Letters and Articles on the Trump Administration

Unless otherwise noted, letters were submitted to the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune newspaper

Bizzaro World Politics

8 January 2017
 

Our country is officially entering the Bizzaro world where policies are the exact opposite of common sense. Donald Trump is filling his cabinet and agencies with people who are diametrically opposed to their missions.

• State, Interior, and the EPA all get oil company advocates and
  global warming deniers who oppose sensible pollution controls.

• Treasury and Commerce get Wall Street executives who are likely to kill recently restored consumer financial protections.

• The Attorney General opposes civil rights for minorities, women, and gays and advocates for the interests of corporations.

• Education gets a woman who hates public schools and wants to privatize education.

• Transportation gets a leader who fails to enforce safety regulations.

• The Housing & Urban Development head has no qualifications beyond living in a house.

• Labor will be headed by a fast food magnate who opposes the minimum wage and worker protections.

• Energy will be led by another oil advocate who wanted to eliminate the agency completely.

• His CIA director and National Security Advisor both support the use of torture.

• The Health & Human Services head advocates privatizing Medicare

• His special strategist is a white supremacist.

• Trump's picks for the Supreme Court are the most extreme right-wing ideologues he can find.

• The vice president is a religious fanatic who wants to destroy the wall between church and state

• Finally, the President-elect himself has more conflicts of interest than one can count.

Overall, a collection of corporate and Wall Street insiders who will represent the interests of the rich and powerful, not us. This administration will truly be a basket of deplorables.

Gorsuch Is Right-Wing Ideologue

25 February 2017
 

Former Senator Santorum decries Democratic opposition to the appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, completely ignoring how Mr. Santorum's party very ostentatiously made a point of killing President Obama's highly qualified nominee for the purely partisan reason that a hoped for Republican president would get to appoint someone more to their liking. During the campaign, Trump promised that he would pick the most right-wing ideologue justice guaranteed to overturn Roe v. Wade and enshrine corporate privilege that he could find. There is no reason to think that judge Gorsuch has not been carefully vetted to fill that bill. Indeed, he has a strong record of elevating corporate "rights" over those of people or government and a propensity to elevate fundamentalist Christian religious dogma above secular law. As conservatives like to keep hypocritically harping on, a Supreme Court justice should be objective and not have an agenda going in.

Trump's Costly Weekends

5 March 2017
 

Throughout President Obama's term in office, people would write to this newspaper complaining about his "frequent" vacations and cite wildly inflated values for their cost. I wonder where they are now that Mr. Trump is going to his resorts in Florida every weekend to play golf at a cost to us taxpayers of $3 million each time. Add to this the $500,000 per day for security for Melania staying in his New York apartment and his frequent campaign events and it could add up to at least $350 million per year -- as much as the entire public school budgets for several mid-sized cities combined. Is this the typical Republican double standard at work?
 

Why Trump Scares Us

5 March 2017
 

In typical fashion, Taylor Armerding twists the truth beyond all recognition to set up a straw man argument that he can knock down. We on the left are indeed afraid of President Trump, his cabinet of corporate billionaires, and the Republican Congress they own, but not because we think that we will be hauled away by police. No, it's because of the policies they are ramming through while the press is distracted by the scandal of the week. This includes: making fundamentalist Christian dogma the law, taking affordable health insurance away from tens of millions of people, destroying basic environmental protections, cancelling overtime pay for mid-wage workers, privatizing education and our vital infrastructure, and concentrating even more wealth into the pockets of the top 0.1% (including themselves) and the giant corporations.  In other words, turning us into a third-world kleptocracy.

More Trump Hyprocrisy

26 April 2017
 

The swamp of hypocrisy and conflicts of interest in the Trump administration continues to get deeper and muddier. This time, it is First Daughter Ivanka. While Donald rambles on about creating manufacturing jobs in America, she has all of her products made in China (just as her father did for all of his campaign junk). On top of that, her company is applying for trademarks there while she participates in state meetings with top Chinese government officials. While there might not be a direct quid pro quo, it certainly gives the appearance of their running the presidency for personal enrichment, especially when combined with her father's and siblings' international business interests. Unfortunately, we cannot know the true depth of these conflicts since Mr. Trump continues to refuse to release his tax returns.

Trump's Role Models Tell Much

10 May 2017

You can tell much about a person's character by whom he admires and praises. For Donald Trump, it's Vladimir Putin in Russia, Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Rodrigo Duarte in the Philippines, Kim Jong Un in North Korea, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey -- a litany of despotic dictators. All of them have crushed dissent and run the country for their personal benefit.

Trump's tenure has been marked by a flurry of executive orders giving the country away to the giant corporations at the expense of workers, consumers, and the environment. Add to this a morass of conflicts of interest where he and his family appear to be using his office to funnel additional wealth into their own pockets, an ongoing war with the press, and demagogic speeches at rallies of his supporters. Now, his firing of the people investigating his ties to Russia demonstrates that he aspires to be like them. And that is very bad news for our democracy.

Trump Sells Us Out Again

2 June 2017

Once more, Mr. Trump has sold out the American people and the world. This time, by pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord. With this action, he abrogates our leadership role in the world and risks our becoming an international pariah. Other countries will pick up the slack and leave us in their dust. Already, China is ahead of schedule, Germany gets 85% of its electricity from renewable sources, and Scotland produces more than it needs from wind power. Meanwhile, he increases our risk of coastal cites being flooded from sea level rise and agriculture and infrastructure being decimated by severe weather. The irony is that he will not save one single coal mining job. That industry is declining due to economics, not government policy -- we already have three times as many solar and wind energy jobs than coal industry ones. Trump has stabbed his supporters in the back again.

Scandals Hide Real Harm by Trump

7 August 2017

All of the attention being paid by the media to Donald Trump's tweets and the Russia scandal only serves to provide cover for the real harm being inflicted behind the scenes. Representative Michael Capuano's "Behind the Curtain" web page currently documents over 130 bills and executive orders giving our country away to the top 0.1% and corporations at the expense of the rest of us. For example: denying mid-wage workers overtime pay and rolling back workplace safety protections, repealing rules protecting small investors and borrowers (including students at fraudulent for-profit "colleges"), opening up public conservation land for exploitation, giving corporations free reign to pollute, cancelling net neutrality, rolling back civil rights, and proposing giant tax cuts for billionaires and corporations while slashing programs for ordinary Americans. The list goes on and on. We must keep our eye on the ball and focus on the actions that actually affect us.

