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This is usually when I point out that the great and good American people voted for this.
However, today's a good day to point out there are moral monsters within the Trump administration. Rubio certainly knows what the consequences of these USAID cuts will be. I'm pretty sure that someone like Vought knows, too. People are going to die, so we can reasonably conclude that Rubio and Vought want people to die.
I don't see how the United States ever recovers from this act of international arson. What…
We can't forget what Rubio, Vought, and RFK, Jr. have done, but what exactly can we do about it? I imagine there is a whole swath of Americans who believe the world would be better off without the suffering people in Third World countries. And. like the aforementioned, they call themselves Catholics and Christians.
I honestly don't know, Susan. My intuitive sense is the Democrats will have to do things that aren't in their collective DNA, and that's get in the mud with these people. The first question that the Democrats should ask themselves every day is, "What's is the most efficient way to draw blood from the GOP?" And by efficient, I mean, "What sort of demagoguery can I do that will shift public opinion away from the GOP?" It's not enough to punch them repeatedly in the face as hard as you can. Any at…
What should the Dems do? I agree with what writer Jonathan Rauch said in his recent piece for The Atlantic:
" . . . pursue a relentless, strategic, and thematic campaign branding Trump as America’s most corrupt president. Almost every development could provide fodder for such attacks, which would connect corruption not with generalities like the rule of law but with kitchen-table issues. Higher prices? Crony capitalism! Cuts to popular programs? Payoffs for Trump’s fat-cat clients! Tax cuts? A g…
Sandy, the voters aren't going to respond to Rauch's approach. What the 2024 election showed is voters react to demagoguery.
I disagree, Tim, because the voters are already responding to their Congresspeople about their dissatisfaction with what Musk is doing. It's affecting their kitchen tables.
And the voters who gave Trump his win, the swing voters in the swing states who are Independents and educated, suburban Republicans did not give Trump their vote because of his demagoguery. They voted for Biden in 2O2O when they'd had 4 years of it . They swung against the Dem candidate in 2O24 because they were voting against the Far Left infused Dem brand.
Sandy, the difference between you and I is you believe that voters are rational actors open to persuasion whereas I believe voters are amoral and stupid. When you view the 2024 election through a moral prism, the 49.8% who voted for Trump were willing to overlook that a) he mismanaged a pandemic to the tune of 700K excess deaths, b) attempted a violent overthrow of the government, c) was found civilly liable for sexual assault and d) was convicted on 34 felonies in New York State. Voting for Trump with that record is the biggest dereliction of civic duty of my lifetime. As for stupidity, did these swing voters honestly believe that once Trump was inaugurated, prices would come down? Trump made it quite clear on a regular basis during the campaign that should he win, he would use tariffs as an economic weapon of war. Did these swing voters not hear him, or did they not take him seriously? Trump's doing what he said he was going to do, and when these swing voters go to the grocery store and pay more for produce or go to Walmart to buy Chinese made goods that are suddenly more expensive, whose fault is that? When airfare is more expensive because the cost of building aircraft goes up due to Trump's tariffs, or the price of housing goes up due to tariffs on lumber, whose fault is that? Simple: it's the voters fault.
I do not trust people to use their reason or their better angels when it comes to politics and elections. And if it sounds like I'm angry, it's because I am. I've spent my entire adult life in service of the national defense only to watch these swing voting jackholes give the nuclear codes to a sundowning narcissistic sociopath. The life I've built for myself and my wife is at risk all because these people couldn't deal with short term economic disruption due to Trump's ineptitude.