Category: politics

Here I dump all I will write about Trump.

Here is a summary of my opinions supported by a little reading. I agree with my opinions – you don’t need to. If you want to label me, let me start: Politically, I am a happy optimistic progressive liberal atheist. I’m self-amused, not generally angry, and when I have to raise my voice to make a point I think I’ve already lost. 

Trump is extremely dangerous. He has already done damage to the Earth and to American values, and to domestic and foreign policy. But I don’t want to pollute my days with him as a topic. The world of ideas, people, science, art, and social progress is so much bigger than Trump. My own little world changed a lot in the past year, so Trump did not consume me – I didn’t have the mental energy for it. A few days spent on this post, followed by occasional updates, is sufficient for me.

I won’t create multiple Trump posts – one is enough for my site. This might lead to a sense of false equivalence – the amount of things I find disturbing about Trump is much greater than the entire set of concerns I’ve ever had about all other politicians in my life. But I have to move on.

This note contains nothing about “what to do”. That’s a separate topic. That one is worth many posts.

Why Write About Trump?

I’ve wavered. Some reasons, resolutions in italics:

• There’s been so much written already, what else can I add? I need to articulate what I think, to clarify my own opinions. Maybe the result will be useful. Writing helps me do this. Writing in public makes me think about it more carefully. I want to understand my own thoughts before I think about appropriate actions I can take.
• The Trump election has surfaced a latent political/religious/world-view rift in my extended family and in some friendships. Why inflame, exacerbate, or otherwise increase that rift? I’m not trying to increase a rift, only to lay out my opinions as clearly as I can. If it results in dialog, great. I’ve asked for explanations from pro-Trump family members and friends and have received silence so far, with the exception of one sentence from one person: “Because Hillary supports abortion.” I don’t want to find myself insulting Trump voters, calling them out on what I think is their mistake. That’s unfair to them. Rather, I want to work on some issues, and try to show that there are good choices that we can make to help our country move forward, and to help people. More on these in other posts. In my opinion these choices do not include Trump.
• It is complicated, multi-faceted. I don’t know everything about all issues. I doubt that anyone does. I want to summarize and categorize, to keep things as clear as possible for myself. I seek a framework so that I have a way to consume news in context, and prepare myself to be effective in the next election cycle.
• It is too much work, and I have better things to do. Our egos lead us to think that this particular time in history is special. Is it, really? These political times are as unique as I have experienced in my lifetime. Some basic parts of our democracy are being attacked more than I’ve ever experienced. Although the Constitution remains powerful and steadfast so far, the attacks feel dangerous. I sense that we are closer to slippery slopes than we think. I don’t remember our country being so divided, especially within families. So maybe the idea of having to think hard about it via writing about it is a good thing.

Short Summary

• Trump’s personality and character conflict with what we require in an American president.
• Trump’s policies are Republican with a touch of protectionist nationalism, informed by bigotry and bullying. His Cabinet is anti-science, pro-business, pro fossil fuels, against the separation of church and state, mostly unprepared for government service, and almost totally unconcerned with human needs.
• Trump’s accusatory relationships with press and with the judiciary are dangerous to democracy.
• Trump’s mysterious connections to Russia, coupled with Trump’s “easy on Russia” policies, are possibly criminal, and are certainly not in America’s best interests.
• Trump’s immense conflicts of interest, and his rejection of any sense that he needs to correct them, mean that any political decisions he makes are suspect, tainted.

Organizing My Thoughts

I think about Trump in these main categories, which came from my summary above:

• Personal Qualities
• Policies
• Relationship with the Press and with the Judiciary
• Relationship with Russia
• Conflicts of Interest

The categories intertwine. This is my subjective division. In each of the above categories there are subcategories.

Personal Qualities

All negative. Danger: It is easy to make fun of Trump – many of his personal qualities are cartoonishly extreme. The danger is that while we are laughing at him we divert our attention from substantive matters, and he and his colleagues are making changes damaging to Americans and to the Earth.

Narcissist

Trump is only about Trump. This is a key to his other traits.

He views himself as superior and unfailing. He is thin-skinned, taking great umbrage at every slight. He cannot maintain attention on any topic unless the topic is himself. He cannot handle debate so surrounds himself with sycophants. He rejects reality when it doesn’t meet his self-view.

Others manipulate him using his narcissism. Praise him and he’ll agree with your opinions. This weakness is especially unsuitable for a president.

Bully

Trump has always been and remains a bully. He was a rich kid with few boundaries and he hasn’t grown up. Wealth enables his bullying behavior – the ability to change schools when in trouble, to hire more lawyers to overwhelm business deals gone sour, to buy government officials when he needs regulations changed. He consistently uses the promise or threat of money as his hammer.

