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Today on KITM, David Waldman addresses the dilemma we face now: Our president is a dumb baby. Certainly, he is a lying dumb baby. He is probably a crazy lying dumb baby. Now he is the President of the United States, making him the most powerful crazy lying dumb baby on Earth. The last few days, the first few days of his administration, have made him a thoroughly enraged most powerful crazy lying dumb baby.

​Armando implores us to remember, when confronted with an easily enraged crazy dumb baby on a political ticket, to make our vote count strategically, and pragmatically, before we bestow the most power on Earth to the guy. Here is what we get: The Keystone XL and DAPL pipelines will be built, and the EPA is under a gag order as Trump team shuts down grants, and press communication. Republicans run interference, as their “blame Obama for Obamacare repeal” strategy kicks off, and Orrin Hatch wrings his hands in concern over the Democrats reaction, which is to slow down confirmation while we find out WTF’s going on with these people.

Life is getting crazier every minute. Want to close your eyes, and pick a place outside the Untied States to visit for a while? Try Tobermory, Canada!

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David Waldman wisely chose the World Wide Web to distribute today’s KITM, thus guaranteeing the largest audience, ever, to witness a political blog show. Period. 

Since last week’s show we had a teeny weenie inauguration of the giant red tie wrapped loser, then on Saturday the world stood for women and that was pretty glorious. (Sean Spicer is a loon.)

To start off this week Greg Dworkin tells us that first we need to stop waiting for Trump to make sense. Donald P. Trump is here to destroy norms and be a chaos agent.

The traditional way of reporting is dead. First, the White House is for beginners. The pros need to go outside and do their jobs. Learn from veteran reporters that have had to suffer this around the world. 

Trump paid actors to fill the room when he announced his run for president a year ago. Just think of what we will find out a year from now, a year too late! Donald has not yet resigned from his companies. You aren’t going to see his taxes. His sidestepping conflict-of-interests through advisors worries ethics experts. Release the slew of lawsuits!

Trump will retain his private intelligence and security force. David has an alternative theory. U.S. spies fear our allies will stop sharing their intel with us.

Don’t worry about what Trump says, worry about what he does. This weekend we got to see his character in action.

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Shhhh. Breathe!  Slowly, in... and out. Picture yourself on a sunny beach, ocean waves gently lapping upon the shore, and escape one more time with David Waldman and KITM as we head into Day One.

It is not warm nor sunny in Washington DC today. There aren’t a lot of bodies to gain heat from either. Some people reminisce about warmer rainbow-filled evenings long ago, some just create a complete fantasy world to live in.

It’s a busy day for Donald P. Trump. He has to listen to a dummy tell him what to say, then meet with a bunch of lying idiots. Trump is trying to make some new friends with old Obama appointees, but some haters and losers are still ghosting him, and nine, or eight, Gop senators are set to annoy him. Even the DOD shafted him on his request to show some muscle, but today he becomes their boss, so maybe he’ll show some tomorrow. Meanwhile stay out of the way of the motorcade, and bullets.

Remember when being Anti-Facist was considered a good thing? The times might be changing, with the help of moles, plants, rats, and James O’Keefe. People now need to decide which way their restaurant leans before looking at the menu. 

An animatronic puppet (no puppet!) with a big participation trophy is unveiled in the Mar-a-Lago lobby, but people complained about the lack of realism.

As Barack Obama rides off into the sunset, commuting sentences as he goes, David shows us the way forward: Resist. Defend. Never consent. And Delay. This is how he plans to do it.

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Take some time to finish reading any novels today, as fiction will cease tomorrow.

Donald Trump holds reality and mendacity in equal regard. Snowflake Donald is triggered when people lie about him, or tell the truth about him. So, can the rest of us find common ground by embracing truth? 

Greg Dworkin calls in and increases David Waldman’s stress level. Over a third of Americans say Trump's election increased their stress. Pediatricians stress out as Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. endanger millions of children. Educators stress out as Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos endanger millions of children. Meanwhile, psychologists “enhance” our interrogation techniques, and those techniques are due for even more enhancement.

Rick Perry, perpetually saying “Whaaaa?”, enters yet another learning curve as Energy Secretary.

Donald Trump is going to take an ax to government spending, passing the savings, and a pile of cash to… well, the line forms behind Scott Walker. Commerce Secretary pick Wilbur Ross fired an undocumented employee before his hearing, and White House budget director pick Mick Mulvaney didn’t pay taxes on an employee, but they’ll both have to try a lot harder to create a “Gate” in today’s climate.

Life for journalists keeps getting tougher. The Trump Hotel in Washington is banning the media, which could be illegal. Even a fake journalist paying his rent by making up Hillary stories, had his day job terminated for reporting the (fake) news.

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We keep heading towards the inauguration. OK, not all of us are heading there, but there will no doubt be a Day One eventually, and David Waldman with KITM will be there on Day Two (hopefully) to help us dig out.

Probable Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was taken to school in yesterday’s hearings. To the amazement of all, DeVos was not eaten by a bear, as we have not yet realized the need to bear arms against armed bears. 

Greg Dworkin rounds up some polls, and it turns out they still don’t like Trump. They are beginning to really appreciate Obamacare (and Obama) however. The story of Obamacare’s impact is growing as it becomes apparent that the Republicans really mean the “Repeal” of “Repeal and Replace”. Greg points out that Trump’s narrative requires a foil, so he wishes Hillary Clinton was still around, and explains why he tried to paint John Lewis, of all people, as a snowflake. The more specific Democrats are about solutions, the more difficult it becomes to put them into Trump’s “story”.

