From my political science class in college I recall that newly elected presidents typically enjoy a honeymoon period of up to one year. Most people tend to give the new president the benefit of a doubt; and even if he (or could have and should have been a she) was not their choice, they hope that he will be successful. The first 100 days are especially important because that is when the tone is set and the foundation is laid for getting things done.

So what kind of start has Mr. Trump had?

As outlined below, it has been a rocky start, by many accounts the worst in the history of our republic:

1. The Cabinet. Trump’s first move was assembling a cabinet. A couple appear to be solid and competent—Tillerson as Secretary of State, and Mattis as Secretary of Defense. Others like McMaster as National Security Adviser, Kelly in Homeland Security, Chao in Transportation, and Pompeo generally get pretty good marks, but the rest are controversial at best, dismal at worst. There are reports of infighting, conflict, over-sized egos, and lack of direction; and Trump according to some reports has designated “spies” to keep an eye on each cabinet member to report back as to loyalty to Trump. Most troubling is Steve Bannon, the alt-right extremist who is Trump’s chief adviser, who is advocating “deconstruction” of the government. What is not clear is how the cabinet members will work together and whom Trump will listen to. Grade: D.
2. Immigration. His second move was immigration. His two orders to ban immigrants from six predominantly Muslim countries have been blocked each time by judges and are currently in limbo. Bad idea in the first place and poorly executed. He has loosened the restrictions as to who can be deported by ICE, and more aggressive deportations seem to be getting underway. The undocumented residents we know are terrified. Attendance in public schools in majority immigrant communities is way down as are 911 police calls in those communities . We could be on the cusp of a reign of terror. In my view as scary as his agenda is shaping up to be, this is the most inhumane and cruel because families get ripped apart, dreams are crushed, and loyal, law abiding people are uprooted. If his budget passes with billions allocated for more ICE police and massive prisons for deportees, it will get much, much worse. Grade F.
3. Repeal and Replace. The first legislative move was to repeal and replace Obamacare. Trump has lent his full support to the Ryan bill, which has turned out to be extremely controversial even among Republicans. The bill will be voted on by the House tomorrow where it is not a shoe in. The CBO shows 26,000,000 fewer people receiving health insurance if it passes, many of them Trump supporters, most of them with modest incomes. If it becomes law, it will also have a profound impact on doctors, hospitals, nursing homes, and insurers, most of whom oppose it. The problem that Trump faces is that the 30-plus members of the Freedom Caucus support repeal but adamantly oppose any “replacement,” and the more moderate members fear a backlash if thousands of people in their districts lose their insurance. Even if it passes in the House, it has an even tougher chance in the Senate where all it takes are three Republicans to get cold feet. Bottom line: it is very uncertain how or even if the Republicans will “repeal and replace” Obamacare . And that is actually good news. Grade: F for Trump.
4. The budget came out next. This could be called the gotcha budget. All the stuff that Trump said he was going to do to help working people? In the trash can. Besides the health care bait and switch, there is nothing in the budget for poor people or the working class and lots of tax cuts for the rich. Huge cuts to affordable housing, transportation, the environment, food stamps, school lunches, health research, homeless shelters—you name it. Nothing is spared. And for the multi trillion dollar infrastructure initiative? There are big cuts for Amtrak and Metro and no mention of any new initiatives. This budget is so merciless and anti poor that even some Republicans are saying that it has gone too far. Who wrote this thing? Did Trump read any of? Trump, the populist, the guy to sock it to Wall Street and help the little guy? Fortunately this budget stands zero chance of passing. Where it ends up and how much of the slash and burn agenda can be modified is anyone’s guess. Something will ultimately pass that will move back toward the center, but it will still mean hard times for working people. Grade F.
5. The Russia Connection. Comey confirmed whatever everyone already knew: the FBI is investigating Russia and also connections between Russia and the Trump campaign. With all the ongoing contacts and known connections with Russia by people like Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Michael Flynn, how likely is it that there was no mention EVER of the presidential campaign? Who knows if the FBI will ever be able to nail Trump, but I have got to think that the chances are pretty high that the likes of Manafort, Stone and Flynn and perhaps others are going to be implicated. Is this something really big like  Watergate or just another slimy distraction? Time will tell. Grade F.
6. The Tweets. He can’t stop. It is some kind of illness and will continue and perhaps ultimately bring him down. The outrageous lies about the Obama wire tap—which he still stands by—why does he say these things? It just keeps on coming—the Muslims dancing in NJ when the World Trade Center came down, the massive voter fraud in California, the record crowds at his inauguration, the Obama birth scam. The entire world—except perhaps for a hard core group of his most ardent supporters—knows that Trump is an incorrigible liar. How do you know what to believe? How can an incorrigible liar be effective in anything –let alone the President of the United States? “Sad.” Grade F.
7. The Conflicts of Interest. Still no tax returns. Still seemingly more interested in what Donnie Jr and Eric are doing than in the business of the country. Still spends more time in Mar-a-Lago than the White House at the tax payers expense. Grade F.
8. The Push Back. Trump would probably deny it as fake news, but the Resistance is growing. There are demonstrations every day somewhere about something. The Women’s March broke all records. The million post card protest has gotten minimal publicity but surely someone in the White House noticed. The fake press like the NY Times and Washington Post continue to pound away. The late night comedy shows have never been more popular. The pushback is just getting started. If continued—and indeed it must—it can’t help but have an impact. Grade A. Not for Trump, for the Resistance.

