FYI - After this week, I'm taking a break, but the countdown will return in mid-July. Have a wonderful 4th of July everyone!
20 - Apparently there are rogue FBI agents, but they're not working for the Democrats. Rogue FBI agents out of New York apparently gave Trump defender Rep. Devin Nunes classified information about Hillary Clinton's e-mails in 2016. He bragged about getting this information on Fox News, which led the leading Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff to ask whom exactly Nunes shared the information with, clearly implying he's concerned Nunes did indeed share the classified information with members of the Trump campaign. (6/17)
19 - Scott Pruitt, Trump's EPA director, ordered his agency's staff to help his daughter get an internship in the White House. His staff would be the EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency, not a job placement group. His staff felt like they were being used as stepping stones to try to achieve a better lifestyle for Pruitt's daughter, a lifestyle Pruitt portrayed his staff as being beneath. He also ordered the former speaker of the Virigina House to help get his daughter into University of Virginia's Law School. It was also revealed Pruitt got Rose Bowl tickets from an Oklahoma businessman with ties to the Energy Industry, something which is very illegal. In actually EPA stuff, Pruitt decided the US has had enough with clean water as he's starting to undo the 2015 Clean Water Rule. This will open up protected drinking water sources for 117 million Americans to pollution. (6/15 and 6/16)
18 - The idea of dropping the USA/South Korean joint military maneuvers (spoilers), the deterrent to North Korea and their potential saber rattling, likely came to Trump via Russian despot Vladimir Putin. The Wall Street Journal reported in January Trump had spoken with Putin and he suggested to Trump the idea of halting the military exercises. (6/12)
17 - Trump, clearly bothered we haven't started carving his head into Mt. Rushmore after his embarrassing North Korean Summit performance (spoilers), went on the offensive. He first went on Fox News with fellow Michael Cohen client Sean Hannity to praise the non-exisinting agreement. He then tweeted out he completely solved the North Korea problem, taking a swipe at former President Obama, before ending the tweets with "sleep well tonight." Putting aside the fact he hasn't solved squat, I'm sure Kim Jong-Un is sleeping very well tonight. Finally, when he realized people saw through his North Korean talking points, he went on the attack, claiming NBC and CNN are the biggest enemy to the country because they're refusing to tout Trump's self created greatness. (6/13)
16 - Trump's State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert thinks it's her job to troll CNN news, the source of a lot of Trump's anger. She called out CNN for not covering the Trump visit to the US Embassy in Singapore's security team. Three slight problems with her attempted slam. First, the meeting was closed to the media (which would include CNN), something pretty much every media outlet corrected her on. Second, the image she used to taunt CNN seemed to be from Trump meeting with young schoolchildren, not the embassy security team. Third, this is so beneath her position, it's embarrassing. (6/11)
15 - Attorney General Jeff Sessions says the US will now refuse to accept immigrants and refuges fleeing abusive domestic relationships. This sets up a standard where a known physical threat to an applicant won't be enough for said immigrant to seek asylum. Already numerous immigrants deported by Sessions have been killed upon returning to their country of origin. Sessions still claims he's a Christian. (6/11)
14 - It wasn't a good day for White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. As rumors swirl she may leave the White House, she tried defending Trump's policy of ripping children away from their parents at the border, and putting those children in cages. Attorney General Jeff Sessions claims the BIBLE supports this extremely anti-Christian policy, and the press corps wanted Sanders to clarify. "I can say that it is very biblical to enforce the law. That is actually repeated a number of times throughout the bible." When pushed to explain the passage which supports the Administration's policy, she became insulting and snippy. The AP reporter reminded her there's NO LAW which requires families be separated at the border, but Sanders refused to acknowledge the remark. It was at this point Playboy correspondent Brian Karem finally unloaded on her. "You're a parent of young children. Don't you have any empathy for what they go through?" She ignored Karem and moved on to another question. Since then, people have been pointing to the numerous Bible passages which contradict the White House policy, something we shouldn't even have to do considering there's supposed to be separation of church and state. The Bible should never be the Government's policy validation. (6/14)
13 - At the G7 meeting, Trump apparently told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe he'd send 25 million Mexicans to Japan, implying that Abe would be in big trouble if all the sudden 25 million illegal Mexicans showed up to vote against him in the next Japanese election. Was it a threat? Would Trump kidnap 25 million Mexican people and send them all to Japan? How many boats would that take? Does he think the Mexicans would do this willingly? If he thinks 25 million Mexicans illegally voted against him in 2016, but yet he still won, what lesson would he be trying to teach Japan anyway? Trump is an idiot. (6/15)
12 - Net Neutrality officially died on Monday, as Ajit Pai's new FCC rules took effect. (6/11)
