Update on the Trump Presidency

When President Trump gave his inaugural speech, he stated that "the carnage stops". Among other things he was referring to drugs, gangs, and mothers and kids trapped in the inner cities. Ironically, hours later, he rescinded one of President Obama's executive orders giving breaks to the less fortunate who are trying to buy homes and escape the squalor of the slums. He spoke of unifying the country but the bullying, racist and misogynistic statements he made during his campaign have united many in our country and around the world against him. There were huge protests in most major cities in the US and in London and Paris as well. Four of the women who accused President Trump of sexual assault joined the march in Washington.

He also took steps to ease the financial burden of repealing Obamacare and giving states more leeway in implementing the healthcare law. It frees them up to pursure their own initiatives. While repeal and replace is the GOP mantra, replace is a very important condition. The ACA cannot be repealed without being replaced - a national healthcare option is here to stay. If it were repealed 18 million Americans would lose their healthcare and that number represents just under 30% of the 60 million people who voted for President Trump. That's a big number of voters and the GOP isn't stupid. President Obama was the only president to give us national healthcare and it can only be made better. National healthcare is here to stay.

As for building "The Wall" and making Mexico pay for it - that could be done a number of ways without Mexico actually paying for it. A winning trade deal could be cited as paying for The Wall. It would really be up to the administration to tell us how they got Mexico to pay and President Trump will brag about it, whether or not it's true remains to be seen. President Trump has said many things and we must hope some of them cannot be true.

Despite his mendacity (continuing to state the crowds at his inauguration were larger than they actually were despite undeniable evidence, swearing to halt all foreign deals but moving ahead with his resort in Scotland and pledging to drain the swamp while he actually brings in new lobbyists), a minority of Americans voted against "crooked Hillary" and elected a man who got their votes without doing something every other President in our history has done, be transparent about taxes. The Clinton Foundation is criticized as being a slush fund for the Clintons but we have a President who refused to divest himself of his businesses. He is in a position to help any company or country that benefits his personal interests. It took so long for President Trump to admit what the intelligence services had been saying all along - the Russians were hacking our government - that we must wonder if there Is a line item in his taxes that ties back to Russian companies and Putin. Now, he's retained Comey to lead the FBI and investigate Russian hacking. Director Comey made the damaging announcements about HRC's hacked emails.

Certainly there will be some positive results with President Trump particularly as pertains to the cost of anything - healthcare, prescription drugs, the cost of the new Air Force One and hopefully he will be able to continue to grow the economy. He inherited one that's in much better shape than it was when President Obama took office. With President Trump's business savvy this should be his forte. Still one has to wonder if he will start a trade war as he levies tarrifs against other countries and pursuades US companies not to expand where labor is cheaper. It will certainly raise the prices of the goods we buy.