While You Were Sleeping

While You Were Sleeping

While you were sleeping, President Trump’s administration changed our world. While we were distracted by the Stormy Daniels’ revelations, or the confusing tariff discussion, we missed some things.

We missed that Don McGahn, White House counsel, was told by President Trump to deny that Trump ordered him to fire Robert Mueller. McGahn refused to lie for the President, and  Trump threatened to fire him.[1]  This  should meet the legal definition of obstruction of justice.

We missed the Interior Department changing the import rules for ivory, so that “big game hunters” (like Don Jr. and Eric Trump) can import elephant ivory into the US.  Interior Secretary Zinke states that the import fees will go to help prevent poaching – I’m not sure the elephants will care whether it was the President’s sons or poachers that kill.[2]

We missed that the Environmental Protection Agency relaxed rules for mine runoff so that there is greater flexibility for coal mines to allow mining wastes into watercourses. This will increase the amount of acidity in streams draining from those mining areas, and removes Obama era regulations aimed at protecting them.[3]

We missed that Jeff Sessions has raised the twin headed demon of nullification and secession in regards to California. Quite a stretch for Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, son of Alabama, to insult the battle cry of South Carolina and the Confederacy, and wrap himself in the bloody UNION flag of Gettysburg (I’m not being hyperbolic, that’s what HE said.)

Sessions’ complaint: California passed a law protecting state employees from state sanctions if they fail to cooperate with Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE) attempts to round out illegal immigrants. Sessions’ denonced this as the state standing against Federal Government enforcement, and reverses the arguments used by Southern states against the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts.

Sessions is demanding that California state authorities help ICE enforce immigration laws, and outlaw “sanctuary cities” like San Francisco and Oakland.[4]

And we missed that George Nader, an American citizen who was acting as an agent for the United Arab Emirates, is cooperating with the Mueller investigation. Nader has significant information regarding attempts by the Trump transition team to establish undercover contacts with the Russian government, including sending Eric Prince, the founder of the mercenary firm Blackwater (now evolved into Reflex Responses) and major Trump financial supporter, to talk to close advisors to Vladimir Putin in the Seychelles.

Nader and the UAE also have information about Jared Kushner’s ongoing search to re-finance his building at 666 Fifth Avenue in New York. We also missed that Kushner continued to use his White House position to attempt to get money to cover the mortgage of over a billion dollars, due next year.[5]

What did we listen to? We listened to Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen try to muzzle a porn star. And, we listened to the President of the United States continue to trigger a trade war with many of our allies, and China.

The tariff talk split traditional support and opposition to Trump: with “rust-belt” Democrats discovering Trump on their side, and “Wall Street” Republicans, including Speaker Ryan, finding themselves opposed to the President. One unintended consequence may be to undercut Republicans running for office, specifically in the Pennsylvania special Congressional election on Tuesday, with Trump seeming to weigh-in on the Democrat side of the tariff issue.

Trump is probably secretly pleased about the porn star story – it’s another one of his “hand size” things. I’m sure he thinks that it will  help him with “the base.” And it’s clear that the tariffs and potential trade war is also a great distraction from what’s happening in the Mueller investigation.

But underneath the “fog” of Mueller, the government is slowly growing harder and crueler. In an interview last week, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin (Illinois) said that we (Democrats) will have a lot of damage to undo. That damage is happening, even as we sleep.

 

[1] http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/377311-trump-considered-firing-wh-counsel-if-he-didnt-deny-threatening-to

[2] https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/elephant-trophy-import-ban-lifted/

[3] https://www.snopes.com/news/2017/02/06/dump-coal-waste-into-streams/

[4] http://time.com/5190064/jeff-sessions-speech-today-sacramento/

[5] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/03/us/politics/george-nader-mueller-investigation-united-arab-emirates.html