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.

Climate/EPA:

1. The DC court of appeals rules that the EPA must enforce the Obama rules limiting methane emissions for gas and oil drilling.
2. The scientific brain drain begins as scientists, particularly climate scientists, look for better opportunities abroad.
3. A senior EPA official, Elizabeth Southerland, quits, writing a scathing letter in which she criticizes the new “myth over truth” environment and the new direction on repealing and revising environmental protections.
4. Homeland Security plans to waive the environmental review requirements for border wall projects, even though the wall is slated to go through protected wildernesses (not to mention people’s backyards).
5. After announcing in June that he would delay Obama’s emissions standards for ozone pollutants, Scott Pruitt announces he won’t delay them after all. This comes the day after he was sued by 15 states for trying to delay them.
6. The Department of the Interior moves to open federal lands to mining for natural resources. Lawsuits are already being files against the new policies.

Budget/Economy:

1. The International Monetary Fund downgrades the economic growth forecast from 2.3% in 2017 and 2.5% in 2018 to just 2.1% growth in both years. They say it’s because of the chaos and uncertainty coming from the White House.
2. The conservative group American Action Network plans to spend up to $20 million to promote their version of tax reform.
3. Trump considers trade measures that will force China to crack down on intellectual property theft and will lift requirements for U.S. companies to share technologies in order to gain access to Chinese markets.
4. The Social Security Administration offers buyouts to all eligible employees, which is about 1/4 of their staff. There’s no limit to the number who can accept.
5. Mitch McConnell plans to use reconciliation to pass their tax reform bill, which would let them bypass Democrats completely.
6. Farmers and ranchers start to feel the results of pulling out of the TPP, which would have opened new markets to export agricultural products. Our leaving the pact let other food exporters, like Australia and the EU, negotiate new trade deals that we’re missing out on.
7. Regulatory penalties against Wall Street firms are down nearly 2/3 in the first 6 months of this year compared to last. Either they’re behaving better or nobody’s watching them.

Elections:

1. While West Virginians elected a Democrat as governor, just six months later, Governor Jim Justice announces at a Trump rally that he’s switching to Republican. He was originally a Republican, then an Independent, then a Democrat, and now he’s full circle. The Democratic Governors Association spent $1.5 million on his election campaign.
2. Trump’s voting commission can’t agree on their goal. Trump appointees want to focus on voter fraud, which they say is rampant. Other members say voter fraud isn’t rampant and they want to upgrade election machines and encourage registration and voting.

Miscellaneous:

1. John Kelly comes in as Chief of Staff and Anthony Scaramucci is outta there. After just 10 days.
2. Kelly changes things around, and now Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, and Steve Bannon report to him. There is no more open door policy for the president.
3. The Senate confirms Christopher Wray to the FBI director position vacated by Comey.
   Trump calls the White House “a real dump” (corroborated by eight sources). Most presidents have reverence and respect for their temporary home.
4. Trump says the Boy Scouts of America called him to say his was “the greatest speech that was ever made to them.” The Boy Scouts said no such call occurred.
5. Trump also says the BSA gave him a standing ovation the whole time he spoke. Of course they did–they were standing in a field with no seats. Sarah Huckabee Sanders admits the call never happened, but also says it wasn’t a lie.
6. Betsey DeVos receives bipartisan backlash over her plan to consolidate government loan collection to just one company. She ends up dropping the plan.
7. The Department of Education threatens to not honor the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, in which student loans are forgiven in return for working with the government or other qualifying positions. The program began a decade ago and would just be coming to fruition for the initial takers. These people made life-binding decisions to take these jobs based on the promise of forgiveness, possibly for nothing.
8. Interns leak a recording of a meeting with Jared Kushner that began with a warning not to record or leak this meeting.
9. Jeff Flake publishes a book decrying the lost GOP. He’s been talking about what the Republicans are doing wrong, including buying into the hyperbole about Democrats, Obama, and Clinton; not calling out Trump; and falling into protectionism and nativism.
10. A dispute between Trump Organization and the Secret Service leads the Secret Service to move their command center from the unit below Trump’s in Trump Tower to a trailer on the sidewalk.
11. The FEC releases a report concluding that Trump hired actors for his candidacy announcement (which Trump denies), that he didn’t report it to the FEC, and that he didn’t pay the actors for four months. He only paid them after they reported him to the FEC.
12. The Senate confirms dozens of Trump’s non-controversial nominees before leaving for August recess.
13. Trump should never have been so critical of Obama’s leisure time. Trump has taken 3x more leisure days than Obama had at this point. Trump starts a 17-day working vacation at his Bedminster golf club while the White House is being renovated. I guess it’s needed since it’s such a dump.
14. Congress leaves for it’s longest recess of the year, giving both them and their constituents a break and some time to regroup.
15. Federal prosecutors issue subpoenas to the Kushner family business for using a program that traded Chinese investments for immigration status.
16. Trump holds yet another rally in West Virginia, where he again attacks the Russia investigation.
17. John Kelly frees up H.R. McMaster to finally make the staffing changes he wants, leading to a smear campaign against Kelly by alt-right nationalist groups.
18. Rumors swirl about Republican shadow governments plotting for 2020 elections, but for now they’re just rumors. Conservative William Kristol talks about creating a ’Committee Not to Renominate the President.’
19. Fox suspends host Eric Bolling while investigating him on accusations of sexual harassment.

Polls:

1. The latest poll aggregator from Nate Silver’s 538 gives Trump a new low, with 37.8% approving of his performance. To compare this with my previous Quinnipiac poll numbers, the Quinnipiac poll has him at a 33% approval rating.
2. 64% of Americans want congress to fix the ACA and move on from healthcare.