Trump Watch 20180723

Another Day, another brouhaha.

So, apparently Trump is now considering revoking the security clearance of people who no longer work directly for intelligence agencies because they have been critical of Trump in some way or another (mainly with regards to Russia it seems).  Some of the people named have had their security clearance already removed (for example, James Comey lost his Security Clearance when he was fired from the FBI, which is standard procedure in such cases).  Other people do have an ongoing active Security Clearance so that they can be brought in to advise on situations where their expertise may be valuable since they had experience with specific matters during a previous administration.
Part of Trump's justification for such a move (not that he has taken it) is that the targets have "politicized" information, which is an interesting commentary, since Trump has continually called the Mueller investigation a politically motivated witch hunt.
At this point it seems to me that this may just be another distraction balloon, to mitigate criticism of his summit with Putin, and the follow up from that.  It's hard to say though, because it could just be more of Trump's tirade style, which might look like calculation, rather than just a general predilection for lashing out without thinking much about the practicalities of such decisions.

I expect this topic to disappear in a week or less, without any actual action being taken to revoke security clearances, but it is possible that some of his critics may have that happen if they continue to criticize Trump.

• Trump Charity lawsuit by New York Attorney General
• FBI investigation (it keeps being called a Russian Collusion investigation, but I'm pretty sure 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
• Puerto Rico response
• Military Parade in Washington
• World Trade Organization
• Covfefe Syndrome
• NATO
• Russia/Putin relationship

Giuliani still there as Lawyer
John F. Kelly still there as Chief of Staff - 6-29-2018  Trump says "Things Happen."
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

Joe Hagin - White House deputy Chief of Staff is resigning.- reported June 19th

Scott Pruitt - EPA Director - Resigned 7-5-2018