Donald Trump and "Whiskey" Pete Hegseth are destroying U.S. Military moral with promotion denials and selective advancement criteria

Calmes:  Hegseth is purging people of color. Trump’s war is killing them.

Echo opinion published in The Mercury News by Jackie Calmes.

Pete (Whiskey) Hegseth and Trump are stripping diversity from top military ranks even as women and minorities carry the casualty burden.

Need another metric to show that, for Donald Trump, “Make America Great Again” means regressing to a 1950s-style white patriarchy? Probably not. But here’s a good-bad one for you, marking the deplorable progress of Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s war on diversity in the leadership ranks of the nation’s military:

Hegseth’s virtually unprecedented and probably illegal blocking of promotions for high-ranking female officers in the armed services in 2026 has helped produce the lowest percentage of such nominations for women’s advancement in this century, including zero — zero — for female officers in the Navy, according to a recent data analysis by the New York Times. The brass has gotten the message.

Things aren’t any better for Black and other minority officers, men and women. This year Hegseth has vetoed at least 40 high-ranking promotions, half of them women and people of color. White men who’ve also been blocked often have been proponents of diversity. “For too long, we’ve promoted too many uniform leaders for the wrong reasons,” Hegseth lectured military leaders last year. “Based on their race, based on gender quotas, based on historic so-called firsts.”

The combination of Hegseth’s stepped-up interference this year in the military’s promotions process — a thoroughly meritocratic one, despite his claims to the contrary — and his purge since early last year of senior officers is rankling both the military and Congress, Republicans and Democrats, particularly for his and Trump’s evident targeting of women and minorities. But as in most things, Hegseth and his boss are undaunted.

And their white-macho warnings against “woke” are being heard from the Pentagon’s promotion selection boards all the way to America’s streets — the pipelines to military enlistment offices. 

Who could miss Trump and "Whiskey" Hegseth’s message when, just after taking office, they fired General Charles Q. Brown Jr., the second Black man to chair the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to become the Navy chief?

All told since then, nearly 60% of those fired are female or Black officers, according to Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, a former Army infantry officer who is the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. Reed accused Hegseth in a recent hearing of “hollowing out” the senior ranks “while making young officers wonder if they should continue to serve.”

Hegseth is also making would-be enlistees wonder if they should even sign up.

Retired Air Force officer Jessica Ruttenber, who flew in Iraq and Afghanistan, lamented in an online essay in May that a friend’s daughter decided against enlisting given the current climate. Ruttenber decided not to try to change the young woman’s mind, given that “we are watching hard-won progress move backward in real time.” “If I am honest,” she added, “I now find myself wondering: Would I want my own children to enter a system like this❓”

The answer is crucial for a nation with an all-volunteer military force and perennial recruitment worries.

Americans hardly need demographic analyses (there are plenty) to know that minority men and women have signed up to fight for their country in numbers disproportionate to their groups’ shares of the U.S. population. Or that the military ranks include more women than ever before, including in combat — a role (Whiskey) Hegseth as Fox (Fake❗) News pundit long opposed for them.

Suddenly, however, we have another measure of how much women and minorities (and immigrants) in the lower ranks contribute to protecting America, even as Trump and Hegseth are pushing out so many at the top who look like them: the casualty toll in Trump’s war against Iran.

Look at a gallery of the “faces of the fallen” in the Iran operation and other military deployments under Trump. (Never mind Hegseth’s complaint that the media focus on the dead because we’re trying to “make the president look bad.”) About half of the 18 service members who have died since February are women and minorities.

Army Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan, 54, a Filipino American from Sacramento, had served more than 30 years when he was one of six service members killed in an Iran drone attack in Kuwait in March. Army Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, a father from Fayetteville, N.C., had served nearly a decade when he died in July in Iraq.

The six service members killed in March in a plane refueling crash included Air Force Capt. Ariana Savino, 31, of Covington, Wash., a proud Puerto Rican. Her family’s statement surely would make Hegseth wince: “She made it her mission to be a role model for … the next generation of youth, women, and minorities with their hearts set on a career in aviation.” 

Also killed in the crash was Tech Sgt. Tyler Simmons, 28, of Columbus, Ohio. His father, Charles “Mylo” Simmons, praised his son’s expertise as a refueling boom operator: “It’s not usual to see African American men in that position. Made me very proud.”

Trump famously asked about fallen troops, “What was in it for them❓😡” He, and Hegseth, should put that question to Mylo and Cheryl Simmons. The Simmonses would tell them that their only child “was living his best life,” in her words to ABC News, in service to his country.

