MORE TRUMP/MUSK INSANITIES, THUGGERY AND IDIOCY

Dr. Common Good

Just see if you can wrap your head around the continuing barrage of absolute craziness:

• Trump has asked the military to draw up option plans for retaking the Panama Canal. This, my friends, is not sane.

• On Wednesday, Trump was crassly hawking Teslas in the White House driveway. Not only is that tacky, but it is illegal. And it is symbolic of the unprecedented, unelected and flagrantly illegal role of Elon Musk, who donated almost $300 million to Trump’s campaign, has had almost $20 billion in federal contracts himself over the past decade, and who knows nothing about the agencies he is decimating or their key roles across many domains of service to the American people and service to our important global policy goals and position. Absolute, in your face corruption.

• During a public meeting with the Irish prime minister last week, Trump called Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer “a Palestinian,” saying that “he used to be Jewish. He’s not Jewish anymore. He’s a Palestinian.” If any other public figure had made such an appalling and derogatory comment, they would have been widely excoriated.  

• Elon Musk, who has never gone to war or suffered from any war, and who knows – or cares — absolutely nothing about American values and American history, had the gall, the shameless gall, to call Senator Mark Kelly a “traitor” for publicly supporting Ukraine. That is just bottom-of-the-barrel, and ignorant beyond belief. Ukraine has been fighting, and suffering, on behalf of the West in the face of Russian aggression. Senator Kelly is a former space shuttle astronaut and Navy pilot who flew combat missions in the Gulf War. Musk does not deserve to be in the same room as Senator Kelly. More people should follow Kelley’s example and ditch their Teslas, “built and designed by an asshole,” as Kelley said.

• Let’s talk about “fraud and waste.” Last week the Trump administration returned all 41 migrants currently in Guantanamo to the U.S. He had previously transported a small number of migrants to Guantanamo using giant, expensive, and unnecessary C-17 military transports. So, Trump wasted $16 million in taxpayer money for a “deportation show” involving very few actual migrants. Where is Elon Musk and his “crusade” against “fraud and waste”? Oh, and in the first 50 or so days in office, Trump has already taken two weeks of that to go golfing in Florida, at a cost to taxpayers of $18 million! Where, oh where, is Elon Musk and the infamous DOGE?

• In a shocking comment on Friday demonstrating, yet again, what he really thinks of the Constitution (and what little he even knows about it), Trump declared himself the nation’s “chief law enforcement officer” during a vengeful rant at the Department of Justice (that title actually belongs to the attorney general). Really. But of course it fits with his absolutist authoritarian view of himself, a view that, among many other things, comes out in his repeated threats against anyone who does anything he doesn’t like – including people who protest against Elon Musk at Tesla stores, news media (CNN, MSNBC, even the Wall Street Journal and Fox), law firms that represent his political appointments, universities, and more. Meanwhile, he tries to extort countries under threat like Ukraine and Taiwan – the former for its minerals, the latter for its semiconductor industry.   

• And the Trump/Musk wrecking ball continues to decimate agencies whose mission and work is critical to the American people, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, relied on for weather monitoring and reporting, among many other functions), the Department of Education (which provides funding for a broad range of school-based assistance, including help for students with special needs, school lunches for hungry children, and much more), and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (which prevents financial fraud and abuse of customers). And meanwhile, Trump/Musk have dropped legal actions against dangerous polluters, and have already gutted environmental regulations.  

Trump is a thug, an ignorant, malicious thug, who does not give one grain of sand about the United States, its people, its role in the world, or anything else. Musk is his equally thuggish, equally ignorant, pro-Nazi, billionaire backer who, like Trump, thinks of the U.S. as nothing more than a transactional asset that can be used for personal gain. This is not the America of the past 250 years, and is not the America that the world knew just a few short months ago.   

