Miner Queries | Cherie Miner
I once asked a friend how she could stand to watch ABC’s reality TV show “The Bachelor.”
“Train wreck,” was her short answer. I just shook my head.
I’ve never been much of a rubber-necker; however, the stakes are too high to turn away from the wreck that is the Trump campaign. This slow-motion catastrophe has been dragging on for months and, predictably, it’s only going to get worse, as the last three weeks have shown.
First, the weekend before the Democratic Convention Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo reported on his investigation of Donald Trump’s financial ties to Russian oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin. Additionally, Marshall noted ties of key Trump campaign operatives, like Paul Mannafort, to Russian political figures. The final troublesome development was Trump’s contribution to the Republican party platform.
Marshall writes: “Trump’s team mobilized the nominee’s traditional mix of cajoling and strong-arming on one point: changing the party platform on assistance to Ukraine against Russian military operations in eastern Ukraine. For what it’s worth (and it’s not worth much) I am quite skeptical of most Republicans calling for aggressively arming Ukraine to resist Russian aggression. But the single-mindedness of this focus on this one issue – in the context of total indifference to everything else in the platform – speaks volumes.”
For people who were concerned about Bernie Sanders’ FDR-brand of Democratic Socialism, Trump’s ties to a Soviet Union-era Communist should raise a red flag.
Next came Trump’s denigration of a Gold Star family after the father, Khizr Khan, spoke about his son’s sacrifice in Iraq at the Democratic convention. Apparently Trump’s fine with attacking military families.
On Aug. 8, Trump introduced his economic policy. Kate Aronoff reported In These Times that Trump’s plan does little to break with tradition. “... the proposals he rattled off have been at the top of conservatives’ agenda for years and in some cases decades: Repealing the so-called death tax (estate tax) for people with more than $5.45 million to pass on, slashing taxes for the wealthy and rolling back regulations.”
And Jim Hightower notes in Salon Magazine, “His proposed tax cuts, for example, don’t benefit low-wage workers at all and provide only a pittance of gain for those with middle-class paychecks, but corporations are given a huuuuuuuge windfall with over a 50 percent cut in their rate. His tax giveaway will also take $240 billion a year out of our public treasury — money desperately needed for such basics as expanding educational opportunities and restoring our nation’s dilapidated infrastructure.”
Later that week, Trump declared President Obama founded ISIS – even as the Obama administration works with allies to find and destroy key ISIS leaders and cells.
Noted mid-east scholar Juan Cole responded to Trump’s declaration with some history via his Informed Comment blog: “It wasn’t the US withdrawal from Iraq in 2011 that allowed it [ISIS] ultimately to take over western and northern Iraq. It was its success in Syria, where it preyed on other radical Muslim factions.
“And it was the marginalization of the Iraqi Sunnis by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, whose Shiite majority came to power under Bush, that promoted Daesh.”
But far be it for The Donald to acknowledge reality.
So Trump followed that with a foreign policy address to outline his plans for national security. In an article by Molly O’Toole, Foreign Policy Magazine describes them as “a little Obama, a lot illegal and inaccurate,” noting particularly what Trump called “extreme, extreme vetting.”
O’Toole writes: “But that system — which would effectively ban any immigration from Europe, where the State Department has cautioned Americans about security concerns due to terrorist threats, as well as from the Middle East and likely Africa — would probably in and of itself be deemed unconstitutional and illegal for reasons similar to its initial form. The First Amendment enshrines the freedom of religion; the U.S. Constitution guarantees equal protection; international law establishes the rights of refugees; and the United States has numerous agreements signed with other countries that would be prohibitive.”
And with Trump’s latest round of campaign staff changes, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride to November.
Cherie Miner is a local parent, community volunteer, freelance writer and artist. In a former life, she was a corporate writer and public relations professional. Contact her at news@redoakexpress.com or on Facebook.