Misadventures of a minority-elect President 44

Today’s misadventures begins with the reason Republicans are constantly defending Trump’s most ridiculous lies – which will eventually come back to hurt them, Trump’s popularity continues staying in the basement, a timeline of the long, twisted history of the Trump-Russia scandal, the fraud that is Donald Trump is about to implode, questioning whether or not our minority-elect President is delusional enough to try and carry out a false flag terrorist attack, Jeb Bush realizes that Trump is a distraction in and of himself, relearning Democracy in the tenacious Trump era, Fox faux News send out alert about Trump working at the White House, demanding credit for Obama’s successes, reforming surveillance in the age of Donald Trump, further entrenching corruption in the Trump family tree, health care battle could hurt Trump’s tax overhaul plan, ruling by decree in the land of delusion to try and destroy every good thing your popular predecessor did, letter to the loser and more.

Why Republicans dutifully defend Trump’s most ridiculous lies article from the Week. –
http://theweek.com/articles/687872/why-republicans-dutifully-defend-trumps-most-ridiculous-lies

“In the past, presidents have told big lies mostly for one of two reasons. In the midst of scandal or failure, they told lies to protect themselves and deny that they had done wrong: I am not a crook, we did not trade arms for hostages, I did not have sexual relations with that woman. Or they lied to convince the public to go along with a policy initiative, whether a war or a tax cut or a new program, when the truth was insufficiently persuasive.

Unlike his predecessors, President Trump lies for any reason at all.

I imagine the sinking feeling his aides get when he blurts out another whopper. “Now I’m going to have to go out and defend this,” they say with a sigh, then huddle together to arrive at the least laughable spin they can come up with, so they can rationalize the lie — which Trump will of course be unwilling to retreat from.

White House staff have little choice but to reinforce, justify, and repeat their boss’ lies, though I suppose they could retain some shred of dignity and integrity by quitting. But what about Trump’s fellow Republicans, particularly the ones in Congress? They’re in an uncomfortable position, knowing that he’s still popular with the GOP base and so not having his back could have electoral costs. Being a “maverick” might sound appealing, but not when it’s going to cost you lots of votes or hinder your ability to work with the rest of the party on your legislative priorities…”

Poll: Trump’s approval rating drops after his ‘worst week’ as president article from AOL News. –
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/03/27/poll-trumps-approval-rating-drops-after-his-worst-week-as-president/22012737/

Dollar, Equities Drop on Doubts Trump Can Deliver: Markets Wrap article from Bloomberg Markets. –
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-26/wariness-engulfs-markets-as-trump-optimism-tested-markets-wr

Noam Chomsky: Is It Fair to Worry About Trump Staging a False Flag Terrorist Attack? article from AlterNet. –
http://www.alternet.org/noam-chomsky-it-fair-worry-about-trump-staging-false-flag-terrorist-attack

“Chomsky warns of scapegoating vulnerable people: “That can turn out to be very ugly.”

It’s March 2017, and the political process and the media in the U.S. are a depressing mess, on top of an ever-growing pile of issues that are not remotely being addressed, much less resolved by society: inequality, climate change, a global refugee crisis, you name it.

Donald Trump presents a new problem on top of the old familiar ones; a toxic multifront disaster whose presence in the White House is doing damage to the national psyche on a daily basis. But in the first few months of his presidency it appears he is unwilling or unable to carry out almost any of the campaign promises he made to his base. Repealing Obamacare was supposed to be a cinch — well, that was a total disaster for Trump and the Republican party; the first big legislative rollout of his presidency, and it didn’t even make it to a vote. What about canceling TPP? Trump did do that, right?…”

The Long, Twisted and Bizarre History of the Trump-Russia Scandal article from Mother Jones. –
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/03/exhaustive-history-donald-trump-russia-scandal-timeline

For Trump, no closing the deal article from CNN. –
http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/25/politics/donald-trump-paul-ryan-inside-obamacare-repeal/index.html

The whole Trump growth story is about to face a huge challenge article from CNBC. –
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/24/the-whole-trump-growth-story-is-about-to-face-a-huge-challenge.html

Jeb Bush: Trump is ‘a distraction in and of himself’ article from Yahoo! News. –
https://www.yahoo.com/news/jeb-bush-trump-is-a-distraction-in-and-of-himself-132701135.html

“Jeb Bush says President Trump’s evidence-free claims are kneecapping his first 100 days in the White House.

“He should stop saying things that aren’t true, that are distractions from the task at hand,” Bush said in an interview that aired Sunday on Miami’s WFOR-TV. “He’s a distraction in and of himself. He’s got a lot of work to do, and some of these things — the wiretapping and all of this stuff — is a complete distraction that makes it harder to accomplish the things I know he wants to do.”

But Bush, who did not endorse Trump after losing to him in the 2016 Republican presidential primary, was surprisingly complimentary to the president on other issues. During the bruising campaign, Bush was a prominent critic of Trump — who in turn relentlessly mocked the former Florida governor.

“The president made some really good appointments,” Bush said, including Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, Defense Secretary James Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and Judge Neil Gorsuch, whom Trump nominated for the Supreme Court.

