TRUMP! GOOD GOD!
THE TRUMP
DIARIES: WEEK FOURTEEN +
99 Days of Trump
By Jack Random
Thirteen weeks in Donald Trump’s approach to his litany of
campaign promises seems to be:
Let’s not and say we did.
This is not the presidency anyone voted for.
He promised to build a magnificent wall, a wall for the
ages, a shining symbol to christen the era of American oppression. He promised that it wouldn’t cost a
plug nickel because Mexico would pay for it. Well, Mexico has failed to do its part and the wall remains
without funding.
He promised to dump Obamacare on day one but his party
failed him. It turns out they’re
not really interested in reforming healthcare. It’s become the third rail of politics. Obama gave us a system that nobody
really likes but nobody really wants to do without. Along with a myriad of factors, it may have cost the
Democrats the White House. If the
Republicans touch it’ll cost them the house. They’re already on the path to losing the presidency.
Above all Donald Trump, the great negotiator, promised
success – so much success we’ll get tired of winning. Thus far the only “successes” he has had are dropping bombs
on foreign lands without strategic impact or intent. We’re still waiting for all that winning and while we wait
we’re hoping he doesn’t trigger a world war or a nuclear holocaust.
This is the fourteenth and final installment of the Trump
Diaries.
DAY 92:
TRUMPCARE REVISITED
April 21, 2017
Despite a distinct lack of interest in the halls of
congress, the president proclaims his replacement bill for healthcare is still
alive. Congress is on recess. When they return they will have to find
a way to keep the government running against the wishes of their Freedom Caucus
– freedom’s just another word for incompetent government. Healthcare is not on the agenda.
Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin announces that we will not be granting waivers to Exxon or any other
companies to drill for Russian oil.
The sanction will remain in place for now. The refusal nixes the $500 billion dollar deal between
Rosneft and Exxon to drill in the Arctic Sea – a project Russia is incapable of
doing.
Vladimir Putin cannot be happy
about this.
On Sunday France holds the first
round of its presidential election.
In the wake of Thursday’s terrorist shooting on the Champs Elysees in
Paris, the Donald Trump of France and Putin’s candidate, Marine Le Pen, is very
much in the running.
DAY 93:
MARCHING FOR SCIENCE
April 22, 2017
Today is Earth Day.
The president makes an impassioned plea to the industrial world to
preserve the planet’s natural wonders and precious resources – clean air,
drinkable water and fertile land – for future generations.
That is what presidents should do on Earth Day. Unfortunately, Trump doesn’t mean a
word of it. As massive crowds take
to the streets around the world in a March for Science, streaming in droves by
Trump Tower in Manhattan, filling the National Mall in Washington, converging
on Parliament Square in London, taking a stand throughout Europe, North, South
and Central America, Australia, Africa and Asia, Trump stands with climate
change deniers. He buries his head
in the sand and dares the earth to defy him.
People everywhere understand that the only answer to the
global crisis of climate change is science – people everywhere except those
inhabiting the White House and the majority in congress. The glaciers and polar ice caps melt
while Trump appoints a climate change denier to administrate protection of the
environment. Miami will be submerged
in a rising tide and Trump cuts funding for research and innovation.
Barring nuclear catastrophe this is where Trump will do the
greatest amount of damage in his tenure at the helm of government. This is the critical time when the
world should be united in preparing for the greatest disaster in human
history. This is the time when we
should be leading the transition to clean energy. Instead, we have a president who defends coal and believes
that jobs and profit margins trump all other concerns.
DAY 94: LE
PEN V. MACRON
April 23, 2017
Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen will contend for the
French presidency on May 7th.
Macron has been described as a center-right, pro-European, free trade
economist without political experience.
Le Pen has been described as an anti-immigrant, anti-European populist
with racist leanings.
The combination of Donald Trump
and Marine Le Pen has given populism a bad name. Populism refers to a nonpartisan leader who listens to the
people and reflects their concerns in policy proposals. Populist is not a synonym for
demagogue. Huey Long of Louisiana
was a populist whose platform was the foundation for FDR’s New Deal. Having changed his positions on
virtually all issues, Trump is a demagogue. We’ll have to wait on Le Pen but the racist element of both
politicians is undeniable.
Living in his bubble, Trump
demands money for his wall before he allows a spending bill to keep the
government running. He still
doesn’t get it: His party is in
control. If they shut down the
government, he gets the blame.
