Tommy Christopher

BREAKING: GOP drop gutting of ethics office, despite Trump’s support, following widespread resistance

On Tuesday, House Republicans decided to withdraw a rule that would have gutted the independent Office of Congressional Ethics, and there are already some corporate media outlets who are crediting President-elect Donald Trump for the reversal. But nothing could be further from the truth. Trump and his team defended House Republicans’ secret vote to gut […]

By Tommy Christopher - January 03, 2017

Trump names trade extremist to head new White House trade office

President-elect Donald Trump’s formation of a White House National Trade Council is in itself an unprecedented power grab that will undermine several government agencies, including the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Even the Trump transition team says, as reported by Politico, that the council will “usurp responsibilities from both the National Security Council and […]

By Tommy Christopher - December 22, 2016

Defense: GOP desperately trying to save Sessions’ job with calls for recusal

The undeserved positive glow from Donald Trump’s address to Congress evaporated quickly when the Justice Department revealed that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had repeated contacts with a Russian ambassador during the presidential campaign. This bombshell is in direct contradiction to Sessions’ Senate testimony: Senator Franken, I’m not aware of any of those activities. I have […]

By Tommy Christopher - March 02, 2017

Historically unpopular Donald Trump does not even have a tiny mandate

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but this image of President Donald Trump’s inauguration crowd, as compared with that of President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration, is worth many more than that: Photos: the crowd at Donald Trump’s inauguration vs. Barack Obama’s https://t.co/zA3nRJeu0C pic.twitter.com/yu2KFZYv95 — Vox (@voxdotcom) January 20, 2017 That did not […]

By Tommy Christopher - January 20, 2017

Republicans just gave themselves the power to cut federal employee salaries — to one dollar

President-elect Donald Trump’s hostility toward federal agencies has already manifested itself in his cabinet selections and other top appointments, and a rule adopted by House Republicans could make the potential damage of a Trump presidency even worse. The so-called “Holman Rule” would give anyone in the Republican-controlled House the ability to propose an amendment that […]

By Tommy Christopher - January 05, 2017

Trump lies about and insults intelligence officials in fresh outrage

We have been closely following the absurd and unpatriotic lengths to which President-elect Donald Trump and his team have gone to deny or deflect blame away from the cyberattacks that 17 intelligence agencies agree were the work of the Russian government, lengths which include open collusion with Vladimir Putin. And thus Trump’s latest move should […]

By Tommy Christopher - January 04, 2017

Trump promises to reveal secret evidence of Russia’s innocence

During a brief exchange between President-elect Donald Trump and reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate on New Year’s Eve, Trump revealed that he has secret knowledge of Russia’s innocence in the hacks that the FBI and CIA say were intended to deliver him the election. Without saying where that secret information came from, Trump promised that he will […]

By Tommy Christopher - January 01, 2017

This Republican would rather brag about risking his own child’s health than give everyone health insurance

Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI), a Donald Trump supporter and congressman from Michigan’s second district, marshaled an unusual and absurd argument against the Affordable Care Act recently, telling a local paper that patients should be responsible for holding down costs by delaying or foregoing treatment based on costs. But even more repugnant is the story he […]

By Tommy Christopher - December 21, 2016

Milo’s gone, but CPAC will still feature speaker who sexualizes children

Many people on social media have observed, with horror, that the organizers of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) have set the lowest bar possible for harmful speech by uninviting speaker Milo Yiannopoulos over his comments endorsing adult sexual relations with children. As it turns out, though, their highest-profile speaker does not entirely clear that bar, either. […]

By Tommy Christopher - February 22, 2017

Dianne Feinstein says “Yes,” Russia and Comey affected the outcome of the presidential election

President-elect Donald Trump has pushed hard to undermine the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s cyberattacks were intended to hand him the election, including the lie that there is “absolutely no evidence that hacking affected the election results.” And while the corporate media has pointed out that the intel community made no such assessment, they have […]

By Tommy Christopher - January 16, 2017

Trump is embarrassingly incoherent on plan to pay for Mexico border wall

Donald Trump began his presidential campaign by calling Mexican immigrants “rapists,” and went on to make the building of a border wall with Mexico a central pillar of his campaign rhetoric, all the while insisting that Mexico would pay for the wall. Now, Trump has qualified that, by saying that U.S. taxpayers will fund the […]

By Tommy Christopher - January 06, 2017

Trump nominates avowed protectionist Robert Lighthizer as U.S. Trade Representative

Officials from President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team have confirmed that Trump will nominate former Reagan administration official Robert Lighthizer as United States Trade Representative, in yet another signal that Trump intends to recklessly upend American trade policy. Lighthizer was a deputy U.S. Trade Representative under Ronald Reagan, and in 2008, penned an op-ed entitled “Grand […]

