“Born to a rich father who made him the beneficiary of his own highly lucrative investments, Trump received the equivalent of more than $500 million today via means that required no business expertise whatsoever.”
In just Donald Trump’s first week in office, it’s becoming obvious that the illusions he lives under will be no different than during his first term as president. He is counting on the American electorate to not believe what they are seeing.
For instance:
Climate change—"drill baby drill” for more fossil fuels when we are experiencing the worst climate disasters in history due to global warming—e.g., horrific wildfires, tornadoes and hurricanes.
Healthcare—Leaving WHOrg that monitors worldwide pandemics, and censoring the CDC and other government healthcare watchdogs’ research while releasing their results only after they have been vetted by his political appointees.
Military preparedness—now allowing military service members not to be vaccinated for COVID-19 and reinstating service members with full pay who were discharged for refusing vaccines.
Immigration—Saying he will deport millions of undocumented immigrants, when it will reduce badly needed workers in low-paying jobs that American citizens aren’t taking.
Tariffs—Asserting he would raise tariffs as high as 50 percent on nations with huge trade imbalances viz the U.S., when economists are saying it will be inflationary, and in Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman’s words, “make us poorer.”
Public education—Wants to abolish Department of Education that supports the 80 percent of students in public schools.
Tax cuts—Just extending his first term tax cut beyond 2025 when it is scheduled to expire and could add as much as $5trillion to the already bloated federal budget deficit, which could cause investors to lose faith in the US Dollar.
President Trump’s real intentions are already becoming clear in his second presidential term in office. He and his Oligarchs want to steal the US Government blind, as I said last week, by keeping Americans and the media as blind as possible to what he intends.
Why does Trump continue policies that will only harm more Americans while enriching himself and his oligarch supporters?
This was highlighted in Pulitzer Prize-winners Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig’s just released book, Lucky Loser that raises a bigger question in a Washington Post review by Bethany McLean about the ‘fake it ‘til you make it’ ethos of modern America. In a world that conflates the ‘trappings of wealth with expertise and ability,’ where ‘fame, detached from any other marketable talent or skill,’ is ‘a highly compensated vocation,’ does it even matter if you never actually make it?”
The outright distrust of truth is a propaganda tool used by autocrats that public media has normalized. This probably tells us best why he was able to take over the Republican Party that has drifted so far from conservative values and was once the environmental party when Republican President Nixon signed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency into law in 1970.
So will he be more successful in passing his promises in his second term? We should ignore some of his most nonsensical executive orders, such as attempting to amend the 14th Amendment by decree that guarantees citizenship for anyone born in the U.S. 50 states and territories, which he knows can’t be done by decree or executive order.
But the furor that it and the immediate release of 1500 January 6 Capital attackers from prison, mostly convicted felons, will generate enough attention that it will cloak his real intention; reduce or eliminate as many government programs as possible that make life better for ordinary Americans, such as Medicaid, in order to fund more tax cuts.
He has already rescinded the Biden executive order to cap Medicaid spending on drugs that would save Medicaid $billions in costs.
“In reversing the executive order Biden signed in 2022, Trump halted an effort to cap the copayment for generic medications at $2 for Medicare beneficiaries, along with another program that would see Medicare pay less for drugs that receive accelerated approval from the Food and Drug Administration,” according to MarketWatch’s Jessica Hall.
And there is also the question of what Trump will do with regard to the prescription-drug provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act, which would be substantially more consequential. Under the Inflation Reduction Act, Medicare can negotiate the prices of certain prescription drugs with the aim of making drugs more affordable for older adults and people with disabilities.
He continues to throw bombs at the public media by announcing he will seek retribution from those prosecutors that sought his indictment for the various crimes he committed during his first term, such as January 6, withholding Top Secret documents at Mar-a-Lago and elsewhere, while hoping to erase the Grand Jury indictments in some way.
And he will eventually have to settle the $500 million in awards won by women he defamed. So it’s no wonder that he will use his immense power that is meant to protect U.S. citizens to protect himself instead, at their expense?
Harlan Green © 2025
Follow Harlan Green on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarlanGreen
No comments:
Post a Comment