We have now made it through three weeks in the reign of Donald of Orange and the planet remains habitable for humans, and the democratic traditions of the United States are holding on, albeit barely.
To paraphrase President Jack Dale in Mars Attacks, I want the people to know they still have one out of three branches of government working for them, and that ain’t bad.
In Legislative Branch, those GOP statesmen in the Senate who expressed such pre-election concern have now almost unanimously supported each of Trump’s choices for the Cabinet of Horrors. (Three Senators have each voted no once.)
Meanwhile in the House, Republicans have gutted environmental protections, such as the Stream Protection Rule, and removed requirements for transparency that combat corruption in the oil, gas and mineral industries. They are removing regulations design to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill, and continuing to work toward repealing Obamacare, despite getting an earful from their constituents.
As the Executive Branch makes steady progress toward the authoritarianism of rule by presidential fiat and tweet, it was met last week by the remaining (perhaps temporarily) functioning branch, the Judicial Branch. As the Washington Post reported: A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled Thursday that the Trump administration’s restrictions on travel from seven majority-Muslim countries will remain on ice while the courts work through whether the restrictions are legal.
This will still take some time to fully sort out and to see who will have the last word, but unlike Dana Milbank, you don’t need to drink Everclear while you wait. You can have your own Last Word. The good folks at Sipsmith Gin (probably Jared Brown) have a great history of the drink here.
I made it with:
1 oz Sipsmith Gin
.75 oz Chartreuse
.5 oz Luxardo Maraschino
.5 oz lime juice
Shake and strain into a chilled coupe.
Cheers!
Gin & Bitters 