Photo: SAUL MARTINEZ/Getty Images In February 2017 — in case past and future comments proved otherwise — newly inaugurated President Trump told reporters: “I am the least anti-Semitic person you’ve ever seen in your entire life.” The sweeping pronouncement from the president, who once suggested that Jews might be committing fake hate crimes in order to make him look bad, has not stood the test of his presidency. On Saturday, speaking before the Israeli American Council in Hollywood, Florida, President Trump engaged in the anti-Semitic trope of a Jewish obsession with wealth. Discussing Senator Elizabeth Warren’s plan for a wealth tax, he said that Jews in the audience should “be my biggest supporters because you’ll be out of business in about 15 minutes.” Trump incorrectly said that the plan — which requires households to pay an annual 2 percent tax on every dollar of net worth over $50 million — would take “100 … [Read more...] about Trump Expresses Anti-Semitic Sentiments Before a Jewish Audience Again
Trump tariff
Official: China hopes for US trade pact as tariff hike nears
FILE - In this Oct. 14, 2019, file photo, a worker loads imported goods on a truck at a distribution company outside the container port in Qingdao in east China's Shandong province. China's trade with the United States sank again in November as negotiators worked on the first stage of a possible deal to end a tariff war. (Chinatopix via AP, File) less FILE - In this Oct. 14, 2019, file photo, a worker loads imported goods on a truck at a distribution company outside the container port in Qingdao in east China's Shandong province. China's trade with the ... more Photo: AP Photo: AP Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Image 1 of 1 FILE - In this Oct. 14, 2019, file photo, a worker loads imported goods on a truck at a distribution company outside the container port in Qingdao in east China's Shandong … [Read more...] about Official: China hopes for US trade pact as tariff hike nears
Trump Is Panicked That His Trade War Will Start a Recession
Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images Most weeks, New York Magazine writer-at-large Frank Rich speaks with contributor Alex Carp about the biggest stories in politics and culture. Today, Trump’s trade war with China, what Jeffrey Epstein’s death means for his accomplices, and Elizabeth Warren’s rise in the polls. Economists and investors are growing increasingly wary that Donald Trump’s push for tariffs on China could lead the U.S. into a recession. Will the markets force Trump to back down from his trade war? Trump has already started to back down, abruptly postponing tariffs on China until at least mid-December, lest American consumers and merchants be stuck with the bill during Christmas shopping season. Given that he had repeatedly claimed that China would pay for the tariffs, this about-face is of course nonsensical. Then again, maybe he had meant to say that Mexico would pay for the tariffs and that China would pay for his … [Read more...] about Trump Is Panicked That His Trade War Will Start a Recession
Trump Insults Several Million American Jews
Not a prejudiced bone in his body. Photo: Alex Brandon/AP/Shutterstock After once again accusing Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar of hating Israel on Tuesday, President Trump told reporters that “any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat — I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.” Whether Trump meant disloyalty to himself or to the state of Israel — which he claims to be a great friend of — is unclear, though the betting money is on Israel. Either way, accusing Jews of failing to show fidelity to the proper country carries an obviously terrible history. And viewing a whole religion as an undifferentiated mass that should vote solely based on tribal affiliation isn’t exactly appropriate either. Jews have voted overwhelmingly Democratic for decades — a CNN exit poll showed that 79 percent went for Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections — and, by and large, can’t stand the president. Trump … [Read more...] about Trump Insults Several Million American Jews
Trevor Noah: Trump Doesn’t ‘Have the Balls’ to Come on ‘The Daily Show’
Last summer, Trevor Noah told me that if by some crazy turn of events Trump were to be elected, he wasn’t sure he would be “able to stay” in the United States. And if, as promised, Trump decided to “open up the libel laws,” the South African host wondered, could a program like The Daily Show even exist? One month into the Trump administration, Noah is still here, still tearing into Trump four nights a week—most recently mocking his insane press conference—and delivering The Daily Show its highest-rated month since his October 2015 debut with an average of 1.4 million viewers a night in January. Just as he’s been for Daily Show alum Stephen Colbert, President Trump has been a barely-disguised blessing for Noah. During a “chilled out” Saturday morning in Boston, where he is in the middle of performing six sold-out shows at the Wilbur Theatre, Noah calls The Daily Beast to talk about his new Netflix stand-up special, Afraid of … [Read more...] about Trevor Noah: Trump Doesn’t ‘Have the Balls’ to Come on ‘The Daily Show’