Everything Right!

 

                                          Everything Right!

06/08/2023

If one needs proof of the mentality of the average Trump supporter, one need look no further than the recent rally out West where He actually stated, “I did everything right.” This has to be, by any definition, the most outrageous and false claim ever made by a United States President. In considering what I would say about it, I was swamped with examples of things that Trump did diametrically wrong which give the lie to his ludicrous statement. Even more ridiculous were the cheers of the people in the building who, knowing no better, (or not caring, since the result is the same) raised their arms and shouted loud huzzahs as their demagogue lied his ass off.

The task of selecting examples of Trump doing it categorically wrong is daunting and one has so many choices. I shall endeavor to only pick some of the blatantly flagrant ones.

 

Let's begin with economics. As we all know Trump was unable to get into grad school at Wharton and his economic policies clearly demonstrate why. When he met Professor Arthur Laffer at a social event, he alluded to having studied Laffer’s supply side economic theory at Wharton, when in fact Laffer hadn’t published yet when Trump was in school. Even so, his tax cut which he ballyhooed as the largest ever, which it wasn’t, was based on the flawed assumption that cutting taxes would increase federal revenues. This, in spite of the fact that, in practice, the theory had failed in both the Reagan and Bush 43 administrations. It continues to fail with the Trump tax cuts in effect. Among the results are three huge budget deficits.

According to a report released last May (2023) by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), extending the Trump tax cuts would add $3.5 trillion to the deficit through 2033.  Isn’t it amazing that the “Freedom Caucus” didn’t mention that while sniffing each other’s butts and howling at the moon over the debt ceiling??

        Also, still on the subject of Economics, we have Trump's insistence that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade treaty and NAFTA were both terribly flawed and needed to be replaced. Anyone interested in what replaced them would be hard pressed to find any differences in them because, after denouncing all the Obama era initiatives that he could, Trump essentially retreaded both treaties and actually weakened trade relations such that American intellectual property is in far greater jeopardy.  CPTPP (the replacement Trump version) is substantially the same as TPP but omits 20 provisions that had been added to TPP at US insistence and that are now no longer binding. These provisions were primarily related to investment, government and intellectual property. Yes, you guessed it, CTTP is worse for the US. Trump did it wrong!

Finally in an economic move that would leave the average high school junior shaking their head, we had Trump claiming that “China will pay the tariffs” on new import duties which he enacted against almost all economic advice. Any high school economics student should understand that tariffs are taxes on imports which are paid by the importer, not by the exporter. In the case of Trump's tariffs, and as predictably occurred, China retaliated by placing a tariff on American soybeans which placed them above the world market price of soybeans produced elsewhere in the world. The result of that has been an increase in agricultural subsidies to American farmers who can now no longer sell their product overseas. Agricultural subsidies have tripled as a result.

Overall, according to the American Association of Manufacturers, the tariff package enacted by Trump is costing every household in America about $850 per year. For the math challenged, that’s about $150 billion!  For added perspective, that is just over 10% of the 2022 federal deficit! Yeah, we're paying the tariff, not China. Prices are higher and supplies are lower. Trump was wrong.

On to policy in general. After dismantling the Obama pandemic preparedness mechanism and ignoring the “How to guide” (you know the “playbook” which Mitch McConnell claimed the Obama administration never prepared, even though his wife had been provided a presentation by the outgoing administration which used and explained it) Trump fiddled while COVID burned its way across America. I have written at length on this issue and for brevity’s sake it can be found here:   https://bubblehead1026.blogspot.com/2020/04/ineptitude-and-obfuscation-by-numbers.html

Compared to much of the developed world, Trump’s response to the pandemic was pathetic. His attitude also fueled the lunatic fringe’s unwillingness to do the right things. As a result, more Americans died as a percentage of population than in many more densely populated nations.

As a military retiree, it troubles me when I read that the President, never in the military, berates the Joint Chiefs in the presence of staffers. This was addressed in John Bolton’s book and is a good part of why he resigned. Again, as a leader, Trump is a pathetic failure. His removal from command of the C.O. of USS Theodore Roosevelt for his actions to protect his crew during a COVID outbreak is exemplary of the way he works. He had the acting SecNav do the job but, per staffers, it was at Trump’s insistence and direction. In like manner, he overrode the decision of a military court martial in the case of SEAL team murderer Senior Chief Eddie Gallagher, whose entire team turned him in for stabbing a 17year old captive and cutting off his head and holding it up while posing for a photo. Trump pardoned Gallagher. Regardless of conditions, the Military must be allowed to handle their own legal issues free from a grandstanding, publicity seeking POTUS.

Trump’s fetish for deregulation and personal poor relationship with banks spurred his attack on the Dodd-Frank legislation which was enacted during the Obama years as a response to the Housing bubble collapse and the earlier gradual GOP sponsored gutting of the Glass-Steagall banking act, which had evolved from the Great Depression to regulate commercial banks in the public interest. At Trump’s insistence Dodd-Frank was weakened, specifically the 2013 Volker Amendment, which provided oversight of how Commercial banks used deposited funds. The result? Banks like Silicon Valley Bank were free to make risky investments which led to bank failure. Trump was wrong.  

 

 These are major policy areas in which Trump has been shown to be in error.

 The list of his casual lies is epic:

“I’ll eliminate the Federal debt (Note: the entire 19 trillion debt, not the annual deficit) in 8 years.” Instead, he grew it by Trillions. Trump was wrong.

 “I won’t have time for golf” Played 3 times as much as Obama in half the time at twenty times the cost.

Numerous claims that COVID was “under control” (It wasn’t) He admitted the lie to Bob Woodward.

He didn’t payoff Stormy Daniels, the porn star he shtupped while his wife was pregnant, (He did) 

He “enacted Veteran’s Choice” (VA allowed use of non-VA doctors if closer) No, Barack Obama did that.

He claimed Biden wanted to end pre-existing condition coverage under the ACA. No, simply blatantly false, a campaign lie.

“Windmills cause cancer.” “I know more about windmills than anybody.” No, just no.

  Great Healthcare plan is “coming in two weeks” Still waiting.

 “My father was born in Germany (or Sweden)”. Fred Trump was born in the Bronx.

Mexico will pay for “The Wall”. No Donald, they won’t.

“I got the most electoral votes of anyone since Reagan.”  No, Bush 43, Clinton, and Obama all got more.  

Too many false claims about the 2000 election to count. Face it, he lost.

Bad character, bad record, miserable leader. Sums it up.