THE TRUMP DIARIES: Days 8-14
By Jack Random
In his first seven days Donald Trump signed thirteen
executive orders, setting the tone for his presidency. I begin to wonder if the president
realizes that most of these executive orders are symbolic. The emperor hands down his daily decree
and his loyal servants inform the multitudes.
This is the second installment of the Trump Diaries.
DAY EIGHT: THE
BAN ON MUSLIMS
January 27, 2017
The president signs an executive action calling for a
four-month freeze on admitting refugees from war torn nations – Syria, Iran,
Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Sudan and Somalia.
The ban on Syrian refugees is described as indefinite. Once the freeze is lifted the
administration will put in place “extreme vetting.” No one knows what that is exactly since the current vetting
process is extremely rigorous. The
order also cancels visas for individuals from the target countries. Trump suggests he will adjust the ban
to give priority to Christians and other religious minorities. The administration denies that the ban
is based on religion, a distinction that would clearly make it
unconstitutional.
No one is surprised at the bigotry of the ban but the
ignorance of its administration is striking. We have military and intelligence personnel on the ground in
these nations whose lives may depend on the cooperation of locals. We’ve made promises and now those
promises will not be delivered.
Individuals with fully vetted visas from Iraq and Syria were denied
entry into the United States.
Among the detained are an Iranian scientist, an interpreter who worked
for the Americans in Iraq and a Syrian family cleared for relocation in
Ohio. Protestors have answered the
call at New York’s JFK airport. As
the protest spreads, the president will have to amend his order or face
consequences he could not have imagined.
A second executive order calls for making the most powerful
military machine on earth stronger, bigger and better with more ships, planes
and weaponry. The action is
pointless because it requires the appropriations of congress.
DAY NINE:
TELEPHONE DIPLOMACY
January 28, 2017
The president has telephone conversations with the leaders
of Japan, Germany, France, Australia and Russia. As leader of the only nation to ratify the Trans Pacific
Partnership, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will want assurances on trade as well as
security. Candidate Trump called
for Japan and NATO to pay significantly more for American military
protection. German Chancellor
Angela Merkel will want to talk trade, refugees and relations with Russia. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm
Turnbull, a signatory of the TPP, will remind the president of his nation’s
loyalty to America’s militarism and ask for trade considerations. French President Francois Hollande will
have a short conversation about the logistics of taking back the Statue of
Liberty. He steps down in the
spring.
That of course leaves
President/Emperor Vladimir Putin who may wish to take a bow for Trump’s
surprise ascension to the American throne. We can be sure that many ears are tuned to this
exchange. How long before the
sanctions levied by Barack Obama and fortified by congress are lifted under the
pretense of a new era of cooperation?
What role if any will America play in Syria? Will Trump sign off on Crimea and Ukraine? It all depends on what Putin has in his
little black book. Place your
bets.
I’m betting he has
something. With Trump, a man of
uncertain character and documented sexual proclivities, we cannot rule out an
embarrassing sex tape but it might as well be a crooked business deal or an
unsavory foreign debt. I’m betting
the Central Intelligence Agency knows exactly what it is.
In an effort to gain entry in
the Guinness Book of World Records, the president signs three more executive
orders: One orders a restructuring
of the National Security Council, the second bans lobbying by administration
members until five years after their service and the third is a request for a
plan to defeat the Islamic State.
DAY TEN: MUSLIM BAN BLOWBACK
January 29, 2017
Protestors answer the call by
the hundreds and thousands as story after story of detained women, children and
university students are chronicled in the local and national media. Attorneys win early appeals to stay the
deportation of detainees but not necessarily to win their release. Mass confusion reigns as the agencies
involved do not know what to do with green card holders and do not know what to
advise individuals from the target nations trying to return to America. Iran announces reciprocal
measures. The Iraqi parliament
discusses banning American contractors.
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau offers to receive the refugees America
refuses.
Was this the law of unintended
consequences and the product of an ill-conceived policy or did Trump expect his
Muslim ban to trigger a wave of protests at airports across the nation,
multiple challenges in court and widespread international backlash? Is he a master of chaos or a president
unprepared for the job?
It seems the Trump
administration made some attempt to disguise the ban as something other than
religion-based. Whether it will
survive legal challenges is an open question but it will not survive the
international court of public opinion.
At this juncture not even Britain’s Theresa May is defending his
policy.
DAY ELEVEN: MUSLIM BAN BACKTRACK
January 30, 2017
As the blowback spreads and the
resistance rises across the globe, the White House backtracks on the inclusion
of green card holders – i.e., legal residents but not citizens of the United
States – in what the administration continues to insist is not a Muslim
ban.
The Iraqi parliament now
recommends a reciprocal ban on Americans – a ban that might pose problems for
oil executives and special operations forces involved in the fight against the
Islamic State. [1] Chancelor
Angela Merkel reminds Trump that his action violates the Geneva Convention on
accepting refugees. [2]
Former president Barrack Obama
breaks with tradition by siding with protestors on the ban, issuing a statement
through a spokesman that he is “heartened” by the engagement of citizens around
the country.
Trump signs an executive order
directing federal agencies to cut two regulations for every one added. How the president came up with a
two-for-one ratio is not explained.
If it’s good for Subway, it’s good for government. The first target of the anti-regulation
campaign will be environmental protection. The second will be Wall Street.
Finally, press secretary Sean Spicer
insists with inexplicable passion that the president’s restructuring of the
National Security Council is nothing to fret about. The order is a clear promotion of alternative rightwing
media mastermind Steve Bannon to prominence in the Trump administration and
that is something to fret about.
DAY TWELVE: SUPREME COURT NOMINEE
January 31, 2017
The president announces his
nominee to replace Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court. Federal appeals court judge Neil
Gorsuch is cut from the same cloth as Chief Justice John Roberts and fellow
George W. Bush appointee Samuel Alito.
