This week, for the first time since he took office, Trump faced a  check on his power as the 116th Congress was sworn in. As House Speaker  Nancy Pelosi took back the gavel, she made clear she will take Trump on,  telling the Times she considers herself Trump’s equal, and the  “TODAY” show that Trump can be indicted while in office. The 116th  Congress, the most diverse by race, religion, and gender — on the  Democratic side — stood in sharp contrast to Trump, who increasingly  surrounds himself with rooms full of white men.

The government shutdown passed three weeks, with no end in sight, as  Trump dug in his heels and Pelosi’s House voted to reopen the government  without any funding for his wall. As the shutdown’s impact was  increasingly felt across the country, including unpaid essential TSA  workers calling in sick at four major airports, reporting indicated the  Trump regime had not planned for or anticipated a long-term shutdown,  and is caught flat-footed. Trump’s lack of empathy for those impacted by  the shutdown, and threat to call a national emergency, further belied  his autocratic tendencies.

Read the full list here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-112/