Tag Archives: Trump

Is Trump Right About Anything?

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Are you reeling from the blizzard of Executive Orders coming from the Oval Office since January 20? If so, you are not alone. If you are a fan of Donald Trump, you might wake up every day wondering what new gift is coming your way. If you are not a fan of Donald Trump, you might have trouble going to sleep each night as you worry about what new catastrophe is coming your way. 

According to a CNN tracker, as of 10:40 am EST on February 10, 2025, Trump has issued 89 Executive Orders. Clearly, he intends to make it into the Guinness list of world records – and to make it difficult for his opponents to react to all of them. If you look at the list, there are some that seem benign from the titles. Example: Career and Technical Education Month. OK, what harm could that do? 

From my perspective, the most ironic title of an EO is “Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government,” given that Trump is absolutely weaponizing the federal government, working to clear it of employees who are not on his side. If that’s not weaponization, what is? Yes, he gets to nominate cabinet picks who are to his liking, but career employees in all of the various agencies have expertise that might be valuable. They should not come and go with each administration because we need experience and expertise gained from that experience.

So, OK, some good, some bad executive orders. Among the more controversial ones are those relating to sex. The order titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” (January 20, 2025) states, “It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female.” Trans rights activists (TRAs) are wildly opposed to this. As for me, I wonder how we got the point that we need an executive order on this subject. Yes, of course, there are two sexes, male and female. People who quibble about this make a very big deal about people with DSDs (Differences of Sexual Development, or intersex conditions). But the fact is that lots of things can go wrong as an embryo develops, which is why people anxiously wait to find out if a baby is “healthy” once it’s born. 

Some anomalies are clear before birth, some at birth, and some become clear only months or years after birth. Differences of sexual development do, on occasion, make it difficult to tell if a newborn is male or female. Some have hormone anomalies that lead to confusing characteristics as a child matures. Some DSDs only become apparent when a child enters puberty, and some are not realized until a person tries to become a parent. But the fact is that these are anomalies; there are still only two sexes. There is no third or fourth sex. In fact, in all  creatures that are dimorphic (two different body types), there are only two sexes. People who have DSDs are not transgender. I’ve learned of some who consider themselves non-binary because they are, in some way, not fully female or fully male. If ever there was a situation when the term non-binary fits, it is with these individuals. But usually, they identify with one sex or the other and only disclose their status to family or close friends – because we “normies” have historically been rather cruel to anyone who’s different. Perhaps it’s time to get over that bad habit. 

Back to the EO: Sections 2 (f) and 2(g) wade into the morass of gender ideology and gender identity. Remember when Ketanji Jackson Brown was asked during a congressional hearing, “What is a woman?” and she said she couldn’t answer because she was not a biologist? Yes, well, I suspect that moment is what brought about this EO. Trump is enabling all of us with lived experience as humans to answer that question without having to get a degree in biology. “Adult human female” or “adult human male” should suffice to answer what is a woman or what is a man. 

Trump addresses the problem created by laws allowing self-identification, i.e. a provision that any person can simply declare that they are now the opposite sex of what they have been since birth. Henceforth, you and I and the state and all institutions must accept this as fact. Honestly, this is one of my frustrations with the Democrats: why couldn’t they grasp the threat that this policy poses to women? Men have taken advantage of women in many ways over many, many years. Why wouldn’t they see this law as an easy way to worm their way into women’s spaces? Yes, I know, “Not All Men!” But, seriously, “Yes Some Men!” 

Do you want to know how many male persons have transitioned to female after being incarcerated? Ha ha. You can’t find out because there are no records of numbers of prisoners identifying as the opposite sex. There are simply men and women. Once a person claims to be the opposite sex, that’s how they are counted. Are there two of them in federal prisons? Are there a thousand of them? Your guess is as good as mine. It’s not polite to identify a person as a trans man or trans woman. But I bet there are not even two who transition to male to get into a male prison.

