Donald Trump – Jekyll and Hyde
© David Burton 2018
Donald Trump – Jekyll and Hyde
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
The The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis
Stevenson was first published in 1886. In this story, we encounter a man with an unpredictably dual
nature: sometimes very good, but at other times, shockingly evil instead. More than a century and a
quarter later, we have a president of the United States with such an apparent dual personality. That
person is Donald Trump. In this section, I delineate some of the positives that have taken place in the nearly two years since Donald Trump was elected to the presidency of the United States. The Economy Donald Trump has been good for the American economy. “Vice President Mike Pence, writing in The Des Moines Register, put it succinctly: ‘The evidence is clear: America is back.’ He adds, ‘It's no accident.’ “Pence and other Trump enthusiasts can point to increasing macroeconomic growth. Growth rose 4.1 percent in the second quarter {of 2018} and is up more than 3 percent for the year. Unemployment was down to 3.9 percent in July. The S&P 500 stock index is up 6 percent since the Trump presidency, while the rest of the world's stock markets are down 6 percent. These are numbers any recent administration would boast about. “More notable are positive trends among subgroups that weren't doing so well before Trump took office. . . in the past three years ‘recent wage growth ... at the low end of the wage scale’ is stronger than growth among the higher-paid. Similarly . . .job growth has been greatest among ‘goods-producing workers and the least-educated workers.’ - - - “The unemployment rate among young millennials -- those over 25 -- is only 5.1 percent, . . . the lowest since the government began measuring this in 1994. . . Black unemployment was down to 5.9 percent in May, and Hispanic unemployment was down to 4.6 percent in June, both the lowest number since the early 1970s, when government began tracking them. Moreover, the labor force is expanding, with 600,000 entrants in June . . . Simultaneously, the disability rolls are decreasing. All of which suggests that incentives to work are returning to Appalachia and other previously forlorn areas where so many idle people have been driven to opioid dependency. - - - “Candidate Trump's call to ‘Make America Great Again,’ however unspecific, was taken, and intended to be taken, as a promise to deliver different better results for the downscale. He constantly talked about reopening factories, strengthening manufacturing and encouraging blue-collar job growth. - - - “Now it looks like Trump is creating the kind of economy he promised, with growth targeted at the downscale (including blacks and Hispanics) rather than the upscale, with lower economic inequality and with growth spreading to regions that have seen little of it for decades. . .” (Ref. 1) President Trump increased the GDP growth rate to above 3% for the first time in many recent years. At the end of the 3rd Quarter in 2017, the national GDP reached $19.5 trillion for the highest recorded GDP in US history. Tax Reform Under the aegis of president Donald Trump, the United States finally got a measure of much needed tax reform. Briefly, the tax reform included the simplification of the income tax code for the average tax payer, the reduction in tax rates for many American tax-payers, and the elimination a host of unnecessary and inefficient provisions designed to benefit special interests. Perhaps most importantly, the reform lowered the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, thus making U.S. companies more competitive with the rest of the world.[2] The Environment On 1 June 2017, President Trump announced the United States would leave the Paris Climate Agreement. I wrote at that time that he had made the correct decision. In my article, it was reported that “Without any impact on global temperatures, Paris was the open door for egregious regulation, cronyism, and government spending that would have been as disastrous for the American economy as it {was} proving to be for those in Europe. Heritage {Foundation} analysts projected that this agreement would have raised energy prices, killed jobs and cost the average family of four $20,000 by 2035.” (Ref. 3) “The Paris climate agreement was negotiated badly and signed out of desperation. In fact, there was enough bipartisan opposition to the pact in Congress that President Obama bypassed sending it to the Senate for ratification as a treaty. The American agreement {rested} on nothing more than the former president’s handshake. That is why America’s agreement was based upon an executive order and not a formal treaty.” (Ref. 3) Donald Trump took America out of the Paris Climate Agreement, but left the door open for a renegotiated “fairer: deal. What was lost amid all the entirely predictable hot-air spewed forth at the time was the truth that the Paris agreement was always more symbolism than substance. It was an entirely voluntary agreement — not binding on any of the member countries that signed it. As Donald Trump has said, “The agreement was less about the climate and more about other countries gaining a financial advantage over the United States.” Just because President Trump announced America’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, it did not mean that America would abandon its move to a cleaner and more sustainable environment. Development of wind and solar power continues; there are more and more electric and hybrid electric vehicles on our highways; the changeover from coal and oil to cleaner natural gas continues because American ingenuity has made the U.S. the largest source on earth of this energy source.