December 1, 2018

  • The Progressive Lens Monthly Round-up: November 2018

    Trump Era Days 651-680

     

    What was reported?

    • Late item from October 31st: The Trump Administration released a new EPA rule without publicizing for mass public review which indicates that states can increase their smog (ozone) pollution by 43% without consequences.
    • 250.000 jobs were created in October, unemployment remained at 3.7%, and wages increased by 0.2%
    • Trump announced that all sanctions on Iran were officially going to be reinstated.
    • President Trump – in his attempts to fire up the rabid rightwing base ahead of the election – had originally stated that U.S. troops deployed to the border could treat rocks thrown by migrants as shots fired from a gun and could respond in kind. He then backtracked a day later.
    • Despite an earlier draft of the 2020 census suggesting that their numbers would be counted, the LGBTQ community was outraged to find that the Trump administration had removed questions relative to sexual orientation and identity.
    • The French President advocated for the European Union to create its own military force to counter its adversaries, even counting the United States amongst possible threats.
    • Housing sales slowed to their worst pace in nearly two years, kicking off worries that we were on the verge of a crash in that particular market.
    • In the midst of the close election in Florida for Senate and Governor which triggered dual recounts, Senate Candidate and Current Florida Governor Rick Scott and President Trump attacked the recount process, claiming there was “fraud” involved in a supposed attempt to steal the elections for Democrats. Protests broke out near one of the locations responsible for counting the votes at the infamous BrowardCounty.
    • Despite Republican promises that their tax cuts late last year would produce job growth and an increase in wages, the business community has largely reduced benefits and handed out “breadcrumbs” while giving their top executives decent sized bonuses.
    • The development of “Smart ID” technology as proliferated by tech giants such as China’s ZTE poses a serious risk to privacy and empowers any despotic regime to track the citizenry and suppress dissent.
    • In off-the-cuff recorded remarks, A Republican Senator from Mississippistated that she felt it was a “great idea” to make it harder for liberals to vote.
    • Citing the need to restructure due to increased costs from the tariffs and a changing car market, GM announced that they will be cutting almost 15,000 jobs – including some managerial staff – and shutting down 3 plants.
    • The midterms had some mixed results – Trump himself called it a “tremendous success”, though his party was swept out of power in the House -, with much of the major developments happening at the state level, wherein Democrats took over 7 governorships and over 400 state legislative seats, setting the stage for a contentious battle when the next census comes around in 2020. Democrats also flipped a number of Republican Senate seats, with one being the seat in Arizona. Which effectively means the Republicans only gained a net of two seats.
    • In the wake of a midterm election wherein the Republicans lost control of the House of Representatives, President Trump had a bitter and heated spat with a CNN White Press Correspondent Jim Acosta wherein Trump yelled at Acosta, saying CNN should be ashamed to employ him, attempted to have his microphone forcefully removed, and then later briefly banned Acosta from the press corps. As part of the fight, Trump’s administration argued that the president has expansive authority to regulate press access to the oval office, including determining which correspondents can and can’t get a pass. In the end, though a Judge ruled that Acosta had to be reinstated the Judge also didn’t question the President’s authority to regulate access.
    • Trump’s administration finalized the administrative rule changes allowing employers to “opt-out” of providing no-cost women’s health coverage.
    • Almost 30 years after Congress mandated that all federal agencies must face an audit, the Pentagon was finally audited, and failed. Many – though, unspecified – discrepancies were found in the budget.
    • The President lauded his supposed role in the Republican Party’s net gain of two seats in the U.S. Senate despite sweeping Democratic gains elsewhere and subsequently asserted that any attempts by the incoming Democratic House to hold him accountable would spark a “war-like” situation.
    • Also in the wake of losing control of the House, Trump fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions and replaced him with an “acting” Attorney General (with questionable constitutionality) named Matt Whitaker, a man whose past comments about the Russia probe leave much doubt as to his willingness to let the probe proceed unimpeded. The probe is now under Whitaker’s supervision.
    • In Texas, where 59 Republican judges were all swept out of office, one judge wholesale released 7 minors irrespective of their charges the day after he lost.
    • North Koreawas reportedly getting very anxious with Trump as his administration stalled negotiations. Neither side will offer concession first and it is increasing tensions.
    • Trump named a friend of his – handbag designer and a member of the Mara Lago Resort – named Lana Marks to be the Ambassador to South Africa.
    • The Trump Administration sided with Saudi Arabia and Sudan in a lawsuit relative to the deaths of the Al-Qaeda terror attack on the U.S.S. Cole in late-2000. The argument is that the lawsuit was served to an embassy instead of at Sudan’s capitol. This position about “wrong address” has been a long-standing position of the U.S. government as it fears that the U.S. government could be sued via one of its foreign embassies.
