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 If DACA is repealed, he could be deported.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.

2. Trump refuses to call Russia a security threat.
3. The Kremlin confirms that Trump’s lawyer requested help from them with the stalled Trump Tower project.
4. Representative Ron DeSantis (R-FL) issues a proposal to reduce funding for the Mueller investigation.
5. The IRS Office of Special Investigations is helping Mueller in the Russia investigation.
6. Donald Trump Jr. agrees to testify in closed-door congressional hearings.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. Mueller coordinates with NY State Attorney Eric Schneiderman to share evidence on Manafort’s potential financial crimes.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.