Edifice of Trust Podcast

I promise this will be the last commentary on Trump's National Security Strategy. Much of the controversy about NSS 2025 has been about the Trump administration's attitude toward Europe accusing the countries of Europe of losing their traditional cultures amid waves of mass migration. In addition, their lagging economies and heavy expenditures on social welfare have caused them to underfund their own defenses and made them reliant on America to come to their rescue if needed. NSS 2025 basically says, Europe, you are now on your own. In this commentary we look to Trump's solution for Europe and how it parallels what he is doing here in America.

The Trump administration's recently published National Security Strategy of the United States has been praised by the right and condemned by the left. But mostly for the wrong reasons. NSS 2025 is a rejection of the ideals and principals on which America was founded, the ideals and principals that made America exceptional. In this commentary we look at how this document seeks to reinstate policies that the American Revolution opposed.

Our political leaders try to blame others for all the problems we face. Illegal immigrants, greedy corporations, drug cartels, white men, you name it. They want us to believe that we are victims not responsible for the difficulties that afflict us. But like the Michael Jackson song, Man in the Mirror, if we want to make the world a better place, the first thing we must do is change ourselves. In this commentary we look at why change is up to us.

President Trump conflates his interests and desires with those of the country and accuses any who opposes him of sedition or treason. He accuses Marjorie Taylor Greene of being a traitor for pushing the release of the Epstein materials even those this was clearly the will of the people. A 35% approval rating means that he does not represent the will of the people but is actually opposing it. In this commentary, we look at how autocratic leaders conflate their will and the peoples' will.

Our leftist friends suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome cannot get anyone to agree with their rejection of Trump's policies because their arguments are based on emotion and not logic. Only others equally afflicted by this syndrome can sympathize. But now our friends on the right are suffering from a similar syndrome, Mamdani Derangement Syndrome. In this commentary we look at how our MAGA friends will also find it difficult to get anyone to understand their antipathy to Mamdani's socialist policies.

An article in the most recent issue of the Atlantic Magazine casts doubt on the validity of an originalist interpretation of the US Constitution citing the hopelessly archaic and undemocratic beliefs of many of the Founders. But the progressive reforms recommended by the author would only facilitate the concentration of power in the Executive Branch that President Trump is currently attempting. In this commentary we look at how only an originalist interpretation of the constitution can prevent this concentration of power.

Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani is running for mayor of New York City on what he calls an affordability agenda. He apparently does not realize that it is capitalism that makes things affordable. Socialism just makes things scarce. In this commentary we look at why Mr. Mamdani's affordability agenda is doomed to failure (and some other matters).

The situation in the Middle East is changing quickly. The euphoria of a ceasefire and exchange of hostages has deteriorated into the reality of public executions on the streets of Gaza. But the war against Israel is only one front of the larger war against the West. In this commentary we look at the threats to the peaceful Middle East we hoped would follow this ceasefire.

Remember the old saying, “it is always darkest before the dawn?” This maxim is intended as a message of hope. No matter how bad things are there is always the hope of a better future, and we are currently living in pretty dark times. But this future dawn doesn't just happen. We have to make it happen. In this commentary we look at some things we can do to help bring on the dawn.

As a politician Donald Trump has always been controversial and many of his campaign promises were outlandish and impracticable. In his first term his close advisors and cabinet members were able to dissuade him from following through on some of the more outrageous ideas. In his second term he has been unchecked by his cabinet and advisors so his ideas have been immediately implemented no matter how harebrained or impulsive. But is this onslaught of outlandish ideas the product of a “stable genius” as he claims or of an unstable genius as we fear? In this commentary we ask some questions about the president's mental health.

The horizontal nature of American society (as described by Gordon S. Wood in his book The Radicalism of the American Revolution) is a key factor in what makes our country exceptional. But over time that exceptional social structure, which empowers millions of citizens, has been eroded as more and more power becomes concentrated in Washington. In this commentary we look at how our current divisiveness, that recently claimed Charlie Kirk as a casualty, is a struggle between the right and the left to control all that power.

