Month: August 2024

RFK, Jr. – Can you do the hustle?

by Dave

Some things you just can’t make up! I wrote about RFJ, Jr. in 2023:

Robert Kennedy, Jr.

Everything I said then, is even more true. He is intelligent and intense, but somehow his brain got locked into giant conspiracy theories, mixed in with an attack on all vaccines. But, he fell into the deep sink hole of connecting dots that really don’t exist.

He should be with other climate activists, promoting a more green planet and working for our transition to renewable fuels. You won’t see RFK, Jr. at any Earth Day celebrations.

https://www.rescue.org/uk/article/12-climate-activists-inspiring-us-fight-climate-change

He’s busy podcasting deep state conspiracies. Here is an excerpt from his 2020 book. “The deep state is real… The real power behind the curtain is a conglomeration of corporations, coal, oil, chemical, steel, and pharmaceutical – recently joined by telecom, Big Tech/ Big Data.”

Wow. The “Big Everything Conspiracy.” Seem to work for Trump, who wants everyone to believe that the Biden administration can manipulate the FBI and Justice Department, and our entire legal system, including municipal and State district attorneys grand juries and trial juries, to indict him on election interference, illegal possession of classified documents, hush money payments and defamation.

RFK, Jr. can talk all he wants about how government caters to the corporate elites as long as it is confined to the Democrats. He can do the Steve Bannon hustle all he wants. Just keep repeating “Biden-Harris” as the culprits. Never the Republicans.
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Of course, Trump and the Republican Party is and has been in his prior term very supportive of the coal and oil industry. Trump’s cabinet was a gift to the fossil fuels industry. And of course, the cabinet couldn’t care less about carbon emissions, and tried to downplay the effects, like increased forest fires in California.

Trump’s first Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, had been the CEO of Exxon-Mobil for 10 years. Trump’s first Secretary of Energy was Rick Perry, who had been Governor of Texas for 15 years, who supported the US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Change Accords.

Energy Secretary Rick Perry (per the NY Times)

Energy secretary, Mr. Perry oversaw a sharp increase in the production of fossil fuels, particularly liquefied natural gas, and promoted it with a patriotic fervor — even dubbing the fossil fuel “freedom gas” and likening its export to Europe to the United States efforts to liberate the continent during World War II.

“The United States is again delivering a form of freedom to the European continent,” Mr. Perry told reporters in Brussels in May, according to Euractiv.com. “And rather than in the form of young American soldiers,” Mr. Perry said, “it’s in the form of liquefied natural gas.”

Rick Perry became entangled in the Ukraine scandal, and many feel this was the reason for his early departure from the Trump administration.

Ryan Zinke, Trump’s Secretary of Interior, is usually a champion of protected our national parks. Zinke went just opposite way, and wanted to shrink the size of some of the mid-western parks. Per Wikipedia,

In August 2018, Zinke said that “environmental terrorist groups” were to blame for the wildfires in California, and that they had “nothing to do with climate change”. Fire scientists and forestry experts rejected that claim, attributing the increasingly destructive wildfires to heat and drought caused by climate change.[134] Later that month, Zinke walked back some of his earlier remarks, acknowledging that climate change played a part in the fires.[135] He also said that preventing removal of dead trees has increased the amount of flammable material and hurt timber salvaging.[136]

Worse of all, came from the Environmental Protection Agency, under the leadership (attack dog) of Scott Pruitt, who was able to rolled back as many of the environmental programs as possible, including regulations designed to keep pesticides out of our drinking waters, in the name of cutting bureaucratic red tape and saving taxpayer money. The Biden administration restored many of these programs.

See NY Times article: The Trump Administration Rolled Back More Than 100 Environmental Rules. Here’s the Full List.

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RFK Jr. had his chance to work with climate change activists years ago. He latched onto the anti-vaxxers and their misinformation campaign, through the Children’s Health Defense organization.

Wikipedia states: Children’s Health Defense (CHD) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit activist group mainly known for anti-vaccine disinformation, and which has been called one of the main sources of misinformation on vaccines.

Children’s Health Defense

CHD is on track to sue more media organizations than Trump including Facebook, BBC, AP and Reuters for censorship of their views. Like Trump’s lawsuits, when they lose the case, they appeal the decision.

