A Complete Analysis Of Trump’s 180th Unpresidented Week As POTUS

President Donald J. Trump delivers remarks during the 2020 Salute to America event Saturday, July 4, 2020, on the South Lawn of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)

Trump’s first major typo after winning the election was spelling Unprecedented incorrectly. He infamously tweeted “Unpresidented.” This typo is emblematic 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 every week of his presidency. This is week 180.

During the week celebrating 244 years since America declared independence from a tyrant, President Trump continued to behave like a racist tyrant himself while cozying up to a foreign dictator who allegedly put bounties on American troops. Trump accused his critics of being un-American while engaging in the most un-American behavior imaginable: refusing to protect American lives from Russia and COVID-19.

Under the guise of patriotism, President Trump unleashed some of the most depraved and darkest speeches he’s ever delivered. Rather than choose to unite and heal during this moment of crisis, Trump chose to divide and gaslight. At Mount Rushmore on Friday night and at the White House on Saturday, July 4th, Trump falsely depicted America as a dictatorial liberal dystopia – images straight out of a racist conspiracy theorist Fox News fan’s fever dream. Trump is campaigning to be President of the Confederacy, not the United States.

President Trump called cancel culture “totalitarianism” (could barely pronounce it) and warned of far-left “fascism” (an oxymoron). This was delivered after Trump himself unleashed military police on protestors, twisted the DOJ into his authoritarian tool, gaslights his base with disinformation, and attacks the press. The speeches were pure projection.

President Trump, and speechwriter Stephen Miller, made sure to pepper in cookie-cutter praise of America’s past leaders but the crux of this speech could not be further from reality. Trump used these speeches to conflate Black Lives Matter protestors’ efforts to take down confederate statues and historic racists with every historic figure in America, including Abraham Lincoln.

The American people are not this stupid. President Trump is brazenly making an effort to conflate the opposition to Confederate statues with the entirety of American history and American heroes. People don’t care about this. The vast majority wants to defeat COVID-19 and racial injustice. Trump is, once again, going full-blown racist Confederate defender to appeal to his shrinking base, all while claiming he’s seeking to protect American history.

Aside from the false patriotism, President Trump gathered crowds of people who weren’t wearing masks or social distancing as if we aren’t in the middle of a deadly pandemic and people on his team aren’t testing positive for COVID-19. It turns out the disease-infested caravan Trump warned about in 2018 was actually his 2020 administration and campaign. Trump’s team is a super spreader of coronavirus. Given the lack of precautions at Mount Rushmore, I’m sure it’ll have the same result as his other recent rallies.

President Trump used these speeches to pretend he’s a patriot all while he refuses to hold Russia accountable for putting bounties on American troops. This week, we learned a great deal more about the intelligence that indicated Russia was indeed partaking in this conduct as rapid-fire corroborations continued to support different components of the story.

The New York Times reported on data transfers that intelligence officials discovered which confirmed money was transferred from the Russian intelligence service to a Taliban-linked middle man. The price tag per American soldier was reportedly $100,000. The Associated Press reported that the White House knew about this intelligence that Russia paid members of the Taliban to kill American troops as early as 2019. NBC News and The Washington Post quickly reported the same. It was also reported that the bounties were successful in leading to the deaths of some American troops.

These reports change all the context. If true, they further undercut denials that Trump wasn’t briefed on the Russian bounties. Perhaps more damning is that the reports paint every single conciliatory move Trump has made to Russian President Vladimir Putin over the last year in an even more treacherous light. Those moves include seeking to invite Russia to the G7 and inviting the Taliban to Camp David last summer.

How did President Trump respond to this news? By denying it exists. Trump jumped from denying he was briefed to his favorite defense – he claimed that the entire story was a “hoax,” just like he called the Russia Investigation and Putin’s interference in US democracy. There are currently no retaliatory measures being prepared against Russia at the moment. To reiterate, the President of the United States has responded to overwhelming evidence that Russia paid bounties to kill Americans by acting as Russia’s chief propagandist.

Speaking of threats to the United States, coronavirus saw repeated all-time highs this week, as we surpassed over 50,000 daily cases for the first time. When asked in a Senate hearing what he would recommend we change for a future pandemic, Dr. Fauci told Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) that we will need a more coordinated national response and not disparate state responses. Fauci wasn’t the only one who rebuked Trump’s coronavirus response this week.

