November 13, 2018

Trump Terrible 10: Post-Election Horrible Authoritarian Edition

Trump Terrible 10: Post-Election Horrible Authoritarian Edition

Let’s start with our exclusive interview earlier today with President Donald J. Trump:

Republic Report: Thank you, sir, for taking the time to answer a few questions.

Trump:

RR: OK, first, when it comes to what you hope to accomplish in the new Congress, are you going to be looking into just a few similar things, or are you going to be looking into a lot of different things?

Trump: We’re going to be looking into a lot of different things. So we’ll be looking at a lot of different things. Trade, The Wall. We’ll be looking into a lot of different things.

RR: Great. Now when it comes to how you’ve been treated by the media, would you say you’ve been treated fairly, or unfairly, or do you feel you’ve been treated very unfairly?

Trump: I’ve been treated very unfairly. And it’s been so unfair the way the media, I say the fake news, has treated me. So I’ve been treated very unfairly.

RR: Thanks. OK, finally, when you look at the Mueller investigation, would you say there was some collusion or no collusion?

Trump: There was absolutely no collusion. No collusion. And by the way there was absolutely no collusion. Even the Democrats admit there was no collusion.

RR: Great. Thanks so much.

Trump: Great questions.

Since 2017, Republic Report‘s “Trump Terrible 10” has ranked the week’s 10 most disgraceful people in Trump world.

Republic Report, which focuses on how money corrupts democracy, has met its abusive dream mate with the kleptocratic administration of President Donald J. Trump. Trump and his lieutenants personify how money and greed, mixed with disrespect for constitutional values, know-nothing ignorance, serious bigotry and misogyny, and an endless capacity for lying, can really, really corrupt democracy.

Permanent spoiler alert: We can’t imagine anyone other than Donald Trump ever occupying the top spot in the rankings. But we won’t get tired of him winning. Believe me.

10. Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education. Last week’s ranking: —

In her determined campaign to keep billions in taxpayer dollars flowing to predatory for-profit colleges, DeVos is refusing to act on debt relief for broke, defrauded students, including where the law requires her to do so, leaving more than 100,000 such claims in limbo. Doesn’t she still remember what it was like to be young and struggling?

9. Phil Bryant, Governor of Mississippi (R) and 8. Cindy Hyde-Smith, United States Senator (R-MS)Last week’s rankings: —

Hyde-Smith kicked off her Senate runoff campaign against Mike Espy by making a bizarre reference to a “public hanging.” She subsequently issued a statement explaining her remark as “an exaggerated expression of regard” and then, in a crazy press appearance with Bryant, robotically refused, over and over, to elaborate on the statement or apologize for any offense, despite the fact that Espy is African-American and Mississippi’s troubled racial history includes hundreds of lynchings of black men. Hyde-Smith’s patron Bryant eventually took over the mic and pivoted to the real civil rights issue: “See, in my heart, I am confused about where the outrage is at about 20 million African American children that have been aborted. No one wants to say anything about that.” Not right now.

7. Rick Scott, Governor of Florida (R)Last week’s ranking: —

His Senate race against incumbent Bill Nelson (D) on the line, Scott echoed Trump’s lies about voting fraud and gave orders to impound voting machines. Yes, Florida’s electoral apparatus seems to be a mess. So who is the current governor of Florida again?

6. Matthew Whitaker, Acting Attorney GeneralLast week’s ranking: —

With his sketchy past — advising a scam patent assistance company, running a dark money anti-environment group, and calling for judges with a “biblical view of the law”; [UPDATE 7:02 pm: defaulting on loans and failed to pay debts on a taxpayer-funded apartment project]– how is Whitaker suddenly running the United States Justice Department? By sucking up to Trump and attacking the Mueller probe, first as a TV commentator and then as Jeff Sessions’ backstabbing chief of staff.

5. David Koch, billionaire, and 4. Charles Koch, billionaireLast week’s rankings: —

New documents reveal that the Kochs’ operation has “developed detailed personality profiles on 89 percent of the U.S. population” and used those profiles “to launch an unprecedented private propaganda offensive to advance Republican candidates in the 2018 midterms.” All in service of their cherished libertarian philosophy, which helpfully dovetails with the interests of their companies in spewing toxic pollution and contributing to catastrophic climate change without government interference.

