FOOL ON THE HILL:
THE TRUMP
DIARIES: WEEK NINE
63 Days of Trump
By Jack Random
On the ninth week of his presidency, the negotiator-in-chief
went to congress to browbeat and cajole members of his own party into
supporting his first legislative proposal: A replacement for Obamacare.
We are nearing the point where something has to give. The presidency of Donald Trump has
broken every norm, every rule and every standard of what we thought a
presidency must be. This is a
president who not only reads supermarket tabloids but also believes in them as
if they are messengers of the gods.
This is a president who throws out accusations of high crimes and
misdemeanors in midnight rants and 4 am fits. This is a president who believes that facts are malleable
and truths are open to negotiation.
This is a president who has not come to terms with the
fundamentals of his responsibility as leader of the most powerful nation on
earth.
This is the ninth installment of the Trump Diaries.
DAY 57:
INTERNATIONAL EMBARRASSMENT
March 17, 2017
A day after accusing British intelligence of spying on him
at Trump Tower while he was a candidate, Trump forces German Chancellor Angela
Merkel to endure a public appearance in the Oval Office in which he repeats his
charge of wiretapping against the former president. Trump referred to a 2013 incident in which the National
Security Agency was exposed in listening in on Ms. Merkel’s phone
conversations.
The Chancellor was clearly embarrassed yet the Donald was
clueless.
DAY 58: THE
KOREAN PROBLEM
March 18, 2017
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson completes his first trip as
Trump’s top diplomat, visiting Japan and China primarily to discuss the growing
problem in North Korea. Tillerson
takes the hard line: There will be
no negotiations until Kim Jong Un stops testing missiles and nuclear
technology. Tillerson pronounces
diplomacy a failure and expects China to do more. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi advises Tillerson to play
it cool.
Trump the candidate played
hardball with China, threatening to impose a hefty tariff on Chinese goods
until they stop manipulating their currency. As president Trump has played relatively nice with Beijing,
agreeing after a false start to a one China policy and asking for China’s help
on the Korean Peninsula. Trump has
also backed down on his early threat to stop China from accessing its
artificial islands in the South China Sea. China’s response was to call the new American president
naïve – among other things. [1]
Welcome to the big leagues, Mr.
President. You might want to
rethink firing all those career diplomats.
DAY 59: DISAPPROVAL RATING
March 19, 2107
The latest Gallup poll records a
new low in presidential approval only eight weeks into his term. Thirty seven percent approve of how the
president is handling his job; fifty eight percent do not approve and the
remaining five percent still don’t believe Trump was elected. [2]
In deference to the Trump
administration, the Group of 20 Summit in Baden-Baden, Germany, concludes
without a statement of support for Free Trade or a denunciation of economic
isolationism. The world is warned
that Trump intends to use tariffs as trade leverage but he has not yet
withdrawn from NAFTA or CAFTA.
What are you waiting for, Donald?
DAY 60: COMEY TESTIFIES
March 20, 2017
FBI Director James Comey
delivers a lesson in obfuscation before the House Intelligence Committee. He confirms that there is an
investigation into the connections between Russia and the Trump campaign regarding
the presidential election. He
testifies that he has no information to confirm that Trump Tower was wiretapped
by anyone.
If you expected new information
from the man who made Trump president you may also expect a pot of gold at the
end of the proverbial rainbow.
Texas representative Juan Castro
reviewed the allegations of Christopher Steele’s Dirty Dossier while Comey
portrayed a statue. Castro raised
the question of a recent mega deal involving the sale of a 19.5% stake in
Russian oil giant Rosneft to unknown entities through the Cayman Islands. The stake was valued at 10.2 billion
euros and involved an investment firm in Singapore, a bank in Italy and trading
firms in Qatar and Switzerland.
The Steele Dossier alleges an offer of a large stake in Rosneft in
exchange for lifting sanctions. [3]
The questions that should have
been asked of Director Comey but were not: 1) Did anyone representing Russia or Russian interests
contact you prior to your announced reopening of an investigation into Hillary
Clinton’s emails? 2) Are you
beholden in any way to the Russian government or Russian interests? 3) Why was
it appropriate for you to inform the public of the Clinton email investigation
but not the ongoing Russian-Trump election connection investigation?
Republicans decry leaks and deny
softening their party platform on Ukraine as if they could knock down a
mountain by tossing a pebble.
Ranking Democrat Adam Schiff of California effectively refutes the
claim.
