Disrupter-In-Chief

Here we go again.

If there is one abiding characteristic- besides profit-taking and corruption- of  this Administration, it may be that if President Obama was for it, President Grump is against it.

In one of its least  significant manifestations, Trump overturned a policy described by The New York Times as "announced in 2016, that allows transgender troops to serve openly and receive the required medical care for their gender transition through the military." Obama's policy could not stand even though "the announcement blindsided top military leaders, who had been moving ahead with plans to integrate transgender troops, based on a 2016 study commissioned by the military."

More dramatically and significantly, President Grump now has proclaimed that the USA will recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move its embassy to Jerusalem, issues which a succession of American presidents had recognized should be the subject of final status negotiations.

As Thomas Friedman explains, Trump is a chump. But more than that, he's Opposite-Obama.  The GOP was convinced- or appeared convinced- that President Obama's policies were hostile to Israel's interests.  Typically, as recently as a year ago- after the presidential election- Rudy Giuliani claimed that President Obama had "created a false narrative that the Palestinian Authority, as a victim, is morally superior to the state of Israel."

No one can say the same about President Trump, who now has not only enraged Arab governments and the Arab street, but also American allies, and endangered USA security interests in the region. But at least it's something Obama wouldn't have done, so it's all good.





Still doing as Obama did not, and simultaneously reinforcing one of the core tenets of
GOP conservatism

The Trump administration on Wednesday said it would oppose public sector unions in a major case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, reversing the view taken by the Obama administration in an identical dispute.

The Justice Department filed a friend-of-the-court brief against the unions in a case brought by a non-union government employee in Illinois that targets fees his state and many others compel such workers to pay to unions in lieu of dues to fund collective bargaining and other organized labor activities. He is arguing that such fees violate the free speech rights of non-union members.

The high court heard a similar challenge out of California in January 2016 and had appeared headed toward ruling the fees unconstitutional. But conservative justice Antonin Scalia died a month later and the short-handed court ended up with a 4-4 split in April 2016 that left the law intact but set no nationwide precedent. In that case, the Obama administration filed a brief backing the unions.

Determine what President Obama did- then do the opposite. The Trump administration

has already adopted opposing positions to those taken by the Obama administration in other major cases pending at the Supreme Court, including another labor case on whether employers should be able to require workers to sign contracts that prevent them from making class action claims.

The administration also reversed an Obama administration stance by supporting Ohio in its bid to revive a state policy of purging people from voter-registration lists if they do not regularly cast ballots.

Fundamental Republican values include voter suppression and destroying public sector unions, the latter an effort to dismantle the middle and working classes piece-by-piece.  In the Middle East, an incendiary policy encourages terrorist acts, which Trump can then exploit in his jihad against Muslims.

Nonetheless, there may be no policy or program promulgated or eliminated by the Administration which better illustrates Trump's animosity toward Barack Obama than trying to wipe out the transgender ban. The public favored the Obama way, the military was implementing it without controversy, and so Donald J. Trump must sabotage it.   He is, in this and so many ways and at great public jeopardy, the Disrupter in Chief. That isn't necessarily bad. But when Trump moves, it's usually an instance in which things are better left alone.Children should not play with matches.