New Poll Suggests Donald Trump's Brand Is Going Right Down The Tubes

Alexandra Rosenmann

New Poll Suggests Donald Trump’s Brand Is Going Right Down The Tubes

April 10, 2017 8:18 pm

As protests of Trump-endorsed products continue apace, researchers are finding that a majority of Americans are losing their appetite for Trump’s brand.

According to a new consumer survey, nearly half the population is less likely to use a product endorsed by President Trump, and nearly a third would boycott it entirely.



“We know Trump is a very polarizing figure, but these data suggest that the people who don’t like Trump feel much more strongly about it than the people who do like him,” said Steven Millman, Simmons’ chief scientist.



The NBC News/Simmons Research survey asked respondents three questions:

Would you be more likely to use a product endorsed by President Trump?

Would you be less likely to use a product endorsed by President Trump?

Would you actively boycott a product endorsed by President Trump?

Alabama Luv Guv's Impeachment Probe Reveals Political Motivation Behind DMV Closures

Source: Talking Points Memo


By TIERNEY SNEED Published APRIL 11, 2017, 6:00 AM EDT

The impeachment investigation that led to Alabama’s Republican Gov. Robert Bentley’s resignation, arrest and conviction Monday surfaced more than just the alleged misuse of public funds to hide his affair with a top political aide, the cringe-y texts to his paramour, and the threats lobbed towards those who stood ready to expose their tryst.

The report released Friday shed light on another controversy that dogged his tenure: his administration’s decision to close 31 driver’s license offices, many in African-American-heavy counties, prompting a national outcry over how the closures would affect voting rights in the state, which requires a photo ID to vote.

The impeachment investigation report – which was compiled by a special counsel appointed by the legislature – concluded that the driver’s license office closures were politically motivated and ordained by the aide at the center of the scandal, Rebekah Mason, as a way to pressure state legislators into getting in line in support of the governor’s funding legislation.

Former Alabama Law Enforcement Agency head Spencer Collier, who oversaw the operations of the offices, told the impeachment investigators “that Mason proposed closing multiple driver’s license offices throughout the State and asked ALEA to put together a plan,” according to the report. “It was Collier’s understanding that Mason intended the plan to be rolled out in a way that had limited impact on Governor Bentley’s political allies,” the report continued.

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/alabama-luv-guvs-impeachment-probe-reveals-political-motivation-behind-dmv-closures

GOP Rep.: We Need 'Change In Direction' From Ryan Or 'New Speaker'

Source: Talking Points Memo




By CAITLIN MACNEAL PublishedAPRIL 11, 2017, 7:04 AM EDT

Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI), a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, on Monday said that House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) either needs to make changes or step down from his role leading the Republican caucus.

"We need either a change in direction from this speaker, or we need a new speaker," Amash said at a town hall in Michigan, according to CNN.

Members of the Freedom Caucus helped oust former House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), and are known for their hard-line stances. They opposed the House leadership's bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, contributing to the legislation's failure. However, leadership's inability to whip enough support for the bill's passage has not led to a flood of calls for Ryan to step aside. The chair of the House Freedom Caucus, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), said at the end of March that there had not been discussions about replacing Ryan as speaker.

Amash also criticized President Donald Trump and Ryan for giving Republicans talking points to use during the House recess.

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/justin-amash-paul-ryan-change

Hatch: Sorry, Romney, Trump Is 'All Over Me' To Run For Reelection In 2018

By ESME CRIBB Published APRIL 10, 2017, 6:46 PM EDT

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) on Monday said that he plans to run for another term and has President Donald Trump's support in doing so, though Hatch previously said that he would consider retiring if Mitt Romney ran for his seat.

"He is all over me to run again," Hatch said, referring to Trump in an interview with local CBS affiliate KUTV. "My leadership in the Republican Senate are all over me to run again. The House leadership, some of those want me to run again."

Earlier in April, Hatch said that he would consider retiring if Romney ran for his Senate seat. On Monday, however, Hatch said that he "fully" intends to run for reelection. "I fully intend to run again, but I'm going to take time and think it over and make up my mind on that, but right now, yes, I'm going to run again," he said.

Hatch said that he had a "chat with" Romney on the subject "just to kind of feel out the situation, to see if it was possible to have somebody of his dimension if I decide I can't run, to get him to do it."

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/orrin-hatch-running-for-reelection-trump

Boston 'Globe' Finds Romney's Real 'Binders Full of Women'

By Jim O’Sullivan GLOBE STAFF APRIL 11, 2017

In the world of important political documents — from the Magna Carta to the Pentagon Papers — there are also those known for more pedestrian reasons. Count Mitt Romney’s “binders full of women” in that category.

For those who don’t recall, Romney mentioned the binders during a 2012 presidential debate in which he was questioned about workplace inequality. He awkwardly referred to the “binders full of women” he had considered for state posts after he was elected governor. Critics pounced on his response as clumsy at best, patronizing at worst. Late-night comics had a field day.

For all the high-stakes attention they drew, the binders themselves never surfaced. Until now.

A former Romney aide recently exhumed the files and shared them with the Globe. Two white three-ring binders (weighing in at an aggregate 15 pounds, 6 ounces) are packed with nearly 200 cover letters and résumés, along with a few handwritten notations.

