Have you noticed recently that something is missing from the front pages of your newspapers? And that something is no longer discussed on the morning and evening news and talk shows. Like magic, Trump and his Russian connections and Russian interference in the election are no longer heading up the news cycle. Instead, journalists are transfixed by the damage wrought by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma with news about Trump and the Russians submerged under the flood waters.
Just as more Russian involvement is being uncovered, it is being relegated to the inside pages of the papers and debated less on the news programs by the know-it-all pundits. All the sad stories coming out of Houston and Florida are holding the public’s attention and the tired tales of Trump and his Russian associates are not as newsworthy. Trump could not have asked for a better screen for his and his team’s misdeeds than if he had planned it himself. On the other hand, perhaps he did.
Of course, Trump and his mignons still deny climate change is real and responsible for the increase in the frequency and ferocity of hurricanes and weather-related events. No matter what the climate scientists tell them, they refuse to believe it, tied to the Kochs and the fossil fuel industry. And research with federal funding into climate change and its effects on our planet, and all other environmental problems, have been cut dramatically, as Trump and his appointees do not want research data that will contradict their beliefs. In addition, regulations that protect the environment but make companies more meticulous in how they handle toxic materials have been reduced or eliminated. Economic growth is more important than protecting the environment, though regulations do not appear to have hindered the economy.
When will the Mueller investigation make it to the front pages again, with the Senate and House interviewing the Trump team in open session? When will Trump started talking about false news again, and denigrating the investigations swirling around him? Perhaps when the waters stop swirling around Houston and Florida and Irma dies out. Of course, there’s Jose in the wings and if he hits the mainland there’s more cover for the Trump investigations.
But no climate change going on. The President knows and has told us what’s happening. He’s a fount of information. The hurricanes and the warming of the oceans and the melting of the glaciers and the rise in the sea waters are all random events, not related to global warming which is fake news. So don’t worry. And the fake news about Russia and the elections will be back on the front pages soon enough.
Resurrecting Democracy
GRAPHIC: photo credit: FolsomNatural PutinPuppet via photopin (license)
Political junkie, Vietnam vet, neurologist- three books on aging and dementia. Book on health care reform in 2009- Shock Therapy for the American Health Care System. Book on the need for a centrist third party- Resurrecting Democracy- A Citizen’s Call for a Centrist Third Party published in 2011. Aging Wisely, published in August 2014 by Rowman and Littlefield. Latest book- The Uninformed Voter published May 2020