35% of Americans say that Trump has brought the right kind of change but 43% say he has brought the wrong kind of change. 20% say there has been no change..
When asked who they want to see taking a lead role in setting policy, 48% choose the Democrats in Congress, 21% choose the Republicans in Congress. Only 19% choose the President. [NBC/WSJ 12/12/18]
The turnover in Trump’s cabinet is unprecedented in recent history. As of early January, there have been 12 staffing changes in his Cabinet. Second place in this category was Bill Clinton who had 6 cabinet changes by this point in his first term. [FiveThirtyEight 1/9/19]
34% of U.S. adults believe that Donald Trump has been honest and truthful when it comes to the investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election and related members. 64% do not think he has been honest and truthful. [NBC/WSJ 12/12/18]
Because the U.S. Senate remains in Republican hands and the filibuster is no more, the President can continue unchecked his goal of remaking the federal judiciary.
Nominated and Confirmed to Date
| Total | Supreme Ct | Appeals Ct | District Ct | |
| Trump – thru 1/4/19 | 85 | 2 | 30 | 53 |
| Obama – 8 years | 329 | 2 | 55 | 268 |
| GW Bush – 8 years | 327 | 2 | 62 | 261 |
| Clinton – 8 years | 378 | 2 | 66 | 305 |
| GHW Bush – 4 years | 193 | 2 | 42 | 148 |
| Reagan | 383 | 3 | 83 | 290 |
| Carter | 262 | 0 | 56 | 203 |
There are currently nominations pending for 12 seats on the Courts of Appeals, 56 seats on the District Courts and 2 seats on the Courts of International Trade.
There are currently 12 vacancies on the U.S. Courts of Appeals, 118 vacancies on the U.S. District Courts and 2 vacancies on the U.S. Court of International Trade. [uscourts/Wikipedia]
Donald Trump gained a national reputation by saying “you’re fired” in his role as the head of the “Apprentice” TV show. But when it comes to actually firing someone in the government he rarely if ever does the deed himself.
Most recently, after Secretary of Defense Mattis delivered a stinging resignation letter to be effective February 29, 2019, Trump tasked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with the task of telling Secretary of Defense Mattis that he was fired and to leave his post by the end of 2018. Subsequently, during a cabinet meeting, Trump trashed Mattis.
On his trip to Iraq, President Trump told soldiers that they had not received a raise in pay for ten years and he told them that he had raised their pay by 10% for 2019. The truth is that the military has received some form of raise every year for the last 30 years. The raise for 2019 is 2.6% and is the largest raise the military has received in the past nine years. The raise in 2018 was 2.4%. Trump had requested a raise of 2.1%.
As of the first of the year, the Department of Defense is being run by a former senior airline manufacturing company executive, the Environmental Protection Agency is being run by a former coal lobbyist, the Department of Health and Human Services is being run by a former pharmaceutical lobbyist and Interior is being run by a former oil-industry lobbyist [NYT]
Because of President Trump’s “casual” use of facts, i.e. repeating again and again things as facts which are not true, the Washington Post’s Fact Checker has had to change his Four Pinocchio Test (which has been the test of something which is just not true).
The new test, the Bottomless Pinocchio Test, will be awarded to politicians who repeat a false claim so many times that “they are engaging in campaigns of disinformation.”
To qualify for a Bottomless Pinocchio, a “claims must have received three or four Pinocchios and they must have been repeated at least 20 times. Bottomless Pinocchios will be listed separately from regular Pinocchios.
As of December 10th, the only politician who meets the new standard is President Trump. [WP 12/10/18]
As of December 31, 2018, Trump has hit 7,600 untruths since he took office, an average of 300 untruths a month. [WP 12/31/18]