The “Crazy/Stupid” Republican of the Day blog usually can just make a daily post where we talk about a member of the GOP who has run for, held, or currently holds office who is a bit extreme or unhinged, and cover it in a few hundred words. Donald J. Trump, is beyond most Republicans, and has spent decades running to the media to say racist, sexist, bigoted, and completely ignorant things. We covered his downright selfish and narcissistic tendencies from the first 69 years of his life in our first deep dive of this series…
Donald Trump- Full Timeline Part One: The Beginnings to his Presidential Run
Our second look featured events taking place from Donald Trump announcing his candidacy for president, to accepting the GOP nomination at the 2016 Republican National Convention…
Donald Trump- Full Timeline Part Two: The Path to the 2016 Nomination
In our third chapter, we covered the absolutely bonkers final four months leading to Election Day 2016, including all the collusion:
Donald Trump- Full Timeline Part Three: The Final Run to Election Day 2016
In the fourth part in this series, where we discuss the Trump transition, a roughly three month period that any sane person who follows politics might have blocked out of their memory for the good of their own sanity.
Donald Trump- Full Timeline Part Four: The Trump Transition
We discuss a great deal of stupid and sometimes illegal things done as Trump prepared to go to Washington, D.C., as well as his assemblage of his “Cabinet of Horrors”.
Donald Trump- Full Timeline Part Five: The First 100 Days
From an anemic inauguration, to the initial panic of having a moron running the country, the first hundred days.
Donald Trump- Full Timeline Part Six: Days 101-200
We continue as Trump blunders and fires FBI Director James Comey, the Mueller investigation begins, and Trump threatens “Fire and Fury” upon North Korea.
Donald Trump- Full Timeline Part Seven: Days 201-300
We continue as Trump blames “both sides” after Charlottesville, tells a Gold Star Widow “her husband knew what he signed up for”, freaks out as Paul Manafort gets indicted, and trusts the word of Vladimir Putin over the entire United States intelligence community about Russian election hacking.
Donald Trump- Full Timeline Part Eight: Days 301-400
Trump signs the GOP Tax Plan/Scam, talks about “s***hole countries”, flips out after Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury” book is released, is revealed to have paid off Stormy Daniels to avoid having the public learn of an affair he had with while Melania was pregnant, and keeps attacking the FBI and the Mueller investigation.
Donald Trump- Full Timeline Part Nine: Days 401-500
Trump’s Cabinet continues to be mired in corruption and constant turnover, his attacks on the media and the Mueller Investigation escalate, as do his rabid anti-immigration policies, as he calls undocumented immigrants “animals” and pushes for his administration to further the separation of migrant children from their parents at the border.
And… regrettably, the tale goes on:
- June 5th, 2018: With outrage quickly mounting as the public learns that yes, the Trump administration is keeping migrant children locked in cages, Trump gets on Twitter to again falsely claim that it's happening because of a law instituted by Democrats, then lies and claims he started his border wall.
The United Nations weighs in on Trump’s immigration policies, and calls for an immediate end to the family separation policy, stating that it runs counter to “human rights and principles”.
Trump renewed his attacks on his own Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, tweeting, “The Russian Witch Hunt Hoax continues, all because Jeff Sessions didn’t tell me he was going to recuse himself. So much time and money wasted.”
Trump, having cancelled the Philadelphia Eagles’ visit to the White House and lying that they took a knee to protest the National Anthem during their 2017 Championship season, instead invites members of the military to the White House for a display of nationalism. The event instead serves as a way for the American people to learn that Trump is so brain-addled that he doesn’t know all the words to God Bless America.
A federal judge ruled that Donald Trump can be deposed in Summer Zervos’ defamation lawsuit.
Trump’s embattled EPA Director, Scott Pruitt, continues to face a slew of scandals, including the latest, that he used official government e-mail accounts to try and meet with Chik-Fil-A executives get his wife ownership of a Chik-Fil-A franchise.
- June 6th, 2018: Following Trump’s embarrassing substitute event after disinviting the Philadelphia Eagles to the White House, LeBron James and Stephan Curry confirm that neither the Cleveland Cavaliers or Golden State Warriors will attend a White House meeting with Trump if invited.
Trump met with his assembled Cabinet at FEMA headquarters where he praised every member of it, with the noted exclusion of Jeff Sessions, and then praised FEMA’s efforts, making no mention of the official death toll in Puerto Rico being revised to make the number of deaths rival Hurricane Katrina.
First Lady Melania Trump finally resurfaces, appearing in public for the first time in almost a month. Trump takes the opportunity to criticize the “Fake new media” for being “vicious and unfair to my wife”. When asked why Melania did not fly with Trump, he said that she was under doctor’s orders to not fly for a month after her kidney embolization, which fact-checkers asked medical experts, and they had never even heard of such a restriction after the procedure.
Trump Budget Director Mick Mulvaney fired the 25-member advisory board of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, after 11 of its members Monday publicly criticized his leadership of the agency.
E-mails obtained by Buzzfeed show that Ivanka Trump also was seeking ways to get her father to meet Vladimir Putin, as an Olympic Russian weightlifter, Dmitry Klokov promised he could get her father a meeting with Vladimir Putin to discuss a Trump Tower in Moscow.
Four weeks after White House staffer Kelly Sadler mocked Sen. John McCain’s opposition to Gina Haspel by saying, “He’s dying anyway,”, she finally resigns from the Trump White House.
Stormy Daniels, meanwhile, began sharing details about how Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, and her previous legal counsel, Keith Davidson, had conspired to get Daniels to go on Sean Hannity’s Fox News in January and deny that her affair with Trump had ever taken place.
- June 7th, 2018: On Twitter, going into the G7 Trump furthers the deepening rift between the United States and its allies over his ill-conceived trade tariffs, insulting both French President Emmanuel Macron, and calling Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “indignant”. Trump was already furious about attending the G7, and tried to weasel his way into sending VP Mike Pence instead, but aides pressed him to go anyway, and would regret it.
Documents obtained by The Hill under the Freedom of Information Act reveal Bob Murray, CEO of coal company Murray Energy, offered six suggested executive orders on coal to the EPA and Department of Energy. He was photographed earlier in the year embraced in a hug with Energy Secretary Rick Perry.
Honduran native Martina Blasina Romero, the mother of Ronal Francisco Romero, an undocumented immigrant who died of bacterial meningitis while in ICE custody on May 16th, 2018, announces that she will sue the Trump administration for placing her son in conditions that led to his death and not getting him proper medical care.
Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani jeopardizes North Korean denuclearization talks while in Israel, claiming that the talks between Trump and Kim Jong Un were back on because the North Korean dictator “begged for it on his hands and knees”. He also continued slandering the Mueller investigation, and dismissed the claims of Stormy Daniels because he finds Clifford to be unattractive and therefore not credible, saying Trump’s three wives are “Beautiful women, classy women, women of great substance. Stormy Daniels? Pfft.” GREAT LAWYERIN’, RUDY!
- June 8th, 2018: Trump, leaving for the G7 conference, opined that the alliance should let Russia back in to make it the G8, saying, “Russia should be in this meeting…They should let Russia come back in.” This while Russia has in the past two years, invaded Crimea, tampered in both British, French, German, and American elections, and recently poisoned two British spies in the UK with nerve gas. Trump walks in late to the G7, and things go… downhill from there. Trump threatens the other six nation’s leaders with trade war, saying of the United States, “We’re like the piggy bank that everybody is robbing. And that ends.”
Impotently, Trump announces he won’t be inviting the Cleveland Cavaliers or Golden State Warriors to the White House after either wins the championship, days after the teams had stated they wouldn’t attend even if invited.
Despite the laundry list of scandals that have led to bipartisan calls for his resignation, Trump refuses to criticize EPA Director Scott Pruitt, still insisting he is “doing a great job”.
The good news is, unlike the previous year, the Trump White House bothered to host a dinner to honor the celebration of Ramadan. The bad news is, they didn’t invite any Muslim-American leaders or activists.
- June 9th, 2018: Trump leaves the G7 Summit early after feuding with our allies. News eventually comes out in the fallout that at one point, Trump threw Starburst candies at German Chancellor Angela Merkel, deadpanning, “Here you go, Angela, don’t say I never gave you anything,” before exiting. On Twitter, after leaving, Trump again insulted Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, calling him “very dishonest and weak”.
The AP had fact-checkers analyze Trump’s statements on trade post-G7, and guess what? Trump has no idea what the f*** he’s talking about.
The Washington post reported on mass trials in courtrooms packed with parents in the Southwest who were separated from their children after crossing the border. The number of defendants continued to soar under Trump’s new crackdown, with some immigration judges bewildered about how irresponsible the decision to separate children from parents was without tracking where they were going. Migrant parents face the decision of pleading guilty and hoping to be reunified with their children, or pleading innocent and waiting days or weeks for trial without their children. In McAllen, Texas alone, 415 children had been separated from their parents between May 21 and June 5. In one day in court, the judge sentenced 100 people, including 28 parents. Rep. Pramila Jayapal said half the women said they were forcibly separated from their children. Some said children as young as 12 months had been taken away — some heard their children screaming for them in the next room. The women were fleeing threats of rape and gang violence in Cuba, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. ICE confirmed it has moved 1,600 migrants to federal prisons due to the surge of illegal crossings and implementation of the zero-tolerance policy.
- June 10th, 2018: Politico reported despite requirement under the Presidential Records Act that the White House must preserve all memos, letters, emails, and papers that Trump touches, Trump has a routine habit of ripping every paper up that has information on it he doesn’t like. Solomon Lartey, a career government official, and his colleagues have had to tape together large piles of shredded paper and send them to the National Archives to be properly filed away.
On the Sunday morning news shows, Trump talking heads marched out to effectively relive the part of the South Park movie where they “BLAME CANADA!” Peter Navarro, a trade adviser to Trump, escalated the negative rhetoric against Trudeau on “Fox News Sunday,” saying, “There’s a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy.” Top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow went on “State of the Union” to say that Trudeau “stabbed us in the back,” saying, “He did a great disservice to the whole G7.”
The New York Times reported that Trump White House turnover had risen to 51%, with more resignations expected in the coming weeks and months.
- June 11th, 2018: McClatchy reported in addition to Alexander Torshin and Maria Butina, other prominent Russian officials — Dmitry Rogozin and Sergei Rudov — met with NRA representatives, mostly in Moscow, during the 2016 campaign. The NRA reported $30 million in donations to the Trump campaign, $21 million from its lobbying arm which does not disclose donors. NRA insiders said the group spent $70 million overall, including field operations and online advertising. It is a crime to donate or use foreign money in U.S. election campaigns. Mueller’s team and the Senate Intelligence Committee are both investigating whether Russian money was donated to Trump’s campaign.
Trump’s Attorney General, Jeff Sessions ordered immigration judges to stop granting asylum to most victims of domestic abuse and gang violence, without concern for those victim’s lives or well being.
A unnmaed senior White House official tells a reporter a summary of the Trump doctrine, “We’re America, bitch.”
- June 12th, 2018: Trump met with Kim Jong Un in Singapore. All major U.S. media attended the well choreographed event, which was dubbed “historic,” with non-stop coverage on every major outlet. As Trump and Kim both declared the summit a success, the two sides differed on what was agreed to publicly, and their agreement was summarized in a short document which lacked details. Trump said in a series of tweets, “There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea,” adding, everybody “can now feel much safer than the day I took office” and people could “sleep well tonight!” in a stunning concession, Trump said the U.S. will halt joint military exercises with South Korea, an announcement which baffled allies, military officials, and lawmakers from the GOP. (In reality, nothing was accomplished, save for Trump legitimizing another authoritarian madman and distancing ourselves from our allies.)
Trump and Kim were signing the document in front of reporters, CNN’s Jim Acosta asked, “did he agree to denuclearize?” Trump responded, “We’re starting that process very quickly.” Acosta then asked if Trump and Kim had discussed Otto Warmbier, who had died while held captive by North Korea. Trump did not respond, however, shortly thereafter, Brad Parscale, Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign manager, tweeted, “Jim @Acosta should immediately have his press credentials suspended. He is an absolute disgrace!”
In an interview with George Stephanopoulos after the summit, Trump said of Kim Jong Un, a brutal dictator, “His country does love him. His people, you see the fervor. They have a great fervor.” Only days removed from attacking American allies, Trump has nothing but praise for a monster already in possession of one of the worst lists of human rights violations and brutality on the planet who threatens to destroy the country. An estimated 80,000 to 120,000 people are imprisoned in North Korea.
Trump held his first official solo press conference in 16 months after the talks with Kim. As reporters waited for Trump to come on stage, two huge screens came down instead, with a movie type production portraying North Korea as a paradise. The film lasted four minutes. Reporters thought it was North Korean propaganda. It wasn’t. The film then looped and played in English. The film was made in America, by or on the orders of his White House, to flatter Kim’s ego. Trump then came on stage and said, “I hope you liked it. I thought it was good.” Trump also lauded North Korea’s “great beaches,” and said he told Kim, “You know, instead of doing that (develop nuclear weapons), you could have the best hotels in the world right there.”
Two days earlier, at the Tony Awards, actor Robert DeNiro declared, “F*** Trump” in a speech at the awards show. Well, Donald Trump isn’t one to let any slight go unnoticed, and he attacked DeNiro in two tweets, calling him a “very Low IQ individual,” who has “received to many shots to the head by real boxers in movies,” adding, “Wake up Punchy!”