Let’s simply say that it has not been a great start. Trump has squandered over half his allotted 100 days and accomplished nothing positive. The White House would appear to be in disarray. Where he is headed is still not totally clear. He could not be having any fun. Where all this leads and what it means to us and to our planet, that is to be determined.

Stay tuned.

 

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Based on an illegal wire tap of the White House microwave byFaux News, conversations this week indicate U.S. war plans. The following is verbatim:

Spicer: Mr. President. Bad news—your approval numbers are sinking, Obamacare repeal/replace is stuck in Congress because of feuds between the Freedom Caucus and the Republicans-In-Name-Only, ditto with your budget, and the Russia connection inquiry is still going on. The evil judges have nixed your Muslim ban again. Worst of all the only ones buying the Obama wire tap story are the Republican die-hards. We are in trouble.

Trump: So what do I do?

Spicer: Start a war. Isn’t that what all presidents do when they get in trouble? Johnson did it in Vietnam, Reagan in Granada, and Bush in Iraq. It never fails to change the conversation .

Trump: So who do I bomb?

Spicer: Let’s go down the list. What about Mexico? Looks like they are resisting coming up with $50 billion for the wall.

Trump: Got too many hotels down there. Bad for business.

Spicer: Kenya? That is where Obama was born.

Trump: Same problem. Hotel. Let’s hit Hawaii. That is where he grew up. Plus the damn judge stopped my Muslim ban. Will serve the S.O.B. right.

Spicer: Not a country. It’s a state. How about Cuba? That will score some points against Obama for opening up the country in the first place.

Trump: Two new hotels in the works.

Spicer: North Korea might work. The guy is a total nut case and they actually have weapons of mass destruction.

Trump: You sure?

Spicer: Everybody knows they have nukes. Saw on Fox news that he had his half brother killed with a chemical weapon, and he set off a bunch of rockets just this week. In less than two years, they could have rockets that could carry nuclear warheads all the way to California. We have to hit them now before it is too late.

Trump: California? In less than two years?

Spicer: Yes, California. Less than two years.

Trump: Let’s wait a couple years.

Spicer: No. We have to change the conversation now, and the only way to do it is hit some hostile country. You couldn’t find a better candidate—nut case dictator, no friends except maybe China and not a single Trump Hotel.

Trump: Great idea, Sean! Call Rex. Tell him to get his ass over there right now.

 

 

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WASHINGTGON, MARCH 14

In a hastily called news briefing to reporters today, White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, announced that on Saint Patrick’s Day, the White House will officially relocate to the Mar-a-Lago Club, the Trump-owned, private resort in Palm Beach. He said that since being inaugurated, President Trump has spent only five percent of his time in what has been called the White House and the rest of the time at Mar-a-Lago, and operating two residences for the president is a waste of tax payers’ money. The building on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave will be vacated, locked, painted green so as to avoid any confusion, then converted into a luxury Trump bed and breakfast.

“He is doing this for the American people,” added Spicer. “It is his way of making America great again.”

Trump is also requiring all of his cabinet members to relocate to Palm Beach as well, and his two sons who now run his new development company, “Trump White House Inc.” have just constructed a compound which will provide luxury housing for them. Each cabinet member will be assigned his or her private mansion, which will be large enough to accommodate all the top level staff they need to keep their departments running. All other non essential, government personnel will be terminated. “This is yet again another example of what our president is doing to make America great. “ said Spicer. “Plus it will reduce the cost of government by billions dollars a year and eliminate all deficits, even with the provision that it will be illegal for anyone with net worth of over one billion dollars to pay any taxes whatsoever.”

Rex Tillerson was the first cabinet member to determine how many people were required to manage the State Department –a total of 14 employees. Doctor Ben Carson was next regarding HUD, zero. Other departments are expected to fall between those two numbers.

The initial reaction on Capitol Hill has been mixed. The Republicans are euphoric and the Democrats outraged. Since this is a special executive order, it will go into effect immediately, leaving millions of Americans unemployed after March 17. “No one will know the difference,” said Spicer, “since these low life, incompetents don’t do anything anyway. By definition they are not essential, and if they are not essential, why pay them? If they want to actually work, they can go into the military.”

When asked by one reporter if the next order would be to relocate the U.S. Capital to Palm Beach, he replied that it was “under consideration” and dependent on Trump White house Inc. being able to furnish housing for all members of the U.S. Congress and their staffs.

When asked by another reporter if anyone had been able to produce any evidence that Obama personally tapped Trump’s phone, he corrected the reporter and had him forcefully removed for disrespect. “It was not the phone anyway,” he said, “it was the microwave and we have incontrovertible evidence. But it is too complicated to go into.”

The press conference adjourned with no further questions.

 

 

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The big story behind Trump’s electoral victory in the election of 2016 in addition to Russian meddling and FBI bungling was the unexpected support from the disgruntled, white working class. They saw him as the only true anti establishment candidate and their best hope for turning Washington upside down. Current polls indicate huge Republican support for Trump, and there is no indication of loss of support from those blue-collar workers who voted for him enthusiastically.

