Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Is "covfefe" President Trump's vision for America?

Strategy is an overall, general plan to get us from where we are to where we want to be.  Tactics are the specific zigs and zags and actions needed in order to get there.

Leaders have goals that (often) come to fruition after strategies and tactics are developed and executed.  Lincoln preserved the Union, FDR (and allies) defeated Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, Reagan saw the US prevail over the USSR, etc.  Can someone please tell me what President Trump's goals are?  Where does he see America's place in the world?  Does he have a strategy to get us there?

During his campaign he said he wanted to repeal/replace ObamaCare.  It appears doubtful that he can pull that off.  He promised a big tax cut.  To do that he needed to slash spending (which meant a new, cheaper healthcare plan), but his proposed budget cuts will likely hurt too many constituencies to get through Congress.  

He promised more jobs, saying those would come when his (now DOA) tax cuts spurred the economy.  All of his announced goals seem to be interdependent, and so far none of the pieces have fallen into place.  This while his party controls both houses of Congress.  That may not last much longer.

Internationally, President Trump seems to have some sort of fascination with Russia, while our closest traditional allies are circling their wagons in response to Russia's increased aggressiveness.  He seems to have something he wants to convey to the Russians, as evidenced by his Attorney General, his son-in-law, and his disgraced National Security Adviser all making clandestine contacts.  For some reason he doesn't want our own intelligence agencies to know what it is he wants to convey, yet wants to use encrypted Russian communications sources to convey it, which are completely compromised.  What gives?  What is his end game?

President Trump has publicly chastised many NATO members for not contributing more.  While that case can be made, there are discrete diplomatic channels that could have been used to make his argument.  Now, feeling humiliated, our NATO allies are taking one step back from us.  Germany's Angela Merkel has gone so far as to say Europe can't depend on us like they once could, and France's President Macron has said he won't obediently fall in line, either.  And now it looks like President Trump will pull the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement, joining Nicaragua and Syria as the only other environmental pariah.  How can we be leaders if we're increasingly self-isolating ourselves?


It seems like President Trump has metaphorically done little more than bounce little steel balls around inside a pinball machine, hoping something good will happen.  So far all he has to show for it is a big TILT!  How long can this go on?  Show us his vision and a strategy to "Make America Great Again".  If he has one, it's incoherent.

S


5 comments:

  1. I'm just unconvinced that he is in control of his own mind. I agree that it all seems incoherent - and very dangerous for Americans.

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  2. I'm still waiting for the promised secret plan to defeat ISIS that was even better than the generals.

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  3. It will go on as long as congress falls in line behind him, the voters remove them for someone who will oppose him, and the 25 or so million people who think he's doing fine get started on their meds.

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  4. Vision? You can't expect vision from the mind of an 8-year-old.

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