Tag: congress

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 If DACA is repealed, he could be deported.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 31 in Trump

Posted on August 28, 2017 in Politics, Trump

Courtesy of Fox News

Just a heads up, I’ve tried to move information about any of Trump’s rallies to the Elections section, because these are really campaign rallies and nothing else.

If you’re looking for ways to help out with the victims of Hurricane Harvey, here are a few options:

 

Russia:

  1. Glen Simpson, cofounder of Fusion GPS, testifies to the House Judiciary Committee. Fusion GPS was hired by unnamed Republicans to get opposition research on Trump, and then after the primaries, they were hired by unnamed Democrats. Fusion commissioned the Steele dossier.
  2. The Senate Intelligence Committee wants to declare WikiLeaks a “non-state hostile intelligence service.” This allows more surveillance of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, and makes intelligence agencies release information about Russian threats to the U.S.
  3. New documents show that while Trump was running for office, his company was working on a deal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. They signed a letter of intent, but the project fell through and was abandoned in January of 2016.
  4. Robert Mueller subpoenas testimony from associates of Paul Manafort for his grand jury.
  5. Interesting side note: The PR company Manafort used, Mercury, worked with Anthony Podesta’s company (brother of Clinton campaign manager John Podesta) on a lobbying effort to improve relations between the Ukraine and EU.
  6. Tensions escalate between Trump and some GOP Members of Congress after a series of conversations in which Trump complains to them about the Russia sanctions bill.

Courts/Justice:

  1. Previously it was reported that the DOJ backed off on their request for information on visitors to an anti-Trump website, but this week a court orders the web hosting company to provide the information.
  2. A division of the White House anti-drug office, the National Marijuana Initiative, asks Massachusetts for data on current medical marijuana patients, once again bringing up questions of the right to privacy. I’m not sure how HIPAA regulations tie in here.
  3. Several state officials criticize Jeff Sessions for using incomplete, incorrect, and obsolete data in determining how the DOJ will handle states where marijuana is legal for either recreational or medical use.

Healthcare:

  1. It turns out that when Trump spoke at the Boy Scouts Jamboree in Shelley Moore Capito’s state of West Virginia, White House aides told Capito that she could only fly with him to the jamboree on Air Force One if she promised to vote for the healthcare bill. She declined, not having even seen the bill yet.

International:

  1. The U.S. Embassy in Russia suspends tourist visas until September 1 at all locations in Russia. On the 1st, they’ll start granting visas again, but only in Moscow.
  2. Trump reveals his strategy for Afghanistan. Though he had previously criticized the commander there and spoke against increasing troops, Trump ultimately bent to the commander’s will and agreed to a troop surge.
  3. The Afghanistan strategy he revealed is missing concrete details. He talks about meeting benchmarks, but doesn’t give any specifics about what those benchmarks are.
  4. Trump calls his plan dramatically different, but it’s largely a continuation of the previous administration.
  5. In spite of the troop surge, Trump dissolves the office of the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, which engages NATO to coordinate allied actions there.
  6. The U.S. Treasury imposes sanctions against Russian and Chinese companies that provide support to North Korea.
  7. The UN confirms that two shipments from North Korea to Syria were intercepted in the past six months. The shipments were to the government agency in charge of Syria’s chemical weapons program.
  8. North Korea announces it’s producing more rocket engines and warhead tips, though Trump says in his Phoenix speech that we’re making progress with them.
  9. Turkey stops teaching evolution in middle and high school because the theory is too nuanced for young minds. They only teach it in university now, and I guess only to those lucky enough to go to university.
  10. Qatar re-establishes diplomatic ties with Iran after Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, and the UAE cut off diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar as a way of trying to get them to drop ties with Iran. Can you say backfire?
  11. All terrorist suspects in the Barcelona attacks last week are dead.
  12. An estimated half million people gather in Barcelona to denounce violence, extremism, and Islamophobia after attacks.
  13. Jared Kushner travels to the Mideast to meet with leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Jordan to discuss peace between Israel and Palestine. They’re trying a different method by bringing these surrounding countries to the table.
  14. The military uses questionable accounting methods to count the number of troops abroad to get around the caps put on those numbers under Obama. For example, the cap in Afghanistan is 8,400 troops, but it looks like there are closer to 12,000 troops (thought the Pentagon says there are 5,200 troops there).

Legislation/Congress:

  1. Trump contradicts himself in a tweetstorm, first saying that Democrats are blocking congress from getting anything done, and then changing his mind by saying he’s signed more legislation than most administrations. Which is it?

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

Charlottesville Fallout:

  1. The fallout from Trump’s Charlottesville comments continues, with the science envoy resigning from the State Department.
  2. The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination criticizes Trump for waffling in his condemnation of hate groups after Charlottesville, saying the U.S. must “unequivocally reject and condemn the racist violent events and demonstrations.” This type of early warning from the panel is usually only used in places with a lot of ethnic and religious violence.
  3. When asked about the UN statement, Tillerson says that the state department upholds American values around the world and that the president speaks for himself, not America. Since when does the president not speak for America?
  4. Paul Ryan says Trump messed up when calling out both sides in Charlottesville, but stops short of saying he should apologize.
  5. Pence says we should build more monuments, not tear any down. “We ought to be celebrating the men and women who have helped our nation move towards a more perfect union and tell the whole story of America.” Soooo we should celebrate those who wanted to secede from the U.S. and fought for the right to enslave blacks? Horse puckey.
  6. Rabbis from four different Jewish groups back out of next month’s traditional calls with the president around the Jewish holidays because of his waffling response.
  7. Seven members of Trump’s infrastructure council resign partly because of his response to Charlottesville.
  8. Economic advisor Gary Cohn publicly rebuked Trump for not being more outspoken against the white supremacist groups in Charlottesville. He also drew up a resignation letter, but decided to stay on instead, saying that Jew-hating white supremacists won’t make this Jew leave his job.
  9. The police response in Charlottesville was so blasé that when a member of the white supremacist groups pointed a gun at the crowd of counter-protestors and then shot at the ground near them, police did nothing. The man was later arrested.
  10. Here’s a summary of Trump’s vacillation around Charlottesville:
    • On the Saturday of the weekend of the violence, Trump calls out both sides and falsely blames the right and the left.
    • On Monday, he gives a scripted statement and denounces hate groups specifically by name.
    • On Tuesday, he yells angrily at reporters and blames both sides again.
    • On the following Monday, he strikes a conciliatory tone and calls for unity.
    • On Tuesday (in Phoenix), he spends about a half an hour blaming both sides and defending his response while omitting the part where he put both sides on the same footing.
    • On Wednesday, he speaks in Reno where he reads from a script and urges love and unity.
  11. Ukraine removes 1,320 statues of Vladimir Lenin and 1,069 Soviet monuments from its public spaces.

The Rest:

  1. Trump threatens to end DACA while his aides push him to protect Dreamers. They want him to use it as a bargaining chip.
  2. Trump implements a new transgender ban in the military, giving John Mattis six months to work out the details (specifically around how to handle transgender troops currently serving). It sounds like no new openly transgender people can join the armed services.
  3. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke’s daughter, who is also a veteran, responds to the ban, posting “This man is a disgrace. I’ve tried to keep politics out of my social media feed as much as possible, but this is inexcusable.” The rest of the post is, well… she talks like a sailor. I wonder if she and her dad talk politics?
  4. Far-right activists use fake antifa Twitter accounts and images of battered women to smear the left, claiming antifa groups support beating women.
  5. While most of the far-right, pro-Trump rallies scheduled this week across 36 states are cancelled citing security and safety reasons, thousands turn out to denounce white supremacy across the country. San Francisco looks like the largest. Most marches are peaceful, but the antifa in Berkeley have some violent scuffles with small groups of alt-right ralliers.
  6. Unlike during previous strong hurricanes, INS says they’ll keep their checkpoints open as people try to get out of the path of Hurricane Harvey.
  7. Trump controversially pardons Maricopa County’s ex-Sheriff Joe Arpaio. He had previously asked AG Jeff Sessions to stop the federal case against Arpaio. When Sessions said that would be inappropriate, Trump decided to wait until the trial and then grant clemency. He’s been planning this all along.
  8. The pardon generates criticism from all sides—from Democrats to Republicans to Judges. Paul Ryan, Karl Rove, John McCain, and John Kasich, among many others, all speak out. While the pardon is lawful, Trump didn’t officially alert the DOJ and didn’t follow the typical Office of Pardon Attorney process.
  9. According to some nationalists in Trump’s base, the pardon erases any doubt about whether Trump meant to empower them after the Charlottesville violence.
  10. One of Trump’s campaign advisors, Walid Phares, offers to testify on behalf of Iraqi Christians who are being deported under the new administration. The catch? He charges $15,000 a pop. During the campaign, Phares was a strong advocate of Trump’s harsh immigration laws. Opportunist.
  11. During the hurricane, Trump again tweets about how Mexico will pay for the wall, though also he says he’ll shut down the government if Congress doesn’t include funding for the wall in the spending bill. Mexico again reiterates that no, it won’t be paying for a wall.

