Tag: Trump abuse of power

The Trump depression: Experts see a serious psychological depression taking hold in America. Here’s how to fight it

AlterNet logoReviewing “Trump’s Wacky, Angry, and Extreme August” on Twitter, the New Yorker’s Susan Glasser said the experience “was exhausting, a dark journey to a nasty and contentious place.” But that’s hardly news: it’s a place we live in every day. We try to turn the volume down and ignore it, and that may work for a while. But it won’t last. It can’t. It’s getting worse, and we can all see where we’re headed.

We know who Donald Trump admires, who he wants to be like — “president for life” as he keeps on telling us — and the countries they rule. Even as Trump insulted Americans and allies with abandon, Glasser noted, he found time to praise North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

Americais nowhere near as bad as Brazil or China, much less North Korea. But our democracy is eroding significantly. Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) tracks hundreds of attributes of democracy for 202 countries, spanning more than two centuries. Its 2019 report found that “24 countries are now severely affected by what is established as a ‘third wave of autocratization,’” an erosion of democratic rights “that has slowly gained momentum since the mid 1990s. … Among them are populous countries such as Brazil, India and the United States.”

View the complete September 15 article by Paul Rosenberg from Salon on the AlterNet website here.

Air Force crews have lodged at Trump’s Scottish resort at least 4 times

The trips date back to at least September 2018 and continued through at least this past June.

Air Force crews have stayed overnight at President Donald Trump’s Turnberry resort in Scotland on at least four occasions, two more than previously reported.

The four trips — uncovered through interviews with people present, records of expenditures and social media postings — date back to at least September 2018 and continued through at least this past June. They include at least one instance in which a crew member said a nearby airport arranged for rides and lunches to and from the luxury waterside retreat. All the flights were shuttling crews between the United States and the Middle East, and at least three of them of them were divisions of the Air National Guard. In total, over 60 service members stayed at the posh property on these stopovers.

Now, with Congress returning from an extended August break, Democrats want to make sure these Air Force crews never again stay at Trump Turnberry. On Monday, lawmakers began stumping for the Senate to adopt an amendment that would bar the Pentagon from spending money at nearly five dozen Trump properties worldwide. The House passed the clause in July as part of the broader annual defense policy bill, but it has not yet been adopted into law.

View the complete September 9 article by Natasha Bertrand and Connor O’Brien on the Politico website here.

Trump’s wall and the aggrandizement of despots

AlterNet logoDuring the last week of August, The Washington Post reported that President Trump told aides to “fast-track billions of dollars’ worth of construction contracts, aggressively seize private land and disregard environmental rules.” He reportedly added that he would pardon any “potential wrongdoing.” Although acknowledging that an administration official insisted the president was only joking about pardons, the report reveals the extent of the president’s desperation to secure a victory before the 2020 presidential election. A week after the Post story, the U. S. Department of Defense authorized diverting $3.6 billion to fund 11 wall projects along the Mexican border.

Egotistical rulers like Trump often have grandiose architectural plans. Hitler had his “Germania,” his name for a new redesigned Berlin that would dazzle the world. Mao Zedong had his “10 Great Buildings” built in Beijing 1959. Stalin had his never-built Palace of Soviets, which was to be higher than the Empire State Building, and later, Moscow’s seven skyscrapers known as the “seven sisters.” As a candidate and heretofore as president, Donald Trump has been consumed by his dream of building “a great, great wall” on the United States–Mexico border. After announcing this when declaring his presidential candidacy in mid-2015, he added that “nobody builds walls better than me,” and that he would “have Mexico pay for that wall.” Continue reading “Trump’s wall and the aggrandizement of despots”

House panel is probing U.S. military use of Trump-owned property in Scotland

Washington Post logoThe House Oversight Committee is investigating why a financially struggling airport near a Trump-owned golf course in Scotland has seen an uptick in expenditures by the U.S. military since President Trump took office.

Chairman Elijah E. Cummings and Rep. Jamie Raskin, both Maryland Democrats, sent a letter to the Defense Department’s acting secretary, Patrick M. Shanahan, in June asking for all travel information pertaining to Pentagon personnel through the Glasgow Prestwick Airport, as well as visits to the Trump Turnberry golf resort.

In the letter, Cummings and Raskin say that the airport “reportedly has provided ‘cut-price rooms for select passengers and crew’ and ‘offered free rounds at Turnberry to visiting U.S. military and civilian air crews.’ ”

View the complete September 7 article by Colby Itkowitz and Missy Ryan on The Washington Post website here.