He is above all a corporate loyalist, believing that corporations
deserve all of the rights and privileges of citizenship. His rulings point to a religious bent
in jurisprudence, holding that corporations as individuals are not obliged to
follow laws that offend their religious beliefs.
The court will not change
substantially when the Senate ultimately approves this nominee or someone just
like him. It will almost certainly
change with the next opening on the court. Liberal lion Ruth Bader Ginsberg is approaching 84 years of
age. Liberal ally Stephen Breyer
is 78 and traditional swing vote Anthony Kennedy is 80. It is not realistic to expect all three
to serve another four years. When
the new court is seated the majority will take dead aim at women’s rights,
labor rights, voting rights, civil rights, civil liberties and the
environment.
The Supreme Court is the
greatest single danger the Trump administration poses to civilization on the
planet earth. If the party of
opposition can muster any courage at all, they should fight every Trump nominee
for the high court until he is no longer in office. They should fight him on the grounds that his presidency is
illegitimate. There is too much at
stake to fall back on politics as usual.
Force them to kill the filibuster and good riddance! Unfortunately, if history teaches us
anything at all it is not to expect courage from the Democratic Party.
DAY THIRTEEN: THE NUCLEAR OPTION
February 1, 2017
President Trump encourages
Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to invoke the so-called “nuclear
option” if needed to secure confirmation of his Supreme Court nominee. The move could lead to the end of the senate
filibuster. The distinctly
anti-democratic rule was used to block legislation and presidential appointees
during the Obama administration until the Democrats voted in 2013 to lift the
60-vote super majority requirement on judicial and cabinet member appointments
with the Supreme Court exempted.
Who can doubt that this president will demand an end to the filibuster
for legislation as well if it stands in his way? [3]
Threatening the “nuclear option”
is designed to send waves of terror through the regal halls of the US Senate. It would reduce the elitist status of
that body to a semi-democratic institution. Traditional members of the senate have long considered
themselves an American version of the House of Lords. It’s time to come down from the tower and breathe the people’s
air. Let the filibuster die. It has long outlived its
usefulness.
National Security Advisor
Michael Flynn officially places Iran “on notice” after a ballistic missile
test. Former Exxon Mobil CEO Rex
Tillerson is confirmed as Secretary of State by a 56-43 vote, overcoming
concerns regarding his cozy business relationship with Russia.
It could be worse. The president could have threatened the
nuclear option with Iran and put the Senate Democrats on notice. Given reports of his phone conversations
with the president of Mexico and the prime minister of Australia, anything is
possible. [4]
DAY FOURTEEN: WHITE HOUSE ON NOTICE
February 2, 2017
The press puts the White House
on notice that it will not get a pass on “easing sanctions” on Russia. The sanctions were put in place by the
Obama administration in retaliation for interference in the presidential
election for the purpose of electing Donald J. Trump. [5]
The Treasury Department issued a
statement that it would allow limited transactions between American companies
and the Federal Security Service (FSB).
The successor to the KGB is one of two Russian intelligence agencies
accused of cyber attacks to disrupt and influence the election. White House press secretary Sean Spicer
defended the action as only a technical fix.
The president remains stunningly
silent on the explosion of violence in Ukraine – the fifth day of escalating
conflict. Russia’s Putin blames
the Ukrainian government. Senator
John McCain calls on Trump to stand up against Russian aggression.
The U.S. Central Command is
conducting a review of Sunday’s raid on a suspected terrorist collaborator’s
home in the mountains of Yemen.
The first authorized military operation by President Trump resulted in the
killing of Navy Seal William “Ryan” Owens, fourteen “militants” and an
estimated 16-30 civilians, including ten women and children. According to Reuters News Agency,
military officials reported that Trump approved the operation “without
sufficient intelligence, ground support or adequate backup preparations.” [6,
7]
Does anyone remember
Benghazi?
At the National Prayer
Breakfast, Trump vows to repeal the Johnson Amendment – an IRS rule prohibiting
the endorsement of political candidates from the pulpit.
After fourteen days of Trump I
am reminded of biblical prophecies of doom: Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye not be troubled for all
these things must come to pass but the end is not yet. Matthew
24:6.
Given the alt-right’s prominence
in the Trump administration, I wonder if this is exactly what they had in
mind.
But the end is not yet and we’re
still here.
Jazz.
1. “Iraq’s parliament has voted to ‘retaliate’ against Donald
Trump’s ‘Muslim ban’” by Bethan McKernan.
Independent, January 30, 2017.
2. “Merkel reminds Trump of Geneva Convention’s refugee policy”
by Mallory Shelbourne. The Hill,
January 29, 2017.
3. “GOP going
nuclear over Gorsuch might destroy filibuster forever” by Richard A.
Arenberg. The Hill, February 1,
2017.
4.
“Report: Trump lashes out
at Australian PM on phone call” by Max Greenwood. The Hill, February 1, 2017.
5. “U.S. eases
sanctions on Russian intelligence agency” by Joel Schectman and Dustin
Volz. Reuters, February 2,
2017.
6. “U.S.
military probing more possible civilian deaths in Yemen raid” by Ayesha
Rascoe. Reuters, February 2,
2017.
7. “Raid in
Yemen: Risky From the Start and
Costly in the End” by Eric Schmitt and David E. Sanger. New York Times, February 1, 2017.
JACK RANDOM IS THE
AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES, D’ARC UNDERGROUND & OTHER PLAYS, NUMBER
NINE: THE ADVENTURES OF JAKE JONES & RUBY DAULTON AND PAWNS TO PLAYERS: A
MATCH FOR THE WHITE HOUSE.
