Category: U.S. Domestic Policy

“Can’t You Just Shoot Them?”

[Two introductory notes:

The first observations in this long post are blatantly obvious to anyone closely following our public affairs; I chose to keep them in because they weren’t that blatantly obvious when written – the Trump Administration moves faster than this old blogger can type — and for anyone who hasn’t had the life space to dwell on the wide range of the untoward acts of President Donald Trump and his acolytes.

Second, an insightful friend once remarked to me that I often try to end a post with some hint of optimism — and sometimes conclude on a happier note than I actually feel.  He was right.  Viewer Discretion Advised:  If you’ve already reached the limits of your emotional endurance at Mr. Trump’s and his minions’ destruction of the American way of life, click out NOW.  There is little reassurance in what follows.]

President Donald Trump recently declared to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, “You don’t have the cards right now.”  Putting the unfolding Ukrainian travesty aside, I would submit that right now, Americans who love true democracy don’t have a strong hand.  Although Mr. Trump has been in office only two months, I think we’ve already entered the final countdown.  Before contemplating where we may be headed, let’s consider the guardrails now tottering, tattered or demolished:

Through his aberrant behavior Mr. Trump has laid bare that the Founding Fathers, notwithstanding their attempt to design a constitutional system of checks and balances, were at bottom assuming that Americans would elect presidents who were, in the words of Alexander Hamilton writing as “Publius” in Federalist No. 68, to “an eminent degree endowed with … a different kind of merit, to establish … the esteem and confidence of the whole Union.”  In the past, we’ve unquestionably had some storied presidents who did what they thought was  necessary to protect the nation without fussing over the limits of their own Constitutional authority:  Franklin Roosevelt’s 1942 Executive Order was the basis for the forced relocation and internment of Japanese Americans; Theodore Roosevelt made clear in his autobiography that when he felt it was necessary, he would take any action that he did not consider specifically prohibited to him under the Constitution; and Saint Abraham Lincoln arguably skated over the Constitutional line a few times during the Civil War.  In retrospect, these proactive presidents were sometimes misguided, sometimes clearly morally wrong.  Even so, what protected our republic overall in these instances was that these presidents were, although far from perfect, “endowed … with a different kind of merit.”  Mr. Trump’s own narcissistic insecure vindictive amorality has vitiated this guardrail.

Presidents have generally surrounded themselves with Cabinet and other advisors who were accomplished in their own right, respectful of the president they served without being sycophantic.  President George Washington appointed Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State and Mr. Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury, each of whom advised the president loyally while having visions for the nation very different from each other and sometimes at variance from those of Mr. Washington himself.  Now, we have the likes of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.  So much for that guardrail.

The Legislative Branch was not only supposed to be the co-equal of the Executive Branch in our government; the Founding Fathers arguably intended the Congress to be the preeminent Branch, which they established through the First Article of the Constitution.  The envisioned that Senators and Representatives would be estimable individuals who would zealously maintain their own Constitutional prerogatives.  Today, in addition to largely impotent Democrats wailing and gnashing their teeth, Congressional Republicans clearly don’t go to the bathroom without the approval of Mr. Trump and his co-President, Elon Musk.  Until they receive the okay, these legislators sit there and hold it.  This guardrail is not only gone; it’s vaporized.

As to the Judicial Branch:  while there are partisan MAGA hacks and toadies on the various levels of the federal bench such as Associate Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito and US. District Court FLSD Judge Aileen Cannon, I maintain that the vast majority of federal judges administer the law fairly and accurately.  That said, we have already seen multiple instances of the Trump Administration’s willingness to skirt and perhaps outright defy judicial rulings.  Now we have the President of the United States calling for the impeachment of a federal circuit judge because he didn’t like the judge’s ruling – which won’t happen, but serves Mr. Trump’s larger purpose:  to discredit the judiciary in the eyes of his willingly gullible base.  What is a federal court going to be able to do if/when it’s clear that Trump officials are simply disregarding its ruling?  You can take this one:  Zip.  Zilcho.  Nada.  Guardrail down.

Let’s look next at the so-called “Fourth Branch of Government,” the free press (I still like the old-fashioned phrase 🙂 ).  Put aside the Fox News and alt-right propaganda machine and consider the broader picture.  The White House is now limiting access to Mr. Trump, punishing transgressors for coverage it doesn’t like.  CNN has reordered its lineup in a way that unseated an anchor, Jim Acosta, whom Mr. Trump detests.  MSNBC (which has also reorganized its lineup) is being spun off by NBCUniversal.  Other news organizations are seemingly altering their commentary.  From one perspective, one can sympathize with the challenge credible news organizations face; they have only so many minutes and column inches to address the avalanche of Administration machinations.  At the same time, I am increasingly angered with the modulated manner in which media is reporting the Trump Administration’s actions.  I believe that if Mr. Trump did shoot five people on 5th Avenue in New York tomorrow, some of the outlets we listen to would report it in subdued tones, and move on.  (I can hear the late Comedian George Carlin as The Weatherman, intoning, “A meteor is now crashing into the earth, so tomorrow it’ll be a bit cloudy.”)  We are not transitioning from chocolate to strawberry but from chocolate to strychnine.  They should say so.  Guardrail – if not destroyed, certainly no bastion.

One might have assumed that the views of the leaders of America’s business community might be a check on the President’s behavior, at least on economic issues such as tariffs.  Wrong.  These leaders are cowed.  Mr. Trump has proven that he will move unscrupulously to crush or cripple any interest that he perceives to disagree with him.  CEOs of crushed and crippled companies don’t get to stay CEOs, with their multi-million dollar salaries and corporate perks, for very long.  Big business won’t stay boo no matter what Mr. Trump does.  Guardrail – if this, indeed, ever amounted to one – gone.

The financial markets remain one intriguing guardrail for which Mr. Trump’s reaction cannot yet be assessed.  They are faceless, can’t be bullied, and reassuring them was a priority for Mr. Trump during his first term.  That said, while the Administration clearly was at first a bit unnerved when the stock market dropped 10% when Mr. Trump imposed his tariffs, it has since seemingly become more indifferent to the market’s concerns.  (It remains to be seen how Mr. Trump will react if the markets drop another 10% or more.)    

