One Hundred Days of Regression

This writer's commentary early on questioned whether President Trump's policies would move the country and its people forward and improve and or expand the positive accomplishments of President Obama's administration or would the President adopt a policy of regression.  The first 100 days of the Trump administration tells us the answer is the latter one.

The only legislative success was the confirmation of Trumps supreme court pick and he and the party choose the nuclear option instead of the 60 vote rule previously used by the U.S. Senate for many years.  It was a sad decision and a cowardly act by the President and the republican controlled senate who failed to give President Obama's supreme court nominee even a hearing.  That regressive act will lead to future trouble to our system of government that Trump and the republicans hate when they can not get their way.

Trump's many executive orders reversed many of the safe guards in place concerning business regulations and the environment and are regressive.  Those regulations did not handicap the business world under the Obama administration whose policies brought the country out of the great republican recession, created jobs, lowered the unemployment rate, reduced deficit spending and insured over 15 million Americans who had no health insurance.

The most recent reversal on offshore drilling regulations are the most regressive of all and Louisiana's representatives in congress are silent.  They have already forgotten the BP oil explosion and spill in the Gulf of Mexico that killed 11 rig workers and the billions in damage to the environment, people and business.  Like wise, they have also forgotten the trial produced evidence of regulations being violated and profit being put ahead of safety.  Thank the good Lord President Obama was in office and held those accountable for their actions.

Trumps on going feud with the media and science, his constant lies and conflict of interest are all regressive.  The repeal and replacement effort concerning the ACA has been a fraud from the very beginning and a scheme that will not be effective or affordable as the ACA if passed.  And of course, their is Trump and his divisive attitude toward America.

David Gergen, republican journalist, adviser to several Presidents and a regular commentator on CNN said that Trump's speech in Penn.  on Saturday was so divisive that it was the most divisive one of any President he could remember.  A true statement but just a little too late.  As President, Trump is still the same candidate Trump who was divisive during the whole campaign.  In fact Gergen and most conservative journalists supported Trump during the campaign even though sometimes silently and this writer believes they voted for him which was their choice.  But its sour grapes on the part of those conservative journalists who now try and say they thought Trump would change after being elected President.  Give me a break.

The country and its people made progress during the Clinton administration, regressed during the George W. Bush administration, progressed during the Obama administration and now regressed in the first 100 days of the Trump administration.  Does the future of the Trump administration based on his first 100 days tell us that the future will be like the failed republican past?  Will history repeat itself as it so often has?  6000 years ago, the very first civilization on earth, that of the Sumerians taught that a failure to learn from the mistakes of the past, will bring about a future like the failed past.

We in the United States and other parts of the world have already seen a future like the past, but we mortals are not fated to fail, we have what it takes to make things better for the future.  We can make our fate what ever we want, destiny has no role in that decision because we are only destined to die.  Our fate is in our own hands.  Trump's lifestyle and the republican's ideology is what stands in the way of a great future for our country and its people.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Who Speaks For America's Foreign Policy?

We know that is the responsibility of the President and Commander in Chief but the Trump administration seems to enjoy speaking with multiple voices on Iran in order to mislead the American people who need to hear one voice.  Last week the Pentagon issued its report on Iran and said the country was living up to its nuclear agreement with the U.S. and its allies and were in compliance.

Soon after the Pentagon report President Trump said Iran was not living up to the spirit of the agreement and soon after that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the State department would begin a comprehensive study of the agreement because the agreement does not stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.  The U.S. allies who are party to the agreement agree with the Pentagon and so does Israel's intelligence service.

Trump was one of several republicans who said if elected would void the Iran agreement so now the Trump administration through several voices are trying to create a new chapter and a possible unnecessary confrontation with Iran.  President George W. Bush called Iraq, Iran and North Korea an axis of evil but those three countries never did match the definition of being an axis.

The United States will be in Afghanistan 16 years come October, our country's longest war and just recently General John Nicholson, commander of U.S. forces in that country called for thousands of additional troops to help prop up the Afghan military to help the fight against the Taliban and other militant groups who occupy a number of strong holds.  The question needs to be answered as to why Afghanistan can not secure their own country after 16 years of American assistance, both military and financial?

