That’s the Howard Lutnick who stopped the salary cheques for 700 of his employees two days after they were killed in the World Trade Center, isn’t it? Their dependants noticed pretty fast and he was shamed into taking a less disgusting approach.
This is not Alzheimer's. His problem - the problem of the entire Oligarch class is the problem which gives them the capacity to (coupled with opportunity) become billionaires. It goes beyond greed. They truly cannot ever become satiated by any amount of wealth. They always want more. They have the money it takes to make more money. They despise the little people and want nothing to do with them. So I doubt he has ever had a conversation with one of the 'little people' who depend on the SS system they paid into their entire working life. We learned this lesson once after the Great Depression. It seems we will have to learn it again. There is no such thing as a stable democratic republic with an oligarchy around.
Not a coincidence. It actually requires a lack of empathy to accumulate the kind of wealth these people have. Nobody earns a billion dollars. They do it on the backs of many others and their lack of empathy enables them to step on all those others.
Definitely on the backs of Amazon drivers. And we definitely know the issues at the warehouses. But now theyve fired the 2 Democrats working in the Warehouse case and will bring in yes men si no recourse for better work conditions and higher pay. If Costco can do…
Musk calls the recipients of social security "the Parasite class" -- even though most of those benefits are personal entitlements paid from taxes. But the REAL parasites -- the SuperParasites -- are Musk and his ilk, themselves.
America currently has 813 billionaires. How can a real democracy allow anyone to amass so much wealth from the work of others? Got by withholding fair payment to the many, for personal enrichment by the few? Who then use a tiny fraction of their wealth to buy corrupt politicians?
A political and economic system which enables such huge inequality, can only be built on psychopathy and sociopathy in the service of greed, and systematic lying to the uneducated.
Such a system has no capacity for empathy: except the empathy of billionaires for other billionaires.
"We learned this lesson once after the Great Depression. It seems we will have to learn it again. There is no such thing as a stable democratic republic with an oligarchy around."
I'd even argue we had to learn it twice; the first class of oligarchs we had to cut down to size was the slave owners.
Technically, the U.S. has never had a revolution since the original one, but it's had two big readjustments in which an oligarch class that had gotten completely out of control was slapped down, one in the 1860s and one in the 1930s. In any number of other countries, those probably *would* have been literal revolutions; the U.S. was still able to handle the issue through normal channels instead. It would be nice if we were able to do that again, because we're way overdue for it.
What all this says is that the priority for Democrats isn’t to pursue whatever you think is a better policy mix. It is to get voters to notice
Absolutely but the Democrats. With the exception of FDR, have never been good at getting people's attention. The Republicans' lies somehow are believed
I’m apparently unclear on the definition of revolution; it seems to me that the Civil War would certainly qualify, although it was obviously an unsuccessful revolution.
He had to save face, or his company would have collapsed for lack of business. Bernie Madoff isn't really a good example to compare, but who would have done business with him if he wouldn't have ended up in prison?
There’s plenty of factually correct stuff to despise Lutnick for. One might ask why the heck he went from being fair to the less fortunate to killing them for greed?
She’s female, as are a majority of seniors, and it’s easier for some politicians to dismiss their needs nowadays. It fits with the JD Vance view that post menopausal women no longer have any value, and with the persistent argument that men are better because they don’t need expensive obstetric care and live shorter lives on average. It’s really sad so many white women fell for such a direct threat to their well being when they voted in November.
I found it interesting that he just happened to take his daughter to school that day. I'm not saying it wasn't just a coincidence, only that it's interesting.
Just my opinion but trumps trumped up assassination attempt was a blood capsule ONLY - no record of an injury to be found - classified of course. AND the ear..has very little blood !!!!!!!! Plus you do NO react and jump up raising your fist if you really expected someone just tried to KILL you - mr bone spurs would be UNDER the secret service men to sacrifice - shivering. No a poor marksman might have needed money so so badly for his family(paid in untraceable bit coin) ? he was willing to commit suicide ? I don't know for sure but I know for sure
I have always thought the attempt was staged. If it was real Secret Service would have hustled Trump offstage and made sure that he was safe. They would have ended the rally.
We can be sure that a high power rifle bullet didn’t graze his ear, because his ear is still there. A shard of glass from the prompter, shattered by the bullet, might have done.
Sure. And the Mueller report was nonsense too. Except that it was true. Filled with inconvenient facts. Trump and Co. are all as crooked as a dogs hind leg. That assassination attempt: something was off, not right, about it. Lots of things about it don't make sense. That's all I can say for sure. The truth will out, eventually.
What's the connection between the 9/11 Saudi suicide plane pilots choosing the building Cantor Fitzgerald was in rather than say, refineries & storage tanks in the Houston ship channel? There's more to that story than meets the eye......
What's the expression, something like a lie goes round the world before the truth gets its boots on. While you espouse the lie by implication. Lutnick did take care of the widows and orphans quite well sharing profits ensuring health care for 10 years, etc. It takes less than 5 minutes on Google to find this.
Poor Trump voters are very much paying attention- to rightwing media. They do not know, and would not believe, the things you write because it's not what they see and hear daily. Anyone who does not understand this need only read/watch Fox News or Newsmax for a week.
Go on a tour like Bernie and AOC. Use social media like Piker and others. The Demz know what to do—they just won’t because donor class. They’re elevating some ex-CIA, Reagan-worshipping skank as The New Star. Just primary the living fuck out of them. Clean house.
It would surprise me to learn that anyone who voted for the felon attended any of the AOC/Sanders rallies. Well… maybe a few, but in the felon-voter-anthropology studies I’ve seen, nearly all of them would cast their vote for the felon again, given a redo, even those who have been disappointed by many of his decisions. Krugman says “working-class voters supported Trump last year because they believed that he was on their side.” Yes, but it’s not the economic part that attracts them. It’s the racist part. Been that way since 1968, and Republicans have been gleefully exploiting it all that time. Democrats who think they can regain white working class votes by helping them economically simply don’t understand what they’re dealing with. White working class voters, 70% of them, will vote for the party that promises to continue the persecution of black Americans and other groups they don’t like, and to preserve the economic, legal, and political advantages of white Ameicans. No matter what it costs them.
To quote LBJ, "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
Rex, I am close to finishing my stack piece that essentially supports your insight. But there is I fear a more complex and darker aspect to why Republicans embrace Fascists across the board. Christo-Fascism and if you will the secular variant provide a means to deal with the inherint paranoia cited by Richard Hofstedder, but also the deep sense of aggrievement that justifies cruelty, virtually in the name of God and his agents on earth.
We tend to overlook the CIA mind control projects of the Cold War era as failed history. In fact I would propose that going from the use of induced mass psychosis from drugs in water supplies to the much more effective exploitation of the social media and good ‘ol “Elders of Zion” propaganda have been highly effective and are used widely by Fascist loving business and poltical leaders.
