Week 18:
What was reported?
- Trump’s new Chief of Staff John Kelly purged the clearly defective new communications director and all of this had taken place shortly after the president insisted earlier in the day via Twitter that there was no “chaos” in his administration.
- It was found that the President himself directed what was his son’s initial and deceptive response about the meeting with the Russian lawyer, refusing to follow advice that his son be honest about it all. Although Trump’s lawyers stated that there was no input from the president on his son’s statement, his new press secretary contradicted such by saying he merely “weighed in” because it was the fatherly thing to do.
- The New Chief of Staff – when he was Homeland Security Secretary – called Comey after Comey was fired and had toyed with the idea of resigning out of protest.
- While insisting that America and its economy are in better shape than ever and that his new Chief of Staff will be the best…ever, Trump also proclaimed – without details – that “we” will “handle” the North Koreans.
- Trump criticized China for not reining in North Korea, indicating that China does nothing for us in return for our trade relations, and China responded by insisting that our trade deals have NOTHING to do with the North Korea crisis.
- A testimony before the Senate - that was buried very conspicuously by the Scaramucci controversy – featured a man whom had served as the lawyer of the man whose murder inspired the Magnitsky Act sanctions. In said testimony, the man explained that he and his client had uncovered a scheme wherein Putin was the primary beneficiary of $200 Million of laundered money and that the sanctions imposed in the aforementioned act threatened Putin’s money – as he is estimated to be worth hundreds of billions of dollars via these schemes – housed in banks all over the West, so that’s why he is hell-bent on ending the sanctions.
- Trump asserted that he will never stop using Twitter, and that only his adversaries want him to stop.
- Stephen Miller, Trump’s favorite little gopher, went on a tirade of historical revisionism at the White House Press Briefing when he was forced to address questions about how the latest proposal on immigration contradicts the poem on the Statue of Liberty which invites immigrants to our shores.
- Trump recently told a major newspaper that he received praise from the leader of the Boy Scouts for his politicized and disgusting speech at the jamboree, and he even claimed that the Mexican president called him recently to inform him that immigration was down. Well, the White House – faced with the facts – was forced to admit that he basically lied on both accounts.
- The President launched a propaganda “show” via the internet with his daughter in law as the host.
- The President picked for an important bank regulating position – the Office of Comptroller of the Currency – a man who has in the past been at the center of a scandal involving his bank fraudulently foreclosing on thousands of people.
- It has been alleged in a lawsuit that the President directed a Fox News effort to concoct a false news story which claimed that a murdered DNC staffer had been killed for leaking information to WIKILeaks. It was claimed that this was meant to help divert attention from the real collusion story involving Russia.
- Kushner told a group of congressional aides that the Trump campaign could barely organize itself, let alone coordinate with a foreign land.
- Trump’s Justice Department revealed that its civil rights division will be pursuing “intentional discrimination” by higher learning institutions, and that this will be pursued by Trump appointees instead of civil servants. The implications are that this is an attack on affirmative action.
- Congressional Republicans drafted a proposal – supported by Trump – which will have the effect of slashing legal immigration in half via a “merit based system” that will require certain job skills, educational achievement, and the ability to speak English for new entrees.
- Trump was forced to sign a bill sanctioning Russia only because it passed with a veto-overriding supermajority. So, he appended a signing statement which protested the fact that the sanctions were now codified and could not be unilaterally weakened or ended by a stroke of his pen. The next day, he took to Twitter to complain about Congress making our relationship with his buddies in Moscow worse.
- Trump recently expressed anger about the lack of progress in Afghanistan, saying “we are losing” and blaming “bad advice” from his generals for such. He also lamented the fact that we aren’t helping our businesses profit from the country’s resources. All of this occurred as the president repeatedly insisted that the commander of the occupation in Afghanistan be terminated.
- A number of the Generals chosen by Trump to assist him in this Administration have organized a plot to constantly have the president’s ear, to keep their bombastic fascist puppet at bay.
- A number of Republican-ran states are seeking waivers for Medicaid from Trump and company so that they may impose drug-testing, work requirements, and even time-limits on eligibility for the program.
