The Fake News Hypocrite

"Just over a hundred days ago, I took the oath of office and made a pledge we are not merely going to transfer political power from one party to another, but instead are going to transfer that power from Washington, District of Columbia, and give it back to the people."
"In the past 100 days, I have kept that promise -- and more."
"Issue by issue, department by department, we are giving the people their country back. After decades of a shrinking middle class, open borders and the mass offshoring of American jobs and wealth, this government is working for the citizens of our country and no one else."
U.S. President Donald J. Trump, Washington, D.C.

President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Harrisburg, Pa., Saturday, April 29, 2017. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

"I've done it, I've finally sold City Hall! It's the Trump effect. That's what 100 days means to me."
"It's the real deal, someone's bought it to turn into a cancer therapy centre. People will come from everywhere. That means hotels, restaurants, jobs. This is happening because of Trump. He put places like this [Monessen, Penn.] on the map."
"Nothing had happened in this goddamn place for decades, but after what's happened in the last couple of months I'm optimistic."
"Everyone's expecting the goose that laid the golden egg. I want to see results too, but you have to give the guy a year. If nothing happens in two years then he's a phony."
Lou Mavrakis, 75, mayor, Monessen, Pennsylvania, Democrat

"For me it was 'did I want a braggart or a liar in office?'
 "I went for the braggart and I think he's doing a good job. He's working towards his promises on immigration and tax reform. The stock market has confidence in him and so do I. He's a standup guy."
Democratic retired warehouse worker, 65, Monessen, Penn.

"He's taking a beating from Congress and the liberals unfortunately. Anything he wants to do they're trying to stop him. But the economy's going to get better and hopefully some of that money will get dumped on mill towns like here."
Andrew Lane, 37, labourer

"I'm enthused. Towns like ours get missed and what Trump's done is start boosting morale in areas like this. The tax cuts will create income, illegal immigration is down, he's cutting regulation, so the jobs will come back. And I love what he's doing [in] standing up to North Korea."
"Hillary had a high and mighty attitude and she snubbed her nose at us, saying she'd put coal miners out of work."
Orest Cieply, 53, registered Democrat 

President Donald Trump arrives to speak at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center in Harrisburg, Pa., Saturday, April 29, 2017, on the 100th day of his presidency. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

During the presidential election campaign, the mayor of Monessen, Pennsylvania, formerly a steel union official, wrote to candidate Trump, asking him to come and a have a look around the blight that had settled over his town, to inform himself of their plight. He also wrote a similar letter to Hillary Clinton. While  the letter written to Hillary Clinton went unanswered, to Mayor Mavrakis's amazement and satisfaction, Donald Trump did come along to have a look around the town which was once home to 30,000 people.

The Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel mill was located in the town, employing eight thousand directly, with the fall-out of their employment impacting nicely on town services. That was once-upon-a-time. There are about 7,500 residents left in the town and the town looks derelict with homes and shops abandoned everywhere one looks. Depressed and depressing. Monessen has a $13.5-million debt, which convinced its mayor that selling the four-storey building that served as the former steel town's city hall would help diminish its debt.

Because Trump came to have a look around as invited to do, a great many people in Westmoreland County in rural Pennsylvania took note. The formerly Democratic town turned out to vote for Trump, delivering  an unexpected bonus for Trump in the key state of Pennsylvania. Rather surprising Clinton who felt assured that the state was hers, all hers. And Trump went to the trouble of returning to Harrisburg nearby Monessen, for his 100 days in power celebration events. Pennsylvania, full of registered Democrats, is his, all his.

While Trump, according to national polls, has a 40 percent approval rating, a historic low at this stage of his presidential tenure, a survey published by the University of Virginia showed a 93 percent approval rating among those respondents who had voted for Trump. Now there are hopes in Monassen that the cancer therapy centre that will occupy the old town hall, will bring in a whole lot of people and spur the re-building of its business areas with the return of badly needed jobs. The mayor has been busy since the sale of City Hall, bringing other developers on board.

So the President of the United States of America, a man who loves to hear himself speak, even when he speaks meaningless nonsense, mangling history and puzzling listeners while off-putting foreign trade partners by blaming them for manipulating his too-generous nation, causing job losses, when the reality is the U.S. Congress has its eye always on what profits the U.S. and never signs off on any trade deal giving a leg up to any other country.

Donald Trump’s line of clothing and accessories is made in Bangladesh, China, Honduras and other low-wage countries. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post)

As for his pledge to 'bring back jobs', the truth of the matter is, American consumers balk at paying full price for any consumer item; they look for cut-rate bargains, and it is that search for items that cost less, usually manufactured in China, that persuaded American companies they couldn't compete with a nation whose workers work for less than Americans will do. That lack of a level playing field and a public unwilling to pay more to support consumer items made in the good ol' U.S.A. is what sent jobs overseas.

As for the man now fervently portraying himself as the job saviour, enforcing "Buy American" and "Hire American", his own back story doesn't go very far to support trust in his earnest declarations, since he infamously marks lines of everything from garments to household furnishings to liquor with his brand on them that were sourced abroad in low-pay countries whose workers are willing to work overtime for less, to provide Americans with cheaper consumer items.

Supporters hold up signs prior to a "Make America Great Again Rally" at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center April 29, 2017 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. President Donald Trump is holding a rally to mark his first 100 days of his presidency. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)