Alternative Facts …

Posted on July 25, 2018 by jilldennison under Global Issues, Political commentary, Rants

In the beginning … way back on January 20, 2017 … we were first introduced to a concept that would be the foundation for the Trump presidency: Alternative Facts. It first came about because the crowd at the inauguration was significantly smaller than that at Barack Obama’s first inauguration, eight years earlier. Then-press secretary Sean Spicer, however, on orders from Trump, claimed that the crowd was the largest ever seen at any presidential inauguration. The following Sunday on Meet the Press, Chuck Todd asked Kellyanne Conway why Spicer made that claim, saying, “It undermines the credibility of the entire White House press office on day one.” Kellyanne’s response was …

“Don’t be so overly dramatic about it, Chuck. You’re saying it’s a falsehood and they’re giving — Sean Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts to that.”

Todd shot back …

“Alternative facts? Look, alternative facts are not facts, they’re falsehoods. What was the motive to have this ridiculous litigation of crowd size?”

And Kellyanne took offense …

“Your job is not to call things ridiculous that are said by our press secretary and our president. That’s not your job. Chuck, I mean, if we’re going to keep referring to our press secretary in those types of terms, I think that we’re going to have to rethink our relationship here.”

And thus began the Era of Alternative Facts. Not a single day has gone by since that we have not been subjected to alternative facts, aka lies, from the administration, usually from Trump himself. But this past week has been the crowning gem of alternative facts. Let us look at a couple.

Just yesterday, Trump was speaking to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Kansas City, Missouri, and made this utterly ludicrous statement:

“Just remember, what you are seeing and what you are reading is not what’s happening.”

Say what???

“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. And if all others accepted the lie, which the party imposed, if all records told the same tale, then the lie passed into history and became the truth.” – George Orwell, 1984

Ever since his disastrous, from my point of view, summit in Helsinki just over a week ago, Trump has had a great deal of trouble deciding whether he believes that Putin interfered in our 2016 election, and whether Putin is primed to interfere in our mid-terms this November. He has changed his tune so many times that my head was spinning like the little girl on The Exorcist, so I finally just stopped even paying attention. Bottom line is he knows damn good and well that Putin did everything he could to ensure that Hillary Clinton would not win in 2016. It wasn’t that he liked Trump better, but he was afraid of Hillary, and he figured he could manipulate Trump. But yesterday, Trump topped even his own record for ignorance.

“I’m very concerned that Russia will be fighting very hard to have an impact on the upcoming Election. Based on the fact that no President has been tougher on Russia than me, they will be pushing very hard for the Democrats. They definitely don’t want Trump!”

Tough on Russia? When??? He’s on a short leash held by Russian President Vladimir Putin, has refused to speak a single critical word against Putin, and he’s tough???If anybody believes a single word of that, I’ve got this lovely bridge in Brooklyn that I’ll sell cheap. Just last week he told a reporter he doesn’t think Russia is still targeting the US and publicly doubting Russian interference on multiple occasions.

A few days ago, in my spam folder I found an email from Trump. Well, actually it was from a computer program authorized to solicit funds on behalf of Trump. I have unsubscribed to this blasphemy so many times that I finally gave up. Anyway, he talked about his favourite topic these days, the “witch hunt” and reminded me what a great job he is doing, then, right before asking for a campaign donation, he referred to himself as my “favourite president”. After I returned from the bathroom being sick, I deleted the email. Another very alternative fact.

I could understand his use of smoke & mirrors, gaslighting, lies, lies and more lies … er, excuse me – alternative facts – at this point, for he is deeply entangled in a web of lies & secrecy that Robert Mueller is close to exposing, and Trump is running scared. Hence his threat to “shut down” the investigation. But … he started out lying on day #1!!! Congressional leaders Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell make really sorry excuses for him, as if he were naught but a recalcitrant child. But he is not a child … he is a 72-year-old man who by hook and by crook managed to land the highest office in the nation.

We laugh and joke about the term ‘alternative facts’, but the reality is that these lies are no joking matter, for they carry very real consequences for our country. Why? Because some 40% of the people in the nation believe them. Trump could not care less what the rest of us think, so long as he can convince his base that we are the enemy. But Trump tells his base, “Do not get your news from CNN, the New York Times, or The Washington Post. Do not listen to the liberals, for they are only out to get us. Believe only what I tell you to believe.” And that is what they do. Therein lies the danger.

