Donald Trump campaigned promising to bring jobs back to the United States by exiting trade deals. One of the examples he gave was the Carrier plant that was going to shut down and move to Mexico.
Others said that foreign trade was not the main source of the problem of job loss in the United States. They cited other reasons, such as automation.
Carrier decided not to cut all the jobs at the plant Mr. Trump cited, after a call from Mr. Trump. Unfortunately, he claimed to have saved 1150 of the jobs that were going to be cut, when the actual number was only 800. Not, by a long shot, the only or the most egregious fact Mr. Trump has gotten wrong. Also, it appears that Carrier decided to keep the 800 jobs because of tax incentives offered by the state of Indiana, not because of anything Mr. Trump did.
Now, according to CNN, thousands of Americans are losing their jobs after Mr. Trump was elected.
General Motors has announced that it will lay off 1300 workers, in addition to another 2000 who will lose their jobs within a month.
Boeing has already fired thousands of workers, but the company told it's employees it will continue to cut jobs into 2017.
Airbus has told its labor unions that it intends to cut around 1200 jobs.
GoPro has announced plans to lay off 200 workers.
Xerox says lay offs are coming.
Caterpillar laid off 10,000 workers last fall and has said it will continue laying off workers.
The Limited has told all 248 workers at its Ohio home office that their jobs are in jeopardy.
America, you have been conned.
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
A Landslide? Really?
Donald Trump has said that he would have won the popular vote by a landslide if the millions of people who voted illegally had not voted.
Let's be clear. Mr. Trump won the election of the president of the United States of America fair and square.
That said, it is also true that some two and a half million more Americans voted for his major opponent than voted for him. That is hardly a landslide. It certainly is not a mandate.
It is, in fact, something that should give Mr. Trump and his fellow travelers some pause. At least two and half million more Americans preferred Mr. Trump's opponent than preferred Mr. Trump.
As far as the claim that Mr. Trump would have won by a landslide if only those who voted illegally had not voted, that claim is just bogus.
First of all, there is no - zero, nada, zip - evidence to support the claim that any substantial number of people voted illegally. Mr. Trump and his "transition" team have been asked for any evidence to support the claim and they have not produced any. None. The claim is just bogus.
Second, for it to have been true, it must be true that over two and a half million votes were cast illegally - a claim for which there is no evidence - and then those over two and a half million votes had to all be cast for Mr. Trump's opponent - something which no one, including Mr. Trump, could possibly know.
The claim that Mr. Trump makes that he would have won the popular vote by a landslide if the millions of illegal votes had not been cast is ... just bogus. One more thing about which we can be certain Mr. Trump is lying.
America, you have been conned.
Let's be clear. Mr. Trump won the election of the president of the United States of America fair and square.
That said, it is also true that some two and a half million more Americans voted for his major opponent than voted for him. That is hardly a landslide. It certainly is not a mandate.
It is, in fact, something that should give Mr. Trump and his fellow travelers some pause. At least two and half million more Americans preferred Mr. Trump's opponent than preferred Mr. Trump.
As far as the claim that Mr. Trump would have won by a landslide if only those who voted illegally had not voted, that claim is just bogus.
First of all, there is no - zero, nada, zip - evidence to support the claim that any substantial number of people voted illegally. Mr. Trump and his "transition" team have been asked for any evidence to support the claim and they have not produced any. None. The claim is just bogus.
Second, for it to have been true, it must be true that over two and a half million votes were cast illegally - a claim for which there is no evidence - and then those over two and a half million votes had to all be cast for Mr. Trump's opponent - something which no one, including Mr. Trump, could possibly know.
The claim that Mr. Trump makes that he would have won the popular vote by a landslide if the millions of illegal votes had not been cast is ... just bogus. One more thing about which we can be certain Mr. Trump is lying.
America, you have been conned.
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
A Grumpy Old Man
Donald Trump's tweets remind me of an old man with a pot belly and a three day growth of beard, sitting in his darkened living room in his recliner in his pajama pants and t-shirt, watching the television news all day, drinking beer, and shouting at the tv.
Monday, December 12, 2016
It's not a Game
At times after the election, Mr. Trump has sounded more "presidential" than he often did before the election.
When asked about this apparent difference in Mr. Trump's behavior, one of his advisors said that he knew how to play the game.
That's one of the big problems.
Neither campaigning for the presidency of the United States of America, nor being the president of the United States of America has ever been, is not now, and never will be a game. That Mr. Trump and/or any of his advisors think(s) that it is a game and/or that Mr. Trump knows how to play it is very troubling.
America, you have been conned.
When asked about this apparent difference in Mr. Trump's behavior, one of his advisors said that he knew how to play the game.
