Tag: bannon

Week 50 in Trump

Posted on January 8, 2018 in Politics, Trump

Week 50: Very stable genius.

I’m not going to report much on the revelations in Michael Wolff‘s new gossipy tell-all book because I don’t put a lot of credence in third-party political books (not since a slew of books pushing false narratives came out about Obama and Clinton). Wolff reportedly has recordings of his interviews in the West Wing, though, so if he’s just publishing what people said, he can back that up.

That doesn’t mean I didn’t secretly revel in some of the stories—they corroborate what most people who don’t support Trump already think anyway. Most of the staff quoted in the book think Trump is truly a dope and it doesn’t seem like he really wanted to be president at all. The book did launch a huge and public feud between the Trump and Bannon camps. I’ll talk about the fallout below.

But here’s what happened in real politics this week.

Missed from Last Week:

  1. The Interior Department rolls back yet another Obama-era regulation. This one protected migratory birds endangered by oil, gas, wind, and solar operations.
  2. The Interior Department reverses a decision by the Obama administration and renews leases for copper and nickel mining at the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota.
  3. The Trump administration scales back Obama-era fines against nursing homes that harm or endanger residents. Enforcement of these Medicare programs were already weak, and this just gives fewer protections to their elderly residents.
  4. The DOJ wants to ask about citizenship on the 2020 census, which would certainly reduce participation by immigrants, both documented and undocumented. The results of the census determine the distribution of congressional seats, funding of social programs, elections, and ways that state and federal dollars are spent.

Russia:

  1. Paul Manafort sues Robert Mueller, Rod Rosenstein, and the DOJ. The suit asks the federal court to narrow the scope of Mueller’s authority. Manafort’s legal team thinks Mueller is out of bounds investigating money laundering. Legal experts say the suit probably won’t hold water, based on Rod Rosenstein’s earlier testimony to Congress where he said he gave Mueller leeway to follow the investigation where it led. Remember, Kenneth Starr’s Whitewater investigation led to Monica Lewinsky.
  2. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Directory Christopher Wray meet with Paul Ryan about Representative Devin Nunes’ request for documents in the Russia investigation. Rosenstein and Wray were there to ask to keep the documents private at this time because sharing could hamper their investigation.
  3. Ryan, who had previously supported the Russia investigation, caves to Nunes and orders the FBI to turn over the documents to Nunes, which they do. Nunes, by the way, is supposed to be recused from this investigation. The documents in question are law enforcement sensitive and documents of this type are rarely shared outside the FBI.
  4. Fusion GPS founders write an op-ed asking the Senate to release their testimony and explaining some of the testimony they gave. Fusion thinks the Senate is trying to hide their testimony.
  5. Instead of complying with Fusion GPS’s request to publicize their testimony, Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley instead says they can come back and testify publicly. Why not just save us the time and money and publish the testimony that was already given?
  6. Representatives Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan, leaders of the Freedom Caucus, call on Jeff Sessions to step down over recusing himself from the Russia investigation.
  7. Senators Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham send a letter to the FBI requesting an investigation into Christopher Steele, author of the Steele dossier. They claim that Steele misled the FBI when talking about his contacts with the media. After a year of investigation, this is all they’ve got? Mueller is light years ahead of them.
  8. The AP confirms that Trump directed his White House counsel to tell Jeff Sessions not to recuse himself from the Russia investigation. Sessions obviously refused the directive and recused himself shortly thereafter, prompting Trump to tell him to resign. Which he did. And which Trump refused to accept.
  9. Hand-written notes by Reince Priebus confirm some of James Comey’s testimony about Trump’s requests of him before he was fired.
  10. A few days before Trump fired Comey, an aide to Jeff Sessions asked one congressional staffer if he had any damaging information on Comey, an apparent effort to undermine the FBI.
  11. The FBI releases new documents that show Andy McCabe didn’t have any conflicts of interest overseeing the Clinton email investigation.

Courts/Justice:

  1. Jeff Sessions reverses Obama-era guidance on keeping federal hands off of regulating states that have legalized marijuana. At his hearings, he said he would not change anything in this regard. On the flip side, veterans can now discuss marijuana use with the VA and not lose their benefits.
  2. Just in the nick of time, because the acting U.S. attorneys were temporary and their term runs out this week, Sessions appoints 17 interim attorneys. There’s a little cronyism going on here, starting with the replacement for Preet Bharara in the Southern District of New York. His replacement is a law partner with Rudy Giuliani.
  3. Scott Pruitt says he’d like to be attorney general if Jeff Sessions leaves.
  4. Trump calls on the DOJ to prosecute Hillary’s former aide Huma Abedin and also James Comey.
  5. Trump also calls the DOJ part of the “deep state.” Sarah Huckabee Sanders says he didn’t mean it.

Healthcare:

  1. Dismantling the ACA piece by piece. After removing the individual mandate in last year’s tax plan, Trump proposes alternative healthcare plans that wouldn’t have to cover the 10 essential health benefits required by the ACA.
  2. Deaths in the coal mining industry almost doubled this year over last, with 15 miners dying in 2017.
  3. Last year, Susan Collins (R-Maine) acknowledged that the healthcare reforms she was promised in return for her yes vote on the tax bill wouldn’t be enacted in 2017, but hopefully would be in January 2018. Now she’s saying she hopes to see them by 2019.

International:

  1. Protests continue in Iran this week. But Iran deploys the Revolutionary Guard, and at least 21 are dead and around 450 protestors are in custody in Tehran.
  2. The U.S. plans to call for an emergency UN session to address the Iranian protests.
  3. A few pro-government rallies pop up across Iran to counter the ongoing anti-government protests.
  4. Trump announces a freeze on military aid to Pakistan, which has been a strategic but befuddling ally in the fight against terrorism. The Pakistani government holds an emergency security meeting to figure out how to deal with Trump’s accusations of lies and deceit.
  5. The State Department also places Pakistan on a watch list of countries that don’t protect religious freedom.
  6. In response to Kim Jung Un tweeting that he has a nuclear button, Trump tweets that his button is bigger. Which only serves to work up more fear of a nuclear war.
  7. The CDC plans a briefing for how to prepare for a nuclear war.
  8. North and South Korea plan to sit down for formal talks to find ways to improve their relations and to cooperate on the Winter Olympics.
  9. The U.S. fails to make its scheduled payment of $125 million to the United National Relief and Works Agency. Some think it’s a ploy to get leverage on Israel/Palestine talks, but the U.S. says we’re just working out the details.
  10. The National Security Agency joins the State Department in losing its top talent under the Trump administration.

Legislation/Congress:

  1. New Senators Doug Jones (D-Ala.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) are sworn in. Smith replaces Al Franken, who stepped down at the urging of his colleagues over allegations of harassment.
  2. Congress comes back to a full schedule this year. Here are a few things on their plate:
    • Budget: Congress has until January 19 to sign a budget to avoid a government shutdown.
    • DACA: Congress technically has until March to prevent DACA recipients from potentially being deported (but in reality, this needs to be done sooner).
    • Disaster recovery: Last year was the most expensive year for U.S. emergency relief, coming in at around $306 billion, not all of which has been authorized.
    • FISA reauthorization: Constituents are asking for this to be reformed rather than simply reauthorized. This allows the NSA to collect communications information about U.S. citizens who communicate with foreigners suspected of spying or terrorism.
  3. Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) releases a video defending the freedom of the press. Here are a few key quotes:
    • “A republic will not work if we don’t have shared facts.”
    • “The only way the republic can work is if we come together and defend each other’s rights to say things that we differ about.”
    • “And it’s not helpful to call the press the enemy of the American people.”

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. There were nearly 100 immigration-related retaliation claims to the California Labor Commissioner last year, up from 20 in 2016. Most say their bosses threatened to deport them. This largely occurs around workers contract to do work (like construction and odd jobs) and often when the worker asks for his agreed upon payment. People say they won’t pay and if the worker complains, they’ll report them to ICE.
  2. Washington’s attorney general files a suit against Motel 6 for sharing their guests’ personal information with ICE officials without warrants and without reasonable cause other than Hispanic sounding names.
  3. Democrats in Congress want a clean DREAM Act as part of any negotiations for a spending bill. Trump set a deadline of March 5, at which time DACA recipients could start being deported. Congress now has only two months to fix it. Even if they pass something now, it will take weeks if not months for the DHS to accommodate the changes.
  4. The FBI charges an armed man who stopped an Amtrak train in Nebraska with terrorism after finding the man has ties to a Neo-Nazi group and that he talked about killing black people.
  5. Trump’s pick to run ICE says that politicians in sanctuary cities should be charged with a crime and have their funding withheld, something courts have already called unconstitutional.
  6. Two Republican legislators are trying to put up monuments to African-Americans who fought with the Confederacy. They’re getting pushback from historians, who say no African-Americans chose to fight for the Confederacy, and from white supremacists, who want the Confederacy remembered as white supremacy.
  7. The price tag for Trump’s wall is expected to start at $18 billion, but to actually be closer to $33 billion. And since he’s asking Congress to fund it, the taxpayers will pay for it.
  8. And here’s why marijuana laws fall under discrimination: Police found less than an ounce of marijuana at a party in Cartersville, GA. They arrested all 65 people at the house, ranging in age from 15-31 and all black, and charged them with drug possession. Many who couldn’t afford bail were fired from their jobs because they couldn’t get out of jail, and their mug shots were publicly released. All of these people could end up with a police record. This is about 45 minutes from Atlanta, where if one person has that much pot, they might get a ticket.

Climate/EPA:

  1. Trump’s administration announces plans to allow offshore drilling in the Arctic, Atlantic, and Pacific oceans, opening up about 90% of U.S. waters for exploration. This is opposed by both Democrats and Republicans in almost all east and west coast states, which have some control over certain portions of their coasts.
  2. Of note, part of the reason Obama didn’t approve this was because of objections from the military (along with the states).
  3. The governors from all three western states—Washington, Oregon, and California—promise they’ll do everything they can to prevent drilling off their coasts. Santa Barbara, CA, had an oil spill in 1969 and another in 2015, and no one wants to increase the odds of that. There’s already oil in the waters around Santa Barbara, and tar balls constantly wash up on the beaches.
  4. While northeastern U.S. gets hit by a frigid bomb cyclone, Australia is suffering a great heat wave that’s melting asphalt and causing wildfires.
  5. Scott Pruitt bragged that they’re cleaning up Superfund sites faster than ever, but the sites they removed from the contaminated list were actually cleaned up years ago. The only reason they were still on the list was because they required follow-up testing to evaluate the success of the cleanup.
  6. Trump rescinds rules requiring that companies disclose the chemicals they use when fracking.

Budget/Economy:

  1. Republicans on the hill are suddenly deficit hawks again, saying we need to cut spending. This is a shift from the tax bill passed in December, in which they added as much as they could to the deficit in a finance bill and still comply with parliamentarian rules on reconciliation.
  2. Fox News research reports the average monthly job gain by year, showing 2017 to be the lowest since 2010 (though it’s possible these numbers will be adjusted):
    • 2017: 171,000
    • 2016: 187,000
    • 2015: 226,000
    • 2014: 250,000
    • 2013: 192,000
    • 2012: 179,000
    • 2011: 174,000
    • 2010: 88,000
  3. 2017 was the strongest year for manufacturing in the U.S. since 2004.
  4. Following in the steps of AT&T, Comcast fired 500 salespeople after saying how they’d create thousands of new jobs with the recent tax cuts.
  5. The DOW passes 25,000 for the first time.
  6. California legislators propose a bill that would allow Californians to get around the tax bill by giving to the California Excellence Fund instead of paying certain taxes that are no longer deductible. Donations to the fund are deductible.

Elections:

  1. Orrin Hatch, the longest-serving Senator in Utah history, announces his plans to retire, opening the door for Mitt Romney to run. Hatch says he’ll throw his support behind Romney.
  2. Trump dissolves his voter fraud commission because states weren’t cooperating and the commission was the target of several lawsuits. He still maintains that there’s a high level of voter fraud, but he’s throwing the issue over to the Department of Homeland Security (which indicates that he thinks most voter fraud is committed by illegal immigrants).
  3. Kris Kobach, the head of the voter fraud committee, dismisses the lawsuits as baseless, though he lost most of the lawsuits against him in Kansas for his similar efforts so doesn’t have the greatest track record.
  4. Postscript: Studies since 2000, including George Bush’s own voter fraud task force, have found that voter fraud is minuscule…extremely rare.
  5. Virginia drew Republican David Yancy’s name out of a bowl to push the GOP into the majority in the Virginia House of Delegates, 51-49. State law says the loser of the draw can demand a second recount, so this still might not be over.
  6. And speaking of Virginia, there’s still a challenge to the results of one House of Delegates race because nearly 200 homes were reassigned to the wrong district and given the wrong ballots. The race was won by less than 75 votes, and the voters are the ones challenging the results.
  7. The Trump administration puts Republican candidates on rocky ground with his expansion of oil drilling off our beaches and with the crackdown on state-legalized marijuana. Many politicians whose seats are up for grabs this year worked fast to distance themselves.

Miscellaneous:

  1. In his new book, Michael Wolff quotes Bannon criticizing and insulting Trump, and then Trump goes after Bannon in return. Trump’s lawyers send Bannon a cease and desist letter, saying legal action is imminent.
  2. After excerpts from the book start coming out, Chief of staff John Kelly bans the use of personal devices, like personal cell phones, in the West Wing. Wolff was allowed pretty open access during his time there, and even hosted dinner parties for White House staff.
  3. Trump’s legal team demands that Wolff and his publisher stop the release of the book and apologize. Which resulted in the publisher moving the publish date up.
    • If Obama and Clinton sued every author who lied about them, there wouldn’t be any books out there about them at all.
    • If the Trump legal team ends up suing, we’ll find out if there really are recordings.
  4. Of note, Trump had campaign staffers sign a non-disclosure agreement that said they couldn’t make any disparaging comments about Trump, his family, or the campaign.
  5. White House officials discuss whether to fire Katie Walsh for her statements in Wolff’s book (she said working with Trump is like trying to figure out what a child wants).
  6. Breitbart board members debate whether to fire Steve Bannon after excerpts from the book are published. His financier, Rebekah Mercer, says she won’t finance him any longer.
  7. Trump takes credit for a very safe year in airline travel, though there’s been no fatal commercial passenger airline incident since 2009.
  8. Several legislators meet with a psychiatry professor to discuss Trump’s mental state and fitness for office. The prognosis isn’t good, but you can’t really analyze someone without meeting with them.
  9. Trump nominates Marie Royce to a senior position in the State Department. Marie is the wife of Ed Royce (R-Calif.), who is the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, creating a conflict of interest since Ed’s committee is responsible for State Department oversight.
  10. Trump finally makes an appearance in the press briefing room, but it’s not in person. He pre-taped a message for the press briefing even though he was right there in the same building at the time.
  11. One of the women who accused Roy Moore of sexual misconduct loses everything she owns when her house burns down as a result of arson.
  12. Another of the women accusing Roy Moore’s of sexual misconduct is now suing him for defamation.
  13. Trump brings a bunch of his cabinet and top legislators to Camp David for a Republican leadership retreat.
  14. Big tech puts its weight behind opposing the repeal of net neutrality. A group called the Internet Association, which includes Facebook, Google, Netflix, and other large tech firms, is joining the lawsuit against the FCC.
  15. The FBI is investigating whether donations were made to the Clinton Foundation in return for political favors while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. Previous investigations have shown such allegations to be false, but we’ll have to wait and see if they turn up anything new.
  16. The chairman of Alaska’s Marijuana Control Board resigns when the DOJ announces its crackdown on marijuana use.

Polls:

  1. 61% of Americans support the legalization of marijuana.

Week 39 in Trump

Posted on October 23, 2017 in Politics, Trump

You wanna know how much faith we can put in Congressional hearings? Here’s a quote from Trey Gowdy, who relentlessly ran the Benghazi hearings that repeatedly found Clinton not guilty of anything while dragging her through the mud for a few years.

“Congressional investigations unfortunately are usually overtly political investigations, where it is to one side’s advantage to drag things out,” says Gowdy. “The notion that one side is playing the part of defense attorney and that the other side is just these white-hat defenders of the truth is laughable … This is politics.”

And apparently a waste of time that the taxpayers fund. Kevin McCarthy said as much when he said that the Benghazi hearings had done the intended job of smearing Clinton (which did lose him the speakership, so at least there’s that). I think we’ll have to rely on Mueller, not Congress, to learn what really happened last year.

That’s my rant and here’s what happened in week 39.

Russia:

  1. Here’s what we learn this week about Russian troll farm workers:
    • They had a quota for the number of political and non-political posts they had to make, as well as for the number of daily comments. They wanted to flood social media with agitating propaganda (agitprop).
    • One troll worker says “Our goal wasn’t to turn the Americans toward Russia. Our task was to set Americans against their own government: to provoke unrest and discontent, and to lower Obama’s support ratings.” Well done, guys.
    • Their goal was to smear Hillary in three ways: Bill Clinton’s sex scandals, the Clintons’ wealth, and her use of a private email server.
    • They had to watch “House of Cards” to learn about American politics.
    • They organized events, rallies, and protests in the U.S. and hired activists to hold rallies. The activists didn’t know they were working for Russia.
  2. U.S. investigators now believe that a man called Putin’s chef, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was behind one of the Russian troll farms.
  3. Fusion GPS, the company that commissioned the Steele dossier, objects to the previous week’s subpoenas from the House Intelligence Committee, saying they aren’t even sure if Devin Nunes has the authority to sign off on them. Nunes is supposed to be recused from the investigation.
  4. Facebook wants to hire people with national security clearance, likely to help prevent future attempts by foreign agents to manipulate information on the site.
  5. Mueller interviews Matt Tait, the cyber expert who was recruited by Peter Smith to collude with Russia. He wrote a pretty interesting blog on it called The Time I Got Recruited to Collude with the Russians.
  6. Sean Spicer meets with Robert Mueller’s team. They talk about James Comey’s firing and Trump’s meeting with Russian officials.
  7. The Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenas Carter Page, who has been refusing to testify.
  8. Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s former campaign manager, meets with the Senate Intelligence Committee.
  9. Jeff Sessions testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee to defend the firing of James Comey. Sessions hasn’t been interviewed by Mueller yet.
  10. Members of the House Oversight Committee push for subpoenas of the White House for documents about Michael Flynn. The documents they are looking for could lead to criminal prosecution, though, and Congress doesn’t prosecute crimes.
  11. A bipartisan bill in the Senate would force social media companies to disclose who purchased an online political ad so we would know if it was Russian-sponsored.
  12. Russian state-owned media RT misses its deadline to register as a foreign agent under FARA after a DOJ request to do so.
  13. In an about-face, Putin says the American people need to stop disrespecting Trump.
  14. In a tweet, Trump basically accuses the FBI, Russia, and the Mueller investigation of conspiracy to frame him.
  15. Partisanship gets in the way of the congressional investigations of Russia, leading some to express concern that each committee will come to two different conclusions.
  16. Mike Pompeo, head of the CIA, says Russian meddling didn’t affect the results of the election, even though the intelligence report concludes that was Russia’s aim. Whether they were successful hasn’t been concluded yet.

