Over the last 235 years, our government has become increasingly sophisticated, even as our society has. Over, time, the bureaucracy in Washington has grown exponentially, not just because we want people to have something to do or because a large bureaucracy is intrinsically a good thing, but because it was necessary. In Washington’s day (even a century later) we never had an Air Force, because man could not fly. Now we can and we do. During the first term of Donald J. Trump, he, himself, added another bureaucratic agency (the Space Force), because we have men and women in space and there are space-based threats to America. We have the FAA, the NOAA, the FTC, the BIA, the HHS department, the CIA and the FBI–it’s a real alphabet soup! But there are reasons for these agencies, and as long dangerous drugs are smuggled into our country, we need the DEA just as we need ICE to police our borders. And speaking of needs, Donald J. Trump needs help!
Many of these agencies, incidentally, were created to deal with disasters or emerging threats. Sinclair Lewis wrote about the need for a safe food supply in America in his book The Jungle, hence the creation of the FDA. Rachel Carlson in Silent Spring pointed out that we were unwittingly poisoning birds (and people) with pesticides and we formed the EPA to protect Americans from irresponsible corporate behavior. It took the Great Depression to understand that we needed regulation in the private sector in the areas of banking, finance, and commodity trading, so we regulated Wall Street by creating the SEC and we protect a limited amount of savings through the FDIC. And now, we have bitcoins which will someday need a taxpayer bailout and the public will demand regulation there as well.
Over time, these agencies have learned to work together in harmony, like a Swiss watch. Sure, there are occasionally problems that crop up. The point is. Would you give your Swiss watch to a child or someone who knows nothing about watches and tell them to remove twenty percent of the gears and wheels? Because you want your watch “downsized?”
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
As I reflect on the news each day, I feel like I’m sitting in a dark room watching an old, silent Charlie Chaplin movie. He patters and waddles around, bumping into things, scratching his head,clearly out of his element. Finally, the projector reaches the end of the reel but there is no one to turn off the projector, so the reel keeps flapping the closing credits over and over.
Consider what is happening in Washington at this moment as half the country and much of the world with the diminishing circle of friends and allies we still have watch in horror, fear and disgust.
Today, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced that effective Monday, Ontario is charging 25% more for electricity to 1.5 million Americans. Ford promised “I will do whatever it takes to maximum (sic) the pain against Americans.” Yet, he was clear about why this was happening:
“Believe me when I say I do not want to do this. I feel terrible for the American people who didn’t start this trade war. It’s one person who is responsible, it’s President Trump.”
The topic of tariffs is something that people in the Administration, or at least President Trump and our Secretary of Commerce do not seem to fully understand.
A Wall Street Journal article from two days ago explained how Howard Lutnick, the new Secretary of Commerce and architect of Trump’s tariffs seemed confused while in a recent conversation
“Some leaders in the auto industry have privately expressed concern that Lutnick might not completely understand the tariff authorities he is using or the supply chains for critical industries such as automobiles. On a call with automakers before the Canada and Mexico tariffs were imposed, several people said Lutnick didn’t seem to grasp the intricacies of the continental supply chain for cars, where parts move across borders several times before being assembled into a vehicle—hence, exposing them to multiple rounds of tariffs.”
This is precisely why we need “smart” people as the President describes them, not people in government recruited from professional wrestling, or who write children’s books placed in charge of law enforcement or those with a history of being sobriety-challenged given access to our nuclear arsenal. There are inter-related intricacies, potentials for unintended consequences and so these must be explored and planned for, in spite of the time and effort the Heritage Foundation put into Project 2025. But President Trump would hear none of this apparently. No surprise there. He has been roundly referred to as a narcissist. Narcissists are frequently individuals who:
[are known for] “unreasonable persistence, single-minded determination, [and who] won’t listen to advice, can’t see things from others perspective, [are] quietly boisterous, doesn’t listen to no, uses extremes or exaggerations in arguments, gives excessive details or explanations, keeps mementos of successes, and tramples those in their way.”
Does this describe our 47th President?
In one of Britain’s leading conservative newspapers, the was a story today with the headline “F-35 ‘kill switch’ could allow Trump to disable European air force.” This story speculates on whether American exports have some sort of programming subroutine which, if activated, would render the advanced tactical fighters we sell to other nations inoperable. After all, John Deere did this to numerous tractors that Russia stole from Ukraine in the early days of the war. As far as the F-35 goes, no one was concerned about this “kill switch” potential before now because America was so close to her allies. Not anymore. In some cases, we are perceived as an emerging threat to Europe and beyond. It’s not just that we want America First. We are will to reach that goal at the expense of other nations.
So, is this story true? Would the U.S. and can the U.S. permanently shut down an eighty million dollar plane? As far as this administration goes, it does seem implausible that Trump would if he could. And it doesn’t even matter if we can or cannot render weapons useless. Who thinks that the other thirty NATO countries will stand in line with cash in their fists to purchase American military hardware anymore? Is there going to be a future windfall for Boeing or General Dynamics that Trump can take credit for, or will Europe spend their money in Europe?
And speaking of military capabilities, Australians are getting nervous over the prospects that the U.S. might renege on a deal to provide the Royal Navy with nuclear submarines. Originally, Australia was going to purchase French built submarines to counter the threat from China. But the UK and the US formed a consensus with Australia to purchase U.S. submarines, at a handsome profit. Recently, however
“Elbridge Colby, Trump’s nominee for undersecretary of defense for policy – the number three post at the US Department of Defense . . .admitted he is “skeptical” about Aukus and said this week he is worried selling submarines to Australia could leave US sailors “vulnerable” because the vessels won’t be “in the right place in the right time.”
Citing increasing tensions with China (for which the U.S. shares part of the blame), the suggestion is that we might leave Australia’s Royal Navy “high and dry” in their time of need. Scratch Australia from our list of friends along with Denmark, Poland, Canada, (and, of course, Ukraine a country we have betrayed in their darkest hour.)
The President has been fairly elected, but winning thirty states with less than 50% of the popular vote is hardly a mandate. Nixon had a mandate against McGovern in 1972. Bush the elder had one against Dukakis in 1988. But there was not mandate last year–just more evidence of a deeply divided nation. And, President Trump does have the power to restructure government and downsize it with or without the advice and consent of Congress as the case may be. More prudent Presidents might form a study group to plan it in advance. They would see that as due diligence. They would pick people who understand how government works, not television or radio entertainers or talk show hosts.
I was fairly disappointed during the eight years that Barak Obama was president when people would say “He’s not my President” as if they could wash their hands of him. Of course he was their President, even as President Trump is my president. To people like the late Rush Limbaugh who wished that Obama would fail, I say we do not want Trump to fail, because if a President fails, there is war, an economic depression and so on. That is not to say that I want every policy proposal or executive order that President Trump signs to be upheld by the courts. But we must allow the courts to play their independent role and hopefully Congress with play theirs.
It’s important that the American people stand up for democracy and do not let the Republic our forefathers fought for be turned into a dumpster fire or forever lost. We as Americans do this peacefully. We let our voices be heard. And if the clamour is loud enough, perhaps even the deaf ears of our Senators and Representatives will be roused from their stupor, hear it and act.
May God have mercy on America. We may only have a little time left before . . .
