Donald Trump has now been in the White House for a little more than six months, so it seems like a good time to look back and ask, what has he accomplished so far? If we're honest (and despite what his most ardent supporters claim), the answer is not very much.
Trump claimed recently that he's signed more bills so far than any president in history. That's simply not true. Sure, he's signed a gaggle of executive orders repealing a bunch of Obama era regulations and restarting the XL pipeline, among other things. But let's take a look at the major promises he made on the campaign trail:
Health care: This is perhaps his biggest failing. Trump promised Americans that he would repeal President Obama's signature legislative achievement on his very first day in office. So far, that hasn't happened. In fact, not only have Republicans been unable to repeal Obamacare, it's become very clear that they have no real plan to replace it with, and that they never had a plan. It's become clear that they only used the issue to win votes and gain power. The problem is, once they achieved that goal, they had no idea what to do next. In the meantime, thank goodness, Obamacare survives.
The Wall: So far, this has failed to materialize. And despite the fact that the number of deportations has increased and DREAMers are now being deported, it's not even on the radar. There's been no discussion about funding. And there certainly has been no more discussion about Mexco paying for the wall. For right now, at least, it's a dead issue.
Muslim ban: This has met with only limited success. His first attempt was roundly rejected when it failed to take into account people who were here legally. He tried again, and this time, met with a very narrow definition of success. The ban was allowed to go into effect, but it is far from what he wanted, since it allows almost all manner of relatives to come into the country instead of the very narrow definition that he tried to implement originally. The overall impact is that very few people are actually kept out, and that's a good thing. And the existing ban still faces legal challenges.
Jobs: This was perhaps the one thing that put him over the top. And yet, it also has been proven to be all smoke and mirrors. Right before the election, it was announced that Trump had cut a deal with Carrier to keep jobs in Indianapolis. This was touted as evidence of Trump "going to bat" for the working class. Now, we know that very few jobs, if any, were actually saved. In fact, Carrier just announced that 600 people would soon be laid off in two waves. So how many jobs did he actually save? Consider also his answer for putting Americans back to work. Trump wants to put steep punitive tariffs on goods coming into this country. The idea is two-fold: keep foreign-made goods from flooding the market and encourage people to buy American. Sounds good, right? Except that our trading partners have already said that they would respond by placing steep punitive tariffs on American goods coming into their countries. Which would, of course, wreak havoc on our economy. Keep in mind also that China, who buys more American-made goods than anyone in the world, holds trillions of dollars in U.S. debt, and the folly of this move becomes apparent. If China is angered and decides to call in those markers, the U.S. economy would crater and would likely never recover. So how is this a good idea again?
The truth is, Trump has accomplished very little in his first six months. And while that would normally be cause for concern, in this case, I say good. I hope it continues. Because the less he accomplishes, the safer we, and the world, are.
Sunday, July 30, 2017
Sunday, July 16, 2017
Trump supporters deserve our scorn, not sympathy
One almost has to feel sorry for Trunp supporters, and the GOP in general. Every day, it seems a new scanadal surfaces that they have to defend, or there's fresh new evidence of Trump's breathtaking incompetence. The latest evidence of this is seen in recent reports that Trump's son, Don Jr., took a meeting with a Russian lawyer with ties to the Kremlin because he thought she had information damaging to Hillary Clinton. This is just the latest in a growing mountain of evidence that Trump and his campaign did, in fact, collude with the Russians in trying to throw the election to Trump. Of course, even when faced with incontrovertible proof of collusion, the GOP continues to deny that there's anything amiss. "There's nothing to see here," they continue to say. "This is all just made up poppycock in an attempt to damage the greatest president since Reagan. This is FAKE NEWS."
In the first place, let's be clear. There's no such thing as "fake news," at least not in the sense that Trump is using it, Just because you don't like a story doesn't make it fake. Just because you don't agree with something you read doesn't make it fake, Facts are facts, And denying their existence just because you don't like them doesn't make them any less true. Now, granted. It must be hard to be a Trump supporter. Just the sheer number of scandals and missteps that need defending must be exhausting. It's almost enough to make you feel sorry for them, until you begin to take a closer look at Trump's (and the GOP's) agenda.