Climate/EPA:

  1. The Department of the Interior orders the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to stop working on a study on health risks for people who live near mountaintop removal coal mining. The problem is likely toxic metals leaching into the water supply. There are elevated death rates and birth defects in the affected communities.
  2. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke sends Trump his recommendations of changes to the size of three national monuments and management changes for other monuments.
  3. He recommends reducing the size of these monument, most likely to open them up to drilling, mining, logging, or recreational vehicles: Bears Ears (Utah), Grand Staircase-Escalante (Utah), and Cascade-Siskiyou (Oregon).
  4. He also recommends changing management guidelines for several monuments, including allowing fishing in marine sanctuaries (which kind of defeats the purpose, no?).
  5. In response, Patagonia takes out $700,000 in ads against Ryan Zinke.
  6. The EPA pulls out of the Climate Leadership Awards program and conference, which it has the lead sponsor of since 2012. The program recognizes companies that reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions.
  7. Leaders in the petroleum industry publicly praise Trump’s deregulation efforts, but privately wish he’d slow down. They’re afraid of a backlash and of loosening regulations so much that a disaster happens.
  8. Companies that are already retrofitting to meet some of the standards worry that less scrupulous companies will take advantage of looser regulations. For the methane regulation, the fix is cheap and easy, yet publicly the industry still praises its rollback.
  9. Oil and gas companies also fear removing too many regulations will result in severe setbacks for the industry.

  10. Trump prevents the National Park Service from voicing concerns about NRA-backed legislation that would restrict the agency’s jurisdiction over hunting and fishing inside park boundaries.
  11. Alaska’s permafrost is melting as a result of global warming. This, in turn, releases more carbon and methane trapped inside the permafrost, exacerbating the cycle of global warming even further.
  12. Category 4 Hurricane Harvey is the harshest hurricane in a decade to hit the U.S. It quickly diminishes to a category 1 storm, but causes massive damage and flooding. I put this under Climate not because the hurricane was caused by global warming, but because scientists say global warming contributed to the factors that caused massive flooding, including rising sea levels and a new tendency for pressure systems to hold weather patterns in place.
  13. Help comes from all over to assist with the flooding. Louisiana, New York, California, Utah, North Carolina, and more states all send assistance.
  14. Questions abound over why Houston and Harris County weren’t evacuated. Evacuating 6.5 million people is no easy task, and would have required more time than they had. Also they thought maybe the media was hyping it up… fake news, right?
  15. The hurricane shuts down oil and gas facilities in the gulf and companies evacuate drilling platforms. Experts predict gas prices might increase as much as 24 cents a gallon.

Budget/Economy:

  1. Despite Trump’s threats, Mitch McConnell is certain the debt ceiling raise will go through.
  2. Trump threatens to terminate NAFTA in a tweet because Canada and Mexico are being difficult. This would cut us off economically from our neighbors. So much for the art of the deal.
  3. The deadline for tax reform has been punted from the August recess to Thanksgiving and now to the end of the year. Trump had originally planned to release his own tax reform plan at the end of August recess, but now they say they’re leaving the plan up to Congress.
  4. The tax reform details are sketchy, but so far it looks like they want to lower taxes on corporations and make up for it by getting rid of certain loopholes for taxpayers (like interest deductions on your mortgage and federal deductions for state and local taxes). In plain terms, taxes for corporations go down; taxes for most people go up.
  5. Also on the table in the tax plan is taxing 401k contributions. WTF? What would be the benefit of putting money in a 401k in that case?
  6. Trump blames McConnell and Ryan for the debt ceiling “mess,” saying if they would’ve listened to Trump and tagged it on to the veteran’s bill, it would be done already. Now, Trump says, Democrats are holding it up, which is patently false since it hasn’t even been brought down for debate yet.

Elections:

  1. Following the previous week’s ruling that the Texas district lines were discriminatory and unconstitutional, a court this week rules that the rewrite of the Texas voter ID law is also discriminatory and unconstitutional. This is the second time the voter ID law has been struck down. Texas has had six such violations so far this year. If it gets four more, it’s a civil rights violation.
  2. Trump holds another 2020 election rally, this time in Phoenix. He spends about half of his 77-minute speech defending his response to Charlottesville, omitting key parts of his response. He attacks two Republican senators in their home state, lies about his crowd size and the size of the crowd protesting him, goes after the media, and blames Democrats for Republicans not being able to get anything done. Tip: Republicans don’t need Democrats to get anything done right now.
  3. I’m not going to go through the entire speech, but CNN critiques it here if you’re interested.
  4. A study shows that 1 in 10 Bernie Sanders primary voters voted for Trump in the general, enough to make a difference in the three states that won him the election. Note that some transfer between the primaries and the general election is normal. We’ve been hearing it was about the economy and trade, but the study shows that these hardly played a role. The biggest factor was race. (I haven’t broken down the source data, but NPR has a pretty good summary.)
  5. GOP leaders express support for Jeff Flake after Trump’s criticism. The Senate Leadership Fund plans to target his primary opponent, Kelli Ward, who Trump has been praising.

Miscellaneous:

  1. A prankster who emails one of Breitbart’s editors reveals that, more than getting out the truth, the site is interested in propaganda, specifically smearing whoever Bannon says.
  2. The rift between McConnell and Trump deepens, and the two haven’t spoken in weeks; not since their August 9 call that devolved into a screaming match..
  3. By one count, Trump has made 1057 false or misleading statements since his inauguration, averaging nearly five a day.
  4. Another one for your White House bingo card: Sebastian Gorka’s out. There’s a dispute over whether he quit or was fired.
  5. GOP Senator Thom Tillis introduces bill to protect Mueller. Trump calls him to tell him he hopes it doesn’t pass.
  6. Trump monitors the situation in Texas closely over the weekend, and FEMA is on the ground and working, but Trump also found time to tweet insults to Claire McCaskill, promises for a wall with Mexico, and threats to pull out of NAFTA.
  7. After aides warn him not to, Trump looks directly at the eclipse.
  8. Military officials appear to consolidate power in the White House as they continue to advise a president with little foreign experience.
  9. After last week’s destroyer accident that killed 10, the Navy Admiral in charge of the boat is relieved of his command.
  10. John Kelly and White House staff secretary Rob Porter now make the decisions on what gets to the president. Members of the conservative media complain. It looks like uber-conservative sites like Breitbart, Gateway Pundit, and Infowars are out.
  11. Despite quitting five weeks ago, Sean Spicer is still at the White House and apparently still getting a paycheck.
  12. Jim Mattis speaks to soldiers in Jordan, telling them they’re a great example to our country right now and that they need to hold the line until Americans get back to understanding and respecting each other and just being friendly again.
  13. OSHA removes the list of workplace deaths from the home page of its website and replaces it with ways companies can voluntarily work with OSHA to improve safety.
  14. Trump says he’ll visit Texas as soon as he can do so without disruption.

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 29 in Trump

Posted on August 21, 2017 in Politics, Trump

If you haven’t noticed, I no longer included in this recap how often Trump golfs or visits a golf course. It’s a given he’s going to golf far more often than his predecessor, whose golf habits Trump criticized endlessly. It’s also apparent that when he said he wouldn’t be out golfing—no, he’d be spending his weekends working—he was lying.

Sorry for the late and abbreviated recap this week—I was on vacation and trying to ignore the news. Here’s what happened in Trump’s 29th week.

Missed From Last Week:

  1. The Trump campaign and associates turn over around 20,000 pages of documents in the Russia investigation.
  2. Trump launched a series of ″news″ videos on Facebook with Lara Trump (his daughter-in-law) as the ″anchor.″ They’re calling this ″real news″ because, as Lara says, ″there’s so much fake news out there.″ But this screams of state-run media.

Russia:

  1. Two Republican house staffers make a surprise visit to the office of Christopher Steele’s lawyer (Steele wrote the dossier on Trump). No one in the committee knew anything about this, but we later find out they were there on Devin Nunes’ behest. Nunes is supposed to be recused from the investigation.
  2. It comes out this week that the FBI executed a surprise search warrant on one of Paul Manafort’s homes a few weeks ago in the wee morning hours.
  3. Financial disclosures for the lawyers working on the special investigation with Robert Mueller show that many left multi-million-dollar jobs in the private sector to work on this.
  4. A Russian surveillance plane flies over the D.C. area, including the Pentagon, capitol buildings, and other government buildings.
  5. Mueller requests documents from the White House on Michael Flynn, presumably to determine whether he was paid by the Turkish government to discredit a dissident.
  6. Trump surrogates won’t confirm whether Trump wants to fire Mueller, but four Members of Congress have proposed bills protecting Mueller.
  7. Trump says any investigation into his finances is off-limits, but the Deputy Attorney General says Mueller can investigate any crimes discovered in the course of the probe.
  8. Trump periodically sends messages to Mueller of appreciation and just general greetings.
  9. Federal investigators work on getting Paul Manafort’s son-in-law, who is also a business partner, to cooperate in the Russia probe.
  10. Mueller subpoenas Manafort’s financial records.
  11. The House Intelligence Committee wants to question Trump’s personal secretary.
  12. Trump thanks Putin for expelling hundreds of diplomatic employees back to the U.S., saying he’s trying to reduce payroll (apparently not understanding that these State Department employees aren’t actually fired).

Courts/Justice:

  1. A federal judge orders an October hearing into whether Trump’s business dealings violate the emoluments clause.

Healthcare:

  1. Jared Kushner’s brother owns a healthcare company that lobbied against the repeal of the ACA. Jared held a stake in the company at the time, but has since divested.
  2. As Republicans try to find ways to destroy the ACA, insurers start pulling out of markets and expect a rise in premiums because of the uncertainty being created. Insurance companies plan to boost premiums to guard against the uncertainty, up to 20% in some markets. Insurers say the uncertainty is far outside the norm.
  3. The White House fails to coordinate with organizations responsible for outreach and education before the open enrollment period for the ACA begins.
  4. The Freedom Caucus in the House is trying to force an outright repeal of the ACA, bypassing House leaders.
  5. Trump declares the opioid epidemic a national emergency.