And now we are in a stage of so called tough talk from the President concerning North Korea and Iran.  Our men and women in uniform have been in that dangerous part of the world now for over 16 years and they have been in South Korea for 65 years and are still in both places.  Our men and women deserve better.  Our country and its people need a President and Commander in Chief who speaks with one voice on foreign policy with wisdom who understands the folly of loose talk when it comes to war.  Its easy to go to war but much harder to withdraw from one, especially if it is an unnecessary one that destabilizes.

The answer to the Korean problem is to unify the country where there is only one Korea.  A divided country and people will always be trouble.  I wrote a commentary on this subject several years ago and it is relevant more so today.  The unification of Viet Nam is a good example, so is the unification of Germany and Berlin which were once divided and split and caused nothing but trouble.  But one Germany and one Berlin is now peaceful.

World leaders need to find a way and urge North and South Korea to unify themselves with out outside interference.  One country, one people and one voice.  And the effort should be led by the leader of the free world, the President of the United States.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Make The Presidency Great Again

It is the most pressing issue at the moment because the country has a "Wolf" in the White House.  A predator who has cast aside a political tenet and the integrity of the office that make the Presidency above it all.  The Presidency, the most respected office in the land that represents a people and not special interests has been in jeopardy since January 20, 2017.

The Presidency, occupied by Donald Trump has aligned his office with his business enterprise.  So are his daughter and son in law who are appointed advisers but still maintain control of their business enterprise.  Trump and his family still entertain business people at his Mar-a-laga resort in Palm Beach, Fla. and will not make public the visitors log of those who have been entertained there.

Trump's collusion with Russia during the primary and his kid glove treatment of them as President needs answers and so does his refusal to take a stand about Russia's interference in America's Presidential election.  Trump is not just being Trump.  There is more to it than that because our country and its people are the ones being affected.  The predator in Trump thinks he can do as he pleases and congress needs to put an end to the flagrant disregard Trump has for the Presidency.

Trump continues to show his arrogance and disrespect for the Presidency and the people by refusing to make public his tax returns because it would reveal his conflicts of interest which he is covering up.  Past Presidential candidates and Presidents made their tax returns public because they believed the people had a right to know their financial matter and believed the Presidency is not a place to enhance themselves or their business financially.  It is a place to take care of the people's business.

Contrary to his trumped up slogan, "make America great again" congress needs to make the Presidency great again.  They have the authority and power to do so.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

The President's Latest Fake News: Tax Reduction, Buy American and Made In America

Trump's most recent on tax reform is to reduce the corporate income tax rate from 35% to 15%, a 20% reduction.  That will explode the federal deficit once again and add trillions of dollars to the deficit and national debt just as the Reagan and George W. Bush tax cuts did.  And Trump is trying to sell the plan as a revenue maker when in fact it will reduce federal revenues dramatically.  Reagan and Bush's trickle down economics did not balance one federal budget in the sixteen years they served and in fact neither Presidents sent one balanced budget to congress after telling the people how trickle down economics was going to expand the economy, create jobs and balance the budget.  It was a sham from the very beginning.

President Trump's "made in America and buy American" follows the same fake news and rings hollow.  Trump still operates some manufacturing plants outside the U.S. and of course his company still buys foreign products and supplies.  His latest completed adventure, the Trump tower in Washington, D.C. was built with foreign steel.  That is the hotel where he has a conflict of interest as President.  Trump's son applied through the VISA system to hire foreign workers to work in his Kentucky winery just in the last few months.  It would be nice if Trump would set the example and bring his manufacturing back to the U.S. and buy American.  But don't hold your breath.

It appears that the only examples this President sets are the bad ones.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Bill O'Reilly and "The Factor" Are No More

The Fox News Network, cable news number one network of spin parted ways with its host Bill O'Reilly and his spin zone over allegations of sexual harassment that was reported settled out of court to the tune of several million dollars.  The allegations was reported that more than one woman were involved.  O'Reilly denied the allegations and said the truth will be made known at a later date.

It is not the first time Fox has settled out of court concerning sexual harassment by one of its employees.  The network is known for its female employees to show a lot of legs while on the air.  O'Reilly had the number one rated show that was full of spin and the "FACTOR' was used by O'Reilly to pass off his opinion as facts.  A separate report indicated O'Reilly was paid approximately $25 million in his separating from Fox.

O'Reilly reminds this writer of Trump.  Both are highly paid, successful in their own right and both think they can do what ever they please.  They were ditto heads during the Presidential campaign and O'Reilly often had Trump on his shows.  It was always spin time to promote Trump.  Television with out O'Reilly is the best thing that could happen to cable TV.  The next best thing would be for the Fox News Network to just go away.

