed over interest rates  

The U.S. Federal Reserve should be independent and not under the influence of President Donald Trump in setting monetary policy, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday.

Xi arrives in North Korea to meet Kim ahead of Trump talks   -17%

President Xi Jinping arrived in Pyongyang on Thursday on a historic trip to reboot a troubled alliance, as he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un face their own challenges with US President Donald Trump. Xi is the first Chinese president to visit North Korea in 14 years, after relations between the Cold War era allies deteriorated over Pyongyang's nuclear provocations and Beijing's subsequent backing of UN sanctions.

Trump launches 2020 campaign forward by looking back at old fights, lauding successes  

President Donald Trump’s pitch for four more years began with a re-litigation of the last four years. To a packed Orlando arena Tuesday night, Trump referenced Hillary Clinton more than … Click to Continue »

Denver Apparel Company Executive To Testify Against Planned Tariffs On Chinese Import  

Noel King talks to Gail Ross, COO of Krimson Klover, about what she plans to say during public hearings on the Trump administration's proposal to place additional tariffs on Chinese imports.

I have not used that word: Bernie Sanders distances himself from AOCs concentration camps comparison  

Holocaust historian tells Haaretz that invoking the genocide was a ‘strategic mistake’ for opponents of the Trump administration’s immigration policies

Judge in census case: New evidence alleging political motivation behind citizenship question 'raises a substantial issue'  

In a blow to the Trump administration, a federal trial judge said Wednesday that he believes new evidence presented in a challenge to the 2020 census citizenship question "raises a substantial issue."

Trump says immigration roundup will start next week   -13%

U.S. President Donald Trump repeated on Tuesday that immigration authorities would next week target migrants in the country illegally in large-scale arrests, but still gave no details about the planned action.

Xi Jinpings state visit to North Korea aims for new impetus in ties   10%

Xi Jinping’s upcoming trip to North Korea will be a state visit – a higher status than the last trip to the hermit kingdom by a Chinese president, highlighting the close bilateral ties between Beijing and Pyongyang.Xi’s two-day trip, which begins on Thursday, is the first by a Chinese president to North Korea in 14 years and comes just a week before he is due to meet US President Donald Trump for talks on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Japan.“Leaders of the two countries will review…

U.S. Congress-White House budget, debt limit talks sputter: congressional leaders   -16%

Negotiations on Wednesday between the Trump administration and top officials in the U.S. Congress failed to produce a deal on overall federal spending levels for the fiscal year starting on Oct. 1 and the need to raise Washington's borrowing authority, congressional leaders said.

Mexicos next move to keep Trump happy: Pass USMCA  

Japan talks continue this week — A formal dinner for Trump and Xi?

Trump launches re-election bid   10%

President Donald Trump formally announces that he wants another four years in the White House

Former DHS Official On Trump's Mass Deportation Threats  

Former Department of Homeland Security official Theresa Cardinal Brown talks with NPR's Noel King about President Trump's threats of mass deportations.

Donald Trumps G20 meeting with Xi Jinping in Osaka could again be a formal dinner, source says   11%

A widely anticipated meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump at the end of this month in Japan could be a formal face-to-face negotiation over dinner instead of a quick handshake and chat, a source who was briefed on the arrangement told the South China Morning Post.“It would be largely a replay of the summit in Argentina last December,” the source said.Beijing has not formally confirmed any plans or provided any details of the high-stakes meeting that is…

Trumps transgender military ban is losing support even in his own party  

A new poll shows support for transgender soldiers rising in the GOP, despite Trump's ban going into effect two months ago.

Indian man who worships Trump as deity drops $2k on statue devoted to him (PHOTOS)   -13%

Having gained international fame for his daily worship of a photo of Donald Trump, 31-year-old Bussa Krishna recently made a serious upgrade to his shrine, shelling out for an expensive statue of the American president.
Read Full Article at RT.com

Trumps threat of mass arrests stinks of weakness and failure   30%

What if Trump is actually failing spectacularly and has no idea what to do about it?

The Atlantic Politics Policy Daily: Run-DNC  

What We’re Following Today

It’s Thursday, June 13.

(Kevin Lamarque / Reuters / Chip Somodevilla / Getty / The Atlantic)

‣ President Trump announced in a tweet that Sarah Huckabee Sanders is leaving her job as White House press secretary to return to her home state of Arkansas, and encouraged Sanders to run for governor. Her three-and-a-half year tenure has been rocky, to say the least.

‣ The House Intelligence Committee issued subpoenas for Rick Gates and Michael Flynn.

‣ The Office of Special Counsel, a federal-oversight agency, said that senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway violated the Hatch Act repeatedly and should be dismissed.

Here’s what else we’re watching:

(Handout / Reuters)

Tensions, Tankers, Soldier, Spy: Ships burned off the Gulf of Oman today, the latest in a series of escalating hostilities in the region. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed the most recent attacks on Iran, but tensions between the U.S. and Iran have started to suck in bystander countries who rely on these waterways to ferry, say, sailors or regular commuters. From there, it’s a black hole.