Like many bullies, he backs down when confronted head on. He only picks a fight if someone else fights for him.

Many world leaders understand this false bravado. Combined with his lack of principle, it means that his policies can reverse after a short conversation with another world leader. This is not a choice trait for a president.

Wealth Centric, Unilaterally Transactional

Trump’s sole measure of worth is wealth. He judges others based on their monetary wealth. Other types of wealth, other attributes, are beyond him.

Though wealthy, he does not give to charity. Worse, he games the notion of charity for further personal gain.

A country is so much more than individuals counting their coins. Our president neither understands nor respects this.

Being wealth-centric and bullying, Trump views everything as a transaction, a “deal”. He sees each deal as win-lose. His narcissism demands that he wins. In his mind he has won them all. In reality he has made many losing deals. Four major bankruptcies, and approximately four thousand lawsuits.

Trump’s bullying nature leads him to demand unilateral transactions, in which his position is stronger, either by superior wealth in his business deals, or superior American might in international policy deals. He actively avoids multilateral transactions because he doesn’t get to control them, and doesn’t get to be the center of attention.

So many policy decisions and negotiations, domestic and international, are better served with “win-win” as the shared goal. NAFTA, TPP, NATO, European Union, United Nations, Paris Climate Accords, they are all like that. Trump will not participate in them. This is a severe limit for an American president.

Bigot

… and under the general heading of “Bigot” I add Racist, Misogynist, Homophobe, and Xenophobe.

Trump stereotypes and denigrates these groups …

• non-white races
• those of lesser wealth
• non-Christian religions
• those with differing gender preferences
• those of differing gender identifications
• those of differing national origins
• those of differing politics
• those with physical differences or disabilities
• women
• foreigners

Anybody who is not an old white rich man is subject to Trump’s scorn. Trump clearly aligns with white supremacist and nationalist views. Trump tweets outrage when Muslims hurt whites, and is silent when whites hurt Muslims or others. Trump rates women on their appearance and considers them conquests and dirty, using “bleeding” as an expletive against them. Trump mocks disabled people.

Trump values only a tiny percentage of America’s, or the world’s, population. This is unsuitable for the President of one of the world’s strongest and most diverse nations.

Amoral

… and under the general heading of “Amoral” I add Liar, Panderer, Unloyal, Untrustworthy, Uncaring, Unprincipled, Unethical and Shameless. They are aspects of the same personality trait.

Trump is unconcerned about right or wrong, truth or lie. Whatever helps him to stay in the spotlight, to gain more wealth, to conquer something or somebody, he will do or say. He has no moral compass and does not care when his lies are found out to be lies. In the simplistic sense, this makes him unreliable. In the greater sense, he is the poorest representative of an American.

Trump is so easy with lies that nothing that he says can be believed without checking, or without waiting to see if he changes his lie later. He uses lies shamelessly to divert attention when necessary, controlling news cycles. He uses lies to stay in the public eye. He lies so often and so blatantly that it is difficult for news agencies to keep up, much less to fully rebut each lie or to put each lie into context.

His lies promote a distorted dystopian world view, regurgitated by Fox and Breitbart and sites run by hate groups. That view, via those channels, now has influenced a significant subsection of America. It will be hard to recover from this. It may not be possible. Right now America is being run mostly on the basis of lies, vs. facts, vs. evidence.

Trump panders. He promises anything to anyone to get what he wants. He promises conflicting things to different groups. Unfortunately, white supremacists, bigots, coal miners, Evangelical Christians, the NRA, angry old white men, and others all buy in to this pandering. Some get what they want, at great cost to the country. Others, if they open their eyes, will find that they’ve been had. Trump is all about, and is only about, Trump.

An aside, thinking about pandering…  and about the current rift in my family. 

Evangelical Christians know that Trump is no Christian, is no real opponent of abortion, and doesn’t really care about Roe v. Wade. He’s just a showman when necessary. They know he used the Supreme Court nomination and their fixation on the singular abortion issue to get their vote. He would have appointed a conservative Justice anyway, to get better judgments for corporations and the wealthy. Pandering to Evangelicals was a no-cost bonus for him.

To me, the Evangelical vote indicates an inability to distinguish American citizenship responsibility from religious belief.

They seek government help to establish control over those who do not believe as they do. They are willing to ignore so much to get this. I call that hypocrisy. 

I used to think of Evangelicals as benign, mostly within themselves, and sometimes helpful in some areas. Now I think of them as a political entity seeking to control me in ways that are outside the limits of the Constitution. I think of them as dangerous. The United States is not a theocracy. Their religion is not my government.

