MSNBC went to Ohio over the weekend to examine the impact of tariffs (separate from the Chinese tariffs) on businesses and retailers in the area. Glen Fish, CEO of Revere Plastic Systems, said that “since the tariff activities have kicked in, it has been a benefit for us.” “We’ve seen investments from our customers. We’ve also, in terms of capacity enhancements and additional volume, which has helped stabilize and strengthen our workforce. And we’ve seen opportunities arise with other companies moving to the U.S. as a result of some of this,” he continued. Fish said that the tariffs have provided “stability and predictability in terms of volumes and continued investment and growth” for his company. Fish’s business is based out of Clyde, Ohio and provides plastic parts to Whirlpool, which has a factory in the town. The tariffs have brought roughly 1,800 new jobs to America, but have also resulted in an increase to the cost of washers and dryers. Tom Phillips, an appliance retailer from Tiffin, Ohio, said the tariffs “have hurt us because of the price increase.” “You know, for 38 years or whatever I’ve never had this much of a price increase over two or three…
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Brennan Says He’s ‘Absolutely’ Willing to Testify to Congress to Rebut Trump’s ‘Coup’ Claims
by Chuck Ross John Brennan said Friday he is “absolutely” willing to testify to Congress to rebut President Donald Trump’s claims that the former CIA director took part in a “coup” to undermine his presidency. Brennan said in an interview on MSNBC, where he is a contributor, that he would “welcome any type of continued investigation of what we did that period of time that we were in government.” Republicans have called for investigations into the CIA and FBI’s activities in the run-up to the investigation of the Trump campaign. The FBI formally opened its investigation of the Trump team on July 31, 2016, but some GOP lawmakers have suggested that Brennan was working behind the scenes to gather intelligence on Trump advisers before that. Trump listed Brennan along with other Obama administration officials he claims tried to “overthrow” his administration, in an interview Thursday with Fox’s Sean Hannity. “This was a coup, this was an attempted overthrow of the United States government,” said Trump. “These are sick people. These are sick, sick people,” he continued, adding: “Let’s see what happens with [former FBI Deputy Director Andrew] McCabe and [former FBI Director James] Comey and Brennan and [former National…
Read the full storyElizabeth Warren Is First 2020 Democrat to Call for Impeachment
Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Friday became the first 2020 Democratic presidential candidate to make a full-throated call for the House of Representatives to begin impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump after the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s redacted report. Mueller, who investigated whether Trump’s campaign coordinated with Russia during the 2016 election and whether the president tried to interfere with the inquiry, found no evidence of a conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign and offered no verdict on obstruction of justice. Mueller did find, however, that Trump made numerous attempts to interfere with the investigation but was largely foiled by those around him. In a series of tweets, Warren said it would be damaging to “ignore a president’s repeated efforts to obstruct an investigation into his own disloyal behavior” and would give license to future presidents to act in the same way. ‘Constitutional duty’ “The severity of this misconduct demands that elected officials in both parties set aside political considerations and do their constitutional duty. That means the House should initiate impeachment proceedings against the president of the United States,” Warren, a senator from Massachusetts, tweeted. Other 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, while supportive of the idea of impeachment,…
Read the full storyTim Ryan Blames Trump for Migrant Crisis, Calls the President ‘Lazy’
Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH-13), now a 2020 presidential hopeful, placed the fault for the current migrant crisis squarely on the shoulders of President Donald Trump Sunday, stating that “the president has caused it” by being “lazy.” The nine-term congressman made the statement during a wide-ranging interview with Kasie Hunt on MSNBC. Hunt asked specifically if there was a migrant “crisis” on the border, and Ryan replied by stating: It is [a crisis], and I think that the president has caused it, to be quite honest with you. He has failed to address the issues in Central America. Quite frankly, the president is lazy. He doesn’t read his presidential daily briefing. He ignored this problem. We want presidents to deal with the root of problems. Central America is a mess, and we are doing nothing to stabilize that region. Other Democratic legislators have been hesitant to label the current issues at the Mexico-U.S. border a “crisis,” opting instead to call it a “challenge.” "Quite frankly the president is lazy"@TimRyan says the president helped cause the humanitarian crisis at the border with Mexico. pic.twitter.com/nT95qXxho7 — Way Too Early with Jonathan Lemire (@WayTooEarly) April 15, 2019 Ryan went on to state that issues such as…
Read the full storyObama’s DHS Secretary Agrees the Border Is ‘Truly in a Crisis’
by Whitney Tipton Former President Barack Obama’s DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said Thursday that the U.S. is “truly in a crisis” at the southern border. “A little bit of context here. When I was in office in Kirstjen Nielsen’s job, at her desk, I’d get to work around 6:30 in the morning, and there would be my intelligence book sitting on my desk, the PDB, and also the apprehension numbers from the day before,” Johnson said during his appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “My staff would tell you if it was under 1,000 apprehension the day before, that was a relatively good number, and if it was above 1,000, it was a relatively bad number, and I was going to be in a bad mood the whole day.” “On Tuesday there were 4,000 apprehensions. I know that a thousand overwhelms the system. I can’t imagine what 4,000 a day looks like. So, we are truly in a crisis,” he continued. Johnson isn’t the only Obama official to break from 2020 Democrats on immigration. Obama’s Border Patrol chief Mark Morgan praised Trump’s push for a border wall during an interview with the Law & Crime Network, saying “The wall works.”…
Read the full storyGoogle Employees Debated Burying Conservative Media in Search Results
