Trump's Big CON: Trump Has No Principles, CONt Part 2

UPDATE: Over the weekend, administration officials tried to explain The Donald's strategy on Iran, and the "cacophony of mixed messages, empty phrases and double talk should hardly be surprising. . . Remember this is a 'policy' devised to work around a temper tantrum, namely Trump’s refusal to sign off on certification. His aides had to dress up decertification to look like, pardon the phrase, 'strategery.' So now they say decertification is meant to hint that we will pull out of the deal. Except our allies should understand we want to stay in the deal and just improve it. Except Trump said we’d probably be out.

Members of the administration have to answer a basic question: Have they come around to the view that no JCPOA is better than a flawed JCPOA, even if our allies stay in? If so, that’s going to set off a firestorm in Congress and internationally. If it’s not true, Trump should stop making empty threats."

Read the Washington Post, What’s our Iran policy, again?

But aimless empty threats are The Donald's strategy.

Another MUST READ: the Washington Post, Trump just kneecapped the Iran nuclear deal. And he revealed his core weakness., which states in substantial part:

"President Trump announced that the only way to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons is to begin destroying the painstakingly negotiated agreement that is keeping them from getting nuclear weapons. . .

So he's going to withdraw his certification of their compliance, which means Congress now has to decide whether to reimpose sanctions. Congress will probably allow the deal to survive, with additional conditions. And Trump today said that, going forward, if he's not satisfied, 'the agreement will be terminated.'

And then what?

Or to put it another way: What exactly is Trump trying to accomplish? . .

Presidents, we know, are supposed to have 'vision,' a broad conception of where they want to lead the country. When they run, it's often presented in vague terms; the closest Trump came as a candidate was promising that 'We will have so much winning if I get elected that you may get bored with winning.' While in a sense "making America great again" was a kind of vision, presidents also need specific goals to guide their decision-making, a real conception of how they want things to turn out so that they can figure out the best way to get there.

Trump's lack of those specific goals — or to put it another way, the lack of a defined end-state he's trying to reach — may be one of his most underappreciated weaknesses as a president. Most people, even many in his own party, understand that he's spectacularly uninformed about policy, not particularly bright and distressingly impulsive. But he also seems to have no idea where he's trying to go, and we're seeing it play out on multiple issues right now.

We'll start with Iran. Ever since he was a candidate, Trump has complained that the nuclear agreement, which was negotiated not only between Iran and the United States but also with Russia, China, Britain, France, Germany and the European Union, is a terrible deal, while seldom getting specific about what exactly he objects to in its provisions. We knew what President Barack Obama was trying to accomplish with the deal in the first place: an Iran that, whatever else it might be up to, couldn't threaten anyone with nuclear weapons.

What's Trump's vision? An Iran that not only doesn't have nuclear weapons but also is a force for peace and stability, and maybe a liberal democracy to boot? Well, that would be great. How is pulling out of the nuclear agreement going to get us there?

Trump seems to believe that there's some mythical 'better deal' awaiting somewhere, and if he threatens to withdraw from the agreement, then the Iranian government will fall to its knees and say, 'We submit! We'll do whatever you want!' But of course it won't, and the other partners aren't interested in starting the process all over again either. . .

It would be edifying to hear Trump or some of his aides and allies explain exactly how this scenario is supposed to play out and where it's supposed to end up. But if they tried to do that, it would become obvious how little they've thought it through.

We see a similar vacuum of vision on other issues [including health care. . .

Another] case in point: Conservative economist Kevin Hassett, the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, apparently told Trump that just one of the White House's proposed tax changes — allowing corporations to repatriate cash they have parked overseas and pay low taxes on it — would be such a spectacular shot of adrenaline to the economy that it would make every American family $4,000 richer. Sane economists, both Democrat and Republican, will tell you that this notion is utterly ludicrous. But it sounds good to Trump, so he has been touting the number as proof of how great his tax cuts are going to be.

That's hardly the only fantastical idea he's spreading around about tax cuts. Last month The Post reported that "Trump told a group of Democrats and Republicans on Tuesday that the tax framework could lead the economy to grow more than 6 percent a year, more than double what even his advisers had hoped for and a rate that many economists say is preposterous." Does he actually believe that? Or has someone with an ideological agenda convinced him that it'll happen, and he didn't bother to think it through? You could ask the same thing about issues such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, where Trump has a simplistic impulse (trade agreements are bad!) but no real conception of exactly what he'd like to change and how doing so would produce positive results.

