So, the Obama Presidential portrait has been, weirdly, alarmingly controversial. But it’s also become the subject of arguably the weirdest, most disgusting conspiracy theory. It’s so weird and gross that Sean Hannity realized it was probably too much and deleted his posts about it. But Alex Jones and Info Wars wasn’t deterred. No, they are convinced that Obama was painted with sperm on his face, and it’s part of some grand, degenerate conspiracy. Alex Jones can say this, and people still take him seriously. The world is a surprising place.
Trump’s Attorney, Michael Cohen is alleging that he paid Pornstar Stormy Daniels, $130,000, out of his own pocket, and that Donald Trump had nothing to do with it, and that he was not repaid or reimbursed in anyway for it. And you know what? I can totally believe that. Trump not paying people he employs sounds very much like a tact right out of the Donald Trump playbook.
So, Trump wants to give people food boxes instead of food stamps. Beyond the logistical nightmare of implementing this idea, it is shortsighted in a number of ways, presupposing that everyone who receives these benefits have the luxury of working kitchens and taking away the element of choice. Though the argument against choice is the healthier options the program would be handing out, as opposed to the more economically minded people who forgo healthier items for stretching their dollars out and getting the most use out of the money they have. But at the end of the day, isn’t it a little absurd that Donald Trump is attempting to regulate the healthiness of anyone’s meals?
With the numbers finally out for Trump’s proposed budget, a lot of news agencies and senators on Twitter are again taking a look back at Trump’s campaign promises. He claimed that under him, the country would never run a $400 billion deficit. He claimed that he was the only GOP candidate who was saying absolutely no cuts to Medicaid. And yet we’re on course to over double the deficit number he complained about, and of course his proposed budget seeks to slash the numbers on Medicaid by a cool $250 billion. What I’m curious about was how much of those claims were lies that he knew he was telling at the time, or just claims made of sheer ignorance of how governments work. Because that’s the thing at this point; maliciousness and stupidity are both valid accusations to make. And if it is just sheer ignorance, one might wonder how that plays into things going forward…
Trump’s strategy of backing up the wrong side of history, which has been surprisingly successful, thus far, will eventually fail him if he finds himself offending a position even his base holds. I don’t know if that’s going to be the #MeToo movement or it’s like, but his aides are certainly working extra hard to clean up after him following his infamous “due process” tweet. It’s at times like these that I imagine the stress and heartburn that job must entail. The job of wrangling Trump would age a person more than being President would any other person other than Trump.
North Korea has really been using the Winter Olympics as a good stage to show a softer, gentler side of fascism. Their propaganda department has been doing an expert job of getting Kim Yo-Jong, the sister of Kim Jong Un, some favorable spotlight, with some really well staged opportunities in South Korea. I know that this is part of a careful, and calculated plot to gain more favorable relations with the countries sanctioning the heck out of them right now, but I kind of humorously imagine that this might rankle Un a little bit, that his little sister is so much more well like than he is.
So, Scott Pruitt, the head of the EPA under Trump has been an outspoken climate denier forever. It’s almost certainly why he was chosen for his post, and frankly, him having the position is a total joke. But even he can’t help but recognize certain things from his vantage, and it seems like he’s starting to change his tune on the existence of climate change, but instead of using that information to make reasonable decisions, he’s now taking another tact. He’s claiming that the warming climate isn’t NECESSARILY a bad thing. And that we don’t know what the optimal climate for the planet is, that all we have is conjecture. Which is crap. We absolutely have a pretty clear picture of how things shake out with the continued heating of the planet, and to say we don’t is either stupid or dishonest. He’s basically turning into a Captain Planet villain.
So Trump wants a big, opulent military parade, and I feel almost weird talking about it, because you just know that Trump is looking forward to calling a bunch of people out for not supporting the troops by acknowledging how bad it looks. Because a grand parade for the Military isn’t about the soldiers. It’s a display of power. He’s not celebrating a holiday, or emphasizing a victory. He’s just flexing muscles. It’s a political body building contest. But Trump is savvy and duplicitous enough to turn that on it’s ear and stoke the rage flames from all of those who don’t see this move for what it is. Because the fact is that when people think of big military parades, people think of goose stepping Nazis and whatever that weird march step that the North Koreans do is. Make no mistake, this is just one more divide in the body of bipartisanship.
The European Union seems to have read the book Trump didn’t actually write. They’re basically willing to walk away from the negotiating table for anyone not taking part in the Paris agreement. With all his talk about the bad deal the US was getting, and by pulling out, Trump would have the whole world eating out of the palm of our hands, I have to wonder what such a bold declaration by the EU would make Trump do behind closed doors? I’m sure he’s going to come out and say this was either part of the plan or that this is just a non-problem and even a good thing, because who wanted to trade with literally everyone anyway? I mean, he’s alienating us from China, Mexico, and Canada one by one, and now all of Europe is getting ready to say no thanks. At what point are we going to stop pretending that he’s the best deal maker around?
According to President Donald Trump, the Stock Market is basically the entire indicator for the health of our economy. At least, that’s what he was saying when the Stock Market was posting record numbers, numbers he was proud to take the credit for, an indisputable indicator of success under his regime. He wouldn’t hear of it when it was suggested that this wasn’t a result of his time in office, that we might at least in part be feeling the after effects of Obama’s time in office. Fine. That’s fair. So when the stock market starts losing money in record numbers, by President Trump’s logic, then he must also be prepared to take the credit, right?
Mind the Exit 