All politicians in the US make promises they do not intend to keep, because they know what to say to get elected. President Trump has been a particular case because many voted for him on the basis of promises made based on real concerns for the welfare of the nation and the integrity of the Constitution. The question is not one of whether or not he could follow and “those liberals” are stopping him, but is that of personal will and self-sacrifice.
President Trump’s promise to “drain the swamp” was last seriously attempted by President Kennedy, who pushed for peace with the USSR, refused to start a Third World War with the ensuing Cuban Missile Crisis, refused to allow the government to murder American citizens to blame it on Cuba as part of a false-flag attack called Operation Northwoods, was planning to dismantle the CIA, and also to perform a full audit of the privately owned Federal Reserve Bank. It is not a surprise that Kennedy was murdered, because his actions opposed all of the military-industrial complex and their beneficiaries in favor of the common good of all people.
Trump has, to the contrary, shown himself to be the opposite in the absolute sense of what he said he was. For all of the claims about what Trump wants to do, or plans to do, or the few good thing he has done, his presidency has been overshadowed by the continued erosion of the US Constitution and the rule of law, the increase in worldwide US militarism, the intentional removal of restrains on Germany and Japan to allow them to remilitarize, and going so far as to outright promote the very nationalism that caused the constant wars on the European continent:
Even Obama, who I have thoroughly criticized, never engaged in such dangerous rhetoric. Likewise, President Obama sought peace with Iran, and he did not support Communist paramilitary terrorist groups to overthrow the government.
For all of the Constitutional issues with Obama, never did Obama try to claim the Judicial system was irrelevant because it did not suit his political objectives, and never did he try to circumvent the judicial process that Trump is actively doing.
In 2013, President Obama supported the 2013 Assault Weapons Ban, which was defeated in Congress by a legitimate vote. However, President Trump is not planning to ban “bump stocks,” a particular kind of gun stock, by federal fiat:
The Trump administration plans to announce the long-anticipated federal rule officially banning bump stocks in the coming days, according to US officials familiar with the matter.
Bump stocks gained national attention last year after a gunman in Las Vegas rigged his weapons with the devices to fire on concertgoers, killing 58 people. President Donald Trump vowed to outlaw the devices soon after the tragedy, and some lawmakers on Capitol Hill urged him to back a permanent legislative fix.
But opposition from lawmakers and the National Rifle Association ultimately made a regulatory change the only realistic path forward to accomplishing the President’s goal.
The devices make it easier to fire rounds from a semi-automatic weapon by harnessing the gun’s recoil to “bump” the trigger faster — an operation that caused officials at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives during the Obama administration to conclude that it’s merely a gun accessory or firearm part, not subject to federal regulation.
At Trump’s direction, however, the Justice Department submitted a proposed final rule earlier this year that upended the Obama-era interpretation, and concluded that bump-fire stocks, “slide-fire” devices, and devices with certain similar characteristics all fall within the prohibition on machine guns by allowing a “shooter of a semiautomatic firearm to initiate a continuous firing cycle with a single pull of the trigger,” and therefore, they are illegal under federal law.
Under the new rule, bump stock owners would be required to destroy or surrender the devices to authorities. Members of the public will be given 90 days to turn in or otherwise discard their bump stocks, according to a source familiar with the final rule.
“Bump stocks turn semiautomatic guns into illegal machine guns. This final rule sends a clear message: Illegal guns have no place in a law-and-order society, and we will continue to vigorously enforce the law to keep these illegal weapons off the street,” a senior Justice Department official told CNN Wednesday.
Republican lawmakers, who are typically opposed to federal agencies writing regulations to accomplish what Congress hasn’t directly legislated, had insisted that the Justice Department and ATF write a new regulation. Whereas some Democrats, such as Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, have repeatedly cautioned that such a ban would likely result in lawsuits given ATF’s earlier interpretation.
ATF Acting Director Thomas Brandon acknowledged in a Senate hearing this summer that he has been advised that banning bump fire stocks through executive regulation could lead to court challenges that would delay the implementation of a ban.
Trump said last month he told the NRA “bump stocks are gone,” but how the group responds to the final rule remains to be seen. A spokesperson for the NRA said in October 2017 that the ATF “should review bump-fire stocks to ensure they comply with federal law,” but made clear it opposed the broader gun-control legislation raised by some in Congress.
In June, Slide Fire Solutions, the Texas company that invented the bump-fire stock device and was its lead manufacturer, announced on its website that it would stop taking orders for its products and would shut down its website.
The company, however, directs buyers to RW Arms, an arms dealer also based in Texas, which appears to be selling the remainder of Slide Fire’s inventory. RW Arms was advertising for bump fire stocks made by Slide Fire as recently as this week, when they offered a Cyber Monday sale on the product. Slide Fire has not responded to repeated requests for comment about any potential litigation over a federal rule banning bump stocks. (source, source)
I bring this up not to “defend Obama” or “defend the liberals,” but to take a firm look at what is happening, which is that Trump is not acting like a President in accordance with the established system, but a dictator who believes he can do what he wills.
Gun rights are important, and they must be preserved as a matter of principle and law. But what is even more dangerous is that President Trump said what he “needed to say” to be elected, and once he was elected he has completely reverse his position and is now attacking they very system he was appointed to uphold for his personal benefit.
Trump’s life has been mired in controversy, and the list is not short. Such is not historically inconsistent when it pertains to men with great wealth and power. However, the fact is that Trump has been entrusted by the people with more than just a personal fortune, but with the future of the nation, and all that he has shown himself to be is a willing fool for the same agencies and corporations who President Eisenhower warned threatened to usurp control over the direction of government, and for his own personal gain at the loss of the people and the erosion of what little is left of what used to be the US.
Perhaps instead of complaining about people from Central America seeking refuge from the horrors of drug cartel violence, one could channel that anger toward the lies and personal disenfranchisement that the current administration is doing which will have long-term effects for years to come by acting in a way no different than the Democrats he supported for years.