- Trump held a rally in West Virginia where he set out to turn his base of supporters on a semi-rebellious Congress, on the media, and on our legal system. He also revived the attacks on Hillary to unite his base around a favorite enemy and suggested that the status quo is out to overturn the will of the people with a “fake” story with respect to Russia.
- Earlier in the year it was reported that Trump had a set of heated phone conversations with the leaders of Australia and Mexico. This week those transcripts were leaked and put on display how self-interested Trump is, as he persistently worried about how his image would be affected by Mexico publicly refusing to pay for the wall and if Australia insisted on him honoring the refugee deal signed by Obama. In the end, he bragged about his electoral college win and even told our ally down under that Putin was a more pleasant call than he.
- New Chief of Staff Kelly called the Attorney General to assure him that Trump wasn’t going to fire him or bully him into resigning.
- The Trump Administration – following the advice of his now-Chief of Staff Kelly – used an expansive interpretation of the 2005 Real ID act to waive a slew of environmental laws to clear the way for his wall.
- With a widening eye towards Trump’s finances and the possible connections such may suggest with Russia and the prospect of an equally growing scope of the probe, Robert Mueller has started the process of organizing a Grand Jury to – at the very least – give him greater subpoena power over necessary documents.
- There is some indication that Trump is pondering naming Rick Perry – his Energy Secretary – as the new head of Homeland Security.
- A lawyer who donates to the Republican Party has filed a lawsuit demanding that his party either pay back their donors or withhold funds from elected officials unless they follow through with their promises to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
- The Trump Administration is ending a study and talks of regulatory reform pertinent to the affects of sleep apnea on railroad workers and truck drivers.
- 209,000 jobs were created in July, and unemployment fell slightly. Even so, the stagnation of wages persist and overall growth remains as anemic as it has since the Great Recession.
- Attorney General Sessions floated the possibility of jailing journalists who don’t reveal their anonymous sources with respect to leaks.
- Another anti-Muslim act of terror was committed.
- The Trump Administration is preparing to revoke a protection previously issued under Obama which had prevented Nursing Homes from barring lawsuits by their patients and the families thereof.
Thoughts, if any:
We are being pulled around like a wagon on a lengthy string. Trump convinces us to pay attention to one activity as he silently screws us over in the shadows. For example, he appoints a new Chief of Staff whom purges an offensive member, earning a great deal of praise meanwhile that same new appointee had helped craft a new xenophobic proposal for dealing with immigrants. Another stooge of Trump – the Attorney General – has now launched a series of attacks on forces which offend Trump, with a key emphasis on cracking down on the leaks by way of threatening the leakers as well as the media for keeping sources anonymous.
Trump’s barely-secret love of fascism is shining through. He turns to rallies of his loyal supporters to inspire anger at the forces which unite them in rage. He and his minions lash out at the minions. They launched a propaganda series. And while we are standing in awe of these audacious and explicit displays of authoritarianism, the fake populist enables his underlings in each department to chip away at our protections from the abuses of our capitalist system. Keep in mind, this has only begun.
Week 19:
What was reported?
- Trump launched yet another tirade via twitter, lashing out at “fake news”, insisting that he is not on a vacation, declaring that his “base” is strong and united and that opinion polls showing him slipping are fabricated. He also attacked a Senator whose recent televised appearance ridiculed the president and his politicization of the Justice Department.
- Scientists leaked a report to the press which was mandated by Congress and is awaiting Trump’s approval. The reason for leaking it is that it was a report on our undeniable contributions to climate change and they fear that Trump will simply bury their work.
- It came to light in what was initially a secret report that North Korea had managed to develop a small nuclear device which could be fitted to a warhead on one of their ICBMs. Trump responded to this news with a tweet threatening to obliterate the country. Stocks fell at the end of the day and North Korea responded to Trump by openly pondering an attack on our territory in Guam.
- It came to light that the FBI had secured a warrant to launch a raid on Paul Manafort’s (former Trump campaign manager) home in the middle of the night on the same day that he had previously been scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee prior to the subpoena being withdrawn.
- Republicans and Trump – increasingly battling with each other openly via Twitter – are now steadily opening their minds to “fixing” the current health care law.
- Scientists discovered four earth-like planets – two of which were in the goldilocks zone – orbiting a nearby star.
