The Trumpian Chronicles — week 3
A pessimist-realist’s take on our changing world
These chronicles will be a compendium of thoughts, links, and if Medium finally allows co-authors, conversations.
Today Feb 10 marks only the 22nd day of the Trump presidency and everyone feels exhausted. The first 2 weeks were marked by major controversies on the home and overseas front and this 3rd week felt a little quieter. Amid the quiet, the leaks from the White House are gushing in scope and size, here’s an interesting in Politico: “it has become apparent, say those close to the president, most of whom requested anonymity to describe the inner workings of the White House, that the transition from overseeing a family business to running the country has been tough on him. Trump often asks simple questions about policies, proposals and personnel. And, when discussions get bogged down in details, the president has been known to quickly change the subject — to “seem in control at all times,” one senior government official said — or direct questions about details to his chief strategist Steve Bannon, his son-in-law Jared Kushner or House Speaker Paul Ryan. Trump has privately expressed disbelief over the ability of judges, bureaucrats or lawmakers to delay — or even stop — him from filling positions and implementing policies.”
Let’s break down the main events of this third week:
- The EO ban ripple effects continue (entire week)
- The Gorsuch nomination creates precedent (Feb 9)
- NSA Flynn’s lies to the public revealed (Feb 9–10)
I’ve included links from so-called mainstream publications but it’s paramount to go beyond and look at publications like the conservative National Review as well as Fox News and Breitbart.
- The EO ban ripple effects continue (entire week)
The EO/Muslim ban story unfolded on so many fronts I’ll try to summarize the main issues: process ie the sloppiness of the drafting (see Joe Scarborough’s rough talk re Stephen “power trip” Miller), separation of powers with a President not understanding/caring that coming against a sitting judge is simply not done, politics as the Democrats are trying to seize their “herbal tea” moment. Fun factoid: Press Secretary Spicer tried another hair splitting moment when he berated the media for calling it a ban and was ridiculed when Trump tweeted that it was indeed a ban. The EO was stayed which the DOJ appealed, that appeal was not overturned, in large part because of Trump’s tweets.
My take: The core of the EO itself receded a bit in the background this week as the process and the political exploitation took a front seat. The #PresidentBannon postcards (kudos Justin Hendrix) highlighted the seemingly immense power of a controversial unelected adviser. Joe Scarborough’s mention of Bannon on his show prompted Trump to tweet:
Democrats, keen to counter Trump’s newsmaking machine, sought to link the EO with Gorsuch by stating that his views on the order would weigh in their assessment of his nomination.
2. The Gorsuch nomination creates precedent (Feb 9)
Gorsuch started his listening tour of Congress earnestly, sitting with both parties and trying to project an image of seriousness and passion for the Constitution. The usual protocol was broken when 2 senators, Schumer and Blumenthal, revealed that Gorsuch had said that Trump’s comments on judiciary were “disheartening and demoralizing”. This prompted countless analyses on the possibility that such a declaration of independence was done in concert with the White House.
My take: it’s a rare sight to see a SCOTUS nominee in essence declare his independence from the President who nominated him. This could have to do with the fact that Trump’s outsourcing of the pick means Gorsuch recognizes Trump as a mere cog in the conservative movement that is pushing him.
3. NSA Flynn’s lies to the public revealed (Feb 9–10)
Washington Post has 9 sources that attest that NSA Flynn lied about the content of his conversations with the Russians prior to his confirmation and that he indeed discussed the sanctions.
Josh Marshall has a must-read piece on the potential fallout from the revelation of NSA Flynn’s lies, the key paragraph: “Trump and Flynn received repeated security briefings during the final months of the campaign. Reports indicate that they received at least broad accounts of Russian hacking targeting Hillary Clinton. Seemingly during this period Flynn was also conducting backchannel communications with Russia’s ambassador to the US. [..]Did the subject of the hacking come up in those conversations with Kislyak? Another question comes up. There were numerous instances during the campaign in which discredited and clearly false Russian propaganda ended up in statements or interviews from top Trump campaign leaders, including but not limited to Flynn. A number came from Manafort too. At the time I thought it was most likely that they picked these up through alt-right Twitter streams and Breitbart, both of which were ready channels for Russian propaganda from sources like RT and Sputniknews. If that was what you were immersed in you’d likely hear these fake stories reported as news. I still think that’s the most likely explanation. But perhaps it’s not the only one. When we look at the big picture, these pre-election back channel communications seem considerably more significant than the post-election ones.”
My take: Lying to a sitting VP who goes to defend you on national TV should be a firing offense but the Trump White House is a different set-up than most. I would be curious if Pence has not already asked for Flynn to be fired today Friday Feb 10 but Trump won’t make it official until Monday, in order to keep the news cycle on his golf summit with Japan.
LINKS:
Week 3 roundups:
Voices to listen to/follow:
