Prime minister Fumio Kishida of Japan and his wife, Yuko Kishida, are in Washington, D.C., tonight at a state dinner hosted by President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden. The dinner is part of a state visit, the fifth for this administration. Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have worked to strengthen ties to countries in the Indo-Pacific to weaken the influence of China in the region, and Japan is the key nation in that partnership. “We celebrate the flourishing friendship between the United States and Japan,” Dr. Biden said Tuesday. “Our nations are partners in building a world where we choose creation over destruction, peace over bloodshed, and democracy over autocracy.”
‘There are almost daily headlines now describing what Donald Trump would do if elected: the mass deportations, the pardons handed out to his friends and golf buddies, the Justice Department settling scores and waging personal vendettas. The former president has even promised violence if the election goes against him, warning that it could be a “blood bath.”(NYTimes: Guest Essay by Caroline Fredrickson, excerpts)
‘But as worrying as these prospects are, they are far from the biggest threats he poses. What we should fear most is Mr. Trump transforming our government into a modern-day Tammany Hall, installing a kleptocratic leadership that will be difficult if not impossible to dislodge.’
‘I do not discount the possibility of state-sponsored violence, and I worry deeply about the politicization of the civil service. But those are, for the most part, threats and theories, and while they need to be taken seriously, people should be paying more attention to a far more likely reality: that Mr. Trump would spend much of his time in office enriching himself. He failed spectacularly as an insurrectionist and as a disrupter of the civil service, and his clownish and chaotic style may well lead to failure again — but he has succeeded time and time again in the art of the steal. If his grift continues into a second term, it will not only contribute to the fraying trust Americans have in their institutions, but also impair our ability to lead the world through a series of escalating crises.’
‘Recall how Mr. Trump operated in his first term. Not only did he keep his stake in more than a hundred businesses, he made it a practice to visit his properties around the country, forcing taxpayers to pay for rooms and amenities at Trump hotels for the Secret Service and other staff members who accompanied him — money that went straight into his bank accounts and those of his business partners. Those interested in currying favor with the president, from foreign governments to would-be government contractors, knew to spend money at his hotels and golf clubs. According to internal Trump hotel documents, T-Mobile executives spent over $195,000 at the Trump Washington Hotel after announcing a planned merger with Sprint in April 2018. Two years later, the merger was approved.’
‘Government, like fish, rots from the head down. Mr. Trump’s example freed up cabinet members to award huge contracts to their friends, business associates and political allies, while others ran their departments like personal fiefs. After the State Department’s inspector general was fired, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s use of official trips for clandestine meetings with conservative donors and his family’s alleged misuse of staff members for tasks like walking his dog, picking up his wife from the airport and fetching his takeout came to light. And, in addition to being accused of improperly accepting gifts from those seeking influence, several other cabinet members were alleged to have used government funds for private travel. These may seem like banal infractions, but taken together, they are a reflection of who Mr. Trump is and how he governs.’
‘Throughout his life, through Trump-branded wine, chocolate bars, sneakers, NFTs, ties, MAGA paraphernalia, a $59.99 Bible (of all things) and, most recently, his Truth Social meme stock ploy, he has shown an unstoppable drive to enrich himself at all costs. He sees politics, like business, as a zero-sum game in which he wins only if someone else loses. These are the instincts that drive corruption, kleptocracy and grift. And, if past is prologue, we’re looking at a much more damaging sequel.’
0
‘In a second term, Mr. Trump will have more freedom and power to undertake grift. He has already vowed to use pardons to protect supporters and possibly even himself from efforts to curb corruption (which may explain the nonchalance with which his son-in-law Jared Kushner has greeted criticism about the conflicts of interest raised by his recent real estate investments in Serbia and Albania, as well as the Saudi, Qatari and Emirati investments in his wealth fund). And he and his political advisers are building a deep bench of committed and loyal employees who could corrode and potentially destroy mechanisms of accountability in government, paving the way for kleptocratic leaders to entrench themselves in the bureaucracy where many would be able to remain past Mr. Trump’s term. And the mere presence of a phalanx of unquestioning lieutenants in the civil service will ensure that other civil servants fear retribution for objecting to the self-enrichment.’
