A Complete Breakdown Of Donald Trump’s 30th Unpresidented Week As POTUS

30 weeks. Countless staff shakeups. 1 failing president
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by: Ahmed Baba on August 20, 2017

President Donald Trump listens to reporters questions in the lobby of Trump Tower, Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017 in New York. (AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

The President of the United States is a neo-Nazi sympathizer.

This is not my opinion. This is reality.

Given the opportunity to rise to the occasion when a nation was hungering for moral leadership, Donald Trump proved once and for all he is a man who lacks the decency, intelligence, and stability to lead sheep, let alone a nation.

Over the course of this week, Donald Trump tried to draw a false moral equivalence between radical white supremacist terrorism that led to the death of Heather Heyer and the anti-protestors who were there to bravely stand against neo-Nazism.

Donald Trump made a feeble attempt to draw a moral equivalence between President George Washington, a man who helped found this nation, and Robert E. Lee, a man who led a hate-fueled rebellion aimed at destroying it.

Why am I being so definitive in my writing? Because there are not “many sides” to this discussion. There is one of hatred, bigotry, and violence. And one of love, tolerance, and resistance. The choice should have been easy for the leader of the free world but not for Donald Trump. This week, Trump proved that he’d rather preserve the legacy of those who fought for a worldview that wanted to see their fellow human in chains than embrace a land of the free.

Donald Trump has tripled down on a losing strategy, and if he continues down this path, he will only appeal to a racist minority and ultimately, he will fall. Trump solidified himself as political poison and began to rapidly lose support. From business and faith leaders on his advisory councils to losing millions of dollars in business at Mar-a-Lago, Trump is rapidly falling from grace. Even some unexpected Republicans began to indicate that Trump sympathizing with neo-Nazis may be where they say enough is enough…

“The president has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful…he also recently has not demonstrated that he understands the character of this nation.” — Republican Senator Bob Corker (TN)

The events that unfolded this week continued to test the resilience of our nation. We saw folks unite and stand up for what they believe in, applying public pressure that yielded real results. By the end of the week, it became clear that the American people have been a more effective check on this president than Congress.

Here’s a complete breakdown of Donald Trump’s 30th week as POTUS:

30th Weekend (August 11–13)

Hatred, Bigotry, And Nazism From One Side

White supremacists walk into Lee park surrounded by counter-demonstrators in Charlottesville, VA — Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017 (AP/Steve Helber)

I hate to make you relive the horror of this weekend, but in order to paint the full picture of this week, I have start on Friday night in Charlottesville, VA.

On Friday night, white supremacists/neo-Nazis began to gather ahead of their rally the next day.

The following morning neo-Nazis gathered in Charlottesville, VA to spew their hateful ideology.

President Trump was dead silent the entire morning. This was interesting given the fact Trump tweeted about a terror attack labeling it radical Islamic terrorism before it was even confirmed later this week…Anyway, the morning was filled with violence.

When Trump finally did tweet, it was vague and non-specific.

Shortly after this tweet, the first footage of the terror attack surfaced.

The neo-Nazi who carried out this attack was James Alex Fields. This domestic terrorist murdered 32-year old anti-racism protestor, Heather D. Heyer. Two Virginia state police officers died as well in a helicopter crash while monitoring the situation.

SIGN THIS PETITION TO CALL ON CHARLOTTESVILLE TO REPLACE ITS CONFEDERATE STATUE OF ROBERT E. LEE WITH A STATUE HONORING HEATHER HEYER

After Heather Heyer’s death was confirmed, President Trump delivered remarks and failed to explicitly condemn white supremacy, instead he condemned violence “on many sides.”

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms, this egregious display of hatred bigotry, and violence on many sides.” — President Trump

So, after neo-Nazis assembled and someone was killed by a radical white supremacist terrorist, President Trump condemned hate “on many sides.” For someone who criticized President Barack Obama for not “naming the enemy” and explicitly saying the words “radical Islamic terrorism,” it was really something to watch President Trump twist himself into a knot to avoid saying white supremacy, alt-right, neo-Nazi, or even calling this an act of terrorism. The White House tried to clear it up, but the damage was already done.

Many saw Trump’s comments as a dog whistle to his white nationalist supporters. People from across the political spectrum chimed in.

Even President Obama came out of his Twitter hibernation to remind us all, in his typical inspirational manner, that hate is not innate and there is always hope.

If you haven’t watched the VICE News’ Elle Reeves first-hand reporting on Charlottesville, please do.

