The ransacking of the Treasury

We are witnessing the ransacking of the Treasury about to pass as legislation.

Let’s start by looking at how does this legislation benefits the Trump Corporate Family.

We have no idea how much this president, arguably the most corrupt in history, makes, and how much he pays in taxes.

He lied that he would disclose his taxes, he lied that he would put his properties in a blind fold, thus having conflicts of interests within the USA and worst of all, countries around the world, he lied that he would not touch Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, as he has already slashed two out of the three programs, and has promised that he will destroy Social Security if he gets reelected in 2020, he has lied about collusion with the Russians.

This tax cut is just a way of transferring wealth from middle-class Americans to him and his wealthy friends, leaving millions to his kids by cutting or eliminating the inheritance tax.

I don’t blame Trump, even though he is a crook, a liar, a cheat, a thief, a traitor who needs to be impeached and removed from office, I blame enablers, primarily middle-class Americans who will end up paying more in taxes, who fell for his lies, who believe that Trump shares their values. If that is the case those are poor values. He is not a Christian, he cannot quote one single verse from the Bible, even though he says it’s his favorite book. By the way he has conducted himself during his life there is no indication that he has followed any of the teachings of Christ, on the contrary he has hurt people who have less than him, he has discriminated people who don’t look like him.

It is my hope that at some point people will realize the mistake they have made. Regardless of they do or not they will have to pay for it.

As far as this legislation it will hurt the people who need the most help, such as disabled, sick, and the poor.

The word of Christ rings in my head: ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

The douchebag in the White House

After just a few months of this presidency the US got what it wanted, a douchebag in the White House.

It wanted a tough man, a businessman, a conservative.

It got none of these things.

It got a businessman who has screwed everybody at his path. A liar that has been telling one lie after another, including that he was going to provide healthcare for everyone. It got a bully who incites violence at every opportunity he has, insulting everyone who disagrees with him. He couldn’t care less about conservatism.

There is one thing that he cares about and that is finding a way that he and his family come out ahead in everything.

When Bill Clinton had an extra-marital affair in the White House and lied about it conservatives went ballistic about it impeaching him for it. Where are those conservatives now?

This president has brought the office of the presidency to its lowest level in history, trashing the institution like nobody else has ever done.

Where are those conservatives now?

If Obama would have conducted himself in a small percentage as “trashy” as this president conservatives would have been up in arms.

He is the typical snake-in-the-grass corporate America management, take credit for other people’s success, and never take responsibility for his own failures.

One has to wonder if this is what people voted for, or if they thought that the moment that he stepped into the Oval Office he would behave as a president. This is the way this president has always behaved, so why would he change at 71 years old, and what he seems to believe which seems to be why would I change if people voted me for being a douchebag, a person that insults women, puts people down if they disagree with him, etc.

Hopefully as some point people will wake up and realize that they have been fooled, they made a mistake, and that maybe Hillary Clinton was right when she said that he was not fit to be president.

Is Trump a pathologic liar, is he dishonest, is he a racist, is he a con-artist?

We’ve had Trump as president for a couple of months and it has been one issue after another.

There are many questions that come up, and these are a few that come to mind:

Is Trump a liar?

Bernie Sanders seems to believe that Trump is a pathological liar. That is what he called him during the presidential campaign. He stills describes Trump in the same manner.

Politicians are often compared to used car salesmen of being dishonest. They promise things to their constituents knowing that they will not be able to keep them.

Trump seems to take that to a different level, he says things knowingly false.

He pointed out at an article in the National Enquirer, a supermarket tabloid with little or no reputation, about Ted Cruz’s father being involved in Kennedy’s assassination, even though he knew it was not true.

He said that President Obama had wired tapped the Trump Tower with no proof of it, then said that it was British Intelligence that Obama had used to wiretap the building provoking the British organization and the Prime Minister to ask for an apology.