Just posted on the ties between Republican Fascism and Child Sexual Abuse:
Yes. Many things the dark side wants to do come into play, but none of it can be done without the enthusiastic support of 60% of white voters, 70% of white working class voters, and 80% of white evangelical voters.
Rex, sadly true. The dog-whistling will continue. The rage against DEI policies is only marginally about transgender idiocy; it’s much more against any help going to blacks and Latinos (& women), and the sooner the Democrats wise up, the better. Having said that, the Prof’s article (his best ever) DOES offer even a closet racist white working class voter an excuse to ditch Trump. When it comes to his own financial interests versus keeping down all those minorities, self interest will prevail.
I’d like to think you’re right, but they doomed themselves on purpose in 1980 by electing a union buster, and they’ve stuck to their guns for 45 years, so I don’t see any reason for optimism. They can be outvoted, but it takes a monumental effort against very slim odds.
Democrats certainly need to do a better job of getting the message out . BUT - I believe a lot of voters did notice something about the Presidential election- and that unfortunately was : a black woman . This country hasn’t truly confronted the gender / race issue. Too many
voters were willing to elect a misogynistic
racist - ( and yes I know HC won the popular vote - but what counts ( also unfortunately) is the electoral college) .
Maybe people are tired of hearing about gender/ race issues so they search for other reasons t-Rump won like low information voters
Maybe when they lose Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, or business due to the damage trump and the Republicans are doing, the truth might start to break through.
This is largely what the much maligned Ragin’ Cajun, James Carville was calling for. The problem with this is that while Social Security is chump change for a lot of 10%ers it is a matter of whether my meal will come from a dog can for this Veteran.
But you know, there are even more Trumpers who too will be chomping dog food with me, so that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make if that’s what it takes to break the MAGA fever.
If social security goes down things will get real dark real fast. Think eighty year old street people begging on every street corner, bodies on the sidewalk...oh, and the health care network will collapse if Medicare and Medicaid go down.
They auto-propagandize. They are drawn to people saying the things they want to hear... It makes them impervious to the things they don't want to hear. It will likely take the great shock of losing their Social Security payments and healthcare to get them to listen to anyone else. When they cannot afford food or gas, they will come around - but it will be too late. We'll be headed into the tRumppression.
Right on point. Many friends and family members of mine--good people--are in that tunnel such that basic facts (Was the event at the Capitol on Jan 6, 2021, violent?) are ignored or contested. Partisan media sources (cable TV, talk radio, internet) have largely taken over as a source of news. People who watch Fox/Newsmax don't understand they're being jerked around. They're not informed. They're just mad
For a week? How about thirty minutes. When friends tell me they watch Fox or follow the agitprop spewed by the Fascist Right Noise Machine I share the quote from Gore Vidal “If a pot of soup is bad I don’t need to consume the whole pot, a spoonful is more than enough.”
Urine is very clean in a pathogenic sense. The salts are detrimental. Evaporation and water collection via a sheet of plastic and a rock can render it lifesaving.
Not just what they want, but more of what they have achieved as a reality. Let me suggest that the “real” number of the base, Trumpers/MAGA types is likely around 30 to 37%, but when registered Dems in this last election decided to punish Harris over Gaza or they felt the process to dump Biden and sub Harris, they engaged in another leftist circular firing squad.
Democrats must settle on politics as the art of seeking agreement on what matters and leave the idea that we must be perfect or take the ball and go home…
This point may be the central problem of our time. Right wing media is the preponderant narrative of almost all rural areas and suffocates factual information in Red States. They are adept at selling grievance and speak directly to the working class in language they understand that unfortunately abuses a lack of critical thinking and grossly spews misinformation. They have monopolized the media in general and set the parameters of almost every political narrative. Simply put you are spot on that liberal talking points are simply not penetrating that market. The base of the Republican Party live in one misinformed world closed to factual reporting while the left argues with itself, unable to penetrate the right’s media dominance to even inform the working class. It’s astoundingly ironic in this age of instant communication all over the world that 30% of the US electorate are literally unable to receive unbiased journalism. Until this is rectified Krugman will be able to write this column over and over ad infinitum.
you are totally right. When I cited news from NewYork Times and Washington Post for them, they just asked me ‘have you actually witnessed these events’???Wtf???
It's amazing actually to see how easy it is to dismantle the state. The decades & centuries worth of progress can be reverted in a matter of weeks & months. All you need is a bunch of crazy fanatics who have no regard of society and are hell bent on imposing their will on the world.
Canvassers listened to people’s issues and talked again and again about Project 2025 and what Harris wanted to do for them. They didn’t care and didn’t believe it could happen, especially after the media let Trump off the hook when he made his “denial.” And now his whole admin is being run by the 2025 playbook.
The abundance of information available, including tons of BS and generous amounts of lunacy, makes it hard for the uneducated to pick out what’s real and what’s not. People seem to default to whatever sounds appealing, and unfortunately that’s where Democrats have failed. It’s not what policies you promise, it’s whether they trust you to deliver—and Democrats have promised a lot that they couldn’t deliver. People voted for Trump assuming he couldn’t/wouldn’t do Project 2025.
It's not that they couldn't deliver, it's that they couldn't communicate effectively. They haven't mastered the bumper sticker slogans that the uneducated rely on.
Legacy media spent a lot more effort "sane washing" trump than doing a deep analysis and focusing on Project 2025 throughout the election cycle. Why did anyone believe trump when he denied anything to do with Project 2025?
I dont think it would have mattered much, a lot of people were getting their news from tiktok and youtube... thats where the uneducated go for their "news"
I believe you're referring to the likes of Faux News, rather than the "legacy" media that MysticShadow is talking about. If that's the case, then IMHO it's both malicious and lame. "Legacy" media with it's "sanewashing" and playing down of the Orange Misfit's criminal behavior is just plain lame.
I have a funny feeling they're going to start listening now. At least some of them anyway. Not the hardcore MAGAnuts, they're fully indoctrinated into the cult.
Democracy exhibits vulnerability in the face of dictatorship because people often become infatuated with a charismatic leader who can sway public opinion.
Often overlooked is that Soc Sec is a monthly stimulus check that keeps the economy booming. People on SS don't stash gold coins away for a rainy day; instead they flood Walmart and every other store with BUY orders, plus they feed the landlords and make payments on all kinds of stuff and if there's anything left over they send a little to grand kids or charities. Disappear the monthly SS check and we'll be in a recession within 30 days, a depression in 90 days.
Aside from the despicable assumptions Lutnick imposes on his MIL, that old ladies are too nice to complain, Lutnick's MIL wouldn't be able to complain even if she wanted to. The staff cuts and wait times for calls have put up impediments to getting help.
