The Myth of Donald J. Trump
By Hank Silverberg
I admit it, I am stumped. I just can't fathom how anyone can support Donald J. Trump for re-election. I have asked people why. Some say I should "look at all the things he has accomplished in the last four years."
That completely flabbergasts me.
But, since I really want to understand, let's take a look at what he has done over the last four years--just some of the low lights.
1) He signed a tax cut that Republican lawmakers ramrodded through Congress when they controlled both chambers. That pushed the federal deficit over a trillion dollars in pre-pandemic 2019, more than double what it was in 2015. It's a deficit my great-grandchildren will be paying off, if they can.
And just this past week or so he proposed doing away with the Payroll Tax. That's the famous FICA money that comes out of your paycheck and helps pay for Social Security and Medicare. First, this tax cut is only going to help those working, not the millions now out of work because of the pandemic and his suggestion for now is temporary, meaning you will have to pay the tax in 2021 instead. Secondly it will further reduce the source of funding for two very popular insurance programs that we are ALL paying into and all expecting to get benefits from. Trump has indicated he'd like to make the payroll tax cut permanent.
Apparently Trump has never taken a commuter train. He doesn't understand about the electrified third rail on the tracks which can kill you if you touch it. That's why Social Security and Medicare have always been called the "third rail of politics". Touch them and the voters will fry you. Don't believe me? Ask your parents or grandparents.
2) The economy was in pretty good shape when Trump took office. President Obama had shepherded it through eight years of recovery following the big recession of 08'. The unemployment rate was 4.7% when he left office in January 2017. For the first few years of the Trump administration, the economy stayed strong as the federal deficit climbed because of the initial tax cut. Then came the pandemic. Trump can't be held responsible for the Covid-19 virus, but he can be held responsible for his slow response to the threat this past January. That has led to more than 170,000 deaths and the economic downturn, with the unemployment rate as high as 14.7% by April. It's now hovering at 10.2% with the federal deficit now up to $1.09 TRILLION. That was a major "accomplishment."
(In the chart above you will note the deficit was on the downturn during the eight years of the Obama presidency, but started going up again in 2017 after Trump took office. Unlike Trump Casinos, the USA can not declare bankruptcy.)
So, what else has Trump accomplished in his four years in office?
3) He has confused the public by ignoring the advice of experts on shutdowns and face masks, making the pandemic worse. In fact, he could have followed a well planned response to a pandemic which had been left intact by the Obama administration. It was used in 2014 during the Ebola epidemic when only two people died in the United States. But the plan was rejected right away, not because it was flawed or outdated, but simply because it came from--the Obama administration.
4) Also among Trump's major "accomplishments" has been the vast dismantling of environmental laws across the country that will be felt for decades. He rolled back regulations that had brought us significant progress toward cleaner water and air over the last 50 years. Trump also took the United States out of the Paris Climate Change Accords making us the laughingstock of the world and infuriating our allies.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/15/trump-to-weaken-national-environmental-policy-act.html
5) And then there is health care, which Mr. Trump declared as one of his most important issues four years ago. It has not improved. The Affordable Care Act does have flaws and they could have been fixed. But Trump has been obstructionist all the way on improvements and still has lawsuits pending that try to eliminate Obamacare completely cutting off health care for more than 20 million people. Trump has proposed NO alternative.
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| (Part of the $11 billion wall) |
Add these "accomplishments" to the items above:
His continued authoritarian-like attacks on the media that are undermining the free press and with it our Democracy.
His tacit support of the white supremacist movement and his endorsement of far right-wing political candidates across the country.
His twitter whining and name calling on everything from kneeling at football games to TV ratings.
His latest attack on the Post Office for private political gain (see below).
His inability to say anything to unite the country on any issue during the current pandemic.
I just can't see why any American would vote for him.
He couldn't have accomplished all this of course, without the help of the Republicans in Congress. They have rubber stamped his policies. Especially egregious is the Republican controlled Senate which pushed through an Impeachment trial without actually looking at the evidence.
But Mr. Trump has made some progress in one of the biggest issues of our time: low flush toilets and low flow shower heads. He wants to ban them. (Yes, this is true.)
Updated UPDATE.
Since I first wrote two weeks ago about the Trump administration's attack on the U.S. Postal Service, things have heated up a bit. The Postal Service has now sent a detailed 10 page letter to 46 states and D.C. warning that it can not guarantee all ballots cast by mail for the November 3rd election will arrive on time to be counted.
That means even if you follow all your state's rules for mail-in voting your vote may be disqualified for arriving late. This is all connected to those so-called "cost cutting" moves put in place by the new Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, a major Trump donor.
As I have written before, this is all part of Trump's effort to suppress the vote, hoping that people afraid to come out to cast their ballot during the pandemic, will try to vote by mail and end up mailing it
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| (One of many photos on twitter of mail boxes being removed) |
Yes, the Post Office is billions of dollars in debt. But it was NEVER designed to be profitable and has always been subsidized by your tax dollars. It's a public service, not a business.
Dejoy's "cost cutting measures" included taking thousands of U.S. mail boxes off the street, though that tactic was stopped over the weekend after complaints across the country. He is also removing automated mail sorting machines that do the work of 30 people. Then he eliminated overtime for postal employees. They can no longer work late if they haven't finished their route or sorting all those letters that the machines used to handle.
The result has been late mail across the country, including medications for veterans and the elderly. (More than 90,000 veterans work for the Post Office.)
The President has confirmed all this, but has said he doesn't want to bail out the Post Office. He has advocated making it a private business, even though Article 1, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution mandates a government-run postal service.
As I reported last week, Congress has been fiddling with a pandemic relief package. Even though there is strong support to give the Post Office several billion dollars in that package to handle the balloting issue, the lack of movement on a relief package, particularly in the Republican controlled Senate, could screw up your vote in the Presidential election. (The President says he will not veto such a package, even if it includes money for the Post Office.)
Dejoy is being called to testify before the House Oversight Committee which has jurisdiction over the Post Office. Virginia Congressman Gerry Connolly tweeted out that the invitation is not optional. If DeJoy doesn't come and answer questions, he will be subpoenaed. Then he could be held in contempt of Congress if he doesn't show up.
With just under three months to go before the election, congress may finally start moving. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called the House back into session this week to vote on a bill prohibiting the Postal Service from instituting ANY changes in operations or service for 90 days , meaning not until after the election. If you want to tell the Postmaster General what you think of his moves that slow down the mail, here's his email address: louis.dejoy@usps.gov I'd normally say, send him a letter, but under current conditions it may never get there.
As for everyone voting, my suggestion again is that you vote in person (wear a mask and social distance), or hand deliver your absentee or mail-in ballot to make sure it beats the deadline and your vote is counted. I'll be voting in person even if I have to wear a hazmat suit, though I will use my state's early voting process to avoid the long lines.
Newly disclosed air attack over Lake Michigan:
There was a strong defense of our airspace last month from an American Bald Eagle flying over Lake Michigan. It seems the raptor
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| This eagle has a fish, not a drone (photo by Mathew Schwartz) |
The drone was being flown by Hunter King from Michigan's Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (ironically abbreviated EGLE), who was mapping soil erosion along the lake's Upper Peninsula shoreline.
King told MLive.com, a news service which serves Michigan, that the drone sent 27 frantic signals while it was being attacked, even as the eagle tore off a propeller. He tried to recall it, but the drone plunged 162 feet into the drink. It took King several hours to actually find the drone's remains in four feet of water near the shoreline. He says the eagle may have mistaken the drone for a good meal or felt threatened in some way. Or, says King, the bird may have just been angry about the agency's acronym.
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