Sunday, April 30, 2017

Sunday Globe Special: The Education of Donald Trump

Globe is his teacher!

"What Donald Trump learned in his first 100 days" by Annie Linskey Globe Staff  April 28, 2017

WASHINGTON — After watching the biggest chunks of his agenda halted there’s a consensus that the president and his top lieutenants are beginning to understand that they must learn to swim in the swamp before they can drain it.

Did he have to fill it up more before, and so much for all that Hitler talk, 'eh? 

And speak of the devil: 

"In 1945, as Soviet troops approached his Berlin bunker, Adolf Hitler committed suicide along with his wife of one day, Eva Braun."

Trump couldn't hold a candle to the man

The fact that Trump even had these 100 days to govern came as a complete surprise, to the nation and to him. Trump hardly thought he would win in November, and his incendiary campaign was followed by a largely unproductive transition period.

I think she is putting words in his mouth there. She didn't think he would win.

Nobody is saying that the 70-year-old billionaire president is changing his ways and becoming a conventional president.

Well, actually, people are given the multitude of reversals the last month!

Consider some highlights from the past week: His administration released a tax plan on a single sheet of paper that would add trillions to the national debt; leaked, then backed off a plan to blow up the NAFTA trade treaty; and clumsily bluffed in a weak bid to get funding out of Congress for his Mexican border wall.

“The Washington class, their heads are going to be exploding every two days, and I don’t think it’s going to change,” said one White House staff member.

Trump acknowledged that being the most powerful man in the world has been harder than he’d expected. “I loved my previous life,” the president said in an interview with Reuters last week. “I had so many things going. This is more work than in my previous life. I thought it would be easier.”

Oh, you weren't really ready for the job?

The price for Trump’s education has been, as he might say, huge. The most important teachable moment for the administration came on Jan. 27 when Trump issued the first version of his ban on visas for immigrants and refugees from several majority-Muslim countries....

That is so flipping condescending, like he is a f***ing child.

--more--"

So what does he have to say for himself?

"Trump says he’s brought ‘profound change’ to Washington" by Laurie Kellman Associated Press  April 29, 2017

HARRISBURG, Pa. — President Trump’s rally Saturday night in Harrisburg offered a familiar recapitulation of what he and aides have argued for days are administration successes, including the successful nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, his Cabinet choices, and the approval of construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

"Trump's 100-day rally was a bit of counterprogramming from the former reality television star. Back in Washington, media organizations and a few stars were gathering on Saturday for the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner." 

That's my print, and that's a subtle little insult to call the current president of the United States a former reality television star, isn't it?

But the president began the rally on a sour note, pointing out that he was not attending that night’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner and issuing a scathing attack on the news media. To cheers, he accused the news media of ‘‘fake news’’ and said if their job was to be honest and tell the truth, then they deserved ‘‘a big, fat failing grade.’’

Why is that a sour note? I think it is SWEET!

Related:

"Washington’s once-glitzy ‘‘nerd prom’’ was partly overshadowed this year by the first ‘‘Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner,’’ hosted by late-night TV star Samantha Bee. Bee pulled in Celebrities for the first "Not the White House Correspondents' Dinner": Alysia Reiner of "Orange Is the New Black," Retta of "Parks and Recreation" and Matt Walsh of "Veep." The star power of the real correspondents' dinner took a hit this year when Trump declined to attend.  For years the event offered Washington's nerdy press corps an opportunity to wear black tie and stunning gowns while mixing with celebrities. With Trump out, organizers put the focus on the First Amendment and the role of the press in democracy....."

That would be to censor and alter news, right?

"Trump, who has derided journalists as "dishonest" and even enemies of the American people, is the first president since 1981 to stay away from the event. That year, Ronald Reagan was recovering from an assassination attempt." 

Maybe that is why Trump stayed away! Was something in the works?

‘‘I could not possibly be more thrilled than to be more than 100 miles way from Washington’s swamp,’’ he said, ‘‘spending my evening with all of you and with a much, much larger crowd and much better people, right?’’

Oh, how sour!

"At the 100-day mark, Trump chose instead to spend the evening with people who helped elect him and, polls show, remain largely in his corner."

So would I.

