Presidential Zugzwang

In a recent N.Y. Times column, Thomas B. Edsall described Donald Trump as the black-thumb president for his ability to turn success into failure.  A black thumb is the opposite of a green thumb in gardening where a person kills plants through over care or neglect. My brother Rick Dallas just sent me a German chess term, “zugzwang” that describes a situation where any move you make, makes matters worse.  I like it, our Zugzwang presidency.

In Edsall’s article he mentioned when Trump persuaded FIFA to quash a suspension of U.S. striker Balogun and the U.S. team went on to be humiliated with a 4-1 loss to Belgium.  After the loss, Balogun said that the whole controversy made the team uneasy and got on their nerves.  The article also mentioned the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovation that was to cost $1.5 million and last a century.  It ended up costing over $16 million and lasted only a couple of days.

Yes, this has been a presidency wrought with mishaps and misadventures.  The article then quoted Matthew Dallek, a political historian at George Washington University as saying:

“Governing via conspiracy theories, personal whim and wish-casting, Trump has taken his place as the most consistently inept president of this century. At home and abroad, in many cabinet and sub-cabinet agencies, the administration’s culture is dominated by incompetence.”

The war with Iran was prominently featured as an example of Trump’s reverse Midas touch.  It seems that the president was quoted 24 times during one three-month period as saying that the Strait of Hormuz was open or controlled by the U.S.  On Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” (April 2, 2025) he announced his tariff program to bring back American manufacturing jobs.  By June of 2026 we had lost 75,000 manufacturing sector jobs.  He turned his DOGE boys loose with a budget scythe to indiscriminately slash jobs and cut government services as part of his One Big Beautiful Bill Act.  The result was an increase in the national debt of $3.3 trillion.

Through a series of threats, intimidation, and financial awards, Donald Trump has maintained a death-grip on the Republican party.  Donald Moynihan, a professor of public policy at the U of Michigan, identified three categories of Trump failures: disasters of mismanagement, disasters by design, and disasters of greed.  Much of what we would define as disasters are just implementations of Trump’s vision for America.  It would seem that his vision is another’s nightmare.  By his vision, whatever is good for his financial well-being will be good for America…, or not…, he doesn’t care.

Marvel Comics and the American Presidency

Nowhere in the Marvel Cinematic Universe could they have ever conceived of this American presidency and its ever-changing cast of oddball characters. Sure they have Thunderbolts where a team of reformed supervillains act as government sanctioned heroes blurring the lines between heroism and villainy. That, however, doesn’t come close to the Trump administration’s collection of misfits and ne’er-do-wells. Close your eyes for a moment and picture Stephen Miller, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Kash Patel, and Pete Hegseth and tell me they didn’t step right out of central casting to star as villains in our comic book presidency.

For their leader, we have the perfect supervillain in Donald Trump. As I have not been a follower of comic books since puberty, I had to turn to A.I. to ask the question, “What comic book supervillain best fits Donald Trump?” The response was that “No single comic book villain perfectly captures Donald Trump…” The reply went on to stipulate a favorite in Lex Luthor as he is an ambitious, ego-driven billionaire who entered politics to run for President. Both Trump and Luthor used their wealth as a stepping-stone to global power and influence. Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin was also discussed as a controversial figure who overcomes legal issues and felony convictions but still is elected to office. Then there is Bizarro who is a comically twisted supervillain who is a mirror-image of Superman who speaks in reverse.

My favorite find in this trip down the Internet rabbit hole was M.O.D.A.A.K. That acronym stands for Mental Organism Designed As America’s King. It seems that Marvel Comics created MODAAK as an explicit satire to parody Donald Trump. It was featured in 2016 in a Spider Gwen book where he clashes with Captain America over border patrol and immigration. He should not be confused with M.O.D.O.K. which stands for Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing. Someone also noted that this moniker is close to the term “mudak” which is Russian slang for asshole. Interesting, but I doubt that was their intent.