There was another guardrail that I thought might hold:  Mr. Trump’s own insecurity.  What seemingly hasn’t yet penetrated the consciousness of average MAGAs is that Mr. Trump doesn’t need their votes anymore.  (I suspect the President views his own undeniable physical degradation a greater impediment to a third term than a mere Constitutional prohibition.)  I have previously noted my belief that the speed at which the Trump Administration curtailed government benefits and services relied upon by Trump voters would be an indicator whether it intended to subject itself to free and fair elections in 2026 and 2028.  I thought the President’s continuing need for his supporters’ adulation might stay his hand from adversely impacting programs they valued, but if reports that the Administration is advising Congressional Republicans to avoid town hall meetings are accurate, it is a telling sign that the Trump Team no longer cares about its supporters’ concerns.  (Despite its protestations, the Administration is certainly aware that many irate attendees are Trump voters, not nonlocal crashers.)  At present, the sturdiness of this guardrail remains unclear.

The foregoing may have been as tedious as it was demoralizing, but perhaps served to highlight both how quickly we’ve advanced toward authoritarianism and that we’re going way too fast to expect the MAGA Administration to voluntarily apply any restraint.  As I said in a note about a month ago, the efforts of Messrs. Trump and Musk couldn’t suit Russian President Vladimir Putin’s purposes any better than if the Russian President had specified them himself.  That said, Americans who believe in democracy still have cards to play; how highly one values their hand depends upon how one thinks Mr. Trump will respond when it is played.

As the Trump Administration’s cuts to Medicaid, Veterans Benefits, the IRS, federal emergency services, state and municipal funding, farm aid, in the offing Social Security and Medicare, etc., etc., increasingly ripple through the economy, they will cost additional federal public sector jobs, further limit or withdraw federal services, cascade into state and local public sector jobs and services, affect the private sector, and diminish or eliminate benefits to which Trump supporters consider themselves entitled.  Watch a Wyoming farmer losing subsidies or a Mississippi senior citizen losing Medicaid.  Wait until Bird Flu or Measles outbreaks decimate less vaccinated (i.e., MAGA) areas.  Wait until a major hurricane hits the southern Atlantic or the Gulf (of Mexico 🙂 ) coasts and FEMA has no resources to help devastated citizens.  2024 Trump voters will no longer be distracted by inane diversions; a pivotal segment will feel betrayed.  They won’t be sad; they’ll be mad.  They will join the 49% of the citizenry who already bitterly opposes the Trump Administration.  It’s already starting. 

(An aside:  I completely agree with U.S. Senate Minority Leader U.S. NY Sen. Chuck Schumer’s tactical decision to capitulate to the Republicans’ one-sided Continuing Resolution to fund the government rather than shut the government down.  At that juncture it was too early to make a stand; the bulk of our citizens had not yet begun to experience the full consequences of Republicans’ initiatives.  Shutting the government down would have simply made it appear to many Americans that any ensuing loss of government services was the Democrats’ fault.  By acquiescing to the Republican bill, Democrats have ensured that Mr. Trump will own any pain voters hereafter feel due to Republican initiatives.  If democracy is saved, Mr. Schumer’s maneuver may in retrospect be seen to have played a significant part.)

As the effects of the Administration’s actions become ever more apparent – just as the weather warms – the number of demonstrations (which are already occurring) could well grow.  They could well be large, raucous, and widespread.  If Mr. Trump comes to confront a people in which over 60% bitterly and vociferously oppose him, he will have a challenge not faced by Adolf Hitler in Germany in the 1930s or Putin in Russia in the 2000s.  Neither of these countries had deep democratic roots when Hitler and Putin respectively took power.  Their citizens, accustomed to centuries of autocracy, had no visceral belief that what they thought mattered.  On the contrary, after 250 years of democracy, Americans across the political spectrum inherently expect their leaders to listen to them.

[Another aside:  at this point in the Trump term, U.S. VT Sen. Bernie Sanders, currently conducting rallies across the country (sometimes accompanied by U.S. NY Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez), is the perfect spearhead for the anti-Trump movement.  He has credibility across the political spectrum as an advocate for working people and the disadvantaged, while clearly being too old to still entertain presidential aspirations.  I am guessing that Mr. Sanders has determined that his last great service to America is to inspire the resistance to MAGA until the Democratic Party coalesces behind its next leader.]

Confronted by widespread discontent in their countries, the response would be simple for either Putin or Chinese President Xi Jinping:  you send your military out, shoot some demonstrators, throw a thousand others in jail, and everybody else will get in line.

What will Mr. Trump do if the protests envisioned here do materialize?  I would suggest that the best result that Americans who love democracy can expect is that Mr. Trump will back off, at least to a certain extent (to the extent he can; I think a lot of what he has already broken can’t be easily reconstructed).  But how strong a hand is it?

I have seen it reported that Mark Esper, the last Secretary of Defense in the first Trump Administration, related in his memoir, A Sacred Oath, that when demonstrators protested in Washington, D.C., after the murder of George Floyd, Mr. Trump asked authorities, “Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?”

I leave it to you to decide how you think Mr. Trump will respond if he ever feels truly threatened by widespread rallies and demonstrations.  Although I am confident that today, U.S. ME Sen. Susan Collins would say, “President Trump would never deploy our armed forces against American citizens,” to any realist, concerted anti-MAGA activism will not be without risk.

Still, at this juncture, those who believe in the American way of life as it has existed for the last quarter of a millennium still have cards to play. 

(I guess I did end with a slight note of optimism, after all 😉 ).

We’ll see what happens.

BLACK LIVES MAT

As all who care are aware, a mural of the words, “BLACK LIVES MATTER,” which was placed on 16th Street in Washington, D.C., in 2020, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, is being removed by the city, reportedly due to pressure being applied to city officials by Republican members of Congress.  I haven’t seen reports of widespread protest at the removal.

