After a little more than a month of the new Donald Trump regime, we’ve learned a few things — at least if we’ve paid attention through the blue smoke and mirrors, the limited press briefings by his “pep” secretary and the inevitable and frequent golf outings at Mar-a-Lago (nine on 31 days by last count). And if you can’t read between the lines, Wednesday the official White House account on “X” posted a picture of the president on a knock off TIME magazine cover called “TRUMP” that declared him king and sported “Long Live the King” in front of a smiling Trump wearing a crown. Laugh or cry, we’ll be here all week. I’d say try the veal, but I’m not sure our food supply is secure enough to do that anymore thanks to budget cuts.
Trump’s deep vision for ruling is to declare “I am the law!” As if he were Judge Dredd. Makes sense because Sylvester Stallone, who originated the role, is a huge Trump fan. As recently as this week Trump reminded the Supreme Court they gave him “unlimited immunity” for any official act he takes. He’s bound and determined to make the most of that as he continues forever changing the face of the presidency and leaving future historians a wealth of material to study — should we survive the coming asteroid.
Trump’s deep vision for ruling also includes an unending number of executive orders that he will defend in court, or defy the rulings of the courts should they issue judgments against him.
But, I digress.
Trump has some very deep visions for us and they’re only now, after a month of chaos becoming clear through the settling haze from the fires Trump set and will later claim to extinguish. Trump’s deep vision for dealing with our allies in Europe is to side with Russia and to blame Ukraine for Russia’s invasion of that country. “Russia fought for that land in Ukraine and lost a lot of soldiers doing it, so Russia should keep it,” Trump said from Mar-a-Lago this week.
With reasoning like that, one can only imagine if Trump were President in 1942 he would say something like, “Germany fought for that land in Russia and lost a lot of soldiers doing it, so Germany should keep it,” then blaming Russia for Germany’s invasion.
Trump’s deep vision for justice is to fire and/or prosecute anyone who disagrees with him.
Trump’s deep vision for the economy is to destroy it with reciprocal tariffs and budget cuts which lays off thousands of government workers thus enabling him to give tax cuts to the excessively wealthy.
Trump’s deep vision for building unity is by banishing, belittling or politically beheading anyone who doesn’t fall into line. Mitch McConnell, one of the architects of the current Republican Party, among others, can testify about being thrown under the Trump bus.
Trump’s vision for free speech is to ban those who refuse to play by his rules.
He came out against the AP, calling the organization a bunch of “liars” for not conceding that the name of the Gulf of Mexico had changed – by his decree that it do so.
Trump’s deep vision for clean food, water, medical care, air traffic control and regulation of the industries his billionaire sidekicks own and operate is to fire everyone who makes any regulation possible.
One of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s first acts as United States Secretary of Health and Human Services was to fire CDC disease investigators and to potentially reverse the course on childhood vaccines. Meanwhile in West Texas a lack of vaccinations has led to a resurgence in measles among young children.
Trump’s deep vision for education is to end it. Linda McMahon, of WWE fame, is now the Secretary of Education – a department Trump has repeatedly said should be closed. Maybe if she could raise enough money by the WWE sponsoring physical education Trump might keep it. Who knows?
Trump’s deep vision for America is to sell it off for personal profit. He wants to “Drill baby Drill” and remove all manner of climate controls and exploit all natural resources for the sake of money.
Trump’s deep vision for international relations is to carve up the globe among the U.S., Russia and China – if for nothing else to exploit natural resources (as in Greenland and Ukraine).
Trump’s deep vision for entertainment is to dictate what the rules are in sports, what constitutes “art” and the elimination of drag shows he claims he’s never seen. Several acts have canceled Kennedy Center performances since he made himself the chair of the Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts, and the center canceled its Pride celebration
Trump’s deep vision for religion is to placate anyone who attends the “Six Flags Over Jesus Church of the Evangelical Righteous Gemstones” while never going to church or reading the Bible.