He said that Obama was not born in the US, said that nobody knew him in college, high school. That he had sent spies to research about Obama’s birth certificate, and that they had unbelieve information about Obama, and never proved that Obama was a foreigner.

He denied having any business in Russia even though one of his sons said that they did business in that country.

He told his voters that he would take care of them with “great” healthcare and then admitted with Tucker Carlson from Fox News that they would be at a disadvantage, and would leave over 24 million people with no healthcare, many of them people who voted for him.

He said that he would not touch Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and now in his budget to Congress is cutting Medicaid in the order of 350 billion over ten years, destroying the program, and leaving people with no help.

Is Trump manipulative?

Trump believes in telling things to people what they want to hear.

Trump in his book the art of the deal says: “My style of deal-making is quite simple and straightforward. I aim very high, and then I just keep pushing and pushing and pushing to get what I’m after. Sometimes I settle for less than I sought, but in most cases I still end up with what I want.”

Trump believes in distracting people with things that are untrue, knowing that they will fall for them.

Is Trump a sociopath?

If we look at the meaning of sociopath: “a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience”, it seems it is describing Trump to perfection. Trump will do and say anything to grab attention, he says that all Mexicans are rapists, drug dealers, when that is absolutely false. A vast majority of Mexicans that have come to live in the US are hard workers, family people.

Is Trump a tyrant?

Tyrant: “any person in a position of authority who exercises power oppressively or despotically”. Couldn’t describe Trump better than that. He does not believe in the separation of powers in government. He has never had to respond to anyone except while he was working for his father.

He has tried to govern by executive order, undermining the values of the country, his office, and all institutions.

Is Trump a cheat, a con-artist?

If we look at his record, many of his businesses have ended in bankruptcy, from hotels, university, steaks, mortgage, airline.

We can see w at other fellow billionaires think of him. "I'm a New Yorker, and New Yorkers know a con when we see one." He also said that Trump was a “dangerous demagogue”.

Mark Cuban said: “Donald can talk for hours and say nothing of true substance. But every few sentences he is going to spout out Headline Porn that is going to fit in 140 characters or so and unquestionably have to be discussed by “The Political Shows”.”

Does Trump have an inferiority complex?

“An unrealistic feeling of general inadequacy caused by actual or supposed inferiority in one sphere, sometimes marked by aggressive behavior in compensation.”

Since his inauguration he has been comparing himself with his predecessor, with the inauguration, that he had a bigger audience when the proof was the opposite, like I said previously, that Obama had wiretapped the Trump Tower, knowing that it was false, trying to repeal Obamacare, not because it helps the American people, and primarily his voters, but because he wants to erase Obama’s record, saying that he had a bigger electoral college than other recent presidents even though it was not true, saying that he would have won the popular vote if it not were because of 3 to 5 million votes of “illegal aliens”, even though governors, many of them republican, have said that there is no proof of irregularities at the voting booths.

Is Trump a racist?

“A person who shows or feels discrimination or prejudice against people of other races, or who believes that a particular race is superior to another.”

Trump has been endorsed by the KKK, even though it took many days to disavow that, the way he describes Mexicans, African-Americans, has had racist behaviors in the past as a landlord in New York for which he was fined by the federal government.

Is Trump dishonest?

Dishonesty is the fundamental component of a majority of offences relating to the acquisition, conversion and disposal of property (tangible or intangible) defined in criminal law such as fraud.

Again, it seems to describe Mr. Trump.

Mr. Trump is the candidate to president since Harry Truman that did make public his taxes, first during the republican primary saying that they were under review by IRS, and that he would provide them if he became a candidate to president, and then just simply saying that they were under review by the IRS, and then last, when he became the president he finally admitted that he would never made them public, thus confirming that he had lied to the American public about ever making them public.

He never divested his businesses even though by law he should have.

