Trump: Two Weeks In Summary

[Breccia]

Okay. Let’s review.

Trump’s travel ban is probably what ate the plurality of the news coming from the White House. The ban drew even the ire of GOP members, who pointed out how it was hastily and shoddily enforced, blocked even legal residents of the USA (green card holders, visas), didn’t block any countries of origin of terrorists that have actually killed on American soil, and gave (by Trump’s admission on national TV) preference based on religion. John McCain and Lindsey Graham issued a joint statement, trashing the ban for blocking refugees (most of whom, yes, are women and children) and Iraqi citizens who have aided us militarily (such as interpreters), and said "Ultimately," they continue, "we fear this executive order will become a self-inflicted wound in the fight against terrorism."

Meanwhile Trump insisted the ban (yes it is a travel ban, Trump used those exact words himself Feb 4) was going well, blaming the issues on Delta’s power going out (blatant lie), and that only 100 people had been detained (blatant lie). Incidentally, the ban revoked somewhere between 60000 and 100,000 visas depending on source, and prompted one of Trump's CEO allies to leave his Advisory Council

After a number of federal judges took issue with the legality, the ban was halted nationwide by James Robart. Trump immediately attacked him on Twitter, calling him a “so-called judge”. Judge Robart was approved in his current position by a 99-0 Senate vote and was a Bush nominee. This attack on the judicial branch, not Trump’s first, was widely criticized as well, including by Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) who said “I’ll be honest, I don’t understand language like that. We don’t have so –called judges.”

Trump has filed an emergency appeal. It was denied.

Trump’s team has also been caught making a number of bold-faced lies, ranging from the crowd size (not even FOX News would hear any of that), to the Bowling Green Massacre, to an attack by an Iranian ship on a US ship (blatant lie), to suggesting the travel ban would have stopped Timothy McVeigh.

This is followed, of course, with Trump and his team threatening to block reporters from WH briefings, and to refuse to go on CNN – after Anderson Cooper responded to Kellyanne Conway’s “alternative facts” bit with literally uncontrollable laughter?

And let’s add to that the evidence of hypocrisy. The fact that the travel ban skips countries where Trump does business is, of course, factually true and remains undisputed. But let’s add to that a few things. Trump’s son taking a business trip to Uruguay, costing the US $100,000 – despite the fact that Trump has full access to a private security team (he used it at least during his “thank you” tour) and Eric has the money to support it. You must by now have read his entire speech about Black History Month, which was not only 100% self-serving, but also suggested Frederick Douglass is still alive (that part’s not hypocritical, but it’s stupid as hell). It did not escape the media when Trump’s vineyards (the ones he claimed were the biggest, he lied) filed requests for work visas from overseas – which, of course, 100% opposes Trump’s own stated policies. He took credit for the job report that came out mid-January that was 100% in line with Obama’s job growth in recent years.

Trump faces an increasing number of legal issues, too. Besides his travel ban being ground to a halt, he faces an unheard of number of lawsuits. Since he was inaugurated (not elected), he’s been named in 50 federal lawsuits. This is more than the last three Presidents by an order of magnitude. You can cross one old lawsuit (there are still hundreds) off the list, however: a Florida case ruled that he violated contracts of people who he refused to pay (reimbursing fees of people resigning this time) to the tune of nearly six million dollars.

Trump’s cabinet nominees, even those who were approved, are also running into trouble. He has named Jerry Falwell Jr, an Evangelical leader who thinks Noah’s ark is science and advocates guns on campus, as the head of an educational task force – one of the goals of which is to stop forgiving loans placed by predatory universities (see also: Trump University, $25 million). Jeff Sessions also ran into a little trouble, as some of his colleagues testified against him. His pick for Secretary of Education (a department Trump has vowed to gut anyhow) is facing nearly unprecedented opposition, DeVos, incidentally, has never been to a public school, never sent her children to a public school, didn’t know at her own confirmation hearing what IDEA was, wants guns on school grounds to defend against fucking grizzly bears, choked when asked how school progress should be measured and followed, wants to divert money from public to private schools, wants to advance God’s word in schools (such as by requiring intelligent design in biology) and has blatantly admitted she was pay-for-play herself (her family gave $200 million to Trump).

Trump has also drawn criticism for his first (only?) military excursion he did, in fact, personally authorize, despite not going to the Situation Room to deal with it. While I'm sure our men and women in uniform were doing their best to follow orders, maybe Trump's team should have taken more time to solidify them. Because the end result was a lost SEAL, eleven civilian deaths, and a crashed V22 in exchange for a bomb-making video that had been online for ten years. There may have been other benefits from the raid, and I earnestly hope so, but we don't know of any so far. And no, just because it was planned during the Obama administration doesn't excuse Trump for pulling the trigger.

