15 days after the National Day of Patriotic Devotion
Trump’s early-morning rant in response to U.S. District Judge James Robart’s stay:
“When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot , come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security – big trouble!” Donald Trump, via Twitter, 4:59 am, 4 February 2017
See, here’s how I thought it was supposed to work: Congress passes a law, the president signs the law, and the courts interpret the law. When all three of those things happen, that’s “the country” at work.
“Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in it’s death & destruction!” Donald Trump, via Twitter, 5:06 am, 4 February 2017
You keep using that word … Spicer says you’re not supposed to use that word. Didn’t you get the memo?
“The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!” Donald Trump, via Twitter, 5:12 am, 4 February 2017
Again, I may have been misinformed, or maybe I was asleep during that part of civics class, but I thought enforcement of the law is in the job description of the judicial branch.
And then, stuck on the potty, he’s gotta kill time by grinding his axe with the New York Times a little more:
“After being forced to apologize for its bad and inaccurate coverage of me after winning the election, the FAKE NEWS @nytimes is still lost!” Donald Trump, via Twitter, 5:39 am, 4 February 2017
When he’s still stuck on the pot, but can’t think of anything else to say:
“MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”Donald Trump, via Twitter, 6:26 am, 4 February 2017
I feel for ya, Trump; I’ve been there. But to keep myself from posting a lame tweet I haven’t thought through, I usually scroll through other people’s tweets instead, or switch to Facebook. Just saying.
Moving on to the news …
“Vincent Viola, the billionaire founder of trading firm Virtu Financial Inc., … informed President Donald Trump Friday that he will be unable to accept the nomination because separating from the organizations that he has built over the last 35 years have proven insurmountable.” Bloomberg, 3 February 2017
Bummer. All those campaign contributions for nothing.
“President Donald Trump’s heated rush to launch what he said would be a “major investigation” into voter fraud has cooled, leaving White House staff uncertain when it will come to pass or what shape it will take. An executive action commissioning the probe is still planned but could be several weeks away, two senior administration officials said Friday.” The Associated Press, 4 February 2017
So we’re all about safety and security, but massive voter fraud somehow doesn’t fall into either of those two categories. Gotcha.
“From Wall Street to Wisconsin, brokers cheer Trump’s order” Reuters, 3 February 2017
Hold on … west of the Mississippi they’re not okay with Trump’s executive order?
“Robert H. Sitkoff, a professor at Harvard Law School, said the new details in the trust documents were unlikely to resolve the apparent legal problems with the Old Post Office site. “Formally he is no longer the owner, but functionally he still is,” he said. Sheri A. Dillon, his tax lawyer, called the steps he had already taken significant … “The president-elect will have no role in deciding whether the Trump Organization engages in any new deal,” she said, “and he will only know of a deal if he reads it in the paper or sees it on TV.”The New York Times, 3 February 2017
So because Trump isn’t making any deals for his company, that’s supposed to make me feel good about Trump making political decisions that will benefit his company. Well, it doesn’t.
And then there’s this:
“When the president-elect’s son Eric Trump jetted to Uruguay in early January for a Trump Organization promotional trip, U.S. taxpayers were left footing a bill of nearly $100,000 in hotel rooms for Secret Service and embassy staff. Though the Trumps have pledged a division of business and government, they will nevertheless depend on the publicly funded protection granted to the first family as they travel the globe promoting their brand.” Eric Trump’s trip … appeared to be brief – perhaps as short as two nights … The bill for the Secret Service’s hotel rooms in Uruguay totaled $88,320. The U.S. Embassy in Montevideo, the capital city of Uruguay, paid an additional $9,510 for its staff to stay in hotel rooms to “support” the Secret Service detail for the “VIP visit”.The Washington Post, 3 February 2017
That news is almost as good as hearing it’ll cost taxpayers $400,000 a day to provide security for Melania to remain in Trump Tower in New York. I got a C in math, but even I can figure out that’ll come to $584,000,000 over four years. Over half a trillion dollars.
In happier news:
“In accordance with the judge’s ruling, DHS has suspended any and all actions implementing the affected sections of the Executive Order entitled, ‘Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States.’ This includes actions to suspend passenger system rules that flag travelers for operational action subject to the Executive Order,” DHS acting press secretary Gillian Christensen said in a statement. CNN, 4 February 2017
Faced with government agencies that will actually uphold constitutional checks and balances instead of falling into lockstep with his executive orders, Trump farts away another tweet:
“What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?” Donald Trump, via Twitter, 12:44 pm, 4 February 2017
Let’s try a little experiment: Let’s take away “even with bad intentions” and see what this rant sounds like: “What is our country coming to when anyone can come into the U.S.?” Hmmm. What’s that sound like? Hmmm.
“Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision” Donald Trump, via Twitter, 1:44 pm, 4 February 2017
“Why aren’t the lawyers looking at and using the Federal Court decision in Boston, which is at conflict with ridiculous lift ban decision?” Donald Trump, via Twitter, 3:37 pm, 4 February 2017
“The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!” Donald Trump, via Twitter, 4:48 pm, 4 February 2017
This Is Drivel 