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T-storm 93/73 • Tomorrow: Showers 77/63 B8 Democracy Dies in Darkness THURSDAY, AUGUST 22 , 2019. $

‘Game of chicken’ Japan is building an island

“wall” of military bases to counter China’s

incursions in the East China Sea. A

Shift on bullhooks Zoo accrediting group

voted to phase out the controversial tool’s use

in routine elephant care and training. A

LOCAL LIVING

Always in season

Flower breeders are

trying to develop plants

that bloom again and

again.

STYLE

Dream on

You could probably fill a

library with all the books

about curing insomnia.

But critic Ron Charles

says they haven’t helped

him any. C

In the News

THE NATION

Washington Gov. Jay

Inslee, who made cli-

mate change his central

issue, dropped out of

Democratic presidential

primary race. A

Larry Swearingen,

who claimed faulty sci-

ence led to his murder

conviction in a college

student’s death, was exe-

cuted in Texas. A

A judge allowed Presi-

dent Trump to appeal a

lawsuit over his busi-

nesses’ accepting pay-

ments from foreign gov-

ernments. A

At least eight Bureau of

Prisons staffers knew of

instructions not to leave

Jeffrey Epstein alone in

his cell, people familiar

with the matter said. A

Critics of the president

inside the Republican

Party are weighing a pri-

mary challenge. A

Sen. Bernie Sanders’s

revised Medicare-for-all

plan would preserve the

right of unions to negoti-

ate for benefits above

and beyond what Medi-

care would offer. A

THE WORLD

China has taken aim

at Hong Kong’s flag-

ship airline, subjecting

its staff to unprecedent-

ed scrutiny and pres-

sure. A

Iran-backed militias

in Iraq warned that for-

eign aircraft flying over

the country may be

treated as “hostile” after

mysterious explosions at

militia bases. A

Militants are targeting

Christians in Burkina

Faso as an Islamist in-

surgency spreads, trans-

forming the West Afri-

can nation into a hotbed

of extremism. A

THE ECONOMY

Developers balked at

Apple’s pending rules

for children’s apps, say-

ing the action probably

won’t protect youngsters

and could harm the

business. A

Gilead Sciences filed a

petition challenging

government patents for

the HIV prevention pill

Truvada. A

THE REGION

A national gun-control

group launched an ad

campaign targeting

GOP lawmakers in Vir-

ginia swing districts. B

Corbett Price, a D.C.

Metro board representa-

tive, is facing pressure to

resign over his role in the

Jack Evans probe. B

The D.C. mayor issued

emergency rules to stop

a planned federal shelter

for migrant children

brought to the city. B

Bei Bei, the National

Zoo’s giant panda that

turns 4 today, is headed

soon to China as part of a

breeding agreement. B

Inside

SIMON DENYER/THE WASHINGTON POST

BUSINESS NEWS ....................... A

COMICS ....................................... C

OPINION PAGES.........................A

LOTTERIES...................................B

OBITUARIES ................................ B

TELEVISION ................................. C

WORLD NEWS............................A

CONTENT © 2019

The Washington Post / Year 142, No. 260

BY JEFF STEIN

AND JONNELLE MARTE

The federal deficit will expand

by about $800 billion more than

previously expected over the next

decade, as recent increases in

spending are on track to push the

nation into levels of debt unseen

since the end of World War II, the

Congressional Budget Office said

Wednesday.

The annual U.S. deficit will

come close to hitting $1 trillion in

2019, an unusually high number

during a period of economic

growth, the CBO added. Driving

that number is spending as well as

a large tax cut on corporate and

individual income taxes passed by

Republicans in 2017.

The new deficit estimates could

deepen worries that U.S. policy-

makers face a shortage of tools to

bolster the economy should the

country fall into recession, some

economists say. In addition to po-

tentially less room to spend or

pass tax cuts, the Federal Reserve

cannot reduce interest rates,

which are already quite low, as

much as it has during previous

downturns.

The country is not in a reces-

sion, but recent economic data has

made clear the economy is grow-

ing more slowly as business in-

vestment declines, the manufac-

turing industry struggles, and

stock and bond markets react to

uncertainty over trade policy,

which the CBO cited Wednesday

as a drag on U.S. growth.

“Deficits are now expected to be

larger than previously projected,”

the CBO report stated. “To put

[debt] on a sustainable course,

lawmakers will have to make sig-

nificant changes to tax and spend-

ing policies.”

Right now, U.S. debt levels have

SEE DEFICIT ON A

BY MARIA SACCHETTI

The Trump administration is

moving to terminate a federal

court settlement restricting how

long U.S. officials can detain mi-

grant children with their parents

and replace it with a rule that

could expand family detention

and dramatically increase the

time children spend in custody.

The Department of Homeland

Security and the Department of

Health and Human Services will

issue a rule Friday to withdraw

from the Flores Settlement Agree-

ment, the federal consent decree

that has set basic standards for

the detention of migrant children

and teenagers by the United

States since 1997.