While speaking in Wilmington, Delaware, former Vice President Joe Biden outlined the full timeline of Trump’s failed response to coronavirus while at the same time discussing the proposals he was making during each Trump failing. The remarks were carried live on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News.

President Trump has been trying to depict Biden as senile and incapable of speaking, but Americans who actually watch his remarks see a man with a plan to actually address the challenges our country faces and who actually cares about the American people – not just himself.

President Trump has proven he doesn’t care about American deaths at the hands of Russia because he sees it as a political inconvenience. The same goes for COVID-19. How did he initially respond to each of these threats to American lives? By falsely crying “hoax.” Trump’s callous response to American deaths is saying they don’t exist.

The White House is reportedly preparing new messaging that will urge Americans to “live with” the surging cases of coronavirus. President Trump also falsely claimed 99% of coronavirus cases are “harmless.” We are the only developed country in the world struggling to contain this virus. Why?

We are here because the President of the United States and a portion of our population just refuse to believe in objective reality. If we had a cohesive national response and there weren’t some Americans being dangerous idiots and refusing to wear masks, we’d be ahead of the virus now. The states in the Northeast took the necessary measures early on and now are doing much better than those who refused to take this seriously at first like Texas, Florida, and Arizona.

President Trump’s poll numbers are being destroyed during COVID-19 because every single American has finally felt firsthand the effects of his incompetence, depravity, and selfishness that tuned-in people have been screaming about for 3 years. Trump hs never cared about governing and now everyone knows. It’s why I think his racist distractions and fear-mongering attacks on the left won’t work.

If you’ve followed Donald Trump’s life, his self-sabotaging moves aren’t surprising. Trump’s life story is that of a depraved, foolish, privileged, egomaniac who repeatedly abuses power he’s unfit to wield (first his daddy’s money then the presidency) only to have his cons unravel—defrauding everyone who bought into it.

Unfortunately, even Americans who didn’t buy into his presidential con are being defrauded and the cost is a lot of American lives.

Let’s dive into another Unpresidented week.

Trump’s Dubious Russian Bounty Denials

Day 1,257: Monday, June 29

President Donald Trump, May 30, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Monday’s top stories:

• The Washington Post: Russian bounties to Taliban-linked militants resulted in deaths of U.S. troops, according to intelligence assessments
• CNN: Intelligence on Russian bounty plot was included in the President’s Daily Brief earlier this year, source says
• AP: Trump denies briefing about reported bounties on US troops
• NPR: Congress Unites To Demand Answers From Trump On Russian Bounties In Afghanistan
• CNN: From pandering to Putin to abusing allies and ignoring his own advisers, Trump’s phone calls alarm US officials
• USA TODAY: ‘Indefensible’: Trump slammed for sharing video where supporter yells ‘white power’ at protesters
• Reuters: In major ruling, U.S. Supreme Court strikes down strict Louisiana abortion law
• Vox: The Supreme Court’s big decision on the CFPB and the “unitary executive,” explained
• CNN: Supreme Court declines to take up border wall case
• CNN: Some US states return to previous restrictions hoping to slow surges of coronavirus cases
• Sky News: Coronavirus: Global COVID-19 deaths pass half a million as North and South America struggle to overcome first wave
• The Washington Post: Some Trump allies push for campaign shake-up to revive president’s imperiled reelection bid
• CNBC: CDC says U.S. has ‘way too much virus’ to control pandemic as cases surge across country
• The Washington Post: House Democrats push through first bill in a decade expanding Affordable Care Act
• ABC News: Mississippi lawmakers vote to remove Confederate battle emblem from state flag
• CNBC: Nearly half the U.S. population is without a job, showing how far the labor recovery has to go
• CNBC: Biden tells donors: I’m going to get rid of most of Trump’s tax cuts ‘and a lot of you may not like that’
• The New York Times: How the Trump Campaign Is Drawing Obama Out of Retirement
• The Daily Beast: CNN’s Van Jones Secretly Helped Craft the Weak Trump Police Reform He Praised on TV
• Rantt Media: Trump Masks His Real Racism Under False Patriotism

Reported Hard Evidence

Day 1,258: Tuesday, June 30

Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the Military Academy of Strategic Rocket Troops after Peter the Great in Balashikha, outside Moscow, Russia, Friday, Dec. 22, 2017.. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Tuesday’s top stories:

