Donald Trump has made many outrageous statements and enacted many ill-conceived policies, to be sure. The resulting controversies are often unintentional, the product of poor planning and off the cuff blurting. Exhibit A might be Trump’s disastrous performance at the Helsinki press conference.
But others are calculated –
designed by Trump to distract, to move us off one controversy by introducing
another. A good example is Trump's idea of revoking the security
clearances of a number of former national security leaders who have criticized
his presidency. And sure enough, we took the bait, watching dutifully
as the media followed Trump, changing the topic from the extremely serious
Helsinki aftershocks to the petty but perhaps less consequential clearances.
And when this happens, we leave
subjects that should have been pursued more relentlessly. Latter day
Woodwards and Bernsteins jump to the next crisis, rather than chasing down the
last one. And we, the citizens of this country, forget these horrors
as they overwhelm us – even those of us who oppose Trump vehemently. What
agreements did Trump actually make in Helsinki with Putin? What happened
to those separated immigrant children? Why was sexual harasser Bill Shine
allowed to be hired by the White House? Can we go back, please, before we
move on?
We've compiled a list of, in our
view, every significant outrageous event that has occurred since the Trump
Inaugural in January, 2017. The list is meant to include unique
events, so it does not repeat statements (“enemy of the state,” “fake news”).
Yes, it includes some of Trump's more egregious lies. But, more
importantly, it is a reminder of the outrages that may have been lost in the
fog.
Month
|
Outrage
|
Jan 2017
|
Trumps claims
Inaugural attendance largest in history despite obvious contrary visual
evidence
|
Trump claims that 3-5
million illegal votes were cast for Hillary Clinton, thus he lost popular
vote
|
|
Kellyanne Conway
introduces notion of "alternative facts"
|
|
The first Travel Ban
issued without any involvement from relevant government departments
|
|
Trump berates Australian
Prime Minister during first call on refugee deal with U.S.
|
|
Trump fires Sally
Yates for refusing to support Travel Ban
|
|
Steve Bannon named to
National Security Council in an unprecedented move
|
|
Feb 2017
|
Trump fires his
ill-advised choice for Nat'l Security Advisor, Mike Flynn, after only 24 days
|
Priebus asks FBI to
"knock down" NY Times story on Trump campaign/Russia links
|
|
Trump first uses term
"Fake News" in tweet:
"any negative polls are fake news"
|
|
Trump withdraws Labor Secretary
nominee Pudzer when ex-wife accuses him of abuse
|
|
Trump rescinds Obama
protections of transgender bathroom rights
|
|
Trump calls the media
the "enemy of the people" for the first time
|
|
Trump rips judge who
halted Travel Ban; the judge was a Bush appointee
|
|
Trump nominates
Gorsuch to replace Scalia; McConnell refused to consider Obama nominee
|
|
Mar 2017
|
Trump says
"nobody knew healh care could be so complicated" after failure of "repeal/replace"
|
Trump accuses Barack
Obama, with no evidence, of wiretapping him in Trump Tower
|
|
Travel Ban 2 also
fails, still widely viewed as the "Ban on Muslims" that Trump
campaigned on
|
|
Trump withdraws US
from Trans Pacific Partnership treaty
|
|
Apr 2017
|
Trump meets with
China's Xi, declares "after listening
for 10 minutes, {N. Korea}'s not so easy"
|
Another failed
"repeal and replace" attempt
|
|
May 2017
|
Trump fires FBI
Director Comey, allegedly following Rosenstein recommendation re: Clinton
|
Trump meets Russian
diplomats in White House and shares intelligence secrets
|
|
Trump also tells
Russian diplomats that firing Comey reduces pressure of Russia matters
|
|
Yates says she warned
White House of Flynn's blackmail vulnerability 18 days before his firing
|
|
Trump tells Lester
Holt he decided to fire Comey because of Russia (before Rosenstein reco)
|
|
It is revealed that
Trump had asked Comey for his "loyalty" in a private dinner in
January
|
|
It is revealed Trump
asked Coats, Rogers to publicly say no evidence of Russia/Trump collusion
|
|
Trump oafishly shoves
Prime Minister of Montenegro to get featured position in photo op
|
|
Trump clumsily offends
NATO and G-7 allies, demanding greater defense spending
|
|
Jun 2017
|
Trump exits from Paris
Climate Accords
|
Jul 2017
|
Trump says Mika Brzezinski
was "bleeding badly from a facelift" when he saw her in January
|
Trump retweets a video
that shows a cartoonish Trump wrestling a CNN reporter to the ground
|
|
Trump meets with Putin
and accepts his denials about Russia involvment in 2016 U.S. elections
|
|
It is revealed that
Trump, Jr., Manafort, Kushner met with Russians to get dirt on Clinton in
2016
|
|
Trump issues
misleading statement on Trump, Jr/Russia meeting
|
|
Anthony Scaramucci hired/fired
as White House Communications Director in just 10 days
|
|
Another sloppy attempt
to "repeal/replace" Obamacare fails with McCain's famous
"thumbs down"
|
|
Trump begins public
humiliation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions
|
|
Trump tweets transgender
ban from military without getting any input from Mattis, Joint Chiefs
|
|
Trump excoriated for
making highly politicized speech to Boy Scouts
|
|
Trump tells police
"don't be too nice" in treatment of perps, encouraging police
violence
|
|
Aug 2017
|
Trump equates racist
Neo-Nazi marchers with their adversaries after Charlottesville riots
|
It is revealed that
Trump asked Mexican president to stop saying Mexico would not pay for Wall
|
|
Trump pardons Sheriff Joe
Arpaio, who had been convicted for contempt of court
|
|
Revelation that Trump
fixer Michael Cohen talked to Russia in 2016 about a Moscow Trump hotel
|
|
Sep 2017
|
"Repeal and
replace" efforts fail yet again
|
Trump calls Kim
Jong-un"Little Rocket Man" for first time, ratchets up war rhetoric
|
|
Trump says Puerto Rico
"wants everything done for them" after devastation of Hurrican
Maria
|
|
HHS Scretary Tom Price
is forced to resign after brief, scandal-ridden reign
|
|
During Puerto Rico
disaster, Trump rips NFL players for kneeling to protest the national anthem
|
|
Oct 2017
|
Papadopoulus pleads
guilty to lying to FBI; he colluded with Russia as Trump campaign member
|
Trump campaign chair
Paul Manafort and aide Rick Gates are indicted in Mueller investigation
|
|
Trump attacks widow of
soldier killed in Niger over her negative reaction to his
"condolence" call
|
|
#MeToo movement
explodes as Wenstein revelations recall Trump's long sexual assault history
|
|
Trump insensitively
tosses paper towels to victims of devastation in Puerto Rico
|
|
Nov 2017
|
Trump calls Warren
"Pocahantas" (again), this time during ceremony honoring Navajo
veterans
|
Trump tells aides that
the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape may be fraudulent
|
|
Trump once again
doubts Obama was born in the United States
|
|
Trump retweets
videos depicting violence by Muslims originally shared by British extremist
group
|
|
Dec 2017
|
Trump announces U.S.