This old lady won't be nice if my payment doesn't come through. 😡
...and have you wondered if he has missed the deadline to appeal the E. Jean Carroll cases? And if he did, when does he finally pay the assessed fines (he's been given much more money lately, so he could easily pay them instead of accruing more interest).
I am fortunate that I do not rely on my SS payments each month. But tell you what, if mine didn't arrive, I would be raising bloody holy hell. And I am not a fraudster, you idiot Lutnick. I'm sure your MIL has plenty of resource, and if not, maybe you can help her out.
mentally deranged .... could you imagine having to be around that much toxic psychosis in a day....so so so so so creepy AND in control. The Deplorables
Yeah, it's not all, Cabot's and Lodge's. Anyway, some hilly battle topography, the odds were slim going in, but we made it with a little help from our friends.
This is a wonderful article, especially since I hear the same argument (i.e. moving towards the "center" which means moving to the right being necessary to win elections) at home, even if time and time it has been proven wrong. The trick is not to drop support for minorities or whatever, but to make people realize that the rights granted to minorities are just the necessary and desirable flip side of rights granted to them, and that is not something you can do quietly and politely when the other side is doing their best to drown you out. Thank you again for spelling it out.
Probably, but do you feel that many people have read that recently (except your president as a kind of todo list for things yet to dismantle)? In any case, after reading a lot of stuff about the necessity of appeasement here on substack (and in the press at home, because some discussions are contagious) it just felt good to read this. Bear with me while I breathe a tiny sigh of relief, I don't mean any harm.
You're not alone. There are many of us who feel the same way. Shifting to the "center" is exactly what the Democrats have gotten wrong for the last forty five years.
I have been amazed at how many lower and working class voters supported Trump. But then I saw a literacy statistic for US citizens. It is shocking. Approximately 30% of the adult US population is either totally or partially illiterate. That number seems to correlate fairly well with Trumps base, although his support is slightly higher. The education system in the US is failing its citizens and leading them to be unable to discern fact from fiction. Until that is resolved-which it won’t be anytime soon-I can’t see any brighter future for the US.
So true. And it explains how the Con Artist in Chief could get away with saying "I love uneducated people!" - and they didn't realize that what he really meant was that, like all con artists, he loves an easy mark. His most rabid voters don't grasp that he has nothing but contempt for them.
100% agree with you and would add, it appears that the GOP is actually pushing for an uneducated voter population. How else to make sense of the movement to ban books in libraries; stressing the value of blue collar jobs vs. getting a college education; and attacking colleges and universities and their presidents? The rhetoric is we want a nation of exceptionalism based on merit vs. DEI but actions are contrary to rhetoric.
We need to be careful with the merit thing. Personally, I believe we need a society that takes care of everyone - a basic minimum income, food, housing, health care, the basic necessities of life, basic dignity.
Pursuing higher education and a higher calling should be available - and optional - for those ready willing and able to pursue it. Merit should be rewarded, but not mandated.
I work in healthcare and leading up to the election I was concerned at some of the things I was hearing from my staff... seemed most of them were getting their political information from tiktok and youtube and since many of them live in multigenerational housing the misinformation spread fast, and stuck.
You can't force people to enjoy academics. Literacy isn't the problem it is what and who has the electorate's attention. Celebrities, tv series, sports, talk shows, cooking, games....
Most people don't want to do science, history, politics, economics.
The message needs to be concise, compelling and constant and embedded where the majority of voters are.
I think there is a big difference between academics and the ability to read at a level that provides true comprehension of what you’re reading. People being shocked to lose their ACA when they thought the govt was just going to cut Obamacare is one example. They’re too illiterate to know the difference. Until people can discern fact from fiction by being able to read with comprehension, the US will stay in a very dark place. But yes, celebrity worship doesn’t help.
Hey Paul. Regarding Lutnick, I highly recommend watching his recent podcast feature, where the "All-In Podcast" lets him ramble on about his goals as Commerce Secretary. It is one of the rare moments where we citizens are able to listen to a cabinet member's intellectual beliefs and how shockingly misinformed and unchallenged his takes on government spending in GDP, trade deficits, and China are. I would love to see an eloquent rebuttal from you on this substack. This administration's pseudo-intellectuals cannot go unchallenged!
Just out of curiosity, did you find any specific details that bothered you? For me its his trade deficit-phobia, where he does not understand the general welfare importing a variety of products from other countries brings to Americans. I think this is right up paul's alley as a international trade expert. I really want to see a reaction video of paul to this podcast haha
His misrepresentation of how the government could handle the GDP situation, in particular, irked me. And his trade deficit phobia too, of course! Not to mention his adoration of tRump and his billionaire side kick who are intentionally trying to destroy the foundation of this country. 😡
Do you REALLY think he believes his own bs? I haven't researched Cantor-Fitzgerald, but I highly doubt it would be so lucrative if it wouldn't have profited from the offshoring of the past 40 years, too.
This phenomenon of people voting against their own interests is not new. Thomas Frank wrote about it in "What's The Matter With Kansas?" (2004). It's just that it has increased over the years, thanks, no doubt, to the explosion of right-wing media and the erosion of critical thinking among people in general. The dismantling of public education by the current regime as part of Project 2025 will make it even worse. **Loved the video--that family is brilliant!!!**
MuskTrump won't cut SS, instead they will make it harder to access. Raising the barrier to entry by making it harder to register, lodge claims, change details etc will mean some people, the most needy a d dependent on SS, will give up and may find other means to make ends meet legal or otherwise - like charity, family (if they have any to lean on) and friends. Some may be driven to homelessness. The cost transfer will be entirely to the community which is a kind of tax. Nothing short of awful.
Yes, I think you're right. The elderly who don't have family to take care of them will be particularly vulnerable. My mother in her last few years wouldn't have been able to navigate the new rules.
That Democratic leaders aren't loudly expressing outrage over Social Security and enabling wealthy tax cheats tells you all you need to know about the current state of the party.
That they allowed the cut to Biden's efforts to go after wealthy tax cheats should have been a major clue.
They didn't have much choice. There would have been even worse consequences if the govt. shut down, allowing all cuts with no pushback whatsoever, and no way to get things going again.
That's true as far as that goes, but they had the political capital to do it. The GOP would have (rightfully) taken all the blame for it. Now we're still getting the cuts, and the pushback is weak.
There's a perception that Democrats won't fight. They'll just roll over and tuck their tails between their legs like they've always done. That's a perception both amongst the electorate and in D.C. itself. There's also a perception that the reason for it is that's what their Wall St. and K St. patrons want, the people be damned.
This is an issue where Democrats could win popular support, but they don't want to offend their wealthy donors who would rather talk about race and gender in abstract (think language police).
FAIRNESS would go over well. Why do billionaires not pay taxes? If Elon and Donald paid the max tax, what would that add?
Not enough to make a difference to SS, Medicare or Medicaid...but its an issue of FAIRNESS that magas understand.
