Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today (and a lot of days tbh) I was thinking about everything Donald Trump has 'achieved' as President.
There was summed up in a post that listed these and ran like this:
"I owe my Trump-supporting acquaintances
an apology. I’ve been critical of the Trump presidency since
2016, and am still exhausted from the experience. But to be fair, President
Trump wasn’t that bad, other than when he incited an insurrection against the
government, mismanaged a pandemic that killed nearly half a million Americans,
separated children from their families, lost those children in the bureaucracy,
tear-gassed peaceful protesters on Lafayette Square so he could hold a photo op
holding a Bible in front of a church, tried to block all Muslims from entering
the country, got impeached, got impeached again, had the worst jobs record of
any president in modern history, pressured Ukraine to dig dirt on Joe Biden,
fired the FBI director for investigating his ties to Russia, bragged about
firing the FBI director on TV, took Vladimir Putin’s word over the US
intelligence community, diverted military funding to build his wall, caused the
longest government shutdown in US history, called Black Lives Matter a “symbol
of hate,” lied nearly 30,000 times, banned transgender people from serving in
the military, ejected reporters from the White House briefing room who asked
tough questions, vetoed the defense funding bill because it renamed military
bases named for Confederate soldiers, refused to release his tax returns,
increased the national debt by nearly $8 trillion, had three of the highest
annual trade deficits in U.S. history, called veterans and soldiers who died in
combat losers and suckers, coddled the leader of Saudi Arabia after he ordered
the execution and dismembering of a US-based journalist, refused to concede the
2020 election, hired his unqualified daughter and son-in-law to work in the
White House, walked out of an interview with Lesley Stahl, called neo-Nazis
“very fine people,” suggested that people should inject bleach into their
bodies to fight COVID, abandoned our allies the Kurds to Turkey, pushed through
massive tax cuts for the wealthiest but balked at helping working Americans,
incited anti-lockdown protestors in several states at the height of the
pandemic, withdrew the US from the Paris climate accords, withdrew the US from
the Iranian nuclear deal, withdrew the US from the Trans Pacific Partnership
which was designed to block China’s advances, insulted his own Cabinet members
on Twitter, pushed the leader of Montenegro out of the way during a photo op,
failed to reiterate US commitment to defending NATO allies, called Haiti and
African nations “shithole” countries, called the city of Baltimore the “worst
in the nation,” claimed that he single-handedly brought back the phrase “Merry
Christmas” even though it hadn’t gone anywhere, forced his Cabinet members to
praise him publicly like some cult leader, believed he should be awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize, berated and belittled his hand-picked Attorney General when
he recused himself from the Russia probe, suggested the US should buy
Greenland, colluded with Mitch McConnell to push through federal judges and two
Supreme Court justices after supporting efforts to prevent his predecessor from
appointing judges, repeatedly called the media “enemies of the people,” claimed
that if we tested fewer people for COVID we’d have fewer cases, violated the
emoluments clause, thought that Nambia was a country, told Bob Woodward in
private that the coronavirus was a big deal but then downplayed it in public,
called his exceedingly faithful vice president a “p---y” for following the
Constitution, nearly got us into a war with Iran after threatening them by
tweet, nominated a corrupt head of the EPA, nominated a corrupt head of HHS,
nominated a corrupt head of the Interior Department, nominated a corrupt head
of the USDA, praised dictators and authoritarians around the world while
criticizing allies, refused to allow the presidential transition to begin,
insulted war hero John McCain – even after his death, spent an obscene amount
of time playing golf after criticizing Barack Obama for playing (far less) golf
while president, falsely claimed that he won the 2016 popular vote, called the
Muslim mayor of London a “stone cold loser,” falsely claimed that he turned
down being Time’s Man of the Year, considered firing special counsel Robert
Mueller on several occasions, mocked wearing face masks to guard against
transmitting COVID, locked Congress out of its constitutional duty to confirm
Cabinet officials by hiring acting ones, used a racist dog whistle by calling
COVID the “China virus,” hired and associated with numerous shady figures that
