The Weekly List

This week they just said it out loud: Trump’s  acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney scolded reporters, saying Ukraine  was a quid pro quo, and “Get over it!” This was yet another in a series  of unending trial balloons to gauge just how far Trump could push  boundaries, and what he could normalize on his path to deconstructing  our democracy. At the same news conference, Mu...

In addition to the number of not normal items  surging since the start of the impeachment inquiry, Trump’s Twitter  activity has proliferated — in one 25 minute span on Friday alone, he sent 33 tweets !  In past weekly lists, we have covered that the potency of his tweets  have had decreased, both in impact and visibility, as his time in office  wears on. Also, notably, th...

With impeachment looming, Trump started this  week by attacking the credibility of House Intelligence Committee Chair  Adam Schiff and the whistleblower, both of whom he also endangered with  his rhetoric. Midweek, Trump shifted strategy, openly soliciting foreign  help from China and Ukraine in the 2020 election on national  television, speaking to reporters on the South...

This week House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a  formal impeachment inquiry of Trump. I’ve always had the sense that when  we were finally on the road to the end of the Trump regime, the weekly  list would ramp up big time. Week 150 has 225 not normal items, 10% more  than any other week — a sign of the bedlam we will face as the truth  slowly drips out, and Trump uses ev...

As Congress returned to session, House Democrats  had conflicting messages on impeachment. The Trump regime’s Justice  Department seized on the divergence, saying lawmakers were not entitled  to see the full Mueller report or grand jury information — the rationale  used for seeking the documents. The emboldened regime also said it  would pursue criminal charges against Tru...

This week is not the longest list with Congress  out on summer break for the sixth and final week, but it is perhaps the  most alarming in terms of the irreverent authoritarian actions by Trump,  who continues to push boundaries having suffered no consequences for  anything yet. Examples of his power base expanding were reported,  including the Pentagon refusing to coopera...

This week Trump’s strange behavior towards  Russia drew renewed concern as he advocated for adding Russia back at  the Group of Seven summit in France, then held up military aid to  Ukraine. A vacated seat unfilled by Trump at the Federal Elections  Commission left the election watchdog group without a quorum ahead of  the 2020 election, while voting irregularities were reported this week  in Miss...

This week, renewed questions surfaced about  Trump’s mental health, as he referred to himself as the “King of  Israel,” the “chosen one,” and “hereby ordered” U.S. companies to change  their dealings with China. Trump created another unprovoked  international crisis with long-time ally Denmark, cancelling a trip he  invited himself on, last minute, over the country’s unwil...

This week Trump’s beloved economy faltered under  pressure from his trade war with China, a ballooning U.S. budget  deficit, and other global factors. An anxious Trump, realizing a strong  economy is essential to his re-election, lashed out at the Federal  Reserve, while confiding in allies his plan to blame any downturn on Fed  Chair Jerome Powell. Meanwhile his shrinking...

This week has the most incidents of violence,  attempted violence, and acts of hate inspired by Trump and his rhetoric  since I started keeping track. The week started with two deadly mass  shootings — one directly linked to the language used by Trump and Fox  News — and rather invoking the role of consoler, Trump instead further  stoked division and hate. What many may ha...

This week started with Trump’s attacks on Black  leader House Oversight Committee Chair Elijah Cummings, whose panel has  several ongoing investigations targeting Trump and his family. Trump  used dehumanizing language like “rats” and “infest” to disparage  Cummings’ home district of Baltimore, then broadened his attack during  the week to other prominent Black men includi...

This week Robert Mueller testified before the  House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees about his 448 page report.  The testimony was the first glimpse many Americans had of its findings,  especially Mueller’s stark warnings on Russia’s past and ongoing  interference, and Trump’s and other regime members’ financial and other  conflicts. While the media quibbled over whe...