DAY 95: TRUMP HAS HEART
April 24, 2017
Breaking News:
Trump discovers he has a heart.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Trump reveals the
difference between being a businessman and a president. In business he didn’t need a
heart. In government he does. For example, when Trump made the
decision to drop missiles on an airbase in Syria he had to deal with the fact
that someone might die. [1]
“People could have been killed.”
Yes, Mr. President, people were killed. Are we really supposed to be comforted
that our president, 95 days into his presidency, has realized that his actions
have real-world consequences?
With the deadline for government funding coming due on
Friday, Trump proposes a deal to congressional Democrats: Give me funding for the wall and I’ll
give you funding for Obamacare.
No deal, Donald.
Let the government shut down.
You have full control of congress and the hammer of an executive
veto. Let the people decide whose responsible
for the mess we’re in. If you want
to sabotage healthcare for millions of common people, don’t talk about it, do
it! What happened to that
presidential heart?
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announces new sanctions on
Syria. The sanctions target 271
employees of the Scientific Studies and Research Center, the agency responsible
for developing chemical weapons.
The action mirrors George W. Bush’s action in 2005 and Barrack Obama’s
sanctions in 2016. [2]
Defense Secretary James “Mad Dog” Mattis makes an
unannounced visit to Afghanistan.
After reports that Russia is arming the Taliban, Mattis is assessing the
situation. [3]
Get ready for the long war
getting longer. Afghan Defense
Minister Abdullah Habibi resigned in the wake of a deadly Taliban attack that
killed an estimated 140 Afghan soldiers.
General John Nicholson, American commander in Afghanistan, has already
requested more troops. We all know
that Trump will give the general what he wants. Only Mad Dog stands in the way.
We will not be getting out of
Afghanistan or Iraq while Trump is the White House. Sadly, despite all his lip service about stupid wars, Trump
is the president the military has been waiting for.
DAY 96: A DOUBLE HEADER OF EXECUTIONS
April 25, 2017
US District Court Judge William
Orrick of the ninth circuit court of appeals issues a temporary injunction
blocking a Trump executive order intended to punish sanctuary cities by
withholding federal grants. It is
yet another judicial loss for Trump and his feckless attorney general.
Arkansas executes two death row
inmates. It is a reminder that the
inhumane, cruel and barbaric practice of capital punishment will continue for
the foreseeable future. With every
Trump appointment to the Supreme Court and the judiciary, the practice is
cemented into the American system of crime and punishment. It is a reminder that we are alone
among civilized nations that still execute human beings.
Had the founders the foresight
to banish cruel and unnecessary punishment
– as opposed to cruel and unusual
punishment – executions would have ceased long ago. Capital punishment does not prevent criminal acts; it
satisfies a morbid desire for vengeance.
A day after Trump announced
tariffs on Canadian lumber, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warns Trump that
trade between the United States and its neighbor to the north is a two-way
street. After all the campaign lip
service about NAFTA, CAFTA, Mexico and China, the irony of Trump going after
Canada is rich.
DAY 97: FLYNN AGAIN
April 26, 2017
House Oversight Committee chair
Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and ranking member Elijah Cummings (D-MD) give a joint
statement that beleaguered former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn
likely broke the law by receiving money from Turkey and Russia and not
revealing that fact when he accepted his job in the White House.
While the story keeps Russia
Gate alive, it appears that Flynn is the designated fall guy in this
scandal. Flynn’s offer of
testimony in exchange for immunity has fallen on deaf ears. Congress should accept his offer. We have no interest in putting the
former General behind bars. We have
a great deal of interest in learning how far up this scandal goes.
Trump signs an executive order
calling for a review of lands protected by designation as national
monuments. The review could clear
the way for corporate ranchers and energy companies to exploit federal
lands. When it comes to protecting
the earth our president is consistently opposed. It may be the only consistent policy he has advocated to
date.
The White House provides a sneak
preview of the promised tax reform to CNN reporter Jim Acosta. The plan reportedly includes: Lower taxes for middle-class families,
including deductions for childcare, elimination of the estate tax – a break for
the Trump children, elimination of the alternative minimum tax – another break
for the Trumps, lower tax rates for the wealthy, reduction of the corporate tax
rate, elimination of the surtax on speculative investments – an essential
funding mechanism for Obamacare, elimination of itemized deductions except
mortgage interest and charitable contributions and elimination of taxes on
corporate earnings abroad. [4]
At first glance the proposal is
typical Republican tax relief for the wealthy. Much of it seems specifically geared to Trump’s corporate
interests. In exchange they may
allow some relief to trickle down to the middle class but they refuse outright
to fund the cuts.
