Always such a cornucopia to choose from when highlighting the most grievous actions of the President and his minions each week. Maybe today we’ll just look at 2 incidents this week and close with a Trump quote that really reflects his thinking.

Trump Addresses Congress

This was a spectacle. To begin, there was the nauseating image of this motley fool, this charlatan, being announced in the halls of Congress as “The President of the United States”. Then, to see that smug, slack-jawed visage move down the aisle and arrive at the podium was toe-curling.

The speech itself was full of inaccuracies, self-indulgence, and lies. There were too many to fully recount here, so I’ll just note a few:

“Drain the swamp of government corruption”

The phrase “government corruption” is typical of Trump. To say it is hyperbolic isn’t enough. There is no evidence of widespread corruption in our government, not even at low levels, but using that phrase repeatedly weakens people’s faith in their government- an essential cornerstone of democracy. Separately, Trump’s lobbying bans that he is “Trumpeting” are weaker than either Bush’s or Obama’s bans.

“We’ve defended the borders of other nations, while leaving our own border wide open for anyone to cross”

Illegal immigration flows across the southern border in 2015 were at their lowest since 1972.

“Since my election, Ford, Fiat, GM, Sprint . . have announced they will spend billions of dollars in the US and create tens of thousands of jobs”

All of these companies have made these decisions, and some had even announced them, prior to Trump’s election.

“94 million Americans are out of the labor force”

This is an absurd statement and Trump knows it because he’s been called on it in the past. 95% of those 94 million people are retired, students, stay-at-home parents, or disabled. The unemployment rate is 4.8%.

“I can tell you the money is pouring in. Very nice.”

This ad-lib is in reference to the Trump administration pressuring allies to meet their NATO obligations. But his statement shows an alarming lack of understanding of how NATO works. There’s no place for money to pour into. No money would come to the US and, really, no money would pour into NATO coffers. The Trump administration is asking allies to increase their own defense spending to levels agreed to in the NATO agreements. None of these countries have passed budgets since our election, so absolutely none of them have increased spending on defense. Trump’s ad-lib in his speech is pure Trump – idiocy combined with prevarication. It’s a lie – there’s no money pouring in Donald. Very nice.

There was more, much more, yet Trump was given high marks for the speech by almost every television talking head during the post-speech analysis. Why? Since Trump was not frothing at the mouth and insulting everyone in sight, he was considered “Presidential”. Trump finally achieved the “low bar” that he himself has set and for that he receives praise.

Jeff Sessions

It is now abundantly clear that our Attorney General, the highest law officer in the land,  lied to the Senate Judiciary Committee about contacts with Russian officials during his confirmation hearings. Sessions told the committee that he had not had any discussions with Russian officials when he had actually met with the Russian Ambassador at the Republican National Convention in August and again in DC in September. After these meetings had been brought to light by the Washington Post, Sessions said he met with the Ambassador in his capacity as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC). At the Republican National Convention? Interestingly, no other member of the SASC has met with the Russian Ambassador at any point during their tenure on the committee. When asked what was discussed, Session responded “normal things”. Met with him twice to discuss “normal things”. Russian Ambassador was in Cleveland during the RNC? Family vacation? I’d like to know if Sessions had ever previously met with the Russian Ambassador or if the RNC meeting was the first. Even without that information though, the AG appears to be lying and this is important considering the strong evidence of Russian tampering in our election and the Trump ties to Russia.

Quote From Hell

Trump on the appointment of the overwhelming under qualified Ben Carson as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development:

“Ben is going to work with me very, very closely. And HUD has a meaning far beyond housing. If properly done, it’s a meaning as big as anything there is, and Ben will be able to find that true meaning and the true meaning of HUD as its secretary.”

Wow. Have at it.