Buyers' Remorse While the Bombs Drop
(random musings while perusing memes online)
The Trump supporter in the video acted quite surprised that Mr. Trump would actually have the Mexican border wall built, cutting off her south Texas home from the rest of the nation. She said she believed everything Trump said on the campaign trail, but, for some reason, she didn't see the border wall as a potential nuisance until the proposed route showed it would cut her golfing/retirement community in half--and her property lies in the wrong half. Hope she brushes up on her Spanish!
Voters who bought into Trump's campaign promises now realize they're being sold up the river--the Rio Grande in this case. Buyer's remorse indeed.
Has Mr. Trump said anything about supporting these worthy pieces of legislation? No, not yet. Will he? Who knows? He seems preoccupied with tweeting about other things--like how no one seems to like him and how the mainstream media is all fake news and spreading rumors about him. Just like an eighth grader.
As more homes are foreclosed and more factories are shuttered, Trump supporters are probably going to suffer buyer's remorse--big time.
It turns out Trump owns a lot of shares in Raytheon, the manufacturer of the Tomahawk missiles which were launched against Syria. Raytheon stock shares went sky high the next day, adding $5 billion to the company's bottom line. Donald Trump and friends made a truckload of money at the cost to the taxpayer of almost $1 million per missile launched multiplied by fifty-nine. Think about it... By launching those missiles, we taxpayers made the billionaires even richer, ourselves poorer, and created more death and chaos in the world. Bonus: Don't forget the bad publicity! U.S. tourism revenue has plummeted in the last few months thanks to our draconian immigration policies and deportations, causing American resorts, hotels, restaurants and related industries to lay off workers.
TrumpCare/RyanCare: What better way to handle the health care crisis than to simply price most of us out of the market for private health care insurance premiums? Strengthen the EPA and FDA to clean up our air and water and make sure our food supply is safe? Nah! We the people can die off/die back and fade away... Then there's simply less of us serfs for the elite classes to deal with, right? Health care problem solved!Buyer's remorse, caused by voting for either of the two establishment candidates for president, is rampant. But why should Americans feel sad? Neither establishment party promised they'd do anything but more of the same, didn't they? More war, more bombing, more exploiting the environment for dirty oil and fracking, more doing exactly as the big corporations and their lobbyists pay them to do... We got what we voted for--we should feel happy, right?
If this last meme doesn't make you feel remorse of any kind, then you're suffering from the same mental illness as Trump and the establishment. Only a sociopath wouldn't cry at the inhumanity and sheer cruelness demonstrated in this photograph. Sorry to say, there seem to be a lot of sociopaths in our government nowadays, and we the people put them there.
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If there's a silver lining with having an orange president, it's the fact we're learning how perhaps our history books have been entirely too harsh on the records of our past non-orange commanders-in-chief. Case in point, our beloved late senator from Ohio, Warren G. Harding.
If there's a silver lining with having an orange president, it's the fact we're learning how perhaps our history books have been entirely too harsh on the records of our past non-orange commanders-in-chief. Case in point, our beloved late senator from Ohio, Warren G. Harding.
The Rehabilitation of Warren
G. Harding
by Adrian J. Matthews
by Adrian J. Matthews
To any student of American
political history, there are a number of striking similarities between the
present administration and the administration of President Warren Gamaliel
Harding. About the only fundamental difference is Harding was a genial and
well-liked individual, whereas Donald Trump… Quite.
On to the comparisons.
Harding didn’t really want
to become president. After reaching the White House, he famously said, “I am
not fit for this office and should never have been here.” That statement
deserves qualifying. Unlike Trump, Harding served as an elected representative,
as he had been elected to the Senate in 1914, which he found “a very pleasant
place.” It seems the scope of his ambitions rested in the Senate, and he
probably would have remained there for a number of terms, doing no particular
harm to anyone had he not been singled-out as presidential material by a couple
of Big Oilmen.
Trump’s connections with the
oil industry are extensive, including business interests he has in the
notorious Dakota Access Pipeline project.
Once President, Harding was
all for Big Business – as is Trump. Harding opposed the United States’
membership in the fledgling League of Nations, and Trump has roundly criticized
the United Nations, the successor to the League. Republicans in Congress easily
got Harding’s signature on their bills, and Trump seems to sign everything
that’s put in front of him – or not, as his recent temper-tantrum demonstrated
after being asked a difficult question about former national security adviser
Michael Flynn by the press.
