Tag: Trump

Arthur Miller’s play “Death of a Salesman” is a piece I watched and explored with hundreds of students over the span of my teaching career. Recently, a couple of quotes from the play’s protagonist Willy Loman have been replaying in my head. The action covers the last 24 hours in the life of a man whom the playwright saw as representative of the common man, in a play which Miller called a modern tragedy. Willy Loman lived his life obsessed with achieving the American Dream, only to die feeling he had achieved nothing at all. During this crucial day and night, Willy is haunted by the ghosts from his past and spends a great deal of time arguing with the voices in his head. In the final scenes of the play, Willy meets his two sons in a restaurant and, for the first time, is confronted with the truth of their lives. As he leaves the restaurant, he asks the waiter, “Tell me . . .  Is there a seed store in the neighborhood? . . .  I’ve got to get some seeds, right away. Nothing’s planted. I don’t have a thing in the ground.” After arriving home with his newly purchased seeds, Willy goes to the back yard to begin planting and starts speaking to the ghost of his brother Ben, who cautions Willy that the plan taking shape in Willy’s head may backfire and that Willy will be seen as a coward. Willy responds with the question, “Why? Does it take more guts to stand here the rest of my life ringing up a zero?”

Everyone wants to feel that their life has amounted to something, that they haven’t just “rung up a zero” during their years on earth. As Donald Trump nears the reality checkpoint of his 100^th day in office, he seems to be feeling much the same angst which Willy Loman experiences in “Death of a Salesman.” Trump has failed to pass a single piece of legislation, he’s caricatured daily by every publication on the planet, and his approval rating is at an historic low for a “president” at this stage of his term. He has nothing in the ground; and as he grows more desperate to plant some seeds, he becomes more and more delusional in his erratic stabs at and babbling talk about doing something important. For the fictional Willy Loman, this behavior evokes sympathy; for the real-life Donald Trump, there is no sympathy. There’s only disgust, disbelief that he actually holds the highest office in our country, terror over what calamity he may rain down upon us, and anger at the lawmakers who refuse to do their constitutional job of holding him accountable.

Here’s a snapshot of Week 13.

1. At least there is one priority on which Trump can take pride in his first-hundred-day accomplishments. With Earth Day taking place on Saturday, April 22, 45 can proudly point to this assessment from the Huffington Post: “Almost 100 days into Trump’s tenure, the fears of environmentalists, scientists, public health advocates have been confirmed — and then some.” Great work, Donald! You’ve outdone yourself! Oh, and pay no attention to that group of protesters who’ll be showing up again tomorrow. They’re probably being paid by someone anyway. You just sit inside and tweet to your little heart’s content.
2. Yes, the defeat of the Republican attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with a hastily jotted down bill was so far the greatest humiliation of Trump’s first 100 days. Yes, the Repubs have squandered huge amounts of time, effort, and money trying to repeal the ACA but no time working out a carefully crafted replacement for it. Yes, the one they now propose to put up for a vote next week is being called weaker than the one that already failed. NO, none of those facts is reason enough for them to back away from taking another ill-fated stab at passing a House bill which can be sent on to the Senate. According to Huff Post writers Sam Stein and Ryan Grim, Repubs have no choice but to launch another attempt because “virtually all elected Republicans in Congress pledged to repeal and replace Obamacare during their campaigns ― more or less every day since it became law. To abandon it after one attempt at passage (and a meek three-week effort at that, without even a vote) would be to risk alienating their core voters.”
3. The SCPOTUS (so-called president of the United States) had some special dinner guests this week: Sarah Palin, Ted Nugent with his wife Shemane Deziel, and Kid Rock with his fiancée Audrey Berry. Fashion watchers called out Sarah Palin and Shemane Deziel for violating White House dress code with their off-shoulder tops and Palin’s open-toed shoes; and I believe it’s still considered rude for men to wear their hats indoors, as Nugent and Kid Rock did in the Oval Office. Yet these offenses—if one regards them as such—are minor compared to the smart-ass photo of Sarah Palin, Ted Nugent, and Kid Rock in front of the official White House portrait of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. There seems to be no bottom to Trump’s degradation of our historic presidential residence.
4. Also this week, Turkey’s president narrowly won a referendum which pretty much makes him a dictator: the vote gives him “new, virtually unchecked powers,” according to The Economist. Since coming to power in 2002, Erdogan has had 50,000 of his critics arrested, “including many soldiers, journalists, lawyers, police officers, academics and Kurdish politicians” (BBC News). Did these detentions, along with his authoritarianism, intimidation tactics, and firing 120,000 public servants cause 45 to denounce him and the vote that gave him “virtually unchecked powers”? Of course not, silly! Our SCPOTUS called Mr. Erdogan to congratulate him on his victory. Why not? There’s nothing 45 likes more than winning, and he’s not doing much of it these days, so he’s happy for some other authoritarian who is.
