I thought I'd be able to type and edit from bed, but there is some sort of war between tablets and Blogger. I sided with Blogger, so I postponed this until I had time to get it done. I scrapped the 16th Countdown and am currently in my own personal hell, tracking the top events for Countdown 7/23.
A reminder about this Countdown: these are the 20 most boneheaded things coming from Trump and his Administration for the week of 7/9 to 7/15. This list should lead to, AT THE VERY LEAST, a censuring of Trump an most of his Administration. There are a few things which should be the end of his term in office; but that's the story EVERY FREAKING WEEK!
20 - More downside to Trump's "winning" trade war strategy. Automaker Volvo is looking at pulling back on expansion at a South Carolina manufacturing plant by 4000 jobs. This is solely due to Trump's tariffs. (7/10)
19 - In a newspaper interview, Trump bragged his polling numbers amongst Republicans (collected via telephone calls) are better than Lincoln's were. The telephone wasn't even invented until 10 years after Lincoln was killed. Presidential approval polling of any type wasn't begun until 80 years after Lincoln died. This is just stupid. (7/12)
18 - Trump has been proudly bragging about golfing in Scotland during his trip to Europe, mentioning it over and over again. It's suspected he's trying to use the office of the Presidency to promote his Scottish golf course, a golf course which has lost millions. A few thousand Scottish protestors showed up to tell him he wasn't welcome in Scotland when he was golfing. No pro-Trump rally was reported. (7/14)
17 - Farmers in Minnesota, North Dakota and Michigan (among many other states) have vocally called for a change in Trump's trade policies. They're rightfully concerned the Trump policies will wipe out their farms. (7/14)
16 - Not only has North Korea expanded their nuclear program AFTER Trump stated he'd solved the Korean Peninsula nuclear crisis, apparently the North Koreans have also thumbed their noses at the Trump initiative to return Korean War veterans remains back to the US. A meeting was supposed to take place between the US and North Korean dignitaries at the DMZ, but the North Koreans never showed up. The North Koreans so far have yet to explain their absence. Reminder: Trump insisted the North Korean crisis was completely solved. (7/12)
15 - The Federal Government is apparently spending close to a billion dollars this year alone housing children and babies away from their parents at immigration prison sites. Roughly 12,000 children are currently being held in nearly 90 prison camps across America. (7/12)
14 - Trump is furious over former FBI employee Lisa Page ignoring the subpoena from Congressional investigators. He's so upset with her, he isn't even trying his spellcheck anymore. Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States: "Ex-FBI LAYER Lisa Page..." (lawyer?, liar???) He goes onto imply the Mueller investigation is no longer a 'witch hunt,' but rather a 'rigged witch hunt.' FYI - the investigation is VERY legitimate. (7/11)
13 - Clearly embolden by Trump, the US is seeing a spike in the number of cases where white people call the police to report African American people for being black. At least a dozen cases of such unnecessary harassment of the African American community have happened nationwide in the last two weeks, a clear sign Trump is emboldening racists. The good news: most of the people doing the harassing are either fired, arrested and/or they're publicly shamed. (7/9-15)
12 - There have been numerous negative comments about Trump's interaction with Queen Elizabeth and the rest of the British Royal Family during his official state visit to Great Britain. Trump repeatedly screwed up ceremonial process, even cutting in front of the elderly queen (in her own country!) as she got ready to review the British troops. The Queen's entire visit with Trump lasted about 15 minutes (in contrast, former President Obama was often visiting with the royal family for hours, even having meals with them). For the record, the rest of the British Royal Family outright refused to even be around Trump. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of protestors flooded the streets of London to protest Trump's visit. Even Fox News noted the pro-Trump supporters were pretty quiet, "if there are any." So far, no one has been able to identify any pro-Trump rallies occurring. Still, Trump insists many people were protesting in support of him. (7/14)
