Tag: trump

While We’re Land-grabbing . . . .

President Trump has made no secret of late that he’s looking to expand the borders of the United States. He’s identified several potential “targets”, and as he’s built his business empire on acquisitions of property, he must know what he’s doing.  His latest target is Greenland, which is apparently rich in natural resources and in a strategically important location.  But, let’s face it, it’s cold – most of it frozen.  How in the world can older Americans flock to a place like that, with few tropical amenities?  Has he never heard the term, “Snowbirds”? We’d assume as his primary residence is now Florida . . . From what I’ve seen, there isn’t a golf course in sight on Greenland.  No pools with swim-up bars.  Its waters are infested with icebergs, and we all know what happened to the Titanic.  Could this be a port of call for cruise ships?  I don’t see it myself.  I say, let the Danes keep it.  Not worth the trouble.

The Canadians too have overwhelmingly resisted joining the United States.  Apparently, the thought of becoming part of the United States of North America hasn’t quite the appeal Mr. Trump envisioned.  Canadians are sticking tenaciously to their sovereignty, along with “O, Canada” and the Maple Leaf.  I have to say, too, that the Canadian Parliament building is a beautiful, old-world edifice, but it does lack a grand ballroom.  Any renovations that Mr. Trump would make, including renaming it “Trump Castle” and converting it to a luxury hotel, would be seriously reduce its value.  That and the fact that Mr. Trump doesn’t speak French.  In fact, his English is barely passable, if his tweets are anything to go by.

Mr. Trump spoke early-on about bulldozing Gaza, relocating the Palestinians, and converting that into a resort area, as it has miles of lovely beaches on the Mediterranean. He dropped that plan when the world expressed a fair bit of outrage, particularly as the Palestinians have been there for thousands of years.  There is the question of where to relocate them.  There are a number of red states that we could make autonomous and give away, although that might meet with resistance from the locals.  

The recent “head-of-state snatch” from Venezuela, followed by Trump’s announcement that the “US would be running Venezuela” in the near future, suggests another option for a 51st state.  Dipping our toe into South American waters, as it were.  A major problem, though, is that ICE agents are deporting Venezuelans currently in the US back to their home country.  If it becomes ours, then where do we send them?  The other big issue, of course, is that, while a certain volume of drugs brought into the US may, or may not, be on those speedboats we’re blowing up in the Gulf of Mexico America, far more is coming through Mexico, assembled from chemicals made in China.  So, if we truly want to cut down on the importation of illegal, lethal drugs, we really should make a play for Mexico.  That’s quite a bit more difficult.  Mexicans are even more resistant to foreign takeover than Canadians.  We’d do well to remember how well Emperor Maximillian, an Austrian prince installed there, worked out in the 19th century.  Although, in fairness, I’d be willing to give them back Texas, if we added Ted Cruz and Governor Abbott into the deal. 

In a recent speech to the World Economic Forum, Mr. Trump awkwardly confused Iceland and Greenland.  True, they’re both ice-covered islands in the North Atlantic.  We also know that, from his first term, when Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, he didn’t seem fully aware that PR is actually part of the United States.  Rather, he thinks it’s an island from which waitstaff and housekeepers come.  Oddly, geography isn’t his strong suit, which is puzzling for someone that has a global empire of often bankrupt resorts.  Perhaps he subconsciously is planning to take over Iceland as well, with its spectacular scenery, hot springs, and all.  Yes, I can just see Trump-Iceland becoming as popular as Trump-Gaza.  

America’s record of empire-building is spotty at best.  We acquired the Philippines, along with Puerto Rico and Guam, only to have to let them go to independence.  We had South Vietnam in the palm of our hands, only to let it slip away.  We installed the Shah in Iran, and that too didn’t work out too well for us.  Nor did Afghanistan.  In fact, the only real land acquisitions we’ve successfully made were the Louisiana Purchase and buying Alaska from Russia.  We could point to the hostile takeover of Hawaii too, where we deposed and imprisoned the Queen, but why quibble over details.  Conquest is conquest. If anyone is up to the task of recreating the great, worldwide empires of the past, a latter-day Napoleon Bonaparte, the very person to lead that charge is Donald J. Trump.  

So, if we’re to recommence adding territory to the United States, my firm recommendation is that we take over warmer lands that we seniors can enjoy.  Tahiti, for example, is isolated and probably unarmed.  It’s ripe for a takeover. Aruba and the Virgin Islands.  I’ve always wanted to go there, but don’t want to have to renew my passport.  We could buy Bermuda from, well, whoever owns it now.  In fact, anything in the Caribbean, or as it will henceforth be known, the Trumpibbean, flowing into the Gulf of Mexico America, is fair game.  Let’s make Jamaica and Cuba Great Again!  Let’s start printing up those new maps and atlases now, and get those hats and t-shirts into production. 

