Is President Trump surrendering America’s moral high ground?

The following article by James Hohmann and Breanne Deppisch was posted on the Washington Post website January 26, 2017:

THE BIG IDEA: Not even a week into Donald Trump’s presidency, some liberal internationalists find themselves privately pining for George W. Bush.

Despite acts of brutality that were perpetrated on his watch, Bush always insisted publicly that the United States did not torture. He understood that copping to the enhanced interrogation techniques he had secretly approved could undercut our moral standing on the world stage, provide terrorists a potent recruiting tool and give our enemies an excuse to torture Americans.

Trump doesn’t think like that. “I have spoken as recently as 24 hours ago with people at the highest level of intelligence,” the new president told ABC News in an interview that aired last night, “and I asked them the question, ‘Does it work? Does torture work?’ and the answer was, ‘Yes, absolutely.'” Continue reading “Is President Trump surrendering America’s moral high ground?”

The State Department’s entire senior administrative team just resigned

The following column by Josh Rogin was posted on the Washington Post website January 26, 2017:

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s job running the State Department just got considerably more difficult. The entire senior level of management officials resigned Wednesday, part of an ongoing mass exodus of senior foreign service officers who don’t want to stick around for the Trump era.

Tillerson was actually inside the State Department’s headquarters in Foggy Bottom on Wednesday, taking meetings and getting the lay of the land. I reported Wednesday morning that the Trump team was narrowing its search for his No. 2, and that it was looking to replace the State Department’s long-serving undersecretary for management, Patrick Kennedy. Kennedy, who has been in that job for nine years, was actively involved in the transition and was angling to keep that job under Tillerson, three State Department officials told me. Continue reading “The State Department’s entire senior administrative team just resigned”

In his first major TV interview as president, Trump is endlessly obsessed with his popularity

The following article by Jenna Johnson was posted on the Washington Post website January 26, 2016:

The way President Trump tells it, the meandering, falsehood-filled, self-involved speech that he gave at the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters was one of the greatest addresses ever given.

“That speech was a home run,” Trump told ABC News just a few minutes into his first major television interview since moving into the White House. “See what Fox said. They said it was one of the great speeches. They showed the people applauding and screaming. … I got a standing ovation. In fact, they said it was the biggest standing ovation since Peyton Manning had won the Super Bowl, and they said it was equal. I got a standing ovation. It lasted for a long period of time.” Continue reading “In his first major TV interview as president, Trump is endlessly obsessed with his popularity”

The DeVos Dynasty: A Family of Extremists

The following article by Catherine Brown and Ulrich Boser was posted on the Center for American Progress website January 23, 2017:

Photo: AP/Carolyn Kaster

On Tuesday, Betsy DeVos appeared in front of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions to be considered for the country’s next secretary of education. In her hearing, DeVos tried to present herself as a run-of-the-mill school advocate and a thoughtful visionary who uses a research-based approach to improving schools and enhancing children’s wellbeing. But a closer look at DeVos’s background—and the transcript from Tuesday night’s hearing—shows that she instead represents an extremist, right-wing perspective. Continue reading “The DeVos Dynasty: A Family of Extremists”

11 stories from President Trump’s first 100 hours that deserve more attention

The following article by James Hohmann and Breanne Deppisch was posted on the Washington Post website January 25, 2017:

THE BIG IDEA: Donald Trump is quadrupling down on his lie that millions of ballots were illegally cast in the November election. This morning he ensured that the mainstream media will spend another day focused on this issue by calling for an investigation:

That the president of the United States is challenging, with no credible evidence, the integrity of an election he won is extraordinarily reckless. Continue reading “11 stories from President Trump’s first 100 hours that deserve more attention”

Study: 43,000 Americans Could Die Because Of Obamacare Repeal

The following article by Ilana Novick was posted on the AlterNet website January 23, 2017:

Remember death panels? It seems like only yesterday when rabid Tea Partiers tried to convince the public that under the Affordable Care Act, Grandma’s fate was in the hands of so-called death panels, a fictitious team of insurers and (probably devil-worshippers) Democrats who would determine the extent of coverage. Many of the most diehard proponents of this lie, who went on to benefit from the ACA, are about to meet the real death panelists—their names are Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Tom Price, and Donald Trump, and according to two experts who have studied the impact of insurance coverage on death rates for 30 years, approximately 43,000 Americans are at risk of death if the ACA is repealed. Continue reading “Study: 43,000 Americans Could Die Because Of Obamacare Repeal”

Trump’s disregard for the truth threatens his ability to govern

The following article by Karen Tumulty was posted on the Washington Post website January 24, 2017:

Donald Trump, having propelled his presidential campaign to victory while often disregarding the truth, now is testing the proposition that he can govern the country that way.

In the first five days of his presidency, Trump has put the enormous power of the nation’s highest office behind spurious — and easily disproved — claims. Continue reading “Trump’s disregard for the truth threatens his ability to govern”

Paul Krugman Just Said What We’re All Thinking About Trump’s Mental Health

The following article by Natalie Dickinson was posted on the Occupy Democrats website January 24, 2017:

Since taking office, President Trump’s behavior has become increasingly unhinged. Since ascending to the Oval Office, he has thrown a tantrum over the size of the Women’s March following his inauguration because it dwarfed his pitiful turnout and insisted to multiple audiences that his inauguration was massive despite the obvious photographic evidence to the contrary. Aides reporthe grows furiously angry over angry Twitter messages and grows bored with his work, instead preferring to watch television. 

The erratic temper of an old man? Or a sign of something else? New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is fed up with Trump’s rage-and-pony show and told us all how he really feels in one sledgehammer of a tweet: Continue reading “Paul Krugman Just Said What We’re All Thinking About Trump’s Mental Health”

The sorest winner of all time cannot stop whining

The following article by James Hohmann with Breanne Deppisch was posted on the Washington Post website January 24, 2017:

President Donald Trump meets with business leaders at the White House yesterday. (Photo by Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

THE BIG IDEA: Somebody call the wambulance. Donald Trump needs a box of Kleenex for all the whining he’s doing.

Just like his campaign, the first days of his presidency have been animated and defined by grievance.

At a White House reception last night to discuss his 2017 agenda, Trump devoted the first 10 minutes to rehashing the 2016 campaign. The commander-in-chief told a bipartisan group of congressional leaders that between 3 million and 5 million illegal votes caused him to lose the popular vote.

That is a ludicrously false claim, and this is not hyperbole: Trump is the sorest winner in American history. Continue reading “The sorest winner of all time cannot stop whining”