Trump administration raids military construction projects for border wall

The move is likely to further inflame Democrats who have accused the administration of illegally overriding Congress’ spending decisions.

The Trump administration is carrying out plans to raid $3.6 billion in military construction projects to build the border wall, further inflaming lawmakers who have accused President Donald Trump of illegally overriding Congress’ spending decisions.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper informed congressional leaders on Tuesday of the cash grab from a total of 127 military projects. Roughly half the money will come from funds previously dedicated to upgrading military bases abroad and the other half in the United States.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Esper told him some of the money will come from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in his home state of New York.

View the complete September 3 article by Jennifer Scholtes, Sarah Ferris and Jacqueline Feldscher on the Politico website here.

Trump encouraged Pence to stay at his golf resort in Ireland

Washington Post logoDOONBEG, Ireland — Vice President Pence arrived Monday in Ireland with an unusual itinerary: He would attend meetings with Irish leaders in Dublin during the day Tuesday — but spend two nights on the opposite side of the country, at a golf club owned by President Trump.

Pence spent both Monday and Tuesday nights at Trump International Golf Links & Hotel in Doonbeg, in a small town on Ireland’s southwest coast, returning to the village after meetings with Ireland’s top elected officials.

Pence defended that decision — which required him to fly to Dublin and back on Air Force Two — by saying that he wanted to visit Doonbeg so that he could have dinner with his family at Morrissey’s, a pub here owned by a distant cousin.

View the complete September 3 article by Robert Costa, David A. Fahrenthold and John Wagner on The Washington Post website here.

Democrats alarmed by Trump’s promise of pardons to build border wall

Washington Post logoThrough his pardons of political allies, conservative defenders and others convicted of federal crimes, President Trump throughout his term has sent indirect signals of his willingness to help those close to him escape punishment.

And now, the president has entwined that message with his chief campaign promise — by privately assuring aides that he would pardon them of any potential illegality as the administration rushes to build his border wall before he returns to the ballot next November.

The notion has alarmed congressional Democrats, who had been investigating potential obstruction of justice on Trump’s part as the House continues to weigh whether to launch impeachment proceedings once lawmakers return to Washington next month.

View the complete August 28 article by Seung Min Kim and Mike DeBonis on The Washington Post website here.

Trump Falsely Accused Former FBI Officials Of ‘Treason’ For Investigating Him

Trump’s two-day-long meltdown continued on Thursday afternoon, as the obviously worked-up president baselessly accused federal investigators of committing treason — a serious crime punishable by death — all because they looked into his ties to Russia.

Trump listed a number of his favorite targets, saying former FBI Director James Comey, former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, former FBI agent Peter Strzok, and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page tried to wage a coup against his presidency, referencing a much-ballyhooed “insurance policy” comment Strzok and Page sent in a text message, which Republicans have taken out of context to make look like some sort of nefarious plot against Trump.

“That’s treason, that’s treason,” Trump said of the non-existent coup he says was waged against his campaign. “They couldn’t win the election and that’s what happened.”

View the complete May 23 article by Emily Singer on the National Memo website here.

White House counsel to House Dems: No “do-over” on Trump investigations

White House counsel Pat Cipollone said that Congress has no right to a “do-over” of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and other investigations undertaken by the Justice Department in a letter sent to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday.

Why it matters: Cipollone’s letter will further escalate the war between the Trump administration and House Democrats, who are attempting to obtain the unredacted copy of Mueller’s report as well as access to the sources and witnesses that helped to form its conclusions.

The key quote from Cipollone’s letter:

“Congressional investigations are intended to obtain information to aid in evaluating potential legislation, not to harass political opponents or to pursue an unauthorized ‘do-over’ of exhaustive law enforcement investigations conducted by the Department of Justice.”

View the complete May 15 article by Orion Rummler on the Axios website here.

Pompeo won’t promise to consult Congress about potential military intervention in Venezuela

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday confirmed that the Trump administration is making contingency plans for U.S. military intervention in Venezuela, but he refused to say whether the administration would seek congressional authorization first.

When asked directly on ABC’s “This Week” whether President Trump believes he has the power to intervene without seeking approval from Congress, Pompeo declined to answer.

“I don’t want to speak to that,” he said, pointing to the powers granted to the president as commander in chief under the Constitution. “The president has his full range of Article 2 authorities, and I’m very confident that any action we took in Venezuela would be lawful,” he said.

View the complete May 5 article by Keroun Demirjian and Paul Sonne on The Washington Post website here.