I haven’t posted in more than a week. There’s a reason. I’m really tired of writing about President Trump and his team.
Little, if anything, they do pleases me. Little, if anything, they do helps the very voters who elected him. So I decided, for my own peace of mind, or at least a piece of peace of mind, I don’t want to contribute to Trump being the new normal. So here I am, with him the topic … again.
Those of us who oppose the way he wants to do things or his immature behavior in office should not ignore him or tire of him. That’s what will “normalize” him.
This presidency is not “normal,” and not even revolutionary in the sense that things are getting accomplished along the lines of the agenda he preached on his campaign. He constantly yells “fake news” when he doesn’t like what’s being said about him – and the more he gets away with that the more people really think the mainstream media makes things up.
Oh, sure, he’s going ahead with his border wall – but Mexico isn’t paying for it, we are. He has come back with the second iteration of his promised travel ban on Muslims (call it what he will) and that is under legal challenge too. Jobs are not “coming back” because of him but he is taking credit for every additional job – even those announced a year or more ago, before even he thought he'd be President some day. Yesterday, he took away some of our privacy rights on the Internet, allowing internet providers now to comb our search records and sell them to the highest bidders. I guess that could create jobs in other countries for scam callers to follow up on what they learned.
He continues his attacks on the media, which I know pleases many people who hate the media – but, folks, wait until that media isn’t tracking his every deed and utterance. See what surprises are in store for you then. And you won’t notice them right away. A couple of the above examples are proof. These things did not get widespread coverage in local media, I’m sure, and they aren't what his voters expected.
Do journalists make mistakes? Yes. Are some people who call themselves journalists just flacks for a certain ideology? Yes. Are the cable networks airing too much opinion and not enough fact? Yes.
But the vast majority of mainstream journalists are just doing their job as best they can. If they weren’t, this Administration wouldn’t oppose them at every turn crying “fake news” when they don’t like a story. Problem is, many people in this country are willing to buy that.
He and his whole administration is boycotting the coming White House Correspondents dinner, an event that grew beyond its purpose years ago but was and should be an opportunity for sources and reporters to get together for a night of fun and off-the-job getting to know you. It should be a celebration of the First Amendment not of any Administration or Hollywood celebrity. But even that has become a battlefield for Mr. Trump. His press secretary will not only not sit at the head table, as is tradition, but won’t attend. Nor will the President of any member of his administration.
Sean Spicer, his press secretary, yesterday got after April Ryan, a long time White House correspondent, and chastised her in a live TV broadcast briefing (chastise being the nicest word I can think of) because he attacked a legitimate question she asked and when she shook her head in a “no” pattern, Spicer then told her to “…stop shaking your head..” I guess implying that this grown woman's recess rights would be taken away.
This is not normal -- old or new. Despite owning the White House and both houses of Congress, Trump could not come close to getting enough votes for his health care “repeal and replace.” This bill would have thrown 24 million people off health insurance, according to the Congressional Budget Office which is headed by a Republican. The supporters of the bill argue that point. But, okay, let’s say it just took health insurance away from a million people, is that okay?
Now his next big promise is tax reform but without health care reform, he loses the billions of dollars in savings that were to pay for his tax cuts. Still, he is going ahead with it, without the dollars to offset any cuts.
And we haven’t hit his 100th day yet.
Each day is a merry-go-round full of charges, counter charges and lies. Even the Congressional investigations Trump requested, he now is trying to block at each turn. Nothing to hide? Then what is the problem, let them investigate.
Several former top officials and friends of Trump’s have volunteered to testify, including his son-in-law. That demonstrates openness, they say, but I suspect at least one will lie, one will claim executive privilege and one likely has stayed within legal boundaries in his business of lobbying for Eastern European clients. The thing is, you can stay within the legal bounds but sell your morals and country down the river. I know, I’ve been in that business.
I don’t dispute Trump’s election. But I do not like the way he is “governing” which really is just signing executive orders, cutting back regulations that will harm the environment and workers’ rights, and holding rallies for his supporters. His governing thus far helps business, not workers. And even the coal miners don't believe their industry is coming back as Trump promises.
To employ people they did to be trained for today's jobs, not yesterday's. And he's cutting programs that go to that end.
I also don’t like the millions it’s costing to give him security when he goes to his playground in Florida. I know a president works 24 hours a day, but he doesn’t have to do it at such a monetary cost to us all and a quality of life cost to those who live around his Mar-a-Lago club where I know that people don’t leave the area for dinner with friends because of all the blocked streets.
And I don’t like that he has ticked off more of our allies than our enemies.
