Photo by Ronald Cuyan on Unsplash

Enter The Trump ‘Weave’ At Your Own Peril

Phil Garber

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Republicans say they want to cut the costs of big government so trump wants to create another costly commission to find ways to trim government, led by that Twitter-destroying, oddball, richest man on the planet, Elon Musk.

Trump won’t give much in the way of facts but that is the way he is with his childish yet maddening, nonsensical gibberish. It’s impossible to follow trump’s line of thought, if that’s what it can be called. It’s best described as magical thinking, the belief that a person’s thoughts, actions or behaviors can influence or cause events that are not logically related.

Magical thinking “is often based on superstitions or supernatural effects,” according to the website, Choosing therapy.com. It also is defined as “the thought patterns of children and some types of mental disorders, especially obsessive-compulsive disorder.”

Trump explains that his brilliant method of oratory is something he calls the “weave,” kind of like Muhammad Ali’s “rope a dope” but not nearly as powerful. He can call it the “Twist” or the “Hully Gully” but the point is trump can’t stay on point and knows full well how to obfuscate but he doesn’t know how to communicate.

“You know, I do the weave,” trump said at a rally in Johnstown, Pa. “You know what the weave is? I’ll talk about like nine different things, and they all come back brilliantly together, and it’s like, friends of mine that are, like, English professors, they say, ‘It’s the most brilliant thing I’ve ever seen.’”

Trump’s weave leaves listeners scratching their heads and media types scurrying to figure out what to write and how to make sense out of nonsense, something like translating the words of the Mad Hatter. Which brings to mind my favorite Mad Hatter quote, “If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn’t be. And what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?”

Among his more outlandish plans, trump may name Robert F. Kennedy Jr., along with his brain worm and decapitated bear and whale, to lead the U.S. Department of Human Services.

And he will end the war in Ukraine in a heartbeat if Ukraine only agrees to surrender all the land that has been conquered by Russia. And he will end all sanctions against Russia but wouldn’t say exactly why and whether eliminatintg sanctions would be a reward to the Russians for ending their conquest.

He will provide universal child care, he claims, without adding to the distended national debt that he largely contributed to distending during his four years in the White House.

He will expel millions of immigrants, whether documented or not, but he won’t explain how to fund his grandiose and ostentatious plans that will surely cost billions and destroy the lives of millions of innocent, hardworking people and their families.

And he will again cut corporate taxes, benefiting the richest Americans and hurting the average Americans.

And he will build a wall.

All of his fantastic plans will largely be paid through the monumental tariffs he plans to impose on Chinese imports, a plan that would amount to a huge tax hike on most working Americans.

Trump’s failure to elaborate on his plans has led to fears in many quarters.

For example, last week the Justice Department announced it is charging Dmitri Simes, a former trump adviser, over his work with Russian media. The Justice Department charged that Simes and his wife worked with a sanctioned Russian state television network and laundered the profits, including more than $1 million, a personal car, and a driver for their work with Russia’s Channel One. Not coincidentally, Simes is mentioned more than 100 times in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian influence in the 2016 election, for his relationship with trump allies like trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

At about the same time, a federal indictment was unsealed as part of a wide-ranging move by the Departments of Justice, State and Treasury to target what the Biden administration says are Russian government-sponsored attempts to manipulate U.S. public opinion ahead of the November election. The administration announced a series of sanctions and criminal charges in response to alleged efforts by Russian actors to influence U.S. public opinion.

“The Justice Department’s message is clear,” said a statement. “We have no tolerance for attempts by authoritarian regimes to exploit our democratic system of government. We will be relentlessly aggressive in countering and disrupting attempts by Russia, Iran, as well as China or any other foreign malign actor, interfere in elections and undermine our members.”

It is part of a longstanding Russian ploy. Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized influence operations to help trump in the 2020 election, while trump’s 2016 campaign benefited from hacking by Russian intelligence officers and a covert social media effort, according to U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials.

Trump’s response to the latest revelations were curious, indeed. He told a gathering at the Economic Club of New York that he wants to lift U.S. sanctions on Russia.