By Tommy Christopher - January 03, 2017

President-elect Trump recklessly usurps President Obama on Israel policy

The building of Israeli settlements on disputed lands, which has long been a major point of contention in the Israel/Palestine peace process, took a major turn last week when the U.S. abstained on a resolution condemning Israeli settlement activity rather than exercising its veto power. The Obama administration has vetoed every similar measure in the past, but […]

By Tommy Christopher - December 28, 2016

Trump is building a cabinet to make good on his threat to cut 90 percent of federal regulations

During a recent Today Show interview, President-elect Donald Trump mentioned in passing a serious escalation of his previous promise to gut federal regulations once he takes office. LAUER: Your comments about Boeing — by the way, shortly after you made those comments, the market value of Boeing dropped about a billion dollars in a matter […]

By Tommy Christopher - December 26, 2016

Bill O’Reilly’s mainstreaming of white supremacy is even worse than it seems

Even as they lecture Democrats to “get over it,” conservatives (including Donald Trump) continue to obsess over the fact that Hillary Clinton clobbered Trump in the popular vote. Clinton currently holds a 2,864,974 popular vote lead over Trump. This has so burrowed its way into conservatives’ heads that it apparently drove Fox News host Bill O’Reilly to shed […]

By Tommy Christopher - December 21, 2016

In yet another Trump Effect, Wisconsin scrubs references to climate change from state website

As if the consequences of climate change were not already terrifying enough, the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump is creating a dangerous ripple effect with its overt hostility toward climate science. Over the weekend, environmental writer James Rowen noticed something was amiss on a state website in Republican Governor Scott Walker’s Wisconsin: Not content with […]

By Tommy Christopher - December 31, 2016

Trump’s close advisors think American citizens deserved to be hacked by Russia

President-elect Donald Trump and his incoming administration have gone to extraordinary lengths to deny and otherwise downplay the Russian interference in the 2016 election that the FBI and CIA agree was intended to help elect him, including dismissing the entire “age of computer” out of hand. Now Team Trump has taken this effort to a […]

By Tommy Christopher - December 30, 2016

In a final insult, the FBI had no probable cause for warrant that reopened email story

With such razor-thin margins in key states, there are several things that, each on their own, could have delivered President-elect Donald Trump’s electoral victory over popular vote-winner Hillary Clinton. Perhaps the most infuriating of these, though, could be the unprecedented and almost universally-condemned interference by FBI Director James Comey, who, with 11 days to go before Election […]

By Tommy Christopher - December 20, 2016

Conway refuses to rule out fake news peddler Flynn as source for secret Russia-exonerating info

When President-elect Donald Trump hinted that he would reveal secret evidence of Russia’s innocence in the hacks that the FBI and CIA say were intended to deliver him the election, I noted that if such information actually existed, it might be the product of a Russia-connected source with an interest in defending the Russian government. […]

By Tommy Christopher - January 03, 2017

Sprint stock gains $696 million after bogus Trump announcement

It was just after the stock market closed on Wednesday when President-elect Donald Trump announced that because of Donald Trump, Sprint would be creating 5,000 new jobs in the United States: So we just had some very good news. Because of what’s happening and the spirit and the hope, I was just called by the […]

By Tommy Christopher - December 30, 2016

White supremacist groups predict tax-free windfall from Trump presidency

New reporting by the Associated Press reveals that several “white nationalist” groups have been receiving millions in tax-free “charitable” donations over the last decade by registering as charities with the IRS, an outrageous issue all on its own. Now these groups believe that the Donald Trump administration will help them further fill their tax-exempt coffers: […]

By Tommy Christopher - December 22, 2016

Trump press corps shamefully participates in unvarnished propaganda campaign

Off-the-record press events have long been a controversial aspect of presidential coverage, but there has never been one quite like the gathering that President-elect Donald Trump recently hosted for the reporters who cover him. While no reporting was allowed at the posh Mar-a-Lago event, pictures were permitted. And what pictures they were. There was this […]

By Tommy Christopher - December 19, 2016

Trump still alarmingly refuses to condemn ongoing Russian hacking

Even though he openly requested that Russia intervene on his behalf in July, President-elect Donald Trump has since denied the existence of Russian interference in our election despite the unanimous conclusion of the U.S. intelligence community. That includes the CIA’s assessment that the attacks were intended specifically to help elect Trump, and more recent reporting […]

By Tommy Christopher - December 16, 2016

Trump talks tough on terrorism while still keeping his supposed ISIS plan secret

Republicans have long insisted that a major obstacle to defeating ISIS is the Obama administration’s reluctance to use the phrase “radical Islamic terrorism.” Perhaps they felt safer when President-elect Donald Trump declared the assassin of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey a “radical Islamic terrorist,” and used similar language to describe the attacker who killed at least 12 people […]

