Monthly Archives: April 2020

Yom Hahshoah at 75

Posted on by
Reply

Earlier this week the Jewish community remembered Yom Hahshoah, the commemoration of the Holcaust. In the Jewish calendar it’s commemorated on the 27th day of the month of Nissan. We remember Yom Hashoah because every one of us needs to ensure this never happens again.

Here’s what we need to know:

  • It didn’t begin with Auschwitz. It began with blame.
  • It began with xenophobia.
  • It began when one man blamed others and abandoned the idea that we are all in this together.
  • It began when this one man saw he could advance himself by dividing others.
  • It began when he saw he could lie without abandon and be believed.
  • It ended with the deaths of 6,000,000 Jews and 4,000,000 others.
  • It ended when this one man killed himself and avoided taking responsibility for his actions.
  • It ended when the forces for Good spend billions of dollars and decades healing the world.

It began with blame. Let us not let it happen again.

The Trump Chronicles, Volume 144: President Trump, Karma is Calling

Posted on by
1

Dear President Trump:

When you began your Presidential campaign in 2015 I feared that you were not up to the job. I argued that your lack of experience in governing and your penchant for bullying would make your presidency a disaster.

On the day of your inauguration I threw down and said I was keeping score.

In the last 3 years you’ve claimed victory for the progress of others and avoided responsibility for your own mistakes. Your tariffs have hurt farmers, your irresponsible promises have given coal minors false hope, and your attacks on honest journalists have given good, honest Americans doubt in those who strive to tell the truth.

All along your supporters have insisted that none of that matters because the stock market has done well. You and your supporters have argued that the bull market (stock market rise) began on January 20, 2017, the day you took office.

It didn’t. It started on March 9, 2009, six weeks into the administration of President Barack Obama. When he handed you the keys to the White House the stock market had grown 148.3% since his inauguration. You can see a fascinating graph here.

Your administration rode that wave well and at its peak grew 43.7% over President Obama.

But here’s the problem: anyone with a brain knew (knew) that it wouldn’t last. Markets go up (bull markets) and markets go down (bear market). A smart President wouldn’t have criticized the Federal Reserve demanding interest rate cuts in a bull market. A smart President would have know that if you cut interest rates during a bull market you worsen a bear market because there’s little or nothing left to cut. A smart President would know that if you claim credit for a good economy people will blame you for a bad one.

And if asked about the current market and skyrocketing unemployment statistics you and your supporters argue that this is entirely the result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Furthermore you and your supporters will claim there was no way to predict this would happen. In other words, absent COVID-19 the United States would have seen eight years of previously unknown prosperity during your two terms in office.

But here’s the thing: we all knew that a previously unknown virus was always lurking out there somewhere. I know you like to brag about how many times you made the cover of Time Magazine. The cover story on May 15, 2017 warned that we were not ready for the next pandemic.

In addition there was the question about whether or not you eliminated a “pandemic office” in 2017. It’s a complicated question and you can read about it here.

But it doesn’t really matter. You have a history of ignoring facts that don’t fit your world view and you’ve spent the last 3 years ensuring that nobody in your orbit will challenge you. You’ve gone through dozens of cabinet members and staff who proved that they loved either the truth or the American people (or both) more than they craved your support.

Looking forward I have to confess I fear the next seven months. You’ve also spent the last three years not understanding that there are limits on your power. Famously 2018 your xenophobia led you to claim you could repeal the 14th Amendment by executive order.

I predict that you will attempt to call a national emergency and suspend the 2020 election. I predict that you will call on your supporters (and their guns) to report to the White House while you hole up and refuse to leave on January 20, 2021.

I hope I’m wrong but I wish I had more confidence.

The Trump Chronicles, Volume 143: I Give Him Medium Props

Posted on by
Reply

Last month I wrote about President Trump’s promise to send out stimulus to all Americans. Today I found out that at least one of my relatives saw a deposit in his account.

The bottom line is this: he actually made a promise he kept. That’s astounding.

But I will say that at the time he promised the checks would go out in two weeks. He made the promise on March 17th and two weeks out was March 31st. That was more than two weeks ago. Also the first wave of checks were made through direct deposit, meaning the federal government had your bank information (mostly because in past years you gave that information to the IRS for your tax refund). Paper checks have not been mailed out but are expected soon.

But today we learned that President Trump insisted that his name be placed on the check and this will delay the payments.

At the end of the day I give him credit to keeping a promise he made.

The Election Chronicles, Volume 12: Now It’s a Two Person Race

Posted on by
Reply

This morning we learned that Senator Bernie Sanders has suspended his campaign. Presidential campaigns are famously marathons and not sprints. Last June I began the Election 2020 Chronicles with two Republican candidates and twenty Democratic candidates.

President Trump was always the presumptive Republican nominee but the Democratic field was wide open. Back then the fear among us Democrats was that the field was so crowded they would strangle each other, or to use a popular image, form a circular firing squad. On February 12th I suggested that Bernie may defeat former Vice President Joe Biden and give President Trump the opponent he wanted.

Bernie famously describes himself as a “Democratic Socialist” and that has always troubled me. A Socialist government owns the means of production and all citizens are government employees. Workers are allowed to own property and choose their jobs but there is no private industry. Critics (like me) of socialism believe that, for instance, if the government owned the auto industry we’d all still be driving Model T’s. Without the competition that Capitalism provides there’s no advantage to improve.

This is not what Bernie suggests. He does want Medicare for all, but even Medicare isn’t socialized medicine simply because doctors are not government employees. But the Republican playbook salivated at the idea of running against a Socialist. They would blow fear into the electorate by claiming Bernie would take all of their freedom away from them. It might have worked.

Now comes the next challenge: convincing Bernie’s supporters to support Joe. When Bernie ran against Hillary Clinton in 2016 many of Bernie’s supporters felt they couldn’t support Hillary because the Democratic National Committee conspired against Bernie. Frankly, they had a point.

My hope going forward lies with the warm relationship between Bernie and Joe. I hope that, unlike 2016, Bernie’s supporters will feel better about voting for Joe. If they don’t we may well have another 4 years of Trump.