NPR kindly reproduced President Trump’s pronouncements on what he intends to do within 100 days of taking office. One of the guys at this morning’s Scottsdale Business Association meeting passed it around.
Let’s consider these gems and, being accomplished members of the peanut gallery as we are, now and again opine:
What follows is my 100-day action plan to Make America Great Again. It is a contract between myself and the American voter — and begins with restoring honesty, accountability and change to Washington
Therefore, on the first day of my term of office, my administration will immediately pursue the following six measures to clean up the corruption and special interest collusion in Washington, DC:
* FIRST, propose a Constitutional Amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress;
Depends on the limit. As a practical matter, federal elected representatives need a lot of time in office to learn their jobs, to build understanding and alliances, and to learn to stick up for their constituencies. Besides, Mr. Trump can propose as much as he wants…good luck fazing it past a Congress whose members will have other ideas.
* SECOND, a hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce federal workforce through attrition (exempting military, public safety, and public health);
So much for putting America’s former middle class back to work. See my reply to Money Beagle on the subject here. Unless our man snaps out of it, a move like this is likely to bring on a new recession. Almost 22 million people work for the federal government; many, many more work for private employers that contract to the US government. There’s no way private industry can absorb that many unemployed workers.
* THIRD, a requirement that for every new federal regulation, two existing regulations must be eliminated;
Arbitrary, stupid, and impracticable. Let’s focus on regulations you believe should be eliminated, do the job on them, and then think more carefully about new ones.
* FOURTH, a 5 year-ban on White House and Congressional officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government service;
Hmm… Possibly not a bad idea. But I don’t know enough about it to express more than a gut reaction.
* FIFTH, a lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government;
Oh, you mean on behalf of Mr. Putin?
Sorry, that was unkind… I don’t know whether that’s a good or a bad idea. Who is more likely to be fully knowledgeable about a foreign country and the intricacies of its relations with the US than a someone who has spent time in the White House? This could be a Draconian and impractical scheme.
* SIXTH, a complete ban on foreign lobbyists raising money for American elections.
Okay, I can go for that. Is it legal now? Apparently not. And yet apparently a fair amount of foreign lobbying cash finds its way into the pockets of politicians’ campaigns.
On the same day, I will begin taking the following 7 actions to protect American workers:
* FIRST, I will announce my intention to renegotiate NAFTA or withdraw from the deal under Article 2205
Well…y’know… That might not make me too crabby, though I think it’s closing the barn door after the horse has run off. NAFTA had done good things for us and bad things for us. It’s a mixed bag. What specifically do you plan to renegotiate, sir?
* SECOND, I will announce our withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership
Go for it, dude.
* THIRD, I will direct my Secretary of the Treasury to label China a currency manipulator
Oh, yeah? And this will have what effect, on what specifically? Here’s what the guy is talking about, explained in words of one or two syllables. However, it’s a very complex issue. You’ll need to read the entire article to get even a vague handle on it, and then you’ll see that a lot of unintended consequences will be lurking in the wings behind that stage.
* FOURTH, I will direct the Secretary of Commerce and U.S. Trade Representative to identify all foreign trading abuses that unfairly impact American workers and direct them to use every tool under American and international law to end those abuses immediately
Good luck with that, boss!
* FIFTH, I will lift the restrictions on the production of $50 trillion dollars’ worth of job-producing American energy reserves, including shale, oil, natural gas and clean coal.
You, too, will be breathing contaminated air and drinking contaminated water. Hoooboy!
Y’know, I grew up living next to a refinery in Saudi Arabia: a totally unrestricted, unregulated refinery. You wanna talk about cancer clusters? Lemme tell you about cancer clusters.
A wholesale demolition of regulation and restriction on petroleum mining in this country would be extraordinarily stupid and destructive to people who live within many, many miles of the plants involved. But…
On the other hand, there’s a whole lot to be said for beefing up American oil production enough to free us from dependence on countries that, at heart, are our enemies and have been our enemies as long as we have been present in those countries — since early in the 20th century.
