Institutional decay

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It's almost surprising that it took this long, but President Donald Trump has finally done it. As critics worried, his general disdain for institutions was bound to reach the Federal Reserve at some point. And so it was on Thursday that Trump, in an interview with CNBC, broke with a long-standing tradition of US central bank independence, where presidents do not comment on interest-rate policy lest such decisions become politicized. Trump said he is not happy with the Federal Reserve's recent drive to move interest rates higher after nearly a decade of rock-bottom borrowing costs.

Trump took another step toward turning US into banana republic: Larry Summers - Business Insider

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This is what happens in banana republics..

Perhaps three of the most consistent hallmarks of Donald Trump’s administration were on display Monday at Sarah Sanders’ press briefing. In a single announcement, the administration demonstrated wild hypocrisy, pettiness toward critics, and total incompetence. At the urging of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), the Trump administration says it is considering a move to revoke security clearances for former CIA directors John Brennan and Michael Hayden, former FBI director James Comey, former National Security Adviser Susan Rice, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe. Their reasoning: this bipartisan group of former appointees has been critical of Trump.

Trump administration considers stripping critics of security clearance. There’s just one problem. – ThinkProgress

• The message: Trump critics risk real consequences, where does this stop?
  
• Several of the mentioned people, like James Comey, don't even have security clearances anymore.
  
• The official reason is that they "politicized intelligence" but this is something Trump does all the time.
  

And indeed, a day later..

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) compared President Trump's consideration of a plan to strip half a dozen former national security and intelligence officials of their security clearances to "a banana republic kind of thing." The Tennessee senator went on to say that targeting "political enemies" was "the kind of thing that happens in Venezuela." "I can't even believe that somebody at the White House thought up something like this," Corker said on MSNBC. "I mean, when you're going to start taking retribution against people who are your political enemies in this manner, that's the kind of thing that happens in Venezuela."

Corker: Trump considering revoking security clearances is 'banana republic kind of thing' | TheHill

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In his attack on the media Trump even takes on his own daughter and staff..

On the first couple’s recent trip overseas, Melania Trump’s television aboard Air Force One was tuned to CNN. President Donald Trump was not pleased. He raged at his staff for violating a rule that the White House entourage should begin each trip tuned to Fox – his preferred network over what he considers the “fake news” CNN – and caused “a bit of a stir” aboard Air Force One, according to an email obtained by The New York Times.

The email, an internal exchange between officials in the White House Military Office and the White House Communications Agency last Thursday, also called for the ordering of two additional televisions to support Beam, a TiVo-like streaming device, to make sure the president and first lady could both watch TV in their separate hotel rooms when they travel. At the end of the email chain, officials confirmed that tuning the TVs to Fox would be standard operating procedure going forward..

Donald Trump 'erupted with rage' when Melania's Air Force One TV was tuned to CNN, says leaked email | The Independent

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President Trump on Sunday disclosed details of a private meeting he had with the publisher of The New York Times, A. G. Sulzberger, and Mr. Sulzberger flatly disputed the president’s characterization of an exchange they had about threats to journalism. Mr. Trump said on Twitter that he and Mr. Sulzberger had discussed “the vast amounts of Fake News being put out by the media & how that Fake News has morphed into phrase, ‘Enemy of the People.’ Sad!”

In a five-paragraph statement issued two hours after the tweet, Mr. Sulzberger said he had accepted Mr. Trump’s invitation for the July 20 meeting mainly to raise his concerns about his “deeply troubling anti-press rhetoric.” “I told the president directly that I thought that his language was not just divisive but increasingly dangerous,” said Mr. Sulzberger, who became publisher of The Times on Jan. 1. “I told him that although the phrase ‘fake news’ is untrue and harmful, I am far more concerned about his labeling journalists ‘the enemy of the people,’” Mr. Sulzberger continued. “I warned that this inflammatory language is contributing to a rise in threats against journalists and will lead to violence.” This is particularly true overseas, Mr. Sulzberger said, where governments were using Mr. Trump’s words as a pretext to crack down on journalists. He said he warned the president that his attacks were “putting lives at risk” and “undermining the democratic ideals of our nation.”  

Mr. Trump, in his tweet, described the meeting with Mr. Sulzberger as “very good and interesting.” But in referring to the phrase “enemy of the people,” he did not make clear that he himself began using that label about the press during his first year in office. He has continued to assail the news media at rallies and even at more formal presidential events, encouraging his audiences to chant “CNN sucks!” and to vent their anger at the reporters assembled in the back.

New York Times Publisher Rebuts Trump’s Account of Private Meeting - The New York Times

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President Trump on Sunday unleashed a tirade against the media in which he called reporters "unpatriotic" for reporting on the inner workings of the government. In a series of tweets, the president singled out The New York Times and The Washington Post for writing "bad stories" about his administration, which he amounted to "[selling] out" the country. "90% of media coverage of my Administration is negative, despite the tremendously positive results we are achieving, it’s no surprise that confidence in the media is at an all time low!" Trump tweeted. "I will not allow our great country to be sold out by anti-Trump haters in the dying newspaper industry," he added. "No matter how much they try to distract and cover it up, our country is making great progress under my leadership and I will never stop fighting for the American people!"

Trump blasts media, calls journalists 'very unpatriotic' for reporting on government affairs | TheHill

Instead of these generalized broadsides, he should actually point out exactly what it is these newspapers report what is incorrect, and why. 

Trump never substantiates any of his claims, whilst these newspapers almost always do, and meticulously so. Of course newspapers also make the odd mistake and don't get 100% right, but this is simply the normal error rate of work. Few work without making any mistake.

