Everything Trump Touches Dies

by Rick Wilson

  15. Donald J. Trump, Twitter, 3 Jan. 2017, https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/816260343391514624.

  16. Andrew P. Napolitano, “Executive Order Tyranny: Obama Plans to Rule America with Pen, Phone,” Fox News, 6 Feb. 2014, http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/02/06/executive-order-tyranny-obama-plans-to-rule-america-with-pen-phone.html.

  17. Derek Monson, “Obama’s Chief of Staff Admits They Want Tyranny,” The Federalist, 26 Jan. 2016, http://thefederalist.com/2016/01/26/obamas-chief-of-staff-admits-they-want-tyranny/.

  18. Joel B. Pollak, “Three Ways Obama’s Executive Orders Are the Worst of Any President,” Breitbart, 4 Feb. 2014, http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2014/02/04/ruth-marcus-obama-executive-order/.

  19. Bruce Thornton, “Obama the Tyrant,” Frontpage Mag, 23 Nov. 2014, https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/245833/obama-tyrant-bruce-thornton.

  9. The Grown-ups All Die Too

  1. Lachlan Markay and Asawin Suebsaeng. “John Kelly Pushing Out Omarosa for ‘Triggering’ Trump,” Daily Beast, 2 Sept. 2017, https://www.thedailybeast.com/john-kelly-pushing-out-omarosa-for-triggering-trump.

  2. Yaron Steinbuch and Ruth Brown, “Omarosa Fired, ‘Physically Dragged’ from the White House,” New York Post, 13 Dec. 2017, https://nypost.com/2017/12/13/omarosa-is-leaving-the-white-house/.

  3. Yamiche Alcindor and Julie Davis. “Soldier’s Widow Says Trump Struggled to Remember Sgt. La David Johnson’s Name,” New York Times, 23 Oct. 2017.

  4. David Nakamura, “Video of 2015 Event Shows Gen. John Kelly Misrepresented Rep. Frederica S. Wilson’s Remarks,” Washington Post, 20 Oct. 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/10/20/video-of-2015-event-shows-gen-john-kelly-misrepresented-rep-frederica-s-wilsons-remarks/.

  5. Philip Rucker, “John Kelly’s Credibility Is at Risk after Defending Aide Accused of Domestic Violence,” Washington Post, 8 Feb. 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/john-kellys-credibility-is-at-risk-after-defending-aide-accused-of-domestic-violence/2018/02/08/e8e1ff06-0ccf-11e8-8890-372e2047c935_story.html.

  6. John Bowden, “Kelly Says Trump Not Likely to Extend DACA Deadline,” The Hill, 6 Feb. 2018, http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/372536-kelly-says-trump-likely-wont-extend-daca-deadline.

  7. Andrew Restuccia and Eliana Johnson, “In New Statement, Kelly Says He Was ‘Shocked’ by Porter Allegations and Condemns Abuse,” Politico, 7 Feb. 2018, http://politi.co/2E9e0QY.

  8. Josh Dawsey, Twitter, 7 Feb. 2018, https://twitter.com/jdawsey1/status/961281953193488384.

  9. Matt Ford, “The 19 Women Who Accused Trump of Sexual Misconduct,” The Atlantic, 7 Dec. 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/12/what-about-the-19-women-who-accused-trump/547724/; “Transcript: Donald Trump’s Taped Comments about Women,” New York Times, 8 Oct. 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/08/us/donald-trump-tape-transcript.html.

  10. Jonathan Swan, “1 Twisted Thing: Trump Says Porter Guilty, but Defends Him Publicly,” Axios, retrieved 12 Feb. 2018, https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-sneak-peek-4f61181c-93eb-481f-9169-275b3db91e06.html?chunk=0#story0.

  11. Michael Kranish, Anne Gearan, Dan Balz, and Philip Rucker, “Trump Wasn’t Happy with His State Department Finalists. Then He Heard a New Name,” Washington Post. 13 Dec. 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-wasnt-happy-with-his-state-department-finalists-then-he-heard-a-new-name/2016/12/13/0727658e-c161-11e6-8422-eac61c0ef74d_story.html.