The irony of this note is that I don’t believe in identity politics.  I absolutely and viscerally believe in equality – the right of all of our people of every persuasion to be able to freely, fully, and peacefully use their gifts – but I am not convinced that we as a polity benefit from the artificial imposition of diversity.  You may correct me – I have not performed detailed research on the data – but it is my impression that although the affirmative action programs implemented since the 1960s have reaped great rewards in certain individual cases, they have not brought about the overall societal changes hoped for when they were initiated.  While I am not sure that I have ever been specifically aware of the BLM mural in Washington, D.C., one could not help but be aware of such memorials being created throughout the country after Mr. Floyd was killed, and I remember wondering at the time whether, despite the massive outrage all decent human beings felt at the brazen execution of Mr. Floyd, it was useful to single out the injustices done to any one group of our citizens so markedly.

So, I am surprised at the anger and foreboding I feel as the BLM mural is being removed in our nation’s capital.  Once the money had been spent to install it, it certainly wasn’t doing any harm, and its message was a positive one.  Removing it is incurring public expense that isn’t required from a structural standpoint.  One is merely stating the patently obvious when noting that these self-proclaimed Republican guardians of public coffers are baseless hypocrites who have no trouble wasting public funds when it suits their agenda.  However, the wasted expense is just as obviously but a drop in the ocean of the import of the issue.  Here, we don’t need to get bound up in a debate regarding the correct approach toward migrants who have admittedly crossed our border illegally.  Our government is Making America Great Again by deleting an expression of support for the wellbeing of a segment of our citizens.  Its concern for these citizens is literally being erased.

BLACK LIVES MATTER

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Not that concerned? 

Who’s next? 

It could be me.

It could be you.

What Will Be, Will Be: Redux

Something you and I absolutely agree upon:  I’m not that smart.  However, this post is entered in shocked reaction to a comment by MSNBC’s Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough today, to the effect that legislators and financiers with whom Mr. Scarborough talks are stunned that President Donald Trump is actually doing … exactly what he said he was going to do during the campaign — now augmented by hints that Mr. Trump and Elon Musk are considering doing what Mr. Trump has always said he wouldn’t do:  tamper with Social Security and Medicare.  What follows are excerpts (all italics appeared in the original) from a post entitled, “What Will Be, Will Be,” entered in these pages six days after Mr. Trump’s election.  (If you care, scroll down to fill in the portions I’ve omitted here.)

“‘Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow?  Never!  All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.

At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected?  I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us.  It cannot come from abroad.  If destruction be our lot, we ourselves must be its author and finisher.  As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.’

  • Abraham Lincoln, January 27, 1838

…

I have always thought that the American presidency called for a fundamentally good person who was willing to take morally questionable actions to achieve a greater good.  It is clear that many Americans are willing to abide a man whom even a large share of his supporters concede is amoral in hopes that he will do good things.  [I am particularly struck by those Evangelicals who admit that they wouldn’t want Mr. Trump as a pastor but can abide him as president.  Granting that the Bible can be cited for just about anything anyone wants, one cannot help but pause at the seeming … let’s say, incongruity … that any such literalist Christians so readily disregarded Matthew 7: 17-18:  ‘Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears rotten fruit.  A good tree cannot bear rotten fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit.’] It is what it is.

What comes next?

…

Over the next four years, I expect:  that Mr. Trump – already exhausted and mentally degrading – to become a figurehead for a radical reformation of our federal government by Vice President-Elect J.D. Vance, Donald Trump, Jr., and the MAGA zealots who have put together Project 2025; that all criminal charges now adjudged or pending against Mr. Trump will be dispensed with; that all of the convicted January 6th rioters will be pardoned; that many of Mr. Trump’s most prominent political and media critics will be prosecuted by the Trump Justice Department on trumped up (if you will 😉 ) charges … or otherwise pressured into submission; that MAGAs will pass measures that in fact if not in name will serve to disenfranchise Democratic-leaning constituencies; that many legal as well as illegal immigrants will be swept up in the Administration’s deportation initiatives; that MAGA-sympathetic generals will be appointed to lead the American military, and that at some point under their direction our armed forces will take action against peaceful American citizen demonstrators; that violence will increase against African Americans, legal immigrants of color, non-Christians, and Americans with untraditional gender and sexual preferences; that NATO will remain in name, but will have severely reduced effectiveness as America substantially limits its participation; that Russia will absorb at least Ukraine and possibly a number of NATO countries formerly members of the USSR; that Mr. Trump and his cohort will continue their approach of division and distraction; … and that — the bitterest irony of all — the gap between the American rich and those poor who consider Mr. Trump their Messiah will continue to widen.  (The cruelest joke will be that because of alt-right propaganda, most are likely not to even realize that Mr. Trump did nothing for them.)

…

If Mr. Trump and his minions actually effect the tariffs and tax cuts for which he’s advocated and bend securities laws to favor powerful oligarchs like Elon Musk, it doesn’t take an economics degree to predict that inflation, the deficit, and accordingly interest rates will soar and the stock market will drop; if they effect the mass deportations of illegal aliens he has promised, certain sectors of our economy dependent on illegal labor will crater, materially adversely affecting the entire economy; and that if they obtain the control over the Federal Reserve Mr. Trump seeks, global confidence in the dollar will plummet along with its value and hasten its abandonment as the world’s reserve currency.    

For clues as to whether the MAGA Administration will be willing, contrary to my deepest misgivings, to allow for a free and fair 2028 election, an early indication will be how the Administration approaches issues that do matter to Trump voters.  Ones coming to mind are the conservative shibboleths of a nationwide abortion ban, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid cuts (there are a lot of Trump voters who benefit from Medicaid), and repeal of the now-popular Affordable Care Act without an essentially-like replacement.  In these areas, Mr. Trump, even in his obviously mentally and emotionally degraded state, is cannier than his doctrinaire followers.  If he or his MAGA cohort truly intend to subject their hold on power to the free will of all American citizens in 2028, they will abstain from any actions that they know will outrage their base.  A more ominous indicator of any anti-democratic intentions they may harbor will arise, if at all, after the 2026 mid-terms, if MAGA propaganda starts to stoke unfounded fears of civil unrest or insurrection.” 