Trump is a buffoon, an ignorant, under-educated fool. But he holds the power and if there is one thing he seems to have a knack for, it is keeping his base hypnotized and believing that he is the answer to whatever problems they perceive. Or rather, whatever problems he has told them they have.

There is no such thing as alternative facts. Facts are irrefutable and not subject to interpretation. Fact: Trump’s inauguration crowd couldn’t hold a candle to Obama’s. Fact: Vladimir Putin admitted that he wanted Trump to win in 2016. Fact: Trump refused to hold Putin accountable for the election interference when the two met in Helsinki. Fact: Many from Trump’s campaign have already either pled guilty or been indicted for their dealings with Russia during the campaign. Fact: Trump has damaged our relationship with our allies. Fact: Trump’s tariffs will hurt U.S. citizens far more than they will help bring new jobs. Fact: Trump has chipped away at ACA to the point that we will all see a rise in health care costs, and millions will be unable to afford healthcare at all. I have many more facts, but I shall stop here, for you get the picture, right?

The 40% who still love him because he tells them to are in for a very rude awakening. As I told a friend last night, I would like to say they will be getting what they deserve, but for the fact that the rest of us will suffer as well. This, even though we have spent the past year-and-a-half fighting tooth and nail, while the 40% sat in front of their television watching Fox News and scarfing down Lays potato chips and ice cream. Bah humbug.

On Promises …

Posted on July 10, 2018 by jilldennison under Environmental Issues, Global Issues, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

What is a promise and how important is it? I rarely make promises … never, unless I am reasonably certain that, barring any unforeseen catastrophic event, I will be able to keep that promise. Because I live by this standard, my family & friends know that a promise from me has value, is not an empty promise. A promise, to me, is a symbol of my honour, of my word. To break a promise is a breach of trust, and trust is important to me. I find that trust is one of those things that has a very tenuous thread, and once broken, is never fully restored.

With that said, however, promises ought to be right and just. If I promise Miss Goose that from now on, every meal will consist only of sweet treats, it is a foolish promise, I am a fool for making it, and she is the bigger fool for believing it. It would be a promise to harm her, as it were, to make her less healthy. It is what I think of as a negative promise, one that does harm … in other words, a threat.

On the campaign trail from June 2015 to present, Donald Trump made a number of promises to his Kool-Aid-drinking minions. He promised to build a wall to keep out immigrants on the southern U.S.-Mexican border. He promised immigration reform and to keep out Muslims. He promised to undo basically everything that President Obama had done – good, bad or neutral. He promised to undo the non-existent “war on coal” and bring back jobs in the coal mining industry. Let’s take a closer look at a couple of Trump’s more egregious promises, or threats, as it were, see where they stand and assess whether they have helped or harmed the nation.

One of the first ones that comes to my mind is his ‘promise’ to repeal ACA, commonly referred to as ‘Obamacare’. I’d just like to point out that little word ‘care’ in there. Well, Trump was unsuccessful, thanks to Senators John McCain, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins. However, he has chinked away at ACA by way of executive order, to the point that by the end of this year, there will be several million people without insurance, without access to affordable health care — people who were covered before Trump took office. The latest assault on ACA came just two days ago, when Trump ordered the halting of billions of dollars of payments designed to help insurers meet the Affordable Care Act requirement that they provide coverage regardless of whether a person is healthy or sick.

Insurers say this move will result in higher premiums for millions of people. For most of those millions of people, higher premiums mean they will have no choice but to drop their insurance. It will also lead to insurance companies refusing customers who have pre-existing conditions, else setting the premiums out of reach to such individuals. Why? Because Donald Trump made a promise to his base. Now, never mind that his base will be negatively affected by his keeping of this particular promise as much as any of us. Frankly, sorry folks, I don’t want to sound cruel, but I will choke on my coffee as I laugh uproariously when I hear the first republican whine and wheedle about not being able to afford her medicine, or having to pay $300 just to see her primary care physician! ‘Welcome to my world’, I will say!

