The Real Reasons

       This is another of those “started out small and just kept growing” posts. After several paragraphs on Facebook, I decided to word process and blog it. It was triggered by the incredibly naïve meme below and the responses to it.  

       First, and from his own mouth, he said he was going to "fix" (immigration, trade, deficit, racism, etc.) so either he lied to get elected or he's incompetent  or, my best guess, both are correct(most likely ).

       We tend to forget that these people only serve as long as they are reelected. Their job is to represent the voters who put them there, Obviously, these folks have done that for their state or district. If you (other voters in other states) don't like them, you differ with their constituency. That's your problem, those who scream "term limits" apparently have no idea that they're only there because a majority of the voters in their state sent them there, 

       There are specific term limits: 6 years in the Senate and 2 in the House. It seems that the real issue is that someone doesn't like another who serves a long time.... , that is, if they're of another party or have ideas one doesn't like. All the folks in the picture except Trump are Democrats. This meme would imply that they are responsible for those “problems not solved for decades." 

       It would be nice to hear from someone on the right just exactly what they think these “problems” are, but they are as a rule unable to put their discontent into words; so I’ll try, based on what I hear and see from them

       Start with  the fact that none of those folks on the left are bigots or racists, while the guy on the right has been, ever since he and his dad refused to rent to Blacks in their apartment buildings. Some current problems of race, such as voter suppression are all Republican in origin. If you think there’s a race problem, I suggest you look in the mirror, or at Donald Trump, who even when he’s trying to suck up to minorities, is offensive. It was Congressional Republicans who attempted to terminate the Voting Rights Act. There’s only one conceivable explanation for that; ask Mitch McConnell.

        Likewise with all the screaming Trump is doing over mail-in ballots, remember (it’s painful, but try anyway) that shortly after his inauguration, Trump appointed a hand-picked commission to investigate what he had claimed was “rampant voter fraud.” When the commission, whose mission was to prove his point, returned and said, “We couldn’t find any” He terminated them and suppressed the results. Remember, if it doesn’t fit Trump’s preferred narrative, it's “fake news” or “You’re fired.”

       So how about trade? Obama negotiated and signed the Trans- Pacific Partnership (TPP), which was sort of like NAFTA (signed into law by Bush 41) for Asia. Trump immediately withdrew us from it. Why? Like everything else Obama, it had to go. 

       Along the way, and against the advice of basically every credentialed Economist in the country, he launched a tariff war with China, which continues, three years later. The sole effect so far has been to cause a slew of soybean farmers to trash their crops, because China simply found another market (Brazil) without punitive tariffs.  America’s soybean farmers may never recover. So far Trump’s trade war has cost the US about $35 billion (9 zeros!) solely in unbudgeted emergency farm subsidies. The best estimate is that the tariffs have also loaded about $875 annually, per household, (an aggregate $123 billion) in additional retail costs, not to mention far greater negatives for a number of large American manufacturers such as 3M, Ford, and others.  Meanwhile Trump renegotiated a trade agreement with Canada and Mexico which was lifted, conceptually, almost chapter and verse from the hated Obama TPP agreement. But it has Trump’s name on it now!

        But what about illegal immigration? Surely no one did anything about that until Trump, right? Actually, there are two separate methods by which a person who has entered or is arrested for illegal entry is returned to the state of origin. The Bush (43) administration moved toward removing people from the country with a court order. While it is commonly thought of as deportation, it’s technically referred to now by the government as a "removal." (sounds "nicer" huh?) A “return” occurs if people attempt to enter the country, and are turned away, often without a hearing before an immigration judge. That procedure used to be known as a "voluntary departure" but is now called a "return" by the government. While Trump has slandered several previous administrations, claiming they did too little, the numbers tell a starkly different story.

       The last year for which a comparison can be made is 2018. The numbers, regardless of what Trump has said repeatedly, contradict him. Here are the real figures:

Clinton: removals per year average for 8 years: 108,706

Bush: removals per year average for 8 years: 251,567

Obama: removals per year average for 8 years: 383,307 (no kids in cages)

Trump: removals per year average to date: 275,725 (too many kids in cages)

Note: 383,307 is a larger number than 275,725

My point? Regardless of how you feel on the subject, Obama actually did more and far more humanely, than Trump has done, but you’d never know it listening to the Red Hat hate squad.

        Next, consider Trump’s ludicrous campaign statement, “I’ll be too busy to play golf,” stated in various versions while slandering Obama. As it turns out, by the way, Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Dwight Eisenhower both played far more golf than Obama, Wilson just under 4 times as many rounds, even while WWI was underway!

Obama averaged a round of golf every 8.8 days, the majority of it near DC, (military bases, 74% of the time) where a car ride got him to the course. Trump has averaged a round of golf every 4.2 days. Yeah, that’s right, the man who dissed Barack Obama for playing golf plays twice as often as Obama did, and uses Air Force One to do it most of the time at a total taxpayer cost of, so far, over $140 million. He is, by any standard, the liar in chief, at least where golf is concerned.  