White Supremacists Are Trump's Base

7 August 2017

In the wake of the big white supremacist demonstration and an act of right-wing domestic terrorism in Charlottesville, VA this past weekend, our country's supposed moral role model, President Trump, pointedly refused to step up to condemn their message of hate and exclusion until pressured to do so. Why? Because these deplorables constitute the core of his base. His racist campaign rhetoric -- combined with an inner circle full of white supremacists, a racist Attorney General, and a whites only immigration policy -- has now made it acceptable for them to come out of the shadows. Perhaps he has inadvertently done us a favor by reminding us that these people are still around and constitute a real danger to our democracy.

Purging Transgender Members from the Military

28 August 2017

Military commanders have begun implementing Donald Trump's order to purge the military of transgender service members. As they do so, let us be clear. This has absolutely nothing to do with military effectiveness or cost control (the Pentagon is already the poster child for wasteful spending). It is nothing more than pandering to the extremist fundamentalist Christians in Mr. Trump's and the Republican's base who have an obsessive abhorrence to any sexual practice that does not conform to their own narrow worldview and feels compelled to force it on everybody else.

Trump Kill Net Neutrality and Banking Protections

30 November 2017

Kudos to Donald Trump for scoring two more big wins for giant corporations and against the interests of consumers. The first is the FCC's repeal of net neutrality under its Trump-appointed chairman and former industry lobbyist Ajit Pai. This will allow the giant internet providers to block web sites they don't like and extort content providers to pay extra for fast service. The second is the appointment of Mick Mulvaney to head to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). He has long made it no secret that he wants to dismantle the agency. This will free the giant banks and payday lenders to once again commit fraud and predatory business practices against their customers with impunity. And so the corporate coup of our democracy marches on.

Is Trump a Russian Agent?

10 December 2017

Donald Trump is an agent of chaos in our country, doing everything he can to keep us constantly off balance. For starters, 76% of everything he says is a lie. Then, he mounts a concerted campaign to attack and discredit the mainstream media that expose them. His on again, off again shifts on policy create a state of constant uncertainty. Cabinet and agency positions are filled with men dedicated to dismantling them and enacting policies that harm the environment, workers, and consumers in favor of corporate profits. Our influence on the world stage is being systematically dismantled and disrupted. Meanwhile, he distracts us with a constant stream of inflammatory tweets. Given Russia's known involvement with his campaign staff (four of whom have already been indicted) and its other interference to get him elected, it makes one wonder if he is actually a Russian agent bent on destabilizing our country and giving it completely over to the oligarchs.

Trump's War on the Environment and Workers

6 January 2018

Trump's war against the environment, workers, and transparent business practices continues apace.  This time, he is opening up the entire U.S. coastline to oil drilling -- even for states that passed laws forbidding it. At the same time, he has rescinded safety rules for offshore oil rigs, making inspection of blowout valves voluntary and allowing companies to do it themselves. Meanwhile, he is also gutting the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), so that they don't have the resources to enforce safety rules.  Previously, he exempted employers from even having to report workplace injuries or deaths.  This is another BP oil disaster just waiting to happen. Topping it off, he has killed a rule requiring companies to disclose bribes to foreign governments. And so the swamp gets deeper and muddier as he panders to his corporate base.

Who's Interests Does Trump Really Serve?

18 May 2018

Donald Trump has promised to help rescue a Chinese company that took away American manufacturing jobs and was under sanction for engaging in criminal theft of American intellectual property.  What would prompt him to betray American workers to benefit China at our expense in this way?  It has been revealed that his company received a $500 million loan from China for one of his projects in Indonesia.  This conflict of interest is a clear and blatant violation of the Constitution's Emoluments clause and demonstrates that Mr. Trump really cares about the welfare of only one person -- himself.  It also shows that he sees his office as primarily a way to enrich himself and stoke his ego.

Is Trump a Russian Agent? - Redux
9 Jul 2018

As the Russian interference investigation rolls on, Donald Trump certainly gives the appearance of working for them.  His actions disrupt our democratic systems and funnel money and power to our oligarchs while harming working people and consumers.  There are too many to fit into a letter, but here are some top items.

First are his constant attacks on the mainstream press, calling any negative reporting "fake news" and newspapers "enemies of the people."  This is accompanied by a steady stream of lies (over 3,300 so far, according to the Washington Post), reinforced by his spokespeople.  He foments racial, geographic, and class conflict to keep us fighting amongst ourselves instead of working to advance our common interests.

He is destroying our preeminence in science and threatening public health by slashing the science and medical agencies and suppressing research that doesn't agree with his corporate agenda, thus allowing our competitors to get ahead of us.

Next, is the tax cut bill that gives almost all of its benefits to the top 1% (including $1 billion just for himself) and giant multinational corporations, while creating the largest deficits ever seen (but Trump loves superlatives).  This will give him and Republicans cover to gut the safety net programs depended upon by the poor and middle class, as well as all forms of state and local aid.  Add to this his agencies' systematic dismantling of consumer, worker, and environmental protections that leave us at the mercy of profit-driven corporations.

He has also withdrawn us from international agreements (such as the Paris Climate Accord, the Iran Nuclear Deal, and the U.N. Human Rights Council).  At international meetings (such as NATO and the G7 Economic Summit), he snubs and criticizes our allies while embracing our adversaries.  All this, and more, isolate us from the international community and mark us as a pariah that can't be trusted to keep its word.  Russia and China are already moving into the vacuum he is creating.

His tariffs are harming the very people who voted for him by costing many times more jobs than they save while increasing consumer prices.  Thousands of American companies and family farms will experience increased production costs while the resulting worldwide trade war against us lose them markets.

He may be working for China too.  He is rescuing a Chinese company that took away American  manufacturing jobs and engaged in criminal theft of intellectual property after receiving a $500 million loan for one of his projects in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, he talks tough about Russia, but has suspended implementation of the sanctions against them passed by Congress and invites them back into the G7.  This is possibly due to his known financial conflicts of interest with them plus possible blackmail evidence against him.  He has a summit meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin this week.  Is that where he will get his next instructions?