It is all part of the political hustle. I really feel badly for parents who bought into all RFK Jr. rhetoric and have not vaccinated their children. Right now, the parents in the embattled Gaza strip are begging for polio vaccines for their children. The polio virus is a monster, but the vaccine works.

Part of Harris’ campaign is “We are not going back!” She’s right.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Harris’ subtle impact- Election is Closer than Ever

by Dave


The election occurs on November 5, and I can say with 100% certainty, either Trump or Harris will be our next president. It will be a nail biter to see who receives more than 270 electoral votes (EV’s) to win the election. Please disregard anyone who says it will be a landslide victory for either candidate!

I base my conclusions on the latest consensus map from the website, 270towin.com. Toss up states decide elections. Right now, there are seven toss ups totaling 93 EV’s. Each candidate must win a few of them to get over 270 EV’s.

Harris’ entry into the race is just now showing up on these maps. The July consensus map showed Trump had an edge, with North Carolina leaning Republican. Now, it is one of seven toss up states. Earlier maps with Biden had Arizona and Georgia leaning Republicans, now both are in the toss up category. These 3 states total 43 electoral votes. (NC = 16, GA = 16. AZ = 11).

Trump has also gained, as earlier maps had Michigan, (EV = 15) as a lean Democrat, and now it is definitely in the toss up camp. Some of these earlier maps with a Trump-Biden race had just 3 toss-up states, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Nevada.

My takeaway is that we have a more uncertain race. The polling in these seven states is just too close to call. Forecasters typically look at other data, like the mid-term elections, and demographics for some guidance.

Forecasters suggested before the Democratic convention, that Harris might receive a boost in the polls, but it would take time to complete polling surveys. I think the boost is there, but time will tell if it is just a “sugar high” or Kamala Karma playing out. I’ll leave that one to the commentators.

One election pundit had it right. “Election forecasting is an open invitation to be wrong, yet they continue to do it.” The consensus answer to the obvious question, “Who will win?” is a resounding “I don’t know.” The predictability of the 2024 election started out bad, and it has gotten worse.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Nicaragua – and the authoritarian Ortega-Murillo regime

by Dave

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend” Ancient proverb

It was in the news recently, that Nicaragua has recognized Afghanistan, run by the Taliban. Their ambassador is Michael Campbell. It was announced by their Vice President, Rosario Murillo. The only other country to appoint an ambassador to Afghanistan is China.

It was weird. For all it’s human rights violations, Nicaragua is highly supportive of women’s rights, while Afghanistan under the Taliban with their autocratic, radical islamic edicts ignores women’s rights. First, Afghanistan:

Among the dozens of gender-based decrees imposed by the Taliban emir, Hibatullah Akhundzada, some of the most damaging have been edicts banning women and girls from attending public secondary schools and universities. Women have also been impeded from working for the UN and NGOs [Non Government Agencies], while other rulings have blocked them from going to parks, public baths, gyms and beauty salons.

Every year that goes by, young women are deprived of basic education. Compare this with Nicaragua (from Wikipedia):

When it comes to gender equality in Latin America, Nicaragua ranks high amongst the other countries in the region.[1] When it came to global rankings regarding gender equality, the World Economic Forum ranked Nicaragua at number twelve in 2015, while in 2016 it ranked tenth, and in 2017 the country ranked sixth.[1] Nicaragua was amongst the many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which aimed to promote women’s rights.[2]

The announcement was not made by Daniel Ortega, but his wife Rosario Murillo, who was elected vice president in 2017. Many suspect she is running the show right now.

See link: Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega establishes diplomatic ties with the Taliban

The link below from El Pais, gives further insight on the communality of these two very different countries, which is the goal of absolute control of the populace. In Nicaragua, the continuance of Ortega-Murillo will depend on the full repression of any dissent. So, in both Afghanistan and Nicaragua, the people can hear only what the government wants them to hear. The reality on the ground is very different.

See link: A ‘tropicalized Taliban regime’ and a family succession plan underway: Ortega and Murillo radicalize repression in Nicaragua

President Daniel Ortega has ruled Nicaragua since 2006. He is 78 years old. As explained in the above link, “All signs indicate that Laureano Ortega Murillo, the opera-loving son of the presidential couple, is next in line.”