I apologize for taking your time with an unplanned vent, particularly one which is little more than a repeat of what has already been entered here (although surrendering to such impulses is one of the perks of a site like this 😉 ). I am just having trouble grasping that the supposed sophisticates Mr. Scarborough referred to couldn’t see coming what was as plain as the noses on their faces.  I hope to post an entry in the not-too-distant future regarding the condition our traditional guardrails – those destroyed, and those remaining.  Keep your seatbelt on. 

DOGE and the Mark of Cain

“Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let us go out into the field.’  Now when they were in the field, Cain turned against his brother Abel and slew him. … And the Lord said, ‘What have you done? … [N]ow cursed are you in the soil which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. … [A] fugitive and a wanderer shall you be on the earth.’  Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is too great to bear. … I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.’  But the Lord said to him, ‘Not so!  Whoever kills Cain shall be punished sevenfold.’  So the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest anyone should kill him at sight.”

  • The Book of Genesis 4:8, 10, 12-15.

The Genesis verses cited above were read worldwide at yesterday’s Catholic Masses.

I expressed a deep regret yesterday in these pages for the federal employees whose careers are being mindlessly destroyed by President Donald Trump “and his acolytes” – i.e., Elon Musk and his minions.  The Scripture passage made me reflect on the potential consequences for another group that I had not previously considered. 

If numerous reports I have seen are accurate, Mr. Musk is doing a large share of his culling of federal workers through a force of elite college graduates in their 20s.  Those of us with a little more seasoning realize that when you’re in your early 20s, it doesn’t matter how academically bright you are or what school you went to; you don’t even know what you don’t know.  These youngsters probably think that these heady times are going to last forever. But if rational democratic forces do stage a return at some point in the future, and the ways of Messrs. Trump, Musk, and their MAGA lot are cast aside, it almost certainly won’t affect Mr. Trump personally; he’ll be insulated by his Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling and grateful benefactors who will ensure that he has a cushy existence to the end of his days.  It likewise won’t affect Mr. Musk personally; he’ll be insulated by his fortune and will be able to live wherever in splendor for the rest of his days. 

It is Mr. Musk’s young vigilantes who have long lives ahead, and who won’t be protected by court rulings, fortunes, or benefactors.  It is these youngsters who will ultimately face the wrath of their republic.

The priest who said yesterday’s Mass chose to characterize the Lord’s action as one of mercy toward Cain – that He could have destroyed Cain, or let others kill Cain, but instead chose to let Cain go forth to walk the earth.  (Let’s put aside the obvious question as to whom Cain feared would kill him – after all, his parents were the first people, and he and Abel were their first children.)  Although I have very high regard for this priest, I was not so sure I agreed with his interpretation of the Lord’s action; I wondered whether the Lord didn’t instead punish Cain by ensuring that he had to wander the earth for his sin – as a “fugitive,” presumably for decades – when death might have been the more merciful sentence.

If the MAGAs aren’t successful in establishing an American Apartheid and these young Musk minions haven’t broken any laws, they, like Cain, will be left to wander the earth.  Given the enmity that Messrs. Trump and Musk have now engendered among so many throughout the democratic world, where will they be able to go to fulfill the potential they had the day that Mr. Musk first laid eyes on them?

While of no consolation to those whose careers they are ravaging, these young vigilantes may find that “DOGE” is ultimately their Mark of Cain.  Some, as they grow older and wiser and no matter the fate of the MAGA crusade, will find that it is indelibly branded on their psyches; on their souls.

A Sucker’s Bet

My taste buds never grew up.  I like what the average two-year-old likes.  When left to my own devices, I will often opt for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese (after all, it’s The Cheesiest  🙂 ) or Oscar Mayer baloney on bread (although these aren’t as good as those of my youth, since TLOML refuses to buy Wonder Bread, thus depriving me of the opportunity to build my body in 12 ways).  That said:  of all of the grotesque appointments consummated since Inauguration Day (a close friend noted to me recently that the only qualified person President Donald Trump has chosen seems to be Stormy Daniels), that which is perhaps the most aesthetically absurd although not the most important is Mr. Trump’s becoming Chairman of the Board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.  His election is akin to me being named Chairman of the Board of the American Culinary Federation.

We regularly see reports that Democrats are “struggling to find their footing” as to how to respond to Mr. Trump’s policy blitzkrieg.  This is enough to make one blink.  Democrats should emulate MAGAs and alt-right media and KEEP IT SIMPLE:  POUND INFLATION and ELON MUSK.  If the economists one reads have any competence at all – you can take that one – inflation is not abating and Mr. Trump’s current and proposed tariffs will make it worse.  Probably sooner than later, some DOGE initiative is going to cost a swath of Americans some benefit they rely on.  Mr. Musk is more inherently unlikeable than former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ever was, and look how Republicans were able to demonize her.  Democrats should strive to poison the general public perception of Mr. Musk – which will yield the side benefit of emasculating Mr. Trump.  (I was more than a little surprised to see last week that Mr. Trump – who is particularly attuned to television images – let Mr. Musk and Mr. Musk’s son in the Oval Office while Mr. Trump was meeting with reporters; it was not a good look for Mr. Trump, visually diminishing him while further elevating Mr. Musk’s profile.)  We’ll see whether the Dems — who since President Bill Clinton left office have seemed to believe that politics is, indeed, bean-bag — can actually mount an effective political counterattack.  (Of course, such efforts will only matter if Trump MAGAs permit free and fair elections in 2026 and 2028, which I doubt; a telling clue to their long term intent will be whether Republicans seek cuts in Social Security and Medicare – emotive programs for Trump supporters that could potentially adversely affect their fealty – in future budget negotiations.)

Mr. Trump’s pardoning of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers convicted for their actions in the January 6, 2021, insurrection has provided the President his own private Stermabteilung.

