Tag Archives: Donald Trump

economic news

POTUS: Someone has to pay for what we need

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President Biden’s many decades in government taught him a hard lesson, which is that everything the government does comes with a cost.

Taxpayers have to foot the bill.

He pushed a COVID relief package through Congress. He now wants to enact an infrastructure overhaul through the legislative body. Both of them together are projected at around $4 trillion.

Ouch … yes? Yes, but here’s the deal: In order to pay for all this, the president seeks to levy taxes on the wealthiest Americans. Now he is talking about an increase in capital gains taxes.

Donald Trump talked about infrastructure deals, too. Nothing happened. Congress didn’t move anything through. The president never articulated a way to pay for whatever it was he wanted done. He seemed to suggest that the tax cuts he rammed through Congress would jumpstart the economy sufficiently so that any major government project would pay for itself.

It didn’t happen. Then the pandemic brought the economy to its knees.

Trump lost his re-election bid and now a new president is trying to craft a workable plan to pay for a massive effort to rebuild our economy.

The tax plan already pushed out there will not increase taxes to a level prior to the cut enacted during the Trump years. It still gives congressional Republicans fits, so they’ll fit it along with everything else that the Democratic president proposes.

Reasonableness be damned!

Uncategorized

Silence is deafening

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Donald Trump’s silence in the aftermath of the Derek Chauvin guilty verdict has been deafening.

Yet I almost can hear what the former president might have told those sitting around him when he got the news along with the rest of the nation. I sense that he believes Chauvin got hosed by the jurors who convicted him of murdering George Floyd on that Minneapolis street a year ago.

You might wonder: Why is this guy (me) even discussing this? Because it was on Donald Trump’s watch for the past four years that this type of crime — with the cops exercising brute force against African-Americans — became so prevalent.

Therefore, it stands to reason to believe that Donald Trump would have something to say publicly about a criminal trial that captured the public’s attention in a way not seen since, oh, the one involving O.J. Simpson in 1995.

But he hasn’t said anything about the verdict.

Barack Obama has spoken out. So has President Biden, as has George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. They all have said essentially the same thing, that the verdict was correct.

Donald Trump’s term was punctuated by a sharp increase in hate crimes against various ethnic and racial groups. Big surprise, eh? Hardly. The man began his campaign for president in 2015 with a full frontal attack on Mexican immigrants who he said were “rapists, murderers” and drug dealers seeking to enter the United States illegally for the expressed purpose of committing crimes against Americans. It went straight into the crapper from that point.

He failed to address the issue of crimes against minorities. He looked the other way when hate against them erupted into violent crime. The result was the emboldening of Americans who knew that Trump had their back.

Trump is now gone. He likely never will return to the White House that he defiled during his time in office. Trump’s silence on the Derek Chauvin trial and on the death of an American under the knee of a rogue cop speaks loudly enough for me to understand the gravity of the mistake this nation made by electing this guy in the first place.

Joe Biden

‘President’ returns to this blog

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

It clearly is no surprise to regular readers of this blog that I am thrilled to be able to speak of the president of the United States the way I normally speak of that individual.

That is, I have restored the use of the term “President” directly in front of the name of the person who holds the title.

As in “President Joe Biden.”

I have written previously of my boycotting of that terminology during the presidential tenure of Donald J. Trump. I refused for four years to attach the title “President” directly in front of Trump’s name; indeed, I will continue to follow that dictum even in Trump’s blessedly forced retirement from political life after the 2020 election.

My desire was to see a return to normal dignity and decorum in the nation’s highest office. It returned when President Biden took his oath on Jan. 20.

Trump’s conduct after the election was even worse than the four years prior to it. He incited the insurrection on Jan. 6 and got impeached a second time by the House of Reps. Indeed, he still hasn’t formally acknowledged that Joe Biden is the duly elected president.

That’s in the past now. Perhaps soon it all will be forgotten. I welcome that day.

For now I will just relish the notion of being able to comment on presidential activities by referencing President Biden the way I have (almost) always referenced presidents of the United States. Yes, even those for whom I didn’t cast my vote.

Along came Donald Trump to relegate that title to the back of the lowest shelf I could find.

President Biden will make mistakes. He’s made a couple already. His behavior while serving as our head of state/commander in chief, I am certain, will be fitting that of our president.

International news

‘Endless war’ sees an end

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

An astonishing thought occurred to me today as I listened to President Biden’s announcement that he is ordering our troops home from Afghanistan.

Are you sitting down for this? Joe Biden is invoking a policy that mirrors one espoused by Donald John Trump!

