It’s just so difficult to keep up with all matters Trump that here’s what won’t be covered in depth this week:
- Vice President Mike Pence spent more than $200,000 in taxpayer money on a stunt to attend the 49ers-Colts game he left in feigned outrage after players knelt during the anthem. Of course, Pence knew full well that players were going to be doing that.
- “Three weeks since Hurricane Maria, much of Puerto Rico still dark, thirsty and frustrated”, so Trump felt the timing was right to threaten Puerto Rico that relief workers will not stay forever.
- This actually has nothing to do directly with Trump, but a female member of the Satanic Temple – bless them – has filed a lawsuit arguing that she is entitled to an abortion based on her religious beliefs. If you haven’t heard of the Satanic Temple, while they claim to be a religion, their real mission is to promote religious equality. For example, to protect separation of Church and State, they demanded to install a statue of Baphomet in response to Oklahoma installing a Ten Commandments monument at the statehouse.
More on Secretary of State Tillerson calling Trump a moron, because we must: NBC reported that Tillerson made that comment after Trump called for a 10-fold increase in the number of U.S. nuclear weapons. This despite the fact that the U.S. has worked for decades for treaties to decrease the number of nuclear weapons.
In response, Trump demanded that NBC be stripped of its broadcast license. Despite the First Amendment. Because that’s what any would-be tyrant would do. This was too much for even Republican Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, who publicly asked if Trump was recanting his oath of office to uphold the Constitution. Trump did not respond to that.
There is more on nukes. Under the agreement where Iran agreed to halt development of nuclear weapons for 10 years, the President is required to certify every 90 days that Iran is complying. Trump refused to do that Friday, despite Trump’s own Defense Secretary, James Mattis, (plus the other countries that also signed the agreement and the International Atomic Energy Agency) saying that Iran is in compliance. Because what we need right now is another situation like North Korea.
Fortunately, Trump’s action in itself does not kill the deal, although it opens the possibility for Congress to reimpose economic sanctions on Iran, which WOULD kill the deal. Congress probably won’t do this, although there’s no guarantee. Trump could also himself unilaterally kill the deal. Apparently Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis were able to get Trump to hold off in return for Trump simply refusing to certify Iran’s compliance.
In other attempts at nuclear proliferation, former White House Chief Strategist and crypto monarchist Steve Bannon announced that he’s going to run far-right candidates in the 2018 Republican primaries to challenge all Republican Senators up for re-election…except for Ted Cruz. (That should tell you all you need to know about Ted Cruz.) It’s a big deal because it will likely force those Senators to vote more conservatively in the Senate until their primaries are over. It also means that any Bannon candidates who win in the primaries will be more likely to lose to Democrats in the general election. We can hope.
Finally, there is, as always, Obamacare. Having failed three times to get the U.S. Senate to kill Obamacare, this week Trump turned to executive orders to sabotage it. He issued executive orders intended to damage Obamacare by letting healthy participants choose cheaper skimpy plans. He then eliminated cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers. Health care premiums will rise for millions of people – but ironically the U.S. government will pick up most of that increase because of the way Obamacare works with government subsidies. Good thinking, Don!
Some won’t be able to afford the increased cost, and Dear Donald seems to believe that Americans will blame the Democrats. This overlooks the “Pottery Barn” rule: If you break it, you pay for it. Trump’s actions will put immense pressure on Republicans in Congress “because it could harm large numbers of people in their districts.” Well, yes.
It’s uncertain whether the feckless Republicans will be able to gather the votes to stop the damage. If they can’t, it will certainly aid the Democrats’ chances of taking the House (and possibly even the Senate, although that remains a longshot). Sadly, perhaps millions of Americans will suffer in the meantime. Trump believes it’s worth it to do anything to damage a program enacted by Obama, regardless of the good it has done.