1. The MOST important thing is to stop the Market slide, and hopefully begin to reverse it. To do that, Trump needs to indicate that he is done with stupid tariffs and that he will instead focus on other things for the rest of his term. A recession seems inevitable, but that wouldn't be the worst thing, as it would lower interest rates and somewhat reset the labor market. At least we know now that Trump does respond to Market pressures, and that should keep him from causing a full-blown depression.
2. Trump will never drop below 42% approval when polls are aggregated. His ceiling may be around 46-47%, but 42% is, and always has been, his floor. That is the sum of the cult plus the terminally uninformed Republicans that blindly support "their president" regardless of outcomes. Unfortunately, Bush, Obama, and Joe Biden all spent a lot of time at 42% (or lower) during their presidencies, so Trump isn't going to look like an unpopular outlier just because he's dropped to his historical average.
3. Republicans who raise taxes become icons of evil for generations within the party - so don't expect this New GOP to let that top rate go up. Just ask the late GHWB about his "read my lips" betrayal. Nobody's tax rates are going up as a result of this reconciliation bill.
4. Republicans are on to something with this plan to cut Medicaid "expansion". The problem they had with cutting Medicaid was the blowback from taking money away from Grandma in the nursing home, or from the kids with disabilities. That was politically untenable. But, nobody in power in the New GOP, or in the media, really gives a shit about poor able-bodied people in trailer parks and inner cities, who started receiving Medicaid when Obamacare passed and their states accepted the expansion. If packaged and advertised right, they could get away with this, and this could have a constituency. I know a lot of people who would gladly trade someone else's Medicaid expansion for no tax on tips or (better yet) no tax on social security income. Never underestimate the power of "I got mine, f*ck you" that exists out there.
"Such a decline wouldn’t hurt with judges either, who—I don’t want to shock you, dear reader—are also aware of popularity ratings, non-political figures though they are."
You mean "non-elected" figures. MAGA judges are as political, and shameless, as they get.
Yes, the Convicted Felon’s a weak bully who consistently folds faster than Superman on laundry day. But a cornered bully with the power of the Executive Branch and a supine Congress is still a threat.
I am genuinely afraid that he won’t allow our Blue Wave at the midterms to be certified. He’ll go back to his old refrain of unproven claims of “massive cheating” and issue an EO declaring nullification of the election. That scenario is what we need protection against.
I remember visiting a friend in Mobile about ten yrs ago. We went to his church's sunday service , where I first heard about christians being persecuted here in the USA. I had no idea what he was talking about then, and I still don't know.
1) More performative art from the Trumplicants… Bondi is now searching high and low for anti-Christian bias. I can’t wait to hear what she comes up with. But before anyone laughs too much, I still remember hearing from a Trump supporter in 2018 who said that since Trump had been elected, she now feels safe saying “Merry Christmas” to people. She must have lived in a really rough neighborhood.
Anti-Christian bias is such an old trope, as far as I know not backed up by anything approaching reality. What most of the charges amount to is that the government has contended that Christians (or anyone) have to obey the same laws that the rest of us do. What a concept!
Unfortunately, the fact that it doesn’t have any basis in reality is a common theme for the Trumplicants.
2) Anna Paulina Luna’s tweet with its reference to “drinking margaritas with a cartel member” isn’t the most important story of the day. But it does illustrate how absolutely juvenile the Trumplicants are. There’s no deep meaning or policy insights. It’s just trolling for laughs. And people elected her (and I assume most of them would vote for her again). Depressing.
Will Selber's piece about the Trumpers' callousness toward our Afghan allies raises an ugly irony: Trump is always complaining that the rest of the world has been taking advantage of the USA and ripping us off. But when people in other countries put themselves in danger to help us, Trump can hardly wait to betray them.
“When people feel uncertain, they’d rather have someone strong and wrong than weak and right,” Bill Clinton said way back in 2002."
Sorry, guys, Trump has NEVER been strong. He's always been a wimp -- firing Rex Tillerson via email or tweet just one of many wonderful examples. The folks who created that sick image for television deserve a very special place in hell. And wrong? Let's turn it around and ask when has he ever been right??
Could we be entering a period when the public sees that Trump is both wrong and weak? YES YES YES!
With all due respect, on the question of Medicaid expansion and the federal/state 90/10 funding split, it was always the case the way that legislation was written, that the federal money was going to be time limited and that one day the states would have to fund any expansion on their own. I believe this was a covid recovery related effort to expand Medicaid when a lot of people were unemployed. Indeed, one of the arguments against states expanding Medicaid under this program was that the federal money wasn’t permanent and that when it disappeared the states would have to fund the whole thing themselves. So now that day has come. You can’t complain about this, it was there from the beginning. A few states refused to expand Medicaid to avoid this very scenario. They were the smart ones.
A summation of my email to Rep. Luna, who represents the 13th District of Florida where I live:
I honestly didn't want to believe it, but you lied.
You perpetuated the lie of a dictator. You lied in service to that dictator, who is in service to a US president who wants to rule like a dictator.