Another Executive Order addresses radical ideologies in K-12 schools. I am not a fan of Donald Trump, but I support the elements of this EO. To varying degrees, schools have really gone off the deep end in content about race and gender that is presented to kids. I believe kids should learn the good and the bad of American history as is appropriate for their age. And the oppressor/oppressed meme needs to stay out of the classroom. Kids do not need to be putting themselves and their classmates into those categories. Just my humble opinion. Furthermore, schools should support all kids who are struggling, but there’s no need to tell little kids that they might have been born in the wrong body. I surely didn’t like my body as I hit my teen years, but I wasn’t alone. Tough it out, kids. 

Yet another EO, titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation.” Yikes. Yes, although I would not have phrased it this way, I generally support this order, too. But, as with all the various state laws that either promote or prohibit what is euphemistically termed “gender affirming care” for people under 18 (or 19, in the case of the EO), I really, truly wish the medical community had assumed responsibility for sorting out what’s appropriate for kids and what isn’t. Too many kids have followed the “gender affirming” path with too little counseling to sort out other issues that might be affecting them. 

In this EO, Trump claims that “countless children soon regret that they have been mutilated…” Sadly, we don’t really know how many people of any age regret transitioning. We have so little data because an unhappy patient may simply not return to their doctor to discuss their concerns. Clinics generally do not follow their patients to know how they are adjusting over time. Twenty years ago, there might have been very few desisters (those who don’t follow through with transition) or detransitioners (those who have transitioned, then changed their minds). But today, as transitioning has become much more common, and as detransitioners have been willing to share their stories publicly, we know that some number of people who pursue transition do regret the choice. Rather than assume that this number is near zero, we would do well to do more follow-up and get some real numbers and a better understanding of who’s happy and who isn’t. 

The issues addressed in this bunch of Executive Orders generally fall under the umbrella of “wokeness.” I’m just sad that Democrats could not manage to tame the beast of wokeness before the 2024 election. I actually believe that there may have been enough voters put off by these issues to change the election results. Dems don’t want to believe it, but the price of eggs and immigration were not the only concerns of voters last fall. I personally know many people who have been committed Democrats but now feel politically homeless, as I do, in large part because of the woke agenda. 

All of these orders will be challenged in court, so we shall see what is left standing in the end. I’m sorry for trans people who feel brutally attacked, but I can tell you for certain that trans activists pushed their agenda too hard, e.g. by insisting that we all buy into the assertion that “trans women are women” when, in fact they are simply trans women. I willingly refer to trans women who make an effort to appear female as “she.” But I, along with many trans women, don’t buy that they have actually changed their sex.

It shouldn’t have come to this, but here we are my friends.

Should I Be Freaking Out?

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Our dear president is giving us an amazing buffet of issues to freak out about, and I’m just chilling out on the sofa, turning on Netflix before dinner, even cleaning house just a bit. In fact, I’m more nervous about the possibility of a serious discussion with friends than about what Trump will do next. How can this be?

Am I so chill because the world didn’t come to an end during Trump’s first term? Not really. I do think that Trump – and especially his “friends” – were not really prepared to exploit the power that was suddenly at their fingertips. This time, they’re rarin’ to go. That said, some initiatives will be stopped by the courts, some will simply take a bit of time to have an impact, and if our guardrails don’t hold, the rest of the world will gear up to resist at least the tariffs. Will Denmark send its mighty navy to protect its hold on Greenland? Will China take over Panama to prevent the US from doing so? Interesting possibilities!

I guess I’m chill because I’m just immensely curious to see what unfolds! My 80 year lifespan has occurred during a time when the “rules based order” has prevailed, not everywhere, but over the oceans at least, and I’ve recently come to appreciate the importance of peace on the open oceans. Yes, land wars have been a constant during my life, not at home, but often involving US troops. Yet, the shooting has occurred in places that have not disrupted my life beyond the price of gasoline. Shopping, still good. Food, still good. Income, still good. Travel, still good. Access to information, still good. Yes, the price of eggs, not so good, but that’s more because of avian flu than armed conflict.

So. No, I don’t like Trump’s approach to immigration, but I do want some control of our borders. I don’t like his attitude toward the Department of Justice, but will the Supreme Court truly permit him to do anything he wants to do? I don’t like his approach to dismantling DEI, but I also don’t like DEI. I don’t like his heavy handed approach to trans issues, but I think there are just two sexes. I’d prefer to have a competent Secretary of Defense, but a little shakeup at the Pentagon might be needed.

