Monday, September 11, 2017

Be careful what you wish: Trump hurricane budget; impeachment downsides

A version of this was published in the Sky Hi News, September 13, 2017; additional footnotes were added during week


The political world is not a Disney movie. Not all stories end with  a handsome prince or finding true love.  Sometimes politics  gives you the wicked witch instead.  Hurricane relief  and the specter of impeachment are two cases risking the witch effect.


The role of government suddenly had a new meaning to those who believed no good comes from Washington, DC.  Those who once shouted states rights and were  and deficit hawks,  suddenly found themselves demanding federal money no matter what the impact was to federal finances. Harvey  and Irma gave them  a dose of reality.  Sometimes only the federal government has resources to deal with the magnitude of a disaster.


Ideologically driven  dreams  pre Harvey and Irma proved foolish when the Administration advocated  reducing the ability to respond to natural disasters as part of budget  and regulation reductions. President Trump presented his budget wish list to begin October 1 in the form of a “blueprint”. In it, he asked for. $667 million to be cut from  from the  FEMA pre-disaster mitigation grant program and require all grants to be matched by non-federal funds.. Even before Harvey, there was evidence that $1 in mitigation saves  $4 in later damages. The budget proposed by the Trump administration  for forecasting hurricanes  has a 17% cut.


More foolishness: Trump’s proposed budget called for the elimination of the federal flood insurance program which made flood insurance affordable. I recall  a good  friend who survived Katrina and  who had that flood insurance and was able to rebuild even though his home was severely damaged.. While only 20% of Harvey’s victims have flood insurance, it will be their welcomed salvation. It is not only coastal areas that benefit , but  in Denver parts of the neighborhood in which I once lived were on floodplains that qualified for the subsidized, underwritten insurance. Floods are not unknown in Colorado like  Boulder and northern Colorado experienced in 2013.  


The left’s dream is  that Donald Trump will be impeached.   Reasons I suspect are mostly politically motivated.to stop  Trump’ agenda of dismantling the Obama legacy,  his racism,  or a contempt for his persona. Alone these are not  the “high crimes and misdemeanors” standard for impeachment in the Constitution. Whether he is fit to serve refers to the 25th Amendment and the process to determine fitness..  Former  Director of National Intelligence  James Clapper added gravitas to the  impeachment movement when he questioned Trump’s fitness, calling Trump’s Phoenix  post Charlottesville divisive   speech “downright scary and disturbing”. . Heavyweight Democratic leaders have differed from impeachment advocates.  In August  Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) California   proposed “ patience” for Donald Trump to learn  and  said  he could  become a “good “ president..  David Axelrod,  former Obama adviser, opined  that with  30% plus  of voters still supporting Trump, an attempt to impeach him could be viewed as a  bloodless  coup  and a danger to the constitutional process. In June, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told impeachment talkers to “calm down” and wait for “solid proof”.  That makes sense. . The   most credible proof of misdeeds  or exoneration is Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s  investigation of the Russian connection. Any sabotaging of  the investigation by Trump or the GOP should be fought tooth and nail.









http://www.denverpost.com/2017/09/08/hurricane-forecasting-is-a-casualty-in-the-war-on-climate-science/

https://www.yahoo.com/news/everybody-baffled-trump-rescinding-flood-protection-rules-senator-says-165246845.html

http://billmoyers.com/story/dangerous-case-donald-trump-robert-jay-lifton-bill-moyers-duty-warn/#.Wb1WldCZgGI.email

http://eliotdaley.com/why-donald-trump-lies-so-much/

http://time.com/4875093/donald-trump-goldwater-rule-history/

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