The Trumpian Chronicles — week 8 — budgets&cheap healthcare are fantasies&Trump continues to erode alliances
A pessimist-realist’s take on our changing world
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The eyeroll says it all, Chancellor Merkel is like the rest of the world and wondering how we can all endure more of this Presidency, and this is only week 8 !
Trump decided to rally the troops once again, here are some choice words from his Nashville event: “When Mr. Trump emerged, he decided to relegate the health care overhaul, which he has identified as a top domestic priority, to a brief mention more than halfway through the speech. He instead replaced its prime billing with an angry diatribe against the travel ban ruling and the judge who had issued it. “I have to be nice, otherwise I’ll get criticized for speaking poorly about our courts,” he said. But he could not help himself: The president soon suggested that the court that had just ruled against him should be destroyed. “People are screaming, ‘Break up the Ninth Circuit!’ ”
The 3 main events of the week:
1- the Trumpian budget and the end of the American experience
2- more fallout from the wiretapping tweet
3- Trump’s foreign policy team will precipitate a conflict in Asia
Let’s break these down !
1- the Trumpian budget and the end of the American experience
Andrew McGill in the Atlantic: “To afford a beefier military, Donald Trump intends to substantially cut a slew of government departments, like the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Labor. Since the president has promised to maintain spending on entitlements like Social Security and Medicare, he intends to shift the burden of paying for his defense program to the government’s smaller agencies, some of which are responsible for keeping workplaces safe, monitoring air and water quality, and making sure the government’s bills are paid on time. Nearly two-thirds of the cuts come from departments that constitute only 20 percent of the budget. His budget outline [..] would fund some federal departments at the lowest level since the 1980s, when adjusted for inflation.
my take: The Trump budget is an exercise in fantasy, infested with military-industrial corporate welfare disguised as “let’s make sure the troops have equipment”. It is a shameless corpo-crat and kleptocrat document, riddled with offensive stances such as cutting State so deeply that military commanders will need even larger increases in spending, as they have already pointed out. OMB’s Mulvaney’s disgusting statement that poor folk shouldn’t pay for Big Bird but for F-32s tells you all you need to know about this Administration and the relative lack of media pushback shows the rot in the body politic. America sorely needs a trust busting Teddy Roosevelt-like leader right about now, sadly, none comes to mind.
2- more fallout from the wiretapping tweet
The week was filled with the weirdest circonvolutions from the WH’s inept staff “mopping up” after Trump. The highlight remains this:
my take: The WH staff has been recruited for loyalty above all else — this means that NO ONE, including son-in-law Kushner, says much to dispel the President’s conspiracy theories (i still can’t believe i’m writing President next to Trump). A specific focus on Kushner: he is the grandson of Holocaust survivors yet remains silent as a proven neo-Nazi (Gorka) is on his father in law’s staff. Can ANYONE close to him: friends, his Rabbi, principled folk, reach out and explain that he is a disgrace to his family’s history ? Now back to the ridiculousness which is becoming this Administration’s MO: step 1, Trump the cable tv addict repeats dubious claims he sees on Fox News (thank you Rupert Murdoch&sons for your contributions to debasing fact/truth, you will reap the consequences), step 2 Spicey comes out and defends his boss’s inane tweets, step 3 the media chuckles but its poor standing with Trump’s base prevents it from a forceful pushback&25% of Americans are clinging to their President. This will not end well.
3- Trump’s foreign policy team will precipitate a conflict in Asia
Tillerson, a non-government type endorsed by former SecState Condi Rice and Bob Gates, does NOT understand his role. This is troubling as is the Trumpian lie re Soutk Korea and his “fatigue” and the on/off dinner. These are details during a relatively crisis-free period — again, this WH is 8 weeks in. It is therefore very concerning to see Tillerson in essence performing his duties without the State Dpt’s able staff, and accepting a gutting of his department.
my take: Tillerson is surely a smart man, a diplomat steeped in nuance he is not. As pointed out by Ilan Goldenberg:
His off the cuff remarks on North Korea are especially important and between the One China/Taiwan bluster (why is Bob Dole getting off this sh*t sandwich scot free? He lobbies for Taiwan!) and now this, the Trumpists are sure to precipitate events in Asia, and not for the better. As the US sends more troops into Syria to fight Assad, allied with Trump bromance Putin&is letting Israel rattle the same Syrians and therefore Iran, what of Asia ? Nothing good it seems, let’s stay tuned.
PS: I promised last week to cover the firing of the US Attorneys.
My take: this is pure politics and has been done before by other administrations. In lieu of righteous indignation, how about someone actually propose the de-politicization of those offices ?
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