W

December 31, 2016

Week 7

Experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things
subtly changing around you, so you’ll remember.

Experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things subtly changing around you, so you’ll remember.

(please note this was a holiday week, but nonetheless busy)

  1. Trump continues to take credit for jobs he didn’t create — this week with Sprint’s 5,000 jobs. Companies looking for things , like Sprint with an upcoming merger , have started to play into this for favor.
  2. Obama announces sanctions of Russia. Trump tweets in support of Putin, and pins that tweet. Trump also uses “V. Putin,” which is the Russian convention for writing names.
  3. Same day Putin says Russia will not expel US diplomats, Russia hacks the US power grid through an electric utility in Vermont.
  4. Trump continues to deny Russian hacking, saying we should “get on with our lives,” and dismissing it with, “I think the computers have complicated lives very greatly.”
  5. 157 days since Trump held a press conference (the one where he encouraged Russia to hack more American emails).
  6. Trump sends a congratulatory tweet to himself for higher consumer confidence numbers, which he had nothing to do with.
  7. Paul Ryan introduced rules banning lawmakers from taking pictures or videos of procedures on the House floor.
  8. Trump announces on Christmas Eve that he will be shutting down the Trump Foundation. The NY Attorney General says no, the Foundation is still under investigation.
  9. Mar-a-Lago sold hundreds of tickets at $500+ for a New Year’s celebration attended by Trump and his family.
  10. My friend Kevin Sessums, a prominent author and writer, had his FB account suspended, and post scrubbed, for calling Trump supporters “fascists.”
  11. Simon & Schuster gave a $250k advance for a book by alt-right author and troll Milo Yiannopoulos. In reaction, the Chicago Review of Books said they would not review any S&S books during 2017.
  12. The RNC sent out a Christmas message, comparing Trump to Jesus.
  13. John McCain announced he would hold hearings during the first week of January, before Trump takes office, on Russian hacking — which Trump denies.
  14. A second round of FOIA lawsuits were filed to gain access to FBI emails relating to Comey letter, to see if there were ties to Rudy Giuliani or Michael Flynn.
  15. Neo-Nazis in Whitefish, Montana — hometown of alt-right leader Richard Spencer — plan an armed march to harass Jews.
  16. Trump sent out a bizarre New Year’s tweet, chastising his enemies.
  17. After a morning tweet about Obama not cooperating on transition, Trump appeared with Don King that evening and said the opposite.

Copyright Amy Siskind, December 31, 2016

Trump, along with boxing promoter Don King, answers questions from the media after a day of meetings on December 28, 2016 at Mar-a-Lago.