This week, in a shocking display of racism,  Trump tweeted that four congresswomen of color should “go back” to the  countries they came from. Amid Republican silence, rather than backing  off, Trump ramped up his attacks, leading to a mid-week rally where his  supporters chanted “send them back.” At first Trump seemed to distance  himself from his supporters’ chants, but...

This is the longest week so far, and it felt  that way. The chaos of our lives has obfuscated the damage and extremes  under Trump, as each week blurs into the next week’s crises and  unprecedented actions. This week’s turmoil centered on Jeffrey Epstein’s  arrest and the resignation of Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, the 13th  Cabinet member to depart the regime — next week...

This week, two years after visiting France for  Bastille Day and admiring its military display, Trump hosted a “Salute  to America” on July Fourth, replete with an expansive array of military  hardware and troops. The scenes of tanks rolling into the nation’s  capital drew comparisons to other authoritarian regimes who flaunt their  military might through public displays,...

This week as Trump backed off mass deportations,  public outcry grew over conditions at detention centers for migrant  children. Reminiscent of Theresienstadt Ghetto in the Nazi era, the  Trump regime offered limited tours of detention centers to the  media — viewings that contradicted interviews of immigration lawyers and  advocates who described first-hand the inhumane c...

This week Trump manufactured two major story  lines: an almost war with Iran, and mass roundups and deportations of  “millions” of immigrants. The two stories occupied much of the national  attention, while Trump continued to stonewall Congressional attempts at  oversight. Authoritarian expert Masha Gessen wrote about  “The Unimaginable Reality of American Concentration Ca...

This week in an interview with ABC News, Trump  suggested he would take damaging information from foreign governments on  political adversaries without reporting it to the FBI, setting off  alarm bells. The Chair of the Federal Elections Commissions took the  unusual step of issuing a public statement reminding campaigns that  taking foreign assistance is illegal. Nonethel...

This week Trump traveled to the U.K., where he  was met with mass protests which he denied existed, then to his property  in Ireland en route to the 75th anniversary of D-Day ceremony in  Normandy, where he attacked Robert Mueller and Speaker Nancy Pelosi in  an interview. In London, Trump and his children acted more as if a royal  family than a head of state, and continue...

This week, special counsel Robert Mueller addressed the nation for the first time since the start of his investigation. Notably, Mueller said, “If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so,” contradicting Attorney General William Barr’s statements, and Trump’s repeated proclamations of “no obstruction.” Mueller resigned and closed the special co...

This week the first Republican, Rep. Justin  Amash, came out for impeaching Trump. While Trump allies sought to  attack and punish Amash to avoid further defections, momentum grew among  the House Democratic caucus for impeachment hearings. Feeling the  pressure Speaker Nancy Pelosi defended staying focused on policy, but  directly attacked Trump for a “cover-up,” leading...

This week, in a letter, White House counsel Pat  Cipollone issued a blanket refusal of records and testimony from Trump  and dozens of current and former White House staff, saying Trump did not  recognize Congress as a law enforcement body with the legitimate  purpose to investigate. While the letter sent shock waves, Congress’s  reaction was decidedly muted as House Democ...

This week marked a subtle shift in House  Democrats’ position on impeachment, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and  her committee chairs cited a “constitutional crisis,” and argued Trump  was “goading” them and giving them no choice with his continued  stonewalling. The House Judiciary Committee voted to hold Attorney  General William Barr in contempt of Congress, and threate...

This week a leaked letter sent from special  counsel Robert Mueller to Attorney General William Barr days after Barr  released his four-page “summary” indicated Mueller did not believe that  Barr captured the “context, nature, and substance” of his work.  Mueller’s letter, leaked in part to the Post  the day before Barr was set to testify before the Senate, shook the &nbsp...

This week Trump’s White House refused all requests by House Democrats  to interview current or former members of the regime, or to turn over  records, including those requested by subpoena. The NYT  Editorial Board noted Trump “is effectively declaring lawmakers  powerless over him. This, warn the experts, puts the nation in uncharted  territory and threatens to erode its...