Are you aware that we are denying the rights of due process to immigrants? Are you aware that they are pulled away from their children and sent to a torture prison who is run by the dictator for whom you are willing to lie? The dictator whom you are fawning over?
Are you aware a Russian scientist who escaped now sits in a Louisiana prison? A scientist whose research at Harvard has been crucial in helping to find a cure for Alzheimer's? That she emigrated from Russia because she was persecuted by the Putin regime for opposing its invasion of Ukraine? That she may now be deported back to Russia?
Are you aware a Tufts graduate student was abducted off the street for writing an op-ed that the current administration objected to?
Are you aware of the hundreds of people now being persecuted by our country, denied their due process rights as immigrants before being deported to the dictator whose lie you wish to perpetuate?
Have you no sense of the unethical behavior of this administration in its policy towards people residing in our country?
Still waiting patiently for the Tesla bankruptcy sale so I can get one at scrap price and put it out as a yard ornament next to my Delorean. If Elon can only apply lessons learned with the DOGE effort to Tesla, the outcome is certainly going to come much faster. Hurry up, Elon, DO IT!
I heard a former Tesla engineer say that Musk ordinarily came to the office only twice a month, and that most of the people who reported defects up the chain were fired, as she was. Maybe he believes that efficiency requires never putting energy and resources into fixing flaws in your product, but it doesn't sound like a sustainable business model.
I have a friend who is a car buff. He told me you never “buy” a Tesla, you just rent it. It has so much proprietary software in it, that could go wrong and only be fixed by Tesla that you would never really own it. He also said they were one of the cars most prone to recall because of this and the poor way they are built. Look at the cybertruck. 12 recalls in 12 months and that’s not including the sides falling off. He is an engineer also.
Many of the cis, white men are so offended that, even though they control/own everything, they have to complain. It isn't enough that they control the Federal and state governments, almost all US corporations, and the professions (with the exception of nursing and education, and that's because they don't value these professions), but they're also offended that being Christian doesn't elevate them further. Another point, as written: "You got that? It isn’t Congress’s fault your Medicaid is about to go up in smoke, struggling voters: It’ll be on your stingy state government!" Hello, do they not realize that people will associate these actions with the Republican controlled government and the Republican controlled Red states.
I love the notion Elon seems to have, that Tesla would do better if only they received more of his valuable leadership. So instead of giving all his energy to a fascist regime, he should just part time it.
Brave Sir Donald ran away…
1. The MOST important thing is to stop the Market slide, and hopefully begin to reverse it. To do that, Trump needs to indicate that he is done with stupid tariffs and that he will instead focus on other things for the rest of his term. A recession seems inevitable, but that wouldn't be the worst thing, as it would lower interest rates and somewhat reset the labor market. At least we know now that Trump does respond to Market pressures, and that should keep him from causing a full-blown depression.
2. Trump will never drop below 42% approval when polls are aggregated. His ceiling may be around 46-47%, but 42% is, and always has been, his floor. That is the sum of the cult plus the terminally uninformed Republicans that blindly support "their president" regardless of outcomes. Unfortunately, Bush, Obama, and Joe Biden all spent a lot of time at 42% (or lower) during their presidencies, so Trump isn't going to look like an unpopular outlier just because he's dropped to his historical average.
3. Republicans who raise taxes become icons of evil for generations within the party - so don't expect this New GOP to let that top rate go up. Just ask the late GHWB about his "read my lips" betrayal. Nobody's tax rates are going up as a result of this reconciliation bill.
4. Republicans are on to something with this plan to cut Medicaid "expansion". The problem they had with cutting Medicaid was the blowback from taking money away from Grandma in the nursing home, or from the kids with disabilities. That was politically untenable. But, nobody in power in the New GOP, or in the media, really gives a shit about poor able-bodied people in trailer parks and inner cities, who started receiving Medicaid when Obamacare passed and their states accepted the expansion. If packaged and advertised right, they could get away with this, and this could have a constituency. I know a lot of people who would gladly trade someone else's Medicaid expansion for no tax on tips or (better yet) no tax on social security income. Never underestimate the power of "I got mine, f*ck you" that exists out there.
Shall I say, "HE" doesn't have a clue what he is doing. "HE'S" NOT an Economist in any sense of the word and is doomed to fail sooner or later!
"Such a decline wouldn’t hurt with judges either, who—I don’t want to shock you, dear reader—are also aware of popularity ratings, non-political figures though they are."
You mean "non-elected" figures. MAGA judges are as political, and shameless, as they get.
Yes, the Convicted Felon’s a weak bully who consistently folds faster than Superman on laundry day. But a cornered bully with the power of the Executive Branch and a supine Congress is still a threat.
I am genuinely afraid that he won’t allow our Blue Wave at the midterms to be certified. He’ll go back to his old refrain of unproven claims of “massive cheating” and issue an EO declaring nullification of the election. That scenario is what we need protection against.
Sir Donal bravely went out to fight,
then breavely ran away...
When danger reared its ugly head
Sir Donald turned his tail and fled…
As someone said. Trump is a weak man's idea of a strong man.
