“There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.”—Ronald Reagan 40th President of the USA
This week Trump brliebes he has anvhotrf hid place in history by ctrstimg ‘`Libreration DayAs The freewheeling circus that is the Trump presidency continues to inspire and appall, depending on how serious your stance is on democracy, he sis livingMark Zuckerberg’s mantra: “Move fast and break things”. In its 236 years in existence, the United States have chosen a broad spectrum among its citizens to lead them. With the sole proviso that they had to have been born there, the 40+ men who have held the post ranged from slave owners, through war heroes, to a black man; there have been farmers, industrialists, an actor, and even a hangman. Some lost office through defeat, a few through impeachment; some were shot; a few died in harness. Almost all discharged their office with dignity and humanity, paying due attention to the principles upon which the country was conceived by the “Founding Fathers”. These were enshrined in high-minded documents: the Declaration of Independence; the Constitution; the Bill of Rights.
Donald Trump, the 45th president, who recently became the 47th holder of that office finds little time for such niceties, as he is in too much of a hurry to permit tradition, custom, or principled opposition to slow him down in leading the MAGA crusade. For all the reverent lip service paid to them, the high standards and ideals of the Founding Fathers are not standing in his way.
After completing two months of his second term, Trump is hitting his stride in a style reminiscent of his abrasively autocratic manner honed during countless bank-busting property deals and episodes of “The Apprentice”.
He never went for broke on this scale during his first term; in 2017, he appointed qualified members to his cabinet, who largely tried to do their jobs. This brought conflict with Trump’s ire need for unquestioning obedience and, consequently, his ire. Most quickly found themselves out on their ear and replaced by pliant temporaries. This time round, he avoided such public spats by staffing his Cabinet from a coterie of loyal, but poorly qualified, acolytes who had all drunk deep from the MAGA Kool-Aid.
This time, more than in his first term, Trump is pulling no punches. Convinced that the entire US government apparatus is rife with corruption, inefficiencies and entrenched opposition to his radical agenda, he has armed Elon Musk and his fiscal vigilantes at the “Department for Government Efficiency” = “D.O.G.E.” with an an open brief and an arsenal of sharp machetes, with which they are laying about departments of State with a will.
Recent `Truth Social posts, emanating from the White House, have touched on many issues. Instead of much-anticipated tax cuts for the rich, focus was on populist memes highlighted during the November’s election: tariffs; undocumented immigrants; bureaucracy, as well as his trademark unpredictability.
Once DOGE machete-wielders started hacking at the Social Security Administration (SSA), District Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander blocked them from accessing data and ordering them to destroy copies of any personal information they have already accessed. “The DOGE team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA”.
The Trump administration upped the ante in their bid to disable opponents of its wholesale destruction of the United States government organise to stop them. Eveb as was going on, District Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander block the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing data at the Social Security Administration and ordering them to destroy copies of any personal information they have already accessed. “The DOGE Team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion,” Hollander wrote. “It has launched a search for the proverbial needle in the haystack, without any concrete knowledge that the needle actually exists in that haystack.
“We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.”—Jimmy Carter 39th President of the USA
To deport supposed “criminals and terrorists” hiding among the public, Trump reached back to 1798 for authority to expel five people he claims are members of a Venezuelan gang. Trump invoked the 227-year-old Alien Enemies Act as his legal justification for the deportations. This Act was made as part of the “Alien and Sedition Acts. Federalists in Congress passed the laws during what is known as the “Quasi-War” with France during the French Revolution, when it appeared that members of their political opposition in the U.S. were working to destabilise the U.S. government’s foreign policy of neutrality and overthrow this position to help in their war with Britain.
Several dozen “undesirables were rounded up and herded onto two planes heading for prisons in El Salvador. Hearing of that this had apparently been done without due process, a federal judge, James Boasberg issued an order halting the deportations.
“The government evaded its obligations, “providing only general information about the flights and appearing to cast about for excuses to justify further delay.
“It is a paradox that every dictator has climbed to power on the ladder of free speech. Immediately on attaining power each dictator has suppressed all free speech, except his own.”—Herbert Hoover 31stPresident of the USA
Judge Boasberg disagreed that the 1798 law was legal justification and demanded the flights be stopped. The administration declined to comply, arguing the flights were already in international airspace off the Yucatan. This triggered bad-tempered responses from the administration.
Following up on his earlier judgement, that the government could not use the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to justify sending migrants to a prison in El Salvador, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg appeared to lose patience with the government’s obfuscation of what actually happened in that rendition. He repeatedly asked for, but failed to get information about the flights.
“This is woefully insufficient,” Boasberg wrote, requiring the government to explain by March 25th its failure to return the flights as ordered did not violate the court order to do so.
“I believe Boasberg is attempting to meddle in national security. This one federal judge thinks he can control foreign policy for the entire country, and he cannot.”—Pam Bondi, Attorney General of the United States
“Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate powers,”—Elon Musk.