International:

  1. Trump tweets a Fox News story that Nikki Haley says contains classified info. The story claims that North Korea loaded anti-ship missiles on a boat near the coast, which Haley says is classified info because it indicates where we get that information from.

  2. North Korea says they’ll use nukes against us if we provoke them militarily. They also promise “a thousand-fold revenge” against the latest UN sanctions. Meanwhile, Trump spends the day tweeting insults to Democratic Senator Dick Blumenthal.

  3. The Pentagon is considering drone strikes on ISIS in the Philippines to assist our allies there.

  4. Trump threatens to release ″fire and fury like the world has never seen″ in retaliation to any moves by North Korea to attack U.S. interests. Of note, a year ago, 50 Republicans previously employed in national security signed a letter warning that Trump acts impetuously, has no self control, and is erratic.

  5. Trump later wonders if fire and fury wasn’t quite strong enough.

  6. Trump tweets, “My first order as President was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal. It is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before….” In truth, updating the arsenal is under review.

  7. Trump sends out aides to get people to rally around him in his escalation with North Korea.

  8. North Korea calls Trump’s threats a ″load of nonsense.″

  9. Tillerson manages to defend Trump’s statement while de-escalating the situation some and smoothing out Trump’s threat.

  10. In spite of all the trash talk, the administration has been in back-channel talks with North Korea for months.

  11. The Pentagon prepares a plan in the event that Trump orders a strike on North Korea.

  12. Trump comes under criticism from leaders on both sides over his rhetoric around North Korea.

  13. European officials view Trump as erratic and limited, and say he is a laughingstock in European government circles.

  14. After North Korea’s threat to attack Guam, Trump had a phone meeting with the Governor of Guam. Trump said that this has made Guam famous and now their tourism will rise tenfold. Because I certainly want to visit the current target of a nuclear threat. Aaand the Republican Governor agreed with him.

  15. The UN Security Council voted unanimously to sanction North Korea for its missile testing.

  16. The number of people who took the Foreign Services exam in June fell 26% from the previous year. Interest in foreign service work has tumbled under this administration.

Legislation/Congress:

  1. Trump calls out Mitch McConnell for not getting him the legislation he wants—healthcare, tax reform, infrastructure, and so on.
  2. Congressional Democrats raise alarm bells over the Regulatory Reform Task Force’s lack of transparency. They’ve been performing their reviews in private, out of the public view, and in consultation with experts and lobbyists from the businesses from whom the task force is supposed to be protecting us.
  3. Trump supporter and funder Robert Mercer funds potential opponents to Jeff Flake in Arizona. Trump put a target on Flake after he released a book and did several interviews critical of both Republicans and Trump.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. We’re still waiting for word from Trump condemning the mosque bombing last week in Minnesota.
  2. Neo-nazis, white supremacists, the KKK, and other hate groups from across the country come together for rallies in Virginia and North Carolina. This is the biggest white power rally in decades.
  3. They are met with both peaceful counter protesters and with the more violent antifa groups.
  4. The hate groups march with torches and chant slogans like ″Jews will not replace us!″ and ″Blood and soil!″ an old Nazi slogan that refers to a racially defined group associated with specific lands.
  5. After the rallies break up, a car ploughs through a crowd of counter-protesters who were peacefully demonstrating away from the alt-right groups. One woman is killed and at least 19 injured. The driver is a white supremacist.
  6. Additionally, two police officers are killed when the helicopter they were monitoring the rallies from crashes.
  7. David Duke says that alt-right groups voted for Trump because he’s going to bring their America back.
  8. In Trump’s initial statements, he basically said that the people protesting the racist hate groups were as bad as the hate groups themselves, drawing deep criticism from all sides.
  9. Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe stands up and says what Trump should have—bigotry and hatred are not welcome. He tells the hate groups to go home.
  10. The DoJ opens a civil rights investigation into the extremist attack.
  11. Trump gets blasted for not calling out white supremacists by name, something he accused Obama of doing with Islamic terrorists.
  12. Kenneth Frazier, Merck’s CEO, denounced Trump’s comments along with hatred, bigotry, and group supremacy. He then dropped out of Trump’s business council. Additional CEOs follow suit.
  13. Trump immediately attacked Frazier on Twitter, saying Frazier’s resignation will give him “more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!” Frazier went from business genius to ripoff artist in just three weeks in Trump’s mind.
  14. Social media users start identifying and outing alt-right marchers. Some from the alt-right are fired from their jobs.
  15. Refugees continue to flee across the northern border of the U.S. and into Canada. They are currently staying in tents erected by the Canadian army.
  16. Chicago says it will sue the DoJ for it’s policies on sanctuary cities.
  17. Deportations of illegal immigrants under Trump is lower than under Obama by an average of 3,000 people per month, even though they are casting a wider net.
  18. Five transgender members of the military sue Trump for proposing to ban them from serving.
  19. DHS considers starting ″Life After Hate″ back up and adding new funds. This agency works to deradicalize members of white hate groups like the KKK and neo-nazis.

Climate/EPA:

  1. Emails show that the USDA censors climate change language.
    • Instead of “climate change,” staff must use “weather extremes.”
    • Instead of “climate change adoption,” staff must use “resilience to weather extremes.”
    • Instead of “greenhouse gases,” staff must use “build soil organic matter, increase nutrient use efficiency.”
    • Instead of “sequester carbon,” staff must say “build soil organic matter.”
    • However, the emails say this won’t change any of the modeling, because, you know, climate mitigation is important. This also doesn’t apply to scientific studies.
  2. The New York Times releases a leaked draft of the government’s climate change report. This is the final draft presented to the administration, and it was leaked because scientists are afraid Trump will try to change it because it contradicts his and his administrations claims that climate change isn’t affected by human activity.
  3. The report has already incorporated both public and scientific comment.
  4. The climate change report needs to be approved by August 18 by 13 different government agencies, including the EPA. As we know, Scott Pruitt, the head of the EPA, does not believe in man-made climate change.
  5. The official report that Trump releases will give a clear indication of whether our policies going forward will be based on science or belief.
  6. According to EPA employees, Scott Pruitt is very secretive and goes to extreme measure to hide what he’s doing.
  7. Let’s take a second to look at this quote from the NY Times:
    • “Allies of Mr. Pruitt say he is justified in his measures to ramp up his secrecy and physical protection, given that his agenda and politics clash so fiercely with those of so many of the 15,000 employees at the agency he heads.”
    • Employees also say that Pruitt’s ignoring years of scientific research and industry input.
    • So why is it we’re letting the one person who disagrees with 15,000 experts steer the direction of our environmental future? IMO, the conclusions of 15,000 experts should override the one.
  8. The Department of the Interior eases the Sage Grouse protections implemented under Obama.
  9. The EPA makes it easier to approve new chemicals.

Budget/Economy:

  1. Consumer confidence, which bumped up after the election, has been on the decline since January.
  2. 39% of American colleges and universities see a decrease in applications from foreign students. The University of Toronto, on the other had, sees a 20% increase.

Elections:

  1. The DoJ changes its position on Ohio’s purging its voter rolls. They previously argued the purges weren’t lawful because they targeted Democrats and African Americans. Now they say the purges are lawful.

Miscellaneous:

  1. Talk about giving a participation medal to everyone… Trump’s aides give him a propaganda report that contains only positive news about him. Twice a day. WTH?
  2. Steven Miller, who last week accused CNN’s Jim Acosta of being cosmopolitan, lives in a nearly $1 million condo in a building described as “the new ideal for sophisticated, modern, urban living.” Also known as cosmopolitan.
  3. House Democrats request information on how much government money is being spent on trump properties.
  4. After two deadly crashes, the Marine Corps grounds all aircraft for 24 hours.
  5. The Phoenix mayor asks Trump not to hold his rally there in light of the recent controversy surrounding the events in Charlottesville. Trump ignores his request.
  6. Silicon Valley entrepreneur (PayPal) Peter Thiel throws his support behind Trump publicly, and has from the beginning. But in private he told friends last year that there’s a 50/50 chance this ends in disaster. This year, he’s upping the odds on that.
  7. Even with last week’s confirmation of over 60 of Trump’s nominees, he still lags far behind in staffing up open positions.
  8. Four senior cybersecurity officials resign.
  9. Faced with what they call a dysfunctional federal government, city Mayors talk about ways to take on problems like the opioid epidemic, homeland security, and global warming on their own.

Polls:

  1. In a recent survey, 52% of Republicans would support postponing the 2020 election if Trump said we should (to make sure there’s no voter fraud). 56% would if both Trump and congressional Republicans backed it.
  2. Trump hits yet a new low in the Quinnipiac poll with 33% approving and 61% disapproving of his performance.
  3. 36% of Americans say Trump’s first 200 days were successful. 59% call it a failure.
  4. 47% of Americans now strongly disapprove of Trump’s performance.
  5. 60% of Americans don’t think Trump is honest and trustworthy.

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 27 in Trump

Posted on July 31, 2017 in Politics, Trump

People are calling this week one of the worst for any president’s inaugural year in modern history… with some obvious exceptions, I’m guessing. The Boy Scouts had to apologize for Trump, New York police departments had to disclaim his remarks, the Pentagon got caught off-guard by his tweeted transgender ban, Congress failed to repeal the ACA (but they did manage to restrict Trump on Russia sanctions), the new comms director gave an immensely foul interview, Trump undermined his attorney general, he changed his chief of staff, and North Korea can reach us with a missile.

