The Trump Administration
Day 365
Friday 19 January 2017
This isn’t to pin exclusive blame on Republicans for the shutdown. Democrats have clearly decided that a shutdown is a price worth paying for a DACA deal. But what’s genuinely bizarre is that Republicans have decided a shutdown is a price worth paying for not doing a DACA deal, despite insisting they want to do a DACA deal.
The magazine had published some details from the interview earlier in the week, but the full transcript — totaling more than 5,000 words — gave a new, expansive view of how Daniels recounted their interactions.
A year later, why does anyone still listen to Seth Abramson?
We’re far from understanding what role, if any, the N.R.A. played in helping Russia help Trump. But a scandal that encompasses both the Trump campaign and the right’s most powerful lobby would be bigger than most people imagined before Thursday.
The High Court announced that its justices would hear Trump v. Hawaii on Friday afternoon after vacating a lower court’s decision to stay the current version of Trump’s travel ban.
Turkish troops shelled Kurdish militia forces based in an enclave in northern Syria Friday, as Turkey defied U.S. calls for restraint and warned that the bombardment signaled the opening stage of an outright invasion.
While much of the world has celebrated the progress in talks between North Korea and South Korea ahead of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang next month, as well as an apparent thaw in tensions with North Korea, the US has taken steps to move heavy firepower to the region.
Day 12
Tuesday 31 January 2017
Due to a controversial change this month to the House of Representatives’ rules, the sale does not have to make money for the federal government.
A comprehensive guide to the lawsuits against the president’s executive order.
Gorsuch sided in favor of "religious freedom" claims made by the Little Sisters of the Poor and the owners of the craft company Hobby Lobby, who challenged language in the Affordable Care Act that required them to pay for contraceptive coverage for employees.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has fought against construction of the pipeline for months, with members and supporters living on the site, trying to block construction. The tribe said it will continue its battle
“In early December, FSB Colonel Sergei Mikhailov, who was responsible for cyberwars and cyberattacks… was arrested by the FSB; yes, with a bag over his head,” he said.
But, he added "I'm not going to sit around and engage with people who have no desire to actually get something right."
Like Scalia, he is an originalist who believes judges should follow the text and original meaning of the Constitution.
“The way the Trump presidency is beginning it is safe to say it will end in calamity,” Dean wrote. “It is almost a certainty. Even Republicans know this!”
“But it can't be ... a ban if you're letting a million people in, if 325,000 people from another country can't come in,” Spicer said. “That, by nature, is not a ban.”
What is spreading today is repressive kleptocracy, led by rulers motivated by greed rather than by the deranged idealism of Hitler or Stalin or Mao. Such rulers rely less on terror and more on rule-twisting, the manipulation of information, and the co-optation of elites.
It was an abrupt about face after the White House spent all day Tuesday plugging its plans to boost the nation's offensive and defensive cyber capabilities.
But LGBT-rights groups still question Mr Trump's commitment to their cause.
“What we saw last night is an example of what is at stake with this nomination”
Instead of getting tough, Trump’s new plan is that he’s “going to be lowering taxes” and “getting rid of regulations.”
Trump has threatened to have the government negotiate prices directly with the industry on behalf of Medicare and Medicaid
It’s possible to celebrate a Nazi feeling discomfort while disagreeing with the idea that punching is good.
...four years ago, Republicans boycotted confirmation hearings for Gina McCarthy to serve as former president Barack Obama’s interior secretary
Using artillery, tanks and rockets, combined Russian-separatist forces attacked Ukrainian forces along the front lines in eastern Ukraine on Sunday and early Monday morning, highlighting once again that the February 2015 ceasefire has failed.
The petition states: “Donald Trump should be allowed to enter the UK in his capacity as head of the US government, but he should not be invited to make an official state visit because it would cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen.”
Ironically, however, the question came from a deeply concerned Jeff Sessions who really had a bee in his bonnet about how critical it was for the DOJ to be prepared to defy improper directives.
“But as I used to say to my staff,” he added, “if I can’t rely on you to get the small things right, how can I count on you to do so on things that really matter?”
Day 11
Monday 30 January 2017
The Khorramshahr medium-range ballistic missile flew 600 miles before exploding, in a failed test of a reentry vehicle
Conway represents the man who sent his press secretary out on his second day in office to complain about portrayal of his inaugural crowd size.