Let’s talk taxes, shall we?

Trump made a number of tax-related promise/threats. The first was that he would cut corporate income taxes from 35% to 15%. Well, he failed in that promise and was only able to cut them down to 21% … do I hear an “awwwwww”? Another part of his illustrious tax plan was to allow Americans to deduct child care and elder care from their taxes. Well, folks, sorry to tell you but that one went by the wayside. Along the same lines, he promised to create tax-free dependent care savings accounts for young and elderly dependents. Nope, not even on the docket. Oh … here’s one … he promised to provide matching contributions for low-income families to the dependent care savings accounts! Nope, not a snowball’s chance in hell. But what about the one where he promised to incentivize employers to provide on-site child-care services? Sorry, sucker! But hey! Those big corporations got their 14% tax cut, and you know that since they have such big hearts and good intentions, all of that lovely money will ‘trickle down’ to us little folk, right? Briefly, a few of his other “promises”. He promised to …

Enact new ethics reforms to reduce the corrupting influence of special interests. Um … ethics schmethics. He has, among his administration, some of the most corrupt individuals in the history of the U.S. Think Scott Pruitt. Jared Kushner. Ivanka Trump. Trump himself. And the list goes on … and on …
Make two- and four-year college more affordable. Trump’s budget contains deep cuts in aid for low-income and first-generation college students. The budget would eliminate the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant program, a 50-year-old program, for a savings of $732 million, which goes to more than a million poor college kids each year. The budget would also reduce Federal Work Study “significantly” though no dollar figure was given. The tax bill that Trump signed raised taxes on four-year universities. How is any of this making college more affordable???
Establish tariffs to discourage companies from laying off their workers in order to relocate in other countries and ship their products back to the U.S. tax-free. Well, he established tariffs alright, but the results are the exact opposite of what he promised. Companies are already beginning to lay off workers, and considering moving operations overseas – think Harley Davidson for starters.

For a more complete list, check out the Trump Promise Tracker in The Washington Post . Although it isn’t quite up to date (April 2018) it is the best I’ve found so far.

In short, Trump made some 60+ ‘promises’ to the people of this nation. A handful would have been to the benefit of the people, but those he did not even attempt to keep. The rest were threats. The threat to take away healthcare from those of us who are not wealthy. The threat to decrease corporate taxes, thereby decreasing the nation’s revenue, increasing both debt and deficit, and leaving the rest of us without much needed services that can no longer be funded. The threat to put “America First”, which has isolated us from our allies, put us in danger of a trade war, and proven to the world that we cannot be trusted to keep our word (Paris Accord, Iran nuclear deal, Trans-Pacific Partnership, etc.).

Promises should be kept. Unless they are the wrong thing, made for all the wrong reasons, but then they are not promises, they are threats. Trust is earned. Loyalty is earned. Need I say more?

Even Snarkier Than Usual Snippets …

Posted on June 22, 2018 by jilldennison under Political commentary, Rants

As I write this on Thursday night, I am in a foul humour. Everything in the news annoys and there is seemingly no such thing as ‘good’ news this week. And so, here is my roundup of Snarky Snippets with a bit more snark than usual.

The Ultimate Hypocrisy …

Wednesday, 20 June was World Refugee Day, an international event designed to draw attention to the global refugee crisis. There could be no possible appropriate response by the United States, under the current circumstances, and silence would have been the best option. But this is the era of Trump and silence is never an option, so Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued the following statement … a study in hypocrisy …

It is one thing to be a bastard, another to keep reminding the world.

The Party’s Over …

The annual Congressional picnic was scheduled for yesterday on the White House lawn. It was cancelled, just one day prior, by none other than Donald Trump who said it, “just didn’t feel right.” Wait … he feels? Anything? Whoa … could’a fooled me! Anyway, of course there was some other reason. The first thought was that he was paying back those who essentially forced his hand and made him sign an executive order promising to stop abusing children by separating them from their parents at our southern border. And that may well be part of it, but there’s more.

Then some speculated that he was punishing Congress for not coming to a vote on an immigration bill that would also provide him with $25 billion to fund his ignoble wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. And that, too, may be a part of it, but there’s more.