But let’s talk about foreign policy. It has not gone well, overall, possibly because Trump fired a large number of diplomats and senior State Department staff before making a bunch of unilateral decisions. A lot has been said about the phone call with Australia – in which he demonstrated a complete lack of understanding about the refugee camps -- which McCain, Bannon, and Pence all tried to fix themselves. There’s also issues with Mexico, floating around that visit the Mexican President cancelled and funding for the wall (which the GOP now seems to have given up on, just ask Paul Ryan). Then there’s the visit from Prime Minister May, which was immediately followed by the travel ban – yeah, she had to answer a lot of questions at home about that one. Trump was so outspoken about the machete attack in France it had to be pointed out that
(a) it wasn’t in a museum
(b) tourists were not in lockdown
(c) there has been no change in French security
(d) the man was Egyptian (not on the travel ban) who stayed in the UAE (not in the travel ban)
And Merkel had to explain the Geneva Convention to Trump in their phone call, also lambasted the travel ban, and got understandably irate when Trump accused Germany of being a currency manipulator. China has been readying the military, as officials say the question is becoming less “if” and more “when” (dismiss as sabre rattling if you choose, they did say it) and is working on their own TPP variant that would exclude the US, and China supplies US defense with vital tech components. And Iran, probably because Trump was so vocal about the nuclear deal, launched a ballistic missile and threatened more were to come.

But the bear in the room is clearly Russia. You’ve all heard the stories about the FBI and CIA concluding with certainty that Russia attacked the election, a statement Trump now agrees with. You have probably also heard the story that the phone call to Putin was the only one Trump made that day that wasn’t recorded. But you might not have seen this:

http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/02/04/preview-bill-oreilly-donald-trump-super-bowl-interview

Just. Fucking. Watch. Full discussion here thanks @Skroe.

I’ll tell you who else saw that: Mitch McConnell. On State of the Union – yes, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared on CNN, draw your own conclusions – he said “I don’t think there’s any equivalency. America is exceptional. There’s a clear distinction here. I obviously don’t see this issue the same way as he does.” He also called Putin an un-elected thug.

Putin’s Russia has stepped up attacks in the Ukraine within days (hours?) of his phone call. Trump’s only response was token -- a speech from an ambassador at the UN, an organization that Trump has repeatedly trashed, and a speech that went against everything else Trump has said on the matter about Ukraine so far.

Trump has the lowest approval rating of any President in recent times and it's dropped since he was elected. There is no replacement for Obamacare in sight, massive pollution regulations removed, his lack of divestment, the reality show theatrics about his SCOTUS pick, banking/Wall Street regulations removed, the Twitter feud with (throws a dart) the Apprentice, stores dumping Ivanka’s product line, the massive leaks from within even the White House, his taxes, etc etc the list just doesn’t stop.

Two weeks in, ladies and gentlemen.

[Skroe]

I for one hopes the so-called President, Donald Watersports keeps on tweeting. It's actually like the hangman making the condemned tie his own noose.

I also look forward to President Bannon doing more crazy things.

It will take 2.5 years to get Trump out of office, minimum. As far as 2 weeks goes, he's been an excellent accomplice in that task.

[Wildberry]

It will take 2.5 years to get Trump out of office, minimum. As far as 2 weeks goes, he's been an excellent accomplice in that task.

Weren't you swearing that Trump wouldn't be President? :^)

[TITAN308]

Weren't you swearing that Trump wouldn't be President? :^)

I was sort of pondering the same thing.

Don't seem to learn their recent history lessons when they act so sure of themselves. Not to say DT is right or wrong, but just looking at it for face value. In fact it seems the more they push, the more resolute his voter base becomes. Again, for right or wrong.

I visit all kinds of forums, ranging from here on MMO-C to more right leaning websites (like AR15.com) and it shouldn't come as a surprise, both sides are polarized. Left thinks right is idiots and explain why, right thinks left is idiots and explain why.

Same stuff, just different political faces. If you read nothing but right forums you would be convinced the left are total morons. If you read nothing but left forums you would be convinced the right are total morons.

On the forums I visit that are more right wing, they actually relish in postings such as the OP and the follow up comments. (see previous comments about the harder its pushed the more they buckle down).

Bottom line: neither side learns anything nor compels the other side in any tangible manner. Its a giant echo chamber depending which side you subscribe to.

[LaserSharkDFB]

You left out Bannon being put on the National Security Council and the Joint Chiefs and the director of national intelligence being put on something of an 'optional' status. I've yet to see any sane justification for that.