5. One of the biggest news stories this week is Bill O’Reilly’s dismissal by Fox News. Of course, this has nothing to do with 45; but it warrants mention of 45’s statement a week or two ago that O’Reilly is his close friend and that, in his opinion, his buddy did nothing wrong and should have continued to fight the charges. How many times does Trump have to tell the world he’s a misogynist before some people will start believing him? Some crotch grabbers get fired; others get elected “president.”
6. One of Trump’s most controversial and embarrassing appointees, Jeff Sessions, our Attorney General, made this statement to an interviewer about the federal judge in Hawaii who last month blocked Trump’s second Muslim travel ban: “I really am amazed that a judge sitting on an island in the Pacific can issue an order that stops the president of the United States from what appears to be clearly his statutory and constitutional power.” Like his boss, Sessions appears to have slept through history and government classes. Imposing a travel ban on a specific religious group is not one of the powers our Constitution grants to our president; and since 1959, Hawaii has been one of the 50 states that comprise the United States, so the judge is not some outsider trying to influence US affairs. Like, oh, you know, Russia did in the election. Any comment on that one, Mr. Sessions?
7. We all know when money’s tight, we have to take a hard look at our priorities and allocate funds to the most important parts of the budget; so kids’ school shoes have a higher priority than a weekend at your favorite spa. With another spending deadline on April 28, bringing with it as always the possibility of a government shutdown, our nation’s lawmakers are also being forced to evaluate budgeting priorities. Wednesday night, White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney delivered to budget negotiators a plan which makes a “hefty down payment” on the border wall “a top demand.” The full price tag for the completed wall is currently estimated at $15 billion, of which Mexico has agreed to pay zero. Of course. And just as spouses negotiate budget deals—if I can buy that new fishing pole, you can get the new tennis racket you want—Trump too is willing to make deals. According to Mulvaney, Trump “may consider insurance subsidies for low-income Americans to keep the Affordable Care Act kicking” if Democrats agree to allocations for the wall. What a great guy! Pay for my stupid wall, and I’ll let poor people have health care awhile longer. Holding poor people hostage—is that included in Art of the Deal?
8. As international tensions continue to escalate, Russian aircraft are skirting US airspace at a much greater than usual frequency. From Monday through Thursday this week, Russian planes were spotted off the Alaska coast four times. Although they never entered US airspace and officials who spoke to CNN downplayed the threat level, one official told CNN there is “no other way to interpret this other than as strategic messaging.” I’d never go so far as to say Trump gets the message, but he did deny the ExxonMobil request for a waiver of sanctions that would allow them to drill for oil in Russia. Maybe he’s finally getting nervous about growing public knowledge of his bromance with Putin? Hmmm?
9. The Trump administration continues its game of nuclear chicken with North Korea, giving all of us good reason to be very afraid. With no knowledge of history, geography, diplomacy, or much of anything else to go on, Trump seems to be handling the rising crisis with North Korea pretty much the way he handles everything else: Posting stupid tweets and dispatching his band of misfits—Mike Pence et al.—to make threats and attempt to give the appearance that there’s some sort of strategic plan at the White House (There’s not). From Trump’s ridiculous statement that Korea used to be part of China to the suggestion that he learned all about Korea’s history by listening to Chinese President Xi Jinping for 10 minutes, he continues to shock the world and humiliate our country with his shameless display of ignorance. Pair that ignorance with escalating international tension, and it’s difficult to see how the Korean situation is going to end well.
10. Finally, the biggest story of the week is the strange series of lies or bluffs regarding the United States aircraft carrier, USS Carl Vinson. Everyone who’s watched the news knows by now the story of this carrier which Trump called a “great armada” heading toward North Korea, but which was actually 3000 miles away heading in the opposite direction, and the conflicting reports from various members of the Trump administration on the ship’s whereabouts. The most disturbing part of this story is what it portends for US credibility in global interactions. Both allies and adversaries listen to the words of the US President, and our national security depends on other leaders’ ability to trust those words. Our allies need to be able to believe what our president says because their own national security is also impacted by US actions, and the support we can expect to receive from them depends on our maintaining honest relations. Our adversaries need to believe our president’s words because, with modern weaponry in play, bluffing is risky business. Once again, it’s hard to see a scenario in which all of this ends well.

