FOR TRUMP SECOND TERM IS R & R

that’s riches and revenge

For most two term U.S. Presidents the first is the more successful, opposed to the “curse of the second term.”
Yet most of these Presidents seek some legacy second term achievements. For Eisenhower it was the creation of a space agency and, unexpectedly, civil rights. For Reagan it was moderating the cold war with the Russians; for Obama it was a deal to halt Iran’s quest for at for a nuclear weapon and straightening out his poorly launched health care plan.
For Donald Trump his second terms actually seems far better as there are almost no restrictions and he lacks any substantive vision. Conservative columnist George Will called it a “frivolous and oblivious” Presidency.”
Trump is not oblivious to the two Rs; getting richer and getting retribution.
Both endeavors are corrupt.
“Most Presidents want to get something meaningful in a second term; that has eluded Trump,” says Douglas Brinkley a Presidential historian at Rice University. “He sees American Democracy as a gouge.”
A perfect example. He went to war in Iran to stop them from getting a nuclear weapon, which he declared would be an existential threat; he worried about nuclear proliferation.
Absent the quick victory he now seems bored and looking for an Iran exit strategy. As for his determination on nuclear proliferation, he’s renewing his bromance with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, who already possesses nuclear weapons.
He tried that in 2018. Trump got some love letters from the little dictator; Kim Jong Un now has three times as many nuclear warheads.
Trump has achieved a new category for Presidential greed. Anything he touches, he wants a piece of.
A Reuters poll last week found a strong majority of the public believe Trump is illicitly profiting from the Presidency and that it’s inappropriate for the Trumps to earn money from cryptocurrency.
Trump doesn’t believe it and as second term President, with no guardrails, it’s the press and the public be damned as he builds massive wealth while real wages decline for the average workers.
His overall revenue has increased three fold. The biggest scam is the crypto racket where he makes billions and other influence seekers, some foreign, take the losses.
The crypto business is right down Trump’s alley: legally dubious, with lax enforcement.
He has made real estate deals around the world, accepted a $500 million airplane from Qatar, made over 25,000 stock trades, some seemingly based on inside information.
He peddles merchandise with the Trump brand, even keeping a stock room right off the oval office. His children have raked in hundreds of millions more with special government-related investments.
In a terrific story last week, the Wall Street Journal reported Trump has a personal fundraiser, Margaret O’Rourke, who he calls “the Princess of darkness,” who solicits contributions for him from business and special interests. To date, the paper calculates, they’ve hauled in more than $800 million.
What we know may be only the top of the financial shakedowns.
The other priority is revenge get all those perceived enemies. That this is pure retribution using a Justice Department eager to serve his commands.
To be specific, indictments have been sought, among others, of Democratic Senators Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin and four House members --all veterans -- for declaring military personnel should not obey illegal orders; Federal Reserve chairman Jay Powell for refusing to cut interest rates; former FBI director James Comey for not stopping the investigation into the Trump-Russian connection in his first term, and New York Attorney General Letitia James for suing his business interests.
These cases were so fraudulent they were rejected by a grand jury -- exceedingly rare -- -or thrown out by a judge.
They’re still after Comey on another specious charge, and have their sights on Barack Obama’s CIA director John Brennan.
Famed journalist Bob Woodward, who broke many of the stories about the Watergate scandal, says Trump is far more “reckless” and a greater “danger to democracy” than Nixon.
It’s separate from his pervasive criminality but Trump’s perverse ego is a stain on the office and the country. Since the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was created there have been ten other Presidents. None had the chutzpah or vulgarity to try to add their name to that of the martyred President. Trump did, it was rejected by a judge but he’s back trying again.
There never has been an airport named for a sitting President until last month: the Palm Beach International Airport became the Donald J Trump International Airport.
Some critics hope that when/if the Democrats take charge of Congress after the midterms, they can rein in Trump. That may be wishful thinking. More likely it will just drive him to more secretive abuses.
“With the exception of the Civil War,” notes historian Douglas Brinkley, “this is the most dangerous period in American history.”