Amid growing tensions with Canada, Trump’s Department of Homeland Security announced a “strengthened” Northern Border Strategy to help “combat terrorism” and “help facilitate travel and trade” at its border. (Terrorism… coming from Canada. Unless ISIS has been weaponize moose, what the f***?)
McClatchy reported the Trump adminstration had plans in place to erect tent cities at military posts around Texas to shelter the growing number of children separated from their parents crossing the border, with current facilities already at 95% capacity.
CNN interviewed an attorney in McAllen, Texas who said an undocumented immigrant from Honduras said federal authorities took her daughter while she was breastfeeding in a detention center. When the mother tried to resist, she was handcuffed. An assistant public defender in Texas said some parents also claim they have been told their children are being taken to be bathed or cleaned up, then disappear.
Bloomberg reported that according to advocacy group Alliance for Justice, so far 88% of Trump’s additions to the federal bench are white and 76% are male. There is only one Hispanic justice.
- June 13th, 2018: A day after returning from North Korea to meet with Kim Jong Un, Trump turned back to Twitter and declared the media was America’s “greatest enemy”. He also congratulated Katie Arrington on defeating South Carolina Congressman Mark Sanford in the GOP Primary, which will end the incumbent Sanford’s career in a few months, after endorsing her against the wishes of the GOP.
How bad is turnover in the Trump White House, and how desperate are they to fill out staff positions? They had to host a job fair at the White House.
- June 14th, 2018: Trump faced a backlash after he was seen in a 42-minute video of the North Korean summit, first broadcast by North Korea’s state news channel, saluting a North Korean general. The party who claimed Barack Obama went on an “apology tour” and raged as he “bowed” before foreign dignitaries for 8 years was oddly silent. When asked about it at a daily press briefing, Sarah Huckabee Sanders called it a “common courtesy.” Military and intelligence experts said U.S. leaders typically do not salute military officials from adversarial nations. U.S. ally South Korea also is still technically at war with North Korea.
Attorney General, Jeff Sessions when learning that a Catholic cardinal called the Trump administration’s family separation policy, “immoral,” cited Romans 13 in the Bible: “Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves and protect the weak and lawful.” (Ah yes. Ripping babies from their mothers, just like Jesus told us to do in the Bible. Nice one, Jeffers. We’ll add that Romans 13 was the passage that slave-owners used to use to justify keeping slaves, which fits right into Jeff Sessions’ wheelhouse, too.)
The New York attorney general filed a civil lawsuit against the Donald J. Trump Foundation, accusing the campaign and family of violating campaign finance laws, self-dealing and illegal coordination with the presidential campaign. The lawsuit gives numerous examples of Trump using foundation monies to win political favor or settle legal claims against his various businesses, as well as pay off his legal bills and promote Trump hotels. On Twitter, Trump raged against the lawsuit.
Also on Twitter, Trump continued to denigrate the “Special Councel” because he’s still an imbecile without the ability to spell.
Daily Beast reported that MVM Inc., a scandal plagued defense contractor company, is set to benefit from the migrant children detention centers. The company is advertising to hire all sorts of personnel, in fields not in their expertise.
- June 15th, 2018: Trump unilaterally imposed tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese products. Within an hour, the Ministry of Commerce in Beijing pledged to erect trade barriers of the “same scale and the same strength.”
Trump told reporters that he was “totally exonerated” by Justice Department IG report regarding texts from Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. (He wasn’t.) He also accused the FBI of “plotting against my election,” saying Comey was the ringleader in a “den of thieves.” Trump also told a CBS News reporter who was asking questions to “quiet” at least five time. He also said to reporters, “She’s so obnoxious.”
in a wide-ranging surprise interview with “Fox & Friends” host Steve Doocy on the North Lawn of the White House, Trump again praised Kim Jong Un, saying he is a “strong head” of his country, adding of Kim, “He speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same.” (Note, people in North Korea do that under fear for their lives.) Trump also tried downplaying his relationship with Paul Manafort, saying Manafort worked for him “for 49 days or something? A very short period of time.” Manafort was Trump’s campaign manager for 114 days. Trump also said of Michael Flynn, “Some people say [Flynn] lied and some people say he didn’t lie.” Flynn pled guilty to lying.
Trump also told Doocy he opposes the immigration bill cobbled together by House Republicans. Trump’s opposition caught House Republican leaders by surprise. Ryan had told members he had been briefing Trump on their legislative strategy, and Trump was on board. The bill would have provided $25 billion for Trump’s border wall and a new visa program to give Dreamers a path to residency and citizenship, but would have ended the regime’s practice of separating migrant children from parents. Trump also repeated his lie about who was responsible for the family separation policy of his administration, saying, “I hate the children being taken away. The Democrats have to change their law. That’s their law.” Sarah Huckabee Sanders had also blamed the Democrats at the daily briefing on Thursday. Neither Trump, nor Sanders’ words on the subject had an iota of truth to them. Shortly thereafter, the White House issued a statement by Trump on “Democrats’ Dangerous Immigration Policies,” blaming “CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS’ FAMILY SEPARATION POLICY.”(Even IF Democrats were responsible for the policy, and they’re not… Republicans control Congress, the Senate, and the White House, and could pass a law to undo it whenever they want. Trump does not understand even the most basic principles of how our government works.)
CNN reported Michael Cohen has expressed anger at his treatment by Trump, and indicated to family and friends he is willing to cooperate with federal investigators to alleviate pressure on himself and his family.
A federal judge revoked Manafort’s bail and sent him to jail to await trial, citing charges that Manafort tried to influence testimony of two government witnesses. Two hours later, Trump tweeted that jailing Manafort was a “tough sentence” and “very unfair.” Trump also tweeted that he “Didn’t know Manafort was the head of the Mob,” and then continued his attack on James Comey, “What about Comey and Crooked Hillary and all of the others?”
Rudy Giuliani told the New York Daily News of Manafort, “When the whole thing is over, things might get cleaned up with some presidential pardons.”
- June 16th, 2018: On Saturday, for the fourth time in 24 hours, Trump falsely blamed Democrats for “their forced family breakup at the Border,” and accusing them of “High Crime and Obstruction. Sad!”
The Washington Post reports that Trump has strongly been pushing White House staff to meet with Vladimir Putin at some point in July. A U.S. official said after meeting with Kim Jong Un, Trump said he wanted to invite Putin to the White House. The official said, “We ignored it.”
The Intercept reported Trump administration Border Protection agents in El Paso, Texas are turning away asylum seekers multiple times and for days on end, telling them there is “no room.” Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, immigrants have the right to request asylum and be immediately processed. Reportedly Border Patrol is pushing them to cross illegally, thereby having an excuse to separate families.
- June 17th, 2018: On Twitter, Trump encourages Washington Post staffers to strike, saying in a tweet, “because Bezos isn’t paying them enough.” He also repeated his false claim the newspaper is a “registered lobbyist.” In a series of tweets capping off Father’s Day, Trump asked why the FBI was giving “so much information to the Fake News Media,” repeating his claim that the media is the “enemy of the people.” He also continued his attacks against FBI Agent Peter Strzok, whom he called the “FBI’s sick loser,” was working on the “totally discredited Mueller team of 13 Angry & Conflicted Democrats,” calling it a “Witch Hunt!” He also posted about how Strzok worked with “Slippery James Comey and that Comey is best friends with Robert Mueller,” adding “A really sick deal, isn’t it?”
Trump called down the thunder, and he got it. Peter Strzok, said he would testify before Congress without immunity, saying he wants to clear his name and tell his story.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristjen Nielsen denied that a family separation policy existed, claiming “We do not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period,” and instead blamed the media.
- June 18th, 2018: in a series of tweets, Trump falsely claimed “crime in Germany is way up.” Trump tweeted it was a “big mistake” in Europe to let in immigrants “who have so strongly and violently changed their culture!”
Trump continued to pretend he was going to solve a crisis of his own making. Trump addressed the media on family separation, saying the United States “will not be a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility … not on my watch.” He continued to try to blame Democrats for the crisis, and meanwhile, NBC News reported the Trump regime first discussed the idea of separating migrant mothers from their children as a way to deter asylum seekers at a meeting on February 2, 2017. That would be within the first two weeks of taking office.
The Associated Press reported on an old warehouse in McAllen, Texas, where hundreds of children wait in a series of cages. One cage had 20 children inside. More than 1,100 people were in the dark facility. A 16 year old said she was helping care for a 2 year old in her cage for three days because the child’s aunt was somewhere else in the facility. The teen said she had to show others how to change the girl’s diaper.
ProPublica released shocking audio of children inside a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility crying after being separated from their parents, screaming Mami” and “Papá” over and over again as agents openly mocked them.
Rudy Giuliani said he was just bluffing last week when he called for the Justice Department, after the inspector general report came out, to suspend Mueller’s investigation within 24 hours.
- June 19th, 2018: Against the advice of practically everyone in Washington not named Stephen Miller, Trump continued to dig in on the family separation policy, because he thought it would be a winning issue for the Republicans in the 2018 midterms.
On Twitter, Trump posted “Democrats are the problem,” saying they want migrants to “infest our Country,” adding, “so they view them as potential voters!”
Jeff Sessions goes on Fox News to deny, against all the mounting evidence, that children are being abused or kept in inhumane conditions and rebuked comparisons to Nazi Germany, making the odd assertion of Nazis that “they were keeping the Jews from leaving the country.”
In a joint statement by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the Trump administration announced that the U.S. was withdrawing from the U.N. Human Rights Council, blaming anti-Israeli sentiment.
- June 20th, 2018: Trump’s Department of Homeland Security said 2,342 children have been separated from their parents since last month. The Trump administration is sending babies and young children forcibly separated from their parents to at least three “tender age” shelters in South Texas. The Houston Chronicle reported flight attendants say they were unknowingly transporting migrant children. One was lied to by an ICE agent who said the children on the flight were part of a soccer team. When pressed, the agent finally admitted that they were being relocated to assigned camps.
Per an Associated Press report, Trump was raging in the White House over media coverage of the immigration crisis, saying the media is deliberately highlighting the worst images — the cages and screaming toddlers — to make him look bad. Because, y’know, it’s all about him. Citing Trump’s family separation policy, governors from at least eight states, including two Republicans, said they would withhold or recall National Guard troops sent to the southern border. The Trump administration saw the cracks really start to show as Kirjsten Nielsen was heckled at a Mexican restaurant by protestors shouting, “Shame!” The restaurant said in a statement, “Our staff, most of whom are Hispanic, have been with our restaurant family for years.”
The Associated Press reported that nine months after Hurricane Maria thousands of people in Puerto Rico are still living under tarps or plastic sheets. FEMA and local agencies do not know how many roofs still need to be replaced.
- June 21st, 2018: Trump’s National Park Service approves a permit for a second “Unite the Right” rally to be hosted by White Supremacists, this time across the street from the White House in Washington, D.C.
Trump holds a rally in Duluth, Minnesota, reminiscent of his 2016 campaign rallies, including crowd chants of “Build that wall!” and “Lock her up!” and “USA! USA! USA!” and “Drain the swamp!” Factcheckers, again, had to point out that Donald Trump is a compulsive liar.
First lady Melania Trump boarded a plane on her way to Texas to visit a detention center for migrant children, wearing a coat that read, in white capital letters on the back, “I really don’t care. Do U?” Critics explode at the choice, realizing that it’s a $40 coat, the cheapest garment Melania Trump has ever been photographed in, outside of nudes of course. This wasn’t a case of being tone deaf, it was intended as a message. Trump, however, was likely behind the garment choice, because he immediately took to Twitter to respond that the words on the jacket refer “to the Fake News Media. Melania has learned how dishonest they are, and she truly no longer cares!”
American, Frontier, Southwest and United airlines issued statements saying they refused to fly immigrant children separated from their parents for the federal government.
The Texas Tribune reported children held at the Shiloh Treatment Center, a contractor that houses immigrant minors, described in a lawsuit being held down and forcibly injected with drugs.
Trump told reporters “We have to maintain toughness, or our country will be overrun by people, by crime,” but his wife felt strongly about separating families, saying “Anybody with a heart would feel this way.” Following a firestorm of protest from opponents and allies, Trump signed an executive order ending his regime’s policy of separating migrant children from their parents. It was briefly taken off the internet, mind you, because the first posted executive order contained a spelling error, saying “seperation” because the people at the White House are, obviously, bigoted morons.
- June 22d, 2018: In events reminiscent of Trump’s Muslim ban, confusion ensued as federal agencies were left to interpret the sudden changes in the executive order and to figure out how to implement them, because it was written so vaguely, and in such haste.
The Washington Post reported although government officials say they have given detained parents a flier with a toll-free number for the Office of Refugee Resettlement, lawyers say none of their clients have received one. Lawyers say they have called the number and often no one answered. When someone did pick up, the person refused to offer details of where children had been taken or offered only vague statements like within the U.S.
Trump held an event at the White House with Angel Families, his name for “the American victims of illegal immigration,” who stood behind him holding poster-sized photos of their deceased relatives. Trump told the media, “you never hear this side,” and said, “These are the American citizens permanently separated from their loved ones…Permanently…Because they were killed by criminal illegal aliens.” After the event, Trump autographed the photos of deceased young people being held up by Angel Families who stood behind him, because he’s a narcissistic monster.