Courts/Justice:

  1. A district judge refuses to vacate Joe Arpaio’s criminal contempt conviction, even though Trump pardoned him. Judge Bolton says the pardon doesn’t change the historical facts of the case. So while Arpaio won’t have to do jail time, he might now be more vulnerable to civil suits.
  2. Trump personally interviews two candidates for U.S. District Attorney in New York, opening up the question of whether the people hired for these jobs will be beholden to him. This is a big question in light of Mueller seeming to look for state crimes as well as federal.
  3. The DOJ dropped a request to obtain the names of Facebook users who liked a specific inauguration day protest page. This was part of the investigation into inauguration day riots, but this request was seen as overreach.
  4. Justices Kagan and Gorsuch spar behind the scenes, and not in the good way Supreme Court justices typically do.

Healthcare:

  1. Eighteen states and DC sue Trump over stopping the ACA subsidy payments.
  2. After Trump’s decision to end healthcare subsidies, states work frantically to approve higher insurance rates to shore up the insurance companies and to stop them from leaving their markets. Medical and insurance stocks took a hit after Trump’s announcement.
  3. Pennsylvania’s insurance commissioner says that insurance premiums will rise in Philadelphia an average of 30% due to Trump’s gutting of the ACA last week. Oregon has already told insurers to go ahead and raise premiums.
  4. Republicans scramble to work out a deal that would continue the ACA subsidy payments, and a bipartisan agreement looks possible. Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray create an agreement that could stabilize markets in the short term. Note that this is not a bill yet, it’s just a deal that they think both sides can get behind.
  5. Trump expresses opposition to the bipartisan bill, and then later expresses support for it in a speech, and then later blasts the bill in a tweet. So I don’t know if he’s for or against it, but I think in the end he’s against it.
  6. Paul Ryan doesn’t support the bipartisan agreement. All Democrats in the Senate say they’ll support it, which, combined with the 12 Republican cosponsors of the bill, gives a filibuster-proof majority.
  7. The association health care plans Trump is pushing in place of the individual market have a history of fraud and abuse, as shown in dozens of court cases. In many cases, people were left on the hook for medical expenses that should’ve been covered by insurance.
  8. Trump blindsided officials with his promise of an emergency declaration on the opioid crisis. Those officials scramble to create such a plan, saying they aren’t ready for it and there’s no consensus on how to implement it.
  9. Betty Price, Georgia state Representative and wife of former HHS secretary Tom Price, suggests that people with HIV should be quarantined, and that in the past it wasn’t so much of a problem because they “died more readily.”
  10. Due to the shortened enrollment period for the ACA, people who are automatically re-enrolled in their policy might not be getting the best option. Previously they’d receive a reminder to look for less expensive or more comprehensive policies. But the shortened period doesn’t give enough time for that.
  11. Republican representative Tom Marino, Trump’s pick for drug czar, removes himself from the running due to his involvement in passing legislation that made it easier to distribute opioids while making it harder for the DEA to stop it.

International:

  1. After reading the provisions of Trump’s Iran decree, it’s pretty apparent to me that he doesn’t understand that the Iran agreement is about nuclear proliferation only. It doesn’t address terrorism or security and that wasn’t the intent.
  2. Forces backed by the U.S. liberate Raqqa from ISIS. ISIS has been consistently losing physical ground for several years now.
  3. Two groups supported by the U.S. are fighting in Iraq. The Kurds want to separate from Iraq, which has spurred an armed conflict between the two.
  4. The U.S. military starts evacuation drills to practice what they would do in case of armed conflict with North Korea.
  5. Rex Tillerson says that our foreign policy is “resilient enough to accommodate unknowns,” including Trump’s tweets. While the tweets catch him off guard, Tillerson tries to include those messages in his strategies.
  6. Japan holds a snap election so prime minister Abe can bolster support to update their constitution. The U.S. occupied Japan after WWII and rewrote their constitution to limit their military might. With the new threat from North Korea, Japan wants to build back up its military.
  7. Trump tweets “United Kingdom crime rises 13% annually amid spread of Radical Islamic terror.” The U.K. Agency that published the crime stats says this is false; the rise in crime has nothing to do with terrorism. It’s possible this information came from a conspiracy TV network, OANN.
  8. Information is still sketchy about the deaths of four Green Berets in Niger. The Pentagon is investigating the attack to determine whether our forces there were on an unapproved mission or just routine patrol. There are conflicting stories about what happened.
  9. We should expect hearings over Niger. There was no overhead surveillance, no American quick-reaction force to back them up, French back-up couldn’t use force, and one body was found a mile away and two days later.
  10. Chad helps us and our allies fight Islamic extremists, and has been since 2012. It’s where we set up strategic headquarters for the counterterrorist fight in Africa. They don’t have a lot of people joining Islamic militants, but neighboring places do (like Niger).
    • A few weeks ago, Trump adds Chad to the travel ban. (How does Chad end up on the banned list and not, say, Niger? No one knows. Maybe because Chad fined Exxon $74 billion?)
    • The state department and military oppose the move, and experts warn that putting Chad on the travel ban puts Americans in danger, as reported a few weeks back.
    • Four Green Berets are killed in Niger.
    • Chad begins removing troops from the fight in Niger against Islamic extremists.
    • Finally we find out. It turns out that Chad ran out of passport paper when they needed to send the administration a sample, and that’s how they ended up on the travel ban.
    • CORRECTION: It looks like Chad moved their troops after the ambush on our soldiers. I updated the order above. Given this chronology, the events appear to be unrelated.
  11. At China’s Communist Party congress, Prime Minister Xi pushes an agenda to make China a stronger military and economic powerhouse, fight government corruption, and be a global leader in trade and global warming. He’s not wasting any time in taking advantage of the void left by the U.S.

Legislation/Congress:

  1. Six Republicans members on the House Ways and Means Committee are retiring or resigning from Congress. That’s about a quarter of the GOP members of this elite panel who are checking out. Representatives spend years trying to get on this panel.
  2. Congress is going to make Dreamers wait to find out their fate; they’re completely focused on tax reform right now.
  3. Interestingly, one congressional aide says they have the bandwidth to deal with both tax reform and immigration, but only if Democrats agree to increased border security. Democrats have already indicated support for enhanced security, just not a border wall.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. In the midst of the anthem debate, the NFL throws its support behind criminal justice reform.
  2. Colin Kaepernick files a grievance against the NFL, accusing them of colluding against him.
  3. NFL owners decide not to change their rules. Players can kneel or stand during the anthem. Trump continues his war on the NFL.
  4. A federal judge in Hawaii blocks Trump’s travel ban nationwide just hours before it would’ve taken effect. The block does not include the ban on travel from North Korea and Venezuela.
  5. A day later, a second federal judge, this time in Maryland, blocks the travel ban.
  6. Donald Trump Jr.‘s take on sexual harassment in the workplace (at least last year) is this: “If you can’t handle some of the basic stuff that’s become a problem in the workforce today, then you don’t belong in the workforce. Like, you should go maybe teach kindergarten.” Or maybe men should just not sexually harass women. Or discriminate against them.
  7. A unit of an upstate New York police department surveils Black Lives Matters members despite being told by the courts to stop. This comes on top of learning that black activist groups are being eyed as terrorist groups by some in the FBI, raising concerns of racial profiling and further marginalization.
  8. The Customs and Border Patrol denies Indonesia’s military chief entry to the U.S. He was invited to an event by U.S. General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. U.S. officials apologize, but Indonesia is demanding answers.
  9. We learn that Trump teases Mike Pence about his views on the LGBTQ community, having joked around that Pence wants to hang all gays. He also teases him for a lack of success in making abortion illegal, and for making people pray. Real funny stuff.
  10. Businesses band together in the Coalition for the American Dream to support Dreamers and push immigration reform, focusing entirely on Republican legislators. Here are a few of those businesses: Microsoft, IBM, Facebook, Google, Apple, Cisco, Intel, Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, Spotify, Under Armour, Chobani, Marriott, Hilton, Ikea, and Best Buy.
  11. Hotels have been quietly refusing to let white nationalists book their conventions at the hotels.
  12. White nationalist Richard Spencer speaks to an unfriendly crowd at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Three of Spencer’s supporters are arrested for attempted homicide after shooting guns at protestors.
  13. Trump considers suspending the refugee family reunification program, which allows the families of refugees to join them in the U.S. He’s also looking at putting women from designated high-risk countries through the same scrutiny as men.

Climate/EPA:

  1. Environmental groups often sue the EPA to get them to enforce their own regulations, but Scott Pruitt makes this more difficult and expensive by ending the practice of settling lawsuits against the EPA. This could backfire, though, if the courts find against the EPA in future suits.
  2. A study links pollution to almost 1 in every 6 deaths in 2015, mostly from air pollution, mostly in rapidly industrializing nations, and mostly affecting children and the poor. So yes, let’s dismantle the EPA.
  3. Three EPA experts were scheduled to speak about their findings in a 500-page report on climate change effects on an eastern estuary. The EPA cancels their appearance, intensifying concerns that the government will prevent scientists from talking about climate change or even from working on climate issues.

  4. The EPA says higher radiation levels have no harmful health effects, setting the acceptable level for drinking water at 10 times what it was under Obama. Previous EPA guidelines said that NO level was safe.
  5. The EPA removes yet more climate change resources from its website. These resources helped local governments to deal with the effects of climate change that affect them directly and to come up with plans to adapt.
  6. A Trump appointee to the EPA was a leader in the chemical industry. She’s trying to change the rules to make it harder to track perfluorooctanoic acid, of PFOA, which is linked to serious health problems like kidney cancer and birth defects. The EPA has struggled to keep PFOA from contaminating our drinking water. This appointee has also proposed rewriting a dozen rules in order to align the EPA more with the chemical industry’s wishes.

Puerto Rico:

  1. The USNS Comfort is still mostly empty instead of handling urgent patients in Puerto Rico. Only 13% of the beds are being used, despite a great need and overwhelmed hospitals on the island.
  2. Reports are that the death count in Puerto Rico is inaccurate and could possibly be up to 450. Congressional Democrats request an accurate count.
  3. According to recent interviews, many Trump supporters who were victims of the Houston hurricane and are receiving government funds to rebuild don’t think that Puerto Ricans should receive the same assistance. The overriding sentiment here appears to be that Houstonians aren’t taking advantage of the system, but those darn Puerto Ricans are. Makes you proud to be an American, right?
  4. About a month into recovery, Trump rates his hurricane response to Puerto Rico a 10 out of 10. 30% of the island is still without drinking water and 80% are still without power. St. Croix and the U.S. Virgin Islands also have around 80% without power.

Budget/Economy:

  1. The Senate approves a budget that lets the GOP avoid a Democratic filibuster. The House needs to sign an identical version to bypass the filibuster.
  2. The Senate version of the budget cuts energy and national resource spending by $1 billion over a decade. It also calls for legislation to cut domestic spending by $5.1 trillion, including cutting Medicaid by $1 trillion and medicare by $470 billion.
  3. The House version includes a directive for the oversight and reform committee to find ways to save $32 billion over 10 years.
  4. Republican Senator Bob Corker calls the Senate budget a “meaningless hoax” and says it’s only designed to bypass the Democrats in order to sign a tax plan.
  5. Republicans are considering reducing the allowable annual 401K contribution from $18,000 per year to $2,400, reducing workers’ ability to save for retirement.
  6. Almost half the income from pass-through corporations goes to the top 1%. Almost 80% of pass-through income goes to the top 20%. So Republicans are incorrect when they say their tax break for pass-through corporations will help middle income ranges and small business owners.
  7. In talking about the latest budget, Mulvaney admits that it’s difficult to cut spending in Washington.
  8. Trump pushes for bipartisan tax reform, but it’s already too late for that. Republicans have already been working behind closed doors for weeks.
  9. Steve Mnuchin warns that if Congress fails to cut taxes, they could tank the stock market. I’m not sure if that was a warning or a threat.
  10. He also says that it’s hard not to give tax cuts to the wealthy.
  11. Because marijuana is still not federally legal, marijuana farmer’s can’t get crop insurance. Farmers in Northern California lost millions in the fires that they won’t be able to recoup.

Elections:

  1. Trump says he’ll try to talk Steve Bannon out of his “season of war” against Republicans in next year’s elections. Trump and McConnell meet about this, and afterward, Trump says they’re closer than ever.
  2. On average, a member of Congress running for re-election raises $24,149 each week. Maybe we should get the money out of politics so they can legislate instead of fundraise.
  3. Trump’s campaign has raised $36,469,896 this year.
  4. Joe Arpaio speaks at a fundraiser at the Trump National Golf Club in Southern California in support of a GOP opponent to Representative Maxine Waters.

Miscellaneous:

  1. In one week, John McCain, Barack Obama, and George Bush all take thinly veiled jabs at the Trump administration and the nationalism and populism that put him in office.
  2. In his speech accepting the Liberty Medal, John McCain warned against “half-baked, spurious nationalism.” In his own words: “We will not thrive in a world where our leadership and ideals are absent. To fear the world we have organized and led for three-quarters of a century, to abandon the ideals we have advanced around the globe, to refuse the obligations of international leadership and our duty to remain the last best hope of earth for the sake of some half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems is as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired dogma of the past that Americans consigned to the ash heap of history.”
  3. Afterward, Trump warns McCain to be careful, because eventually Trump will fight back.
  4. Also, during a panel discussion, Condoleezza Rice and Madeleine Albright school Nikki Haley on statesmanship.
  5. According to Forbes, Trump’s worth dropped by $600 million over the past year due to a tough New York real estate market, expensive lawsuits, and an expensive presidential campaign. Also, the least wealthy person on the Forbes richest 400 Americans is worth $2 billion. 169 billionaires didn’t make the list this year.
  6. John Kelly gives Cabinet members more freedom to choose their staff, reversing the way things were done under Reince Priebus. So maybe they’ll finally get staffed up.
  7. As part of an ongoing suit resulting from sexual harassment charges, subpoenas are issued to Trump for any documents from his campaign that relate to any woman that accused him of sexual assault or harassment
  8. 6,663 Texas inmates pulled together $53,863 in donations for Hurricane Harvey relief efforts.
  9. When a reporter asks Trump why he hadn’t yet made a statement yet about the deaths of the four soldiers in Niger, it launches the week’s wars. Trump accuses previous presidents, and specifically Obama, of not calling the families of fallen troops–this is easily disproven. As is his claim that he calls all the families, which leads his staff to scramble to get the names of all soldiers fallen this year so Trump can hurry up and call them. Trump drags John Kelly unwillingly into the fray. One of his calls to the families of the four Green Berets killed in Niger is leaked leading to a fight with both a Congresswoman and the widow of the deceased soldier. And then Kelly joins the fight, and seriously things just get so darn ugly. You need a chart of all the missteps just to keep it straight. Trump could’ve ended this with a single empathetic phone call.
  10. All five living ex-president come together for a fundraising concert for hurricane victims.
  11. Shareholders at Tribune Media vote to approve the merger with Sinclair Broadcasting, though the FCC is still taking public comment.
  12. Trump signs an Executive Order to expand the authority of service secretaries to recall both enlisted and officer retirees to Active Duty.
  13. Trump brags about discrediting the media when a poll comes out showing nearly half of Americans don’t trust the media. He says they make up stories about him. Real media sources literally do not do this.
  14. As of this week, the Education Department under Betsy Devon has rescinded 72 documents defining rights for students with disabilities. They say the documents are outdated or unnecessary, but disability rights groups are reviewing them.
  15. 18 Democratic attorneys general sue Betsy DeVos over her department’s refusal enforce rules that protect people from predatory colleges.
  16. Trump promised to drain the swamp, but only one of his five proposals to limit lobbying is implemented so far. Spending on lobbying came to nearly $1.7 billion for the first half of this year, which is the highest since 2012.
  17. Fox and Friends increasingly sets the media tone for the day. Trump watches it in the morning, tweets something from it, and the rest of the media takes the bait.
  18. Trump announces he’ll declassify the remaining JFK assassination files.

Polls:

  1. Nearly 60% of Americans think the current tax plan favors the rich.
  2. 66% of Americans want the ACA fixed instead of repealed.
  3. Trump’s attacks on the media are working. 46% of voters think that the media makes up stories about Trump and his staff. 76% of Republicans believe it.
  4. 42% of Americans think Trump will go down as one of worst presidents in history.

Week 38 In Trump

Posted on October 16, 2017 in Politics, Trump

Trump spent the week lobbing grenades—into the healthcare market, into the budget and tax reform plans, into the NFL, at Bob Corker, and into the Iran agreement. Now his Cabinet and Congress have to figure out how to put out the fires he started.

And speaking of fires, the devastation in Northern California is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. If you’re looking for ways to help out, Fast Policy gives a number of resources: https://www.fastcompany.com/40479325/how-to-help-napa-fire-victims-8-things-you-can-do-for-californias-wine-country-right-now

And here’s what happened in week 38. As always, if I missed something, let me know.

Russia:

  1. In contrast to what Donald Trump Jr.’s email records show, a lawyer for one of the Russians present at the Trump Tower meeting last year claims to have documents showing that the meeting was not about getting dirt on Clinton. This is likely going to be their defense against collusion.
  2. Congressman Devin Nunes again puts himself in the middle of the Russia investigation (from which he is supposed to be recused), and signs off on new subpoenas to Fusion GPS. He seems to be doing this on his own without approval from the committee.
  3. We learn where the Kaspersky Lab intel came from. Israeli intelligence watched in real time as Russian government hackers exploited software from Kaspersky Lab to search for American intelligence program code names. Israeli officials gave us the heads up. Ironically (and ICYDK) Kaspersky is security software.
  4. Carter Page says he won’t cooperate with requests to appear in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and will plead the 5th if forced to appear.
  5. Bob Mueller’s team interviews Reince Priebus.
  6. Paul Manafort has business dealings worth $60 million with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who has close ties to the Kremlin.
  7. The background check chief says he’s never seen the level of mistakes on any clearance form as were found on Jared Kushner’s.
  8. Researchers find thousands of additional posts that were part of the Russian disinformation campaign but that had been hidden on Facebook. Also, due to their terms of agreement, Twitter had deleted several posts by Russian agents, and they aren’t sure whether they can retrieve that information.
  9. Cambridge Analytica, which is partially owned by Steve Bannon and which provided big data services to the Trump campaign, begins turning over documents to the House Intelligence Committee.
  10. The House Intelligence Committee plans to release the Facebook ads bought and spread by Russians during the election. There are around 3,000 of them.

Courts/Justice:

  1. North Carolina Republicans pass a bill to get rid of primary elections for state judges, another attempt to control the courts. These guys have already been reprimanded by federal courts for their voter ID restrictions and unlawful district lines, both of which target minority voters. The governor vetoes the bill, but Republicans have a supermajority and can override the veto.
  2. Every time Trump deletes a tweet, the question comes up of whether it’s a violation of the Presidential Records Act. The DOJ argues in court that Trump can destroy records without judicial review. The DOJ also says it’s OK for Trump to delete secret recordings and phone records, even if they think those records might be subpoenaed in connection to an investigation.

