Analysis by Kyle A. Lohmeier
Just in case the country hasn’t had enough of its new president, Donald J. Trump blocked himself off an hour of TV time to pretend he was back on the campaign trail – where all people expected him to do was talk and not actually accomplish anything. It was an hour of mostly empty rhetoric that left financial experts wanting more details and people who pay attention to how life really works wanting an asteroid impact. Early on in the speech, Trump promised to “make America great again,” and we’ll know he’s succeeded when the following happens:
“Dying industries will come roaring back to life. Heroic veterans will get the care they so desperately need. Our military will be given the resources its brave warriors so richly deserve. Crumbling infrastructure will be replaced with new roads, bridges, tunnels, airports and railways gleaming across our beautiful land. Our terrible drug epidemic will slow down and ultimately, stop. And our neglected inner cities will see a rebirth of hope, safety, and opportunity,” Trump said.
Insanely, almost every single promise he’s making is either impossible, contrary to what the country needs anyway, or at odds with his other specific proposals. He wants to rejuvenate “dying industries” through protectionism, while promising to grow the middle class, which is negatively affected by tariffs, taxes and other trappings of protectionism.
I’m all for giving our veterans the care they need after they’ve been maimed fighting for the oligarchs, but that seems to run contrary to his desire to create more wounded and disabled veterans by expanding Obama’s already embarrassing wars.
He wants tax reform, yet wants to spend a trillion dollars on infrastructure upgrades. He thinks more cops and a wall on the border will end our “terrible drug epidemic” while enforcing drug laws will actually make for a “rebirth of hope (and) safety” in our “neglected inner cities,” when our inner cities are anything but neglected by cops who prey upon “low-income,” “high-crime,” i.e. “black” neighborhoods.
“Above all else, we will keep our promises to the American people.”
Oh, please don’t.
He then took some credit for things he wasn’t responsible for before lying.
“The stock market has gained almost three trillion dollars in value since the election on November 8th, a record. We’ve saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars by bringing down the price of the fantastic new F-35 jet fighter, and will be saving billions more dollars on contracts all across our Government,” Trump said, referring to the massive boondoggle that still is the F-35 Lightning II fighter jet that is still way behind schedule and way, way over budget – and has always been completely unnecessary as far as national defense needs go, but absolutely vital as far as crony defense contractor bottom-lines are concerned.
From there, Trump congratulated himself for beginning the process of ending the burdensome regulation that strangles economic life out of this nation, but we’ll see how far that goes – government rarely makes itself weaker voluntarily. He mentioned clearing the way – apart from cleaning up the mess filthy hippies left behind – for the Dakota Access pipeline and patted himself on the back for making it more expensive by making a rule that all future pipelines be built with U.S.-made steel.
“To protect our citizens, I have directed the Department of Justice to form a Task Force on Reducing Violent Crime,” Trump said emptily, since that task force won’t come back with a recommendation to end the war on drugs and eliminate all restrictions on firearm ownership and possession – which are the only ways to end violent crime.
“I have further ordered the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice, along with the Department of State and the Director of National Intelligence, to coordinate an aggressive strategy to dismantle the criminal cartels that have spread across our Nation,” Trump continued, idiotically; it costs money to fight people who’ve harmed no one and have done no wrong. Just legalize their product and watch prices plummet to the point where it’s no longer in the interest of cartels to smuggle anything across the border. Either basic economic realities elude a career businessman, or he’s being disingenuous with us all, take your pick.
“We will stop the drugs from pouring into our country and poisoning our youth — and we will expand treatment for those who have become so badly addicted.”
Swell, there goes more of our money.
“At the same time, my Administration has answered the pleas of the American people for immigration enforcement and border security. By finally enforcing our immigration laws, we will raise wages, help the unemployed, save billions of dollars, and make our communities safer for everyone. We want all Americans to succeed — but that can’t happen in an environment of lawless chaos. We must restore integrity and the rule of law to our borders,” Trump said, referring to the voices in his head, apparently.
The only people pleading for some sort of immigration enforcement are ass-backward racist imbeciles and/or people who simply don’t know what the hell is going on. Spending money hiring a bunch of new Border Patrol agents and locking up people isn’t going to leave a lot of money left untaxed for it to be used to “raise wages,” let alone “help the unemployed,” never mind “saving billions of dollars.”
Again, if Trump was interested in dealing with the “problem” of illegal immigration he could fix it by fighting to end all welfare and other assistance to undocumented aliens. Undocumented people don’t “hurt” Americans by picking their produce for less than minimum wage – that’s actually hugely helpful and needs to continue – they cause harm to Americans by using hospitals and other resources they don’t pay for. End that, turn them away at the Emergency Room door until they can pay for their own care, and they’ll no longer be harming anyone. It’s a very simple solution, really.
“For that reason, we will soon begin the construction of a great wall along our southern border. It will be started ahead of schedule and, when finished, it will be a very effective weapon against drugs and crime,” an adult person actually said, to my complete mortification. “To any in Congress who do not believe we should enforce our laws, I would ask you this question: what would you say to the American family that loses their jobs, their income, or a loved one, because America refused to uphold its laws and defend its borders?”
