Developments in Washington, D.C., on Thursday include President Donald Trump tweeting that the U.S.-Russia relationship is at a distinct low point, suggesting he may pressure China over trade and North Korea, the leaking of transcripts of contentious phone calls from January between the president and the leaders of Mexico and Australia, as well as a report that says Trump wants to fire U.S. general heading Afghanistan fight.

Trump, Russia Agree: Relationship at Distinct Low Point — Trump blamed Congress Thursday for creating new tensions with Russia by approving sanctions against Moscow, and the Kremlin agreed the penalties would thwart improved relations. “Our relationship with Russia is at an all-time & very dangerous low,” Trump said on his Twitter account, overlooking the Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crisis a half century ago that brought the world to the brink of nuclear warfare. “You can thank Congress,” he said. In his own series of tweets, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Trump’s “signing of the package of new Russia sanctions ends hopes for improving our relations.”

Trump May Boost Pressure on China Over Trade, North Korea — Trump may soon attempt to increase pressure on China to change its trade practices and do more to stop North Korea’s weapons programs. Reports in the financial press say Trump may sign an order as soon as Friday to start an investigation of Chinese demands that foreign companies share technology secrets in exchange for access to the massive Chinese market.

Trump Sparred with Mexican, Australian Leaders in Contentious Phone Calls — Trump sparred with the leaders of Mexico and Australia in contentious phone calls shortly after he assumed power in January, newly leaked transcripts show.

No Lie, Says Sarah Sanders: Trump Got Praise From Mexico, Scouts —

Two phone calls described by Trump that didn’t actually happen represent the latest chapter in a long-running series of disputes revolving around the president’s rocky relationship with facts. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders on Wednesday found herself explaining that compliments Trump had described receiving in phone calls from the Mexican president and the Boy Scouts did happen — just not on the phone. “I wouldn’t say it was a lie. That’s a pretty bold accusation,” she told reporters. “The conversations took place, they just simply didn’t take place over a phone call. … He had them in person.”

Trump Attorney Brings ‘Street Fighter’ Spirit to His Work — One of the key lawyers in Trump’s corner — John Dowd, a onetime Marine Corps captain — navigated a popular United States senator through crisis, produced a damning investigative report that drove a baseball star from the game and, early in his career, took on organized crime as a Justice Department prosecutor. Dowd has played a role in some of the defining legal quagmires of the last four decades — among them, the Iran-Contra affair, the Keating Five, the Enron collapse and a scandal over the firing of U.S. attorneys.

Report: Fuming Trump Proposed Firing Afghanistan Commander — Trump has become increasingly frustrated by the situation in Afghanistan and has recently floated a change in command as he struggles to settle on a new strategy after years of war. NBC News first reported Wednesday that Trump fumed during a meeting last month over the lack of progress. The network said he also proposed firing Army Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, during the heated Situation Room exchange.

Fact Check: Trump Immigration Pitch on Shaky Ground — Trump’s endorsement of legislation to restrict and reshape legal immigration is based on some shaky assumptions, such as the idea that low-wage green-card holders are flooding in to take jobs from Americans.

White House Fires a Top Intelligence Adviser — One of Trump’s top intelligence directors is the latest person to be fired in a string of shake-ups at the White House and National Security Council. Ezra Cohen-Watnick became a focal point for top national security advisers earlier this year when CIA leaders raised concerns about him with Trump’s national security adviser H.R. McMaster.
…

Watching over his kids at a water fountain in Warren, Detroit’s largest suburb, Republican Jason Marchand says he approves of Trump — a president who has done things “that should have been done a long time ago” — and credits him for improvements in the auto industry. But he acknowledges that their views differ on the role of immigrants.

“Everybody deserves to have a change of life and populate [the city of Detroit, Michigan] more. It wouldn’t be a bad idea,” Marchand told VOA.

