The Presidential Events: January 2020

February's almost over, but at last The Presidential Events of Awkward Mixture returns for its 2020 season. Ever since its June 2018 debut the series has generated consistent interest, though each article requires more work than other articles. One issue I've discovered is that news sites could do a better job linking articles that are related to one another. For example, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin delayed revealing how much the Secret Service spends to protect the President, because the public will learn how much money was spent at the President's properties. Unfortunately, the article from the Guardian doesn't link to any future updates, or related articles. A similar event, was when the President asked the Supreme Court to delay ruling on whether the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional until after the 2020 election.

The complete list of the Presidential Events for January of 2020 is here.

Israel

The White House, led by Jared Kushner, released its one sided peace plan for Israel and Palestine. Anyone can read it here, but in summary it allows Israel to claim all territory current occupied by settlements, making the remaining Palestine look like Swiss cheese. Only days later, Pompeo gave permission for Israel to annex the settlements in the West Bank.

China

The United States stopped labeling China a currency manipulator, a policy it began on August 5^th, 2019.

Saudi Arabia

Trump met with a deputy minister from Saudi Arabia in the Oval Office, and the public only learned of the event when Saudi Arabia published photos. Trump also made the outrageous claim that Saudi Arabia paid the United States one billion dollars for additional troops, which the Pentagon denied.

Immigration

Because international law forbids sending asylum seekers back to their home country, the Trump administration started sending Mexican asylum seekers to wait in Guatemala. The White House found another $7.2 billion dollars to fund the wall in 2020, by taking billions from counter-drug enforcement, Department of Defense construction projects, and other sources. And the travel ban was expanded to six additional nations with significant Muslim populations; Myanmar, Eritrea, Kyrgystan, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania

The Environment

The Trump administration took its deregulatory zeal to the 50 year old National Environmental Policy Act, by allowing small federal infrastructure projects to avoid the mandatory environmental review. The goal was to allow oil companies to avoid the six year process. The White House also continued its deconstruction of the National Parks system.

Domestic Policies

Despite Trump's repeated promises during the 2016 campaign to bring back democracy, and legislate policies for the benefit of the working class, he has continually repudiated his own words. In January Trump proposed steps to cut Medicaid by changing it to block grants. Fourteen states sued over the White House's change to its food stamp program, which would cut five billion in aid over five years. Trump also weakened nutrition rules regarding school lunches, restricted aid to Puerto Rico, and lied about his intent to ensure healthcare protections for those with preexisting conditions. The Supreme Court aided the president's agenda by temporarily allowing the White House to penalize immigrants who used food stamps or Medicaid.

The Deficit

The US deficit increased to $356 billion for the first quarter of 2020, and is expected to cross $1 trillion in 2020. Under Trump's leadership, a $1 trillion deficit is the new normal.

The Media

In January NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly gave a tough but fair interview of Mike Pompeo. It was public knowledge that Pompeo walked out because he couldn't handle her questions on Ukraine and Iran. In January the public learned that afterwards Pompeo yelled and swore at Mary Kelly. When the news leaked, Pompeo attacker the reporter as part of an “unhinged” media organization to smear the Administration. The White House retaliated by removing an NPR reporter from the pool of journalists traveling with Mike Pompeo. Trump publicly congratulated Pompeo for his actions saying, “You did a good job.”

Other

Here are four extraneous events that don't fit into any other category.

The White House reversed Obama's policy which prohibited the use of anti-personnel landmines. Landmines have killed 130,000 civilians over the last 20 years, and were banned by the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which 160 countries have signed. The United States never signed the Treaty.

Ivanka and Don Jr. lied about how many condos were sold in the Trump SoHo tower, in order to convince others to buy.

E. Jean Carroll, who has accused the President of raping her in the 1990s, filed for the President to submit a DNA sample to compare it to DNA on the clothes she wore when she was raped.

The President insulted Democratic politicians, journalists, and claimed he was a better President than Abraham Lincoln at his Toledo rally.

Iran

On January 3^rd, the United States assassinated Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani. His death was a violation of international law, akin to the assassination of a Cabinet level official or a US Major General. The White House immediately justified their action, claiming Soleiman posed an immediate threat, but they are untrustworthy. The President warned Iran against retaliation, but the fallout was swift. The Iraqi parliament voted for the government to expel American troops from its country, Iran vowed to enrich uranium without conditions, and the Pentagon halted operations against the forces of ISIS.

When the Foreign Minister of Iran planned to condemn the United States at the United Nations Security Council in New York City, the United States illegally rejected his visa request. Then Trump threatened to bomb “52 Iranian” cultural sites if Iran retaliated against the assassination of Soleimani. Destroying cultural sites was the modus operandi of ISIS, and is a war crime according to international law. Three days after the assassination of Soleimani, Trump tweeted an official notice to the world that the United States would strike back if attacked by Iran.

In a rare example of incompetence by an otherwise experienced Administration, the United States sent a letter to the Iraq military stating that American forces would be withdrawing from Iraq in the coming weeks. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper confirmed that releasing the letter was a premature error. Four days later, Iran finally retaliated, launching between fifteen and twenty-two missiles against US bases in Iraq. White House officials claimed there were no American casualties, and both sides claimed victory. The same day, the public learned that roughly 200 Americans of Iranian descent were detained at the US-Canadian border and questioned.

As the conflict deescalated, the White House was forced to defend why they attack Iran in the first place. Trump claimed that he ordered the assassination of Soleimani because, “they were looking to blow up our embassy,” in Iraq. As the White House said that Soleimani posed an imminent threat (sans details), Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said he hadn't seen any evidence himself to support that conclusion. GOP Senator, Mike Lee said that the briefing provided by the White House did not prove there was an imminent threat either. The final comment on the situation came from the President when it was reported that at least 11 military members were suffering potential traumatic brain injuries affer the attack on their base. Trump said, “I heard that they had headaches, and it is not very serious.”

Impeachment

Finally, the 3^rd Impeachment of a United States President. Before turning directly to it though, a few extraneous, but relevant details. In January, former national security adviser Michael Flynn sought to withdraw from his guilty plea, in which he lied to the FBI during Mueller's Russia investigation. A federal judge postponed the sentencing, which was scheduled for late January.

Then news leaked about the President's plan to withhold military funding until Ukraine announced an investigation into Joe Biden. Unredacted documents, released to the public in January showed that the direction to withhold aid was from the President, that it was tied to Ukraine investigating the Bidens, and that Pentagon officials were worried it was illegal. In the same month, the US Government Accountability office found that the White House's decision to withhold military aid to Ukraine violated the Impoundment Control Act of 1974. In other words, withholding aid, as the White House did, was illegal. And the Trump administration refused to turn over 20 emails related to the Ukraine incident, when sued by the New York Times under the Freedom of Information Act.

Readers probably know that the President was impeached in December. The Senate had to wait for Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, to send over the documents before the process could begin. During that time other events impinged upon the trial. Former National Security Advisor, John Bolton, who had refused a subpoena by the House, said he'd testify if called as a witness by the Senate. Trump immediately threatened to block any testimony by Bolton, after previously saying he would, “love everybody to testify.” Then Russian hackers associated with the government infiltrated Burisma searching for embarrassing information about the Bidens.