This Just In 305
Rutland Herald and Monpelier (Barre) Times Argus
December24/25 2016
In the spirit of the Christmas season I know it is time to
suppress my raging doubts with the outcome of the presidential
election. Actually, in the decade of writing this column, I have consciously
tried to be a voice of moderation. But recent events are proving an enormous
challenge. In the face of an on-coming political cataclysm, how does one, or
indeed should one demonstrate moderation?
According to the man whose birth some two thousand years ago we
Christians celebrate this weekend, when slapped in the face by an adversary or
misfortune, we should turn the other cheek. In spite of what ultimately
happened to him, Jesus was not wrong, in the sense that in order to create a
perfect world, we need to be able to do that. But the world then and now is far
from perfect. And too often in history and in the present, moderation is not
seen as a virtue - but as a weakness to be exploited by those who live by their
own rules.
And so, when it comes to Donald Trump, I will show moderation when
he does. And among those who love him or hate him, the word moderate is never
used
I have many reasons for being anti-Trump. But at the top of my
list is his demonstrable threat to the very institutions that make up American
democracy. True, these institutions have been seriously tested through the
years- most notably by the Civil War. Even today the poisonous residue of
slavery continues to exist. The criminal justice system cries out for dramatic
reform of laws which discriminate against people of color. Still most Americans
tell pollsters they believe that on the question of race, the country is
significantly better than it was fifty years ago and they often cite Barrack
Obama’s election as president for two terms, as proof of this. Ironically,
Obama’s critics, first among those one Donald J. Trump, blame Obama for a new
crisis in race relations. Exploiting racial issues is of course the deceit of
the demagogue, at which Trump has demonstrated his mastery. But divide and rule
will not “make America great again.” It will accomplish quite the opposite.
Through his cabinet choices, Trump seems to be deliberately trying
to weaken the institutions of governance by guaranteeing their dysfunction and
ultimate failure. Some notable examples:
Andrew Puzder, Trump’s choice to be Labor Secretary, is a fast
food executive who specializes in television commercials showing scantily clad
young women pigging out on burgers. He opposes increasing the minimum wage
laws and is expected to roll back Obama rules designed to protect the
large number of federal contractor workers.
Scott Pruit is the designated administrator of the Environmental
Protection Agency. As Oklahoma’s attorney general he is a leading climate
change denier and widely believed to be in the pocket of the oil, gas and coal
industries. He wants the US to withdraw from the Paris Climate agreement
Tim Price an orthopedic surgeon and six term Georgian Republican
is to head Health and Human Services. Price has made a career out of trying to
undermine the Affordable Care Act on the specious grounds that it interferes
with the doctor patient relationship. Repealing the act will deprive at least
20 million Americans of health insurance. Price will no doubt play a role
in House Speaker Paul Ryan’s dream goal of privatizing Medicare and Social Security.
Betsy Devos, is to be Secretary of Education. Trump has said he
wants to drastically cut the department. Devos, who is a strong supporter of
charter schools and equally strong critic of public education, would therefore
seem to fit the bill.
Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions is the nominee as Attorney General.
Sessions is a hardliner on immigration enforcement and tough-on-crime measures-
not exactly the man to lead reforming the criminal justice system. Nor is he
inclined to vigorously defend what’s left of the Voting Rights Act. In 1986
Sessions was nominated for a federal judgeship but was rejected by the senate
for things he had said and done which were deemed to be racially charged.
Then there is Lieutenant general Michael j. Flynn, named to be
Trump’s national security adviser. He does not need senate confirmation. His
last job was director of the Defense Intelligence Agency from which he was
relieved by the Obama administration. He is militantly anti-Islamic and
recently was outed for having forwarded a fake news item as a “Must Read” which
suggested that Hillary Clinton and others had been involved in a child- sex
ring. Flynn would be Trump’s closest foreign and military adviser.
I am withholding judgment on Rex Tillerson, head of Exxon-Mobile
and Marine Corps General James Mathis, named as Secretaries of State and
Defense respectively. In terms of competence they seem among the best of
Trump’s nominees. We’ll see the extent of their negative baggage during
their confirmation hearings.
There are also several billionaires and a trio of Goldman Sachs
executives to run Treasury and economic matters. You get the picture.
However there are two other crucially important institutions
which Trump has been openly challenging – the United States
intelligence community and the American mainstream news media.
Trump says he simply does not believe the collective conclusions
of all 17 government intelligence agencies that Russian government
operatives hacked the files of the Democratic National Committee and of John
Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager; and that President Putin
personally guided the dispersion of the hacked material to places like
WikiLeaks to discredit the American political system- AND- to help Trump. The
central question is: does the roughly $80 billion a year America pays for
gathering intelligence out -weigh the ill-informed opinions of Donald Trump’s
gut (and what he sees on Cable TV Talk Shows like MSNBC”s Morning Joe)?. Stay
tuned.
As for the news media, they have yet to concede their critical
role in getting Trump elected, while Trump continues to vilify reporters and to
limit their access with the apparent goal of greatly diminishing their role in
reporting on him. Barring the unforeseen, that will be the subject of my next
column.
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