Here’s Every Action Trump Took In His Third Unpresidented Week As POTUS
Okay…this time it’s a little about what he said and lied about
Typically in my weekly roundups, I try not to cover Trump’s lies or nonsense. But in his third week in office, President Trump did a lot of talking and lying, and what he chose to talk and lie about is very important.
Trump didn’t take as many actions as we’ve seen in previous weeks and it seems the new president is beginning to learn a thing or two about checks and balances.
Although the actions he took may have been less frequent this week, what he did do will surely have broad ramifications. Trump signed a total of 4 executive orders.
Here is every action President Trump, and his administration, took during his third week as President of the United States (with some talking and lying peppered in):
Third Weekend (Feb 4–5)
On Friday night, a federal judge in Washington state blocked President Trump’s Muslim immigration ban. The court placed a temporary restraining order that blocked the enforcement of two aspects of the executive order (EO), one of them being the main component:
- The 90-day suspension of entry into the US for people from the 7 Muslim nations referred to in the EO: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen
- The restrictions on the intake of refugees, including “any action that prioritizes the refugee claims of certain religious minorities”
President Trump spent his weekend at Mar-a-Lago, tweeting away and venting his frustrations with the court’s decision.
The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!
It didn’t stop there…
These tweets would come back to haunt him later in the week.
- On Friday, Kellyanne Conway cited the “Bowling Green Massacre” in an interview with Chris Matthews to defend Trump’s Muslim immigration ban. The problem is, that attack never happened. In an effort to defend herself, Kellyanne later claimed she “misspoke one word.” That defense was almost immediately disproven, as it was revealed that she cited the same fake terrorist attack in an interview with both Cosmopolitan and TMZ…in the same day. It’s important to keep this in mind, because lying was a reoccurring theme this week
Third Week (Feb 6–10)
Monday, Feb 6
Trump began taking his war on truth, and the media, to a whole new level:
- CNN released a poll that found Donald Trump has the lowest approval rating of any newly elected president in history and that the majority of Americans oppose the Muslim immigration executive order. Trump then took to Twitter to vent his thoughts:
Any negative polls are fake news, just like the CNN, ABC, NBC polls in the election. Sorry, people want border security and extreme vetting.
- Later on in the day, Trump made one of his boldest lines of attack on the media thus far:
Speaking to the U.S. Central Command on Monday, President Trump went off his prepared remarks to make a truly stunning claim: The media was intentionally covering up reports of terrorist attacks.
“You’ve seen what happened in Paris, and Nice. All over Europe, it’s happening,” he said to the assembled military leaders. “It’s gotten to a point where it’s not even being reported. And in many cases the very, very dishonest press doesn’t want to report it. They have their reasons, and you understand that.”
The White House then released a list of 78 terrorist attacks they believe didn’t get proper coverage. The list oddly omitted terrorist attacks committed by non-Muslims
The New York Times and CBS News presented their coverage, revealing that they did indeed cover most of the attacks on the list.
Tuesday, Feb 7
- President Donald Trump decided to start his morning off on Tuesday with two, easily disprovable, blatant lies:
I don’t know Putin, have no deals in Russia, and the haters are going crazy – yet Obama can make a deal with Iran, #1 in terror, no problem!
- Later on in the day, Trump met with 3,000 sheriffs and repeated his false claim that “the murder rate in our country is the highest it’s been in 47 years.” Trump then said people weren’t aware of this because “the press doesn’t tell it like it is.”
- In what was being considered the most contentious cabinet confirmation in American history, billionaire Betsy DeVos was confirmed as Secretary of Education by Vice President Mike Pence’s tie-breaking vote. She was subsequently sworn in.
- The Army told Congress that it will allow the $3.8 billion Dakota Access oil pipeline to move forward
Wednesday, Feb 8
- The Senate voted Wednesday to confirm Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama as the next attorney general. He is now an official member of Trump’s cabinet
- President Trump attacked Nordstrom on Twitter (also retweeted from the POTUS account) for removing Ivanka Trump’s products from their lineup:
My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom. She is a great person — always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!
