Trumpdates: Trump Doesn't Know the Name of His Secretary of Defense

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | October 20, 2019 |

Sunday, 11:40 a.m.

There’s surprisingly little going on with the Sunday morning shows, even though two administration officials did appear. In one, Stephanapoulous pushed back against Pompeo, even though he ultimately didn’t get a straight answer.

Mike Pompeo tells George Stephanopoulos that he's "not going to get into hypotheticals" when asked if it's appropriate to tie military aid to political investigations.



Stephanopoulos responds that it's not a hypothetical: "The chief of staff said it." https://t.co/f7Kgl1GFA8 — Axios (@axios) October 20, 2019

Chris Wallace, meanwhile, interviewed Mick Mulvaney, who continues to push back on his quid pro quo statement (although, Wallace — to his credit — would not let him weasel out of it). Also, Mulvaney said this, which is generating a lot of discussions this morning, mostly because the President of the United States should not be in the hospitality business.

Mick Mulvaney tries to defend Trump's original G7 Doral decision: "At the end of the day, [Trump] still considers himself to be in the hospitality business."



Chris Wallace responds: "You say he considers himself in the hospitality business, he's the president of United States." pic.twitter.com/HDVyHz4GhS — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 20, 2019

It also turns out that Mulvaney was on the hot seat up until the impeachment inquiry.

News — Top aides, including Kushner, were in the process of reaching out to potential Mulvaney replacements shortly before Pelosi announced the impeachment inquiry, revealing Mulvaney was on weak footing before his briefing room appearance, I’m told. https://t.co/3ns1qQakFd — Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) October 20, 2019

Finally, Trump doesn’t know the name of his own Secretary of Defense, or apparently what he’s even talking about.

The secretary of defense is Mark Esper. pic.twitter.com/l7OjGsN1DW — Kelly O'Donnell (@KellyO) October 20, 2019

I’m not sure who Trump is referring to, but I’m travelling with Defense Secretary Esper and cant recall the quote Trump is using. While speaking with us Enroute to Afghanistan, Esper also made no mention of new areas being resettled with Kurds or oil. pic.twitter.com/VAN9IQ13At — Idrees Ali (@idreesali114) October 20, 2019

Saturday, 10:30 p.m.

Criticism and pressure do work sometimes, as Donald Trump has scrapped his plans to hold the Group 7 Summit at his own resort next year, thanks to those damn Democrats (and also, a lot of heat he got from his own party).

…..its own 50 to 70 unit building. Would set up better than other alternatives. I announced that I would be willing to do it at NO PROFIT or, if legally permissible, at ZERO COST to the USA. But, as usual, the Hostile Media & their Democrat Partners went CRAZY! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 20, 2019

….Therefore, based on both Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility, we will no longer consider Trump National Doral, Miami, as the Host Site for the G-7 in 2020. We will begin the search for another site, including the possibility of Camp David, immediately. Thank you! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 20, 2019

The good news is, we’ll always have the Mulvaney press conference.

Nice of Trump to make Mulvaney go through the torture of that press conference only to walk back both the quid pro quo claim and the defense of Doral — Sam Stein (@samstein) October 20, 2019





Withdrawing U.S. forces from Syria is a grave strategic mistake. It will leave the American people and homeland less safe, embolden our enemies, and weaken important alliances

: It’s funny, but for all the complaining Republicans do about the liberal bias of theand, whenever one of them decides to write an op-ed, that’s where they invariably go. They don’t write op-eds criticizing the President’s troop withdrawal in Syria on Breitbart. They do so in the, as Mitch McConnell has done today:

That entire piece criticizes Trump’s lunatic decision in Syria, and yet, not once is Trump mentioned, because McConnell is a coward.

2:17: Here’s another Republican that wants Trump impeached. I mean, not one that matters. But hey! It’s something.

John Kasich just told CNN he's "across the Rubicon" and that President Trump should be impeached. "I say it with great sadness." — Amanda Carpenter (@amandacarpenter) October 18, 2019

Wow. GOP @RepRooney says he thinks Pelosi "has a point" when she said that with Trump, all roads lead to Russia.



