Reblog from Keith

Published April 13, 2025 by Nan Mykel

The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board member used the I word

Posted on April 13, 2025

In an article by Tom Boggioni of Raw Story, he writes about an interesting editorial from the conservative Wall Street Journal called “’It’s already in the cards’: Trump impeachment urged by WSJ editorial board member.” Here are some key paragraphs from his piece.

“In a column published late Friday, a member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board claimed it would be ‘desirable’ to subject Donald Trump to a third impeachment to make up for the damage he has done to the U.S. economy with his ‘ill-founded’ trade war.

According to longtime columnist Holman W. Jenkins Jr., Trump’s on-again, off-again tariff threats almost makes it appear he wants to be impeached, with Jenkins writing, ‘A future Trump impeachment seemed all but guaranteed by last Wednesday morning. It seems only slightly less likely now. It may even be desirable to restore America’s standing with creditors and trade partners.’

As he sees it, the president’s last great achievement was being re-elected in 2024, and the damage he has been creating since then belies his promise of a ‘golden age,’ so an impeachment is ‘already ion the cards.’

‘No consensus or even significant coalition exists for trying to force into existence a new American ‘golden age’ with tariffs, which anyway is like asking a chicken to give birth to a lioness. He invented this mission out of his own confused intuition,’ he accused.

Noting that conservative historian Niall Ferguson labeled Trump’s trade policy going ‘full retard,’ he contributed, ‘I go with ‘neurotic’ for the word’s wider applicability to any leader who, lacking a clear bead on his times, fabricates a gratuitously ambitious mission to meet his misguided sense of importance.’

‘Nobody in Mr. Trump’s orbit actually shares his belief in the magical efficacy of tariffs because it makes sense only in a world that doesn’t exist, where other countries don’t retaliate,’ he pointed out before concluding, ‘The founders never anticipated today’s instantly responsive trillion-dollar financial markets. And yet these markets neatly adumbrate the founders’ scheme of checks and balances, also known as feedback. Mr. Trump, still sane enough to appreciate what’s good for Mr. Trump, listened this week to their feedback.’”

Former Treasury Secretary and Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellin added her criticism in The Hill:

“Former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen weighed in on the Trump administration’s trade war Friday evening, blasting President Trump’s latest roll-out of import taxes on nearly all trading partners.

‘This is the worst self-inflicted policy wound I’ve ever seen in my career inflicted on our economy,’ she told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in an interview. ‘The Trump tariff plans are doing immense damage to our economy.’”

One of the concerns I have long had is Trump has been corrected about twenty times by economists before his reelection regarding how tariffs work. He often implied that China paid for the tariffs, masking that American consumers paid the tariffs after importers passed along the cost. As late as October of last year at an economics conference, he had a hard time articulating how tariffs work. To be brutally frank, the only surprise to me is how quickly the Trump tariffs have harmed our financial reputation. –Keith is at musingsofanoldfart.wordpress.com

Keith on April 13, 2025 at 10:18 pm :Note to Readers: In a Bloomberg interview on October 15, 2024 with Editor in Chief John Micklethwait, the portion on tariffs is noted in a Rolling Stone article: “Trump gets schooled on tariffs. The central pillar of Trump’s economic plan is widespread tariffs on all imported goods, with penalties appearing to increase depending on how much he dislikes the country. Economists have warned that such a policy could have devastating effects on American consumers, who would be saddled with increased costs for all imported goods. When questioned about the specifics of his plan, and if he was aware of its pitfalls, Trump seemed ignorant of basic economic principles, insisting that other countries, not American consumers, would pay for the tariffs…

TO THINK OR JUST DO?

Published April 11, 2025 by Nan Mykel

It seems like a reasonable question, but of course it depends on the context. Best yet might be to think and then do. I became curious when I read that Trump promised he would use instinct to finally re-decide his tariff position.

According to reports, during his earlier term Trump showed little interest in the White House’s daily briefings. What does his heavy litany of lies reflect? A preference for instinct versus thinking or does he get them mixed up? Do his emotions light fuses that must be acted out? Has he never had psychotherapy or the chance for a heated Gestalt dialogue with his inner “pig parent?” Not for the first time I wonder if he never had a beloved pet growing up.

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MY SISTER ALLISON’S BIRTHDAY — There were photos of her on last year’s blog, but I’m still stuck on page one of Gutenberg. (I’ve gone deaf so am losing it between the ears.) Just wanted to remember the lovely one who passed back in 1983:: :Allison Buckman “Nikki” Bassett Manning (1942-1983): Birth: 11 Apr 1942. Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, USA. Death: 13 Apr 1983 (aged 41). From Find a Grave, which includes a photo of her. She is remembered with love.

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AGAIN, WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR?

Trump administration cuts funding and staff for flagship climate report–as he orders expansion of the industry: On Tuesday he signed four executive orders designed to boost the U.S. coal industry, outlining steps to protect coal-fired power plants and expedite leases for coal mining on U.S. land. But in touting the benefits of coal, he misrepresented several aspects of its safety and use.

