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Dana Milbank: Don't get Distracted...
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2017/01/25/e59a8ab6-e34a-11e6-ba11-63c4b4fb5a63_story.html?utm_term=.6e46faf9f4e5&wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1
The voter fraud thing is just another "Hamilton" type of distraction, away from all of this week's executive orders!
Donald Trump, we have long known, is a weapon of mass distraction. He detonates daily, or more often.
But now that he is president, the fallout is dangerous.
Just after noon on Tuesday, alarming news began to spread that the Trump administration was imposing a gag order on the agencies of the federal government. The Environmental Protection Agency, the Agriculture Department, the Interior Department and the Department of Health and Human Services all reported various new edicts restricting federal agencies’ use of social media, appearances in public events or contacts with the press or lawmakers. It was an authoritarian gesture that, in an ordinary time, would dominate the news.
But this is no ordinary time. As word of the gag orders spread, White House press secretary Sean Spicer came before the cameras and said publicly what Trump had already said privately the day before: that Trump believes millions of people voted illegally in the election.
“He continues to maintain that belief,” Spicer confirmed, “based on studies and evidence that people have presented to him.”
But what, Spicer was asked, “does that mean for democracy?”
“It means that I’ve answered your question.”
Ka-boom. The president, through his spokesman, had just put himself at odds with leaders of his own party, Republican secretaries of state across the nation and virtually the entire store of human knowledge on the subject — and the social-media and cable news chatter quickly shifted.
Meanwhile, the sweeping gag orders muzzling the federal government quietly take effect.
...The wild fibs and fantasies can’t be ignored because, as The Post’s Dan Balz put it, “Trump is now striking at the foundation of a democratic society.” But they are clearly diversions, conveniently removing attention from things Trump has done that will have direct and often severe consequences. Below are some of the jaw-dropping items many Americans probably missed while distracted by Trump’s bogus baubles:
But now that he is president, the fallout is dangerous.
Just after noon on Tuesday, alarming news began to spread that the Trump administration was imposing a gag order on the agencies of the federal government. The Environmental Protection Agency, the Agriculture Department, the Interior Department and the Department of Health and Human Services all reported various new edicts restricting federal agencies’ use of social media, appearances in public events or contacts with the press or lawmakers. It was an authoritarian gesture that, in an ordinary time, would dominate the news.
But this is no ordinary time. As word of the gag orders spread, White House press secretary Sean Spicer came before the cameras and said publicly what Trump had already said privately the day before: that Trump believes millions of people voted illegally in the election.
“He continues to maintain that belief,” Spicer confirmed, “based on studies and evidence that people have presented to him.”
But what, Spicer was asked, “does that mean for democracy?”
“It means that I’ve answered your question.”
Ka-boom. The president, through his spokesman, had just put himself at odds with leaders of his own party, Republican secretaries of state across the nation and virtually the entire store of human knowledge on the subject — and the social-media and cable news chatter quickly shifted.
Meanwhile, the sweeping gag orders muzzling the federal government quietly take effect.
...The wild fibs and fantasies can’t be ignored because, as The Post’s Dan Balz put it, “Trump is now striking at the foundation of a democratic society.” But they are clearly diversions, conveniently removing attention from things Trump has done that will have direct and often severe consequences. Below are some of the jaw-dropping items many Americans probably missed while distracted by Trump’s bogus baubles:
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