Yet Marchand, who is a mechanic, is just the kind of American worker – and voter – targeted by a new Senate bill. Rolled out at the White House, Wednesday, by President Donald Trump, the RAISE Act would cut legal immigration by 50%, part of Trump’s campaign promise to put America first.

The measure, which was first introduced in February, would establish a point system for would-be immigrants, favoring those who speak English and have marketable skills.

The aim is to put American workers first, White House senior advisor for policy Stephen Miller said during the White House press briefing Wednesday.

A bipartisan group of almost 1,500 economists wrote a letter to lawmakers in April saying they are in “near universal agreement” that, with proper safeguards, immigration “represents an opportunity rather than a threat to our economy and to American workers.”

While immigration may hurt workers in certain industries, the economists argued, benefits such as increased entrepreneurship and a flow of younger workers to replace retiring baby boomers “far outweigh” any harm that may be done.  

But Miller countered Wednesday, asking, “How is it fair, or right or proper that if, say, you open up a new business in Detroit, that the unemployed workers of Detroit are going to have to compete against an endless flow of unskilled workers for the exact same jobs?”

Why Detroit?

The city of Detroit is often used to represent the plight of unemployed American workers. During the Great Recession, the city endured a 28.4 percent unemployment rate, high crime and high school dropout rates, urban blight, and a steep population decrease among native-born residents.

While Detroit remains in long-term recovery, its unemployment rate today stands at 7.8 percent. Additionally, population loss has slowed, which may be attributable to a rise in the city’s immigrant population during the same time period, according to a June study by Global Detroit and New American Economy.

“It’s almost like climate change: 97 out of 100 economists recognize that immigration is a positive economic force,” said Steve Tobocman, Director of Global Detroit — an initiative that capitalizes on the economic contributions of southeast Michigan’s international population.

Miller, in what amounted to an unusual public account of administration immigration policy, disagreed. “We are constantly told that unskilled immigration boosts the economy but again, if you look at the last 17 years, we just know from reality that is not true. And if you look at wages, you can see the effects there, if you look at labor force, you can see the effects there.”

Miller added that the number of unemployed people of working age in the U.S. is “at a record high.” He said almost one in four Americans between the ages of 25 and 54 “aren’t even employed.”

In fact, government statistics show that 21.5 percent of American residents in that age range were unemployed in June. But most of those were not looking for work. Labor statisticians normally measure unemployment by looking at the number of individuals actively seeking work as a percentage of the total labor force. By that measure, unemployment stands at a relatively low 4.4 percent in June.

Not anti-immigrant

Detroiters are by and large not keen on villainizing the city’s legal immigrant population. Michigan’s Republican governor Rick Snyder, once called himself the “most pro-immigrant governor in the country.” Among Detroit-area working-class residents, the narrative is not too different.

On a bench nearby Marchand, democrat Ed Nouhan, a retired craftsman and “union person,” notes that his own parents were immigrants. But he is pro-immigrant only insofar as new residents are sponsored and undergo proper background checks.

“You have good and bad in every ethnic[ity] or nationality or race of people,” said Nouhan.

Marjorie Akers, a self-described single mom on a fixed income, has seen her neighborhood become increasingly diverse over the years, and is happy about it. Despite her personal economic concerns, she is happy to see her children attend a more diverse school.

“The future is more about travel and going to different countries and places and learning different things,” said Akers. “It’s always been a free country for people to be able to come and go as they please, and I think that’s good.”

RAISE Act

The RAISE Act, introduced by Republican Senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue, is expected to have a tough time in the Senate because Republicans have a slim majority and would need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster by opposition Democrats, who generally support current immigration levels.

But Miller thinks momentum will grow as more Americans learn about the bill and the pro-American worker goal behind it. “Our message to folks in Congress is, ‘If you are serious about immigration reform, then ask yourselves what’s in the best interest of America and American workers’ and ultimately, this has to be a part of that.”

 
…

The current U.S. Congress is the most racially and ethnically diverse in history.  Nineteen percent of its members are racial minorities, according to the Pew Research Center, but only two Native Americans have seats in the House of Representatives.

