Friday Insights-February 14, 2025
President Trump remains busy, unfortunately
What a week! I never thought I’d say it, but I wish President Trump would play more golf, continue redecorating the White House, and spend more time on Truth Social.
Neville Chamberlain 2.0?
I have read The Art of the Deal but don’t remember much of it. Maybe it suggested that the key to a successful negotiation is to concede everything the opposing party asks for before the talks begin, but I doubt it. So why did Donald Trump cut off aid to Ukraine, have his Secretary of Defense tell European allies that Ukraine’s demands for an end to the war were “unrealistic,” and take NATO membership off the table?
John Bolton, former National Security Advisor to Trump in the president’s first term, commented:
President Trump has effectively surrendered to Putin before the negotiations have even begun.
Bolton believes the U.S. is throwing Ukraine under the bus because Trump is.
Trump proudly announced that the negotiations with Putin to end the war would start “immediately.” Ukrainian President Zelensky is not a party to the talks. I find this shameful.
Is Trump “pulling a Neville Chamberlain?” Is Trump so anxious to end U.S. support to Ukraine that he is ready to award Putin the win in its war of aggression? Disgusting, deeply troubling, and a possible turning point in the history of American world leadership.
I have worried for years that “Putin has something on Trump.” There is no evidence that he does, but the existence of the kompromat that was rumored years ago—a video of Trump with a prostitute in a Moskow hotel—keeps coming to mind as a possibility. Such a tape would be a more logical explanation for Trump’s shameful abandonment of Ukraine than anything I have heard.
Gabbard and Kennedy confirmed—No surprise.
If Russia, China, and other foreign adversaries worry you, you had a bad week. If you depend on or rely on Obamacare, Medicare, or Medicaid to keep you healthy, you should be worried. The Senate confirmed two of President Trump’s most problematic cabinet nominees this week.
Only one GOP Senator—Mitch McConnell (R-KY)—voted against Gabbard. The rest of the Republican delegation voted for Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.
American’s enemies are likely offering a toast to President Trump. Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence? I didn’t think it was possible.
And what about RFK, Jr.? Let’s hope he learns the difference between Medicare and Medicaid. Let’s hope enough HHS employees are left after Musk's purge so that the Department can process checks and run the massive healthcare system.
As pointed out repeatedly during the two RFK, Jr. confirmation hearings, Kennedy had no expertise in health care. What he knows, sadly, comes from his advocacy of conspiracy theories and for helping plaintiffs’ law firms find clients to sue drug companies. (In the confirmation hearings, we learned that “finders’ fees” can be lucrative).
Budget reconciliation—Will Republicans rubber stamp the extension of the Trump tax cuts despite their cost?
The details of Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill—the planned vehicle for President Trump’s tax and budget cut proposals—are not out yet, but the plan does not decrease the national debt. Instead, it will increase the debt ceiling to permit the enactment of an extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts.
Speaker Johnson suggests Republicans, including the far-right members of the Freedom Caucus (Rep. Andy “Handgun” Harris (R-MD) is chair). We’ll see.
I expect some creative budget scoring-exaggerated budget savings—as well as overestimates of how the extension of the Trump tax cuts will stimulate the economy so as to increase tax revenues.
The Trump “Fair and Reciprocal Plan.”
President Trump announced this week that he is implementing “reciprocal tariffs.” The “Fair and Reciprocal Plan” intends to eliminate tariffs and other trade obstacles that disadvantage the U.S. The new tariffs will be complicated and include reciprocal tariffs and additional tariffs intended to address disadvantages to the U.S. from Value-Added Taxes (VAT), restrictions on U.S. businesses operating in foreign countries, and similar factors.
U.S. businesses are scurrying to determine how the program will impact them. David French, EVP of the National Retail Federation, commented:
While we support the president’s efforts to reduce trade barriers and imbalances, this scale of undertaking is massive and will be extremely disruptive to our supply chains. It will likely result in higher prices for hardworking American families and will erode household spending power.
The White House published a list of quotes from allies and Republican legislators praising the plan.
Prosecutors resign in Eric Adams case—Hooray for career prosecutors taking a stand.
What may become the first major scandal of Trump 2.0 is the mass resignation of prosecutors in the Eric Adams case. After the administration announced that charges were being dropped against the New York Mayor, the lead prosecutor resigned in protest, alleging that Adams’ lawyers offered a quid pro quo deal to the Department of Justice: Adams would cooperate with Trump’s mass deportation scheme in exchange for the bribery and other charges being dropped against the Mayor.
The lead prosecutor, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Danielle Sassoon, smelled a rat. After her resignation, others in the DOJ's Public Integrity Section also resigned.
It is unclear if anyone has filed a motion to dismiss the charges against Adams. Six resignations have already been made in protest of Trump’s actions. Will there be more?
More importantly, will the public react to the resignations and ask, “Why would career prosecutors, including Ms. Sassoon, a conservative, resign?”
Stay tuned.
Thank you.
That is all for now. Trump 2.0 is keeping us all busy and worried. I will have more on Sunday in Sunday Issues.
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