Month: January 2019

Trump Team Had Over 100 Contacts with Russian Operatives

Buck Banks

100+

“Members of President Trump’s campaign and transition team had more than 100 contacts with Russian-linked operatives,” USA Today reports. “The milestone illustrates the deep ties between members of Trump’s circle and the Kremlin. The findings, tracked by the Center for American Progress and its Moscow Project, come amid reports that special counsel Robert Mueller is nearing the conclusion of the two-year investigation into Russian collusion in the 2016 election and possible obstruction of justice by the president.”

More Middle School Bullying Found in Areas that Voted for Trump

Buck Banks

18%

A new University of Virginia study found higher rates of bullying and certain types of teasing in areas where voters favored Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. “Seventh- and eighth-graders in areas that favored President Trump reported bullying rates in spring 2017 that were 18% higher than students living in areas that went for Clinton. They were also 9% more likely to report that kids at their schools were teased because of their race or ethnicity.”

Democrats Got Higher TV Rating than Trump’s Address

Buck Banks

4%

“President Trump’s televised Oval Office address on immigration Tuesday drew a big audience. The response from Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer drew a slightly bigger audience, at least according to preliminary figures,” according to the Hollywood Reporter. “The quarter hour (9-9:15 p.m. ET) containing the president’s speech drew a combined 28.1 household rating in metered markets on ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, CNN, Fox News and NBC. The following 15 minutes, including analysis and the Pelosi-Schumer rebuttal, averaged 29.3 across those same networks, a bump of about 4 percent.”

Trump’s Address a Stephen Miller Production

Buck Banks

“The 33-year-old White House speechwriter has a hand in virtually everything the president reads from a teleprompter. But as one of the most strident immigration hawks in the West Wing, Miller has been especially influential over the past two years in shaping the way Trump talks about his signature issue. Tuesday night was reportedly no exception. … While it’s impossible to say just how much of the address he wrote, all of the tics and tropes of Millerian rhetoric were on display. The scary immigrants (‘vicious coyotes and ruthless gangs’). The gory anecdotes (a veteran ‘beaten to death with a hammer by an illegal alien’). The decidedly un-Trumpian flourishes (‘a crisis of the heart, and a crisis of the soul.’)”

— McKay Coppins