President Trump returns to ride again back on his horse
HodgePodge by Charlie Hodge
This is certainly not the positive start to the new year I had hoped for. Not for me, my family, the country, heck whole world.
The Donald is back on his big Commanders’ huge horse, swinging his huge ‘watch me now sabre’, more in love with himself than ever before. Scary. Very scary.
It was a confident huffing and puffing President Donald Trump who was back in the Oval Office signing papers for his inauguration ceremony Monday evening. And signing he certainly was. After putting his name on all the spots needed to re-make him President he then started a journey of other legal (and perhaps not so legal) changes that will impact his nation and many others over the next few months.
His administration will impose a set of 20 to 30 percent tariffs between Canada, Mexico and the U.S., though just how much and on what – he has not decided yet. He will announce them in February.
Both Mexico and Canada are two of America’s top three trade partners. Last year, the Yanks imported $475 billion in goods from Mexico and $418 billion from Canada. During the same timeline the US exported $354 billion worth of goods to Canada and $322 billion to Mexico, accounting for a third of the value of all goods the US exported last year.
Apparent in his demeanor and conversation Monday, Trump clearly intends to unravel or rewrite any positive program’s that proceeding President Joe Biden put in place during his recent term. Trump attacked Biden’s legacy Monday as soon as he was sworn in as the 47th president, claiming a mandate to reshape American institutions.
He began signing executive orders onstage at a downtown arena as thousands of supporters cheered, melding the theatrics of his campaign rallies with the formal powers of the presidency. He froze the issuing of new regulations, asserted his control over the federal workforce and withdrew from the Paris climate agreement.
Trump also rescinded dozens of directives issued by Biden, including those relating to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives declaring “a person’s gender can not be changed’, global warming (pulling out of the Climate Accord in Paris) and sanctioning Israeli settlers involved in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. When finished, he tossed the pens into the crowd.
However, the most disturbing Monday incident (perhaps) was when Trump announced he is pardoning about 1,500 of his supporters who have been charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attacks. He will use his sweeping powers on his first day back in office to dismantle the largest investigation and prosecution in Justice Department history.
The pardons were expected after Trump’s yearslong campaign to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6 attack that left more than 100 police officers injured and threatened the peaceful transfer of power. Yet the scope of the clemency still comes as a massive blow to the Justice Department’s effort to hold participants accountable over what has been described as one of the darkest days in American history.
Trump said he was also commuting the sentences of six Jan. 6 defendants,( though the White House did not immediately provide further details) on a case-by-case basis. Vice President JD Vance had said just days ago that some people responsible for the violence during the Capitol Riot “obviously” should not be pardoned.
Right. I feel safe now.
A line by one political journalist Monday night suggested Trump emptying the prisons with the rioters virtually creates “Trumps private militia and body guard”.
Scary thought. Looks like he’ll need more horses.
