2023 American Political Scene

[DOR]

Florida's Governor Gone Insanest threatens to bill the White House for the cost of kidnapping and trafficking migrants out of Florida and into other states...admitting he's guilty of people smuggling.

[TopHatter]

Florida's Governor Gone Insanest threatens to bill the White House for the cost of kidnapping and trafficking migrants out of Florida and into other states...admitting he's guilty of people smuggling.

They don't see migrants as people to begin with, so why not just load them on the train, excuse me, plane, and get them out of your hair?

[DOR]

They don't see migrants as people to begin with, so why not just load them on the train, excuse me, plane, and get them out of your hair?

Or, push their leaky boats back into the ocean? Drop them off on deserted islands with little to support themselves? Offer them as NRA target practice?

[DOR]

Just a little reminder ...

Average change in US federal debt

US$ billion / month _ _ _ Avg CPI _ _ Real % p.a.




HST _ _ _ __-$0.1 bn _ _ _ _ +3.1%_ _ _ _ -3.7%

DDE _ _ _ _+0.1 _ _ _ _ _ _ +1.4%_ _ _ _ -0.8%

JFK/LBJ _ _+0.5 _ _ _ _ _ _ +2.6%_ _ _ _ -0.6%

RMN/GRF _+3.8 _ _ _ _ _ _ +6.5%_ _ _ _+3.1%

JEC _ _ _ _ _+5.3 _ _ _ _ _ +10.7%_ _ _ _ -2.7%

RWR _ _ _ +21.9 _ _ _ _ _ _ +4.0%_ _ _ +11.6%

GHWB _ _ +37.9 _ _ _ _ _ _ +3.9%_ _ _ _+8.5%

WJC _ _ _ _+14.8 _ _ _ _ _ _+2.6%_ _ _ _+0.7%

GWB _ _ _+66.8 _ _ _ _ _ _ +2.4% _ _ _ +6.7%

BHO _ _ _+84.6 _ _ _ _ _ _ _+1.7%_ _ _ +4.7%

DJT _ _ _ +209.3 _ _ _ _ _ _ _+2.5%_ _ _ +7.9%

JRB _ _ _ -147.8 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ +8.0% _ _ -13.8%


Because no president can be responsible for the change in debt in his first full year in office, each term is calculated from 13 months following election, so Carter runs four years, Jan 1978 – Dec 1981. Short-term presidents are included with their successors.
Truman (HST) is calculated from Jan 1946 to Dec 1953.

Source: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MVGFD027MNFRBDAL

[tbm3fan]

I wonder why most Republican Presidents have a plus value. Let me guess as to what is one of the very first things they love to do when entering office?

[DOR]

I wonder why most Republican Presidents have a plus value. Let me guess as to what is one of the very first things they love to do when entering office?

The only debts GOPers want to pay is those owed to the political contributors.

[TopHatter]

The GOP Establishment Is Clinging to the Base Harder Than Ever
An RNC Chair challenger makes a pitch to ‘Never Trumpers.’

The next chair of the Republican National Committee will be decided by the end of this week, and the fraught election is proving to be yet another milestone on the GOP’s rightward path to the land of the Trump-loving base. There are few viable options for the position: current RNC chair Ronna McDaniel wants the job again, Republican lawyer Harmeet Dhillon is the other clear frontrunner, and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell will make a lot of noise but end up an also-ran.

On Sunday, Politico ran a headline about the Dhillon operation that made zero sense to me: “RNC Challenger looks to Never Trumpers for a boost.” The pitch from Dhillon’s camp, as Politico puts it, is that she would be a more objective party leader than McDaniel, who Dhillon argues is too close to former President Trump to be able to preside neutrally over the party’s upcoming 2024 primary. Never mind that Trump-related groups have steered more than $400,000 to the Dhillon Law Group, while the RNC has paid her firm more than $1.3 million over the last four years.

Their headline notwithstanding, Politico did not cite any actual “never Trumpers” in the piece. They did interview New Jersey Republican committeeman and Dhillon backer Bill Palatucci, who was framed as a “Trump skeptic.”

But Palatucci’s opposition to Trump is a fairly recent development. Palatucci, a close confidant of Chris Christie, whipped party members against a potential revolt from Trump opponents at the 2016 national convention, and he then served as general counsel to the Trump presidential transition.

His pivot away from the former president appears to have started because of January 6th. That makes his support for Dhillon all the more odd: Her firm has been paid handsomely to represent Trump in the course of his insurrection-related legal woes and tangles with the House January 6th Committee.