Our National Parks

Our National Parks are an American treasure. Over 323 million recreational visits are recorded annually at over 400 sites managed by the National Parks Service. In surveys, 95% of Americans place an incredibly high value on their national parks and feel they should be protected. That feeling is not shared by our current president.

Donald Trump doesn't use our national parks except for political purposes. For him, the National Parks Service budget is just another cash bucket he can dip into for his own purposes. Now the Trump administration has proposed a further 25% reduction to park operations budgets all while diverting over $90 million of what they did have for Trump vanity projects around Washington, D.C.

Trump seems to only visit National Parks when he can use them as a backdrop as he did at Mt. Rushmore. He has never visited Yosemite National Park for instance. He even called it “Yo-semites” during a White House ceremony for the Great American Outdoors Act (August 2020). He has regularly traveled to Montana and Wyoming for campaign events, political rallies, and high-dollar fund raisers, but has never set foot in Yellowstone National Park.

In addition to budget cuts to the National Parks budget, he has continued his war on the environment and our cultural heritage by opening up millions of acres within national monuments for fossil fuel exploration and drilling and hard-rock mining. He has also worked to censor climate data. If it were up to him The Badlands would be a par 4 golf course and Old Faithful would be in a water themepark called Trumpland.

I feel lucky to have visited most of our major national parks, some several times. It is a shame that this president places his own personal enrichment and glorification above the desires of the American public who value our national treasures.

[The accompanying video slideshow was made from images I have taken in various National Parks and across the U.S.]

Smoking Can Be Hazardous to Your Health

 

Our resident idiot-in-chief has decided that Canada will be held responsible for the smoke coming to the United States from their wildfires. Canada has roughly 911 million acres of forested land, covering about 40% of the country's total landmass. This makes Canada the third most forested nation on Earth. Trump thinks that Canada should have done a better job of raking the leaves and pine needles. He will penalize them with higher tariffs.

As most of us know, you and I pay for the tariffs in higher costs for goods. Higher tariffs on Canadian goods will hit paper and plastic products as Canada is a major supplier of wood pulp and timber. Expect higher prices on toilet paper, paper towels, and bakery packaging. Fridges, HVAC, and washing machines will be more expensive. Canada also makes automobiles and auto parts so those items will cost more. Crude oil and energy supplies will increase sending gas and diesel prices higher. Some furniture, cabinetry, groceries, and beverages will cost more.

The Donald seems to think that Americans haven’t figured out that his tariffs are just another tax on us. He thinks it is “free money” and a weapon he can threaten to use to get his way. It is another, “If you don’t do things my way, I’m going to take all the toys and go home.” Some of his less intelligent followers are still fooled into thinking that he is working in their interest.

Perhaps we could loan Canada that rake Trump is always talking about that cleans up forests. I’m sure cleaning up over 900 million acres of timberland will be easy. Maybe they could hire Trump’s pool guy as I hear he will be having some free time soon. He could put a liner on the forest floor that will last until it gets wet, some animal walks on it, or some idiot drives a motorcade of armored SUVs on it.

Let me “go out on a limb” here, in keeping with the forest metaphor, and say maybe this is related to climate change. What if this is the result of decades of pushing fossil fuels and moving away from renewable energy. No, that idea costs time, effort, money, and commitment. So, for folks who live near a jet stream originating in Canada…, you just took up smoking. It may be time to buy an air conditioner, seal your windows, and plan on enjoying more time indoors several months of the year.

Contrary to science deniers, climate change is the primary driver behind the increasing severity, frequency, and scale of wildfires around the globe. According to scientists (not politicians), hotter and drier weather, longer fire seasons, increased lightning, and a carbon cycle loop (forests burn, release carbon dioxide, ozone layer thins, earth gets hotter) are the culprits.

Donald Trump has long cited the common misconception that forest mismanagement is responsible. While this was true in the U.S. for many years, it was not so in Canada. In many of our western states, we used to use extensive fire suppression techniques causing excess fuel to build and create a “fire deficit.” Canada’s remote unmanaged northern boreal forests rely on natural ecosystems.

