By Laurie Baron
SAN DIEGO−Donald Trump claims that appointing Ivanka as his assistant and Jared as his senior advisor and head of the new Office of Innovation does not constitute nepotism. The correct term is NePOTUSism.
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First, Devin Nunes avoided the substance of James Comey’s testimony to the House Intelligence Committee and instead focused on leaks from the FBI investigation into possible collusion between Trump’s transition team and Russia. Then he leaked evidence about “incidental” surveillance of Trump and his staff to the press and the President and withheld it from the Committee. Finally, he cancelled a hearing with Sally Yates whose account of warning the President that Michael Flynn was compromised by his relationship with Russia contradicts the White House version of what happened. Pressure is mounting for him to recuse himself from the investigation. In other words, no Nunes is good news.
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On the same day President Trump signed an executive order removing the clean air regulations on the burning of coal, Congress passed legislation permitting Internet Service Providers to sell the browsing history of their customers. Now there are no restrictions on mining coal and personal data.
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Chris Christie will chair a special commission on opioid addiction. If he does well, his next assignment will be leading the fight against obesity among Americans.
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Vladimir Putin vehemently denied that Russia interfered in last year’s U.S. elections and charged those who disseminate such “lies” with exploiting domestic American fears of Russia. He also announced the publication of his new book Inside the DNC which features a foreword by Julian Assange and which will be serialized by Breitbart.
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Baron is professor emeritus of history at San Diego State University. He may be contacted via lawrence.baron@sdjewishworld.com San Diego Jewish World points out to new readers that this column is satire, and nothing herein should be taken literally.