Yet.

So let’s take a look at what Trump has in store for them. First health care. While the CBO has not completed its evaluation of impact of repealing and replacing the ACA, some think tanks have, and it looks like between 10 and 15 million people will lose the insurance they had under Obamacare or find the replacement unaffordable. A large percentage of these people are white working class, many of whom probably voted for Trump. The big winners of Trump/Ryancare, if it passes, will be the billionaires who will no longer have to pay the extra taxes that funded Obamacare. So much for healthcare.

What about jobs? The job market is continuing to do well though the gains in the first quarter of 2017 are probably due more to Obama than to Trump according to many economists. No matter. Who is to complain about job growth? But the nagging, national problem is income disparity.

Trump and the Republicans remain openly hostile to the idea of raising the national minimum wage or requiring more pay for low income, salaried workers who work overtime. They are fiercely anti Labor. Trump is also against free trade—as are many of his working class supporters—and is toying with the idea of import taxes. Most economists see trade restrictions and trade wars as job killers. Trump’s jawboning big companies to keep some Midwestern factories open makes a good sound bite but is not expected to produce or retain a huge number of good paying jobs. To pay for the Big Wall and military increases Trump is dismantling as much of the social safety net as he can get his hands on including job retraining and support for displaced workers.

Finally, there is the promised trillion dollar infrastructure initiative. That would produce jobs, but when was the last time you heard a word about infrastructure?

The Republican Congress is adamantly opposed to spending on infrastructure, so for any major initiative to pass Trump will need Democrats. These are the same people whose beloved president has been falsely accused by Trump of illegally tapping his phones. They are not big fans of The Donald. So will Trump be the savior in producing good paying jobs and reducing income disparity and inequality? Do not hold your breath.

Tax reform is also high on the agenda. Tax reform for Trump and for the Republicans means lower taxes for the rich and super-rich. It is not likely that the working class will get more than a few crumbs. The envisioned tax breaks also mean sky rocketing deficits, which will spur the call for more cuts to safety net programs like child care, education and affordable housing. Entitlement cuts will not be far behind. Another nail in the coffin for any hope of working people benefiting from the Trump presidency.

Speaking of housing, Trump is calling for a huge cut of over $6 billion to the HUD budget, which will cut the number of Housing Choice Vouchers, gut already troubled public housing authorities, and virtually eliminate block grant programs which produce dollars for localities to help distressed neighborhoods and fight homelessness. My entire career has been in affordable housing, and I view the current situation as the most dire I have ever seen. You think we have a homeless problem now. Just wait until these cuts go into effect.

One might counter by arguing that the safety net programs help the poor, not the working class, so destroying the social safety net will not really be a problem for these Trump supporters since working people are supposed to look down on the lazy, no good deadbeats who have only themselves to blame for their poverty. Wrong. The era of the so called “welfare queens” died with welfare reform under Clinton. The poor are the working class. They have jobs—often multiple jobs—it is just that the jobs they have pay very little, offer no benefits, may be part time, and are often unstable.

So the agenda of the populist Donald Trump offers nothing for the people who are responsible for his election. The multiple billionaires on his cabinet do not give a twit about the working class nor does anyone in his administration. It is not clear how long it will take for his ardent, white working class supporters to realize they have been had. It could be as early as the elections in 2018 when the tide could begin to shift. It may be later. At some point they are going to figure out they have been duped, and it will not be a pretty picture for Trump or for the Republicans. The challenge to the Democrats is to offer positive, practical alternatives that do make a difference in the lives of the working class.

 

 

 

 

 

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“President Pence, President Pence.” Get used to it because you are going to be saying it a lot. It is not a matter of if but when.

The outrageous Trump tweets about Obama beginning around 6:30 am on Saturday mark the beginning of the drip, drip, drip that will eventually end up in a pool of slimy water so vast and so deep that except for the die-hard Trump/Bannon fanatics no one will be willing to throw Trump a life vest. He apparently is accusing Obama of “McCarthyism” and illegal wire tapping in order to divert the attention from the Russian inquiry concerning their rigging the presidential election. The New York Times and Washington Post now report that at least six people connected with the Trump Campaign had repeated contacts with Russian operatives during the campaign when Russian email hacking was taking place. Outright collusion has not yet been established, but one has to ask, what to you think they were talking about, the weather.

It is over, Republicans. Suck it up.

“But no,” you say, “no one thought he would get nominated, and certainly not elected. And the spineless House Republicans and Senators will never vote for impeachment no matter what Trump has done or will do.”

You are probably right. Trump will not get impeached. He will quit.

Trump could quit for a number of reasons, and there are certainly a lot of valid ones lurking on the horizon: The Russian inquiry shows probable collision between Trump operatives and Putin operatives. The Republican Congress shows that it is actually dysfunctional and can’t or won’t put a nail in the much heralded Obamacare coffin or pass any legislation which will help the white working class. Once the Republican Establishment gets its tax cuts and deregulation, it signals it is ready to dump him. His cabinet is at each other’s throats, and no one seems to have a clue about foreign policy. The Saturday Night Live satires continue to set ratings records. The fledging anti Trump resistance movement swells. There is a major uproar and pushback on massive deportations. The unfake press continues its unrelenting criticism of everything he is doing. The list is long.

