Me and Trump and a Dog Named Blue

Nort much of a title because I couldn't even get it to rhyme.

So what do I think about Trump's actions so far?

Illegal Immigration

I don't have a problem with declaring an emergency or sending troops to the southern border. It's just unclear to me if these moves are going to be effective as well as flashy. If you listen to the MAGATs then the southern border has been closed; if you listen to others then not so much.

Besides, I don't think troops can be kept there indefinitely so this may turn out to be just a stop gap measure.

As for rounding up illegal immigrants and deporting them, again I'm not sure if this is more than a flash in the pan. In FY 2024 271,000 illegal immigrants were deported. That comes out to 742 a day. So far the numbers under Trump have been higher but not that much higher, In the first week DHS reportedly deported 7,300 people. That comes out to 1,042 a day but there may have been people already in the pipeline.

Trump is reportedly unhappy with the pace and has communicated to senior ICE officials a “quota” of 75 arrests per day for each of the agency’s 25 field offices. That would be 1,875 arrests per day. It's unclear what percentage of arrests result in deportations but let's assume it's 100%. That would be 684,375 deportations. If there are 11 million illegal immigrants that would take about 16 years to get the job done assuming no more enter.

Then again Stephen Miller says that the 1,875 arrests represents a floor and not a ceiling.

None of this works unless you eliminate the attraction for coming here by making people that hire illegal immigrants face harsh penalties.

Elimination of DEI Offices and Programs

This works for me as well. As I've said I think DEI does more harm than good but some of his underlings might be taking things a bit too far such as removing a training video featuring the Tuskegee Airman. Yes it was restored but come on.

Threats about Greenland and the Panama Canal

This is just idiotic. If Denmark wants to sell Greenland (they don't) and the people of Greenland want to be part of the US (they don't) that would be OK but they don't and they don't.

Trump should leave Panama alone. The new carriers can't fit through the canal anyway.

DOGE

I talked about this at length in the previous post. This is the dumbest thing that Trump has done. Even if the function is a good idea having Elon Musk lead the effort is not.

Tariffs on Canada and Mexico

Clearly Trump thinks he can get some sort of concessions related to illegal immigrants and drugs crossing the border. If he can, then more power to him. But if he can't, then he paints himself into a corner where either he has to blink or put a big dent in the economy, risk inflation and make the stock market even more gimpy than its been. I've been getting whiplash from following the gyrations.

Tariffs on China

It's less clear to me what he's trying to accomplish here. I think I'll take a wait and see attitude.

Displacing the Palestinians from Gaza and Building a Tourist Resort

WTF man? Just WTF? I'm glad Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinians told him to stuff it. I mean displace hundreds of thousands of people? WTF man? Just WTF?

Banning Trans Athletes in Women's Sports

I sort of agree with the objective here but I'm not sure this is going to accomplish a ban. It changes the interpretation of Title IX to no longer include allowing trans athletes to compete in events of their gender rather than their sex but not protecting something is not the same thing as banning it.