While most people were busy yelling about the travel ban (myself included), Trump quietly gave Steve Bannon more power:

Trump took steps Saturday to begin restructuring the White House National Security Council, adding the senior adviser to the principals committee, which includes the secretaries of state and defense. At the same time, Trump said his director of national intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff would attend only when “issues pertaining to their responsibilities and expertise are to be discussed."

...Which will be almost never, I'm sure.

ETA Feb. 11, 2017: According to The New York Times, Trump never actually read or was briefed on the content of this memorandum.

Executive Orders (and Memoranda)

I heard on the local talk radio show today that Barack Obama made five executive orders during the first two weeks of his presidency; Donald Trump has made six seven. I decided to look up what they were. I am thankful every day that the internet makes such research easy.

Obama's First Executive Orders:

1. January 20th, 2009: 120-day halt on "legal proceedings" for prisoners at Guantánamo Bay.
2. January 22nd, 2009: Orders Guantánamo Bay facility to close within a year.
3. January 22nd, 2009: Requires interrogators to follow the methods in the Army Field Manual (same article as #2). In other words, to not torture people. The two psychologists who cooked up the questionable methods used at Guantánamo Bay are still on trial. [link]
4. Before January 26th, 2009: Ends ban on federal funding for international organizations that encourage or perform abortions (pro-choice opinion article; could not find original source in search function). It was reversed by President Trump in 2017 -- in other words, any organization that so much as mentions abortion gets their funding revoked.
5. Soon after January 24th, 2009: Lifts ban on federal funding for stem-cell research. Obama was "expected to" do this when the article was written.

Trump's First Executive Orders:

1. January 20th, 2017: Announcing plans to dismantle (and rebuild?) Obamacare.
2. January 24th, 2017: "Expediting Environmental Reviews and Approvals For High Priority Infrastructure Projects." I understand that this is aimed at expediting the Dakota Access Pipeline and similar projects.
3. January 25th, 2017: Promises to enforce strict immigration laws, especially on self-declared "sanctuary cities." Couches it as a security measure.
4. January 25th, 2017: "Immigration Enforcement Improvements." With the U.S.-Mexico border.
5. January 27th, 2017: "PROTECTING THE NATION FROM FOREIGN TERRORIST ENTRY INTO THE UNITED STATES." This was the thinly-disguised anti-Muslim travel ban. Also, the title was entirely in caps.
6. January 28th, 2017: Lobbying restrictions. Not sure who this is aimed at. I do not have time today to seek out that information.
7. January 30th, 2017: Budget restrictions. He appears to want the agencies to not spend more than in previous years. If one program costs more, cut another to balance it out. This would probably throttle sections of government he and his cabinet members disapprove of.

While I was searching for info, my partner directed me to this article from MSN / The Washington Post about how, technically, not all of Trump's recent declarations are executive orders (commands to a whole department to do things a certain way), but executive memoranda (presidential suggestions). The orders are numbered and published in the Federal Registrar. I guess the memoranda are tracked in press releases?

Now that I've found the Trump Administration's website, I'm going to be visiting it a lot. I...would rather not, but it is the best source for official announcements.

My First Protest

Events are happening faster than I can write about them.

On Friday, January 27th, Trump signed an executive order than placed a 90-day travel ban to the U.S. for people from six mostly Muslim countries: Syria, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen. The order also suspends the refugee program for 120 days. Syrians, for some reason, are barred indefinitely -- even refugees. This command went into effect on Saturday the 28th. I read that a federal judge challenged it, and managed to eliminate the part about sending these people home...but implementation was uneven. Also it did not address the core problem.

So, what happened to people who were unlucky enough to be in transit yesterday? They were "detained" at the airports. They were effectively arrested because of their country of origin. Scientists, students, permanent residents with green cards, refugees who had been waiting in a bureaucratic queue for years...All criminalized. This is deeply wrong. So wrong, that after about twenty minutes of struggling with my own cowardice, I decided to travel to my local airport and join the protest forming there.

In the past I have viewed protests as largely futile. Stand around, wave signs, yell simple slogans. Make a scene. Make people uncomfortable. I had missed an important component: disruption. If you have enough people, you can physically block employees and customers from doing what they need or want to. That forces the higher-ups to listen, to placate you, if only to get you out of their hair.
I felt sorry for the everyday travelers and workers who could not (directly) make the changes we were demanding, but were still inconvenienced. Yet, that's the whole point.