30th Week (August 14–19)

Monday, August 14

A Reluctant Rebuke

President Donald Trump failing to explicitly condemn white supremacy during his speech on the violence in Charlottesville, VA — Trump National Golf Club, Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017, in Bedminster, NJ (AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Still reeling from the backlash over his vague condemnation of hate and violence on “many sides,” after being pressured by his aides, President Trump decided to finally make a more specific condemnation. But first, he couldn’t resist taking to Twitter and attacking CEO of Merck, Ken Frazier, for quitting his manufacturing advisory council after Trump didn’t explicitly condemn white supremacy.

Important to note that it took Trump less than an hour to condemn a prominent black CEO, and at that point, he still hadn’t explicitly condemned a white supremacist terrorist who just murdered an innocent American 48 hours earlier. But a few hours later, that changed when President Trump made a statement that he should’ve made on Saturday moments after the radical white supremacist terrorist attack. Trump stated what should’ve been easy for any other president to say:

“Racism is evil and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear.”

A notable omission was that Trump didn’t call this an act of domestic terrorism, which it was. His national security advisor H.R. McMaster agrees.

Many pointed to the apparent insincerity of his forced condemnation.

We later found out that Trump was reluctant to give this condemnation but his aides pushed him to do so. The events the following day would confirm that.

Despite these comments, Trump couldn’t stop his bleeding support. As we know, large corporations scan social media in order to get a good gauge on public opinion and mitigate risk. The public had made it known where they stood. Even after his reluctant condemnation, no one was willing to tarnish their brands by standing by this toxic president. Under Armour CEO, Kevin Plank, Intel CEO, Brian Krzanich, also left the council with some other business leaders following suit.

By the end of the day, Trump was back to his nonsense. He attacked Ken Frazier again, proved the insincerity of his condemnation of neo-Nazis by saying the media wasn’t satisfied, and retweeted an alt-right pizzagate conspiracy theorist…

Meanwhile…

  • Foreign Policy reported that the FBI and DHS prepared a report dated May 10, 2017, called “White Supremacist Extremism Poses Persistent Threat of Lethal Violence.” Notably, the report asserted that:

White supremacists “were responsible for 49 homicides in 26 attacks from 2000 to 2016 … more than any other domestic extremist movement.”

On June 23, 2017, the Trump administration cut funding ($400,000) from the Countering Violent Extremism program to an anti-white supremacist organization founded by former neo-Nazis. Trump claims to be to tough on terror, but it appears he’s only tough on terrorism if the terrorists are brown. Sebastian Gorka’s wife Katherine, spearheaded this move. Sebastian (a known Nazi sympathizer) is still employed by this White House…

SIGN THIS PETITION AND DEMAND THAT PRESIDENT TRUMP FIRE WHITE SUPREMACISTS STEPHEN MILLER AND SEBASTIAN GORKA

  • Yes, the Trump-Russia investigation is still moving full speed ahead. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly in talks with the West Wing to speak to former and current senior Trump admin officials, including former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus
  • Speaking of Trump-Russia, the Trump campaign recently turned over 2o,000 campaign documents to Mueller’s investigation and congressional committees. Some details have been leaked. The Washington Post reported that a junior Trump campaign adviser sent at least half a dozen emails trying to set up meetings with Russian officials
  • The New York Times reported that, “North Korea’s success in testing an intercontinental ballistic missile that appears able to reach the United States was made possible by black-market purchases of powerful rocket engines probably from a Ukrainian factory with historical ties to Russia’s missile program”
  • Reports continued to roll in about Chief Strategist Steve Bannon’s uncertain future. As I’ve long suspected, President Trump reportedly thought that Bannon was behind many White House leaks, especially those targeting H.R. McMaster. Bannon has had a long running feud with McMaster since he removed Bannon from the National Security Council
  • “The Justice Department demanded over a million IP addresses from an anti-Trump website and a web-hosting company is fighting it”
  • Protestors took down a Confederate monument in Durham, NC

Tuesday, August 15

The Hood Comes Off

President Donald Trump — June 9, 2017 (AP)

Tuesday morning, President Trump continued his sharing of questionable tweets. He retweeted a Fox News news article that claimed he was “seriously considering” pardoning former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio who was convicted for ignoring court orders to stop racially profiling Latinos. Also, he retweeted an image depicting a train hitting CNN and a man calling him a fascist.

President Trump then went on to have the most disastrous moment of his presidency thus far. In a press conference that was supposed to be about infrastructure with no questions, President Trump went off script and off the rails.

Trump went full on neo-Nazi sympathizer, defending them and calling the counter-protestors, who were there with the clear purpose of standing against neo-Nazism, also “very violent.”

