A look at a Petulant Man-Child
The last couple of weeks have shown us story after story of the Trump administration’s defunding of important military and social projects to fund his wall on the border of the U.S. and Mexico. Here are two of the stories. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/09/07/projects-defunded-trumps-border-wall-include-military-buildings-with-life-safety-violations-hazmat-concerns/?fbclid=IwAR0x_HmhBRqbds9EO8yelF24mJqX_h_YPvB3N7VPApozxTRrlxEf1eLZOnQ
He’s been hot for the wall since 2015. He used that wall and the fear of brown-skinned, poor people to crank his base up to fever pitch. This is despite the fact that most American’s think the wall is not only stupid, but a poor use of resources. Environmentally, it’s a disaster. Sensitive ecological areas, already designated as national parks, have been bulldozed to put in the ugly steel barrier. Traditional animal migration paths are being blocked. Many of those animals are already endangered. This wall may actually be the final straw. Gone. Never to be seen again.
I know my Republican, Trump-loving friends say, “Boo hoo, you libtard. Snowflake. What’s a few animals compared to our safety?”
Sigh. One of my friends insists that he likes Trump because, “He gets sh** done!”
Ok. Is this really the sh** we want done? The problem with defunding these social, and especially the military projects, are that all of these projects were funded by Congress. Much thought went into the selection, especially of the military projects. Congress holds the purse strings by design as part of our constitutional separation of state powers. More on that in a moment.
Defunding the arts, libraries, Public Broadcasting and several other projects have been on Republican “want lists” for a long time. It seems obvious to me that what they want is an uneducated, unaware populace that they can pummel into submission and be kept as pure workers. Peasants that won’t bother the American Oligarchy too much with demands of clean air, water, and soil. Or for demands for pay commensurate with the work they do and that will cover the expenses of home ownership, medical, and educational activities.
Many of the projects, if you look at a list of the defunded projects are part of the plan to keep Russia in line after their take over of Ukraine. Some of those punishments were Russia’s removal from the G7 economic council and freezes put on Russian Oligarchs bank accounts. One other pillar is money to the Ukraine to help them fight the Russians who have invaded their country. Trump has held that money too.
As a big friend of Putin, President Trump is all for helping his buddy out. The problem is, militarily, those projects were to improve airfields, supply dumps, and other projects to make sure our military/NATO rapid response forces have the means and materiels to fight a war. These projects and the administration’s defunding of them, has a direct, disabling effect on our national military readiness.
The not-so-arbitrary defunding of these projects is a snub toward Congress and a “gimme” to Putin. I think Trump would like nothing more than to become another Putin. To be honest, he’s not smart enough, though I’m sure becoming an all-powerful mob boss has a certain appeal.
No. Trump’s grab for money is actually unconstitutional. In the last few weeks, there has been one or more of these unconstitutional power grabs per week. Sometimes per day. Legally he doesn’t have a leg to stand on. I’m fairly certain Congressional leaders will order the Office of Management and Budget to stop payment. In a twist, so may Republican lawmakers. Afterall, those military projects would be done in many of those senatorial and congressional districts, bringing much needed work to local contractors, developers and other businesses surrounding the bases where the work was to be done.
President Trump, already enraged at congressional examination of the activities listed in Mueller’s final report, is adding fuel to the fire. Congress are adding these unconstitutional power grabs to their list of things to investigate in light of possible impeachment.
No. This isn’t the sh** I want done. I think the destruction of the environment and the animals it supports would be a huge loss to the people of the United States. Who knows how those animals link into the health of the land we depend on? And while I’m not always a fan of how much money we as a country spend on the military, I’m not for disabling our ability to respond to Russian aggression, military or otherwise.
It’s time to stop investigating, Congress. Do something.