Here’s what happened this week:

Russia:

  1. Jared Kushner releases a written statement before testifying for Congress behind closed doors.
  2. Kushner discloses yet another previously undisclosed meeting with Russian officials that happened last April at the Mayflower Hotel. Actually, he confirms that the meeting he was already suspected of having actually did happen.
  3. Kushner also says he met with a Russian banker, Sergei Gorkov, to set up a private line of communication with Putin.
  4. Brian Benczkowsi, the nominee to head the criminal division at the Justice Department, says he worked for Russia’s Alfa Bank last year. He helped them determine whether its computers contacted the Trump Organization.
  5. The House finds agreement on the sanctions bill and forwards it to the Senate where it also passes.
  6. Trump announces he’ll sign the sanctions bill after congress threatens an override.
  7. In retaliation for the new Russian sanctions, Putin shuts down U.S. facilities in Russia and kicks out 755 U.S. foreign agents.
  8. The EU says they support sanctions but also voice concerns over how this will affect their workers in the energy sector.
  9. This part of the story is convoluted and I’m a bit confused about where things stand. I think we’ll have to wait for answers on this one. I am honestly not trying to ″Rachel Maddow″ the dots together here.
    • William Browder, an associate of Sergei Magnitsky, testifies to Congress.
    • He claims that Fusion GPS, the group that commissioned the Steel dossier, worked for Russian interests last year, including the Russian lawyer who met with Donald Trump Jr. (Veselnitskaya).
    • Browder also says Congress should investigate Fusion GPS for not registering as foreign agents under FARA and that they were hired to smear him and Magnitksy.
    • Fusion GPS says that they did work for an American law firm and not Russian interests, and therefore didn’t need to register.
    • Sarah Huckabee Sanders asserts that the author of the Steele dossier was also being paid by Russia. I think that’s what she took away from Browder’s testimony.
    • Magnitsky had uncovered $230 million in tax fraud by Russian interests. His treatment and subsequent death in a Russian prison led to the Magnitsky Act (sanctions) and subsequent hold on adoptions of Russian children.
    • The meeting with Donald Jr. and Veselnitskaya last year was likely about the Magnitsky act, though she baited him with dirt on Clinton.
    • A few years ago, the U.S. began a lawsuit against Russian-owned Prevezon Holdings, which was using real estate holdings in New York to launder money (related to the fraud Magnitsky found).
    • Jared Kushner bought New York real estate from Africa Israel Investments (AFI), which is a partner to Prevezon Holdings.
    • The Prevezon case was abruptly settled in May for $6 million and no admission of guilt. Full circle, right?
  10. Senator Lindsey Graham says he’s writing a bill that will protect the investigation and make it harder for Trump to fire special counsel Mueller.
  11. It seems that Russia’s meddling in our election has so far backfired. Relations between our countries have sunk even lower, and Trump’s hands are tied with the latest sanctions bill.
  12. Scaramucci, citing an anonymous source, says that if the Russians actually did hack our computer systems we’d never know it because they’re that good. They wouldn’t leave a trace. He later outs his own source—Trump.
  13. Security software company Kaspersky Labs continues to take a hit over rumors that it leaves a backdoor open for Russian hacking.

Courts/Justice:

  1. Trump continues to berate AG Jeff sessions, saying he’s going too easy on Hillary and that she never got the level of scrutiny that Trump is. Really? Where was he in 2015 and 2016? Or for the past 30 years for that matter? This widens speculation that Trump will fire Sessions.
  2. In one of his many tweet storms this week, Trump tweets unsubstantiated info about Hillary and wonders why Sessions didn’t investigate her harder… before he was even AG.
  3. Trump reportedly asks whether he should replace Sessions with a major conservative. If Sessions isn’t a major conservative, I don’t know who is.
  4. As Trump continues his public denigration of Sessions, some speculate he’s trying to make Sessions quit so he doesn’t have to fire him. Sessions has no intention of quitting.
  5. The two men are reportedly no longer talking to each other. Instead they send messages through intermediaries.
  6. Senators are quick to come to Sessions’ defense and to warn Trump away from firing him.

Healthcare:

  1. Texas Representative Blake Farenthold calls out and insults Susan Collins, Shelley Moore Capito, and Lisa Murkowski for their continued opposition to what they call bad bills. Blake says their actions are repugnant. Collins is later caught on a hot mike criticizing Blake’s appearance and wondering if Trump is crazy, also saying she’s worried. Collins and Blake end up making nice.
  2. Pence comes in to break a tie in the Senate to bring the healthcare bill to the floor for debate. Collins and Murkowski continue to vote country over party.
  3. At Trump’s request, Ryan Zinke, department head of the interior, calls Murkowski to say that her vote would affect programs in her state of Alaska. Murkowski then cancels hearings on nominee confirmations, including three to the Department of the Interior.
  4. After a dramatic week, the Senate fails to pass any healthcare bills. They voted on multiple versions: the Ted Cruz amendment, full repeal with no replacement, Medicare for all, and skinny repeal (the final nail in the coffin).
  5. Throughout the week, Trump continues pressure on and threats against Republican Senators who aren’t supporting these bills or this process, but based on his words, he doesn’t seem to have a grasp of what is in any of those bills.
  6. At one point, Democrats threaten to stall the bill and stop proposing amendments until they can see the actual text of the bill they are supposed to be debating.
  7. By the night before the final vote, Republicans still have not released the text of what they’re supposed to vote on after debate.
  8. While Senate Republicans want to pass SOME bill, they don’t want the bill they pass to become law.
  9. Some Senators say they won’t vote for their own bill unless House Republicans assure them that they will not pass it as is. There are rumors, though, that the House is ready to pass whatever the Senate sends them.
  10. Skinny repeal would likely have sent existing markets into turmoil, raised rates, and kicked people off insurance. This bill would’ve essentially defunded the ACA but kept some of the popular requirements.
  11. The bill fails because Republican holdouts Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski continue to oppose on the grounds that their constituents will be hurt by it, and because John McCain has nothing left to lose so he did the right thing and opposed it.
  12. Trump threatens to let the ACA implode, even to force its failure. He could stop the payments to insurance companies that keep prices down. For a select group, prices aren’t low now, so they will be priced out of the market completely.
  13. The bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus in the House has quietly been working on a plan to fix the ACA. More to come on this next week.
  14. Because Republicans have campaigned on repealing the ACA and maligned the bill for so long, they will likely keep working on ways to repeal it. This could suck up valuable time when they could be getting stuff done instead.

International:

  1. Hundreds of thousands of protestors in Poland turn out to demonstrate against the politicization of the judicial branch. In a surprise move, the Polish president vetoes the bill.
  2. Venezuela also continues its move toward authoritarianism, holding a vote that sparked violent protests across the county. The vote creates a new panel to rewrite their constitution.
  3. Trump tweets that the Washington Post got it wrong when they reported that the U.S. was ending a program to arm Syrian rebels, but then later confirmed the story.
  4. Trump announces he’ll nominate Sam Brownback (governor of Kansas) to serve as ambassador at large for international religious freedom. Brownback has recently faced blowback from his own Republican legislature because he went too far on tax cuts.
  5. While the administration works on ways to more strictly enforce the Iran deal, they’re also working to fix perceived flaws in the plan. If they don’t get the fixes in, Trump wants to pull out of the deal (even though top military officials say this is the best deal they can get).
  6. Tillerson wants to eliminate dozens of special envoy positions that deal with specific issues, like food shortages, civil rights, and labor rights. The more we can stabilize regions that need this help, the more secure we are as a country.
  7. North Korea executes another missile launch that puts the U.S. definitely within range of a strike. Trump again tweets his displeasure at China’s lack of help here.
  8. The U.S. flies two B-1 bombers over the Korean Peninsula and conducts a successful test of the missile defense system.
  9. After previously announcing a ramp up in troops in Afghanistan, Trump and his generals can’t agree on a plan. He’s now considering plans to scale back our troops there. But he’s also looking into making mining deals with the Afghan government, which would give him a reason to keep troops there.
  10. The extremist group Al-Shabab releases a video saying that U.S. voters elected “arguably the most stupid president a country could ever have” and that Trump is “making the United States the greatest joke on earth and is now propelling it further to its eventual defeat and destruction.”

Legislation/Congress:

  1. House Republicans send down two bills for a vote under suspension of rules. This expedites the process, limits debate to under an hour, allows no amendments, and requires 2/3 majority. In protest of the process, House Democrats and a few Republicans stop the passage of these completely non-controversial bills.
  2. Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee block Democrat requests to obtain Treasury Department documents on Trump.
  3. Using Congressional Review, the House rescinds a rule that would make it easier for Americans to bring lawsuits against financial institutions. It goes to the Senate for a vote.
  4. Upon his return from surgery followed by a cancer diagnosis, John McCain delivers a stern warning to Congress, saying they are getting nothing done. Complaining about bipartisanship, he says “There’s greater satisfaction in respecting our differences but not letting them prevent agreements.” It’s a pretty good speech; you can listen to it here.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. ICE agents have mixed feelings about deportations under Trump. Some feel they are freer to do their jobs and some feel they’re targeting vulnerable populations.
  2. Through a series of tweets, Trump announces he’ll ban transgender people from serving in the military in any capacity, reversing Obama’s direction. He cites disruption and higher medical costs.
  3. The Pentagon is taken by surprise and directs all queries on this to the White House, suggesting that even though Trump says he consulted his Generals, he probably didn’t.
  4. The Joint Chiefs of Staff say they were blindsided by this announcement. As of Thursday they hadn’t received any guidance on how to implement the ban.
  5. We currently have thousands transgender troops serving. Studies find the costs to be minimal with little to no disruption.
  6. It turns out Trump was just talking out of his ass (again). Joe Dunford, on behalf of the joint chiefs, says that there are no planned changes to the military’s policy on transgender troops despite Trump’s tweets.
  7. On the same day Trump tweets the ban, the Department of Justice files a legal brief saying that the Civil Rights Act doesn’t cover discrimination based on sexual orientation. It isn’t typical for the DoJ to weigh in on court cases like this.
  8. The House approves a spending bill that includes initial spending for the wall.