There is, however, a great deal more to be said in favor of encouraging, funding, and nurturing alternative energy sources. We need solar power. Every house in this country, every office building in this country, should be getting some or all of its energy from solar panels. Every car should run on electric power. And yeah…I do know that electric power plants emit pollution, too: but the same amount of chemicals coming from one source is a lot easier to sequester and control than crud coming out of millions and millions of cars, homes, and industries.
* SIXTH, lift the Obama-Clinton roadblocks and allow vital energy infrastructure projects, like the Keystone Pipeline, to move forward
See above.
* SEVENTH, cancel billions in payments to U.N. climate change programs and use the money to fix America’s water and environmental infrastructure
Given that there’s not a damn thing we can do about climate change — it’s too late for that — this might not be a bad idea. Demoralizing, pointless in the long run, but useful in the short run.
Additionally, on the first day, I will take the following five actions to restore security and the constitutional rule of law:
* FIRST, cancel every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama
Pure, noxious spite. This, unfortunately, demonstrates exactly why Mr. Trump should not be President of the United States.
* SECOND, begin the process of selecting a replacement for Justice Scalia from one of the 20 judges on my list, who will uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States
Kiss your reproductive rights good-bye, ladies. And let’s all of us say good-bye to freedom from having other people’s religion shoved down our throats.
* THIRD, cancel all federal funding to Sanctuary Cities
Define “sanctuary city.” The term has no legal meaning. Thus it would appear that this scheme is arbitrary and probably illegal. Just because you personally don’t like someone, or someone’s city, doesn’t mean you can use the power of your office to punish them. That’s what we call “dictatorship.”
* FOURTH, begin removing the more than 2 million criminal illegal immigrants from the country and cancel visas to foreign countries that won’t take them back
About 11.4 million immigrants are in this country illegally. How exactly do you define the ones that are “criminal”? Since the bigots to whom you have pandered so extravagantly regard all illegal immigrants as “criminal,” why not propose to eject all 11.4 million of them? And by the way, who is going to clean your rich friends’ homes, mow your rich friends’ estates, and harvest food for all those folks who voted for you?
* FIFTH, suspend immigration from terror-prone regions where vetting cannot safely occur. All vetting of people coming into our country will be considered extreme vetting.
As a blanket policy, that’s inhumane and paranoid. I could get on board with screening refugees more carefully, but blocking innocent people who will be killed if they stay in their home countries? Not so much.
Next, I will work with Congress to introduce the following broader legislative measures and fight for their passage within the first 100 days of my Administration:
1. Middle Class Tax Relief And Simplification Act. An economic plan designed to grow the economy 4% per year and create at least 25 million new jobs through massive tax reduction and simplification, in combination with trade reform, regulatory relief, and lifting the restrictions on American energy. The largest tax reductions are for the middle class. A middle-class family with 2 children will get a 35% tax cut. The current number of brackets will be reduced from 7 to 3, and tax forms will likewise be greatly simplified. The business rate will be lowered from 35 to 15 percent, and the trillions of dollars of American corporate money overseas can now be brought back at a 10 percent rate.
Uh huh. and how do you propose to run the federal government’s basic services? Oh yeah: kill the beast. Clever.
This is exceptionally stupid and another example of pandering to ill-informed resentment. Nothing is going to bring American manufacturing back to this country as long as a manufacturer can get its products built in India for $7.50 a day.
More crucial along those lines: Block American companies and American richerati from hiding money in offshore banking institutions. See the Panama Papers, dear readers, for more on this particular screwing you as taxpayers are receiving.
2. End The Offshoring Act. Establishes tariffs to discourage companies from laying off their workers in order to relocate in other countries and ship their products back to the U.S. tax-free.
That might be good. Sounds a little like closing the barn door after the horse has escaped. But what…is this saying you intend to end a law that discourages corporations from moving jobs offshore?
3. American Energy & Infrastructure Act. Leverages public-private partnerships, and private investments through tax incentives, to spur $1 trillion in infrastructure investment over 10 years. It is revenue neutral.
