Trump's Billionaires with No Balls!

Trump's Billionaires With No Balls

            Robert A. Levine, M.D.  February 18, 2025

It is amazing to see the lack of courage manifested by some of the wealthiest men in our nation. They made their fortunes because of their intelligence, technical expertise, scientific knowledge and entrepreneurial spirit- because they were willing to take risks. Now, they have lined up behind President Trump and are afraid to challenge him on his policies that are bad for the nation and could be devastating for the world.

I am thinking about Trump’s moves that will accelerate climate change which is already a danger to the planet, and his rhetoric and plans to demolish American science and the scientific establishment along with research on health care. Men like Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg and their ilk are smart enough to realize what Trump has done and is continuing to do but have been afraid of criticizing him or suggesting alternatives. They know that Trump has the power and are unwilling to speak truth to power.

Last year was the hottest year on Earth on record and each month appears to be hotter than the corresponding month the previous year. We have already bypassed the 1.5 degree C rise for the planet above pre-industrial levels that nations agreed at a past Paris Climate Conference would indicate danger for the planet. Many countries are not meeting their pledges of lessening their production of greenhouse gas emissions and the use of coal is continuing as a major fuel. Methane is continuing to escape from natural gas lines and production sites, the strongest global warming gas. Yet Trump has labeled global warming as a hoax and has refused to take measures to reduce climate change. He rejects scientific data that proves that global warming is real.

Trump has taken the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord and any leadership role in the fight against climate change. He wants to increase the use and dependence on fossil fuels and stop supporting renewable energy like wind and solar. He is cutting subsidies for EVs and charging stations and is not supporting the auto industries pivot to electric vehicles. He also wants to drill for oil and gas in the Alaska wilderness. Whether Trump’s stance on global warming is just political or whether he is just not smart enough to understand the validity of global warming and what it is doing to our planet is not clear. Surely, he must be aware of the unusual heat waves we are having along with the weird weather. But he is ignoring the weather changes, and his billionaire buddies are not speaking up and challenging him.

Scientific and medical research are also receiving short shrift from Trump and his administration. He appointed Robert Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic as Secretary of HHS with the NIH, FDA and CDC under his control. While Kennedy may have some good ideas about unhealthy foods, he has scant knowledge about medicine and health care and his bias against medications and vaccines could be deadly for the country, particularly if there is another pandemic like Covid, possibly Avian flu. However, Kennedy was approved by a Republican Congress also afraid of Trump, with not a word of dissent from Trump’s billionaire ensemble. And Trump is also cutting support money for scientific and medical research at American universities which is vitally needed.  At least Trump has made China happy!

In the past, many tech entrepreneurs have been activists in the fight against climate change. Now with Trump in charge, they have all gone silent on what is probably the biggest threat to human survival on the planet. Musk and Bezos want to put colonies on Mars to ensure human survival. Why don’t they open their mouths to convince Trump of the threat to survival that climate change presents on Earth and try to get him to do something about it.

www.robertlevinebooks.com

Buy The Uninformed Voter on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or your local bookstore

Trump's Disdain for Ordinary Americans

Trump’s Disdain for Ordinary Americans

                        Robert A. Levine   February 3, 2025

Within the first two weeks of President Trump’s 4 year term, his disdain for ordinary citizens and preference for billionaires and wealthy people is already evident. We can’t say that we didn’t know it was coming, as throughout his campaign he associated mainly with affluent contributors and tech gurus instead of ordinary citizens. But his messages castigated the liberal elites (his elites weren’t liberal) and promised to improve the lives of average citizens. These rants attracted less educated white men, some Blacks and Hispanics, religious extremists and those who were disgruntled with the state of American society. Trump constantly emphasized the two I’s – inflation and illegal immigration, which greatly appealed to the working classes.

But once attaining office, Trump’s early executive orders have hurt the middle classes and the poor, benefiting his billionaire buddies and corporations. His playbook is Project 2025 from the Heritage Foundation which he disowned during the campaign but is now following after the election. Another lie. He wants to continue or expand the tax cuts he gave the rich in his first term which did nothing for ordinary Americans. We can expect more of the same in the future.

And his obsession with tariffs will hurt ordinary Americans who will pay more for imported products and raise inflation further. Trump says the exporting countries will be paying for the tariffs but the rise in costs will be shifted to Americans. Trump also wants to cut health care benefits to poor people by slashing Medicaid. This will not only result in worse medical care but will also hurt the many nursing home residents who cannot afford to pay the costs of the nursing home. Trump has made an offer to 2 million federal workers to resign and receive a severance package that includes about eight months of pay and benefits. It remains to be seen how many federal workers will take this package and quit their jobs, but the offer is not dependent on a worker’s competency or performance. Trump just wants to cut federal spending so he can give out those tax cuts to his high earner friends. It may make the federal government even less efficient, but Trump doesn’t seem to care. He also wants to make the government bureaucracy more politically oriented and loyal to him, rather than neutral.

Trumps Office of Management and Budget under the president’s direction has frozen spending of as much as $3 trillion related to federal aid programs. This again would hit the poor and middle class the most. Head Start and food programs for the poor were frozen. (A temporary hold on this order came from a federal judge.) Spending is supposed to be under the purview of Congress, but Trump is trying to usurp its powers to make the presidency stronger. Among the programs that would be affected would be school meals for low-income students, a nutrition program for pregnant women, mine inspections, and programs for homeless veterans. And the Department of Education is supposed to be abolished along with aid to schools. Also, inspector generals in a number oof Departments were fired and top FBI officials have been told to resign. Should make the country safer! Foreign assistance for health and nutrition would also be gutted putting millions of poor Africans and Asians at risk of HIV, TB and malaria. And Trump has withdrawn America from the WHO- World Health Organization.

Once of Trump’s worse moves for Americans and the world at large is his total disbelief and disinterest in climate change which he has called a hoax. Trump took America out of the Paris Accord on Climate again and has been pushing for greater use of fossil fuels including coal. He has stopped spending for wind farms to generate electricity and taken away subsidies for electric vehicles. Without American leadership, global warming will continue unabated, causing more disasters in the U.S. and worldwide. These impact the poor and middle classes more than the wealthy. Various regulatory programs to cut pollution as well as emissions have also been halted by Trump who placed restrictions on the EPA to suck up to big business. Highway funding has been stopped. Health research and development has been stopped. Perhaps it would be easier if Trump gave America away to his billionaire friends. At least then, he wouldn’t have to put on a show for ordinary Americans who make up most of his base.

www.robertlevinebooks.com

Buy The Uninformed Voter on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and at your local bookstore.