Republicans Thomas Cole, a member of the Chickasaw Nation, and Markwayne Mullin, a member of the Cherokee Nation, are from Oklahoma and serve in the House. They are among eight Native Americans who ran in the November 2016 election.

Native Americans and Alaska Natives account for two percent of the total U.S. population, but many analysts believe their representation should be greater, given that the federal government recognizes more than 560 tribes as separate and sovereign governments.

History of exclusion

“Part of the problem is that Native Americans were not granted citizenship until 1924, and it was left to individual states to decide whether “Indians” could vote or not,” said Walter Fleming, who heads Montana State University’s Native American Studies program. “. It wasn’t until after World War II that the last states lifted voting restrictions.”

​

“At the time, the Native population was between 250,000 to 350,000, and so the numbers didn’t allow a whole lot of participation,” Fleming added. “And even after that, there were legal barriers to voting.”

States used various methods to discourage Native Americans from voting, insisting, for example, that voters give up tribal residencies, imposing poll taxes or disqualifying those who couldn’t read or write English.

In some areas, barriers to voting persist.

“Counties have been pretty reluctant to set up polling stations outside of the usual county seats, local schools and courthouses,” said Fleming. “They say it’s because setting up satellite sites is cost-prohibitive; but, of course, that’s just one mechanism for keeping people from voting, particularly in reservation communities where people might not be able to afford gasoline [to drive] to go vote.”

Some states don’t accept tribal cards as legitimate forms of identification – an issue that has become the subject of several lawsuits across the country.

“Native Americans, especially those who live entirely on the reservation, may well have little reason to have things like driver’s licenses,” said Fleming.

Everything to lose

Many Native Americans sense they have little to gain by participating in the political process, observers say. Some refuse to register to vote, recalling a time when being listed on government rolls led to them losing their property or their children to boarding schools and foster homes.

Former U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell recalls conversations with members of the American Indian Movement (AIM), a civil rights and activist movement of the 1960s and 1970s, which promoted greater self-determination among tribes.

“Some of those AIM guys I knew personally,” said Campbell. “And I remember some of them asking me, ‘Why do you want to run for a government that took so much away from us?’”

Campbell, a member of the Northern Cheyenne tribe and the first Native American to be elected to the U.S. Senate, said most minority groups, with the exception of those brought to the United States as slaves, came for the opportunities it offered.

“Native Americans are the only ethnic group in America, bar none, who had nothing to win and everything to lose,” he said.

Campbell said he would like to see more Native Americans in Congress, but points to one of the most fundamental challenges. “It’s an uphill battle. There are some congressional races that run into multiple millions of dollars, and Native American people have trouble raising that kind of money.”

Both Fleming and Campbell acknowledge the importance of Native voices, something they say politicians are finally acknowledging.

“Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle once told me that he didn’t think he could have won the statewide race in South Dakota without the Indian vote,” said Campbell. “If they register and get out to vote, we know there are about five states where they can turn the statewide race.”
…

As U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson embarks on his first official trip to Southeast Asia this week, the United States continues to press for a legally binding mechanism to prevent conflicting territorial claims in the South China Sea from erupting into violent confrontations.

After more than 15 years of intermittent talks, foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China are expected to endorse the framework of a code of conduct (COC) that commits to cooperation rather than confrontations in the disputed waters, during talks this week in the Philippines.

“The U.S. has certainly welcomed the agreement on the framework, but we are also continuing to call for the rapid adoption of an effective code of conduct,” Susan Thornton, acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said Wednesday in a telephone briefing.

Although the United States is not a claimant to the sovereignty over disputed islands in the South China Sea, U.S. officials have continually called for various claimants to pursue their claims peacefully and in accordance with international law.

“We’ll press for due regard for legal processes, dispute resolution mechanisms, and upholding certainly international law and the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea,” Thornton said.

