PRESIDENT TRUMP'S FIRST WEEK

Well, how did President Donald (the Bully) Trumps' first week go?  As for me, at best it was embarrassing and at worst it was a disaster. Admittedly my view is not held by all.  I heard a group of three Trump supporters who viewed his first week as a grade of A by two and A- by the third.

Trump tried to bully the president of Mexico, Enrique Pena Nieto, about paying for The Great Wall of Trump and the Mexican President said NO and canceled a meeting with our president.  This prompted a long telephone call between the two presidents to sort of patch things up, after which they issued joint messages.  It turns out that Nieto is unpopular with the people of Mexico, and Trump probably inadvertently raised Nieto's pole standings by Nieto's standing up to bullying.   Trump seemed genuinely surprised by Nieto's response.  Not surprisingly, President Trump has continued his campaign of trying to the American media into submission.

Other countries are advising Trump not to build the wall, such as the Mayor of Berlin.

There is the temporary 4 mo. ban (possibly to be extended) on Muslim refugees from seven Arab countries from coming to the U.S.  to "protect" us from terrorists (Christians and other minority religions are excluded from the ban).  It turns out, however, that none of the terrorist attacks in the U.S. , including 9/11, involved citizens from these seven countries!   Still this view of terrorists coming to the U.S. from these seven countries in spite of the facts is also held by some other Republicans.  There is resistance by Republicans to the fact that the current vetting process has been pretty good.  At any rate, this has prompted law suits from people who have valid visas to come to America and a big reaction from countries  like Germany.  This one is yet to be settled though some damage has been already done in any event.**

Then there are a group of gag orders for scientists in EPA, Agriculture,* and other agencies doing research.  The gag order in Agriculture has now been rescinded.  Though the gag order for EPA remains in place, the freeze on grants has been lifted.  I presume the gag order on EPA will also soon be rescinded.  I don't recall any instance of gag orders on my science during my 34 yrs as a Federal government researcher but some others report having experienced it before.

There seems to be a general resistance to facts by Republicans whom seem to prefer to rely on feelings, not facts.   Kellyanne Conway once even claimed there are no such things as facts.  This was also seen in the Bush-43 White House that politicized scientific committees by insisting that a representative be included who followed the biblical origin of life (Creationism).

Perhaps the worst orders during the first week involved the firing of four senior officials of the State Department before there is even a Secretary of State (who is expected to be approved next week); however, Rex Tillerson at least knew about the request for resignations and maybe has some ideas for replacement.
They [fired] include Patrick Kennedy, who had been the undersecretary of management since the George W. Bush administration, as well as Assistant Secretary of State for Administration Joyce Anne Barr, Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Michele Bond, and Gentry Smith, who directed the Office of Foreign Missions.***

These people were fired without replacements, presumably to be replaced eventually with neophytes.  While these members are so-called Schedule C appointments, who serve at the pleasure of the President, one would expect an orderly transition, but that is not to be.

Note one of the dismissed is Patrick Kennedy, 63, who was a Bush-43 appointee.  He has 43 yrs of government experience in a variety of positions,***

Ambassador Joyce Anne Barr, 66, has 38 years of experience in the government in a variety of positions.***

Ambassador Michele Thoren Bond, 63, with 39 yrs of experience in various position beginning with the foreign service.  She has been in her current position for only about a year.***

Gentry Smith, 58, may be the most serious loss as he had 39 yrs in the State Department so a lot of institutional knowledge is being lost.  He was appointed to his present position by President Obama.***

All these are eligible for retirement so the loss is ours and not theirs.  Long ago, I too was "invited" to retire from the government.  In time I have grown to feel it was all for the best as I was no longer a political football.

Perhaps you recall the hullabaloo when the Clinton Administration fired the Schedule C travel office for the White House, a far, far less serious matter, but at least they had a replacement in mind.

I can't see how all this ends well.

* https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/01/24/usda-science-researchers-ordered-to-stop-publishing-news-releases-other-documents/?utm_term=.d68618fd176d
** http://thefederalist.com/2015/11/18/the-obama-administration-stopped-processing-iraq-refugee-requests-for-6-months-in-2011/  Reince Priebus has said that President Obama did a 6 mo. pause on people coming from Iraq; however, that pause was quite different in that the fingerprints of some terrorists  who came to the U.S. were found on devices in Iraq.  The pause was to allow a stiffening of the immigration policy
*** https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/state-department-resignations/514550/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_F._Kennedy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce_Anne_Barr
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michele_Thoren_Bond
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentry_O._Smith