- MAGA’s war science: Ignorance is Strength!;
- Trump doesn’t understand the separation of church and state;
- Trump doesn’t understand how trade deficits worth;
- Trump thinks Veterans Day should be only about veterans who won wars;
- Trump doesn’t understand even the Declaration of Independence;
- Toy shortages and fireworks shortages.
Paul Krugman, 2 May 2025: MAGA’s War on Science, subtitled “Why do these people believe that ignorance is strength?”
An interesting point here is his mention of the 2005 Mooney book that I reviewed here, three days ago.
Many of us have long noted the growing hostility of the G.O.P. to science. But my experience was that many people viewed those raising the alarm — like Chris Mooney, who wrote a 2005 book titled The Republican War on Science — as over the top scaremongers.
But at this point, can we acknowledge that MAGA is indeed waging war on science? Not just “woke” stuff, but science in general.
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Trump is clueless about everything.
Politico, Irie Sentner, 1 May 2025: Trump, brushing aside separation of church and state, establishes religious liberty commission, subtitled “‘We’re bringing religion back to our country, and it’s a big deal,’ the president said.” (via)
The Constitution’s prohibition of a national religion has long been interpreted as a mandatory separation of church and state. Trump is not a regular church-goer but he sees religious conservatives as the base of his political movement.
“They said, really there’s separation. I don’t know. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I’m not sure, but whether there’s separation or not, you guys are in the White House where you should be, and you’re representing our country, and we’re bringing religion back to our country, and it’s a big deal.”
His “Christian” fans don’t care about any “separation”; they behave as if they deserve to dominate since they’re the majority (which is the essence of fascism). And so Trump doesn’t either. Proving yet against that MAGA conservatives don’t really believe in the Constitution they say they venerate.
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Fairly wonky piece. I’ll just quote the first bit.
NY Times, guest essay by Jason Furman, 3 May 2025: Proof Trump Has No Idea How the Trade Deficit Works
There are many reasons President Trump should not be pushing Congress to pass huge tax cuts, but here’s one you may not have heard: Budget deficits and trade deficits are twins. When the former go up, so, generally, do the latter. So at the same moment Mr. Trump is upending the global economy in a feckless attempt to eliminate America’s trade deficit, he’s essentially pressuring Congress to increase it.
Here’s how it happens. The United States buys a lot of goods from other countries, and we pay for the goods with dollars. But those dollars are no good abroad, so the countries we buy from invest them here. Some of the money goes, directly or indirectly, into businesses that are raising cash to build new data centers or expand natural gas facilities or construct new apartment complexes. Other dollars go into Treasury bonds or bills, which the federal government uses to fund our large budget deficit. (The same thing happens in reverse when other countries buy from the United States — but to a lesser degree, since our imports are larger than our exports.)
If the budget deficit rises, American investors could theoretically cover the shortfall, but that would mean putting their money in Treasury securities rather than businesses and their capital needs. The other option is that foreign countries amass more dollars and plow them back into the U.S. economy. How would they get those additional dollars? From all the German cars and Chinese electronics and imported beer that Americans will buy with the money from their tax cuts.
I don’t pretend to follow all of this myself. That’s why I follow experts like Robert Reich and Paul Krugman, who are relentless in their criticism of the simple-minded approaches that Trump is taking to everything.
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He misses the point.
Politico, Eric Bazail-Eimil, 1 May 2025: Trump to rename Veterans Day as ‘Victory Day for World War I’, subtitled “The president said the move is needed for America ‘to start celebrating our victories again!'”
In a late-night Truth Social post, Trump wrote that the move was needed to honor the unique U.S. sacrifices in both World Wars. Trump also announced he would rename Victory in Europe Day, which is commemorated on May 8, to “Victory in World War II Day” to recognize that “we did more than any other Country, by far, in producing a victorious result on World War II.”
The move to rename Veterans Day is surprising. The holiday was originally established in the aftermath of World War I as Armistice Day to honor American veterans who served in the bloody conflict. In the 1950s, the holiday was broadened to honor all American veterans, including those who served in World War II and the Korean War. Veterans Day was made a federal holiday in 1968 and current commemorations honor U.S. servicemembers from the Vietnam War, Gulf War and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, among other U.S. military operations.
The point is that these holidays honors *all* veterans, including those who fought in wars the US didn’t win (Korea, Vietnam), or those who served in the military in any fashion, as my father did as a weatherman in 1950s England. In typical conservative fashion, he is reducing everything to simplex black and white. It only matters to him who *won*.
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Sigh. How much deeper can this go? Trump does not understand even the Declaration of Independence.
Daily Kos, Walter Einenkel, 2 May 2025: Check out Trump’s idiotic take on the Declaration of Independence
“Well, it means exactly what it says. It’s a declaration. It’s a declaration of unity and love and respect. And it means a lot. And it’s something very special to our country,” Trump said when Moran asked him what the Declaration of Independence means to him.
He has no understanding of what the Declaration means to the founding of our country?
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Is this sour grapes, or let them eat cake?
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Boing Boing, Ellsworth Toohey, 30 Apr 2025: Trump solves toy shortage by telling children to want fewer toys
This story is around on the internet today, with this key quote:
Maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more.
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And, by the way:
JMG, 1 May 2025: Fireworks Sellers Cancel July 4th Orders Over Tariffs
Happy Fourth of July.
