The Finance 202: Trump ditches Breitbart crowd for Davos elites
About this time last year  Breitbart News eulogized the World Economic Forum. The annual gathering of global elites in Davos  Switzerland would be a “somber occasion ” the far-right outlet wrote  because “their influence on the global stage is waning rapidly” in the wake of Brexit and Donald Trump’s election victory.
That reckoning just came home to roost. Stephen K. Bannon — who last year was busy setting up a forward operating base in  Trump ’s inner sanctum for Breitbart’s brand of economic nationalism — suffered further debasement Tuesday from his feud with the president by losing his job running Breitbart itself. Meanwhile  the White House confirmed that  President Trump  will be heading to Davos in two weeks  the first U.S. president to attend the conference since Bill Clinton.
And if the thought of  Trump  rubbing shoulders with world leaders  financial giants and media mandarins in the literally rarefied air of the Swiss Alps wasn’t enough to turn the stomachs of the MAGA crowd  the White House offered them another emetic on Tuesday.
The president presided over a 90-minute meeting  more than half of it before television cameras  with lawmakers from both parties during which he pledged to pursue a comprehensive immigration breakthrough  saying he wants a “bill of love.” There wasn’t much chest-thumping about building a border wall. “I think my positions are going to be what the people in this room come up with ”  Trump  said. “I am very much reliant on the people in this room.”
Watch  him  here:
Viewed through the lens of the immigration huddle   Trump ’s Davos dash looks less likely to prove a Nixon-to-China moment.
Surrounded by a cacophony of opinions Tuesday  the president seemed to agree with whomever spoke last  a performance that left immigration hardliners dismayed and others confused: “ Trump  appeared to contradict  himself  ” The Washington Post’s Ed O'Keefe and David Nakamura write  “at turns professing support for a ‘clean’ bill to protect undocumented immigrants brought illegally to this country as children  reiterating his demands for a border wall opposed by Democrats and professing to support the kind of comprehensive overhaul of immigration policy that has been anathema to conservatives.” And this was on an issue core to  Trump ’s political identity.
 Trump  is primed to make calls on several matters critical to international commerce  including whether to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement  whether to slap tariffs on imports of aluminum and steel  and how to approach a brewing conflict over trade with China.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday  the president  will be bringing his "America First" message to Davos (and the New York Times's Maggie Haberman and Michael Shear note Trump led with his go-it-alone approach on international trips last year  highlighting disagreements over climate change in Europe and trade in Asia).
— SALT workaround. Politico: "The new tax law’s limit on the state and local tax deduction may pose a fiscal threat to high-tax states and their affluent taxpayers. But it’s also a political gift to Democratic officials in those states seeking to raise their national profiles by challenging  President Donald Trump  and circumventing the law. For Democratic leaders in New York  California and New Jersey  finding state-level workarounds to the new tax code could deliver on a pocketbook issue for a key constituency: voters in high-cost suburbs from Orange County  California  to Westchester  New York  who are set to lose the most from the SALT cap.
 Trump  speaks during a meeting with lawmakers on immigration policy at the White House on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) separately told POLITICO — after a meeting with Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and other officials — that administration officials are still deciding whether to publish legislative principles for the plan before or after the president’s State of the Union address Jan. 30... It’s unclear whether this represents a major snag for the infrastructure plan  which  Trump’s  aides have talked up as a big priority for 2018."
—  Trump  reignites earmark debate. The Post's Mike DeBonis: " Trump  delivered an unexpected and passionate case for congressional earmarks Tuesday  injecting new momentum into a quiet effort to restore that legislative practice after seven years of dormancy. Speaking before television cameras during a White House meeting with more than a dozen lawmakers   Trump  diverged from the stated topic of immigration to air a lament all too frequently heard on Capitol Hill: Without earmarks — the custom of individual lawmakers directing taxpayer funds to specific projects — Congress just doesn’t seem to work as well...
 Trump’s  two-minute tribute to earmarks gave a boost to a group of Republicans  mainly appropriators who are charged with writing spending bills  who have been lobbying Ryan and other GOP leaders for their restoration — albeit in limited form — for more than a year... The House Rules Committee said Tuesday it would hold two hearings next week on whether to restore earmarks in what GOP aides characterized as a long-delayed fulfillment of Ryan’s promises."
National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster alongside  President Trump  as he holds a cabinet meeting last month. (AFP/ Saul Loeb)
— Staff exodus looms. CNN's Jeff Zeleny and co.: "White House aides have been told to decide before the end of January whether they intend to leave the administration or stay through the November midterm elections  an official said  a deadline intended to help bring a sense of order to an anticipated staffing exodus...  Trump  is finding it difficult to recruit staff to fill the vacancies  several people close to the West Wing say  as  he  faces the second year of  his  administration with daunting political odds and an ongoing Russia investigation...
