Part 3: I Am Throwing My Hands Into the Air. The Imperial Trump

Feb 22, 2019

What did I tell you? What the HELL did I tell you?

This is part 3 in my discussion about our acceptance of extra-constitutional bullshit and how we think it’s okay when our guy does it. The Imperial Trump is not a good thing, no more than the Imperial BHO. In part 2 I said that by not weathering another shutdown and declaring an “emergency” over the border wall dispute, Trump would set in motion a wave of silly, dangerous nonsense by the opposition. Well, now we have Elizabeth Warren and others talking about what their emergencies are going to be. Healthcare will be declared and emergency. College education will be declared an emergency. ( I have to agree with this one. College education, thanks to governmental interference, is now pathetic. There is too much of it!) And of course, the high holy of stupid issues, Climate Change will be declared an emergency.

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Thanks, Donald. Because you can’t see past THIS one issue, because your ego was being battered (I know, they are too hard on you.), and because you play checkers while you opponents play chess, you have created the perfect atmosphere for the complete undoing of the American experiment.

But MJ, Everybody else did it!

Do you remember your mom irritating you with logic when you were 7 years old? “Just because Johnny Snotnose jumps off trees into the creek doesn’t mean you have to do it.”

But mommy! He did it! So I wanna do it too!!! Adult much?!?!? I have TOO MANY of my friends, ADULTS, from both sides of the political nuthouse, saying the emergency declaration is okay because the others did it. When BHO changed immigration law, after acknowledging he had no right whatsoever to do it (a rare moment of honesty), his cult said it was okay because W did it. Now the Trump cult is saying it is okay that he makes up law because BHO did it. And on and on it goes. Well, kids, just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

But MJ, Obama did it with big things!

No shit. And do you remember our opposition to it? Do you remember what we said then? We said he was acting like a king. We said what he did was unconstitutional. And we were right. The only correct executive actions Trump has taken so far were the elimination of some of Obama’s moronic actions. What can be created with the stroke of a pen can be eliminated with one.

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BUT…that which is created by Congress, even though we don’t like it, cannot be undone with the stroke of a pen. At least this is was true when there was a United States of America. That was the country that used to be governed by an organizing document called a Constitution. That country no longer exists. You can still see a land mass labeled as such on a map, but the country no longer exists. It is now New Post-Republic Rome. Back when there was a USA, the only CORRECT action that would have been left to the president was the veto. In this case he had already exercised that option. But impatient to just get on with it, he backed down and set up a scenario where he would take the NPRR vs the USA approach.

Ruins as allegory, subtle, right? People who correctly criticized his predecessor for such actions are now cheering Trump’s imperial presidency. IDIOTS! Would another pretend shutdown have sucked? Yeah, a little. But by doing the right thing and making the correct, if more difficult, adult argument, Trump would have eventually prevailed. (And no, my gullible friends, putting 800,000 people on extended furlough would not have crippled the economy, not matter what Joe Scarborough told you. And please, do remember they are non-essential government workers in an economy with 7 million unfilled job openings. If shutdowns are so hard on these poor souls, they could have nifty, new jobs tomorrow.)

And then there is the Tariff thing…

As of this morning, 22 Feb 19, I am now hearing rumblings, even from Trump cheerleaders like Stuart Varney saying we are looking at Obama era growth numbers for this quarter. The stock market is as volatile now as it was throughout the BHO nightmare. And we are creating an atmosphere where people think Bernie Sanders and Faux-cahontas are actually seen as more than emotionalist morons! Why? Tariffs, my boy, Tariffs. By instigating this uncertainty, markets hate uncertainty for sound reason, and by doing so with a phony national security argument; Trump has effectively killed the benefits of tax cuts and the general optimism created in his first year as president. As I predicted in part one of this series and in other places, when all this tariff nonsense settles out, the president will have accomplished exactly nothing. We will end up almost exactly where we were with respect to the world economy as we were when we started. Any concessions he squeezes out of China WILL NOT be honored. They will continue to behave exactly as they always have. These token purchases you see Trump’s cheerleaders talking about, like soy and rice are just one-offs to give the appearance of cooperation. These are consumables of the first order. Don’t look for China to buy tons and tons of either in the future.

Conclusion

If you really care about where all this is taking us you should read part 1 and part 2 of this series. But about trade, I will say this: We are SUPPOSED to have to have trade deficits with everyone. We consume far more than any other country; more than entire continents. And our goods, because of demand and self-destructive labor practices, are more expensive than those in competing countries. This is a GOOD THING except for the union bullshit. We need to strive for free trade, not even or equal trade. (And what the hell is fair trade?) But to do that, you would need to shame the 535 moral cowards on Capital Hill into striking all subsidies and tax breaks from the federal code. You would then have to insist our trading partners do the same. If you want to trade here, you trade in clean, unsubsidized goods. If you breach that, you’ve just sold you last widget in the US. Trust me, Europe and Asia would cry us a river. Then they would do exactly as we say. And they will be better off for it. That would be a trade policy in which everyone would win, and the US especially would thrive. Oh, how the corrupt cronies would howl during the transition, but they would know that when and if such a trade environment did exist, they would be just fine. Hell, that’d be on fire. But alas, because we have corrupt politicians who opt for fragmentary “free trade deals” (an oxymoron) and trade through executive overreach, and because we have children/citizens who cheer their stupidity, we are likely doomed to remain NPRR. The USA will likely never exist again. And know this, when you cheer your guy doing stupid things because their guy did the same stupid things, you are as responsible for our slide toward NPRR than anyone you criticize. Don't be a political pansy! Read Street Politics: It Ain't Your Daddy's GOP Anymore! Grab your copy here. Let's demand good governance!

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Mathew Schwartz Stephen Mayes

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