"I was skeptical of it like most Republicans were, but I gotta say this business about the Ukraine server … tells me, what, are we trying to exculpate Russia?" pic.twitter.com/CGXKxTO3m9 — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 18, 2019

: Erdoğan is talking about the Kurds, who he believes are terrorists. By retweeting him, Trump is also calling the Kurds — who lost 10,000 people fighting ISIS on our behalf — terrorists. Seriously: What do the Turks have on Trump?: Hmmm. This is a Republican Rep.

9:45: If this wasn’t happening to the United States, it would almost be hilarious. But after Turkey steamrolled Trump/Pence/Pompeo yesterday, getting everything they want in Syria and giving the U.S. nothing in return, Erdoğan called out Trump today for that embarrassing letter he sent calling Erdoğan a “tough guy.” This is Jon Sopel, from the BBC:

Wow. #Erdogan tells news conference the letter sent by @realDonaldTrump telling him not to be a ‘tough guy’ wasn’t in line with diplomatic or political customs. He said they wouldn’t forget the lack of respect. “When the time comes necessary steps will be taken” pic.twitter.com/PU9062krr6 — Jon Sopel (@BBCJonSopel) October 18, 2019

What does Erdoğan have on Trump that he can push Trump around like this?



9:15: Look. We looked at the entire country, and while the United States has been hosting events like this for 200 years, the truth of the matter is, Trump’s resort was the only option that would work for this one. It was either that or a Clarion Inn in Nebraska, and they didn’t have a helicopter pad, so what other choice did we have in the third largest country and most affluent in the world?

What is @PressSec even talking about here? They don't actually think people buy this stuff, do they? pic.twitter.com/JfYUxV2EXE — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 18, 2019

"The plan? Save a tacky, failing hotel chain by becoming president of the united states and route all government travel and visits to various locales without any discount on rooms or services." pic.twitter.com/N4rufm79KE — Ryan H. Walsh (@JahHills) October 18, 2019





Friday, October 18th

Donald Trump has brazenly used his office to pressure a foreign country to investigate a political rival and, by the way, dig up a server that does not exist. He is brazenly lining his own pockets by openly violating the Emoluments Clause by holding a major international event (the G7) on his own property. He is also ruining our relationship with our allies and essentially condoning ethnic cleansing in Syria. Trump has no foreign policy accomplishments, and according to Admiral McRaven, a former commander of the United States Special Operations Command, Trump is a literal danger to the Republic.

Don't lose sight of the G-7 award to Doral today. A president participating in a contract award to himself is an impeachable act. — Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) October 18, 2019

How many conservative judges is the destruction of the Republic worth to Republicans? Is it that important to hang on to those Senate and House seats if there’s no power left in the Congress, if our system of checks and balances is gone? There are some things that not even Mitch McConnell and all his hypocrisy can walk back in a future administration. Assume that the Republic holds on by a string and a Democrat is elected in 2020? What is to keep that Democrat from violating the same principles? If Trump can ignore the Constitution and use his office for personal political and financial gain, what’s to keep Elizabeth Warren or Joe Biden from ignoring the Constitution and packing the Supreme Court? Or overruling Supreme Court decisions? Trump is setting a dangerous precedent for the executive branch, and Republicans in the legislative branch are helping him.

This is not partisan overreach that Donald Trump is committing. He is actively destroying both the Presidency and America’s relationship with the rest of the world. And if the Senate Republicans do not do something about it, Donald Trump is going to continue to destroy the Republic in increasingly egregious ways until there is nothing left of it to destroy.

As for the daily news updates this morning? I mean, what’s the point? There’s not a human alive that doesn’t know by now that Trump tied military aid to political interference in Ukraine. Mick Mulvaney admitted the quid pro quo yesterday — explicitly — and walked it back last night only after Trump’s legal team and the DOJ flipped out (and, by the way, the DOJ should not be flipping out, because it is the DOJ’s job not to take sides but to prosecute where necessary. Instead of flipping out, the DOJ should have indicted Mulvaney, full stop). Meanwhile, the “great” deal that Trump made with Turkey literally did not last a day.

