Trump Log #36: Which Cabinet Secretary is Your Least Favorite?

Who is your pick for worst Trump Cabinet Secretary? The HUD secretary that hates public housing, the Education secretary that knows nothing about education, the global warming denying EPA director or the Interior Secretary that thinks he's the Energy Secretary. Too close a call! I posted this question to my Facebook friends and there was an overwhelming lean against Betsy Devos, the Secretary of Education.  This is probably because of all the teachers I am friends with.  In her interview on 60 Minutes, she states that she hasn't yet visited any "failing schools." No need to look much further there.

Monday 3/19/18 - We have further proof that the president doesn't quite get that he is not in the private sector anymore. He has been requiring staff to sign non-disclosure agreements for not only their time in his administration but afterward. Apparently, he is not familiar with the First Amendment. (Source: Washington Post)

Tuesday 3/20/18 - My pick for worst Cabinet Secretary: Zinke. (Source: Washington Post)

Wednesday 3/21/18 - Trump continues to ignore the advice of his advisers. The more confident he feels, the more he is going to do continue to ignore them. Problem: he shouldn't feel confident yet. (Source: Washington Post)

Thursday 3/22/18 - As an ex-English Composition major I find this particularly egregious. Communications from this administration is riddled with spelling mistakes. A clear sign that they don't give a shit. (Source: Washington Post)

Friday 3/23/18 - Trump's new national security adviser, John Bolton, chairs the Gladstone Institute, an organization that puts out fake news and drums up hatred towards Muslims. This is our third national security adviser in a little over a year. Hopefully, his tenure is as short as the others. He's a scary man. (Source: The Intercept)

Saturday 3/24/18 - Are you ready for some more wars? This time with much larger and more powerful countries like Iran and North Korea. Bolton is a hawk on both of these fronts. (Source: NPR)

Sunday 3/25/18 - How low is the bar set for this presidency? Today, a porn star is talking about an affair with the president, how she was paid for silence and how she felt "threatened" if she didn't comply ... and no one seems to give a shit. I remember during the Clinton years when news of his infidelity broke, people's heads seemed like they were going to explode. The insanity of our president has been normalized.  (Source: Politico)

Prior Trump Logs:
Issue # 1 - posted November 15th, 2016
Issue # 2 - posted November 22nd, 2016
Issue # 3 - posted November 29th, 2016
Issue # 4 - posted December 6, 2016
Issue # 5 - posted December 12, 2016
Issue # 6 - posted December 19, 2016
Issue # 7 - posted December 26, 2016
Issue # 8 - posted January 3, 2017
Issue # 9 - posted January 10, 2017
Issue #10 - posted January 17, 2017
Issue #11 - posted January 24, 2017
Issue #12 - posted January 31, 2017
Issue #13 - posted February 7, 2017
Issue #14 - posted February 14, 2017
Issue #15 - posted February 21, 2017
Issue #16 - posted February 28, 2017
Issue #17 - posted March 7, 2017
Issue #18 - posted March 14, 2017
Issue #19 - posted March 21, 2017
Issue #20 - posted March 28, 2017
Issue #21 - posted April 5, 2017
Issue #22 - posted April 11, 2017
Issue #23 - posted April 18, 2017
Issue #24 - posted April 25, 2017
Issue #25 - posted May 2, 2017
Issue #26 - posted May 9, 2017
Issue #27 - posted May 16, 2017
Issue #28 - posted May 23, 2017

Issue #29 - posted May 30, 2017

Issue #30 - posted June 6, 2017
Issue #31 - posted June 13, 2017
Issue #32 - posted June 20, 2017

Issue #33 - posted June 27, 2017
Issue #34 - posted March 12, 2018
Issue #35 - posted March 19, 2018

Trump Log #35: Constant State of Flux

One has to wonder what it is like to work for this White House. To be in the constant state of flux, everyone fearing if they are the next one to be fired, must be stressful. Also, it isn't just you that may be fired, but your boss or cohorts. Your job could change overnight or your workload double. We've all been there, but for this long? These jobs are already high pressure. He can't be getting great work from them. All Presidential go through this during the transition, but this administration is in a constant state of transition. Will this continue three more years? Hard to believe.

Trump Log

Monday 3/12/18 - With Trump rejecting the Iran Deal, looking forward, why would any foreign leader take another president's word again. Next up, the North Korean Deal.  (Source: New York Times)

Tuesday 3/13/18 - Trump fires Secretary of State Tillerson via Twitter. The B Team is dwindling. (Source: Washington Post)

Wednesday 3/14/18 - The US tax payers are paying $43,000.00 to install a sound proof phone booth in EPA director, Scott Pruitt's office.  WTF! (Source: Washington Post)

Thursday 3/15/18 - Trump seems to lie because he really doesn't know anything, so he just makes things up.  When it comes to international trade, shouldn't he be an expert?  He is an international business man after all. His approach of dishonesty doesn't seem to be working, yet he continues doing it. Will he take this approach when he has a summit with North Korea?  (Source: Washington Post)

Friday 3/16/18 - Do you think the tax cut for billionaires that Trump pass was bull shit? Yeah, most do. Well, here comes another one?  Do you remember when Republicans use complain about deficits or does that happen only when we have a black President?  (Source: Washington Post)

Saturday 3/17/18 - For a person who hates the media so much, Trump certainly surrounds himself with a lot of people hired from the media. Like Nixon in his later years, this is something presidents do when they are more interested in boosting their public image rather than creating policy. (Source: New York Times)

