Dear Republicans,
Although no longer resident in the United States, my wife
and I follow the news closely. We do so by faithfully scanning internet sites
that aggregate news and opinion. We believe that this gives us a broad view of
current events from a variety of perspectives since Flipboard, for instance,
draws from sites as diverse as Fox News and Huffington Post, CNN and Al Jazeera
and Business Insider and Forbes. And every November, we vote.
My point? I’m at arm’s length from the hurly-burly of the 24-hour
news cycle but I’m still a reasonably knowledgeable news junkie. I am aware of
the outlier sites, the ‘alt right’ and ‘progressive’ sites that claim to be
presenting the real skinny on current
events. I just don’t pay them much mind. Take my opinions for what they are
worth but understand that they are the product of serious thought and not from
having drunk someone else’s Kool-Aid.
Trump is my President just as GWB was my President and Obama
was yours. I say this even though Bush in 2000 and Trump in 2016 both lost the
popular vote. I say this not because I think that Trump’s election win was
illegitimate. I say this because I am tired of hearing Republicans talking
about the will of the people. As of today, 2 million more people voted for
Hillary than voted for Trump. The will of the people has been thwarted by a
Constitutional compromise reached over 200 years ago for reasons that had
nothing to do with protecting the democratic process and a great deal to do with
keeping slave-holding states in the union.
And speaking of losing the popular vote, where is the
consistency in claiming that you lost the popular vote due to massive voter
fraud, then damning Stein in a series of late night tweets for calling for a
recount in the closest battleground states? And speaking of late night tweets,
if SNL skits and actors speaking to his Vice President from a Broadway stage
enrage Trump, wait until he attends a G12 summit and real heavyweights get on
his case.
But far worse, Trump is blaming the media for ‘inciting’
protest marches. He’s called in media bigwigs to excoriate them. After using
the media as a puppet to provide hundreds of millions of dollars of free
publicity, the worm turns. And we know what sort of leaders around the world,
as their first acts in office, attempt to cow or muzzle a free press.
Trump continues to make it known that he doesn’t want the US
to be spending money to address climate change at the same time that he claims
to understand the importance of the availability of clean, potable water. It’s
hard to reconcile those two positions. How do you protect the southern Florida
aquifer from salt water incursion without addressing rising ocean levels? How
do you secure potable water for the American Southwest without doing what’s
necessary to ameliorate atmospheric heating conditions that have led to severe
and persistent drought? And how will Pence, a notorious denier of climate
change, effect Trump’s thinking?
And how can you refuse national security briefings and tell
Pakistani’s head of state over the phone that he’s a terrific guy?
So while I am willing to give Trump a chance, I am not
encouraged. He has a steep learning curve to climb. He needs to demonstrate the
seriousness due the Presidency.
Let’s see if the equity markets move as high as they moved
under Obama. Let’s see if the dollar strengthens against the euro even half as
much as it did under Obama. Let’s see if the annual deficit is reduced by the
same measure and as inexorably as it has been reduced under Obama. Let’s see if
he builds a wall and makes Mexico pay for it.
And for all the fear of terrorism on our shores, let’s see
if the record under Obama of fewer Americans annually dying from terrorism than
dying from having appliances fall on them remains intact.
Or will Trump follow the legacies of his Republican
predecessors. GWB was President when the worst recession since the Great
Depression began as measured by decline in GDP. Eisenhower was President at the
beginning of the second worst. Nixon was President at the beginning of the
third worst. Reagan was President at the beginning of the fourth worst.
Republicans all. Now Trump…
I’ll be watching. I won’t be the only one.
Affectionately,
Ira
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