Climate/EPA:

  1. The Department of the Interior proposes to rescind safety rules on fracking and underwater drilling equipment. They’ve already rolled back a rule banning coal mining on pubic lands, as well as delayed methane emission controls.
  2. Changes are coming to the EPA museum. It’s being changed to reflect the administration’s disbelief in global warming. Displays that are already set up will be removed, and the EPA is thinking of adding a coal display.
  3. In one 3-month period, Scott Pruitt spend nearly half his time in Oklahoma or traveling to and from there. It makes me wonder where he finds the time to destroy the agency he runs.

Budget/Economy:

  1. Frustrated that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) won’t score their plans positively, Republicans plan to cut 89 jobs and $15 million in funding from the CBO. Piggybacking on their disbelief in science, they want the CBO to be a number aggregator rather than an independent number cruncher. Of note, the CBO has one of the most accurate track records of all similar estimators.
  2. Foxconn Technology Group announces that it’s in talks to build a $10 billion plant in Wisconsin. It could employ 3,000 to 13,000 people, and would receive up to $3 billion in subsidies.
  3. The Treasury Department shuts down an Obama program to help people whose companies don’t offer 401Ks to save for retirement anyway. The program was called MyRA.
  4. As mentioned above, the House passes a spending bill that includes $1.6 billion to start the border wall. It also gives a huge increase ($68.1 billion more) to the Pentagon. This might come up against spending limits set by earlier budget laws.
  5. Republicans in the House, Treasury, and administration are eager to dig in on tax reform, but are still light on details.

Elections:

  1. A federal judge rules that the Elections Integrity Commission is free to request voter roll data from states, including names, addresses, partial SSNs, party registration, felony convictions, and voting record (whether you voted, not who you voted for because that actually is secret). The judge did not rule on whether the commission can compel states to turn the info over.

Miscellaneous:

  1. In an apparent attempt to get science on board, Ivanka misattributes a tweet to Einstein: “If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts. – Albert Einstein ‪#quote ‪#sunday‪“‬
  2. Trump again shows disrespect for Obama and Clinton both, by getting attendees at the Boy Scouts Jamboree to boo them during his speech. Boy Scouts. Way to cultivate their good souls.
  3. I’m not going to regurgitate Trump’s speech to the Boy Scouts because it’s hard to listen to. While there were some good bits mixed in with the bad, the speech is so partisan—and offensive—that the BSA feels obligated to put out a statement defending their honor.
  4. On complaints that their statement isn’t strong enough, the BSA issues an apology to the families of Boy Scouts for Trump inserting politics into the event.
  5. And then… Police departments in and around New York City have to issue a statement denouncing Trump’s remarks to them about new tactics to fight the MS13 gang. Trump advocated for officers to rough up suspects.
  6. And then… Trump holds another political rally in Ohio where he again puts out false and misleading information (see factcheck.org’s check).
  7. By now this is old news because Scaramucci is no longer with us. But here’s what led up to that.
    • Scaramucci promises to hunt down and fire leakers. Michael Short is the first to leave after Scaramucci says he’ll fire him.
    • Scaramucci accuses Reince Priebus of leaking financial information on him, but it turns out the information is publicly available. Still, he says the leak is a felony.
    • Scaramucci creates a diagram on news organizations to which they think Priebus leaked information.
    • Scaramucci gives a completely cray-cray interview to the New Yorker. As comms director, he apparently doesn’t know he needs to say ″off the record″ if he doesn’t want the information released. It is unbelievably profane.
    • New Chief of Staff Kelly says get this guy outta here, and now Scaramucci is gone. Quick as that.
  8. Democrats release their new agenda, A Better Deal, which includes an infrastructure plan and a plan to help workers by increasing wages and providing paid family and sick leave.
  9. House Republicans call for a special counsel to investigate James Comey, Hillary Clinton, and Loretta Lynch.
  10. Reince Priebus “resigns” as White House Chief of Staff. Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly takes his place. We learn this via Twitter. This leaves Trump with no real close relationships with high-profile members of the GOP. It also leaves him with an opening at DHS.
  11. Betsy DeVos sits on thousands of applications for debt relief from students defrauded by for-profit universities. She’s delayed Obama’s debt relief program, while thousands of people owe money for promises that were never delivered.
  12. Kellyanne Conway says Trump really does believe that Obama wiretapped him and that there were millions of undocumented immigrants who voted for Hillary (giving her the popular vote though he doesn’t think she won the popular vote).
  13. Six hours after pre-orders are announced for Hillary Clinton’s new book, it hit number 1 on Amazon.
  14. Interesting note: Behind the scenes, Marco Rubio maintains a database of political prisoners and human rights victims, He advocates for them generally through the state department and sometimes directly through world leaders.
  15. An aide to Debbie Wasserman Schultz is arrested for bank fraud. This is part of a bigger investigation, so I’m sure there’s more to come.
  16. Tillerson takes a little time off.
  17. Rick Perry is duped into taking a phone interview with some Russian comedians.
  18. Career civil servants in the Department of Energy say they aren’t getting any direction or policy information, and no one is sharing information with them. Nothing is getting done.

Polls:

  1. 49% of those who voted for Trump still believe he won the popular vote. Only 40% believe Clinton did.
  2. 58% of Americans think transgender troops should be able to serve in the military.
  3. Trump averages higher than 50% approval ratings in these states: West Virginia (60% approval), North Dakota (59%), South Dakota (57%), Montana (56%), Wyoming (56%), Alabama (55%), Oklahoma (54%), Kansas (53%), Kentucky (53%), Arkansas (53%), and Idaho (53%).
  4. Americans are divided over whether Trump should be removed from office 42% to 42%.

Political Quotes:

  1. Jeff Flake, Republican Senator from Arizona, talking about the baseball field shooting that left Scalise in the hospital:
    “The deterioration of political discourse in general aids this. When we ascribe motives to our opponents, that they are evil, then we’ve almost given license to extreme behavior.”

Week 26 in Trump

Posted on July 24, 2017 in Politics, Trump

Since we’re at the half-year mark, here’s a status update courtesy of Politico (plus a few extra):

  • Healthcare: Stalled for now, likely dead.
  • Infrastructure: This has moved to low place on the totem pole, with no signs of movement.
  • Tax Reform: Uncertain. Congress can’t do much with this until they pass a 2018 budget, which conservatives are already talking about killing.
  • Government Spending/Debt Ceiling: Behind. This needs to get done by the end of September.
  • The Wall: Stalled with the spending bill and budget, though companies are beginning soil tests to figure out the required structure of the wall.
  • Immigration: The ban is in place, sort of. It’s unclear where they are on analyzing and updating the vetting process.
  • ISIS: A strategy just came out that is very similar to Obama’s.
  • Supreme Court: A conservative judge, Gorsuch, is firmly in place.
  • Climate: This is probably where the most progress has been, though states and cities are able to mitigate. Trump announced our withdrawal from the Paris accord, and Congress has rescinded a gazillion environmental protections. Zinke is looking at which national monument designations he can remove or shrink. Also, the cabinet is full of global warming deniers. So things aren’t looking so great for the environment.

Russia:

  1. Revelations from the Russia/Trump Jr. meeting reveal that one of Russia’s goals in all this was to get the Magnitsky act repealed (in other words, sanctions).
  2. Robert Mueller asks the White House to keep all documents around the above meeting.
  3. Both Manafort and Trump Jr. make a deal with congressional committees to avoid a public hearing and instead to testify privately.
  4. Two weeks before Kushner released the emails about the meeting, the Trump reelection campaign paid $50,000 to Kushner’s attorney.
  5. It turns out Trump had a second meeting with Putin after their official 2 1/4 hour official meeting; this one was informal and lasted around an hour. The meeting was at a dinner at the G20, and the only other person speaking with them was Putin’s interpreter (though the other leaders and diplomats were around).
  6. Trump says he and Putin talked about adoptions, which we now know is code word for sanctions.
  7. Trump says he wouldn’t have nominated Jeff Sessions if he would’ve known he was going to recuse himself from the Russia investigation.
  8. Trump warns Mueller against expanding the scope of his investigation to include financial and business transactions. The next day, we learn that Mueller is investigating business and real estate transactions between Russia and Trump businesses and associates.
  9. Trump’s team of lawyers look into ways to undermine Mueller and his investigation, as surrogates make the talk show rounds to throw doubt on both.
  10. Trump wonders if he can pardon his family and even himself. His lawyers are looking into it. There’s no real precedent, though documents from Nixon’s hearings could provide some guidance.
  11. He later asserts that he can pardon himself, saying he has the complete power to pardon his family, aides, and himself.
  12. The Senate Intelligence Committee thinks the Trump campaign digital team might have assisted Russians by boosting and helping to target fake stories. They’re investigating, but not likely to get help from companies like Facebook.
  13. Manafort’s troubles keep growing. Mueller is investigating him for possible money laundering involving contacts in Russia and the Ukraine, and before joining the Trump campaign he was millions in debt to pro-Russia interests.
  14. Trump’s personal lawyer, Mark Kasowitz, steps down as head of the legal team. The legal team’s spokesman, Mark Corallo, quits over disagreements about smearing Mueller and over all the infighting in the White House.
  15. After Jeff Sessions denied any meetings with Russian operatives, we learn that he did meet with their ambassador to the U.S. After Sessions admitted to that meeting but denied they spoke about campaign or policy issues, intelligence intercepts show that they did indeed talk about such things (according to the ambassador).
  16. The House finally reaches agreement on a Russia sanctions bill that would require congressional approval to lift sanctions on Russia.
  17. Susan Rice meets with the Senate Intelligence Committee, likely around unmasking U.S. names in intercepts.
  18. In case you were wondering, the special investigation into Bill Clinton headed by Kenneth Starr concluded that not even the president is above the law and therefore can be prosecuted. So yes, Trump could be prosecuted if Mueller’s investigation finds any illegal activity.

