Is the President of the United States on his way to creating a second cold war?

In this editorial in the Washington Post, Katrina vanden Heuvel makes the argument that Donald Trump, President of the United States, is drawing the world nearer to the second Cold War, by pulling out of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty that was signed 31 years ago.

The I.N.F., signed by President Reagan and (then president of the USSR) Mikhail Gorbachev, was a treaty that was essential to the thaw in relations between the Soviets and Americans. Because President Donald Trump is withdrawing from the I.N.F., we are jeopardizing the world.  President Trump says we are leaving this treaty because: “We have more money than anybody else by far. We’ll build [our nuclear arsenal] up until [China and Russia] come to their senses.”

“There will be no winner in a “war of all against all”  — particularly if it ends in a nuclear war.” says Gorbachev. Vandon Heuvel reasons that pulling out of one treaty makes it that much easier to pull out of another, then another. With no restraints on the United States’ nuclear arsenal, the second Cold War is almost a given, because other countries with slightly frostier relationships with us will want to protect themselves.

Vandon Heuvel has been writing for 40 years. She was the USSR correspondent for The Nation from 1984 to 1995 that includes when the USSR fell. Her opinion on this matter is well informed and credible, Because of her extensive knowledge of the USSR, including her reporting on this. She is the current owner of The Nation, and she writes op-eds regularly for the Washington Post. She has also worked with other liberal-leaning media platforms, such as the New York Times, ABC's This Week, MSNBC, CNN and PBS.

Vandon Heuvel has a vested interest in keeping her base happy, proven by the fact that she always works for left-center through left wing media. From this snippet of her work, it seems that she habitually uses words and phrases that seem meant to inflame people. She has credibility as an author, but not necessarily 100% trustworthy, because this is an article focused around a right wing president written by a left-wing writer. Take this with a grain of salt, but it is worth reading to try and get this side of the story.

The U.S. Supreme Court's Self-Corruption?

Do our courts have too much power? In this editorial in the L.A. Times, the author, Ilya Shapiro, tries to warn us about the dangers of the U.S. Supreme Court’s self corruption - continuing a cycle that gives the other two branches of our government more power than they need or should have. 

The argument is that because we as a nation politicize everything, we have courts that have “Liberal Judges”, and “Conservative Judges”, and no real Judges.  In considering the Supreme Court, Shapiro claims that, because Democrats will only vote for a liberal Judge, those Justices will then typically hand down judgments along the Democratic Party line, not the Law as it is written. The Supreme Court then gives more power to “their” members of Congress - continuing to nullify Checks and Balances - as long as it gives benefit to “their” party. This turns into a parasitic relationship for the country which then takes power from the people and the states, leaving it all in the hands of the federal government. This is bad for the nation and contradicts the views of the Founding Fathers.

 Shapiro points out that until the early twentieth century, Congress did not make many laws that required Supreme Court interference.  This is for two reasons:  at that point Congress generally acted within the confines of their rights and the Law;  also, the President was willing to use his presidential veto if he believed it was outside the Law.  The current situation is opposite that.  The Supreme Court Justices have been voting more based on political opinion. 

Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) recently referred to the continual  5-4 split in the Supreme Court as her reason for voting for Justice Kavanaugh.  This agrees with Shapiro’s argument that our courts vote along party lines.  It also proves his point that Congress doesn’t want to solve the problem, but only to solidify the wins of their party. 

Ilya Shapiro writes for many newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal. The fact that he writes for both liberal and conservative news sources indicates that he is not simply a political writer trying to please his base audience.  He is currently a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. 

Tax loopholes and a self serving government.

What is better than being able to avoid tax? According to The Christian Science Monitor that is what our president is thinking with all the hoped for tax cuts, particularly because he has to come up with a way to make his family's history of shady tax manipulation legal. President Donald Trump is trying to change tax laws, in the middle of “fire and fury”, especially the drama surrounding Justice Kavanaugh, and the uncertainty of the midterms in a few weeks. Our president has been trying to pass everything quickly before he possibly loses Congress to the Democrats. One thing that he is trying to do is solidify the legality of his dubious tax evasion- a seemingly time honored Trump family tradition- while his party still can. If this passes, the top 1% of people will be getting the most tax benefits.  This tax reform seems to be doing our president a whole lot of good, with the side benefit of helping the country a bit - particularly businessmen in situations like his. You should read this article before the midterms, and see if your mind has changed about voting for that Republican.