The other Dhillon backer quoted by Politico, Arkansas Republican committeeman Jonathan Barnett, recently praised Trump’s speech announcing his 2024 candidacy (even if he did so in terms you might use to praise a child: “He believes Trump stayed on topic, and talked about issues that Americans care about”). Explaining why there was little appetite among Arkansas GOPers for combating party extremists, he also told an op-ed writer there “aren’t many ‘Never Trumpers’ in the Natural State.”

The idea that Never Trumpers ought to flock to Dhillon—or anyone in the RNC chair race—is nonsense. In reality, the Republican party is continuing its inexorable move further right and is clinging to the base harder than ever. A party leadership contest between Dhillon and McDaniel is emblematic of that continuing progression. This becomes even clearer when we take a look elsewhere in the Republican establishment.

The Republican-Led House Is More MAGA than Ever
Kevin McCarthy won the speakership by giving away as much power as he was asked for by the Republican conference’s most conservative hardliners, who routinely coast to re-election in ruby-red districts. He has given a green light to a new, nakedly political subcommittee, promised votes on politically toxic messaging bills, and set up a scenario in which the country will default on its debt later this year unless Democrats agree to significant cuts, which House Republicans are expected to propose come from Social Security and Medicare.

Yesterday, McCarthy moved to place more right-wing hardliners on the powerful House Rules Committee, including Reps. Chip Roy of Texas and Thomas Massie of Kentucky. And even as he elevates these ideologues in his own party, the new speaker is moving ahead with plans to punish Democratic members who anger his testy—and narrow—majority.

Trump Remains the Sole Republican Presidential Frontrunner for 2024
Despite reports that Trump has been severely weakened, or claims by anonymous consultants that “Trump rivals smell blood,” the former president remains the GOP frontrunner for 2024.

Recent polling attests to the strength of his starting position. Over the weekend, Morning Consult updated its ongoing survey tracking the opinions of potential GOP primary voters regarding the 2024 Republican primary field. The latest results show Trump leading his closest challenger by almost 20 points. If the vote were held among respondents today, he would receive 49 percent, with Ron Desantis packing away 30 and Mike Pence gleaning just 7. The rest of the potential field remains in the low single digits.

A lot can change over the next year and a half, to be sure, but these numbers are a good reminder that any candidate who wants to challenge Trump for the Republican candidacy in 2024 is going to face an uphill battle on fundraising, coalition building, fighting for air time, and boosting name ID.

The Hard Right Is Mobilizing on Down-Ballot Races
The Republican candidates who became the biggest failures of the midterms—people taken by party elites to be major culprits in the disappointing election cycle—are now gearing up for 2024’s down-ballot races. Kari Lake is reportedly mulling a 2024 Senate run in Arizona. (Before declaring, will she concede her loss in the 2022 gubernatorial election?)

In December I spoke with Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, who campaigned alongside Lake during her failed bid for the governorship. He told me that while he thought she was a great candidate, she hasn’t done herself any favors by refusing to concede. In Hawley’s view, another fringe candidate in Arizona did it better:

“I think my friend Blake Masters who also ran—you know Blake suffered from the same issues in terms of votes—I think his posture has been that things that happened there were terrible. It’s gotta get fixed,” he said. “But he conceded his race. . . . I wouldn’t give [Lake] advice, but I’ll just say I think he did the right thing.”

When I caught up with him yesterday, Hawley told me he isn’t pushing Lake or Masters to run again in 2024, saying any decision will be up to them.

Lake is just one example, albeit a high-profile one. But if she decides to run, her candidacy could signal a wave of far-right candidates in down-ballot races. The ground has been prepared for them by people at the top of the GOP pyramid—most importantly, by McCarthy himself. It was to secure his bid for the speakership, after all, that the Super PAC he endorses, the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), inked a deal with the Club for Growth, a conservative political organization that boosts far-right candidates, to keep CLF money out of open Republican primaries in safe Republican districts. The upshot is that a major barrier to far-right candidates succeeding in Republican primaries across the country has just come down.

McCarthy may have won his speakership in the end, but doing so required him and other party leaders to ignore the very real lessons of the midterms: that candidate quality can be decisive in competitive races, and extreme policy positions lead to bad outcomes at the ballot box. If things get bad enough, many Republicans may simply refuse to vote for Republican candidates.

