Trump | Year One

January 3 2017

The 115th Congress of the United States, which will govern for the next two years, is sworn in.
- Republicans control the Senate, 52-48, and the House of Representatives 241-194.
- Paul Ryan is elected Speaker of the House.

January 4 2017

In the House, Republicans pass a bill which would have made it significantly easier for Republicans in Congress to undo federal regulations enacted under Democratic Presidents.
- In the Senate, Democrats block it.
The FBI begins investigating the December 2016 phone calls between Michael Flynn, Trump's incoming National Security Advisor, and Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak.
The Republican-controlled Senate begins debating whether to use the budget reconciliation process, which cannot be filibustered, to repeal Obamacare.

January 5 2017

In the House, Republicans pass a bill which would have made it significantly more difficult for federal agencies to enact regulations that protect the American people from corporate pollution and greed.
- In the Senate, Democrats block it.
The Republican-controlled Senate continues debating whether to use the budget reconciliation process, which cannot be filibustered, to repeal Obamacare.

January 6 2017

The Director of National Intelligence publishes an unclassified version of a report in which the US Intelligence Community concluded with high confidence that Russia interfered in the 2016 election in order to help Trump win.
- Specifically, the report asserts that Russia carried out a massive cyber operation on orders from Russian President Vladimir Putin in order to influence the election in favor of Trump in a multi-pronged attack consisting of hacking the Democratic National Committee, use of social media and Internet trolls to spread misinformation, and open propaganda on Russian state media outlets.
- The Directors of the FBI, CIA, and NSA, as well as the DNI, personally brief President-elect Trump on the classified version of the report, and show him the specific intelligence behind the report's conclusions.
- FBI Director Jim Comey considers Trump's behavior during the meeting to be so unsettling that he feels the need to document it in writing immediately afterwards.

January 9 2017

The Republican-controlled Senate continues debating whether to use the budget reconciliation process, which cannot be filibustered, to repeal Obamacare.

January 10 2017

The christian nationalism of incoming Attorney General Jeff Sessions, as well as his refusal to acknowledge that climate change is real, are highlighted at his confirmation hearing.

January 11 2017

In the House, Republicans pass a bill which would have created substantial procedural bottlenecks in order to make it essentially impossible for the federal government to regulate corporations.
- In the Senate, Democrats block it.
The Republican-controlled Senate votes to begin the months-long budget reconciliation process which, if successful, would allow Republicans to repeal Obamacare by avoiding a Democratic filibuster in the Senate.

January 12 2017

In the House, Republicans pass a bill which would have made it virtually impossible for the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate the Wall Street securities market.
- In the Senate, Democrats block it.
House Republicans also pass a bill which would have made it virtually impossible for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to regulate the Wall Street derivatives market.
- In the Senate, Democrats block it.

January 13 2017

The Republican-controlled House votes to begin the months-long budget reconciliation process which, if successful, would allow Republicans to repeal Obamacare by avoiding a Democratic filibuster in the Senate.

January 17 2017

The confirmation hearing for Republican oligarch and incoming Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, in 2 minutes:

January 18 2017

The confirmation hearing for fossil fuel industry operative and incoming Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, in 2 minutes:

The confirmation hearing for incoming Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price, in 90 seconds:

January 20 2017

Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th President of the United States.

January 22 2017

Trump Senior Counselor Kellyanne Conway introduces Americans to "alternative facts"

Trump refuses to publicly disclose his tax returns, making him the only President in at least 40 years to keep his finances hidden from the American people.

January 23 2017

Trump orders a hiring freeze across the entire federal government, except for the military.
Trump reinstates and massively expands the Global Gag Rule.
- This is a policy first put in place by President Reagan in 1985, which has since been rescinded by every Democratic President and reinstated by every Republican President.
- Under previous iterations of the policy, it applied to US foreign aid that went to family planning organizations, roughly $600 million, and prohibited those organizations from providing or promoting abortion care.
- Under Trump's 15-fold expansion, the policy applied to foreign aid that went to any global health organization, roughly $9 billion.
Trump continues repeating Russian government propaganda that the 2016 Presidential election was rigged, and that he lost the popular vote because 3-5 million illegal immigrants voted for Hillary Clinton.

Trump is sued by an ethics watchdog group for violating the foreign emoluments clause of the US Constitution by accepting large sums of money from foreign governments through his hotels.
- The courts slow-walk the case throughout Trump's entire presidency, until January 2021, when the US Supreme Court orders the case dismissed because, as Trump is then no longer President, the case is moot.
- During his Presidency, Trump received almost $8 million, that we know about, from foreign governments through his hotels, in direct violation of the constitution's most basic anti-bribery rule.