He has appointed members of his family as members of his White House staff, thus breaking the law as the House Ethics Manual says that “Federal law, at 5 U.S.C. § 3110, generally prohibits a federal official, including a Member of Congress, from appointing, promoting, or recommending for appointment or promotion any “relative” of the official to any agency or department over which the official exercises authority or control.  The statute defines a relative, for these purposes, as "an individual who is related to the public official as father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother, stepsister, half brother, or half sister."

At a hearing at the House Intelligence Committee on March 20^th 2017 the Head of the FBI James Comey testified that “The F.B.I. is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between the Trump campaign and the Russian government — and whether there was any coordination.”

So how did we end with this individual in the White House that from the moment that he was sworn in has done everything to destroy the institutions of this country, including intelligence, putting allies in awkward positions because he has lied to them, with the exception of Vladimir Putin, for which he has always had positive things to say. One has wonder why.

November 2016’s election did not have the turnout of previous elections, thus helping republicans candidates across the country. Trump won the electoral college, but only won a 43% of the popular vote. He was not a majority candidate across the country.

We can see that while the republicans have a majority in the House of Representatives they will drag their feet to investigate, like they are doing with the Russia involvement in the last election, they will not chose to have a special prosecutor investigating not just the Russia involvement, but also Flynn, Jeff Sessions, Trump, Kushner, Manafort, and all his close allies and their contacts and business deals with the Russian government. If Hillary Clinton would have won the election we would still be talking about Benghazi, Whitewater, Clinton Foundation, etc.

We will have to wait for the midterm elections of 2018, to see if the people who go to the town hall meetings and complain about their healthcare being taken away, their rights eroded, their air and water polluted, and have the House change hands so that the American people can start investigating Trump, and all his dealings, his businesses, and if need be start impeachment procedures.

Fake News?

In my previous blog I asked if the US was heading to a fascism with Trump, today the White House did not allow CNN, the New York Times, Politico, the Los Angeles Times and BuzzFeed 

to get into the press office under the premise of “fake news”.

As I said then the symptoms are typical of a demagogue, a fascist and a tyrant.

Governing for the 43% may pay off in the short run, but it is not the way of bringing the country together.

Trump talks about the press as being “the enemy of the people”. These are the same things that totalitarians say. Putin does not allow voices of opposition or discord. The function of the press is to expose the lack of transparency of the people that have elected to represent the constituents. Could this be one of the reasons why Trump admires Putin?

Trump does not want any investigation into his dealings and businesses with Putin and the Russian government before and after the election. He will not disclose his taxes which will not allow the public to see what deals he has with the world and he will not divest his businesses.

One example of his dealings with Russia was General Flynn, and the only reason he was fired is because the FBI intercepted his phone call with the Russian ambassador.

It is obvious that what the White House did today with the press is just a distraction so that the focus would the unprecedented behavior of this administration.  

Is there any doubt that Trump and many in his cabinet and White House are involved in a cover up that makes Watergate seem like “small potatoes”?

His voters seem to be the easiest crowd to take by their nose as they believe, or they don’t want to see the facts for what they are. If I would be watching Fox News (or No News) I would also believe everything this White House says.

Are we heading to facism under Trump?

Having grown up in Argentina for my first 28 years I lived through military periods such as the dirty war from 1976 till 1983, I also lived through fascism and demagoguery such as the Peron administration from 1973 until 1976 that the military overthrew then President Isabel Peron.

I was not born when Peron was at the peak of his demagoguery and totalitarianism from 1946 through 1955 but I had a wide opening experience for the year that Peron was the president until his death in 1974.

He created the left wing Montoneros only to turn his back on them.

As we are witnessing since the beginning of the Trump campaign we are exposed in the US to the beginning of a fascist, demagogue, narcissist individual who is using the misfortunes and resentments of a group of people who have fallen through the wayside because of globalization, because of politicians using them for their votes, and by a other groups who want to impose their beliefs on the rest of the population.

