there are bad economic indicators this past week, he s running scared now. if you have the opportunity to talk to the american people, why aren t you talking to them about how you ll lift wages? speak to that lowe s worker who is losing his job. if he rooting against the economy pitch, he will lose. israel banned rashida tlaib and omar from visiting israel. it s a move that came after president trump called for it. called for israel to not let them in, even though israel previously said they would. tlaib was granted permission on humanitarian grounds to visit her grandmother on the west bank, she declined saying her free speech was violated. president trump said israel was nice allowing rashida tlaib to visit her grandmother. as soon as she was granted
suggest if it were to happen it would be the middle of next year, just a few months before the president were to face voters again. and that for this white house, is a terrifying prospect. i think that s why we re already seeing reporting some of the pivoting to stir up other issues. this thing with israel and the congresswomen, the attacks on those same congresswomen a few weeks ago, on elijah cummings and cities, the minority-majority cities, culture issues, even plastic straws. that sort of stuff is going to be in the president s arsenal right now as he tries to distract from the impact his china trade war has had on the economy and the very volatile markets. i have no doubt about it. jon allen, the president gave us positively catskills material tonight on social media. at least her grandmother won t have to see her. is there a strategy here? is someone with a straight face able to make a mathematical argument that this is a path to victory which all efforts ideally in the whit
trump s way of and motivation for expressing his affection for israel is guided by his political desire to improve his re-election chances by depicting the entire republican party as pro-israel and the entire democratic party as anti-israel. this week trump also engaged in veiled swipes at old adversaries by pushing a conspiracy theory on social media that the clintons somehow had jeffrey epstein killed. trump then tried to defend his action by saying he was just re-tweeting someone else s theory. that wasn t from me. that was from him. but he s a man who has half a million followers, a lot of followers, and he s respected. trump s concern about 2020 appears to be part of his motivation to begin making plans to pull u.s. troops out of afghanistan. as the washington post first reported, trump met with his national security team. tonight he confirmed the meeting, noting that, quote, many on the opposite side of this 19-year war and us are looking to make a deal if possible.
our leadoff discussion on this friday night, susan page, washington bureau chief for usa today. she also happens to be the author of the matriarch: barbara bush and the making of an american dynasty. jonathan lemire, and jonathan allen, a veteran political reporter who happens to be our nbc news national political reporter. good evening and welcome to you all. susan, i d like to begin with you. where the shattering of norms are concerned, how big a week have we just witnessed, remembering this is summer vacation for the president? you know, i actually think the controversy over israel denying entry to two american members of congress at the urging of the president was shocking. even in 2 1/2 years of things we say break the norms, this is one i think crosses a new line, for
he writes, trump advisers feel a weakened economy would hurt him with moderate republican and independent voters who have been willing to give him a pass on some of his incendiary policies and rhetoric. trump is now stepping up his attacks on one of two democratic congresswomen who were blocked from visiting israel after he asked that nation to bar their entry and after prime minister netanyahu quickly complied. yesterday we learned that congresswomen ilhan omar and rashida tlaib were not allowed to visit. today israel did relent and gave tlaib permission to visit so she could see her grandmother, who lives on the west bank. tlaib has now decided not to visit on humanitarian grounds. tonight trump weighed in, quote, tlaib obnoxiously turned the approval down. a complete setup. the only real winner is tlaib s grandmother. she doesn t have to see her now. new york times columnist tom friedman writes that trump s battle with the congresswoman is part of his effort to activate his base