    • Visiting the wildfires in California, Trump blamed the increasing intensity and frequency of the fires on “forest management” and the lack of sufficient leaf raking, instead of climate change.
    • While the nation was distracted by the political fallout from the midterms, the lameduck Republican House voted in favor of removing gray wolves from the endangered species list.
    • After skipping a ceremony in France meant to honor the sacrifice of fallen Americans in the First World War – and blaming it on the weather and wanting to avert causing bad traffic -, Trump then subsequently skipped out on visiting Arlington Cemetery and claimed he didn’t visit because he was “busy” on the phone.
    • Claiming that CNN has “little competition” (eh, did he forget about Fox News and MSNBC?), Trump declared that we need a global news network run by the United States Government to counter CNN and to show the world how “GREAT” we are. Basically, he wants a propaganda media outlet (aside of Voice of America or even the de facto rightwing propaganda outlet known as Fox News) run by the state…like what we see with dictatorial regimes.
    • Trump issued an authorization for soldiers to use lethal force against the caravan of migrants largely seeking refuge from the turmoil in Central America.
    • Migrants attempting to enter the U.S. after the entry points were blockaded were met with tear gas – despite having children in their midst – after a number of those entering threw rocks at American border patrol officials.
    • The CIA confirmed that the Saudi Arabian government ordered the assassination of Washington Post journalist, U.S. resident, and Saudi-dissident, Jamal Khashoggi.
    • President Trump lashed out at a federal judge appointed by President Obama after said judge – who he called an “Obama judge” - ruled against his asylum policy. Then, Chief Justice Roberts – a George W. Bush appointee – shot back at Trump, saying that there are no “Obama judges” or judges of any other president past and present.
    • In the weeks after he won election as the next Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, Secretary of State Jon Husted ordered that the purge of voter resume of citizens whom had not voted since 2012 or responded to mailers seeking information pertinent to the voter.
    • Despite the fact that it came from his own administration – with the help of 13 agencies -, Trump insisted that he didn’t believe a disturbing climate change report which was intentionally buried in the news on Black Friday. Later on, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders stated that the report wasn’t based on “data” or “facts”, but that it was based on a “model”.
    • Just as he did last year, at the UN event on climate change this year Trump plans on hosting an event of his own promoting coal.
    • Although the VA had promised Congress not long ago that they would reimburse Student veterans retroactively for underpayments made according to their educational benefits as per the “Forever GI Bill”, the VA recently revealed that they would basically ignore the law and their obligation to pay the veterans what they were owed.
    • Trump surprised everyone by announcing support for comprehensive criminal justice reform which would make it easier for returning citizens to find work after they serve their term, reduce mandatory minimums, and reform punishments under “three strikes” laws and for nonviolent offenders.
    • Trump idiotically revealed that he wants to cancel aid to Puerto Rico for the recovery from Hurricane Maria, because he believes – without proof – that Puerto Rico is using the aid to pay off their debts.
    • Sinclair Broadcasting forced 100 of its local stations around the country to air – within 48 hours – a commentary piece by its “Chief Political Analyst”, Boris Epshteyn – who had served as a staffer for President Trump previously – which offered a full-throated defense of the use of tear gas against the migrant “invaders”.
    • Trump blocked his CIA Director Gina Haspel from briefing Senators on the evidence available pertinent to Saudi Arabia’s role in murdering Journalist Jamal Khashoggi about a week after issuing an odd tweet wherein he nonsensically thanked Saudi Arabia for the gas prices in decline.
    • Despite losing control of the House, Republicans in the House are trying to use their lameduck session to compel Democrats to support funding for the Wall as part of a stop gap measure to continue funding the government.
    • Trump issued a threat to House Democrats, saying that if they “harass” him and his team that he will go out and declassify any document he can to “expose” the Democrats and the Mueller probe as being in cahoots with each other.
    • Trump’s former fixer/lawyer, Michael Cohen, plead guilty to lying to Congress about the period of talks between Trump and the Russians pertinent to a MoscowTrumpTower. Trump later angrily shot back, saying that Cohen is a liar, but that he did nothing wrong even if Cohen wasn’t lying, as he supposedly was allowed to run his business however he wanted during the campaign; including making arrangements with the Russian government.
    • The FBI raided the home and several other locations related to a former lawyer of Trump’s who represented him on tax matters.
    • German authorities raided Deutsch Bank headquarters, related to the infamous Panama Papers scandal and may implicated President Trump.
    • President George H.W. Bush passed away.