The White House proposed a radical overhaul of the federal government in a 132-page plan. The Trump regime said it plans to shake up what one official called a “nonsensical” bureaucracy. Under the plan, the Departments of Education and Labor would merge, other agencies’ responsibilities would consolidate, and there would significantly less regulation of industries. The plan also proposes to privatize the U.S. Postal Service and Federal Aviation Administration, eliminates more than a third of the U.S. Public Health Corps and would result in a massive sale of government properties.
The least offensive thing that Trump did all day was to tell people via his Twitter account to buy a book written by Jeannine Pirro of Fox News. Which, yes, is an ethics violation.
Protestors gathered outside Kirjsten Nielsen’s home in Virginia, holding signs and blasting the ProPublica audio of children crying. The same night, Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave Red Hen, a restaurant in Virginia. Sanders tweeted that she was asked, “to leave because I work for @POTUS and I politely left.” She complains on her official work account, an ethics violation, and Trump supporters from around the country make it a point to give the restaurant bad Yelp reviews for their bold stance.
- June 23rd, 2018: On Twitter, Trump threatened to impose 20 percent tariffs on all cars imported from the European Union. Trump’s tweet sent shares of BMW, Volkswagen, Fiat Chrysler and Mercedes-maker Daimler all lower.
On immigration, Trump pushed Republicans to delay voting on the second immigration bill, saying “Republicans should stop wasting their time” until after midterms, saying “Dems are just playing games.”
At a Nevada rally for Sen. Dean Heller, where Trump nicknamed his opponent for November, Jacky Rosen, calling her “Wacky Jacky” as if that had never been done outside of an elementary school, Trump mocked Sen. John McCain for his thumbs down on the Republican plan to repeal ObamaCare, saying, “It’s alright, because we’ve essentially gutted it anyway.” HE JUST ADMITTED HE SABOTAGED THE ACA.
- June 24th, 2018: NBC News reported the Obama-era Family Case Management Program, launched in early 2016 with the aim of keeping asylum-seeking families together and out of detention, was canceled by Trump one year ago.
For the first time, the U.S. was listed among Thomson Reuters’ list of the world’s most dangerous countries for women, the only Western nation to appear in the top 10.
- June 25th, 2018: At an evening rally in South Carolina, before Trump got up to speak his supporters yelled “CNN fake news” began chanting for CNN’s Jim Acosta to leave. A woman pointed at him and said, “Take him out.” As Trump started the rally, he attacked the press and calling media outlets gathered at the rally “fake news,” and repeated another common refrain of his about the media, “The enemy, the enemy of the people I call ’em.”
Trump tweeted “all of these people who invade our Country” should be deprived of their due-process rights: “we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came.” Legal experts and anyone with a brain taking a second to think about it realizes that without due process, anyone can be deported on any suspicion of not being a citizen without any kind of a trial. Which is, of course, insane to even suggest. But that’s Trump for you.
He also attacked Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters via Twitter because she supported protests of Trump’s Cabinet members, by calling her “a low IQ individual” before writing Waters “has just called for harm to supporters, of which there are many, of the Make America Great Again movement,” adding a veiled threat, “Be careful what you wish for Max!”. Rep. Waters then began to receive death threats from Trump supporters online.
Trump also reacted to a story in Politico about Senator Mark Warner joking around that if someone brought him enough wine, he’d talk about “information only Robert Mueller and I know” and “if you think you’ve seen wild stuff so far, buckle up”. His solution was to accuse Sen. Warner of being a drunk and committing a crime by talking about the Mueller investigation (even though he only joked he would).
And, Trump gave his daily rant about the Mueller investigation, again calling out FBI agent Peter Strzok in a delusional Twitter post.
Also on Twitter, Trump manages his latest ethics violation, attacking the Red Hen restaurant that kicked out Sarah Huckabee Sanders the previous week, and insinuating it wasn’t healthy enough to eat at, writing, “The Red Hen Restaurant should focus more on cleaning its filthy canopies, doors and windows (badly needs a paint job) rather than refusing to serve a fine person like Sarah Huckabee Sanders. I always had a rule, if a restaurant is dirty on the outside, it is dirty on the inside!” (Just a reminder, Mar-a-Lago received abysmal reviews from the health department, and the Red Hen got flying colors, so Cadet Bonespurs shouldn’t be throwing stones.)
Harley-Davidson releases a statement that they will have to outsource parts of their operation outside the United States due to the effects of Donald Trump’s 25% steel tariffs. Trump, in turn, accuses them of “waving the white flag”.
The Dow closed dropped more than 300 points, closing below its 200-day moving average.
NBC News reported in recent months, Trump is relying less and less on the advice of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, one of the longest-serving cabinet members, instead making decisions on his own. This included Trump’s brain-dead idea to create a sixth branch of the military, the “Space Force”.
- June 26th, 2018:In a Tweetstorm, Trump reiterated his call to turn people away at the border, saying immigrants should “simply be stopped at the Border and told they cannot come into the U.S. illegally.” That’s not how the laws on asylum work.
At the White House, Trump crows, “U.S. Steel just announced they’re expanding or building six new facilities.” This is the third reference Trump has made to this expansion. The statement is not true.
Trump threatened Harley-Davidson, tweeting “If they move, watch, it will be the beginning of the end. They will be taxed like never before!”
Trump again harassed Congresswoman Maxine Waters on Twitter, writing she and Nancy Pelosi are “the face of the Democrats,” who want “Open Borders and Unlimited Crime” and “pick Crooked Hillary for Pres.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, whose agency has custody of 2,047 migrant children, told Congress the children will not be reunited with parents who are still in custody.
- June 27th, 2018: Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy shocked the country by saying he would retire. Kennedy, who had been a swing vote for many social issues, left Trump opening to reshape the highest court. Over the next several days, it would be learned that Justice Kennedy was pressured for months by Trump and his family to step down from the bench, and was given guarantees that one of his former clerks would get his seat on the court.
Trump again harassed Congresswoman Maxine Waters on Twitter, for a third consecutive day, saying Waters’ “crazy rants have made her” and Pelosi “the unhinged FACE of the Democrat Party,” and that they will “Make America Weak Again,” but “have no fear, he is not going anywhere…”
At a rally in North Dakota that nigh, Trump make several false and inflammatory statements, including on Rep. Waters, “Maxine. She’s a beauty. I mean, she practically was telling people the other day to assault.”
Also on Twitter, Trump posted, “Extremist Democrat politicians have called for the complete elimination of ICE,” saying, “these radical protesters want ANARCHY.”
NBC News that Trump will have a summit with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16th. They also note that the Kremlin reported the meeting before the Trump White House. Around the time the meeting was announced, Trump tweeted about the Mueller probe, “Russia continues to say they had nothing to do with meddling in our election!”
Texas Tribune reported migrant children as young as 3 years-old are being ordered into court for their own deportation proceedings, according to attorneys in several states. An advocate said a 3 year-old climbed up on the table during the hearing. A member of the American Academy of Pediatrics called the practice “grossly inappropriate,” adding “I’m ashamed that we’re doing this.”
Bill Shine, a former Fox News co-president accepted a role as White House communications director, which had been vacant since Hope Hicks resigned in March. Shine was close to Roger Ailes, and enabled his systematic sexual harassment of women at Fox News. So really, he has the perfect resume to work for Donald Trump, from Trump’s standpoint.
- June 28th, 2018: Three days after a South Carolina rally where Trump called the press “the enemy of the people” after his various other attacks on the media, a gunman opened fire on the newsroom of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, killing five and injuring others before being taken into custody. Trump offered “thoughts and prayers” to the victims, some of whom were more than happy to tell him to shove it. When Trump returned from Wisconsin to Washington, NBC News asked “Can you please talk to us about the dead reporters in Annapolis?” Trump walked away from reporters and refused to answer.
ABC News reports on Special Counsel Robert Mueller investigating why it was that so many Russian billionaires with ties to the Kremlin were invited to attend the Trump inauguration, and why they were given such special access.
Trump again threatened Harley-Davidson, saying, “build those beautiful motorcycles in the United States,” adding, “Don’t get cute with us…your customers won’t be happy if you don’t.”
Satellite imagery shows activity in North Korea’s nuclear sites… SURPRISE! Trump accomplished nothing in his talks with Kim Jong Un, and agreed to stop performing joint military exercises with South Korea for it.
- June 29th, 2018: The president receives a phone call from Stuttering John, aka John Melendez of Howard Stern fame. Melendez called from an unblocked number, and pretended to be Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey. And Trump… is an addle-brained dunce. After the imposter he got past to White House phone call screens and Jared Kushner put Pappy Sundowner on the phone to chat for ten minutes
Before leaving for his Bedminster golf course for the weekend, Trump told reporters he was open to bringing Hope Hicks back to the White House in some sort of role, saying, “I think everybody misses it.”
An Axios report details that Trump repeatedly threatens to withdraw from the World Trade Organization, a move that would throw global markets into turmoil. People around him are not taking his threat seriously.
A report by the Anti-Defamation League found the amount of white supremacist propaganda on college campuses rose sharply: 292 occurrences in the District and 47 states, a 77% increase from last year.
James Melville, the U.S. Ambassador to Estonia, resigns, citing Trump’s anti-Europe rants as the reason.
- June 30th, 2018: In a series of tweets, Trump attacked Democrats over immigration and defended ICE, calling it “one of the smartest, toughest, and most spirited law enforcement groups.” Trump also went on to lie, “I have watched ICE liberate towns from the grasp of MS-13 & clean out the toughest of situations.”
Trump tweeted that he “never pushed the Republicans in the House to vote for the Immigration Bill.” On Wednesday, Trump tweeted “House Republicans should pass the strong but fair immigration bill.”
Tens of thousands of people march in protests against Trump’s immigration policies across the country. 750 marches with 400,000 people took place across the country, with over 30,000 people in New York City and Washington DC. Immigration advocates said they had never seen Americans show up for immigrants like this.
- July 1st, 2018: In an interview with Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo, Trump said he would not move forward on a new NAFTA deal with Mexico and Canada until after the midterms. Considering how much he had managed to piss off both country’s leaders with insults, tariffs, and demands to pay for a border wall… pretty sure they weren’t in a rush. He also slammed our European allies, saying, “The European Union is possibly as bad as China, just smaller. It’s terrible what they do to us,” before continuing his attacks on Harley Davidson, saying, “Everybody who ever bought a Harley-Davidson voted for Trump … and they are very unhappy about it. I think they are going to take a big hit.” (Yes, Donald, there could be no political fallout from a guy with “Bikers for Trump” trying to get them to turn on Harley Davidson. Go ahead, see how that works out…)
The staff of the Capital Gazette in Baltimore released a letter thanking those who offer support, and calling out Trump without naming him, “We won’t forget being called an enemy of the people.”
Axios reported on a leaked draft of a bill ordered by Trump in which the U.S. would effectively leave the World Trade Organization, and Trump could raise U.S. tariffs at will, without congressional consent.
The Hill reports that Trump tweeted the phrase “stock market” 46 times in 2017, almost once a week. In 2018, as the market rally has stalled, Trump has only mentioned the stock market two times.
- July 2nd, 2018: The Baltimore Sun reported Trump declined a request from Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley last week to lower American flags in honor of the fatal shooting at the Capital Gazette last week.
In an obviously partisan and unprecedented move, the White House official Twitter account begins campaigning against Democrats. @WhiteHouse — falsely accused Sen. Kamala Harris of “supporting the animals of MS-13,” and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of “supporting criminals moving weapons, drugs, and victims.”
- July 3rd, 2018: Potentially facing backlash and making it look like he condoned attacks on journalists, Trump reversed his decision and had Press Secretary Sarah Sanders call Mayor Buckley in Annapolis in the morning to say the White House had issued a proclamation ordering the flags lowered nationwide until sunset Tuesday,
Trump again threatened Harley-Davidson, claiming “my Administration is working with other Motor Cycle companies who want to move into the U.S.”
Trump escalated his attacks on Rep. Waters, referring to her as “Crazy Maxine Waters,” and saying she is “one of the most corrupt people in politics.”
Trump continued attacks on gangs as a proxy for people with brown skin and his support for ICE, tweeting, “we have an “infestation” of MS-13 GANGS,” and “who do we send to get them out? ICE!” (a reminder, “infestation” was also a thing the Nazis would say regarding Jews during the Holocaust.)
The White House Twitter account attacked two House Democrats, Reps. Earl Blumenauer and Mark Pocan, who announced last week they would introduce legislation to abolish ICE.
Trump’s Department of Education rescinded an Obama-era guideline that encouraged the use of race to promote diversity, directing schools and colleges to adopt race-neutral admissions standard
- July 4th, 2018: A delegation of seven Senate and one House Republicans met with their Russian counterparts in Moscow. The meetings were closed-door and the media was not given access, nor were any Democrats invited. Among the Russian attendees were Sergey Kislyak, whose conversations with Michael Flynn led to Flynn’s firing, and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The visit represents the most significant congressional visit to Russia in over a decade.
The New York Times reports Trump’s inauguration fund collected $500,000 from two private prison companies, Geo Group and CoreCivic, which are involved in housing detained migrant families.