I could probably go along with this, if I knew some more about it. But it sounds like it could limit American options where potential damage to the environment could occur, and further enrich already vast corporations.
4. School Choice And Education Opportunity Act. Redirects education dollars to give parents the right to send their kid to the public, private, charter, magnet, religious or home school of their choice. Ends common core, brings education supervision to local communities. It expands vocational and technical education, and make 2 and 4-year college more affordable.
Sounds good. Common Core is widely hated. Yet our schools are so poor, there does need to be some accountability. And some guidelines and consensus as to what kids should master. How do you propose to ensure those things?
5. Repeal and Replace Obamacare Act. Fully repeals Obamacare and replaces it with Health Savings Accounts, the ability to purchase health insurance across state lines, and lets states manage Medicaid funds. Reforms will also include cutting the red tape at the FDA: there are over 4,000 drugs awaiting approval, and we especially want to speed the approval of life-saving medications.
Obamacare indeed has been a fiasco for large numbers of Americans. It needs to be fixed, if not replaced. But…you know…an HSA health insurance does not make. I’ve had an HSA and found it a poor substitute for a decent health insurance policy. It appears that allowing people to buy insurance across state lines may indeed improve competitiveness and allow consumers more choice.
Hamstringing the FDA is as stupid as it gets, proves you are an ignoramus, sir, and once again suggests you should go back to school before you take on the Presidency of the United States.
6. Affordable Childcare and Eldercare Act. Allows Americans to deduct childcare and elder care from their taxes, incentivizes employers to provide on-side childcare services, and creates tax-free Dependent Care Savings Accounts for both young and elderly dependents, with matching contributions for low-income families.
Sounds grand! How exactly are we going to swing this after we’ve cut everybody’s taxes as dramatically as you propose?
7. End Illegal Immigration Act Fully-funds the construction of a wall on our southern border with the full understanding that the country Mexico will be reimbursing the United States for the full cost of such wall; establishes a 2-year mandatory minimum federal prison sentence for illegally re-entering the U.S. after a previous deportation, and a 5-year mandatory minimum for illegally re-entering for those with felony convictions, multiple misdemeanor convictions or two or more prior deportations; also reforms visa rules to enhance penalties for overstaying and to ensure open jobs are offered to American workers first.
This is, bar none, the stupidest of the Trump proposals. If it didn’t ape the Berlin Wall, it would still be stupid for the environmental devastation it will wreak. Dumbest damnfool thing any of us has ever heard. Clearly the product of a man who has never even seen the border between the U.S. and Mexico.
8. Restoring Community Safety Act. Reduces surging crime, drugs and violence by creating a Task Force On Violent Crime and increasing funding for programs that train and assist local police; increases resources for federal law enforcement agencies and federal prosecutors to dismantle criminal gangs and put violent offenders behind bars.
Uhm…you do know violent crime has dropped to record lows, don’t you? And you do know we already incarcerate a larger portion of our population than just about any other country in the world, right? What do you propose to do: lock everybody up?
9. Restoring National Security Act. Rebuilds our military by eliminating the defense sequester and expanding military investment; provides Veterans with the ability to receive public VA treatment or attend the private doctor of their choice; protects our vital infrastructure from cyber-attack; establishes new screening procedures for immigration to ensure those who are admitted to our country support our people and our values
Yeah, I could get on board with this, too.
10. Clean up Corruption in Washington Act. Enacts new ethics reforms to Drain the Swamp and reduce the corrupting influence of special interests on our politics.
Pure, unmitigated demagoguery. Gimme a break. You wouldn’t know how to reduce special interests if a lobbyist bit you on the arse…sir.
And if we follow these steps, we will once more have a government of, by and for the people.
Which people, specifically? And what about the rest of us?
😀
Postscript: Here’s what NPR itself has added in response to this remarkable document of The Donald’s.