"[T]hey thought they were voting for lower grocery prices, not an assault on Social Security."
When the country slides into The Second Great Depression, grocery prices will come down dramatically. But those voters still won't be able to afford eggs because they'll have no income!
Much the same way I got a massive tax cut when George W. Bush was president. My federal income tax fell to zero because, having lost my job, I had no income.
I'm curious what Paul Krugman thinks about the possibility of a deflationary depression, similar to what the world experienced in the 1930s. Everyone has been talking about inflation, but when people lose their spending power due to layoffs, etc., companies might react to that by lowering prices. And then more people are laid off because of lower revenues, and then prices are lowered even further. I'm also curious if these clowns who are now running things understand this possibility, and if they're somehow trying to capitalize on deflation. Or does that give them way too much credit? And are they actually completely unaware of any of the potential ripple effects of their actions? And will a lot of it snap back in their faces? I tend to think absolutely no one knows where all of this is headed.
At this stage, anything is possible. On the one hand, they might indeed be completely oblivious to the destruction they're unleashing. On the other, it's entirely possible they're fully aware of it, and have a plan to plunder the spoils.
As far as "getting voters to notice" goes, that's more than a bit problematic because the entire media environment is rigged against Democrats. Recall that one of the main complaints from undecided voters was that they "didn't know what Harris would do as president." Some of this was because of her initial refusal to grant interviews with mainstream media.
HOWEVER . . . the first major media interview she did was with NBC Nightly News, and the interviewer's main question was . . . "Would you consider pardoning Donald Trump?" Indeed, this issue was so important that the interviewer asked it TWICE because Harris laughing it off as a ridiculous proposition wasn't what the interviewer wanted.
And now under Trump, we have the same media tilting the field heavily in favor of the dictator. Indeed, our host here is writing this very Substack because the FNYT pressured him to write things favorable to Donald Trump. So for Democrats to "get voters to notice" anything is going to take some combination of really extraordinary events. Like maybe the end of Social Security and Medicare. Voters might notice that.
So you're saying Prof Krugman didn't leave the NYT because they pressured him to write favorably about Trump? I have his columns here to back that up. And you have . . .?
Or maybe you're saying Harris's interview with NBC did not have that question? I have the video of that interview to back that up. And you have . . .?
So all I've seen from you is constant disgust with responses & denigrating the commenters.
Are you by any chance a paid Putin operative? A T**** endorsing pseudo-intellectual? Or simply a sad sack misanthrope?
Whichever (& it's bound to be at least one of those choices), you to this point are simply a valueless provocateur. If you have something of merit to add, please do so. Otherwise your time might be best spent on a therapist's couch.
That’s the Howard Lutnick who stopped the salary cheques for 700 of his employees two days after they were killed in the World Trade Center, isn’t it? Their dependants noticed pretty fast and he was shamed into taking a less disgusting approach.
Has the man developed Alzheimer’s Disease?
Alzheimer's? How about psychopathy?
A more convincing diagnosis…
Exactly
This is not Alzheimer's. His problem - the problem of the entire Oligarch class is the problem which gives them the capacity to (coupled with opportunity) become billionaires. It goes beyond greed. They truly cannot ever become satiated by any amount of wealth. They always want more. They have the money it takes to make more money. They despise the little people and want nothing to do with them. So I doubt he has ever had a conversation with one of the 'little people' who depend on the SS system they paid into their entire working life. We learned this lesson once after the Great Depression. It seems we will have to learn it again. There is no such thing as a stable democratic republic with an oligarchy around.
No empathy. It seems to disappear in inverse ratio to wealth.
Not a coincidence. It actually requires a lack of empathy to accumulate the kind of wealth these people have. Nobody earns a billion dollars. They do it on the backs of many others and their lack of empathy enables them to step on all those others.
Definitely on the backs of Amazon drivers. And we definitely know the issues at the warehouses. But now theyve fired the 2 Democrats working in the Warehouse case and will bring in yes men si no recourse for better work conditions and higher pay. If Costco can do…
Amazon flex drivers. I only know about flex.
Musk calls the recipients of social security "the Parasite class" -- even though most of those benefits are personal entitlements paid from taxes. But the REAL parasites -- the SuperParasites -- are Musk and his ilk, themselves.
America currently has 813 billionaires. How can a real democracy allow anyone to amass so much wealth from the work of others? Got by withholding fair payment to the many, for personal enrichment by the few? Who then use a tiny fraction of their wealth to buy corrupt politicians?
A political and economic system which enables such huge inequality, can only be built on psychopathy and sociopathy in the service of greed, and systematic lying to the uneducated.
Such a system has no capacity for empathy: except the empathy of billionaires for other billionaires.
Exactly. It's the "I've got mine " syndrome. As soon as many people climb up the social ladder. They become Republicans
It’s very difficult to accrue vast wealth if you have any empathy for others. At best, like Mackenzie Scott, you can give it away after you obtain it.
"We learned this lesson once after the Great Depression. It seems we will have to learn it again. There is no such thing as a stable democratic republic with an oligarchy around."
I'd even argue we had to learn it twice; the first class of oligarchs we had to cut down to size was the slave owners.
Technically, the U.S. has never had a revolution since the original one, but it's had two big readjustments in which an oligarch class that had gotten completely out of control was slapped down, one in the 1860s and one in the 1930s. In any number of other countries, those probably *would* have been literal revolutions; the U.S. was still able to handle the issue through normal channels instead. It would be nice if we were able to do that again, because we're way overdue for it.
Yes, indeed, I'd like to see an historic Great Detrumpification, commencing as soon as possible.
What all this says is that the priority for Democrats isn’t to pursue whatever you think is a better policy mix. It is to get voters to notice
Absolutely but the Democrats. With the exception of FDR, have never been good at getting people's attention. The Republicans' lies somehow are believed
I’m apparently unclear on the definition of revolution; it seems to me that the Civil War would certainly qualify, although it was obviously an unsuccessful revolution.
Howard Lutnick CRAWLED out of a special kind of sewer. A psychiatrist would have a field day just totalling his emotional disorders !
I can’t believe I’m coming to the seeming defense of this Putz, Lutnick, However Cantor Fitzgerald ultimately made good on Lutnick’s promises:
• The company distributed $45 million in bonuses to victims’ families by November 2001.
• Over the next five years, the firm gave 25% of its profits to the families, totaling $180 million.
• The company also paid for health insurance for the families for ten years
Of course one can always wonder whether Mr. Lutnick had any particular knowledge that kept him away from the office that fateful day.
He had to save face, or his company would have collapsed for lack of business. Bernie Madoff isn't really a good example to compare, but who would have done business with him if he wouldn't have ended up in prison?
There’s plenty of factually correct stuff to despise Lutnick for. One might ask why the heck he went from being fair to the less fortunate to killing them for greed?