Before I even left I read through people posting on Facebook that the light rail that ran to the airport was not letting off passengers at that station. So, my girlfriend and I had to get out at the previous stop and walk at least 1.5 miles to our destination. Thankfully, we were physically up to the task. Bus service was restricted, too. One blew past us as we were jogging to catch it....and the driver also ignored a very confused woman with a suitcase waiting at the bus stop proper. I hope she got a ride eventually.

When we arrived, we met up with my partner's sister and her boyfriend. A crowd was sitting or standing, blocking a security checkpoint. Other groups blocked the rest, but ours was the largest. A handful of people seemed to have taken charge of the event, leading chants and such. I quickly learned that communication across a large, loosely organization group of people was nearly impossible; this distressed me. But a brilliant person came up with a solution: yelling, "Mic check!" and waiting for a response. They did this a few times until the answer was strong and the murmur of conversation had quieted. They then dispersed the information in small clusters of words, pausing so that the crowd could repeat it and thus ensure more people understood. Runners spread news between the pockets of protesters. Mostly, they informed us that police had started intimidating the smallest knot of people at the farthest gate, and asked for reinforcements. They made it clear that those who moved risked being arrested. I was not that brave. I know that several were arrested while I was there. Police used pepper spray at one point -- so said a runner. The Seattle Stranger's blog reported that tensions rose throughout the night, with the last resistors forced out at around 2:30 in the morning. I left some time after 11:00. Thankfully, we had secured a car ride home.

It seems that large-scale civil protests, no matter how peaceful they begin, always go sour. The pattern goes like this:

1. Protestors make a scene and/or block access to a place.
2. Police arrive to "keep the peace."
3. Only there can be no peace with the protestors there, so the police eventually start intimidating them.
4. Police push for the protestors to leave, so the protestors resist; police push more, sometimes using things like pepper spray, until eventually...
5. The protestors display "disorderly conduct" and are arrested and/or are forced to flee.

Antagonizing someone until they snap and then claiming self-defense is despicable behavior. I anticipate I will see much more of it in the coming months, directly or not. My involvement in physical protests will probably continue to be small -- I have to make sure to not burn out, after all -- but I will continue to try to keep pace with current events online.

Inauguration Day

From the Seattle Times (link to article).

Trump takes charge, assertive but untested 45th US president

By JULIE PACE
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Pledging emphatically to empower America’s “forgotten men and women,” Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States Friday, taking command of a riven nation facing an unpredictable era under his assertive but untested leadership. Under cloudy, threatening skies at the West Front of the U.S. Capitol, Trump painted a bleak picture of the America he now leads, declaring as he had throughout the election campaign that it is beset by crime, poverty and a lack of bold action. The billionaire businessman and reality television star — the first president who had never held political office or high military rank — promised to stir a “new national pride” and protect America from the “ravages” of countries he says have stolen U.S. jobs. 

“This American carnage stops right here,” Trump declared. In a warning to the world, he said, “From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this moment on, it’s going to be America first.” 

Eager to demonstrate his readiness to take actions, Trump went directly to the Oval Office Friday night, before the inaugural balls, and signed his first executive order as president — on “Obamacare.” 

The order notes that Trump intends to seek the “prompt repeal” of the law. But in the meantime, it allows the Health and Human Services Department or other federal agencies to delay implementing any piece of the law that might impose a “fiscal burden” on states, health care providers, families or individuals. 

“This is a movement and now the work begins,” Trump told supporters, before dancing with his wife, Melania, to “My Way” at the first of three inaugural balls. “We love you. We’re going to be working for you and we’re going to produce results." 

Trump also signed commissions for two former generals confirmed to Cabinet posts earlier by the Senate: James Mattis as secretary of defense and John Kelly to head the Department of Homeland Security. Vice President Mike Pence swore them in soon after. 

Mattis struck a different tone from his new boss in his first statement to his department: “Recognizing that no nation is secure without friends, we will work with the State Department to strengthen our alliances.” 

At the inauguration, the crowd that spread out before Trump on the National Mall was notably smaller than at past inaugurals, reflecting both the divisiveness of last year’s campaign and the unpopularity of the incoming president compared to modern predecessors. 