What’s ironic is that now that the Evangelicals have much of what they want from Trump, they can just drop him. They have Gorsuch and Pence in place, and possibly another Supreme Court nomination in a little while. I won’t be surprised to see them suddenly claim high moral ground and denounce Trump. 

… end of aside.

Trump demands loyalty, to a fault. He surrounds himself with useless sycophants. There is no intellectual debate in the White House, only praise for the leader. This means that the talent pool from which he selects important administrators is quite small.

But Trump himself is not loyal. He is only about Trump. Now that this has been evident for a while, Trump finds his talent pool further diminished. Among those who he might choose because they’ve been loyal to him, many now see that accepting the position has more downside than upside. They see themselves under the bus.

Trump is untrustworthy. As a businessman, starting with a huge stash, he hasn’t done as well as the ordinary mutual fund over the years. The notion that he has business acumen is distorted. What he has had, in his career, is many thousands of lawsuits against him, many tales of stiffing contractors, many bankruptcies. With his bullying behavior, always being the overdog in a transaction, he has shown that he cannot be trusted. He can no longer get a loan on Wall Street.

Trump gives campaign speeches about how he cares, but in actions he cares about others not one whit. In the easiest of situations that require a response, like major and minor tragedies, Trump has shown himself to be uncaring. He cares only about Trump. He only “cares” after a bit, when a staffer reminds him that he should send something out in that vein.

Trump has no principles, and no ethics which which to form principles. Trump only cares that he wins and is admired, and mostly for his wealth and sexual prowess. He will adjust any principles to achieve that aim. He has no concrete domestic or foreign policy. His views on most topics can change 180 degrees within the same day. He’s against NATO, for NATO. He’s against Quatar, for Quatar. He likes the Saudis because they give him gifts and he has hotels there, never mind their human rights record. He absolutely doesn’t care about accusations about conflicts of interest, and flaunts those conflicts when he can brag about them.

It is extremely difficult to form a coherent national strategy when the president cannot express or adhere to even the most basic level of principles.

Trump has no sense of shame, no ethical sense. He has committed adultery several times, with multiple marriages, and claims to be a Fundamentalist Christian. More of his statements on the campaign trail and in office have been found to be lies rather than truths, and yet he doubles-down on them. He flaunts conflict-of-interest and nepotism charges.

Vindictive

It is easy to provoke Trump. He must win, and so he must strike back. Often he shoots himself in the foot. Our president needs to be a diplomat. He needs to be able to shed taunts and stick to the problem to be solved. Trump has no such ability.

It may be that the whole reason for Trump’s presidential run is that he was embarrassed by being made fun of by Barack Obama during a speech at a Correspondent’s Dinner, a joke fest. He has never forgotten that. He started his campaign with “birther” conspiracy theories. Now, fueled by racism and bigotry as well as vindictiveness, he is determined to undo all that Obama has done, just to get back at Obama. Trump really doesn’t care at all what he’s doing, only that he is slapping back at Obama. Trump used to be a pro-choice Democrat. He’s just picked a vehicle, the duped Republican party and duped Evangelical Christians, and others, as a means to his revenge.

This is very dangerous for a president. It means that Trump is easily manipulated by praise (the narcissist) and by taunts (the vindictive).

He brutishly attacks any news outlet criticizing him, misusing the label “fake news”, applying it to any negative press. He coarsely tweets outrageous and fact-free personal attacks on news personalities. These actions in themselves are far beneath the expected dignity of the person representing America. They cause me to be embarrassed for our country. These actions are also close to those of a totalitarian, someone who is intent on destroying the freedom of press with the aim of controlling the public conversation, that conversation being essential to a working democracy. It is disturbing to me that his followers, a significant subset of my fellow Americans, continue to support him, and even revel in his brutality.

Simpleton

Trump has bragged that he has “never read a book in my life”. This is presidential? Do we really want a dumbed-down presidency?

A byproduct of being unread, and of the narcissism that drives him to think that he is plenty smart, is the situation that Trump is intellectually unprepared, either with factual knowledge or the practical experience of deep thinking, for the subtle and nuanced job of President of the United States. And he won’t admit it. He is easily manipulated. Whoever spoke to him last, and that means in the last few minutes, and with a little praise, wins. Dangerous.

Trump aggressively rejects intellectualism and science.

Trump thinks climate change is a hoax. Trump is not sure why we need scientists on the federal payroll. Some of this is Trump’s condition of being easily lead due to his simplistic, unread nature, combined with the Republican Party’s continued allowance of influence from backwards religious rejections of science. Some of it is Trump’s self-notion of superiority – after all, he did get to be president while having no notion of science, so how useful can science be? And some of it is probably fear – he is afraid to admit that he really doesn’t understand much. He doesn’t ever want to look less smart than those around him.