were eventually convicted of federal offenses including his campaign manager
and national security adviser, pardoned several of his shady associates, gave
the Presidential Medal of Freedom to two congressman who amplified his batshit
crazy conspiracy theories, got into telephone fight with the leader of
Australia(!), had a Secretary of State who called him a moron, forced his press
secretary to claim without merit that his was the largest inauguration crowd in
history, botched the COVID vaccine rollout, tweeted so much dangerous
propaganda that Twitter eventually banned him, charged the Secret Service
jacked-up rates at his properties, constantly interrupted Joe Biden in their
first presidential debate, claimed that COVID would “magically” disappear,
called a U.S. Senator “Pocahontas,” used his Twitter account to blast Nordstrom
when it stopped selling Ivanka’s merchandise, opened up millions of pristine
federal lands to development and drilling, got into a losing tariff war with
China that forced US taxpayers to bail out farmers, claimed that his losing
tariff war was a win for the US, ignored or didn’t even take part in daily
intelligence briefings, blew off honoring American war dead in France because
it was raining, redesigned Air Force One to look like the Trump Shuttle, got
played by Kim Jung Un and his “love letters,” threatened to go after social
media companies in clear violation of the Constitution, botched the response to
Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, threw paper towels at Puerto Ricans when he
finally visited them, pressured the governor and secretary of state of Georgia
to “find” him votes, thought that the Virgin Islands had a President, drew on a
map with a Sharpie to justify his inaccurate tweet that Alabama was threatened
by a hurricane, allowed White House staff to use personal email accounts for
official businesses after blasting Hillary Clinton for doing the same thing,
rolled back regulations that protected the public from mercury and asbestos,
pushed regulators to waste time studying snake-oil remedies for COVID, rolled
back regulations that stopped coal companies from dumping waste into rivers, held
blatant campaign rallies at the White House, tried to take away millions of
Americans’ health insurance because the law was named for a Black man, refused
to attend his successors’ inauguration, nominated the worst Education Secretary
in history, threatened judges who didn’t do what he wanted, attacked Dr.
Anthony Fauci, promised that Mexico would pay for the wall (it didn’t), allowed
political hacks to overrule government scientists on major reports on climate
change and other issues, struggled navigating a ramp after claiming his
opponent was feeble, called an African-American Congresswoman “low IQ,”
threatened to withhold federal aid from states and cities with Democratic
leaders, went ahead with rallies filled with maskless supporters in the middle
of a pandemic, claimed that legitimate investigations of his wrongdoing were
“witch hunts,” seemed to demonstrate a belief that there were airports during
the American Revolution, demanded “total loyalty” from the FBI director,
praised a conspiracy theory that Democrats are Satanic pedophiles, completely
gutted the Voice of America, placed a political hack in charge of the Postal
Service, claimed without evidence that the Obama administration bugged Trump
Tower, suggested that the US should allow more people from places like Norway
into the country, suggested that COVID wasn’t that bad because he recovered
with the help of top government doctors and treatments not available to the
public, overturned energy conservation standards that even industry supported, reduced
the number of refugees the US accepts, insulted various members of Congress and
the media with infantile nicknames, gave Rush Limbaugh a Presidential medal of
Freedom at the State of the Union address, named as head of federal personnel a
29-year old who’d previously been fired from the White House for allegations of
financial improprieties, eliminated the White House office of pandemic
response, used soldiers as campaign props, fired any advisor who made the
mistake of disagreeing with him, demanded the Pentagon throw him a Soviet-style
military parade, hired a shit ton of white nationalists, politicized the civil
service, did absolutely nothing after Russia hacked the U.S. government,
falsely said the Boy Scouts called him to say his bizarre Jamboree speech was
the best speech ever given to the Scouts, claimed that Black people would
overrun the suburbs if Biden won, insulted reporters of color, insulted women
reporters, insulted women reporters of color, suggested he was fine with
China’s oppression of the Uighurs, attacked the Supreme Court when it ruled