11 - In an announcement many believe was timed specifically to try to help Fox News host Sean Hannity's ratings, Trump announced Brett Kavanaugh as his choice to be the next US Supreme Court judge. This pick is somewhat shocking, as it goes away from the far right's choices, and seems based on Kavanaugh's previous statements on how he believes a President is exempt from any criminal prosecution and investigation. Kavanaugh seems to feel the office of the President is above the law. NBC News reported the Kavanaugh pick might have been pre-negotiated with retiring Supreme Court Justice Kennedy. Kavanaugh is a former clerk of Kennedy, and the story implies Kennedy's retirement was based on Trump picking from a specific list of Kennedy-approved judges, which included Kavanaugh. It was only last November Kavanaugh was listed with the Federalist Society, a must for a Republican pick to be considered. The White House didn't deny there was a possible deal in place. (7/9)
10 - Trump, in an interview with a British journalist, stated he thought Russian dictator Vlad Putin was indeed ruthless, but defended his upcoming meeting with him by implying pretty much everyone else he deals with is ruthless too, so it's no big deal. In response to 'is Putin ruthless?': "I can't tell you that, I assume he probably is. But I could name others also." Putin has had people killed in his country and in foreign countries, he's jailed his political opponents, has violently turned Russians against certain groups in his country, squashed freedom of speech and the free press...oh and Putin definitely helped throw the US election of 2016 towards a candidate who would give him whatever he wants, while downplaying his evil acts. (7/15)
9 - Welcome to England! Trump, in an interview with the Sun Newspaper, immediately attacked British Prime Minister Teresa May as soon as he arrived in Great Britain. Trump went over the top in his ridicule and belittling of May. He implied the Brexit negotiations have failed because May didn't do what Trump told her to do, and Trump openly supported ousted British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson as May's replacement. He also stated Britain loves him, which shows you Trump's mental state is still in question. Soon after the interview became public, during a joint news conference with Prime Minister May, Trump started claiming his interview with the Sun was "fake news," that he never said the things he was quoted as saying. The Sun interview was recorded, and they still have the tapes. As Trump was questioned about his interview denial, he then did another 180, praising May's former cabinet member Boris Johnson, reiterating he'd be a great Prime Minister. (7/12 and 13)
8 - The ALCU is reporting the Trump Administration will fail spectacularly at fulfilling the court order to re-unite all the young children and infants separated from their parents at the US border. Of the 1032 kids, 5 years old and younger, less than half have been united. This is a small portion of the total amount of kids separated at the border. A major problem is the Trump Administration quite literally ripped the kids away from their parents with zero thought on ever re-uniting them in the future. There's almost zero in the way of US documentation identifying which child goes with which parent, leading to the government having to pay for expensive DNA testing to determine whose kids belong to which parents. (7/9)
7 - Over the last few decades, soldiers and families at Camp Lejeune Marine Base in North Carolina, the nation's largest Marine Corp base, have been exposed to toxic chemicals which have seeped into the water supply of the base. Some of the chemical contaminants are as high as 3400 times the levels permitted by US safety standards. The rates of cancer and other health problems experienced by residents was dramatically higher than the US average, leading former President Obama to sign legislation in 2012 to give addition medical care to veterans and families exposed to the contaminated water. Trump has since blocked the study on the water toxicity levels at the base, and has prioritized excusing the chemical companies responsibility for this health crisis, an industry which labeled the regulations at Lejuene "burdensome." Trump has decided to not take care of the poisoned Marines and their families. Although Trump finally relented and released the study, he's still siding with the corporations who've created some of the most contaminated water in US History, water Marines consumed and bathed in. (7/13)
6 - In a frightening interview, Trump told CBS News he considers the European Union a "foe." "I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade. Now you wouldn't think of the European Union, but they're a foe." This is another example of Trump trying to destabilize NATO and the EU, likely on behalf of Russia, who would be the prime benefactor of NATO and the EU falling apart. (7/15)
