2017 Feb 4^th

It is hardly a surprise to find Trump’s high-handed edicts quickly running afoul of the judiciary. Judge James Robart, of Washington, an appointee of President G.W. Bush, has put a halt to Trump’s ban on immigration. The judge pointed out that no immigrant from any of the banned countries had harmed anyone in this country at least since 9/11. But there was more:
"I'm sorry, there's no other way to put it," Robarts said from the bench. "It's Keystone Cops. It really is. And that's not just me speaking, that's Republican members of Congress."

Well!! You can bet that Trump will rise to this bait and it didn’t take him long to do it. Here is his tweet in response: “The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!”

Of course Judge Robart’s ruling does no such thing; it is an attempt, albeit an unsuccessful attempt, to Keep Donald Trump from making a fool of himself and of his country. Then the Attorney General of Minnesota, Lori Swanson, added this:
“Five federal judges around the country have issued orders that restrict the travel ban executive order. I support strong measures to protect the security of the United States,” she said in a statement Friday. “I also support the bedrock of that security—namely, the Constitution of the United States.” There are now (7 pm) 16 attorneys general appealing Trump’s order.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said late Friday that the Justice Department would appeal the "outrageous" order” at the earliest possible time. Spicer quickly issued an amended statement that deleted "outrageous.” I guess Keystone Cops is about right. When will the congressional Republicans take action to end this national embarrassment?

It is clear that the issue is far from settled; it is also clear that the very pushy political types like Bannon, Conway and Miller have met their match in the former generals and the secretary of state. Bannon is said to have visited Homeland Security Secretary General Kelly to tell him to ease off on his opposition to the green card holder ban. Kelly told Bannon that he was not in the homeland security secretary’s  chain of command, that his only superior was President Trump; bye, bye Bannon.

On a different topic, this one on Black History Month, we have the president commenting about Frederick Douglass. Douglass was born a slave and died in 1895. Trump’s comments about this long-dead man are below:

"I am very proud now that we have a museum on the National Mall where people can learn about Reverend King, so many other things," Trump said. "Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who's done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice."

Trump added: "Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, and millions more black Americans who made America what it is today. Big impact."

Sean Spicer, asked about Trump's comment on Wednesday, sought to clear up how Trump thinks Douglass will be recognized "more and more."

"I think he wants to highlight the contributions that he has made and I think through a lot of the actions and statements that he's going to make, I think the contributions of Frederick Douglass will become more and more," Spicer said.

It is not clear to me, or to others reading Trump’s remarks, that either Trump of Spicer know that Douglass has been dead for over 120 years.