I remember visiting a friend in Mobile about ten yrs ago. We went to his church's sunday service , where I first heard about christians being persecuted here in the USA. I had no idea what he was talking about then, and I still don't know.
A few comments...
1) More performative art from the Trumplicants… Bondi is now searching high and low for anti-Christian bias. I can’t wait to hear what she comes up with. But before anyone laughs too much, I still remember hearing from a Trump supporter in 2018 who said that since Trump had been elected, she now feels safe saying “Merry Christmas” to people. She must have lived in a really rough neighborhood.
Anti-Christian bias is such an old trope, as far as I know not backed up by anything approaching reality. What most of the charges amount to is that the government has contended that Christians (or anyone) have to obey the same laws that the rest of us do. What a concept!
Unfortunately, the fact that it doesn’t have any basis in reality is a common theme for the Trumplicants.
2) Anna Paulina Luna’s tweet with its reference to “drinking margaritas with a cartel member” isn’t the most important story of the day. But it does illustrate how absolutely juvenile the Trumplicants are. There’s no deep meaning or policy insights. It’s just trolling for laughs. And people elected her (and I assume most of them would vote for her again). Depressing.
Will Selber's piece about the Trumpers' callousness toward our Afghan allies raises an ugly irony: Trump is always complaining that the rest of the world has been taking advantage of the USA and ripping us off. But when people in other countries put themselves in danger to help us, Trump can hardly wait to betray them.
“When people feel uncertain, they’d rather have someone strong and wrong than weak and right,” Bill Clinton said way back in 2002."
Sorry, guys, Trump has NEVER been strong. He's always been a wimp -- firing Rex Tillerson via email or tweet just one of many wonderful examples. The folks who created that sick image for television deserve a very special place in hell. And wrong? Let's turn it around and ask when has he ever been right??
Could we be entering a period when the public sees that Trump is both wrong and weak? YES YES YES!
With all due respect, on the question of Medicaid expansion and the federal/state 90/10 funding split, it was always the case the way that legislation was written, that the federal money was going to be time limited and that one day the states would have to fund any expansion on their own. I believe this was a covid recovery related effort to expand Medicaid when a lot of people were unemployed. Indeed, one of the arguments against states expanding Medicaid under this program was that the federal money wasn’t permanent and that when it disappeared the states would have to fund the whole thing themselves. So now that day has come. You can’t complain about this, it was there from the beginning. A few states refused to expand Medicaid to avoid this very scenario. They were the smart ones.
A summation of my email to Rep. Luna, who represents the 13th District of Florida where I live:
I honestly didn't want to believe it, but you lied.
You perpetuated the lie of a dictator. You lied in service to that dictator, who is in service to a US president who wants to rule like a dictator.
Are you aware that we are denying the rights of due process to immigrants? Are you aware that they are pulled away from their children and sent to a torture prison who is run by the dictator for whom you are willing to lie? The dictator whom you are fawning over?
Are you aware a Russian scientist who escaped now sits in a Louisiana prison? A scientist whose research at Harvard has been crucial in helping to find a cure for Alzheimer's? That she emigrated from Russia because she was persecuted by the Putin regime for opposing its invasion of Ukraine? That she may now be deported back to Russia?
Are you aware a Tufts graduate student was abducted off the street for writing an op-ed that the current administration objected to?
Are you aware of the hundreds of people now being persecuted by our country, denied their due process rights as immigrants before being deported to the dictator whose lie you wish to perpetuate?
Have you no sense of the unethical behavior of this administration in its policy towards people residing in our country?
Have you no shame?
Douglas Peterson
Still waiting patiently for the Tesla bankruptcy sale so I can get one at scrap price and put it out as a yard ornament next to my Delorean. If Elon can only apply lessons learned with the DOGE effort to Tesla, the outcome is certainly going to come much faster. Hurry up, Elon, DO IT!
I heard a former Tesla engineer say that Musk ordinarily came to the office only twice a month, and that most of the people who reported defects up the chain were fired, as she was. Maybe he believes that efficiency requires never putting energy and resources into fixing flaws in your product, but it doesn't sound like a sustainable business model.
I have a friend who is a car buff. He told me you never “buy” a Tesla, you just rent it. It has so much proprietary software in it, that could go wrong and only be fixed by Tesla that you would never really own it. He also said they were one of the cars most prone to recall because of this and the poor way they are built. Look at the cybertruck. 12 recalls in 12 months and that’s not including the sides falling off. He is an engineer also.
Many of the cis, white men are so offended that, even though they control/own everything, they have to complain. It isn't enough that they control the Federal and state governments, almost all US corporations, and the professions (with the exception of nursing and education, and that's because they don't value these professions), but they're also offended that being Christian doesn't elevate them further. Another point, as written: "You got that? It isn’t Congress’s fault your Medicaid is about to go up in smoke, struggling voters: It’ll be on your stingy state government!" Hello, do they not realize that people will associate these actions with the Republican controlled government and the Republican controlled Red states.
I love the notion Elon seems to have, that Tesla would do better if only they received more of his valuable leadership. So instead of giving all his energy to a fascist regime, he should just part time it.