SIDETRACKED
THE TRUMP
DIARIES: WEEK EIGHT
56 Days of Trump
By Jack Random
The first seven weeks of Trump were overshadowed by the
Russian connection. In the eighth
week the picture begins to get muddled.
A bizarre allegation that former President Obama personally wiretapped
Trump Tower reset the table. We
know that former Director of National Security Michael Flynn was recorded
discussing sanctions with the Russian ambassador. We assume other conversations were recorded as well.
This story cannot remain vital without new and engaging
information. If someone in the
intelligence community has personal knowledge of the content of communications
between Trump personnel and the Russians, it is imperative that they come
forward. If there was collusion
between a presidential candidate and a foreign agent, it is a matter of the
highest security to reveal it and reveal it now before any further damage can
be done. If nothing of substance
lies beneath this scandal, it is equally imperative to clear this president and
get on with the business of government.
The Trump administration is desperate to proceed with its
agenda but they are perpetually looking over their shoulders. The new and improved Muslim ban is
being challenged in court. No one
but Speaker of the House Paul Ryan seems to like the Republican proposal to
replace Obama care. The Trump
White House looks like a pinball bouncing from bumper to bumper without
direction.
This is the eighth installment of the Trump Diaries.
DAY 50: PURGE
AT JUSTICE
March 10, 2017
Coming on the heels of the purge at the State Department,
the Trump administration requests the resignation of 46 remaining US Attorneys
appointed by Barrack Obama. The
White House sites Attorney General Janet Reno’s purge in 1993 as precedent but
the more valid comparison might be Nixon’s purge in 1973 – a failed attempt to
bury the Watergate cover up.
It’s easy to see what’s really
going on: The White House is so
paranoid it sees enemies in every corner, in every shadow and behind every
tree. Unfortunately, the ship of
state doesn’t sail itself. Trump
can’t fire everyone.
The Labor Department releases
positive job growth numbers. In
the first month of the Trump presidency, unemployment falls to 4.7
percent.
No word from Trump on the “real” unemployment rate which he
has previously estimated as anywhere from twelve to forty-two percent.
DAY 51:
DEFENDING TRUMPCARE
March 11, 2017
The president’s charm initiative with the far right is
falling short. The Tea Party’s
Freedom Caucus continues to express opposition despite reported dinners and
bowling outings at the White House.
In a measure of how desperate Trump is to claim a
legislative victory, he reportedly threatened to support primary opponents of
any Republican who opposes the bill. [1] The White House, however, objects to
calling the reform Trumpcare. [2]
So the man who has his name on everything from red meat to
golf resorts, the man who values his brand above all else doesn’t want his name
on Republican healthcare. That’s a
picture worth more than a thousand words.
DAY 52: UNFAIR
TRADE
March 12, 2017
As Air Emirates begins an Athens
to Newark flight, United Airlines accuses the Middle Eastern carriers of unfair
competition. Air Emirates is government
owned and heavily subsidized. If
allowed to charge lower fares and absorb the loss, it could push domestic
airlines out of business.
This is a test case of President
Trump’s understanding of fair trade.
The Emirates fails on virtually all grounds. It does not allow unions, provides substandard wages,
minimal benefits and is subsidized by the government.
DAY 53: THE COST OF TRUMPCARE
March 13, 2017
A New York Times report reveals
how seriously understaffed the Trump administration remains eight weeks into
its reign. At all levels of
operation positions have gone unfilled not only at the EPA and the Stare
Department but also at the Treasury Department, the Department of Homeland
Security, Immigration, Customs and Border Protection. On the positive side, the president’s policies cannot be
implemented without administrative personnel so the air and the water might get
a temporary reprieve.
The Congressional Budget Office
(CBO) reports that Trumpcare will result in an increase of 24 million people
without health insurance by 2026.
It will reduce the deficit by $337 billion over ten years and mitigate
the increase in premiums by ten percent over the same period while increasing
deductibles and out-of-pocket spending.
While some Republicans are
encouraged by the prospect of reducing the deficit, the effect on premiums is
severely disappointing. If you
eliminate coverage for poor people you ought to be able to do more than
mitigate the increase by a negligible ten percent. Moreover, the bill dumps some fourteen million from the
insured rolls by next year. The
costs of Trumpcare are mounting.
