Bearing Witness to Trump Week 6

Week of February 26 – March 4

Trump spends another weekend in Mar-a-Lago. The 4th of 6 weekends in office.

Trump claims the real crime was not that his aides were colluding with Russia, but that Obama had people wiretapped who were suspected of colluding with Russia.

Trump seems so shocked that there are hate crimes occurring in the nation at a greater rate. Such as the Missourian who shot two engineers from India telling them to go back to their country, which he thought was Iran. Can Trump not possibly see that his own unrelenting bullying, attacking, blaming, disparaging, lying, etc., especially about immigrants, has let the demons out of the box?

Cuts to the EPA budget are expected to be approach 25% and some 3,000 jobs, as are those of NOAA. The climate protection budget would be hit by a whopping 70%.

The new head of the Commerce Department, Wilbur Ross, who is now charged with protecting American jobs and workers, did exactly the opposite as an industry chief. He is another private equity billionaire on the cabinet that made his money the way that Trump supposedly now condemns.

The EPA is expected to reexamine vehicle emissions standards put into place by the Obama administration. Meanwhile, Australia and Africa report record heat and drought associated with global warming.

The lock down on the public’s right to know continues in the administration. The Agriculture Department’s USDA has removed animal welfare inspection reports from its website. Trump aides have been directed to investigate government employees who may not be loyal to the new administration and who he accuses are trying to sabotage him.

Trump’s next budget is said to dramatically increase military spending while making dramatic decreases in the state department and foreign humanitarian aid.

More lies from the administration, and more of them about Russia. AG Sessions lied to Congress when he said he never spoke to the Russians during 2016 or the campaign. Oh, can you imagine the indignation had this been a Democrat. The Russian ambassador met with others at the Republican National Convention. WTF was the Russian Ambassador even doing in Cleveland for the RNC?

The rollback of environmental protections continues. The EPA has dropped the requirement for reporting of methane emissions, a gas which contributes to global warming. We had the warmest February on record in St. Louis as in much of the Midwest. It was the first time in over a century that Chicago reported no snow in January and February.  Some might say how great this is! Go tell this to the polar bears, coral reefs, low lying nations, forests, and so much more of our ecosystems threatened by climate change.

Finally, President Trump delivers a speech to the Congress and American people that is, well, presidential. The problem is that it was so obvious not written by him, and it was so unlike the character and personality he has displayed over the past few years. How can anyone trust this is the real Trump. He is indeed best as a reality TV show performer.

Or maybe we can trust what we saw. He and his administration have now promised everything for everybody with no sacrifice. More military spending. More infrastructure. Repeal of Obamacare that provided healthcare for millions. Followed by better access to healthcare for all. Improved border security. Less crime. Destroying ISIS everywhere around the world. Fewer regulations. Better economy. More jobs. No crime infested cities. A new immigration policy. A better Supreme Court. Faster sexier new jet fighters. Tax reform with lower taxes for the middle class and lower taxes for corporations. No more anti-Semitism. Fighting Radical Islamic terrorism. Afforable child care. Improved civil rights. More respect for the military and police or anyone in authority of course. Less judicial oversight of the police. Paid family leave. A huge new shiny wall. A larger modernized nuclear arsenal. Deportation of criminals, rapists, and terrorists (as long as they are not white Christian nationalists). No background checks for guns for the mentally ill. An economy that grows more than 3% a year. An honest press. No more pesky rules or an effective EPA that keeps our air and water clean. A unified country! Competition for public schools also paid or by taxpayers. A world where everyone respects us, or else! What great big thinking from our great glorious new leader!

This after all is the Donald Trump we know. A real estate developer and master salesman who will say anything, sell anything, to get ahead. Is it any surprise that a personality like his is also one that plays so loose with the facts and frequently exaggerates, misrepresents, or downright lies?  And we know that when people like this get caught, a signature tell-tale sign is that they always have to blame and attack others. It’s a way of allowing them to think that they did not intentionally mislead or lie, but someone or something else got in the way of them delivering on what they had sold,. And someone else is always at fault and to blame, certainly not the salesperson who over-promised to close the deal.

What makes me the maddest is that of course he did not share the details of how anything would get done, nor say what he has already done that does not at all support the working poor or most of his base. Like filling the cabinet with billionaires and generals, working to get rid of Dodd Frank and the Consumer Protection Bureau, getting rid of health care security, environmental and climate security, labor security, immigrant security, financial markets security, judicial security, and more as reported in this blog over the last month. He basically assumes that most Americans don’t get daily news, or they don’t understand it, or they simply don’t care to hear the devil in the details or research the whole truth.

Today protections of the environment come under attack, after consumer protection of yesterday. The EPA rolls back regulations protecting the inland waters of the US.  This just a day after that the head of the EPA, Scott Pruitt, lied about using private email accounts for his Oklahoma government state business. Reading the emails, it is obvious why. They showed a friendly incestous relationship with the oil and gas industry while he was AG of Oklahoma.

Republicans block attempts to have the President release his tax returns. Oh, I forgot, this imperial president is above the norms and standards of his office. Those only apply to Democrats.

Canada reports an influx of border crossing by those seeking asylum. The kicker: they are immigrants from the United States who feel at risk and are being persecuted! Could this be the first time people have left the US seeking asylum?

Meanwhile, Trump finally admits that health care is complicated after all and may not be so simple to fix. What a surprise! Who could have known that?

The Republicans in Congress are now working on killing the Consumer Protection Bureau. Yes, more help for the working poor taken advantage of by the global elite.

Trump announces he wants to give the military an extra $54B this year. And take away the same amount from domestic programs. More help at home for Americans! Not.

Reports surface that some U.S. citizens are now being stopped and detained then asked what religion they are. Aren’t we exceptional and great! Not.

Trump announces that he hopes Obamacare just implodes this year and destroys itself. A program that has saved more lives than ever lost to terrorism. He sounds like a terrorist to me wanting to blow up our government as we know it.

A private club for the wealthy, Mar-a-Lago, has become the defacto Southern White House. Or with as much time as Trump spends there, maybe it is more accurate to say that he has reloated and privatized the White House by moving it to Florida where it is literally pay-to-play, the media is off limits, and records of who visits are not public information.

The new attorney general’s tough talk on crime has led the justice department to rescind Obama’s order to discontinue the use of private prisons. An increase in the federal prison population is expected under the Trump administration.

---

The above news items have been taken from a number of international, national, regional, and local news media sources, both print and digital. Additional editorial opinions and comments about these news items are those of this author.