But none of these reasons is why he will quit. He will quit because he is not having any fun and because he realizes that all this president stuff is actually hurting his brand. Just look at the guy. Have you ever seen a smile that did not look forced? What about his mad tweets, his ranting and raving to his staff, his inarticulate, angry remarks when not using a teleprompter? This is one unhappy camper. And no wonder. His wife and young son remain in New York, and he shuffles around an empty White House in the middle of the night unable to find a single person who will talk to him. I can’t imagine that he has any real friends. And he has got to be wondering what he got himself into. Talk about in over your head! The guy can’t even read a briefing paper without graphs and illustrations. He has got to be scared stiff.

And what about his brand? There just aren’t that many foreign diplomats, spies, and billionaire tycoons in the world to fill up the rooms in his myriad luxury hotel and business empire. Falling occupancy and falling sales, when you get down to it, are probably the only things that he really understands or that will capture his attention. When that happens, he is history. Outa here, baby. Hasta la vista!

So then we get Pence.

Pence, at best, is a mixed bag. He is a quintessential, right wing Republican and an ardent cheerleader for his boss. Unlike Trump, however, he actually seems to believe in all the things hard core Republicans are supposed to believe in—small government, lower taxes, minimal safety net, strong military, free trade, pro big business and anti labor. In addition he has been a strong supporter of the NRA and a strong opponent of abortion and LGBT rights. It is not clear whether he acknowledges evolution is valid and whether climate change is real. Before he won elected office, he was a conservative talk show host. In short, for us liberals and progressives, he is a nightmare. Pence is so far to the right on virtually every policy issue, he would not have had a chance of getting elected president on his own merits. He certainly would not have captured the imagination of the white working class the way the faux anti establishment candidate Trump did.

On the other hand, unlike Trump, he seems to be a decent person. His Christian faith seems genuine. Raised as a Catholic he became a born again Evangelical following a conversion experience and attends a non-denominational, Evangelical mega church. I have always been perplexed by how Evangelical Christians can enthusiastically support someone like Trump and remain true to Christian beliefs of love, acceptance, helping the poor, and promoting peace and justice. But many of them do– as do many Christians who are not Evangelicals–and as a Christian myself I honor their sincerity regarding their faith though I do not agree with them.

The big question regarding a Pence presidency is will his Christian faith and human decency come through and allow him to back off from his extremist policy views and move toward the middle. Will he be a leader of all people, not just those who agree with him? Will he try to bring the country back together again?

 

Of course, the scenario I have just described is pure conjecture. I have no idea how we are going to get through the Trump mess and what will happen next. Trump appears to be on-the-ropes and hasn’t even confronted a single crisis not of his own making. How much worse does it have to get before he throws in the towel? But he could surprise us again.

But this I do know: Our country is facing a real crisis. We have as president someone totally unqualified for the job who has gotten off to the worst start of any president in U.S. history. He is a loose cannon with strongman tendencies. Our very democracy is in danger. Except for the period leading up to the Civil War, we have never been more divided. If Pence does actually end up as president, he will have to face a crisis far greater than Gerald Ford did when Nixon imploded. Ford was the right man for the job at that time and helped pull us through the Watergate crisis. Could Pence pull us through the times we are now experiencing? The stakes have never been higher.

 

 

 

 

 

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It is now official. Except for the reporters working for Fake News Organizations who are Enemies of the People, fake speech critics from all over the world rate Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress last night as the greatest fake speech ever delivered. I was curious when I read this and decided to get in touch with the renown Shorthorn Jaspers, who is executive director of the Fake Speech Institute, an Alt-Right affiliate. Here is my verbatim interview:

Me: Why did you report that this was the greatest fake speech ever?

Jaspers: First because it was, but there are many reasons. First, Trump did not call upon his enthusiastic base to pounce on the Democrats across the aisle and beat the you-know-what out of them. Second, because he did not ridicule anyone who was handicapped or in a wheel chair and in fact said nice things about the woman who was in a wheel chair. Ditto for the wife and family of the Seal who was killed in that successful military operation in Yemen. And he did not mention the Enemies of the People, those horrid reporters from the NY Times and Washington Post and CNN, a single time. He didn’t even single out the slimy, no good Muslims in the world for their curse upon humanity. He did not announce he was throwing Crooked Hillary in jail. I mean, how good can he get? How presidential! Great restraint and dignity. This was Trump rising to the occasion. In fact no one thought he could get through an hour without attacking at least someone, so this is big news, very big. We are all very proud and, frankly, relieved.

Me: What about his policies?

Jaspers: Well the big news here is that he did not declare that he was throwing out every one of the 11 million plus no good, illegal immigrants tomorrow. Of course, this is very controversial since many in his base expected him to do just that and are enraged. But they know it will happen eventually, and in the meantime we will get a $40 billion wall. So all in all, I would say the immigration piece is a plus. There might even be an opening to talk to Democrats about some kind of deal.

Me: That was the highlight for me as well. If we could actually get a bipartisan immigration bill which allows undocumented immigrants to stay, that would be great.