ONE OF MANY EGREGIOUS LIES BY TRUMP IN HIS “SPEECH”

Dr. Common Good

There were so, so many lies spewed out by Trump in his joint session rant on Tuesday that I can’t possibly address all of them. But I will mention one that is just stunning. He said, “I brought back free speech in America.” What? That is monstrously false. Ask anyone who teaches a class, anyone who works (or did work) in a federal agency, or anyone who does research, just to name a few. Trump and Musk’s junior minions have been ripping through these activities, searching for anything that uses one or more newly prohibited words as a guide for what to eliminate or de-fund. For the National Science Foundation, as one example, that list of prohibited words includes:

• activism
• activism
• advocacy
• advocate
• advocates
• barrier
• barriers
• biased
• biased toward
• biases
• biases towards
• bipoc
• black and latinx
• community diversity
• community equity
• cultural differences
• cultural heritage
• culturally responsive
• disabilities
• disability
• discriminated
• discrimination
• discriminatory
• diverse backgrounds
• diverse communities
• diverse community
• diverse group
• diverse groups
• diversified
• diversify
• diversifying
• diversity and inclusion
• diversity equity
• enhance the diversity
• enhancing diversity
• equal opportunity
• equality
• equitable
• equity
• ethnicity
• excluded
• female
• females
• fostering inclusivity
• gender
• gender diversity
• genders
• hate speech
• excluded
• female
• females
• fostering inclusivity
• gender
• gender diversity
• genders
• hate speech
• hispanic minority
• historically
• implicit bias
• implicit biases
• inclusion
• inclusive
• inclusiveness
• inclusivity
• increase diversity
• increase the diversity
• indigenous community
• inequalities
• inequality
• inequitable
• inequities
• institutional
• LGBT
• marginalize
• marginalized
• minorities
• minority
• multicultural
• polarization
• political
• prejudice
• privileges
• promoting diversity
• race and ethnicity
• racial
• racial diversity
• racial inequality
• racial justice
• racially
• racism
• sense of belonging
• sexual preferences
• social justice
• sociocultural
• socioeconomic
• status
• stereotypes
• systemic
• trauma
• under appreciated
• under represented
• under served
• underrepresentation
• underrepresented
• underserved
• undervalued
• victim
• women
• women and underrepresented

[Notice that female and women are on that list, but no mention of male or men]

Now tell me that Trump and his hatchet-boys have brought back free speech. This is pure, unadulterated censorship. And his claim is a flat-out lie to the American people.

TRUMP REALLY IS A RUSSIAN STOOGE

Dr. Common Good

Dr. Common Good is usually not quick to assume or accuse a president of something this serious, but in the case of Trump (or Trump/Musk, whichever you like), the evidence is overwhelming, and it represents a serious threat to the United States – perhaps the most serious threat since World War II.

Just take a few of Trump’s recent actions:

• Halting the sanctions imposed on Putin/Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine.
• Ceasing offensive cyber operations and information operations conducted by the U.S. Cyber Command against Russia, at a time when Russia is no doubt engaged in significant operations of this kind against Europe and the US.
• “Pausing” all US aid to Ukraine,
• Calling for Russia to be readmitted to the G7.
• Openly siding with Russia against Ukraine, repeating Russian talking points about Zelensky as a dictator and as instigator of the war – which of course, is an absolute, baldfaced and shameless lie.
• Dressing down and humiliating Zelensky in a staged, made-for-TV attack.

What a dramatic, shocking reversal this is of US policy backing Ukraine and standing with – indeed, strengthening – our NATO allies, not to mention some 80 years of an alliance with Europe, initiated to protect against Russian aggression. What a dramatic reversal this is of the United States as global leader (albeit inconsistent) in defending democracies against authoritarianism. And yet Republicans and their allies just stand by and let this happen, itself a dramatic reversal of the traditional Republican stance.

What bizarre form of subservience or allegiance to Putin is going on here with respect to Trump? And why are so few on the Republican side calling him out on this?   

TRUMP AND VANCE’S APPALLING MEETING WITH ZELENSKY Part Two

Dr. Common Good

Following up from my post yesterday about the disgusting display by Trump and Vance, I want to repeat excerpts from a short commentary on the exchange by Congressman Seth Moulton (D-Mass), during an interview with CNN:

“The President of the United States is a coward, who is Putin’s puppet. And the Vice President of the United States is a (pogue) and a coward who is Donald Trump’s puppet.”

“And so what we just witnessed was a meeting in the Oval Office between two cowardly puppets and a hero.”

“Whether you voted for these puppets or not, just as an American, as a fellow American, it’s just embarrassing that the only hero, the only decent human being for that matter, is the Ukrainian. I mean, this administration is going to go down as an embarrassment to American history.”

