Thursday, December 8, 2016
Trump and Truth
“And lying she knew was a sin.”
Tom Lehrer, — An Irish Ballad
A number of parents have written asking for suggestions as to how they can explain to young children why the life of the lie has improved so dramatically in the United States in recent months. That is because since they were very young, children have been told that becoming friends with the lie is a bad thing. Times have changed.
The lie has acquired an air of respectability of which it could not have dreamed ten years ago. Its success and prominence are attributable to two things: the internet, that has not only given the lie new respectability but facilitated its promulgation; and the election of Donald Trump, who can be counted as one of the lie’s best and most prominent friends. That is not to suggest, however, that there is nothing but good news for the lie. There is in fact a cloud on the horizon. But first, its successes, and there have been many.
Almost all children have seen first-hand how the internet has enabled the lie to instantly and widely spread its message. All that is needed is that the lie be placed on a computer, followed by the depression of the “send” key. More difficult to explain to the child will be the battle between the lie and the truth, a battle that the lie is clearly winning. That is because the lie’s biggest proponent is about to become the president of the United States. The lie’s friendship with Mr. Trump is well known. Mr. Trump has given prominence to the lie of which it could only dream before he was elected.
One of Mr. Trump’s best known collaborations with the lie involved the invasion of Iraq. When the invasion took place, Mr. Trump publicly expressed support. When it became obvious that the invasion has been a mistake, he and the lie simply said what he’d said he’d not said. Another successful Trump collaboration with the lie occurred after the election. Acting as the lie’s spokesman, Mr. Trump said with some self-satisfaction on November 27, 2016, that: “In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.” By actual count, of course, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by more than 2.6 million votes and there was never a suggestion, nor proof, that there were people who voted illegally in large numbers. To give this lie an aura of respectability, the lie invoked the assistance of none other than Mike Pence, who will soon be vice president of the United States. Speaking of the lie’s success in recruiting Mr. Trump as its spokesman, Mr. Pence said: “The American people find it refreshing that they will have a president who is willing to tell them what’s on his mind.” (When counselling a child on the child’s relationship to the lie, the parent should explain that if caught in a lie in school, it will be of little help to explain to the teacher that the child was simply trying to be refreshing.) The collusion between the lie and Mr. Trump is well documented and hundreds of examples of their successes can be found on countless websites.
Although the foregoing suggests that the lie is alive and well and prospering with its presidential friend, it has cause for concern. There is a growing body of thought that says we live in a fact-free world. This was revealed to us by Scottie Nell Hughes, a CNN commentator and Donald Trump supporter. She was interviewed on The Diane Rehm Show and, in that interview, made the astonishing statement that: “One thing that has been interesting this entire campaign season to watch is that people that say facts are facts, they’re not really facts. Everybody has a way, it’s kind of like looking at ratings or looking at a glass of half-full water. Everybody has a way of interpreting them to be the truth or not true. . . . There’s no such thing, unfortunately, anymore of facts.” It is obvious that in a fact-free world there is no place for the lie.
Reince Priebus, soon to be Trump’s chief of Staff, was asked in an interview, about Trump and the lie describing non-existent voter fraud. Mr. Priebus responded that the lie and Mr. Trump, working together: “pushed the envelope and caused people to think in this country.”
Thanks to Mr. Trump, people in this country have been forced to think repeatedly. Ninety-two things said by the lie and Mr. Trump, were catalogued by the Washington Post. Sixty-four out of 92 were given Four Pinocchio ratings. Of course, in assigning Pinocchio ratings to Mr. Trump and the lie, the newspaper is relying on facts. If, as Ms. Hughes suggests, there are no more facts, then the lie will no longer be a player because there will be no more facts that can be used to refute the lie. It will be enough to make one long for the day when the lie had a role to play because there were facts.
Thursday, December 1, 2016
Temer and Trump
Politicians [are] a set of men who have interests aside from the interests of the people. . . .