Courts/Justice:

  1. Jeff Sessions reverses a policy that made it harder for local law enforcement to confiscate property of people who are merely suspected of a crime. Not charged, not indicted, not found guilty. Just suspected.
  2. The Senate confirms John K Bush to a lifetime appointment to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He once compared abortion with slavery, saying they are “the two greatest tragedies in our country.”

Healthcare:

  1. Two more senators oppose the revised healthcare bill and it is effectively dead.
  2. In [what I thought was] a last-ditch effort, Mitch McConnell tries to push for a repeal-only bill that would delay actual repeal for two years (that is, after next year’s midterm elections). But it would repeal the mandate immediately, causing turmoil in the marketplaces. This doesn’t fly either.
  3. This is similar to a plan the Republicans passed in 2015 under reconciliation, but they knew Obama would veto it. That they can’t pass it now makes me think they were bluffing the last times they tried to repeal it in full or in part.
  4. Republicans play with a plan to stop supporting portions of the ACA to make it fail. This throws a curve ball into the insurance markets, so we can expect higher costs and fewer choices next year. Trump alternatively supports and rejects this.
  5. Trump hosts Republicans for lunch to talk healthcare, telling them they should work on repeal through the August recess. He says every American should have a good health care plan, apparently not understanding that repealing the ACA leaves us with no plan. He also issued not-so-thinly veiled threats to Senators who are holding out.
  6. If the senate actually repeals the ACA without any replacement, the CBO estimates that 32 million more people will be uninsured.
  7. In an interview Trump says, “Because you are basically saying from the moment the insurance, you’re 21 years old, you start working and you’re paying $12 a year for insurance, and by the time you’re 70, you get a nice plan.” TWELVE DOLLARS? Try $12,000, if you’re lucky. This possibly explains the disconnect between the Republican plan and the actual reality of insurance. A Republican defended him saying he doesn’t need to know every detail. Some think he’s mixing up health insurance with an ad for life insurance that plays on Fox.
  8. The Department of Health and Human Services releases a fake score of Ted Cruz’s amendment to the healthcare bill. The CBO has had trouble scoring it because Cruz’s office won’t respond to questions.
  9. Legal experts request an investigation into the Department of Health and Human Services’ use of ACA funds to create a propaganda campaign against the ACA. They allege that HHS used funds designated to provide helpful information about the ACA. Some of the videos they produced highlighted personal stories caused by states not accepting the Medicaid expansion, and some caused by misunderstanding patient rights under the law.
  10. The Trump administration ends ACA contracts that helped shoppers get insurance through the exchanges. This, along with shortening the sign-up period, minimizing information campaigns, and creating anti-ACA propaganda, indicates that they are ready to force this ship to sink.
  11. But then, this effort just won’t die. By the end of the week, McConnell is still looking to pull something together for a vote. Senate Republicans plan a vote on whether to begin debate on a bill. Though there is confusion over which bill is actually going to be up for a vote.
  12. Democrats say certain wording in the bill needs to be removed because it doesn’t comply with reconciliation rules… but how do they know which bill they’re voting on?
  13. Trump says the healthcare bill will put money in the pockets of middle- and low-income earners, but the $700 billion in cuts will likely go mostly to the most wealthy.

International:

  1. Trump recertifies the Iran nuclear deal after a few hours of arguing with his national security advisors. This needs to be recertified every 90 days.
  2. He then puts together a group of White House staffers to come up with reasons not to recertify the Iran nuclear deal when it comes up next time around, bypassing the State Department. And apparently not judging it on what actually goes down over the next three months.
  3. Trump ends the CIA’s ongoing program to arm and train Syrian rebels fighting Assad, something Russia’s been wanting for a while.
  4. The EU threatens to remove Poland’s EU voting rights in response to Poland’s government’s plans to put the judiciary branch under full political control.
  5. Tillerson shuts down the war crimes office of the State Department.
  6. Trump’s nominee to head the Import-Export Bank has previously said he’d like to shut it down. No surprise here, based on recent experience.
  7. Trump nominates Jon Huntsman as ambassador to Russia.
  8. A strategy document outlining the Trump administration’s approach to defeating ISIS indicates that they plan to pretty much carry on with Obama’s approach without having learned from his errors.
  9. The administration puts the kibosh on travel to North Korea.

Legislation/Congress:

  1. House Republicans working on the defense spending bill remove an amendment that would have repealed the 2001 Authorization of War. The amendment had bipartisan support in the Appropriations Committee.
  2. Texas Governor Greg Abbott calls a special session of Senate to push through Republican initiatives, including a bathroom bill, abortion bills, limits on local ordinances, school vouchers, voter fraud investigations, and restricting union dues, among other issues. This draws community protests and criticism from local officials.
  3. The House Appropriations Committee approves the destruction of all remaining wild mustangs in the U.S.
  4. Representative Steve Cohen of Tennessee files a no-confidence resolution against Trump, citing 88 reasons he’s unfit for office. This will not pass the House.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. Six months later… When immigrants take the oath of citizenship, the welcome letter in their citizenship packet is still signed by Obama.
  2. The Supreme Court upholds a Hawaii judge’s ruling that extended family is exempted from the travel ban, so grandparents, nieces, and other relatives of U.S. residents can enter the country. However, the court struck down an exemption for certain refugees.
  3. Kim Davis’s refusal to issue marriages licenses to same-sex couples ends up costing Kentucky $224,000 in legal fees and costs.

Climate/EPA:

  1. California passed a bipartisan bill to extend the state’s cap-and-trade program. Far-left says it doesn’t go far enough; far-right says it’s too restrictive on businesses.
  2. The Army Corps of engineers says it’ll need the rest of 2017 to perform a court-ordered environmental review of DAPL. They’re suing to keep the pipeline running during the review.
  3. A study ordered by Energy Secretary Rick Perry showed that, contrary to Perry’s claims, solar and wind power don’t reduce the reliability of the electric grid. In fact, the power grid is more reliable today than it’s ever been.

Budget/Economy:

  1. It’s Made in America week, but Homeland Security allows an additional 15,000 H-2B visas (for low-wage, foreign workers). The reasoning is that these workers help American businesses to prosper.
  2. As Trump pushes Made in America week, the administration also tries to defund a Labor Department agency that helps American workers compete fairly in the global market.
  3. The Trump administration announces their NAFTA objectives, which so far mostly seem to be around tougher enforcements. Trump says that the current deal is good for farmers and ranchers, but maintains that it is bad for manufacturing.
  4. The House releases a budget plan this week that increases defense spending more than Trump’s plan, cuts domestic spending less, and assumes a lower rate of growth. It also pushes options for private plans in place of Medicare.
  5. At the same time, the Senate Appropriations Committee announces funding levels that are relatively in line with the current levels, giving House moderates more ammunition.
  6. The House budget bill pretty much cancels trumps budget provisions for school choice vouchers.
  7. Mexico signs a trade deal with Brazil, which means the U.S. is no longer their sole provider of corn. They’re working on another deal with Argentina. U.S. corn sales to Mexico are already down 7% this year.
  8. Canada finalized a trade deal with the EU that will cut into U.S. sales of processed goods to Canada.
  9. The U.S. signs a deal with China that’s been decades in the making and that will allow the U.S. to sell rice to China.
  10. Infrastructure, which IMO is the one thing that might get bipartisan agreement, is stuck behind other legislative issues, including the budget, the debt ceiling, tax reform, and immigration laws. It’s not looking like it’ll happen anytime soon.

Elections:

  1. A South Carolina State Election Commission report says there were about 150,000 attempts to hack into their voter registration system on Election Day last year.
  2. The Illinois State Board of Elections says they were being hit by hacking attempts 5 times per second, 24/7, from late June to mid-August 2016. Hackers accessed around 90,000 voter records.
  3. The Election Integrity Commission holds its first meeting. Commission member Hans von Spakovsky, a senior fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation who is actively looking for massive voter fraud, hands out copies of his voter fraud database. To put voter fraud in perspective, the database contains around 1,000 prosecuted cases over the past 15 years. That’s fewer than 70 cases a year out of more than 100,000,000 votes (so conservatively, a .00007% incidence). A quick check of his database shows that several of those cases were by candidates, not voters, so the rate of actual voter fraud is even lower than that.
  4. Cory Booker introduces a bill to repeal Trumps executive order on the voter fraud commission and to block federal funds from being used for it.
  5. Obama’s cybersecurity team had a plan in place to minimize damage caused by any last-minute cyber attack efforts by the Russians on election day.

