We knew it would happen. That’s why, after cataloguing some of the many reasons why President Donald Trump is dangerously unfit and should be immediately removed from office in my “Comment” for the April/May issue, we included the line: “Plus, there are the things that have likely transpired since this issue of The Progressive went to press.”
Sure enough, in just twenty-one days since we sent the issue to the printer, that list has expanded dramatically. Take a look:
March 20: Trump maliciously attacks the late Senator John McCain, telling a military audience in Ohio, “I have to be honest: I’ve never liked him much” and falsely taking credit for giving McCain “the funeral he wanted” while simultaneously grousing “and I didn’t get a ‘thank you’ ”—surely just an oversight on McCain’s part, perhaps owing to the fact that he was dead.
March 21: Defying a half-century of U.S. policy, international law, and the position of virtually every other nation on Earth, Trump declares by tweet that “it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israel’s Sovereignty over the Golan Heights,” drawing worldwide shock and condemnation.
March 21: U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings, Democrat of Maryland, spills the beans on the two senior White House advisers, saying presidential daughter Ivanka Trump used a private email account without preserving these as records, in violation of federal law, and her husband, Jared Kushner, used a messaging app to conduct official U.S. business outside government channels, possibly involving classified information. These breaches are arguably more egregious than the email indiscretions committed by Hillary Clinton, which Trump has said over and over should result in her imprisonment.
March 21: Trump signs an executive order threatening to pull billions of federal research dollars from universities whose students give conservative speakers a hard time.
March 22: Trump suddenly announces on Twitter that he was revoking additional sanctions on North Korea, undercutting and surprising members of his own administration. “It’s a win for North Korea and China and a loss for U.S. credibility,” clucked one former Treasury Department official.
March 23: Trump heads to Mar-a-Lago, where he plays golf with Kid Rock and others. Instagrammed Rock, “What a great man, so down to earth and so fun to be with!! KEEP AMERICA GREAT!!” Meanwhile, in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggests that Trump has been sent by God “to help save the Jewish people from the Iranian menace.”
March 24: U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr releases his summary of the report prepared by Special Counsel Robert Mueller following a twenty-two-month investigation that led to nearly three dozen criminal indictments and the felony convictions of Trump’s campaign manager, National Security Adviser, and personal lawyer. Barr says the probe found no evidence of collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia but “does not exonerate” Trump of charges that he obstructed justice. Trump responds by declaring “a complete and total exoneration,” adding “it’s a shame that your President has had to go through this.”
March 25: From presidential spokes-liar Sarah Sanders: “They literally accused the President of the United States of being an agent for a foreign government. That's equivalent to treason. That is punishable by death in this country.”
March 26: In a sudden and unexpected major policy shift, the Trump Administration calls for the repeal of the entire Affordable Care Act, including the popular provision prohibiting the denial of coverage based on preexisting conditions that Trump pledged to defend.
March 26: Trump Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos argues before a House subcommittee that there should be dramatic cuts to programs including the Special Olympics that benefit vulnerable students. “We had to make some difficult decisions,” she says of her department’s proposed budget, which includes increased spending on charter schools and new tax breaks for private schools.
March 27: In an appearance on Sean Hannity’s Fox television show, Trump ratchets up his threats against those who allowed the Mueller probe to happen: “We’re getting to the bottom of it. This can never, ever happen to a President again. That was a disgrace and an embarrassment to our country. . . . Hopefully they won’t get away with it.”
March 28: Kirstjen Nielsen, Trump’s Secretary of Homeland Security, asks Congress for new authority to deport children who show up at the border alone and undocumented. These children, she argued, “have no legal right to stay.”
March 29: Trump threatens by tweet that “If Mexico doesn’t immediately stop ALL illegal immigration coming into the United States through our Southern Border, I will be CLOSING the Border, or large sections of the Border, next week.” He said this would shut down “all trade” and would last “for a long time,” adding, “I am not kidding around.” The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said this would be “an unmitigated economic debacle” and threaten five million U.S. jobs.
March 29: Asked about the ability of his administration to care for sick migrant kids after the deaths of two of them in December, Trump replied,“I think that it has been very well stated that we have done a fantastic job.” On this same day, the El Paso County Medical Examiner’s Office releases a report concluding that the death of one of these kids, seven-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin, was an entirely preventable infection.
March 30: The Trump Administration announces plans to end foreign assistance programs for Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, because of how angry Trump is over immigrants fleeing those countries—something that would definitely worsen if all aid is cut.
March 31: Trump, who pledged as a candidate, “I’m going to be working for you. I’m not going to have time to go play golf,” plays golf at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. It is, by one outside tally, the 129th time he has made time for the thing he said he wouldn’t have time for in the little more than two years since he became President.
April 1: Trump, in acknowledgement of his gross incompetence, resigns for the good of the nation.*
April 1: A letter released by Representative Elijah E. Cummings, Democrat of Maryland, reveals a whistle-blower’s allegations that the Trump White House overruled the denial of security clearances to twenty-five individuals due to foreign influence, conflicts of interests, questionable or criminal conduct, financial problems, or drug abuse. Among them, it is believed, are the President’s daughter, Ivanka, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
* April Fool’s!
April 2: Trump lashes out at Puerto Rico, falsely declaring that it has received $91 billion in federal aid (actually $11.2 billion) and asserting that the U.S. territory’s politicians are “grossly incompetent, spend the money foolishly or corruptly, & only take from USA”—a phrasing that suggests he is unaware that Puerto Rico is actually part of the United States. He adds, “The best thing that ever happened to Puerto Rico is President Donald J. Trump.”
April 3: Trump takes a big step back from his proclamation that it “wouldn't bother me at all” if the full Mueller report were made public. He now suggests he may oppose release, tweeting that “There is no amount of testimony or document production that can satisfy Jerry Nadler or Shifty Adam Schiff. It is now time to focus exclusively on properly running our great Country!”
April 4: Various media outlets report that Mueller’s report contains much more damaging information regarding Trump than what Attorney General Barr’s summary suggested. Trump responds by attacking the press, including calling The New York Times a “Fake News paper” with no “legitimate sources.”
April 5: The Trump Administration asks in a court filing to be given up to two more years to locate children, perhaps numbering in the thousands, who were separated from their parents at the border last year. According to the Associated Press, “The administration would begin by sifting through names for traits most likely to signal separation—for example, children under five.”
April 6: Trump tweets: “Why should I be defending a fraudulent Russian Witch Hunt. It’s about time the perpetrators of this fraud on me and the American People start defending their dishonest and treasonous acts. How and why did this terrible event begin? Never Forget!”
April 7: Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen becomes the latest Trump Cabinet official to run for the exits, announcing almost immediate plans to resign. According to the Associated Press, Nielsen “was viewed as resistant to some of the harshest immigration measures supported by the president and his aides.” Under her tenure, migrant children were forcibly separated from their parents and locked in cages.
April 8: In an unprecedented move and over the objections of senior defense and intelligence officials, Trump designates Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization. Trita Parsi of the National Iranian American Council says the move “closes yet another potential door for peacefully resolving tensions with Iran. Once all doors are closed, and diplomacy is rendered impossible, war will essentially become inevitable.” So we have that to look forward to.
April 9: Trump, now fully delusional, claims that his child separation policy was begun by Barack Obama, saying, “Those cages that were shown—I think they were very inappropriate. They were built by President Obama's administration, not by Trump. President Obama had child separation.” He added that because Trump ended child separation, “many more people” are “coming like it's a picnic, like ‘Let’s go to Disneyland.’ President Obama separated children, I was the one who changed it.”
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