Trump doesn’t want details about anything. He can’t consume them. People have to dumb down material for his consumption. He doesn’t want an intellectual debate on any topic. It is embarrassing to have a president who really isn’t that smart, and who either doesn’t know or doesn’t care about it.

He will lead the United States to a lesser role in the world with these notions. The United States could become a second-tier theocratic backwards country, without health care, with education policies based on cult beliefs and fears, and with an exodus of scientific workers to countries embracing scientific inquiry.

Carl Sagan wrote about how the human race is probably smart, but if we destroy ourselves in a nuclear war we will have proven to the universe that we were really rather naive and dumb. Trump may make a simplistic mistake, helped along by his incendiary and vindictive personality, and cause an international crisis before aides can stop him. This is extremely dangerous in the nuclear age. Carl’s fears have never been closer to the truth than now.

Policies

I’ll use Trump’s Cabinet for the policy discussions. Summary:

• Shallow incompetent sycophants now run our executive policy.
• Trump’s policy decisions come down to “Will It Make Me Look Good?”.
• Exclusively business-focused – economic over human-centered decisions.
• Almost no government experience, and not hiring experienced help.
• Strong ties to Wall Street.
• Strong ties to the fossil fuels industry, with many climate change deniers.
• No scientists, and an open disdain of anything scientific.
• Decreased sense of separation of church and state.
• Anti-regulation in all forms, including important environmental issues.
• Extreme wealth abounds – few have connections to average Americans.
• Extremely white male centric.

Trump’s choices indicate his direction, if there is a direction. Mostly, Trump has only the most shallow Cabinet – only those who were loyal to him, mostly rich white men with the exceptions chosen so that there would be exceptions to talk about. If you read my discussion about loyalty above, you can understand that Trump can’t really staff the second-level positions well – there are not enough choices, and many are turning him down. Many positions are going unfilled.

Also, it is noteworthy that generally Trump’s Cabinet members have no experience in the position to which they were appointed, with only a couple of exceptions. And without support from below, and with unclear direction from above, the various organizations are floundering.

Most of the current Cabinet activity involves destruction rather than creation – undoing everything Obama did. I understand that this is somewhat expected – Republicans reversing what they consider to be Democrat mistakes. But it seems that it goes further than that, a spiteful slap in Obama’s face at every opportunity, even with small stuff. Trump’s vindictiveness at work.

There is a general sense that they feel entitled, that they have no need to consider that half (more than half, actually) of America did not vote for Trump and does not want Trump in office. They are the most partisan Cabinet, lead by Trump who tweets scorn at Democrats at every opportunity. Building bridges? Hardly.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson

• No government service experience
• No foreign policy experience except Exxon globalism
• State Dept. focuses on alliances and globalism; Trump wants to dismantle
• Ties to Russia
• Former Exxon/Mobil head, strong ties to oil industry
• Helped lead Exxon/Mobil’s climate change denial efforts

Dangerously unprepared, and prevented by Trump from hiring knowledgeable assistants, if Trump doesn’t like them or if they’ve ever said something bad about Trump.

Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin

• From Goldman Sachs, wealthy hedge-fund manager
• Secretive financially
• Uses offshore tax havens
• Made money by aggressively foreclosing on homes
• Financial connections with Trump

He’ll serve the 1%. The rest of us are invisible.

Secretary of Defense James Mattis

• Retired general
• Seems sane
• Trump has abdicated to him full rein over the military, which is at odds with the notion that a civilian, the president, should be on top of the military to avoid military coups. I also take this as an indication of two things: Trump is lazy, doesn’t want to make hard decisions; Trump wants someone to blame.

“Surgeons think in terms of cutting, generals think in terms of fighting” – he’s sane, but has the military mindset, and more power than he should have. Trump listens to him a little bit.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions

• Racist, homophobic
• White supremacist ties
• Thinks separation of church and state goes too far
• Thinks same-sex marriage a threat to American culture
• Wants to return to the war on drugs, including marijuana
• Wants to return to minimum sentencing rules, especially for drugs
• Anti-immigration

Jefferson Beauregard Sessions is named after two Civil War heroes of the south. Evangelical Christians love him. He thinks “Make America Great Again” means move us back to the 1950’s, or, even better, the 1850’s.

Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke

• Ex-Navy SEAL, often refers to himself that way
• Never was awarded command due to travel expenses abuse
• Promotes increased drilling and mining on public lands
• States that climate change is “not proven science”

Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue

• Continued to run family business while governor of Georgia, after having won on a “drain the swamp” type of ticket
• Accused of promoting legislation in Georgia for self-gain
• Fined by Georgia State Ethics Commission in 2005

Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross

• Billionaire, has a $250 million art collection
• Many overseas investments
• Vice-chairman of the Bank of Cyprus
• Bought struggling companies, reworked them with layoffs, redoing union contracts, and reducing benefits

Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta

• Florida law school dean
• Only Hispanic in cabinet
• Violated federal law by taking political affiliations into account in hiring

Secretary of Health Tom Price

• Orthopedic surgeon
• Lead opposition to ACA while in the House of Representatives
• Opposes abortion rights
• Suspected of insider trading of medical and pharmaceutical stocks

Secretary of Housing Ben Carson

• Former neurosurgeon
• No background in government
• No experience running a bureaucracy, once declared himself as incapable
• Rejects the programs that once embraced his family
• Believes that welfare fosters dependency
• Believes the Earth is 6000 years old

Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao

• Establishment, former Secretary of Labor, married to Mitch McConnell
• Competent, served under Bush for all 8 years
• Easy confirmation

Secretary of Energy Rick Perry

• In 2011 proposed to scrap the Energy Department
• Close ties to oil industry
• He didn’t know what Energy Department did until he became the head
• He has a steep learning curve

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos

• Married into vast wealth
• Actively fights against public schools
• Lobbied for vouchers for private and parochial schools
• Has no experience in education metrics or policies
• Does not support Common Core
• Wants more religion, specifically Christian, Catholic, in our schools
• Very close and contentious confirmation vote

Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin

• Totally uncontroversial and probably highly competent pick
• Experience with medical systems
• Washington insider
• Appointed undersecretary for health by Obama

Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly

• Retired four-star Marine general
• Views southern border as a terrorist threat
• Considers Russia a threat, thus disagreeing with Trump
• Seems sane, easily confirmed

Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo

• Graduated first in class at West Point, considered smart and thorough
• Has adversarial view of Russia, like most CIA employees (but not Trump)
• Was part of Benghazi committee going after Hillary Clinton

United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley

• Daughter of immigrants, Indian-American
• As South Carolina governor, spoke out against the Confederate battle flag
• Her views on the world are not known
• Has supported restricting abortion rights in South Carolina

Environmental Protection Administration Administrator Scott Pruitt

• Close ally of the fossil fuel industry
• Active climate change denier
• Allows fossil fuel lobbyists to write some of his formal memos
• Has sued the EPA many times
• Considers the EPA only as an impediment to business profits
• Trump wants to dismantle EPA – Pruitt is the perfect pick
• Has reversed or relaxed many Obama environment-related orders

Small Business Administration Administrator Linda McMahon

• Former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment
• Husband Vince is the guy who Trump tackles in the now-famous video

Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney

• Proponent of deep spending cuts
• Founding member of the House Freedom Caucus
• After prayer with other congressmen, voted to shut down the gov’t in 2011
• Tough and close confirmation

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats

• Served on Senate intelligence and armed services committees
• Promised to continue investigation into Russia’s election meddling
• A quiet foodie, fiscally conservative but otherwise able to be bi-partisan

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer

• International lawyer, trade official under Reagan
• Advocates protectionist policies

Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Kevin Hassett

• Pro-immigration economist

Chief of Staff Reince Priebus

• Departing chairman of the Republican National Committee
• Close to Paul Ryan
• Known as a deal-maker, an insider

Chief Strategist Stephen Bannon

• Former head of Breitbart News
• No government experience
• Anti-Semetic, racist, nationalist, misogynistic, Islamophobic
• Naval officer, Harvard grad
• Strong connections to right-wing nationalists
• Strong connections to white supremacist groups
• Believes in an apocalyptic Muslims vs. Christians fight to the death
• Wants to start the above fight

Senior Advisor Jared Kushner

• Son-in-law of Trump via Ivanka
• Also a developer from a weathly family with many shady deals in the past
• Father went to jail for his business practices
• No government experience
• Ties to Russia
• Like Trump, extreme conflicts-of-interest with his businesses

Homeland Security Adviser Thomas Bossert

• Former national security aide to Bush
• Cyber crimes may be a main focus of his administration
• Has respect from both parties for intelligence and patience

Counselor Kellyanne Conway

• Background in sophisticated polling
• Lies as often or more often than Trump
• Some news-talk shows no longer seek her out for their shows due to lies
• Coined “alternative facts” phrase
• One of few female Trump surrogates

Regulatory Czar Carl Icahn

• Billionaire investor and “corporate raider”
• His job will be to unwind as many business regulations as possible
• No government experience

White House Counsel Donald McGahn II

• Combative iconoclast
• Fought to remove impediments to big money in politics
• Guitarist in a rock band
• Is known for devising ways to get around rules and regulations
• Unconcerned about conflicts of interest or ethics issues