- Trump spoke – for the first time – about Russia ousting hundreds of our diplomats, saying only that the move made him happy because it trimmed the number of people working for the federal government.
- Trump issued another threat to North Korea, saying his first one wasn’t sufficiently “tough”. He declared that the North would suffer like no other nation ever has if they strike at Guam.
- A poll came out, revealing that about half of Republicans would support postponing the next presidential election until the perceived voter fraud threat could be dealt with.
- Trump’s threats to not pay the healthcare subsidies and his hints at not enforcing the mandate are prompting insurance companies to jack up rates.
- A border dispute over a road between India and China is increasingly threatening the possibility of war between the countries. Meanwhile, China promised that it will defend North Korea if the nation is attacked without provocation. The totality of the rhetoric – including another tweet by you know who saying that we are “locked and loaded” – created some stock market chaos.
- Despite the success of teen pregnancy prevention programs, Trump decided to cut the funding for such.
- President Maduro of Venezuelaexpressed a willingness to establish a relationship with the Trump administration at the next UN General Assembly.
- Our UN Ambassador lost her chief of staff and communications director to “family issues”.
- White Supremacists rallied in Virginia primarily to protest the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee. Violence then ensued between the supremacists and the counter-protesters. Then, one white supremacist mowed down some counter-protesters with his car. Trump remained silent most of the day. Uttering only a vague condemnation of violence and hatred and then later claimed that “many sides” were to blame. When asked whether he wanted the vote of white nationalists, he said nothing. Trump’s weak response then drew criticism from his allies in Congress.
- Trump called the Republican Governor of Guam and noted how the island’s tourism will increase in the aftermath of such being threatened with nuclear strikes by North Korea.
- Trump floated the idea of invading Venezuela, and Latin Americasoundly rejected that idea despite their misgivings about the current conditions there.
- Some reports say that Trump suspects Steve Bannon of leaking details about his administration.
- President Trump’s reelection campaign released an ad which called his political opponents and the media critics his “enemies” while demanding that he be left alone to “do his job”.
- The President refused to personally call out white supremacy and the acts of terror committed in the name thereof, even as many of his minions do so and claim that such condemnation was included in Trump’s vague statements in the immediate aftermath.
- In a mass rally not terribly unlike the ones Trump aspires to host, the North Koreans announced over three million citizens opted to join a military campaign against their enemies.
- China made a huge advancement in communications science, transmitting the first ever quantum distributed message – which is virtually impervious to hacking - from Earth to a satellite.
- A Russian spy plane flew over the US, with two American observers on board.
Thoughts, if any:
This past week has largely been defined by a single factor: terror. Trump kicked off the week using the threat of payments for healthcare subsidies to try and force a healthcare repeal and then the threat of a nuclear attack on North Korea - which ultimately prompted China to speak up and say they would defend their pet nation should we attack first – as well as an invasion of Venezuela. At the end of the week, our Terrorist in Chief refused to explicitly condemn white nationalist terrorists after their actions left a community in shambles and a woman dead. What a week.
Week 20:
What was reported?
- Trump’s failure to outright condemn white nationalist terrorists the day it happened or even the day after led the CEO of Merck – a man whom happens to be an African American – to reign from the President’s American Manufacturing Council. This prompted an IMMEDIATE response from Trump via twitter as he outright condemned the defection and turned on his former partner, calling him out for purportedly jacking up prescription drug prices. Later in the day, two more CEOs – of Under Armour and Intel – withdrew as well.
- A police officer from Springfield, Massachusettsshared the deadly video from Saturday, opining in his post that he thought it was funny and that he enjoyed the thought of people being mowed down by a vehicle in the streets. The Department’s response was to “investigate” the issue, and say the officer made a “stupid comment” instead of cutting them loose. Formerly, back in January, Fox News had even shared on its website a video which indicated that hitting protesters with cars was funny.
- After 48 hours of constant pressure, Trump finally condemned the white nationalists by name, said the name of Heather Heyer – the civilian victim – as well as the two troopers killed in the mayhem. It may be understandable why it took Trump so long when you ponder that he had wanted to remove white nationalists from our terror watch lists.