That's one of the big problems.
Neither campaigning for the presidency of the United States of America, nor being the president of the United States of America has ever been, is not now, and never will be a game. That Mr. Trump and/or any of his advisors think(s) that it is a game and/or that Mr. Trump knows how to play it is very troubling.
America, you have been conned.
Monday, December 5, 2016
The Trail of Broken Promises
The list of promises made by President-elect Trump during his campaign to become president of the United States that he now says he will or might break is growing so fast that it seems impossible to keep up with it. However, here are a few.
Now, keep in mind, we don't know if President-elect Trump will actually break these promises. The only thing we know for sure about President-elect Trump's thinking is that he lies. Whether he was lying at the time he made the promises and never intended to keep them, or whether he is lying now when he says he will or might break them one cannot tell. But, here's a partial list of the campaign promises we know he made that we know he says he will or might break.
He'll build a wall. President-elect Trump began his presidential campaign by promising that, if elected, he would build a wall along the border between Mexico and the United States. I don't know if he ever said exactly this, but it was clear that he promised to build a wall that would completely wall off Mexico from the United States. Now, he says, he won't build a wall, because some of it will be a fence. The promise was to build a wall, not a fence. Almost all of my readers will have seen both walls and fences, and they will recognize the difference. A fence is not a wall.
I have said this before, but, once again for the record, it breaks my hear to think of either a wall or a fence closing off the view and/or the access to the Rio Grande River through Big Bend National Park. For those of you who have been there, you know that the view of and the access to the Rio Grande is one of the most magnificent aspects of Big Bend. My President-elect has promised he will end that. It breaks my heart.
Also, this isn't a promise he's broken, but it's a promise that President-elect almost surely cannot keep and almost surely knew he would be very unlike to keep the promise when he made it: Mexico will pay for that wall. After Mr. Trump met with the president of Mexico, the president of Mexico said that Mexico would never pay for the promised wall.
We'll keep out the Muslims. During the campaign, Mr. Trump called for a complete and total ban on all Muslims entering the United States. One cannot be sure that this was a promise, but it seemed like one at the time.
If it was a promise, then it was broken even before the election. When asked about Muslims who were United States citizens trying to enter the country and elected officials of other countries who were Muslims trying to enter the country, Mr. Trump admitted that there would have to be exceptions to his blanket promise (ban?). Later, when it was pointed out that a ban on someone entering the country based on their religion would probably be unconstitutional, Mr. Trump changed his promises (ban?) to one that would keep out people entering the United States from countries that had problems with terrorism. (Would that include France?) Then, when problems with that promises (ban?) were pointed out, Mr. Trump changed his promise (ban?) to "just" a registry of all immigrants to the United States of the Muslim faith.
He'll repeal Obamacare. Many times during the campaign, Mr. Trump promised that if he were elected he would repeal Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act). He even said on at least one occasion that he would do it as soon as he took office, on the very day, to be precise. He said he would call a "special session" of congress to repeal Obamacare, even though the congress (according to the Supreme Court of the United States) has been in session continuously for many years and despite the fact that presidents don't call "special sessions" of congress. That's something that governors do with or to state legislatures.
After meeting with President Obama for about 90 minutes, President-elect Trump said he might not repeal Obamacare, but, instead, might amend it. By the way, that's exactly what Secretary Clinton said over and over during the campaign: Don't repeal it. Keep what's working and fix what's not.
He'll lock her up. During the campaign, Mr. Trump promised many times that if he were elected president of the United States, he would lock up Secretary Clinton. He often led or encouraged chants by his supporters to "lock her up." He promised specifically that, if he were elected president, he would instruct his attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor to pursue the case(s) against Secretary Clinton.
When asked during a post-election interview whether he still intended to seek prosecution against Secretary Clinton, he said that he didn't want to hurt the Clintons. They were good people.
He'll drain that swamp. Many times during the presidential campaign, Mr. Trump promised that, if elected, he would go to Washington and drain the swamp. It's not clear exactly what he meant by "drain the swamp." It is, obviously a metaphor for something, but one cannot be sure exactly what. Nevertheless, his supporters almost surely took it to mean that if he went to Washington as the president of the United States, that President Trump would appoint political outsiders to the federal government and end both the "revolving door" that lets government officials become lobbyists and then lets lobbyists become government officials and the influence of money in federal politics.
Despite his promise to drain the swamp, most of President-elect's transition team are political insiders and lobbyists. The man he has appointed as his chief-of-staff is a political operative. Most of the people he has appointed to be members of his cabinet are politicians and generals.