I think we’ve seen this before. Or at least similar in North Korea, as Kim Jung II died in 2011, and his son, Kim Jung Un became president for life.

Per Wikipedia:

Since Daniel Ortega’s election in 2006, liberal democratic norms and individual rights in practice have deteriorated. Parties other than the ruling FSLN have been repressed through arbitrary arrest and detention of opposition candidates and activists. Most government jobs de facto require membership in the FSLN. Opposition media has been repressed through arrests of journalists and seizure of broadcasting and printing materials.

On Aug 22, Nicaragua again went totally counter their best interest (or at least the interest of their people) and closed the US Chamber of Commerce and 150 other organizations.

Per link below: “On Monday, Ortega decreed that 1,500 organizations, mostly religious and including churches, be closed. Officially, the government said they had not correctly reported their financial statements to the government.”

Another excellent quote from this new story: “They’re shooting themselves in the foot with a shotgun,” he said, noting that the government is reducing public spending and now will lose the jobs those organizations created.

See link: Nicaragua closes US Chamber of Commerce and 150 other organizations

I would call it, self inflected wounds, to shut down organizations which really give assistance to the needy, plus improve the economy in general. Agricultural trade, mainly coffee, and tourism drives the Nicaraguan economy. So, shutting down these organization which help develop the country at a local level, makes no sense, unless the aim is to control everything (and everybody) from Managua.

So, Nicaragua in many ways will follow the model of Afghanistan, Cuba, Belarus, Iran, Russia , North Korea and China, which are designed to help only the rulers, or the party in charge, not the people.

Stay tuned,

Dave

The Hush Money case and 3 others

by Dave

The sentencing of Donald Trump in the hush money case will occur on September 18, 2024. He was originally scheduled to be sentenced on July 11, 2024. This was put off until September 18 after the Supreme Court ruled on Presidential Immunity. The charges against him are falsification of business records, and Judge Merchan could sentence him to prison time for these offenses. But, immediately after sentencing, Trump’s lawyers will appeal and ask for a stay while the appeal is pending. It is expected that the Judge will grant the stay, so nothing will happen until after the election.

See link: https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-prison-felony-hush-money-conviction-experts-split/story?id=111059073

Judge Aileen Cannon granted a pre-trial motion on July 15, 2024 and dismissed the Classified Documents case. She opined that prosecutor Jack Smith had been unlawfully appointed. AG Merrick Garland definitely disagrees, and will appeal the decision.

See link: https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/15/politics/classified-documents-case-trump-dismissed-aileen-cannon

I will add, that much of Judge Cannon’s order to dismiss, was based on a concurring opinion by Judge Thomas in the Presidential immunity case. But, Judge Thomas was not commenting on the decision to grant partial immunity or any issues raised by either the Justice Department or Trump. What he wrote about was the legality of the special counsel office, and it wasn’t the proper way the Supreme Court is supposed to act. They are supposed to wait for cases to come before them, not render an opinion on an issue, yet to be heard by the court.

The other federal criminal case, is the January 6 election interference case. The Supreme Court’s decision granting Presidential immunity to official acts, did not dismiss the case, but certainly pushed back the timetable. A hearing is scheduled on September 5 concerning the charges and admissibility of evidence based on the Supreme Courts decision.

See link: https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/08/politics/special-counsel-trump-election-case-delay/index.html

The last case, is the Georgia election obstruction case, is based on RICO statutes. News of AG Willis and Attorney Wade’s relationship and subsequent hearings resulted in Attorney Wade’s being forced to resign. It wasn’t exactly what Trump and the other plaintiffs wanted, so the decision has been appealed. A decision is not expected until next year, and then this decision could be appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court. So, it is definitely stalled out way beyond the election.

See link: https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-fani-willis-georgia-election-indictment-cd810f67a76dc4c64ec3ee64749bf897

So, Trump’s team with the help of conservatives on the Supreme Court and a biased Judge Cannon (in my opinion), the final judgements will wait until after the election. Should Donald Trump win the election, in short order, he will close down the special counsel’s office, and the pending federal charges will simply disappear.

