Saturday, April 5, 2025

Three Reasons Why Trump Chose to Attend a Golf Dinner Over Honoring Four Fallen U.S. Soldiers


It comes as no surprise to me that President Trump would choose to attend a golf dinner instead of paying his respect to four fallen U.S. soldiers

The soldiers were engaged in a training exercise in Lithuania when they and their vehicle disappeared. They were found submerged in a swamp. The four soldiers found dead were identified as Staff Sgt. Jose Duenez, Jr., Staff Sgt. Edvin F. Franco, Pfc. Dante D. Taitano and Staff Sgt. Troy S. Knutson-Collins. All four soldiers were part of the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division based at Fort Stewart, Georgia.

Under the circumstances, I can see three reasons why Trump did not pay them his respects.

First and foremost, let us never forget Trump believes that fallen U.S. soldiers are "losers and suckers", a fact confirmed by former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly. While Trump has denied making the remarks, the notoriously litigious President has never seen fit to sue anyone regarding the incident. There would be depositions and nothing good would come of it for Trump.

Second, the incident took place in Lithuania, a former Soviet republic and now a NATO member. We all know what contempt Trump has for NATO and Vladimir Putin would very much like to have Lithuania and the Baltic states back under the Russian fold. Given what has happened in Ukraine, Lithuania is preparing for a Russian invasion. Had Trump saw fit to honor the fallen soldiers he would have validated both NATO and Lithuania's presence within which would not have pleased Russia. The fact that Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda and thousands of Lithuanians have expressed more sorrow at the deaths of American soldiers than our own government is quite telling. 

Third, there is Trump's financial self-interest. The dinner he attended took place at his Dorval resort in Miami where a LIV sponsored golf tournament is taking place this weekend. Trump will be making money with this golf tournament. Honoring our fallen soldiers will not line his pockets. Of course, LIV is sponsored by Saudi Arabia where Trump will make his first foreign trip of his second term next month. Needless to say, the Trump family has profited handsomely from their ties with Saudi Arabia.

All things considered, perhaps it is best that Trump didn't honor these four fallen soldiers. Trump would have likely sullied such a ceremony and found a way to make it about himself as he invariably does.

Thursday, April 3, 2025

The Trump Administration's Defamation of Abrego Garcia Could Cost Him His Life & They Couldn't Care Less

(Murray Ossorio PLLC via AP)

Last month, the Trump Administration wrongly deported Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to El Salvador amid mass deportations last month.

Abrego Garcia was alleged to have gang ties, but he has never been charged nor convicted of a crime. 


If not for ICE's actions, Garcia wouldn't be in El Salvador in the first place. 

ICE is essentially telling us that if they make a mistake, they are not responsible for their behavior nor are they subject to any consequences of their errors. 

That's bad enough.

What makes it worse is that Vice-President JD Vance and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt insist that Abrego Garcia is a convicted MS-13 gang member notwithstanding the error. 

Last I checked, devout Catholics weren't supposed to bear false witness. Alas, Vance and Leavitt have put Trump before G-d.

There's a very good chance that an innocent man will die in a Salvadoran prison because the Trump Administration both refuses to correct their mistakes while wantonly and willfully lying about him to the world.

And if Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia does die, they could care less.

The Trump Administration views people like Abrego Garcia as subhuman and thus deserve death.

However, if Garcia is released, he should not only sue the Trump Administration for wrongful detention but personally sue Vance and Leavitt for defamation. I would like to see how Vance and Leavitt would respond if they were asked if Garcia is a MS-13 gang member while under oath.

One can only hope there will be significant public pressure brought to bear to force Abrego Garcia's release.

Then again, such public pressure might make the Trump Administration even more determined that Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia dies in a Salvadoran prison.

Wednesday, April 2, 2025

Trump Claims Global Free Trade "Looted, Pillaged, Raped" Our Country When Announcing Tariffs

(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

As expected, President Trump imposed new tariffs of 10% on virtually every country while adding so-called reciprocal tariffs to 60 additional countries excluding Canada and Mexico which are already to subject to tariffs in the amount of 25%. Russia, not surprisingly, was spared Trump's indignity.

Trump characterized his announcement as "Liberation Day".

When I think of liberation, I think of V-E Day or V-J Day, not creating a global recession.

After all, consider the portion of his remarks when Trump stated, "For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike."

Given Trump's own troubled history with sexual assault, his use of the word "raped" is ugly, delusional, engages in projection while distorting its meaning beyond recognition.

Without global free trade, the United States would simply not enjoy the prosperity it has had during the decades which Trump claims we were "looted, pillaged, raped and plundered". Even in harder economic times, the United States economy has long been the envy of the world.

But this is Trump we're talking about and, to quote Rick Wilson, "Everything Trump touches dies." In announcing these tariffs, Trump has injected a poison pill into the economy which will do as much damage to the United States as it will the rest of the world. 

Alas, this is what happens when we elect a malevolent, sociopathic, convicted felon who not only doesn't care who he harms, but derives pleasure from it. 

Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Let's Hope That Trump's Third Term Talk Ends Up an April Fool's Joke


Over the weekend, perhaps as a means to get people to stop talking about Signal Gate, President Trump floated the possibility of running for a third term as he has done in the past claiming "there are methods."

Republicans like Senate Majority leader John Thune insist that Trump is joking while Trump insists he is not

Somehow, I doubt Thune would be so generous of spirit had it been Barack Obama who floated the idea of a third term. I certainly wasn't when I wrote about that very possibility during my days with The American Spectator almost a decade ago.

As it stands now, the only way Trump could legally run for a third term is if Congress and three-fourths of the state legislatures were to repeal or amend the 22nd Amendment. Three days after Trump returned to the White House, Tennessee Republican Andy Ogles introduced an amendment to the 22nd Amendment which would allow Trump to run for a third term, but not Obama. In either case, both an amendment and a repeal of the 22nd Amendment.

My guess is that either Trump will try to find a way to get the Supreme Court give him their blessing as they did with presidential immunity or, a more likely scenario, he'll just do it in the same way that his administration is shuttering the federal government without any Congressional oversight while ignoring any judicial rulings which might stand in his way.

Unless Trump is prepared to anoint a successor, I think it is more likely than not that Trump will try to run for a third term. From Trump's standpoint, if he plans to break all the guardrails then he might as well as break them all. 

Today being April 1st, a part of me hopes that Senator Thune is right, and that Trump is merely joking. But if Trump isn't joking does anyone honestly think Thune or any other Republican is going to stop him from running for a third term? In which case, the joke on us and Trump has the last laugh - again.