Reality differs from political promises
If you have continued to watch the political news, about the only thing we can say about the recent presidential election is, the votes have been counted. In spite of any expectation that the event would come to a close was strictly wishful thinking. If there is any way for the news media to draw us into a pattern of discussing Trump fever, they will keep us entangled in this super event for the next four years. To quote Yogi Berra, “It ain’t over till it’s over.”
The news media is not going to let us forget we chose “the lesser of two evils” and they still can’t explain the fact that Mr. Trump, president-elect Trump, appealed to America’s middle class with some serious promises. His boasting about what he would do if we gave him a chance, is going to make some serious political debate as he starts to back-track on numerous promises that brought him into the White House. He very openly promised that Mrs. Clinton would be investigated thoroughly and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. For those who heard that claim and felt there was legitimate reason to follow through on the promise — sorry, he has suddenly found he is now too busy to take himself seriously. Besides it was all in the heat of the campaign and we all know campaign promises are fabrications, made up on the spur of the moment after political polls have indicated the topic is important. So, keeping promises is not within the realm of a busy politician trying to mend fences on both sides of the political aisle. If, however, a high profile boast of this type is going to be forgotten, what about the immigration issue and a fence across the border? Is anything going to be done along the border to support the promise of Mexico paying for a fence?
We have never had a president with the kind of wealth Mr. Trump claims for himself. A plantation home for our forefathers seems lost in history as the Trump “air force” made its rounds on political stops. We have had an opportunity to view the Trump family apartment in Trump Tower and moving into the White House is going to be a change in lifestyle not well suited for a billionaire. Do we actually expect the Trump family to be content in the White House? This might be a shock to watch unfold as we move closer to the inauguration.
The Nov. 25, 2016, edition of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported Trump’s transition team hopes to raise between $64 million and $75 million to cover the expenses of the inauguration. That’s a pretty impressive number and it just might be a little more than middle-America anticipated when The Donald was wooing the blue-collar unemployed. The candidate who wanted to represent you and me and break up the wealthy bankers’ hold on America’s political network is restricting gifts from corporate America to a maximum of one million dollars each. How’s that for sticking one’s finger in the corporate eye? A paltry one million dollars can’t buy much influence in Washington. However, the prospects of winning a million dollars in the lottery keeps people buying tickets on a chance to win that much when they spend an hour’s wages on a dream.
The real test of Trump’s abilities to negotiate has not been demonstrated just yet. We should see how effective he is when he convinces the Carrier Corporation (a division of giant United Technologies) to keep its manufacturing plant in Indianapolis, Indiana. This is an interesting case because the vice-president elect is, or was, governor of Indiana. (He might have a greater impact in negotiations than we expect.) Mr. Trump apparently was quoted as “guaranteeing 100 percent” that the 1,400 jobs would stay in the United States. That’s quite a promise, even for Trump.
If Trump successfully convinces Carrier’s Indiana plant to stay in the states, I will be more optimistic that he can improve on Obama Care, not just scrap health care completely. He made a lot of promises on trade and tariffs and his threat to impose a tax on Ford cars made in Mexico and sold in America just heaps more and more responsibility on him. And, that includes putting pressure on his selection of cabinet and staff of agency heads to start doing something in the first 100 days.
None of us can deny the news media played an important role in the election. He probably spent a record low campaign total because the news media was anxious to interview him to keep up viewership. Now we can expect them to let us know when he is backtracking (or walking back in media jargon) on a promise. Hopefully they will find some way to improve the accuracy of their reporting. On one day recently three news programs reported four different people were “selected” to be the Secretary of State — none of the reports were correct. So much for blaming Twitter and other personal communication devices for putting out “false news.”
And, now we have Jill Stein the former lady presidential candidate wanting a recount of votes in several states that were very close between winner Trump and loser Clinton. She represented the Green party and, like Kermit the frog must know, “it ain’t easy being Green.”
••• Editor’s note: Leo Lynch, an award-winning columnist, is a native of Benton County has deep roots in northwest Arkansas. He is a retired industrial engineer and former Justice of the Peace. He can be contacted at prtnews@nwadg.com.