11 - In trade news, Trump is doubling down on his criticism of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after Canada refused to bow to Trump's wishes on trade at the G7 conference. In an interview, Trump was quite harsh on Trudeau standing up for Canada's sovereignty. "That was a mistake. That's going to cost him a lot of money." In a 'not shocking at all poll,' Canadians are siding with Prime Minister Trudeau in his trade war with Trump. Seventy percent of Canadians now say they're purposely going out of their way to avoid buying US products. On another trade war front, Trump has decided to slap another 50 billion dollars in tariffs on China. This as China continues to attack US trade with surgical precision. They've announced tariffs on 659 US products, revising their list to remove most high end products, only focusing on the lower income items, imports which will really damage the American economy, particularly soybeans. (6/12, 6/15, 6/16-17)
10 - Republicans on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) are rallying against Trump's plan to use tax payer dollars to prop up the coal and nuclear industries. Trump's trying to validate the federal bailout of the industries by saying there's a national security emergency involved. All five of the committee's members, including the conservative Republicans, disagreed with the assessment. If it's approved, the tax payers would potential give 65 BILLION dollars to the coal and nuclear industries, for basically no reason whatsoever. Seriously...no reason. (6/12)
9 - North Korean media (spoilers) is boasting that Trump made numerous other concessions to North Korean President Kim Jong-Un, including the promise of removing sanctions without any concessions in return. The Trump Administration has yet to comment on the report. Russian media has also declared The Singapore Summit a grand victory for Kim. And for some inexplicable reason, Trump decided to salute a North Korean military commander. The clear submission move caught everyone off guard. Reminder: Many Republicans demanded former President Obama leave office for what they labeled was too deep of a bow to the Saudis. (6/13-14)
8 - A new Washington Post report states Trump BFF Roger Stone did indeed have a meeting with a Russian national who offered "dirt" on Hillary Clinton prior to the 2016 election. The man approached Stone and Trump aide Michael Caputo. The man then offered the information for 2 million dollars, to which Stone allegedly stated Trump doesn't pay for information. Stone is stating he never knew the man was actually a Russian, but communications from Caputo to Stone directly contradict that claim, pointing out they both knew the man was Russian. This would make a dozen Trump aides who have stated they did not meet with the Russians prior to the 2016 Election, who have now proven to have been lying. (6/17)
7 - The entire Trump family is in BIG trouble. New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood filed suit on Thursday against the Donald J. Trump Foundation, the Trump family nonprofit, as it appears the foundation operated more as a checkbook for Trump. For decades, the money was often used for personal matters, not charitable functions. The suit names Trump, Trump daughter and White House staffer doing...something Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr. (Tweddle Dee), Eric (Tweddle Dum) and the entire foundation board. The Foundation is also accused of using charitable funds to support Trump's Presidential campaign, a HUGE legal no-no! Trump, seething at the news, attacked the AG and New York Democrats. Legal papers paint pretty damning evidence against the whole family. (6/14)
6 - Paul Manafort's bail has been revoked and he's going to jail. This after Manafort was caught trying to tamper with witnesses against him in the Mueller investigation. Manafort's scheduled to be in jail until his trial begins in September. Most experts feel, due to his prison stay, he'll be screaming for a deal in the near future. (6/15)
5 - Asked by a reporter what he'll do if Kim Jong-Un doesn't follow through with his promises from the Singapore Summit, Trump stated: "I may stand before you in six months and say 'hey I was wrong.' I don't know that I'll admit that, but I'll find some excuse." Trump sized up in a nutshell: I won't admit I was wrong. I'll just make up an excuse. (6/12)
4 - Trump does interviews! Trump went on Fox News for another absolutely bonkers interview which featured some of the most outrageous lies yet. He blames President Obama for Russian Despot Vladimir Putin invading the Crimea, attacking Ukraine, and shooting down a civilian airliner, all because Putin didn't respect Obama. Trump stated he could ask Putin to leave Crimea and Syria and Putin will do it. The obvious follow up question should've been 'why haven't you?' Trump now insists Kim Jong-Un's brutal regime is nothing unusual, no big deal. He reiterates how great Kim is for inheriting North Korea from his dictator father, implying it was some sort of populist ascension. He then reiterated his call to pull all troops out of South Korea, insisting the South Koreans don't pay us enough for the military presence. He again praised Chinese President Xi Jinping for being 'President for life,' adding "that's pretty good." Then came the two unbelievable lies. The first was his claim he's done more in the first 500 days of his term than any other president ever. This is a stunning lie, one he tries to validate by claiming "a lot of people are saying it." No one with a brain is saying it. He might, MIGHT be slightly better than 1 president, but remember Harrison died six weeks into his term. But the most bizarre claim he made was (multiple) parents of Korean War veterans came up to him during the 2016 campaign wanting Trump to get their children's remains back from North Korea. While returning soldiers remains is a VERY good outcome to strive for, parents of Korean War veterans would be AT LEAST 100 years old. That's if you have a 16 year giving birth and their 18 child served at the very end of the Korean