Presidents don't need to be policy geniuses, but at the very least they need a sense of how cause leads to effect and a vision of what they're trying to accomplish. That way they can tell whether what they're doing is likely to take the country to the place they want to go. Trump has neither, which means he's either being pushed around by people who have figured out how to manipulate him for their own ideological ends, or he's flopping about aimlessly with no principles to guide him except if Obama did it, I should do the opposite. Either way, it's not very encouraging."

Trump's Big CON: He's Really a Crony Capitalist, CONt.

"Republican senator Jeff Flake's new book, “Conscience of a Conservative,” bashes President Trump for just about everything, but some of the harshest criticism in the book's 160 scathing pages is reserved for Trump's economic “plan.”

In Flake's eyes, Trumponomics is huge mistake. It shows the GOP has “abandoned its core principles” of free trade and free enterprise. “Seemingly overnight, we became willing to roll back the ideas on the global economy that have given America the highest standard of living in history,” Flake wrote.

The senator calls Trump a “crony capitalist” who is “incoherent” and “doing irreparable damage.” He even compares Trump to a liberal, saying all the president does is offer “easy answers and free stuff without worrying about the details.

[For] a rundown of Flake’s attacks on Trumponomics . . ."

Read the Washington Post, Trump is a ‘crony capitalist,’ says GOP Senator Flake., which notes that the "GOP is deeply divided. The rifts have been on display all summer, especially during the health-care fight. Flake’s book only adds to the tug-of-war between traditional Republicans who want to cut taxes and expand free trade, and Trump Republicans, who want to restrict trade and resurrect coal and manufacturing jobs."

Read also the Washington Post, Jeff Flake delivers the most courageous conservative rebuttal of Trumpism yet.

And read Trump's Big CON: He's Really a Crony Capitalist.

Trump's Big CON: Many Trump Products Are NOT Made in America (And He Doesn't 'Hire American' Either)

UPDATE IV:  "President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club needs to hire 35 waiters for this winter’s social season in Palm Beach, Fla.

Late last month, the club placed an ad on page C8 of the Palm Beach Post, crammed full of tiny print laying out the job experience requirements in classified ad shorthand. “3 mos recent & verifiable exp in fine dining/country club,” the ad said. “No tips.”

The ad gave no email address or phone number. “Apply by fax,” it said. The ad also provided a mailing address. It ran twice, then never again.

This was an underwhelming way to attract local job-seekers. But that wasn’t the point. The ads were actually part of Mar-a-Lago’s efforts to hire foreign workers for those 35 jobs.

About a week before the ads ran, the president’s club asked the Labor Department for permission to hire 70 temporary workers from overseas, government records show. Beside the 35 waiters, it asked for 20 cooks and 15 housekeepers, slightly more than it hired last year.

To get visas for those workers, Mar-a-Lago, like other businesses that rely on temporary employees each year, must first take legally mandated steps to look for U.S. workers. That includes placing two ads in a newspaper.

Typically, this attempt to recruit U.S. workers is a ritualized failure. Its outcome is usually a conclusion that there are no qualified Americans to hire, justifying the need for the government to issue the visas. . .

Mar-a-Lago has relied on foreign workers since at least 2008, according to government documents. To recruit them, it relies on Petrina Group International, a firm with offices in Ithaca, N.Y., and Romania. News reports have said that Mar-a-Lago’s workers have largely been from Romania and Haiti. Representatives for Petrina did not respond to requests for comment.

In the past, Trump’s club has followed the same pattern of searching for — and not hiring — American workers. Two years ago, for instance, Jeannie Coleman, who lives in nearby West Palm Beach, applied for a job as a housekeeper.

Mar-a-Lago called back. She had an interview. Then: nothing."

Read the Washington Post, ‘Apply by fax’: Before it can hire foreign workers, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club advertises at home — briefly.

Of course, the process is a sham, what else would you expect.

UPDATE III: "Many have pointed out that Trump's words don't match his actions. He promotes American-made at the same time that he and his daughter Ivanka Trump manufacture their own products overseas, in countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia and China (as a Washington Post investigation detailed). This very week, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club applied to hire 70 foreign workers.

The problem is a lot of Americans do what the Trumps do: They say they want to buy stuff made in the U.S.A., but when asked if they would be willing to pay more for it, they reconsider. . .

While small domestic manufacturers . . . want tariffs to help their businesses, economists say costs would go up for many products, a risky proposition when customers care more about price than country of origin."

Read the Washington Post, Trump’s ‘Made in America’ campaign has a big problem.

