Online Public Relations Thoughts

Trump is out of control and damaging relations with other countries.  Who is going to stop him?

Who should you believe?  Doctors or politicians?  

Trump's capture of Maduro and elevation of Maduro's vice president leaves the US with a headache in Venezuela.  Trump says the US will run the country, but can it?  There is corruption at ever level and sanitizing Venezuela would require wholesale dismissals of thousands of bureaucrats and replacing them with hand-picked individuals, a lengthy and tedious job that could take years.  Venezuela's economy has been broken for a long time, how will the US get it started again?  Has removing Maduro stopped the drug boats?  And what of the US' reputation in South America?  Will governments there see the US as a Monroe Doctrine bully?  It's early yet but the intervention might yet look like a dumb move.

Democrats shut down the government for 43 days over health care subsidies for 20 million Americans.  They lost.  Now premiums are skyrocketing with no solutions in sight. What can be done?  Democrats can make it a central issue in this year's elections but that is small consolation for those paying hundreds more out of pocket.  Look for the number of uninsured in the country to rise and media stories about it.

 Symbolic.

2025 was not a good year for the country, and I bid it good riddance.  We learned that the President has unchecked power to do what he wishes and to abuse the Constitution whenever he wants.  We watched as a supine Congress became his lackey.  We heard one conspiracy theory after another and were agasht at those who believe them. It was a memorable year for all the wrong reasons and perhaps, a watershed for our democracy.  We have at least three more years of misdirection to experience.  May they not be as bad as 2025.