Take the GOP's doomed effort to repeal and replace Obamacare. This may be the single meanest piece of legislation I"ve ever seen. Among other things, it would undo the gains of the last eight years in the number of people with access to health care. More than 20 million people would be knocked off the rolls, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. It would once again allow insurance companies to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions. And perhaps, worst of all, it would allow insurance providers to charge older Americans (read, those who can least afford it) up to five times more than younger Americans. This shouldn't be called "repeal and replace." It should be
called what it is: "Repeal and restore" (as in restore the old, broken system we had before). Or better yet, "the Ebenezer Scrooge Act of 2017" (You know, as in, 'If there be poor people, then let them be about the business of dying and reduce the excess population.'"
Or take the administration's controversial Muslim ban. Trump and his supporters are playing this off as a way to ensure national security. That's disingenuous, at best. Consider that one of the biggest sponsors of international terrorism -- Saudi Arabia -- isn't on the list. Or that Trump himself has called this a Muslim ban. Let's call this what this is: This is racist fear-mongering at its worst. And the worst part is, it does nothing to make us any safer. For those who defend it, it calls into question whether you are, in fact, racist, or whether you are just willfully ignorant.
I think CNN commentator Van Jones hit the nail on the head Electikon Night when he observed that Trump's victory was a case of "whitelash," that it's a reaction against eight years of Obama -- the nation's first black president. This nation is changing, It's becoming more diverse. And there's a segment of the population that feels threatened by that. Trump's victory (if you can call it that, since he actually lost the popular vote by almost 3 million votes) is the last stand of a dying social order. Maybe it's understandable that people would be freaked out by this. After all, change is never easy, especially such a seismic shift. But no matter which way you slice it, there's no excuse for supporting such a hateful, ignorant man as Donald Trump, or for willfully spreading and maintaining that ignorance.
In the first place, let's be clear. There's no such thing as "fake news," at least not in the sense that Trump is using it, Just because you don't like a story doesn't make it fake. Just because you don't agree with something you read doesn't make it fake, Facts are facts, And denying their existence just because you don't like them doesn't make them any less true. Now, granted. It must be hard to be a Trump supporter. Just the sheer number of scandals and missteps that need defending must be exhausting. It's almost enough to make you feel sorry for them, until you begin to take a closer look at Trump's (and the GOP's) agenda.
Take the GOP's doomed effort to repeal and replace Obamacare. This may be the single meanest piece of legislation I"ve ever seen. Among other things, it would undo the gains of the last eight years in the number of people with access to health care. More than 20 million people would be knocked off the rolls, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. It would once again allow insurance companies to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions. And perhaps, worst of all, it would allow insurance providers to charge older Americans (read, those who can least afford it) up to five times more than younger Americans. This shouldn't be called "repeal and replace." It should be
called what it is: "Repeal and restore" (as in restore the old, broken system we had before). Or better yet, "the Ebenezer Scrooge Act of 2017" (You know, as in, 'If there be poor people, then let them be about the business of dying and reduce the excess population.'"
Or take the administration's controversial Muslim ban. Trump and his supporters are playing this off as a way to ensure national security. That's disingenuous, at best. Consider that one of the biggest sponsors of international terrorism -- Saudi Arabia -- isn't on the list. Or that Trump himself has called this a Muslim ban. Let's call this what this is: This is racist fear-mongering at its worst. And the worst part is, it does nothing to make us any safer. For those who defend it, it calls into question whether you are, in fact, racist, or whether you are just willfully ignorant.
I think CNN commentator Van Jones hit the nail on the head Electikon Night when he observed that Trump's victory was a case of "whitelash," that it's a reaction against eight years of Obama -- the nation's first black president. This nation is changing, It's becoming more diverse. And there's a segment of the population that feels threatened by that. Trump's victory (if you can call it that, since he actually lost the popular vote by almost 3 million votes) is the last stand of a dying social order. Maybe it's understandable that people would be freaked out by this. After all, change is never easy, especially such a seismic shift. But no matter which way you slice it, there's no excuse for supporting such a hateful, ignorant man as Donald Trump, or for willfully spreading and maintaining that ignorance.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)