전 노동부 장관 로버트 라이시가 요약한 트럼프 행정부의 10가지 재앙들.

해외 정당/미국

전 노동부 장관 로버트 라이시가 요약한 트럼프 행정부의 10가지 재앙들.

원시 2025. 4. 27. 17:50

전 노동부 장관 로버트 라이시가 요약한 트럼프 행정부의 10가지 재앙들.

로버트 라이시(Robert Reich)의 핵심 주장은 트럼프가 미국을 이끌고 나갈 능력이 전무하다는 것이다. 트럼프 1기에는 트럼프 내각 장관들이 그를 어느정도 통제했으나, 제 2기는 제 1기와 달리 혼란 그 자체이다. 최근 몇 주 사이 벌어진 대혼란의 사례들을 보자.

지난 주 10대 재앙 사례들을 다음과 같이 제시했다.

1. 재앙 1. 미 국방장관 피트 헤그세스의 재앙. 국방부 계획을 그 아내, 형제, 개인 변호사와 공유해버림. 그는 걸어다니는 재앙이다. 미 국방성 (펜타곤) 대변인 존 얼리어트 (John Ullyot)는 펜타곤은 혼란 상태라고 말하고 사임해버림. 헤그세스가 얼리어트의 상관 3명을 해임해버림.

2. 재앙 2. 트럼프와 하바드 대학 사이 전투.

3. 재앙 – 관세 재앙. 관세에 대한 왜곡된 재현

트럼프의 관세율 인상 기준은 합리적이지도 않고 이해 불가하다. 트럼프가 무역대상국가들과 관세 전쟁을 벌이는 동안, 미국의 주식시장과 국채시장은 붕괴되었다. 주식과 국채 시장에서 대량 매각을 막기 위해, 트럼프가 보복 관세 조치를 90일간 잠정 중단했으나, 중국에 대해 관세율을 145%까지 인상했다. 이는 또다시 시장의 혼란을 초래했다.

트럼프는 다시 위기를 모면하기 위해 중국 스마트폰과 컴퓨터 제품에 대한 관세를 면제하기로 발표했다. 트럼프는 관세율 인상으로 인해 미국 수입업자와 소비자들이 더 많은 경제적 부담을 가지게 된다는 것을 인정했다. 관세 때문에 가격이 급등한다는 월마트, 타겟, 홈디포 등의 경고를 인정하면서, 트럼프는 대 중국 관세율이 ‘매우 높다’고 말하면서 향후 관세를 실질적으로 인하할 것이지만, 0%까지는 인하하지 않을 것이다. 과거에는 거의 0%였다고 발언했다. 이후 시장은 이를 환영했다.

4. 재앙 4. 트럼프의 미연방은행장 제롬 포웰에 대한 공격. 트럼프가 포웰을 ‘대 패배자’라고 조롱하며, 이자율을 인하하라고 요구했다. 포웰은 연방은행의 독립성을 주장하며 트럼프와 맞섰다.

문제 핵심. 트럼프가 경제 전반의 현안들과 위험들에 주의 깊게 생각하지 않고, 즉흥적이고 즉자적으로 대응하고 있다. 트럼프의 경제정책들이 이런 식으로 매일 변한다면, 투자자는 투자를 하지 않고, 소비자는 구매하지 않고, 생산자는 생산하려고 하지 않을 것이다.

이러한 혼란 속에서 누가 이익을 보고 있는가? 이익을 보는 자는 트럼프가 무슨 행동을 할 지 미리 알 수 있는 내부자들일 것이다. 트럼프와 그의 가족들이 이익을 볼 것이다.

5. 킬마 가르시아 재앙. 트럼프는 행정실수로 무고한 시민 가르시아를 엘 살바도르 감옥에 투옥시켰다. 대법원은 더 이상 이민자를 추방시키지 못하도록 결정했다.

재앙 6. 미국 이민국의 실수. 미국 시민들을 체포함. 미국인들이 아리조나 이민국에 10일 동안 구금되는 사건이 발생. 문제 핵심은 법치가 무너졌다.

