To the editor:

We’re adapting to the new normal of a reality-TV star struggling to act as a U.S. president.

All his grandiose initiatives are stalled. He’s failed to staff key positions, ranging from NASA to the State Department, and even worse, named many polarizing or incompetent people (DeVos, Flynn, Sessions, Kushner, et.al.) to key positions.

He’s coddled every dictator he could, angered allies, issued immature tweets from an unsecured Android phone, probably obstructed justice, and increased his already low popularity worldwide. He has innumerable ethical and conflicts of interest, yielding many lawsuits. Leaders in his own party called him misogynistic and racist. He’s clearly anti-environment. Many policies, such as cutting Medicaid to reduce taxes on the wealthy, are hostile to the working class.

With all this chaos, each new presidential outrage becomes less abnormal: Deviance is defined downward.

A recent example was his recent bizarre campaign-style rally in Iowa. Given his history of failure and soaring unpopularity it’s not too newsworthy when this president stages a rally – only five months after the Electoral College voted him in. No one is surprised anymore when his incoherent speech is full of outright lies. “We’re not even campaigning, and look at this crowd!” (The rally was advertised, sponsored and organized by his reelection campaign committee.)

Another line epitomizes Mr. Trump’s business acumen and why he practically retained a full-time bankruptcy attorney – whom he subsequently named as ambassador to Israel. He proposed to cover his signature non-accomplishment, the border wall, with solar cells. “We’re thinking about building the wall as a solar wall,” he said. “Pretty good imagination, right? My idea.” The crowd of 6,000 cheered.

Thus we see why Iowa was selected for this event. In addition to its first-in-the-nation presidential caucus, Iowa’s school system ranks 47th of 50 states, according to US News. “We won the poorly educated vote”, said Trump after the Nevada primary, “I love the poorly educated.”

No, Mr. Trump, solar panels on the border wall aren’t your “unique” idea, and it’s not a clever one either. The supposedly savvy businessman has an awful business case, as fixed and recurring costs of his “solar wall” would obviously dwarf any income generated from it. (An entertaining assessment by Bloomberg can be found online here: www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2017-06-23/trump-border-wall-solar-panels-won-t-pay-for-it ).

Texas already has an electricity surplus, so private utilities would push back hard, especially on a new socialistic competitor.

A big, state-subsidized solar project would also compete with coal-generated electricity, putting even more mining jobs at risk. But conflicting policies from this administration are becoming normal, too.

Congress won’t fund Trump’s border wall but that didn’t stop our Department of Homeland Security from requesting proposals on it. At least two bids, submitted months before Mr. Trump’s boast, featured solar panels. In the unlikely event of a contract award, the losing bidders could protest the competition as unfair because the president meddled in it.

But, the defendants could convincingly argue that the president’s comments were irrelevant because no one really takes him seriously.

Meanwhile his re-election campaign rolls on.

Frank Pagano

Jay