Britt Kavanaugh Not a Good Judge
17 Jul 2018
 

The Heritage Foundation's Jay Ambrose asserts that Brett Kavanaugh is a good judge who strictly interprets the Constitution.  If you believe that corporations should have even more constitutional rights and power, then he is.  If you believe that they should have unlimited ability to bribe elected officials, abuse their workers and consumers, and pollute the environment, then he is.  If you believe that the president should be above the law, then he is.  If you believe in racial voter suppression and gerrymandering, then he is.  If you believe that the Establishment clause of the First Amendment should be ignored and that fundamentalist Christian dogma should be privileged over everyone else's beliefs and rights, then he is.

But, if you believe that elected officials should work for ordinary Americans, that workers and consumers should have fair recourse when wronged by corporations, that collective bargaining preserves the balance of power between employers and workers, that we need clean water and air and wilderness, that even the president should be held accountable, that every citizen deserves to vote and have it count, and that religion has no place in government policy (as our founders intended), then he is a danger to our democracy and should not be confirmed.
 

Trump Works for Russia

18 Jul 2018

Donald Trump's hostile performance in Europe and his press conference with Vladimir Putin has all but confirmed that he works for Russia.  He has spent the past year and a half attacking our free press, exacerbating ethnic and racial tensions, crippling our regulatory agencies, denigrating law enforcement and security agencies, and alienating us from our closest allies.  The final give-away was when he sided with his idol over the FBI and CIA and denied Russian interference in our elections (after publicly asking them to hack the Democratic campaign during the 2016 election).  It would appear that his summit with Putin was to get the next set of instructions on how to ruin our country.  Trump has motives for betraying his country.  He has known financial obligations to Russia and Putin likely has blackmail evidence against him.  It's time for Mueller to subpoena him, his tax returns, and the summit meeting translator (if he isn't in hiding) and get to the bottom of Trump's collusion.

Space Force -- Don't Need, Can't Afford

11 Aug 2018

So, it's official. The Trump administration is going to spend hundreds of billions of dollars we don't have on creating a new military service -- the Space Force. This is yet another wasteful military boondoggle we don't need right after giving a massive tax cut to his billionaire and corporate buddies that will be creating record budget deficits. This follows an old tradition for Republican presidents. In 2002-2003, George W. Bush started two no-win wars costing a trillion dollars just on the heels of his record tax cuts for the richest 1%. Likewise, in the 1980s, Reagan gave us the over $200 billion "Star Wars" program (which still doesn't work) right after his massive billionaires' tax cut. Perhaps it's part of the conservative grand strategic plan to totally bankrupt our government so that it can't provide vitally needed services or protections for ordinary Americans.

Trump Is Criminal Organization
22 Dec 2018

Once again, Donald Trump and his companies are exposed as criminal organizations. This time
it's his foundation. It has been shut down because it was determined to exist only to act
as Trump's tax exempt piggy bank. Every one of its expenditures was completely self-serving
This included commissioning two paintings of himself, buying an autographed football helmet,
paying off lawsuits against him, and even paying for his son's cub scout registration. To
add chutzpah to injury, most of this wasn't even his own money. There is no record that it
actually made any real charitable contributions, including those that he announced with great
fanfare. And so, one more piece of the great Trump fraud comes to an end.

Traitor Trump in Syria

23 Dec 2018

Donald Trump has now decided to betray our allies and long-term national interest and security by ordering the immediate withdrawal of all US troops from Syria. This will create a power vacuum that will hand the northeastern part of the country -- including our Kurdish allies -- over to the tender mercies of Russia, Iran, Turkey, and ISIS (who are most certainly not dead yet). Likewise, his order to massively draw down troops in Afghanistan risks handing it back to the Taliban. He might as well be acting on orders from Putin. The definition of a traitor is one who gives aid and comfort to the enemy. It's time to lock him up.

Wall Is Futile
6 Jan 2019

While Donald Trump throws his juvenile temper tantrum and holds our dedicated government workers, residents, small businesses, and communities hostage to his unyielding desire for a wall (and enabled by obstructionist Senate Republicans), it must be noted that it will do little good. There are many other ways for immigrants, criminals, and drugs to enter our country. They can come by sea, air, and underground tunnels. It is known that Mexican drug lords have a system of professionally engineered tunnels, complete with train tracks and lighting. The current trial of "El Chapo" Guzman has revealed the he even used a submarine to smuggle drugs. In addition, a few pounds of dynamite or a cutting torch along a remote stretch will likely breach it. So, in the end, all of the billions of taxpayer dollars spent and its associated environmental damage -- not to mention the damage to our economy of this government shutdown -- would be for nothing.

Trump Family Is Criminal Operation
21 Jan 2019

In his January 19 column, Jay Ambrose does a masterful job parroting the Fox "News" and Republican party line.  The fact is that it has already been established that the Trump family is a criminal operation.

It started over 60 years ago when Trump Senior created a sham corporation to launder money into his children's pockets and circumvent tax laws.  It then continued with Donald stiffing contractors working on his projects by declaring bankruptcy to avoid paying them.  Next, we have his recently shut down, totally self-serving "foundation," which used other people's money to make donations exclusively to himself.  Finally, there's his sham business school that had to settle a $25 million lawsuit for fraud.  And, all of this is just his private life.

It is increasingly being established that his presidential campaign was a long string of criminal and treasonous activities.  We can start with his son and son-in-law meeting with a known Russian agent to get dirt on Hillary Clinton, which he then tried to cover up.  This was followed by his instructing his lawyer to pay off women he had sex with to silence them about it, which constitutes illegal campaign contributions.  He then openly asked Wikileaks/Russia to hack Clinton's e-mail and days later her campaign's internal e-mails were published.  Now we've learned that he continued to negotiate for a hotel in Moscow up until the end of the campaign.  Finally, there are all of his high-level campaign staff who have been convicted of criminal activities.

His presidency is no better.  He continuously violates the Emoluments clause of the Constitution by profiting from foreign dignitaries staying at his Washington, DC hotel (which is actually owned by the government) and his golf club in Florida.  He is also systematically withdrawing us from international treaties, alienating our allies, and abandoning our allies in Syria.  Add to this the massive disruption and chaos caused by his government shutdown and he appears to be serving Russia's interests more than our own.  It makes one wonder what is being discussed in his secret conversations with Vladimir Putin.

