Week 58: Weak (January 29, 2017)

Dear Readers,

It’s been a week and stuff’s already going crazy. Reminder that newsletters and more are always available at http://www.electreport.blogspot.com

Executive Orders Galore

“I don't think he even tries anymore. I think he just signs executive actions," -Donald Trump (on Barack Obama), December 2015

Trump’s been getting busy since inauguration day with executive orders. An anti-ObamaCare order, a protection against illegal immigration, and a dumb order literally placing in law the old saying “repeal two regulations for each new one.” But the most important and controversial order was the Executive Order "Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States," making good his campaign promise for a Muslim ban. The text of the order bans entrants of the country from Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Syria, Libya, Somalia, and Sudan. It’s still unclear whether this affects green card holders, but the fact that it might is still terrifying.

Naturally, this order prompted tons of protest and a lawsuit from the ACLU. It’s estimated nearly 400 travellers have been affected already. In addition to being anti-immigrant and generally awful, the perpetrators of the 9/11 attack were from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, and Lebanon - all nations conspicuously left off the bill, and all nations in which Mr. Trump has business interests. It’s a little fishy...

Indeed, many Americans (and some Brits, Canadians, and Belgians) showed up at airports in 33 different states to protest Trump’s executive order. The largest was at Kennedy Airport in New York, but there were organized protests from Bangor to San Diego, and everywhere in between. It will surely not be the last protest, and Trump clearly knows we’re watching his every move.

Trump Swaps out Attorney Generals

Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, unwilling to act in favor of the administration’s new executive order, has been fired and replaced with Virginia AG Dana Boente. The White House went on a tirade against Yates in which they said "Yates is an Obama Administration appointee who is weak on borders and very weak on illegal immigration." Now, Boente is a registered Democrat, and this does follow a letter by Yates saying “At present, I am not convinced that the defense of the executive order is consistent with these responsibilities, nor am I convinced that the executive order is lawful,” but it still shows what frightening power Trump has.

Bannon

Steve Bannon (as Chief Strategist) has been placed on the US National Security Council as of yesterday. Moved off of the council are the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of National Intelligence. This is a disturbing turn that replaces important roles with an inexperienced anti-Semite who has too much power over the president as it is.

Also in the Cabinet, the senior State Department officials’ period of transition has come to a premature end. Let me explain: Generally, state department officials will stay on for a short amount of transition time so somebody is left to ease the new secretary in. However, Trump waved these administrators away before Tillerson has been confirmed and before they’ve even picked a deputy!

Also noted:

-Trump’s Holocaust Remembrance Day statement went out of its way to not mention Jews or the Jewish faith.

-Trump has continued to say he’ll launch investigations on illegal voting

Thanks for reading! Feel free to reply and comment.