These are the 20 most boneheaded things coming from Trump and his Administration for this week. All the things on this list should be the lynchpin for investigations, committee hearings, firings, resignations and even one or two impeachment charges. Instead, we are getting a great example of what Thomas Jefferson tried to prevent from happening in America; a complicit House and Senate majority, and a complicit Supreme Court, doing the bidding of a tyrant like leader, albeit in this case incredibly stupid one!
20) Health and Human Services Director Alex Azar has announced plans to divert 266 million dollars away from the CDC, the National Insitute of Health and needed programs like Head Start to pay for the growing number of detained immigrant children currently being held at various Trump child prisons across the country. Trump's HHS is taking money from cancer research and needy American kids to pay for his baby prisons. (9/21)
19) Stormy Daniels, the porn star who was one of a few women having an affair with Trump after his wife gave birth to their youngest son, has a new tell all book coming out. In it, she actually gets very graphic in regards to describing Trump's genitals. I will not go into detail here (Trump should stop with the bragging), but it's clear Trump lied numerous times on the campaign trail about his privates (I can't believe I just wrote that line). For all Republicans calling this 'going too far,' I remember in Bill Clinton's second term how Republicans INSISTED on the graphic details of his affair being broadcast to the world. Now when it's their guy getting embarrassed, they have the audacity to ask 'what ever happened to decency?' The Republicans killed it. (9/18)
18) Trump seems to be planning some sort of potential military action in the next few weeks. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated the Administration is working on a responses to Venezuela's government, and Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani stated directly that Iran's government will be overthrown. The Giuliani quote comes after a terrorist attack on Iran where 25 people were killed during a parade. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani blames Middle Eastern "puppets countries" (mainly Saudi Arabia), who are being manipulated by the United States. The White House did release a condemnation of the terrorist attack that killed innocent civilians. Many political experts in the US have stated Trump, facing devastating loses in November's mid term elections, might actually start a war as a distraction. (9/22)
17) A report out from the New York Times states Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein wanted to secretly record Trump and use the tapes as the justification to activate the 25th Amendment, the one where the cabinet can remove a president if needed. Rosenstein is vehemently denying the claim. Something doesn't seem to be quite right about this story. Trump and his inner circle could've planted the story as a justification for Rosenstein's dismissal, and with the troubles in the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, this could just be a distraction. It should be noted Rosenstein is the ultimate authority on the Mueller investigation, and by removing him, Trump could potentially shut down that investigation. (9/21)
16) Trump encouraged the country of Spain to build a border wall across the Sahara Desert to keep out unwanted immigrants. Mind you Trump doesn't seem to understand the Sahara Desert runs across northern Africa, in multiple countries which are not Spain, The Sahara Desert is the largest on the planet, spanning for thousands of miles. It should also be noted Spain is actually on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea. It's unclear if Trump was suggesting Spain invade all of Northern Africa. Spanish officials were reportedly laughing at the stupidity of the suggestion. (9/19)
15) Trump and Vice President Mike Pence are getting their cabooses handed to them in four courts, as they try to reinstate their ban on transgender troops in the military. Their latest loss is in California, where the US District judge tossed out their request, an appeal which was based on a flawed military study, a study which was clearly rigged and influenced greatly by Pence and outside anti-LGBTQ groups. This flawed study made claims transgender troops affect "military readiness" and "unit cohesion," but a simple review of the report showed massive inconsistencies and, exposed the Administration's appeal as a attempt to simply discriminate against transgender people. (9/19)
14) The Director of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson has a large number of appointments at his control, people whom he can put into place to run HUD. A new report shows 24 of the 70 people hired by Carson to run Housing and Urban Development have absolutely zero housing policy experience and zero urban development policy experience. That's a full one third of his appointees whom are grossly unqualified to hold the positions they're currently holding. (9/20)
13) A lawsuit filed by the New York Times actually starts connecting the dots in regards to the Trump administration's decision to kill net neutrality. The Times is claiming the FCC is actively hiding information in regards to their public input gathering into the unpopular decision to remove net neutrality. The Times claims there are clear signs of Russian manipulation of the comment procedure, as many of the comments have been linked directly to Russian email accounts. The FCC is stonewalling, failing to provide information via the FOIA requests. The New York Attorney General has also been denied the same information at least nine times. Considering how much of Trump links back to Russia, this aggressive move by Trump, the FCC and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to end net neutrality is starting to add up. (9/23)