Jaspers: You know his enraged base does not agree with you.

Me: What else?

Jaspers: Well there is a lot. He is going to kill that terrible plague that has cursed our country for seven years, Obamacare, and replace it with a new system where more people will be fully insured for less cost and everyone is happy. It will be wonderful. No one will lose any benefits they got under Obamacare. The individual mandate will be history, and the cost will be greatly reduced. Second, he is going to usher in massive tax cuts the likes of which no one has ever seen. Our hope is that before his first term is up no one with substantial net worth and income will have to pay any taxes, and this is a real start. Third, he is going to spend $40 billion on the new wall, which is essential to keeping out the rapists and murderers and druggies from Mexico even though more are leaving the U.S. than arriving, and fourth, he will up the military budget by $50 billion. Fifth, he will kill every government regulation he can get his hands on. This is great news because it means jobs, jobs and more jobs.

Me: But how can he pay for all this while lowering taxes?

Jaspers: Listen, this is just the beginning. He said he is also going to spend $1 trillion on fixing up bridges and roads, offer paid family leave, rebuild the horrid inner cities, and keep all jobs in America. He did not say it in his speech, but I fully believe that he will personally close down any business that tries to relocate out of the U.S. or import goods. Manufacturing jobs will all come back, and America will be great again. You can forget about buying those cheap, no good Chinese or Mexican products in Walmart. This is a new era, a turning point in human history.

Me: But I just don’t get it. You are talking about trillions of dollars in tax relief, mainly for the rich, and yet the costs of the wall, the infrastructure initiative, the military and the various social programs will add trillions of dollars to the budget. Won’t this result in a huge budget deficit?

Jaspers: No. It will be paid for by slashing food stamps, the EPA budget, the arts and humanities budgets and the so called “safety net” programs. Plus the economy will start growing at double what it is now—from less than two percent to over four percent. When he wins his second term in 2020, there will be no budget deficit.

Me: Anything else you would like to pass on to our readers?

Jaspers: Yes. This is the beginning of a revolution. Trump was elected by a landslide and enjoys unparalleled popularity. This will only increase as America becomes great again and when he or one of his family members is still in power in 2024 and 2028 and in 2032, and beyond; and there is no   opposition from anyone, no fake news, no protests or despicable, so called “resistance.” Then you will know how great he is, his family is, and how great America is. Historians will then set the record straight. But make no mistake: His fake speech last night was the greatest fake speech in all of human history.

Me: Thank you for your time and insights.

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For those who have been wondering why I have not written a single Trump report over the past three weeks, the answer is that I have been ill, suffering from an extreme case of Trumpititus. You may be aware of the symptoms and in fact may be suffering yourself: anxiety, depression, fear and hopelessness plus a physical meltdown leaving you incapacitated. If you are not sure whether you have contracted this dread disease, I have one question for you, which if you answer “yes” means you have caught it and soon will suffer dire symptoms of despair and debilitation if these have not already appeared. The question is this: In the middle of the night when you wake up in a cold sweat and can’t go back to sleep, do you eagerly grab your smart phone and touch the news icon to see what horrible things Trump has said or done or tweeted over the evening and early morning hours? If so, you are in deep trouble, and I strongly recommend you seek advanced medical help immediately.

However, if you are short on cash or are a beneficiary of the ACA and face losing your insurance, I will provide some advice that I have received from the myriad doctors who have examined me and prescribed relief:

1. Do not under any circumstances read fake news from failing organizations and Enemies of the People like the Washington Post, New York Times or CNN.
2. Do not listen to the radio or watch any television except sports and then only if your team wins; but since you do not know ahead of time if your team is going to win, you can’t watch sports unless you tape it.
3. Throw away your smart phone.
4. Do not turn on your computer; but if you have to, never read your email or God forbid, Facebook or Twitter.
5. If you must read, restrict it to romance novels.
6. Take no phone calls.
7. Try to sleep as much as your cat.
8. Keep your blinds shut.
9. Keep the door locked at all times.
10. Drink plenty of liquids, preferably those with high alcoholic content.

Unfortunately I have been unable to follow their advice except for item number 10, in which I excel.

That is why it has taken me so long to recover.

But I am happy to report that I am now on the mend and fully expect to continue my reporting shortly. In the meantime, I will say this: This is shaping up to be all that we feared and worse. You know all the reasons: Bannon and the politics of darkness, the chaos and confusion in the White House, the inconsistent messages to our allies, the war on the press and freedom of speech, the Russian connections, the ad homenim attacks on innocent people, the strange assortment of advisors, the likely end of health care as we know it, and now the very real prospect of massive deportations. The list is very long and very scary—in fact so scary that if I continue any longer I will have to retreat to my bed for recovery or perhaps, more truthfully, to pursue doctor recommendation number 10 in earnest.

Stay tuned….

 

 

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So are you surprised that chaos is prevailing as Week 2 begins? The ban on immigration from seven Muslim countries and the partiality to Christians over Muslims is wreaking havoc at airports and points of entry and exit and is causing pain and hardship for many who have already suffered beyond measure. Hundreds of spontaneous protests broke out yesterday across the U.S. Courts have ruled that some of the Trump bans are unconstitutional. Trump has not indicated whether or not he will comply with the court ruling. Our allies are scratching their heads in dismay. Putin must be smiling.