Could Zelensky have been more “deferential” to Trump and Vance, asked the CNN reporter? Said Moulton: “Deferential to what? Deferential to a president who allowed a deal, in his first term, to crumble because Putin just violated it? Deferential to a vice president who didn’t even bother to visit Ukraine? I hardly know anyone in Congress who has any view on national security who hasn’t been to Ukraine during this war. Deferential to a draft dodger who’s our commander in chief? Zelensky doesn’t deserve to be deferential to anyone in that Oval Office. In fact, I kind of wish he’d put them in their place a little bit stronger.”

“The vast, vast majority of my Republican colleagues in Congress completely agree with me. They know the truth here. They’re just too scared to say it themselves.”   

A high five to you, Representative Moulton. You said it like it is. [I will note here that Moulton is a Marine veteran who served four tours of duty in Iraq.]

Let me just reiterate – Trump and Vance are ignorant cowards who don’t deserve to be in the same room as Zelensky. What Zelensky said in that meeting was absolutely fair and true, and he said it in a straightforward manner without raising his voice. Those Republicans (e.g., Lindsey Graham and others) who later criticized Zelensky for “provoking” the exchange either did not see it and are mindlessly repeating Trump talking points, or they are just as ignorant and shameless as Trump and Vance. Period.

Finally, I would go a step further than Representative Moulton on one point. The exchange was not just embarrassing for the United States, it was degrading and contemptible. Only a fool would think this is “Making America Great.”

TRUMP AND VANCE’S APPALLING MEETING WITH ZELENSKY

Dr. Common Good

Today Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Trump and VP JD Vance, and faced the true measure of this administration’s ugliness, idiocy and arrogance. As an American, I am sorry, President Zelensky. I am sorry that this administration is so devoid of character, decency and intelligence. Please understand that Americans as a whole are not this way.

All Trump/Vance were after was obeisance and sycophancy from Zelensky. They just wanted him to praise them and take whatever deal they offered, with no recognition or admiration for the valiant defense Ukraine has put up in the face of brutal Russian aggression, no recognition that it is Ukraine that has sacrificed its people to protect not only itself but Western Europe and ultimately the US. And when he did not bow down like a puppy, Trump publicly lost his temper and demanded that he thank the US, and cowardly Vance chimed in, berating Zelensky for being disrespectful.

There are no words for this outrageous, disgraceful conduct. Trump and Vance do not deserve a micron of the respect that should be accorded to Zelensky. They deserve only contempt. Neither of them has ever sacrificed anything. In the annals of human decency and courage, Trump and Vance wallow in the bottom, among the swill. What a disgusting mockery they have made of the United States of America. And I say to voters — Is this revolting display what you were thinking of as “making America great”? I sincerely hope not.

COLOSSAL AND DANGEROUS STUPIDITY IN EUROPE AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS Part Two

Dr. Common Good

This is going to be a very short post, on a few more of the egregious Trump debacles on the global stage:

As for Gaza and his hallucinatory proposal to “take it over” and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East” – What exactly rattles around in Trump’s head to think that this is an idea that should even be verbalized? Gaza, and the West Bank, are Palestinian homelands. Period. They are not Trump’s to take, nor Israel’s to take for that matter. Nullifying the homelands of a people for some real estate fantasy is a detestable violation of basic human rights and mind-numbing in its narcissism – not to mention stupid beyond words and a prescription for anti-American hatred. 

As for “taking over” the Panama Canal – The canal belongs to Panama. Period. Any attempt to “take it” would amount to unilateral aggression. Whatever childish fantasy Trump has about this, maybe gleaned from some comic-book version of Teddy Roosevelt, is just that. If the US has concerns about Chinese influence in a strategic location, that’s different. That is a legitimate issue, something the adults can talk about. But Trump should just be confined to his playroom.  

As for “taking over” Greenland – Greenland is an autonomous country, and also part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Period. Any attempt to “take it” would amount to unilateral aggression against one of our own allies. No respected, intelligent American diplomat would ever consider such an idiotic folly. Oh, my apologies – Trump and Musk have fired all the intelligent, respected diplomats.

