The Trump Invisible Force Shield

This past Wednesday, Chris Hayes did a terrific story on his MSNBC show about one of the lesser-discussed and major problems caused by Trump's actions, enabled by the MAGOPs in Congress.  And that's tourism.

His point was that, although tourism might seem like a small issue, it's actually the economic area where the United States not only has a surplus, but the one area that has always run a surplus, and a big surplus.  It's money that all goes one way, into the U.S.  Billions of dollars.  And not just money for coming into the country, but for hotels, renting cars, taking trains and buses, tickets for shows and entertainments, buying food, getting souvenirs and more.  And further, and perhaps most importantly, it creates jobs.  Huge numbers of jobs.

And it's cratering, thanks to Trump.

Imagine now, as the report starts out, how this could impact international visitors coming to the the U.S. for the 2028 Olympics.  Or not comings.  For that matter, which the segment doesn't touch on, who knows what conditions will be then and if any democratic countries refuse to even send their Olympics teams.  (I don't think it will come to that, but I don't know with absolute certainty, and it's a question that can't not​ be asked.)

On the Lockheed Martin website, they describe Trump's push for the Pentagon to develop a "Golden Dome" (Trump's version of the failed "Star Wars Defense Initiative" that Ronald Reagan tried) as the "Golden Dome stands as an impenetrable shield, safeguarding the American homeland with unwavering precision." 

There's no way of knowing yet if this effort will be successful, or as foolhardy and wasteful as Reagan's attempt.  The one thing we do have an idea about, though, since we're already seeing the first results, is that Trump is  doing a great job even without any technology creating an invisible force shield keeping other people from around the world out.  And not just minorities from his self-proclaimed "sh*thole countries," but everyone.

​Rather than me describe the segment more, it's best to turn these pages over to Chris Hayes, and let him dive deep into it.

And now, a brief musical interlude from shore to Dinah Shore...