Image: By Gage Skidmore – http://bit.ly/2fi1nJF CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52979651
Well Funny….I guess we’ll agree to disagree. After all this is what is so great about our Country….Freedom. My thought is… History will not be kind to Mr. Obama. As I said long ago when the Campaigns began, there is a tremendous “angst” in this Country and it is wide spread. From under employed workers to young people with large student loans working at Chili’s as waiters because they can’t find a job. And that “angst” was shown not just in the election of Trump…but the election of governors and reps in the House and Senate. Folks feel we have lost our way that there is no plan…that we need to “drain the swamp”. Instead of talking about it the new administration is taking steps. A famous quote, that I can’t remember the author….”Lead…Follow….Or get out of the way”…. pretty much sums it up. Oh Mr. Trump will make mistakes I’m sure but he just may surprise the many “doubters” at his abilities to solve problems. As for me I will always be “grateful” for Hilary Clinton for setting the record straight with her “elitist comment” about Mr. Trump’s supporters being a group of “deplorables”. I shall wear that “badge” proudly….
Well, one thing we WILL have to agree on is that the world economy has not been good to the rank-and-file American. A few people have gotten very rich, indeed; the rest of us have lost jobs and earning power, and in many respects our standard of living has faltered.
I suspect there are plenty of other areas we agree on, high among them political correctness and the damned Nanny State.
Probably the key area where we would diverge is on the question of whether ANY American president can do much about that. IMHO the conditions that have put us where we are — by “we” I mean ordinary Americans like you and me — have more to do with global, world-wide changes than with anything the White House can do.
The “basket of deplorables” remark, speaking of the stupidity of politicians, was a horrific misstep.
[HOLY SHIT! Speaking of Life in These United States, there’s cop sirens and gunshots out there. It’s still dark outside…hmmm…cop helicopter y-cumin’ in…fairly far to the north and east, chasing north on Cave Creek apparently. No big deal, I guess…] [Gotta get a shotgun.]
Where were we? Oh yeah, Clinton’s idiotic “deplorable” remark. She couldn’t have iconized how out of touch the party’s upper echelons have become better if she’d tried to draw a picture. WhatEVER could she have been thinking?
To my mind, what made this 2016 election so hideous is that NEITHER ONE OF THEM IS FIT TO BE PRESIDENT.
You know who we need? Harry Truman. Where the eff is our Harry Truman?
I agree Funny….it’s quite the “pickle” we are in. But I disagree with your thoughts on Mrs. Clinton’s comments about the “deplorables”….My thought is that is how she and her “elitist ilk” view the “common folks” who pay the taxes, who sweep the streets, who drive the trucks, who teach our children….IMHO she has done immense damage to the Democratic Party who is now considering Howard Dean to take the “lead”…. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
Some last thoughts on Mr. Trump. He is not perfect….and never claimed to be. But here is a guy who could have taken the money from his father’s endeavors and moved to Florida, played golf and lived off the interest as a pretty young man. But instead he took the “seed money” from his father and built a business….actually several. He has succeeded and failed but he has built something. On the other hand Mr. Obama and the Clintons are “career politicians” who have never had to make a payroll, maneuver thru regulations and write a business plan. The whole set up of the “Clinton Foundation” should make everyone sit up and take notice. So a Country wanting influence “donates” to the Clinton Foundation from which the Clinton family draws a nice salary and perks. If this isn’t criminal….I don’t know what is….
But to be clear…If Bernie Sanders would have been the nominee….He would have gotten my vote….To me he is a “straight shooter” who tells it like it is… His story is pretty remarkable….
I guess I didn’t say what I meant clearly about the Clinton basketry… Yes, I agree 100% with you: In an unguarded moment she said EXACTLY what she and her like think about the Great Unwashed. And believe me: anyone who hasn’t gone to an Ivy League school and is not part of an insider’s network is among the Unwashed. They surely ARE elitists.
But one fools oneself if one thinks the same does not apply to the Republican leadership. I dated Mr. McCain’s brother-in-law once…it’s six of one, half-a-dozen of the other.
I’ve lived in that milieu myself, and (having come from the working class at the outset and having tumbled into the “upper” class by luck and by wits) I did not much enjoy it. Well. The money’s nice. Often, though, the company leaves something to be desired.
