“Pondering the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from> around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.
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Dean Baker and Jeff Hauser: President Trump’s Dramatic Retreat on Trade
Trade was a major theme in President Trump’s campaign.
He repeatedly complained that our trade negotiators were stupid and therefore had negotiated bad trade agreements. These bad trade deals are the cause of our trade deficits, which have cost us millions of manufacturing jobs over the last two decades.
Trump made very specific promises to turn things around once he was in the White House. In “Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter,” his “100-day action plan to Make America Great Again” included two very clear trade-related promises:
“I will direct the Secretary of the Treasury to label China a currency manipulator” and “I will announce my intention to renegotiate NAFTA or withdraw from the deal under Article 2205.
As we approach the 100 day mark of the Trump administration, there is no evidence of progress in fulfilling either promise. Trump’s failure to act on core campaign promises while he and his family continue to wheel and deal in the private sector raises questions about whether Trump is sacrificing the interests of his voters to the wishes of his business partners.
Will Bunch: Biggest Threat to ‘Law-and-Order’? Our Delusional Attorney General
He repeatedly mangles facts and butchers the truth — and almost never apologizes for it. He managed to rise to the top in Washington when many thought that the issue of racism would kill his career. He’s a zealot on immigration who consistently portrays America’s cities as urban hellholes, where residents should thank God every day that they’re not shot.
And on his worst days — which is almost every day, to be honest — he can almost make President Trump look like a sane centrist. OK, I said “almost.”I am writing, of course, of Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, the 84th attorney general of the United States and arguably the worst, which is quite a feat since that list includes a convicted felon — Richard Nixon’s AG John Mitchell, caught up in Watergate — and Ronald Reagan’s Ed Meese, who didn’t believe that hunger existed in America.
But Jeff Sessions is in a league of his own, because he is developing brutal policies for an America that doesn’t exist — where crime in big cities, or committed by undocumented immigrants is skyrocketing, to out-of-control levels and where the “Reefer Madness” of marijuana is a crisis that’s destroying the nation from within. He bases these “law-and-order” jihads largely on what we now call “alternative facts.” But if Sessions isn’t stopped, he may actually succeed in making the country less safe — a situation that he would certainly exploit to plunge America into the kind of authoritarianism that both he and Trump would applaud.
Bryce Covert: Why Abortion Is a Progressive Economic Issue
The Democrats’ unity tour fractured into disunity almost immediately after it began. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont refused to say whether Jon Ossoff, the Democratic candidate trying to win a typically Republican district in Georgia while being outspoken in support of abortion rights, counts as a progressive. He then went on to stump for Heath Mello in Nebraska. Mr. Mello, who is running for mayor in Omaha, has sponsored legislation aimed at restricting women’s access to abortion, including a bill in 2009 that required women to be informed that they could look at ultrasounds of their fetuses.
The Democratic National Committee chairman, Thomas E. Perez, didn’t do much to dampen the growing outrage among progressives who see reproductive rights as core to their values. “If you demand fealty on every single issue, then it’s a challenge,” he said last week.
It’s not just a misstatement from Mr. Perez or a slight from Mr. Sanders. Democrats, in their postelection soul searching, are trying to learn the lessons from Donald Trump’s jolting victory and how they might win back the presidency. And some — all men so far, it should be noted — argue that the party should move away from so-called social issues like abortion and reproductive freedom.
Joshua Matz: No one sabotages Donald Trump better than Donald Trump
Welcome to the age of presidential sabotage. Since assuming office, President Donald J Trump has shown little inclination to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed”, as commanded by the US constitution. Instead, he has openly declared his intention to wreak havoc in key programs.
He has appointed officials known to be sworn enemies of their own agencies. He has gutted protections for students, consumers, women, workers, and the environment. And he has threatened to inflict staggering damage on US insurance markets – unless opponents bend to his will and repeal the Affordable Care Act.
But nowhere has Trump proved more effective at undermining federal programs than his own executive orders. There, wielding his Twitter handle like a doomsday device, Trump has displayed an unparalleled flair for self-sabotage. This will hold true, however, only if courts recognize that Trump’s statements must be taken seriously.
Ricardo J. Salvador: Will Sonny Perdue, Trump’s agriculture pick, stand up for the little guy? Don’t bank on it
Donald Trump owes his election in no small part to the support of farm country. But since entering office, almost all his actions and pronouncements have betrayed an abysmal understanding of farm and rural concerns. No surprise, then, that food and farm advocates have looked eagerly to Sonny Perdue, who was sworn in as agriculture secretary on Tuesday, to educate and temper the president on their issues.
The new secretary has his work cut out for him. The president unveiled a budget blueprint last month that slashed funding for the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) by 21%.
Will Perdue become the champion that the advocates hope for? He gave mixed messages about his vision during his confirmation hearing. Perdue wants to preserve the “broad tent” approach of his predecessor, such as supporting organic and locally grown and consumed food. Unfortunately, he also stated that “the jury is still out on whether humans are causing climate change”. He also indicated that he would be open to allowing school districts to formulate their own meal plans, a move that could undermine the 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, which requires schools to provide nutritious meals with more fruits and vegetables. Frozen- and junk-food companies have lobbied for loosening the regulation.
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