Trumpocalypse Now
Two weeks of the new normal: a dismal outlook
The silver lining upfront: Rep. Stephanie Murphy, a Florida Democrat new to the House, has wasted no time making a name for herself. On Wednesday, she introduced a bill to remove Steve Bannon from the National Security Council while reinstating the permanent seats of the intelligence and military communities. Bannon is dangerous, but at least there’s one voice opposing him in Congress.
White Supremacy has infiltrated the White House:
“The program, ‘Countering Violent Extremism,’ or CVE, would be changed to ‘Countering Islamic Extremism’ or ‘Countering Radical Islamic Extremism,’ the sources said, and would no longer target groups such as white supremacists who have also carried out bombings and shootings in the United States.”
The delusion that only Muslims are terrorists and extremists has become White House policy. The Muslim ban should be understood as tantamount to declaring religious war. Profiles of Steve Bannon and Mike Pence reveal that they both long shared a fundamentalist Christian agenda, which is increasingly unhinging America both domestically and abroad. Bannon’s 2014 speech at The Vatican make clear that he sees Islamic jihad and secularization in the West as equal threats. Bannon is emerging as the real muscle within the Trump administration, though Trump himself remains necessary as an opiate for the masses.
Trump wants to repeal the 1954 Johnson Amendment, which prevents tax-exempt organizations like churches and nonprofits from participating in and influencing political campaigns. As NPR lays out:
Is this just about free speech for churches and pastors?
No. It’s also about money and politics.
Conservative groups which favor a greater role for religion in the public space, such as the Alliance Defending Freedom, have long sought to repeal the amendment, arguing that it restricts free speech by censoring the content of a pastor’s sermon.
Overturning the law, however, would also have major implications for campaign finance. If churches or clergy are allowed to participate in political campaigns, tax-free donations to the churches could go to support a political candidate. Religious organizations could become bigger money players in politics.
The assault on the environment and rationality continues:
Scott Pruitt was confirmed to head the Environmental Protections Agency. It is unclear whether the EPA will be completely gutted from the inside by Pruitt or abolished altogether, as a recently introduced House bill proposed.
Though Congress seems to be backing off a bill to sell 3.3 million acres of public land back to states, threats to publicly protection land remains:
In his statement, Chaffetz did not mention a second piece of legislation he introduced last week, the Local Enforcement for Local Lands Act (HR 622), which would strip the Bureau of Land Management and US Forest Service of its law enforcement capacity. These two federal agencies have been criticized by supporters of Cliven Bundy and some Republican politicians for enforcing federal grazing laws…Congressman Rob Bishop introduced the House rule change that devalued federal land, making it easier for Congress to pass bills like Chaffetz’s that would either sell it off or give it away.
Senator Orrin Hatch has proposed eliminating the 1906 Antiquities Act, which has allowed presidents since Theodore Roosevelt to designate 129 national monuments. The Utah delegation has also vigorously fought to open Ute tribal land in their state, currently partially protected by the Bears Ears National Monument to drilling, despite the tribe’s opposition.
The Republican-controlled Congress also voted to “overturn an Obama administration rule designed to keep firearms out of the hands of some people deemed mentally ill” and “also passed a resolution to undo the Obama administration’s Stream Protection Rule, also largely along party lines, by using the CRA. The goal of the rule was to minimize coal mine pollutants in waterways, and would have required coal companies to monitor water quality in nearby streams during mining operations. Republicans argued the law was too burdensome and would kill jobs in the coal industry.
How many wars is the U.S. “stumbling” into?
Between various flare-ups with Mexico, Iran, Yemen and China, as well as rapidly crumbling relations between longtime, obvious allies Britain and Australia, Trump’s administration has employed an incoherent and aggressive foreign “policy.” For a president who campaigned on non-intervention and isolation, his actions in two weeks since he assumed office have been remarkably bellicose. While many articles have used words like “stumbling” and “sleepwalking” to describe perceived thoughtless blunders, Trump’s actions abroad should be taken just as literally and seriously as his domestic policies.
The Mexican government began internal discussions to prepare for renegotiation over NAFTA. Relations between Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Trump have improved since Trump almost started a trade war last week after Peña Nieto canceled his trip the States, once again repeating his firm stance that Mexico will not pay for the border wall. Though defused quickly, Trump’s vindictive 20 percent tax proposal was the first full display of volatility and short-sightedness. Though Trump’s first full week shocked the world for his swift follow-through on many of his campaign pledges, this reckless and retaliatory measure was the first confirmation of Trump’s unpredictability in office.
A risky military operation in Yemen killed a U.S. soldier and Nawar al-Awlaki, the 8-year-old daughter of American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was assassinated by a drone strike in 2011 under Obama’s orders. She was shot in the neck during the raid and died two hours later.
Tensions rise with both China and Iran. Steve Bannon has been convinced of impending war with China, and Trump has put Iran “on notice” for its ballistic missile test and a alleged attack by Houthi rebels, which receives Iranian support, against a Saudi naval ship. During a press conference yesterday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer mistakenly claimed that Iran had attacked a U.S. vessel. As The Intercept reports:
“This, of course, is how American wars start. In the infamous 1964 ‘Gulf of Tonkin incident,’ as it is often referred to, the White House and the Pentagon accused North Vietnamese forces of attacking two Navy destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin off Vietnam on August 4. President Lyndon Johnson used the attacks to coax Congress into approving a resolution, known as the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, that authorized military action in Vietnam. As The New York Times noted a few years ago, the ‘attack never happened.’”
The chaos and fallout from Trump’s Muslim ban continues:
“President Trump sent out a tweet on Friday condemning a machete attack committed by a Muslim in Paris — but has not expressed outrage about an attack perpetrated by a white supremacist in Quebec.” Kellyanne Conway made up a domestic terrorist attack in Kentucky to continue justifying the Muslim Ban. Again: “Foreigners from those seven nations have killed zero Americans in terrorist attacks on U.S. soil between 1975 and the end of 2015. Six Iranians, six Sudanese, two Somalis, two Iraqis, and one Yemini have been convicted of attempting or carrying out terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. Zero Libyans or Syrians have been convicted of planning a terrorist attack on U.S. soil during that time period.”
The United States runs a vigorous resettlement program, taking in thousands of Somalis each year. Being one of them is like holding a winning lottery ticket and it generates a lot of envy.
Some of the refugees said another reason they dreaded going back to the camps was because they knew some of their neighbors would barely be able to contain their glee that the resettlement had not worked out.
‘The people against me will be happy,’ Mr. Ibrahim said.
This American Life did a wonderful episode in 2015 about a Somali man waiting to win this green card lottery through the State Department’s U.S. Diversity Visa Program.
Less urgent, but more concerning: former Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Bondevik was detained for additional questioning at Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C., for visiting Iran.