7. 일론 머스크의 ‘정부 효율부’ 재앙.

일론 머스크의 거짓말. 조 바이든 정부가 팔레스타인 가자 지구에 5천만 달러어치 콘돔을 제공했다고 거짓말을 했다. 머스크가 350명 핵안전 공무원들을 해고했다가 다시 취소하고, 재고용하는 혼란을 발생시켰다. 미국인들의 안전을 고려하지 않는 트럼프와 머스크의 무계획적인 행정.

8. 홍역 발생 재앙. 수백명이 홍역에 걸렸고, 2명의 어린이가 사망.

9. 학생들의 빚 재앙. 학자대출금 상환을 5년간 유예해준 이후에는, 빨리 갚을 것을 명령함. 저소득층의 살림살이가 더 어려워짐.

10. 트럼프 행정부내 무책임한 인사제도와 팀워크 깨짐.

(1) 미국 국세청 (Internal Revenue Service) 재앙. 1주일 사이 국세청장 3명이 바뀜. 국세청 직원들의 50%를 해고함. 6700명 해고시킴.

(2) 피터 나바로 (Navarro)와 일론 머스크 간의 설전. Telsa가 자동차 부품들을 전 세계에서 조달하기 때문에, 나바로가 머스크를 ‘자동차 제조자’가 아니라, ‘자동차 조립공’이라고 비난했다. 그러자 머스크는 나바로를 ‘멍청이 moron’이라고 욕했다.

(3) 국무부 (the State Dept.) 마코 루비오가 대외 원조 전담기구 국제개발처(USAID)을 폐지하고 있는 피터 마로코 (Peter Marocco)를 해고한 후, 혼돈에 빠짐.

MAGA 추종자들은 MAGA충성론자 피터 마로코를 해고한 루비오를 비난함.

(4) 극우 선동가 로라 루머 (Laura Loomer)의 건의로 트럼프가 6명의 국가안전부 공무원 해고시킴.

핵심 문제는 누구 하나 제대로 책임지는 사람이 없다.

트럼프는 자기가 늘 대중들의 관심을 한 몸에 받지만 그 시간은 결코 길지 않다. 이로 인해 연방 정부는 혼란에 빠졌고, 트럼프에 아부하는 자들끼리 트럼프에 이어 관심을 받기 위해 서로 물고 뜯고 싸우는 중이다.

(결론)

트럼프 행정부의 무능은 모든 부서에서 드러나고 있다. 군사 비밀이 새어나가고 있고, 국가 재정 안정성도 깨졌고, 어린아이 홍역 예방에도 실패했다.

트럼프 행정부는 미국을 보호할 수 없다. 우리는 트럼프 권위주의에 지속적으로 도전하면서, 또한 트럼프가 미국을 통치할 능력이 전혀 없다는 것을 폭로해야 한다.

원문. Robert Reich 페이스북

April .25. Robert Reich

Friends,

Some Democrats fear they’re playing into Trump’s hands by fighting his mass deportations rather than focusing on his failures on bread-and-butter issues like the cost of living.

But it’s not either-or. The theme that unites Trump’s inept handling of deportations, his trampling on human and civil rights, his rejection of the rule of law, his dictatorial centralization of power, and his utterly inept handling of the economy is the ineptness itself.

In his first term, not only did his advisers and Cabinet officials put guardrails around his crazier tendencies, but they also provided his first administration a degree of stability and focus. Now, it’s mayhem.

A sampling from recent weeks:

1. The Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth disaster. Hegseth didn’t just mistakenly share the military’s plans with the editor of The Atlantic; we now know he shared them with a second Signal group, including his wife, brother, and personal lawyer.

He’s a walking disaster. John Ullyot, who resigned last week as Pentagon spokesman, penned an op-ed in Politico that began: “It’s been a month of total chaos at the Pentagon.” Last Friday, Hegseth fired three of his senior staffers. His chief of staff is leaving. As Ullyot wrote, it’s “very likely” that “even bigger bombshell stories” will come soon. The Defense Department “is in disarray under Hegseth’s leadership.”