Realizing that having no message other than resistance to President Trump will not gain them enough seats to wrest either the House or the Senate from the Republicans, Democrats are seeking a new message to attract voters. One idea gaining popularity is the Abundance Movement that is based on the book Abundance written by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. In this commentary we look at the pros and cons of some of the authors ideas.

Democrats across the country are outraged that Texas Governor Abbott wants to redraw the Congressional district map in order to favor Republicans a concept called gerrymandering (although many Democratic states are more gerrymandered than Texas). Both Republicans and Democrats gerrymander even though they also denounce the process. In this commentary we discuss how to get rid of gerrymandering if politicians are sincere about eliminating this blight on our democracy.

A Living Document is the Death of Democracy. The viability and credibility of America's public institutions are threatened by executive overreach, underperformance by Congress, a Federal Reserve tasked beyond its capabilities, political parties controlled by extremists and a Supreme Court in disrepute. Most of these institutions suffer from mission creep but the Supreme Court is being pilloried for trying to maintain constitutional order. In this commentary we investigate attacks on the Court that are actually attacks on the Constitution.

The dueling ideologies of the left and right are, in reality, the expression of two aspects of our human nature, an independent individual within a larger society where the needs of the group are in conflict with the needs of the individual. How can we create a good society if our conflicts are buried deep in our human nature? In this commentary, we look at ways to make progress in building a good society.

Rumors are flying around Washington about the imminent (and perhaps untimely) departure of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell along with speculation about possible replacements for this critical role. In this commentary we look at some of the implications of this change in leadership at this institution forced to take on outsized responsibilities for the US (and world) economy.

The difference between capitalism and socialism is easy to explain, capitalism creates wealth and socialism distributes wealth. The important thing to keep in mind is the difference between creators and distributors. In this commentary we will look at some of those differences.

As president Trump flies off to join other world leaders at the NATO meeting in the Netherlands, it is a good time to analyze the nature of that alliance and the necessity of other alliances as well. In this commentary we will address the question of whether we need allies or not and, if we do needs allies, how do we rebuild our network of alliances that President Trump is in the process of destroying?

Amidst all the chaos swirling around us, all is calm in the eye of the storm. President Trump is at the center of this storm of activity announcing new policies and issuing executive orders while he remains calm and confident. In this commentary we discuss why maybe you shouldn't be so calm and confident.

What kind of Post-Trump world do we want to live in? The MAGA-Republicans and progressive left Democrats are in a bitter fight for the vote of American citizens, one side offering tax cuts galore for wealthy citizens and favored industries (funded by massive and unsustainable increases in the public debt), the other side offering an avalanche of benefits for favored identities and favored industries (funded by massive and unsustainable increases in the public debt). In this commentary, we look at what we really need to do to navigate in a Post-Trump world.

There are many barriers to our goal of rejuvenating America in a post-Trump world. The first step in this rejuvenation effort is getting a government that works so that we have a solid foundation which can support our efforts. The US congress can't pass a budget, can't manage our finances and can't get important policies approved with a bipartisan consensus. In order to get a government that works we must reform Congress. In this commentary we discuss some of the important reforms needed to set Congress on the right track. Link to the Letter to Elected Officials can be found here: https://www.edificeoftrust.com/hidden-documents Link to source material: https://www.edificeoftrust.com/single-post/the-first-step-toward-a-post-trump-world  

Last week President Trump travelled to the M idle East with 60 CEOs in tow to be feted with parades and receptions galore and gifted a 747 airplane to replace his aging Air Force one. But amongst all the hoopla President Trump made a major foreign policy speech denouncing “interventionalists” who tried to impose Western values on Middle Eastern potentates to no avail. His speech asserted his position as a foreign policy realist. In this commentary we look at why his foreign policy may not be as realist as he thinks.

If we believe that the second Trump administration is the culmination of a vicious downward spiral that has afflicted the United States throughout the 21st century and we want to do something to break out of this malaise then we cannot replicate the same old politics of the past. We must do something different to change the slope of this spiral. In this commentary we look at four critical elements to create a virtuous upward spiral for America.