  12. Donald J. Trump, Twitter, 11 Dec. 2016, https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/807970490635743237.

  13. Donald J. Trump, Twitter, 13 Dec. 2016, https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/808638507161882624.

  14. Donald J. Trump, Twitter, 13 Dec. 2016, https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/808653723639697408.

  15. Donald J. Trump, Twitter, 2 Feb. 2017, https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/827113926517194757.

  16. “Tracking How Many Key Positions Trump Has Filled So Far,” Washington Post, updated 4 May 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-administration-appointee-tracker/database/?utm_term=.791bd447ab48.

  17. Max Bergmann, “Present at the Destruction: How Rex Tillerson Is Wrecking the State Department,” Politico, 29 June 2017, https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/29/how-rex-tillerson-destroying-state-department-215319.

  18. Kevin Liptak, Dan Merica, Jeff Zeleny, and Elise Labott, “Tense and Difficult Meeting Preceded Tillerson’s ‘Moron’ Comment,” CNN, 11 Oct. 2017, https://www.cnn.com/2017/10/11/politics/tillerson-moron-comment/index.html.

  19. Carol E. Lee, Kristen Welker, Stephanie Ruhle, and Dafna Linzer, “Tillerson’s Fury at Trump Required an Intervention from Pence,” NBC News, 4 Oct. 2017, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/tillerson-s-fury-trump-required-intervention-pence-n806451.

  20. “Attributing Responsibility for the Nerve Agent Attack in the U.K.,” U.S. Department of State, retrieved 13 Mar. 2018, http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2018/03/279201.htm (page removed).

  10. Welcome to Hell

  1. Eli Stokols, “Trump White House Saw Record Number of First-Year Staff Departures,” Wall Street Journal, 28 Dec. 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-white-house-saw-record-number-of-first-year-staff-departures-1514457002.

  2. “Three-letter” agencies are parts of the intelligence community: CIA, DIA, NSA, DHA, etc.

  3. Tarini Parti and Matt Berman, “Many Trump Staffers Are Trying to Leave His Out-of-Control White House,” BuzzFeed, 1 Mar. 2018, https://www.buzzfeed.com/tariniparti/as-trump-spirals-many-of-his-staffers-are-looking-to-exit.

  4. John Fund, “Trump’s Skeletal Crew,” National Review, 13 Mar. 2017, https://www.nationalreview.com/2017/03/trumps-skeletal-crew-sub-cabinet-positions-unfilled/.

  5. Glenn Thrush and Maggie Haberman, “Trump and Staff Rethink Tactics after Stumbles,” New York Times, 5 Feb. 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/05/us/politics/trump-white-house-aides-strategy.html.

  6. Lisa Rein and Abby Phillip, “Help Wanted: Why Republicans Won’t Work for the Trump Administration,” Washington Post, 17 June 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/help-wanted-why-republicans-wont-work-for-the-trump-administration/2017/06/17/61e3d33e-506a-11e7-b064-828ba60fbb98_story.html.

  7. Nancy Cook, “Trump Aides Begin Looking for the Exits,” Politico, 22 Sept. 2017, http://politi.co/2hkDHop.

  11. The Trump Family Syndicate

  1. Anne Helen Petersen, “Meet the Ivanka Voter,” BuzzFeed, 2 Nov. 2016, https://www.buzzfeed.com/annehelenpetersen/meet-the-ivanka-voter.

  2. Carrie Almond, “Ivanka Trump Will Be an Asset in Her New Role at the White House,” The Hill, 30 Mar. 2017, http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/the-administration/326539-ivanka-will-be-an-asset-in-the-trump-white-house.

  3. Henry Kissinger, White House Years (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011).

  4. Margaret Carlson. “Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump Came to Washington Seeking Power and Glamour. They’ll Leave with Neither,” Daily Beast, 28 Feb. 2018, https://www.thedailybeast.com/jared-kushner-and-ivanka-trump-came-to-washington-seeking-power-and-glamour-theyll-leave-with-neither.

  5. Adam Entous and Evan Osnos, “Jared Kushner Is China’s Trump Card,” New Yorker, 29 Jan. 2018, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/29/jared-kushner-is-chinas-trump-card.

