Bill Owens

It appears that Mr. Trump’s numbers are moving, and I think it is important to remember that he received slightly less than 50% of the popular vote, which means there are a significant number of people in opposition to him which certainly could account for the movement of his job approval rating downward.

It has been reported that household income growth is slowing, which poses a risk obviously to consumer spending and more generally to the economy given the fact that consumer spending represents in the range of 65% of our GDP. This taken together with rising inflation, rising food costs, rising gas prices, all does not trend well.

Senators Murkowski and Collins, as well as Mr. Thune and Congressman Zack Nunn are all trying to find a way around the various Executive Orders that may injure their States or Districts. How long will Trump put up with that?

Mr. Trump’s announcement that the US would own Gaza and develop it as a resort was discussed recently with the King of Jordan who uncompromisingly rejected it. Mr. Trump’s threat to reduce aid to Jordan and Egypt, as he wants them to provide refuge for the Palestinians, including a permanent place to live, did not impact the King’s response.

The Trump administration’s freeze on scientific research and the withdrawal from the World Health Organization and other attempts to stifle continuing research by denying grants, etc. is difficult to fathom. It is unclear what the purpose of these moves are other than to be disruptive and assuming some belief on the part of Mr. Trump that the scientific community is part of his enemy list. Our collective health is in danger.

The questions that all Americans will have to answer is has Mr. Trump kept his promises, and secondarily, is my life better as the result of kept promises, or, if the promises have not been kept, is my life better?

So, where are we on the campaign promises? I’ll comment on a few of them. Raids have gone forward in Chicago, Atlanta and New Jersey, but they are small and merely create a façade to satisfy his supporters.

President Eisenhower, on leaving office, commented about the military industrial complex. Mr. Biden has followed suit, with commentary about the tech industrial complex. We paid little attention to Mr. Eisenhower, and likely will pay little attention to Mr. Biden. These are, however, important ideas that need to be controlled.

It has been reported that US deportations are at their highest level since 2014. An ICE report shows having deported 271,484 people were deported to 200 countries in the last fiscal year according to the agency’s annual report. It will be interesting to see if Mr. Trump does better in his first year. I suspect not.

Popular Mechanics has published an article indicating that a 400-year-old clue buried in a map of the new world discloses what may have happened to the Roanoke colony. It appears that it moved about 100 miles north of its original location and then disappeared. But, it does at least leave a trail to this mystery which has befuddled archeologists and historians for years.