Another day, another failed attempt by the media to keep up with the phenomenon that is President Donald Trump. And another day of collective hyperventilating about immigration policy, ignoring other meaty actions.
On Tuesday, Trump declared that an executive order signed by the Obama administration protecting from discrimination lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) employees on federal contracts remains in place under the Trump Administration.
“The president is proud to have been the first ever GOP nominee to mention the LGBTQ community in his nomination acceptance speech, pledging then to protect the community from violence and oppression,” said Sean Spicer, White House press secretary of the executive order that Obama signed in 2014.
“President Donald J. Trump is determined to protect the rights of all Americans, including the LGBTQ community. President Trump continues to be respectful and supportive of LGBTQ rights, just as he was throughout the election,” he said.
On Monday, Trump signed an executive order that calls for cuts to federal red tape. For every regulation implemented, two must be removed, under his order, a move that won the hearts of many small business owners.
Also on Monday, Trump made it clear that those who work for him will not be allowed to go rogue. He fired acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates, saying in a statement that she has “betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States. This order was approved as to form and legality by the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel.
“Ms. Yates is an Obama Administration appointee who is weak on borders and very weak on illegal immigration. It is time to get serious about protecting our country. Calling for tougher vetting for individuals travelling from seven dangerous places is not extreme. It is reasonable and necessary to protect our country,” said Trump in a statement.
The president relieved Yates of her duties and named U.S. Attorney for Eastern Virginia Dana Boente to the post until Sen. Jeff Sessions is finally confirmed by the Senate.
FAKE NEWS MAKES HEADLINES: Making the rounds in the news cycle last week was the report that President Trump placed a gag order on the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal departments.
The Associated Press jumped on the bandwagon and the headlines were, ahem, unbelievable. We decided to check it out.
As it turns out, each new administration gives similar directives to its agencies because the new president simply doesn’t need to be sandbagged by the leftover functionaries from the old regime.
This is especially true when the reins of power switch between parties. All manner of pranks and pratfalls have been perpetrated on incoming presidents, such as the time when the Clinton team popped many of the “W” keys off of the keyboards in the White House and the Old Executive Office Building and left other damage, such as severed phone cords, before George W. Bush arrived.
Knowing the deep antipathy the Obama team harbors toward the incoming Trump Administration, it would be no surprise to see various agency holdovers attempt to embarrass the new administration — such as happened during the inauguration when the Park Service posted Obama vs. Trump crowd photos for no good reason.
This is why memos reminding officials to clear statements before releasing them has become standard practice during presidential transitions.
And the mainstream media wonders why we keep upbraiding them for fake news.
REFUGEES AND REASON: President Trump over the weekend temporarily embargoed immigrants from Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, and Iran.
The liberals lost their minds, as they are predisposed to do. At this point, there’s nothing Trump can do that doesn’t seem to provoke a Vietnam War-era type protest.
We look at the list of nations that are temporarily part of the suspension, and observe that all but Iran are countries embroiled in chaos, with no functioning governments, no rule of law, and no social stability. For example, Somalia is so unstable that the U.S. Embassy operates out of Nairobi, Kenya. Same with Yemen, where our embassy operates out of Saudi Arabia due to instability.
And Iran? Don’t get us started on Iran.
(Read: London Times columnist says “assassination is taking such a long time.”)
The Trump order is effective for 120 days to allow the new administration to fully review current admission policies. And it comes as no surprise to Trump supporters: This is exactly what he said he would do when he ran for president.
Democrats who last year wanted Trump to run against Hillary Clinton, because they thought he’d never win, are now in turmoil, nearly rioting because they lost their bet with the rest of America.
WHAT ELSE DID TRUMP DO? The Donald also capped refugees at 50,000 per year, an amount that was considered a high point during the Bush Administration.
President Barack Obama started his presidency by expanding refugee admissions to 70,000 a year, with no particular justification. He extended the cap to 110,000 for 2017 — more than twice the high during the Bush Administration. Trump is simply rolling back to what was “high-normal” eight years ago.
But the Left is spoiling for a fight with Trump.
PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS, YAZIDIS: As for Syrian refugees, Obama severely limited Christians, while Trump has prioritized Christians, Yazidis (Kurds), and other religious minorities.
To be exact, Obama admitted more than 11,000 Muslim refugees from Syria in 2016, but fewer than 100 Christians.
Don’t take our word for it: Run your own report here. (Be sure to mark all Muslim variants when running the Muslim report)
The backlash is both predictable and hysterical.
Yet Trump deserves some criticism because his ham-handed implementation undermined his legitimate efforts to get a handle on immigration from terror-ridden countries.
For our money, a more graceful timeframe that gave travelers a few days of advance notice would have landed better in the court of public opinion as well as avoided a judicial showdown in several U.S. cities.
THE MARCHES ARE ORGANIZED: There will be more marches. Watch for the Science (read: Climate) March, the Gay March, the Tax-me March and others. A list for progressives is here.
Alaskans wanting to get news directly from the White House, unfiltered by the media, can bookmark this link.