January 1, Trump Accused of ‘Shameless Profiteering’

This Day in History | 1867

U.S. takes procession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million. 

Good Morning Middle Americans. 

Even you are a fan of Donald Trump, you might be calling bull shit on his latest gambit. Yesterday, from the White House, Trump’s Chief of Staff Mick announced to the world that the G-7 summit would be held at Trump’s Doral resort in Miami. The G7 is always in the middle of summer. So… Miami in July.  Mulvaney claims that hosting the summit at Doral will save the government money.  Maybe. But it will also fill a resort that is normally a ghost town in the middle of Summer.  Add this to the list of things Congress will not investigate. Another investigation instead of actually doing something.  

Read all about it. 

– Fraser Dixon

Trump’s Most Shameless Act of Profiteering

(The Atlantic) – The Trump administration has a lot to grapple with at the moment—Turkey’s disastrous incursion into Syria, a strong likelihood of impeachment, a tough reelection campaign—but there’s always time for the president to profiteer from his job.

White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney announced today that the United States will host the 2020 Group of Seven summit at Trump National Doral, the president’s golf course near Miami. In other words, Trump is choosing to host an important international conference at a resort he owns, which has been struggling badly. In a presidency marked by the shameless intermingling of the personal and the political, it may be the most brazen act of self-enrichment yet.

Economic Models Predict Even Bigger Trump Win in ’20

(CNBC) – President Donald Trump looks likely to cruise to reelection next year under three different economic models Moody’s Analytics employed to gauge the 2020 race.

Barring anything unusual happening, the president’s Electoral College victory could easily surpass his 2016 win over Democrat Hillary Clinton, which came by a 304-227 count.

Learn more about the model predicting Trump’s win here

NBA Says Crisis in China Triggered ‘Substantial’ Losses

(Bloomberg) – The National Basketball Association’s crisis in China, triggered by the Houston Rockets general manager tweeting support for Hong Kong protesters, has already cost the league “substantial” losses.

“The financial consequences may go on and be fairly dramatic,” Commissioner Adam Silver said Thursday at the Time 100 Health Summit in New York. But the league is willing to take on the costs to support free expression, he said.

Read more about the NBA’s China and free speech controversy here

Share of Americans With No Religious Affiliation Growing

(AP) – The portion of Americans with no religious affiliation is rising significantly, in tandem with a sharp drop in the percentage that identifies as Christians, according to new data from the Pew Research Center.

Based on telephone surveys conducted in 2018 and 2019, Pew said Thursday that 65% of American adults now describe themselves as Christian, down from 77% in 2009. Meanwhile, the portion that describes their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular,” now stands at 26%, up from 17% in 2009.

Find out more about America’s religious reformation here