Drumpf Diary 1/23/17

Drumpf is apparently withdrawing the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free trade deal peddled heavily by Obama but opposed mostly by Democrats. A signal of political re-orientation around issues? Free trade has largely received bipartisan support, but it has always been Republicans who are at the forefront of peddling it. Yet here we have a new Republican president taking the axe to such a deal on his first Monday in office.

A bigger signal of such reorientation/realignment is Drumpf's announcement that he intends to withdraw from NAFTA and call in Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Nieto in for re-negotiation of the deal. This deal was the darling in the 90s of Drumpf's current Republican supporter, Newt Gingrich.

It's being reported that Drumpf will nominate a prominent former Verizon lawyer to head the FCC, Ajit Pai. He was nominated to the FCC by Barack Obama in 2012, as a recommendation by the Republican congress. Now he will be the head of the FCC with the departure of Democrat Tom Wheeler.

Drumpf has established a federal hiring freeze, exempting the military.

Drumpf claims he wants to cut rules on business by 75%, unclear which rules or where they are getting that number. He also wants to reduce corporate tax rates and middle class tax rates. This would balloon the national debt by trillions but Drumpf thinks economic gains woupd offset that.

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/23/trump-tells-business-leaders-he-wants-to-cut-regulations-by-75-percent-or-maybe-more.html

Regarding the TPP & NAFTA, twin cities activist Brad Sigal writes:

This makes very clear that he's not just another run-of-the-mill conservative who used populist rhetoric to get elected. He is going to try to implement a radically different program than conservatism as we've known it in the U.S. Of course, he is firmly committed to U.S. capitalism and imperialism, but this makes clear that he's not just going to fall in line with what the majority on Wall Street want him to do -- he has a different view on what is needed to ensure U.S. imperialist domination of the world. Wall Street loves these free trade agreements and sees them as fundamental to extending their power globally. His quick action on this seems to indicate that Trump will move ahead quickly to try to impose a new ruling class consensus. He's taking a big risk by moving boldly around this agenda, because he is going against the wishes of a majority of Wall Street. This could be the beginning of his undoing if they conclude that they cannot keep him within the bounds of their agenda and start to seriously plan to undermine him and/or cut his rule short one way or another. But on the other hand, if they fail at constraining him and his agenda, and he succeeds at quelling the voices in the ruling class that oppose him, and fashions a new ruling class consensus around a toxic white nationalism and xenophobic fortress America, we're in for a very bumpy ride.