UPDATE II:  Read the Washington Post, During ‘Made in America Week,’ President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club applies to hire 70 foreign workers, which noted:

"Trump built his campaign last year in part on an appeal to American workers angry that their jobs had been taken by immigrants or laborers overseas. In his inaugural address, Trump said that under his leadership the country would 'follow two simple rules: buy American, and hire American.'

And this week, Trump has celebrated American companies and American labor, including an event at the White House where the president climbed into the cab of an American-made firetruck. In a proclamation Monday, Trump said he called 'upon Americans to pay special tribute to the builders, to the ranchers, to the crafters, and to all those who work every day to make America great.'

Earlier this year, the Trump Winery near Charlottesville, Va., applied for visas to hire 23 foreign workers under a different visa program meant for farm workers."

UPDATE: This week is "'Made in America' week, a new Washington ritual during which a president who routinely boasts of being the best at everything admits that he is not the best after all. Because if American-made products are the best, then products made abroad, such as many of Trump’s own branded products, are by definition not the best. . .

But because the Trump Organization and related companies haven’t seen fit to produce their own goods in the United States, that means either their products aren’t the best or Trump is engaged in a craven manipulation of his fans. Or both.

If America produces the best craftsmanship, why, then, does Ivanka Trump’s company manufacture no items in the United States? As The Post reported just last week, her company relies 'exclusively on foreign factories,' including in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam and China, to manufacture the shoes, handbags, blouses, dresses, jeans and shirts for the first daughter’s line of clothing.

Similarly, many items in Trump’s own clothing and home accessories are produced overseas in countries including China, Bangladesh and Mexico. When he excoriates American companies for moving manufacturing jobs overseas, then, he is including himself in his own criticism — but of course would never admit that. Instead, when questioned about why he manufactures items overseas, his answer was, essentially, everyone else does it. . .

Trump doesn’t even bother to pay more for American-made goods for those in his customer base who could pay more for items: guests at his luxury hotels. While staying in an $850-per-night room at Trump’s Washington, D.C., hotel last year, The Post’s Dana Milbank revealed that the posh 'Trump Hotels' bathrobe and slippers were made in China, and the guest rooms are replete with foreign-made goods. Among the items made overseas, Milbank found towels made in India, china made in Japan, Malaysian-made telephones, and a coffee machine and several lamps, among other things, all made in China.

While Trump has promised steel workers in Rust Belt states that he will restore lost jobs to their economically battered communities, he has built at least two hotels with steel and aluminum from China — the persistent bogeyman of Trump’s campaign speeches in which he decried the decline of American manufacturing. When faced with the evidence of his Chinese steel purchases, though, Trump just plowed ahead, continuing the charade that he is an unemployed steelworker’s best friend. . .

In office, though, Trump has just continued engaging in more gestures, which would be most charitably portrayed as substance-free photo ops but are actually more venal than that. For example, he promoted his April 18 executive order, 'Buy American — Hire American,' at Kenosha, Wis.-based Snap-On Tools, which has numerous manufacturing sites and distribution centers overseas, with more in the works. Trump’s base, though, does not seem to care about his blatant hypocrisies; the stagecraft on its face is sufficient for his voters to believe he is indeed making America great. . .

Trump’s hypocrisy on 'made in the USA' has been on display for months, so it seems doubtful that this week’s farce will make a difference one way or another.

Read the Washington Post, Trump’s ‘Made in America’ week is a hypocritical joke.

UPDATE:  "The Department of Homeland Security on Monday announced a one-time increase of 15,000 additional visas for low-wage, seasonal workers for the remainder of this fiscal year, a seeming about-face from President Trump's "Hire American" rhetoric, following heavy lobbying from the fisheries, hospitality and other industries that rely on temporary foreign workers.

The increase represents a 45 percent bump from the number of H-2B visas normally issued for the second half of the fiscal year, said senior Homeland Security officials in a call with reporters Monday. . .

Trump himself has used H-2B visas to hire temporary workers at his golf resorts in Palm Beach, Fla., and Jupiter, Fla."

Read the Washington Post, Trump officials open border to 15,000 more foreign workers.

Read also the Washington Post, Despite Trump’s ‘Hire American’ pledge, budget bill would dramatically expand the number of foreign workers, which nmted:

"So much for President Trump’s 'Hire American' promise.

Just two weeks after Trump signed an executive order vowing to crack down on a program designed to import high-skilled foreign labor, a provision slipped into the budget compromise with Democrats this week could double the number of visas for low-wage, seasonal workers such as those in the landscaping, forestry and hospitality industries.

