Fourth Week of the Trump Presidency

• Trump referred to a terrorist attack in Sweden that didn’t take place.
• Andrew Puzder withdraws from the confirmation process for Labor Secretary once Puzder realized that he did not have enough senate votes to be confirmed. Puzder was accused of hiring an undocumented immigrant and there were allegations of domestic abuse by his ex-wife which were later withdrawn.
• Michael Flynn resigns from his post as chief security advisor amid reports that he was in contact with Russian officials regarding policy before the election and after the election but before the inauguration. Trump claimed that Flynn was asked to resign not because he did anything wrong, but because he was not honest with Pence.
• Trump orders an investigation of the “leaks” in government, but not Flynn’s involvement with Russians during the election because Flynn was only doing his job.
• Trump stated that his administration had inherited a “mess” and was running like a fine tuned machine.
• Trump claims he has a 55% approval rating, but PEW puts his approval rating at 39.3% when the poll focus is on live phone calls. Gallop polls place Trump’s approval rate at 41%.
• Trump created a security breech which occurred when Trump discussed the North Korean missile launch in an open air restaurant at Mar-a-Lago; he also created a security breech when pictures of the agent in charge of the “Football” were shared by private citizens at the same event.
• Trump suggested that a Black reporter set up a meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus after she asked whether he was going to meet with them. He continued by saying that he would love to talk with the Black Caucus. A Black Caucus member who heard the news conference tweeted back that the Black Caucus had tried to set up a meeting with Trump, but Trump never got back to them.
• In his last news conference on Friday, Trump insisted that the news media is quoting fake news and is the enemy of the American people. He qualified this statement by saying that security leaks were real, but the news reporting the information from the leaks is “Fake News”.
• When fielding questions at the end of his last news conference, Trump implied that he only wanted to be asked questions that were supportive of him and his policies. After making this request, Trump criticized a news reporter who asked him a question that Trump felt questioned his policy.
• Trump fires Shermichael Singleton, a HUD appointee of Ben Carson, who made statements during the 2016 campaign that Trump was taking the Republican party to a new moral low. He was referencing Trump’s campaign rhetoric about African Americans.
• Trump claimed that only criminals or individuals who pose a threat are being deported, but 186 out of 700 of the known undocumented immigrants who have been deported had no criminal records at all.
• Leaks of draft documents indicate that the Trump administration was considering using 100,000 National Guard troops to aid in the deportation process. Pundits are discussing if this could be a new Administrative ploy to undermine the credibility of the press once it’s reported but the administration takes no action to do this.
• Trump has begun holding rallies for his supporters in preparation for his 2020 campaign.