- More information has come to light regarding the Trump campaign and Russia, showing how a persistent aide within the Trump team relentlessly tried to reach out to Russia despite repeated warnings as to the legality thereof.
- Protesters took it into their own hands to remove a Confederate statue in North Carolina.
- South Koreadeclared that they must consent to any new war with the North, putting some brakes on Trump’s push for war.
- After Trump’s disastrous press conference where he backtracked on his prepared statement from Monday, the President again claimed that both sides were to blame for the chaos – though, he indicated that the counter-protesters started it - and that the white supremacists had some justification for being angry. He was immediately called out by a bipartisan slew of politicians, yet David Duke was pleased.
- Trump lost two more CEOs on his Manufacturers Council on Tuesday and angrily tweeted about the defectors, calling them “grandstanders” and promising that “many more” were willing to fill the void.
- Trump said that he is considering a pardon of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio who faces six months in jail for contempt of court and who has a background of abuse of power as well as harsh treatment of immigrants and inmates. This is a certain attempt at an olive branch to white nationalists. If that wasn’t bad enough, he even retweeted a white nationalist post.
- The North Korean leader announced that he will not strike Guam after all.
- Trump’s former communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, claimed that there is a plot in the White House to remove the president.
- The Trump Justice Department has served a warrant to one anti-Trump website demanding to have the IP addresses of everyone who visited such.
- Trump tweeted a tirade against Amazon’s impact on retailers, prompting a plunge in their stocks.
- Trump’s White House released a memo for Congressional Republicans to respond to media questions about his disaster press conference, in it they press for Republicans to insist that he was right in his attacks on the media and that he has already done what is needed. Then, in response to another question pertaining to how McCain has been under attack by the white nationalists, Trump retorted by reminding the press that McCain failed to support the repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
- Business leaders in the President’s former Council on Manufacturing had decided to disband. Yet, he still claimed it was his decision, via a tweet.
- Again, via a tweet, Trump attacked Senator Graham, saying that he was falsely characterizing his post-Charlottesville comments as making an “equivalency” between the white nationalists and their counter-protesters. He then threatened that Graham’s constituents will make him pay for this.
- Vice President Pence came out in support of Trump’s overall response to Charlottesville, saying that the “few” are attempting to “divide the many”.
- An African American woman host of a show on Fox News used her airtime on the network to excoriate Trump on his press conference comments relating to the Neo-Nazi rally this past weekend. In response, a number of angry Fox News viewers complained and some even threatened her.
- Knowing full well what his actions create, President Trump trolled us all with a tweet decrying the removal of “beautiful” Confederate statues and accused those demanding their removal of attacking our history. He even threw a few tweet-punches at fellow Republicans critical of him – one of whom demanded on television that Trump get his act together -, and pivoted from offering help and condemnation in the wake of Barcelona’s terror attack to spreading a busted myth about a World War One general supposedly ending terror with a war crime.
- The Stock Market suffered a fear-induced setback in light of Trump’s devolution.
- Trump used his continued reactionary tweets in light of Barcelona’s terror attack to renew his call for tougher security measures and attacking the courts and his political opponents from allowing his unconstitutional measures to proceed.
- A regulatory reform adviser – a billionaire investor – resigned from Trump’s administration.
- Stephen Bannon was removed from the Trump administration after much infighting at Trump’s White House. Now, with a recent interview quoting him criticizing others within the administration – even claiming that the presidency of Trump as the base knew it “is over” and that the real fights now lay ahead in coalescing the rightwing populist…er, fascists…to demand action - and saying that his opponents are pissing themselves in contemplation of what he has planned, Bannon has retaken the reins of Breitbart whereat he will fight more forcefully than ever to hold Trump and the Republicans accountable on behalf of the “alt-right” base.
- A counterprotest this weekend to another far-rightwing demonstration occurred in Boston. The counterprotesters counted in the thousands, and dwarfed the original rally.
- Bannon has directed Breitbart to attack Trump’s National Security Adviser, H.R. McMaster, initially with an online article which asserts that McMaster is weak on the terrorists because he reportedly wants to avoid desecrating the Quran.
- Twitler again couldn’t help himself but to bitch about the media’s coverage.
