Trump Suggested A $880 Billion Cut From Medicaid, And 14 Other Facts You Need To Know Immediately
From pretending he reads, to tweeting at North Korea, here’s everything Trump did this week.
Trump at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the East Room of the White House, March 17, 2017.
Justin Sullivan
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1. Lied about cutting Medicaid.
Another LIE: Trump promised not to cut Medicaid. His health bill will cut $880 billion from it. https://t.co/87cn3iLgrI via @voxdotcom
— Maxine Waters (@MaxineWaters) March 15, 2017
2. Pledged to donate his presidential salary ($400,000 a year) at the end of the year to the charity of the White House Press Corps's choice.
Spicer said Trump will donate his salary and wants help for where to donate...
— Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) March 13, 2017
PLANNED PARENTHOOD
PLANNED PARENTHOOD
PLANNED PARENTHOOD
But declined to provide proof of his intentions.
3. Referred to the healthcare debate as a "big, fat, beautiful negotiation."
IT'S A BIG FAT BEAUTIFUL NEGOTIATION! But can it be a 10 if it's fat?
— Joan Walsh (@joanwalsh) March 13, 2017
4. Called the two leaked pages of his tax returns from 2005 "fake news," after the White House confirmed they were real.
In a journalism bombshell, we finally have Trump's tax returns...from 2005...and only part of them...we did it? pic.twitter.com/WsTEAE0ztv
— DESUS & MERO (@desusandmero) March 16, 2017
5. Criticized Snoop Dogg for his "Lavender" video, to much outrage.
T.I's response to Donald Trump calling out Snoop Dogg 😂 pic.twitter.com/lMungyCxpx
— Freestyle Raps (@FreestyIeRaps) March 17, 2017
Seriously, how dare he?
6. Shouted out probable worst U.S. president of all time, Andrew Jackson.
@realDonaldTrump Donald, he assembled the most corrupt "Kitchen" cabinet in Presidential history and then he did the Trail of Tears.
— Bess Kalb (@bessbell) March 15, 2017
One of Jackson's many nicknames was "Indian-Killer." Michael Brendan wrote for The Week, "Part of Jackson's personal wealth came through land that he acquired even though it had been promised to Indians in a treaty. It's completely justified to say that Jacksonian democracy reflected this same grasping ambition of the newly expanded white voting classes at the expense of slaves and Indians."
7. Unveiled a truly horrific budget.
+Unfriendly reminder that @realDonaldTrump and @FLOTUS could save about $182,500,000 a year just by living in the same mansion.
— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) March 16, 2017
Which was apparently culled from quotes from Trump's campaign speeches. "If he said it in the campaign, it's in the budget," budget adviser Rick Mulvaney said on Morning Joe. "We wanted to know what his policies were. And we turned those policies into numbers."
His first budget plan “raises military spending $54 billion, boosts funding for homeland security, slashing state department funding, massively reduces EPA,” according to CNN.
"The budget goes after the frequent targets of the party's staunchest conservatives, eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts, legal aid for the poor, low-income heating assistance and the AmeriCorps national service program established by former President Bill Clinton," AP reported.
The Recording Academy called the plan to cut funding for the arts, "shortsighted and alarming." The plan also cuts funding for anti-poverty programs like Meals On Wheels. As Charles Pierce wrote for Esquire, "Jesus Christ, these really are the fcking mole people."
Under @POTUS budget, virtually all fed funding to #NYPD eradicated. Entire counterterrorism apparatus in nation's top terror target hobbled. pic.twitter.com/Vetyv1aZrH
— Commissioner O'Neill (@NYPDONeill) March 16, 2017
GOP attack CBO, climate scientists, CIA analysts who said they were wrong about Iraq, projections on cost of tax cuts. Experts know things.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) March 14, 2017
8. Criticized the Hawaii judge who blocked his new travel ban, and said that it's actually just a "watered-down version of the last one."
Keep talking, Mr. President. Keep on talking. https://t.co/2daiCj0qxL
— Cecillia Wang (@WangCecillia) March 16, 2017
NPR wrote: "It's not clear what kind of advice the president is getting from his White House counsel, Don McGahn, or the Justice Department — or whether Trump is taking it. Longtime defense lawyer William Taylor III said he's concluded Trump wants to talk to his political supporters and "just doesn't care" about legal advice to the contrary."
