{"id":90202,"date":"2017-09-08T04:58:39","date_gmt":"2017-09-08T04:58:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/can-gop-rely-on-trump-for-2018.html"},"modified":"2017-09-08T04:58:39","modified_gmt":"2017-09-08T04:58:39","slug":"can-gop-rely-on-trump-for-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/political\/can-gop-rely-on-trump-for-2018.html","title":{"rendered":"Can GOP rely on Trump for 2018?"},"content":{"rendered":"

**Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up\u00a0here<\/a>.**<\/p>\n

On the roster: Can GOP rely on Trump for 2018? – I\u2019ll Tell You What: Special guest! – Trump calls for rewrite of tax code – Democrats begin legal attacks on Trump for dreamers – Better out than in<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

CAN GOP RELY ON TRUMP FOR 2018?
<\/b>Politico<\/a>: \u201cDoes President Donald Trump<\/b> want to wallop or woo Democrats? No one seems to really know, and the answer could be key to his legislative agenda \u2014 and the 2018 midterm elections. Trump\u2019s aides have teamed up with the National Republican Senatorial Committee to target vulnerable Democrats and plan presidential travel to help the GOP maintain its congressional majorities during the elections that are 14 months away. White House officials, particularly political director Bill Stepien<\/b> and legislative affairs head Marc Short<\/b>, have had regular conversations with aides at the NRSC, according to people familiar with the talks. Internally, Trump officials have discussed the president taking trips to 10 states to push tax reform and attack Democrats in states where Trump enjoys wide support. Before he left the White House, former chief strategist Steve Bannon<\/b> had also plotted with other White House officials about \u2018tough votes\u2019 for Democrats \u2014 and how to make them happen, a Bannon ally said.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dem deal-making could hold implications for wall funding –<\/b> Forbes:<\/a> \u201cSo for the second time in less than five months, Trump twice blinked over funding for the wall. There are two key and immediate implications. The first is that the wall is less likely to ever be funded.\u00a0No matter how much Trump rants about it and bellows in the future, congressional leaders are almost certain to consider the wall to be much less important to the president than he\u2019s saying. The wall is now more likely to be thrown in as a sweetener to get Trump to agree to something than considered a must-have element of any agreement. The second is that congressional leaders are now more likely to be take all of Trump\u2019s other wants with at least a grain (if not a whole shaker) of salt. Everything will be assumed to be totally negotiable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite party tension, Senate OKs debt-ceiling suspension with Harvey aid – <\/b>Fox News:<\/a> \u201cThe Senate on Thursday approved a short-term suspension of the debt ceiling as part of a combined spending bill that also provides Hurricane Harvey relief funds, sending the package to the House where conservatives are threatening to oppose the package. The measure cleared the Senate on an 80-17 vote; all those opposed were Republicans. The package would fund the government and extend U.S. borrowing authority through Dec. 8, as well as provide an initial $15 billion in storm recovery money. This would avoid a government shutdown at the end of the month, while teeing up a new battle over spending and the national debt in December. \u2026 Fox News is told the deal with Democrats blindsided GOP leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

House Republican group stands strong in opposition – <\/b>Axios:<\/a> \u201cThe leadership of the Republican Study Committee\u00a0<\/b>is coming out against President Trump\u2019s debt ceiling deal with Nancy Pelosi<\/b> and Chuck Schumer<\/b>. In a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan<\/b>, RSC Chair Mark Walker<\/b> outlines 19 ideas for spending cuts that would help secure more Republican votes on a debt limit hike. \u2026 This is a strong message from the leadership of the largest caucus of House Republicans \u2014 and the conservative weight of the conference \u2014 that a debt ceiling deal which doesn\u2019t chart a course for changing the country\u2019s debt trajectory, is unacceptable. It\u2019s the strongest collective message we\u2019ve seen from Republicans on Trump\u2019s deal. The Trump-Schumer-Pelosi deal is likely to pass with more votes from Democrats than Republicans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freedom Caucus leaders vent to Ryan –<\/b> WaPo:<\/a> \u201cLeaders of the Freedom Caucus met with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) on Wednesday to candidly express their frustrations\u2026 The exchange comes as former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon<\/b> is having conversations with hard-line GOP lawmakers\u2026 Ryan heard out three members of the influential conservative group: Reps. Mark Meadows<\/b> (R-N.C.), Jim Jordan<\/b> (R-Ohio), and Scott Perry <\/b>(R-Pa.), the people said. Meadows is the chairman of the Freedom Caucus, which counts about three dozen members, and he has been a friend and ally of Bannon for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