[3] Well, it’s now more than a year since Trump announced America’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement. So “Take a wild guess what country is reducing its greenhouse gas emissions the most? Canada? Britain? France? India? Germany? Japan? No, no, no, no, no, and no. “The answer to that question is the United States of America. [Emphasis mine] Wow! How can that be? This must be a misprint. Fake news. America never signed the Kyoto Protocol some two decades ago. We never enacted a carbon tax. We don’t have a cap-and-trade carbon emission program. That environmental villain Donald Trump pulled America out of the Paris climate accord that was signed by almost the entire rest of the civilized world. “Yet the latest world climate report from the BP Statistical Review of World Energy finds that in 2017, America reduced its carbon emissions by 0.5 percent, the most of all major countries. That’s especially impressive given that our economy grew by nearly 3 percent—so we had more growth and less pollution—the best of all worlds. “The major reason for the reduced pollution levels is the shale oil and gas revolution that is transitioning the world to cheap and clean natural gas for electric power generation. “Meanwhile, as our emissions fell, the pollution levels rose internationally and by a larger amount than in previous years. So much for the rest of the world going green. “The world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide emissions is China. According to the invaluable Institute for Energy Research, ‘China produces 28 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions. India is the world’s third largest emitter of carbon dioxide and had the second largest increment (93 million metric tons) of carbon dioxide emissions in 2017, more than twice as much an increase as the U.S. reduction.’ - - - “This latest data also demonstrates that despite all of the criticism across the globe and in the American media, Trump was completely right to pull the United States out of the flawed Paris accord. That might be one of the most universally violated treaties of all time—which is saying a lot. . . . {N}early every nation that signed on to the Paris accord and has admonished America for not getting in has already broken its promises. “Not a single EU nation is within 80 percent of its respective target for emission reduction, according to Climate Action Network Europe. In its official EU report, Climate Action Network Europe said, ‘All EU countries are failing to increase their climate action in line with the Paris Agreement goal.’ All but five countries aren’t even at 50 percent of their current targets. “. . . The countries in the Paris climate agreement have broken every promise they’ve made and the nation that hasn’t signed the treaty is doing more than any other nation to reduce global warming.” (Ref. 4) With respect to the Paris Climate Agreement, Donald Trump “done good”! The Trump administration has had a major impact in significantly reducing the strangling effects of Obama-era actions. While the most prominent move was Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord, the EPA has been moving on other fronts. The EPA has been dismantling Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan. The Trump EPA began the process of rescinding the 2015 Waters of the United States rule, which supposedly protected smaller bodies of water and streams in the same way that larger ones had been. The Trump administration has set about to undo Obama’s banning of drilling in the Arctic and parts of the Atlantic Ocean. In all of these cases, Donald Trumps’ initiatives have been focused on removing overly burdensome restrictions on America’s economic growth, eliminating bureaucratic monstrosities and reducing the endless miles of red tape that have been impeding the growth of American industry over the past decades. [5] Roll-back of Government Over-regulation Since Donald Trump became president, the EPA moved to undo, delay or otherwise block more than 30 environmental rules, a regulatory rollback larger in scope than any other over so short a time in the agency’s 47-year history. Other agencies have joined also in deregulation. The State Department reversed an Obama-era decision, clearing the way for the Keystone XL pipeline to begin construction. The Interior Department was reversing a rule on fracking on public lands, and also reversed some equipment regulations on offshore drilling equipment implemented after the 2010 Gulf oil spill. Also, the department has rolled back a ban on coal mining on public lands. Trump has overseen moves to expand oil drilling in the Arctic and Gulf of Mexico. All of this has helped to send the stock market to new highs, reduced unemployment, improved corporate financials and returned America to a position of global dominance in oil and natural gas. Immigration Donald Trump has started the process that previous presidents and administrations should have addressed long ago – he is enforcing America’s immigration laws and taking action against illegal immigrants. Trump ordered that federal laws, in place well before he came to office, be enforced, including the separation of children from their law-breaking parents. The law requires that the children, many of them actually arriving without parents, be interviewed to ensure they are not being abused or trafficked into the United States. Federal law also required that children be placed under government care until the issue of immigration was resolved - Presidents Bush and Obama previously separated children from their supposed parents while their cases were under investigation. In fact, it was the Clinton administration settlement agreement that doesn’t allow juvenile aliens to stay with their parents who have been detained for unlawful entry into the country. Donald Trump has simply been enforcing existing law! [6] FACT: Under Donald Trump, border security has improved. “Border crossings have already plummeted, suggesting that rhetoric making it clear