Who are Trump’s next enemy? Just look at the visuals he’s planning.

Joan McCarter stops by for a while before having to go back to the confirmation hearings. Coming up is health and human services pick Tom Price, who is chock full of scandal. Republicans in red states are surprised to find they aren’t heroes for slaying Obamacare.

Not all of Trump’s nominees are going to be automatically processed into their positions. Andrew Puzder might just turn down his Labor Secretary offer. 

Donald says “I was never even In that room for that period of time” when the peeing and the prostitutes and the Putining occurred. (So, if anyone turns up with a video of him entering that room, well then it did happen, but not for “that period of time”.)

Popular neo-Nazi blogger resigns in shame after revelation his wife is Jewish, not that there’s anything wrong with that.

David updates his LinkedIn profile to include “Sand-In-the-Gears Application Assistant.”

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David Waldman is honoring his New Years resolution today by supporting media he can trust to keep him informed… Yep, I’m looking at you. Remember, each dollar you donate to KITM is another dollar we can use to buy a lottery ticket and make some real money.

President Trump will Make America Great Again mere moments after taking the oath, by going away, at least until Monday morning. At least that’s the date he pulled out for The Times of London. However, each word Trump says does not seem to be informed by the previous word, making it tough on reporters attempting to portray him as “not an idiot”. It is also hard to portray Donald as “not a crook” or “not a perv” when no one proves or disproves that dossier, although you know people are working on that, too. Donald Trump is putting people back to work, diagraming sentences, tracing leads, and reading The Constitution. Armando helps us with those Emolument clauses. Take your time to absorb his article as the Trump learning curve will remain steep. For instance, Donald Trump's company says it will donate profits from any foreign governments that use his hotels. You know that is BS, David explains why. Trump has always played around in various scams and urine, as well as fake news, so the corporate media should have been prepared, although they still had a hard time cornering even the Texas Agriculture Commissioner.

The population of protesters, tourists, and journalists are up at Trump Tower, but not enough are buying jewelry. Gun-friendly statehouses see “occasional” reckless conduct. (But so do gun-friendly steakhouses.) The Missouri Capitol institutes the “leave a gun, take a gun” rule.

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Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The fact that there is such resistance to MLK’s commemoration underlines its importance. Biloxi, Mississippi takes us one step closer to “All Americans Matter” day. Others, including U.S. Representative John Lewis lead us to a better way.

David Waldman is joined by Greg Dworkin to describe how the twitter feud is becoming a movement.

We know Donald P. Trump is a ten year old with a real airplane and a billion dollars, but more importantly, if you really want to anger him, tell him he’s a bad golfer! What is past is prologue, so journalists know they are heading towards Hell.  

The Apprentice created the “character” of Donald Trump through careful editing of the “reality” of Donald Trump. This might be why Donald prefers to make a couple takes on his reality as he offers it to you. Now, Donald promises all of America will be 'beautifully covered' under his secret health care plan. He is raising 90 million dollars for charity (and to say 35 words). And, Russia wouldn’t change a word of his foreign policy. British and Israeli intelligence are resistant to sharing stuff with everyone, but what can they do about it? 

Sure it kind of seems we are all heading for hell. But, don’t despair! We were made for these times. There is hope in the dark. Make Friday a beginning.

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Sure, it’s Friday the 13th, but aren’t you lucky it is not next Friday yet?

David Waldman puts on his progressive boots (right-wing shoes hurt his left-wing feet) and leads us up that KITM hill again to finish up the week. The hill looks pretty steep today. Robert Reich has been in government since at least Carter, but still was shocked to learn that government institutions and public trust were actually voted out in November. The new government has a mandate to rout out ethics, and got on that even before Day One. This probably cheers up a few supporters, but not Armando, who still clings to antiquated notions of how things ought to be. He and David unshroud some recent government decisions from the technicalities designed to… shroud them. These include the Regulatory Accountability Act of 2017, a House rules change you didn’t hear much about—and one prosecutors won’t like, and the proper use of the Byrd Rule.

When in New York, Marine Le Pen was eager to try the cuisine at the Trump Grille, certain to be the new hot spot for out-of-towners.

The problem with the Deep State for Donald Trump is just how unruly they can be, unlike Russians, who seem to be up for almost anything.

Inauguration is next week, so some people still have to obey some laws. For instance, a neo-Nazi armed march is called off because their application was incomplete, and a New Hampshire lawmaker was mortified when the law of gravity affected her loaded gun during a hearing on the merits of full-day kindergarten.

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Welcome to the first KITM of the passing-Watergate era. Donald Trump makes it so no one need speak the truth or make sense ever again. This whole week has had that Trump je ne sais quoi, as the Germans say. Nonetheless, David Waldman is here to help us get to the facts under the crazy, starting with last night’s Vote-A-Rama.  

Yes, the Senate did take the first step towards repealing Obamacare last night. Greg Dworkin and David discuss how this isn’t the Worst Thing that ever happened, just one of them. Back to the confirmation hearings: Rubio “Al Frankened” Rex Tillerson, bringing a little excitement. Was Tillerson not prepared properly? We now have some things on Tillerson, and Jeff Sessions to yell at them once they get the job. (They will get the job.) Golden-boy whiz-kid Donald Trump has the job, but no ethics, and personally no ethical concerns, or at least shame. James Comey is also running low on shame.

Armando notes that Trump not only lacks shame, but intelligence, thus making him Russia’s and Republican’s ideal useful ignoramus.

At least Trump is trying to make the most out of his presidency.