In the span of 50 plus days we
have seen Donald Trump “Making America Great Again” up close and personal.
To be completely fair, the NY
dealmaker has tried to make good on some of his campaign promises.
A few highlights: the “Muslim”
travel ban, the stepped up deportation of undocumented immigrants, the
nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, the repeal and replace plan
for the ACA, and last but not least, proposing a budget that cut taxes,
increases military spending, and guts domestic programs like Planned Parenthood
and Meals on Wheels.
To be sure, Trump is pretty good
at making promises to his supporters at campaign rallies, but his list of
legislative victories is dismal.
Case in point: Michael Flinn
fired after 25 days as National Security Advisor, false claims that “millions”
of unregistered and illegal voters affected the election of 2016, the 9th
District court striking down the travel ban as unconstitutional, the revised
ban has also been halted by a Federal Judge in Hawaii, debunked claim’s that
President Obama committed a felony and ordered a wire-tap of Trump Tower, and
the implosion of the Paul Ryan plan to repeal and replace the ACA.
Donald Trumps big selling point
when he was campaigning was that he was a successful businessman that was great
at making “big deals.” He could do anything because he was the smartest guy in
the room, and if elected he would “drain the swamp” and whip Washington into
shape.
Well, 50 odds days into the new
regime and the NY dealmaker has been bitch-slapped by reality and the stench of
failure clings to him like cheap cologne.
Can he turn it around? The easy
answer is no.
The Gropenfuhrer in Chief has the
lowest approval rating of any new POTUS in history; he has no mandate, and
therefore has no political capital to spend. His relationship with the GOP is
on life support, and the mid-term elections of 2018 are right around the
corner. The Russiagate scandal and the Ryan-care debacle looms like a huge
unyielding shadow, sucking up valuable time that Trump could be spending
talking about how great he is. And worst of all, Donald Trump has disgraced
himself and the office of the Presidency by his repeated tweets, lies and
insults.
The 45th POTUS has
been exposed as an “emperor with no clothes,” and that is a pretty horrifying
image.
Disturbing imagery
notwithstanding, the GOP have a much more terrifying reality staring them down.
For all intents and purposes, the Republican Party, the party of Lincoln, has
become the Steve Bannon and Robert Mercer white nationalist party.
Exhibit A: Presidential adviser Steve Bannon’s
political ideology is to “dismantle the administrative state.”
Translation: he wants to destroy
the Federal government. However far fetched his white nationalist dreams may
seem, it is worth noting that he is a sincere zealot, and as such, he
represents a clear and present danger to our nations democratic institutions.
Exhibit B: Robert Mercer, a billionaire right wing
extremist, has funded the Trump/Bannon white nationalist train with millions of
dollars in donations.
Mercer is the moneyman behind Breibart
News and CNSnews, which is owned by the Media Research Center, with its mission
of correcting “liberal bias.” Moreover, Mercer is connected to Cambridge
Analytica.
According to a article published
in The Guardian:
It specializes in “election management strategies” and
“messaging and information operations,” refined over 25 years in places like
Afghanistan and Pakistan. In military circles this known as “psyops” –
Psychology operations. (Mass propaganda that works by acting on people’s
emotions.)
Of particular interest, when
Robert Mercer started to support Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy, the campaign
hired Cambridge Analytica to run its day-to-day propaganda operations.
Needless to say, the party of
Lincoln is in deep trouble.
The Trump Train has become a disaster
unfolding in real time and the GOP is the defacto power in charge of
Washington. And whether they like it or not, they get all the credit and more
importantly, all the blame.
And adding insult to injury, the
American people like winners that can keep their promises and get results.
And at this point in time, for
good or ill, Trump, Ryan and the rest of the shell-shocked GOP, look and sound
like a bunch of incompetent, whiny, LOSERS!
