Trump changes his mind
Richard Fulton
As it turns out, President-elect Trump is not a truth teller. Time and time again since his elevation to the heart of American policy making he has violated the promises he made while running for president or stepped back from impossible positions he must surely have known were complex at best.
Trump campaigned on the foundation of declarative statements of his intent if elected president. These reverberated with his supporters. They cheered his every statement. He won on the basis of blunt promises.
How’s that going so far?
The Hillary haters took Trump’s promise to “immediately, immediately, immediately” sick a special prosecutor on Hillary (even though he alone does not have that power). He led the chant of “lock her up” in most of his rallies. It was a hard and fast declarative promise.
Oops! Now he says “I don’t want to hurt” the Clintons. Don’t want to hurt them? You told Hillary to her face that you would put her in jail.
This is just the first of Trump’s series of statements that reveal his consistent lies or ignorance on issues. And not the worst at that.
Trump promised that on “day one” he would move to do away with Obamacare. Day one. But recently he told the Wall Street Journal that he was reconsidering his stance. It seems the popular parts of the plan would be nice to keep.
Now he seems to think Obamacare can be amended. Another promise dumped. Another lie exposed. Something will happen to this health program, to be sure, but it will not be immediately scrapped.Even health insurers are fearful of swift change in the policy.
What will all those Republican governors who accepted millions for expanding Medicaid do to replace that federal money? Will 20 million people bereft of health care inundate emergency rooms?
Trump promised in the campaign to cancel the Paris Climate Accord that more than 100 countries have joined, pledging measures to reduce harmful emissions and help work to stop the effects of climate warming.
Yet, the Paris Accord notes that a nation cannot legally withdraw until three years after it takes effect (which it did November 4 of this year). Then it must wait a year before the withdrawal takes effect.
Either Trump was ignorant of these basic portions of the Accord, or he lied. Now he says “I have an open mind on it.” Where does he go next?
After much denial of climate change’s effect on human activity and climate change Trump says: “I’m looking at it very closely … I think there is some connectivity …” Ya think?! Ignorance of the issue or just plain lies about it?
As for NAFTA, any change in the agreement would need the agreement of Canada and Mexico. They don’t have to renegotiate the deal as Trump demands. Blanket withdrawal could trigger a trade war between the countries.
How about that wall? Well, now it is a fence. What next, a ditch? Mexico will pay for it. How do you make a sovereign country do that since Mexico says it never will pay for a wall.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal is out, according to Trump. “The death blow for American manufacturing” he said. But now Trump wants to negotiate with all those countries for separate trade deals. Lots of luck with China; even the European community. They would be in a better shape to negotiate.
Trump will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, he pledged. But the deal can go on without the United States since it is a multilateral accord, not one between the U.S. and Iran alone. Did Trump not know this?
On and on. Trump would say nearly anything to get elected. Well, it worked. Now what? He forgot, or never knew, that truth lies in knowing consequences. Saying “king’s ex” now that the election is over does not exonerate you from being evaluated as either ignorant or a liar.