Miscellaneous:

  1. Sean Spicer resigns upon Trump’s hiring of Anthony Scaramucci as communications director. Scaramucci is the senior vice president and chief strategy officer at the Export-Import Bank.
  2. Scarmaucci’s hiring took most everyone in the White House by surprise.
  3. Scaramucci starts deleting old tweets and social media posts that spoke against Trump or the RNC. At least he’s being transparent about it. He announced he was doing it saying his views have evolved, after which social media users furiously comb through and save his old posts. The internet is forever folks.
  4. And no wonder he’s doing this. He “called Hillary Clinton incredibly competent and appeared to be at odds with his new boss on issues such as gun control, climate change, Islam and illegal immigration …”
  5. Doctors diagnose John McCain with aggressive brain cancer, the same one that both Ted Kennedy and Beau Biden had.
  6. Trump says Akie Abe, the wife of China’s prime minister, didn’t talk to him at the G20 dinner because she doesn’t speak any English. But she speaks it pretty well.
  7. In areas of Texas where Planned Parenthood facilities closed and abstinence-only sex ed is taught, the teen abortion rate has increased 3%. Meanwhile, the nationwide trend has been decreasing.
  8. Trump nominates Sam Clovis as head of science at the USDA. Clovis is a former radio talk show host who doesn’t have a background in science. This, even though the role is only available to scientists according to congressional rules. He also denies anthropogenic global warming.
  9. As a way to address problems around the opioid epidemic, a judge gives Tennessee inmates an option: early release or long-term contraception (vasectomy for men or contraceptive implant for women).
  10. Jared Kushner failed to disclose over 70 assets on his initial financial disclosure. He’s updated the disclosure over 30 times since March. This affects Ivanka as well as the disclosure includes family members.
  11. An interesting legal battle is brewing between federal agencies over ExxonMobil’s alleged violation of Russia sanctions. The violation occurred in 2014 under the helm of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and Exxon was fined $2 million. In response, Exxon named Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin in a legal complaint.
  12. Tillerson hires consulting companies Deloitte and Insigniam to help with the State Department reorganization.
  13. New Hampshire becomes the 22nd state to legalize pot.
  14. One reason for the slowdown in the vetting process for Trump’s nominees is that we’ve never had so many nominees with such complex financial holdings and conflicts of interest. Several of them dropped out because they got frustrated with having to comply with the ethics rules.

Polls:

  1. Only 45% of Republicans believe that Donald Trump Jr. met with a Russian lawyer during the elections. Even though he not only said he met with Russians to get dirt on Hillary, but also tweeted out the entire email thread.
  2. A Bloomberg poll finds that 61% of Americans think we’re headed in the wrong direction, and 55% view Trump unfavorably.
  3. Trump’s approval is at 36%, lower than any other president at this time. His disapproval rating in 59%.

Stupid Things Politicians Say:

  1. OK. This isn’t really stupid, just something to think about. Ben Carson says:
    “Let me put it this way. I’m glad that Trump is drawing all the fire so I can get stuff done.”
    So maybe we should be paying more attention to what the federal departments and agencies are actually doing instead of to what Trump isn’t getting done.

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.

Week 23 in Trump

Posted on July 3, 2017 in Politics, Trump

With friends like these… as the healthcare battle heats up, Republicans start turning on their own, with a GOP PAC pushing ads against holdout senators and major donors threatening to shut their purses until they start seeing some action.

After the PAC attack on Dean Heller, Josh Holmes, Mr. McConnell’s former chief of staff, said, “That the White House is asking people to take a tough vote and then running ads against members while we’re still in negotiations is so dumb it’s amazing we even have to have the conversation.”

Here’s what happened this week in Trump:

Russia:

  1. Trump remains quiet about what he plans to do to prevent Russian interference in our elections in the future. He has never asked Comey how to stop a future cyber/disinformation attack, and Jeff Sessions has never received a classified briefing on the issue.
  2. Paul Manafort reveals that his firm received over $17 million from the Ukraine’s Party of Regions, which is affiliated with the Kremlin. He didn’t reveal this at the time it happened, which is required by law.
  3. Matt Tait, a security consultant, says that Peter Smith, a Republican opposition researcher, recruited him to authenticate the veracity of some hacked emails that were claimed to come from Clinton’s private server. He never completed the task and the emails seem to have been a hoax, but…
  4. It turns out that Smith claimed to represent Michael Flynn in an effort to find emails that Clinton deleted hoping to use them against her in the election. Smith also supported Flynn in his effort to establish relations with Russian officials. Smith spoke to the Wall Street Journal about this story 10 days before he died on May 14 (at age 81, no foul play suspected). Interesting fact: Smith funded the troopergate investigation into Clinton, bankrolled David Bock to smear Clinton, and tried to find a woman who would initiate a paternity suit against Clinton.
  5. Tait says he received a recruitment document from Smith listing these senior officials of the Trump campaign or staff: Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Sam Clovis, Lt. Gen. Flynn, and Lisa Nelson.
  6. The document also lists a company Smith had set up, KLS Research, to avoid campaign reporting. It’s not clear who all was involved in that.
  7. U.S. intelligence reports that Russian hackers were looking for an intermediary through which they could get emails to Flynn last year, which fits into the role Smith was playing.

Courts/Justice:

  1. The Supreme Court rules that state grants that are available to nonprofits can’t be denied to a church-run school. This ruling applied specifically to playground safety, but it opens the door for taxpayers to provide funds to religious organizations.
  2. The Supreme Court says they’ll hear the gay wedding cake case (the one where some business owners want it to be legal to discriminate against gay couples).
  3. The compliance counsel at the DOJ, Hui Chen, resigns saying that the administration doesn’t live up to the standards she’s supposed to be enforcing in the business world.

Healthcare:

  1. After a group aligned with Trump and Pence went after Nevada Senator Dean Heller last week for his refusal to support the healthcare bill, Mitch McConnell called the White House to complain, calling the attack “beyond stupid.” The group pulls the ad campaign.
  2. The CBO scores the Senate’s healthcare plan. They estimate that 22 million Americans will lose healthcare coverage over the next decade, just slightly better then the 23 million that would lose it under the House plan. The CBO also estimates that premiums would rise before falling to less than under the ACA, out-of-pocket costs would increase, and there would be fewer covered benefits. But hey, we’ll save about $320 billion over 10 years.
  3. Senate republicans add a provision to their bill that would prevent someone with a lapse in coverage from receiving coverage for 6 months.
  4. Kellyanne Conway says people who lose Medicaid should look into getting jobs. Nearly 70% of able recipients already do work, but maybe we could find jobs for some of those folks in nursing homes?
  5. Despite continual promises that, no matter what, a vote will be held on the healthcare bill, Mitch McConnell abruptly announces that he’s postponing the vote until after the July 4 recess. Earlier he had warned that if the repeal doesn’t get done this week, the GOP would lose all leverage and be forced to compromise with Democrats.
  6. Trump invites all Republican senators to the White House for a meeting, during which he says “This will be great if we get it done. And if we don’t get it done, it’s just going to be something that we’re not going to like. And that’s OK, and I understand that very well.”
  7. After the meeting, some senators express that they don’t think Trump understands the bill and that Trump seemed surprised that some are calling it a tax break for the rich.
  8. A bipartisan group of governors who have been conspiring quietly on blocking the healthcare bill come out strongly against it this week. When Republican senators come home for July recess, these governors push back hard.
  9. But never ones to give up hope, GOP senators are working behind the scenes to change the bill enough to bring on more votes. Expect this to continue throughout the recess.
  10. While the hardliners want to cut more money from the healthcare bill, Trump says in a speech this week, “Add some money to it!”
  11. Trump later says they should just repeal the ACA and replace it at a later date. This is concerning because they don’t have anything they can agree on after 6 years of wanting it, and not having a replacement will knock even more people off insurance.
  12. The White House later denies that Trump has changed his mind on this.
  13. Forty economists write a letter to McConnell saying that the healthcare bill is a giant step in the wrong direction.
  14. Educators and school leaders come out against the healthcare bill, especially in depressed areas where the school nurse and therapists are reimbursed through Medicaid and tools are provided for students with special needs.

International:

  1. French President Macron invites Trump to France for Bastille Day.
  2. Trump looks at cracking down on Pakistani militants launching attacks on neighboring Afghanistan, including drone strikes and withholding aid from Pakistan.
  3. Trump is behind on getting foreign ambassadors nominated and confirmed. His are taking an average of 77 days, Obama’s took 26 days, and Bush’s took 11 days. The holdup seems to be in his formal submissions for approval.
  4. The CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation expresses concerns over the massive foreign aid cuts in Trump’s budget (which is less than 1% of our budget). A large amount of global progress in health and development is because of us. Private philanthropy can’t make up for it. The cuts would:
    • Make it harder for NGOs to eradicate diseases (the ebola outbreak is an example of how this affects us at home).
    • Make it harder to help women with reproductive health and choice.
    • Make it harder for President Bush’s PEPFAR program to prevent AIDs. In countries where PEPFAR is established, political instability has dropped 40%.
  5. The House Appropriations Committee approves an amendment that would revoke the president’s war authority, requiring congressional approval. It would repeal the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) bill passed in response to 9/11. Representative Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) has been trying to get this passed for years.
  6. The U.S. plans a $1.42 billion arms deal with Taiwan, sure to invoke a reaction from China.
  7. Tillerson and Mattis continue to work behind the scenes to find a solution to the stand-off in the Mideast between Qatar and four other nations. They are still at odds with Trump and Kushner on this because Qatar is actually a strategic ally for us.
  8. The UN agrees to a $570 million budget cut for its peacekeeping missions. The administration had fought for even larger cuts.