Not that the conversation would do any good with those two entitled white guys, both of them promoted far beyond either their merit or fitness for office.

Jackie Calmes is an opinion columnist for the Los Angeles Times.

This is more gloomy news coming out of the disabled Pentagon: Stars and Stripes is now a victim of censorship

Trump’s war on Stars and Stripes news:

Echo report published in AlJazeera by Sarah Shamim

Why has military newspaper chief quit❓

Longtime Stars and Stripes publisher Max D Lederer Jr announced his resignation over clashes with the Pentagon.

Sad to learn, Max D Lederer Jr, the longtime publisher of the United States military publication Stars and Stripes, announced his retirement in a memo to staff.

In his memo, Lederer suggested that he had clashed with the administration of Donald Trump. He confirmed his resignation in an interview with Stars and Stripes.

Lederer’s departure from his position comes shortly after Stars and Stripes and other military publications broke the story about the mental health crisis roiling the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Gulf.
Why has Lederer retired❓

Lederer’s memo suggested that the publication editorially clashed with the Trump administration, which sought greater control over it, The Associated Press reported.

It has “become clear that my philosophy of leadership, and my understanding of the value and mission of Stars and Stripes, differ in fundamental ways from the direction the leadership of the Department of Defense has for the organiszation,” Lederer wrote in his memo.

His comments came after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the Pentagon accused Stars and Stripes of promoting “woke distractions”.

Lederer, who has been the publisher of Stars and Stripes for the past 19 years, is set to retire on September 30.

What is Stars and Stripes❓

Stars and Stripes, a publication founded in 1861, is a daily newspaper which largely reports on members of the US armed forces and their families. About 1.4 million people read Stars and Stripes daily, mostly online, according to CBS News.

The publication technically operates under the Department of Defense’s organization, Defense Media Activity (DMA). Its funding and the newspaper's administration are ultimately tied to the Pentagon. The outlet receives about two-thirds of its funding from the Pentagon, according to recent estimates by multiple US media outlets. It receives the rest of its revenue from subscriptions and

advertising.

What is the latest source of disagreement with the Trump administration?

This month, Stars and Stripes, along with outlets such as Military Times and Navy Times, broke the story of struggles being faced by sailors who have been on board the USS Abraham Lincoln for the past nine months. One wife of a serving crewman told the Navy Times that her husband had attempted to jump overboard amid the extended deployment, poor working conditions and mounting mental health concerns. She described her husband as suffering from “severe burnout”.

The USS Abraham Lincoln is currently in the Middle East on a deployment that is nearing nine months amid the US-Israeli war on Iran. Since then, it has had only one two-day port stop in December last year, eight months ago.

More than 5,000 staff members have been on board the vessel, which has been conducting maritime security and blockade operations around the Strait of Hormuz since it set sail on November 21, 2025, from its home port of San Diego for an extended deployment to the Asia Pacific and the Middle East. The ship had just one brief, two-day stop in December.

Family members in touch with crew have reported food shortages, as well as broken toilets and showers, prompting concerns about conditions of sanitation, health and hygiene.

The latest reports about poor mental health have also triggered alarm.

In a recent letter to Secretary of Defense Pete (aka "whiskey") Hegseth, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal wrote that the aircraft carrier has now been “continuously at sea for a record length of nearly seven months”. That surpasses any previous deployment of a US aircraft carrier without a port stop.

“These reports warrant immediate attention, but they also raise a broader question: whether the Navy can sustain the operational tempo now being demanded of its carrier force, particularly as this administration repeatedly commits US forces to conflicts of its own choosing and increasingly relies on aircraft carriers to sustain those operations,” Blumenthal wrote.

US Admiral Brad Cooper visited the USS Abraham Lincoln last week and subsequently wrote on X that “of the US Navy’s 11 active aircraft carriers, the Lincoln currently has among the lowest number of cases related to mental health”.  (HELLO❓ When the crew who are presenting with mental health issues are removed from the ship and taken elsewhere....guess what happens❓)

Have Republicans under Trump previously threatened Stars and Stripes❓

The Pentagon sought to defund Stars and Stripes during Trump’s first term from 2017, to 2021. However, it was Trump who then pledged not to cut its budget.

In September 2020, he wrote on X, then called Twitter: “The United States of America will NOT be cutting funding to @starsandstripes magazine under my watch. It will continue to be a wonderful source of information to our Great Military!”

As a result, the Pentagon rescinded the shutdown order.

In January this year, following the start of Trump’s second term, however, the Department of Defense sought to overhaul the publication.