THE RULEBOOK: SMALL BUT MIGHTY <\/b>
<\/i>\u201cEvery idea of proportion and every rule of fair representation conspire to condemn a principle, which gives to Rhode Island an equal weight in the scale of power with Massachusetts, or Connecticut, or New York\u2026\u201d \u2013 Alexander Hamilton<\/i><\/b>, Federalist No. 22<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

TIME OUT: PAST SIGN-STEALING AT THE BALL GAME
<\/b>New Yorker:<\/a> \u201cIn\u00a01948\u2026 the Cleveland Indians resorted to some shady maneuvers, what the team\u2019s owner, Bill Veeck<\/b>, later cheekily described in his memoir as \u2018gamesmanship\u2014the art of winning without really cheating.\u2019 \u2026 Veeck was unapologetic about this scheme, saying that \u2018sign-stealing, even when it is done from the scoreboard, is part of the real byplay of baseball, part of the battle of wits.\u2019 The Indians went on to win the World Series that season. \u2026 Veeck was a full-throated advocate for the stealing of signs, but he was careful to note that the practice wasn\u2019t without its dangers. \u2018If the sign-stealing is effective, the opposition is going to suspect what is happening,\u2019 he wrote in his memoir. \u2026 In Veeck\u2019s time, a team\u2019s recourse when they suspected an opponent of stealing signals was to use new ones on the fly. \u2026 Batters expecting a curve ball would get blitzed by a heater. Problem solved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flag on the play? –<\/b>\u00a0Email us at
HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM<\/a>\u00a0with
your tips, comments or questions.<\/p>\n

SCOREBOARD
<\/b>Trump net job-approval rating:\u00a0-19.4 points
<\/b>Change from one week ago:\u00a0down 1 point<\/b><\/p>\n

[President Trump\u2019s score is determined by subtracting his average job disapproval rating in<\/i>\u00a0the five most recent, methodologically sound public polls from his average approval rating, calculated in the same fashion.<\/i>]<\/p>\n

I\u2019LL TELL YOU WHAT: SPECIAL GUEST!
<\/b>This week while Chris Stirewalt <\/b>is away\u00a0Dana Perino\u00a0<\/b>welcomes her husband Peter<\/b> as a guest host! They discuss the first time they met, the health care system, Peter\u2019s path to United States citizenship and of course America\u2019s Dog… Jasper! Plus, Peter answers questions from the mailbag and tries his hand at trivia.\u00a0LISTEN AND SUBSCRIBE HERE<\/a>

TRUMP CALLS FOR REWRITE OF TAX CODE
<\/b>NYT<\/a>: \u201cPresident Trump on Wednesday used the backdrop of an oil refinery here to repeat his call for an overhaul of the nation\u2019s tax code, including a steep cut in the business tax rate. Speaking to a small but friendly crowd in a state that he won by 36 points in November, Mr. Trump urged North Dakotans to pressure members of Congress to support a plan that he promised to detail within weeks. \u2018My administration is working with Congress to develop a plan,\u2019 Mr. Trump said, promising a one-page tax form, a \u2018major, major\u2019 middle-class tax cut and a top rate for businesses that he hopes will be as low as 15 percent, down from 35 percent. The president said the current rates on businesses were the highest in the developed world and were putting American companies at a significant disadvantage as they tried to compete with businesses in other countries.\u201d

