Here’s what’s happened under Trump this week

It’s been about a month since President Trump was sworn into office. His administration has faced some high-profile setbacks (the courts blocking his travel ban, Michael Flynn’s resignation), but continues to move ahead this week with strengthening immigration enforcement.

Here’s what else has happened so far:

Last weekend

• Back on the campaign trail. The president returned Saturday to take back the narrative of his administration. At a rally in Florida, he said the White House was running “so smoothly” and painted the media as his opponent. Then he alluded to a terrorist attack in Sweden from the night before. What attack, you may ask? Sweden wants answers too.
• The next day Trump’s Defense secretary, James Mattis, broke with him, saying that the media is not the “enemy of the American people.”
• No, no, no. We didn’t collude with Russia during the 2016 campaign, said White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus on Sunday.
• Vice President Mike Pence headed to Europe to reassure partners that the U.S. will continue to support NATO, despite Trump’s previous comments.

Monday, Feb. 20

• Next up, Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster to replace Flynn as national security advisor. No congressional approval needed.
• Mr. Mattis goes to Iraq. He tried to reassure allies that the U.S. isn’t there to take Iraq’s oil, contrary to what Trump has previously said, and that the country remains committed to recapturing the city of Mosul from Islamic State.

Tuesday, Feb. 21

• More agents, more deportations. In two memos, the Trump administration called for the hiring of thousands more immigration enforcement officers, who can now target any of the 11 million people in the U.S. illegally for removal. The guidelines say deportations would focus on convicted criminals or those charged with crimes. Here’s what you can expect from it.
• Trump spoke out against the wave of threats against Jewish community centers around the country, calling them “horrible” and “painful.”

Wednesday, Feb. 22

• Trump’s administration rescinded an Obama-era directive that aimed to prevent discrimination against transgender students. Under President Obama, schools were required to treat transgender students based on their stated gender identity, including access to restrooms. Now, Trump is trying to kick it back to the states to decide, but the courts may soon weigh in.
• Vice President Mike Pence visited the Jewish cemetery in Missouri that was desecrated by vandals and echoed the president’s statements on anti-Semitism made the previous day. “We condemn this vile act of vandalism and those who perpetuate it in the strongest possible terms,” he said.
• Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been in Mexico for less than a day, and already people are unhappy. Several Americans living there plan to protest his speech scheduled for Thursday. Tillerson’s arrival comes the same day that Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray said his country will not accept the terms of Trump’s new immigration rules.

Thursday, Feb. 23

• He said, he said. According to Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly, there will be no mass deportations of people living in the U.S. illegally, and deportation efforts will not be carried out by the U.S. military. Kelly’s statements came the same day that Trump called the deportation efforts “unprecedented.” The president had previously referred to the sweeps as a “military operation.”
• Richard Spencer, the white nationalist leader who coined the term “alt-right,” was kicked out of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
• Another Obama order kicked to the curb. The Justice Department reversed an order that would phase out the use of private prisons to hold federal inmates.
• Watch out, California. Trump may be coming for your weed. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that the administration viewed recreational marijuana as violation of federal law. “I do believe that you’ll see greater enforcement,” he said.

Friday, Feb. 24

• Invite only please. Trump barred many news outlets from a White House briefing, which is normally open to all reporters with press credentials. Those allowed at the cool kids table: Breitbart News, the Washington Times and OANN, a conservative television network that employs a former Trump campaign manager as a commentator. Those left out: the New York Times, CNN and the Los Angeles Times.
• Mixed messages? Trump’s administration left us out of the press briefing, but the president himself gave the Los Angeles Times a shout-out for our poll that consistently showed him winning during the campaign. Um, thanks? But the poll was wrong.
• The comments about the poll came at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, the most prominent gathering of right-leaning groups and activists in the country. He talked about getting the Republican Party behind a nationalist, anti-globalist ideology. It went over pretty well.

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