Why is Trump trying to destroy America's alliances?

Trump managed to take another step toward destroying American alliances in his NATO meeting.  Why?  

Russia. 

Russia has long dreamed of breaking up NATO and stripping American protection from the NATO countries.  Trump is a gift from God to the Russians. Not that it is any surprise to anyone, after all Russia did intervene on Trump's behalf to get him elected, according to all of America's intelligence agencies - Trump's laughable denials to the contrary.

Is he actually an agent of Putin's? Does Putin have control over Trump via blackmail, or money, or some kind of macho-authoritarian male bonding nonsense?

Or maybe that's too  cynical. Maybe he's just an idiot. 

From GQ writer Julia Iofee:  

"Ran into an old source from Moscow here in Brussels and asked him how Moscow sees Trump.  "As a total idiot, a useful battering ram who goes after the American elite and NATO."

From a guest on Russian state TV:

"I never thought I'd live to see this - neither the USSR nor Russia, who tried many times to drive a wedge between the transatlantic allies, but Washington is doing everything to break down the foundations of transatlantic alliance & unity.

Of course, the kindest suggestion is that Trump is an idiot.  Let's see what happens after he goes to meet his master, Putin, in a few days.

Predators not protectors

Why on earth are conservatives supporting Trump and his administration?  Conservatives are supposed to have a value system based upon the "strong father" family model.  Cognitive Linguist, George Lakoff wrote in his book "Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think":

"At the center of the conservative worldview is a Strict Father model.

This model posits a traditional nuclear family, with the father having primary responsibility for supporting and protecting the family as well as the authority to set overall policy, to set strict rules for the behavior of children, and to enforce the rules. The mother has the day-to-day responsibility for the care of the house, raising the children, and upholding the father's authority. Children must respect and obey their parents; by doing so they build character, that is, self-discipline and self-reliance. Love and nurturance are, of course, a vital part of family life but can never outweigh parental authority, which is itself an expression of love and nurturance—tough love. Self-discipline, self-reliance, and respect for legitimate authority are the crucial things that children must learn. Once children are mature, they are on their own and must depend on their acquired self-discipline to survive. Their self-reliance gives them authority over their own destinies, and parents are not to meddle in their lives."

The liberal worldview is based upon the Nurturant Parent model, which he also goes on to describe, and which is not an authoritarian model but more of a caring model.

So, conservatives value the "strong father" values, primarily protection.

But where is the protection?  They are not only failing in their duties to protect the people of America, they are stripping protections of the people as fast as they can.  

Environment? - the Environmental Protection Agency is destroying as many environmental protections as they can as quickly as they can.  The environment suffers, people's health suffers, enjoyment of the beauty and healing properties of the earth suffers.  They have taken the EPA from the protectors and turned it over to the predators.

Financial protection? - The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been neutered, Dodd-Frand is being neutered, Payday loans are thriving, and the Wall Street predators are sharpening their teeth.
 
Education? - turning it over to private schools.  Some are probably wonderful.  Some will be worthless education from predatory "schools" - ala Trump University? Trump school for chumps.  And more in that mode to follow from other predators.

Women's reproductive rights? - moving as fast as possible to outlaw abortion now, birth control to follow.  Back to the good old days of women barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen.

Minorities? - moving as fast as possible to limit minority voting, including rigging the census count to under-count people of color.

Jobs? - Trump's trade wars are hurting and will hurt jobs in America.  Even most fools know that trade wars triggered the Great Recession in the '30s.  

I know conservative white Christians seem to be thrilled with Trump and his administration, but they also will be drinking polluted water, have vulnerable investments, can be suckered into chump schools, and have reproductive needs and expectations.

There are countless other examples, but I  am getting a little sickened thinking about them, so I'll stop here.

In Trump's America the predators are empowered and the people are prey.

Melania's "Let them eat cake" moment

The first lady, Melania Trump, wore a jacket to and from her visit to the border to see the children separated from their parents when seeking asylum entering America.  She sent a remarkable message with words painted on the back of her jacket - "I really don't care, do you?"  

What?

Hard for me to imagine what kind of mind would come up with this message. Reminds me of “Let them eat cake” by Marie Antoinette. 

Triggered a revolution as I recall.

I guess her husband wanted to reassure his white supremacist base that might have been worried that he actually had a heart.  No.  No sign of a heart in the Trumps or their avid supporters.

 

Jeff Sessions racist justification for pulling children from their parents

Leaders from the Confederacy have been quoting Romans 13 to justify their own racism for a couple of hundred years.  Most recently, Trump's Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, defended separating children from their parents who are seeking asylum in the United States with that reference.

