Bumble and Bumble

Not the haircare products. The White House and its blind supporters in both houses of Congress. Massive shift of the tax burden from the wealthiest segments of our nation to the middle and lower economic classes and calling that “tax reform.” “Pussy grabbing” as permitted and all-too-often condoned manly activities (both parties guilty here). Cutting healthcare by hundreds of billions of dollars – all of it from the middle and lower economic classes, even the elderly – in order to fund that “tax reform” and the resulting deficit. Pulling out of multinational treaties only to watch those “other nations” refuse to engage in replacement bilateral trade agreements with the U.S., turn towards China as well as multinational trade organizations where the United States is now excluded. Pushing North Korea to the brink of deploying a nuclear weapon against us because of elementary-school-level taunts and tweets from the President of the United States of America.

The last GOP administration destabilized the Middle East by purging Iraq’s Sunni leadership, handing the country to the Shiite majority only to watch Iraq become Shiite Iran’s most trusted puppet government. Catering to those evangelicals who believe that there can be no Second Coming of Jesus Christ and that the Rapture cannot take them to heaven unless a strong Israel with hateful Arab neighbors are able to foment Armageddon in the Holy Land, the Trump administration has lost all semblance of it former status as regional neutral peacekeeper/mediator by consistently siding with whatever Israel wants.

Even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud coalition continues to weaken, as he and his wife are investigated for corruption, an exceptionally pro-Netanyahu U.S. Ambassador to Israel, former Trump personal lawyer David Friedman, has pretty much reduced U.S. influence in the Israeli-Palestinian quagmire to close to zero with statements like, ““I think the [West Bank] settlements are part of Israel.”

Contradicting decades of U.S. policy and official U.N votes, Friedman has supported a position that prevents Palestinians from claiming their Palestinian territory (mostly the West Bank) as their own… a denial of the two state solution that virtually every nation on earth – except Israel and now the United States – has declared as the correct ultimate goal for any related peace agreement. Effectively, by embracing the permanence of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, Friedman (as America’s official spokesman in Israel) has rendered the potential of renewed peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians completely futile.

Exacerbating the insult of appointing completely inexperienced and virulently pro-Israeli Orthodox Jewish Trump-son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as the architect of the American Middle Eastern peace initiative, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has added fuel to the growing sense that the United States is no longer qualified to mediate the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Knowing that Netanyahu hardly has the uniform endorsement of either his own nation or the bulk of American Jews, Trump appears nonetheless dedicated to following Netanyahu’s directives to the letter.

“The Trump administration is threatening to shutter the Palestinian Authority’s representative office in Washington based on a provision of a U.S. law that has not been previously enforced… The State Department recently informed the Palestinian Authority that if it does not reenter peace negotiations with Israel, its delegation to the United States could be closed within months, though it did not specify a timeline.

“Secretary of State Rex Tillerson informed the Palestinians that the decision was made following statements by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who called on the International Criminal Court to investigate Israel for war crimes… The State Department told the Associated Press that Abbas’ statements violate a law under which action taken by the Palestinians against Israel at the ICC could lead to the closure of their mission.

“‘This is a matter of U.S. law,’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. ‘We respect the decision and look forward to continuing to work with the U.S. to advance peace and security in the region.’ [Yeah, right!]

“Reached in Washington, Palestinian Authority Ambassador to the United States Husam Zomlot said, ‘I have no comment. No comment at all.’… In September, Zomlot posted a video to his Twitter feed in which he said that Netanyahu’s attempts to close down the Palestinian delegation were ‘absurd’ and that the delegation’s presence in Washington reflected the ‘will of the American people.’

“Israeli television channel KAN reported in September on a plan ‘hatched’ by the Israeli government and Republican lawmakers in the U.S. to ‘punish the Palestinians for their recent diplomatic advances, including their successful bid to join Interpol, the world’s largest police organization, and their ongoing efforts to have Israeli leaders tried at the International Criminal Court.’… The latest warning shot does not bode well for the much-heralded but not-yet-unveiled Trump peace plan [being created by Kushner], which is expected to be presented to Israel and the Palestinian Authority some time in December or January.” Los Angeles Times, November 19^th.

The denizens of Trumpland are becoming their own version of ineffective swamp critters, well-worthy of themselves being drained. And while Tillerson appears to be among the “best” Trump cabinet appointees, as a result of his woeful lack of experience combined with the Trump-administration preferring to shoot from the hip rather than rely on seasoned professions, the Department of State has been reduced to an impotent organization with abysmal morale. Tillerson has denied what everyone in Washington has known for months: most of those professional career Foreign Service specialists, who have spent their entire lives studying the regions and languages of their expertise, have come to hate coming to work.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert acknowledged Friday [11/17] that that there is a morale problem in the agency and offered this advice to workers: ‘Don't give up.’… Asked about a spate of critical letters to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson by members of Congress, as well as recent reports about high-level resignations, Nauert conceded that some staff are feeling frustrated.

“‘I know that times may seem tough right now,’ she conceded to reporters at the agency's regular news briefing. ‘I know that the headlines coming out of the State Department do not look good, do not look promising. We have a lot of work to do here at the State Department.’

“‘It breaks my heart to hear that some feel that they aren't wanted or aren't needed or aren't appreciated,’ she went on to say. ‘If I can get somebody else to convey that message more convincingly than I can, I would love to do that. But I just speak for myself right now and say how fantastic they are.’

“Nauert did not fully answer a question about whether Tillerson is conscious of the morale issues or plans to do more personally to address them. However, she emphasized that the secretary expresses his appreciation to staff when he travels to embassies abroad.” CNN.com, November 17^th.

The inmates have taken over the asylum. The government has achieved levels of incompetence we have never seen before, even as Trump’s base cackles in continuing delight in support of this parade of severe clownsmanship. But in the end, most Americans will suffer hard costs to lifestyle, economic and environmental well-being, even as the United States itself plunges in global power and prestige.

I’m Peter Dekom, and while SNL, John Oliver, Samantha Bee and a litany of comedians find humor in these outrageously stupid moves, that humor will be long-since lost on future generations forced to live with the irreversible consequences.