The Craziness Is Back – Part II

There’s no doubt – he’s back.  As I wrote before, the man who delights in shocking us has returned as captain of our ship, and he’s heading us straight for the rocks.  Going after perceived   “opponents”, be it Democrats, immigrants, the previous administration, judges, museums, colleges and universities, even law firms. Let’s slash and burn to save money.  Except for a staggering amount on a military parade that nobody wants but him.  A show of power and, dare I say it, ego. Yes, Hitler, Putin, and Kim Jong Un have done it too. Vintage Trump.  MAGA has become synonymous with “Take Control and Run Roughshod”.  

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The Kennedy Center: Our Cultural Home No Longer

Shortened to the “Kennedy Center”, it is officially the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, sitting majestically on the Potomac. It opened in 1971 to honor the late President for his and Mrs. Kennedy’s great passion for the visual and performing arts.  It contains commissioned works of art, a gallery of flags from around the world, and wonderful performing venues.  It is home to the National Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Opera. In short, it’s the United States’ cultural home and showplace. 

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And the Craziness Is Back

Yes, he’s back.  The man who delights in upsetting the applecart has returned to the White House.  The first two weeks in office have been like watching a squirrel in the middle of the road.  Working on nerve endings and knee-jerk reactions.  Blinding lashing out at “opponents”, the previous administration, diversity.  Rather than consoling the friends and families of after that terrible, tragic plane/helicopter crash over the Potomac, he pointed his long, ugly finger at Joe Biden for allowing “diversity” into the ranks of air traffic controllers.  Replace sadness and compassion with anger.  Vintage Trump.

Rule by Executive Order.  After all, Americans gave him a “mandate”.  He swept the popular vote by a truly mind-blowing 1.5% margin. For comparison, Richard Nixon beat George McGovern by just over 23% in 1972.  Ronald Reagan won his second term by almost 59% of the popular vote over former Vice President Walter Mondale, and Mondale only captured 13 votes in the Electoral College.  So, with this new “mandate”, President Trump really doesn’t need Congress. The Constitution either.  “Birthright Citizenship” is clearly spelled out in the 14th Amendment, which states that citizenship is acquired in one of two ways – a person is born in the US and its territories, or at least one parent is an American citizen.  This was passed just after the Civil War, and its intent was clear – former slaves would automatically become citizens.  It was meant to negate the flurry of state legislation prohibiting citizenship rights to African Americans.  No matter, contend Republicans supportive of the latest action, that’s not what post-Civil War legislators really meant.  

There has been a barrage of back-and-forth, squirrel-like scurrying as decisions are made, rescinded, and blocked by the courts.  Federal employees scrambling, their jobs uncertain from day to day, hour to hour. Because most of his intention to cut spending is outside his purview – that is Congress’ job.  In fact, he’s not absolutely clear on the roles of each division of government.  Congress sets policy through legislation, and determines allocations of money.  The Executive branch carries out those policies, and oversees the funding that Congress has approved.  And the Judicial determines that which is legal and that which isn’t. Clearly defined.  Nowhere in the Constitution is the President authorized to appoint his friends and family to an outside “department” review the operations of government. The Constitution, nor acts of Congress, allow those outside individuals to demand official government records and documents, or to interfere with normal government operations. 

Interestingly, the piles of executive orders tell us more about what Mr. Trump doesn’t like, rather than what he does.

He doesn’t like diversity.  Few non-white nominees for key positions.  Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, and Kash Patel, designate for FBI director are about it.  Vivek Ramaswamy has stepped away from the “department” to which he was ‘appointed” as he considers a possible run for office elsewhere.  Mr. Trump has issued decrees banning any policies in government departments that mention diversity and/or equity, and has revoked funding for transgender medical care.  He even finds the name, “Gulf of Mexico”, offensive.

He also doesn’t particularly care for non-rich people.  His advisors and appointees include more than a dozen billionaires.  We should expect that, like his tax overhaul of 2017, new policies and regulation-cutting will favor those with money – lots of it.  We remember Betsy DeVos, the Secretary of Education in his first term, pushing for-profit schools (and denying debt-forgiveness when those schools went belly-up), private schools and vouchers. This time, he’s appointed a billionaire donor from the world of professional wrestling, who’s mission, apparently, is to abolish the department altogether.