Trump said there is blame on “both sides” and there were “very fine people” on both sides, including the neo-Nazi side. Trump stated that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson owned slaves too sand asked if we were going to take down their statues as well in defense of Robert E. Lee. Trump also claimed he didn’t immediately condemn the hate groups because he “didn’t have all the facts.” Important to note once more that Trump is known to condemn terrorist attacks before they are confirmed, and later in this week did the same.

This was the last straw for many. Trump made his best efforts to equate white supremacists and the protestors who were there to stop them. He also tried to equate the founders of our nations with the leader of a rebellion against it. This wasn’t the last time he would try and preserve the Confederate legacy this week…

These remarks shocked his staff, but those who have been watching the president closely since his campaign, saw this as confirmation: The President of the United States is a racist.

Meanwhile…

  • As more and more people dropped from his manufacturing council, Trump took to Twitter to insult them

  • The top officers of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps all issued statements condemning racism
  • North Korea backed off its threat to fire missiles at Guam
  • The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) stated that if Trump were to follow through on his threat to end certain Obamacare subsidies, insurance premiums would increase by 20% and the federal budget’s deficit would increase by $194 billion over the next decade
  • After Amy Siskind tweeted at GoDaddy to remove the neo-Nazi site The Daily Stormer from their hosting service, public pressure mounted and they did it. When The Daily Stormer switched to Google, they kicked them off as well

Wednesday, August 16

The Trump Train Derails

President Donald Trump walks to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House — Thursday, Aug. 3, 2017, in Washington (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Following President Trump’s remarks, he received intense backlash. Trump’s staff was particularly angry. Gary Cohn, an economic adviser to the president, was present during Trump’s press conference. Cohn is Jewish himself, so the endorsement of neo-Nazism reportedly made him “between appalled and furious.” Still, no resignation.

New Chief of Staff John Kelly, who was lauded as the man who may be able to bring stability to the White House, hung his head in shame during the speech.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) released a statement condemning all white supremacy and Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) sent out a tweet. Neither of which directly condemned their president’s hateful words.

As we know, their words are empty rhetoric…

Other Republicans gave a stronger rebuke. Senator Lindsey Graham (R- SC) released a statement:

“Through his statements yesterday, President Trump took a step backward by again suggesting there is moral equivalency between the white supremacist neo-Nazis and KKK members who attended the Charlottesville rally and people like Ms. Heyer. I, along with many others, do not endorse this moral equivalency”

Nonetheless, President Trump actually felt he did the right thing when he defended the neo-Nazis. His decision to make the statement was reportedly fueled by his anger over being told what to do. Politico reported that his anger fuels many of his decisions, and even factored into the announcement of his transgender military ban:

“In one stark example, the president’s dislike of being told what to do played a role in his decision to abruptly ban all transgender people from the military: a move opposed by his own defense secretary, James Mattis, and the head of the Coast Guard, who vowed not to honor the president’s decree.”

SIGN THIS PETITION AND DEMAND THAT TRUMP NOT IMPLEMENT HIS BAN ON TRANSGENDER SERVICE MEMBERS

While the Trump White House grappled with the after effects of Trump’s actions, some of the most influential CEOs in the nation had a conference call where they agreed to disband the Strategy & Policy Forum. Before they were able to announce the move, Trump took to Twitter with a lie that he himself decided to disband both the Manufacturing Council and the Strategy and Policy Forum.

There was nothing Trump could do to prevent the flood of disapproval his racist statements spurred. And it continued throughout the week…

Meanwhile…

  • Steve Bannnon gave a strange interview with The American Prospect’s (liberal) journalist Robert Kuttner. In this interview he undercut President Trump’s North Korea rhetoric, called white supremacists clowns, and admitted to the White House infighting stating that he’s still fighting Gary Cohn and that his rivals in the State and Defense department are “wetting themselves.” Bannon reportedly didn’t think he was on record, but that is unlikely given the fact Bannon knows these rules well having been Chairman of Breitbart
  • Former Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush released a joint statement condemning the racist violence in Charlottesville
  • Hope Hicks became President Trump’s interim Communications Director
  • Bloomberg reported that “Texas can’t use its current voter maps in the upcoming congressional midterm elections after a panel of federal judges ruled districts approved by state Republican lawmakers illegally discriminate against Hispanic and black voters”
  • After the CBO report, the Trump administration said they would continue to fund Obamacare subsidies
  • Baltimore removed its Confederate monuments

Thursday, August 17

Make America Hate Again

Donald Trump (AP)

On Thursday, Trump felt it necessary to take to Twitter. Trump attacked Lindsey Graham over his statements the previous day and called the media dishonest. Then, he all but endorsed Republican Arizona Senator Jeff Flake’s opponent (Flake recently wrote a book critical of the president). And then he defended the Confederacy.

