There's an obvious issue with the Trump
Events page. It contains an enormous quantity of links, which are
exhausting to peruse, regardless of reading. A necessary solution
would be to locate and highlight the crucial events of the month. I
intended to select the most important action, the most significant
event the Trump Administration, friends, families, former
spokespeople, did and accentuate it. And then the conundrum...
What's worse?
A hint, a thought, a desire?
A word, a speech, a proposition?
An action, an initiation, a plan?
A lie, a deception, a deflection?
A disregard for civility, an insult, a
slander?
A war, an arms agreement, a bombing?
An inaction, a hesitation, a
reluctance?
For instance, one might assume the
worst issue of July 1st, 2018 was: Canada slaps
retaliatory tariffs on the United States. It's a concrete reaction
to an action the President implemented. It's an unnecessary
antagonism of a close ally who shares our ideals of freedom,
equality, and justice for all. And we've broken that trust. That's
the action.
But then, there's: Silicon Valley
frustrated by intelligence community's reticence on Russia. An
inaction, which is really just a different type of action, reducing
the United States' security. That's the hesitation.
Then the President called Europe as bad
as China on trade, and is this insult worse than either of the
preceding?
Following this, both the President and
his National Security Adviser, John Bolton lied, claiming
respectively, that Trump didn't tell Republicans to back the
immigration bill, and that North Korea's nuclear program could be
dismantled within a year. These examples are different kinds of
lies. The first is such an obvious, there's evidence on your Twitter
account, disregard any respect for the truth, lie, while the second
is something that could possibly happen in an alternate Universe, but
has absolutely no chance in ours and Bolton knows it.
Then the President speaks
casually about how, a major action which he trumpeted as a great
success, possibly won't turn out as he'd planned. North Korea might
choose to continue its nuclear program and disregard the vague
document it signed with the United States.
But perhaps worst of all is that which
only hides in the recesses of thought, and in the nebulous
planning sessions not revealed to the public, such as the secret
White House plan to abandon the World Trade Organization. After
Axios revealed this draft bill, the White House claimed it wasn't
actual legislation, but only because no one had reviewed the text.
Is it a sign of things to come?
It's incredibly difficult to determine
the destructiveness of an event, except for the obvious such as the
Helsinki Press Conference. Ultimately I did decide, and highlighted
those events which seemed of particular relevance. I have to admit
though, if I looked at the list again, I might choose an entirely
different set of actions.
A few other thoughts as to what I hope
to achieve with this record, and clarify the unwritten and ever
changing rules as to what it records.
Though there are many terrible actions
the United States takes every day, I'm trying to confine this Trump
Events to actions oriented around the current President. For
instance, the war in Yemen
is an atrocity, aided and abetted by the United States government,
but it began under President Obama, so unless there is a specific
aspect which seems relevant to Trump, it won't be recorded here.
I suppose the simplest reason for
keeping this list is expressed in the picture below picture, which
was only further accentuated by the July 31st 2018
statement by the President (italics mine), “Collusion is not a
crime, but that doesn’t matter because there was No Collusion
(except by Crooked Hillary and the Democrats)!” I want a record of
the development, of the policies, the corruption, the lies, the
resignations, the Mueller investigation, and the President's
explanations.
After all that, if you're interested in
perusing the Trump Events of July 2018, follow this link.
And of further interest in lists and theories compiled by other people, I offer these three articles by Lawfare: Seven Theories, Updated, A Resource Page.
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