Trump's Downward Spiral

Mark Wilson/Getty Images

I went on vacation the Saturday before last and although I quite enjoyed being away from home I just couldn't stay away from writing for TMB.  As many of you that follow politics know, quite a lot has happened in the past two weeks involving President Trump, so much that it would take at least twenty pages to write!  With that said I think this calls for a simple timeline by using tweets and commentary. Let's go!

Trump Monitor Podcast Episode 1: Obstruction of Justice

The first episode of the TMB Podcast is out now!  Check it out below:

Total Not Recall

For the Sessions testimony you can watch it here.

I know this is Thursday and the Jeff Sessions hearing was on Tuesday, but there was a lot to process and go over both visually and mentally.  For one thing I was right that Sessions would be the guy that would take the "bullet" for Trump in this hearing.  He wasn't going to answer a lot of questions, but the way he tried to dodge the questions actually made it worse for Trump instead of saving his face.  Let's get down to the big parts of the hearing....

Quick Muse: Flynn in the Bin

The hammer came down yesterday on the now former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.  Flynn resigned after news came to light that he was discussing sanctions with the Russian ambassador before Trump took office.  This is a matter that puts Trump in a serious spot because he has constantly denied having any communication with Russia and now his NSA man was caught with the goods.

The timing of everything: Flynn's contacts, Trump's increase of praise towards Putin, and the hacking of DNC emails make this a potentially wide open case that could shake the Trump administration to its core. How wide per se?  The fact that Dan Rather thinks this could be worse than Watergate should ring alarm bells.

Another issue to point out is that the Trump camp knew of this weeks ago and only waited until it was in full blown view to go for the sack.  Now it's known that they were going to sweep this under the rug and hope no one would bat an eye.  It didn't work and now you have politicians on both sides of the aisle calling for a more thorough investigation.  Will it be granted and how far-reaching will this go?

It's only MONTH ONE of the Trump presidency and it could be over before the first year is up...

...And That's the Bottom Line 'cause Russia Said So!

There is a serious issue when the President-Elect blatantly seems to only care what Vladimir Putin says instead of the American people.   When he tweets that things are false about Russian involve because "that is what Russia said when I talked to them" then he either is the most incompetent man destined for the Oval Office or worse: an agent of Putin.

Intelligence

Donald Trump was recently given intel on the Russian hacking situation and of course seemed to scoff at the notion that this could be a possibility.  He even went on the defensive (again) accusing NBC of knowing more information on certain matters of intelligence than he had known:

How did NBC get "an exclusive look into the top secret report he (Obama) was presented?" Who gave them this report and why? Politics!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2017

I am asking the chairs of the House and Senate committees to investigate top secret intelligence shared with NBC prior to me seeing it.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2017

Even after the fact that the intelligence report, given by both the FBI/Department of Homeland Security as well as another report from the Director of National Intelligence saying that Vladimir Putin "sought to help" Trump win the 2016 election he still goes on to tweet this:

Intelligence stated very strongly there was absolutely no evidence that hacking affected the election results. Voting machines not touched!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2017

Come on now Donald!  You have two separate reports going against you and you are going to tweet a lie to cover yourself?  You can't.  The government will always post public reports (albeit with a lot of classified details left out) and you can't contradict what they find.  He is factual with the voting machines part, but the hacked emails definitely did play a factor into swaying the vote towards him instead of Hillary Clinton.  As a businessman he can ignore facts, but as a politician and soon-to-be President of the United States of America he can't and if he does he will be scrutinized by both his peers and the voting citizens of America.

Year in Review: 2016

I want to start things off by thanking every person that has come to the blog and read my articles!  Words cannot describe how thankful I am to each reader!  With that said, it is New Year's Eve and if you're like me, you just want this dumpster fire of a year to go away.  As worrisome of a feeling that 2017 will be, we do have to stay optimistic about the current climate.  We need to remember that the People of these United States have the final say in all decisions in this land and shall continue to let our voices be heard and considered!

This blog officially started this month and during that time there were 14 articles written for the site.  There will be many more for sure in the next year!  So let's do the Year in Review and highlight the Top 5 articles published in the year 2016!

Top Five Articles of 2016

1. Buddy System- How picking your really rich friends and campaign contributors is not "Draining the Swamp."
2. A Letter to Donald Trump and His Tweets- Donald Trump needs to be more diplomatic in his tweets.  What he posts matters more so now than it did when he was just a businessman.
3. Science: There's a Reason For It- Creationists and climate deniers need to understand that their views will lead to a lot of destruction in this world.
4. GOP Ambushes NC Politics aka Reichstag Fire Pt. 2- How a last-minute power grab by the North Carolina GOP showed the world that democracy does not matter when you lose.
5. Trump and Netanyahu: Partners in Crime- The worrisome tale of Israel and the rejection of the Two-State Solution.

Let's all have a great New Years and I look forward to writing more for Trump Monitor in 2017!  Thank you everyone!

Russian Sanctions and How They Will Affect Trump

For the joint FBI-DHS report on Russian hacking click here.

In a report released after a joint investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) they noted that there were two notable cyber attacks on the Democratic Party; one in the summer of 2015 and another in the spring of 2016.

For his response President Obama issued new sanctions yesterday against Russia in concerns of Russian involvement in the 2016 US election.  In an executive order he has given all Russian diplomats in the United States 72 hours to leave the country as well as shutting down two Russian Government-owned compounds that are located in Maryland and New York.  Vladimir Putin, on the other hand, has decided to not play tit-for-tat and will not force American diplomats in Russia to vacate.

This whole saga leads to a bigger question: What effect does this have on Trump and Republicans?

A Letter to Donald Trump and His Tweets

Let me just do this as a letter.  It's been agonizing to watch Donald Trump continuously tweet as a President-elect and not realize how dangerous he is becoming,  So let me start things off...

Game of Hacks

Chances are, if you have been reading the news post-election you have seen all the news articles about Russian hacking during the election.  If you haven't noticed here are some articles to get acquainted:

• Russian hacking and the 2016 election:  What you need to know (CNN)
• Russia's View of the Election Hacks: Denials, Amusement, and Comeuppance (The New Yorker)
• Russia Had Every Reason to Hack the U.S. Presidential Election (Alternet)
• Prominent Republican Joining Democrats to Solve Russian Election Hacking (Fox News Radio)

Morning Musings

Is seven in the morning too early to start a blog post?  Not if your profession requires you to be up a lot earlier than that on a daily basis.  Seven is sleeping in for me.  Anyways, here is the Morning Musings also known as "What I plan on posting this weekend."

I have four topics in mind (subject to change of course) that will be either covered all today or some today and some tomorrow:

1. Trump's Cabinet picks so far have a combined wealth of more than 1/3 of all US households
2. North Carolina GOP's last minute power-grabs
3. Russia's involvement in election hacking
4. David Friedman named as Trump's Ambassador to Israel

Stay tuned after I have my morning coffee...