Mixed signals on Trump’s priorities
PRESIDENT Trump’s focus is on North Korea, healthcare and taxes. (Tracie Van Auken EPA)
By Laura King
WASHINGTON — President Trump pushed past his first tumultuous 100 days in office by calling for action Sunday on three of his administration’s top priorities — North Korea, healthcare and tax reform — but gave mixed signals on each of them.
Trump described North Korea’s mercurial leader, Kim Jong Un, as a “pretty smart cookie.” Undercutting a key campaign pledge, Trump suggested possible cuts to Medicare by curbing “abuses.” And he declared that the top Democrat in the Senate, who has derided Trump’s tax proposal as a boon for the wealthy, was “making a fool of himself.”
Vice President Mike Pence separately acknowledged on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that a sweeping White House proposal to slash individual and corporate tax rates would increase the national debt “maybe in the short term.”
The White House previously has argued that improved economic growth would pay for the loss of revenue. Critics have said the Trump tax blueprint could add trillions of dollars to the deficit if enacted.
The day’s developments thus suggested little change from the head-snapping turmoil that marked the first part of Trump’s tenure. Senior aides scrambled in some cases Sunday to ease the sting of the president’s comments or even to contradict him.
The president also courted fresh controversy when the White House announced late Saturday that Trump had made a “very friendly” call to President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines and had invited him to visit the White House.
Since taking office in June, Duterte has presided over a bloody anti-drug crackdown that human right groups say has left more than 7,000 people dead in what appears to be a campaign of extrajudicial killings by police and unidentified death squads.
It was not the first time Trump’s dealings with a foreign strongman have raised questions.
Trump earlier in April hosted Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi at the White House and praised him for doing a “fantastic job” despite his jailing of thousands of political opponents after he took power in a military coup.
Also in April, Trump was alone among Western leaders in making a congratulatory phone call to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after he claimed victory in a referendum that vastly enhanced presidential powers.
Critics called the Turkish referendum, whose results have been disputed by the leading opposition party, a blow to democracy.
Trump, who spent Sunday at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va., had celebrated Saturday’s 100-day milestone with a full-throated attack on the news media and other perceived enemies at a raucous nighttime rally in Harrisburg, Pa.
The president had skipped the annual White House correspondents’ dinner, long a presidential staple. Surrounded by his wildly cheering supporters, Trump mocked the black-tie event as Washington and Hollywood elitists “consoling themselves” over the loss of the 2016 election.
On North Korea, Trump said in an interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation” that he didn’t know whether he would authorize military action if Pyongyang conducted a sixth nuclear test, as is widely expected.
“I don’t know,” he said when asked whether he would order a military response. “I mean, we’ll see.”
The president appeared to offer grudging praise for North Korea’s leader, noting that Kim took over when he was 26 or 27 after his father died and has consolidated power despite challenges from several members of his family.
“A lot of people, I’m sure, tried to take that power away,” he said. “And he was able to do it. So obviously, he’s a pretty smart cookie.”
Trump rattled South Korea last week when he said in at least two interviews that the government in Seoul, one of America’s closest allies, should pay $1 billion for a sophisticated missile defense system that the U.S. has begun installing in the country.
The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, is intended to become operational within a matter of days, the Pentagon has said.
Despite Trump’s comments, the White House national security advisor, H.R. McMaster, sought to reassure Seoul that Washington would not try to make South Korea pay for the antimissile batteries, according to South Korea’s presidential office.
McMaster confirmed Sunday that was the case — for now.
“What I told our South Korean counterpart is that until any renegotiation, that the deal’s in place, we’ll adhere to our word,” McMaster said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Senior administration officials often have been forced to walk back Trump’s more provocative comments, especially on foreign affairs, without seeming to directly contradict the president.
In this instance, McMaster sought to put Trump’s comments in the context of looking at “appropriate burden-sharing” across all U.S. alliances.
On healthcare, Trump brushed aside the failure last week — the second — to bring a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, to the House floor, something he had pledged to accomplish early in his tenure.
Republicans have been unable to fully agree on the provisions of the complex legislation, and Trump probably caused the GOP leadership additional headaches when he leaped into the fray with a pledge that insurers would be required to offer coverage to consumers with preexisting health problems.
A GOP compromise plan would have allowed states to opt out of that requirement, a cornerstone of Obamacare.
“This bill has evolved,” Trump told CBS interviewer John Dickerson, adding that “now we have preexisting conditions in the bill” nationwide.
“Preexisting is going to be in there,” the president added.
Trump also appeared to hedge on what had been an ironclad campaign tenet: that he would not cut Medicare.
“The concept of Medicare, I’m not touching,” he said, but added, “Waste, fraud and abuse … if there are things within Medicare that are being abused, I will touch that.”
Tax reform has been another area in which Trump has longed for a high-profile win. In the CBS interview, the president was dismissive of calls from some in Congress to condition tax reform on the release of the president’s income taxes.
The president has ridiculed Democrats’ stance on the issue, singling out Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.).
“They don’t have the presidency, they don’t have the House, they don’t have the Senate,” Trump said Sunday. “And Schumer’s going around making a fool out of himself.”
Schumer, appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” said his advice to Trump would be that “name-calling doesn’t work.”
“If he changes, we could work together,” he said of the president. “But he can’t just dictate what he wants, not talk to us and say, ‘You must support it.’ ”
laura.king@latimes.com
Twitter: @laurakingLAT