As taxpayers, you might want to note that the chairs and other amenities such as portaloos had already been paid for and delivered. Steaks and other meats had already been purchased (yeah, you paid for them) and even pre-cooked. I suppose the White House staff will eat well for the next few days, eh?

“I was just walking over to the Oval Office and I said, you know, it doesn’t feel right to have a picnic for Congress when we’re working on doing something very important. It didn’t feel exactly right to me. We’ll make it another time when things are going extremely well.” (After you’re out of office, then?)

PAH!!! It feels okay to him to denigrate our friends, to impose unreasonable and unnecessary tariffs that will hurt global economies? It feels fine to him to have elicit affairs while he wife just gave birth to his son? It feels right to him to abuse some 2,000 children seeking asylum with their parents? And it felt right to him to attend a high-dollar fund raiser at his Washington hotel the same night? He actually has a conscience??? I think not. The real reason Donald Trump canceled the annual Congressional picnic yesterday was …

… they told him he had to bring the potato salad!

Priorities, Anyone???

Yesterday, Melania Trump traveled to the U.S.-Mexican border to tour a facility where detained immigrant children are being held hostage by the U.S. government. Now, much could be said here, but … what is the biggest talking point? Melania’s bloomin’ jacket!!! That’s right, folks, it matters more what she wears than what she says, does or thinks. Well, since it’s doubtful that she thinks very much, scratch that one.

In truth, though, her jacket was a slap in the face … to the children she went to ‘visit’, to the immigrants seeking asylum in this nation, and to every concerned citizen in this nation. Her jacket, a hooded green army jacket with white lettering on the back that reads “I REALLY DON’T CARE DO U?”, was beyond inappropriate. It was ridiculous, it was abominable, and yes, it was very much a slap in the face. There was a time I pitied Melania, felt sorry for her having to be married to a narcissist like Donald Trump, even though she deserves whatever anguish he puts her through, since she married him for money and citizenship. But all bets are off, and I now think that Melania is every bit as selfish, narcissistic and uncaring as her husband. Too bad she didn’t just stay in bed and watch t.v. all day, for her ’visit’ was further proof that humanitarian values do not exist in the White House today. No word on the actual visit. Nice job, Melania. I want Michelle Obama back!!!!!!!

Oh … And About That Tax ‘Cut’ …

Good news, folks! You won’t have to worry about what to do with those extra few dollars on your paycheck as a result of Trump’s ‘donor tax cut’ last December! It has been taken out of your hands. The average cost of fuel at the pump has increased by 20%, from $2.41 to $2.90. Oh … and by the way, your health insurance premiums are going up, too. And … um … with the new tariffs, expect to pay more for many things from fresh produce to beer and Canadian whiskey, thanks to Trump’s tariffs. And … in the market for a new car? Well, there goes your tax cut for the next 30 years or so.

Filosofa sends heartfelt condolences to the family, friends and co-workers of long-term Washington Post writer Charles Krauthammer who died yesterday from a year-long battle with cancer. He was a conservative, but one of the good guys and he will be missed.

Well, now that I have managed to completely send your mood into a downward spiral, I am going to bed. Have a great day, everyone!

Another Open Letter to Donald Trump

Posted on June 15, 2018 by jilldennison under Global Issues, Political commentary, Social commentary

Mr. Trump,

Once again it seems that I need to set you straight on a few things. You are rather like the child who has been allowed to play with the bully down the street, and now you are beginning to act like him.

On Tuesday you met with Kim Jong-un, the leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), or North Korea as it is commonly called. You seem to have come home with some wildly mistaken notions about both Kim and your own role in the U.S. I am not sure why your many highly-paid advisors are failing to advise you, leaving it to me to do. Have you simply surrounded yourself with stupid people who do not understand global relations any better than you do?

First, allow me to set the record straight. Kim Jong-un is a dictator. He is not elected by the people of his nation, but rather inherited his position from his father. Kim will stay in power indefinitely until either he dies, chooses to step down, or is overthrown. You, on the other hand, are an elected official and answer to every citizen of this nation. Your term of office will end – sooner than later if you don’t change your attitude toward We the People. So, when you say of Kim, “He’s the head of a country and I mean he is the strong head. Don’t let anyone think anything different. He speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same,” you are asking for trouble. We are not “your people”. We are, quite frankly, your employers! You do not have the same power that Kim has, and never will, for the United States is a democratic republic, a nation guided by a Constitution that gives the power to the people, the citizens. It is imperative that you understand this, for comments like that are offensive to every citizen of this nation!

