The Trumpian news cycle feels like a tornado/cyclone/blizzard whatever overwhelming natural disaster resonates with you. To keep track of all the goings on in this wild world, here are the top three most cringeworthy, most important moments of the day.
1. Jeff Sessions said that workplaces can now legally discriminate against trans people.
Don't let his pinchable cheeks fool you: Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III is a monster. Today, the AG wrote a memo to federal prosecutors declaring that "Title VII’s prohibition on sex discrimination encompasses discrimination between men and women but does not encompass discrimination based on gender identity per se, including transgender status."
The directive, first reported by BuzzFeed, reverses the 2014 memo from the Obama administration that said that said discrimination on the basis of sex also includes gender identity.
Groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, per se, vowed to fight this obvious swipe at transgender individuals.
Attorney General Sessions reversed a federal government policy yesterday that clarified transgender people are protected from sex discrimination in the workplace under Title VII.
— ACLU (@ACLU) October 5, 2017
This marks another low point for Jeff Sessions' Department of Justice, which has been cruelly consistent in its hostility towards the LGBT community.
— ACLU (@ACLU) October 5, 2017
This DOJ has made it clear: Its explicit agenda is to attack and undermine the civil rights of our most vulnerable communities rather than standing up for them.
— ACLU (@ACLU) October 5, 2017
Discrimination against transgender people is sex discrimination, just as DOJ recognized years ago. We are confident the courts will continue to agree.
— ACLU (@ACLU) October 5, 2017
It's pretty heartbreaking.
Cringe level: An episode of Girls where everyone's naked.
2. We're paying for basically every Trump cabinet member to fly private.
After Health (more like wealth) and Human Services Secretary Tom Price was busted for spending up to $1 million of taxpayer money on private jets, he eventually resigned in disgrace. But he wasn't the only Trump cabinet member juicing the government to live the high life.
Today it was reported that Energy Secretary Rick Perry took a private plane to a uranium facility in Piketon, Ohio the day before Price resigned.
It was also revealed today that Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao opted for the luxurious form of transport, taking taxpayer-funded planes seven times in the past eight months. According to The Washington Post, launching one of these planes costs taxpayers nearly $5,000 an hour to fly.
And to recap what we already knew: Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is under investigation for taking a $12,375 flight from Las Vegas to his hometown in Montana on his taxpayers dime. Treasury Secretary and Ross Gellar's Evil Twin Steven Mnuchin flew a government plane to see the eclipse, and has "no regrets." EPA administrator Scott Pruitt has so far cost taxpayers over $58,000, which included a $14,430 trip to a small town in his home state of Oklahoma. And VA Secretary David Shulkin took a government plane to Wimbledon and take a river cruise, with generous taxpayers not only covering his cost's but his wife's.
What is it about serving Trump that makes people think that they can take advantage of taxpayers like that for anything other than golf trips?
Cringe level: An episode of Arrested Development, a comedy about delusional rich people.
3. Trump asked Congress to investigate the media.
Sure, we're used to this kind of morning media-bashing by now—it's basically out alarm clock, but let's not forget how weird this is in the grand scheme of democratic societies.
This is not how freedom and the first amendment works.
Called out about this, Sarah Huckabee Sanders was very Sarah Huckabee Sanders about it, implying that fake news is just what you don't like, whether it comes from the established media or Russian bots.
Cringe level: An episode of The Office where Michael Scott is just so immature that the whole workplace can't function.