But Ryan won\u2019t commit to releasing tax plan this month –<\/b> Politico<\/a>: \u201cHouse Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday that the timeline to pass an overhaul of the tax code remains the end of the year, despite an increasingly crowded legislative calendar for Congress. But Ryan, who is among a group of congressional leaders negotiating a plan with the White House, declined to commit to releasing a plan this month, saying instead that, \u2018I\u2019ll leave it up to the tax writers as to when they\u2019ll release their template.\u2019 In a wide-ranging discussion hosted by The New York Times, Ryan also said that President Donald Trump\u2019s goal of a 15 percent corporate rate may not be achievable. He said the overarching aim is to get the corporate rate at or below the average of industrialized countries, which is 22.5 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n

DEMOCRATS BEGIN LEGAL ATTACKS ON TRUMP FOR DREAMERS
<\/b>\u00a0NYT<\/a>: \u201cPresident Trump\u2019s immigration policies faced a renewed legal onslaught on Wednesday, as a coalition of Democratic attorneys general, nonprofit groups and private companies announced they would oppose his rollback of Obama-era protections for people who entered the country illegally as children. In an echo of the campaign against Mr. Trump\u2019s effort this year to ban travelers from parts of the Muslim world, a group of 16 attorneys general \u2014 all Democrats \u2014 filed suit in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, claiming that Mr. Trump had improperly upended the policy known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA. Led by Attorneys General\u00a0Eric T. Schneiderman<\/b>\u00a0of New York, Maura Healey<\/b> of Massachusetts and Bob Ferguson<\/b> of Washington, they alleged Mr. Trump\u2019s shift was driven by racial animus toward Mexican Americans and that the Trump administration failed to follow federal rules governing executive policy making.\u201d<\/p>\n

DACA suits could cause issues for Trump travel-ban – <\/b>Politico<\/a>: \u201cThe new round of lawsuits challenging President Donald Trump\u2019s decision to shut down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, could have an unintended consequence: making it tougher for challengers of the president\u2019s travel-ban policy to win at the Supreme Court. One of the leading criticisms of the cases against the travel ban has been that they rely too heavily on Trump\u2019s campaign-trail statements about Muslims, and that accepting such arguments would unleash a flurry of litigation challenging every policy affecting someone an elected official might have disparaged as a candidate. Travel-ban opponents have dismissed that as a far-fetched parade of horribles, but new litigation over Trump\u2019s phase-out of DACA could bolster fears about a never-ending string of suits charging improper motivations for official acts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nather: \u2018The partisan chasm on immigration\u2019 –<\/b> Axios<\/a>: \u201cSo President Trump wants Congress to solve\u00a0the \u2018Dreamers\u2019 issue\u00a0in six months? Here\u2019s a reality check on why any immigration legislation falls apart once Congress gets ahold of it.\u00a0This poll, from Quinnipiac University last month, shows that Republicans and Democrats aren\u2019t just divided on what to do about undocumented immigrants. They live in different universes, with independents somewhere in the middle of the huge chasm. \u2026 The issue before Congress \u2014 what to do about undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children \u2014 is just a subset of the broader immigration debate. But these kind of numbers show why immigration legislation has always been a graveyard in Congress, and why the odds have been against a deal to give legal protections to the Dreamers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Judge\u2019s Ruling:\u00a0Law is law
<\/b>Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst Judge\u00a0Andrew Napolitano\u00a0<\/b>examines how DACA can be argued constitutional on moral, legal and economic grounds: \u201cBut Obama<\/b>\u2019s executive orders were not novel; they merely formalized what every president since Ronald Reagan<\/b> — including President Donald Trump — has effectively done. Each has declined to deport undocumented immigrants who bore children here or who were brought here as young children.\u201d\u00a0More\u00a0here<\/a>.
<\/i>
TRUMP JR. SAYS MEETING WAS FOR DIRT ON CLINTON\u2019S \u2018FITNESS\u2019
<\/b>NYT:<\/a> \u201cDonald Trump Jr.<\/b> told Senate investigators on Thursday that he set up\u00a0a June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer\u00a0because he was intrigued that she might have damaging information about Hillary Clinton<\/b>, saying it was important to learn about Mrs. Clinton\u2019s \u2018fitness\u2019 to be president. But nothing came of the Trump Tower meeting, he said, and he was adamant that he never colluded with the Russian government\u2019s campaign to disrupt last year\u2019s presidential election. In a prepared statement during an interview with Senate Judiciary Committee investigators, the younger Mr. Trump said he was initially conflicted when he heard that the lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya<\/b>, might have damaging information about Mrs. Clinton. Despite his interest, he said, he always intended to consult with his own lawyers about the propriety of using any information that Ms. Veselnitskaya, who has ties to the Kremlin, gave him at the meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graham wants Comey to testify, again –<\/b> Fox News:<\/a> \u201cSen. Lindsey Graham<\/b> told Fox News on Thursday that he wants to bring back James Comey<\/b> to testify on Capitol Hill, citing concerns about his statements on the conclusion of the Hillary Clinton email case. \u2018This doesn\u2019t add up, and I smell a rat here,\u2019 Graham, R-S.C., said in an interview with Fox News\u2019 Catherine Herridge<\/b>.\u00a0\u2026 Graham said Thursday he doesn\u2019t think Comey perjured himself, but suggested the interview transcripts raise questions that must be resolved. \u2026 Graham said there are two issues he wants to discuss. The first is whether Comey had \u2018predetermined the result\u2019 of the email probe before the Clinton interview, \u2018contrary\u2019 to his testimony. The second concerns Comey\u2019s claim that he jumped into the fray because of the tarmac meeting.\u201d

