Trump celebrates free speech after repeatedly attacking war hero John McCain
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump signed an executive order which will withhold federal funding from colleges and universities that do not permit or protect free speech amidst the president’s own attacks on Senator John McCain, more than six months after his death.
According to the president, the order is the first of many steps to come in his protection of the First amendment. During his remarks, Mr Trump invited students from colleges around the country to share their own stories of hindered free speech. One student recalled a time her school stopped her from handing out Valentine’s Day cards with religious messages.
Mr Trump also discussed his administration’s plans for student loan debt, which he said he is “going to work to fix”.
According to the president, who pointed some of the blame at universities, the Education Department and Treasury Department will publish information on future earnings and loan repayment for every major at every school.
The president’s remarks on the importance of upholding free speech come as he faces continued backlash over his own comments regarding late Senator John McCain, who he attacked Wednesday during a visit to Ohio.
In addition to repeating that he was “not a fan” of the late senator, Mr Trump complained that he had never been thanked for McCain’s state funeral.
Democrats and republicans have defended McCain following the president’s comments. The Washington National Cathedral also disputed Mr Trump’s claims that he had to “approve” the funeral for the late senator.
Also on Thursday, Mr Trump “made history” when he tweeted that the United States would be recognising Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is currently hosting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, called the president’s recognition of the territory as Israeli land a “Purim miracle” and thanked President Trump.
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An interesting insight into why it is President Trump seems to feel compelled to dig in his heels and double down on his John McCain attack from CNN analyst David Gregory.
Even the Mooch has had enough by this point.
And on Fox and Friends...
Anchor Brian Kilmeade said the president had allowed himself to lose focus in Ohio: "The problem is he swapped his own message by going after George Conway and in that speech inexplicably segueing to go after John McCain... It makes absolutely no sense."
The latest Republican big dog to rebuke Donald Trump is the Terminator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who called the McCain affair "absolutely unacceptable".
According to The Atlantic, the bodybuilder, action movie star and ex-California governor, who succeeded Mr Trump to host The New Celebrity Apprentice on NBC, said of the president:
"[McCain] was just an unbelievable person. So an attack on him is absolutely unacceptable if he’s alive or dead—but even twice as unacceptable since he passed away a few months ago. It doesn’t make any sense whatsoever to do that. I just think it’s a shame that the president lets himself down to that kind of level. We will be lucky if everyone in Washington followed McCain’s example, because he represented courage."
In a further jibe at the president's McDonald's-heavy diet, Schwarzenegger sneered: "I know he must be working out every day because he’s so unbelievably in shape."
President Trump responded angrily on Monday to the media "blaming" him for the horrifying terror attack in New Zealand last week but his insistence that the rise in white nationalism is not a cause for concern has worried many.
His limp response to the killing of 50 Muslims at two mosques in Christchurch - even after the shooter mentioned him in his 74-page manifesto - is only his latest show of weakness against the far-right, whom he has repeatedly engaged with on social media.
Interesting bit of DC rumour-mongering here.
Stacey Abrams is of course the former romance novelist who was narrowly defeated in the race for the Georgia governor's office during the midterms in an election hit by concerns about voter suppression.
She was chosen by the Democrats last month to give the party's rebuttal to the president's State of the Union address in the aftermath of the longest government shutdown in history.
The trade dispute between the US and the EU is having a "significant and growing impact" on whiskey exports, according to the Distilled Spirits Council.
Tariffs targeting American whiskey and other US products were a response to President Donald Trump's decision to slap tariffs on European steel and aluminum.
Now a new report has revealed that exports of bourbon, Tennessee whiskey and rye whiskey fell 11 percent during the second half of 2018.
"With the full-year data in hand, it is clear that the retaliatory tariffs are having a significant and growing impact on American whiskey exports," council president and CEO Chris Swonger said. "The damage to American whiskey exports is now accelerating, and this is collateral damage from ongoing global trade disputes."
In his latest pitch for the Democratic nomination for 2020, Bernie Sanders has attacked Donald Trump for breaking campaign promises on social security and medicare.
Jimmy Carter is (or will soon be) the oldest living former president, at 94 years and 172 days. The title was previously held by George HW Bush, who was 94 years and 172 days old when he died in November.
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