- July 5th, 2018: Only one week after five were killed at the Capital Gazette, Trump said of the media at a rally in Montana, “Fake news. Bad people,” and “They’re so damn dishonest,” and “These are really bad people.” Trump railed against NATO, saying “you got to start paying your bills,” and “They kill us on trade,” while defending Putin, calling him “fine” at the event. Trump also took aim at George HW Bush and his slogan on volunteerism, saying, “‘Thousands points of light’….What does that mean? I know one thing. ‘Make America Great Again’ we understand.” (Trump, of course, really does not understand what charity means.) Also at the rally, Trump made an odd comment that he would donate $1 million if he could test Sen. Warren — who he called “the fake Pocahontas” — for Native American heritage, adding, “but we have to do it gently because we’re in the MeToo generation.” (Yes, he managed to resume a racist nickname, and then trivialize sexual assault in one heinous quote.)
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said nearly 3,000 — not the 2,047 number he gave to Senators last week — migrant children are in custody after crossing the southern border. Of the roughly 3,000 migrant children still in federal custody, about 100 are under the age of 5. The New York Times reported that according to two Department of Homeland Security officials, records linking migrant children to their parents have disappeared or have been destroyed. According to court records filed late in the day, the Trump administration said it would not be able to meet a federal judge’s deadline to reunite all migrant families separated at the southern border.
The Associated Press reported Trump repeatedly pressed aides in August 2017 to invade Venezuela. Rex Tillerson and H.R. McMaster were reportedly stunned, and McMaster and others explained it could backfire and talked him out of it.
- July 6th, 2018: Trump officially launched a trade war with China, imposing the first duties on $34 billion in Chinese goods.
At a status hearing, the Trump regime said they cannot locate the parents of 38 migrant children under the age of 5: 19 were released from custody, whereabouts unknown, and the other 19 were deported.
EPA Director Pruitt finally resigned. The White House informed Pruitt that he had to submit his resignation and Trump tweeted shortly after that Pruitt did an “outstanding job, and I will always be thankful to him.” With Pruitt’s departure, Trump’s Cabinet has the fastest turnover rate of any Administration in a hundred years. Turnover is also alarming at lower levels, where positions are held by second and third waves of aides.
On Twitter, Trump renewed his calls for deporting migrants without due process, tweeting, “they must be told to leave without our … Country being forced to endure a long and costly trial.” He added, “Tell the people “OUT,” and they must leave, just as they would if they were standing on your front lawn.” and repeated his lie about needing to hire thousands of judges.
The Associated Press reported the U.S. Army quietly and abruptly discharged dozens of reservists and recruits who enlisted in the military with a promised path to citizenship. This is contrary to various quotes from Trump administration officials claiming they had no plans to do this, including Secretary of Defense Mattis.
- July 7th, 2018: Trump again attacked the media, tweeting that Twitter is getting rid of fake accounts, and asking will that “include the Failing New York Times and propaganda machine for Amazon, the Washington Post.” After Twitter deleted bot accounts, Trump’s total followers dropped by numbers in the hundreds of thousands.
- July 8th, 2018: The New York TImes Trump administration stunned world health officials this spring when at the United Nations-affiliated World Health Assembly the U.S. delegation opposed a resolution encouraging breastfeeding.
- July 9th, 2018: In response to the story in the NYT about the Trump administration opposing breastfeeding, Trump tweeted “The failing NY Times Fake News story… must be called out.” The Times defended the reporting, tweeting, “Our report is accurate. You can read it here.”
Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. In 2009, Kavanaugh wrote presidents should be immune from criminal investigations and prosecutions, as well as personal civil suits, while in office.
Trump’s personal driver for 25 years, and registered Republican, Noel Cintron sued the Trump Organization for overtime, saying it didn’t pay him overtime and raised his salary only twice in 15 years.
- July 10th, 2018: Trump pardoned the Oregon ranchers, Dwight Hammond and his son Steven Hammond who were the inspiration behind the 41-day armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 2016.
Trump told the media as he was leaving for his weeklong trip to Europe that his summit with Putin “may be the easiest” of the meetings he has scheduled. While aboard the flight to NATO, Trump tweeted, “hear reports that the FBI lovers, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page are getting cold feet on testifying about the Rigged Witch Hunt headed by 13 Angry Democrats.”
The Washington Post reports Rudy Giuliani continues to work for foreign clients, both individually and through his security firm while serving as Trump’s attorney, a departure of standard practice and possible conflict of interest. Giuliani also has yet to register as a foreign agent.
- July 11th, 2018: as the NATO summit got underway in Belgium, Trump launched a clearly planned attack on Germany, saying the country is “a captive to Russia” because it imports much of its energy from Russia. The irony is not lost on the Western alliance. Trump’s comments shocked NATO allies. Norwegian prime minister Stoltenberg was reportedly reduced to spluttering as Trump cut him off after he started to explain that allies have always traded with Russia.
Trump continued his attacks on FBI agents, as he tweeted “Lisa Page today defied a House of Representatives issued Subpoena,” adding, “Together with her lover, FBI Agent Peter Strzok, she worked on the Rigged Witch Hunt.”
The Senate confirmed Brian Benczkowski as director for the Criminal Division of the Justice Department, which oversee parts of the Mueller probe and Cohen investigation. Benczkowski has no prosecution experience and has never tried a case. He told lawmakers he supports Mueller’s investigation, but would not promise to recuse himself from issues involving Russia. Benczkowski was nominated by Trump in June 2017, but his confirmation was stalled because he represented Alfa Bank, a Russian bank, even after it was a subject of the FBI’s probe of the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia.
- July 12th, 2018: On Thursday, Trump showed up late to the NATO summit, skipping meetings with at least two world leaders and prompting the secretary general to call an emergency meeting.
Trump then left for his first visit to the UK, while PM May rolled out the red carpet to Trump, a Murdoch-owned London tabloid published an explosive interview in which Trump blasted May’s Brexit compromise. In the interview, Trump also praised May’s archrival, Boris Johnson, as a potential future prime minister, and attacked London’s Muslim mayor, for being soft on crime and terrorism.
Back home, Republicans acting as proxies for Trump in Congress planning to attack Peter Strzok miscalculate and put Strzok in a public hearing before the House Judiciary Committee where over nine and a half hours Strzok defends himself, and the FBI and clowning sitting Republican members of Congress. The day is filled with insults, fighting, shouting, character assassination, and partisan bickering. Strzok looked sharp in the face of GOP Representatives. Trey Gowdy threatened Strzok with contempt, Louie Gohmert attacked his infidelity and character, Darrell Issa made him read his own texts, and Paul Gosar said he could read Strzok’s body language as a former dentist.
- July 13th, 2018: nearly 250,000 protestors marched against Trump in central London. Protestors carried signs, and a giant balloon, which depicts Trump wearing a diaper and carrying a mobile phone in tiny hands.
In a joint news conference, Trump vaguely apologized to PM May for his The Sun interview, saying, “I didn’t criticize the prime minister; I have a lot of respect for the prime minister.” Trump said “fake news” had omitted his praise of May. The Sun released a cover story and audio of the interview. When a reporter asked if his comments helped Putin, he said, “That’s such dishonesty reporting.” When asked about the Mueller probe, Trump said, “in the United States we have this stupidity going on — pure stupidity,” adding, “Anything you do, it’s always going to be, ‘Oh, Russia, he loves Russia.’” Trump also warned European leaders “better watch themselves” because immigration is “changing the culture” of their societies, adding, “ I think it is a very negative thing for Europe.” When CNN’s Jim Acosta asked Trump a question, he called the network “fake news,” and instead called on Fox News’ John Roberts, saying, “Let’s go to a real network.” Roberts asked an easy question, Trump answered.
Trump then visited with the Queen of England, where he had many social miscues including walking in front of the queen, walking briskly and ahead of her at times, and shaking hands instead of bowing or curtsying.
As Trump was meeting with Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle, most networks went split-screen, and then broke away to coverage of a news conference with deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein. Rosenstein announced 12 Russian military intelligence officers (GRU) were indicted in the Mueller probe on charges they hacked Democrats’ computers, stole data, and published files to disrupt the 2016 election. The 11-count, 29-page indictment gave granular detail on how the Russian government hackers implanted malware, and spread stolen information DC Leaks, Guccifer 2.0 and others to influence voters. The indictment notes on July 27, 2016, then-candidate Trump said at a news conference, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails.” That same day conspirators attempted to spearphish email accounts used by Clinton’s personal office for the first time. The indictment also says GRU successfully hacked “test applications related to the DNC’s analytics,”and stole that data from the DNC, giving insight into the Clinton campaign’s analysis and plans.
After the indictments, Democrats and Sen. John McCain called on Trump to cancel his upcoming one-on-one summit with Putin. The White House announced Friday afternoon that the summit is still on. Director of national intelligence Dan Coats said persistent danger of Russian cyberattacks today was akin to the warnings the U.S. had of stepped-up terror threats ahead of the September 11 attacks. Speaking to a Washington DC think tank, Coats said, “the warning lights are blinking red again,” and warned, “digital infrastructure that serves this country is literally under attack.”
- July 14th, 2018: On Saturday, Trump golfed at his money-losing Turnberry golf course in Scotland. Watchdog group CREW said of the visit, Trump is using it as “a forced subsidy of an infomercial for his properties.” Protest against Trump continued during his trip to Scotland. Organizers say 60,000 protested Trump in Edinburgh, and during his golf round he was booed by demonstrators gathered at the perimeter.
On Twitter, Trump blamed the Obama administration for the Russian election meddling, tweeting, “Why didn’t they do something about it….Obama was informed by the FBI in September, before the Election?” He also attacked CNN, tweeting, “I just checked out Fake News CNN,” adding “they are dying in the ratings,” to see “if they covered my takedown yesterday of Jim Acosta (actually a nice guy).”
Trump will be the first sitting president to skip the MLB All-Star Game in Washington D.C., citing his preference for friendly crowds.
- July 15th, 2018: In an interview on “CBS Evening News,” when Trump was asked about our biggest global foes ahead of Helsinki, he responded, “I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade.” While en route to Helsinki, Trump tweeted he was looking forward to his meeting with Putin, while mocking critics, “I should have gotten Saint Petersburg in addition!” and calling the media “the enemy of the people.”
Russian spy Maria Butina was arrested after infiltrating the NRA, and operating as a foreign agent. Butina is accused of trying to cultivate relationships with American politicians over a two-year period. Butina twice tried to set up secret meetings between Trump and Putin during the 2016 campaign. In June 2015, as Trump announced his campaign, Butina wrote a column in a conservative U.S. magazine, suggesting that only by electing a Republican could the U.S. and Russia hope to improve relations. In July 2015, at FreedomFest in Las Vegas, she asked Trump about his foreign politics relating to Russia at a public event. He answered, “I know Putin and I’ll tell you what, we get along with Putin.” According to charges, at the behest of Alexander Torshin, a Russian government official, Butina made connections through the National Rifle Association and religious organizations to steer the GOP towards pro-Russia positions. Butina is the 26th Russian to face charges in the Russia investigation, and the first to be arrested. Charges were filed by the DOJ, which already had an investigation underway, and worked parallel to the Mueller probe. In May 2016, Torshin and Butina proposed a meeting between Trump and Putin during the annual NRA convention in Kentucky. Kushner shot the idea down, and instead Donald Jr. met the two at the NRA dinner. The charges also say an American operative met with Butina in Moscow and helped identify political, news media, and business officials to target — the most explicit evidence yet of an American aiding Russian efforts. A federal grand jury approved a criminal indictment of Butina with two charges, conspiracy and acting as a foreign agent. Her lawyer denied she was an “agent of the Russian Federation.” Authorities said Butina used a student visa to attend American University, and through a pro-gun organization set up in Russia, got in contact with GOP operative Paul Erickson and other top NRA officials as early as 2013. Authorities also alleged Erickson had “involvement” in Butina’s efforts to establish a “back channel” line of communication between the Kremlin and the Republican Party through the NRA.
- July 16th, 2018: Hours before his one-on-one summit with Putin, Trump sent two tweets calling the Mueller probe a “Rigged Witch Hunt” twice, and again blamed Obama for doing nothing. Putin arrived late, and the summit at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki started about an hour after schedule. In a short public greeting, Trump declared he expected to have an “extraordinary relationship” with Putin. Trump and Putin started by speaking alone, with only interpreters, for two hours — longer than the 90 minutes allotted on Trump’s daily schedule. After, the two held a 46 minute news conference. Unlike his adversarial tone with NATO allies, Trump refused to challenge Putin in any way, including his claim that Russia did not interfere in the U.S. election, saying, “I have President Putin — he just said it’s not Russia.” Trump made no mention of the Justice Department’s 12 indictments, and when pressed said, “I have great confidence in my intelligence people,” but Putin was “extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.” When asked if he would hold Russia accountable at all, Trump said, “I hold both countries responsible. I think that the United States has been foolish,” adding, “the probe is a disaster for our country. I think it’s kept us apart.” Trump declined an invitation by an AP reporter, with the world watching, to warn Putin not to interfere again, instead deferring to Putin who said, Russia “has never interfered and is not going to interfere” in U.S. elections. Putin suggested what Trump described as an “interesting idea” — Mueller’s investigators could come to Moscow and question the Russian suspects, so long as Russians could come to Washington D.C. to do the same. Trump insisted his campaign did not collude with Russia, and then rattled off conspiracy theories. When Putin was asked if he had compromising information on Trump, he said, “It’s hard to imagine greater nonsense.”