“The Department of War is returning Stars & Stripes to its original mission: reporting for our warfighters,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell wrote on X.

“We will modernize its operations, refocus its content away from woke distractions that syphon morale, and adapt it to serve a new generation of service members,” he added. He did not give examples of articles considered to be about “woke distractions”, however.

This came shortly after The Washington Post reported that new applicants to Stars and Stripes were being asked how they would support the Trump administration’s policies.

In April, the Pentagon fired Jacqueline Smith, Stars and Stripes’ independent reader representative. Her firing came shortly after she warned publicly that defense officials were implementing “attempted control” over the newsroom.

Has Stars and Stripes clashed with the Pentagon before❓

In 2009, Stars and Stripes revealed that the US military had signed a $1.5m contract with Washington-based public relations firm The Rendon Group.

The company was tasked with analyzing the work of embedded reporters and rating their stories as “positive”, “neutral” or “negative” in relation to US military objectives.

While the military insisted it did not use these ratings to manipulate coverage or bar journalists, Stars and Stripes reported that the profiles included suggestions on how to “neutralize” negative stories. The US military cancelled the contract shortly after the revelations.

Donald Trump uses surrogate Marco Rubio to spread horrible lies about Democrats by using rants about "isms" of unknown origin

Echo opinion published in the Boston Globe, by 

Stephen Kinzer, a senior fellow at the Watson School of International and Public Affairs at Brown University.  
Marco Rubio got it wrong❗
How the secretary of state warped the meaning of a proud American tradition.

In a fire-and-brimstone speech last month that often bordered on the bizarre, Secretary of State Marco Rubio identified “a distinctive and unique evil.” Rubio ranted and called it “far-left terrorism” and asserted that it poses a “serious threat” to the United States.

“It is time for the people of the civilized world to defend ourselves,” Rubio told an audience at the State Department, “to stand united against this encroaching darkness, and fight for what is ours.”

Much of Rubio’s speech was a boiler-plate rant reflecting Donald Trump’s cultist obsessions. Its central premise is dubious at best, since “far-left terrorism” is in fact quite low on the list of dangers that face the United States and the world. The oddest piece of this speech, though, was Rubio’s mention of anti-imperialists as part of the evil coalition.

“They can call themselves 🤥anti-capitalist or 🤥anti-imperialist or 🤥communist or 🤥anarchist or 🤥Marxist, but the fundamental character is always the same,” he asserted. “It is a 🤥poisonous resentment cloaked in the language of equality and justice and liberation.”  💩💩💩❗

TRUTH❗ Anti-imperialism has no relation to communism, anarchism, or Marxism. In fact, anti-imperialism is a rich American tradition. Especially at this point in our American history, it should be taken seriously. Rubio has every right to embrace the imperial idea. Other Americans, however, have an equal right to oppose it without being demonized as allies of communists or anarchists.

Debate over imperialism is as old as our Republic. It addresses a profound question: Should the United States seek to impose its will on foreign nations or allow them to go their own way❓

George Washington warned future generations of Americans not to become involved in “obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests.” John Quincy Adams declared that the United States “goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy.” 

Abraham Lincoln opposed the American invasion of Mexico in the 1840s, and Ulysses Grant called it “a wicked war.”

The widest-ranging debate over imperialism exploded in 1898, when the United States set out to crush Spanish power in the Philippines, Guam, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. 

Massachusetts was the epicenter of opposition.

Headquartered in an office near what is now Liberty Square in Boston’s financial district, the Anti-Imperialist League became a major force in American life. It was headed by George Boutwell, a former Massachusetts governor. Its eminent supporters included Andrew Carnegie, the richest man in the United States; Samuel Gompers, the country’s most prominent labor leader; former president Grover Cleveland, who had unsuccessfully opposed the annexation of Hawaii; and Mark Twain, who forthrightly declared: “I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land.”

In the debate over whether the United States should begin imposing its will abroad, the most powerful arguments were presented by the two US senators from Massachusetts. George Frisbie Hoar called it “the greatest question ever discussed in this Chamber from the beginning of the Government” and colorfully denounced the rising imperialists: “You have no right at the cannon’s mouth to impose on an unwilling people your Declaration of Independence and your Constitution and your notions of freedom and notions of what is good!”

To this, the silver-tongued internationalist Henry Cabot Lodge had an equally powerful response. The United States, he said, “has a great mission in the world — a mission of good, a mission of freedom. I would have it fulfill what I think is its manifest destiny.”

