Ukraine is in a fight for existence, not just existence of a people and a culture, but for the right to self-determination. A fight for freedom! This is the same fight that the United States Capitol Police were in on January 6, 2021. The fight to preserve democracy. In that moment, it was every bit as existencial as facing Russian tanks driven to attack by an autocrat with a megalomania messiah complex… Putin, believing that he can change history and reverse the will of the Ukrainian people. This is not about a threat that Ukraine posed to Russia, this is about raw naked aggression and power and his threat to use his nuclear weapons to keep others from interfering. He justifies his actions with his own big lies, he justifies on the basis of power. This is a cousin of the autocratic, lying, megalomania that was Trump’s attempt to stay in power and banish the will of the people in democratic America. You wonder why Trump idolizes Putin…. well you see it on display right now. Anti-democratic autocrats hate government of and by the people. We should be learning a great lesson right now.
God Help Ukraine! God Save democracy!
Tag Archives: Trump
The High Wire Act
He amazes, he seems to defy gravity and good sense, he leaves us aghast and exhausted with his hypocrisy, but it is a glorious hypocrisy, one worth watching and learning from!
These are the thoughts that come to mind as I was watching Mitch McConnell’s (MM) speech just after he had voted to acquit Trump for incitement of an insurrection. MM is the politician’s politician, and as such is worth listening carefully to what he was saying. Within the same day, within hours, he defends Trump by holding his Republican caucus together to acquit, then convicts him in words of being “practically and morally responsible” for the insurrection, the damage, the deaths, and the attack on the constitutional duties of congress upholding our democracy. He says Trump has not gotten away with it yet. Suggesting that there is Department of Justice consequences for his actions.
MM acquittal decision was based on the admittedly questionable (by MM himself) constitutional argument that someone who no longer holds office cannot be impeached, because the penalty of removal from office is not possible. And if it is impeachments purpose to prevent someone from holding future office, then he argues that impeachment could be applied to any non-office holding citizen. The argument is specious and simultaneously an amazing high wire act.
What he is doing, is worth noting. He is clearing his conscience by attacking Trump in his speech, but that is a minor point. He is giving his party the narrowest, high wire argument to support their reasons for acquittal… while at the same time making it clear to donors, people that write big checks.. .that it is OK to come back to the Republican party. They they will be cleaning this up and he, MM will be taking back the GOP from Trump.
Wow, what a high wire act… gives hope, gives danger, and entertains. Frankly, I’m OK if there is no net if he falls.
The Wisdom of Our Founders…
Donald Trump gave a most un-American speech last night. He attempted to undermine democracy, to disenfranchise voters with baseless claims of fraud. To claim that he can not lose, if only legal votes are counted, while undermining the hard work, the diligent work of election workers that are on the front-lines of making democracy work. Claiming that mail-in ballots are fraudulent without basis. These are words of a dictator. Words that could only be labeled as un-American.
Words matter, but his should be dispersed to the winds, and never be recorded for histories sake, except to illustrate why he had to go, why he must not be part of our government. It is no surprise to me, it is as I expected. Will Republican Senators and Congressmen stand up to him? Someone must, we all must.
Ah the wisdom of our early republic, to have the states manage elections in their own way, so that they may not be invalidated in a sweeping motion of a dictatorial executive. Now I understand, what was hidden by a previously inconceivable scenario, that could not be seen until Trump arrived with intent to undermine our democracy, and fortunately he finds too few levers in the federal government, for each state manages the election process in their state, and the results are in the form of an electoral college. Thankfully it is not the popular vote, through a federal election process. What great wisdom our founders had.
But we must also recognize that some 69 plus million people supported Donald Trump for another 4 years. Their issues and their worries must be respected. They are worried, I believe, about the impact of socialist tendencies of the left-wing of the Democratic party. It is vital for the process of uniting our country both that Joe Biden wins, but also that he and Kamala Harris hold socialist tendencies at bay. We can get there but we have a long way to go to a future where we can work together for the common good of all Americans, even DJT and his family.
Biden’s Plans Result in a Better Economic Outlook than Trump’s Plans
Many poles have indicated that Americans believe that Trump is better for the Economy than Biden. This is largely due to the continued extraordinary claims Trump has made about the success of his economy pre-COVID, and the recovery underway. In fact, he claims to have “built the best economy ever”. These claims may be persuasive for some, but are not factual. His first three years (pre-COVID) indicate a growth rate of 2.5%. This is middle of the pack in historical performance. However, the real question in front of us at this time, with an election just a month away, is whose policies would be better for the US economy in the coming years?