Former intelligence chiefs condemned Trump. Former CIA Director John Brennan tweeted Trump’s performance “exceeds the threshold of “high crimes & misdemeanors,” calling it, “nothing short of treasonous.” Former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Trump “failed America today.” Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Trump “essentially capitulated and seems intimidated” by Putin. Sen. John McCain and several Democrats spoke out forcefully. McCain called the summit “a tragic mistake,” adding Trump delivered “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.” As the reviews came in Trump tried backpedaling, Trump, on Twitter, wrote, “I have GREAT confidence in MY intelligence people. To build a brighter future,” the two largest nuclear powers, “must get along!”
Russia state TV reported “Trump is ours,” and joked the U.S. lawmakers came to Russia “to make deals with our hackers” for midterms. They report Putin will run circles around “political neophyte” Trump.
In an interview with Sean Hannity that aired Monday night, Trump praised Putin: “I thought President Putin was very, very strong,” adding, “I think we’re doing really well with Russia as of today.”
Late Monday, Trump returned from Helsinki to face protests at the White House. Protestors chanted, “Putin’s puppet” and “traitor” and carried giant letters that spelled out “liar.”
- July 17th, 2018: Vanity Fair reported Trump was surprised by the outrage about his Russian summit. By time he landed back in Washington D.C., Trump “was enraged there was a lack of people out there defending him.” Reportedly, chief of staff John Kelly was irate about Trump’s comments at the summit, and called around to Republicans on Capitol Hill, giving them the go-ahead to speak out against Trump.
Amid widespread criticism and condemnations, Trump tweeted, “While I had a great meeting with NATO…I had an even better meeting” with Putin, blaming “the Fake News” for misreporting.”
Facing pressure, reading from a prepared statement, Trump said he misspoke in Helsinki, saying, “I accept our intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place.” He seemed about as sincere as he did when he was forced to recant on Birtherism in a press conference. He claimed as he read the written statement, “The sentence should have been, ‘I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia.’ Sort of a double negative,” in explaining his shifting position. Trump then ad-libbed and contradicted himself, “Could be other people also. A lot of people out there,” and added, “There was no collusion at all.” This jibes with Trump’s unwillingness to call out Russia. Photos of the note Trump was reading surfaced. At the top was an addition in black marker which read, “THERE WAS NO COLUSION,” and Trump crossed out the words, “Anyone involved in that meddling to justice.”
A few hours later, Trump seemed to reverse course again, tweeting, “The meeting between President Putin and myself was a great success,” and blamed the media, “except in the Fake News Media!”
In an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Trump said he’s bothered by Article 5 provisions of NATO that require the U.S. to come to the defense of other member countries. Carlson mentioned the small country of Montenegro, to which Trump responded, “They’re very strong people, they’re very aggressive people. They may get aggressive and, congratulations, you’re in World War Three.”
In an op-ed Beck Dorey-Stein, a White House stenographer from 2012 to 2017, a staffer position that stays through changing administrations, said Trump uniquely refused to be recorded and have a record of his words. In an interview, Dorey-Stein said “I quit because I couldn’t be proud of where I worked anymore,” adding, “I felt like President Trump was lying to the American people.”
- July 18th, 2018: When asked by a reporter whether Russia is still interfering in U.S. elections, Trump answered, “no,” contradicting Coats, and his declaration Tuesday that he believes U.S. intelligence on Russia.
Trump continued to defend his Helsinki performance in a series of tweets, saying, “So many people at the higher ends of intelligence loved my press conference performance in Helsinki.” (HINT: Polling showed the opposite.) Trump also said, “Some people HATE” that he gets along well with Putin,” adding, “They would rather go to war than see this. It’s called Trump Derangement Syndrome!”
Press secretary Sanders held a White House daily briefing for the first time in over two weeks. Sanders covered for Trump’s “no” answer, claiming it was in response to taking further questions from the press, saying the regime is “working very hard to make sure that Russia is unable to meddle in our elections.” Sanders refused to rule out the Kremlin’s request to question Americans, saying Trump is open to the idea of having former U.S. ambassador to Moscow Michael McFaul questioned by Russia, and Trump is “going to meet with his team” to discuss the offer. That Trump was considering turning over Americans drew astonishment and outrage from current and former U.S. officials. The proposition is unheard of. McFaul served as U.S. ambassador to Russia from 2012–2014.
Anti-Trump protestors, joined by lawmakers, held a candlelight vigil in front of the White House to protest Trump’s refusal to denounce Russian interference, and to show support for Mueller.
- July 19th, 2018: As Russian officials describe “important verbal agreements” in Helsinki, at the most senior levels across the U.S. military, officials are scrambling to determine what Trump agreed to. Press officers at the Pentagon are unable to answer media questions. As Moscow suggests a new arrangement regarding Syria, the U.S. General in the region was scheduled to brief media and did not yet know details.
On Twitter, Trump criticized the European Union again, using the excuse of an EU fine on Google, posting, “I told you so!…They truly have taken advantage of the U.S., but not for long!” Trump blamed the media for outrage over his Putin summit, which he said was “a great success,” and again said referred to the media as “the real enemy of the people,” and “the Fake News Media.” Trump also tweeted, “The Fake News Media is going Crazy,” and accused the media of lying, saying, “Many of the stories written about me, and the good people surrounding me, are total fiction.”
Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted Trump had asked national security adviser John Bolton to issue an invitation to Putin to come to “Washington in the fall and those discussions are already underway.”
In an interview at the Aspen Security Forum, DNI Coats told NBC’s Andrea Mitchell that he still does not know what happened in Trump’s one-on-one meeting with Putin. He also learned in real time that Trump had invited Putin for a second meeting in Washington, D.C. Coats said, “Say that again?” and then added, “Okaayyy, that’s gonna be special.”
NBC News reported that as the court imposed July 26 deadline nears for the regime to reunify the 2,551 migrant children over 5 years old, in a court filing the regime said they have just unified just 364 so far. Of 1,607 parents eligible to be reunited, 719 have final orders of deportation, leaving them with the choice of bringing their child back to a violent country or leaving them behind in the care of the U.S. government.
The Trump administration’s Interior and Commerce departments announced a joint proposal which would strip the Endangered Species Act of key provisions, weakening a law enacted 45 years ago.
Breaking long-standing practice, Trump criticized the Federal Reserve for raising rates, telling CNBC, “I am not happy…all of this work that we’re putting into the economy and then I see rates going up.”
- July 20th, 2018: Trump also tweeted the U.S. “should not be penalized because we are doing so well,” saying the U.S. should be able to “recapture what was lost due to illegal currency manipulation and BAD Trade Deals.”
The New York Times reported Michael Cohen secretly taped a conversation with Trump two months before the election discussing payments to Karen McDougal, who said she had an affair with Trump. The FBI seized the recording in their raid. The recording undercuts the Trump campaign’s denial of any knowledge of payments to McDougal. Days before the 2016 election, Hope Hicks called McDougal’s claim of an affair “totally untrue.” Rudy Giuliani told the Times that Trump had discussed payments to McDougal with Cohen in person on the recording, and said Trump did not know in advance about the payment American Media Inc. made to silence McDougal. CNN reported Cohen had other recordings of Trump in his records that were seized by the FBI. Giuliani dismissed the other recording as mundane. A source told CNN that is not true. In the recording, Cohen and Trump discuss buying the rights to that contract from AMI. CNN reported when informed about the recording, Trump said, “I can’t believe Michael would do this to me.”
Trump again complained about being criticized by the “Fake News Media,” tweeting, “In the Old Days they would call it Diplomacy. If I was loud & vicious, I would have been criticized for being too tough.”
- July 21st, 2018: Trump, on Twitter, suggested there could be consequences for Cohen secretly recording him, tweeting, “Even more inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client — totally unheard of & perhaps illegal.” Trump accused the Mueller probe of trying to hurt Republicans in the midterms, tweeting “the Rigged Witch Hunt…seems intent on damaging the Republican Party’s chances in the November Election.”
- July 22d, 2018: On Saturday, the Justice Department released a 412 page redacted copy of the FISA application seeking a warrant against Carter Page, along with three renewals, to news organizations that had filed FOIA lawsuits.
The application says Page was “the subject of targeted recruitment by the Russian government” to “undermine and influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election in violation of U.S. criminal law.” In a series of tweets, Trump claimed, without evidence, to be vindicated, tweeting that the warrants are “ridiculously heavily redacted.” Trump tweeted, without evidence, his campaign “was illegally being spied upon (surveillance) for the political gain of Crooked Hillary Clinton and the DNC,” adding, “Republicans must get tough now. An illegal Scam!” Later Sunday, Trump tweeted “Obama knew about Russia before the Election. Why didn’t he do something about it?” Trump answered himself, tweeting, “Because it is all a big hoax, that’s why.” Trump also tweeted, “I had a GREAT meeting with Putin,” blaming the “Fake News” for using every bit of their energy to “disparage it,” and adding, “so bad for our country!”
Axios reports Trump has been frustrated and has complained that some of his recent TV appearances have not had the production values of the prime time TV shows he watches daily. Bill Shine will help.
Trump tweeted there would be “consequences” if Iranian President Hassan Rouhani continues threatening America: “NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE.” Trump added, “WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!” The threat was similar to those made to Kim Jong Un.
- July 23rd, 2018: On Monday, in a court filing, the Trump regime said 463 migrant parents separated from their children have already been deported, and said that number is still “under review,” meaning the number could be higher. The regime has reunited 879 parents with their children out of 2,551 as of Monday, with the deadline for reunifying all by Thursday looming. The judge temporarily suspended deportations of families that have been reunited.
In a series of tweets, Trump called for the end of the Mueller probe, falsely claiming the “Fake Dirty Dossier” was “responsible for starting the totally conflicted and discredited Mueller Witch Hunt!”
- July 24th, 2018: At the annual VFW convention in Kansas City, Missouri, Trump told farmers caught in his escalating trade war to be “a little patient” and they would be “the biggest beneficiaries” of his policies. Estimates from experts are that it will hit these farmers the hardest. Trump told the crowd of 4,000, “stick with us,” adding, “don’t believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news.” Some veterans in the crowd then pointed, booed and hissed at journalists at the event. Trump also told the crowd, “Just remember, what you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening,” invoking comparison on social media to George Orwell’s book, “1984.” Trump’s heavily partisan remarks were unusual for an address to the nonpartisan VFW. After the event, the national headquarters for the VFW issued a statement of support for the media, and condemning the boos.
Trump tries to flip the script again, and, offering no evidence, tweeted, “I’m very concerned that Russia will be fighting very hard to have an impact on the upcoming Election,” adding “they will be pushing very hard for the Democrats.”
Putin acknowledged that he wanted Trump to win the 2016 elections at the Helsinki summit joint news conference. The Atlantic noted the White House transcript initially did not include this question in their transcript. The discrepancy involved a question from a Reuters reporter, “Did you want President Trump to win the election and did you direct any of your officials to help him do that?” Putin says, “Yes, I did. Yes, I did.”
Rep. Maxine Waters’ office in Los Angeles was evacuated after receiving a package labeled “anthrax.” The item was determined not be a danger.
The Trump regime said in a court filing they had reunited 1,442 families with children ages 5 to 17, and said an additional 378 children have already been released under “appropriate circumstances.” BuzzFeed reported 123 asylum-seekers being held at a federal prison in Sheridan, Oregon, many of whom are Sikh and Hindu, are being denied religious items and time and space for prayers.
Harley Davidson announced Trump’s tariffs will cost the company $50 million in profit this year, and an addition $100 million in 2019 — wiping out almost all the company’s 2019 projected profits.
Whirlpool’s stock plunged 14.5%, the biggest loss since 1987, as Trump’s tariffs caused the prices of steel and aluminum used in the manufacture of the company’s products to substantially rise.
- July 25th, 2018: The White House banned CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins from attending a press event with Trump in the Rose Garden. Sanders claimed Collins “shouted questions and refused to leave.” Hours earlier, Collins peppered Trump with questions about Michael Cohen and the Helsinki meeting with Putin, while Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude sat for pictures, typical for pool reporters.
After recordings of Trump discussing payments to Katherine McDougal with Michael Cohen, Trump tweeted, “What kind of lawyer would tape a client? So sad!” His surrogates have attacked Cohen’s reputation”.
The Trump adminstration announced $12 billion in emergency aid to farmers caught in Trump’s trade war. The aid is designed to help farmers facing tariffs in China, Mexico, and other countries retaliating. This is the latest instance of Trump requiring a fix for a problem his own stupidity created. In a series of tweets, Trump attacked critics of his tariffs, tweeting, “every time I see a weak politician asking to stop Trade talks or the use of Tariffs…I wonder, what can they be thinking?” Trump also tweeted, “Are we just going to continue and let our farmers and country get ripped off?” saying, “negotiations are going really well, be cool,” and “China is targeting our farmers” and “being vicious.”
A federal judge in Maryland said he will allow plaintiffs to proceed with their case, which says Trump has violated the emoluments clauses, little-used anti-corruption clauses in the Constitution. It marks the first time in U.S. history that a federal judge has interpreted those constitutional provisions and applied their restrictions to a sitting president. The opinion says the Constitution’s ban on emoluments could cover any business transactions with foreign governments where Trump derived a “profit, gain or advantage.” Trump has not divested of his business empire.