then it doesn't concern you....you people refers to conservatives...if the shoe fits.............

Bitch it is not costing you shit....worrying about what the fk I'm doing and being obsessively preoccupied with my black ass is what you seem to be really good at.........

*Where did you get all that bullshit from that you think someone gives a fk about?* I just posted an article and cracked a joke and you took it so serious that your underlying psychological issues surfaced. Don't worry.....I would never ask a man to impress me my dressing in anything....that is your thought process at work, not mine....sorry dude..........that is the least of your worries.*

I teach Technology Management and Organizational Behavior and Industrial Psychology and Statistics..........since you like to take what I say and turn it into whatever in the fk you like, look up that course material and create how that is philosophical and consists of indoctrination. Continue to make a motherfking fool out of yourself and take what I say and make it what you want it to be. Be like that other pill-popping alcoholic psychotic ass fool that tells me what I am but cannot discuss shit I resent from my actual profession(s). Hilarious indeed.........

If I tell you something about me and you choose to see it otherwise and insist on creating your desired version of me that fits your preference.....then fk you and go ahead and do so........have at it with my blessings......I'm not arguing the point regarding what I said about myself......so think what the fk you like and see if I give a shit......the same with that other pill-popping, alcoholic psychotic idiot....If he wants to insist I'm a janitor instead of a Dr./Professor/Engineer.....he can go ahead also......doesn't change my reality and I did not become what I did because I needed to be ordained or receive validation from some nasty ass, trailer park, inbred motherfking crackas......

I see the psychotic white boy crowd is alive and well...you morons are hilarious..........

Again,
This talk coming from the people in the highest death rate from alcohol and opioid addiction and suicide and their only concern is that of the blacks they hate while your women help breed your asses out of existence and replacing you all with Obama look-alikes........well at least you old male ass antebellum racists are going out kicking and screaming and not without a fight.......... but one would think you would worry about yourselves instead of using blacks to build a wall or use them for a road ...not helping your own situation at all......that is what got you here in this situation.....wrong priorities................

It won't be of no help to blacks....you'd just go back to being the same motherfking racists you were before they got here.....fk you.......

This talk coming from the people in the highest death rate from alcohol and opioid addiction and suicide and their only concern is that of the blacks they hate while your women help breed your asses out of existence and replacing you all with Obama look-alikes........well at least you old male ass antebellum racists are going out kicking and screaming and not without a fight.......... but one would think you would worry about yourselves instead of using blacks to build a wall...not helping your own situation at all......that is what got you here in this situation.....wrong priorities................

Somebody just got out their opioid and alcohol-induced stupor or it is finally their time on the computer......the Sunday evening slot..........quite a few make-up consecutive posts in a short amount of time.............appears kind of psychotic................in a real controlled environment.

Speaking of true colors.....how many of you cons are secure in your manhood? haha.........

Give pink a chance
BY VINCENT BOUCHER
If you’re the type of guy who looks at the world through rose-colored glasses, then this is your season. Whether it’s a new pair of pink suede shoes, a raspberry-colored blazer or a dusty watermelon-hued T-shirt, the men’s fashion world has an appealingly roseate glow this spring. ¶ There’s a bit of everything-that’s-old-is-new-again about this revival because, historically, pink has been a prime pick for male peacocking. An Armani blazer recalls “The Great Gatsby” (and the shock of Jay Gatsby’s pink suit).
Light-pink-colored swim shorts have the flashy flair of Sonny Crockett from TV show “Miami Vice,” while pinkish denim harks back to preppies with their fondness for eye-searing trousers to match their Madras cocktails. And a bright bubblegum, polka-dot shirt can’t help but be a reminder of the “good vibrations” of the Beach Boys during the SoCal band’s ’60s prime. ¶And for the more discreet, you have options such as a silk square with a field of renegade strawberries to tuck into a navy blazer pocket. It’ll put you in the pink. LEVI’S VINTAGE CLOTHING There’s a ’60s surfer vibe to this short-sleeve, button-down sport shirt in graphic polka dots. $195. levi.com, (866) 860-8907 TODD SNYDER NEW YORK A classic pocket T-shirt in dusty pink is garment-dyed and rinsed to look easy and breezy. $78. Todd Snyder New York, toddsnyder.com, (866) 897-0333 LANVIN These designer sneakers have a cult following, and this spring brings a shell-pink nubuck option. $585. mrporter.com, (877) 535-3677 GIORGIO ARMANI A pink cotton blazer shows off the Italian maestro’s typically soft silhouette in a doublebreasted cut. $1,895. Giorgio Armani, armani.com, (877) 361-1176PAIGE Paige Slim-fit Federal cotton/rayon jeans in a faded garden tone called radish. $199. Bloomingdale’s, bloomingdales.com, (800) 777-0000PAUL SMITH The British designer indulges his witty side with a “strawberry skulls” print silk pocket square. $75. mrporter.com, (877) 535-3677 RETROMARINE Paul Smith Swim shorts come in a jaunty mid-thigh length with a nautical drawstring waist and handy side pockets. $165. retromarine.nyc, (212) 401-6940