‘In a kleptocracy, corruption is a feature, not a bug, where politicians apply the law inconsistently, favoring friends and punishing enemies. By controlling government assets and handing them out to friends and family — and dangling possibilities in front of would-be supporters — as well as using politically motivated prosecutions, kleptocrats cement their control of government and disempower opponents. We need only recall Russia’s erstwhile effort to create a democracy: It quickly drained away into the pockets of Vladimir Putin and his oligarchs, leading to the hopelessness and acquiescence of Russian citizens once they realized they could no longer change their situation through democratic means.’
‘Now we face that danger at home. If Mr. Trump wins, America will have a leader invested in his own personal power, both financial and punitive, and supported by a much more capable team. When lucrative contracts are handed out to Trumpist loyalists regardless of merit and dissident voices are targeted and silenced, America’s leadership on the global stage will dissolve when it’s needed most.’
‘The consequences will echo for generations if we lack the ability and the will to attack problems like climate change, mass migration, a new space race and multiple wars. Nothing of substance will be done, Mr. Trump’s cronies will continue to act with impunity, and millions of Americans — already worried that elites are held to a different standard than regular people are — will lose even more confidence in their government, convinced that everyone in Washington is out for himself.’
‘This combination of passivity on the one hand and impunity on the other could be fatal for our democracy. This is the true danger Mr. Trump poses.’ (NYTimes: ‘What Worries
Me Most About a Trump Presidency by Caroline Fredrickson) See gifted link below.
‘Ms. Fredrickson is an adviser at the Open Markets Institute, a senior fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice and a visiting professor of law at Georgetown University.’
Encouraging coverage. Thank you. My breathing becomes noticeably shallower whenever I read what is commonly discouraging news. It's unlikely that I'll return to satisfyingly deep breathing (and sleep) until Joe Biden is re-elected, along with a democratic Senate and House. Until then, your reality checks help diminish the political hum — and my anxiety about our country's future.
Thank you, Professor, for sharing this important information about our ties with Japan. Along with President Biden's and Prime Minister Kishida's confirmation of the strength of our relationship, the Prime Minister announced Japan will gift to the United States 250 new cherry trees in celebration of the U.S.'s 250th anniversary in 2026. Alas, no word was mentioned about Stumpy!
So good to see Heather's reminders of Vice President Kamala Harris's vital work for women.
Even better to see these notes on her good work in the context of the meetings Prime Minister Kishida is having with officials in Washington.
If Kamala Harris is working for women, and women's health care and privacy rights, this work comes in a tradition which Japan eminently shares with the U.S. -- the preeminence of arts for love of, respect for all the varieties of people's complicated, nuanced, and deep involvements in communities social and natural.
Hayao Miyazaki just won another Oscar at this year's Academy Awards ("The Boy and the Heron"). The anime series "Demon Slayer" has broken records for sales and popularity both in Japan and the U.S. (manga and movie versions).
The health and centrality of humanities in both countries is no accident. That condition prefigures the centrality of personal health choices Kamala Harris defends.
U.S. billionaires spend hundreds of millions of dollars to try to kill the role of personal choices across America, hundreds of millions of dollars to kill vital federal programs. They want robotic schools, orgies of onerous standardized testing, all life commodified.
American women may finally win -- and win decisively -- this November. But it won't be in isolation from our keys for greatest strength, decency, and love of our communities.
In honor of some of our great debts, greatest assets, thank you again not only to Kamala, but also to Hayao Miyazaki and to Gotōge Koyoharu, the young woman behind "Demon Slayer."
I do wish all the media would stop showing videos of T. He looks more and more to be unhealthy and unhinged. I did watch a good part of MSNBC’s coverage of Biden’s speech with the Japanese state visit. I’m very happy about the work Biden’s team has done on strengthening alliances both in Europe and the Pacific. Also happy to hear about how understaffed T’s campaign headquarters are.
