Today’s rundown of the news:

The problem I have with pieces like this is that they are exhausting to read. It's stupidity piled on stupidity piled on lawlessness. It's too much to take in, so you start to tune it all out as it's just Trump being Trump.

I believe it is important to stick to a very limited number of issues that are critical to the survival of our democratic republic. Maybe as few as 2 or 3 issues. IMHO, that would be things like the funding freeze, which attempts to usurp the authority of Congress to dictate where the Federal government spends money. It would also include items related to the judiciary - not necessarily the specific cases (as there will be hundreds of them over the next 4 years) but the relationship between executive and the judicial branches of government. Will Trump respect the authority of judges to interpret his actions in relation to the law? More importantly, will his cabinet and other high ranking appointees respect that authority?

If Congress and the Judiciary fail to uphold their positions as co-equal branches of government with the President, we will effectively revert to a kingdom or a dictatorship. And that will be the end of the American experiment.

My biggest concern is that Congress appears to be ceding their power to Trump. How far will that go? And will the judiciary follow suit? At the moment, judges seem to be holding their own, at least at the lower levels. But the ultimate result may end up in the hands of just 9 people.

--Peter