Trump Today: President celebrates tax law and says journalists should be not be attacked

This column provides a daily update on key presidential actions as well as comments, whether spoken aloud or on Twitter, by President Trump. Like the stock market, the deadline for Trump Today action is 4 p.m. Eastern Time, even as we acknowledge that substantive news can and does occur after hours.

President Donald Trump marked the six-month anniversary of his tax-cut law on Friday, as he also mourned victims of a shooting attack at a newspaper office in Maryland.

‘PRO-JOBS’ TAX LAW HAILED

Trump held a White House ceremony for the tax law he signed in December, saying the U.S. “at last” has a “pro-jobs, pro-worker, pro-family and pro-American” tax code. Trump noted, as he often does when discussing the law, that no Democrats voted for the measure last year.

The law is proving unpopular with voters, meanwhile, as the midterm elections approach in November. The latest RealClearPolitics average of polls shows just 36% approve of the law, while about 43% disapprove.

Reuters

SHOOTING ‘SHOCKED’ NATION

Trump said a shooting at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Md., on Thursday “shocked the conscience of our nation.” Four reporters and a sales assistant were killed by a gunman at the paper, a property of the Tronc-owned Baltimore Sun Media Group.

The president had ignored questions shouted by reporters on Thursday about the incident. At the beginning of the tax event, he said “journalists, like all Americans, should be free from the fear of being violently attacked while doing their job.” He made no comments about gun-control measures during the event.