The Times notes the news media’s alarm at the Trump gang’s rabid hostility to the news media. Ahhh but the Times would, wouldn’t it, because the Times is part of the evil cabal. Right? Right?

For wary Washington journalists, it seemed only a matter of time before Donald J. Trump’s presidency would lead to a high-tension standoff between his administration and the news media.

But on Day 1?

It was startlingly prompt.

The news media world found itself in a state of shock on Sunday, a day after Mr. Trump declared himself in “a running war with the media” and the president’s press secretary, Sean Spicer, used his first appearance on the White House podium to deliver a fiery

Good; it begins.

A team of prominent constitutional scholars, Supreme Court litigators and former White House ethics lawyers intends to file a lawsuit Monday morning alleging that President Trump is violating the Constitution by allowing his hotels and other business operations to accept payments from foreign governments.

The lawsuit is among a barrage of legal actions against the Trump administration that have been initiated or are being planned by major liberal advocacy organizations. Such suits are among the few outlets they have to challenge the administration now that Republicans are in control of the government.

In the new case, the lawyers argue that a provision in the Constitution known as the Emoluments Clause amounts to a ban

The Times reports that the Women’s March in DC yesterday was about three times the size of the crowd at Trump’s inauguration.

Marcel Altenburg and Keith Still, crowd scientists at Manchester Metropolitan University in Britain, analyzed photographs and video taken of the National Mall and vicinity and estimated that there were about 160,000 people in those areas in the hour leading up to Mr. Trump’s speech Friday.

They estimated that at least 470,000 people were at the women’s march in Washington in the areas on and near the mall at about 2 p.m. Saturday.

Donnie from Queens won’t like that.… Read the rest

Yesterday.

… Read the rest

The Daily DonnieOnTwitter:

"Do not allow anyone to tell you that it cannot be done. No challenge can match the HEART and FIGHT and SPIRIT of America." – @POTUS pic.twitter.com/26JQOY4pk8

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 21, 2017

Just look at that horrible horrible picture. The scowl, the fist – and that’s a picture they choose to highlight, and it’s the picture he chooses to tweet at us. He wants to be seen as a disgusting bully; he likes that image of himself.

Who does that? Hitler did it, Mussolini did it, but besides them?

President Angry Bully. That’s how he chooses to present himself to us. It’s horrifying.

Had a great meeting at CIA Headquarters yesterday, packed house,

Robert Reich on Facebook today:

I had breakfast recently with a friend who’s a former Republican member of Congress. Here’s what he said:

Him: Trump is no Republican. He’s just a big fat ego.

Me: Then why didn’t you speak out against him during the campaign?

Him: You kidding? I was surrounded by Trump voters. I’d have been shot.

Me: So what now? What are your former Republican colleagues going to do?

Him (smirking): They’ll play along for a while.

Me: A while?

Him: They’ll get as much as they want – tax cuts galore, deregulation, military buildup, slash all those poverty programs, and then get to work on Social Security and Medicare – and blame him. And he’s

CNN is caustic about Spicer’s rant.

“This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period,” Spicer said, contradicting all available data.

Aerial photos have indicated that former president Barack Obama’s first inauguration attracted a much larger crowd. Nielsen ratings show that Obama also had a bigger television audience.

Spicer said, without any evidence, that some photos were “intentionally framed” to downplay Trump’s crowd.

Evidence! Pah! Absolute monarchs don’t bother with evidence.

He also expressed objections to specific Twitter posts from journalists. And he said, “we’re going to hold the press accountable,” partly by reaching the public through social networking sites.

Spicer, at times almost yelling while reading a prepared statement, took no questions. CNNMoney called his cell

Trump’s press secretary started the new administration by giving the press a damn good scolding, and then lying about the inauguration. They’re not wasting any time steering the ship onto the rocks.

President Trump’s press secretary, Sean Spicer, on Saturday used his first media briefing to angrily lambaste the press for its coverage of the new administration, claiming reporters had deliberately sought to minimize the “enormous” crowd at Trump’s swearing-in on Friday.

“This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period — both in person and around the globe,” Spicer said. “These attempts to lessen the enthusiasm of the inauguration are shameful and wrong.”

Of course, that’s not true, or even close to true.

In a highly

A guy with broad experience in intelligence comments on Trump’s visit to the CIA:

President Trump at the CIA was appalling.

The sacrifices he talked about were his own: mistreatment by the “dishonest” media; self-glorification (“Trust me, I’m like a smart person”); the size of his inaugural crowd (“It looked like a million, a million and a half people” on the Mall) (which isn’t true); his narcissistic boasting of being on the cover of Time magazine.

Unfocused, except on himself. Untruthful, except perhaps acknowledging where he was. And completely at sea as to why on earth he was there. Except to fish for compliments, and the kind of admiration he craves like an attention-starved child.

The Post gives us a nice opening paragraph:

On his first full day in office, President Trump visited the Central Intelligence Agency’s headquarters to express his gratitude for the intelligence community, which he had repeatedly railed against and recently likened to Nazis.

“I’m so grateful to you, you Nazis.” Not entirely convincing, perhaps.

What Trump delivered Saturday was a campaign-style, stream-of-consciousness airing of grievances — at the Senate for delaying confirmation of his nominees; at critics for questioning whether he is smart and vigorous; and at journalists, whom he called “the most dishonest human beings on earth” and accused of lying about the size of his inauguration crowd.

Well at least we know we’re annoying him. That may be … Read the rest

The Sunday Times:

So Trump is God now?

TIME just goes with the full frontal fascist:

The New Zealand Herald also likes the scowl with the puny fist:

… Read the rest

Trump said he would transfer his companies to a family trust by the 20th. Of course he lied. He hasn’t done it. It wouldn’t be nearly good enough if he had, but he hasn’t even done it. That thing he said he was going to do. Pro Publica looked into it.

To transfer ownership of his biggest companies, Trump has to file a long list of documents in Florida, Delaware and New York. We asked officials in each of those states whether they have received the paperwork. As of 3:15 p.m. today, the officials said they have not.

Trump and his associates “are not doing what they said they would do,” said Richard Painter, the chief ethics lawyer for

The selflessness and public spirit of the new administration, along with its dignity and good taste:

Visitors to the newly revamped White House website get more than a simple rundown of first lady Melania Trump’s charitable works and interests — they also get a list of her magazine cover appearances and details on her jewelry line at QVC.

Her biography starts with traditional details, such as her date of birth in her native country of Slovenia and information about her background as a model. That’s when the brief backgrounder takes a promotional turn. The website includes a lengthy list of brands that hired her as a model and several of the magazines in which she appeared, including the Sports

Trump thinks this is a good photo to post on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/822521968465416192

Just look at him – that horrible angry sullen scowling face. His profile photo is also the horrible angry sullen scowling face. Clearly he thinks that’s a good look. What is wrong with him?… Read the rest

And another thing. What’s this crap about how Trump has “continually set the standards of business and entrepreneurial excellence, especially with his interests in real estate, sports, and entertainment”? Nonsense.

We don’t think of “entrepreneurial excellence” that way (assuming we think of it at all, but that’s another subject). We think of it in connection with some kind of innovation or improvement, of a kind that benefits a lot of people (or the planet or the environment and the like). Fast food, for instance – however crappy the food is, it’s still been a benefit in convenience and cheapness for a lot of people.

We don’t think of building luxury apartment buildings as “entrepreneurial excellence,” nor do we think of … Read the rest