You may think it is premature to start thinking about what we need to do after Donald Trump leaves the White House. But it is not! In 2028, it is likely that the MAGA Republicans will nominate a Donald Trump clone and the progressive Democrats will nominate someone even further left than Kamala Harris recreating the divisive 2024 election all over again. In this commentary we will discuss why we need a plan to break America out of its populist death spiral.

President Trump's tariff policies are roiling markets worldwide. But there is one Trump advisor who writings provide insight into the president's thinking. Dr. Stephen Miran is the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors in the new Trump Administration and he explains why there must be changes in the global trading system. But in this commentary we look at why tariffs are not the economic tools that everybody thinks they are.

President Trump claimed that he paused the implementation of his tariff program because of yippy investors. But when market fundamentals have become meaningless and trade relations developed over many decades, are thrown out the window, the movements of markets boils down to one thing, whatever President Trump last said. And even worse, no one has any idea what he will say next. I don't know about you but that makes me pretty yippy.

Today we are going to continue to talk about the impact of Donald Trump's new tariff regime on the US and world economy. Or in this case, the lack of impact. Because there is a reason that President Trump's tariff policies will not recreate the blue-collar manufacturing paradise that existed in the 1950s.And included in this commentary is a chapter from my book, Edifice of Trust (published in 2016), that illustrates that the issues being raised right now are not new and will not be solved by magic bullets but will require a lot of hard work by all of us.

Commentators are pointing out all the obvious unintended consequences of President Trump's tariff plan which he plans to announce on April 2nd, Liberation Day. But there may be other consequences in places you haven't looked. In this commentary we look at the political consequences of a protectionist import substitution regime.

Academics in the ivory tower have an affinity for socialism because they presume, based on their academic qualifications, that they will be at the pinnacle of power in such a society. They are wrong! In this commentary we will look at where the real power lies.

Do punitive tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China have any chance of slowing the flow of fentanyl and other drugs into the US? Nothing else has worked. But President Trump's plan ignores one major factor. The insatiable desire of Americans for drugs, even at the risk of their own lives. In this commentary we look at the likely outcomes of this strategy and take a peek at the underlying motivations for punitive tariffs.

Antifragile is a concept created by Nasim Taleb, author of the Black Swan, to describe the ability to gain and prosper amid confusion and disorder. Certain people thrive in this environment and President Trump is a prime example of this ability. In this commentary we discuss how antifragility is this secret sauce that contributes to America's greatness.

Why in the world would two world leaders invite reporters into a meeting to negotiate a vital agreement to end the war on Ukraine. President Zelensky was about as eager to sign that agreement as a tienda owner on the lower east side agreeing to pay some thug for protection against gangs (of which the thug was a member).In this commentary we look at the underlying causes why this meeting was such a disaster.

After Hoover Institute fellow Niall Ferguson criticized the Trump administration's tactics in negotiating a peace agreement for the war in Ukraine, Vice President JD Vance called Ferguson's critique moralistic garbage and accused Mr. Ferguson of being a globalist, apparently the lowest of the low in the MAGA world. In this commentary we try to understand the real reason for Mr. Vance's heated response.

Today we are going to take a look at how economies function when domestic companies are protected by high tariffs and how this system called import substitution ripples through the lives of people on Main Street and well as Wall Street. When it comes to import substitution I speak from experience.

President Trump is constantly threatening to impose tariffs on countries that export more goods and services to the United States than they buy from us creating a trade deficit. He believes that a trade deficit is losing big time. But Mr. Trump's economic thinking is old fashioned and wrong-headed, like thinking that foreign countries pay for tariffs. In this podcast we look at why trade deficits are a good thing for the United States.

Following up on my previous commentary about how President Trump views fairness and how he thinks America has been treated unfairly, we investigate the implications of what he intends to do and include an update on his recent actions of tariffs.

