Month: April 2017

The current Polish government–reactionary, nationalist, ruthless, and paranoid–is the ideological soul mate of the Trump Administration.  And yet, the Poles view Trump with a large degree of trepidation.  Why?

Simply put, Trump was elected to make America, not Poland, great again.  He would have no qualms whatsoever about cutting a deal with Putin to the great disadvantage of the Poles if it served narrow American interests, as he defines them.

Therein lies the contradiction between the nationalist and the internationalist strains of Bannonite thought.  You can’t rely on a coalition of right-wing nationalists in different countries to work together in a clash of civilizations with Islamic extremists, because, by definition, they’re all out to screw each other for the benefit of their own country.

It was always clear that Trump was going to cast a long shadow over the French election.  The question was whether he would help or hurt Le Pen.  We know the answer now.

The French were never likely just to fall in line with American populism, but Trump’s bumbling provides another reason to support the establishment.  Le Pen apparently has stopped talking about him.  She has good reason.

After their crushing defeat in 2008, the GOP leadership met to discuss where they went from there.  The question posed was “What is the proper role of a minority party?”  The correct answer was “To help the American people at a time of crisis,” but that clearly never occurred to Mitch McConnell.  Instead, the response was to obstruct the Obama Administration in every possible way in the hope of discrediting activist government and becoming the majority party.

The GOP consistently engaged in kamikaze tactics to prove that Obama and the Democrats couldn’t get anything done.  While these tactics endangered the nation and richly deserved the scorn they received from the establishment, they ultimately succeeded;  Republicans control the presidency and both houses of Congress today.  The ultimate outcome, however, was not exactly what they expected.

Paralysis during the Obama Administration was supposed to lead to a GOP president determined to shrink the size of government.  Instead, it created the demand for a man on horseback, who is currently being thwarted by the same people who threw bombs during the Obama years.  How ’bout them apples!

 

The Christian Democrat pundits are wringing their hands about Trumpism in general and the vacuity of ACHA in particular.  ACHA, in their eyes, validates all of the old, false liberal cliches about the Party of Lincoln wanting to redistribute wealth from the poor to the wealthy and from minorities to white people.  As Mark Jackson, an ESPN basketball commentator might say, “C’mon GOP!  You’re better than that!”

Or not.  Bill Parcells is famous for saying “You are what your record says you are.”  The record shows that the mainstream of the GOP consists of small government fanatics, climate change deniers, self-interested businessmen, and reactionaries whose principal mission in life is to return political, social, and economic power to the white Christian patriarchy.  Can you point to any action taken by the GOP, not just in this administration, but in the past 8 years, that disproves this statement?  Didn’t think so.

One of the chief advantages the US has possessed as a competitor with China is relatively small and friendly neighbors.  Of course, Trump is doing his best to change that.

Trump is determined to change the terms of trade with Mexico in a way that will enrich the US and impoverish the Mexicans.  If you want to encourage illegal immigration, that’s a great way to do it.

And so, the plan on one hand is to spend untold billions building a wall, and to provide additional incentives for illegal immigrants on the other.  That’s making America great again?

1.  The Trump Administration spews a lot of hot air about trade deficits and terrible trade deals, but, in practice, limits itself to the enforcement of existing agreements and the very public lobbying of American businesses.  In the process, we alienate the rest of the world and forfeit our ability to lead, but we don’t do any lasting harm to the world economy.
2.  The trade war actually becomes a reality as Trump rips up NAFTA and the WTO in a completely fruitless effort to eliminate deficits.  Markets tank all over the world.

So which will it be?  As of today, the smart money would be on #1, but it’s early.

According to an NYT article a few months back, in order to keep the wall affordable, it will have to be constructed with Mexican materials and labor.

And so, to keep illegal immigrants out and make America great, we’re going to pay Mexico to build the wall.

Who’s the April fool here?