The guest worker visa, known as the H-2B, is the exact kind that helps Trump staff his Mar-a-Lago golf resort."

President Trump, whose company outsources the manufacturing of many of its products to overseas factories, is unveiling 'Made in America' week at the White House to promote products made in the United States. . .

For Trump, highlighting U.S.-made products is inconsistent with his practices as a businessman. For years, the Trump Organization has outsourced much of its product manufacturing, relying on a global network of factories in a dozen countries — including Bangladesh, China and Mexico — to make its clothing, home decor pieces and other items.

Similarly, the clothing line of Ivanka Trump, the president’s older daughter and a senior White House adviser, relies exclusively on foreign factories employing low-wage workers in countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia and China, according to a recent Washington Post investigation."

Read the Washington Post, White House unveils ‘Made in America’ week, though many Trump products are made overseas.

Read also Trump's Big CON: Like Father, Like Daughter, which included another Washington Post article, Ivanka Inc., that noted that "while Ivanka Trump published a book this spring declaring that improving the lives of working women is 'my life’s mission,' The Post found that her company lags behind many in the apparel industry when it comes to monitoring the treatment of the largely female workforce employed in factories around the world."

Trump's Big CON: Broken Campaign Promises, Trade Edition

"President Trump said Tuesday that his administration is delaying a long-awaited verdict on whether to restrict imports of foreign steel, again punting on a decision that has divided U.S. industries and his own administration, as well as strained ties with some of the country's closest allies and trading partners. . .

Trump told the Journal that the administration would be addressing steel dumping, which he described as 'a very unfair situation.' But he added that 'we don’t want to do it at this moment.'

The decision is being closely watched as an indicator of whether Trump will deliver on his trade promises. The tariffs or quotas the administration was considering would have been the president’s first major move to fulfill the protectionist, America-first trade policy that was one of the pillars of his candidacy.

For months, the administration kept industry guessing about whether these ideas were mostly campaign rhetoric or the basis for an ambitious repositioning of U.S. trade policy. . .

On multiple occasions, Trump expressed his support for restricting steel imports.

'Wait till you see what I’m going to do for steel and your steel companies,' he said in a speech in Cincinnati on June 7. 'We’re going to stop the dumping and stop all of these wonderful other countries from coming in and killing our companies and our workers. We’ll be seeing that very soon. The steel folks are going to be very happy.'"

Read the Washington Post, Amid resistance, Trump backs away from controversial trade plan.

Trump's Big CON: He Can't Close the Deal, Trade Edition

"U.S. officials fell short of securing ambitious gains in trade with China in a meeting Wednesday and news conferences planned to cap off the event were canceled as the two countries wrapped up 100 days of trade talks.

The United States unsuccessfully pressed China to make a substantial commitment to cut its steel production, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to comment on private discussions. U.S. officials also asked China to do more to reduce its trade surplus with the United States and open its market for agriculture, financial services and data flows, the people said."

Read the Washington Post, Trade talks fizzle as China rebuffs key Trump team demand.

Trump's Big CON: TrumpTrade Might Kill Ya

"The first known shipment of cooked chicken from China reached the United States last week, following a much-touted trade deal between the Trump administration and the Chinese government.

But consumer groups and former food-safety officials are warning that the chicken could pose a public health risk, arguing that China has made only minor progress in overhauling a food safety regime that produced melamine-laced infant formula and deadly dog biscuits."

Read the Washington Post, The dark side of Trump’s much-hyped China trade deal: It could literally make you sick.

Trump's Big CON: He is The Middle School Bully President

UPDATE II:  The pushback starts:

"Thirty years ago, as Donald Trump gave what is widely considered to be the first campaign speech of his career, he criticized one country above all for cheating the United States in trade: Japan.

On Thursday, Japan took on the mantle of the global rules-based trading system, as it sidestepped a failing trade agreement with the United States to forge a historic new pact with the European Union.

Leaders from Japan and the European Union on Thursday announced their agreement in principle on the broad strokes of a trade deal that will cover nearly 30 percent of the global economy, 10 percent of the world's population and 40 percent of global trade.

The deal crafts a trading bloc roughly the same size as that established by the North American Free Trade Agreement, a 1994 deal between the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Coming on the eve of the Group of 20 meeting of global leaders in Hamburg, Germany, the announcement appeared to be a calculated rebuke of both the United States, which has spurned global trade agreements in favor of more protectionist policies under President Trump, and Great Britain, which voted to leave the European Union last year. . .

