Even when it comes to a sick baby in his family, Donald Trump is all business. The megabuilder and his siblings Robert and Maryanne terminated their nephew’s family medical coverage a week after he challenged the will of their father, Fred Trump. “This was so shocking, so disappointing and so vindictive,” said niece Lisa Trump, whose son, William, was born 18 months ago at Mount Sinai Medical Center with a rare neurological disorder that produces violent seizures, brain damage and medical bills topping $300,000.
.. “When [Fred 3rd] sued us, we said, ‘Why should we give him medical coverage?
.. Asked whether he thought cutting their coverage could appear cold-hearted, given the baby’s medical condition, Donald made no apologies. “I can’t help that,” he said. “It’s cold when someone sues my father. Had he come to see me, things could very possibly have been much different for them.
.. Fred Jr. smoked and drank heavily, two traits that disgusted his father.
.. During the baby’s three-week stay at Mount Sinai, Robert Trump called to assure his nephew that whatever the child needed would be covered by Precise, the Trump company medical plan.
.. he bears an uncanny resemblance to his famous uncle. “He has beautiful curly blond hair and looks quite a bit like Donald,”
.. Robert Trump referred to the round-the-clock nurses for baby William as “highly paid baby-sitters.
What Sort of a Man is Donald Trump
The situation changed in March, 2000, after Fred III and his wife, Lisa, filed suit in Queen’s Surrogate Court, claiming that Fred, Sr., who died in June, 1999, had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and that his will had been “procured by fraud and undue influence” on the part of Donald, his brother Robert, a New York businessman, and his sister Maryanne
.. leaving considerably less to Freddy’s descendants than to other siblings’ children.
.. After the challenge, it didn’t take them long to retaliate. On March 30th, Fred III received a certified letter telling him that the medical benefits provided to his family by the Trump organization would end on May 1st.
.. “I will stick to my guns,” Fred III told Evans. “I just think it was wrong. These are not warm and fuzzy people. They never even came to see William in the hospital. Our family puts the ‘fun’ in dysfunctional.” Fred III’s sister, Mary, told Evans, “William is my father’s grandson. He is as much a part of that family as anybody else. He desperately needs extra care.”
.. Trump, for his part, was unapologetic about his actions. “Why should we give him medical coverage?” he told Evans
.. “I was angry because they sued.” Eventually, the lawsuit was settled “very amicably,” he said, and he claimed to be fond of Fred III
.. It was perhaps notable, however, that the story didn’t contain any comment from Fred III or his sister Mary reciprocating those feelings.
Modi Picks Hindu Nationalist to Lead India’s Most Populous State
Promotion of Yogi Adityanath is seen representing the rise of Hindu power
.. Prime Minister Narendra Modi appointed a hard-line Hindu nationalist politician to lead India’s most-populous state over the weekend, a surprise move that marks a swing toward contentious religious politics by a leader who had stuck largely to a development-focused agenda.Yogi Adityanath, a Hindu priest and parliamentarian for nearly 20 years, is known for his divisive and incendiary speeches targeting Muslims... Mr. Adityanath will serve a five-year term as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, a state where nearly 20% of the residents, or 40 million people, are Muslims and where religious tensions easily and frequently flare.
.. Mr. Adityanath’s promotion.. represents the rise of a muscular, Hindu India and a chance to correct what they see as years of official policy going too far to accommodate India’s Muslim minority.
.. “It signifies a new reading on the BJP’s part that public opinion will now accept what was considered politically imprudent not so long ago.”
.. Mr. Adityanath is among the strongest voices in the BJP pushing for the construction of a temple in a place in Uttar Pradesh where, in the 1990s, a Hindu mob destroyed a 16th century mosque
.. He campaigns against so-called love jihad, which he describes as an “international conspiracy” by Muslims to kidnap or lure Hindu women to marry and convert them.
He has exhorted Hindus to respond to attacks on members of their community with tenfold violence.
.. his choice for chief minister harks back to the Hindu nationalist roots of his party, which arose out of a nine-decades-old movement to establish India as a Hindu nation.
.. Mr. Adityanath built a support base in Uttar Pradesh by projecting India’s 80% Hindu majority as victimized and shortchanged by his political rivals, who he accuses of a pro-Muslim bias
How Trump’s wall could beckon a global trade war
But Mexico — or other trading partners — could try to punish Trump and other supporters of the tax by targeting goods in politically sensitive areas, said Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
“The Mexican minds will be thinking about what they could do that would give President Trump the most pain in his political base,” he said, adding that that might mean “stopping imports of certain products made in Indiana or Michigan or wherever.”
And they could go after areas not directly associated with legal trade.
“They can do all sorts of things we don’t like,” Hufbauer said. “They can legalize marijuana. They can legalize cocaine. They can stop cooperating with the U.S. with respect to refugees from Guatemala, Honduras and so forth.”
The plan, which would target imports while allowing tax-free exports, would boost the value of the dollar, giving customers more purchasing power to manage the higher costs, supporters say.
.. And proponents maintain the costs would even out eventually, even with what Ikenson called a likely “adjustment period” at the start.
.. “But 97 percent of American importers are small businesses, [companies] with under 500 employees. … Small businesses are in the center of the bulls eye in this law.”