All of this is just what we already know.  All in all, the FBI was well justified in investigating him.  I would be quite surprised if Mueller's investigation shows Mr. Trump to be innocent of criminal activity and working with Russian agents.

Trump's Witch Hunt
27 May 2019

Donald Trump has ordered his toady Attorney General to investigate our law enforcement and intelligence agencies to determine how and why the Obama administration started it's investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election. Even before the Mueller investigation, the evidence was overwhelming that Russia did so on a wholesale basis and his report confirms that in great detail. Law enforcement would have been remiss to not have investigated. However, just as AG Barr produced a summary of the Mueller Report highly spun to falsely claim that Trump was exonerated of obstruction of justice in direct contradiction of the actual report (even with the redactions), we can be sure that he will selectively cherry pick declassifying only those documents that support the conclusions Trump wants him to reach. And so, they begin their own witch hunt to smear Obama.

Climate Crisis Misinformation

14 Sep 2019

I would characterize the letter by Daniel Murphy criticizing Democratic initiatives to address climate change as misinformation, but it is really a collection of blatant, bald-faced lies.  First, the research and conclusions asserted by Dr. Roy Spencer have been roundly refuted in the literature.  Second, WMO Secretary General Petteri Tallas has asserted in no uncertain terms that global warming is even worse than models have predicted and that cutting carbon dioxide emissions is essential to address it -- the exact opposite of what Mr. Murphy states in his letter.  Indeed, 97% of climate scientists accept the validity of global warming and those who don't tend to work for the fossil fuel industry.  Don't be fooled by Republican politicians who are in the back pocket of the oil and coal lobbies and serve short-term corporate profits over the long-term welfare of humanity.

Original Letter:
https://www.eagletribune.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/letter-democrats-manipulating-climate-crisis/article_e4ede847-7c54-5c72-bb68-8d85264a2800.html
 

Trump Finally Impeached
27 Sep 2019

The hammer has finally dropped.  Impeachment proceedings have begun against the criminal enterprise that is Donald Trump and his administration.  He has been caught red-handed not only committing treason by explicitly asking a foreign power to interfere in our elections, but doing it via extortion worthy of a Mafia don.
 

To make the strongest possible case, it is imperative that the various House committees investigate not just his pressuring Ukraine to dig up dirt on his opponents and the associated cover-up attempt, but all of his crimes:

• asking Russia to provide dirt on his opponent in the 2016 presidential election

• the 10 counts of obstruction of justice cited in the Mueller report

• violations of the Emollients clause of the Constitution by encouraging foreign officials to stay at his hotels and golf clubs

• profiting at taxpayer expense by having the Secret Service and other support resources stay at his hotels and golf clubs and paying for their rooms

• siting a military refueling base right next to his golf club in Ireland

• illegally diverting funds from military readiness and veterans benefits to build his border wall

• divulging state secrets to foreign officials

He and members of his administration should also be held in Contempt of Congress for any stonewalling they do in refusing to submit requested documents or to testify when called.  Sadly, that will likely not go anywhere since it must be enforced by the Attorney General, who serves Trump and not the rule of law.

Of course, the Republican and right-wing media spin machines that enable his abuses are already running at full speed, but even they cannot put lipstick on this pig.  His base will be undeterred and believe the spin, rather than the facts -- just have they have believed the over 16,000 lies he's told since in office and the many thousands more told before that during his campaign.

It is likely that the process will end with the House because Mitch McConnell and the senate Republican leadership will never allow it to be tried (obstruction of justice in its own right).  Even so, it is important that the full facts be laid out before the American public so that they can fully understand what a criminal Trump really is.

Michael Bleiweiss

Trump Commits Treason

24 Oct 2019

Trump is an agent of chaos and destruction.  He pulls American troops out of northern Syria knowing full well that Turkey will invade (since President Erdogan personally told him they would).  This has led to American troops making a headlong rush out of the country, the death of hundreds of Kurdish fighters, the displacement of up to 100,000 civilians, the escape of hundreds of ISIS fighters, Russian troops occupying now former American military bases, and Russia and Iran displacing us as the main power brokers in the area.  This constitutes betrayal of our allies, sabotaging our role in the world, and giving aid and comfort to the enemy -- treason, pure and simple.  If he isn't explicitly acting as a Russian asset, he might as well be.

Any rational person wonders why did this.  This rash decision came immediately after a late-night telephone conversation with President Erdogan.  Evidence and past behavior indicate that Turkey's president may have threatened to cut off the royalty payments from a pair of hotels in Istanbul that license Mr. Trump's name.  In other words, he caved to extortion.  Strangely, this conflict of interest has been completely ignored by the press.

The incident also shows that Trump doesn't care who gets hurt as long as he gets his 30 pieces of silver.  Along with treason, this and the hundreds of other similar violations of the Emoluments Clause, and multiple attempts at obstruction of justice should be added to his impeachment charges as well.

Michael Bleiweiss

Responses:

Letter filled with misconceptions, hate for Trump
https://www.eagletribune.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/letter-letter-filled-with-misconceptions-hate-for-trump/article_6ec49b97-77c8-58a0-89ca-bd5cc567c744.html

Turkey Twist:
https://www.eagletribune.com/opinion/sound-off/article_72dadc1a-f4e5-5b5d-b7e8-8d3b40816436.html

Trump's Turkey Betrayal

3 Nov 2019

To respond to the attempts to refute my last letter by "Turkey Twist" and Mark Kislowski, let's look at some actual facts regarding Trump, Syria, and Turkey.
1)  Trump does lease his name to a large hotel in Istanbul for which he gets royalties
      -- a violation of the Constitution's Emoluments clause.
2)  Trump had a late night, unmonitored telephone call with Turkey's president.
3)  The next day, he summarily pulled our troops (who were not being shot at) out of northern
      Syria.  It's extremely unlikely that the timing is a coincidence.
4) Turkey immediately invaded as has been widely reported Erdogan told Trump he would.
5)  This led to the dislocation 100,000 civilians, at least 100 Kurdish deaths, and the escape
      of hundreds of ISIS prisoners.
6)  The cease fire was negotiated by Iran and Russia, making them now the local power brokers,
      displacing us.
7)  Russian troops are occupying former American military bases.
8)  Our troops were not brought home -- just redeployed to Iraq and the Syrian oil fields.
9)  Trump has publicly stated that he is protecting the Syrian oil fields so that we can get
      some of the oil.
10)  Military special forces, not Trump, killed Bagdadi and ISIS has already appointed
        a replacement.  Plus, that is an irrelevant non sequitor.

