Friday Insights-May 16, 2025
Will someone wake-up the President?
President Trump’s propaganda team is likely celebrating the release of Original Sin, an ill-timed exposé of President Biden’s mental decline. The book confirms what many of us knew—that Joe Biden was 78 years old when inaugurated on January 20, 2021, and was showing his age. The book, in essence, accuses Biden, his family, and White House staff of covering up Biden’s decline.
Donald Trump, who did a bit of snoozing himself on his trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi, is not likely to have read Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson's book but is benefiting from its publication. The President has been using Biden’s decline as an excuse for his most brutal and consequential policies.
Donald Trump knows how to kick a man when he’s down, but Trump is using Biden’s decline to discredit Biden’s presidency. Biden failed to police the southern border, Trump suggests, because he was “sleepy.” Trump also goes so far as to suggest Biden wasn’t aware of the policies implemented in his name, implying that the policies themselves are illegitimate.
I don’t doubt the factual accuracy of Original Sin, but regret its publication. Why did Tapper and Thompson write it? Other than making money, did they realize that Trump and his followers would celebrate the book to bolster the legitimacy of Trump’s second term? The book also implies that Biden should not have run or won the presidency in 2000.
I won’t be reading Original Sin. Biden’s presidency is now history. Regardless of whether or not Biden was unfit to be president by 2024, the problem today is Trump, not Biden. I am more interested in reading about Trump’s corruption, his drozyness at meetings, and his relentless grabs for power than about an ex-president.
Ukraine.
Does President Trump understand that Vladimir Putin doesn’t respect him? I don’t think so. Before election day, Trump bragged about his relationship with Putin. Trump called him a “genius” and implied that he understood why Putin invaded Ukraine. He also argued that Putin would not have started the war had he been in the White House in 2022. He also said he would end the war “on Day One,” something he now says was an “exaggeration.”
Trump now appears frustrated with Putin but remains reluctant to impose more sanctions on him.
An end to the war remains elusive. Given his complicated relationship with the Russian dictator, is Trump capable of developing a new plan?
Trump won’t get his 747.
Fifty years from now, Trump’s ham-fisted scheme to get himself a 747 decked out as a “flying palace” may emerge as the defining moment of his presidency. Trump did not expect Republicans would consider the “gift” ridiculous. Trump does not seem to understand that it is impossible to retrofit the Qatari 747 with “necessary” communications and military upgrades anytime soon. And I could go on.
Trump is no longer talking or writing (on Truth Social) about the plane. This is a wise move on his part. He looked like a joke, especially after reports that the aircraft had been on sale for more than four years and that Qataris only decided to give it to Trump after concluding there was no market for it.
What will happen to the 747? Why don’t they give it to Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg? Both have the financial resources to fly and maintain the aircraft, and could start enjoying it immediately.
The Big Beautiful, Ill-Conceived, and Endangered Bill.
President Trump remains likely to get Congress to enact major parts of his agenda—things like extending most of his 2017 tax cuts, increasing the defense budget, and providing billions of new funding for border security—but much of the rest of his agenda is likely to fall by the wayside.
Some congressional Republicans are balking at raising the national debt by $2.5 billion and cutting Medicaid. This is good news.
The Trump steamroller is slowing down, at least as far as Congress is concerned. But how will Trump respond? Could reticence on Capitol Hill prompt Trump to double up on his grabs of executive power? Let’s hope not, but I’m worried.
Fun in the Arabian Peninsula.
Donald Trump had a fun trip to the Arabian Peninsula this week. Yes, he may have fallen asleep at a meeting or two, but remember that Saudi Arabia is seven hours ahead of Washington, D.C. Our 78-year-old president may have had trouble adjusting to the time change. Or is he simply getting old?
Thank you.
Thank you for reading Friday Insights. Have a good weekend.
Craig, thanks. I agree with your theory. My perception is that many of them chose to ignore Biden's decline. Had there been more documentation of his decline, it may have prompted him to decide not to run much earlier.
I recall working on the Hill in the 1970s. There was a senior Montana Democrat, Lee Metcalf, who was a chronic and acute alcoholic. I was amazed that with all the reporters constantly roaming the halls of the Capitol those days, I never read a word about it. The Senator's staff would carry him in. When his name was called, one of them would face away from the chair and vote.
In any case, thanks for your kind words about the piece. Much appreciated.
The focus on Biden by the mainstream media plays right into Trump’s hands. It's another distraction from this administration's brazen corruption and outrageous talk of suspending habeas corpus. I daresay their strategy of flooding the zone and attempting to distract people from the real issues, is working for a large segment of Americans, which is unfortunate.