- A number of tech-savvy interests signed a letter to the UN pleading for a global ban of the use and exploration of artificial intelligence in military weaponry, fearing the threat it could pose to civilians and peace.
Thoughts, if any:
Trump seriously tested the limits of his grip on power this week. He dispensed with Steve Bannon after all the turmoil surrounding his immediate response to the violence and racism seen at that hate rally in Virginia. Here’s the problem, the root cause of this mayhem was never Bannon, it has always been Trump. In fact, Bannon’s only role was to keep a line of connection between Trump and the base, and his release may have actually made him more effective at that job as he returned back to his online home of Breitbart with more clout than ever before. It may look like Trump is falling apart, but the man knows what he is doing. He has effectively flipped the controversy on its head by dividing the American people over the debate of how we handle symbols of the old Confederacy – a cultural issue which outdates all other American cultural issues in modern politics, since it deals with the Civil War’s unfinished business -, and he may benefit from doing so in light of the fact that a majority of Americans actually express a desire to leave the monuments alone.
Week 21:
What was reported?
- Earlier on the day that Trump made his announcement on Afghanistan policy – wherein he abandoned his previous stance of withdrawing from the occupation in favor of the more hawkish, imperialist approach that has preceded his tenure and hinting at boosted troop numbers all the while calling for the nation to unite -, Trump was briefed about a collision involving a Naval ship which hurt a number of sailors and responded with “that’s too bad”. Don’t be fooled by the masquerade.
- For reasons that are slightly related to funding constraints that have been exacerbated by Trump’s vacation/travel schedule, the Secret Service is experiencing some serious funding issues.
- Trump reversed an Obama-era ban on selling plastic water bottles in national parks, which will make it harder to control pollution therein.
- A day after a speech on a new neoconservative policy on Afghanistan which was blindly praised by a number of pundits as an attempt to unify the nation, Trump returned to a rally of adoring members of his personality cult to revisit his favorite pivot to the Napoleonic politics of divide and conquer, attacking his political opponents, the media, suggest a possible shutdown over the border wall funding, and even to hint at a pardon for the highly controversial – and arguably racist (definitely beloved by white supremacists) – Sheriff Arpaio. Meanwhile, a great number of demonstrators outside the rally were sprayed with pepper spray as they protested this president, reportedly as the demonstration became hostile.
- Trump has concerned a number of Senate Republicans, leading McConnell to express privately that he doubts Trump can get his act together and lead the party after the president had an angry phone call with him wherein the president was especially incensed that McConnell would not shield him from the Russian investigation. Trump has shown a penchant for abuse of power, even resorting to bully tactics in his dealings with members of the party in the Senate, telling one Senator they could only ride with him on Air Force One if they voted for the healthcare bill, and even openly advocating in favor of primary opponents for his dissenting Republican Senators.
- When Trump held a rally in Arizona and lashed out at both Republican Senators from the state, the moment he hinted at ridiculing McCain for his vote on repealing the Affordable Care Act, one supporter reportedly called for McCain’s death.
- Bundy Ranch wannabe-revolutionaries were found not guilty on charges related to their illegal actions of pointing weapons at federal officials in the standoff over the Ranch owner’s refusal to pay federal fees in 2014.
- Seven members of a presidential advisory council on infrastructure resigned.
- While we were collectively distracted, Trump’s Energy Department published a study which asserted that market forces promoting a shift away from fossil fuels in conjunction with regulations aimed at combating climate change have hurt coal and nuclear power companies and thusly weakened our power grid.
- Senator Claire McCaskill displayed her “moderate” stances on healthcare – opposing single-payer – and on a proposed censure vote aimed at impugning Trump for his reaction to what happened in Charlottesville, which she indicated that she may not support such.
- Gary Cohn, a prominent economic adviser to Trump – whose presence gives Wall Street a great deal of confidence – issued a relatively weak condemnation of the President’s response to the violence in Virginia and white supremacy. Noting that he is of Jewish faith, Cohn insisted that we must not tolerate white supremacists or make false equivalency arguments of them with their detractors. He also suggested that the president must do better to take a stand and to unite the people. Overall, despite the pressure to leave, Cohn has determined that pushing tax cuts for the wealthy is too important to protest white nationalism as tolerated by Trump.