Once again, Trump attempted to paint a moral equivalency with our founders (yes, I’m aware they were flawed humans), with that of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

Meanwhile…

  • There was a tragic terrorist attack in Barcelona, Spain. A terrorist drove a car down a crowded street, killing 13 and injuring dozens. Although ISIS claimed responsibility, Trump immediately took to Twitter to blame this on Radical Islamic Terrorism before it was officially confirmed. Trump also spread his lie/racist story about how General Pershing used bullets dipped in pigs blood to kill Muslims

  • Attorney General Jeff Sessions criticized Chicago’s so-called “sanctuary city” policies
  • In order to avoid any additional embarrassment, Trump disbanded his infrastructure advisory council

Friday, August 18

The Impeachment Of Alt-President Bannon

White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon stares at President Donald Trump during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington — Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The rise and fall of Chief Strategist Steve Bannon is an interesting tale. After being Chairman of Breitbart and shepherding the alt-right/white supremacist movement, he was brought onto Trump’s campaign to help him during the General Election against Hillary Clinton. Bannon helped garner Trump’s support among the far-right, and in the end, those white supremacists have proven to be Trump’s downfall.

Once in the White House, Bannon quickly attempted to consolidate power. In no time, he was being called the shadow president by SNL and making the cover of TIME magazine. Bannon engineered the first Muslim Ban, which proved to do nothing but cause chaos and get immediately shut down by the courts. He then maneuvered his way on the National Security Council but that came to a halt once H. R McMaster replaced Michael Flynn as National Security advisor. Over time, Bannon watched as his clout reduced, and his wing of the White House took loss after loss. Once John Kelly came onto the scene, it was clear Bannon’s days were numbered. On Friday, he was removed from his post as Chief Strategist and has returned to Breitbart. Bannon is said to have put in his resignation on August 7th, before the events in Charlottesville.

The self-proclaimed “Leninist” who’s stated goal was the “deconstruction of the administrative state” didn’t quite accomplish what he wanted. But he may have very well successfully deconstructed the Trump administration beyond repair.

Meanwhile…

  • A known Trump supporter Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) gave a strong condemnation of the President’s fitness for office

  • Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation is reportedly focusing heavily on Donald Trump Jr. and the intentions surrounding his June 9, 2016 meeting at Trump Tower, where he was seeking damaging information on Hillary Clinton from the Russian Government
  • Billionaire Carl Icahn has stepped down as a special advisor to the president after questions surrounding his conflicts of interest
  • 3 Democratic Representative want to censure (a congressional condemnation) President Trump
  • Neil Gorsuch will speak at the Trump international hotel
  • “Trump approved an Obama-era plan Friday to elevate Cyber Command, currently housed at the National Security Agency (NSA), to be a Unified Combatant Command.” This indicates the U.S. is stepping up their cyber security measures and bolstering itself for cyber warfare
  • 2012 Republican Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney called on Trump to apologize for his comments defending white supremacy
  • All members of Trump’s arts and humanities panel resigned in protest of Trump’s comments
  • A.R. Bernard, an African-American NY mega-church pastor, became the first religious leader to quit Trump’s evangelical advisory board
  • Some of the biggest charities in the U.S., from the American Red Cross to the Salvation Army, have canceled events at Mar-a-Lago
  • Mother of Heather Heyer and rising voice in the resistance, Susan Bro, had some choice words for Donald Trump, calling on him to “think before he speaks”

Saturday, August 19

The Real MVP Of 2017: The American People

Protesters gather on the National Mall for the Women’s March on Washington during the first full day of Donald Trump’s presidency — Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

From the prevention of the gutting of the congressional ethics office due to Americans blowing up their Representatives’ phones to the Women’s March, to healthcare activism, and beyond, Americans have proven themselves to be extraordinary people. We are not tolerating the hate and idiocy coming from this White House or extremist groups, and this week was no different.

On Saturday, thousands took to the streets of Boston in protest of the alt-right’s “free speech rally.” The peaceful protestors greatly outnumbered the others. It was a spectacle.

President Trump took to Twitter at first condemning the protestors and then trying to praise them.

Regardless of what President Trump says now, the American people know where he stands. And as we saw this week, we won’t let him get away with it…

Unpresidented // Donald Trump / Government / Journalism / Politics
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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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