— Abraham Lincoln, 1837 Speech in Illinois Legislature
Herewith some remarkable similarities between Brazil’s president, Michel Temer, age 75, (who is married to former beauty queen, Marcela who is 32 years old), and the United States president-to-be, Donald Trump, age 70, (who is married to a former model, Melania, who is 46 years old.)
Mr. Temer became acting president of Brazil on May 12, 2016 following a vote by the Brazilian senate to impeach Dilma Rousseff, its president. As soon as Mr. Temer became acting president, he appointed ministers to serve in his cabinet. One of his first picks was Marcos Periera, a creationist bishop who does not believe in evolution. He was appointed to serve as the Minister of Science. That appointment did not sit well with the scientific community and, as a result, the appointment was rescinded and Mr. Pereira became the Minister of Trade.
Mr. Trump has offered a creationist the opportunity to serve in his cabinet. He nominated Ben Carson to be Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The fact that Mr. Carson does not believe in global warming or evolution should not adversely impact his ability to serve as secretary should he decide to accept the offer.
As Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Temer appointed Blairo Maggi, a man known as the “soy bean king” of Brazil. Mr. Maggi has been involved in extensive deforestation projects in Brazil and, prior to his appointment, was promoting a constitutional amendment to get rid of environmental restrictions on public projects.
Mr. Trump has selected Michigan’s Betsy DeVos to serve as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers calls her “the most ideological, anti-public education nominee” ever. Ms. DeVos has long been an advocate for charter schools and has advocated putting taxpayer money into vouchers that can support private and parochial schools instead of increasing funding for public schools. Michigan provides $1 billion to charter schools annually. A 2015 federal review of charter schools in Michigan found that an “unreasonably high” percentage of charter schools were considered underperforming. In 2015 Ms. DeVos and a group she backed, successfully defeated Michigan legislation that would have prevented failing charter schools from expanding or replicating. To manage the transition team at the EPA, Mr. Trump has nominated a non-scientist, Myron Ebell, a climate change denier. He helps chair a group that is dedicated to “dispelling the myths of global warming.”
As health minister, Mr. Temer appointed Ricardo Barros who has no background in medicine. Mr. Trump has nominated Tom Price to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. He is a physician, but a dedicated opponent of the Affordable Care Act. He favors reducing the right of people with pre-existing conditions to get coverage, opposes funding for Planned Parenthood, and wants to increase restrictions on abortion.
On November 24, 2016, Marcelo Calero, Mr. Temer’s Minister of Culture, resigned from his post. He did so, he said, because Geddel Vieira Lima, the Legislative Affairs Minister and one of President Temer’s closest allies, had been putting pressure on him to approve the construction of a high rise luxury apartment building in which Mr. Geddel had purchased an apartment. The proposed apartment building, however, was in an historic preservation area that did not permit the construction of such a building. After Mr. Calero resigned, Mr. Temer vigorously defended Mr. Geddel against the charges that were levelled against him by Mr. Calero. Then Mr. Calero went to the federal police and said that Mr. Temer had spoken to him twice about the project and both times had pressured him to approve it. After that was disclosed, Mr. Gedell resigned.
During the campaign Mr. Trump spoke repeatedly of barring Muslims from entering the United States. That upset Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan who responded by demanding that Mr. Trump’s name be removed from Istanbul’s Trump Towers. Following a coup attempt in July, Mr. Erdogan ordered the arrest, detention and suspension of tens of thousands of government officials, academics and others. Commenting on Mr. Erdogan’s action, Mr. Trump said he gave great credit to Mr. Erdogan for defeating the coup and expressed no concern over the mass arrests. In response, President Erdogan appears to have withdrawn his demand that the names on the towers be changed. It could be described as a win-win or a tit for a tat.
On November 23, 2016, the editorial page of the New York Times suggested Congress should create a process to review future deals Mr. Trump enters into with foreign governments, so that we can all rest assured there will be “no arrangements that could affect Mr. Trump’s policy decisions.” There is no need for Congress to do that. As Mr. Trump said in a tweet: “Prior to the election, it was well known that I have interests in properties all over the world. Only the crooked media makes this a big deal!” To prove that it is not a big deal he resorted to twitter to say that steps were being taken to “take me completely out of business operations,” without saying what steps they were. He did say he and the children would hold a press conference on December 15th to provide more details. That will be awaited with great anticipation by the crooked press as well as the rest of the country.