Wait till his 94 yr. old mother-in-law gets ahold of him!
She’s female, as are a majority of seniors, and it’s easier for some politicians to dismiss their needs nowadays. It fits with the JD Vance view that post menopausal women no longer have any value, and with the persistent argument that men are better because they don’t need expensive obstetric care and live shorter lives on average. It’s really sad so many white women fell for such a direct threat to their well being when they voted in November.
I still hope she whacks Sputnik upside the head for bringing her into the mix.
Howard Lutnick’s mother died in 1978.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Lutnick
So, the job of keeping him real falls to his wife's mom.
True but did he ask him to speak for her?
Up-posting to get this more visibility:
Lutnick's mother wouldn't complain BECAUSE SHE'S DEAD.
https://www.nytimes.com/1978/02/21/archives/obituary-1-no-title.html
Hang on -- is she the one still getting Social Security?
Correct. She died young of lymphoma. Howard has also had lymphoma but he is in remission.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Lutnick
He was speaking about his mother in law.
I found it interesting that he just happened to take his daughter to school that day. I'm not saying it wasn't just a coincidence, only that it's interesting.
No doubt God spared him for a Purpose, just like he did with Trump. Or so he no doubt says.
Just my opinion but trumps trumped up assassination attempt was a blood capsule ONLY - no record of an injury to be found - classified of course. AND the ear..has very little blood !!!!!!!! Plus you do NO react and jump up raising your fist if you really expected someone just tried to KILL you - mr bone spurs would be UNDER the secret service men to sacrifice - shivering. No a poor marksman might have needed money so so badly for his family(paid in untraceable bit coin) ? he was willing to commit suicide ? I don't know for sure but I know for sure
I have always thought the attempt was staged. If it was real Secret Service would have hustled Trump offstage and made sure that he was safe. They would have ended the rally.
Yep they just happened to get the perfect camera shot with an American flag blowing behind him & his fist raised. Sureeeee.
I know for sure too. Hollywood with a real script for the ages….
We can be sure that a high power rifle bullet didn’t graze his ear, because his ear is still there. A shard of glass from the prompter, shattered by the bullet, might have done.
nope...just another example of his displayed malice but we can agree to disagree :)
You have convinced everyone! Bravo! 😉
Sure. And the Mueller report was nonsense too. Except that it was true. Filled with inconvenient facts. Trump and Co. are all as crooked as a dogs hind leg. That assassination attempt: something was off, not right, about it. Lots of things about it don't make sense. That's all I can say for sure. The truth will out, eventually.
Agree, TT. An innocent bystander was killed, remember.
Self reflexion
No...it fits logic :)
No, just a terminal case of Affluenza
Maybe Lutnick has developed Alzheimer’s disease, but he most assuredly has A$sh0le’s disease!
The lugnut is an asshole, that simple
Here's hoping...
figures don’t lie, but…
you know the rest.
No, he's the cause of it.
What's the connection between the 9/11 Saudi suicide plane pilots choosing the building Cantor Fitzgerald was in rather than say, refineries & storage tanks in the Houston ship channel? There's more to that story than meets the eye......
Nope. He just has no clue about how anyone else thinks or feels. He is morbidly rich and was probably raised that way.
What's the expression, something like a lie goes round the world before the truth gets its boots on. While you espouse the lie by implication. Lutnick did take care of the widows and orphans quite well sharing profits ensuring health care for 10 years, etc. It takes less than 5 minutes on Google to find this.
As I wrote in the original post, he did si only after he was shamed into doing so. An apology for calling me a liar would be nice.
Poor Trump voters are very much paying attention- to rightwing media. They do not know, and would not believe, the things you write because it's not what they see and hear daily. Anyone who does not understand this need only read/watch Fox News or Newsmax for a week.
Therein lies the real challenge for Dems. How to drown out reichwing media?
Go on a tour like Bernie and AOC. Use social media like Piker and others. The Demz know what to do—they just won’t because donor class. They’re elevating some ex-CIA, Reagan-worshipping skank as The New Star. Just primary the living fuck out of them. Clean house.
It would surprise me to learn that anyone who voted for the felon attended any of the AOC/Sanders rallies. Well… maybe a few, but in the felon-voter-anthropology studies I’ve seen, nearly all of them would cast their vote for the felon again, given a redo, even those who have been disappointed by many of his decisions. Krugman says “working-class voters supported Trump last year because they believed that he was on their side.” Yes, but it’s not the economic part that attracts them. It’s the racist part. Been that way since 1968, and Republicans have been gleefully exploiting it all that time. Democrats who think they can regain white working class votes by helping them economically simply don’t understand what they’re dealing with. White working class voters, 70% of them, will vote for the party that promises to continue the persecution of black Americans and other groups they don’t like, and to preserve the economic, legal, and political advantages of white Ameicans. No matter what it costs them.
To quote LBJ, "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
Rex, I am close to finishing my stack piece that essentially supports your insight. But there is I fear a more complex and darker aspect to why Republicans embrace Fascists across the board. Christo-Fascism and if you will the secular variant provide a means to deal with the inherint paranoia cited by Richard Hofstedder, but also the deep sense of aggrievement that justifies cruelty, virtually in the name of God and his agents on earth.
We tend to overlook the CIA mind control projects of the Cold War era as failed history. In fact I would propose that going from the use of induced mass psychosis from drugs in water supplies to the much more effective exploitation of the social media and good ‘ol “Elders of Zion” propaganda have been highly effective and are used widely by Fascist loving business and poltical leaders.
Just posted on the ties between Republican Fascism and Child Sexual Abuse:
https://olflawriduhcracker.substack.com/p/a37dfdaa-b98d-4951-ac8b-ea5f4d6f6fbf
Yes. Many things the dark side wants to do come into play, but none of it can be done without the enthusiastic support of 60% of white voters, 70% of white working class voters, and 80% of white evangelical voters.
Rex, sadly true. The dog-whistling will continue. The rage against DEI policies is only marginally about transgender idiocy; it’s much more against any help going to blacks and Latinos (& women), and the sooner the Democrats wise up, the better. Having said that, the Prof’s article (his best ever) DOES offer even a closet racist white working class voter an excuse to ditch Trump. When it comes to his own financial interests versus keeping down all those minorities, self interest will prevail.
I’d like to think you’re right, but they doomed themselves on purpose in 1980 by electing a union buster, and they’ve stuck to their guns for 45 years, so I don’t see any reason for optimism. They can be outvoted, but it takes a monumental effort against very slim odds.
Whenever stories get enough buzz within the MSM, FOX News *will* eventually abandon the mute button for anything embarrassing to the GOP and wade in.
The trick is to create enough of a stink. Enough critical MSM mass on any given story.
This isn't chess, it's a barroom brawl as the good professor has pointed out.
Not even a bar brawl, this is war!