But we’ve never witnessed a political aide move as brazenly to consolidate power as Stephen Bannon
He has plans to commit awful acts of sabotage like flushing strange things down the toilet, because here there is a toilet to flush. He has plans to grow up to become the most terrifying thing in the world: an American.
...the administration is deliberately testing the limits of governmental checks and balances to set up a self-serving, dangerous consolidation of power.
...from the perspective of the outsider, weak leaders often act like strong leaders, and strong leaders often act like they are indifferent.
Inslee said he learned the hard way over the years "you do not back down to bullies."
George W. Bush’s close adviser, Karl Rove, was never admitted to NSC meetings, according to his former chief of staff, Josh Bolten.
He sees this as a deterioration of transparency and accountability.
“Now, more than ever, we as a nation must remain steadfast in resisting the urge to understand the feelings and perspectives of others,” said Trump, adding that a rising tide of dangerous empathy could, if unchecked, quickly engulf the country in compassion.
Trump has made an issue of people who are registered to vote in more than one state, using it as one of the bedrocks of his overall contention that voter fraud is rampant in the U.S.
“To assume that just because of someone’s age and gender that they don’t pose a threat would be misguided and wrong."
The acting Attorney General, Sally Yates, has betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States.
"I am responsible for ensuring that the positions we take in court remain consistent with this institution's solemn obligation to always seek justice and stand for what is right,"
Bannon apparently hunting for heretics. Confirmed, is aware of this acct. Actively trying to identify us. #UnholyTrinity may be losing grip.
Trump's party has control of Congress. He's just impatient.
Asked about a memo signed by dozens of State Department diplomats opposing the temporary ban [...], spokesman Sean Spicer encouraged the federal employees to "either get with the program or they can go."
The memo argues that the executive order is poorly conceived and poorly drafted and that its implementation will damage [...] the U.S. fight against terrorism and radicalization both at home and abroad.
...requiring federal agencies to effectively eliminate at least two regulations for each new one issued.
It’s a dark period in US history, condemned by later presidents as an act of "wartime hysteria," and it’s commemorated in order to remind the country’s present leaders to not fall into similar traps of prejudice and bigotry.
"...we will — as per chief Jim Hopper — punch some people in the face when they seek to destroy what we have envisioned for ourselves and the marginalized."
Day 10
Sunday 29 January 2017
While Trump entered office with record-low approval, he now stands at a dismal 42 percent approval
His administration has drafted an executive order aimed at overhauling the work-visa programs technology companies depend on to hire tens of thousands of employees each year.
The raid on Al Qaeda headquarters was the first counterterrorism offensive under President Trump aimed at gathering intelligence about the militant group
One posting hailed the U.S. president as “the best caller to Islam,” while others predicted that Trump would soon launch a new war in the Middle East.
That is to say, the administration is testing the extent to which the DHS (and other executive agencies) can act and ignore orders from the other branches of government.
“But for the Jews the doors were closed. I never can understand this. Even our good president, Roosevelt, how come he kept the doors so closed to us for such a long time?”
Precisely because the problem is one of temperament and character, it will not get better.
By Sunday evening, more than a dozen GOP members of Congress had spoken out against Trump’s executive order on immigration.
Others saw it as a wrecking operation, aimed at debilitating the state department at a time of upheaval
You know, I was stopped many times, weren’t you, after 9/11. I didn't resemble, or share a name with or be part of any kind of terrorist conspiracy, but this is what we do to keep a nation safe.
Even more importantly - completely changes how non profits can handle him. 501c3's cannot "campaign" or risk losing nonprofit status.
We are particularly concerned by reports that this order went into effect with little to no consultation with the Departments of State, Defense, Justice, and Homeland Security.
In cases like this, the smart money is usually on incompetence, not malice. But this looks more like deliberate malice to me. Bannon wanted turmoil and condemnation.
...the mayhem could have been avoided if the White House had listened to the guidance of DHS lawyers in the first place.
Six men died in the shooting during evening prayers at the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec (Islamic cultural centre of Quebec). Nineteen people were also wounded.
Why, then, does Trump’s first week and a half in office seem so surprising, even to those of us who weren’t expecting a kindler, gentler Trump?