  6. Shane Harris, Carol D. Leonnig, Greg Jaffe, and Josh Dawsey, “Kushner’s Overseas Contacts Raise Concerns as Foreign Officials Seek Leverage,” Washington Post, 27 Feb. 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/kushners-overseas-contacts-raise-concerns-as-foreign-officials-seek-leverage/2018/02/27/16bbc052-18c3-11e8-942d-16a950029788_story.html; Chas Danner, “Report: Kushner Requests More Intel Than Any Non-NSC Employee at White House,” New York, 17 Feb. 2018, http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/02/report-kushner-requests-more-intel-than-any-non-nsc-staff.html.

  7. Josh Gerstein, “Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner Are Sued over Financial Disclosures,” Politico, 17 Dec. 2017, http
://politi.co/2oxHUeq.

  8. Alexander Nazaryan, “Steve Bannon and Breitbart News Want to Take Out Jared Kushner,” Newsweek, 28 Sept. 2017, http://www.newsweek.com/steve-bannon-and-breitbart-news-want-take-out-jared-kushner-672963.

  9. Gideon Resnick, “Roger Stone: Kushner Is Leaking Intel to Scarborough,” Daily Beast, 4 Apr. 2017, https://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/04/04/roger-stone-kushner-is-leaking-intel-to-scarborough.

  10. Gabriel Sherman, “ ‘You Can’t Go Any Lower’: Inside the West Wing, Trump Is Apoplectic as Allies Fear Impeachment,” The Hive, 1 Nov. 2017, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/11/the-west-wing-trump-is-apoplectic-as-allies-fear-impeachment.

  11. David Kocieniewski and Caleb Melby, “Kushners’ China Deal Flop Was Part of Much Bigger Hunt for Cash,” Bloomberg, 31 Aug. 2017, https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-kushners-china-deal-flop-was-part-of-much-bigger-hunt-for-cash/.

  12. Jessica Kwong, “John Kelly Has Cut Jared Kushner’s Many White House Roles, Report Says,” Newsweek, 22 Nov. 2017, http://www.newsweek.com/jared-kushner-john-kelly-has-clipped-his-wings-republican-says-719666.

  13. Michelle Ruiz, “Look, It’s Time to Collectively and Officially Give Up on Ivanka Trump,” Vogue, 31 July 2017, https://www.vogue.com/article/ivanka-trump-ineffective-adviser-give-up-hope.

  14. Michael Wolff, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2018).

  12. Team Crony

  1. “Trump Administration: 2017 Inauguration Donors,” Opensecrets.com, 31 May 2018.

  2. “Murray Energy’s ‘Action Plan’ for the Trump Administration,” New York Times, 9 Jan. 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/01/09/climate/document-Murray-Energy-Action-Plan.html.

  3. “Subsidising Coal Production Is a Really Bad Idea,” Economist, 14 Dec. 2017, https://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21732571-fierce-competition-federal-governments-worst-policy.

  4. Joe Romm, “Reality Sets In for the Coal Industry: Trump Is Powerless to Save It,” ThinkProgress, 22 Feb. 2018, https://thinkprogress.org/coal-plants-now-shutting-down-faster-under-trump-than-obama-4da9d4554ec0/.

  13. Clown Princes of the Trump Media

  1. Heather Dockray, “This Graph Compares Trump Tweets with ‘Fox & Friends,’ and I’m Sorry to Even Make You Look,” Mashable, 30 Nov. 2017.

  2. Andrew Marantz, “How ‘Fox & Friends’ Rewrites Trump’s Reality,” New Yorker, 15 Jan. 2018, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/15/how-fox-and-friends-rewrites-trumps-reality.

  3. Ibid.

  4. Rick Wilson, “Conservatives Sell Their Souls to Trump over Media-Bashing,” Daily Beast, 14 Feb. 2017, https://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/02/14/conservatives-sell-their-souls-to-trump-over-media-bashing.

  5. Alan Rappeport, “Republicans Learn to Love Deficit Spending They Once Loathed,” New York Times, 8 Feb. 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/08/us/politics/republicans-spending-deficits-debt.html.

