Mission Statement for 2017 and Beyond

The New Year brings with it new challenges: a new government, a new President, and new battles to wage both at home and abroad.  This is a list of what I feel needs to be emphasized as we press into 2017 and grapple with these challenges, and I put these forward mostly to keep both myself and everyone reading focused on the important things, making it easier to filter out all the noise going forward.

First: I support the causes of freedom and liberty in all forms.  To define this: I will oppose, both publicly and otherwise, any effort to curtail the freedoms and equal protection under the law of people of color, of LGBTQ citizens, and really anyone else threatened by the Trump administration or others.  We are all Americans and all deserve the same protections from oppression in any form.

Second: I support the exposure and tearing down of the corporatocracy in all its forms.  The preceding five presidents have done plenty to cede the power held by us as citizens to corporate interests of varying stripes, and the incoming Trump administration promises to be the most nakedly corrupt administration yet.  Not since the days of Teapot Dome was a presidential administration so seemingly entrenched in graft and corporate interest above all and it is incumbent upon us as citizens to not only oppose, but to bear witness and tear down every instance of corruption and graft as they come up.  Dictatorships function in the shadows, so we must cast light on corruption every single time it comes along.

Third: I oppose the bombing of citizens anywhere, either by drone or by plane.  I am against war in almost every circumstance, unless it is a targeted defensive strike in retaliation for a direct attack.  Offensive wars and proactive conflicts in which we invade a sovereign nation without provocation and/or as a result of flawed or false intelligence, such as the war in Iraq starting in 2003, are wrong and I will oppose them as well.

Fourth: Russia is NOT our ally.  While I did not support the Hillary Clinton view on Russia, I also do not support the Trump plan of cozying up to a despot who oppresses his own people.  This is not a New Cold War, and I would never be so ignorant as to suggest that it is.  However, Putin’s Russia is a rival power that is frequently working to thwart American interests abroad, and has done so throughout his term in office.  Dubious accusations of hacking aside, I do not support Putin and will oppose anyone who does, up to and including Trump himself.

Fifth, and finally: I demand that Trump immediately and visibly sever any and all connections to his for-profit businesses and disavow, in public and on television, any interest in said businesses, adding released and independently verified legal documentation proving that he has done so.  Anything less than this is obfuscating the blunt reality that he and his family have, and are poised to profit immensely from his time as president, which is an insult and a perversion of our most hallowed founding principles.  The presidency ought not be for sale, and Trump continuing to delay and redirect the plain truth that he is running a multinational for-profit business while he is also acting as our elected head of state is unacceptable, and ought to be disqualifying.  If he refuses to do all of this, it is incumbent on Congress to impeach him and remove him from office.  The framers of the Constitution were crystal clear on this as a central tenet of the Executive Branch, namely that the President works for us and not himself, and it will be upheld.

The year 2017 promises a lot of hard work ahead, and I for one am ready to roll up my sleeves and begin.

--Joe

Trump's Cabinet: American Kleptocracy Defined

The Trump cabinet is shaping up to be the sort of “basket of deplorables” we were all warned about, and the news just keeps getting worse and worse.  Never before in America have we had a group of robber barons with actual government power, at least not since the days of Warren G. Harding and his “Ohio Gang” of corrupt thieves.  Harding also promised to consult some of the “best minds” when making his choices, just as Trump did, and in true Harding fashion Trump instead chose “merely best friends,” in this case fellow travelers amongst the 1% and other corporate leaders.  Let’s go over the latest indignities.