I understand the first group of people have heard the same speeches and promises for years from their representatives promising them unattainable things and then turning around and favoring the small minority that finances their campaigns, that if their representatives favor the richest among us we will all benefit, that if we dismantle the factories in the US and move them to China, Vietnam, Mexico, or other places where there is cheap labor we will have a better standard of living by being able to afford more and less expensive goods. The fact is that those representatives are only interested in enriching themselves, being politicians or lobbyists for life, with a total disregard for the people who put them in power. To make sure that they can stay in power and chose who will elect them they have made it harder and harder to vote, have made going to college less and less affordable, poison their water (like in Flint, Michigan), have sent their kids into harm’s way for unjustifiable jobs, have raised their property taxes, while reducing the quality of education.

The second group are people who hated the previous president, many of them, including Trump, alleged that the president was not born in the US, that he was born in Africa, that he was a Muslim, that he wanted to destroy America, that he was a racist. This group also includes what are loosely called evangelicals, a group of Christians and Catholics, who believe that Jefferson mentions God in the declaration of Independence, although there is no reference of God or Jesus in the document, or the constitution, the closest being “that they are endowed by their Creator”. Jefferson was raised as an Anglican but thought of himself as an atheist. Most of these people either listen to right wing radio (propaganda) and/or get their news from Fox which based on studies has the most uniformed audience. I will elaborate more about evangelicals in a separate blog.

So going to Trump, what he has done and is doing is from one side of his mouth he is telling these groups, and some other people that I may have left out such as white supremacists, that he is all for them, for the little guy, that nobody but him can improve their lives, that nobody but him can get rid of corruption, nobody but him can get things done.

His actions, and this is where my experience comes into play, tells something different. Peron in the 50s used to say that he only earned 500 pesos a month. Interestingly enough when Evita died in 1952 and the doors of the Casa Rosada were open so that people could see her wardrobe

there were over 5,000 pairs of shoes, something that the 500 pesos a month that her husband was earning could not cover. Same can be said about Peron living in exile in the most expensive section of Madrid in a mansion for 18 years without working.

Trump first said that his taxes were being audited by the IRS and once sworn in on January 20th said he will never release them, something that would allow the country to have some idea who does he owe favors to through his businesses, he never divested his businesses, just supposedly put everything into a “blind state” having his two sons run his businesses, which does not make it a blind trust, he is willing to insult and say that former American presidents have blood in their hands rather than criticize Putin, an individual who was and is involved in the assassination of opposition in Russia, reporters, and people with whom he disagrees. Trump does not admit what 17 intelligence agencies have demonstrated and that is that Putin had his hands all over the US election. One has to wonder what does Putin have against Trump that makes the latter feel threatened.

Trump has not paid taxes in over 20 years. He does not believe in the separation of powers. He never told the coal workers who have benefited from Obamacare in states such as West Virginia and Pennsylvania that once the ACA is repealed they will not have any coverage whatsoever. 

Having questioned the previous president for issuing executive orders and has done nothing since he started but issuing executive orders. While he criticized Hilary Clinton during the presidential campaign about her and her husband’s relationships with Wall St, and that he would clean the swamp in Washington DC and then turned around and chose the most elitist and unqualified cabinet in history full of Wall St billionaires and donors, including Betsy DeVos, a billionaire who knows nothing about running a school, a district or has ever served in an education job. Examples of his unqualified staff include former Texas governor who did not know that the Department of Energy had under its jurisdiction the nuclear stockpile, and a surgeon as HUD (Housing and Urban Development) Secretary because he had been a welfare benefactor although he had never lived in public housing.

This would not be something unusual in Washington DC, but the fact that Trump has not stopped insulting people who do not agree with, including calling the press dishonest, calling a conservative judge that put an unconstitutional executive order on hold so-called judge, that he tries to run over everyone that steps in his way makes “The Donald” not just a bully, an individual with inferiority complex, but a fascist. To that if we see his immediate circle Steve  Bannon, a white supremacist, Kellyanne Conway, a strategist that not only never answers the question she was asked but gives “Alternative Facts”, a name she has given to lies, and the VP Mike Pence, a bigot and anti gay, who believes that gays and lesbians can be re-educated back to normal.