What do I say? First, find me such a person – they’re a myth. Even people who were murdered by illegal Mexican immigrants weren’t killed because “America refused to uphold its laws and defend its borders,” they were killed because some asshole murdered them. But, this is the sort of empty rhetoric that all politics hinges upon anymore.
“According to data provided by the Department of Justice, the vast majority of individuals convicted for terrorism-related offenses since 9/11 came here from outside of our country. We have seen the attacks at home — from Boston to San Bernardino to the Pentagon and yes, even the World Trade Center.
We have seen the attacks in France, in Belgium, in Germany and all over the world.
It is not compassionate, but reckless, to allow uncontrolled entry from places where proper vetting cannot occur. Those given the high honor of admission to the United States should support this country and love its people and its values.
We cannot allow a beachhead of terrorism to form inside America — we cannot allow our Nation to become a sanctuary for extremists,” Trump said.
Of course, the best, and really only, way to do that would be to stop bombing the countries the people he’s so worried about come from. So, surely, that must have been the very next sentence.
“That is why my Administration has been working on improved vetting procedures, and we will shortly take new steps to keep our Nation safe — and to keep out those who would do us harm,” Oh, well, I’m sure that’ll go great.
“As promised, I directed the Department of Defense to develop a plan to demolish and destroy ISIS — a network of lawless savages that have slaughtered Muslims and Christians, and men, women, and children of all faiths and beliefs. We will work with our allies, including our friends and allies in the Muslim world, to extinguish this vile enemy from our planet,” Trump said, promising to continue the endless war that Obama carried on for eight years of uninterrupted slaughter around the world.
“I have also imposed new sanctions on entities and individuals who support Iran’s ballistic missile program, and reaffirmed our unbreakable alliance with the State of Israel,” he added.
How the hell can any sovereign nation have an “unbreakable alliance” with any other one? Particularly one half-way around the world and surrounded by enemies we try to do business with and one given to human rights abuses at the same time? About as dumb as trying to keep ancient technology away from modern nation states.
Trump then pivoted and bemoaned the awful state of economic and geopolitical affairs he inherited from the idiotic regime of Barack Obama. He proposed to fix this via a complete misunderstanding of basic economics.
“My economic team is developing historic tax reform that will reduce the tax rate on our companies so they can compete and thrive anywhere and with anyone. At the same time, we will provide massive tax relief for the middle class. We must create a level playing field for American companies and workers. Currently, when we ship products out of America, many other countries make us pay very high tariffs and taxes — but when foreign companies ship their products into America, we charge them almost nothing,” Trump said.
So, he plans to provide relief to the middle class by imposing trade tariffs on foreign products that will ultimately be paid for not by the companies or their countries-of-origin, but by the end consumer, the American consumer, buying their products at whatever the marked-up rate is. Sounds like this might just offset any gains from tax relief.
Trump then said fixing the economy will also require changing immigration laws, because, presently, they somehow “depresses wages for our poorest workers, and puts great pressure on taxpayers.”
“Switching away from this current system of lower-skilled immigration, and instead adopting a merit-based system, will have many benefits: it will save countless dollars, raise workers’ wages, and help struggling families — including immigrant families — enter the middle class. I believe that real and positive immigration reform is possible, as long as we focus on the following goals: to improve jobs and wages for Americans, to strengthen our nation’s security, and to restore respect for our laws,” Trump said, though I admittedly have no idea what that word salad even is supposed to mean.
From there, the president lamented the waste of $6 trillion in taxpayer money in the Middle East over the last 15 years – at the behest of the oligarchs, of course – and used that as a springboard to announce an initiative to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure upgrades, much of that budget to be consumed by complying with some of the provisos his plan comes with.
“This effort will be guided by two core principles: Buy American, and Hire American,” Trump said of his massive infrastructure project, about which he said naught else and pivoted to his lukewarm commitment to repealing Obamacare.
“Tonight, I am also calling on this Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare with reforms that expand choice, increase access, lower costs, and at the same time, provide better Healthcare,” Trump said.
Instead of detailing just how this magical end could possibly be accomplished via government violence when government violence failed to do anything useful last time, Trump instead spent the next few minutes reminding everyone what a failure Obamacare is. Of course Obamacare is a failure! It’s a government program! What the hell does this moron think any other government program he replaces Obamacare with is going to do? Actually work for the first time ever? But, no worries; Trump has some guidance.
“First, we should ensure that Americans with pre-existing conditions have access to coverage, and that we have a stable transition for Americans currently enrolled in the healthcare exchanges.
Secondly, we should help Americans purchase their own coverage, through the use of tax credits and expanded Health Savings Accounts — but it must be the plan they want, not the plan forced on them by the Government.
Thirdly, we should give our great State Governors the resources and flexibility they need with Medicaid to make sure no one is left out.
Fourthly, we should implement legal reforms that protect patients and doctors from unnecessary costs that drive up the price of insurance — and work to bring down the artificially high price of drugs and bring them down immediately.
