A regular Wednesday feature that takes a summary look at hot news issues surrounding Trump during the past week
Where Trump’s initiatives should succeed:
Ivanka to Europe | This is the image burnishing trip that can only improve our standing with a skeptical and dismissive European elite, particularly German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, after her frosty meet and greet with Trump. I don’t know that I’m buying into the whole Ivanka agenda as an unpaid advisor to her father, the President, but I do believe that her perspective and influence improves on some of the populist positions of Trump the Elder.
North Korea | I still believe the actions of this administration and it’s notable military advisors are working in spite of the over-the-top rhetoric of Kim and the knee-shaking fears it’s generating. This equation seems fairly straight forward: Make him stand down now while his more strategic nukes are still more or less untested and buggy or else be black-mailed by a full functioning nuclear mad-man in the not too distant future. Meanwhile, be assured that some of the bugs in his nuclear program have something to do with us. 😉
March for Science | The central aim of the March for Science was to protest Trump, the climate denier. I’ve said a few times and will summarize, again. Equating climate change advocates with science does a great disservice to science. From peer bullying, cooked data, and the forceful silencing of their non-compliant peers, the climate change juggernaut is anything but scientific. The religious science left taking to the streets is telling.
Where we should take a wait and see approach to Trump’s initiatives before we get the pitchforks:
Tax Cuts | Horray for tax cuts! But I’d like to see the accounting before buying into this mindlessly. Lets face it, most of us don’t have a clue what is really involved in the macro-economics of tax policy. The best we can do is to compare overall patterns with equally broad prior outcomes such as ‘the Reagan years’. Alternately, we could sign-on to the endorsement or condemnation by a notable economic voice, perhaps in this case, the Cato Institute would be a good choice.
Healthcare 2.0 | There are rumors that another shot will be attempted. Will another rush equal another hasty defeat? What point is there in that? Like tax cuts, this thing is way too big to truly understand by anyone on the street. Again, we have to look at the analysis by a trusted think tank. I will say, I’m not interested in any symbolic changes. In my observation, medicine is still outside the boundaries of market forces, which makes it untenable for long-term universal access. I don’t care that a few million currently have shitty health care that they didn’t have before. That is not an acceptable standard of success.
100 days | Like some previous Presidents, part of the first 100 days were squandered on stupidity, but the finish is certainly stronger than the start. Have you heard of a ridiculous tweet lately?
Where Trump’s initiatives should be reversed:
Government shutdown and the wall | The wall as it is currently envisioned, is a symptom of a political failure and a huge waste of money. As of this writing, it appears this issue has been dropped for now. Shutting down the government over the wall is like nuking yourself because someone wouldn’t give you lunch money. Here’s the fix to people illegally crossing our southern borders. 1) Good immigration laws and 2), a good guest worker policy. 3) Enforce those laws. Bam! Its amazing what that will do. Some report suggest that border crossings are already down 90%.
Commentary by Lee Jones