All of the above add up to a multi-faceted betrayal by Trump -- to our Kurdish allies, to our troops in the Middle East, to the Constitution, and to American interests in the region.  Their net effect is to advance the interests of Turkey and our enemies Russia and Iran at our expense.  There is a valid reason I am a "never Trumper" -- his policies are crafted to help himself, his corporate friends, and the strongman dictators he admires at the expense of the American people and our country's interests.

Michael Bleiweiss

Subject: Post Office Collapse
24 Apr 2020

The U.S. Postal Service is about to run out of money. This is mostly due to a decades-long campaign by Republicans to bankrupt it by imposing onerous financial burdens. Their ultimate goal is to sell it off to rapacious for-profit companies. Enter Donald Trump. Per his usual modis operandi, he is engaging in blackmail and extortion to advance a private vendetta. He also wants to prevent mail-in voting because "No Republican would ever be elected again." If he succeeds in destroying it, be prepared to spend $10 to mail a letter and travel many miles to get your mail if you live in a rural area. Minority neighborhoods can expect to be redlined -- just as they are by the banks and supermarkets. Tens of billions of dollars of business are conducted by mail every day at a price that can't be beat. If Trump and the Republicans succeed in this endeavor, expect our economy to be in complete shambles and to become a true impoverished third-world country.
 

Subject: Trump's Police State

3 Jun 2020

Every time I think I've seen everything, the narcissist-in-chief and would be dictator Donald Trump goes even further off the rails.  True to form, he poured gasoline on the fire and mobilized the Secret Service and police and National Guard and military to violently disperse a totally peaceful protest in front of the White House, violating their First Amendment right to assemble and petition their government for redress of grievances.  Why?  Because he wanted to stroll across the square to pander to his fundamentalist Christian base by posing in front of a church holding a bible -- something that was obviously too urgent to put off to the next day.  Such a move does not surprise me since he is totally lacking in compassion or moral compass.  He knows he can get away with it because the Republican Senate gave him license to do anything he wants when they summarily acquitted him in his impeachment trial.

He preceded this by attempting to bully state governors by threatening to have the military invade their states and take over law enforcement if they did not crack down on ("dominate") protesters with sufficient force -- essentially threatening to impose martial law.  To do so is totally illegal under the Posse Comitatus Act, which forbids using the military for domestic law enforcement.  This does not surprise me either, since Trump has never had any regard for the law.

What does frighten me is that absolutely no one in authority pushed back against it.  His cabinet and staff certainly won't because they are all carefully selected, obedient lackeys.  But, members of the police, National Guard, and military all take an oath to protect the Constitution and laws of the United States.  They are morally and legally obligated to refuse an illegal order.  Yet, every single one of them eagerly obliged the president in this crackdown.  So far, I have not heard of one general or Republican member of Congress speaking out against him or trying to rein him in.

And so our poor, abused democracy takes one more step toward dictatorship.

Michael Bleiweiss
 

Subject: Police State Redux

19 Jul 2020

Once again, Donald Trump is flexing his dictator muscles.  In a repeat of his June 1 violent rout of peaceful Black Lives Matter protestors from in front of the White House, he has again unilaterally preempted local authorities and sent federal agents without proper identifying insignia to bust heads and arrest peaceful protestors in Portland, Oregon.  Such a flagrant show of force is worthy of despotic dictators such as Bashar al-Assad in Syria or the Chinese government in Tienanmen Square.  I expect his base is lapping it up.

Donald Trump's Record as President

20 Oct 2020

Awhile ago, "Deeds not Tweets" suggested that we should look at presidential candidates' records.  Behind the clown show of tweets and rallies, here's Trump's.

Environment:

• Took us out of the Paris Climate Accord in favor of promoting fossil fuels.

• Consistently denies global warming despite record wildfires on the west coast, hurricanes in the Gulf states, and every year being hotter than the last.

• Had the EPA remove references to climate change from its web site and public reports.

• Opened up the national parks in Alaska to oil drilling.

• Tried to open up the entire east coast to oil drilling.

• Rolled back the need for environmental impact statements for oil drilling, pipelines, and mining projects.

• Slow-walking approval of off-shore wind farms.

• Blasted through a federal nature preserve and Indian burial site in Arizona to build his wall.

Health Care:

• Working to repeal the Affordable Care Act that covers low-wage workers and ensures coverage for preexisting conditions -- even as a pandemic rages and millions of people have lost their jobs and health insurance.

Corona Virus:

• Dismantled the pandemic response team.

• Deliberately lies about the severity of the corona virus pandemic and interfered with actions to fight it.

• Rejected the WHO's test, sold PPE to China, and left states to fend for themselves.

• Eschews the use of masks

• Keeps pushing treatments that don't work and might even kill patients.

• His HHS secretary edits CDC reports to support Trump's political agenda, including throwing out a detailed blueprint for safely reopening the economy.

• Endangers his own supporters by holding huge rallies where hardly anyone wears masks or social distances.

Economy:

• Signed a Republican tax break for billionaires and giant corporations that created trillion dollar deficits.  It included a special real estate exemption that benefits him.

• Suspended the payroll tax and said he would make it permanent if reelected. This will completely bankrupt Social Security and Medicare in less than three years.

Consumers and Labor:

• Repealed the fiduciary requirement for financial advisors.

• Issued rulings making it harder for workers to form unions or strike over unfair employer practices.

• Removed the requirement for employers to report on the job accidents and deaths.

• Pushed to lower wages for migrant farm workers.

• Made it easier for companies to offshore jobs (despite his rhetoric to the contrary).

• Reduced OSHA safety inspections.

• Cancelled a rule raising the salary at which workers could receive overtime pay.

• Blocked a bill raising the minimum wage.

The above is just a small sampling of his anti-labor and consumer actions.

National Security:

• Distanced himself from our allies while sidling up to despotic dictators in countries such as North Korea, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Russia.

• Took us out of the Iran nuclear deal that halted their development of atomic weapons.

• Took us out of the START treaty with Russia that reduces both of our nuclear stockpiles.