       The mantra of “tax and spend” Democrats implies that the Democrats are wasting our tax dollars by spending on such issues as clean water, health care and environmental issues. It is, or should, be painful for Republicans, if they have a shred of integrity and acknowledge facts when presented, to face the reality which is: The last President to balance a budget was a Democrat, Bill Clinton. He left office with actual deficit reduction in sight. Enter Bush 43. His unnecessary war ballooned the deficit even more than Reagan’s tax cut, recession and Star Wars military spending.

        Obama had the disadvantage of shitty timing, taking office at the pit of the Great Recession with record mortgage defaults and a huge deficit the day he was sworn in due to TARP obligations undertaken by Bush 43. I’m not saying it (TARP) was unnecessary, but Obama was blamed by many, who knew no better, for Bush’s law. 

       That didn’t stop Republican criticisms of bailouts for “those kind of people” Yes, they bitched publicly about extending unemployment and whined about the fictional “Obama Phones” (a law passed by Bush 43!) they whined about welfare and food stamps, even though Obama signed no legislation increasing either, but were oddly mum when it came to bailouts for the huge commercial banks who started the whole housing bubble collapse. Obama had record deficits during the worst of the recession, but we were well into strong recovery by late 2013.  The U.S. economy typically added more than 250,000 jobs each month in 2014 and 227,000 a month in 2015.

        The economy under Trump’s first two years simply continued growth on almost precisely the same slope. Oddly enough, by 2014, the deficit was down to pre-Obama figures, but by Trump’s first year and for three straight, it has grown larger. In 2020, even without COvid, which has had a huge impact, Trump’s deficit was on a schedule to exceed Obama’s worst mid- recession figure, all while Trump bragged about the economy. 

       

       The reason? Primarily decreased federal income due to an unnecessary tax cut for those who never needed it. Per Trump’s bait and switch tax plan, the break for middle and low-income families expires in a couple of years but continues for the wealthy. Again tragically, many Red Hats will tell you they remember the “good old Eisenhower years”, conveniently forgetting (if they ever knew) that the highest marginal tax rates then were as high as 90%. These are the same morons who now scream “Socialist” when an AOC or Liz Warren proposes raising highest marginal rates to 75%. But as Ron White says, “you can’t fix stupid!”

       Ok, what else. Oh, Oh, I know! How about socialized medicine? Many Red Hats scream their lungs out about it then gladly accept …. wait for it….Medicare, which is almost the textbook definition of socialized medicine. American families spend a higher percentage of their total income on medical related items than any other comparable nation, with lower consumer satisfaction (by actual surveys conducted by US companies.  

       So, what’s left? There must be something that has been all the Democrat’s fault for decades. I mean the meme can’t just be full of shit, …can it?  OK last chance, “Leadership?”  Nope, a quick look at the horrible Trump response to Covid 19 says otherwise. I’ve written this elsewhere but it bears repeating: The Obama administration, contrary to Mitch McConnell’s claim, did leave the Trump staff a “Play Book” for a pandemic, which was based on a “super flu” model. It specified recommended steps, organizations to involve, etc. Moreover, using a new “change of command” procedure written by the Obama administration, and using this play-book, Obama’s staff actually did a run through of what to do, how to do it, and who to involve. Trump couldn’t be bothered to personally be involved, but he sent two Cabinet level folks to be there. One was Rick Perry, former Texas governor, candidate, imbecile,  and Energy Secretary who, unfortunately by the time Covid 19 appeared, had also been one of participants in the Trump revolving door of resignations. So, no Perry to tell about the book and the plan. 

       Here’s where it gets good and the real Mitch McConnell comes to light: The other cabinet level participant in the pandemic dry run was Transportation Secretary, Elaine Chao. So, what, you ask? So, Elaine Chao is Mrs. Mitch McConnell. Now, she might not tell him everything, but his claim of “no pandemic playbook” which is the standard Trump “blame it on Obama” ploy, is simply horse shit. His wife knew.  

       So, looking back, and trying my best to identify the “problems they haven’t solved for decades”, there are two final observations. First: let’s just pick a number of decades, say 4. That’s 1980 to 2020. Twenty four of those years have been under Republican Presidents. More than half of those 40 years, the US Senate has also had a Republican majority. For exactly half of those 40 years each party has held the majority in the House.

        Here’s a quick lesson in how things work. The Senate Majority leader can simply, at will, refuse to consider a bill. McConnell has done this to hundreds of bills during the current administration simply because the Republicans lost the majority in the House. Then his King, Donald the Vain, bitches about “do nothing Democrats.”

        The Democratically controlled House has passed, and sent to the Senate, about 400 bills, many with wide bi-partisan support, as of November 2019. 80% or so have died there!  McConnell calls himself the “grim reaper” of Democratic legislation he derides as socialist, but many of the bills that never see the Senate floor are bipartisan issues, like a universal background check bill which 75% of NRA members favor, net neutrality, and reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act.

       Ok, that’s enough for you MAGA people to consider at one sitting, so tell me again why the folks on the left are responsible for not solving these “problems.”  And finally, consider that all I have written here is factual, documented and in no way “Fake News” and ask yourself, “Why is Donald Trump actually making these same things worse?” Because he is.