• The New York Times: Suspicions of Russian Bounties Were Bolstered by Data on Financial Transfers
• AP: AP sources: White House aware of Russian bounties in 2019
• The Guardian: Trump’s ties to Putin under fresh scrutiny in wake of Russia bounty reports
• CNBC: Dr. Anthony Fauci says U.S. coronavirus outbreak is ‘going to be very disturbing,’ could top 100,000 new cases a day
• NBC News: Trump’s ‘white power’ retweet set off ‘five-alarm fire’ in White House
• The Washington Post: Workers are getting laid off for a second time, as the virus’s surge puts reopenings on hold
• Politico: Russians squeeze U.S. troops in Syria amid uproar over Trump’s dealings with Moscow
• Business Insider: Dow caps off best quarter since 1987 as strong economic data drives gains
• CNN: Biden slams Trump on coronavirus: ‘Our wartime president has surrendered’
• CNN: Senate strips provision from intelligence bill requiring campaigns to report foreign election help
• NBC News: Senate Republicans distance themselves from Trump on coronavirus masks
• CNN: Mississippi governor signs bill to retire flag with Confederate emblem
• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Appeals court limits Wisconsin early voting to 2 weeks before election, stops voters from receiving ballots via email, fax
• CNN: The white-collar revolt against Trump is peaking
• NBC News: Trump has lost his senior advantage. And that could cost him in November.
• Axios: Panic sets in at White House over Trump’s re-election prospects
• BBC: Hong Kong security law: China passes controversial legislation
• Reuters: Japan calls China’s reported move on Hong Kong ‘regrettable’

Trump, Chief Putin Propagandist

Day 1,259: Wednesday, July 1

President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Former Sergey Kislyak (AP)

Wednesday’s top stories:

• The New York Times: Afghan Contractor Handed Out Russian Cash to Kill Americans, Officials Say
• The Washington Post: Analysis | The only people dismissing the Russia bounties intel: The Taliban, Russia and Trump
• CNN: Trump’s resistance led intel agencies to brief him less and less on Russia
• NBC News: Father of Marine killed in 2019 bomb attack wants answers amid reports of Russia bounties
• The New York Times: Coronavirus Live Updates: New Cases in U.S. Are Up 80% in Past 2 Weeks
• The Washington Post: Live updates: California and Pennsylvania to impose new restrictions amid spike in coronavirus cases
• CNBC: House passes extension of coronavirus small business loan deadline
• The Washington Post: Trump vows to veto $740 billion defense bill if Confederate-named military bases are renamed
• Politico: Poll: Trump job approval dips as coronavirus fears rise
• CNN: Trump calls Black Lives Matter a ‘symbol of hate’ as he digs in on race
• Axios: Scoop: Kushner changes top Trump campaign staff
• Axios: Scoop: Trump regrets following Jared Kushner’s advice on prison reform
• NBC News: Federal court invalidates Trump administration asylum restrictions
• Politico: Hickenlooper rolls to victory in Colorado Senate primary
• NPR: Oklahoma Votes For Medicaid Expansion Over Objections Of Republican State Leaders
• ABC News: Alabama students throwing ‘COVID parties’ to see who gets infected: Officials
• The Washington Post: Trump supporters hope to use conservative anger at Chief Justice Roberts to energize troubled campaign
• Rantt Media: Too Many Media Orgs Are Still Regurgitating Trump’s Lies
• Business Insider: A majority of people polled across Germany, France, Spain, Denmark, and Portugal have lost trust in the US because of its disastrous handling of the coronavirus pandemic
• BBC: First arrests under Hong Kong ‘anti-protest’ law
• NBC News: South Korea calls for U.S.-North Korea summit

Coronavirus Surges Unchecked

Day 1,260: Thursday, July 2

President Donald J. Trump, joined by Vice President Mike Pence and members of the White House COVID-19 Coronavirus task force – – Thursday, April 16, 2020. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian)

Thursday’s top stories:

