Countdown 83 days

HYPOCRISY and the DONALD                                                 

Trump’s use of executive orders is becoming the norm not the exception. In prior times the EOs were used as a stopgap measure where immediate action was required and legislation was to catch up. Trump himself had derided Obama for using the tool. His objection prior to his election was that Obama could not get anything done and if he Donald Trump was elected, he knew the art of the deal. It should have read the art of the steal. 

Another of his largest hypocrisy is his statement that “no one has been harder on Russia than I have.” Let’s examine how Trump has repaid Putin for his assistance in the last election and why anyone involved in international affairs refers to Trump as Putin’s puppet. The first thing Trump did when sworn in was to reinstate the sanctions Obama put on the residences associated with the Russian embassy, that were used to spy on the US as punishment for meddling in our elections.  He also played host the to Russian ambassador in the oval office.  Prior to the election in 2016 Trump had the opinion that Crimea was ethnically similar to Russia, so tacitly it was ok with Russia keeping the occupied territories. When congress put sanctions on Russia for interference in the 2016 elections, Trump slow rolled the implementation of the sanctions, but they are not fully implemented to this date. His slow roll of weapons to Ukraine also shows his loyalty to Putin. Trump has continued undermining NATO and reducing troops. This pullout was number one on Putin’s wish list. Trump continues urging nations to recognize Russia again as a member of the G-7.  Russia was kicked out of the G-7 due to its invasion and occupation of Ukraine. So Donald, no one has been harder on Russia? What about the stone cold silence over the bounties on American troops in Afghanistan? 

His handling of the pandemic is rife with hypocrisy. “If you want a test you can get a test.” and “It will magically disappear.” and“ We did an outstanding job with testing. “ and “It’s all under control”. and “A great success story.” and on and on and on with lies. All while the experts that follow science said otherwise to each of these alternate reality claims. But when you question any of these comments, it’s fake news. Trump has managed to move the experts in anyone else not in his reality show to the sidelines.

Trump compared the pandemic to a war and declared a national emergency. If it’s a war and you are Commander in Chief, what do you do? Trump actually stated, in a press conference that each state is responsible for their own local outbreaks and he was only a cheerleader. I am not responsible for the responses to the virus, says Pontius Pilate. He abandoned all 50 generals and slow rolled testing to help the enemy. Trump’s real war is on facts and science and the poor, in lieu of the war on poverty.

Trump has known most of his EOs would never pass any scrutiny if examined and no sane legislator would pass bills allowing the poisoning of waterways, elimination of EPA standards for clean air and water and many other of his deregulation, in the name of short sighted simplicity and expedience. 

The lack of reliance on science and facts and Trump’s use of his selfish instincts and confirmation bias, has led him to desperately make his fantasies a reality and he has convinced his minions to live within that same fact-free, opinion-based bubble.  Any facts that counter his perceived notions are labeled as “fake news” and Trump will emphatically defend his erroneous and deluded notions and observations. His use of  ”they say” and “I’ve heard it from a lot of people” and “most people don’t know this but…” gets old without facts backing his ignominious claims.

Regarding EOs, Trump issued a myriad of them over the last weekend, as a feeble attempt to sway voters in order to score political points for the short term gain. Each of the EOs have their own problems. The payroll tax holiday would require repayment, so Trump, the king of bribes said if elected, he would forgive the accumulated tax liability he created (the “only I can fix it” mantra). Remember if this tax holiday is forgiven, it will only hurt the elderly, as it funds Social Security, Medicare and Federal unemployment. This tax does nothing for the 33 million workers who were once in the workforce who now find themselves out of work, now with only 5 million jobs available. The moratorium on student debt only benefits the lender, being able to charge interest on the unpaid balance that was only deferred. The language in the eviction moratorium is not mandatory, but up to the discretion of the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) department and Sleepy Ben Carson. How discrete will they be made politically by state or region?  

The biggest hypocrisy is the $400 unemployment benefit which is really only $300 given up by federally (the states, strapped for cash are required to pony up the added $100), which is only temporary then and will turn into a total mess again when it expires. The House relief bill could cover the added $100 but it’s stalled. So how do the cash strapped states pay the added costs? Here is where it gets muddy. Larry Kudlow, director of the Council of Economic Advisors said that the administration would assist states with the added dollars upon request and their approval (Yah! I Just hope you are in a red state). Trump is taking the money from FEMA, that was a reserve for disaster relief in the middle of hurricane season. Sounds like good forward planning.

 Trump wants states to institute a new system that would calculate the 70% of the unemployed actual wages, for any additional unemployment benefits when these run out. This recalculation could take months and cost millions for each state. This requirement issued when most of the states use COBAL as the primary computer programing language. This is an arcane first generation programing language, which only elderly computer geeks have any knowledge.  This effort will wreak havoc on each system. Conversion or re-programming will take months while people suffer needlessly.

The Wall Street Journal wrote about Trump’s latest EOs, “The bad news is that he followed the Barack Obama method with executive orders, one of which stretches the law in a way that future presidents will surly cite as a precedent.”

Governor Cuomo of NY said of these last week’s EOs, comparing it to “handing a drowning man an anchor.” California governor said the EOs would cost California 700 million dollars a week, money the state does not have at this time and cannot print the money.

Senator Ben Sasse (R) from Nebraska responded to the Trump executive orders made last week by saying, ”I understand you’ve been frustrated, but I didn’t join your re-election committee, and I ran a primary ad admitting to Nebraskans that we sometimes agree and sometimes disagree.  You also know, I never asked for your endorsement, nor did I use it in the primary campaign. None of my disagreements are personal.” Calling his executive orders “unconstitutional slop.” He went on to say “On the topic that had you mad this weekend: No president – Whether named Obama or Trump or Biden or AOC-has unilateral power to rewrite immigration law or cut taxes or raise taxes.  This is because America doesn’t have kings.”  At least there is one Republican that speaks out on the utter stupidity of these feckless actions. These comments over the weekend made Trump furious. 

As far as Trump and the border go, he consistently rails about illegal border crossings and the fear of the caravans coming in hordes under Obama. He instilled enough fear when he generated a phony state of emergency. The border crossings under Obama were at a 50 year low when Trump took office. Obviously this was so he could use his “build the wall” mantra at his rallies. And don’t forget the hypocrisy of the “Mexico will pay for it 100%”. So he writes an EO to build the wall declaring a phony emergency.

The economic message by Larry Kudlow, bragging about the greatest numbers of new jobs ever. The 9.3 million jobs added in the last 3 months is a record, however it is less than half the total jobs lost in February and March, which totaled 22.2 million. In other bad news, the reduction in credit card spending has dropped, down 10% from last year. The markets are happy with the miserable economic news for the lower ½ of the economy.

Monday Trump said of the virus, “the closest thing is, uh, in 1917 they say, right, the great, the great pandemic certainly was a terrible thing where they lost anywhere from 50-100 million people probably ended the second world war all the soldiers were sick that was a terrible situation.” We called it right. His statement is so dumb, it makes anything Biden says as miniscule. Trump knows no history. Jared Kushner stated when initially installed, “we don’ t need to know about history just look at everyone’s failures in the past when it came to the Middle East.”  How did that work out in providing peace in that region?