[Xeones]

The big question I have is how much damage Trump and the Republican congress will do in 2 years before they lose legislative power.

The damage that is going to happen to our education system from primary to higher education will be absolutely massive. Even if they manage an upset and stop Devos, Trump will easily find someone else dead set on destroying public education and democrats don't have power to stop them all.

The deregulation of wall street is going to set us up for a recession which is terrifying. Because lets be honest when he said "friends can't get loans" he was probably talking about himself because giving a loan to him with all his bankruptcies would be considered a big risk.

I honestly tried to hope for the best after he was elected. I thought maybe he would stand by his words and fight against special interests to put america first. But he's not. He is putting corporations and Russia first at the cost of the people and I'm legitimately worried for the future. And the bigger fear? I have no reason to suspect democrats have pulled their noses out of the corporate ass holes they were up with Hillary, and the worse Trump does the less effort democrats have to put in to win.

[Santti]

Weren't you swearing that Trump wouldn't be President? :^)

I kind of did swear as well. Still finding teeth after my jaw hit the floor. Quite possibly the largest "I can't even..." moments of my life. Top 3 for sure.

I still can't quite comprehend how it happened.

[TITAN308]

The big question I have is how much damage Trump and the Republican congress will do in 2 years before they lose legislative power.

How do you know they will lose legislative power?

[Sunseeker]

I for one hopes the so-called President, Donald Watersports keeps on tweeting. It's actually like the hangman making the condemned tie his own noose.

I also look forward to President Bannon doing more crazy things.

It will take 2.5 years to get Trump out of office, minimum. As far as 2 weeks goes, he's been an excellent accomplice in that task.

I think we may see some major fractures among the President and his "staff" (IE: everyone else on his team) over the course of his term, but I doubt he'll actually get impeached. Congress really doesn't have the stomach for it, and Democrats least of the bunch, if the Republicans couldn't do it for Obama, Democrats will never do it to Trump. Besides that noone is going to start impeachment proceedings 2.5 years into Trump's term short of his jacking it in front of Congress with Putin riding on his back. They'll be back in campaign mode and Republicans will unify again. If serious impeachment is going to happen, it will have to happen before Trump starts running again.

[Xeones]

How do you know they will lose legislative power?

#1 it's pretty rare for a sitting presidential party to hold the congress.
#2 the people he is surrounding himself with and the things he are doing are pretty awful.

He lost the popular vote. Unless he does really well I imagine some blow back in the midterms.

[The Stormbringer]

Thank you for this succinct summary, Breccia! I hope you'll keep it up.

[Zyster]

It's gonna be a long 8+ years boys.

Fixed that for you.

[TITAN308]

He lost the popular vote. Unless he does really well I imagine some blow back in the midterms.

What does this matter in the end? He still won without it to start with. Right?

[Xeones]

What does this matter in the end? He still won without it to start with. Right?

That wasn't my quote.

[TITAN308]

That wasn't my quote.

Come again?

I didn't quote your other two items because they are a possibility.

What I did quote however doesn't make sense to me. The popular vote seems irrelevant if we go based on recent election.

[Xeones]

Come again?

I didn't quote your other two items because they are a possibility.

What I did quote however doesn't make sense to me. The popular vote seems irrelevant if we go based on recent election.

Yea the house is gerrymandered to hell in favor of republicans, a big swing there is unlikely. But that isn't the case for the senate, which isn't decided on a voting system that can steal the voice of the people the way the house and presidency do. Arguably the senate is more important to hold for blocking a bad president as well.

[wowaccounttom]

he is not doing anything that he didnt say.. actually, he is doing what politicians usually dont do.. which is actually keep its run promises

not sure what the shock is --- especially from those that voted for him..


out of nowhere, those retards magically became pc

[primalmatter]

He has accomplished more of his promises in the first few weeks then any politician in recent memory. Seems like a good start to me honestly better then I expected.

[Xeones]

he is not doing anything that he didnt say.. not sure what the shock is --- especially from those that voted for him..


out of nowhere, those retards magically became pc

There was a hope that he wouldn't be a full idiot. But nope he just signs orders without any clue how they should be carried out.

People bought his bull shit about being a good negotiator and choosing "good people" to surround himself with.

Insulting people before slamming the phone down isn't good negotiating and choosing a nazi for his closest advisor is hard to stomach. It's easy to hope for the best until you reach that point and realize it's worse than you thought it would be.

[Hey There Guys its Metro]

That's a long summary. Geuss that says a lot about trump, but maybe next time actually summarize instead of adding commentary on each part. I was looking forward to a list or something.