Seriously, is it a surprise that the Trump administration rescinded Obama’s executive order on school bathroom access based on self-identified gender rather than chromosomes? The announcement is timed aptly for CPAC conservative Christians meeting. Was there any reason to assume that 45 would be more truthful in this campaign promise than any of the other things that he’s said before or since? Should we have questioned that campaign promise to protect the LGBTQ community when he got muddled in the letters as he spoke them, as if they were foreign to his tongue? The Donald has correctly surmised that his pool of supporters in that sector is relatively shallow, primarily those engaged in self-loathing or denial or just plain opportunists; during the campaign, he was just throwing out the term to seem more inclusive to moderates; “Hey, I’m not showing hate; you can vote for me if you’re hatin’ on Hillary!” People demonstrating in the streets knew it was coming; that’s why they came out.
It’s a little surprising that Betsy D was a little reluctant to get with the Sessions’ program. In light of her ideas to return decisions about schools to the states and local school boards as part of the rhetoric about choice, the policy change seemed appropo. This is the place where Republicans give free reign to any local variant of an -ism: racism, antisemitism, sexism. We have seen this movement before, when southerners doubled down on segregated schools and created, with public money, their own white academies to resist integration. Jeff Sessions isn’t a big proponent of rolling back the regulations for nothing; he’s had a lot of experience with this stuff in Alabama.
Sanitized in their little homogenized bubbles, Republicans speak of what “the American people think” as if it is the same as what Republicans think. The spectre of “deviant” behavior haunts these conservatives at every turn. They must regulate all relationships between the genders. They lost badly as sodomy was decriminalized, then on the marriage front with civil unions, extension of beneficiary status to same sex partners and finally equal status under the law. Now, they are holding the line at the toilet. Thus, legislators, rather than represent all of their constituents, the basis of representative democracy, are on a mission to ram their agendas down all of our throats. If you’re only talking to the people who think like you, you come to believe that all people “in their right mind” think like you and you just dismiss the rest.
There may be a silver lining in the elevation of local control to mantra status. Consider the concept of local LGBTQ welcoming charter schools, where students, faculty and staff value quality education conducted in a microcosm that reflects a cross section of society. These would be academies where knowledge is more important than who is sitting at the next classroom desk; where creativity and innovation are encouraged; where the atmosphere is free of fear, an important factor in allowing teaching and learning to happen. A place where students are free to use the bathroom of their choice.
Working and middle class families will be asked to wait in line as wealthy businesses and individuals get much larger tax cuts in order to create jobs while being liberated from “job-killing” regulations. They will be sold the idea that you can either have a job or a healthy family living in a clean environment but you can’t have both. And while they wait, diminished federal revenues will leave everyone except the wealthy with shrunken resources from which to choose. The choice will be among several different kinds of peanuts; there will be no roast beef or steak on the menu.
A jet, a ball cap, a T Shirt, Twitter, and a speech captured the White House for the RealityPresident. It should be interesting to see how the “fine tuned machine” in the White House can cope. The legislative branch has trouble functioning when candidates have to run for reelection every 2 years; the chambers stop working completely 6 months, and sometimes longer, before presidential administrations end. Fortunately, the civil service keeps the government running; the executive branch sets the policy vision and career workers translate the vision into day to day activity. The Cabinet is responsible for agency oversight. Unfortunately, there appears to be thousands of politically appointed jobs that remain unfilled which can leave the government lurching forward. It seems like the BullyPresident is having trouble recruiting the best and the brightest. They may have to settle for relatives of rich relatives. And while 45 is wandering among auditorium mics, Bannon is there to keep things running smoothly, just like Carl Rove and Dick Cheney were there for Bush 43. We’re watching history in the remaking.
He soared in praise of his largest electoral college win since Reagan. When he was later called on his faux facts, with the information that Obama had a larger electoral count, he demurred that he was speaking only of Republican candidates. To the comeback that Bush and Clinton both had larger totals, he actually relented by saying this is just the information he was given. (I bet that aide will be moving to a different position.) A quick Google search could have cleared it up for him. No 
reading involved; just a glance at the red and blue colored maps. When asked why 
Americans should trust what he says when he gives false information, he simply sidestepped to insist that the reporter agree that his victory was “a very substantial one.” The elephant in the room is why is Trump so willing to broadcast information that is unconfirmed by multiple sources or patently false. This is obviously purposeful strategy fomented by Trump’s own Goebbels, Bannon. This is unmistakeable, given Bannon’s Breitbart history and his openly stated philosophical world view. He’s in mortal combat with his stated enemy, the media.
Just in case, he took the opportunity to hedge his failures in future Russian relations. He has grossly underestimated Putin, a fatal flaw for a MasterDealmaker. Bannon’s view that Putin is an ally flows from the desire to create Armageddon where all established governments fall. That is antithetical to American policy. He sees Iran and China as the principal US enemy, the first moving closer to Russia and the later a foe. For Trump to envision Russia as the wedge to allow America First to abdicate our role in the Middle East may even be prearranged, as Putin is well into the process. So just in case it goes awry, President Dealmaker said “Putin probably assumes that he can’t make a deal with me anyway because politically, it would be unpopular for a politician to make a deal.” Not a chance; the Russian bear hasn’t invested this much in their Manchurian candidate to fold easily. (Stay tuned for “Putin’s Octopussy Tentacles”) Putin will make the deal that most advantages him; as long as Trump is giving, he’ll keep taking.