3. Ryan Zinke, Secretary of the InteriorLast week’s ranking: —

Radiating around his own personal fireball of blatant ethics abuses are countless conflict of interest violations by the swamp creatures whom Zinke has installed as his top Interior aides. Reminiscent of grifter Scott Pruitt promoting himself to be U.S. attorney general after he had turned EPA into an ethics waste dump, Zinke, now reportedly under investigation by the Justice Department, had the gall to pitch himself as the replacement for Nikki Haley at the UN.

2. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, White House Press SecretaryLast week’s ranking: —

After spending two years denying and lying about Trump’s misogyny, Sanders finally got behind a claim of assault — a false claim, to support Trump’s banishment from the White House of CNN’s Jim Acosta. “We will,” Sanders solemnly declared,  “…never tolerate a reporter placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern.” Sanders also shared a doctored video of the incident.

1. Donald J. Trump, President of the United States. Last week’s ranking: seriously?

While the Democrats took the House, won at least 24 of the 35 Senate races, and took back key state offices, the result was still troubling: Plenty of Americans seem OK with Trump’s bigoted, misogynistic, corrupt Republican Party, when any decent person should be appalled.

Trump himself was left, post-election, in a dark place between emboldened and scared out of his wits, and he lashed out, authoritarian-style.

Trump issued a radical, legally-dubious unilateral order sharply restricting the ability of border crossers to seek asylum.

Trump barred CNN’s Acosta from his castle just for asking questions, and then he warned reporters, “You have to treat the presidency with respect.” He also insulted not one, not two, but three African-American women reporters in rapid — and rabid –succession: PBS’s Yamiche Alcindor (“That’s such a racist question”); CNN’s Abby Phillip (‘you ask a lot of stupid questions”); and April D. Ryan of American Urban Radio Networks (“a loser; she doesn’t know what the hell she’s doing”).

Arriving in France, Trump insulted the president of France with a tweet and then insulted U.S. troops by skipping a World War I commemoration because it was raining. Trump only seemed happy on the trip when he locked eyes with Vladimir Putin.

Trump insulted the victims of the latest mass shooting — twelve dead at a bar in Thousand Oaks, California — by continuing to do nothing serious about gun controls.  A lame email from the White House quoted this supposedly illuminating press account: “‘President Donald Trump responded to a mass shooting at a Southern California music club, calling it ‘terrible’ and saying he has been ‘fully briefed’ on the incident,’ Cheyenne Haslett reports for ABC News.”

Trump insulted the victims of the California wild fires with ugly false accusations, backed by threats, that “poor forest management” were the cause, when in fact forest fires are not at issue.

Desperately aiming to win a few more electoral contests, Trump made repeated, wholly unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud in Arizona and Florida, and tweeted that Florida, engaged in recounts that are mandatory under state law because of the narrow margins, somehow “Must go with Election Night!”

Trump’s replacement of Jeff Sessions with sycophant Matthew Whitaker at Justice was, like his firing of James Comey, all about revenge and protection related to the Russia probe — at a time when Don Jr., as well as a Roger Stone associate, are reported to be worrying about indictments; Michael Cohen and his lawyer traveled to DC to meet with Mueller’s team; and the Wall Street Journal offered new indications that — duh — “Donald Trump Played Central Role in Hush Payoffs to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal.”

Pressed on the possibly unlawful selection of a shady, unqualified acting attorney general, Trump lied and said repeatedly on Friday that he didn’t know Whitaker, when he had told his Fox & Friends last month that he knew the man and that “Matt Whitaker’s a great guy.”

Trump announced that the presidential Medal of Freedom would go to popular icons including Babe Ruth and Elvis Presley, and also to Miriam Adelson, who, along with her casino magnate husband Sheldon, has donated hundreds of millions to the GOP.

And, of course, in addition to reaffirming that he has been “Treated Very Unfairly,” Trump assured us that everything is going great. “Everybody wants to work in this White House,” Trump said at his news conference. “This is a hot White House.” Hot.

Trump is again number one — the most disgraceful person in Trump world. Trump is not merely a disgrace; he’s a total and complete disgrace.

Recent disgracefulness:

Trump Terrible 10: Kavanaugh Confrontation Edition
Trump Terrible 10: Kavanaugh Kloture Kanye Edition
Trump Terrible 10: Saudi Edition
Trump Terrible 10: Horseface Caravan Body Slam Edition
Trump Terrible 10: Jewish Edition