These are simple enough lessons to comprehend; voters have reiterated them to the party establishment every time a reliably red state like Arizona or Georgia has tipped into the blue column in recent elections. But no matter how clearly voters have made their preference for reasonable, responsible candidates known, Republican leaders have ignored them. They will continue to do so at their own peril.
_________

[DOR]

I see Ronald McDonald, um, I mean “Ronna McDaniel” has been reelected chair of the Republican National Committee.
I'm sure it's because she did such a wonderful job of keeping conflict, scandal, and disunity out of politics.

[TopHatter]

Trump Announces Plan To Build ‘Impenetrable Dome’ To Protect U.S. From Nuclear Threats
Former President Donald Trump recently announced that he would build an “impenetrable dome” over the U.S. if re-elected — to “protect our people” from the purported threat of nuclear attacks and World War III.

“World War III would be a catastrophe unlike any other,” he said in the video published on his Truth Social platform Friday. “This would make World War I and World War II like very small battles. The best way to ensure that such a conflict never happens is to be prepared with unmatched technology and unrivaled strength.”

“When I am commander in chief… I will work with Congress and our great military leaders — not the ones you see on television, I don’t consider them leaders,” he continued.” We’re gonna work with them to build a state-of-the-art, next-generation missile-defense shield.”

Trump then claimed “the world has become vastly more dangerous” under President Joe Biden and that any discussion of the “deadly menace” of nuclear war, as a purported result of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, has been tabled by the current administration.

“The ‘nuclear’ word is being mentioned all the time,” said Trump. “This is a word you’re not allowed to use. It was never used during the Trump administration, but now other countries are using that word against us because they have no respect for our leadership.”

Trump added that nuclear and hypersonic missiles could “annihilate entire cities and even countries” should Russian President Vladimir Putin choose to intensify aggression against Ukraine and its NATO allies — and that building an iron dome-like system is now essential.

“America must have an impenetrable dome to protect our people,” he said. “We worked with Israel to develop that dome…We have technology that’s unsurpassed, but our past leaders haven’t really wanted to use it…We have to now go that further step.”

After lauding his efforts of “completely” rebuilding the U.S. military, the twice-impeached former president — whose campaign promise to fortify the U.S.-Mexico border became an expensive failure — said the Space Force would have a “vital role to play.”

“Just as I rebuilt our military, especially our nuclear capabilities, I will build the shield to defend America from missile attacks,” said Trump before adding. “We will have a peace through strength.”


Trump announced his run in November and is visiting two early-voting states Saturday.

Since announcing his bid in November, Trump is expected to kick off his 2024 run for the White House on Saturday with the first campaign stops. He’s scheduled as the keynote speaker at events in New Hampshire and South Carolina — two early-voting states.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Putin’s security council, recently wrote on Telegram that “the defeat of a nuclear power in a conventional war may trigger a nuclear war,” per Reuters. Putin himself echoed that notion in December.

“As for the idea that Russia wouldn’t use such weapons first under any circumstances, then it means we wouldn’t be able to be the second to use them either — because the possibility to do so in case of an attack on our territory would be very limited,” said Putin, per CNN.

The U.S. is nonetheless committed to supporting Ukraine in the conflict — which is nearing its one-year mark.

“Putin has no intention — no intention of stopping this cruel war,” said Biden in December. “And the United States is committed to ensuring that the brave Ukrainian people can continue — continue to defend their country against Russian aggression as long as it takes.”
___________

Imagine that. We've gone from a WALL to a DOME . Such great strides under Donald.
Somebody want to go collect Grandpa and get him back to his room? Damned if i know how he keeps getting out...

[TopHatter]

DeSantis: House GOP should probe DirecTV’s ditching of Newsmax

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is running to the defense of Newsmax, the conservative cable network that was ditched by carrier DirecTV last week.

“I mean I think there should be no ideological litmus test or any kind of test when it comes to these big companies who can make the decision to make or break a news network or any type of network,” DeSantis said during a press conference on Tuesday. “And they’ll give different rationales for why they don’t want to do it, but the reality is they have so much other content that is very lightly viewed and yet they keep that on and it seems it’s the One America News and the Newsmax who are being targeted, so I think it does warrant investigation.”

DirecTV, one of the largest cable providers in the country, dropped Newsmax from its channel lineup last week following a dispute with the network over carrier fees.

Newsmax, which carries a much smaller audience than that of the three leading cable news channels — Fox News, CNN and MSNBC — is accusing DirecTV of political bias. Much of the content on Newsmax is staunchly supportive of former President Trump and conservative causes.

