Dispatches from Trump's America: The American nightmare continues
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." - Presidential Oath of Office
Only two months and three days have passed since Donald J. Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. That's a short span of time, really, but to many Americans, it feels like we're in a national nightmare far worse than the Watergate scandal that destroyed Richard Nixon's Presidency - and further eroded public confidence in politicians, the two-party system, and American democracy itself.
During his short time in office, Mr. Trump has managed to achieve something no other President had done in the 228 years and 19 days (or, if you prefer, 83,294 days) since President George Washington swore to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. In 62 days, Mr. Trump has generated the most public opposition to a President in the shortest time.
Considering that all previous Presidents have started their Administrations with a "honeymoon" period in which the public takes a wait-and-see attitude to let them show what they can do, Mr. Trump's low approval ratings (45%, according to a January 23, 2017 Gallup poll) on Inauguration Day were unprecedented. As the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld may have said, "No honeymoon period for you."
Even worse, his approval ratings have not improved, no matter what his die-hard supporters claim. After two months of broken promises, outright lies, revelations that Mr. Trump and his campaign were closely connected to Russia's ruling kleptocracy, and his shoddy treatment of foreign leaders, it should surprise no one that the brash, uncouth man who sits in the Oval Office only has a 39% approval rating, per a Gallup poll taken this week.
Trump Troubadour Sings No More - For Trump, That Is
Perhaps one of the most poignant stories to illustrate just how bad Mr. Trump is as the American President is that of Kraig Moss, an amateur country singer from upstate New York state.
Moss, who is better known as the "Trump Troubadour," attended 45 of Mr. Trump's rallies during the Presidential campaign and performed his music with an acoustic guitar decorated with blue-and-white Trump-Pence stickers.
Moss, a true believer in Mr. Trump's political agenda, even stopped paying the mortgage to his house and sold his company's construction equipment in order to go to the rallies.
Why? Because, as he told CNN reporters in an interview, he was on a mission to improve care for people with drug addictions - people like his 24-year-old son Rob, who died three years ago of a heroin overdose.
But now, Moss has stopped playing his Trump-Pence guitar. He no longer believes the promises of Donald Trump.
Per CNN:
He's
soured on the President because of the newly proposed Republican health care
bill.
That
legislation, which the president supports, could result in dramatic cuts in
addiction treatment services.
The Republican Party's plan to repeal the previous Administration Affordable Care Act (ACA) is cynically dubbed the American Health Care Act (notice that it is no longer "Affordable") by its proponents. It is already known as Trumpcare, and (of course) it favors the wealthy and the health care industry at the expense of the poor.
One of the AHCA's most onerous features is that it will slash funding for opioid-based drug addictions, which is what Moss's son died of - and Mr. Trump promised would be one of his priorities when it came time to write the new health care act.
Last year, at a campaign rally in Iowa, Trump
reached out and spoke directly to Moss about Rob's death.
"In all fairness to your son, it's a
tough thing. Some very, very strong people have not been able to get off
(heroin)," Trump called out to Moss in the crowd. "The biggest thing
we can do in honor of your son ... we have to be able to stop it."
When Moss became emotional, Trump comforted
him.
"I know what you went through. And he's a
great father. I can see it. And your son is proud of you. Your son is proud of
you," Trump said. "I'll bet he was a great boy."
As he told CNN, "The bill is an absolute betrayal of what Trump represented on the campaign trail. I feel betrayed."
Moss trusted Trump.
"I truly believe from the heart that (Trump) is going to do everything he can. He's going to create treatment centers for the kids," he said last year.
But last week, Moss
read about the proposed American Health Care Act. The Republican bill would end
the Obamacare requirement that addiction services and mental health treatment
be covered under Medicaid in the 31 states that expanded the health care
program -- which include Moss' home state of New York.
Moss is still performing, even though his house is now devoid of furniture and is in danger of being foreclosed. He just isn't singing Mr. Trump's praises any longer.
Moscow's Bots, Breitbart, and InfoWars: FBI investigates possible links
Meanwhile, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is looking closely at Russia's alleged use of bots to disseminate "fake news" from Breitbart, InfoWars, and its own propaganda outlet RT throughout the Internet.
According to the New York Post:
[T]he FBI is trying to
determine whether bots that promoted articles on websites like Breitbart News
and InfoWars were in some way related to Russia’s effort to interfere in the US
election, McClatchy
reported.
The FBI’s
Counterintelligence Division is leading the probe.
The social media bots
automatically retweeted and otherwise disseminated posts from the sites
throughout the election. It is believed the bots were being run out of Russia.
Per the original McClatchy report cited by the Post:
WASHINGTON -
Federal investigators are examining whether far-right news sites played any role last year in a Russian cyber operation that dramatically widened the reach of news stories — some fictional — that favored Donald Trump’s presidential bid, two people familiar with the inquiry say.
Operatives for Russia appear to have strategically timed the computer commands, known as “bots,” to blitz social media with links to the pro-Trump stories at times when the billionaire businessman was on the defensive in his race against Democrat Hillary Clinton, these sources said.
Breitbart is, of course, the alt-right site that used to be run by Steve Bannon, who is now Mr. Trump senior strategist. It proved to be an extremely useful tool in promoting a rabidly nationalistic, almost nihilistic world view that is reflected in Mr. Trump's less-than-adroit foreign policy.
Sources
http://www.gallup.com/poll/202811/trump-sets-new-low-point-inaugural-approval-rating.aspx
http://www.gallup.com/poll/203207/trump-job-approval-weekly.aspx?g_source=PRESIDENTIAL_JOB_APPROVAL&g_medium=topic&g_campaign=tiles
http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/21/health/opioid-trump-supporter-medicaid-health-care-reform/
http://nypost.com/2017/03/21/feds-probe-possible-russian-link-to-alt-right-websites/
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article139695453.html
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