“I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained the government for his purposes,” Sessions said during a speech to law enforcement officers in Fort Wayne, Ind."

Journalists Zauzmer and McMillan pointed out in their article today:
 
There are two dominant places in American history when Romans 13 is invoked,” said John Fea, a professor of American history at Messiah College in Pennsylvania. “One is during the American Revolution [when] it was invoked by loyalists, those who opposed the American Revolution.”...

The other, Fea said, “is in the 1840s and 1850s, when Romans 13 is invoked by defenders of the South or defenders of slavery to ward off abolitionists who believed that slavery is wrong. I mean, this is the same argument that Southern slaveholders and the advocates of a Southern way of life made.”

I am really tired of being ruled by the Confederacy, which came to power in the 2016 election of Trump. Racism in some of its most vile manifestations are front and center in this Administration and in some of the more extreme of Trump's base.  

I want America back.  White Supremacy is as odious today in Trumpland as it ever was during the days of slavery and the Jim Crow south.  It is time for it to crawl back under little rocks where it belongs.

Kim Jong Un gets what he wants from Trump

Trump and Kim met and shook hands.  The good news is that they have not decided to launch nukes at each other.  

More good news for Kim - he got something he and his predecessors have been wanting since the Korean armistice, a face to face meeting with a president of the United States, and thus a significant boost in the status of the leader of North Korea, a legitimizing of him and his brutal regime.

Another thing Kim got was a cessation of military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea, a long desired outcome for him. 

And what did he give up?  I don't think he gave anything in return.  Oh, a vague promise to denuclearize, but that is a standard promise from the Kims which they promptly break.

What did the U.S. get? I don't think we got anything.

What did Trump get?  A headline.  An "historic headline and photo op".  Trump got the only thing he ever cares about.  Applause.

The great negotiator did what he always seems to do, give away the farm for a headline. Ratings you know...

I am truly grateful that both men found something else to do rather than nuke each other.

Trump’s trade deficit obsession

Our willfully uninformed president obsesses on the idea that trade deficits are bad. But they are only arithmetic. As explained by conservative economist, Martin Feldstein -

If a country consumes more than it produces, it must import more than it exports. That’s not a rip-off; that’s arithmetic.

If we manage to negotiate a reduction in the Chinese trade surplus with the United States, we will have an increased trade deficit with some other country.

Federal deficit spending, a massive and continuing act of dissaving, is the culprit. Control that spending and you will control trade deficits.

But, of course this president and his Republican Congress just massively increased the deficit. All the better to gut Social Security and Medicare next year, doncha know.

I long for leaders who actually know things. 

Robert Kennedy Assassinated 50 years ago

Fifty years ago Robert Kennedy was shot, he died the next day, and I graduated from the University of Illinois and got on a plane to fly to Los Angeles.  My California life had begun, and I’ve never looked back.

1968 was a very tough year.  MLK and RFK were assassinated, cities were burning out of black rage, Viet Nam turned a critical corner toward defeat with the TET Offensive.  The country and the world were in chaos.

But, I continued to live my life and live it happily. 

My point is that today’s country and world is also in chaos today – our president claims he can pardon himself from any crime he commits in office, our country is starting trade wars, white supremacists are feeling empowered to be “politically incorrect”, women are rising up and taking down abusive male fortresses, the Republican Congress is not able to summon the courage to even criticize let alone impeach even the most egregious constitutional offenses of their president.

Globalism is disrupting the economies and workforces of America and all of the Industrial world.  Terrorism is a constant pressure on so much of the world.  And corruption, greed, and fear are undermining so much of the world order.  Things are a mess.

And we each can create our own happy and successful lives.  Just like we did in 1968.  This country is too wonderful to be destroyed by the forces tearing it apart.

Does Trump dance to Russia's tune?

Things that Trump does that Russia likes:

• Attacks the credibility of U.S. media (so that people won’t believe them when they criticize him.
• Attacks the credibility of the intelligence services (so that people won’t believe them when they say Russia helped get him elected – or when they present evidence critical of him as a result of their investigations)
• Attacks the credibility of the Justice Department (so that people won’t believe them when they investigate and/or charge him with crimes)

• Attacks the alliances with Europe and NATO by defaulting on the U.S. commitment to Iran nuclear inspections
• Withdraws from the Trans Pacific Partnership and thus throws away U.S. leadership in Asia
• Attacks Mexico and is withdrawing from NAFTA, thus weakening an alliance with our neighbor
• Starts trade wars with China and the world, guaranteeing damage to the U.S. economy

• Increases the inequality gap in America (causing greater and greater hostility between the classes)  
•  Increases and promotes racism (causing greater and greater hostility between the races)
• Supports Republican efforts to suppress voter turnout of black and brown people

• Ignores Russian interference with our elections and thus allows and welcomes future interference   
•  Lets Russia pretty much do whatever it wants in Crimea, Syria, and around the world unchallenged
• Pays scant attention to Russian imprisonments and  assassinations of political opponent of Putin

It’s possible that all of the above is not because Russia is forcing him to destroy American democracy through blackmail or bribery.  They could simply be exploiting his massive weaknesses – an insatiable, grandiose ego, willful ignorance, and easy manipulation and malleability. 

