Two signature laws of the Biden administration are spreading hundreds of billions across the country, funding everything from new roads in Florida to broadband lines in Alaska to green energy projects in California.
But where that $442 billion (so far) will have the most impact are places where voters are least likely to support Joe Biden in November, according to a new Yahoo Finance analysis of the latest White House data.
The largest recipients of funds approved by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act — when measured on a per capita basis — are four states that Biden himself lost by at least 10 points in 2020: Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, and Wyoming.
Of the 18 states where residents are set to benefit the most from the money on a per-capita basis, 12 were won by Donald Trump in 2020.
This geographic quirk highlights one of President Joe Biden’s most persistent election-year challenges: Americans who aren’t feeling — or are simply unimpressed — by his signature accomplishments after three years in office.
In just one remarkable recent example, a Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll found that Donald Trump wins by a tally of 42% to 38% on the question of whom voters most trust to handle infrastructure.
That’s even after Biden signed a landmark infrastructure bill into law in 2021 and after four years in office that saw Trump take no significant action on the issue...
This a good news/ bad news item. The good news is that people's lives are being improved in those "left behind" places where the Malignant Loser is popular. The bad news is, of course, that it won't matter electorally because hatred trumps (yes) good works, plus you can't fix stupid. Also, let's not just leave it to "Americans who aren't feeling -- or are simply unimpressed -- by his signature accomplishments." The corporate media can take its share of the blame for not doing its job in communicating those accomplishments, choosing instead to focus on divisive/ faux issues spoon fed them by the Christofascist Republican media operation.
... “Historically speaking, the forces now in control of the Republican Party represent the most significant threat to basic constitutionalism we’ve experienced since the Civil War,” Mr. [historian Jon] Meacham, who has helped devise some of President Biden’s speeches, told me. “That’s not a partisan point; it’s just the fact of the matter. And I’m not talking about particular policies, about which we can and should disagree. I’m talking about the self-evident willingness of a once-noble party to embrace lies and the will to power over essential democratic norms.”
Since 2015, I have repeatedly warned Republicans about Mr. Trump, describing him as the kind of demagogue the founders feared, malignant and malicious, a man with a disordered personality. At this point eight years ago, I said that while the struggle for the Republican nomination was over, the struggle for the soul of the party was not.
Once Mr. Trump won the presidency, I knew it was. He and the Republican Party fused ideologically; it’s now a populist rather than a conservative party. It’s instincts are nativist, protectionist and isolationist. But the most significant fusion is ethical and moral. The Republican Party keeps getting darker. It has become anti-intellectual, conspiracy-minded and authoritarian, intemperate and brutish, transgressive and anarchistic. And there’s no end in sight.
Mr. Trump is a human blowtorch, prepared to burn down democracy. So is his party. When there’s no bottom, there’s no bottom.
The next 34 weeks are among the more consequential in the life of this nation. Mr. Trump was a clear danger in 2016; he’s much more of a danger now. The former president is more vengeful, more bitter and more unstable than he was, which is saying something. There would be fewer guardrails and more true believers in a second Trump term. He’s already shown he’ll overturn an election, support a violent insurrection and even allow his vice president to be hanged. There’s nothing he won’t do. It’s up to the rest of us to keep him from doing it.
The author, Peter Wehner, as most who have followed politics over the past 40 years know, is a staunch conservative who (some might argue) once helped provide the foundation for what he now condemns. But the Malignant Loser's dangerous demagoguery, his singular moral depravity, and his authoritarianism have moved Wehner to our side of the battle line.
New details are emerging after a man was found dead in Harvest on Thursday.
The Madison County Sheriff’s Office said the body of 54-year-old Derek Franklin Walls was found inside a home at 1790 Capshaw Road.
Kyle Hayden Lewter, 36, was arrested and charged with his murder.
Now, a day after his arrest, Lewter is now additionally charged with sexual torture - sexual abuse using inanimate object. At this time it is unknown if these charges are related to the murder of walls.
The Madison County Sheriff’s is waiting to release the actual cause of death from the autopsy report.
An uncle who lived nearby checked on Walls on Thursday but he didn’t answer the door.
The uncle then called the sheriff’s office. Deputies responded and found Walls dead in the hallway.
Walls’ daughter Shelby Thorson launched a GoFundMe for funeral expenses. The family hopes to raise $5,000.
“My dad’s life was taken from him in the middle of the night on March 6,” Thorson wrote on the GoFundMe. “Due to this unexpected passing nothing was in place to help with any of the funeral expenses. I would like to have a small service where everyone can get together in remembrance of my father.” [Wait for it...]
Lewter is listed as a member of the Madison County Young Republicans according to its website. Lewter was also listed as a point of contact. He also was a campaign chairman for State Sen. Tom Butler. (our emphasis)
Maybe the next time Handmaiden actress and Alabammy Sen. Katie Britt wants to cite an example of sexual violence, she should use that of this home state cult member. Unlike her recent smear, it would have the advantage of being true, though it wouldn't fit her party's nativist narrative.