We will see how much of this
proposal survives the process. If
it passes in any form the national debt will rise dramatically. More likely it flounders like the rest
of Trump’s agenda.
House Republicans have
reconstituted the healthcare proposal according to the wishes of the rightwing
Freedom Caucus. The GOP now faces
the prospect of losing so-called moderate Republicans in the house. Try again, Donald.
Trump summons all one hundred
members of the United State Senate to the White House for a rare and private
briefing on the situation in North Korea.
The White House announces that a missile defense system is being
finalized in South Korea. Does
this mean we are about to strike Pyongyang? If I am thinking this, what does the little dictator
think?
It turns out it was all theater:
theater of the absurd.
DAY 98: NAFTA JUKE
April 27, 2017
Trump announces that he will not
withdraw from NAFTA after all. He
says he was on the verge of triggering the withdrawal process – a necessary
step in nullifying the agreement – when he received calls from the president of
Mexico and the prime minister of Canada imploring him to give renegotiation a
chance.
It has become the president’s
fallback approach on virtually every issue: Let’s not and say we did. This president called out the North America Free Trade
Agreement at every stop on his campaign tour of the rust belt states –
Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the states that gave him the White
House. Now it turns out he didn’t
mean it at all. Or maybe he
did. Who can tell? He called NAFTA the singular worst deal
ever negotiated. Don’t get me
started on the Iranian nuclear deal!
Now it’s negotiable. He was
going to repeal NAFTA and its sister CAFTA on day one. Now it’s wait and see.
Was Trump lying all along? No one on his economic team – a team
dominated by Wall Street – is in favor of fair trade. [5] From top economic
advisor and former president of Goldman Sachs Gary Cohn, former Goldman Sachs
executive and current Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin, billionaire
banker and Secretary of Commerce Wilber Ross to son-in-law financier Jared
Kushner, they are all globalists committed to the exploitation of labor that
Free Trade empowers. What does
that tell us?
The president signs yet another
executive order ostensibly to protect the American aluminum industry. In fact, the order calls for another
study.
Trump signs an executive order
creating the Veterans Affairs Accountability Office. Isn’t that another bureaucracy? He wants to protect whistle blowers in the Veterans Administration. How about protecting whistle blowers in
the White House, the CIA, the FBI and NSA?
Elijah Cummings wants to know
why the White House is protecting former National Security Advisor Michael
Flynn by refusing to release documents concerning his security clearance. In a surprise move, spokesman Sean
Spicer blames the Obama administration.
Now that is rich: Trump relied on Obama to clear his
highest-ranking foreign policy advisor!
Fine. Obama did it. Let’s move on.
DAY 99: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
April 28, 2017
In his 99th day as
president Trump confesses he was wrong:
he thought the presidency would be easier. Who knew?
Secretary of State Tillerson
advocates international sanctions and diplomacy to solve the North Korea
problem. Kim Jung Un fires another
missile into the Sea of Japan and Donald Trump tells Reuters News Service that
a major military conflict is possible.
He also said he’d like South Korea to pay for the missile defense system
we’ve set up to the tune of one billion dollars.
South Korea has enough problems
without an American president trying to extort a billion dollars from their
treasury.
That Donald J. Trump is
delusional is convincingly demonstrated by his assertion that he accomplished
more in his first ninety days than any president in history. [6] The question
is: Does Trump believe the words
that emerge from his vocal chords or is he trying to persuade the rest of
us? Does he keep a scorecard of
points accumulated like a basketball game? What are his criteria?
Does he get a point for shutting up a reporter? Two points for firing a corrupt
advisor? Three points for signing
an executive order that stalls in the courts? Seven points for legislation that never gets out of the
House? A point per missile in an
attack on an empty Syrian airbase?
One hundred points for dropping the Mother of All Bombs?
THE FIRST 100 DAYS
With one solitary day remaining,
I assert that this president has accomplished absolutely nothing.
Trump! Good God! What is he good for?
Absolutely nothing! Say it
again. [7]
It’s a classic good news, bad
news scenario: The bad news is the
president has accomplished nothing.
The good news is the president has accomplished nothing.
Trump! Good God! What is he good for?
Absolutely nothing! Say it
again.