Healthcare:

  1. The Trump administration’s cuts in funding and lack of outreach for ACA enrollment affects groups across the country. The funding for Michigan Consumers for Health Care was cut by 89%. The Ohio Association of Foodbanks’ funding was cut by 71%. The Cheyenne Regional Medical Center was cut by 61%, the Utah Health Policy Project by 61%, and the South Carolina Palmetto Project by 46%.
  2. Tired of Congress failing to repeal the ACA, Trump does his best to take it down this week:
    • He signs a new executive order that would allow individuals and small businesses to group themselves into association health plans that would let them negotiate prices better. The order also would allow insurers in that market to provide policies that don’t cover all medical expenses mandated by the ACA. While this could reduce costs for younger or healthier Americans, it could raise costs for older or sicker Americans.
    • He then signs an order directing his agencies to “repeal and replace the disastrous Obamacare law and provide real relief to the American people” because “the government cannot lawfully make the cost-sharing reduction payments.”
  3. Trump nearly walks out of the signing ceremony for his executive order gutting the ACA without signing the bill.
  4. Experts say this kind of fuckery will cause insurance premiums to soar, insurance companies to flee markets, costs to rise, and millions to lose insurance.
  5. Trump admits he did this to sabotage the ACA and blackmail Democrats into “helping him fix it.”
  6. Insurance companies warn that premiums and out-of-pocket cost will go up, and covered medical expenses will be reduced as a result of this order.
  7. The CBO and insurance companies warn of increasing premiums and out-of-pocket costs, reducing coverage for medical expenses, adding $194 billion to the deficit, millions of Americans losing coverage, and a 20-25% increase in premium costs. In other words, the government will spend more to insure fewer.
  8. Trump says he’ll oppose any attempt by Congress to rescue Obamacare unless he gets something in return. It sounds like he thinks he’s been giving away too much and not getting anything in return, and this is his way of setting new negotiation terms.
  9. Twenty states and Washington DC threaten lawsuits over this week’s orders.
  10. Washington state, Massachusetts, California, and the ACLU sue over Trump’s new restrictions on birth control coverage under the ACA.
  11. Fourteen commonly used prescription drugs are sourced out of Puerto Rico. The hurricane damage could cause a shortage of the drugs people depend on for their health.

International:

  1. NBC reports that Trump asked the military to increase our nuclear warheads tenfold—a violation of international treaties. Trump responds by threatening to challenge their broadcast license. Trump’s request stemmed from a presentation that showed the gradual decline of our nuclear stocks, but our military posture is stronger right now than it was at the height of our nuclear buildup.
  2. An overwhelming number of groups, both national and international, diplomatic and military, Democrat and Republican, urge Trump to stay in the Iran nuclear agreement, saying it’s against our security interest to decertify it.
  3. Trump refuses to recertify the Iran agreement, punting the issue to Congress to either impose sanctions again or find ways to change the agreement. The international community opposes this move, although France is open to hardening the conditions of the agreement a bit. It’s not likely we’ll get a better deal.
  4. Iran threatens to bomb U.S. bases as a result.
  5. North Korean hackers go after U.S. electrical power companies using spearphishing emails.
  6. Trump withdraws the U.S. from UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, saying it’s because of their anti-Israel bias. Note that the U.S. has had issues with UNESCO for several years.
  7. A truck bomb in Mogadishu, Somalia, kills nearly 300 people. The government blames Al Shabab.
  8. Trump says how much he wants to end NAFTA, though Mexico warns it would hamper their joint efforts to stem the flow of drugs between countries.
  9. Justin Trudeau says that American negotiators are throwing proposals into the NAFTA negotiations that are deal breakers, possibly in an attempt to destroy the agreement.
  10. The Chamber of Commerce warns that ending NAFTA would pose an “existential threat” to North America’s economic and national security.
  11. In Palestine, Fatah and Hamas agree on a unity deal where they combine security and government control.
  12. Cyberheists are big business in North Korea, bringing in up to $1 billion a year. That’s a third of the nation’s exports.

Legislation/Congress:

  1. Congress won’t move on gun laws, but California just did. The state passes three gun laws this week:
    • People convicted of hate crime misdemeanors can’t buy or have a firearm for 10 years.
    • School employees can’t bring firearms to work.
    • Since the Centers for Disease Control is not allowed to study gun violence, California will fund its own gun violence research.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. Trump threatens to use the new tax reform bill to penalize the NFL teams whose players take a knee.
  2. NFL owners and Goodell appear to express disapproval of player protests. Trump tweets that the NFL did what he wanted, the NFL denies his and says that’s not what the letter they published said. Goodell’s memo asked players to stand but also validated the issues that the protesting players are trying to bring attention to.
  3. But Trump continues to escalate this war with the NFL.
  4. Republican Senator Thom Willis and Democrat Dick Durbin are working together on a clean Dreamer act that would allow undocumented immigrants who were brought here as minors to obtain permanent status. They fear something needs to be done sooner than later or these people who have lived here all their lives could be deported.
  5. Trump again demands border wall funding in return for Dreamer legislation.
  6. Trump speaks at the Values Voters Summit in DC. This makes him the first president to speak at the gathering, which includes white supremacists, homophobes, and far-right activists. He promises them that they will no longer be silenced. I wonder if he saw the anti-gay pamphlets in the swag bag? The group is considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
  7. Trump says he will extend the DACA deadline himself if Congress doesn’t act in time.
  8. Homeland Security looks at ways to reform immigration itself without the help of Congress. Ideas include clamping down on unaccompanied minors, tightening visa rules to limit legal immigrations, and expanding the use of quick deportations.
  9. The Supreme Court dismisses one of the challenges to Trump’s now expired travel ban, not on the merits of the challenge but because the ban is expired making the challenge moot.

Climate/EPA:

  1. Scott Pruitt of the EPA officially announces plans to rescind the Clean Power Plan, Obama’s rule to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Pruitt as much as told Fox News earlier this year that environmental health isn’t his priority; jobs are.
  2. The EPA’s current estimate is that the Clean Power Plan would prevent up to 6,600 premature deaths and 150,000 asthma attacks.
  3. Pruitt wants to eliminate tax credits for solar and wind power, saying all power industries should be on a level playing field. I’m sure he’s aware of all the subsidies received by the fossil fuel industry as well, right?
  4. Scott Pruitt removes mention of climate change, greenhouse gases, and carbon dioxide completely from the EPA’s 4-year plan. He says the EPA’s priorities are ensuring clean air, land, and water; giving states more power; and enforcing laws. Forget global warming.
  5. Trump nominates climate change skeptic Kathleen Hartnet to lead the White House’s environmental policy board. She thinks that because we need carbon dioxide to live, that excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can’t possibly hurt us.
  6. Trump nominates AccuWeather’s Barry Myers to head NOAA. NOAA is the parent agency of the National Weather Service, and Myers has pushed for limits on what the NWS can offer to the public. If he’s confirmed, he can make those limits the rule.

Puerto Rico:

I wasn’t sure what category this all belongs in, so I’m giving Puerto Rico their own category this week.

  1. Recovery efforts still lag in Puerto Rico, more than 3 weeks after the hurricane hit. Most of the island is still without power, and a third of the island has no access to clean drinking water.
  2. FEMA says it’s not their job to deliver food and water to municipalities in Puerto Rico, though they did deliver both in Texas and Florida after they were hit by hurricanes. FEMA also says it’s the job of the mayor of each city to move supplies from the distribution centers to their towns. Though most don’t have electricity or cell phone service yet.
  3. FEMA has visited some of the towns without food, water, or electricity, but generally only to help them fill out paperwork.
  4. Google gets approval from the FCC to float its Project Loon balloons over Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. This should at least give everyone an internet connection.
  5. Congress approves $4.9 billion in relief to Puerto Rico. As a loan. That they have to pay back. Is that how it works for Texas and Florida too?
  6. Some Puerto Ricans are getting drinking water from a superfund hazardous waste site.
  7. After Trump vaguely threatens to pull back the recovery effort in Puerto Rico (FEMA can’t stay there forever), FEMA jumps in to reassure the island saying they’ll be in Puerto Rico as long as it takes.
  8. When Trump says that we can’t provide aid to Puerto Rico forever, it makes him look like he still doesn’t understand that they are part of the United States.
  9. And not only is Trump unaware that Puerto Rico is part of the U.S., but also that the U.S. Virgin Islands are as well. He says he met with the president of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Meaning he met with… himself?
  10. A Bloomberg reporter is accidentally copied on an email chain between the Pentagon and FEMA about how to spin the recovery effort in Puerto Rico. The spin included emphasizing the federal government’s full attention on the response in order to fight the San Juan Mayor’s complaints; stressing FEMA’s success in reaching all cities; and playing down Trump’s attack on the Mayor of San Juan for “poor leadership.”

Budget/Economy:

  1. In an interview with Sean Hannity, Trump implies that the increase in value of the stock market of $5 trillion offsets half of the $10 trillion deficit added over the last eight years. It sounds like he thinks the stock market and the deficit are tied together. They aren’t. At all.
  2. Trump brags about how insurance company stocks dipped after his announcement that he’ll stop paying the ACA subsidies.
  3. Steve Mnuchin admits that the estate tax repeal will only help the wealthy, contradicting what Trump has been telling us.
  4. Republicans can’t agree on what constitutes the middle class for the tax plan. Pew Research puts it between about $42,000 and $125,000 in income. But Republicans’ idea of middle class ranges from $100,000 to $400,000 at the high end.
  5. Trump holds a rally for a group that includes several truckers. He touts his tax plan and says how it will save them in taxes. It likely won’t.

Elections:

  1. Steve Bannon vows to run a challenger in every single Republican primary next year.

Miscellaneous:

  1. Bob Corker has the support of many of his fellow Republicans on the Hill over what he said last week about Trump, but most of them are afraid of retaliation if they also speak up. Corker continues to speak up this week over issues with Trump.
  2. Sean Hannity has more of the president’s ear than we thought. Trump frequently calls him after his evening show, and now on weekends too.
  3. Hmmm… lots of criticism of Harvey Weinstein and his relationship with Democrats from people who voted for an alleged sex offender themselves. And for those of you saying this reveals liberal hypocrisy, Democratic politicians are scrambling to return any donations from Weinstein. We need a little introspection here, specifically around how we let powerful men get away with this shit for so long.
  4. #MeToo (and Me, Too) trends on social media, once again showing how many women have been affected by sexual harassment/discrimination/assault. The last (or only?) time this happened was when Trump’s audio tape came out.
  5. Ryan Zinke faces additional scrutiny over travel costs when it’s revealed that he attended fund raisers during official government trips, which is not allowed.
  6. Trump calls team members of the Pittsburgh Penguins great patriots, even though they’re mostly not even American.
  7. At least one Republican publicly supports articles of impeachment, and he says others want this presidency to end as well.
  8. Larry Flynt offers $10 million for information leading to the impeachment of Trump.
  9. Trump challenges Tillerson to an IQ test comparison.
  10. Trump restarts the war on Christmas narrative, saying we’ll be saying “Merry Christmas” again. News flash: People never really stopped saying it.
  11. Trump’s good friend Thomas Barrack makes some interesting comments to the press. He’s shocked and stunned by Trump’s rhetoric and his inflammatory tweets. Barrack says that Trump is better than this. He disagrees with Trump on immigration and the border wall. He thinks Trump is wasting time pandering to fringe groups. And he tells Trump all of this all the time. However, given what Trump campaigned on, how can he be surprised?

Polls:

  1. 64% of voters support stricter gun laws (including universal background checks and waiting periods). 29% oppose them. But a majority still thinks Congress will do nothing.
  2. Trump’s approval rating falls in every state, including with Republicans.
  3. 76% of Americans think the wealthiest of us should pay higher tax rates.

Week 37 in Trump

Posted on October 9, 2017 in Politics, Trump

AP / John Bazemore

Since Pence made a spectacle of this on Sunday, here’s a racial justice primer. NFL players who take a knee during the anthem aren’t protesting our flag, our anthem, or our military. They’re protesting racial injustice. And while the protest arose out of the killings of black men by police, our justice system treats them unfairly in general. They are more likely to get stopped (committing a crime or not), more likely to be arrested, more likely to be convicted, more likely to serve time, and more likely to serve a longer sentence. Every step adds to the disparity.

Using statistics for drug use and arrests as an example, say 1,000 white people and 200 black people commit the same crime. 100 white people and 74 black people might get arrested for it. (The actual numbers above aren’t accurate; they’re just to give an example. The ratios of white to black are accurate though.) So the arrest rate for white people is 10%, and for black people it’s 37%. Of those, 50 white people and 48 black people might be convicted—a 50% rate for whites and 65% for blacks. Of those, 19 white people and 24 black people might be incarcerated—a 38% rate for white people and 51% for black people. So in the end, 19 of 1,000 white people who commit the crime serve time, and 24 out of 200 black people do. So while 2% of white people who commit the crime serve time, 12% of black people do, a rate 6 times higher. And then on top of it all, those black people are more likely to get a longer sentence.

Lesson over. Here’s what happened last week in politics…

Russia:

  1. Mueller’s team starts researching limits on presidential pardons, an indication that they think Trump will try to pardon those involved in the Russia investigation or use the promise of a pardon as leverage. Trump himself has said he has the complete power to pardon.
  2. The CIA denies the Senate Judiciary Committee access to certain information about obstruction of justice in the Russia case, though it allowed the Senate Intelligence Committee to see it.
  3. From Facebook, we learn that:
    • Russia used a retargeting tool on Facebook, Custom Audiences, to target ads and messages to Americans who visited misleading web sites and social media sites that imitated political activist pages.
    • The ads’ purpose was to further divisiveness and specifically promoted anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiments.
    • The ads had an explicit pro-Trump and anti-Hillary tilt. One claimed that the only viable option was to elect Trump.
    • Russian-backed Facebook groups posing as U.S. activists groups liked and shared the ads.
    • Facebook estimates about 10 million people saw the ads and messages, but that doesn’t account for likes and shares. So the actual number is probably in the 100s of millions.
    • The ads targeted Michigan and Wisconsin, each of which Trump won by less than 1% of the vote.
  4. Facebook didn’t identify Russians as the malicious actors at first, and removed mention of them from their reports.
  5. The Senate Intelligence Committee leaders update us on the status of their Russia investigation. The issue of collusion and parts of the Steele dossier are still up for question, but here’s what they think so far:
    • Putin directed the hacking, propaganda, and meddling in our 2016 elections.
    • Russia was behind the hacking of John Podesta’s emails.
    • Russia tried to exploit our divisions using fake social media accounts.
  6. Christopher Steele, the author of the Steele dossier, is in discussions to meet with congressional committees, but he already met with Robert Mueller.
  7. Three Russians names in the Steele dossier sue Fusion GPS, which commissioned the Steele dossier. They previously sued BuzzFeed, which released the full text of the dossier.
  8. U.S. Intelligence has verified parts of the Steele dossier, but won’t tell us which yet.
  9. Demonstrators mark Putin’s 65th birthday by protesting in the streets in support of opposition leader Alexey Navalny.
  10. Google also finds evidence of Russian meddling, saying they spread disinformation across Google’s products, including YouTube, Gmail, search, and the DoubleClick ad network. These don’t seem to be from the same troll farm as the Facebook ads, indicating that the propaganda effort was more widespread than originally thought.

Courts/Justice:

  1. The DOJ releases legal memos that said presidents can’t appoint their own relatives to the White House staff, even if they’re unpaid. The DOJ overruled the memos in January, allowing Trump to appoint his family members.

Healthcare:

  1. As part of a multi-pronged attack against women, Trump narrows the birth control coverage mandate of the ACA.
    • First, Trump repealed Obama’s efforts to ensure equal pay for equal work between genders.
    • Second, the House GOP eliminated Planned Parenthood from the budget. PP help helps women take control through screenings, birth control, and yes, abortion.
    • Third, the House GOP passed a bill restricting abortions, a bill which is based on incorrect science.
    • Finally, removing the birth control mandate of the ACA will make it that much harder for women to take charge of their own family planning.
  2. Chuck Schumer turns down Trump’s offer to work together on ACA repeal and replace, saying he would be willing to work together to fix the current system instead.

International:

  1. The State Department is losing career officers in droves and we’re losing our next wave of foreign policy leaders. These are people with expertise in specific areas who have established relationships with their foreign counterparts.
  2. Trump says he’ll decertify the Iran agreement next week, kicking the responsibility back to Congress to decide whether to reinstate sanctions, which would completely blow up the deal.
  3. It’s kind of important to mention that the Iran agreement, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), stands between Iran and a nuclear weapon. Trump has no replacement and he’s passing it off to a congress that doesn’t want it.
  4. Here are some important things to know about the JCPOA:
    • It’s not a bilateral or multi-lateral agreement; it’s a UN Security Council resolution. We don’t have the power to change it.
    • It doesn’t prevent Iran from developing its military capabilities; it only prevents them from developing nuclear weapons.
    • We don’t have the power to decertify the actual agreement; only the International Atomic Energy Agency does. Our recertification is to make us feel good.
    • There is no sunset clause 10 years. Some parts will expire, but the crucial parts won’t.
  5. International diplomats say the JCPOA is vital to the security interests of the U.S. and its allies.
  6. One member of congress says this is like Trump pulling the pin out of a grenade and handing it over to Congress.
  7. All national security advisors say we should recertify the JCPOA.
  8. Despite Trump’s tweets that Kim Jong-un is a madman, the CIA thinks he’s crazy like a fox. Kim doesn’t want nuclear war; he’d rather just live out his days ruling his country. The CIA says Kim ramps up confrontations with the U.S. to keep his grip on power.
  9. Trump urges his staff to portray him as crazy when negotiating trade deals and diplomacy, thinking it’ll scare other countries into agreement.
  10. Demonstrators march in Barcelona to protest the effort for Catalonia independence and to push for Spanish unity.
  11. In the face of major military losses, over a thousand ISIS fighters surrender.
  12. World leaders mostly recognize that Trump’s tweets are disconnected from actual policy.