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HIDING CLIMATE ANXIETY

The administration announced it is cutting nearly $4 million in federal funding for climate change research at Princeton University, saying that the work promoted “exaggerated and implausible climate threats” and increased “climate anxiety” among young Americans.. —NY Times’ Climate Forward

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Worried Whispers

Published October 21, 2024 by Nan Mykel

I’ve been hesitant to voice my concerns from a superstitious fear that voicing them might cause them, but time is running out. Will there be more violence if Trump wins or loses? Not a pretty picture.

Are there two different populations in Trump’s camp: both the wealthy and the frustrated foot soldiers who follow his lead to “stand down” or “up?” It appears to me that the wealthy may be weaponizing the white men on the bottom. I viewed many of the FBI’s WANTED photos, and feel some compassion for those who seemed to be feeling good about their actions. I think of the two populations as the “Hoodwinks” and the Wealthiest.

And I can imagine some men voting against Kamala as a result of concern about being usurped by women and their (our) movement, which leads me to my very unpopular stance that women should de-sexualize themselves if they (we) want to be viewed as equal humans. When I say “de-sexualize” I’m referring to the widespread effort to manipulate men by excessive “sexiness.” Some rapists believe females are trying to control them by making starving men hungrier (to coin a phrase). As a result of my perspective, I would like both men and women to feel better about themselves as adequate humans and strive to be more civilized.

And yes, the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling in 2010 may be at the root of it all.

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I STILL DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY

US President George Bush said he has signed into law a bill requiring the US Department of State to monitor global anti-Semitism and annually rate countries on their treatment of Jews.

The state’s Jewish population is the third largest in the world after Israel and New York.

The state department had opposed the legislation, saying it was unnecessary as the department already compiles such information in its annual reports on human rights and religious freedom.

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JOSH PAUL’S RESIGNATION…failed to get enough coverage in my opinion.

“My name is Josh Paul. I resigned from my position as a director in the US State Department’s Bureau of Political Military Affairs last October in opposition to
America’s policy of providing lethal arms to Israel in the context of its current war on Gaza….I believe to the core of my soul that the response Israel is taking , and with it the American support both for that response and for the status quo of the occupation, will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people-and is not in the long term American interest. This Administration’s response-and much of Congress’ as well-is an impulsive reaction built on confirmation bias, political convenience, intellectual bankruptcy, and bureaucratic inertia.” [Note: He is not the lead guitarist of the same name] –Aljazeera

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I WAS AN ENABLER

Published January 17, 2021 by Nan Mykel

For most of my life I was an enabler. Still have to fight it. We have enabled Donald Trump (the “real” Trump?) Ho. We have enabled his pretend presidency. He has raised gullible children.

I haven’t been alone. Cared for his feelings while he defecates on the American Dream. Impeach him one day and enable his leaving on a red carpet and a military gun salute “not to make him mad?” Present him with a list of those who voted for impeachment? Come on! I trust he will not be allowed a flyover on inauguration day, as I earlier protested.

Good parenting is called “natural consequences.” How dare him play nasty on the American Dre

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GOSH…

Published January 15, 2021 by Nan Mykel

I’m going to quit writing awhile, if I can. Too much going on and I’m too revved up for sensible conversation. You know that story I was pretending to write about the 2020 election? I don’t need to write any more in order to discover what kind of story it turned out to be. It is/was a horror story.

Somehow Bob Woodward’s book FEAR came into my hands without seeking, and I feel nauseated to find how stagecrafted Trump’s election was, how encouraged and how others modeled him like clay into being elected. He switched from being pro choice to pro life among other positions just for the pleasure of what would become his base. From the beginning his behavior was guideded and shaped by skillful goal oriented individuals who exercised their skills at manipulation in a behind the scenes dishonest game. He doesn’t seem to believe in anything except winning at the role adopted for him by behind the scenes despicables. All were surprised their games worked (backfired? farted?) and they succeeded in presenting the United States with a pretend president who had to be watched cafrefully. Letters were surreptitiously removed from his desk before signing in order to protect our country from him, etc., after he became the first president with unpredictable temper tantrums and irrational proposed actions.

So, I’m aggravated with news media for calling the “leaks” unpatriotic for trying to keep him from irreparable international harm, when they’re not only risking their jobs but trying to offset Trump’s rampant impulsive tantrums and elevator basement morality. By the way, anyone heard from the evangelicals recently?

And I do turn the tv off when the young “miracle worker” sells his gadget that will mechanically tell you that the best is yet to come for you, you are blessed with unanticipated good things in your future–sight unseen, of course. That one’s a money maker, all right, maybe run for president in 2024. Anyone heard from other evangelicals recently?

Sorry, hate to leave you with discouraging thoughts. I’ve set my card table up in my bedroom to facilitate drawing, collage making and poetry writing. I’m going to try and let my blog writing cool off a bit. Peace.

I CAN’T UNDERSTAND WHY….

Published November 29, 2020 by Nan Mykel

….The Evangelicals haven’t exorcised our president yet. Are they just going to leave the Bad Guy inside him?