“I want to use sanctions as little as possible,” trump said, before going on one of his hair brained rants about how sanctions of countries like Russia weaken the dollar. “You’re losing Iran, you’re losing Russia. China is out there trying to get their currency to be the dominant currency. There’s so much conflict with all these countries that you’re going to lose” the dominance of the dollar.

In another Russia-related moment, trump last week bragged that he had a “specific plan” to end the war in Ukraine that was triggered by the 2022 Russian invasion.

“I have a very specific plan to stop Ukraine and Russia,” trump said without revealing his plan and sounding eerily like President Richard Nixon’s, 1068, pre-election, secret plan to end the Vietnam War, that never materialized. “And I have a certain idea — maybe not a plan, but an idea — for China,” trump said still infernally short on any specifics.

“If I win, as president-elect I will ensure that an agreement is guaranteed,” trump said.

Regarding the commission on waste. Trump said that Musk will lead in development of a plan to “totally eliminate fraud and improper payments within six months,” aiming to slash trillions of dollars from the federal budget.

Trump said his scheme would not require that government services be cut although critics said it would explode the national debt by billions and would have to include cuts in the largest federal spending programs of Social Security, Medicare and defense.

Musk owns rocket maker, SpaceX, and Tesla and has received billions of dollars in federal contracts and subsidies. Some of the companies are under examination by various federal agencies. Trump did not mention any concerns about conflicts of interest if he names Musk to the panel, while the billionaire’s interests are being questioned by the feds.

For more magical thinking, trump wants to spend trillions of dollars on tax cuts, supposedly paid through tariffs on all $3 trillion worth of imports into the United States, including a 60 percent tariff on imports from China and a 10 or even 20 percent across-the-board tariff on imports from other nations. Trump claims that the tariffs would protect working-class jobs and punish unfair trading practices.

Back to reality, economists warn that the tariffs could backfire by sharply raising prices on American families, killing jobs and setting off a global trade war. A 20 percent across-the-board tariff combined with a 60 percent tariff on China would cost the typical middle-income household more than $2,600 a year, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

“It’s one of those magical economic proposals that can actually cause inflation and put you into a recession — at the same time,” said David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management. “It’s a two-year-old’s mentality: You punch someone in the nose and expect them not to punch you back.”

Trump also has called for extending his 2017 tax cuts, which expire next year if no action is taken by Congress. Trump has argued that extending the tax cuts will boost the economy, create jobs and help families. Researchers found that the 2017 tax law boosted investment in the American economy and helped to modestly increase wages, but the tax cuts did not pay for themselves.

Extending the individual income tax provisions from the 2017 tax law alone would cost $3.4 trillion over a decade, according to estimates from the nonpartisan Penn Wharton Model.

Trump has suggested cutting the corporate tax rate again, dropping it from 21 percent to 20 percent or even 15 percent. The Penn Wharton model estimates a cut to 15 percent and extending the business tax provisions of the 2017 law would pile on another $1.2 trillion in costs.

Beyond the tax cut extension, Trump has proposed eliminating taxes on Social Security benefits. That would cost $1.2 trillion over a decade, according to Penn Wharton.

As they have done in many other areas, the trump campaign has not detailed significant spending cuts or tax hikes to offset the tax cuts.

Trump also offered his word salad answer to a question posed after the recent meeting of the Economic Club of New York. Reshma Saujani, CEO of Girls Who Code, asked trump if he’d commit to making child care a priority of his administration and, if so, what policies he would pursue.

Trump said he “would do that,” then, in an apparent non sequitur, mentioned his daughter, Ivanka, and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who has introduced legislation that Rubio says would improve access to child care.

“It’s a very important issue,” trump said. “But I think when you talk about the kind of numbers that I’m talking about, that — because — child care is child care … It’s something, you have to have it in this country. You have to have it.”

Turning to his immigration plans, trump has been short on explaining how he would overcome the mammoth logistical and legal hurdles to rounding up and expelling millions of people in the U.S. without their permission.