...it’s also unheard of for government agencies like CBP to prevent people who have the legal right to live in the U.S. from seeing their lawyers. And that’s what was happening.
"He's got a tremendous understanding of the world and the geopolitical landscape that we have now," he said.
"And what we did was we focused on, instead of religion, danger," Giuliani said.
Day 9
Saturday 28 January 2017
NBC is reporting that the document was not reviewed by DHS, the Justice Department, the State Department, or the Department of Defense, and that National Security Council lawyers were prevented from evaluating it.
Trump denied that the order was meant to target Muslims and cited the scenes at American airports as evidence that the ban is a success.
@SeanSpicer's role in the Trump administration will be to provide the American public with robust and clearly articulated misinformation.
Unlike previous presidential administrations, Trump’s Saturday memo specified that the director of national intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs will only attend principals committee meetings that pertain to their specific “responsibilities and expertise.”
Wisconsin is one of the most gerrymandered states in the nation.
However, relations between Trump and his team and Russia have been under scrutiny following allegations that Moscow meddled in the US election last year.
The stay will last at least until a hearing scheduled for 21 February
Trump’s executive order has led to the flagrantly unconstitutional detention of perfectly legal immigrants whose lone crime is their national origin and religion.
...the police were letting only people with airplane tickets onto the public transportation system.
“And unfortunately, based on information we have from intelligence assets on the ground, this plot is already well under way”
"doesn't include any countries from which radicalized Muslims have actually killed Americans in the U.S. since Sept. 11, 2001."
Trump is now facing questions about whether he designed the new rules with his own business at least partly in mind.
Those countries were named in a 2016 law concerning immigration visas as "countries of concern."
"There is no evidence that refugees—the most thoroughly vetted of all people entering our nation—are a threat to national security"
Most watched will be the call with Putin, whose interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election has led to questions about Trump's relationship to the Russian leader
Day 8
Friday 27 January 2017
Trump banned citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US for at least the next 90 days.
With a flurry of provocative executive orders, surreal events, unapologetic falsehoods and did-he-really-say-that tweets, Trump continued to obliterate political norms, serving notice that the gaze of history won’t change who he is.
I happen to feel that it does work. I’ve been open about that for a long period of time.
"It was during the Holocaust that the world shamefully refused to give asylum to Jews and to others who were being murdered or about to be murdered in Nazi Germany"
...they are choosing to remain anonymous and continue tweeting out facts about climate change and directly opposing the Trump administration.
Now, to be clear, these private comments reveal Republicans actually wrestling with the policy challenges that repeal (and replace) will create, which is a good thing as far as it goes.
When we are in an environment headed by someone who lies, so often, something frightening happens: We stop reacting to the liar as a liar.
There are 38 dead presidents. Let’s model dead presidents as a cylinder that rotates along its long axis (as a body might in a coffin).
I was homeschooled and my parents were part of a subculture called Quiverfull, whose aim is to outbreed everyone for Jesus.
...the statement “misses that it was six million Jews who perished, not just ‘innocent people’”
The emoluments clause, however, does not require direct proof of anything untoward, and that is essential to its effectiveness.
Since entering office, Donald Trump has yet to re-open the comments line, which was shut down during the transition process
Even before Jan. 20, Mexico was already a tinderbox.
We totally understand it's going to be America first, but can we just say: The Netherlands second?
But the Trump Administration has been nothing if not erratic and has repeatedly shown it is willing to tear up existing agreements and protocols.
“Better to get your news directly from the president,” Smith said. “In fact, it might be the only way to get the unvarnished truth.”
President Donald Trump "will get rid of all of you"
Time and again, the image of Trump pushed by his “aides” is one of a clueless child — someone who acts on impulse, disregarding the better advice of people who know better.
Vice President Mike Pence and Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway headlining this year’s event
This agreement -- as well as the legal ability for US companies to serve European customers -- in now in very real danger of unravelling.
Day 7
Thursday 26 January 2017
The US, a standard-bearer of democracy for the world, has become a ‘flawed democracy,’ as popular confidence in the functioning of public institutions has declined
For nearly a decade, the Stephen Harper-led Conservative government did its darndest to prevent federal scientists from sharing their work with the Canadian public.