Legislation/Congress:

  1. On top of the current House bill that would make silencers easier to buy, a second gun bill is working its way through Congress that would allow people to carry a concealed weapon in any state as long as it’s allowed in the state where they live.
  2. Nancy Pelosi and Mark Kelly (husband of shooting victim and former Rep. Gabby Giffords) push for a bipartisan commission to study gun violence and ways to deal with it. The House GOP votes it down.
  3. Pelosi calls on Paul Ryan to take up a bipartisan bill expanding background checks for firearms.
  4. There’s bipartisan support for banning the sale of mechanisms like the bump stock used in Las Vegas.
  5. House GOP supporters of gun rights claim to have never heard of the bump stock even though Diane Feinstein introduced legislation that included prohibitions on them in 2013.
  6. A week after letting healthcare coverage for children lapse, the House passes a new anti-abortion bill.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. Mississippi’s sweeping anti-LGBT legislation goes into effect. This lets people and businesses discriminate against LGBT people in the areas of housing, employment, foster and adoptive care, selling goods and services, medical care, and schooling.
  2. A UN measure banning the death penalty for being gay or transgender passes, but the U.S. votes against it.
  3. Jeff Sessions issues a DOJ memo removing civil rights protections for transgender people in the workplace and reversing an Obama-era stance that included protections for transgender people in the Civil Rights Act.
  4. Sessions also issues a directive to accommodate religious groups who say their religious rights are being violated if they’re forced to give equal treatment to all human beings. This takes the onus off of them of having to prove their discrimination is because of a closely held belief.
  5. The mission of the Department of Health and Human Services is to protect the health of all Americans, yet they removed any mention of the specific health needs of the LGBTQ community from it’s latest 4-year plan. The plan promotes faith-based organizations, makes no mention of the ACA, and includes anti-abortion language.
  6. Steve Scalise, who was saved by a lesbian, plans to speak at an anti-gay summit sponsored by a group that states homosexuality shouldn’t be treated equally to heterosexuality “in law, in the media, and in schools.”
  7. The deadline for DACA renewal arrives, though it might be a surprise to some. Homeland Security originally sent out notifications with the wrong deadline date, and then never bothered to send out corrections.
  8. California governor Jerry brown signs the sanctuary state law. Here’s what that means:
    • Police can still work with ICE to detain and transfer serious criminals.
    • Police can’t unconstitutionally detain someone at ICE’s request.
    • Hospitals, schools and courthouses are safe zones for immigrants.
    • Most of the efforts implemented by police departments to work with immigrant communities will continue.
  9. The DOJ and ICE threaten retaliatory sweeps in California as a result of the sanctuary bill. They warn that there will be collateral damage, and that innocent people will be picked up as well as criminals.
  10. Recently released documents show that ICE agents were pressured to present real-life stories to support Trump’s expanded detention guidelines.
    • They went out of their way to portray immigrants as hardened criminals.
    • They tried but couldn’t come up with enough stories and were pressured to fake it.
    • This was part of an effort to deflect attention from detainees who had never committed a crime.
    • They tried to create a narrative around how undocumented immigrants threaten public safety as a way of gaining public support.
  11. The House Homeland Security Committee approves $10 billion for the border wall with Mexico.
  12. In a reversal of his previous agreement with Democrats, Trump releases immigration law requests that will hamper a new DACA solution in Congress. This includes funding the wall, cracking down on undocumented minors, and cutting funding to sanctuary cities and holds DACA kids hostage, just like he said he wouldn’t.
  13. Mike Pence walks out of the Colts game because some players took a knee, which he knew they’d do. This seems to be a preplanned publicity stunt on the taxpayers’ dime.
    • Pence flies from Las Vegas to Indianapolis on Saturday, goes to the game, and then turns around and flies back out west to Los Angeles for several fundraiser (where he’ll likely raise more money because of this).
    • Once at the game, Pence tells his press pool to stay in the van and expect an early departure.
    • Trump takes credit for the move in a tweet, saying he told Pence to leave if player knelt.
  14. White supremacists rally once again in Charlottesville, carrying torches and chanting “You will not replace us!” And “The South will rise again. Russia is our friend.” Less than 50 people were there and the rally lasted about 10 minutes.
  15. Internal emails obtained from Breitbart show that Steve Bannon, Milo Yiannopoulos, and their staff purposefully pushed an agenda based on neo-nazi and white nationalist group input.

Climate/EPA:

  1. Here’s an interesting and easy read about the environmental rules and protections overturned by the Trump administration: 52 Environmental Rules on the Way Out Under Trump
  2. Scott Pruitt’s schedule consists mainly of meeting with industry leaders and lobbyists of the businesses he’s supposed to be regulating. He rarely meets with environmental groups, consumer and public health advocates, or actual scientists.
  3. The EPA plans to repeal the Clean Power Plan, which would help cut carbon emissions from power plant and meet the goals of the Paris agreement. He plans to create a new rule based on input from the fossil fuel industry.
  4. The only thing slowing down the deregulation so far is the courts, even though fossil fuel industry leaders also say the EPA needs to slow down. Expect many lawsuits against the repeal of the Clean Power Act as well.
  5. A senior climate scientist and policy expert resigns a few months after being reassigned to an accounting job for which he had no experience. Joel Clement blew the whistle on Ryan Zinke for the reassignment, which is under investigation. I think his resignation letter is worth the read.
  6. Hurricane Nate is the fourth hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. in six weeks, causing power outages in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida, along with storm surges.
  7. The San Jacinto Waste Pits near Houston have a dioxin level of more the 2,000 times the level that triggers a cleanup. The hurricane has spread toxic sludge.

Budget/Economy:

  1. Trump says we’ll wipe out Puerto Rico’s debt, causing a brief panic in the bond market. Mick Mulvaney backpedals and says we won’t bail them out, even after the devastation from hurricane Maria.
  2. The House passes a 2018 budget bill. Here are a few highlights:
    • The budget is about 6-months behind schedule. They’ve already passed their 2018 spending bills.
    • The bill sets up the tax reform bill so they won’t need any Democrats to vote for it.
    • It calls for $5 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade.
    • It increases defense spending by $72 billion and cuts the rest by $5 billion in 2018.
    • It cuts Medicare and Medicaid, and also relies on repealing the ACA.
    • It cuts $203 billion from welfare programs in areas like nutritional assistance and education.
    • It leaves no room for tax reform to add to the deficit, though the tax plan is expected to add $1.5 trillion over a decade.
    • The Senate budget does take into account the tax reform deficit, and also keeps spending levels even.
  3. Democrats Tammy Baldwin and Cory Booker release a Democratic version of the tax plan, which targets tax credits toward the middle class but doesn’t simplify the loopholes.
  4. Mike Pence holds a closed-door deregulation summit. But because it’s closed-door, I can’t find any information on what was said.

Elections:

  1. You remember a while back when Trump’s voter fraud commission requested voter information from every state? A Texas judge rules this week that providing the information would violate citizens’ privacy rights.
  2. Mike Pence’s chief of staff urges donors to stop donating to politicians who are disloyal to Trump.
  3. Recently unsealed court documents show that Kris Kobach pitched a proposal to Trump to change the national voting laws last fall. Kobach’s voter laws in Kansas discouraged thousands of people from voting and have been getting struck down courts ever since he implemented them.

Miscellaneous:

  1. Here’s some of what we learn this week about the Las Vegas shooter:
    • He had 23 guns inside the room, and 24 more in his houses.
    • 33 of those guns were bought just in the last year from several different stores.
    • He sent money to his girlfriend in the Philippines, through she came back to talk to the police.
    • He set up a video surveillance system inside and outside his room.
  2. Fake news sites from both sides spread false stories about the shooting, each blaming the other side. This is why we only share stories from trusted sources people! Have we learned nothing from the Russia investigation?
  3. And we have the same fight again, with the left calling for better regulation and the right saying it’s too soon, and the left using Australia as an example and the right using Chicago. Our divide on guns is even greater than our divide on abortions.
  4. Trump calls the Las Vegas shooter a sick and demented man. This, after he rescinded Obama’s rule that prevented the severely mentally ill from obtaining weapons.
  5. Americans own half the guns in the world, even though only about a third of American households own guns.
  6. There’s a huge increase in bump stock sales.
  7. Trump visits the devastation in Puerto Rico. At the time, FEMA was still organizing, only 5% of the electrical grid was working, 17% of cellphone towers were, and more than half the residents were still without water.
  8. Trump continues the war with San Juan’s mayor first by refusing to respond to her and then by refusing to let her speak at the roundtable.
  9. Trump approves a request to let hurricane victims use food stamps to buy prepared hot meals (usually restricted for food stamps) after first appearing to deny it.
  10. On his visit, Trump accuses Puerto Rico of throwing “our” budget out of whack. He also implies that this wasn’t a “real catastrophe” like Katrina, and goes on to compare death counts.
  11. We do live in two completely separate universes. I’m watching Fox News where the banner says “San Juan mayor praises Trump meeting” and reading on CNN that “San Juan mayor criticizes Trump’s comments.”
  12. FEMA removes information from its website that showed the condition of utilities and water in Puerto Rico. These charts show the actual progress.
  13. In response to San Juan’s mayor’s request for a backup generator for a hospital that lost power, FEMA’s Brock Long says, “We filtered out the mayor a long time ago. We don’t have time for the political noise.” People had to be airlifted out of that hospital.
  14. When Tom Price was appointed to the HHS, it triggered a special election in Georgia. An election that cost $50 million. And he didn’t even last a year.
  15. Representative Tim Murphy (R-PA) is a vocal abortion opponent, yet texts show he asked his mistress to get one when they had a pregnancy scare. When she calls out his hypocrisy, he says he doesn’t write his March for Life messages, his staff does.
  16. Murphy later resigns his congressional seat. Ironically, he resigns due to investigations into mistreatment of his staff, not because of the abortion controversy.
  17. NBC reports that Tillerson called Trump a f***ing moron and threatened to quit after a national security meeting in July. Tillerson denies the threatening to quit part, but doesn’t deny the moron part.
  18. After the report, Trump can’t resist a good tweet storm and insults NBC the worse way he knows how, calling them worse than CNN!
  19. John Kelly prevents Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-Cal) from speaking with Trump. Rohrabacher is a pro-Russia, Julian Assange ally.
  20. A criminal case against Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. was dropped after Trump’s attorney met with the DA and donated to his reelection campaign despite hard evidence of them giving false info to prospective buyers in the Trump SoHo hotel.
  21. After a dinner with military personnel, Trump alludes to a military photo-op as being the calm before the storm. When pressed on that, he says we’ll find out. No clarification yet.
  22. The White House believes that John Kelly’s phone is compromised and has been for some time.
  23. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump dumped emails from their private accounts to the Trump organization after being asked to retain them. But her emails, though, right?
  24. Trump has reportedly sunk $200 million into his golf courses in Scotland, but they are losing millions.
  25. Senator Bob Corker gives a brief interview where he defends Tillerson over Trump, saying that Tillerson, Kelly, and Mattis are the people who separate the U.S. from chaos in this presidency, and they make sure our policies are sound and coherent.
  26. Trump responds in his weekend tweet storm, saying Corker begged him for an endorsement and when Trump refused, Corker dropped out. He blames Corker for the Iran deal.
  27. Corker brings a strong response: “It’s a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.”
  28. In fact, Corker decided on his own not to run and Trump called him to ask him to reconsider. Of note, Corker and Trump have been on friendly terms, and Corker was considered for the vice presidency.
  29. Corker goes on to give an interview to the New York Times where he says Trump’s reckless threats could start WWIII, Trump treats the presidency like a reality show, and every day takes a tremendous effort for his staff to contain him.

Polls:

  1. 48% of Americans have confidence in the press, up 10 points from last year.
  2. 68% of voters disagree with Trump’s call to boycott NFL teams with protesting players.
  3. This one’s almost offensive in its wording. 54% of Republicans say homosexuality should be accepted by society, the first time that’s been a majority.
  4. 32% of Americans approve of Trump and 67% disapprove. This is a new low, but it’s also a different metric from my previous polls.

Week 34 in Trump

Posted on September 18, 2017 in Politics, Trump

The Senate is giving ACA repeal one final chance, with the latest bill being the most extreme of all they’ve introduced this year. Whether you’re for full repeal, universal healthcare, or something completely different, PLEASE CALL YOUR SENATORS and tell them to vote no on this fake fix. Ask them for REAL healthcare reform that makes quality, affordable healthcare available to everyone (or whatever you think quality healthcare should be). Your members of Congress don’t know what you want if you don’t tell them.

Russia:

  1. Building on their revelations from last week, Facebook says that Russians used false identities to organize and promote political protests on Facebook. The most recent events were anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rallies in Idaho.
  2. Mueller obtains a warrant for the records of the fake Russian accounts and their associated ads, an indication that he has already found reasonable proof that a crime was committed using those accounts.
  3. The Department of Homeland security forbids federal agencies from using Russian-owned Kaspersky security software. Kaspersky has been linked to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and Homeland is worried about cyber security.
  4. According to documents sent by House Democrats to Robert Mueller, Michael Flynn neglected to disclose yet another foreign trip on his security clearance. This trip was to the Middle East to look at a business deal between the Saudi and Russian governments.
  5. Michael Flynn continues to refuse to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Flynn’s son is also being investigated as part of the Russia probe.
  6. In closed-door testimony, Susan Rice says she unmasked American names in intelligence reports last year to determine what the crown prince of the UAE was doing in NY last year. Usually foreign dignitaries alert the White House before visiting the states, but the crown prince didn’t do that for this trip.
  7. High-ranking members from both parties say they don’t think Rice did anything wrong.
  8. Turf wars are surfacing around the Russia investigation. The Justice Department won’t let the Senate interview top FBI officials over Comey’s firing (which could just mean that Mueller is focusing on the firing too). The Senate Judiciary Committee won’t promise Mueller’s team complete access to Donald Trump Jr.’s testimony.
  9. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Lindsay Graham propose a bill to create a 9/11-style commission to study cyber attacks around the 2016 elections and to recommend ways to deflect such attacks in the future.
  10. The FBI is investigating Sputnik, the Russian news agency, for possible violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which forbids acting as an undeclared propaganda arm of a foreign government in the U.S.
  11. Russian parliamentarian Vyacheslav Nikonov says U.S. “intelligence missed it when Russian intelligence stole the president of the United States.”
  12. The Senate Judiciary committee has two bills in development that would protect Mueller from being fired by Trump.

Courts/Justice:

  1. The Supreme Court gives Texas a little breather from its long chain of court losses on voting issues. In this case, the court says Texas doesn’t have to redraw their illegal district lines immediately. So the 2018 election will likely go on with the gerrymandered districts. The conservative justices gave no reason for their decision.
  2. The Department of Justice under Sessions gives it’s argument supporting the pardon of Joe Arpaio and vacating all charges.
  3. The House reacts to Jeff Session’s announcement that the DoJ will expand the practice of civil forfeiture by adopting an amendment to prohibit it. Representatives say taking people’s property is unconstitutional and violates civil and property rights.
  4. The DoJ refuses to bring charges against the Baltimore police officers who arrested Freddie Gray, who died from spinal cord injuries while in their custody.
  5. The Senate has a long tradition of consulting with Senators from a specific state before confirming judges from that state. It’s part of the Senate’s role to provide “advice and consent” as written in the constitution. While Republicans refused 18 of Obama’s nominations using blue slips, they now want to get rid of the practice so Trump’s nominees won’t be blocked.
  6. Jeff Sessions wants all National Security Council staff to take lie detector tests, presumably to identify leakers.

Healthcare:

  1. Bernie Sanders introduces a Medicare-for-all healthcare bill, co-sponsored by 16 Democrats.
  2. Well done, GOP. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that Trump will be successful in his attempts to hurt the ACA by refusing to pay subsidies, keeping the market uncertain, and making it harder to enroll. All of these together will cause premiums to rise and will decrease enrollment. IMO, the GOP’s 6-year refusal to fix the ACA and attempts at repeal has cost the people in the individual market dearly. How much more of this will we take before we start saying no more?
  3. The latest ACA repeal bill is headed for a vote in the Senate, this one from Lindsay Graham and Bill Cassidy. Here’s the lowdown on the bill:
    • It’s essentially a repeal-and-don’t-replace bill that gets rid of many of the provisions of the ACA.
    • It would decrease the number of insured by millions more than the previous repeal bills. The CBO estimates the number of uninsured would increase by 32 million compared with current law.
    • It increases the costs for each state, likely by billions.
    • It would punish states that expanded Medicaid under the ACA by drastically reducing funding, and would reward those states that didn’t expand Medicaid by increasing their funding.
    • It would increased premiums by 100% by 2026.

International:

  1. The UN Security Council votes unanimously to place new sanctions on North Korea in retaliation for their nuclear tests.
  2. And North Korea says “I don’t care!” and launches another test missile over Japan.
  3. John Boehner criticizes Trump’s threats to pull out of trade agreements with South Korea, saying that would undermine our objectives in the region.
  4. Mexico rescinds its offer to help with the Hurricane Harvey recovery when Trump fails to express condolences or offer assistance for the 8.1 earthquake that hit southern Mexico.
  5. Shockingly, Mexico’s view of America hits an all-time low. The percent of Mexicans who view the U.S. unfavorably has doubled under Trump to 65%. 93% don’t trust Trump to do the right thing in world affairs.
  6. England raises it’s terror threat level to critical after a bomb goes off in the subway, injuring around 30 people. This launches a major manhunt, evacuating neighborhoods and resulting in two arrests so far.
  7. After the Charlottesville attack where he blamed both sides, Trump said that he didn’t condemn the white supremacists at the time because they didn’t have all the information. However, in the London case, he is quick to call out the “Loser terrorists” and make assumptions in the London case. Theresa May says his response was speculative and unhelpful.
  8. Trump’s partner in his latest golf course in Dubai contracts with state-owned China State Construction Engineering Corporation to build some of the infrastructure. Trump promised not to work with foreign entities as president.
  9. A Senate report on Trump’s foreign policy calls it a doctrine of retreat, and warns that it will only weaken America’s standing in the world.

Legislation/Congress:

  1. The House votes to defund Obama’s EPA rules to limit methane emissions for new drilling sites. This is on top of Scott Pruitt’s efforts to block the implementation of these rules, and comes even though most industry experts say it’s a cheap and easy fix. There are lawsuits pending against rescinding these rules.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. Two groups file lawsuits claiming that Trump’s pardon of Arpaio is unconstitutional.
  2. The Supreme court temporarily upholds the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals expanded definition of a bona fide family relationship under Trump’s travel ban, but it also temporarily blocks the lower court’s attempt to expand the definition to include refugee assistance services as bona fide relationships. The court will hear the case next month.
  3. Meanwhile, H.R. McMaster says the White House is considering a new stricter and tougher travel ban.
  4. Now that Trump has put the lives of around 800,000 DACA recipients in limbo, he turns his attention to immigrants with Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Trump is weighing whether to extend the status for nearly a half million people. TPS status is granted for a variety of reasons, including natural disasters or violence in their home countries.
  5. The House and Senate both unanimously pass the joint resolution denouncing white hate groups. Trump signs the non-binding resolution into law, but says he still blames both sides.
  6. After meeting with Tim Scott, the lone black Republican in the Senate, Trump reiterates his previous statements that both sides were to blame in Charlottesville. Scott, who condemned Trump’s response to Charlottesville, says he didn’t expect Trump to have an epiphany–he is who he is.
  7. Trump waives over a dozen environmental and religious laws in order to get the initial construction done on his wall. This should give you an idea of how he plans to make this happen, regardless of law, environmental effects, and property rights.
  8. Eleven people sue the Department of Homeland Security for what they call unlawful searches of laptops and phones at border crossings and customs.
  9. Over dinner, Trump and Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi appear to come to an agreement to protect Dreamers and enact border security measures that don’t include the wall. Democrats are thrilled; the White House is muted.
  10. And then Sarah Huckabee Sanders says, “While DACA and border security were both discussed, excluding the wall was certainly not agreed to.”
  11. And then Trump says that a deal was definitely in the works and that the border wall could come later.
  12. By the end of the week, I’m still not clear on whether there was any kind of agreement.
  13. The Trump administration considers lowering the refugee quota to its lowest level since 1980. He’s already reduced the cap to 50,000, less than half the cap under Obama’s last year.
  14. The pope criticizes Trump’s actions on DACA, saying you can’t be pro-life yet willing to rip apart families, because families are at the core of pro-life belief.
  15. Congressman Kevin Yoder (R-Kansas) goes to bat for the widow of Srinivas Kuchibhotla. Srinivas was shot in a Kansas bar by a man who told him to get out of our country, and his death put his widow at risk for deportation. Yoder is helping her obtain her own H-1B visa so she can keep her current job and stay in the U.S.
  16. Yoder previously held a very hard line on immigration, but since helping out in this case, he’s now arguing for immigration reform.
  17. The ACLU files a motion requesting an immediate halt to Trump’s transgender military ban.
  18. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduce an amendment that would block Trump’s latest transgender military ban.
  19. So far, three days of protest follow a judge’s decision to acquit a police officer who shot Anthony Lamar Smith after a high-speed chase. The protests started out peaceful, but 80 people were arrested after violence and rioting broke out. Police tried to control the crowd with tear gas.
  20. A federal judge rules that Jeff Sessions exceeded his authority by saying cities must cooperate with immigration officials or lose funds to help fight crime; in other words, federal funding can’t be withheld just because a city is a sanctuary city. The judge ruled a temporary nationwide injunction on the DoJ’s sanctuary cities standards.
  21. California passes a statewide sanctuary bill, joining Oregon as the only other sanctuary state. This is the result of negotiations and compromise between sheriff’s departments, legislators, and civil rights groups. Before you jump to any conclusions, the bill doesn’t protect violent felons; the sheriff’s department will still work with immigration officials on those. But it does make our neighborhoods safer by developing trust between law enforcement and residents.

