A Complete Analysis Of Trump’s 92nd Unpresidented Week As POTUS

The moral failures of President Trump are beginning to have deadly consequences.
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by: Ahmed Baba on October 28, 2018

President Donald Trump speaks at a rally at Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee, Wis., Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Donald Trump speaks at a rally at Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee, Wis., Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Trump’s first major typo after winning the election was spelling Unprecedented incorrectly. He infamously tweeted “Unpresidented.” This typo is a personification of his administration: An impulsive, frantically thrown together group of characters with virtually no oversight. After Trump was sworn in, I started writing the weekly “Unpresidented” column, analyzing his every move. This is week 92.

This was one of the most difficult weeks under the Trump administration thus far. The flames of division we face, which are being fanned by the President of the United States, have never felt more searing. At times, it felt as if America was coming apart at the seams. That’s because, in a lot of ways, it was.

This week, a neo-Nazi murdered 11 Jews in a Pittsburgh synagogue with an AR-15. He was apparently triggered by the fear-mongering over the caravan from Honduras, specifically, the lies from conservative media claiming George Soros is funding the caravan.

A Trump supporter mailed 14 bombs to 11 individuals Trump has relentlessly criticized. That includes Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, George Soros, John Brennan, James Clapper, other senior Democratic political leaders, and the Time Warner Center where CNN is located. This individual was caught in a van covered in Trump stickers.

A white supremacist killed two black people in a Kroger supermarket in Kentucky.

In the aftermath of this, the President of the United States continued to use the anti-Semitic dog whistle “globalist” and attacked many of the individuals his supporter sent bombs to, including CNN.

Members of conservative media continued to push the same false narrative that George Soros is funding the caravan.

And what we saw from others was the false rebranding of peaceful protests from Democrats as “angry mobs” and equating restaurant disruptions with the near-fatal bombing attempts that came from the right.

Let’s be clear: this is not an issue that both sides suffer from equally and that false equivalency does nothing but build up a narrative that further gaslights the American people into believing that both parties are the same.

We must not shy away from the fact that rhetoric from the President of the United States had a direct influence on the events that transpired this week. That is objectively true. But what happened in the aftermath tells you everything you need to know about the man currently occupying the Oval Office.

When tragedy strikes, the question is no longer whether or not Donald Trump will rise to the occasion and unite the nation. The question is how much further will Donald Trump plummet himself into moral degradation?

My question for you as you relive the events of this week is simple: how many people will you mobilize to vote on November 6th?

Day 641: Monday, October 22

Redefining Rights Away
The National Center for Transgender Equality, NCTE, and the Human Rights Campaign gather on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House in Washington, Monday, Oct. 22, 2018, for a #WontBeErased rally. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

The National Center for Transgender Equality, NCTE, and the Human Rights Campaign gather on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House in Washington, Monday, Oct. 22, 2018, for a #WontBeErased rally. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

In spite of numerous studies proving gender identity is determined by the brain, the Trump administration aims to redefine transgender people’s rights away.

Over the weekend, a New York Times report revealed that the Department of Health and Human Services is looking to redefine gender, which would, by extension, mean the US government would not recognize transgender people as a protected class of people entitled to civil rights.

The consequences would be dire.

The measure has yet to be enacted so, needless to say, keep an eye on this.

In other news…

Day 642: Tuesday, October 23

“I’m A Nationalist”

On Tuesday, after unleashing the “globalist” anti-Semitic dog whistle, President Trump finally admitted what many have called him. Although some of his supporters may try and brush this aside as Trump putting “America First” (which is a slogan that has its roots in the pro-Nazi movement in America in the 1920s but that’s a story for another day) this comment had a dark past. Not only is it synonymous with the modern white nationalist/neo-Nazi movements that are currently surging in America and Europe, but it is also synonymous with the ideologies America combatted in Japan, Italy, and Germany during World War II…

Nationalism is not patriotism. Nationalism is inherent in authoritarian regimes.

In other news…

Day 643-645: Wednesday-Friday, October 24-26

The MAGA Bomber
Cesar Sayoc, Jr. (Facebook)

Cesar Sayoc, Jr. (Facebook)

The Lede: I combined the events that took place from Wednesday to Friday into one segment because it truly felt like one, very long day.

After this week’s events, it now seems indisputable: the President of the United States and conservative media’s reckless rhetoric helped radicalize terrorists.