I actually think Trump might not give in to Putin as we all expected him to do – because I’m guessing he now sees Putin as weak and ineffectual. If Trump thinks he has the upper hand with Putin that could work to the advantage of Ukraine. We’ll have to wait and see.

Elon Musk worries me, and I don’t want to give him the keys to anything. But mostly I’m curious to see how long he and Trump will put up with each other. And if one of them has to go, it won’t be Trump. So, yes Elon could do a lot of damage, but will he last long enough to do so?

Part of my patience with Trump this time around comes from my disillusionment with the Democrats over the last four years. Pick an issue, any issue, and I probably disagree with how the Ds handled it. I actually liked Kamala Harris, and had she been elected I think I might have liked her refreshing presence as opposed to Old, Creaky, Impaired Biden and Orange Man Bad. But no female president is likely in my lifetime. Oh, well.

So, folks, I’m chill for now. Curiosity dominates my brain. How are you holding up?

Stress Testing Our Democracy

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With the election of Donald Trump once again in 2024, we have opted to run a stress test on American democracy. Some thought we did this in 2020 with Trump’s first election. But guardrails in human form prevented Trump from doing all of what he wanted to do. Some think that the success of those guardrails are what brought us to Trump 2.0. His supporters were able to claim that his bark is bigger than his bite, so not to worry.

Human guardrails will be largely absent from his cabinet and other positions in the executive branch this time around. Now it will be up to people in Congress to protect us from the impulsive Trump who doesn’t listen to his Presidential Daily Briefings or bother to learn about the complexities of various issues. The first opportunity for the Senate to act will be regarding Trump’s cabinet nominees. Will Senators roll over and approve people who are unfit for their positions? Or will they hold hearings, require background checks, and actually reject some who might pose a danger to the country?

Biden has faded from public view, and Trump seems to be our acting President – or acting co-President along with Elon Musk. Score one for Elon this week as Trump has come out in favor of the H1B visa program that enables tech companies to import clever people from abroad to power their various creative endeavors. The question today is what will the MAGA wing do now? Will those who are opposed to almost all immigration, most especially of brown people, begin to lose their faith in Trump? Will anything at all cause them to rethink their support?

Some people fear, while others cheer, the notion of Trump as a wrecking ball. I’ve heard the call for more efficiency on the part of federal agencies for as long as I’ve been a voter. No one really delivers. Do we need a DOGE initiative to simply eliminate a variety of agencies, perhaps whole cabinet departments such as the Department of Education? That’s not my inclination. Long ago, I decided that government agencies are not going to be efficient, but that their functions are needed, and I would just tolerate inefficiency. 

After coming to that conclusion, I was pleased when some state and county agencies seemed to do some housekeeping. For sure, employees got some sort of customer service training. Also, some employees gained the ability to help with two things at one visit! E.g., “Would you like to change your voter registration information along with the address on your driver’s license? We can do both!” Well, yes I would, and thank you very much! Are similar improvements possible on the federal level?

Perhaps. Ten years ago, when we wanted to remove a culvert on a small stream on our property, several agencies at different levels of government needed to approve this project even though removing culverts is generally a good thing. But, the various agencies had at least cooperated by creating just one set of forms that could be submitted to all, plus they had designated one person to make the final approval! Still tedious, but much less tedious than in prior years. 

I favor incrementalist approaches to change, at least as it relates to governments. Revolutions just don’t always turn out well. Consider Russia. Or Iran. Or Cuba. Sure, get rid of Assad in Syria. But if the violence of a revolution can be avoided, I think that would be a good thing. Those who support Trump acting as a wrecking ball might have fantasies of a peaceful transition to a much smaller government. My vision is one of chaos with the loss of environmental protections and the minimal safety net that exists today. 

Will the Senate and the House of Representatives develop a spine and reclaim their authority to hold hearings on Cabinet nominees. Will they actually perform any oversight of any agencies? Will courts become too political or will they mind the Constitution?

