Melissa McEwan

Unfit president-elect Trump chooses unfit nominee Carson to lead HUD

In a statement this morning, President-elect Donald Trump said: “I am thrilled to nominate Dr. Ben Carson as our next Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Ben Carson has a brilliant mind and is passionate about strengthening communities and families within those communities.” Trump first tweeted in late November that he […]

By Melissa McEwan - December 05, 2016

Keep your eyes on Mike Pence, who is emerging as the most powerful veep ever

During the campaign, I repeatedly warned about Mike Pence’s extremism with a particular urgency, given Donald Trump’s desire for a vice-president who “would be in charge of domestic and foreign policy.” And, since the election, I have been carefully watching the role Pence is playing in the emerging Trump administration. He was put in charge […]

By Melissa McEwan - December 04, 2016

Trump tweets about SNL sketch that is literally about how he can’t stop tweeting

Saturday Night Live’s cold open was a sketch about how Donald Trump cannot stop tweeting ridiculous and inappropriate things. He then tweeted about that very sketch, without a trace of irony. Just tried watching Saturday Night Live – unwatchable! Totally biased, not funny and the Baldwin impersonation just can't get any worse. Sad — Donald […]

By Melissa McEwan - December 04, 2016

Trump’s Taiwanese call: diplomatic failure and more conflict of interest questions

Donald Trump’s call with Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen was troubling for a number of reasons, starting with the fact that the U.S. president-elect lurched abruptly from 37 years of foreign policy, without even a heads-up to President Obama, who is still the sitting president. Expectedly, news of the call prompted firm opposition from the Chinese […]

By Melissa McEwan - December 03, 2016

BREAKING: Trump risks major diplomatic dispute with China over call with Taiwanese president

In 1972, following meetings between President Richard Nixon and Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong, the United States adopted what is known as the “One China” policy, in acknowledgement of Beijing’s disposition toward Taiwan as a non-sovereign province. Six years later, President Jimmy Carter formally recognized Beijing as China’s sole government. When the U.S. embassy closed in […]

By Melissa McEwan - December 02, 2016

Trump’s “Strategic and Policy Forum” includes only two women

In the official announcement of Donald Trump’s establishment of the President’s Strategic and Policy Forum, a team of advisors “composed of some of America’s most highly respected and successful business leaders,” there is a list of 16 names. Only two of them are women. And of the 14 men, only one of them is Black. […]

By Melissa McEwan - December 02, 2016

Warning: The corporate media is abetting Kellyanne Conway’s lies about white supremacy

During a campaign postmortem at Harvard University, key Clinton staff and key Trump staff got into heated exchanges over the tenor of the election. Hillary Clinton’s communications director Jen Palmieri observed that Donald Trump won, in part, by appealing to white supremacists. Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway rebuffed the charge. As Trump’s team basked in […]

By Melissa McEwan - December 02, 2016

GOP loved the repeal of Obamacare as a talking point, not so much as a policy

By February of 2016, Congressional Republicans had tried — unsuccessfully — to repeal the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) more than 60 times. Despite the fact that more than 20 million people are now covered under the ACA’s provisions, Republicans have repeatedly deemed it a failure that needs to be dismantled. But that was then. […]

By Melissa McEwan - December 01, 2016

Warren lets loose on Trump for handing Treasury to Wall Street opportunist

Elizabeth Warren is not happy about Donald Trump nominating former Goldman Sachs partner, hedge fund founder, and foreclosure magnate Steve Mnuchin for Secretary of the Treasury. In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, she did not hold back as she addressed the obscenity of this choice: “What Donald Trump is doing is he’s literally handing […]

By Melissa McEwan - November 30, 2016

Loser Trump has lost much more than just the popular vote

Donald Trump won the presidency in a very curious way. The Washington Post’s Philip Bump observes: “More Republicans voted for someone besides Trump than voted for him in the primary, but he won. More Americans voted for Trump’s opponent in the general, but he won.” And it is more than just winning with fewer votes: […]

By Melissa McEwan - November 30, 2016

Schumer comes out swinging against Trump picks and GOP privatization plans

Donald Trump, Tom Price, and Congressional Republicans are eagerly awaiting their opportunity to repeal the Affordable Care Act, privatize Medicare, and defund Planned Parenthood. And Chuck Schumer is having none of it. I was just so disappointed to see the President-elect nominate Congressman Price to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services this morning. […]

By Melissa McEwan - November 29, 2016

Latest Trump pick does not “drain the swamp” but wallows in it

Donald Trump has nominated Elaine Chao to serve as his Secretary of Transportation. Chao, who is married to Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, previously served as George W. Bush’s Secretary of Labor for all eight years of his presidency. Because of Trump’s proposed infrastructure plan — which, as detailed by Ronald A. Klain, is […]

By Melissa McEwan - November 29, 2016

Trump tweets flag-burners should be jailed or have citizenship revoked

Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag – if they do, there must be consequences – perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2016 This is not normal. It is not normal for a president to use his social media account to tweet chilling opinions […]

By Melissa McEwan - November 29, 2016

Being surprised by Trump is a luxury I never had

https://twitter.com/Shakestweetz/status/803235614049107968 When this campaign began, when Donald Trump’s opening salvo was to assert that undocumented immigrants from Mexico are rapists, I said that this man is terrifying; that he is dangerous. I railed and cautioned against treating him like a joke, or a harmless bit of entertainment. Throughout the campaign, I pushed back, hard, against […]

By Melissa McEwan - November 28, 2016

Trump delegitimizes his own presidency with new “rigged” claims

Before the election, Donald Trump tried to preemptively lay the groundwork for contesting the election results by repeatedly asserting the election would be “rigged.” Then he won — and his claims of rigging disappeared. But in recent days, as calls to audit the vote have become widespread, Green Party candidate Jill Stein has started a […]

