Sunday Issues-December 29, 2024

Happy New Year!

Photo by Matt Botsford on Unsplash, modified by the author.

This year ends with something I did not see coming. This morning, I picked up my New York Times and read that Putin has apologized for the crash of the Azerbaijani Airlines flight shot down by Russian air defenses last week. The apology, of course, did not include an explicit admission of responsibility but is as close as we will get from Mr. Putin. I’ll take it.

Who’s in charge of Trump's visa policy?

Speculation continues over how long the Trump-Elon Musk “bromance” will continue. A breakup may occur sooner than later. This week, Musk emphasized support for the H-1B visa program, which facilitates the entry of skilled engineers and other professionals into the United States. Musk’s position, echoed by Vivek Ramaswamy, is at odds with MAGA Republicans.

Trump attempted to limit the visas during his first term in office. Last week, after news of Musk’s and Ramaswamy’s disagreement surfaced, Musk was quoted in the New York Post expressing support for the program: “I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I've been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It's a great program.” Curious.

Let’s hope Musk disagrees with Trump on other subjects, including prosecuting Liz Cheney, promoting drilling for fossil fuels, and pardoning the January 6, 2021, insurrectionists. We’ll see. Musk may disagree with Trump on visas but has become a card-carrying MAGA member.

Finding logic in annexing Canada and the Panama Canal.

I laughed last week when I read that a Trump advisor, speaking anonymously, claimed that there is logic behind reckless and destructive foreign policy proposals. The logic was that by threatening Panama and Canada, their governments would stop the “abuse” of America.

That explanation sounds like lipstick on a pig to me. (Thank you, Sarah Palin.)

Trump is still focused on the 2024 election.

Donald Trump has been hard at work funding and planning “the greatest presidential inauguration in the history of America,” so why does he continue to make self-congratulatory posts about the election on his social media site?

Even more puzzling is that he still occasionally attacks the Harris campaign. Remember Kamala Harris? That is the woman he beat in November in “the greatest election win in history.”

Why is Trump so focused on the past? And why is he posting smug-looking pictures of himself online? What is wrong with him?

Far-Fetched Hopes for the Trump Administration.

Do you believe in miracles? I do, but don’t go overboard. The Trump administration will not suddenly become something I can support.

Since election day, the Trump presidential transition has been difficult to watch. Three things are worrisome: his nominees, several aggressive foreign policy objectives, and his threats of retribution against his political enemies. These three things make me dread January 20, 2025, but what if the Trump administration isn’t as bad as some fear?

I believe in miracles despite not seeing any in 2024. It would have only taken a minor miracle for me to write about the Harris administration’s plans for the future. With less than a month until Inauguration Day, I am hoping for miracles of all sizes.

Here are my hopes:

Any program of deportations will be conducted humanely. Many—I would say most—of the undocumented people in the U.S. came here for economic opportunity or to escape violence and oppression at home. We need to remember that.

Immigration reform. Donald Trump killed a reasonable immigration reform bill before the election to keep the border security campaign issue alive. That was unfortunate, but now that he is president, I hope he will work with Democrats and his party to enact a bill that creates an easier legal path to citizenship.

Sound economic policy. I’m not an economist, but I know Trump’s tariff proposals will re-ignite inflation. I hope he skillfully abandons proposals for 25 percent tariffs on all Mexican and Canadian imports. And while we are thinking about economics, let’s honestly assess the impact of the extension of the Trump tax cuts on the federal debt. They shouldn't be enacted if the tax cuts will exacerbate the national debt.

Climate change. I don’t like the phrase, “drill, baby, drill,” and neither should you. This is not the time to abandon efforts to address climate change. I hope Trump will rethink his energy policy and realize that the near-endless string of natural disasters we experienced this year were mostly caused by climate change.

Peace. President-Elect Trump has promised peace in the Middle East and Ukraine. I hope he fulfills this campaign promise, but not at the cost of rewarding Vladimir Putin or unfairly resolving the wars in the Middle East.

Stronger alliances. I almost wrote, “continuation of our alliances with Canada and Mexico,” but let’s not forget about the threat of seizing the Panama Canal, forcibly “buying” Greenland from Denmark, and slapping even more tariffs on China.

I’m not holding my breath.

Best wishes for a Happy New Year.

See you next year!