While the left and media are busy playing games with
identity politics, the Trump train is moving forward as shown in the below list of actions during Hurricane Harvey and the prior week.
National
Diversity Coalition for Trump Leadership Team:
Darrell Scott - CEO
Michael Cohen - Chair
Christos Marafatsos - Vice Chair
Bruce LeVell, Executive Director
Michael Cohen - Chair
Christos Marafatsos - Vice Chair
Bruce LeVell, Executive Director
_______________________
HIGHLIGHTS
FROM SUNDAY'S SHOWS
Homeland
Security Advisor, Tom Bossert, on CBS’s "Face the Nation" outlines
how the President has been monitoring the storm’s progress:
TOM
BOSSERT: Well among other things he's been talking to me and
Brock Long and his acting Homeland Security Secretary, Elaine Duke.
Yesterday we had two hour long almost conversation with
his entire Cabinet all the senior leadership team.
The President was actively involved in that making sure
operations were coordinated unsticking any disagreements of which there were
none at this stage.
The Vice President was very actively involved in that, in
fact the Vice President and President both called me in the last 12 hours
probably a dozen time, each. What you're doing making sure that we're
coordinating.
And so what I liken it is to race, we're off and out of
the blocks the right way.
That’s because of strong preparedness and strong
leadership.
But now we have to run that race and finish well.
-----
Homeland
Security Advisor Tom Bossert on ABC’s "This Week" on the President’s
priorities moving forward after Hurricane Harvey
GEORGE
STEPHANOPOULOS: Thank you for joining us this morning. You
just heard that praise from Governor Abbott for the federal response. What is
your focus as we head in to the next phase?
TOM
BOSSERT: Good morning, George thanks for having me on the
program.
So the President’s focus and mine remains on supporting
the Governor. And it's very nice to hear the governor give us the praise. I
think it's a mutual feeling.
President Trump right now is giving all the latitude of
the federal government that he can possible give it.
Brock Long, our FEMA administrator is taking the reins
and coordinating efforts. And people focus on coordinating federal efforts.
But what Brock is doing is really pretty special because
what doing is he's coordinating federal efforts across different departments
and agencies but he’s also he's coordinating volunteers and workers and
professionals from other states as well.
We have talked a lot this morning about the search and
rescue efforts under way. Life-saving and life-sustaining is our priority right
now.
But you will see some of those search and rescue teams
are coming from different states all over the country and that is what makes us
special at this point of kind of a unifying feeling there's a lot of effort
under way.
And what Brock has to do and what the president has to
remain focused on and what I try to help him focus on is unity of the efforts.
----
FEMA
Administrator, Brock Long, on NBC’s "Meet the Press" gives an update
on FEMA’s actions following the storm:
CHUCK
TODD: Let me start with this cleanup effort and the fact that
Lester was just saying and understandably that some of it is delayed or stalled
because more is to come. What kind of extra efforts are you having to --
resources are you having to marshal to deal with issues of flooding? Are you
having more air support, Coast Guard coming in? What are the resources you're
having to start now?
ADMINISTRATOR
LONG: So, first of all, I'd like to say that President Trump
is extremely concerned about this. He's given me all the authorities to amass
the resources from the federal government down through our state and local
partners.
And right now we have nearly 5,000 staff that we have
coordinated across the federal government within the states of Texas and
Louisiana helping Governor Abbott as well as the locals respond.
Right now we're not doing recovery. There's no such thing
as recovery right now.
Right now we are deep into the life safety mission of
helping people be rescued through swift water rescues, search and rescue. And
it's my job to coordinate that.
So specifically what I mean is that under the national
response framework we mission assign the Coast Guard. We mission assign DOD
assets in support of our state and local efforts. And you're seeing that take
place right now.
----
Administrator
Long on CNN’s "State of the Union" on FEMA’s continued work in the
affected areas:
JAKE
TAPPER: The National Weather Service says parts of Texas might
be uninhabitable for weeks, even potentially months after the hurricane. Are
you prepared? Is FEMA prepared to be there for months on end?
ADMINISTRATOR
LONG: FEMA is going to be there for years, sir. This disaster
recover -- this disaster is going to be a landmark event and we're already in
the stages, while we're focused on response and helping Texas respond.
