Trump’s Travel Ban Takes Another Court Hit, and Flynn’s Russia Problem Stops Looking Optional

Edition · February 10, 2017

Trump’s Travel Ban Takes Another Court Hit, and Flynn’s Russia Problem Stops Looking Optional

A bad day for the White House on two fronts: the travel ban stayed frozen by the courts, and the Michael Flynn saga kept hardening into a real scandal with political and national-security consequences.

On February 10, 2017, Trump-world got hit with a pair of ugly reminders that improvisation is not a governing strategy. A federal appeals court refused to lift the block on the administration’s travel ban, leaving the policy stalled and the White House still swatting at its own legal mess. At the same time, the Michael Flynn controversy around Russia sanctions was no longer sounding like a clerical issue or a media fever dream; it was becoming a full-blown problem for the new administration’s credibility and judgment. The day made plain that Trump’s first major actions were colliding with the courts, with basic operational competence, and with a growing cloud over his national-security team.

Closing take

By the end of the day, the pattern was hard to miss: when Trump moved fast, he often moved into a wall. The travel-ban fight showed the legal system was not buying the administration’s story at face value. The Flynn mess suggested the White House either did not know what its own national-security adviser had been doing, or knew and hoped nobody would notice. Neither is a reassuring answer.

Ranked by how bad the fuckup was

5 stars means maximum fallout. 1 star means a smaller self-own.

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Court Keeps Trump’s Travel Ban Frozen, Exposing Another White House Own Goal

Court blocks ban Confidence 5/5

★★★★☆Fuckup rating 4/5 Serious fuckup

A federal appeals court refused to lift the suspension of Trump’s travel ban on February 10, keeping the administration’s signature early order stalled in court. The ruling meant the White House could not immediately restore the policy it had sold as a national-security necessity. Instead, the government was left defending a rushed rollout, a confused public explanation, and a legal record that looked shaky on the basic question of motive. That is a bad place to be when your whole pitch is that you alone can secure the country.

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Story

Flynn’s Russia-Sanctions Story Starts Looking Like a Real National-Security Scandal

Flynn scandal Confidence 4/5

★★★★☆Fuckup rating 4/5 Serious fuckup

New reporting on February 10 sharpened the Michael Flynn mess into something far more serious than a personnel squabble. The issue was whether Trump’s national security adviser had discussed sanctions with the Russian ambassador after the Obama administration punished Moscow for election interference, while the White House was publicly saying he had not. That created a credibility gap with obvious consequences for the new president, Vice President Mike Pence, and the entire national-security staff. It was the kind of problem that does not stay in one box for long.

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