against him, summoned Pennsylvania state legislative leaders to the White House
to pressure them to overturn the election, spent countless hours every day
watching Fox News, refused to allow his administration to comply with
Congressional subpoenas, hired Rudy Giuliani as his lawyer, tried to punish
Amazon because the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post wrote negative stories
about him, acted as if the Attorney General of the United States was his personal
attorney, attempted to get the federal government to defend him in a libel
lawsuit from a women who accused him of sexual assault, held private meetings
with Vladimir Putin without staff present, didn’t disclose his private meetings
with Vladimir Putin so that the US had to find out via Russian media, stopped
holding press briefings for months at a time, “ordered” US companies to leave
China even though he has no such power, led a political party that couldn’t
even be bothered to draft a policy platform, claimed preposterously that
Article II of the Constitution gave him absolute powers, tried to pressure the
U.K. to hold the British Open at his golf course, suggested that the government
nuke hurricanes, suggested that wind turbines cause cancer, said that he had a
special aptitude for science, fired the head of election cyber security after
he said that the 2020 election was secure, blurted out classified information
to Russian officials, tried to force the G7 to hold their meeting at his
failing golf resort in Florida, fired the acting attorney general when she
refused to go along with his unconstitutional Muslim travel ban, hired Stephen
Miller, openly discussed national security issues in the dining room at
Mar-a-Lago where everyone could hear them, interfered with plans to relocate
the FBI because a new development there might compete with his hotel, abandoned
Iraqi refugees who’d helped the U.S. during the war, tried to get Russia back
into the G7, held a COVID super spreader event in the Rose Garden, seemed to
believe that Frederick Douglass is still alive, lost 60 election fraud cases in
court including before judges he had nominated, falsely claimed that factories
were reopening when they weren’t, shamelessly exploited terror attacks in
Europe to justify his anti-immigrant policies, still hasn’t come up with a
healthcare plan, still hasn’t come up with an infrastructure plan despite
repeated “Infrastructure Weeks,” forced Secret Service agents to drive him
around Walter Reed while contagious with COVID, told the Proud Boys to “stand
back and stand by,” withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organization in the
middle of a pandemic, did so few of his duties that his press staff were forced
to state on his daily schedule “President Trump will work from early in the
morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many
meetings,” allowed his staff to repeatedly violate the Hatch Act, seemed not to
know that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, stood before sacred CIA wall of
heroes and bragged about his election win, constantly claimed he was treated
worse than any president which presumably includes four that were assassinated
and his predecessor whose legitimacy and birthplace were challenged by a racist
reality TV show star named Donald Trump, claimed Andrew Jackson could’ve
stopped the Civil War even though he died 16 years before it happened, said
that any opinion poll showing him behind was fake, claimed that other countries
laughed at us before he became president when several world leaders were
literally laughing at him, claimed that the military was out of ammunition
before he became President, created a commission to whitewash American history,
retweeted anti-Islam videos from one of the most racist people in Britain,
claimed ludicrously that the Pulse nightclub shooting wouldn’t have happened if
someone there had a gun even though there was an armed security guard there,
hired a senior staffer who cited the non-existent Bowling Green Massacre as a
reason to ban Muslims, had a press secretary who claimed that Nazi Germany
never used chemical weapons even though every sane human being knows they used
gas to kill millions of Jews and others, bilked the Secret Service for higher
than market rates when they had to stay at Trump properties, apparently sold
pardons on his way out of the White House, stripped protective status from
59,000 Haitians, falsely claimed Biden wanted to defund the police, said that
the head of the CDC didn’t know what he was talking about, tried to rescind
protection from DREAMers, gave himself an A+ for his handling of the pandemic,
tried to start a boycott of Goodyear tires due to an Internet hoax, said U.S.
rates of COVID would be lower if you didn’t count blue states, deported U.S.
