The “Everything Terrible Trump Has Done So Far” Omnibus (Week 140)
As part of the ongoing project to catalog every awful thing the Trump Administration has done as a reference for future political arguments and whatever few posterity survives to see 2020, here’s everything awful the Trump Administration has done this week.
1591. Blocked the release of a whistleblower report on potentially illicit dealings with the Ukrainian leader, whom he asked to investigate Joe Biden
1592. Dismantled the Bureau of Land Management, weakening a key agency standing between federal lands and fossil fuel companies
1593. Threatened to withdraw billions of dollars in Highway funding from California in retaliation for environmental regulations
1594. Came under a formal impeachment hearing for withholding aid from Ukraine in order to pressure them into investigating Joe Biden
1595. Moved environmental review staff to states
1596. Made a deal to keep asylum seekers in Honduras
1597. Compared whistleblowers in the Ukraine scandal to “spies”
1598. Attempted to cover up attempt to strong arm Ukraine into investigating Hunter Biden
1599. Slashed the refugee cap to 18,000
The big story this week was the revelation that Trump had apparently withheld foreign aid from Ukraine in an apparent attempt to strong arm them into investigating Joe Biden. After several years of the Russian investigation and House Democrats more often than not reticent to move on impeachment it seems easy to dismiss the importance of the investigation. However, the speed with which Congress has moved towards impeachment, and the weakness of the administration’s defense, suggests this time around may be different. Meanwhile, the Trump administration continued its efforts to turn away asylum seekers and retaliate against states for environmental regulations.
As always, I don’t expect to catch everything, so let me know if there’s anything you think I’ve missed. The full omnibus is being maintained here (a spreadsheet version can be found here). For an overall summary, click here.