January 24 2017

Trump orders a freeze on all new research grants and contracts at the Environmental Protection Agency.
The FBI interviews National Security Advisor Michael Flynn about his conversations with the Russian Ambassador.
- During the interview, Flynn tells the FBI that he did not discuss lifting US sanctions on Russia with the Russian Ambassador.
- This is a lie. The FBI knows it is a lie. Lying to the FBI is a felony.
- Flynn will eventually plead guilty to lying to the FBI, but will be pardoned by Trump before being sentenced.
The confirmation hearing for incoming White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, in 2 minutes:

The Republican-controlled House passes a bill which would have made it illegal to use any federal funds to provide abortions or to provide health insurance that covers abortions.
- Democratic Senators prevent the bill from becoming law.
- It is already illegal to use federal funds to provide abortions, but that is because every year Congress includes that prohibition in the laws that it passes to fund the government. If this bill had become law, that annual legislative prohibition would no longer be necessary for Republicans to insist on.

January 27 2017

Trump orders a temporary ban on citizens of seven muslim-majority countries from entering the United States, and an indefinite ban on entry by refugees fleeing the Syrian Civil War.
- Neither the Secretary of Defense nor the Secretary of State were consulted on the muslim ban order. It causes significant confusion at airports around the country. People with visas who were on inbound flights when the order was issued are detained at airports and denied entry to the country. Customs officials are confused as to whether the order bars entry to green card holders.
- Lawsuits to block the order immediately follow, focused particularly on Trump's repeated public calls during the 2016 election campaign for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States"
Trump invites FBI Director Jim Comey to a private dinner, during which he asks Comey for a loyalty pledge, which Comey does not provide.
The FBI interviews Trump campaign foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos about his 2016 meetings with Russian agents.
- During the interview, Papadopoulos repeatedly lies to the FBI.
- Lying to the FBI is a felony. Papadopoulos will eventually plead guilty to lying to the FBI, but will be pardoned by Trump.

January 28 2017

Trump restructures the National Security Council to allow White House Chief Strategist and apparent white nationalist Steve Bannon to attend all NSC meetings.
- He also downgrades the status of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and of the Director of National Intelligence, both of whom will now only attend NSC meetings when the meeting is "relevant to their responsibilities and expertise."

January 30 2017

Trump fires Sally Yates, the Acting Attorney General, after she instructs the Justice Department not to defend Trump's muslim ban in court, because she believes it is unconstitutional.
Trump installs Thomas Homan as the Acting Director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
- Homan had been arguing since at least 2014 for the implementation of what will later become the Trump Administration's child separation policy, in which immigrant children are separated from their parents explicitly for the purposes of discouraging border crossings.
Democratic members of Congress respond to Trump's muslim ban:

January 31 2017

Trump nominates appellate judge and GOP political operative Neil Gorsuch to fill the vacant Supreme Court seat that Republican Senators had prevented President Obama from filling for more than a year.

February 1 2017

The Republican-controlled Senate confirms Exxon-Mobile CEO Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State, in a 56-43 vote, the most no votes for any Secretary of State in American history.
- Only 4 Democratic Senators voted for his confirmation, among them Mark Warner of Virginia and Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
Trump orders the Environmental Protection Agency to cancel the Mercury Effluent Rule, a regulation which would have annually prevented five tons of mercury from being discharged into water supplies.
- Mercury can cause brain damage in infants and pregnant women.
Republicans in the House vote to repeal a regulation that prevented oil companies from hiding bribes they paid to corrupt foreign governments.
- The Senate will pass this repeal two days later, and President Trump will sign it into law in 2 weeks.
House Republicans also vote to repeal a regulation that prevented coal companies from dumping entire mountains worth of toxic mining debris into streams and waterways.

February 2 2017

Senate Republicans vote to repeal the regulation that prevented coal companies from dumping entire mountains worth of toxic mining debris into streams and waterways.

Republicans in the House vote to repeal a regulation that prevented defense contractors from getting additional government contracts if they violate labor laws.
- The Republican-controlled Senate will pass this repeal and President Trump will sign it into law next month.
And House Republicans vote to repeal a regulation that prevented some severely mentally ill people from buying guns.
- Republican Senators will vote to repeal this regulation in two weeks, and President Trump will sign it into law before the end of the month.
Trump promises a group of christian religious fanatics that he will "totally destroy" the Johnson Amendment, which is a law that prohibits religious organizations from funding political campaigns while also maintaining their tax-exempt status.
The Treasury Department cancels sanctions on the FSB, the successor agency to the KGB, that President Obama had put in place in December in response to the Russian military intelligence attack on the 2016 election.

February 3 2017

Republicans in the Senate vote to repeal the regulation that prevented oil companies from hiding bribes they paid to corrupt foreign governments.
- The House passed this repeal two days earlier.
- President Trump will sign this repeal into law in 2 weeks.

House Republicans vote to repeal a regulation that every year prevents hundreds of thousands of tons of methane from being released into the environment when fossil fuel companies drill on public lands.
- Amazingly, the Senate actually votes this repeal down in May, when Democratic Senators are joined by 3 Republican Senators in supporting the regulation.
A federal district court Judge in Seattle issues a nationwide order blocking the implementation of Trump's muslim ban, at the request of the Washington State Attorney General.
- The Justice Department asks the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn this decision.
The Trump-appointed Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission cancels an agreement with internet service providers that allowed some low-income communities to get less-expensive internet service.
The USDA removes from its website, for no apparent reason, all its records of animal abuse at dog breeding facilities, research labs, zoos, etc.

