Episodes Out of Left Field

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The sixth week of Donald Trump’s presidency may have contained both the best and worst day of President Trump’s administration up to this point. On Tuesday night, the President delivered a fairly successful speech to a joint session of Congress, and enjoyed a solid 24 hours of (rare) positive press as a result. But the budding romance between President Trump and the news media was short-lived, as Wednesday brought some eye-opening revelations about Attorney General Sessions and his (at best) misleading answers during his Congressional confirmation hearing. The following day, AG Sessions recused himself from any investigations into the Trump campaign, which reportedly enraged the President. This bubbled over on Saturday morning, when Trump sent out a series of tweets claiming that President Obama illegally wiretapped Trump Tower during the campaign, complete with comparisons to McCarthyism and Watergate. The current President accuses the former President of illegal espionage for personal or partisan reasons – whether it’s based on a real wiretap or completely made up, this story is not over!

Fair warning – as a member of the media, I am apparently your enemy, at least according to our President. We dive right in this week with the fallout of National Security Advisor Michael Flynn’s resignation, as well as one of the most bizarre press conferences anyone has ever seen. Felt like we just barely scratched the surface this week (didn’t even get to the Trump / Netanyahu press conference!) but here’s my take on some of the major news stories from last week.

This week we start with something a little different in response to a story that broke last Thursday. After the Washington Post uncovered that National Security Advisor Michael Flynn blatantly lied about discussing sanctions with the Russian Ambassador to the U.S. (which means the White House Chief of Staff, the White House Press Secretary, and the sitting Vice President either knowingly or unknowingly also lied to the American public), I felt it was worth taking a step back and looking at the connections between Russia and Trump’s inner circle. We also touch on Nordstrom, an ongoing battle between the executive branch and the judicial branch, Senator Elizabeth Warren’s new political bumper sticker, and more!

Ah, the second verse, same as the first. Lots of news and issues to discuss from the second week of Donald Trump’s presidency. We started (and ended) the week with a clash between the executive branch and the judicial branch of our government, setting the stage for a true test of the effectiveness of our checks and balances. Last week also brought us a Celebrity Apprentice-style Supreme Court nominee announcement, a confirmation hearing boycott from the Democrats, a handful of appointees confirmed, a botched military operation in Yemen, and a Twitter beef with a judge, just to name a few. Here’s my recap of week 2 in Donald Trump’s America.

The first week under President Trump contained a dizzying amount of news. While the major stories that got in-depth media discussion and analysis included the inauguration crowd size, voter fraud, and the travel ban, there were so many other stories that were often overlooked by some of the major news outlets. This included Trump’s plan to publish a weekly list of crimes committed by undocumented immigrants, his team’s proclamation that he will definitively not release his tax returns (not a surprise but still worth noting), the censoring of government agencies, and perhaps the biggest story of the first week, the shakeup of the National Security Council. While the protests and rallies have been inspiring, it is troubling to me to think that this may be exactly the reaction the Trump administration is counting on and using to their advantage.