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AN AUTHOR'S VIEW - When the President speaks, everybody listens. Members of Congress, Senators, reporters, talk show hosts and media pundits; everybody pays attention because, well, because he’s the President. The problem, more pronounced with each passing day, is that the current President manages to contradict himself with such regularity that everyone who listens to him is completely confused, perplexed, and confounded. What was yesterday’s justification for one thing or another is today’s blatant denial of that same justification. It is all so bizarre that some might wonder if, during his frequent naps, the President dreams this stuff up.
For example, the President routinely insists that the furor over the release of Justice Department prosecutorial files on Jeffrey Epstein is a “Democrat hoax.” He regularly complains that the media and the loyal opposition are working together to keep the Epstein story alive to defeat, or at least detract from, his MAGA agenda. That mantra, however flawed as it may be, has been consistent and steadfast.
Until just a few days ago, when the President ordered his Attorney General to unleash the power of the Justice Department to investigate every Democratic and business leader who may appear in the Epstein files.
If the whole thing is a hoax, why waste DOJ’s time and precious resources on it?
Or, if it’s a Democratic plot, it must follow that some Democrats are conspiring to accuse other Democrats of salacious, felonious escapades with Epstein’s harem. While it’s generally true that nobody forms a more effective circular firing squad than Democrats, accusing them of accusing their own of heinous crimes is several thousand miles beyond the pale.
And then, just for good measure, the President who has been squirming and whining about the efforts to release the files while calling Republicans who support that release weak and soft and stupid (he even summoned some to the White House to browbeat them about their position) abruptly swerves in the opposite direction and urges the release of the files.
Wait, what?
There are other examples, of course. The President wants immigrants to stop taking jobs away from Americans but insists that it’s okay to issue work permits to foreigners because Americans don’t have enough “talent.” The President is routinely outraged that we’re all paying for health care for undocumented immigrants when, by law, the undocumented cannot sign up for ACA coverage. The President blithely asserted that his ballroom would not impinge on the East Wing of the White House and then that entire wing disappeared.
But wait, there’s more. (Isn’t there always?)
From his first day in office forward, the President has insisted that extremely high tariffs will not harm the economy, because consumers don’t pay the price; other nations and businesses do. At the same time, he routinely denies that prices on consumer goods have gone up and that the economy is strong.
Then, a few days ago, the President reduced tariffs on dozens of everyday products (coffee and beer, for example). He insists that he did that because he wants to bring the prices of those items down.
Wait, what?
If we aren’t paying more for booze and caffeine, why reduce those tariffs? According to the President himself, his tariff reductions are designed to bring down the price of items which he denies were overpriced in the first place. Good luck trying to figure that out.
When Alice accepted the Red Queen’s appointment as clerk of the court, she asked the Queen how she would be paid. The Queen told her payment would be every other day: “Jam yesterday and jam tomorrow,” she said, “but no jam today.”
Trump’s Wonderland operates on the same loopy principle. We’re fed strong, confident assertions yesterday and strong, confident assertions tomorrow, but utterly perplexing nonsense today.
(David M. Hamlin is a writer whose observations appear regularly on CitywatchLA. His mystery novels and a couple of free short stories can be found at www.dmhwrites.com )
