1/3/19: President Trump wakes early,
stretches his frame, wiggles his toes and ponders his busy schedule (executive playtime till 11:00 a.m. and no public events scheduled
all day). He finally rises from bed and lumbers to the bathroom. There, he puts
paste on his toothbrush and gazes fondly at his reflection in the mirror. His reflection
gazes back—fondly, for sure—and both Trumps think: “I look great—great hairdo, beautiful orange tint, sexy jowls.”
Trump eats breakfast, watches Fox News, and
plays around with his iPhone until playtime ends.
A “big, fat war in Asia.”
Unfortunately, at 11:00 top aides and cabinet
members expect him to do something besides tweet. The president does have sweet letters from Kim Jong-un, the murdering
despot in charge of North Korea’s repressive regime. He loves to show them to
White House visitors, fanning them out on his Oval Office desk for all to see,
admire and praise. In fact, Trump has just received what he says is another “great
letter” from Kim, who tells him that they should get together soon.
The president is proud, because he tells
everyone that if he hadn’t been such a fantastic leader there would have been a
“big, fat war in Asia,” because some lunatic had threatened the North Koreans
with “fire and fury” and “destruction like no one had ever seen,” and…oh, wait…that
was himself.
Well, then, let’s see what else we can find
in the news and see how the president is doing. The federal government remains in
a partial shutdown on Day 13. And the guy who said he’d be “proud” to own it,
is now insisting the Democrats own it instead, and whoever said it was going to
be President Trump’s baby to burp told a foul lie. Diplomacy may be hard (to be fair it’s hard for
every president—and it’s just that Trump is different because he always has to
brag about how great he is). But there’s always the Midas touch he brings to the
art of governing—the booming job numbers—the fabulous tax cuts—and the soaring Dow-Jones.
Damn!
Before the day is over, the Dow sheds another
660 points, extending heavy losses from the end of last year.
Well, then, the tax cuts! Those are great—and
they’re not going to add to the deficit, because …
God damn! Trump took over in January 2017, insisting
he could wipe out the deficit (just under $19 trillion at the time) if voters
would give him eight years. Now he’s down to six left to get the job done. It’s
going slower than he and Paul Ryan and Milksop Mitch promised. In fact, the
U.S. Treasury Department announced that the federal deficit has
ballooned to $21,974,000,000 in two years, with the “fiscally responsible”
Republicans in control.
So, let me check my math.
(Sound of calculator buttons being tapped.)
Yeah, the deficit is NOT going down.
You can check out the National Debt Clock for
fun and watch the debt rise by $1 million every 30 seconds. (Boy, I remember
when Republicans used to love to watch that clock and blame every blink on
President Obama.)
You can watch and wonder what will be left for
your kids’ government to spend (not much) and for your grandkids’ (nothing).
Plus, with Trump in charge, the damage from
climate change will be much worse in the end.
FOR ADDITIONAL READING ON CLIMATE CHANGE:
Consult the posts for 1/12/19 and 1/20/19; also the following days in 2018:
4/15; 5/17; 8/6; 9/18; 10/4; 10/11; 11/17; 11/23; 12/12 and 12/16.