Legislation:

  1. The House passes two bills that target undocumented immigrants. Kate’s Law increases maximum penalties for deported immigrants who repeatedly try to enter the U.S. The No Sanctuary for Criminals Act eliminates federal grants for sanctuary cities and allows victims of crimes by undocumented immigrants sue those cities.
  2. Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin signs HB 128 into law, letting schools teach bible classes. No word on whether the Quran and Bhagavad Gita are also allowed.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. The Supreme Court agrees to hear the travel ban in the next session, but reinstates parts of it with strict guidelines. The ban won’t affect anyone with a bona fide relationship with an entity in the U.S. People can come here for family, work, school, and so on. The court agrees to hear it in October, by which point it could be moot. That’s plenty of time for the administration to review it’s vetting policies. For an idea of how the justices feel about immigration and discrimination, Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch all would have reinstated the ban in its entirety.
  2. The administration issues guidelines for implementing the ban. People coming from the banned countries must have work, school, or close family ties—extended family (like grandparents, aunts and uncles, or nieces and nephews) does not count. Anyone with legal documents should be allowed in. Refugees are banned for 120 days. Somehow a step-sibling is defined as closer than a grandparent.
  3. Khaled Almilaji is a renowned Syrian doctor who ran a campaign to vaccinate 1.4 million Syrian children. Because of the ban, he gives up on returning to the U.S., opting for Canada instead.
  4. The Supreme Court overturns an Arkansas court and says that Arkansas discriminated against a lesbian couple by forcing them to go to court to get both women’s names on their child’s birth certificate. Under Arkansas law, a woman’s husband is listed as the father even if he’s not the biological father; gay couples want the same treatment.
  5. About a thousand military recruits are waiting for basic training but had their visas expire during their wait, leaving them undocumented. They were recruited for a fast-track citizenship program for their medical and language skills.
  6. The Texas Supreme Court rules against government-sponsored spousal benefit requirements for same-sex marriages. See you in the Supreme Court, I’m sure.
  7. Trump appoints Bethany Kozma, an anti-transgender activist, to the office of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment.
  8. The administration disbands the White House Council on Women and Girls.
  9. Jim Mattis delays a plan to allow transgender recruits in the military.
  10. June ends with no recognition of Pride Month from White House.
  11. White House aide Stephen Miller pushes Rex Tillerson to get tougher on immigration, which just seems to piss Tillerson off.

Climate/EPA:

  1. Emails show that the EPA’s chief of staff pressured one of the agency’s top scientists to change her testimony in a congressional hearing to downplay the firing of 57 scientific advisors. Scientists think the firings are evidence of the weakened role of science in the Trump administration. “The Board of Scientific Counselors had 68 members two months ago. It will have 11 come Sept. 1,” Dr. Swackhamer said. “They’ve essentially suspended scientific activities by ending these terms. We have no meetings scheduled, no bodies to do the work.”
  2. The House Science Committee majority sends daily emails to members and staff. This isn’t new, but now the emails include links to conservative media that deny global warming, including Breitbart, the Daily Mail, and Koch media sources like the Washington Free Beacon and the Daily Caller.
  3. Per Trump’s executive order, Scott Pruitt delivers a proposal to rescind Obama’s Waters of the United States (Wotus) protections. This will likely be a long legal battle. Wotus adds onto the Clean Water Act by protecting not only large bodies of water, but also smaller waterways that feed into them. The reversal removes protections from one-third of U.S. drinking water, and the administration openly admits it’s a business decision.
  4. Less than a month after meeting with the CEO of Dow Chemical, Scott Pruitt announces that the EPA would no longer pursue a ban on a Dow pesticide known to impact the development of brains of fetuses and infants.
  5. It looks like Rick Perry is going to get his wish for a red-team, blue-team climate study, which pits scientists with opposing views against each other basically trying to poke holes in the other’s research. Scott Pruitt plans to launch a critique of climate science with the goal of challenging mainstream climate science. Fingers crossed that they’ll do this right.
  6. Florida Governor Rick Scott sign HB 989, which lets Floridians object to specific teaching tools. This bill is widely regarded to be aimed at global warming and evolution. Anybody can complain, even if they don’t have a child in school, and a hearing officer must review each complaint.
  7. A coal power plant in central Mississippi gives up on it’s efforts to create clean coal power by capturing emissions. The technology isn’t working, so they plan to burn natural gas instead.

Budget/Economy:

  1. Janet Yellen says she doesn’t expect another major financial crisis in her lifetime, thanks to the consumer protections written into the banking reforms under Obama. She adds that unwinding those reforms would be a bad thing. Also that same day I got an email from Paul Ryan touting the House bill that reverses some of those banking reforms…
  2. The fight over tax reform is on in the House, upending a tentative agreement that would’ve initiated the process of tax reform and causing the budget committee to cancel their work this week.
  3. The dollar falls to 12-month low against the euro.
  4. Some Republican-dominated states are starting to approve significant tax increases after working for years under the theory that lower taxes lead to a stronger economy. Notably Kansas, South Carolina, and Tennessee are raising taxes to meet revenue requirements. This could pose a challenge to tax reform at the federal level.

Elections:

  1. Trump’s voter fraud commission asks states to provide detailed information about every voter in their systems, including addresses, 10-year voting histories, party registrations, and the last four digits of SSNs. This commission is headed by Mike Pence and Kris Kobach, who has written some of the harshest and most litigated voter suppression laws.
  2. While some states merely express concern about the request, at least 24 say they will not comply. Primary concerns are constitutionality, privacy, what the commission plans to do with the data, and how the data will be protected from Russian hackers.
  3. Trump wonders what these states are trying to hide.
  4. Kobach tried to implement a smaller version of this database in Kansas, and has been sued repeatedly for it and even fined in the process.
  5. Kobach promises to make some of the collected information public, though not the most sensitive information.
  6. The commission told states to send the information to an unsecured email address.
  7. And finally, Mike Pence’s state of Indiana says they won’t comply, and Kobach announces that his own state, Kansas, won’t comply with the request. WTF??

Miscellaneous:

  1. The AP releases an analysis showing how partisan gerrymandering has benefited the GOP, finding that Republicans widened or retained power because of the district lines they drew. The AP looked at all 435 House races and about 4,700 state seats. Four times as many states have Republican skewed districts than Democratic ones.
  2. Sean Spicer continues to ban live broadcasts and video recordings of the daily briefings.
  3. Europe gets hit with another ransomware attack called Petya.
  4. Time magazine finds that fake covers featuring Trump are hanging in many of his country clubs. They ask the Trump Organization to remove them all.
  5. Trump’s lawyer, Jay Sekalow, is accused of filtering millions from his charity to his family and himself.
  6. Spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders accuses the media of being fake news while telling them to watch a video that might be fake news. In a briefing, she denounced the media (to a room full of the media) for producing fake news, using CNN’s recent retraction as an example AND telling journalists to watch a video by the discredited James O’Keefe as proof, though with the caveat ″whether it’s accurate or not I don’t know…″ Playboy reporter Brian Karem unloaded on her for inflaming a room full of journalists who’re just trying to get the story right while the White House continues to lie to them (and can I say, that was a beautiful moment).
  7. Tillerson blows up—I mean really blows up—at a high-level aide, apparently from building frustration about not being able to staff up his department because of White House oversight.
  8. Trump holds a fundraiser for his re-election campaign in 3 years at his own hotel.
  9. Trump continues to call Democrats on the Hill obstructionists, even though they tried working with him at first and they’ve offered to work together on healthcare. Everyone probably could’ve worked together on an infrastructure bill, but that good will is gone now.
  10. Trump goes on a bizarre Twitter rant where he says Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski (of Morning Joe) tried to get into Mar-a-Lago last winter and that Mika was bleeding from a bad facelift.
  11. This results in a unified, bipartisan chorus of protests that the tweets went too far…from pretty much everybody except Sarah Huckabee Sanders who defended the tweet.
  12. Then Joe and Mika accuse White House staff members of trying to blackmail them by promising to stop a negative story about Mika in the Enquirer if they apologized to Trump for their coverage of him.
  13. While the majority of Democrats are counseling against talk of impeachment, a group of House Democrats push a bill that would create a commission to investigate Trump and, if applicable, use the 25th amendment to remove Trump from office.
  14. Ivanka Trump, senior advisor to the president, says she tries to stay out of politics.
  15. The Inspector General clears the National Park Service of charges that they altered pictures of the sizes of crowds at Trump’s and Obama’s inaugurations. Whew. I was worried.
  16. Trump reportedly watches five hours of TV per day.
  17. The birth rate for teenage girls dropped 67% from 1991 to last year. It’s now at an all-time low and doctors point to knowledge of and access to contraceptives.
  18. Trump sends federal agents to help Chicago deal with its crime problem.
  19. Jason Chaffetz’ last day as a representative is this week. I don’t understand at all why he quit 6 months into his term.
  20. Impeachment marches and counter protests are held across the country.
  21. The last staffers of the science division at the White House leave this week. They were charged with policy issues like STEM education, biotechnology, and crisis response.
  22. Public beaches in New Jersey are closed Sunday due to a budget impasse. Chris Christie takes his family to the beach while all other beach goers are turned away.

Polls:

  1. The annual Pew Research Global Attitudes survey shows that 22% of people outside the U.S. have confidence that Trump will do the right thing, compared with 64% who had confidence in Obama at the same stage of his presidency. Trump rated higher than Obama in only 2 of the 37 countries polled: Russia and Israel.
  2. 74% in the Pew survey don’t trust Trump to do the right thing versus 59% who think the same of Putin.
  3. The survey also finds that U.S. favorability abroad has dropped from 64% to 49% under Trump.