I don’t want to see this happen. Everyone is treated equally under the law. No exceptions.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Truth matters

by Dave

So many lies out there, it is getting difficult to list them. So I selected 4 big lies, dealing with job growth, fentanyl from Mexico, Russia invasion of Ukraine, and Harris’ role in stopping illegal immigration.

If you listen to Fox News, even for 5 minutes, in the evening hours, you will likely hear one of these lies, the most popular seems to be Harris was named border czar by Biden. Just didn’t happen.

1. TRUMP: “MASSIVE SCANDAL! The Harris-Biden Administration has been caught fraudulently manipulating Job Statistics to hide the true extent of the Economic Ruin they have inflicted upon America. New Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the Administration PADDED THE NUMBERS with an extra 818,000 Jobs that DO NOT EXIST, AND NEVER DID.” (Trump, Truth Social, Aug 21, then later at an event Aug. 22 in Cochise County, Arizona).

PANTS ON FIRE (Politifact): On Aug. 21, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics announced an annual “benchmarking” adjustment based on a sweep of state-based unemployment insurance data. This is considered more precise than the employer-based data the agency uses to assemble its closely watched monthly employment reports.

2. TRUMP: “We’re losing 300,000 people a year to fentanyl that comes through our border. We had it down to the lowest number and now it’s worse than it’s ever been.”

PANTS ON FIRE (Politifact): Trump’s figures appear to have no basis in fact. Government statistics show the number of drug overdose deaths per year is hovering around 100,000 to 110,000, with opioid-related deaths at about 81,000. Moreover, though the number of opioid deaths has risen since Trump left office, it’s incorrect to claim they were the “lowest” while he was president.

We will be following up this with a blog on the fentanyl epidemic. It is not being brought across the border by illegal immigrants, but by vehicles, legally crossing the border every day.

3. TRUMP: When ever asked about Ukraine, Trump goes into this rant about how it would never have happened if he was president. He has put the blame on Joe Biden and now on Kamala Harris.

Trump said in a speech in North Carolina: “Remember when Biden sent Kamala to Europe to stop the war in Ukraine. She met with Putin, and then three days later, he attacked. How did she do? Do you think she did a good job? She met with Putin to tell him, ‘Don’t do it.’ And three days later, he attacked; that’s when the attack started. Did you know that, General?”

FALSE (CNN Facts first): Harris has never met with Putin. In reality, she met with US allies, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, at the Munich Security Conference in the days before Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Putin was not at the conference.

“Frankly speaking, I cannot recall a single contact between President Putin and Mrs. Harris,” a Kremlin spokesperson said last month, according to a state-owned Russian news agency.

The Biden administration was still trying to deter an invasion of Ukraine at the time of Harris’ 2022 trip to the conference in Germany, but top administration officials, including President Joe Biden himself, made clear that they believed Putin was already moving toward invading. As Harris was on her way to Germany, Biden told reporters that he thought a Russian attack “will happen in the next several days.”

CNN reported on the day the Munich conference began that a senior administration official said Harris had three key objectives: “Focus on the ‘fast-changing’ situation on the ground, maintain full alignment with partners and send a clear message to Russia that the US prefers diplomacy but is ready in case of Russian aggression.”

The Munich conference was held from February 18 to February 20, 2022; Russia began its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

4. TRUMP: President Joe Biden appointed “Kamala Harris to be his border czar to deal with illegal immigration … Harris was put in charge of stopping illegal immigration.”

MOSTLY FALSE (Politifact) : I would have considered this either false or pants on fire, because Biden did not put VP Kamala Harris in charge of stopping illegal immigration at the border. There was never a “border czar” named by the President. Border security and management is the Homeland Security secretary’s responsibility. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

In March 2021, President Joe Biden tasked Vice President Kamala Harris with working alongside officials in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras to address the issues driving people to leave those countries and come to the United States. The Biden-Harris administration said it would focus on five key issues: economic insecurity, corruption, human rights, criminal gang violence and gender-based violence.