If this law or anything like it
passes – a prospect that is becoming less likely by the day – we will soon
discover that the CBO report was extremely optimistic. For most of the voting public, this is
less care for more money and it would trigger a voter revolt.
Trump signs an executive order
announcing his intention to reorganize the government, making it sleeker and
more efficient. Get real, Donald,
you want to emasculate the government and you don’t need an executive order to
do it. It’s done.
DAY 54: TRUMP’S 2005 TAX RETURN
March 14, 2017
An unknown party releases the
first two pages of Donald Trump’s 2005 federal tax return. Trump paid $38 million on $152 million
in income. It’s just another
distraction on a slow news day in Trumpland.
A full hour of coverage on the
Rachel Maddow show was reminiscent of Al Capone’s vault. It added nothing to our knowledge and
damaged the credibility of its sponsor.
DAY 55: THE RUSSIAN HACK
March 15, 2017
The Justice Department indicts
two Russian spies and two “criminal hackers” in the hacking of an estimated 500
million Yahoo accounts. The
Russians are members of the Federal Security Service (formerly KGB) assigned to
its cyber investigation unit.
If you have a Yahoo account it
might be time to consider alternatives.
The indictment may be designed to demonstrate the Trump administration’s
willingness to take action against their Russian counterparts.
The Federal Reserve pushes the
base interest rate up a quarter point to one percent as the Dow Jones
Industrial Average continues to zoom upward. Are we creating the bubble of all bubbles or is the economy
fundamentally strong and getting stronger? The age of deregulation on steroids is upon us.
Dan Coats wins senate
confirmation as Trump’s new Director of National Intelligence. The former Indiana senator testifies
that cyber security is a top priority.
No shit, Sherlock.
A federal court in Hawaii put a
hold on the new and improved Muslim travel ban, serving notice that the
constitution will not yield to the president’s mandate on bigotry. A federal court in Maryland backs up
the finding.
DAY 56: DECONSTRUCTION BUDGET
March 16, 2017
The White House releases a
budget designed to “deconstruct the administrative state” in the immortal words
of Steve Bannon. Missing is any
mention of infrastructure spending as the document calls for massive cuts to
the State Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and various lib state
programs such as Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the
Arts. All savings will go to the
police state, the wall and the military machine.
Trump has made it clear he
despises career diplomats. He
seems to believe he can handle all negotiations large and small. How’s that working out with the
judiciary, Donald?
The president and the
president’s spokesman assert hard and strong that the Obama administration
conducted surveillance involving the Russians and the Trump campaign. That is the point. The Department of Justice, the Central
Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation had reason to
monitor and record communications with the Trump team and an antagonist foreign
entity. The question is not
whether the Obama administration spied on the Trump campaign but whether or not
such surveillance was justified.
The Bannon crowd has succeeded
in reframing the debate.
Mainstream media has burrowed in.
They have staked a position that any such surveillance was improper and
did not occur. Let us assume that
Trump and his people were under surveillance in communication with the
Russians. Let us assume that those
interactions involved collusion between the Russians and the Trump campaign as
alleged by the Dirty Dossier of Christopher Steele.
Given the current frame we are
less likely to get to the essential truth. It is now entirely possible that the president will get away
with one of the most outrageous efforts to defraud an American election in
history.
The New York Times, the
Washington Post and other prominent news sources have put their credibility on
the line. If they cannot produce
evidence of collusion, if they cannot reveal the contents of communications
between Russia and the Trump team then they have failed to deliver as
promised.
I continue to believe that
collusion took place and our democracy has been compromised but the probability
of exposing the crime is reduced with every passing day.
Jazz.
1. “Report: Trump threatens to primary any
conservative who opposes health care replacement bill” by Chris Enloe. The Blaze, March 11, 2017.
2. “White House: Don’t call it Trumpcare”
by Matthew Nussbaum and Jennifer Haberkorn. Politico, March 8, 2017.
3. “Trump’s lack of action leaves key
offices vacant” by Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Sharon Lafraniere. NY Times, March 13, 2017.
JACK
RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES, VOLUMES I-X, THE GHOST DANCE
INSURRECTION, THE PATRIOT DIRGE, NUMBER NINE AND WASICHU: THE KILLING
SPIRIT.
