This Week in Trumpland December 30,2017

THIS WEEK IN TRUMPLAND, a sixty second primer on the path to Armageddon: “year in review” edition

January

Donald Trump becomes the 45^th president of the United States, triggering huge anti-Trump protests and marches throughout the world

In his first week in office Trump lies about the size of his inauguration, orders a Muslim ban, and deletes the death of six million Jews from his holocaust remembrance message

February

Trump threatens to invade Mexico, instigates conflict against Australia and takes U.S. to the to the brink of war with Iran

Michael Flynn becomes first casualty of Trump administration

Pipeline protesters at Standing Rock are arrested, ICE agents arrest patient awaiting brain surgery, and protections for transgendered students are rolled back, all leading Steve Bannon to declare that “everything is going according to plan”

March

In his first speech before Congress, Trump promises increased investment in women’s healthcare, even as Congress introduces bills to criminalize abortion, defund Planned Parenthood and repeal the ACA

Jeff Sessions lies to Congress about his contact with Russian officials and is confirmed as Attorney General anyway

HUD Secretary Ben Carson claims that slaves brought to America from Africa were in fact immigrants with dreams of a better life for themselves and their families

Trump budget director claims cutting meals for senior citizens is “compassionate” and Paul Ryan declares he’s been dreaming of Medicaid cuts since he was "drinking out of kegs"

April

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump officially become White House advisors

In a “penis substitute” exchange, Kim Jung Un shows off large bomb in North Korea parade and Trump orders U.S. military to drop “mother of all bombs” on Afghanistan

Bill O’Reilly is fired from Fox news after more than a dozen sexual harassment lawsuits

Trump threatens to change Senate rules for passing legislation, Rex Tillerson threatens military action against North Korea, and Trump boasts he has the highest TV ratings “since the World Trade Center came down”

May

Trump fires FBI director James Comey

Robert Mueller is appointed special counsel to investigate RussiaGate

Secretary of Agriculture moves to end healthy school lunch programs to “make school meals great again”, Idaho representative Raul Labrador claims that “no one ever died from lack of access to health care” and Oklahoma representative Mike Ritze asks whether “we really have to educate non-citizens”

Melania famously swats away Trump’s hand during foreign trip and the Pope’s face registers hellish horror during a Trump photo-op

June

Trump pulls the U.S. out of the Paris climate accords

Eric Trump tells Fox news that Democrats “are not even people”

Trump derides London mayor after U.K. terrorist attacks and tells the Iranian people that terrorist attack on their soil “serves them right”

Sean Spicer walks the plank

Covfefe

July

At an event with the Indian Prime Minister, Trump claims U.S. and India are believers in public accountability, and then bars all questions from the press

Trump election panel asks states for their voting roll data and 44 of 50 states say no

Trump states that the Mexican wall must be transparent so that Americans are not hit on the head by the sacks of drugs Mexicans will be throwing over it

John McCain casts dramatic deciding vote to defeat repeal of ObamaCare

August

After White Supremacy rally turns violent in Charlottesville, Trump defends the “very fine people” of the alt-right and blames liberals for the violence, causing former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke to compliment Trump for his “courage”

Steve Bannon resigns

Newsweek reports that less than 80% of Bernie Sanders supporters voted for HRC, and that 12% of Bernie supporters stunningly voted for Trump

September

Trump pardons racist Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio on the eve of Hurricane Harvey to “maximize ratings”

Trump ends DACA protection for children whose parents came to the U.S. illegally

Justice department underlines systemic racism in America by refusing to prosecute Baltimore police officers responsible for Freddie Gray’s death

Twenty-eight year old former model Hope Hicks appointed White House Communications director

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price walks the plank

San Juan mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz begs for help and supplies to combat hurricane damage, and Trump responds by hurling insults at her and Puerto Rico

October

Domestic terrorist Stephen Paddock kills dozens of people in a rampage in Las Vegas and Republicans warn this is no time for a national debate on gun control

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson calls Trump “a f***ing moron”

Trump wages war against NFL players who take a knee to protest racial inequality

Harvey Weinstein exposed as a rapist and sexual molester, which starts an avalanche of women finally speaking out and gives birth to the #MeToo movement

Department of Education rescinds seventy-two policy documents outlining rights for students with disabilities

November

A federal court blocks Trump’s transgender military ban

Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his partner Jim Gates are indicted

Energy Secretary Rick Perry claims fossil fuels can be used to limit sexual assault

EPA head Scott Pruitt replaces scientists on EPA advisory board with oil and chemical lobbyists

Upon hearing that neither George Bush Sr. nor Jr. voted for him, Trump attacks their presidential legacies

Trump endorses accused pedophile Roy Moore in Alabama senatorial race, and claims he turned down being Time Magazine man of the year

December

Congress passes sweeping tax bill that adds $1.5 trillion to the deficit but provides massive tax cuts to businesses and to wealthy individuals

