BloggeRhythms

A mixed bag of items today illustrate that the president elect has an extraordinary chance of beginning his term in office at one of the highest levels of anticipation of job-success in history. Yet, he continues to seek ways to harm himself, readily provide damaging wherewithal to political enemies and making an already difficult job far harder to accomplish than it has to be. 

According to Alan Yuhas @theguardian.com/us, and many others, yesterday the POTUS-to-be named his son-in-law Jared Kushner as one of his senior advisers. That not only creates potential conflicts of interest and accusations of nepotism, but seems totally unnecessary whereas equally qualified people can certainly be found by a US President quite easily. In fact, there's a wide array of them in cabinet posts and other designations already.  

In Kushner‘s case, it will need to be argued that a federal anti-nepotism law enacted in 1967 after John F Kennedy appointed his brother as attorney general doesn’t apply to him. The law prohibits any federal official from hiring family members to an agency or office which he or she leads. 

Additionally, the particular details seem to invite ongoing scrutiny and questioning making the appointment even more subject to unnecessary exposure to criticism. 

Kushner, a major figure in New York real estate and scion of an extraordinarily wealthy family with business interests around the world has not only invested billions in real estate across the US in the last decade, but also relies heavily on foreign investment and lenders. 

The magnitude is such that: “Experts have said that even should Kushner place holdings in a blind trust, he would still test ethics laws. Kushner will be required to make some financial disclosures, and would continuously test the limits of the law in the White House.” 

At present, Kushner Companies is in talks with a huge Chinese conglomerate, Anbang Insurance Group, about which: “A spokeswoman for the real estate firm said the US government had not determined that Anbang is a state-owned company, despite its possible links to Beijing, which could threaten to break the constitution’s emolument clause. That rule bars payments and gifts from foreign governments.” 

And then, in a more personal vein: “Trump’s son-in-law played a large role throughout the campaign, for instance cutting out one of the businessman’s early allies and advisers, New Jersey governor Chris Christie. Kushner’s father, convicted more than a decade ago on counts of tax evasion and illegal campaign donations, was sent to prison by Christie, then a prosecutor.” 

Thus, while the appreciation of the help received from his son-in-law is quite obvious, it doesn't seem that a top-level White House post for the billionaire relative is necessary for that kind of assistance to continue. Especially when personal issues, such as Kushner’s father’s conviction, will fuel Democrats hostile hounding for a very long time into the future.  

Further evidence of PEOTUS-elect Trump's job-success probability comes from Vince Golle @bloomberg.com, who writes: “Optimism among America’s small businesses soared in December by the most since 1980 as expectations about the economy’s prospects improved dramatically in the aftermath of the presidential election. 

“The National Federation of Independent Business’s index jumped 7.4 points last month to 105.8, the highest since the end of 2004, from 98.4. While seven of the 10 components increased in December, 73 percent of the monthly advance was due to more upbeat views about the outlook for sales and the economy, the Washington-based group said.” 

While the share of business owners saying now is a good time to expand has grown three times larger, more companies also said they plan to increase investment and keep hiring, reflecting optimism regarding Trump’s plans for spurring the economy through deregulation, tax reform and infrastructure spending. 

Juanita Duggan, president and chief executive of the NFIB, said in a statement: “We haven’t seen numbers like this in a long time. Small business is ready for a breakout, and that can only mean very good things for the U.S. economy. Business owners are feeling better about taking risks and making investments.” 

Most importantly, the NFIB report was based on a survey of small business owners, a category representing more than 99 percent of all U.S employers. Small businesses themselves are independent enterprises having no more than 500 employees. 

“Fifty percent of respondents, the biggest share since March 2002, said they expect better business conditions in the next six months. That was 38 percentage points higher than in November. The net share of firms projecting higher sales jumped by 20 points to 31 percent. Some 29 percent say they will boost capital outlays within six months.” 

Adding to the PEOTUS-elects growing array of positive indications for the future, Joseph Lawler @washingtonexaminer.com writes about incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus affirmation that Trump will not seek cuts to entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.

On CBS Sunday, Priebus indicated that Trump won't be swayed by Congressional Republicans pushing to reform the programs and that: “I don't think President-elect Trump wants to meddle with Medicare or Social Security. He made a promise in the campaign that that was something he didn't want to do." 

“Instead, Priebus suggested, Trump seeks to shore up the two programs' finances by boosting economic growth and bringing jobs back to the U.S. from overseas.” In line with campaign trail stances where Trump “set himself apart from other Republicans by claiming that he would protect benefits, while they would shred them.” 

So, what can be seen here is the difference between Trump’s background, perspective and attitude that differs greatly from almost all politicians. Even Republican and Conservative politico’s. 

Most often, these primarily self-interested types seek to retain every cent possible to support their own future electability in the eyes of an appreciative constituency. A businesslike approach, though, is to grow the entire economy to an extent where needed programs and support are well-affordable from increases in government income. Something Trump’s already on the way to, without even being sworn in as yet.     
  
On the other side of the spectrum, Meryl Streep’s hissy-fit made the news again yesterday, this time written about by Chris Stirewalt @FoxNews.com.

Noting Trump’s being targeted as abnormal and a departure from convention, Stirewalt proposed that while that may be true, he didn’t simply burst on the scene. He arrived in stages: “We got here one insult, one executive overreach, one fake fact and one slanted story at a time.”

At the same time; “Politicians and partisans like Streep will never stop looking for excuses for taking the fight to their foes. Nor will they suddenly embrace modesty, grace and deference for their rivals. We shouldn’t expect them to.”

Hence, in Stirewalt’s opinion: “It is up to voters, therefore, to understand the difference between a real discussion about the future of the country and its policies and excuse making in the form of pointless tu quoque [accusing the accuser of the same crime] arguments. 

“After all, if we allow partisans to set the standards of decency and conduct for the country, we’d all be looking up at [rattlesnake’s belly's] before too long.”

Which is another aspect of the point made here yesterday regarding leftists having virtually nothing positive to expound about, instead using their forums for negativity, derision and hostility toward their rivals and virtually everyone else.

At the same time, political life’s being made far worse for them, whereas the upside outlook and expectations for Trump seemingly increase on a daily basis. To the extent that he has only one major stumbling block in the path now ahead of him: himself.

And if he keeps dwelling on pointless nepotism, it’s almost a certainty he’s going to trip himself up for no real reason other than childlike arrogance that’s simply ridiculous.

That's it for today folks.

Adios