Your Secretary of State: Rex Tillerson, the CEO of ExxonMobil.  One can hardly imagine a more nakedly brazen pick for a post of such significance than this one.  Rex Tillerson: long a foe of American foreign policy when it conflicted with the international business interests of the only company he has ever drawn a salary from in his adult life, will now be the international deal-making face of America to the world.  Simply a stunning pick, and one that frames every other pick announced thus far in its proper context.  Simply put: Trump has assembled all the pieces of a corrupt kleptocracy, meant to bleed dry both the national coffers and the wallets of every citizen of this country.  Exxon will now surely get the $500 billion Russian oil deal that sat languishing during Obama sanctions, and every country with some natural resources to spare and a corrupt dictator in charge will certainly be paid a visit, out of pure national interest of course.  One can hardly imagine a man more obviously personally profiting and making huge sums of money for himself and those he considers friends while he is in public office, besides Trump himself of course.  Mark my words: just watch the same Republican whore Congressmen and hack pundits who criticized Obama for high gas prices in 2009 laud the corrupt Trump regime for its “good deal-making” even when oil and gas prices shoot right back up again and ExxonMobil’s profit soars.  Trump voters wanted someone to “drain the swamp,” but instead Trump picked a real life swamp monster to high office.

While we’re on the subject of loathsome creatures let me turn to the next pick we will discuss today: the former Governor of my current state of Texas, “Mr. Oops” himself, most recently seen busting a move with Vanilla Ice on Dancing With The Stars, that’s right everybody, give it up for Rick Perry!  Rick Perry: who in three terms made sure every single donor’s palm was well greased, who turned the entire western half into the state into a moonscape of natural gas fracking sites (seriously, check Google Maps), the man who “oopsed” and forgot the name of the agency he will now purportedly lead: the Department of Energy.  Mark my words: if they can frack for natural gas next to Old Faithful or on the edge of the Grand Canyon and somehow make a buck off of it, the wells will go up under this greased pig’s watch.  Perry is a loathsome creature and further evidence that Trump’s strategy with cabinet picks is twofold: either rob the place blind or shut the place down.  I believe Perry’s job is to mostly do the latter, but I’m sure based on his history in Texas he will find a way to also do the former.

When you add these two recent picks to some of the others that were made: foreclosure king and Goldman alum Steve Mnuchin who will try to top Hank Paulson as the most corrupt Treasury Secretary ever, Gary Cohn who joins Steve and the other Steve in a triad of Goldman hacks, Andrew Puzder who made a name for himself as the anti-union leader of Carl’s Jr and a fan of “hot chicks eating burgers,” and Scott Pruitt, the oil industry insider who made a name for himself by being extremely anti-EPA and who will now run the EPA, the message is clear: abandon all hope.  Trump has quite simply appointed the most loathsome list of “stave the beast,” government hating corporate thieves I have ever seen in my adult life.  I challenge every single Trump voter who honestly believed Trump when he claimed he, like Bernie Sanders, wanted to help the middle class to tell me what they’re thinking as these picks are announced.  Do you honestly believe things will improve for you now with these slimy chucklefucks in charge?  If so you’re more delusional than the Democrats still insisting an Electoral College revolt might still save us.  This might just be Game Over.

So enjoy the ride down the drain, folks.  George Carlin would be having a field day with the news of 2016: he saw all of this coming years ago.  It’s a natural progression: instead of appointing corrupt political hacks to cabinet posts who are lobbied, bribed and cajoled into playing ball with the rich business interests, Trump simply recruited the rich corrupt folks right into the government.  At least this way our tax dollars will be stolen with an additional level of efficiency though, right?  The aim now, for those of all political stripes who oppose this brazen perversion of every function of government, is to harness the ease of information sharing of today and expose what happens in every way possible, and to bear witness.  Those who elected this man need to rue the day, and in short order I am sure they will.  Because anyone who is not a billionaire or currently a CEO of a large company is in for a rough ride these next four years.  But at least it will be entertaining even while it’s horrifying, right?

Riiiight.

--Joe

The Carrier Deal: "Politician Trump" In a Nutshell

Trump made a really big deal during the campaign that he was not a politician.  He said he, unlike the long line of useless, weak and “dumb” political ignoramuses that had come before him, understood not only how best to govern but more importantly, how best to get the economic engine in America moving again.  Specifically, he said he would be the best one to create jobs and keep jobs here.