Donald Trump must surely wander the White House hallways at night talking to the voices in his head, obsessing over having nothing in the ground, and desperately plotting to make his mark on the world and to make people love him. He’s a sadly delusional old man, like Willy Loman, who’s growing more desperate with every passing day. But the real culprits in this situation are the Republicans who have placed him in the White House and who continue to support him, responding to every new scandalous revelation with a shoulder shrug and a “Meh!” Our job is to keep up the phone calls, letters, emails, town halls, and in-person meetings. And if all of those things fail to get their attention, we have to show up in every possible way in 2018 to send all of them out job hunting.

It’s been another history-making week in our nation’s capital! Lawmakers have succeeded in ending the longest SCOTUS vacancy in history, forever changing some Senate rules, and—oh, yeah—lobbing a few missiles at a Syrian airbase. All in a week’s work! Although no week since January 20 has been dull or uneventful, Week 11 has been particularly significant for everything from changing international relationships to more leaks from the White House and lots of daily drama on Capitol Hill.

From this reality TV-worthy week, here are a few of the highlights.

1. Early in the week, Jared Kushner traveled to Iraq as a White House envoy, accompanying Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in what the Washington Post calls a “further expansion of [Kushner’s] role as shadow diplomat.” Aside from the obvious problem of Kushner’s lack of any relevant experience whatsoever, this incident also further highlighted Trump’s ignorance of protocols and security concerns. According to the Post, Trump confirmed reports of the trip before the plane had landed. Normal protocol is to give confirmation only after arrival, to prevent incidents such as the one in 2007 when “the Taliban, having gained knowledge of Vice President Dick Cheney’s visit to Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, carried out an attack on the base, killing more than 20 people” (Washington Post). I guess that wasn’t covered in Presidenting for Dummies.
2. Running as a thread throughout the week was the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to fill Antonin Scalia’s Supreme Court seat. First came the filibuster. On Monday, Democrats achieved the 41-vote minimum necessary to sustain a filibuster; Republicans needed 60 votes to end the filibuster; they had only 56 as of Monday afternoon (that total includes four Democrats). So Monday ended in gridlock.
3. The floor debate on Gorsuch’s confirmation began on Tuesday and continued through Wednesday. In between, Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), opting for a more traditional type of filibuster, held the Senate floor for more than 15 hours in an all-night protest of Gorsuch’s nomination. Neither party emerged from this standoff unscathed: there’s been plenty of criticism and blame for both parties as well as for individual players.
4. The SCOTUS debacle ended on Friday in a lose-lose. On Thursday, the Senate took a series of votes which culminated in a permanent rule change, known as the “nuclear option.” Never again will a party be able to stage an effective protest against a SCOTUS nominee, regardless of his/her qualifications or lack thereof; from now on forever, a simple 51-vote majority is sufficient to confirm any nominee to our highest court. And on Friday, for the second loss, the Senate voted to confirm Gorsuch, helping to preserve the court’s conservative majority for several more decades. Mitch McConnell left the Senate chamber with a big smile and a thumbs up, and millions of people worldwide dreamed Friday night of punching that smile off his turtle-ish face.
5. Because anything put in place by President Obama MUST be reversed, Attorney General Jeff Sessions this week “ordered a review Monday of all police reform agreements and investigations initiated by the Justice Department, part of an effort to cut back on federal oversight of local law enforcement” (USA Today). The Obama administration investigated many local law enforcement agencies and made court-enforceable agreements with them to improve their tactics, especially in their use of deadly force and dealing with minority communities. Sessions says, “It is not the responsibility of the federal government to manage non-federal law enforcement agencies.” It’s the federal government’s job to be sure racism in all its forms is allowed to flourish, eh Jeff?
6. Because Trump has never met a brutal authoritarian ruler he didn’t salute, he welcomed Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to the White House Monday, in yet another reversal of President Obama’s policies. Because of the Egyptian president’s long record of human rights abuses, Obama never invited him to the White House, expressed his disapproval of el-Sissi’s human rights record, and briefly suspended military aid. Trump, on the other hand, told him, “You have a great friend in the U. S. and in me.” Just makin’ America great again.
7. Did you hear the one about Trump declaring the month of April Sexual Assault Awareness Month and then defending scumbag Bill O’Reilly for whom $13 million has been paid out in settlements to five of his accusers? This would be a great joke if it were not so disgusting and tragic. The “president” of the United States said, “I think he’s a person I know well — he is a good person. I think he shouldn’t have settled; personally I think he shouldn’t have settled. Because you should have taken it all the way. I don’t think Bill did anything wrong.” Bullies defend bullies, even when one of them lives in the White House.
8. In a move for which Trump received some praise even from intelligent people, he removed Steve Bannon from the National Security Council and replaced him with some of the people who should have been there in the first place. I must admit to being skeptical of the motives at first, but now it’s being widely reported that Bannon’s future as a White House adviser is increasingly uncertain. Perhaps there is just one bit of good news from Week 11.
9. Devin Nunes has stepped down from his role in leading the House intelligence committee’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. He is calling the accusations against him untrue and biased, but he feels it to be in the country’s best interest for him to turn over the investigation to others so that he can “expedite the dismissal of these false claims.” Meanwhile, the investigation is now in the hands of Representatives Mike Conaway, Trey Gowdy, and Tom Rooney. Gee, I can hardly wait to see whether Trey Gowdy will be nearly as passionate in his pursuit of truth about possible election interference by a hostile foreign power as he was about possible email violations.
10. And finally, as the whole world knows, Trump ended his 11^th week in office by ordering the launch of 59 Tomahawk missiles at an airbase in Syria, in response to Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons earlier this week to kill 100 of his own citizens of all ages. Response to Trump’s decision has been all over the map, and the attack raises a number of possible repercussions, none of which are good. Much more to come on this subject in the weeks and months ahead.

As a side note, I just have to ask, am I the only one who is offended by 45’s seeming disdain for the White House? First families have always made our national house their home, not a hotel for the president to stay in during the work week while his family remains in their private home. And visiting dignitaries have been received and entertained at the White House, not at the president’s private home or club. I shuddered at the thought of that family of cretins moving into the White House and spray painting everything gold, but I think I’m even more offended by their utter lack of reverence for the home and its history.

And so Week 11 comes to an end with a cliffhanger: Who is in and who is out among the contentious White House staff? Is Trump preparing for another shake-up? Is Bannon out? Will Priebus survive the cut? Will Gary Cohn be the new Chief of Staff? Will Jared and Ivanka get the boot? HA! Just kidding! Doddering Donald needs his family caretakers to watch after him, so the Kushners are safe. But odds are that other heads are about to roll.

It’s bound to be another busy week! Stay tuned for Swamp Report, Week 12.

The 1960s gave us Camelot; the 2000s have given us Scam-a-Lot! The word “unprecedented” has become the euphemism for “I can’t believe this crazy-ass stuff is happening right here in the USA!!!” A “president” who knows nothing about how government works and has no interest in learning; a “president” who’s under FBI investigation; the “president’s” 30-something son-in-law, whose sole qualification for serving in government is his relationship to the POTUS, being appointed to take charge of . . . well . . . everything; the “president’s” 30-something clothing and accessory designer daughter being appointed as a top-level adviser; a press secretary whose daily briefing sessions are a combination of lies, cover-ups, and scolding reporters; an ethics committee chairman changing cars at night and making clandestine White House visits—yes, you could definitely call those things “unprecedented.” However, I’d prefer to call them what they are: corruption at its worst, criminal and treasonous acts, and a grave threat to the future of our democracy. And there’s only solution: repeal and replace Donald Trump!

Here’s just a little bit of the evidence that his ouster is warranted.