The recent Canadian wildfires are a direct result of climate change and not forest mismanagement. New Canadian tariffs just make Americans more miserable than they already are. Perhaps we will begin to see this once the smoke clears.

Holiday Mascots, Something New

 

Like most Americans, I grew up with Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and the Great Pumpkin. Over time I grew to accept them for the fantasies of youth. Now, as adults, we are being asked to accept a new holiday entity, Invisible Immigrants and Dead People on Election Day casting ballots. Not only are they voting, but they are doing so in such great numbers as to invalidate our election process and this will require onerous validation procedures for all.

On Thursday, Donald Trump plans to address the nation to make his case regarding this perceived threat. He plans to release newly declassified intelligence on investigations into voting machine vulnerabilities. Given all previous attempts by Mr. Trump to claim that U.S. elections are rigged have been found to be bogus, we can expect another trip down the Yellow Brick Road that makes a right turn into Wonderland with hookah-smoking caterpillars. Numerous courts, ballot audits, and Trump’s own first-term Justice Department found no such fraud or proof that U.S. elections are rigged.

His motive is clear. He wants more control over the elections process. He wants to override the Constitution to take power away from the states. Facing a difficult November midterm election, he wants to see what he can do to tip the scales in favor of his MAGA republicans. It is Trump Classic, all elections we win are fair and all elections we lose are rigged. All of this is from a man who called Georgia’s Sec. of State to request that he “find” 11,780 votes. Yes, if there is any evidence of attempted voter fraud, we know where to look.

Populist Etatism

While researching the ideological differences between traditional Republican conservatism and the newer MAGA movement, I came across an unfamiliar term: Populist Etatism. This term describes a government taking a central role in directing the economy. It uses anti-elite rhetoric framed as a moral crusade for the “pure people”. In this political model, a strongman leader implements policies ostensibly protecting the working class from greedy corporations and a corrupt elite.

Within the concept of Populist Etatism is a movement that seeks to justify the expansion of state power as it sidelines traditional checks and balances. I would say that this part of the description fits the MAGA movement. Where it differs is in its substitution of immigrants and now communists, for the evil corrupt elite. Corporations and the wealthy elite just seem to benefit more substantially with reforms we are told are designed to protect jobs and benefit the working class. The reality for the working class is that they are told that they need to be more patient

Also, among the core characteristics of Populist Etatism, is a distribution of benefits and subsidies directed at the leader’s base thus cultivating political loyalty. In this last characteristic I see some elements where their MAGA leader has promised many of these things for his faithful base, but that much of that promise is like the carrot at the end of the stick the horse never gets to enjoy.

By way of anecdote, I recently read an article where a small gas station chain had lowered gas prices to $3.47 a gallon. The 47 cents was in honor of the 47th president. A truck driver who had just saved $25 on his fill up was quoted as saying, “Thank you President Trump.” This statement of course ignores the fact that it was Trump’s war in Iran that caused the high gas prices in the first place.

The shift away from Reagan conservativism in this new MAGA movement is a populism that treats state power, not as evil, but as a weapon used on behalf of its base. They seek to occupy and purge federal institutions to force a targeted agenda. The promise to use this new power to benefit “the base” sounds good to those who assume that they are part of that group of beneficiaries. It is only later that they realize “the base,” is a more exclusive monied conclave than would ever include them. That’s when it is too late.

We are now at somewhat of a tipping point where that realization is taking hold. Disillusionment is already chipping away at Trump’s support. The original 50 percent of Americans that were the MAGA base, are now counted somewhere in the mid-thirties. This remaining MAGA core consists of those willing to sacrifice long-standing conservative stances for an expression of personal loyalty bordering on a cult-like idolatry of their leader.

The three-week war with Iran is now in its fifth month with no end in sight. The base is still dealing with inflation and high gas prices. Cuts to healthcare, education, and other social benefits have added to their ire. While they may be happy with the result of the immigration round up, some may feel it got out of hand. The killing of innocent individuals by mistake with the excuse of “public safety” is wearing thin.

