-
Follow
Following
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
At the G-20 meeting in Japan, Trump continued to adore other undemocratic authoritarian autocrats around the globe. He claimed that the Saudi Prince was a friend who has done a spectacular job, Russia’s Putin was a terrific person, and defended Turkey’s Erdogan by blaming Obama for holding up arm sales.
On the trip he has time to also take blame at former President Jimmy Carter, the most Christian president we have had in modern times, as the “forgotten” President. During a news conference on the trip he used superlatives like great, incredible, tremendous, and best dozens of times to describe his diplomacy with other world leaders.
In behavior similar to other autocrats, Trump had a family member, his daughter Ivanka participate in meetings with other world leaders where she was seen injecting herself into diplomatic conversations with Prime Ministers and giving news interviews as if a spokesperson for the administration.
In a made-for-TV moment, Trump invites North Korea’s Kim Jong Un to meet him at the Korean DMZ. It was largely photo-shoot theatrics where the only progress was an agreement to restart negotiations that had stalled out after nearly two years of work. There he was, the President of the U..S walking into North Korea nearly arm in arm with the leader of a country that has one of the worst human rights record. Kim fawned all over Trump, calling him his excellency and declaring they had a great personal relationship. Trump later said that he would invite Kim to the visit him in the White House. Trump also lied about the state of relations with North Korea prior to his presidency saying that there was tremendous death and conflict until now when it is extremely peaceful and a whole different world.
As Trump claims credit for saving the world from hone of his own self-made crises in Korea, Iran announces that it has exceeded the limit of nuclear fuel specified by the international treaty that Trump broke with Tehran.
Americans are reeling from the report of the inspector general of Homeland Security that found our overcrowded caging of migrants who had been locked up without adequate food, water, space to lay down, change of clothing and sanitation. A congressional delegation reports back that it was a inhumane, shameful, intolerable, and brutal situation that was un-American. Images show immigrants in crowded cells holding up signs that say “help”.
A few days after the Supreme Court blocked the President’s attempt to include a citizenship question in the 2020 census, for reasons to help with partisan gerrymandering, Trump’s Justice department said it is still seeking a way to include it, in defiance of the SCOTUS.
While such an atrocity continues on the border Trump leads the nation in celebrating the July 4th holiday with an unprecedented display of military weaponry for this holiday. He speaks from the Lincoln Monument as air force planes fly overhead and tanks are on display in the National Mall. He says the show will be the greatest of a lifetime. He is the first President in seven decades to insert himself into the people’s celebration in Washington and thus politicize and militarize the nation’s July 4th holiday.
Michigan Republican Justin Amash declares he has had enough and is leaving the Republican Party and that Trump should be impeached. Trump responds as expected by calling the House of Representative dutifully elected by the people of his district as “one of the dumbest and most disloyal men in Congress.”
A few days after the State of New York declares a climate emergency Trump continues to deconstruct former President Obama’s initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas production.
In leaked private emails Great Britain’s ambassador to the U.S., Kim Darroch, called the Trump administration clumsy, inept, dysfunctional, and unpredictable. All quite true. But of course in an upside down Orwellian world where wrong is right, yes is no, good is bad, left if right, up is down….Darroch is the one forced to leave office, not Trump, after Trump said he would no longer deal with him and that Darroch was a “wacky ambassador” and a “very stupid guy”.
A Federal Appeals Court ruled that the President violated the First Amendment when Trump blocked critics from his public Twitter social media account.
Trump’s cabinet is losing another member as Labor Secretary Alex Acosta is forced to resign due to the favorable deal he cut with a billionaire underage sex-crimes felon Jeffery Epstein. The President called Acosta a great labor secretary. Previously Trump had said that Epstein was “a terrific guy” during the time Epstein would host parties with girls for his guests, including Donald Trump.
The Trump administration is looking more and more to be an acting government in chaos that no one wants to work for or if they do they do not last very long in office. More than half of cabinet officials have been serving on an acting basis, including most important roles like Secretary of Defense and Homeland Security. Yep, he sure knows how to run a business…into the ground and bankruptcy just like his other businesses.
The President hosts a bizarre summit for conservatives on social media at the White House where he attacks the bedrock of our democracy that he calls the fake news media as well as free speech.
After Trump’s quest for a citizenship question on the census having been rejected by the Supreme Court, the President has now turned to executive action instructing federal agencies to collect this information from all available sources and databases.