For now, I remain curious – and anxious. We shall see.

P.S.: The news of Jimmy Carter’s death has just come out as I’m finishing this piece. I’m confident that if Kamala Harris had won the election, he would have lived long enough to see her inauguration. 

December, 2024, Odds and Ends

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The year is coming to an end. What are we to make of it all? 

Syria

Bahar al-Assad is in Moscow. Good that he’s gone, but will something good come to pass in Syria in his absence? Check back a year from now.

Two Presidents

It has been customary in years past for the US to have only one president at at time, but this year we have two. The inauguration is not until January 20, but Trump is already wheeling and dealing with other world leaders. Hey, it’s Trump, so no one objects. Meanwhile, there is some hope that senators will grow a little spine as they contemplate his various cabinet appointees. Some are at least familiar with the basics of our government – stuff like three branches and no king. Others, not so much. I can’t wait to see if nominees will get background checks and if the Senate holds actual confirmation hearings. 

Health Care Anger

Periodically, I get angry at our health care system. That said, I don’t support assassinations of health care executives. Still, when I see YouTube videos with doctors saying things like, “a traumatic brain injury can last a lifetime,” I think, where were these docs when we needed them? Several years ago, when a certain friend was struggling with things as he did in the first few years after his TBI, I called two regional medical centers to see if I could get an appointment for him. Their first question was, “How long since his injury?” Decades, I responded. “Oh, well we don’t admit anyone to our program more than two years after an injury.” TWO YEARS??? WFT! Yeah, I get angry.

Hibernation, Anyone?

Why can’t we just hibernate during the winter? Wake up for holidays, then go back to sleep. Especially in the gloomy northwest. Even the winter sun is a problem because it aims right at my eyes when I’m driving. Yup. Hibernation!

 Seahawks

What is one to do with a floundering football team? The Seahawks are above .500 for now, but not by much. And even the games they win are hard to watch. Fumbles, interceptions, yellow flags, honestly it’s a miracle they win any. What to do, what to do???

SCOTUS

What is one to do with the Supreme Court? Yes, our Supreme Court, i.e. SCOTUS? This past week, they listened to arguments regarding a Tennessee law prohibiting medical transitions for minors. (You can find the transcript online.) Sadly, the only justices who seemed grounded in reality were the conservative ones. The liberals (remember Justice Jackson who couldn’t really say what a woman is because she’s not a biologist?) were off in la-la land with the trans-rights activists. Sigh. I just hate it when I have to rely on conservatives to stay tethered to earth. 

Swedish Death Cleaning

We have too much stuff and are too mired in winter lethargy to deal with it. A friend recently recommended a book about Swedish death cleaning. I started it, but wandered down a path of self-recrimination for not tending to such. Actually, it’s not just winter lethargy. We have opted not to deal with the stuff during all seasons for the past several years. A certain friend thinks we should sell it online. I can’t imagine gearing up for such an activity, so yesterday I actually emailed an estate sale agent nearby. Sadly, I waited until after 2:00, their office closing time on Saturdays, so I have to wait until Tuesday for a reply. Some of our stuff is worth some amount of money, but not so much that we are counting on it for our waning years. Check back with us in a year. 

Power Outages

We survived our first power outage in our new home. We were warned about big wind storms when we moved here, so we brought the porch chairs and the garbage bins inside. Then we watched TV until it blinked out about 7:00 p.m. First night, not too bad. Next day, (short winter day, remember), chilly but survivable. Second night: chillier than the first. Second day: we headed to Seattle. We had reservations at a hotel for our anniversary weekend, and decided to go a day early. Smart! Power came back 72 hours after it blinked out. Many others suffered much longer than we did.

Spare Heat

Some of our neighbors are planning to buy generators, but I think we will skip that solution. Been there, done that. We got a generator after a few outages at our Skagit house. But the problem with a generator is that it needs fuel. Usually gasoline. Which means you need to have it on hand just in case the power goes out because when the power goes out, the gas stations shut down. How much fuel? Depends on how big your generator is and how long you run it. We just ran ours for a couple of hours in the morning and evening to keep the fridge cool and run the furnace for a bit. But we had a propane stove, propane fireplaces, and propane lanterns. The house wasn’t toasty, but it was tolerable. What I really want here is a gas fireplace. I might even get out of bed to go shopping for that!