As for re-naming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” – Seriously, what is wrong with Trump and his MAGA cronies? How petty and puny can one be? It has been the Gulf of Mexico for eons, and that is what it will stay. Anyone or any organization (yes, meaning you Google) that kowtows to such nonsense has chicken livers for a heart and Jell-O for a brain. For Dr. Common Good, it is the Gulf of Mexico. Siempre.

Disparaging Federal Workers – Just a Cynical Smokescreen for Seizing Power

Dr. Common Good

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s recent comments excoriated federal workers, claiming that those are “not real jobs, producing federal revenue,” that “they do not deserve their jobs” and are just consuming taxpayer dollars.  As usual, these comments are wildly ignorant and disgusting. Might we remind Ms. Greene that she is also paid by taxpayers (thus she “consumes” taxpayer dollars). And federal workers, by the way, pay taxes. I would much rather see my taxes go to the thousands and thousands of federal workers who work hard to inspect food, enforce transportation safety regulations, operate our national parks, administer social and health programs, provide veteran’s health services, manage the cleanup of nuclear waste sites, process tax returns and social security payments, administer federal school lunch programs, and so much more. The taxes I pay to cover Marjorie Taylor Greene’s salary are the true waste. What do we get in return? She produces nothing and does nothing to help the lives of American people. She is getting paid to be a self-indulgent blowhard, a purveyor of lies, and a party to the destruction of the American system.

Beyond that, these disparaging and often nasty comments about federal workers are yet one more chunk of malicious disinformation. Most federal government workers are part of the civil service workforce, which means they have to pass competitive examinations to get their jobs. They form the backbone of what the government does. Importantly, most become part of the federal government because they are motivated to serve the public. They are certainly not in it for the money. I have worked with multiple federal agencies over the years, and personally seen the dedication and drive to serve that these individuals have. But Trump, Musk, Marjorie Taylor Greene and their wrecking-crew cronies have no concept of public service at all, and would not recognize it if it were handed to them on a golden platter.  

Is all this destruction about efficiency? No, it isn’t. Don’t even pretend that it is. Firing thousands of federal workers who provide critical services is not about efficiency. It’s about taking control, with a goal of clearing out anyone who might treat their jobs, agency missions, and constitutional duties as more important than the whims, often illegal if not unconstitutional, of an ignorant and malicious autocrat. And it is about blindly cutting away any government expenses that would get in the way of a massive tax cut that will only benefit a wealthy few. No wonder Trump is so enamored with Putin, who is able to maintain power in part by enabling a small group of oligarchs to fleece the country. Trump wants his own oligarchs, and he is only too happy to desecrate the American government system to achieve that aim. For a real example of an attempt to improve government efficiency, we might have to go back to the 1990s. In 1993, the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) was passed and signed by President Clinton (it was the brainchild of Vice President Al Gore), requiring agencies to develop strategic plans, with goals and objectives and performance measures to monitor achievement, and to prepare annual reports to Congress showing the results of their work against their goals and objectives. That was a rational policy, and it did not involve the kind of gross disrespect that Trump/Musk have exhibited.

This is what happens when the warnings are not heeded, and voters accept this cruel disinformation that is primarily designed to justify power, ultimately at the expense of those same voters along with everyone else.

COLOSSAL AND DANGEROUS STUPIDITY IN EUROPE AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS

Dr. Common Good

Let me just start with Europe. If the 400,000-plus American military members who perished in WWII could see the recent, ignorant and nauseous behavior of Trump, his chief minion JD Vance, and his flack Pete Hegseth in Europe, their souls would surely rebel. The United States once fought to defend Europe – and ultimately ourselves – from Nazi tyranny. Now, Trump caves in the most obsequious way to Putin, accepting his casus belli for invading Ukraine, and more or less giving him all that he demands before even beginning any negotiation to end the war. On top of that, Trump has thus far excluded Europe, and even Ukraine, from such discussions, even though (must I repeat the obvious?) it is Europe and Ukraine that have the most at stake. But he prefers to have his own cozy tête-à-tête with the dictator he wants to be. That is thoughtless, contemptible behavior towards our allies of more than 80 years, and demonstrates yet again his astounding ignorance of history and his sociopathic lack of decency. Neville Chamberlain looks like a visionary and tough guy compared to Trump. And the so-called Republicans in Congress who could put the brakes on some of this have abdicated their roles so profoundly it defies understanding, other than to acknowledge its rank cowardice.

