The frenetic pace of executive orders and actions during the first couple months of the second Trump administration has been unsettling at best and downright frightening at worst. The truth is that it is all a con job by a man driven by revenge and an unquenchable need for recognition and power. Many. if not most of us, saw this coming and those who didn’t were regrettably uninformed or conned by Trump’s candidacy. Either way, Trump’s arrogant behavior has been disastrous for the nation and much of the world.
Virtually every action taken by the present administration exemplifies the MO of the “con artist.” Talk, talk, talk; lie, lie, lie; promise, promise, promise, boast, repeat and construct false narratives to reel in the quarry.
This past week Trump falsely claimed that the U.S. was making huge profits from tariffs and ordered the roundup of foreign students under the guise of national security. Even more transparent was his bravado conning coal miners that he would revitalize coal mining, a promise that will never materialize in the face of alternative fuels such as natural gas and solar. The ongoing tariff debacle is another big con as Trump extols taxing imports as a way of raising revenue and then claims he was using the stick as a way to negotiate all along. And his defunding of prestigious universities because of alleged anti-semitism is simply a con to enable the MAGA culture war; Trump has no more compassion for the Jews than he has for the LBGTQ. One can’t help but remember the quip attributed to P.T. Barnum that “There’s a sucker born every minute.”
Unfortunately, Trump, the New York real estate mogul and TV reality show star, employs the same pushy abrasive tactics in foreign affairs he learned growing up in Queens. Talk loud, flatter and bluster to con allies and adversaries alike. Remember Trump’s courting of Kim Jong Un during his first term to eliminate the nuclear missile threat from North Korea; how did that work out? Now he is sucking up to Putin to end the Russo-Ukraine War all while attempting to extort Ukraine’s mineral wealth in exchange for aid. He does all of this while loudly claiming success.
Trump is the consummate con artist. His biggest con of all might be that many Americans have accepted Trump and his presidency as normal. The tragedy is he couldn’t be more full of himself as he basks in his power and dominance of the news cycle; he’s living his legacy.
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For the true believers, don’t forget that our president sells Bibles, cryptocurrency, wine, steaks and gold watches.