Trump's address to Congress
About Social Security and tariffs
About Social Security:
As I watched Donald Trump's address to Congress, I couldn't help but think of that old saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." The president's speech was loaded with many of the same half-truths he repeatedly told voters on the 2024 campaign trail. Chief among them was this: He won't touch Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. Wake up people. Hours before Congress approved a resolution to cut $880 billion from Medicaid, Trump was on the phone lobbying GOP lawmakers to pass the bill. Plausible deniability? Hardly. Millions of Americans were fooled by what candidate Trump was saying last fall. As he was speaking Tuesday evening, I kept thinking: Here we go again. Don't be fooled by him again.
About tariffs:
Donald Trump campaigned on a pledge to bring down the price of goods on day one of his administration. Clearly, that hasn't happened. During his address to Congress Tuesday evening, the president repeated his call for tariffs which, even he admitted, will cause some short-term pain for consumers. If that wasn't enough, the president reported he had spoken to the Big Three auto makers and they are on board his tariff train (my words, not his). That statement is at odds with Ford's CEO when he said, "The proposed tariffs will 'blow a whole' in the auto industry." Which leads me to ask, who should people believe? I'm no economic genius, so I'm sticking with the Wall Street Journal. The paper's editorial board slammed Trump over the "dumbest tariff plunge" ever. Sadly, I think we are a long way off from seeing the cost of groceries, computers, shoes and cars coming down anytime soon.
P.S. So you know, I am aware that yesterday, the president paused the tariffs on the auto makers for 30 days.
Trump is dependable - to lie and make proclamations (and Executive Orders) that he has no/every intention of carrying out.
His executive strategy is exemplified by his "speaking style": random, illogical, fanciful, non-sequiturial, meant to be confusing, so that any statement or action can be denied or implemented later, depending on how the polls look. "The Weave" governing style?
That results in chaos, which is exactly what we've seen. Nobody knows what to do - businesses, farmers, citizens - because no one can project the future. That puts everything in his control. A winning spotrs strategy is to keep the opponent guessing - don't be predictable.
Get used to it. Prices will continue to rise, supply chains will be disrupted, employment (gov't & private) will be unreliable as companies hedge their bets because of an unknown marketplace.
The gov't is firmly in his tiny hands for now - with only the courts able to counter, if they will, and if they find a way to enforce a judgement. Trump said he will obey the courts but, like everything else he says, he may not follow through on that.
Al Green made a point by forcing the Speaker to remove him. AOC, Patty Murray & others showed initiative by not attending. The Democrats in attendance sat on theie hands and bowed to the King. They didn't even BOO in response to the Republican cheers. What cowards. It's time for new Democratic Leadership. And new electeds. And courage.
It's time for democrats, independents disaffected republicans and unaffiliated voters to coalesce around removing his compliant congress & senate in 2026. If he has 4 years, it will result in decades of living in America - the newest 3rd World sh*!hole.
I really like the analysis of Rick Young as well.