2016 — President Trump’s Priorities: That Was Then…This is Now. (Part 1 of 2)

 

It is always intriging to look back in time to see what America faced four years ago.The original date of this essay — November 2016. Mr. Trump was President-Elect and Americans had ‘ campaign promises’ of his priorities. Here is a look back and my grades on his performance: October 27, 2020.

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.’

In Defense of Joe Biden (or "How I cannot put up with Democrats who attack the Obama/Biden Administration)

 First. I’m 64. So I have seen a thing or two. (This is a reaction to another Baby Boomer who thinks I am some 30 something who knows nothing. Truth is that those young folks know quite a bit!)

So I want to say that President Obama and VP Joe Biden were part of the finest administration I have seen in my lifetime.

Second. President Obama had only two years (effectively) to accomplish major programs because of the McConnell/ Republican opposition to anything he tried to do ( this included even Supreme Court nominations!). Despite all that, his ACA insured 20–40 million previously uninsured people, and he was the only president to accomplish this medical miracle of coverage that Ted Kennedy worked for decades to accomplish. And whom do you think lobbied, cajoled and arm twisted Congress to get this legislation passed? Biden. He and Nancy Pelosi accomplished the medical miracle.(He would have created under a public option if he could have gotten through the Senate. That was not to be.)

After the first two years, it became a slog and that was rooted in the right wing / Republican/ Fox attacks that are the source of why Washington can’t get much done and the root of polarization and the rise of the most inept, corrupt president the United States has had to endure. (“He who shall not be named.”)

In addition, the Obama/ Biden administration was responsible for the end of Osama Bin Laden; something the Bush Administration could not manage to accomplish despite their ill advised Middle Eastern invasion. (Critics: look at the famous picture of the attack.)

Obama inherited that mess. Biden stood side by side and fought with the president to accomplish so much when the opposition was so obstinate.

Writers who are disappointed with President Obama and then rag on VP Joe Biden do so in a sad attempt at reminding their readers of how much better things would be if Bernie Sanders could be the nominee…pleeeeease just stop!

These writers claim the only real ‘crime’ President Obama is guilty of was the drone attacks which killed innocent civilians. It is that collateral damage that is the result of war and we have had this issue to contend with since Truman dropped two bombs on Japanese islands. The sad reality is we do not and cannot know how many terrorist attacks have been thwarted from this action. We do know that fewer American troops have died as a result of drones. Perhaps I need to study the effectiveness of these preemptive attacks. Perhaps Mr. Obama has sleepless nights thinking of those attacks. Perhaps it was those attacks that ultimately dismantled forces intent on attacking America.

I should note that Obama’s 8 years brought America zero attacks from these terrorists on our homeland.

Finally, you (critics) conveniently omit President Obama’s achievement of pulling America out of the economic nosedive that was the Great Recession.

So to conclude, Obama had so much to fix, so little Senate support, so many enemies on the (far) right and blowhards like Limbaugh and Hannity and the No-Spin O’Rielly, that it is remarkable what their thoroughly competent administration could achieve.

Remember this — President Obama remains incredibly popular (70%) and the most admired man in America for the last six years. That, Friends and Critics, tells you the intangible greatness of the man. His Vice President — Joe Biden will carry on the mission Obama began. It may be one term — but the nation needs to reset its course and experience and building a team of rivals is part of the Biden plan.

(Author’s Note: This was my reaction to a response about how Biden was a poor choice by the Democrats this year and will be ineffective, and President Obama was also ineffective; his drone attacks proved he was a disappointing failure, too!)