Then there is JD Vance, the callow, undeservedly pompous little Trump spokesperson, lecturing Europe on true democracy and on their “real” problems. Nauseating. The countries who are at the front line of any further Russian incursion being told that their real problems were not Russia, or China, but from within – i.e., their attempt to exercise some control over pro-Nazi hate speech, and illegal immigrants. To rub that in their face, his only direct meeting in Germany was with the extremist right-wing AfD party. There’s more. Adding yet another layer of preposterous ignorance to all of this, so-called Secretary of State Marco Rubio justified Vance’s comments in a CBS interview by saying that “free speech was not used to conduct a genocide,” a sentiment soon echoed by Vance who doubled-down, repeating that indeed free speech didn’t cause the Holocaust.

The ignorance and arrogance of these comments is just staggering. Speech, and public speech, did indeed foment antisemitism and contribute to the Holocaust. Who, I ask, was Joseph Goebbels? What was his role? Do you, JD Vance, or Marco Rubio, not know this? Public speech is often used in this way. There are too many examples to list, but just think of what happened in mass radio broadcasts before the Rwandan genocide of 1994. That, too, was “free speech.” And right here, we saw Trump’s own public words that egged on the violent January 6 insurrection. There is just no question that public speech can be used to legitimize hatred and violence, and Europe – especially Germany – has every right and reason to be concerned about this. But Vance, for all his ivy-league law school education clearly has no worldly experience or plain common sense, only blind ambition. And Rubio? He should know better. He does have experience. But time after time, Rubio has shown that he has no courage whatsoever. He can be blown around like a cheap kite. And so it goes.

Let’s move from the Europe debacle to our foreign aid role, specifically USAID. Now we have Elon Musk, the unelected, Trump hatchet-man, reveling in his unchecked (and illegal) ability to chop away at government functions as he sees fit, never mind that he has almost $4 billion in contracts with federal agencies, which by itself is a disqualifying conflict of interest, and notwithstanding the fact that he has no knowledge of federal government, and no experience with the complexities of foreign affairs. So, on a whim, he decided to run USAID “through the wood chipper.” USAID is the primary agency managing our foreign assistance programs to the poorest and most needy of populations, whether through disaster and humanitarian relief, HIV/AIDS and other disease prevention efforts, the promotion of education, support for human rights, or support for climate change mitigation. The entire USAID budget is less than 1% of the total US budget, and yet USAID plays an essential role in maintaining positive relationships around the world, and, among other things, in preventing crisis situations from becoming generators of hostility or even terrorism. Sure, USAID has been criticized over the years for how it performs its mission. But those are typically critiques of the “how,” not of the “what.” Only fools would deny the importance of what has often been called “soft power.” Even in the sense of pure realpolitik, in a world where China, as one example, is all over the globe supporting development projects, the presence of some countervailing options is necessary. Dr. Common Good has seen this up close. For the US, USAID has provided much of that soft power capability, for relatively little cost to the American taxpayer. So where is all the “criminality” that Musk alleges? He has shown us nothing, and while cavorting in his impish playground, has gutted an essential element of US foreign relations. All the “America firsters” out there should know, by the way, that weakening our web of alliances and ties to the global world out there actually weakens the US. No country can stand on its own.

There will be more posts to follow on other Trump administration disasters and debacles, including Gaza plans, threats against Panama’s sovereignty, the absurd threats to take Greenland from Denmark, and the ludicrous renaming of the Gulf of Mexico.

A DERANGED MADMAN AND A DISGRACE TO THIS COUNTRY

Dr. Common Good

This is going to be a brief post. Donald Trump is absolutely deranged, period. Combine this with ignorance, child-like petulance, greed, and malice, and you have a dangerous recipe. His proposal to take over Gaza, turn it in to a “Riviera,” and just push the Palestinians out is so flat-out crazy that it shouldn’t deserve a response. Except, alas, he is president. It is ethnic cleansing in pursuit of a real estate deal. A complete disgrace to this country and to the global community. A boot-kick in the face to generations of Palestinians who have made Gaza their home, after being kicked out of their first home in Palestine by the Israelis. Oh, and the hardline right-wing Israelis love this, because they can appear even less crazy and inhumane than Trump.