• Withdrew our troops from northern Syria, abandoning our Kurdish allies there.

• Failed to condemn the murder of reporter Jamal Khashoggi by the Saudi government.

Indeed, his foreign policy appears to be designed to weaken our world standing.

Human Rights and Civil Liberties:

• Took children away from asylum seekers without keeping track of who belonged to whom and put them in cages.

• ICE performs forced sterilizations of female detainees.

• Completely suspended the issuance of green cards.

• Raised the fees for applying for citizenship and imposed hurdles to qualifying.

• Sends unidentified federal agents to tear gas and arrest peaceful protestors.

• Simultaneously praises armed white supremacist "militias."

• Makes fundamentalist Christian dogma public policy over all other beliefs.

Conflicts of Interest:

• Kept his various businesses instead of putting them into a blind trust.  This includes license deals for numerous hotels and resorts in foreign countries, holding him hostage to their agendas.

• Still holds the lease to the hotel at the Old Post Office in Washington, DC, which is owned by the government, despite a law that says that elected officials cannot do so.

• Foreign dignitaries visiting our country, stay at Trump properties, violating the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.

• When he vacations at his resorts, the Secret Service stays there too and pays the full room rate, meaning he is profiting off of us taxpayers.

• His Department of Education is focused on diverting money from public schools, to private ones, especially sectarian Christian schools.

Rule of Law:

• Consistently appoints corporate lobbyists and executives to his cabinet and agencies whose agenda is to dismantle and eviscerate their missions.

• His Attorney General acts as if he's Trump's personal lawyer, rather than the people's prosecutor.  This includes lying about the Mueller Report, going easy on prosecutions of Trump and his friends, investigating his "enemies," and defending a defamation suit against Trump at taxpayer expense.

• His Postmaster General is devoted to dismantling the Postal Service so that it can be sold off to private companies (including his own) and sabotage mail-in voting.

• Is packing the courts with hardcore right-wing activist judges who are expected to rule based on their agendas, rather than an objective evaluation of the law.

• Attempted to truncate the census to exclude minority residents.

• Sews doubt on the integrity of our voting systems, encourages minority voter suppression, eagerly accepts Russian campaign interference, and threatens to reject the election results if he loses.

Criminality:

• Trump University had to pay a $25 million settlement for fraud.

• His foundation was shut down for spending its funds on himself.

• His companies are under investigation for wire and tax fraud.

• Routinely stiffs his contractors and employees by declaring bankruptcy to avoid paying them.

• Foreign dictators launder money they steal from their countries by buying into his properties.

Also, he lies non-stop.  According to the NY Times, he has told over 18,000 lies -- an average of over 23 per day.  In sum, he is a self-serving racist, conman, crook, and would-be dictator.  Is this really the man you want ruining our country?

Michael Bleiweiss

Subject: Petulant Trump Continues to Damage Country
19 Nov 2020

His claims to the contrary, Donald Trump knows he has lost the election and will soon become a private citizen. And, like a spoiled two-year-old throwing a tantrum when he doesn't get his way, he is doing everything he can to burn down the country and hobble the incoming Biden administration on his way out.

First, his GSA head is stalling on signing off to free the resources and access to briefings Biden's transition team needs to get him up to speed upon taking office. This looks a lot like a deliberate attempt to hobble the start of the new administration.

Meanwhile, he is rushing to do as much damage to the government and environment as he can before being marched out of the White House. This includes (but is not limited to):

1. wholesale firing of expert, experienced, and competent administration and agency officials, replacing them with unqualified lackeys who will implement whatever dangerous policy he proposes. This includes the Secretary of Defense and experienced defense officials, scientists at the CDC, the head of cyber security, and possibly the heads of the CIA and FBI. This will greatly weaken our ability to anticipate and prevent potential threats. It will also leave no one able to brief Biden's team when the transition finally occurs. It's quite diabolical -- and petty.

2. Removing Civil Service protections from mid-level managers in government departments so they can be replaced with political hacks instead of merit-based appointments. It's cynically timed to take effect the day before Biden's inauguration.

3. Continuing to blast through nature preserves and Native American burial grounds in Arizona to clear the way for his wall that will never be completed -- destruction for its own sake.

4. Racing to sell oil drilling leases in the Alaska National Wildlife Preserve before the end of his term, so that Biden will be stuck with them.

5. Postmaster General Lewis DeJoy resuming dismantling the postal service.

Finally, he is talking about forming a media company to peddle his lies, heckle Biden full time, and keep himself in the spotlight. Hopefully, the legitimate media will ignore his clown show and keep their eye on the real news that matters to our lives.

Michael Bleiweiss
 

Subject: Republican Sedition

12 Dec 2020

Donald Trump, the attorneys general of 18 Republican-controlled states, plus 126 members of Congress filed suit with the Supreme Court to overturn our legally conducted presidential election because they don't like the result.  This past summer, Trump asserted that Black Lives Matter protesters should be arrested under the Sedition Act.  Well, the above attempts to subvert our democracy constitute true sedition and they should all be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.  It's way past time for this charade to end.

Subject: Prosecute Trump

4 Jan 2021

As Donald Trump issues a flurry pardons for his inner circle of fellow criminals, it can be expected that he will also give preemptive pardons -- including for himself -- on his way out of office. However, he and his companies are criminal operations and need to be investigated and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Their crimes include:

1. profiting by millions of dollars at taxpayer expense by charging premium room and meals
   rates for staff and Secret Service agents on his vacations at his own resorts (and
   costing us over $150 million overall)

2. potential treason for abandoning/betraying our allies while cozying up to our adversaries
   and prematurely removing our troops from trouble spots -- often to protect the profits of
   his companies

3. money laundering (from foreign despots parking money stolen from their countries by
   investing in his properties)

4. violating the Emoluments Clause from foreign leaders paying to stay at his resorts and
   hotels when visiting him

5. negligent homicide for actively promoting lies about the corona virus and holding giant
   super-spreader events

6. attempting to subvert and overturn an election, including strong-arming state government
   officials

7. extorting foreign and state government officials for personal gain

8. repeated obstruction of justice during the Mueller investigation

9. illegally using the White House for his political campaign events

10. witness tampering via his pardons of friends and former staff

11. subverting the integrity of the decennial census

12. multiple counts of obstruction of Congress

13. numerous campaign finance violations

14. tax evasion

15. mail fraud

The members of his administration and inner circle who enabled his abuses of power need to be prosecuted as well. This includes (but not limited to):