When asked by a reporter why his transition team was so thick with lobbyists, he told the reporter that there was nothing else he could do, that it was the lobbyists who knew how the system worked and he had to rely on them. Which is, of course, what many of the political insiders before President-elect Trump have used as their excuse for including so many lobbyists in their transition teams and governments.
So much for draining the swamp.
America, you have been conned.
Now, keep in mind, we don't know if President-elect Trump will actually break these promises. The only thing we know for sure about President-elect Trump's thinking is that he lies. Whether he was lying at the time he made the promises and never intended to keep them, or whether he is lying now when he says he will or might break them one cannot tell. But, here's a partial list of the campaign promises we know he made that we know he says he will or might break.
He'll build a wall. President-elect Trump began his presidential campaign by promising that, if elected, he would build a wall along the border between Mexico and the United States. I don't know if he ever said exactly this, but it was clear that he promised to build a wall that would completely wall off Mexico from the United States. Now, he says, he won't build a wall, because some of it will be a fence. The promise was to build a wall, not a fence. Almost all of my readers will have seen both walls and fences, and they will recognize the difference. A fence is not a wall.
I have said this before, but, once again for the record, it breaks my hear to think of either a wall or a fence closing off the view and/or the access to the Rio Grande River through Big Bend National Park. For those of you who have been there, you know that the view of and the access to the Rio Grande is one of the most magnificent aspects of Big Bend. My President-elect has promised he will end that. It breaks my heart.
Also, this isn't a promise he's broken, but it's a promise that President-elect almost surely cannot keep and almost surely knew he would be very unlike to keep the promise when he made it: Mexico will pay for that wall. After Mr. Trump met with the president of Mexico, the president of Mexico said that Mexico would never pay for the promised wall.
We'll keep out the Muslims. During the campaign, Mr. Trump called for a complete and total ban on all Muslims entering the United States. One cannot be sure that this was a promise, but it seemed like one at the time.
If it was a promise, then it was broken even before the election. When asked about Muslims who were United States citizens trying to enter the country and elected officials of other countries who were Muslims trying to enter the country, Mr. Trump admitted that there would have to be exceptions to his blanket promise (ban?). Later, when it was pointed out that a ban on someone entering the country based on their religion would probably be unconstitutional, Mr. Trump changed his promises (ban?) to one that would keep out people entering the United States from countries that had problems with terrorism. (Would that include France?) Then, when problems with that promises (ban?) were pointed out, Mr. Trump changed his promise (ban?) to "just" a registry of all immigrants to the United States of the Muslim faith.
He'll repeal Obamacare. Many times during the campaign, Mr. Trump promised that if he were elected he would repeal Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act). He even said on at least one occasion that he would do it as soon as he took office, on the very day, to be precise. He said he would call a "special session" of congress to repeal Obamacare, even though the congress (according to the Supreme Court of the United States) has been in session continuously for many years and despite the fact that presidents don't call "special sessions" of congress. That's something that governors do with or to state legislatures.
After meeting with President Obama for about 90 minutes, President-elect Trump said he might not repeal Obamacare, but, instead, might amend it. By the way, that's exactly what Secretary Clinton said over and over during the campaign: Don't repeal it. Keep what's working and fix what's not.
He'll lock her up. During the campaign, Mr. Trump promised many times that if he were elected president of the United States, he would lock up Secretary Clinton. He often led or encouraged chants by his supporters to "lock her up." He promised specifically that, if he were elected president, he would instruct his attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor to pursue the case(s) against Secretary Clinton.
When asked during a post-election interview whether he still intended to seek prosecution against Secretary Clinton, he said that he didn't want to hurt the Clintons. They were good people.
He'll drain that swamp. Many times during the presidential campaign, Mr. Trump promised that, if elected, he would go to Washington and drain the swamp. It's not clear exactly what he meant by "drain the swamp." It is, obviously a metaphor for something, but one cannot be sure exactly what. Nevertheless, his supporters almost surely took it to mean that if he went to Washington as the president of the United States, that President Trump would appoint political outsiders to the federal government and end both the "revolving door" that lets government officials become lobbyists and then lets lobbyists become government officials and the influence of money in federal politics.
Despite his promise to drain the swamp, most of President-elect's transition team are political insiders and lobbyists. The man he has appointed as his chief-of-staff is a political operative. Most of the people he has appointed to be members of his cabinet are politicians and generals.
When asked by a reporter why his transition team was so thick with lobbyists, he told the reporter that there was nothing else he could do, that it was the lobbyists who knew how the system worked and he had to rely on them. Which is, of course, what many of the political insiders before President-elect Trump have used as their excuse for including so many lobbyists in their transition teams and governments.
So much for draining the swamp.
America, you have been conned.
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