Sunday, 3/18/18 - Trump fires deputy director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe, a day before he is set to retire.  That is how petty our president is. Now when McCabe testifies against him, he will just claim that he is a disgruntled ex-employee. Trump followers are just stupid enough to believe it.
(Source: The New Yorker)

Prior Trump Logs:
Issue # 1 - posted November 15th, 2016
Issue # 2 - posted November 22nd, 2016
Issue # 3 - posted November 29th, 2016
Issue # 4 - posted December 6, 2016
Issue # 5 - posted December 12, 2016
Issue # 6 - posted December 19, 2016
Issue # 7 - posted December 26, 2016
Issue # 8 - posted January 3, 2017
Issue # 9 - posted January 10, 2017
Issue #10 - posted January 17, 2017
Issue #11 - posted January 24, 2017
Issue #12 - posted January 31, 2017
Issue #13 - posted February 7, 2017
Issue #14 - posted February 14, 2017
Issue #15 - posted February 21, 2017
Issue #16 - posted February 28, 2017
Issue #17 - posted March 7, 2017
Issue #18 - posted March 14, 2017
Issue #19 - posted March 21, 2017
Issue #20 - posted March 28, 2017
Issue #21 - posted April 5, 2017
Issue #22 - posted April 11, 2017
Issue #23 - posted April 18, 2017
Issue #24 - posted April 25, 2017
Issue #25 - posted May 2, 2017
Issue #26 - posted May 9, 2017
Issue #27 - posted May 16, 2017
Issue #28 - posted May 23, 2017

Issue #29 - posted May 30, 2017

Issue #30 - posted June 6, 2017
Issue #31 - posted June 13, 2017
Issue #32 - posted June 20, 2017

Issue #33 - posted June 27, 2017
Issue #34 - posted March 12, 2018

Trump Log #34: The F Team

It has been a while since I have done a Trump Log. This isn't because things have gotten better, on the contrary. It is so absurdly bad, it is difficult to wrap your head around it. I also find it depressing. I live here in the deep dark Winter of Vermont. I don't need extra causes for depression in my life. A break from his madness was badly needed.

What has happened since I last wrote a Trump log.  Well, for one, he still hasn't filled a number of positions. Major officers haven't been filled. Hundreds are still unfilled. Some are being held by temporary hold-overs from the Obama administration and they will expire soon. So few people actually want to work with this administration, so they may be having difficulty filling jobs. They are digging deep. He recently nominated his personal pilot to be the head of the FAA. The A team ... they never applied. The B team ... the few of them that were in his administration have quit by now.  The C team ... eh. We're on the F team now.

Trump Log:

Monday 3/5/18 - State department granted 150 million and spent zero. (Source: New York Times)

Tuesday 3/6/18 - Trump wants a tariff on foreign steel and aluminum.  This is good for one industry: American steel.  This hurts every other downstream industry (aka everything that uses steel).  It also hurts other countries which may possible cause a trade war. The last major trade war in American history was in the 1930's. Only 2% of our steel we import come from China. The rest comes from allies like Canada, our major importer of steel. (Source: New York Times)

Wednesday 3/7/18 - Days before Trump announced the steel tariff, an administration insider dumped millions of dollars in steel related stocks. The corruption in his administration is like nothing we've seen before. (Source: Washington Post)

Thursday 3/8/18 - Perhaps the most pressing public works project in the country is the New York City subway system. The old tunnels are in bad shape. A new tunnel to New Jersey is badly needed. Trump is playing politics with the funding of this project. Once again, a Republican is making a political foot ball with the lives of New Yorkers. (Source: New York Times)

Friday 3/9/18 - Give the NRA another win. Trump reverses the ban on elephant trophy hunting. (Source: Washington Post)

Saturday 3/10/18 - Trump's HUD (Housing and Urban Development) secretary Ben Carson is considering removing anti-discrimination language from their mission statement. (Source: Washington Post)

Sunday 3/11/18 - Trump's hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, during his campaign for president, may have broken some campaign finance laws. (Source: Washington Post)

Prior Trump Logs:
Issue # 1 - posted November 15th, 2016
Issue # 2 - posted November 22nd, 2016
Issue # 3 - posted November 29th, 2016
Issue # 4 - posted December 6, 2016
Issue # 5 - posted December 12, 2016
Issue # 6 - posted December 19, 2016
Issue # 7 - posted December 26, 2016
Issue # 8 - posted January 3, 2017
Issue # 9 - posted January 10, 2017
Issue #10 - posted January 17, 2017
Issue #11 - posted January 24, 2017
Issue #12 - posted January 31, 2017
Issue #13 - posted February 7, 2017
Issue #14 - posted February 14, 2017
Issue #15 - posted February 21, 2017
Issue #16 - posted February 28, 2017
Issue #17 - posted March 7, 2017
Issue #18 - posted March 14, 2017
Issue #19 - posted March 21, 2017
Issue #20 - posted March 28, 2017
Issue #21 - posted April 5, 2017
Issue #22 - posted April 11, 2017
Issue #23 - posted April 18, 2017
Issue #24 - posted April 25, 2017
Issue #25 - posted May 2, 2017
Issue #26 - posted May 9, 2017
Issue #27 - posted May 16, 2017
Issue #28 - posted May 23, 2017

Issue #29 - posted May 30, 2017

Issue #30 - posted June 6, 2017
Issue #31 - posted June 13, 2017
Issue #32 - posted June 20, 2017

Issue #33 - posted June 27, 2017