It’s not just the Defense Department. The entire federal government is in disarray.

2. The Harvard debacle. Trump is now claiming that the demand letter sent to Harvard University on April 11 was “unauthorized.” Hello? What does this even mean?

As Harvard pointed out, the letter “was signed by three federal officials, placed on official letterhead, was sent from the email inbox of a senior federal official and was sent on April 11 as promised. Recipients of such correspondence from the U.S. government—even when it contains sweeping demands that are astonishing in their overreach—do not question its authenticity or seriousness.”

Even though it was “unauthorized,” the Trump regime is standing by the letter, which has now prompted Harvard to sue.

3. The tariff travesty. No sooner had Trump imposed “retaliatory” tariffs on almost all of our trading partners — based on a formula that has made no sense to anyone — than the U.S. stock and bond markets began crashing.

To stop the selloff, Trump declared a 90-day pause on the retaliatory tariffs but raised his tariffs on China to 145 percent — causing markets to plummet once again.

To stem the impending economic crisis, he declared an exemption to the China tariffs for smartphones and computer equipment. By doing so, Trump essentially admitted what he had before denied: that importers and consumers bear the cost of tariffs.

Now, Trump is saying that even his China tariffs aren’t really real. Following warnings from Walmart, Target, and Home Depot that the tariffs would spike prices, Trump termed the tariffs he imposed on China “very high” and promised they “will come down substantially. But it won’t be zero. It used to be zero.” Markets soared on the news.

4. The attack on the Fed chair fiasco. When Trump renewed his attacks on Jerome H. Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve — calling him “a major loser” and demanding that the Fed cut interest rates — Trump unnerved already-anxious investors who understand the importance of the Fed’s independence and feared that a politicized Fed wouldn’t be able to credibly fight inflation.

Then, in another about-face, Trump said Wednesday he had “no intention” of firing Powell, which also helped lift markets.

Bottom line: An economy needs predictability. Investors won’t invest, consumers won’t buy, and producers won’t produce if everything continues to change. But Trump doesn’t think ahead. He responds only to immediate threats and problems.

Who’s profiting on all this tumult? Anyone with inside knowledge of what Trump is about to do: most likely, Trump and his family.

5. The Kilmar Abrego Garcia calamity. After the Trump regime admitted an “administrative error” in sending Abrego Garcia to a brutal Salvadoran torture prison, in violation of a federal court order, Trump then virtually ignored a 9-0 Supreme Court order to facilitate his return.

To the contrary, with cameras rolling in the Oval Office, Trump embraced Nayib Bukele — who governs El Salvador in a permanent state of emergency and has himself imprisoned 83,000 people in brutal dungeons with no due process. Trump then speculated about using Bukele’s prisons for “homegrown” (i.e., American-born) criminals or dissidents.

Meanwhile, after the Trump regime deported another group of migrants to the Salvadoran prison under a rarely invoked 18th-century wartime law, the Supreme Court blocked it from deporting any more migrants.

6. ICE’s blunderbuss. Further illustrating the chaos of the Trump regime, ICE has been arresting American citizens. One American was detained by ICE in Arizona for 10 days until his relatives produced papers proving his citizenship, because ICE didn’t believe he was American. Meanwhile, ICE handcuffed and deported a group of German teenagers vacationing in Hawaii because they turned up without a hotel pre-booked, which ICE found “suspicious.”

Bottom line: Freedom depends on the rule of law. The rule of law depends on predictability. Just like Trump’s wildly inconsistent economic policies, his policies on immigrants are threatening everyone.

7. Musk’s DOGE disaster. Where to begin on his? Musk’s claims of government savings have been shown to be ludicrously exaggerated. Remember the claim that $50 million taxpayer dollars funded condoms in Gaza? This was supposed to be the first big “gotcha” from DOGE, but as we know now, it was a lie. The U.S. government buys condoms for about 5 cents apiece, which means $50 million would buy a billion condoms or roughly 467 for every resident of Gaza. Besides, according to a federal 2024 report, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) didn’t provide or fund any condoms in the entire Middle East in the 2021, 2022, or 2023 fiscal years.

