President Trump - Day 2

I can't believe he is blind enough not to notice that millions of people were out protesting against him yesterday.  I do believe that he thinks they are a bunch of malcontents who are upset that they lost.  However so far there have been no tweets that I have seen that indicate what response he has.  maybe he figures if he ignores them they will go away, a tactic that he probably uses when he stiffs contractors.  I am hoping that the protests do not go away.  However we need to make sure they don't go the way of the Occupy Movement and not really accomplish anything although had Bernie won we might have seen some positive results from even that movement.

My feeling is that this needs to progress to general strikes, something that the Europeans use on occasion to make a point.  Trump supporters are defensive about the lower numbers at his inauguration than Obama's and the much greater numbers of protesters yesterday than he had listen to his speech.  One theme they use to explain the discrepancy in the numbers is that Trump supporters are all working.  A general strike by those who do not support him will emphasize the fact that his detractors work too.  Nobody I personally know that was at the women's march is unemployed.  I am guessing but I will bet that many Trump supporters are in fact out of work as he did better in states with high unemployment and as Bill Maher pointed out also very well in states with high opioid use.  I think that Maher's tongue-in-cheek assumption that the opioid users are Trump's constituency and that they are using the drugs to overcome their sadness at having Obama as President is as funny as it is inaccurate.  It does point to a breakdown of society in those states and that certainly will fuel the kind of anger that Trump was able to harness.  The problem is that his policies will only make things worse as they are not middle class friendly and will result in the continuing shrinkage of the core of America.   Starting with Jefferson's yeomen farmers and progressing through the industrial workers that replaced them the middle class has always driven the core of the economy.  When the upper class gets too much power and there is not middle class bad things happen like the Civil War where one class of worker were slaves and the Great Depressions caused in part by the bankers and investors getting too much of the pie.

In any case if the Donald is going to make good on his inaugural address he will have to take into account that the rallies yesterday were bigger than his and if the people are now going to have a voice he has to listen to them not just the voices in his head.  As thin skinned as he is and as sure of himself as he is I suspect that nothing will change and we will have to keep ratcheting up the pressure.  The Republicans in Congress have no backbone and will probably not listen either but a sizable minority of the country gathered yesterday and from all reports were energized by the experience.  These are the Americans I respect.  Lets keep moving. .

President Trump - Day 1

I avoided all the hoopla of inauguration day on purpose.  I have been keeping up with the confirmation hearings which have been a mixed bag.  Expecting the absolute worst from all of the nominees some have surprised me with being almost reasonable.  Rex Tillerson has divested himself, and sounded much more reasonable than the Boss.  He might be OK although I am not sure I am being deceived by low expectations and the performance of others making him look better than he is.
Betsy DeVos on the other hand is an unmitigated disaster.  Smiling through all her responses she showed no real preparation or if she had some she is a slow learner.  Sen. Franken especially showed her ignorance of even simple educational concepts.  AARGH!  But she will be confirmed it seems as was General Flynn, a conspiracy believer as the head of NSA - just what we need with a President who does not shy away from outlandish claims like Obama not being an American citizen.

Then of course he signs a vague executive order to follow up on the dismantling of the ACA.  I will not call it Obamacare as it is really Romneycare to those of us in Massachusetts.  It was relabeled by Republicans to make it less popular among their constituents many of whom partook of it as ACA some not even realizing that the two were the same thing.  So much for not ruling by executive order.  Obama was not even that big on them and he had a Congress that would not pass any legislation.  Trump has no excuse especially as he campaigned against them.  Here are the stats from Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_federal_executive_orders

The CBO released a report that should have halted most of the momentum to repeal it but doesn't seem to be slowing it down much.  I don't have ACA insurance but will pay higher private premiums and taxes as a result of its repeal.  That is not nearly the disaster awaiting those who are sick and really need the insurance.

Rioting is bad as I had written about earlier in relation to riots in Portland.  I know you are angry but we must follow the rules of MLK who learned them from Gandhi who adapted them from Jesus' teaching.  The rules are simple: No violence.  Remember the turn of the civil rights movement came about in large part by seeing the police turn dogs and fire hoses on peaceful protesters.  The riots in the ghettos once MLK was gone did the cause of civil rights no favors.  Violence in the cause of equal rights under a President who is not tolerant of criticism will only harden the government's response to any protest.  Already every Trump supporter on my Facebook page is posting the pictures of protesters breaking windows and torching a car.  There has been more violence after sports teams win a national championship but any deviation from peaceful is seen as a threat but those in power.

Peace out.