Last weekend



Having whipped up a national row over black NFL players’ protests in a Friday night speech in Alabama, Trump, clearly convinced he was on to a winner, continued to poke at the wound all weekend. Players hit back in unprecedented numbers by kneeling, locking arms or staying in the tunnel during the national anthem. Whether the president chose to spark the controversy as a distraction from difficulties with North Korea or the Republicans’ flailing healthcare bill, or to shore up his rightwing base following doubts among the faithful about his attempts to cut an immigration deal with Democrats “Chuck and Nancy”, the effect was to drown out the original reason for the protests – racism and police brutality – and reframe the issue as one about patriotism. Trump planted himself cynically and effectively on the side of the flag, the military and The Star-Spangled Banner.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Kneel to the chief. Photograph: Simon Cooper/PA

Meanwhile, it emerged that Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and adviser, used a private email account for official business. Regular readers may remember that his father-in-law spent more than a year excoriating Hillary Clinton for doing this, as his crowds bayed: “Lock her up!”

Monday

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Different protest, same president. Photograph: Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AFP/Getty Images

As the NFL controversy continued, the White House rolled out a third version of its travel ban, which has so far been allowed to take effect only in limited form and was due to be discussed by the supreme court next month. The new iteration, which added restrictions on North Korea, Venezuela and Chad, led the court to postpone its hearing and ask both sides for updated briefings.

Tuesday

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Susan Collins: it’s a no from me. Photograph: Aaron P Bernstein/Reuters

Yet again, Senate Republicans failed to cobble together enough votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Their latest attempt fell victim to a senator on the left of the party, Susan Collins, worried because it would deprive millions of health insurance; one on the right, Rand Paul, who felt it didn’t go far enough in unpicking Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law; and another, John McCain, who objected to the GOP riding roughshod over established Senate procedure in an attempt to force the legislation through. The ACA looks safe until at least next year, as the party moves on to tackling tax cuts. After that the 2018 midterms will be fast approaching and returning to this painful issue may come to seem unwise.

Wednesday

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Thad Cochran: free as a bird. Photograph: Rogelio V. Solis/AP

Overnight in Alabama, Trump-backed Luther Strange lost a Republican Senate primary to a homophobic religious populist backed by the president’s former chief adviser, Steve Bannon. Trump shrugged off the defeat, deleting old tweets about Strange and congratulating the victorious Roy Moore. Now he’d had a chance to speak to Moore for the first time, he tweeted, he “sounds like a great guy who ran a fantastic race”. The defeat for Strange looks likely to do more damage to the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, whose name was mud on the campaign trail.

Trump also unveiled a tax-cut plan which, it soon emerged, would benefit himself and other rich folk like him. He also weighed in on the health defeat, explaining that one of the reasons the GOP bill didn’t pass was because a senator was “in hospital”. The senator in question, Thad Cochran, piped up faintly to say he wasn’t actually in hospital, but the president pressed on undeterred, repeating the claim at an impromptu White House press conference beside Marine One and then later (unchallenged) in a Fox interview. “I can’t take him out of the hospital!” Trump explained, which was literally true, since he wasn’t there in the first place.

Perhaps it was just that, like Holden Caulfield with old Jane Gallagher, Trump had got an idea on the brain. And once he had got it on, he couldn’t get it off.

Thursday

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Won’t somebody think of the shipping magnates? Photograph: Shawn Thew/EPA

As accusations mounted that despite his constant claims to the contrary, Trump was not doing enough to help Puerto Rico as it struggled to recover from two hurricanes, the president waived a law that was preventing foreign ships from delivering supplies to Puerto Rico. Earlier, he had explained that he had been worried about waiving it because “we have a lot of shippers and a lot of people that work in the shipping industry that don’t want the Jones Act lifted”.

Friday

Play Video 1:02 Hurricane Maria pummels Puerto Rico - video report

The relentlessly pollyannaish assessment of the Puerto Rico aid effort from the Trump administration finally caused the mayor of San Juan to snap. “Damn it, this is not a good news story,” said Carmen Yulín Cruz. “This is a people-are-dying story.” Trump had started the day quoting the territory’s governor, Ricardo Rosselló, as having said: “The administration and the president, every time we’ve spoken, they’ve delivered.” Rosselló has praised the federal government’s relief effort, but he told MSNBC: “The response still is not where it needs to be, certainly it’s not.” Ominously the president seemed to be suggesting that despite its largesse to Texas and Florida after recent hurricanes the US government’s generosity to Puerto Rico would have limits: “Big decisions will have to be made as to the cost of its rebuilding!”

The week ended with the forced resignation of the health secretary, Tom Price, after revelations that he spent more than $1m of taxpayers’ money on travel including chartered flights. About a dozen high-profile officials have now been ousted from the administration since Trump took office, suggesting the president has not quite shaken off his Apprentice persona just yet.

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