Well, the CF has already started and the dude’s not even in office again.
First off, he wants the Senate to give him power to bypass the Senate. (The link goes to AOL.)
“Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner,” Trump wrote, adding, “Sometimes the votes can take two years, or more. This is what they did four years ago, and we cannot let it happen again. We need positions filled IMMEDIATELY!”
One of the demands he outlined is the ability to make recess appointments, which would allow the president to appoint people to senior administration positions and bypass Senate confirmation.
Currently, both chambers of Congress enter “pro forma” sessions, even when the House and the Senate are out of town, as a tactic to block the president from bypassing confirmation votes.
So, yeah. He’s still carrying a grudge when he wasn’t allowed to be a dictator the first go-around.
Next up: Day 1 Itinerary. (The link goes to AOL.)
Donald Trump has said he wouldn’t be a dictator — “except for Day 1." According to his own statements, he’s got a lot to do on that first day in the White House.
His list includes starting up the mass deportation of migrants, rolling back Biden administration policies on education, reshaping the federal government by firing potentially thousands of federal employees he believes are secretly working against him, and pardoning people who were arrested for their role in the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“I want to close the border, and I want to drill, drill, drill," he said of his Day 1 plans.
And, of course, he’ll do this by executive orders. From the last link:
How many executive orders in the first week? “There will be tens of them. I can assure you of that," Trump’s national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told Fox News on Sunday.
And don’t think he has any respect for the courts either. Again from the last link:
Here’s a look at what Trump has said he will do in his second term and whether he can do it the moment he steps into the White House:
Make most of his criminal cases go away, at least the federal ones
Trump has said that “within two seconds" of taking office that he would fire Jack Smith, the special counsel who has been prosecuting two federal cases against him. Smith is already evaluating how to wind down the cases because of long-standing Justice Department policy that says sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted.
And let’s not forge the rioters traitors “patriots” who attacked Congress on January 6, 2021. (Same link)
Pardon supporters who attacked the Capitol
More than 1,500 people have been charged since a mob of Trump supporters spun up by the outgoing president attacked the Capitol almost nearly four years ago.
Trump launched his general election campaign in March by not merely trying to rewrite the history of that riot, but positioning the violent siege and failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election as a cornerstone of his bid to return to the White House. As part of that, he called the rioters “unbelievable patriots” and promised to help them “the first day we get into office.”
This next bit from that link surprised me. I was thinking, just like those rioters traitors “patriots” were, because he fucking said he would, that he would pardon all of them. Read carefully:
“I am inclined to pardon many of them," Trump said on his social media platform in March when announcing the promise. “I can’t say for every single one, because a couple of them, probably they got out of control.”
What’s next? Oh, yes. Fuck over the federal civil service. (Still the same link.)
He wants to do two things: drastically reduce the federal workforce, which he has long said is an unnecessary drain, and to “totally obliterate the deep state” — perceived enemies who, he believes, are hiding in government jobs.
So he wants to fire people because he believes they’re working for something that isn’t even a real think; it just fucking does not exist.
Then there’s the tariffs he wants to put in place even though he still doesn’t know what tariffs are. And, of course, he wants to stop immigration.
And who do you think is turning out to be his closest advisor ahead of the transition? (The link goes to AOL.)
Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club has been brimming in the last 48 hours with two kinds of people: those angling for a job in the president-elect’s incoming administration, and those trying to influence him into hiring their picks for the top spots.
But the one person who has loomed over it all and has exerted a great deal of influence is Elon Musk, according to multiple sources. The tech billionaire has been seen at the resort in Palm Beach, Florida, almost every day since Trump won the election last week, dining with him on the patio some evenings and hanging out with his family Sunday at the golf course.
Musk has been in the room when multiple world leaders have phoned Trump, and he’s weighed in on staffing decisions, with the SpaceX and Tesla CEO even making clear his preference for certain roles.
And speaking of the transition (the link goes to AOL):
President-elect Donald Trump has not yet submitted a series of transition agreements with the Biden administration, in part because of concerns over the mandatory ethics pledge vowing to avoid conflicts of interest once sworn in to office, CNN has learned.
I’m wondering if he’s going to outpace his earlier daily lying record.