12) After the White House announced there were going to install a cap of 30,000 annual incoming refugees, a dramatic decrease in the amount of refugees allowed into the US, even by Republican Administrations, a report out shows the reason the number is so small is because Senior White House Advisor Stephen Miller purposely omitted specific officials from the meeting about the cap, to ensure it wasn't set any higher. UN Secretary Nikki Haley and Defense Secretary James Mattis were both purposely omitted from the meeting, guaranteeing the far crueler number of 30,000 was approved. (9/21)
11) Trump has imposed new tariffs on China. The 10 percent tariffs on 200 billion worth of imports is his latest salvo in his trade war, with a threat of an additional 267 billion if China retaliates. Immediately China says Trump is forcing their hands and will immediately start retaliatory tariffs. Trump, in response, blamed China for trying to manipulate the 2018 Election, without any proof China is doing any such thing. China has announced plans for 60 billion in reciprocal tariffs. Closer to home, in what would be a drastic blow to the US economy, Trump is vowing to move ahead with a revamped NAFTA alliance featuring Mexico only, as Canada isn't willing to bow to Trump's demands on trade concessions. Trump wants a dramatic decrease in products coming from Canada to the US, and a massive increase of US products coming into Canada. Canada has bluntly stated they will not agree to quotas. Finally, Vice President Mike Pence's hometown business of Cummins Manufacturing, one of the largest diesel manufacturers in the world, is taking a 200 million dollar annual hit from Trump's trade war, as many of their imports come from China. (9/18, 21)
10) Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, has been busy chatting with the investigators from Robert Mueller's special counsel. According to ABC, Cohen has already had multiple interview sessions pertaining to the Mueller probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. This could be very bad for Trump as we already know Cohen was the person mentioned in the Steele Dossier who visited Prague in 2016. The Dossier stated the individual who went to Prague met with the Russians. Sources say Mueller has had many questions about what Cohen was doing in Prague. (9/20)
8) Trump, in an effort to muddy the investigation waters even further, is demanding the release of all Department of Justice records pertaining to the Russia Investigation, as well as all of the un-redacted text messages of former FBI employees James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page and Bruce Ohr. Many experts are pointing to this as being a clear attempt by Trump to obstruct justice and frantically derail the Mueller investigation. Later in the week Trump delayed the release of the un-redacted documents related to the Russia investigation, until the Inspector General has a chance to review them. Trump, after he admitted he had no idea what was in the un-redacted documents, was told they could compromise specific international US assets, could compromise current investigations, and the release would definitively be considered obstruction of justice. A timeline for the documents release has not been determined. (9/17, 21)
7) A strange twist on the Brett Kavanaugh/Dr. Christine Blasey Ford story: Ed Whalen, the conservative lobbyist and loyal friend of Brett Cavanaugh, who put out the idiotic "Ford confused Cavanaugh for another person during her sexual assault" story line, actually was searching for Dr. Ford PRIOR to her name being revealed. The Washington Post published Ford's story and 90 minutes later she forwarded an e-mail from a friend who reported Whalen had actually been searching Ford's Linked In profile before the Post officially published the piece. She was asking if the Post had leaked her name prior to the publication. The White House immediately claimed neither Kavanaugh nor anyone within the Administration had shared the information, a HUGE red flag. Senator Orrin Hatch's office likely discovered Ford's identity from Whelan as well, prior to the story being published. On Saturday, the Post reported Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's name was indeed distributed from the White House, prior to the Posts publication, because the point person for the White House's official response, Deputey Press Secretary Raj Shah, told numerous Republican operatives before publication so they could character assassinate/come up with an explanation for Kavanaugh. (9/21, 22)
6) Trump's decision to tour hurricane ravaged areas after Hurricane Florence shows why it might be best for him to just stay at the White House. He started off with a video, and actual scripted video. In it he stated, "this is a tough hurricane, one of the wettest we've ever seen from the standpoint of water." WOW! He told survivors in North Carolina to "have a good time" as he handed them a donated meal, a meal they needed because the hurricane took most of their lives away. Trump then told another survivor who had substantial hurricane damage to their house a boat that came to rest in his yard was somehow a good trade off. "At least you got a nice boat out of the deal." No he didn't. That boat still belongs to someone else, and the man's house was still damaged. He then told a group in South Carolina this was the "calm before the storm," after the storm had already left the area. Trump clearly has zero capacity for compassion. On top of the Hurricane Florence crisis, 130 members of the House and Senate are demanding Trump apologize for his lies about the true death toll in Puerto Rico from last year's Hurricane Maria. (9/19)
