Trump Unfit to Govern

As each day of his administration passes, Trump consistently shows that he is unfit for the Presidency.

This article in the Washington Post lays out the concerns: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2017/01/25/maybe-trump-isnt-lying/

From the article:

...Republicans need to be pressed to state their view: Is he lying or is he unable to separate what he wants to believe and what exists, literally, in front of his eyes? The first makes him morally unfit, and was the basis upon which many #NeverTrumpers refused to vote for him. If the latter, they — and we all — have a constitutional crisis the likes of which we have never seen.

Section 4 of the 25th Amendment read: “Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.”

Update: A Whitehouse mid-level staff member leaks their concerns. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/1/26/1625349/-West-Wing-leaker-silenced-after-pulling-back-the-curtain-Trump-irrational-staff-demoralized

Trashing Transparency in Government

Taking away the people's right to know...

...about their President: Another day passes and Trump is still in violation of the Constitution he swore to uphold.  According to the Center for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington, a citizen's watchdog group, "The foreign emoluments clause of the Constitution prohibits Trump from receiving anything of value from foreign governments, including foreign government-owned businesses, without the approval of Congress."

President Trump has not asked Congress for a review and approval of what his businesses around the world will receive from foreign governments.  To conduct such a review, Congress would need him to release his tax returns.  He refuses to do that, thus denying the public its right to know about any foreign entanglements.

For more about the CREW's suit, follow this link: http://www.citizensforethics.org/press-release/17451/

...about the work of government agencies: As of yesterday, these government agencies have reported receiving messages from the White House telling them to cease communications with members of Congress and the press: The

• Department of Health and Human Services
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Department of Agriculture
• National Institutes of Health
• Department of Transportation

More information here: http://washingtonmonthly.com/2017/01/24/federal-government-in-lock-down-mode/

Be it noted that authoritarian governments believe in controlling the information that is available to the public.  They are anti-transparency.  The operate under the assumption that what we don't know, won't hurt them.

Taking Away Environmental Protections

These actions of Trump's are environmental take aways.

The Environmental Protection Agency:

Lest we forget: “EPA was created to ensure that all Americans can enjoy clean air to breathe, clean water to drink and have their health protected from environmental and climate threats” - Liz Perera, climate policy director for the Sierra Club, quoted in the Seattle Times article referenced below.

Also from the Seattle Times:

Emails sent to EPA staff since President Donald Trump’s inauguration Friday and reviewed by The Associated Press detailed specific prohibitions banning press releases, blog updates or posts to the agency’s social media accounts.
The Trump administration has also ordered what it called a temporary suspension of all new business activities at the department, including issuing task orders or work assignments to EPA contractors. The orders were expected to have a significant and immediate impact on EPA activities nationwide. EPA contracts with outside vendors for a wide array of services, from engineering and research science to janitorial supplies.

Source: http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation-politics/trump-admin-orders-epa-contract-freeze-and-media-blackout/

More on Trump’s EPA actions here: 

http://www.vox.com/2017/1/24/14371256/trump-freeze-epa-grants

Pushing Keystone XL and DAPL - ignoring treaty rights of the Standing Rock Sioux:

From the Indian Company Media Network: 

Pipeline opponents…insist that the environmental damage these projects will wreak far outweighs the few permanent jobs that will ultimately be created with these pipelines. Any construction jobs are temporary, and the promise of energy independence that has been touted is also in question, given that piping the oil to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico coast opens it up more to exportation than domestic use.

Source: https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/news/environment/breaking-trump-pushes-dapl-keystone-xl-forward-executive-order/

Facts and Accountability

The war on facts: Facts* - gone from Presidential press briefings.  Substitute - “alternative facts” which a tweet from the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines as “false statements”.

*M-W definition: A fact is a piece of information presented as having objective reality. (for example, the number of DC Metro fares recorded January 21)

A related blog post can be found here: http://washingtonmonthly.com/2017/01/23/trump-as-an-agent-of-chaos/

More on the ACA take away: The return to “junk plans” - ones where you pay in but get very low benefits.

http://washingtonmonthly.com/2017/01/23/how-republicans-will-lower-health-insurance-premiums-a-return-to-junk-plans/

Today’s executive order take aways:

• TTP withdrawal plan (no US involvement in the negotiations)
• Freeze on government hiring (hard to see how this is a job creator; the effect on services to the public will be felt)
• Ban on federal funds to international groups that provide information on abortion as an option (Back to pre-1984 policy on this one)

From the Sacramento Bee: 

Trump signed an executive order indicating his plan to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations…The president also signed memorandums freezing most federal government hiring, though he noted an exception for the military, and reinstating a ban on providing federal money to international groups that perform abortions or provide information on the option.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/article128191589.html#storylink=cpy

By the way, here's an article on what the government workforce numbers have been over the years: http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/1/23/14361504/trump-hiring-freeze-federal-workforce

Holding Trump Accountable from Day 1

Donald Trump has just been sworn in as the 45th President of the United States of America.  So, let's take a look at some metrics from the outgoing Obama Administration.

Nancy LeTourneau at the Political Animal blog has a useful post on the topic here: http://washingtonmonthly.com/2017/01/20/a-snapshot-of-americas-performance-on-trumps-first-day/
It includes this summary of a few of the metrics the Trump Administration will inherit:

Unemployment rate: 4.7%
Underemployment rate: 9.2%
Labor Force Participation Rate: 62.7%
Federal deficit: 3.2% of GDP
Dow Jones: 19,732
Uninsured rate: 9%
Medicare is projected to be solvent until 2028
Number of troops deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria: 14,700 (6,000/8,400/300)

For a brief retrospective on Obama's presidency, there's this post from Kevin Drum blogging at Mother Jones: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/01/thanks-everything-president-obama-were-going-miss-you  His top 10 list includes:

Affordable Care Act
Stimulus package
Climate actions: Paris agreement, EPA power plant standards, auto mileage standards, etc.
Dodd-Frank financial reform
Iran nuclear treaty
Killed Osama bin Laden
Allowed gays to serve openly in the military
New START treaty
Delivered 74 consecutive months of job growth
Declined to get seriously involved in Syria

Now for a first pass at Trump Administration "take aways".  Number one is the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and its protections. Info on Trump's executive order here: http://www.vox.com/2017/1/20/14343332/trump-obamacare-executive-order

And yet another executive order hits the middle class in the pocket book - rescinding help with mortgages: http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2017/01/breaking-reduction-of-fha-annual.html

On plans to cut government spending, from Kevin Drum again: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/01/report-trump-team-wants-slash-social-security-medicare-medicaid-and-pretty-much-e  Here's a snippet:

So there you have it. Slash a bunch of hippy-dippy stuff (clean energy, water conservation, transit, climate); some employment stuff (jobs programs, Davis-Bacon); and military health care spending. Then take a meat axe to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and everything else, and you're done! Piece of cake.

Also on the chopping block, jobs in the humanities, arts, and public broadcasting. Check out this post on Talking Points Memo: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-team-budget-cuts
For perspective, this 2014 article lists 10 countries that even then were way ahead of the US in support of the arts: http://www.alternet.org/culture/culturally-impoverished-us-nea-spends-140th-what-germany-doles-out-arts-capita

It's hard to see how these cuts will "make America great".