Day 10 In Trump’s World
We’ll be keeping tabs on all of the (mostly alarming) shit that happens under Trump’s watch. Here’s a weekend recap:
Trump signed an executive order on Friday, which included a 90-day travel ban for citizens of Iraq, Libya, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen, as well as a 120-day suspension of the U.S. refugee program. Conspicuously and conveniently absent from said banned list are majority-Muslim countries in which Trump is conducting business.
Note: The order contains an exception for religious minorities who face “religious-based persecution, provided that the religion of the individual is a minority religion in the individual’s country of nationality”. So, there is a caveat for non-Muslims in Muslim-majority countries.
The order also contains directed implementation of biometric entry-exit tracking. Reek of registry much??
Though the ban is a culmination of a war on terror mentality, it is still singularly shameful.
Amid reports of dozens of refugees and visa holders being detained at John F. Kennedy International Airport, the New York Immigration Coalition asked for activists to stage a protest outside JFK Terminal 4. Crowds swelled to thousands by Saturday evening with tens of thousands more converging at airports and public spaces in Miami, Los Angeles, Austin, Houston, Seattle, Boston and San Francisco.
Those detained include Ph.D. student in anthropology at Stanford University and a Sudanese citizen Nisrin Elamin, Harvard-bound Iranian scientist Samira Asgari and Iraqi interpreter Hameed Khalid Darweesh who worked with U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division in Baghdad.
As a result of Trump’s immigration ban, US Border Patrol begins checking people’s Facebook pages for their political views and subsequently interrogating them before allowing them into the country.
Downing Street has insisted that Trump’s state visit to the UK will go ahead despite widespread criticism of the invite. More than 1.25 million people signed a petition calling for the visit to be cancelled. Watch how it all unraveled here.
Federal judge Ann Donnelly (remember this woman) granted the American Civil Liberties Union’s request for a nationwide temporary injunction that will block the deportation of all people stranded in U.S. airports under President Trump’s new Muslim ban. It is important to note that while this prevents deportations, it does not prevent the denial of visas.
The ACLU consequently receives a staggering 24 million dollars in donations in a single weekend after suing over Trump order. That is roughly six times what they normally receive in a full year.
Chief strategist Stephen Bannon’s got himself a wildly undeserved seat at the table and has now joined National Security Council’s Principals Committee, which is the top interagency group for discussing national security. He has no job experience in foreign policy.
Trump signs executive order to slash regulations. This will require agencies to cut two existing regulations for every new rule introduced, but categories of regulations, including those dealing with military and national security, will be exempt from this new policy.
Four Members of Congress asked CBP officials to enforce a federal court order and were turned away. Border agents are defying courts on Trump’s travel ban. Democrat Don Beyer says ‘we have a constitutional crisis’. Don Beyer couldn’t have stated it more aptly.
Trump continues his tirade against the news media, or as he calls them “the opposition party”, in typo-riddled tweet storm to New York Times and Washington Post, in which he mentions their “dwindling subscribers and readers”. New York Times says subscribers and audience at all-time highs.
Iran promises to take ‘reciprocal measures’ after Trump’s immigration order in order to “safeguard the rights of its citizens until the time of the removal of the insulting restrictions of the government of the United States against Iranian nationals”.
Hours after ban, Muslim mosque, The Islamic Center of Victoria, goes up in flames.
Sean Spicer, Press Secretary and prophet responsible for “Dippin’ dots is NOT the ice cream of the future”, says critics of ‘praised’ White House Holocaust tribute are ‘pathetic’.
Spicer also responded to, or rather exploited, the mass shooting at a Quebec City mosque last night that left six people dead and eight wounded. The actual shooting suspect is 27-year-old Alexandre Bissonnette, a white French Canadian who is, by all appearances, a rabid anti-immigrant nationalist. Fox News, we see you too.
Tech executives from Lyft and Apple to Microsoft and Starbucks decry the Muslim ban policy and respond swiftly. This includes Starbuck’s Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz proclaiming to hire 10,000 refugees over five years around the world and Lyft pledging to donate $1 million to the American Civil Liberties Union over the course of five years.
#DeleteUber began trending when Uber continued its service to New York’s JFK airport, despite strikes by other taxi drivers protesting Donald Trump’s immigration policies. If you don’t recall, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick joined Trump’s economic advisory board in December.
After initially failing to denounce Trump’s ban, Kalanick vowed to set up a $3 million legal defense fund for affected drivers. Here is his statement decrying the ban on Facebook.
Rudy Giuliani told Fox News that President Trump asked him how to legally enact a ‘Muslim ban’. Yep.
The page for ‘Judicial branch’ on the White House website went missing. Under the tab for “Our Government” are listed the Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch, and….the Constitution.
The Guardian has a heavily-sourced report concluding that “mass resignations” of nearly all senior staff at the State Department on Thursday were not, in fact, resignations, but a purge ordered by the White House.
Trump appears to be gung-ho about revitalizing America’s declining coal fields, but dismisses the threat they pose to the climate. Now, the West’s largest coal-fired power plant may close.
Volunteer lawyers were literally on the ground working pro-bono on a Saturday at JFK, preparing habeas corpus petitions for detainees at airports. Absolute heroes.
California is researching ways to suspend financial transfers to Washington after the Trump administration threatened to withhold federal money from sanctuary cities.
#Calexit trends and a new movement called Yes California Independence is pushing for secession. In the Spring of 2019, Californians will go to the polls in a historic vote to decide by referendum if California should exit the Union. If you are so inclined, you can sign the petition here.
White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus made a few statements that aren’t exactly in his job description. This seems to be a recurring problem amongst Trump and his cohorts.
- The omission of jews from the statement for Holocaust Remembrance day was deliberate is not regretted by Priebus. Also not regretted is Trump’s executive order, despite ensuing widespread protests. Not that this is at all surprising…
- The ban on Muslims will no longer be applied to green card holders, says Priebus. No comment about people with other types of visa (including long-term ones), or anything about the DHS’ power to unilaterally revoke green cards in bulk.
Remember the Steele Dossier? The one with the golden showers in it? It included the statement that Putin had offered Trump 19% of Rosneft (Russia’s state oil company) if he became president and removed sanctions. The dossier said this in July, and the sale didn’t happen until early December. On Wednesday, Reuters reported how 19.5% of Rosneft has been sold to parties unknown. We see you though…Read on here.
Stay tuned, folks. This coming week on Trump’s World, there is a lot to look forward to, as always. This includes a possible appointment of a nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, which could hear case affecting Trump golf courses, and a possible executive order opening up discrimination against the LGBTQ community on the basis of religious belief.
Godspeed.
GIF By Acid Pop Studios