Is Trump Mainly Putting on a Reality Show?
Update: Trump’s first address to the nation was forced on all networks for tonight, January 8, 2019, on The Wall. It will undoubtedly be mainly political against Democrats starting with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. VP Pence’s data is totally misleading. Only 12 people on the terrorist watch list were apprehended on the Southern border. At $27 billion for The Wall, this is $2 billion per possible terrorist. Meanwhile, Trump had 105 people working in the White House without full security clearances, including a known wife beater, and a couple of unregistered foreign agents. His maid at his New Jersey golf club was also an illegal immigrant. There are also all of those “enemies of the people” that they let into the White House for press conferences. Maybe the billions should be spent screening people around Trump.
Is Trump just so egotistical that he wants to dominate and be on the news every day, so that he creates his policy conflicts to guarantee this? We went from a monthly White House news conference by Sarah, to Trump stopping to talk to the Press daily on the White House driveway or boarding the Marine One helicopter. He also stages talks and cabinet meetings in front of the press, when the talks would best be held in private.
Then there is the “National Emergency” to attract more attention to Trump’s Wall request, and take funds from the Defense budget. It is estimated to cost $27 billion dollars, except Trump has not given any specifics as to where and what he will build.
Defense contracts are highly specific, detailed costed, reviewed, and debated in Congress. National Emergency or not, who would approve the funding for a “Beautiful Wall”, when the plans for it are best described as “mush”? By the way, I don’t think that the word “Beautiful” has ever been used in specs for any previous Defense contract. It is not at all clear if the cost estimates include the land rights compensated for through “public domain” seizure, plus the suits from dividing lands so that part of the land ends up on the South Side of the Wall.
Then there is the conflict between the sensible statements by Trump’s cabinet or White House advisors, and what Trump has said. And then the conflict when Trump responds by criticizing his advisors. The only clever person in the White House is Jared of the Kush, who Never speaks. (I have usually valued the Maxim of “better to hold your speech and be considered a fool, than to open your mouth and prove it”. Unfortunately, I never follow it.) Could Bolton be next to walk the plank?
Cabinet Chaos: The top industry and military leaders are not yes men, who are used to following orders. They are true leaders themselves, with far more knowledge than Trump knows from his gut, because they listen to their departments. Trump has now replaced them with loyal yes-men.
Unreal Reality: This loses the executive branch the knowledge and advice of all the career government experts, which Trump derogatively calls the “deep state”.
Secretaries with Secrets: Trump has appointed about 15 cabinet and agency heads who are all from impacted businesses, and the most conflicted that he can find. Their conflicts and corporate account training leads to their continuing misuse of gorvernment fund, which do not cover corporate accounts. It has taken 15 such violations for each, until they are finally let go.
Trump has alway been running for re-election, in every tweet and action he takes. Now that some Democrats are showing interest and in the news, Trump may have decided to launch his daily reality show to over-dominate the news and block them out, as he did during his first campaign. Remember that Trump’s Director of Communications is a Fox News manager. I just saw the coverage of Elizabeth Warren’s speech on CNN. She was given all of 5 short sentences, ‘midst the hour long coverage of Trump.
I actually prefer his in-person comments, than having to follow his tweets. It works to Trump’s advantage, since his tweets are always followed by fact checkers and amusing memes, but not so with his in-person coverage.
