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Marks and Dupes, It’s Already Started

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Less than four days from the election and the veil is already coming off.

Repeal Obamacare? “President-elect Donald Trump is already signaling that he might backpedal on his promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act,” according to many sources, including the Washington Post.

“Drain the Swamp” by eliminating the corrupt establishment from government? Nevermind. “President-elect Donald J. Trump, who campaigned against the corrupt power of special interests, is filling his transition team with some of the very sort of people who he has complained have too much clout in Washington: corporate consultants and lobbyists.” Included are a Verizon lobbyist helping picking staff at the Federal Trade Communication, an energy industry lobbyist in charge of the “energy independence” portfolio, and a lobbyist for giant food and beverage companies setting up a new team at the Department of Agriculture.

Add to that all these down-home, non-establishment folks being considered for cabinet positions, according to ABC News:

  • Jamie Dimon, CEO of  JPMorgan Chase, who’s always looking out for the little guy, or Carl Ichan, corporate raider and destroyer (also a champion of man in the street) for Treasury Secretary;
  • Bomb-throwers John Bolton (longtime G.W.Bush official and controversial ambassador to the U.N.) and the greasy pseudo-intellectual, as establishment-as-they-come Newt Gingrich for Secretary of State;
  • Forrest Lucas, head of the huge Lucas Oil company, for Secretary of the Interior (no conflict there that I can see);
  • Jack Welsh, former CEO of General Electric, “dubbed ‘Neutron Jack’ (in reference to the neutron bomb) for eliminating employees while leaving buildings intact,” who cut 110,000 jobs in five years (1980-1985) and then left with a $420 million “walk away” package, for Secretary of Commerce;
  • Harold Hamm, Oklahoma oil and gas developer, net worth $11.3 billion, whose companies pioneered shale oil fracking, for Secretary of Energy (where I’m sure he’ll be an honest broker whose job one will be looking out for the middle class working folk)

He said he’d drain the swamp. He forgot to mention he’d be replacing it with a cesspool.

But wait, more Trump plans to benefit the little guy also came out this week, like:

Repealing the federal estate tax, so all those miners in West Virginia will be able to leave more than the current tax-free amount of $10.9 million to their kids.

“Modernizing” Medicare; a buzzword for “converting Medicare from an entitlement program and giving its beneficiaries a certain amount of money to help buy private health plans.” Sounds like … Obamacare! But don’t worry, premiums will be low.

And all those jobs? It’s no secret that most middle-class job losses result from technological advances, not bad trade deals, and no politician can undo that fundamental economic reality. The only short-term way to stimulate jobs is for the government to engage in an aggressive plan to build and repair public infrastructure. Too bad that requires something — Oh My God!!! Government Spending!!! — that’s anathema to the Republican Congress that would need to approve it.

The truth will slowly come to Trump voters, at least those having the capacity for honesty: They were marks, dupes, played by a master manipulator who used their fear and vanity to his own ends. I hope you enjoyed that satisfying, brief, intense ‘fuck you Hillary, fuck you, establishment’ feeling of power when you marked your ballot. If you’re not in the 1%, it’s the only thing you’re ever going to get out of your vote.

Categories: Politics

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