politics

It happened because people are dumb. They think he’s bringing 2016-2020 prices with him. He’s not. There was dumb in the Harris campaign approach too, but that would add too much for one post. I voted for her, but even so.

And remember what’s on the slash list: social security and Medicare. How many of you 45+ people have a retirement? Anything you start now won’t be enough without the benefit of social security. Which you should get because you’ve been buying into it your entire work life.

And remember Elon? The guy said well have to learn to tighten our belts for a while. Endure some hardship. Like we haven’t been doing that already. I wonder if unions will be federally legal after he’s done.

Preexisting conditions anyone? You’re well and truly fucked.

Small business? Well. That’s not happening.

Wanna buy a house? Yea that’s still not happening either.

Rent going down? Again. No.

The list goes on.

…

My partner last night before he went to bed in a Benadryl induced sleep: I’m going to be spending more time in the woods if he wins. No you’re not. You’re going to be working 60hrs a week to keep up and so am I.

Which will probably be the point of the Elon Musk / Trump economy.

Voter: Why does the economy suck so bad?

MAGA: Because brown people.

Harris: You're crazy, the economy is doing better than ever!

Simple as.

My sincere condolences for the near future of Americans, and especially for my and their close friends and family.

Are the bots and trolls here, or do they just stop when the objective is reached?

Once again, "economic anxiety" combined with the American electorate is just planing living up to George Carlin's rants.

It is simple. The economy and the media.

Call it selfish, but most people are more concerned with their own well being and that of their families than anything external. They don't see Gaza, climate change, or abortion in the grocery store, they see prices that are massively higher than they were during Trump. You can try to explain how economics works, how tarrifs are a bad idea, how inflation is actually down, but to many that's just noise and why should they trust these economists over anyone else. Their lived experience is that, excluding covid, life was more affordable under Trump.

Take a look at the most popular cable channels and you see Fox news. Look at podcasts and there is Joe Rogan. Social media is arguably better, but X and Facebook are still big and skew right, plus the others are ripe for disinformation campaigns and bots. A large number of Americans regularly consume a diet of right wing propaganda.

Even worse, it appears that Republicans have also managed to win majorities in the Senate and House. While thin, those majorities are enough that we can expect some of the Republican priorities to start getting passed. My major question for the first six months of 2025 will be, does the filibuster survive? I know many folks on the left wanted to kill it, when Republican Senators were using it to obstruct anything more progressive than not kicking puppies. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, will the left suddenly fall back in love with the filibuster? I suspect so. I also suspect that the MAGA wing of the GOP is going to be keen to kill the filibuster the first time it gets in the way of their project. And I wonder where the less dickish members of the GOP will come down on the issue.

The decision to seek re-election by President Biden’s inflated sense of self-importance cost us.

It would have been prudent for him to adhere to his previous commitment and serve a single term, allowing the Democratic Party to conduct its primaries without undue interference. The Harris campaign’s very late entry into the race was premature and potentially detrimental to the party’s chances of success.