He says what he means and does what he says

We published a piece the other day to our website from the SC Daily Gazette about South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster. He was in Germany drumming up support for the state’s continued economic development.

The last time we, in Laurens County, saw the guvner he was at a German business, the massive ZF Transmissions plant in Gray Court-Owings, so it should be no surprise that McMaster would headline a trade envoy to the European nation, which unvarnished history tells us used to be two nations. Its re-unification has made it one of the most powerful nations in the world.

Recognizing that the guvner is the state campaign chairman for the election of the former president (his third consecutive try for the nation’s top job), this segment caught my eye about McMaster/President Trump: 

While the governor could only speak from a state — rather than national — perspective, he has long been a supporter of the former president. In early 2016 when he was lieutenant governor under Nikki Haley, he was the first statewide-elected official in the country to back Trump’s presidential bid. He also was one of two speakers to formally nominate Trump at the 2016 Republican National Convention. McMaster ascended to governor in 2017 when Trump made Haley his first United Nations ambassador, and he’s remaind a steadfast supporter ever since.

“The Trump administration … most Americans think the results were very good,” McMaster answered.

The governor went on to say he does not think the former president’s trademark bombastic, and at times combative, style of speech is representative of his actions.

“There’s a difference between the persona of President Trump and what he actually does. And in my own experience, we’ve had a very reasonable relationship,” McMaster said.

McMaster also spoke on China.

The country is the world’s largest producer of minerals used in batteries, as well as other components, used in electric vehicles. As South Carolina seeks to become a powerhouse in the electric vehicle industry, national efforts to reduce U.S. dependence on Chinese goods is imperative.

“I know in my state, people are very worried about connections with China. China is not viewed with very friendly eyes in South Carolina,” McMaster said.

Now, that suspiously sounds like to me like McMaster does not think Trump says what he means and does what he says. Maybe, it’s just wishful thinking on McMaster’s part - because, you see, on Day One of the next Trump Presidency, he is going to kill South Carolina’s golden goose. IF, oil and gas industries give his campaign One Billion Dollars.

Trump is going to kill electric cars. He is going to kill electric boats (Shark!). He is going to kill electric batteries. And when he does that, all that cleared, tree-less land in South Carolina where industries should be, is going to be vacant and ready for (no) subdivisions.

Those thousands of jobs, evaporated. The SC Department of Commerce will issue a news release, REVERSING the Billions in investment of the past three years (yeah, count on it). ZF will have no incentive to build electric transmissions, except for its foreign markets. The United States will be out of the Green Energy Business, at least for the next four years. And, after Trump, his Vice-President takes over, that’s enother 8 years. Mother Nature will not wait that long to take her venegance.

OR. The new/former president will not do what he says he will do - he will renege on the story about the Boat Plant Owner in South Carolina (hey, Charleston, track down this guy, he’s in the same general area as the Summerville gun shop). He will commission an Electric Beast to ride around in. The Rose Garden will have a charging station. 

Don’t know about you - and our Chinese friends - but I really want a President without that “persona” - say what you mean and do what you say, that’s the way my daddy always used to say it. Stand For Something - yes, your views can evolve but basically be a person of your word.

Not blowing in the wind. Not, whoever is in your ear at the time. Not, Immigration Camps AND green cards for college graduates - not, taxes AND no taxes on tips (ie, pandering). And, College Students, when you vote, remember who’s cancelling some of your oppressive debt - and who’s not.

A Hint here.

Vic MacDonald is Editor of The Clinton Chronicle. In June 2025 he will observe 50 years as a community journalist. Reach him at 864-833-1900 or news@clintonchronicle.net.

Also, this:

Happy Talk? Nope -- by Tom H. Hastings

The three most likely methods by which the human species can self-inflict harm, even extinction: 

1. Failure to stem anthropogenic climate chaos.
2. Inadequate preparation for the next pandemic, possibly worse than Covid-19.
3. Nuclear war.

Obviously, this commentary is skipping the happy talk. 

Can average folks like you and me (I know you're above average, just to be clear) do anything to be part of preventing any of these potential catastrophes?

Yes, we can. 

1. There are many ways to participate in a collective set of actions that can slow, stop, and reverse climate chaos, of course. 

• Drive less, fly never except in dire emergencies
• buy more local food to cut down on transpo fuel for our food. 
• Same thing with growing a garden. 
• Use less electricity wherever possible, especially if your power company uses any fossil fuel. 
• Buy more used goods when possible. 
• Eat lower on the food chain. 
• Vote for candidates who support efforts to go green--massive federal programs that can create many more jobs even as they lower carbon pollution. Candidates at every level of government can and should work hard to bring such programs into play now. Right now.

2. To help prepare more adequately for the next pandemic, vote for candidates who promise support for such preparations, most meaningfully at the federal level and most crucially at the presidential level. While Obama ordered significant investment in pandemic preparation, Trump canceled all that, so the US was caught completely flat-footed and then he stalled on any meaningful response for a long time, even discouraging mask wearing (which is radically different from discouraging a vaccine, since a mask is simply a mechanical effort to avoid inhaling pathogens). Biden signed serious support for pandemic preparation.
3. What can we do to help prevent the fastest method of mass species suicide, nuclear war? This, like pandemic preparation, is almost all about educating our fellow citizens and about voting, especially at the federal level, since that is the only level of government that creates and controls nuclear weapons and the policies that can lead toward or away from disaster.

Trump and his MAGA allies in the House and Senate have brought us to the brink of annihilatory nuclear war by eliminating virtually all the hard-negotiated nuclear treaties--with Russia, of course, but also Iran--that have given us a bit of protection. Biden has genuinely tried to re-engage to save those various treaties but Trump has damaged the US credibility enormously; few wish to negotiate with a government that, under a president elected by a tiny margin, can flip and end agreements that were made with an intent to honor the generations? 

Trump has demolished trust in the US. As a young Dad, I told my boys many times, "You can slowly earn trust by being honest every time. You can destroy trust much more quickly, by acting deceitfully just once." In Trump's case, the lies are not even possible to keep up with in real time, as was emphatically demonstrated by Trump's astonishing string of hyperbolic falsehoods during the June 27 "debate." 

Indeed, writes historian Heather Cox Richardson:

This was not a debate. It was Trump using a technique that actually has a formal name, the Gish gallop, although I suspect he comes by it naturally. It’s a rhetorical technique in which someone throws out a fast string of lies, non-sequiturs, and specious arguments, so many that it is impossible to fact-check or rebut them in the amount of time it took to say them.

You may not agree with one or more of the things Biden has done. I know I don't (offensive weaponry to Israel so they can commit genocidal war against Gazans comes instantly to mind). But to defend basic human survival, I will vote defensively--for Biden. 

For the sake of the future of humankind, I hope we all do our due diligence and make our best rational choices. Not happy choices, but practical ones.

—30—

Dr. Tom H. Hastings is Coördinator of Conflict Resolution BA/BS degree programs and certificates at Portland State University.