1. Trump's children for using private cell phones for government communications (for which
   Trump said Hillary Clinton should be locked up) and profiting from their positions of
   trust

2. personal lawyer Rudy Guiliani for soliciting election interference by a foreign government
   and attempting subvert our elections

3. numerous members of his administration for human rights violations at the Mexican border

4. All of the Republican members of Congress who are trying to overturn the election

5. Postmaster general, Lewis DeJoy for interference with the mail -- a federal crime

The new Biden administration might be tempted to forgo prosecuting them in the interest of "unity and moving on," but letting them off the hook would be a mistake. If allowed to, Trump will continue to grift his followers and profit at taxpayer expense after leaving office. It needs to be made clear that no American is above the law, not even a president. If Trump gets out of going to prison, then nothing will prevent a future demagogue from trying it too.

Michael Bleiweiss
 

Subject: Conservatives Engage in Violence

12 Jan 2021

There is a big difference between liberals and Trump's right-wing supporters. Liberals don't make death threats against government officials who don't do what they want or plot to kidnap and murder governors who issue mask orders to protect their citizens from a virulent disease and liberals certainly don't engage in an armed insurrection against a duly elected government. This is way beyond deplorable -- it is despicable! It is also sedition and a threat to our democratic institutions. Their storming of the Capitol is reminiscent of Hitler's brownshirts and his burning of the Reichstag to stage a coup and seize power.

However, the real threat to our country is the president who has spent the entire election cycle undermining our electoral system and attempting to overturn the results. In his speeches and tweets, he actively incited them to violence, fomenting a rebellion against our government. Even in his call for calm, he continued to perpetuate his lies about the election. He needs to be held fully accountable by being charged and tried for sedition as quickly as possible.

This was then exacerbated by all of the Republican members of Congress who supported his lies and incitement by joining lawsuits to overturn the election and objecting to the counting of the electoral votes in Congress. Every single one of them needs to be recalled or expelled and then tried for sedition as well.

It must be made absolutely clear that any attempt to overturn our democratic institutions and
processes will never be tolerated.

Michael Bleiweiss
 

Subject: Trump Was the Real Disastrous President

26 Aug 2021

"Unlimited" gives us another fact-free partisan rant, accusing Presidents Biden and Franklin Roosevelt of "disastrous" administrations and praising Donald Trump's successes. I guess (s)he considers Social Security, unemployment insurance, the FDIC, the massive infrastructure projects of the WPA, and winning World War II to be disasters; as well as the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, American Rescue Plan, and the pending infrastructure bill.

In contrast, Trump alienated us from our allies while sidling up to despotic dictators, signed a tax cut for billionaires and multi-national corporations that created $1.5 trillion annual deficits, negotiated our exit from Afghanistan with the Taliban, and totally sabotaged fighting the COVID-19 epidemic by dissolving our pandemic response team, discouraging basic safety measures, holding dozens of super-spreader events, and having no vaccine distribution plan. He also lied non-stop (30,600 while in office) and incited a violent insurrection to overturn his election loss. I'd say he's the disaster.
 

Subject: Trump Prosecuted because He Is a Criminal

19 Jul 2023

Richard Anthony argues from backwards premises.  Trump is being prosecuted because he is a career criminal.  And, it's contagious too.  Everyone who works for him is either a criminal or is made into one.

The list is long.  He:
1)  regularly assaulted unwilling women
2)  red lined in the neighborhoods where he developed housing
3)  inflated values to get loans, and deflated them to evade taxes
4)  obstructed the 2020 election certification in multiple states
5)  incited an insurrection to overturn the results in Congress
6)  stole and continues to hide dozens of classified documents.
7)  committed wire and mail fraud to get his cult followers to send him
      their hard-earned money for his "legal defense."
We have his own security video, public speeches, and recordings proving his guilt.

Is Mr. Anthony advocating (as many Republicans do) for ex-presidents and political candidates to be free to commit crimes with impunity?  Remember that three Massachusetts Speakers of the House in a row went to prison for bribery.  Should they have been excused too?  That way lies a third-world dictatorship.

Michael Bleiweiss
 

Subject: A Lie a Minute at the June 28 Debate
2 Jul 2024

In last Thursday's presidential debate, Donald Trump never answered the questions put to him.  Instead, he lied nonstop throughout (with absolutely no pushback by the moderators).  Sources counted over 30 of them -- one every 1½ minutes that his microphone was on.  At the risk of further entrenching them with his entranced followers here is a list:

1)  Said Nancy Pelosi turned down his offer of 10,000 National Guard troops

     on Jan. 6 and that she admitted to it.
2)  Said NATO was going out of business before he took office and that

      the U.S. was paying 100% of their budget before he came along
3)  Said that the U.S. currently has the biggest deficit ever (happened under Trump in 2020).
4)  Said that U.S. currently has a record trade deficit with China

      (happened under Trump in 2018).
5)  No terror attacks occurred under his presidency (there were several).
6)  Claimed Blue states execute babies immediately after birth.
7)  Said Democrats and legal scholars wanted Roe overturned.
8)  Claimed that Biden gets money from China.
9)  Iran didn’t fund Hamas during his presidency.
10) Said Biden wants to quadruple people’s taxes.
11) The U.S. has provided more aid to Ukraine that Europe.
12) The U.S. has provided $200 billion in aid to Ukraine (it’s half that).
13) 18 or 19 million people have crossed the border under Biden.
14) Claimed many migrants are from prisons or mental institutions.
15) Said that Biden is housing immigrants in luxury hotels.
16) Biden has only created jobs for illegal immigrants
17) Boasted he deployed the National Guard troops to Minneapolis in 2020
18) Claimed there was "ridiculous" fraud in the 2020 elections.
19) Said he was the one who lowered insulin prices in Medicare
20) Said Biden personally indicted him
21) Said Europe won’t accept American cars.
22) Said food prices quadrupled under Biden
23) Said Biden made up the claim that he called dead servicemen "suckers" and "losers".
24) Said Biden called Black people "super-predators" for ten years.
25) Claimed his 2018 tax cut was the largest in U.S. history.
26) Said China stopped buying from Iran under pressure from him.
27) Claimed he created the Veterans  Choice program.
28) Said Biden got rid of Veterans Choice.