veterans who served their country but were undocumented, claimed he did more
for African Americans than any president since Lincoln, touted a “super-duper”
secret “hydrosonic” missile which may or may not be a new “hypersonic” missile
or may not exist at all, retweeted a gif calling Biden a pedophile, forced
through security clearances for his family, suggested that police officers
should rough up suspects, suggested that Biden was on performance-enhancing
drugs, tried to stop transgender students from being able to use school
bathrooms in line with their gender, suggested the US not accept COVID patients
from a cruise ship because it would make US numbers look higher, nominated a
climate change skeptic to chair the committee advising the White House on
environmental policy, retweeted a video doctored to look like Biden had played
a song called “Fuck tha Police” at a campaign event, accused Democrats of
“treason” for not applauding his State of the Union address, claimed that the
FBI failed to capture the Parkland school shooter because they were “spending
too much time” on Russia, mocked the testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford
when she accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, obsessed over low-flow
toilets, ordered the re-release of more COVID vaccines when there weren’t any
to release, called for the construction of a bizarre garden of heroes with
statutes of famous dead Americans as well as at least one Canadian (Alex
Trebek), hijacked Washington’s July 4th celebrations to give a partisan speech,
took advice from the MyPillow guy, claimed that migrants seeking a better life
in the US were dangerous caravans of drug dealers and rapists, said nothing
when Vladimir Putin poisoned a leading opposition figure, never seemed to heed
the advice of his wife’s “Be Best” campaign, falsely claimed that mail-in
voting is fraudulent, announced a precipitous withdrawal of troops from Syria
which not only handed Russia and ISIS a win but also prompted his defense
secretary to resign in protest, insulted the leader of Canada, insulted the
leader of France, insulted the leader of Britain, insulted the leader of
Germany, insulted the leader of Sweden, falsely claimed credit for getting NATO
members to increase their share of dues, blew off two Asia summits even though
they were held virtually, continued lying about spending lots of time at Ground
Zero with 9/11 responders, said that the Japanese would sit back and watch
their “Sony televisions” if the US were ever attacked, left a NATO summit early
in a huff, stared directly into an eclipse even though everyone over the age of
5 knows not to do that, called himself a very stable genius despite significant
evidence to the contrary, refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power and
kept his promise, and a whole bunch of other things I can’t remember at the
moment. Did I mention that he attempted a coup??? But other than that..."(Whoever wrote this deserves credit, but the
author is unknown.)
But that was before he returned, surely he can't have done much in just 2 months... except:
Gave DOGE access to government payment systems, pardoned the
Jan 6 rioters, insisted sex can be defined as only Male or Female on official documents, barred transgender people from serving in the military, banned trans
athletes from women’s sports, ended and banned all diversity, equity, inclusion
and accessibility programs, policies and mandates and directed the government
to terminate all positions related to DEI, revoked birthright citizenship – directly
violating the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, froze foreign aid and shut down USAID, enacted a 25% tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico… and then
exempted some goods from those tariffs when this proved disastrous, rolled back
key patient protections and healthcare regulations, withdrew the US from the
World Health Organization, withdrew the US from Paris Climate Accords, withdrew
the U.S. from the United Nations Human Rights Council, authorised economic
sanctions of the International Criminal Court, rolled back decades of environmental protection laws including eliminating the Biden administration's
emissions standards, attacked the Department of Education and attempted to get
it shut down, invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 which allows people to be
arrested with no due process (See Mahmoud Khalil), created a huge detention facility at Guantánamo
Bay to hold up to 30,000 immigrants – but which is being used to ‘inhumanely’
detain legal citizens (see Jasmine Mooney and Fabian Schmidt), paused enforcement of the
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars American individuals and companies
from bribing foreign governments to obtain or retain business, directed federal
employees not to interpret federal law counter to the president or attorney
general's opinion, defended the use of capital punishment "where
possible", revoked security clearances for Biden, Harris & Hilary
Clinton, reverted the name of Denali to Mount McKinley and renamed the Gulf of
Mexico as the Gulf of America, stated plans to make Canada the 51st state and
buy Greenland, unnecessarily sent more water to California to combat wildfires
by circumventing federal and state laws dealing with California's water system, banned ‘forced’ use of paper straws claiming on occasion they “explode.”
And that’s not even half of it!