That analogy has me on the losing side. Ya always gotta ask: "You and what army?"
How are you on the losing side? Which side are you on? Please clarify.
WS ,
Democrats certainly need to do a better job of getting the message out . BUT - I believe a lot of voters did notice something about the Presidential election- and that unfortunately was : a black woman . This country hasn’t truly confronted the gender / race issue. Too many
voters were willing to elect a misogynistic
racist - ( and yes I know HC won the popular vote - but what counts ( also unfortunately) is the electoral college) .
Maybe people are tired of hearing about gender/ race issues so they search for other reasons t-Rump won like low information voters
concerned about kitchen table issues. Fine
- but my point is that too many haven’t evolved
from the Stone Age they came from .
Unfortunately, I think you're right.
I don't think you accounted for Elon's and Russia's activities.
https://electiontruthalliance.org/
So, that was the convo that fElon & Pootie were having based upon 2016 foreign election interference & what made it so successful?
Maybe when they lose Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, or business due to the damage trump and the Republicans are doing, the truth might start to break through.
This is largely what the much maligned Ragin’ Cajun, James Carville was calling for. The problem with this is that while Social Security is chump change for a lot of 10%ers it is a matter of whether my meal will come from a dog can for this Veteran.
But you know, there are even more Trumpers who too will be chomping dog food with me, so that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make if that’s what it takes to break the MAGA fever.
Thanks for the ( dark humor) laugh.
If social security goes down things will get real dark real fast. Think eighty year old street people begging on every street corner, bodies on the sidewalk...oh, and the health care network will collapse if Medicare and Medicaid go down.
Lindy K thinks I was kidding about dogfood. She must be in the 10 %
They haven’t for 40 years, hence our dilemma
They auto-propagandize. They are drawn to people saying the things they want to hear... It makes them impervious to the things they don't want to hear. It will likely take the great shock of losing their Social Security payments and healthcare to get them to listen to anyone else. When they cannot afford food or gas, they will come around - but it will be too late. We'll be headed into the tRumppression.
I think mockery (which is most of what I see on Fox) makes low IQ people feel powerful. Smart people find it a lazy form of expression
Right on point. Many friends and family members of mine--good people--are in that tunnel such that basic facts (Was the event at the Capitol on Jan 6, 2021, violent?) are ignored or contested. Partisan media sources (cable TV, talk radio, internet) have largely taken over as a source of news. People who watch Fox/Newsmax don't understand they're being jerked around. They're not informed. They're just mad
Those Faux News watchers don't even know about the $748 million settlement.
For a week? How about thirty minutes. When friends tell me they watch Fox or follow the agitprop spewed by the Fascist Right Noise Machine I share the quote from Gore Vidal “If a pot of soup is bad I don’t need to consume the whole pot, a spoonful is more than enough.”
I've tried and cannot endure it. It feels like I imagine I'd feel drinking piss
I tried a few years ag. Couldn't stomach it.
Urine is very clean in a pathogenic sense. The salts are detrimental. Evaporation and water collection via a sheet of plastic and a rock can render it lifesaving.
Similar effort is required to extract value from Fox
That's funny! I'm trying to work out how Hannity will be positioned, on the sheet or under it?
I love this conversation.
Thank goodness for your imagination. Often it is left out by others making a similar comment.
Not just what they want, but more of what they have achieved as a reality. Let me suggest that the “real” number of the base, Trumpers/MAGA types is likely around 30 to 37%, but when registered Dems in this last election decided to punish Harris over Gaza or they felt the process to dump Biden and sub Harris, they engaged in another leftist circular firing squad.
Democrats must settle on politics as the art of seeking agreement on what matters and leave the idea that we must be perfect or take the ball and go home…
I doubt it... there was too much at stake. I think Elon and Russia tabulated it "their" way.
https://electiontruthalliance.org/
and Im sure Trump has plans for tiktok, lots of low information voters there
Yeah, whatever happened to shutting it down or an American buying it?
he said he would reevaluate the situation which basically means he wants to see whats in it for him
One of his campaign donors has a stake in China-based ByteDance, which owns TikTok.
This point may be the central problem of our time. Right wing media is the preponderant narrative of almost all rural areas and suffocates factual information in Red States. They are adept at selling grievance and speak directly to the working class in language they understand that unfortunately abuses a lack of critical thinking and grossly spews misinformation. They have monopolized the media in general and set the parameters of almost every political narrative. Simply put you are spot on that liberal talking points are simply not penetrating that market. The base of the Republican Party live in one misinformed world closed to factual reporting while the left argues with itself, unable to penetrate the right’s media dominance to even inform the working class. It’s astoundingly ironic in this age of instant communication all over the world that 30% of the US electorate are literally unable to receive unbiased journalism. Until this is rectified Krugman will be able to write this column over and over ad infinitum.
I don’t think my stomach could handle it and my wife would quickly tire of my vocal responses and change to another channel.
you are totally right. When I cited news from NewYork Times and Washington Post for them, they just asked me ‘have you actually witnessed these events’???Wtf???
They don’t consider NYT or WaPo to be news sources. They’re “leftist rags.”
If Fox reports news they dont want to know, they would regard it as ‘left rags’ or ‘fake news’.
They live in an alternate reality.
It's amazing actually to see how easy it is to dismantle the state. The decades & centuries worth of progress can be reverted in a matter of weeks & months. All you need is a bunch of crazy fanatics who have no regard of society and are hell bent on imposing their will on the world.
Even more amazing is that Project 2025 telegraphed it far enough in advance that it shouldn't have happened. It's downright astounding.
Trump before election - I don't have anything to do with Project 2025
Along with all his other blatant lies.
Canvassers listened to people’s issues and talked again and again about Project 2025 and what Harris wanted to do for them. They didn’t care and didn’t believe it could happen, especially after the media let Trump off the hook when he made his “denial.” And now his whole admin is being run by the 2025 playbook.
The abundance of information available, including tons of BS and generous amounts of lunacy, makes it hard for the uneducated to pick out what’s real and what’s not. People seem to default to whatever sounds appealing, and unfortunately that’s where Democrats have failed. It’s not what policies you promise, it’s whether they trust you to deliver—and Democrats have promised a lot that they couldn’t deliver. People voted for Trump assuming he couldn’t/wouldn’t do Project 2025.
It's not that they couldn't deliver, it's that they couldn't communicate effectively. They haven't mastered the bumper sticker slogans that the uneducated rely on.
Legacy media spent a lot more effort "sane washing" trump than doing a deep analysis and focusing on Project 2025 throughout the election cycle. Why did anyone believe trump when he denied anything to do with Project 2025?
I dont think it would have mattered much, a lot of people were getting their news from tiktok and youtube... thats where the uneducated go for their "news"
And Faux Newspeak, and SnoozeMax, etc. Reichwing media at it's finest.
And that's why we call it "lamestream media".