Trade Czar Peter Navarro

• Professor, only credentialed economist on Trump’s staff
• No government experience
• Critic of Chinese economic policies
• Favors increased trade restrictions
• Four unsuccessful political campaigns in California as a Democrat

Press Secretary Sean Spicer

• Hostile relationship with the press
• Hostile relationship with the truth
• Opaque on anything important
• Works hard at limiting press access

National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster

• A Lt. General, lots of Afghanistan and Iraq experience and command
• Appointed after Flynn was forced out
• Considered one of the military’s most independent-minded officers
• West Point graduate, doctorate in military history
• Considered sane – McCain likes him, and in this area I trust McCain

Relationship with the Press and Judiciary

Which is worse? Is it Trump’s attack against the environment? Is it his allowance (we know he really doesn’t care) of movement towards a theocracy with changes in education, Supreme Court nominations, and attacks on women and gays? Is it his collusion with Russia? Is it his attack on some foundations of our democracy, that being freedom of the press, and the separation of the branches of government? I think the last one is the winner.

Trump is not just arguing. He is denying press access to his executive functions. He is brutally attempting to discredit and to control the press.

Trump attempts to influence judicial decisions. He engages in personal attacks on judges.  He casts blame and false responsibility onto judicial entities whose decisions he doesn’t agree with.

Attacks on the Press

“The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!  <on Twitter, Feb. 17th, 2017>

There are so many more, but this is the main point. Trump is attempting to demolish the idea of an independent press. Noteworthy is that Breitbart and Fox, less factually reliable but speaking for Trump, are omitted from the above tweet. Fox is Trump’s Pravda.

Trump only gives campaign speeches to carefully vetted crowds, even now that he is president. Every so often he will allow a Fox interview. Press conferences with his surrogates are opaque and one-directional. They toss accusations and give no answers to substantive questions.

Attacks on the Judiciary

“Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and the court system. People pouring in. Bad!” <Twitter, Feb. 5, 2017, in response to Trump’s Muslim travel ban being curtailed>

“I have a judge in the Trump University civil case, Gonzalo Curiel (San Diego), who is very unfair. An Obama pick. Totally biased- hates Trump.” <Twitter, May 30, 2016>  And in an interview Trump said that Curiel was no doubt biased because of his Mexican heritage.

Fake News, and Trump’s use of the term

Here are some definitions of “Fake News” that I will use in this note:

1. The presentation of totally fabricated reports of events, disguised as news reports. Totally made up. Purposes: To influence easily led people who don’t check information sources, thus promoting falsehoods; to profit via internet clicks on outrageous headlines; to disrupt the trust in news organizations; to amuse.
2. Mistakes made by legitimate news organizations which result in retractions and corrections when the mistakes are found.
3. A label used to attack news organizations who publish articles that: expose one’s lies with facts; publish opposing opinions; report damaging news; show one in an unflattering light.

Trump has been involved in the first type of Fake News. He made a political name for himself by being a “birther” – claiming that Obama was not born in the United States, offering no proof, ever. Many of Trump’s lies could be considered as Fake News as they are repeated as if they are fact. Examples: 1) Trump would have won the national overall vote if there hadn’t been several million examples of voter fraud. 2) Trump’s inauguration crowd size exceeded Obama’s.

Trump extensively uses the label of Fake News for any news article or organization with which he disagrees, or which shows him in a bad light. This is the third type of Fake News.

When a news organization makes a mistake, that second type of Fake News, and the mistake is about something against Trump, he goes ballistic, using the single episode and expanding it to “prove” that the entire organization is not to be trusted.

These behaviors lead people to lower their trust in news organizations that deserve trust, and to raise their trust in news organizations that don’t deserve trust. This is very dangerous. If successful, Trump will control the American narrative, devoid of truth. This control of the press is an important step towards totalitarianism and a giant step away from democracy. We have started in that direction. We think it can’t happen to us, but then we didn’t think Trump could happen to us, did we?

Relationship with Russia

Trump bashes all major countries, including traditionally friendly countries, whenever he can get attention for it. Except Russia. Trump only criticizes Russia when forced to do so by an abundance of evidence. Even then, he tempers his criticism and seeds uncertainty when he can.

Now we know, not just suspect but know, that Russia attempted to influence the American election in 2016, and was successful. There are many investigations by reputable branches of U.S. intelligence agencies that make this conclusion. The U.S. has instituted sanctions against Russia for these actions.

Trump’s campaign and current administration are under investigation by an independent counselor, to determine the extent, if any, of their involvement in the Russian disturbance of the election. Also, they are under investigation for suspect ties to Russian-supported governments and Russian money.

Instead of supporting the investigations, to end the cloud over his presidency, Trump is attempting to thwart and belittle them. Trump also personally attacks the investigators. That’s his way.