After the swearing-in, demonstrations unfolded in the streets of Washington. Police in riot gear deployed pepper spray after protesters smashed the windows of downtown businesses, denouncing capitalism and the new president. 

Police reported more than 200 arrests by evening and said six officers had been hurt. At least one vehicle was set afire. 

Short and pointed, Trump’s 16-minute address in the heart of Washington was a blistering rebuke of many who listened from privileged seats only feet away. Surrounded by men and women who have long filled the government’s corridors of power, the new president said that for too long, “a small group in our nation’s capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost.” 

His predecessor, Obama, sat stoically as Trump pledged to push the country in a dramatically different direction. 

Trump’s victory gives Republicans control of both the White House and Congress — and all but ensures conservatives can quickly pick up a seat on the closely divided Supreme Court. Despite entering a time of Republican dominance, Trump made little mention of the party’s bedrock principles: small government, social conservativism and robust American leadership around the world. 

He left no doubt he considers himself the product of a movement — not a party. 

Trump declared his moment a fulfillment of his campaign pledge to take a sledgehammer to Washington’s traditional ways, and he spoke directly to the alienated and disaffected. 

“What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people,” he said. “To all Americans in every city near and far, small and large from mountain to mountain, from ocean to ocean, hear these words: You will never be ignored again.” 

But the speech offered scant outreach to the millions who did not line up behind his candidacy. 

Trump’s call for restrictive immigration measures, religious screening of immigrants and his caustic campaign rhetoric about women and minorities angered millions. He did not directly address that opposition, instead offering a call to “speak our minds openly, debate our disagreements honestly, but always pursue solidarity.” 

While Trump did not detail policy proposals Friday, he did set a high bar for his presidency. The speech was full of the onetime showman’s lofty promises to bring back jobs, “completely” eradicate Islamic terrorism, and build new roads, bridges and airports. 

Despite Trump’s ominous portrait of America, he is taking the helm of a growing economy. Jobs have increased for a record 75 straight months, and the unemployment rate was 4.7 percent in December, close to a 9-year low. 

Yet Trump’s victory underscored that for many Americans, the recovery from the Great Recession has come slowly or not at all. His campaign tapped into seething anger in working class communities, particularly in the Midwest, that have watched factories shuttered and the certainty of a middle class life wiped away. 

Randy Showalter, a 36-year-old diesel mechanic and father of five from Mount Solon, Virginia, said he felt inspired as he stood and listened to Trump’s speech. 

“I feel like there’s an American pride that I’ve never felt, honestly, in my life,” said Showalter, who donned Trump’s signature “Make America Great Again” red hat. 

Trump’s journey to the inauguration was as unlikely as any in recent U.S. history. He defied his party’s establishment and befuddled the news media. He used social media to dominate the national conversation and challenge conventions about political discourse. After years of Democratic control of the White House and deadlock in Washington, his was a blast of fresh air for millions. 

At 70, Trump is the oldest person to be sworn in as president, marking a generational step backward after two terms for Obama, one of the youngest presidents to serve as commander in chief. 

In a show of solidarity, all of the living American presidents attended the inaugural, except for 92-year-old George H.W. Bush, who was hospitalized this week with pneumonia. His wife, Barbara, was also in the hospital after falling ill. 

But more than 60 House Democrats refused to attend Trump’s swearing-in ceremony in the shadow of the Capitol dome. One Democrat who did sit among the dignitaries was Hillary Clinton, Trump’s vanquished campaign rival who was widely expected by both parties to be the one taking the oath of office. 

At a post-ceremony luncheon at the Capitol, Trump declared it was an honor to have her attend, and the Republicans and Democrats present rose and applauded. 

While most of Trump’s first substantive acts as president will wait until Monday, he signed a series of papers formally launching his administration, including official nominations for his Cabinet. Sitting in an ornate room steps from the Senate floor, the president who had just disparaged the Washington establishment joked with lawmakers, including House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, and handed out presidential pens. 

___ 

AP writers Vivian Salama, Lisa Lerer and Nancy Benac contributed to this report.  

___  

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Introduction

The goal of this blog is to chronicle political events in United States from the Trump presidency onward. I am alarmed by the similarities between current rhetoric and those of other totalitarian governments both current and historical (mostly Russia and Nazi Germany). So, I intend to mark exactly when and how things change, to combat any sense of normalization. It is mostly for my reference, though I hope others will find it useful. Otherwise I would not post online at all.