US media are writing a lot about the 2020 presidential election. The Republican candidate and current President is not helping the GOP by raising contentious political issues like repealing Obamacare, building his Great Wall, and closing the Mexican border. Mr Trump acts like a wrecking ball. Trump may once be nicknamed as the Demolition Man.
The 45th President seems to be in his 3rd and final stage of his revolution of disruption, chaos and destruction (my blogs #1, #2, #3, #4 and #5) because his time in office is running out. His destruction is partly personal because he is adamant of wiping out Obama‘s legacy. Partly, it’s political given MAGA‘s choice for Nationalism. Last but not least, Trump intentionally hurts Chinese and US Superpower ambitions.
The resulting backlash will set China and USA back for years. It appears nobody is profiting but time is a precious commodity. In the meantime, Russia is selling dollars and hoarding gold (Bloomberg, WT). Given Trump’s view that the dollar is too strong (Bloomberg), the US$ is likely to be a next target in Trump’s revolution of disruption, chaos and destruction.
In 2018, I wrote my blog Every 10 years a new US recession. Trump’s cocktail of ballooning US debt and deficits, low interest rates, massive tax cuts, and global trade wars, is likely to spark a new recession. By demanding low interest rates (also for personal reasons), he takes away the Fed’s future monetary instruments for fighting a new recession.
Trump’s bullying of allies and friends – whether intentional or not – undermines their respect for him and USA. A removal of faith in American leadership is likely to cause a removal of faith in the US dollar. I still recall the days of about US$ 1 = EUR 0.50 (graph).
Trump’s slogan of “Make America Great Again” might be his ultimate use of reverse psychology. In most cases, you will find that Trump’s opinions are the (exact) opposite of facts – or the truth. Trump is often viewed as a compulsive liar (eg, FP, Politico, WaPo). I think, feel and believe that Trump’s use of reverse psychology is very revealing about his true game.
Most likely, the GOP will ultimately pay the price for Trump’s revolution of disruption, chaos and destruction. The irony is that left-wing nationalists within the Democratic Party will probably benefit (eg, AOC, Sanders).
Whatever the outcome of the Russian interference in the 2016 US elections, Russia seems to be facing a win-win situation. This devious game was/is brilliant, and could have been a cold-war novel by John le Carré and/or Gérard de Villiers.
Wrecking Ball (1989) by Emmylou Harris
artist, lyrics, video, Wiki-1, Wiki-2, Wiki-3
My life’s an open book, you read it on the radio
We’ve got nowhere to hide, we got nowhere to go
Note: all markings (bold, italic, underlining) by LO unless stated otherwise
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