By Melissa McEwan - November 27, 2016

Trump is clowning on Twitter to distract you from a major story on his business

This is what Trump is trying to distract from, in his tantrum about vote counts today. Keep your eye on the ball, media. https://t.co/IeL3tzPD9X — Agent 99 (@clowd9ster) November 27, 2016 One may wonder why Donald Trump would be interested in tweeting about election recount efforts, given that it risks calling attention to the fact […]

By Melissa McEwan - November 27, 2016

California mosques receive pro-Trump letters threatening genocide

As of November 16, the Southern Poverty Law Center had collected 701 reports of hateful incidents of harassment from across the country in the wake of the election. California is the state with the highest number of reported incidents. The Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Area chapters of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) […]

By Melissa McEwan - November 27, 2016

A moving message of gratitude to our President

The DNC put together a lovely video featuring Americans expressing their thanks to President Obama, on his final Thanksgiving in office. If you are anything like me, you are having all kinds of feelings about that video, but chief among them is gratitude for a president who has worked so hard to better the lives […]

By Melissa McEwan - November 24, 2016

Trump enlists Betsy DeVos to help him destroy public education

Donald Trump’s selection of Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education is not an encouraging sign for anyone who values equal access to education. DeVos is a champion and funder of charter schools and school vouchers. Like many “educational choice” advocates, Trump and DeVos insist that privatizing education will improve education. But all evidence points to […]

By Melissa McEwan - November 23, 2016

President Obama chokes up awarding Ellen DeGeneres the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Amidst an onslaught of troubling news, it was a welcome sight to see President Obama awarding comedian Ellen DeGeneres the Presidential Medal of Freedom, speaking admiringly of her courage in risking her career to come out and of her special gift for connecting people. “It’s easy to forget now, when we’ve come so far, where […]

By Melissa McEwan - November 22, 2016

Trump is staffing his cabinet like he’s picking sides for dodgeball

Donald Trump tweeted that he is now considering retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development. I am seriously considering Dr. Ben Carson as the head of HUD. I've gotten to know him well–he's a greatly talented person who loves people! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2016 […]

By Melissa McEwan - November 22, 2016

Trump’s comments on Clinton reveal alarming beliefs on presidential power

During the second presidential debate, Donald Trump threatened his opponent Hillary Clinton by saying: “If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation.” He oversaw rallies at which people chanted “Lock her up!” But now he has agreed not to further pursue investigations […]

By Melissa McEwan - November 22, 2016

Republican state legislator to propose sweeping abortion ban in Indiana

The Northwest Indiana Times reports that Republican State Rep. Curt Nisly has announced he is planning to file “Protection at Conception” legislation when the General Assembly convenes in January. His proposal, if passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature, would “prohibit all abortion in Indiana in all circumstances and authorize the criminal prosecution of any doctor […]

By Melissa McEwan - November 19, 2016

Trump uses anti-Semitic phrase to define “core principle” of first 100 days agenda

Donald Trump introduced his first 100 days agenda by saying it is “based on a simple core principle — putting America first.” The Anti-Defamation League has urged Trump to stop using “America first” because of its anti-Semitic use preceding WWII, but instead of jettisoning the term, he is now using it to define the “core […]

By Melissa McEwan - November 21, 2016

Careless Trump crony exposes strategic planning papers to media

It should be no surprise that President-elect Donald Trump’s potential appointees are just as reckless and incompetent as he is: Here’s part of the Trump plan for choking immigration. pic.twitter.com/rvEEtIQuIh — Mike Monteiro did not pay for 👉🏽 (@monteiro) November 21, 2016 And just as indecent. Gripped within the hands of Kris Kobach, a frontrunner […]

By Melissa McEwan - November 21, 2016

Pence refuses to rule out torture during Trump administration

On the same day incoming Chief of Staff Reince Priebus refused to rule out a Muslim registry, Vice President-elect Mike Pence was equally evasive during an interview with Face the Nation’s John Dickerson. Dickerson invoked Senator John McCain’s fervent rejection of the use torture and asked Pence for his reaction. “What I can tell you […]

By Melissa McEwan - November 21, 2016

Priebus will not rule out Muslim registry; says aspects of Islam “are problematic”

During an interview with Martha Raddatz on ABC’s This Week, Reince Priebus was asked about the alignment of Donald Trump’s views with the man he has selected as his national security advisor, former Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, who has called Islam “a cancer.” “Is he in line with how President-elect Trump views Islam?” Raddatz asked. […]

By Melissa McEwan - November 20, 2016

Trump is really hoping you won’t pay attention to this

I previously warned that Donald Trump was tweeting about Mike Pence attending the musical Hamilton to misdirect attention from a story about foreign dignitaries staying at Trump’s D.C. hotel. That is not to suggest the Hamilton story was not important in and of itself: A president-elect shaming artists for exercising their First Amendment rights is […]

By Melissa McEwan - November 20, 2016

Heed the warning: Hamilton is the spectacle to conceal the scandal

This one tweet about the cast of Hamilton addressing Mike Pence has already been shared over 100,000 times: Tonight, VP-Elect Mike Pence attended #HamiltonBway. After the show, @BrandonVDixon delivered the following statement on behalf of the show. pic.twitter.com/Jsg9Q1pMZs — Hamilton (@HamiltonMusical) November 19, 2016 The message, read by cast member Brandon Dixon, was both respectful […]

By Melissa McEwan - November 19, 2016

Surge in hate crimes undermines “peaceful transition”

Beginning in the weeks before the election, when Donald Trump began asserting the election was “rigged” — a claim he abandoned once he won the Electoral College — there was emphasis on how our democracy survives via peaceful transitions of power from one administration to the next. But the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks […]

By Melissa McEwan - November 15, 2016