A third of our voters want to have this kind of man in charge of our country -- a demagogue
who will never be honest about anything and sees the presidency as a way to enrich himself
at taxpayer expense and dodge prosecution for his crimes.  I find that terrifying.

Michael Bleiweiss

Subject: A Trump Presidency Comes with Project 2025

19 Jul 2024

In 1970, corporate lawyer Lewis Powell wrote a memorandum detailing the blueprint for how corporations could subvert our democratic institutions to create a government that would favor their interests.  The core of this strategy was to take over state legislatures and stack the courts at all levels with right-wing, activist, corporate-friendly judges.

In 1976, after being appointed to the Supreme Court by Richard Nixon, he started the ball rolling with the Buckley vs. Valeo decision that established money as First Amendment Free Speech.  Dozens of decisions followed since then, granting corporations and money more and more rights while hobbling the regulatory agencies formed to reign in their abuses.

Now, in the current election season, the corporate founded and funded Heritage Foundation and a who's who of right-wing extremists have released the next generation blueprint in the form of Project 2025 -- a detailed 922 page document that spells out their agenda if Donald Trump becomes president again.  Its highlights include:

• Dismantling the Civil Service system by summarily firing tens of thousands of expert workers across all of the agencies and replacing them with right-wing ideologue Trump loyalists whose mission will be to roll back all of the rules that protect workers (OSHA, NLRB), consumers (CPB, CFPB, SEC), the environment (EPA, USDA), and safety (NHTSA, FAA).

• Eliminating the Departments of Education, Homeland Security, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (who generate our weather reports). and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

• Putting the Department of Justice under the direct political control of the President and weaponizing it to attack and prosecute his and the plan's political opponents.

• Using the Insurrection Act aggressively to violently shut down protests, including deploying the National Guard to bust heads -- even into states' whose governors don't want them.

• Shutting down the FBI's efforts to curb the spread of disinformation from foreign agents.

• Stacking the federal courts with even more extreme, right-wing, activist judges who will continue to pervert the Constitution to support and advance this agenda.

• Permeating the entire program will be a fundamentalist, white Christian Nationalist agenda, including:  national abortion and contraception bans, anti-LGBTQ laws, religion-based education policies in public schools, and taxpayer-funded vouchers to religious schools.

• Making the Trump tax breaks for billionaires and giant corporations permanent and extending them even further, compounding their trillions of dollars budget deficits.

• Gutting the IRS' ability to audit wealthy tax cheats.

• Cutting Social Security benefits.

• Repealing the Affordable Care Act.

• Selling off national parkland, wetlands, wildlife sanctuaries, and other public properties to corporations for drilling and mining.

• Eliminating conservation programs.

• Favoring fossil fuels while hindering sustainable energy programs and withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement.

There is much more, but I have to keep to a word limit.

Trump is trying to distance himself from this plan, but don't be fooled -- it's another lie.   His name appears 231 times in the document.  If he is elected, this agenda to dismantle the democratic institutions that help and protect ordinary Americans and give corporations free reign will be aggressively implemented.

Michael Bleiweiss
 

Project 2025 Religious Agenda

6 Oct 2024

A major theme permeating the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 is the imposition of fundamentalist white Christian Nationalism throughout all aspects of government policies and practices and completely breaking down the wall between church and state.

It starts with a de facto national abortion ban by enforcing the 1873 Comstock Act that outlaws shipping abortion medications and supplies by mail or over state lines. Mifepristone will be unapproved and they are gunning for contraception. States will be required to report on abortions performed there and include the patients' home states. Planned Parenthood will be defunded.

Next, it calls for a complete ban on pornography -- defined as any books, movies, or TV shows that include LGBTQ+ content or characters. It will also eliminate science-based sex education in public schools, replacing it with abstinence-only. History classes will be whitewashed to remove discussion of racism and teach that America was founded as a Christian nation.

After that is the culmination of Republicans' long running plan to dismantle public education -- especially in poor, minority districts. Public schools will be starved as federal aid is diverted to vouchers for private and religious ones.

It will strip anti-discrimination protections from women and LGBTQ+ people in education and the workplace. Religion-based service organizations would be legally allowed to discriminate against gay or non-Christian clients. No-fault divorce would be eliminated amid a push to restore a patriarchal family structure.

Since this plan also concentrates power in the president, Congressional approval may not be needed to implement the above. Plus, after 50 years of stacking the federal courts with right-wing, activist judges, they are likely to be upheld.

Trump has tried to distance himself from this plan, but that's just another lie. It was written by his former staffers and has his name literally all over it. Note that none of this is new. Republicans have been implementing many of these provisions state-by-state for 50 years.

The only way to stop this from becoming reality is to keep Trump out of power and elect Democrats at all levels.

Michael Bleiweiss

Donald Trump Channels Woodrow Wilson
1 Dec 2024
 

The November 27 column about Woodrow Wilson by George F. Will was very informative. But, the most interesting part to me was that he could have substituted the name "Donald Trump" and have drawn the same observations.

Racism:
Throughout Trump's career in real estate, he has eagerly engaged in redlining -- the explicit exclusion of blacks from renting or purchasing his properties. He was the most prominent promoter of the "birther" conspiracy that asserted that our black president, Barak Obama, was not born in the United States, and denigrated Kamela Harris' race as a major theme in his presidential campaign.

Misogyny:
Trump has a long history of sexually assaulting women. Appointing a few hard right-wing women with major conflicts of interest aside, he constantly denigrates women. Whenever a strong woman criticizes him, she is "nasty."

Authoritarianism:
Trump has threatened to aggressively prosecute his political opponents and to shut down any broadcast stations that criticize him. He has also threatened to use the military to violently put-down any protests against him -- as he did to a Black Lives Matter protest (so that he could hold a bible upside-down in front of a church). He has also accepted the support of right-wing militias, neo-Nazi groups, and white Christian Nationalist activists -- a ready-made cadre of thugs.

History is rhyming for sure.

Michael Bleiweiss

Original Column:
https://www.timescall.com/2024/11/24/george-will-at-last-woodrow-wilsons-reputation-gets-the-dismantling-it-richly-deserves