Trump Watch 20180619

The zero tolerance border policy that has triggered the separation of families at the border because all illegal immigrants are being charged with crimes if they don't present themselves at a "point of entry" (even if they try for an asylum claim) continues to dominate the day's political news cycle.

Kirstjen Nielsen has kid of owned the situation (policy, directive, whatever you want to call it), and tried to deflect from the worst part of the situation by pointing out that in some cases the children involved aren't there with parents, but are basically caught up in child trafficking, or being used as leverage by non-parents to try to enter the U.S. (MS13 is the big boogeyman in this narrative).  Jeff Sessions had to field a question to explain how what is going on is different from what the Nazis did...

On a less uproarious note, apparently there is a plan to announce the U.S. withdrawal from the U.N. Human Rights Council.  The justification here is twofold.  First is that the Human Rights Council is perennially anti-Israel, and second is that there are many members who have pretty bad Human Rights records.

Unstated (you may see this as a cynical point of view), but given the Human Rights P.R. surrounding the separation of parents from children, it seems that the Council might try to chide the U.S. on this matter, so it would seem a good time to leave, and try to diminish the credit of the body before they do get around to making an issue of the treatment of these people.

• Stormy Daniels
• Trump Charity lawsuit by New York Attorney General
• FBI investigation (it keeps being called a Russian Collusion investigation, but I'm pretty sure there's more to it than that at this point
• North Korea
• The Space Force
• The Border Wall
• Alien Children Detention/family separation
• Presidential Pardons
• Civil War Monuments
• Muslim Travel Ban
• China Tariffs/Trade
• Canada-G7 Tariffs/Trade
• NAFTA

Survivor White House watch.  Nothing really new today.

Giuliani still there as Lawyer
John F. Kelly still there as Chief of Staff
Jeff Sessions still there as Attorney General
Sarah Huckabee Sanders still there as Press Secretary, rumors continue to be denied.
Mike Pompeo - Secretary of State

John Bolton - National Security Advisor
Marc Short - White House Legislative Affairs Director - no denial of plans regarding his departure prior to the 2018 midterms.
Kirstjen Nielsen - Homeland Security Secretary