Much of it is malicious, but it’s hardly lame.
I believe you're referring to the likes of Faux News, rather than the "legacy" media that MysticShadow is talking about. If that's the case, then IMHO it's both malicious and lame. "Legacy" media with it's "sanewashing" and playing down of the Orange Misfit's criminal behavior is just plain lame.
Rupert lied non-stop. Fools, ignorant, stupid, and haters had their ears plugged to Dem warnings.
I have a funny feeling they're going to start listening now. At least some of them anyway. Not the hardcore MAGAnuts, they're fully indoctrinated into the cult.
Democracy exhibits vulnerability in the face of dictatorship because people often become infatuated with a charismatic leader who can sway public opinion.
Keep suing FOX for every lie.
Yeah Sanjeev, a few magatons here and a few magatons there can really alter the landscape.
Often overlooked is that Soc Sec is a monthly stimulus check that keeps the economy booming. People on SS don't stash gold coins away for a rainy day; instead they flood Walmart and every other store with BUY orders, plus they feed the landlords and make payments on all kinds of stuff and if there's anything left over they send a little to grand kids or charities. Disappear the monthly SS check and we'll be in a recession within 30 days, a depression in 90 days.
Excellent point and is a good example of why the multiplier effect of low income households is high.
The Law of Unintended Consequences is lurking in an alley, waiting for Trumsk and Lutnik to walk by.
Amen to that. The economic engine of this nation would come to a halt.
Golden goose anyone?
Aside from the despicable assumptions Lutnick imposes on his MIL, that old ladies are too nice to complain, Lutnick's MIL wouldn't be able to complain even if she wanted to. The staff cuts and wait times for calls have put up impediments to getting help.
This old lady won't be nice if my payment doesn't come through. 😡
The only fraudster is Lutnick himself. Hands off our Social Security!
Lutnick isn't the only fraudster; trump, convicted of 34 counts of fraud, is the mother of all fraudsters, the right-wing is chock-full of fraudsters.
So true. They're all fraudsters, really. But King Pumpkinhead pulled off the biggest con of all time for sure.
...and have you wondered if he has missed the deadline to appeal the E. Jean Carroll cases? And if he did, when does he finally pay the assessed fines (he's been given much more money lately, so he could easily pay them instead of accruing more interest).
I am fortunate that I do not rely on my SS payments each month. But tell you what, if mine didn't arrive, I would be raising bloody holy hell. And I am not a fraudster, you idiot Lutnick. I'm sure your MIL has plenty of resource, and if not, maybe you can help her out.
mentally deranged .... could you imagine having to be around that much toxic psychosis in a day....so so so so so creepy AND in control. The Deplorables
If we get stiffed out of our payments, we need to stop paying taxes. Period.
If you get stiffed out of payments you won't have an income to pay taxes on
Looks like they can take money out of your bank account if they think you owe them.
Like a missile Jan. The only line that comes to mind, "Go ahead, make my day."
The GOP Congress is complicit. They are the enablers. Trump does not stand alone.
Fact is, they created a machine to maintain minority rule, and Trump took it over. They caught the car. Oops...nuclear war.
Yeah, he was a Democrat for years.
It's an uphill battle against the TV supported TV actor President and his criminal followers. That is the bottom line.
Ever been to Boston, Thomas?
Yes actually. Weekend trip to Harvard library once with boss. Car was broken into and briefcase with original patents stolen. Brookline.
Yeah, it's not all, Cabot's and Lodge's. Anyway, some hilly battle topography, the odds were slim going in, but we made it with a little help from our friends.
Actually, mocking is one of the best strategies for dealing with him.
And so emotionally satisfying.
And just plain fun:-)
then logic explains that your replies are useless energy too :)
This is a wonderful article, especially since I hear the same argument (i.e. moving towards the "center" which means moving to the right being necessary to win elections) at home, even if time and time it has been proven wrong. The trick is not to drop support for minorities or whatever, but to make people realize that the rights granted to minorities are just the necessary and desirable flip side of rights granted to them, and that is not something you can do quietly and politely when the other side is doing their best to drown you out. Thank you again for spelling it out.
Probably, but do you feel that many people have read that recently (except your president as a kind of todo list for things yet to dismantle)? In any case, after reading a lot of stuff about the necessity of appeasement here on substack (and in the press at home, because some discussions are contagious) it just felt good to read this. Bear with me while I breathe a tiny sigh of relief, I don't mean any harm.
You're not alone. There are many of us who feel the same way. Shifting to the "center" is exactly what the Democrats have gotten wrong for the last forty five years.
Johnny Carson used to call it the edge of wetness. Eike, you are a master of the edge of sardonicism.
I have been amazed at how many lower and working class voters supported Trump. But then I saw a literacy statistic for US citizens. It is shocking. Approximately 30% of the adult US population is either totally or partially illiterate. That number seems to correlate fairly well with Trumps base, although his support is slightly higher. The education system in the US is failing its citizens and leading them to be unable to discern fact from fiction. Until that is resolved-which it won’t be anytime soon-I can’t see any brighter future for the US.
https://www.nbcnews.com/data-graphics/survey-growing-number-us-adults-lack-literacy-skills-rcna183498
So true. And it explains how the Con Artist in Chief could get away with saying "I love uneducated people!" - and they didn't realize that what he really meant was that, like all con artists, he loves an easy mark. His most rabid voters don't grasp that he has nothing but contempt for them.
100% agree with you and would add, it appears that the GOP is actually pushing for an uneducated voter population. How else to make sense of the movement to ban books in libraries; stressing the value of blue collar jobs vs. getting a college education; and attacking colleges and universities and their presidents? The rhetoric is we want a nation of exceptionalism based on merit vs. DEI but actions are contrary to rhetoric.
We need to be careful with the merit thing. Personally, I believe we need a society that takes care of everyone - a basic minimum income, food, housing, health care, the basic necessities of life, basic dignity.
Pursuing higher education and a higher calling should be available - and optional - for those ready willing and able to pursue it. Merit should be rewarded, but not mandated.
Yeah, he just loves all those easy marks. Makes him feel superior
And more important, it brings him wealth and power.
I work in healthcare and leading up to the election I was concerned at some of the things I was hearing from my staff... seemed most of them were getting their political information from tiktok and youtube and since many of them live in multigenerational housing the misinformation spread fast, and stuck.
You can't force people to enjoy academics. Literacy isn't the problem it is what and who has the electorate's attention. Celebrities, tv series, sports, talk shows, cooking, games....
Most people don't want to do science, history, politics, economics.
The message needs to be concise, compelling and constant and embedded where the majority of voters are.
I think there is a big difference between academics and the ability to read at a level that provides true comprehension of what you’re reading. People being shocked to lose their ACA when they thought the govt was just going to cut Obamacare is one example. They’re too illiterate to know the difference. Until people can discern fact from fiction by being able to read with comprehension, the US will stay in a very dark place. But yes, celebrity worship doesn’t help.