Senators voted narrowly to ratify the treaty by which the United States turned the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico into American colonies. Anti-imperialists appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that the Constitution gives the government no power to impose its will on foreign lands. The Court rejected their argument by a 5-4 margin. In a ringing dissent, Chief Justice Melvin Fuller wrote that overseas military expeditions are “wholly inconsistent with the spirit and genius, as well as with the words, of the Constitution.”

This debate reemerged repeatedly. Following World War II, Senator Robert Taft, known as “Mr. Republican,” opposed the creation of NATO because “the building up of a great army surrounding Russia” would set off “an inevitable arms race.” Debates over US intervention in Vietnam and Iraq also echoed those of the late 19th century.

Anarchism and Marxism are ideas that came to the United States from Europe. Neither ever found much support. Anti-imperialism is the opposite: a homegrown ideology that has long been embraced by a significant minority of Americans. 

Rather than a “far-left” idea, it is essentially a conservative one. It argues for humility, restraint, and limits on America’s role in the world. Liberal utopianism is what drives the idea that American intervention in other countries will ultimately lead to peace and prosperity for all.

Lumping anti-imperialism with communism also reflects a deep misunderstanding of history. Countries that have proclaimed themselves Communist, notably China and the Soviet Union, were built on imperial conquest at least as fully as the United States was.

Whether “far-left terrorism” is truly the deep threat that Secretary Rubio perceives may be debated. So may the question of whether the United States should seek to project military power around the world. To describe anti-imperialism as a form of 🤥 “far-left terrorism,” however, is a slander that ignores American history.

Donald Trump made a lot of broken promises to voters to get re-elected. As usual he lied. Promises were all broken.

Echo opinion published in The New York Times by Steven Rattner:

“Promises made, promises kept.” Other presidents have employed variations of that phrase, although few with the gusto of Trump; he even proclaims it on the White House website. When it comes to the economy, though, “promises not kept” would be a more apt description of the first 19 months of Trump 2.0. And many of the promises he has kept are causing as much damage as critics predicted. All in all, while Trump continues to boast about the “greatest economy we’ve ever had, by far,” the record to date falls far short of that lofty pronouncement.

Trump’s Promise: ‘We’re going to grow like nobody’s ever grown before.’  Economic Club of New York, Sept. 5, 2024. But in reality, the economy is slowing.  In this year’s second quarter, growth dropped to an annual rate of just 1.5 percent, a shift substantially caused or exacerbated by Trump’s policies. Rising energy prices and inflation. Decreased government spending. A deteriorating trade balance, thanks to his tariffs. That’s added up to materially slower growth than the healthy 2.75 percent rate that Trump was bequeathed by President Joe Biden.

Trump’s Promise: ‘In the near future, I want to do what has not been done in 24 years: balance the federal budget.’ Address to a joint session of Congress, March 4, 2025.  In reality, the deficit is projected to keep growing. Spending was high under President Biden as he worked to combat the lingering effects of the Covid epidemic, and invest in priorities like clean energy and infrastructure. But even as Republicans cut a number of these initiatives, the deficit rose in Trump’s first budget after his return to office, largely because of his huge tax cut. And the Congressional Budget Office projects that it will continue to climb to 💲3.1 trillion by 2036. That makes the notion of Trump balancing the budget just plain laughable.

Trump’s Promise: ‘But now it’s our turn to prosper, and in so doing, use trillions and trillions of dollars to reduce our taxes and pay down our national debt, and it’ll all happen very quickly.’  Tariff announcement, White House Rose Garden, April 2, 2025.  In reality, the national debt is about to break its World War II record. Huge deficits mean, of course, more debt. The soaring national debt should terrify every American. It makes business loans and mortgages more expensive. And perhaps more important, it burdens future generations by squeezing Washington’s ability to fund other important priorities. The ratio of total debt held by the public to the size of our economy is about to surpass the World War II record. By 2036, the C.B.O. projects our national debt will reach 120 percent of gross domestic product.

Trump’s Promise: ‘America will be a manufacturing nation once again, and we have something that no other manufacturing nation will ever have.’  Second inaugural address, Jan. 20, 2025. In reality,
manufacturing employment has stalled. Manufacturing employment, which grew during much of President Biden’s administration because of his ambitious industrial investments, has slipped to 12.6 million, down 62,000 since Trump’s second inauguration. China and other emerging nations continue to put pressure on higher-cost production in the United States, and Trump’s tariffs have yet to reverse this trend. They probably had the opposite effect by increasing prices on the materials factories need to produce goods for export.

