Nice weather we’re having, isn’t it? What happened to TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) when we needed him? Let’s hope the president is better at dropping bombs than he is with tariffs and trade, because unfortunately America’s track record in the Middle East has been none too good.
When Trump was recently asked what his plan was for dealing with Iran he replied, “I mean, you don’t know that I’m going to even do it. You don’t know. I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.” [Least of all, him!] He added, “Nothing’s finished until it’s finished. You know, war is very complex. A lot of bad things can happen. A lot of turns are made.” Well, that certainly conveys a lot of confidence, doesn’t it?
The speed at which President Trump took action against Iran was indeed impressive. In contrast, during his first term he promised us he’d have a health plan ready in two weeks—repeatedly, week after week—and similarly his promise of 30 tariff/trade agreements in 30 days has yet to materialize. What ever happened to those 30 deals in 30 days, anyway? Except for a preliminary agreement with China and a partial deal with the UK, it seems that most of our trading partners were about as interested in taking him up on the offer as Russia and Ukraine were in reaching a peace settlement on his first day in office.
In the meantime, Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” gets more disastrous by the day, giving more to the rich and taking everything possible away from the (often MAGA) poor and middle class. Now the Republicans are even trying to lower the gift and inheritance tax exemption, lest they leave any benefit for the rich on the table. The Republicans are living back in the day of Ronald Reagan and the supply-siders, who honestly believed that cutting taxes would stimulate growth and ultimately reduce the national debt. History has proven that theory wrong, but no matter, Trump and his crime family will have made their billions, and won’t be around to suffer the consequences of their greedy actions. America will simply continue to mortgage its children’s future with no end in sight.
I Liked Trump Better (Although Not Much!) when He was TACO.
Then we have the mass deportations that constitute Trump’s immigration policy. Putting the cruelty aside, how does Trump expect the agriculture, hospitality, and construction industries to survive if he deports a good portion of their workers? As with his proposed tariffs, he doesn’t seem to acknowledge the potential impact on the economy and consumer prices. How does he expect to keep grocery prices down if the vegetables don’t get picked and the meat isn’t slaughtered and packed? And we already have a terrible housing shortage without increasing the cost of construction. (And who knows how a war with Iran might impact gasoline prices.) Until Congress tackles substantive immigration reform (like Trump made sure was killed in 2024), the result won’t be good for anyone involved, including many MAGA voters, who desperately need help, not more economic punishment.
Anything to Appease that Pro-Confederacy Wing of the MAGA base.
Given all the chaos of the past weeks, it almost went unnoticed that Trump ignored the celebration of Juneteenth this year, despite it now being a national holiday. Trump expressed support for the holiday during his first term, but given that he’s now attacking anything “DEI”, including restoring the names of several military bases in the South that were previously named in honor of Confederate generals, any acknowledgement of Juneteenth would stick out like a sore thumb in MAGA world.