The Un-Official (keep-sweet) ST Political Thread

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. consumer sentiment fell to an 11-month low in early August, with households expressing concerns about the rising cost of living, potentially signaling a slowdown in consumer spending.

The University of Michigan on Friday said its consumer sentiment index fell to a reading of 95.3 early this month, the weakest since September 2017, from 97.9 in July. The survey’s current conditions sub-index of consumer expectations dropped to 107.8 from July’s reading of 114.4.

It said the decline in sentiment was concentrated among households in the bottom third of the income distribution.

“The dominating weakness reflected much less favorable assessments of buying conditions, mainly due to less favorable perceptions of market prices,” said Richard Curtin, the University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers chief economist.

“Buying conditions for large household durables sank to the lowest level in nearly four years.”

Aug 17, 2018 - 09:54pm PT
Why am I not surprised that the LIBTARD has come up with another
devisive Political Thread?

#SADDER

The forgotten Republicans — people like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, South Carolina Rep. Mark Sanford and Ohio Gov. John Kasich — have been unwilling to sit quietly as Trump steers the GOP away from free trade, fiscal responsibility, consistent foreign policy and civility.

Isolation and political exile have been their rewards.

Their diminished roles leave fewer Republican leaders willing to challenge Trump under any circumstances, even in his darkest moments.

Fact checkers have recorded an extraordinary level of false and misleading statements flowing out of the White House. And beyond dishonesty, some of the forgotten have decried a disturbing pattern of racially charged rhetoric on issues like immigration, NFL anthem protests and Confederate monuments.

"White nationalism isn't something I'm ever going to be comfortable with. But it is embraced by, or simply doesn't bother, a lot of Republicans," said former Ohio Republican Party chairman Matt Borges, once a Trump confidant who was forced from his leadership post after criticizing Trump in the weeks leading up to the 2016 election.

After Trump's victory, Borges returned to practicing law, while he continues to play a modest role in local politics.

"To me, it became a matter of how much of your soul are you willing to sell. I would be the wrong person to be leading this party right now," Borges said.

Gallup found that 82 percent of Republicans approved of the president's job performance earlier this month. That's compared to just 34 percent of independents and 7 percent of Democrats.

Kasich, who has not ruled out a primary bid against Trump in 2020, said the president's approval is misleading because the universe of people identifying as Republican is shrinking.

"We're dealing with a remnant of the Republican Party. The party is not what it was," Kasich said in an interview.

Analysis: No, one-third of African Americans don’t support Trump. Not even close.

President Trump has recently faced renewed allegations of racism.

Many critics have argued that Trump’s attacks on the intelligence of such prominent African Americans as LeBron James, Don Lemon, Maxine Waters, and Omarosa Manigault Newman were rooted in racism. Manigault Newman has also made headlines for claiming that Trump is a racist who uses the n-word.

The White House regularly responds to accusations of racism by noting that black unemployment is at historic lows under Trump’s presidency. Sarah Huckabee Sanders even cited some wildly inaccurate statistics on black employment from the White House podium this week to defend the president from charges of racial bias. She later acknowledged the error.

Trump has also attempted to inoculate himself from charges of racism by selectively citing polling numbers, which suggest he’s remarkably popular for a Republican president among African Americans. The president, for example, retweeted these polling numbers from Rasmussen on Wednesday:

Rasmussen Reports
✔ @Rasmussen_Poll
Today’s @realDonaldTrump approval ratings among black voters: 36%
This day last year: 19% http://bit.ly/preztrack @POTUS @realDonaldTrump
9:19 AM - Aug 15, 2018


It might seem far-fetched that over a third of African Americans would now approve of a president with a very long history of racial insensitivity — especially because fewer than 10 percent of black voters supported him in 2016.

That’s because it is far-fetched. Trump’s black approval rating is nowhere near 36 percent.

Polling firms that have interviewed far more African Americans, and that are much more transparent than Rasmussen, all show that Trump’s black approval rating is much lower than 36 percent.

For example, Gallup has interviewed thousands of African American respondents in 2018. Its polling suggests that Trump’s black approval rating has consistently been around 10 to 15 percent through 2018.

The same is true in polling by Ipsos/Reuters:

Similarly, the polling firm Civiqs, which has interviewed more than 140,000 respondents in 2017 and 2018, suggests that Trump’s black approval rating has consistently been in the single-digits throughout his presidency.

Everybody loves bullsheeit

A “get tough” policy with Turkey was long overdue. Unfortunately, the Trump administration has botched the job. In diplomacy, sticks, as much as carrots, can be a useful tool, if they bring about behaviors that are favorable to your country. The White House took an unhappy marriage and steered it towards an angry – and equally unhappy – divorce.

Melania Trump Called for Good Behavior on Social Media. The President Unleashed More Attacks on Twitter

Under the banner of her “Be Best” campaign, Melania Trump, the first lady, told a group of cyberbullying prevention experts on Monday that social media “can be destructive and harmful when used incorrectly.”

Just after she spoke, President Trump unleashed a barrage of tweets in which he called the former director of the C.I.A. a “hack” and mocked the effectiveness of the Justice Department, among other digital insults on a day of dissonant messaging from the Trump White House.

“In today’s global society, social media is an inevitable part of our children’s daily lives,” Mrs. Trump said, reading from prepared remarks. “It can be used in many positive ways, but can also be destructive and harmful when used incorrectly.”

The first lady has stuck with cyberbullying prevention as a signature issue despite Mr. Trump’s combative posture on Twitter — he has attacked at least 487 people, companies or institutions since declaring his candidacy for the presidency. His targets have ranged from the department store Macy’s to Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia.

Another running theme at the cyberbullying summit was the importance of adults understanding how bad behavior on social media could affect children, and how adults can be good digital role models.

“Let’s face it,” Mrs. Trump said during her remarks, “most children are more aware of the benefits and pitfalls of social media than some adults, but we still need to do all we can to provide them with information and tools for successful and safe online habits.”