Subscribe
Subscribe


Afternoon Links: Hispanic Republicans Need Not Apply, and the Nader Trade Meetings

By Jim Swift

Trump already to the left of Obama on trade? At the Daily Beast, Lachlan Markay has an item on how the Trump White House is welcoming the far-left trade skeptics that Barack Obama’s administration left out in the cold. One need only look at the folks President Trump has appointed on trade, consistent with his mercantilist worldview, to see how this was going to play out. Peter Navarro? Come on.

Recommended Stories

Here’s Markay on Robert Lighthizer meeting with a Ralph Naderite multiple times in the first six months of President Trump’s term:

Lori Wallach, the director of the group Public Citizen’s global trade arm, met with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in May and June, according to a copy of his schedule released through the Freedom of Information Act. In fact, she was one of the very few individuals with whom Lighthizer had multiple sit-downs during that time period.

Interestingly, Markay notes, “Public Citizen as a whole is vehemently anti-Trump, and the group boasts on its website that it is fighting him ‘on all fronts.'” Yet, they sure do love meeting with his aides! Hmmm.

Meet the new caucus, same as the old caucus. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus, a group of exclusively left-leaning elected officials voted today to reject an application for membership from a Republican member, Carlos Curbelo (R-FL).

The group explained its decision to reject Curbelo thusly:

After consideration, the CHC determined not to accept Rep. Curbelo’s request to join the caucus. The CHC isn’t just an organization for Hispanics; it is a caucus that reflects certain values. This votes reflects the position of many of our members that Rep. Curbelo and his record are not consistent with those values.

Well, looks like it’s time to change the name to the Congressional Hispanic Progressive Caucus. Which, well, is something they have always been. It’s good that they finally came out and admitted it.

DUI recipient wanted nuggets, and being denied, ordered 200 hash browns instead. This is the problem of trolling on the internet making its way into real life. A man was told by McDonald’s in the early AM hours they were only serving breakfast, and he couldn’t order from the regular menu. So, he ordered 200 hash browns. The police showed up and took him away.

Nobody should drive impaired, full stop. But even were the man in an Uber or something, there is something to giving the people what they want, no? McDonald’s now serves all day breakfast, but not all day nuggets? Shame.

Andy Ferguson’s instant classic. At Commentary, our own senior editor Andrew Ferguson has given us an instant classic! Seriously, you have to read the whole thing, but here is a taste. It’s about the “diminutive figure of George Papadopoulos. An unpaid campaign adviser to Trump, Papadopoulos pled guilty to lying to the FBI about the timing of his conversations with Russian agents.” Here’s Ferg on why he “is quickly becoming the stuff of legend:”

Papadopoulos is an exemplar of a type long known to American politics. He is the nebbish bedazzled by the big time—achingly ambitious, though lacking the skill, or the cunning, to climb the greasy pole. So he remains at the periphery of the action, ever eager to serve. Papadopoulos’s résumé, for a man under 30, is impressively padded. He said he served as the U.S. representative to the Model United Nations in 2012, though nobody recalls seeing him there. He boasted of a four-year career at the Hudson Institute, though in fact he spent one year there as an unpaid intern and three doing contract research for one of Hudson’s scholars. On his LinkedIn page, he listed himself as a keynote speaker at a Greek American conference in 2008, but in fact he participated only in a panel discussion. The real keynoter was Michael Dukakis.

Remember, guys. George was in Model UN. Allegedly.

Afternoon Links are part of the Daily Standard newsletter, a free daily newsletter that goes out Monday through Friday. Sign up here!

Related Content


Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information

NEWS

POLICY

COMMENTARY

RESTORING AMERICA