Trump has pledged to “immediately stop the invasion of our southern border” and end illegal immigration with the largest domestic deportation operation in U.S. history. He would target people who are legally living in the United States but harbor “jihadist sympathies” and revoke the student visas of those who espouse anti-American and antisemitic views.

Trump would move thousands of troops currently stationed overseas and shift federal agents, including those at the Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI, to immigration enforcement, while also building more of the border wall.

Trump would expand his original travel ban that targeted seven Muslim-majority countries. He pledged to put in place “ideological screening” for immigrants to bar “dangerous lunatics, haters, bigots, and maniacs,” as well as those who “empathize with radical Islamic terrorists and extremists.”

Regarding a place for RFK Jr. in a second trump administration, trump said he would “certainly” consider appointing the son of the revered, slain attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. RFK Jr., who has been roundly berated by family members for his policies, dropped out of the presidential race last week and endorsed trump.

“I like him, and I respect him,” Trump said about RFK Jr. “He’s a brilliant guy. He’s a very smart guy. I’ve known him for a very long time.”

Prior to his quitting the race, trump called Kennedy a “Radical Left Democrat.” Kennedy answered back that trump’s rant against him “is a barely coherent barrage of wild and inaccurate claims.”

Trump also said Kennedy was “one of the most Liberal Lunatics ever to run for office” and the “dumbest member” of the Kennedy family.

RFK Jr.’s former running mate, Nicole Shanahan, said Kennedy would do an “incredible” job as head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its more than $1.5 trillion budget.

RFK Jr. is a lawyer, notorious anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist. He has criticized Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, for the COVID-19 death toll and said Fauci should be prosecuted if he committed a crime.

He has long backed the debunked theory that vaccines cause autism and falsely claimed that “vaccines have probably caused more deaths than they’ve averted.” RFK Jr. has endorsed the use of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine as treatments for COVID-19, despite numerous studies that conclude the substances do not cure or treat the virus.

Trump has been consistently critical of vaccines and has said that he would “not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate or a mask mandate.” Elimination of mandatory vaccinations in schools would have a devastating effect on childhood health. Every state and Washington, D.C. requires children to get vaccinated before they start school, against diseases including measles, mumps, polio, tetanus, whooping cough and chickenpox.

RFK Jr. has been strongly critical of the Department of Health and Human Services and said the HHS agencies have become “sock puppets” for the industries they regulate.

“Project 2025,” a blueprint for a second trump reign, would restore HHS to “the department of life,” using a Christian-centric basis for governing. The document was created by the far right, Heritage Foundation.

Quick fixes are the hall mark of children who can’t think far in advance. Trump’s proposed, Musk commission brings back memories of his racist, kneejerk reaction to counter the groundbreaking, “1619 Project,” a Pulitzer Prize-winning report by the New York Times published in 2019.

The 1619 Project argues the basis of America was founded not in 1776 but in 1619 when the first enslaved people were brought to the shores of the Virginia colonies. It shows vividly how racism has been baked into virtually every American system.

Conservatives jumped on the 1619 Project as a “woke” response that belittled American history. Trump’s answer was to create the “1776 Report” to promote “patriotic education” and whitewash the claims made by the 1619 Project about teachings on systemic racism, critical race theory, and deeper examinations of how slavery has affected American society.

The “crusade against American history is toxic propaganda, ideological poison, that, if not removed, will dissolve the civic bonds that tie us together, will destroy our country,” trump said at the time.

Those named to a commission to compile the “1776 Report” were conservative trump ideologues, political operatives and right wing academics who distorted documented accounts about how discrimination was enshrined by the nation’s founders and continues to persist in various forms, hundreds of years later.

The “1776 Report” rejects statements that the Founding Fathers were hypocritical for upholding slavery while claiming that all men are created equal. It also describes slave-owning leaders such as George Washington and James Madison as pioneers who “set the stage for abolition.”

After the “1776 Report” was issued, scholars denounced the document for trying to dismiss the ongoing legacy of racism and the effects on American freedom. In one of his first acts in office, President Joe Biden dismantled the 1776 Commission.

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Phil Garber
Phil Garber

Written by Phil Garber

Journalist for 40 years and now a creative writer

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