As Donald Trump nears his 100th day in office, the assessment of this critical period of his presidency is not looking good; and that statement, of course, comes as no surprise to any thinking person. Those of us who knew that a power-hungry, adulation-seeking, bigoted, crotch-grabbing, Putin (and all other brutish, authoritarian rulers)-loving con-man with no knowledge of or experience in government, no intellectual curiosity, and the vocabulary of a five-year-old is unqualified to lead the USA are seeing exactly what we expected. Those who thought that said person was simply putting on a show to get elected and then would magically “pivot” into Abraham Lincoln are having mixed reactions. There have been reports of some isolated cases of buyers’ remorse, which does us little good right now but may bode well for the 2018 and 2020 elections. Most mystifying of all is that the majority of 45’s supporters remain loyal even as he kicks them in the teeth. We the resistance still have plenty of work to do; as Robert Frost said, we have “miles to go before we sleep.”
Let’s review some Week 12 highlights.
- After a contentious confirmation process which ended in a permanent Senate rule change, thanks to Mitch McConnell’s decision to use the “nuclear option,” Neil Gorsuch took the oath of office to become our country’s 113th Supreme Court Justice. Not only has the Senate confirmation process been forever changed but the balance of power in the high court has been set for decades to come. Although President Obama and Democratic Senators hoped to install a more liberal or at least moderate justice, the Republican majority have succeeded in keeping the court conservative for the foreseeable future. And since three other justices are at or near the average SCOTUS retirement age, the prospect of a few more Trump nominations looms large. None of this is good news.
- Although Trump has succeeded in distracting the TV talking heads’ attention from his Russia scandal by blowing up various targets around the world, the FBI and our intelligence agencies continue their investigation into Trump and his associates’ ties to Russia and whether they cooperated with Russia’s interference in our 2016 election. The old saying “The wheels of justice grind slow” rings true right now, as many of us grow impatient with the process and would like to see the impeachment happen yesterday. But The Guardian reported this week: “There are now multiple investigations going on in Washington into Trump campaign officials and . . . One source suggested the official investigation was making progress. ‘They now have specific concrete and corroborative evidence of collusion,’ the source said. ‘This is between people in the Trump campaign and agents of [Russian] influence relating to the use of hacked material.’” That little gem, buried at the end of the article, is exactly what we’ve been waiting to hear!
- Steve Bannon, who during the early days of 45’s administration appeared to be the de facto president, has steadily lost standing since his removal last week from the National Security Council. In what sounded like further distancing of himself from his key aide, Trump said this week: “I like Steve, but you have to remember he was not involved in my campaign until very late. I had already beaten all the senators and all the governors, and I didn’t know Steve. I’m my own strategist . . .” Too bad, Stevie! You should have made a greater effort to play well with Jared in the sand box. Nepotism wins in the end.
- And speaking of crickets, Kellyanne Every-Day’s-a-Bad-Hair-Day Conway came out of hiding on Wednesday of this week to speak at a media forum in Washington. In her interview with USA Today columnist Michael Wolff, Conway gave her usual glib, cheery responses to some hard-hitting questions. According to a Salon article, she seemed not to know what Wolff meant when he asked whether she takes any of her media criticism personally. Her ironic response that people often say things which are simply not true evoked a few chuckles from the audience. Having placed Jared in charge of the world, Trump seems to have less need for sycophants like Conway and Bannon.
- In yet another White House staff change, Stephen Miller has now been assigned to work with Ivanka Trump on women’s issues, including family leave and child care. The irony/stupidity of placing a 31-year-old man in partial charge of women’s issues aside, this particular 31-year-old man has been demonstrating his lack of understanding concerning women’s roles and gender inequality since at least his junior year at Duke University. It was then that Miller wrote an op-ed called “Sorry Feminists,” in which he argues that the gender pay gap is a myth. Women make less than men, he claims, because men work longer hours, choose higher-paying jobs and take on more dangerous work. “The pay gap has virtually nothing to do with gender discrimination. Sorry, feminists. Hate to break this good news to you.” Well, I don’t know about the rest of you ladies, but I’m feeling safer already since our political future is in the hands of a privileged 30-something white girl and an out-of-touch 30-something man. Makin’ America great again for women, eh?
