The real reason Trump re-opened government: His cosmetician and hairdresser threatened to quit.

The Washington Post - ‘It’s way too many’: As vacancies pile up in Trump administration, senators grow concerned

February 4 at 11:13 AM

 

From the Justice Department to Veterans Affairs, vast swaths of the government have top positions filled by officials serving in an acting capacity - or no one at all.

 

More than two years into Trump’s term, the president has an acting chief of staff, attorney general, defense secretary, interior secretary, Office of Management and Budget director and Environmental Protection Agency chief.

 

To deal with the number of vacancies in the upper ranks of departments, agencies have been relying on novel and legally questionable personnel moves that could leave the administration’s policies open to court challenges.

 

The lack of permanent leaders has started to alarm top congressional Republicans who are pressing for key posts to be filled. ...

 

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—A leak of Donald J. Trump’s official White House schedule has left millions of Americans deeply relieved that Trump spends approximately sixty per cent of each day not using his powers as President.

In conversations across the country, Americans called the revelation that Trump devotes the majority of his day to “executive time,” a euphemism for watching TV and checking Twitter, the most reassuring news out of the White House in months.

“Like most of the people I know, the idea of Donald Trump sitting behind his desk doing things that affect the country has me in a state of mortal terror,” Carol Foyler, a resident of Minneapolis, said. “Just knowing that he’s spending sixty per cent of his time doing basically nothing makes me feel somewhat better.”

Harland Dorrinson, who lives in Detroit, agreed that it was “great news that Trump is only President forty per cent of the time” but called on the entertainment industry to create more diverting programming that might distract Trump for a larger portion of his day. “It would be fantastic if we could push the sixty per cent of his day that he does nothing up to seventy or even eighty per cent,” he said. “Maybe someone could come up with a podcast that he could get into.”

But Tracy Klugian, a Baltimore resident, said that the leak of Trump’s schedule did little to allay her darkest fears. “Until I find out that he’s spending a hundred per cent of his time not being President, I won’t sleep at night,” she said.

rugrat: With my understanding of things I agree with them pulling out of that pact.

Russia is developing terrifying new weapons, Poseidon doomsday device as one, and China who is not a signatory is different today to what it was when agreement signed.

Not really, better to stay in the pact and sanction Russia for not complying.

Of course for unknown reasons, the Trump regime resists enacting sanctions on Russia.

The US pulling out of the treaty is consistent with Trump Putin's fixation with destabilising Europe.

The New York Times - Trump Chooses David Bernhardt, a Former Oil Lobbyist, to Head the Interior Dept.

Feb. 4, 2019

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Monday announced he would nominate David Bernhardt, a former oil lobbyist and current deputy chief of the Interior Department, to succeed Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who resigned amid allegations of ethical missteps.

 

In a message on Twitter, Mr. Trump wrote, “David has done a fantastic job from the day he arrived, and we look forward to having his nomination officially confirmed!”

 

While Mr. Zinke had been the public face of some of the largest rollbacks of public-land protections in the nation’s history, Mr. Bernhardt was the one quietly pulling the levers to carry them out, opening millions of acres of land and water to oil, gas and coal companies. ...

 

The most alarming thing about these reports is that I can no longer tell the difference between the New York Times and Borowitz.

Federal prosecutors in New York (not Mueller) have issued a wide-ranging subpoena for all kinds of documents relating to the inauguration. This looks like a major criminal probe. Apparently a lot of money was raised, some from questionable sources, but not a lot seems to have been spent. Where that money went is one big question. Where some of it came from is another.

In the words of the song - "Nice work if you can get it" ...

Sideface:

 

In the words of the song - "Nice work if you can get it" ...

 

 

I don't see the 85% Twitter and 15% Reality shows I starred in. Admittedly, my shutdown helped. It screwed my golf time though

kingdragonfly: Personally I think we should encourage Trump to watch more TV and compose more tweets.



Jim Acosta calls out Sarah Sanders' 'spin' on Trump's executive time.

Talking to outside advisors????  More like defense lawyers

The New York Times - Trump Chooses David Bernhardt, a Former Oil Lobbyist, to Head the Interior Dept.

Feb. 4, 2019

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Monday announced he would nominate David Bernhardt, a former oil lobbyist and current deputy chief of the Interior Department, to succeed Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who resigned amid allegations of ethical missteps. ...

 

Comments

Times Pick

 

Gosh, I'm soooo glad President Trump has finally drained the swamp!

 

I just know right deep in my lil' ol' heart that these billionaires, multi-millionaires, and commercial banking officials Mr. Trump appointed as Cabinet officials, as well as the petroleum and chemical industry lobbyists and corporate insiders now in charge of our public lands and environment, are all looking out for the best interests of the American public.

 

A true public servant like David Bernhardt will no doubt serve his country with as much honesty, integrity, and selflessness as Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Michael Cohen, and the many other righteous civic-minded men and women of this administration (whether convicted, indicted, resigned in disgrace, fired, or not).

 

President Trump really does hire the very best! Believe me, folks, believe me!

 

SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS PROOFREADS STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH ONE LAST TIME TO REMOVE ANY REMAINING FACTS

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—The White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is proofreading the text of tonight’s State of the Union address one last time to remove any remaining facts, Sanders confirmed on Tuesday.
While a team of wordsmiths led by the senior adviser Stephen Miller has attempted to craft an entirely fact-free address, “It’s good to have a fresh set of eyes to root out any stray accuracies that might have crept in,” Sanders said.
The press secretary said that, for example, while purging the speech of truths, she noticed a reference to the African-American unemployment rate standing at 6.8 per cent, a statistic that she deemed “unacceptably correct.”
“I read that and my Sanders sense started tingling,” she said.
Taking her blue pencil to the text, Sanders changed the number to a “better-sounding” 2.3 per cent. “That may seem like a tiny detail, but it’s stuff like that that separates the professional liars from the mere amateurs,” she said.
Once Sanders is confident that she has obliterated any lingering traces of reality from the script, she will forward it to Donald J. Trump, who will insert misspellings. “It makes him more comfortable reading it on the teleprompter if things are spelled his way,” she said.
The prospect of delivering tonight’s speech appears to have energized Trump, who tweeted early Tuesday morning that he was “very much looking forward to the Steak of the Onion.”