These are the 20 largest chunks of incompetence coming from Trump and his Administration for this week alone. All the things on this list should lead to investigations, committee hearings, firings, resignations and even one or two impeachment charges. Instead all Republicans, out of misguided loyalty, are failing to do their job; all of them ready to scream "I was only following orders" when the world collapses.
A quick online search will give you plenty of news options on all of these stories. The ranking is purely on me. Please feel free to disagree and comment why below.
On with the countdown!
20 - Even as his top aides are telling him to fire EPA Director Scott Pruitt, Trump has grown closer to him. He confides in Pruitt, and the two of them 'gossip' often, even bad mouthing Attorney General Jeff Sessions with each other. And in 2017, Pruitt ordered one of his employees to purchase a used mattress from Trump International Hotel in DC. The aide told congress she wasn't sure why Pruitt wanted a mattress, or if he ended up eventually buying it, but the mattress definitely wasn’t for official government business. (6/10 and 6/4)
19 - Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, a woman who has regular contact with Trump, has told White House aides she wants to be Trump's Attorney Genral. She's been openly lobbying the White House to remove current AG Jeff Sessions and to put her in charge. Trump apparently did order Sessions to interview Pirro for the position of Deputy Attorney General, the position currently held by Rod Rosenstein. When Sessions balked at interviewing the grossly unqualified Pirro, Trump threatened to put her on the Supreme Court if Sessions didn't follow his commands. (6/7)
18 - Apparently Trump's biggest complaint about life in the White House, according to one of his close friends, is that he can't watch porn there. Seriously! (6/7)
17 - The Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles' trip to the White House has been cancelled. Trump cancelled the visit after having a temper tantrum about the players not attending, as only three players, the owner and the mascot were planning on being there. He was so furious, Trump accused the team of wanting to kneel for the National Anthem instead of wanting to visit Trump. The Philadelphia Eagles were one of only a few teams who didn't have a single player kneel for the National Anthem during last year's season, a fact which got more awkward after Trump supporters posted images of Eagles players supposedly kneeling during the National Anthem, when they were actually kneeling in prayer before the Anthem. Trump's planning on a celebration even without the Super Bowl champs. Many analysts point to this as Trump desperately tying to divert attention away from the Mueller investigation. (6/4)
16 - Former Fox News Chief Political Correspondant Carl Cameron, in a series of interviews about an upcoming book, stated undoubtedly Russia helped Trump win in 2016, and Roger Stone was the catalyst for the collusion. He goes onto detail the numerous connections and admissions, painting a clear timeline of Stone's involvement with the Russian Intelligence Officer Guccifer 2.0 and WikiLeaks' Julian Assange. He added that during 2016, Stone's own admissions are enough to prosecute him. (6/6)
15 - Because of document preservation laws, the White House has had to employ an individual whose sole job is to tape back together all the documents Trump apparently rips apart. They've had to hire a person at 65K a year to tape back together the papers Trump destroys either in fits of rage, or because he keeps forgetting he's not supposed to rip them up. (6/10)
14 - After Rudy Giuliani states that First Lady Melania Trump "believes her husband" in regards to the Stormy Daniels situation, Melania's spokesperson responded. Stephanie Grisham is a rep for Melania, and was blunt: "I don't believe Mrs. Trump has ever discussed her thoughts on anything with Mr. Giuliani." Not only a rebuke of Giulianai, but also a clear sign the First Lady is upset about the Stormy situation, a situation she seems to believe to be true. (6/7)
13 - In a desperate attempt to get Trump to read, his aides are putting together a daily book. The book isn't filled with detailed reports and synopsis of the world today. Rather, to get Trump to pay any attention to it, the book is mostly simple phrases, incomplete sentences and pictures of screen grabs which have cable news network chyrons (the words at the bottom of the screen) to help him understand. They learned this technique after former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster used to infuriate Trump by using complete sentences, according to one staffer. This is apparently the only way to get real news and real facts, albeit abridged ones, to Trump. (6/7)