We just cannot ignore this.
Little, if anything, they do pleases me. Little, if anything, they do helps the very voters who elected him. So I decided, for my own peace of mind, or at least a piece of peace of mind, I don’t want to contribute to Trump being the new normal. So here I am, with him the topic … again.
Those of us who oppose the way he wants to do things or his immature behavior in office should not ignore him or tire of him. That’s what will “normalize” him.
This presidency is not “normal,” and not even revolutionary in the sense that things are getting accomplished along the lines of the agenda he preached on his campaign. He constantly yells “fake news” when he doesn’t like what’s being said about him – and the more he gets away with that the more people really think the mainstream media makes things up.
Oh, sure, he’s going ahead with his border wall – but Mexico isn’t paying for it, we are. He has come back with the second iteration of his promised travel ban on Muslims (call it what he will) and that is under legal challenge too. Jobs are not “coming back” because of him but he is taking credit for every additional job – even those announced a year or more ago, before even he thought he'd be President some day. Yesterday, he took away some of our privacy rights on the Internet, allowing internet providers now to comb our search records and sell them to the highest bidders. I guess that could create jobs in other countries for scam callers to follow up on what they learned.
He continues his attacks on the media, which I know pleases many people who hate the media – but, folks, wait until that media isn’t tracking his every deed and utterance. See what surprises are in store for you then. And you won’t notice them right away. A couple of the above examples are proof. These things did not get widespread coverage in local media, I’m sure, and they aren't what his voters expected.
Do journalists make mistakes? Yes. Are some people who call themselves journalists just flacks for a certain ideology? Yes. Are the cable networks airing too much opinion and not enough fact? Yes.
But the vast majority of mainstream journalists are just doing their job as best they can. If they weren’t, this Administration wouldn’t oppose them at every turn crying “fake news” when they don’t like a story. Problem is, many people in this country are willing to buy that.
He and his whole administration is boycotting the coming White House Correspondents dinner, an event that grew beyond its purpose years ago but was and should be an opportunity for sources and reporters to get together for a night of fun and off-the-job getting to know you. It should be a celebration of the First Amendment not of any Administration or Hollywood celebrity. But even that has become a battlefield for Mr. Trump. His press secretary will not only not sit at the head table, as is tradition, but won’t attend. Nor will the President of any member of his administration.
Sean Spicer, his press secretary, yesterday got after April Ryan, a long time White House correspondent, and chastised her in a live TV broadcast briefing (chastise being the nicest word I can think of) because he attacked a legitimate question she asked and when she shook her head in a “no” pattern, Spicer then told her to “…stop shaking your head..” I guess implying that this grown woman's recess rights would be taken away.
This is not normal -- old or new. Despite owning the White House and both houses of Congress, Trump could not come close to getting enough votes for his health care “repeal and replace.” This bill would have thrown 24 million people off health insurance, according to the Congressional Budget Office which is headed by a Republican. The supporters of the bill argue that point. But, okay, let’s say it just took health insurance away from a million people, is that okay?
Now his next big promise is tax reform but without health care reform, he loses the billions of dollars in savings that were to pay for his tax cuts. Still, he is going ahead with it, without the dollars to offset any cuts.
And we haven’t hit his 100th day yet.
Each day is a merry-go-round full of charges, counter charges and lies. Even the Congressional investigations Trump requested, he now is trying to block at each turn. Nothing to hide? Then what is the problem, let them investigate.
Several former top officials and friends of Trump’s have volunteered to testify, including his son-in-law. That demonstrates openness, they say, but I suspect at least one will lie, one will claim executive privilege and one likely has stayed within legal boundaries in his business of lobbying for Eastern European clients. The thing is, you can stay within the legal bounds but sell your morals and country down the river. I know, I’ve been in that business.
I don’t dispute Trump’s election. But I do not like the way he is “governing” which really is just signing executive orders, cutting back regulations that will harm the environment and workers’ rights, and holding rallies for his supporters. His governing thus far helps business, not workers. And even the coal miners don't believe their industry is coming back as Trump promises.
To employ people they did to be trained for today's jobs, not yesterday's. And he's cutting programs that go to that end.
I also don’t like the millions it’s costing to give him security when he goes to his playground in Florida. I know a president works 24 hours a day, but he doesn’t have to do it at such a monetary cost to us all and a quality of life cost to those who live around his Mar-a-Lago club where I know that people don’t leave the area for dinner with friends because of all the blocked streets.
And I don’t like that he has ticked off more of our allies than our enemies.
We just cannot ignore this.
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