The Republicans of Harding’s day eliminated WWI industrial controls and slashed taxes, particularly for corporations and wealthy individuals, restored the high protective tariff, and imposed tight limitations upon immigration. After taking office Trump immediately slashed taxes for corporations and wealthy individuals and set about his attempts to block immigration from several countries – so far to little success.
The Republicans of Harding’s day eliminated WWI industrial controls and slashed taxes, particularly for corporations and wealthy individuals, restored the high protective tariff, and imposed tight limitations upon immigration. After taking office Trump immediately slashed taxes for corporations and wealthy individuals and set about his attempts to block immigration from several countries – so far to little success.
Harding was hailed as an
astute statesman who carried out his campaign promise of “Less government in
business and more business in government.” But once in the White House, he left
much of the day-to-day running of the administration to aides, appointees and cronies
while he went off to enjoy playing golf, poker – and his mistress.
Trump believes the nation
can be run as a business, specifically one of his businesses. He is on
record as saying when faced with a problem he gathers people together in a
room, tells them to fix the problem, then leaves them to it, presumably, like
Harding, to play golf and other pursuits.
For all his faults, Harding
did achieve some notable successes during his abbreviated term. He supported
women’s right to vote, eased the country’s sometimes stormy relationship with
South America, and endorsed civil rights for African-Americans. In a 1921
speech given in Birmingham, Alabama, he stated, “Let the black man vote when he
is fit to vote; prohibit the white man voting when he is unfit to vote.”
Harding’s sympathy for African-Americans may have stemmed from accusations made against him for having black ancestry. Such racist accusations should seem quaint these days, but segregation was still in force and would remain so in many places into the 1960s.
Harding’s sympathy for African-Americans may have stemmed from accusations made against him for having black ancestry. Such racist accusations should seem quaint these days, but segregation was still in force and would remain so in many places into the 1960s.
Remember the abhorrent
racism directed against Barack Obama? Who started the so-called "Birther
Movement"? Who hired white supremacist, ex-Breitbart head Steve Bannon to a lofty position
within his administration? You guessed it.
Trump’s record on civil rights seems to be a spotty one. As for his record on women’s rights, he seems scarcely more evolved than a caveman, as witnessed by his notorious "grab them by the pussy" quip.
So, all in all, Harding’s reputation may not place him among the best of presidents, but going on the basis of Trump’s performance in the few weeks since taking office, Harding’s stock is on the rise.
Resources:
Bio: Armchair historian and author Adrian J. Matthews can't help but see the similarities among many former presidents with less than stellar reputations and the current occupant in the Oval Office. He's going to keep researching the topic in hopes some more pleasant similarities surface.
***
Health Care Town Hall 2: The Gathering Storm
Our Revolution in Northwest Ohio held a second health care town hall this past weekend. While the turnout was down from the previous town hall (due to warm weather, the coming Easter holiday and spring break), those who attended were serious and committed to knowing more about Medicare for All and how to bring it about before the establishment repeals the A.C.A. Twelve elected officials were invited, and only one sent a letter apologizing for not being able to attend, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH 4th District).
Instead, we heard from representatives from Universal Health Care Action Network (UHCANOhio.org) and Single Payer Action Network (SPANOhio.org). We discussed different systems of health care and how we might implement them in the United States. We also discuss how to present this very pertinent--yet hot--topic to our neighbors and persuade them of the efficiency and fairness of treatment that a single payer health care system provides.
Is it all about money or can we persuade our elected officials to join the single payer cause by appealing to their sense of morality? Can we present the argument "Health Care is a Human Right" to others and expect them to respond positively, reaffirming the rights of our fellow citizens to have access to adequate health care? It's one topic our local group is going to continue discussing.
49 actions in 26 states: this Saturday's National
Day of Action for Medicare for All is very likely coming up near you!
Here's our media
round-up of single payer coverage from last week:
Conservative Voices for Single Payer - Check out these pieces by traditionally
right-wing writers:
How U.S.
Health Care Became Big Business
An
American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It
Back
The United States now thinks of itself as the world's cop, judge, jury and executioner. #Resist
ReplyDeleteIt's scary to think we may be executing ourselves with the irresponsible behavior of our orange-faced chief executive. Almost makes you miss good ol' Warren G., doesn't it? Warren sold us out to the Big Oilmen, but at least he didn't take us into any wars.
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