That Hartford Guy
Donald Trump, selling cars at the New York International Auto Show, 2005.
One consequence of President Donald Trump doing and saying shocking things week in and week out is that in tends to create Trump Fatigue, wherein some slightly less outrageous things don’t get the attention they deserve.
Below, is list of ten stories you probably missed because Trump was blaming California's wildfires on neglected forest floor raking, denying that people died in Puerto Rico’s hurricane, torturing immigrant children with his child separation policy, kissing Putin’s ring in public, removing rules aimed at preventing another Deepwater Horizon environmental catastrophe, or shrugging off the murder of a U.S. journalist:
1. Trump appoints shady figures to top U.S. Attorney posts
Despite Robert Mueller’s investigations into Deutsche Bank’s potential role as a monetary conduit between Russian oligarchs and Trump, the President appointed former Deutsche Bank lawyers Geoffrey Berman and Robert Khuzami as U.S. Attorney and Deputy U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of New York—the heart of Trump’s business operations. To make it even more suspicious, using institutional work-arounds, Trump got both these guys permanently in office without Senate confirmation hearings or input from New York’s two U.S. Senators.
2. Ten of twelve National Park board members quit in protest
The National Park System Advisory Board’s job is to reach out “to over a hundred volunteer national experts in education, science, history and anthropology, and park management” and then distill that knowledge for the Secretary of Interior. Despite being legally required to meet with the board twice a year, Trump’s Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke failed to meet with the board in 2017. So, in January, ten of the board’s twelve members resigned en masse. Zinke ended up being fired by presidential tweet in mid-December.
3. Trump’s CDC director invests in tobacco while in office
A month after taking over as Trump’s head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Brenda Fitzgerald, whose agency decries smoking as the “leading cause of preventable deaths,” bought thousands of dollars in a foreign tobacco company’s stock. This would be like appointing a coal mining lobbyist to run the EPA! Fitzgerald was forced to resign.
4. Trump tells supporters it is “great” that China has a brutal dictator for life
Chinese President Xi Jinping made a huge power grab that removes term limits and allows him to be a despot for life. Trump’s reaction? He said he thought Xi was “great.” And the lifetime self-appointment? “I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll give that a shot some day.”
5. Trump pardons sailor who took top secret photos of nuclear sub
Who among hasn't used our smart phone to take detailed photos of the inner workings of a nuclear submarine—at 4 a.m.—and then suspiciously left the same phone on top of a dumpster? To most, including the FBI, it sounds like espionage, but to Trump it sounded like a milder version on Hillary Clinton’s email atrocities. So, Trump pardoned the former Navy sailor who committed this breach and thanked him for his service!
6. Trump fires and rehires aide being investigated for “serious financial crimes”—on same day
Trump's “body man,” John McEntee, was fired by the White House because the Department of Homeland Security was investigating him for serious financial crimes; but his unemployment lasted only a few minutes, because he got essentially the same gig with the Trump campaign. Even though he’s also been identified as a security threat, Trump elected to keep McEntee in his inner circle.
7. Trump Administration removes rules requiring NRA and other political groups to list donors
In July, Trump’ Treasury Department axed IRS rules requiring politically active groups like the National Rifle Association to disclose their donors—despite allegations that Russia had infiltrated the NRA to tilt the 2016 election.
8. Trump says you need photo ID to buy a loaf of bread
It’s amazing that a key undoing of President George H.W. Bush was a (mostly false) media narrative that he was soooooo out of touch that he was unaware of scan checkouts at the grocery store. Trump, however, made it clear he had no clue what happens when you buy groceries: “You know, if you go out and you want to buy groceries, you need a picture on a card, you need ID. You go out and you want to buy anything, you need ID and you need your picture.”
9. The National Enquirer had agreement to “catch and kill” damaging stories for Trump
A news organization—even slimy ones like The National Enquirer—make money by breaking stories. The notion that they would not only forgo that opportunity but pay out hush money to kill a story and help a political candidate, seems pretty clear to be an illegal in-kind contribution. Certainly it makes a makes a mockery of the special First Amendment protections granted to the media.
10. Trump’s “self made man” myth is proven false . . . and he’s guilty of major tax fraud
Perhaps the biggest overlooked story of the year, was the extensive investigative report done by The New York Times, painstakingly piecing together years of Trump financial records to create a vivid picture of how the President amassed his wealth: Mostly from inheritance and tax fraud.
Unfortunately, while this story thoroughly debunked the only qualification Trump had for being President (his alleged business acumen), it was published amid of another Trump scandal—allegations that his U. S. Supreme Court candidate had committed sexual assault—and was barely noticed.
That kind of thing happens almost weekly with this President. Stay tuned in 2019!