By Tommy Christopher - December 20, 2016

McConnell laughably claims Russia will be “disappointed” with Trump’s cabinet

We have been tracking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s efforts to sabotage accountability for Russian interference in the election by using a partisan committee to head off any truly meaningful investigation. And in an interview with Kentucky Educational Television, McConnell continued the strategy of insisting that Russian hacking is a big deal — but one that […]

By Tommy Christopher - December 20, 2016

Trump press secretary thinks Hillary Clinton should be “punished”

In his foolish efforts to deflect attention away from Russia’s role in getting Donald Trump elected to the presidency, White House Press Secretary-designate Sean Spicer offered the truly egregious notion that Hillary Clinton should be “punished” for ways he believes she tried “to influence the election:” SPICER: It’s a question of getting the information. Everyone […]

By Tommy Christopher - January 02, 2017

Trump straight-up lies about getting Sprint to create 5,000 U.S. jobs

This is becoming a terrible pattern. President-elect Donald Trump appeared at the entrance to his Mar-a-Lago resort Wednesday to take credit for 8,000 new jobs, 5,000 of which he said would be created by Sprint: So we just had some very good news. Because of what’s happening and the spirit and the hope, I was […]

By Tommy Christopher - December 29, 2016

Trump’s Secretary of State pick Rex Tillerson has even deeper Russian ties

Secretary of State-designate Rex Tillerson worked for years to finalize a half-trillion-dollar deal with the Russian government, one which earned him an Order of Friendship and a champagne toast from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Now, new reporting shows Tillerson’s Russia connections go even further back. According to public documents leaked to a German newspaper, Tillerson became […]

By Tommy Christopher - December 19, 2016

Trump’s campaign of intimidation against the press escalates

In a radio interview with Hugh Hewitt, incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus continued President-elect Donald Trump’s pattern of chilling and intimidating the press by expressing amenability to a range of dangerous ideas — including hinting that the White House daily briefings might not even be necessary in its current form and the possibility […]

By Tommy Christopher - December 15, 2016

New York Times uncritically parrots Trump “jobs, jobs jobs!” propaganda

Two recent items in The New York Times evince a troubling acceptance and elevation of Trump administration propaganda, without any factual basis. Since his White House transition began, the only interest President-elect Donald Trump has shown in creating jobs has been for department heads who are bent on destroying their own departments, yet the NYT […]

By Tommy Christopher - December 14, 2016

Tommy Christopher

Freelance Political Writer

BREAKING: GOP drop gutting of ethics office, despite Trump’s support, following widespread resistance

Trump names trade extremist to head new White House trade office

Defense: GOP desperately trying to save Sessions’ job with calls for recusal

Historically unpopular Donald Trump does not even have a tiny mandate

Republicans just gave themselves the power to cut federal employee salaries — to one dollar

Trump lies about and insults intelligence officials in fresh outrage

Trump promises to reveal secret evidence of Russia’s innocence

This Republican would rather brag about risking his own child’s health than give everyone health insurance

Milo’s gone, but CPAC will still feature speaker who sexualizes children

Dianne Feinstein says “Yes,” Russia and Comey affected the outcome of the presidential election

Trump is embarrassingly incoherent on plan to pay for Mexico border wall

Trump nominates avowed protectionist Robert Lighthizer as U.S. Trade Representative

President-elect Trump recklessly usurps President Obama on Israel policy

Trump is building a cabinet to make good on his threat to cut 90 percent of federal regulations

Bill O’Reilly’s mainstreaming of white supremacy is even worse than it seems

In yet another Trump Effect, Wisconsin scrubs references to climate change from state website

Trump’s close advisors think American citizens deserved to be hacked by Russia

In a final insult, the FBI had no probable cause for warrant that reopened email story

Conway refuses to rule out fake news peddler Flynn as source for secret Russia-exonerating info

Sprint stock gains $696 million after bogus Trump announcement

White supremacist groups predict tax-free windfall from Trump presidency

Trump press corps shamefully participates in unvarnished propaganda campaign

Trump still alarmingly refuses to condemn ongoing Russian hacking

Trump talks tough on terrorism while still keeping his supposed ISIS plan secret

McConnell laughably claims Russia will be “disappointed” with Trump’s cabinet

Trump press secretary thinks Hillary Clinton should be “punished”

Trump straight-up lies about getting Sprint to create 5,000 U.S. jobs

Trump’s Secretary of State pick Rex Tillerson has even deeper Russian ties

Trump’s campaign of intimidation against the press escalates

New York Times uncritically parrots Trump “jobs, jobs jobs!” propaganda