U.S. Supreme Court upholds Trump Muslim travel ban

In a photo finish, Doug Jones defeats Roy Moore in Alabama Senate race

U.N. overwhelmingly condemns Trump’s decision to move U.S. Israeli Embassy to Jerusalem despite Trump threat to cut off aid

RussiaGate investigation intensifies and Michael Flynn makes plea deal with Robert Mueller

This week in Trumpland December 23,2017

THIS WEEK IN TRUMPLAND, a sixty second primer on the path to Armageddon: “tax cut” edition

After the Senate adds an amendment to the tax bill that will benefit Senator Bob Corker individually (literally), he changes course and votes for the new bill

Congress passes a tax bill that will add $1.5 trillion dollars to the deficit but provides massive tax cuts to large corporations and to the top 1%

Complaining he's not getting enough credit, Trump signs the new tax bill into law

Matt Damon runs into turbulence for mansplaining his thoughts on the sexual harassment “spectrum”

Twitter suspends several accounts that promote hate and violence

An Indiana hotel charges a guest $350 for posting a negative review of the hotel

Although Trump threatens to pull U.S. aid to any U.N. country that condemns his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital the U.N. still condemns his decision overwhelmingly

Upon learning her male counterpart has made double her salary for years, Catt Sadler leaves E! news 

Ohio governor John Kasich signs a bill that makes it a felony to perform an abortion on a fetus diagnosed with Down Syndrome

Despite Trump cutting ObamaCare enrollment period in half, slashing advertising by 90 percent and cutting funding for in-person enrollment aides by more than 40 percent, enrollment is on track to match last year’s numbers

Trump's hugely successful 2017

As we near the end of 2017 I'm shaken to my core by two stunningly frightening and distressing conclusions about what is going on in our country, and I offer a humble piece of advice on how to save our nation:

Conclusion number one: Contrary to what most Democrats hope and believe, Trump has been brutally effective and efficient in pushing his agenda forward during his first year in office.

Consider:

With Trump’s help and backing, Congress has passed a tax bill that provides massive tax cuts to corporations and to wealthy individuals at the expense of working Americans, and that is heavily tilted in favor of the red states that voted for him. At the same time, the $1.5 trillion budget deficit the bill creates sets the table for the Republican controlled Congress to begin taking a hatchet to anti-poverty programs and other social services designed to help the disadvantaged.

Trump has systematically been gutting the Department of Education, the EPA, the Department of Labor and others, and has turned the Justice Department into a division that now prosecutes the very people it was created to protect.

Through unilateral Executive Orders, Trump has turned the land of the free and the home of the brave against immigrants, Muslims, black and brown people, members of the LGBTQ community, and generally anyone who disagrees with him.

Trump has made it difficult for the average American to obtain health care and has made a big dent in the Affordable Health Care Act.

A year into Trump’s presidency, the stock market is at an all time high.

Trump has appointed more right wing federal judges to lifetime appointments than any other president in modern history.

Trump has essentially created a state-run news agency in Fox News, and has very effectively waged a holy war against independent news agencies such as CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Trump promised to deliver all of the above and he did. When viewed through the filter of his agenda rather than the filter of helping the country or moving the human race forward, Trump is not wrong when he claims his first year  has been one of the most successful in history.

Conclusion number two: The Republicans are very likely to retain control of both houses of Congress in the midterm elections and Trump is well on his way to getting re-elected in 2020.

Consider:

Despite many of the current polls about Trump’s lack of popularity, he has repeatedly shown himself to be Teflon Donald, and Republicans can legitimately claim they have significantly advanced the right’s agenda during this term.

.

Unlike Democrats, Republicans vote as a block and have a stronger GOTV organization than Democrats.

Although Democrats count Doug Jones’ election in Alabama as a victory, the fact of a pedophile coming within a whisper of becoming a senator tells a very different story about the potential fate of Democrats in close elections who will not be facing pedophiles.

Republican voter suppression efforts will be in full effect after the outcome in Alabama.

Supporters of Democrat non-mainstream candidates like Bernie Sanders, Jill Stein, and others generally protest their candidate’s defeat in primaries by refusing to vote for the mainstream Democratic candidate in a general election.

My humble advice to Democrats and others who want to save the United States:

Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security by the recent Democratic victories in the senatorial election in Alabama and a few other places.  Those random victories will make the right more incentivized and venomous than ever.

Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security by what you read about Trump, McConnell and Ryan on your news feeds.  Your social media friends and followers tend to share your beliefs. The news feeds of people on the right look nothing like yours.

Get out the vote, and then Vote!!! Vote!!! Vote!!!  Nothing else matters. Literally.

If you support Sanders, Stein or some other underdog candidate, fight for them with all your might but in the end, support the Democratic candidate whoever she or he may be. Winning your individual battle is important, but winning the overall war is everything.

And finally, run for office yourself.  Run for Congress.  Run for City Council.  Run for dog catcher.  Just run. The republic needs you more than you know.

And if you’re listening Lord, a little divine help wouldn’t hurt either.