During Wednesday’s briefing, Thornton downplayed concerns from the region that North Korea’s threats are overshadowing territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

“It certainly hasn’t been knocked out of the front of our minds and it will be a focus at the upcoming meetings,” she said, acknowledging that such a perception is likely based on North Korea’s continuous missile tests and nuclear provocation.

Regional assistance

Still, Thornton acknowledged that Tillerson will seek greater cooperation from regional allies in isolating North Korea when he arrives for talks on Saturday.

“What we are trying to do is galvanize this pressure and isolate North Korea, so it can see what the opportunity cost is over developing these weapons programs,” she noted.

But some analysts caution Washington not to create a perception of being so focused on the North Korean threat that the South China Sea and other issues important to U.S. allies in the region are overshadowed.

“Southeast Asian governments are coming to believe that they will not get practical support from the Trump administration so they cannot take risks with China,” Bill Hayton of London policy institute Chatham House told VOA. “This is likely to result in them taking more timid positions and not challenging China’s activities in the disputed areas.”

U.S. priorities

Secretary Tillerson will travel to Manila later this week for ASEAN-related meetings, including the ASEAN Regional Forum, the East Asia Summit Ministerial, and the U.S.-ASEAN Ministerial. Then, the top U.S. diplomat will head to Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.

Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, maritime security and counterterrorism are said to be high on the agenda.

The State Department said Tillerson’s travel reaffirms the “administration’s commitment to further broaden and enhance U.S. economic and security interests in the Asia-Pacific region.”

And an initial draft of a joint statement among foreign ministers of the Southeast Asian bloc is said to reaffirm the importance and effectiveness of the “whole-of-nation approach” over “a purely military option” in combating violent extremism.
…

New U.S. public-opinion surveys show that President Donald Trump’s approval ratings, already the lowest ever for an American president early in his White House tenure, are continuing to fall.

Quinnipiac University said Wednesday that Americans, by a 61-to-33 percent margin, disapprove of Trump’s performance six months into his four-year term in the White House. Gallup, with its three-day tracking average, said its latest surveys show the real estate mogul turned Republican politician has a 60-to-36 negative standing.

Trump’s latest Quinnipiac approval rating is worse than the 55-to-40 percent disapproval mark recorded in its last survey in late June. The pollster said that Americans by a 54-to-26 percent margin said they are embarrassed rather than proud to have Trump as president. Nearly three out of five voters said they think Trump is abusing the powers of his office; asked if they believe the president thinks his authority supersedes U.S. law, they agreed, 60 to 36 percent.

The polling was done over the last several days, a particularly volatile time for the White House. During that time span, Trump dismissed both his chief of staff, Reince Priebus, and his communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, while the Senate rejected a Trump-supported effort to repeal the national health care act signed into law seven years ago by former President Barack Obama.

‘Deepening concern’

“It’s hard to pick what is the most alarming number in the troubling trail of new lows for President Donald Trump,” Quinnipiac pollster Tim Malloy said in releasing the survey. “Profound embarrassment over his performance in office and deepening concern over his level-headedness have to raise the biggest red flags.

“The daily drip drip of missteps and firings and discord are generating a tidal wave of bad polling numbers,” Malloy said. “Is there a wall big enough to hold it back?”

Quinnipiac recorded two favorable assessments of Trump’s performance: Nearly two out of three voters (58 to 39 percent) said the president is “a strong person” and, similarly (55 to 42 percent), they said they believe he is intelligent.

However, the pollster said large percentages of those who were surveyed said they do not think Trump is honest, that he does not have “good leadership skills,” that he “does not care about average Americans,” and that he “does not share their values.”

The key vote in the U.S. Senate that rejected the health care repeal bill came between midnight and dawn last Friday. Republican Senator John McCain, recently diagnosed with brain cancer, cast the “no” vote that doomed the repeal effort Trump has championed.

Quinnipiac said its polling showed that the 80-year-old Arizona senator, who lost the presidential race to Obama in 2008, now holds a 57-to-32 percent favorable rating among American voters. 
…