DirecTV, which last year also dropped pro-Trump One America News, has said it “made it clear to Newsmax that we wanted to continue to offer the network,” but ultimately the network’s demands for rate increases in carrier fees “would have led to significantly higher costs that we would have to pass on to our broad customer base.”

Days later, DirecTV announced the addition of conservative opinion and commentary network The First to its lineup.

Trump, who is running for president in 2024 and has spent the last several months attacking DeSantis as a potential primary foe, has also blasted DirecTV’s decision to drop Newsmax.

“This is just one of many reasons why we must WIN IN 2024!!!” Trump said in a Truth Social post last week.

A contingent of House Republicans, who have made complaints about what they say is bias in Big Tech and media a tenet of their messaging in the new Congress, are threatening to investigate the matter.

“If Newsmax is removed from DirecTV, in less than a year House Republicans will have lost two of the three cable news channels that reach conservative voters on a platform that primarily serves conservative-leaning areas of the country,” a group of House GOP lawmakers wrote in a letter to the company earlier this month.

DeSantis, like Trump, has made a habit of attacking the mainstream media and has notably ignored some traditional outlets in favor of smaller media companies that cater to conservatives.
__________

So, in a typical authoritarian move, Governor DeFascist apparently wants to chuck Freedom of the Press out of the window and pry into the business decision of a company....why, exactly?

[Albany Rifles]

Love her or hate her, you gotta admit Maxinbe Waters will not back down from anyone and will give better than she gets!

GOP lawmaker fumes after Maxine Waters turns the tables on him at House hearing (msn.com)

GOP lawmaker fumes after Maxine Waters turns the tables on him at House hearing


Story by Rodric Hurdle-Bradford • Yesterday 6:19 PM
3k1k2k Comments The House of Representatives Rules Committee hearing denouncing socialism was turned upside down when longtime Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA), repurposed a line of questions from Representative Nick Langworthy (R-NY) about the prevalence and adoption of socialism in the United States.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters speaking with attendees at the 2019 California Democratic Party State Convention.© Raw Story

"We will not have a cradle to grave dependency," Langworthy said in the hearing. "This country will not be all things to all people. We cannot create an expectation that government is all things to all people."

Langworthy then turned his questioning to Waters, who was testifying as a witness in the hearing.

"Do you agree with Donald Trump's statement in the 2019 State of the Union that America will never be a socialist country," Langworthy asked Waters.


Waters then took control of the dialogue, first referencing the high level of debt spending that occurred during the Trump administration then questioning the validity of Langworthy and the Republican party's stance against socialism. Waters also spoke on the "Democratic spending myth."

"There are industries [Republicans] support, and now you think they are ripping people off," said Waters.

Waters then asked Langworthy if he believed the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was a socialist initiative, citing the number of Republicans in Congress who took funds from the PPP program. Langworthy said it was not a socialist initiative because it was done during "an extraordinary time when we shut down the government."

Langworthy then repeated if Waters agreed with Trump's 2019 State of the Union declaration about socialism.

""President Trump said a lot of things," said Waters. "He said he thought Hitler did some good things. For those of you who continue to embrace Trump and all that he did and said -- I reject all that. Trump has proven to be someone who is in line with dictators and admires them and claims to love them, so I reject any and everything Trump has to say."

Waters then took the time to question the GOP's position on socialism once again.

"Sometimes you like socialism, sometimes you act like you don't," Waters said.

Langworthy ended up ceding his time.

"We're talking about stuff you don't want to talk about," Waters said to end the discussion.

[tbm3fan]

I wonder if Langworthy would consider Japan to be a socialist country?

[TopHatter]

Three-Quarters of House GOPs Endorsed Social Security Cuts Last Year
With Republicans telling us, collectively, “Who are you going to believe? Us or your lyin’ eyes?” the work of de-bamboozling is never done. Don’t thank me now. Just remember to sign up to become a member.

As we noted earlier, Republicans are now aghast that anyone would be claiming they want to cut Social Security. But last year the Republican Study Committee — a House caucus which includes about 75% of all House Republicans — released a proposed 2023 budget which included basically every kind of Social Security cut on offer.

The Blueprint to Save America proposed raising the eligibility age at first to 70 and then higher if and when life expectancy goes up; it proposed cutting (or in their words “modernizing”) the benefit formula for everyone currently 54 and under; means-testing Social Security benefits; including work requirements for some Social Security beneficiaries; and allowing people to divert payroll taxes into private investment accounts — aka “retirement freedom.”