As the Trump Administration digs in, I am heartsick at the havoc being wrought by Mr. Trump and his acolytes on federal employees whose careers are being wantonly and indiscriminately ruined, on our citizens who had the sense to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris but will be engulfed in the commencing maelstrom, and on the compromised and the destitute lacking the bandwidth to even come to grips with what a Trump presidency portends for them.  At the same time, I am not nearly as distressed that the misperceptions of some Trump supporters will begin to rebound upon them.  Those technology oligarchs who have sought to curry favor with Mr. Trump in recent months (not Mr. Musk, who will be protected by his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin) haven’t studied the history of totalitarian regimes closely enough; ultimately, the Trump Administration will come for them and their organizations, and break them.  The admittedly more unfortunate cases will be those at the other end of the Trump spectrum. Although we will never know – the privacy of the voting booth being sacrosanct, at least up to now – if such could be determined, it would seem worthy of betting a dollar that each of the following will occur:  the impoverished mother, who voted for Mr. Trump because of the price of eggs, who loses her SNAP payments; the elderly farmer, who voted for Mr. Trump because he hates the Woke, who has a family member die because the hospital formerly nearest to him closed for lack of Medicaid revenue; the Latino male, who wouldn’t vote for a woman, who watches undocumented family members deported, never to be seen again; and the black male, who voted for Mr. Trump because he was so manly, who is gunned down somewhere by some police officer emboldened by Trump rhetoric.

I know.  You wouldn’t risk the dollar, even presuming the outcomes could be determined.  It’s a sucker’s bet.

The Trump Framework

I indicated not long ago that I had been considering a framework that would provide a context for the Trump Administration’s actions since January 20; upon reflection, I’ve decided there are two different overall strategies being implemented.  No attempt is made here to place all of the Administration’s blizzard of activities in one of the categories; those listed below are for illustration only.  Some of the Administration’s initiatives fit in more than one category.  If you agree with the gist, I leave it to you to place other Trump actions in one or more of the categories, and to add any additional categories you think I’ve overlooked.  Listing them from least to most malign:

Implementing Policy Initiatives.  Mass deportations of illegal immigrants, imposition of tariffs, enabling increased domestic drilling for carbon fuels, further tax cuts, and ending diversity initiatives in place via Presidential Executive Order are all policy initiatives that the President Donald Trump campaigned on.  He won the election.  Like them or not, none of his efforts in these areas appear to be beyond the lawful scope of the Executive Branch.

Hucksterism.  If willingly gullible ordinary MAGA citizens want to contribute to various Trump Organization financial vehicles because they believe such will – wait for it – Make America Great Again, or buy Trump cryptocurrency meme coins, Trump Cologne, etc., etc., etc., they should have at it.  [Authorities:  W.C. Fields and (apocryphally, at least) P.T. Barnum.]

Exhibiting Vindictive Toxicity.  Examples:  Mr. Trump’s order removing security details for former Trump Administration Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Trump Administration National Security Advisor John Bolton – both under threat by Iran due to their part in the assassination of Qasem Soleimani at Mr. Trump’s order – due to their criticism of Mr. Trump; Mr. Trump’s order that Mt. Denali be renamed, “Mt. McKinley,” a blatant slap at Alaskan indigent tribes opposed by a majority of Alaskans and both Alaska’s Republican Senators; and the unsubstantiated claim that Democrats and their “DEI” policies somehow caused the recent Washington, D.C. airline crash.  All petulant spasms.

I’d suggest that these first three categories collectively are intended to achieve a strategy that is pure Trump:  please your audience, make a quick buck off a sucker, and petty payback.

Undercutting Strategic Alliances.  Examples:  Deploying tariffs against our North American neighbors despite their adherence to a trade deal Mr. Trump negotiated in his first term; declaring that the Gulf of Mexico should be renamed, “the Gulf of America”; proposing to annex Canada; threatening to take Greenland (under the jurisdiction of Denmark, a NATO ally) by force; and suggesting that Gazans should be transported to Egypt or Jordan (irritating these U.S. allies in an extremely unstable region).  None of these actions served any purpose save to make our allies less amenable to any requests for assistance we might make in the future.

Dismantling the American Government.  Here’s a couple:  nominating grotesquely unqualified persons to run extremely complex and sensitive organs of the American government, such as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, soon-to-be Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard; and the DOGE machinations.  These maneuvers create fear and disruption.  Although making government more effective is certainly within a President’s purview – Theodore Roosevelt made clear in his autobiography that he authorized quite a number of independent, unpaid individuals to improve federal government efficiency during his presidency — the measures Mr. Musk and his little Bobos are effecting toward our governmental structures are not those of a rational business person attempting to improve an organization’s processes.  I am confident that if/whenever Mr. Musk seeks to trim the workforces in his two operations that he actually understands – cars and spacecraft – he doesn’t indiscriminately give almost all of his full-time employees carte blanche to go with severance pay, or turn hiring and firing decisions over to neophytes, without regard to the impact on his operations.

Degrading the Rule of Law.  Here are a few:  Politically browbeating U.S. Senators to abdicate their Constitutional responsibility by approving abjectly unqualified Cabinet nominees; dismissing members of the Department of Justice and the FBI for conducting investigations and prosecutions that yielded sufficient evidence that grand juries returned indictments against Mr. Trump; executive orders to end birthright citizenship notwithstanding pretty darn clear language granting same in the Fourteenth Amendment; impoundment of funds and closing of federal agencies authorized by Congress; and, of course, the pardoning of those who either pled guilty or juries of ordinary citizens found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of assaulting the Capitol on January 6, 2021.  Such attacks not only undermine faith in our system of government, but also undermine global confidence in our financial system, which draws much of its strength from world nations’ belief in the competence, integrity, and impartiality of our courts.