Hey Paul. Regarding Lutnick, I highly recommend watching his recent podcast feature, where the "All-In Podcast" lets him ramble on about his goals as Commerce Secretary. It is one of the rare moments where we citizens are able to listen to a cabinet member's intellectual beliefs and how shockingly misinformed and unchallenged his takes on government spending in GDP, trade deficits, and China are. I would love to see an eloquent rebuttal from you on this substack. This administration's pseudo-intellectuals cannot go unchallenged!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=182ckTL2KBA&t=4870s
Lutnick is a blowhard! So full of himself! I could barely make it through the video😡
Just out of curiosity, did you find any specific details that bothered you? For me its his trade deficit-phobia, where he does not understand the general welfare importing a variety of products from other countries brings to Americans. I think this is right up paul's alley as a international trade expert. I really want to see a reaction video of paul to this podcast haha
His misrepresentation of how the government could handle the GDP situation, in particular, irked me. And his trade deficit phobia too, of course! Not to mention his adoration of tRump and his billionaire side kick who are intentionally trying to destroy the foundation of this country. 😡
Do you REALLY think he believes his own bs? I haven't researched Cantor-Fitzgerald, but I highly doubt it would be so lucrative if it wouldn't have profited from the offshoring of the past 40 years, too.
This phenomenon of people voting against their own interests is not new. Thomas Frank wrote about it in "What's The Matter With Kansas?" (2004). It's just that it has increased over the years, thanks, no doubt, to the explosion of right-wing media and the erosion of critical thinking among people in general. The dismantling of public education by the current regime as part of Project 2025 will make it even worse. **Loved the video--that family is brilliant!!!**
The science of manipulation has been turbocharged by social media.
The trump campaign utilized it with Cambridge Analytics, using Facebook advertising algorithms to reach people likely to buy the horse shit. It worked
They take a swig of Kool-Aid and chase it down with a can of Schlitz.
No-one wants to say, 'I told you so' but...
MuskTrump won't cut SS, instead they will make it harder to access. Raising the barrier to entry by making it harder to register, lodge claims, change details etc will mean some people, the most needy a d dependent on SS, will give up and may find other means to make ends meet legal or otherwise - like charity, family (if they have any to lean on) and friends. Some may be driven to homelessness. The cost transfer will be entirely to the community which is a kind of tax. Nothing short of awful.
Yes, I think you're right. The elderly who don't have family to take care of them will be particularly vulnerable. My mother in her last few years wouldn't have been able to navigate the new rules.
They will also do nothing to shore up the upcoming depletion of the fund and cuts in benefits.
That Democratic leaders aren't loudly expressing outrage over Social Security and enabling wealthy tax cheats tells you all you need to know about the current state of the party.
That they allowed the cut to Biden's efforts to go after wealthy tax cheats should have been a major clue.
Not to mention allowing passage of a hostile CR.
They didn't have much choice. There would have been even worse consequences if the govt. shut down, allowing all cuts with no pushback whatsoever, and no way to get things going again.
That's true as far as that goes, but they had the political capital to do it. The GOP would have (rightfully) taken all the blame for it. Now we're still getting the cuts, and the pushback is weak.
There's a perception that Democrats won't fight. They'll just roll over and tuck their tails between their legs like they've always done. That's a perception both amongst the electorate and in D.C. itself. There's also a perception that the reason for it is that's what their Wall St. and K St. patrons want, the people be damned.
This is an issue where Democrats could win popular support, but they don't want to offend their wealthy donors who would rather talk about race and gender in abstract (think language police).
FAIRNESS would go over well. Why do billionaires not pay taxes? If Elon and Donald paid the max tax, what would that add?
Not enough to make a difference to SS, Medicare or Medicaid...but its an issue of FAIRNESS that magas understand.
Perhaps if you are only talking about income tax, but removing the cap on Social Security tax would make SS a lot more solvent.
They are still stunned and powerless. Get a clue. But time to raise HELL
"[T]hey thought they were voting for lower grocery prices, not an assault on Social Security."
When the country slides into The Second Great Depression, grocery prices will come down dramatically. But those voters still won't be able to afford eggs because they'll have no income!
Much the same way I got a massive tax cut when George W. Bush was president. My federal income tax fell to zero because, having lost my job, I had no income.
I'm curious what Paul Krugman thinks about the possibility of a deflationary depression, similar to what the world experienced in the 1930s. Everyone has been talking about inflation, but when people lose their spending power due to layoffs, etc., companies might react to that by lowering prices. And then more people are laid off because of lower revenues, and then prices are lowered even further. I'm also curious if these clowns who are now running things understand this possibility, and if they're somehow trying to capitalize on deflation. Or does that give them way too much credit? And are they actually completely unaware of any of the potential ripple effects of their actions? And will a lot of it snap back in their faces? I tend to think absolutely no one knows where all of this is headed.
At this stage, anything is possible. On the one hand, they might indeed be completely oblivious to the destruction they're unleashing. On the other, it's entirely possible they're fully aware of it, and have a plan to plunder the spoils.
I suspect the very same room may from time to time contain both the completely oblivious and the vety much not oblivious, in close proximity.
That's almost certainly the case.
As far as "getting voters to notice" goes, that's more than a bit problematic because the entire media environment is rigged against Democrats. Recall that one of the main complaints from undecided voters was that they "didn't know what Harris would do as president." Some of this was because of her initial refusal to grant interviews with mainstream media.
HOWEVER . . . the first major media interview she did was with NBC Nightly News, and the interviewer's main question was . . . "Would you consider pardoning Donald Trump?" Indeed, this issue was so important that the interviewer asked it TWICE because Harris laughing it off as a ridiculous proposition wasn't what the interviewer wanted.
And now under Trump, we have the same media tilting the field heavily in favor of the dictator. Indeed, our host here is writing this very Substack because the FNYT pressured him to write things favorable to Donald Trump. So for Democrats to "get voters to notice" anything is going to take some combination of really extraordinary events. Like maybe the end of Social Security and Medicare. Voters might notice that.
So you're saying Prof Krugman didn't leave the NYT because they pressured him to write favorably about Trump? I have his columns here to back that up. And you have . . .?
Or maybe you're saying Harris's interview with NBC did not have that question? I have the video of that interview to back that up. And you have . . .?
So all I've seen from you is constant disgust with responses & denigrating the commenters.
Are you by any chance a paid Putin operative? A T**** endorsing pseudo-intellectual? Or simply a sad sack misanthrope?
Whichever (& it's bound to be at least one of those choices), you to this point are simply a valueless provocateur. If you have something of merit to add, please do so. Otherwise your time might be best spent on a therapist's couch.
trolling I think of beyond miserable...friend of Lutnick ??
trolling are we ?? :)