Thought I Had Today About Donald Trump #1: He was interviewed on Face the Nation this morning by John Dickerson. Trump said that his new healthcare proposal contains a provision to protect people with pre-existing conditions. He said, "We've set up a pool for the pre-existing conditions so that the premiums can be allowed to fall."
Dickerson said there is no such item in the bill. Trump said it's in there. Dickerson said it isn't…and that conversation hit a dead end because Dickerson wasn't prepared to hand Trump a copy of it and say, "I say it isn't in there. If you want to prove that the press is inaccurate, here's your chance. Show me the paragraph!"
But of course, even that is a distraction. It would be very easy to put a provision into the bill that would set up high-risk pools for folks with pre-existing conditions if there are no restrictions on what insurance companies can charge them. The issue is to get these people affordable health care.
That's one of Trump's skills. Like a skilled sleight of hand magician, he makes you watch his left hand while the right hand is sneaking a potato under the middle cup.
Thought I Had Today About Donald Trump #2: Trump opponents are aghast that even though Trump is not delivering on promises (or in some cases, is angling to achieve the opposite) and even though he gets caught in lie after lie, he hasn't lost much support among his base. But no one should be surprised about that.
You can't beat something with nothing and most people who are loyal to one guy aren't going to terminate that loyalty until they have someplace else to move it to. Right now, to not like Trump is to leave themselves with no leader, no hope of achieving what's on their wish list. They'll stick with The Donald until someone emerges who looks like he'll give them all the stuff Trump promised but (a) do a better job of delivering it and maybe also (b) not have as many of Trump's personal negatives, like his constant reversals of positions, his family business conflicts and other things that might lower his popularity and therefore his power.
Thought I Had Today About Donald Trump #3: Many of his strongest supporters are counting on him to do two things in particular. One is to slap down immigrants and establish that America belongs to people — especially white people — who were born here.
They want the wall built, not so much because it will keep anybody out but because it will stand as a symbol that foreigners aren't terribly welcome…especially if, as seems increasingly unlikely, he can bully Mexicans into paying for it. It would be like making Mexico atone for there being so many Hispanics already in this country.
The other thing they really want is to see jobs come back to this country. This is something Trump is not going to be able to do and so far, his plan mainly seems to be about claiming successes over increases in employment that he had nothing to do with. What stops him from actually doing something is that Trump is also a guy who believes that if you run a business, no one — but no one — should force you to do anything that might lower your profits.
If as has been reported, Ivanka's clothing line is made in China by people who work 60 hour weeks and are paid a pittance…well, that's it. Trump's never going to force a company to go where the workers have to be paid more.
Just as the coal industry is never going to be what it once was. Even leaving environmental concerns aside, other sources of energy are now cheaper…which is why they aren't going to be burning a whole lot of coal to heat Mar-a-Lago. This article will tell you more about why the promise to bring back jobs in the coal industry is like promising to open new Betamax factories or to get more people to use Western Union to send telegrams instead of e-mail.
This has been Three Thoughts I Had Today About Donald Trump. There was actually a fourth but it involved him actually trying to work with Democrats instead of just trying to bully them into giving him everything he wants. So it's not likely to happen.