to immigrants that they are not welcome is effective in its own right. Customs and Border Protections report that apprehensions of unauthorized people are down nearly 20 percent from the same time in 2016. . .” (Ref. 5) Foreign Economic Policy Trump began his presidency by carrying out a key promise of withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He has subsequently initiated discussions leading to trade agreements more advantageous to American businesses. At the same time, Trump’s administration is renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, again leading to agreements more advantageous to American businesses. At the same time, relations with Cuba, particularly with regard to travel and commerce have continued to improve. Israel, “Palestinians” and Islamic Extremists As an American Jew who strongly supports Israel, I can state that Donald Trump has done more for the State of Israel than any other president. He has ended the obsequious kowtowing to the “Palestinians” and their anti-Semitic supporters. He has discontinued the presidential spouting of the blatant falsehood that “Palestinian” leaders are peace loving Muslims who want nothing more than to come to a final agreement with Israel that will allow the two peoples to live in peace and harmony. Nothing could be further from the truth and nothing has been more obvious for decades. But, it took Donald Trump to spell out the truth that the leaders of the “Palestinians” are murderers, terrorists, and immovable obstacle to any peace in the region. In a radical departure from decades of foreign policy, Trump announced that the U.S. would formally recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and he began the process of moving its embassy to the contested holy city. The move signified one of Trump’s boldest statements to the international community, and, specifically, the United Nations, which has been an all-too-willing lacky of Islamic extremism and a supporter of any and all anti-Israel actions proposed by the anti-Semitic nations of the world. In the same vein, Donald Trump has acknowledged what any rational person knows – the leaders of Iran are supporters of Terrorism and they have not given up on their dreams of destroying Israel, of establishing themselves as the true leaders of Islam, and of eliminating all opposition – especially that “Great Satan”, the United States. Donald Trump has taken the bold step necessary to confront the Iranian Ayatollahs and has reestablished economic sanctions on that terrorist regime.[7] Reversing Obama’s policy of announcing in advance America’s military intentions and Obama’s intention to withdraw American forces from the region, Trump, with other allies has dealt major blows to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, bringing about that terrorist group’s near demise. He expanded the military’s authority to carry out air strikes in the Middle East, a factor many experts credit for the successes against terrorism in the region.[8] Both Syria and Iraq have declared victory over ISIS and due to President Trump’s resolve, less than 1,000 ISIS fighters are estimated remaining. In this section, I write about that other side of Donald Trump, the dark side, which has, to a large extent, negated or marred much of the positive results that he has produced. At War with the News Media President Trump’s ongoing derogatory war with the news media in America is well known. He repeats over and over again the phrase “fake news” so that nobody any longer pays attention to the words. In an extraordinary fit of anger, Trump Twittered, “The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!” Clearly, Trump has gone over the edge in his hatred and constant haranguing of one of America’s greatest guarantors of freedom of information. Donald Trump Lies According to The Toronto Star, “President Trump has made 2,369 false statements as president as of August 2018.” (Ref. 9) The Chicago Tribune in May of 2018 reported that, “In the 466 days since he took the oath of office, President Donald Trump has made 3,001 false or misleading claims, according to the Washington Post's database that analyzes, categorizes and tracks every suspect statement uttered by the president. “That's an average of nearly 6.5 claims a day.” (Ref. 10) More recently, the Washington post claimed that, “In 558 days, President Trump has made 4,229 false or misleading claims.” (Ref. 20) That’s amazing. While the reported numbers may be a bit high, there seems to be no doubt that any words spoken by Donald Trump need to be looked at quite closely to determine their veracity. Besides being untruthful, “Trump has a proclivity to repeat, over and over, many of his false or misleading statements. We've counted at least 113 claims that the president has repeated at least three times, some with breathtaking frequency.” (Ref. 10) Unfortunately, Trump’s egotism and thin skin make the truth an irrelevant issue in the words coming out of the president’s mouth. A Loud-Mouthed Egotist Donald Trump has proven to be a loud-mouthed egotist. On top of that, he has shown himself to be consistently inconsistent about nearly everything. He will tweet one thing today and something totally in opposition tomorrow. Facts are meaningless to Donald Trump, while commitment to Donald Trump has to be absolute. He has demonstrated that he is vindictive and can not stand criticism or opposition. Donald Trump’s belief is “I am the greatest!” While the originator of that expression proved it be true with respect to himself, the same cannot be said of Donald Trump. Inability to Keep His Mouth Shut Time and time again, Trump has let his temper flare and has mouthed improper words. He has proven to be his own worst enemy in his tweets and unprepared statements. His staff has proven unable to rein in his most wrathful impulses and prevent him from misspeaking. His