by Peter Hasson Google employees debated whether to bury conservative media outlets in search results as a response to President Donald Trump’s election in 2016, internal Google communications obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation reveal. The Daily Caller and Breitbart were specifically singled out as outlets to potentially bury in search results, the communications reveal. Trump’s election in 2016 shocked many Google employees, who had been counting on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton to win. Communications obtained by The DCNF show that internal Google discussions went beyond expressing remorse over Clinton’s loss to actually discussing ways Google could prevent Trump from winning again. “This was an election of false equivalencies, and Google, sadly, had a hand in it,” Google engineer Scott Byer wrote in a Nov. 9, 2016, post reviewed by The DCNF. Byer falsely labeled The Daily Caller and Breitbart as “opinion blogs” and urged his coworkers to reduce their visibility in search results. “How many times did you see the Election now card with items from opinion blogs (Breitbart, Daily Caller) elevated next to legitimate news organizations? That’s something that can and should be fixed,” Byer wrote. “I think we have a responsibility to expose the quality and…
Read the full storyPhil Bredesen: If I Lose, It Will Be Because the ‘National Democratic Brand Is a Problem’
Phil Bredesen wants you to know that if he loses the Senate race, it will be the “National Democratic brand’s fault, not his. Former Tennessee Gov. Bredesen made the remark in an interview that aired Sunday with MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt, adding that the national party has hurt the brand. The Washington Free Beacon reported on the interview Monday. The video is available to watch here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSkvYgYEI4w Bredesen said, “we’ve drifted away from that” in response to Democrats’ handling of the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, meaning the Senate’s job is to consider a nominee’s competence and ability. “Not that long ago, Ginsberg could get 95-plus votes, and Scalia could get 95-plus votes. That, to me, is very much the way we ought to be acting.” Hunt did not ask Bredesen about his last-minute wishy-washy endorsement of Kavanaugh when his nomination was guaranteed. Nor did she ask about Project Veritas Action’s undercover video showing Bredesen’s campaign staff admitting he lied about supporting Kavanaugh to gain votes. “It’s a political move,” Bredesen campaign field organizer Maria Amall said in the video to an undercover reporter. Nor did Hunt ask Bredesen about Mark Brown lying to the media about…
Read the full storyMSNBC’s Toure Neblett Calls Conservatives Anti-Media, Anti-Intellectual and Anti-Science Conspiracy Theorists
by Nick Givas MSNBC contributor Toure Neblett called conservatives “anti-media, anti-intellectual and anti-science” and accused them of believing in conspiracy theories on Up With David Gura Saturday. Neblett was discussing conservatives’ reactions to suspected mail bomber Cesar Syoc Jr., who was arrested Friday on suspicion of sending 12 potential explosive devices to Democratic politicians, media personalities and other public figures. “The right has been on this anti-fact thing for many years now. The president was a birther pushing this notion that was based on absolutely nothing … That’s been consistent of the right for a while,” Neblett said. “They are anti-media, anti-intellectual, anti-science. There are so many things that they believe that are based on no facts at all. So I mean, that they are embracing wholesale these conspiracy theories.” Neblett claimed it would be wrong to compare the attempted bombings to the shooting of GOP House Majority Whip Steve Scalise by Bernie Sanders supporter James Hodgkinson. “This is not the same as what happened with Steve Scalise. That was tragic. This is not the same,” he said, adding: Bernie Sanders was not telling people, Go harm people! Trump has been saying that consistently for years now. Obviously, something eventually is going to happen. Watch…
Read the full storySteve Cohen Will Push For Nancy Pelosi as Next Speaker of the House
If Democrats retake the U.S. House of Representatives this fall then U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, said he’ll support Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House yet again. Cohen made his remarks on MSNBC this past weekend. While there, he also called Republican President Donald Trump “a maniac.” No one from Cohen’s office returned The Tennessee Star’s request for comment this week. Cohen said Pelosi is “the strongest, most experienced, and best tactician there is.” “When you have someone to stand up to the most corrupt president, the most bullying president we have ever had and fight to create health care, fight to create jobs and fight to end the culture of corruption he has created in Washington then you want Nancy Pelosi,” Cohen said. “She is a proven leader. She is a star. She doesn’t back up to anybody. The people who vote for Democratic candidates will want a check and balance on Donald Trump. You don’t put a rookie in the big game of the World Series or the seventh game of the NBA. You go in with the pro who has been there and delivered.” Pelosi will never back down to Trump, Cohen went on to say.…
Read the full storyMSNBC Analyst Says It’s ‘Unfortunate’ Voters Shape Public Policy
MSNBC political analyst Elise Jordan complained Wednesday about how “unfortunate” it is that the Republican Party’s ability to craft its tax reform bill with a congressional majority resulted from “how you voted in an election.” Yes, she really did say that.
Read the full storySenator Bob Corker Just Won’t Shut Up, Says Good Relationship with President is ‘Irrelevant,’ Vows to Continue ‘Railing’ Against Trump
Retiring Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) seems to be taking a P.T. Barnum approach to his legacy, as the famous promoter is attributed to responding to a negative story by saying, “I don’t care what the newspapers say about me as long as they spell my name right.” Since the surprise election of President Donald Trump in November 2016, the junior Senator has arguably had more air time than his previous decade in office, combined – and nearly all of it is dedicated to criticizing Trump, his policies, and his agenda. It would be easy to imagine Mr. Corker’s social calendar is as packed as it has ever been. He is the new face for the NeverTrump Republican Establishment and their Democrat allies. Mr. Corker’s latest appearance on MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’ is a classic, by-the-numbers hit, as reported by Politico: Retiring Sen. Bob Corker said Thursday that it’s “ridiculous” to believe he has become increasingly outspoken against President Donald Trump because he was passed over as secretary of state. Corker, who interviewed for the position, said Rex Tillerson “was an inspired choice” to lead the State Department. And then, switching to the 3rd-person, added: “I don’t think Rex Tillerson has a closer friend on Capitol…
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