These investigations are very important to narcissistic Trump. The idea that Russia helped to cause distrust of Hillary Clinton takes away from his notion that he won on his own. It makes him look like a puppet who needed help to win by cheating, and he cannot accept that in his world view.

There is too much for me to copy in here. That in itself is troublesome – the amount of smoke implies at least some fires. Here is a link to a good timeline by a trusted journalist, Stephen Harper writing on Bill Moyer’s site. The length and depth of this timeline is in itself impressive.

I’m just going to list the people who influence Trump, or are associated with Trump’s campaign and administration, who are mentioned in this timeline and who have some suspect involvement with Russia. Just the length of the list causes one to wonder.

The news this week (w/o July 10th, 2017, NYT) about Donald Trump, Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manfort exchanging email with Russian operatives and enthusiastically agreeing to meet to hear about dirt on Hillary Clinton just adds fuel to this mess. I won’t attempt to keep up.

• Donald Trump
• Eric Trump
• Donald Trump, Jr.
• Ivanka Trump
• Jared Kushner
• Roger Stone
• Paul Manafort
• Felix Sater
• Tamir Sapir
• Jeff Sessions
• Mike Flynn
• Carter Page
• Mike Pence
• J.D. Gordon
• Boris Epshteyn
• Michael D. Cohen
• Aaron Nevins
• Peter W. Smith
• Rex Tillerson
• Jack Kingston
• Steve Bannon
• Erik Prince
• Devin Nunes

Conflicts of Interest

Like the Russia connections, Trump’s conflicts of interest are so vast that writing even a little bit about them makes this note long.

The Atlantic has a good article listing the main ones here.

In every case, Trump and his family are shameless, breathtakingly so. I have never experienced such shamelessness in a public figure before, so I am having a bit of difficulty getting my arms around it.

Here is the Atlantic’s list, with a short sentence on each one. The most recent are on the top.