A lot has been made in recent days of the impending Constitutional crisis that will ensue if the Trump Administration defies rulings rendered against it in federal courts.  While the potential crisis is perhaps a new notion for many of our citizens, those with legal training are always acutely aware that our courts’ power is based upon the premise that those government officials with actual enforcement power will abide by their rulings.  Obviously, if it becomes clear that the Administration is willfully disregarding court orders, such will trump (if you will) all other manners by which MAGAs are undermining the American rule of law.  I will venture that the culmination of such a confrontation will occur if/when a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court, with three Trump appointees and a total of six conservative Justices, rules against a Trump initiative – and the Administration thereafter ignores the ruling.  Since the Court controls its docket, I suspect that there will be a temptation on the part of some Justices to only take the disputes which they believe will be easiest to rationalize in favor of the Administration, but it is going to be difficult to duck some impending Constitutional issues, such as birthright citizenship, in which the Administration’s opponents seemingly have the stronger legal argument.  I suspect that when these challenges come, the key votes will be Chief Justice John Roberts – who will certainly be at least as interested in preserving the Court’s putative standing within the Constitutional framework as the outcome of the case before the Court — and Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett.  (There was a point at which I thought Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch was more judge than partisan, but that fleeting notion has passed.)

The types of activities that fit within these last three categories collectively amount to the decimation of the American state.  President Trump and Co-President Musk have over the years each made clear their respective affinity for Russian President Vladimir Putin.  These efforts couldn’t suit Putin’s purposes any better than if the Russian President had specified them himself.

CHIEFS, TOO

[DISCLAIMER:  In a rational world, it would be silly to add this, but in our current environment in which conspiracy theories spring from nowhere, I hereby declare that I do NOT think that the NFL is conspiring for the Chiefs or against the Eagles.  90% of the fictional memo set forth below wrote itself while I was on the treadmill yesterday.  Although the Kelce brothers and Ms. Swift will never be aware of this post, I am confident that if they were, they would not be offended by the tongue-in-cheek effort set forth here.]

Memo to:  NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell

From:  League Super Bowl Coordinator

In re:  Exploiting Revenue Opportunities Related to the Kansas City Chiefs

This year’s Super Bowl pits the World Champion Kansas City Chiefs against the Philadelphia Eagles.  The Eagles are an outstanding team.  The League, of course, has a vested interest in a Chiefs victory.  First, Taylor Swift is romantically involved with one of the Chiefs players, and we want to keep her fans happy so they continue to consume our product; second, and more importantly, the citizens of the states of Missouri and Kansas are both relatively much stauncher supporters of our new President, Donald Trump, than Pennsylvanians, so we want to keep Missourians and Kansans happy so that we can keep him happy.  The Chiefs are only about a 1.5 point favorite – coincidentally, about the margin by which Mr. Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris last November.  These are the steps we plan to put in place to ensure a Chiefs victory:

We’ve dispatched League officials to the Eagles’ offices on the pretext of performing an audit, told all the front office staff to go home, cut off their payment system, and locked them out of the Eagles’ network.

As you’re aware, Eagle Running Back Saquon Barkley has had an extraordinary season this year, running for over 2,000 yards.  Given Mr. Barkley’s obvious strategic value, the Chiefs are offering to buy Mr. Barkley.  Unfortunately, we haven’t yet had the time to set up a structure under which either the Eagles can be forced to sell Mr. Barkley to the Chiefs, or to enable the Chiefs to simply take Mr. Barkley.  Therefore, if Philadelphia ungratefully refuses to sell Mr. Barkley to the Chiefs, we have informed the Eagles that unless they pay at least 2% of their total revenue to the League, they will no longer get the coverage of the League’s TV package.

As you’re also aware, Ms. Swift’s boyfriend’s brother is a retired Eagle player who clearly loves and has provided tremendous support to the Philadelphia community over the years.  We are exploring ways to put pressure on him to say that despite what he has stood for throughout his entire professional football career, he never really liked Philadelphia or the Eagles, that he actually always thought that Kansas City and the Chiefs were the best, and that he wants to come back to play for the Chiefs.  Given the techniques we have seen successfully employed upon some of the President’s formerly most vociferous detractors who have since become among his most slavish supporters — such as Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio – we have high hopes here.

We have made arrangements to remove all security for the Eagles at their hotel and when entering the stadium.  They’re big boys; what could go wrong?  😉

We have fired every official who has ever made a call against the Chiefs.  We have fired every official who has ever made a call favoring Philadelphia.  We’ve fired every official who’s ever been to Philadelphia.

We are going to replace the National Anthem with the theme of God Bless America, but with better lyrics.  While still a work in progress, we envision a first verse along the lines, “God Bless the President, the man that we love; stand beside him, and prize him, through the night with the light from above,” while unfurling a flag at midfield with the President’s picture on it.  (We’re still considering how it might be received if we add a depiction of Jesus with his hand on Mr. Trump’s shoulder.)  It’ll be great.

Any player on either team seen kneeling during the … er … new National Anthem will be found during the coming offseason to have violated some League policy, and banned for life.  (Unless it’s Ms. Swift’s boyfriend; we need him, so we’ll simply reprimand him, with quiet apologies to the President.)

For the coin flip, we will be using a coin with the Chiefs and Eagles’ logos and the Lombardi Trophy all crammed on one side, and a flattering depiction of President Trump on the other side.  Of course, we will have commemorative bitcoins on sale during the game and thereafter, with proceeds split between the League and Trump Foundations.

As you are aware, for Super Bowls we normally display the name and colors of each team in one end zone.  We have decided to change the name of the end zone assigned to the Eagles to, “CHIEFS, TOO,” with the Kansas City colors.

We have added a rule change for the game:  the Official Pardon Power.  Any official that sees a Chiefs player guilty of a vicious unsportsmanlike hit on an Eagle has the power to immediately pardon the Chief.  The game will continue without penalty.

You have asked how we will deal with a distinct risk:  that despite all the safeguards we put in place, the Eagles are so good that they still … win.  We have opted for a simple course:  no matter how much the Eagles might win by, we will simply declare that Kansas City won.  We’ll immediately release the confetti with Kansas City colors.  Although Kansas City Coach Andy Reid, Chief Quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and Ms. Swift’s boyfriend will undoubtedly be shocked and wonder what is going on, we’ll simply haul them onto the victor’s podium (maybe he’ll propose to Ms. Swift on the platform — wouldn’t that be a coup?) and give them the Lombardi Trophy.  (You’re concerned that the Eagles might object.  Not to worry:  remember, we aren’t giving them any security.)