The new rule will need the

approval of a federal judge, who

declined the government’s re-

quest last year to expand deten-

tions.

Homeland Security officials

said the rule would eliminate a

20-day cap for detaining migrant

children and create a new license

regime that would make it easier

for federal officials to expand

family detention nationwide.

Officials said they do not ex-

pect to hold families more than

two months — though the rule

grants them the flexibility to hold

SEE DETENTION ON A

BY DAN BALZ

Tuesday turned out to be a
busy day for President Trump.
He poked another U.S. ally in the
eye, questioned the loyalty of
American Jews, backpedaled on
gun legislation and undercut the
denials of his advisers on the
economy. It was just another
normal day in the Trump admin-
istration.
Take Tuesday’s quartet case
collectively, and it portrays an
administration and White House
in chaos, lacking in systematic
policymaking. It portrays a pres-
ident who changes his mind
whenever it suits him, whose
statements shift with the mo-
ment, and who uses words care-

lessly and sometimes destruc-

tively. It forms a pattern of dis-

sembling, of deliberate or un-

knowing falsehoods as well as

efforts to divide already divided

Americans from one another.

Adding to the chaos and con-

fusion, the president went at it

all again Wednesday with an-

other lengthy press availability.

He took back some of what he

said Tuesday and reinforced oth-

er things, leaving observers — no

doubt including his own advis-

ers — to wonder what and how

he thinks about the issues before

him.

On Sunday, as he was prepar-

ing to return to Washington,

Trump was asked about reports

SEE TAKE ON A

U.S. approaches

$1 trillion deficit

U.S. moving to detain

migrant children longer

THE TAKE

Insults, retreats, questioned loyalties:

For this president, just a ‘normal’ day

SPENDING, TAX CUTS CITED FOR DEBT LEVELS

Worries grow about ability to counter a slowdown

White House seeks to

end court settlement

that sets 20-day cap

BY GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER

hampton, va. — Sweat and gossip flowed

as neighbors waited to place orders at the

back window of the house: Fish platter. Fish

sandwich. Some of Miss Margaret’s home-

made cake.

Margaret Wilson presided over the cheer-

ful chaos of the Aberdeen Gardens fish fry

from a folding chair. At 80, she holds special

prominence, one of the few surviving origi-

nal residents of a community unlike any

other in the country.

Built in the 1930s, Hampton’s Aberdeen

Gardens was the first federal housing project

created for African Americans under the

New Deal. It was the only one designed by a

black architect, overseen by a black supervi-

sor and built by black laborers.

Later this week, Virginians will gather

just a few miles away at Old Point Comfort to

mark the arrival, 400 years ago this month,

of the first Africans brought to the English

colonies against their will.

While Virginia is rich with carefully pre-

SEE HAMPTON ON A

A community built to last

Roots of this historic Virginia neighborhood stretch to the first Africans in America

ARTHUR ROTHSTEIN/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

RYAN M. KELLY FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

TOP: Newport News Homesteads, later renamed Aberdeen

Gardens, in 1937. ABOVE: Lifelong “Aberdeener” Margaret

Wilson, 80, left, on Saturday with Cynthia Young-Lee of

Williamsburg during the Hampton neighborhood’s annual fish fry.

BY RICK NOACK,

JOHN WAGNER

AND FELICIA SONMEZ

President Trump on Wednes-

day lashed out at Danish Prime

Minister Mette Frederiksen, say-

ing the leader of the U.S. ally had

made “nasty” comments about

his interest in having the United

States purchase Greenland.

Trump announced Tuesday

night that he was calling off a

planned two-day state visit to

Copenhagen early next month

over Frederiksen’s refusal to en-

tertain the sale of Greenland, a

self-governing country that is

part of the kingdom of Denmark.

Frederiksen told reporters

Wednesday she was surprised by

Trump’s change in plans and also

lamented the missed opportu-

nity to celebrate the historical

alliance between Denmark and

the United States, saying prepa-

rations for the visit had been

“well underway.”

Frederiksen called the idea of

the sale of Greenland “absurd”

over the weekend after news

broke of Trump’s interest — a

characterization that apparently

offended him.

“I thought it was not a nice

statement, the way she blew me

off,” Trump told reporters at the

White House on Wednesday. “She

shouldn’t treat the United States

that way.... She said ‘absurd.’

That’s not the right word to use.”

Trump’s comment came dur-

ing a rambling, 35-minute back-

and-forth with reporters outside

the White House, where he re-

versed his position on some is-

sues facing his administration

SEE DENMARK ON A

Trump calls Denmark leader’s comments ‘nasty’

MADS CLAUS RASMUSSEN/RITZAU SCANPIX/REUTERS

Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen had called the president’s plan to buy

Greenland “absurd,” leading him to cancel a trip to her country.

Rewriting CEOs’ role, but how?

A splashy Business Roundtable

statement is slim on details. A