Trump’s deep vision for curing the “immigration problem” boils down to making the United States a less desirable place in which to live or visit. He claimed this week that illegal immigration was down since he took office. But he inflated the numbers when he came in, and so just reporting the facts now makes it seem he’s done something he actually hasn’t.
Trump’s deep vision for Social Security benefits is to lie about corruption at the Social Security Administration so he can cut or eliminate benefits while pocketing the money. He, his co-president Elon Musk and his Pep Secretary all pushed the well-established lie this week that there is widespread fraud in the dispersal of SSA funds.
Trump’s deep vision for all of government is to turn it over to Musk after the first 100 days. He then will burn it to the ground while Trump enjoys himself on the back nine at Mar-a-Lago.
Finally, Trump’s deep vision for dealing with any failure is to blame DEI, Joe Biden, the Democrats, our former European allies, “wokeism”, binomial nomenclature, science, and/or the LGBTQ community — not necessarily in that order.
Trump supporters, for the most part, are ecstatic at the speed with which Donald Trump has cemented his takeover of government. “I hope we hear more country music at the Kennedy Center now,” a Trump supporter from Kentucky told me. “I am glad he’s ending the woke agenda.” Another said that “getting rid of vaccines is the most responsible the government has ever been,” while still another Trump supporter told me, “It’s about time we ditched the pretend Democracies in NATO for our true friends in Russia.”
Others who voted for Trump, particularly the swing voters, are not so sure. There is a crack in his support, though his honeymoon in office looks a lot like a party at Studio 54 in the early 80s. Just look at the eyes. Or his pretend crown.
There are those who believe there will be a loud crash soon, or to employ mythology, Trump risks flying too close to the Sun, like Icarus, and will crash and burn. Of course, we’ve heard that for years and Trump still survives like a New York sewer rat desperately clinging to a piece of pizza.
One thing Trump hasn’t clung to is his claim that he would lower consumer prices from “Day One” of his new administration. Wednesday he admitted prices were still rising, claimed he couldn’t do anything about it, and . . . wait for it . . . blamed Biden.
So as the failures inevitably begin, the real question at this point is how long the bromance will continue between Trump and his co-president Musk? This is where it gets interesting. Monday the Department of Government Efficiency released a “wall of receipts” claiming to have slashed billions of dollars in the budget.
CBS News and others reported that the receipts were filled with inaccuracies and overestimated the amount saved “by billions of dollars.”
While the DOGE team led by Musk has become Trump’s favorite bragging point, there is growing backlash among Republicans and MAGA members who note that the richest man in the world is cutting jobs for average Americans while still getting multi-million dollar contracts from the government. “He’s just getting handouts,” I was told.
Should the outcry become too loud, and the failures begin to pile up too much, even the closest Trump supporters believe the Donald will dump Musk. And that could be a catastrophic event that would make the impending doom of an asteroid strike seem like another party at Studio 54.
Still, with Trump’s track record for leaving bodies in his wake, the higher Musk flies the more he risks being Icarus – not Trump. For example, look around to see who’s left from the first Trump administration; a lone Stephen Miller. That guy kisses Donald Trump’s posterior so effectively, it’s hard to believe he’s not surgically attached. He’s a political sucker fish. A remora who eats scraps of food dropped by Trump, is protected by Trump and gets a free ride from Trump. And like the Remora, Miller is known to eat the other parasites residing in and around Trump’s orifice.
That’s not Elon. He wants to jump on board only enough to lead a worldwide resurgence of the Nazi party’s sponsored trip to Mars to avoid the asteroid. Trump just wants the limelight and money.
And that leads us to the unavoidable conclusion that after just one month in office, the only thing we can be sure of with Donald Trump is that the next month will be more chaos in a blender, more devastating and the realization that those who are concerned about a “constitutional crisis” are very wrong.
That concern is in the rearview mirror. Take a look ahead. You're traveling through another dimension; a dimension not only of sight and sound but inside Trump’s mind.
Trump’s vision for America is the next episode of the Twilight Zone.
P.S; he loves the crown.
