RS/BS Newsletter: The Trump Presidency 100 Day Edition

The 100 days have come and gone. Some of the news of the moment has been condensed for this month’s RS/BS Newsletter for April.

 What could Possibly Go Wrong?

The newly appointed head of the EPA-Scott Pruitt has begun his assault on Environmental Protections for the US. First, Research & Development, along with water quality studies have been eliminated (Tell the people of Flint that we don’t need such things, right?)

Trump has ordered Federal Agencies to stop using the Social Cost of Carbon-the estimated economic cost of emitting 1 ton of carbon into the air-as the measure which they have used to help big business to pollute at will. What could Possibly Go Wrong?

The Trump Administrations anti EPA wants to gut Obama's Clean Power Plan, a nod to big coal and other polluters. And there is a bill up now from Representative. Lamar Smith called the HONEST Act-which is designed to prevent the EPA from even using sound science as the measure in studying issues before the EPA… Also instead of 20 yearly reviews from the agency, they are down to 2!  What is wrong with this Picture?

All of these are going under-reported as we go further into the Trump era of de-regulation and environmental non-protection.

About the Unity Tour:  There are training operations under way on a massive scale for the D triple C. Bernie Sanders remains the most popular politician in the country, and Bernie and the Democratic platform are in agreement on most of the issues. As I've said before, I'm not one of those wringing their hands about the lack of Democratic Unity. As Will Rogers said, “I"m not a member of any organized political party. I'm a Democrat.”

*The French Vote: Could go either way, but even if Le Pen prevailed, or squeaked through as Trump did, then the rest of the world would still be in opposition to the Trump Presidency with their eyes wide open about the Russian interference in elections and Putin’s Oligarchy plus the criminal activities that have helped get these people in office.

*The Infighting in the GOP has also gone under the radar, as so much attention has been paid to the Democratic disunity. But the majority of Democrats believe in progressive values more in line with Independents and Millennial voters And though the investigations do go on,  ultimately it will have to be the Republicans deciding if they want to run on a ticket with a compromised candidate at the head of their party.. That may be the time when we see the long Nixon-ian walk to the White House to let Mr. Trump know it's time for him to go!

*The Return of Obama: Obama is still inspiring his followers and he'll also be accepting the Profiles in Courage award in Boston on May 7th. Later in May, May 25th, he'll give a speech in Germany at the Brandenburg Gate with Angela Merkel by his side. So stay tuned. Hillary is also back in action, and Elizabeth Warren is promoting her new book “This Fight is our Fight”. The Dems have lots of divergent and intelligent voices, but it’s my personal belief (One of the few I share with our President) that Elizabeth Warren will be recruited to run in 2020. Dems have lots of reasons to be optimistic for the future of the Democratic Party and the Progressive Movement. The Resistance is definitely in full swing.

One of the quotes from an Obama spokesman was that Obama would not criticize Trump at this time, "..better to hold back for Fall of 2018…where he can speak from a higher perch!" Stay tuned…

Who Knew? The slush funds that crooks use to buy high-end real estate in places like Palm Beach and New York City are all coming to light. The phony corporations, shadow corporations and LLC's mask the names of the real buyers…There is a "mysterious bulk" buyer of properties that has been buying luxury condos from the Trumps…Shocking about the gambling that's going on, right?

The Oversight Committee’s  work has begun in Congress…ever so slowly, by dribs and by drabs they've inched along…We also learn that through the cover of a "Russian Think Tank" Putin was able to orchestrate his propaganda war on our Democracy. It was basically called a propaganda arm of the Kremlin…and useful idiots like Carter Page were used to disperse the information to the masses.

*The Tax Man Cometh: If you listened to the Gipper,- dear old Ronald Reagan, then you realize even he knew that the only way to get anything done was through bi-partisan legislation. If any of the party leaders or Trump team knew this, then there might be movement on issues like Infrastructure. I must say, I knew Kevin McCarthy was a pretty dim bulb, but I thought Mr. Ryan was a bit more brainy than this. He has proven to be exceptionally thick when dealing with his own party, with the media, with the Trump White House, and especially with the rest of the country that voted against his guy. Almost makes you wonder if he does need some of those Resistance members to send the postcard saying: “You DO realize that you are Speaker of the House to ALL Americans, don’t you?”