These draconian laws removing women’s rights are based on a suupposed “belief" that "life begins at conception”. This is patently false. Life begins long before that. In fact, the egg that eventually developed into you was alive and well in your mother’s ovary months before she was born!
Of course, conception was a crucial point in your long journey toward personhood. But I challenge anyone who claims to "believe" that a fertilized human egg is the moral equivalent of a baby to consider this: You are a mother of a newborn baby, and you are in the maternity ward. Your baby is in the newborn nursery down the corridor to the left. Down the corridor to the right is the IVF clinic where you have two frozen embryos. A fire breaks out, and you have time to save your newborn baby or your two frozen embryos. Which will you choose? Now ask yourself this: How many frozen embryos would you have to save to justify abandoning your newborn baby, as the “moral” choice?
Many “believers” have been, and continue to be, bamboozled by their religious leaders about this moral question. But the simple act of considering the above ethical “dilemma” reveals the truth: When asked to ACT on their supposed “belief,” no sane person ACTUALLY believes that a fertilized human egg is the moral equivalent of a baby (ie. a person).
Thank you once again Professor. These are important things to talk about. I wish mainstream media would start highlighting all the positives that are coming out from the Biden-Harris White House! They love to highlight the orange menace's continuing poison. It kind of reminds me of a line in an old Dire Straits song.
Prime minister Fumio Kishida of Japan and his wife, Yuko Kishida, are in Washington, D.C...please take note; Japan is a society in which age and the wisdom of age has been and is revered.
President Biden is working daily for every day Americans. He is working with world leaders to insure peace around the globe. Yet when I read the daily news, from multiple sources, there are multiple stories about trump and now RFK, Jr. Is making headlines, too. There are rarely stories about Biden and when there is, they are usually negative. I laugh at republicans who think MSM goes left! Will MSM ever get on the Biden train? People don’t know about his accomplishments, they only hear stories about his age! This has to change!!
I’m glad the Biden-Harris team have learned from the Hillary Clinton team’s mistake of ignoring the fly-over section of the country. They’re not making assumptions.
Now, I wish they’d fight a bit dirtier. President Biden has always been known for reaching across the aisle. But this is definitely not the Republican Party, nor are these the Republicans voters, of the past. Take off the gloves and fight like hell.
As a young kid, during World War II, I was taught to hate the Japanese. That my cousin, exec officer on a sub sunk soon after Pearl Harbor, was a Japanese prisoner of war for over three years did not soften my image of Japanese.
Then this image began to change. General McArthur was our imperial representative in destroyed Japan immediately after the war. At the same time of the Japanese war tribunals, McArthur, on one occasion, telegraphed Washington ‘Either send more food or send more bullets.’
During the Korean War, Japan became an essential staging area for American troops and supplies.By the 1970s Japan was flourishing and was flooding the United States with little autos that were causing Detroit great pain.
In 1974-1975 I was the first person to undertake a public rating of the credit of Japan. After a prolonged and sensitive process, Japan was awarded a coveted Aaa. This was the same year that I informed the Bank of England that I wouldn’t permit England to issue sovereign bonds on the New York market.
During World War II China (Chiang kai-Shek) was our ally against Japan, which killed about 10 million Chinese. Today Japan is critical in an alliance, anchored by the United States, intended to counter XI’s China.
At times I find it puzzling to know who are my friends and enemies.
President Obama brought together 119 Pacific Rim countries to create an alliance to deal with China, the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). Trump dropped it early in his administration. He dropped it before he had time to read it, if he can read. Tell me how it is better to deal with any adversary individually than a like minded group. Please remember how he praised and fawned over China and Xi, until he needed a scapegoat for his own miserable handling of the COVID pandemic. This election is about democracy but our relationship with the world is at stake too.