Recall that Trump bellowed during the 2020 campaign, and before, about he wanted to cease getting this country involved in “endless wars.” Well, his successor has followed that course. President Biden today announced our final contingent of troops will be out of Afghanistan no later than Sept. 11.

So, this thought also occurs to me: Will there be a statement endorsing this policy decision announced by Joe Biden coming from his immediate predecessor?

I know. You’re laughing out loud! In a way, I am snickering under my breath as I type these words. Hell, how can Trump endorse anything that President Biden does without ever even acknowledging that he was elected to the nation’s highest office?

We might just have seen the weirdest joining of strange political bedfellows in memory.

national news

Can we repair this damage?

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

One of the unfortunate consequences of Donald Trump’s term as president has been the damage inflicted among loved ones.

Family members have become split between the pro-Trump and the anti-Trump wings. Not only that, but the anger generated on both sides of the divide has done great harm to relationships that are supposed to be immune from mere political differences.

My family has been spared much of that long term damage. I am an avid anti-Trumper. I have family members who are just as avid pro-Trumpers. They live far away. Therefore, we don’t see them regularly enough or even communicate with sufficient frequency to get wound up too tightly in political discussions.

I have heard plenty of anecdotes about family members clawing at each other — proverbially, of course — over these political differences.

We have crossed an important threshold, though. President Biden vowed to “unify” the country. He is having trouble unifying Democrats and Republicans in Congress, getting them to line up toward a single political goal. Perhaps the president can focus his unification effort on trying to mend fences between factions out here. It well might be that Joe Biden will be less toxic, less divisive, less vitriolic than the guy he defeated this past November.

Therefore, we might see some unity redevelop in households across the land. Or between extended family members who formerly hated each just because they supported Trump … or opposed Trump.

It would be my fervent hope that President Biden’s quest for unity can extend beyond the halls of power and into our living rooms and dining rooms.

Is that too much to ask? I think not.

DC riot

Mitch gets roughed up by his guy … Donald

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

How much more verbal abuse can Mitch McConnell take from Donald Trump?

That’s my question of the moment after hearing what Trump said about the U.S. Senate Republican leader at that GOP donors dinner in Florida this weekend.

Trump called McConnell a “dumb son of a bi***” and a “stone-cold loser.” Oh, and Trump also lambasted other Republicans in the House and Senate who said some mean things about him, not to mention the insults he hurled at Democrats. Let’s not forget that Trump also trashed former Vice President Mike Pence because Pence didn’t do Trump’s bidding, which would have required him to violate the U.S. Constitution.

I ask this about Mitch because of something McConnell said about Trump shortly after The Donald left the presidency. He said — and this is astonishing — that he would “absolutely” support Trump were he to become the GOP’s 2024 presidential nominee.

He threw his support behind Trump after declaring that ex-POTUS was responsible for the Jan. 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill, that he “provoked” the mob of terrorists to storm the Capitol Building and prevent the counting of Electoral College votes certifying the election of Joe Biden as the next president.

So, McConnell endorses a possible — but in my view highly unlikely — Trump presidential candidacy. What does he get in return? Yet another verbal slap in the puss from the former Imbecile in Chief.

national news

Presidency is so … normal

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Joe Biden’s initial period as president of the United States has lacked the flash and panache of the guy who preceded him immediately in the office.

You know what? I am totally fine with that.

Whereas the 45th president of the United States sought actively to get on people’s nerves, the 46th president goes about his daily business the way most of the 44 men before them both did.

Donald Trump is wired to shower himself with publicity. That’s his brand. He spent his entire professional life — every single minute of it — with one aim: self-enrichment, self-aggrandizement and self-promotion. Then he ran for POTUS in 2016 and, lo and behold, he actually won!

Trump’s term as president was fraught with much of the same kind of silliness, except that its consequences were far from “silly.” They were dire, grave and full of peril.

Now he’s out of there. President Biden has conducted himself with dignity, sorrow when the moment presents itself and yes, even a bit of joy when that moment arrives, too.

Biden has endured sorrowful moments, with shootings continuing to take innocent lives. Yes, there’s also the pandemic that continues to kill Americans.

However, he has enjoyed one major legislative triumph, the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill he signed into law. He didn’t spike the proverbial football. Biden didn’t prance and preen and declare that only he could have gotten it done.

President Biden is not making policy pronouncements, surprising Cabinet officials or the brass who serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff via Twitter. That, too, was part of Donald Trump’s modus operandi. 

Trump said he preferred to be “unpredictable.” It had appeal among a core of voters. It also had a seriously destabilizing effect on the government professionals who worked in the executive branch, not to mention our allies around the world.