About this time last year  Breitbart News eulogized the World Economic Forum. The annual gathering of global elites in Davos  Switzerland would be a “somber occasion ” the far-right outlet wrote  because “their influence on the global stage is waning rapidly” in the wake of Brexit and Donald Trump’s election victory.
That reckoning just came home to roost. Stephen K. Bannon — who last year was busy setting up a forward operating base in  Trump ’s inner sanctum for Breitbart’s brand of economic nationalism — suffered further debasement Tuesday from his feud with the president by losing his job running Breitbart itself. Meanwhile  the White House confirmed that  President Trump  will be heading to Davos in two weeks  the first U.S. president to attend the conference since Bill Clinton.
And if the thought of  Trump  rubbing shoulders with world leaders  financial giants and media mandarins in the literally rarefied air of the Swiss Alps wasn’t enough to turn the stomachs of the MAGA crowd  the White House offered them another emetic on Tuesday.
The president presided over a 90-minute meeting  more than half of it before television cameras  with lawmakers from both parties during which he pledged to pursue a comprehensive immigration breakthrough  saying he wants a “bill of love.” There wasn’t much chest-thumping about building a border wall. “I think my positions are going to be what the people in this room come up with ”  Trump  said. “I am very much reliant on the people in this room.”
Watch  him  here:
Viewed through the lens of the immigration huddle   Trump ’s Davos dash looks less likely to prove a Nixon-to-China moment.
Surrounded by a cacophony of opinions Tuesday  the president seemed to agree with whomever spoke last  a performance that left immigration hardliners dismayed and others confused: “ Trump  appeared to contradict  himself  ” The Washington Post’s Ed O'Keefe and David Nakamura write  “at turns professing support for a ‘clean’ bill to protect undocumented immigrants brought illegally to this country as children  reiterating his demands for a border wall opposed by Democrats and professing to support the kind of comprehensive overhaul of immigration policy that has been anathema to conservatives.” And this was on an issue core to  Trump ’s political identity.
 Trump  is primed to make calls on several matters critical to international commerce  including whether to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement  whether to slap tariffs on imports of aluminum and steel  and how to approach a brewing conflict over trade with China.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday  the president  will be bringing his "America First" message to Davos (and the New York Times's Maggie Haberman and Michael Shear note Trump led with his go-it-alone approach on international trips last year  highlighting disagreements over climate change in Europe and trade in Asia).
— SALT workaround. Politico: "The new tax law’s limit on the state and local tax deduction may pose a fiscal threat to high-tax states and their affluent taxpayers. But it’s also a political gift to Democratic officials in those states seeking to raise their national profiles by challenging  [TGT]and circumventing the law. For Democratic leaders in New York  California and New Jersey  finding state-level workarounds to the new tax code could deliver on a pocketbook issue for a key constituency: voters in high-cost suburbs from Orange County  California  to Westchester  New York  who are set to lose the most from the SALT cap.
 [TGT]  speaks during a meeting with lawmakers on immigration policy at the White House on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) separately told POLITICO — after a meeting with Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and other officials — that administration officials are still deciding whether to publish legislative principles for the plan before or after the president’s State of the Union address Jan. 30... It’s unclear whether this represents a major snag for the infrastructure plan  which  Trump’s  aides have talked up as a big priority for 2018."
—  [TGT]reignites earmark debate. The Post's Mike DeBonis: " [TGT]  delivered an unexpected and passionate case for congressional earmarks Tuesday  injecting new momentum into a quiet effort to restore that legislative practice after seven years of dormancy. Speaking before television cameras during a White House meeting with more than a dozen lawmakers   [TGT]diverged from the stated topic of immigration to air a lament all too frequently heard on Capitol Hill: Without earmarks — the custom of individual lawmakers directing taxpayer funds to specific projects — Congress just doesn’t seem to work as well...
 Trump’s  two-minute tribute to earmarks gave a boost to a group of Republicans  mainly appropriators who are charged with writing spending bills  who have been lobbying Ryan and other GOP leaders for their restoration — albeit in limited form — for more than a year... The House Rules Committee said Tuesday it would hold two hearings next week on whether to restore earmarks in what GOP aides characterized as a long-delayed fulfillment of Ryan’s promises."
National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster alongside  President Trump  as he holds a cabinet meeting last month. (AFP/ Saul Loeb)
— Staff exodus looms. CNN's Jeff Zeleny and co.: "White House aides have been told to decide before the end of January whether they intend to leave the administration or stay through the November midterm elections  an official said  a deadline intended to help bring a sense of order to an anticipated staffing exodus...  Trump  is finding it difficult to recruit staff to fill the vacancies  several people close to the West Wing say  as  he  faces the second year of  his  administration with daunting political odds and an ongoing Russia investigation...