A Divided Country Chooses a Charlatan

 

Painting a dark picture of America today, he set groups against each other. He promoted nativism, racism, and intolerance of immigrants, undocumented persons, and others. He claimed to care about women and vowed to be their protector, even as he fragmented their rights. Alternately misogynistic and demeaning, he claimed his opponent was dumb, despite her several degrees. Cheering on the Dobbs decision, he further denigrated women and made vile sexual comments against his opponent. Additionally, he cheered toxic masculinity and just plain lied about almost everything. Even though he claimed to be a friend of those who felt left out, his campaign was funded by big corporations who have been happily exploiting the same people. The Silicon Valley billionaires who disliked regulations poured in millions of dollars. The oil executives, whom he promised to assist, added millions more. And his super fan, Billionaire Elon Musk used his X site as a propaganda machine, spending over 100 million dollars to pump him up on the campaign trail. The Hedge Fund executives and others on Wall Street wanted a lower corporate tax rate and added more funds to the kitty.

Whoever said you cannot buy a presidency in America was wrong.

There seems to be some collective memory deficit depicting Morning in America applied to the first term he served. It was not a Reagan-esque experience at all. My memory includes a massive worldwide Women's March shortly after his inauguration that protested his election. That was followed by his attempt at a Muslim ban that caused consternation across many countries, including our own. Battles from court to court ensued, jeopardizing many Americans and dividing families. Generations of Middle Eastern families who lived here for years suddenly found themselves targeted.

Soon after came the manufactured immigrant crises and family separations. Because these operations were so poorly planned, facilities were incapable of meeting the needs of those detained and children were separated from their families. We later learned this was intentional and used as a deterrent. Sadly, now many years later, there are still children who have not been returned to their families. I cannot measure the damage this has done to these children.

From there, we go to his promise to build a wall paid for by Mexico. (The US-Mexico border is approximately1,954 miles long.) When that did not happen and Congress denied him the funds, he improperly moved money from the Pentagon budget. Various types of the wall were already in place when he took office. He rebuilt some of this (about 654 miles) and claimed this was new. He added only 80 miles of new construction, according to the BBC.

Then we have the international embarrassment he caused at meetings with other leaders. At a major conference, he rudely shoved other leaders to get in the front of a group photograph. He played up meetings with the cruel dictator of North Korea during several events, which amounted to no break-through between the two countries. And downplaying his intelligence briefings, he supported the denial of election interference by the Russian dictator Putin. He publically admired healthy men and other dictators. He tried to pull the US out of our NATO agreements. Also, he closed the nuclear talks with Iran, which have now led to their closer ability to develop nuclear weapons. He pulled out of the worldwide efforts on slowing global climate change and reducing emissions (The Paris Accords) which President Biden reinstated to some extent. International relations further suffered when he tried to buy Greenland and disdained the continent of Africa.

And then we come to the Pandemic. Nothing could have been more poorly managed than this. His denials, saying this would pass in a matter of days, sorely misled the country. As of May 2023, the number of US deaths from COVID-19 were 1,161,164. Statistics have been aggregated since then, but deaths are still occurring, despite vaccines. The total number of cases of infections here was 106.7 million or about one-third of the population, by that May date. This, of course, does not measure the after-effects of long-Covid or the lives disrupted by lost loved ones. Our leader, DJT, downplayed the pandemic, and told people to inject bleach, take animal medications, or use Hydroxychloroquine to treat the disease, none of which worked. He fought the mask mandates, which may not have been effective, but they kept people apart. He fought against social distancing and school closings and disobeyed those rules himself, endangering others. By blaming the Chinese for the virus release, he caused violence to erupt against Asian Americans.

He stoked racial fears after the death of George Floyd amid the protests that followed. He wanted to invoke the Insurrection Act and use the military to contain lawful protests. At the infamous Lafayette Square photo-op, he asked if the protestors could be shot in the knee. His Attorney General denied the use of the military, instead brought in the National Guard and the Park Police to clear the Square of protesters who were already dispersing. These forces used a chemical irritant, although not tear gas, as many thought.

As for the military, he seemed to like tough-sounding generals, but not the troops who died on his watch or elsewhere. Many military families noted dismissive comments about their service or deaths. Senator John McCain was chastised for getting captured and aides were told to not bring limbless veterans to ceremonies. He ducked out of World War ll commemorative events in Europe. Frequently, he showed a lack of historical knowledge, such as when he noted Hitler did some good things.

