It has
been quite a first week for our new Commander in Chief, alienating millions,
while beginning the work of serving his billionaire sponsors. As I reported
last weekend, he still seems obsessed with his ratings and can’t seem to get
over the fact that more people protested Saturday than attended his
inauguration Friday. Or even the fact that he lost the popular vote, now
pushing those around him to waste time and government funding to launch an
investigation that is sure to prove fruitless (WP).
Let’s look at the other lowlights from one of the worst first weeks in
Presidential history …
· Trump issued a gag order to the EPA, while eliminating any
reference to global warming, then did the same to the FDA and Parks Service.
After major political blowback, they not only rescinded that order but
pretended they never issued it to begin with (WP,
Observer).
· Issued a blanket hiring freeze across the entire
government, which seems odd if he was going to “clean up” Washington. This time
it was Veteran’s Affairs who complained the loudest, partially as a result of
his stated conviction to fix the problem, and again the administration reversed
itself – at least regarding Veteran’s Affairs (Daily
Caller).
· Repeated his oft-cited claim that we should have taken the
oil from Iraq and that maybe we can do it in the future. ISIS is using Trump’s
words in its latest recruitment videos (NY
Magazine).
· Signed an executive order to make the military bigger, even
as he has no authority to do so (Breaking
Defense). Same thing with the wall, which he will need Congressional
funding to actualize (PolitiFact).
Same, more or less, with Obamacare, though the administration ended all PSAs
and other reminders to millions of Americans to sign up for healthcare by
Tuesday (even those already paid for).
· The Office on Violence
Against Women runs 25 grant programs to reduce sexual assault, domestic
violence, and dating violence. Donald Trump wants to get
rid of these programs, potentially overturn Roe vs. Wade, defund Planned
Parenthood and essentially make it harder for women to get reproductive care,
abortions or even contraception.
· Obviously, the most troubling announcement this week
regards immigration and his, arguably, unconstitutional order to stop all
immigration/visa visits from seven predominantly Muslim countries. Parts of
that executive order have already been blocked by a Brooklyn judge (NYT).
Even worse, it turns out only countries Trump has no business interests in were
included on the list (WP).
· Finally, is his ceaseless attack on the media and the
fascist implications of top strategist Bannon calling mainstream media their
enemy and telling them to keep their mouths shut for a while (WP,
TNY).
· One postscript – in an announcement commemorating Holocaust
Remembrance Day, the administration didn’t mention Jews or anti-Semitism,
apparently on purpose (TPM).
When we put it altogether, we see a
new administration that is demonstrating many of the traits of a burgeoning
fascist state. They have their scapegoats, ultra-nationalist discourse,
manipulation of the truth to serve their agenda, populist undertones at the
same time they tie business and government further together, a reactionary
agenda that is anti-women, anti-black, anti-Muslim, anti-gay and anti-immigrant
and an attack on the institutions that could challenge them including
education, media and, even, scientific research itself. Scary times indeed,
though the continuing protests and general popularity of the president with
midterm elections less than two years away could start to give some members of
the GOP Congress pause …
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