He doesn’t put much “stock” in alternative energy sources, or the development thereof.  His pick of Chris Wright, a man right out of the fossil fuel industry and an advocate of “fracking”, to be Energy Secretary, isn’t likely to advance new initiatives.  Mr. Trump has taken the US out, once again, of the Paris Climate Agreement, and issued an executive order that cancelled funding for wind turbines, solar energy, and other energy development projects.  Pleasant news for the Chinese, virtually “passing the ball” on to them to develop the globe’s new sources of energy when oil and gas run out, which they will.

He doesn’t place much value on medical research, having put a freeze on funding grants by the National Institute of Health for the development of new medications, vaccines, and treatment programs. Included were cancer treatments and possible immunizations for new global infectious diseases should they come along, which they will, and withdrawn the US from the World Health Organization, which shares vital information among its member countries. 

He also doesn’t care much for foreign aid, having listened to his billionaire advisors, who probably aren’t seeing much return from it on their business investments.  Even though it funds clean energy, medical care, preventing pollution, and education in poor and developing countries, the world’s good will isn’t that important.  It’s more important that we’re number one and keep it that way.  “We Are the World” has been replaced by “America First.”

It is one thing to take a systematic review of government investments and the services they provide its citizens.  But it would seem to this observer that it is a time-consuming process, looking at all aspects of those services and, in particular, the unintended consequences of their reduction or elimination.  For example, reducing the number of tax examiners at the IRS would seem, on the surface, to be a popular, vote-getting idea.  Until you factor in the lost revenue from illegal tax avoidance.  Reductions in the numbers of federal employees typically means that agencies are slower and less able to respond to changes in policy, like the recent Social Security Fairness Act, or to things like natural disasters – floods, wildfires, and hurricanes.  One of the more concerning issues from the last election is affordability, and skyrocketing prices of housing.  Will the deportation of thousands, perhaps millions of immigrant construction workers, desperately needed to rebuild southern California and across the country, hinder solutions to construction and reconstruction?  (Side note – the building industry estimates it will need, going forward, almost half a million workers that it currently doesn’t have.) Or, how will putting tariffs on the supplies of building materials from Canada affect home prices? Probably not well. But as our new president has sounded loudly the alarm against the undocumented, the vast majority of whom are in fact “documented” – holding drivers licenses, residency documents, and paying taxes with valid tax returns, he feels committed to both avenues of narrative. Will cybersecurity take a hit as hackers both at home and abroad gain a foothold? It’s possible the government could lose track of possible terrorist cells and other bad actors, because the FBI tracks them.  These are all essential services that we take for granted, even if we don’t see them in action every day.  

It won’t be tomorrow, or even in a month or two.  But the craziness will catch up with us.  The disruptions in which Mr. Trump delights will manifest themselves negatively, and it will get ugly. It did before, and it’s starting again. Americans that voted for him, confident that he would bring down prices, that he’d “improve” the economy, and deport undesirables will find themselves sadly disillusioned in the not-too-distant future, possibly even by the next mid-term election.  The political pendulum will, as it always does, swing back.  

Yes, I’m Still an Independent Voter

Well, that time is rolling around once again. I originally posted some of this in 2020, before the general election that either was legitimate or “stolen”.  We have to ask ourselves if we’ve moved forward, backward, or just have been treading water.  Democrats want to move on, to make changes, to adapt.  Republicans want to step back, because what worked for years surely must still be of value.  Fingers are pointing, blame is laid. Two presidential candidates – one a former prosecutor, the other convicted. An interesting choice.  So, here we go again.

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Heading Into the Primaries, Again

Once again, the election process kicks in.  This is not an endorsement for any candidate, as I feel that would seriously jeopardize my credentials as an impartial, independent blogger / influencer.  For those of you that don’t understand the primary system, it’s a convoluted, messy, scrappy way that we pick delegates, and sometimes really good delegates – they’re called superdelegates, state-by-state that will eventually elect the party’s nominees. We have dozens of candidates blowing through gazillions of gallons of jet fuel crisscrossing the country in attractive geometric patterns, and its ultimate purpose is to take all of the mystery and surprise out of the conventions. That’s it in a nutshell. Right now, there’s a lot of fun going on here in New Hampshire surrounding our primary because it’s the first officially scheduled one, except for Iowa, which is a caucus and not really a primary.  The difference is that, people go to polling stations and, well, I’m not really sure what, but somehow, they indicate their preferences.  We use a paper ballot, which is much better.  Then we have foreign nationals to count the ballots and tell us who won.  

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