Idiocracy

The Hill reports: The White House on Saturday released photos of President Trump working on the first day of the government shutdown and the one-year anniversary of his inauguration. One photo shows the president walking through a hallway wearing a white “Make America Great Again” hat, while another shows Trump sitting at his desk on the phone. The third photo …

Mother Jones reports: One year after millions of people took to the streets to protest the inauguration of President Donald Trump, activists this weekend are gathering to continue the momentum sparked by the historic Women’s March with new rallies in New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and beyond. Trump weighed in on the nationwide marches with a trolling tweet that …

The Hill reports: Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) on Saturday blasted President Trump as an unreliable negotiating partner, fuming that working with him is “like negotiating with jello” after a failure to secure a deal to avert a government shutdown. “I told the president we Democrats were willing to fund the military at the highest levels in history, far …

Here’s what really happened around 1AM: Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) would not allow military pay to be left unmolested by the Republican Party’s decision to shut down the federal government. Once again, Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have made the military suffer as a result of their political gamesmanship. The move, occurring at night as the Senate debated …

Reuters reports: The world’s most powerful government shut down on Saturday after President Donald Trump and the U.S. Congress failed to reach a deal on funding for federal agencies, highlighting the country’s deep political divisions. For the first time since October 2013 – when a similar standoff that lasted 16 days kept only essential agency operations intact – federal workers …

The Tampa Bay Times reports: In a 2011 interview with In Touch, five years before the payment but just published this week, Daniels talked about her interactions with Trump, which included a promise of a condo in Trump Tower Tampa. “I was talking about how I was going to be moving to Tampa at the time and he told me …

Mashable reports: There’s a lot to fear with Donald Trump in the White House — but his worst fear? Sharks, apparently. Which isn’t sitting well with Discovery Channel. Mashable reached out to the Shark Week network after reading a report alleging that Trump once said, “I hope all sharks die.” Its response was measured. “Shark Week celebrates the wonder of …

Mediaite reports: Following a segment where he went back and forth with a Phoenix mayoral candidate over the value of immigrants to American society, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson brought on frequent guest Mark Steyn to weigh in on the matter. And boy, did he. “Chris Cuomo went on to say that the real problem is white supremacists in America,” Steyn …

Reuters reports: Republican leaders in the U.S. Congress stepped up their efforts to pass a temporary extension in funding government operations and avert a shutdown, scheduling a vote on the measure for later Thursday. For months, the Republican-controlled Congress has been struggling to fund the government, which is now operating on its third temporary funding extension since the 2018 fiscal …

CNN reports: President Donald Trump insisted Thursday that he has remained consistent in his plans for a border wall, a day after his chief of staff, John Kelly, said he has “changed his attitude” on it. “The Wall is the Wall, it has never changed or evolved from the first day I conceived of it. Parts will be, of necessity, …

The New York Times reports: President Trump — who gleefully questioned President Barack Obama’s birthplace for years without evidence, long insisted on the guilt of the Central Park Five despite exonerating proof and claimed that millions of illegal ballots cost him the popular vote in 2016 — wanted to have a word with the American public about accuracy in reporting. …

The Washington Post reports: White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly told Democratic lawmakers Wednesday that the United States will never construct a physical wall along the entire stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border and that some of President Trump’s campaign promises on immigration were “uninformed.” The comments put Kelly at odds with Trump, who repeatedly said during his presidential …

The Hill reports: The Republican National Committee (RNC) slammed Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) on Wednesday, accusing him of “mansplaining” to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen during her hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. In an email titled “Derogatory Cory”, the RNC urged readers to “picture” a male Republican lawmaker “mansplaining” to a female Cabinet secretary. “There’d …

Vox reports: Is Donald Trump hoping foreign terrorists attack the United States? That terrifying question is subtly embedded in a story this weekend reported by Michael Scherer, Josh Dawsey, and Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post on the Republican Party’s growing alarm about the upcoming 2018 midterms. The story details GOP woes and Democratic hopes before pivoting to some more …

The Daily Beast reports: Fox News political analyst Brit Hume late Tuesday offered reassurances on Twitter that he is not “having fantasies about Trump’s penis” in a heated debate about the president’s recent physical exam. Hume was in the midst of defending President Trump against claims of a major discrepancy in his physical exam, the details of which were revealed …

Bloomberg reports: Author Michael Wolff’s pitch to the White House to win cooperation for his book included a working title that signaled a sympathetic view, a counter-narrative to a slew of negative news stories early in Donald Trump’s presidency. He called it “The Great Transition: The First 100 Days of the Trump Administration.” And in part due to that title, …

CNBC reports: U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday blamed Senator Dick Durbin for blowing up talks on a deal to help immigrants brought to the country illegally as children and said the Democratic lawmaker from Illinois misrepresented his comments about Haiti and African countries. Durbin has said Trump used the term “s___hole” when speaking about Haiti and African countries during …

The Post & Courier reports: After taking the weekend to reflect on a combative White House meeting in which President Donald Trump reportedly referred to African countries as “shithole countries,” U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said Monday he is even more determined to reach an immigration deal with hardliners in his own party. In his most extensive comments yet about Thursday’s …

Trump is getting it from all sides today: Cardinal Timothy Dolan on Monday marked Martin Luther King Jr. Day, saying the slain civil rights leader would remind people today that “no country is a ‘hole’.” Dolan has in the past been critical of President Trump. His tweet comes after President Trump reportedly referred to Haiti, El Salvador and African nations …

Raw Story reports: “Fox & Friends” host Brian Kilmeade on Monday once again reiterated his disapproval of President Donald Trump calling African countries “sh*tholes” — and many of the shows viewers reacted with rage. During Monday morning’s show, Kilmeade said that Trump disparaging African countries was “unfortunate,” which echoed a statement he made last week that suggested Trump should walk …