Today’s is a sort of potpourri article but it has a theme. I want to explore some of the values and lies of Donald Trump and his loyal followers. Come along.

Trump runs around bragging about how he is saving the coal industry and bringing coal jobs back in America. He actually has large portions of the population convinced of this. In 2017 the coal industry added 500 jobs. That is neither a misprint nor a panacea for coal’s problems. However, it does seem to qualify as a lie.

Much like George W. Bush, Trump doesn’t seem capable of comprehending the repercussions of his actions. In Davos he threatened to cut off funding to the Palestinians if they didn’t act the way he wanted them to. If he were to follow through with that threat – which would be very popular with his base – the Palestinians will neither capitulate nor disappear. The reality is that the void will be filled by Russia, Iran, terrorist organizations or some combination of them all. How does America win in that scenario? America, including both of its major political parties, has always had a pro-Israeli slant. In the past we have kept it in check enough to be somewhat of a much needed honest broker in the Middle East. With Trump’s policies – which I contend are more rooted in the placation of a handful of major donors and financiers to his son-in-law Jared Kushner than conviction – why would the Palestinians trust us?

Immigration is the most difficult social policy facing America today. A comprehensive and relatively consensus agreement will be elusive at best. There are a few issues that would seem relatively easy to resolve. The dreamers and Salvadoran refugees are two. Neither is a small issue. It is documented that there are about 800,000 declared dreamers. Projections are that the number of those eligible but not registered is around 1.2 to 1.5 million. There are 200,000 Salvadoran refugees. The dreamers know no other home than America and are Americans in almost every way save documentation. El Salvador is not ready to take the 200,000 refugees back. Deporting them would send them into an economically hopeless situation.

President Obama acted where Congress was too cowardly to and created the DACA program which allowed qualified dreamers to legally live, work, pay taxes and contribute to society in America. Trump arbitrarily rescinded it with a ludicrous “solution”. Also by unilateral action Trump has ordered the imminent return of the Salvadorans. These “solutions” are neither morally nor economically sound. However it is popular with Trump’s mainly racist base. In their minds’ and Trump’s the real theme of Trump’s 2016 campaign was Make America white again.

I guess I should forget about morals when I talk about Trump and his base; they lack any. The first proof of that was Trump’s election in the wake of the Access Hollywood tapes. Then there was the support for and near election of a credibly and multiply accused pedophile in Alabama. Even revelations of a six figure hush money payout (via “money laundering”) to a porn star in hope of keeping an extra marital affair quiet only earns a mulligan. How can you give a man a mulligan for the first 70 years of his life?

The conflicts of interest in this administration are abundant. Trump personally profits from staying at his resorts on weekends. He seems to take a vacation almost every weekend. Trump owns a hotel down the street from the White House which is the place to celebrate, stay, drink and dine if you are doing business with the Trump administration. Kushner is using the visa program as a way to recruit investors. Official government websites have been used to sell Ivanka Trump’s goods. Kellyanne Conway has done infomercials for them while on the government payroll and appearing in her official capacity. To Trump and crew a conflict of interest is something that conflicts with them personally profiting. Their interest is self-enrichment not America.

I’ll leave you with a thought since this article wraps itself up: Am I the only one who finds it interesting that Trump’s original Muslim Ban was announced on December 7, 2017 – the anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day?

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