inopportune castigation of the news media, the Department of Justice, America’s intelligence agencies, and anyone that dares to speak up against him are, at the least, embarrassments. For someone who never served a day in the military, his early insult against an American hero, Senator John McCain of Arizona, for being captured in Vietnam, was and still is utterly disgraceful. At a Republican presidential forum in 2015, Candidate Trump had the chutzpah to say, “He’s not a war hero. he’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” (Ref. 11) Donald Trump can’t keep his mouth shut. When his advisers warned him not to congratulate Putin on his re-election. He did it anyway. When all of America’s security agencies told him that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election, Trump opened his big mouth and told the world that Putin had assured him that Russia had not meddled in the elections and that he, Donald Trump, believed him. Petty and Vindictive Once more, Donald Trump has shown himself to be both petty and vindictive. Shorty after the death of Senator and war hero John McCain, President Trump had the White House flag lowered and then raised in a blatant slap in the face and an insult to McCain’s memory. He had the flag returned to half-staff only after public outrage and heavy pressure from veteran’s groups. “Donald Trump has finally managed to shock himself — realizing that he was being an unpresidential jerk by keeping the White House flag at half-staff for the late Sen. John McCain for less than 48 hours. “At a historic moment in U.S. history, Trump failed America and once again proved how petty he really is. . . - - - “If Trump wants his flags flying high at all of his golf courses, that is his choice, but only lowering the flag over the White House for a day was disgraceful.” (Ref. 11) A Dictator In a move reminiscent of those of foreign dictators, President Donald Trump pulled the security clearance of an outspoken critic, former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), John Brennan. “Brennan, an official under former President Barack Obama, has become one of Trump's most vocal critics over Russia: When Trump last month seemingly sided with President Vladamir Putin over U.S. intelligence officials on the subject of election interference, Brennan called the move ‘nothing short of treasonous.’ “. . . Brennan described the action as a ‘cost of speaking out’ that should ‘worry all Americans.’ “ (Ref. 12) Using security clearances as a political tool and as a means to punish critics smacks of unbounded egotism, unconstrained abuse of power and the inability to tolerate any form of opposition and criticism. National security and the issuance of security clearances, up to the regime of Donald Trump, have always remained above party politics and petty peeves. Donald Trump has now brought national security down to the level of the gutter, a genuine disgrace and embarrassment. Interfering with the Judicial Process On more than one occasion, Donald Trump has come precariously close to being charged with obstruction of justice and interference in ongoing criminal investigations. Back in the Spring of 2016, the US intelligence community opened an investigation into whether members of President Donald Trump's inner circle had improper ties to Russian government officials. Then FBI head, James Comey, led the investigation into collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. At the same time, the FBI was also looking into possible wrong-doing on the part of former national security adviser Michael Flynn. In March of 2016, Director Comey confirmed that the FBI was probing whether Donald Trump or his advisers colluded with Russia ahead of the November election and that the FBI had uncovered no evidence to back up the president’s repeated and unsupported accusations that the Obama administration was snooping on him. Then on May 9, 2017, President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. Many felt that Trump was seeking to squash that investigation because of what might come to light. Firing the FBI head at his whim when an investigation into possible wrongdoing on the part of his aides, colleagues or himself was taking place could be seen as gross interference in the judicial process. Behavior such as that exhibited by Donald Trump was behavior that one only expects from dictators and despots – not that of the president of the United States. It also turned out that President Trump had said to FBI Director James Comey, “I hope you let this thing go” in relation to an ongoing investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Such action was unquestionably improper, at best, and arguably an obstruction of justice. There is a very high probability that Donald Trump attempted to obstruct justice, both when he expressed his desire that the FBI “let go” of its investigation into Mike Flynn, and then when he fired Director Comey, with “Russia thing” on his mind.[13] Most recently, his inference of a possible pardon for convicted felon, Paul Manafort, even before sentencing would seem unprecedented and one could infer that his possible pardon for Manafort was a not-so-subtle hint to his former counsel Michael Cohen that if he kept his mouth shut about the payoffs to Trump’s previous bedmates, Trump would keep him out of jail with a presidential pardon. With respect to talk of a presidential pardon for Manafort, it was reported that, “President Trump is so adamant about possibly pardoning Paul Manafort that he’s mulling hiring a new White House counsel since the current one is strongly opposed to the idea . . . “. . . Trump has been feuding with Donald McGahn over drafting a pardon for Manafort, the President’s former campaign chairman who was convicted on a laundry list of fraud charges . . . “McGahn — who recently made headlines amid revelations he’s been cooperating extensively with special counsel Robert Mueller — is strongly against the idea of pardoning Manafort . . . Consequently, Trump has reportedly been telling officials he may bring in a new lawyer to carry out the task. - - - “Trump has publicly entertained pardoning Manafort, even though the Russia-linked lobbyist was convicted on eight counts of bank and tax fraud. Manafort faces a second trial in Washington, D.C., next month on charges of money laundering, unregistered foreign lobbying and lying to the FBI. “Minutes after a Virginia jury found Manafort guilty last Tuesday, Trump attested to what a ‘good man’ his criminally convicted ex-campaign chief is. “. . .Trump told reporters. ‘This is a witch hunt, and it’s a disgrace.’ ” (Ref. 14) Pardon me! But Donald Trump is talking about a person convicted of eight counts of bank and tax fraud and is impugning the entire judicial system of these United States. Donald Trump is claiming he knows the facts and the guilt or innocence of Manafort better than the U. S. Justice Department, the federal courts, and the judgement of an impartial jury of American citizens. Chaos The administration of Donald Trump continues to set new standards for chaos and dysfunction, with staffer turnover setting unprecedented records. At the end of 2017, the “Trump administration — racked by a series of prominent resignations, firings and departures — {had} the highest level of first-year staff turnover of any White House in 40 years . . . “President Trump {saw} a 34 percent turnover rate of senior aides leaving the White House . . . “. . . 21 of the 61 Trump senior officials tracked {had} either resigned, been fired or reassigned.” (Ref. 15) Trump was never good at attracting talent. Now that's coming back to haunt him. After a year plus in office, Boris Epshteyn, Anthony Scaramucci, Sebastian Gorka, Carter Page, Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, Corey Lewandowski, Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus, Sean Spicer and others all have come and gone. His campaign manager is a convicted criminal and is gone. His personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, is under indictment and threatening to tell all, while Trump calls the person he chose as his personal lawyer, a low life. The most recent announced departure is that of Don McGahn, counsel to the office of the president, who has reportedly been vigorously opposed to Trump's desire to fire his attorney General Jeff Sessions, along with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, and pardon his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort. A Bad Record of Selecting People for High Positions Donald Trumps’ record of choosing competent and honest people to work for and with him is abysmal. His one-time personal lawyer is under indictment and has offered to provide evidence of the president’s misdeeds. In turn, Trump, in a now altogether familiar fit of anger, tweeted "If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don't retain the services of Michael Cohen!" (Ref. 16) Remember, this is from the man who hired Cohen as his personal lawyer and supposedly used him as a “fixer” to buy the silence of women with whom he cavorted. The man chosen by Donald Trump to be his campaign manager has turned out to be a convicted felon. Trump's onetime campaign chairman, “Paul Manafort, was convicted by a jury in Virginia of financial misdeeds. Manafort faces separate charges in September in the District of Columbia that include acting as a foreign agent.” (Ref. 16) Trump’s choice of Michael Flynn to be his national security advisor also turned sour. In late August of 2018 “prosecutors and defense attorneys for former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn agreed to postpone his sentencing after he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with a Russian official . . . “ (Ref. 16) Donald Trump made former Apprentice contestant, Omarosa Manigault Newman, a White House adviser. After being fired from her adviser position, she announced that she had written a book about the Trump White House and released a series of secret recordings from inside the White House. Trump then retaliated against his choice of advisor by blasting “Wacky” Omarosa Manigault-Newman, calling her “vicious, but not smart” and saying White House Chief of Staff John Kelly considered her a “loser.” [17] “Omarosa has already released audio of her firing by chief of staff John Kelly and a conversation with Lara Trump in which Omarosa was offered a job on Trump’s re-election campaign afterward, bringing allegations that the Trump team was improperly using donor money to keep her quiet about what she learned in the White House.” (Ref. 18) Hiding Past Indiscretions The full story of Donald Trump’s sexual escapades and attempts to suppress the facts have yet to fully come to light. Based upon incomplete evidence, it would appear that Donald Trump was “a serial womanizer who, while his wife was at home with their new baby, was (ahem) ‘working on his short game’ with every golf club hottie he could land. He {supposedly} paid out nearly $300,000 to keep two of the women quiet during the campaign, and used his personal attorney to arrange the payoffs. “One of the women wouldn’t stay paid off (Stormy Daniels) and went public, and Trump {again, supposedly} lied and lied and lied about what he did, and he’s still lying today. . .” (Ref. 19) If the reports of payoffs and lying about them are true, then paying off a porn star in the waning days of the campaign to keep her out of the news is wrong and may be illegal. If Donald Trump denied he knew about porn-star payoffs when the audiotape of him discussing them with his attorney (“Pay with cash?”) is real, then, at the least, he is definitely a liar. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- References:
|
| 31 August 2018 {Article 333; Politics_38} |