1. Week 10 began with a new position for Jared Kushner. Trump was probably so happy to see him again after having to weather Friday’s crushing defeat all on his own—while Jared and Ivanka were off on a ski trip, compliments of American taxpayers—that he wanted to give him a little welcome-home present. Jared, who in his privileged 36 years has never run any government agency or even worked for one, is now heading up Trump’s White House Office of American Innovation. Jared and his SWAT team aim to run the government like a business, which according to Simon Maloy, writer for the Salon is “one of the dumber and therefore most popular ideas in politics.” The idea is not new; but since Trump and Kushner know a little more about business than they know about government, it seems to them like a good idea. Kushner announced, “The government should be run like a great American company. Our hope is that we can achieve successes and efficiencies for our customers, who are the citizens.” Just one problem there, buddy: If the government is a business—which it’s not—we citizens are the board of directors, and you schmucks answer to us.
2. In a no-big-surprise move which demonstrates the standard Trump disregard for ethics, the White House announced on Wednesday that 35-year-old Ivanka Trump has also become an unpaid federal employee. She will have her own West Wing office and act as assistant to the “president” because, well, you know, designing women’s clothing and accessories gives her such a wealth of political expertise and wisdom that it would be a shame for her not to share it with the nation. Some savvy people have raised the question of whether Jared and Ivanka’s appointments violate federal nepotism laws; but in a January memo, the Justice Department concluded that those rules don’t apply to the White House—echoing the obvious attitude of this administration that it is above the law. Rules, shmules!
3. In the most dizzying story of the week, Devin Nunes claims to be in possession of classified information showing that “Trump transition officials had been caught inadvertently in surveillance operations targeting suspected foreign spies, and that their names appeared in internal intelligence reports” (Huff Post). The night before Nunes announced his possession of the material, he ditched his staff, changed cars, and went to the White House to use a SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility), purportedly to meet with his source, whom he steadfastly refuses to name. His refusal to name the source, along with the facts that private meeting places are also available at the Capitol, no one just strolls into the White House or uses White House equipment without being signed in and escorted throughout the visit by a White House staffer, and no record exists of who granted Nunes admission to the grounds has led many to believe that 45 himself is the “source” and that the whole escapade was contrived to give some credence to 45’s ridiculous claims that he was wiretapped by President Obama.
4. On Tuesday, 45 signed yet another executive order, this one reversing President Obama’s climate change measures by severely limiting the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to enforce climate regulations. Claiming that protecting American jobs is more important than regulating climate change, Trump, who has called global warming a “hoax,” said that the order will “eliminate federal overreach” and “start a new era of production and job creation.” He added that his action “is latest in steps to grow American jobs” [his grammar, not mine] and that his order is “ending the theft of prosperity.” Sadly, our grandchildren will be the judges of his success or failure.
5. Last week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced he intended to initiate a filibuster of Trump’s nominee to fill the Republicans’ stolen Supreme Court seat, Neil Gorsuch. His announcement received a lukewarm response at first; but the bandwagon is starting to fill up, as the Russia investigation causes more Dems to believe a “president” under FBI investigation is not qualified to make such a high-level, long-term appointment. However, with the ever-repugnant Mitch McConnell continuing to vow that—by God!—his party will see to it Gorsuch is confirmed, the only thing sure right now is that we’re “headed toward a high-stakes conflict when the Senate takes up the nomination of Gorsuch next week” (Bloomberg Politics).
6. With the House intelligence committee’s Russia investigation in full disarray, at mid-week, the Senate intelligence committee stepped to the forefront, announcing that they aim to conduct a nonpartisan, non-politicized examination of Russian interference in American politics. In their first public hearing on Thursday, they gave us our big DUH for this week: Russian interference did not end with the election. And why on earth would it? The only reason I can think of that one country would have an interest in who is president of another country is to gain the ability to work through that puppet to further infiltrate and corrupt the government. A CNN article lists specific Russian actions from the primary campaigns right up to this week. It looks as if the Senate committee will actually produce some results; and of course, their one clear advantage is that their chairman is not a double agent for the committee and the persons under investigation. Always a plus!
7. With the Russia investigation heating up, we’re again going to be hearing a lot about Mike Flynn. On Thursday, Flynn reportedly agreed to testify to Congress in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Flynn’s attorney, Robert Kelner, quotes his client: “General Flynn certainly has a story to tell, and he very much wants to tell it, should the circumstances permit.” There have been conflicting comments about whether the request for immunity has actually been made; but as reporters are seeking the truth on the matter, they are also recalling Flynn’s 2016 statement to an MSNBC interviewer: “The very last thing that John Podesta just said is no individual should be too big to jail. That should include people like Hillary Clinton. I mean, five people around her have been given immunity, to include her former chief of staff. When you are given immunity, that means you have probably committed a crime.” And that’s on tape! On Friday, it was announced that the Senate intelligence committee did in fact receive Flynn’s request and has rejected it because, as the whole world knows, “Where there’s smoke there’s fire!”
8. Sally Yates, a name not familiar to most people before she was fired for refusing to defend 45’s first travel ban, is now in the news again because she reportedly has information on Mike Flynn, which she would like to share with the public via testimony to the intelligence committees. But Devin Nunes, always looking out for Donald Trump’s best interests, canceled the hearing in which Yates was scheduled to testify, with little notice and even less explanation. According to Gloria Borger, “She was to be part of a heavy-hitting triumvirate — including former CIA Director John Brennan and ex-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper — bringing news about potential Russian connections to the Trump transition.” Why does anyone try to silence a witness unless that witness has some pretty incriminating stuff? Hmmmmmm
9. On Thursday, the New York Times published an article revealing names of two White House officials who they say acted as the unnamed sources (mentioned in #2) who helped give Devin Nunes the intelligence reports which “showed that President Trump and his associates were incidentally swept up in foreign surveillance by American spy agencies” (NYT). When Sean Spicer was asked about the new revelation, he “neither confirmed nor denied” its validity, in an exchange described in the Huff Post as a “bizarre non-denial.” Nothing new there.
10. Finally, as further evidence of 45’s severe mental disorders, he is now threatening to campaign against members of his own party in 2018. No, really. Here’s the tweet: “The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don’t get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!” The “president” of the United States has threatened to campaign against members of his own party, in retaliation for their failure to support his train wreck of a health care plan, and the Speaker of the House seemed kind of okay with that. You can’t make this stuff up.