The End

I could go on, but I think I’ll do more odds and ends in the new year. Be well, folks.

Hope and Fears as I Cast My Ballot

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I’ll be voting a split ticket today, some Rs, some Ds. Historically, I’ve voted straight tickets, but this year I just can’t. I’ll be voting for Harris/Walz on the national scene, but for Dave Reichert for governor of WA and probably for the Republican for attorney general. Reichert is the most normal, reasonable Republican to make it to the general election ballot in years, and I am anxious for a change in Olympia. 

My concerns at the state level are with a too-soft approach to crime and a too-woke approach to education. Not to worry, lefty friends, there is no chance that Reichert will win. I’ll continue to be a lonely centrist in a far left state come January.

The national election is too close to call as of today, October 22, 2024. I am anxious about it. My curious streak wants to see what would happen if Trump were to win. Would our fears be realized? Would the world as we know it vanish before our eyes? I’m not willing to risk it, so I’ll be voting for Harris, but I’m anxious about the future even if she wins. 

I have a wild set of hopes and fears if Harris takes the oath in January. Yes, I’d love to see a capable woman become president! And Harris is good enough for me. The long row of white men who have preceded her in the office have not necessarily been the best men in the country at their time. They’ve succeeded in winning for a variety of reasons. Most of them grew in competence while in office. (I can’t imagine that anyone is ready to assume the job of leader of the free world on Day 1.) Harris will be a fast learner, and her values and goals are fine with me…

…With a couple of concerns: Just how woke is she? Can she support the rights of trans adults while accepting the need to temper the demands of the most extreme trans activists with regard to children? Can she temper the enthusiasm of public schools to denigrate both our history and the legitimate accomplishments of western culture? Can she address concerns about the criminal justice system the way she did in her book, “Smart on Crime,” rather than follow the radicals who ruled in 2020? 

On the international scene, I have hopes that Harris will be more supportive of Ukraine than Biden has been, and by that I mean I hope she will support the goal of winning in Ukraine, not just fighting until everyone is exhausted.Trump would just give the Donbas and Crimea to Putin and wash his hands of it all. At least, if she wins, we won’t be pulling the rug out from under Ukraine immediately. 

As for Israel, I don’t have confidence in either Trump or Harris. No one knows what Trump would do. He has insisted that October 7 would not have happened if he’d been in office, Ukraine would not have been invaded, no bad things at all. BS, in my mind. I don’t think his craziness, which he now cultivates as an asset, will prevent all bad things. So what would he actually do for the Middle East? I’m confident that even he has no idea.

What about Harris? More restraints on Israel? Fewer restraints? Could she find moderate Muslim partners to rebuild Gaza? Two States for Two Peoples! Yada, yada, yada. Create a Palestinian state without a complete change of heart by Palestinian leaders willing to accept Israel vocally, in public, risking assassination by doing so – that would mean two states armed sufficiently to maintain order, but also armed for self defense. Personally, I think it will take at least a generation of calm, perhaps longer, before Israel would again consider two equal states. But a Palestinian “starter state?” We should at least talk about it.

People can change. I’ve seen it. My father’s family was just fine with Jim Crow. Separate drinking fountains? Fine with them. Separate schools, of course. Separate public accommodations, sure. And then? They let it go. They didn’t all accept the equality of black and white, but they let go of Jim Crow, and many black Americans have taken advantage of opportunities afforded to them. Remember, though, that we were not rushing to bomb shelters, within our homes, when rockets were fired at us by the victims of Jim Crow. No one had armed them hoping to obliterate us. Rather, we had a leader who spoke courageously of judging people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin.

Palestinians who might have had the potential to become voices for peaceful coexistence have been systematically “taken out” by Hamas and others. Will any surface from the rubble of Gaza? I trust Harris much more than Trump to find them if they are there and work with them. 

Hopes and fears. I have some hopes and many fears as I cast my ballot this year. How about you?