Day 526 Friday June 29, 2018 1,052 Days to Go
I’ve been busy getting ready for a vacation. I’m now in St. Andrews by the Sea at The Algonquin Resort in New Brunswick, Canada. It’s a place I remember, by name, coming with my parents. At least, I think we stayed here. I can’t quite remember and nothing has sparked a memory. The Algonquin is one of those old world big imposing Victorian like structures. A 500 room cottage in the woods, with a golf course that would make any duffer drool. I’m sitting on a wide high ceiling porch overlooking the giant turn circle, sipping coffee and waiting for my wife to join me and then we’ll go to the buffet breakfast, served until eleven. We only have two nights here. I should have booked a week. You need that long to get accustomed to the pace.
Meanwhile, the news is a mixed bag, mostly dreadful. The only bright light is the young woman who won her primary challenge in New York. How did she do it? By realizing that the Democratic database was too clumsy and developing her own canvasing system that concentrated on getting new people registered to vote. Hopefully, others will copy her example. The database that I have used to canvas in the past five or six elections is terrible. It’s out of date and seems to waste my efforts. This time I told our candidate I’d do a fund raiser. I saw no point in wandering around a neighborhood doing door hangers in a helter-skelter fashion.
A Supreme Court Justice is retiring, which many lament saying he was the swing vote. What isn’t being talked about is the ties of his children with the Trump children and other right wing kids. But this is all part of the far right Koch brothers’ grand plan. The justices that Trump is looking at are all coming hand picked from The Federalist Society, a right wing very conservative group whose heroes are Ted Cruz and Anthony Scalia. They have in their sights the overturning of Roe vs Wade, and that’s just the beginning. Their true aim is to enslave the general population so that they can have cheap labor. This sounds harsh I know, but that’s the plan. They dress it up in fancy phrases, like freedom and liberty, but it is anything but that. They wish to enrich themselves at the expense of the rest of us – period. They believe they are entitled to it.
Part of this plan involves putting our government in so much debt that they will say we have to slash programs that help not only the poor, but the middle class: social security, medicare, medicaid, are all targets.
As one commentator said about Trump and his spending, he promised to distance himself from Obama’s debt, which he did. Obama had a debt of $400M. Remember Obama came in facing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Trump inherited a relatively stable economy and has already run up a debt exceeding one trillion dollars. This gives people like Paul Ryan cover to say, “Oh gosh, we’ve got to cut social security, etc. etc. etc.”
In foreign policy, Trump has none. His idea of foreign policy is a photo op. He now is going to meet with Putin. For what reason? For a picture. This will help Putin show he’s a world leader. As one former diplomat said you have to realize that Putin orders people poisoned, beaten, and jailed. His goal is to disrupt democracies around the world. He is propping up a brutal dictatorship in Syria. He meddled in our election. He got Trump elected and he now manipulates him like a little puppet.
The King of Jordan, a former eye doctor who had the kingship thrust upon him, has learned how to handle Trump. Tell him he’s humble, praise him, give him gifts and praise. It’s all personal. Enrich Trump and he’ll do whatever you want. Sad but true.
Putin knows this. If you want to see a spy master work an asset, watch what Putin gets Trump to do. He already got Trump to cancel the annual war exercises with South Korea. What will he suggest at their meeting this time?
Our allies have to gird themselves for another round of insults, reverses, and god knows.
We are in tough times. The only light I see is a 28 year old woman who has beaten a political machine. She espouses universal health care, getting rid of I.C.E. She’s for abortion rights and other progressive initiatives.
Many folks are talking now about how Obama was too nice with the Republicans. I don’t think whomever comes to power next, will make that mistake. The Republicans have shown that they will lie, cheat, and bend the rules and traditions to the point of breaking to get their way. So what if it’s out of step with the majority of the country? They don’t represent the country. The represent the 1% or really the 1/10 of 1%.
Several years ago, before Trump, there was a survey of folks. They were asked if they were in the one percent. Twenty percent thought they were and 19% thought they would be one day. That’s 39% that believe they are in or will be in the 1%. That’s about the number Trump gets in support.
Some people still believe that Trump “must know something (they don’t)” or that “he’s a businessman (so he must have a good reason for doing it, that they don’t understand.)” I don’t know if it is possible to reach those folks. Trump has proven, and I have tried to document that he knows nothing. He is not a businessman. He is a con man, who has run a string of businesses that have enriched himself and his family, but no one else. Mark Cuban pointed out that the way you tell a really successful businessman is by how many other people he made rich. In Trump’s case there are none, only his family, and he did it by screwing others, by not paying his bills, by cheating and lying. Will the debt come due? It’s hard to say.
1,052 Days to Go
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