I'm a mid-level White House staffer and I can't believe what I signed up for.
Trump delivered a sixteen-minute inaugural address, the first in American history to use the words “bleed,” “ravages,” and “carnage.”
Don't blame Trump - He did everything he could to prove he was unfit to be President
“I want you to quote this,” Mr. Bannon added. “The media here is the opposition party.”
Much of what it presents is misinformation wrapped in right-wing opinion.
Spicer dodged reporters' questions about the impact of the border tax on American consumers
“With everything that’s been happening in the world, I just can’t help but be encouraged,” said a 6-month-old brown-banded cockroach from a Queens, NY, bathtub drain
...moved the hands of the clock 30 seconds nearer to midnight, the closest it has been since 1953
It’s not like she made them a pot roast or taught their kids algebra, for heaven’s sake.
But his meetings now begin at 9 a.m., earlier than they used to, which significantly curtails his television time. Still, Mr. Trump, who does not read books, is able to end his evenings with plenty of television.
...voters who did not look as if they should be allowed to vote
This morning we informed the White House that I will not attend the working meeting scheduled for next Tuesday with @POTUS
We are going to finance the Secure Fence Act
...the single biggest simultaneous departure of institutional memory that anyone can remember.
Day 6
Wednesday 25 January 2017
Some ethics watchdogs were skeptical.
This is the same RNC email server that mysteriously disappeared 22 million messages during George W Bush's administration
Donald Trump on torture: “I will always abide by the law”
If the website goes dark, years of work we have done on climate change will disappear
Jackson’s legacy is also rife with controversy. He signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, paving the way for what is now known as the "Trail of Tears"
If the full identity of the new owners of the Rosneft stake is a mystery, so too is the complete source of the funds with which they bought it.
Twitter feed called @AltNatParkSer gained about 170,000 followers overnight, and was also publishing information about climate change and other issues
It is not in itself illegal to be registered to vote in two states.
...the detention of an official who would have been in a position to engage in the election hacking in America could indicate a good-will gesture to the United States
In 2012, Kosinski proved that on the basis of an average of 68 Facebook “likes” by a user, it was possible to predict their skin colour (95% accuracy) their sexual orientation (88% accuracy), and their affiliation to the Democrat or Republican party (85%).
Many of these aliens are criminals who have served time in our Federal, State, and local jails.
Trump did have kind words for the security of the White House phones, saying “words just explode in the air.”
Even when the photographic evidence was directly in front of them and the question was straightforward, one in seven Trump supporters gave the clearly false answer.
Seriously, it was just a few fields and a warehouse, and you idiots still appointed a special prosecutor and spent six months investigating it.
Day 5
Tuesday 24 January 2017
Since Trump was inaugurated on Friday, the White House website has already wiped away all mention of climate change.
...witnesses saw Conway punch a man in the face at least three times at the exclusive Liberty Ball in Washington just hours after President Trump was sworn in.
The U.S. Department of Interior was ordered to suspend operations of its Twitter accounts after the National Park Service's official account retweeted two posts that were unflattering toward the Trump administration.
...a zero-calorie 6-slice pizza loaded with all your favorites: bacon, pepperoni, ham, sausage, house made sauce and 100% whole-milk mozzarella.
The self-ignited controversies in the first five days of his presidency [...] hints at a deeper and consuming need to be demonstrated as legitimate
Mexico has repeatedly said it will not pay for any border wall.
There is no evidence to support the claim, which has been discredited repeatedly by numerous fact-checkers.
What, then, would the reported cuts accomplish? The answer appears to be defunding a number of projects seen as liberal darlings -- including groups aimed at preserving and supporting the environment, civil rights protections, the arts, minority-owned businesses, and public broadcasting.
In the book Orwell writes that it “means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them”.
He triumphs when opponents trade righteous anger for crude tantrums.
Spicer did not provide hard data to back up the claim
EPA memo says agency is not allowed to issue press releases, add new content on websites, or post on social media
The moves are likely to spark a new fight with environmentalists.
Comey's revelations about Hillary Clinton’s emails twice rocked the presidential race.
...do hereby proclaim January 20, 2017, as National Day of Patriotic Devotion...