Trump’s Promise:  ‘Without tariffs, and all of the TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS we have already taken in, our Country would be completely destroyed.’  Truth Social, Aug. 31, 2025, after the appeals court ruling against the IEEPA tariffs. In reality, tariff refunds are in full swing.  The only visible changes are to tariffs themselves, given that the Supreme Court ruled that the bulk of Trump’s new tariffs were illegal and lower courts ordered those payments refunded. It should be noted that the refunds are going to the companies that paid them rather than to the consumers who probably bore much of the cost. And the array of new tariffs Trump has rolled out since have already been challenged in court. Even if they are upheld, they stand to generate only 💲121 billion in 2026 — far less than the 💲166 billion that the government must refund.

Trump’s Promise:  ‘Starting on Day 1, we will end inflation and make America affordable again, to bring down the prices of all goods.’  Campaign rally, Bozeman, Mont., Aug. 9, 2024. In realith, inflation has caught up with paychecks. (IOW Americans cannot afford to pay for the increasing costs of health care, housing, energy and food.)  It’s unimaginable that Trump was ever going to bring down prices. But, in reality, thanks to Trump's war of choice against Iran, inflation has become an even bigger problem. When Trump took office in 2025, inflation was only modestly higher than the Federal Reserve’s target of 2 percent a year. With prices now rising by more than 3 percent, the Fed may begin raising rates — a move that will make everything from credit card debt to mortgage loans more expensive — in order to curb inflation.  

Trump’s Promise:  ‘Energy is going to bring us back. That means we’re going down and getting gasoline below 💲2 a gallon.’  Economic Club of New York, Sept. 5, 2024.  But, in reality, gas is above 💲4 a gallon. Trump’s promise of gasoline prices under 💲2 per gallon was never realistic. At that price, the price of crude oil would probably have to fall to 💲30 per barrel, a level that would make drilling for new supplies so unprofitable that supply would drop, eventually causing prices to turn back up. And that was before Trump started the Iran war. Gas prices reached 💲4.50 in mid-May and remain around 💲4 — about 30 percent higher than they were on Inauguration Day.

Trump’s Promise: ‘Young people will be able to buy a home again and be a part of the American dream. We will eliminate regulations that drive up housing costs, with the goal of cutting the cost of a new home in half. … The regulations alone cost 30 percent. Regulation cost 30 percent of a new home.' Economic Club of New York, Sept. 5, 2024.  In reality, home costs have barely gone down. If we use conventional methodology, a family would need an annual income of about 💲120,000 to afford the median price of a newly constructed home. At present, the median household earns roughly 💲86,000.

Trump’s Promise: ‘Reducing mortgage rates is a big factor. We’re going to get them back down to, we think, 3 percent, maybe even lower than that, saving the average homebuyer thousands of dollars per year.’  Economic Club of New York, Sept. 5, 2024. In reality, mortgage rates are stuck near 7 percent.  The mortgage interest rate — a large component of the cost of home ownership — is virtually unchanged since Trump took office. Why❓ Largely because of the surge in overall prices and the upward pressure the growing debt is putting on long-term rates. The higher the inflation rate, the more lenders charge so they can earn an acceptable after-inflation rate of return.

Trump’s Promise: ‘We’re not cutting Medicaid, we’re not cutting Medicare, and we’re not cutting Social Security.’ NBC’s “Meet the Press,” May 4, 2025. In reality, Medicaid cuts get bigger every year. 

In reality, Just months after Trump claimed that there would be no cuts to Medicaid, he broke that promise with his 2025, domestic policy legislation. It imposed an onerous requirement that recipients document at least 80 hours of work per month to keep their coverage, limited states’ ability to finance their share of the program and closed off simplified paths to enrollment. To minimize the political fallout, more than 95 percent of the cuts were timed to take effect after the 2026 midterms. But, some changes have started being phased in, and the number of Medicaid recipients has already fallen by almost five million over the past year.

Trump’s Promise:  ‘Costs were going to go way up, and that’s what happened, and now I’m bringing them way down on health care and everything else.’  State of the Union address, Feb. 24, 2026. In reality, the price of health insurance jumped 26% from last year. 

Although Republicans stopped talking about repealing the Affordable Care Act, their smaller changes are making health care more expensive for millions of Americans. The average premium for a benchmark plan on the marketplace rose nearly 26 percent from last year, contrary to one of Trump’s promises. And the number of uninsured Americans is rising.

Donald Trump kicks the "buck stops here" down the road. He is too stupid to accept responsibility for his many mistakes.

The buck stops somewhere else: A look at Trump's tendency to avoid blame when things go awry  Echo report published in the Associated Press by Will Weisse.

