Trump Triumphant: The First Three Weeks

Recent historical experience shows that geriatric American presidents range from catatonic (Biden) to manic (Trump) but that they are senile old fools just the same. And while such a judgment could be made automatically simply by looking at and listening to Biden, when assessing Trump it is essential to strictly adhere to the Scripture: “By their deeds you will know them. Does a man gather grapes from thorns or figs from briars?” (Matthew 7:16) Over the past three weeks, the thorns and the briars have been getting quite a thrashing; but let's look for grapes and figs and see if any are to be found.

1. Trump demanded that Denmark hand over Greenland, which has been Danish ever since Eric the Red, a.k.a. Eirikr rauði Þorvaldsson (the funny letters in his name reflecting a speech defect caused by teeth missing due to scurvy) landed there around 950AD and gave it its name (it was green at the time thanks to global warming but is now mostly white because we are in an ice age). The Danish prime ministress (who has all her teeth but still lisps) complained tearfully to anyone who would listen, then said "Nej!" That's Danish for "Nyet!" — not quite as forceful, but still somewhat effective. The Danish monarch took the unprecedented step of adding a polar bear to his royal crest. Brave, brave monarch! Greenland remains Danish. No change.

2. Trump declared that Mexican drug cartels are terrorist organizations. Drug cartel honchos gulped anxiously and hid their eyes? No, they didn't. The New Opium War will go on as before. Previously, huge profits were derived from Afghani heroin, flown out on US military transports via Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo, but then synthetic fentanyl came along, much cheaper and much more potent (and lethal). The problem is that the fentanyl profits haven't been going to the right people. This may perhaps change in the future but, for now, no change.

3. Trump announced tariffs against Mexico. Mexico announced retaliatory tariffs. Trump and Mexico's presidentress Claudia Scheinbaum talked politely on the phone and postponed the sanctions by a month. No change.

4. Trump announced tariffs against Canada. Canada retaliated. Then they also talked and postponed tariffs by a month. Canada announced a number of steps to strengthen border control. Trump claimed that as a victory. Then it turned out that the order to strengthen border control was signed last December, before Trump's inauguration. No change.

5. Marco Rubio went to Panama and, in his fluent Spanish, kicked out the Chinese and got the Panamanians to grant free passage through the canal to US vessels. But then the Panamanian president said that the free passage deal is a damned lie. As far as kicking out the Chinese, Panama's participation in China's Belt and Road initiative will be up for review in some number of years. No change.

6. Trump announced tariffs against China. China introduced retaliatory tariffs, which are much more painful because they don't just cost money but curtail industrial production. A phone conversation between Xi and Trump was planned for February 4, then for February 6, then at some unknown date. Clearly, Trump doesn't know what to say to Xi, since there is nothing that he can threaten Xi with. No change.

7. Trump has announced several times that he is already involved in productive discussions with the Russians about the former Ukraine. In response, Peskov, Lavrov, Ryabkov and Zakharova announced that no such discussions are ongoing or even planned. Apparently, these discussions are taking place strictly inside Trump's own head. Meanwhile, some in Trump's cabinet are still proposing that he put pressure on Russia or threaten Russia to get it to accept some sort of deal on the former Ukraine. There is nobody competent enough there to tell him that Russia has already won and that the longer it takes him to accept this fact, the worse it's going to look for him. No change.

8. Trump announced that he is willing to keep supplying the former Ukraine with weapons in exchange for rare earth minerals mined on Ukrainian territory. Apparently, nobody at the White House has a clue that the rare earths are found under the part of the former Ukraine which has become part of the Russian Federation. What little of them is left on territory still held by Kiev is inaccessible using the technology at Kiev's disposal. Much ado about nothing.

9. Trump made plans to expel Gazans and resettle them somewhere... in Somalia, or Marocco... and to build a huge Trump resort/hotel/casino on Gaza's territory. Here, there is a definite change: the Arabs, and the Iranians, now hate Trump more than ever. As far as the reality of Trump's plan — none of it is real by any stretch of the imagination. Everyone except Trump and Bibi want to keep the Palestinians kettled inside Israel while continuing to pay lip service to the idea of a Palestinian state. Nobody wants any more Palestinians on their soil; Islamic extremism is a big enough problem already.

10. Trump decided to establish a sort of losers' club with Bibi Netanyahoo. So far, there are just three members, the third is that rabid mutt from Argentina. Together, they decided to boycott the UN Human Rights Council. Apparently, the other two want to violate human rights just like Bibi. Purely symbolic change.

11. Trump kicked out around fifteen hundred illegal aliens by flying them on military transports to various tropical destinations. At this rate, it will take several centuries to get rid of them all. Infinitesimally small change.

12. Gathered a lungful of air to announce tariffs against the EU... but didn't. No change.

13. Verbally attacked South Africa for land confiscations which are none of his business. Was told that it's none of his business. It was a rather transparent and pathetic effort to pound a wedge into BRICS. No change.

14. Tried to cancel birthright citizenship guaranteed by the 14th Amendment; got stopped by the courts for exceeding his authority (constitutional amendments require a vote in congress). No change.

15. Had Musk and his minions demolish USAID on their way to moving on to various other federal agencies that are hemorrhaging money. This is indeed a change, and a welcome one. But it is still nothing. USAID is just one piece of the entire operation to corrupt politics the world over. There is also the National Endowment for Democracy and the Soros foundations. Just the effort to politically destabilize Russia (a failed one) has been costing on the order of $30-50 billion a year. Slaughtering USAID is a baby step.

But, one way or another, this orgy of corruption will come to an end. The US could stop the payments, then go bankrupt or go bankrupt, then stop the payments. And it is still going bankrupt. It isn't known how many more countries will go up in flames before that happens.

There was also a flurry of presidential orders having to do with gender madness, much of it destined to get stuck in the courts. These are symbolic actions that do not affect the state of the world. The US will remain gender-mad for at least two generations, which is how long it will take for gender-mad people to go extinct (they don't breed well).

Trump's only success so far is in remaining a major topic of conversation. My prediction is that in another three weeks people will start to tire of talking about Trump and move on to more interesting topics of conversation.

(Hat tip: Rogers)