Cesar Sayoc Jr. has been arrested in connection with the attempted mass murder targeting Trump critics that include President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, senior Democratic political leaders, a former director of the CIA, and the Time Warner Center where CNN is located. Sayoc is a 56-year-old Florida resident with ties to New York. He has a lengthy criminal record which includes bomb threats. Sayoc’s social media accounts have also been uncovered, which include numerous posts threatening violence against Democrats, pro-Trump memes, and footage of Sayoc at a Trump rally. He also was the sole follower of Facebook pages called “Kill George Soros” and “Kill All Socialists.”

Sayoc’s truck, which was found by the FBI by in Plantation, Florida, was covered in President Trump’s seal and other right-wing/MAGA paraphernalia.

Sayoc was also a Fox News fan.

The news of Sayoc’s arrest came just after President Trump attacked the press on Twitter at 3 am and then appeared to endorse the false flag theory being perpetuated by conservative media (which the FBI has now concluded is not the case, and that these were not hoax devices).

After Sayoc’s arrest was made public, President Trump read scripted remarks at a prescheduled event condemning the attacks, but then continued his reckless rhetoric.

And at a rally later on Friday night, President Trump continued his attacks on targets of these bombings.

The Context: As of Friday morning, there were a total of 11 bomb targets and 14 bombs. All of the pipe bombs have a similar function and packaging. And all of the people who experienced these attempted assassinations have been repeatedly vilified and deemed enemies by the President of the United States.

  • Billionaire liberal philanthropist George Soros (sent to his home in New York)
  • Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (sent to her home in New York)
  • Former President Barack Obama (sent to his home in Washington)
  • Former CIA Director John Brennan (sent to CNN- the Time Warner Center in New York)
  • Former Attorney General Eric Holder
  • Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA (One bomb sent to LA, another sent to Maryland’s congressional mail sorting facility)
  • Actor Robert De Niro
  • Former Vice President Joe Biden (One sent to New Castle, DE, another sent to Wilmington)
  • Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ)
  • Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper
  • Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA)
  • Billionaire liberal philanthropist Tom Steyer

President Trump has long called the media the “enemy of the people,” called for his political opponents like Hillary Clinton to be jailed, questioned Barack Obama’s place of birth, and framed Democrats as “evil” enemies. And just last week, President Trump praised GOP Congressman Greg Gianforte for criminally body slamming reporter Ben Jacobs.

The Analysis: In moments of great crisis, the American people look to the president to assuage their fears. In times of divisiveness, we look to the president to unite us. In times of volatile political violence, the president is supposed to encourage peaceful coexistence. But that is not the case in 2018. Instead, the American people have come to expect the president to exacerbate crises, stoke divisiveness, and encourage political violence. President Trump is perpetuating the very things he has sworn to protect the American people from.

What Donald Trump and his allies are doing is dangerous. This isn’t a game. Lives are at risk. The President of the United States is cultivating an environment where political violence is encouraged. Trump and his allies in conservative media spread disinformation, gaslighting his supporters into a state of such hatred and delusion that we now have a radicalized terrorist who attempted to act on that hatred.

The president is supposed to remind Americans of their common values, not lie to them about their differences. President Trump’s political platform is to divide and conquer. And now we have further proof he is willing to continue his culture war, even if there may be casualties.

In other news…

Day 646-647: Saturday-Sunday, October 27-28

Synagogue

On Saturday, tragedy struck. The attack was committed by a neo-Nazi who screamed “all these Jews need to die” as he entered the synagogue. The shooting was at a Bris. The shooter was later identified, and his social media profile on Gab was revealed, showcasing that he was radicalized by the caravan fear mongering. Conservative media had been lying, stating that George Soros was funding the caravan of migrants from Honduras.

Before President Trump gave his speech condemning the attacks, he had a slightly different tone.

Even after it was known that this is what motivated the shooter, it did not stop President Trump from more anti-Semitic attacks.

And conservative media continued as well, with the specific charge that triggered the shooter.

By the end of the weekend, President Trump was once again targeting the bomb targets.

Unpresidented // Donald Trump / Government / Journalism / News
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by: Ahmed Baba

Ahmed Baba is the Co-Founder and President of Rantt. Writer of Unpresidented, Ahmed documented and analyzed every day of the Trump presidency. He's also a columnist at The Independent and his work has been cited in The New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC, Rolling Stone, BuzzFeed, The New York Post, The Huffington Post, Yahoo News, Blavity, Newsweek, The Telegraph, and more. He can be reached at [email protected] or found on Twitter @AhmedBaba_.

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