The deal will be a heavy blow to American producers of these goods, by making U.S.-made goods relatively more expensive and less competitive in the major markets of Japan and Europe.

Read the Washington Post, Japan and Europe counter Trump with colossal trade deal.

UPDATE:  Remember when Trump shoved a fellow NATO leader aside on his first summit.

He should expect pushback at this week's Group of 20 summit, not only will The Donald meet his master, he will get pushback from other world leaders.

Read the Washington Post, At G-20 summit, it looks more and more like Trump against the world.

"Trump is known for his tendency to deny his role in controversial events. . . While the nation is waiting to learn the truth about what Trump has or has not said and done, his stubborn denial reveals a lack of social reasoning typical of aggressive children.

Public accounts or explanations of negative events provide us with important insights about social-cognitive maturity. . .

Not only does Trump flatly deny almost every accusation leveled against him, but he also claims no personal responsibility for problems. Instead he blames others, most recently the media and the White House staff. Refusal to accept personal responsibility and a tendency to blame others are indeed trademarks of aggressive children. In fact, our research shows that aggressive children are much quicker to infer hostile intent in ambiguous situations and lash out in revenge. Blaming others is a self-enhancing defense mechanism: It protects positive self-views.

In addition to protecting his ego, Trump also tries to enhance his self-worth. What makes him look childlike are his unsubstantiated claims about his popularity. Despite the verifiable evidence, he repeatedly refers to his unprecedented electoral college victory and the unmatched size of crowds at his inauguration.

Trump’s use of self-enhancement tactics also helps explain why he feels he has been treated worse and more unfairly than any other president in history. Despite their (short-lived) popularity, most bullies are hypersensitive to negative feedback — and ironically feel mistreated.

Revealingly, in his interview with his biographer Michael D’Antonio, Trump says he is the same person as he was in first grade. He may well also be very similar to the person he was in middle school: Indeed, there are many parallels between Trump’s behavior and the facts and findings of developmental science on social reasoning and behavior."

Read the Washington Post, I study the psychology of adolescent bullies. Trump makes perfect sense to me.

Trump's Big CON: Trump Lied About Stopping Jobs From Moving Overseas

UPDATE:  Read CBNC, Trump's Carrier deal is not living up to the hype — jobs still going to Mexico, which states:

"More than 600 employees at a Carrier plant in Indianapolis are bracing for layoffs beginning next month, despite being told by President Trump that nearly all the jobs at the plant had been saved"

Remember those jobs that Trump said wouldn't go to Mexico.

They are going to Mexico.

"Carrier, the company President Trump pledged to keep on American soil, informed the state of Indiana this week that it will soon begin cutting 632 workers from an Indianapolis factory. The manufacturing jobs will move to Monterrey, Mexico, where the minimum wage is $3.90.

That was never supposed to happen, according to Trump's campaign promises. He told Indiana residents at a rally last year there was a '100 percent chance' he would save the jobs at the heating and air-conditioning manufacturer."

Read the Washington Post, Trump said he would save jobs at Carrier. The layoffs start July 20.

It was all just a con.

Read also Trump's Big CON: He's Really a Crony Capitalist.

Trump's Big CON: "I’m Going to Rip Up Those Trade Deals" Edition

UPDATE III: Another broken promise.

Read the Washington Post, Trump says no plan to pull out of NAFTA ‘at this time’.

UPDATE II:  "President Trump on Wednesday said he would not label China a currency manipulator, contradicting one of the biggest economic promises he made on the campaign trail.

Trump told the Wall Street Journal that he had changed his mind because China is not currently manipulating its currency, adding that he hoped to enlist China’s help on containing the nuclear threat from North Korea."

Read the Washington Post, Trump says he will not label China currency manipulator, reversing campaign promise.

Read also the Washington Post, 3 big ways Trump is starting to sound like Obama on the economy.

UPDATE:  "President Trump, who made opposition to free trade with China and other countries a centerpiece of his campaign and has continued with tough talk since entering office, is struggling to enact policies that match his trade rhetoric. . .

[W]hile Trump has called China “grand champions” of currency manipulation as recently as February, three people familiar with the discussions say it did not appear likely that the Treasury Department would officially designate China in its semiannual foreign currency report due Saturday. . .

Trump had promised to label China a “currency manipulator” on his first day in office, but his administration has moved slowly to follow through on many of his trade-related threats. . .

