2017 Mar 16^th

President Donald Trump went to Tennessee to get some pats on the head for a job well done in spite of the obvious fact that his job so far has been far from well done. His approval rating has fallen five points since the poll was last conducted. Just today, the Senate Intelligence Committee’s head, Senator Richard Burr, and his Democratic counterpart, Senator Mark Warner, have agreed that there is no evidence that Trump Tower was “wiretapped,” or even wiretapped. Is it possible that Trump’s uncontrolled mouth could finally bring some bi-partisan unity on something? At this point, the Spicer afternoon press conference is considerably delayed, perhaps so the administration can “figure out what the hell is going on.”

His welcome in Tennessee was as enthusiastic as he expected it would be. He carried Tennessee by a huuuge majority in the election. He claims a great affinity for President Andrew Jackson who was, as Trump claimed, a man of the people. There are differences: Jackson was considered a man of the people because he was the first president not part of the southern slaveholding nobility or the northern aristocracy. Jackson did not inherit a fortune; Trump did. Jackson was a successful general; Trump was a draft dodger. Jackson had been a governor and a former senator; Trump never held any elective office; he was apparently uninterested in serving the people unless he could start at the top. Now that he’s at the top, guess who he’s serving.

We have Trump’s proposed new budget. There are big winners and big losers. The winners are the military with a bump of almost ten percent, followed by homeland security. The spending plan shrinks numerous other federal programs. The package would lead to mass layoffs at the Environmental Protection Agency, eliminating more than 50 programs there as part of a steep 31 percent cut. The Department of Labor is slashed by 21 percent and the overall budget of the Department of Health and Human Services is cut by nearly 18 percent. The reductions to the National Institutes of Health are even deeper.

Trump is a self-described negotiator so this might be just a trial balloon. If it is there will be some pushback. I would expect some static from at least some of his new cabinet appointees who are seeing their fiefdoms reduced as they stand by and watch. A big loser here is the Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, who gave up a major slot as chief of Exxon-Mobil for a now shrinking position as Trump’s secretary of state.

In some cases the department head wanted to scuttle the department they were invited to head even before their appointment. The gutting of the EPA’s programs are surely just fine with Secretary Scott Pruitt. The budget to protect the Great Lakes from invasive species such as sea lamprey and Asian Carp has been cut 97 percent. Trout and salmon fishers in the Great Lakes tributaries will just have to adjust to catching Asian Carp. Perhaps if they’re canned the bones will dissolve and they’ll be quite tasty. The Chinese are said to enjoy eating them.

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