THE TRUMP DIARIES: THE FIRST SEVEN DAYS
By Jack Random
After eight years of chronicling the wars and disastrous
policies of George W. Bush and eight more years tracking the ups and downs of
Barack Obama, I am less than enthused about the four-year lament that lies
before us. Nevertheless, I have
begun a daily ritual of recording the notable events of the Trump
administration. From the beginning
I freely confess I am not a Trump supporter and my observations are anything
but objective. I stand with the
opposition. I stand with Standing
Rock. I stand with the Women’s
March on Washington and the millions who marched across America and Europe to
pledge their resistance.
Though I hope against hope he does more good than harm, I
believe we are observing an unfolding catastrophe of historic proportions. I considered the son of Bush the worst
president in modern history. Next
to Trump, Bush almost seems presidential.
Here then is the first installment of the Trump
Diaries.
DAY ONE: THE
INAUGURATION
Friday, January 20, 2017
Chief Justice John Roberts administers the oath of office to
the newly anointed president: Donald J. Trump. Trump delivers a truncated inaugural address painting a
portrait of an American nightmare.
He waves the flag of patriotism and pledges to place America first. His real message: There will be no unification. There will be no softening. He will stick to the hard line that got
him to the White House.
The crowd at the National Mall is small relative to
expectations and past inaugurations, lending hope that the passion of his loyal
followers, the passion that led them to one of the greatest political upsets in
modern history, the loyalty of the throng is at last abating. Maybe even they are awakening to the
reality that they were played and that Vladimir Putin was the master that
played them.
DAY TWO: THE
RESISTANCE
Saturday, January 21, 2017
Reminiscent of the mass protests on the eve of the Iraq War,
millions gather on the streets of protest led by the Women’s March in
Washington D.C. Michael Moore
rightly pins the blame on the donkey, pleading for a new and younger Democratic
Party – one that can address the pressing needs of working people. The overriding question is: Can this movement be sustained?
After weeks of demeaning the intelligence community, the new
president drops in at CIA headquarters in Langley to pledge his allegiance and
complain that the media deliberately underestimated his inaugural
gathering. I suspect this event
was staged. If it wasn’t then the
agency is staffed by individuals who will not hesitate to applaud the
miscellaneous ramblings of an egomaniac if he carries the weight of
commander-in-chief. Could it be
our leading intelligence analysts cannot decipher when they are being patronized?
DAY THREE:
ALTERNATIVE FACTS
Sunday, January 22, 2017
Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway defends White
House press secretary Sean Spicer’s bizarre claim that the president attracted
“the largest audience ever to witness an inauguration” by stating that Spicer
accessed “alternative facts.”
As a writer I believe in the
precise use of words. The media as
well as our nation’s leading politicians have leveled the accusation of “lying”
so frequently that it begins to lose impact. To lie is to deliberately misstate the facts. Did Spicer deliberately substitute fake
facts for real facts or is he living in an alternative reality? Since the same question applies to
Spicer’s boss: Which is more
frightening?
In a meeting with high-level
administrative personnel at the White House, Trump makes a point of singling
out and shaking hands with the one individual who, more than any other – more
than Kellyanne Conway or Steve Bannon or Vladimir Putin – was responsible for
making him president: FBI Director
James Comey.
DAY FOUR: FREE AND FAIR TRADE
Monday, January 23, 2017
In the first full work day of
his administration, Trump withdraws from the Trans Pacific Partnership. Spokesman Sean Spicer makes it clear
that the president supports bilateral “free and fair trade.” Not one of the press corps bothers to
point out that “free” and “fair” trade are polar opposites. It is the first oxymoronic, Orwellian
phrase of the Trump administration.
We can be sure many will follow.
The withdrawal from the TPP is
of course only symbolic since the trade pact was never enacted. Of the twelve member nations, only
Japan had ratified the agreement.
NAFTA, CAFTA and membership in the WTO are on hold for now. If Trump is serious about withdrawing
from these free trade deals, he could post notice today and the withdrawal
would take effect six months from now [1]. If he’s not serious then he has perpetrated one of the
greatest electoral frauds in political history. Stay tuned.
DAY FIVE: OIL TRUMPS CLIMATE CHANGE
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Two days after forty-one
tornadoes rip a path of destruction like Sherman’s march across the South, the
forty-fifth president signs executive orders clearing the way for Canadian oil
to be pumped to the Gulf of Mexico.
In supporting the Dakota and Keystone oil pipelines he declares his
contempt for climate change science, renewable energy and the sacred lands of
native peoples.
If you stand with the Standing
Rock Lakota you cannot stand with this president; if you believe in science,
you cannot believe in this administration; and if you are sworn to protect
mother earth you must oppose these policies.
