Arthur E. Sowers is a resident of Harbeson.
In this country, over the last few weeks, a lot of things have changed, and they have changed quickly. Donald Trump has returned to the White House. He has already torn down the top layers of the old “deep state” and replaced it with the new “Trump deep state.” He installed his “yes-men” in important places, so all orders will be carried out immediately but not necessarily according to law or merit. News that came out Feb. 1-2 about Trump’s nongovernment organization, called the Department of Government Efficiency, shows that Trump is now directly controlling the Treasury Department’s entire payment system for this country. He and the members of DOGE can now spy on, shut down or alter, directly or indirectly, any stream of government spending and do this beyond the reach of our legal system, up to and including the Supreme Court, and without the direction or permission of Congress. After all, this nongovernment team could carry out a lot of “mischief,” and if anything went sideways, such as a lawsuit against one or more of the Government Efficiency team, Trump would pardon them or write an executive order to “fix” the problem. And Trump already has absolute immunity from SCOTUS. So, he just effectively stole the whole U.S. government! After all, he has already neutralized any threat he could ever fear from the FBI and the Department of Justice. And the Supreme Court is loaded in his favor.
Trump says Canada, Mexico and China are getting tariffs because they are not stopping illegal drug movement and illegal migration into the USA. Realistically, Canada and Mexico could never stop these two things. If you think these tariffs are OK, then you have not read the article: “Impact of a Global Trade War on the Economy.” The Wall Street Journal calls this “the dumbest trade war in history.” Trump has also threatened Europe with increased tariffs, and Europe says it will respond. And now, both Canada and Mexico are retaliating with their own tariffs on U.S. exports to them.
I wonder if Trump’s real reason for the tariffs could be to compensate for the U.S. coming off of his Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which went into effect Jan. 1, 2018, and will end Dec. 31. Together with massive and arbitrary budget cuts that could vastly shrink our government (and another several percent of our gross domestic product) and lead to higher unemployment, he could claim success, despite the reality of massive and long-term economic damage.
I would expect, also, that we will get further reductions in civil rights, more constraints on our media and adjustments in voting districts to assure future Republican (Trumpublican?) wins. This will involve various controls on vote counts, districts and eligibility to vote (goodbye, democracy; hello, fake democracy).
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
