Al Gore Feels That Trump's Environmental Policies Are "Literally Insane"
I thought this would be a good place to start today.
Rarely do you hear established politicians, even former prominent politicians, simply blasting the sitting president with such rank language.
Yet, that is exactly what former Vice President Al Gore has done, in describing environmental policies that, he feels, run counter to what the entire rest of the world is doing, and what he also feels is a sound and responsible approach to the future.
Indeed, since Trump has taken over, he made pollution of our waterways much easier for major corporations to get away with, he has opened up land reserved for national parks for private interests and exploitation, and of course, he has pulled the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord, making the United States the only country in the world to reject it on the basis that we do not accept that climate change is a reality, or that it is created or exacerbated by human activity.
What a track record. Here is the link to the story:
Al Gore calls Trump’s deregulation proposals ‘literally insane’ published by PBS Newshour, Oct 12, 2018:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/al-gore-calls-trumps-deregulation-proposals-literally-insane?fbclid=IwAR2NME6AwP-6mKHrL8ywiiZHpHm65wX8yWfX9j-R_oaO-jPLYpCYVHKsy8E
Former President Barack Obama Blasts Trump's "Tin-Pot Dictatorship" Tendencies and Trump's Inability to Stick to the Truth
Usually, it was a rarity when a sitting president is seriously criticized by a former president. I remember Reagan criticizing Clinton early in Clinton's first term, and admittedly Jimmy Carter has been quite vocal in his criticisms of whoever is occupying the Oval Office, regardless of political party, although I also think that he does it as a patriotic American, more than as a former president just taking petty shots.
But somehow, Trump has managed to buck this trend with the job that he is doing. Indeed, every former president alive, with the possible exception of George H. W. Bush (Senior), has sounded off and been highly critical of the crass approach that Trump has been pursuing ever since he took over the White House.
Yesterday, former President Obama took some very direct shots at Trump's style, even though he never actually referred to Trump by name. But given how he spoke, it was obvious who Obama was referring to. Indeed, Obama blasted Trump (without naming him directly) and suggested that Trump had some serious issues in telling the truth, which is something that is hardly a secret. And Obama also suggested that what is happening now under Trump, and which the sitting president has played a very active, indeed leading, role in has been tantamount to making the United States begin to resemble some "tin-pot dictatorship" in Obama's own words.
Here are a couple of links to this story:
Barack Obama Bashes He Who Shall Not Be Named With 'Fact-Based Reality' Speech HuffPost Lee Moran ,HuffPost•October 23, 2018:
Obama on Trump: "This Is Not How America Works, That Is How Some Tin-Pot Dictatorship Works" Posted By Ian Schwartz On Date October 23, 2018:
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/10/23/obama_on_trump_this_is_not_how_america_works_that_is_how_some_tin-pot_dictatorship_works.html?fbclid=IwAR3JBNHJgSMEVuOMzZuw5CQvgs_oLuMnqqEtFhqY2iO811GawsAVQlv1aFU
Here is another link related to President Trump's tendency to lie and/or give misleading statements or present his "alternate facts" that rarely correlate to the actual truth:
Fact checkers identify increasing rates of false claims by the president published by PBS Newshour, Oct 23, 2018:
Are China and Russia Catching Onto Trump's Governing Style?
Trump claims that he is a masterful negotiator, that he can make sure that the United States gets a great deal in every possible way. Remember, this is the man who promised to get America to keep winning once he became president. He touted himself as the greatest creator of jobs of any American president in history - before he was even officially elected (although he lost the popular vote) - and who also promised that, under him, the United States would just keep winning and winning and winning, to the point that Americans would get tired of all of that winning.
Of course, if you listen to him, indeed, the United States is winning. But if you look at the stagnation of wages, the loss of benefits under Trump, the continuing growth of the economic disparity between rich and poor, the undeniable rise of hatred and fears and racism, the horrendous state of the environment, and just how loathed and distrusted the United States has become under Trump, you might get a very different impression.
Well, there are other ways in which Trump's supposedly winning ways are being compromised, as well. After all, you don't start a bunch of trade wars simultaneously - with both allies and supposed enemies - and expect to win every one of those battles, do you? And the economic impact is starting to be felt quite a bit.
Now, there is evidence that Russia and China paid close attention to the United States under President Trump, and are beginning to understand how to approach him.
Here is the link to the story:
When Trump Phones Friends, the Chinese and the Russians Listen and Learn by Matthew Rosenberg and Maggie Haberman Oct. 24, 2018:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/24/us/politics/trump-phone-security.html
Is Trump Family Business Influencing American Foreign Policy in Saudi Arabia?
Obviously, Saudi Arabia has been at the center of a storm of controversy in recent weeks. Unless you are living under a cave, that is hardly news to you.
But Donald Trump has been raising eyebrows with his handling - some might use the word mishandling - the situation there. He stated that there was a huge deal that, presumably, he orchestrated with Saudi Arabia to sell them hundreds of millions of dollars worth of weaponry. At first, Trump suggested that it was $110 billion, and then he stated it was about $450 billion. As it turns out, it was a fraction of that.
Which leads to several questions, of course. First of all, what is the actual amount that the weapons deal is for with Saudi Arabia? Secondly, what will Saudi Arabia use those weapons for? After all, there is a horrific, giant humanitarian catastrophe in a neighboring country there, and Saudi Arabia has been at the center of this.
After those questions have been answered, the next one would be this: if Trump exaggerated these claims of some huge weapons contract with the Saudis, then why did he feel the need to exaggerate? Why not simply punish the Saudis like he promised to do? Is there a possibility that some of the business dealings with the Saudis - which Trump has outright bragged about in the past - are influencing Trump's foreign policy in this regard? And if so, would this not be illegal, a conflict of interest, which the president promised would not be the case once he took over in the White House? Of course, he could have ended any and all such speculation simply by doing what he promised before taking the oath, and divorcing himself from all of his business interests, but obviously that is another story from a long time ago, and just one more thing that this latest, and perhaps most crafty of the Teflon American Presidents of recent decades has gotten away with.
But Representative Adam Schiff of California has suggested that, indeed, it seems that Trump's foreign policy is influenced by the private business interests of the Trump family.
Here is the link to this story:
Schiff suggests Trump has 'financial motives' that influence Saudi Arabia policy by Brett Samuels, October 22, 2018:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/schiff-suggests-trump-has-financial-motives-that-influence-saudi-arabia-policy/ar-BBOFWid?ocid=sf
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