Biden is wired differently, being a creature of government, someone who had dedicated his adult life to public service. President Biden is acutely aware of the consequences of his actions and prefers to operate within the norms established by many decades of tradition, custom and, oh yes … the law!

Even when he missteps, Joe Biden looks to me to be a lead-pipe cinch to avoid the chaos and confusion that marked the term of the guy he replaced. I am all in.

national news

Yep, Trump incited riot

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

This lawsuit isn’t likely to go anywhere, but it still needs to be pursued and discussed openly.

Several members of Congress have sued Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani for inciting the Jan. 6 riot that sought to subvert the nation’s democratic process.

The latest congressional representative to join the suit is Rep. Veronica Escobar, an El Paso Democrat, who said in a statement reported by the Texas Tribune: In Escobar’s statement, she recounts receiving text messages from her family asking if she was safe and noticing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other people being escorted away by law enforcement officers. She recalls hearing shouts, banging from the outside, being instructed by police to wear a gas mask and how “her heart began racing” as the riot unfolded.

It’s not clear to me what the plaintiffs hope to reap from a lawsuit against the ex-president and his personal lawyer.

Veronica Escobar joins suit accusing Trump of inciting Capitol riot | The Texas Tribune

But you know what? This discussion ought to move forward.

“President Trump did not incite or conspire to incite any violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6,” according to Jason Miller, a key Trump aide.

Miller needs a serious reality check. For that matter, so does his boss, Trump … although no amount of reality ever is going to persuade the former Insurrectionist in Chief of his wrongdoing.

The entire world saw what developed on Jan. 6. Trump kept hurling the Big Lie about the 2020 election, that it was “stolen” by those who perpetrated a phony “widespread vote fraud.” The crowd stormed Capitol Hill, broke into the Capitol Building, threatened to “hang Mike Pence!” and defecated on the floor of the seat of our democracy.

For as long as this chilling episode remains relevant, I welcome the members of Congress who have the courage to take their grievances against Donald Trump and his lawyer to court.

Joe Biden

Biden still deserves benefit of doubt

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Joe Biden is closing in on the 100-day mark of his term as president of the United States.

I remain hopeful that he will succeed in office. Just as I detested Donald Trump from the beginning of his term, I am willing to give Joe Biden the benefit of the doubt as he continues to secure his footing as the commander in chief.

There have been some missteps. The crisis on our southern border is one of them. Yes, it is a crisis. The unaccompanied, underage immigrants are causing a serious bottleneck at holding areas. President Biden needs to recognize what many of us already can see with our own eyes, that we have a crisis down there.

The president has been forced to pull the nomination of his first pick for director of the Office of Management and Budget. Surely, though, he will find a suitable No. 2 selection.

I have lauded Biden’s extensive legislative experience. He will need all of it as he continues to go big on his domestic policy program. The president already has delivered on a COVID-19 relief package. Now comes the infrastructure proposal that he should work extra hard to get done.

The economy is starting to rev up. The accelerated vaccination rate against the pandemic is helping restore confidence in our business community.

I want the president to succeed. Truth be told, I wanted his predecessor to succeed, too, even though I was consistently critical of his ignorance of government and of the way he treated his political foes. He called them “enemies,” whereas President Biden takes a kinder, gentler approach to speaking to and about his foes.

I am going to remain optimistic about the future of the presidency under Joe Biden and the course the nation will follow under his leadership. I just don’t want him — nor do I expect him — to mess up.

national news

Forecast of economic doom? Hah!

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Hey, wait a second!

I could swear I heard Donald John Trump make a bold prediction that if Joe Biden were elected president of the United States that the U.S. economy would collapse.

That the stock market would crater. That jobs would flee the nation. That unemployment rates would balloon beyond anything we could recognize. That the economic health of the nation required the re-election of Trump as president.

Didn’t he say that? Or words to that effect?

Well, let’s see. The March jobs report came in today. Private non-farm job growth registered a 916,000 surge. Joblessness fell to 6 percent. The U.S. Labor Department report suggested, according to economists, that our economy is showing signs of post-pandemic vitality.

Now, let me be clear. President Biden does not deserve all the credit for this performance. Vaccines are being injected into more Americans every day. I know about the increase in COVID cases and an uptick in deaths from the virus. Health officials are urging us to stay the course, to keep wearing masks, practice social distancing.

However, I want to highlight one more lie that Donald Trump just  had to throw out there before he exited the White House for the final time. This formerly legendary business mogul made a prediction that has turned out — like practically everything he has said — to be patently false.