Just One Weak in Office

Okay, a week has gone by now since Trump’s Inauguration, and that’s enough time to finally take a look at his speech. 

But then I figured, why???

It really doesn’t matter what he said.  It was dark, dystopian, full of lies, and pretty much everything he said he already had said during the campaign.  But more to the point, his week that followed – just one week – was so horrible that his approval poll numbers (during what is called the Honeymoon Period) not only actually dropped, but dropped below the percentage of votes he got during the election!  His approval – during his Honeymoon, when presidents generally hit their peak – is at just 47%.  Actually, to make this worse, this Reuters/Ipsos poll poll was taken only have two days into his administration!  Yes, during his "honeymoon," when approval is at its highest, Trump lost support in only two days.

That's really not how you want to start your time in office.  And it gives you a foundation of quicksand to build on, as witnessed by his first week.  Horrible for the country, yes, but truly terrible for Trump and his party, as well, with self-inflicted wounds.

He withdrew from the World Health Organization.  Never mind that 80 people still died of COVID last week, up 28% -- despite it not going away like a miracle, as Trump said four years ago.

He withdrew from the Paris Accord, the only country in the United Nations not participating.  Because in Trump World, Climate Change isn’t real, despite massive devastating evidence to the contrary.

He also didn’t end the Russian War on Day One, despite sending a mean tweet to Putin to stop fighting, which surprisingly didn’t work.

He didn’t lower to price of eggs, which he blamed on President Biden, despite their prices down to a normal range, but are now skyrocketing.

Just yesterday, after our ally Colombia said that they would not accept U.S. military airplanes carrying deported migrants (though would continue to accept planes from ICE as previously negotiated and agreed upon), a petulant Trump started a trade war, imposing an immediate 25% tariff on Colombian products, which will rise to 50% next week.  Tariffs that only hurt American citizens who will pay the increase.  And never mind that a majority of Americans are against his mass deportation policy to begin with.  Never mind, too, that although Colombia later backed down, picking a fight and creating division with an ally is never a good thing, especially in Latin America where our adversary China has been trying to make inroads.  And tells all other allies not to trust agreements with the U.S.

(Fun fact:  After Trump even just threatened to put tariffs on Colombia, commodity futures on coffee have already risen to an all-time high, which could also impact other prices. “Potential tariffs on imports from these countries could be much more impactful to both complex-wide pricing,” JPMorgan analysts said.)

And never mind that a majority of Americans are against his mass pardon of 1,500 criminals convicted for their actions during the Jan. 6 Insurrection.  And that a vast majority are against Trump pardons of violent criminals, including Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the terrorist organization Proud Boys, who had been sentenced to 22 years in prison for “seditious conspiracy.”  And commuting the sentence of Elmer Stewart Rhodes, head of the terrorist organization the Oath Keepers, who also had been convicted of “seditious conspiracy” and sentenced to 18 years in prison.

And then there’s the idiot things Trump is pushing.

Like trying to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.”  And issuing an Executive Order to rename Alaska’s Mount Denali, the historic name of the tallest mountain in the United States, to Mount McKinley, against even the vocal disagreement of both of Alaska’s senators and the Alaska state government.  And still trying to bully our ally Denmark into sell Greenland.  And still talking about making Canada a U.S. state.  And still trying to bully Panama so that he can take back the Panama Canal

Trump also is blocking efforts by federal agencies to coordinate with social media companies on fact-checking misinformation about elections, medicine, and other topics of public interest, in the supposed name of fighting “censorship”.  Despite the Supreme Court previously ruling contrary to this “theory.”

And then there’s Trump not only firing 18 Inspector Generals, but doing so against a law that was passed after he last left office, requiring reason given to Congress and 30 days notice – something even three Republican senators so far has publicly said is illegal.  (Though, of course, why only "three" being publicly upset over a law being broken speaks loudly to today's MAGOP.  Though given today's MAGOP, three being publicly critical of Trump is huge and in some ways speaks as loudly...)

And Trump removing security protection from his former National Security Adviser and former Secretary of State, as well as Dr. Anthony Fauci -- all with death threats on them.  A Trump action that was criticized by some of his own party.  (That it wasn't criticized by all of the MAGOP speaks loudly, again, to who they are.)

And Trump suggesting he won’t provide emergency aid to California for recovery from the catastrophic wildfires, which largely burned on federal land, that have wiped out entire communities and towns – unless the state met Trump-imposed conditions.  Because, y’know, liberals live in California.  And no MAGOPs apparently do.

And this is all in just the past six days.  So, the whole “Inauguration thing”???  That’s so old news.

But then, what do you expect from someone and a party who believe they all won a supposed “landslide mandate” and can govern that way – when in reality, Trump squeaked through by just a razor-thin 1.4% and under 50% of the vote, while his party lost a seat in the house.

Well, one thing you don't expect is for one of his top advisers, the richest man in the world, to give a Nazi salute.  Though, in fairness, with Trump...you sort of do expect it.

And anyone not expecting it isn't paying attention.  Which pretty much describes the MAGOP base.  Because, as before and always -- this isn't about Trump, we know who he is.  This is about the elected members of the MAGOP and its base who support and enable him.

MAGOPs might think they have four years to right the leaking ship.  But as difficult as that is with a lame duck 78-year-old captain with dementia and an incompetent crew of blind loyalists and no real policy and a fascist foundation -- the bigger problem for them is the pesky tug of reality -- a reality compounded by politicians being protective of their own political skin, hoping to be re-elected:

They don't have four years.  The mid-term elections are November 3, 2026.  And in many states, early voting for the primaries starts in just 15 months from today.