- July 26th, 2018: The Trump regime claimed it had met the San Diego court’s deadline to reunite the undocumented migrant children with their parents, saying the 711 remaining children yet to be returned are not “eligible” to be given back. The Nation, meanwhile, reported a 6-year-old girl from Guatemala separated from her mother under Trump’s “zero-tolerance” policy was sexually abused while at an Arizona detention facility run by Southwest Key Programs. The Trump regime continues to face immigration lawsuits across the country, including a case in Seattle filed by 17 states on family separations and how the government handles claims for asylum for children in detention.
Trump tweeted “we will look into…‘SHADOW BANNING’” Republicans — suppressing their content on Twitter. Twitter acknowledged the issue, calling it unintentional and saying it was not targeting Republicans.
The Washington Post reported Trump has yet to nominate a science adviser to lead the Office of Science and Technology. Every administration since Eisenhower has named a science adviser by their first October, except Trump.
Russia’s GRU intelligence agency behind the 2016 election hacking targeted Sen. Claire McCaskill, a vulnerable Democrat, as she began her 2018 re-election campaign. McCaskill has been highly critical of Russia. In August 2017, around the time of the attempted hack, Trump traveled to Missouri and attacked McCaskill, telling the crowd to “vote her out of office.” McCaskill later released a statement: “While this attack was not successful, it is outrageous that they think they can get away with this. I will not be intimidated…Putin is a thug and a bully.”
- July 27th, 2018: Michael Cohen alleges he was present, along with several others, when Donald Jr. informed Trump about the Russians’ offer. Cohen claims Trump approved going ahead with the meeting with the Russians. Trump also lashed out at Cohen, tweeting, “Sounds to me like someone is trying to make up stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jam (Taxi cabs maybe?). He even retained Bill and Crooked Hillary’s lawyer.” Trump also repeated his false statement, tweeting, “the only Collusion with Russia was with the Democrats,” adding, “the rigged Witch Hunt continues! How stupid and unfair to our Country…”
Vladimir Putin said he is ready to go to Washington D.C., and for Trump to come to Moscow, saying, “He has this invitation already and I told him about it,” adding but there “has to be necessary conditions.” It is not clear when Putin first invited Trump to Moscow — details from their meeting remain unknown. On Friday, Sanders said Trump is open to visiting Russia if Putin extends a formal invitation.
On Friday, at a community forum in West Hollywood, Michael Avenatti claimed he is now representing three additional women who had relations with Trump and were “paid hush money prior to the 2016 election.”
- July 28th, 2018: The Koch Brothers turn on Trump and Republicans defending him.
Activist Emma Best published 11,000 WikiLeaks Twitter direct messages. The messages reveal WikiLeaks wanted the GOP to defeat Hillary Clinton, who was described in a message as a “well-connected, sadistic sociopath.”
- July 29th, 2018: Trump tweeted about a meeting with NYT publisher A.G. Sulzberger, saying they discussed “the vast amounts of Fake News being put out by the media & how that Fake News has morphed into phrase, ‘Enemy of the People.’”
In a responding editorial, Sulzberger said he accepted Trump’s invitation for a July 20 meeting to raise his concerns about Trump’s “deeply troubling anti-press rhetoric,” saying, “the phrase ‘fake news’ is untrue and harmful.” Sulzberger said he told Trump “his language was not just divisive but increasingly dangerous,” warning, “inflammatory language is contributing to a rise in threats against journalists and will lead to violence.” Sulzberger said overseas, governments are using Trump’s words as justification to crack down on journalists, and warned that Trump’s attacks were “putting lives at risk” and “undermining” our democratic ideals.
On Sunday, in a series of tweets, Trump said, “I will not allow our great country to be sold out by anti-Trump haters in the dying newspaper industry,” including the “failing” New York Times and Washington Post. Trump added, “the media-driven insane by their Trump Derangement Syndrome..truly puts the lives of many, not just journalists, at risk!” and called the media “very unpatriotic!”
On Sunday, in a series of tweets, Trump lashed out at Mueller, claiming without evidence or explanation that Mueller has conflicts of interest, tweeting, “Is Robert Mueller ever going to release his conflicts of interest.” Trump tweeted of Mueller, “we had a very nasty & contentious business relationship, I turned him down to head the FBI.” Rod Rosenstein has testified that he knows of no disqualifying conflict of interest with Mueller. Trump tweeted he is “willing to ‘shut down’ government” if the Democrats do not give him votes for his wall, adding, “Immigration based on MERIT! We need great people coming into our Country!”
- July 30th, 2018: On Twitter, Trump tweeted, “Wow, highest Poll Numbers in the history of the Republican Party. That includes Honest Abe Lincoln and Ronald Reagan.” Politifact rated his claim as “false” using several measures.
Meanwhile, U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee in Los Angeles ordered the Trump regime to stop administering psychotropic medications to migrant children without first obtaining consent or a court order.
And, the Washington Post reported U.S. spy agencies see signs that North Korea is constructing new missiles at a factory that produced the country’s first intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) capable of reaching the U.S.
The New York Times reported the Trump regime is considering granting a $100 billion tax cut mainly to the wealthy, through the Treasury Department changing the definition of “cost” for calculating capital gains.
Trump administration Attorney General Sessions announced the formation of a “religious liberty task force” within the Justice Department which he claimed will help protect religious communities from discrimination. Sessions warned of a “dangerous movement” that he said was eroding protections for religious Americans, and falsely claimed “nuns were being forced to buy contraceptives” — a reference to Obama’s health care policy. Civil rights groups and LGBTQ advocates condemned Sessions’ task force, saying it is not consistent with religious freedoms, and that the guidance would encourage private groups to discriminate with government funds.
Rudy Giuliani begins the next step of the Trump defense in the public eye. Giuliani said he had been “looking in the federal code,” and “my client didn’t do it, and even if he did it, it’s not a crime,” adding, “collusion is not a crime.” On Monday, Giuliani told CNN there was a “planning meeting” to prep Donald Jr. for June 9, which was attended by Kushner, Manafort, Rick Gates, who is cooperating, and others. Giuliani later reversed himself.
- July 31st, 2018: On Tuesday, Trump sided with Giuliani, tweeting, “collusion is not a crime,” and reasserting, “but that doesn’t matter because there was No Collusion (except by Crooked Hillary and the Democrats)!”
Also Tuesday, Trump continued his battle with the media, tweeting, “The Fake News Media is going CRAZY,” accusing the media of being “unhinged,” and of ruining the lives of “innocent and decent people.” Trump also tweeted that in 7 years, when he is out of office, media “ratings will dry up and they will be gone!” Trump continues to target CNN, NBC News, WAPO, and NYT as “fake news” for coverage he deems unfair.
Trump renewed his government shutdown threat, tweeting, “I don’t care what the political ramifications are,” adding, “Border Security is National Security,” and saying a shutdown “is a very small price to pay.”
Trump held a rally in Tampa, Florida. Ahead of the rally, Trump supporters crowded around CNN’s Jim Acosta, threateningly, giving him the middle finger, and leading chants of “CNN sucks.” Trump repeated his anti-immigrant rhetoric, promising “tremendous border security that’s going to include the wall,” and claiming, without evidence, that Democrats were encouraging undocumented immigrants to vote. At the rally, there were sighting of “QAnon” related signs and t-shirts. QAnon is an internet conspiracy cult claiming to have access to top security clearance information about an alleged deep state plot against Trump. Trump made a case for the need for voter IDs to prevent voter fraud, falsely claiming, “You know if you go out and you want to buy groceries you need a picture on a card. You need ID.” After the rally, Acosta tweeted a video of Trump supporters attacking him, saying, “I’m very worried that the hostility whipped up by Trump and some in conservative media will result in somebody getting hurt.”
A federal judge temporarily blocked public availability of blueprints that provide instructions for making guns using 3-D printers, hours before the documents were expected to be published online.
Hours before, Trump had tweeted about the 3-D plastic guns, “Already spoke to NRA, doesn’t seem to make much sense!” Sen. Chuck Schumer tweeted, “Your administration approved this…And to check with the NRA?”
The trial in federal court for Manafort in Alexandria on bank and tax fraud charges began. A jury of 6 women and 6 men were selected. Manafort’s attorneys are seeking to place blame with Gates.
- August 1st, 2018: Trump again called on Jeff Sessions to end the Mueller investigation, tweeting Sessions “should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further.” He also turned his thoughts to the Manafort trial, saying Manafort “worked for me for a very short time. Why didn’t government tell me that he was under investigation,” adding “These old charges have nothing to do with Collusion — a Hoax!” Trump bizarrely compared Manafort’s treatment to that of Al Capone, tweeting, “who was treated worse, Alfonse Capone, legendary mob boss, killer…or Paul Manafort, political operative & Reagan/Dole darling.”
The Washington Post reports Trump has made 4,229 false or misleading claims in his first 558 days. His lies are escalating: now averaging 7.6 false or misleading claims per day, up from 4.9 claims per day in his first 100 days.
The New York Times reported the Trump regime is considering a second sharp reduction in the number of refugees admitted to the U.S., a program meant to offer protection to the world’s most vulnerable people. Last year the regime set the cap at 45,000 — a historic low. This year, as Stephen Miller has installed allies in key positions, in one plan being discussed, no more than 25,000 refugees could be resettled.
- August 2nd, 2018: Trump goes to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to campaign for Republican Congressional candidate Troy Balderson to be held the following Tuesday. The Washington Post reported at Trump made 15 inaccurate claims on things like highway spending, immigration, crowd size, and legislative accomplishments. Trump also lied that U.S. Steel Corporation “is opening up seven plants” — they are not opening any. He again repeated false claims about NATO members being “delinquent” and that “funding was going down.”
At the daily White House press briefing, CNN’s Jim Acosta, who had been harassed at a Trump rally, asked press secretary Sarah Sanders if she agreed with statements from Ivanka Trumpo that the press is not the enemy of the people. Sanders refused to answer.
Top national security officials made a rare appearance in the White House briefing room to warn that Russia continues to target the U.S. election system, and vowed to combat interference.
On Thursday, the United Nations Human Rights office issued a statement condemning Trump’s attacks on the media, saying they violate basic norms of press freedom and human rights. The statement cited Trump’s labeling of the media as the “enemy of the American people,” “very dishonest,” or “fake news,” and accusing the media of “distorting democracy” or spreading “conspiracy theories.”
- August 3rd, 2018: Just before midnight, Trump tweeted, “Lebron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon. He made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do.” Lemon’s show is on CNN, and he was interviewing James to promote James new school for at-risk youth in Ohio, that he is funding with his own fortune earned as an NBA star, in a true philanthropic effort. Journalist Dan Rather blasted Trump for his “racist” criticism of James, calling it a “disgrace.” Trump has continually attacked black athletes, and made disparaging comments about the intelligence of black Americans.
A federal judge in Washington, D.C. ordered that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program should be fully restored, and gave the Trump regime a 20-day deadline to do so.
- August 4th, 2018: On Saturday, at a rally in Ohio, Trump staked out a new position on U.S. elections interference, saying, “It’s a lot of people…Russia is there, China is there. We are doing well with North Korea, but they’re probably there.” Trump said the meddling will “happen really big now” because the U.S. is “taking our wealth back.” Trump also criticized the media and the “elite” class, saying “it drives them crazy” that he won the presidency. (Trump is delusional, and living in his own fantasy world.)
Meanwhile, First Lady Melania Trump issued a statement in support of LeBron James, saying he is doing “good things on behalf of our next generation.”
The Washington Post reports Trump is privately brooding about the widening fallout of the Russia probe, and fretting that he is not getting enough credit for what he claims are political triumphs. Trump is concerned the Mueller probe could ruin the lives of what he calls “innocent and decent people,” including Donald Jr. who he believes may have inadvertently wandered into legal jeopardy with the June 9 meeting.
- August 5th, 2018: Trump responds to the Washington Post’s story from the previous day, posting on Twitter that the “Fake News” is reporting “a complete fabrication” about the meeting “my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower.”
Trump then admitted his son’s guilt on Twitter, writing, “this was a meeting to get information on an opponent,” and falsely claiming it was “totally legal and done all the time in politics.” Trump also added, “I did not know about it!”
- August 6th, 2018: On Twitter, Trump tries claiming that there was collusion during the 2016 election, but the Russians were working with Hillary Clinton. Why yes, the idea that Clinton worked with the Russians to help her lose is ludicrous.
- August 7th, 2018: On Tuesday, Trump tweeted congratulating “Troy Balderson on a great win in Ohio, and took credit for the win. The race remains undecided at the week’s end in a traditionally safe GOP district that Trump won by 11 points. The Democrat in the race, Danny O’Connor, is still not eliminated due to absentee votes that will be counted over the next ten days, and if the race close enough, a recount is still pending. Reports are that Balderson didn’t want Trump to come and campaign for him, at all.
ProPublica reported three of Trump’s Palm Beach cronies with Mar-A-Lago memberships — Marvel Entertainment chairman Ike Perlmutter, Bruce Moskowitz, and Marc Sherman — have had significant influence in shaping veteran’s policies, and are giving orders to Trump administration VA officials. None of the three have any military or government experience. VA insiders refer to them as the “Mar-a-Lago Crowd.” Trump has been a powerful ally— speaking on the phone and dining with Perlmutter frequently. Hundreds of documents obtained under the FOIA reveal the three hovered over public servants without transparency, accountability, or oversight, and have been calling the shots at Veterans Affairs since Trump took office.