Is There No Law Against…

Published November 28, 2020 by Nan Mykel

A president recklessly sacrificing the lives of his citizens for nefarious reasons? Or making up conspiracy theories against democracy? Might there be a law against starting a war in order to hurt the incumbent (and America?) Or assassinating citizens or non-citizens abroad? If not, there ought to be. [I confess to wondering how Epstein died in prison].

Our AG thinks presidential powers should not be limited. Do we think that efforts by elected officials to blatantly attack our democratic underpinnings is okay? WHAT BALLS! I can imagine a future during which our ineptitude to set limits on our leaders’ retaliations or threats against subserviant appointees is blameworthy and cowardly, if not dangerous. We also need to put in writing the protocol of when it’s permitted to appoint new Supreme Court occupants, with nothing left to assumptions of fair play.

And would it be too much to ask for a mandatory vetting of presidential candidates? –Perhaps also while in office or running for office? What’s good for the goose is…

DEAR NICOLA

Published November 26, 2020 by Nan Mykel

Ray Villafane, http://villafanestudios.com/

The following is one paragraph from a g-mail addressed to “Nicola,” evidently a mass mailing error from a worthy cause.

“Some Indigenous Peoples refer to ‘Thanksgiving’ as the ‘National Day of Mourning.’ It is a day founded in a myth about this country’s origin–one that reframes a long history of attempted genocide as a friendly feast. This year many people are mourning loved ones lost to Covid, as well as state and vigilante violence. For some of us, this will be a different ‘Thanksgiving’ – one with limited contact due to Covid precautions. This is a time to mourn, reckon, fortify.”

The following is not an excuse, just some of my thoughts about the occurrence of prejudice in the world, throughout history. People say, “No one is born prejudiced,” and that is true to some extent. Since I have a blind side like almost everyone, I have probably been racist in my thinking and behavior at some point, but not very much so. On the farm I played with a little black boy down the road until my visits were not facilitated. A black woman who ironed for us was the person who told me there was a word for “the day before today” and a different one for “the day after today.” I remember playing at the home of some black folks who I now think must have been our sharecroppers. I remember once visiting a black church with my father, and I had a black family sleepover at my house in Atlanta when the Mule Train passed through on its way to Washington in the late sixties. In college I was a member of ADA and we traveled to hear Martin Luther King speak. (We had to wait a little because there was a bomb scare). But I have learned through reading that we all have something genetic that makes us culturally prefer those who carry our own genes. It’s called kinship selection. The “us-them” dichotomy can be seen everywhere. Social experiments with school children have been done in which the children were divided into those with blue eyes versus those with brown-eyes and pitted against each other. The hostility that crept up was shocking.
You may have noticed that Trump has been riding that regrettable fact. That would have been a “Us vs. Them” tendency, which is atop or under the kinship preference process, which seems to be atop an even more basic primitive, archaic tendency which involves the ancient widespread valuing of our own genes. This tendency resurfaces when folks are asked who of several people they would save if they could save only one of their family versus five, say, unrelated. I’ll be quiet now. I was on a rant. Blame it on self-quarantine. But it does point to the fact that we as humans have a problem we need to work on if we hope to have a more just and lasting world. (I know, preachy and it’s not even Sunday).

Whew!

Published October 26, 2020 by Nan Mykel

Finally made it back before the election. (The Classic and Gutenberg were dueling and not everyone had that problem, but I hope it’s smooth sailing now.)

We were going to see what kind of diary this was going to be. When I heard Trump talking about moving out of the country I had hopes he was ready to move on, in which case this would turn out to be an adventure diary/novel.

Then I read the article in November’s Harper’s magazine called “The Enemies Briefcase — Secret Powers and the Presidency” (p 53-57) by Andrew Cockburn, in which William Barr fortified by a legal opinion the legitimacy of George H. W. Bush’s attack on Panama without congressional approval. During the Iran-Contra scandal Reagan’s minions underwent rehearsals for mass roundups of “subversives.”

Among others, a conservative young lawyer named William Barr was assigned the task in the CIA’s legislative office of designing accommodation measures to keep Church Committee investigators away from its most important records. An article in Politico in June warned that in the event of a national emergency on the grounds of national security, the president would have more than 120 statutory emergency powers at his disposal.

Ignoring the above concerns (didn’t the courts find fault with calling the need for a southern “wall” due to an emergency, in retrospect?), I have to wonder if Trump could rein in his paramilitary troops even if he wanted to. They’ve been practicing. What’s their payoff?

Trump will be concerned about the prospect of Prison if he should lose. EXCEPT that Attorney General Barr has said the president has the power to pardon himself and his friends. (I assume this covers his family, too.) I might see him high-tailing it to a dictatorship, except for the danger to the current dictator, and Trump’s knee-jerk tendency to play “Gotcha.”

Unless we’re VERY LUCKY, I’m thinking this could turn out to be a tragedy instead of an adventure or comedy.

I’m so glad to be back on WordPress…

I HATE TO HATE

Published October 26, 2020 by Nan Mykel

I know that hate can make one a hateful person, but the news that the vacancy on the Supreme Court has just been filled inches me pretty close to it. It seems there’s no mercy in politics; possibly never was. A little power can sure rot the soul, if there is one.