Ahead of that meeting, Trump had warned of a 'very difficult' discussion “in which we can no longer have massive trade deficits and job losses.” Yet the meeting ended with the White House announcing a '100-day plan' to review the U.S. trade relationship with China. . .

[Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), said] '[t]he ‘100-day plan’ seems typical of what they do: a lot of talk, no action'. . .

Beyond China, the White House has also missed an internal mid-March deadline to begin renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada, as a draft letter that would begin the process has not been formally signed.

It also announced a mix of other relatively minor or technical measures to strengthen U.S. trade protections, but experts say those won't do much to benefit U.S. industry unless they're followed by far more substantial action. . .

On trade, the White House has launched numerous reviews but so far done little to change policy."

Read the Washington Post, Ahead of major decision, Trump is struggling to deliver on his trade promises.

You might remember from the campaign, The Donald has many plans, like his pan for ISIS, none of which he can talk about.

"[N]ow he’s president, and guess what? It turns out that he may not end up keeping that promise [about ripping up trade deals], after all . . .

This all fits in well with a pattern that we’ve seen repeated over and over as the Trump candidacy turned into the Trump presidency. Here’s how it works.

    Trump makes a grandiose promise that sounds great to at least some voters but no serious person believes.

    Trump runs headlong into reality and discovers that doing what he promised would either be impossible or disastrous.

    Trump initiates a hasty retreat from his promise."

Read the Washington Post, Another Trump promise bites the dust.

Trump's Big CON: "More U.S. Manufacturing Jobs"

UPDATE:  "American workers may be struggling, but American factories are not. . .

American factories actually make more stuff than they ever have, and at a lower cost. Manufacturing accounts for more than a third of U.S. economic output — making it the largest sector of the economy. . .

U.S. factories now manufacture twice as much as they did in 1984, with one-third fewer workers, according to the Federal Reserve.

The reason, of course, is that productivity has risen so sharply. Technology, and automation specifically, allows manufacturers to make more than ever before, at a much lower cost.

The economics are unavoidable and irreversible." 

Read the Washington Post, A single chart everybody needs to look at before Trump’s big fight over bringing back American jobs.

"Donald Trump laid out his plans for his first 100 days in the White House in a brief message Monday evening. What Trump said was not all that remarkable, focusing on standard conservative issues such as energy, regulation and ethics. What Trump did not say was more revealing. The president-elect made no mention of two bold promises he had made to his base on international trade, a crucial issue in his unprecedented campaign.

During his campaign, Trump had said that he would reopen negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement and direct the Treasury Department to declare that China is manipulating its currency on the first day of his administration. Neither item was on his to-do list in the recorded remarks he put online Monday. . .

Noting that curtailing international trade could cause economic chaos, many analysts have been skeptical about how committed the president-elect is to the populist and protectionist agenda that helped him defeat former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. The omission in this week's message leaves open the question of how exactly Trump intends to shift manufacturing from overseas into the United States -- a pledge he repeated often on the stump."

Read the Washington Post, Donald Trump left two key promises to voters off his to-do list. 

Franken-Trump/Trumpenstein's (© NoBullU.com) Next Act

UPDATE: So what gave rise to the Franken-Trump/Trumpenstein (© NoBullU.com)?

"The American right has always contained a combative, nativist fringe, where radicals and kooks bend world events to fit their conspiracy theories. There were the John Birch Society newsletters of the 1970s and ’80s; the AM talk-radio shows of the ’90s; the world-government chat rooms and e-mail chain letters around the turn of the millennium; and the vibrant, frenzied blogosphere of amateur muckrakers of the mid-2000s. . .

But in the Obama era, the reach and power of this segment has increased dramatically. The fringe has swelled with new Web sites, radio stations, confabs, causes, pressure groups, celebrities and profit-making businesses noisily pitching themselves to the tea party. An entire right-wing media ecosystem has sprung up, where journalist-warriors flood social media with rumors of sharia law coming to suburbia and hype a fast-approaching 'race war' in America targeting whites. The Republican establishment — a loose coalition of party committees, moderate donors and business interests — once hoped to harness this tremendous new energy to recapture the White House. . .

