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This week in Trump's America

Immigration, "alternative facts," and a battle with Mexico

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Week One, in a nutshell: Donald Trump took office as the least popular president since at least 1945; faced a lawsuit over conflicts of interest; became associated with “alternative facts;” declared that he wanted to investigate massive voter fraud — fraud that according to all available evidence doesn’t really exist; signed a few questionably actionable executive actions; and tried to break up with Mexico before Mexico broke up with him.

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The Trump team embraces “alternative facts”

Day 3 – Jan. 22:

In his first official press briefing on Trump’s first full day as president, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer made several demonstrably false statements to the press, namely about Trump’s roomy inauguration. Trump’s senior adviser and “Jedi of spin” Kellyanne Conway later rebranded those statements as “alternative facts.”

The White House website featured similarly skewed stats about crime.

About those popularity numbers

DAY 4 — Jan. 23:

A Gallup poll from Trump’s first three days as president revealed that he began his term with the lowest approval rating for an incoming president in at least seven decades, since Harry Truman.

The same day, a group of prominent constitutional scholars, Supreme Court litigators, and former White House ethics lawyers hit Trump with a lawsuit over his many conflicts of interest.

Speaking of, Conway flip-flopped about whether Trump would release his tax returns.

Trump also signed an executive order banning taxpayer money to any nongovernmental organizations that even mention abortion in the context of family planning.

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VICE NEWS COVERAGE:

Trump’s executive order would ban anyone from Muslim certain countries from entering the U.S.

Trump is prepping an executive order with big cuts to the U.N.

Trump will have to take private land to build a border wall — and it won’t be cheap

Trump’s proposed ban on refugees will have big global consequences

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Trump’s threats to Mexico detract from his right to rethink NAFTA

Chelsea Manning is safe for now, legal experts say

Trump’s immigration orders will make private prison companies filthy rich

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Trump takes on Standing Rock

Day 5 — Jan. 24: Trump continued to lie about the reason he lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton. No, it wasn’t voter fraud from undocumented immigrants and dead people.

The president also signed multiple executive orders to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline and expedite the Dakota Access Pipeline, which people hated so much they built a small city at Standing Rock in protest.

Trump scares scientists, issues huge immigration actions

Day 6 — Jan. 25: Trump said he’d order a “major investigation” into voter fraud, something proven to be exceedingly rare, occurring during an election that he won.

He also signed two executive actions targeting undocumented immigrants and officially laying out a plan to build that wall. It’s anyone’s guess how he’ll do it or who will pay , though. He’s now considering 20 percent tax on all Mexican imports .

Scientists are also scrambling to download and back up data after the White House ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to delete its climate change page.

Trump appeared on ABC News’ “World News Tonight” with anchor David Muir on Wednesday in his first televised interview as president. Trump hit on all of his major talking points — building the wall, trade, keeping jobs in the U.S., and of course, the popular vote — with his infamous “bigness.” Read the full transcript here.

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Trump and Mexico race to cancel on each other first

Day 7 — Jan. 26: After Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said, once again, that no, Mexico wouldn’t pay for the border wall, Trump threatened to cancel their upcoming trade meeting. But Peña Nieto canceled first.

The “truth” is out there

Day 8 — Jan. 27: Trump personally called the director of the National Park Service Saturday to ask for more photos of the inauguration that might prove the media wrong. He also scolded the agency for a retweet showing side-by-side images of this year’s and 2009’s inauguration crowds.

This week in POTUS tweets:

What Twitter said:

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