The Trump imposed tariffs have resulted in job losses in the manufacturing sector and increased production costs for American businesses. Factories have shed over 100,000 jobs in the first year of the tariffs. Higher prices for imported materials have forced companies to downsize. While the administration can reference isolated blue-collar wage growth, the net effect has been negative. Pointing to almost giddy stock market numbers that have little impact on wage earners, brings no joy to Mudville.

The MAGA movement has scrambled modern alliances within conservative America. Free market conservatism has been replaced by right-wing populism. The old coalition of high-earning professionals who provided fiscal ideology and a working-class drawn by social conservatism, is no more. Will the MAGA Magician be able to pull another rabbit out of his comb-over? The mid-terms in a few months will answer some of these questions.

Reality Check

 

I see certain factions of our political spectrum announcing that they are the ones who want freedom defined by less government. This same group actively supports a president who has become so authoritarian and intrusive in our lives that people have literally found it necessary to march in the streets in protest.

An all-controlling authoritarian leader is not less government. I would never define the current Imperial Presidency as one that advances the cause of personal freedom. It is a government of selective personal oppression to advance an ideology.

Under the guise of lowering taxes, we have seen the time-honored technique of bait and switch. While lowering the taxes of the poor a little, they managed to lower the taxes of the rich even more. They did this by removing many of the social benefits long taken for granted by the wage-earning public, forcing them to pay for such services themselves. That small tax break is gone, and the middle- and lower-income brackets are worse off. Trump and his fellow billionaires measure their success by pointing to the stock market. Millionaires are now billionaires and we have our first trillionaire.

No, you can’t support a Trump concept of Executive Governance while advocating for freedom from government intrusions. This same hypocrisy is at work when we hear this president break out his Communist rhetoric and claim that America is under attack by godless Commie heathens. He claims this Communist label fits all that oppose him as they have no respect for the law, justice, principle, or tradition.

This coming from a man who regularly breaks the law, ignores court decisions, abuses the justice system, takes payments from criminals who then get exonerated, ignores time-honored principles, and takes pride in breaking with tradition. This from a man who claims a love of religion while holding top-secret skiff meetings to figure ways in which to keep the contents of the Epstein files away from judgmental eyes. If he is as innocent as he claims, he should have no problem releasing the files. His claims of religious piety are laughable.

In another reality check, I have seen where the Trump tariffs are extolled as having created a budget surplus. This fiction is only accurate if you look at select months where temporary cuts and tariff inflows have created isolated monthly surpluses. This happens while the annual picture remains in a deep deficit.

Scrolling back a few months I stumbled upon a post that lauded Trump’s eight claimed global peace agreements that should have landed him a Nobel Peace Prize. In this list were such lasting peace agreements as the Israel-Gaza peace. There are thousands of people who have died since that October “agreement” who would beg to differ that this has been a stable ceasefire.

A similar situation exists in Armenia and Azerbaijan where a lasting peace is in diplomatic limbo. Like the “Mission Accomplished” banner claiming premature victory in Iraq, most of these claimed peace agreements are a long way from an end to hostilities. Our so-called peace agreement with Iran is currently teetering like Kash Patel in the U.S. men’s ice hockey locker room at the Winter Olympics.

This government has been compared to Germany under Hitler, Italy under Mussolini, and Russia under Stalin. I would offer another analogy, Iran under the Ayatollahs. While Trump would never be confused with a pious religious cleric, he does like to falsely project a god-like presence. He has promoted white Christian nationalism to the delight of many.

Trump appeals to both those of true religious faith and those whose faith is nothing more than religious aggrandizement used to boost personal power, wealth, status, or political influence. Trump’s faith is self-glorification over any genuine spiritual service. The scriptures' warning against pride is ignored. Like the Ayatollahs, Trump has advanced toxic masculinity epitomized by Pete Hegseth. American women may never be forced to wear a Burka, but their relevance is being coerced into subservience.

Politics has always made for strange bedfellows, as the saying goes, and neither side can claim the exclusive moral high ground. It remains to be seen who among the leaders of both political camps will rise above the fray to right this ship foundering under the weight of hypocrisy. It’s time for a reality check.