Trump has had a rocky start with many of his questionable cabinet members held in the senate, ruffling the feathers of presidents and Prime Ministers who have always been allies of the US. He seems to live in a parallel universe with facts that cannot be backed such as the terrorist attacks in the US that have not been covered by the press, saying that the crime rate is the highest in 40 years when there is no proof of that, on the contrary, the FBI says it is the lowest in decades. 
He is governing for the 43% who voted for him saying that he has a mandate, although he lost the popular vote for almost 3 million votes. He needs to start voting for all Americans. The polls show that he has the lowest approval in history for a new president.

For those who predict or would like Trump to be impeached, beware of who would come next. Mike Pence is Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones and Michael Savage combined, and in sheep clothes.

Elections have consequences

In 2000 the citizens of Florida decided to vote their idealism when they voted for Ralph Nader.

George W. Bush was chosen by the Supreme Court as the next president of the United States.

We had wars, foreclosures, and a financial collapse. People’s 401ks were wiped out, and many lost their life savings when their house was taken by the bank after banks had given loans to many people who could not afford the loans in the first place, all along making huge profits at those people’s expense.

It seems that the American people learned nothing in 2000.

On November 8^th they fell for a demagogue who told Americans that their country had been run to the ground, all this coming from an individual who had not paid taxes in at least 20 years, somebody who had cheated on his first two wives, who told evangelicals that he was a big Christian when in fact he couldn’t mention a single book from the new testament, somebody who has egotistical behaviors, who would say anything to get elected.

He told his followers that he could clean the swamp in Washington DC, and based on his cabinet he has filled his cabinet with a group of right wing nuts, who have lied on their background disclosures, hiding the fact that one of them had stacked 100 million in the Cayman, another one who enriched himself while being a representative when he purchased stock of a company and then proposed legislation that would benefit that company, a woman who will run the Department of Education with no experience in education and who had no idea about the disability act.

This individual who became president told us that he would never reveal his tax returns, something that no other candidate for president has ever done, he never divested from all his holdings, which will create a unprecedented conflict of interest for the moment that he put his hand on the bible, he employed his son-in-law in the white house even though there is legislation that forbids that.

All my comments above are just some background before the subject of this blog, and that is elections have consequences.

After the much contested Democratic primary many of the Sanders supporters decided that because their candidate had lost they would not be supporting the winner of the primary, Hillary Clinton. Their mantra was Bernie or Bust. Republicans also had a much contested primary with many members of the Republican Party saying that they could not and would not support the candidate. When pull came to shove republicans fell in line and came out to vote for their candidate, compared to democrats who decided to either support candidates who could not win, or not show up to vote.

For those democrats that I mentioned elections have consequences, and they will bust. The first and only thing that the new president signed today was an executive order to start the dismantling of the Affordable Caring Act, this means that people who are under 26 and get health coverage through their parents that coverage will be gone, thus they will either need to get insurance on their own or risk living with no coverage. When the republicans talk about repeal and replace, there is no replacement, so 20 million people who were getting health coverage through the ACA will lose their insurance, if any of them have pre-existent condition insurance companies will either not sign them or will sign them at a higher premium. Another promise that the new president has made is to no replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia with another right wing Justice. During the next four years Mr. Trump may also have the chance of replacing other Supreme Court justices, this may move the court to extreme right positions, and making decisions that will hurt the average worker in the USA, including going after women’s rights.

Bust is not a position that will help those people, they did not inflict any damage to Hillary Clinton, she is well off and will hardly be affected by the new president’s decision, the damage, or “bust” will be self-inflicted.

No war has even been won staying at home. The ill decisions that the new administration may take during the next 4 years will be felt for decades to come.