01 Approves Keystone XL

In January 2017, Trump approved the Keystone XL pipeline by executive order. Despite being environmentally unsound, the pipeline carries some of Canada's most dirty oil products over 1,200 miles of U.S. land and indigenous territories, largely for export to other nations. In 2019, the pipeline leaked 383,000 gallons of crude oil in North Dakota, destroying a half an acre of wetlands.

02 The Lies Start Early

The Big Lie started right from the beginning of his administration. On his first Monday as president, and in spite of his win, Trump claims that 3 to 5 million illegal ballots cost him to lose the popular vote to Hillary Clinton. On his first Wednesday in office he begins construction of "the wall" and lies to the American people about Mexico agreeing to pay for it. In total, Trump made 30,573 false or misleading statements in just four years, with half of them coming in his final year in office. Practice makes perfect.

03 Muslim Travel Ban

On Trumpenstein's first Friday in office, he bans travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries, Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya. In 2018 after the initial ban was overturned by the courts, he instead restricted the number of visas that could be issued to those nations and added Venezuela and North Korea to the list.  The ban was eventually upheld by the SCOTUS, and Nigeria, Eritrea, Tanzania, Kyrgyzstan, and Myanmar were added to the list.

04 Insults the People of Puerto Rico

Trump took his sweet time responding with aid after Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico. In fact, he said absolutely nothing about it for days, as if it didn't even happen. When he broke his silence on the subject, he tweeted that the island had created its own problems, and that it owed Wall Street a lot of money. Although he took his sweet time, he did take a trip to the island. Trumpenstein held a news conference, whereupon he complained about how much money Puerto Rico was costing the government, in spite of the fact that the people had been without electricity and water for days. He also claims Maria wasn't a real catastrophe, like Katrina. For the record, Katrina resulted in 1,833 deaths. Maria resulted in 3,000 deaths, which Trump claimed was a number made up by the Democrats to make him look bad.   

05 Downplays COVID-19 for Political Gain

The Trump administration was aware of how serious the pandemic was from the beginning but chose not to deal with any of it. The denial started with the lie that the previous administration did not leave a pandemic playbook. It actually did, and you can (and should) access it here. The Trump administration downplayed the importance of testing and tracing and interfered with the CDC's ability to protect the public health. Trump demonized Dr. Anthony Fauci, a man who has served in his position since 1968 and is the world's leading infectious disease expert, while elevating witch doctors like Stella Immanuel, who claimed to have cured 350 COVID patients with hydroxychloroquine but could provide no proof or medical records. We have much more detail on COVID-19 here. 

06 Shows Reverence for Autocrats and Dictators

Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin, and Chinese president Xi Jinping are some of Donald Trump's favorite role models. That's because their power is unchecked by any kind of legislative processes. courts, or free and fair elections, and our own Dime-Store Dictator would love to be in their position. He described the letters he took home to Mar-a-Lago from Kim Jong Un as "love letters." He also marveled at the North Korean strongman's ability to make his generals "cower" when he spoke directly to them. Of Putin's invasion of the Ukraine, he said that we could use his strategy on our southern border. "That's the strongest peace force I've ever seen. There were more army tanks than I've ever seen. They're gonna keep the peace all right." Jair Bolsonaro is another of Trump's favorite strongmen. He endorsed Bolsonaro for reelection in Brazil just hours after the Brazilian Senate recommended criminal charges against him.

Steve Bannon

It should have been a red flag when Trump chose a white nationalist as his chief strategist. They can describe him any way they want on Wikipedia, but Steve Bannon is also a misogynist, a bigot, and is intent on creating a global right-wing movement. His ego is so mammoth that he brought a couple of news reporters along on his trip abroad to partner with other like-minded fascists. Watch the documentary The Brink for all the details. And, of course, he's a grifter just like his boss. Bannon went to prison for embezzling money to pay personal expenses under the guise of taking money to build "the wall." His boss, the Grifter-in-Chief, pardoned him.

Ivanka Trump

Donald Trump had no problem elevating unqualified family members to serve in key positions in his administration. Ivanka was named Assistant to the President, and her husband, Jared Kushner, was named Senior Advisor. It was reported that they didn't receive a salary, but they really didn't need one as they brought in up to $640 million in personal income while working in the Trump administration. And that's because none of the Trump family really never gave up their businesses as required by law. The law doesn't apply to them. They are grifters by nature. As of this writing, Trump, Ivanka, and Donald Jr. have been required to give depositions in the New York investigation into Trump's business empire. And Ivanka was in discussions with the January 6 Commission about testifying.

Rudy Giuliani

After 9-11, Rudy Giuliani was heralded as a hero and called "America's Mayor." I never understood that. He did what any mayor would do. But I digress. What he is now most known for is aiding and abetting Donald Trump's criminal character, including the bogus "investigation" into Burisma, which was political bullshit from day one. All you need to do is read Giuliani's own words to know that. Fiona Hill, who worked for Trump as a Russian specialist, has basically laid the responsibility for the current Ukraine invasion by Russia at Trump's feet for using the nation as his "playground." Giuliani was disbarred for his continuing push of The Big Lie. As Trump's personal attorney, he has a  long history of covering for his master. Oh, how the mighty have fallen, and Giuliani will fall further still. Time will tell how far.

