Saturday, February 4, 2017

Trump Administration, Week Two: Monday Night Massacre & White Supremacy Isn't So Bad

These are the things that happened this week. We shall remember:
  1. President Trump fired the Acting Attorney General of the United States, Sally Hayes, in an emotional outburst over her refusal to have the Dept. of Justice defend the Executive Order closing our borders to seven Muslim-majority countries. The only recent parallel to this is the Nixon White House "Saturday Night Massacre," in which Nixon's firing of Independent Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox led to the resignations of both the Attorney General and his Deputy. But the WH statement on this did use all the best words.

  2. A terrorist attack on a Quebec City mosque left six people dead on Sunday, Jan. 30th. The next day, the White House said this kind of incident was why we must be "proactive rather than reactive when it comes to our nation's security," perhaps because Fox News initially reported the suspected shooter was Muslim.  The terrorist was a white man who had recently worried that "the white race would be marginalized by immigration." The Trump Administration has responded by deciding to refocus a program aimed at countering all violent ideologies so it addresses Islamist extremism and ignores white supremacists like Dylann Roof or the Kansas "Crusaders." See also this recent Newsweek report.
  3. Holocaust Remembrance Day (which happened last week) was accompanied by the announcement of the ban on travel seven Muslim nations (see next item). It was also accompanied by a White House statement that failed to mention Jews. This made Richard Spencer happy - it's never a good idea to give aid and comfort to Nazis. The National Holocaust Museum and the Merriam-Webster dictionary found it necessary to remind us that the White House was taking a point of view that is not informed by history and convention.  
  4. Many things happened related to the ill-planned and maliciously executed Executive Order banning travel from seven Muslim countries
    1. Protests at airports continued across the country over the weekend and into the week, in an unplanned but robust demonstration of public outrage. 
    2. Lawyers simply showed up because they saw the need, and pitched in (watch the video). 
    3. Several federal courts issued stays of parts of the Executive Order, but compliance was often lacking. 
    4. US District Judge James Robart (a Bush appointee) ruled Friday that against the travel ban, suspending it and ordering enforcement to cease
    5. The Department of Homeland Security announced it would comply, and ordered Customs and Border Patrol agents to resume "standard policies and procedures." 
    6. The Trump Administration will seek to stay the judge's order, and noted the President's pique via a series of Saturday morning tweets. Stay tuned.
  5. The announcement of Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court seat that has been vacant for almost one year was turned into a reality TV show event by the President of the United States.

  6. Reuters News Service has instructed their reporters and editors to cover the Trump Administration using the same methods applied to authoritarian regimes. Many people and organizations took note.
  7. The Trump White House marked Black History Month with a speech that was more about the President and his handful of black supporters than the history of African Americans. At one point he did not appear to be cognizant of the fact that Frederick Douglass is a historical figure, having died in 1895. In his remarks, he used a total of 53 words to praise Martin Luther King, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and Rosa Parks, or about 13 words apiece. He used 51 words of his speech to praise Omarosa Manigault. Omarosa gave a notable quote about Trump to PBS's Frontline several months ago: 
  8. The Trump kids continue to show up at official government functions despite the conflicts of interest inherent in their ties to Trump's business. There is no indication that anything has or will change in terms of Trump's multiple financial conflicts of interest or in the appearance that White House decisions are influenced by Trump financial interests.
    1. At the Supreme Court announcement
    2. In the WH, meeting with Sen. Hatch, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee
    3. At other official US government functions
    4. NYTimes article on Trump's sham "trust" -- it does nothing to mitigate conflicts of interest between Trump's wealth and the good of the United States.
  9. The first military action of Trump's administration suffered from inadequate planning and resulted in deaths of US military personnel and civilians, including an 8 year old girl.
    1. Reuters article on the raid in Yemen
    2. NYT article on the raid
  10. Sanctions imposed in light of Russian hacking targeted the Russian security services (the FSB, successor to the KGB). The Trump Administration has lifted them with no announcement or rationale. [Note added after publishing: Consensus is that the changes to sanctions are not material and only serve to allow American businesses to obtain licenses needed to sell electronics - but not to the FSB. Expect more overreactions brought on by justifiable lack of trust in the Trump Administration's actions] Nancy Pelosi represented some of our outrage:
  11. As of February 1st, Diane Feinstein indicated her offices had received 55,000 phone calls urging her to vote against Jefferson Beauregard Session's appointment as the next Attorney General.
  12. The Trump Administration has announced that the Dakota Access Pipeline is to move forward despite ongoing issues of water contamination and tribal sovereignty. 
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)