Book Reviews:


New nonfiction that lands with force
the national book review
Some great nonfiction for spring about race, politics and adversity.
Locking Up Our Own
Crime and Punishment in Black America
James Forman Jr.
James Foreman Jr. — a Yale Law School professor and one-time public defender in Washington, D.C. — is a child of the civil rights movement. His parents met on the front lines of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and his father became one of the movement’s most prominent leaders. While Foreman appreciates what was accomplished in that era, his new book focuses on what was left undone. “The nation’s prison population was growing darker,” he writes. “In 1954, the year of Brown v. Board of Education, about one-third of the nation’s prisoners were black.” Four decades later, that number approached 50%. Foreman digs down deep on the racial politics of crime and punishment in Washington, D.C., and notes a stark reality: A large percentage of the lawmakers and law enforcement officials were themselves black. In this important book, Foreman asks, “How did a majority-black jurisdiction end up incarcerating so many of its own?” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux: 320 pp., $27)
A Colony in a Nation
Chris Hayes
In this smart history, the host of MSNBC’s “All In With Chris Hayes” provides a new perspective to the fight for social justice. His last book, “Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy,” was about the implosion of powerful American institutions; now Hayes takes on criminal justice in America, which has the world’s highest incarceration rate. He draws from his own experiences — he was caught with marijuana, for instance, with no consequences — and blends them with the political commentary and social analysis for which he is known. Hayes argues that America can be divided into two parts: the “Nation,” the affluent, white elite, and the “Colony,” largely urban, overwhelmingly black, brown and poor, with an increasing number of poor white people mixed in, who lead lives of discrimination and subjugation. (W.W. Norton: 256 pp., $26.95)

Watch "United Shades of America" tonight and watch the nationalist talk about the return of white privilege and problems of diversity and how women need to be at home.........wow.......

CANVASSING THE CITY
Significant ‘Faces’ of the community
LOCAL RESIDENTS and sustainable landscapes are given tribute in the installation “Faces of Elysian,” created by Greenmeme’s Freyja Bardell and Brian Howe. (Mariah Tauger For The Times)
By Deborah Vankin
The nine egg-shaped sculptures are the faces of local residents captured in 3-D scans and then water-jet-cut out of granite sourced from a Yosemite-area quarry. There’s a different person represented on both sides of each sculpture, so 18 faces in all.
“Faces of Elysian,” which debuted in February, pays homage to the diversity flowing through the site, a bustling roundabout near the intersection of three neighborhoods: Elysian Valley, Cypress Park and Lincoln Heights. For a new Times feature on public art — the story behind the murals, sculpture and other works you may drive past or walk by — we talked with Freyja Bardell and Brian Howe, the artists behind “Faces” and the art studio Greenmeme . Their installation, which took more than seven years to complete, is landscaped with native plants and used stone left over from the faces to make the surrounding barrier.
Where: In a roundabout at the entrance to the Riverside Drive Bridge over the Los Angeles River at Figueroa Street and San Fernando Road, near where the 110 and 5 freeways meet.
Commissioned by: The Los Angeles Department of Transportation in partnership with the Bureau of Engineering.
The artists say: “We wanted to capture an image or time stamp of this diverse community and celebrate or memorialize it,” Bardell says. “We chose to use regular people in the community, inter-generational, people who aren’t necessarily elevated to the status of being a statue, but who are all incredibly significant and important in the community. They’re sort of guardians watching people come in and out of this intersection of freeways, rivers, railways and three or four neighborhoods.”
Adds Howe: “Sustainability was very important from the beginning, so it’s also a storm-water retention roundabout. There are three kinds of bioswales that trap the water, keep it there, help irrigate. Part of the design is also things you don’t even see.”
deborah.vankin@latimes.com