Category Archives: Donald Trump

‘Trump’s National Security Strategy is Decidedly Non-Trumpian’

Donald Trump, Foreign Policy, IMMIGRATION

Well of course. Trump’s National Security Strategy is largely neoconservative.

Strategically, the Trump administration’s NSS “is thematically consistent with many previous administration’s strategies,” the official who’s read the full draft said. “In fact, it even shares many similarities with” the Obama administration’s 2015 Strategy. … [recognizing] that promoting economic prosperity is core to sustained U.S. global leadership; both highlight the value of preserving an open and liberal international order that has often times benefited the United States; and both underscore the importance of preserving core American principles and values. “What’s most striking is how disconnected the Trump NSS is from the words and actions of the president himself …
… the United States will always stand with those who seek freedom … [and] continue to lead in championing human rights. …
“the United States must continue to attract the innovative and the inventive…[and] create easier paths for the flow of scientists, engineers, and technologists into and out of public service.” [The last sentence is commensurate with Trumpism as it’s vague. What does it means? Who? Immigrants? Hi-tech immigrants must go into government? WTF!?]

“The draft NSS does contain a few uniquely ‘Trumpian’ themes, including multiple references to ‘sovereignty.’”

It states that “the United States affirms its sovereign right to determine who should enter the country and under what circumstances.” It also discusses physical border security, such as through “a border wall, the use of multilayered technology, the deployment of additional personnel” and through the use of “enhanced vetting of prospective immigrants, refugees, and other foreign visitors.”

Another classically ‘Trumpian’ theme is the idea that, while the liberal international order has helped advance U.S. interests in some cases, it has also hurt the United States. The NSS’s second pillar, “Advancing American Prosperity,” notes that “we oppose protectionism, but take the view that globalism and multilateralism have gone substantially too far to the point that they are hurting U.S. and global growth. Our partners and international institutions can and should do more to address economic and trade imbalances, including overcapacity in industrial sectors.”

UPDATED (12/26): So You Know: Trump Tax Relief For Individual Workers Sunsets In 2025

Business, Donald Trump, Individualism Vs. Collectivism, Political Economy, Republicans, Taxation

“Really it was very nice to work as a collective towards a unified nation,” intoned Ivanka Trump, who lobbied hard—and successfully—for the Trump Tax Bill, passed.

Only a handful on the “Right” are daring to challenge the fairness of this Bill to individual taxpayers. Business is still über alles in Trump’s GOP.

Question (if one is allowed to question in strictly bi-partisan America): Under President Trump’s Tax Bill, ALL individual tax relief is said to sunset in 2025. Why? Why is Business above all?

The Economist (“Over the Hill: Tax reform has passed. What now?” 12/20):

Workers will benefit from across-the-board cuts in income taxes until 2025, after which, if Congress takes no further action, most levies for individuals will return to today’s levels or even rise.

AND: “Tax reform: How the Republican tax bill compares with previous reforms” 12/9:

… the Senate bill’s cuts to individual income taxes are to be phased out after 2025, to keep the costs down. What is initially a tax cut for most lower- and middle-earners will turn into a tax increase, because of changes to how tax brackets will be adjusted for inflation.

UPDATE (12/26):

Millionaires on average will get an extra $69,660 boost from Trump #TAXPLAN. Those with less than $10,000 will get an extra $10 to play with. … Things change however once 2025 rolls around. If no change is made, what were tax cuts will become tax hikes, even relative to current law. A majority of Americans in a decade’s time will then pay higher taxes, including 69.7% of the middle quintile.

MORE.

UPDATED (12/19): Who’s Gonna Bust Robert Mueller’s Sham Proceedings? Meek Weak Jeff Sessions?

Constitution, Donald Trump, Law, Russia, The State

There is no limit, seemingly, to the power of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. In contravention of a quaint thing called the Fourth Amendment, Mueller has taken possession of “many tens of thousands of emails from President Donald Trump’s transition team.”

Jonathan Turley, of George Washington University in Foggy Bottom, D.C., said the legal territory Langhofer waded into is “a somewhat ambiguous area.”

“Why take the risk?” he asked of the Mueller team’s decision to go about obtaining the documents the way it did.

Turley said Langhofer is correct as far as claiming the documents are not the property of the General Services Administration, where Mueller’s team obtained them.

He said Mueller and his deputy, Andrew Weissmann, have a history of an aggressive style of handling cases, with the latter being accused of “prosecutorial overreach” by critics of the Enron scandal’s proceedings.

Turley said Mueller is possibly legally allowed to obtain documents this way, but that perception of the actions may affect the way the investigation is considered.

“Why do something this risky?” he asked.

Risk, Jonathan Turley, Esquire? What risk? There is no risk to Deep State operatives. Name one who has paid the price for taking us to war in Iraq or igniting the “Russia monomania.”

Who’s going to bust Robert Mueller’s sham, kangaroo proceedings? The meek, weak Jeff Sessions?

Of course, dumbo Napolitano claims differently than Turley.

Dumbo Napolitano’s BAB archive.

UPDATE (12/19): Contra Dumbo Napolitano, Dershowitz, no dummy, “Says Mueller ‘Playing Into Trump’s Hands,’ Should Have Obtained Warrant for Emails.”

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Bad Things Legitimized Under Trump, On The Welfare & Warfare Fronts

Business, Donald Trump, Foreign Policy, Homeland Security, Intelligence, Republicans, Taxation, War, Welfare

Has anyone notice that:

1. Transfer programs, welfare, have gained populist legitimacy under President Trump?

[Expanded] is the child tax credit … allowing families who owe no federal income taxes to still claim up to $1,400 of the $2,000 child tax credit, up from $1,100 in the original version.

2. The taxpayers most stiffed are now individuals, more often than not from humble beginnings, whose talents and hard work have netted them a high income. A glance at the Bell Curve explains why this cohort has no political clout: they’re a statistical minority.

Also legitimized under Trump is permanent warfare. You can say, “our forces in Africa,” and nobody, left or right, will question our sacred military’s right to be in over 100 countries conducting maneuvers. America’s borders remain porous.

3. “All of the individual tax breaks will expire at the end of 2025.” In other words, tax cuts for businesses are forever, tax cuts for individuals merely temporary.