PLAY-BY-PLAY<\/b>
Trump unveils seventh wave of nominees to fill judicial vacancies <\/i>– The Hill<\/a>
<\/b>
Trump Unlikely to Nominate Gary Cohn<\/b> as Fed Chairman<\/i> – WSJ<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

Ryan, Boehner to hold fundraiser tailgate before Green Bay Packers game<\/i> – WashEx<\/a>
<\/b>
Democrats cringe over Hillary\u2019s book on the campaign that will never end<\/i> – Politico<\/a><\/p>\n

AUDIBLE: ONLY TIME WILL TELL <\/b>
\u201cIf we get to December and we\u2019ve not repealed Obamacare, don\u2019t build the wall\u2026 it\u2019s not going to be pretty.\u201d \u2013 Rep. Mark Meadows<\/b> R-N.C., regarding the \u200bFreedom Caucus\u2019 plan to push<\/a> the White House into action.
<\/i>
Share your color commentary:<\/b>\u00a0Email us at\u00a0
HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM<\/a> and please make sure to include your name and hometown.<\/p>\n

[Ed. note:\u00a0Chris Stirewalt<\/b>\u00a0is away. He and FROM THE BLEACHERS will return on Sep. 11.<\/i>]<\/p>\n

BETTER OUT THAN IN<\/b>
BBC:<\/a> \u201cA woman who threw her poo out of her date\u2019s toilet window because it \u2018would not flush\u2019 had to be rescued after she got stuck trying to retrieve it. The amateur gymnast was on a first date with Bristol student Liam Smith<\/b> when she \u2018panicked\u2019 and threw the feces out of the window. It did not land in the garden, but became wedged between two non-opening windows. After climbing in head first after it, she became wedged. Mr. Smith had to call the fire service for help. \u2026 Although the woman was rescued unharmed, Mr. Smith said his bathroom window was destroyed. \u2018I\u2019m not complaining, [the fire service] did what they had to do,\u2019 he said. \u2026 Unsurprisingly, the woman does not want to be named but Mr. Smith said he had seen her since and \u2018who knows what the future holds\u2019. \u2026 \u2018And we\u2019ve already got the most difficult stuff out of the way first.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Brianna McClelland<\/i><\/b> contributed to this report. Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up\u00a0<\/i>here<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

\t<\/i><\/p>\n

This article was written by Fox News staff.<\/p>\n

Article source: http:\/\/feeds.foxnews.com\/~r\/foxnews\/politics\/~3\/NWl5ClraTJw\/can-gop-rely-on-trump-for-2018.html<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

**Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up\u00a0here.** On the roster: Can GOP rely on Trump for 2018? – I\u2019ll Tell You What: Special guest! – Trump calls for rewrite of tax code – Democrats begin legal attacks on Trump for dreamers – Better out than in CAN GOP RELY ON […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-90202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political","tag-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90202\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}