Sidney Powell

Sidney Powell, the self-described Kraken Queen, has espoused some of the most insane conspiracy theories about how the election was stolen from Trump ever concocted. She also filed a plethora of frivolous lawsuits aimed at overturning the 2020 election which have now come back to haunt her as Texas regulators demand punitive action. Powell had already been sanctioned by the state of Michigan and the City of Detroit over her lawsuits. One of her most creative allegations was that Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez had been controlling the voting systems. (Of course, Chavez has been dead since 2013.) Eventually, Dominion sued Powell, Mike Lindell, and Giuliani for defamation, a suit that is still open as of this writing. Her defense? No reasonable person would believe her lies but, by the way, Powell asserts that those lies are protected under the First Amendment.

Lin Wood

Lin Wood went from representing Richard Jewell, wrongly accused of planting a bomb at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, in his defamation case to representing the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene and Kyle Rittenhouse. Along the way, he became a staunch supporter of Donald Trump and was only too happy to promote his narrative, particularly The Big Lie, and bask in the adoration he received from Trump loyalists.  His error-riddled, frivolous election conspiracy lawsuits caught up with him, and he himself is also being investigated for illegal voting. When the walls started caving in, Wood did what bottom-feeders do. He blamed his compatriot in The Land of Delusion, Sidney Powell. More recently, Wood came up with another outrageous conspiracy theory, that his partner in election fraud lies, Mike Lindell, CEO of My Pillow, is being played by the Deep State. It never ends.

Roger Stone

In 2019, Roger Stone was convicted on 7 felony counts of witness tampering and lying to Congress as a result of its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, and Stone's 2017 testimony to the House Intelligence Committee. When Trump commuted his sentence in 2020, a few days before reporting to serve a 40-month sentence, everyone viewed it as a thank-you for Stone impeding a potentially damaging investigation into Trump. Since then, Stone has aided and abetted Trump and his acolytes to overturn the 2020 election and securing pre-emptive pardons for those involved in the January 6 insurrection, including himself and Reps. Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs. He has picked up where he left off with this insanity, cooking up a new scheme to reinstall Trump as president if the GOP takes back control of the House and Senate in 2022. He pleaded the fifth in his deposition to the January 6 Committee. 

Mark Meadows

Mark Meadows gave up his job as North Carolina congressman to become a foot soldier (Chief of Staff) for Donald Trump. His job: To keep Donald Trump in power. Along the way he drew in Louis Gohmert (R-TX), Jim Jordan (R-OH), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Mo Brooks (R-AL), and Scott Perry (R-PA), all members of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus, of which Meadows was a co-founder in 2015. Thus began the phone calls pressuring the DOJ to overturn the election, the conspiracy theories of a "stolen" election, and flooding the courts with absurd lawsuits. There was even a 36-page PowerPoint presentation laying it all out and identifying the "problem" states.  The presentation can be seen here. Like the others mentioned in this paragraph, Meadows refused to cooperate with the J6 Committee and was found in contempt. As it turns out, one of the chief architects of the voter fraud claims seems to have committed voter fraud himself and is now under investigation.

Michael Flynn

I won't call Flynn 'fringe' because the most extreme right wing has become the face of the GOP, but I will call him the most unhinged. It's hard to envision Flynn fit for dog catcher, let alone National Security Advisor. His stint didn't last long. He was the only member of Trump's administration to plead guilty (twice) in Mueller's Russia investigation. But no matter, because Trump's pardon allowed Flynn to move on to bigger things. He's now the darling of the QAnon set, and a man who called for a Myanmar-style coup in the United States (with many QAnon followers now supporting that idea). After receiving an AR-15 as a gift at a California church service, he joked about finding someone to use it on in Washington, D.C. Violent rhetoric has become the hallmark of the GOP, and Flynn has been the most extreme in that regard. Flynn even wanted Trump to use martial law to overturn the 2020 election, which did not happen but is testimony to the authoritarian composition of the right wing. Flynn has a long game in the works. He is still fighting this battle.

John Eastman

John Eastman was once a little-known but respected conservative academic and litigator, then he got involved with Donald Trump and his world changed. He embarked on a path determined to keep The Dime-Store Dictator in power. His reason for joining the Trump train is still somewhat murky, but he became one of the key proponents of The Big Lie and is the author of a memo detailing the six-point plan that could be used by then Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the 2020 election. Fast forward to now, and Eastman is no longer respected as he faces being disbarred in both California and Washington, D.C, following in the footsteps of Rudy Giuliani. As with other loyal Trump acolytes, Eastman has taken the fifth in front of the J6 Committee. While he has turned over 8,000 emails to the committee, he is attempting to shield another 11,000 from the committee. This battle is now in the courts. In the meantime, he is using the Christian crowdfunding site GiveSendGo to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for his legal fees.