It’s that time of year again – the obnoxious season of campaigns, endless ads, begging for money, and elections. It’s when all the challengers are telling voters Washington is broken and they’re just the ones who can fix it.
The incumbents will swear they’ve been working diligently for you, but it is all the others who’ve made the mess. Most citizens will agree on the need for change but then send in the same old clowns.
Here’s some of what our leaders have been doing for (or to) us since the last election.
US Vice President JD Vance told Fox News that America’s primary goal in the Iran war is to “keep oil and gasoline cheap for Americans.” Apparently, no one bothered telling him gas and groceries were a lot cheaper before US President Donald Trump decided to start this unnecessary war of choice.
The price at the pump jumped since pre-war February from under $3 a gallon to over $4, something the billionaire president cavalierly dismissed as “a tiny little bit.”
Vance said the number two goal of the war was preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. He must have missed Trump’s announcement more than 14 months ago that the B2 stealth bombers he sent had “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program.
One big reason gas prices are so high is that Iran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a possibility administration geniuses somehow failed to anticipate before launching the misguided attack.
Trump, however, says he’s got “total control” of the waterway but can’t explain why he’s been unable to restore pre-war rights of free passage for all shipping and break Iran’s stranglehold.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has the answer. He said the administration will soon announce crippling new economic measures “that have never been seen in Iran.” If they’re so powerful, why weren’t they tried before spending so many billions and killing and wounding so many Americans and Iranians in a war that no one asked for?
But fear not, when the war is over, the Strait of Hormuz may become the State of Hormuz, right beside the State of Canada and the State of Greenland.
“Pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States,” Trump announced to a New York audience this week. It would join US territories Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Is it any wonder the rest of the world, including the erstwhile allies Trump has offended and alienated, no longer sees Washington as a constructive, reliable player on the world scene?
The people in power
Out there in the Arabian Sea, the giant nuclear aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln has set a record for the longest – and unhappiest – deployment since Vietnam, over nine months and counting.
Many of the 5,000 men and women aboard and their families complain that they’ve been too long at sea without shore leave and without fresh food and water; they cite moldy showers, broken toilets, and no laundry. Morale is low, they’re unable to call home or get mail, and several have threatened to jump overboard.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth dismissed families’ concerns as all “fake, America-hating” lies spread by “American” (his quote marks) media. Among those broadcasting that not-really-fake news is his former employer and Trump’s favorite network, Fox News.
Trump said he’s not worried about the long deployment. When asked about family members upset about their loved ones, Trump said, “No, they’re not.” And as for their long time at sea, he said, “No, no, no,” the deployment hasn’t been “nearly long enough.”
Hegseth has been busy with more important things. He’s been preoccupied with his racist-misogynist anti-DEI campaign and doesn’t have time for crybaby families or dangerously low missile inventories.
He is laser-focused on the big picture: firing generals and admirals based on race and gender, removing or blocking similar officers from promotion lists, and taking down pictures of people who look like them and don’t meet his white warrior image or his testosterone standards.
Back at the ranch, Trump signed an executive order authorizing the government to hire private citizens to conduct cyberattacks against foreign hackers. Probably pals like his pool guy who did such a great job on the reflecting pool.
Presidents also protect the nation’s physical health. It was in that vein that the leader who suggested using Clorox injections to fight COVID-19 just signed an executive order splitting up and spreading out childhood vaccines.
Immunologists and scientists say that is unnecessary, and his own Centers for Disease Control insists there is no scientific evidence to show it benefits children.
Dr. Trump, however, said it is necessary because the shots “will have a huge impact on autism.” There is no evidence of any linkage except in the brain of his health secretary and vaccine skeptic, Robert F Kennedy Jr., and his team.
Critics, including former health officials and medical experts, fear Kennedy’s policies on vaccines and other issues could wind up killing more Americans than Trump’s war on Iran.
When we celebrated the nation’s 250th birthday, you should have remembered that the capital city was built by slaves on swampy tidal flats. And when you go out to vote, remember the folks you sent to Washington in the last election to clean out the swamp.
The writer is a Washington-based journalist, consultant, lobbyist, and former legislative director at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.