Regarding the economy, the Dow Jones average on January 1, 2021, was around 31,272. Today it is 43,988, an increase of 43.6% under the Biden-Harris administration. Oh, and Infrastructure week never happened until President Biden got it going.

The price of eggs was  $1.27 in 2021 and is now $2.52. Many producers took advantage of temporary inflation and raised their prices, but have not lowered them since inflation went down. That and the issues of bird flu also raised some prices. But, some people overlooked the issues above because eggs cost more last week. The price of gas was $2.21 in January 2021 and it is now averaged at $3.10 per gallon. Was that 90 cent change worth giving up your rights?

Then, of course, we have the Insurrection brought to you by our former, and soon to be, next, president. Wherein he callously threw his Vice President and his family to a mob he encouraged that chanted “Hang Mike Pence.” By stalling, using the courts, and spending millions on attorneys, he will probably never be brought to justice, even though he was duly indicted by his peers for his support of the insurrection.

After a conviction of sexual abuse and defamation in the E. Jean Carroll case, the jury determined he should pay millions for those offenses. He was convicted of fraud on 34 counts, but successfully delayed his sentencing until after the election, so it may well be moot, if it is not dismissed. New York State convicted his company of business fraud and fined him millions. A friendly judge dismissed his document stealing case on what most assume were improper grounds. That remains under appeal to a Circuit Court. His tamed Supreme Court instead reworked his immunity claim, rightly dismissed by an appellate court, to be almost all-encompassing.

Who says you cannot buy justice in America?

So, America, you have made your choice.

Are you ready for an administration that promised to reduce your health care, change your social security benefits, and, possibly, your retirement age? Are you prepared for greater inflation and limited federal spending that might cause your state to minimize Medicaid benefits? You must know you will spend more for a new house, electronics, and other goods from China and elsewhere, should tariffs be imposed. See an explanation here of the Project 2025 proposals by Fact Check.

Those of you living in red states who decry the involvement of the Federal bureaucracy in your lives, are you ready to return the monies you receive in greater proportion (calculated on a per person basis) than blue states? Will your local school lunch program run effectively without the Federal subsidies, so loved by the agricultural community? Will your mental health, vaccine, and rehab programs continue without support from government agencies? How will your education budget fund special needs programs when the taxes your Republican governors reduced no longer meet the needs of your school?

You cannot plead ignorance. The information was available if you ever stepped away from the propaganda from right-wing media sources, such as Sinclair News and Fox TV.

A recent article in the New York Times Magazine by Amanda Taub described the issue this way:

Right-wing media has become so partisan that it has a similar impact on viewers that government-controlled media does in countries without meaningful press freedom. Extreme politicians and commentators are rewarded with attention, airtime and an improved national profile, while those who advocate moderate policies or bipartisan cooperation can be iced out of media coverage — and perhaps also donors’ and voters’ good graces.

One result is that many of the institutions that keep the democratic game running no longer fully function on the right. The United States still has a free press, but Republican voters primarily get their news from the right-wing ecosystem, where they won’t hear criticism of Republican politicians. Courts still uphold the rule of law, but when judges have been selected and promoted on the basis of their conservative beliefs and partisan loyalty, that inevitably affects how the rule of law is interpreted and implemented. Republican politicians win elections, but the Republican Party is too weak, as an institution, to discipline candidates or politicians who undermine democracy. Sanctions such as presidential impeachment exist on paper, but in practice are now tools for protecting partisan advantage, not democratic norms.

I am not looking forward to seeing Civil Servants who served for many years lose their jobs because they did not support the president, nor do I wish to see our healthcare system treat our elderly citizens poorly, if benefits are cut. All I can do is watch and call out excesses when proposed. I hope you do as well.

In closing, I remain disappointed that an exceptionally qualified woman was not elected. Kamala Harris espoused the values that Americans say they hold dear, but she was held to a different standard than her opponent, who could make wild pronouncements, while her remarks were placed under a microscope. Was her defeat because of a poor message; I doubt it. People wanted an excuse to not vote for if they said that, in my opinion. Was it because of her race or gender? I believe both of these played a part, and I am disappointed in women of every race who did not support her. Why is it that America is one of the few democracies that has never elected a woman as a leader?

I plan to review these issues in future columns as we make our way through the nightmare I expect to come. If so, then to the Ramparts!

Till next week, Peace.