A highly respected and independent source of economic analysis and modeling is Moody Analytics. They have carefully modeled four scenarios:
- A Biden win with Democratic Congress (Blue line)
- A Trump win with Republican Congress (Red line)
- A Biden win with split-Congress (Dash-blue)
- A Trump win with split-Congress (Dash-red
The results show that a Biden win with Democratic Congress is the best case scenario for the US economy, and the worst case scenario is a Trump win with Republican Congress. The full article can be found via this link, it is definitely worth the read. https://www.moodysanalytics.com/-/media/article/2020/the-macroeconomic-consequences-trump-vs-biden.pdf
The summary economic results can be found in these two charts extracted from the article:
My takeaways from this article include the following:
- Biden’s policies includes more spending, but generates faster growth, and with low interest rates per FED policy, results in a manageable debt, and later-year growth in economy and thereby tax recovery. In 2024, a Biden-Dem sweep yields approximately $1 Trillion in addition GDP which is 4.8% better than a Trump-Rep sweep model.
- Biden’s policies benefit the low and middle-income households with lower taxes and more services at the expense of wealthy households and large corporations.
- Trump’s polices will result in slower growth and less jobs, and will benefit the wealthy and corporations due to tax cuts, while increasing costs for most Americans through impact of trade policies, and reduction of services used mostly by low and middle-income households. Furthermore immigration reductions will impact the growth rate as we approach full employment and the impact of age demographics in the US are felt in the middle of the decade.
- The overall economic advantages of a Biden win and Democratic sweep results in a better performing stock market in the long-run because of the improved economy, and spending capacity of middle-income families. This outweighs the normally expected impact of taxes on the corporations, and wealthy, because the wealthy are not likely to significantly change their spending and corporations will ramp up with the help of low interest rates to meet additional demand, resulting in improved profitability.
I hope this is useful as you consider the facts and policy differences of the two candidates for President.
Trump, Power & the Lessons of Orwell’s 1984
I’ve just published a short book in time for the last two months of campaign season. Much thanks to my brother Dave, who helped with final edits.
Trump, the Anti-Commander-in-Chief
You know, I was so disgusted when I initially heard that Trump was not attending a visit to the cemetery in France to commemorate the end of World War I and importantly to honor the 1800 United States Marines that died in battle at Belleau Wood who are interned in the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris. This was November 2018. Now the reports and the quotes from that time are even more disgusting and sickening. He would not go to the cemetery, not just because of the rain. At the time it was said that the Marine 1 could not fly, and the Motorcade would not be possible. These were lies. The reality is that it would be bad for his hair, and as he was quoted as saying, “Why should I go there, they were a bunch of losers”… Losers to die for their country, to fight and die bravely.
Those of you who continue to support this president, please know exactly who he is. He does not respect our military, he does not honor our wounded veterans and fallen soldiers, he is a coward and lacks any semblance of empathy and honor. If he does not have empathy for families of our fallen soldiers, and finds wounded veterans at parades as disgusting, and his opinion is that only losers and suckers serve in the military, then he is not eligible and not qualified to be our commander-in-chief. He is the anti-CIC.
See the article in The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/09/trump-americans-who-died-at-war-are-losers-and-suckers/615997/
Reprinted from this website, November 2018:
INCONVENIENT, LOGISTICS THEY SAID…
They Died at Belleau
Toward the guns they ran
All patriots to the last man
Dying as a million bullets flew
Fighting in the woods of Belleau
A century ago, the great war
They came to fight from afar
Inconvenienced in a great way
1800 died in the woods that day
Yet today’s leader wouldn’t face the rain
So, he sent others to salute without shame
An inconvenient 100-mile motorcade
To lay a wreath for those still there today
I Can’t stand it anymore…
I’ve listened to too many lies, and distorted facts, some may not like this, but I write what I feel and what comes to me….
Trump Lies
If the truth would suffice
He doesn’t even think twice
He’d firmly embrace a lie
Even if he knows it can’t fly
Because the lie sounds better
He’ll allow imagination unfetter
By the peskiness of inconvenient facts
Or the annoyance of uncomfortable acts
For once he embraced the joy of the lie
There’s no legends his mind cannot deny
Of greatness for self once again
And absolution of any possible sin
For in his scattered, tattered mind
America’s great again, and everything’s fine