WASHINGTON (AP) — It is among the most famous phrases in presidential history: " The buck stops here." Except with Donald Trump, it almost never does.

Concerns about a weak economy and still-high inflation❓

His predecessor, Joe Biden, saddled him with that, he says, even though the Democrat has been out of office for 18-plus months and despite Trump once promising an immediate turnaround.

The fiasco problem-plagued revamp of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool❓ That was marred by vandalism, the Republican president insists, even though the office of a prosecutor he put in the job has said the damage was due to shoddy

The increasingly unpopular war in Iran that has kept oil prices high, Trump's approval rating low and sent shock waves through the global economy? Actually, this was Trump making up for timid earlier presidents who, he argues, squandered nearly 50 years of opportunities to curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Pithy slogans aside, all modern presidents shift responsibility onto others to some degree, frequently blaming the commander-in-chief who preceded them, Congress — or both. 

Nevertheless, Trump has taken it to a new level, effectively embracing a de facto political strategy of being in charge of everything but responsible for nothing when things go badly.

"Taking responsibility being a characteristic of presidential leadership — or any kind of leadership — is absolutely true," said Nicole Anslover, a history professor at Florida Atlantic University and author of "Harry S. Truman: The Coming of the Cold War".

Trump's tendency to point fingers at others is increasingly in the spotlight before November's midterm elections, when Republicans are trying to retain control of Congress. His unwillingness to accept blame sometimes leads him to deny that there are problems at all, and could leave GOP leaders in tight races with little reassurance for voters that their concerns are being addressed.

But, the White House counters that Trump is working to correct long-festering challenges, not simply throwing up his hands and ignoring them.

Trump is "rightfully addressing the failures of his predecessors while taking action to deliver big wins for the American people," spokesperson Taylor Rogers said,  pointing to a series of policies that she said Republicans can run on, including tax cuts, efforts to lower prescription drug prices, cracking down on immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border, increasing domestic energy production and a strong stock market.

Ducking responsibility dates to Trump's first term

Truman famously kept a "The Buck Stops Here" sign on his desk as president. That came from "pass the buck," which, according to Truman's presidential library, dates to frontier times, when poker players would pass a buckhorn handle knife to the person whose turn it was to deal the cards.

"The president, whoever he is, has to decide," Truman said during his farewell address in 1953. "He can't pass the buck to anybody. No one else can do the deciding for him. That's his job."

The understanding of the phrase has broadened over the years to include taking responsibility for the outcome of tough decisions. Trump used to espouse similar beliefs, saying back in 2013, that in running a business, "Whatever happens, you're responsible. If it doesn't happen, you're responsible."

Accepting the 2016, presidential nomination, Trump said, "Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it." But as president, he has often suggested that the solution and blame rest elsewhere.

"The buck stops with everybody," Trump said in 2019, during a lengthy government shutdown. In 2020, on the same day he declared the coronavirus pandemic a national emergency, he said, "I don't take responsibility at all" for a lack of COVID-19 testing.

Anslover said Truman took full responsibility for dropping atomic bombs on Japan even though he was not informed that the U.S. was developing such weapons until his predecessor, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, died.

John F. Kennedy saw his approval ratings rise after he acknowledged he was to blame for the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba. Ronald Reagan said he was sorry for any involvement he may have had in the Iran-Contra scandal even while saying he wasn't sure he was to blame. "The buck stops here with me," he said then.


At his final news conference in early 2009, George W. Bush listed a series of mistakes he had made, including failing to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. 

His successor, Barack Obama, said, "I screwed up," after his nominee for health chief, Tom Daschle, withdrew because of unpaid back taxes.

Presidents before Trump "really usually take accountability," Anslover said. 

'We inherited a total catastrophe,' Trump says

Trmp acknowledged in a recent Punchbowl interview that voters are angry, but he said they are not mad at him but at congressional Republicans.

Trump believes his party can hold its congressional majorities after November, but he was clear that if Republicans lose, it won't be his fault — echoing his comments before the 2018, midterms that he would not accept blame if his party lost control of the House, which it did.

Trump's approval rating on the economy, once seen as among his strongest issues, has fallen throughout his time in office, from 40% in March 2025 to 32% in July, according to Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research polling. 

About 6 in 10 U.S. adults say Trump's economic policies have made economic conditions worse, according to Pew Research Center polling.

"The public certainly expects the president to be concerned about, and focused on, making life more affordable," Republican pollster Frank Luntz said.