Ceasefire reportedly didn’t last a day. https://t.co/QQxPaGM5IY — Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) October 18, 2019

Here’s how the Times characterized that deal, by the way:

In fact, if the sanctions imposed against Turkey by the Trump administration are lifted, as Mr. Pence said they now would be, the Turkish leader would pay a far lower price than Russia did for its annexation of Crimea in 2014. The sanctions imposed on Moscow then are still in place. But there are other winners in addition to Mr. Erdogan, who has routed the Kurdish groups he views as terrorists who were living in an American protectorate. Chief among them is President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who gains vast influence in a strategic corner of the Middle East where, until 2015, he had almost none. Now, he is a player, and already is filling the territorial and political vacuum that Mr. Trump left after he agreed to get out of the way of the Turkish invasion of Syria, which a small contingent of American Special Operations forces were there to prevent by their very presence. Iran was also a winner. It has long used Syria as a route to send missiles to Hezbollah and flex its muscles across the region. That, in many ways, is the most perplexing part of the president’s decision to withdraw, because it runs so counter to his “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran’s clerical leaders and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. And Mr. Assad, who was barely clinging to power after the Arab Spring in 2011, and whose military facilities Mr. Trump bombed in the opening months of his presidency in 2017, has a new lease on life. The Americans are gone from the one corner of his country they once occupied.

Remember when the Republicans were known as the party of foreign policy?

Donald Trump is the worst President the United States has ever had. These Senate Republicans are just as bad and, in some ways, maybe worse, because they know better — at least some of them do — and they do not give a shit.

Thursday, October 17th

5:20: In case you wanted audio/video of Mick Mulvaney essentially confessing to impeachable offenses, here you go.

Mick Mulvaney’s bombshell press briefing in 2 minutes pic.twitter.com/6fWrn79Gs7 — Zach Purser Brown (@zachjourno) October 17, 2019



For the record, both Trump’s legal team and the DOJ have distanced themselves from Mulvaney and his … confesssion? They are “enraged,” according to The Washington Post.

Meanwhile, is this a “yes” on impeachment from a Republican?

!! Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski: “yes, absolutely that’s a concern,” when she was told about Mulvaney. "You don’t hold up foreign aid that we had previously appropriated for a political initiative. Period,” she said. — Shimon Prokupecz (@ShimonPro) October 17, 2019





4:40: We already knew Rick Perry was resigning before he was implicated in the impeachment scandal. Now we know again that he’s resigning in light of our knowledge of his involvement.

Perry tells president he's resigning, per administration official. Happened as POTUS headed to Perry's home state of Texas today https://t.co/Vas6sWSuxT — Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) October 17, 2019

3:45: This is the former Ambassador to the UN under Obama, and she is absolutely right:

The President of the United States has endorsed ethnic cleansing. https://t.co/DkjtQYcg6V — Samantha Power (@SamanthaJPower) October 17, 2019

So is Mitt Romney, for that matter:

NEW: In a blistering speech on the Senate floor, Sen. Mitt Romney says Trump's abandonment of the Kurds "will stand as a blood stain in the annals of American history." https://t.co/ZsmyaCFEDN — Axios (@axios) October 17, 2019





2:40: Trump got played, and he’s out there trying to convince himself that he got a good deal.

Erdogan played Trump like a fiddle https://t.co/S40RkcQsjk — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 17, 2019

He did not get a good deal. He got hosed.

After Pence said they agreed to a ceasefire, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says, “This is not a ceasefire. We will pause the operation for 120 hours in order for the terrorists to leave. We will only stop the operation if our conditions are met.” — Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) October 17, 2019

To sum. This is exactly what happened:

(1) turkey wants to push the kurds out of that part of syria.



(2) trump gives ‘em the OK to invade.



(3) pence brokers a “deal” in which the kurds… must get out of that part of syria.