5 - Not only has the Trump Administration failed at re-uniting refugee babies/toddlers with their parents, now they're telling refugee parents they need to pay $1900 to get their kids back. The money is apparently for expensive DNA testing. They need to do this because the US Government failed to keep track of everyone they threw into a prison, regardless of age. Almost immediately, a judge ordered the Trump Administration to halt their extortion scheme and to pay for ALL reunification costs. (7/13)
4 - Trump starts off his NATO summit by attacking some of our closest allies over breakfast. He first demanded that NATO allies spend more money to offset US taxpayer commitments to NATO, a defense organization which the US greatly depends on. He then attacked Germany for doing business with Russia, attacking them because they, as a country, have decided to move away from hazardous coal and nuclear power, and in turn are moving more towards natural gas, a product the Russians supply. Trump actually criticized Germany for working with the Russians...that's rich! Trump insists Germany is completely controlled by Russia, another laughable statement from Trump. Trump's comments seem like a weird attempt at 'good cop, bad cop' with Germany, only Trump is the insane cop who might hurt himself with a spoon, while Russia plays the 'hey I'm evil, but at least I'm not incompetent' cop. Trump's breakfast rant was also noteworthy for the insane amount of factual errors he put forward. Needless to say, our allies are not taking this well. (7/11)
3 - In a very strange series of events, Trump strongly implied he would pull the US out of the NATO alliance unless the other member countries paid more money. Our NATO allies all said no. Then Trump put forward a 'you'd better or else' argument, to which the NATO allies once again called his bluff. It was then Trump made up a lie, stating NATO leaders agreed to increase their spending. He then jumped on a plane a fled before the French President came out and stated no one knows what Trump is even talking about, as no one made any concessions to him. His claim he got the NATO member countries to commit more money is an outright, boldface lie which only hurt America's standing. (7/12)
2 - In a stunning pardon, Trump fully pardoned Dwight and Steven Hammond, the anti-American ranchers who sparked the militant takeover of the Oregon Wildlife Refuge Headquarters in 2016. The Hammonds were charged with arson after they had squabbled with the Federal Government over usage rights on Federal land. In the pardon, Trump called the Hammonds "...respected contributors to their local community..." That's sure a funny way to spell 'treason.' (7/10)
1 - In a stunning announcement, Robert Mueller's investigation has led to a grand jury indicting 12 Russian government officials for criminal hacking related to the 2016 election. They were responsible for hacking the emails of Hillary Clinton, the DNC and the DCCC. Voting data for 500K was compromised. The individuals indicted are all tied to the GRU, the Russian intelligence agency, meaning they were being coordinated via the Russian government. They interacted with people under the name Guccifer 2.0 and leaked the information through Wikileaks. The day Trump asked for someone to hack Hillary Clinton's campaign, July 27, 2016, the Russians worked hard to add to their already large collection of stolen information by hacking Hillary Clinton directly. They also hacked the Clinton campaign's analytics, which would be needed to help micro-target specific districts, something the Trump Campaign managed to do effectively during the 2016 election(!). On top of that, the indictments refer to a person close to the Trump Campaign, Roger Stone, as being in direct contact with the Russians, in an effort to get the leaked documents, making a definitive direct line connection between the Russian and the Trump campaign(!!!). Stone has admitted he's the person mentioned in the indictments. Politicians are calling for Trump to cancel his private meeting with Putin due to the new indictments. (7/13)
This almost seems like a time capsule now. This was before Trump's disastrous Helsinki Summit, and his buffoonish week of trying to change the outcome. Trump is a nightmare, but the rest of the world, outside of evil dictators, are standing with his opposition.
Forget about clever social media posts. Forget about scrawling a word or phrase on a cardboard box and holding it over your head. You're not really doing anything!!! Instead, volunteer for a campaign to go door knock for a Democrat. Make a donation to a Democrat running in a district currently held by a Republican. Make sure you're registered to vote, and make sure your entire family and all your friends are registered to vote.
THEN MAKE SURE EVERYONE VOTES IN NOVEMBER!!!
All we're doing is trying to save the Democracy...