This was on display August 12th in Erie, Pennsylvania.  Trump was all puffed up, said “Crooked Hillary” didn’t “have a clue” about jobs, and went on a tear about how weak and ineffectual the usual political tricks were in preventing companies from moving jobs out of the US.  He called out tax abatements, low or zero interest loans and other perks as “dumb” ways to keep companies here and the crowd ate it up and chanted his name.  This was in the heart of steel country, after all, an area long neglected by Democrats and Republicans alike.  So they responded to the attention, very expectedly, and one cannot necessarily blame them for missing Stage 1 of the long con.

For all his bashing of normal politics, Trump has made a very shrewdly political turn before he’s even managed to officially take the oath of office.  He took advantage of his Vice President-Elect being governor of Carrier’s home state, took advantage of the fact that their parent company is a big government contractor, and added 7 million of Indiana’s tax dollars on top as a cherry.  Candidate Trump thinks tax incentives are “dumb,” but President-Elect Trump thinks they are just the thing to Make America Great Again.  And since everything political in America is about “your team vs my team,” Republican apologists and Trump true believers are lining up to say how great a deal this was for all concerned.  It’s pure unmitigated bullshit, pure and simple.

Politically it was a shrewd move, seemingly widely supported by most of America.  I have gotten into arguments with Trump supporters already, and have seen other supporters in public say the same things.  They say Trump kept his promise, that $7 million is a drop in the bucket next to the cost of unemployment and benefits for workers without jobs and that we need to do things like this to stem the globalist tide of offshoring.  But I have only one question for you: if Trump said politicians are weak, and that tax incentives are bad, how can I believe anything you or he says when he does a complete 180 degree flip-flop mere months later and you applaud him for it?  And how repeatable do you think such “deals” are in a state where the VP-elect is not the governor, or where the governor isn’t compliant to Trump’s brand of “deal making?”

For all his emphatic talk about politicians, how slimy they are, how prone they are to lobbyists and special interests and all the rest, Trump will end up being like any other politician.  He will be compliant to lobbyists, he will throw his own ideals and promises overboard during his term whenever circumstances require it and he will fail to come through for many of the people he said he would be a “champion” for.  These are things presidents do: just ask any enthusiastic Obama supporter from 2008.  This is the first of many, many flip-flops and I plan to rub every Trump supporter’s nose in it for the next four years.  Which is it: was Candidate Trump right, are tax incentives which even conservative pundits have conceded are just a form of income redistribution, bad?  Or are they part of good “deal making” like President-elect Trump thinks?

This story though, like anything related to Trump, has an interesting twist.  After the leader of the local union got on television and called Trump out for a “promise half-delivered,” citing that the number of jobs actually saved was misreported, Trump replied in a snarky manner on Twitter as he is wont to do.  An observation: this is going to be a long four years for Trump if he still cannot learn to pick his battles.  One cannot respond to every two bit union leader who throws some shade his way or one will have no time left to govern.  Being president is making people upset, it was after all Abraham Lincoln that said “You can please some of the people all of the time or all of the people some of the time, but you cannot please all of the people all of the time.”  Trump would be well served to just shut the hell up and let his policies stand for compliment or criticism on their own without personal comment but I doubt he will.  He is the most thin-skinned person to ever hold the office of President in modern times, and an intellectual child.  He simply cannot let things pass.

This is what we’re in for, folks.  The man cannot even go through December without holding rallies full of people chanting his name but this is not what the job entails.  The job, as we have seen unquestionably during the Bush and Obama years, is being burned in effigy on a daily basis and managing to govern anyway.  And while Trump was able to pull a classic political flip-flop in feeding Americans the very thing he criticized as a candidate and make them (mostly) thank him for it, he will not be even remotely successful in accomplishing his goals if every bit of criticism draws him off task.  Be careful what you wish for, Mr. Trump.  This job may not be all you thought it was.  To those who supported him: get ready to be disappointed.  Union workers are already having buyer’s remorse and it’ll be downhill from here.

-Joe