RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://swtotd.blogspot.com/

“Tit for Tat: The infliction of an injury or insult in return for one that one has suffered,” Oxford English Dictionary. Wikipedia: “It is an alteration of tip for tap ‘blow for blow,’ first recorded in 1558.”

When Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States on January 20, 2017 I suspect he was as surprised to be there as anyone. He had been a successful real estate developer, and for thirteen years he hosted “The Apprentice,” a successful reality TV series. But he had never run for political office. As a businessman, he donated to both Jimmy Carter’s and Ronald Reagan’s campaigns in 1980. His political affiliations have changed: a Manhattan Republican in the 1980s; member of the Reform Party in 1999; a Democrat in 2001; and back to a Republican in 2009. By some, he will always be criticized for his changing political affiliations and his out-spoken manner. But he was democratically elected President.

For those who make their living in politics, Donald Trump’s success was a threat. His victory was incredulous to Republicans in the primaries and to Democrats in the general election. How could this “orange-haired” man who garbles the English language have won? How could an interloper beat them at their own game?

America is a different place than it was a generation or two ago. Civility has declined; anti-social and unethical behavior have increased; and violence has become more common and, worse, acceptable. Scam phone calls have risen by over 20% in each of the last five years. In 2023, the United States Capital Police (USCP) investigated 8,008 threats against members of Congress. A disturbing number of young Leftists cheered on the two attempts on Donald Trump’s life, as well as the attacks on Tesla dealerships. Anti-Semitism has increased, On May 21 a young Jewish couple, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, were shot and killed outside the Capital Jewish Museum. Four days later, in Boulder, Colorado, a man shouted, “Free Palestine,” as he threw Molotov cocktails at demonstrators, injuring fifteen men and women, as they marched in support of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

https://issuesinsights.com/2025/06/06/will-trump-weaken-washingtons-power-to-tax/

It’s obvious that Donald Trump is a different president. His divergence from the norm manifests itself in various ways. He’s even broached the possibility of eliminating the Internal Revenue Service. Count us among the tens if not hundreds of millions of Americans who wish him godspeed if he chooses dissolve this truly abusive agency.

Trump’s IRS commissioner nominee Billy Long, whose appointment passed another hurdle Tuesday, might give us a little more insight into Trump’s plans for the IRS. Long, a former Republican House member from Missouri, cosponsored more than a decade ago a bill that would abolish the IRS and enact a national sales tax administered primarily by the states.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed in February that Trump wants “to abolish the Internal Revenue Service.” The president also ordered halted the hiring of 87,000 new IRS employees the Biden administration wanted to sic on Americans.

During the second Obama term, ABC News noted that the “IRS has long history of political dirty tricks,” with presidents using “the agency as a weapon against political enemies.” The story ever-so-lightly touched on the administration’s targeting of conservative groups that opposed Barack Obama’s policies. In this particular instance of corruption, “the former president used the Exempt Organizations division of the IRS to delay or deny the approval of tax-exempt status for more than 100 new organizations between 2010 and 2012,” explains taxpayer advocate Dan Pilla

https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/06/05/musks-outbursts-reveal-a-deeper-rift-in-maga/

The deepening split between Elon Musk and the Trump administration speaks to broader divisions within an increasingly shell-shocked GOP. Musk, who left the White House only last week, has since denounced Donald Trump’s hodgepodge budget bill – the so-called Big Beautiful Bill – as a ‘disgusting abomination’, as it will add almost $4 trillion to the federal deficit. He had previously called Trump’s pro-tariff chief trade adviser, Peter Navarro, a ‘moron’, reflecting the gulf between the populists and the oligarchs in the MAGA coalition. Oligarchs, whatever their party, do not favour tariffs, curbing immigration or raising taxes on themselves.

It turns out that this incoherence, married to one-man rule under Trump, has consequences. MAGA is a coalition based largely on a shared detestation of the ‘progressive’ agenda, but it has little else in common. It includes people concerned about free speech and anti-Semitism, as well as Christian humanists. And it also contains deeply troubling elements that appeal to a stew of authoritarian, nativist, racist and anti-Semitic ideas – tropes long peddled and platformed by Trump supporters such as the pro-monarchist Curtis Yarvin and the ubiquitous, ever-ugly Tucker Carlson.

Not surprisingly, the broader base that elected Trump is now fracturing into its constituent parts. This is not to say that there has been a shift to the self-righteous and rightfully ignored ‘Never Trumpers’ in the GOP. Nor have Republicans suddenly embraced the leftist meme that Trump is a ‘fascist’ with a plan. He is nothing of the sort: lacking any real ideology or disciplined movement capable of advancing a particular programme.

In essence, Trump is a grifting narcissist with a keen sense of how to take advantage of the sustained imbecility of his opponents. But there is no fixed core to Trumpism – only impulses more expected from a toddler with ADHD than a presidential administration. He may have been a builder in his past career, but he appears clueless when it comes to constructing a clear policy agenda beyond revanchism and grift.

This incoherence is now undermining his own coalition. The tariff blitzkrieg, for instance, could be seen as justified in response to the undoubted mercantilism of Canada, the EU and, above all, China. Yet instead of leading to concessions from other countries, the chaotic rollout of the tariffs has the potential to paralyse large swathes of the US economy, including the all-important auto industry – winning few allies beyond a handful of labour-union leaders, many of whom will probably never support him anyway.

One can feel the wheels coming off, as many of the key constituencies that elected both Trump and the GOP Congress resist his impetuosity and persistent dishonesty. Like most political movements, MAGA is a fragile alliance of groups that often have little in common – and in some cases, loathe each other. This is already evident in the widening chasm between Trump’s tech bros, who favour cutting government spending and care chiefly about personal enrichment, and the working- and middle-class voters who twice put him in the White House.