• Clean Water Rule – rolling back clean water regulations helps Trump’s 12 golf courses in the US.
• New Delhi Development – partnering with suspect companies, and involving potentially corrupt political officials.
• Golf Course in Westchester – bullying local governments to halve the assessment, resulting in massive tax breaks.
• Russian Trademarks – unexpected progress with getting more business done in Russia – is this lucky or does it come with Russian influence?
• HUD Region II appointee – Lynne Patton, absolutely no experience in that area, but she was the Trump Organization’s event planner for things like marketing projects and golf events.
• Saudi Arabian Lobbying – Saudis spent $270,000 at Trump International Hotel in D.C., paid for U.S. veterans to come to D.C. to advocate against the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act. There are supposed to be plans to give that sort of money to charity – the Trump Organization hasn’t done so.
• Golf Course in New Jersey – Bedminster Golf Course , initiation fee $350,000, is actively advertising the possibility of seeing Trump there on many summer weekends. Trump has his photo taken with paying guests.
• Brussels Meeting – in his first foreign trip, in meetings with foreign leaders, what Trump talked about for each country was whether or not he “liked” that country based on whether he had properties or businesses there, and how easy or hard it was to get licenses, etc. After these conversations, some licenses in some countries suddenly became easy.
• Tower in Toronto – one of Trump’s partners in this property received millions of dollars from the Russian bank VEB, owned by the Russian government.
• Caribbean Villa – Le Chateau des Palmiers on St. Maarten is for sale. Someone paying more than it is worth could be bribing Trump. Trump is still involved, and the negotiations are private.
• Condos for Sale – since starting his campaign about 58 condos have sold for about $90 million, half to LLCs, which means that the transaction and the buyer are opaque.
• Reelection Campaign Funds – Trump registered as a candidate for 2020 only hours after taking office. So he is collecting campaign funds, and since he does some campaigning from his businesses, hotels and golf courses, he has already shifted more than $6 million of campaign funds to his personal businesses. This is after he became president.
• Second D.C. Hotel – a licensing agreement for a new Scion brand hotel brings up the same conflicts as Trump International.
• Azerbaijan Property – Trump Hotel and Tower in Baku, partners with corrupt officials, including the especially corrupt son of Azerbaijan’s transportation minister. This may violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which Trump is against.
• Trump Tower Penthouse – Angela Chen bought it for $16 million. She runs Global Alliance Associates a consulting firm whose chief asset is to connect people with the most prominent public and private decision makers in China, and now she has access to Trump.
• Dominican Republic Resort – a new development, something that Trump promised not to do. They are calling it “in progress already” on the thinnest of excuses.
• Chinese Trademark – after a decade, Trump scored a victory on February 15th, 2017. Days before, Trump had reversed one of his stances on China by endorsing the “One China Policy”.
• Mar-a-Lago Meeting – discussion of a North Korean missile launch, between Trump and Shinzo Abe of Japan, in public. Reading briefing documents, at a dinner table, using light from phones of gathered onlookers. By the way, Mar-a-Lago’s initiation fees were doubled, on the notion that people would be willing to pay for potential audiences with Trump.
• Defense Department Trump Tower Rental – the Pentagon is planning on leasing space there to have a command center for when Trump is in New York. About $3 million per year. Just another case where Trump and his family are making money off of regular government functions.
• Red Cross Ball at Mar-a-Lago – accepting money from an organization subject to federal oversight. To be fair, this event was planned in advance of Trump’s candidacy.
• D.C. Labor Dispute – 40 workers at Trump Hotel in D.C. have voted to unionize. This situation is similar to one in Las Vegas that was resolved before Trump became president. If Trump Organization contests, it is Trump against the workers in front of Trump the judge, in a manner of speaking.
• Mar-a-Lago – the Southern White House, with each visit there profitable to Trump, and with advertising for the resort.
• Expansion Promises – Trump has promised not to expand in foreign countries while president, and is currently skirting those promises. But he has not promised to curtail expansion in the U.S. All these business considerations are ripe with corruption opportunities, or in the very least suspect with regards to pressure from the president to force the deals his way, when dealing with small local governments.
• Vancouver (B.C.) Hotel – licensed by Trump, opened the day before his inauguration, owned by a rich Malaysian.
• “The Apprentice” – Trump remains executive producer. How will the show’s sponsors make out if they are in trouble with the U.S. government (Carnival Lines with pollution, QVC with deceptive advertising)?
• Dakota Access Pipeline – Trump overturned Obama’s decision and helped DAP move forward. Trump is an investor in DAP.
• HUD Grants – Trump administers HUD and owns properties that receive HUD money.
• Aberdeen Golf Course – Trump spoke with Nigel Farage to attempt to block wind turbines nearby. He also planned expansions, which he claims is not new business.
• Steven Roth – another billionaire New York developer with several properties co-owned with Trump is going to be part of Trump’s infrastructure development administration.
• Indonesian Politicians – two new Trump Indonesian projects involve many Indonesian officials in the Muslim country.
• Emerati Businessman – Hussain Sajwani, praised by Trump at the New Year’s Eve celebration at Mar-a-Lago, who has paid Trump millions to license his name for Dubai resorts.
• Virginia Vineyard – Trump Vinyard, using immigrant labor, needs special visas, from the executive branch that Trump runs.
• Las Vegas Labor Dispute – Trump worked against a budding union. Had it been a few weeks later he could have appointed the people deciding the dispute.
• Kuwatis at Trump D.C. Hotel – their annual celebration was moved to Trump Hotel from Four Seasons after members of the Trump Organization contacted the Kuwati ambassador.
• Certificates of Divestiture – it is extremely difficult to understand whether or not the uber-wealthy cabinet doesn’t have conflicts of interest similar to Trump’s.
• Carrier Deal – Trump touted his business expertise with Carrier jobs retained in the U.S., even though the reality was far from dramatic and involved concessions. Trump holds stock in Carrier’s parent company, United Technologies.
• Blind Trust – frankly impossible with the degree to which his holdings are very public.
• Fannie and Freddy Investments – John Paulson, business partner of Trump and Mnuchin, made a lot of money from Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac investments after Mnuchin made statements about privatizing and deregulating both.
• Taiwan Phone Call – a controversial “recognizing” of Taiwan. The Trump Organization is actively exploring expansion into Taiwan.
• Deutsche Bank Debt – Trump’s numerous bankruptcies have left most Wall Street banks unwilling to lend him money. Exception: Deutsche Bank, with $2.5-3.5 billion to Trump-affiliated companies. The Justice Department is probing Deutsche Bank on many fronts.
• Secret Service Detail – the U.S. government is profiting Trump by renting his properties for the business of protecting him.
• Property in Georgia (Country) – Trump’s election was a major factor in moving development forward.
• Erdogan Phone Call – Turkey’s president has a horrid human rights record, but Trump has properties there and is on a very friendly basis with Erdogan. This conflict of interest Trump has actually acknowledged as such.
• Trump Hotel in D.C. – so many opportunities for conflicts.
• Argentinian Office Building – Trump’s first phone call to his Argentine counterpart included a discussion of smoothing some permit issues for a Trump building in Buenos Aires.
• Saudi Arabian Companies – while accusing Hillary Clinton of accepting foreign money into her charities, during his campaign Trump registered 8 new companies in Saudi Arabia.
• Phillippines – Rodrigo Duterte, brutal president, appointed a long-time Trump business associate as a special envoy to the U.S.