- Evidence came to light – and then more evidence - that Trump’s 2016 campaign wanted to set up a meeting with Putin.
- Russia flew some nuclear bombers in the area of North Korea, possibly as a warning of some sort…but a warning to whom?
- Trump tweeted his frustrations with McConnell and Paul Ryan regarding their refusal to pass a debt ceiling increase as part of the V.A. bill, basically blaming them ahead of time if we hit said ceiling and then lashed out at former National Intelligence Director James Clapper for Clapper’s critique of his fitness to serve.
- Trump made his ban on transgender servicemembers official with a directive to the Defense Secretary.
- Trump’s homeland security department plans on conducting “papers” searches to screen for undocumented immigrants amongst those people fleeing the Hurricane.
- Trump attacked Senator Corker via twitter for having the audacity to question his stability, suggesting that Corker has been coming to him seeing if he should run again in 2018 and then indicating that his days may be numbered in Tennessee.
- In his first pardon, Trump granted clemency to Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whom had been convicted on charges related to his abuse of power via racial profiling.
- Trump’s White House forced the resignation of Sebastian Gorka – Trump’s former Deputy Assistant, whose radical views on Islam made him famous – after withholding his security credentials.
- A new report came out, showing that Trump – while campaigning last year – actively sought a building contract in and an otherwise lucrative relationship with Russia.
Thoughts, if any:
This week, Trump pivoted – as all fascists do – towards the political survival tactics most favored by politicians of his ilk: hyper nationalism and division. How? On the one hand, as he sees the encroaching pressure from the Mueller investigation closing in, he is taking to the campaign trail, attacking his opponents and an already-weak media – referring to them as the “enemy” -, stoking the flames of cultural division with ongoing remarks asserting that the “other” from within is “attacking our history” (a reference to the controversy over the Confederate war statues) and with a solidification of his transgender ban from the military. He is also casting out – at least it appears – officials in his administration whom appear to attract more attention than he; namely Bannon and Gorka, both of whom will undoubtedly use their newfound prestige in the eyes of the President’s loyalist base to keep the pressure on him to promote nationalism. He further fans the flames of cultural division and even white nationalism by pardoning Sheriff Joe Arpaio, which was no doubt another olive branch to the extreme rightwing.
What about the hyper-nationalism? Well, Trump has – along with his rhetoric on North Korea, the Wall, NAFTA, and even Venezuela – empowered his Homeland Security department to pick up the pace on deportations, ponder reconsidering the DACA order from Obama, and continues to appeal to a sense of “us” versus “them”…primarily from within. Meanwhile, he planted the seed this week of nationalism from a war-making standpoint with his announcement of boosted troop presence in Afghanistan. It may seem like the rationalists in his White House have won over the more isolationist types like the aforementioned Bannon, but this is the next logical step of a fascist takeover: pivoting to international bellicosity. Don’t be surprised if the President soon fully withdraws from the Iran deal, from the Cuba deal, ramps up the effort in Syria, and further instigates a conflict on the Korean Peninsula.
The fascist’s best weapon is to unite his base and otherwise weak-minded non-committed citizens against all others whom don’t appear to be on board with defending the homeland against all perceived enemies at home and abroad.
Week 22:
What was reported?
- Trump, in a press conference – wherein he asserted that Mexico will pay us back for the wall, after we pay for it - pertaining to the Hurricane and the clean up thereof, indicated that he pardoned Arpaio during the Hurricane coverage thinking that the “ratings” would be really high for it and then defended his decision by lambasting previous presidents and their pardons. He also expressed his “hope” that the government can fund the aid to Texas without fearing a shutdown.
- Trump signed a letter of intent during the campaign to try and secure a permit to build what would have been the tallest building in the world in Russia, which conflicts with claims the president has made in the past pertaining to business deals with the country.
- It is important to note that Chinablames us for North Korea’s recent test missile over Japan.
- While Texas reeled from Hurricane Harvey, Trump tweeted about his greatness in winning Missouri, expressed his shock at how incredible the storm was, attacked Democrats, and promoted the book of a supporter. Not one mention of helpful links or hints as to what others could do to help the people of Texas or what Texans could do to help themselves.