And then add this:

President Donald Trump lashed out at the media in a series of tweets Sunday afternoon to complain about negative coverage. Trump blamed "haters" for the overwhelmingly negative coverage of his presidency. Trump's tweets come hours after it was revealed he met with New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger last week, and was warned by Sulzberger about the danger of his anti-press rhetoric.

Trump lashes out at media in bizarre series of tweets - Business Insider

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The publisher of The New York Times said on Sunday that President Trump expressed pride for popularizing the phrase "fake news" during a discussion about media coverage of the administration. A. G. Sulzberger told the Times that Trump, during a private meeting earlier this month, stood by his use of the phrase "fake news," which he often applies to mainstream media outlets such as CNN, The Washington Post and the Times. Trump also reportedly bragged that other countries had begun banning "fake news" as a result of his example. Sulzberger said he replied that those countries are dictatorships. 

Sulzberger also told the Times that Trump was surprised that newsrooms are increasingly hiring armed guards to protect their newsrooms in light of violent threats against journalists. Sulzberger said Trump appeared to think newsrooms already had armed guards. The discussion followed a mass shooting last month in the Capital Gazette newsroom in Maryland, which killed five and injured several others.  Sulzberger said in an earlier statement on Sunday that his meeting with Trump was private, but the president violated their off-the-record agreement when he tweeted Sunday morning they had discussed "the vast amounts of Fake News being put out by the media."

New York Times publisher: Trump expressed pride for popularizing 'fake news' phrase | TheHill

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A sad day for the press..

CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta expressed concern on Tuesday with the way President Trump's supporters heckle members of the press, warning that the president's rhetoric could "result in somebody getting hurt." Acosta posted a video from Trump's rally in Tampa, Fla., on Tuesday showing supporters shouting down members of the press. At one point, one man in the crowd looks into the camera and yells, "stop lying." "Just a sample of the sad scene we faced at the Trump rally in Tampa," Acosta tweeted.

CNN's Acosta: I'm worried Trump's rhetoric toward media 'will result in somebody getting hurt' | TheHill

Trump revealed the existence of the off-the-record meeting in a tweet on Sunday, writing that the two "spent much time talking about the vast amounts of Fake News being put out by the media & how that Fake News has morphed into phrase, 'Enemy of the People.' " That prompted a response from Sulzberger, who said in a statement that he had met with the president to urge him to tone town his attacks on the media at large.  "I told him that although the phrase 'fake news' is untrue and harmful, I am far more concerned about his labeling journalists 'the enemy of the people,' " Sulzberger said. "I warned that this inflammatory language is contributing to a rise in threats against journalists and will lead to violence."

CNN's Acosta: I'm worried Trump's rhetoric toward media 'will result in somebody getting hurt' | TheHill

But within hours of that supposed secret meeting between Sulzberger (editor of the NYT) and Trump (which Trump immediately broke), and the latter was at it again, riling against the press. And a couple of days later:

President Trump on Tuesday night shared his son Eric Trump's tweet backing supporters chanting "CNN sucks." "#Truth @Acosta," Eric Trump wrote, in reference to CNN's Jim Acosta. Eric Trump wrote the message in his retweet of a video with the caption "WATCH: Supporters of President Trump Chant ‘CNN Sucks’ During Jim Acosta’s Live Spot at Florida Rally."

Trump shares son's tweet backing supporters chanting 'CNN sucks' | TheHill

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Trump later returned to the issue of the media during the rally, asking, "Whatever happened to fair press? Whatever happened to honest reporting?" He also referred to the media as "horrible, horrendous people" and "disgusting." The rally took place just hours after White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders refused to say the media is not the enemy of the people during a press briefing, after being pressed to make the statement by CNN's Jim Acosta.

Trump blasts media amid chants of 'CNN sucks' | TheHill

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But it's not just the combination of the Trump's extremist rhetoric and real-world violent threats — which MSNBC's Katy Tur revealed she has also experienced on Friday — that is the problem. What's so damning about the president's actions is that he knows about the anger he's fomenting, and he does it anyway. Stephens explains:

Which brings me to the July 20 meeting between Trump and two senior leaders of The Times, publisher A.G. Sulzberger and editorial page editor James Bennet. As Sulzberger later described the encounter, he warned the president that “his language was not just divisive but increasingly dangerous,” and that characterizations of the news media as “the enemy of the people” are “contributing to a rise in threats against journalists and will lead to violence.”

There's no excuse for a president's behaving this way. He has the ultimate responsibility to speak cautiously, given the power of his office — and yet he acts with reckless abandon. As Stephens notes, it only takes one troubled Trump supporter taking his words a little too seriously for things to truly get out of hand and for lives to be destroyed. And Stephens is convinced that day is coming.

'Blood on the President’s Hands': Conservative Writer Warns That Trump Will Get Someone Killed | Alternet

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This is the president this morning:

The president tweeted on Friday: “‘Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations.’ Jeff, this is GREAT, what everyone wants, so look into all of the corruption on the ‘other side’ including deleted Emails, Comey lies & leaks, Mueller conflicts, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Ohr ... FISA abuse, Christopher Steele & his phony and corrupt Dossier, the Clinton Foundation, illegal surveillance of Trump Campaign, Russian collusion by Dems – and so much more.”

Donald Trump hits back after attorney general's public rebuke | US news | The Guardian

The fact that Jeff Sessions, one of his earliest and staunchest supporters doesn't see anything in these investigations tells you already enough about them, they are BS and just meant as a distraction and a way to discredit any possible outcome of the Mueller investigation as political.

If the president was innocent and has nothing to fear from Mueller, why is he acting so guilty?