Ms. Clinton was a repellent choice for the Democratic nominee. She was, IMHO, almost as repellent as Trump…except she doesn’t grab women (or, presumably, men) by the genitals and brag about it, she doesn’t exploit hatred and bigotry, she doesn’t make absurd promises, and listening to her speak doesn’t conjure images of Adolf Hitler.
You are also dead right about Bernie Sanders. I suspect that in a contest between Sanders and Trump, Sanders would have won. With no ambiguity about it.
Deport my yard man, Mr. Trump, and I take all my money to Mexico, buy a hacienda on 50,000 acres, and make the guy my foreman. I’m gonna like living in Mexico. So will he and his wife and his two bright, high-performing kids, this time around…
We will send his boys to Harvard, one of them will come back and become President of Mexico, and no, he will not pay for any silly walls. 😀
ay, caramba!
Hmmm Mr. McCain….Another politician that has “over stayed his welcome” IMHO….As memory serves his money is derived from his DW’s Family and their beer distribution biz…Senator McCain just doesn’t bring a lot to the table any more. We need fresh blood…new ideas…not old ideas worded differently. As for the whole “elitist attitude”… Not a fan….
The guy is 80 years old!!!!!! I guess he’s trying to outlast Carl Hayden, who was essentially mummified by the time he died in office.
I voted for Hillary – we needed another Clinton in the White House. I figured Trump would get the popular vote and Hillary the Electoral College. BTW, I too would have voted for Bernie. I admire both of them a lot.
Per Hillary’s “basket of deplorables” remark – she said HALF of Trump’s followers fit that description. Then she said that the other half had legitimate issues. The supposedly liberal media never mentioned that part of the speech. I guess they aren’t Hillary fans, either.
As for Trump, I don’t think he’ll accomplish much of anything. He’s not really a conservative or even an independent, just a narcissistic billionaire who ran for president at just the right time. I think VP Pence will most likely being doing the heavy lifting of running the country. That’s probably why he was chosen as running mate.
I survived George W. Bush for eight years, I guess I can survive Trump for four.
You’re right: I surely didn’t pick up on the “half” part. On the other hand, any way you look at it, the characterization of what might have been as much as a quarter of her future constituency lacks diplomatic flair, to say the least.
Perfect characterization of Trump on your part, though. He may be a front man, but he’ll be a difficult one for the Tea Party to manage. The guy defines “loose cannon”…in all caps.
Pence is far more evil, IMHO, than Trump: he really is very dangerous. That’s why I sincerely hope nothing happens to Mr. Trump while he’s in office.
I sure as heck didn’t survive W very well. Lost my job at an age when I couldn’t get another one — couldn’t even get hired to drive the tourist train at the zoo, for godsake! Was exceptionally lucky that I’d paid off my house; otherwise I would have lost it, because there was no way I could pay the mortgage with my savings reduced by about 50% and still falling by the time the university tossed me and all my staff on the street. Had to take a miserable job that, 30 years ago, I said I’d rather die than ever have to do again and that paid less then minimum wage by the time all the unpaid hours were factored in.
None of these things enamored me of the Republicans. I expect they’ll run the economy into the ground again. It’s taken a good 8 years for us to recover from the Bush recession, and many individual citizens (such as myself) never have and never will fully recover. Add that experience to Trump’s narcissistic, bullying, even fascistic demeanor, and you can imagine why some of us cannot reconcile ourselves to having him as our President. He’s bad, bad news indeed.
IMHO.
I actually DID pick up on the “half” comment as I watched the speech and will never forget it. I just assumed I was in THAT half… I’m actually looking for a “deplorables” sweat shirt. As for Mrs. Clinton….the thought of Bill back in the Whitehouse made me sick….Let us not forget he lied under oath before the Grand Jury. If it were you or I, we would still be in jail and would not be able to vote as that is a felony. And the young lady he “did not have sex with” was his daughter’s age….IMHO…that’s just creepy.