Most frustrating of all is the lingering notion among many that Trump simply needs to pivot and start acting more presidential. All of the problems can be fixed if Trump and the other Repubs will simply learn from their mistakes and do things differently from here on out. “’It is a very challenging environment but I think these guys have been in office for 60 days or whatever, they have never done it before,’” said Howard Schweitzer, a former Bush administration Treasury official now with Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies. ‘If they get smarter, they can turn it around.’” (CNN) No, no, no, no, no! Neither you nor I could walk into a medical group, get a job as an M.D., and start performing surgeries on people. Surgery is not a place for on-the-job training, and neither is the presidency. For me to become a surgeon, I’d have to start at the beginning, and it’s pretty late in life for me to do that. Trump is incapable of turning the ship around, because he’s as clueless about government as I am about medicine. He simply doesn’t have the knowledge or the temperament to occupy the office for which he was elected, and there is no magic potion which will give him those qualifications, so everyone please stop saying he just needs to change his ways. He. Doesn’t. Have. Any. Other. Ways. That. He. Can. Change. To.

Let’s see, what was that word again? Starts with “I.” Ah, yes, IMPEACH.

See you next week right back here in the Swamp!

Swamp News, Week 9

When our grandchildren and great grandchildren read about this week in their history books, we’ll be able to say with a sigh, “I remember it well!” I for one have seen things this week I’ve never witnessed before in our country and never dreamed could possibly happen here. Never before have we had a president under investigation for treason; and never have we had a president who is a pathological liar, who every day becomes more ensnared in the web of lies he has spun. David Gergen, who knows a lot about presidents, made the statement, “This may be the worst 100 days we’ve ever seen in a president.” Ya think? Perhaps that’s because 45 is the most unqualified person ever elected to that office, who doesn’t have the knowledge or temperament to achieve so much as a mediocre job performance even if he gave it his best try. We’re only 60+ days into that critical first 100, but from Monday through Friday—FBI report to crash and burn of the Trumpdontcare health care bill–we’ve had a front row seat to watch the making of history.

Let’s take a look back.

1. On Friday, March 17, German chancellor Angela Merkel visited the White House. She’s been there before, of course, and been warmly received by both President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama. Neither of those two humiliated our country in the eyes of the whole world as 45 did with his rude, churlish, infantile, and dementia-like behavior. The video that’s been circulating on the Internet of 45 and Merkel sitting in the familiar side-by-side chairs prompted Michael Gerson to express the opinion in the Washington Post: “When President Trump and Angela Merkel sat together in the Oval Office, we were seeing the leader of the free world — and that guy pouting in public.” Many writers have echoed the sentiment that it is now Ms. Merkel who holds the esteemed title “Leader of the Free World” and not the POTUS. That to me is the most crushing thing that happened during Week 9.
2. The calendar week began with FBI Director James Comey’s stunning confirmation on Monday that the FBI has, since July 2016, been conducting an investigation into “whether there was any coordination between the Trump campaign and Moscow while Russia was interfering in the presidential election.” This statement makes two things clear: One, the FBI has already established as fact that Russia interfered in our election and that their efforts were specifically aimed at defeating Hillary Clinton and electing Donald Trump; and two, the question that remains unanswered and which the current investigation hopes to resolve is whether Trump and his associates participated in, coordinated with, colluded in those efforts. If so, I think we know the name for that, right? We call it treason. Here’s the constitution’s definition of treason: “Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort” (Article 3, Section 3, Clause 1). Oh, yeah, and the penalty for such “high crimes and misdemeanors” is impeachment.
3. The big DUH for the week comes from that same report by Comey: The FBI finds “no evidence” to support allegations that Trump Tower was wiretapped during the campaign. We know by now, of course, Trump’s never met a fact that can shut down one of his lies; so in his own inimitable way he has continued to defend his claim, making much of his use of quotation marks in the original tweets. “Wiretapped” in quotes doesn’t mean the same as wiretapped without quotes. With the quotation marks, it can mean any form of surveillance; and since his claims can be affirmed retroactively, as with the Sweden statement, any tidbit of information is now fair evidence of his credibility. If this were not so tragic, it would make a hilarious Bill Murray movie, possibly titled “What about Donnie?”
4. And then there was the time when Devin Nunes, California Republican who chairs the House Intelligence Committee (which has come to sound like an oxymoron), decided it would be intelligent to brief 45 on information regarding the U S intelligence community’s possession of information on Trump’s transition team before updating members (Democrats) of his own committee. Gee, I don’t think that sounds too suspicious, do you? Maybe this means it’s time to turn the case over to an independent investigator?
5. With the Russia investigation now public knowledge, Paul Manafort returned to center stage this week. You remember him? The guy Sean Spicer said played just a minor role in 45’s campaign. Being campaign manager for roughly 4-and-a-half months is no big deal, right? I’m sure he didn’t have too much influence. Manafort’s ties to Russia are well documented and far too numerous to mention here, but we’ve all heard them. It seems the current focus in his investigation is what he did with all that Russian money he’s earned. The words “off-shore accounts” and “money laundering” have come up, and evidence has led to a bank on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, “once known as a haven for money laundering among Russian billionaires,” according to the AP. Rachel Maddow will keep us posted on this one.
6. Evidence of Trump’s Russia connections is also mounting. In contradiction to his vehement denial of having any business dealings with Russia, the Huffington Post reported this week: “But in the United States, members of the Russian elite have invested in Trump buildings. A Reuters review has found that at least 63 individuals with Russian passports or addresses have bought at least $98.4 million worth of property in seven Trump-branded luxury towers in southern Florida, according to public documents, interviews and corporate records.” I’m sure we’ll be hearing more on that.
7. Monday through Thursday, the spotlight shifted a bit to the Senate confirmation hearings for Neil Gorsuch, 45’s nominee to fill the stolen Supreme Court seat for which President Obama nominated Merrick Garland, the guy all of the Republicans refused to talk to. With the Huff Post describing Gorsuch’s responses as a “steady stream of non-answers,” resentment among Democrats over GOP treatment of Merrick Garland still fresh, and a load of philosophical concerns over trends of the Roberts Court, no one could say the hearings went smoothly. On Thursday, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer threatened to filibuster the nomination and urged his fellow senators to follow suit. An air of inevitability hangs over the process, however, since filibustering is the only hope for a defeat and so far Schumer’s bandwagon is not filling rapidly. The committee is expected to vote on April 3 and the full senate sometime around mid-April.
8. The one piece of good news this week came Friday afternoon, following a week of desperate pleas by Paul Ryan for the necessary 216 votes to send the American Care Act–or ACHA–on to the senate, threats by 45 of repercussions for Republicans who would choose to vote against the bill, demands by 45 for a Friday vote in spite of the flaws in the bill and the lack of time to make effective revisions, and the overall mania that consumed our capital in anticipation of the first vote on a major Trump campaign promise. Ryan conceded defeat on Friday afternoon and chose to withdraw the bill rather than suffer the further embarrassment and political damage of a failed vote. Yay, one for us!!!
9. And now that the ACHA is dead, let the Trump spin begin! The whole problem, he says, is that they had no Democrat support. If those darned Dems hadn’t been so stubborn, it could have happened, because Trump and Company had “a very, very tight margin—so, so close”; but they “just couldn’t get there” because no Dems were willing to rob 24,000,000 people of their health insurance. Imagine that! Not a single Democrat would vote to make millions of families miserable and helpless. Now, according to 45, they’re just going to “sit back and watch Obamacare explode”; and the Liar-in-Chief says it’s already exploding, so they won’t have long to wait. And after it explodes, the Republicans will create something “great” to take its place; never mind that they’ve already been working on it for 8 years and couldn’t pass the bill they wrote. Once again displaying his utter lack of understanding of how things work—or how anything works—45 forgot to mention what will happen during the gap between the explosion and the time the GOP finally comes up with this much-anticipated “great” plan. After all, what’s really important is winning, not helping sick people.
10. The week ended with both a champagne celebration as the AHCA crashed and burned and the discouraging announcement that the administration has given the go-ahead for the Keystone XL pipeline: “’TransCanada will finally be allowed to complete this long overdue project with efficiency and with speed,’ Trump said. ‘The fact is that this $8 billion in investment in American energy was delayed for so long demonstrates how our government has too often failed its citizens and companies over the past long period of time.’”That reverses Obama’s rejection of the pipeline in 2015 on the grounds that “it was not in the national interest and that approving it would undercut the country’s leading role combating climate change.” Once again, big business trumps environmental protection.