Day 4
Monday 23 January 2017
Punch through the Nazi. As if he were not there at all. Then vote & get involved. Always follow through.
I don't know any Donald Trump jokes. But you can ask me for a political joke instead.
US president Donald Trump is being “demoralized” by the drumbeat of negative press
One of the most striking features of the early Trump administration has been its political uses of lying.
Mr. Pompeo, a congressman from Kansas, was approved on a 66-32 vote
He wanted a fiery public response, and he wanted it to come from his press secretary.
The most immediate hurdle facing the lawsuit [...] whether the group has the legal standing to challenge Trump in the first place
Sorry, the page you're looking for cannot be found
Social media postings sometimes provide an important window into a person’s #mentalhealth. Know what to look for.
Spicer lamented what he called a "constant theme to undercut the tremendous support" that Trump has
Since Reagan, Democratic administrations have suspended the policy and Republicans have reimposed it.
As a regulator, he voted reliably against many policy proposals by former Democratic Chairman Tom Wheeler, including the contentious and high-profile move to establish so-called net neutrality rules.
Day 3
Sunday 22 January 2017
Could he get through an entire five minute speech to the press without slipping in an attack on his arch-enemy Dippin’ Dots, The Ice Cream Of The Future?
Do you actually think I enjoy appearing on television on behalf of a petty and profoundly unstable narcissist to defend his taped admissions of sexual assault?
The foreign emoluments clause of the Constitution prohibits Trump from receiving anything of value from foreign governments, including foreign government-owned businesses, without the approval of Congress.
Lookups for 'fact' spiked after Kellyanne Conway described false statements as 'alternative facts'
Anyone — citizen or journalist — who is surprised by false claims from the new inhabitant of the Oval Office hasn’t been paying attention.
...and launch the "new right," which he said would be free of the racist tendencies the alt-right had become all too known for.
Trump’s press secretary, Sean Spicer, used his first White House briefing to shout at journalists
Alternative facts? Four of the five facts he uttered were just not true. Look, alternative facts are not facts; they’re falsehoods.
Nazis do not need a hug. Nazis do not need to be indulged.
did you notice how he moves the staff into his right hand as he approaches Trump
For those Nazi-hating schadenfreude lovers, you now have your very own anthem
Conway said during the interview Sunday that the public knows Trump and his family are complying with all the ethical rules regarding the president's business empire.
Day 2
Saturday 21 January 2017
The deletion of the tweet raised questions about whether Trump can do that now that he’s president or whether getting rid of a tweet would violate the Presidential Records Act
I know signs. I make the best signs. They’re great. Everyone agrees.
The numbers were far higher than expected in many big cities, and the attendance in Washington, DC alone was estimated 500,000, double the audience for Trump’s inauguration.
A Time magazine reporter erroneously tweeted that a bust of civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr. was removed from display in the Oval Office
Spencer, who coined the term “alt-right” and stated that “America belongs to white men,” gave the internet a creative outlet for its outrage.
He also called journalists “among the most dishonest human beings on earth,” and he said that up to 1.5 million people had attended his inauguration, a claim that photographs disproved.
What Trump delivered Saturday was a campaign-style, stream-of-consciousness airing of grievances
We already have an orange chicken we like
Crowds in hundreds of cities around the world gathered Saturday in conjunction with the Women’s March on Washington.
...the Trump cake was intended to be more of a prop: All but a three-inch slice at the bottom was inedible.
In doing that, it took direct aim at the things the new president has a record of valuing so highly—crowd sizes, ratings, large-scale approval—and countered them.
Day 1
Friday 20 January 2017
The requested page '/energy/climate-change' could not be found.
An astonishing 10,000 charter buses applied for permits for Obama's event; for Trump's swearing-in, only 200 buses applied.
An episode of the 1950s western TV series 'Trackdown' featured a snake oil salesman named 'Trump' who promised to build a wall in order to prevent the end of the world.
True
We take Gotham from the corrupt! The rich! The oppressors of generations who have kept you down with myths of opportunity, and we give it back to you... the people.
From this day forward, it's going to be only America first — America first.
First of all, congratulations! Expecting a demagogue is truly a life-changing experience.
It occurs to me that this inauguration is exactly the sort of historical event that attracts time travelers eager to change the course of the future.