But Hilary is not Bill… BUT I would encourage you to read up on Whitewater and Hilary’s AMAZING success with cattle futures….and the many questionable “happenings” around the Clintons. What puzzles me is the Clintons started in Arkansas….moved to DC when Bill was President and then decide to go to NY because of an open Senate seat coming up. It is up in the air if her election was actually legal because she did not meet residency requirements. But New Yorkers elected her just the same…. In another era they would be considered “carpet baggers”.
Mr. Pence does concern me a bit and I would be curious to see what his relationship with the Koch Brothers is…..If he does have a direct connection….I would be vigilant. I’ve read several books on the “Koch Boys” and it’s an interesting story. Their father went to the Soviet Union and helped set up their oil well and processing infrastructure after the Revolution. The father always said he “despised” the Soviet system….BUT he continued to do work there and did “cash the check”….Not a fan. These guys are rich…and are trying to shape what is being taught on college campuses with “carrot & stick” approach to their endowments.
If Bernie Sanders would have won…it would have been so much simpler….Side note …. Pulling for our “guy Martin O’Malley” to head the DNC. He was a good Governor, who truly cares and believe it or not is a talented musician…
The sex lives and marital arrangements of the elite are… Well…let’s just say “the rich are different from us.” Bill’s behavior, were he not in the White House but just another rich guy, would have been regarded as annoying, but not worth losing the amount of money a divorce would cost. Remember, Trump was coming on to one woman while his wife was upstairs in the same house!
McCain did the same damn thing that Hillary did in New York. He wasn’t from Arizona. Never was. He moved here — into a house down the street from ours, BTW — specifically SO THAT he could establish residency (quickly) in a state he thought he could win. He was right about that: Arizona sent him to Congress, where he’s been ever since.
Ugh! No wonder people on both sides of the fence are having anxiety attacks. It’s hard to talk about this stuff without getting into a lather.
“cancel every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama”…which means, what, exactly? If it was unconstitutional the Supreme Court makes that decision, no?
I don’t understand how on the one hand he will deport ALL of the “criminal immigrants” and then the End Illegal Immigration Act locks up illegal immigrants for minimum terms. That really confuses me. I thought that immigrants with criminal convictions in the US were already deported in record numbers, so there’s nothing new there. But, if someone is caught sneaking into the country a second time we have to house and feed them in federal prison? Say what?
HSAs are great if you’re healthy and need 0 medical care. If you have a medical condition that requires expensive maintenance meds and frequent doctor visits they suck. Like you I’ve had more than one surgery in the past year and I would never have been able to afford them if I didn’t have good health insurance through my employer. I now have two “pre-existing conditions” that would make it impossible for me to afford basic care (which I’m defining as housing, food, and medical care) if the ACA protections were repealed and I ever lost my insurance. *sigh*
From what I’ve been told, a sitting President can cancel an executive order made by any prior President. Of course, because Congress did every goddamnfool thing it could think of to stymie Obama every which way from Sunday, most of Obama’s key moves were made by executive order.
Consistency, in Trump’s universe, is the hobgoblin of small minds. Inconsistency certainly is the hobgoblin of the Trump mind.
Like you say: An HSA may (MAYBE) get you through one brief medical crisis — one that has an end. But surgery is astronomically expensive. EVERY ONE of those attempted lumpectomies — I had three of them — billed out at $30,000. I don’t even know what they charged to lob off both boobs altogether. A-n-n-d I declined reconstruction: just imagine what elaborate, drawn-out plastic surgery to create not one but two fake boobs would cost!
And what if you develop…oh…say Parkinson’s Disease? ALS? MS? Heart disease? Diabetes?
An HSA will not cover these for the rest of your life, unless (possibly) you started the fund at the age of about 16 or 18, maxed out your contributions, were smart AND lucky with your investments, and the chronic disease didn’t develop until you were in your 60s. And you died not too very long after that. An entire lifetime of assiduous saving and investing MIGHT cover a chronic, expensive illness for a few years.
There’s a reason people are rioting in the streets over the bozo’s election.