(See details on pages 81-82 of the Blueprint to Save America.)

Earlier I noted there are three broad buckets of proposed cuts to Social Security which program foes push for. Three quarters of House Republicans just proposed steep versions of all three and actually included a couple more I didn’t even think to mention.

RSC members are out hitting the airwaves now claiming that none of this ever happened. In fact, new RSC Chair Rep. Kevin Hern (OK), who oversaw the creation of the Blueprint, says this: “There is NO Republican in Washington, DC, in the House of Representatives or the Senate, that wants to CUT the benefits for seniors on Social Security and Medicare. That’s a falsehood. That’s a lie.”

How can he be saying this? Note the wording: no cuts for current beneficiaries. At least according to Hern and his Committee colleagues, you’ll be safe if you’re already on Social Security. The cuts will apply to people in the workforce now. The cuts apply to everyone except those already on Social Security and those just a few years away from becoming eligible.

As you can see, it’s really all word games and flimflam. Republicans are shocked!, outraged, **frustrated** that President Biden has the effrontery to claim they want to cut Social Security while they are simultaneously on the record proposing exactly the cuts he claims they support.
________

[Albany Rifles]

Three-Quarters of House GOPs Endorsed Social Security Cuts Last Year
With Republicans telling us, collectively, “Who are you going to believe? Us or your lyin’ eyes?” the work of de-bamboozling is never done. Don’t thank me now. Just remember to sign up to become a member.

As we noted earlier, Republicans are now aghast that anyone would be claiming they want to cut Social Security. But last year the Republican Study Committee — a House caucus which includes about 75% of all House Republicans — released a proposed 2023 budget which included basically every kind of Social Security cut on offer.

The Blueprint to Save America proposed raising the eligibility age at first to 70 and then higher if and when life expectancy goes up; it proposed cutting (or in their words “modernizing”) the benefit formula for everyone currently 54 and under; means-testing Social Security benefits; including work requirements for some Social Security beneficiaries; and allowing people to divert payroll taxes into private investment accounts — aka “retirement freedom.”

(See details on pages 81-82 of the Blueprint to Save America.)

Earlier I noted there are three broad buckets of proposed cuts to Social Security which program foes push for. Three quarters of House Republicans just proposed steep versions of all three and actually included a couple more I didn’t even think to mention.

RSC members are out hitting the airwaves now claiming that none of this ever happened. In fact, new RSC Chair Rep. Kevin Hern (OK), who oversaw the creation of the Blueprint, says this: “There is NO Republican in Washington, DC, in the House of Representatives or the Senate, that wants to CUT the benefits for seniors on Social Security and Medicare. That’s a falsehood. That’s a lie.”

How can he be saying this? Note the wording: no cuts for current beneficiaries. At least according to Hern and his Committee colleagues, you’ll be safe if you’re already on Social Security. The cuts will apply to people in the workforce now. The cuts apply to everyone except those already on Social Security and those just a few years away from becoming eligible.

As you can see, it’s really all word games and flimflam. Republicans are shocked!, outraged, **frustrated** that President Biden has the effrontery to claim they want to cut Social Security while they are simultaneously on the record proposing exactly the cuts he claims they support.
________

These morons...do they not realize its 2023...there is a record of EVERYTHING!!! The "let's keep it under wraps" genie died a long time. With the internet...and you know at least 1/2 of that 75% put something in writing on this on the net.

Duplicitous idiots.

[DOR]

Some of you are old enough to remember “defined benefit” corporate pension plans: if you stay with the company until retirement, you get a specific percentage of your final salary.

Well, that didn't survive the 1980s and 1990s bean counters' revolution.

Welcome to “defined contribution,” friends. You kick in some of your paycheck, the employer kicks in some, and the money gets invested into a financial vehicle for your future use.

• Bear in mind that it is almost always the employer who chooses what financial vehicles (typically mutual funds / unit trusts) you are allowed to invest in. What, did you think such a valuable decision was going slip out of the employers' fingers, and be squandered away by mere peons?
• Bear in mind that your pension fund is probably required to be invested in the stock market, although there may be some that include market-listed bond funds. So, if the market tanks just at the time when you are required to cash out, well that's the shitty part of SOL.

Never mind, you can always rely on your Social Security, right? Well, when the GOPers get done “liberating” your defined benefit Social Security pension into a defined benefit lottery ticket, even that won't be all that safe.


GOPers are bad for your wealth.