Climate/EPA:

  1. The pope criticizes climate change deniers during a flyover of the islands hit with Hurricane Irma’s destruction. He urges them to consult actual scientists and says history will judge our decisions.
  2. Climate deniers in the House attack NOAA scientists who published a paper debunking the idea of a hiatus in global warming from 1998 to 2012. The House Science Committee Chair Lamar Smith issues subpoenas for the scientists’ emails, accusing them of manipulating data even though a judge threw out those accusations last month.
  3. I mentioned this under Legislation/Congress, but it’s worth noting again that the House voted not to fund Obama’s methane emissions regulations, even though methane is 30x more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat.
  4. The Senate Appropriations committee approves a 2018 spending bill that does not include any funding for grants, assistance, or contributions to the Green Climate Fund.
  5. The House passes a bill cutting funding to the EPA by over $500 million. This is 75% of their operating budget from 2010. We’re on a path to help polluters and reduce our own air and water quality. And don’t even get me started on climate change.
  6. Ryan Zinke signs an expansive order to open public lands to more hunting and fishing, as well as provide educational outreach. He says this administration understands hunters better than Obama’s did, although groups of hunters have banded in disagreement over some of Zinke’s changes, saying they’ll open public land to more development and less hunting.
  7. This week we hear rumors that Trump isn’t going to pull out of the Paris accord. And then we hear he’s still withdrawing. Or is he? I guess we’ll find out, but for now it seems we are still on track to withdraw.
  8. Scientists are working to push back against policy changes that ignore science. The Science Protection Program urges scientists to report interference, helps preserve their data using encrypted channels, and offers legal advice. Public health and scientific agencies are part of this effort.
  9. I think this might’ve been mentioned a few weeks ago, but Zinke’s recommendations to Trump after his national monument review include reductions to four protected areas: Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, Nevada’s Gold Butte, Oregon’s Cascade-Siskiyou, the Pacific Remote Islands, and the Rose Atoll.
  10. Zinke also proposes removing restrictions on seismic studies in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the first step in opening it to oil and gas drilling. The melting ice and tundra in the area have turned ANWR into a playground for polar bears, which are already at risk from global warming.
  11. Last week Trump called Irma the biggest hurricane we’ve ever seen. This week, when asked about climate change, Trump says we’ve seen bigger hurricanes than this.
  12. While the EPA works to overturn Obama’s Clean Power Plan climate regulations, Trump considers replacing it with a new plan instead of just junking it.

Budget/Economy:

  1. Trump’s budget includes deep cuts to many agencies that members of Congress hold dear, including the National Institutes of Health. This week, not only did Congress reject the cuts to the NIH, they increased spending on biomedical research, fearing that cutting the NIH budget would cripple American innovation and delay new cures.
  2. The Senate Appropriations Committee approves a 2018 spending bill that does not include the cuts that Trump requested to the State Department, much to the relief of most diplomats.
  3. It turns out that Equifax spent $500,000 lobbying the government to limit the liability of credit agencies in case any of their data was hacked. It’s like they saw it coming.

Elections:

  1. In light of Kris Kobach’s baseless accusations of voter fraud in New Hampshire the previous week, voter rights activists protest at the second (and fairly contentious) voter fraud commission meeting.
  2. Also at the voter fraud commission meeting, John Lott (researcher and Fox News commentator) proposes that voters be subjected to the same kind of background check as is required to buy a gun.
  3. A FOIA request reveals the contents of an email sent by the Heritage Foundation’s Hans von Spakovsky, who is a member of the voter fraud commission. The email urges the Justice Department to create the voter fraud commission with a membership stacked in favor of tighter voter restrictions, saying no Democrats and no moderate Republicans should serve on the commission. In other words, he only wants extremists who believe in voter fraud conspiracies to serve on the panel. Spakovsky had previously denied writing the email.
  4. While a number of GOP members of Congress have announced they’ll retire at the end of their current term, Steve Bannon says he’s planning primary challenges to several GOP incumbents who are not retiring.
  5. Kid Rock declares his candidacy for the Senate in Michigan.

Miscellaneous:

  1. The Trump Organization removes the part in Trump’s online corporate bio that mentioned his birtherism. Just a reminder, Trump worked to prove that Obama wasn’t born in the U.S. and that his birth certificate was fake. And then later admitted that Obama was born in the U.S.
  2. The Office of Government Ethics reversed an earlier decision and now says it’s OK for lobbyists to give money to the legal defense funds of White House staffers.
  3. The Trump administration put regulations around organic eggs on hold and might rescind them. The regulations require organic egg producers to provide outside space for each hen.
  4. Gun sales are on track to be down 11% from last year, likely because people don’t think gun reform is in our near future.
  5. In an interview, Sean Spicer says his job as press secretary was to say what Trump told him to and that included lying.
  6. The California State Assembly passes a bill requiring presidential candidates to release their tax returns in order to get on the statewide ballot.
  7. While emergency officials in Manatee County, Florida, were giving out evacuation and shelter information for Hurricane Irma, the sign-language translator instead signed about random things like pizza, monsters, cats, and dogs.
  8. Hillary Clinton is back in the news promoting her new book, What Happened, about the 2016 elections. As usual, she ignites a shitstorm of ignorant and sexist criticism.
  9. Pharmaceutical executive and all-around douchebag Martin Shkreli is back in jail after a judge revokes his bail for offering $5,000 to anyone who can get one of Hillary Clinton’s hairs, follicle and all, at one of her book signings.
  10. Trump retweets a GIF of himself hitting a golf ball that hits Hillary Clinton, knocking her over. I guess he doesn’t like her book.

Week 32 in Trump

Posted on September 4, 2017 in Politics, Trump

Photo courtesy of NBC

This is a photo of DACA recipient Jesus Contreras. He’s an EMT in Houston who’s been working tirelessly to rescue and assist victims of the flooding. If DACA is repealed, he could be deported. Another DACA recipient, Alonso Guillen, died while out rescuing others. These are the kinds of people Trump wants to deport. It’s time for us to give these youngsters a break and find a path to citizenship for them. Please write your members of congress and urge them to work out a solution that does not tear families apart.
Anyway, here’s what happened last week in Trump:

Russia:

  1. Michael Cohen, who was helping Trump Organization in the effort to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, asked Putin’s personal spokesperson for assistance. Michael’s emails reveal the following:
    • While Trump was running for president, his company was working on a deal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow and Trump personally spoke with Cohen about it at least three times (despite him claiming over and over again that he had no dealings with Russia).
    • The people handling this for Trump said Putin would help Trump become president. And I quote: “Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it.”
    • Trump signed a letter of intent to develop the tower when he was four months into his campaign.
  1. Trump refuses to call Russia a security threat.
  2. The Kremlin confirms that Trump’s lawyer requested help from them with the stalled Trump Tower project.
  3. Representative Ron DeSantis (R-FL) issues a proposal to reduce funding for the Mueller investigation.
  4. The IRS Office of Special Investigations is helping Mueller in the Russia investigation.
  5. Donald Trump Jr. agrees to testify in closed-door congressional hearings.
  6. Trump’s calls Chuck Grassley to pledge support for the ethanol industry, an issue important to Grassley’s state of Iowa. Coincidentally, Grassley is investigating Trump Jr.’s meeting with Russians last year.
  7. Mueller obtains a draft letter showing Trump’s original reasoning for firing Comey. White House counsel opposed the letter, so it was never sent, but it gives an idea of what was behind Trump’s thinking when he fired Comey.
  8. Mueller coordinates with NY State Attorney Eric Schneiderman to share evidence on Manafort’s potential financial crimes.
  9. In response to Russia kicking out hundreds of U.S. diplomats, the Trump administration closes several Russian consulates around the U.S. Russia calls it an act of aggression.
  10. As a result of a Freedom of Information request, the DOJ confirms that there is no evidence that either the DOJ or the FBI were surveilling Trump Tower during the 2016 elections. This directly contradicts Trump’s wiretapping tweets where he accused Obama of illegally spying on him.
  11. American-Russian lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin testifies before Mueller’s grand jury.

Courts/Justice:

  1. The Trump administration restores the use of military surplus equipment by police departments, leading to concerns of over-militarization of the police.
  2. Jeff Sessions put together the Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety, which he thought would give him ammunition for his war on marijuana. However, the task force says we should just keep current policies.
  3. Texas loses another federal case. This time its latest abortion law was struck down. Texas isn’t having a great track record on its legislation this year. They’ve had voter, redistricting, abortion, and sanctuary city laws struck down or blocked by the courts. Maybe it’s time their legislators review the constitution.

Healthcare:

  1. Governors Kasich and Hinkenlooper announce a bipartisan deal on a way to stabilize Obamacare markets.
  2. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) says they’ll gut funding for ads and education for the ACA by 90% ahead of the open enrollment period.

International:

  1. North Korea launches a missile over Japan, placing Japan on high alert and drawing rebukes from around the globe.
  2. Trump responds by saying all options are on the table, but that talking is not the answer. Mattis contradicts him, saying diplomatic efforts are always an option.
  3. Nikki Haley says something must be done; that sanctions don’t seem to be helping and their current actions are unacceptable.
  4. South Korea responds by flying fighter jets over the border and dropping bombs.
  5. Trump says that the U.S. pays extortion money to North Korea. It’s not clear what money he’s talking about.
  6. Later on in the week, North Korea detonates a nuclear device that they say is a hydrogen bomb that could be attached to a missile that could reach the U.S.
  7. As part of his reorganization efforts, Tillerson says he’ll cut around three dozen special envoys, including the representative for climate change (because of course he would).
  8. China and India pull troops away from their border standoff in the Himalayas.
  9. Two more State Department officials step down—the lead envoy to the UN and the U.S. assistant secretary of state for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs. The State Department is very minimally staffed right now.
  10. In a press conference with Finland’s president, Trump says Finland is buying “large amounts” of F-18s from us. Finland later clarifies, “No, we’re not.”
  11. After Hurricane Harvey hits Texas, there are fewer foreign governments offering assistance than in previous disasters. Trump’s “America First” approach seems to have alienated even our allies.
  12. A federal grand jury indicts 15 of Turkish president Erdogon’s bodyguards and 4 other Turkish nationals involved in the attack on protestors last May.
  13. Mexico and Canada both offer aid to Texas after massive flooding, but neither have been accepted yet.

Legislation/Congress:

  1. In light of the flooding after Hurricane Harvey, Republican Rep. Jeb Hensarling is hoping to get reforms to the National Flood Assistance Program passed as soon as Congress reconvenes.
  2. Bannon throws his and Breitbart’s support behind Roy Moore, who is running against Trump-backed Luther Strange in Alabama.
  3. Both Texas Senators (Ted Cruz and John Cornyn) voted against additional funds for the recovery from Super Storm Sandy. Now that they need to ask for federal assistance themselves, they both back pedal and try to explain away their previous votes. We’ll see how much they end up requesting.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. Trump threatens to end DACA, leaving hundreds of thousands in limbo. Both democrats and republicans in Congress implore him not to end it. Interestingly, while Paul Ryan says Obama overstepped in creating DACA, he does not support ending it. Instead, he thinks we need a legislative answer. Obama asked them for a legislative answer for years and got nothing, which is why he wrote the executive order in the first place. And why we’re where we are now.
  2. Business leaders ask Trump not to end DACA, saying it’ll cost them millions and they’ll lose valued workers.
  3. When asked about his pardon of Joe Arpaio, Trump says “I assumed the ratings would be far higher” because of Hurricane Harvey coverage.
  4. The judge in Joe Arpaio’s case refuses to throw out the conviction (per Trump’s pardon) without oral arguments as to why.
  5. Faith leaders and their congregants from multiple denominations and religions march in Washington D.C. to protest Trump’s lack of moral leadership, especially around the Charlottesville violence.
  6. Other faith leaders and progressives continue their 10-day march from Charlottesville to Washington D.C. in protest of white supremacists.
  7. Under Trumps travel ban, all green card applicants could be required to do an interview starting in October. Currently, interviews are limited to higher risk groups and we don’t have the resources in place to interview everyone.
  8. Mattis says that in spite of Trump’s transgender ban, there will be no changes to current policy for those already serving until he’s put together a panel to analyze it and received their recommendations. But it sounds like, for now, no new openly transgender service members are allowed.
  9. Senate Democrats are working on an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that could reverse Trump’s transgender ban or at least protect those who are already serving.
  10. The city of Houston felt it necessary to put out a statement that they are not checking papers or looking for undocumented immigrants in any of the shelters.
  11. A federal judge blocks Texas anti-sanctuary city bill while the case is being heard.
  12. Several Members of Congress from both parties urge a vote to protect DACA recipients.
  13. Homeland Security selects its first contractors to build prototypes of the wall, even though they haven’t received authorization or funding. These contracts are not public info, so we don’t know who the contractors are. I wish they’d do it somewhere besides California. I don’t want the eyesore in my backyard.
  14. With the estimates of the damage from Hurricane Harvey in the 10s of billions, Trump backs down on his threat to defund the government if he doesn’t get funding for the wall.

Climate/EPA:

  1. Earlier in August, the Trump administration rescinded an Obama-era rule that required all new infrastructure projects to be designed for climate resilience. Under the rule, things like roads and bridges would need to be built taking into consideration things like rising sea levels in flood-prone areas. Obama’s rule had bipartisan and business support, and experts urged Trump to reconsider. But real estate developer lobbied hard to overturn the rule.
  2. After seeing the devastation from Hurricane Harvey, the administration considers implementing a new, similar rule.
  3. The devastation from Hurricane Harvey is immense. Countless people have been rescued, at least 50 are dead, and shelters and churches are overflowing with people.
  4. Hurricane Harvey brings so much rain to Texas that the National Weather Service has to add new colors to its weather map to show it. More than 50 inches in some areas.
  5. There are a series of explosions at the Arkema plant, which stores volatile peroxides. The smoke is noxious and anyone living nearby is told to stay indoors.
  6. The Chemical Safety Board (which Trump wants to eliminate) starts investigating the Arkema plant explosion.
  7. The EPA gets criticism for not starting to evaluate the “Superfund” areas in Houston yet. These are the areas most likely to be contaminated.
  8. Damage to refineries and plants in Texas releases about two million pounds of noxious chemicals into the air.
  9. Interesting side note: Houston has no zoning laws.
  10. Louisiana also gets hit by the remnants of the storm, with more flooding there.

Budget/Economy:

  1. Mexico says they won’t negotiate NAFTA over social media.
  2. Under the Trump administration, the number of federal employees drops by 11,000. In 2013, sequestration forced a reduction of 57,000 jobs, most of which were added back in 2015 and 2016.
  3. All 19 agencies threatened with defunding in Trump’s early drafts of the budget appear to be safe for now. Trump changed his mind on a few, and the Congress is so far protecting the rest. Not all of the spending bills have been passed yet though.
  4. Trump launches his tax reform push in Missouri, though it looks like both the House and Senate are going their own way on the issue.
  5. Only 15% of households in Harris County, Texas, have flood insurance, which means they will have to rely more than ever on FEMA and other government assistance.
  6. Gary Cohn dismisses Democratic concerns about repealing the estate tax by saying “Only morons pay the estate tax.”
  7. Trump rejects an offer from China to cut overcapacity of steel, though his advisors support the deal. Trump would rather just impose steeper tariffs.
  8. The Trump administration ends a rule that required large companies to report employee salaries by race and gender. This was an Obama policy targeting the wage gap.
  9. Nebraska Republican Representative Ben Sasse says Trump has an 18th century view of trade, thinking of it as a zero-sum game instead of the nuanced and complicated strategy it actually is.
  10. Trump wants to halt the trade deal between the U.S. and South Korea.
  11. Trump wants to tie recovery aid for Hurricane Harvey to raising the debt ceiling, but backs off of that later in the week.
  12. House Republicans look to cut $1 billion in FEMA funds to help pay for the border wall, while at the same time Trump asks for billions in relief for the hurricane victims.

Elections:

  1. Illinois passes a law enabling automatic voter registration, becoming the 10th state to do so.
  2. As of this week, there are seven lawsuits pending against Trump’s voter fraud committee.
  3. Kris Kobach, Kansas Secretary of State and head of Trump’s election commission, is now a paid columnist for Breitbart. Steve Bannon, who runs Breitbart, was previously on the board of Cambridge Analytica, potentially giving Kobach tools to target his voter restriction efforts.
  4. Democrat Adam Schiff is pushing to defund the elections commission as part of the spending bill. Democrats are concerned that the commission’s actual goal is to restrict minority voting.

Miscellaneous:

  1. Texas activates the National Guard to help out with the flooding.
  2. Donald and Melania Trump visits Texas.
  3. 21st Century Fox announces it’s dropping FoxNews in the U.K. due to lack of interest.
  4. Betsy DeVos selects a former DeVry official to head the watchdog agency that monitors for-profit schools like DeVry, which was fined $100 million last year for fraud.
  5. The UN Human Rights Chief condemns Trump for attacking the media, saying it could incite violence and delegitimize democratic norms. He specifically denounced Trump calling the media “crooked” and “fake news.”
  6. After smaller than normal crowds at his Phoenix rally, Trump informs the guy who organized it that he will never manage another Trump rally again.
  7. The administration puts a halt to plans to test truck drivers and train engineers for sleep apnea. The condition has been blamed for fatal crashes.
  8. Trump pledges to donate $1 million to the Hurricane Harvey recovery effort.
  9. Rumor has it that Trump’s generals have a deal that at least one of them would be in town at all times to make sure Trump doesn’t do anything destructive, like start a war.
  10. 60% of the public comments received by the FCC are against overturning net neutrality. If you remove spam and form letters, the difference is more stark: 1,520,000 comments for net neutrality and just 23,000 comments against. That’s 98.5% for preserving net neutrality.
  11. Trump tweets that Comey prematurely cleared Hillary Clinton of wrongdoing in the email investigation. This is after two congressional Republicans accuse Comey of drafting a statement clearing Clinton before the final two interviews of the investigation.
  12. The Pentagon says they sent 6,300 active troops to Texas to help with Harvey, but they only sent 1,638. They blame an accounting error.
  13. The AP reports that Trump received $17 million from his insurance policy for hurricane damage at Mar-a-Lago years ago, but the AP couldn’t find evidence of that much damage. Trump acknowledged that he transferred some of those funds into his personal accounts. AFAIK, that’s perfectly legal and the amount he kept for himself is not known.
  14. Controversial Sheriff David Clarke resigns as sheriff. I assumed it was to accept a job in the Trump administration, but I haven’t heard any word on that yet.
  15. Hours after CNN reports on Trump’s pledge to donate $1 million to Hurricane Harvey victims, Eric Trumps tweets: “Let’s see if @CNN or the #MSM acknowledges this incredible generosity. My guess: they won’t…” Moron.
  16. It turns out the Kushner real estate company has been deep in debt for a few years.
  17. Trump makes over three dozen nominations to government positions this week.
  18. Trump nominates Republican Representative James Bridenstine to head up NASA, generating a backlash from both of Florida’s senators. They say the head of NASA should be a space professional and not a politician.
  19. In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, Laura Ingraham criticizes Trump’s lack of staffing for FEMA. He responds (by Twitter) that he’s leaving the FEMA positions empty on purpose as a way of downsizing government.
  20. A voter focus group in Pennsylvania came down hard on Trump, criticizing his performance so far. The group was a pretty even mix of Trump and Hillary voters and one Jill Stein voter.
  21. Republicans in 20 states have proposed anti-protestor legislation. Six states have approved it. A) This violates our first amendment rights, and B) we didn’t see this same kind of action from Democratic states when the Tea Party protests picked up.
  22. Chief of Staff John Kelly filters out The Daily Caller and Breitbart from Trump’s daily information feed.

