Trump’s Top Ten Travesties, Week 3
This week, in our nation’s increasingly chaotic capital, the Trump administration has clearly NOT drained the swamp. Here’s the raw meat they’ve thrown to those swamp gators this week:
- Kellyanne Conway (aka, per Keith Olbermann, Kellyanne Conjob) provided Ivanka Trump “a free commercial” for her clothing line, saying during a Fox News interview, “Go buy Ivanka’s stuff.” She has been “counseled” on this violation of ethics laws.
- The “president” was defeated in appeals court. The panel of judges voted unanimously, 3-0, to uphold the lower courts’ suspension of Trump’s travel ban. In his usual fashion, Trump expressed his fury via Twitter: “See you in court.” When you think about it, that’s somewhat ironic, since he had already seen them in court, and he lost. The case is almost certain to wind up in the SCOTUS.
- Betsy DeVos was confirmed as Secretary of Education, a job for which she has clearly demonstrated her gross lack of qualification.
- Jeff Sessions was confirmed as Attorney General, despite his being rejected for a federal judgeship 30 years ago based on his overt racism.
- The Senate Majority Leader silenced a fellow senator (a woman) who had begun to read a letter written by the widow of Martin Luther King Jr. citing relevant information regarding Jeff Sessions’ qualifications to serve as Attorney General. “She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.” This may well be the most important story of the week.
- Trump’s SCOTUS nominee called Trump’s Twitter attacks on the judge who imposed the suspension of his travel ban “disheartening” and “demoralizing.” When Sen. Richard Blumenthal reported these remarks, Trump went after the messenger, attacking Blumenthal’s past actions and accusing him of lying about Gorsuch’s comments. It became clear Trump was the one who was lying (again) when Gorsuch and other Republicans affirmed that he had indeed made the comments.
- Trump allegedly didn’t know that he had signed the appointment seating Bannon on the National Security Council and unseating the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the director of national intelligence. Many interpret this to mean that Bannon himself is making the appointments and Trump is rubber stamping them.
- Trump attacked Nordstrom on Twitter for dropping his daughter Ivanka’s clothing brands from their stores.
- Steve Bannon can’t stop talking about war, making dire predictions about imminent catastrophic conflicts.
- White House national security adviser Michael Flynn is in the hot seat for “potentially illegal” phone calls with officials in Russia, some of which took place before Trump was officially president. He of course has lied about his actions.
Overall, from the administration’s inability to find light switches to the mountain of lies they are piling up, the laws they are violating, the constant leaks, the conflicts of interest, and the appointments of unqualified cabinet members, our White House is sitting in the middle of a big, creepy swamp that won’t be drained any time soon.