Links:

Job Statistics: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2024/aug/23/donald-trump/donald-trumps-pants-on-fire-claim-that-biden-harri/

Fentanyl deaths: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2024/aug/16/donald-trump/trump-drastically-inflates-annual-fentanyl-death-n/

2022 Meeting with Putin: https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/21/politics/fact-check-trump-harris-putin-meeting-ukraine/index.html

Border czar: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2024/jul/24/republican-national-committee-republican/border-czar-kamala-harris-assigned-to-tackle-imm

I do not want to make light of the real opioid epidemic in the US. Just the “facts” coming from Donald Trump are untrue. If you built a 2000 mile wall at the southern border, the flow of opioids would be the same.

Fentanyl, its precursors and equipment – such as pill presses – used to make the drug often times enters the U.S. through common trade pathways, such as air cargo and express courier. And, fentanyl is easy to hide, so often it is carried through at the ports of entry by cars.

The last three problems, the fentanyl pouring into the US from Mexico and China, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and illegal immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala, are really global problems, and they require global solution.

Stay tuned,

Dave

John Kelly and Stefanie Grisham tell of the uncaring personality of Trump

by Dave

Trump loves Trump more than anything else. Those who worked in the White House have witnessed this narcissistic personality up close.

General John Kelly served as Donald Trump’s White House Chief of Staff from 2017 to 2019. Prior to this position, he was the Secretary of Homeland Security. He was easily confirmed, with a vote of 88-11, showing bipartisan support for Kelly. At the time, he was a retired US Marine Corp General, with an outstanding record. A short bio is given in the following Wikipedia link: John F. Kelly . In 2020, Kelly was quoted in an Atlantic article as follows:

“A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them,'” Kelly said of Trump. “A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’ A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family — for all Gold Star families — on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.”

See link: NBC News, Oct 2023, John Kelly confirms Trump privately disparaged U.S. service members and veterans

During the 2024 Biden-Trump debate, Trump denied making these statements.

Yesterday, another close ally of Trump, Stephanie Grisham, former White House Press Secretary, addressed the Democratic National Convention in support of candidate Kamala Harris. She was in many ways, Trump’s “defender/explainer” typically on Fox News and the conservative online website, Washington Examiner. See her bio from Wikipedia.

Her short presentation at the DNC last night, was from someone who had been in the room when the cameras were not rolling.

Stephanie Grisham, former WH Press Secretary

Selected quotes: “Behind closed doors, Trump mocks his supporters. He calls them basement dwellers.” Obviously, he knew he appealed to naïve or poorly informed voters, who would accept his lies.

“On a hospital visit when people were dying in the ICU, he was mad the cameras were not watching him.”

“He has no empathy, no morals and no fidelity to the truth.”

“Kamala Harris … has my vote.”

Just days prior to Grisham’s few minutes at the podium, Trump really did show his lack of empathy in his comments on the Medal of Honor:

Trump said the civilian award [Medal of Freedom] is “actually much better because everyone [who] gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, they’re soldiers. They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets, or they’re dead.” Speaking about Miriam Adelson, Trump said: “She gets it, and she’s a healthy, beautiful woman, and they’re rated equal, but she got the Presidential Medal of Freedom.”

Mariam Adelson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018. She and her husband were the largest donors of Trump throughout his presidency; they provided the largest donation to his 2016 campaign, his presidential inauguration, his defense fund against the Mueller investigation into Russian interference and the 2020 campaign.

Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), the largest veterans advocacy group in the U.S., criticized the statement on Friday. VFW National Commander Al Lipphardt said: “These asinine comments not only diminish the significance of our nation’s highest award for valor, but also crassly characterized the sacrifices of those who have risked their lives above and beyond the call of duty.”

So, you don’t have to accept John Kelly or Stephie Grisham statements. Trump has already confirmed his lack of empathy. His dishonesty is firmly established as fact checkers are tallying up his lies per minute everytime he speaks at a rally.

Representative Crockett added a bit of levity to the ceremonies, in her comparison of Harris’ and Trump’s resumes, as if the electorate had to decide which one to hire.

Representative Crockett

“Kamala Harris has a resume, Donald Trump has a rap sheet.”

