Wiretapping Conspiracy Theories

On March 4th, Donald Trump tweeted "Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory." He made this statement without providing any evidence or support to back up the claim. In response, Asha Rangappa wrote for Washington Monthly, Debunking the Obama Wiretap Conspiracy Theories. As a former FBI counterintelligence agent, Asha claims that Obama wiretapping Trump is nearly impossible. She addresses the main theories that have been discussed, like allowing wiretapping without a court order, going around the law, and even getting permission to wiretap without any evidence. Asha breaks down each one of these, and in the end, it seems very clear that this didn't happen. However, if I did, it was most likely done with a legal warrant observing the Russians, that were in connection to President Trump or his facilities. I believe what Asha is saying has some credibility to it, as she was once an FBI agent. Seeing that it's almost been a week since Trump made this claim, and has been ignoring questions about the statement, I have a feeling that this is all going to fizzle out very soon without any sort of apology. I think it's important that Asha wrote this, putting some silly theories to bed, but never say never. However, if there was any wiretap in was most likely done for the safety of our country. If Trump fallaciously said this, then shame on him because it's just creating unnecessary drama, especially for Barak Obama.

The Growing Government

While Donald J. Trump claims that George F. Will is "one of the most overrated political pundits... [who] made many bad calls", I checked him out to be a reliable source. George is a Pulitzer Prize winner, he received his Ph.D. from Princeton and has been writing for The Washington Post since 1974. On February 24th, he published "Big government sneakily gets bigger"- questioning how federal spending has quintupled since 1960, while the federal civilian workforce has grown ever so slightly. He wrote this article from a conservative viewpoint, directed towards anyone who is against "big government". George wants the reader to be aware that spending is camouflaged, and not knowing what the people's tax dollars are actually being spent on. He used statistics to support his claims, from sources such as Brookings. George complained about a third of the government dividends going to nonprofits, like Planned Parenthood. As he stated, "Many Americans are rhetorically conservative but behaviorally liberal", he believes spending on federal agencies needs to be reduced, as it's wasteful.

For being an opinion writing, I had a difficult time understanding what George's opinion actually was. It was almost entirely numbers and facts, so I really had to annotate the text in order to find his main point. While I am able to understand that the government is indeed growing, I am left thinking, isn't that obvious? With the population and economy growing, I would hope to have more people running our government. What I don't want to see is money being cut from federal agencies, which protect our citizens and country. My main issue with this article is that with everything going on right now, this is what George writes about. The federal government has been on the rise since the 90s, and this is old news.

U.S. Military Leasing Space in Trump Tower

On Tuesday, February 7, 2017, The Washington Post published an article titled "Department of Defense looks to rent space in Trump Tower". While Donald Trump is now living in the White House, Melania Trump and their son, Barron, are currently residing in the Trump Tower. Department of Defense is seeking a limited amount of leased space, in the building, to provide protection and support for the president and his family. A leasing agent has appraised a floor in the Tower for around $1.5 million a year.

This article is worth a read, as it raises ethical concerns- a deal that could potentially benefit the president's business interests from taxpayers dollars. Protecting the president is certainly a top priority; however, providing convenience of his lush penthouse, at the cost of citizens is at question.

Why, hello.