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.
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