The president repeats his claim
that millions voted illegally in the November election and all voted for his opponent,
moving seamlessly from alternative facts to alternative reality.
DAY SIX: BRICK IN THE WALL
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
The president signs an executive
order directing the Department of Homeland Security to begin building an
impenetrable barrier on our southern border. Trump is only beginning to understand the limitations and
complications involved in erecting The Wall. There are currently about 650 miles of fencing on a border
of roughly 2,000 miles. Trump has
repeatedly said he wants a Wall – a beautiful, awesome, Major League Wall – but
he has occasionally said he would settle for fencing in “certain areas.” There
are limited funds for extending fencing but nowhere near the estimated $15-40
billion required for the full Monty. [2]
There are laws governing
construction along the border, including a 1970 treaty with Mexico that among
other things bans barriers that obstruct the flow of rivers. There is also the stubborn fact that
much of the borderland is owned by private individuals, many of whom do not want
Trump’s wall on their property. He
continues to insist that Mexico will pay for it “one hundred percent” though
Mexico’s leaders vehemently deny it and no one but Trump really believes it. Finally, there is the question of who
will build The Wall if not migrant workers from Mexico. If it falls to the Army Corps of
Engineers let us hope they do a better job than they did on New Orleans’
levees.
Trump the candidate made The
Wall the centerpiece of his campaign.
It seems Trump the president is determined to keep it front and
center. Here’s my prediction: If he manages to waste billions
constructing a Major League Wall, a future president will be elected on the
pledge to tear it down.
As for Trump’s pledge to rid the
nation of dangerous criminals among the illegal immigrant population, it is
hard to distinguish his policy from his predecessor’s. The new president will, however, make
good on his promise to cut off federal funds to Sanctuary Cities. None of them voted for Trump.
DAY SEVEN: TRADE WAR & VOTER FRAUD
Thursday, January 26, 2017
On the seventh day the president
doubles down on the myth of mass voter fraud and the coming trade war with
Mexico.
While no one in either party or
the media backed up his claim of a conspiracy to deprive him of the popular
vote, Trump repeats his call for a federal investigation. Some critics believe his accusation
foreshadows a wave of voter suppression laws. That wave has already swept the nation though the courts
have struck down the most egregious laws on grounds of racial
discrimination. The new Justice
Department will not bring such cases before the court so there are certainly
grounds for concern. My concern is
that the president is delusional and actually believes that three million
Mexican immigrants voted illegally just to deprive him of the popular vote. [3]
Why George Soros and Warren Buffet didn’t send them to Pennsylvania, Michigan,
Wisconsin and Florida is beyond reckoning. We sure didn’t need them in California.
A formal investigation would
reveal that the conspiracy is a myth invented by the rightwing propaganda
machine and thus undermine the voter suppression laws the Republicans are still
determined to pass.
Meantime, President Enrique Pena
Nieto announces his cancellation of the planned meeting with our new
president. Trump counters that the
cancellation was a mutual decision and later floats the idea of a twenty
percent tariff on imported goods from Mexico. This is not what we had in mind for trade policy. We do not wish to punish our neighbor
for refusing to pay for a wall it does not want. We want a trade policy that stands up for the workers of
both nations. Mexican workers
deserve a living wage, decent working conditions and union representation just
as ours do.
We now know what Trump has in
mind: He will use tariffs to
punish nations who do not bow to his will. This is hardly Fair Trade. It is Trump Trade and I don’t see many nations lining up to
be Trumped. It was interesting
watching British Prime Minister Theresa May stand before the same Republican
audience in Philadelphia that Trump previously addressed. She delivered a strong defense of Free
Trade, the International Monetary Fund and NATO: the polar opposites of what
Trump has advocated.
I have to give him credit: His first seven days have been
interesting, eventful and we’re still alive. While he has not yet been tested by an international crisis
or a national disaster, he has demonstrated his intention to hold true on his
campaign promises. As so often is
the case, the devil is in the details.
Jazz.
1. “Termination or Modification of US Trade Agreements.” White & Case LLP, January 13,
2017.
2. “Donald Trump is Moving Forward with his Wall. Is it Really Going to Happen?” by
Danielle Kurtzleben. NPR Politics,
January 25, 2017.
3. “He Claimed There Were Three Million ‘Illegal Voters.’ Now
He Says He May Name Them.” by Ben Collins and Olivia Nuzzi. The Daily Beast, January 24, 2017.
JACK
RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES, HARD TIMES: THE WRATH OF AN
ANGRY GOD, APACHE JACK: NATIVE VISIONS & STORIES AND RANDOM JACK: TALES
FROM JAZZTOWN (CROW DOG PRESS).