12 - Paul Manfort, Trump's former Campaign Manager, has been busted trying to tamper with witnesses in the Mueller investigation, and like everything else in this investigation, it highlights a level of stupidity hard to fathom. Manafort was allegedly using encryption messaging services WhatsApp and Telegram to try to communicate with witnesses against him. He had the encryption apps set to back up on his iCloud service, something the Mueller investigation has access to. Let me repeat that: the encrypted messages were automatically backed up on a storage drive the Mueller investigation could legally read. On top of that, one of the people he contacted handed the texts over to Mueller. (6/5)
11 - Russian despot Vladimir Putin told an Austrian journalist he and Trump talk on a regular basis. He said the two "regularly talk over the phone," but went on to insist the conversations weren't formal. (6/5)
10 - Trump has his Philadelphia Eagle-less White House Super Bowl ceremony, and it was as scary and hilarious as you could imagine. First, when asked by the media to identify the Super Bowl winning QB from their team, many of the supposed Philadelphia Eagles fans had no idea, meaning these were clearly not Philadelphia fans. The crowd seemed to made up mostly of older, white, balding men. The tone was very military/authoritarian, which featured a barely coherent Trump, who attempted to sound patriotic, but instead sounded like a fourth grader spouting off poorly written fake patriotism drivel. Trump bragged about the crowd size, which was small, and then proceeded to not know the words to God Bless America, deciding to bob his head along after the first two lines. For the record, someone at the event kneeled during the National Anthem. It's later admitted White House interns filled out the crowd for the event. (6/5)
9 - A new plan from Trump's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson is set to raise the rents on the poorest Americans by 26%. This rent hike would likely increase homelessness in America. Carson says the plan is to push people off of housing assistance, but the plan has no contingencies for people who aren't able to become more self sufficient. This plan also banks on the job market in a given community, something which is an unpredictable variable. It should be added wages in communities where housing assistance is needed have stayed stagnant for the last few decades, with no sign of rising. 8.3 million people would be affected by this, including many children. (6/7)
8 - Very quietly, the White House aide who made the joke about Senator John McCain dying from cancer has left the White House. Kelly Sadler, who also had an EPIC meltdown during an open door communications staff meeting, has been confirmed to no longer work in the White House. (6/5)
7 - Trump, not sounding like a guilty man at all, has tweeted he has "the absolute right to PARDON myself..." In an attempt by Trump to then cover his tracks, he then insists has done nothing wrong. (6/4)
6 - The new US Ambassador to Germany has some explaining to do. Richard Grenell stated in an interview with Breitbart he wanted to empower the right wing, anti-establishment movements in Europe. This was interpreted, correctly, by German leaders as a pseudo-endorsement of certain politicians and political parties, something Ambassadors are not supposed to do. He's being asked to explain his comments during his first official state meeting with German leaders. (6/4)
5 - Paul Manafort has new charges filed against him in the Robert Mueller investigation. In the latest superseding indictment, Manafort's accused of disguising millions of dollars in unreported income via offshore accounts, and then lying about said funds. Another person named in the indictment is Konstantin Kilimnik, a longtime Manafort aide and a likely Russian intelligence asset who oversaw the Kiev office of Manaforts DMI consulting, a firm used repeatedly in Manafort's crimes (allegedly). For the first time, Mueller has officially tied a member of the Trump team directly to the Russians. The charges are Obstruction of Justice, and Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice. And due to Manafort's attempted witness tampering, Mueller has asked for his bail to be revoked. (6/8)
4 - After eluding to it at his impromptu press conference before he flew to Canada, Trump arrived at the G7 meeting in Quebec demanding Russia be reinstated into the group. This infuriated the rest of the G7 members, considering they threw Russia out for invading Ukraine, after Russia blew up a commercial airliner killing hundreds of innocent people, and (more recently) after Russia attempted an assassination on British soil. Trump's reversal of American policy on Russia is also a major reversal of Trump's campaign promises. Trump also refused to be part of the G7 climate meeting. (6/8)