Stupid Things Politicians Say:

“I hope they are found & hung from a tall tree with a long rope.”

– GOP Missouri state Rep. Warren Love on Wednesday calling for a lynching of an unidentified vandal who threw paint on a Confederate memorial in Springfield National Cemetery.

Week 30 in Trump

Posted on August 21, 2017 in Politics, Trump

A few quotes apropos of this past week’s events:

From Robert E. Lee himself: “I think it wiser not to keep open the sores of war but to follow the examples of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife, to commit to oblivion the feelings engendered.”

From one of my favorite bloggers: “We all have the right to protest, but not all protests are right.”

From the University of Texas at Austin: “We do not choose our history, but we choose what we honor and celebrate on our campus.”

And just my opinion here, but we’ve seen a lot of strong intellectuals, scientists, and business leaders jumping Trump’s ship—and there are calls for Gary Cohn to step down and save his reputation. But we need brains and leadership to help guide this careening ship, so I hope he stays, along with other thoughtful, smart people.

Here’s what happened in week 30…

Russia:

  1. One of the veteran FBI investigators working on the Russia probe, Peter Strzok, moves into a human resources position. We don’t know if it was voluntary or not.
  2. Internal Trump campaign emails show that one of Trump’s campaign advisers, George Papadopoulos, tried several times to set up meetings between the campaign and Russian leaders during the run-up to last year’s election.
  3. Mueller wants to talk to Reince Preibus in the Russia probe.

Courts/Justice:

  1. We learn that Jeff Sessions requested info on 1.3 million visitors to an anti-Trump organizing site. It looks like this is part of the investigation into the antifa violence on inauguration day. The host company is pushing back against the request saying that it’s too broad and captures too much information.
  2. Judge Gorsuch raises ethics questions when he agrees to speak at an event being held at the Trump Hotel, which is under litigation around conflicts of interest.
  3. Sessions once again criticizes Chicago, the right’s poster child for the unproven narrative of failed liberal policies leading to violence. He says their sanctuary policies are what’s driving violent crime there.

Healthcare:

  1. The Trump administration continues its effort to roll back Obama’s anti-arbitration regulations. At question are patients’ rights to sue healthcare companies, including nursing homes, for harm caused. Most healthcare institutions have anti-arbitration clauses that you must sign before receiving services or moving into a nursing home. This gives consumers little to fall back on when they are mistreated, and especially affects eldercare in nursing homes.
  2. The CBO reports that cutting the ACA subsidies would not only increase insurance premiums, but would also increase the cost to the federal government. Trump agrees to continue paying the subsidies. But did he do it in time to mitigate the expected increase in next year’s premiums?
  3. Tom Price ends an experiment to see if bundling payments for certain procedures, like hip surgeries, would lower overall costs. Under the program, healthcare facilities were required to charge the same price across the board for the same procedures. I guess we won’t find out if it would have worked.

International:

  1. North Korea backs down from its threats to bomb Guam, but says the U.S. is still on notice.
  2. American intelligence agencies link North Korea’s success in their missile tests with an old Ukrainian factory with ties to Russia’s cold-war missile program.
  3. Iran threatens to drop out of the nuclear deal if any new sanctions are put in place against them. This would let them get back to work on nuclear weapons, so this is not something we want.
  4. Not political, but definitely newsworthy and not getting enough coverage: At least 200 people die in a massive mudslide in Sierra Leone, and hundreds are missing. At least 3,000 people lose their homes.
  5. There are multiple terrorist attacks in Spain, with a vehicular attack on a main tourist pedestrian street in Barcelona and a bomb that accidentally exploded in the terrorists home. There are 15 dead, including several perpetrators.
  6. Trump reacts more swiftly and harshly against the terrorist attacks in Barcelona than the one in Charlottesville.
  7. After that measured response, Trump also tweets a debunked rumor about General Pershing shooting Muslims with bullets soaked in pig’s blood. Seriously people. This never happened.
  8. Pence cuts his South American trip short to meet with Trump about the war on Afghanistan.
  9. A terrorist wielding a knife kills two and injures eight in Finland. This is a bad week for terrorism.
  10. The U.S. starts a trade investigation into China’s trade violations around intellectual property. This presents risks at time when hostility with North Korea is building up and we could use China’s help. But China has ignored our intellectual property laws for decades, cutting into the profits of U.S. companies.
  11. Trump moves the cyber command unit of the military up so it will be better able to improve its capabilities to fight cyber attacks.
  12. Again? Another U.S. Navy destroyer collides with a ship—this time an oil tanker—off the coast of Singapore. Ten people are missing. This puts us down three destroyers so far. The Navy opens a broad investigation into the accidents.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

Charlottesville Fallout:

  1. Days after the Charlottesville attack, Trump retweets a GIF of a train hitting CNN (a person with a CNN logo). He later deletes the tweet.
  2. The University of Virginia holds a candlelight vigil for Heather Heyer, who was killed in the car attack. They didn’t want to put it on social media because they were afraid neo-nazis would show up.
  3. Two days after his statement blaming ″both sides″ in the Charlottesville violence, Trump reads a written statement denouncing white supremacist groups specifically by name.
  4. And then on Tuesday, he screws up any goodwill he might have gotten by doubling down on his words from Saturday and arguing with reporters for several minutes about how both sides are equally to blame and equally as bad. This was an unplanned Q&A at the end of a press conference on infrastructure, and Trump sounded very angry, defensive, and frustrated.
  5. Trump later says he feels liberated by his off the rails press conference.
  6. News hosts covering the press conference show their stunned reactions in real-time. All of them, from CNN to Fox to local news channels, are shaken by what they just saw.
  7. Even Trump’s staffers say they’re “stunned and disheartened” by Trump’s remarks.
  8. This is a tactic Trump has used before—delay denouncing members of his base for 48 hours or so, and then say something to dampen the media frenzy caused by his lack of calling out the bad apples.
  9. Here are a few of the responses across the country to the violence and Trump’s handling of it:
    • The Illinois Senate passes a resolution to have police classify neo-nazi groups as terrorist organizations.
    • Cities accelerate the pace of removing Confederate statues. Unfortunately, some city councils have voted to have the statues destroyed instead of maintained in a museum or other facility.
    • Foreign leaders denounce Trump’s response to Charlottesville.
    • So many CEOs pull out of Trump’s business councils that he disbands them.
    • The CEO of Walmart criticizes Trump’s response in a memo to his employees.
    • GoDaddy, Google, and Squarespace kick white supremacist sites off their servers.
    • Republicans are forced to step up and take a stand against racist hate groups.
    • So far, at least 16 charities have pulled their events from Mar-a-Lago.
    • One pastor resigns from Trump’s Evangelical Advisory Board, saying they have conflicting values after Charlottesville.
    • All 16 commissioners on the Committee on the Arts and the Humanities resign in a scathing letter (where they also spell out ″RESIST″ in the first letter of each paragraph).
    • James Murdoch, son of Rupert and CEO of 21st Century Fox, writes a letter condemning white hate groups and pledging to donate $1 million to the Anti-Defamation League.
    • A group of Liberty University alumni return their diplomas in protest of university president Jerry Fallwell’s defense of Trump’s comments on Charlottesville.
    • House Democrats introduce a measure to censure Trump over his comments on Charlottesville.
  10. Trump says that the counter protests were illegal because they didn’t have permits. They did have permits.
  11. The White House issues a memo urging GOP members to back Trump’s original remarks on Charlottesville.
  12. Obama’s response to the Charlottesville tragedy becomes the most liked and (so far) 4th most retweeted tweet in history.
  13. Both former presidents Bush 1 and 2 denounce racism and bigotry. Paul Ryan calls white supremacy “repulsive.” Mitch McConnell says those ideologies are not welcome here. Mitt Romney pens an eloquent and scathing letter denouncing both racist hate groups and Trump’s response.
  14. The four branches of military, the Navy, Marines, Army, Air Force, and National Guard, felt the need to denounce racism after Trump’s remarks.

Everything Else:

  1. Two weeks later, we’re still waiting for Trump to denounce the bombing of a mosque in Minnesota.
  2. John Dowd, Trump’s lead lawyer on the Russia investigation, sends a bizarre email to conservative journalists saying that there’s basically no difference between George Washington and General Robert E. Lee. If I have to explain the difference to you, you need to go back to school.
  3. Dowd’s email also says that Black Lives Matter has been totally infiltrated by terrorist groups.
  4. Someone vandalizes the Lincoln Memorial, spraying painting “Fuck law” in red paint.
  5. Alt-right leaders start dealing with the fact that police and authorities in Virginia didn’t back them up last weekend. They’re having to come to terms with the realities of being members of an unpopular minority group.
  6. White supremacists have a bizarre affection for Russia:
    • From Richard Spencer: “Russia is the sole white power in the world.”
    • From David Duke: “Russia is key to white survival.”
  7. Trump’s Thursday tweet storm shows a lack of understanding about American culture and the meaning behind Confederate monuments. In this tweet storm, he:
    • Attacks two sitting GOP senators.
    • Goes after the fake news media (again).
    • Says he’s sad that we’re removing our beautiful statues. Side note: Most of these statues were erected during the Jim Crow and civil rights eras as a reminder of white supremacy.
    • Wonders if we’ll pull down all the Jefferson monuments.
    • Says we’re ripping apart our culture.
  8. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there are around 900 hate groups in the U.S. Their list is controversial because they include anti-LGBTQ Christian groups, but sorry folks, hate is hate is hate. Here’s their reasoning, if you’re interested.
  9. The ACLU says they will no longer defend the right to free speech if the group in question is armed with guns. The ACLU originally defended the alt-right’s right to march in Charlottesville. Some feel that hate speech or intent to promote violence should play into whether they defend someone, but up until now, they have defended the 1st amendment without question.
  10. The Charlottesville incident raises new concerns about pending legislation in six states to protect drivers who hit protesters with your car.
  11. People organize marches across the country in support of Charlottesville.
  12. There are also rallies across the country calling for the removal of Confederate monuments, plus a few to keep the statues up.
  13. Several ″free speech″ March on Google rallies are scheduled across the country, with counter protests also planned. Organizers cancel the March on Google rallies, citing fears of violence; but the counter protests go on. Actually it looks like the March on Google rallies didn’t spark much interest.
  14. A free speech rally in Boston draws tens of thousands of counter protesters amid suspicion that it was actually a white supremacist rally. Police arrest 27 people, mostly for disorderly conduct, but nobody is injured.
  15. While organizers claim the free speech rally isn’t a white supremacist rally, several speakers either pull out or are uninvited after the events in Charlottesville. At least two of them are known white supremacists.
  16. During the Boston marches, Trump tweets “Looks like many anti-police agitators in Boston. Police are looking tough and smart! Thank you.” It was easier for him to call out peaceful protesters who didn’t kill or injure anyone than to call out the white hate groups that did.
  17. In contrast, Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh said, “I think it’s clear today that Boston stood for peace and love, not bigotry and hate.”
  18. And then later, someone must’ve taken over Trump’s account because he tweeted “I want to applaud the many protestors in Boston who are speaking out against bigotry and hate. Our country will soon come together as one!”
  19. Fox News tweets that thousands turn out for the free speech rally in Boston. In reality, tens of thousands turn out to protest the rally due to the white supremacist speakers scheduled. The number of rally attendees was fewer than 100.
  20. Of note, the protesters aren’t protesting free speech, but rather the white supremacists who organized the free speech rallies. The rallies were organized under the guise of protecting the free speech of the Google employee who was fired after his screed on gender in tech. Since he’s not being prosecuted, this is not a free speech issue.
  21. The University of Texas at Austin begins removal of Confederate statues in the middle of the night.
  22. As of August, Trump has a mixed record on immigration and border control. We have fewer Border Patrol officers than when he started, and if the current pace keeps up, 10,000 fewer undocumented immigrants will be deported this year. Illegal border crossings are down though. Side note: We just got back from Mexico, and the border area is really beautiful and rugged. The fence is already a blight and I think building a massive wall would just be a shame.
  23. A nazi rally in Berlin brings 500 nazis and 1,000 protestors.
  24. Some NYPD officers hold a rally in support of Colin Kaepernick. Frank Serpico attends. Yes, that Frank Serpico.
  25. In a May report,“White Supremacist Extremism Poses Persistent Threat of Lethal Violence,” the FBI and DHS warned Trump about white hate groups. The report says these groups “likely will continue to pose a threat of lethal violence over the next year,” and that they carried out more attacks than any other domestic extremist group in the past 16 years.
  26. Trans-surgical care is put on hold in the military, pending further guidance.
  27. The DHS ends a program where Central American children can apply for parole status, but it continues the program for applying for refugee status. The parole component was started as a way to reduce the flow of children illegally crossing the border.

Climate/EPA:

  1. Ryan Zinke announces that, for now, the Sand to Snow National Monument east of Los Angeles is safe for now. This is one of the monuments Obama designated. No word on the other monuments under review.
  2. Trump disbands the federal advisory panel for the National Climate Assessment. This group helps government and private-sector officials plan around the government’s climate analysis.
  3. A surge of GOP Members of Congress publicly jump the climate-denial ship. The House Climate Solutions Caucus has more than tripled its membership since January. And last month, 46 GOP members voted with Democrats to stop an amendment that would have removed the requirement that the Department of Defense prepare for the effects of climate change.
  4. Meanwhile, the EPA is revising an Obama-era regulation that limits the dumping of toxic metals from coal-fired power plants, along with a regulation that sets emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks.

Budget/Economy:

  1. Trump signs an executive order expediting the environmental review process for high-profile infrastructure projects, like highways, bridges, and, probably most importantly, his amazing wall.
  2. NAFTA talks get underway between Canadian, U.S., and Mexican trade officials.
  3. Senator James Lankford (R-Okla.) says that having a trade deficit is a good thing because it means that foreigners are investing in our economy. For example, when a foreign agent invests in a U.S. company or buys U.S. Treasury bonds, that increases our trade deficit.
  4. While groups from all sides have come forward opposing the merger between the Sinclair Broadcasting Group and Tribune Media, none have come forward to defend the merger. Conservative media oppose it because of the competition and everybody else opposes it because of Sinclair’s mandatory conservative op-eds.
  5. There’s a lot of talk about housing some of the Confederate statues in museums, but Trump’s budget eliminates funding to museums.
  6. In just 7 months, the Secret Service has gone through their entire year’s budget for protecting Trump and his family.
  7. Trump drops his plan to form an infrastructure advisory committee in light of the disbanding of his other two business advisory boards. IMO, this is not a good development—he needs all the help and support he can get here.
  8. Pence makes a few small trade deals in South America that opens up markets for U.S. agriculture, and South Korea lifts its ban on U.S. poultry and egg products.

Elections:

  1. A federal court rules that the district lines in Texas (drawn by the GOP) discriminate against ethnic minorities and must be redrawn before the midterm elections. If the Texas legislature won’t fix them, the court will.

Miscellaneous:

  1. Carl Icahn resigns from his advisory role to the White House ahead of an article discussing his potential conflicts of interest and possible illegalities.
  2. Trump closes his off-the-cuff press conference by bragging that he owns one of the largest wineries in the US, right there in Charlottesville.
  3. Steve Bannon calls a liberal journalist whom he respects to talk about trade policies, but ends up giving an accidental on-the-record interview. He undercuts Trump, mocks the alt-right as irrelevant clowns, and talks about the in-fighting in the White House.
  4. And just like that, Bannon is out. He says his purpose there is done; he’s achieved what he wanted to achieve.
  5. Bannon will go back to Breitbart, where he’ll have an even wider audience for his own brand of propaganda. Yay. Here’s what sources close the Bannon say about that:
    • Bannon will be “going to war” for Trump, vowing to intensify the fight from the outside.
    • “Steve is now unchained. Fully unchained.”
    • “He’s going nuclear. You have no idea. This is gonna be really fucking bad.”
    • According to a GOP Member of Congress: “Now the real circus begins. … This is the tea party coming full circle.”
    • From Bannon himself: “The Trump presidency that we fought for, and won, is over.”
  6. Bannon says he’s going after his enemies, so if you’re a Breitbart reader, be on the lookout for hit jobs against the following: Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, and Gary Cohn.
  7. Trump thinks Bannon was behind the leaks targeting McMaster, specifically that he has a drinking problem and that he’s anti-Israel.
  8. GOP leaders worry that they don’t have anyone on their side in the White House anymore.
  9. Donald and Melania Trump announce that they will not participate in the Kennedy Center Honors this year so as not to cause political distractions.
  10. Trump hosts a dinner at his Bedminster country club with some of his most generous donors.
  11. Trump ignores Phoenix mayor’s request to cancel his rally in the city.
  12. Hope Hicks takes over as Trump’s interim Director of Communication.
  13. Prescient. During a campaign speech last year for Hillary Clinton, Obama said that no one changes the president, but instead the office “magnifies” who you are already. So if you “accept the support of Klan sympathizers before you’re President, or you’re kind of slow in disowning it, saying, ‘Well, I don’t know,’ then that’s how you’ll be as President.” Of note, Hillary also warned us.
  14. And on a positive note, with Newt Gingrich’s wife taking on the ambassadorship to the Vatican, Newt will soon be leaving the country.

Polls:

  1. Trump’s approval rating continues its slow decline, sitting at 34% in the latest Gallup poll. 61% disapprove, a new high for the Gallup poll.
  2. The percent of Americans who think Trump should be impeached has increased from 30% to 40% over the course of his presidency.
  3. Most countries worldwide trust Putin more than Trump to handle global affairs. Of the countries who trust Trump more, most trust him just barely more than Putin.
  4. Trump’s approval rating is at 34% to 36% in the three states that won him the election: Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. 60% in those states say Trump has embarrassed them.

Week 28 in Trump

Posted on August 7, 2017 in Politics, Trump

Well we’re at 200 days, and here’s what Trump says he’s accomplished so far: Supreme Court Justice confirmation, surging economy and jobs, border and military security, ISIS, and cracking down on the MS-13 gang. I can give him Gorsuch and increased border security, but the rest? The economy is a continuation of Obama’s last budget (though the current stock market bubble I would give to Trump), he’s continuing Obama’s program against ISIS, and every administration cracks down on the MS-13 gang. I suppose he could also point to his rollbacks of air, water, and environmental protections as well as worker protections and civil rights protections.

At any rate, Trump is still pushing for healthcare reform, but most members of congress think they’ll have to choose between that and tax reform. They also need to raise the debt ceiling by the end of September.