5) The White House is frantically trying to stop Trump from attacking Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who has accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in high school. As more evidence comes forward about Kavanaugh's less than woman friendly high school and college days, Dr. Ford has agreed to testify next week to the Senate Judiciary Committee. This has got the White House in scramble mode as Trump feels anyone but Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court will be a failure. On Thursday night, Trump questioned Dr. Ford's story, saying this couldn't have happened unless she went to the police or FBI afterwards. Then on Friday morning, Trump tweeted an outright attack on Ford, stating if her story was true, then she should've called the police right away. He added the allegations cant be true unless there is a police/FBI report from 36 years ago. Many victims of sexual assault never report their sexual assault out of fear of being attacked, just as Dr. Ford is being right now. Trump is absolute human garbage. (9/20, 21)
4) Almost on cue, a second and possibly third woman are now claiming sexual misconduct from Trump Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Deborah Ramirez told the New Yorker that Kavanaugh placed his genitals in her face at a party at Yale University. As you'd expect, Kavanaugh denies the story. Stormy Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti claims to have evidence of a third accuser, and also states he has "significant evidence" Kavanaugh and his sleazy friend Mark Judge "targeted" women at house parties with "alcohol and drugs." (9/23)
3) Dr. Christine Blasey Ford has come to an agreement with the Senate Republicans to testify about her accusations of sexual assault by Trump Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh when both of them were in high school. This after a contentious back and forth where Senator Chuck Grassley and Republicans on the committee kept attempting to railroad the testimony by imposing fake deadlines. The testimony is scheduled for Thursday, September 27th. The Senate Judiciary Committee has postponed the committee's vote on Brett Kavanaugh for the time being. A second Republican Senator, Lisa Murkowski, has said a delay in the confirmation vote on Kavanaugh is appropriate. This after Senator Jeff Flake stated enough evidence has come to light to justify slowing down the process. (9/17, 19, 23)
2) Reports are coming to light of possible widespread child sex abuse happening at the hands of staff at various Trump immigrant child prisons. The 13 facilities mentioned in the allegations are being run by Southwest Key. The company was under orders in Arizona to double check security clearances of its 2000 plus employees, many of whom were hired to work with young children. The request for the confirmation came after authorities started receiving reports of widespread sexual abuse of immigrant children, and after state inspectors had found repeated instances where the company had not received fingerprint clearance cards for it's employees. Arizona officials are calling out Southwest Key's "Astonishing flippant attitude" in regards to meeting requirements Southwest Key had agreed to meet last month. Southwest Key is not commenting on the security status of their workers. We know of at least 5 cases of immigrant children being sexually assaulted by employees of the facilities holding them under Trump's orders, done under the flag of the United States. Now we are getting our first hints the number of immigrant children sexually abused might be dramatically higher. (9/22)
1) Unbelievable! The Trump Administration admits it has lost track of close to ANOTHER 1500 immigrant children who crossed into the United States. In April, the Administration acknowledged it had lost track of 1475 children who were supposedly under their watch. The latest Department of Health and Human Services report states they're uncertain to the exact whereabouts of ANOTHER 1488. The White House claims the kids were not lost by the Administration, but rather the sponsors they placed the children with, but they're leaving out an important fact. The government's placement process seems to be lacking in the most basic of background checks to ensure the people they're handing the immigrant children off to are actually who they say they are. There's a bipartisan move to force the Department of Homeland Security to conduct background checks on ALL sponsors before placing children with them, something you'd think would be a no freaking brainer. To repeat: TRUMP AND THE WHITE HOUSE HAVE LOST A TOTAL OF 2,963 IMMIGRANT CHILDREN, as of the two cycles they've reported on. (9/20)
Dear Lord the top two are depressing...
A little background on this week's countdown. The Kavanaugh story was broken primarily into four different entries because I thought each one was unique enough to be separated out. One entry was about the testimony agreement. A second about other women claiming Kavanaugh is guilty of more cases of sexual assault. The third about Trump failing to control his criticism genes. The final one was about who leaked Dr. Ford's name. You may disagree, but in my opinion they are each worthy inclusions in the countdown.
Remember to help out a Democrat who is running for a seat currently being held by a Republican. That's how you make a Blue Wave happen! #2018IsEverything!
Make sure you are registered to vote and if your state has early voting, like Minnesota, please partake! Peace!
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