Day: February 15, 2017

Or is it a victory rally. Or an ego-boosting rally?

President Donald Trump will be holding a rally in Melbourne Saturday afternoon in what is essentially a re-election campaign stop being promoted by his campaign.

Team Trump-Pence, the successor to Donald J. Trump for President, announced the president’s rally would be at a 5 p.m. event at the AeroMod International Hangar at Orlando-Melbourne International Airport.

The appearance presumably is on his way for his weekly weekend visit to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach. It also comes hours after SpaceX will be making the first launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from the historic Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center a few miles up the coast, fueling speculation that the president may also make a space center visit and take in the historic launch during his time in Brevard County.

His return to Melbourne is a return to one of the hottest campaign rally spots Trump had in Florida during his triumphant run through last summer and fall. A stop he made there in September — at another hangar at the Melbourne Airport — was absolutely overwhelmed with supporters who became infamously rowdy for him that evening.

Glad to see that the GOP is working hard to put guns in the hands of people who may be mentally unstable.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress on Wednesday sent President Donald Trump legislation blocking an Obama-era rule designed to keep guns out of the hands of certain mentally disabled people.

On a vote of 57-43, the Senate backed the resolution, just one of several early steps by the Republican-led Congress to undo regulations implemented by former President Barack Obama. The House had passed the measure earlier this year. The White House has signaled Trump will sign the legislation.

The Obama rule would have prevented an estimated 75,000 people with mental disorders from being able to purchase a firearm. It was crafted as part of Obama’s efforts to strengthen the federal background check system in the wake of the 2012 massacre of 20 young students and six staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

From CBS News:

Andrew Puzder, President Trump’s pick for labor secretary, is expected to withdraw his name from the nomination, a source close to the restaurant executive tells CBS News’ Major Garrett.

The source says he does not believe Puzder will appear for his confirmation hearing Thursday before the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee.

Asked why, the source said, “I think he’s very tired of the abuse.”

Another source working on Puzder’s confirmation preparation also told Garrett that the odds were about 80 percent odds that the CKE Restaurants executive would pull out of the nomination.

The news comes after days of intense scrutiny over Puzder’s fitness to lead the Labor Department and questionable support from Republican senators.

Puzder, who previously lead the company that owns fast food chains Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, came under fire earlier this month after reports that he and his wife had employed an undocumented immigrant for housework.