It seems quite certain to me, however, that Donald  Trump is Vladimir Putin and his Kleptocracy’s dream come true.  How could they better destroy their old enemy America than help put this man in charge?

Trump's idiocy kills Palestinians

In December, I wrote that Trump's declaration to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem would ignite the tinderbox of the Israeli-Palestinian hostilities.  It did.

"...soldiers on Monday killed 41 Palestinians demonstrating along the border fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip and wounded more than 1,600 in the bloodiest day in the enclave since the 2014 war with Israel, according to the Gaza Health Ministry"

To add to the idiocy of the Trump move, he got nothing in return from Israel when he moved the embassy.  Every president has promised a U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, IF Israel would freeze or abandon the settlements in the occupied territories.  So, Trump gave it away for free - not exactly free, of course, the cost will be Palestinan deaths. 

For some reason my conservative friends think Trump is a good negotiator.  All he does is give things away for free - just as long as he gets a nice headline for a day. 

But, Netanyahu is happy. 

Trump and Iran and war

The man who is sadly our president has just pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal.  Hard to fathom.

First, it does no good.  The deal struck by the U.S. and it's European allies got something and gave something in order to strike the deal.  It got very comprehensive and detailed inspections into Iran's nuclear programs. It gave the release of Iranian monies in return.  So, Iran got what it wanted already.  For the U.S. to pull out of the deal is to have given Iran what it wanted and said that Iran no longer needs to give us what we want.  Hard to imagine dumber deal making.  "The Art of the Deal"?  How about the art of giving away everything and walking away from the return?

It is easy to know that Trump didn't know much about what was in the deal.  He is remorselessly ignorant of almost everything to do with the U.S. government, and his supporters like that about him the most, it appears to me.

Why did he do it?  Primarily to do the only thing that he cares about - undoing everything that Obama did.  Whatever Obama did - environment, education, health care, foreign policy - he undoes.  Because he has no other ideas of what to do.

Why did he do it?  Because Netanyahu told him to and he thinks Netanyahu is tough and Donald wants to be tough like Netanyahu.

Why did he do it?  Because the Saudi royal family praised him mightily and had a very manly sword dance in his honor, and the Saudis are tough and he wants to be tough like the Saudis.  

Why did he do it? Because the Saudis have convinced him that the two warring factions - the Saudi Sunnis and Iranian Shiites - have good guys (the Saudi Sunnis) and bad guys (the Iranian Shiites).  So he does what the Saudis tell him to  do.

Why did he do it? To pull away from Europe, which pleases his xenophobic base who look down upon Europe as a bunch of softie socialists.

Why did he do it?  Because his National Security Advisor John Bolton wants him to, and John Bolton is a tough guy and Donald wants to be be tough like John Bolton.


Why did he do it?  Because he promised he would on the campaign and the crowds cheered and applauded, and he can't live without thunderous applause.

Why did he do it?  Because it grabs the headlines for a day, and distracts from the many headlines of him and his people in the Russian conspiracy investigation. 

Why did he do it?  Because he has taken sides with the Saudis and is waging war against Iran.

Why did he do it?  Because - I hope I am wrong -John Bolton and Mike Pompeo and the Saudis and the Israelis want the U.S. to wage a shooting war against Iran.  They will hold our coats while we go fight and die....

Why did he do it?  Because the only person Trump every cares about or even thinks about is Donald Trump and Donald Trump thinks this is good for Donald Trump.

The Lynching Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama

I am glad to see that a very important memorial has been opened in Montgomery Alabama - The National Memorial for Peace and Justice. 

"The National Memorial for Peace and Justice commemorates 4,400 black people who were slain in lynchings and other racial killings between 1877 and 1950. Their names, where known, are engraved on 800 dark, rectangular steel columns, one for each U.S. county where lynchings occurred."  

Why do I think this is important?  Because it illuminates the lie that the South has a right to remember its history by erecting statues to Confederate generals and soldiers who fought in the Civil War.  Those statues do not honor the history of the Confederacy.  The Confederacy tried to break away from the United States in order to preserve its "peculiar institution" of slavery.  The South erected heroic statues of Confederate "heroes" in response to Civil Rights movements post Civil War.  

