| Also in today's edition: Mr. Trump goes to Europe |  | | | | | | | | | | | | It's Tuesday, OP folks, and we've got plenty from the day to unpack for you, so let's get this show on the road. Keep up with the latest, get your friends to subscribe, and onward we go. | Oh hey, Brett |  | | Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh walks up the U.S. Capitol steps for his first day of meetings with senators Tuesday. | | JIM LO SCALZO , JIM LO SCALZO, EPA-EFE | | | Meet Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump's nominee for the next Supreme Court Justice. He's 53, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and the establishment favorite. | | Why? It's the experience he brings with him, writes USA TODAY's Richard Wolf: | | "Kavanaugh's 12 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, combined with his Yale pedigree, Supreme Court clerkship under retiring Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy and top posts under President George W. Bush, give him a résumé the court's current justices can't match." | | But the credentials that make him a conservative legal darling mean his confirmation is likely to be a battle. His record with retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy is comparable on gun control, environmental regulation, corporate liability and executive power. But it's his potential to influence major social issues, such as abortion, affirmative action and gay rights, that will likely drive the fight over his confirmation in the coming weeks. | | Related: Sen. Tom Carper, the only Democrat currently in the Senate who voted in favor of Kavanaugh back in 2006 to be an appeals judge, said it's going to be a "no" this time around. | Meanwhile, in Europe... |  | | President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump walk down the stairway of Air Force One as they arrive at Melsbroek Military airport in Melsbroek, Belgium, TuesdayTrump is in Brussels to attend a two-day NATO summit. | | Geert Vanden Wijngaert , Geert Vanden Wijngaert, AP | | | After his big announcement, President Donald Trump on Tuesday headed to Europe for a 7-day trip that will include visits with British Prime Minister Theresa May, Queen Elizabeth II and Russian President Vladimir Putin. (And FYI, Americans in London: The U.S. Embassy thinks you should try to keep a low profile while Trump's in town.) | | But first, he's gotta go to the NATO summit. And it's already off to a rocky start, as he continues to demand that allies pay their burden of providing for collective defense. | | Doing so has only set a combative tone for the meeting in Brussels. | | "The more he harangues allies, and the more he makes this the defining issue, the more difficult it will be for some allies actually to increase spending," said Ivo Daalder, the U.S. ambassador to NATO from 2009 to 2013. "Given that Trump's popularity in Europe is at an historic low for a US president, acceding to his demands is becoming more difficult for many European leaders." | Elsewhere in politics | | | | | | MOST SHARED USA TODAY ARTICLES | | | | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment