Countdown 100 days to the election

TRUMP’S REALITY

False claims are the hallmark of the Trump administration. These claims are meant to provide reassurance to a gullible audience and show that all is alright in Trump world. These boasts are easily rebuked by anyone with Siri and the Internet. 

Hidden between the virus disinformation and the disinformation on the health of the economy and the Black Lives Matter protests, Trump has managed to slip in lies about localized industries. These lies are aimed at the specific sectors of the electorate. The three specific examples are the lobster industry, the corn/ethanol industry, and the oil and gas industries.

LOBSTER AND FISHERIES

Trump falsely stated, “President Obama destroyed the lobster and fishing industry in Maine. Note: It’s back, bigger and better than everyone thought possible. Enjoy your ‘lobstering” and fishing!  Make lots of money!” This lie was sent via a tweet.  You can ask Siri, is this true?

The Obama reference was to a Marine Sanctuary established in 2016, meant to preserve fishing for species that have been overfished and needed to be reestablished or totally wiped out by over fishing.  Drilling and oil exploration was banned in these protected areas.  Obama had carved out a 7-year exemption for lobster and red crab fishing. This designation of the sanctuary had no effect on the lobster industry.

In  2016 there was a record haul of lobster, with the total of 136 million pounds worth of the crustaceans.  This record had more to do with the prior years’ favorable ocean conditions.  These conditions were ideal for the lobster procreation and resulted in the record.  The lobster fishing has declined under Trump, and this had nothing to do with Obama. The natural fluctuations in the haul, as well as the Chinese retaliatory tariffs in 2018 and 2019, have had an effect and Trump is responsible for that debacle.  Nonetheless, the lobster industry is still netting over 100 million pounds per year for the last  nine years.

Maine Cod fishing has declined for years and the sanctuary was not only necessary, it saved the species from overfishing and extinction. This is election season and Mainers know the truth and the lie is for another audience. Trump’s followers that think everything is rosy because he said so.  His appeal is to the party of stupid that will not question his inaccuracies.

As far as other fish, the invasive non-native Asian Carp for years has been a problem in the Great Lakes region. This invasive species will destroy the ecosystem, eliminate native species, damage commercial fisheries and is threatening to enter the Great Lakes.

Trump promised Michigan voters he would help protect the Great Lakes from the Asian Carp. Trump said of the invasion, “Who would have thought that was going to happen? The US Army Corps of Engineers already have a plan, and we are going to get this done and ready to go.” 

Trump had chided Obama for being slow to respond. Obama had provided $40-80 million a year from 2010 to control the Carp. Under Trump the funding continued at $30-45 million per year.  The budget request for 2021 does not contain any funding for this effort.  This belies his rhetoric in promising support for the control of the problem.  So much for promises.  Is this Trump’s way of saying, leave it to the next guy to fund support for the cause?

CORN, CORN, CORN

Trump’s corn problems stem from more than one source.  Corn is used for ethanol. It is a major export commodity and it is a source of calories. Trump gave assurances to corn farmers in the Midwest and claimed to have “kept our promise on ethanol” and then falsely claimed the democrats with wanting to “wipe out, totally, Iowa ethanol.”   

Trump has lifted the ban on summer use of the blend 85/15 blend using ethanol, however his EPA gave waivers to refineries to bypass the regulation. Trump has a failed bifurcated policy attempting to placate the oil and gas industry and the ethanol corn producers at the same time.

The Democrats are in lock step with adding additional funding supporting ethanol production and are supportive of green initiatives, more so than the Republicans.

OIL AND GAS

Trump takes credit for trends that had their origins in the Obama administration. Trump falsely claimed he opened up the liquified natural gas (LNG) that had their permits languishing under Obama. Trump claimed ”plants in Louisiana, where they were for years – for 10, 11, 12, 14 years and longer – are trying to get permits.”

Of the seven LNQ plants in operation in Louisiana, six received their permits under Obama with wait times for approval of permits of under 2 years. The seventh permit was initiated in 2016 and was approved under Trump. 

“I saved the oil industry,” Trump said in Texas in July. “I created it; we became No.1. We have millions of jobs. And we saved it, so Texas is not going to have to let go of millions and millions of people”. Clearly Trump did not create the oil industry and the US became the world’s top oil and gas producer in 2013 under Obama.

As far as saving the Texas oil industry he may be referring to his role in brokering a deal between Russia and Saudi Arabia, in reducing output of oil to bolster the prices. As the result of the pandemic and travel being curtailed, the oil industry has not recovered and is currently sheading jobs with the decline in production, with over supply and lack of storage. 

The facts show the fall in U.S. production is unprecedented in the historical record. Oil and gas production have not rebounded. New drilling is at the levels of the great recession and the industry will not recover until the drilling rebounds.

Trump seems to be at odds with facts, what’s new? The chest beating works when it is localized and no one knows any better. It’s all political theater, with disinformation, lies and feel good rhetoric from someone that concentrates more on marshalling troops in the cities fighting American citizens than on the Covid-19 virus. Storm troopers are going to “dominate the streets” as a Trump wish and Barr’s command.

The ill-informed Trump supporters repeat his lies as justification for their support, like lemmings.  After all, that’s how his base has earned the nicknames as the party of stupid.