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Trump Picks Twitter Fight With Union Local Chief in Indiana Donald Trump Picks Twitter Fight With Union Local Chief in Indiana
(about 2 hours later)
■ President-elect Donald J. Trump has a new target for his ire: a union local president in Indiana.■ President-elect Donald J. Trump has a new target for his ire: a union local president in Indiana.
■ Mr. Trump formally names a divisive figure as chief of the Environmental Protection Agency.
■ Leonardo DiCaprio talks climate change with Mr. Trump.■ Leonardo DiCaprio talks climate change with Mr. Trump.
■ Lindsey Graham says he will investigate Russian interference in the elections.■ Lindsey Graham says he will investigate Russian interference in the elections.
The president-elect of the United States picked a fight on Wednesday with the president of a union local in Indiana in yet another sign that Donald J. Trump just has a hard time letting things go. The president-elect of the United States picked a fight on Wednesday with the president of a union local in Indiana, another sign that Mr. Trump has a hard time letting things go.
Chuck Jones, the president of United Steelworkers Local 1999, told The Washington Post on Tuesday that the president-elect had “lied his ass off” when he claimed he had saved 1,100 jobs from going to Mexico at the Carrier furnace plant in Indianapolis. That was pretty much backed up by the chief executive of United Technologies, the parent company of Carrier, who said on CNBC that he would automate the plant and lay off many of the workers anyway. Chuck Jones, the president of United Steelworkers Local 1999, told The Washington Post on Tuesday that the president-elect had “lied his ass off” when he claimed he had saved 1,100 jobs at the Carrier furnace plant in Indianapolis from going to Mexico. That was pretty much backed up by the chief executive of United Technologies, the parent company of Carrier, who said on CNBC that he would automate the plant and lay off many of the workers anyway.
But it was Mr. Jones’s appearance on CNN on Wednesday that got Mr. Trump’s goat.But it was Mr. Jones’s appearance on CNN on Wednesday that got Mr. Trump’s goat.
“What nobody’s mentioning is 550 people are losing their jobs,” Mr. Jones said, adding that 700 other jobs will be going to Mexico from a different Indiana plant. “What nobody’s mentioning is 550 people are losing their jobs,” Mr. Jones said, adding that 700 other positions at a different Indiana plant would be moving to Mexico.
That, apparently, was too much for the man who will soon lead the free world. That, apparently, was too much for the man who will soon lead the United States.
On the same day the president-elect chose a climate-change denialist to run the Environmental Protection Agency, Mr. Trump sat down with the climate evangelist Leonardo DiCaprio on Wednesday to hear his pitch on clean energy to repair a warming planet. Scott Pruitt, the attorney general of Oklahoma, has been chosen to be Mr. Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency administrator, potentially putting an ardent opponent of federal environmental regulations in charge of the agency.
That may seem like a bit of doublespeak, and Mr. Pruitt’s confirmation may be one of the toughest to secure: Senate Democrats did not take a wait-and-see approach, and many said they would never support him.
“I expect the American people will be shocked that President-elect Trump has chosen someone with such disdain for their health as they learn more about Pruitt during his confirmation hearings,” said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island. “Stay tuned.”
On the same day the president-elect chose a climate change denialist to run the Environmental Protection Agency, he sat down with the environmental campaigner Leonardo DiCaprio on Wednesday to hear his pitch on clean energy to repair a warming planet.
Terry Tamminen, the chief executive of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, sounded optimistic:Terry Tamminen, the chief executive of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, sounded optimistic:
But in this topsy-turvy world, most environmental activists are looking at what Mr. Trump does more than what he says, and the choice of Scott Pruitt, the Oklahoma attorney general who has led the legal fight against President Obama’s climate regulations, is a bigger marker than another meeting with a celebrity climate activist. But in this topsy-turvy world, most environmental activists are looking at what Mr. Trump does more than at what he says, and the choice of Mr. Pruitt, who has led the legal fight against President Obama’s climate regulations, is a bigger marker than another meeting with a celebrity.
A new Bloomberg Politics poll indicated that 54 percent of adults believed stock prices would be higher at the end of 2017 than they are today, and that with Mr. Trump’s election, Americans are more optimistic about their finances.
Around 38 percent of respondents expected 2017 to be a better financial year than 2016, while 14 percent said they would be worse off and forty-five percent said things would be about the same.
In December 2012, after President Obama’s re-election, 31 percent of respondents had said they were more optimistic about their finances for the next year.
The president-elect still says he does not believe the Russians were behind the hacking of the Democratic National Committee or the release of purloined emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John D. Podesta.The president-elect still says he does not believe the Russians were behind the hacking of the Democratic National Committee or the release of purloined emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John D. Podesta.
Most Republicans have remained silent.Most Republicans have remained silent.
But Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, says the Russians did indeed interfere with the American elections. And he has vowed to use his subcommittees to investigate.But Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, says the Russians did indeed interfere with the American elections. And he has vowed to use his subcommittees to investigate.