Then there have been the frantic callbacks of fired federal workers, such as up to 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration who work on sensitive jobs such as reassembling warheads. Four days after DOGE fired them, the agency’s acting director rescinded the firings and asked them back. A similar callback has ensued at the Social Security Administration, after fired workers left the agency so denuded that telephone calls weren’t being answered and its website malfunctioned.

Bottom line: Trump and Musk are threatening the safety and security of Americans — for almost no real savings.

8. Measles mayhem. As measles breaks out across the country, sickening hundreds and killing at least two children so far, Trump’s secretary for health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., continues to claim that the measles vaccine “causes deaths every year … and all the illnesses that measles itself causes, encephalitis and blindness, et cetera.”

In fact, the measles vaccine is safe, and its risks are lower than the risks of complications from measles. Most people who get the measles vaccine have no serious problems from it, the CDC says.

There have been no documented deaths from the vaccine in healthy, non-immunocompromised people, according to the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Kennedy Jr. also says, “We’re always going to have measles, no matter what happens, as the [measles] vaccine wanes very quickly.” In fact, the measles vaccine is highly protective and lasts a lifetime for most people. Two doses of the vaccine are 97% effective against the virus, according to the CDC and medical experts worldwide. Before the vaccine was introduced in 1963, the U.S. saw some 3 million to 4 million cases per year. Now, it’s usually fewer than 200 in a normal year.

9. Student debt snafu. After a five-year pause on penalizing borrowers for not making student loan payments, the Trump regime is now requiring households to resume payments. This has caused the credit scores of millions of borrowers to plunge and a record number to risk defaulting on their loans.

Many of the households required to resume paying on their student loans are also struggling with credit card debt at near-record interest rates and high-rate mortgages they thought they would be able to refinance into a lower rate but haven’t. Instead of increasing Education Department staffing to handle a work surge and clarifying the often-shifting rules of its myriad repayment programs, the Trump regime has done the opposite and cut staff.

10. Who’s in charge? In the span of a single week, the IRS has had three different leaders. Three days after Gary Shapley was named acting commissioner, it was announced that Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender would replace Shapley. That was the same day, not incidentally, that the IRS ended DOGE access to the agency.

What happened? Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent complained to Trump that Musk did an end run around him to install Shapley (who had been lauded by conservatives after publicly arguing that the Justice Department had slow-walked its investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes).

Meanwhile, the Trump regime is cutting the IRS in half — starting with 6,700 layoffs and gutting the division that audits people with excessive wealth. These are acts of sabotage against the very agency meant to keep billionaires accountable.

At the same time, trade adviser Peter Navarro has entered into a public spat with Musk, accusing him of not being a “car manufacturer” but a “car assembler” because Tesla relies on parts from around the world. This prompted Musk to call Navarro a “moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks” in a post on X, later posting that he wanted to “apologize to bricks” and referring to Navarro as “Peter Retarrdo.”

The State Department has been torn apart by Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s firing of Peter Marocco, the official who was dismantling USAID. Career officials charged that Marocco, a MAGA loyalist, was destroying the agency; Trump’s MAGA followers view Marocco’s firing as a sign that Rubio is part of the establishment they want to destroy.

Worse yet, Trump has fired more than a half-dozen national security officials on the advice of the far-right agitator Laura Loomer, who was granted access to the Oval Office and gave Trump a list of officials she deemed disloyal.

Bottom line: No one is in charge. Trump is holding court but has the attention span of a fruit fly. This is causing chaos across the federal government, as rival sycophants compete for his limited attention.

All this ineptitude in just the last few weeks reveals that the Trump regime is coming apart. Incompetence is everywhere. The regime can’t keep military secrets. It can’t maintain financial stability. It can’t protect children from measles. It cannot protect America.

While we need to continue to resist Trump’s authoritarianism, we also need to highlight his utter inability to govern America.

What do you think?