A new poll found that Trump is successfully dividing the country with his obsessive spread of disinformation while simultaneously corroding the people’s trust in the media:
- 49% of voters considered the Trump Administration truthful, to 48% of voters who consider it untruthful
- The news media is considered untruthful by a 53%-majority of registered voters, to only 39% who find them truthful
- “The partisan split on this topic is clear — 89% of Republicans find the Trump administration truthful, versus 77% of Democrats who find the administration untruthful. Conversely, 69% of Democrats find the news media truthful, while a whopping 91% of Republicans consider them untruthful.”
Thursday, Feb 9
- President Trump signed an executive order creating a task force to be led by Attorney General Jeff Sessions for increased intelligence sharing to improve law enforcement when it comes to illegal immigration and drug trafficking
- President Trump signed an executive order designed to increase the penalties for a person who assaults a law enforcement officer, and to give broader protections
- President Trump signed an executive order prioritizing “illegal immigration,” violent crime, and drug cartels. It also seeks to create much stricter federal laws regarding illegal smuggling and trafficking of humans, drugs or other substances, wildlife, and weapons
- President Trump signed an executive order refining the order of succession for the Attorney General in the Department of Justice
- The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals released its decision on President Trump’s muslim immigration ban, rejecting Trump’s bid to reinstate his ban. With the decision, the court sent a strong rebuke to the administration over their flawed interpretation of the power of judicial review. Trump expressed his thoughts on the matter:
SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!
- When meeting with senators on Capitol Hill, Supreme Court Justice nominee Neil Gorsuch said he was “demoralized” and “disheartened” by Trump’s remarks earlier in the week attacking the judcial decisions on his immigration ban. Sen. Richard Blumenthal originally broke the news, and other Senators corroborated it. President Trump took to Twitter:
Sen.Richard Blumenthal, who never fought in Vietnam when he said for years he had (major lie),now misrepresents what Judge Gorsuch told him?
- President Trump’s counselor Kellyanne Conway then went onto Fox News and plugged Ivanka’s products:
“Go buy Ivanka’s stuff, is what I would tell you, it’s a wonderful line. I own some of it, I’m going to give a free commercial here. Go buy it today, everybody.”
Conway violated federal ethics policy, and was “counseled” by the White House.
Friday, Feb 10
- President Trump pledged cooperation with Japan in a visit with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
SUMMARY Photographers: Look at me! Trump: What are they saying? PM: They are saying “look at me” Trump: Stares awkwardly into eyes of PM https://t.co/FSwsouc204
- While President Trump was ferociously shaking Shinzo Abe’s hand, his Russia problem got much bigger:
“Over the course of less than 24 hours, Russia has become an exponentially larger problem for Donald Trump. First, the Washington Post reported, citing nine current and former intelligence officials, that National Security Advisor Michael Flynn had lied about not discussing sanctions on Russia with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. The story has since been corroborated by the New York Times. Now, per CNN, the dossier first leaked by Buzzfeed — compiled by former MI6 agent Christopher Steele — has gained a substantial amount of credence as US intelligence officials have confirmed parts of its findings.”
Michael Flynn And Christopher Steele Add To Donald Trump’s Russia Problem
It’s hard to believe it’s only been three weeks. This week in particular was an interesting one. President Trump signed executive orders giving much greater power to law enforcement, his conflicts of interests were on full display, and the Russia-Trump plot thickened. Trump learned a thing or two about checks and balances and we learned that the judicial branch will be a much needed check on his power.
The one reoccurring theme of this week I wanted to highlight, was Trump’s obsessive lying and attacks on the media, and how it is dividing the country and corroding trust in the media. Trump’s, and his administration’s, lying is having terrible effects on the American public. With this tactic of discrediting the media and spreading disinformation, Trump is able to keep his followers in an almost blind state of support. It’s causing his supporters to believe his word over valid fact. This lack of belief in fact can lead to the wrong people being voted into public office. And once they get there, major forms of corruption can go unchecked.
I’ll end this week’s “Unpresidented” with a new PPP poll that was released on Friday. 51% of Trump voters say that the Bowling Green Massacre shows why Trump’s immigration policy is needed…A massacre, that never happened.