Thank you for highlighting the news about the meetings with Japan. Stories like these tend to get drowned out by the political ones these days.
‘There are almost daily headlines now describing what Donald Trump would do if elected: the mass deportations, the pardons handed out to his friends and golf buddies, the Justice Department settling scores and waging personal vendettas. The former president has even promised violence if the election goes against him, warning that it could be a “blood bath.”(NYTimes: Guest Essay by Caroline Fredrickson, excerpts)
‘But as worrying as these prospects are, they are far from the biggest threats he poses. What we should fear most is Mr. Trump transforming our government into a modern-day Tammany Hall, installing a kleptocratic leadership that will be difficult if not impossible to dislodge.’
‘I do not discount the possibility of state-sponsored violence, and I worry deeply about the politicization of the civil service. But those are, for the most part, threats and theories, and while they need to be taken seriously, people should be paying more attention to a far more likely reality: that Mr. Trump would spend much of his time in office enriching himself. He failed spectacularly as an insurrectionist and as a disrupter of the civil service, and his clownish and chaotic style may well lead to failure again — but he has succeeded time and time again in the art of the steal. If his grift continues into a second term, it will not only contribute to the fraying trust Americans have in their institutions, but also impair our ability to lead the world through a series of escalating crises.’
‘Recall how Mr. Trump operated in his first term. Not only did he keep his stake in more than a hundred businesses, he made it a practice to visit his properties around the country, forcing taxpayers to pay for rooms and amenities at Trump hotels for the Secret Service and other staff members who accompanied him — money that went straight into his bank accounts and those of his business partners. Those interested in currying favor with the president, from foreign governments to would-be government contractors, knew to spend money at his hotels and golf clubs. According to internal Trump hotel documents, T-Mobile executives spent over $195,000 at the Trump Washington Hotel after announcing a planned merger with Sprint in April 2018. Two years later, the merger was approved.’
‘Government, like fish, rots from the head down. Mr. Trump’s example freed up cabinet members to award huge contracts to their friends, business associates and political allies, while others ran their departments like personal fiefs. After the State Department’s inspector general was fired, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s use of official trips for clandestine meetings with conservative donors and his family’s alleged misuse of staff members for tasks like walking his dog, picking up his wife from the airport and fetching his takeout came to light. And, in addition to being accused of improperly accepting gifts from those seeking influence, several other cabinet members were alleged to have used government funds for private travel. These may seem like banal infractions, but taken together, they are a reflection of who Mr. Trump is and how he governs.’
‘Throughout his life, through Trump-branded wine, chocolate bars, sneakers, NFTs, ties, MAGA paraphernalia, a $59.99 Bible (of all things) and, most recently, his Truth Social meme stock ploy, he has shown an unstoppable drive to enrich himself at all costs. He sees politics, like business, as a zero-sum game in which he wins only if someone else loses. These are the instincts that drive corruption, kleptocracy and grift. And, if past is prologue, we’re looking at a much more damaging sequel.’
0
‘In a second term, Mr. Trump will have more freedom and power to undertake grift. He has already vowed to use pardons to protect supporters and possibly even himself from efforts to curb corruption (which may explain the nonchalance with which his son-in-law Jared Kushner has greeted criticism about the conflicts of interest raised by his recent real estate investments in Serbia and Albania, as well as the Saudi, Qatari and Emirati investments in his wealth fund). And he and his political advisers are building a deep bench of committed and loyal employees who could corrode and potentially destroy mechanisms of accountability in government, paving the way for kleptocratic leaders to entrench themselves in the bureaucracy where many would be able to remain past Mr. Trump’s term. And the mere presence of a phalanx of unquestioning lieutenants in the civil service will ensure that other civil servants fear retribution for objecting to the self-enrichment.’