- Trump’s immigration officials left a number of immigrants women and children stranded at a few bus stations in a part of Texas that was in danger from Harvey.
- Trump is now the focus of federal investigators as it relates to his role in covering up his son’s meeting with the Russian lawyer last summer.
- Just over a week prior to the Hurricane, Trump issued an executive order as part of his effort to undo Obama’s legacy which effectively permitted federally-funded infrastructure projects to be poorly mismanaged in any rebuilding effort following a climate change-related natural disaster. The specific regulation that he targeted for reversal was a requirement for these rebuilding efforts to take into consideration the need to make said infrastructure more secure from a future storm.
- Trump showed up in Texas and went further than holding a photo-op, he held a short rally, boasted about the crowd size, and called the events surrounding Hurricane Harvey “epic”.
- Trump issued an order which reverses Obama’s restrictions on police access to military weapons, even offering some of them for free.
- Trump is reportedly being advised to stop throwing twitter bombs at fellow Republicans with the threat of impeachment looming.
- Defense Secretary Mattis put the brakes on Trump’s renewed ban on Transgenders in the military, but only until a study pertaining to how it should be implemented is finished.
- Josh Mandel, Ohio’s State Treasurer and candidate for Senator Brown’s seat (again) has indicated that he would like to see churches empowered to endorse and raise money for their favorite candidates.
- Defense Secretary Mattis hinted that he is less than satisfied with President Trump in remarks delivered to troops that were recorded without his knowledge.
- Trump asserted in a joint appearance with the President of Finland that the country was buying some jets from Boeing, but that leader – whom stayed silent and visibly confused at the time – later remarked that the deal was not yet secure and hinted that they are still looking for the best possible options.
- Trump reversed a rule by Obama which would have forced employers with more than 100 employees to share wage information with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to ascertain that we were avoiding discrimination with respect to wages.
- The Administration has reportedly told state and local governments that they should privatize their bridges, highways, and tunnels – paving the way for a series of burdensome tolls for the working class – if they want to receive extra federal dollars for other projects.
- Trump’s Interior Department dropped an investigation into whether the President was attempting to intimidate Alaska’s Senators with threats against the state based on the health care vote. The claim was that neither Republican Senator wanted to respond to requests for information.
- Trump insisted – via a tweet – that Mexico will pay for the wall, Mexico retorted that it won’t and then followed up by noting it had offered assistance in the clean-up from Harvey, without getting a response from Trump.
- Trump attempted to say – in a tweet – that we were done with “talking” to North Korea, but his Secretary of State and Defense Secretary indicated the opposite.
- Trump removed a study from the White House website which had published a series of independent facts regarding sexual assault – including the statistical findings pertaining to victims as well as helpful strategies to prevent this type of violence – when no one was looking.
- Special counsel Mueller began coordinating with the IRS Criminal Investigations unit, which specializes in crimes such as tax evasion and money laundering.
- Trump’s legal team delivered a legal memo to Mueller, arguing that Comey’s firing was not obstruction of justice and that Comey had questionable credibility.
- South Koreaattempted to send a warning signal to the North with a series of “heavy bomb” drops near the border between the two nations. The North then seemingly responded by testing a missile by launching it over Japan.
- Putin warned the West that further bellicose actions meant to punish North Korea will be “futile” and lead to a grand conflict.
- Superfund sites – which maintain dumping locations for extreme pollutants – have flooded with Hurricane Harvey, threatening the population with serious chemical exposure. Reportedly, Trump’s EPA has been relatively slow to get personnel on the ground to survey the threat.
- A Freedom of Information Act lawsuit unearthed a court filing by the Justice Department which has officially confirmed that President Obama did NOT wiretap TrumpTower.
- Angering a number of his top officials – including his economic adviser and Wall Street boy toy, Gary Cohn -, Trump has issued an internal directive to prepare for an end to our trade agreement with South Korea.
- The North Koreans may have tested a hydrogen bomb, and Trump decided it was best to respond with teasing annihilation threats of the North Koreans even as he attacked South Korea for being supposedly complacent.