Some Republicans have made their careers by mastering the new machinery of the movement. When a group of conservative elites quietly huddled with lawmakers one evening in 2013 to lay out their 'defund Obamacare' plan, Sen. Ted Cruz positioned himself as the public face of the campaign. It hardly mattered whether he believed that their government-shutdown would actually gut the health-care law; few, if any, of the architects did. ('I don’t think you could find a single person in that room who really believed the plan would work,' one of the meeting’s attendees confessed to me. Several days into the shutdown, a Cruz aide told me with jarring candor that the senator had stuck to the 'defund' rallying cry because 'a more complicated message' wouldn’t 'make for a good hashtag.') When the dust settled, Obamacare was still fully funded and GOP officials were panicking — but Cruz was a newly minted conservative superstar, and the organizations that backed him had raised millions of dollars. The senator’s staff did not respond to requests to comment for this story.

Skirmishes between the Grand Old Party and far-right populists are as old as lever-operated voting machines, and the old guard usually comes out on top. But in this era of democratized media and deregulated political money, the fringe owns a much greater share of the cash and the clout. Trump was among the first players to realize that. (His staff, too, did not respond to requests to comment for this story.)

The insight appears to have struck him during the run-up to the last presidential election, when his “birther” antics briefly propelled him to the top of pre-campaign polls. Trump, a masterful marketer, has taken care since then to make his right-wing cheering section look huge and wholly organic, habitually retweeting typo-laden messages of support from sycophantic accounts. But this year’s groundswell wasn’t totally spontaneous. Over the past four years, Trump has been laying its foundations with a careful campaign of cultivation. In this, he was far ahead of most of his presidential opponents."

Read the Washington Post, How Donald Trump courted the right-wing fringe to conquer the GOP.

This article is a must read for those who want to understand The Donald fervor.

"I’m telling you, folks, if you think Donald Trump’s demagoguery on immigration has created problems for Republicans, just wait until he unveils his next act. If we get a Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal, Trump may well roll out a whole new story about how Republicans and Democrats alike are conspiring with a shadowy cabal of international elites to help China and other foreign countries continue destroying the living standards of American workers."

Read the Washington Post, Donald Trump is just getting started, Republicans.

The Republi-CON "Less Goverment, More Freedom" Myth, As Told By the Story of Gefilte Fish

"While combing through the most recent Hillary Clinton e-mail dump, a certain, seemingly non-political, but potentially highly controversial message stands out. . .

The subject line, meanwhile, says only: 'Gefilte fish.' . .

[So] why the leading Democratic presidential candidate sent an e-mail with gefilte fish in the subject line while she was serving as secretary of state. "

Read the Washington Post, The story behind the funniest e-mail Hillary Clinton has ever sent.

It seems that under a so-called 'free-trade' agreement Illinois fish was subject to an import tax on entry to the 'Promised Land, and then-Illinois Rep. Don Manzullo, a Republican, "was fretting over the potential tax."

No doubt as a favor to wealthy constituent.  

The story is a sad commentary on politics and power.

It's China, Stupid

UPDATE IV: "A bill that could impose tariffs on Chinese exports would trigger a trade war and distract the United States from the real issues it faces." Read The New York Times, Imagined in America.

Maybe, but China must allow free trade in its currency.


UPDATE III: "Ask yourself: Why is it so hard to restore full employment? . . .

The answer is that we used to run much smaller trade deficits. A return to economic health would look much more achievable if we weren’t spending $500 billion more each year on imported goods and services than foreigners spent on our exports."

Read The New York Times, Holding China to Account.


UPDATE II: Finally, someone sees the economic benefit of "crack[ing] down on China’s currency practices." Read the Washington Post, The China stimulus.


UPDATE: Want to know how 'Made in China ' is displacing North American made goods big time? The Emma Maersk. I first posted about this impressive weapon in the war against the middle class in April 2009 and I recently got another email about her, which reminded me:

"This monster transports goods across the Pacific in just 5 days!! This is one of three ships presently in service, with another two ships commissioned to be completed in 2012.

These ships were commissioned by Wal-Mart to get all their goods and stuff from China . They hold an incredible 15,000 containers and have a 207 foot deck beam!! The full crew is just 13 people on a ship longer than a US Aircraft Carrier (which has a crew of 5,000.)

A documentary in 2010 on the History Channel noted that all of these containers are shipped back to China , EMPTY. Yep, that's right. We send nothing back on these ships. What does that tell you about the current financial state of this country? Just keep buying those imported goods (mostly gadgets) until you run out of money.

Then you may wonder what the cause of unemployment (maybe even your job) in the U.S. and Canada might be????

'Nuff said ??"

Over the weekend, in a statement full of irony, China, the "largest foreign holder of American debt . . . lecture[d] Washington to get its fiscal house in order."