‘In a kleptocracy, corruption is a feature, not a bug, where politicians apply the law inconsistently, favoring friends and punishing enemies. By controlling government assets and handing them out to friends and family — and dangling possibilities in front of would-be supporters — as well as using politically motivated prosecutions, kleptocrats cement their control of government and disempower opponents. We need only recall Russia’s erstwhile effort to create a democracy: It quickly drained away into the pockets of Vladimir Putin and his oligarchs, leading to the hopelessness and acquiescence of Russian citizens once they realized they could no longer change their situation through democratic means.’
‘Now we face that danger at home. If Mr. Trump wins, America will have a leader invested in his own personal power, both financial and punitive, and supported by a much more capable team. When lucrative contracts are handed out to Trumpist loyalists regardless of merit and dissident voices are targeted and silenced, America’s leadership on the global stage will dissolve when it’s needed most.’
‘The consequences will echo for generations if we lack the ability and the will to attack problems like climate change, mass migration, a new space race and multiple wars. Nothing of substance will be done, Mr. Trump’s cronies will continue to act with impunity, and millions of Americans — already worried that elites are held to a different standard than regular people are — will lose even more confidence in their government, convinced that everyone in Washington is out for himself.’
‘This combination of passivity on the one hand and impunity on the other could be fatal for our democracy. This is the true danger Mr. Trump poses.’ (NYTimes: ‘What Worries
Me Most About a Trump Presidency by Caroline Fredrickson) See gifted link below.
‘Ms. Fredrickson is an adviser at the Open Markets Institute, a senior fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice and a visiting professor of law at Georgetown University.’
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/10/opinion/trump-presidency-corruption.html?unlocked_article_code=1.jk0.fEnC.ygEH70rRYUn1&smid=url-share
Arizona is a crucial swing state and I hope it will be the Republican’s nemesis, come November.
Encouraging coverage. Thank you. My breathing becomes noticeably shallower whenever I read what is commonly discouraging news. It's unlikely that I'll return to satisfyingly deep breathing (and sleep) until Joe Biden is re-elected, along with a democratic Senate and House. Until then, your reality checks help diminish the political hum — and my anxiety about our country's future.
Thank you, Professor, for sharing this important information about our ties with Japan. Along with President Biden's and Prime Minister Kishida's confirmation of the strength of our relationship, the Prime Minister announced Japan will gift to the United States 250 new cherry trees in celebration of the U.S.'s 250th anniversary in 2026. Alas, no word was mentioned about Stumpy!
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/japan-gifts-250-new-cherry-trees-dc-replacing-removed-repairs-rcna147295
So good to see Heather's reminders of Vice President Kamala Harris's vital work for women.
Even better to see these notes on her good work in the context of the meetings Prime Minister Kishida is having with officials in Washington.
If Kamala Harris is working for women, and women's health care and privacy rights, this work comes in a tradition which Japan eminently shares with the U.S. -- the preeminence of arts for love of, respect for all the varieties of people's complicated, nuanced, and deep involvements in communities social and natural.
Hayao Miyazaki just won another Oscar at this year's Academy Awards ("The Boy and the Heron"). The anime series "Demon Slayer" has broken records for sales and popularity both in Japan and the U.S. (manga and movie versions).
The health and centrality of humanities in both countries is no accident. That condition prefigures the centrality of personal health choices Kamala Harris defends.
U.S. billionaires spend hundreds of millions of dollars to try to kill the role of personal choices across America, hundreds of millions of dollars to kill vital federal programs. They want robotic schools, orgies of onerous standardized testing, all life commodified.
American women may finally win -- and win decisively -- this November. But it won't be in isolation from our keys for greatest strength, decency, and love of our communities.
In honor of some of our great debts, greatest assets, thank you again not only to Kamala, but also to Hayao Miyazaki and to Gotōge Koyoharu, the young woman behind "Demon Slayer."
I do wish all the media would stop showing videos of T. He looks more and more to be unhealthy and unhinged. I did watch a good part of MSNBC’s coverage of Biden’s speech with the Japanese state visit. I’m very happy about the work Biden’s team has done on strengthening alliances both in Europe and the Pacific. Also happy to hear about how understaffed T’s campaign headquarters are.
