Tuesday, September 3, 2019

My Significant Disagreements with Donald Trump


 I don't have any grievances with the president. I have a couple of gentleman's disagreements and I will get to them shortly.

Ideologically, Trump is a 1980's Democrat. For younger readers, there was a time--and it was not long ago--when Democrats were normal people. They were people who loved beer and bowling and 4th of July parades. They were every bit as patriotic and pro-American as the Republicans. Yes, there was a fringe of lunacy but easily be overlooked.

Ronald Reagan was a good president but I don't know if things would have been radically different if Bill Bradley had occupied the White House instead. Bill Bradley, Gary Hart, Bob Kerry do not approximately equal Joe Bide, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

I digress. My disagreements with the current president. Oh yes. I believe in free trade in the abstract and I believe in international free trade. So I do not agree with President Trump's use of tariffs to advance an agenda. Ultimately, the US consumer pays the the tab.

But....if we are going to go down the road, who better to drive the bus than the author of "The Art of The Deal'? Add to that, this man's virtuoso performance in all things related to foreign policy (bringing peace to the Korean Peninsula for instance) and I have to defer to his judgment.

I also wish Trump was more of a fiscal hawk. Debt constitutes a genuine emergency.Yes, he is growing the economy but I do wish he would cut spending significantly. Maybe next term?

Recently Real Donald Trump tweeted out a plea for quantitative easing. QE is deceptive if not fraudulent no matter who inflicts this flim flam on the people.

Free trade. Cheap Asian labor. King Dollar. Bleeding NPR and PBS in the first acts of curbing fiscal waste. So I got four disagreements with the president. Four.

 Maybe if I tried harder I could come up with five or six disagreements.with our current president. For now, I am just going to enjoy the sunshine. These are happy days.