Tweet of the Week goes to Senator Bob Menendez: “Hey Republicans, don’t worry, that burn is covered under the Affordable Care Act.”

I think we can expect Week 10 to include a lot of Trump tweet storms, finger pointing, and more lies as 45 tries to cover his large posterior after his humiliating defeat. He’ll probably even throw a couple more “rallies” to restore his wounded ego and feel some love. One thing is certain: It WON’T be boring!

Keep fighting the good fight! The AHCA withdrawal was a “yuge” victory, but the battle is far from over. Keep the calls and letters going! See you next week!

Swamp News

Microwaves, budgets, bans, ultimatums, health care, and the ubiquitous lies—it’s been a wild ride through The Swamp this week! FYI, make a note to yourself that some dictionary definitions are under revision. “Wiretapping” now “covers a lot of different things,” according to Trump and means “broadly surveillance and other activities,” according to lexicographer Sean Spicer. “Mercy” also has new definitions, which are not yet clear, but Paul Ryan will keep us up to date on that during the coming months. It takes a while for print dictionaries to reflect popular usage, so you’ll want to remember these in order to be in the know on what’s happening in The Swamp.

Here’s Week 8 at a glance:

1. On Saturday, the House Intelligence Committee gave Trump the ultimatum to put up or shut up about his wiretapping claims, and his deadline was Monday. Well, as expected, Trump neither put up nor shut up. At the Monday press briefing, Sean Spicer did his usual imitation of a pretzel, saying Trump was referring to surveillance in general, not wiretapping specifically, and that he was referring to the administration, not just Obama—even though the last of the three tweets calls Obama a “bad (or sick) guy.” During subsequent press conferences this week, Spicer has called attention to the quotation marks around “wires tapped” and “wire tapping” in the first two tweets as evidence that a broader interpretation of the terms was intended.
2. Opposition to the Republicans’ proposed replacement for the Affordable Care Act—the American Health Care Act, or AHCA—continues to mount, with Democrats in congress forming a solid block against the bill and an increasing number of Republicans joining the opposition. Paul Ryan can’t afford to lose more than 21 Republican votes to have any hope of passing the bill; and as of mid-week, 37 Republicans are “publicly expressing grave concerns,” according to the Washington Also, 12 Republican senators have criticized the bill, so even if Ryan manages to sway votes in the House, it seems unlikely to pass the Senate. This would, of course, be good news if we were not already shell shocked by the upsets of the past year and the grim knowledge that the most unlikely things can happen. You know, like electing a fascist as “president.”
3. On Monday afternoon, the Congressional Budget Office released its anticipated report on the AHCA, and it contained no good news. According to the report, 14 million Americans who currently have health care would become uninsured by 2018, 21 million by 2020, and 24 million by 2026. This report has reinforced the perception that the AHCA is really a budget plan masquerading as health care because of the effects its passage would have on the federal economy. The CBO estimates that the bill would greatly reduce federal deficits over the next decade, with the majority of the savings coming from scaling back Medicaid and eliminating the ACA’s subsidies for nongroup health insurance.
4. On Tuesday, Rachel Maddow showed us the first two pages of Trump’s federal tax returns ever to be publicly revealed. It wasn’t much, just the summary pages of his 2005 return, which was mailed anonymously to investigative reporter David Cay Johnston. Without the attachments, the two summary pages don’t tell us a whole heck of a lot; but it’s a start, and Rachel Maddow and others are issuing an open invitation for more leaks.
5. On Wednesday, just hours from the time Trump’s second travel ban was set to take effect, two federal judges—one in Hawaii, one in Maryland—ruled to block enactment of the order. The judges cited Trump’s own words from the campaign, in which he emphatically promised to ban all Muslims. According to the judges, those words belie his current assertions that this ban has nothing to do with religion. Never one to be deterred by facts and details, Trump has vowed to take his fight all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary. See you in court, Donald!
6. On Thursday, the White House released the 2017 budget outline, which didn’t offer too many surprises but which underscored the depth of ignorance, hypocrisy, and outright cruelty that dominates Trump World. The $1.1 trillion dollar budget outline proposes increasing defense spending by $54 billion and paying for that increase by reducing allotments for the State Department, the EPA, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In addition to these reductions, other federally funded programs would be eliminated: Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts, and other “nonessentials.” In the most obscene proposal possibly ever included in a federal budget, the Community Development Block Program, which operates Meals on Wheels, would be eliminated because the program “has not demonstrated results.” And then White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney called this compassionate. (Add “compassionate” to your list of words to be updated in the next dictionary revision.) Thursday night on MSNBC, Tom Perez stated emphatically, “Budgets are moral documents.” I agree, and any “president” who expects tax payers to fund his golf weekends and maintain two separate residences for his family but who’s okay with cutting out meals for homebound seniors is unspeakably immoral.