Finally, the time has come to give Americans the freedom to purchase health insurance across State lines — creating a truly competitive national marketplace that will bring cost way down and provide far better care,” Trump said, which roughly translates to:
First, we have to use government violence to force private companies to work the way government wants; second, we have to steal from all Americans to provide some sort of health insurance for those who don’t work or otherwise contribute; third, we should get an additional layer of government between individuals and healthcare; fourth we should spend more tax money not solving the problems government created by getting itself involved in the medical industry to begin with; finally, all Americans should be able to choose a crummy policy from any of the heavily-regulated companies that survive.
That sounds way better than Obamacare!
Then, Trump turned to introduce a young girl named Megan who survived a rare disease, no thanks to the burdensome regulations of the useless Food and Drug Administration.
“But our slow and burdensome approval process at the Food and Drug Administration keeps too many advances, like the one that saved Megan’s life, from reaching those in need. If we slash the restraints, not just at the FDA but across our Government, then we will be blessed with far more miracles like Megan. In fact, our children will grow up in a Nation of miracles,” Trump said, making the most coherent, lucid and intelligent comment of the entire speech, one which he sadly used as a springboard to say some more dumb stuff.
“Education is the civil rights issue of our time. I am calling upon Members of both parties to pass an education bill that funds school choice for disadvantaged youth, including millions of African-American and Latino children. These families should be free to choose the public, private, charter, magnet, religious or home school that is right for them,” Trump said, conflating “right” with “service,” as so many often do. Again, eliminate all government from education, and you’ll instantly get the sort of education system Trump says he wants.
He then parlayed the educational challenges facing America’s youth into a talk about violent crime in America, particularly in Chicago. Of course, he doesn’t understand the problem so he didn’t offer any meaningful solutions, just empty and hilarious rhetoric.
“But to create this future, we must work with — not against — the men and women of law enforcement. We must build bridges of cooperation and trust — not drive the wedge of disunity and division. Police and sheriffs are members of our community. They are friends and neighbors, they are mothers and fathers, sons and daughters — and they leave behind loved ones every day who worry whether or not they’ll come home safe and sound. We must support the incredible men and women of law enforcement,” Trump said, not mentioning the objective fact of reality that there is only one way to accomplish said goal and that is to end the war on drugs immediately, which he won’t do, making all of this talk yet more empty rhetoric.
Empty rhetoric is actually better than what came next, however.
“I have ordered the Department of Homeland Security to create an office to serve American Victims. The office is called VOICE — Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement. We are providing a voice to those who have been ignored by our media, and silenced by special interests,” Trump said.
That’s right, a whole special federal department within a federal department that already shouldn’t exist will be tasked with finding the very few people actually victimized by illegal immigration. Cuz, that will “build bridges of cooperation and trust” between people.
To rationalize this idiotic idea, he then used the age old appeal-to-emotion fallacy that works so well on Americans.
“Joining us in the audience tonight are four very brave Americans whose government failed them. Their names are Jamiel Shaw, Susan Oliver, Jenna Oliver, and Jessica Davis. Jamiel’s 17-year-old son was viciously murdered by an illegal immigrant gang member, who had just been released from prison. Jamiel Shaw Jr. was an incredible young man, with unlimited potential who was getting ready to go to college where he would have excelled as a great quarterback. But he never got the chance. His father, who is in the audience tonight, has become a good friend of mine. Also with us are Susan Oliver and Jessica Davis. Their husbands — Deputy Sheriff Danny Oliver and Detective Michael Davis — were slain in the line of duty in California. They were pillars of their community. These brave men were viciously gunned down by an illegal immigrant with a criminal record and two prior deportations. Sitting with Susan is her daughter, Jenna. Jenna: I want you to know that your father was a hero, and that tonight you have the love of an entire country supporting you and praying for you. To Jamiel, Jenna, Susan and Jessica: I want you to know — we will never stop fighting for justice. Your loved ones will never be forgotten, we will always honor their memory,” Trump argued fallaciously.
Trump then gave another call for government and the people to support the military while reiterating his foreign policy stances. After that it was a fairly standard “wrap yourself in the flag” closing soliloquy.
Of course I don’t ever expect any politician to stand before the American people and declare that government itself is the root of all problems and therefore the only way to solve problems is to eliminate government; that’s just silly. We do, however, I believe, need to stop falling for the nonsense we’re supposed to swallow from speeches like this.
When so-called “anti-establishment politicians” like Trump talk about “problems” in government, they never mean that government itself is the problem, but rather that the sort of government applied to the issue in question is the problem. Therefore, the rationalization goes, the problem can be fixed by applying government to it differently.
Only, we’ve been trying that for centuries now, and we can’t seem to figure out just what is the right amount of institutional violence to apply to whom and when.
For centuries, humans also couldn’t seem to figure out just what the right amount of alchemical processes to apply and when to turn lead into gold.
The difference there is, humans eventually gave up on the latter. When are we going to figure out that it’s time to give up on the former too?
Very good website – bookmarked