• The Washington Post: Live updates: U.S. sets record for new coronavirus cases, surpassing 55,000
• The Washington Post: White House does not plan any immediate response over intelligence reports on Russian bounties targeting U.S. troops
• Politico: America’s told-you-so moment: How we botched the reopening
• The New York Times: Why June Was Such a Terrible Month for Trump
• CNBC: The coronavirus may have mutated to become more infectious, Dr. Anthony Fauci says
• Politico: ‘FBI Lovebirds’ and Diamond and Silk: The day Trump was briefed on the Russian bounties scheme
• The Guardian: Texas governor orders residents to wear face masks as coronavirus cases surge
• CNN: Justice Department considering replacing US attorney in Brooklyn with Barr ally
• CNN: Ghislaine Maxwell, longtime Jeffrey Epstein associate, arrested for recruiting and abusing girls in sex-trafficking ring
• NBC News: Harsh book about Trump family by president’s niece, Mary Trump, can be published, judge rules
• Forbes: Biden Brings In $141 Million In June, Outraising Trump For Second Month In A Row
• CNN: Biden campaign readying hundreds of lawyers in expansive vote protection effort
• CNN: Trump struggles to say what he would do with another term for second time in a week
• CNBC: Mortgage demand falls for the second straight week, signaling a potential slowdown in the housing recovery
• BBC News: US passes HK sanctions as nations condemn new law
• Axios: Duckworth to halt 1,100 military promotions if Pentagon retaliates against Vindman
• NBC News: Trump surrogate Herman Cain tests positive for coronavirus after attending Tulsa rally
• Rantt Media: Barr’s Abuses Of Power And How To Hold Him Accountable
• The Guardian: Critics say Russian vote that could allow Putin to rule until 2036 was rigged

Trump’s False Patriotism

Day 1,261: Friday, July 3 – July 4th Weekend

President Donald J. Trump is introduced on stage Saturday, March 2, 2019, at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Md. (Official White House Photo by Tia Dufour)

Trump offers some remarkably overheated rhetoric: “There is a new far-left fascism that demands absolute allegiance … this left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American revolution” pic.twitter.com/pZC66T6Mzq

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 4, 2020

Trump’s July 4 message to the nation: “We are now in the process of defeating the radical left, the Marxists, the anarchists, the agitators, the looters, and people who in many instances have absolutely no clue what they are doing.” pic.twitter.com/zh7wPYmT3z

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 4, 2020

Independence Day Weekend top stories:

• The New York Times: At Mt. Rushmore and the White House, Trump Updates ‘American Carnage’ Message for 2020
• The Washington Post: Trump’s push to amplify racism unnerves Republicans who have long enabled him
• CNN: Biden campaign reacts to Trump’s Mount Rushmore speech: America is ‘suffering’ from ‘divisive president’
• Business Insider: Experts worry Trump’s Mount Rushmore Independence Day celebration is a coronavirus superspreader event in the making
• CNN: US reports over 50,000 new coronavirus cases for third straight day
• CNN: Coronavirus infections going up in 36 states as July Fourth weekend starts
• CNN: At least 8 Secret Service agents stuck in Phoenix with coronavirus after Pence trip
• ABC News: For some Native Americans, Mount Rushmore is a symbol of broken treaties, white domination
• The Independent: Oglala Sioux vote to ban Trump from Mount Rushmore – hours before controversial fireworks event
• ABC News: Top intel officials brief Pelosi, congressional leaders on reported Russian bounty on US troops
• Politico: Benghazi probe offers a road map for Trump’s Russian bounty briefing
• NBC News: ‘We need to live with it’: White House readies new message for the nation on coronavirus
• NBC News: Elijah McClain’s death puts focus on ketamine injections during police calls
• The Washington Post: As coronavirus rebounds, more patients are being hospitalized and capacity is stretched
• ABC News: 4 people hospitalized after shooting at Alabama mall
• CNN: Supreme Court temporarily blocks court order that cleared the way for expanded vote by mail in Alabama due to Covid-19
• ABC News: Colorado police officers fired for recreating chokehold in photos at Elijah McClain memorial
• CNN: Clinton on Trump’s handling of coronavirus: ‘I would have done a better job’
• Politico: Inside the Ad Boycott That Has Facebook on the Defensive
• Rantt Media: Former Trump Supporters Tell Us Why He’s Lost Them
• Rantt Media: Republicans Are Complicit In Trump’s Capitulation To Russia
• NBC News: French government resigns as Macron acts to recast presidency
• The Guardian: Prince Andrew under pressure after arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell
• ESPN: FedEx’s request of Redskins: Change team name