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Donald Trump Suffers Two Blows: One Debilitating and the Other Bizarre

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | February 9, 2017 |

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | February 9, 2017 |


Today, the Trump Administration was dealt two blows, one debilitating and the other bizarre.

First up, as you may have heard by now, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled — unanimously — against Donald Trump on the travel ban. Essentially the court said that executive orders can be reviewed by the federal branch (and to suggest otherwise is a violation of the separation of powers) and that there is enough evidence here to suggest that the order could be discriminatory against Muslims (remember, this is just an injunction and not a full court hearing, so the court is basically ruling on how the case would likely be decided when it’s reviewed fully).

Trump responded with all the class and dignity we have come to expect from the man.

Twitter was quick and merciless in its response.

It is likely that Trump will appeal to the Supreme Court, and who he chooses as his Solicitor General in the next few weeks may be crucial, because he will argue the case in front of SCOTUS: Does he choose an insane right-wing ideologue or a brilliant constitutional scholar? Because they’re mutually exclusive.

Anyway, that’s not the only victory for Democracy today. After Kellyanne Conway’s remarks this morning on Fox News, where she encouraged viewers to buy Ivanka Trump’s clothes in violation of Ethics Rules, the Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Jason Chaffetz, called her comments “unacceptable.” He did more than that, too. He actually wrote a letter and referred the matter to the Office of Government Ethics.

“Conway’s statements appear to violate federal ethics regulations,” Chaffetz — who was joined by Rep. Elijah Cummings — wrote in the letter. “In this case, Conway’s statements from the White House using her official title could appear to constitute an explicit endorsement and advertisement for for Ivanka Trump’s personal business activities.”

The letter asked that the OGE “act promptly” and bring “appropriate disciplinary action (such as reprimand, suspension, demotion or dismissal)” against Kellyanne Conway.

Chaffetz, by the way, was one of the guys who spearheaded months and months and months of investigations into Hillary Clinton’s emails. He’s no friend of Democrats. (He also said that he wouldn’t pursue an investigation into Donald Trump’s conflicts of interests, not yet anyway).

Could Kellyanne Conway get an early exit from the White House? Over CLOTHES? God, what sweet justice that would be.

Anyway: 20 days in. Trump’s lost the biggest court battle of his Presidency so far, and one of his top aides has been hobbled. It’s gonna be a long, sometimes frustrating war, but today, the good guys won on two fronts.