“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” So how’s it going with this mission statement that was the preamble to the Constitution adopted by our nation’s founders? The justice, tranquility, general welfare, blessings of liberty? (Photos above: Triump, McFeatters, Krugman)

In another of the comment forums here, one that is due to exit soon, one of my unrelenting critics, Justin Hale, said: “Tom C. wrote ‘Donald's crashing about is single-minded, simple-minded and self-serving. The White House itself admits he has killed or weakened 860 regulations’….. So tell us Tom, how many of those regulations needed killing or weakening? Or are you going to argue that every federal regulation is righteous and necessary? We know it serves your single -minded, simple-minded, self serving purposes as a Democrat activist Trump-0-Phobe to paint every action of the POTUS as wrong, stupid or evil . You're like a broken record Tom.”

I find that to be a response with absolutely no meat on its scrawny bones—as well as being nastily presumptuous. So I will make a point of responding here where I have a little decent elbow room. I’ll call first on Ann McFeatters, a journalist who has covered the White House and national politics since 1986. Her syndicated column the other day began: “We’ve all become bit players in Donald Trump’s bizarre reality show, but behind the bluster he’s altering our lives through dramatic changes in regulations.

“We quake with anxiety that he might get us into a catastrophic war  with North Korea. Then we gasp when he threatens to deport 800,000 of the best and brightest. We  puzzle over his touting of a non-existent tax plan. And he stuns by equating racists and neo-N*zis with opponents of hatred and discrimination . . .”

McFeatters then points to what’s going on behind the scenes—clouded by general boasting and some 1,100 outright documented Trump lies since he took office—including the repeal or weakening of 860 regulations  that give free rein to polluting industry, banking, etc. while destroying the environment and undercutting the health and welfare of society at large. All manner of things, large and small.

A Trump sampler: More people will die in bed because mattresses no longer have to be fire-retardant. Construction workers will be more likely to be run over by vehicles, safety regulations on meat and poultry no longer will be pursued, hundreds of endangered species will not be on the list for protection, federal contract labor and civil rights requirements have been dropped, states no longer can create retirement savings plans for private-sector workers. Large companies no longer have to spell out what they pay men as compared to women or whites as compared to blacks, states no longer have limits on drug tests administered to those seeking unemployment benefits, financial advisors no long will have to serve the best interests of their clients, employers no longer will have to keep track of worker injuries and injuries no longer will be publicized by the government.

Mines are allowed to dump waste into nearby streams, thanks to a Trump order repealing one put in place by Obama. Government contractors no longer will have to disclose violations of labor laws, Judges no longer have discretion over handing down lenient criminal sentences, toxic waste dumps dated for cleanup will be ignored, and more waterways will not have to meet federal environmental standards, chemical companies will not have to reveal what’s in their storage tanks. 

Just before Hurricane Harvey, Trump undid an Obama executive order that would have required restructure from natural disasters to be more flood resistant. Power plants now have fewer restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions.

Of course, there’s the biggie of pulling out of the Paris Accords in denial of global warming. Also on the front burner is the matter of transgenders in the military. Targeted as scapegoats at every opportunity, especially whenever Donald’s hand is caught in the cookie jar, are the Free Press, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

That should begin to give you the picture. The pattern seems glaringly obvious. About everything being tossed seems to involve some protection for the public. But hey! Who reads about all this stuff in responsible news outlets when they can quickly suck up the fake news posted on Facebook by some Macedonian teenager earning a few bucks by purveying Russian interests—then get back to texting and tweeting.

Another veteran syndicated columnist—Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman who writes for the New York Times—also recently called attention to talk radio’s Rush Limbaugh, champion of the Trump tinfoil-hat brigade. Limbaugh accused weather scientists of inventing Hurricane Irma’s threat for political and financial reasons. Rush said: “There is a desire to advance the climate change agenda, and hurricanes are the fastest and best way to do it.” Fear and panic help sell batteries, bottled water and TV advertising, he said—shortly before he packed up and fled his Palm Beach mansion. 

All in all, I think it’s pretty clear just what is the source of the “fake news” Donald always is ranting about. It’s pretty much his own supporters (including Fox News), while he harps away using the old propaganda 101 ploy of trying to transfer actual guilt to the other guy. The role of Russian stooges also is coming more and more to light in the legitimate press of proven reliability;

Do conservatives actually disbelieve scientific research and the reality of global warming? I think not. I think they’re motivated by financial self-interest or societal superiority and scratch around desperately in search of  justifications for their forked-tongue speech.

Krugman also had a comment I really liked: “Some disillusioned Republicans like to talk about a golden age of conservative thought, somewhere in the past. That Golden Age never existed; still, there was a time when some conservative intellectuals had interesting, independent ideas. But those days are long past. Today’s right-wing intellectual universe, such as it is, is dominated by hired guns who are essentially propagandists rather than researchers.”  Amen to that. Think as gun-slingers Bannon . . . Mnuchin. . . Pruitt . . .

Krugman’s bottom line is the “willful ignorance is deeply frightening. Indeed, it may end up destroying civilization.” My own bottom line of the moment is the blatant erosion of our democratic society’s character by a single rampaging narcissist. Major checkmarks in that regard include the Latino “dreamer” children, Charlottesville, the pardoning of Joe Arpaio, the dismantling of the Environmental Protection Agency, ridiculous self-assumed mental superiority to science in all its forms—and the Trump administration’s petulant snub of Mexican aid to Houston after Hurricane Harvey. Nine days after Mexico offered serious material aid to victims of Harvey, the U. S. embassy finally replied—then just to say that “only certain logistical aid” was acceptable. Mexico soon had to withdraw the aid offer when hit with its own hurricane and a devastating earthquake. Way to keep those lesser humans in their place, Donald (and all aid must look as if it’s coming from you personally of course).

Trump never spoke about the Mexican quake, which drew pledges of support from the Pope and other world leaders. While Mexican government aid was never accepted in the early days of the Houston disaster, Mexico’s volunteer Red Cross  took it upon itself to rush food and supplies to U. S. storm refugees.