February 6 2017

President Trump tries to create a false sense of terror in America by accusing the media of covering up terrorist attacks.
- Bolstering his effort, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer three times this week talks about "recent terrorist attacks" in Atlanta. The most recent terrorist attack in Atlanta was all the way back in 1996, when a white supremacist set off a pipe bomb during the Olympics.
- Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway also invents an imaginary terrorist attack, the "Bowling Greene Massacre", which she then complains about the media refusing to report on.

February 7 2017

The Republican-controlled Senate confirms Republican oligarch Betsy DeVos as Trump's Secretary of Education.
- Vice-President Mike Pence had to cast a tie-breaking vote, the first time in US history that this has been necessary to confirm a cabinet nominee.

Trump lies to the public, telling them the murder rate is at a 47 year high. In fact it is almost the lowest it has been in decades.
Republicans in the House vote to repeal two education-related regulations in order to lower teacher qualification standards in public schools and to reduce funding of public schools in low-income areas.
- They also vote to repeal a regulation that required transparent decisionmaking when the government decides whether to allow oil companies to drill on public lands.
- All three repeals will be passed by the Republican-controlled Senate and signed into law by President Trump next month.

February 8 2017

The Republican-controlled Senate confirms Jeff Sessions as Trump's Attorney General, in a 52-47 vote.
- Joe Manchin of West Virginia is the only Democratic Senator to vote for confirmation.
National Security Advisor Michael Flynn tells the public that he did not discuss lifting US sanctions on Russia with the Russian Ambassador.
- The next day, the Washington Post reports that Flynn is lying.

February 9 2017

A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Curt of Appeals denies the Justice Department's appeal from the district court order blocking the implementation of Trump's muslim ban.

February 10 2017

Senate Republicans vote to confirm Trump's Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tom Price, in a 52-47 vote.
- No Democratic Senators vote for confirmation.

February 13 2017

National Security Advisor Michael Flynn resigns in disgrace, hours after it is publicly reported that a few weeks earlier, before Trump fired her, then-Acting Attorney General Sally Yates had warned the Trump White House that Flynn might be vulnerable to Russian blackmail because he had been lying to the Vice-President and to the FBI about the nature of his calls with the Russian Ambassador.
The Senate confirms Steven Mnuchin as Trump's Treasury Secretary, in a 53-47 vote, with Joe Manchin being the only Democratic Senator to vote for confirmation.

February 14 2017

Trump signs a bill repealing a regulation that prevented oil companies from hiding bribes they paid to corrupt foreign governments.
Trump meets privately with FBI Director Jim Comey, and asks him to consider dropping the FBI investigation into Flynn and "letting Flynn go."

February 15 2017

The Senate voted to repeal a regulation that prevented some severely mentally ill people from buying guns.

Five Democratic Senators, including Joe Manchin, joined Republicans in voting for the repeal of this regulation.
The House had already passed this repeal, and President Trump will sign it into law before the end of the month.

Trump's initial nominee for Labor Secretary, fast food CEO Andrew Puzder, withdraws his nomination after an old video surfaces of his ex-wife accusing him of beating the shit out of her.
The Republican-controlled House votes to repeal regulations which allowed States to provide unemployment benefits without requiring unemployed people to be drug-tested, and which made it easier for State and local governments to help Americans with low incomes set up retirement savings plans without having to pay expensive financial advisors or investment banks.
- These repeals will be passed by the Republican Senate and signed into law by President Trump in the next few months.

February 16 2017

Trump signs a bill repealing a regulation that prevented coal companies from dumping entire mountains worth of toxic mining debris into streams and waterways.
The Senate confirms Mick Mulvaney as Trump's Budget Director, in a 51-49 vote, with no Democratic Senators voting for confirmation.
Numerous high-profile national security experts refuse offers to become Trump's next National Security Advisor, including retired General and former CIA Director David Petraeus, and retired Admiral and Navy SEAL Robert Harward, who reportedly described the offer to work for Trump as a "shit sandwich."
The Republican-controlled House votes to repeal regulations which prevented States from withholding federal Planned Parenthood funding and which prevented hunters on national wildlife refuges from shooting bears from helicopters and gassing wolf pups in their dens.
- These repeals will be passed by the Republican Senate and signed into law by President Trump in the next few months.
Leaked emails show that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' wife, Ginni Thomas, is organizing right-wing activists to support Trump's muslim ban.
- A year and a half later, her husband will vote to make the muslim ban constitutional, in a 5-4 decision from which he would have been required to recuse himself, if Supreme Court Justices were subject to any ethical rules.
USDA staff were told to no longer use the phrase "climate change" in official documents.

February 17 2017

Trump begins telling the public that the news media are "the enemies of the people."
Republicans in the Senate confirm fossil fuel industry agent Scott Pruitt as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, in a 52-46 vote.

Joe Manchin of West Virginia was one of only two Democratic Senators to vote for Pruitt's confirmation at EPA.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson begins what will be his signature project while in office: gutting American diplomatic capacity.
- He fires the Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources, and dissolves her staff. This was the agency within the State Department that functionally connected regional expertise from the various country bureaus with the policy-making arms of the Department, making coherent policy-making possible.

More to come...