Trump supporters responded to the ruling with #BoycottHawaii, much to Hawaiians's delight.
Travel Ban 2.NO: Trump lashed out after a judge blocked his ban, calling it an “unprecedented judicial overreach” 👀https://t.co/Nn0PXnxMFY pic.twitter.com/oLvnwnbeXS
— Brianne O'Brien (@brianneobrien) March 16, 2017
9. Dropped some doozies in his interview with Tucker Carlson.
This literally happened...
— William LeGate (@williamlegate) March 16, 2017
Tucker Carlson: "The counties who voted for you will do far worse under your plan"
Donald Trump: "Oh, I know..." pic.twitter.com/tsG96kybxe
“['Wiretapping'] really covers surveillance and many other things. Nobody ever talks about the fact that it was in quotes,” he said. “I think you’re going to find some very interesting items coming to the forefront in the next two weeks. I’ve been reading about things. I read I think it was a January 20 article in The New York Times — they were talking about wiretapping.”
He also said: "Well, you know, I love to read. Actually, I'm looking at a book, I'm reading a book, I'm trying to get started. Every time I do about a half a page, I get a phone call that there's some emergency, this or that. But we're going to see the home of Andrew Jackson today in Tennessee and I'm reading a book on Andrew Jackson."
Full stop. Take 2 mins. Read this Q&A between Trump & Tucker Carlson over where Trump got his wiretapping claims from. Read the whole thing. pic.twitter.com/6TZiRTUQwE
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) March 16, 2017
10. Communicated to North Korea about their missile tests like this:
North Korea is behaving very badly. They have been "playing" the United States for years. China has done little to help!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2017
*Face palm*
11. Met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel (aka Leader Of The Free World™), and didn't shake her hand.
merkel your enthusiasm pic.twitter.com/4JU5uXqbtQ
— Seinfeld Current Day (@Seinfeld2000) March 17, 2017
12. And made a supremely un-funny wiretapping joke that Merkel did not laugh at.
Merkel's expression when @POTUS said about Obama-era surveillance "at least we have something in common, perhaps" pic.twitter.com/MWedaju5M7
— Major Garrett (@MajorCBS) March 17, 2017
13. Even though his wiretap claim was rejected by all four congressmen who oversee intelligence and surveillance, and Paul Ryan.
All 4 congressional leaders who oversee government intelligence and surveillance have rejected Trump’s wiretap claim https://t.co/uNoIdr9Y04
— The New York Times (@nytimes) March 17, 2017
He also tried to blame Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters, London’s NSA equivalent. GCHQ responded: "Recent allegations made by media commentator judge Andrew Napolitano about GCHQ being asked to conduct ‘wiretapping’ against the then president-elect are nonsense. They are utterly ridiculous and should be ignored."
14. For St. Patrick's Day, quoted a "proverb" that was actually by a Muslim Nigerian bank manager.
CAN'T MAKE IT UP: Trump quotes an "Irish proverb" he's known "many, many years." Actually a poem by a Muslim poet he first heard a week ago. pic.twitter.com/4jd84dMLZT
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) March 17, 2017
"The proverb that Trump cited does indeed appear on a few websites that list 'St. Patrick's Day Blessings' and in a few memes dotting Pinterest and Instagram profiles," NBC News reported. "But as viewers were quick to point out after Trump's meeting with Kenny aired on MSNBC, a Google search for the proverb quickly leads to a longer poem posted online in January 2013 by a Nigerian Muslim bank manager named Albasheer Adam Alhassan."
15. And now, the Trumps are off to Mar-A-Lago for the weekend. Again.
On the other hand, when it comes to weekly trips to Mar-A-Lago, they best hand over that paper, or there gonna be problems. https://t.co/KeBdnHTNop
— Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) March 16, 2017
Just a reminder: those trips cost roughly $3 million each.
Bonus: White House Correspondent Kellyanne Conway thinks microwaves can spy on you.
Kellyanne Conway? I haven't heard that name in years. pic.twitter.com/42T6GEsipD
— eric (@ericsshadow) March 15, 2017