Sunday, January 29, 2017

"President" Trump: More Damage in One Week than Most Presidents Do in Eight Years

Well, it's official.  The Donald has managed to do more damage in his first week in the White House, than most presidents have done in eight years.  And that is truly "unpresidented" indeed!

Let's see.  In his first week on the job, he 1) threw a hissy fit over the size of his innauseation...er...inauguration crowd, 2) implicitly threatened martial law in Chicago, 3) passed a record number of 17 executive orders in one week, 4) put a gag order on EPA and USDA scientists, 5) manufactured chaos in rolling back Obamacare by executive fiat, 6) ordered the commencement of his signature plan to build a border wall on Mexico, 7) angered Mexico by demanding they pay for the wall or else get zinged with a 20% tariff on Mexican imports, 8) angered China (for the gazillionth time), 9) angered North Korea (albeit before the inauguration), 10) cozied up to Putin (yet again), 11) ordered stepped-up deportations and the blocking of federal grants to sanctuary cities, 12) instituted a federal hiring freeze, which also includes a large number of Veterans, 13) re-instituted the "global gag rule" on abortion, 14) froze all new federal regulations, 15) sped up approval of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, and 16) arbitrarily blocked all refugees, immigrants, and visitors from seven countries, most notably Iraq and Syria, while curiously leaving out the counties he does business in, such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia.  (This latter executive order as written, is basically a de-facto Muslim ban from the specified countries, though a federal court did put a temporary injunction on this ban for those who were already in transit or detained at the time thanks to massive protests at JFK International Airport and elsewhere).  Note that there were other executive orders, proclamations, and outbursts as well, this is just a list of the most damaging ones thus far.

Also, Trump's relentless verbal attacks on the media and journalists who disagree with him may not be just bluster after all, especially considering how two journalists covering the inauguration protests were arrested and even face felony riot charges, carrying up to 10 years in prison.  Yes, you read that right.  Remember, the very first people that authoritarian and totalitarian regimes always go after is the journalists. And couple that with his recent purge (sorry, "resignation") of the State Department and his blithely ignoring the recent court ruling, we have the makings for exactly that kind of regime right now.

Oh, and he still flat out refuses to divest from his numerous conflicts of interest, including his foreign ones that run afoul of the Emolunents Clause, and now says he won't even release his tax returns as he once promised he would.  This is #NotNormal!

Looks like Der Trumpenfuehrer is really batting 1000 by unhinged fascist standards.  And his approval rating is quickly approaching Nickelback territory at warp speed.  Or should we say, 3 Doors Down territory?  Those who still support him and his agenda, how does it feel to be on the wrong side of history?  Because honestly, we wouldn't know anything about that.

7 comments:

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  2. The Muslim Ban is far too extreme. Most Muslims are good people, only a tiny fraction are jihadists, and we have more to worry about from reich-wing extremists in this country than we do from jihadists nowadays. And slamming the door on refugees (who are fleeing unimaginable horrors and were already beng extremely vetted under Obama) is cruel and un-American. Besides, such draconian and xenophobic policies only alienate more people in the Muslim world, and are thus a yuuugr propaganda victory for ISIL and their fellow-travelers.

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  4. I guess we will just have to agree to disagree on this, Edwin. Most Muslim immigrants who come here are moderate and would be loath to support an actual caliphate, even from the countries you mention. Especially since the very idea of a "caliphate" lately has been rather tarnished by groups like ISIL, who most Muslims in fact oppose for their extreme brutality. Let's not throw out the proverbial baby with the bathwater.

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  6. Thank you. Honestly, just a few years ago I would probably have said the exact same things too. But now, we both can see a glimpse of its logical conclusion, and it is ugly indeed.

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