Must be Close to Halloween

        We know it must be getting close to Halloween because the Great Pumpkin made an appearance in The Villages yesterday. Typical of Trump, he ballyhooed an executive order (meaning nothing, since it neither really enabled nor denied anyone anything) which he claimed was him protecting Medicare which, oddly enough he has criticized elsewhere, but then this is a retirement community. The essence of the token gesture was to make it easier for Medicare Advantage plans to grab more Medicare money. The rub here is that Medicare advantage insurers are only able to provide what they do because drug prices are what drives high Medicare costs. Thank you, Bush 43, for Medicare part D’s free gift to private insurers which forbids Medicare from negotiating drug costs as Medicare Advantage and other private plans can (and do).

       As usual, he used far too many superlatives, filling in the gaps with meaningless drivel. The local paper, so far Right it can’t see the middle, headed the sports section today with a half page photo of Trump golfing and a headline “Golfer in Chief”. It is likely that few of his braying sycophants will recall the Trump who campaigned while claiming he, “Wouldn’t have time to play golf.”  Meanwhile he has spent more time and far more money on golf in 2 ½ years than Obama, whom he criticized as playing “too much golf”, did in two full terms. 

       And yet these annoying truths are just blown off, because …well because their (Trump supporters) moral compasses are seemingly broken.

        Meanwhile Federal handouts to US farmers have topped $27 billion due to the disastrous effects of Trump’s ill-advised tariff war with China. Similarly, American manufacturers and importer/retailers estimate the average American family will bear just over $850 dollars annually in extra expense due to the effects of those same tariffs. This offsets, for average Americans, any positive effects of the “tax cuts” enacted to benefit fat cat contributors. Amazingly, there are still those of the Trump camp who believe the outrageous lie that “China pays the tariffs.”  Of course, in terms Trump supporters can understand:  Not imposing agricultural tariffs alone on China would have saved taxpayers more than five times the cost of Mr. Trump’s ridiculous wall. Meanwhile the federal deficit, in what Trump maintains is a booming economy, has exceeded a trillion dollars.  I know he’s stupid and “doesn’t read” (his own characterization of his leadership style), but apparently, he’s counting on the economic ignorance of his fan base, because essentially every legitimate economist, regardless of political party advised against the tariffs.

       Then again, this is also the guy who said, “I know more about ISIS than the generals” and the Red Hats high fived each other, not one pausing to reflect on Trump’s total absence of military experience, yet apparently ready to ignore the Joint Chiefs of staff in favor of his own “stable genius” 

        Now for the truth: Over the next 10 years, Trump’s 2020 budget proposal aims to spend $1.5 trillion less on Medicaid — instead allocating $1.2 trillion in a block-grant program to states — $25 billion less on Social Security, and $845 billion less on Medicare.  

        Meanwhile, Trump himself, still absolutely convinced that he is a “stable genius,” both parts of which he proved wrong in front of the Finnish President, continues denying his missteps re: Ukraine, claiming that anyone who dares contradict him is a “traitor” (as if he had ever read the Constitutional definition of that term) and sends his lawyer, Rudy “Nosferatu” Giuliani out to lie for him. If anyone felt the need to be convinced of Trump’s miserable judgement, look to the revolving door in his cabinet and administration. I mean, hell if Rick Perry thinks you suck….!

        All that said, the standout example of just how morally bankrupt Trump truly is can be had in his selection of personal attorneys. Early on, Trump’s mentor and “fixer” was the poster boy for zero moral integrity.  Roy Cohn, himself a closeted gay man, was a prime mover in Joseph McCarthy’s attempts to smear just about anyone who came on McCarthy’s radar or questioned his character assassinations as either a “Commie”, “Gay” or whatever fake charge he could drum up. In Washington, Cohn was known as both a closeted homosexual and homophobic, (figure that out!?) among those leading the charge against supposedly gay witnesses who he and others believed should lose their government jobs because they were “security risks.” How odd that Trump became a Roy Cohn protégé and client. Actually, it isn’t odd at all, because Trump has needed “fixers” like Cohn since he reached adulthood, and the scurrilous methods he learned at Roy Cohn’s knee are those he uses today.

Donald Trump and Roy Cohn

                    Roy Cohn and Joseph McCarthy


          As if that wasn’t enough, he has now chosen a man, Giuliani, who is so far into his dotage that about twice weekly he publicly contradicts Trump, himself, or both. Asked who in the White House is responsible for handling Giuliani’s missteps, a White House aide, speaking anonymously, said, “Handling Rudy’s f--- ups takes more than one man.” One wonders what Giuliani knows that makes Trump hesitate to fire him.