Am sure you’re looking forward to the event!  Since you’ll be presenting the trophy, you might want to consult Mr. Trump for his advice as to the best makeup!

[Enjoy the game.  Hopefully, it will provide you a worthy distraction. (FYI:  Travis Kelce hasn’t let me know whether he intends to propose to Ms. Swift if the Chiefs win.  😉 )]

Just Touching Base

I have entered little of substance here regarding the state of our polity for the last couple of months.  I have not resumed regular posts since Donald Trump reassumed the presidency, as I intended last November, partially because family issues have taken up a measure of our time, but also because … I am at a bit of a loss as to what to say.  Nothing that has occurred starting on January 20 could be any surprise to anyone with the sense God gave a goose.  Posts simply making points of which you’re already well aware, or saying, “What’dja think was gonna happen?” or “Toldja so,” will be tiresome.  I am beginning to put together a note that tries to place the Trump Administration’s types of activities into a framework – I do believe that there is a design behind them – but beyond that – and although more declarations regarding Trump malignity and Trump supporters’ states of mind will undoubtedly form the bases of a greater number of future posts than I now intend – I am pondering how to proceed with at least some future entries in a way that is constructive given the vile – albeit completely predictable – political devastation we are now witnessing.

That said:  one can remain confident that whatever is hereafter published in these pages will still be only so much Noise.  😉

Stay well – or at least as well as you can.

The Big Four

[Hopefully, any fans of Agatha Christie’s novels will excuse my adoption of her title to a 1927 mystery referring to four leaders of a global criminal ring.  🙂 ]

All are aware that any incoming president must make literally thousands of appointments to staff the posts discharging the government functions for which s/he is responsible.  At the time this is typed, four of President-Elect Donald Trump’s nominees (hereafter herein, the “Big Four”) appear to be garnering the most scrutiny:  Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., as Health and Human Services Department (HHS) Secretary; former Fox News Commentator Pete Hegseth as Department of Defense Secretary (DoD); former U.S. HI Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence (DNI); and Trump Jack-of-All-Trades Kash Patel as FBI Director.  Although one might be tempted to suggest that attempting to discern the relative threats each presents to our republic is akin to deciding whether one would rather be executed by lethal injection, electric chair, beheading, or firing squad (I’m a firing squad guy, myself; at least you’d take it standing up 😉 ), let’s take a look.

In a 2019 post about presidential cabinet appointments, I indicated, “… I follow an admittedly simple two-factor analysis in deciding whether I think the nominee should be confirmed:  Is the nominee objectively qualified for the position?  If so, is there any other objective factor that should nonetheless disqualify him/her from the positon for which s/he has been nominated (e.g., prior criminal conviction, demonstrated drug abuse problem, etc.)?  Since the Constitution provides our President the power to nominate whom[ever] s/he considers appropriate, I don’t believe that a nominee’s subjective leanings or policy positions (if within the bounds of law) should be part of the equation.”

If I’m going to be consistent with past Noise, this is what I see looking at Mr. Trump’s Big Four:

Mr. Kennedy:  I find Mr. Kennedy more nutty than nefarious, but he’s still dangerous.  The New York Times recently reported that in May, 2021, Mr. Kennedy filed a petition with the Federal Food and Drug Administration seeking to have its authorization for the then-recently-released COVID vaccinations rescinded — when estimates were beginning to indicate that the vaccines were saving thousands of lives.  It’s obvious that he’s not qualified to lead HHS.  He should be rejected on this ground.  We don’t need to consider any allegedly questionable personal elements of Mr. Kennedy’s background.  That said, there is a silver lining for those who are concerned about the disruption he might cause if confirmed:  Mr. Kennedy has had no experience running a huge bureaucracy such as HHS; he is going to have to maneuver through thousands of HHS scientists who are more qualified and knowledgeable about their bureaucracy than he is; and although I am confident that Mr. Trump relishes the consternation that he has caused by Mr. Kennedy’s nomination, I doubt he is going to want to spend a lot of political capital fighting the battles Mr. Kennedy’s inclinations might generate (note how Mr. Trump already assured the public that we are not going to end the polio vaccine).

Mr. Hegseth:  It is obvious that Mr. Hegseth, like Mr. Kennedy, is completely unqualified to discharge the post for which he has been nominated.  Although — in the words of the pro-Trump, Murdoch Family-controlled Wall Street Journal Editorial Board — Mr. Hegseth “has never run an organization of any size,” he is seeking to lead the organization with either the most or the second most employees in the world (I’ve seen one indication that India’s Ministry of Defence might be larger). During his hearing, he appeared to have limited knowledge of the world or of the strategic issues DoD faces.  He should be rejected.  There is no need to get as far as his views of women or his multitude of attendant personal failings.  [Even so, when your own mom calls you out – even though Mr. Hegseth’s mother has now retracted her reported past comments about her son (without denying she made them) – that’s bad, Man.  😉 ]  That said, there is a silver lining for those who are concerned about the disruption he might cause if confirmed:  the Pentagon is arguably America’s most entrenched bureaucracy.  Although Messrs. Trump and Hegseth can certainly fire a number of generals they find to be “woke,” Mr. Hegseth might find it easier to physically push the Empire State Building than to move our military colossus where it doesn’t want to go.  In what I hope will not prove to be the most Pollyannaish comment ever made here, I have trouble believing that many senior officers – who are made of sterner stuff than career politicians — are going to be willing at Messrs. Trump’s and Hegseth’s instance to use American military force against American citizens who may hereafter be demonstrating peacefully against Trump Administration policies.

