Just Four Days In...

Now THAT's Regressive.

I’ve stayed away from much political commentary for two reasons – one, we’ve been really busy with other projects (like getting the business ready to sell at the end of the year), and two, I promised the spousal unit.  She said, “There’s no use bitching about it now – wait until he’s actually President, and then see.”

OK, then.  Well, we’re four days in, and it’s going about as I figured.

• There was a fairly uninspiring (and sparsely attended) inauguration.
• Hats for the occasion, which promised to put America First with American jobs, were made in…not America (China, Vietnam and Bangladesh).
• He borrowed Obama’s 2009 pic of the inaugural crowds for his own Twitter page.
• He complained about the “underreporting” of the inaugural crowds at a surreal appearance at the CIA.
• There was an even more surreal press briefing about the size of his…inaugural crowd.
• On Sunday, more talk about how the press lied about the size of the crowd, with a special appearance of “alternative facts.”
• He made an angry tweet or two, with one directed to America’s Enemy #1 – Saturday Night Live.
• And another tweet with a spelling error, which was deleted (which might not be legal anymore since he’s now POTUS).
• And he’s shut down the White House comments line. 
• Thin-skinned?  Inside the White House it’s been leaked that all of the protests (there were many on Friday and Saturday) have left Trump “demoralized.”

Book frickin’ hoo.  Enough about the inauguration.  What about policy? Well, so far, he’s signed documents for…

• A slash at ObamaCare.
• Rollback of mortgage insurance discounts to first-time buyers.
• A hiring freeze for government workers.
• Withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is kinda weird since we never formally signed on in the first place and the treaty was never going to pass the Senate any-hoo.
• Reinstated the “Global Gag Rule,” a ban on recipients of U.S. foreign aid from promoting abortion as a method of family planning.
• Reneging on his plans to disassociate himself with all of his business interests.
• And just today he’s OK’d the Keystone and Dakota pipelines, placed a gag order on the EPA (communications and grants), and other departments (Interior, Ag, NIH, NNS) are being told “you’re next.”

Meanwhile,

• Republicans are plotting their “repeal and replace-maybe-with-something” to the ACA (really, it’s the same thing as ObamaCare.  Really).
• Along with Trump are planning new tax plans that shift taxes from corporations and onto…you. 
• They’re getting ready to “Get U.S. Out – of the United Nations (THAT will make us soooooo popular overseas…well, in Russian at least). 
• They’re devaluing National lands so they can give it away to special interests.
• And there’s other “worthwhile legislation” that’s just been “sitting there” for the last eight years of Obama’s dictatorship, like considering silencers to be the same as long guns, and to add 9-months to a voter’s voting ability (OK, it really wants to claim that life begins at fertilization). 
• And now, they want to gag the press.

Here’s what’s sad:  we’re spending more time complaining about whiny, bitchy Donnie and how he’s “demoralized” because not enough Americans love him enough, and not enough time on the very policies that he and the GOP are racing through to move America backwards.  We tend to argue politics as Democrats and Republicans, or conservatives and liberals, but it’s really more like Progressives vs. Regressives. 

Face it – the very slogan “Take Our Country BACK” actually means taking it BACKWARDS.  “Make America Great AGAIN” implies a return to a previous time.  I’m never sure whether they mean the 1950s, 1910s, or 1860s.  Some time long before women’s reproductive rights, civil rights, LGBT rights, restrictions on air pollution and water pollution and nasty regulations that give us safe meat, safety standards for automobiles, and heavy tax burdens for the wealthy. 

How does gutting the EPA make America great?  How does taking away rights and deporting families make America great?  Every policy that the bastards try to force on us needs to answer – HOW THE HELL DOES THIS MAKE AMERICA GREAT?

Move forward.  That’s Progress.  Progress is better.  Be Progressive.