But, as the Wall Street Journal notes, "who are the Chinese kidding with their chest-pounding economic nationalism?"

China "is ignoring that America's real problem is sustained international trade imbalances." Read The New York Times, U.S. Debt Is Not the Culprit, which notes that the "root of global instability still lies in trade imbalances and currency values, and the need for adjustments in both Asia and the United States."

There is an easy way to resolve our government budget woes, end unfair trade practices, including Chinese currency manipulation.

Republi-CON Polly Wants a Tax Cut

UPDATE III: Why can't the fat lady get a job? Globalization. Read The New York Times, Is There Hope for the Unemployed?, which compares employment growth in "those sectors whose output is traded across international borders (the tradable sectors) and is thus subject to competition from foreign producers, and those sectors whose output is not traded across international borders (the nontradable sectors)."


UPDATE II: "Our failure to create jobs is a choice rationalized by an ever-shifting set of excuses." Read The New York Times, No, We Can’t? Or Won’t?, which notes:

"The economy isn’t fixing itself. Nor are there real obstacles to government action: both the bond vigilantes and structural unemployment exist only in the imaginations of pundits. And if stimulus seems to have failed, it’s because it was never actually tried."

UPDATE: "The nation’s economic woes boil down to this. Compared with a healthy economy, about 7 million working-age people and 5 percent of the nation’s industrial capacity are sitting idle, not producing what they could. The economy is growing again, but at a rate — less than 2 percent in recent months — that’s too slow to keep up with a population that keeps increasing and workers who keep getting more efficient." Read the Washington Post, Why it doesn't feel like a recovery, which includes a great interactive graph showing the the output gap.

Ask any Republi-con politician for his/her solution for the economic downturn and inevitably s/he will parrot the Republi-con economic elixir: tax cuts, tax cuts. But supply-side economics isn't the answer this time, the system is awash in cheap money. Read The New York Times, Cheap Debt for Corporations Fails to Spur Economy.

As I said in February 2009, tax cuts are not the answer, this downturn won't be over 'til the fat lady gets a job.

The End of America's Zenith?

UPDATE X: "Americans seem unable to grasp the magnitude of the challenges that face us. Despite the hyped talk of China's rise, most Americans operate on the assumption that the U.S. is still No. 1." Read Time, Are America's Best Days Behind Us?


UPDATE IX: "Napoleon is famously said to have declared, 'When China wakes, it will shake the world.'" Read The New York Times, China Rises, and Checkmates.


UPDATE VIII: "China is playing games with its foreign-exchange policy at the world’s expense." Read The New York Times, The Renminbi Runaround.


UPDATE VII: The title says it all. Read Newsweek, It’s China’s World We’re Just Living in It.

Thanks again to Wal-Mart and the Republi-cons.


UPDATE VI: Thanks to Wal-Mart, "China has the United States about where it wants it. You can make your own calculation of President Obama’s leverage over Beijing — and it’s heading south." To understand why, read The New York Times, The World’s Watchmaker.


UPDATE V: For yet more proof of the growing power of China, read the Washington Post, China's strident tone raises concerns among Western governments, analysts.

And there is not much that can be done about it since the Republi-cons' war on the middle class and unfair trade policies gave China a $2.4 trillion slush fund to "create a world economy that serves China's interests."


UPDATE IV: Tell your kids to learn a new language of business. Read The New York Times, Foreign Languages Fade in Class — Except Chinese.


UPDATE III: After yesterday's fireworks, read The New York Times, Chinese Fireworks Display, about the future of Chimerica, the tightly integrated China-America symbiotic relationship.


UPDATE II: Will the dollar soon be worth less (pun intended)? Read The New York Times, The Almighty Renminbi?

And if you doubt the growing power of China, read The New York Times, China’s Heart of Gold, in which the writer, the executive director of the Beijing Private Equity Association and a director of the China National Association of International Studies, demands "inflation-protection measures for China’s existing investments in America, and [requests] additional security or collateral for its continued investments. America should also provide its largest creditor with greater transparency and information."

This is a stunning demand and challenge to American sovereignty.

This is also the beginning of the end of America's debt addiction, and the withdrawal/detox of the American economy is going to be ugly.

All thanks to Republi-con unfair trade policies as part of their war on the middle class.


UPDATE: Read The New York Times, America the Tarnished.

Will this decade prove to be America's zenith? I predict that the economic mess will be the event leading to the emergence of Chinese economic and military dominance.

Read Washington Post, In Downturn, China Sees Path to Growth.