Mischief and Donald Trump Go Hand-in-Hand [Opinion]

Well, what mischief did the President get into this week…..

The Russian investigation continues. The heat is turning up on Michael Cohen, the President’s “handler,” Manafort remains in solitary confinement and where is Trump going next week — Russia!

He is off to meet with his best pal, Vladimir Putin. What is Trump going to give away without getting anything in return? In North Korea, not only did he give Kim the worldwide credibility he so badly wanted but also stopped the joint practices with South Korea and Kim did not even ask!

Speaking of North Korea, Secretary of State Pompeo went to see his counterpart and Chairman Kim. Talks broke down fairly quickly due to “gangster” style demands from the US over denuclearization. Maybe they (us) should step back and actually develop a plan before creating mischief.

China and Western countries have now been officially hit with tariffs. And of course they have retaliated. This was something Trump said would never happen; that he could win a trade war quickly and easily. Oooops. Now Trump wants to levy tariffs on foreign cars. Thank goodness he doesn’t know that the vast majority of foreign branded cars are actually made in the US by members of the United Auto Workers Union. Does he ever engage his brain BEFORE he engages his mouth?

Also this week he rolled back a score of racial diversity policies and goals from the Obama administration. The Administration admitted that the number of children being held away from their parents is actually 3,000, not 2,000. I actually believe it is closer to 5,000. One child was taken to Court to defend themselves. They were one year old!

I’m beginning to think David Duke is not the Grand wizard of the KKK, but the current temporary resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is.

In other news, since the Feds are taking no action on guns — Cathedral City is instituting a gun buyback program. They already have the toughest zoning in the county related to sales of guns, now they are trying to get residents that either no longer use their gun or don’t want it in the house any longer to voluntarily turn them in and get paid for it — -and keep the guns out of hands that might create mischief.

In the upcoming Cathedral City elections, the first with new districts candidates are already lining up. There are 3 candidates in District 3, 4 candidates I. District 4 and 2 candidates in District 5. Formal filing opens in about a week, so there may be more.

Cathedral City is also poised to pass resolutions in support of DACA kids and another against the force removal of children from their parents.

The three Democratic members of the Cathedral City Council, along with the East West Alliance are hosting a Community meeting on July 21 at the Mary Pickford Theater. Congressman Ruiz.the three Councilmember’s and others will be in attendance. Stay tuned to this column or the East West Alliance Facebook page for Time.

I will be in Oakland later this week for the CA Democratic Party Executive Board meeting. More news on that next week.

Speaking of mischief …

While I don’t write much about neighboring cities, I find it interesting and disconcerting on the allegations that Mayor Moon of Palm Springs secretly videotaped people who came into his office. The legality I’ll leave to smarter people, but the ethics issues and just the whole visual is appalling, especially from a Mayor and Council that campaigned on openness and transparency. Reminds me of a former Mayor in the valley that used to rifle through employee desks at night. It’s all just sad.