trump – Page 3

Trump’s appeals to white anxiety are not ‘dog whistles’ – they’re racism

18Sep

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism, POLITICS

Trump’s appeals to white anxiety are not ‘dog whistles’ – they’re racism

President Donald Trump’s rhetoric is often referred to as “dog whistle politics.” In politician speak, a dog whistle is language that conveys a particular meaning to a group of potential supporters. The targeted group hears the “whistle” because of its shared cultural reference, but others cannot. In 2018, The Washington Post wrote that “perhaps no one has sent more dog whistles than President Trump.” When Trump this year planned a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma – the site of one of the worst acts of racial terror in U.S. history – on the Black holiday of Juneteenth, the media called the rally a “racist dog whistle.” That suggests that white nationalists would view the timing as an overture, while others would miss the date’s racism. Journalists have also referred to Trump calling COVID-19 “t...

While the US is reeling from COVID-19, the Trump administration is trying to take away health care

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

While the US is reeling from COVID-19, the Trump administration is trying to take away health care

The death toll from COVID-19 keeps rising, creating grief, fear, loss and confusion. Unfortunately for us all, the pain only begins there. Other important health policy news that would ordinarily make headlines is buried under the crushing weight of the coronavirus. Many have not had time to notice or understand the Trump administration’s efforts to wreck health care coverage. We are both professors at Boston University School of Public Health who study health insurance, one using economics and statistics and the other focusing on law and policy. We have researched the big picture of COVID-19’s impact on the safety net and the details of how our federalist system, with states having considerable control over policy, has made a coordinated response to the pandemic more difficult. Here, w...

Trump greenlights drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but will oil companies show up?

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

BUSINESS, VIDEO REELS

Trump greenlights drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but will oil companies show up?

The Trump administration has announced that it is opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas development – the latest twist in a decades-long battle over the fate of this remote area. Its timing is truly terrible. Low oil prices, a pandemic-driven recession and looming elections add up to highly unfavorable conditions for launching expensive drilling operations. In the longer term, the climate crisis and an ongoing shift to a lower-carbon economy raise big questions about future oil demand. I’ve researched the U.S. energy industry for more than 20 years. As I see it, conservative Republicans have backed oil and gas production in ANWR since the 1980s for two overriding reasons. First, to increase domestic oil production and reduce dependence on “foreign oil,” a euphemis...

Trump Assumes Voting By Mail Favors Democrats

5Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

Trump Assumes Voting By Mail Favors Democrats

President Trump’s plan to destroy democracy was on full display last week, as he made the U.S. Postal Service his new battlefield, with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy leading the charge. This is coming at the worst possible time for the health of our nation, because mail-in voting is expected to surge in November as Americans stay home to avoid the COVID-19 pandemic. And for many Americans, especially those in rural communities and people (including 330,000 veterans) who receive their medication by mail, the post office is a lifeline. The reason for Trump’s action is clear: He assumes voting by mail favors Democrats (many absentee voters traditionally are seniors, who have been one of Trump’s more supportive demographics). He believes he can only “win” reelection if he makes it impossib...

Why Congress can’t curb Trump’s power to commute Stone’s sentence and pardon others

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

Why Congress can’t curb Trump’s power to commute Stone’s sentence and pardon others

President Donald Trump recently commuted the sentence of his friend and political ally Roger Stone, meaning Stone remains convicted but does not have to serve prison time. Article II, section 2 of the Constitution grants the president the power “to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment” – which includes reducing or commuting sentences, as well as pardoning people for federal crimes, which can reverse their convictions, or preventing them from being charged in the first place. All but two presidents in U.S. history have issued pardons – and the two who didn’t were William Henry Harrison and James Garfield, both of whom died after very short times in office. Trump is not the first president to use the pardon power to remedy what...

Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ rights, Trump: The risks and rewards of corporate activism

17Jul

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ rights, Trump: The risks and rewards of corporate activism

The big idea Companies and CEOs are increasingly wading into political issues. My latest research suggests that such corporate activism can come with high costs if it doesn’t align with the political values of a company’s customers, employees and local lawmakers — or big gains when it does. Dozens of companies have recently expressed support for Black Lives Matter. Jessica Felicio via unsplash, CC BY-SA The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. In what we think is the first study to examine how corporate activism affects financial performance, three co-authors and I built a database of decisions by publicly traded companies that took a stand on polarizing issues such as LGBTQ rights, abortion, immigration and gun control over a five-year period. We then looked at...

Trump wants sports back – but fans aren’t so sure

20Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, IN OTHER NEWS, SPORTS

Trump wants sports back – but fans aren’t so sure

Some politicians, media figures and business leaders are clamoring for sectors of the economy to re-open in the near future, and President Trump, on April 14, specifically mentioned America’s professional sports leagues. CC BY-ND “We have to get our sports back,” Trump said. “I’m tired of watching baseball games that are 14 years old.” But a recent poll of 762 Americans across the country conducted by my colleagues and me at Seton Hall’s Sharkey Institute shows that Americans may be less enthusiastic than the president about the prospect of “Play Ball!” – at least, until there are some effective COVID-19 treatments in place. Asked if they would feel safe attending a game before the development of a vaccine, 72% of Americans said they would not, while 12% said they would only go to games...

It’s a bad idea for journalists to censor Trump – instead, they can help the public identify what’s true or false

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS, POLITICS

It’s a bad idea for journalists to censor Trump – instead, they can help the public identify what’s true or false

In times of mortal strife, humans crave information more than ever, and it’s journalists’ responsibility to deliver it. But what if that information is inaccurate, or could even kill people? That’s the quandary journalists have found themselves in as they decide whether to cover President Donald J. Trump’s press briefings live. Some television networks have started cutting away from the briefings, saying the events are no more than campaign rallies, and that the president is spreading falsehoods that endanger the public. “If Trump is going to keep lying like he has been every day on stuff this important, we should, all of us, stop broadcasting it,” MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow tweeted. “Honestly, it’s going to cost lives.” News decisions and ethical dilemmas aren’t simple, but withholding in...

There’s a name for Trump playing down the threat and failing to take action against the virus: Institutional betrayal

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS

There’s a name for Trump playing down the threat and failing to take action against the virus: Institutional betrayal

U.S. intel agencies issued dire, classified warnings to President Trump in January and February about the dangers posed by the coronavirus, according to revelations reported in The Washington Post. For weeks, U.S. communities coast to coast sounded the alarm. They didn’t have enough tests to diagnose, track and limit the spread of COVID-19. Meantime, federal and some state officials downplayed the need for a coordinated response. There’s a name for situations when systems that are supposed to take care of others do harm: institutional betrayal. As trauma psychologists, we see that betrayal by the Trump administration, and we offer some lessons from behavioral science to guide the government response to this global health crisis. Traumatic events involve death, or the threat of death, ser...

19Mar

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19

Trump’s right: Congress should give Americans $1,000 right now to fight the coronavirus recession

Much of the U.S. economy has effectively shut down as America increasingly takes the coronavirus pandemic seriously. Retail stores and restaurants across the country are vacant. The entertainment and hospitality industries are on hiatus. While necessary to slow the spread of COVID-19, this will have grave consequences for the economy as well as for the tens of millions of workers who depend on hourly wages to buy food, medicine and put a roof over their heads. The Trump administration is finally taking it seriously too and asking Congress to pass an US$850 billion stimulus package, including sending $1,000 checks directly to all adult Americans. Some lawmakers are pushing for larger payments and over several months. This is welcome news. As a macroeconomist specializing in income inequa...