(4) the US agrees to un-sanction turkey.



that’s a “deal” like being mugged is a deal. — Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) October 17, 2019

1:55: The hits just keep coming:

.@VP Pence: "I am proud to report….today the United States and Turkey have agreed to a cease fire in Syria. The Turkish side will pause…for 120 hours" to allow Kurdish YPG fighters to withdraw from the safe-zone — Ryan Browne (@rabrowne75) October 17, 2019

NEW: PENCE says us will not impose any new sanctions on Turkey, and TRUMP will withdraw sanctions put in on Monday. — Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) October 17, 2019



In other words, “Turkey will stop killing Kurds for five days so that they can pack their shit up and leave their homes, and in exchange, the U.S. will lift sanctions on Turkey.” This is pathetic.

.@VP Pence: "I am proud to report….today the United States and Turkey have agreed to a cease fire in Syria. The Turkish side will pause…for 120 hours" to allow Kurdish YPG fighters to withdraw from the safe-zone — Ryan Browne (@rabrowne75) October 17, 2019





1:35: Yes, there was quid pro quo. SO WHAT? GET OVER IT. GOD.

Mulvaney concedes that Trump’s desire to investigate “DNC server” was part of the reason Ukraine aide was held up



reporter: so it was a quid pro quo



Mulvaney: we do that all the time. get over it. politics is going to be involved in foreign policy. elections have consequences — John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) October 17, 2019

From the NYTimes:

He said that the aid was initially withheld because, “Everybody knows this is a corrupt place,” and the president was demanding Ukraine clean up its own government. But Mr. Trump also told Mr. Mulvaney that he was concerned about what he thought was Ukraine’s role in the 2016 campaign. “Did he also mention to me in passing the corruption related to the D.N.C. server? Absolutely. No question about that,” he said. “But that’s it, and that’s why we held up the money.” Mr. Mulvaney was referring to Mr. Trump’s discredited idea that a server with Hillary Clinton’s missing emails was being held by a company based in Ukraine.

Mulvaney just admitted that Trump held $400 million in military aid to Ukraine contingent upon them investigating a DNC server THAT DOES NOT EXIST THAT NEVER EXISTED THAT NEVER WILL EXIST.

This is pure insanity.

1:00: If you’re the President, and there’s ambassador meeting with House members investigation impeachment for abuse of the office and corruption, what’s the worse thing you could possibly announce? (I know! I know! Pick me! Pick me!) How about this:

Mick Mulvaney says that the G7 summit in 2020 will be held at Trump National Doral golf club in Miami. — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 17, 2019

Having been caught red-handed secretly abusing his office, the president has pivoted back to corruptly abusing his office out in the open. — Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) October 17, 2019

Boggles the mind, doesn’t it?

Meanwhile, McConnell wants to condemn the President for his actions in Syria even harder than Pelosi.

NEW: Mitch McConnell says he would like the chamber to take up a resolution rebuking President Trump on w/drawing from Syria that is tougher than the one that cleared House yday on a 354-60 vote



“My first preference is for something stronger than the House resolution.'' — Laura Litvan (@LauraLitvan) October 17, 2019

11:20: The “again, that’s their description” seems to imply that the description of the parents subjected to a terrifying ambush is far less important than the way the person who subjected them to the terrifying ambush characterized it.

FOX NEWS: Did Trump apply pressure during his meeting w/ grieving parents of a UK teen who was killed in accident involving wife of US diplomat?



HOGAN GIDLEY: No. He was wonderful



FN: The parents said it was 'an ambush' and 'terrifying'



GIDLEY: Again, that's their description pic.twitter.com/t1rS76zhlZ — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 17, 2019



10:15: Gordon Sondland, the EU Ambassador, is testifying in front of House impeachment investigators today. He released his opening statement, and I think the best way to characterize it is that it’s very Eddie Haskell. Sondland is clearly trying to save his own ass. He basically says that all he cared about was strengthening the relationship between Ukraine and the United States, and that the only reason he worked with Giuliani is because the President made him. He also says he had no idea that investigating the Bidens was part of the equation. When another diplomat asked if him military aid was being tied to political interference, Sondland called the President, who told him several times in a very short time period, “No quid pro quo!”

