Frank's Musings

Somebody has given  Donald Trump the keys that open allegiance by most voters in the U.S. to his retributive policies.  I’m afraid it is all of us who disdain the people who are more concerned with their family's day-to-day personal welfare than abstractly with the good of the entire community.

The  remedy for this careless mistake is to change all the locks; but shrinking Trump’s base by awakening enough people to the political shortsightedness of their priorities is a task that will be costly and will take a lot of time.  While awaiting the task’s completion, how can we avoid  permanent destruction of our liberal democracy?

Congress has shown themselves beholden to Trump’s MAGA crowd and, like indulgent parents of a three-year-old, refuse to discipline the President’s disregard for the Constitution in fear of losing the privileges of their position.  With the failure of one coequal branch of government to exercise its checking power, the courts are left to assert the rule of law. Unfortunately, their usual means of enforcement depends on the executive branch.  This puzzle is what led David Brooks to call for a “civic uprising” to supplement the Constitution’s own enforcement measures (see https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/17/opinion/trump-harvard-law-firms.html).

Such a movement needs a leader.  Let us support whoever grabs those reins.

Let’s admit it—The main reason for Trump’s tariff proposals is to offset the reduction in federal revenue that will be caused by his lowering of income tax rates for high-income individuals. Pretty surely, increased tariffs will be inflationary and only shift more of the federal budget burden onto middle class taxpayers.

Clearly, the administration wants to find a way to assuage the class of its biggest political donors. Perhaps a better way to palliate both those taxpayer groups would be to institute a luxury tax on the purchase of conspicuous consumption items. These goods include expensive homes and cars, large yachts, private aircraft, and other luxury items, the prices of which exceed the median level by, say, 50% or more.

Not only would this policy shift responsibility for reducing social divergences more equitably to those who have been blessed with a greater share of life’s rewards; it would give high-income earners a means of control over the size of their contribution to making possible attainment of the American dream by deciding to limit  their showpiece acquisitions.

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The only constitutional method for removing an errant president from office before a federal election is impeachment; but that is currently impossible , given how obsequious the Congress is to President Donald Trump.