They have their roots in the 2002 transition period after Romney beat state Treasurer Shannon P. O’Brien for the governorship. A coalition of women’s groups created the Massachusetts Government Appointments Project (MassGAP), cobbled together information on women interested in serving in government, and submitted them to Romney’s still-forming administration.

more
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/04/10/romney-binders-still-full-women-are-unearthed/NTdYraj1yQ53uVklgnHZtL/story.html

Tillerson: Russia must choose between Assad and the US

Source: Associated Press




By JOSH LEDERMAN
Apr. 11, 2017 7:18 AM EDT

LUCCA, Italy (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson issued an ultimatum to Russia on Tuesday: Side with the U.S. and likeminded countries on Syria, or embrace Iran, militant group Hezbollah and embattled Syrian leader Bashar Assad.

As he embarked on a trip to Moscow following urgent meetings in Italy with top diplomats, Tillerson said it was unclear whether Russia had failed to take seriously its obligation to rid Syria of chemical weapons, or had merely been incompetent. But he said the distinction "doesn't much matter to the dead."

"We cannot let this happen again," the secretary of state said.

"We want to relieve the suffering of the Syrian people. Russia can be a part of that future and play an important role," Tillerson added in remarks to reporters. "Or Russia can maintain its alliance with this group, which we believe is not going to serve Russia's interests longer term."

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/e5861e088116431dab56d7a28931dfc1/tillerson-russia-must-choose-between-assad-and-us

Don't fight Trump with conspiracy theories. What's there is damning enough - By Dana Milbank

Maybe we should muzzle the wag-the-dog talk.

MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell led off his show Friday night with an alarming report: Russian President Vladimir Putin may have told Syria’s Bashar al-Assad to launch last week’s chemical attackto let President Trump respond militarily — thereby boosting Trump’s standing in the United States and dispelling the belief that he is too close to Putin.

“It’s perfect,” O’Donnell said, telling viewers “what you won’t hear is proof that that scenario that I have just outlined is impossible, because .?.?. with Donald Trump anything is possible.”

I’m a fan of O’Donnell, and it is technically true that we can’t prove that Putin didn’t orchestrate the attack to boost Trump. But by that logic, we can never prove to everybody’s satisfaction that there wasn’t a second gunman on the grassy knoll, that Vincent Foster wasn’t murdered, that there wasn’t a controlled demolition inside Building 7, that former president Barack Obama didn’t forge his birth certificate, or that the government isn’t controlling our minds with fluoride.

But speculation without evidence is at best distraction, and at worst it allows Trump’s defenders to discredit the whole story about Trump’s contacts with Russia and Russia’s attempts to tilt the election his way.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dont-let-baseless-conspiracy-theories-about-trump-distract-from-the-truth/2017/04/10/3c2175d4-1e1a-11e7-a0a7-8b2a45e3dc84_story.html?utm_term=.85920ac28383&wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1

Was that doctor dragged off the United Airlines flight because he was Asian? Many in China think so.

By Simon Denyer April 11 at 2:34 AM

BEIJING — News that a passenger was forcibly dragged off a United Airlines plane has gone viral all over the world, but in China the outrage has been fueled by one uncomfortable fact: The doctor who was pulled off the plane, first screaming and then bleeding, appeared to be of Asian origin and was overhead complaining that this might have been a factor in his treatment.

“He said, more or less, ‘I’m being selected because I’m Chinese,’” fellow passenger Tyler Bridges was quoted as saying by The Washington Post.

That quote, translated into Chinese, was widely circulated on social media here. (Another witness on the plane said the man was originally from Vietnam, according to the BBC.)

By late afternoon on Tuesday, the topic had attracted 160 million readers on Sina Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, and 97,000 comments. Petitions to boycott United Airlines were also going viral on WeChat, a popular messaging service.

-snip-

Some users pointed out the irony of United’s motto: “Fly the friendly skies,” but many saw the incident as an example of American hypocrisy, and what one user called “a perfect illustration” of human rights in the United States.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/04/11/was-that-doctor-dragged-off-the-united-airlines-flight-because-he-was-asian-many-in-china-think-so/?tid=pm_world_pop&utm_term=.191dbedd5793

'Good Lord': Jake Tapper gasps after hearing Alabama governor's salacious phone call with former aid

Oklahoma House Pages Warned Of 'Cross-Dressers' During LGBT Lobbying

Source: Talking Points Memo




By MATT SHUHAM Published APRIL 10, 2017, 5:48 PM EDT

The supervisor of the Oklahoma House of Representatives' page program told pages to use private staff and member restrooms, and then in a follow-up email said that "there are cross-dressers" in the building, while an LGBT student group lobbied representatives. The Tulsa World reported on the emails, from program supervisor
Karen Kipgen, on Monday.

"As per the Speaker's office, Pages are being allowed access the ladies restroom across from 401, for today," Kipgen wrote. "Again, there are cross-dressers in the building."

The Tulsa World reported that the email was apparently prompted by a visit of roughly 70 LGBTQ students to the Capitol Building, sponsored by the group Oklahomans for Equality to lobby on behalf of what the paper described as HIV awareness and education funding and support.

Speaker Charles McCall (R) said in a statement obtained by the publication that "the email was not authorized by me, my staff or my office."



Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/oklahoma-house-page-cross-dressers-lgbt-lobbying