O'Reilly will be forgotten because his kind of reporting did not make a positive difference in people's lives and like Trump is thin skinned because he feels inadequate.  That is where his bluster comes from.  The number one spin zone is no more.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

The Hypocrites In The White House

President Trump, his budget director and chief of staff want the democrats in congress to pass his agenda concerning a spending bill before congress to prevent a government shutdown that looms Saturday April 29.  Those are the same people who supported the congressional republicans stand of doing nothing to help President Obama's agenda when he first took office in 2009.  And their position was the same when President Obama nominated his pick for Supreme Court Justice.

Trump and his friends are having a hard time accomplishing any meaningful legislation in his first 100 days as he promised, so now he wants his funding agenda passed that includes the Wall and the repeal and replacement of the ACA.  He can not be sure of his republican votes and needs democrats to avoid a shutdown of government.  All of this speaks loud and clear of the lies Trump and the republicans are living.

Despite the lies that the ACA will self destruct, the lies really tell a story that the ACA is alive, well and working.  If it were not, repealing and replacement of the ACA would have been easy after seven years of empty promises.  The Wall is the BIG Lie of the Trump campaign and now wants the tax payers to pay for the lie and the WALL.  Like the republican's stand on the ACA, Trump can't even tell congress how he will make Mexico pay for the WALL and he has had over a year to do so.  If he was serious it would be spelled out in the spending bill just how Mexico would pay for the WALL.

The democrats in congress need to stay steady and refuse to allow the tax payers to pay for the WALL and should vote against any repeal and replacement of the ACA.  President Trump and the republicans made their own bed so let them sleep in it.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Miscalculation and A Failure To Live Up To Campaign Promises and The Drum Beat of War With North Korea

President Trump has been in office 87 days and his campaign promise of legislation in his first 100 days in office is in peril.  His only real accomplishments have taken place with his executive orders that rolled back progress made under the administration of President Obama.  The President and his party's lies about having a plan to repeal and replace the ACA came crashing down in congress, his budget contains $2 billion to build a border wall he said Mexico would pay for that is in limbo, tax reform, immigration reform, the highway bill and other pronouncements have been delayed.  China, who Trump told the people was a currency manipulator is no longer one because he wants China's help with North Korea.

The President not only failed in his legislative pursuits he miscalculated what was going on in Syria and was caught flat footed with the chemical attack in Syria a little over a week ago.  The missile strike on Syria was born out of that miscalculation and the President's failures.  Now we are hearing the drum beat of war with North Korea.  And it is coming from Trump and his VP Mike Pence, the secretary of state and the secretary of defense.

The administration is speaking with one voice using the same statements:  North Korea's missile test are provocative, ditto if they test another nuclear devise, their show of military power, their provocative talk against South Korea and America.  North Korea is doing what every other nuclear power did, including the U.S. before they became a nuclear power.  They tested their missiles and still do and they tested their nuclear weapons.  Does that mean the U.S. and the other nuclear nations were provocative at the time?  Is it provocative for the present nuclear powers to say we can have and keep our nuclear weapons but North Korea, Iran and others can not acquire their own?  This writer feels sure that North Korea feels that is provocative towards their country.

Unintentional wars caused by miscalculation cost lives like it did in Iraq which is still playing out 14 years and counting.  Who is the greater military threat to America and its allies?  North Korea and Iran or Russia and China?  Russia and China still test their missiles and other advanced weapons.  And of course the U.S. holds joint military exercises with its allies in South Korea and off their coast and China's coast.  We do the same thing in Russia's part of the world.

It seems like every country is doing something that could be questioned as being provocative to some one else.  One small miscalculation could start a war of no return.  North Korean leaders like to talk tough like republicans but the armistice that ended the Korean war in 1953 has been in effect for 64 years.  North Korea is not going to start a war with South Korea or the U.S.  It would be a war of a giant (the U.S.) against a flea (N. Korea)  China would not allow N. Korea's leader to act so foolish even though their leader is a loud mouth like Trump.

President Kennedy was well aware how a miscalculation could have killed thousands in America and Russia during the Cuban missile crisis.  That situation was 1000 times worse than what is taking place in North Korea because Russia had those missiles with nuclear warheads planted 90 miles from our shore.  President Kennedy knew what war was all about being a veteran of WWII and had the wisdom that ended the Russian threat to this hemisphere.  That wisdom needs to be found today for a better future.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

President Trump and His Failure To Make His Tax Returns Public.

