Day: November 13, 2024

His First 100 Days

This is my continuing series looking at the possibilities from the new Trump administration…..

We have heard what he will do on day one, and the list is massive, but what about those first 100 days that all president aim for when they enter into the sacred seat of power?

President-elect Donald Trump and his allies have already articulated ambitious plans for his first 100 days in office.

He has promised on Day 1 — within the first few hours in fact — to close the U.S. border with Mexico and launch the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.

Trump has promised to gut President Biden’s climate subsidies and resume energy exploration, including offering tax breaks to oil, gas and coal producers.

“We’re going to drill, baby, drill,” Trump said in late October at his rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City. “And I will terminate the ‘green new scam’ and will cut your energy prices in half, 50%, within one year from Jan. 20.”

Trump’s main goal is to unwind Biden’s policies and resume where he left off after his first term in office.

It’s not going to be easy.

While presidents have broad powers over immigration, for example, there are real operational, legal and political challenges to carrying out mass deportations.

Groups like the American Immigration Council estimate it would cost billions of dollars for Trump to implement his deportation plan. It could also have a dramatic impact on the economy if industries such as construction, hospitality and agriculture lose masses of workers.

There is also a resource challenge. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement already must pick and choose where to focus its limited resources.

Carrying out mass deportation would require a massive increase in manpower to arrest and deport millions of people a year.

….there is more….read on….

https://www.npr.org/2024/11/06/nx-s1-5181800/2024-election-trump-first-100-days-agenda

It will be interesting to see how he goes about his agenda….but first the House count should be over and that will determine some of the ways he will approach these problems.

This is all speculation for he has not become president yet only president-elect….for now.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Foreign Policy? WTF?

My main focus is on foreign policy so I look hard at choices for State and the War Department……so far neocons and war hawks are getting the nod…..then the War Department pick has everyone scratching their heads…..

This foreign policy direction is not looking pretty…..actually it is appearing to be grim.

News Monday that President-elect Trump was eyeing three hawks for top slots in his administration has put a bit of a damper on the headiness that restrainers on the right were feeling over weekend news that Nikki Haley or Mike Pompeo would not be joining the administration.

By 8 p.m. Monday, there was confirmation that Elise Stefanik, arch-defender of Israel who once worked for the neocon outfit Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, and Bill Kristol’s Foreign Policy Initiative, is Trump’s pick for UN ambassador.

China hawk Rep. Mike Waltz, who spent much of his time on Capitol Hill this year saber rattling about Chinese military and spies in our backyard, and calling for a “new Monroe Doctrine” and a lot more military build-up to confront them, is Trump’s pick for National Security Advisor. He worked in the George W. Bush Pentagon and for Vice President Dick Cheney as a counterterrorism advisor.

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/rubio-trump/

Rubio is an amateur…..that means that he will be just an extension of the BS we have been putting up with for decades.

Now what about the War Department?

President-elect Trump named more members of his administration Tuesday, including Fox host Pete Hegseth, his nominee for secretary of defense. “Pete has spent his entire life as a Warrior for the Troops, and for the Country,” Trump said in a statement, per CNN. Hegseth, 44, is an Army veteran who has served in Afghanistan and Iraq, though the Guardian notes that his lack of senior military or national defense experience is “sure to draw questions about his qualifications to lead the department.” Trump advisers tell CNN that Hegseth, a co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend, has been an informal adviser to Trump for years.

Who?

That seems to be the reaction around the country.

 

  • The biggest reaction so far seems to be regarding Trump’s pick for defense secretary: Fox News host Pete Hegseth. Though he is an Army veteran, he has no senior military or national defense experience, and Politico reports there was skepticism in the defense world. One defense industry lobbyist put it like so: “Who the f— is this guy?” More at Politico. The AP also uses the word “stunned” to describe the reaction; its story, which also includes the words “bewilderment and wide-eyed worry,” is here.
  • In a more general look at Trump’s picks, Politico argues that the biggest takeaway of all is: “Dissenters need not apply.” Trump is obviously going with loyalists and shutting out those who’ve criticized him, and for some of his more controversial choices, he’s slotting them into positions (like Tom Homan as “border czar”) that don’t require Senate confirmation. Full story here. CNN seems to agree, in a story calling Trump’s selections so far his “most MAGA picks” and referring to them as “ultra-loyalists.”
  • Speaking of people who’ve criticized Trump in the past, former Vice President Mike Pence had nothing but nice things to say about Trump’s choices so far while at a Washington, DC, event Tuesday, Newsweek reports. He called them “conservative men and women who I believe will serve the country well, serve the president-elect well,” and added, “Conservatives need to understand that we’re part of a broader coalition. Now, we need to do our jobs. I am very encouraged by the early appointments by the president-elect.”
  • Some conservatives, however, were expressing concerns, Newsweek reports; more on that here.
  • The Washington Post points out one potential concern for Republicans: As Trump picks congressional Republicans to fill some roles, the GOP majority in one or possibly both chambers will be lessened until any vacant seats are filled.

Another amateur to lead the largest budget eating department in the country.

Just a quick look around to other useless meat socks Trump has nominated…..

Mike Huckabee. Trump said he will nominate the former Arkansas governor to serve as ambassador to Israel, the Hill reports. “He loves Israel, and the people of Israel, and likewise, the people of Israel love him,” Trump said. “Mike will work tirelessly to bring about Peace in the Middle East!” Huckabee has long expressed support for Israeli settlers in the West Bank and rejected the idea of a Palestinian state, the AP notes. “I feel that we have a responsibility to respect that this is land that has historically belonged to the Jews,” he said in 2015.

  • John Ratcliffe. John Ratcliffe, who served as director of national intelligence in Trump’s first administration, is Trump’s nominee for CIA director. The New York Times notes that confirmation will likely make the former congressman from Texas “the most influential voice on intelligence matters in the next administration.”
  • Kristi Noem. Trump confirmed Tuesday that the South Dakota governor is his pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security. “She will work closely with ‘Border Czar’ Tom Homan to secure the Border, and will guarantee that our American Homeland is secure from our adversaries,” Trump said. CNN notes that while Noem “does not represent a border state, she has a long history of taking hardline positions on immigration.”
  • Bill McGinley. Republican campaign lawyer Bill McGinley will be the White House counsel in Trump’s administration, a position that does not require Senate confirmation and will put him among Trump’s closest advisers, Politico reports. McGinley was White House cabinet secretary in the first Trump administration.
  • Steven Witkoff. Trump named real estate investor Steven Witkoff as his special envoy to the Middle East, saying he “will be an unrelenting Voice for PEACE, and make us all proud.” Witkoff “has been Trump’s regular golf partner and was seen as a conduit to the Jewish business community during his winning presidential campaign,” the Times of Israel reports.

Not one of these picks instill any confidence that any crisis in foreign policy will these slugs be able to handle.

But that is just me.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”