Second, contrary to your inane comment, Kim Jong-un does not “love his people”. In order to consolidate his power, Kim had his uncle executed and ordered the murder of his half-brother. There are as many as 100,000 people being held in gulags in slave-like conditions in North Korea. These are not murderers, thieves or rapists – they are simply people who crossed Kim in one way or another. He orders public executions and allows ‘his people’ to starve to death. And have you forgotten Otto Warmbier? Mr. Warmbier was a 22-year-old U.S. citizen who was held prisoner in North Korea for over a year on orders by your buddy Kim. Warmbier’s crime? Trying to steal a propaganda poster. Last year, he was sent back to the U.S. in a coma and died just a few days later. Remember way back when you called Kim a ‘madman’ and a ‘killer’? You were spot on then, but now you are either blind, stupid or simply don’t care about the human race. Which is it?

Third, your treatment of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is despicable. You have acted just as I would expect a five-year-old child to act – a spoiled brat! Trudeau has, I’m certain, bit his tongue on more than one occasion, has tried very hard to be nice to you and to compromise on issues such as trade between our two nations. But it seems that the word ‘compromise’ is not in your vocabulary and you insist on a game of winner-take-all, where you are the winner. That is not how politics work, not how international relations work, and is not, in fact, how life works. Your parents must have been very self-focused people, for they failed to teach you manners, failed to teach you that there are other people in this world and that life is not all about you and what you want. While you were campaigning for the office you now hold, you said one of your goals was to make America safer, and yet, by pushing away all our allies, you have done just the opposite. You brag and take credit for a strong economy, for low unemployment numbers, even though they are not yours to take credit for, but allow me to speculate that since you have imposed unreasonable tariffs on Mexico, Canada, the EU, and China, that economy will not remain strong for much longer. I anticipate prices of goods and services will rise, people will be unable to afford to buy those goods and services, companies will lose money and begin laying off people, and there you have it – a new recession. And believe me when I say that you will deserve every bit of the credit for that!

To summarize, Mr. Trump, you are doing a lousy job as leader of the United States. Were it up to the majority in this nation, you would be fired today, but democratic processes take time. I realize that you are not much of a reader, but the best advice I can give you at this time is to read about the French King Louis XVI and the fate that befell him for ignoring the needs of “his people”.

Sincerely,

Jill E Dennison, citizen/voter

Checks & Balances??? HAH!

Posted on June 14, 2018 by jilldennison under Political commentary

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

That, as you all know, is the Preamble to the United States Constitution, the foundation for the government of the U.S. Until recently, it was a representational form of government. The Constitution calls for three separate and distinct branches of government in order to achieve a system of checks and balances so that no one branch has complete autonomy. The reason is to protect our representational form of government from corruption, from making self-serving and destructive decisions. If there was ever a doubt in your mind that there are no longer checks on the executive branch, the presidency, you can put those doubts to bed now, for the proof is in the pudding that Congress, the legislative branch of government, is too afraid of Donald Trump to act on behalf of We The People.

You will recall that on June 1^st, Trump imposed a 25% tariff on imports of steel, and a 10% tariff on aluminum, on the European Union, Canada, and Mexico – our allies – citing “national security” as the reason. Our allies were, justifiably and understandably, disturbed by this move, as were many here at home. The tariffs were poorly received by the vast majority of economists; almost 80% of 104 economists surveyed by Reuters believed that tariffs on steel and aluminum imports would be a net harm to the U.S. economy. The World Bank has warned that a spiral of rising tariffs could lead to a drop in global trade not seen since the financial crisis of 2007-2008.

The legal basis for Trump to impose the tariffs is questionable, at best. It comes from Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 which under certain circumstances allows the president to impose tariffs based on the recommendation from the U.S. Secretary of Commerce if “an article is being imported into the United States in such quantities or under such circumstances as to threaten or impair the national security.” This section has never been invoked since the creation of the World Trade Organization was established in 1995, and I have to ask just how Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce, concluded that the import of steel and aluminum poses a threat to national security.

