Just Thinking: A Trump Administration - Good Luck with That!
December 7, 2016By V. Knowles

So, he said he was a man that would be a president for all people. But, the people he has chosen for his White House appointments look an awful lot like the business elite who have shown favoritism to their kind for decades.

                  

Here are some names to toss around:

                  

1.      Treasury Secretary: Steven Mnuchin 

                  

He served as Trump’s campaign finance chairman and is a former Goldman Sachs executive.

                  

2.      Commerce Secretary: Wilbur Ross

                  

He is an investor whose fortune is estimated by Forbes to be $2.9 billion.
 
3.      Attorney General: Jeff Sessions
Senator Sessions of Alabama is a strong proponent of strict immigration enforcement, reduced spending and mirrors Trumps “law and order” ideology. His nomination for a federal judgeship in 1986 was rejected because of racially charged comments and actions.
 

                  

4.      National Security Adviser: Michael Flynn
He was head of the Defense Intelligence Agency and was fired by President Obama for a number of reasons, including mismanagement.  He has written that Islam is “a malignant cancer” that “hides behind this notion of it being a religion.” 

                  

Years of working in Prison Ministry and with the homeless have taught me one important thing. Never believe everything you hear and everything a person says. The Bible says, "Try the spirit" and be sober and vigilant. Mouth can say anything and people, with an agenda, will say everything that appeals to your itching ears.

                  

That happens often on the campaign trail and campaign rhetoric often does not translate into reality.

                  

"Read my lips, no new taxes?"  - George H W Bush

                  

"If you like your insurance, you can keep it." - Barack Obama

                  

These are some examples.

                  

The Donald declared on the campaign trail that he will ensure border security, great health care for all Americans and millions of high paying jobs. He just recently told the leaders of Congress these are his top three priorities.

                  

 Border Security

                  

"We will build a wall and Mexico will pay for it.”

                  

Recently, we have been told by him, some parts of the wall have morphed into a fence. Are we going to use Mexican contractors or U. S. contractors if Mexico is going to pay for it? If so, will they meet the construction codes of each country? Will there be bids for the project?

                  

What will be the pay scale--that of Mexico or the U.S?

                  

Who is going to man the wall to ensure its effectiveness and stated purpose, Mexico or the U.S.?

                  

We will round up and deport all illegal aliens is another promise.

                  

How, when and where?

                  

How are the avocado, strawberry and citrus farmers in California and Florida going to reap their crops?

                  

The farmers claim that Americans do not want these backbreaking, low-paying jobs.

                  

There are going to be a lot of unpleasant growers  and customers-- with crops rotting in the fields and high prices at the Walmart supermarket.

                  

Good luck with that!

                  

                  

 Health Care

                  

"We will repeal and replace Obama Care.” He shouted to his enthusiastic supporters.

                  

Yet, on “60 Minutes” he stated that he will keep the stipulation that prevents insurance companies from denying coverage to patients with preexisting conditions, and allow grown children to stay on their parent's policies--two of the most important aspects of Obama care.

                  

He also will remove the plank that mandates all people purchase insurance.

                  

If enough healthy people are not required and not purchasing health insurance to offset the costs of carrying people with expensive medical conditions, how will that affect the insurance community?

                  

Insurance companies are not altruistic endeavors but profit making enterprises.

                  

How do you make that circle a square?

                  

Good luck with that!

                  

                  

Millions of High Paying Good Jobs

                  

With an eye to the return of $70,000 long-term jobs, the factory workers in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, voted overwhelmingly for him.

                  

His intent, with a 15 % tax rate and extreme levies on imported products of US companies operating  broad, is to motivate said companies to return and stay in the U.S--thereby recreating such employment opportunities.

                  

So, the CEO, encouraged by a low tax rate and high cost of his product manufactured overseas, is going to forsake $1-2 an hour wage in Mexico, India, China and Bangladesh for $28 an hour and benefits in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

                  

Most sane economists have predicted that scenario is overly optimistic and too rosy a picture.

                  

Those type of jobs are gone with the wind and they are not coming back.

                  

They only exist in Silicon Valley, California and most people in these states are ill-prepared to fill them.

                  

The very best they can hope for is the Walmart service type job with a mandated minimum federal wage rate of $15 an hour.

                  

Finally, with less taxes--or as in your case, no taxes- coming in means that a lot of high-paying government jobs are going out.

                  

Moreover, less tax revenue means less arms production for the military industrial complex and less resources to fight ISIS and other threats to national security.

                  

We will have to rethink subsidies to Israel and other nations.

                  

You are draining the swamp, remember?

                  

Good luck with that!

                  

                  

The Christians and the Lesser of Two Evils

                  

The Donald is a New York socialite with a lot of pro-choice, gay and, somewhat off center, to say the least, friends.

                  

His supporters include "alien" Dennis Rodman twice accused of infecting his wife with STDs and Mike Tyson, jailed for rape.

                  

Steve Bannon, accused of spousal abuse and Rudy Giuliani, "that paragon of virtue and shining example of marriage commitment and fidelity" are part of his inner circle.

                  

Apparently, empathy with women and their issues are not high on his short list of priorities.

                  

To think that astute, college- educated women voted for him--hmmm interesting indeed.

                  

Moreover, the repeal of abortion and gay marriage are not on his radar.

                  

The type of Supreme Court nominee dear to your heart may be the only  possibility.

                  

Good luck with that.

                  

                  

Epilogue

                  

Globalism, not nationalism, is ascendant.

                  

Despite what you may hear, the actions of another nation will affect you-- for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

                  

For better or worse, we are all connected and we cannot divorce ourselves from circumstances in the Middle East, Russia and North Korea.

                  

Mr. Trump will discover on January 20, 2017, like Mr. Obama, a disturbing, unsettling truth.

                  

"Hope and Change" and campaign rhetoric do not automatically evolve into sound practical governmental policy and action.

                  

For those of you who believe that with the Donald all things are possible, here is a brutally frank opinion--not a prophecy or prediction. It is based on past experience and observation.

                  

Government is not a business where you can declare Chapter 7 bankruptcy, discharge all your debts and start over with a clean slate.

                  

Assuming in a perfect world all the pieces fall into place, the earliest you will realize a positive impact from all these promises is mid-2018.

                  

For those of us accustomed to the instantaneous, microwave attitude, mentality and expectations.

                  

Good luck with that.

                  

          

V. Knowles is a husband, father and prison minister with an interest in penning issues that serve to uplift mankind. He melds his love for Classic literature, The Bible and pop culture - as sordid as it may be - into highly relatable columns of truth, faith and justice. Hence the name: Just Thinking. If he's not buried in a book or penning his next column, you may find him pinned to his sectional watching a good old Country and Western flick.

                 


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