And in 2024, MAGA means “Make attorneys get attorneys” with a long list of Trump’s legal advisors are being disbarred or have been indicted. Steve Bannon (not an attorney) goes on trial in September. And Donald Trump will be sentenced in September after the jury found him guilty in the hush money case. His sentence will likely be suspended pending an appeal.

Trump is not fit to be the next President of the United States. Kamala Harris is.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Don’t visit Russia

by Dave

I will not visit Russia. They are taking Americans and using them as trading pawns to allow the release of Russians in the US and the EU. This is Putin’s Russia. It’s a terrible shame.

Amateur ballerina Ksenia Karelina, a native of Russia, became a US Citizen in 2021. She was a dual US-Russian citizen, and her travel to Russia was perfectly legal. She just wanted to visit her family in Russia. She lives in Los Angeles. Ksenia arrived in Russia in January 2024 from Istanbul, Turkey and immediately was detained. It was discovered that she made a $51.80 contribution to Razom, a charitable agency which provides humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.

According to CBS reporting, as she was departing Istanbul, an odd encounter occurred when a Russian airline employee asked if she had any other passports. She produced her US Passport. This could have tipped off the Russians that a dual citizen was coming.

Link: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russian-american-ksenia-karelina-boyfriend-pleads-for-her-return/

On arrival in Russia, she was detained and a contribution to “Razom for Ukraine” was discovered from cellphone records.

Razom is the Ukrainian word for “together.” This agency provides only humanitarian aid to Ukraine. From their website, they note in 2022, their assistance included:

Packed and delivered over 90,000 first aid kits and over 2,000 medical backpacks, additionally, 50,000 tourniquets–the main life-saving tool–were delivered to medics. Razom has purchased nearly 400,000 tourniquets. We have delivered over 2,000 quadcopters for safe passage and evacuation. We sourced and serviced 69 cars for medics to use as ambulances. We have supplied over 14,000 radios and over 2,000 tablets to keep Ukrainians connected.

Razom is really like the Red Cross. It is involved in saving lives. It has never provided any military equipment.

Russia has bombed homes, apartments, schools and hospitals in Ukraine. The Russians have planted landmines throughout Ukraine. It is estimated that 1/3 of all arable land in areas of hostilities is mined. So, Ukraine is in desperate need of medical supplies.

Ksenia has been sentenced to 12 years in prison. She probably would not have been imprisoned if she was just a Russian citizen. Russia want to use her as a pawn in prisoner exchanges with the US or our European partners.

When I read this story of Ksenia imprisonment, I felt like so sad for her, because she did absolutely nothing wrong. As long as we have Putin, Russia isn’t a country I want to visit. The State Department considers Russia a level 4 risk – Do not visit.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Trump rally, North Carolina, August 14

by Dave

I happened upon Fox News, which announced that Trump was having a rally, yesterday, and the announcer was in North Carolina to follow Trump’s rally. She said his speech would be helped by a “terrifying” CPI report that had just been issued. It was weird, because the stock market was up that day.

They told me to talk about this. (Yes my handlers)

Trump went on stage, with his usually claims of how terrible the economy and only he could fix it. But, it was pretty weird intro:

“They say it’s the most important subject. I’m not sure it is, but they say it is the most important.”

So, he’s basically telling his audience the substance of his talk they can take it or leave it. Just go with the big theme, chant USA at every pause and everything will be ok.

Inflation

The “terrifying” CPI report on inflation was in fact, pretty good with a drop of 0.1% to 2.9%, which many analysts were suggesting that the Fed would cut rates, very slightly in September. Trump focused on the motor vehicle insurance index, which has increased by 19% over the last year.

Wall Street was not terrified. Actually they were pretty happy. The Dow Jones advanced 245 points or 0.61%, and it may be another good day today (Aug 15) based on the futures market. Are they missing something, Donald?

I haven’t really parsed through his speech. In an earlier Trump-Musk interview, Trump said, “I think we have the worst inflation we’ve had in 100 years. They say it’s 48 years, I don’t believe it,” he told Musk. Certainly not today, but in June 2022, inflation hit 9.1%. it was the highest since 1980. The real story is how fast inflation has dropped since then, as the current CPI is 2.9%. The Fed basically withdrew the stimulus required during the Covid-19 years and it worked.

