By SJ Otto
As much as I wanted to ignore President Donald Trump and his state of the union speech, I eventually had to look over the transcript and I have had to comment on it.
To be fair, Ronald Reagan and both George Bushes held political views that are almost identical to Trump's. They were just as conservative and obnoxious. If there is one thing we can say for Trump, he follows his precedent Republicans with out cluttering up the political landscape with new ideas or original thoughts. Trump has none of that. Also with the new modern Republican ideology, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford seem like flaming liberals compared to those other presidents.
There is something obnoxious about Trump. Not only does he hold on to a lot of bad policies and ideas, he is a crude, undignified brute.
I looked at a few highlights of his speech.
On Health care:
"We eliminated an especially cruel tax that fell mostly on Americans making less than $50,000 a year -- forcing them to pay tremendous penalties simply because they could not afford government-ordered health plans. We repealed the core of disastrous Obamacare -- the individual mandate is now gone."
This man had a look of glee on his face when he gloated about killing the "disastrous
Obamacare (AKA Affordable Care Act)." The reality is that for the first time, many poor and working poor Americans had health care. The didn't have to worry about dying off early because they can't just go to the doctor when they are sick. Obamacare was inadequate, but it was better than nothing. So Trump is bragging that he cost many working Americans their health care. They had it for a while and now they will die early because they have inadequate health care. It is almost like listening to Jack the Ripperbrag about killing women.
Originally Trump and company said they would "repeal and replace." The replacement never came. Trump and his buddies lied.
On his tax cuts:
" Since we passed tax cuts, roughly 3 million workers have already gotten tax cut bonuses -- many of them thousands of dollars per worker. Apple has just announced it plans to invest a total of $350 billion in America
This is our new American moment. There has never been a better time to start living the American Dream."
He is proud of his new tax cuts. He and his supporters brag about these cuts when ever possible. But these cuts went mostly to the people at the top of the political ladder. It is wonderful for the 1 percent of Americans who own almost half the country's wealth. Those folks came off like bandits. But middle class workers got a temporary tax cut. Many people at the bottom of the economy actually lost deductions and their taxes will go up. This is typical of the Republicans over the last 40 years today as they seem to take and take and take benefits from poor people. As with many of their policies they seem to want to punish people for being poor.
On the "me too" movement:
Trump was strangely silent on the women who have come forward to complain of sexual harassment. That is not surprising since he was accused of sexual harassment while he was running for president. It is as if being president protects a man from being held accountable for his wrong doings.
On foreign affairs:
" When the people of Iran America stands with the people of Iran
I am asking the Congress to address the fundamental flaws in the terrible Iran
My Administration has also imposed tough sanctions on the communist and socialist dictatorships in Cuba and Venezuela
But no regime has oppressed its own citizens more totally or brutally than the cruel dictatorship in North Korea
We are waging a campaign of maximum pressure to prevent that from happening.
Past experience has taught us that complacency and concessions only invite aggression and provocation. I will not repeat the mistakes of past administrations that got us into this dangerous position.
We need only look at the depraved character of the North Korean regime to understand the nature of the nuclear threat it could pose to America
He accused Venezuela of being communist. That shows us how ignorant he is politically. That country has an elected socialist, not a communist. The system has not radically changed that much, it has simply gone to the left. Trump and the Republican Party equate any kind of leftist leaders, elected nor not, to be a communist dictatorship.
He has almost been obsessed with North Korea (AKA Democratic People's Republic of Korea
"Both The Telegraph and The Wall Street Journal have reported that President Donald Trump's administration is weighing a "bloody nose" strike designed to batter and humiliate North Korea as it illegally advances its weapons programs. The strategy calls for a limited strike on North Korea
What could be more dangerous than launching a military attack on a nation that can launch a nuclear attack on the US or an ally such as South Korea or Japan ? The world should be terrified. This is the same Donald Trump he authorized military aid to Saudi Arabia, one of the world least democratic governments- an absolute monarchy.
"So today, I am keeping another promise. I just signed an order directing Secretary Mattis to reexamine our military detention policy and to keep open the detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay
I am also asking the Congress to ensure that, in the fight against ISIS and al-Qa'ida, we continue to have all necessary power to detain terrorists -- wherever we chase them down.
Our warriors in Afghanistan
Another part of his foreign affairs agenda is his plan to throw out all vestiges of civilization and all rights to prisoners of war, especially at Guantánamo Bay , Cuba US imperialism. No more caring about the rightist of prisoners or the accused. Trump is a brute and this attitude proves it. There may be one problem for him. In the war against ISIS , Iraqi troops don't take prisoners. They execute them after they surrender. Where is Trump going to get any prisoners?
As I said before, I'd rather not hear from that obnoxious President Donald Trump. He is one of those far-far-far-far-far to the right presidents. He is clearly a punk for the wealthy elites who rule the US . He has served them well. He has destroyed life for the poorer Americans. The economy may be picking up, but I already have a job. I need health insurance. Trump is an enemy of the working people. And on top of that, he seems to relish it when his opponents get screwed over. Few people are as despicable as Donald Trump.