Rolling Stone Magazine reports the EPA is evaluating allowing asbestos, enacting the Significant New Use Rule, which allows the government to evaluate use on a case-by-case basis. Trump has long supported the use of asbestos. Not included in the evaluation process are the potential effects of exposure to chemicals in the air, ground, or water, allowing the EPA to circumvent an Obama-era law for evaluating potentially dangerous chemicals.
- August 8th, 2018: in a tape obtained by “The Rachel Maddow Show” of a July GOP fundraiser, Rep. Devin Nunes said impeaching Rosenstein would delay the Senate’s ability to confirm Trump’s Supreme Court nominee. In the audio from fundraiser for Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Nunes said “Rosenstein deserves to be impeached,” and added, “if Sessions won’t unrecuse and Mueller won’t clear the president, we’re the only ones.” Nunes also suggested the Republicans must keep the House majority to protect Trump from the Mueller probe, saying, “We have to keep all these seats…We have to keep the majority.” Nunes also said, hypothetically, if a campaign received and released stolen emails from a foreign government — using an example of McMorris Rodgers and the country of Portugal — “Well, if that’s the case, then that’s criminal.”
On Wednesday, Rep. Chris Collins, the first member of Congress to endorse Trump in February 2016, was charged with insider trading. In Trump‘s early days, Collins served as an informal liaison to Congress. Omarosa said the tapes reveal Trump frequently used the n-word while he was the host of the reality television show “Celebrity Apprentice,” although she did not personally hear him use the word.
The Daily Beast reported Omarosa Manigault-Newman, the former “Apprentice” star who followed Trump to the White House, has secret recordings she made of Trump — the contents of which will be in her upcoming book.
A federal judge in Washington halted a deportation of a woman and her daughter while a hearing appealing their deportations was underway, and threatened to hold Sessions in contempt of court. The ACLU said government attorneys in another case informed them that the pair was on a flight to El Salvador. When Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington was informed, he ordered the government to “turn the plane around.”
- August 9th, 2018: Trump is nothing, if not a hypocrite, and the anti-immigrant Trump who has had two immigrant wives from East Europe and complains about chain migration said nothing about the fact that Melania Trump’s parents used chain migration to become American citizens.
- August 10th, 2018: Trump returned to slamming the NFL players who knelt during preseason games, tweeting, “the NFL players are at it again — taking a knee when they should be standing proudly for the National Anthem.” Trump suggested players who “make a fortune doing what they love” should “Be happy, be cool,” adding, “Find another way to protest. Stand proudly for your National Anthem or be Suspended Without Pay!”
- August 11th, 2018: Trump again embarrasses himself with a typo on Twitter, still grousing about FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, but whining about “text massages”, instead of text messages.
- August 12th, 2018: After Harley Davidson announces they would be moving some of their production to Europe because it would be cheaper there after Donald Trump went and decided to start creating tariffs against foreign countries who responded in kind… Trump got on Twitter and called for a boycott of Harley Davidson.
Omarosa Manigault releases an audio recording of White House Chief of Staff John Kelly firing her. She adds, "I was complicit with this White House deceiving this nation," she said. "They continue to deceive this nation with how mentally declined Trump is, how difficult it is for him to process complex information."
Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, goes on CNN’s “Face the Nation” and gives the sudden turnaround to claim that Donald Trump never asked for James Comey to drop his investigation of Michael Flynn.
A second “Unite the Right” rally is set to take place in Washington D.C., near the White House, but few enough people show up and are run off by counter-protesters that it does not escalate.
- August 13th, 2018: At the signing of the John McCain National Defense Authorization Act, named in honor of the legendary Arizona Senator dying from brain cancer, Donald Trump refuses to speak his name, calling the bill simply the “National Defense Authorization Act”, and not mentioning the bill’s sponsor.
On Twitter, Trump rages at Omarosa, calling her names, and insisting that he never used racial slurs on the set (there are various people who worked on set who say he did).
- August 14th, 2018: Trump continues to impotently flail about regarding Omarosa writing a tell-all book, calling her a “crying lowlife”, and saying that John Kelly fired her “like a dog” on Twitter.
- August 15th, 2018: Trump orders the security clearance of former CIA Chief John Brennan revoked, upset that Brennan has been too critical of him and too supportive of the intelligence community’s investigations into Trump’s ties to Russia.
The Trump administration’s supposed efforts in stopping the opioid crisis continue to be empty talk, as the number of deaths is reported to have increased from 2017 at 10% higher than 2016.
Rudy Giuliani, meanwhile, promises that Trump’s legal team will fight any attempt by the Mueller Investigation to subpoena the president all the way to the Supreme Court.
The Boston Globe publishes an editorial criticizing Donald Trump for his attacks on the press that is republished in over 400 national newspapers (more on that later).
- August 16th, 2018: The Pentagon scraps Trump’s plans to have a military parade in his honor when the estimate of how much it will cost rises to $92 million, far above Trump’s early estimate of $10 million.
- August 17th, 2018: Trump attacks the media again on Twitter, calling them “THE OPPOSITION PARTY”, because several newspapers ran editorials who criticized his attacks on the press.
He also criticizes local politicians from Washington, D.C., blaming them for his military parade in the capitol being rejected on Twitter.
Twelve former chiefs of departments within United States Intelligence write a letter criticizing Donald Trump for revoking John Brennan’s security clearance two days earlier, with former Admiral William McRaven, who oversaw the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, saying he “would consider it an honor” for Trump to revoke his clearance next, for standing up to him.
- August 18th, 2018: Trump takes to social media to whine and claim that Twitter is “discriminating against Republican/conservative voices”. (This is a complete lie, as the bans from Twitter that had folks on the right up in arms were people being banned for open racism, harassment, promoting dangerous conspiracy theories, or other violations of the terms of use.)
Meanwhile, a report drops about the Mueller investigation, that White House Counsel Don McGahn cooperating with investigators with the extent that he sat for 30 hours of interviews with Mueller’s team.
- August 19th, 2018: Trump, on Twitter, attacks the New York Times again, upset about their coverage of Don McGahn’s 30 hours of interviews with the Mueller investigation, and describing their reporting as “McCarthyism”. He also boasts that unlike former Nixon staff member John Dean, that McGahn “isn’t a rat”, which indicates McGahn does have criminal behavior he is aware of and could flip on.
Rudy Giuliani, meanwhile, went on Meet the Press, and gave the damning mantra that “Truth isn’t truth” when asked why Trump wouldn’t be interviewed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
- August 20th, 2018: At a White House propaganda speech where Trump hopes to hype up border patrol, he passes on trying to pronounce the last name of Adrian Anzaldua, but beams about the Hispanic border agent, saying “he can speak perfect English”.
In an interview with Reuters, Trump admits that he didn’t want to be interviewed by Robert Mueller because it would be “a perjury trap”. If you can’t get through a discussion without committing perjury… Anyway, in the same interview, Trump also whined and claimed that the Mueller investigation was hampering his efforts to “improve relations with Russia”.
Trump nominates Kathy Kraniger, one of the architects of his administration’s “family separation” policy, who has no background in financial regulation or consumer protection, to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Even she admits she is not qualified for the job.
On Twitter, Trump called for Bruce Ohr to be fired from the Department of Justice because of the role he played in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Bloomberg reports Trump has been openly criticizing FED chair Jerome Powell to wealthy Republican donors.
- August 21st, 2018: On Twitter, Trump insists that James Clapper is admonishing former CIA Director John Brennan (he wasn’t), and then makes a veiled threat to revoke Clapper’s security clearance, if he’s not “nice”.
Paul Manafort is found guilty by a federal jury of all 8 counts against him leveled by the Mueller investigation. Trump expressed sympathy for Manafort saying he “felt bad for him” but insisting it had nothing to do with Russia, and “nothing to do with me”.
Michael Cohen pleads guilty in court to charges against him, and acknowledges the illegal payments he made to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal were at the direction of Donald Trump. He flips on Trump with investigators working for Robert Mueller, offering several financial crimes carried out by Trump and the Trump organization.
That night, Trump appears at one of his hate rallies in West Virginia, where he makes no mention of Cohen or Manafort, instead criticizing the Mueller investigation.
- August 22nd, 2018: In an interview with Fox News, Ashley Earhardt allows Trump to walk all over journalism, actually asking Trump if the press was “the enemy of the people”, but not challenging him when he said they “like to cover nonsense”, and allowing him to contradict Michael Cohen’s court testimony and claim he never knew about the payoffs to Stormy Daniels or Karen McDougal until “later on”. Trump even denied that paying off the women was an illegal campaign contribution, against all legal precedent, as well as declaring that Michael Cohen being allowed to flip and turn witness against him “should be illegal”.
Trump gets on Twitter, and starts raving against Michael Cohen, saying, “If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!”
Later in the day on Twitter, he praised Paul Manafort for not cooperating with federal investigators like Michael Cohen was doing.
- August 23rd, 2018: At the behest of the White House, the Senate GOP nixes a bill aimed at protecting American elections from foreign interference.
Rudy Giuliani blurts out in an interview that Donald Trump had discussed with his lawyers if he could just pardon Paul Manafort and make the problems in that case go away.
At a White House Press conference, Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed no discussions of pardons have ever been made for Manafort or anyone else.
Trump, meanwhile, posts a link on Twitter to Tucker Carlson claiming that white farm owners in South Africa are unjustly having their land seized and are being murdered by other South Africans. This isn’t happening, but is one hell of a racist conspiracy theory, but it’s one that Trump ordered Mike Pompeo and the State Department to investigate.
- August 24th, 2018: Trump abruptly cancels a visit to North Korea, surprising several aides and State Department staff who were already preparing for the summit.
PBS reports that the Trump administration still has not returned 528 migrant children to their parents from the family separation policy, and that 23 of those are still under the age of 5. This is weeks after a court deadline to reunite the families.
Trump again insults his Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, on Twitter, and attacks him for not launching investigations against James Comey, Peter Strzok, and several other FBI or Department of Justice people that displease him.
Allen Weisellberg, former Trump Organization CFO, testifies and is granted immunity in the Michael Cohen probe.
- August 25th, 2018: Trump freaks out on Twitter and posts vehement denials that he knew about a Russian lawyer meeting with members of his son and members of his campaign in 2016. This came after Michael Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, revealed Cohen was present when Donald Trump Jr. told his father the meeting was going to happen prior to it occurring. Trump continued raving madly, blaming Jeff Sessions, as well as the FBI for “not investigating Hillary’s e-mails”.
- August 26th, 2018: John McCain passes away from brain cancer, and Trump rejects a statement to be released by the White House praising his life and his heroism. Instead, Trump goes golfing.
- August 27th, 2018: World leaders continue to express praise for the late Sen. John McCain after his death, as Trump continues golfing through the weekend.
- August 28th, 2018: After two days of criticism, the White House finally orders flags lowered to half staff to honor the late Senator John McCain.
In a White House press gaggle, Trump threatens Facebook, Google, and Twitter, saying they “better be careful” because he isn’t happy with what happens when you do a search on him, calling their search engines “rigged”.
A study is reported from George Washington University in the Washington Post that 2,975 people died in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico that were related to the storm. (To put that in perspective, that is only two fewer people than died on 9/11.) The Trump White House continues to report a death toll only at 64.
The Washington Post also reports that Trump advisers have had to tell him on several occasions not to fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions, because it could constitute another charge of Obstruction of Justice.
Reuters reports on Ian Smith at Trump’s Department of Homeland Security maintaining correspondence with several White Nationalists. Smith has attended several immigration policy meetings at the Trump White House.
- August 29th, 2018: When asked about the study about 2975 deaths in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, Trump still says that his administration did “a fantastic job” in Puerto Rico.
The Washington Post publishes a story that involves the Trump administration denying passports to Hispanics along the U.S. Mexico border, and notes they are accusing thousands of Hispanics of not actually being American citizens when they have applied for them.
On Twitter, Trump began trying to spread a new conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton’s e-mail server was hacked by the Chinese during the 2016 elections. The FBI was forced to release a statement that there was no such evidence of any crime of that nature. The “story” was originally concocted by Tucker Carlson’s Daily Caller website, and then promoted further on Fox News, which of course, Trump still mainlines like a drug.
He also took a moment to insult CNN and award-winning journalist Carl Bernstein, because he had to work in some resentment towards the press.
Also on Twitter, Trump continues to threaten Google, this time with a prepared video that claims they only made President Obama’s State of the Union addresses easily accessible, and not his own, creating the hashtag #StopTheBias that went absolutely nowhere online.
He also announced the departure of White House Counsel Don McGahn, which was apparently news to McGahn.
- August 30th, 2018: The New York Times reports that prior to the 2016 election, Trump and Michael Cohen were aggressively trying to buy over two decades of negative stories that had been buried by David Pecker, the head of AMI, the publisher of the National Enquirer.
Trump again attacked the media, slandering Andy Lack of CNN, and accusing Lester Holt of NBC News of “fudging the tapes” in the interview where Trump admitted he fired FBI Director James Comey because of the Russia investigation. On Twitter, he again called the press “the enemy of the people”.
At a rally in Indiana, Trump told the crowd that he would “get involved” if the FBI and Justice Department don’t start “doing their job right”, before getting the crowd to again start chanting “LOCK HER UP” about Hillary Clinton… 21 months after the 2016 election.