This is typical politics. You hammer at your opponent when things are going bad, and zero credit, when things are improving.

Link: Fact check: Trump made at least 20 false claims in his conversation with Elon Musk

This stuff on inflation is pure Trumpism- if I can tell a small lie, how about an even bigger one. You will hear both Trump and J.D. Vance use the word “fake” a lot, when they are making up things!

We’re being ripped off big time and I am your savior

“Former president Donald Trump on Wednesday appeared to open the door to significantly expanding his plans to impose sweeping new tariffs if he returns to office, suggesting an escalation in proposals that many experts already see as likely to cause a global trade war.” Washington Post, Aug 15. This is an excerpt from a full story.

“We’re going to have 10 to 20 percent tariffs on foreign countries that have been ripping us off for years,” Trump said Wednesday. “We’re going to charge them 10 to 20 percent to come in and take advantage of our country.”

Nobody likes to be ripped off, so it is a great one liner. Unfortunately, when we increase tariffs on imports, foreign governments retaliate with equal hikes on the purchase of US goods. The real net result is that tariffs are passed on to consumer, so everyone is paying more in the US and abroad. This depresses economic activity worldwide, and inflation increases.

A lot of what he said, was actually pretty scary and would undermine the recent efforts to reduce inflation. Hopefully, in this case, he doesn’t actually follow through with what he’s proposing.

What doesn’t work – cutting taxes again for wealthy Americans

Deficits occur when the outflow exceeds inflows. Republicans used to remind us of this and running a high deficit will increase interest rates (I am a particular fan of Paul Ryan who really understood this).

“Trump also renewed his call to eliminate taxes seniors pay on their Social Security benefits. He didn’t explain how the plan would work, but critics say it would cost more than a trillion dollars and exhaust federal programs faster.”

See link: Trump’s Social Security tax break could make 2 fragile safety nets even weaker

Hopefully, this will not be enacted. Those retirees whose Social Security benefits are very low, pay little or not taxes. So this benefits the rich at the expense of weakening the safety nets

Healthcare Reform

Obamacare was passed in January 2014, and ever since, Republicans have vowed to repeal it, and replace it with a better program. They almost succeeded in eliminating it. The Supreme Court ruled the law was constitutional. This would have been a massive step backwards for people who needed medical insurance.

So, Trump is finally backing off on this issue. His comments: “We’ll keep it. It stinks. It’s not good. If we can do something better, we’re going to do something with it,” he said at his rally in Asheville, North Carolina.

Illegal Immigration – and old lies

Always a hot topic. Trump always claim that during his time, he got 400 miles of wall built. Actually, only 47 miles of new security fencing was built. Another 33 miles of secondary security fencing was constructed. The vast majority of the 452 miles is repairing or replacing existing structures at the border that had been built by previous US administrations. We share a 2,000 mile border with Mexico.

Trump also attacked Harris as the “border czar.” This is a lie. The responsibility for border security was always with the Department of Homeland Security. Harris was asked to negotiate with Central American leaders on ways to stem the huge surge of migrants from economically depressed areas in their countries. This is an incredibly important to reducing illegal immigration.

Name Calling- old style Trump

We have heard it before with “Sleepy Joe” and “Crooked Joe.” But, neither of these labels will work with Kamala Harris. Nothing partisan, as his nicknames for Republicans are equally abusive, as there is “Lying Ted” for Ted Cruz, “Meatball Ron” for Ron DeSantis (an ethnic slur on his mother’s Italian heritage), “birdbrain” for Nikki Haley and “Mr. Magoo” for former AG Jeff Sessions. See list at the end.

“You know why she hasn’t done an interview? She’s not smart. She’s not intelligent. And we’ve gone through enough of that with this guy, Crooked Joe,” Trump said, using the nickname he often uses for Biden.

Ok, she’s not smart and also she’s not intelligent. Well, it’s a lot better than Mr. Magoo, Meatball Ron, Birdbrain or Lying Ted.

List of Trump’s nicknames: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nicknames_used_by_Donald_Trump

I am still totally amazed at how many people have internet access and will not fact check statements made by Trump.

Stay tuned,

Dave