Holy shit. I simply cannot believe it. I can’t even bring myself to discuss in any great depth the volume of sheer insanity. So I am going to list them:
- Evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr. to lead education task force for Trump
- Trump vows to “totally destroy”the Johnson agreement that stops churches funding political parties.
- Trump publicly attacks the ratings of Arnie at a prayer breakfast, who has replaced him as a successor to his show. Both humble and presidential. Real class.
- Newsweek discovered Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Sean Spicer and Jared Kushner all have email accounts on a private system.
- Donald Trump loosens sanctions preventing Russia intelligence agencies from cyberspying.
- Trump’s blunder Down Under. Citizens of an unusually close ally, Australia, now regard the president as a volatile bully after he disrespected their leader in a phone call.
- The US has put Iran “on notice”, undoing all the good progress made with them over the last couple of years.
- Trump gave the most bizarre Black History Month speech, seen as a “dire forecast” for the black community.
- Immigrant ban, which will probably make matters worse for ISIS planning.
- Dismantling Affordable Care Act / Obamacare.
- Family planning: Another executive order signed by Trump reinstated the so-called “global gag rule”, to use the term adopted by its critics. According to Vox , “this is a a policy from previous Republican administrations that blocks federal funding from international family planning organisations that ‘either provide abortion or discuss abortion services with their clients’.”
- Building a border wall: This executive order called on the Department of Homeland Security to “take all appropriate steps to immediately plan, design, and construct a physical wall along the southern border, using appropriate materials and technology to most effectively achieve complete operational control of the southern border”. A second order pledges to hire 10,000 more immigration officers.
- He has halted the entire US refugee process.
- Advanced the construction of two controversial pipelines: The Keystone pipeline is a 1,179-mile pipeline being built, running from Canada to America’s Gulf Coast. It would carry petroleum. Its construction was halted by Barack Obama in 2015, with concerns over how its continued construction squared with a commitment to climate change. The Dakota Access pipeline would carry crude oil from the state of North Dakota to other parts of the country. There have been massive protests over its construction after the Standing Rock Sioux tribe said the pipeline interfered with their drinking water. And in December, the Army Corps of Engineers said it would explore an alternative route. Trump signed memoranda that renew the process for constructing both pipelines.
- Withdrawn from Trans-Pacific Partnership.
- Trump and the Republicans have killed a bill protecting streams from coal debris. Here is for why. Read it and weep.
- Frozen hiring by federal government.
- The “Trump Tantrum” is now an internationally recognised thing.
- He is ‘taking steps to abolish Environmental Protection Agency’.
- Has the most insane cabinet ever picked.
- Trump threatened Chicago with martial law.
- Trump is too ludicrous for the South Park creators to parody.
- He promised to install monitors—Big Brother—to oversee federal agencies and report back to brass at the White House.
- Trump promised an investigation into the widely debunked issue of election fraud (though not into Russian election meddling), which should start with his own family and staff.
- Steve Bannon, White House senior adviser, continued the Trump team’s cynical campaign to keep their base paranoid and uninformed by pretending their boss is a victim of the press.
- Trump compared himself to Abraham Lincoln.
- Trump scrapped a money-saving fee cut for new homeowners. The rate drop would have benefited first-time and lower-income home buyers with Federal Housing Authority-backed mortgage loans. Odd for a self-styled warrior for the middle-class.
- Trump has lined up Sanctuary Cities in his sights. In a separate order, he looks to banning federal funds to jurisdictions that “willfully violate Federal law in an attempt to shield aliens from removal from the United States.”
- The environment: he has produced an executive order expediting environmental reviews and approvals reads. This means developments can go ahead irrespective of their consequences.
- Trump has put gag orders on multiple government agencies and removed vital internet content.
This last one is certainly egregious, standing against libertarian principles that the Republicans so often espouse, and instituting a Big Brother style approach:
Staffers at the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Transportation, Interior Department, National Institutes of Health, Department of Agriculture, Health and Human Services (which includes the CDC and Food and Drug Administration) and other agencies were reportedly told not to speak to the press or provide information to the public for an indefinite period. New projects were also halted at a number of agencies.
The EPA was instructed by the Trump administration to take down its website page on climate change, according to a Reuters report. There were reports that the Trump team would be reviewing previous EPA studies and numbers, and also embargoing new studies pending review. Those steps follow the Trump transition team’s request that the Energy Department fork over the names of staff who worked on climate change issues. The team also asked the State Department for a list of positions and programs aimed at achieving gender equality.
That effectively muzzles agencies concerned with science, health, the environment, medicine and food. Essentially, everything critical to human survival.
Perhaps bowing to public outcry, USDA officials reportedly rescinded the gag order on Tuesday. There were reports of agencies going rogue, like these supposed unauthorized Twitter accounts of federal science workers, or the now offline but cached at the @WhiteHouseLeaks account. There was also the Badlands National Park Twitter, which for a few hours rebelliously tweeted climate change facts.
In the minutes after Trump’s inauguration, pages dedicated to civil rights, climate change, LGBT rights, and health care disappeared from the White House website. Spanish language pages were also removed, while a page titled “Standing Up For Our Law Enforcement Community” was newly added. “The Trump Administration will be a law and order administration,” the page reads. “The dangerous anti-police atmosphere in America is wrong.”
What I will say is that Obama enacted slow and steady changes against a torrent of challenge and derision from Republicans. Now, with free rein, Republicans are doing everything they have ever dreamed of, and more. The sad thing is many less nuanced thinkers think a strong America is an outwardly powerful one that flexes its muscles. One that challenges Iran publicly, that irritates North Korea, that winds up ISIS, and so on. Obama understood that this approach makes the world hate America. He took over from Bush and managed to get people to like America again. The world came around to the States again and were willing to work with them.
Now we think they are idiots, all because of one man having his strings pulled by a nefarious bunch of dark figures behind the scenes. Because, simplistically, people can’t help summing up a nation by looking at their figureheads and ruling party. Heck, you should hear what I have to say about the UK right now…
I cannot, simply cannot, tell you how scary things are right now. It’s all too much.
If anyone has anything else they would like to add, hit the comments and I will add them to the list and repost this in a few more dire weeks.