Tag: Trump wants to be a dictator

Twitter fact-checks Trump’s tweets for first time

Axios logoTwitter fact-checked two of President Trump’s unsubstantiated tweets that mail-in ballots in the 2020 election would be fraudulent for the first time on Tuesday, directing users to “get the facts” through news stories that cover the topic.

Why it matters: Twitter and other social media platforms have faced criticism for not doing enough to combat misinformation, especially when its propagated by the president.

  • Twitter’s new approach of labeling misleading tweets was detailed in a blog post about misinformation and the coronavirus earlier this month.
  • Twitter spokesperson Lindsay McCallum said Trump’s tweets “contain potentially misleading information about voting processes and have been labeled to provide additional context around mail-in ballots.”

Continue reading.

Like A Dictator, Trump Keeps Chopping Away At Democracy

Step by ominous step, Donald Trump is eliminating or blocking every Constitutional check and balance on his administration to evade accountability for corruption.

The only path still open to save America from becoming an autocracy is the ballot box in November. Even there Trump is working to rig the election with help from his secretary of State and various elected Republican leaders.

On national television, he has declared willingness to accept help from Moscow and Beijing, which would violate criminal law. But as Trump dismantles the mechanisms Congress created to ensure Executive branch integrity, who can stop him? Continue reading.

Trump taps new prosecutor for DOJ office at center of Flynn, Stone controversies

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Monday said he intends to nominate a new U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., an office that has been at the center of controversial Department of Justice (DOJ) moves this year benefiting the president’s political allies.

Trump has picked Justin Herdman, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, to replace Timothy Shea, the White House announced. Shea has served as U.S. attorney for Washington on an interim basis since January.

Shea’s temporary appointment, which by law may not exceed 120 days, was set to expire early next month. Continue reading.

“60 Minutes” interview with whistleblower sends Trump flying into a fit of rage

Trump calls whistleblower rules a “racket,” threatens a GOP senator and attempt to muzzle the press in one tweet

President Donald Trump went off on an extensive Twitterstorm Sunday night, demanding whistleblower laws be changed after a whistleblower complaint was filed by Dr. Rick Bright. Trump specifically told Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) that she needed to look into it.

Collins is up for reelection in November, in one of the tightest races of her career in a state that rates the president’s approval extremely low. Continue reading.

Fired inspector general was examining whether Pompeo had a staffer walk his dog, handle dry cleaning, official says

Washington Post logoThe State Department inspector general fired by President Trump was looking into allegations that a staffer for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was performing domestic errands and chores such as handling dry cleaning, walking the family dog and making restaurant reservations, said a congressional official familiar with the matter.

Steve Linick, the quasi-independent watchdog whose job it was to expose waste and malfeasance within the agency, investigated a number of issues at the State Department that agitated senior Trump administration officials, but it remains unclear what specifically triggered his ouster Friday night.

The congressional official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the matter remains highly sensitive, said that the State Department staffer was a political appointee and that at least one congressional committee learned of the allegations around the time of Linick’s firing. Continue reading.<

Trump ramps up retaliatory purge with firing of State Department inspector general

Washington Post logoPresident Trump accelerated his retaliatory purge of public servants by firing the State Department’s inspector general, who had played a minor role in the president’s impeachment proceedings and was said to have begun investigating alleged misconduct by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Acting on Pompeo’s recommendation, Trump abruptly terminated Steve A. Linick late Friday night, again challenging established norms of American governance in his push to rid the federal bureaucracy of officials he considers insufficiently loyal to or protective of him and his administration. Trump replaced Linick with Stephen J. Akard, a trusted ally of Vice President Pence and the diplomat who directs the Office of Foreign Missions. He also replaced the acting inspector general at the Department of Transportation on Friday night.

Inspectors general serve as internal government watchdogs conducting oversight of federal agencies — and although they technically are political appointees, their independence has long been protected. Trump’s move — his fourth such firing during the coronavirus pandemic — drew swift condemnations from Democrats and at least one Republican on Capitol Hill. Continue reading.

Trump’s slow-motion Friday night massacre of inspectors general

Washington Post logoThe Friday news dump — also known as the Friday night news dump — is a political trick with plenty of precedent. Wait till the vast majority of the news business clocks out for on the week, and announce something you’d rather they not cover as much. People won’t be reading as much news at that point anyway, and perhaps it’ll be dismissed as old news by Monday morning.

Few are as blatant about using this tactic, though, as the Trump White House.

News broke late Friday night that Trump had removed the inspector general for the State Department, Steve Linick. It’s the third time in six weeks that such a move has been announced on a Friday night, with each inspector general having done something to pretty obviously alienate Trump. The unprecedented spate of removals has reinforced how Trump is rather obviously seeking to undermine independent oversight of his administration — and the timing of each of them only reinforces that. Continue reading.

Trump ousts State Department watchdog

Democrats blasted the Friday-night dismissal as an assault on the rule of law.

President Donald Trump has removed State Department Inspector General Steve Linick and replaced him with an ally of Vice President Mike Pence — the latest in a series of moves against independent government watchdogs in recent months.

Trump informed Congress of his intent to oust Linick, a Justice Department veteran appointed to the role in 2013 by then President Barack Obama, in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Friday night.

The president said he “no longer” had the “fullest confidence” in Linick and promised to send the Senate a nominee “who has my confidence and who meets the appropriate qualifications.” The executive branch is required to notify Congress 30 days ahead of time if it intends to remove an inspector general. Continue reading.

It’s not just a chant at Trump’s rallies or lame wordplay in his tweets — it’s his call to fascist rule

AlterNet logoYou know someone’s in a real panic when they start running in circles, and that’s what Donald Trump has been doing for the past week. He started off last Sunday with an epic tweetstorm, 126 of them in all, the third-highest total for one day in his presidency, according to FactBa.se, which keeps track of Trump’s statements. “Obamagate!” he tweeted, following that one with “Because it was Obamagate, and he and Sleepy Joe led the charge. The most corrupt administration in history!”

That presaged by 24 hours his now-famous exchange with Philip Rucker of the Washington Post in the Rose Garden, when Rucker asked him, “What crime, exactly, are you accusing President Obama of committing?”

“Obamagate,” Trump replied, refusing to define the “crime” or provide any specific evidence. So Rucker followed up: “What is the crime, exactly, that you’re accusing him of?” Trump shot him what passed for an angry look: “You know what the crime is,” Trump answered. “The crime is very obvious to everybody.” Continue reading.

Top Democrats launch investigation into late-night firing of State Department inspector general

Washington Post logoTwo top Democrats have told the Trump administration to preserve all records related to the Friday removal of the State Department’s inspector general, a late-night move that led House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to warn of an acceleration in a “dangerous pattern of retaliation” against federal watchdogs.

Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) launched an investigation Saturday into the ouster of Steve Linick, the latest in a string of weekend removals of oversight officials who have clashed with the Trump administration. Engel, the chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, claimed Linick was fired after opening an investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and said the timing suggested “an unlawful act of retaliation.”

“President Trump’s unprecedented removal of Inspector General Linick is only his latest sacking of an inspector general, our government’s key independent watchdogs, from a federal agency,” he wrote with Menendez in an open letter. Continue reading.