These draconian laws removing women’s rights are based on a suupposed “belief" that "life begins at conception”. This is patently false. Life begins long before that. In fact, the egg that eventually developed into you was alive and well in your mother’s ovary months before she was born!
Of course, conception was a crucial point in your long journey toward personhood. But I challenge anyone who claims to "believe" that a fertilized human egg is the moral equivalent of a baby to consider this: You are a mother of a newborn baby, and you are in the maternity ward. Your baby is in the newborn nursery down the corridor to the left. Down the corridor to the right is the IVF clinic where you have two frozen embryos. A fire breaks out, and you have time to save your newborn baby or your two frozen embryos. Which will you choose? Now ask yourself this: How many frozen embryos would you have to save to justify abandoning your newborn baby, as the “moral” choice?
Many “believers” have been, and continue to be, bamboozled by their religious leaders about this moral question. But the simple act of considering the above ethical “dilemma” reveals the truth: When asked to ACT on their supposed “belief,” no sane person ACTUALLY believes that a fertilized human egg is the moral equivalent of a baby (ie. a person).
Justin StormoGipson, MD
Thank you Heather.
Democracy = choice
Thank you once again Professor. These are important things to talk about. I wish mainstream media would start highlighting all the positives that are coming out from the Biden-Harris White House! They love to highlight the orange menace's continuing poison. It kind of reminds me of a line in an old Dire Straits song.
Prime minister Fumio Kishida of Japan and his wife, Yuko Kishida, are in Washington, D.C...please take note; Japan is a society in which age and the wisdom of age has been and is revered.
President Biden is working daily for every day Americans. He is working with world leaders to insure peace around the globe. Yet when I read the daily news, from multiple sources, there are multiple stories about trump and now RFK, Jr. Is making headlines, too. There are rarely stories about Biden and when there is, they are usually negative. I laugh at republicans who think MSM goes left! Will MSM ever get on the Biden train? People don’t know about his accomplishments, they only hear stories about his age! This has to change!!
I’m glad the Biden-Harris team have learned from the Hillary Clinton team’s mistake of ignoring the fly-over section of the country. They’re not making assumptions.
Now, I wish they’d fight a bit dirtier. President Biden has always been known for reaching across the aisle. But this is definitely not the Republican Party, nor are these the Republicans voters, of the past. Take off the gloves and fight like hell.
How times change.
As a young kid, during World War II, I was taught to hate the Japanese. That my cousin, exec officer on a sub sunk soon after Pearl Harbor, was a Japanese prisoner of war for over three years did not soften my image of Japanese.
Then this image began to change. General McArthur was our imperial representative in destroyed Japan immediately after the war. At the same time of the Japanese war tribunals, McArthur, on one occasion, telegraphed Washington ‘Either send more food or send more bullets.’
During the Korean War, Japan became an essential staging area for American troops and supplies.By the 1970s Japan was flourishing and was flooding the United States with little autos that were causing Detroit great pain.
In 1974-1975 I was the first person to undertake a public rating of the credit of Japan. After a prolonged and sensitive process, Japan was awarded a coveted Aaa. This was the same year that I informed the Bank of England that I wouldn’t permit England to issue sovereign bonds on the New York market.
During World War II China (Chiang kai-Shek) was our ally against Japan, which killed about 10 million Chinese. Today Japan is critical in an alliance, anchored by the United States, intended to counter XI’s China.
At times I find it puzzling to know who are my friends and enemies.
Biden shows us what a winner looks like while Trump, not so much. Democracy wins in November.
President Obama brought together 119 Pacific Rim countries to create an alliance to deal with China, the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). Trump dropped it early in his administration. He dropped it before he had time to read it, if he can read. Tell me how it is better to deal with any adversary individually than a like minded group. Please remember how he praised and fawned over China and Xi, until he needed a scapegoat for his own miserable handling of the COVID pandemic. This election is about democracy but our relationship with the world is at stake too.