To me it feels like we are 3 years into a "normal" Presidency. But norms are for history.
Donald Trump's race to be the worst administration in American history is without precedent.
To commemorate this year's President's Day, I read the annual analysis by well known historians to rate the former President's of the Unites States. The consensus, of the past 50 years or so is that the top four Presidents are Washington, Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt. (from that point there is more general consensus on groupings of the next in line. (Good, Fair, Poor, etc).
There is also consensus on the worst President, James Buchanan. The 15th President did nothing to try to stop the country from civil war. (Not that he truly could have stopped the inevitable).
For many of us this is not a surprise. We saw it all during the campaign. Being a business man is not like understanding how to manage policy decisions through building consensus and Congress.
Just as a reminder the major issues over the past month have been:
- A complete failure of an executive order to manage immigration control
- The firing of a national security advisor (and the Russian thing exploding out of control)
- The rejection of a Labor Secretary nominee.
- The failed military raid in Yemen.
What is happening, behind the scenes are all the policy changes that are being done to roll-back decisions of the Obama administration. These include changes concerning carbon emissions, water pollution, gun control, business regulations, health care and so many more. It's the pro-business agenda of greed. (What's good for General Motors (i.e. business) is good for the US). Plus the economy, environment, and taking care of the less-fortunate be damned. Scary!
Instead of "draining the swamp", he has nominated cabinet members who are there to destroy their departments. (Lots of former Goldman-Sachs alumni).
The utter incompetency, the blatant lies (alternative facts) and the racism are beyond description.
His press conference of three days ago was beyond belief. He even lies about obvious facts.
His press conference with the Prime Minister of Israel was surreal. The analysts were trying to figure out what he meant as if he was being cryptic. News Flash. He has no clue abut what one-state, two-states or the history and complexities of the Middle East. He could care less.
This morning we woke up to this tweet. Trump needs an enemy. Every president has had a contentious relationship with the press. That is the nature of a democracy. But with this tweet, he has declared war on the first amendment. SICK!
Seems like all he does is watch the news programs and gauge their reactions to him.
So now anything that is not to his liking is "Fake News". More like he is the "Fake President" (I wish).
Two of my favorite podcasts are from Dan Carlin. Hard Core History (for history junkies like myself) and Common Sense. While I certainly don't agree with Dan on everything he is very thought provoking and engaging. I know that he has an excellent background in historical context.
You can't understand the present without knowledge of history.
I strongly suggest you download "Common Sense 313 - Get me a Glassful of Water."
He is struggling, like all of us, to figure out where we are going from here. Post your feedback and thoughts on this blog post.