- Now in addition to his refusal to release tax returns, the candidate who promised greater transparency in the White House is also refusing to make WH visitor logs public. According to the Huff Post, “The decision is a departure from the Obama administration, which did release the logs. Michael Dubke, the White House communications director, told Time that the White House’s decision was made out of concern for national security and privacy, and to protect President Donald Trump’s ability to discreetly seek counsel.” Hmmmmmm, I wonder from whom Trump has been seeking council. Time magazine has reported that the logs will remain private until five years after Trump leaves office. Well, we can only hope an impeachment will start that five-year countdown very soon!
- In honor of Tax Day, many of our fellow resisters are marching today to demand the release of 45’s tax returns. He says only the media even care about his taxes; but even though he’ll never admit it, this should prove to him a few million more of us also care.
- Still giddy from his first fun-with-bombs play date when he ordered last week’s strike on a Syrian airfield, Trump just one week later approved dropping an MOAB—Mother of All Bombs—on a network of underground tunnels used by ISIS in Afghanistan, apparently eager to keep his campaign promise to bomb the shit out of ISIS. If that’s your goal, I suppose dropping the USA’s most powerful non-nuclear bomb for the first time in history is a good way to start. At last count, 94 Islamic State fighters were killed in the attack; but the bodies are still being uncovered, so the count continues. 45 called this “another very, very successful mission.” Proving him to be the mother of all imbeciles!
- Among the more disturbing responses to Trump’s ventures into bombing various places is the media’s attitude that he has finally become presidential. CNN’s Fareed Zakaria declared, “I think Donald Trump became president of the United States last night [the night he ordered the missile strike on Syria]. I think this was actually a big moment.” And Brian Williams could hardly contain himself in his response to the Syria strike: “We see these beautiful pictures at night from the decks of these two Navy vessels in the eastern Mediterranean. I am tempted to quote the great Leonard Cohen: ‘I’m guided by the beauty of our weapons,’ he said, alluding to the song ‘First We Take Manhattan.’ ‘And they are beautiful pictures,’ Williams continued, ‘of fearsome armaments making what is, for them, a brief flight over this airfield.’” Bombs are beautiful, and people who order bomb strikes are presidential. How did we get to this place?
- The week ends on a dark note with an ominous warning from North Korea. Against the backdrop of a military parade celebrating “Day of the Sun,” featuring well-synchronized military marching units and a large array of military hardware obviously meant to strike fear into the hearts of adversaries, “Choe Ryong Hae, a close aide to Kim Jong Un, addressed the packed square with a characteristically bellicose warning to the United States. ‘If the United States wages reckless provocation against us, our revolutionary power will instantly counter with annihilating strike, and we will respond to full-out war with full-out war and to nuclear war with our style of nuclear strike warfare’” (Huffington Post). Among the missiles on display were new types of ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missiles) capable of traveling, as the name implies, to distant continents—including, according to North Korean officials, the mainland United States. What a wonderful time to have a nuke-happy clown in the White House!
With Congress in recess until April 24, congressional representatives are once again facing angry constituents in rowdy town hall meetings. The White House remains in a state of chaos, and it’s hard to know who’s up and who’s down or who’s in and who’s out from one day to the next. We never know whether the morning news will announce yet another bombing somewhere in the world. And most ominous of all, we don’t know what retaliation our nation will experience, especially from North Korea where Kim Jong-un is quickly losing patience with 45’s nonsense. It’s a dark time in the world. As conflict rages in many places, the United States—which has often acted as the grown-up in the room during periods of global tension—now finds itself with a vindictive toddler at the helm. I’m not going to lie; I find the situation terrifying. Yet as FDR reminded us in his first inaugural address, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”; so let’s be courageous enough to overcome our fear and keep the resistance going strong.