*Health Care: It's still in limbo. I did hear something ominous about exploding premiums for pre-existing conditions. They may have to give up on getting legislation passed, but it’s no secret that in order to get their tax cuts through, the GOP would love to get their hands on that money going to middle class subsidies. If the Dems run on 3 issues: Lowering drug costs; introducing the Public Option; and phasing in Medicare for 55 and older, they should overcome the current stagnation.

And long term, the path to single payer leads through the health insurance industry. If both parties could give up their idealogical positions and improve Obamacare's plan which mandated insurance companies to give back the largest percentage of their profits to the patients…and subsequently introducing a Patient's Bill of Rights that reads: Health Care is A RIGHT for all ….then in so doing,  the Health Insurance Industry might be forced into legislation that would have them become non-profit models, based on an 8-10 year timetable.  If the incentive to make money off of sick and middle class people is taken away, then and only then the Insurance companies would lose their stranglehold on Americans….(Climbing off soapbox now:)

*Question: Is Turkey still a Democracy? And what idiot in their right mind would call that pseudo-dictator wanna-be Erdogan to wish him joy in his great victory in turning Turkey into an Oligarchy/Dictatorship? OH! yeah, of course, Sorry I forgot- Silly of me to think that the other half our country is still part of the good ol' Democratic League of Nations called the UN.  I forgot that Putin has convinced them to go over the Dark Side of the Force…

*Speaking of which…what's with Ivanka going to Germany and bragging about her Dad's great track record in helping women? And also being right there when Trump called the International Space Station? Was she elected dog-catcher or anything? Just checking….cause we all know that if Hillary had Chelsea sitting on her lap in the Oval Office, with Bill next door, there would be pitch forks and fire hoses storming the White House Gates. The hypocrisy knows no bounds, does it? Just sayin’...



Trump & the "Madman Theory": There's an interesting story out there about Richard Nixon, who was, like Dick Cheney, could arguably be portrayed as the ultimate evil villain of dastardly proportions. Nixon thought it was ok to be perceived as unpredictable & unstable to your enemies. It was ok to be irrational, but the key was to be consistent. From a foreign policy standpoint, the experts posited that in the case of the MOAB and then again in Syria, Trump ould have used coercive diplomacy  and it might have worked as a deterrent, but of course, we'll never know.

The question was asked: Could North Korea decide to initiate a series of low-level incidents designed to test the US limits of tolerance? One pundit's quote: "Crazy beats Big Every Time"- a wise quote from the TV series: Malcolm in the Middle, sums it up pretty well. The Foreign Policy experts concluded their musings with this thought: Unraveling the American Alliance Network by undermining confidence in Washington is most likely the worst way to implement American Foreign Policy…and particularly the Trump's preferred "America First" policy. So there's that…


So in conclusion, the 100 days has concluded like a bad soap opera of sorts for about half of the citizens of the United States and definitely for the rest of the world. Trump has delighted his base by going far to the right, farther than even some of his staunchest supporters and defenders would have predicted.

He has made no attempts to reconcile the country through even some obligatory Democratic appointments or even empty gestures. And the Press has continued their own ineptitude by predicting that if the Election were held today, Trump would win even less of a narrow margin of victory over Hillary. Which leads me to believe she would win in a landscape, because everybody knows by now that the Polls are always wrong!

John Kasich claimed that the offer was made for him to be Vice President, where his agenda would be implemented while Mr. Trump continued to fly around and make speeches, and essentially be the “Front Man” for the organization that is not concerned with the minutiae of everyday governing. This seems to be corroborated by not only Trump’s behavior, and his continued need to campaign and hold victory rallies, but the statement he made that “Being President was harder than I thought it would be.” Really? I am astonished that thought was applied at all!

Till Next month: Reporting live from Planet Earth-ML