     

     

    Tonight’s Conclusion

     

                No one knows how long our economy will continue to remain strong, but it remains the one thing which could well save Trump come 2020. If we experience no recession between now and then his chances of getting reelected remain mild. Then again, if a recession does occur (and that is very likely considering the continuing rise of inflation as deficits explode as well as our trade tensions), Trump could well demonstrate his skills in faux-populism and manipulate the outrage about the decline to his benefit.

     

                Yes, Trump and the Republican Party experienced a very bad month in November 2018 (in fact, my election post is still waiting to be completed until all the results from the election are finalized). However, the Democratic Party would be naïve to conclude that this month of turmoil (an ever-worsening pattern throughout the Trump era) portends a great electoral apocalypse for the Republicans in two years. Nothing is guaranteed, least of which is political victory (just ask Secretary Clinton). The Republicans certainly NEVER take victory for granted, not even when they have everything. That is why they never stop thinking ahead about how they are going to win. It is how they have mastered the art of conquering American politics (even when they continue to slide into a near permanent minority in terms of popular support).

     

                As has been the case in each month since Inauguration Day 2017, the rule of law was tested like never before this month. We saw our president fire an Attorney General who recused himself from influencing an investigation into the president’s dealings with a foreign government only to hire an “acting” (and arguably illegal) Attorney General who will do his bidding. We saw more figures around the president fall or plunge further as the investigation inches closer to its conclusion. We saw the president call into question the legitimate democratic process when he didn’t like the prospect that continued vote counts and recounts could threaten his grip on power (foreshadowing, maybe?). We saw him challenge the access of the press to the seat of American power; and succeed in chipping away thereat. Then, we saw him engage (as he has before) in an assault on our judiciary…even including a direct public spat with a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

     

                We also saw this president thumbs his nose (as usual) at the world, our veterans, and the scientific community. He dismissed the legitimacy of a report by his administration about climate change while (again) planning to put on a show touting the lie that coal is good. His administration (briefly) refused to compensate student veterans for having been screwed out of student aid whilst also himself refusing to partake in ceremonies recognizing the sacrifice of fallen Americans in the First World War and other military actions. On top of all that, he offered a full-throated defense of a dictator who murdered a journalist resident of our country, celebrated the election of a new fascist to our South, and displayed his own love of domestic fascism in his continuing fearmongering and crimes against those seeking a better life from beyond our borders.

     

                It is truly overwhelming at times to fully encapsulate all that we have witnessed in a single month of this trying time for our Republic. The election of 2018 did not seal President Trump’s fate, but it certainly added a new twist. In the month to come we will see how these events will continue to play out and if they can pave the way forward as we seek the light at the end of our long, dark tunnel. Onward.

     

    #NotMeUs #OurRevolution #TheResistance #ImpeachTrump

     

    Purchase my manifesto, “The Pillars of Unitism”.

     

    Before I part, here are some articles which may interest you:

     

    • Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has been effectively undermining the student loan forgiveness program that he department is responsible for overseeing. She has made it so burdensome to receive the forgiveness that many may come to argue that it may be useless as roughly 99% of those applying for this program have been denied entry.

     

    Until next time…

     

    TAKE CARE