JFK assassination docs do provide a nice distraction (for Trump) from flaws

Perhaps President Donald J. Trump has spent too much time watching Oliver Stone’s film “JFK,” particularly the scenes where actor Kevin Costner’s “Jim Garrison” character tells of how his children in a long-in-the-future year will be able to go to the National Archives and find the answers to the questions he tried to resolve with his 1967 criminal trial in New Orleans.

Trump spent too much time watching JFK?

Or (more likely), Trump wants us to quit paying attention to issues that reflect poorly upon himself. The Kennedy assassination of 54 years ago is far enough in the past he figures he can’t be made to look ridiculous.

THAT’S ABOUT THE only reason I can fathom for Trump’s interest in recent weeks in claiming he’s going to get to the bottom of all this by forcing the public disclosure of any remaining documents related to the investigations of that dreary day in Dallas when Jack Kennedy was killed.

The fact that Trump actually has no authority to disclose the documents in question (federal law already dictates the schedule for those papers to become public) means there’s really nothing for Trump to do.

In fact, I wonder if when he’s unable to do anything he’s talking about, he’ll turn around and blame it on government bureaucracy. As though the key to our national success is for Trump to be let loose to do whatever he wants.

Bo Derek IS the real 10!

But really, it is just the “flavor of the month” when it comes to issues that actually capture the presidential attention span.

A MONTH AGO, he got worked up over slacker football players who don’t show appropriate (in his mindset) respect. Now, it’s the Kennedy assassination. Maybe next month, Trump will think it time that he become a “wartime” president and start up a scuffle with North Korea?

Or he may decide it’s time to take on Barack Obama again; trying to place blame on the nation’s 44^th president for something (anything) that pops up in his mind.

There are real issues that Trump could try addressing – except that I suspect he thinks real issues are “boring!” Let someone else bother with the details of operating government. He’s a “big issue” kind of guy! Or so he thinks.

An adventure Trump doesn't want to take

Of course, his idea of “big issues” truly is questionable.

TAKE, FOR INSTANCE, the notion of Puerto Rico, who along with Cuba, Mexico and parts of the southern United States, all got hit with severe hurricanes or earthquakes. Natural devastation and the need for massive rebuild is the issue of this era.

Now I know Mexico and Cuba are separate nations in charge of their own rebuild. But Trump really seems to think Puerto Rico is also separate and that he has no obligation to give the Commonwealth one little bit of thought.

And that the thoughts he has paid to it are some gracious favor he’s doing – wasting time and attention on Puerto Ricans when he probably wants to have a mass deportation the way he always implies with regards to Mexicans living in this country.

Trump is the guy who has rated his performance with Puerto Rico rebuild as a “10,” even though much of the Caribbean island remains without electricity or fresh water all these months later. Bo Derek, the woman who gave us the image of a “10” being perfection, probably thinks Trump ought to be sued for defaming her character (since she was the real “10”).

Is Trump the 21st Century's Wizard of Oz?

OR THERE’S EVEN the issue of healthcare reform – the fact that Trump and his political allies have failed thus far in their efforts to eliminate the Affordable Care Act that is the major part of the Obama-era legacy.

We’re coming up in about one week on the time period in which people who have health insurance through the program (in the interest of disclosure, I should admit to being one of them) will have to renew their policies – even though it would seem the Trump administration will have few qualms about enough confusion existing that many people won’t be able to renew.

Death by political confusion – is that the ultimate legacy of this Age of Trump?

It might be, although I’m sure that Trump wants us to think about “JFK.” Or perhaps the “Wizard of Oz” and think of issues such as Puerto Rico or health insurance as being that “man behind the curtain” that we’re supposed to pay no attention to.

  -30-