It has been reported that US deportations are at their highest level since 2014. An ICE report shows having deported 271,484 people were deported to 200 countries in the last fiscal year according to the agency’s annual report. It will be interesting to see if Mr. Trump does better in his first year. I suspect not.
Elon Musk announced during an interview on X that his boast at the Madison Square Garden rally during the campaign for Mr. Trump of cutting $2 trillion was not achievable, and at best there was a “good shot” at $1 trillion. We are already seeing an erosion of the great benefits that Mr. Trump intends to bring to the United States.
Mr. Trump’s most recent announcements regarding Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal paint him not as a stable genius, but as someone bordering on complete lunacy. If it is his intention to mobilize the military to attack any of those three countries, I suspect the American public may not deal with that, and of course, the economic impact from attacking Canada, whether that is with military force or with economic sanctions is also likely to wreak havoc on many in the United States. If Canada were to cut-off the electricity to the northeast and oil flows to Texas for refining purposes, that would create major economic disruption, if not trigger a recession. I initially thought that even though I disagree with many of his appointments, and many of their proposals, that we were going to move down a path of normalcy in terms of how the process works. So much for that.
Online medical consultations will continue for seniors covered by Medicare, but Congress needs to act in order to extend this very important healthcare delivery method. Unfortunately, Republicans in Congress seem to be unconcerned about these types of issues and would rather dwell on taking over Panama, Canada and Greenland. Our government’s priorities seem substantially out of touch with reality.
Chief Judge Roberts was musing about the status of the judiciary, whose support is at an all-time low of 35%. He blames everyone but the Court itself for the loss of public confidence in the institution. He ignores the gambits of Justice Thomas and Justice Alito, as well as their politically based decisions, and obviously must believe the Justices are “above the law.” It is a sad status that the Supreme Court has reached, but it only has itself to blame.
Secretary Yellen warns that extraordinary measures will be needed to avoid defaults unless the national debt ceiling is increased. It appears that no one either in the old or the new administration is taking her seriously, although Mr. Trump did make an effort to increase the debt ceiling in the last Continuing Resolution, but that failed and does not seem to be back on the table for discussion. More and more important issues get short shrift.
I read a recent article that was entitled, “Remembering when the World Really Made Sense on the Comics Pages,” and as an avid comics reader, I certainly concur. It appears that the humorous review of human nature in the comics has been lost, partially because many newspapers have gone out of business, and as a result the comics pages have disappeared. We all need a good laugh, and we all need to be able to laugh at ourselves.
Interestingly, consumers have less confidence going into 2025 even though Mr. Trump was elected because of his promises on the economy. What are consumers saying? That they don’t have faith in the person they put in the White House? Go figure.
Bill Owens is a former member of Congress representing the New York 21st, a partner in Stafford, Owens, Piller, Murnane, Kelleher and Trombley in Plattsburgh, NY and a Strategic Advisor at Dentons to Washington, DC.
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