  6. Olivia Nuzzi, “The Strange Cocoon of Trump and Hannity, Two Friends Who Like to Talk Before Bed.” Daily Intelligencer, 13 May 2018.

  7. “Top Talk Audiences,” Talkers Magazine, May 2018.

  8. Dana Milbank, “Sean Hannity, Trump’s Spin ‘Doctor,’ ” Washington Post, 22 Aug. 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/sean-hannity-trumps-spin-doctor/2016/08/22/6cb90580–689a-11e6–99bf-f0cf3a6449a6_story.html.

  9. “Sean Hannity Turns Adviser in the Service of Donald Trump,” New York Times, 22 Aug. 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/22/business/media/sean-hannity-turns-adviser-in-the-service-of-donald-trump.html.

  10. Ibid.

  11. Asawin Suebsaeng, Spencer Ackerman, and Sam Stein, “McMaster Wants to Save the Iran Deal by Hiding It from Trump,” Daily Beast, 12 Oct. 2017, https://www.thedailybeast.com/mcmaster-wants-to-save-the-iran-deal-by-hiding-it-from-trump.

  12. Mary Rich, “We’re Seth Rich’s Parents. Stop Politicizing Our Son’s Murder,” Washington Post, 17 May 2018.

  13. David French, “The Seth Rich Conspiracy Theory Is Shameful Nonsense,” National Review, 24 May 2017, http://www.nationalreview.com/article/447903/sean-hannitys-seth-rich-conspiracy-theory-disgrace.

  14. “Statement on Coverage of Seth Rich Murder Investigation,” Fox News, 23 May 2017, http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/05/23/statement-on-coverage-seth-rich-murder-investigation.html.

  15. Gabriel Sherman, “A Safe Space For Trump: Inside the Feedback Loop Between the President and Fox News,” The Hive, 2018.

  16. “Cable News Fact Sheet,” Pew Research Center’s Journalism Project, 2017.

  17. “Ann Coulter to Donald Trump: Beware the Former Trumpers,” New York Times, 30 Mar. 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/30/opinion/ann-coulter-trump-former-trumpers.html.

  18. Ann Coulter, Twitter, 16 Aug. 2015, https://twitter.com/AnnCoulter/status/632954040675078144.

  19. Asawin Suebsaeng, “Ann Coulter, Stephen Miller Helped Write Trump Immigration Plan,” Daily Beast, 10 July 2017, https://www.thedailybeast.com/ann-coulter-stephen-miller-helped-write-trump-immigration-plan.

  20. Grace Curley, “Immigration, Ann Coulter and the Wall—4.2.18 (Hour 2),” Howie Carr Show, 2 Apr. 2018, https://howiecarrshow.com/2018/04/02/immigration-ann-coulter-and-the-wall-4–2–18-hour-2/.

  21. Lloyd Grove, “ ‘Heartbroken’ Trump Critic Ann Coulter: He’s a ‘Shallow, Lazy Ignoramus.’ ” The Daily Beast, 28 Mar. 2018.

  22. McKay Coppins, The Wilderness: Deep Inside the Republican Party’s Combative, Contentious, Chaotic Quest to Take Back the White House (New York: Back Bay Books, 2016).

  23. David Horowitz. “Bill Kristol: Republican Spoiler, Renegade Jew,” Breitbart, 15 May 2016, http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/05/15/bill-kristol-republican-spoiler-renegade-jew/.

  24. Gerald Warner, “Hoist It High and Proud: The Confederate Flag Proclaims a Glorious Heritage,” Breitbart, 1 July 2015, http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/07/01/hoist-it-high-and-proud-the-confederate-flag-proclaims-a-glorious-heritage/.

  25. Milo Yiannopoulos, “ ‘Would You Rather Your Child Had Feminism or Cancer?’ ” Breitbart, 20 Nov. 2016, www.breitbart.com/video/2016/02/19/would-you-rather-your-child-had-feminism-or-cancer/.

