Trump Is Stealing Taxpayer Money For His Personal Priorities

Without consulting Congress, Trump started a disastrous trade war with China that has, for example, destroyed the American soy bean sector-- likely forever. The economies of rural counties across the country are already in recession. Dairy farms, corn farmers, wheat farmers... are all suffering from Trump's policies as well. Last month, the Nebraska Corn Board and the Nebraska Corn Growers Association sent out a scorching press release-- and it was Trump who got scorched. Trump did very well in Nebraska in 2016. He won 91 of Nebraska's 93 counties and beat Hillary 495,961 (58.75%) to 284,494 (33.70%). It was even better for Trump in the most rural counties. The massive 3rd congressional district takes up over three quarters of the state and is bigger than New York state.-- and it's 86% rural. Trump won NE-03 with 74.9% of the vote, one of his biggest wins anywhere in the country. Those corn farmers bought into the Times Square hustler hook line and sinker. "As harvest approaches after an extremely difficult year for agriculture," wrote the Nebraska Corn Board team, "many Nebraska corn farmers are outraged by the Trump administration’s lack of support for the American farmer. The Nebraska Corn Board and the Nebraska Corn Growers Association call upon the administration to fulfill its promises..." NE-03 isn't going to abandon Trump in 2020. He'll win that district and ridiculous closet case Adrian Smith (R) will be reelected to Congress. But NE-01 is probably lost to the GOP and NE-02 is teetering."

Trump's subsidies-- $16 billion-- will mostly make already wealthy farming operations even wealthier. Struggling family farms will get very little. And the geriatric and less-than-capable House leadership has done nothing about it but rubber-stamp Trump's outrageous behavior. House Democrats were frightened off my Kevin McCarthy's (and other Republicans') tweet storms.

Pelosi and Hoyer and their lame, incompetent team, are falling into the same trap with the Defense Budget. They funded billions of dollars in military projects, only to see the Pentagon illegally hand that money over to Trump's vanity wall project-- and then blame congressional Democrats for not funding "essential projects." Pelosi (79) and Hoyer (80) are too old and tired to fight back effectively. The military has wasted millions of dollars at luxurious Trump properties and the House Democrats do nothing about it but whine.

Yesterday, Aaron Gregg and Eric Werner of the Washington Post reported that the Pentagon is already screaming about dire outcomes if Congress doesn't fund the same projects that it already funded! "The Pentagon warned of dire outcomes unless Congress paid for urgently needed military construction projects nationwide-- the same projects that have now been canceled to fund President Trump’s border wall. The warnings are contained in Defense Department budget requests sent to lawmakers in recent years. They include potentially hazardous living conditions for troops and their families, as well as unsafe schools that would impede learning. In numerous cases, the Defense Department warned that lives would be put at risk if buildings don’t meet the military’s standards for fire safety or management of explosives."

Michael Franken is a progressive Democrat running for the Democratic nomination to take on reactionary Senator Joni Ernst in Iowa. She's just another Trump enabler. Franken is far from that. When I asked him how he plans to deal with this kind systemic GOP corruption, he shot back the need for Congress to "Vow and follow through with axing other projects dear to the prez and freeze EVERY political appointment... starve him of every luminary and personnel confirmation across all the exec branch. Then, never go in recess... and starve his party members from significant time at their respective home states."

Teresa Tomlinson, the former mayor of Macon and progressive Democratic running for the Democratic Senate nomination in Georgia is also eager to deal with this kind of a situation enabled by Trump rubber stamps like David Perdue, her opponent. "The money spent that lines Trump’s pocket can be identified through an equitable accounting by Congress and a Disgorgment process," she said. "Money shifted through budget adjustment has to be challenged in the courts or altered by legislative process."