Meanwhile, here’s what happened this week.

Russia:

  1. Trump signs the Russia/Iran/North Korea sanctions bill into law, though he calls it flawed and possibly unconstitutional.
  2. Trump says U.S.-Russia relations are at an all-time low and that it’s Congress’s fault. John McCain’s response: “Our relationship w/ Russia is at dangerous low. You can thank Putin for attacking our democracy, invading neighbors & threatening our allies.”
  3. We learn that Trump dictated Donald Jr.’s misleading statement about his meeting with Russians last year (or at the very least, he participated in forming it). This could put Trump Sr. and those who helped him in legal trouble.
  4. Representative Tim Franks (R-AZ) tries to cast doubts on Mueller’s integrity due to his relationship with Comey, and calls on him to resign.
  5. A new lawsuit accuses Fox and Ed Bukowski (a Trump donor) of creating a fake news story to move the attention away from Trump and the Russia investigation to the DNC and Clinton. Here are the moving pieces:
    • According to the suit Fox misquoted the plaintiff (Rod Wheeler) in a story about Seth Rich’s murder, in which Fox alleged that Seth had hacked the DNC for Russia and that’s why he was murdered.
    • The Rich family asked Fox to stop and Fox later did recant the story, but Sean Hannity kept it alive.
    • The lawsuit alleges that the White House knew about and supported the story, which Sean Spicer has denied.
    • A text between Bukowski and Wheeler indicates that Trump knew about the story.
    • Despite the retractions, the Fox story led to conspiracy theories, including that Hillary Clinton had Seth killed in retribution for hacking the DNC emails (adding just another dead body to her string of dozens—seriously there is no better serial killer mastermind than Hillary).
  6. Kushner told interns on the Hill that Trump’s campaign wasn’t organized enough to collude with Russia saying, “they thought we colluded, but we couldn’t even collude with our local offices.”
  7. Democrats move to revoke Kushner’s security clearance, though it’s doubtful it will go anywhere.
  8. Robert Mueller now has 16 lawyers working on the special investigation.The latest lawyer to join used to work on fraud and foreign bribery for the DoJ.
  9. The Russia investigation expands to include financial crimes.
  10. Mueller launches a grand jury. A grand jury gives the investigation more power to obtain documents, question witnesses under oath, and obtain indictments.
  11. The grand jury issues subpoenas for witnesses, as well as phone and other records, regarding the meeting Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner took with a number of Russians in June of last year. Congressional committees ask for phone records as well.
  12. GOP staffers fly to England to try to get Christopher Steele, author of the infamous Steele dossier, to testify for the House Intelligence Committee.
  13. The House Judiciary Committee prioritizes investigating Hillary Clinton over Russia meddling in the elections, possible collusion, and the firing of Comey. The chairman, Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), asks the DoJ to appoint a special investigator to investigate “troubling” and “unanswered” questions about Clinton and other Obama appointees.
  14. The Senate Judiciary Committee, on the other hand, is very focused on the Russia investigation.
  15. The RNC tells staff to preserve all documents related to the 2016 elections.
  16. Acting FBI director Andy McCabe tells top FBI officials that they could be called as witnesses in the Russia investigation.
  17. The Senate Judiciary Committee proposes a bill to protect the special investigator.
  18. Sources say Kelly was so upset about Comey’s firing that he thought about resigning, but Comey told him not to.
  19. Along with monitoring cyber threats on election day last year, FBI analysts also monitored social media for fake news. They had already identified several social media user accounts behind the stories, many from abroad.
  20. Russia’s been circling the Baltic States, but this week NATO says ‘knock it off.’

Courts/Justice:

  1. A judge found former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio guilty of criminal contempt. Arpaio defied a court order by detaining people he suspected of being undocumented.
  2. In a private meeting, Jeff Sessions takes the brunt of police department anger over Trump’s statements the previous week about roughing up suspects
  3. Trump’s picks for lower-court lifelong judgeship terms are young and conservative (not surprisingly). He’s filling lower court positions faster than his predecessors, with 5 judge seats filled.
  4. While encouraging police departments to crack down on crime, Sessions also says that police misconduct won’t be tolerated.
  5. General Kelly tells Jeff Sessions his job is safe. He has to tell him because, of course, Trump and Sessions aren’t talking.
  6. A federal judge strikes down parts of Alabama’s new state abortion law based on constitutionality. Alabama law requires minors to have parental permission for an abortion, but they can get a legal waiver. Under the parts of the law that got struck down, minors would have faced a legal proceeding involving her parents, the DA, and someone to represent the fetus.
  7. Jeff Sessions says that the DoJ has opened as many leaker investigations in the last 6 months as were opened in the previous 3 years. He says they’re cracking down on both leakers and journalists, but later backs off the journalist part after receiving criticism even from leaders in his own party.
  8. A Republican donor sues the Republican party for fraud for failing to repeal the ACA, saying that the plan to repeal the ACA was used for fundraising even though candidates knew they wouldn’t get it done.

Healthcare:

  1. Trump continues to threaten withholding payments to insurance companies. Insurance companies complain about the uncertainty coming from the White House and estimate an average of 21% in insurance premium hikes if they don’t get clarification soon.
  2. Trump’s threats keep healthcare alive in Congress when members of Congress would rather get busy on tax reform, which is already on a very tight deadline.
  3. Along with the bipartisan committee in the House working on fixes to the ACA, a bipartisan Senate group also begins hearings to shore it up.
  4. The bipartisan House committee releases their plan, which includes:
    • Shoring up the subsidies and creating a stabilization fund.
    • Getting rid of the tax on medical devices.
    • Giving states more control, but not as much as other House or Senate bills.
    • Easing the employer mandate so it applies to companies with more than 500 workers instead of 50.

International:

  1. Apparently I missed last week that Iran tested a space missile, which ramped up tensions between Iran and the U.S. again. The purpose of the missile is to launch satellites into orbit though.
  2. The current draft of the new State Department statement of purpose eliminates the promotion of justice and democracy, indicating that those are no longer our global priorities.
  3. Tillerson refuses to fund the Global Engagement Center, which among other things fights Russian and terrorist propaganda.
  4. The U.S. military thinks there’s evidence that North Korea has tested how to launch missiles from a submarine.
  5. Someone leaks the White House records of Trump’s early conversations with world leaders—specifically Australian Prime Minister Turnbull and Mexican President Pena Nieto. This is IMO one of the most egregious leaks from this White House, as these are typically classified. It did provide these tidbits though:
    • Trump told Pena Nieto that the wall isn’t important, but that Pena Nieto needed to stop saying that Mexico won’t pay for it for appearances sake.
    • Trump got extremely rude with Turnbull over accepting refugees under a previous agreement. He said: “I have had it. I have been making these calls all day and this is the most unpleasant call all day. Putin was a pleasant call. This is ridiculous.”
  6. Trump is frustrated with the situation Afghanistan because we aren’t winning. He wants to replace the commander of U.S. forces there. He complains that NATO isn’t doing enough and suggests we should get a piece of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth.
  7. The UN passes a resolution that will cut North Korea’s foreign income by about a billion (with both China and Russia endorsing). Big win for Nikki Haley.
  8. Trump signs sanctions against Venezuela.

Legislation/Congress:

  1. Prior to August recess, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) confirmed nine “pro-forma” sessions with full senate agreement. This blocks Trump from making any recess appointments. They most likely did this so he wouldn’t fire and replace Jeff Sessions. I wouldn’t mess with Lisa…

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. The DoJ goes after affirmative action, launching investigations into whether colleges and universities discriminate against white people. The Supreme Court has recently upheld affirmative action.
  2. At a recent conference, John Kelly said he thinks he talked Trump out of the border wall. ICYDK, the only reason we have the idea of a border wall is that Trump’s campaign managers couldn’t get him to focus on immigration. So they gave him the slogan ″build that wall″ to focus his attention.
    UPDATE: I’m downgrading that second part to “rumor has it” until I can vet it. I can’t locate my source for that.     UPDATE 2: This is confirmed in Forbes.
  3. Trump endorses the RAISE Act from senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue, saying it will reduce poverty, raise wages, and save taxpayers billions and billions. He says our current system favors low-wage immigrants and puts pressure on our resources. This act proposes a points-based system favoring those who speak English, can support themselves, and have a high skill set. Points would be based on age, education, English ability, job offer, Nobel prize, Olympics, investors, and spouses.
  4. Trump says the RAISE Act would prevent new immigrants from receiving welfare, which is actually already the law.
  5. The RAISE Act would cut immigration roughly in half, though economists say that in order to meet Trump’s predicted economic growth, we need to double our current number of immigrants.
  6. During a press briefing on the above, Steven Miller becomes extremely rude and condescending when Jim Acosta from CNN presses him on whether they are socially engineering ethnic flow into the U.S.
    • Miller said that because we allow in more immigrants now than we ever before, the RAISE act isn’t biased. He didn’t take into account that the immigration rate per capita in the U.S. is already lower than in most developed countries.
    • He said you do have to speak English already to become a citizen, but didn’t take into account that there are exceptions.
    • He butchers the meaning of the New Colossus (the poem on the base of the Statue of Liberty).
    • He tells Acosta that his question ”is one of the most outrageous, insulting, ignorant and foolish things you’ve ever said.” Miller then calls Acosta “cosmopolitan” and chides him like a child.
  7. Trump says that Mexican President Pena Nieto called him to compliment him on what a great job he’s doing with immigration. Nieto says nyet. Didn’t happen. Sarah Huckabee Sanders also admits it didn’t happen.
  8. In a first, the NAACP issues a travel advisory for a U.S. state—Missouri.
  9. The DoJ sends letters to four cities saying they won’t receive money to fight drug and gang crime unless they give ICE officials access to jails. These cities are having major issues with gun violence, which that money would go toward fighting.
  10. Non-scientist Sam Clovis, Trump’s pick for USDA chief scientist, wrote in his old blog that black leaders are race traders, that progressives enslave minorities, and that Obama is a Maoist with communist roots.
  11. Trump considers Rick Perry to replace John Kelly at Homeland Security. Perry’s views on immigration are much softer than Trump’s.

(more…)

Week 25 in Trump

Posted on July 17, 2017 in Legislation, Politics

(Credit: AP/Kirsty Wigglesworth/Getty/Don Emmert/Peter Muhly)

With Congress spinning their wheels and not able to actually push much through other than undoing some Obama rules, something John Boehner said several weeks ago rings true for several of their bigger goals. He said he doesn’t think tax reform is going to happen this year:

“I was a little more optimistic about it early in the year; now my odds are 60/40. The border adjustment tax is deader than a doornail. Tax reform is just a bunch of happy talk.”

And so once again Russia dominates the week. Here’s what happened…

Russia:

  1. Last week we heard about Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with a Russian lawyer and the changing stories he gave around it. This week, he releases the entire email thread setting up the meeting. He says he’s just being transparent, but it turns out the New York Times was about to release them and were waiting his response. He scooped them.
  2. The emails show he was looking for compromising information on Clinton and that he was OK working with the Russian effort to discredit her.
  3. We learn the meetings were set up by British publicist Rod Goldstone, who offered to connect Don Jr. with sensitive documents from the Russia government that would be damaging to Clinton as “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.” To which Don Jr. said “I love it.”
  4. Before we get ahead of ourselves, the meeting may have broken federal law, but doesn’t amount to treason. It might be conspiracy, but definitely not treason.
  5. The meeting implicates Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner, who didn’t reveal this meeting in his security clearance forms. Since May, Kushner has added over 100 names of foreign officials he had contact with last year. In his defense though, it appears Kushner’s lawyers found the email thread and turned the emails over.
  6. The Russian lawyer they met with says the meeting was always about sanctions, though the emails say otherwise.
  7. We still don’t have a complete list of all who attended the meeting, though the list of Russians keeps growing. We now know a Russian lobbyist and an interpreter were there as well, and possibly two more people.
  8. Trump Sr. says the Secret Service vetted the meeting. The Secret Service says that didn’t happen.
  9. Trump Sr. denies knowledge of this meeting, but after the meeting ended, he tweeted out a dig about Hillary’s emails. Two days before the meeting, he said he’d give a speech the following week that would tell all about the Clintons. That speech didn’t happen.
  10. It turns out that the White House crafted Trump Jr.’s initial statement about the meeting, which turned out to be untrue.
  11. A democratic representative files the first formal articles of impeachment against Trump over obstruction of justice in the firing of Comey.
  12. According to the Wall Street Journal, our intelligence agencies saw evidence of Russians attempting collusion with the Trump campaign in 2015, even before he officially declared his candidacy.
  13. Kushner’s digital campaign program is under investigation to find out if they assisted the Russians in targeting specific voter markets during the election meddling. Intelligence officials are pretty sure they had U.S. help.
  14. Trump backs off on the idea of a joint U.S. and Russia cybersecurity force saying that it can’t happen.
  15. Democratic lawyers from the Obama camp sue Trump over invasion of privacy. They allege that the campaign was involved in what has been seen as a Russian operation, but which now seems to include campaign members. This operation resulted in the dumps of tens of thousands of emails that included private information.
  16. After passing nearly unanimously in the Senate, the Russian sanctions bill stalls in the House while the White House continues pressure to soften the bill.
  17. Mike Pence’s spokesperson refuses three times to answer whether Pence has had any undisclosed meetings with Russians.
  18. According to a coroners report, Peter Smith asphyxiated himself. Smith died 10 days after an interview with the Wall Street Journal where he described his plan to work with Trump’s campaign to get dirt on Clinton. It’s not known whether Trump’s campaign was aware of Smith’s effort.
  19. People start comparing the DNC getting opposition information from Ukraine sources with Trump Jr.’s effort get oppo on Clinton. Right now it looks like comparing a traffic ticket with totaling your car, but more info will come out on both.
  20. Some of the memos Comey wrote summarizing his conversations with Trump contain classified information, but not the one that he leaked to the press. Comey said they were his personal memos, but the FBI now says they are FBI property and Trump accuses Comey of breaking the law. So now we’re looking at an investigation into Comey’s handling of the memos. Full. Circle.

Courts/Justice:

  1. Jeff Sessions takes credit for last week’s Medicare and Medicaid fraud bust saying it’s part of the administration’s effort to get tough on drugs. It turns out Medicare fraud is a huge thing, and all presidents since Clinton have funded task forces to crack down on it. They’ve recovered tens of billions of dollars since the 1990s.
  2. Twitter users blocked by Trump sue, saying that since Sean Spicer said Trump’s tweets are official statements, Twitter users can’t be barred from viewing them.

Healthcare:

  1. The Senate Republicans’ revised health bill increases insurance subsidies and keeps some of the ACA taxes.
  2. This new version allows insurance companies who do sell ACA-compliant policies to sell policies that don’t include all the mandated coverages as well.
  3. It also opens the door to insurance companies being able to deny people with pre-existing conditions access to certain healthcare plans.
  4. The latest version of the bill doesn’t change the cuts to Medicaid and keeps it as a block grant with per capita spending caps. It also includes $1 billion in Medicaid funding that only Alaska qualifies for, largely seen as a bribe for Lisa Murkowski’s support.
  5. With teen pregnancy at its lowest rate in recent history, the Trump administration cut $213.6 million in research and programs aimed at preventing teen pregnancy (this includes funding for Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and Johns Hopkins University, along with almost 80 others).
  6. Governors from both parties come out strongly against the new healthcare bill at their annual summer meeting. They don’t issue a joint statement, though, because they all have different reasons.
  7. Mitch McConnell delays the healthcare vote until John McCain comes back from what was deemed minor surgery. He’s expected to recover in a week, but health experts think it could be more like two weeks. This gives the bill an even slimmer chance of passing.
  8. Lindsay Graham also comes up with a healthcare plan, which basically gives more power to the states.
  9. From Politico’s talks with legislators: “Republicans REALLY want to wrap up the health care discussion. Sure, they want to repeal Obamacare. But the conversation they’re having now is how many people are going to get booted off their insurance. That’s not good politics.” Also it’s kind of heartless.
  10. Burglars break into Senator Dean Heller’s office in Las Vegas. Probably not related, but Heller was among the first Senators to say he wouldn’t approve the healthcare bill.

International:

  1. Trump celebrates Bastille Day in Paris with President Macron.
  2. Rex Tillerson heads to Qatar and then other Mideast countries to try to patch things up. Qatar agrees to stop funding terrorists.
  3. It turns out that the UAE was behind the cyberattacks that planted fake news stories and social media posts about Qatar’s empire, leading to the four-nation boycott and a new quagmire in the Mideast. It was originally thought that Russia was behind it. Now U.S. intelligence thinks it was part of a larger plan by the UAE to destabilize the area.
  4. If Tillerson can fix this, it will be his first major diplomatic accomplishment. If it backfires, it will strengthen Qatar’s relationship with Iran.
  5. Trump appears to support Saudi Arabia over Qatar in this standoff, but Saudi is known for funding terrorists as well.
  6. While Trump takes credit for sparking the Qatar standoff, some allege that this is more on Kushner. Kushner tried and failed to get a $500 million loan from a Qatari businessman, and then allegedly pushed Trump to take a hard stance on Qatar.
  7. Trump delays his state visit to the UK until next year.
  8. Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner look at proposals to use private mercenary firms to fight in Afghanistan.
  9. Iran has been stepping in to fill the void left when U.S. troops departed from Iraq. They’ve been giving aid, working with the government, and shipping food and supplies.
  10. Civilian casualties from U.S. airstrikes in the Mideast are on pace to more than double under Trump.

Legislation/Congress:

  1. The White House wants Congress to take care of these items before the August recess:
    • Repeal the ACA
    • Raise the debt ceiling
    • Agree on a general outline of tax reform
    • Clear remaining nominations

    Note: It’s almost August already.

  2. Mitch McConnell delays the August recess in order to take care of some of the above items. He blames the delay on lack of cooperation from Democrats, but with the Republican majorities in both houses, he doesn’t need Democrats’ cooperation.
  3. The bill to overhaul and privatize air traffic control stalls in the House.
  4. As a part of the effort by Everytown for Gun Safety, six states (Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota, Tennessee and Utah) pass gun restrictions for domestic abusers, bringing the total number of states with such laws to 23.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. After a huge public outcry, Trump intervenes to grant visas to the all-female Afghanistan robotics team so they can come here and compete. Very cool.
  2. Trump plans to delay or eliminate a rule to let foreign entrepreneurs come here to start companies. Business leaders and organizations are quick to criticize the move.
  3. Jeff Sessions speaks to the Alliance Defending Freedom, a group accused of being an anti-LGBTQ hate group.
  4. In a move to restore some of the protections for workers that one of Trump’s executive orders rescinded, the House unanimously passes a nondiscrimination bill.
  5. A federal judge in Hawaii rules that the administration’s definition of bona fide relationships in regard to the travel ban is too narrow. He ruled that the definition includes broader family ties, like grandparents, grandchildren, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins of people in the U.S.
  6. Trump shortens his requirement for the border wall from 2,000 miles to just 900, and says he wants it to be somewhat transparent so we can see people on other side throwing over bags of drugs. We don’t want Americans getting hit on the head by bags of drugs.
  7. The number of bullying incidents where the bully uses Trump’s words and slogans continues to rise in schools. The incidents are primarily based on religious or racial prejudice.
  8. Trump and some of his aides are working with two conservative senators (Tom Cotton and David Perdue) to draft legislation drastically curbing legal immigration. The legislation would cut legal immigration in half. Why is this important? Because economists say that the only way Trump can achieve his predicted economic growth is if the immigrant population doubles.