National security? There is far more harm in starting a trade war and alienating our closest allies, our friends, than there is in free trade. In fact, trade agreements such as NAFTA contribute to the economies and safety nets of the nations involved.

The tariffs garnered widespread criticism among members of Congress, even some conservative republicans! On Thursday, June 7^th, Senator Bob Corker filed a proposal to require congressional approval for President Donald Trump’s tariffs in the form of an amendment to a must-pass defense appropriation bill. Corker was joined by Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander and eleven other senators who have grave concerns about the tariffs and the near-certain retaliatory tariffs and the damage that will be done to the U.S. economy, not to mention our standing with our allies.

Admittedly, Corker’s bill, even if passed in the Senate, stood a slimmer chance in the House, and was almost certain to fail passing with a veto-proof majority in both chambers. BUT … it was a beginning that sent a message that perhaps Congress was finally willing to do their job, and it was gaining momentum. BUT … on Tuesday, at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s request, Senator Jim Inhofe blocked Senator Corker’s tariffs bill from a vote. The bill is now effectively dead, and Trump has once again proven that he has authoritarian powers.

Why did Senator Inhofe block the bill? Because it would displease Trump. Bob Corker said it best …

“The United States Senate, right now, on June 12, is becoming a body where, well, we’ll do what we can do, but my gosh, if the president gets upset with us, then we might not be in the majority. And so let’s don’t do anything that might upset the president. ‘Gosh, we might poke the bear’ is the language I’ve been hearing in the hallways. We might poke the bear. The president might get upset with us as United States senators if we vote on the Corker amendment, so we’re going to do everything we can to block it.”

I am a voter. I paid federal income taxes from the time I was 13-years-old until I retired a few years ago. I am a citizen. I do not want to live in this nation if Herr Trump can wake up one morning and make a decision without any oversight from our elected representatives, or if our elected representatives are so fearful of Trump that they refuse to represent us. The majority of people in this nation feel the same. If the “Mitch and Jim Show” can, with the snap of their fingers, render our voices silent by silencing the voices of those people we elected to represent our interests, then we are no longer a representational government, and rather than being citizens, we are now subjects.

Our Shame … Our Embarrassment

Posted on June 12, 2018 by jilldennison under Global Issues, Political commentary

My single largest fear, when it appeared that Donald Trump might actually win the 2016 election, was not about internal or domestic policies, though they certainly do weigh heavily. My single greatest fear, however, was in the area of foreign relations and foreign policy, for it was already obvious that Trump had no inkling about how nations interact, and it was also obvious that he was unlikely to take advice from anybody else. Although he swore his intent to surround himself with “the best people”, we all knew that he defines ‘best’ quite differently than most of us. So, when he was declared the winner of the electoral, though not the popular, vote in the wee hours of November 9^th, 2016, I was bracing for a series of foreign policy catastrophes and hoping against all hope that Congress and high-level advisors would be able to contain the worst of the damage.

That said, I was in no way prepared for the calamity that Trump has wrought upon our nation in the last 16 months, and most especially in the last month … actually, the very worst may have come in the last 3 days, though it may be followed by worse on the morrow. For you see, not only is Trump acting out of ignorance, but he is acting out of malice, out of an obvious desire to destroy long-term alliances and either isolate the U.S. in a way that is not sustainable, not in our best interests, and very dangerous in today’s global environment, or he seeks to realign with our nemesis, Russia.

What he and his advisors have done in a short 24-hour period to our relations with our closest neighbor, Canada, is appalling and unconscionable. Last week I expressed the opinion that it might be best if he did not attend the G7. This week I am thoroughly convinced it would have been better. Trump, who does not understand global trade, but thinks of himself as a master ‘wheeler-dealer’, put the final straw on the camel’s back of our relationship with Canada and the EU, particularly Canada.

Trump came to office proclaiming, incorrectly, that the U.S. has been taken advantage of by its trading partners. He has sought to renegotiate trade agreements and threatened to impose tariffs on countries that resisted. Trump sees international trade agreements as a win/lose situation and he is determined to be the winner. In reality, such agreements as NAFTA are not a win/lose proposition, but a win/win one in which each side makes some concessions and both sides gain. But Donald Trump is willing to make no concessions, not willing to budge one inch from what he perceives as his rightful win.