Lawrence O'Donnell, host of "The Last Word" on MSNBC publically stated long before Donald Trump announced he would run for President, that Trump would never make his tax returns public.  O'Donnell knew Trump was the type of person who had something to hide from the public.  O'Donnell also pointed out many of Trump's lies and "fake news" before he became a Presidential candidate.

Trump's excuse for not releasing his tax returns has run in circles.  First it was because he was under audit, but then said he would release them after the audit was complete and then he said he would not release them at all.  Well, this past week end people showed up in protest and demanded Trump release his tax returns and the President answered by saying the "election was over."

Hillary Clinton has released over 40 years of tax returns and has been the most transparent Presidential nominee in all the history of Presidential elections.  This is the same woman Trump called crooked Hillary.  But it has become obvious who the crooked one really is and the question of what Trump has to hide needs to be answered.  Now he is hiding behind his statement "the election is over."  But that is not good enough for a President who continues to make lying a major factor in his administration.

The Presidency is much larger than Donald Trump and the people have a right to know what he is trying to hide.  And yes, every day Trump's actions confirm that Hillary Clinton is a better woman than Trump is a man.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

The Republican's Failure To Live Up To Their So Called Tough Talk

President Reagan came to office talking tough and said terrorists could run but could not hide from America. Then terrorists struck the U.S. Marine compound in Beirut killing 241 Marines.  That attack was and still is the worst terror attack against Americans on foreign soil.  The planners of that attack were never brought to justice by the Reagan administration.  The President also said he would never negotiate with terrorists and then sold arms to Iran in what became know as the Iran-Contra scandal.

President George W. Bush came to office talking tough then the tragic events of 9-11 took place in New York and killed over 2000.  That attack was and still is the worst foreign terror attack on U.S. soil.  The Planner of that attack, Bin Laden was never brought to justice by the Bush administration.  But President Obama did bring Bin Laden to justice because he made it the governments top priority.  Then came tough talk about Iraq, an invasion and occupation over WMD that did not exist and Bush would not end that war or occupation before he left office.  Saddam Hussein was no longer around and terrorists who entered Iraq because of the invasion were responsible for most of the U.S. casualties in Iraq.

President Trump came to office talking tough about fighting terror and sent mixed signals to our adversaries.  Because of his hatred for President Obama he played the blame game.  Trump said the killing of police officials would stop and not happen on his watch but several have already been killed.  When North Korea test fired several missiles before President Obama left office, Trump said it would not happen on his watch, but North Korea test fired several since Trump took office.  Trump said all along the U.S. has no interest in being in Syria and then Syria launched an alleged chemical attack on his own people.

There is an important story here folks.  Tough talk don't make a man or a President.  It is the President's responsibility to prevent attacks and not brag how tough you are and then have to react after the fact that usually cost lives.  The attacks against Iraq and Syria were against two countries that did not have the military capacity to respond.  The New York Times reported according to a story in the Huffington Post that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was told at his most recent visit with the Russians not to strike Syria again.  That story receive very little publicity by the news media and the Trump administration.

It would be a good thing for the tough talkers to keep in mind miscalculations have already cost too many American lives.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

 

Pictures Can Be Deceiving, Especially On Facebook and The Social Media

They say a picture is worth more than words but this writer can recall a picture posted on facebook during the campaign by a Trump supporter that was trivial at the time and now just plain sour grapes.  It was a picture of President Obama on the golf course where he was vacationing and the writer took the President to task because the trip cost the tax payers a lot of dollars.

Now we have a new President by the name of Donald Trump and according to a story in the Huffington Post, Trump's trips to his resort at Mar-a-lago in Palm Beach Florida has cost the tax payers over $21 million and at that price will exceed in one year what it cost the tax payers for President Obama's eight years in office.  Now that is staggering.  But the larger problem is how Trump's supporters fell for Trump's fraud talk and how they were so jealous of President Obama would resort to some thing trivial.  Maybe the Trump supporter will post a picture of Trump playing golf at his resort and tell the readers how much Trump's trips are costing the tax payers.

The supporter needs to also read up on spending tax payers money because in the past 37 years the largest percentage increase in federal spending took place on the watch of President's Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush and the smallest took place on the watch of President's Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.  Fake news about federal spending comes from the Republican Party.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio