So Far

 

 

It has gotten to the point where I don't like writing about politics anymore.

One reason is that it is tough. Have you ever tried to write a joke about Doug Burgum, who is either the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Energy?  

Believe it or not, you must write facts like Jonathan Cain is married to a minister, Paula White. Paula White is the senior advisor of the White House Faith Office or is the Secretary of the Interior.  Mr. Cain is also a member of Journey which is a rock band everybody in my age group loves except me. This is kind of like Pat Benatar being married to Pat Robertson, if Pat Robertson worked in the White House Faith Office.

The great Atlanta radio personality, Southside Steve, says that Journey is the greatest rock band in the history of rock bands. There's this little band called "The Beatles" which I think is better.  Also, "The Rolling Stones" are better. But, hey, if you think Journey is better, then don't stop believing.

Last year, I saw two cover bands that played Journey songs. One played all of the hits. The other played all of the hits and the deep cuts off of Journey's albums.  Let's just say I'm Journey-ed out.

Secondly, while today's climate is certainly divided, it is also performative and about as exciting as a "Happy Days" episode where Ralph Malph uses a slur against Italians and Fonzie makes him sit on it.

One side wants you to say Trump is the best thing ever and we should be happy sharing oxygen with him. The other side wants you to say Trump is Hitler and laughs while he clubs baby seals.

You can't please everybody and my problem is I want to please everybody, at least to the point that they will read my blog.

But here goes my review of Trump 2.0.

 

The Good

 

He has curtailed illegal immigration. You can't say we have open borders now.

 

I haven't figured out why this is such a big issue. We have to have rules, right? And if you come in, you have to do it in the right way.

Additionally, if you are here illegally and you are part of a gang, you shouldn't stay.

 

I'm not a constitutional scholar, so I'll leave the "due process" questions to them. However, at least we are talking about this question and not ignoring it or napping through it like Biden.

 

The second good thing Trump has done is that he is doing the job. He's working. You see him working. Biden called it a day at four o'clock. 

 

Calling for the defunding of NPR and PBS is an idea I've been pushing for years because the government should not be in the radio or television business. Chalk one up in the good column.

 

I know as a cis-male of the Caucasian persuasion, I shouldn't have a negative opinion on DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) because DEI is what makes America great, besides the First Amendment and stuff like that. But, Charles C.W. Cooke said it best:  "In practice, diversity, equity, and inclusion has not been diverse, equitable, or inclusive, but uniform, prejudiced, and clannish"

 

The Bad

 

There has been plenty of bad to go around.

The worst is the Trade War.

Trump has, in the words of many leading economists, a hard-on about tariffs. This goes back to when he was appearing on "Oprah" complaining about the Japanese buying all of the office buildings in Los Angeles.

He thinks slapping a tariff will cause manufacturing plants to spring up in the USA, paying good non-union wages.

Those days are gone.

 

Mr. I've Got An MBA From Wharton decided to try out his novel economic theory even though there was no compelling reason to do it besides he evidently was awake in Tariff Class and thought it would be neat to do it.

This has caused the economy to poop on itself. This is funny because one of the things Trump 1.0 did right was the economy.

 

 The Dumb

 

He's gone back to doing his daily, weekly, monthly dumb stuff since the election.

I mean, Pete Hegseth?  I used to watch him on Fox but I was never awed by him.  He is an Ivy Leaguer and he did serve his country, but it is a big step becoming the Secretary of Defense and  he has not been impressive at all.  

The spat Trump had with Volodymyr Zelenskyy wasn't as terrible as it looked but a President, even Trump, has to keep his cool. 

Renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America makes no sense whatsoever.  He didn't even campaign on it and I don't see the point.

The trolling of Canada is another joke I don't get. Why would we want Canada?  I spent several hours in Victoria, British Columbia in late May of 2016 and it was the coldest I have ever been in my life.

Let Canada be Canada and the United States be the United States, eh?!

 

Trump's latest dumb thing was reposting an A.I. image of him as Pope.  This is typical of Trump in that it is tacky but it also shows no class. He just thought it was funny.

But, with Trump, you are going to get the good, the bad, and the dumb.  He's fortunate the Democrats are being just as dumb.  One of these days that might change if the Democrats gets a sudden infusion of brains. 

This doesn't seem likely seeing as their main tactic to win public opinion is to swear loudly.