Tonight’s Conclusion
Every time that it feels like we are reaching a fever pitch moment, Trump persists and survives the latest crisis. The key, since he has lowered the proverbial bar so much for himself, is that the president appears even remotely presidential. He has almost masterfully created a narrative for his presidency – whether intentional or not – which holds that he simply has to act like a normal president for a brief moment in time in order for a number of people teetering on the edge to breathe a sigh of relief and pretend that everything is ok. It’s not ok, and no amount of scripted moments by Trump will ever make any of this ok.
As I have addressed all along, while we are all clamoring to react to his latest outrageous act, statement, or tweet on one controversial matter we are all conveniently distracted from something bigger which has a direct impact on our lives. For those of you holding out hope that Trump will seal his political demise in the near future, I want to point something out to you yet again: the calendar.
The closer we get to November the less likely we are to see Trump face a removal by either impeachment or an invocation of the 25th Amendment. This is because his base – though it is weakening a bit – is still largely supportive of him and he will continue to win them over as long as he keeps throwing them red meat with actions such as his pardon of Arpaio, ultimatums on the Wall, revived discrimination policies in the military, free military weapons for police, reversal of DACA, and his bellicose language towards Iran, Cuba, North Korea, and even the “enemies” here at home. He intentionally divides us because we are ineffective at combating him as separate groups at war with each other, and it leaves his base as the only political force left intact.
As the 2018 Primaries and Midterms draw nearer, incumbent congressional Republicans – especially in the House – will remain hesitant to take any action which would bring Trump’s tenure to an abrupt end, because that could trigger a backlash with political consequences for them at home. In the White House, Trump has shielded himself from the danger of being removed by his cabinet and Vice President by way of carefully selecting a group which appears to be mostly loyal to him: and none are more loyal than Vice President Pence, without whom invoking the 25th Amendment can’t happen.
Still, I would love to be wrong in this assessment. Even if I am, the opposition must concoct a message which inspires the people. We can’t win in the long-term on an anti-Trump message alone, and that is a reality that we must accept and address as soon as possible.
The clock is ticking.
#NotMeUs #OurRevolution #TheResistance #ImpeachTrump
Purchase my manifesto, “The Pillars of Unitism”.
Before I part, here are some articles which may interest you:
- Researchers discovered a tribe of people isolated from the rest of the world which created a religion based on airplanes after a plane in the Second World War dropped off boxes of food to them.
- Science is increasingly leaning towards proving that life is inevitable in the laws of physics.
- Humans had consumed and polluted more than Earth could react to, replenish, and repair at an earlier date – August 1st – than ever before recorded.
- Scientists are toying with theories to save the telomeres which keep us healthy.
- Despite the President’s insistence that the Affordable Care Act is hurting our healthcare system, the insurers are raking in growing profits.
- Scientists are worried about the slowdown of the world’s circulation of warm temperatures to the Northern Hemisphere, as caused by global warming.
- Trump is seemingly not the only Republican indebted to a Russian interest.
- Trump is setting up a reversal of environmental protections which had shielded the habitat of an endangered bird, all for the sake of pleasing energy companies.
- Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein stated that Mueller needs his permission to expand the investigation “beyond” its current focus, in response to a question pertaining to the belief that Mueller is digging into Trump’s financial records.
- Our life expectancy in the West has begun to stall, and companies are taking notice…by almost gloating that they won’t have to pay as much in pensions.
- A study of next year’s Mid-Term map shows that the Democrats have a daunting task in front of them, as they risk losing even more seats if they repeat the mistakes of last year. Speaking of which, rumor has it that Hillary plans on campaigning in some of those races in 2018.
- This year’s gathering of the nation’s progressives featured many attempting to talk down references to the need for Trump’s impeachment. In their eyes, we need to be “for” something, not just oppose something. This is largely true, as we have failed to win over the working class, but the rule of law MUST matter and that’s why impeachment has to be considered.
- Recent study shows that Americans are by and large seriously underemployed, thus exacerbating the widening inequality gap.
- A leaked chat exchange among white supremacists whom presumably partook in the Charlottesville event displayed that many of them were willing to use violence.
- Trump now is planning on possibly taxing 401k’s as part of his tax overhaul.
Until next time…
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