Even being my own boss and having theoretically unlimited space I still find it impossible to cover everything I want to especially during the Trump administration. Part of what Trump and his minions rely on is that many of their transgressions will fly under the radar or be quickly removed “from the screen” by the next scandal. Here are a few more I noticed over the past several days. Let’s explore.

Trump sent Secretary of State Mike Pompeo out to announce that effective May 1^st the waiver the United States had granted to China, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Turkey and Taiwan to buy Iranian oil would be rescinded. If any or all of them continued to purchase Iranian oil they would be subject to unspecified American economic retaliation. Trade sanctions are only effective if they are nearly universal. That entails having skilled diplomats who can cut those deals. The State Department has deteriorated under the last several administrations but the velocity of the deterioration significantly accelerated under Trump.

Who is Trump to tell the world what to do? He has never had majority support in his own country let alone globally. He is the first American President who was openly laughed at while addressing the UN General Assembly. He is hardly a world leader, role model or genius.

China is a mega-power economy with a significant military. Do you think they are just going to cower and acquiesce to Trump? I don’t! It was not all that long ago that the then Soviet Union and America did non-military battle over whose sphere of influence India would be in. A rift in Indian-American relations would serve Vladimir Putin’s Russia well and they would love to rush to their aid. Today India is a rising world power and consumer market. I’d like to see them stay in our sphere of influence!

Japan and South Korea are strong American allies and economic Asian Tigers. Turkey is a mixed bag but I still content they hold the key to stability and hopefully someday peace in the Middle East.

I guess crime can pay if you have enough friends in high places. A deal to sell the National Enquirer to Hudson News C.E.O., James Cohen for $100 million is reportedly near completion.  The National Enquirer was implicated in various Trump related crimes (with perhaps more to come). To put the sale price in perspective in 2013 the Boston Globe sold for $70 million and one of the world’s top five newspapers, the Washington Post, sold for $250 million. We have either had a lot of inflation in the print news business in the past few years or the National Enquirer’s sale price was way too high.

For all those who actually believed that Trump achieved the denuclearization of North Korea your bubble was burst earlier this month when the regime announced that it had conducted the test of a “Tactical guided weapon”. Is it any wonder that the Kim regime wants another summit? Trump paints himself as the master of the art of the deal when in reality he is a giveaway artist that practices the art of the spiel.

In yet another appeasement to Saudi Arabia, on April 16^th Trump vetoed the congressional resolution ending American involvement in the supposed civil war in Yemen. As long as the Saudis are a Trump and family financier they will continue to receive preferred treatment from the Trump administration no matter who they kill, how they kill them or where they do it.

From the nothing but the best and smartest Cabinet ever file here is one for you. Allow me to put it somewhat in “senior citizen perspective” first. I’m not old enough to have used the Sears catalog for toilet paper in the outhouse but I am old enough to have heard the stories. It appears my generation missed it by a generation or two depending how well off we were. I was well past the youngster stage when Sears was still the number one retailer in America. Last week it was announced that they were suing a past executive and director for self-dealing that robbed the company of billions of dollars. That director has a name and it is Steve Mnuchin who currently serves as the Secretary of the Treasury; something about birds of a feather.

In impeachment hearings that supposedly aren’t impeachment hearing news: the House Judiciary Committee has issued a subpoena for former White House Council Don McGahn to testify. It will be interesting to see if Trump claims executive privilege in stopping or limiting McGahn’s testimony. The House Oversight Committee is contemplating holding former White House Personnel Security Director Carl Kline in contempt for heeding White House orders and being a no-show. Remember AG Bill Barr, and a cast of other Trump sycophants, told us that Trump was completely complying with the investigation. We know Barr wouldn’t lie; well except possibly on a day that ended in “y”. (This “listing” is incomplete and as of this writing.)

In yet another attempt to placate the older generation of Cuban-Americans in Florida Trump had John Bolton announce new restrictions on travel to Cuba and limits on Americans sending money to the island nation. 50 years of restrictions against the Castro brothers worked so well why not reinstate them. No they didn’t! The only people getting hurt are the average Cuban citizens many of whom have blood relatives living in the Miami area where Bolton made the announcement.

I’ll finish with a bit of news that literally broke as I am typing this. The Interior Department’s Inspector General has launched an investigation into six Trump appointees at the department. In question is whether ethics rules were violated while dealing with former employers. Where have we heard similar stories before? Keep in mind these new investigations are in addition to the ongoing one into Trump’s new Interior Secretary David Bernhardt.

I thought I remembered something about draining a swamp. It must have been fake news.

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