I know we are only four days into the new year but Donald Trump has locked up my vote for Teacher of the Year for his unparalleled instruction that politicians once in office renege on campaign promises when they can flex their power over weaker forces or when confronted by equally strong, if not stronger, adversaries.
Lesson #1: Trump has promoted an America First agenda, yet he has spent an inordinate amount of his non golfing time in a Quixotic quest for a Nobel Peace Prize. By his own count he has settled eight foreign wars, though none have been legitimized by treaty. Meanwhile, back in the U. S. A. he has done nothing to bridge the conflict between Democrats and Trumpsters.
Lesson #2: Trump longs for the “good ol’ days” of American dominance. You know, the time when we orchestrated regime changes in Iran (1953), Guatemala (1954), South Vietnam (1963), Congo (1965), and Chile (1973), to name a handful.
Back then we acted sometimes to contain the spread of Soviet or Chinese influence or to protect the economic interests of American companies, the latter similar to what Trump is now saying about his intent to return Venezuela’s oil fields to Chevon and Exxon Mobil.
Trump asserts Venezuela wrongfully nationalized oil assets that belonged to American companies. The oil was ours, he says. I wonder if he sees the irony of denying Native American rights to land the tribes claim was forcibly and illegitimately taken from them by the U.S. government despite signed treaties?
Lesson #3: A whole new generation of students will learn the meaning of “gunboat diplomacy.”
With his testosterone level peaking after blowing up unarmed speedboats, crippling Iran’s nuclear program, and taking pajama-clad Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife to New York for prosecution, Trump can be expected to lean heavily on Mexico to shut down drug cartel activity or else American forces will attack them, with or without Mexico’s consent.
Trump even has suggested he would interfere in internal Iranian affairs if protestors there are harmed.
More worrisome is Trump’s fixation with wanting to take control of Greenland. He claims America needs Greenland for our security and strategic defense.
Greenland and mother country Denmark are not on board with his plan.
Now that he has invaded Venezuela, a land of 30 million, it is not hard to imagine Trump salivating over an island with just 60,000 residents that already harbors a U. S. military base.
Lesson #4: Saved from prosecution and possible conviction in federal court by the Supreme Court, Trump has exerted sympathy and empathy for foreign and domestic politicians accused and in some cases convicted.
He has lobbied Israel’s president to pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of corruption charges that have yet to go to trial; he sought a pardon for Brazil’s convicted ex-president Jair Bolsonaro for his role in an attempted coup; he pardoned former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, an odd move considering Hernandez was convicted in an American court of drug trafficking and sentenced to 45 years in prison even as Trump was hyping the prosecution of Maduro for drug trafficking. Well, consistency has never been one of Trump’s favorable attributes.
Lesson #5: Neither has Trump been successful in large stake confrontations with superpowers. Despite his claim of friendship with Vladimir Putin, Trump has yet to get the Russian dictator to back off his illegal invasion of Ukraine. Indeed, Trump’s regime change assault on Venezuela reduces any moral leverage America might have had in discussions with Russia.
Trump also has had to make a swift about face in his attempt to control China through tariffs. China’s dominance in rare earth metals, its cheaper manufacturing base, and its emerging dominance in alternative energy production, even as Trump guts America’s similar projects, have foiled Trump’s gamble. Remember, Trump’s history of bankrupting four casinos shows he can lose on even a sure thing. And, as with Russia, China now can point to Trump’s Venezuela escapade when it embarks on its long-stated goal of incorporating Taiwan into mainland China.
Lesson #6: Trump cannot be trusted to follow through on what he says. He campaigned on not reducing medical coverage and vaccination schedules. He said he would not demolish any part of the White House complex to build his big, beautiful ballroom. He signed a bill to release all material on Jeffrey Epstein by December 19. On none of those issues and more has he fulfilled his word. He is teaching us all he is never to be trusted.
In ancient civilizations, even extending to the 21st century, monarchs, authoritarians, tyrants and despots placed their names and visages on coins, paper money and buildings. Trump is following suit. His ego does not allow him glorification after death. He wants it all, NOW, while he is alive and cognizant enough to savor it.
Pay attention, America. Cutting class will not get you detention. It will result in loss of most, if not all, of your rights guaranteed in the Constitution.