Former House Speaker Paul Ryan discloses in a new book that Trump new little about governing and that he wanted to scold the President all the time, and that those around the President kept him from making bad decisions all the time. Trump responded in a twitter tot tantrum by calling Ryan a baby and terrible speaker that did not know what he was doing.
The President of the United States in a weekend twitter tantrum says that four members of Congress, all who are minority women of color “should go back to where they came from.” Calls of blatant xenophobic racism follow by most Democrats who are outraged, all while Trump’s Republican enablers and apologists remain quiet. Later in the week Trump stands in front of one of his surreal rallies while the crowds chant “send them back send them back.” He claims those who oppose him and object to his behavior “hate our country” and that those who are unhappy should just leave America.
The House of Representatives finally acts and votes to condemn Trump’s tweets after near chaos on the floor during heated exchanges. Other Democrats work to file articles of impeachment, despite their party’s leadership opposing impeachment. What are they waiting on? Will they act but only too late when Trump has drug the country into some war or state of emergency? What a disgraced state we have fallen into as leaders around the world express disbelief of what they hear coming from America.
Only a few weeks after Trump stepped into North Korea with his dear friend, the Koreans now say they might call off a nuclear test moratorium.
Trump’s deconstruction of the federal government public safety and regulatory agencies continues as the NRC is said to be considering a reduction of inspection at the nation’s aging nuclear reactors. He nominates Eugene Scalia to head up the Labor Department who of course is best known for being anti-labor and pro-business. Like everything else in this administration, up is down, right is left, bad is good, truth is a lie and a lie is the truth.
The House voted to hold the nations chief law officer Attorney General Barr along with Commerce Secretary Ross in contempt for failing to comply with subpoenas.
Trump orders thousands of more active duty troops to the southern border the same week he has armed ICE agents hunting down immigrants across American cities. With this new normal, how long will it be before Trump threatens to use federal troops in American cities to thwart those who oppose him? Perhaps after he rules the next election a fraud should he lose.
Court records surfaced this week that show Trump participated in a series of calls and texts to make payments to keep porn star Stormy Daniels quiet in the weeks before the 2016 election. A video surfaces showing Trump and convicted felon Jeffry Epstein having fun watching and commenting on women at a party at Trump’s Mar-a-lago club.
Special Prosecutor Mueller testifies to Congress that the Russians interfered with the 2016 election, that members of the Trump campaign welcomed this while some advisors committed crimes. He also surprised the country stating that the President could not be indicted for obstruction of justice, not because there was none attempted by the President, but because of a Justice Dept. policy that a sitting President cannot be indicted, as that role is left to Congress to perform with impeachment proceedings. And what does Trump do upon hearing this once again? He has his attack dogs attempt to discredit the FBI and Justice Department and Vietnam War hero, all the while Trump’s administration does nothing to protect American from future interference by the Russians.
The White House announced a $1.4T agency budget spending deal with Congress this week that will lead to an astonishing $1T budget deficit for the entire year. Nearly 25 cents of every dollar spent will have to be borrowed in the new year.
Trump declares he wants to end the Afghanistan war then adds that he could win the war within a matter of a few days but it would kill 10 million people and the country would be wiped off the face of the earth. What a good Christian fellow our President is!
To further demonstrate his fine Christian ethics, Trump’s Justice Department announces that the federal government will resume executing death row inmates, the first time since 2003. Yes, aspiring autocrats and dictators always need a good death penalty in their bag for those that they lock up.
To help all the poor and needy people of America, many who likely voted for him, the Trump administration this week announced plans to further limit access to food stamps.
In a meeting with Pakistan’s leader Khan, Trump offers to help mediate peace between India and Pakistan who have had a decade old conflict over Kashmir. Both countries take a pass at help like this from a man who is not to be trusted for keeping his deals or telling the truth.
With the Congress showing some backbone finally, Trump is forced to veto their resolution which attempted to block the sales of $8B in military arms to Saudi Arabia.
Trump ends the week with more blatant racism calling out the head of the House Oversight committee, Elijah Cummings, that is investigating the President by saying he his district is a disgusting rat and rodent infested mess and a dangerous filthy place.
The above news has been taken from a number of international, national, regional, and local news media sources, both print and digital. Additional editorial opinions and comments about these news items are those of this author.
Bearing + Witness + Heartland 