We're already pushing forward, recovery housing teams,
we're already pushing forward forces to be on the ground to implement National
Flood Insurance Program policies as well. And doing the inspections that we
need.
So we're setting up and gearing up for the next couple
years.
----
Secretary
of State Rex Tillerson on Fox’s "Fox News Sunday" on the President’s
game-changing strategy for victory in Afghanistan:
SECRETARY
TILLERSON: I think the President has been clear, Chris, that this
is a dramatic shift in terms of the military strategy.
We are shifting from a time-based military strategy that
had very clear troop ceiling levels as compared to now, he indicated a
conditions-based strategy, which means it will be dictated by conditions on the
ground informed by battlefield commanders.
He has also delegated significant authority to Secretary
Mattis to set troop levels but has also been able to delegate for the military
commanders in the field to begin to turn the tide against the Taliban.
I think we all recognize for the past couple of years
that Taliban has been advancing and Afghan forces have been unable to push them
back.
There will be a definite change in military tactics on
the ground.
Now all of this is directed to sending a message to the
Taliban that we are not going anywhere.
We're going to be here, we will continue to fight for the
Afghan government, support the Afghan Security Forces and what needs to happen
is the Taliban need to engage with Afghan government in a process of
reconciliation and developing a way to govern the country in the future.
________________________
THE
WEEK IN REVIEW
SOUTH
ASIA STRATEGY
President Trump’s top priority remains to protect the
American people and keep our country safe. The President has approved a new
strategy for South Asia to ensure that terrorists will never again use
Afghanistan as a haven to attack the United States.
Key Elements of Strategy:
New strategy departs from previous approaches to South Asia in several
key respects.
Afghanistan:
• Any future
decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan will depend on conditions on
the ground, not arbitrary timetables.
• Strategy will
integrate all American power—diplomatic, economic, and military—in a way that
is sustainable and cost-effective.
• Will support
the Afghan government and security forces in their fight against the Taliban,
al-Qaeda, ISIS, and other terrorist groups to prevent the establishment of
terrorist safe havens in the country. This will include providing advisors to
Afghan brigades and additional combat air support.
• Will put
military pressure on the Taliban and set conditions for our ultimate goal - a
peaceful settlement between the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban that
protects our interests.
• The United
States does not seek a permanent military presence in Afghanistan. We are
prepared, however, to remain militarily engaged in Afghanistan to produce a
political settlement that protects the interests of the United States.
• The heaviest
burden will continue to be borne by the Afghan people and their forces.
Pakistan:• Change in our
approach to Pakistan: will reflect the commonsense understanding that no
partnership can survive a country’s tolerance for militants and terrorists who
target US service members and officials.
• This strategy
marks a break with the status quo in U.S.-Pakistan relations and a fundamental
change in how we approach the challenge of terrorist safe havens in Pakistan.
• While Pakistan
is an important partner for achieving our priorities in the region, it must
take decisive action against militant groups based in Pakistan that are a
threat to the region.
• No partnership
can survive a country’s tolerance of militants and terrorists who target U.S.
service members and officials.
• Strategy will
require Pakistan to demonstrate that it is willing to assist the U.S. in its
core counterterrorism goals in the region.
India:
• Regional
approach: new strategy will emphasize developing our strategic partnership with
India.
• The United
States views India as a valued partner, with mutual interests.
• India is
making important contributions toward Afghanistan’s democracy, stability,
prosperity, and security.
REDUCING
NUCLEAR DANGERS:
• Strategy
incorporates the serious threat of nuclear weapons that could be obtained by
terrorists
• To that end,
reducing nuclear dangers in South Asia is a critical element of protecting the
safety and security of Americans.
REDUCING
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION:
Since his inauguration, President Trump has made
undeniable progress reducing illegal immigration along the southern border and
targeting the most dangerous criminal illegal immigrants in the country.
• Illegal border
crossings over the southwest border have decreased by 47 % compared to the same
period last year.
• Illegal aliens
removed due to ICE arrests have increased by over 32% to 48,580 illegal aliens,
compared to the same time last year.
• 71% of the more
than 91,000 administrative arrests conducted by ICE since President Trump’s
inauguration have involved convicted criminal aliens.