It is the role of courts to determine whether or not the power the executive is claiming is, in fact, legitimate—Supreme Court Chair, Justice John Roberts
Far from backing down, the administration responded with typical vehemence when opposed—by considering escalating its dispute with the courts.
Trump has described Judge Boasberg as a “moron” and called for him to be impeached and, accusing him of “trying to usurp the presidency”.
In response, US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued a rare admonishment, pointing out that “impeachment is an inappropriate response”. Appointed by George “Dubya” Bush, Roberts is not one of the supposed “pinko lefties” so despised by Trump and his acolytes. Ever ready to back up her boss, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt repeated Trump’s disparagement of Boasberg. Arm candy of the type Trump favours and wed to a rich developer 32 years her senior, she rivals Russia’s Lavrov, as a faithful mouthpiece for the Master. Suffice to say, she exhibits none of the calibre of C.J. Cregg.
Trump has presented himself as the arch-dealmaker who could cut the Gordian knot of wars in Gaza and Ukraine, this is where the most effort has been applied to date, with scant progress to show for it. Apart from some high-profile phone calls, all that has happened is the Israelis have broken a fragile Gaza ceasefire and extended their war to multiple fronts across the region.
Ukraine’s integrity has been hazarded for not one single concession by the Russians and an opportunity for international grandstanding for Trump. Even the supposed “infrastructure ceasefire” Trump touted after a Kremlin phone call proved as transient as any other Putin promise. It seems that Trump admires Putin as a fellow tough negotiator, and will concede almost anything that costs America little, and offers Trump public plaudits, no matter who gets thrown to the wolves—Allies included.
Trump’s “base” has proved to be amazingly resilient, and much wider than a few oligarchs keen on deeper tax cuts for themselves. Polls suggest his radical actions to date broadly meet with approval. This includes many among the 70 million recipients of SSA benefits, threatened by DOGE’s brutal purge. (Americans of many political stripes share Trump’s pathological mistrust of government establishments)
“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little”—Franklin D. Roosevelt 32nd President of the USA
Trump’s “base” includes many from the poorest strata of society—exactly those with most to lose, should the long-standing Republican mantra to gut “Obamacare” ever succeed.
“I feel sorry for our country, as it shows that partisan politicians, who think of nothing higher than their own interests, We cannot stand so corrupt a government for any great length of time”—Teddy Roosevelt 26thPresident of the USA
The attack by Trump and his MAGA supporters on the courts and the rule of law has illustrated how quickly the United States is sliding from democracy to authoritarianism.
“Honest to God, I’ve never seen anything like it,”—Steven Levitsky, Harvard political scientist (in the New York Times)
“I don’t care what the judges think.”—US “Border Czar” Tom Homan
“It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes.”—Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the USA
“I feel sorry for the country, as this shows the power of partisan politicians, who think of nothing higher than their own interests. We cannot stand so corrupt a government for any length of time.” —Teddy Roosevelt 26th President of the USA
“The current rate of tariffs is a vicious, inequitable & illogical source of additional taxation, allowing manufacturers protected by these tariffs to make immense profits. If these were lowered, the necessities of life would be greatly cheapened”—Grover Cleveland 24th President of the USA
“We are given power not to advance our own purposes, nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name. There is but one just use of power, and it is to serve the people.”—George W. Bush 43rd President of the USA
In October last year, The Economist ran a special report on America’s economy, which was “the envy of the world.” This week, stock markets plummeted after Trump announced a 10% tariff on all imports to the United States, with higher rates on about 60 countries he claims engage in “unfair trade practices”, including China, Japan, Vietnam, and South Korea, as well as the European Union.
Dow Jones Industrial Average lost over1,000 points,falling by 2.5%, while the the S&P 500 dropped 3.6%.Trump’s erratic approach to the US economy had already rattled markets around the world, which dropped significantly in the first quarter of this year. US consumer confidence, which recently hit a twelve-year low. Trump waited until the US stock market had closed today before he announced the new tariffs in a speech in the White House Rose Garden, claiming “For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike. This ‘Liberation Day, tariffs would create “the golden age of America.”
Trump seems to believe tariffs raised under McKinley at the turn of the 20th © ptobide a model. But they undermined industry and impovrtished farmers and the Smoot-Hawley Act that followed led to the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Depression that followed.
“Never before has an hour of Presidential rhetoric cost so many people so much. The best estimate of the loss from tariff policy is now [close] to $30 trillion or $300,000 per family of four. Trump Tariff Tax is the largest peacetime tax hike in U.S. history.” —former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers
Giveb his belief in his own omniscience, Trump would do well to absorb the hard-won wisdom of his predecessors before the America he woulf make great again goes the way of other empires fsllen under the spell of dictators
#1114—2,084 words
davidsberry 