Marble Falls There are too many worrying signs that the Trump administration is getting desperate, as the clock ticks more loudly to the midterm elections in November, and Americans hunker down to prepare for the post-Labor Day campaign onslaughts. With inflation still strong, gas prices high, data centers, and the Iranian and Israeli debacles hanging around Trump and Republicans’ necks, it is worth worrying. One obvious tell is Trump sending son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to meet with Democratic Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the likely new Speaker of the House, if the Democrats, as expected, win the majority. Supposedly, these off-the-record, private meetings were to see if there might be any common ground in the final two years of Trump’s term. The reporters, including the Trump whisperer, Maggie Habberman, snuck in the word “remote” to describe the chances, even while saying that they might have been talking about housing, affordability, and similar areas. Kushner and Jeffries had worked together earlier on a criminal justice compromise, though the president has done everything possible for his part to poison the water recently, as he sees the end coming nearer.
In this phase of desperation, I’m worrying that Trump and the administration are looking high and low for any win that they can find that might turn the tide for them. I don’t know if it’s coincidence or whether the administration, particularly Secretary of State and former Florida Senator Marco Rubio, are planting these stories, which might be totally possible, but it’s got me fiddling with my worry beads. Recently, there was another piece about increased sanctions, putting Cuba front and center in my concern, but it’s not alone. I’m also talking about the recent pile of stories on how the crackdown on visas is one of the alleged “success” stories of the administration’s controversial and contentious anti-immigrant crackdowns.
My nightmare scenario would have Trump and his ever-erratic defense secretary Hegseth saber-rattling at Cuba to go along with their increasing and near total blockade that is starving and oppressing the Cuban people. Increased flybys along with some Navy ships starting to circle the country might be enough t for them to try to trigger some kind of incident to justify military intervention on their favored Venezuelan model. I realize this sounds crazy, even as I am totally clear that it would be crazy, but that doesn’t ally my fears, because there’s no way to look at this administration and the president without including crazy as part of the equation.
These guys badly need a win. They might think it is close at hand by muscling up on Cuba, yet more? Other more expert observers are cautioning that the ruling government in Cuba would be as resistant as the Iranian government has been, meaning that they don’t set limits to how much they are willing to endure in terms of popular suffering in order to maintain power. Maybe that’s enough to take direct military action off the table? I hope so.
The visa thing seems like Rubio subtly trying to send a message that he is better at using a velvet glove to mask the fist, than the Stephen Miller’s and other hardcore immigrant haters pulling the levers at Homeland Security and ICE. This could be Rubio making the coming Republican campaign case that he has done better at using the tools of government to keep people out, before they get in, than the more tone-deaf and politically polarizing gang that has militarized urban and rural areas on their deportation drive.
Hey, what do I know from the cheap seats, right? Nonetheless, this can’t be one of those “what me worry” moments. This gang is increasingly up against the wall and holding a very bad, losing hand. To me, that’s scary.