President Trump complained at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the United States is treated very unfairly by the rest of the world. Everyone wants to be treated fairly but not everyone agrees as to what is fair. But the real problem of fairness is that while it does not make good government policy it makes great politics. In this commentary the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at ways to build an acceptable consensus on policies rather than supposedly fair policies.

Referring to the infamous Nicaraguan dictator Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously said, "Somoza may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch." It appears that lame duck President Biden applies the same type of differentiation to oligarchs circling around the presidency. In this last commentary about the Biden Administration we show how the dire warnings of his farewell address are refuted by his own actions.

When one of our myriad electronic devices isn't functioning the way we think it should, we often shut it down and then restart the device to reboot the system. More often than not that solves our problem. I think that the 62% of Americans that believe the US is on the wrong path (according to the Real Clear Politics average of polls) would agree that America needs a reboot. The incoming Trump administrations is planning to make some big changes in Washington. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discusses whether Mr. Trump is planning a reboot or something more drastic.

Once again, I am publishing my list of the urgent priorities confronting our nation, most of which have been unmet and consistently ignored by both Democratic and Republican politicians. But in 2025 we will have a new Trump administration that is vowing to change how things are done in Washington. One can only hope.

Government budgets are the inflection point between governance and politics. And bad budgeting is bad governance. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles looks at some of the consequences of bad budgeting and how that is going to impact American citizens.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy intends to save taxpayers trillions of dollars by making the government more efficient. But efficient systems are not robust, they are fragile and can breakdown. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at how the Founders' efforts to preserve our Republic made the government inherently inefficient.

It is difficult to understand why President-elect Trump wants to make recess appointments to his cabinet when Republicans control the Senate 53 to 47. But then we saw some of his picks. But he also selected Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to improved government efficiency. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at some of the hints in what direction he will take his new administration.

Kamala Harris and the Democrats took a beating in the 2024 elections, losing the White House and both houses of Congress. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at not only why the Democrats lost so badly but also why Donald Trump and the Republicans may be making the same mistakes as the Democrats.

Donald Trump scored a great victory in the 2024 elections and he has plans to make many changes in how America operates. But many of the changes he made in his first term as president were undone when Democrat Joe Biden replaced him. If Mr. Trump wants to make his changes permanent he needs to do things differently. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at some of the things he needs to do to create a lasting legacy.

The Founding Fathers were part of an elite group that got a classical education at America's early universities like Harvard and Princeton and they applied that knowledge into creating the United States but they also used their knowledge to try and protect the fragile new republic from the tragic fates that befell other republics throughout history. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at the perils that confronted the new republic and shows how we face similar perils in the 2024 election.

Everybody has ideas on how to run the American economy but nobody seems to be very happy about the results. The Economist magazine across the Atlantic doesn't think our economy is so bad. In fact, they think it is the envy of the world. Is our economy the envy of the world because our political leadership? In this the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, will look at why the rest of the world thinks our economy is so good.

Income inequality seems to be getting worse every day in America, but whose fault is it? Greedy capitalists? Someone or something else? Or maybe inequality is inevitable? If we can't identify the causes of inequality there is little we can do to prevent it. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at some steps that we could take to slow the inevitable progression of inequality.

Have you ever thought about what would really make America great again? While there are people that believe that America was never great in the first place, most of us patriotically think America was pretty great. But most Americans don't really know what would make America great again, primarily because they don't know what made America great in the first place. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, explains whet he believes would really make America great again.

Note: After this podcast was scheduled for publication the longshoremen's union (after meeting with members of the Biden administration) agreed to postpone their strike until after the election (surprise!). The also agreed to a 61.5% salary increase over six year. The primary sticking point is the automation of the port facilities. But my podcast might help you understand why the innovation and upgrading of port efficiency is so important. A strike by the International Longshoremen's Association on East Coast of the United States is creating shortages and rising prices as ships wait in the harbor to unload their goods. The Longshoremen are asking for a wage increase of 77% over six years and have rejected counteroffers of forty and then fifty percent. However in this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, is going to look at another demand of the ILA, a freeze on automation of port services.