  26. Paul Farhi, “The Mysterious Group That Wants to Kill Breitbart’s Ad Revenue, One Tweet at a Time,” Chicago Tribune, 22 Sept. 2017, http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-sleeping-giant-breitbart-advertisers-20170922-story.html.

  27. Bonnie Kristian, “Breitbart Is Reportedly Bleeding Ad Revenue.” The Week, 21 Aug. 2017, theweek.com/speedreads/719664/breitbart-reportedly-bleeding-ad-revenue.

  28. Lucia Moses, “Breitbart Ads Plummet Nearly 90 Percent in Three Months as Trump’s Troubles Mount.” Media Radar, 6 June 2017, https://resources.mediaradar.com/newsroom/breitbart-ads-plummet-in-three-months.

  29. Katie McHugh, Twitter, retrieved 16 Mar. 2018, https://twitter.com/k_mcq/status/644354526162644992 (post removed).

  30. The site dropped from 15 million unique visitors in October, per comScore, to 13.7 million in November, 9.9 million in December, 8.5 million in January, and 7.8 million in February.

  31. Rosie Gray, “The Mercers Wash Their Hands of Milo,” The Atlantic, 2 Nov. 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/11/the-mercers-wash-their-hands-of-milo/544877/.

  32. Tanya Gold, “The Fall of Milo Yiannopoulos,” Spectator USA, 6 Apr. 2018, https://usa.spectator.co.uk/2018/04/the-fall-of-milo-yiannopoulos/.

  14. Trump’s Island of Misfit Toys

  1. Donald J. Trump, Twitter, 6 Mar. 2018, https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/971006379375972354.

  2. Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, Elaine Kamarck, and Nicholas W. Zeppos, “Tracking Turnover in the Trump Administration,” Brookings Institution, 16 Mar. 2018, https://www.brookings.edu/research/tracking-turnover-in-the-trump-administration/.

  3. Lloyd Grove, “How Breitbart Unleashes Hate Mobs to Threaten, Dox, and Troll Trump Critics.” Daily Beast, 1 Mar. 2016, https://www.theda
ilybeast.com/how-breitbart-unleashes-hate-mobs-to-threaten-dox-and-troll-trump-critics.

  4. Gabriel Sherman, “ ‘I Have Power’: Is Steve Bannon Running for President?,” The Hive, 21 Dec. 2017, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/12/bannon-for-president-trump-kushner-ivanka.

  5. Josh Holmes, Twitter, 12 Dec. 2017, https://twitter.com/HolmesJosh/status/940754883451514880.

  6. Rick Wilson, Twitter, 12 Dec. 2017, https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/940786732982722560.

  7. Jason Horowitz, “Steve Bannon Is Done Wrecking the American Establishment. Now He Wants to Destroy Europe’s,” New York Times, 9 Mar. 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/09/world/europe/horowitz-europe-populism.html.

  8. Ali Watkins, “A Former Trump Adviser Met With a Russian Spy,” BuzzFeed, 3 Apr. 2017, https://www.buzzfeed.com/alimwatkins/a-former-trump-adviser-met-with-a-russian-spy?utm_term=.muevGnk38r#.yrAnG3v82j.

  9. Elisa Groll, “Russian Spy Met Trump Adviser Carter Page and Thought He Was an ‘Idiot.’ ” Foreign Policy, 4 Apr. 2017, foreignpolicy.com/2017/04/04/russian-spy-met-trump-adviser-carter-page-and-thought-he-was-an-idiot/.

  10. Brandy Zadrozny and Asawin Suebsaeng, “Trump’s Longtime Lawyer, Michael Cohen, Knows Way Too Much. So Why Is He Still in Exile?,” Daily Beast, 26 Feb. 2018, https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-longtime-lawyer-michael-cohen-knows-way-too-much-so-why-is-he-still-in-exile.

  11. The only candidate for this “other guy” seems to be Trump attorney Marc Kasowitz. See his Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Kasowitz.

  12. Maggie Haberman, “Did Roger Stone Jump, or Was He Pushed from Donald Trump’s Campaign?,” New York Times, 8 Aug. 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/08/08/did-roger-stone-jump-or-was-he-pushed-from-trump-campaign/.