Ms. Gabbard:  It is ironic that one of the two of the Big Four about whom I have the deepest misgivings perhaps fares the best within the framework I have outlined.  If I am to be consistent with what I have said before – that a nominee’s subjective leanings or policy positions (if within the bounds of law) should not be part of the determination regarding the nominee’s confirmation – Mr. Gabbard’s clear affinity for Russian President Vladimir Putin and sympathy for Russian claims should not be a bar to her confirmation.  Mr. Trump’s own affinity for Putin is well established no matter whom he names to be DNI.  Whether Ms. Gabbard has the background to be DNI – to deftly sift through the oceans of intelligence gathered by our resources, and effectively inform the President — is seemingly a subjective rather than an objective determination.  Her 2020 presidential candidacy, her service in the U.S. House of Representatives, and her interactions in the foreign realm (no matter how misguided they seem to me) arguably lend weight to her resume; on the other hand, I’ve seen a Wall Street Journal report indicating that she recently unsettled some Republican Senators by being unable to describe what the DNI does.  Mr. Trump must think she has the necessary qualifications, and he won the election.  I am not aware of any reports of extraneous personal issues that would constitute a bar to Ms. Gabbard’s nomination.  That said, a conceptual framework only takes one so far.  If I got a vote on Ms. Gabbard’s nomination, I would vote NO. 

Mr. Patel:  I will mostly set forth quotes I’ve gleaned elsewhere:

The ACLU:  “Patel has described his desire to target perceived enemies, including the press and civil servants. In September, Patel stated, ‘We [must] collectively join forces to take on the most powerful enemy that the United States has ever seen, and no it’s not Washington, DC, it’s the mainstream media and these people out there in the fake news. That is our mission!’”

The Washington Post:  “Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, has suggested that multiple individuals previously critical of the president-elect should be criminally investigated, according to a review by The Washington Post of dozens of hours of appearances on conservative podcasts and TV interviews over the past two years.… Patel floated criminal probes of lawmakers and witnesses who gave evidence to the Jan. 6 committee…. Those include former Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson and police officers who testified about defending the Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack.… If confirmed by the Senate, Patel would have the authority to launch FBI investigations .… In June 2023, Patel told Donald Trump Jr. on his podcast that ‘the legacy media has been proven to be the criminal conspirators of the government gangsters,’ referring to roughly five dozen members of the ‘deep state’ listed in his 2023 book, ‘Government Gangsters.’  And in December 2023, Patel told former Trump aide Stephen K. Bannon on his podcast that journalistsshould be investigated,repeating false claims that Trump had won the 2020 election.  ‘We’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections,’ Patel said. ‘We’re going to come after you. Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out.’”

The Roll Call (a publication rated “Center” by All Sides): “Kash Patel is set to face questions during a bid to be the next FBI director about his history of fierce criticism of current and former federal officials, including a list of 60 people he has deemed members of the ‘Executive Branch Deep State’ that critics have dubbed an enemies list.  The list appears in an appendix of Patel’s book, ‘Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy.’ It includes people such as FBI Director Christopher Wray, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and President Joe Biden.  There are high-profile Democrats, Trump administration officials who have rejected his false 2020 election fraud claims and other administration officials who have since spoken out critically about his behind-the-scenes conduct.  Patel used the book to fume against what he called the ‘deep state,’ a pejorative term for current and former federal officials, which he said was the ‘most dangerous threat to our democracy.’ … [S]ome critics have raised concerns that he will wield the sprawling investigative authority of the FBI to investigate and prosecute Trump’s enemies, if he’s confirmed. The president-elect, who flirted with authoritarian themes during his campaign, has called for the prosecution of perceived foes…. Patel’s list includes Biden administration officials as well as first-term Trump officials who have been critical of Trump, such as former Attorney General William Barr; former national security adviser John Bolton; Mark Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper…. In his memoir, Barr wrote that he told White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows that Patel would get a role at the FBI ‘over my dead body.’  ‘Patel had virtually no experience that would qualify him to serve at the highest level of the world’s preeminent law enforcement agency,’ Barr wrote.  NBC News reported that Bolton, who after leaving office lambasted Trump’s fitness for the presidency, said Trump had picked Patel to be his Lavrentiy Beria, an infamous Stalin police chief, and said that the ‘Senate should reject [Patel’s] nomination 100-0.’ … Patel, in the book, said the list was not exhaustive and did not include ‘other corrupt actors of the first order,’ such as Adam B. Schiff, the California Democrat who will be a senator and able to vote on a Patel nomination.”

A link to the full list included in Mr. Patel’s book is provided below.  Unlike the bureaucratic and institutional constraints confronted by incoming Cabinet Secretaries, an FBI Director has fewer restraints.  An exhaustive investigation of a private citizen such as Ms. Hutchinson, no matter how unwarranted, has the power to emotionally and financially destroy the subject’s life.  Although he has reportedly recently assured a couple of Senators, including Democratic U.S. PA Sen. John Fetterman, that if confirmed he will not seek to prosecute Mr. Trump’s perceived enemies, you make up your own mind.  (I do seem to recall Mr. Trump’s first-term Supreme Court nominees assuring the Senate that Roe v. Wade was settled precedent.)  Mr. Patel’s statements make it appear that he is blissfully unaware of a little-known provision called the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, and I’m pretty sure that his declarations are evidence of notions that would be unconstitutional if implemented by an FBI Director.  I’m with Messrs. Barr and Bolton on this one.

Click to access patel-list.pdf

As anyone following reports of current Congressional machinations is aware, the majority of the Big Four appears highly likely to be confirmed, and perhaps all of them will be – I guess demonstrating that in the last analysis, it really doesn’t matter whether you’re injected, electrocuted, beheaded, or shot.   

I’ve been a bit amused by some commentators’ sometimes-painful attempts since the election to provide a more benevolent gloss to the prospective actions of the incoming Administration.  (I know, I know; a dark Irish sense of humor 😉 .)  Although such is the American way – we have generally tended to rally around a new President, at least initially – Mr. Trump is not a new president.  I give the President-Elect unqualified credit for consistency.  What you see is what you get.  The time for emotion has passed.  His nominations of the Big Four, together with his bizarre suggested annexation of Canada and even the implied willingness to use force in Panama and Greenland, constitute compelling evidence that we are entering another staging of the divisive, vindictive, chaotic theater of the absurd we had during the first Trump Administration.  I only hope that the Americans who voted for Mr. Trump understood what they’re going to get.  You know the wag’s definition of insanity; I would prefer not to think that these citizens are completely insane.

Think this is only so much Noise?  I sincerely hope you’re right. To use a phrase that Mr. Trump and I both appreciate:  We’ll see what happens.