Get Ready to Rumble: As the Democratic National Committee prepares to announce the slate of 20 Democratic presidential candidates who ended up qualifying for the first primary debates, the ghosts of 2016 still haunt the committee’s every move. Last cycle, the DNC apologized to Bernie Sanders after leaked emails revealed that some committee leaders favored Hillary Clinton. This time, Chairman Tom Perez has a clear message for 2020 candidates: If you don’t like the fundraising and polling thresholds, too bad. Here’s Russell Berman’s look inside the DNC’s two-year struggle to fix the presidential debate.

No Lessons Learned: President Donald Trump told George Stephanopoulos, in an interview that aired last night, that if a foreign country offered him dirt on his 2020 opponent, he might take it. That shows how little he’s learned from 2016, writes Peter Nicholas. “His quest for an edge over a political opponent risks upending the rule of law.”

+ “Trump’s declaration, though, is neither especially surprising nor especially irrational,” argues David A. Graham. “Every indication is that the president’s electoral behavior will be worse in 2020, and there will be fewer constraints on him.”

Mayor Pete On Prosecution: The presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg told The Atlantic that he would back a future criminal investigation into whether Trump obstructed justice. But he didn’t go as far as his Democratic primary opponent Kamala Harris, who said, if elected, she would direct her attorney general to pursue charges against Trump. “You don’t have to go out of the DOJ. And the less it’s done out of the DOJ, the better, because the further away it is from the political body, the better,” Buttigieg said.

‘A Voter-Turnout Tsunami’: Experts on both sides of the political aisle predict a huge swell of voter turnout in the 2020 election—likely the highest levels in decades, if not the past century. But paradoxically, the surge still might not dislodge the electoral importance of white working-class Americans, writes Ronald Brownstein. If you read just one story about 2020 turnout, make it this one.

— Madeleine Carlisle and Olivia Paschal

Snapshot

During her weekly news conference, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refers to a chart of legislation she says the Senate is refusing to take up. (Jonathan Ernst / Reuters)

Ideas From The Atlantic

Kellyanne Conway Broke the Law—And Is Going to Get Away With It (David A. Graham)
“There’s no question of Conway’s guilt here ... The report’s conclusion is clear, as is the recommended punishment. And yet the only person who can punish Conway is the president—the very man on whose electoral behalf she broke the law, and who has made clear, as recently as Thursday, his willingness to break the law in order to win elections.” → Read on.

Sanders’s Speech About Socialism Was Deeply Unserious (Yascha Mounk)
“After years of using the term about as imprecisely as many of his followers, I hoped that Sanders would finally set out why it holds such importance to him, what role the market would play in the socialist system he promises to build, and how he can protect his political project against the Soviet risk. I can’t say he met my expectations.” → Read on.

Welfare Money Is Paying for a Lot of Things Besides Welfare (Zach Parolin)
“What do a Christian overnight camp, abstinence-only sex education, and pro-marriage advertisements all have in common? They’ve all been funded with money that used to provide cash assistance to low-income families.” → Read on.

What Else We’re Reading

‣ Why Does Ted Cruz Want to Team Up With AOC on Birth Control Access? (Christina Cauterucci, Slate)
‣ Bernie’s Red Vermont (Matthew Zeitlin, The New Republic)
‣ Punishing Kids With Years of Debt (Eli Hager, The Marshall Project)
‣ Why the Trump Campaign Won’t Pay Police Bills (Dave Levinthal, The Center for Public Integrity)
‣ The Scarcity Scam (George Will, National Review)

About us: This newsletter is a daily effort from The Atlantic’s politics writers: Elaine Godfrey, Madeleine Carlisle, and Olivia Paschal. It’s edited by Shan Wang.

Were you forwarded this email? Sign yourself up here. We have many other free email newsletters on a variety of other topics. Browse the full list.

Stephen Colbert: 'If Trump cant trust Fox, whats hes going to do?'  

Late-night hosts focused on Trump’s official re-entry on to the campaign trail while also covering Kyle Kashuv’s travails

Late-night hosts focused on Trump’s re-election campaign launch, and the Kyle Kashuv controversy.

Related: Trevor Noah on police brutality video: 'What happened to protect and serve?'

Trump ditches sole climate rule that aimed to reduce coal plant pollution   7%

• Administration to roll back Obama-era Clean Power Plan
• Trump’s EPA chief says he’s ‘leveling the playing field’

Donald Trump’s administration is finalizing plans to roll back the US government’s only direct efforts to curb coal-fired power plant pollution that is heating the planet.

Related: Trump rolls back key Obama climate rule that targeted coal pollution – live

'He does believe he will get another four years': FRANCE 24 Washington, DC correspondent Philip Crowther   -30%

US President Donald Trump launched his 2020 reelection campaign Tuesday, whipping up a crowd of at least 20,000 with a nationalist boast about the US economy being the "envy" of the world.