Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders fills in for White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer today as Mr. Spicer is fulfilling his naval reserve duty.

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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

President Trump Twitter @POTUS / Vice President Pence Twitter @VP

Sean Spicer Twitter @PressSec

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

Prior to delivering remarks aboard USS Intrepid to celebrate the historic military alliance between The United States and Australia, President Trump and Prime Minister Turnbull met on the sidelines for a bilateral discussion. Interesting interpersonal dynamic, brings out a sensibility from President Donald Trump not customarily noted…

During the briefly allowed press Q&A both leaders provided additional thoughts and comments on various current events: Healthcare, legislation, social-media etc.

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It’s the first time POTUS has been photographed taking the dominant position in a handshake with an international leader.  It denotes a certain amount of skepticism…

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Shortly after taking office Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull began his relationship with President Trump by demanding Trump adhere to President Obama’s commitment to take refugees from Australia.  Surprise, that call did not go well.

Tonight, after making Turnbull wait an extra 3 hours due to healthcare bill celebrations, President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet face-to-face with PM Turnbull for the first time.  Their meeting is in New York City as part of the commemorations celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Coral Sea in World War II.

After President Trump diplomatically greets the insufferable doofus, President Trump will be giving a speech honoring the military aboard the USS Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.

Update: Video Added

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Against the backdrop of President Trump assembling the mid-east alliance group, and with the previous diplomatic outline of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in mind, the travel schedule is not necessarily a surprise.

WHITE HOUSE – President Trump has accepted the invitation of King Salman bin Abd Al-Aziz, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, to visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia later this month. The visit will reaffirm the strong partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia and allow the leaders to discuss issues of strategic concern, including efforts to defeat terrorist groups and discredit radical ideologies.

President Trump has also accepted the invitation of President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Israel, where he will further strengthen the United States-Israel partnership. The leaders will discuss a range of regional issues, including the need to counter the threats posed by Iran and its proxies, and by ISIS and other terrorist groups. They will also discuss ways to advance a genuine and lasting peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.

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The various media pundits and news stories are calling H.R. 1180 a “new overtime bill”.  However, in reality the ‘take pay or take time off’ concept is more than 50 years old; we used to call it “compensatory time” or “comp time”.

WASHINGTON – […] Voting along party lines, the House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday that would allow private-sector employers to compensate their overtime-working employees with paid time off instead of paying them time-and-a-half as currently required.

The bill, H.R. 1180, would tweak the Fair Labor Standards Act, which mandates employers that require hourly-paid employees to work more than 40 hours a week to pay time-and-a-half, or 1.5 times their usual hourly rate. The bill also prohibits employers from coercing or intimidating employees to choose time off instead of overtime pay.

House Republicans passed the bill, sponsored by Rep. Martha Roby (R-Ala.), with no Democrats voting in favor. The bill will now go to the Senate, where it will require 60 votes to avoid a filibuster by Democrats. (read more)

The professionally Democrat hate the concept, but most Democrat politicians have zero experience in understanding how incredibly beneficial compensatory time can be.

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There’s a massive amount of obtuse hypocrisy within Democrats’ accusing Russia’s Vladimir Putin of interfering in the U.S. election and yet they watch Barack Obama campaign for Emmanuel Macron in French election.

Yes, the ever present Mamet Principle is once again clearly on display.

However, on the same day when Barack Obama produces a video to officially endorse Emmanuel Macron, the divisive French candidate calls his opposition “enemies of France”.

Mr. Macron — who currently leads Front National leader Marine Le Pen in the polls — took to the stage at a 10,000-strong rally in Paris to dub Front National the “anti-France party”, branding their supporters “fearmongerers” and “extreme”.  “They’re here. It’s they. It’s they who are our true enemies,” declared Mr. Macron.

“Powerful, organized, skillful, determined,” he said: “You pass them in the streets, in the countryside or on the web, most often well hidden. As hateful as they are cowardly. You know them. The party of the agents of the disaster, the fearmongerers. The French far-right. It’s here”.  (link)

The outrageously divisive comments from Macron are profoundly ironic considering the claimed reason for Obama’s endorsement.   Obama says he supports Macron because he appeals “people’s hopes and not their fears”.

Yes, you really just can’t make this stuff up.

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The House of Representative have passed the ObamaCare Repeal/Replacement bill by a final vote of 217-213.

Over the next few weeks/months the bill will work through the Senate and then return to the House to reconcile any differences.  The House bill takes the increasing, costly IRS tax/penalties on ObamaCare down to $0 – effectively crippling the individual mandate and the employer mandate.

President Trump will hold a 3:30pm EDT celebratory news conference at the White House, and GOP lawmakers are expected to take buses from Capitol Hill to attend. Mitch McConnell and 52 republican senators now have the challenge of passage.

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Earlier today President Trump signed an executive order promoting speech and religious liberty during a ceremony in the Rose Garden:

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Details of the Executive Order:

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