Sondland is basically giving the House the old, “I was just a poor man doing his job, and I didn’t know any better. I was just following orders.” Gordon Sondland, pictured:

He does note, however, that “inviting a foreign government to undertake investigations for the purpose of influencing an upcoming U.S. election would be wrong. Withholding foreign aid in order to pressure a foreign government to take such steps would be wrong.” However, he is basically saying, “Well, if that happened, I had nothing to do with it and I didn’t know anything.”

Separately, The Washington Post reports that McConnell met with his Republican colleagues in the Senate yesterday to discuss their impeachment strategy. He said that the GOP should expect Pelosi to impeach Trump around Thanksgiving and that the GOP would endeavor to wrap up the impeachment trial by Christmas.

Many are worrying that the GOP will simply dismiss the case after Pelosi refers it to the Senate. But, McConnell noted in the meeting that the decision about how long the trial will last is left up to Chief Justice John Roberts.

Before we begin with today’s political updates, I think we need to take a moment and appreciate what an absolute embarrassment yesterday was for our country. A lot of people have come to expect the worst and understandably tune out to the hourly deluge. Yesterday was the 1,000th day of Trump’s Presidency. It may have been the most disgraceful.

The day kicked off with news that Donald Trump had arranged for a surprise meeting in front of the press between the wife of an American diplomat and the grieving parents of the British teenager the diplomat’s wife had killed. (The parents declined the meeting with the diplomat’s wife, who was waiting in the next room in the White House).

That’s how the day began. It only got worse from there.

Over the course of the rest the day, Trump said that the Kurds — once our strongest ally — are “not Angels,” and suggested that the Syrians were protecting them from the Turks, who in reality have been slaughtering Kurds, so much so that Kurds have been forced to align themselves with Russia, who now has a strong foothold in the Middle East thanks to Trump. In fact, much of what Trump said about Syria, the Kurds, and Turkey yesterday sounded like statements one would hear from the Turks or Russia. At one point, he even suggested that the PKK — The Kurdistan Workers’ Party — was as dangerous as ISIS, which is exactly what Turkish President Erdogan might say.

By midday, the House of Representatives had voted by an overwhelming majority — 354 to 60 — to condemn Trump’s actions in Syria. Trump — who didn’t want to look weak after the Turks rolled over him — released a letter he had sent to Erdogan last week, asking Erdogan not to be “a tough guy. Don’t be a fool.” The letter was an absolute embarrassment. According to BBC Turkey, when Erdogan received the letter he scrunched it up and literally threw it in the trash, before launching his offensive against Syrian Kurds.

Yet, Trump was so proud of that useless letter that he passed it around during a meeting with Pelosi and Schumer last evening, who had come to the White House to be briefed on what Trump was doing about Syria. Pelosi reportedly asked, “What’s your plan in Syria?” and Trump responded, “To keep America safe,” to which Pelosi shot back, “That’s not a plan. That’s a goal.”

Things apparently went off the rails when Pelosi suggested to Trump that “all roads lead to Russia with you,” which is when Trump had a meltdown.

This is how bad it was yesterday: At one point yesterday, the U.S. military bombed our own base on Syria to keep the Turks from using it. We. bombed. our. own. base.

This lede, from The Washington Post, sums up the disaster in the Middle East:

The blow to America’s standing in the Middle East was sudden and unexpectedly swift. Within the space of a few hours, advances by Turkish troops in Syria this week had compelled the U.S. military’s Syrian Kurdish allies to switch sides, unraveled years of U.S. Syria policy and recalibrated the balance of power in the Middle East. As Russian and Syrian troops roll into vacated towns and U.S. bases, the winners are counting the spoils.

This is the Trump presidency in a nutshell.

The front page of the NYT website — on day 1,000 of the Trump administration — reads like a parody prediction from 2016 of what Trump’s presidency would look like. pic.twitter.com/oT3VxVqDXp — Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) October 17, 2019

Dustin is the founder and co-owner of Pajiba. You may email him here, follow him on Twitter, or listen to his weekly TV podcast, Podjiba.

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