7. On Thursday, after a two-week wild-goose chase, the Senate Intelligence Committee—along with the speaker of the House and the ranking Democrat on the committee– issued a statement that they’ve seen no evidence to support Trump’s ridiculous claim that President Obama ordered a wiretap on Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign. Never one to be deterred by pesky facts, however, Trump has not retracted the claim; and his faithful lackey Sean Spicer gave a particularly contentious press briefing in which he valiantly attempted once again to defend the indefensible. CNN’s Jim Acosta was the casualty in this week’s battle with the people’s enemy. Friday update: Add the UK to the list of countries the Trump administration has now p—ed off. Desperate to protect himself, Trump suggested that Obama may have had UK’s GCHQ help him out with his alleged surveillance of Trump. Theresa May is not amused and has said through her spokesman that the claims are ridiculous and should be ignored.
8. Michael Flynn was back in the headlines on Thursday, not that he ever went very far away. We’ve learned that he raked in a cool nearly $70 million from Russian speaking engagements and other services in the months immediately preceding the 2016 election. It’s important to note that even before Flynn became a member of Trump’s team or was appointed as his national security adviser, as a U. S. military officer, Flynn was prohibited from accepting gifts from foreign governments.
9. Trump threw himself another love fest on Wednesday of this week, this time in Nashville, Tennessee. Still campaigning more than four months after winning the election? He obviously is better at campaigning than at governing, so why not? And there’s nothing like the adulation of a chanting, screaming crowd to put the spring back in your step after a week of defeats and criticism by those mean media people. He told the crowd that the judge’s order blocking his second travel ban makes us “look weak,” that the first ban was better anyway and is the one he really wants to enforce, that he wants to “cut the hell out of taxes,” and that the “catastrophic” Obamacare “is gone.” And just for old times’ sake, he attacked Hillary Clinton, and the crowd gratified him with the familiar chant “Lock her up!” I guess this is that presidential behavior we’ve been hearing about that was hiding inside him all along, waiting for the appropriate time to make the pivot.
10. Then just as the tumultuous week was screeching toward a close, we learned on Friday afternoon that Tom Price, head of the Department of Health and Human Services, “came under scrutiny during his confirmation hearings for investments he made while serving in Congress” (Huffington Post). The Huff Post article goes on to say that he “traded hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of shares in health-related companies, even as he voted on and sponsored legislation affecting the industry.” These actions may have violated the STOCK Act of 2012 as well as the Emoluments Clause of the constitution. Oh, and guess who was investigating Price’s case. Remember Preet Bharara, the U. S. attorney Trump fired last week? Yeah, him.

One of the more disturbing aspects of the current Republican insanity is their insistence that our country must be returned to its roots as a Christian nation. Those of us who stayed awake during history class know that the United States has never been a theocracy and that, in fact, our founders took care to prevent the establishment of a state religion by writing the Establishment Clause into the first amendment to our constitution. But even if we cut the Repubs a little slack on their recall of history,  one would think that anyone attempting to create a “Christian nation” would first take the trouble to find out what Christianity is. Apparently that’s another of those words whose definition is currently in flux, because taking meals away from homebound seniors, taking health care away from people who do the most grueling work but barely make a living, and cutting funding for Planned Parenthood and the EPA (which takes care of things like clean water) doesn’t strike me as “caring for the least of these.” Paul Ryan’s “mercy” is what many of us would call cruelty, depravity, and moral corruption.

Stay strong! Make your voice heard! This is what it means to be Americans.

This Week’s Edition of the Swamp News

Chaos in The Swamp continues into its sixth week. The slightly better news of the week is that Kellyanne Conway was, for the most part, missing from it. That’s not to say, however, that she didn’t get her usual share of notoriety, this time resulting from a shot by the White House photographer of her sitting in an impressive yoga pose on the Oval Office sofa while the “president” and a crowd of honored guests—leaders of our country’s historically black colleges and universities—were standing around the desk. She looked more like a teenager texting her BFFs from Daddy’s office than a top aide to the president of the United States. Though the outrage over her lack of decorum may seem petty, I don’t have to tell you what my mother would have done had she seen me in such an unseemly position because you’re probably imagining your own mother’s reaction. Enough said.

