The Updated Top Ten Issues Facing President-elect Trump in 10 Days and Counting…
In a matter of weeks, President-elect Trump will be a reality; he will need to address all of these issues. This is the most popular blog I have written with over 400 page views, and I felt it needed an update…so here goes… by the way, immigration still does not make my top ten although prison reform is number 11.)
10.Decreasing the deficit by decreasing the Military Industrial Complex: President Eisenhower warned the nation before he left office. He wasn’t talking about decreasing support for troops or vets; he was talking about building weapons and selling them for profit to other nations…like Saudi Arabia! (It’s happening now and also sales to Israel, too — 35 billion dollars worth…) F — the deficit has ballooned because of the tax cut to the rich and spending has kept up. Growth never came close to making up the difference as his experts claimed.
9.Income Inequality: Corporations and its CEO’s are not going to start selling off their yachts. However, Union’s must support higher wages and a living wage needs to be addressed. Above all, American workers need to be willing and able to become educated in the new ‘workplace’. It should be noted that unemployment isn’t caused my immigration primarily, but by automation! F — it’s gotten worse and Covid-19 has made any gains vanish. BTW — jobs promised vanished anyway. The Carrier plant was the example most cited. The truth is that eventually they shipped the vast majority of jobs to Mexico — but kept the money that came as ‘tax relief.’
8.Putin: America needs to keep our collective eyes on a dictator who kills his competition, jails journalists, and wants to expand his domain to get to the “Old USSR”. Um, here Mr. Trump is either gullible (not) or has a business interest he needs to divulge (including his taxes). F — One word ‘Helsinki.’
They exchanged ‘Love Letters’ and then they set off more missles.
7.North Korea: See above. Add Nuclear weapons on missiles. China is the key to leveraging them, so it’s not a good idea to make an enemy out of a reforming, but polluted China, Mr. Trump. D— They exchanged ‘Love Letters’ and then they set off more missles.
6.Polarization in Politics = Gridlock: America needs a Republican Party that is center right and the Democratic Party needs to be center left. Both need to learn to compromise. Good luck (with that). F — no effort here at all.
5.Discrimination: ‘Black Lives Do Matter’ so do all minorities — all people of different creeds and sexual identities matter. America no longer has black and white water fountains, but it takes much longer to change hearts and minds. Arming everyone is not the answer. Inclusion and education is. F — He sent in ‘guys’ and tear gassed folks to get to a church he does not attend to hold a Bible.
4.ISIS: President Obama has made great strides in dealing with the Taliban and its off-shoots. He was the president who made Osama bin Laden history. However, young men who feel economically impotent and religiously inspired will have to be inspired by another force — optimism that their lives are worth something — so they don’t believe death is the better option. ISIS is crumbling…slowly but surely. C — He continued Obama’s lead, but his efforts to pull all troops out of Afganistan is viewed with horror by his generals and the Afgan government.
The Middle East will very soon see heat levels at 135 degrees.
3.Syria: Putin has helped Assad destroy city after city. History will show that this mass murder and migration is a war crime. Eventually Assad will pay — unless Putin continues his support. President Obama could not find a way to deal with a murdering scoundrel (and his Russian ally) without putting boots on the ground in a futile effort (with the possibility of war with the Soviets). It was a lost cause — the poor people of Syria are central to this tragedy. NA — Not sure any president could affect change there.
2.Public Schools: Teachers need to be paid better, the length required for tenure needs to be the trade off. Governments (Federal and State) need to equally invest much more in the schools — not the administration of these schools. We can do better. We must do better or else we will expand even further the two class system of education we have in the primary and secondary schools. This is a blog in itself…F — Betsy DeVos is intent on privatizing schools. Her efforts made it such that little progress was made on equalizing opportunity for low income schools.
And the DRUM ROLL, Please…
1.Global Warming: This ‘trumps’ all because the world is already facing food production shortages and fresh water is the reason why mass migrations are occurring in Africa (and their governments are collapsing.) America will see Miami’s disappearing as sea levels rise. We will see climate swings, floods, record heat, tornadoes, — you name it. The Middle East will very soon see heat levels at 135 degrees. I could go on and on…but we can’t. The problem is the new President-Elect seems to ignore this fact. (Perhaps I should tweet it.) He thinks the Paris Accords aren’t his ‘thing.’ Let’s hope he receives sage advice…except many of his advisers are not on board yet. Rex Tillerson seems to be the exception — even though he spent 50+ years at Exxon Mobil. So keep an eye on the ice because the tide is rising. F — the worst grade of all. Trump went from calling global warming a “hoax” to pushing for more fossil fuel, including coal. Tillerson left office convinced that Trump is ‘a moron.’
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