In his tirade against the “failing” media, Trump made reference to The New York Times, The Boston Globe, MSNBC, and CNN. He briefly mentioned the Times’ purchase and subsequent sale of the Globe as a poor business decision. 

:-)

Meanwhile, North Korea’s missile launch Saturday signaled its continued defiance against the United States, China, and other nations, on which Trump tweeted: ‘‘Bad!’’ Asked during an interview for CBS’s ‘‘Face the Nation’’ if military action would follow a nuclear test by the North, Trump responded: ‘‘I don’t know. I mean, we’ll see.’’

SeeSouth Korea joins US Navy drills after North’s missile test fails

Related:

"In 2012, President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, meeting at the White House, decried aggressive acts from North Korea, including a recent failed rocket launch, and vowed to maintain a unified front against such provocations." 

Timing is every.... wait. Deja vu!

At the 100-day mark, polls show that Trump’s supporters during the campaign remain largely in his corner. The economy, so far, has been Trump’s ally. Polls show that Americans feel slightly better about his job performance on that subject than his job performance overall.

That could be changing, and what was scrubbed from the web entirely:

Coinciding with Trump's 100th day, thousands of people across the country marched Saturday to demand action on climate change.

More rallies linked to the president's first months in office are scheduled later this week, including a May Day rally in support of immigrant rights.

--more--"

Related:

"It was the latest installment of the regular protests that punctuate the Trump era. Temperatures hit 91 degrees in Washington, matching the record for the day. In downtown Tampa, Fla., a demonstration stretched for several blocks. In Los Angeles, protesters gathered near the port. Many of the signs at Saturday’s climate march were ominous, warning of climate catastrophe, dying oceans, crop destruction, and planet degradation, but the mood of the marchers was anything but somber. It was a racially diverse crowd, with marchers of all ages. The marchers also arrived with sunny dispositions. Impromptu concerts broke out as protesters waited for the march to begin...."

Now you see (no problem busing in those protesters) what approved, agenda-pushing, controlled protest looks like.

Also see: Under the Boardwalk.... 

I didn't see any concern regarding that during the marches, or any problem with the world's biggest polluter: the U.S. war machine.

Maybe we need a third voice:

"While President Trump’s attention-grabbing statements and actions have produced very few of the concrete policy changes he promised as a candidate, there is little doubt that Trump has moved to set the nation on a radically different course. Here is a look at his record to date...."

Has he? I have my doubts.

100 days in, what came true?

Just about nothing. It was all fear.

Editorial Keep your eyes on Russia

(Blog editor shaking head; Globe is part of the problem!)

JACOBY The first 100 days of Obama’s third term

At this point, he's pretty much right.

Let's be thankful for that, and hope the same holds true for Korea:

"American attacks on Iraq and Libya made clear that governments unfriendly to the United States must maintain a nuclear deterrent or risk being bombed out of power. The North Koreans realize this and, as a result, will never accept any deal that requires them to give up their nuclear weapons program...."

That's a truism, and he is a well-meaning man. His dissent is as far as you are allowed to go in the Globe; however, he opens with the article a premise that is wrong, saying that when the Soviet Union sent troops into Afghanistan in 1979, the United States resolved to create a force that would fight them.  The U.S. had already sent the jihadis there to give the Soviets what Brzezinski called their own Vietnam -- and it worked. 

Btw, that fighting force was turned into AL-CIA-Duh.

Trump administration pushes back and wins at G20 finance meeting

Oh, how quickly they forget.

With Trump in power, white-power groups try to build alliances

Wow, a repeater! That's the second time I've seen that article in print!

Wounds from the LA riots still fester

Is Donald Trump our president too?

Answer:

"Massachusetts voters, who broke nearly 2-to-1 for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in November, have not warmed to the president since he took office, with 53 percent of them giving him a very unfavorable” rating in a new poll, compared with 38 percent who rated him very or somewhat favorably. The poll comes as a flurry of coverage reflects on Trump’s first 100 days in office. There was a plurality of support for the targeted military strike Trump ordered on a Syrian air base, with 34 percent thinking it necessary, while 16 percent opposed any military involvement. Thirty-eight percent said they held favorable views of Trump’s handling of foreign affairs, stacked against 57 percent who saw it negatively....."

I thought his negatives would be higher here, and the part regarding military action in Syria just blew the poll's credibility.