3 - Trump goes on a bonkers rant at the G7 meeting in Canada. He first arrived late to the first G7 session about women's equality, something the Canadian Prime Minister alluded to in his opening remarks. Afterwards, Trump became belligerent. He basically told our closest trade allies they HAVE TO open their countries to US products with zero tariffs, while the US can impose tariffs on their products whenever Trump wants to. If our allies don't agree to those terms, Trump will completely close the US market to their individual trade. "They have no choice" Trump told the press, while showing the world how little he knows about trade. He told the same countries (minus Japan) to not retaliate agains the new steel and aluminum tariffs the US has imposed on them. He then attacked the EU, Canada and Mexico individually, with Mexico getting: "Mexico - we have a $100 billion trade deficit with Mexico and that doesn't include all the drugs that are pouring in." During a closing press conference, Trump took a FAR friendlier tone with North Korea than he did with our closest allies. He then, clearly feeing cocky, went after CNN, repeatedly calling them "fake news." Trump then left the G7 before their sessions on climate change and clean oceans. (6/9)
2 - Trump is furious at our closest allies, specifically Canada, after a joint statement is released by the G7 leaders which showed they will not curtail their trade policies to Trump's demands. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau went the extra step further to emphatically swat down any attempt by Trump to dictate Canadian trade. In regards to a potential trade war between the US and Canada, Trudeau stated "I have made it very clear to [Trump] that it is not something we relish doing, but it is something that we absolutely will do." "...we will not be pushed around." This sent Trump into a tweet rage on Air Force one, calling the Canadian Prime Minister "very dishonest & weak". Larry Kudlow, Trump's top Economic Advisor, implied this was some sort of "betrayal" by Trudeau, and top White House trade advisor Peter Navarro said "there's a special place in hell..." for Trudeau. Kudlow then admitted the attacks on the Canadian Prime Minister were just bravado to try to impress North Korea before their talks, even implying if the talks fail, it's Canada's fault. It's a good time to point out Trump's allegations about Canadian trade deficits are a complete lie. According to Paul Conners, the Canadian Consul General for the Midwest region, "[the US] had a [trading] surplus with Canada last year, as [they] did the year before. You do not have a trade deficit with Canada." It's reported the rest of the EU has decided to stand with Canada against Trump's trade demands. (6/10)
1 - The White House is attacking Oregon Senater Jeff Merkley for trying to get access to a Texas shelter, housed in an abandoned Wal-Mart, where immigrant children who were ripped away from their parents at the border are being held. The windows are all blacked out and the police were called to prevent a sitting US senator from seeing what conditions the Federal Government is keeping children in. The conditions inside the center are likely horrific. Earlier in the weekend, Merkley and his staff were granted access to a processing center where children are being kept in cages. Once again, this is Trump's policy, gleefully instituted by Jeff Sessions and ICE. It's reported over 1500 families have been split up at the US border over the last 18 months. Once again, under Trump's direct orders, young children are being ripped from their parents, and are being held in cages. (6/6 and 6/8)
How can ANY Christian, Evangelical or not, be silent at the ripping of children away from their parents at the border, throwing young innocent kids into cages? How can any human be silent? It's amazing to live through one of the most barbaric incidents in this country's history, something history books will describe with contempt and shame. Seeing how many people seem perfectly fine with such crimes against humanity is astounding (and yes, silence is endorsement).
As far as Canada goes, remember after 9/11 how Canada was there for the US, taking in America travelers whose flights had been grounded, and helping them get back home to loved ones. They were our closest friend. We have a trade surplus with them, not a deficit. Because Trump's an idiot, our relations with Canada will never be the same.
You solve all of this easily. Get off your cabooses and vote in the November elections. Put Democrats into power in was many places as you can. It's the only way to save the union. #2018IsEverything!
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