Trump instead points to Biden, under whom inflation hit a four-decade peak of 9.1% in 2022 as the pandemic was still roiling the world economy, before declining to 2.7% by November 2024. Last month, pressured by the Iran war, it was 3.4%.

"When we took office, we inherited a total catastrophe," Trump said at a recent rally, later adding, "I inherited those high prices, just so you understand."

Andrew Bates, a Democratic strategist and the former President Biden White House spokesperson, noted that Trump no longer mentions his campaign promise to "immediately end inflation" on Day One.

"He may not remember having made those promises, but swing voters sure as hell do," Bates said.

Trump has shown the same pattern with Iran and the Reflecting Pool

In fact, Trump characterized the Iran war as "a little excursion" or "detour." To play down how long it has lasted, he frequently notes that U.S. wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan dragged on for years, though the Iran conflict — which he initially said would be over in four weeks to five weeks — is now in its sixth month with no clear end in sight.

Trump has sought to shift blame to the past on the Reflecting Pool disaster, falsely suggesting that Biden and Obama spent "hundreds of millions of dollars" trying unsuccessfully to fix it.

But Trump's main defense has been vandalism. And, so far, at least four cases alleging that, including the most prominent case against an Olympic canoeist, have been dropped because of a lack of evidence.

Anslover said that, after 11-plus years in politics, Trump has proved he is not afraid to violate norms of presidential comportment. Unfortunately, lots of his core supporters do not seem bothered.

"For many Americans, it has either been a shift in how they view the presidency, or, like with so many things, they just feel empowered to say, 'These are my priorities. My priority is not the facts,'" she said.

Donald Trump has a litany of failures described by Steve Schmidt

Steve Schmidt, who ran Senator John McCain's 2008, campaign for president, was interviewed on MSNOW. 

In response to a very general question regarding the Trump presidency, Mr. Schmidt spoke for two minutes and gave the most insightful and brutally honest response of what the Trump presidency has done to our great country: 

See Carolyn Barber M.D.  X/ link here.

"Donald Trump is the worst president this country has ever had. 

And, I don't say that hyperbolically. He is. But he is a consequential president. And, he has brought this country in three short years to a place of weakness that is simply unimaginable if you were pondering where we are today from the day where Barack Obama left office. And, there were a lot of us on that day who were deeply skeptical and very worried about what a Trump presidency would be. But this is a moment of unparalleled national humiliation, of weakness.” "When you listen to the President, these are the musings of an imbecile. An idiot. And I don't use those words to name call. I use them because they are the precise words of the English language to describe his behavior. His comportment. His actions. We've never seen a level of incompetence, a level of ineptitude so staggering on a daily basis by anybody in the history of the country whose ever been charged with substantial responsibilities.” 

"It's just astonishing that this man is president of the United States. The man, the con man, from New York City. Many bankruptcies, failed businesses, a reality show, that branded him as something that he never was. A successful businessman. Well, he's the President of the United States now, and the man who said he would make the country great again. And he's brought death, suffering, and economic collapse on truly an epic scale. And, let's be clear. This isn't happening in every country around the world. This place. Our place. Our home. Our country. The United States. We are the epicenter. We are the place where you're the most likely to die from this disease. We're the ones with the most shattered economy. And we are, because of the🤡🤪  fool that sits in the Oval Office behind the Resolute Desk."

@SteveSchmidtSES r/t Ron Tipton

Donald Trump and his family's illegal insider trading

Echo letter to the editor published Scranton, Pennsylvania, The Times-Tribune: 

Ever pushing the boundaries of corruption, Trump’s newest endeavor is offering access to his social media company charging traders and investors ❗💲💵100,000 per month for faster access to his posts on his Truth (FakeNews❗) Social platform.

Trump also touted specific stocks, complimenting companies such as Nvidia and Apple, rallying their share prices. Insider trading is still illegal. Trump’s Media & Technology Group is majority owned by Trump and his family and controls social media. In April, Trump posted, “This Is a Great Time to Buy.” 🙄😒

Since returning to office, Trump and his family and high-ranking members of his cabinet have💲💲 💰benefited personally. 

Trump gave a no-bid contract to a long-time supporter to clean the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, a continuing embarrassment. 

It’s not surprising that taxpayers are now funding half the costs of the White House ballroom. Peter Navarro intervened to secure a 💲620 million Pentagon loan tied to Donald Trump, Jr. Trump’s sons stand to benefit from a 💲1.6 billion Kazakhstan mining deal after the Trump administration helped broker the deal.

