| | | | An utterly disastrous week for Donald Trump | | Fresh off one of the best -- or, at the very least, most consequential -- weeks of his presidency, Donald Trump just experienced one of his worst weeks in the White House.
The week was totally defined by the botched handling of the separation of families at the border -- a crisis that the Trump administration created earlier this spring by instituting a "zero-tolerance" policy for people trying to enter the country illegally. Every person who did so was referred for prosecution. And since children can't be detained in a federal prison, children were taken from their parents while those adults were waiting for their day in court.
The week began with Trump talking tough about its border policies -- and casting them as a necessary step to get the border under control. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen held a tone-deaf press briefing Monday night in which she claimed to have not seen pictures of children being detained in cages and repeatedly insisted that the administration was simply enforcing the law (they weren't).
The middle of the week was more of the same with the White House trying to beat back an increasingly intense chorus -- from within the Republican Party -- to end the policy of family separation. Late Wednesday, Trump signed an executive order -- after he and Nielsen insisted only Congress could fix the problem -- that allowed kids to be detained with their parents beyond 20 days. (That executive order faces a perilous legal future.)
The problem didn't disappear, however. By Thursday, it was clear that the Trump administration had no plan for how to locate and reunite the 2,000-plus kids who had already been separated from their families. And word came that the administration was preparing for the possibility of housing up to 20,000 migrant children on military bases around the country -- a size and scope that far eclipsed most peoples' expectations.
Then, Friday. Friday morning in particular, when Trump tweeted this on the ongoing attempts by Republicans in Congress to pass some sort of quasi-comprehensive immigration reform plan: "Republicans should stop wasting their time on Immigration until after we elect more Senators and Congressmen/women in November. Dems are just playing games, have no intention of doing anything to solves this decades old problem. We can pass great legislation after the Red Wave!"
So long any chance of Republicans making a late rally behind legislation that would fully fund Trump's border wall!
From beginning to end, this week was politically disastrous for Trump -- and for Republicans hoping to build momentum heading into the fall campaign. That it came as Trump was nearing his best poll position since taking over as President makes the mishandling of the family separation crisis all the more politically damaging for Republicans in November.
Below, Trump's week -- as told in 45(!) major headlines.
-- Chris
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday: | | "President Trump's agenda is the most pro-business, most pro-international trade of any president in history."
-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in remarks at the SelectUSA Investment Summit just outside Washington, D.C. | | | SCOTUS WEIGHS IN ON CELL PHONE LOCATION DATA | | CNN's Ariane de Vogue reported Friday: "The Supreme Court said the government generally needs a warrant if it wants to track an individual's location through cell phone records over an extended period of time.
"The ruling is a major victory for advocates of increased privacy rights who argued more protections were needed when it comes to the government obtaining information from a third party such as a cell phone company. The 5-4 opinion was written by Chief Justice John Roberts siding with the four most liberal justices. It is a loss for the Justice Department, which had argued that an individual has diminished privacy rights when it comes to information that has been voluntarily shared with someone else. The opinion, which was limited to cell site location data, continues a recent trend at the court to boost privacy rights in the digital era and clarifies court precedent as it applies to data held by a third party."
Read more here. | | | James Corden did his "Carpool Karaoke" segment with Paul McCartney and it's really good. They went to Liverpool! | | | Today's topic: How Trump killed the immigration bill with 1 tweet. BTW, we wanted to give a special thank you/shout-out to CNN's Jasmine Lee for filling in for CNN's Brenna Williams on Instagram story duties this week. | | Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley hasn't ruled out a presidential run in 2020. The Oregon senator told The New York Times that he is "exploring the possibility" of throwing his hat in the ring in the 2020 presidential election. Should Sens. Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders become candidates, Merkley told the Times, he would "not necessarily" stay out of the race.
Merkley has made headlines recently after taking a trip to the Texas border earlier month. He was denied entry to a Texas immigration center for unaccompanied minors when he showed up asking for a tour of the facility. In a viral tweet posted earlier this month, Merkley is photographed speaking with a police officer outside the facility where he filmed.
"I was barred entry. Asked repeatedly to speak to a supervisor — he finally came out and said he can't tell us anything. Police were called on us," Merkley tweeted. "Children should never be ripped from their families & held in secretive detention centers."
In other #2020 news, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced he is heading to Iowa, per CNN's Caroline Kenny. Inslee will canvass on Saturday in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City before delivering the keynote at the Iowa Democratic Party Hall of Fame dinner. | | | CNN's Sara Ganim reports: "The Environmental Protection Agency is spending more than $8,500 on challenge coins to congratulate its response to 2017 natural disasters, including the hurricanes that ravaged Texas and Puerto Rico. After three bids, a contract was awarded to The Lapel Pins Plus Network LLC for 'response award development - Challenge Coin' with a request to design a two-inch color 3D "coin award" that displays the EPA Emergency Response program logo on the inner circle and 'HURRICANES HARVEY, IRMA AND MARIA - THE CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES' on the outer circle...1,750 coins, along with boxes, are to be delivered by the end of the month." You can read more -- and see an image of the proposed coin -- here. | | 🚨 POLL ALERT: RUSSIA INVESTIGATION🚨 | | CNN's Grace Sparks writes: "Most Americans continue to believe that the Russian effort to influence the 2016 presidential election is a serious matter that should be investigated, but the constant criticism by President Donald Trump of special counsel Robert Mueller is taking its toll, according to a CNN poll conducted by SSRS and released Friday.
"The number of Americans who approve of how Mueller is handling the investigation has dropped from 48% in March to 44% in May to just 41% now, the lowest it has been in CNN's polling. Mueller has a lot of company; no one connected with this matter is coming out of it in a positive light. Mueller's favorable rating is just 32%; former FBI director James Comey's favorability is just 28%; Rudy Giuliani, one of Trump's lawyers in the Russia investigation, is viewed favorably by only 31% of Americans."
Read more here. | | | Beata Mariana de Jesus Mejia-Mejia reunited with her 7-year-old son, Darwin, after suing the Trump administration. It had been more than a month since she'd seen him. Read more in CNN's story by Catherine E. Shoichet. As always, thanks for subscribing to The Point. Please tell others you know to subscribe. | | We'd love to share our other newsletters with you. Follow this link for daily coverage of the world's top stories, savvy market insights, an insider's look into the media and more. Our authors for The Point are Chris Cillizza and Saba Hamedy. Send your tips and thoughts via email to Chris or Saba. Follow on Twitter: Chris and Saba.
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