On to the main events:

1. On Saturday, the day after the White House had blocked major news organizations from attending a briefing, Trump announced via his usual communication outlet—Twitter—that he will not attend this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner: “I will not be attending the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner this year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!”So there! Take that, media! I owe you no explanation or courteous chitchat; I’m just staying away. The last president to miss the annual event was Ronald Reagan who did, however, offer an excuse: it was 1981 and he was recovering from bullet wounds received in the attempt to assassinate him. We can only hope Alec Baldwin will accept the suggestion of replacing Trump at the event.
2. In yet another blatant display of his deep ignorance, Trump declared in exasperation on Monday: “Nobody knew health care could be so complicated.” This followed an announcement that the Republicans have a “solution” in hand that is “really really I think very good” but that “it’s an unbelievably complex subject.” Um, I think what you meant to say, Donald, is “Everybody on the planet except me and a few Republican lawmakers fully understand the complexities of health care and government’s role in it; and we might have known, too, if trashing our previous president’s legacy were not far more important to us than providing lifesaving care to our citizens.” If health care were easy, we’d have had the perfect plan in place decades ago.
3. In news which comes as no surprise to anyone, Jeff Sessions—our newly anointed Attorney General—may have lied under oath regarding his contacts with Russian officials in the days just preceding the 2016 election. What we now know for sure, according to the Washington Post, is (1) Sessions had two conversations with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. just before the election and (2) he twice denied the contact to his questioners during his January confirmation hearings. Equally unsurprising is the fact that his boss, DJT, is denying Sessions has committed any wrongdoing. Yet many members of congress do not share Trump’s confidence and are calling for Sessions’ resignation, which of course he is unlikely to tender; but he has agreed to recuse himself from the ongoing DOJ investigation into the scope of Russia’s influence on the election.
4. Whew! And it’s still only Tuesday. Tuesday was the highlight of Week 6 in The Swamp. That evening, Trump gave his first address to a joint session of congress, and it was Reality TV at its finest. On the positive side, 45 managed to give a whole one-hour speech using a moderate tone, without cursing, without calling anyone a childish name, and without directly attacking anyone personally. On the less positive side, he spoke in glowing terms about the future of America (in sharp contrast to the doom-and-gloom talk of American carnage in his inaugural address) yet, as is his habit, forgot to add any specific plans or strategies for implementing that rosy vision. In other words, it was just more empty talk. And in the crowning moment, he recognized the widow of Navy Seal Ryan Owens who died in Trump’s botched raid in Yemen and—in the opinion of many, including me—exploited her in order to defend himself and deny responsibility for Owens’s death. The most surreal part of the evening was the media’s response to the speech: gushing over the “presidential” behavior, warning skeptics that we’d better look out now because there’s a new Donnie in town. So much more to say about that evening but so little space. I move on.
5. CNN gave us a first glimpse of Trump’s proposed budget plan, which shows a 10% hike in military spending, the cost of which is to be covered by deep cuts to other departments, with the State Department and the Environmental Protection Agency taking especially hard hits. Since spending always reflects values and priorities (I want those super-cute shoes, but the kids need school supplies, so I’ll forgo the shoes this week), a president’s budget is a blueprint for shaping the government he/she wishes to create. And it’s no surprise that Trump’s priorities strike many of us as skewed.
6. Politico and other outlets have reported that the cuts to the EPA’s budget will be about 25%, accompanied by a 20% reduction in staffing. Environmental concerns which will not be funded are climate change initiatives and programs aimed at preventing water and air pollution, including lead contamination. So at least the children in Flint won’t have to die from enemy attacks; they’ll be killed by their own “president.”
7. Robert Reich reports: “The number of close Trump associates who have been accused of having undisclosed contact with Russian agents, or who have reportedly been investigated by the F.I., now stands at 7.” He listed Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, Roger Stone, Carter Page, Michael Flynn, Jeff Sessions, and Jared Kushner. Reich raises the questions why there were so many and such frequent contacts and why the entire campaign and administration felt compelled to deny and conceal the contacts.
8. CNN reported on Thursday, March 2: “President Donald Trump’s transition team, days before he took office, nixed plans for an orientation class that would have prepared political appointees and White House staff for a series of ethical and legal issues, documents provided to CNN show. The ethics program proposed by the General Services Administration would have helped White House staff and political appointees get through Senate confirmation hearings, work with Congress and corresponding agencies and comply with laws and executive orders — all issues Trump nominees and staff have confronted during their first six weeks in office.” HA! We don’t need no stinking ethics training! We have our own standards, thank you very much.
9. On Tuesday, Trump signed a bill reversing the Obama administration’s effort to tighten background checks to keep guns out of the hands of unstable people. Thanks to Trump’s generous measure, people who “receive government checks for being mentally disabled and others who have been deemed unable to handle their own financial affairs to the FBI office that runs the national background check database” (around 75,000 in all) can once again purchase firearms. Sleep tight!
10. And finally, on Friday the 3^rd, we learned that Mike Pence used a private email server to conduct state business during his tenure as Governor of Indiana. Gee, why does that sound so familiar? Oh, yes, that’s the same thing Hillary Clinton did and the Republicans lost their minds over it. But relax; Pence says his case was entirely different. No comparison at all. Nothing to see here, folks. Just move along.

In an interesting footnote to this colorful week, Trump made himself a report card. Back in our day, report cards were issued every six weeks, so I suppose it’s appropriate. He awarded himself an A+ for effort, an A for achievement, and a C or C+ for messaging. Yet instead of working to improve the message, he continues to shoot the messenger: the press, whom he has named “the enemy of the people.”

Looks like we’re going to have to wait another week for the swamp draining to begin. I’m not holding my breath.