Trump has taken more unilateral presidential, executive actions than any other president during his first week, and there is no sign of his letting up. He started with the repeal of Obamacare, put the nail in the coffin of the Trans Pacific Trade Pact, announced defunding the Sanctuary Cities, authorized The Wall construction, revived the two pipelines, said he was “renegotiating” NAFTA and was requiring an investigation of non existent “massive voter fraud.” Now he has taken painful, disruptive action on vetted immigrants seeking asylum. This will be the first of many disturbing immigration initiatives. The list goes on.

And we are only at the beginning of Week 2. Trump’s core supporters are euphoric. His detractors like me and many others are terrified. We seem to be on the cusp of a revolution, which could rip our country apart.

What happens next? The forced deportation of 11 million undocumented immigrants, starting with the American Dreamers? Trade war with China? Massive tax cuts for the rich and sky rocketing budget deficits? Getting out of the Paris Climate Accord? Ripping up the social safety net? Getting out of NATO? Nominating Supreme Court justices who will overturn Roe v. Wade?

There is no indication that Trump will shy away from doing any of these things. His goal appears to be to fundamentally change America as we know it, and he thinks he has a mandate to do this. Witness his blatantly false assertion that over one and a half million attended his inauguration, the largest crowd in American history.

One of the many tragedies that we are witnessing is that it did not have to start out this way. Trump could have used the fleeting good will that usually follows an election to move toward the center, to reach out to the opposition, and to get through bipartisan legislation, which he could have done had he started with jobs and infrastructure as he hinted he would. The Democrats would have gone along with this. What is the chance of this happening now? Has any president ever gotten off to a worse start?

So what do we do? We have got him for at least four years. Even if he were impeached, we would end up with Pence. If Pence were impeached, we would end up with Ryan. Folks, we are stuck.

Non-violent resistance appears to be the only option. We attended an extraordinary dance concert yesterday by Pelobius, a renown, avant garde dance troupe. Toward the end of the show, they used their bodies to spell out “RESISTANCE” as their shadows appeared on a screen. The audience jumped to their feet, and the entire theater of over a thousand erupted with cheers. Resistance is already happening.

But what does resistance mean? Here are some thoughts:

• First there needs to be strong leadership, thoughtful planning and coordination. The Occupy Wall Street Movement is an example of what does not work. Spontaneous action without leadership eventually peters out. We need leadership, and we need commitment for the long haul. The Civil Rights Movement provides some clues. The protests were not spontaneous but rather carefully planned and thought-out. The various civil rights groups coordinated their actions and for the most part worked together even though there was often disagreement between the various groups. Strong leaders made all the difference. Where would the Civil Rights Movement have gone without Martin Luther King Jr.? There are many groups opposing Trump and more forming every day—Move On, People For the American Way, the ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center, CREDO Action, Avaaz, and C Street Democrats to name just a few. We need a coordinating council to pull the various efforts together, and we need a few visible, strong leaders to spearhead the effort.
• The effort needs to be ongoing and multi dimensional. Having a plan in place is critical. Determining priorities is important. There are various actions available to the movement —massive marches and demonstrations, peaceful civil disobedience, letter writing/email/phone-in campaigns to Congress, on going use of social media, aggressive voter registration and voter education focusing on the 2018 elections, pressure on Senate Democrats to use all methods available to slow down or stop the Trump initiatives, targeted demonstrations at Trump appearances and appearances of elected or appointed Trump officials, organizing at the local level to get more people involved, organizing on college campuses, and similar actions. The key words here are ongoing and well planned. We are not going to get rid of Trump. The goal and message should be for him to modify his agenda and move toward the center, representing not just his angry base and the Alt Right. The price he pays for throwing red meat to the far right is chaos.
• The best tool we have is legal action to stop moves that are unconstitutional or illegal. The court rulings this weekend are the results of ACLU actions. Aggressive legal defense, especially in deportation and freedom of the press cases, will be critical.
• Resistance should hit Trump where it will hurt most: the Trump businesses. The resistance movement should call for boycotts of his hotels and various business interests and should organize peaceful, ongoing protests in front of his hotels, office buildings, resorts, and golf courses worldwide. This could very well turn out to be the most effective action of all since it is still not apparent that he really cares about anything else.
• The movement should reach out to moderate Republicans who can’t stomach some of what Trump is doing. Surely there must be some. Lindsay Graham, John McCain and Susan Collins are candidates in the Senate. Certainly there must be others—especially in the area of foreign policy, mushrooming deficits due to tax cuts, and free trade. We need to put pressure on them to stand up for what is right when Trump moves are clearly disastrous.
• It should also reach out to the disaffected white working class supporters who are about to realize they have been duped when they lose their health care and the promised new jobs are not forthcoming. Labor Unions need to be involved in this effort.
• Resistance should hold out a carrot as well as a stick. When Trump takes actions that are moderate, we should applaud this. When he is able to work out a jobs program that makes sense, we should support it. When he moves to the middle, we should back off. But when this does not happen, when he pursues a path that is harmful to America, that is vicious and harmful to innocent people and that leads us toward destruction of all we believe is precious about our country, we must continue to fight with all the peaceful tools we have at our disposal. We must not give up. We must keep going. We may ultimately lose, but we can look ourselves in the mirror and know that we have given it our best.