will move embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem
|
Trump defends, endorses
Roy Moore, the GOP Alabama Senate candidate and sexual assaulter
|
|
GOP passes and Trump
signs unpopular tax law that grossly favors the wealthy
|
|
Jan 2018
|
Trump asks why
"all these people from shithole countries come" to U.S., meaning
Africa, Haiti
|
"Fire and
Fury" is published with many revelations about the dysfunctional Trump
White House
|
|
Revelation of Trump
affair with Stormy Daniels, their pre-2016 election NDA, the $130K payment
|
|
Trump tweets he has a
"Nuclear Button that is much bigger & more powerful" than Kim
Jong-un's
|
|
Trump refers to
himself as "a very stable genius"
|
|
Feb 2018
|
Trump scheduler Rob
Porter fired after both his ex-wives revealed he was an abuser
|
Hope Hicks testified
that she told "white lies" to protect Trump
|
|
It is revealed Hicks
was dating Porter while she was defending him, instead of recusing herself
|
|
John Kelly looks
terrible in revealing conflicting timelines on his handling of the Porter
mess
|
|
NSA Chief Rogers says
that Trump never asked him to confront Russians on election meddling
|
|
Immigration reforms
fails, and the Dreamers remain unprotected
|
|
After Parkland,
Florida school shooting, Trump suggests that we arm teachers as a solution
|
|
Trump also says that
had he been at Parkland High School, he would have subdued the shooter
|
|
Revelation of Trump
affair with Karen McDougal and "catch and kill" payment to her by
AMI
|
|
Mar 2018
|
Trump fires moderate
Secretary of State Tillerson and replaces him with far right Pompeo
|
Trump imposes first tariffs
on steel and aluminum products
|
|
Trump fires David
Shulkin as Veteran Affairs Secretary
|
|
Apr 2018
|
Trump says FBI raid of
Michael Cohen's office and homes is "an attack on our country"
|
Trump pardons Scooter
Libby, who outed CIA undercover agent
|
|
Nikki Haley accounces
Russia sanctions; White House reneges, infuriating Haley
|
|
Trump announces
personal doctor Jackson will replace Shulkin; clearly unfit, he soon
withdraws
|
|
May 2018
|
Trump pardons
conservative commentator, flouts process; floats pardoning Stewart,
Blagojevich
|
Trump replaces Cobb
with Giuliani, who embarks on smear campaign of Mueller investigation
|
|
Trump exits Iran deal
that traded lifting sanctions for eliminating Iran's nuclear program
|
|
Trump begins trade war
with China
|
|
Jun 2018
|
Trump, in summit with
Kim Jong-un, agrees to stop U.S./S. Korea war games, gets nothing for it
|
Trump's inhuman
"zero tolerance" immigration policy results in separating children
from parents
|
|
Trump says Russia
should be readmitted to G-7
|
|
Trump refuses to sign
G-7 agreements and berates Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
|
|
Jul 2018
|
Trump fires EPA head
Pruitt after months of defending him, despite massive ethics violations
|
Trump nominates
arch-conservative Kavanaugh to SCOTUS, to replace more moderate Kennedy
|
|
Trump hires Shine as
Communications Director; Shine was fired by FOX for sexual harassment
|
|
Trump says Germany is
"a captive of Russia" by virtue of Germany's use of Russian oil
|
|
Trump attacks British Prime
Minister Theresa May on her own soil for her Brexit exit policies
|
|
Trump refers to
himself again as "a very stable genius"
|
|
Trump backs Putin on
no Russian election meddling at disastrous Helsinki summit "presser"
|
|
Trump reverses himself
on Russia election meddling; said "wouldn't," says he meant
"would"
|
|
Trump threatens to
remove security clearances from former top officials who criticize him
|
|
Tape revealed of
Trump, Cohen discussing McDougall payments; undercuts Trump prior denials
|
|
Shine bans CNN
reporter out of routine Rose Garden event for asking
"inappropriate" questions
|
No comments:
Post a Comment
Leave a comment