Still Hard to Believe                 

 

I’ve tried several times to begin this piece in the aftermath of the Presidential election. Each time I reflected that I have already written at length about Donald Trump’s manifest shortcomings as a leader, a moral individual and sufficient knowledge to adequately govern even a boy scout troop. Then I pondered the fact that, to my dismay and confusion, such a large number of our countrymen and woman are apparently as intellectually challenged as their idol.

        Explaining this requires the acceptance of the fact that apparently the broadening US oligarchy has accomplished its goal of convincing a significant number of people, for whom they have no real regard or concern save their role as consumers, that minorities and persons with whom they may disagree are a threat to their welfare. Tragically this has crossed over into religious chicanery, as perhaps the least religious man in America has been portrayed as having been sent by some divine hocus pocus to save the rest of us sentient beings from a litany of non-existent evils, such as free school lunches, drag queens, Medicaid and the fear that a trans-person might be using the adjacent stall.  

         Among the way, we are told that there is a crime wave of undocumented immigrants when, in truth, as a percentage of the population undocumented immigrants are significantly less likely to commit crimes because that would “blow their cover.”  In fact, a 2024 study reports that undocumented immigrants are arrested at less than half the rate of native-born U.S. citizens for violent and drug crimes and a quarter the rate of native-born citizens for property crimes.

        In addition to vilifying immigrants in general, especially those not Caucasian, the far right continues to make ludicrous allegations re: the LGBT community in general. Meanwhile House Speaker Mike Johnson has his panty hose in a wad for fear a trans member of Congress might use a Capitol rest room and do goodness knows what. All this “moral outrage”  
while initially he attempted to stifle the House Ethics committee report on the real sexual transgressions of the now resigned Matt Gaetz who was still Trump’s Attorney General selectee. And this is the individual who makes House committee appointments.

Trump’s list of cabinet selectees so far is mind numbing. In a nation which has essentially eliminated measles, polio, and other diseases by rigorous vaccination requirements for children, even the mention of anti-vaxxer Robert Kennedy Jr. for any heath related cabinet post is vomit worthy. In the same vein, the mention of Dr. Mehmet Oz for any Medicare and Medicaid supervisory role simply solidifies the Trump predilection for cronyism and sycophant preference. What, Dr Oz a fraud? Yes, read on. In a 2012 episode of The Dr Oz Show, He claimed that selenium supplements – a mineral found in certain foods – was “the holy grail of cancer prevention.” But a 2014 National Library of Medicine study concluded that “extremely high intakes of selenium can cause severe problems, including difficulty breathing, tremors, kidney failure, heart attacks, and heart failure, but there is “no evidence” to date that suggests that selenium supplements can prevent cancer in humans.”  This is but one such fraudulent claim made by Oz to urge sales of dubious products from which he profited.

 

The elevation of such as Elon Musk to any position in government in some fashion is equally scary as Musk would be Trump’s ear worm whispering that the wealthy and corporate interest are overtaxed, and a reduction of that “burden” can be obtained by reducing spending on those Americans struggling to get by while reducing taxes on those who can afford to pay their share. But wait, it gets worse. In October of this year, Trump said this: “When we were a smart country, in the 1890s … this is when the country was relatively the richest it ever was. It had all tariffs. It didn’t have an income tax,” “Now we have income taxes, and we have people that are dying. They’re paying tax, and they don’t have the money to pay the tax.”

First of all, the last sentence is vintage Trumpian word salad. Yes, people are dying, aways have, always will be. Dead people don’t pay tax. Trump may be referring to Inheritance Tax, which rich brats like himself might be taxed on a portion of. Trump and his ilk want to be able to pass all their wealth on to heirs who have done nothing to deserve it except be born rich. Note: Unless you inherit more than $13,610,000 this doesn’t apply to you. Again, it is vintage Trump, whining about having to share the profits made as a wealthy individual in the USA.

Now for the initial statement in the quote: Yes, we had tariffs. Yes, we also had essentially zero government concern for the poor, and many workers were, in fact, below what would have been the poverty level, had anyone cared enough to calculate what such a figure would have been. There was good reason to refer to the upper crust of US industrialists as “Robber Barons.”

       The world’s economy has changed, and tariffs today are a really bad idea, since any imposed by the US would surely result in increased prices because the “tariffed” nations would impose retaliatory tariffs. In 1890, which Trump refers to, the US was essentially self-sufficient in almost every raw material our industry required. Not so today! Considering just one area, that of the rare earths used almost all electronics, estimates are that the total worldwide reserves of rare earths amount to approximately 110 million metric tons. Almost half of these reserves are located within China, estimated at some forty-four million metric tons. After China, the major rare earth countries based on reserve volume are Vietnam, Russia, and Brazil. See the USA? Me neither. Tariffs against any of these nations could be disastrous, resulting in significant price increases for consumers here. Again, Trump and his cronies can afford higher prices, but most of us would suffer the result.

         If anyone actually sought validation of this, there are examples, such as the 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariff signed into law by Herbert Hoover. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff was intended to help American farmers by raising prices on foreign agricultural imports. However, the tariff was a disaster and is often cited as a leading cause of the Great Depression, as other nations reciprocated, worsening an already bad world economic situation. More than one thousand American economists warned Hoover and petitioned him to veto the tariff bill. Like Trump, Hoover didn’t listen to good advice.

        As for the rest of the cabinet selectees we have another accused sexual miscreant Pete Hegseth, who apparently feels it’s ok to sexually assault women but not to allow them into combat roles in the military (he is named for SecDef!).

        Then we have Pam Bondi tapped for of AG, a recipient of a generous campaign contribution from Trump after which she killed investigation of numerous fraud allegations against Trump “University.”  Coincidence? On the same page we have do-nothing Senator Marco Rubio, also from Fl. and so deep in the pockets of big sugar that he has actually stated that “Sugar is a national security issue.” Of course, Rubio, who has never really worked a non-political job, has been the continuous voice in support of sugar price subsidies which cost Americans twice as much per pound as the rest of the world pays.

And, as the list and the threats go on, competence would seem not as much a pre-req as the willingness to echo the wishes of the would be king in the oval office. I may be wrong, but I can’t escape the sense that this can and may implode in Trump’s face as more average Americans begin to see that the emperor is naked.