Thursday, November 24, 2016
Transition, Tweets and Trump
The gods have their own rules.
— Ovid, Metamorphosis
It’s been a couple of really exciting weeks for President-elect Trump and a very busy time at that. Some visitors have come by just to establish rapport with the new president, others simply to offer congratulations, and others looking for work.
It started when Prime Minister Shinzo-Abe of Japan stopped by to say “hi” barely a week after the election. That visit was especially welcomed by Mr. Trump since his daughter, Ivanka, an executive in the Trump hotel chain, happened to be present when the prime minister arrived. Sitting in on the meeting she could watch how her father comported himself in the company of this very important person, and served to give her a first-hand look at how he would be acting as president. Some people thought it a bit odd that his daughter, who has no security clearance, should be privy to a conversation between two world leaders. In fairness to Ivanka, however, that should not have been of concern. She did not get to be as important a part of the Trump family as she is, without learning to be discrete. The Prime Minister of Japan was, of course, not the only exciting visitor the president-elect hosted.
Three very important business men and Trump colleagues from India made a special trip at their own expense, simply because they wanted to personally congratulate Mr. Trump on his election. Although three of his children were present at the meeting, a security clearance was not needed for a meeting of this kind since the businessmen are the family’s business partners rather than political types. A spokesman for the family did not say whether the family’s business investments in India were discussed. A picture was posted, however, showing the businessmen and Mr. Trump standing side by side giving a thumbs up gesture that suggests the men had agreed on something that pleased all of them.
Mr. Trump’s pleasure at all the visitors he received was probably matched by his delight that the number of lawsuits confronting him because of his business practices was reduced by one. Although he has always maintained that he doesn’t settle lawsuits, he very sensibly permitted his lawyers to settle the one involving former Trump University students who said he had defrauded them. He agreed to pay $25 million to the plaintiffs since he realized that having to testify in court would take away from the valuable time he needs to get ready to assume office.
Of course it has not all been as easy as greeting sycophants, supplicants and business colleagues. Some real problems have introduced themselves to Mr. Trump. The most troubling may well be the suggestion that Mr. Trump’s business interests conflict with his duties as president. He at first said that by turning over all his business interests to his children he would avoid all conflicts of interest. That was contrary to the advice he has received from assorted places, including the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal. In an editorial published November 18, 2016 the WSJ told him his best way forward was “to liquidate his stake in the company.” Later in the same editorial the editors said: “There is no question that a Trump business sale would be painful and perhaps costly.” And without backing off that suggestion, it nonetheless went on to observe that there was a double standard in play in making him sell his business interests. It observed that “public-interest lawyers can move in and out of government without a peep of protest. Unlike liberals, Republicans like to work in the private economy.” By pointing out that liberals sup at the public trough rather than get into the hurly burly of the private economy, the paper seeks to make the fact that Mr. Trump has interests he must divest a badge of honor rather than an inconvenience.
It is unclear what Mr. Trump’s intentions with respect to divestment are. As he explained in his interview at the New York Times, “The president of the United States is allowed to have whatever conflicts he or she wants but I don’t want to do that.” During the interview he also observed that: “In theory I could run my business perfectly and then run the country perfectly.”
For those who have grown accustomed to learning of the innermost thoughts of president-elect Trump by means of the tweet, there is no reason to think that affairs of state will hold presidential pettiness at bay. His three tweets attacking the cast of the New York musical “Hamilton” are well known. The tweet, however, is more than an attack mechanism. It can impart information. Mr. Trump used a tweet to let his followers know that he is hard at work on Thanksgiving day trying to persuade Carrier Air conditioning company not to leave the United States.
During the campaign Mr. Trump often attacked what he described as the failing media. Under his inspired leadership the country may soon find that the tweet has replaced all other ways historically relied on by the public to obtain information. That would seem appropriate for a country that elected Mr. Trump as president.