Winning - August 2018

Keeping track of the GOP and Trump Administration:

• Trump and the Koch Network openly at odds. The Koch's have pledged $400 million in midterm election funding. 
• Trump again calls the media "the enemy of the people". Ivanka says they are not.
• Trump calls LeBron James dumb. Melania says LeBron is doing good work and she is open to visiting his new school. 
• Trump's in-laws, Melania's parents, become US citizens. They took advantage of "chain migration", an immigration program that Trump decries and wants to eliminate. Can you spell h-y-p-o-c-r-i-t-e?
• Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), an early and staunch Trump supporter, is charged with insider trading.
• China and US impose 25% tariffs on $18 billion of additional goods. Chinese tariffs are on cars and energy.
• Omarosa Manigault Newman's new book, Unhinged: An Insider Account of the Trump White House, alleges that Trump is racist, unqualified, narcissistic, misogynist, and a bigot. She also has recordings to back up some claims in the book. Uncomfortable.
• 8/15 - Trump admits in a Wall Street Journal interview that he revoked John Brennan's security clearance because of his involvement in the Russian investigation. No security reasons, just spite, and revenge.  
• Trump's military parade has been postponed until next year or maybe never. Projected cost had ballooned to over $90 million.
• 8/21 - Former Trump lawyer and associate Michael Cohen pleads guilty to tax and bank fraud and campaign finance violations. Says he paid off women on Trump's orders. 
• 8/21 - Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, is found guilty on eight counts. Tax evasion, bank fraud, and not reporting a foreign bank account.
• 8/25 - A federal judge strikes down most of Trump's executive orders attempting to make it easier to fire government employees and weaken their unions.
• White House counsel Donald McGahn to leave the administration this fall. 
• 8/31 - W. Samuel Patten pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act for failing to register with the Justice Department. He also admitted that he steered an illegal $50K donation from a Ukrainian businessman to the Trump inauguration.

wjh