• Of the illegal
aliens arrested without criminal convictions, 74 percent were charged with a
crime, were immigration fugitives, or were repeat violators.
• So far in fiscal
year 2017, ICE has removed over 2,700 criminal gang members, compared to 2,057
criminal gang members in all of 2016.
• During Project New Dawn, a nationwide,
six-week operation, ICE officers and agents arrested 1,378 suspected gang
members. 104 of those arrested were members or associates of MS-13.
• Operation
Matador in the New York City metropolitan area has led to nearly 140 arrests,
the vast majority of these are affiliated with MS-13.
THE
WALL TO SECURE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER:
President Trump is following through on his promise to
the American people to build a wall to secure the southern border and the Yuma
Sector is a clear example of how effective the wall can be.
Illegal border crossings in the Yuma Sector have declined
by 70 percent from 2006, when the Yuma Sector built more than 50 miles of
border wall.
To jumpstart construction on the border wall, President
Trump ordered DHS to use $20 million of unspent appropriations in its account
for border security, fencing, and infrastructure.
DHS has authorized a waiver to expedite a 15-mile stretch
of wall near San Diego.
President Trump has worked with Congress to pass border
wall funding and the House of Representatives passed $1.6 billion to fund 28
miles of new border wall and 46 miles of new and secondary fencing.
NEW
TOOLS TO ENFORCE IMMIGRATION LAWS:
President Trump is working with Congress to pass tough
new laws to secure the border, strengthen immigration enforcement, and increase
penalties for breaking our immigration laws.
President Trump supports the passage of Kate’s Law to
increase mandatory penalties for illegal aliens who re-enter the United States
to a minimum of 2 years and a maximum of 25 years.
President Trump supports the No Sanctuary for Criminals
Act, which would block localities that do not cooperate with immigration
enforcement from receiving many Federal grants.
President Trump supports the Davis-Oliver Act, which
would restrict Federal money to sanctuary communities, increase funding to
local communities enforcing immigration laws, and raise penalties for
immigration crimes.
________________________
Trump Pardons Joe Arpaio
By Alice Greene
Arpaio
is “humbled and incredibly grateful”
President Trump has pardoned conservative hero and former
Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The self-styled “toughest sheriff in America” who
was convicted after he ignored a court order to stop profiling Latinos in his
crackdown on illegal immigration. Trump is receiving serious backlash
for his decision to grant this pardon.
As of Wednesday, 85-year-old Arpaio faced up to six
months in jail. He was to be sentenced on October 5th. By Friday evening
he had been pardoned.
Arizona's large Hispanic community has responded with
outrage, claiming Arpaio is yet another example of the white supremacy that
plagues our country.
Thousands gathered in Phoenix Tuesday to protest as
Trump delivered a speech at the city's convention center. Protestors waved
signs that read “Arpaio & Trump: A match made by racism” and “No pardon for
criminal sheriff Joe Arpaio.”
Arpaio did not attend the event, choosing to watch the
speech from his home in Fountain Hills. The former sheriff claims the media has
failed to tell his full story and insists that he has been unfairly targeted
due to politics.
Arpaio says he is “humbled and incredibly grateful” for
the pardon. He slammed his conviction as “a political witch hunt by holdovers
in the Obama justice department” and said he is “not concerned” about the
people who are going to continue criticizing him “no matter what.”
Here’s the way I see it:
Arpaio has been a Trump supporter from the very
beginning. He even introduced then-candidate Trump during his campaign events
in Arizona.
Arpaio did break the law, but he did so adhering to
principles that Trump shares. At the root of it, Arpaio’s pardon is more
evidence of how Trump plans to uphold his campaign promises and embolden his
voter base.
NBC journalist Stephen A. Nuno labels the Trump
Administration's approach to illegal immigration as "fanaticism" and
points out how sometimes this can be a legitimate strategy. "Approaching
disagreements over civil rights, reproductive rights, police reform, etc. from
a fanatical position is a legitimate strategy, perhaps even the best
one...Trump knows this."
President Trump has drawn a red line against illegal
immigration from the very beginning, and his pardon of Arpaio is consistent
with his approach to politics.
