Now that President Trump has ceded any moral authority the United States ever had to criticize other authoritarian regimes for using their military forces to crackdown on dissidents in their countries, we are further along the path to becoming just another authoritarian regime. Sad but true.
This president and his Congressional supporters are so out of touch with what is going on in this country that it is truly frightening. Senator Lindsay Graham, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee has chosen, at the behest of President Trump to spend the committees time and energy investigating the investigation into the Russian interference in the 2016 election. This in spite of the findings of the Republican led Senate Intelligence Committee that the original investigation was justified!! And this during a time when the country is crying out for reform of the criminal justice system which is what the Judicial Committee should be focused on. This is nothing other than a taxpayer funded effort to support Trump’s re-election.
(And just a side note on the Russia investigation. I worked in the Defense Industry for over thirty years, held a Top-Secret clearance (and beyond) for most of that time, and worked very closely with the military and other intelligence agencies to provide information to counter threats to this country. In addition, I read the Mueller report cover-to-cover, all 441 pages. I personally find it deplorable that the President (and his toadies) continue to publicly attack and vilify the intelligence agencies of this country. And further, I don’t know how anyone could read the Mueller report and come away feeling that 1) there is no doubt whatsoever about the Russian interference and 2) there is no doubt about the President’s obstruction of justice.)
Continuing with the theme of Trump as a landlord from yesterday, we should all know by now how much Donald Trump is consumed with how things look. It’s all about the optics. If you’ve ever been to the Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York you understand. The façade is more important than the substance. It most likely explains why Trump refuses to wear a mask – it just doesn’t look good. But this obsession with optics and how things look is preventing this administration from trying to solve real problems. You can only solve a problem if you first admit that there is a problem. If you continually pretend that everything is all hunky-dory, you’ll never address the real problem.
Trump declared victory yesterday because the stock market was up 800 points. That’s great! It did squat to address any of the major problems facing this country. Focusing on the stock market and unemployment rates is not going to solve the structural and foundational problems facing this country. In a space-related campaign ad (that his campaign was forced to remove because it violated NASA guidelines!), Trump makes the statement, “You can’t be number one on earth if you are number two in space.” and that “we are not going to be number two anywhere.” But the facts just don’t support that statement.
We have the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world!! I’m not sure that’s something to be proud of. Americans pay, on average, 56% more for prescription medicines than other industrialized countries. In a study by the Commonwealth Fund, the US spent the largest percentage of GDP on healthcare – and had the worst outcomes overall. And access to and affordability of healthcare lags behind almost every other industrialized nation. Although the US universities are still ranked among the best in the world, students in elementary, middle and high school lag behind many other countries in areas of math and science in particular. And then of course there is the whole issue of affordability and access for college. US college students are burdened with unprecedented debt, unseen in any other industrialized country. The US is the second largest contributor to pollution affecting climate change in the world! And now, the whole issue of racial injustice and inequality is once again at the forefront of issues facing this country.
There are real, structural problems facing this country and failure to address them, will lead to a further deterioration of our country, our position of leadership in the world and the continued erosion of our democracy.
Think about it. We all have to spend a certain amount of time and energy working on the basic maintenance of our homes and vehicles. If you ignore the termites eating away at your walls or you never change the oil in your car, things will begin to fail. And if you ignore these problems too long, it will lead to a catastrophic failure. Putting a new coat of paint on your house if it’s infested with termites will not solve the problem. Washing your car if you haven’t changed the oil in it for 100,000 miles won’t solve the problem. That’s not hyperbole. That’s a fact.
These days if feels like Trump and his minions are out mowing the lawn and talking about how pretty the grass is while in the background, the house is burning to the ground.
I once again recommend Professor Richardson’s blog.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/people/4875576-heather-cox-richardson
I have I think figured out why Trump is so successful. Trump’s reaction is instead of directly responding to accusations is to destroy the person’s character who presents the accusation then the accusation never get resolved. Trump has been successful with character assassinations his whole life and has not only got away with it but his fans admire him for it. His TV program “The Apprentice” is, I believe, the reason why people admire him so much.
Mike, Your editorials I wish the whole nation would understand what you are saying on how serious the situation is. Unfortunately I feel the mistakes Germany made before World War 2 with Hitler are repeating in our nation today. They failed because people with a conscience were silent. Let’s hope that your editorials will inspire others to speak out.