The 2017 campaign season ushered in a string of boundary-breaking elections across the United States.
Voters swept Democratic candidates from underrepresented communities into office in the party's first major victory of the Trump era. Andrea Jenkins is the first openly transgender African-American woman ever elected to public office.
The newly-elected Minneapolis City Councilwoman joined Cheddar to discuss her big win.
Jenkins put the November elections in perspective, drawing comparisons between herself and other history-making candidates, such as Virginia's Danica Roem. She also gives a prediction as to whether Democrats can keep these trends going into 2018 and beyond.
Finally, we discussed the dozens of sexual misconduct allegations rocking both Hollywood and Washington D.C. A second woman came forward Monday with more claims that Senator Al Franken touched her inappropriately. Jenkins says if these kind of allegations keep surfacing, there won't be any men left in Washington D.C. eligible to lead.
For President Donald Trump, tariffs — or the threat of them — can bend nations to his will.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
U.S. and Chinese officials say a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies is drawing closer. The sides have reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting Thursday in South Korea. Any agreement would be a relief to international markets. Trump's treasury secretary says discussions with China yielded preliminary agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the United States. Scott Bessent also says Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earth elements needed for advanced technologies.
A new poll finds most U.S. adults are worried about health care becoming more expensive.
The White House budget office says mass firings of federal workers have started in an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.