We live on a small, fragile planet at a decisive time. We are watching history in the making. What will we tell our grandchildren about the role we played in the earth shaking events that occurred in the second decade of the Twenty-first Century?

 

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We are still in the first week of the “First 100 Days” and have learned a lot about what to expect from the Trump presidency. Here is what we know and what we don’t know:

What We Know

• Trump won’t change. He won’t become presidential. He won’t turn nice. He can’t. It is not in his DNA.

• Trump is an incorrigible liar. He can look directly into the TV camera and with his typical snarl proclaim that the crowds at his inauguration dwarfed those at Obama’s, that the sun suddenly came out and the sky turned blue as he began his inaugural address, and that he won the popular vote by a landslide when you take into account the votes of five million illegal immigrants. Hey, the American people watched this on TV. We didn’t see the sun come out. We saw the photos comparing his crowd with the crowd at Obama’s first and second inaugurations. We read that no evidence has turned up anywhere about voter fraud. Yet he won’t give up; and after a while, if you lie enough, people start believing. Most of his ardent supporters already do. It appears that Orwell’s 1984 has finally arrived.Now you can say that this is little stuff. Who cares how big the crowd was? Who really knows about illegal voting? Give Trump a little slack. Maybe Trump is right on some of this. No. He is not right, and if he lies about relatively trivial stuff, what can you trust him on? The answer is nothing.

• Trump will try to limit freedom of the press and freedom of speech. Trump has expressed his contempt for the press since he began his campaign and has now increased the decibel level. He describes journalists and reporters as the lowest life form and boasts about how much he hates them. He is now threatening to shut down the briefing room and move it to another location and to decide unilaterally who can attend briefings (Now it is the Press Corps who decides). He talks about how the press is unpopular and no longer trusted by the American people. He has referred to the NY Times and the Washington Post as perpetrators of fake news. His Press Secretary and his spokespersons defend Trump’s views as “alternate facts.” He has threatened to sue news companies for libel that say uncomplimentary things about him. If you really want to worry about something, the attack on the news media should be at the top of your list.

• Trump cares nothing about the white working class. Trump’s cabinet has more billionaires, multi millionaires, Wall Street titans and tycoons than any in history. One of his top priorities is tax reform, which means tax breaks for the rich and trickle down economics. He will continue to throw red meat at his ardent working class supporters, but his policies will do nothing for them. They will lose their health care when Congress repeals Obamacare. The prices at Walmart will go up when we get into a trade war with China, and the much promised, high paying manufacturing jobs will not return due to automation and technology.

• Trump’s first goal is to erase the Obama legacy. He has ardently started on this in earnest. Everyday he smiles as he vacates another Obama initiative—the trans Pacific trade deal, parts of Obamacare, and the Keystone pipeline for starters. Many others will follow.

• Trump is targeting immigrants. This is hardly a surprise since he made it the central theme of his campaign. He is moving forward aggressively on The Wall and deporting undocumented immigrants. Today he announced ominously that he would curtail federal funding for any and all sanctuary cities.

• Trump has declared himself the Great Populist. His mantra is jobs, jobs, jobs. I don’t have any trouble with that if it happens, but most of his policies will hurt not help the working class. He paints himself as their savior, and many believe him despite his elite cabinet selections. He trashed “the elite” at his inauguration. This is likely to turn out to be the greatest lie of all and its credibility will depend on his constant stoking the fire—finding scapegoats to turn people’s attention away from his policies that hurt rather than help them.

In summary we know a great deal about what is in store for us, and none of it is good. However, there is still much we do not know. If there is any silver lining at all, it could lie in how the answers to the unknowns turn out.

What We Don’t Know

• What will the Republican-controlled House and Senate do? Let’s be clear on this: Trump is not a conservative. In fact many of Trump’s promises are the exact opposite of what traditional conservatives believe and stand for.
• Trump promised in his campaign a major investment in infrastructure. Obama tried to get this kind of legislation passed and never got one Republican vote. Furthermore this will cost a lot of money. Where will the revenue come from to pay for it? How can true conservatives support this?
• Traditional conservatives favor small government and balanced budgets. Though Trump has put a hold on federal jobs and pay, the infrastructure initiative combined with tax breaks for the rich would add trillions to the deficit. Where will the Tea Party and Freedom Caucus come out on policies that will increase the deficit beyond anything we have ever seen? Wasn’t this their raison d’etre to begin with? Are they simply going to roll over because a right wing firebrand is now in power?
• Traditional conservatives favor free trade. Trump has already trashed the trans Pacific deal and is going to “renegotiate” NAFTA. He is threatening a trade war with China. How will traditional Republicans come out on this?
• Traditional Republicans distrust Russia and prefer military intervention when the U.S. is threatened. They are especially wary of Putin. Putin is Trump’s hero. Trump wants the U.S. to be Russia’s friend, and he tends toward isolationism, not intervention, in foreign policy.

 In other words, Trump is not your typical Republican. He has hijacked the Republican Party. He is a strongman, a populist nativist. Will the Republicans simply fold up their tent and go along with his extremist and dangerous policies? It only takes a couple of senators to oppose him to block much of what he wants to do. Do any Republicans have a backbone and integrity?