“These are all top-notch people,” Bush said…”

‘We Are Relearning Democracy’: 5 Ways the Anti-Trump Movement Is Energizing Political Action article from AlterNet. –
http://www.alternet.org/activism/we-are-relearning-democracy-5-ways-anti-trump-movement-indivisible-redefining-political

Everyone is laughing at Fox News for its ‘alert’ about Trump working from the White House article from Yahoo! UK News. –
https://www.yahoo.com/news/everyone-is-laughing-at-fox-news-for-its-alert-about-trump-working-from-the-white-house-143518900.html

The buck stops with Trump article from AFP on Yahoo! News. –
https://www.yahoo.com/news/buck-stops-trump-health-care-failure-155049209.html

“Washington (AFP) – Donald Trump sat in the Oval Office on Friday evening in an unfamiliar position — having to own failure.

His health care reform, his very first significant legislative proposal, had fallen at the first hurdle in a friendly Congress.

For sure, the 70-year-old businessman had faltered before — from bankrupt casinos to shuttered hotels. But until now bravado was enough to keep his brand intact, and carry him all the way to the White House.

Now — in the fiercest spotlight in the world, as president of the United States — there was nowhere to hide…”

Reforming Surveillance In the Age of Donald Trump article from Just Security. –
https://www.justsecurity.org/39233/reforming-surveillance-age-donald-trump/

Trump giving broad new powers to his inexperience son-in-law article from Rachel Maddow on MSNBC. –
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-giving-broad-new-powers-his-inexperienced-son-law

Further entrenching corruption in the Trump family tree.

Trump’s New Plan: Govt as Company, Citizens as Customers, Kushner as CEO article from Common Dreams. –
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/03/27/trumps-new-plan-govt-company-citizens-customers-kushner-ceo

Trump’s tax overhaul in doubt after health care loss article from the Boston Globe. –
http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2017/03/25/trump-tax-overhaul-doubt-after-health-care-loss/McSuALGBBQaMzetQU7A2kN/story.html

Trump keeps demanding credit for Obama’s successes article from Rachel Maddow on MSNBC. –
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-keeps-demanding-credit-obamas-successes

“Desperate for a little good news, Donald Trump seemed eager to boast on Friday about a company called Charter Communications moving forward with plans to add 20,000 jobs in the United States. Soon after, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer bragged about the news from the briefing room podium, and the White House’s communications office sent out a press release, pointing to the news as proof of a president who’s “delivering on jobs for the American people.”

Just on the surface, this entire approach makes Trump appear more like a mayor than a president. It’s a massive country with the world’s largest economy, and individual companies are going to sometimes hire and fire people. Trump seems to think he can claim credit for every piece of positive economic news, which is plainly silly.

But in the case of Charter Communications, it’s actually worse, because as the Washington Post noted, these jobs were actually announced in the Obama era, and had nothing to do with Trump…”

Inside the GOP’s Health Care Debacle article from Politico. –
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/03/obamacare-vote-paul-ryan-health-care-ahca-replacement-failure-trump-214947

Trump – routinely – effectively combines ignorance and indifference on public policy.

Donald Trump’s Latest Approval Rating Dipped As President’s ‘Trumpcare’ Bill Struggled article from Newsweek on Yahoo! News. –
https://www.yahoo.com/news/donald-trumps-latest-approval-rating-133521910.html

Trump expected to drop executive order slashing Obama-era climate regulations article from AOL News. –
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/03/27/trump-expected-to-drop-executive-order-slashing-obama-era-climat/22014185/

Ruling by decree in the land of delusion to further incinerate the environment:

“President Trump is expected to sign a broad executive order Tuesday that will evaluate any rulings or actions on the books that “burden” domestic fuel companies, including coal, gas, oil and nuclear, Bloombergreports.

Those found to be a “burden” will be changed, suspended or eliminated unless mandated by law, deemed pro-business or considered to be in the “public interest” by the administration.

The executive order will also do away with two Obama-era rules. The first ensures reviews measuring the environmental impact of an energy project will take climate change into account — Trump’s been expected to do away with this rule for a few weeks…”

Donald, This I Will Tell You article from the New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/25/opinion/sunday/donald-this-i-will-tell-you.html

LOL. Worth the read. Go Maureen!

Donald Trump’s Low Ratings May Be Getting Even Worse article from the Huffington Post. –
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trumps-low-ratings-may-be-getting-even-worse_us_58d94dace4b02a2eaab656c9

The Feuding Kleptocrats article from Truthdig. –
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_warring_kleptocrats_20170326

“The Trump kleptocrats are political arsonists. They are carting cans of gasoline into government agencies and Congress to burn down any structure or program that promotes the common good and impedes corporate profit.

They ineptly have set themselves on fire over Obamacare, but this misstep will do little to halt the drive to, as Stephen Bannon promises, carry out the “deconstruction of the administrative state.” Donald Trump’s appointees are busy diminishing or dismantling the agencies they were named to lead and the programs they are supposed to administer. That is why they were selected. Rex Tillerson at the State Department, Steven Mnuchin at the Treasury Department, Scott Pruitt at the Environmental Protection Agency, Rick Perry at the Department of Energy, Tom Price at Health and Human Services, Ben Carson at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Betsy DeVos at the Department of Education are eating away the foundations of democratic institutions like gigantic termites. And there is no force inside government that can stop them.

The sparing of Obamacare last week was a Pyrrhic victory. There are numerous subterfuges that can be employed to cripple or kill that very flawed health care program. These include defunding cost-sharing subsidies for low-income families, allowing premium rates for individual insurance to continue to soar (they have gone up 25 percent this year), cutting compensation to insurers in order to drive more insurance companies out of the program, and refusing to enforce the individual mandate that requires many Americans to purchase health insurance or be fined. The Trump administration’s Shermanesque march to the sea has just begun…”

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