45 went on to be even more playful in one of his frequent denials of racial bias-”I’m the least racist person you have ever met”. Then, in response to a question from an African American reporter about including the CBC (Congressional Black Caucus) in discussion of his agenda in urban centers, he asserted that he wanted to meet with them and quipped, “ Are you friends with them? Maybe you could arrange a meeting with them.” Just pure cynicism. This is where the popular conception of racism fails to retain any meaning in the current climate. First, he clearly didn’t know what the CBC is. Next, The Donald played on the insulting assumption that because of her color, she would have some special connection to the Black Caucus. As if all Black people know each other, a common misconception of the wealthy who live in white worlds inhabited only by Black servants. As if the CBC isn’t an old established organization of Congressmen that shouldn’t need to be cornering friends to communicate with the president. Of course, it was all for theatrical effect. Trumpophants, many of whom don’t know about the CBC, would not have acknowledged race bias in this exchange; he just expressed what they think as they too live in the social isolation of their own groups. The Black Caucus’ multiple requests to meet with the President have fallen on deaf ears. John Lewis is a star, but not like Kanye or Steve Harvey although all three have insulted the Donald. And honestly, when the White House staff call Congressmen to meet, even those in opposition, they answer the call. Trump’s proving once again that he intends to be President for only some of the people, the ones with white skin tones. 
frequently, old men want what they want when they want it. Donald Trump is our oldest president, beating out Reagan by 8 months at inauguration. Now we know that Nancy was covering for her Ronnie as he developed symptoms of Alzheimer’s during his administration. As David Brooks, of the NY Times said “It’s [the administration] more “The Madness of King George”. He predicts that we on the verge of “a moment in which US economic and military might is strong but US political might is weak. Imagine the Roman Empire governed by Monaco.” 
Fortunately, the press remained undeterred and shouted questions about the Russian connection as Trump retreated from the room, refusing to say anything. So back to the every growing buzz about Trump campaign aides’ connections to Russian operatives. Turns out, Trump like any competent Manchurian candidate, enlisted his aides to interact with agents of his overlords. And, sonofabitch, the FBI knew some of this during the campaign (and presumably briefed Obama), but chose to withhold this information. They were too busy dumping on Hillary to comment on her charges that Trump was a Russian puppet. Why the obvious bias here? Is it simply that the FBI did not have sufficient information or something else political?
Not to be outdone, our Putin puppet has already taken steps to limit activities of intelligence agencies at a time it could be argued that they should be enhanced, particularly in cyberspace. He proposed Stephen Feinberg, billionaire founder of Cerberus Capital Management, to head a broad review of the intelligence agencies. Feinberg, already on 45’s economic advisory council, would occupy this position as part of White House staff, thus circumventing Congressional approval. Trump’s authoritarian brain at work- he wants what he wants when he wants it. He seems to have translated his ideas about shrinking the Federal government into bloating the White House staff, positions made attractive to billionaires by exemption from any reasonable salary caps. Your tax dollars put to work transferring wealth to the wealthy. Feinberg, a close friend of both Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner, is a way to slip a Trump loyalist into a world they view as hostile. Feinberg could bring Bannon’s worldview into harnessing intelligence operatives to respond to the will of the leader. This action could go a long way to plugging those leaks that at subverting the administration, leaks motivated by the chaos and confusion reigning down around them.
And that’s the rub. Is it any wonder that the Bully President is feuding with the national security agencies? The FBI and CIA operate independently and they just keep peeking into 45’s business. An independent security force is an anathema for an autocrat; he must harness their power to his service if he is to succeed. He may want to alter the routine monitoring of Russians, but even he must realize that would be dangerous. While President Dealmaker may drive a hard bargain, it’s hard to do without information. He may be larger than life, but only God is that big. We wait with baited breathe to see how Trump surmounts this stumbling block. We could have administration spooks spying on the government spooks!
While the Senators are playing games, Trump is quickly taking steps to establish a dictatorship. He’s using the classic moves. He’s undermining the free press, through constant attacks. He’s creating his own reality, saturated with his own lies and alternative facts. His Joseph Goebbels, Steve Bannon, first developed a fake news and social network, Breitbart, and linked it with a cable news outlet, Fox News through Roger Ailes, saturating all modes of communication. Throughout Trump’s campaign, they manipulated the media to broadcast his rallies; he could call into any TV or radio outlet at will, spreading his lies without a single contesting voice to his faux facts. His message was everywhere free of charge. Even his Tweets were rebroadcast worldwide, just as they continue to be. After election night, Trump launched right into “co-governing” with Obama, Constitution be damned! He even had General Flynn out negotiating with the Russian ambassador, as private citizens! That’s espionage or at least it used to be. As in all things, Trump consistently created new normals, always outside established traditions, frequently unethical or illegal; and always less civil.
Trump washed into the White House, bolstered by his oligarchic cabinet cronies and his Goebbels, firmly ensconced as the chief strategist with a seat at the National Security Council. And of course, a bevy of family “advisers”; like any good Napoleon, he’s crammed as many family members on the government payroll as he can fit. 
Left unmentioned were the US and European Commision sanctions which apply to all major Russian banks and oil and gas companies; American oil and gas corporations and probably Secretary of State Tillerson, are anxious to put an end to those. The most recent set of sanctions imposed by Obama at the end of his administration were a response to Russian hacking activity, affecting several individuals and cybersecurity firms. These have already been altered by 45.
oleblacklady 