• Will Trump go after the Dreamers? If Trump goes after the children who were given a chance by Obama because they came here very young, most with their parents, he will create an uproar, and there will be resistance. It could create a calamity not that dissimilar from the roundups that occurred in Nazi Germany. It appears he is anticipating this by first cutting off federal funds for the sanctuary cities, but massive Dreamer deportations have not yet started. Pray that they don’t. When and if they do, we will be entering uncharted waters. It could rip our country apart.

• Will Trump destroy the environment? Yesterday, January 24^th, Trump issued a gag order to the EPA, prohibiting them from talking to the press. There is no evidence that Trump has acknowledged that environmental change is real though under oath several of his Cabinet appointees did admit that climate change is happening. Can anyone convince him to at least be neutral? Will he opt out of the Paris Accord? If he takes a hard line on this and backs away from the progress made under Obama, it is another in-your-face move, which will cause an enormous backlash. And will the Republicans simply go along with this? Do they realize the damage he would do?

• What will happen if the good jobs do not return? Trump’s inaugural speech highlighted one thing—bringing good jobs back. Who can argue with this? But will it happen and what will be the reaction if it doesn’t? We have good data on what happened under Obama. Over 17 million jobs were added. Unemployment came down from almost 10 percent when he took office to 4.6 percent when he left. This is considered near or at full employment. Over the past year incomes have started to increase across the board. During the last several months employment was increasing at 150,000-180,000 jobs a month. So what happens if Trump does not top Obama’s job creation performance? What happens if the high paying manufacturing jobs don’t materialize? How long will it take for his base to realize they have been duped? What will they do? What lies will Trump tell to make people think that his approach is working when it isn’t?

• What will happen if his supporters lose their health care? Repeal is pretty much a done deal. Replace is not. Close to 30 million people will be affected by whatever emerges, as will hospitals and insurance companies. If people start losing insurance or are no longer able to pay for it, what will they do? Many of these people probably voted for Trump. Will they realize they have been led down a primrose path? What lies will Trump tell to make them think they are winners instead of losers?

• What will the American people do? The massive marches that happened on Saturday were extraordinary. There has never been anything like it in all of American history–over 500,000 in DC, 400,000 in New York City, 250,000 in Chicago, thousands and thousands in hundreds of U.S. cities. Demonstrations were held in 670 locations world-wide. Trump did not win the presidency legitimately. Russian meddling and FBI incompetence had to have an influence. Though he disputes it, he did not even come close to winning the popular vote. He does not have a mandate.

So what are we going to do about it? How can the energy and determination that happened on Saturday be maintained, nurtured, and focused? How can resistance remain peaceful and be effective? How can those of us who are against almost everything he stands for and is trying to do make a difference? It is in our court. I am confident that the movement will grow though I do not underestimate the challenge nor really know what the desired outcomes should be. But in the long run it will be up to us to figure this out and make it happen.

We are only in week one. I fear the news for the next 100 days will only get worse. We can’t sit passively by and watch as he directs the country toward a precipice.

 

 

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This is a confession.

In 48 hours Barack Obama will no longer be our president. Will we ever have another president in our lifetime like him? How lucky–how blessed–I feel to have witnessed a president of his caliber. Where will we find another candidate with his intelligence, sense of humor, energy, good judgment, and thick skin? Where will we find someone with his commitment to fairness, compassion, and justice? More than once I have thought that we did not deserve such a person. Many times I feared he would not make it to the end of his term and would be taken from us like John Kennedy was. He was just too good, more than we could have hoped for.

I also know that while many feel the way I do, he is hated and despised by many others. Our country is divided pretty much down the middle, and the next person to sit in the Oval Office will be about as different from Obama as any two people could be. Perhaps this is just the way the world is. You are not going to get two presidents like Obama in a row. That is asking too much. (But who would have predicted whom we would get?)

The pundits are now weighing in on his presidency and assessing his legacy. Some on the left complain that he could have done much more for poor people and for minorities and for the cause of economic fairness and should have gotten us out of the Middle East wars completely. Some on the right complain that he overstepped with his executive orders on the environment and social policy and that he should have taken much bolder military action in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. They still remain vehemently opposed to what he tried to do in reshaping health care, business regulations, the environment and criminal justice. Some in the middle complain of his aloofness and failure to reach out to Republicans. While I concede that much unfinished business remains—and Mr. Trump, sadly, will likely destroy much of his legacy—he played the hand he was dealt about as well as anyone could. The Republican Congress never gave him an inch.

Just as important as what he did and said in office was how he conducted himself. It is about who he was as a human being. He was a loving father and husband, who regularly expressed his devotion and love for his family and always made his family a high priority. He was a president with extraordinary integrity and strong ethics. He never gave up fighting for what he believed was best for the country or became cynical. His administration was scandal free. He was a role model for many. In short, for me he was an inspiration.

History will ultimately be the judge. History will be kind to Barack Obama.

So when times get really tough over the next four or more years, just think about Obama and how great he was as our president–certainly for me the greatest in my lifetime. For this I rejoice. For this I am thankful.

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