Then, and sadly, to some extent, now, the South is dedicated to the terrible and ridiculous idea of white supremacy.  Our current president is dumb enough to overtly pander to the "alt-right", neo-Nazis, KKK, and white supremacists of all labels as a political tactic to get elected, and perhaps re-elected.  

Trump has often overtly referred to his "good genes" or "superior genes" to account for his spectacular success - an overt message to white supremacists that he is one of them - and they respond with admiration and loyalty.

So, the Lynching Memorial is a fitting companion to statues of Confederate military glory.  The continuation of Jim Crow, including many forms of oppression and abuse designed to keep blacks "in their place" continued well beyond the end of the Civil War.  And it could well be that the giant prison industry today is little more than a continuation of Jim Crow into today's sad world.

Indeed, I would like to see statues of whipping posts, auction blocks, and slave women being raped put next to these Confederate statues so that everyone would see for themselves what the Confederate "heroes" were actually fighting for.

Enough of the nightmare, where is the dream?

I am tired of writing about Trump and the Republicans.

Let it be stipulated that I think Trump is a dangerous and childish nitwit.

Let it be stipulated that I think Republicans have turned into uncaring and often cruel ideologs.

Let is be stipulated that I think the Democrats are over-reacting to the Republican fierce independence by becoming fierce advocates of entitlement.

Let it be stipulated that I think the right wing nutcases have overtaken the Republican Party, much to the detriment of the Republican Party and our Republic.

Let is be stipulated that the left wing nutcases are threatening to overtake the Democratic Party and our Democracy, but are not yet in control of the Dems.

Let it be stipulated that an unfortunately large percentage of conservatives are in the thrall of the right wing propaganda bubble and have sadly turned their backs on actual news.

Let it be stipulated that even though I fully endorsed our military invasion of Iraq I now see it as the biggest mistake our country has made, even more than the disastrous war in Viet Nam, because we have increased, not decreased jihadist threats in the world by doing it.

Let it be stipulated that the country and the world is in an unprecedented state of upheaval and both the Republican and Democratic Parties are trotting out worn out dogmas that address times long gone by, not today's chaos.

I look at WWI, WWII, the Korean War, the Viet Nam War and I am extraordinarily grateful that we do not have hundreds of thousands and millions of our children dying overseas.  

Let it be stipulated that pretty much everything I can think of to make the world a better place probably isn't going to work, because I keep thinking in terms of politics, but politics itself is broken and becoming useless in the face of today's chaos.

The world is in a crisis - a political crisis - an economic crisis - an intellectual crisis - but mostly a spiritual crisis.

I can understand why the Muslims and the Christians are trying to answer this spiritual crisis by retreating to fundamentalist teachings of their dogmas, the dogmas of the past, both of which are moves to harsh and punishing crack downs on the perceived sins of the modern world, and a return to an imagined glorious past of a world of purity and piousness. 

But... the future is not to be found in the past.  I wish I had a better handle on how to bring the brilliant and loving and caring and abundant future that I am certain is waiting for us into existence.  

So far, I have mostly only been able to illuminate the nightmarish mistakes that are relentlessly before us.

I do not despair.  I choose hope and trust that our nation wide and world wide spiritual crisis is moving toward emotional, intellectual, political, and spiritual resolutions - to a world that both the Right and the Left, that both Christians and Muslims, that both sophisticated and unsophisticated are dreaming of.   

It is being created as the old is being destroyed.  I hope I can start writing about the New rather than just register my disgust of the nightmare before us all.

Trump initiates and escalates a trade war

Our president, who seems to be willfully ignorant of the history of the link between protectionism, tariffs, and trade wars as triggers to the Great Depression, has decided to escalate the trade war he started by imposing more tariffs on China.

One of the terrible problems with a grandiose ego is that it is a bottomless pit that can never be filled.  I am sure that this little man can only see retaliatory tariffs imposed by China as some sort of challenge to his manhood, so he is compelled to escalate – playing a game of chicken – with the U.S. and world economy.

When he imposes tariffs on goods coming into the country, that is just a tax on those goods that we consumers pay for.  Republicans are so proud of their disastrous tax cut, and then their fearless leader adds taxes to goods in the form of tariffs.

Plus, of course, the tit for tat tariffs being placed by China on our exports will shrink those exports and hurt those industries – mostly those in the areas of the country that voted for Trump.

But, the Trumpster cult will support anything this guy does.  ???? 

Just another day in Trumpland.