The 25^th amendment needs to be invoked. Trump is too unhinged to carry out the duties of president.

Add to this the actions of his manic sidekick Elon Musk, and his band of junior data crunchers. Musk knows nothing about what federal agencies do, and yet he is out there slashing and eliminating thousands of employees who provide essential government services. His contemptuous treatment of USAID is an outrage. Calling USAID a criminal organization? He knows nothing. This is an agency that has been the bedrock of our foreign assistance programs since 1961, and a key player in spreading goodwill and forming relationships with countries worldwide — which, by the way, is in the US national interest, especially in the current environment of competition with China and others. Those who work for USAID are not in it for the money, but to do something positive for people in the world who are poor, starving, disenfranchised, and in the midst of humanitarian and public health crises. And they do so in the name of the United States, which sends a strong message of good. That is a helluva lot more than I could say for the likes of Trump and Musk, who are in it for themselves and have no concept of public service.

Making America great? Not in any way, shape or form. Making America a disgrace.  

TODAY’S TRUMP LIES AND STUPIDITIES

Dr. Common Good

At Dr. Common Good we will do our best to counter the numerous lies, distortions and flat-out ignorance as these roll in. We can’t address them all, so we’ll pick out what we can. For today’s list:

Trump’s blatant lies about the Panama Canal: At a press conference today, and previously, Trump cited a completely made-up number of “38,000 American workers” who died digging the canal. According to the Smithsonian Institution, somewhere around 6,000 actually died, though the death toll is likely to have been higher than that. Importantly, most of these workers were not American, but Black Caribbean workers from the colonial plantation economies of Jamaica, Barbados and others. On top of that, the Black Caribbeans were segregated in terms of working conditions, pay and benefits. And how did the US acquire control of the canal territory in the first place? Originally, the territory was part of Colombia, but the US backed a group that wanted to secede from Colombia, in part through the use of our naval power (“gunboat diplomacy”). When that territory became Panama, the US signed an agreement in 1903 to build the canal and control the newly established Panama Canal Zone (for 99 years). The canal zone was then handed back to Panama in 1999, via treaty signed under the Carter administration.

Trump’s (and Musk’s) blatant lies about USAID: The fantastical lying about USAID is almost too much to grasp. USAID was established by President Kennedy in 1961 as an outgrowth of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, and similar in spirit to the creation of the Peace Corps. It now has offices in some 100 countries and has become a major provider of foreign aid in multiple areas, including disaster relief, humanitarian assistance, poverty relief, technical cooperation on global issues including the environment, socioeconomic development, and health. It is also an important arm of foreign policy and bilateral interests, the primary agency through which the US projects “soft power,” which is critically important for maintaining alliances, for countering global efforts by the Chinese to bring countries into their orbit, and so on. In their absolute ignorance, Trump/Musk charge that it is run by a “bunch of radical lunatics” and that, for example, it sent $50 million in condoms to Hamas.

Trump’s colossal stupidity about a US “Iron Dome” missile defense: Trump has boasted that he wants to build an “Iron Dome” missile defense across the entire US, just like Israel’s missile defense system. This, like almost everything that comes from Trump, reflects his complete ignorance. The Israeli Iron Dome system is designed to defend against short-range missiles and artillery, and it covers a territory that is about the size of New Jersey. Any missile defense system for the US would not be aimed at short range missiles and artillery, but primarily at long range inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which travel into sub-orbital space where they are maneuvered to fire multiple warheads down on their targets. Defending against such weapons, over the entire United States, is an entirely different task than an Iron Dome faces. But of course, Trump has no idea.

Trump’s boast that he has done more in a few days than Biden did in four years: This is such a massive lie that we don’t even want to repeat it and add to its credulity. See the Dr. Common Good blogpost of January 21 for details on Biden’s major accomplishments, which Trump has never come close to matching. Trump is all about show and scams, not real policy change for the betterment of Americans.

And…where is the press? At a press conference today, by the way, Trump spouted several of these and other lies with impunity. Not one journalist challenged him. That has to stop.