You may recall - “If I go, you go” was uttered by President Donald Trump when speaking with reporters about his use of a decoy plane when departing the NATO summit in Turkey. The decoy plane was the older Air Force One upon which he staged his entrance to the plane for departure and then left secretly to a different plane. He also completely avoided using the Qatar gifted jet (known as the “Flying Bribe”) he had used for his grand entry to the Summit. This switch was done in response to a perceived threat to Trump and left those journalists and staff traveling on the plane serving unknowingly as a decoy.
There is no question that the life of any President of our country is to be protected to the max. In responding to the journalists with ‘If I go, you go”, Trump is reminding them that he is a target of multiple enemies and that being near him is dangerous. However, the problem with the incident of the decoy plane is that the Trump White House did not acknowledge that it happened for 34 days and even threatened to prosecute those that said it did happen.
This delay (the ending of which was prompted by media reports) is another example where lying/deception/ non-transparency is the default position of this administration. It is true that a narcissist will express their primacy over others in a similar phrasing and we know fully well that Trump has this affliction. However, the lying aspect is truly perilous when a narcissist wields the power of a US President and when lying and deception is readily adopted as modus operandi within his administration.
This lying pattern repeats ad nauseam. Another recent example includes the failed repair of the reflecting pool. In this case, Trump insists the failure was due to vandalism even after his prosecutors found no grounds to pursue any so-called vandals. The failure was due to poor design, shoddy no-bid workmanship, and a rush job - all driven by the President.
For many, the putrid water and physical unraveling of the new bright blue coating in Trump’s “improvement “ to the reflecting pool symbolizes perfectly his actions that are degrading this country. He went down this path and we were stuck going with him (“If I go’ you go”). The result is now we, the taxpayers, have to not only pay for the botched work but for the cleanup and redo.
Consider the horrific Trump war of choice with Iran that we as taxpayers now must “go” with also. New layers of incompetence show up constantly along with the consistent non-stop lying from the President. We have been experiencing a roller coaster of lies from blustering threats to peacemaking utterances that have weakened our country in the eyes of the world.
The threat of munitions stockpile shortfalls has been the most recent exposure of the poor planning and understanding in starting this conflict. It brings great glee to China and Russia to see the US bogged down and exposed as incompetent and weakened. A big Trump lie here is that the US has decimated Iran and eliminated a nuclear threat (which Trump had said was done a year ago). That is no solace, even if true, to the farmers paying more for fuel and fertilizer - nor to everyday Americans seeing their cost of living increase as a result of the war bogging down the world’s energy supplies.
However, the part of the Iran War that will need full investigation and very likely result in litigation is the stock market gyrations that happen every time Trump threatens increasing the violence or states that peace is imminent.
If you are willing to pay $100,000 per month or a discounted $60,000 per month on a yearly contract, you can purchase early access through Trump Media and Technology Group to Trump’s social media posts milliseconds before the general public. That is just enough time for Wall Street traders, hedge funds, and high frequency trading firms to make stock moves through their technologically sophisticated systems. These insider tips can relate to not just the war but merger approvals, new White House initiatives, and many other actions that could have economic implications.
In this case the “you”, in “if I go, you go” is not the ordinary folks that have to work a job like journalists following the President and being exposed to life threatening incidents, nor taxpayers paying for Trump boondoggles like ball rooms, shutdown of critical government services, brutal ICE incursions in their community, the reflecting pool disaster, walling off Big Bend National Park, releasing public lands for commercial interests, living with increased costs of living and a degrading environment, etc.; it is the deep pocketed folks that can play games in buying and selling on the financial markets with insider information they can access by paying a fee to the President’s company.
The lying and graft we are enduring makes the falsely accused Biden “crime family” look like pick pockets compared to Trump’s mafia style actions.
This latest scam will likely be shot down in the courts which will add new judge(s) to Trump’s targeting of the “crooked justice system.” Then those judges like most all before them that have ruled against Trump actions will be subjected to personal (including life threatening) threats from Trump loyalists This includes even judges appointed under Trump.
When we go to the polls this Fall, remember it is our best chance to at least initiate a turn around from “going” with this former long-term Epstein buddy.
W. Laurence Doxsey, Retired, Former Director of Office of Sustainability for City of San Antonio, former Environmental Officer for US Department of Housing and Urban Development, former Sustainability Officer for City of Austin, resides outside Medina.
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