war, a fact which would make it very unlikely their remains would be in current North Korea. Putting aside the clear lie 100 year olds were mobbing Trump as his rallies, it's stunning the interviewer failed to even follow up on such an outrageous claim. Two days later, Trump wandered out of the White House, and (surprise!) Fox & Friends was coincidently broadcasting. Trump proceeded on another bizarre rant. On dictator Kim Jong-Un: "He speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same." He wants the same respect from his people as a brutal dictator receives under their iron fist (WOW!). Trump then proceeded to call FBI leadership "scum," a response to the DOJ's FBI/Clinton/email/Comey report he insisted was a "lie" and was "wrong" (spoilers), a comment even host Steve Doocy said "this is your FBI." Then Trump repeated his claim hundreds of 100+ year old fathers of Korean War Veterans asked him to bring home the remains of their kids. Once again it's good to get soldiers remains returned, but this is such a clear lie Trump's insisting on doubling down on. The more disturbing element is he twice in two days expressed the desire to be a President with authoritarian control. (6/13, 6/15)
3 - Trump has been hyping the release of the DOJ report on the firing of James Comey, promising it to be the smoking gun proving the entire Mueler investigation is a fraud. Now that it's been released, it can be said it does no such thing. What it does prove is that the Comey's actions in regards to Hillary Clinton and her emails was the mistake, and none of it was motivated by political leanings. The report says Comey was justifiably fired due to his lack of following the rules in regards to Clinton, not because of some grand anti-Trump conspiracy. This puts Trump and his followers into an interesting box. Either they think Comey deserved to be fired, and hence Hilalry Clinton was wronged, OR they think Hilalry Clinton wasn't wronged, hence Comey should still be employed. It's one of the two. Even far right conservatives are stating Hillary Clinton got screwed over, not Trump.(6/14)
2 - Trump's child prisons were opened to the public and what we've seen is disturbing. There are murals praising Trump EVERYWHERE in the facility, resembling indoctrination techniques of evil dictators. 1500 young boys, children as young as 10 years old, are being kept in incredibly overcrowded conditions. The kids get only 2 hours of fresh air every day (children!?!). Trump insists this is about stopping MS13 gang members from entering the country, but officials at the shelter admit they have yet to encounter a single gang member. So far the US government has ripped 2000 children from their parents since Trump enacted his barbaric policy. Expectations are the number will be dramatically higher by the end of summer. (6/14, 6/16)
1 - Trump's Summit with North Korean President Kim Jong-Un happened, and regardless of how it's measured, the results were lackluster at best, with Trump the only one making concessions. It was clear Kim was going to try to play Trump, when right before the summit, Kim changed his timeline, sending the US envoy scrambling to ensure the summit still happened. North Korea basically says it's committed to peace, adding they're willing to look at the de-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. THOSE ARE GOOD THINGS, as is the willingness to meet, but the positive wears off from there. None of the US's pre-summit demands were met. The agreement they signed is basically the same agreement North Korea signed twenty five years ago, only more toothless, and North Korea never followed through on that one. The talks of peace and de-nuclearization have no timelines or metrics, only a vague promise of eventually trying to do something. Even so, Trump keeps insisting they are comprehensive standards. There are not. Trump, during the press conference afterwards, stunned South Korea, and our own military, by stating he's conceding to Kim, ending the joint military exercises which are routinely conducted between the South Korean/US armed forces. This apparently was something never discussed even with our own military brass. Many people are looking for Trump to clarify what exactly he meant, with even the South Koreans implying he must have mis-spoke. To reiterate, Trump got nothing of what he wanted, the agreement was vague and noncommittal, and the only major concession made was Trump insisting our military will no longer train with the South Koreans as a deterrent against the North Koreans. (6/12)
The unbelievable thing is:
After the empty foreign policy
The disastrous trade policy
The undeniable racism
Ripping kids from their parents and throwing them into #KidPrison
The low moral character
The undeniable sex scandals
Destroying the only healthcare many of us have access to
The clear purchasing of Trump and his term by the Russians
The failure in Puerto Rico
The never-ending shady cast of characters
His desire to be an authoritarian dictator
His wildly inappropriate social media presence
The shady business background
And his undeniable ignorance
538 still has his approval average at 42%. That means ALL Republicans still approve of him. They truly do hate Democrats more than they love their country, their religion and their own quality of life. They are so terrified of being proven horribly wrong, they have decided the rotting cow carcass is the prettiest date in town.
The ONLY way we are going to solve this problem is by getting every freaking Democrat off their caboose and get them to the polls in November. EVERY person who sat out last election (110 million). Every person who insists politics doesn't matter to them. Every person who tries so hard to make the both sides arguments as a way to not break down into a fit or rage. EVERY ONE!!!
#2018IsEverything. The Countdown will return in a few weeks.
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