Trump left the G7 meetings early, skipping out on the discussions about climate change, which was just as well, since he had nothing positive to add and would likely have derailed any serious discussions in an effort to take center stage as he always does. At the conclusion of the G7, there was a press conference where a reporter asked Canada’s Prime Minister Trudeau about the U.S. tariffs and whether Trudeau was taking seriously Trump’s threats to cut off trade with any country that failed to do Trump’s bidding. Trudeau responded …

“I highlighted directly to the president that Canadians did not take it lightly that the United States has moved forward with significant tariffs on our steel and aluminum industry, particularly did not take lightly the fact that it’s based on a national security reason that for Canadians, who either themselves or whose parents or community members have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with American soldiers in far off lands and conflicts from the First World War onwards, that it’s kind of insulting. And highlighted that it was not helping in our renegotiation of NAFTA and that it would be with regret, but it would be with absolute certainty and firmness that we move forward with retaliatory measures on July 1, applying equivalent tariffs to the ones that the Americans have unjustly applied to us. I have made it very clear to the president that it is not something we relish doing, but it is something that we absolutely will do, because Canadians, we’re polite, we’re reasonable, but we also will not be pushed around.”

Although it was a very reasonable and well-reasoned comment, when Trump heard of it he went into a rage, tweeting …

“Based on Justin’s false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive Tariffs to our U.S. farmers, workers and companies, I have instructed our U.S. Reps not to endorse the Communique as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the U.S. Market!”

And …

“PM Justin Trudeau of Canada acted so meek and mild during our @G7 meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that, ‘US Tariffs were kind of insulting’ and he ‘will not be pushed around.’ Very dishonest & weak. Our Tariffs are in response to his of 270% on dairy!”

There was nothing either dishonest or weak in what Mr. Trudeau said – and he was well within his rights to say it. But even that wasn’t the worst of it. On the Sunday morning talk shows, Trump’s minions took the whole thing to the next level of idiocy and most likely cost us the friendship of a treasured ally.

On CBS’ Face the Nation, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow: “So, he holds a press conference. The president is barely out of there, on the plane to North Korea, and he starts insulting us. You know, he starts talking about U.S. is insulting Canada. We are not — we, Canada, are not going to be pushed around.”

Then Kudlow hopped right over to CNN’s State of the Union, where he said: “Potus is not going to let a Canadian prime minister push him around – push him, Potus around, on the eve of this. He is not going to permit any show of weakness on the trip to negotiate with North Korea. Nor should he.”

Trump’s Twitter finger was apparently bored in Singapore, and he jumped back in …

“Fair Trade is now to be called Fool Trade if it is not Reciprocal. According to a Canada release, they make almost 100 Billion Dollars in Trade with U.S. (guess they were bragging and got caught!). Minimum is 17B. Tax Dairy from us at 270%. Then Justin acts hurt when called out!”

But possibly the most obnoxiously insulting barb came from Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro appearing on Fox News Sunday:

“There’s a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with President Donald J Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door, and that’s what Bad Faith Justin Trudeau did with that stunt press conference.”

Trump, Kudlow and Navarro all sound like a bunch of West Side thugs, which is just about all they are.

Canada, however, responded to the assaults in an adult manner with diplomacy and tact. Canadian foreign minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters in Quebec City:

“Canada does not conduct its diplomacy through ad hominem attacks … and we refrain particularly from ad hominem attacks when it comes from a close ally.”

At this juncture, I would like to humbly and sincerely apologize to Prime Minister Trudeau and all Canadians on behalf of myself and the majority of citizens in this nation for the inane and unfair language and behaviour of our representatives. We would not blame you if you closed your borders to U.S. citizens and you would be well within your rights to do so, but we hope that you won’t. Please forgive us.

Filosofa's Word

Cogito Ergo Sum

Tag Archives: tariffs

Alternative Facts …

Even Snarkier Than Usual Snippets …

Checks & Balances??? HAH!

Our Shame … Our Embarrassment