Trump’s Twitter attacks through the week against Bruce Ohr are extended towards his wife, Nellie Ohr, who used to work for Fusion GPS, having the nerve to accuse her of “collusion”.
White House ethics lawyer Stefan Passantino announces his resignation from the Trump White House, probably because nobody ever listens to him about anything.
- August 31st, 2018: Trump’s approval rating drops to an all-time low of 36% in a Washington Post poll. 49% of those polled support impeachment of Trump.
Perhaps the reason Trump spent the previous several days slandering Bruce Ohr and then his wife was because on this date we learned that Ohr had a meeting with Christopher Steele. And then, in Congressional testimony, Ohr told Congress that Steele had relayed to him that the Russians felt that they had Donald Trump “over a barrel”.
Talks with Canada to renegotiate NAFTA break down after Bloomberg News reporters reveal Trump told them he had no intention of compromising with Canada, and his comments leaked from them to the Toronto Star, who published them. Trump goes on Twitter to claim his comments were, in all capital letters… “OFF THE RECORD to Bloomberg concerning Canada and that this powerful understanding was BLATANTLY VIOLATED. Oh well, just more dishonest reporting.”
- September 1st, 2018: During John McCain’s memorial services at the capitol, Donald Trump went golfing at his Loundon Country, Virgiina golf course. His absence was noted, but not regretted, by those in attendance. Hell, the neither the deceased nor any member of his family wanted him there.
The Trump administration also announces that they are refusing to release over 10,000 pages of White House documents related to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during his tenure working for the Bush White House, citing executive privilege. Only 4% of Kavanaugh’s records would be released. In comparison, the Obama White House released 99% for its previous nominee, Elena Kagan.
Stephen Miller weasels the Trump administration into changing immigration policy regarding thousands of Vietnamese immigrants who have green cards, but have yet to complete their citizenship… they are now trying to deport them, as well.
- September 2nd, 2018: Thousands of Russian spy Maria Butina’s e-mails are released by the New York Times, showing that the president of the NRA and his wife were trying to help her negotiate jet fuel deals with lobbyists in Washington, D.C., as well as contacts she made back to Russia during the Trump campaign, transition, and even the inauguration.
- September 3rd, 2018: On Twitter, Trump attacks his own Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, after the Justice Department indicted both New York Congressman Chris Collins and California Congressman Duncan Hunter, two of Trump’s earliest allies in his presidential aspirations.
- September 4th, 2018: A rare statement is released from the Mueller Investigative Team, where they state that Donald Trump will not sit for an interview, but instead agreed to submit written answers to investigators regarding assistance given to his campaign by Russians.
On Twitter, Trump returns to calling the media “fake news” and makes the not-so-veiled threat that “NBC should have their television license looked at”, which would be difficult because the FCC doesn’t issue them to networks, but to individual affiliates in cities across the country. Trump doubled down on that statement in an interview later in the day with The Daily Caller.
Speaking of that interview, Trump tried claiming that the Mueller investigation was biased because of how close James Comey is to Mueller, claiming there are “hundreds of pictures of them hugging and kissing each other”. He of course, fails to provide a single example of such a photo, and is also a homophobe.
The Washington Post reports that 592 days into the Trump presidency, he has told what they can prove to be 4713 lies, an average of just shy of five a day during his first 100 days, that has escalated to fifteen a day.
Excerpts from Bob Woodward’s forthcoming book about the Trump administration, “Fear”, are released, and there are many disturbing anecdotes in it, including Trump sitting with his lawyer John Dowd and being given a practice interview for a potential sit-down with Special Counsel Robert Mueller… Trump stammered, stumbled, and lied his ass off. Also, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis told Woodward Trump’s understanding of the world was “like a fifth or sixth grader”, that aides actively remove reports from his desk to avoid unsettling him, and that when Trump was practically forced to give a speech to condemn white nationalists in Charlottesville, Trump told White House staff, “That’s the biggest f***ing mistake I’ve made.”
On Twitter, Trump denied a part of the book where it was said he called Jeff Sessions “mentally retarded” and claimed he would never use that word on anyone. Helpful folks on Twitter posted video of Trump using the word “retarded” to insult people.
- September 5th, 2018: Two Russian military intelligence officers carry out a nerve gas attack on the soil of the United Kingdom, that left one woman dead and four others seriously ill. British PM Theresa May personally calls Trump to inform him of the details… and Trump does not make any public statement to condemn Russians for carrying out an attempted assassination with nerve gas on the sovereign soil of our closest ally, because of course he doesn’t.
The White House is in paranoid turmoil after Bob Woodward’s first excerpts of “Fear” are released, with everyone within it pointing fingers at each other about who leaked what information to him. This as an anonymous White House staffer writes an opinion editorial to the New York Times about being a part of “The Resistance” from within the administration. (Its author is, at the time of this posting on 8/11/19, still unknown.) The editorial claims that some of Trump’s Cabinet talked early on about invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office, and several failures in Trump’s leadership that stem from his “amorality”. Trump, on Twitter, asked if it amounted to “TREASON?” in all caps, demanded the New York Times “turn over” their source, and reports from within the White House described his anger over the editorial as “volcanic”.
Under public pressure from Trump over a variety of decisions he was making as Attorney General, at Trump’s behest, Jeff Sessions launches an investigation into tech companies’ supposedly “stifling conservative voices” online. Most of those “voices” were conspiracy theorists and hate group members banned for violating the terms of use, of course.
Jerome Corsi, a conspiracy theorist with links to Roger Stone and who once helped Trump “investigate” President Obama’s birth certificate, was subpoenaed by the Mueller investigation.
Trump renews his feud with MSNBC anchor Chuck Todd, returning to his bizarre nickname for Todd of “Sleepy Eyes”.
Trump follows up with a Tweet that mocks the NFL for having its ratings “WAY DOWN” (they weren’t), and then attacks Nike for making Colin Kaepernick one of the faces of its new ad campaign. Trump supporters begin to go online and destroy their Nike gear in feigned outrage, and the backlash was so savage Nike saw a 31% increase in sales. That’ll teach ‘em.
- September 6th, 2018: In a Fox News interview, Trump went into conspiracy theory territory, saying the author of the anonymous op-ed in the New York Times was “a deep state person”. He continued attacking the media and posting about “The Deep State” on Twitter.
Without context, Trump got on Twitter to claim that Kim Jong Un had “unwavering faith” in him after he wanted to discuss supposedly denuclearizing North Korea by the end of 2020.
Trump has a rally in Montana, where the arena has sections roped off because they’re empty, and the crowd is silent at several points during his typical rambling, incoherent speech. He is interviewed by Fox News prior to that speech (it would air the next day on his own state television service). During his full speech, he praises Congressman Glen Gianforte, specifically referencing, and joking about how he physically attacked and body-slammed a reporter months earlier. Also, Trump staffers eject a 17 year old boy for making faces of disbelief at some of Trump’s statements on camera, chastising him for not clapping and cheering enough.
A FOIA request by the Guardian reveals that Trump personally called the National Park Service Director the day after the inauguration and that yes, the Trump administration hired someone to edit photos of the Trump inauguration to try and make the crowd look bigger.
Mother Jones reports on how during the first round of testimony before the Senate, that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh perjured himself at least five times.
- September 7th, 2018: Fox News airs the interview with Trump from the previous day, where he says the New York Times “virtually” committed treason by publishing the anonymous opinion editorial that criticized him.
Aboard Air Force One, Trump tells reporters that he’s going to have Jeff Sessions investigate who the author of the anonymous editorial in the New York Times was. The Attorney General’s office is forced to release a statement that they will not be investigating the press.
Prior to a rally in North Dakota, Trump calls into a local television station, where he says it is “disgusting” that the New York Times published the editorial earlier in the week. He also threatens Canada, one of our main allies, with tariffs.
George Papadopoulos is sentenced to 14 days in jail for lying to the FBI. Trump mocks the sentence being so short on Twitter, and then lied and claimed it cost $28 million for Mueller’s team to get this one conviction (in reality, with seizures of money obtained criminally, Mueller’s investigation was, if anything, turning a profit).
It is also reported that former Trump Organization CFO Alan Weisselberg is cooperating with federal investigators probing whether anyone other than Michael Cohen at the Trump organization violated campaign finance laws.
President Obama emerges to give a speech in Illinois, and for the first time, mentions Trump by name, including deriding him for being unable to criticize white nationalists in Charlottesville. Trump responds by claiming he tried to watch Obama’s speech but “fell asleep”. Reports from within the White House, however, say that Trump is jealous of the positive coverage the media gives Barack Obama, and are concerned that Obama might get within Trump’s head (he’s already leasing space there without trying, really).
- September 8th, 2018: The second “Mother of All Rallies” is held in Washington D.C., where Trump supporters, conspiracy theorists, and other right-wing loons gathered a year earlier… and this year only 350 people show up.
The Washington Post reports that since Trump took office, 1600 people have left the Environmental Protection Agency, and only 400 have been hired to replace those who left.
- September 9th, 2018: On Twitter, President Trump thanked North Korea for excluding intercontinental ballistic missiles from a military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the isolated communist-run country's founding, adding, "We will both prove everyone wrong! There is nothing like good dialogue from two people that like each other!"
- September 10th, 2018: As Bob Woodward appears live on the Today show to promote his book, “Fear”, Trump unleashes a Twitter attack against him, calling him a “liar” and a political “operative” for Democrats. Anyway, Woodward added the tale of how during the transition period, Trump got into an argument with Gary Cohn because he thought you could fix the federal deficit if you would “borrow money, hold it, and then sell it to make money”. Cohn had to explain why that would be utterly catastrophic for the American economy, and was bewildered by Trump’s lack of understanding of… anything, really.
At a press conference, White House Economist Kevin Hassett is forced to acknowledge that Trump’s claim that the GDP is the “highest it’s been in 100 years” is not true.
CNN reports Trump’s approval rating has dropped to 36%, and only 31% with independent voters, all time lows.
The Washington Post also reports on this day that 72% of what Trump said at his hate rallies held in July 2018 were lies, and that 18.6% of civil servants left the Senior Executive Services in fiscal year 2017, an unprecedented exodus.
- September 11th, 2018: The 17th anniversary of 9-11 begins with Trump posting nothing about it on Twitter, but instead rambling about the Mueller investigation, his campaign’s collusion with Russia, and whining about former Attorney General Eric Holder. The White House releases a photo of First Lady Melania Trump and other staff trailing behind Trump as he moves towards Air Force One to go to honor the victims of Flight 93, with the orange menace pumping his two fists in the air like a moron as if the solemn occasion was a sporting event you attend. All he did to honor 9/11 was retweet White House communications director Dan Scavino’s official statement and then resume attacking his political adversaries, including Hillary Clinton, Maxine Waters, Peter Strzok, and Lisa Page.
Later at the White House, as experts advise people to evacuate if possible, or to take shelter as Hurricance Florence approached the east coast of the United States, Trump warned it would be “tremendously big and tremendously wet”, before again insisting that his administration did a good job with recovery efforts from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Incidentally, Buzzfeed reported that day that FEMA took thousands of requests from Puerto Ricans for funeral assistance from the government, but only 3% of requests were approved.
Reuters reports the Trump administration has slashed the annual amount of refugee resettlements to only a quarter of what it was prior to Trump taking office. The percentage of Muslim refugees allowed plummeted to one third of the percentage prior to Trump taking office.
The Independent UK was the first to report that a Trump trip to Ireland was cancelled because he found there would be massive protests when he arrived.
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September 12th, 2018: It is Day 600 of the Trump presidency. Trump claimed he got “A-Pluses” for his administration’s response to Hurricane Maria, and blamed any difficulties they had in the recovery on Puerto Rico being an “inaccessible island with very poor electricity and an incompetent mayor of San Juan”, renewing his feud with Carmen Yulin Cruz, who dared be critical of his administration’s lack of action.Trump claimed he got “A-Pluses” for his administration’s response to Hurricane Maria, and blamed any difficulties they had in the recovery on Puerto Rico being an “inaccessible island with very poor electricity and an incompetent mayor of San Juan”, 2018: It is Day 600 of the Trump presidency.
Eric Trump goes on Fox News, and discusses Bob Woodward’s book, saying that Woodward “made three extra shekels” writing it. (Note, shekels has anti-Semitic connotations, and white nationalists frequently use the term to discuss money supposedly coming from Jewish sources.)Eric Trump goes on Fox News, and discusses Bob Woodward’s book, saying that Woodward “made three extra shekels”.
A former Trump Organization employee, Barbara Res, shared an anecdote about how when braille signs were being installed into Trump Tower when it was being built in its elevators, Trump raged at the architect, even after being told it was the law to have them present, and saying, “Blind people aren’t going to live in Trump Tower!”
The Southern Poverty Law Center reports that the Acting Director of ICE, Ronald Vitello, attended an annual meeting in Washington DC of (FAIR), an anti-immigrant hate groupThe Southern Poverty Law Center reports that due to the Trump administration’s “family separation” immigration policy, they now have over 12,800 children in their custody, increasing the number fivefold, and are looking to create a tent city for kidnapped children to be held in.
The Guardian reports that due to overcrowding from the Trump administration’s draconian immigration measures, immigrant detention centers are largely unhygienic, detainees are becoming violently ill, and the guards are unnecessarily cruel.
Up Next: The Trump Timeline: Part Eleven: Trump Administration Days 601-700