Climate/EPA:

  1. A chunk of ice nearly the size of Delaware breaks off from Antarctica’s Larsen C ice shelf. The iceberg’s water volume is about twice Lake Erie’s. I mention it because some attribute this to global warming, but scientists are still looking at whether it’s related.

Budget/Economy:

  1. The White House objects to parts of both the House and Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2018. Specifically they object to a prohibition on the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) process (base closures). They also object to greater private audits of the Pentagon.
  2. In Senate testimony, Janet Yellen says, “I believe we have done a great deal since the financial crisis to strengthen the financial system and to make it more resilient.” She also indicates that some of the recent rollbacks passed by the House could lead to another crisis. She’s willing to consider changes to the regulations though.

Elections:

  1. The DoJ sends a letter to all states requesting information about voter rolls and related processes. States take this to indicate that the DoJ is looking to purge voter rolls and roll back some portions of the National Voter Registration Act, which sought to streamline the process of registering and make it easier for eligible voters.
  2. After running up against a slew of legal challenges, Trump’s voter fraud commission tells states not to send them any of the information they requested for now.
  3. The White House publishes all the comments they’ve received so far on the voter fraud commission’s request for information on a government website. The comments weren’t vetted and the now-public information includes commenters’ names, emails, addresses, and more. Some are pretty profane and some include links to porn.

Miscellaneous:

  1. The spin about Trump’s slow nomination process is giving me whiplash. Democrats have requested cloture on many more Trump nominees than were requested for Obama’s. But Trump is also way behind in nominating candidates, and often sends them over without the correct paperwork.
  2. Trump has an off-the-record talk with reporters on air force one, but then wonders why it wasn’t covered, so it becomes on the record.
  3. Paul Ryan puts the kibosh on holding any more townhalls, saying they’re just becoming screamfests.
  4. The FCC gives phone companies leeway to jack phone rates for prisoners, which were capped under Obama. Prisoners now have to pay more to phone home.
  5. Christopher Wray took questions in the Senate around his confirmation as FBI director to replace Comey.
  6. Trump’s personal attorney responded to an email from a critic with a series of profanity-laced emails.
  7. Both Mike Pence and Justin Trudeau join the governors meeting in Providence, RI. Trudeau is the first foreign head of state to attend, likely because renegotiations for NAFTA are about to begin.
  8. Highlighting the tepid relationship between AZ Senator Jeff Flake’s and the White House, the White House meets with three possible challengers to his seat in next year’s election. Trump isn’t afraid to bring in the big guns against lawmakers who disagree with him.
  9. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, our most powerful lobbying group, is not only losing power, but some of its largest members consider pulling out. Members disagree on a number of issues facing us right now.

Polls:

  1. Since 2015, Republicans who have a positive view of education has dropped from 54% to 36%. 58% of Republican say colleges and universities have a negative effect on the U.S.
  2. 54% of Americans think Trump did something wrong or illegal in regard to Russia. 58% think one of his campaign members did. 67% think Russia’s 2016 hacking poses a future threat.
  3. 82% of Americans say large businesses, lobbyists, the wealthy, and Wall Street have too much power in D.C. 75% say people like themselves don’t have enough power, and another 3% say people like themselves DO have too much power. Who are these altruistic 3%?
  4. An Iowa poll puts Trumps disapproval rating at 59%.

 

Week 24 in Trump

Posted on July 10, 2017 in Politics, Trump

With all eyes on the G20 this week, French Ambassador Gérard Araud says Trump isn’t the leader of the free world and that no one is now.

“This world order, the traditional liberal world order, is more or less undermined, really, or looks injured. Where [is] the United States?… I think it’s impossible to move on without America, and I think also that the United States really can’t let the world move on.”

Araud also points out that President Obama delegated the Ukraine response to Angela Merkel and took a hands-off approach to Syria. ”America First, in a sense, was raised in a discrete way, also under President Obama.”
Here’s what else happened this week…

Russia:

  1. Large U.S. oil companies lobby against the bills passed by the Senate to toughen sanctions against Russia and to make it harder for the president to rescind them.
  2. Investigators look into whether Russia colluded with far-right, pro-Trump sites to spread fake stories smearing Hillary Clinton. There were at least 1,000 paid internet trolls in Russia putting out the information.
  3. Trump meets with Putin at the G20. Before the meeting, Putin criticizes Trump’s trade policies and sanctions in an op-ed, and reaffirms Russia’s commitment to the Paris accord.
  4. Tillerson says that Putin denied meddling in our elections when Trump pushed him on it. Like he would admit it?
  5. Key points from the meeting:
    • Trump is ready to move on from the election hacking with no consequences for Russia.
    • The U.S. and Russia will cooperate on cybersecurity issues. Trump later walks this one back.
    • They agree not to meddle in each other’s domestic issues, making it sound like it was equally bad that we try to spread democracy while they try to undermine it.
    • They agree to a cease-fire in Syria, the fifth such agreement in six years.
    • They discuss the Ukraine, sanctions, and terrorism.
  6. Trump, Tillerson, and Putin all emerge with differing accounts of the meeting.
  7. Trump is reportedly focused on how to move forward in working with Putin.
  8. Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov says that Putin denied involvement in our elections, that Trump said reports of meddling were exaggerated, and that Trump accepted Putin’s denials.
  9. Russian hackers are suspected to be behind a breach of over 12 power plants in the U.S.
  10. After the G20 Trump tweets, “Putin & I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded.” Republicans and Democrats alike say ummmm….no. Why don’t we just give them our passwords and be done with it?
  11. New documents show yet another undisclosed meeting between Russians and the Trump campaign. This one occurred two weeks after Trump became the Republican nominee, and was between a Russian lawyer and Kushner, Manafort, and Donald Trump Jr. A spokesperson for Trump’s lawyer says the meeting was a setup.
  12. Trump Jr. first explains the meeting as being about Russian adoptions, and then says it was supposed to be about obtaining dirt on Hillary but it ended up being about adoptions.
  13. Trump says the media lied when they said that all 17 intelligence agencies signed off on the statement that Russia meddled in our elections, saying that only four did. Technically he’s right, but one of those four who signed off, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, includes the remaining agencies.
  14. James Clapper warns that the 2016 meddling in the election was just a practice run for 2018.
  15. The State Department continues to issue temporary visas to suspected Russian operatives.

Courts/Justice:

  1. A Florida judge rules that changes to the stand your ground gun law are unconstitutional. The changes would’ve increased protections for people who kill someone using the stand your ground defense, giving protections even to those who have an opportunity to flee the situation.
  2. Eighteen states and Washington D.C. filed suit against the Department of Education and Betsy DeVos, saying they broke the law by rescinding the Borrower Defense Rule. The rule protects students from fraudulent, for-profit institutions (like Trump University, for example).

Healthcare:

  1. Congress moves toward preventing the IRS from enforcing the penalty for not having insurance, further weakening the ACA.
  2. According to a new report released by Trump’s own Department of Health and Human Services, the ACA is doing better than reported. The report provides evidence that the ACA marketplaces were relatively stable in 2016. The customer base is healthier, the risk pools are stabilizing, and premiums are moderating.
  3. Indiana GOP leaders, in an effort to gather ammunition to support the senate healthcare bill, posted a request on Facebook to “post your Obamacare horror stories here.” With about 1,500 posts, the vast majority were how the ACA had helped, not hurt.
  4. The Washington Post and the New York Times each publish a fact check on healthcare claims and bills. Worth a read if you’re on the fence.
  5. The GOP Twitter account tweets out to Hillary, Bernie, Elizabeth Warren, Bill Clinton, and Joe Manchin asking where their health plans are. Hillary, for one, schools the GOP by pointing to her fully formed plan to fix the ACA and telling them to run with it.
  6. Freedom Works and Club for Growth push McConnell to adopt the more conservative changes to the healthcare bill, but these will likely make passing the bill impossible.
  7. Midweek, Mitch McConnell acknowledges that they might not be able to pass a replacement for the ACA, and in that case, Congress needs to do something to support the insurance markets.
  8. Pat Toomey (R-Pa) sort of explains why Republicans are having trouble with the bill: “I didn’t expect Donald Trump to win. I think most of my colleagues didn’t. So we didn’t expect to be in this situation.” In other words, we weren’t as ready as we said we were.
  9. Ted Cruz says the ACA should be repealed if the Senate vote falls apart again, aligning himself clearly with Trump and against McConnell.
  10. One thing missing from any healthcare discussions is the subsidy given to employers who offer insurance plans to their employees and the employees who receive them. Both employers and employees get a tax break, and employees get a good chunk of their premiums paid.
  11. Senators John Hoeven of North Dakota, Bob Corker of Tennessee, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and John Boozman of Arkansas are the latest Republicans to withhold support for the bill.

International:

  1. North Korea fires another ballistic missile, but this time is more concerning because of the distance it was able to travel.
  2. The U.S. and South Korea stage military drills in the waters off North Korea. Good to know: The missile defense system still can’t reliably stop ICBMs and has failed 3 of 5 tests.
  3. After the launch, Trump sounds like he’s giving up on China. “So much for China working with us.”
  4. Russia and China make a joint proposal that would ban North Korea missile tests and would also ban joint U.S. and South Korea military drills.
  5. Some experts think Russian technology is behind North Korea’s huge advances in missile technology over the past two years.
  6. Trump stops in Poland before the G20 meeting in Hamburg. The government bussed in Trump supporters to hear his speech.
  7. Some hail his speech in Poland as one of his greatest and others say it’s just another one of his “failing dystopia” speeches. He criticizes the free press in a country where President Duda has restricted free press, and then watches Duda explain why he restricted Polish media from covering the parliament.
  8. Trump does state support for article 5 of the NATO agreement, which he failed to do in his NATO speech.
  9. Trump questions whether the West has the will to survive existentialist threats. I don’t know what he’s talking about here, though maybe ISIS?
  10. Leaders from several countries, as well as U.S. states and cities, attend the Global Citizen Festival in Hamburg just before the G20. The festival raises money to support global health, gender equality, and education. Trump isn’t invited.
  11. Trump’s team waited too long to book a hotel for the G20 and by the time they tried, everything was booked. The German government hosts him in Hamburg while his staff stays at the U.S. consulate. The same happened to Tillerson when he attended the G20 ministers meeting in February.
  12. At the G20, Trump’s message is “renegotiate everything.” Other leaders will either go along or forge their own deals without the U.S. (which they already seem to be doing, if that tells you anything).
  13. The G20 highlights a major shift in geopolitical relations, as European nations, China, and Japan navigate through a shifting landscape where the U.S. is no longer a leader. The U.S. typically sets the agenda at the summit, but this time we alienate our allies and are isolated from the rest of the G20 nations on the big issues, including climate change and trade.
  14. Germany and China have their own bilateral meeting, an indication that Xi Jinping wants to move into the widening gap between the U.S. and its longtime allies. He’s ready to move China into the U.S.’s position as the biggest defender of a global, multilateral system.
  15. There is agreement among all nations over cracking down on people who smuggle in illegal immigrants.
  16. Many leaders express concern that our new differences threaten the common good.
  17. Trump meets with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and reminds him that Mexico has to pay for the wall.
  18. Trump tweets from the G20: “Everyone here is talking about why John Podesta refused to give the DNC server to the FBI and the CIA. Disgraceful!” So many things wrong here. Podesta never had anything to do with the DNC server; the CIA didn’t (and probably couldn’t) subpoena it; and the G20 has more pressing matters. Podesta’s twitter response is worth it, though, as is his WaPo op-ed.
  19. Trump is caught daydreaming at a G20 meeting, saved when Theresa May awakens him for a photo-op.
  20. Ivanka Trump sits in for the president during a G20 leaders session for a short period while he steps out of the room.
  21. The final communiqué from the G20 highlights a victory for the G19 and the isolation of the G20. U.S. views on global warming and protectionism are not accepted.
  22. 122 countries in the UN approve a ban on nuclear weapons, a potential start to nuclear disarmament…except that none of the nations that signed on are armed with nuclear weapons.
  23. Iraq declares victory over ISIS in Mosul after a 9-month push.
  24. Rex Tillerson works to personally defuse the situation in the Persian Gulf, which threatens our ability to combat terrorism because of our coordination with Qatar.
  25. A group of senators travel to Afghanistan as part of a diplomatic effort. The ambassador role there has yet to be filled and is currently filled by a chargé d’affaires who was about to retire. This is a critical time for diplomatic relations with the country.
  26. The ban on bringing laptops and other electronic devices on board flights from several Mideast countries was lifted for some countries.
  27. There were large anti-government protests in both Turkey and Venezuela this week, as well as protests at the G20 meetings in Hamburg. But there are always protests at the G20 for a multitude of causes.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. The U.S. denies visas for an all-girl robotics team from Afghanistan who were hoping to come here along with groups from other countries to compete. Teams from Iraq, Iran, and Sudan received travel visas.
  2. Businesses in North Carolina get hit hard by cuts to visas for seasonal workers. One business hasn’t opened for the season because they couldn’t get any visas, and not one local applied for their $15/hour positions.
  3. As part of a PR campaign to educate the nation about Sikhs, a group of them chip in to sponsor a town’s fireworks display when the town can’t fund it. Part of the reason Sikhs are doing this is that people in the U.S. mistake them for Muslims and harass them.

Climate/EPA:

  1. A federal appeals court rules that the EPA can’t suspend an Obama-era rule that would restrict methane emissions from new oil and gas wells. They could try rewriting the rule.
  2. California Governor Jerry Brown and New York mayor Bill De Blasio speak at the Global Citizen Festival in Hamburg. Brown invites everyone to a global warming action meeting in San Francisco in 2018, saying Trump doesn’t speak for all of America on global warming.
  3. Volvo announces it will phase out combustion-only engines by 2019. All the cars they make will either be electric or hybrid.
  4. Germany, Japan, and other countries reiterate their commitment to the Paris accord ahead of the G20.
  5. The U.S. stands alone in the G20 summit statement on global warming and the Paris accord.

Budget/Economy/Trade:

  1. At a time when most countries are seeing solid recoveries from the 2008 crash, world leaders warn that nationalistic and protectionist trade policies will hamper global recovery, possibly causing a slide backwards. And this includes the U.S., but #MAGA, right?
  2. The European Union and Japan sign one of the world’s largest trade agreements, calling it ambitious, free, and fair. Unfortunately, the U.S. auto industry will be one of the hardest hit.
  3. And to top it off, the U.S. automobile industry says sales are slowing and jobs are declining. This is the sixth consecutive month of drooping sales.
  4. The U.S. hasn’t even begun to negotiate or renegotiate any meaningful bilateral agreements as promised during the campaign last year.
  5. The European Union and China are working on a broad trade agreement, as are Mexico and China.
  6. Trump threatens new tariffs on steel imports from Europe. The European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, says they’ll retaliate in kind, which could start a trade war.
  7. Stephen Bannon pushes to raise taxes on the wealthy and cut them for middle and low-income earners. His idea would raise the highest bracket above 40%, at odds with Trump’s current plan and the House’s current plan.
  8. Trump touts the latest job numbers, though growth as been a little slower so far this year than last.
  9. Several states are finding themselves in economic trouble or at a budget impasse, including New Jersey, Illinois, Maine, Alaska, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Connecticut, and Kansas.
  10. After a two-year standoff, Illinois lawmakers finally worked together to agree on a budget bill, which Governor Bruce Rauner promptly vetoed because it would raise taxes. Both the house and senate are expected to vote to override his veto.
  11. Trump’s cuts to transportation in his proposed budget could cause 220 cities to lose access to passenger train service and would halt any high-speed rail development. This is the opposite of infrastructure investment.
  12. Trump says he wants to make the U.S. an energy dominator, but his actual policies are pretty much the same as under Obama’s goal to make us energy independent.
  13. Trump proposes eliminating heating aid for low-income Americans, saying the program isn’t needed any longer and it’s being abused. He claims utility companies can’t cut off utilities in the dead of winter, so these people will be just fine…
  14. While domestic gas and oil development has been sluggish over several years due to low prices, Trump tweets, “Gas prices are the lowest in the U.S. in over ten years! I would like to see them go even lower.”

Elections:

  1. So far, 44 states push back on the voter fraud commission’s request for personal voter information. Nine major investigations over 20 years on voter fraud have turned up no evidence of widespread fraud. Most cases were found to not be fraudulent at all. Of the cases found to be actually fraudulent, most result from misunderstandings of the rules or from clerical or administrative errors.
  2. Maryland’s Republican deputy secretary of state, Luis E. Borunda, resigns from the voting commission. In fact, many people appointed to the commission don’t have election experience and don’t understand why they’re there.
  3. Lawmakers who criticize Trump or don’t support him are feeling the political heat of his pressure. Others who have criticized him in the past start to court him to make sure he doesn’t capsize their chances of re-election.

Miscellaneous:

  1. Workers still remaining at the State Department say the department is gutted at all levels of employment and that they can barely get anything done.
  2. In an act of I-just-don’t-care-anymore, Chris Christie and his family are spotted on a private beach on the day that public beaches are closed to the public because of a budget impasse.
  3. Trump signs an executive order aimed at reviving the National Space Council. Mike Pence will lead the effort.
  4. After Trump tweets a GIF of himself taking down CNN WWF-style, CNN finds the originator of the GIF who apologizes and takes all his offensive stuff down. CNN refuses to divulge his identity but for some reason left a bit in the story saying they might if he reneges on his promise. Which leads certain alt-right groups to speculate that he was blackmailed into the apology by CNN, so they dox the CNN group responsible for the story. The reporters and their families have been threatened both online and in person at their homes.
  5. Once again Trump reminds us that he is president and we are not. “The fake media is trying to silence us. But we will not let them. Because the people know the truth. The fake media tried to stop us from going to the White House. But I’m president and they’re not.”
  6. Whoa! NPR caught a little blowback on the 4th when it tweeted the entirety of the declaration of independence in 113 tweets. They get accused of partisan politics, using propaganda, and trying to start a revolution.
  7. Steven Scalise is readmitted into ICU on worries of infection.
  8. It looks like an investigation and crackdown on leakers is about to start. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman, Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), releases a report on national security risks from the leaks.
  9. The government ethics chief, Walter Shaub, resigns saying he’s done all he can and criticizing the administration for a lack of transparency and the appearance of profiting from office. After repeatedly reaching out to the administration during the transition period and being ignored, Shaub took to trolling Trump on Twitter to get his attention. That didn’t work either. He’s never spoken with the president.
  10. There’s a power struggle going on between red state governments and their blue city governments, with states cracking down on city legislation. States have tied city’s hands on issues like minimum wage, civil rights, birth control, and sanctuary cities.
  11. The White House staff reveals it’s factional nature, as each has their own PR staffs to push their individual agendas, leaving behind the tradition of keeping a unified message.

Polls:

  1. 54% of Americans believe Trump has done something illegal; 29% think he’s done something unethical.
  2. A Pew survey shows that 56% of Americans have more confidence in Merkel than Trump, while 46% say they have more confidence in Trump.

Stupid Things Politicians Say:

Because this is what a free and open press is all about:

“I just love to sit in my office and make up wasters so [journalists] will write these stupid stories.”

– Maine GOP Gov. Paul LePage bragging that he lies to reporters so they will write misleading “stupid stories” about his governorship.