Jared Kushner sought to raise 💲5 billion for his private equity firm from Saudi Arabia. Blatant corruption on this scale should not be normalized yet where are the Republicans principled and willing to speak out❓

From: Rose Ann (Valleri) Bivinetto,  Palm Desert, California, former Hazleton Pennsylvania resident

Donald Trump and his evil obsession with Hitlerism

Donald Trump’s expansionism is a direct parallel to Adolf Hitler’s playbook. Trump floated the idea of expanding our country by making Canada the 51st state — not to mention his views on Greenland and Venezuela.

Echo opinion letter published in Lancaster Online:

This is exactly how Hitler kicked off World War II when he attempted to expand Germany’s territory by invading Poland. Anyone who thinks that these are empty threats by Trump should remember that his gross lack of sound judgment, coupled with the incompetent advisers he appointed, resulted in a senseless war with Iran without congressional approval.

Germany was a total one-party dictatorship under Hitler and Nazism.  

In my view, we now have more in common with Hitler’s dictatorship than we ever have had under any other U.S. president in my lifetime. Trump loves dictators and I believe that he would love to be a dictator. 

Trump hates and frequently attacks freedom of speech and the press and is doing everything possible to control our elections. That includes his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attempt to overthrow the free and fair election that he lost.

Trump essentially imposes (illegal❗) taxes on Americans through his tariffs, again without congressional approval. These were all characteristics of the Hitler regime, and most Republicans in Congress refuse to intervene.

To protect our democracy, it is absolutely essential that we vote Trump’s Republican cult loyalists out of office in the midterm elections.

From George Bliss in West Lampeter Township, Pennsylvania

"So Long Dearie" the White House press secretary wants to spend quality time with her growing family

Trump’s Constant Calls to Karoline Leavitt Really Backfired
Echo report published in New York Magazine Intelligencer by Margaret Hartman

When White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on Wednesday that she will leave her job by the end of the month, there was a lot of speculation about her motivations. In a lengthy statement posted to social media, the 28-year-old mother of two, who just returned from maternity leave on July 16, said she wanted to focus her attention on her kids.

Being a mother and welcoming a new baby while working in one of the most demanding jobs in the world has been the most rewarding yet challenging season of my life, to say the least. The truth is since returning to the White House after the birth of my daughter, I have felt in my heart that I cannot be the best mom my two young children deserve while devoting the constant time, energy, and attention required of the White House Press Secretary — and that is why I have ultimately made the bittersweet decision to depart the White House and embark on a new chapter in my life.

But is that just cover for drama within the Trump administration? Or is Leavitt, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2022, plotting to enter politics like former White House press secretary turned Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders❓

New reporting suggests Leavitt’s stated explanation is broadly accurate and not unique to the Trump administration. 

People often exit White House roles after just a few years as they are incredibly demanding jobs that leave little time for family life. 

But there is a Trumpy twist to the story that explains why Leavitt came back from maternity leave only to quit less than a month later, leaving the administration with no clear successor just a few months before the midterms.

Sources told The Daily Mail that Trump really wanted Leavitt to stay on as press secretary, and it sounds as though his aggressive effort to communicate this might have backfired. Rather than letting her recharge during her leave, he kept pestering her about when she was coming back:

One source close to Leavitt — the youngest ever White House press secretary — reveals she had been strongly weighing whether to quit during maternity leave, as the president would contact her often and repeatedly ask when she was coming back.

Another source added that Leavitt has been experiencing extreme “burnout.”

“It was a very stressful job to do with her children. She never got any sleep, and she didn’t want her performance to slip either, so she decided to stay as long as she could and do the job well,” the source told the Mail. “The president did everything he could to keep her.”

Everything except letting her fully detach from work, apparently.

Insiders said Leavitt has been telling people for two months that she felt ready to leave but she had to figure out how to exit without infuriating her boss.

“She was just trying to figure out how to politely step down with [Trump’s] blessing,” one source said.

It looks like Leavitt pulled it off. While Trump is known for berating staffers on their way out, he said on Truth Social that Leavitt quitting to focus on her family is “a decision I totally understand and respect”.

But any parent applying to fill Leavitt’s role should be clear on the fact that Donald “She Takes Care of the Baby” Trump doesn’t really “totally understand and respect” the sanctity of parental leave.

P.S. Maine Writer: Although I respect Karoline Leavitt's resignation decision, she will not be missed. Nevertheless, being around Trump too long is just dangerous. Trump is haunted by thwarted assassination attempts, real or manufactured and his assorted paramours, whoever they are, get in the way of working with him. 

Enjoy Barbara Streisand's terrific performance in Hello Dolly: "So Long Dearie❗"