Trump Just "Kidding"

 I. Trump Just "Kidding"

I. Trump Just "Kidding"

When Peter Navarro,who functions as President Trump's trade adviser, went on a Sunday talk show, he said it was obvious that Trump was "kidding" when he had informed his staff to slow down testing for the coronavirus. Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany also said it was obvious that her boss was kidding. It was the general consensus in the White House that Trump was not serious about reducing testing when he had bragged about the U.S. far outpacing the rest of the world in its testing for exposure to the virus.

McEnany had told the press that she would never lie to them; however, she did not say that she wouldn't pass on her boss's lies. She didn't practice due diligence in assuring herself what her boss's position would be,and thus she and all those in the Trump camp who adopted the "kidding" line were double crossed when Trump said he never kids.

Trump had previously gone along with efforts to label as a "joke" a statement he  had made that generated a firestorm of criticism. One of the most notable was when he said that if Hillary Clinton became president,maybe a Second Amendment zealot would take her down.

II. Executive Order Double Talk

President Trump's executive order on toppling statues and monuments uses much the same language as existing law. His threat to mandate ten-year sentences is a very harsh one,especially if it can be applied based on "intent." Many protesters were trying to pull down the statue of Confederate General Andrew Jackson sitting on a horse. If all of them are identified, convicted, and given ten-year sentences, it will be a steep cost to taxpayers.

Trump's executive order on social media actually changes existing law. GOP lawmakers who raised holy hell about President Obama's executive orders,are largely silent when Trump either changes existing law,or copies existing law.

III. Hillary Comparisons Are Flawed

Opinion makers and the media,in general are comparing where Hillary Clinton was at the  same point in her campaign with where Joe Biden is. This comparison is very flawed, as Hilary was hated by a broad segment of voters; also, her use of a private mail server while she was secretary of state, and her highly compensated speeches to Wall Street firms were dragging her down. Burned into my memory is the poll taken around the time she first ran for the presidency, in which 49% of respondents said they would never vote for Hillary if she again ran for the presidency. 

Joe Biden, in part because of the tragedies he has suffered, has a huge empathy gap over Trump. He has also handled both the police reform and pandemic issues far better than Trump.

IV. Nothing Is Breaking Right for Trump

Nothing is breaking right for Trump: his North Korea policy is in shambles, and he has even worsened relations between North and South Korea; Iran hasn't had a rebellion and is now closer to having a nuclear weapons capability than before Trump took office; relations with the EU are probably the worst for a good long time; a hyped peace treaty in Afghanistan looks to be a bygone; Maduro is still in office in Ecuador, and when Trump says all options are open in Ecuador that  means the use of nuclear weapons is on the table; he gave the advantage to Russia and Turkey in the Middle East when he pulled out U.S troops without a coordinated plan with the Pentagon; he has taken no action on intelligence findings that Russia was paying bounties on Coalition troops in Afghanistan,including U.S. troops, and he has significantly increased the budgetary deficit in a major break with Republican orthodoxy.

ADDENDUMS:

1. For the second year in a row, Iceland will not hunt any whales. Its commercial whaling industry may be at an end.

2. In the absence of tourists, poachers are slaughtering wildlife in African parks  and wildlife reserves. Sources for 1. and 2.:  Sierra, July/April 2020.)

3. Catastrophic bushfires in Australia burn an area larger than Tunisia. A billion animals may have perished, leaving some species on the brink of extinction. Smoke from the fires reaches Argentina, 6,000 miles away.

4. Greenland's ice sheet is melting seven times faster than in the 1900s. 

5. Oxygen levels in some tropical oceans have dropped by as much as 40 percent in the past 50 years. Waters off California are acidifying twice as fast as the global average.

6. Greenhouse gas emissions in the United States dropped by 2.1 percent in 2019, driven almost entirely by an 18 percent drop in the use of coal,which saved more than 26,000 lives between 2005 and 2016.

7. The Netherlands high court says that the government must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25 percent by the end of 2020. (Sources for 3. through 7.: Sierra, March/April 2020.)