memeorandum: Merkel Scours Trump Archive for Clues on How to Read Him (Bloomberg)

1:30 PM ET, January 21, 2017

Top Items:

William Turton / Gizmodo:

National Park Service Banned From Tweeting After Anti-Trump Retweets — The National Park service retweeted some sick Donald Trump burns, noting how, uh, lightly attended his inauguration was compared to Barack Obama's in 2009. But now, the NPS has been ordered by its Washington support office to …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Mashable, The Week, Scripting News, Mediaite, Motherboard and New York Magazine

Lisa Rein / Washington Post:

Interior Department reactivates Twitter accounts after shutdown following inauguration … The Interior Department reactivated its official Twitter accounts early Saturday after an abrupt shutdown following two shares of tweets that were unsympathetic to President Trump during his inauguration.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, Politico, IJR, DCist, Sputnik International, Joe.My.God., The Verge, Gizmodo, Politicus USA, Mediaite, Mashable, Trevor Loudon's New Zeal Blog, The Daily Caller and The Week, more at Mediagazer »

Forrest Wickman / Slate:
Donald Trump's First Twitter Background as President Was a Photo From the Inauguration of Barack Obama

Discussion: Deadline, SFist, Little Green Footballs, AOL, Al Jazeera English, ThinkProgress, New Urban Legends, The Week, Daily Kos, Mediaite, WBAY-TV, Talking Points Memo, The Verge, Political Wire, FOX News Radio, twitchy.com, New York Times and KTLA

Sarah Kliff / Vox:

Trump's executive order on Obamacare, explained by two health policy experts — Shortly after the end of his inaugural parade, President Donald Trump issued his first executive order: instructions for the federal government to dismantle the Affordable Care Act “to the maximum extent permitted by law.”

Discussion: Daily Kos and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Ashley Parker / Washington Post:
Trump signs executive order that could effectively gut Affordable Care Act's individual mandate

Discussion: New York Magazine, The Daily Signal, ACASignups.net and No More Mister Nice Blog

CNN:
Trump issues executive order to start rolling back Obamacare

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Politico and The Week

Vivian Yee / New York Times:
Andrew Cuomo to Widen Access to Free Abortion and Contraception

Discussion: New York Magazine, Taylor Marsh, CBS New York and The Republic

Reuters:
Trump, in Oval Office, signs first order on Obamacare

Discussion: Political Wire

CNN:

White House site updated to remove Melania Trump QVC reference — Washington (CNN)The White House edited First Lady Melania Trump's biography on WhiteHouse.gov Friday “out of an abundance of caution” that a reference to her clothing line on QVC could be seen as an endorsement, a spokesperson for Trump told CNN.

Discussion: Mediaite

Paul Mirengoff / Power Line:

Washington Post snipes at Melania Trump's bio — Is this garbage the kind of story the Washington Post will try to pass off as scandalous during the next four to eight years? … I guess all previous First Ladies who modeled, appeared in a magazine swimsuit issue, and started a jewelry line omitted …

Discussion: Mediaite, Talking Points Memo and Joe.My.God.

Washington Post:
White House website promotes Melania Trump's modeling and jewelry line

Discussion: Politicus USA, The Gateway Pundit, National Review, TheBlaze, Common Dreams, Gizmodo, The Week, Mother Jones, New Urban Legends, New York Magazine, The White House, CREW and Climate Depot

Josh Rogin / Washington Post:

Flynn is creating the most military-heavy National Security Council of the modern era — President Trump is filling the government's national security leadership with former military officials and businessmen, rejecting the policy and academic types both parties have traditionally relied on.

Discussion: RedState

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

NYT's Dean Baquet rips ‘fairly ridiculous conclusion’ in public editor's column on Russia coverage … Executive editors at the New York Times routinely differ with the public editors who deliver less-than-flattering judgments on the work of their colleagues. Less routinely do they express their misgivings afterwards.

Discussion: Axios, more at Mediagazer »

Ashifa Kassam / The Guardian:

Canadians traveling to Women's March denied US entry after sharing their plans — After telling border agents their plans to march, group's cars were searched and phones examined, and each person was fingerprinted and had their photo taken — Would-be protesters heading to the Women's March …

Discussion: The Independent, ThinkProgress, The Other McCain, New York Magazine and CNN

Reuters:

'It's made in Vietnam!' At inauguration, origin of red Trump hats shocks many — One of the biggest cheers President Donald Trump received from supporters watching his inaugural address on Friday was his call to “buy American and hire American.” — It was a moment rich in irony.

Discussion: TheStreet.com and Live political coverage

Joe Concha / The Hill:

ABC reporter: Trump speech carried anti-Semitic ‘overtones’ — ABC journalist Terry Moran on Friday said President Trump's inaugural address used a “loaded term” that carried “overtones from the 1930s, when an anti-Semitic movement” blamed Jews for global problems.

Discussion: RedState

Bloomberg:

Merkel Scours Trump Archive for Clues on How to Read Him — Chancellor aims for early meeting with Trump in Washington — German leader to push back on Trump views on EU, NATO, trade — German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been poring over old interviews and video of Donald Trump …

Discussion: Axios and Political Wire

Michael C. Bender / Wall Street Journal:

Donald Trump Strikes Nationalistic Tone in Inaugural Speech — Donald Trump delivered what historians and speechwriters said was one of the most ominous inaugural addresses ever, reinforcing campaign themes of American decline while positioning himself as the protector of the country's ‘forgotten men and women.’

Discussion: The Atlantic, Talking Points Memo, EconLog, The Slot, Joe.My.God. and Mediaite

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

Justice Department blesses White House post for Kushner — In a reversal of legal advice given to prior presidents, the Justice Department has concluded that it is lawful for President Donald Trump to appoint his son-in-law Jared Kushner to a White House post.

Discussion: Washington Post

Washington Post:

A most dreadful inaugural address — Twenty minutes into his presidency, Donald Trump, who is always claiming to have made, or to be about to make, astonishing history, had done so. Living down to expectations, he had delivered the most dreadful inaugural address in history.

Discussion: alan.com, Roll Call, Hit & Run, Mediaite, Outside the Beltway, The Guardian, Daily Wire, Occupy Democrats, Daily Kos, Friendly Atheist, The Daily Caller, Politico and New York Magazine

NPR:
President Trump's Inaugural Address, Annotated

Discussion: thomaspmbarnett.com, The Atlantic, The Daily Caller, Washington Post and WRBL-TV

Catherine Thorbecke / ABC News:
Live Updates: President Donald Trump Celebrates at Inaugural Balls

Discussion: Mother Jones and Axios

Washington Post:

Trump's America is a rotten place — President Trump delivered a campaign speech, not an inaugural address today. That he and his staff do not understand the difference goes to the heart of his insufficiency as a leader. Addressing a shockingly sparse crowd, he painted a picture …

Discussion: IJR

Ryan Saavedra / The Gateway Pundit: Trump Referred To Himself Only 3 Times During Speech; We 45 Times; You 24 Times

Edward-Isaac Dovere / Politico:

Churchill bust returns to Trump's gilded Oval Office — President Donald Trump has returned a bust of Winston Churchill to the Oval Office—undoing former President Barack Obama's most contentious interior decorating decision. — The Oval Office was redecorated in the hours between Obama's exit …

Discussion: Washington Post and ABC News