Amazing how much shit flies in a week...

Trump's whiplash week

The president couldn’t stick to a consistent policy position on guns, taxes or Greenland.

By CAITLIN OPRYSKO

President Donald Trump offered a head-spinning range of policy positions this week, contradicting aides and even himself multiple times on gun control, tax cuts and his interest in buying Greenland.

Trump is no stranger to whiplash-inducing policy shifts that leave his aides and congressional allies flat-footed. And it’s well-known that he often parrots the talking points of the last person he talked to on any hot-button issue.

But Trump’s recent reversals were notable for their breakneck pace and their far-reaching impact, as they left lawmakers, foreign leaders and voters scratching their heads.

Below are the most notable comments from Trump and his aides on the evolving views from the White House:

Tax Cuts

Aug. 18: National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow, pressed on Trump’s left-field promise during the midterms to enact another round of tax cuts for the middle class, says on “Fox News Sunday,” they’re on the table: “We are looking at it. Tax cuts 2.0. We are looking at all that.”

Aug. 19: The Washington Post reports that there is chatter among some in the White House about pursuing a temporary payroll tax cut as a means of juicing the economy. Officially, the White House rejects that suggestion in a statement: “As [National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow] said yesterday, more tax cuts for the American people are certainly on the table, but cutting payroll taxes is not something under consideration at this time.”

Aug. 20: Trump contradicts his aides, confirming to reporters in the Oval Office that he is considering a payroll tax cut, among other things.

“We’ve been talking about indexing for a long time. And many people like indexing, and it can be done very simply, it can be done directly by me. We’ve been looking at that,” he says. “So we’re talking about indexing, and we’re always looking at the capital gains tax, payroll tax. We’re looking at — I would love to do something on capital gains, we’re talking about that, that's a big deal, goes through Congress. Payroll tax is something we think about, and a lot of people would like to see that.”

Aug. 21: Trump reverses himself, telling reporters outside the White House, “I'm not looking at a tax cut now. We don't need it, we have a strong economy. Certainly a payroll tax cut. President Obama did that in order to artificially jack up the economy.”

Guns

Aug. 5: A day after back-to-back massacres in Texas and Ohio killed 31 and wounded dozens others, Trump expresses support for “strong background checks,” writing on Twitter that “we cannot let those killed in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, die in vain.”

Aug. 7: Trump reiterates his support for advancing some kind of background check legislation.

“I’m looking to do background checks. I think background checks are important,” he tells reporters, stopping short of calling on Congress to return from its August recess. “I don’t want to put guns into the hands of mentally unstable people or people with rage or hate, sick people. I don’t want to — I’m all in favor of it."

Aug. 9: The president predicts the NRA will fall in line with his call for background checks, telling reporters, “We have tremendous support for really commonsense, sensible, important background checks.”

Aug. 13: Despite his resistance to taking up House-passed background check bills, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell supports strengthening them, Trump claims.

“I believe that Mitch — and I can tell you, from my standpoint, I would like to see meaningful background checks. And I think something will happen.”

Aug. 15: The president begins to retreat from the issue of background checks, pivoting to mental health when asked for a progress update.

“I’ve been speaking to everybody about it. And we don’t want to see crazy people owning guns,” he tells reporters ahead of a campaign rally. “But I also want to remember that mental illness is something nobody wants to talk about. These people are mentally ill and we have to study that also.”

Still, in response to a question about whether he supports universal background checks, Trump says he backs “strong, meaningful background checks.”

Aug. 18: Trump backpedals even more when speaking with reporters on his way back to Washington after an extended stay at his club in Bedminster, N.J.

“Congress is looking at it very strongly. Bipartisan,” he says. However, he adds, “I’m also very, very concerned with the Second Amendment, more so than most presidents would be. People don’t realize we have very strong background checks right now.”

Aug. 20: Trump suggests he would support a more incremental background check bill, stepping back from the sweeping language he’d used even a week earlier and beginning to caution against going down a “slippery slope” of gun control.

“We have very strong background checks now, but we have sort of missing areas, areas that don’t complete the whole circle,” he tells reporters. “And we’re looking at different things. I have to tell you that it is a mental problem — and I’ve said it a hundred times, it is not the gun that pulls the trigger, it is the person that pulls the trigger.”

At some point in the afternoon, according to The Atlantic, Trump calls NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre to inform him that universal background checks are off the table.

Aug. 21: Trump again moderates his background check rhetoric, insisting he still has “an appetite for background checks” and pledging that “we'll be doing background checks. We're working with Democrats. We're working with Republicans. And we already have very strong background checks. But we’re going to be filling in some of the loopholes.”

The president denies telling LaPierre that he no longer plans to pursue the issue, and pushes back against reporters pointing out that his “slippery slope” language echoes the gun lobby’s talking points.

“We have background checks, but there are loopholes in the background checks. That’s what I spoke to the NRA about yesterday,” he argued. “They want to get rid of the loopholes as well as I do. At the same time, I don’t want to take away people’s Second Amendment rights.”

Greenland

Aug. 15: The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump has repeatedly broached the idea of purchasing Greenland, the semi-autonomous Arctic island that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. According to the Journal, it’s unclear how serious Trump is about such an acquisition.

Aug. 16: Greenland responds bluntly to Trump, with the territory’s foreign ministry tweeting: “We are open for business, but we’re not for sale.”

Aug. 18: Trump confirms that he’s mulled the idea of purchasing Greenland, explaining to reporters that “the concept came up, and I said, ‘Certainly, I‘d be. Strategically, it‘s interesting, and we‘d be interested.’” He adds: “It’s not No. 1 on the burner, I can tell you that.”

He notes that he may have a trip to Denmark on the calendar, and claims that Denmark is losing hundreds of millions of dollars carrying Greenland.

Aug. 19: Trump tweets out a photoshopped picture of a Greenland village with Trump Tower superimposed on it. “I promise not to do this to Greenland!” he writes.

Aug. 20: Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen calls Trump’s eyeing of Greenland “absurd.”

“Greenland is not for sale. Greenland is not Danish. Greenland belongs to Greenland. I strongly hope that this is not meant seriously,” she told newspaper Sermitsiaq. “It’s an absurd discussion, and [Greenland Premier] Kim Kielsen has of course made it clear that Greenland is not for sale. That’s where the conversation ends.”

In response, Trump abruptly cancels his upcoming trip to Copenhagen.

“Denmark is a very special country with incredible people, but based on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland, I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in two weeks for another time,” he said in a tweet, thanking Frederiksen for saving “a great deal of expense and effort for both the United States and Denmark by being so direct.”

Aug. 21: Trump escalates his spat with Frederiksen, dismissing her comments as “nasty.”

“Greenland was just an idea, just a thought,” he tells reporters. “I thought that the prime minister's statement that it was ‘absurd,’ that it was an ‘absurd’ idea, was nasty. I thought it was an inappropriate statement. All she had to do is say, ‘No, we wouldn't be interested.’”

Trump laments that he had been looking forward to visiting Denmark and points out that he’s not the first U.S. president to consider buying Greenland.

“This has been discussed for many years. Harry Truman had the idea of Greenland. I had the idea, other people have had the idea. It goes back into the early 1900s. But Harry Truman very strongly thought it was a good idea, I think it's a good idea, because Denmark is losing $700 million a year with it. It doesn’t do them any good,” he argues.