The Trump administration’s
connections to Russia begin to resemble the George W. Bush administration’s
connections to Enron, the massive Ponzi scheme that defrauded California and
the west coast out of billions of dollars. Congress never held the White House accountable for those
connections – perhaps because something happened on September 11th
2001 that caused us to forget a great many things.
Neil Gorsuch delivers his
opening statement before the Senate Judiciary Committee in what will likely be
a waltz to his confirmation as an associate justice of the Supreme Court. Gorsuch has two primary purposes: 1) To uphold the corporate bias that
defines the Roberts court and 2) to finally reward the religious right by
voting to strike down a women’s right to abortion.
We will observe a return to
fecklessness by the Democrats as they give lip service to resistance but yield
in the end. This is why so few of
us have any faith left in the party of opposition. This is why we pleaded with Democrats to go with
Bernie. This is why we ended up
with Trump in the White House.
The future has no promise as
long as it is confined to two choices that answer to the same essential
masters: Republican or
Democrat.
DAY 61: FOOL ON THE HILL
March 21, 2017
Trump goes to congress to work
his negotiating magic on Republicans still opposing the new healthcare
replacement bill. The trouble
is: If he panders to the Tea Party
wing, he loses the moderates. If
he panders to the moderates, he loses the Tea Party.
Meantime, Paul Manafort becomes
the most likely to go to jail in the Trump-Russia scandal. New information suggests that the
former Trump campaign manager is guilty of laundering large amounts of Russian
money while operating in Ukraine.
Manafort’s name was listed in black book of illicit funds as the
beneficiary of $750,000. [4]
Best-case scenario: this guy is
a crook and a Kremlin agent. It
begs the question: How does a man
like Manafort become Trump’s campaign manager?
DAY 62: THE NUNES CARD
March 22, 2017
Representative Devin Nunes of
California, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, provides cover to the
president by suggesting to the White House and the press that Trump and his
team were under surveillance between the election and the inauguration. Nunes emphasizes that the reports
involved legal “incidental surveillance” and have nothing to do with
Russia.
The only thing this demonstrates
is that Nunes is a White House stooge who will obstruct any investigation that
leads to the Oval Office.
Representative Adam Schiff, the
leading Democrat on the committee, calls for an independent commission and
states flatly: “There is more than
circumstantial evidence” of the Trump team’s collusion with the Russians. [5]
There had better be,
congressman. The republic, the stability
of the world and the future of the planet may depend on it.
An apparent lone wolf terrorist
attacks Parliament in London, killing at least four and wounding at least fifty
before being killed.
DAY 63: SHOWDOWN IN THE HOUSE
March 23, 2017
The great negotiator fails in
his first attempt to pass a replacement bill for Obamacare. After promising a showdown this
evening, congressional leadership pulled the bill before it could go down to
defeat. They are now promising a
vote tomorrow morning.
Somewhere in Ohio former Speaker
of the House John Boehner is laughing his ass off. The same Republican coalition that stripped him of power and
sent him into early retirement has proven incapable of governing. The same smug wonder boy who took his
place is facing the same rude reality.
In a sense, the hard liners are
absolutely right: Republicans have
long proclaimed Obamacare a disaster that has only made things worse. If that is the case, why not proceed
with a straightforward repeal? Why
replace it at all – especially if you’re not willing to pay for it?
The truth is the GOP has a
losing hand and they don’t want to play it. You don’t win elections by stripping people of health
insurance.
If Trump wants a winner, I’ve
got a suggestion: Medicare for
all! Let the Democrats carry the
ball.
Jazz.
1. “Tillerson, Trump and the South China
Sea” by Amatai Etzioni. The
Diplomat, January 28, 2017.
2. “Trump’s Approval Rating Hits New
Record Low” by Daniel Politi.
Slate, March 19, 2017.
3. “Does Donald Trump Now Hold a
Significant Stake in Rosneft?” by Rashaverak. Daily Kos, January 25, 2017.
4. “New payments show Trump aide laundered
payments from party with Moscow ties, lawmaker alleges” by Andrew Roth. Washington Post, March 21, 2017.
5. “Schiff: ‘There Is More Than
Circumstantial Evidence Now’” by David A. Graham. The Atlantic, March 22, 2017.
JACK RANDOM IS THE
AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES, NUMBER NINE, TALES FROM JAZZTOWN AND THE
GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION.