The president may have broken a
record for executive orders but without the support of congress, a congress
controlled by the president’s party, few amount to anything. Many are the standard dodge of
assigning an issue to a committee for further study. Those that do have an impact cannot be characterized as
positive accomplishments. Is it an
accomplishment to enable industries to dump toxic waste in rivers? Is it an accomplishment to break apart
families and deport valued members of our society for having brown skin? Is it an accomplishment to withdraw
from a trade agreement (TPP) that was never approved, no less enacted? Is it an accomplishment to protect the
right of mentally disturbed individuals to buy a gun? Is it an accomplishment to place a lifetime ban on lobbying
for foreign governments when (a) it is not binding on the next president and
(b) it allows waivers that will surely be granted?
On and on, Trump gives lip
service to his keystone issues but fails to back them up with action. His signature issue, of course, is The
Wall – meaning a spectacular thirty-foot tall border wall from the California
coast to the Gulf of Mexico. While
still insisting that Mexico will pay for the wall, he has requested but not
received $999 million as a first installment. He has requested $2.6 billion in 2018. A Republican controlled congress does
not seem eager to provide it and even if it does it would fall dismally short
of the amount required.
No, Donald, the wall is not on
your accomplishments list.
Trump will likely get money to
hire more border patrol and ICE agents.
This is only an accomplishment if you favor a mass deportation effort
that will create a new and powerful police apparatus and leave numerous American
employers in agriculture, construction and service fields with a severe labor
shortage.
Trump has quietly authorized
mission creep in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. In an age of global climate change, Trump is in the process
of demolishing the Environmental Protection Agency. He pushed through the Keystone and Dakota oil pipelines and
eviscerated the agencies that will be responsible for cleaning up when the
inevitable leaks poison the water supply.
None of these are
accomplishments.
It all comes down to two
things: The Supreme Court and
bombing our adversaries.
That Trump fulfilled his promise
to appoint a corporate conservative to the Supreme Court is undeniable. If you are obsessed with abortion and
believe it is murder you can rejoice.
If you loved the corporate bias of the late Antonin Scalia, you can go
all in. But let’s be clear: Trump only had to show up and place the
name in nomination. The rest was
up to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Had Trump been a more effective advocate, McConnell would
not have had to invoke the so-called “nuclear” option. The antiquated and anti-democratic
filibuster moved another step closer to its final and inevitable demise. While I consider that a positive,
Senate Republicans consider it a tragedy.
No clear-cut accomplishment
here.
That leaves the bombings. First, those fifty-nine Tomahawk
missiles fired at a Syrian airbase.
It accomplished a great deal for politics at home. The media fawned and the president’s
leading critics in the Senate, John McCain and Lindsey Graham, switched from
opposing voices to water carriers.
They stood and cheered when the Mother of All Bombs was dropped on a
cave complex in Afghanistan.
Few would argue that these were
not political accomplishments.
They served to change the dynamic.
They triggered that strange patriotic response that begins with the
media and courses through the American public. Drop a bomb and they hold a parade. But these were neither strategic nor
military accomplishments. The
missile attack in Syria did not affect the reality of that war. The bomb in Afghanistan had no
measurable effect in the war on ISIS.
The blowback effect makes it thoroughly unclear.
The use of military force on
such a grand stage does signal a change in American policy. It signals that we do not intend to
extract ourselves from these conflicts any time soon. It means that one of the hallmarks of candidate Trump’s
foreign policy pledges was as empty as his promise to pull out of NAFTA. We will remain in Iraq and Afghanistan
and Syria for as long as the military deems it necessary.
Above all, that is not an
accomplishment.
Jazz.
1. “Trump at 100 days: It’s a different kind of presidency” by
Julie Pace. Associated Press,
April 24, 2017.
2. “US sanctions hundreds of employees of Syrian research
center.” Reuters, April 24,
2017.
3. “US general in Afghanistan suggests Russia arming the
Taliban” by Robert Burns, AP National Security Writer. ABC News, April 24, 2017.
4. “Trump’s tax
plan would repeal AMT, estate tax: report” by Naomi Jagoda. The Hill, April 26, 2017.
5. “Donald
Trump: Ruling Class President” by Paul Street. Counterpunch, April 21, 2017.
6. “What Trump
has done in his first 100 days in office” by Miriam Valverde. PolitiFact, April 26, 2017.
7. Paraphrase
of the protest anthem “War!” by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, originally
recorded by The Temptations (1969) and more famously by Edwin Starr (1970) and
Bruce Springsteen (1986).
