Trump has already left his mark. And it’s ugly.by digby
New York Magazine compiled the 55 ways the Trump administration has already structurally changed America. Get a load of the damage so far:
Given that the congressional year has otherwise been marked by turmoil and inaction, and given the high staff turnover and the parade of scandals at the White House, it’s been easy to miss what this administration has already done. In the background, Donald Trump’s Cabinet members and their collaborators have been working hard to deliver on Steve Bannon’s vision of dismantling the “regulatory state.” With Trump’s blessing, they have made drastic, structural changes on education, immigration, environmental protections, broadcasting and internet laws, and rules of military engagement, among other issues. Most often the changes have taken direct aim at Obama’s legacy, but some apply to regulations and programs that date back decades.
What follows is a list of those changes. Excluded here is anything abstract: say, about how Trump has trampled on political norms, degraded national discourse, or permanently shattered the “dignity of the Oval Office.” Also excluded are the promises on which he has yet to deliver — for instance, moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem or building the border wall. Finally, it doesn’t include his selection of judges — he’s nominated 58 circuit- and district-court judges, 18 of whom have already been confirmed — since judicial appointments are an expected part of any president’s work.
I’ll just say that it’s … sobering.
Here are just the ones having to do with immigration and criminal justice:
Immigration
Travel from eight countries is banned
After 11 months’ worth of legal dueling, Trump has effectively delivered on a version of his Muslim ban. With the Supreme Court’s blessing, he’s halted nearly all travel from Iran, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, and Chad, plus North Korea and (in some cases) Venezuela.
All refugees from 11 countries have been blocked from entering the U.S.
Trump’s infamous “travel ban” executive order in January also decreed that refugees could no longer come here — no matter which country they were fleeing. Again because of lawsuits, that rule has been watered down, but Trump has successfully banned refugees from ten majority-Muslim countries plus North Korea, leading to a 40 percent drop in overall refugee admissions and a 94 percent drop in Muslim refugees.Protections for the Dreamers have been rescinded
The Department of Homeland Security will start cutting off protections for the nearly 700,000 Dreamers — undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children — in March, by decree from Trump. There’s still a chance, however, that Congress will pass a new law in the interim offering them legal residency or a path to citizenship.A program for child migrants fleeing violence in Central America is being phased out
More than 2,700 children, mostly from El Salvador, had received tentative approval to move here — but this year the State Department abruptly turned them away. It has also stopped accepting new applications for the program, which has been around since 2014, and plans to abolish it altogether.The U.S. has backed out of the U.N.’s migration pact
U.S. representatives had been involved in a United Nations’ council on migration since the inaugural meeting this past spring. The idea is to coordinate help for more than 60 million people who have been driven from their homes by wars, poverty, or climate change. But the U.S. announced in December that it was quitting; Secretary of State Rex Tillerson claimed that participating would undermine American sovereignty.
Spouses and children of refugees have lost their path into the U.S.
A program that helps refugees reunite with their families has been suspended by the State Department and other agencies — until when, no one knows.
Immigration agents are now required to treat the claims of asylum-seekers more skeptically
Homeland Security is telling its asylum officers to take a more critical stance on the stories of immigrants who say they are fleeing violence or persecution. If the interviewees seem nervous, the agents are to avoid factoring in that it might be caused by trauma or culture shock.Green cards are taking longer to obtain
Homeland Security now requires in-person interviews for certain kinds of applications — something they had stopped doing ten years ago because it was a colossal waste of time. Immigration lawyers told CNN it could mean millions fewer immigrants will be admitted here by 2020.Criminal Justice
Federal prosecutors have been stripped of their discretion and ordered to seek maximum penalties
Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued the order in May, with a specific intent that prosecutors pursue stiff sentences for drug-dealing, gun crimes, and gang violence. But the mandate applies to every kind of case.A police-department reform program has been cut off
After the Department of Justice sued the police in Ferguson, Missouri, and ordered the department to clean up its act on race relations, the DOJ created a program where other police departments could seek similar guidance, but on a voluntary, cooperative basis. Police departments in Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Las Vegas, among others, took advantage of it. Sessions effectively cut off the program and channeled the money to groups like police unions instead.Local police are once again stocking up on military weapons
After police in Ferguson used military weapons against protesters in 2015, Obama took measures to end the militarization of police. Sessions rescinded those rules, so police can once again obtain surplus grenade-launchers, bayonets, and armored vehicles for free or with federal dollars.
Half a million fugitives are now allowed to buy guns
In February, the DOJ narrowed the definition of “fugitive” to people who have crossed state lines to escape prosecution or avoid testifying, which cleared 518,670 alleged criminals for gun purchases, according to the FBI.
I would just point out that a majority of those can specifically be attributed to Trump not just standard issue GOP policy. Not every Attorney General would be a rank racist neo-confederate like Jeff Sessions. And Trump is the one who pushed the immigration issue into full-blown xenophobia.
Republicans are horrible and I would be as resistant to their agenda no matter what. But a lot of Trump’s “accomplishments” are things that go beyond what an average Republican president would have done. He’s appointed extremists all over the executive branch to carry out extremist policies. All we can do is hope that their incompetence outweighs their lunacy.
If you feel like dropping a little something in the Hullabaloo Christmas stocking this year I would be most appreciative. As always I’m immensely grateful for all of you who drop by to read this creaky old blog. It’s what keeps me going. Together we will get through this.
Happy Hollandaise everyone! Keep the faith.
cheers — digby
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